GM_DBH's Curse Of The Crimson Throne

Game Master DBH

This is the recruitment thread where you can discuss your characters.

For this campaign we'll be using Elephant in the room if you wish to take advantage of the option.

I'll be asking our prospective 5th player if they're interested? Hopefully we'll get a quick response.

Using the anniversary edition of Curse. But you still use the original Players Handbook for traits.

20pt buy.
Max HP & Gold at 1st level.
Background skills are in.

From memory it's a heavily urban campaign, but with some wilderness sections as well. So don't over specialize.

Any questions, you know who to ask.

Super excited!

The traits got updated for the anniversary edition on this blog post. Elephant in the Room looks really good, and both characters below would be able to take advantage of it.

I brewed a couple of characters over the weekend that I need to finalise and create more background for.

The first is a young man whose cousin was taken by Gaedren Lamm as one of his little minions, and who, in his despair, turned to the worship of Calistria as a focus for his anger and his desire for vengeance. He'll be a Calistrian hunter fighter focusing on hunting people down and then punishing them with his whip. He's not exactly good, but I see him as a Ghost Rider-like figure, punishing those who deserve it but helping those in need.

The second is a half-elf forced to withdraw from his studies at the Academae before they'd even begun by a false accusation of murder. Though eventually acquitted his place was revoked and he now works alone to develop his magical and physical prowess while trying to find the man that framed him. He'll be a warlock vigilante, using his social identity as a librarian to gather information and his vigilante identity to bring down the man who cost him his future.

Still considering my options, but loving the upgrade to the character options. Haven't decided on Melee, Caster or Hybrid yet

I'm workin' somethin' up, but I'll be traveling to visit family for the vacation period and probably won't finish until Sunday.

No hurry. You can take the time to make a character you are happy with.

I think I'm going divine this time. I'm liking the looks of a Streets or Intrigue Oracle, but I'm also going to take a look at pure clerics and inquisitors.

I may finally build my Evangelist.

Hi, all! DBH has invited me to join as your 5th player. I've never played this AP before, so that's appealing. DBH says that you're a great group of players, so I hope that I can gel with all of you.

I've been wanting to play a Mesmerist for a while now, and this seems like a good campaign to give that a go. I'm happy to shift that around if there's too much role overlap, however.

Oh, and congrats on completing your Skulls and Shackles campaign!

@Zin Z'arin. Intrigue Oracle is something I've been meaning to try for a while. I've put a few up in recruitment threads but never made the cut. :)

An Intrigue Oracle would be very interesting in War for the crown.

@Androste. Make your Mesmerist. No ones settled on anything definite yet.

Iorghil Ionescue goes by "Ghil" among his friends, which might be just about anybody he introduces himself to. An absolutely gorgeous man, Ghil's features at once combine the best aspects of elven delicacy with a rugged edge from his human side that keeps him looking grounded, convivial, and fun.

When he wants to, he takes over any room he's in. But when he doesn't, odds are you'll never know he was there. He has an uncanny ability to just... not be there when you're looking for him.

A half-elven orphan, Ghil's early years were comparatively easy given his circumstances. Thing was, a beautiful baby boy often emerges quite well from foster life; Ghil was always adopted quickly, by eager parents. He eventually landed with a couple who both taught at the Arcaneaum. Odd, clearly magical things kept happening around him, so it was no surprise an academic couple was eager to adopt him.

They did everything they could to teach, to coach, to develop and refine his obviously strong magical abilities, but nothing worked; nothing stuck. His control was minimal--sometimes nonexistant--and the theory made no sense to him whatsoever.

His parents pulled strings--a double legacy student!--but he didn't last a semester at the Arcaneaum. Ghil has never understood the magic that he's struggled to learn how to wield, but getting out there and using it has been the only way he's gotten any control.

Starting out, Ghil can conjure up both offensive and defensive weapons (barbed chains and hedging weapons, respectively). Why? Who knows. He was attacked one day, and defended himself... this way. It's worked ever since.

He'll never take detect magic, read magic, Knowledge (arcana), or Spellcraft (maybe one rank each in the skills just because), to represent his lack of understanding about any of his magical abilities. They just happen. He doesn't know why. No amount of study has helped him understand.

