It's been crazy for me this weekend, and will be today as well. I'll have a post in this evening (sometime after 3:00 PST).
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Nicator blinks and nods in understanding, eyeing the Ulfen leader cautiously. "I see. Be careful, you two--I'd rather not have to patch you up later." Cautiously, he gathers the energies granted to him by his patron. Gods... what a mess. What is that rock, anyways?
Hmm. There may be a way to adjust things in your favor, if your attempt is successful. DM (or anyone in general), are supernatural abilities (such as Evil Eye) detectable by enemies? That is, if Tarek were to get this fight, and Nicator were to, oh, Evil Eye the enemy leader a few times, would he know what was happening and who was causing it, and would his cronies know? Here is the general info on Supernatural abilities, etc. There's no verbal, somatic, or material component (per the info on SLAs just above where I linked), so I'm hoping that they won't know who did it, although I'm guessing that the enemy would know that something is off.
Nicator, a bit confused at how events are transpiring, carefully walks closer, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. Best to stay prepared for whatever happens... Gods Tarek, what are you thinking here? He glances causally to the side, gauging the dogs. One of them shook off a sleep charm earlier, but that may have been a fluke. At least I have another shot if need be. Cautiously, he clears his throat. "Pepper, would you mind translating for us? It's a bit hard to gauge what they're saying right now." And hopefully we won't have to fight... I'd hate to have those dogs strike at me, but I must be on hand. I suppose a mist might do if we need to run, but they've seen Grandmother's house. Gods! What have you done, Minnow?
Relinking map to save on scrolling up: MAP
No worries--apologies for my own delays in posting. It's been crazy for me the last few days. I'll have a post up in a bit.
Tactical note: I have an Enlarge Person on hand. I'm thinking of waiting until we're engaged with the Ulfen to use it--ideally, I'll throw it on someone who can get behind them, if possible (Einar, Tarek, I'm looking at you!). In the meantime, I'll just try to keep Weyland swimming in sneak attacks.
Nicator blinks in surprise as the Ulfen men run through the gate. Gods... what is going on here? As Weyland moves to guard Minnow, Nicator moves up to cover the child's side, attempting to ensure that ensuring that the dogs cannot This is stupid--extremely stupid... Better to let one of the stronger ones stand here... Nic focuses on the link between him and his unknown patron. Focusing his gaze on the nearest dog, he wills it to go to sleep, his nostrils flaring with the effort required. "Minnow, get back!" he shouts as he exerts the needed mental effort, as he begins to try and find the pocket containing his sling.
Nicator has been sitting upstairs, petting his familiar, Itzala, as he reuses some paper to try and map out what he knows about Grandmother's disease. There must be a way to figure this out... Gods, but I need more resources! Perhaps Anton could find a scroll or two for me... Distracted, Nicator jumps at Thom-Thom's shout, scattering his carefully stacked papers around him. WIth a quick command to Itzala to stay inside, he stands and runs down the stairs, pushing through the croweded rooms as quickly as possible.
Yep, that seems to be what's on there. Damn dirty dogs.... they'll blow it up!
From what Harakani's said before, that might be something that develops as we play, rather than something we start out with.I figure that, right now, we just follow the informal rules that boil down to "help each other out" and (to a lesser extent, perhaps) "listen to Grandmother." As time goes on, a system of formal rules of conduct could be quite interesting to RP writing out, perhaps after our first adventure, as it were. The Unseen Hand: A Guide to being a Good Grandchild
All this Nietzsche talk makes me wonder what a Golarion-Nietzsche would write about. That being said, I've always enjoyed reading his (well, Earth-Nietzsche's) aphorisms. Anywho, Nicator's also fairly quiet--generally happier in the background than in the lead. He prefers subtlety to force, and is generally more benevolent than not, but can accept the idea that some might have to come to harm (and certainly financial harm) for this group to prosper. He's not as efficient as Shaezon, but he'll do what needs to be done, whether it's covering an escape, aiding a theft, having an enemy take a nap, or patching folks up. Basically, in-group loyalty is what he's big on, and he'll act pragmatically for the group's benefit.
