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[Aamcotronix casts Wall of Text!]
I've taken on the task of creating a set of custom characters for my group based on an D&D game I ran long ago, even before Pathfinder was a thing. My goal right now is to create an entire custom adventure path for these guys, since we've been having a blast so far with all 3 sets, buuuut that's a bit far off and still tentative. Either way, I've been working on creating characters based as closely to their characters as I could, with hopefully creating some interesting twists to some standard Pathfinder ACG stuff. Some of them I'm not 100% happy with, others I love, but I want to get feedback from the community of whom I have full confidence will be able to point out imbalances. I've tried to be as balanced as possible, but through my rose-tinted glasses I may very well have missed a few things. If you all would be so kind as to provide input that would be absolutely fantastic.
First of all, I want to make mention that I know that some of these classes may not exist in actual Pathfinder. I know that, but I tried to base these classes from ye olde 3.5 as Pathfinder ACG-ey as possible, so please bear with me. As a general rule of thumb in this, for skills a * denotes a potential skill feat, to make typing all of this out easier. IE: The first character's Strength is a d10 with four *s, so a max of d10+4. Parenthesis are also used by me to denote power feats so as to... also make life easier in typing. If it's too confusing looking at I can hopefully edit this later. I'll also try to give a brief description of how the character is supposed to work.
Darien Onchar, Male Human Paladin
Skills
-Str d10 * * * *
Melee +2
-Dex d4 *
-Con d10 * * * *
Fortitude +2
-Int d4 *
-Wis d6 * *
-Cha d8 * *
Diplomacy +2
Divine +1
Cards List (Favored Card Type: Armor)
-Weapon 3 (4) (5)
-Spell 2 (3) (4)
-Armor 3 (4) (5)
-Item - (1)
-Ally 2 (3)
-Blessing 5 (6) (7)
Hand Size: 4 (5)
Proficient with: Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Weapons
-You may discard the top card of your deck to reduce damage taken by a character by 1. If the top card was a blessing (or an armor), recharge it instead.
-You may recharge (reveal) an armor with the Shield trait to add 1d4 (+1) to your combat check that doesn't have the 2-Handed trait.
-When you acquire a boon with the corrupted trait, bury it.
Role 1: Defender
Hand Size: 4 (5) (6)
Proficient with: Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Weapons
-You may discard the top card of your deck to reduce damage taken by a character by 1 (2) (3). If the top card was a blessing (or an armor), recharge it instead (or shuffle it into your deck).
-You may recharge (reveal) an armor with the Shield trait to add 1d4 (+1) to your combat check that doesn't have the 2-Handed trait.
-When you acquire a boon with the corrupted trait, bury it (or banish it to recharge 1d4+1 cards from your discard pile).
(-When a character at your location encounters a henchman or villain, you may bury a card. That character evades the encounter; you encounte it instead.)
(-You may recharge a spell to allow a character at your location to recharge a random card from their discard pile.)
(-Once per scenario when you would die, instead discard your hand then shuffle your discard pile and draw up to your maximum hand size and immediately end your turn. Return all other cards shuffled to your discard pile.)
Role 2: Righteous Blade
Hand Size: 4 (5) (6) (7)
Proficient with: Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Weapons
-You may discard the top card of your deck to reduce damage taken by a character by 1. If the top card was a blessing (or an armor), recharge it instead.
-You may recharge (reveal) an armor with the Shield trait to add 1d4 (+1)(+2)(+3) to your combat check that doesn't have the 2-Handed trait.
-When you acquire a boon with the corrupted trait, bury it (and you may immediately explore your location).
(-You may examine the top card of your location deck at the start (and end) of your turn. If the card is a boon, put it on the bottom of the deck.)
(-Add 1d8 to combat checks made against banes with the Undead or Demon traits.)
Darien specialized in dual wielding, fighting with both his sword and his shield. I tried to replicate that a little bit by allowing him to use his shield to help his attack. The best way I thought to use that would be by copying Imrijka's power. Darien was built like a tank and was made to lead the charge on the front lines, so I copied one of Valeros' powers for his Defender role, and because slayer of evil, I copied one of Kyra's powers for his 'Blade role.
