Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening!
I have been a lurker for sometime on the boards and have decided to make an account and jump into some PBP fun. Hopefully being new doesn’t run people off.
The title says it all, I am looking for 2 player characters to run through the Kingmaker AP.
There are two things that I am looking for in your characters:
Goals: Besides the fact you received a charter from the Lord Mayor of Restov, why would you character want to explore these lands? What is it they hope to achieve from being the explorers of these lands?
Background: Because this specific AP is an open world it allows the freedom to add in as much homebrew as a DM would like, even to fully customize the story around the PCs. The more you give me, the more I can give you.
Right now I am not going to go into a lot on the build side of things, but I am looking at Gestalt. Core Races, but pass others by me first. All Classes. Paizo products only. Any alignment that fits the concept, but you are being sent to work WITH someone else.
Please feel free to ask any questions you may have, I will answer to the best of my ability.
Lets see those character concepts!
I have some questions on stats. Are you looking for point buy? If so, how many? If rolling, any special rules for said rolls?
Oh, one last question, can you give me a quick refresher on Gestalt Character building? I don't build them much.
Oh hey! Two kingmaker recruitments? Sweet! Anyway, here's my basic character concept, or at least the general idea, to be altered as time goes on (likely a lot, as build guidelines bleed over to story). However, this is likely the base and won't stray too far from this.
Darivan was born to a minor member of the Orlovsky family in a small city just outside of the Gronzi Forest, near Stoneclimb. Even from a young age, he showed great promise, physically skilled and showing promise that he held magical talent, and found that life frequently just went his way, regardless of what he did. This led to him being headstrong and combatant with his parents, so they sent their son away at the age of eight to be a page. A gifted boy, he graduated from being a page to a squire at the age of twelve, skilled in swordplay and beginning to develop some magical abilities.
His knight, master, and mentor was Sir Aethelred Waincroft, skilled in both swordplay and the Art, Sir Waincroft was a talented magus who favored the instinctive flow of combat rather than carefully metered and guided sword strokes, a reputation that caused him to be looked down on by his fellows. For the next year, the pair lived in New Stetven, long enough for Darivan to begin training as a knight. However, after the year was over, Sir Waincroft was assigned to Rimefort, a military outpost located at the base of the Icerime Peaks. While he never explained it to others, nor could he entirely either, Darivan found himself drawn more and more towards dragons, much to the chagrin of his master and family. After a brief adventure into the mountains, in which Darivan found and talked to a silver dragon for some time, his family pulled him home, cutting off his training, to keep his shenanigans from getting out of hand.
What they hadn't expected was that their 14-year old son, while ostensibly much more cooperative than before, had instead learned how to hide his exploits even better than before. Now, he functionally lived two lives: one as Darivan, the dutiful son of the Orlovsky family, and the other as Devarrain, disciple of dragons, learning lessons from a disguised dragon, Kazallik, who lived about a day's journey away. Over time, he saw dragons, in particular Apsu, as essentially free of the political shenanigans that had always bored him. Dragons had the power and the attitude to, when seeing a problem, simply solving it, rather than twisting themselves around to get the approval of their peers. Their approach to evil was much the same, too, and while his family may have allowed a few bandits to live in their lands, so long as they weren't personally bothered, Darivan wouldn't stand for it. Over the next several years, the young man, with the aid of his dragon ally at first, but on his own once Kazallik returned home, drove off bandits from the surrounding area.
However, in time, he was discovered. At the age of 18, he was unmasked (so to speak) and the shame and scorn that his family leveraged at him (for no reason Darivan understood) drove him away from home, further fed up with the posturing of politics. He had done good! Driven off dozens of criminals, brought justice to the peasantry, and he had been met with scorn? "It's not your place" he had been told. Well, Darivan has had enough. He'll show them, certainly. Being a noble means having a responsibility to your people, to defend them when needed, not just leech off them and leave them to their own devices. He scoffed at the idea of 'the Dragonscale throne'- as though any of the nobility really had the strength or blood of dragons. He would show them that none of that was needed. He had the soul of one, and he would make his own kingdom, to show what a true Dragon could do.
