Oh, also, I think that Wisp will definitely be interested in making potions this way rather than going to town, but I think that draining human blood might be a step too far for her. Unless she can use her own, or consensually take some of the blood of her companions, but I'm guessing this is a "life's blood" deal.
I could see her treating a dead animal in this way, though. Wisp likes animals, but she's comfortable with hunting. I could see her killing a deer (or fawn, oh no!) to harvest materials for potions. Undead and demons (once she gets Knowledge:Planes), definitely. Probably not fey. She's too reverent towards fey. And humanoids would probably make her companions uncomfortable, so I might say that Wisp was raised with some respect for the dead to avoid that tangle.
Signy and Brental, if you each kick forward 7 gp, I can add my last gp and make it an 11-charge wand. Otherwise, no worries.
@Brental: Sounds good to me. We'll go with Brental and Signy having met on the trip up the Sellen River prior to present day. One the opening post is up we can figure out how they run across each other again.
@ Wisp: Sure, 7 from Signy or take the 10 if Brental is short.
Purchased! so that's -15 gp from the Joint Brental-Signy Credit Union, and now I have 11 charges.
The extra-good news is, if Wisp goes unconscious, Brental can use this wand, too! And hey, if Brental and I both go down, Lorna has a +5 UMD, so still a chance! Huh. I thought that wands worked like scrolls, but it looks like you don't have to be a druid to use this wand automatically. So that's three of us who can work out how to use it, plus the UMD attempt. Blast, my job security's really taking a hit...
As a sidenote, I just want to clarify—polyfrequencies, are you thinking Brental sees Signy as "cute" as in "ah, a fine precocious lass, what a delight she is to have around" or as in, like, attraction?
Lorna has 36 gold and despite wanting a common horse, she can't truly afford it and everything can go on the wand as well! But to this point, I might just keep her phantom confined to her consciousness most of the time so she doesn't keep draining resources. I don't want her to be a burden!
On Meneas's feat, I wholehearted support you on Mounted Combat. It's a very long chain of prereqs to get to Mounted Skirmisher and the best ones, so the sooner you start (if you wanna focus in mounted combat) the best... Same goes for picking Trick Riding whenever possible. Kingmaker is the ideal AP for it too as one of the few that actually have enough outdoor for you to make your mount shine! Unless of course you were going with a small race or the Undersized Mount feat.
Right now Lorna can't really use the wand automatically because the spell isn't in her list, but I will keep investing in the UMD skill and eventually she will be able to activate most wands reliably.
On the wild shape matter - even if you don't focus on it, and even if you don't want to assume a shape to deal damage per se, there are some incredible shapes for utility and defenses (hours per level is awesome!). The elementals of course come to mind (air elemental for all the flying speed and dex dodge?), but on plant shape you have the most broken of all shapes (the green men... Lol. Banned in most games) and depending of your archetype, you get some other great options (for example, progenitor would give you fey shape, so you could do stuff like whisperers and rusalkas - I use them in a Skull & Shackles game). Notice that some of these shapes can still cast spells normally without Natural Spell and speak without Wild Speech.
I don't even think he knows the answer to that question. Attraction is one of those strange things where you recognize attractiveness but may have no impulse to act on that.
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That's fair. I think 18-31 is probably too distinct an age gap for my comfort level in this game (18 is still a teenager, after all), and I didn't want to voice that and then feel foolish for overreacting. I still feel foolish, but Rackal asked for our comfort levels earlier, and that's probably something I should say now and not later. I don't know if it will come up.
Also, just to summarize the Wand Pool:
I am offering 102 gp
Lorny is offering 36 gp? (102 + 36 = 138)
Brental is offering 10 gp (138 + 10 = 148)
Signy is offering 10 gp (148 + 10 = 158)
Meneas is offering 52 gp (158 + 50 = 210) (210/15 = 14)
If you're all okay with it, Wisp can take every single gp and get a wand of cure light wounds with 14 charges. Sound good?
@Lorna: I personally want Lorna to be able to play her concept to the fullest, and I like having a wand of CLW even in the best of circumstances. Like I said, we have 5 melee combatants. That's gonna mean a lot of damage to heal. So don't worry about it!
