I'll support whatever decisions the captain make regarding upgrades or ship stuff. Honestly, dealing with that sort of math doesn't interest me.
Apologies for the quiet :(
Murillo isn't going to object to any of Bogg's decisions regarding the ship unless they're patently absurd or explicitly suggested by Azadi in his presence.
So no painting the ship bright pink with a middle finger on the sails? Sigh... peacock feathers spraying out from the... No? Crap... Bidets!!! ????
Ignore me... slow morning while I wait for IT to deal with an issue.
Okay, colors. First major question: do we go for distinct (oh hells that is the Talon RUN!) or do we go for the ability to hide in plain sight (didn't know it wasn't one of ours until that flag was hoisted, and then it was TOOOOOO late)?
No opinions... hmmm... in Hedy's a name is great, but victory is better. So the potential of being able to occasionally disguise ourselves as a merchant's vessel would be nice.
So, typical off-white sails, paint the hull in tar (to stave off rot), and trim it with what, like blue and yellow or something similarly merchanty? This may score you the element of surprise occasionally (and could help if you ever need/want to trick someone into believing you're not actually a pirate ship), but the downside will be that it might increase the chances of other pirates thinking you're a merchant ship and taking a crack at you...
Also (everyone), Hedy PMed me about two potential officer candidates from RL (players she's in other games with). Nobody else has voiced any ideas/desires to do any RL recruiting so, unless anyone voices an objection here in the next... I don't know, lets say 12 hours, I'm going to give her the go-ahead to ask them if they're interested at all. If either or both of them did want to join, they'd either fill one (or both) of the currently available officer slots, or we'd do some rearranging (mostly of the 2 current NPCs) and figure out how to line everyone up.
I'm all for recruiting from RL, frankly the idea had never occurred to me before.
RL officers work for me.
Sorry for my lack of posts lately, been struggling a bit to find some motivation. I'll try to pick back up soon.
Anything I can do to help, let me know. Hedy can start being an arrogant ass so Jordanna can stage a mutiny? It would be a short one but probably highly successful :)
Nah, it's not you. Jordanna's just not really a social character. Maybe when we get out on the sea again she'll come to life.
Jordanna- I think you’ve only rolled one die so far (for a profession:sailor check), and you’re dealing with the death of your adoptive father... given that, I think you could make some changes to Jordanna without creating any issues with the story thus far. If you want to- I’m making an offer here, not instructing you to change. But, if you think some changes would help bring her to life for you please feel free. Also, is there anything I can do to help? I could throw a persistent NPC at her to try to force some RP if that would help? Or, you could drag your fellow PCs into the jungle or upriver if you think some adventure/combat will do it?
For some reason I picture her grabbing Hedy by the hair and literally dragging her upriver. Not good for the Captaincy image, but amusing none the less.
An NPC would help at this moment in time, thanks.
Hello all, I invited one player and he is in the process figuring out what to make. Never know exactly what to call people that I refer to as their initial alias but that is TreasureFox. Jordanna knows him from a game or two or three(not sure how many). I've only been in a game with you both once, so Kilarra from Mort's strange aeons is that one.
Welcome, TreasureFox! I realized after everyone picked characters that I forgot Suli on the list of available races, but they're an option too. And the other PCs are a changeling bloodrager, a human inquisitor, a skinwalker witch, and an undine alchemist (with a 1 level dip in musketeer), if that helps with thinking about what to make. If you have any questions, don't be shy to post them here or PM me!
Also, when it comes to background, you have a few options for the last stage. You could have been a crew member on the Icy Death that I 'forgot to add to the roster' but who's now getting promoted (or you could steal a name/race off the current roster, lol). There are obviously also some colorful characters at Rickety's and you could be one of them if you prefer (in which case we'll coordinate on how you got here). Or, NPCs (including ones available to join the crew) don't strictly follow the race rules I gave players (as anyone who read over the crew roster may have already noticed)... there's currently 1 non-standard option available, and a second one that may become available in the next few days, depending on what the PCs do... you could play one of these more unique characters if you want, but that would restrict you to a specific race/class and (possibly) gender, and define a bigger chunk of your background for you (PM me if you're curious about those and I'll give you a little more info).
Hello, thanks for inviting me.
I haven't looked at the creation rules just yet, but I typically pick pretty standard classes/races.
I'm seeing a potential nature niche available in the party, which I might play around with.
