This is a discussion thread.
Sadly, the avatars here on Paizo rarely match my character's ideas. XD Anyway, here's Valissa's profile for review.
Okay, let me wrap my mind around that.
Note that due to how the Magic Weapon Attunement automatic class feature works, the benefits of the amulet replace your enhancement bonus to attacks as long as you wear it, until the bonus from attunement is bigger than the number of special abilities you've applied to it.
What rules did you use to decide the benefits of that thing? As far as I can tell, they're supposed to increase as you gain mythic tiers, not as you gain levels.
I can see I'll have to up the to hit of my enemies to make for a credible opposition. That's okay though, I know tricks.
I think you're supposed to have seperate caster levels and progressions for your spheres, aren't you? I might have misunderstood this one though. If you don't have several progression, gestalt will eat the overlapping magic talents - like how you can't gain sneak attack twice at the same level, for example. However, it's a bit important, as warpriests are only supposed to be able to fervor with warpriest stuff.
-It doesn't seem like you've any talents on general cooldown. That kind of defeats the purpose of the whole recharge magic thing, doesn't it?
-Also, the shapeshifting power when used on an enemy shouldn't have a specific recharge time - that way it ends up being 1d3 recharge no matter if you augment it, or if you 'spend' spell points to avoid concentration. It's one of those that are really prone to incurring spell point cost, and it should probably be left as Recharge:No, for that reason. It always cost at least 1 spell point to use.
-Moving on, Deflection Aegis of Protection seems more similar to mage armor than anything, so I'd say it should be Recharge:Six hours.
-Creation:create likewise seems too low on CD. As I understand it, it makes permanent objects, so it's really similar to Minor Creation, and can be used to make things like Walls of stuff - Wall of Iron and Wall of Stone are both 12H cooldowns, and Minor Creation is 6 hours. Given that you can explicitly use it to make Walls of Iron, I'd say it should have a 12h cd, or maybe a 6h cd that upgrades to 12 when you use the Expanded Materials talent.
-Also, Houserule - the Conductive property doubles recharge time when used to conduct things that have recharge time.
-Finally, you don't qualify for Pummeling Style, it requires BAB +6 to take. Warpriest get a bonus style feat at level 6, but they have to qualify for it.
Anyway, that should about cover what I think is a bit off about the PC. Do you intend to move around using repeated short-range teleportation instead of walking? That'd be wierd.
Could you show me what goes into your saving throws? They're pretty high. I can account for +4 base, +4/5 stats, +1 resistance, but that leaves them at +10/+10/+11. Where are the last +3 coming from?
Aaaaah, the fun of sorting out complicated characters, eh? XD
1) Hm... still a bit new to ABP, and overlooked that bit on special abilities taking over. Well, the abilities are much more important than the enhancement bonus, so I'll live with that. XD *Will edit the numbers shortly*
2) For the abilities of the amulet, I used the 3.5E book "Weapons of Legacy", as part of my ongoing belief that Legendary Items should be worthy of the name and scale with the player. (That's also an option for your game, by the way, and I can give you a copy of the creation guide. ^^ Other options are also available.)
3) For the caster levels and spheres, I suppose the easiest way of thinking about it is having the character be like a Wizard/Sorcerer, which gets all spells for both classes. Only some class abilities get eaten in Gestalt - generally those that clearly aren't meant to stack, such as any kind of Sneak Attack or Channeled Energy. Caster Level is essentially BaB for Casters in Spheres, so I figured it would make sense to follow the same rule and take the better progression.
4) Any sphere ability with a recharge of 1d3 rounds has a General Cooldown.
5) Alteration's "Shapeshift: Enemy" power was noted as 1d3 rounds because it normally costs a spell point to use. ^^ Same as all the others here.
6) Protection's Aegis seemed like Shield of Faith to me (starts low and gets higher), but the guidelines I wrote literally say that the GM can either accept the proposal or assign another cooldown, and I can hardly go back on my own words. XD If you want six hours, then six hours it is!
