Hey all, I’m looking to recruit a group of five players for a war story pathfinder game. The players will start in a small village, but quickly be recruited by a group of revolutionary soldiers who are looking to free the kingdom from the rule of a foreign tyrant. The game will look to explore themes of the greater good vs individual good, violence for the right means, and other shades of grey.
The game will be a medium magic campaign. Spellcasters are considered odd, but not unheard of. Even small villages usually have a gifted individual or two in their midsts. The gods are divided into two pantheons. The first pantheon comprises the gods of peace and knowledge. They govern the southern lands where large cities and mild weather has allowed the people to become enlightened and pacifistic. The second panthers is formed by the northern war gods. The people of the north are a harsh breed where the rule of law is rule by strength. They have recently taken advantage of the southern niceties and launched in invasion into the heart of the Southern Kingdom.
To emphasize the difference in culture, the cleric class is going to be split into two classes that each worship one of the pantheons rather than individual gods. The white priests of the South get two domains, ninth level spellcasting, simple weapon proficiency, no armor proficiency, d6 HD, 1/2 BAB, and always channel positive energy regardless of alignment. The red zealots of the North get one domain, ninth level spellcasting, martial weapon proficiency, medium armor proficiency, d8HD, 3/4 BAB, and always channel negative energy regardless of alignment. Paladins are not disallowed, but if someone wants to play one, I would want to work with the player to create a more appropriate code of conduct. Druids, Shamans, and other nature based casters fall outside the normal worshiping system as they draw power from local spirits. As such, they are mistrusted among most common folk.
Rules for character creation.
-Starting Level 1
-Roll 4d6 drop lowest for stats. If you don’t like your scores, you may have a 20 point buy.
-All Core Line plus Dreamscarred’s Path of War is allowed. Approval required for splat books or other 3rd party. I’m saying no to psionics in advance.
-I’m going to use the Background skills system.
-2 traits with drawback allowed for a third trait.
Can you tell me a bit more about the priests? I kinda like the sound of the Red Zealots, but without knowing more about the pantheon I don't want to start putting down my ideas.
How do you feel about multiple character submissions? I have a few character ideas I think could fit this campaign, so if I can just submit all of them, I'll do so, but otherwise, I'll need some time to figure out which I would want to play most.
Is the village in the north or south? Are the revolutionaries southerners fighting as part of the recent southern incursion of the north or is this separate from the greater war story? Sorry if I'm being a bit slow...
11, 16, 14, 11, 9, 16
Depending on how things go, I may be for this. Got myself in a few recruitments and am limiting myself to only one more.
= 13
= 18
= 18
= 11
= 11
= 7
Oh my, quite the solid focus into something and being completely useless in another thing. Could be interesting.
Religions of Valencia
The three religions of Valencia fall into the following categories: the white priests of Sophia, the red zealots of Druma, and the followers of the Green. Each one revolves around a large pantheon of deities, each responsible for a facet of life. Most people send offerings to whichever god they need the protection of at that moment. However, nearly every village, town, or city has a patron deity that all the citizens are to send regular tribute. The power of any particular deity is said to be represented by the size and prosperity of their home settlement.
The white priests of Sophia are the devout preachers of the southern gods. They believe the gods are benefactors to humanity and their worship breeds prosperity. They value diplomacy over combat and knowledge over power. It’s rather rare for them to be well trained in combative arts or weapons, but they seek to understand the insights of the gods to better their fellow man, or just themselves. It is said that they are the warriors against poverty and strife, but in truth, for every humanitarian missionary there is a fickle figure ready to discard a difficult cause for one that has a good deal of momentum behind it. The leader of their religion is the goddess Mila, patron deity of Sophia, capital of the southern Kingdom by the same name.
The red Zealots of Druma are the bloodthirsty worshippers of the northern gods of Druma. Theirs gods are cruel masters who are worshipped only to appease their volatile tempers. Their anger brings blizzards, droughts, and disease, but for all their terror, there is one god that is feared above the rest, Druma, god of war, lord of conquest. He has no patron city, but is worship by all in the northern lands named for the blood god. About 15 years ago, a number of Red Zealots fled into the southern lands when a warlord, named Druma after the chief deity, began to conquer more of the northern lands than any warlord had done in a thousand years. He claimed that all people of the north were his subjects. Rather than serve a blasphemous liege lord, many red zealots fled to the peace lands of Sophia. While many of the red zealots can proudly claim to be warmongers who would slaughter a whole village to appease the god of war, some are honorable warriors who use violence to prevent greater violence. While they are trained in warfare, the antagonistic relationship between god and cleric keeps them from achieving the same divine closeness of the southern priests. (Hence, the single domain)
The Green is a collection of nature and elemental spirits that resides outside the normal pantheons. It is often worshipped by druids, get, and other creatures with a connection to nature. The practitioners of the Green Faith are viewed with suspicion and fear among the normal citizens.