As for wild shape, I can't wild shape into an elemental. It's a quality of Feyspeaker. I also get wild shape stuff 2 levels behind, even without the multiclass. That said, I will keep all this in mind!
I, uh, wouldn't worry too much about the horse, Lorna. I have a feeling we may be seeing a few in the near future.
What do you mean "spoilers?" I'll have you know that I've- wait, where are you taking me?
As a sidenote, I see Wisp as emotionally being in her late 20s, so our party's age range is Signy at 18, Lorna and Meneas at 23, Wisp in the 25-29 range, and Brental at 31. Wisp is technically the oldest, obviously, which is why she's the smartest and everyone should listen to her. ;)
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In another recent game (jade regent, where I play the healer) I started investing/trying other types of healing - via the "heal" skill. You know, it sounds obviously, but before this character I only saw heal as useful to check who's dying or to work people overnight. There are some fun feats and items (besides the usual healer's kit) that are plain great. I also like the pei zin practitioner oracle with his herbalism, but I haven't tried it yet.
For accuracy's sake Signy did mention that Brental is kinda hot first, because he's kinda hot. He's crazy tall, with a nice body, and that silvery white hair is amazing. She disapproves of the short cut; if you have hair like that you oughta be flaunting it. But Signy didn't check for a bald spot up top or anything, so understood if there are reasons.
Now it's true his description doesn't specifically say he doesn't have a smashed in pug face or whatever, but he's aasimar so the odds are against it. In the absence of evidence to the contrary though, Brental's kinda hot.
Oh, yeah, I saw Signy's note about that, but I figured it was more "teenager with a crush on an older figure". That's all fine by me.
And yeah, I'm planning to make the most of the Heal skill. I might even aim for the skill unlock feat later, if allowed.
Heal is pretty great, yep.
I still haven't decided how Meneas looks beneath his hood... probably just like anyone else, honestly, but I'm not sure.
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Meneas lowers his hood, and Wisp's disproportionately small head pokes out.
Meneas, will we ever know?
It's likely. He does have to sleep/bathe at some point, and camping together isn't exactly private.
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Wisp removes her skull helmet, and Meneas's disproportionately large head pokes out. Still hooded, of course.
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Signy has darkvision and she will be using it to try and get a look at what's under that hood. Curiosity is one of her traits, patience is not.
I was picturing that dream sequence from Bone, if anyone remembers those old comics.
Polyfrequencies, you will need tools to harvest the parts, there are a variety of kits that will work just fine so pick whatever one feels best to you.
Kobold, yeeeeaaah it's life's blood for the cure potions I'm afraid so donations wont work D: good thinking though! 5 points to Hufflepuff!
Has anyone but me noticed that everyone is calling out a potential character crush for a different character in the group. It's very nearly a complete love pentagon and I gotta say I wasn't expecting it but yeah okay I'm here for it. The drama could be fun.
And I could use it against you.
It's a fun idea.
Oh, Signy doesn't have a crush on Brental. He's just kinda hot. I mean she's not one to deny reality.
But... The day will come when Signy is a Queen. She'll have to marry someone. It seems to work that way. So everybody better start working it now. Don't get left in the dust by your rivals folks!
But more seriously, I hadn't noticed anyone except Signy and Brental doing it, and they're not really doing it. On the other hand, I do tend to scan read so who knows what I've missed?
Rackal's referring to me saying that our hooded knight's mysterious connection to the fey will likely fascinate her in some way. Wisp just has a huge thing for fey in general, regardless of gender. It's a shallow thing and might not amount to anything beyond crushes. I think crushes and romances are fun to roleplay, and I don't have any particular plans behind that at this time. :)
It'll probably depend on who's nice to her, who infuriates her, and so on. Wisp's only experience with romance is seeing the horribly unhealthy relationships the bandits formed, and she's a lot more comfortable with physical intimacy than emotional intimacy. :P
Does Signy have royal aspirations? I imagine we will have a queen, 'cause I don't think either Brental or Meneas is interested in ruling...
