Sounds good. I don't mind saying we met shortly before going into the tower. My person would want to explore it and knows they can't do it alone, so looking for someone (not too sketchy) to do so.
I never need to be the best in anything so happy to have toes stepped on. I like the thought of keywords and will do the same, though scout would definitely be one of them.
Oh also they will be an Atlaean.
@Gavin- as the first info dump says, the continent is about the size of North America, so visiting every civilized area would be quite the feat... like, your whole background would just be explaining how and why you did that, and there would be no having retired. If you had wind walk that might be more reasonable but criss-crossing millions of square miles on foot or in carriages would basically have to have been your life’s work (and if it was you should have ranks in things like know[geography] and ride). Well traveled for most people might mean that they’ve been to most of the major cities in their region and to Korryn to see the tower. Someone who’s really well traveled might have been to the capitals of all 12 major kingdoms. A sailor on a really ambitious trading vessel might have stopped in every major port on half or two-thirds of the continent’s coast.
@Everyone- please think about timing while working on your feats and backgrounds... one of you taking lookout before you all group up might be a happy coincidence, but most of you should gain it after working together for a little while (so either it should be one of your last feats or you should have been together for a little while). Also, you haven’t been 9th level for long, so if you want to include something in your background that involves a 5th spell it should have happened very recently.
@Also everyone (edit: except John)- have you guys had a chance to look over the regions/people yet? I was a little surprised that didn’t prompt any questions?
I'll dial it back to a few of the capitals. Worked 16 hrs yesterday and it will be 12 today. I'll look over the new info asap.
Sounds good. Stay safe out there.
My basic thought for background is that he was an orphaned street urchin of indeterminate heritage in Korryn, he paired up with a traveling priest (or cultist) of the obscure Throneless King, saw a lot of places and was told a lot of weird stuff by his mentor in his youth during which time he believes he glimpsed the (demi?)god, was trained in wizardry after mentor died in the eastern Atlaean lands, wandered some more on his own during which time he paired up with Gavin, and has come full circle back around to Korryn.
Nowhere on this journey was he admonished for run-on sentences.
Added more background and skills. Read through the region info. Gavin will be native to Tengwar, but travel through Svenik and settle in Atlaean (where he will meet The Witness).
Here is the promised crappy sketch of a map. Truthfully, I ended up making it less crappy than I intended to, but it's still sort of a rough sketch... like, you might have found this map in a book by a decent sage and you figure its probably a pretty decent estimation but you know that guy didn't have the magic to really make it super accurate.
So, don't try to use a ruler on this to calculate distances once we're playing, but hopefully it'll help to make what you're reading in the region/people links a little more clear. And, just to give you a sense of the scale, each box is around 100 miles by 100 miles (so the desert in the southeast is around the size of India, or about 40% of the 'lower 48').
A few notes:
* The terrains are drawn in very broad brush strokes. All of Ohio would fit in 4 boxes, so any given square could have a big swamp and some woods and a few decent hills... the colors are just to give you sort of a general sense of the terrain. And I didn't add any lakes or rivers.
* Brown means mountains, and significant ones
* Orange, or light brown if your monitor looks like mine, is desert (though, at that size, it safe to assume there's oases and other features in there).
* Dark green is forest- that could be deciduous, evergreen, or jungle (depending on the region basically). Also, there's trees and woodlands in other areas, if its dark green on the map that's like old-growth, deep forest.
* Light green is plains/steppe, but its also kind of a catch all... if an area is hilly but not mountainous or heavily forested (like a lot of the Vitolian lands), its light green. If its an arid savanna, but not a desert (like a bunch of Mbala land) its light green. If its rocky ground that's frozen half the year but stuff grows there the other half (like most of the Svenik lands), also light green.
* That is certainly not all of the islands around Cardriss... there's a lot that would be too small to really draw on the map, but there's also probably more that you could see (I just got tired of drawing them).
Tomorrow I'll try to add a couple capitols and (very) rough outlines of the 12 major kingdoms and post that too.
A Map! Excellent.
I plan to dedicate a solid bunch of time this weekend to finish up my character. So far, most of the work on him has been fluff and roleplay so I will attach mechanics to it and make him a profile.
