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Checking in.
Found my way here!
Chiyo is maybe 75% put together now.
I still a little confused about the Sylph stuff.
Storm in the Blood (replaces Air Affinity): Gain fast healing 2 for 1 round anytime you take electricity damage (whether or not this electricity damage gets through your racial electricity resistance). You can heal up to 2 hit points per level per day with this ability, after which it ceases to function.
Spell-Like Ability: You can use feather fall 1/day as a spell-like ability (with a caster level equal to your character level)
Are these two abilities just included, and we would trade the Human feat and/or skilled to get alternatives, or would we be trading the feat and skilled to get these, and if we don't we get darkvision and electricity 5 only?
I am here! Still smoothing things out with the character, but excited to start!
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Alright, I didn't get any adjustments made last night but that will get done either this evening or during the day tomorrow. I'll also try to finalize my appearance by then as well.
Very hyped to get started when we are all ready and thank you for the acceptance.
Yeah, I kept skilled and traded the human extra feat for military tradition. Since both it and exotic weapon proficiency cost a feat there's no reason to not go with military tradition and get 2 exotic proficiencies rather than 1. I also decided to go with the Noble Fencer archetype. There's really no downside to taking it.
As for Chiyo's background, still working on details but here are the broad strokes:
1. Chiyo is not from Tian Xia; her great-grandparents were. She was born and grew up in the Jade Quarter in Kalsgard, in the Linnorm Kingdoms.
2.The family is of the samurai class, but that hasn't mattered for a few generations in any practical way. But, the prestige is still there to an extent, which the family milks as best they can.
3. The family business is now in the drapery business, which can include actually making drapes and curtains. Mostly though it involves wholesale import and sales of high quality and luxury cloth. The business is successful, and Chiyo's family makes a comfortable living.
4. Chiyo thinks being a draper is about the most boring and reary thing possible. She was always far more into the family's older history. She's even learned to use traditional weapons, which is still part of the family tradition as a point of pride, though about as useful a modern fox hunting.
5. Chiyo's parents managed to keep her out of too much trouble, even though Chiyo doesn't have a track record of making sound, well-grounded decisions. Friction kept building over time though. Eventually Chiyo decided she needed to see a bit more of the world. She absconded with a couple a large bolts of really nice silk cloth. She figured it was a reasonable downpayment on her inheritance. After all, she's an only child and it will all be hers eventually.
6. Chiyo sold the cloth and paid for ship passage down to Riddleport. She found Riddleport to her liking, but ran up an astounding amount of gambling debt in a very short time.
7.When the pressure to pay up started, Chiyo hot-footed it out of Riddleport and went south. This put her outside the boundaries of her solid geographical knowledge. But, she heard about the upcoming Swallowtail Festival in a town named Sandpoint. The festival sounded like an excellent palate cleanser so she went there.
8. While Sandpoint has its charms, mostly small town quirkiness, chiyo doesn't expect to stay very long. She very short on money and it doesn't take even 30 minutes to walk all the way across the whole town. She does need to figure out where to go next though.
Here's a placeholder for this moment, I'll decide some minor details like name, gender and appearance a bit later.
I'll fill the 20 questions, too, to check I thought about history enough. There's a very short one on the sheet. It's nothing fancy, just a merchant guard with a wild youth.
I tried to write out what slot everything comes from to make it easier to check.
Use this tab for questions and discussion, and leave the discussion tab for me to post rules and such.
Marha - check out the expanded runesage archetype I created in the discussion tab.
The rest of you: feel free to check it out as well - it will give you a taste of how I like to add some extra 'cool' flavor (and crunch) to things.
I will be tweaking the evangelist, exalted and sentinel prestige classes so some of their class features work better as the 'non-gestalt gestalt' classes they will be for you. Thank you to Chiyo for bringing that to my attention today (I will have the changes to the prestige classes worked out before your chararcters gain them).
Melda - is that the first name of your character or you have yet to come up with your character's name yet?
Melda - is your character male or female? I might have missed it (working on half a night's sleep).
I already started to imagine Julia playing with the other children during the festival, but do not know to picture her in Sandpoint with her mother or father.
Jenni - You are welcome. I am working with the next month of finishing my full rules set of variant, modified variant and home-brewed rules, with the following month as recruitment for our final group member and get the campaign properly started in the start of the new year. During the time for recruiting the final group member, I will be working with each of you to work on story weaves (and inter-connected story weaves) for your backgrounds as well as recent events your characters might have been involved in.
Ntisi - Since I first read your character backstory I thought of how Cashmeric and her would have first met - brief bit for now - a bit of confusion when someone asked him to deliver an item to Simbala (which is the name of the mother (and step-mother) of two of his friends that died in the Sandpoint Fire three years before Ntisi and her parents moved to town. Cashmeric channels his friend, Kalizama 'Kali' Vargnarsdottir, who is half-Bonuwat Mwangi and speaks to you in Polyglot (the common tongue of the Mwangi expanse) and you have become accustomed to him talking to you sometimes as himself and sometimes as relaying questions that Kali wants him to ask you. He speaks to you in Polyglot, whether or not he is currently channeling Kalizama. About a month after you met the 'two of them' Cash tells you that Kali would like to know if you would like to have dinner with her and her family that evening or the following Moonday evening. Did you accept the invatation from the dead Mwangi girl to have dinner with her and her parents? You know her parents are alive residents of Sandpoint and have met her mother, Simbala, who is a local fishmonger who has a stall at the Sandpoint Market. You also have noticed that on Moondays and Toildays, Simbala (Kali's mother, not yours), seems to have more joy in her step than the other days she works at the market - which you later learned from Cash are the evenings he allows the spirits of her daughter (Kali) to take control of his body to spend dinner and the evening with her parents, and he channels Kali's older half-brother, Ragnar, on Toildays and allows him to take over his body in the evening to have dinner and spend time with his parents.