Wisp isn't a huge fan of royals. She'd just as soon see the Stolen Lands built up into a River Kingdom of her own design. No gods, no kings, etc. If Signy wanted to be a queen, Wisp would be doing her best to guide the girl towards following the River Freedoms and encouraging the Green Faith.
Does Signy get a pony if she becomes a queen?
Only if she behaves.
Also, Rackal, do we have an ETA on when the thread will open? I don't mean to pressure you, but I think everyone's raring to go. xD
EDIT: Signy: I think I mentioned Meneas having a possible crush on Lorna, and Wyhlia maybe on Meneas?
Yeah, Lorna is very much targeting for the Queen role. As for romantic aspirations, though, I honestly didn’t think much about it as I rarely if ever like the angle. :)
And just before we start, updated PC Relationships for Wisp:
Signy Birkirsdottir
"A sweet young girl. She, um... reminds me a little of myself twenty years ago. I'd better keep her safe as best I can—brains of a bauble in a bottle. Maybe I can show her the way of things around here. Do right by her."
Wisp isn't a great good parental figure, but she thinks she is, and that's what she'll likely try to be for Signy. Wisp thinks Signy is naive and overly rambunctious, and seeks to disillusion Signy of some of her more "childish" notions. She will likely become fairly protective of the girl, assuming Signy doesn't drive her nuts first.
Lorna Medvyed
"I see some... some parasite clinging to her, a thing that oughtn't be. Poor thing. Her family pays as well as any, but... 'tisn't right, anyone being so put upon."
Wisp is likely working for Lorna's family right now, and she's enjoyed Lorna's company. She can tell there's something off about the girl, though. If and when she learns the full extent of the phantom's influence, she'll likely worry about Lorna—both as a potential friend, and as a potential threat. Either way, she's going to try to get close to Lorna and into her confidence.
Wylhia the Wisp
"I'm clever enough to steal the whiskers off Asmodeus's housecat, but not brave enough to ride her. I know how the River Kingdoms work. It might seem cruel, but what 'tis is honest."
Wisp thinks quite highly of herself.
Brental Fenson
"A good, honorable Oaksteward. I'd be proud to travel alongside him for a ways. He... he sees things I don't, but he needs someone to help steer him in the right direction so he doesn't get into trouble."
Wisp has traveled now and again with Brental, who she's taken to calling "Brother Odd-Eyes"—a reference to his eyes' tendency to change color. She quite likes him, considering him an excellent servant of the Green Faith. On the other hand, she's noticed he tends to do as she says, and she's taken advantage of this on occasion to boss him around. She's tried to talk once or twice to his mount, but has trouble understanding the angel-touched beast.
Meneas the Cowl
"What's under that hood? Just curious. None of my business, of course. The hooded one is quick, and carries the First World with him somehow. He knows the way the rivers flow, but hasn't learnt to swim with the current yet."
Wisp has never met Meneas before being hired for this job, but she's already deeply fascinated. His manner has a fey-ness to it that she finds curious, and she treats Veil with great reverence. She really wants to know what's under the hood, but Wisp respects the secrets of others. For now.
Only if she behaves.
"I knew it! Being a noble is a total trap! It would be the worst job ever, nothing but people telling you what to do all day!"
Let's face it, Signy would not be a good queen. I suppose there's some reality where competent people run everything for her while she plans festivals and celebrations, but otherwise? There would be tears.
Yeah, Lorna is very much targeting for the Queen role. As for romantic aspirations, though, I honestly didn’t think much about it as I rarely if ever like the angle. :)
No pressure. It can remain solely internal/nonexistent on Meneas' part. That said, I don't think anyone would be shocked if she took on the ruler role.
Yeah, that promises to be amusing in the future.
Wisp would probably be an excellent vizier or steward. And she might even be a trustworthy one someday! Alternatively, she'll likely be a religious leader—the local Archdruid, if I can wrangle it (between Brental and I, one of us will probably shoot for it and one of us will probably settle for second fiddle), and either equal or respectful subordinate to whoever ends up in charge let's face it, Lorna.