Jay, Female Human Fighter
Skills
-Str d12 * * * *
Melee +2
-Dex d6 * * *
Acrobatics +2
-Con d8 * * *
Fortitude +1
-Int d6 * *
-Wis d6 * *
-Cha d4 *
Cards List (Favored Card Type: Weapon)
-Weapon 4 (5) (6) (7)
-Spell -
-Armor 2 (3) (4)
-Item 2 (3) (4)
-Ally 3 (4) (5)
-Blessing 4 (5)
Hand Size: 4 (5) (6)
Proficient with: Light Armor, Weapons
-Add 1d4 (+1) to combat checks by another character at your location.
-You may reveal a weapon that has the Off-hand trait to add 1d4 (+1) to your combat check with the Melee trait that does not have the 2-Handed trait.
-When you would discard a weapon with the Melee trait for its power, you may recharge it instead.
Role 1: Juggernaut
Hand Size: 4 (5) (6) (7)
Proficient with: Light Armor, Weapons
-Add 1d4 (+1) to combat checks by another character at your location.
-You may reveal a weapon that has the Off-hand (or that does not have the 2-Handed) trait to add 1d4 (1d6) (+1)(+2)(+3) to your combat check with the Melee trait that does not have the 2-Handed trait.
-When you would discard a weapon with the Melee trait for its power you may recharge it (or shuffle it into your deck) instead.
(-When you attempt to defeat a barrier with the Lock or Obstacle trait, you may discard a card to use your Strength or Melee skill in place of any listed skill for the check.)
(-You may treat weapons with the 2-Handed trait as if they did not have that trait.)
Role 2: Tempest
Hand Size: 4 (5) (6) (7) (8)
Proficient with: Light Armor, Weapons
-Add 1d4 (+1)+(2)(+3) to combat checks by another character at your location.
-You may reveal a weapon that has the Off-hand trait to add 1d4 (+1) to your combat check with the Melee trait that does not have the 2-Handed trait.
-When you would discard a weapon with the Melee trait for its power, you may recharge it instead.
(-When you close a location (or defeat a monster) you may move.)
(-When another character encounters a villain (or a monster), you may bury a card to move.)
Jay also fought with dual-wielding, but she used the old 3.5 feats Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting to dual wield bastard swords without the massive penalties you'd normally incur. She also used Monkey Grip to use weapons one size category larger. While that really can't be quantified in Pathfinder ACG terms, it basically allows her Juggernaut to use the best weapons it can while still being able to "dual wield". Her tempest role, on the other hand is designed to be fast and highly mobile, while limiting her weapon selection to cards that aren't two-handed.
Devin Krueger, Male "Human" Artificer
Skills
-Str d8 * * *
Melee +3
-Dex d4 *
-Con d8 * * *
-Int d10 * * * *
Arcane +1
Craft +3
Divine +1
-Wis d8 * * *
-Cha d4 *
Cards List (Favored Card Type: Spell or Item)
-Weapon 2 (3) (4)
-Spell 3 (4) (5)
-Armor 1 (2)
-Item 4 (5) (6) (7)
-Ally 1 (2)
-Blessing 4 (5)
Cohort: Terra
-Display this card. While displayed, when you attempt a check to recharge a spell, you may use your Craft skill in place of any listed skill.
-While displayed, shuffle this card into your deck to add a weapon, armor, or item from your discard pile into your hand.
Hand Size: 5 (6)
Proficient with: Light Armor, Weapons
-You may not play spells with the attack trait.
-After you reset your hand you may discard a card to add a card of the same type from your discard pile to your hand.
-You may discard a spell (or an item) to add 1d6 (+1) and the Fire, Cold, or Electricity (or Acid or Force) trait to your combat check with the Melee trait.
Role 1: Prodigy
Hand Size: 5 (6) (7) (8)
Proficient with: Light Armor, (Heavy Armor), Weapons
-You may not play spells with the attack trait.
-After you reset your hand you may discard a card to add a card of the same type from your discard pile to your hand (and you may recharge a random card from your discard pile).
