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Hi All,
There is a Volcano, an island in the Dark. Mighty Volcano, god and landscape to the ifrit, is all that protects the land from the Dark that surrounds on all sides.
Truly, the natives have no reason to even name this sprawling continent where there is no Sky and no horizon - only darkness. It is simply the land, or perhaps Volcano's Land, depending on who is speaking.
Volcano's will is never directly given to mortals. All through the capital city of Hearth, the rumbling prayers of priests and commonfolk can be heard at each tolling of the great brass bells from high atop the stepped obsidian Temple.
The worshipers of the 'lesser' gods can be found close to their masters. The undine travel endlessly up and down the thousands of meandering miles of River. The oread live off the bounty of herds of small earth elementals that roam through Great Forest. But even the bounty of River and Great Forest cannot always hold sway over Volcano - many of their followers feel the call of the great cities and their splendor.
The war against the Dark and its spawn is unending. The innumerable armies of the ifrit defend the east and west, the undine's ice fortress defends the south, and the orean graywoods protect the northern border of Forest.
Volcano holds back the Dark.
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Greetings, potential players! I'm looking to run a fun, character-driven story set in my homebrew world.
Specifically, this will be a recruitment for 9th level characters, who need to fit naturally into the world, and within the current adventure (see "Story Stuff" tab). I have 3 players currently at the table, and I'm opening this thread to hopefully find 1 or 2 more.
Recruitment will be open about a week or two. Give me character concepts sooner than later to prevent getting shut out.
Questions are welcome. I'm looking forward to this!
Look at my campaigns to see if you like my writing style.
I've done 4 campaigns, all of which have run for at least a year (and some 3+ years)
9th level
20 point buy
Alignment: no evil
2 traits, no flaws
HP: Max at 1st level, average (round up) after that
Starting wealth: 23,000 gp, which should cover your essentials
Leveling: No XP, you will level as appropriate to the story and the challenges you face,
Source material: Core is fine, 3rd party is not, check with me about other PF material (not just the book, but specifically what you want from it)
Background: 10 minute background, be sure to include appearance and personality. The city of Hearth (the ifrit capital) is a good place to hail from, if you are not sure where to have a hometown.
Races: Big change here. ifrit, oread, undine, and sylph only. See RACES for more info. Also, I am intentionally not capitalizing these – we don't capitalize the word Humans, right?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-oread
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-ifrit
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-undine
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-sylph
Classes: Big change here: No full casters (wizards, sorcerors, clerics, etc, etc) In addition, no gunslingers (or guns at all), no summoners, no vigilante, no ninja, no samurai, no occult classes. Hybrid classes and base classes are fine. Archetypes on a case-by-case basis.
Divine Classes: Divine casters are different. Talk to me about alignment, spell selection, and channeling, as well as archetypes.
Skills: Every character gets one extra skill point per level in a Craft, Profession, or Perform skill of their choice. I want you to have some kind of flavorful/cool background skill, but I don't want it to come at the cost of a better skill.
As a 9th level character, you should already be a heroic figure reacting to the events of:
1) A new trickster god (Moon) of madness, smiling, and mind control overthrows the scientific city of Light.
2) Moon nearly destroys the capital city of Hearth (the power of the Temple protects much of the land from the Dark)
3) An invasion of parasitic gems (Fey creatures) from the plane of earth/forest (roughly)
This doesn't have to be lengthy, but please ask questions as you go so your characters fits into the story.
Frequency: I will post every weekday (we tend to take weekends off, with this group), even just to acknowledge that IC RPing is still going on. This will almost always be around 9 or 10 PM Eastern time. I will always let you know if there will be a temporary hiatus. I expect players to post as often as they need to in order to keep the story moving. A pattern of unexplained absences or long periods between posts will be grounds for ejection, but I will always talk to a player first.
Moving forward: typically, if an action is suggested by one character and seconded by another, then I will move forward as if the entire party had agreed. If one character has a strong and rational reason to move backward, that may be allowed on a case-by-case basis.
