Tale of the Fifth Crusade

Game Master CariMac

Welcome!

I'm thinking 2nd level, gestalt, 1000gp (not sure what you'll do with it, but I might be missing a bunch of stuff here. Convert it to CP and SP and heap it in a pile somewhere, if nothing else) 2 traits, 1 of them a campaign trait.

25 point buy, and as for hp, full at first level, and roll for the subsequent levels, taking half if you roll less than that. (i.e. results of 1 to 5 on a d12 becomes 6.)

Finally, there's a silver dragon in Kenabres, an ancient female called Terendelev. You might or might not be a family relation, who knows.

A spoiler-free article on her here: http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Terendelev

I'm thinking I'll play a bronze dragon--so not a relative of Terendelev, but probably an admirer, given that she's chosen to stand on the front lines of the war against evil.

Oh, speaking of which, the Taninim/Draconic Exemplars are fluffed as a slightly different race of dragons as-written, but I'd like to go with the idea that my character (who really needs a name... still working on that) starts out as a fairly 'ordinary' bronze dragon (though somewhat small for his age, given that he's still just Small sized). His first size increase at level 4 could just be natural growth, but then we could fluff his later size increases as being a side effect of his mythic power, since I'm pretty sure he'll be mythic long before 8th level.

I'm leaning towards the other half of his gestalt being Warpriest (of Apsu). I rather suspect that divine magic will be helpful in a war against demons, and I'm thinking he'll be a bit too martially inclined to go straight Cleric. I considered Paladin, but... I think I like Warpriest better.

Also, fair warning: I have skimmed portions of the adventure path before. I don't remember a lot of details, but I recall a few of the major plot points. I'm generally pretty good at separating player and character knowledge, so hopefully it won't be an issue, but I figure you should know regardless.

I'm perfectly fine with you being a 'real' bronze dragon. I actually figured you'd go that route.

And yes, you will probably still be wyrmling age by the time you reach 20th level, so that's a little funny. Mythic sounds like a good way to deal with that.

Warpriest is probably not quite as useful as cleric, but it'll make you better at fighting, and if it fits in with.

WotR is actually pretty 'easy', as far as APs go, so I may have to scale up the opposition even though you're solo. At least once you pass the first module. We'll see how it goes. Luckily, that means that you're not forced to take optimal choices regarding things like cleric/warpriest and can go with things that fit the flavor of your character better.

WotR is actually pretty 'easy', as far as APs go, so I may have to scale up the opposition even though you're solo. At least once you pass the first module. We'll see how it goes. Luckily, that means that you're not forced to take optimal choices regarding things like cleric/warpriest and can go with things that fit the flavor of your character better.

I'd heard that (apparently the module writers didn't appropriately compensate for how crazy the mythic rules are?), which is part of why I thought it'd work well for a solo game. Also, the mental image of a Gargantuan Mythic dragon mauling hordes of demons was too awesome to pass up.

I was actually thinking that my character would be a *little* older than wyrmling age, even though rules-wise that should make him Medium size. I was just going to explain it away with him being something of a runt. That way he'd at least be old enough to not be a baby. So he'll probably be particularly pleased with suddenly growing at a ridiculous rate.

I've debated back and forth on Cleric. It is, ultimately, probably the more powerful option, but I do think Warpriest fits the idea better.

The one thing I'm worried about is actually penetrating DR. I'm going to need a way to have my variety of natural attacks count as cold iron or good pretty quickly, and I'll eventually want both. Good I can get by wearing an Amulet of Mighty Fists with a Holy enchantment, but the cost of that means it won't be until later. I feel like there was something somewhere about making cold iron things to fit over dragon claws, but I don't remember where... it might have been a 3.5 book. And of course, I'd want something for my wings and teeth and tail, too, not just my claws. But I figure something can be worked out there... and if all else fails, there's always just the strategy of "Hit so hard the DR doesn't save them".

Well, the Good blessing does allow one of you natural weapons to count as good-aligned, so you have the option of being able to punch through DR/Good right from level 1, with some finagling. Only applies to one of your weapons, though.

I'd let you take a feat, allowing it to apply to all your weapons with 1 standard action, at the cost of 1 use of blessing / natural weapon.

So if you have 2 Claws, a Bite, and 2 Wings, that's 5 uses of blessing.

Not a lot to be done for cold iron. I personally think the metal claws are a little silly.

Oh, right, I'd forgotten about that. Hmm... I think there might actually be some cleric spells that help with this problem... oh, and there are definitely some Mythic abilities that do. So yeah, I'll probably be able to get around it.

