So here is the bare bones for my submission :)
I am going to be a dwarf warrior/ranger (inflitrator if i ever get that far)
i will have favored enemy: humanoid (giant) and will be looking at some of the following feats: big game hunter, power attack, skill focus: survival, vital strike, death or glory. As time goes on.
His entire clan has been wiped out (and by goblins no less!) and this has sort of "unhinged" the dwarf. Racked with survivors guilt, he seeks the end of his life but is unable to just commit suicide or "let" someone kill him as that would be dishonorable. Instead he intends to gain a glorious death at the biggest foe he can.
Can i count on there being at least a few giant like creatures native to our area? He will be significantly stronger where there is a larger foe than when against regular mooks :)
@ 16bit: Because it's unexplored, there's really no way of knowing if it's uninhabited. Loot? They're struggling for survival in an unexplored wilderness and you're worrying about shiny trinkets? I thank you for your interest and your thoughts, and your questions. I hope you find the answers satisfying.
@ Fighting Chicken: looks good. A complicated backstory is not at all objectionable, though I'm not 100% sure all your NPCs will have been on the Laughing Lillend. Don't forget that The Harpy wrecked on some rocks, possibly within reach of shore, though.
@ Bobson and Galorit: I'm going to say 24 hours (so about 6 EST tomorrow) for people to throw your hat in the ring on this thread. Meaning, if you've not said anything by then, sorry, have a nice day. You guys have obviously said something. I'll give it another day or two after that to get a full character in on the other thread.
Thank you Nerk. I hope to have my character submitted by tonight.
A question for you- Will we be required to find someone to teach us new skills we have no skill ranks in? If so, what if we have reasons for a character knowing of unranked skills and having the capability/background to self-teach? I have the feeling my character may rapidly realize he'll need to start making weapons and armor just as much as shovels and houses...
Thank you Nerk. I hope to have my character submitted by tonight.
A question for you- Will we be required to find someone to teach us new skills we have no skill ranks in? If so, what if we have reasons for a character knowing of unranked skills and having the capability/background to self-teach? I have the feeling my character may rapidly realize he'll need to start making weapons and armor just as much as shovels and houses...
The NPC associated with Kal'Tos is his brother, a young dwarven journeyman smith. If Kal'Tos is on the journey his brother can probably help you with that.
@Fighting Chicken: I've not had a crack at using the downtime rules yet, but they look like they have a lot of potential. I'm hoping for my character to become the intellectual figure within the down. He's definitely not a leader but he has a lot of information at his fingertips and can certainly help out a lot. As far as planned downtime behaviours I've been thinking about the following:
-Directing the construction of buildings (with knowledge [engineering])
-Crafting alchemical goods to give out for defense against potential dangers
-Exploring the resources of the continent (somewhere between gather information, research and scheming I guess)
-Gathering food
-Adding Formulae to my book (I'll be doing this if there is nothing better to spend my time on)
-I'll join you salvaging from the ship (I can give myself a swim speed)
I like your social/performative actions Chicken, and could probably join in with a few (decent Sleight of Hand could make for a good magic sketch).
I have a skill point that's floating around, I'm not sure what to do with it. I'm thinking either go into heal or a second craft ability. Can anyone suggest a good craft that an academic from a poor upbringing could potentially be familiar with? Chicken already mentioned using Survival to make a map but maybe Cartography?
Otm-Shank here.
I'm currently rewriting Gair's backstory as I've had some initial issues giving him the right feel. I should have him properly submitted in the other thread tonight or early tomorrow.
As far as the crafting goes, I have the tools I need and materials (wood, horn, sinew) should be obtainable with a little work.
I'm curious if it's possible to work on mundane crafting at half speed while traveling like it is with magical crafting? Or will I need to wait until I can set up a work space and only be able to make progress while I'm home at the main camp?
I'm also wondering about the Knowledge(Geography) skill. I feel like it's something we might not get use out of given that the region is uncharted, no?
@Aleister, I think Cartography might be a really practical choice. I'm not certain how far we'll be able to get with just Survival on that front.
Hmm. I'm not building Doldri to be much of a contributor to survival. He's unaccustomed to roughing it, and his story, should he actually survive the first week, is one of coming to grips with his situation, not thriving in it.
The New Recruitment Thread is up
Please reserve that thread for complete character submissions, and continue to post questions, comments etc in this thread.