Likely a Paladin of Apsu//Vigilante, emphasis on the paladin (Vigilante is more flexible/droppable). Essentially, Darivan is a paladin, fed up with political scheming and keeping up appearances, the would much rather emulate dragons, who just don't care about the opinions of others and just do what's right. As he doesn't see that happening in Brevoy, he just wants to make his own kingdom built on those ideals.
Alright, I'm going to go for a changeling witch/alchemist (mindchemist). I've ok'd it with you, and I'll have a proper background/personality/appearance up soonish.
I definitely want to hear more. My first thought is an Aldori Swordlord, probably built as a Fighter/Something.
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I have some questions on stats. Are you looking for point buy? If so, how many? If rolling, any special rules for said rolls?
Right now I am looking for the character concept, goals, background, etc. I only gave the race/class/gestalt info so that people would have that in mind when giving me the character. I will more than likely do a point buy, unless the two I select want to get crazy and do rolls for it.
Oh, one last question, can you give me a quick refresher on Gestalt Character building? I don't build them much.
This link is a great explanation on gestalt.
Hope that helps @Fallen_Mage.
I looked over the Vigilante class and it seems like a perfect fit for your concept. Something that instantly jumped out class wise would be the Dragon Disciple. Would this be something that you would be interested in eventually? Or even with Gestalt you could do Paladin/Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer to have that Dragon Disciple vibe without taking the class.
Whatever you do, I really enjoyed your background and will be happy whatever class choices you make.
@GM Aest sounds good, let me take a look at the mindchemist, but all should be well. Looking forward to the characters story.
@Ouachitonian you mentioned you wanted to hear more. What specifically are you wanting more info on?
I looked at the dragon disciple, but unfortunately, it doesn't mesh as well as I would hope with the concept. Ultimately, it comes down to the diffculty of casting spells in armor. Unless I want to crossblood psychic and draconic bloodlines, I would have to essentially choose if I wanted to cast spells or engage in combat, which I would prefer to avoid. I could, of course, go with Eldritch Scion magus (something I did consider), but even then, the prestige class locks me out of getting the ability to cast in heavier armor, giving the same problem, and doesn't advance the other Magus class abilities. By itself, even, the Draconic bloodline for bloodragers is fine, but has some difficulty meshing with a sword and board paladin.
Also, I have a sorcerer//paladin gestalt in a RotRL campaign on the boards already, so to avoid more or less repeating the same concept, I leaned away from that. Also, it's painful just how few skills sorcerers/paladins get, whereas Vigilante can serve as a skill monkey.
Personally, I doubt the Dual Identity would come too much into play- the whole point of Darivan wanting to start his own kingdom is so that he doesn't have to hide his justice, but it would still help on occasion. I like it largely as a functional 'noble' class, and because I just really like it overall.
Dotting for interest. Actually had a question regarding gestalt (open to the floor but particularly interested in how you want to play it Dm Forge). If I brewed up a vigilante + some other class, would the other class be tied to his social identity, his vig identity, or to both?
Apart from that my only question is regarding your style as a gm. How would you describe your style.
That link is perfect, thanks.
With that said, I've got a character I can rework as needed. He started out a Sorcerer, but for this, I'm thinking Sorcerer/Ranger. Here is his backstory.
When I wasn’t in lessons, my father told me various tales of the wilds and the creatures that inhabit them. My mother also taught me how to interact with the inhabitants of the woods. Years passed and I learned so much and yet I never ran out of questions.
The one question that my father never answered though, why did he leave the wilds that he seemed to love so much? Then the day came when my father was ambushed by assassins, and struck with an unknown poison that nothing seem to cure. On his death bed, he summoned me to his side.
“My dear child,” he said, “I have told you of many exploits of mine over the years. However there is one I’ve never revealed. The reason I left the wilds, is because I was banished for dishonoring my family name.”
“How is that, father?”