But wands and the like always work for him. Or--well--often enough that it really seems like always. He's just got the knack!

He naturally is exceptionally beautiful, but can change his appearance basically at will, and does so frequently ("assumed form" revelation, basically disguise self at will).

Very soon, in addition to his Oracular magic growing, he's going to start experiencing the emergence of an Arcane sorcerous bloodline (via the Eldritch Heritage feat line), starting with the appearance of a familiar at 3rd level. At the same time, the spirits from his "spirit guide" archetype will emerge.

After 5th level, he'll begin taking levels in Evangelist, which (except for the first) will also advance him in Oracle simultaneously.

Paragon surge will be his first 3rd level spell; the variety of possibilities is endless.

Basically, tons of strange stuff happens around him; he keeps getting new powers, but has no idea where they come from or why any of it's happening.

Iorghil Ionescue
Male half-elf oracle (spirit guide) 1
NG Medium humanoid (elf, human)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +5
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Defense
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AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex)
hp 9 (1d8+1)
Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +1; +2 racial bonus vs. transmutation spells and spell-like effects
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Oracle (Spirit Guide) Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +5)
. . 1st (4/day)—barbed chains[HA] (DC 15), cure light wounds, hedging weapons[HA]
. . 0 (at will)—detect poison, enhanced diplomacy, guidance, purify food and drink (DC 14)
. . Mystery Intrigue
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Statistics
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Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 19
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 12
Feats Agile Maneuvers, Extra Revelation[APG], Skill Focus (Knowledge [local])
Traits charming, wild stride
Skills Bluff +4 (+5 vs. humanoids, +5 vs. characters who could be attracted to you), Diplomacy +8 (+9 vs. humanoids, +9 vs. characters who could be attracted to you), Knowledge (local) +8, Knowledge (nobility) +5, Knowledge (religion) +5, Perception +5, Sense Motive +8, Sleight of Hand +3, Use Magic Device +8
Languages Common, Elven, First Speech
SQ elf blood, fey magic, finesse weapon attack attribute, oracle's curse (covetous), perfect[HA], revelations (assumed form[UI], whispered glimpses[UI])
Other Gear 180 gp
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Special Abilities
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Agile Maneuvers Use DEX instead of STR for CMB
Assumed Form (Sp) Change appearance at will as disguise self
Covetous Must wear non-magic clothing/jewelry or are sickened. Also sick if valuable item stolen.
Elf Blood Half-elves count as both elves and humans for any effect related to race.
Fey Magic (Favored Terrain [Urban]) Gain spell-like abilities in selected terrain.
Finesse Weapon Attack Attribute Finesse weapons use on attack rolls.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Perfect +1 to bluff and diplomacy vs. humanoids and +2 vs. transmutation spells.
Whispered Glimpses (Sp) Use Cha instead of Wis on Perception and Sense Motive.
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3 - Eldritch Heritage (Arcane > Arcane Bond/Familiar)
5 - Deific Obedience
11 - Improved EH (New Arcana)
13/15 - Improved EH (Metamagic Adept)?
17 - Greater EH (School Power)

Never take Knowledge (arcana), Spellcraft, detect magic, or read magic; this represents how he doesn’t know how any of this works!!!

1-2 level Rogue dip for Knife Master 1d8 sneak attack?

Hi, all! DBH has invited me to join as your 5th player. I've never played this AP before, so that's appealing. DBH says that you're a great group of players, so I hope that I can gel with all of you.

I've been wanting to play a Mesmerist for a while now, and this seems like a good campaign to give that a go. I'm happy to shift that around if there's too much role overlap, however.

Oh, and congrats on completing your Skulls and Shackles campaign!

Welcome; thanks for joining!

I'm playing two different Mesmerists in PFS; I really like the class! You're going to have a lot of fun.

I just want to point out--while you're building--that the Intrigue Mystery that I'm taking for Ghil is going to give him a spell list (including charm person and suggestion pretty early) that might have some overlap with common Mesmerist tools. I'll love the hypnotic stare; it'll help me as much as you! But keep an eye on my spell list when picking your spells. My bonus spells from that mystery are written in stone, and I'm a spontaneous caster; I'll be able to spam those spells when needed.