Background
The players will start in the village of Ram, located within a temperate mountain range in the southern Kingdom of Sophia. They have been isolated from the fighting that broke out 10 years ago when the warlord, Druma, attacked Sophia’s borders. There has been fighting ever since, and the common news is that the engagements have recently gone very poorly for the Sophian army. They probably learned their skills from a villager who has either left to help the Sophian army or is too old to travel far from the village. It would be helpful if a sense of wanderlust has begun to make your character want to leave the village and help the soldiers because very soon the town will be visited by a squadron of soldiers bringing terrible news.
I like the questions you guys have been asking. If there is anymore information you would like to know just ask and I’ll be happy to provide you with details.
I'm thinking about a deserter priest of the Red God who's essentially gotten sick of the bloodshed and war. He still believes in his god and in some of the tenants of the religion, but he believes that the message has been corrupted and become an excuse for war without restraint, honor, or virtuous purpose.
Mechanically, I'm thinking he'd be a Neutral Good Human Cleric with the Divine Paragon archetype.
Does that sound like a concept that would work for your game?
Im gonna ask the dumb question that I hope I’m not the only one curious about. When you say all Core Line, do you mean core classes or all classes released by Paizo?
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Grandma Cookie is old. There's just no other way to say it. She's probably closing in on Ancient, but no one in the village still living was alive when she was born nobody has eye witness testimony to her age. She is the best of the community. She is kind and gentle and nurturing, but also, when required, strong and brave and forceful. Also, being older than dirt allows you to speak your mind without fear. What are they going to do, hit you? Heaven help them if they did. Grandma Cookie is known for exactly three things: her age, her Cookies, and her skill with a rolling pin.
However, secretly, Grandma Cookie is getting itchy feet. She's spent years beyond counting here in this little village of Ram. Her children died of old age here! It's time to move on. But how?
Presenting Grandma Cookie, Kindly old lady by day, Overpowering defender of the young by... well that's by day too. Grandma needs here beauty sleep, after all!
Crunch to come!
@Thalos-All Paizo classes are allowed with the exception of the altered cleric.
@Doomed Hero-A Divine Paragon of Druma would fit well in the game. However, since the red zealots only get one domain, would you be willing to give up the domain powers of that one domain. Also, what would your daily obediance be? And would you want to be an evangelist, exalted, or sentinel? I'm going to look through some deities to figure out which powers would fit best with Druma. Just off the top of my head, I'm thinking of basing the powers off of Gorum, but I'm not sure.
Hmm. No, I don't think I'd want to effectively lose both domains. That's a pretty lousy trade.
I'll scrap the archetype. Pretty much all of them are built from the standpoint of having 2 domains originally, so they don't work well when combined with these house rules.
I may still take Divine Obedience and become an Evangelist, but that's not going to matter for quite a while. It will depend on what the Boons end up being I guess.
How do you feel about Warpriests? That's also an option that would fit my concept.
I think Warpriest is a very good fit for this campaign.
I have some concerns about the aging penalties. Mostly, if you get knocked out while raging, you are probably going to die. Your carrying capacity will be shot too.
I think Warpriest is a very good fit for this campaign.
Sweet!
One more quick question. What are the races allowed? Half-Orc seems appropriate to my idea, but I don't see anything about race options in the initial post.
Guess I don't need that info to get started on my sheet. Human would work just about as well as half-orc.
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...ok, that's... weird. I guess I'm minmaxing.
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I have some concerns about the aging penalties. Mostly, if you get knocked out while raging, you are probably going to die. Your carrying capacity will be shot too.
That point about the con is a very valid one.
The carrying capacity isn't as much of a concern for me. I'll be playing a little old lady, after all. I'll get the young ones to carry my crap. :PThe key to the build is level two. Specifically the Spring Rage rage power. Once that kicks in no have a Str and Con swing of ten points when I rage! If I die because of it then the rest of the party can campaign on inspired by the memory of their beloved matron who gave all for the Cause!
Or something.
If you say no I'll be ok. I'll just come up with something else. :)
I'm fine with it. I just wanted to make sure you're okay with the downsides as well as the positives.
