Djzero's page

Djzero has been tweaked and is ready to go.
Changes:
Charisma dropped to 6; Intelligence raised to 12.
Added skills: appraise, craft (stonemason), knowledge (nobility), profession (nobility).
Dropped feat: ironhide; added feat exotic weapon proficiency (dwarven sphinx hammer). This lowers his AC slightly but gives him a weapon that can do more damage and that can be thrown. If you think he is not as potent offensively as is needed, I will drop combat reflexes and add power attack to boost the damage more when necessary.
Replaced some racial traits with alternate trait. He now has SR 9 and can use non-magic weapons, including unarmed strike, to do half damage to incorporeal creatures.

I think Djzero can serve as a front line fighter but he has some additional skills and abilities to offer in the area of spotting traps and secret doors. He will be very hard to affect with magic and is particularly potent against undead. His background is a natural fit for the AP as he has trained all his life to be able to deal with the maintenance of necropolises.

See the profile for the crunch and fluff. I have provided a modest background entry because if selected I want to adjust it to fit the needs of explaining why he is being added to the party. Some of the background elements were generated using the Ultimate Campaign sourcebook. If the GM has a suggestion for how that background could be changed to better fit the storyline, I'm happy to make changes.

Edit: I just remembered you want a wish list. I'm going to add that as a spoiler on the profile. I'll also add a spoiler with some notes about my experience as a player and GM in a spoiler on the profile.

After thinking about it a bit, I'm going to make some adjustments to the character, so you might want to hold off doing a close study until I post my 2nd draft. Nothing major is going to change, but I've decided I want a few more skill ranks, so I'm going to do something I don't usually consider and drop the charisma to 6 and work out how to boost the Int up to 12. As mentioned earlier, I also want to adjust the racial traits a bit as well. I think these changes are in line with the character concept and not power gaming.

The Pahmet dwarves are likely less comfortable and skilled at social interactions, so the low charisma is consistent with how I planned to RP the character anyway. I plan to add a skill rank in a craft and profession skill to give the dwarf some skill at stone mason work. That seems consistent with the character concept as well, since he could then be consulted on crypt construction and is also consistent with the Terra-Cotta Monk's focus on stone and earth. I will probably pump the remaining two ranks in knowledge skills. Djzero will never be an expert, but I like to at least have the option of making a roll when there is knowledge to be gleaned.

Anyway, I'll post again when I've made the adjustments and I'll have a spoiler at the bottom to detail how the skill ranks were distributed and the scores calculated.

Death’s End: Some Pahmet come from long lines of guardians who train to defeat any undead that enter the tombs they protect. Dwarves with this racial trait gain a +2 bonus to AC against undead and a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities cast by undead.

This replaces defensive training and hatred.

Does the bonus to saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities from this stack with the Hardy trait which gives a +2 racial bonus to all spells and spell-like abilities? By the usual rules for stacking bonuses, they would because the Death's End bonus is untyped while the Hardy bonus is a racial bonus.

For reference:

Hardy: Dwarves receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison, spells, and spell-like abilities.

FYI, on the web site differences, there are 4 things to remember:

1) Archive of Nethys is now the official home of the material.
2) Archive of Nethys gets to include the full text, including the non-open source information, because he makes no profit through his posting of the site.
3) Because there's no profit, the Archive of Nethys is basically a labor of love, and the guy hosting it has a lot of trouble keeping up with everything.

4) Because it is a for-profit site, PFSRD20 has to use ONLY the open-source material, but they can pay for a staff, and their site incorporates all the errata . . ..

...

Good to know; thanks! I'll check for errata on Heroes from the Fringe and post if I find anything.

I'm probably going to adjust Djzero's racial traits regardless of what the decision is on this to replace greed with lorekeeper and to replace weapon familiarity with shadowhunter.

If the benefit of Death's End does not stack with hardy, I will probably replace hardy with magic resistant.

Edit: I didn't find any errata. I'll post a question on Paizo rules forum thread. See what others think.

"Djzero” wrote:

Does this mean that the bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities cast by undead stacks with the bonus from Hardy, since only Hardy mentions the racial bonus? If not, then maybe could the Death's End replace defensive training and hardy? If not, then I'll see if I can replace Hardy with something else.

