Dragon’s Demand

Game Master Mythicman19

Yeah, I’m the same way! If I wasn’t working this evening I’d already have the druid drawn up and maybe be thinking about a third option. As far as covering bases, if you want to handle knowledges and buffs/heals I think your best bets are bard or lore oracle, but I don’t want to muddy the water too much. At some point the two of us are going to have to actually finalize a pair of new characters or everyone else is going to give up and find different replacements for us, lol.

Sanchia here is the Cleric character. I took the Varisian Pilgrim archetype so she can grant her domain powers to allies within 30'. She can spread luck around as a buff. If I read the ability correctly she should also be able to grant agile feet from the Travel domain if needed.

I took the Human trait Military Tradition to give her proficiency with the Falcata and Longbow. It's probably not the wise choice, but I did it anyway for background and story purposes.

I'm still on the fence about her main ability scores. Right now they are STR 16 and WIS 14, but I might switch those around to STR 14 and WIS 16. It would knock her attack bonus down by one, but give her an extra daily use of her domain powers, which might be better.

@Eudamonia: I love Bards and play them often. Bards are better at buffing than Investigators of course, but they were only the best skill monkeys until Investigators came along. Bards can't invest much, if anything, in INT. Bardic Knowledge and Versatile Performance help, but develop slowly over many levels.

I checked and Dragon's Demand goes to 7th level. Bards are doing well in skills by then, but Investigators have Inspiration and more skill points. They absolutely bury everything else on knowledge checks. A 15 point buy Bard is a miserable Bard.

I've never played a Lore Oracle, but it seems to me the problem is about the same for them. They have a revelation that boosts INT over time, but not enough skill ranks or INT to be competitive within a 7 level window.

Sorry for the late chiming in; wifi is intermittent at the moment it seems less than likely to work.

But I would second the take on investigator. Buffing is nice but with so many front liner (assuming wolf child) then you will eat up your buffs very quickly if it’s via infusions so aid another may be the better choice that route. Skills have multiple use ways of helping and with things as they are it is very much a hole the party is lacking. With the Druid option more magic allows you focus on a more finite amount of buffs since you can coordinate to save magic.

A cleric would be great for buffing and would likely help a ton, though it would possibly only push what the parties good at even higher. So gaps would still remain but the highs would be even higher.

All in all I always say choose what looks the most fun. I’m willing to adjust as needed if things present themselves.

As for the module the module does end at 7th and as can be guess has a dragon in it. Though I will say it has some parts that reward thinking outside the box instead of just hack and slash. There is the potential of going beyond 7th and home brewing from there but it is something we can decide later and adjust once we get there.

Good enough for me! Gavia is in, with the minor changes needed for the weak version of aid another without the Fighter dip.

So, is everyone onboard with Gavia and Euda as the new party members, or would you like to see another option from me?

I ended up being pretty busy today, so I haven't built the druid at all, but I could. I also had an idea while I was driving that I could make a dwarf (either a druid or a sacred huntsmaster inquisitor, or maybe a hunter actually) as a more serious partner for Fox and Bear, and he wouldn't do as much damage as Euda does but he could add some divine magic/off-healing to the party (and have more options for buffing Bear to make up some for losing Euda's damage).

And, I had an idea while I was making dinner, for a Taldane noble who was exiled from his home/family because they believed he was cursed. He'd be a lunar oracle (so they were right about the curse) and a worshiper of Desna. His combat ability, obviously, wouldn't match Euda's, but he'd be decent in a fight, and have high enough Cha to use occasional SoS spells (in addition to having more healing ability than probably any of the other builds I've mentioned). He doesn't have an animal friend at all (which seemed like it could maybe be a plus for some), but he'd have the option to pick one up at 3rd if it seemed like we could still benefit from a little more melee.

Thoughts?

I'm good with both original characters. That said the Taldane noble also sounds interesting. I know that's not much help. The simple solution to narrowing the selection will come down to what you think you would enjoy playing more. Mechanically as well as flavor. The current party dynamic is somewhat transparent. You could consider what roleplay will be like for each concept vs. current party makeup. If the mechanical parts of the concepts are all viable then flavor may set them apart. A unique background, or fun personality, could make the game considerably more interesting for you, so I think that should play in the decision. That, in my opinion, is honestly the most important part of the decision.

@Euda: I wish I had more of an opinion to offer, but I've never played any pet class aside from a Witch with a familiar for a few levels. I also haven't seen pet classes played by others very often. There is a Druid with animal companion in one of my games. We just made it to 5th level and he's always seemed very well-rounded and solid. Oracles are most always good, so I'd imagine Lunar with the animal companion is very good.

Personally I like classes that can do at least a little casting, just for the variety. Jenise mentioned being an offensive Sorcerer. If she's mostly blasting, maybe something that can offer a few battlefield control spells?

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the three options. If there's one you prefer even just a little, go for that one. If not, maybe consider your choice mostly from the standpoint of personality dynamics like Zuriel said.

