Hello all!
Half-Orc sorcerer (a.k.a. Xunal) checking in here.
Was reminded by Gaming Ranger that one of my two traits had to be a Shackled City AP trait. I've been distracted the last few days, but finally got around to looking at the Shackled City AP Google Doc.
By then, I'd already created, or mostly created, my Half-Orc crossblooded sorcerer (Juraan; pronounced "JUR-awn"). I already decided on the Black Dragon and Shaitan bloodlines. So, I found a Shackled City AP trait that's totally perfect for Juraan:
One of your ancestors was a half-black dragon. You have some sort of distinctively draconic feature, be it reptilian eyes, scales on the backs of your hands, or tiny vestigial horns on your head.
You gain a +4 bonus on all saving throws against acid effects,
a +2 bonus on Swim checks,
and a +1 bonus on Perception checks.
Your body isn't quite as limber as it should be. You take a -1 penalty on Reflex saves.
You have an intensity about everything you do, and your emotions are powerful and often difficult for you to control.
I've changed his HL file so the numbers matched up. It also gave me a chance to figure out how to jury-rig a character with traits or feats that aren't part of the collection of HL files I've got.
Anyway, I hope Juraan is looking good. I was going to work on his backstory tonight. But I had to take care of that AP trait first. So I'll try doing the backstory thing tomorrow. Between his upbringing (mostly randomly determined with UC), his bloodlines and that AP trait, he's probably going to have a few anger management issues. But he should be interesting!
Here's his stats, etcetera, so far. Back story and other bits to come soon:
Male half-orc (mystic) sorcerer (crossblooded) 1 (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 69)
CN Medium humanoid (human, orc)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +6
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Defense
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AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex)
hp 10 (1d6+4)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +3
Resist acid 4
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee light flail +1 (1d8+1)
Ranged sling +1 (1d4+1)
Sorcerer (Crossblooded) Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +4)
1st (4/day)—color spray (DC 14)
0 (at will)—acid splash, disrupt undead, jolt[UM], ray of frost
Bloodline Draconic, Shaitan
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Statistics
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Str 12, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 16
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 12
Feats Endurance, Eschew Materials, Toughness
Traits fate's favored
Skills Linguistics +3, Perception +6, Spellcraft +6, Swim +3, Use Magic Device +7
Languages Common, Draconic, Goblin, Orc, Terran
SQ acid ray, bloodline arcana (energy spells that match bloodline energy deal +1 damage per die), orc blood
Other Gear light flail, sling, sling bullets (10), backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, flint and steel, ink, black, inkpen (2), mess kit[UE], paper (10), pot, scroll case, soap, torch (5), trail rations (5), waterskin, 40 gp, 7 sp, 5 cp
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Tracked Resources
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Acid Ray (1d6 acid damage, 6/day) (Sp) - 0/6
Sling bullets - 0/10
Torch - 0/5
Trail rations - 0/5
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Special Abilities
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Acid Ray (1d6 acid damage, 6/day) (Sp) Starting at 1st level, you can unleash an elemental ray as a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This ray deals 1d6 points of acid damage + 1 for every two sorcerer levels you possess. You can use this ability
Bloodline Arcana: Draconic (Ex) +1 damage per die for [Acid] spells.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Endurance +4 to a variety of fort saves, skill and ability checks. Sleep in L/M armor with no fatigue.
Energy Resistance, Acid (4) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Acid attacks.
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Fate's Favored Increase luck bonuses by 1.
Orc Blood Half-orcs count as both humans and orcs for any effect related to race.
Shaitan You were born with the power of earth genies, and the magic of the shaitans is strong in you.
Bonus Spells: true strike (3rd), glitterdust (5th), greater magic weapon (7th), stoneskin (9th), wall of stone
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JURAAN'S OUTWARD APPEARANCE:
His hair is shiny obsidian black, with streaks of jade green and lapis lazuli blue. Both his eyes are brightly coloured, without whites, and with reptilian slits in the irises. He also has heterochromia; both eyes are different colours. The right eye is lapis lazuli blue, and the left eye is jade green. Finally, Juraan's skin colour is pale green; almost sickly.
Age: 17
Height: 5'3" (160 cm)
Weight: 170 lbs (77 kg)
WYRM BLOODED ADVENTURE PATH TRAIT:
Juraan had a half-black dragon ancestor. Giving him distinctly draconic eyes, as well as some of his arcane abilities.
He gets a +4 trait bonus on all saves against acid effects.
He gets a +2 trait bonus on all Swim checks.
He gets a +1 trait bonus on Perception checks.
He also suffers a -1 penalty on Reflex saves.
Hi again!
I just spotted an "oopsies" in my HL profile. I accidentally gave him Acid Resistance 4; should've been +4 all saves vs. Acid Affects in the saving throw bits.
Fixed it!
The Last Laugh
You might have been tempted to go into the ranks of the Last Laugh guild by invitation or your own interest, but you are currently no member of the organisation. Perhaps you are in the orbit of the guild and act as some sort of informant for them (profiting you are working at some X place to know what is going on there), or you have dealings with them to get access to the blackmarket. In this last case you might use them to resell small objects you get on thievery (perhaps on abusive merchants or other 'too rich' people on Cauldron) or you might have great art for forgery and they often approach you to buy/obtain identification documents, city passes or tax-payment bills. Your collaboration might be out of personal interest, either greed or desire to impress and achieve power in the city undergrounds, or it might come from a pressing situation, the guild might have menaced to damage someone you love or reveal your more shameful actions to your mentor and loved Alek Tercival, Gretchyn Tashykk or other current or past respect figure. Perhaps they might have even menaced to kidnap someone you love.
