Sounds good
The shard you are all at was originally a tiny village west of Claes, in Andoran. It was little more than a remote farming village and a stopover for people heading west toward the Miss shelf. The village is named Garm, and at present only a handful of villagers remain.
Initially things went well, with the shard being found without conflict and the village merging with several other remote shards bearing no populace. A few months back your shard merged with what was initially thought to be another empty shard. It wasn't.
Giant ants made their home in the hills there, and quickly started to prey on the village. After initially trying to fight the ants several people were dead. Now, just as it looks like your village might be wiped out entirely a new shard is merging with your own.
I have made a few traits for you to choose from. How you ended up in Garm is something to be figured out.
Oddity Artisan: You have made use of odd materials found in the new shards, including etherium. Having fashioned odd tools from raw resources and even bug parts you take no penalty for using improvised tools. You get an additional +1 trait bonus on craft and profession checks. When you make craft checks to create an item you make progress at half again the normal speed. When earning capital by gathering or collecting supplies you add 1 to the capital earned.
Bug Hunter: You were part of the initial bug hunt, and though it went terribly you learned how to fight and explore in the stuffy underground tunnels the giant ants made their homes in. You get a +1 trait bonus to AC when near a wall, and a +1 trait bonus to perception checks when examining stone.
Nights of Terror: Once the village failed to stop the ants life became a game of defense. Of vigilant watch and, more importantly, the construction of defenses. You get a +1 trait bonus to attacks and damage per dice with siege weapons. When crafting traps or fortifications you double the normal progress made.
Huh. Right. That…indeed changes things. Going to need to think about this. Rethinking the Etherium wielding follower of Brigh now. Figuring out how to fit the shard without it feeling off.
18
13
16
14
11
8
I'm thinking some sort of crafting wizard or maybe a forgemaster cleric. Heavily leaning wizard.
5d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 2, 1, 6) = 21 (18)
5d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 5, 4, 4) = 18 (13)
5d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 1, 4, 1) = 11 (9)
5d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 5, 4, 5) = 20 (15)
4d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 4, 4) = 19 (15)
5d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 5, 3, 6) = 19 (15)
New concept. Lars Ulcaster. A villager who contracted lycanthropy. Became a healer as he searched for a cure, though to the outside world he was just a “good person and member of the community.” When the world came to an end, he was forced to throw away any pretenses for the sake of survival. Despite his best efforts, he has watched his friends and family die, one by one. He has done all he can to save them. Fighting the ants with tooth and claw. Tending to wounds…even crafting chitin from fallen ants into armor. Until his shard was merged, it seemed like nothing would be enough…
Name: Lars Ulcaster
Race: Human
* Alchemically Enhanced
* Dimdweller (2 RP): Whenever characters with this trait benefit from concealment or full concealment due to darkness or dim light, they gain a +2 racial bonus on Intimidate, Perception, and Stealth checks. Humans can take this trait in place of the skilled trait, also gaining darkvision to a range of 60 feet.
Str: 15 + 3 (Race) = 18
Dex: 15 +1 (Lvl 4) = 16
Con: 15
Int: 13
Wis: 18
Cha: 9
Feats:
EitR: power attack, deadly aim, weapon finesse
Lvl 1: Healer’s Hands Conduit
Lvl 3: Skill Focus Heal
Skills:
TBD. Includes heal and a craft
Equipment:
TBD. But will have ant-chitin breastplate.
Class:
Weretouched Shifter
Can turn into major form for level + wisdom modifier hours per day. Doing so gives him a +2 size bonus to his Strength score, a +2 natural armor bonus to his AC, and all of the natural attacks and abilities listed by his major form. A weretouched also counts as being in his natural form for the purpose of determining whether she can extend her shifter claws.
Choosing wolf: “gain a base speed of 50 feet, low-light vision, and scent (30 feet), a bite (1d8 damage), and you can make a trip attempt with your bite attack. At 8th level, the range of your scent ability increases to 40 feet and you gain a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking with scent. At 15th level, you gain Improved Natural Attack (bite).”