I'm considering playing a Mwangi human who's an escaped slave. I would be going about this as a means of exploring real world history of black enslavement, the peoples who were enslaved, and the effects it had on survivors. I want to bring it up so you may consider is it fits your vision of the game, and to better facilitate the themes I'd be interested in exploring. Slavery/tyranny/freedom/racism/oppression. Of course, I'm not trying to steer the game one direction, but it would feel pretty lack luster if I made such a character, and then none of the potential themes ever came about.
One of the things we talked about in discussion when we first started was how GM lead vs player lead this game would be, and the consensus we came to was that this will pretty much be a sandbox and it’s mostly up to the party where to go and what to do. All that is to say, how much those themes come up would have a lot to do with where you choose to go and what you choose to do. Your ship has a pretty wide variety of people, including an unusually large number of odd races (probably a sort of misfits attracting misfits sort of situation), so racism isn’t likely to come up much while you’re at sea. On top of that, you’re currently in the Shackles which is a CN kingdom with an abundance of lost souls and rejects from other societies- again, not really conducive to a ton of exploration in those themes. However, if you were to go into Sargava at all, there are a lot of old racial wounds around the mostly ended Chelaxian colonialism there, and an unstable theocracy vying for power... so there’s potential there? Or slavery is a major trade in many places (including Cheliax and Katapesh) so you could potentially target slavers especially for your raids? The tyranny/freedom dynamic would only play out on the ship if Hedy goes off the deep end you all start talking mutiny, but you could always try to target the ships of tyrannical nations if you wanted to feel like pirate-freedom fighters?
So, I guess the short answer is: the campaign set up isn’t as conducive to that idea as other may be, but you could make it work if you wanted to (and there was some buy in from the other PCs). Alternatively, if you grew up somewhere where you faced racism and oppression you could sort of explore what it was like to be free and accepted for the first a little bit more easily?
I'll keep thinking about it, it's possible I can come at it from a better angle. But it may also just not be the best idea, and that's fine too.
For instance, perhaps he's been enslaved up in/around Cheliax since childhood, was able to flee down here, and now is trying to piece together who he is, what his lost heritage means, and something along those lines.
Hedy was the property of brothels for most of her life (as an Undine that is a long time) before "bought" by Polli. While she could definitely go off the deep end, it will be unlikely to be to become a slaver.
For instance, perhaps he's been enslaved up in/around Cheliax since childhood, was able to flee down here, and now is trying to piece together who he is, what his lost heritage means, and something along those lines.
That would certainly be possible.
I'm starting to feel a change of heart and a desire to play something comedic. I'm thinking about a dwarven pirate. A right bastard who fights dirty. Some sort of brawler/rogue thing. Lots of beer. Lots of beer.
I'll give you a full update once I finish brainstorming.
Lol- that is dramatically different, but also totally doable. You’d be popular with Stoneskull.
The Undine player invited me as well. I’m a bard in a game with him and Fox.
I’m working on an Undine Buccaneer who specializes is comedy and grappling! (Free Spirit trait.) What are creation rules for 20-pt buy? I may need a dump stat to have good CHA and okay nonlethal fighting. I may reconsider the archetype or the grappling, but comedy is definitely the base for my performances and spells.
I think John and Fox can vouch for my willingness (and ability???) to make bardic spellcasting verbose and unique, with words relevant to the current in-game situation.
I didn't really set any hard and fast restrictions beyond the normal point-buy stuff... I'd prefer you didn't have any stats below 8 after racial modifiers, but if you really feel like its important to the character I'd allow it? I mean, honestly, I like it best when dumping a stat is a rarity, but I can't exactly tell you not to since (iirc) every current party member dumped at least one.
Please remember to RP your weaknesses/deficiencies though, and know that there may be times where it could hurt you. For example, I have no desire to track encumbrance but if you've got 7 or 8 Str you better keep your equipment list awfully sparse if you don't want to get slowed or take the penalties to acrobatics/climb/etc. Or, with any dump stat you could find yourself in trouble fairly quickly if you run into a poison/disease/spell/vampiric-type creature that targets that stat.
Regarding race/class combo- you're free to do what you want (within the rules I laid out), and if you want to play an undine buccaneer that's certainly within those rules, but one option you might want to consider aside from dumping one or two stats hard would be a different race? The suli (which I mentioned recently should have been on the list of available races) or an angelkin aasimar both get bonuses to Str and Cha, or an ifrit or musetouched aasimar both get bonuses to Dex and Cha if you want a dex build? Hmm... and, now that I think about it, one of the unique NPCs that I mentioned to TreasureFox might be an option might actually interest you... I'll PM you about that.
edit: also, welcome Arty!
