GM Sphen Rise of the Runelords: (Clever Subtitle)

Game Master Sphen86

Here is where you should all congregate to discuss your characters. Some of you reached out to me through PM, some of you are from the recruitment thread, and some of you I contacted directly. Either way, you're all here now. Please take the time to chat and figure out what you'd like to play.

As a reminder, here are the character creation rules.. with one additon.

1) Paizo only with a few exceptions to follow. I prefer Core stuff, but I’m down for anything…. anything that fits the theme of the campaign. If you make a gunslinger, that’s cool. If you make a gunslinger that is modeled after Al Pacino, I’m going to take my proverbial DM finger and proverbially flick your character off the proverbial map and tell you to make something else. Anything not from the Core Rulebook has to be from a book I own, which is most of them. I have pretty much everything except the player companions and gazetteers. Just ask.
Non-Paizo allowed sources: 3.5 Eberron races (Warforged, Shifter, Changling) and their racial feats. These are done as is from the original source material. Possibly some changes to feats if the level (or BAB) requirements call for it.

2) You will discuss your party amongst yourself. I don’t pull punches and I won’t change the AP to compensate for the party make up. Don’t have a rogue? There will still be locked doors and traps. Don’t have a controller? There will still be mobs. Keep this in mind while you’re discussing your party make up.

3) The technical side.
22 point buy (not a typo)
2 traits
Full HP at level 1
Roll for starting gold, minimum is 150
No evil alignment (prefer no CN; but if you think you can pull it off, I’ll let you try)

4) Once you have your character nailed down, I want you to tell us about them. The info I'm looking for is: Why are they adventuring/willing to adventure? Why are they adventuring here? What do they want? (Short term and long term) And this last one is both proverbial and literal. Do they want safety for the village? Great. Do they want a Rod of the Sunlords? I'll work it into the game eventually. So give me a break down of both the characterization and the mechanical progression you hope to make.

5) Background skills are allowed, but only for Craft, Perform, Profession. And only if it's not related directly to your class. I think that works against what this option is going for. So, if you're a Bard, you can't use your background skill in Perform. If you're an Alchemist, you can't use your background skill for Craft (Alchemy).

6) Standard multi-classing

7) You should have certain character info listed as visible. Namely, the 3 Armor Classes, HP, Perception, Sense Motive, and Saves. Anything that you are Immune to, Resistant to, etc, is also very helpful.

Hello, Thank you for the invite I am excited get a chance to play. What do folks have in mind to play. Ranger is my go to, but I am good for anything.

I've played a little of everything myself. I tend to go with High Intelligence classes from the looks of things.

I'd be kind of interested in going with a frontliner - Barbarian/Fighter style. Someone not so bright as a change of pace.

However, depending on group, I have lots of potential characters I could go with.

Absolutely thrilled to be here! I've heard such good things about RotRL.

I have no real preferences toward characters.

I often play the skill monkey, so I'd like to avoid that if possible.

My initial thought would be to create a Dwarven Cleric of Torag who came to see the Cathedral and examine its architecture.

@GM RE: Background Skills: So, Linguistics and Knowledge(Engineering) are not considered Background Skills?

@Bruno, correct.

Hi all, appreciate the invitation!

I see some healing and front liners, was thinking perhaps a summoner whose eidolon is way more brave than he is, and seems to always get him into trouble. He now dragged him here to Sandpoint in search of this Sandpoint Devil.

I'm happy to do anything though, if we need skills I can try that as well

Hey all, looking forward to a nice game! Fancy meeting you here, Nayr, RePete! :D

I wouldn't mind going for the skill role as well, in that case I'd likely be rolling up a vanilla Rogue. If we end up lacking in arcane spellcasting, I'd love to be a sorcerer as well.

Character-wise, I'm thinking maybe a halfling looking to perform some deeds of legend to redeem his disgraced family.

@Ralphrius A rogue/sorcerer could be quite interesting, and I think could complement Nayr's summoner, if that is how he is going.