Main thing he will do is turn into a werewolf. Get his claws and bite and try to trip enemies.
Therefore…supports other melee characters by bringing enemies to the ground. And after combat can heal people.
Considering from here moving from shifter to sanctified slayer inquisitor. Healing spells, studied target and eventually sneak attack.
He will be a devout follower of Erastril.
WIP Lars as a human
WIP Lars when shifted
Request
Custom Drawback
Vulnerable to Silver: Lars’s lycanthropic nature makes him especially weak to silver. He takes +3 damage from silver weapons.
New background: Lars Ulcaster was born in Garm, a quiet farming village west of Claes in Andoran. Life in Garm was simple, if harsh. Long days spent as an apprentice herbalist, close ties between neighbors, and little reason to expect more than the steady turn of the seasons. That ended the night Lars was bitten. He had ventured too far into the woods, looking for the right ingredients for his father’s poultices. Nearly devoured by what he thought was a wolf, he managed to stagger back into the village before collapsing. The irony was that the trade of his parents both lead to his predicament and saved him from it. However, the curse of lycanthropy sank its teeth into him, and though he struggled at first to conceal it, the truth slowly reshaped his life.
Lars turned inward, hoping that by training himself to heal others in the hope he might one day cure his own condition. To the villagers he was simply a steadfast friend, a man who gave freely of his time and skills, tending wounds and easing pain. They thought that his near death experience had made him care for others all the more. To himself, he was a creature divided: a man striving for control, and a wolf straining at the edges of his soul.
When the world shattered and shards of land began colliding and merging, Garm survived by chance. At first the shard seemed blessed, merging only with uninhabited wildlands. But months ago a shard merged that was far from empty. Giant ants spilled into the hills, swarming the farms and killing those who tried to resist. The village’s small defenses were no match.
Lars fought alongside his people, casting aside any pretense of hiding his curse. With tooth and claw he struck at the ants, fighting as a beast. Then, as a man, dragging the wounded to safety and patching them back together with desperate hands. When the ants fell, he stripped their bodies for chitin and fashioned armor to keep the survivors alive. Still, no matter how he fought or healed or crafted, he could not stop the slow toll. Friends, family, neighbors, all slipped away, one by one.
Now, as yet another shard merges with Garm, Lars faces the same gnawing fear: that nothing will ever be enough. Yet he refuses to abandon what remains. Whether as healer or beast, Lars will stand as long as he must. For if the village falls, then everything he has endured will have been for nothing.
I would ask you to choose from regular drawbacks if you wish to select another trait. Especially given that what you selected would be far too hit or miss in this campaign.
Many things would not be able to capitalize on his weakness, but some would definately be able to and would do so mercilessly.
[dice=stats]4d6 18
[dice=stats]4d6 13
[dice=stats]4d6 16
[dice=stats]4d6 14
[dice=stats]4d6 11
[dice=stats]4d6 8[dice=1 rerolls]5d6
I'm thinking some sort of crafting wizard or maybe a forgemaster cleric. Heavily leaning wizard.
Either would be very welcome. The group entirely lacks a primary caster at this point.
As the primary surviving heroes of the shard I would say you both have the majority of the etherium gained so far.
If you wish to have masterwork weapons and armor by this point (It's been close to five years since the sundering.) you can start with those. You also have access to 3,000 GP worth of etherium. 1,500GP a piece. Of course you would need the skill or feats to make items with such, but if you can manage it you would start with potentially a magical item or several potions/scrolls.
Note that only crafting traditionally with etherium do you produce magical items at half cost. When crafting them to fit different slots or making them with traditional craft skill checks they are full price. Well, until Jaxom hits fifth level anyway, but don't worry about that.
Fair enough on the traits.
With etherium is it enough to have a trade skill to make an item, or is craft wondrous items required?
There is an explanation on etherium in the first table campaign information. I will paste it here:
Etherium is a special material generated when shards combine. It is a silvery black material that can take on almost any property. Hard metals for forging, supple metals for jewelry or arcana, and even fine metal thread. It can also be turned truly crystalline to resemble metallic colored glass or gemstones... even beads.
