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Dotting for posterity... or checking in, it's all a matter of perspective.
Check, double-check, and triple check!
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OK, we may have enough people to run two tables for this game - we shall see. That should be fine, since I can reuse a lot of my descriptive passages in both games, and most of the NPCs are statted up already. This scenario probably won't work as well with a single big mob-handed group anyway.
In the meantime, in order to get you thinking about characters, your PCs are 4th level (standard PC equipment values for 4th level, 20pt buy for stats). You will also know eachother already as an existing party of some renown. You are being hired by a wealthy noble to do an important job, so you would therefore be expected to have a good and reliable reputation (as opposed to dark notoriety) - Chaotic Evil PCs are probably out of the question (or Chaotic Evil characters that can't disguise their proclivities, anyway). Don't forget to check at the top of the thread for the basic info on the setting.
Don't worry about party balance - my real-world group have been doing this with a rogue (unchained), a fighter, a monk (unchained) and an on-off cleric and have been fine(-ish). More important is a reasonable spread of skills. So just go with what you fancy.
Checking in.
Thumbs up! Let's do this
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Do you mind if I wiki-fy that so we can add to it as we go?OK, just to get the ball rolling, here's a link to a little bit of information on the setting. It's mostly broad-brush stuff to help create a character, rather than detailing the location for the adventure.
No problem at all.
Also, the categories are telling people goodbye. A.D.I.O.S. haha
I kinda want to make a gnome arcanist that tinkers with magic the same way other gnomes tinker with clockwork. But arcanists have both int and charisma required for different abilities and they seem really complicated to build.
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Great and very fast work on the wiki. Just a minor comment - the races aren't Skull Beach Races, just the races common in the Empire. Skull Beach is a specific place which you will encounter in the adventure.
Yeah, there are a few weirdnesses with how I use media wiki, that mean generic names for pages aren't good, and at a quick glance there wasn't an overall name for the world/continent whatever... I'll tweak it as we go.
Race - Orc.
Class - Cleric (maybe with Sorcerer dip - non optimal I know but how often do you get to play an Orc?). EDIT: I like the Nanite Bloodline form People of the River, may do a Sorcerer with a Cleric dip...
Religion - The Tinker (likely will have him grow up outside of Orc culture perhaps due to the Bloodline of the Sorcerous dip).
Background - Orc Tribe lived on lands owned by an Aristocratic family, as the character grew his Sorcerous Bloodline was looked at as anathema to the teachings of the Orc Gods. As blood sacrifices have been abolished, the Tribe "traded" the lad to the Family to be raised by him due to his unique nature. He inherited the Old Gods of the family. He viewed himself as an outsider and left his adopted family in search of "adventure".
@ Nevynxxx, thanks for the Wiki :-)
Arcanist is a class I've never really understood, but don't let that stop you.
Neither have I. It'll be a learning experience. I know their spell casting mechanic is similar to 5e prepaired casters. It's effective use of exploits and arcane reservoir that I'm trying to wrap my head around.
Initial proposals appear to have spellcasters covered, so I’m leaning toward melee. Might go straight fighter, but I’m leaning toward some rogue, too. Still thinking.
This build idea is suboptimal to be sure! Have to think about it a bit more.
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Race - Orc.
Class - Cleric (maybe with Sorcerer dip - non optimal I know but how often do you get to play an Orc?). EDIT: I like the Nanite Bloodline form People of the River, may do a Sorcerer with a Cleric dip...
Religion - The Tinker (likely will have him grow up outside of Orc culture perhaps due to the Bloodline of the Sorcerous dip).
Background - Orc Tribe lived on lands owned by an Aristocratic family, as the character grew his Sorcerous Bloodline was looked at as anathema to the teachings of the Orc Gods. As blood sacrifices have been abolished, the Tribe "traded" the lad to the Family to be raised by him due to his unique nature. He inherited the Old Gods of the family. He viewed himself as an outsider and left his adopted family in search of "adventure".
@ Nevynxxx, thanks for the Wiki :-)
OK, not keen on the flavour of a nanite bloodline - that's quite specific to Numeria and Golarion and androids and stuff and I'd see things here as a bit more vanilla. If you fancy it, go ahead, but please reflavour it somehow.
