Danny Morrison's page

Way back in the days of 3.5, there was a Forgotten Realms book called Unapproachable East with a race in it called the hagspawn. Unlike the weird-but-pretty female changelings of Pathfinder, the hagspawn was a hag's brawny-but-ugly son. Something about the idea was pretty cool, and I made a hagspawn barbarian character I quite liked, pretty overtly based on Caliban from The Tempest.

So now I'm wondering what the most optimal way to recreate this character in Pathfinder would be. Hag-riven bloodrager looks like the most obvious way to make a hag-descended tanky character, but is there anything else hag-related I'm missing?

I haven't seen many guides to optimizing the hag-riven, nor is it mentioned in any of the bloodrager guides I've seen, so I'm looking for some practical optimization advice for making this concept work. Reskinning the changeling is an obvious racial pick (although I don't see anything in the rules that says the archetype is exclusive to changelings), but I'm a bit leery of building a melee character with a charisma penalty, so I might just go human or even tiefling.

The hag bloodline works thematically but it also looks kinda weak.

I'm running a rather silly adventure involving rival adventuring parties, all of whom also play together as bands. This means there will be a large number of major NPCs and so I was wondering if anyone could recommend specific archetypes and/or race combinations well-suited thematically and/or mechanically to the different bands. It doesn't need to be optimized, but it does need to be at least functional. I'm also making Perform a class skill for everybody.
So far I have:

Stakes n' Bones, a hair metal band who hunt vampires
On vocals and guitar: dhampir inquisitor (kinslayer)
On solo guitar: half-elf skald (Fated Champion)
On bass: human sorcerer (shadow bloodline)
On drums: catfolk bloodrager (Destined bloodline, Prowler at World's End archetype)
could maybe also use a paladin or cleric on keyboards or something

Putrid Chalice, a death metal band who worship disease
On vocals: human spiritualist (Grim Apostle, with the pestilence phantom)
On lead guitar: aasimar (angelblooded) antipaladin (blighted myrmidon)
On drums: ratfolk alchemist (ectoplasm adept, plague bearer, vivisectionist)
On keyboards: probably a human bard (provocateur)?
Might also give these guys a cleric of Apollyon or some other disease god

Thud and Blunder, an orcish metal band along the lines of Lordi or Gwar
On vocals and guitar: orc barbarian (invulnerable rager)
On backup vocals: half-elf skald (demon dancer)
On drums: orc brawler (constructed pugilist)
On keyboard: half-orc sorcerer (red dragon bloodline)/dragon disciple

The Silver Mountain Band, a country band who hunt monsters
On guitar and lead vocal: human bard (silver balladeer)
On harmonica: human ranger (two-weapon style, not sure about animal companion)
On string bass and backup vocal: dwarf druid (menhir savant)
On banjo and backup vocal: tengu gunslinger (pistolero)

Vvviper, a glam metal band who are part of a snake cult
On guitar and lead vocal: vishkanya skald (serpent herald)
On backup guitar: vishkanya sorcerer (serpentine bloodline)
On bass: vishkanya gunslinger (mysterious stranger)
On drums: nagaji monk (scaled fist)
On keytar: human shifter (weretouched, deinonychus focus)

Also considering an occult-based R&B group and a Cthulhu-worshiping prog rock band.
Any more character options I should consider or ways to improve what I already have?

I have all of those stages, though not entirely in that exact order.
The city's founder was a ratfolk named Snye Welther. He built the city of Morrowmarsh (Ideation, Construction) deep in the Mudbottom swamps, and once things were up and running (Rocky Start) they were pretty good. They attracted the attention of some of the brightest minds around, and were a fully-functional self-sustaining city (Good Luck Run). Although mostly isolated, they did operate the Hospitality Towers, where officials from other governments would be hosted while they toured the city, since Welther was very proud of how well it ran and he wanted his ideas to be imitated elsewhere. As the Hospitality Towers became an increasingly prestigious place, it also became a minor resort for simple tourists, bringing in a bit of outside cash, but overall, Morrowmarsh withdrew from the issues of the outside world, with little need for trade in anything but ideas (Boom).
After Welther died (Crisis), power was seized by one of his most trusted advisors, the gnome Eisen Kals (Usurpation, a lot later than your model had), who had even more ambitious ideas: Welther had been content to build the society of tomorrow, but Kals wanted to build the people of tomorrow (Sin). His regime became increasingly obsessed with experimental surgery, mind-altering drugs, and other alterations to the humanoid form. He established a secret werewolf hit squad to dispose of his enemies. He also focused the Hospitality Towers more on pure hospitality than on exchange of ideas, although a few special guests from the hobgoblin Confederacy and other evil powers were given tours to see how he had cultivated a pliable populace: basically a Lawful Evil vision of "the city of tomorrow".
The people weren't as passive as he thought, though, and they began leaving in droves. Eventually Kals shut down the gates out of the city and put the whole place into lockdown, establishing martial law. This erupted into a full-scale civil war, and, with nowhere else to go, the city tore itself apart (Fall).

The kineticist really isn’t a weak option. But it is “tricky”, since you are much better off as a melee build that can switch hit when necessary. The first instinct for most is to focus on range, but the class doesn’t shine in that role.

Did not know this. I feel like that's really another reason not to take it, though, since we're already full to the gills with melee characters. We need some artillery and/or ranged debuffing.

BTW I like your avatar. The world needs more crocodile-headed rakshasas drinking tea.