Yes, there is a considerable restriction here, because I have a very specific not-the-kitchen-sink setting. That being said, I know you will all be trading out Elemental Affinity (which is completely worthless in this setting), and I am open to exchanging it for cool abilities that are not directly listed as being tradeable for Elemental Affinity (like Treacherous Earth for oreads, usually only traded for Spell-Like Ability)
Other minor tweaks:
--Oreads are not Slow.
--Undines get “Ice in the Blood” instead of hydrated vitality (fast healing activated by cold damage)
--Undines get a swim speed, so to make all the races roughly equal RP:
-Ifrits get Sprinter (Members of this race gain a +10 foot racial bonus to their speed when using the charge, run, or withdraw actions.)
-Oreads get burrow speed of 10 ft (dirt only!)
-Sylphs get Climb (Members of this race have a climb speed of 20 feet, and gain the +8 racial bonus on Climb checks that a climb speed normally grants.)
--Elens do interbreed, but the offspring will be one or the other, with subtle hints of the other parent's heritage
LANGUAGES (11 total)
All of the "elemental" tongues (Ignan, etc) are simply called Ifrit, Oread, etc.
In addition, there is a more esoteric dialect of each language that must be learned separately:
-High Ifrit (mostly used by the Church)
-Benthic (used by the Swem)
-Maker Script (used by the Mithral Makers)
-Sedime (pidgin used by various minor oread tribes)
There are two 'outsider' tongues: Geni (roughly equivalent to Abyssal) and Eleme (roughly equivalent to Celestial). However, neither of these languages is available to starting characters.
All races start with Common and (native language) for free, then bonus languages for high Int. Low int loses race language (common is much easier to learn, and universal)
A note on "Humans"
If any race is dominant or considered the norm, it is ifrits. Correspondingly, ifrits show different cultural characteristics, depending on many factors (city vs town, which city-state you are from, North (cooler) vs South (hot)), whereas sylphs, undines and oreads are slightly more uniform in manner (like we imagine dwarves, orcs, gnomes, etc)
The following spells affect native outsiders (since there are no humanoids) in this setting:
daze
enlarge person
reduce person
charm person
hold person
ghoul touch
I refuse to awkwardly dance around the words "human" and "humanoid", so a generic term: elen.
"I am an elen being, not an animal!"
"His strength was inelen"
"The treatment of the prisoners was inelane"
"The figure was vaguely elenoid in shape"
"Though certainly elen, the bandages and robes made it impossible to determine the man's race"
Singular is elen. Plural is elens. Male singular is el. Female singular is ele.
Ifrits
(a conflagration of ifrits)
(fritan)
Rough societal analog and naming conventions: Medieval Italy
Males tend towards dark red and charcoal black, sometimes ash gray. Females are lighter red, orange, sometimes ash gray. Eyes follow a roughly similar pattern, with yellow and the rare blue. Average in height and weight, and their skin is lightly scaled (such as a lizard of one kind or another might have)
Ifrit society, especially the town of Forge, revolves around the war against the Dark. They have the largest population in the land, and they proudly send their holy warriors to the battleground. Many do not return, but it is not uncommon for a soldier to complete their two years and come home. No draft; voluntary with good compensation. Alignment tends toward LG (military discipline, no tolerance for state corruption).
City-bred Ifrits have permanent buildings, feather beds, and other comforts that oreads and undines from the country aren’t used to.
Anatomy: Tough, light bones, similar to raw lumber that has been charred to a dry toughness. Blood is flammable in air, but burns too briefly to cause damage to anything (burning lint)
Common Classes: Skald, Paladin, Barbarian (marching to war)
Oreads
(an avalanche of oreads)
(orean)
Rough societal analog and naming conventions: nomadic Native Americans
Males are various shades of brown, with pine needles of either green or brown/orange for hair and beards. Females are light brown and off-white (birch) and have moss-like hair with colorful flowers. Both can have skin ranging from smooth but tough (birch) to thick and heavy (oak). Oreads are solidly-built.