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NG Female ?? (humanoid []) Barbarian (Geminate Invoker) 1
Init +0; Perception +7;
Traits: Community Minded, Rough and Ready for
[x]= rage
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Defense
--------------------
AC 10[11], touch 10[11], flat-footed 10[11]
(Dex +0[1])
hp 13 [18]
Fort +4[8], Ref +0[3], Will +3[5]
CMD 10[14]
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 40'
BAB +1;
--------------------
Statistics
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Rolled 17,16,14,14,13,10 / Age mods -3 physical, +2 mental
Str 14 [17], Dex 10[13], Con 13 [20], Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 13
Base Atk +3[4]; CMB 3[4] ; CMD 10[14]
Feats: [Die Hard]
Extra Rage Power: Spring Rage
----------------------------------
Skills:4 base *=Background skills
----------------------------------
Acrobatics +4[5] (1rank,0[1]dex,3class)
Handle Animal +5 (1rank,1cha,3class)
Intimidate +5 (1rank,1cha,3class)
Know: History* +7 (1rank,3int,3class)
Know: Nature +7 (1rank,3int,3class)
Perception +7 (1rank,3wis,3class)
Survival +7 (1rank,3wis,3class)
Prof:Baker* +7 (1rank,3wis,3class)
Linguistics +7 (1rank,3int,3class)
Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarven, And two others
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Rage Power
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Spring Rage: Ignore age and negative level penalties
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Racial Traits
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Standard Racial Traits
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Class Features
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Fast Movement (Ex)
A barbarian's base speed is faster than the norm for her race by 10 feet. This benefit applies only when she is wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor, and not carrying a heavy load. Apply this bonus before modifying the barbarian's speed because of any load carried or armor worn. This bonus stacks with any other bonuses to the barbarian's base speed.
Contemplative (Ex)
A geminate invoker adds Knowledge (history), Knowledge (religion), and Linguistics to his list of class skills. Unlike most barbarians, a geminate invoker can be lawful, but must maintain a neutral element to his alignment. A geminate invoker who ceases to be neutral-aligned cannot activate his trance ability.
This alters the barbarian’s class skills and alignment.
Rage (Ex) 6 rds/day
+4 Con, +2 will and reflex, can use mental skills
Trance (Ex)
As a free action, a geminate invoker can enter a self-imposed trance, ignoring the physical limits of his body. This ability functions similarly to a barbarian’s rage, except where noted below, and feats, spells, and abilities that affect a barbarian’s rage (such as the Extra Rage feat) apply to an geminate invoker’s trance. A geminate invoker gains rage powers as per a normal barbarian, but he can never gain totem rage powers via this ability.
Instead of the normal rage bonuses and penalties, a geminate invoker in a trance gains a +4 morale bonus to his Constitution; gains a +2 morale bonus on Reflex and Will saving throws; takes no penalties to AC; can still use Dexterity-, Intelligence-, and Charisma-based skills; and gains Diehard as a bonus feat. The Constitution bonus increases to +6 and the save bonus increases to +3 when he gains greater rage, and they increase to a +8 Constitution bonus and a +4 bonus on saves when he gains mighty rage.
This ability alters rage.
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Equipment
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I decided to not go quite so heavy on the penalties and I found a way to get my rage power at level 1 and it even adds some good fluff to boot!
I still have some details to fill in like a race and a feat, but the bones are there.
Alright, so I've got three character ideas that I think could conceivably work in the setting. Rather than three statblocks, I'll just give three character bios.
Hit things, really hard. But not hard enough to kill anyone. Goldoth isn't smart, he's not much for conversation, and despite being very good at hitting things, he's a pacifist. He's an Orc that I'll play as some melee martial class, likely a Fighter.
What Does the Character Believe?
I'd probably classify him as Chaotic Good, but I feel like that label isn't that useful for conveying my intent, given that no one really agrees on where the lines in Good vs Evil or Law vs Chaos lie. So instead, I'd describe Goldoth as an impulsive, altruistic deontologist. He doesn't think before he acts, he legitimately enjoys helping others, and he cares more about duty than utility (actions are "right" or "wrong" regardless of intent or consequence). He does not have strong feelings regarding law vs liberty, faith vs skepticism, or tradition vs progress.
How Does the Character Play?
Goldoth doesn't really understand things, and tends to be jovial and optimistic as a result. Ignorance is bliss, to a degree. That said, even if he doesn't understand the situation, he's highly empathic, though he pretty much always defaults to being sad when dealing with a negative situation. Beyond that, Goldoth is at least somewhat aware that he's not very smart, and generally defers to others as a result. Couple this with a fundamental lack of understanding deception in the abstract, and you wind up with a character that is very easy for others to manipulate. Generally, Goldoth is going to do what others ask of him, unless it obviously violates the few lines he won't cross, like killing.
Where Does the Character Go?
