I found that a Fighter, Barbarian, and a Bard do quite well together.
Of course, this was a 3.5 bard with music uses per day. I haven't played a PF version yet so I cant rightfully say that it would work as well.
@ 10th Level I know my Inspire Greatness gave +4to hit and damage to all of us. just that gave me damage every turn, even when I was hiding behind the two big bruisers.
It was quite effective even against casters. I just had to make sure I had spells to remove paralysis, blindness, fatigue, exhaustion, and magic effects. Outside of that, my bard got a heal spell and a few Sonic's at each level. It was a good group that kicked ass.
How to play a real martial hero or a random anime protagonist in a single hardcover. No book ever was that wide in range and yet still so clean on rule interpretation.
Or yet So Broken It dose not play well with other 3.5 classes. That why It called book of The of Nine Broken Swords. Or the pay ahpha play test for D&D 4th ED. It plays fine if that all you play is nine swords stuff. But GM had nothing realy to conter your broke power it was cheese cake with creamcheese iceing with with multed cheese on top put in to grilled cheese samwich, covered in nocho cheese, floating on cheese fondue powers. And that dose not even cover 1/2 of the cheeseness that it was We called it the Game of Super Omga Tinky Muchkin. I hope the mthic stuff is not so bad.
I dont think that much cheese can be squeezed out of Bo9S.
Heroes of Battle, however, was a very fine addition to the 3.5 group of books and has one of my favorite prestige classes - War Weaver, which is bad ass for a bard...
Alternative class features. My favorite version of diversifying your character. Don't like prestige classes or the archetypes. Prestige classes were just used for dipping, and archetypes are just too rigid.
+1
I actually made a decent bard with alternative class features in 3.5
"Sometimes you have to lube the wheels... There is no grease in golarion"
My bard starts singiing "grease is the word"
Grease is the word (is the word that they heard)
It's got groove, it's got meaning
Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion
Grease is the way we are feeling
We play 3.5 and not PF, so... yep. Still use 3.5 content. :D
(We add PF stuff to our 3.5 game on occasion.)
I still like the 3.5 bard over the PF one. I did convince my DM to allow me to play a PF bard in every way, except, we replaced the rounds used for performance withe 3.5 music uses per day. Otherwise, it was a pf bard.
It ended up being quite a nice character.
Of course, most of the spells I had to use came from the spell compendium... more 3.5 stuff. :D
TY for the suggestion CuttinCurt. I needed a fun side-quest mission for my PCs that isn't pure hack-and-slash and this module looks like the perfect fit. I'll adapt it though so that the PCs are working for Isger .. and well, with the Isger-Cheliax-Andoren relationship, things will get messy REAL fast ;)
Totally off subject, but I love your avatar pic. (This is cuttincurt) I had this bard named Haman that went through the Rise of the Runelords. Not only was I almost skewered by that creature's viscious military fork, but I also took it for my own weapon the rest of the game. Nasty creature... nasty memory...
Though your method of team-building sounds right up my alley (since I tend to make up too many characters), I’m nowhere near Dallas and would have to resort to Skype. If everyone else is around a table, I’d only detract from the goings-on.
I’d still like to read any campaign journal you may see fit to write, even if you end up choosing an AP that I haven’t done and plan to.
Keil is a master at writing and would make an awesome campaign journal.
If I may, I would love to post a small exerpt from an email about our CC campaign. I know it gets off subject, but rarely do I get a chance to praise Keil except on our monday phone calls.
Written for Cornellius, a dhampir crusader of Aroden:
When the curate's eldritch energy took your eyes from you, everything changed ... In the space of a single desperate heartbeat, you went from a snowy, dark battlefield on the edge of a gaping maw in the cursed earth to a universe of darkness. You could still hear the sounds of fight ... the "thwip" of Casomyr's arrows and the "crack" of shattered bones as the animated skeletons flew apart on either side of you. You could feel the icy sting of the snowflakes and the heat of Krolimar's firebombs on your face. You could smell George's canine scent, and the tang of Kate's feral terror as the same wash of black energy took her sight, too. Your world contracted to what you believed you could hit with your mace because nothing else mattered ... You would either crush your foes, or join the blackened bones in the charnel pit. There would be no surrender to evil. Not today.