I think I did it wrong.
I created Makandal, a LN Human Aristocrat / Sorcerer. You said a MINIMUM of one NPC; I created a family: a widow, 3 daughters, 2 son-in-laws, and 2 grand-children. Makandal is enamored with the youngest daughter.
I just figured how to do the show / hide thing: the spoiler tag, right. I have not figured out what dotting means, and I have not figured out how to submit the character I created. I see other people have created (submitted?) characters, but I can not see where / how they did it.
Clue me in, please!
I started with the name Darren, but that was already taken, so I renamed him Makandal. I ran out of time to edit the post, so the name Darren may still appear one or two times. Also, it would be more appropriate for Makandal to be the son of a Sheikh, rather than an earl; as Sheikh matches the name origin and avatar icon better.
You asked about personality. He is young, aristocratic, charming, adventurous, naive, lawful-neutral. Do you need more detail?
You asked about appearance. He is human, young, aristocratic, charming, tall, fit, tan. Do you need more detail?
To complicate matters, he is a newly minted sorcerer. His ability manifested during the crisis aboard ship (the storm, the kraken, etc.).
I describe the girlfriend, Cicely, as an aristocratic witch-in-training, so that if a class in witch is in-appropriate, she can just be a first level aristocrat. Ditto, the mother and sisters. One son-in-law is an expert, the other is a warrior.
Clue me in, please!
Makandal, if you click on the names of the characters of the recruitment thread, it will take you to their profile page. Your character's alias' profile page is where you are to put your character information. I would recommend finding a statblock/character generator (such as PC Gen) to make things easier.
Hope that helps.
@ Makandal: click your character, go to the profile tab, and create/edit profile. Put all your character info (crunch and fluff) in there, and be careful, it's a real jerk about timing out. I tend to write everything out in another window and then copy/paste it into the profile. As far as more detail than what you've given on his appearance and personality, I don't need more, but it wouldn't upset me if you decided to flesh it out a bit.
@ Gair: Mundane crafting sort of gets the hose compared to magical crafting in Pathfinder. I would say working at half-speed whilst adventuring is reasonable for something like a bow. Less reasonable for something that requires heavy tools and such. Completely unreasonable if you're using Craft: shipbuilding to make yourselves a warship. I'll take it on a case-by-case basis.
@ Galorit: interesting question. I can't see any reason why a character couldn't pick up a skill when they level. To my knowledge, the RAW assumes that when you level up, you are just spontaneously better at doing stuff. Any new skill that can't be justified by your character's experiences in play are either skills that he's always had but that he was rusty at, or are granted to him in a dream by a seven-legged shih-tzu smoking a cigar and talking like James Cagney.
@ Gair again: I feel that Knowledge: Geography should be useful. If we decide the skill is not just having memorized a bunch of facts about places that are known, but is also having a general knowledge of how things work and an awareness of how things relate, I would imagine it could be used to expedite exploration, and possibly in place of perception to discover things about the hex you're exploring, and so on. Synergy bonus with survival to not get lost? Anyway, don't worry about it being totally wasted.
edit: Posted in the other thread instead :P
@Galorit, DM Nerk. Thank you!
@ Dm Nerk: thank you for the input. If I get selected I'd be happy to adjust my backstory to fit the needs of the story as you'd like.
@ Aleister: if we're both selected, you can tell me how to build the buildings, and I'll build 'em! I would have loved to take knowledge [engineering], but couldn't make it fit with my character, her not having any formal education.
Regarding your extra skill, I agree with Gair that cartography would be a good pick, as survival seems to be a poor substitute for the real thing. Heal also seems like a good pick - and a great way to earn influence with the small community right from the get-go.
A kind of off-the-wall craft skill I thought of that may fit your character as well (but probably wouldn't pay off for some time) could be craft [writing]. Every great society needs their towering intellectual presence in the mold of Hobbes, Kant, etc...
And yes, salvaging we shall go!
@ ICTSpiceMerchant: I don't think your downtime would need to be spent doing survival-related things - that's just what my character would do. I could see Doldri using his social skills to build influence with the community, to be spent on an important check down the line, or protection, or help with a project. I could also see him using knowledge [nature] to look for 'shrooms or brew some potent dandelion wine. Just off the top of my head.
