Grand Necromancer

Carcosa, the Tattered Shepherd's page

36 posts. Alias of Doomed Hero.


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works for me.

Can we get a Gameplay thread to dot so that keeping track of this game is easier?


Billybrainpan wrote:
can you each just give me a quick yes or no on if your character has ever violently resisted any of the workers.

Never. Carcosa is incredibly manipulative, but not violent. He might have done things that caused them to get violent with each other, or called up creatures that might have eaten a few of them, but nothing that could ever be tied back to him directly.


it is going to take me a while to get the character updated. I doubt I'll be able to have it done before thursday.


Wow, I really didn't think this game was going to get off the ground. Thanks GM Billy!


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

You're welcome.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

Carcosa skillfully whistled a meandering tune as he wandered to Dr. Tiadora's office.

Insert Jeopardy theme here.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

In a Play By Post, Sacred Geometry is essentially giving a character the ability to apply two metamagic feats to any spell they want at no cost.

I'm not sure that's a good idea.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

Me too. :(


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,
Rynjin wrote:
I gathered that much, but I meant specifics. =p

The most interesting stuff is the Necromancy spells that are all about giving someone a terrible rotting cyst inside their body, and then doing awful things with/to it.

Other than that, its mostly just shock filler or not suitable for PCs. (for example there's a feat that makes negative energy heal you, but you have to have sex with the undead to get it).

There is one particularly cool spell that deals 2d20 AoE to all non-demons in the area, but we can't really use that.

I remember it being a mediocre book with some interesting thematic stuff in it but not many mechanics that stood out.

Libris Mortis on the other hand, now that was a great book.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

Carcosa picks is a small sheaf of paper and smiles, walking out of his cell. "It is indeed a pleasant evening. Full of promises and swelled with discovery. I can hear the long first note beginning it's crescendo. The symphony will begin at last."

He smiled politely and strode around the corner proudly in the direction of the doctor's office.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

I'm going to leave this here as a (hopefully humorous) example of how these kinds of things can go horribly wrong.

I was in a game a few years ago where one of the players was playing Thalia Winterflower, a priestess of Calistra.

Done right, that concept would be fine.

It was not done right. Check her posts at the beginning of the link. Then if you're still curious, skip forward to the end of the fight to see it continue.

This player tried to turn combat into soft core porn. To make matters worse, she tried to seduce every NPC we came across, picked fights with the other PCs, and went off on her own to do long, strange "diplomacy" scenes that usually involved her trying to leverage favors with sex.

It went all the way past "no fun" back around to "horrifying amusement"

I love the concept of this game, and I have zero hangups about sex or mental disorders. Actions that disrupt gameplay are another matter entirely

It is my hope that by addressing this here at the beginning of the game we'll be able to avoid some potential pitfalls.

So far I haven't been made uncomfortable or annoyed by Lily or any other player, but because Prae mentioned being uncomfortable I figured it would be a good idea to talk about this stuff.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

A game that deals with insanity is probably going to touch on a lot of things that make people feel uncomfortable (even more so than a normal "evil" game). We're all adults though, so I trust we can handle the subject matter.

I find that when portraying things that are inherently uncomfortable to deal with, the best way of handling it is to allude to the actions without actually writing about it explicitly.

We all know that Lily is probably going to be indulging in torture and rape (probably simultaneously). We don't need to read long descriptions of it. A better way of handling those scenes would be do briefly describe the beginning of the action (building screams of passion and pain), then cut forward to the aftermath (Lacy happily rejoining the group while adjusting her clothes and leaving bloody footprints behind her, her playmate forgotten and likely dead).

We can treat all our various perversions this way.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

The man in the first cell was singing again.

He had been there longer than any of them in that wing. Years. He knew all their names and spoke with the orderlies like they were old friends. He didn't always make sense, but he always made nice. He was the model that the doctors encouraged others to be like.

He sang while he worked in a rich, soothing baritone that poured down the ears and into the mind like rum and honey.

"Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen In Carcosa."

Unlike the other cells, his was surprisingly well furnished. He had actual bed sheets and a blanket that did not scratch. He had the oldest straight jacket, worn soft and thin and comfortable with time. He somehow even got a bath once or twice a week. He had a chair and a desk and paper and inks. Tidy piles of handwritten music and poetry sat beneath a dog-eared copy of the Mitran holy text.

His straight jacket was pushed up above his wrists to free his hands, which carefully scribed ink to page.

"Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is Lost Carcosa."

His entire cell was covered in writing. Even the ceiling. The languages varied and the meanings were unclear. Mostly they seemed to correspond to the dozens of geometric shapes and accompanying diagrams that dotted the room.

These were not the unintelligible scrawling of a run of the mill psychopath. These were neat, tidy, like the careful documents of an astronomer or engineer.

"Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in Dim Carcosa."

The doctors had brought in astronomers, engineers and even musicians over the years to try to make sense of Carcosa's writings, but in the end each had given up trying to sort out the meanings behind it all. Carcosa was certainly no help, and in the end the consensus was that they really were ravings. Not even the geometry of the diagrams made sense when put under scrutiny. Angles and arithmetic were wrong. Music was written with two extra lines on the staff. Notes were punctuated by accents that were usually used to denote chemical reactions in alchemical formulas.

As he reached the end of his song, his voice seemed to split into distinct harmony as though his vocal cords were something more than human, or perhaps somehow there were other singers in the cell with him.

His pen finished its work as he finished his song.

"Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in Lost Carcosa."

He stood and stretched and smiled.

At long last he was finished, and now he could begin.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

Love it. That's fantastic.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,
Praetorix wrote:
@Carcosa, I do understand the reasoning behind that, but there are several things I want from the class, mainly the Confusion channel and the domain abilities. I appreciate the suggestion, and dropping cleric has crossed my mind several times, but it's too integral to what I see him doing.

Antipaladins can channel energy too. They have to wait until 4th level, but if you take Extra Corruption, they get the same number of channels per day as a cleric. If you can translate the Hospitalar archetype, they can actually have more than a cleric.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

In the normal WotW path the primary foes are a bunch of goodie-goodie zealots from the incredibly powerful state-sponsored church. Lots and lots of clerics, inquisitors and paladins.

Assuming that is still the case, allowing all of them to have access to huge saving throw bonuses is probably not something we want.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

If it were me I would ask about converting the Sacred Servant paladin archetype (which gets a domain), and just drop Cleric entirely. Antipaladin synergizes with oracle better across the board.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

The insanity trait spoiler is also tricksey and invisible.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,
The Gamemaster in Yellow wrote:

Carcosa- Have you dotted gameplay yet? I want to make sure that you can see updates before gameplay officially begins.

Yep. Check the Characters tab. I'm there.

I just did it with secret magic that renders my dot post invisible. I'm tricksey like that.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

Yes. I think that Odrick really wants to be able to full-attack with his lightning though, so your suggestion doesn't help him work toward that.

If the GM doesn't like the idea of an at will energy blast as a normal attack your suggestion might be a good one for balancing out the low power of the standard action version.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,
Praetorix wrote:
Maybe give it Shocking Grasp's +3 (or better, even. Maybe +5) against metal things/weapons/armor?

I thought we were trying to come up with a mechanical compromise for allowing Odrick to use blasts as a normal attack?

The issue (as I understand it) is that the designers feel that an at-will touch attack as a normal attack is too powerful.

Odrick feels that the blast is underpowered as a Standard action.

So my suggestion is to let him use it as an attack, but only as a Touch attack against certain enemies.

You seem to be saying that he should be able to have it always be a touch attack, with a bonus against certain enemies. Are you thinking of the shocking grasp mechanics with the Standard action attack version, or as the normal attack version?


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

How about a compromise? The blast attacks normal AC, but is resolved as touch against enemies with metal weapons or armor.