-You may discard a spell (or an item) to add 1d6 (+1) and the Fire, Cold, or Electricity (or Acid or Force) trait to your combat check with the Melee trait.
(-You automatically succeed at checks to recharge (or acquire) an item with the Magic trait.)
(-You may shuffle an item into your deck to add 1d6 (+1) to a combat check at your location.)
Role 2: Shaper
Hand Size: 5 (6) (7)
Proficient with: Light Armor, Weapons
-You may not play spells with the Attack trait.
-After (and before) you reset your hand you may discard a card to add a card of the same type from your discard pile to your hand.
-You may discard (or recharge) a spell (or an item) to add 1d6 (+1)(+2)(+3) and the Fire, Cold, or Electricity (or Acid or Force) trait to your combat check with the Melee trait.
(-When you acquire a weapon, armor, or item, you may banish it to acquire a random item from the box.)
(-When you would discard a weapon for its power, you may instead attempt a Craft check of 3 + twice the adventure deck number of the weapon, if any. If successful, shuffle it into your deck (and recharge a random card from your discard pile).)
Ok, put down the pitchforks and torches. Divine and Arcane, both on Int, yes yes I know. But that's how Artificers do. I'm actually really happy with how Devin came out. He's built similar to Bards in terms of his spellcasting, though because it's all based on Int which is a pretty useful stat, I didn't want to allow him the use of attack spells, which makes sense in terms of Artificers. He's designed to melee, and be versatile in a lot of ways, imbuing his weapon with magic to help in a variety of situations to help in dealing with enemy weaknesses. Terra, his homunculus, is also there to help him while she's available, but there's plenty of incentive for him to use her to get his stuff back.
Meridius Korinth, Male Human Sorcerer
Skills
-Str d4 *
-Dex d6 * *
-Con d6 * *
-Int d8 * * * *
Knowledge +2
-Wis d6 * *
Perception +2
-Cha d12 * * * *
Arcane +2
Cards List (Favored Card Type:
-Weapon -
-Spell 6 (7) (8) (9)
-Armor - (1)
-Item 2 (3) (4)
-Ally 3 (4) (5)
-Blessing 4 (5) (6)
Hand Size: 6 (7)
-For your combat check, you may discard a card to use your Arcane skill + 1d6 (+1) and the Attack, Electricity (or Force) and Magic traits. This counts as playing a spell.
-You may bury a card to evade a non-villain bane.
-Add 2 to your checks with the Attack and Electricity (or Force) traits.
Role 1: Savant
Hand Size: 6 (7) (8)
-For your combat check, you may discard a card to use your Arcane skill + 1d6 (+1) and the Attack, Electricity (or Force) and Magic traits. This counts as playing a spell.
-You may bury a card to evade a non-villain bane.
-Add 2 (4) to your checks with the Attack and Electricity (or Force) traits.
(-Reduce Electricity (and Force) damage dealt to you to 0)
(-You automatically succeed at your check to recharge a spell with the Electricity (or Force) trait.)
(-When you play a spell with the Attack trait, if it has the Cold, Fire, or Acid trait you may replace that trait with the Electricity (or Force) trait.)
Role 2: Adept
Hand Size: 6 (7) (8)
-For your combat check, you may discard a card to use your Arcane skill + 1d6 (+1)(+2)(+3) and the Attack, Electricity (or Force) and Magic traits. This counts as playing a spell.
-You may bury (or discard) a card to evade a non-villain (or any) bane.
-Add 2 to your checks with the Attack and Electricity (or Force) traits.
(-When you acquire a card with the Magic trait you may immediately explore again.)
(-Your spells with the Electricity (or Force) trait ignore Immunity to that trait.)
Meridius was an elemental savant back in 3.5. 3 guesses on which elemental type he was... He also took Argent... something, Savant? I don't know. It specialized in Force magic and it was a quick 5 level prestige class. So, pretty much everything he does revolves around those two elements. Considering the release of WotR, the lightning specialization is pretty damning buuut he DOES have his Force capability to back him up, and even in his Adept gets the powerful ability to tell those demons where they can stick their immunity, though having to trade away the Savant's powerful increases in... power.
