Biruta Rovelsdam's page

There is a certain humor in that the person who vanished for a week and almost got kicked killed the game.

A. I had a very busy week. RL over RP.

B. I really doubt I have that kind of influence.

If that isn't your cup of tea, you should probably let me find people that it does suit.

You were the one who posted an ultimatum.

Actually I seem to be having a mass exodus, so perhaps I'll just kill the campaign.

And then decided to kill the campaign when some other players took your ultimatum seriously, even though you had plenty of potential players already showing interest.

...because I won't make this an amateur thespian session?

Maybe it's less the particulars of you "style", and more your need to be nasty and sarcastic about it? Just a thought.

Thanks for the opportunity but I'm going to bow out. I guess I didn't really understand what "beer and pretzels" meant. If we can't even try conversing with NPCs that don't come with stats provided in the AP because we won't get anything like a genuine reply in return, this isn't going to be a game for me.

Enjoy everyone and have a good game.

On the way up to the deck, Biruta tells the others what she found.

"The cage door's lock was picked. There's no way the girallon's escape from the cage was accidental."

After the injured are taken care of, Biruta also goes to have a look at the cage. Surely it was locked, so did the girallon break the lock or bend the bars? She also looks around for any trace of its food.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

Biruta helps with any injured rowers and so forth. While she isn't particularly happy about the surprise deadly cargo, she finds nothing productive in another dispute with the Captain of the ship. In short, it's weird cargo, but she sees no reason why the Captain cannot choose the cargos he transports, nor any obligation on his part to seek passenger approval to transport his cargo.

Biruta tries to time a strike to take advantage of an opening, but it's to no effect, the creature doesn't give her anything to work with.

Attack: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 9 + 2 = 15

Damage: 1d6 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 2 = 7

Oof! So sorry! It's been a wicked rough couple of weeks for all sorts of surprising reasons. I'll be in the clear to get a gameplay post in on Saturday.

Biruta is up on deck, watching the scenery if the fishing is over. When she hears the noise her first thought is an accident of some kind. She hurries on the direction of the noise to see what's happened.

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

Biruta has not signed on for any fishing boycott, so she helps with the fishing.

Reminded by the crocodile incident that they aren't on some pleasure cruise, Biruta takes up the habit of mapping the area they are traveling through each morning.

10 minutes and 1 point Inspiration to produce map for Studied Terrain, early each morning.

Biruta is busy wringing water out of her hair when Orthoon asks her about injuries. It's unexpected so for a moment she doesn't realize who he's talking to.

"What? Oh... Yes, Biruta." The show of concern might be a little touching if it weren't for his admission that after days of travel together, he still doesn't even know her name. "Completely fine thanks, not a scratch."

The spat that erupts between the dwarves and Captain Bloodtusk is disappointing for Biruta. Not only is it detrimental to their relationship with the Captain, who essentially controls the conditions of their stay on the ship, but it is pointless since they have no other options for travel.

She decides to see what she can do about mending fences with the Captain, but Biruta doesn't figure she can be too obvious about it to the other dwarves. She decides to kill a few minutes by taking a look at the broken railing to see if she can figure out what might have caused it. It could be that the wood is old, or some other flaw. But, it could be something like the weight of the net and fish being too much for it. She is curious to know if it really is a condition or maintenance issue, or just some bad luck.

K Engineering(?): 1d20 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 7 + (1) = 12

Regardless of what she does or does not find examining the broken railing, Biruta doesn't mention it when she goes to find Capatin Bloodtusk some minutes later.

"Excuse me Captain Bloodtusk. I ask to to overlook the outbursts from my traveling companions. The situation unfortunately touched upon a great fear for many dwarves, deep water and the things associated with it."

"My companions spoke rashly due to the excessive fright the situation caused them so suddenly. They latched on to the first cause that came to mind for them without any further consideration. With a little time, the incident will fade for them. I hope the same is true for you."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 11 + (3) = 18

I'm guessing on which skill to use to examine the railing, but the roll was so low I doubt it matters if it's not the right one. Using a point of of inspiration to use it on Diplomacy.