Etherium can be used in the creation of magical ink or substrates to give an additional effect to scrolls and potions. The exact effect varies based on the spell, and will be discovered through experimentation. It takes 25GP of Etherium per spell level.
Etherium can also be used as a substitute for other materials when making magical items. Wondrous items crafted with etherium can be made to fit slots they would not normally fit. Such as a bracer of natural armor rather than an amulet.
Etherium can potentially be used to augment or replace parts of the body. Giving magical abilities similar to wondrous items, offering fortification and other armor enchantments, or a multitude of other effect that can be discussed with the DM. I suggest looking up the planeswalker Tezzeret from MtG and the Shards of Alara block to get some idea of what can be done.
Etherium also has a crystaline form that grants it the ability to levitate a hundred pounds of matter per 50GP of Etherium.
I should add that making any item with etherium will require a relevant craft check. So making a cloak of protection with etherium will take a tailor. Making magical armor an armorer. Just in case anyone was wondering why I asked them to choose crafting skills.
Interesting! I see…maybe you could help me out here.
Skills:
* Heal: +14 (+16 with kit)
* Perception: +11
* Survival: +11
* Stealth: +10 (+9 in armor)
* Knowledge Nature (+5)
Background Skills
* Craft Leatherworking (+6)
* Profession Herbalist (+12)
I chose craft Leatherworking as I liked the idea of using ant chitin as a desperate measure. And it seemed like the closest one. And profession herbalist seemed like a good use of his heal skill being so high.
But…what would this be?
Craft (Armorsmithing)
Chitin is closer to bone, horn, or even shell than it is to leather. But armorsmithing is smithing…so it doesn’t feel right?
Craft (Leatherworking)
Might fit if Lars is using straps and bindings to lash ant plates together rather than smithing.
Or something else and I’m missing something?
———-
Also for using etherium, it must use the relevant skill check to make, right? So Lars couldn’t make an amulet, for example, without the right skill to make one?
But “ Etherium can potentially be used to augment or replace parts of the body.” So he could use profession herbalist to do this?
If I’m reading that right, then it might make sense for him to save up his etherium for an unslotted amulet of mighty blows, so he just gets the enhancement bonus without having to wear anything.
Armorsmithing is for all armors. Even full plate uses leather for straps and a padded layer underneath.
Yes, to make an amulet with etherium and a craft skill you would need to pay full price and the craft: jewelry skill. Alternatively you could craft say... a bracer of mighty blows.
If you made it with the craft wondrous object it would be for the normal crafting cost (half price) and you could use etherium for all the component cost.
Profession herbalism is primarily to support alchemy. Most profession skills don't have a direct hand in crafting items. I would say it would be useful for processing herbs and supplies, perhaps gathering the reagents.
Replacing parts of the body can't really be done with a craft skill either. You're not making armor, weapons, or trinkets. The only really relevant skills would be heal since you have to remove or transmute what you're replacing.
Alright, thank you for all the answers. I’ve decided to settle on these:
(1) Craft (Alchemy)
Lars is a healer who has tried to cure his own lycanthropy, ultimately succeeding only in controlling it. This skill fits his story too perfectly not to take.
(2) Craft (Jewelry)
As a healer and apothecary in a small village, this represents making simple talismans, protective amulets, or personal keepsakes for patients. It also serves as a hobby for him when work is slow. Mechanically, it’s especially useful in this campaign for crafting magical items or shard-related tools.
Both profiles (human and werewolf) should be done. As he gets a masterwork weapon I went with a composite longbow. Given that he has survival (with track), stealth, and knowledge nature, it made sense for him to have a bow. It lets him hunt his own food. Again, a useful skill to have when living in a small village and when your official profession isn’t needed every day.
I have finished my wizard Milton Mcurray He is heavy into crafting and making magic items. He would have used a bit of the etherium making scrolls and using them to see the effects. He would have used scrolls of: *Detect Magic, *Light, *Mending, *Ray of Frost, *Read Magic, *Burning Hands, *Color Spray, *Crafter's Fortune, *Expeditious Excavation, *Floating Disk, *Mage Armor, *Magic Missile, *Summon Monster 1, *Unseen Servant, *Continual Flame, *Make Whole, *Mirror Image, and *Scorching Ray.