@MrSt4ng3 A ranged specialist is never a bad idea (assuming your ranger is going to be ranged). If you wanted to branch out from Ranger, I've had success with ranged Inquisitors before (and an extra divine caster is never a bad idea)

Hey Repete!

Yeah, I'm leaning towards a gnome summoner from Sanos forest whose eidolon, a pig form, has forced him to leave the peace of his home village to seek out more challenging foes. He's the reluctant tagalong and will be heavy on UMD and spellcraft skills. His eidolon will most likely have hooves, mount and pounce.

That is, if that's okay with everyone. If not, I can go with an Inquisitor monster Hunter for skills.

Thanks for the invite Sphen! Hi all, RePete - it's a repeat, and nice to see you Nayr.

As I mentioned in Recruitment, I was playing a warforged, a Fighter who dipped Warpriest with 8 Wisdom for story reasons. I'm not against revisiting warforged, but Harness was the lovable naíf which I think ran it's course.

I'm not a caster or skills player, but I do sometimes think of playing a sorceror. Mostly I'd be comfortable double teaming with another martial for some awful smashing with flanks.

Likewise Oceanshieldwolf, glad to see friendly faces and new ones alike!

Ok, going with Warforged again, a Cavalier (Disciple of the Pike) with the Order of the Dragon.

@GM - are you ok with both of those archetype/Orders?

Ok, going with Warforged again, a Cavalier (Disciple of the Pike) with the Order of the Dragon.

@GM - are you ok with both of those archetype/Orders?

Those seem fine. The swap out seems pretty well balanced on everything, and the lack of mount will make things go a little smoother.

Will crafting feats be allowed? Specifically Weapons and Armor?

Will crafting feats be allowed? Specifically Weapons and Armor?

They will be allowed.

Hello there! Nice to see some familiar faces and excited to add some new to the list.

So far looks like we are leaning this direction...

Mr Strange: Ranger Possibly
RePete: Barbarian/Fighter Possibly (Something Front-line Type)
OSW: Cavalier
Ralph: Rogue/Sorcerer Possibly
Bruno: Cleric Possibly
Nayr: Summoner Possibly

Physical Damage: 3 or 4
Divine Spell Access: 1 or 2
Arcane Spell Access: 1 or 2

@OSW: Are you looking for frontline striker or meatshield setup?

@Mr Strange: Are you intending to go ranged, melee, or something else?

I could easily go with something else if necessary. I enjoy controlling the battlefield as well with spells/abilities. Things that give us the PCs an advantage.

@brunoreturns I have never played a Inquisitor, but I am not opposed to it, ranger is my go to because when I first started playing D&D I also first saw Bakshi's TLotR and "Strider" is tied to D&D for me.

@RePete Switch hitter was more of what I was looking for. but it looks like we may have 2 heavy hitter melee guys so ranged may be the way to go.

Let me take a look at Inquisitor now that you have peaked my interest, see if I can find a god that speaks to me.

Looking at the list a controller focused Druid is something that I would enjoy as well. One of the first Charicters I built for RoTRL was an Eager Performer, Druid, Clown, with a dancing bear. That could be a fun way to go.

Absolutely nothing wrong with a switch hitter. I had a fairly brutal one I made from the Slayer class a while back.

I'm perfectly willing to switch out of melee to something else.

Let me take a look at Inquisitor now that you have peaked my interest, see if I can find a god that speaks to me.

Naturally you will go with Erastil, just like 85% of the other ranged characters in Pathfinder. (The Deadeye Bowman trait is hard to argue with, which is a pretty good indication that it shouldn't exist...)

^^
That was meant to be sarcasm. That trait is one of my pet peeves.

@Bruno: I played a cleric of Erastil once. The spell or feat or whatever where you can shoot your companions with a bow to heal them is amusing...when you dont tell your companions what it is ahead of time. :-P

I think I am going Switch Hitter Ranger, because I can't really get a feel for the Inquisitor. I don't know that it is the best build, so if you have feedback I would appreceate it.

@brunoreturns I am looking to take Magical Knack, it seems like another (XX trait is hard to argue with, which is a pretty good indication that it shouldn't exist...)