I expect Goldoth to be a mixture of comic relief, mild frustration, and mild salvation for the party. What I mean by that is that his antics will be humorous when the stakes are low, but somewhat frustrating when the stakes are high, until he lands a big hit or something and comes through for the party.
What Makes the Character Work in This Game?
Honestly, this is the weakest of the three submittals, regarding thematically tying into the game. Not to say that it can't work - I think Goldoth's naive, grossly oversimplified view of killing is an interesting way to highlight the brutality of war - but the character himself isn't particularly complex, which limits how much he can explore thematically.
Why Would You Do This?
When I first sat down to make Goldoth, my goal was just to play the polar opposite of my other character, whom I'd played exclusively up until this point. That character had been a witty rogue, so I said to myself "what's the opposite of that?" and decided a really stupid two-hand fighter was appropriate. The original concept was that Goldoth had no understanding or appreciation for societal expectations and just wanted to get into fights, but I found it difficult to come up with reasons why such a character would cooperate with others. From there, I landed on the pacifist angle as being both more interesting and an interesting excuse to heavily min/max without disrupting party dynamics.
Not a lot. But she's got some friends that are a bit more useful. Abby is a Gnome that I'd either play as a Druid or Hunter, with heavy emphasis on the Animal Companion feature.
What Does the Character Believe?
I'd probably classify her as Neutral Good, but I feel like that label isn't that useful for conveying my intent, given that no one really agrees on where the lines in Good vs Evil or Law vs Chaos lie. So instead, I'd describe Abbicka as an organized utilitarian. I describe her as organized, but I should note that she wants to be organized but isn't necessarily; as a result, she tends to be overwhelmed and paralyzed by decisions, and often second-guesses herself. This is only further complicated with her concern with utility, her desire to ensure that the consequences of her actions are ultimately net positive. She does not have strong feelings on altriusm vs sadism, law vs liberty, faith vs skepticism, or tradition vs progress.
How Does the Character Play?
Abby is timid, rarely speaking up unless forced and often putting others before her, less because she legitimately enjoys helping others and more because she's terrified of the social consequences of seeming selfish. She'll be helpful without asking too much of the party.
Where Does the Character Go?
For the most part, Abby is going to be a passenger to the party. Whether, through the party she learns to become more self-assured and assertive or simply becomes addicted to external validation and compromises on her morals is ultimately up to the party.
What Makes the Character Work in This Game?
While I didn't intend for Abby to be an exploration of moral subjectivity, I once challenged myself to make her work in an evil campaign, and found that her characterization actually works remarkably well for that. In this, Abby is a decent vessel for exploring how good characters can go bad in a bad situation, and similar themes.
Why Would You Do This?
I originally built Abby because I was challenged to make a CRB-only character. I chose a Druid because it was antithetical to both Goldoth and my other character, a WIS-based full caster, and I basically fell in love with the concept of animal companions, to the point that I actively sought to disempower the actual character in favor of just focusing on the animal companion.
What Requires Approval?
- I'd like to play Abby as either a Druid with the Pack Lord archetype, or a Hunter with the Packmaster archetype. Both of these are from PRG-line books (Ultimate Magic and Advanced Class Guide respectively), but I still feel like the mechanic is major enough that I should bring it up. I can play Abby with only one companion, but I prefer to play her with two.
- And, on the topic of companions, I've become overly attached to the idea of that companion being a raptor. The deinonychus is literally CRB, but even if the mechanics check out, that assumes there are dinosaurs in your setting, somewhere. So I need to ask: are there dinosaurs in your setting somewhere? Because despite this being the dumbest thing, it's a deal breaker for me; I'm just too emotionally invested in the concept to do anything else.
Wolfgang can either be built as a skill monkey, or a party face; in either case, he does decent damage as a finesse striker. He'll likely be built as either a Fighter/Duelist or a Swashbuckler, depending on whether we need a skill monkey or a party face more.
What Does the Character Believe?
I'd probably classify him as Chaotic Evil, but I feel like that label isn't that useful for conveying my intent, given that no one really agrees on where the lines in Good vs Evil or Law vs Chaos lie. So instead, I'd describe Wolfgang as a libertarian skeptic, but acting like an organized traditionalist. Wolfgang is essentially a sociopathic postmodernist: he puts no value in social constructs except in how he can manipulate them to benefit him. This is a character who fundamentally believes that the strong will take from the weak; he would not genuinely desire revenge if another took from him, but would seek revenge anyway if only to dissuade others from taking the same action. He has no strong feelings about altruism vs sadism, duty vs utility, order vs impulse, or tradition vs progress, beyond how others' opinions on these subjects can be manipulated to further his own goals.
How Does the Character Play?