I'm with Zuriel. Mechanically, we can make just about anything work. But if you don't enjoy playing your character you're not going to enjoy the game. Personality wise, I think Jenise would get along well with Gavia.

Alright, I do really like Euda and her friends but part of her schtick is that her education and social development are stunted by having lived in a den with her animal friends, and I worry that with August having some kind of developmental disability that could be too much? So, here’s the oracle option. I have to pick his spells and buy some sundries, and I haven’t written up any fluff yet, but you can see most of his crunch here. He’s a charismatic Desnan with unusual magical powers (related to the night sky), so I imagine there would be a really strong sense of kinship with Jenise (possibly even some romantic tension depending on how things go).

His background, briefly, is that his mother was a noblewoman in Oppara and his father was a handsome Varisian prince who settled down with her for a while. Her family didn’t approve and eventually drove him off. They mostly accepted Ethulfel and supported him and his mother while he was growing up. When his curse started manifesting, though, they encouraged him to indulge his Varisian wanderlust and go do some wandering.

Does this seem like a better option?

Out of the three, Ethulfel sounds like the better fit.

Yeah, I think you're right about having Euda and August in the same party. Jenise would be thrilled to have a fellow Desnan around! The Song of the Spheres isn't commonly worshiped where she comes from in Andoran.

Desnan oracle sounds like a good fit to the party! If it looks like Ethulfel can manage the party healing, August might stick to paladin levels instead of dipping to oracle. But lets see.

Hopefully the GM can fit you guys in somewhat quickly. I know we are in a tight spot, story wise, to squeeze a new party member in. It's going to take a little creativity for sure. Once you finalize which characters you want to lock in, I would recommend posting that here, so the GM knows you have settled on a character and can begin working on a scenario to add you to the story.

Mechanically Gavia is ready to go. I have a PM out to the GM regarding some background details.

Today ended up being super busy, so I still have to write up the fluff, but I'll officially settle on Ethulfel (assuming GM approval) as my character. I'm hoping to buy a couple scrolls still, and maybe some holy water, but other than that my crunch should be good to go.

Sorry for the delay, wifi went out for a few days over the weekend on base and I got ill the following day. I woke up feeling better today however. I’ll get to posting later today both characters seem good, please finish up the small bits left and add heading details at to show stats when posting as well while I figure out my plan to slot you in. I had an idea last week while at work but forgot it unfortunately.

@gavia I’ll get to you PM later today!

@DD- we never got official word on how we're supposed to do hit points at 2nd level?

I've received the go-ahead for Gavia's backstory so I'll get it formally written up and added over the next day or two when I find time.

Here are the basics:

1. Gavia has only been in Belhaim for a few months, maybe a year.

2. Gavia is originally from Cassomir. She received a comfortable inheritance (details still in the works). It included a couple of properties, one of which is a nice big house in Belhaim.

3. She visited the house and quickly fell in love with the idea of moving to Belhaim. An introvert who pursues an ascetic lifestyle, Gavia believes a quiet, small town life is perfect for her. She also wants to be of service to the town in some way, and decided providing the town with the region's best library would be how she would do it.

4. Gavia liquidated everything she inherited aside from the Belhaim house and used most all of it buying books. She shipped the collection to Belhaim, and went to work setting up the house as a residence/public library.

5. The town's residents have largely been underwhelmed and indifferent regarding her project.

6. Gavia is something of an oddball in town, and she's had considerable trouble integrating into local life.

@DD- we never got official word on how we're supposed to do hit points at 2nd level?

My apologies I knew I missed something: roll or take average, whichever you chose is what you get so rolling can be dangerous.

Also I’ll wait until both players are set to move things to far foreword, I don’t want things to finish up if the new players want to jump in.

Sorry for the delay! I don't know if its my computer or the site but I couldn't login yesterday at all.

I had a minor medical procedure this morning but I'll try to finalize my profile tonight. I'm probably going to buy 1 second level scroll, 2 first level scrolls, and 2 holy waters (which would leave me with 15g).

As for background, here's the highlights:
- born into the Karthis (noble) family in Oppara (through mom)
- dad was a Varisian 'prince' (the son of the wealthy and influential head of a big prosperous caravan) who settled in Oppara to be with mom
- mom's family never approved of dad and eventually drove him off while I was young
- raised as part of mom's family even after dad left
- when curse manifested family suddenly started seeing me as more of an outsider; encouraged me to indulge my "natural Varisian wanderlust" (largely as a means of politely pushing me to the fringes of the family)
- spent the last several months working on various ships and caravans as I made my way from settlement to settlement along the coast to Cassomir and then up the Sellen until I (recently) arrived in Belhaim.

Oh, and I'll just take average on hp (partly because it looks like several people rolled over that already and I don't want to be the one balancing probability, and partly because it makes the bookkeeping easier).

I always take average HP if that's an option, I don't trust the dice roller with something that important.

Its Paizo, I have been struggling with the web loading from time to time.