I didn't decide on gender or appearance yet, but will soon. All the others seem to be female, so we could go with a sisterhood, but balance is also nice. I'm thinking about different interactions through in my head to get a feel which would be nicer.
Also name will be easier to choose after gender.
Melda - sounds good.
I was a little anxious players on the board might have thought I only wanted female characters/players - it just so happened the three initial characters I exteneded an invitation to were characters I both enjoyed reading the concept of and were also of viable characters for the my twist on the AP (for this PBP campaign, not the non-BPB RotRL campaign I run) happened to be female characters.
The non-PBP campaign I am running is a blended Rise of the Runelords/Shattered Star campaign.
Each of you let me know if you would like this campaign to be blended into a Shattered Star campaign as well.
Hm, how would the two be blended? One the one hand it sounds interesting. On the other hand PbP games are inherently slow. Merging two APs could make progress glacial.
I'm always a fan of stories connecting and working together to have the like world storyline going together, which makes sense the characters may be involved with other AP's. I do not mind the addition, but I will not be upset if it doesn't get voted on to approve either. I am just happy to play the RotR and finish it. Anything more is extra fun.
The first book of Shattered Star would occur after completing the first two books of RotRL - I will not get into the details here (the players of my non-PBP campaign are not aware of the order other than 2 books of Rise than a book of Star). I read through enough of the books in both APs to combine them in an order that makes sense (with each book of both APs still in their respective order).
So we when we are in book 2 of Rise, before you finally head out of Sandpoint and the surrounding hinterlands we will have a better idea of what the pace of our campaign is, then be able to use that to take the vote whether to blend Shattered Star in or not.
So for now, consider your vote being for whether or not you might be interested (sans the pace on which we complete the first one and half books of Rise).
So after running a bunch of thought experiments I decided it will be more likely I like the character in the long run as a female.
And named her Tara Mitralli, shortened from her pompous Taldan full name.
So thinking about the party as currently constituted, (we are still minus one character) I see an area that maybe we want covered but isn't. It's at least traditional to consider what to do about traps. We don't have anyone for that currently.
The two current characters best positioned to handle such things, if we want it handled, would be Chiyo and Jenni, by virtue of skill points to divert and decent enough dexterity bonuses. In both cases a Rogue dip is probably the way it would get done.
Unless Jenni wants to dip a level of Rogue, it probably makes more sense for Chiyo to do it since Chiyo doesn't have a CL to worry about. I don't mind doing it either.
Another thing I'd like to ask for opinions or advice about is Chiyo's class choice. I've never played a swashbuckler, or seen one played in a game I've been in. Anyone have experience with them to tell me how it worked out?
I don't want to change the fundamental vibe of Chiyo, but I can think of a few other ways to get a similar character feel with different class choices.
1. Daring Champion Cavalier for better damage output and better armor at the cost of Opportune Parry & Riposte.
2. Slayer, ditching the katana in favor of duel wielding wakizashis and two-weapon fighting. This also eliminates the need for a rogue dip.
3. Most radical, going with Magus, maybe after a 1 level dip in swashbuckler. Shocking grasp is quite on brand for my character anyway.
4. Lore warden fighter also works well with a dex build, and I could throw in dirty trick as a maneuver.
I don't tend to play martial characters so I've been trying to figure things out on the fly and swashbuckler was the first things that came to mind for the general character concept.
Any advice or opinions are welcome and appreciated!
Here is what I am looking at for the rest of this year:
To have my full rules set (including variant ruless, my home-brewed modified variant rules, and my own home-brewed rules) completed within the next month.
Open up recruitment afterwards, for the month of December)
Start the full campaign properly in January.
As for the existing players during the next two months, blending and weaving characters together before, with morning of the Sandpoint Festival roleplay before the new year (and ideally the afternoon as well).
Possibly starting in-game in the morning of the Sandpoint Festival sometime in the latter half of November, and be in early afternoon in-game sometime in December, with late afternoon in-game occuring in January.
So thinking about the party as currently constituted, (we are still minus one character) I see an area that maybe we want covered but isn't. It's at least traditional to consider what to do about traps. We don't have anyone for that currently.
1. Daring Champion Cavalier for better damage output and better armor at the cost of Opportune Parry & Riposte.
2. Slayer, ditching the katana in favor of duel wielding wakizashis and two-weapon fighting. This also eliminates the need for a rogue dip.
3. Most radical, going with Magus, maybe after a 1 level dip in swashbuckler. Shocking grasp is quite on brand for my character anyway.
4. Lore warden fighter also works well with a dex build, and I could throw in dirty trick as a maneuver.
I don't tend to play martial characters so I've been trying to figure things out on the fly and swashbuckler was the first things that came to mind for the general character concept.
Any advice or opinions are welcome and appreciated!
I suggest staying with the swashbuckler. I will take a look at the swashbuckler archetypes and let you know if any of them strike me as a potential good (and of course, fun) fit for Chiyo.
As for the lacking dip in roguish ways, Cashmerez can channel his cousin Andrezi 'Drezi' Kesk, to handle that role: when he channels Andrezi part of what he Cashmerez has is max ranks in Appraise, Bluff and Disable Device. Also starting at second level, Cash and anyone who was part of the seance for Cash to channel Drezi gains a +1 bonus to Stealth and treats it as a class skill while Drezi is being channeled by his cousin.
When I open recruitment back up, I will be also including that a trap-disabling character as our final group member would be good fit.
A minor question: As humans usually get their regional language, and common Taldane, what do Taldans get? I marked Varisian for Tara as she spent years there after her childhood in Taldor.
Tara: Technically they (and Chelaxians) do not get an extra language like humans of other ethnicities get by RAW.
Thank you for the question, as it reminded me of a house rule I use: Characters receive one bonus regional language (that should make sense to their backstory)
For Tara, I am granting you a GM-fiat additional language so you start with the same amount of base starting languages as the other characters.