All Oreads are lithovores - that is, they eat rocks and similar non-organic material (and water, of course). They are nomads, following herds of earth elementals (that have the shape of what we would call deer, elk, moose, etc)
Oreads move in large nomadic tribes across Great Forest. All the tribes meet twice a year - at the height of summer, and the depth of winter. Within their tribes, oreads are boisterous and can usually be found playing music on their wooden panpipes or watching an orean wrestling match (think Greco-Roman wrestling). If outsiders are currently visiting however, they are mostly withdrawn and quiet. Tends toward CG (belief in family and tribe over outsiders, or even other tribes)
They use stone shape to make temporary shelter while they roam through Great Forest.
Anatomy: Bones are dense and resemble granite. Blood is thick, like tree sap.
Common Classes: Ranger, to hunt the herds or dangerous predators in Forest. Hunter, with special earth elemental animal companion. Monk, for the three major monasteries.
Undines
(a flood of undines)
(undan)
Rough societal analog and naming conventions: Vietnamese (tone language)
Males are lighter blue and white tones mostly. Their skin is slightly reflective and faceted, giving the appearance of ice. The females are darker blues and sea greens, and have a more uniform sheen, like a fish or a lake. Hair and eye color for both tend towards blue, pastel green, purple, and the occasional white/off-white. Silver hair for elders. Undines are built for swimming - lithe, skinny, and streamlined.
The slow, patient ways of River have been ingrained into undine society - even undine children are thoughtful and slow to anger. That is not to say they are slow in all they do - there are countless water-based sports and games the undine play that require speed and quick thinking.
Undines swim similarly to dolphins, using their sleek, lithe bodies to their advantage. Bulky or muscular undines are rare. The devout spend their lives traversing River's twists and turns, never coming out of the water voluntarily. Many of the devout go all the way to the end of River, to fight the never-ending battle to keep the Dark at bay. Undines sleep half-submerged in water, on the shore.
However, many have abandoned River's ways to move to one of the great cities, though undines are the smallest percentage of Volcano's followers. Oddly enough, Volcano's undine worshipers are often his most fanatical, and many end up working for the Inquisitors. Tendency toward NG (strong belief in doing what is right; undines can be found working together at IceFall or alone all along River)
Anatomy: bones are bluish, light and rubbery, and blood is significantly more watery than other races
Common Classes: Inquisitor, Bard (Watersinger), Bard (Dervish Dancer)
Sylphs
(a scattering of sylphs)
(sylphan)
Rough societal analog and naming convention: Industrial Revolution Britain, typically have vocational-based last names (like Chemic or Cheme for alchemists)
Male and females both pale (pearl, tan, gold) with the large, dark, unblinking eyes of a predatory bird. Thin-boned Sylphs are tall but strangely light. Curiosity is said to be the curse of extremely intelligent sylphs, but with a dead god all sylphs seem a little cursed at times.
With no patron god to give them guidance (Fallen Sky has been gone for at least 5,000 years), sylphs tend to be dispersed almost everywhere, especially in the great cities. They create medicines and help support the industry of the war, but few sylphs see the front lines of battle. Tendency towards neutrality (lack of unifying god and guidance; objectivity of science)
Sylphs are city-dwellers, unless circumstances find them traveling or in the army.
Anatomy: Brittle-looking, hollow bones, like a bird. They disintegrate into powder within 48 hours. Thin, clear blood evaporates immediately, leaving a chill behind.
Common classes: Magus, Alchemist, and Fighter (specifically Mutation Warrior)
Expectations/Style
I think it's good to talk specifics when looking for a long term game. Here are some things I think are true about my game:
1) We do NOT do a ton of combat, but when we do, it tends to be meaningful and fun.
2) Characters matter -- I like it when PCs interact with each other, make decisions together, etc. I like small character moments, and I believe in giving players room to think, and rest, and talk.
3) This is my own homebrewed world, so exploration is a fair part of my game as well. We've been to 2 planes, and covered a fair amount of the central and northern parts of the map over the years.
This seems really interesting! Dotting in, not sure what I’m going to put together yet. Also, What are the three folks you have playing?
1) Spiritualist (some melee, some summoning, versatile)
2) Bard (Words of Power, going toward mind control, weak healing, strong buffing)
3) Psychic (strong battlefield controller, basically taking role of arcane caster)
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Roles I can think of that are lacking (but feel free to submit anything that inspires you)
--Solid melee character
--More healing/status help
Cool! Thinking about a portal seeker investigator at the moment.