Most people would see Chaotic Evil and that Wolfgang essentially holds nothing sacred, and assume that he's a duplicituous backstabbing jerk who would betray the party as soon as cooperate, but I wan to emphasize that Wolfgang is not a moustache-twirling Disney villain. Wolfgang is strongly aware of the consequences of his actions, and how they ripple back to affect him in the longterm, and frankly speaking, treachery is a very shortsighted means to power, because it almost always provokes reprisal. In a lot of ways, Wolfgang plays like a standard adventurer, gauging how the rest of the party feels and seeking to operate in a way that does not offend any of them while simultaneously trying to ensure that they stay alive.
What Makes the Character Work in This Game?
Wolfgang is fundamentally morally gray. I describe him as evil only because Dungeons & Dragons, and Pathfinder by proxy, has such a childish definition of good and evil. This makes him excellent for exploring the themes of a morally gray war story: a character absolutely lacking moral compunction, caring only of how his actions might be perceived by others.
Why Would You Do This?
Wolfgang is actually one of my oldest character concepts, but in his original state, he was just a generic swashbuckling pirate. It was something of an inside joke at the time. I built it for one game a decade ago, and then it basically sat on the shelf, collecting dust, before I dusted it off a year or so ago for a quasi-evil campaign set on the high seas. At that time, I wanted to reimagine the character as being a little more nuanced, and decided to actually lean into the whole piracy - not as a cliche rogue with a heart of gold, but like an actually, legitimately evil individual. But I didn't want to be a Disney villain, so I instead latched on to the ideology of "might makes right" and cranked it up to 11. I was actually outright rejected from that campaign because the character was "too evil" and having what amounted to an anti-hero in the party would somehow lessen the experience of the other players, who I guess were meant to play traditional heroes.
What Requires Approval?
- There's the part where most people would classify the character as Chaotic Evil. I could see an argument for Neutral Evil, Chaotic Neutral, or even True Neutral, depending on where lines are drawn, but regardless, I feel like I should bring attention to this because I know some GMs outright ban three of the four alignments I just noted.
- It's probably worth mentioning, even though Adventurer's Guide is a PRG-line product, that I intend to make heavy use of the Aldori Dueling Sword (or just Dueling Sword on the SRD) and related feats for both builds.
I'd appreciate if you'd just give each of these a cursory look - you can just skim most of it - I provided as much information as I did in case you want to give them a deeper read - but the second and third characters have an allowances bit at the bottom, which you probably should read in full; that isn't to say I won't seek further approval when I sit down to actually build the character, but these are things that require approval during the conceptual stage. At the moment, I'm just looking for "no, that concept is rejected" vs "yes, that concept could theoretically be allowed" before I start diving deeper into any submissions. Pending the possibility of acceptance, I'll likely have more questions as I refine the submissions.
Is this a human-only world - it sounds like it from reading the campaign notes.
- How does Druma the deity view non-humans? And Druma the warlord?
- Sophia - humancentric? Other races?
Essentially, what races are there, how are they integrated/what are their relations with Druman and Sophian society, and can we be something other than human?
Quick dot for a Halfling Barbarian or Human Alchemist.
17,14,14,13,11,8
A fairly min-max set. Hmmm...
Choon-How did you get extra rage power at level one? To my understanding, that feat is usually not available until he barbarian gets their first rage power at level two.
Rotaretilbo-I’ll give some quick thoughts to your various concepts.
Goldoth looks like he would fit in with the pacifistic nature of your home kingdom. His unique melee skills could help the party deal with certain situations where taking prisoners is valuable and create drama when those prisoners try to escape. His role is something every party needs, but overlaps some with Choon’s suggestion.
Abbicka would fit in well with the Druidic nature of the Green worshippers. I think her natural sense of making others happy would conflict with the common mistrust most people have of the savage religion, which would play into her need for external validation nicely. Her role is something that every group could use. While there are no “dinosaurs” in the setting, dragons exist and your raptor companion could easily be some kind of “lesser” breed of that’s okay with you. I’m not sure I like the multiple animal companions. Not that I’m strictly against it, but given the type of campaign this is, there may be situations where NPC are tagging along with the party and I’m worried about too much clutter in combat situations. On the other hand, that may not pose as much of a problem in a PBP game.
Wolfgang looks like he would fit into the morally grey world well especially with his changing values to reflect changing circumstance. His role is something that every party could use. Since you have stated up front that he is willing to work with the party, I don’t think that he will be disruptive. Rather, he may be the one to push the party towards more grayish choices.