“I cannot say what the crime is, but by our customs, my children can attempt to wipe the stain of my crime by seeking out the council, informing them of my death, and completing a task set before them. They…….are……..to……………the,” and he faded to the void.
After his funeral, my mother gave me my father’s journal. It gave some indication of where he was from, the south. So I gathered various items for the journey and headed south with my personal driver, Jarvis and bodyguard Marcus. I hope I can find the council and wipe the stain of honor from our family name.
I have some questions on stats. Are you looking for point buy? If so, how many? If rolling, any special rules for said rolls?Right now I am looking for the character concept, goals, background, etc. I only gave the race/class/gestalt info so that people would have that in mind when giving me the character. I will more than likely do a point buy, unless the two I select want to get crazy and do rolls for it.
Oh, one last question, can you give me a quick refresher on Gestalt Character building? I don't build them much.This link is a great explanation on gestalt.
Hope that helps @Fallen_Mage.
** spoiler omitted **
@GM Aest sounds good, let me take a look at the mindchemist, but all should be well. Looking forward to the characters story.
@Ouachitonian you mentioned you wanted to hear more. What specifically are you wanting more info on?
Mostly what some others were asking about; stat generation and the like. I’d hate to come up with a fun but MAD concept that I then can’t make work because of a point buy, or something like that.
As it stands I’m thinking a Fighter/Warpriest of Milani who not only wants to become a peerless duelist, but also to free Rostland from the Dragonscale Throne’s oppression. Or at least establish a free state where the Swordlords can again rule, and Rostlanders can flee to to escape Brevic oppression.
Well I had made a post but I am not sure where it went to. It could be possible that I hit cancel, how unfortunate.
@Daedalus that all sounds good. I completely understand the low skills. I love characters with tons of skills.
@The Emerald Duke those are both great questions.
Vigilante question: I think it all depends on the concept. Off the top of my head the two examples that stand out are Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde or a Super Hero.
With Dr J/Mr H the two classes could be the different identities. Depending on which one you are in is the one you could heavily lean on. With the Super Hero approach, one identity would be their mild mannered “Normal Joe” personality, and when they are in vigilante mode it could be that is when the classes shine.
All in all I think that it comes down to what the person wants to do with the concept.
As far as my DM style... thats a good question. I don’t think it is something I have ever thought about. My general thought is that the goal of everyone at the table is to collectively tell a story together, DM & PCs alike. As a DM my role is to help facilitate that by using the rules as a guideline. I don’t believe that the rules are gospel, because there are times when a player wants to do something cool that fits the scene and character but is hindered by the rules. And that is just no fun.
I hope that gives you an idea of my DM style.
@Ouachitonian I don’t think I am sure what you mean by mad concept... All I can say is that I will help the players I pick achieve the goals of their characters. I have never met a concept that couldn’t work because of point buy.
@Red Heat why only 2 PCs? Great question. I mainly picked two because it will allow me to heavily focus on their characters and the background. I understand that people and games come and go, but my hope is that with the two who are picked being the stars, they it would become a game they really enjoy and don’t want to put down.
Hope that helps!
Ah, okay. So, you'll choose based off of characters, and then we build stats? Okay. That makes sense. How long will you keep recruitment open for, and what all do you want in a submission?
I think the question about MAD builds is because, while a wizard will be more or less as viable at 10 points as 25, it's really hard to make a monk (or paladin for that matter) with lower ability scores given how many they need. As such, with a low point buy, making a wizard/cleric is really hard, as they both need different high ability scores, but with a higher point buy, more character options are available.
For example, I chose vigilante/paladin in part because they're both martial classes that benefit from charisma, whereas some of my other ideas (investigator/paladin, for example) simply don't mesh well with what stats they need.
Oh ok, I think I understand. Because there will be only 2 PCs I will probably go higher point buy than lower. But I don’t want that to be the focus. I would rather focus on the character concept and then build the mechanics after the concept is selected for the game.