I think all things might end up working organically! I can easily see the druids evolving into these positions (especially if any of you go for the prestige class). I can't believe how two characters with the same class, faith and archetype can still be so different - what great dynamic the party will have with them. Signy is braver, more assertive, and more cheerful than Lorna will ever be, and it would be great to develop almost a sisterhood in the lines of Sansa and Arya of sorts. And with Meneas, being them around the same age and with interestingly, potential related backgrounds, who knows what the future could be?
I hadn't looked much at ages, but I can absolutely see the potential for discomfort there. This is the tricky thing when you have humans who canonically have lifespans from 72-110 and are considered middle-aged at 35, and elves who aren't considered adults until they reach 110 and will live several centuries more after that, not even reaching middle age until 175.
Aasimar officially reach adulthood around 20 but don't hit middle age until 150. The youngest I could make an Aasimar druid while being technically within rule-bounds would be 28, so I went a bit more than that. My first random roll was 50, and that didn't fit the character concept I had in mind so I scrapped the random roll.
I have no designs whatsoever and don't want to do anything that would make anyone uncomfortable. That's why I left it vague. And I'll echo Signy: my point was not crushing, but just a recognition of attractiveness.
I found some pictures that I kind of like and will post them when I can. Busy day at work.
Ultimately, Brental will be no King, but I could see him angling for Councilor or Marshal. Also Archdruid. Possibly higher.
Edit: sorry if this comes up multiple times, not sure where the post went.
I'm not sure where you're getting 150—the ARG says they hit Middle, Old and Venerable at the same times as humans. Are we using different sources?
The impression I get on aasimar ages is that Paizo didn't quite make up their mind, but by default, I follow the ARG's "Middle/Old/Venerable" numbers, and that gives tieflings and aasimars the same ages as humans (35, 53, 70 + 2d20). I think the suggested rolled ages are easier to discard. I see those rolls as suggestions more than anything.
If we're on different sources, Rackal can probably rule which age set she wants us to use. I like the "human ages" because it makes tieflings and aasimars less, well, inherently tragic—having to outlive your whole family is a bit of a raw deal and may be more than a lot of players bargained for when all they wanted was a cool pair of horns and a tail.
I think all things might end up working organically! I can easily see the druids evolving into these positions (especially if any of you go for the prestige class). I can't believe how two characters with the same class, faith and archetype can still be so different - what great dynamic the party will have with them.
Right? I was so excited when I saw another druid with the same faith but such a distinct build! We have different archetypes, though. I'm a Feyspeaker.
If I remember correctly there are two lifecycle chronologies for aasimar. One (the older I think) gives them a very extended lifespan. The newer (I think) matches humans. I don't recall offhand where exactly either of the two were first published.
I like using AoNPRD as much as possible (I don't usually tread around legacy too much), but I was looking at d20pfsrd for this one:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alignment-description/description/
I think that it's more inconsistencies in how that would work out given the Featured Race Random Starting Ages on that page. If you take 20 + 8d6, that's a range from 28-68 as a starting Aasimar Druid, very likely starting Middle-Aged and more than likely beginning Old. That's kind of odd.
I'll check Inner Sea Races and Blood of Angels.
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Aasimars in the past D&D iterations used to have a longer lifespan, but in Pathfinder they were given (like tieflings) lifespans that match those of humans (or, I should say - those of the race the outsiders mixed with, since aasimars and tieflings can be of any humanoid background, like dwarves or halflings; they can even be small). So, an elf aasimar could have a lifespan of hundreds of years, but the most common one (human) would be the numbers from ARG.
Yeah, I think it's... wonky, and might be best to look to Rackal for input. Again, it feels like Paizo had two ideas and never quite made their minds up.
There is another aspect to leadership roles that might come into play, which could make early prognostication a little more difficult.
Kingmaker is notoriously elastic in the time span it covers from beginning to end. Some campaigns run quickly, with in-game time passage of a very few years. Some campaigns run for in-game decades with the end coming only in the characters' golden years.
The ease of time lapsing in this AP means characters could be very much like their present selves when it matters, or quite changed.
Ooh, that'll make Wisp's Bleaching much easier to gradually explore. Fun!
Huh...after a quick search through some sourcebooks (without going to find some older D&D books), my conclusion is that the makers of d20pfsrd probably haphazardly ported some information over from D&D. The only clear age guidance I saw was in Advanced Race Guide from 2012, which is replicated on legacy.aonprd.