Ocean shield wolf-The game is human centric, but not humanexclusive. The kingdom of Sophia praises the calm inflection of the elves and law abiding tradition of the dwarves. Halflins are community focused and fit in well. Gnomes are often worshippers of the green, and mistrusted in the wider world. Given the amicable relations between humans and elves, half elves are accepted the same as their parents. As orcs are most common in Druma, the half orcs are often outcasts. Other races either belong to Druma or are rare in the wider world.
Druma values dwarves for their strength, but elves and half elves are enemies given their status in Sophia. Halflings are weak and often slaves. Gnomes are mistrusted just as they are in Sophia, but given Druma’s penchant for violence, they are more often killed than shunned. Orcs and goblins serve alongside the humans in Druma’s army. Other races are rare in the wider world.
Hm... interesting. I'd like to throw a 3rd party request out there for Spheres of Might. It's similar to Path of War in that it tries to make martials more fun, but unlike Path of War, it doesn't do that by giving them free spellcasting with their swords, but by allowing more robust specialization in more varied styles of combat and freeing them up to actually move in combat.
I can promise you that anything I make with Spheres will be infinitely less of a statistical abomination than anyone specializing in Mithral Current and Riven Hourglass becomes almost automatically, with the possible exception of jump distance because the Athletics Legendary Talent Dragoon Leap is just so much doggone fun. You learn [Jump] and it's beautiful.
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Ooh, nice stat spread.
I'm fine with the Spheres of Might being used.
Dotting for interest
I have a Nature Fang Druid (race not set, human, Half-elf or elf) in mind. He's been living in the area around Ram making sure the local resources are not exploited. He's fine with the locals' suspicion towards him, as long as everyone respects each other's duties. Recently he heard through his own channels that something bigger was coming. To prevent that, he was going to bring the fight to them.
He will be a very martial character using his spells supplemental. I would love to use some of the path of war rules, as I hadn't had the chance before.
I'm fine with the Spheres of Might being used.
...well now I have to rework my everything. :)
How prevalent would siege engines be in this game? Because I actually have two wizard concepts that might fit into this.
One actually uses, believe it or not, the siege mage archetype. Basically aspires to be a battlefield tactician and commander and uses magic to help support the team with long range combat. Probably would grab the rich parents trait to help buy his own light ballista manned by unseen servant spells and a crossbow to help lay down heavy long-range fire.
The other also uses the rich parents trait, but more about buying a boatload of scrolls and armor to become a prototype Iron Man. His concept is basically that he wants to make weapons to help Sophia win the war and eventually create a suit of animated armor for that purpose. At first level, he'd just have a blaster gauntlet and bonded amulet power source, with scrolls as his "ammunition", but he levels up, he'd be building more until he can afford a fully fledged suit to animate. For his character, perhaps his work is studied and falls into Druman hands that becomes weaponized and used against Sophia, so guilt drives him to hunt down and eliminate the monster he's helped create.
Magic will probably replace most siege engines for the big battles, but I can’t say they will be absent entirely.
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20-point buy it is.
Once the adventure begins, will there be time for crafting?
This seems cool-and a few ideas come to mind, but before I go chasing them down into characters, since 3p is up for consideration, what about Warlock from Kobold Press?
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Yikes. Point buy it is then. Ouch
@Nickadeamous-Crafting isn’t’ going to be available constantly with exploration or possible sieges. However, it will be an option during preparation.
@Goofy-I couldn’t find a pathfinder warlord class on the srd. Is it new?
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NG Female Human (humanoid [Human]) Barbarian (Geminate Invoker) 1
Init +0; Perception +7;
Traits: Community Minded, Rough and Ready
[x]= rage
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Defense
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AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10
(Dex +0)
hp 13 [17]
Fort +4[9], Ref +0[2], Will +3[5]
CMD 10[13]
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 40'
BAB +1;
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Statistics
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Rolled 17,16,14,14,13,10 / Age mods -3 physical, +2 mental, +2 Str from race
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 13 [19], Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 13
Base Atk +4; CMB 4 ; CMD 10
Feats: [Die Hard: no not fall unconscious when at negative HP]
Persuasive: +2 Diplo and Intim
Raging Vitality: +2 con when in rage, do not stop rage when unconscious
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Skills:4 base *=Background skills
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Acrobatics +4 (1rank,0dex,3class)
Handle Animal +5 (1rank,1cha,3class)
Intimidate +7 (1rank,1cha,3class,2feat)
Know: History* +7 (1rank,3int,3class)
Know: Nature +7 (1rank,3int,3class)
Perception +7 (1rank,3wis,3class)
Sense Motive +4 (1rank,3wis,0class)
Survival +7 (1rank,3wis,3class)
Prof:Baker* +7 (1rank,3wis,3class)
Linguistics +7 (1rank,3int,3class)
Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarven, And two others
Misc Bunuses: +2 Diplo
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Rage Power
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Racial Traits
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Standard Racial Traits
+2 Str
Powerful Presence
Humans with a regal bearing and strong personal magnetism can apply their presence more forcefully than others. A human with this trait treats her Charisma score as 2 points higher for the purpose of meeting feat prerequisites. In addition, humans with this racial trait gain Persuasive as a bonus feat. This racial trait replaces the bonus feat trait.