At any rate, I think the narrative arc that you've designed looks like it would be a lot of fun to play!
@ Galorit: Any new skill that can't be justified by your character's experiences in play are either skills that he's always had but that he was rusty at, or are granted to him in a dream by a seven-legged shih-tzu smoking a cigar and talking like James Cagney.
Best mental image of the day. I'd like the latter please, my character is having problems with nightmares anyway so it will be par for the course.
I completely spaced the ship wrecked on the rocks at the opening to the bay. Salvage and maybe survivors that would have to be high on the list of things to do.
@Fighting Chicken: I love the idea of Craft (writing) but I'm going with Cartography for now, with plans to pick up writing when I level (although it might fall better under Perform). Aside from the practicalities I already bought my character a chalkboard and chalk instead of ink and paper to save money and I think developing a creative impulse could be an interesting thing to portray.
@Spicemerchant: I don't think you need to be hyper-survival oriented either, though productive use of knowledge (nature) along with your social proficiency could position you for a leadership role if you wanted to go that way.
Yeah, it was a tossed in detail, but when I saw Ben's list of NPCs, I thought putting some aboard the Harpy so that they would be on the continent, but not necessarily immediately available. Come to think of it, there were ships that were separated by that first storm that might be around, too.
Do not let these musings cause you to suspect that I am making this up as I go along. Know it for a fact.
I completely spaced the ship wrecked on the rocks at the opening to the bay. Salvage and maybe survivors that would have to be high on the list of things to do.
Cueta slaps her forehead - hard - and thinks to herself, Oh yeah, SURVIVORS!
I thought about that, but dead survivors usually carry loot, and it was such a tragic event that claimed their lives. I'm not even sure any of them survived.
I thought about that, but dead survivors usually carry loot, and it was such a tragic event that claimed their lives. I'm not even sure any of them survived.
"Dead Survivors"!!! Is that a polite way of saying "Undead"?
If an airplane crashes on the border between Canada and the US, which side do you bury the survivors on?
So... That's it.
Recruitment is officially closed.
People who have expressed an interest have another day to get themselves into the other thread.
So far we have:
Cueta Guiding Star: CG Human Expert Ranger
Makandal: LN Human Aristocrat/Sorcerer
Endryn Beaudar: NE Aasimar Adept/Cleric
Vallen Silverclasp: LG Dwarf Expert/Cleric
Aleister Crumb: NG Human Expert/Alchemist
Kal'Tos: LN Dwarf Expert/Cleric
Ben Sandlock: NG Halfling Expert/Rogue
Belluan: NE Human Aristocrat/Sorcerer
Doldri: NN Gnome Aristocrat/Bard
Garrak Tharn: NG Half-orc Warrior/Wizard
Right now, I think we're waiting on Bobson and Gobo, and there were a few others who piped in early in the recruitment who haven't been heard from in a while. If they get something in by tomorrow, I'll consider them, too.
It's already looking like a tough choice. There are a lot of really strong characters here. I'm really looking forward to seeing how you guys make a shambles of all my plans face the challenges ahead.
Was held up by some computer troubles last night. Will be all polished off in a couple hours. Thank you for your patience.
@Gobo, the correct answer is Canada because we don't have the death penalty up here :P
I believe you are missing the expert part of my character Kal'Tos
Long term I'll be looking to lead men in the securing of our new borders, possibly as the land arm to Cueta's sea if we were both selected.
Having learned the art of bowmaking and fletching from his father, he would want to continue passing the skill on to his son as well as establishing a workshop to provide for the settlers. As well as crafting my new bow to replace the one lost in the short term.
I'm also very interested in working with the wildlife we encounter in the new world. I would like to work at domesticating some new exotic animals. Perhaps as mounts for our own unique company of rangers. As such I'll eventually want to run a sort of stable/ranch set up in or just outside the new settlement.
Stats half done. Backstory still needs to be rewritten to adapt it. Passing out.
Expect my submission tomorrow morning. If you don't have it in the next 8 hours, you probably won't before you make your picks...
Oh, no objections to the standard Pathfinder pantheon? Or at least Desna?
Sorry, Bobson - standard PF Pantheon is a yes.
Harrow Cards ... sure, that's fine. But divination in a sandbox can be tricky.
Sorry, Bobson - standard PF Pantheon is a yes.
Harrow Cards ... sure, that's fine. But divination in a sandbox can be tricky.