Are we able to take variants of the four races (i.e. lavasoul ifrits, smokesoul sylphs, etc.)?
This does look like an interesting setting. How many times do you get to see the 1/2 elemental races used?
One question I have, how much cross pollination do you have between the nomadic races and the city folk? I was thinking an ifrit or an Undine that went to train with the oread monks. Maybe there was a recruiter that came to the city that caught his attention or something but it needs to fit with something that makes sense with your setting.
Mechanically I'd be using most of the same mechanics as this other character I was building for another game but he didn't get selected. He's a unchained monk/ unchained rogue with the dark lurker archtype (heroes of the street). That bit would need approval. I'm using it to replace redundancy between u-monk and u-rogue and to reinforce the sneaky combatant role at the same time. There's some fighting style feats that aren't necessarily core as well. He would play a front-line/skirmisher role in combat and a scout/skills outside. The only other approval I can think of is taking ninja trick: vanishing trick as a rogue talent.
K3D: I'm potentially cool with the variants, just talk to me about your specific ideas as you are starting out.
Natloz: The way the lore is currently set up, if 2 different races have a child, the offspring will be one or the other (so an ifrit and a sylph have an ifrit child, with traces of air). What is your idea for a mix or a 1/2 elemental? I'm willing to listen to player ideas.
I'll let you know about the character sheet later tonight. I will answer the traveling question in my next post.
By half elemental I just meant the races you've features as playable. I usually don't see ifrits and oreads and such in play.
By cross pollination I meant how do the races get along with each other? Would it be feasible to have an ifrit or an undine live and train with the oread monks/monastery? Judging by the mixed children comment, I'm guessing it wouldn't be a problem with the society. More specifically, would a non-oread monk be acceptable in your world?
Abnaki the bard here! I was a gemsoul Oread at one point, although those days are behind me. I had Ifrit lineage as well, as can be seen by my last name. In fact, I don't think any of the active players are particularly el at this point. There was some tension towards the sylphs for a little bit, as they were easily influenced by Moon, and there are some xenophobic tendencies from all the races, but for the most part we get along with each other. The PC's certainly don't care.
Over the gradual decay of PbP in 1.75 years that I've been in this game, we've lost our rogueish shadowdancer, our eldritch scoundrel rogue, and our warpriest. We are low on divine magic/anyone with good status removal, and chronically deprived of any sort of martial types, which makes me as a bard somewhat sad.
re: travel
It's not unheard of for travelers to go up to Forest from the capital city of Hearth. You could find an ifrit or an undine studying the ways of orean monks (though oreads would be more common, of course)
In general, you can find any of the four races almost anywhere, but in practice it tends to be undines to the south (especially around their capital fortress IceFall), oreads to the north, ifrits in the center, and sylphs scattered about.
Thanks for the clarification! Yes, absolutely a non-orean monk would be fine.
I would say the only "restricted" combinations would be a high-level watersinger /bard that is non-Undine, and a high -level priest /cleric/paladin of Volcano that is non ifrit (those are two sacred roles where bias would come into play)
Besides that, most other combos are plausible.
You had said to ask about religion for casters and I’m looking at making a paladin so could you talk about religion specifically the Volcano a bit more?
Thanks!
K3D: I'm potentially cool with the variants, just talk to me about your specific ideas as you are starting out.
Okay! So the idea I'm working with atm is a Lavasoul Ifrit from a wealthy family who had designs on raising the character high in the clergy, but were foiled when the character decided that they'd much rather be an adventurer after reading one too many pulp stories and took off during their formal education. Thinking they also had a Sylphan tutor as a child who may have also played a part in forming their independent streak. :p
Seems like an interesting background!
K3D, are you still leaning toward investigator? My worry with an investigator is - 1) we have someone (the psychic) who covers our knowledges/languages quite thoroughly, and 2) in terms of melee we could use a bruiser/tank. I'm trying to address broad strokes before you get too far in your character. Thoughts?