The utility spells would have been done in the peaceful times the combat ones when the ants showed up. He has an identify scroll made that way but hasn't used it as there is no magic items to identify. I will decide what other scrolls he may have on him once I know the effects of the etherium.
Love the wizard! And those knowledge skills will be quite useful. As will his crafting feats. Once I can afford it, it’ll be great to get an amulet of mighty blows.
——
I decided for Lars after these 4 levels of shifter he will be a Nature Fang Druid thereafter. Using Druidic Herbalism to really lean into the healer aspect of this. Slower casting progression, but I like the flavor of it. So he won’t be a full caster per se…but he’ll be moving strongly into full divine casting from this point hereafter.
If GM allows it can we pool our etherium? I’m more than happy for give mine to Milton to use. Lars can wait for his amulet later. With 3k to spend (and 1/2 cost) he can get an item he really needs now. And as a full casters that should help the party more.
You can do whatever you want with the etherium. Let me know when you're finalized and I'll give them a good looking over.
Finalized! In that either the etherium will be saved up for later use, or Milton can use it
Milton is ready other than scrolls. I'd like to know what those ones written with etherium do before finalizing them.
Grumbaki: what do you want made? With craft wondrous item I can make a number of things. Amulet, cloak, clothes...
The only thing that I can think of that would be really useful is an amulet of mighty fists (keen). But only if there isn’t something more useful that Milton could make for himself.
Using the proper feat those are all half price as well, since etherium doesn't require the component spell.
If you want to get creative designing the item that would be welcome as well. Given etherium's nature to change material shape and the ability to craft items or parts of different slots. Otherwise I would be happy to describe the final item for the sake of flavor.
As to what the scrolls affected by etherium do I will have to puzzle that out myself. I didn't come up with what every spell does when it has etherium applied the the magical item. There are... a lot of them.
Wait... oh, I am misunderstanding how you used the etherium. I thought you were making scrolls and adding etherium for a sperate effect. Not adding them to your spellbook using etherium!
Those are two very different things. If you want to use etherium to make ink to scribe spells with that is doable. It doesn't give you a permanently altered spell. That comes from making a scroll or potion and then adding etherium to the consumable.
“Hmmm... I might have to consider adding etherium to healers kits. Always was a fan of healing hands.”
I have an idea…
I have this: Clockwork Surgeon: You begin play with a special healer’s kit at no cost and can fully restock your kit by expending materials worth 10 gp and spending 8 hours assembling medical devices. When using this healer’s kit to treat deadly wounds, you can either halve the time required to perform the action or add your Intelligence modifier to the number of hit points healed.
This is something that the above could be upgraded to with etherium? Basically just improves the trait so it doesn’t need the 10 gold anymore (always counts as having an healer’s kit) and 1/day can remove 1d4 points of ability damage instead of hit point damage.
Would cost exactly 1500 etherium using the pricing rules. I think this would be both thematic and very useful to the party. While Lars can eventually do ability drain healing it’ll be a few levels. This would give the party a way to handle it, but as 1/day it would still be a rare resource to use.
This etherium infused healer’s kit always seems to have the right ingredient needed. When used by a skilled physician it can heal not only the body, but the mind as well.The wearer is always treated as if using a healer’s kit when making Heal checks. When using this healer’s kit to treat deadly wounds, you can either halve the time required to perform the action or add your Intelligence modifier to the number of hit points healed. Once per day, the wearer can make a DC 20 Heal check as if attempting to treat deadly wounds. If the check is successful, it cures 1d4 points of ability damage instead of hit point damage.
[/spoiler]
It would be using etherium to augment the kit like a potion or a scroll.
Not sure I follow. Potions/scrolls are once use only. So…would it be like ‘50 etherium’ so that the healer’s kit can once be used as a potion of cure light wounds? Or 750 for remove disease?
If I’m reading it right then that sounds useful for us, until Lars gets Druidic herbalism. But until then I can see it as a great way to handle effects otherwise beyond his abilities.