Here is a quick update on his background a bit:
Instead of being from Korryn, I will be from Tengwar (a major city). I was adapted by a wealthy family because the matron of the house was unable to have children on their own despite trying. My character still has no idea what made the family pick him. He was living it through his childhood essentially being an heir to a wealthy family. In this time he really connected with the God Life was grand for him... until a miracle happened. The lady of the house was with child! It was a joyous time in the house... until my character learned the harsh reality of being in a wealthy family. Since there would be a real heir to the family name, my character was no longer important. The family decided that the most useful place for him would be sent to Korryn to study his religion and culture and maybe make influential contacts in the grand city.
Once he moved there he quickly learned that the church of his god is a strange place in the new city. How could they believe such different things when they worship the same god? How could they take money the way they do? These questions rattled him. He decided that it is because these people weren't serving the god but rather serving the church itself. He made it his goal reach understanding of the gods wishes and be their hand in the world. Not the hand of the church.
That is what I got so far. Feel free comment on it with ideas or anything!
I think, maybe, the best way to do what your describing would be to actually move to a different region... the churches in the Tengwar region are mostly all pretty faithful to the actual gods, but in the Vitolian lands (just south of there) you’re much more likely to find institutionalists and church leaders more concerned with raising money for some grand new art/structure/library than with actually living out the god's edicts. If your Tengwar adopted family shipped you off to a Vitolian city in the hopes of developing some foreign contacts for the family you definitely may have experienced some culture shock in the church.
As (sort of) promised, here is another map, which has the biggest kingdoms (very roughly) mapped out and their capitals labeled. The regions are also marked, but note that those are more like commonly used nicknames than official titles. Also, some of the kingdoms might not look very big but remember that the little circle that Korryn claims is almost the size of Massachusetts.
Some notes (as usual):
* Northreach is home to the Svenik. Djupvik is the capital of a decade old kingdom under Erik the Red, a great warrior who slew a red dragon and wears its skin. He calls it 'Redmarch'.
* Westfall is the home of the Tengwar people. Durdunon, Caenbrig, and Verstadt are the capitals of 3 of the biggest nations in Cardriss. All 3 are centuries old as well (but I haven't named them yet... a project for tomorrow).
* Vinland is home to the Vitolians. Dalmatien and Istrien are the two largest of about half a dozen (regionally) important autonomous city-states.
* Eastwatch is the home of the Atlaeans. Zeru and Lorea are the biggest of its city-states; along with five smaller city-states, they form a loose confederacy sometimes called the League of Atlaean Nations.
* Suderan is home to the Mbala. Tzekal is the capital of the jungle nation Tzekali. Mozumbi and Mutapa are the capitals of two large, old nations (which I will also try to name tomorrow).
* The Southern Isles (which I forgot to label) are the home of Kono'ana. Tokelau is the capital of their one significant kingdom- Hanga Roa.
I hope that's helpful. As always, feel free to ask questions.
Any plagues in the history of Eastwatch I can insert my person's history in. If not we can just say they were in a smaller town that doesn't get mentioned anywhere other then, Bad Plague there, killed most people, everyone else left.
Vigilante is (or at least can be if you go down the same path I did) a better fighter with a LOT more skills and the ability to have two personas. Or much more than two.
So thinking at the plague, everyone else around them dead or dying, a true horror show, the twins shared the necklace as much as they could, but in the end, it failed and they both got sick. Massive fevers, hallucinations about gods or spirits or demons, so on.
One died and the other woke.
Vigilante has a social trait called Morphic Mask, allowing their physical form when shifting between their personas. Including gender characteristics. So as they woke they shifted and shifted again, between Lyra and Seth. Confusing an already exhausted mind, blurring who they really were.
Smoke was filling the place at that time, authorities burning the entire village to make sure it didn't go any further. So they had no time to find the other twin's body, to find out who they were.
The last part is thin, but it leaves the How open. Are they one of the twins and the plague/divine magic necklace somehow warp them to have the ability to shift, and their own mind couldn't live with the idea of the other being dead.
Are they both inside the body, somehow one of those hallucinations about spirits or gods or other things, had pity and merged them into one person?
Or... well it is a fantasy world so there are endless possibilities.
Oh well, I have to get ready and head out for a bit. Let me know if that is okay and I'll have the stats done tonight.
Oh another question. They have a high disable device, but no magical traps. Could they take the campaign trait to get it from Mummies? I'd be willing to sacrifice both traits for just that one if it that would allow it. If not, I understand and we'll figure something else out.
Like I said, I really like the idea of even them not knowing which twin they are, or if they really are both sharing one body. So that works for me.