Orphan connection
Just because it has appeared in more than one post, being some of you orphans or having met to a deep or shallow degree in the Lantern Street Orphanage will work very good for the campaign I think. Thus, do not be reluctant to follow that line. I feel comfortable with it.
Surabar heritage
The Tercival family might be descendants of Surabar as well. Thus your connection with Alek might be even stronger. He might be a distant or close uncle, making his reasons to protect and bring you to Cauldron even stronger. His devotion to the Church might be behind the reasons you were moved to the Orphanage instead of being personally raised by him.
The oracle, with the options you choose for her/him are just perfect for the campaign. Because of that and mystery just works great for oracles, I will not comment much more on it ;)
(although we can comment on more connections with the city after you decide which concept to go)
For the monk, have a look at the Order of the Silver Dream entry I have written for Hayato's monk.
For the gunslinger, I think you have already read the firearms entry I wrote later.
Dreams at Pelor's Shrine
Although you have had nightmares all your life, your dreams have just recently became intense and clear. The images of fire and flames have made you seek counsel on Pelor's Shrine as you thought it would be the place where the knowledge of fire is more deep in the city. Your family might know or not about your dreams. Whether they accept your close realtionship with the temple or they are totally against, you have been well received there.
Kristof Jurgensen is a recent arrival to the city, and has been overwhelmed by work after his three superiors recently died under mysterious circumstances, leaving him in charge of the entire shrine. As such when you approached when you approached him and he identified one of the people dying on flames in your dream as one of his superiors, he decided to give you a job in the church to keep you close to him.
Independently if you know already some of the other characters and might find a reason to help them, one of the initial events of the campaign might connect to some sign in one of your mysterious dreams, and you might decide to further follow that sign and search what is the meaning of all that in an attempt to understand the nature of your dreams.
Villain murderer of parents
I have an idea of whom might be this one. Your parents might have been part of Cauldron's nobility (I think that fits good with an stylish bard knowledgeable of etiquette) or for some reasons have good contacts with nobility, by being creators of high jewellery, or just part of their households (a majordomo, cooker, bodyguard, chamber lad...). If you chose the servant route a halfling might fit better as they are the most usual among noble servants in Cauldron (although half-orc for bodyguard). One of your parents might have bothered someone in Cauldron which ultimately lead him to decide for his removal (the motivations of your parent might be good or bad or you might let me decide as you wish). Let me know if you prefer to have hints on what your parent might have discovered or prefer to hold that veiled.
I will provide some physical hints at how the villain might look prior the start of the game.
Arcane duelist
In order to inspire us each other on this, it would be nice to have some extra ideas on how and where he got his arcane and fighting inner or trained capabilities.
JJ Surabar
I like the idea that Alek is an uncle or cousin. Maybe his grandfather was JJ grandfather. It also provides a reason that he was in the area when JJ's parents were killed - he may have been on the way to visit them.
Which god does Alek follow? St Cuthbert?
I like the idea of JJ being a bit of a forger. Originally I was thinking he was more of a paid lookout (which seemed to fit the "mime" role in the organisation). But having a niche specialty would be pretty neat too.
Since it sounds like Aer is on board with playing JJ and I've gotten good feedback on the oracle idea, I will go with my halfling oracle idea. I've already pitched the basic character once or twice to other games in the past so I already have an alias that I'll be using - Marigold. I'll probably start posting here as her :)
So it's looking like...
Gov - Paladin
Aer - Rogue
LL - Oracle
Ictoo - Ranger, probably
JZ - Bard or Inquisitor
Seems like a pretty good group forming to me. With either setup it looks as though melee will be covered so I will stick with the Life oracle version since the Ancestor version would've been a little more melee focused. It sounds as though probably at least she and JJ were likely at the orphanage based on how things are shaping up so maybe we can go from there for more connections to each other and the city.
I need to come up with a better name than JJ. That was really just a holding pattern, although having used it for a while it is starting to grow on me. I've fleshed out his family tree a little more as well, and put in some distant connections to other families and places.
Family
Father: Rolard Surabar (quarry owner)
Mother: Hurlira Aslaxin (a very distant cousin of Zachary)
Uncle once removed: Alek Tercival (son of Paulos and Melissa Tercival)
Paternal Grandfather: Criton Surabar (an artisan)
Paternal Grandmother: Lisa of Sasserine
Great Aunt: Melissa (married Paulos Tercival) (daughter of Navaranda Surabar)
PP Great Grandfather: Navaranda Surabar
Alek is a paladin of Abadar, and thus one of the most relevant guardians and protectors of the Church of St. Cuthbert. He is the kind of ruthless mentor, that even being good hearted and truly helping you, tries to get the best of you at every moment. A perfectionist of the faith I would say. The kind of 'parent' you feel the need to impress.
Family decisions and names seem ok.
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Ok guys I am going to be largely out of action for the next week because I'm going on a trip, Rutseg I mentioned this in a PM and hope it's OK if my participation in this thread slows down somewhat this week because of it.
I'll spend the time fully fleshing out both of my concepts and maybe a wizard too.
One thing I've forgotten to ask is how are you handling initiative GM? I read about stacking turns but will there be a roll for who acts first or just heroes act and then enemy act?
Nothing better than an example:
--------------- Next GM post -------------------
[Lady Ladile and Ictoo combat actions resolution]
[Foes actions and resolution]
--------------- Next GM post -------------------
[All combat actions resolution but Aerondor whom not posted an action]
[Foes actions and resolution]
I hope this explains better how I usually manage initiative.