I was actually planning to focus on healing with some STR melee support, mainly through the heal skill via healer's hands and portals to set up flanks.
Synchronicity, in the past I would have said you basically had a choice between a 'traditional' LG paladin of the Warrior (one aspect of Volcano) and a more 'vengeful' paladin as a devotee of the Cauldron Lady (another aspect)
However, with things changing in this campaign, your options for a paladin of Volcano would include:
--> A devotee of the Eternal Phoenix, whose symbol now reigns over Hearth (hope, healing, faith)
--->A devotee of the Gilded Dragon, who reigns in Igniscoeli, the plane of fire (smiting, damage, courage)
These are just flavors, not classes I have fleshed out. The idea would be -- find a background/idea you like, then find archetypes, etc that help you mold the character.
Let me know your thoughts!
Your character idea actually sounds a fair bit like a character who recently left (rogue/fighter/shadowdancer). Would you be interested in "possessing" this rogue, this old character? He is an ifrit, disgraced son of a noble, and had the shadowdancer archetype that was RPed as him being 'infected' by the Dark but not completely.
Would you be interested in the concept that he is succumbing to some "dark" influence again and you could be roleplaying this new personality? I try to maintain narrative continuity where I can -- I think this could be an interesting idea.
Let me know your thoughts!
K3D - gotcha! That sounds extremely interesting!
Everyone, as you all are working toward concepts and backgrounds, keep in mind you'll need a reason to be on the plane of earth/wood (which is the homeplane of the god known as Great Forest)
1) You could be from a recently-routed mercenary company called the Happy Swords (most of them died, but you could be one of the survivors )
2) If a holy person, you could be "called to the mission" by your god.
3) I'm open to other ideas too, just post your ideas as you go so we can talk them out.
I am still looking through the materials in this thread and in the campaign info pages of the currently-active campaign, but after looking at the party's current composition and considering the established needs, I am most strongly considering a strength-focused sylphan alchemist with a fighter dip (i.e., fighter 1 / alchemist 8). Sort of going with the mutation warrior theme but focusing much more on the mutation by picking up all of the extract goodies while running off with martial weapon proficiency and heavy armor proficiency.
Retaining bombs for those times when a little blasting is needed and providing some necessary healing. I figured I'd ask about three feats:
Healer's Hands from Planar Adventures
Incredible Healer from Blood of the Ancients
Signature Skill from Pathfinder Unchained
While the alchemist has all of the cure X wounds on their formulae list (along with heal, regular & lesser restoration, and remove blindness/deafness/curse/disease), the above feats unlock tremendous healing potential for any character that can meet the prerequisites. I have Healer's Hands and Incredible Healer on two shamans that I'm running, and they have been absolutely fantastic at healing in parties without clerics. I have also built two strength-focused alchemists (one, two) here on the boards, though unfortunately both campaigns died before I could level them up.
Then there are three archetypes of potential immediate interest:
Beastmorph Alchemist: for improved maneuverability, senses, and eventually other abilities (e.g., pounce)
Grenadier: to keep bombs useful even if they're not my focus
High Guardian: This would make Fighter a tempting two-level dip for pseudo-step-up and strength-based combat reflexes
More later after I hear about these (and read up on the rest of your campaign materials).
Darn I would have loved to do a volcano-themed kineticist. I'll see if I have any other ideas.
You could rebuild in context of it being a 'shadow elemental' takeover, or whatever details we hammered out. I would prefer you to have character mechanics that you enjoy running rather than strictly sticking to the original.
Yep, it's Gabriel. Since you were interested in a dark/rogue type character anyway, I think it works nicely. He just took a 'step back' narratively, succumbing to the darkness a bit more, to help them find some elusive Fey within the plane.
You don't need to take shadowdancer levels -- that was originally what the player did, but then he rebuilt as slayer. I'm open to whatever you feel excited about playing, as long as it's the same realm of dark / rogue / shadow kind of thing.