Imposter-Wary
Humans trained to spot fey masquerading as their kin gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusion spells and effects, 1 free rank in Sense Motive at 1st level, and 1 additional rank in Sense Motive whenever they gain a level. This racial trait replaces skilled.
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Class Features
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Fast Movement (Ex)
A barbarian's base speed is faster than the norm for her race by 10 feet. This benefit applies only when she is wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor, and not carrying a heavy load. Apply this bonus before modifying the barbarian's speed because of any load carried or armor worn. This bonus stacks with any other bonuses to the barbarian's base speed.
Contemplative (Ex)
A geminate invoker adds Knowledge (history), Knowledge (religion), and Linguistics to his list of class skills. Unlike most barbarians, a geminate invoker can be lawful, but must maintain a neutral element to his alignment. A geminate invoker who ceases to be neutral-aligned cannot activate his trance ability.
This alters the barbarian’s class skills and alignment.
Rage (Ex) 6 rds/day
+4 Con, +2 will and reflex, can use mental skills
Trance (Ex)
As a free action, a geminate invoker can enter a self-imposed trance, ignoring the physical limits of his body. This ability functions similarly to a barbarian’s rage, except where noted below, and feats, spells, and abilities that affect a barbarian’s rage (such as the Extra Rage feat) apply to an geminate invoker’s trance. A geminate invoker gains rage powers as per a normal barbarian, but he can never gain totem rage powers via this ability.
Instead of the normal rage bonuses and penalties, a geminate invoker in a trance gains a +4 morale bonus to his Constitution; gains a +2 morale bonus on Reflex and Will saving throws; takes no penalties to AC; can still use Dexterity-, Intelligence-, and Charisma-based skills; and gains Diehard as a bonus feat. The Constitution bonus increases to +6 and the save bonus increases to +3 when he gains greater rage, and they increase to a +8 Constitution bonus and a +4 bonus on saves when he gains mighty rage.
This ability alters rage.
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Equipment
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OK, I think I got it right that time.
@Choon-I think Cha should be 12. Other than that, it looks good.
- 13
- 16
- 12
- 12
- 14
- 7
Well, I've seen worse rolls...although that 7 might sting.
Since you allow Path of War, would you be willing to let me use Akashic Mysteries which is also be Dreamscarred Press?
Developing a concept, thought I'd make the rolls while ideas get tossed in my head.
12
17
14
14
14
15
Generally good at everything. Good start. I'm prone to martial characters. I like wars, will sleep on it.
Kinda new, but I think Warlock may be a kickstarter exclusive. http://paizo.com/products/btpy9xj5?New-Paths-Compendium-Expanded-Edition
Is what I'd backed way back when, and I haven't been able to find it elsewhere.
The class is kind of like a Magus, but with witch spells. Ish
Can we craft our mundane gear before the story starts? It's always hard to start a Bowman at level one because a bow is just so expensive.
Dot
Have a couple of ideas, but let me take a look at the numbers....
=12
=15
=16
=14
=13
=15
Hmm.... Not bad at anything. And not phenomenal. I think this could be an interesting Wizard, or Arcanist? I'll need a day or two to work up the details? When is this recruitment ending?
You're probably right. I don't want to step on any toes, so let's focus on Abby and Wolfgang.
For this campaign, you seem to have an established druidic organization, the Green, which works nicely. Abbicka will have formerly been of the Green, but is no longer affiliated, and is possibly even sought by them, though I don't imagine her offense so serious that every other initiate knows her face. This rejection by her peers, by even her own animal companions (initially), is a big part of what has driven her to be so subservient. The outsider she tried to save died anyway, so she sacrificed basically everything to stand for her own morals (that killing is wrong) to no benefit to anyone, and she deeply regrets it now. The outsider was probably from Sophia - I generally imagine him being an anthropologist or archeologist studying druidic ruins - which probably hasn't helped the Green's image. Either way, Abbicka is frantic for external validation and is likely to attach herself to the first individual to give her any. As an aside, I generally note Abbicka as having received extensive tattoos as part of her initiation into whatever druidic organization she was once affiliated, but this is your setting, so I will instead ask if it is acceptable that at least some sects of the Green tattoo initiates to mark them.