I think I will make my selection in the next few days. I will say a deadline for submitting concepts will be Tuesday morning. Then we can jump over to the discussion page and get the mechanical side going. And hopefully a start by the weekend.
Do you expect all submissions to be separate, or can two people combine backstories etc and make a joint submission? :)
Alright, here's Elfriede Voss, minus the crunch. She's a changeling on the run from her mother, who's joined the expedition because it gets her further away from the pursuing hag. If you have comments, questions, or anything else, I'll have something more akin to a 5-minute background that's, maybe, easier to parse up in a bit.
Intrested
Looking at cavalier and maybe a bard maybe.
I will post more later tonight.
@Nikolaus de’Shade you can submit them together if you’d like. I hadn’t thought about two people putting in a submission together.
I will be looking over what everyone has submitted so far tonight. There have been some intriguing characters that have been submitted.
Well I had made a post but I am not sure where it went to. It could be possible that I hit cancel, how unfortunate.
It's okay, the forums are stalked by a post-eating gremlin. It's an elusive little SOB and you never know when it will strike.
What's interesting is that I saw a notification for a new post in this thread, but the post itself never seemed to appear itself.
*shrug*
dotting in, I have a cavalier I've been wanting to play through kingmaker, But I also have a wizard I was thinking of doing.
Leaning towards cavalier atm. (would hopefully go down monstrous mount featline)
Here is the alias for Kain. If selected, I will de-level him and correct his stats.
cliff notes- He is a kind hearted man that learned many lessons the hard way. At the moment, he is looking for a purpose again after spending over three years traveling around working as a blade for hire.
He was part of a fairly large town near the hold of Belkzen that was situated among rolling hills. The town defense was mostly guaranteed by a band of "knights" known to the town as "The dragoons", along with the regular guards. His brother, and his father had been part of the the Dragoons, as well as his grandfather, and he had always aspired to join them as well to gain glory and fame, like the hero's in stories. Eventually he was accepted and he received his horse, whom he named Valere. However, less than a year after that, a large warband that had been gathered by a powerful warlord seeking to unite the orcs of Belkzen turned his attention to the town, lured out half the dragoons, and then attacked the town. It fell, and most everyone in it was killed (around 700-800 people if that matters) He doesn't know for sure if his sister and brother perished, and he lost contact with the remaining 4 or 5 members left of the Dragoons.
After that, his glory seeking was quickly curbed, and he traveled as a mercenary, taking only jobs he deemed good/just (so, no working for crime lords or other dubious folk) He took this job because it seemed a worthy undertaking. Not only to help route out bandits and the like, but to help folk as well. If by some miracle, he was made baron, or a general or marshal under the new baron, he would take the chance to try and rekindle The Dragoons, in hopes of keeping what he lost from being lost again.
@Darvian Orlovsky exactly! It even showed up in the recent threads with my profile next to it. Oh well, I’ll just be sure to type things up in a word document and then copy/paste it over.
@Arden Kain Brandt looks good! You mentioned you were thinking about doing a Cavalier or a Wizard, since its Gestalt you could always do those two as your combo! That would be a combo that covers a wide array of situations.
@everyone I won’t be around much today but keep the post coming. They are all creative and have ways for me to pull them in and shape the AP around them.
I'd like to apply too
My idea will be a kitsune trickster rogue / sorcerer. Or a sorcerer/Oracle
She would be a very sociable character. And I also plan to get as many tails as possible as soon as possible =^^=
Hm... that is a good answer to my questions I think. Working up an application concept... probably a mix of a vig and some other class, but the idea being that he/she either cannot use the gestalt class benefits in vig form or simply has really good reason to choose not to. (So either the full on Dr J/Mr. H "formula" or something like a superhero, but his mild mannered alter ego is not quite so mild mannered... but in a unique enough way that using those powers or gifts would lead to discovery.) Should have the concept at least brewed up soon.
If I use this guy, I would likely gestalt with either paladin, bard, or some other such. (since armor interferes with arcane spellcasting for most)
And ATM I am leaning towards this guy, as my wizard isn't as fleshed out background wise.
