The Reign of Winter

Game Master Nayr Trebrot

Please feel free to discuss any character creation here, and any questions you may have.

dotting

Hi there! I’m thinking strongly about a fetching slayer. Eternally at war with his upbringing versus his newfound faith.

So it’s a melee/some skills/ can do traps at some point.

What are others thinking?

Also a little about me, I’ve been tabletopping for 25 years give or take, I’ve run a successful LARP for 15 years, I’m involved in my local SCA, and i enjoy good role play AND creative number crunching/combat. Hi all!

Hi Torilgrey, and welcome everyone! Please feel free to take your time; I still have some work to do before we get up and running. Impressive tenure in the Land of RPG;) I think I'm around 25 years or so as well, between IRL and PBP. I'm a 40+ father/husband who always makes time for gaming.

Sounds good. I am having trouble figuring out what to play. A fetchling sounds cool. We could both (Torilgrey and I) play fetchlings. I'd love to take the Shadow Caller archetype for a spin. We could even create a backstory to tie the charcters together if you would like.

We could, that would be very interesting!

Sounds great, make sure to have a reason to be in Heldren, a small town of about 175 mostly human, in Taldor. In southern Taldor, you're always on the lookout for Quadiran aggression, so that could be a reason. The town is very tolerant, and friendly

Say GM Nayr, could you add the character generation rules to either the recruitment or campaign tabs?

Here's what I have so far:

Level 1
20-point buy
Max gold
Max HP
background skills
2 traits (one is campaign trait)

Are you allowing drawbacks and, everyone's favorite, are you doing the elephant in the room feat tax elimination. Also, what restrictions to classes, archtypes, etc. are there. Paizo only or are third-party allowed? There are some abusive things out there like the Synthesized Summoner (or something like that). And I know a lot of folks like to play spheres of power/might though I never have. Oh, and another frequently ruled thing is that the Unchained Summoner is preferred over the original version. I'm going to do the shadow caller so half of those questions are for the other players.

Also, I think you can earn PFS credit for this AP. Are you interested in doing that?

Call me Mr. Questions. Hey, that could work as the character name.

(Attai's player here) How many players are you looking for Nayr?

Welcome Attai/Oceanshieldwolf!

Looking for 5; we could take 6, but I'd have to really scale up your opposition. I'm fine with either...I like to take 5 at least to bank on losing at least one eventually

Hello Mr Questions,

Drawbacks are just fine; creation goodies added to the info tab

For your elephant in the room; please elaborate what you mean by this

I'm okay with some third party stuff, but I'm an old man and really don't care to have to delve very deeply into learning a brand new type of playing. That said, I'm open to ideas, so if there's something you really want to play run it by me and it'll probably be fine, unless it brings up concerns in the group.

PFS credit - I've played in a PFS game before, but never GM'd one. If that's something you want to do, I can certainly look into it. I think it's a cool system, I just really don't know enough about it yet to know how to track it on the GM side

One version of the ‘Elephant can be found HERE - there may be an updated doc/rules reference.

According to the authors, the system attempts “to simplify feat progression. Large feat chains have been trimmed down; feats with narrow or questionable value have been improved, eliminated, or merged together; and the way combat maneuvers and options are handled has been completely rethought. Overall, there are fewer, more impactful feats, and builds tend to hit their stride at a much lower level.”

I usually play martials or 3/4 casters (Inquisitors etc) but I am intrigued by the Occult classes, particularly kineticists. I know Iagon is one, so I hope you aren’t oversaturated if I choose to submit one...

Hey all! I'm thinking of playing a Ulfen human witch with the Tatterdemalion and Mirror Witch archetypes. Still working on a background story/concept but thinking something like mother was a winter witch and expected her to be one too, but she couldn't handle that lifestyle and ran off on her own. I'm building her with debuffing in mind (like any good witch). In addition, I want her to be a local clothier/tailor. I would be open to other concepts and/or classes, if the group thinks it makes sense.

I have not had many opportunities to be a player in an RPG for a while. While I have been "playing" for about 20 years, I currently only GM. My group and I are running the Ruins of Azlant AP and we are recording it as an actual play podcast. Unfortunately, due to life circumstances, we've been on hiatus for a bit and I have a real itch to play.