Eastwatch has less divine casters than maybe any other region (because they favor arcane magic), so its a more likely place for a plague (since you don’t have a bunch of people running around with remove disease). It’s mostly ruled by wizards too, who seem more likely than most to burn a village/town if reason dictates it’s the most efficacious course of action. I have some stuff going on today but I’ll try to PM you soon with some more details on location and events surrounding the plague.
I forget how trapfinding works... is that you can’t detect magic traps without it, or that you can’t disarm them (or both)? Also, is there really not a vigilante talent that grants trapfinding? Or, is it that you can’t take it because it’s stalker only and your archetype gives up vigilante specialization? Which archetype are you planning on taking? I’m not opposed to you getting trapfinding (although a wand of find traps and the abilities to cast dispel magic may cover it), but the trait wouldn’t be my first choice of how... I think I’d rather develop a talent or maybe a feat for you instead if that’s something you’re open to?
It is the ability to disable magical traps with the disable device skill, that's it. I haven't found another way to get the ability but there other ways to deal with magical traps so no worries. On my phone so typing is slow, stopping now
John: For my 2 cents, the amalgam twins in a shifting body version of your character sounds awesome.
I’m considering a small dip into Investigator for Int to various skills, which would also snag me trapfinding. I’ll try to make a decision on this today.
@John- feel free to take the trapfinding slayer talent in place of a vigilante talent
I'm going to drop this here instead of in a PM because it'll be easier to find later if I need to reference it, plus others might enjoy the extra fluff even if it doesn't effect them.
There was a plague in the hinterlands around the city roughly a decade ago (or whenever fits with your background). Ground-zero (and your hometown, based on your proposed background) was a town of several hundred people called Elmridge (in the common tongue). Exactly how the plague began has been hotly debated but most people agree that someone was doing reckless research. Regardless of the cause, the outcome was sever. Over the course of a few years, more than half of Elmridge died from the disease and it spread to a number of other towns and villages, killing hundreds more.
When a case hit the actual city of Borroka they quickly instituted strict curfews and sharply restricted travel in their region. Only half a dozen people died in the city, and the spread to new towns was halted, but the disease continued killing off the people of Elmridge and the few other effected towns that hadn't already died off or been abandoned. The War Council, Borroka's ruling body, determined that those towns posed too great a risk to the rest of the region and decreed they been burned. They made an effort to evacuate everyone that they could confirm to be free of the illness, but those who were left to the fire were considered a tragic but necessary cost of preserving the region.
Let me know if that works for you.
It fits perfectly!
The backstory is settled then. Vigilante as well. I'll wait to see if they use the slayer's talent (thank you for that) until I know if the Witness will handle all magic. I am fine either way.
I am going with the idea the twins do not know what happened. Are they magically merged or did one suffer a traumatic break and now has a form of magical multiple personalities? They don't know and refuse to try and figure it out because if it is the latter their twin is really dead and that would break them the rest of the way.
This way they both know what happened when the other form dominates, and there isn't mental discussions in their brain between them.
Now I need to decide is Lyra the social form and Seth is the combat one, or is it reversed... hmmm decisions.
I’m going to PM the Witness regarding a bit of his background... is there anyone else waiting on me for any background stuff? Or, anyone who’s ready to talk about specifics of their background that I could help fill in?
Also, please remember to talk with each other about how you met up and how long you’ve been together. I can help develop your shared history but I’ll have to know, like, how long you’ve been together and what brought you together... did you form a mercenary company? Did you happen upon each other in some ruins and decide to work together? Did you meet in a library while researching how to enter the tower? And, how did the group form... Did you get sucked in one at a time, or did John and Dylan’s characters partner up for something and then later connect with Gavin and the Witness?
If possible, I’d like to look at maybe starting gameplay a week from tomorrow, but we’d need to have those details sorted out first. Also, if anyone’s still trying to work mechanical stuff, please feel free to bounce around ideas here in the thread- someone might be able to help you figure it out (or decide), or I might be able to offer an option that’s not normally available.
In my head, Gavin and The Witness met up about 15 months ago (about 5th level. But that's flexible.)
Gavin learns about the tower from The Witness as they travel and has no great academic intrest in it, but is still convinced fate will show him why he is at The Witness' side.
I'm about done with the mechanics, but we still need to know hit points.
What have you been doing for those 15 months?
Not going Investigator so no trapfinding for me. Still high perception and willing to dispel magic traps. I won’t be much help with disabling mechanical traps though.
