Carmine Jolanka's page

rdknight here again.

This time I have Carmine to present. He's a Human (Varisian) Dirge/Soundstriker Bard. Carmine is from Lepidstadt, where he helps run a full-service mortuary owned and operated by his extended family.

I went with archery for Carmine because he's more on the caster side of the Bard spectrum. Dirge will give him some necromancy spells, and the ability to affect undead with mind-affecting spells, even if they are mindless. He should also be a bit stouter than your average Bard against the usual nasty undead tools, and very good at intimidation/ demoralization eventually. Sound Striker doesn't do much, but a ranged sonic attack is nice to have in one's back pocket. He'll be standard Bard good at knowledge checks and so forth.

If we don't have coverage for traps, disable device, and the yeoman Rogue tasks, I'm happy to dip a level in Rogue with him to cover that ground. Probably only the one level though, because I want to keep his casting on track.

Alright, I have Carmine the Bard here ready to go mechanically. Still need to add the BAP sections to his profile and buy gear.

I'm glad I decided at the last moment to change from alchemist to bard! That class got crowded real fast!

Here's my entry. He's ready to go but since he was a submission to a recruitment a long time ago I may have to tweak some details. I'll get that done by the end of the day.

Money: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 6) = 12 x 10 = 120 GP

Name: Carmine Jolanka

Race: Human

Class: Bard (Dirge Bard / Sound Striker)

Campaign Trait: Merchant Connections (Mormuk Goldfoot? I don't know the differences among them if any so I don't know which to choose right now.)

Motivation: Carmine's family has been in the coffin making and funeral business for several generations. Among the sons and daughters of each generation of Jolankas there can usually be found a member of Pharasma's clergy, a coffin builder or two, an accountant, and an expert in planning and organization.

Carmine is a rarer breed for the family. He has always had a song in his heart. Adding funerary performances to the services the family offers has been good for business, and Carmine's relative eccentricity is well received by the rest of his family.

Carmine is rather extroverted and buoyant compared to the average person in the funerary business. His gallows-oriented sense of humor typically makes him the life of the party among the dour folk around him. He loves his work. He provides a community service that also puts money in his pocket; what's not to like? He does believe deeply in the value of the family's service to people, and does his utmost to meet the needs of grieving widows and daughters. Carmine is not a particularly brave young man, but he does believe in his luck. While he thinks it is holding out it can be enough of a substitute for actual courage.

As for venturing into the Emerald Spire? Money. He's not going to get rich doing what he does now. Besides, with seed money for investments he could take the family business to new levels of quality, and expansion into new locations would be an excellent move if it could be afforded.

Background Skills: Perform (Sing) and Perform (Percussion)

EDIT: Oops, just realized Carmine is at 2nd level so I will need to take him down to 1st.

By the time I read though all the new posts last night I was too tired to post myself. It would have had to have been a long post with multiple, time-lapsed entries that wouldn't have affected story progression anyway.

I've thought about it and, between the time zone differences and continuous updates through the day, there's no way I can expect I will be able to keep pace with the game. I'm going to drop out now, since it will be easier and more seamless to replace me early compared to later on.

It's rare to be able to play quickly, and this looks like it will be a great campaign. It's just not going to work for me with my limited ability to post. Enjoy it everyone! I'll probably read along occasionally to see how it progresses.

I won't be able to update until tonight (here) could we pause advancement until I have a chance?

"I can certainly remain here while you settle your affairs Miss Lorrimor. I live in Lepidstadt and delivering the books will be an honor."

"He did research all kinds of undead to learn how they can be destroyed. And how to oppose those who create such abominations on purpose."

"I can attest to that, it is how I first into contact with Professor Lorrimor. I am Carmine Lolanka and my family is in the business of providing funeral and burial services. I was once the only survivor of a service where the deceased rose as a wight during the ceremony. Professor Lorrimor was interested because it was such an unusual occurrence.

As I would learn from the Professor, wights typically are created by other wights and arise almost immediately after death. In this case the deceased was a "wight of possession". A powerful evil spirit bonded to the body after death, arising spontaneously as a wight.

[b]The Professor interviewed me extensively about the facts and circumstances, but I must say I am sure I learned far more from him than he did from me. He was certainly generous with his knowledge. It appears I did not know him as well as many of you, although we did continue to correspond. But, I found him to be a man of keenest intellect and good heart."]/b]

Carmine is neither surprised nor made uncomfortable by Tamara's breakdown at the funeral. It is a perfectly normal reaction, and he is prepared for it.

He offers the weeping woman one of the several handkerchiefs he habitually carries for such occasions. He wraps his arms around her and allows her to finish and recover herself. He does all of this in silence. It has been his experience that there is little of comfort that can be said at such times, and besides the extra talk distracts from the service.

I may be one of your bigger time zone headaches. West coast of the U.S., Pacific Time Zone. Just woke up.

When all who wish to have spoken, Carmine sings a simple and solemn dirge. He chooses a simple and formal one. A Pharasman hymn calling upon the Lady of Graves to look upon the soul of the departed seeing the best and brightest in its flicker of time in the world. He keeps time with his tambourine.

"Characters serving as pallbearers are considered to have both hands full as they carry the heavy coffin up the road." Sorry but that makes your tamburine play impossible. I would allow that normally and ignore that but it has mechanical consequences down the road. So if you read this in time please change your post accordingly.

Alrighty

what about a Keytar? that strange thing designed in the 80s

Beautiful idea but until an alchemist can build Carine a battery for one, it would be a little underwhelming. :p

Wikipedia says this works. As keyboard instruments are indeed defined by the keys and the indirect creation of sound only and not the type of their sound production (like strings or blowing)

Thanks, not getting one right now. But certainly later.