Given the confusion from different sites (Archives vs. PFSRD), I will need to see the source material in order to make a ruling on this one. I don’t own this book, can you get me access to it?

Here is the section in Heroes from the Fringe on Pahmet Dwarves.

Pahmet Dwarves

The Pahmet have been present in Osirion since ancient days and claim to have been sent by the gods to warn the pharaohs of impending crises and disasters. Though most scholars suspect that claim is more legend than history, the ancient pharaohs of Osirion treated the Pahmet with great reverence. In return, the Pahmet guard Erekrus, a necropolis in the mountains of southern Osirion, where the Pahmet interred the bodies of pharaohs deemed particularly worthy.
The Pahmet are a rigid and often mistrusting people; it is common for its members who avoid contact with outsiders to have the xenophobic alternate racial trait. Many Pahmet have the lorekeeper, mountaineer, rock stepper, and surface survivalist alternate racial traits. Those who come from long lines of keepers who dedicate themselves to the guarding of tombs also often have the death’s end alternate racial trait described below.
Death’s End: Some Pahmet come from long lines of guardians who train to defeat any undead that enter the tombs they protect. Dwarves with this racial trait gain a +2 bonus to AC against undead and a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities cast by undead.
This replaces defensive training and hatred.

For clarity and ease of reference, the core rules state:

Hardy: Dwarves receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison, spells, and spell-like abilities.

Since it appears those with the Hardy racial trait already have a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities, the +2 bonus on saving throws and spell-like abilities cast by undead seems to add nothing, unless the two bonuses stack.

I was looking over the various bonuses Djzero gets from various racial traits, class skills, and traits, and I noticed something odd. The alternate racial trait Death's End (Source: Heroes from the Fringe, p. 5) states

Death’s End: Some Pahmet come from long lines of guardians who train to defeat any undead that enter the tombs they protect. Dwarves with this racial trait gain a +2 bonus to AC against undead and a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities cast by undead.

This replaces defensive training and hatred.

But the saving throws seem redundant to the racial trait Hardy: Dwarves gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison, spells, and spell-like abilities.

Does this mean that the bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities cast by undead stacks with the bonus from Hardy, since only Hardy mentions the racial bonus? If not, then maybe could the Death's End replace defensive training and hardy? If not, then I'll see if I can replace Hardy with something else.

Submitting a dwarf terra-cotta monk from the Pahmet people of Osirion. Details are in the profile. He is not an overpowering fighter, but he has very strong saves, a high AC (higher against undead) and lots of hit points. I used the standard PFS 5 points per level and put his favored class points into the ability to ignore hardness when striking with his fists. He has a natural connection to other Pahmet dwarves and monks who are tasked with preserving the sanctity of graves, so he could be drawn into the events not so much as someone wanting to get rich but as one wanting to make sure the dead are not disrespected.

I've never run a dwarf before but I like how Djzero turned out and I hope I get to run him.

"If these sky devils massacred your guards, they obviously have no honor. I am willing to fight them and show them what honor demands and the punishment for such atrocities," Tomeo speaks up.

Tomeo is a strong warrior who has been in the queen's bodyguard unit. His fur pattern suggests he is from a different tribe of Leeunids, with white fur marked by dark splotches, good camouflage in his northern homeland. In addition to his standard bodyguard armor and ranged weapons, he sports a long curved sword.

I still need to select Tomeo's armor and weapons. Hope to have that done by end of week (?).

See the profile for my progress on the 2nd PC. I'm pretty close to having everything except equipment selected. I'm still making little tweaks as I notice things during the process of documenting the rules for his advantages, disadvantages, and skills. Let me know if you see anything that requires adjustment or if you have any suggestions based on the culture of the Leeunids.

I'm obviously drawing on some elements of Japanese culture. Tomeo is a warrior, able to use guns as needed, but his focus of his fighting skills in on using a high tech katana (two-handed sword skill, although he can use it one-handed using the broadsword skill) with a smattering of judo and karate elements.

I haven't worked out much about his personality yet, but I imagine he'll be somewhat like a typical martial artist, modified by his disadvantages.

Do quirks count toward the disadvantage limit, or can I take -5 for five quirks?

I am using the 4th edition of GURPS Martial Arts. If you don't have a copy, here is a link to my PDF copy.

GURPS Martial Arts