And I feel honour-bound to point out, though I am sure that you know, that orcs make lousy spellcasters due to a -2 to INT, WIS and CHA. Multiclassing will only make a hampered character even more hampered by requiring you to boost not just one but two stats which are already reduced by 2 due to race, eating up build points to get something viable which could be used elsewhere. And multiclassing hurts spellcasters by limiting access to higher level spells. Might be a fun character to play from an RP perspective but in the effectiveness stakes you might suffer. There are aspects to this game which are a bit brutal - you don't want a weedy character.
Have you considered a bloodrager instead? You would get some spells but also some mileage from that +4 STR bonus. Or just straight cleric, since they can be quite handy in melee anyway and a +4 STR bonus will compensate for a reduced WIS and magical handicap. A straight sorcerer will be a weaker choice as his STR will be be counteracted to some extent by his poor BAB progression and inherent lack of hit points.
Thoughts?
Race - Orc.
Class - Cleric (maybe with Sorcerer dip - non optimal I know but how often do you get to play an Orc?). EDIT: I like the Nanite Bloodline form People of the River, may do a Sorcerer with a Cleric dip...
Religion - The Tinker (likely will have him grow up outside of Orc culture perhaps due to the Bloodline of the Sorcerous dip).
Background - Orc Tribe lived on lands owned by an Aristocratic family, as the character grew his Sorcerous Bloodline was looked at as anathema to the teachings of the Orc Gods. As blood sacrifices have been abolished, the Tribe "traded" the lad to the Family to be raised by him due to his unique nature. He inherited the Old Gods of the family. He viewed himself as an outsider and left his adopted family in search of "adventure".
@ Nevynxxx, thanks for the Wiki :-)
OK, not keen on the flavour of a nanite bloodline - that's quite specific to Numeria and Golarion and androids and stuff and I'd see things here as a bit more vanilla. If you fancy it, go ahead, but please reflavour it somehow.
And I feel honour-bound to point out, though I am sure that you know, that orcs make lousy spellcasters due to a -2 to INT, WIS and CHA. Multiclassing will only make a hampered character even more hampered by requiring you to boost not just one but two stats which are already reduced by 2 due to race, eating up build points to get something viable which could be used elsewhere. And multiclassing hurts spellcasters by limiting access to higher level spells. Might be a fun character to play from an RP perspective but in the effectiveness stakes you might suffer. There are aspects to this game which are a bit brutal - you don't want a weedy character.
Have you considered a bloodrager instead? You would get some spells but also some mileage from that +4 STR bonus. Or just straight cleric, since they can be quite handy in melee anyway and a +4 STR bonus will compensate for a reduced WIS and magical handicap. A straight...
OK! Bloodrager it is, fits the theme I was looking for.
I will think about how to re-flavor the Nanite Bloodline and if I cannot will choose another. Had a PC in my Eberron game with this class and he was pretty effective.
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On the background I'd maybe adapt it slightly so that your character was seen as strange or eerie by his fellow orcs, so he/she was effectively sold as tribute/a slave to a nearby aristrocratic family as a servant, perhaps ultimately intended as a guard. The manifestation of their natural powers may have fascinated the head of the family, perhaps a follower of the Night Maiden (the Old God of, among other things, magic) and your character became a favoured follower or bodyguard. Perhaps the head of the household died and your character moved on to find their fortune.
pitch coming tonight...
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Ok, I'm 50:50 on either alchemist or bard..... party buffs can be nice, but so can +4 strength and a few bombs..... the alchemist would be a proper Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide type, fitting in with society at large with his hidden chemical tinkering likely to get him into trouble.... the bard the bard, very much a man of the diktats, and pushing for the group to excel before himself.
I am leaning towards my human monk master of many styles magus Kensai. Easier to throw together. If that’s okay?
OK, in the interest of trying a new class and having been reminded about the hybrid classes, I'm thinking a slayer or a shifter, leaning toward the latter. I have to do some reading up on the class to make sure what I'm getting myself into.
Of course, if the shifter is too weird for the setting, the slayer should be an effective and interesting class, so it's a safe fallback, I think.
Insight with regards to either class is welcome if you have some experience to call on.
Are languages going to come up much? Gnomes have an alternate racial trait that lets them get two languages per point in linguistics.
The only hybrid class I had looked at until recently is the bloodrager and it was a lot of fun. My irl group did a lvl 20 one shot in Ptolus. I had lots of fun being an abyssal/ arcane crossblooded rager. Every time I raged, I activated half a dozen spell effects.
I feel like I’m doing this out of order, but the character is a chaotic neutral (focusing more on the neutral side) elf raised and trained in Elven lands where a Druidic culture remains strong. He was prepared from a relatively early age (for an elf) as a protector companion for a young member of a ruling family, but circumstances have changed and he found himself at loose ends before encountering some member or members of the party and finding some common cause, he travels with them.