It says or, so you can chose which one you want to use, you don't need both.

One alternative for keyboard could be the accordion.

Personally my favorite bard instrument is the violin. If I was the GM I would definitely allow that :p.

True, but I like options. Why play one instrument when you can play two?

I thought of the accordion first. I had a girlfriend who played the accordion, they are a drag to lug around, heavy and bulky. A concertina isn't much more than a book by comparison.

I have a bard in another campaign who plays a rebec, so violin might get a little repetitive for me.

Carmine has expected to offer a performance as the group made their way to the graveyard, but he says "Of course my Lady" and takes a position as a pallbearer.

He selects a position across from someone who is approximately his own height of 5'8 so the coffin will be even during its transport. He directs the other pallbearers into positions to accomplish this. Tallest on the four corners, and shorter on each side. The coffin might not sit heavily (or at all) on the shoulders of the side pallbearers, but the appearance of the coffin will be dignified.

How tall is Herm? Tairan? Tamera's only 5'2 so not a good opposite for Carmine.

Hm, I've been trying to figure out how to deal with the keyboard/percussion requirement for Dirge Bard's "Haunting Refrain" ability. Tambourine is percussion of course, but keyboard is difficult. As atmospheric as a pipe organ make be, the encumbrance would be murderous.

What about a concertina? It was buttons but same idea as keys really.

Last to arrive is a handsome young man of medium stature with long, slightly curly black hair. He is dressed in a fine black velvet suit, perfect for the occasion. Although perhaps a little late, his solemn gait and demeanor are exactly matched to what one would expect of a funeral attendee.

He bows slightly to Kendra Lorrimor.

"Greetings Miss Lorrimor, I am so sorry we meet under such tragic circumstances. Your father the Professor was a man of great intellect and talent. I am sure he would have made many more contributions yet to the world if not for his untimely death. You have my condolences. If I can be of any service to you please do not hesitate to call on me. I will do my utmost to ensure your needs are fulfilled."

You could pick up a drawback for a third trait Ammon.

@Carmine: I'll have some suggestions for you when I get to a computer. The generous point distribution should allow you to be decent at either melee or ranged if that's what you want.

As an aside, how would you feel about playing out the other side of an relationship with Tamara, even if it doesn't have any mechanical implications?

With a heavy shield and a holy water filled battle aspergillium, a bard can have both decent damage (against undead) and AC, even if it won't break any records.

Heirloom Weapon (Fauchard) or going half-orc could make for a decent 2h build, especially with the old version of the trait.

I did go ranged, but picked up the battle aspergillium as well. It's so weird I want to give it a try. It also sounds like something a guy like Carmine might carry.

Hm, the Lovesick drawback? Does Carmine have to love Tamara back? :p Are you thinking some shared backstory or a first meeting at the funeral? I'm kind of liking the "meeting at the funeral" option.

You are worrying far too much at this stage of the adventure.

I don't have all encounters in my head but I actually thought about it for a moment before I decided how the group should be put together.

And in my world of sparkling unicorns and rainbows there will be offered solutions if we find out in the second or third book that there are shortcomings in the constellation.

Please don't change your character concepts for things that might happen or not.

Mostly I've just been trying to figure out how the character would work at all. It had been a long time since I'd read the dirge bard archetype, and I didn't reread anything before I threw my posts up. I had to go back and read the stuff and look into necromancy some since I've never used the spells before.

Having done all that now I did shave a point off charisma. I think Carmine can get by just fine with a 16. I distributed the extra points that gave me to raise his intelligence to 12 and strength to 13.

I've decided focusing on ranged will probably be best all around.

Carmine is finished now except for a last pass through for editing and to make sure everything is correct. I might look around to see if there's some replacement I want for his 2nd trait. But I might also be too lazy to do that.

Hey all, I'm still early stages on developing Carmine. Looking at the party I'm thinking that we could use a ranged character? I'd probably need to go with a slightly lower charisma and stick more to buffing with spells to do it, but I will if need be. The other option would probably be a support finesse melee fighter?

I'm a little stuck on which way to go since I won't do any of them all that well.

Here is a quick sketch for a Sound Striker / Dirge Bard. I still have a lot of work to do on Carmine, especially figuring out the specifics of his build, but here is a little bit about background and personality.

Carmine's family has been in the coffin making and funeral business in Lepidstadt for several generations. Among the sons and daughters of each generation of Jolankas there can usually be found a member of Pharasma's clergy, a coffin builder or two, an accountant, and an expert in planning and organization.

Carmine is a rarer breed for the family. He has always had a song in his heart. Adding funerary performances to the services the family offers has been good for business, and Carmine's relative eccentricity is well received by the rest of his family.

Professor Larrimor approached Carmine as a subject of study after a very unfortunate funeral Carmine had worked. Only Carmine and the corpse walked, or in Carmine's case ran, away from the service by the time the chaos had ended. Professor Larrimor was quite curious about Carmine's surprising survival, and interviewed him extensively about the experience. ("Subject of Study" Trait)

Carmine is rather extroverted and buoyant compared to the average in Ustalav. His gallows-oriented sense of humor typically makes him the life of the party among the dour folk around him. He loves his work. He provides a community service that also puts money in his pocket, what's not to like? He does believe deeply in the value of the family's service to people, and does his utmost to meet the needs of grieving wives and daughters. Carmine is not a particularly brave young man, but he does believe in his luck. While he thinks it is holding out that can be enough of a substitute for actual courage.