Were this starting at a higher level, I'd probably ask to retain a level or two of Fallen Druid to represent this, but as a 1st-level start, I'll instead presume any dead levels were retrained as Hunter. As a 1st-level Hunter, she has reestablished connection with one of her companions. I'd ask that the second (if I go with that build) just be treated as a normal animal with the Young template. If I play this character, I will be using the RAW/RAI Handle Animal rules for pushing and teaching animals; I know a lot of GMs just ignore it, but if my process hasn't made it clear, I rather like disempowering my characters a little. I do ask that I, as a player, be permitted to roleplay the animal companion(s), on the promise that I will seek to play them true to their nature and not abuse this allowance.
I have two general builds for this character, as a Hunter, both of which emphasize the combat potential of the animal companion(s). In either case, Hunter also has up to 6th-level spellcasting, which isn't nothing. Combined with being a spontaneous caster, I imagine that Abbicka with offer decent utility/healing as a caster.
The first is Packmaster, as I mentioned before. Packmaster is honestly a suboptimal archetype for PCs; Pathfinder does not scale linearly (even for martial classes, despite common refrains to the contrary), so having two things of half power is not even remotely equivalent to one thing of full power, let alone three of a third power or four of a quarter power being so. To this end, I expect Packmaster Abbicka to have okay combat potential, particularly at low level when the scaling hasn't ramped up much yet. This build involves two companions, both deinonychus. It makes extensive use of the Evolved Companion feat from Advanced Class Guide, because I assume for balance reasons that each application of the feat applies to a single animal companion at a time, so I essentially take each iteration of the feat twice.
The second is Primal Companion. This archetype operates similarly to the Evolved Companion feat, allowing the animal companion to be temporarily augmented by eidolon evolutions in place of the animal focus feature. This build also makes use of the Evolved Companion feat, though having a single companion frees it up to grab lots of extra teamwork feats as well. Overall, I expect this build to have extremely high combat potential. It's the better build, mechanically, but I personally like the roleplay dynamic of the Packmaster build better.
In both cases, I need to clarify if you're requiring the Summoner class to use Unchained rules, because that does affect the evolutions available to me via Primal Companion and Evolved Companion (the change that stands out to me is that the bleed evolution was removed, which was previously a 1 point evolution and thus could be obtained via Evolved Companion).
For this campaign, the main thing I need to establish is that there are coasts; that is, that we're not dealing with two landlocked nations. I'm rather attached to the piracy aspect, as otherwise generic and flexible as the backstory would otherwise be. As long as this is the case, the big question is figuring out why Wolfgang is working with the party. I'm not sure if we're starting out as a party, or if circumstance will bring us together, but war can be either terrible or lucrative business (or both), so it might be harder to sell him on it if the initial hook is too... lawful good, for lack of a better word. Still, I'll strive to keep the game rolling; I just want to also play the character consistently as much as possible.
I have two general builds for this character, depending on party needs. Both are finesse melee combatants with decent combat potential, with an emphasis on DEX making up for a general lack of armor. They don't do the kind of damage a two-hand Barbarian might, nor what a dual wielding Rogue can put out, but they do decent damage. The first is a Fighter/Duelist build, which emphasizes INT. As a result, this build is as described above, plus a skill monkey. No replacement for a Rogue when it comes to picking locks and disabling traps, but generally good at skill checks outside that. The second is a full Swashbuckler build, which emphasizes CHA. This makes it a decent party face. The differences between Fighter/Duelist and Swashbuckler are... nuanced. I generally find that Fighter/Duelist is more consistent with damage, while Swashbuckler is more variable but has the potential for better overall output, as a result of the Panache system. In either build, the stat of the other isn't dumped, so both builds are at least ok with skills and conversation. I personally like the Fighter/Duelist build better, because I tend to gravitate more towards skill monkey play than party face, even if I think the Swashbuckler build suits my vision for the character a little better.
So, let's take a look at stats.
4 + 2 + 5 + 4 = 13 (+1)
2 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 8 (-1)
3 + 1 + 4 + 1 = 8 (-1)
6 + 6 + 3 + 6 = 18 (+4)
2 + 5 + 3 + 4 = 12 (+1)
3 + 4 + 1 + 2 = 9 (-1)
Oof. Just... oof.
I think I can make this work for Abby, but I'll almost certainly use point-buy for Wolfgang. Expect crunches and the like, probs tomorrow.
I will allow Akashi Mysteries.
@Goofy-If you can find me a place to look at the class I may allow it, but right now I would have to say no to the Normal Warlock.
Mundane crafting pregame is allowed.
Recruitment will end Friday night so that I can look over submissions on the weekend.