@Iorghil. Looks deeply complex, and interesting. :) 1 level of Knife master Rogue + Accomplished Sneak attacker would be nasty.

What is his Mystery?

Apologies. One of your Traits must be a Campaign trait. I forgot to put that in since it's automatic with me.

Welcome Andostre, glad to have you aboard (though that's a less relevant pun these days).

If we've got an oracle and a mesmerist coming then maybe I'll build my fighter to give us some front line muscle. I'll brew him up over the next couple of days.

Would you be willing to allow a 3rd party magus archetype I've wanted to field test?

Apologies. One of your Traits must be a Campaign trait. I forgot to put that in since it's automatic with me.

Okay, I swapped out Charmed for Family Honor. Any chance you'd consider drawbacks so I can get Charmed back, though? (Haunted, Hedonistic, Naive, and Vain all seem flavorful for Ghil; I'd swap Charmed back in for Family Honor, and then take All Alone, Missing Son or Daughter, or Personal Addiction for the campaign trait.)

Also, a question about the Wild Stride trait. What do you consider to be "naturally occurring" difficult terrain in an Urban setting? Stairs? Crowds? Rubble?

Choose a favored terrain from those listed in the ranger favored terrain class ability. You can move through naturally occurring difficult terrain without any penalty while within your favored terrain. Terrain created or modified by magic or traps affects you normally.

@Mark Thomas 66. I would need a link to the archetype to decide.

@Iorghil.If it's Difficult terrain then you have no problem with it. Rubble, refuse or crowds. You got parkour.

Thinking about it, if people want Drawbacks I will allow it. (Channeling Mercer.)

Basically the Anti-caster Magus

Awesome; I think Ghil is complete!

(Sorry I named the Academae wrong above, haha; I've got it right now.)

For "Missing Son or Daughter," I think this is actually a younger adopted sister. Ghil's professor foster parents actually adopt lots of disadvantaged kids, all who show magical potential, specifically as their form of charity in the city; they use their academic position to sponsor promising underprivileged youth to the Acadamae. They are less public about it--and they aren't celebrities by any stretch--but there's a little Brangelina in there.

Ghil has a 50 gp covenant ring to meet the requirements of his covetous curse (he has to wear fine clothes and jewelry with value equal to 50 gp at 1st level, plus 100 gp every level after that). The covenant ring is one of a pair he shares with this (as yet unnamed) adopted/foster sister, and the ring currently doesn't provide its bonus because of the abduction.

Here's a first draft of Nethen Tesril, a young man in search of vengeance.

Like a lot of characters with non-standard fighting styles he probably sucks a bit at 1st level until I can pick up Whip Mastery at 2nd, but he should be functional enough.

Hopefully his motivation and background are satisfactory. Can't wait to get started.

As an alternative I can go with Urban Druid. The "I serve Korvosa, rather than follow any King or Queen" type.

@Mark Thomas 66. Can't go to that link. Access denied?

@Nethen. Big guy with a hooded cloak and a whip wandering the streets. Doesn't look suspicious at all. :)

@Mark Thomas 66. Can't go to that link. Access denied?

Weird. I'll fix it in a bit of the full archetype is in the spoiler

Hey, here's the Mesmerist that I've put together. I'll re-format the alias page when I get a chance, but feel free to take a look and let me know of any feedback.

*********

Vazhimort Nachipi hails from a small gnomish village a few days' travel from Korvosa. Capitulating to the gnomish urge to pursue new experiences and sensations, Vazhimort was one of many gnomes to experiment with the drug shiver when it was introduced to his small village. The gnomes were not aware of the addicting nature of this illicit drug, and an epidemic of addiction-related symptoms and overdoses afflicted the community. Vazhimort had his own brush with death, the recovery from which made him realize that addiction was not the sort of experience a gnome should seek.

Vazhimort then set out to help the other members of his community break their addiction, and the gnome found that ever since his recovery, he could connect with others in a way he could not before. He tried to use his new ability to stop the use of shiver in his village, but the damage had already been done.