Makes it very good against humanoids but not nearly so good against any other kind of foe.

Thoughts?


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,
Praetorix wrote:

@Carcosa- not sure what the second word you put there means, and Google isn't helping. But the first was a type of cell division.

The first one was the name of the greek god of confusion, (which i realized was inaccurate as a descriptor).

The second means "pathlessness" which is about as close as ancient greek gets.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,
Rynjin wrote:

I'm just not sure I could get the same feel from other elements besides Fire and Lightning. They just have a different quality than the other elements. it's their inherently dangerous nature, I think. You can touch Earth, Wind, and Water in certain contexts and it's fine...you can never touch Fire or Lightning.

.

Is Acid an option? I haven't really looked at the kinetisist at all.

If a full attack isn't an option, how's the energy blast work with Vital Strike?


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

Pretty sure Aporiakinisis isn't something we want to allow...


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

If it's any consolation, I'm going to take the lightning Death Curse rage power at 4th level. As my summoned creatures die they'll start passing out Vulnerability to Lightning. I picked that one specifically to synergize with you.

I could do that with any energy type, so if you decide to change yours just let me know. Whatever you go with, I'll boost.


Raging Song 8/8, Summon 8/8, Smn Spells 1st 3/3, Skd Spells 1st 3/3,

We have such sights to show you...


That Doctor's Note report looks fun.

I think I'll write one out when I do my Stash tomorrow night.


Since the 500 gp worth of stuff isn't available at the start, I will figure out my personal "stash" at a later point.


still here. Looking forward to selection.


Please go Selective first. Then improved. No reason to make your party suffer for two levels just for a +2 to your DC. A 15 is plenty at first level.


Seth86 wrote:

Introducing Rex. Quantum Graduate

Male human (Azlanti) rogue (unchained) 1/ wizard (primalist) 1

Azlanti?

Aren't they a Golarion specific, extinct race that give a +2 bonus to every attribute?


The Gamemaster in Yellow wrote:
I'm just wondering if the 'all ancients but one are dead' ending is canon.

Given the nature of the beings and the story itself, I kinda doubt a little thing like dying would stop them forever.

That is not dead which can eternal lie, and all that jazz.


The Gamemaster in Yellow wrote:

Carcosa- I have lurked for years and have read several campaigns here on the messageboards. I know the quality of your characters and roleplaying, so trust me, you're a strong candidate. Out of curiosity, have you ever played Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem? They're supposedly working on a sequel to that. Combined with the fact that there is supposedly a Call of Cthulhu game coming out on next-gen consoles the end of this year or early next year, Lovecraft fanboys have much to be happy about!

Oh yeah, love that game! I can only hope that they make a sequel that lives up to the original. It was a masterpiece.

Pargon! Pargon! Pargon!


Darthrancor wrote:

I'm definitely thinking more the second option. But for curiosities sake, how old would he have be if he was apart of the previous government?

Unless there's some serious changes to the timeline, the current king is the fourth of his line and he's in his thirties.

That puts the previous dynasty at about 80-100 years in the past. If you were an elf or dwarf you could probably be old enough to remember it.


Ok, here's my submission.

Carcosa is Skald/Summoner who's been in Branderscar Sanitarium for quite a while. He's polite, eloquent, and has a habit of saying very strange and unsettling things. His full backstory is in his alias.

The inspiration for the character comes a bit from Hellraiser and a a bit from The Whisper In Darkness.

As far as his party role is concerned, he is a Support character filling a similar role to a Bard. He has quite a few social skills and knowledges. He'll be tossing out a lot of buffs and summoning up things that will help keep the party from getting their butts kicked. he's a handy fellow to have around, particularly for anyone who is a martial character.

As a player, I'm very experienced and reliable. I'm at somewhere near 20,000 PbP posts on this site from various games i've been in over the years. I am a huge fan of lovecraftian-style horror, and really plan on delving deep into the minutia and lore with this character.

If you pick me I promise you will not be disappointed.