I think I'll drop out. I was mostly just interested in playing griffons, and it seems like there's a lot of other players, so I won't see if the Sorcerer/Oracle idea tickling the back of my brain would make anything interesting. Have fun all!
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Seeing that all of the bad people around him are dead, Sharptalon turns and cautiously advances into the darkness.
Sharptalon will focus on finishing off the shield wall. (Do you even need rolls for this?)
Yeah, unfortunately, CR is a very poor way of estimating how powerful a creature would be as a PC. For that matter, it's a rather poor estimate of how challenging it will be as a monster, but honestly, that's because there's no way to condense a creature's or PC's potential down into a single number. Now, that being said, I don't think intra-party balance is a necessary thing in many games. Certainly in a campaign that's up-front about being insane it shouldn't be expected. That being said, too great of an imbalance is certainly a problem, and opening up monster builds does greatly increase the ability of players to make imbalanced builds, which is already bad enough with just a single-class standard class character. So I'm rambling, and I'm not even sure myself anymore what my point is. Umm... I think what I'm trying to say is, yes you probably need to be more selective about what builds you allow, but please let me keep playing griffons even if Sharptalon dies. XD Okay, to be more serious, my *real* point is, GM's have to be the final arbiter of the 'balanced-ness' of any build, and that job gets a hundred times harder when you open things up like this.
I'll have you know that griffons are noble and intelligent beasts, who (almost) have a society and (not really) civilization of their own! *Sticks beak haughtily in the air*
Pathfinder assumes exact, measurable distances in its combat system so much it's extremely difficult to do without a map. For better or for worse, it's a part of the system. Thanks for making the map! How many and what kind of foes are we looking at in that other trench?
Sharptalon leaps at the shield wall and continues dismantling his enemies.
I rather thought he'd just walk out of the darkness. It does allow us to dismantle the shield wall before focusing on him, since I'm pretty sure the darkness is between it and him now.
Getting alchemist's fire thrown in his face makes Sharptalon mad. Really mad. With a wrathful war-shriek he slashes and bites at his foe, seeking to rend him limb from limb.
Not to mention you get back the grit point you spent, right?
Sharptalon shrieks a challenge as he takes to the air, flying over the shield wall before suddenly wheeling and diving down, landing behind the other alchemist's fire-thrower.
Of course, it could just be that cannon-arms immediately make me think of Samus Aran. =P Anyway, Sharptalon isn't much for independent tactical thought, so he'll follow whatever Incendia says.
Sharptalon seems nervous. ::Fly not get shot? Not arrows not Thumper?:: It's clear he's been trained to recognize the danger of flying near enemy lines.
Sharptalon was getting a bit more used to this mind-talking-thing now. He gave a slight nod. ::Yes, not get shot. Not fly now.:: He thought back.
Sharptalon crouches down to let anyone on his back who wishes get off, but his gaze is fixed on where their foe awaits them.
Sharptalon looked the halfling over, then nodded his assent.
Sharptalon puffed his chest out at the Lady's praise. He nodded to her as she finished, then looked over at Akumu and shook his head with a slight screech. Then he knelt slightly to let Incendia on.
"Sir!" The Sergeant saluted again and departed. Sharptalon is waiting outside, well away from the wagon and its tempting horses. He jumps slightly and screeches in surprise when Darkweaver 'speaks'. Darkweaver can tell that his thoughts are more than animal, though perhaps less than human. Some are more emotions than full thoughts, and none are expressed in words. Surprise! Uncertainty... Curiosity? He starts looking around at all of the strange creatures. Who talk?
There's a sound of large wings flapping and then a *thud* outside as the Captain finishes speaking. Not long after, another human in light armor, his insignia marking him a Sergeant, jogs up to the door. "Sir!" He salutes the captain smartly. "I've brought Sharptalon, per your orders."
Sharptalon would just gaze at you in blank incomprehension if you said something like that. He has a very... simplistic worldview.
I think Sharptalon won't be introduced until you're back somewhere more official. Also, I was just noticing how many evil monsters we have here...
Now I just have to decide how to introduce him... probably have his trainer bring him in and tell everyone to play nice.
Okay, I think Sharptalon is 100% ready now! I just thought I'd point out that someone *could* ride him into/during battle. He won't accept a bit, but he can understand Common. Well... though now I don't have a saddle in his inventory because I spent every gold piece on his magic gear. So you might have to provide that yourself.
Aw, so does that mean Sharptalon can't have Improved Natural Attack to make his talons sharper? :D I was remembering I had one other question--I put a 'Saddle of Resistance' in Sharptalon's inventory, figuring that saddles probably were the closest thing to a cloak for a griffon. Let me know if that's not acceptable, and I can try to think of a different item for him. But I suspect he'll need that bonus to saves...
I'm actually in the situation of getting more skill points from the monster side of my gestalt, too, though in my case it's because my Int modifier is so low I only get one skill point a level from all of my classes, so the extra griffon hit die means one more skill point.
Okay, I think Sharptalon is ready for war now. The only thing with him that remains a question is his use of Lesser Beast Totem--I'm assuming that it basically just buffs his talon attack, since it has a larger die than his normal talon attack. If it replaces it, though, I can swap that rage power out for another one, since then it would end up being weaker due to no longer gaining the benefit of his talon-focused feats. Also fully expecting my poor griffons to die often, because all they can do in combat is dive on an enemy and tear into it with talons, claws, and beak, and that's often not a good idea with really nasty opponents. Also because their stats are rather mediocre--less than a 20 point buy, when you get down to it. But hey, I get to play griffons, so who cares? Which reminds me, is there any possibility of character advancement (gaining levels/loot) if we manage to keep a character alive for a while?
Sharptalon, First Talon in the Griffon Cavalry, is nearly ready for battle! He just needs feats and some hit die rolls:
Bumping up rolls that were less than half, and adding Con:
...which reminds me, how is FCB going to work for a gestalt monster here? Should I count the other side of my gestalt as my favored class? |