Starting Gold?: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 1, 4) = 7 x10 (Minumum 150g)

Here's the mechanics I've worked up for a Shifter Barbarian. Feel free to give thoughts/complaints.

I missread starting cash.

Starting gold: 5d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 2, 6, 4) = 19 x 10

I am solidifying as a cleric. I'll get the build finalized tonight, then start working on the fluff.

Starting Gold: 4d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 4, 4) = 13 x10 (Minimum 150, it is)

@Repete: not sure how fine that distinction is. I was under the impression frontline was meatshield. Care to elucidate?

I will have a teamwork feat to share (most probably Precise Strike) and also reach capability with a longspear/glaive-guisarme but also mix it with adjacent-level hafted (halberd) bloodmachining.

@OSW - Actually, disregard the question. It doesn't make sense now that I actually pay attention to what I asked. :-P

Precise Strike looks quite nice for melee.

I am also looking at a dwarf Ash Domain druid. Controller focus. Might be a better fit.

Here is my Cleric. I have the fluff mostly thought out, but it needs some details.

He is probably going to go Evangelist at Lvl 5 (if @GM has Inner Sea Gods), and will definitely try to help the party out by crafting magic weapons and armor.

I was pleasantly surprised to see so much action happening here. Lots of character's being stated out, so that's good. I do see one major thing missing, though. Motivations. Lots of crunch, not a lot of meat. I'm not going to sit down and dive deep into your characters to make sure they were all built correctly. I do that IRL games, but I'm going to trust you guys. I will, however, work diligently with you all for the "why" of your character.

On to answering some of the questions.

@OSW: I've seen front line characters that weren't meat shields. They tend to be super high damage, take them down before they hit you, sort of characters. High level Inquisitors do that fairly well once they get their bane ability.

@Bruno: I do have the Inner Sea Gods book. Evangelist is one of those prestige classes I look at and go, "Why wouldn't everyone take this?". That being said, I've never actually seen anyone take it before. So have at it.

@GM, that sounds akin to a not-so-glass cannon. At any rate, I don’t feel these distinctions work really well for PF or DnD, or at least how I perceive my characters. You’ll have noted I tend to be all about character motivation, especially in combat, and not always playing the wisest martial makes for some...interesting tactics. Thankfully this time I have a 12 Wisdom.

This is a placeholder for now (still has most of Harness’ stats as a copypasta holdover), am toying with making a female-designation with the avatar pic of Brigh’s clockwork face. Otherwise I’ll go with this. Was thinking perhaps the warforged could be a Thassilonian-era relic (or Azlant-tech) that has recently awoken, but with no memories and a new personality. Much smarter and wordly than Harness, just a little out of time. For some reason there is a fascination with big monsters and bringing them down...

Was anyone wanting to take the Friends and Enemies: trait, I ask because the reward is very specific and wile it fits by background well I don't really have much of a need for a warhorse.

RePete here.

Fascination with killing big creatures huh? I think our characters may get along well then. :-P

I have some 'Fluff' ideas in mind, but haven't had a chance to put them down in writing yet. My hope is to work on that tonight after work.

@Bruno/GM Sphen - I have an evangelist in Society play that is a 'hex channeler witch' base class. I must say...the evangelist is amazing for the right characters. :-)

@GM Sphen - at level 1 there won't be much in the way of prestige classes of course. I hesitate to look at them too much at this point because I don't want to railroad my character's development. My question is this: If later on, it makes sense to dip into a prestige class for the character, should we just send you a PM to discuss it?

Evangelist is one of those prestige classes I look at and go, "Why wouldn't everyone take this?".

Agreed. I had a good concept once for a Diviner who was going to become an Evangelist of Irori. The Deific Obedience would give him +4 to all Knowledge checks, plus he would be a full progression wizard with d8 hit dice and 6+Int skill points per level.

All that for the cost of one caster level (that could be made up for with the Magical Knack trait).

Here is the crunch for my druid.

Awesome progress here! I've decided to lock in a purely core rogue, but I won't be able to get working on the crunch until about 24 hours from now, apologies for that.