So, after discussing things with the DM, I've decided to go Hedge Witch. Harakani has ruled that both class features kick in at level 1, so yay Spontaneous Healing. Given the party composition, that should be continually useful (especially since it gives me a tool against undead). I will, of course, attempt to debuff and disable enemies when possible, but more healing as an option is always nice. I actually just realized that all of the casters have some flex--Anton and Aku are both spontaneous, while I'll have spont. healing, and Shaezon will have his bound spells. Given that, here's an adjusted non-binding tentative progression chart, which will potentially change as the group dynamic and tactics start taking form Spoiler:
1 Bonus Feat: Accursed Hex
1 Feat: Extra Hex: Evil Eye 1 Hedge Witch: Spontaneous Healing 1 Hedge Witch: Empathic Healing 1 Hex: Slumber 2 Hex: Cackle 3 Feat: Extra Hex or Crafting Feat 4 Hex: Lost for Spont. Healing 5 Feat: Extra Hex: Fly if not already acquired 6+: TBD Looking forward to starting up!
Hrrm. I think I will prep a CLW or two each day in lieu of healing hex--should be enough to cover general healing needs if we're smart and sneaky, and the heal skill will help fill in any long-term gaps. As far as hexes, here's a rough sketch of what I'm thinking of right now:
This should give Nicator plenty of utility for now, while prepping spells that allow him to help a fair bit with healing. I'll make a final decision about Cauldron at level 2--depending on how the group is doing so far, what has happened to the group (maybe it will make good RP sense at that point), etc. I'll probably pick up some more item creation feats as time goes on as well. For now, I'll snag a Healer's Kit and swap Stabilize into my cantrips memorized.
Hrrm. Here was my thought on it: it takes a hex slot, but frees up general spell slots for both myself and Anton. With healing hex, I free up resources for both myself and Anton--myself by freeing up spell slots for other things (more sleep, mist, etc.), and Anton by freeing up some of his spell slots for more inflictions and murderous commands. This seems particularly useful as we have a large party with only one person who could healbot--if more than 3 people take damage in a single day, we'd have to wait to fix them up, which could potentially be problematic. Additionally, HHex can serve to smite undead 1/day each, according to the errata on the SRD. Don't know how often we'll hit undead at this level, but a little smiting can't hurt. As far as Cauldron, I didn't really look at it initially. I'm not sure that it would do any good at this level. Our characters are dirt poor--if I read the ad correctly, we all have minimum starting gold, which is all of 30 GP for me. By the time we hit level 2, it might be that they're a bit better off, making Cauldron a good investment at that point. All that being said, I'll think about it. HHex is much less useful past level 3 or so. I hadn't really looked at Cauldron before, in part because I usually don't deal with magical item crafting, but I'll consider it. It's definitely more useful in the long run ("Whee, level 15 and I can heal everyone for 13 HP at most! Go healing hex!" vs. "Hey, cheap buffs!"), but we need to survive to get there. Hell, having Evil Eye for now and then picking up Cauldron at level 2 might be the way to go--increase survival now by debuffing, and then brew potions when it's more economically viable (Damn you, unseen hand!). On a random note, I looked at Gamil's name in my post above, and read "Gmail" for a moment. Huh.
Nicator updated. Swapped out Evil Eye for Healing Hex and picked up some basic equipment (i.e. Spell Component Pouch, Quarterstaff, sling and bullets). I might adjust his current spells known slightly--Beguiling Gift is neat, but not really that necessary right now, methinks. Also adjusted current spells prepped--Obscuring Mist and Sleep are both flavorful, given the pickpocketing he helps Gamil engage in, and useful.
I'd prefer if at this point the gang is a little unfocussed beyond defence. Individual members may do some questionable things to bring in money, but I'd like to start the game with the gang starting to really crystallise, rather than being an existent force. Gotcha, I'll keep that in mind. Tarek, Aku, agreed on avoiding child prostitution, slavery, abuse, etc. Tarek, I didn't catch the name of the coffee shop. Well played. Aku, fair enough. Nic has probably pestered Aku for knowledge once or twice, but not too much. Treize, mutual respect sounds good. Information is always good to have, although Nic's tastes tend toward the arcane. Nic might have also introduced Eris to Marcus Laertes Jeggare, who is a young bard and Nic's outside contact.