John, what are you thinking for immediately after the fire? Like, are you going to have resettled nearby in Borroka or a different village/town, or will you have moved to a different city state? Either way you will have (or could have) been in between Lorea (where the Witness’s adventuring career began) and Korryn (where the game begins), so that would make the where of you meeting up fairly easy...
If the Witness picked up Gavin in a town outside of Lorea, they could have hit a few ruins and then met up with you in Borroka, or the city-state south of it?
Right after the fire would be a wandering mess of wonders until they needed to eat then attempting to make something of themselves. I'd like them to be somewhat past that before meeting up with anyone else, at least level 3. On the opposite end of the spectrum I'd like to have adventured at last a couple of months with the others before reaching the tower, so they'd know their odd complex by that point.
Maybe the Witness and Gavin had been planning to explore the tower and was hunting for reliable teammates first.
I shouldn’t have said immediately... what I really meant where were you living between the fire and meeting G&W. Did you stay in the territory around Borroka or move to a different city-state. I don’t think the Witness chimes in yet, but if he’s onboard with them meeting up at 5th, they could have have a few adventures (either with hired muscle, or relying on summons for some durability) and then met up with you at level 6 or 7? I’ll leave it to you guys to determine what brought you together.
There are books (of varying quality) about entering the tower, so you may have even run into each other at a library and realized you were fellow seekers...
I'm down with Gavin & The Witness having been through some scrapes before meeting/recruiting the Pigeon and the Crow.
My crunch is up in alias, minus equipment and spells. It took longer than I anticipated; will have fluff up tomorrow night.
GH, I left 3 slots open for dead languages because a) wizard; and b) I couldn't think of any more to take.
Also wasn't sure if Ancient Atlaean or Old Elven were viable choices. Just because he's smart enough to learn 'em doesn't mean there's anyone or anything to teach him.
Both of those are options which you could find teachers/tomes for in the seven major Atlaean cities.
I got some bad news. My brothers cat chewed threw my keyboard cord. I finished typing up my background which is in the profile. I will edit it for more readability once I have a keyboard again. I also have finished building the character (mostly) but he is currently not in pbp formating and trying to convert him from Pcgen to PBP format without a keyboard sounds like a nightmare. I will be buying a keyboard on the way home from work tomorrow so I should be getting the sheet uploaded tomorrow night.
In the meantime, to explain how we all met, I like the idea of Fenrick doing some sort of mission for Pharasma and while working , he is rescued by one (or more) of you fine folk. From that point forward, he has been working with you as he sees you as both a way to make himself better but also a group who could do a lot of good. I am open to ideas of who could of helped me and what we may of been doing.
I take it you settled on inquisitor then (since Pharasma, being Neutral, can't have paladins)?
Also, sorry I never posted the country names for Westfall. I'll get those done soon so you know what country Caenbrig is in. In terms of where/when you met up with everyone else, you're coming from the literal opposite side of the world from everyone else, so it's most likely that you joined pretty recently, in or near Korryn (although, that's not the only option if you guys would like to work out something a little bit longer ago).
I like the idea of meeting up at level 7 around Korryn, and am happy to be the source of a divine rescue as either the Pigeon or the Crow.
Paizo wouldn't let me look at alias pictures over the weekend. I believe that is all I have left. That and a minor tweak to add back in Lookout now that we have solidified we are a team by this point.
You guys can work out the exact timing amongst yourselves. I was thinking that if it was 2 levels ago you were probably still (at least) a couple hundred miles (and a few adventures) away from Korryn (since it seemed like exploring ruins was sort of the Witness and Gavin's bread and butter), but there's no reason that you couldn't have had some adventures in or around Korryn if you'd prefer to meet closer to the city.
I finally named those kingdoms...
In Westfall:
* Durdunon is the capital of Braemar, the most celtic-esque of the major kingdoms.
* Caenbrig is the capital of Findon, the most chivalric/Arthurian flavored major kingdom.
* Verstadt is the capital of Villig, the major kingdom with the most Germanic influence.
In Suderan:
* Mozumbi is the capital of Swahli
* Mutapa is the capital of Bantu
* both are primarily inspired by ancient cultures in southern and central Africa (with just a hint of Wakanda).
If anyone is waiting on specific information from me now, please remind me. If anyone wants/needs names (or locations) of smaller settlements for their background let me know. And, as always, if you have any questions please ask them.
I'm just going to list my HP as 12,480,344,000 until I hear otherwise.