That's when Vazhimort decided that perhaps revenge would be a thing worth experiencing. Tracing the drug's supply chain back to a man in Korvosa named Gaedren Lamm, the gnome has travelled to the largest city in Varisia to do what needs to be done.

GM - have you got any opinions on the use of Combat Stamina?

So far we have...

* A fighter (limited for now to medium armor)
* An oracle, spirit guide (so lots of versatility)
* A mesmerist, hopefully focusing on support and back-up casting
* Mark has proposed either a mage-breaker magus or urban druid
* Jesse won't be back until later this weekend

I made the list mostly for my own benefit, but so far we have the makings of a very non-standard party, which is usually very fun. We're probably okay on casting. Front-line high-AC might be covered, but it depends on the roles Nethen and Iorghil are intended for. We're light on skills, I think.

Though if I do end up going Magus the high Int allows for generous skill dabbling

The only major thing I see missing from our list is any kind of trapfinding. I know if I did Streets as my mystery, I would get that, but Intrigue is just so much more appealing for my build. But, I'll take a look over the weekend and see what that rebuild looks like.

Edit: I was wrong; there's no trapfinding in the Streets mystery. That makes it a nonstarter; Intrigue is just better.

Edit 2: It's the Seeker archetype. It trades mystery class skills (in Ghil's case: all Knowledge skills via spirit guide) for Disable Device plus trapfinding (including the +1/2 levels bonus to Perception & Disable Device vs traps). However, it also trades away the 3rd level Revelation, which is already traded away for Spirit Guide (along with the class skills); Spirit Guide is more flavorful for my vision of Ghil. I could be convinced, if the party thinks we really need trapfinding (which we might, given the nature of the AP), but somebody's going to have to make that case. :)

I do want to try out the mesmerist, but I could happily switch out to an Investigator, keeping the same background concept, if we decide that we're still missing Trapfinding.

There's also the Trapfinder trait

There's also the Trapfinder trait

Trap Finder is a campaign trait for Mummy's Mask, so DBH would need to approve it.

If it were approved, it should really go to a PC with enough skill points to support it, which isn't my low-INT mesmerist. :)

If we need trap finding after the final two PCs are introduced, I'd rather switch to investigator than plug it into my mesmerist.

So far we have...

* A fighter (limited for now to medium armor)
* An oracle, spirit guide (so lots of versatility)
* A mesmerist, hopefully focusing on support and back-up casting
* Mark has proposed either a mage-breaker magus or urban druid
* Jesse won't be back until later this weekend

I made the list mostly for my own benefit, but so far we have the makings of a very non-standard party, which is usually very fun. We're probably okay on casting. Front-line high-AC might be covered, but it depends on the roles Nethen and Iorghil are intended for. We're light on skills, I think.

I’d planned Nethen as a frontliner, and though he’s limited to medium armour he’s Dex-based so should be able to keep up reasonably well from an AC perspective.

I agree that some amount of Disable Device might be useful, but I’m not sure where we might fit it in. Nethen is already stretched on his skill points, and none of the other classes I’d considered for him come with DD natively. If the trait gets approved then I could pivot Nethen into a Cutthroat Slayer - it keeps much of the flavour of Nethen and comes with more skill points, but I’d have to jettison the whip schtick.

I gotchu fam.

This character's designed to work as an eventual arcane trickster, starting as a rogue. She'll handle the traps & some skill stuff and branch into sorcerer, with a focus on utility magic and illusions.

Just waitying to see if I'm cleared to take the Archetype I'm going for before getting character put together. I have a backup magus idea (armored battlemage - a Grey Maiden in training who proved too independent thinking and got the boot before things go down ---will work for either magus archetype actually) or the urban druid

I gotchu fam.

Woop woop

@Mark Thomas. You can use the Arcane Warden Archetype.

Aside from Vazhimort has everyone else taken the Missing child trait?

So we now have:

A Oracle of Intrigue (spirit guide) Half-Elf Male.
A Fighter (Callistrian Hunter) Human Male.
A Mesmerist Gnome Male.
A Rogue (Going to Arcane Trickster) Vishkanya Female.
A Magus (Arcane Warden) ??

Definitely a group that will be best off playing it smart. :)

I'll probably end up going with "Unhappy Childhood".