The major reason that matters is, if as discussed here, the in-game time span lasts for decades. We'll find out, I suppose!
If I risk middle-age within 4 game years, then I'll probably age Brental down to 25 if that's permissible. If I had built him as just a caster, that'd be one thing, but he's definitely a melee fighter. If he won't hit middle age for decades, then he's fine where he is.
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I think the ones that go on for a very long time in-game tend to be the ones focusing very much on kingdom building and regional politics.
While I won't be so bold as to make a prediction on how much time will pass, I'd be surprised if our characters, even the human ones, actually grew old playing this campaign. It would be hard to pull off in PbP I think.
I actually think it's pretty likely. PbPs lend themselves really well to gradual character development, after all. I wouldn't mind the AP spanning at least 5-10 years, if not longer, though I'd be fine if it ran shorter.
Okay, I looked it up. Probably way too much effort, but hey, at least it's not like I'm procrastinating my work for this. From James Jacobs, though the GM's word is still higher law:
[By the rulebooks], Tieflings (and aasimars) reach adulthood at 60 years. They both have maximum ages of 250+6d100 years.
...
Turns out the rulebooks and Golarion don't always match. It frustrates me when that happens. But it happens. (Personally, I prefer tieflings to have closer to human lifespans... maybe a LITTLE longer... but not that much longer. Ah well.)
...
Actually...
I'm going to try to get the ARG errataed so that aasimars and tieflings reach adulthood and have starting ages equal to humans.
...
Now... I suppose I COULD say "Tieflings and aasimars age differently in Golarion," but that's super obnoxious. The rulebooks don't have a built-in campaign setting, but Golarion DOES assume you're using the rulebooks, and as such, what's in the rulebooks SHOULD match what happens in Golarion as much as possible.
Grr.
...
The reason I want to errata their ages down is that we've got 5 years of products that assume a more human aging pattern. There exists a discrepancy between the Advanced Race Guide and several adventures and Adventure Paths, and it's a LOT easier to resolve that discrepancy by making a few changes to a couple of numbers in a single book than it is re-writing entire campaigns.
...
I could... but honestly I'd rather not, since we've already assumed human-like aging spans in those products, and that includes saying things like "aasimars age similarly to humans" or something to that effect in Blood of Angels, and includes assumptions of how long generations last in aasimar nations.
Or, the short version:
In Golarion... where PFS is set... tieflings and aasimars age like humans. Feel free to print this message out and use it at your PFS table as support from the game's Creative Director if you so wish.
Regarding the dice rolls issue:
The Aasimar age tables got messed up with the last update. They were always supposed to age like humans, but the ARG got that wrong. They tried to correct that with the last update, but only fixed part of the tables. So now the tables make no sense.
I cannot help thinking that there must have been a miscommunication somewhere. Here is what we got:
Base age: Changed from 60 or 110 to 20.
Random dice added to base age: Left unchanged, including the +10d6 added to starting age of Dhampir in a trained class.Aging effects: Set to human values.
Sigh.
No.
Looks like they forgot to change the random dice element. Very, very frustrating.
So, yeah. The original intent of the designers, and the intent of the errata, was that aasimars and tieflings age like humans. The confusion on the AONPRD is purely due to an errata error.
Don'tcha just *love* errata?
Just for kicks, let's try 15+2d6 to see where Brental would land if he aged an trained like a human.
Unless it's really weird. (I can't see him being 17 if I roll two 1s). If the rolled age is really weird and we're trying to fit in with the incomplete errata, I'll just peg Brental at 23 instead of 31, matching Meneas and Lorna. That's probably a better option, to be honest.
24 is actually perfect. Cool with you, Rackal?
Okay, back to work.
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Unrelated, but this is a neat map of the area, more or less. I think we can go a bit further east than this shows, but it gives a sense of where our characters are coming from, etc.
I believe we're basically starting on the eastern edge of the map, in Restov, but it depends on Rackal.
I think Restov is right. I believe we're more or less being chartered and bankrolled by the Aldori Swordlords, who are a political entity of some sort.