Biruta stays in the water until it's clear both of the brothers are going to make it up onto the deck. Then, she scrambles up the side of the ship, no need for the rope.

Biruta swims for the remaining crocodile to hack on it.

Swim: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Not sure if I need a swim check for anything with Monkey Fish, but just in case. If I do need it, that might be the end of my turn right there.

Biruta grimaces at the mess developing and decides to take stronger measures.

She orders the crewmen to "Keep the rope in position so we can grab it".

Biruta pulls out a vial and downs it. Then she drives off the boat and swims for Kurgan.

Standard action to drink Monkey Fish extract. Move action to jump in water and move to current position on map.

Biruta is very relieved to see Orthoon break the surface of the water. She shouts out to him.

"Grab ahold of the rope!"

She hopes his brother will urge him to do the same.

Biruta casts a glance about at all the small minds all around her. They seem to think this is about killing crocodiles, which it certainly is not. There's no need to bother with the crocodiles at all if there's nobody in the water to be eaten by them. Besides there are, by her count, four crocs, too many to kill before the brothers are dead.

"What about 'help me pull then in', BY PULLING ON THIS ROPE WITH ME, did you not understand? Do you want to help them or not?"

Biruta starts pulling Kurgan in.

I'm not sure which direction the ship is moving in relation to the map. That is, it could be moving in a roughly northeasterly or southwesterly direction, or for that matter it could be roughly immobile since the anchor has been dropped. Because of this, I won't move my token on the map. Instead I'll describe what any movement should do so my token can be moved accordingly.

Biruta moves to position herself before throwing the rope. She locates herself so the movement of the ship carries the rope closer to the dwarves in the water rather moving it farther away from them. She then throws the rope out, aiming for a spot where both dwarves can reach it.

Throw (ranged attack on a map square?): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

So, move action to position if needed, standard action to throw the rope.

Biruta quickly ties a large double knot at the end of the rope she grabs since it will give it some heft for throwing it out some distance. Next she checks where each dwarf is in the water related to each other and the ship.

If one is farther away from the ship, she will throw for the more distant of the two so the closer of the two can also grab ahold as the rope is being pulled in. If the brothers are roughly the same distance from the ship, she will run several feet down opposite the ship's direction of travel before throwing. That way the rope will be pulled closer to the dwarves as it continues to move past them, giving them extra time to see and grab it before it's gone by.

"Alright! Listen up everyone!' Biruta yells out as she's readying the rope and the throw. "I need people to help pull them in when they've grabbed the rope! I also need a couple of people to be pointers, showing them where the rope is in the water! They may not be able to see the rope easily down in the water!"

"Get this ship stopped, we need a bit of time!"

The idea here is to try to get them both with a single throw rather than having to do it twice.

Biruta quickly looks around for some rope so she can get a line to the brothers in the water.

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

If Biruta has any discomfort or complaints about boarding a ship, she says nothing to suggest it. She does ask Captain Bloodtusk a few questions though, mostly about his business. She asks whether he tends to carry cargoes or passengers mostly, what kinds of cargoes are most common, and whether there are any settlements along the river that they will pass.

She settles in easily enough after stowing her belongings. When it comes to work assignments, Biruta angles for lookout first, since she is more familiar with the surface world in general than the others she's traveling with. If that fails, cooking is next, she's done a fair amount of it before.

Diplomacy (make a good impression with Bloodtusk): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Biruta is carrying all her stuff already since she doesn't actually reside in Janderhoff. She's ready to go right away.

No questions and ready to go.

The link above works for me as well.

If we're just snagging roles, then I'm calling Doc.

Biruta isn't unhappy. But where does she fit? Is she Snow White? One of the dwarves? Both?

Dopey since she doesn't have a beard?

Biruta doesn't get an answer about which river, which she takes to mean Ironbeard doesn't know but won't admit. It doesn't really matter much anyway. It's probably the Kestral since it's closer than the Esk, more sensible if there's boat traffic on the Kestrel.

To Crastor's comment about will-o-wisps Biruta replies "Oh I don't think we'll need to go the the trouble. It would be surprising if we don't find a few or more of them tracking us."