Thanks! I'll take a look under the trunk and let everyone know.

Perfectly cool with a kineticist; I'm still trying to muddle my way through the class with Iagon - my first go at it. I'm keen on seeing how someone else goes about it.

Sounds great, eijel, and welcome! I'm running Ruins here, and seems to be going fairly well; do you like it so far?

We've almost completed book 1 and on the whole we all like it so far. I'm really looking forward to putting my players through the next part of the story because I think it's really going to throw them for a loop. I'm not extremely familiar with many of the APs, but Ruins seems different from the others I do have familiarity with in that the questions seem to go unanswered. I kind of like that, if I'm being honest. Maybe that is the sadistic GM in me, though.

Nice; my guys just freed up the outpost, so we're into that sandbox phase where they can pick and choose what to do. I enjoy that, but its a bit tough to get people on PBP to buy into it sometimes. Either way, seems to be a fun one so far.

I have done PFS for small quests, but never for an entire AP. How does it differ at the larger level? Maybe to be safe, I will only pick options that are PFS-legal.

May be a good idea...

As it is, I'm fine with the adjusted feat rules. Of course, that is given that they are PFS legal - if you decide to go PFS. Majority rules for these, so everyone please let me know what you think.

Hey, I just popped in to look (Kytes from Iagon's game). Just so you know, because you will be running RoW in campaign mode, the players don't have to be PFS legal to get PFS credit. If they finish the first book, you can assign them a Chronicle sheet for AP 67 (Snows of Summer) which they would then apply to a different, PFS legal character. The campaign mode characters do not have to be PFS legal to secure the credit, unless of course the GM rules otherwise.

Hope that makes sense. I am running and playing in RoW game currently (and have run the entire AP in RL tabletop) so if you need any aid, ping me.

Awesome, thanks Kytes!

I should have my character finished up after the weekend. I’ll go with the majority about the pfs, feat tax, etc. I’ve never done pfs before, and the feat tax is not really that bad for doing what you desire in combat as a specialist.

I'm flexible. I'll go with whatever everyone else wants.

The PFS credit thing is cool, but I have enough characters that it's not an issue. Just in case, though, I created this PFS character and will be using it as the avatar/character.

Still need to build out the character though.

I have little understanding of PFS integration, and am not part of orgsnised play so I won't vote on that. I don't really have the time or inclination to fully grok the 'Elephant so I'll likely ignore it - happy for others to use it.

I'm nowhere near having a concept nailed down yet beyond toying with kineticist so apologies there.

It's not hard to set up a PFS account but if you are not going to be using it, then it will be an annoying bit of bureaucracy you would probably not want to do. It does not sound like a lot of folks are really into the PFS thing so I'd advise we not do it unless at least one player (or GM) wants the credits.

I saw on Discord that there was some concern that we do not have a dedicated healer? Would it be preferable I brought a Cleric or Oracle to the party instead of a Summoner?

Alternatively, I think it would be better if I were to alter my character, going with the Hedge Witch archetype. I can still have fun with debuffing, but add the healing aspect in. Hedge Witch gains the ability to spontaneously cast Cure spells.

I just want to get GM weigh-in on when that happens. The ability does not specify a level at which it occurs, but it does replace the 4th level hex. Additionally, the other Hedge Witch ability, Empathic Healing, does not have a specified level at which it is gained, but replaces the 8th level hex. There is no official word from paizo (that I can find) on this.

Either way, I think I will change my character to this. The previous incarnation of the character would be a fun idea, but not practical for the party. I will likely stick with the same race (human). I just think that the Summoner would be a more effective character than the Tatterdemalion. That being said, I would be happy going either way.

On second thought, in light of working on building such a character, perhaps I would go with a changeling (snow may) to fit in with the backstory. Of course, that is hinging on approval from the GM...

Sounds good eijel; that would be your 3rd hex - normal at 1st and 2nd level, then at 4th level you'd get the spontaneous healing. In game, this would be a 3/4 of the way through book 1, so you'll go through quite a few encounters without it.