7) Changed!
8) Noted!
9) Prerequisite(s): Improved Unarmed Strike; base attack bonus +6, brawler's flurry class feature, or flurry of blows class feature. (Source: Here)
10) Nah, Valissa mostly walks. XD Short-range teleport takes effort, concentration, and lets other people know you can do it. That's more of an emergency "let me get out of here" thing (and taken mainly as a prerequisite for her extradimensional storage).
11) The last part of the saving throws is probably the campaign bonus. As I mentioned in the original recruitment thread, the rules were that of this campaign, adjusted slightly for what I'm testing. I decided to give solo characters a flat bonus to all saves specifically to reduce the frequency at which they're affected by things - something that's only mildly troublesome in a group can quickly become fatal in a solo game, and it seemed like a good way of balancing the game. ^^ That's the same reason for the AC boost and such, too - characters are meant to be noticeably tougher than normal, and how well this works with these numbers is one of the things I'm testing.
2) I have Weapons of Legacy, it's quite fun, although normally, it's a bit weaksauce, what with the penalties, especially the pre-made items. Craft-it-yourself makes it much better.
6) The reason I think it's like mage armor is that it's hours per level. It likely won't matter much, anyway, you can afford to keep it up nearly all the time.
9) whoops, my bad. I parsed it wrong when I read it.
11) Hmm. What do you say I relegate Save or Die spells to rare circumstances, and we remove the +3? It's not that I don't want you powerful, it's more that I'd like to be able to use beastiary monsters out of the box from time to time. Currently, if I grab something CR 5 (the adventure assumes 5 level 5 vanilla guys when starting), you're more or less guaranteed to succeed on a 1, which I think is a bit overkill. Saving Throw DCs generally aren't all that high.
No matter what happens, I'll probably be playing around with the first few encounters, to see what you can take on easily and what you have problems with.
I put a post in the IC, you're welcome to put in a bit of role-playing before we get started for real. Otherwise I'll move it along.
Saves have been reduced. ^^ Fortunately, the generally-high ability scores mean that they'll be decent enough anyway.
Aaaaand I just flat-out ignore the penalties from the Weapons of Legacy book. XD I thought they were kind of stupid to begin with.
I also fully support playing around with the encounters to see what works. Games like this can get a bit weird, and it's always best to experiment sooner, rather than later.
I should probably roll initiatives Too:
1:
2:
3:
4:
Oh look, they managed to land a hit on you! Once!
Knowledge: Local applies if you want to know something about hobgoblins.
Hmm. How are you getting two standard actions? I thought the Haste Application of Time only allowed an extra attack on a full-attack?`
Knowledge Result:
These are hell-hounds. They're lawful evil ousiders, hunt in packs, and breathe fire from their mouths like dragons do.
These are bigger than normal though, and their snouts seem unusually long, ending in two defined nostrils instead of the snout that you normally get. They're also a little scaly in patches, especially on the underbelly.
It's as if someone has tampered with them.
Forget the second blast, then. *Coughs*
Still kinda new to the differences in Spheres, and I'm distracted by a lot of work at the moment. XD; Nothing that'll stop me from posting regularly here, but feel free to correct me if I make any other mistakes!
Sure, can do.
You could get your action back by spending a mythic power if you want?
Nah, I'd rather keep that point for now. XD Gotta ration 'em very carefully in solo games.
Alrighty. :) Round update incoming.
Super Secret Roll:
Super secret Rolls #2 & 3: ,
Another hit for 13 damage, it seems. You also avoided a bite with your hallow thing, so that's good.
You can't fail a dc 13 perception check, can you?
I'll update in a few hours.
Nope. Skills generally don't have auto-fails, and she has a +12 Perception bonus.