In this case it would be 20GP of etherium for a +4 circumstance bonus to a heal check when used with a charge from the kit.
Sounds useful. I was tempted to buy healer’s gloves (+5 competence bonus to heal) at 1250. But that is the equivalent of 62.5 uses of the use of etherium detailed above.
I’ll spend my 1500 etherium on a vest of surgery, as Milton has the craft skill for it. Why? Because it allows the treatment of ability point damage until I have the spells for it.
I’ve also decided to swap out clockwork healer. As I realize now that we aren’t finding gold and it makes clockwork healer…odd. So I’m replacing it with Devoted Healer. Help keep us on our feet when healing outside of combat.
"expending materials worth 10 gp"
Is the key wording in there. Making use of downtime rules means a lot of material costs can be met with capital. Eochaidh and Kevan in the main campaign have had to deal with that a bit. Not so much the smith character as there was a fully stocked smithy.
Ah! That’s good to know. And perhaps with downtime rules his survival skill can help with that as well? Regardless if puts my mind at ease on taking that trait. Thank you
Alright you two, are you ready for final inspection? Your debut is coming very soon.
Yup!
Using the proper feat those are all half price as well, since etherium doesn't require the component spell.
If you want to get creative designing the item that would be welcome as well. Given etherium's nature to change material shape and the ability to craft items or parts of different slots. Otherwise I would be happy to describe the final item for the sake of flavor.
As to what the scrolls affected by etherium do I will have to puzzle that out myself. I didn't come up with what every spell does when it has etherium applied the the magical item. There are... a lot of them.
Wait... oh, I am misunderstanding how you used the etherium. I thought you were making scrolls and adding etherium for a sperate effect. Not adding them to your spellbook using etherium!
Those are two very different things. If you want to use etherium to make ink to scribe spells with that is doable. It doesn't give you a permanently altered spell. That comes from making a scroll or potion and then adding etherium to the consumable.
Sorry for the delay. You had it right the first time I was using etherium to make scrolls of those spells to see what it did. I have the very minimum of spells for a character oh his intelligence and level. 3+Int mod at first and two at each level. Those are all "free" spells. I has hoping to see the effect of those spells to see if I wanted to craft more scrolls to have on hand. Other than that I think I am good to go. I didn't expect you to have results for all spells planned out, but figured you would come up with them as I tried them out. If you don't want to do all those at once I understand maybe just: *Ray of Frost, *Burning Hands, *Color Spray, *Crafter's Fortune, *Mage Armor, *Magic Missile, *Continual Flame, and *Scorching Ray.
In the case of spells like burning hands or scorching ray it would be an additional point of damage per projectile or damage dice. For spells with set damage such as ray of frost it would be two additional points.
Color Spray would affect an additional hit dice. Crafters fortune would get an additional +2 to the bonus. Mage armor would last twice as long. Continual Flame would cast light twice as far.
I'll add scrolls of burning hands, scorching ray, color spray crafter's fortune and two mage armor. When/If we make Continual Flame torches, I'll probably do them from scroll for the extra area.
Otherwise I think I am ready.
I'm not seeing anything out of order with your character sheets so far. I'll keep looking over them from time to time as I do with all my players. You should both be introduced very soon.
I will say that should Lars make it to fifth level I will be giving you the benefit of the doubt on potion crafting. I ruled out that archetype for our previous druid, so just don't try and make an absolutely absurd amount of potions during downtime and it should be okay.
I'll say a cap of fifteen active (With the party.) at a time. After all, the more natural ones might go bad.
That is more than fair. It hadn’t occurred to me that they could build up like that, but your solution manages it well.
Yeah, potion costs put a potion of 250 value or less at two hours to make. So with a wisdom modifier of four you could, in theory, put out twenty-eight potions a week for free.
Exactly. And that would break the game. From a money point of view and for balance. Even if the potions only lasted for a day I’d be happy. Mostly, I just love the flavor of it given that he is a healer. That can’t be beat.
Updating the campaign with you two entering now. Be prepared.