Asking here to avoid doubling stuff.
So you roll initiative and post it.
Could we then, after combat is announced, perhaps even before initiative, announce and roll for the actions we want to take, perhaps even for several rounds with alternatives?
And maybe even roll eventuel saves in a spoiler?
I was thinking about this after the last PbP i ran, because sometimes you just can´t post or others post faster and things can go very smooth that way.
The main change to your idea is the GM gets to do a bit more "resolution".
You are expected to post only during your turn, that is, while your name is in bold.
That said, if you perfectly know you can post now but will not be able to do it later, you can add an action intention within spoilers. I prefer though to see you posting only on your turn because I resolve actions in posting order rather than initiative order. This helps all players to know what is the tactical situation at the moment they are posting and ensures your actions are not invalidated by a later post.
In summary, only on exceptional cases.
About saves rolling. In the case you know you will have to roll a save in response to your own action (like attacking an enemy under a Sanctuary spell), yes sure, I expect you to go ahead and roll it ;)
Fair enough and your strategy makes a lot of sense too.
Okay JZ, enjoy your trip and looking forward to seeing your character concepts when you're able/when you get back!
Lady Ladile here; this will be the alias I'm using and as luck would have it a lot of the mechanics currently on her profile already fit with Rutseg's creation guidelines I believe (20 point buy, sources used, etc.) There will be some things I'll need to change around since some of her traits and old backstory were meant for Carrion Crown, but it shouldn't take much time to alter them.
I think I'll likely stick with the Community Guardian archetype since it's quite fitting for a Life oracle. I was thinking that her 'community' could be the orphanage and the surrounding neighborhood, at least to start with and could go from there as she gets more invested in the happenings of the campaign.
Considering that halflings are considered to be adults around the same age that humans are (20 or so) and that the filth fever plague happened 7 years prior to the start of the campaign, Marigold would've been right around the beginning of adolescence when she was sent to the orphanage (13 years old or so). So I'll need to do some work on what her life was like before then; I imagine her family might've been craftsmen working for someone or perhaps they'd been lucky enough to have their own small business somewhere in town. I'll mull it over and post more ideas on that a bit later.
Also depending on the general ages of the other children in the orphanage, including other possible PCs, she might have come to be seen as something of a big sister by some of the younger children.
I'd pictured JJ as starting at 16, and probably at least a decade in the orphanage, so predating the filth fever epidemic.
So both of us would have been long termers.
I'd not worked out where he was living now. Maybe in some doss hole, or a room over a workshop.
Are there any abandoned buildings anywhere?
There is no neighbourhood defined as specially abandoned.
That said the city has a considerable slope from the outer place descending to the central lake. The closer to the central lake, the poorest the houses, the smallest the rents.
Kikinnin Rouradont, at your service. My friends call me 'Black Shuck', if only for my black hair and doggedness in pursuing my quarry. The Plague had accomplices, damn dirty rats. It's become a bit of an obsession, to tell you true. No place they don't run, so I follow. In your walls, no problems. In your cellars, no worries. Give me permission to spend some time waiting around their rabbit runs, and I'll stick you seven or eight for the dozens they likely are. I know, don't get me started. It doesn't discourage me, only fires my belly.
Fortunately, being good at getting rats has paved the way for me meeting many good folk of Cauldron. Gretchen at the Orphanage, heart of gold, that one. I visit it regularly, because damned if I let a rat think it has the run of the place. Don't even charge her for my work. Doesn't seem right to. Tercival, whoa now. Not sure the man sleeps. Adrick runs hot and cold with me. He seems a little guarded, even for a dwarf, but I hear rumors 'bout his, uh, connections.
Been here years, so I've had to weather the Filth, but I've also enjoyed celebrating the Festivals as well. You spend even a little time walking the streets, you can't help but respect the stoneworking been done around the caldera. Now, the Temple, there you're talking about some fine marble. No way dwarves didn't do that work.
...
Kikinnin has a soft spot for the orphanage, so he frequents it on business. He likely has affiliation with the Church of St. Cuthbert, but skirts the line of staunch orders, preferring his 'beggar' status/grunt work. He wasn't born within the city walls, likely the nearest dwarven establishment outside of Cauldron.
I like it Gov, I like it a lot!
It seems like we shouldn't have too hard of a time linking ourselves together or at least to one other person in the party. Let's see...
JZ's Inquisitor/Cleric Concept - I think it would be interesting if this character knew Kikinnin somehow, perhaps during his time as a paladin in service to St. Cuthbert before he turned to Kord (Gorum)?
Kikinnin - If he's got a soft spot for the orphanage then he'd likely at least know Marigold, JJ and JZ's Tom the Bard in passing.
Marigold/JJ/Anyone else that's an orphan - easy enough; can work out exact relationships once character personalities are a bit more solidified.
Ictoo's Ranger Concept - It'd definitely be hilarious and ironic if JZ's bard had been the one that Ictoo's wife had been fooling around with. Beyond that, I'm not sure.
A real obvious and easy way to tie people together is that depending on how the campaign is supposed to start, all or at least some of the PCs know one of the missing people. A fellow orphan, a family member, a friend, etc.
********************************
Still thinking on Marigold's old life, but there are a couple of options for what her family used to do before they succumbed to the plague. They could have been warehouse workers, which might give her a tentative tie to one of the ones listed in the Player's Guide, or perhaps artisans of some sort; maybe carpenters or glassworkers. The one thing I'm not sure that I see is them being servants or workers for the nobility. If anything, firmly middle or lower class halflings.