And yes, I think a darker personality (but still clinging to memory of allies that he remembers, i.e. the other party members)
Natloz, we can start speaking out of the spoilers now :)
I did that more for the sake of space then anything -- we're not keeping secrets or betraying party members or anything :)
Anyway, I was talking with Natloz about the possibility of 'possessing' one of the characters (one of the players who left, couldn't post anymore)
The idea being that something nasty and shadowy is taking over that PC, to explain the new-ish personality. Looking forward to seeing your ideas, Natloz!
polyfrequencies, those feat combos do seem potent. With all 3, it allows a character to start doing (skill check) = healing output, so like 25 - 30 worth of healing as a full round action, around 10 times a day? Wow! (I haven't processed 100% how it all hangs together, but it looks quite good)
We have other strong characters as well, so I'm open to the possibility of this kind of healing from an alchemist. As you are building the character, I'd love to hear where this alchemist gets his healing potential from (gods, madness, genius?)
Can I take the Wildfire Heart Ifrit racial trait in place of Fire Affinity?
Yep! I try to be very flexible about trades like that since I am restricting the races so much.
They are quite potent! Planar Adventures was the final core book released for 1E and had some delightful goodies, especially for the planar races and other planar adventurers! They're mostly collected under the conduit feats, some other favorites of mine which include wanderer's fortune and flickering step.
I'm traveling at the moment, so time to read/write is a bit more limited, but my current concept is someone who has been studying planar phenomena and developing theories about planar substrates, energy dynamics, and the interactions therein. Noting that some of the current party members have quite literally changed from who/what they were when they were born, he would be fascinated by them. I would be interested in potentially reflavoring some of the beastmorph capabilities as trying to find ways to change himself (and potentially others), testing the idea that the self is much more mutable than it appears at surface level. So maybe genius with a bit of madness from glimpsing the fabric of reality where the gods dwell.
Another potential archetype might be the dimensional excavator, more for its exploration of dimensional phenomena than its ability to spam pit spells.
Fey-touched Gabriel Izalith Character sheet
Let me know if that link doesn't work. I pulled the background section out below.
Background
2) Having run away from home, he makes his living both dancing, something he loves and
Mercenary missions from the Happy Swords.
3) Gabriel tries to avoid confrontation and getting involved with any official organizations and governments due to his view of such things being colored by his family
4) He was captured for unknown reasons by the inquisitors and the ritual performed on him. For what reasons, he doesn't know and with their recent collapse he may never.
5) Having escaped the Priest's round up, Gabriel has become more determined to figure out his future and the truth behind the darkness that covers his body.
As the party fell to the Road of Bones, they awoke in the subterranean realm of myconids. Gabe pulls himself from the muck having been reborn, his shadowy taint removed with his rebirth. The transformative presence of the Heap is not easily shaken off though. Some of the restorative magics of the myconian demi-god stuck with Gabe even as they left the underground tunnels behind. As the party traversed the Great Forest and its home plane, the fey magic had a subtle effect on the remaining Heap matter in the assassin. His mind was changing in ways that weren’t obvious even to himself until the effects were already in place. New knowledge and fighting
techniques replaced the old ways. Items he once held dear, now foreign to him. He grabs for his sword only to find himself holding an amulet already around his neck. His sparkling mithril armor now mimicking the garb of the oread tribal leader with which they are traveling. Fey-touched Gabrel knows his allies and retains his goals but the Fey influence has changed his methods to protect his friends and attain his goals.
He no longer holds the guilt of killing which guided him in the past. Through all these changes, his mantra remains similar, “Through the darkness, not of the darkness.”
Gabriel has Charcoal black hair, Deep blue eyes and black veins covering his chest, arms and a single vein going across his left eye. The Veins, make his skin look like charred lumber.
As a person Gabriel is demure, someone who follows orders as opposed to questioning and
rebellion. The one thing he stand up for is Darkness not being inherently evil.
Been traveling to see family for spring break. Will update tomorrow morning.
Would really love to come in either as a Sky Druid (racial archtype for sylphs) or an aerokineticist, the concept being a character who loves the principle of the air & sky, even though their god is long-dead.
How long do you plan on having recruitment open? I probably won't be able to submit anything until this weekend.
~Another week. I'll give everyone plenty of warning, but I'd like to make a decision by 4/7 or 4/8 and get players integrated into Gameplay.
