Would you permit me to take the Vengeance story feat at first level?
Spoiler:
Vengeance Feat]Prerequisite: You must have a close family member or other loved one slain by a specific challenging foe or that foe's minions, or have the Raiders or Vengeance background.
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on saving throws, attack rolls, and weapon damage rolls against your chosen foe and known minions of that foe.
Goal: Thwart your chosen foe.
Completion Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on all saving throws. This bonus stacks with this feats's bonus against your foe and its minions, should they survive.
Maove's backstory involves the destruction of her town by a powerful orc and their raiders. Perhaps this could be a hook to tie her in with the overarching plot, such as having the orc that destroyed her town be one of the orcs the party must fight in the first book?
As I work on finalizing Maove's crunch, I wanted to ask about story feats. Particularly, I feel like Vengeance feat from Ultimate Campaign may be appropriate for Maove. I would imagine her foe would be the orc that slew her village (with exact identity of that orc to be determined by you, of course).
Vengeance story feat:
The need to avenge those you loved drives you to great deeds.
Prerequisite: You must have a close family member or other loved one slain by a specific challenging foe or that foe's minions, or have the Raiders or Vengeance background.
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on saving throws, attack rolls, and weapon damage rolls against your chosen foe and known minions of that foe.
Goal: Thwart your chosen foe.
Completion Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on all saving throws. This bonus stacks with this feats's bonus against your foe and its minions, should they survive.
A list of driving forces, aspirations, or secret desires - Remember the plot hook discussion above? Yeah, this is more of that.
Spoiler:
[Atonement] Maove is overwhelmingly driven by a need to bury her grief as deep down as possible. She does not believe that she has properly atoned yet for her earlier failures. In part, she settled in Trunau because it offered the possibility of a noble self-sacrifice in the future. She sees protection of Trunau as the only way she could possibly atone for what she sees as her sins.
[Kindness] Despite her anger at times, Maove tries to do the right thing and treat those around her gently. She's seen enough war and bloodshed during her life that she knows a small kindness can be the only kindness someone ever sees.
[Vengeance] In addition, she would love to kill the orc that lead the fight against her village. Perhaps this could be tied into a specific orc that she could encounter at some point? She tries to pretend that she doesn't want a brutal and vicious vengeance, but it's a craving that's etched into her very bones at this time.
[Forgiveness] Maove also desires to be forgiven by those she let down; her parents, her family, and her village. This is, obviously, impossible, but she continues to try to do what her family would want her to do.
[Distraction] Maove has become a workaholic since coming to Trunau and has made few deep relationships because of it. She's often the first one in the commons in the morning and the last one out at night. When the council requests someone to do odd jobs, she jumps at the chance.
Quote:
An IC post describing your recent history, and how you ended up in Trunau. Write it as if you are telling your story to a stranger at the pub who just bought you an ale. If you are a long-time resident, or someone just passing through, your story is interesting to him. Maybe interesting enough to buy you another ale?
Spoiler:
Maove glowers as the man approaches, obviously ignoring the fact that she's reading. Her face brightens a touch as she sees he has brought her an ale.
"Hey," the man says as he pulls his chair out with a scrape. He slides the ale, a dark brew with a good head on it, across the table. "I'm new here and you look like you've got an interesting story. Care to share?"
"Ah, thank you," she says as she takes a deep drink and sighs in satisfaction. "I'm Maove Stonekin. I help out in the Commons and serve as a guard for the town. Train up the young ones on how to hold a sword the right way. It's a struggle with some of them, but we make progress."
"But I take it that you want less of my resume and more of my history." Maove looks the man up and down, weighing her options. "Very well. I come from a small town on the Lastwall border, Firstspring. I lived there with my parents, my wife and our children. Orcs attacked and now there's no more village. I don't talk about it much, so if you want the salacious details, you'll have to get it through the rumor mill just like everyone else."
"I spent a few years travelling after that. I'd go from place to place, joining militias. Couldn't stick too long in one place, though. It was like a wizard greased my feet and if I stopped moving, I'd fall. Spent time in most of the usual haunts for someone like me; Lastwall's capital, a few villages on the borders, . Every place was either too much like home, fell to orcs, or too well-guarded and comfortable." Maove lets out a deep chuckle and places her book in her bag. "I couldn't stand Vigil and all those lordlings in their towers. How could be so comfortable while your country falls? I'd never want to be so safe when others are drying. Trunau suits me; it's a town full of survivors. It's got grit and I can do some real work here."
Maove finishes the rest of her ale and shrugs, "But if you'll join me in the practice yard tomorrow, we can talk more about it. I prefer to talk about difficult things while I'm doing difficult work. I hope to see you there. For tonight, though, have you ever heard of a game called Golem?"
Quote:
How long have you been playing PbP? New players are encouraged to submit. You have to get your start someplace, and the invited players I already have lined up are a good mix of people that can help show you how PbP should be played.
I started playing PbP about six months ago. I've been playing Pathfinder itself for several years, but I became more serious about the game in May 2013. As of right now, I've only played in one PbP that died a month in and a hybrid PbP game with my in-person group. I'm currently running two games, a homebrew fantasy game and a Second Darkness game. In addition, I have years of more relaxed forum roleplaying experience (as in, not related to any rule system, just collective storytelling).
My character sheet is not yet in my profile itself. I will be adding it tonight. The background information, etc, is accurate.
I present Maove Stonekin, a rivethun dwarf paladin of Erastil, for consideration.