Whether Marigold still lives at the orphanage or close by, she'd definitely have some sort of a job to help make ends meet. Probably a job where she doesn't have to interact much with the general public, maybe as a scribe.
Something else that JZ touched on earlier that might have some effect on her background and personality is how the various faiths and general populace view 'oracles' and whether or not there are many others currently living in Cauldron (or any at all).
I don't really have a name yet(I always find it hard) But my ranger will be around 30 son has gone missing within the past 7 days, as Rut said i wouldn't know about the large disappearances. (really hurt me as my wife is gone) I'd have a small stall selling arrows/offering some training while not working with the militia.
I like the idea of a rivalry between me and JZ for my wife?(she's dead?) and we've known each other for a while but never really liked each other because of that.
More padding will come but for myself, but i'm really liking how everyone is coming along. I think it would be good for us to at least know of each other.. but i will read over everything again after work and put some stuff together.
There is one resource I like to use when preparing my own characters.
Now that most of you have a clear role in the party and are settling on a background, I think it is a good moment to share for extra inspiration.
I do not ask you to use it, is just an extra resource I am sharing for inspiration. Take the bits that seem useful to you if any.
Ash’s Guide to RPG Personality & Background
Only thing I would perhaps ask from everyone is a Primary motivator.
I am a bit busy today, thus I cannot review everything, thus if you feel you need feedback about any point, please let me know directly on what exactly!
Thanks!
Funny you post the link, because I finally got around to looking at that last night hehe. I'll likely post Marigold's results on her profile after I get some other things taken care of with it first. And speaking of profile I'll likely have first draft of the 'crunch' up sometime today.
@Ictoo - If JZ goes with the rivalry idea (which I'd assume would also be if he decided to go with his bard concept), depending on how nasty you want it to be or not be it could also be that you both just happened to have eyes for the same woman and your character ended up the winner in that little contest. That way there's still a rivalry but it doesn't have to be quite as nasty as it would likely be if cheating had been involved. Might also make for an interesting angle for JZ since it'd be the son of the woman that he loved/loves that is missing.
Ictoo here... just getting stuff setup name is not a 100%
@Rutseg Forgot to say thanks for posting initiative just so we're all on the same page with it. I'll also be looking at the link, I suppose i have my primary motivator with my son but i'll be locking i all down over the next few days.(need to lock down dates and such.)
@All would any of you have spent time with the militia? maybe we were
spent some time patrolling together?
@Lady That's a little more tame, i'd still have a go at him for it(im sure we can play it all up well). You're going with halfling right? Thinking something involving you... but we'll see :)
The Scion of Surabar is really helpful for me on this, as it gives a great backdrop to hang JJ the orphan on.
Personality:(motivator)
JJ knows his parents were killed by Demons. He knows his far back ancestor was a mighty slayer of demons. He wants to make the family name famous again by walking in his famous ancestors footsteps. He wants to slay demons, starting with the one that killed his parents.
At the moment he thinks the best way to do that will be to learn wizardry, like the founder of Cauldron, but countering that is the expense of learning it, and the role model of his uncle Alek.
So - becoming a demon slayer and make his family famous again. Reclaim his family birthright as a respected member of the Cauldron community. Again to do this he thinks that learning wizardry would be a great path to that type of respect.
In the mdeium term he wants to learn all he can about demons and how to destroy them. Whether my magic or martial means - he doesn't mind.
However in the short term, he worried about putting food in his mouth. He is also a sixteen year old boy, and there is this pretty barmaid in the Drunken Morkoth...
Okay, here's the first run of Marigold's altered 'crunch' which actually didn't need to be altered all that much. If anyone has the time, feel free to look it over and let me know if you've got any questions or concerns about anything!
For the time being, I took the original Scarred Soul campaign trait and the magic trait Outcast's Intuition. Even if people are generally accepting of folk with unusual powers like sorcerers and oracles, Marigold tends to be distrustful of people and their motivations until she gets to know them better. I did look at the other community-created traits but none of them seemed especially appropriate. I didn't take the Lantern Street Orphan trait because the benefit it gives actually cancels out the drawback from Scarred Soul which doesn't really make sense to me and also seems like an unintentional loophole.
There's a bunch of stuff under a spoiler thanks to the personality guide that Rutseg linked earlier, but I've yet to finish her actual background or personality sections so I will be working on that over the next few days. One thing I was thinking of is that although there is no official temple to Yondalla (Erastil) in Cauldron, I believe she would have been brought up in that faith which might add another fun layer to things regarding her oracle powers and her relationship to the faith now (and how people of other faiths relate to her).
@Ictoo - Alas, Marigold wouldn't have joined the militia though that does beg the question of where she got what little combat/armor training she has. I'll have to think on that. And yes, going halfling :)
@Aer - It looks like JJ is shaping up to be a great and interesting character! I like how you're already working in a plot/background reason for him to eventually start taking wizard levels, too. Though Marigold would probably think he's absolutely bonkers for wanting to fight demons... ;)
@All - Even though it's on her profile and I think I mentioned it once earlier, I wanted to double-check that you guys would be okay with Marigold taking the clouded vision curse. It gives her darkvision but she's blind past a distance of 30 feet, so it might make some situations and encounters more challenging. Will that be okay?
@Rutseg - I think the main things I would need to ask you about at the moment would be what the general feeling is regarding oracles and such by the general public as well as by the clergy of the various faiths. It doesn't have to be in-depth, just a general idea of whether people would give her grief over it or be more inclined to hound her for 'miracles' or whatnot.