Would really love to come in either as a Sky Druid (racial archtype for sylphs) or an aerokineticist, the concept being a character who loves the principle of the air & sky, even though their god is long-dead.
Is either of these approvable?
Would really love to come in either as a Sky Druid (racial archtype for sylphs) or an aerokineticist, the concept being a character who loves the principle of the air & sky, even though their god is long-dead.Is either of these approvable?
No worries, people are busy. Enjoy!!!
Would really love to come in either as a Sky Druid (racial archtype for sylphs) or an aerokineticist, the concept being a character who loves the principle of the air & sky, even though their god is long-dead.
Unfortunately Druids are out (9th lvl spellcasters are unavailable for character creation)
Kineticists are also out - I've been allowing a few new options into my setting with character rebuilds, and I'd like to stick closer to core for new players that are coming in.
Let me know if you have any other ideas!
I have a revised concept now that I've had time to read through the campaign diary and lots of the supplementary material!
This sylph (tentatively named Albert Glazier, with parents who were prolific glassmakers) is/was a faculty member at the University of Alchemy in Light, specializing in the Order of Blood but with collaborative projects in the other departments. As a student, he was a polymath courted by multiple Orders, and was also a star Caith player. He continued more on the academic trajectory and has served as a mentor to many students in Light, especially those with dual athletic and intellectual merits. (He may have even served as a coach for a couple of years.) When Moon overtook Light and drove people mad, he was there at the forefront trying to protect the survivors and prevent a widescale massacre as the city tore itself apart. He stayed for a long time, unwilling to give up the city and its people, so many of which were his students. But he was ultimately an academic, not a resistance fighter capable of going against a god. And so he tried to lead a group of survivors out and was mostly successful (with input from the GM on the level of success of this operation).
Part of my concept is that Albert has developed a suit of armor that serves as the conduit for his current protective research. I would be interested in re-flavoring/reskinning his alchemical abilities as being more mechanical. For instance, his mutagen could be a combination of mechanical and chemical components. He puts on his suit of armor and then activates it to enhance his physical capabilities, usually augmenting his strength. The mental penalty comes about more as a result of chemicals he injects himself with to stabilize his brittle sylphan bones and prevent them from snapping from the increased physical stress of the transformation. Extracts could be a similar combination of chemical and mechanical elements, designed to work best for him and his physiology but consumable by another person for adequate effect (i.e., infusion). This also provides a fun design for the bombs as projectiles fired from the suit, with a rotating batch of reagents to alter their makeup as needed (in keeping with the discoveries).
Some of this flavor would be similar to the scavenger archetype of the investigator, especially with the Gadgetry feature. I would also be happy to flavor any of the allowed conduit feats that I mentioned previously as being similarly biomechanical. They would be experimental features of his suit of armor that allow him remarkable freedom of movement or the ability to teleport short distances.
The primary sticking point of Healer's Hands is that you indicated in The Planes, Items, and Magic that positive energy is missing from this world. The flavor of the feat is that you serve as a conduit to the positive energy plane and use that to bolster your healing. If there is no positive energy plane, then this incredible healing could be tapping into some alternative energy source. I think that the biomechanical gadgetry is one possible way of doing this. Every day, he can construct only so many gadgets that allow for this to take place and has been using that to enable the survival of those not driven mad by Moon.
I figured I'd check on that concept before I develop it any further--what works vs doesn't work.
natloz - link does not currently work. Can you open it to general viewing?
Forgot I had to do that. It's been a while since I used Google docs for things like this. It should work now.
Some notes, I made assumptions on the racial replacements based on Gabriel. For instance, +2 racial fire damage vs 1 listed in the book and I kept the spell-like he had listed. Not sure what everything was replacing but I listed what made sense to me.
Let me know if the justification for the changes don't work with your setting and I can come up with something else.
natloz, I can read the doc now - thanks! It's looking good - look for a PM from me in your inbox later today.