Yeah, when I went to go write the background today, I realized that it was set in Golarian. That's what I get for posting while 3/4 asleep.
As for divination, it's definitely doable. Here's an example from my previous campaign. (There's a second reading further back if you want to look at Rogath's other posts.) It takes some creativity and flexibility, and it can't be overdone, but it is doable.
Long term I'll be looking to lead men in the securing of our new borders, possibly as the land arm to Cueta's sea if we were both selected.
I think there is definitely room for both of us. I've designed my character to be flexible going forward, so I can take her in any number of directions. I'll probably keep putting one or two skill points in most of my class skills, liberally using the "aid another" action, and keep a few skills maxed, but that shouldn't be redundant because they would be skills that are good to have multiple PCs maxed in (stealth, perception, etc.).
I've also been thinking about roles within the kingdom building phase, and am kind of enamored with the Treasurer role, the more I think about it. When I ran Kingmaker, non of my PCs were interested in it (I think the exact wording of one player was, "Treasurer? That sounds like a great job for an NPC."). And I've never seen it talked about being filled in the Kingmaker forums by a PC either.
But, I think it could be a lot of fun. Sure, it would deal with tax collection and budgeting, but there could be a lot more to it, depending on just how involved the government wants to get in the creation of wealth - building of transportation infrastructure to facilitate trade and commerce, for example. This could involve building roads, and maybe toll booths, and stage coach lines, perhaps government funded (and protected) way/resting points between remote towns or important resources. Perhaps a pony express, to facilitate communication via fast mail delivery (and could dovetail nicely with your exotic animal training).
Mercantile infrastructure would at least need to be created - a central bank, a large and functional port for the importation of luxury goods and exportation of commodities. Maybe the Treasury Department would sponsor or even run a government or semi-governmental trade company, maybe the government would want to invest in a navy to protect sea lanes from pirates (probably can't help the odd Kraken though). Perhaps a crack team of problem solvers is needed for difficult problems (Seal Team 6!). And of course such a Treasury Department would need to work closely with other arms of government, especially border enforcement and rangers, regarding the protection of those special out of the way places important to the financial health of the colony, and those that utilize them.
So yeah, that was just a really long way of saying, if DM Nerk likes both of our character concepts there is definitely room for two rangers!
A few hours left, but I'm not sure if we're waiting on anyone.
That, as they say, is that.
Cueta Guiding Star: CG Human Expert Ranger
Makandal: LN Human Aristocrat/Sorcerer
Endryn Beaudar: NE Aasimar Adept/Cleric
Vallen Silverclasp: LG Dwarf Expert/Cleric
Aleister Crumb: NG Human Expert/Alchemist
Kal'Tos: LN Dwarf Expert/Cleric
Ben Sandlock: NG Halfling Expert/Rogue
Belluan: NE Human Aristocrat/Sorcerer
Doldri: NN Gnome Aristocrat/Bard
Garrak Tharn: NG Half-orc Warrior/Wizard
Morak Skandalor: CG Dwarf Expert/Cleric
Gair Hearthseeker: NN Human Warrior/Ranger
Decision and intro to come tomorrow.
Good luck everyone! I think there will be an excellent group no matter the decision!
Good luck everyone! I think there will be an excellent group no matter the decision!
Agreed - good luck all!
May the odds ever favor us all.
I'm on pins and needles. Can't wait to see the list!
Good luck, everyone.
I want to thank everyone who submitted characters. They were all top notch and it made it very difficult to pick a group.
Cueta Guiding Star
Gair Hearthseeker
Vallen Silverclasp
Kal'Tos
Ben Sandlock
Garrak Tharn
Welcome to the new world.
I look forward to adventuring with everyone! I'm new at pbp on these boards so tell me if I make a faux pas or anything...
Let's get out there and not starve!
Thank you kindly for the selection!
My congratulations to those selected to brave the wilderness with me and condolences to those who will not be joining us, I wish you luck in other campaigns!
Congrats all! May the memory of dear, dear Doldri live in your hearts as you build a thriving, sustainable colony.
Hey, sorry for the lack of posting, the urf mode in LoL just came out and that sucked up all of my time :p
but you guys have fun! Sad to have missed out.
Well, I'm glad I finished the character, even if he didn't get picked. Good luck, all. Don't let the kraken eat you!