Tara: the initial bonus language could be one of the other human ethnicities you tended to get in the nonlethal conflicts with in Oppara - I would suggest the Ulfen tongue, Skald - and you might have even been in a bar fight in Oppara that a member of the Ulfen Guard was in - you can decide if this occured and if the the Ulfen Guard member was fighting against you or beside you (regardless of which side he was on, the Ulfen Guard member was one of the last brawlers standing - with Tara being the other last brawler standing).
Tara: Varisian makes sense for the bonus regional language you gain as your family sent you to Sandpoint.
Chiyo: Skald makes the most sense for your bonus regional language, as you grew up in the Land of the Linnorm Kings.
Marha: Varisian makes sense for your bonus regional language, as she grew up in Sandpoint.
Ntisi: Varisian also makes sense for your bonus regional language, as Sandpoint is the place your parents finally settled down to put down roots.
Jenni: Amurran (Catfolk tongue) easily works, as your cousin Cole could have taught you how to speak the language (which includes a variety of purring, hissing and growling sounds) if you like.
I don't tend to play martial characters so I've been trying to figure things out on the fly and swashbuckler was the first things that came to mind for the general character concept.
Any advice or opinions are welcome and appreciated!
So fun fact, I tend to play rogues! So playing the wizard is a complete change for me. But challenging yourself is always fun also! I say stay the same. We will figure out how to work traps... even if it's sending the fighter in to get healed!
I suggest staying with the swashbuckler. I will take a look at the swashbuckler archetypes and let you know if any of them strike me as a potential good (and of course, fun) fit for Chiyo.
Yeah, I'm fine with Swashbuckler. It's just very new territory and I'm not sure what to expect once the game is in the mid-levels and beyond when the numbers start getting really big. Can't say that I'm loving only reflex as a good save either.
That's one reason I added the Noble Fencer archtype. It cobbles on a bit of a fix for will saves. I've already shored up fort. There are only a few good Swashbuckler archetypes otherwise. Inspired Blade is probably best, but it's locked into rapier only. The Okayo Corsair looks good, but since it uses monk weapons the only real choice of weapon is urumi because it has a good crit range and you gotta recover panache. Otherwise there are some that look cool but they're too narrow in usage for this particular situation: Dashing Thief (urban), Flying Blade (thrown weapons), Picaroon (small characters).
So fun fact, I tend to play rogues! So playing the wizard is a complete change for me. But challenging yourself is always fun also! I say stay the same. We will figure out how to work traps... even if it's sending the fighter in to get healed!
I tend to inhabit the Bard, Investigator, Inquisitor area most often. I just hate not having skills. I'm certainly staying the course on playing a martial character, but I do want to make sure my choices are solid. In any case with the trap stuff, I was talking about a 1 level dip in Rogue. That's the reason I suggested Chiyo for the dip. As the only character without a caster level, she's only held back by 1 BAB in doing it. In return she gets disable device and a couple more skills in class, trapfinding, and 1d6 sneak attack (2d6 if she took accomplished sneak attacker). It's a pretty good trade.
Chiyo: Skald makes the most sense for your bonus regional language, as you grew up in the Land of the Linnorm Kings.
Yeah, I picked up both Skald and Minkaian between an ethic lanaguage and a point in linguistics. Didn't really bother assigning them to one or the other category though. The Jade Quarter in Kalsgard is big, and Minkaian is commonly spoken there. Skald is commonly spoken everywhere else. It makes sense to speak both if you're gonna get by there.
I'm interested but hesitant to blend the campaigns due to the slow nature of PbP games. I'm in a Reign of Winter game that has been running for 7 years and we're maybe halfway through book 5.
@GM You had mentioned referring to Ntisi's curse as molten and I'm cool with that. I'm usually fairly loose when it comes to names and flavor.
I also plan to treat her archetype abilities and herbalism as Magaambyan techniques rather than Tian Xi. If you'd prefer to refer to that as Magaambyan Medicalist or something I'm cool with that as well.
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Character build updates are mostly complete. Added to my Character sheet. I'll update the profile after double checking things.
Picking +1 skill for standard FCB
Purify Food and Drink for extra spell from Human FCB
Put the human ability bonus into Con
Human Bonus Feat(Summon good monster) instead of Aasimar spell-like
Human Skilled instead of Aasimar skilled
Bonus Feat 1 (Spell Focus: Conjuration), Bonus Feat 2 (Spell Penetration), Bonus Feat 3 (Skill Focus: K. Nature), Improved Feat (Improved Dirty Trick)
Skunk for my Summon Minor Monster critter.
Envoy of Healing for religion trait
I had already picked Varisian as a bonus language so I'll add Giant.
For my race trait, the Magaambyan Arcana let's you add a druid spell to an arcane spell list. Would you be alright if I picked that to add Goodberry to the Oracle spell list?
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Another thing I'd like to ask for opinions or advice about is Chiyo's class choice. I've never played a swashbuckler, or seen one played in a game I've been in. Anyone have experience with them to tell me how it worked out?
If you aren't familiar with martials then Swashbuckler is a good choice. It's very package complete. Even if you pick bad feats on purpose you'll still pull off the Errol Flynn routine.
I was never a fan of the magic and animal companion aspects of Ranger so I consider Slayer to be the Goldilocks of the hybrids. It has just the right mix of things. Archetypes and slayer talents really give it a lot of customization as well. It makes for a really good switch hitter.
The Warrior Poet Samurai archetype drops armor and mount stuff in exchange for Cha to AC and a bunch of dex fighter stuff. It can combine sprint attack and feint, so it actually pairs with a Rogue variant multiclass really well. Definitely more complicated than Swashbuckler or Slayer though.