... and then the sensations all stopped. The last of the curates choked to death on his own blood and went silent. The snow on your skin and the all-consuming darkness were all that remained. That's when you realized that something had broken inside your mind. It felt like the curate's spell had over-penetrated your defenses and had broken through a locked vault door right behind your eyes. Something was loose inside you, now, and was exploring its new playground.
The others led you roughly by the arm back to the Inn where Rascka and the other Prince's Wolves began erecting barricades and placing sentries. You could hear people arguing over how much time you might have before either the Demon Wolves or the Whispering Way patrols discovered you, and how best to hold them off when all of the casters had exhausted their reservoirs of magic. Things seemed ... grim. Eventually, unable to assist and exhausted from your ordeal, you fell asleep leaning against the door you'd promised to die defending.
That's when the presence running loose in your mind made itself known to you. You began to dream ...
You come to your senses sitting in the lotus position in the center of a twenty foot diameter summoning circle that's been crudely drawn into a slab of red ground that appears to be made of living muscle tissue. Beyond your circle is an endless plain of dark blue sawgrass. Your circle sits in the bottom of a bowl; the grass rises around you on all sides. You cannot see what is above the rim of the valley walls. Above you, crimson and lilac storm clouds go scudding by from right to left, as if driven by terrible storm winds. The place smells of spring, and fresh growth after chilly rains.
You have never seen this place, and yet it seems achingly familiar to you.
Outside your circle are watchers … most of them are eight feet tall. Their headless torsos are faded red and made of the same wet, raw, muscle mass as the ground you're sitting on. Dozens of eyes in various colors and sizes appear haphazardly on the torso. An oily black serpentine body unfolds beneath the head/torso assembly before vanishing in the grass. Two massive arms sprout from the top of the torso, as if growing out of the back of a skull rather than from shoulders. Each arm ends in a set of black, chitiinous pincers that are as long as your body. You have no doubt about these things' ability to slay you should they choose to.
As you watch, the grass parts. An elderly halfling man dressed in a black, form-fitting priest's tabard and hose pushes the past the nightmare creatures. He wears a medallion of Aroden on a heavy iron chain. You're heartened by the sight of the crown set over the eye. The man seems inured to the creatures' presence. If anything, he dismisses them contemptuously in order to focus on you. He gestures to you and you float to him as if telekinetically drawn by his will.
The small, angry man turns and gestures at the grass. A line of heat springs from his eyes, and a path is burned through the grass. You are no longer in a bowl -- you are on top of a cliff overlooking an endless sea of boiling silver. The man pulls you to the edge of the cliff and points down at the roiling surf. You look …
Below you, hundreds of feet down, a gargantuan tree-like creature strides through the surf towards the beach. The beast has a central, globular mass that is covered in gaping, gnashing maws. From its back, hundreds of tentacles writhe in the air like an electrified hedgehog. On the beach, a hundred tiny humanoid figures appear to be chanting and prostrating themselves before the titan. You can hear their mantra of "Iä! Iä!" over the pounding of the surf and the shrieking of the storm winds. Where the beach meets the land, a village is engulfed in flames.
You turn to the angry halfling man in incredulity. He glares at you in exasperation, as if furious that you don't understand the importance of what you're seeing. He points again. You hear a deep, menacing voice echo in your head like the gong of a church bell: "Ancient things cannot be killed; they can only be suppressed for a time. Eventually … inevitably … they always crawl back out of the darkness and must be banished again."
Behind you, a hoard of levitating cuttlefish with iridescent fur mantles explodes out of the forest of steel trees as if in a mad rush to stampede right over you and off the cliff top. The little man in the black robes whirls. Wherever he looks, a beam of moonlight falls on a creature which makes it burst into flames. Animals scream like terrified human children. Flesh flows like molten candle wax. The man pushes you over the edge of the cliff, and you start to fall. As you plummet towards the surf and the terrible rocks below, you see through the clouds into the night sky. Thousands of stars appear to be chasing one another in a tremendously complex but mechanistic pattern. As they align, you realize that the starts themselves are tumblers in a lock, and somewhere a door is about to open in the sky.