The other thing would be what the true origin of her oracle mystery is. Obviously it's supposed to be a surprise, but I'm not sure if you need any further input from me or not :)
@Marigold- thanks! I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's voices, too! I have no problem with a halfling half-blind. They're easier to wrangle ;)
@Renn- I like the idea of Kikinnin having some experience with the town guard, inside or out, as he's likely wandering in places folks don't necessarily approve, on his hunts. Won't do to constantly get dragged away from work when the town guard get twitchy. I continue to debate...
I haven't had much experience with Background Skills. Do they become Class Skills once selected?
Here's a good primer on Background Skills. Based on what it says, I think a background skill is only a class skill if your class would normally get it as a class skill anyway. Still a good way to flesh out a character without having to hem and haw over skill allocation quite as much though!
And you're welcome! Yes, Marigold probably won't be too hard to wrangle, at least to start with ;)
Marigold/Lady Ladille@ the source of your mystery I have already strongly tied up to the main plot of the campaign. If you made it into the game it will eventually be revealed, but you will need to be very patient about it ^_^
About how oracles are regarded. Well, people does not understand what is such a thing. You feel quite unique and have never met anyone in your situation. You probably consider you more like cursed and hide to everybody else. But if anyone knowns, they probably look at you as cursed. The only existent similar think in Cauldron are sorcerers, which being also rare, are the only ones with a similar 'odd' source of power you might catch as reference (but there are no relevant sorcerers you might know in the city, although you might have heard stories about them).
About the curse, I think it is much less severe than intended and even a plain bonus, as situations are always described to the whole party by the GM in the assumption everybody can see past 30 feet and few GM's will take the time to personalize the narration for a 30 feet visibility character.
That said, I can play with it from time to time, asking you how do you know that ally 60 feet ahead of you has fallen before closing up to heal him to balance the narration lack of penalty. Although having no far line-of-sight for a caster is a strong drawback by itself. Make sure you want to go that way and accept those strong penalties.
I haven't had much experience with Background Skills. Do they become Class Skills once selected?
No. Being class skills or not works as normal. You basically get 2 ranks per level to allocate on skills not often used and more flavourful for your background than others. Additionally it adds two new skills, Artistry and Lore.
Note you cannot chose Knowledge (local) as a background skill because that is an adventuring skill (see table here). But you could chose "Lore (Cauldron history)", "Lore (Rats)", "Lore (Diseases)" or in the case of JJ "Lore (Demons)".
It is basically a mean to give you a mechanic to reflect some special involvement into some very specific niches.
Much obliged, GM Rutseg! Always, always learning something new...
Thanks for the clarifications GM Rutseg! I had kinda figured that would be the case regarding the source of the oracle mystery so that would work fine for me should Marigold end up in the game.
The clarifications on how people would generally see oracles is also quite helpful and would definitely be yet another reason that Marigold tends to be a rather anxious person most of the time.
Regarding the clouded vision curse, it's one of the facets of the character that I'm not strongly married to. I had thought it would be an interesting side-effect to have some sort of physical drawback that might or might not be explained by the filth fever, but I'm also happy to pick a different one if it would make things easier on you and more fair given that, as you said, most descriptions of rooms and such are given without consideration for a character with limited vision. I know a lot of folks tend to go with Haunted or Tongues most of the time; while I don't think Haunted would really be appropriate for this particular character, Tongues could still present a challenge in combat (until/unless everyone wanted to take a rank of Linguistics to learn whatever language she jabbers in I guess) as well as offer some amusing RP opportunities. Deaf is also a possibility and wouldn't really require much consideration on the part of the GM except to remember that she'd auto-fail Perception checks based on sound. Really nasty penalties too; the aforementioned Perception check thing, -4 to initiative to start with, -4 on opposed Perception checks, and a 20% spell failure chance for spells with a verbal component (which is basically all of them). Oof. Will have to think on it I suppose...
Now that almost a week has passed and all of you have a clear concept and a role in the party, and some of you have a near complete character, I have decided to go along and provide some feedback to try help you complete them all and make them more interesting for the campaign.
I have also decided to set a time to have your character complete: Wednesday 20th 23:59 GMT+0. The next day I will make a last review to your characters and perform a final decision for the 7.
Anyway, I have to thank you all for taking the challenge of creating together a party from scratch and building up very interesting characters tied up to a predesigned campaign.
I like the concept and statsblock, and the link with the disappearances is just a great starting motivator.
That said, I fear the character is still very much on its verge. You have not picked any trait, know nothing about your past, or your motivations (why are you a fletcher?, why did you get into the militia?), whom are your friends or enemies. A small sentence about Renn’s personality would also be of interest, as well as some link/hook to some NPC from the player’s guide.
I think you have plenty of potential there, just need to find a spot to mature a bit the idea ;)
We have a good idea of his personality and a good hook from his past to a long lasting campaign motivation. There is also a good link to the other characters and a motivator to start adventuring (disappearances).
We lack the character statsblock and even if the character is in good track we need a push to finish defining relevant things as his race (human?) or approximate age. Although leaving those things a bit open while you see how things develop, a bit more on his past, origin and his parents past (were they poor or middle-class?) or how he got his training would be nice and bring opportunities to further link with the campaign.
Very well rounded backstory and connections to the campaign (you might consider rewriting to make it more cohesive in style and easier to read). The statsblock needs some definition.