As a slayer, he will be focused as a ranged combatant, but capable as a melee striker, as well. As a shifter, he will be more melee-oriented (think a monk with claws) and his animal aspects will bring other abilities and enhancements into play eventually.
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I am leaning towards my human monk master of many styles magus Kensai. Easier to throw together. If that’s okay?
If you are going monk you might want to consider the unchained monk as it has a better BAB progression.
Also, remember (as above) that a multiclassing spellcaster gets reduced spell progression, and a magus doesn't get much spell progression anyway, and a kensai gets even less. So while I see the synergy between kensai and monk (and I get the impression you like multiclassing) it might involve a lot of stat build point investment with relatively limited outcome. Straight monk or magus might be better.
That said, the character from a background perspective could work quite well. They could be ex-military (remember that the Empire's army is large and important) which could lend an veneer of respectability as well (and could be a good way for some of the PCs to have met as well) which might help in getting the job from your noble patron in the first place.
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Are languages going to come up much? Gnomes have an alternate racial trait that lets them get two languages per point in linguistics.
** spoiler omitted **
The only hybrid class I had looked at until recently is the bloodrager and it was a lot of fun. My irl group did a lvl 20 one shot in Ptolus. I had lots of fun being an abyssal/ arcane crossblooded rager. Every time I raged, I activated half a dozen spell effects.
Language will come up to the extent that the Allam islanders don't as a rule speak Common. However, it's an obscure language that most people wouldn't bother to learn unless they had a reason, and hitherto you probably wouldn't have. But you can take it if you wish.
Cool. Yeah, I like the build a lot, and have always wanted a stab at it. Former military is good. I'm thinking something in the disillusioned with war, or still believing in the honor of battle, the noble pursuit, rather than the war is hell line of thought. Or perhaps that's exactly what it is...war was a place to perfect his noble craft, but he found it and the people in it weren't as noble as he suspected...
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Ok, I'm 50:50 on either alchemist or bard..... party buffs can be nice, but so can +4 strength and a few bombs..... the alchemist would be a proper Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide type, fitting in with society at large with his hidden chemical tinkering likely to get him into trouble.... the bard the bard, very much a man of the diktats, and pushing for the group to excel before himself.
Either of those would be great. On your Jekyll and Hyde character, though, just make sure he's respectable enough to get the job.
I thought a shifter was a race, not a class. Am I not getting it?
It’s both, depending on the rule set. Eberron has a race of shifters. Paizo has a hybrid (Druid/monk, I think) class defined in Ultimate Wilderness of the same name. If you are more comfortable with the slayer (ranger/rogue), that’s fine.
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No, we can go with it, I just need to look it up online (or maybe use it as an excuse to buy the book). I vaguely recall comment that it was a bit underpowered, but that might just have been the optimization guys doing their usual moaning ('fighters suck', that sort of thing).
EDIT: just looking online, apparently Paizo have errata'ed the class a bit - you might want to check it out.
EDIT: ooo, full BAB progression! Yep, liking it.
Okay I am mostly posting here now to dot the thread.
But to have some content here. I will read up and probably have something by end of the day or at the latest tomorrow after work.
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OK, just for a little recap, we have the following players (with associated characters where a preference has been expressed):
Storyteller Shadow - orc bloodrager
Pixie Rogue - elf shifter
Mittean - human monk/kensai magus
Nevynxxx - human (?) alchemist or bard
natloz - gnome arcanist
Tenro - still thinking
Aadvark - still thinking
mellowgoth - still thinking
Fumbles_suck - just started thinking
Assuming everyone chips in with a character, we'll be looking at two tables, but that's cool. We might need to think about who goes in which group, but that can come later.
Alright some questions? Are psionics stuff in the setting, I know you were fine with it mechanically in eberron, but no idea if you like the thematics of it. But as far as character ideas go I am assuming yes for now, and if not feel free to discard the ideas that use it.
1) Elf Psion(kineticist): Build wise essentially a blaster with few fall back to tricks, skill wise will bring a lot of knowledge skills to the table. Personality wise, thinks the empire has the right idea with the whole self improvement and meritocracy stuff, but the divinity is just some human hubris upstarts. Former war-'mage' turned mercenary/adventurer.