Chiyo --> I recommend the Azatariel swashbuckler archetype
CG alignment (which you are are, and is also Desna's alignment)
The azatariels fighting style is inspired by azatas of Elysium (the major outer realm plane Desna maintains a small floating castle on)
3 of the 4 deeds that azatariel swashbucklers replace are baseline swashbuckler deeds that normally are useless against creatures/characters that are immune to sneak attacks (and 2 of those 3 do not apply to creatures immune to critical hits). The other deed that azatariel swashbucklers replace is a baseline swashbuckler deed that allows the swashbuckler to make a Intimidate (Demoralize) as a swift action instead of a standard action (only if she has at least one panache point and hits the target with a panache-gaining weapon).
Of the 3 non-deed class features the azatareil archetype replaces:
They replace the baseline Charmed Life class feature (which is a daily limited use which allows her to use her immediate action to add her charisma bonus to a saving throw - which she must declare BEFORE making the saving throw) and the ability the azatiel gains in exchange is a constant passive (as long as she has at least 1 panache point) that gives her a bonus equal to her charisma bonus against mind-affecting effects.
Azatariel swashbucklers replace the baseline Nimble class feature (which grants a scaling dodge bonus starting with +1 at 3rd level and increase by +1 every 4 levels, but loses the bonus whenever she does not benefit from her Dex bonus [at 11th level baseline swashbucklers evasive deed - which the azatariel archetype does NOT replace, which gives the swashbuckler uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge and evasion while she has at least 1 panache point) - and the ability the azatariel gains instead grants her a scaling +10 feet enhancement bonus to her base speed (when not wearing medium or heavy armor and not carrying a medium or heavy load) that scales at the same rate nimble does, so at the high end that would be a +50 foot enhancement bonus to her speed at level 19 (for a speed of 80 feet not taking into account things like the fleet feat.
The remaining baseline class feature that azatariels replace are the swashbuckler bonus combat feats (which are gained at swashbuckler levels 4 and every 4 levels after) which the azatariel replace with gaining mercies from the paladin's mercy class feature (using her swashbuckler class level as her paladin level to determine which ones are valid choices) and gains them at the same rate as the bonus combat feats would be, and can use her mercies a number of times per day equal to her charisma modifier plus half her swashbuckler level.
As for the 4 deeds the azatariels gains...talk about FLAIR!
This deed is not a flair one (and is the one that replaces the baseline deed that lets a swashbuckler make a intimidate (demoralize) as a swift action instead of a standard action (if she has panache and hits with a panache weapon)
Bralani’s Swiftness (Ex): At 3rd level, while the azatariel has at least 1 point of panache, she ignores movement penalties from difficult terrain.
This deed replaces a deed that gains no benefit against foes that are immune to sneak attacks and critical hits. The replacement deed below lets the azatariel to add her charisma bonus to both attack and damage rolls she makes with her opportune parry and riposte abilities and the flair (she can parries - instead of riposting against that enemy she can redirect the enemy's attack to hit another enemy within reach of the enemy who made the attack.
Whimsical Riposte (Ex): At 3rd level, the azatariel adds her Charisma modifier to attack and damage rolls made with light or one-handed piercing weapons as part of her opportune parry and riposte deed (including when riposting). In addition, whenever the azatariel successfully parries an opponent’s attack, instead of riposting she can redirect that attack to another target as an immediate action. The new target must be within the attacker’s reach, and the attacker uses the original attack roll to determine the attack’s success.
Here are the other two deeds the azatariel gains (which adds some more flair!)
Lillend’s Misdirection (Ex): At 7th level, when a foe flanking the azatariel misses her with a melee attack, the azatariel can spend 2 panache points as an immediate action to attempt a reposition combat maneuver check against the attacking foe. If she succeeds at the combat maneuver check, she and the attacking foe switch positions, and the melee attack roll that missed the azatariel instead targets the flanking opponent that did not make the attack, using the same attack roll result (including the bonus gained from flanking).
Ghaele’s Assault (Ex): At 11th level, the azatariel can spend 2 panache points when charging. If she does, the AC penalty for charging changes to –4 and she can make a full attack at the end of her charge.
So overall, the azatariel adds more guaranteed beneficial passive abilities that replace abilities that are not as reliable as the baseline swashbuckler deeds they replace (due to being denied your dex bonus before 11th level and enemies that are immune to sneak attacks/critical hits negating, require successful strike to demoralize (which takes up swift action slot instead of standard action slot).
For my race trait, the Magaambyan Arcana let's you add a druid spell to an arcane spell list. Would you be alright if I picked that to add Goodberry to the Oracle spell list?
Yes, it is alright to take goodberry for that trait.
We will be using the wounds and vigor variant rule for the campaign.
Chiyo --> I recommend the Azatariel swashbuckler archetype...
It doesn't sound like a good deal to me. Some of the trades are pretty cool. But trading away the core Swashbuckler class abilities seems really bad.
Why would I want to trade away 4 feats for mercies? Even if we didn't have a Paladin in the party, I can do all kinds of things with 4 feats, that's an entire feat chain in many cases, for removing 4 kinds or conditions? Swashbucklers aren't healers, and if I wanted to be one I'd use the feats to pick the non-magical planar healing so I could heal a whole bunch.
Yes, there are things that are immune to precision damage, but not nearly as many as the things that aren't. Take away precise strike and where does a Swashbuckler's damage come from? They don't have dual-wielding or two-handed options or weapons with large damage dice, so the precise strike damage is meat and potatoes to them, even if it only works 85% of the time.
I love more movement, I almost crave it so badly that I tend to avoid races etc, with reduced movement. But trading away AC for a class limited to light armor doesn't get me hit by attacks less. That's the thing that gets me killed, not lack of movement speed.
I think the archetype fails on economics. It takes away the bread and butter features that I'd be using over and over all the time, and gives situational abilities that are nice if they come up.
And there's even a poison pill in that bad trade. So many of the new abilities key off spending panache that they're unaffordable to use. For example:
Whimsical Riposte (Ex): At 3rd level, the azatariel adds her Charisma modifier to attack and damage rolls made with light or one-handed piercing weapons as part of her opportune parry and riposte deed (including when riposting). In addition, whenever the azatariel successfully parries an opponent’s attack, instead of riposting she can redirect that attack to another target as an immediate action. The new target must be within the attacker’s reach, and the attacker uses the original attack roll to determine the attack’s success.