(It's the most-used skill in the game - always worth buffing. XD)
Acrobatics check I need before I post:
I suspect I'm going to have to look into spellcrafting in this system (which is relatively straightforward, actually) to try and open up my options a little more. XD
Also, sorry for the delay. I would've been posting yesterday, but we had a power outage and it was too late to do much by the time it got restored. XD;
Glad to hear you've got your power back :)
If I were you, I'd begin making some full attacks right about now. You've split them up into things you can outrun, and things you can't, and running away further if you don't have some sort of way to really increase your speed probably isn't going to help you.
Of course, don't you have medium Range teleport if you expend an SP?
You could probably use that for a head start and then leg it all the way to Drellin's Ferry. It's only a couple miles from here, you think.
Well, I can certainly try with the attacks. ^^ It's definitely true that Valissa can probably escape long-distance if she really needs to... but I don't want to go without giving one or two messages.
If I can't kill at least a few foes with a high-powered tristalt, then I have done something horribly wrong and need to seriously reconsider my character. XD
Ouch.
Indeed. I think it's time to try and get rid of those beasts. XD
Outside of that, feel free to start talking about the game you'd like to play in at any time. ^^ I don't want you to go too long without getting what you were offered!
My first bet would've been kingmaker, but I'm rather intimately familiar with it, so I don't think there'd be much suspense to playing through it. A lot of the appeal lies in wondering what lies in the next hex, past the next hill, and beyond the horizon. That'd be sort of spoiled, seeing as I've run it before.
Anyway, while the concept is really cool, I've descovered that I don't really like the kingdom building rules that much.
Hmm... Currently, I have an idea for a character, Sir something something, who's a bit of a scoundrel. He got involved with some sort of secret society which deals in archeology, mainly to use their network to get himself into business. (the Order of the Palatine Eye in Ustalav is great for this, comes with Osirion flavor.)
He's a treasure hunter, who delves deep into forbidden places to bring wealth back out and back home.
He'd wield a revolver and some sort of one-handed weapon.
Something like Mummy's Mask would be really appropriate as a campaign for him, but I haven't read it, and would like to hear what you think would be good first.
Mummy's Mask as an AP, eh? Well, it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect from an Egyptian campaign - sand, pyramids, sphinxes, mummies, etc. - so if you think it would be good for your character, you're probably right. XD
Alternatively, do you have a campaign you've been feeling inspired to run?
I'm not extremely attached to that character concept yet, and I feel like I might more easily be able to create a concept if I had an idea for something like that.
It really depends. In keeping with the theme of how all this got started, mmm... are there any character concepts you've always wanted to have the chance to play, but never got to? That's usually a good place to start, so I can find a campaign that fits.
Otherwise, Serpent's Skull might be interesting, or Curse of the Crimson Throne.
For Challenge Mode, there's the Crypt of the Everflame module series, followed by Rappan Athuk. The plot there could be your character trying to become an Overlord type, slowly realizing their destiny as they start bright-eyed and cheerful, and slowly morph into a conquerer.
Edit: Huh, forgot a mythic feat for Valissa. XD Well, it's mid-combat now, and making changes in the middle of things is bad form, so I'll deal with that later.
Ooh, actually, yes! I never got to run Arae through the WotR campaign I built her for - I think you were in that one too.
Her fluff is in this profile actually, I'd love to run her through a solo game. She's a Paladin//Bannerman Warlord. I'll probably put either Sorcerer or Bard on her third side.
Chargen: Start at level one, please. Max starting gold, 30points 1-1 point buy on a 12 base, Max starting Hp at level 1, with Half HD +2 for the later levels. Your increased feat progression, makes for cramming in all the stuff less of a headache.
Mythic rank 0, would like to follow the normal mythic progression, but with the extra xp gained putting me a few levels ahead. 2 mythic abilities per rank, 1 mythic feat per rank.
As for legacy items, I'd love for her to find one that can grow with her as she progresses, but probably not one she starts with.
-Without recharge magic, please.
-I think I'm going Paladin/Warlord/Wizard, actually. Fits better than sorcerer, and I'll be using it for utility casting moreso than repeated spells like the sorcerer. It's a shame about requireing int instead of Cha, but I'll live.
