Mathesar Leesma's page

Highlight and crl + c. Standard procedure for me before I post anything, no matter how small, even before a preview. Sucks loosing a post and, trust me, it will happen again.

Ctrl + A then Ctrl + C is my SOP.

Mathesar posts the hat back to Ryanne with a short note explaining that he forgot to return it with the dress. He then draws a hot bath - a water bath, rather than an atmatic one or the exotic oil, sand, or sonic ones he has just in case alien societies have differing ideas of cleanliness.

How do I know he didn't see right through my disguise and called me a girl just to be polite? thinks Mathesar as he soaks in his bath. Modern society certainly makes getting good feedback on disguises complicated.

Xan really is alien - he's the only one to have two classes with differing BAB.

Or rather would be if we were playing 3.5. Oops.

I noticed something interesting about most of the builds here - we all seem to have paired classes that are similar to each other.

Erast combines two primary caster classes.
Harbinger One and Mathesar each combine two 3/4 BAB caster classes.
Raal and Kieran each combine a 3/4 BAB caster and a 3/4 BAB ki user.

Xan really is alien - he's the only one to have two classes with differing BAB.

I can "only" hit a DC 37 now. DC 40 is next level if I buy another +1 to it.

The full break-down is as follows:

• 20 int (+5)
• the Mindchemist ability Perfect Recall doubles Int mod on knowledge checks (+5)
• Full skill ranks (+3) and class skill bonus (+3)
• Bardic Knowledge adds half bard level to knowledge checks (+1)
• the Archivist ability Loremaster lets me take 20 on a knowledge check once per day

Odd question. I could conceivably hit a DC 40 Kn(local) next level. The problem is that I have no idea what sort of facts that would cover - "Know hidden organizations, rulers, and locations" is only a DC 20, and "really tough questions" are DC 20 to 30. Merely taking 10 tells me where the thieves' guild equivalent is, who really pulls the strings in government, where the illegal rave equivalents are being held, etc.

Are any of the following DC 40 Kn(Local)?

• Locate a girl who stared longingly into a friend's eyes across a crowded bar last night
• Track down who first sold some valuable trinket
• Walk into a room full of strangers and know who they are
• Be dropped blindfolded into a city and tell where he is without asking anyone
• Know gossip about who the local Mafia don's daughter is planning on eloping with this week
• Locate (if not access) food/shelter/restrooms in an alien society he knows nothing about (not even the language)

Just so I don't get blind-sided again (the future is clothing-optional, who knew?), a brief paragraph or two on interpersonal and intergender relations, courtship and mating rituals, sexual identity, and mating system(s) in the year 7512 would be nice.

EDIT: Mathesar knows far more about his socially-acceptable options in re: semi-higher status girl crushing on him than I do. For all I know, adding her to his harem, juggling geese together, having her pencil him into her day-planner once a week, or sending her a life-size nude statue of himself are all options that would resolve things. Enacting the Rite of Trygr from "The Adventures of Bo's'n Higgs" to make them blood-sworn is always an option (assuming she's that much of a geek). The frightening thing is that Mathesar could easily outdo me in lists of possible ways society could structure this sort of thing.

You can take 10 on this check and get it automatically.

Or I can roll and get it automatically... Is taking 10 on Knowledge checks something I can do whenever?

But now that I know that there is a life for me in space, it seems all to worth it... You opened up my mind, Mathee. I never connected with someone so wondrous as you. How can you expect me to just let you go like that?

"What a strange thing is woman! / What a whirlwind is her head, / And what a whirlpool full of depth and danger / Is all the rest about her" quotes Mathesar to himself. I seem to have no good options. Saying nothing might be the least bad.

You direct your thoughts back to Ryanne, as she gives you a cute smirk and says softly, with the perfect dash of spice...

"See you at the reception. I'll need that skirt back though."

Mathesar flamboyantly removes the dress, revealing... nothing. He looks no different after removing the dress than before. Five minutes before arriving at Anchor Center, he drank his extract of Disguise Self and disguised himself as himself; he then removed the real dress. He hands the real dress to her, winks, and walks back to his room in the illusionary one.

She can make a DC 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (20) + 19 = 39 perception check to pierce the disguise (which would probably give you a headache if he's wearing both dresses) or a DC 16 Will save to disbelieve the illusion.

Memory check: 1d20 ⇒ 8

After enough awkward silence passes that A.S. Sigma is out of earshot, Mathesar says "I can explain. Sort of. I woke up in this dress and couldn't find my clothes. What should I have done - ganked someone else's and made them decided whether to walk home naked or in a dress?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Perhaps I should've left the dress and trusted that I could get home before I ran out of Disguise Selfs to cover my nakedness, he thinks. I probably shouldn't mention that option to her.

EDIT: the dice seem to realize it's a lame excuse ;)

So, did I managed to escape from the admiral steward?