Given your story, your city of origin would be Redgorge, although you have been raised mostly in Cauldron, thus I guess you feel it as a home nowadays. Aleck Tercival probably knows more about the demon that killed your parents but has not given you that information yet in an attempt to protect you. It seems he trusts on something he calls the ‘Surabar curse’. Does not matter how much time it takes, but the old demon your ancestor defeated seems always to find the Surabar inheritors and claim vengeance in one way or another. He attempts to hide your family line again and again, and gets angry when you claim your pride on your inheritance.
I would also like to see a bit more definition on that forgery profession.
Whether if she has just recently started to develop her powers or she is just starting during the first days of adventure, she is most probably hiding her nature for now.
I would like a bit more definition on what is her profession/duties at the moment, or where she got her training (weapons, common healing). Also would be good to know about your parents/family, as it seems you shared 13 years with them.
I have just enough, but any further connections with relevant NPC’s, significant past events and similar hooks would be of help also.
I see potential in your concept, but it lacks definition. First of all having a statsblock begins to be important by this time. Then some explanation on how/why he left the Malachite Fortress, whom has been training him, and whether he knows anything about his faith and powers or you plan to make him discover/build them during the first adventures would be a nice addition.
Some connections with campaigns NPC’s might bring easily some potential motivators for the adventure, someone he respects or like for example. Also you can spice a bit the character by thinking about his family. Whom they were, why he left them (or perhaps they are still with him?). Those relationships might bring some conflicts, duties or mysteries to make your character more interesting.
@Marigold
JJ will have a rank in linguistics (for his forgery), so if you wanted to take a tongues curse, he can have learned a language. From my point of view, Celestial would be a nice language to learn, as it ties in with his 'taint of heaven' trait - but I'm pretty open to picking anything. JJ could have picked up Abyssal during his studies of the outer planes.
Background
JJ grew up in the Lantern Street orphanage. He's always felt a little... different. In spite of the care that Gretchyn Tashykk took of him he never really settled into life there. He was the one who would sneak out the window and walk the streets. If someone had been stealing apples from the neighbors backyard, it was JJ.
He was always polite, and generally when confronted with his crimes would own up and take his punishment. But it never stopped him doing them.
Aside from petty larceny he has a kind heart, always looking out for the other orphans and stray animals. He often finds hurt animals and cares for them, nursing them back to health with remarkable ease.. a gift he has used on injured orphans more than once as well.
His nefarious ways have never landed him in major trouble with the law, but did attract the attention of the Last Laugh. After being warned off their patch, he has made the odd coin acting as a lookout for them. He doesn't really like their more brutal approach to thievery and has been thinking of setting himself up as a second story man, but now he is come of age is a little worried about what might happen if he gets caught without the protection of the orphanage.
- Class Rogue - at least initially
- Trait - I'm looking at Heavens Taint, but there are a few other options open. Bonus original trait: Scion of Surabar.
- Role - Scout, stealth, Skill monkey maybe contacts into the less desirable side of cauldron
JJ's parents (Rolard and Hurlira) lived just outside of Redgorge. His father was a stonemason, a proud one who carried the name Surabar still. JJ has not been told the details, but what he has learned was that they were slain by a demon. He was saved by a younger Alek Tercival who dispatched the demon and took the boy into Cauldron a decade ago.
JJ looks upon Alek as a bit of a father figure (one who is disappointed by JJ's ongoing difficulty with accepting authority). One day JJ wants to become a great wizard and slay demons. But before that he wants to visit his family's old home and quarry. Alek however rarely leaves the temple these days and nobody else seems to know where the old family holding is. Sooner or later he's going to want to go looking for it himself.
Some of JJ's larceny is directed towards saving enough money to join the Bluecrater academy and learning the details of magic. But that is a long way in the future. For the moment just having enough money to put food on his table is a big ask.
Still, his skills in stealth have been put to good use, he often sneaks into the back of lectures and has picked up some useful information.
Trait: Scholar of the great beyond!
To help in cases where stealth is not sufficient he has become a dab hand at coping peoples handwriting and has written himself a number of "notes" that have provided a good excuse for being in places where he is not technically supposed to be.
He has become quite adept with this last talent and has managed to make a crude copy of the guards seal which he uses (under commission) for some of his contacts in the Last Laugh.
After leaving the orphanage he has taken a small soft 'apartment' on the inner ring of houses - right on the lake front. While he has cleaned up the loft, it is hot, smelly and not the most comfortable of rooms that he is a little embarrassed about.
Alek, seeing his nephew with no visible means of support has been encouraging him to join the town guard and "Get a career!".
Family
Father: Rolard Surabar (quarry owner)
Mother: Hurlira Aslaxin (a very distant cousin of Zachary)
Uncle once removed: Alek Tercival (son of Paulos and Melissa Tercival)
Paternal Grandfather: Criton Surabar (an artisan)
Paternal Grandmother: Lisa of Sasserine
Great Aunt: Melissa (married Paulos Tercival) (daughter of Navaranda Surabar)
PP Grandfather: Navaranda Surabar
Crunch
STR: 14+2=16
DEX: 14
CON: 13
INT: 12
WIS: 13
CHA: 12
Racial +2 still to be assigned.
Sneak Attack: +1d6
Trap-finding
Feat (human) -Dodge
Feat (level 1) - Great Fortitude
Skills(with ranks - 10)
Acrobatics
Bluff
Climb
Disable Device
Knowledge(local)
Knowledge(planes)
Linguistics
Perception
Sleight of Hand
Stealth
Background - Lore (nobility of the Cauldron region)
Background - Lore (history of Cauldron region)
Personality
Personality:(motivations)
JJ knows his parents were killed by Demons. He knows his far back ancestor was a mighty slayer of demons. He wants to make the family name famous again by walking in his famous ancestors footsteps. He wants to slay demons, starting with the one that killed his parents.