"I've never been nearly so far east as Ghostlight Marsh, that's practically Lastwall, but I've heard things..."

Biruta tells them what she knows about the place. That would be all the information for the 25+ check and less.

Biruta sticks out in the room for a few reasons. First, she's the only female there. Second, her hair is quite long and blonde. Third, she wears no obvious armor, and is armed with a longbow and machete (if you call that a weapon).

She's rather young, not very far past marriageable age probably. Her clothing is of the sort one expects to see experienced travelers wearing, and it's all in various muted, earthy colors.

Biruta sips on a cup of ale to be polite and listens for a while without saying anything. When the artifacts are brought out she waits to let the others get their fill of looking at the them. She'll have plenty of time for them later.

What she really wants to know is more specifics about the route they will be taking.

"Which river will the riverboat be traveling?"

K Geography (Trunau?): 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (11) + 8 + (2) = 21

K Local (Trunau?): 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (17) + 8 + (5) = 30

K Geography (Ghostlight Marsh?) 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (20) + 8 + (3) = 31

K History? (Vault of Thorns): 1d20 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + 7 + (1) = 11

K Local (Storm Tyrant?): 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (13) + 8 + (5) = 26

I'm guessing on which checks a bit. If the Vault of Thorns check should be K Arcana or K Religion instead, Biruta can make either of those checks at a +7 as well. If the Vault of Thorns check involves either dwarves or giants, she gets an added +2 for Lorekeeper.

As background skills are pretty limited, I'm not the biggest fan. They are very common these days, but they don't really solve the issue of skill disparity, especially on the 2/level classes.

How about we just change classes with 2/level to 4/level and call it good. Won't help the skill god investigator, but should aid the poor cleric/fighter (or wizard.)

I agree that background skills don't do much of anything to fix disparities between classes. Your fix goes way farther there. So given a choice of background skills versus 2 skill/level classes get 4/level, the latter is the obvious winner. Maybe skill checks have become more important in pathfinder over time? I came to the game later so I'm not sure how the early core classes were supposed to manage in the current state of the game.

I like background skills because they are fairly useless from a practical perspective. I like having characters who have other lives outside adventure mode. Lots of characters have backgrounds saying they used to be x or y, and background skills allow the character to back that up. Nobody is ever going to put points into Profession Farmer absent background skills, but once those background points are there in Profession Farmer, many times the player tries to figure out creative ways to apply that skill to situations that come up in games. It's just a nice add on that doesn't knock anything out of whack.

I had to finalize gear purchases and money, so that's done now.

I also realized I had stupidly neglected to include the 2/level skill ranks Biruta gets for INT skills from Lore Warden. I've added those in now, which erases the decreases to the skills I'd robbed to cover disable device, plus some change.

No background skills? Biruta the Überfrau says "suck it you non-investigator, non-background skills possessing worms!" :p

I likes maps

Me too brother! I try to make one every day.

Alright, I skimmed some points from elsewhere to put +4 into Disable Device: -1 to Appraise, K Arcana, Perception, and Spellcraft.

I didn’t even get to the part where his parents died!

Hey! My parents died too, and nobody even knows!

It is a shame we are doing Background Skills. That would free up some skill points for the dwarven cleric and his paltry 2 + Int modifier.

Yeah, I love background skills. Of course, it's the low skills classes that really need them. But it's always nice to have a character who knows how to do things that aren't core necessities for the class. For example, I'll be yanking the point I'd put in Appraise and putting it toward Disable Device. You'd think a dwarf would have a keen eye for value, but not if it's at the cost of failing crucial checks.

Dolgrym Giantfoe wrote:

Taking a quick look through everyone it looks like we don't have anyone with disable device. We may have to resort to bashing things open.

As an investigator it might be helpful to the party if Biruta picked that up. This is not a mandate of course. I'll be perfectly happy to cause wreck and ruin with traps.

Also, as the party is now picked, you are all welcome to shift your characters some (feats, skills) to make sure the team is a functional.