2)Orc Druid(Goliath): Build is more or less a melee bruiser that sacrifices some martial skill for additional tricks. Beliver in the who is the strongest makes the rules, not in an abusive sense just thinking that it is the reality of the world, which gets the empire considerable respect from the character, though considers their 'god' to be untested by time.
3) Elf Fighter(Mutagen warrior): Build is martial BFC, combining Elven branched spear and combat reflexes. Former soldier, turned to wandering warrior to hone skills but later started becoming more focused on what he could accomplish with said skills and turned into an adventurer.
I am leaning towards the latter one since last time I played a caster and seems there is already some already.
I know some of your other campaigns didn't really have traits (because they started before traits were a thing) but do you have opinions about them for this?
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Alright some questions? Are psionics stuff in the setting, I know you were fine with it mechanically in eberron, but no idea if you like the thematics of it. But as far as character ideas go I am assuming yes for now, and if not feel free to discard the ideas that use it.
1) Elf Psion(kineticist): Build wise essentially a blaster with few fall back to tricks, skill wise will bring a lot of knowledge skills to the table. Personality wise, thinks the empire has the right idea with the whole self improvement and meritocracy stuff, but the divinity is just some human hubris upstarts. Former war-'mage' turned mercenary/adventurer.
2)Orc Druid(Goliath): Build is more or less a melee bruiser that sacrifices some martial skill for additional tricks. Beliver in the who is the strongest makes the rules, not in an abusive sense just thinking that it is the reality of the world, which gets the empire considerable respect from the character, though considers their 'god' to be untested by time.
3) Elf Fighter(Mutagen warrior): Build is martial BFC, combining Elven branched spear and combat reflexes. Former soldier, turned to wandering warrior to hone skills but later started becoming more focused on what he could accomplish with said skills and turned into an adventurer.
I am leaning towards the latter one since last time I played a caster and seems there is already some already.
I'd rather not have psionics. They were integrated into Eberron but I haven't done the same here and would prefer not to. The other two are fine, though the elven branched spear sounds vaguely ludicrous as a practical weapon (though maybe no more so than a few others).
I'm thinking about a cleric or warpriest of the main religion - someone ambitious from a minor family looking to use the church to climb the social ladder.
Thoughts?
I'm thinking spark of creation (5% off crafting costs and +1 to craft checks) and excitable (+2 init: gnome only). I was going to take scribe scroll as well to increase utility. If things progress I was going to take a bunch of crafting feats to show an extension of his magical tinkering.
Wow, this thread really blew up. I've had a busy few days, cobbling together a portfolio of writing and a research paper that were collectively 30% of my grade. one more final (later today) and I will be free for a few weeks (ahhhhhhhh whew)
anyway, I checked in and after reading, I had a question. You've been fine with me playing sort of wacky stuff before (3PP) so I wanted to check in and see if I could play a Spheres of Power or Spheres of Might class.
I like SoP and SoM quite a bit and most of my characters for the last two years have been one or the other. I haven't had complaints thus far IRL or on the boards so I was hoping I could play them in this game.
If you don't feel like reading the wiki (i don't blame you), basically Spheres of Power characters play kinda like warlocks of 3.5 edition, and Spheres of Might can play as a range from vanilla fighter to almost like Tome of Battle from 3.5.
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I'm thinking spark of creation (5% off crafting costs and +1 to craft checks) and excitable (+2 init: gnome only). I was going to take scribe scroll as well to increase utility. If things progress I was going to take a bunch of crafting feats to show an extension of his magical tinkering.
That's fine.
you may have been posting while i posted my last post and missed it
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Wow, this thread really blew up. I've had a busy few days, cobbling together a portfolio of writing and a research paper that were collectively 30% of my grade. one more final (later today) and I will be free for a few weeks (ahhhhhhhh whew)
anyway, I checked in and after reading, I had a question. You've been fine with me playing sort of wacky stuff before (3PP) so I wanted to check in and see if I could play a Spheres of Power or Spheres of Might class.
I like SoP and SoM quite a bit and most of my characters for the last two years have been one or the other. I haven't had complaints thus far IRL or on the boards so I was hoping I could play them in this game.
If you don't feel like reading the wiki (i don't blame you), basically Spheres of Power characters play kinda like warlocks of 3.5 edition, and Spheres of Might can play as a range from vanilla fighter to almost like Tome of Battle from 3.5.
I'm not crazy about stuff like this. I appreciate that a few of you like experimenting with different things but I don't really want to digest new rules and the results are often underwhelming. So I would prefer it if you didn't.