This replaces the precise strike deed.
So, with whimsical reposte I can add Chiyo's +2 Cha bonus to a parry (the wording is weird since a parry does no damage) and a riposte if the parry succeeds and if the riposte succeeds, and I spend 1 panache point making the attempt. Chiyo is starting with 2 panache points total. Most Swashbuckler abilities don't work with 0 panache. Everything shuts down. How often would I be able to afford using this? Panache grows some over time, but combats get longer too.
I mean if Swashbuckler's fundamentals are weak enough that replacing the improves the class, I'd just say "screw it, I'll go Slayer instead". I know what a Slayer can do, and it's real good.
I appreciate the effort you put in looking around. But I'm looking for something simple and reliable. I'm not clever enough about the martial classes to try and get fancy.
We will be using the wounds and vigor variant rule for the campaign.
Really? This is all starting to get very complex. Can't we just stop with the variants we have already?
I'm going to come clean about myself. I'm a state government pencil pusher. I spend all day attending to painful details and tracking stuff, and double checking, and looking at charts, and following complex policy and procedure.
I play pathfinder PbP to get away from all that. I like the role play, I like the action. I like things simple and lean. I don't track arrows used, I don't recalculate encumbrance every time I pick something up or put it down. I don't subtract days from the rations I buy at character creation; 5 days worth sit there in perpetuity. I don't mind that low light rarely matters in games because GMs can't be bothered.
As far as I'm concerned all the tracking and so forth just slows things down and eats into my precious spare time.
I would really like to keep things simple please.
Wounds and Vigor are in, as it makes combat more dramatic for when critical hits are scored, as well as better represents a character's life force (wounds) whereas the vigor is a good representaton of how tiring and exhausting a combat can be. It will also speed up a number of combats as well, as scoring a critical hit on certain creatures/NPCs will make them want to flee, surrender, call a truce, etc.
As for tracking encumbrance: A simplified encumbrance tracking system:
Add the encumbrance for your armor, weapons and shield to determine your encumbrance bracket your arms and armor put you in.
You use the worse encumbrance bracket you gain from your arms, weapons and shield OR the encumbrance bracket you are in from your gear threshold.
Determine your gear threshold by dividing your light encumbrance threshold by 5 (round down).
The gear threshold is for your other gear. Do not worry about tracking items that weigh less than 5 lbs. (unless you have a bunch of the same/similar item)
Your gear threshold is how many items you can have in your backpack/on your person that weigh 5 lb and stay in the light encumbrance bracket.
Having more than your gear threshold puts you into the medium encumbrance bracket.
Having more than twice your gear threshold hold puts you in the heavily encumbered bracket.
You cannot have more than three times your gear threshold bracket.
Items that weigh 10 lbs count as 2 items, items that weigh 15 lbs count as 3 items, etc.
If you have multiples of the same item (or multiple items of the same type, such as musical instruments) use the total encumbrance of those items to determine if they collectively count as an item for your gear threshold.
For example, Jenni's fiddle (3 lbs) is not counted towards her gear threshold, but if she has two musical instruments they would count as 1 item for her gear threshold since together they have a weight of 6 lbs.
10 items that have a "-" encumbrance count as 1 lb, so having a bundle/stack of 50 such items would count as 1 item for your gear threshold.
5 days of trail rations count as 1 item for your gear threshold, 10 days of them would count as 2 items.
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I would also vote against Wounds and Vigor. I've found it to be more trouble than its worth. I'd also prefer not to use encumbrance. The system is fine for the games that were built with it, but converting everything would be ongoing work for little to no benefit.
It doesn't sound like a good deal to me
Yeah precise strike is your bread and butter. You don't want to trade that away lightly.
Did you accept the invatation from the dead Mwangi girl to have dinner with her and her parents?
I think in the first year of being in Sandpoint Ntisi would politely decline, and in the second year she would accept as she gets more comfortable with the community.
How do the spirits work for Cash? Narratively speaking that is. Is it like both Cash and the spirit are in there? Does the spirit talk to or influence Cash? Or is it more like Altered Carbon, with just a full on different person being in Cash's body?
I was never a fan of the magic and animal companion aspects of Ranger so I consider Slayer to be the Goldilocks of the hybrids. It has just the right mix of things. Archetypes and slayer talents really give it a lot of customization as well. It makes for a really good switch hitter.
The Warrior Poet Samurai archetype drops armor and mount stuff in exchange for Cha to AC and a bunch of dex fighter stuff. It can combine sprint attack and feint, so it actually pairs with a Rogue variant multiclass really well. Definitely more complicated than Swashbuckler or Slayer though.
I feel the same way about pet classes in general. I can live with a familiar, though I generally don't. But all the extra stuff involved, practically managing a second character, is too much. I know they're great, but ugh. There is one Ranger archetype I really want to try sometime, but I think it would need to be in an exploration and wilderness kind of game: Transporter It gets rid of both the pet and favored terrain for some really interesting things.
I love Warrior Poet! I did actually use it in a gestalt with a Time Msystery Oracle once. The game only lasted about 2 weeks though. I figured if Warrior Poet turned out to be a flop, I'd still have casting to lean on and I'd still be capable of helping out in combat a little.
It's a super nice idea, but Samurai isn't a great chassis to build on. Losing armor completely for CHA to AC is a bit scary since it really asks for strength and dex to use the Graceful Strike ability. I don't see how a high enough charisma to count on using Dancer's Grace would be possible. I'd like to see it getting more flourishes than it does too. It seems very MAD, but with the ability scores to support it, I'd love to try it someday. Order of the Songbird and Shelyn to round out the package. Probably best done with a Glaive.