If he wasn't an admiral steward I'd give him a piece of my mind - little girl - I'm all woman, Mathesar thought angrily to himself, faking a cough. "Yah, we're, like, friends. I'd love to stay and, like, chat and stuff, but I really must be going. I'm not, like, feeling too hot and I'm pretty sure I left" *Fake cough* "I left the stuff I'm s'posed to be taking for this cough back at my flat, and I need to take it soon, yuh know, so if you don't mind I'll be on my way..."

Mathesar will use his racial reroll; Bluff check:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22 or 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22. If no one stops him, he'll hurry homeward.

EDIT: If a horse ride is offered, he will beg off it by pointing out that he is wearing a dress.

Old-school Int Check: 1d20 ⇒ 10
Kn (Nobility) to recall who this guy is (name and other details): 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (12) + 15 = 27

Mathesar awoke as the sun started to shine into his eyes through the window, err, skylight. Thoughts filled his mind. This isn't my room. What am I wearing? So the rumors are false - spiking drinks with alchemist's kindness doesn't prevent hangovers - ouch. What happened? He closed his eyes again and forced his mind to focus. Jumbled images flashed through his head: a lot of people, a swimming pool, his head in a punch bowl, some more-than-symbolic union of two species. Now I remember - the guys threw me a going-away party, he thought. Still doesn't explain the dress I appear to be wearing.

He opened his eyes again, shielding them from the dazzling sun with his hand. There was a note on the pillow next to him which he picked up and found to be someone's contact information. The name means nothing to me - not only does it not ring any bells, it is a bare personal name, probably parent-invented since I can't tell if it is Rhaelian or Kajiiatan. Or even what gender it is for. Heck, it literally means 'nothing' to me - in Tla'n. He chuckled to himself, then winced as pain reminded him that he still had a hangover. Whoever left this must either have been enough of a geek to appreciate that bon mot, or too drunk to care, I hope the former.

Mathesar crawled out of the bed, discovering in the process that his bag lay on the floor next to the bed. Heh. I'm clearly still a model alchemist, even while dead drunk. I may lose my clothes, but I'll never lose my gear. He prepared and drank the alchemist's kindness he had in his bag, then spent a few minutes working out from what he had mixed the day before from what ingredients were depleted. Two Polypurpose Panaceas. Makes sense. I'm one of the few who can hand that out. Someone else probably had Enlarge/Reduce and all the other fun things covered. I pulled two party tricks of some kind with Disguise Self. And I made and drank a charisma booster, that explains why I feel worse than usual.

He wandered through the detris of what must have been one hell of a party, reciting snippets of plays to focus his mind. "...it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to..."

After not finding anyone else awake or any of his clothes (or any other ones lying around) except his shoes, Mathesar left a note and the building. It was a manor house with a swimming pool out front filled with a large variety of things which were not his clothes (he checked). I should probably return to my apartment and make sure I didn't lose my new uniform. I hope I did the logical thing and wore an illusion of it, which would certainly explain my current lack of attire if I wore nothing else. Since this is all I've got to wear for now, I might as well go all in. He then mixed Disguise Self, fished a woman's hat out of the pool, raided an unattended purse nearby for beauty supplies, prepared himself, and left for his apartment.

He leaves at about 1 pm. He hasn't drank the extract yet. Disguise check:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

4.) Zooksokan - It is the oldest known language and is considered a more "biological" language. Meaning, the actual hominid shape, design, and overall biology, provide the means for this language's emergence. In other words, the Kajiiatans primitive ancestors spoke something very similar to Zooksokan, as well as the Rhaelians. This is not a common language to know, as mostly archaeologists and other scholars would probably know it. This would be important for you, Mathesar and H1.

How complicated is Zooksokan? Are we talking caveman grunts, or a full-blown language (which I assume would be evidence for existence of the Alpha Humanoids)?

5.) Felinese - Communicate with cats from ANY planet, and uncover their secret plot to take over all of the universe.... s$@!, I ruined the ending!

How smart are these cats?

It may be worth Mathesar to focus on bombs of the controlling type (smoke and such) since he'll be looking at soem decent dc's with his cognatogen. And he's only one or two bard spells away from things like grease which are also good things to ahve for that role. He can still function in his face/skill monkey role just fine without sacrificing much. Heck given your status as a scientist it might be worth just dumping weapon finnesse for something more suitable to the character. Lingering Performance maybe? Up to you. Just my thoughts. I just don't see you getting much use out of it between me and Raal running around ripping people to pieces.

I'm switching Weapon Finesse to Blind-fight. OoC for bombing through smoke bombs at level 3, IC for meeting blind aliens.

Kieran will fill the role of 'Anvil' fairly well and will be minoring in 'Arm' (fun read btw, TarkXT).

Mathesar is Arm and Hammer, but I'm not so sure how good he's going to be at either. He's more a skill-monkey/face than a fighter.

Aye, aye, sir!

Oh wait, are you referring to Star Trek? I promise the uniforms are not nearly as plain! I envision them similar to the formal SeeD outfit from FFVIII but with different color Rune-ranks along the right breast that indicate the field their occupation is in.