Sounds good eijel; that would be your 3rd hex - normal at 1st and 2nd level, then at 4th level you'd get the spontaneous healing. In game, this would be a 3/4 of the way through book 1, so you'll go through quite a few encounters without it.

That wouldn't be a problem. I've got the gap covered.

Ok...I'm going to be one of <i>those</i> players...

If I spend the funds to buy scroll(s) before we start playing, can I roll to attempt to add spells to my familiar? I would, of course, make all rolls and purchases very clear.

If not, that is perfectly fine.

OK, I will stick with my original idea then and build a shadow caller.

Yes, that's fine eijel

@GM - looked at kineticist and found the chaokineticist (void element) the most enticing. I came across ganzi in another recruitment, would you allow this for my race? Thematically it's a great fit as they are chaos-infused.

Okay I've got my character sketched out here. I didn't use the Feat tax since I wasn't sure if we were going in that direction, but I can change out the Power Attack feat for something else.

Ocean, yeah, that's fine...never actually seen one in game. What would your oddity be - chaos champion?

Thanks Arsiel; I think that the Feat tax is fully up to the individual. I'm fine either way...ultimately would rather not use it if given the choice, simply because it's something new for me to remember. However, happy to allow it if you want to use it.

As I see it though, it's not something we have to either be all-in on or all-out of, right?

I think it would create an Imbalance if we’re using it differently, because some characters would have less of a gateway to feats than others would. I’d definitely use it as a martial character, but i didn’t want to presume without hearing specifically.

I've got my character sketched out as well. I, also, did not use the Feat Tax. Just wasn't necessary for this character.

I'm good with no feat tax. I'm with you on that in that it will make things harder for me as I will have to look it up. Lot's of people swear by it though. I have 50% of the character done. I need spells, gear, eidolan build, and a bit of number crunching.

Arsiel, where is Sir Karek now? Is he in Taldor as well?

Garland, given your occupation, you would know or know of Old Mother Theodora, Heldren's resident wise woman - good for herbal remedies and also a skilled midwife. Feel free to say you apprenticed with her or even have a different take than her and are at odds.

I felt like he was in Taldor, somewhere near the capital, but not in the central city. Maybe on his own lands with a small manor house and village to keep track of.

When Garland first got to Heldren, she was apprenticed by Old Mother Theodora. Over the years, however, her power and reliance on alchemy instead of herbalism has put a rift between them. Garland is now biding her time, knowing the day is coming that she will need to move on from her one-time friend, mentor and mother figure.

90% done. Just need to build the eidolan.

I will let the RNG choose from the list or if I roll 21, a roll from the Expanded Oddities list.

Chaos!: 1d21 ⇒ 21

Ehrmagherd. Ok.

Advanced Chaos!: 1d20 ⇒ 7

7–10: Racing Mind (Ex) A ganzi whose lineage is linked to hunduns might inherit an aspect of the outsiders’ chaotic minds. The ganzi’s churning vortex of thoughts bolsters it against mental attacks, granting the ganzi a +2 bonus on Will saves against mind-affecting effects.

Ok, so a child of human parents (one or both of whom are touched by hunduns, agents of planar chaos) with chaokinesis. I imagine his childhood may have been challenging (hates discipline, order etc) but am going to go with strong family connections rather than runaway trope. Perhaps educated parents (maybe planar scholars or former adventurers) who had other children, but their chaos-child is definitely the black sheep. Some ganzi exhibit physical marks of chaos - in this instance shifting birthmarks in vague spirals and rough spreading chevrons on hands, feet, forearms and shins, especially active when tense, when using powers or attempting a Will save vs mind affecting effects.

@Nayr - can you find a hook for this character?

@Arsiel and Garland - all good, thanks for clarifying

Thanks Ques, will take a look

@Ocean - there aren't many in Heldren with former adventuring careers, but I have a good caring family for you. Menander and Kale (human man and woman, respectively) own the Silver Stoat, Heldren's only tavern and a fixture of village life. It's a life of hard work, to be sure, but they're caring parents. You'd also have a tie-in to Arsiel, who seems to really like their Three Devil Ale, brewed with Chelish hops

If not, let me know and I'll find something else.

@Ques - the general store you worked in is owned by Vivialla Steranus a female human commoner.

@Garland -