Sorry about double post, but we should start considering inter-group ties as well (since we all know each other, presumably). For Nicator, I can see him being relatively close with Anton, given Anton's own dark "patron," and the interest in research that both have. He could possibly know Anton's sage friend as well, and use him as a source of books and research into his patron. I'm not sure about the connection between Nic, Shaezon, and Aku. I could see them being a fairly tight-knit group as the arcane casters of the bunch, or having some sort of rivalry, given the different sources of magic that they have. He might also know Shaezon's librarian friend, and use him as a potential source of books and such as well. Hell, maybe Nic and Shaezon play chess (or Golarion equivalent) to pass the time--they're both fairly intelligent. Aku might be taking an interest in Gamil (the kid Nic looks out for), as he is also a budding sorcerer of some sort. Not sure about his relationship with the other three. Nic and Weyland both lack clear memories of life before coming to the City, so maybe they commiserate about that. Treize, Weyland, and Tarek all seem like leadery types (frickin' rogues wanting to run the city....), if there's friction between them, maybe each is fairly close with one of the arcane folks? If not, I could see them working as the leaders of the gang--Treize running intelligence/pickpocketing, Tarek working on a more legal business front, and Weyland running the muscle. Just throwing out some ideas, based my impressions of the group after a quick read through of background, goals, etc. Let me know what you all think, or if this differs from your image of the gang, DM Harakani. Edit: Gah, Weyland snuck in there while I was typing. Well, at least that means I didn't double post. Edit 2: Gah! Forgot Einar--miscounted by thinking "Oh, there's Anton, 3 casters, and the three rogues, adding up to 7 people besides Nic." Also not sure about Einar's relationship with Nic, but he seems like another potential leadery type, running the muscle alongside Weyland, perhaps.
Unseen Hand works for me. "The Grandchildren" could work too, given everyone's connection with grandmother, but that might be too childish or too creepy, as the case may be.
Whee! I'll look over my character sheet and have things updated sometime later today.
Kalizkan applying with Nicator (or "Nic"), Witch with an unknown patron of the Shadow variety. Character sheet is still in progress, but will be updated on this alias. Background and Descriptions:
Like much of the gang, Nicator remembers little of his life before the City. What is certain is his name, and the fact that, at some point before coming to the city, he struck a deal. Nic doesn’t remember what he made the deal with, why he made it, or what the conditions are, but he knows that something happened and, someday, he will have to pay for it.
Shortly after the unremembered deal, Nicator came to the City, where he met Itzala, his familiar. Spending some unsuccessful time as a lone thief, Nicator joined the gang after Grandmother rescued him from another one—the Kytons. Once with the gang, Nicator developed his knack for stealth and learned to strengthen his newly acquired magical abilities. He often serves a support role for the group, flinging curses at their enemies and using his sling to the best of his ability. Nicator has also found a unique niche during robberies, as his ability to put potential marks to sleep has proven useful time and time again. He will occasionally fix up any scrapes and bruises that the others get, but leaves more serious injuries for Grandmother to take care of. Since Grandmother became ill, he has been searching through his meager collection of books and using his magic to try and identify the disease and find a cure—but to no avail. Nicator has an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and has developed his magical talents relatively quickly, given his limited education and resources. Grandmother has mentored him a little in this pursuit—but her own patron appears to be different, limiting what she can do to help him. Nic would love to learn more about everything—but the struggle to survive always takes precedence. Itzala is generally helpful, but, being a cat, generally has more pressing concerns, such as napping. Nic is always on the lookout for magic items to tinker with, in the hopes that he can expand his knowledge that way—a pursuit that has lost him his eyebrows once, so far. Nicator is of Chelaxian descent, and clearly Azlanti as well. He has bright purple eyes and olive skin that contrasts against his black hair. Nicator is an average-sized fourteen year old, and is more comfortably out of the spotlight than in the center of attention. Itzala’s fur is mostly an uncommonly dark shade of red. Some black fur forms an odd, but structured-looking pattern on her forehead. She is never far from Nicator, and is always willing to let his friends and fellow gang member pet her or gain the honor of bestowing food upon her.
DM Questions: A name and quick description of a younger kid in the gang you look out for
Gamil is ten years old, and is showing signs of a sorcerous bloodline of some sort. He is of Kelshite descent and has a talent for picking pockets. Gamil has black hair and dark eyes, and is often paired with Nic for grab and run jobs. Typically, Nic will try to put the mark to sleep, after which Gamil quickly robs them and moves away. Gamil is a happy lad, often smiling and laughing while in the base or out on a job.
A time when Grandmother (old Female Human Witch 4) saved you
A name and description of an enemy in a gang whose territory borders yours.
Caternos was the leader of the group who cornered Nicator two years ago, and bore the embarrassment of apparently being defeated by a single, cornered spellcaster. Since then, Caternos has often tried to single out Nic, but Nic's practice hiding and established support role have allowed him to avoid being cornered by Caternos again. An ally or friend you have made in the area outside the gang who will help you out.
Three short term goals;
Two mid term goals (eg “Join a wizard’s guild”);
Long term goal;
Inter-group ties
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