Sorry I was not able to post sooner but here I am now.
I see Christian as wanting to explore these lands as a way to find out what really did happen to his family and also as a way to reclaim what is rightfully his. I see him going cavalier and Bard with the Battle Herald as a prestige class. I find that these two classes fit well with the background story and the prestige class meshes nicely with the two classes as well.
I hope that his answers your question and I am sorry for the long background.
I really love this concept and I’m definitely interested in applying!
My initial concept (that I’ll be formally submitting later) is a Mesmerist/Feyspeaker Druid with the Bastard (Medvyed) campaign trait.
I was wondering if I could, as the animal companion for the Druid side, take a plant companion instead of the typical animal companion. I haven’t really looked through the plant companions, but I feel like one would fit more thematically for my character concept. Totally not a big deal if not!
I believe that I will be cutting off the deadline tonight by midnight. If you have any last minute tweaks and changes today is the day. I will choose two characters based on background and how I can tie them in. Once chosen we will jump over to the discussion page and start building characters. Looking to be able to launch by this weekend.
Exciting stuff!
OK, going to work on the backstory over the course of the evening (work permitting, I don't get off shift until 10:30PM EST tonight), but I have my concept finally:
Meet Finn Darksteel, dwarven paladin vigilante (potentially some archetypes in there, not sure yet) in service of Torag. As a guiding exemplar of the virtues of Torag, Finn must always strive to do what is right and to follow the laws of the land. But sometimes, someplaces, the laws prevent doing what is right, or complicate it to the point of irrelevance. The downtrodden, the disenfrancised, and often the non-human outsiders, call out for help... but often that help is delayed and neutered at best, or nonexistant at worst. In those places and times, Finn sets aside his vows and dons the guise of the Hammer of Righteousness. Someone willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure that the cause of good triumphs, the oppressed are aided, and the wicked are punished.
(So yeah, the idea is that his social identity will have all the access to his paladin abiliities, in addition to the social boons that come from being a vigilante. But anything that requires him to be a paladin of good standing to work goes out the window once he dons the other identity, as it will be NG. Also some other things he will not do in that form even if he doesn't have a prohibition, lest he is exposed and his actions reflect poorly upon his God and his church.)
Will work more on the hows and whys, but I can say that his goal in these lands would be twofold: Social Finn would want to ensure that the new community is a welcoming place to dwarves seeking to make a home for themselves, and would strive to ensure that Torag had a decent place of worship there. The vigilante Hammer would be striving solely to ensure the place was reclaimed for righteousness, and that those who were suffering under the land's current owners would be freed to live upstanding lives.
I will formally apply with this character ( I won't have time to dedicate to fleshing out the wizard, besides, I've been itching to play this character for a while now.)
*sees another paladin/vigilante*
*raises eyebrow*
*sees another paladin/vigilante*
*raises eyebrow*
Heh... won't lie, wasn't looking at the other applicants.
I got to that combo thusly: wanted the combo class to apply to his social id. Needed a justification for why it would only be in that form. First thought: spellcaster. Problem was that really didn't give any reason not to use spells in vig form.
Next thought: monk (using similar alignment restrictions as you would for pally). Problem here was only group I could see needing that kind of shift would be evil... probably wouldn't play friendly with others.
So, pally. Two shifts possible, went less lawful. Toyed with idea of going less good, and truthfully I still might.
I'd say good luck though. If we both get in perhaps we can form some kind of league.
Oh yeah, I totally get the combo. It's quite nice, from both a thematic and mechanic standpoint, and they compliment each other nicely. It is interesting how we took kind of opposite approaches of the dual identity feature, though. You're going for an actual 'hidden class,' hiding your allegiances, whereas Darivan is sick of all that nonsense and wants to be open about what he does.
@The Emerald Duke you are good to go. I mainly put in that time line for new submissions. Everyone else has given me backgrounds and concepts that I have a good idea of where we could go. Once picked everyone will still have time to fully get things taken care of before we go.