As for the why, a whole backstory is still pending, but his name is Lem Dalveran. He's a halfling that's lived a sheltered fortunate city (Magnimar, maybe?) upbringing as a child in a merchant family. However, in recent past the family patriarch, Lem's grandfather, has vanished, their trade has been disrupted, and as a result they've fallen from grace. Lem's essentially on a quest for coin and glory so he can redeem the family name, as well as perhaps figure out what happened to his grandfather.

I've kinda tried to keep the whole character concept rather simple, both rules and backstory-wise, hope that's alright!

All the story looks good.

@RePete. A PM works. Or bring it up here. Whichever. Just dont wait to long. Otherwise you may mess with the prereqs.

@Ralphrius: Why a core rogue vs. an unchained rogue?

I figured I'd stick to a strictly core character for this. I have zero experience with playing rogues, if you suspect playing unchained rogue would be a better experience for everyone I'll gladly pick that.

The biggest beneficial difference between the Core and Unchained rogue is getting your Dex Mod to damage.

There are other aspects as well though

What's New?
The Unchained Rogue has some shiny new abilities added or reworked from the vanilla Rogue. Here's a quick list of the new/updated features, but see "Unchained Rogue Class Features" below for more information.

Finesse Training: Removes the Weapon Finesse feat tax.
Updated Talents: Many Rogue Talents have gotten an update.
Danger Sense: An improved version of Trap Sense, which has always been a throw-away ability.
Debilitating Injury: A fun rider effect on top of Sneak Attack which gives the rogue some tactical options beyond "do damage".
Rogue's Edge: Allows the Rogue to take advantage of the new "Skill Unlocks".

Yeah - uh...what MrStr4ng3 said. :-P

@GM_Sphen I did take linguistics as a background skill for Shoanti, Not sure if that meets the letter of your rule but I think it meets the intent. I can drop another skill for the Lang if needed.

Dol's Fluff:

Let me know if I missed the mark of what you were looking for.

Those reworked abilities do sound rather fun, some more options besides doing damage are always welcome. I'll have a close look at both of the classes when I get off from work today and fix something up!

Going with Aventail. Took Kn. (History) and Craft (Jewellery) as Background skills. Her 10 Int, 12 Wisdom and 10 Charisma make her personable if not engaging. Her age makes History more of a general knowledge and she shares a love of crafted, fashioned and built things with Dol, though her delicate and fine-wrought form lends itself to a fascination with jewellery...

Almost finished. Still need to adjust and choose skills, adjust equipment and pick traits.

@Ralphrius: I've played Core and Unchained Rogues a few times each. The Unchained is just a little more powerful to try and bring it more in line with some of the other classes. Especially the utility of debilitating an enemy with your sneak attack damage. That can become very useful.

@Everyone: The part where I permitted background skills specifically said that they were for Craft, Profession, and Perform only. That is it, just those 3. Mr. Str4ng3, it would follow the intent of the rule, except I find that free languages can be a huge boon in any setting. Especially one like this where you'll be traveling around a lot of the inner sea region. So yes, you'll need to change around to not use the free skill points on it.

Ah, will swap out Kn. History for Profession (Astronomer).

Also, will need a little guidance on where Aventail might have originated - I suggested Thassilon or Azlant-tech upthread. Given the AP, Thassilon might be awesome, or story-breaking.

@OSW: The whole Azlant vs. Thassilonian angle is pretty up in the area. Once you mentioned a memory wipe, that prevents any game breaking prior knowledge. But it still lets me feed you info through random flashbacks. Since both empires existed at the same time, and would have sent diplomats and envoys back and forth, you could really be from either will little mechanical difference. I do like the idea that you are much fancier than the other few warforged on the continent. Almost more of a clockwork, with filigree and other adornments that are purely ornamental.

@GM changes made, picked up a little craft Tattoo, I'll need to learn some healing as we go.

Raz has been in town for about a month he is a little gruff and dirty, he speaks with an odd accent. But he is also lonely and sort of looking to build himself a community. I would be happy to have some interactions prior to the start of the AP.