At the moment he thinks the best way to do that will be to learn wizardry, like the founder of Cauldron, but countering that is the expense of learning it, and the role model of his uncle Alek.
So - becoming a demon slayer and make his family famous again. Reclaim his family birthright as a respected member of the Cauldron community. Again to do this he thinks that learning wizardry would be a great path to that type of respect.
In the medium term he wants to learn all he can about demons and how to destroy them. Whether my magic or martial means - he doesn't mind.
However in the short term, he is worried about putting food in his mouth. He is also a sixteen year old boy, and there is this pretty barmaid in the Drunken Morkoth...
Emotionally, JJ is young and curious. He wants to see the world, and chaffs at a lot of the restrictions that he had while in the Lantern Street orphanage - and the expectations that Alek has of him now he is an adult.
He is generally upbeat, and full of self confidence, even if he doesn't necessarily trust everyone else - especially those he doesn't know well.
He is Industrious and pragmatic.. however in JJ pragmatism sometimes trumps honesty. And while he sees himself as fundamentally honest (if not law abiding) others don't necessarily see him as terribly reliable. However once he sets his mind to a task (one he sets himself, not someone elses) he can be quite determined. He is very calculating and focused.
So to pigeonhole him - Motivation: Recognition. (with a subtext of revenge)
Emotionally: Curious
Outlook: Upbeat and confidence but not overly trusting
Integrity: Pragmatic and not overly honest
Impulsiveness: Deliberate and thoughtful
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GM. I am skiing in Bulgaria at the moment and the WiFi is very poor, I keep losing posts. Plus I only have my phone so I am not in a position to type long posts/develop my characters.
I will not be back in the UK until Friday and unable to really look at catching up until the weekend at the earliest.
That said, I would not want to either jeopardise this whole group not being selected because of me or hold up the game so if it is easier I am happy to stand aside.
@Aer - I'll probably either stick with the Clouded Vision curse or go with Tongues, so that's good to know. Although I'm not sure her language would be if I went Tongues just yet, so we shall see ;)
@GM Rutseg - Will do! I've been a little busier this weekend than usual and also have a real life game to go to this evening but I'll try and get started on Marigold's background and those things defined for you either tonight or tomorrow.
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JamZilla@ I understand. There is no problem about the statsblock then, it is a very mechanical thing I am sure you will be able to finish once back.
I only ask you to let us know what race do you plan to play. Anything else you can give us will be good received but do not feel pressed to write it down. I have enough on your backstory and motivations and just final details are needed.
The whole thing is I will be on a trip myself during the weekend and would like to make the selection before so you can work out the final 7 during those days and start the campaign during the week.
Just spitballing here but maybe Kiki has offered to the train the orphans in basic self-defense, depending on his age? Another idea is that the town guard has done so in preparation of recruiting some of them once they are old enough? Everyone gets some training and the guard knows who to keep in mind as showing the most promise.
@GM - I was intending to take linguistics anyway for the forgery angle - does that mean I could take it with a background skill rank?
Likewise I was thinking of taking lore(cauldron nobility) but see that knowledge(nobility) is a 'background' skill, and would seem to be more generally useful - so would that be an option for him?
@Marigold- Kiki would have all the fun in the world interacting with the kids of the orphanage. He's got two games for the runts- 'Watch-Yer-Nose', and 'Peg-the-Legger'. The first game involves practicing swatting wooden cups off the bellies of one's fellow orphan with a decently-whittled stick. It carries over when someone wakes up in the middle of the night with a rat anywhere on them. The second game involves Kikinnin dragging his boot by the laces, and having the kids sling courtyard stones at it, to improve their hand-eye. Again, moving target, rat running along the floorboards... winning combination of training masked as childhood games.
Statblock's been largely done, just chewing on the marrow to more fully flesh out Kikinnin's backstory. I expect to be done with that shortly.
@Kiki - Hehe! Marigold would probably have participated, though more to make some of the runts happy than for herself. Normally she'd have said that she's too old for games like that ;)
The more I think about it, I like the town guard or temple idea for where she gained her weapon and armor training. It actually seems quite feasible that the guard as well as some of the temples and perhaps even Bluecrater Academy and the nobility might occasionally pop in at the orphanage to look for potential talent to hire and/or sponsor.
I also think I'll go with the Tongues curse after all. The more I think about it, while the Clouded Vision would be fun to RP I think not having it would be one less thing for Rutseg to worry about as well make having certain connections easier since otherwise most people would be less likely to hire someone that's half-blind and a potential liability.
Let's see, of the options that seem thematic to the area/setting:
1 Abyssal (Once there were demons about)
2 Celestial (Apparently angels too)
3 Infenal (Oh and devils)
4 Ignan (Cauldron is a volcano town)
5 Terran (Cauldron is nestled into the earth of the volcano)
Hoo boy. Nice juxtaposition on the mystery and the curse. This will be fun :3
@Rutseg - One more question. I was actually thinking that instead of being a scribe, Marigold would be a librarian as it ties in to her love of reading and learning. Would it be possible that Bluecrater Academy would hire a non-alumni/studennt to work in their library, or perhaps one of the temples? Although the faith of St. Cuthbert might hew a little more closely to that of Yondalla in several aspects, I believe she'd feel more comfortable at Pelor's temple if Bluecrater Academy isn't an option.