I play all types. I was thinking that I've done a lot of deep and dark characters lately, and it might be nice to just fool around for once.
I'm probably going with a Makeshift Scrapper Unchained Rogue. I'll be using a mix of dirty fighting, improvised weapons, feinting, and disarms/trips/steals. Eventually I'll use firearms for specific situations. I'm picking a dwarf honestly just because I like dwarves for this idea. Cayden Cailean should've been a dwarf, maybe an honorary dwarf.
Question/request regarding this portion of the Dirty Fighting feat:
Special: This feat counts as having Dex 13, Int 13, Combat Expertise, and Improved Unarmed Strike for the purposes of meeting the prerequisites of the various improved combat maneuver feats, as well as feats that require those improved combat maneuver feats as prerequisites.
I was wondering if you'd let me use this for improved feint and the rest of its tree. It would save me from taking Combat Expertise and having a 13 Intelligence.
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Here's a rough idea of the stats I'm looking at:
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 12
Traits: Surprise Weapon, either Zest for Battle or Fortified Drinker, campaign trait is either plague survivor or salt in the blood or shackles born.
Alternative racial trait changes: Saltbeard. Replaces defensive training, hatred, and stonecunning. Alters greed.
Feats: I have collected a huge list of potential feats, most of which I can achieve using rogue talents. Damage will come in using feint and sneak attack, but there are a lot of feats that aid in dealing more damage with improvised weapons. Instead of opting for dexterity/dodge/mobility, I'm looking at breaking armour/improvised shields/dwarf helm for damage mitigation. I should have pretty nice hp compared to the average rogue. I'm looking at feats for dirty fighting, disarms, steals, and trips. Combat expertise will be necessary for the feinting stuff. At some point I'll pick up a pistol/musket/blunderbuss, and I might get a feat for using a cannon. It would be pretty insane if we could find a way to sneak attack with a cannon.
Skills: My main ones are probably Acrobatics, Bluff, Perception, Sleight of Hand. There's a ton of others though. I'm not a trapfinder, btw. Still wondering whether or not I know how to swim.
If you've got any ideas or suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them.
Can any of those races have blue skin or hair? (I can always wear sapphire blue.)
It is pretty costly in terms of AP and feats, trying to make Undine work. Nice as the aquatic abilities are, Angelkin might work.
I *embrace* my weaknesses. Usually WIS since I’m a damn fool by default.
Hedy gets around the whole "noodly arms" and encumbrance things with daily drinking of Ant Haul.
Oh and thanks for joining both of you!!
TreasureFox, it looks like maybe you forgot about the dwarf's -2 Cha penalty when calculated your point buy? Also... I certainly don't want to come across as putting down your character--play what you'll enjoy is the number 1 rule--but since you asked for feedback, I can't help but wonder if you wouldn't be better off as a brawler? You'd lose sneak attack, but your base damage would improve enough to potentially outweigh that, and without sneak attack you really don't need to worry about feinting (which frees up feats and eliminates the need for a higher Cha). One of the big selling points of the uRogue is their finesse ability, which you're not even planning to use; that and skills, but you only listed 4 main ones and one of them you wouldn't even need anymore, so 4 points per level would probably be enough (especially with SoH being a background skill, although you would need a trait to make it a class skill). The upside to the brawler, imo, would be full BAB, maneuver training, and martial flexibilty: instead of trying to pick up every maneuver feat, you could flex into whichever one you wanted to use, and you'd have a better chance of success when you tried them because of the extra BAB and maneuver training. There's also an archetype called hinyasi that's based on improvised weapons and combat maneuvers, which seems like the direction you want to go. Those are just my thoughts though, do with them as you will. If you do want to stick with the rogue, I'd probably let you use dirty fighting for feinting- it always kind of bugs me that feinting isn't a combat maneuver (I get that they're using separate rules to make it more viable for rogues or swashbuckler type characters, but it should use the combat maneuver rules and you can add a class ability and/or feat to like add Cha to the roll or replace Str with it or something)[/rant]
Arty, the physical description section of the aasimar rules list "jewel-toned eyes" and "lustrous skin color" as two of the potential characteristics that set assimars apart from humans... so, you could easily do sapphire eyes if you want? Or, angelkin are (unsurprisingly) descended from angels, including (potentially) planetars, who are known for their emerald skin... so a blueskinned descendant wouldn't be out of question.
edit: dapsara are medium sized angels that are into art and music, spend more time on the material plane than most celestials, and can have all kinds of skin tones; an angelkin aasimar descended from one of them could very easily have blue skin.