I imagine Gavins personality similar to uncle Iroh, from avatar. Kind of a hippie-esque, go with the flow type. I think this will compliment the focused, driven nature of the Witness. I see him calmly pointing out the small things and waxing about the 'journey being the destination' and such. Being a general annoyance to the more serious man, but an obvious asset in the completion of his ambitions (and so tolerated, but often verbally sniped)
Ah, yes... the hit point question...
Let's go ahead and do maximum at every level. Before you celebrate, though, know that I'm doing that so that I can throw more challenges at you. (And so I can increase enemies' hp proportionately, which should help mitigate some of the 'rocket-tag' effect as power levels increase.)
Ugh... paizo still won't let me choose pictures. That is all I have left.
And Iroh was great, good choice.
just re-watched 'tales from Ba Sing Se' today. still hits home.
I’m a big Iroh fan too
Yep, I went with inquisitor. The more I worked on him, the more it became clear that it fit better than paladin. Please I wanted Pharasma and her warriors are unable to be paladins.
And yeah, I guess I picked a spot to be from that makes it harder for me to meet my allies. I don't mind traveling once Fenrick took on his role as a inquisitor, but going all the way over to the other side of the country seems extreme. I don't mind being the newest addition to the group. Maybe you all ran into me while taking care of some ruins. I am there to take out some undead thing (Pharasma hates all undead) and you are there for whatever reason you guys go to ruins. You see me engaged with the undead beast. We take it down together as a group and I join up with you lot.
Mostly just need to do shopping then I will post up Fenrick's character sheet.
I'm still plugging away - added a bit on The Witness's deity of choice, "The Throneless King", to his alias. Still working on backstory write-up, which should be done and added tomorrow night. Hoping to obsess over equipment purchases at work tomorrow and get that posted as well.
Automatic Bonus Progression so far......
3rd
Resistance +1
4th
Armor attunement +1, weapon attunement +1
5th
Deflection +1
6th
Mental prowess +2
7th
Physical prowess +2
8th
Armor attunement +1/+1, resistance +2, toughening +1, weapon attunement +1/+1
9th
Armor attunement +2, weapon attunement +2
If I want to scribe scrolls as we travel, what do I need for that?
So this would about a decade of living as both of them. Barmaid, caravan guard, fiddle player, ruins explorer, adventurer, random do-gooder, is where the time was spent.
At the time of meeting Gavin and the Witness, the twins will be in the center city studying the tower. Partly because it is the greatest adventure, and partly (the part they are not talking about) to see if there is a way to separate. Surely if there is, it would be in The Tower.
That would be seventh level, enough time to go on an exploratory adventure to see if we can trust each other or some kind of initial quest needed before the tower. Where we could meet our inquisitor.
@Gavin- Money to pay for them and the time to craft them. And the spellcraft to make your crafting check.
John’s timeline works for me if that’s what everyone wants to do? That would put you all in Korryn for longer than I was picturing (probably at least a few months), but the upside is that then it would make sense for Fenrick to have been with you longer.
The rough outline then might be:
* The Witness and Gavin meet up around 15 months ago (@5th level) near Lorea
* The two of them explore some ruins/have some adventures on the way to Korryn
* They arrive in Korryn... 6-8(?) months ago
* They meet Lyra or Seth (whichever is the social identity, probably) soon after arriving, as all are researching the tower
* The three set out together 5-6 months ago to explore a ruin wsw of Korryn and run into Fenrick battling some undead there
* All four return to Korryn together and have been together ever since
* Done enough adventuring together to go from somewhere around mid 7th level to just having hit 9th.
Does that work for everyone?
Looks good to me.
Here is some important information on the Tower of Ages and the Seeker's Quest. This amount of knowledge makes you amongst Cardriss' leading authorities on the subject.
As always, if you have any questions please ask them.
@John- were you planning on heading more less directly to Korryn from Borroka, or were you hoping to take any detours? There's no straight route between the two (unless you can fly or teleport) because of the enormous forest, so I guess there's a little bit of a detour either way, but were you thinking you just traveled from point A to point B or were you kind of adventuring your way there? If the later, what kind of adventures?
@Fenrick- if the rest of the party met you at/in a ruin where you were fighting undead, I assumed you were adventuring your way towards Korryn. Maybe ranging north and south to hit a variety of ruins while continuing generally east? Is that more or less what you had in mind?
@Everyone- as you finalize your characters, please post which knowledge skills you're putting ranks in, and what your bonus will be, here in the discussion thread. I'm starting to think about your personal info dumps and need to know where you've been and what you've studied in order to do those.
I can choose pictures again! Here is the Crow.