-I think I'll stay with the normal Hp pool.
-I'd love to be surprised by a legacy item.
Am currently working on the sheet. It'll be fun.
Hard at work on this alias here.
I think I just got done building her. And I like the way having Spheres of Power changes your character. The teleportation and wierd creation magic really reinforces that fluff about being a devotee of an outer god, even if it opposes the intrusion of unnatural stuff into reality.
Plus the mechanics are plain cool.
I'm still busy trying to figure out good combinations and all. It should settle down a bit soon.
And also if I'm fighting fewer foes at once. XD
...
*Remembers some WotR stuff*
Hmm... ^^
Aye, but then they'd need to be tougher foes! xD.
In all seriousness, would you like the "DC" of the adventure turned up or down from here? Any serious complaints?
Toned down a bit would be preferable. XD
4800xp. Collect your loot IC if you want. And I'll see what I can do about toning down.
Hmm... perhaps chopping off 1/4 of the enemies for larger groups, and leaving smaller encounters as they are? I'll have Arae's own campaign up shortly. ^^
Sorry for taking so long with that. I somehow missed that you'd posted.
Whoops.
Erhm. You've been ordered to reestablish something called 'Vraath Keep' in Chitterwood. You have a deed for it that says it's yours by inheritance - that bit is probably forged, but as far as you know, the deed itself is legitimate - there's supossed to be a cache of treasure in the keep which you're to use to pay for rebuilding and hire staff/peasants to settle the lands around it and farm/hunt so you can get tax revenue, but first things first, you're to clean it out and claim the treasure.
Once you've done that, you can hire people, and Andoran can start sending some people up there to use it as a base of operations on the quiet.
Strictly speaking, you don't hold military rank right now, being a spy and all, and Cheliax isn't supposed to know where you're from. They presumably have people watching things here, so you shouldn't talk too much about Andoran. Your cover story is that you've come to claim your birthright, which is close enough to the truth.
Once you've cleaned out the keep, a dwarven traveling merchant called Ceril Longhammer will take your message back across the border.
He's supposed to be staying at this town, in an inn called the Green Apple for the next couple of weeks.
*Quietly stuffs Valissa's military uniform back into her storage space* Ain't no one gonna find it in there. XD
Hmm. Roll intimidate, please.
Well then. I'm going to be honest here - you jumped off of my railroad. That's good though, means I can get to explore some things I'd thought of, but hadn't developed fully. I'll find some interesting events for you.
That said, I'd like to hear about what your plans are, so I can prepare things that are appropriate to it, and likely to come up.
I have some set piece timeline events, and I've some half-made events, and there's plenty to explore in town (although not fully developed, but just toss yourself out there about that, I have enough notes and stuff to improvise there) but tailoring it to what you're going to do next will require a little bit of work, and I'd love to know what you're up to. I can guess some, I think, but just to avoid any confusion.
:)
Updating the IC now.
Edit: I should update the WotR game, too. I've paid way too little attention to it, for all that I've been looking forward to play it for a long time.
Valissa has this... thing... with provincial authority figures. XD The conversations don't usually end well.
At the moment, her plans are actually to go find that camp of hobgoblins, locate the leader, try to assassinate him, and... uh... leave a message for the others. She does want to keep things from escalating too much - as a solo character, she actually can't do as much as a larger, more capable team would. She's pretty good for independent missions, not so good a large-scale incidents, and would indeed like to try and avert that. XD
Okay. So what does Valissa do now?
Sorry for taking so long to post, by the way. My mother was in the hospital, nothing serious, but it took more of a toll than I thought it would, couldn't quite manage the energy to post.
I believe she's heading into the forest to talk to the guy you mentioned earlier. XD Not much else I can say until she gets there and sees what it's like.
You doing all right?
Yeah. Just... Stuff.
Will post soon though, will also be online for a good bit if you want some back-and-forth posting tonight.
More stuff going on?