Oh thank you, I didn't know about this archetype. Very interesting, I'll think about it. I might do a full switch, or possibly multiclass.
The strange attributes is due to putting my level 4 +1 bonus to Strength. You told me not to forget it =P
I was wondering about firearms. Are we using guns everywhere, or something more limited?
TreasureFox- that does fix the math with your stats (sorry for missing that, lol). As for guns, we're using the default pathfinder setting which I believe is called "emerging guns" (the one where are guns and gunpowder/ammo are available but everything is prohibitively expensive unless you take the gunsmith feat/class feature).
Hinyasi also gets a +2 to one group of improv weapons @Lv.5!
I play a brawler called Vermilion Vixen. She wears stiletto boots, so +2 to light improv is best for her. But you could take +2 to whatever category of improv weapons you expect to use most.
I assume your taking dockside roughness? (The archetype will give you catch off-guard or throw anything, but since the trait lets you use the one you don’t pick in a limited capacity, it’s worth it.
Maybe the GM could allow your +2 to apply to improv weapons covered by the Dockside Roughness trait (if you take that trait)?
It's dockside rowdy
Arty & TreasureFox- have either of you thought about where you're coming from? If you want to join soon (which would be my preference, though not actually a requirement) your options would be either to be part of the surviving crew of the Icy Death who's about to be promoted and hasn't really interacted with the officers thus far because they were just a lowly crewmember, or to be someone who's at Rickety's Squibs right now (which would most likely entail either being someone who was left behind with the pirates they've interacted with some, or being a local resident for whatever reason). I don't want to pressure you, but if either of you are planning on being part of the group of pirates it would be good to know right away because I can start introducing you in/with Jordanna's tests. Also, please let me know what (if any) sailor type skills you're planning on taking (profession:sailor; acrobatics or climb for rigging or boarding other ships; knowledge:geography or survival to help navigate; that sort of thing).
Currently, the two open officer positions are master of arms and quartermaster/cook, but we can change those and/or shuffle around the NPC officers if you're not going to be good fits for them. (edit: the NPC officers are currently the master gunner, who's also the ship's carpenter, and the bosun/sailing master.)
I haven't figured out his whole backstory, but my thought process was that he's been in the shackles for quite awhile. I thought about him just being some pirate at a tavern who needed a job and some adventure. Depending on which campaign trait I take, he might be the sole survivor of a ship-wide plague.
Being part of this particular group of pirates depends. If they're more of the rape, burn, and pillage type, then that's probably not his group. If they're more about taking loot and potential ransom captives, but otherwise leaving the crew alive, then that fits his morality a bit better. If they're about finding buried treasure, exploring lost places, being chased by the navy, and fighting evil people, then that's where he's at.
He'll definitely have profession: sailor. I may or may not max it.
He'll have plenty of acrobatics, some climb. No plans for geography, and maybe some survival, I'm not sure. I'm picking up some crafting for sails, ship carpentry, etc. I could also pick up profession cook. Sailing involves a lot of downtime, so I'm going to make some use of crafting provided I spend the money before setting sail to get the materials.
It would be pretty dumb for me to be master of arms since I just use whatever is lying around. I could do cook, but not quartermaster. Carpenter sounds pretty good to me. Bosun works well too. Not sure what sailing master is.
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I'm leaning back towards rogue. I think if I limit which maneuvers I specialize in, combine with flanking and/or denying dex, and utilize debilitating injury and sneak attack, I should do pretty well. It should offset my low BAB.
Oh and I was thinking about the other dwarf, Skullbreaker I think his name was? Something along the lines of old drinking buddies, shipmates, or something like that.
There is also the simple but effective "Hey! Didn't I sail with you on X?"
Heady is LN, personal code not laws, cause otherwise she'd be crap as a pirate. She's a kill an entire ship if it needs to be done('they've seen our faces, why does that matter, I don't know but we have to kill them now' kind of thing), but leave them to find a way back home otherwise.
She was the former quartermaster before becoming captain so can continue some of that if no one else picks it up. She'll train the cabin boy/girl to be a secretary.