(Still debating on a name, or I'd have an alias up already XD)

Well, I came up with a dragon name. :D I'm thinking he lets most humanoids call him "Sveri". Wednesday was pretty busy, so I haven't had much time to stat him out, though.

Oh, right, hit die roll:

Hit Die: 1d12 ⇒ 1

XD Good thing I can just take a 6.

Yeah, rolling hp for the first few levels suck.

That's why that houserule is there - rolling doesn't really matter past level 6, but for the first few levels, it's important to have a safety net.

I made a gameplay thread. Feel free to dot it, or describe what you're up to.

All right, I'll put something there shortly. I assume I have a little while before I need my stats nailed down.

Oh, some quick bullet points on Sverixalint's background:

* He was the runt of his clutch, and endured a lot of teasing from his siblings for his small size. This is largely what motivated him to strive to grow more skilled, leading to him devoting himself to Apsu and learning some divine magic.
* He idolizes Terendelev, seeing the older dragon as everything he wants to be--large, powerful, respected, a valiant warrior, a protector of the weaker races, on the forefront of the war against evil.
* He's in Kenabres for Armasse because he convinced his parents it would be a good time for him to go and see Terendelev. While his parents are much younger and live some distance from Kenabres, they've met and Terendelev before, and trust the older dragon will be able to keep their young son safe. It's traditional for young dragons to visit and learn from their elders, anyway.

Let me know if you'd like a more fleshed-out background.

As I see it, backgrounds serve three purposes;

1) provide plothooks. Things you want to get done, or stuff to keep the campaign moving. It's a way to influence what happens later in the campaign, although it's probably less the case when running an AP. Not to say I wouldn't pick up on a plothook, neccesarily.

2) have prior relationships with NPCs in the campaign.

3) and finally, probably most importantly, it helps you define how to roleplay the character.

And then of course, in a pbp environment, it's sort of a 'demonstration' of your RP chops, intended to impress the GM when they're picking players.

But we don't need that last one here. And I have material enough without the second and first (that's not to say that it's not something I'd like, just that I can work without, it being an Adventure Path and all), so it boils down to the third point, mainly. That means that you just need enough backstory that you can use it to inform roleplay, essentially. Whether that be bullet points, or a story, eh.

Some people prefer to work entirely without, making it up as they go.

Both are fine.

I'll keep thinking about backstory as I finish up Sverix's stats--if you don't need it written out in greater detail for anything, I don't think I'll expand it beyond the bullet points, but I'll let you know if I think of anything that could be an interesting hook. I kind of doubt I'll come up with anything, though. I was planning on Sverix getting involved in the plot simply by being at the right place at the right time with the right motivations, rather than having any major connections to the people or places at the edge of the Worldwound.

EDIT: Oh, yes, I should mention: I decided that Sverix is Sverixalint's usual short name, while Sveri is what his parents or siblings would call him.

Quick question--I think Touched by Divinity works best for Sverix's campaign trait, but I was planning on his mythic path being Champion. Will that be a problem?

Not neccesarily, no.

Okay, I think I'm just about done with Sverixalint's stats. I haven't thought of anything to do with his starting gold--maybe he'll just be carrying it in a sack as spending money for his trip to town? :D

If you're taking suggestions, buy a wand of cure light wounds and keep the remaining 250gp around.

Oh, yes, of course! How could I forget a wand of CLW? XD I guess I was thinking too much Dragon and forgetting my Warpriest.

You're definitely allowed to take 10 on stuff like that. I didn't really check your bonus, only which skills you were trained in. Should I assume you take 10 in the future on checks like that? If yes, I'll just post the results without spoilering.

That depends on whether or not I think taking 10 is good enough. Which, with the DC's clearly stated...

I'd say, unless it's a check I could guess ahead of time I wouldn't get by taking 10, assume I take 10. If you wanted to, it wouldn't bug me if you rolled 'reactive' checks like that yourself, either.

Sorry this is so rail-roady. We're past that bit now.

Eh, AP's kind of have to be railroad-y at times. It's part of the deal.

Hmmm... I'd been thinking about taking the Complex Essence feat (Do you have In the Company of Dragons?) to make Sverix part-silver, kind of implying that some portion of Terendelev's spirit had touched him... and that scale provides the perfect excuse.

I don't, sadly. You can use what you want from it though, just tell me what it does, yeah?