@The Emerald Duke & Darivan Orlovsky I am a DM that mainly focuses on the background and not exactly the party composition. I believe that if the players want to play a class, they should be allowed to and not be restrained because of “party balance.” So I wouldn’t not pick a player because I already have chosen my “Arcane Caster.”
@Lord Christian D’Elagante I see you talked about Prestige Classes. I am not 100% sure how I would do this because of the Gestalt nature of the game. I would need to think on this before allowing it. Don’t let this sway your background/concept.
@Magicblast we must have posted at the same time because I am just seeing your post. I wouldn’t have an issue with a plant animal companion. I would need to do more looking to see if there are other ways, but I know that the Elven Treesinger Druid is one way you can get a plant animal companion. I will look for others, but if you know of one just shoot me the link and I wouldn’t have an issue with it as long as it Paizo material.
Also as a side-note. In my weekly playgroup I have played that kind of druid before and it was a blast, this setting would also be great for it.
@gm, just throwing out an idea for prestige classes, In my humble opinion I would say they should be fine, though I'd caveat that with only allowing one side of the gestalt to prestige, and only that side.
Take my thoughts how you will. Its merely my thoughts about it
As far as I understand it, you take a prestige class in place of a regular class. Only one prestige class at a time.
Yeah. I was doing some thinking/looking, and I would say that it would replace the base class that it would normally come out of. So a fighter/wizard could go into Fighter/Eldritch Knight because it continues the arcane spellcasting.
One thing that would be crazy would be a wizard/cleric going into Mystic Theurge... technically by the book they could go into it at 4th level and do Mystic Theurge/Anything else... I don’t think I would allow it, but it is just fun to think of wonky things you can do with things like Gestalt.
Yeah. I was doing some thinking/looking, and I would say that it would replace the base class that it would normally come out of. So a fighter/wizard could go into Fighter/Eldritch Knight because it continues the arcane spellcasting.
One thing that would be crazy would be a wizard/cleric going into Mystic Theurge... technically by the book they could go into it at 4th level and do Mystic Theurge/Anything else... I don’t think I would allow it, but it is just fun to think of wonky things you can do with things like Gestalt.
Yeah, mixing prestige into the mix just makes my head start swimming. On a personal note will just close that particular door, seal it, and file under the section marked "DO NOT OPEN -EVER!!!"
Sounds like a fun concept though.
Oh yeah, I totally get the combo. It's quite nice, from both a thematic and mechanic standpoint, and they compliment each other nicely. It is interesting how we took kind of opposite approaches of the dual identity feature, though. You're going for an actual 'hidden class,' hiding your allegiances, whereas Darivan is sick of all that nonsense and wants to be open about what he does.
Heh... I would say it is a mix for me. He is both trying to hide his allegiance, but also wanting to get things done that his normal "day job" can't due to bureaucratic red tape and the like. That is also part of why I picked a dwarf. Some of that tape likely comes from traditions long passed down, and as a paladin to a dwarven god it would be unseemly to disregard it, even as others suffer.
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No more submissions will be accepted beyond this post. I will be spending time today looking over all of your submissions and let you all know today or tomorrow morning the cast for this adventure. Thanks!
Looking forward to seeing who's exploring the Stolen Lands.
Likewise... good luck with your selections and to my fellow applicants.
Best of luck, all!
best of luck all!
Any news?
Not officially if there is. Depending on his timezone and whatnot it might not be morning yet... and even if it is, I know I don't function well without my first (and second.... and third) cup of coffee. We will see soon I hope.
Hello all. Sorry for the minor delay. A doctors appointment for the wife turned into spending the lunch at the park with her and our little one.
This was a hard decision because there are great choices. But the two that I am going to go with will be Daedalus/Darivan Orlovsky and his Paladin of Apsu/Vigilante, and Fallen_Mage with his Sorcerer/Ranger.
Thank you all for your submissions, they were all great!
@Daedalus & Fallen_Mage head on over to the discussion page for character creation.
Have fun, you two!
Thanks for the select!