I also like the Brawling Blademaster archetype for Samurai. Pity Samurai is so bad. Still, maybe someday I'll try it.
I also do not enjoy wounds and vigor, it slows the game down a bit much. And same on encumbrance, never really looked at it, because I get confused easy and as another guberment worker, I do not always have time to track things to post. Especially at work.
On the other hand, I do not think Hunter is that bad. Druid and Ranger I still get confused on because on due to the just about second character you play.
I have updated the crunchy bits appropriately I think. Can someone check over them and ensure they look right for everything we are getting? I got the skilled, and the feat, and the human plus two because as a wizard that is helpful. Let me know if anyone sees anything I missed, and I'll fix it. I copied most on what I could tell from the others sheets.
After looking over the deific obedience prestige classes I have come up with a different approach, the God-Chosen template.
God-Chosen Template (no level adjustment for it in my campaign)
character level 2:
Favored Weapon: You gain proficiency in your deity's favored weapon, if you were not already proficient with it.
Secondary Class: You choose a secondary class, which cannot be the class you chose at 1st level. This class choice is locked in. You gain the weapon, armor and shield proficiencies of your secondary class. You gain all class skills of your secondary class as class skills. You gain the class features of your secondary class as if you had a number of class levels in it equal to half your character level, rounded down. You do not get the crunch (Hit Dice, Base Attack Bonus, Base Saving Bonuses, Skill Ranks) of your secondary class.
Symbolic Weapon: You choose one of your weapons, which does not need to be your deity's favored weapon, and you etch or paint your deity's symbol onto it. The weapon functions as a holy symbol for you. You can only have a single symbolic weapon. Should it be destroyed, you can spend a day of downtime to etch/paint your deity's symbol on a weapon for that weapon to become your symbolic weapon. Your symbolic weapon has a +1 sacred bonus on attack and damage rolls.
Call Symbolic Weapon: As a swift action, you can call your symbolic weapon to have it appear in your empty hand(s), as long as you are somewhere in Varisia.
Symbolic Item: You chose one of your hand-held items (that is not a weapon), and you etch or paint your deity's symbol on it. The item functions as a holy symbol for you. Should it be destroyed, you can spend a day of downtime to etch/paint your deity's symbol on another eligible item. You gain a +1 sacred bonus on saving throws when you are holding your symbolic item or have it on you.
Call Symbolic Item: As a swift action, you can call your symbolic item to have it appear in your empty hand(s), as long as you are somewhere in Varisia.
character level 4:
Deific Obedience: When you perform the daily obedience for your deity, you gain the benefits as if you had the Deific Obedience feat, and the benefits last for a number of days equal to 1/4 your character level (rounded down). Doing something that is anathema to your deity causes you to lose the benefits of Deific Obedience, and you cannot benefit from Deific Obedience again for a week.
character level 8:
Bane of Giants: Your symbolic weapon gains the giantbane weapon special ability.
God-Protected: While you are holding your symbolic item or have it on you, you gain the light fortification armor special ability.
character level 12:
Divine Boon: You gain a GM-chosen 1st-rank divine boon from your deity, that you gain while you have the daily benefits from Deific Obedience.
character level 16:
Divine Boon: You gain a GM-chosen 2nd-rank divine boon from your deity, that you gain while you have the daily benefits from Deific Obedience.
character level 20:
Boon: You gain a GM-chosen 3rd-rank divine boon from your deity, that you gain while you have the daily benefits from Deific Obedience.
How do the spirits work for Cash? Narratively speaking that is. Is it like both Cash and the spirit are in there? Does the spirit talk to or influence Cash? Or is it more like Altered Carbon, with just a full on different person being in Cash's body?
Both Cash and the spirit are in there. When Cash voluntarily allows the spirit to take over it is like Cash is no longer conscious.
It has not happened yet, as Cash has not had need to, if Cash uses some of the abilities the spirit grants him a certain number of times, then spirit's mind and Cash's are kind of intermingled, causing some hindrances for Cash (who is still in control of his body).
Ntisi can tell when Kalizami is in control, since the Mwangi language coming from Cash is that of someone who has it as their native tongue, and Cash speaks the Mwangi language with a Varisian accent.
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I have to head out soon and will be probably be catching up on sleep tomorrow so might not be as active on here until Friday.
Given we have time to craft how much our characters know each other, what would Ntisi know of the local booknerd? Marha isn't exactly unknown to those in town, but she is not that out going either. What would we know of each other?
I have updated the crunchy bits appropriately I think. Can someone check over them and ensure they look right for everything we are getting? I got the skilled, and the feat, and the human plus two because as a wizard that is helpful. Let me know if anyone sees anything I missed, and I'll fix it. I copied most on what I could tell from the others sheets.
Mostly things look good. I think you are missing a trait or two and some feats.
You get a free "Improved" feat that has Power Attack or Combat Expertise as a prereq.
You also get 3 bonus feats from: Agile Maneuvers, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Catch Off-Guard, Combat Casting, Defensive Combat Training, Endurance, Eschew Materials, Fleet, Great Fotitude, Improved Counterspell, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Light Armor Proficiency, Lightning Reflexes, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Point-Blank Shot, Run, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Skill Focus, Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, Throw Anything, Tougness, Weapon Finesse.
It seems we're going to have a semi-gestalt with things as well. Probably best to wait for the creation rules to be finalized and compiled before you worry about the details.
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I feel like Marha and Ntisi would be friends. The kind that hang out and study a lot but maybe don't talk a lot. Ntisi would be happy to help Marha with her translations. Ntisi's parents are Thasalonian scholars after all. It would be worth it for Marha to make that initial contact.
If you'd like to blend backstories a bit, the characters parents could have exchanged letters. Maybe that was one of the reasons the Kwazeels came to Sandpoint, only to learn that Marha's parents had died years earlier. That also removes the need for Marha or Ntisi to make the initial contact.