My crunch is all 100% complete (including my banner, I believe). My fluff is ready to go, I hope. The medication they gave me after my procedure is making it tricky to write a good narrative background but I have the bullet point version in my profile and I'm chipping away at a full version when I can. I'm new to Belhaim so I don't have any meaningful contacts there, unless that would be helpful for integrating me to the story, in which case I could be friends with a local who was returning on the boat I was on coming up the river, or I could have hit it off right away with like the innkeeper or a server or musician I met my first night here? I never know how many names/potential hooks to include when we're running a module or AP or whatever. @GM- please let me know what you're looking for in that regard, but otherwise I should be good to go, I think.

From the looks of it seems good. I’ll PM you so we can figure out the final bits. we’ll move things forward with the story once we get everyone all set up but completely understand with medical things going on.

The next week is likely to be difficult for me to post due to a change in routine, I’ll have less time a day to post but will figure it out.

Gavia's ready to go whenever. I'll try to flesh out her BAP sections today, but the basics are there so no need to wait on it I don't think.

One idea I'll float for why Gavia prefers to coach others on making a good social impression when mechanically she could just do it herself: aside from the other things I've mentioned which might inhibit her some, she stutters. It's a different take on the Cyrano de Bergerac device of speaking through an intermediary.

Thumbs up or down?

Depends, are you planning to write the stutter out every time? Reading that gets old, I've seen writers do that before. If not, go for it.

Most people overwrite stutters. W..w-when they write it, they overdo it by putting in too many stuttered words. The correct way would be no more than one word per sentence, and p..p-utting around two or three in a paragraph is about the maximum to use. Also, only a subset of letters/sounds are affected. Having a set of rules for getting it right should k..k-eep it from being too distracting or difficult to read.

Like the above example.

I'm ok with it if it doesn't get overdone. I have seen players try that and a dwarven speech accent. It got a bit heavy trying to read it.

Eh, I'll drop the idea. It isn't really needed.

Maybe she would stutter just on certain situation, e.g. speaking to men/women/kobolds etc.
Other reasons for coaching others, maybe she's just shy and finds difficult it to speak to strangers (but open and social among people she knows)?
Or speaking to commoners is above her station :)

Stutters during specific situations sounds interesting.

You could make her a passivist who understands the need for violence but can't find it within herself to participate.

I think stutters only when around August sounds extra interesting.

Typically stuttering becomes more pronounced in heightened situations, under stress or pressure for example. It could go from rare to more common depending on such things.

She's already an introvert who isn't terribly comfortable around other people if she doesn't know them fairly well. She's also quite in her own head, and doesn't really feel the need to engage in the kind of small talk most people do. It's not uncommon for very intelligent people to treat conversation as being only for information exchange, while failing to to understand its use for bonding or strengthening relationships.

Yeah, that August. He's so very hot, but so very dumb. <sigh>

August = 100% pure himbo. Accept no substitutes.

August = 100% pure himbo. Accept no substitutes.

Poor August. Don't think of him as a him-bimbo.

Nooo... August is no himbo, he's just... simple. And, sure, he could pose for romance novel covers. But himbo, no...

August does have some The Lost City's Channing Tatum energy about him... but I didn't call him anything in particular...

Lol- I had a (male) friend in college about whom some of my other (female) friends said, "He's really hot until he opens his mouth." This conversation about August reminded me of that, and I'm afraid that from now on I'll always picture August as that friend with long hair.

After a moment of contemplating, Zuriel smiles. "I know, we could rent him out for companionship. I mean we wouldn't have to charge much for the endeavor to be profitable and I'm guessing he might actually enjoy the company."

Nooo... August is no himbo, he's just... simple. And, sure, he could pose for romance novel covers. But himbo, no...

I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in a bad way! He's just super hot and endearingly dumb at times.

August Waybringer wrote:

Nooo... August is no himbo, he's just... simple. And, sure, he could pose for romance novel covers. But himbo, no...

I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in a bad way! He's just super hot and endearingly dumb at times.

And can be yours for the very, very low price of 2 gold per. day. Satisfaction guaranteed!

Don't worry August! You're still hot and Gavia can fix you!

Zuriel, do you offer a weekly or monthly rate?

Can't spar him for a week or a month. We need him to investigate the crag.

This conversation is pretty funny, and I think makes August all the more endearing as a character. Just a Paladin trying to do his best, missing perception checks and sense motives along the way.

I plan to update later today. Unfortunately had a change in living situation which has drastically changed my routine

Such is the tribulations and twists of life. I hope all is faring well for you.

"Zuriel, who are those people and why are you counting those coins..?"

@GM: Don't worry, life happens.

"Nothing for you to worry about August. I'll take care of the hard part. All you have to do is smile and be friendly. Do you think you can do that?"

Lol. I think (technically) Ethulfel is maybe actually hotter than August but I still love everything about this conversation. And, this is a surprisingly charismatic party! Aside from Gavia (who gets to use her Int for most diplomacy/bluff checks) Zuriel has the lowest Cha at 14! Usually in a low point buy game people dump Cha like its their job.

Things aren’t to bad; just part of the gig when deployed. Closing in on the last couple months thankfully.