Hanaral Tia'sammaht, Female Human Duskblade
Skills
-Str d6 * *
-Dex d10 * * * *
Acrobatics +2
-Con d6 * *
-Int d6 * *
-Wis d6 * *
Perception +2
-Cha d8 * * *
Arcane +3
Cards List (Favored Card Type: Spell)
-Weapon -
-Spell 4 (5) (6) (7)
-Armor 1 (2)
-Item 1 (2) (3)
-Ally 3 (4) (5)
-Blessing 6 (7) (8)
Hand Size: 5 (6) (7)
Proficient with: Light Armor
-For your combat check you gain the skill Melee: Dexterity +2. (You may add the Magic trait.) You may not play a weapon on this check.
-You may recharge a spell to add 1d4 (+1) to your check.
-You may play 2 blessings on your combat check; recharge them instead of discarding them.
Role 1: Eldritch Born
Hand Size: 5 (6) (7) (8)
Proficient with: Light Armor
-For your combat check you gain the skill Melee; Dexterity +2. (You may add the Magic Trait.) You may not play a weapon on this check.
-You may recharge a spell to add 1d4 (+1)(+2)(+3) to your check (or a check by another character at your location).
-You may play 2 blessings on your combat check; recharge them instead of discarding them.
(-Add 2 (4) to your checks to recharge (or acquire) a spell with the Arcane trait.)
(-Add 2 (4) to your checks with the Attack trait.)
Role 2: Arcane Brawler
Hand Size: 5 (6) (7) (8)
Proficient with: Light Armor
-For your combat check you gain the skill Melee: Dexterity +2. (You may add the Magic trait (and/or the Fire, Cold, Electricity, Acid, or Force trait).) You may not play a weapon on this check.
-You may recharge a spell to add 1d4 (or 1d6 if used on your combat check) (+1)(+2)(+3) to your check.
-You may play 2 blessings on your combat check; recharge them (or shuffle them into your deck) instead of discarding them.
(-When you attempt to defeat a barrier with the Trap or Obstacle trait, you may use your Acrobatics skill instead of any listed skill for that check.)
(-When you play a blessing to add to a Dexterity check, you may add a d12 instead of the normal die.)
This one's gonna look weird to some. An arcane monk, basically. Those of you who know the Duskblade are also going to say "Wait a minute, but Duskblades could use weapons." That's right, but Hanaral did not. She fought with a pair of enchanted gauntlets, so I decided to have some fun and build her up like an arcane monk. I'm not sure I'm 100% satisfied with her Eldritch Born role, but on the other hand it does allow variety in being able to fight with both Attack spells AND her fists.
Elessar Kamkaseel, Male Human Cleric (Work in progress)
Skills
-Str d10 * * * *
Melee +2
-Dex d4 *
-Con d6 * *
-Int d6 * *
-Wis d10 * * * *
Divine +2
Survival +2
-Cha d6 * *
Cards List (Favored Card Type: Weapon or Spell)
-Weapon 3 (4) (5)
-Spell 4 (5) (6)
-Armor 1 (2)
-Item 1 (2)
-Ally 1 (2) (3)
-Blessing 5 (6) (7)
Hand Size: 4 (5) (6)
Proficient with: Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Weapons
-When any character at your location attempts a check to defeat a monster, you may recharge a spell to reduce the difficulty of that check by 1 (2) plus the adventure deck number of the recharged card, if any.
-If your combat check has the 2-Handed trait, add 2 (4) and the Magic trait.
Role 1: Redeemed
(Work in Progress)
Role 2: Godslayer
(Work in Progress)
Obviously not done with Elessar here. He was a neutral cleric that channeled negative energy and fought with a scythe. He tended to get in close with Inflict spells and tear enemies to shreds by debilitating them with negative energy. I'm not entirely sure how else to represent that except by using Feiya's power. What I WANTED to do was give him a power similar to the Wand of Enervation from Rise of the Runelords (Reduce difficulty by 2d4). But even if it was only 1d4 (+1) for his base class, that's still very powerful in the first couple of adventure paths. It balances out later on by being about as powerful as Feiya's but at the initial start it could be way powerful so I don't know. Still working on him. Considering having his Godslayer role do things with corrupted cards but I'm not sure.