Inspire Courage +1 to hit and damage with weapons
Hayman continues to rally his companions, stopping just long enough to cure himself with a cure lt. wounds.
I have no problem with you DM ing Hayman like that. So feel free. I put his thoughts up there so that just in case I wasnt able to get online, you had what I planned for the character.
Since I was down over 50% hp, I put up there that I was going for a cure lt. wounds. But its no biggie.
I do appologize about being away for so long, but I kept checking the week before and there was no activity, so I got a little lax in checking.
Hayman staggers from the blow, immediately feeling his head for the damage. When he felt the gash on his scalp, his smile quickly faded. Hayman was not surprised to see the deep red stain on his fingers and quickly pushed the wound from his mind.
In his mind, Hayman thought...:
someone, or something, was going to pay... in blood.
For DM - Hayman's planed action:
Hayman is preparing to heal himself on his initiative
Hayman follows Unruly towards the entrance, notching an arrow and starting his bard song with the oratory, "Ok Xiong, we are going to kick these things ass. I want to see a head fly atleast 15 feet this time..."
I am kinda glad this happened as I was out int he desert and had very poor connectivity. I really thought I would be able to smart phone all my posts... that was not the case. When I go out there again, I will make sure I make a post so that the GM can make an attack for me if it is needed. at this ppoint in the game, its not like I have earth shattering sound magic that can alter the course of the universe.
Hayman continues his banter, exorting Unruly to reduce another goblin into a bloody pulp. As he raises his bow to pop the goblin standing in front of him, Hayman says with a tad of sarcasm... "I'm guessing someone wants to get this thing off of me?"
Then he lefts the arrow fly point blank range...
aoo for the goblin as the keeping up of the inspire courage cost me a move action
Acknowledging the ease with which the rogue took the goblin out, hayman smiles to himself, then tells the squad (invoking his imspire courage ability), "Whoever can impress me more than Jeod already has gets his next round of drinks on me."
Hayman secretly hopes that Unruley goes into-slay them all mode-
everyone gets +1 to hit and +1 damage with weapons
Hayman makes a motion of locking his lips and throwing away the key, then gets his bow and arrow ready just incase something small, green and full of teeth comes running out of the entrance.
"A luring out seems like fun, and a little safer if you ask me.
Hayman pats Unruly on the back to calm him saying, "Fighing in the light of day strikes my fancy. I am pretty good at mimiking noises, if someone could tell me what the hell goblins like or dislike, I could possibly bring them out by creating those sounds"
After saying that, he realizes how stupid it sounds, then gives an appologetic wry smile to the group.
Xiong looks at Hayman quizzically, a vein popping on his forehead. He examines him a moment before responding, "What do you mean by that? Huh? My men--oh, you worthless retch of an excuse of a--Gah!... That was actually pretty good. Fine, they've got enough ale. They call me Xiong. Unruly Xiong. Anyone who comes back with fight is okay by me. We'll be great friends or bitter enemies by the end of the night."
Hayman gives Xiong a half smile and waves the barmaid over. As soon as he gets her attention, the bard says in a non-chalant way to the burley fighter, "Its good you backed down Xiong... I would hate have to get unruly."
Hayman orders Xiong a drink, giving him a sidelong glance to see how he responds.
Forgot to post traits on my character. Here they are...
Courageous: Your childhood was brutal, yet you persevered
primarily through force of will and the hope that
no matter how hard things might get, as long as you kept
a level head you’d make it through. You gain a +2 trait
bonus on saving throws against fear effects.
Armor Expert:When you wear armor of any sort, reduce that suit’s armor check penalty by 1, to a minimum check penalty of 0.
And to answer Unruly...
Hayman raises his left eyebrow in response to the brash proclamation, then sips his ale slowly, accidentally spilling a small portion on his armor.
Hayman makes a scene by dabbing his napkin on the spilled ale then looks up at Xiong... "So, you like your men submissive?"