Should have character completed by tomorrow.

So looking at what we've got, with our fighter being a whip user, it might be better going with armored battlemage magus to have a spellcasting tank as a frontliner. Also not sure how useful antimagic magus would be in this campaign.

Any thoughts?

So looking at what we've got, with our fighter being a whip user, it might be better going with armored battlemage magus to have a spellcasting tank as a frontliner. Also not sure how useful antimagic magus would be in this campaign.

Any thoughts?

He also has a morningstar. And has said he'll be crap with his whip until he gets a few levels. :)

The whip is something of a liability until level 2 and pick up Whip Mastery, when it stops being a weapon that deals non-lethal damage, can’t damage most foes, and provokes when I attack with it. At that point it becomes a fairly versatile weapon, albeit with a low damage dice, but the damage dice rapidly gets overtaken by static bonuses anyway so I figure it’s not a big deal.

If need be I can build toward a high AC, it'll just be really hard as an arcane trickster. (Probably more use of stuff like blur to get miss chance.) And I can't start with a great AC because my armor is pretty limited out the gate.

We should consider ways to mitigate damage if nobody has a good AC, since we'll probably be fighting Gray Maidens and devils and whatnot. :)

I'll be able to get a reasonable AC once I get more money, but it'll all be Dex based so it won't quite reach the heights of your sword-and-board types.

In the absence of lots of high AC types, what have we got in the way of healing/buff spells/condition removal? I don't really know anything about the mesmerist but it looks like it can do some buffing and condition removal, and I know from playing an oracle in another game that it can do some of everything with the right selections, but that depends on how Vaz and Ghil are planning out their builds.

Do we have any other significant weaknesses we can address? Do we all have a specific dodgy save, or are there Knowledge skills we're missing?

So the more I think about it. The more armored battlemage makes sense. I'd start with medium armor proficiency, get heavy by 7th, and gain all of the Fighter's armor training abilities as I level, so between that, and spells my AC could get pretty crazy.

Fits for someone who was training to be a Grey Maiden before she dropped out and started learning battle magic

Sounds pretty good, both mechanically and flavourfully. I played an ex-Grey Maiden in Shattered Star and there's a lot of lore there to dig into.

I don't really know anything about the mesmerist but it looks like it can do some buffing and condition removal, and I know from playing an oracle in another game that it can do some of everything with the right selections, but that depends on how Vaz and Ghil are planning out their builds.

For the Mesmerist, it looks like I can decide the options as we go along and I can see what's needed.

And the oracle list is the cleric spell list. Spontaneous caster, so my personal spell list will be small, but I can carry wands and scrolls of whatever we need.

Sounds like we should be OK then.

GM, did you have chance to think about my question a few posts up about Combat Stamina?

I've had a look at Combat Stamina and am thinking it over. Possibly making it free for Fighters.

They always end up suffering as other classes advance. :)

I've had a look at Combat Stamina and am thinking it over. Possibly making it free for Fighters.

They always end up suffering as other classes advance. :)

That’s almost exactly the answer I was looking for.

I asked a few months ago about anyone who's given fighters free Combat Stamina, and this was a helpful response I got:

I ran one game with Combat Stamina for fighters. While it does enable a few feats to work more elegantly, it mostly just seemed to give fighters more accuracy on top of their already considerable accuracy. Being able to spend stamina to gain attack bonus after seeing the die for your attack roll quickly ended up being the primary use. My two fighter players were often forgetting all the other stamina uses they had at their disposal.

Many of the other feat "synergies" with combat stamina are just pure numbers boosts around attack rolls or AC, something the fighter rarely has issues with. Others remove penalties or restrictions on various combat feats, or let you use them more often. Stamina doesn't fundamentally change what most of them do (though there are a couple of exceptions). Free Combat Stamina definitely makes the fighter a lot stronger in combat.

Ultimately though, Combat Stamina doesn't generally address actual fighter weaknesses - out of combat utility and in combat flexibility. My players found it was free extra power, but due to its fiddly nature, we didn't end up using it beyond that one game.

I'm not trying to encourage or discourage it, but I thought I'd share in case it's useful.