After reading through things more I was wondering whether a sylph warpriest (forgepriest) of the Silver-Bringer is a concept that would work? I’m still pretty early on but think I’ll have up an initial set of questions tomorrow. One that I immediately have is how would you handle item creation feats in character creation? Would the 25% increase to WBL recommended in Ultimate Campaign work?
@Miner Cotren: I'd love some initial conceptual feedback to know whether who I have pitched is a viable, setting-appropriate character to develop or whether I should begin looking at other options.
+1 mithral full plate for 11500 gp (half of the incoming 23k) would be an investment for the future. It's worse for the defensive stat array than coming in with +2 regular full plate, a +2 cloak, and a +1 ring, but not [i]hideously[/u] worse.
@Miner Cotren: I'd love some initial conceptual feedback to know whether who I have pitched is a viable, setting-appropriate character to develop or whether I should begin looking at other options.
** spoiler omitted **
I just realized that I pitched a quite similar concept to you Poly I don’t wanna step on your toes, do you think it’s too close for comfort or are you alright with it?
I don't think we're too similar. Albert is not religious and has focused much more on the healing arts than armoring. The armor is more out of necessity since the arrival of Moon and would be a reflavoring of native alchemist abilities. Mechanically, the alchemist and warpriest are very different. Have at it.
alright, done traveling, ready to dig into replies :)
polyfrequencies, the idea of an alchemist who is supplementing themselves with armor, etc as reflavored alchemist abilities is fascinating - I'd love to see more. I will reply to your other posts in a few minutes.
Fluid - I'll need to update you - Silver Bringer turned out to be a hidden aspect of Moon within the Temple, and when Moon started attacking the capital city of Hearth, part of those machinations were that ALL the Silver Golems turned against their masters.
I won't say it is flat out impossible, but you would almost need to be a believer in what Silver Bringer USED TO be, rather than the trickster/traitor It is.
What items/feats of crafting were you planning on? I'm open, but details are appreciated.
Polyfrequencies, you bring up so many interesting points! I will try to address several:
--I think the idea of scavenging silver golem tech and other Light gadgetry is a fascinating concept. Being that Silver Bringer has become corrupt, I want to think of a way for you (and your research) to have countered this corruption.
--In the interest of keeping narrative focus, I think that the previous point, AND the problem of your source of extraordinary healing, can be felled with one blow:
A "priest" of Sun has recently emerged (Samen the Cleansed, the PC) from death. He wields unusual powers of the mind, and he is completely without any traces of the elements.
I think that it would be interesting to explore you having found some kind of "Sun Metal" (name in progress) that harnesses this power. After Moon's emergence, this power would have started slowly leaking into the world (as seen with Samen). So your research could have yielded just enough tech to allow you to escape, and bring a small handful with you out of Light.
Thoughts? I want this to be as collaborative as possible.
Fluid - I'll need to update you - Silver Bringer turned out to be a hidden aspect of Moon within the Temple, and when Moon started attacking the capital city of Hearth, part of those machinations were that ALL the Silver Golems turned against their masters.
I won't say it is flat out impossible, but you would almost need to be a believer in what Silver Bringer USED TO be, rather than the trickster/traitor It is.
What items/feats of crafting were you planning on? I'm open, but details are appreciated.
Oo, that actually could work for the reason that I was thinking to go to the home of the Great Forest.
My thought for that was that I would have come from Light shortly before Moon appear to bring a caravan of armor weapons and supplies to Forge. Moons appearance right after I left and the effect he has on Sylphs led to even more distrust than normal against me. I looked for any opertunity to prove my goodwill against Moon. After he was wounded I heard a call from either the old version of the Silver-Bringer or possibly The Cauldron Lady showing me that I could take vengeance against the pretender Moon as well as prove my resistance to him by aiding those in the home plane of the Great Forest which led me there.
Would that work?
In terms of Item Creation Feats I'm going to have at least Craft Magic Arms and Armor as well as probably Craft Wondrous Item and if it fits possibly Craft Construct though that one is hard from set.
Also if there still is the possibility of taking 2 more (not sure if Natloz counted or not) both Poly and I being crafting Sylph coming from Light to Forge gives a pretty strong connection, we could definitely build that if its possible for both to be accepted and Poly wants to!