This darws a chuckle from one of the nearby tables.
Hayman is a man that will look at each person in this squad and see only the potential of what they can be according to his perception. He will view this group as his squad, even though he will in no way asert leadership, and gently suggest tactics as he sees mistakes and emotional reactions being made to threatening situations.
His emtions are burried deep, but there are a few situations that will bring out the anger in him pretty quick.
His oratory and acting skills are to simulate his "drill sergent" attitude when pumping up his troops. When he yells, "What the hell Motha ----er! You fight like a pansie!" he is actually giving you a +1 to hit and +1 damamge on your rolls.
His actiing skill is a part of that as well, more so to cower others than to convince his friends how serious he is.
He is an older character and weaker than most. He is a translator, and will have tongues when he gets 2nd level spells.
I look forward to playing with you all and RPing the hell out of this thread.
I wanted to put up a post to indicate interest for this game as well before too much time passed. I am at work at the moment, but in a few hours I'll be able to get up a proper character idea as requested.
For a dungeon crawl I am strongly leaning towards a healer sort with a focus on unearthing ancient knowledge(either an oracle of lore or a cleric who likely has the knowledge domain).
Edit: Ah! I just was re-reading and noticed that while the APG is allowed it is only core classes. That makes the choice a bit easier and I'll be submitting a cleric.
Here is my character submission. I hope it is acceptable.
Character Sheet:
Hayman starts with the middle-aged template as he is a 48 year old human. This gives a -1 to all body stats (str, dex, con) and a +1 to all mind stats (int, wis, chr) If this is not allowed, then no problem, we will adjust the stats accordingly. I made stats for each type. I will take 1 level of Fighter in the first 6 levels to set up the possibility of going eldritch knight and to simulate my time in the military. Wether or not I go with a prestige class will have no bearing on that fighter level. I will take that no matter what. (95% probability at 2nd level)
1st-level: 2
Cure light Wounds
Comprehend Languages
writing style:
Hayman, the military bard
Hayman had a good life. A close knit family, two daughters and a son, a good wife and was well respected in his guard unit.
Once his wife passed away and his kids married and moved on to live their own lives, Hayman had an empty feeling build within him.
He retired from the military and after two years of doing nothing but wish he had done more with his life, he decided to go out in the world and travel and live a life he had always dreamed about.
Hayman's experience as a guard, and eventually as a squad leader for a group of guards, was constantly dealing with the lower, seedier side of the city in which he lived.
Having joined a thieves guild as a young teenager, his placement in the guard and subsequent protection of the land and homes that his guild was in control of, gave Hayman resources to find a scapegoat for one crime or another, and the ability to rise quickly in the ranks. With the diverse number of races that inhabited the region in which he patrolled, Hayman learned many languages over the years, which also became one of his most prize talents - (to be an interpreter)
Hayman is not a bad man, and his sense of honor and protection of others less capable of defending themselves is what brought the love and respect from the community in which he served. He had no illusions on who was really in charge in his community, but felt that bringing the guard and the guild in a closer working relationship was the only thing that would bring peace to both sides, and stop the occasional raids and retribution from both sides for past deeds done.
So when he left to go on his quest of discovery, the guild bought his home and sent him on his way out in style. He will be sorely missed by those that got to know him, but more importantly, the guild knew that who ever managed to befriend Hayman would have a loyal friend for life.
questions for the GM:
If we dont end up having a cleric, there is an awesome healing path for this character, but it would require some 3.5 prestige classes and an alternate class feature from one of the splat books. Its just an option if you change your mind on the materials allowed. I have no questions at this time.
As you can see, I created a new alias with my Hayman character as it was at the end when Jon left to go to Colorado. Once you create your main account, you can create an alias with your character name and use that to post. It also lets me look and see what gear you have and your +'s to hit and all that.
If you click on this character's name, it will take you to my profile page and you will see the basics, str, int, dex and stuff. It is here that we will adjust gear, stats, and everything so I can keep up with it.
This will really help and I know it is alot of work to get things started, but in the end, if we ever do another of these, we will start as 1st lvl characters and the progression will be quite more seamless.