TreasureFox, Craft [shipwright] is the skill for building ships and the current ship’s carpenter has that (along with knowledge [engineering]), but carpentry would make you an able assistant for that (or allow you to add some artistry/embellishments as you saw fit). I’m not sure exactly what craft to use for making sails... it seems silly to be its own skill but you could probably do it with craft [tailor], or craft [tentmaker] if you want?
“Stoneskull” is the other dwarf and she is only 2nd level, so she hasn’t been bumming around the Shackles for as long as you have, but you two could be fast friends (or more if you want) now that you’ve met. Or could have at least encountered each other before.
As far as the pirates in the bar, there’s some variety in where they’d draw the line of acceptable behavior and (like the other current PCs) none of them are expressly out to fight against evil people, but they definitely are more like the final category you described than the first. They’re stuck here because of an argument that started over them wanting to go to a lost place and hunt for buried treasure...
Being at a bar performing a routine (or not) seems like a good place to be found. I’m leaning toward Free Spirit and Obnoxious (Comedy) as traits. My Angelkin was probably booted out of heaven because nobody up there can stand her. She thinks mortals are fun, and I’m thinking each altered self form taken is a past life. All of her forms will have sapphire-blue eyes. If permitted, I’d like “pixie” to be a known form as one of her small forms. (I know I won’t be able to fly.)
Pageant of the Peacock will allow me to make insanely high knowledge checks for the occasional 10-minute duration. That plus Know Direction should help me function as a navigator. That, and she’ll have decent STR & DEX skills that involve getting around, and a masterpiece that can help the party slip into places. (I might need Perform Dance—gotta look up masterpieces and build accordingly.)
Arty, Aasimar are native to the material plane. They have an ancestor (or ancestors, I suppose) that is an actual celestial being, but that ancestor bred with a human/elf/whatever and then their half-celestial child(ren) lived in the material plane (at least partly) and bred with other mortals and founded a bloodline of celestial-blooded people that live among other mortal races in the regular world. Eventually, they either intermarry with other celestial-blooded people to keep the bloodline going, or it gets too diluted and you end up with humans (or elves or whatever) that are likely to become celestial sorcerers or bloodragers. So, you wouldn't have been booted out of heaven at all, and mortals would very likely be the only beings you actually know. If you don't want to have been sailing recently, you could have been living in the tiny village around Rickety's Squibs since gaining your freedom, and performing in the Commons regularly to support yourself. That might have seemed great at first, since you were no longer a slave, but now has grown thin and you're starting to feel trapped there too and looking for a way to leave?
Helmswoman/Navigator would probably work as an officer position though.
With Fox going rogue (not brawler), I might go full luchadora with Sapphire Bullet, making her a monk or brawler. Now that brawler isn’t taken, I may focus more on the grappler side of my concept.
(Will work the slavery angle into the luchadora idea, too!)
I think there is an alternative racial trait on aasimar that makes them born in another plane... looking it up... Heavenborn, advanced race guide, makes them born in the celestial realms it says.
Lol- there you go! Although, if you switch to brawler, aasimar might not be your best choice anymore?
I’m leaning more toward monk, though not sure how LG works unless she can have a code of honor (mechanically, this would include nonlethal strikes).
The Sapphire Bullet was meant as possibly a luchadora, but I thought Treasure Fox would play a fighter or brawler.
Skills for the monk will be Acro, Escape Arts, Climb and Swim. Stealth might work. The slavery angle could be that she’s been forced to fight in the ring, and she refused to kill.
Lifting Hand or Scaled Fist are archetypes I’m considering. LH is better for throwing, but SF means CHA works in my favor. Will dump WIS for more INT if Scaled Fist.
Unchained Monk scares me, but the higher HD and BAB are tempting. (I noticed you allow either for monk!)
Lawful Good would be tricky in this game... part of the set up at the beginning was/is that the protagonists are morally ambiguous, and I think that you would be the first good and only the second lawful PC. Lawful Neutral would be easier and leaves a lot more room for the ‘personal code’ type of understanding. There’s also a trait that’s only available to aasimar that lets you be a non-lawful monk (it lets you be NG or N instead, iirc).
You could be lawful neutral can't you?
NG would work. I prefer CG, but getting rid of that pesky L would be nice!
Is that a favored class option for Aasimar Monks?
You could be lawful neutral can't you?
Not for Angelkin.
Aasimar aren’t required to be good.