I'm not so sure how well Shoanti people write letters, but given Ntisi parents are scholars, that would give even better reason for her parents to have left the Sun Clan, perhaps they had contact with each other during Ntisi's parents looking for ruins, and Sandpoint was the general halfway point for them. How old was Ntisi when she came to town? Marha may have been the only person to actually talk to her, given she knew who she was briefly from their parents exchange, and as two... maybe not outcast but certainly not popular kids, they spent time together. I'm trying to figure out what Marha does now, given she could work at the school, the magical shop, or even the library... or given her faith, Hannah's. So many options.
Ntisi is currently 19 and would have been 17 when they came to town, at least the most recent stretch. We could definitely have the Kwazeels have briefly stopped in Sandpoint one or more times beforehand as well.
Ntisi essentially works for her parents as an assistant. She would be the one to pick up any supplies from the magic shop or texts from the libraries. She also does religious volunteer work, which I suppose would be with Father Tobyn?
So yeah our characters definitely run in the same circles no matter how we spin in.
And being close in age, as Marha is 23, means they also probably gossiped about all sorts of things, given Ntisi traveled. So either the library or the magic shop. Which would be best to have an assistant? Given what I know, Marha may be her contact for both Hannah's as the herb shop helper, and the librarian assistant. Not many jobs for poor orphan women in Sandpoint, especially one who is on the weaker side and pretty. I can't even find much information on how many orphan's Sandpoint even has!
I suppose the library works better for Marha's goal of learning about Thassilonian. Honestly though, all the options work great so whichever you have a preference for.
Given the general fantasy ecology and a near apocalypse every 4 months or so, Glorian has to be just lousy with orphans. But then again, said fantasy ecology and the abundance of cultists means a lot of those orphans are getting got.
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I had a busy day and there's been so much discussion meanwhile.
I am looking for a long time to spend developing the characters and their relations to each other and the world, so mix with Shattering Star is fine with me. It's not a must, I'm mostly looking for a campaign that wouldn't die half-finished like many before.
I can work with most rule changes, as long as I can be forgiven to make mistakes as I'm not familiar with those. I've mostly done PFS legal play, so variants haven't been that common.
I don't have that much information about Sandpoint, I read the player's guide but it didn't have a lot in it. So, for now, I haven't fixed any relationships. There's some in Magnimar from the trader families, but I'd need some hints there. For Sandpoint, Tara might have just come, or tried to already do some odd jobs to get enough money to get a business running, with little luck.
I'll write more history suggestions soon. Today was really busy, I just got a new project and a new computer because of it, and have been doing tons of legal stuff and installing. But days like this come very rarely, only a handful per year.
I can't help much with Swashbucklers, but from what little I managed to learn, Precise Strike and Parry and Riposte are the golden abilities, at least for the level ranges I saw Swashbucklers play.
I played mine to level 2, and took Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger at second level as Grit stacks with Panache. Just to be able to Parry and Riposte without worry.
I don't have that much information about Sandpoint, I read the player's guide but it didn't have a lot in it. So, for now, I haven't fixed any relationships.
One thing I have added to my to-do list for campaign prep during the next month is to copy and paste a considerable part of the Sandpoint write-up for the GM (edited) so you all gain much better envisioning of several residents of Sandpoint, and the businesses, so you can weave some of them into your backstories.
I will also write-up a more detailed typical week of Cashmeric's routine - as he has a typical weekly schedule of which of the six spirits he is channeling, aside from working the afternnon shift at The Hagfish for 3 afternoon shifts, he goes to the Sandpoint Cathedral and spends some time at one of the (magical) shrines of the six deities (the shrine that day being the deity of the channel he is currently channeling).
Moondays is one of his days off, and he still lounges at Junker's Edge watching the goblins below. He is channeling Kali that day (who reveres Gozreh, so she is getting the view of the sea as well).
Part of the weekly routine write-up for him will include which spirit he typically channels on a certain weekday and the typical daily routine of that day.
As for the deities each of the spirits worships, that would make sense you have 'met' the spirit that worships the same deity your character does.
Kalizama 'Kali' Vargnarssdottir - Gozreh (Marha)
Ragnar Vargnarssen - Erastil (empty character slot)
Khismia 'Mia' Bashir (as most Sandpoint residents do not know she and Cash's brother were married - and she was pregnant when they died in the Sandpoint Fire - something NOONE knows except Cash and the six spirits - not wanting to add more sorrow to Cash's mother or Mia's family) - Sarenrae (Ntisi)
Andrezi 'Drezi' Kesk - Abadar (Tara)
Veldana 'Vel' Magravi - Shelyn (Jenni)
Kazallin 'Kaz' Magraiv - Desna (Chiyo)
I am looking for a long time to spend developing the characters and their relations to each other and the world, so mix with Shattering Star is fine with me. It's not a must, I'm mostly looking for a campaign that wouldn't die half-finished like many before.
I've mostly done PFS legal play, so variants haven't been that common.
I can give you chronicle sheets for the AP if you are eligble to receive them (though I would have to find out how to do that via online - if filling one out, taking picture of it and giving it to you via the discord channel or email is not a PFS legal option to assign them online that way).
The way I am running the order of the blended RotRL/SS campaign makes all 12 chronicle sheets viable at normal PFS XP rate, and then playing Return of the Runelords to fill in the remaining level gaps - with having full-leveled PFS characters up to level 18 before running the last book of Return of the Runelords - so playing through that one in campaign mode as well would result in legal Level 19 PFS characters (working with the character only receives chronicle sheets from the blended RotRL/SS and Return-otRL) or play through the sanctioned content of the final book --> scratch that, Return only has campaign mode looks like, and not option for both PFS sanctioned content and campaign mode like most PF1E APs have the option of. But using slow XP advancement for the final book of Return would make the PFS characters Level 18 1/2 - so could play the highest tier (non-campaign mode) sanctioned adventure module - The Witchwar Legacy (which has a PFS tier of 16-18)
Is that something you might have an interest in having - a pristine high-level PFS PC, that will be a legal character to play through The Witchwar Legacy?