Edith Gainsbrook, Female Human Rogue
Skills
-Str d6 * *
-Dex d12 * * * *
Acrobatics +2
Stealth +2
Disable +2
-Con d4 *
-Int d6 * * *
-Wis d8 * * *
-Cha d6 * *
Cards List (Favored Card Type: Weapon or Item)
-Weapon 3 (4) (5)
-Spell - (1)
-Armor 1 (2)
-Item 4 (5) (6) (7)
-Ally 3 (4 ) (5)
-Blessing 4 (5)
Hand Size: 5 (6)
Proficient with: Light Armors
-For your check that has or is against a card with the Knife trait, gain the skill Ranged: Dexterity +2.
-You may discard (recharge) a card to evade a bane.
-When you would discard a weapon with the Knife trait for its power, you may shuffle it into your deck (or put it on top of your deck) and add 1d4 (+1) to your combat check. You may not play another weapon on this check.
Role 1: Trickster
Hand Size: 5 (6) (7) (8)
Proficient with: Light Armors
-For your check that has or is against a card with the Knife trait, gain the skill Ranged: Dexterity +2.
-You may discard (recharge) a card to evade a bane (and put it on top of the deck it came from, if any).
-When you would discard a weapon with the Knife trait for its power, you may shuffle it into your deck (or put it on top of your deck) and add 1d4 (+1) to your combat check. You may not play another weapon on this check.
(-When you defeat a summoned monster, you may draw a card.)
(-You gain the skill Survival: Wisdom +2.)
(-When a monster deals damage to you before (or after) the encounter reduce that damage to 0.)
(-If there is more than one location open when you defeat a villain, randomly choose one of those locations. The villain may not escape to that location.)
Role 2: Master Thrower
Hand Size: 5 (6) (7)
Proficient with: Light Armors
-For your check that has or is against a card with the Knife trait, gain the skill Ranged: Dexterity +2.
-You may discard (recharge) a card to evade a bane.
-When you would discard a weapon with the Knife trait for its power, you may shuffle it into your deck (or put it on top of your deck) instead, and add 1d4 (+1)(+2)(+3) to your combat check. You may not play another weapon on this check.
(-You may recharge a card to add 1d4 (+1) to a combat check by a character at another location.)
(You gain the skill Perception: Wisdom +2.)
(-If you begin your turn with no weapons in your hand, you may draw a card.)
(-For your combat check with the Knife trait, any 4s rolled on a d4 count as 5s.)
Edith is another one I am super proud of. She's basically daggers daggers daggers and more daggers. When she's not throwing daggers she's being a rogue and when she's not being a rogue she's throwing more daggers. I had a hard time initially figuring out how to balance her around a weapon type that is weak by design. However, I figured out that by adding a d4 to the weapon recharge ability, it would basically (thematically) be like throwing multiple daggers at the same time. I realized though that because daggers have the inherent ability to discard them when using another weapon to add to your check, that would also use her power. That started leading to some pretty serious power creep, so I had to cut that off at only using one weapon's discard. Her Trickster's final ability is also an interesting concept to me, thematically representing either crippling the villain or leading the target so it's escape options are limited. You can't win the scenario with this ability, but you can know one place the villain isn't going. Note that this doesn't temporarily close the location, so it still gets a blessing shuffled into it like normal. Also, I do know that there are some melee weapons with the Knife trait, and you ask, what would that do for you if she encountered, say, a Sickle? Well... she'd still get the Ranged trait for that check but... won't do you a whole lot of good on your MELEE check to acquire, so I didn't see a problem really.
So, those are my characters I've been building. I would very much appreciate feedback if anyone has any. If I've worded things poorly or used the wrong trait names or anything please point it out to me and let me know. I'm very excited to share these characters with you and to hear what you guys have to say. If I do wind up completing my Adventure Path one day I will most definitely share with the lot of you.
Well, that took an exorbitantly long time to type out with all the info being on my phone. D:
[It's super effective!]