Sure, I can find the points to reallocate for covering disable device somewhere. I wasn't going to put points there if another character was covering it. I'll pick up some tools for the job as well.

Wow! That came fast! I didn't even get a chance to wish everyone luck before the selections were announced.

Thanks for picking Biruta drbuzzard!

I'm fine with either Roll20 or Google Docs. I use both in other games and don't really have any strong preference.

Cool! Thanks!

@drbuzzard:

I'm wondering about a few alchemical formulae that aren't from the CRB. Are none/some/all of the following alright to use?

Heightened Awareness

Waterproof

Monkey Fish

Tears to Wine

Thanks!

I built and posted Biruta fairly quickly after this recruitment opened; but with more time to sit and reflect on it, I'm not happy with the character. A Fighter-Cleric gestalt goes together like chocolate and peanut butter, but it's not the class combo for me.

Abadar is soooo boring, maybe the most boring god of them all. So, I tried looking around for other deific and priestly possibilities, and just couldn't find anything that sparked for me within any reasonable parameters of this campaign. So, I threw out the idea and rebuilt Biruta as an Investigator with the Natural Philosopher and Cartographer archetypes, paired with Lore Warden Fighter. She's now sort of a brainy, outdoorsy survivalist who makes a living as a guide and mapmaker in the mountains around Janderhoff.

So, what does she do? Skill Monkey, primarily of the encyclopedia type. Dex for melee, and some archery feats and ranged studied combat for flexibility. Social skills well developed enough to have normal conversations with others and maybe even be persuasive. Nonmagical healing line of feats and herbalism to come.

Why does she do? Revenge in part. She's convince things are getting worse and worse out there, and something must be done. Besides, she's a guide; it's her job.

Where did she come from? The minings camps and settlements up in the mountains. She lost her family in a raid.

I'll expand on those a bit in the character profile when I get a chance. Everything else is done except for some equipment stuff.

@Kurgan: Thanks for keeping the applicants list. I'd like to report an error for Biruta. She's a Cardinal archetype Cleric, not a Warpriest.

Biruta is done in all the essentials now. I still need to finish up equipment and say a little bit about her in the BAP section of the character sheet.

Also a couple of notes on feats here.

Biruta will be taking Selective Channel, but I need to raise her CHA before I can do that. Until 8th level, she won't be able to channel in combat unless she has good positioning.

Getting Biruta's CHA to 12 was expensive, so she's a bit lacking in STR presently. With that in mind I've taken Bodyguard as a combat feat so she has a way to compensate if her attack bonus isn't quite up to snuff in some situations. I expect to replace Bodyguard around 8th level as her STR is raised and I've had more time to decide on Fighter feats. Besides, a +2 to AC from Bodyguard will matter less and less as time goes on.

That said, does anyone have any opinions on Cleave instead of Bodyguard? Or maybe Furious Focus? I was on the fence for a while looking at these 3 feats. I figured I'd replace it the feat at 8th level or so regardless of which one I chose since none of them would probably age well going into levels 10+. I did settle on Bodyguard as probably the most generally beneficial one in the short term, but I'm not positive I chose right. If anyone has an opinion, I'd appreciate hearing it.

Alright, Biruta here will be my character submission.

She is a Fighter 4 / Cleric (Cardinal Archetype) 4 of Abadar.

Trade Subdomain from Travel.

Cardinal costs a Domain, but picks up some skills in class and gets 6 skill points per level. She's meant to be a decent party face given the party is a pack of grumpy, surly dwarves.

On the Fighter side things will be pretty standard. Medium armor and Dwarven Longaxe for reach in melee. She has a crossbow for ranged.

Biruta is is more sociable and outgoing than is typical for dwarves. Her family has long been involved with long distance trade with non-dwarven cities and towns in Janderhoff's region. As a Cleric of Abadar she serves as a sort of trade ambassador and caravan protector.

If a Ranger can lead a party through the unknown wilderness, Biruta can lead a party through unknown civilizations.

Pathcompanion was really handy for getting her built quickly since I don't have Herolab. But I still have to copy her sheet over to this alias. I should be able to get that done this evening.