I know a blended Rise/SS would take longer - Sandpoint being the main locale which there is considerable more roleplay between the characters and NPCs, between the crunch of the encounters, "some flavor text to describe the gist of the journeys" from major combat locations of a given book to the next.
The above would obviously take longer than just running RotRL, and only some, if any, of you might be interested in gaining such a high-level PFS character.
I am not sure off-hand if running Rise first, then SS would cause one (or more) of the chonicle sheets to not become one that could apply to the same PFS character (I would check using apply slow advancement to select books if needed to see if that would work out with all 12 books being legal. As Return otRL's chronicle sheets cover all tier ranges, those will always be able to fill in the level gaps that were not filled by one of the books from Rise and SS.
You can also take from the above, my desire to FINISH the campaign - I want to earn the GM credit Level 19 PFS character I can keep in its 'protective covering' - which I know can be done running a blended Rise/Star campaign, then a Return of the Runelords campaign.
I am still working on 2 (or 3?) half-sleep days (due to working on a lot of stuff for this campaign :) so no where near full wakefulness at the moment, but have been thinking on how to make a modified Wounds and Hit Points (which you would not need to track two separate pools at the same time) modified variant homebrewed rule regarding it. When I am fully-rested I will type up the rule in organized fashion - unorganized gist of how it would work - and only the PCs and select NPCS would have wound points - which do not get affected until you have run out of hit points - Basics would be you have your normal hit points, and at 0 hit points, you would have a number of wound points equal to twice your constitution score (or flat 20, not sure yet if Constitution would affect total hit points, total wound points or both) - and a wound threshold at the midway point - and while you have run out of hit points (representing your stamina, non-vital flesh wounds, etc.) you would be staggered while above your wounded threshold, and each hit would make you lose a wound point (or a number of wound points equal to the critical multiplier of a weapon that the wielder scored a critical hit on you).
For Sandpoint, Tara might have just come, or tried to already do some odd jobs to get enough money to get a business running, with little luck.
Work with her and Julia having been in Sandpoint for a few months working towards that goal - and she has succeeded at finding a job, but pay has either not been enough to accrue enough to do more than provide shelter and food for her and and her daughter - though the Turandok Orphanage/School would be willing to take care of her while you work. You also might have lost the extra money after her and Julia's basic needs via being persuaded by Jubrayl Vhiski to invest in business with him and unnamed silent partners with plans to create a trading post once enough of a building construction collected wealth pool had been accrued, a trading post with the plan you would be the one ('face') in charge of running the day-to-day operations of the trading post (read -> conned you into thinking his intentions were on the up and up - which could have been revealed he conned you before the campaign starts...or at some point after the campaign begins)
'campaign begins' being used to refer to the day of the Swallowtail Festival.
Tara (and other players with PFS credit interest)
Running/playing in the RotRL campaign, then a Shattered Star campaign, and then a Return of the Runelords campaign works out (without any PFS chronicle sheets being missed) (and all chronicle sheets using PFS normal XP advancement) would wind up with giving you campaign-mode credit to make a Level 19 PFS PC.
With option of applying the PFS slow XP advancement for the final book of the Return of the Runelords AP so the the legal PFS PC would be a Level 18 1/2 PC, which is eligible to run through the highest sanctioned level adventure module, The Witchwar Legacy (tier 16-18), which does not allow campaign mode.
The above works with only applying chronicle sheets from the above three APs to the PFS character, and not applying other chronicle sheets to the character.
This campaign will not be a blended campaign - I have something in mind for the sequential Rise, Star and Return campaigns I run (after getting some inspiration (from one of my favorite PF1E rules books) for the speciific (related though different) spins I will be using for each of three campaigns.
Should you all prefer to play in all three, the bits I can tell you for now:
Rise: part of the God-Chosen template would add 4 levels of mythic (GM-chosen mythic paths - which works out nicely that one suits each of your characters. The source of your characters' mythic power will be (Granted mythic source) from your deities, and are in effect while you are benefiting from Deific Obedience. The mythic paths each of your characters would receive are: Archmage (Marha), Champion (Chiyo), Guardian (Tara), Hierophant (Ntisi), Marshal (Jenni) and the remaining mythic path (Trickster) being suitable for the the character I will be recruiting for the final member of the group: an Erastil-worshipping (Garundi, Keleshite, Kellid, Ulfen or Vudrani) undine unchained rogue.
Shattered Star campaign (played after we wrap up Rise) would be a different set of characters, with less restricton (no thematic of the PCs all being worshippers of one of a set of six deities or needing to be human (of different ethnicities) for PC choices. Unlike the Rise and Return campaigns, the characters would not be gaining mythic power at the same time, as the shards will be what is granting mythic power (via being mythic artifacts that imbue the carrier with some of their mythic power), with two PCs each gaining a shard in the first book, with a single shard being found in the following 3 AP books, with the final 2 shards being found in the fifth book - so ideally a group of players (you :) that are okay with some characters having mythic power for a considerable longer amount of campaign time due to how the mythic power is attained. With the number of mythic levels the Star Shards grant being the number of shards the party has found (and are in close proximity to each other) - for a total of 7 mythic levels being attained in this campaign.
Return of the Runelords: The PCs being children that your Rise PCs became pregnant with at the end of the Rise campaign (divinely conceived children by your respective deities as a reward for saving Varisia from the threat of the first runelord that awakened) in which the children of your Rise PCs are godling mythic characters. With the full ten mythic levels being attained in this campaign.
Tara: if you want, at end of the Rise campaign, it could be revealed that Julia's father was Abadar in disguise the night you conceived her.
From Inner Sea Gods: "Abadar is a patient, calculating, and far-seeing deity who wishes to bring civilzation to the frontiers, order to the wilds, and wealth to all who support the rule of law."
I have also been thinking of potential ways to speed up combats.