From the PDF:

Complex Essence(Dragon)

You embody more than one of the aspects of draconic personality
Prerequisite: Draconic Essence class feature
Benefit: You can select a second draconic essence that has an alignment matching yours. You are treated as having both of your draconic essence's energy types for meeting draconic gift prerequisites. If an ability references your draconic essence's energy type, you can use either energy type. Your physical appearance reflects both of your associated dragon types. You gain the compulsions of both of your draconic essences.

Which would basically mean that he could use either electricity or cold for his breath weapon, and that he will have more options for special dragon abilities to pick from.

I've been going for a mix of 'wise beyond his years' and 'youthful exuberance' for Sverix. Has that been coming across well?

It took Sverix long enough to go for the ring, didn't it? XD

To be fair, he's in a pretty creepy situation.

Indeed. :D

Let's see; 3d5 ⇒ (5, 1, 3) = 9

These last few days have been quite hectic - and this next week will be worse. I'll try to keep up, but it's very likely that I won't be posting much in this coming week. I'm starting at a new job on monday, and that's bound to take up time.

Just wanted to let you know in advance.

Thanks for letting me know!

There you go, you just hit level 3.

Ooo, huzzah! Hmmm... now I'm going to have to decide on a Draconic Gift, a feat, and a Warpriest bonus feat... this may take me a bit. :D But I'm assuming there'll be a bit of time here before my new stats are going to matter, so I should have a bit of time to think.

Oh, right, hit die roll:

Hit die: 1d12 ⇒ 4 Looks like it's 6 again.

Not done yet, but here's a couple of important points:

*I picked Blindsense as his Draconic Gift, so he now has Blindsense 30'.
*I went ahead and picked Complex Essence, so he's now a sort-of silver/bronze hybrid. I figure the outward signs of this will only manifest slowly, but he can breathe a cone of ice now in addition to his line of lightning. However, he also gets the Honorable compulsion, so now, in addition to having to make Will saves to flee or retreat from battle, he also has to make Will saves to refuse to defend the weak.

Okay, I believe I'm all leveled up!

I agonized back and forth over whether or not Sverix would kill an unconscious enemy. I decided that, in this case, he would--largely because of the words of the others. He's still young and unsure of himself, so he's strongly inclined to listen to the advice of his elders.

However, I could see the argument that this would fall under his new Honorable compulsion, which I mentioned above. And definitely it seems contrary to his metallic dragon nature in general. So while he went through it this time, I'm thinking it's going to tear him up so much that he would likely, given this kind of situation again, utterly refuse to kill a defeated enemy.

It's a good question, and not one that has an obvious answer. The 'Righteous' thing to do would be taking him prisoner, but that's probably going to lower your chances of survival by quite a bit. This way, you and by extension the people you're protecting will be more likely to survive, but it's possible that you could have done that anyway, and in that case you just killed someone because it was more convenient for you.

At least in retrospect, which is always faulty. The NPCs thought it was a reasonable sort of thing to do, even if they also think tearing his throat out was maybe a bit... much.

Except Anevia, that is, but she's not in a condition to complain right now.

Yeah... normally there would have been no question, I would have tried to save him, but... for Sverix, I want to get across that 1) He's young, unsure, easily swayed, and prone to rash decisions, and 2) He's definitely not human. It seemed like the snap decision to kill accomplished both of those.

I *would* like this to result in the NPC's talking with Sverix for a while here. He's been pushing hard this whole day, kind of to hide his insecurity, but now is the perfect time for questions like "Just how old are you anyway?" to come up.

Were you using Automatic Bonus Progression in this game? Do you want to?

Nope! Since I'm getting all of the treasure for a four-member party, more or less, I didn't think it would make sense to use--and besides, part of the balancing for Draconic Exemplars is their limited item slots, so it seems like ABP might throw that off.

Also, aside, remember that you have that Scale of Terendelev. Obviously of great value in terms of what it means, but it also has a handful of magical powers.

Yep, I'm remembering it. I haven't seen a reason to use it quite yet, but I'm sure it will come up.

I commissioned a picture of Sverix! :)

Excellent! That's great.

Isn't it? Now I'll just have to commission another when he's grown up. :)

Sorry about being slow -- it's been another busy week, with evening work stuff.

Speaking of growing up... he's going to grow up fast! We'll have to see if we can put in some time delays into the campaign so it makes a bit more sense.

That could be interesting--though I think Mythic Power will provide a good excuse for his unusual growth, too. Perhaps a combination of both?

Something like, he grows much faster than normal due to mythic power, but it still takes a year or two to get a century's worth of growth?