Background:
Maove’s family comes from a long line of orc-fighters in Belkzen who have been tossed from their homes. Her family was one of the founders of Koldukar, at least according to the records outlined in the family book. After that, they settled in Blisterwell, which also fell to the orc hordes. The family history outlines more than fifteen settlements that fell to the orcs before the Stonekins relocated.
Maove was born the child of two stalwart defenders in a small village on the Lastwall borders. The village was thought to be too small to attract notice; named Firstspring by its inhabitants, it was a calm place, though most would not leave the town’s boundaries at night. While there was a nearby war trail, the fighting never departed from it. Erastil was worshiped strongly in the town and Maove had a deep interest in his church from a young age. After coming into their adulthood, Maove joined Erastil’s clergy as a paladin, devoted to maintaining the stability of the community and protecting it from harm. Maove and her family lived in peace for nearly fifty years, and Maove eventually married and raised a child with the daughter of the head cleric.
However, that protection failed the day fighting broke out directly on the trail. A bottleneck formed over the winter, and the orc raids were forced to turn aside, diverting them into the village square. While the Stonekin family stood strong against the orcs, their defense was not enough and broke under the onslaught. Maove’s parents sacrificed themselves to give their child enough time to escape the village.
As Maove fled, intent on seeking help, she did not look back; already, that day, her wife and child had died before them, struck down by the blade of a particularly brutal orc covered in scars and tattoos. However, once inside the border of Lastwall, no one would agree to leave and seek to return to save what was left of the village, and it became clear that the village was now within the Belkzen border. Maove was unable to return.
The next few years, Maove spent wandering and attempting to atone for abandoning Firstspring in its hour of need. Some time was spent in Vigil, though Maove never got along well with the worshippers of Gorum. Maove went on several missions to assist with pushing back the border, succeeding at times and helping to reestablish communities. Those small towns left her aching for her family, and her grief never kept her anywhere long. Finally, Maove pushed into Belkzen itself, trying to avoid and settled in Trunau. In Trunau, Maove has found a village to defend and stand strong with. In addition, her friendship with Agrit Staginsdar has helped Maove overcome some of her grief.
Description:
Maove is a middle-aged rivethun dwarf. She stands about 4 feet talk and wears her grey-streaked hair in multiple braids. She is rarely seen out of her armor and without her weapons, all of which are decorated with elk motifs. Her body is heavily scarred from years of fighting, and a particularly distinctive scar circles her forehead. Around her neck, she constantly wears a chain with a locket and a ring on it; both mementos of her family.
Personality:
Maove is a serious dwarf devoted to training for battle. She reacts badly to frivolity and has chewed out several young soldiers for making mistakes that could cost lives in battles. Even Jagrin Grath has come down on her for being too harsh, but he is glad to have her when during battle. Only then does Maove seems to be truly alive and at ease.
Those that try to flirt with her may as well be flirting with a stone wall. Some rumors abound that she is already romantically entangled with Agrit, as they spend long periods of time together, but Maove vehemently denies them. Few know of her past, and she hides it out of shame for having abandoned her community.
However, Maove does have an extremely kind side, once she softens up. During the winter, when it’s harder to spend time training, she passes the time whittling toys from pieces of scrap wood. She also attends as many hopeknife ceremonies as she can, and often provides the first bit of military training the kids had through snowball fights or fencing with sticks.
Character Sheet:
Maove Stonekin
Dwarf paladin 1
LG Medium humanoid (dwarf)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception -1
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Defense
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AC 15, touch 10, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor)
hp 13 (1d10+3)
Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1; +2 vs. poison, spells, and spell-like abilities
Defensive Abilities defensive training
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee greatsword +4 (2d6+4/19-20)
Special Attacks hatred, smite evil 1/day (+2 attack and AC, +1 damage)
Paladin Spell-Like Abilities (CL 0th; concentration +2)
. . At will—detect evil
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Statistics
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Str 17, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 9, Cha 15
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 14 (18 vs. bull rush, 18 vs. trip)
Feats Power Attack
Traits axe to grind, roll with it
Skills Acrobatics -4 (-8 to jump), Handle Animal +6, Survival -1 (+1 to get along in the wild, endure severe weather, avoid getting lost, spot natural hazards, and predict weather); Racial Modifiers lorekeeper
Languages Common, Dwarven
SQ rock stepper
Other Gear scale mail, greatsword, backpack, basic maps (major landmarks only), bedroll, belt pouch, brush, shaving (0.1 lb), cup, shaving (0.2 lb), flint and steel, flint and steel, hemp rope (50 ft.), holy text, knife, utility (0.5 lb), mess kit, mess kit, mirror, pot, shaving powder (one shave) (0.01 lb) (50), soap, straight razor (0.2 lb), torch (10), trail rations (5), waterskin, waterskin (2), whetstone, wooden holy symbol of Erastil, 12 gp, 5 sp
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Special Abilities
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Axe to Grind +1 trait bonus on damage against foes who are threatened by only you.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Defensive Training +4 Gain a dodge bonus to AC vs monsters of the Giant subtype.
Detect Evil (At will) (Sp) You can use detect evil at will (as the spell).
Hatred +1 Gain a racial bonus to attacks vs Goblinoids/Orcs.
Lorekeeper +2 for Knowledge (History) checks relating to dwarves and their enemies. These checks can be made untrained.
Power Attack -1/+2 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Rock Stepper Ignore rubble, broken ground, or steep stairs when taking 5 ft step.
Roll With It (2/day) Negate critical hit from giantish foe.
Smite Evil (1/day) (Su) +2 to hit, +1 to damage, +2 deflection bonus to AC when used.