Hi all, the temple/town guard training the orphanage is a great idea, while looking for talent they are also looking to keep those orphaned children of this year from being the convicts they have to deal with next year. While the town guard might be training for them, the clergy could be looking to supplement their own or the devestated trades guilds in the aftermath of Filth Fever.
Charles btw.
@Rutseg
With work taking over all my time in the week i had planned to spend a lot of time on sunday.. then a killer cold hit me spending all day in bed. I will get it done today, writing up what i've had running around in my head since i though him up.
@All So our link could be the town guard/Militia? so we at least know of each other.
@Marigold I think tongues would be a better curse, better in the sense it doesn't mess you over as a caster. Its also very interesting to roleplay.
@Jam Who am i going to lord over knowing i beat you at something when my wife chose me over you.
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OK this is the barest of bare bones when it comes to Tom - not his final name - apologies for the formatting of this post, it's hard to do it from phone with poor Internet connection :/
Also, there is a 90% chance he will be human.
Son of nobles who were killed for some reason yet to be decided between me and GM, had to go to orphanage, didn't like that, was conscripted into the militia, really didn't like that (authority issues), so was sent to the academy due to innate magical talent (spontaneous caster) but was not inclined to the learning at all. Trying to get across that he has tried hua hand at a lot of things (Bard = jack-of-all-trades) Only thing he was ever good at was fighting and charming women. Became a confidence trickster, seduces women for money and just gets by rising the levels of Cauldron society with every seduction, looking for that one long con that will help him retire. Came across a woman who seemed a good mark, realised she had a kid (one rule is not to mess with families with kids due to his own background of growing up without parents) so backed off. This was Renn's wife. Later learnt she had taken that kid in a messy break up and the child had now gone missing. Despite being out for number one all his life, felt a pang of guilt (which he would never ever admit) and decided to help look into the disappearances.
@Renn- Yeah, the Town Guard would certainly have been something Kikinnin would have been a part of, if only for a little while. Having an association within the Guard would have also made his ratcatching business easier, should he have run into trespassing issues :)
@Jam Sounds good to me! I like where he's coming from and also that he at least runs by some rules. Renn will appreciate the help, unsure of what you would wish to help him.
@Kikinnin I'm sure i would have heard of a dwarf ratcatcher moving around the city you seem like you would stand out some.
@Rutseg If i were to take Scion of Surabar - How would you want me to treat it. I'm thinking as Renn is nothing special, he was always told it by his mother he was descended from great blood that discovered Cauldron and holds it to be true even if no one really believes him?
I see Renn as a salt of the earth type of guy worked every day of his life. Seen a lot of hardship in Cauldron, but thought he had something when he married his wife and brought a son into this world working even harder to provide for them with his wife being from somewhat middle class upbringing she expects a lot from him (which he can't, so Jam steps in and seduces her that doesn't go well for them.)
Also thinking of being friendly with Beppo fruit seller we would spend a lot of time trying to sell out wears in the market i'd give him a hand for a few silver now and then. Unsure of how the other two 'Friends' (Maavu Arlintal, Tygot Maspis) would fit in with Renn's salt of the earth attitude.
@Renn - I think JJ was looking at taking Scion of Surabar too, though I'm not sure that there's any restrictions on how many people can take the same 'original' campaign trait. Maybe 'ol Surabar got around a bit in his time...which could add for an interesting twist if you and JJ are both his descendants through different mothers :3
@GM - I was intending to take linguistics anyway for the forgery angle - does that mean I could take it with a background skill rank?
Likewise I was thinking of taking lore(cauldron nobility) but see that knowledge(nobility) is a 'background' skill, and would seem to be more generally useful - so would that be an option for him?
Yes, you can use background ranks for those ones.
@Rutseg - One more question. I was actually thinking that instead of being a scribe, Marigold would be a librarian as it ties in to her love of reading and learning. Would it be possible that Bluecrater Academy would hire a non-alumni/studennt to work in their library, or perhaps one of the temples? Although the faith of St. Cuthbert might hew a little more closely to that of Yondalla in several aspects, I believe she'd feel more comfortable at Pelor's temple if Bluecrater Academy isn't an option.
Bluecrater Academy is ok, you will likely be contracted as a librarian there.
@Rutseg If i were to take Scion of Surabar - How would you want me to treat it. I'm thinking as Renn is nothing special, he was always told it by his mother he was descended from great blood that discovered Cauldron and holds it to be true even if no one really believes him?
Perhaps the best way to make that work is to make your character a bastard son of someone in the direct line of the Surabar inheritance.
Thank you Rutseg! I think I've got enough that I can flesh out the outline bumping around in my head now. Crossing my fingers, I should have a background written before the night is over :)
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It sounds like everything is coming together.
JJ can have learned Abyssal. Heck, maybe Marigold taught him the language at the orphanage - I like that idea. Likely neither of us realize it is Abyssal and think of it as just a "private" language we can talk in ourselves and Marigold uses when stressed.
And the militia works as a common entry point for everyone as well given Alek has been trying to get JJ to learn to be a bit more of a man with a future rather than a burden on society.
@GM do you want a whole sheet now, or is the sketched out stat block in the profile okay? I was thinking of holding off final choices until we knew final party composition in case there are some areas that need to be filled out.
@Aer - That works! I don't think her curse/powers came into effect right away, but probably have only developed within the last couple of years. Still plenty of time for her to have taught JJ the language without knowing what it is...though I believe I'll have that change very shortly before the campaign starts. Funny what you learn as a librarian...