CSA Guard Corp: Crimson

CSA Research Team: Teal

CSA Diplomacy Team: Maroon

CSA Atmatonics and Engineering Team: Navy

CSA Sociology and Anthropology Team: Pearl

So I'm either Diplomacy Team: Maroon or Sociology and Anthropology Team: Gold.

So what do Rhaelian and Kajiiatan sexual mores look like? (I'd like to know how much I should play up the "Captain Kirk" vibe I've got going.)

Also, is there a swimming pool on-board?

Also, are there any other animi on-board? (I've got a limited number of species that think in different ways than I do to practice with before the real test, so I should make the most of every opportunity, Mathesar thinks to himself.) Is my role as translator going to be replaced in whole or part with "wands" of Tongues?

Dibs on the red coat ;)

That's my line.

I just received a PM from nightflier and he has to unfortunately bow out. I do have another potential Eradani which I think I'll throw on, but he has another character written up that is a tech-junkie. He seems like a nice guy as well. Any opinions?

Has a decision been reached on which character he will be playing?

Just to keep things tidy, here's everybody

Harbinger One, Commander and the captain's number-one.
Female? Animi Hexcrafter Magus 2/Vivisectionist Beastmorph Alchemist 2

Kieran Crane, Counselor, theologian, and xenobiologist. Advisor of the captain. Also is considered a cultural representative of Rhaelians.
Male Rhaelian Inquisitor//Monk (Ki Mystic) 2

Mathesar Leesma, First-Contact specialist and master linguist. Has an ingenious interpretation of communication.
Male Rhaelian Alchemist (Internal Alchemist, Mindchemist, Psychonaut) 2 // Bard (Archivist) 2

Erest, cultural representative of the Kajiiatans and a capable protector. He's an esteemed figure in Kajiiatan society.
(aka Erast of the Void) Male Kajiiatan Psion (Shaper)//Wizard(Teleportation) 2

nightflier (not game name)
Eridani

Raal, a war hero of the Kajiiatans and protector of the expedition team. A true "against all odds" kind of solider.
(aka Thrak'el Raal'orn) Male Kajiiatan Ninja/Magus (myrmidarch) 2

For a total of:
2 Rhaelians, 2 Kajiiatan, 1 Animi, 1 Eridani
4 Males, 1 "Female", 1 unknown
2 Alchemists, 2 Magi, 1 each of Inquisitor, Monk, Bard, Psion, Wizard, Ninja, 2 unknown classes

Share Language and Message sound like a must have for planet side missions and a wand of air-bubble might see some use as well.

Not just Share Language, Reach Share Language. Cultural taboos regarding physical contact are not a problem for Ensign Mathesar Leesma, First Contact Specialist. (We will have to break out the oils once I've used all my bard spells, though.)

Cultural Adaptation seems like a useful spell for contact missions. Comprehend Languages also comes to mind.

Cultural Adaptation will have to wait until one of us speaks their language (or UMDs a scroll of Tongues), but it looks useful. Comprehend Languages is probably going to see enough use that we might want a wand of it (Raal is the only one of us who can't use it, and I can just pass him infusions).

Harbinger One wrote:

I take it Mathesar is doing the infusion thing?

I hope so. It's substantially more cost effective than Brew Potion.

Yes I am. Just realized it wasn't on my character sheet. Free "potions" of range:personal spells for everyone!

Hey guys. Feel free to spend your gold mostly on stuff you'll personally want or use. A lot of that utility stuff with be provided by the CSA. But hey, if you want extra of it, by all means, you can spend your gold on it.

What sort of "utility stuff" will be provided? Mundane gear? Wands/potions/scrolls?

Coolio.

Anyone who would like me to prepare any wizard spells which are particularly good for them, let me know.

Well, I sort of haven't meet you yet (or learned that my job description has expanded to include planet-side duty), but when we do meet, a scroll or two of Color Spray might be helpful (even if I have to UMD it), since I lack offensive spells. (Although I probably should just buy bard scrolls rather than risk failing a UMD check in combat just to save a few gp.)

In a similar vein, would anyone be interested in any of the following potions: Endure Elements, Touch of the Sea, Enlarge Person, Reduce Person? Or Massage Oil of Charm Person or Oils of Share Language and Message?)

See the galaxy. Meet interesting people. Kill/punch/seduce them.

Do bard spells still require verbal components?

Cool idea. Would you be a diplomat of sorts? Or maybe with a more arcane approach as an empath? I like that title "First Contact Specialist".

Diplomat, certainly, Arcane, certainly, but I'm no empath, sir. I've got a rolling barrage of "Comprehend Languages" plus infusions of same, training in linguistics and diplomacy, a passing familiarity with most fields of study, a cognatogen for a painful boost to my already potent abilities, and can breathe hard vacuum for 14 minutes, just in case.

Applying as Mathesar Leesma, First Contact Specialist, Second Class, Sir.