I'm all right, too... I think. I've been pretty darn busy recently, forgive me if I'm a bit scattered about things.
I might switch some things around with regards to alignment, but probably not. The main issue is whether or not I can construe capital punishment as a good act or not... Typically I play the extremely merciful end of good, but I think this would be a good way to experiment with a harsher interpretation of good. Or at least what's necessary to perpetuate goodness.
Aside from that, I might want to put a rank into Knowledge (planes). But I like all my other skills where they are, so that probably won't happen either.
And I need to make an alias, of course, but that won't take any time at all.
Mallory Lewis wrote:
Proioxis wrote:
Hey, I'm Ben. I'm from Massachusetts (no, nowhere near Boston).
Small world! I am also in Massachusetts, but actually am in Boston.
Neat! I'm west of Worcester. The Pioneer Valley, if you know it.
Hey, I'm Ben. I'm from Massachusetts (no, nowhere near Boston). Looking forward to this, haven't been in a campaign like it.
As for Ira, I wanted to make something like the archetypal fervent preacher. He'll be even-tempered most of the time - I don't want to play that character that spends all his time pressing his religion on others. Mainly he will take unkindly to wrongdoers and ne'er-do-wells, condemning them to... well, something horrible. I'm not sure if there's a Hell equivalent, or if there is if that's what it's called. And when condemnation of their deeds doesn't work, he summons in divine dogs and eagles to hunt them down. So more like a bounty-hunting vicar than a fire and brimstone, we-will-all-burn-for-your-sins type of character.
But if he gets the chance to stand behind a pulpit and do some preaching for the downtrodden and god-fearing, well, he most likely won't pass up the opportunity.
Some questions for you, Ray - do you have a map for the Scorched Lands, or just the Big Drop? No worries if not, I'd just be interested in seeing what exactly the layout of the world looks like. I'm also curious about the settlements and whatnot in the Drop, and where people might settle based on their occupations. I just placed Ira's hometown in the south on a whim, but if there's a plains area somewhere else I'd move it.
I'm also wondering if there's any set holy symbols for the gods. I used a noose for the Hangman, just because it seemed appropriate. If you had something else in mind, I'd be happy to change it.
Last thing: can we hear anything on what the premise for the campaign is? What our motivations for staying right here in the Drop are? A divine will be to enforced, perhaps?
Well, here's a last minute submission for you to look over. Hopefully it isn't too late to be considered. He'd be mostly focused on buffing and other such antics, but he has given up his spontaneous healing spells and the first level of channel, so don't expect that sort of support coming from him.
Also, you should note that I took the subdomain of Heroism. Is this all right? I think it fits, considering Ira interprets the Hangman as a wholly good deity.
Background "Been a long time since I been called down to the Drop. Don't know quite what the wind is whisperin' to me, but to be sure it carries a promise of something on its breath. Knowin' the Drop, I'm sure it ain't anything of good import. But the Hangman's nudging his far-reachin' elbow into my side, and I ain't one to deny Him. Never led me astray yet, and I don't anticipate Him startin' now. P'raps something's abrewin', and if it is... well, the Drop's going to need His justice before it's all said and done."
Ira Kerrigan was born on the southward edges of the Big Drop, son of Oscar and Hattie Kerrigan. Oscar was a rancher who had inherited the ranch from his father, but that was about as far back as the business went. His parents had been relatively successful, breeding some of the finest thoroughbreds in the area, and they typically brought in a fair amount of money from sold horses and cattle meat. Ira didn't find much interest in it - his interest had been mainly focused on his studies from a young age, being a prized pupil of the local schoolteacher and priest. The most prominent of the New Gods worshiped in the area was, of course, the Rancher, and that was who it was expected Ira would pledge himself to when he came of age.
When he was fourteen, Ira was sent on a mission to the R.S.P. It was here that Ira found himself slipping from the cozy lifestyle and the proud, forthright gods that were commonly worshiped back home. Here, he found all gods in abundance, but this allowed for some, such as the Whistler, the Grizzly, and the Rustler in common worship. These he found astonishing, so far removed were they from the 'civilized' gods of his home. Of course, he had known of them... but they had always been spoken of with distaste and a little fear.
But all was not foreign in the States of the Phoenix. The Hangman and the Madam and the Shooter were all in worship here, and these had always been deities deserving of respect. The Shooter less commonly, but it was always quietly and with some slight awe that the townsfolk would tip their hats when a gunslinger came through town.
In his time in the States, Ira came to find comfort in the presence of the Hangman. He was a god who all respected; an arbiter of fair and precise rulings. It was not always with respect that Ira was met with when he introduced himself as a follower of the Rancher - many seemed to find him a soft god. But preachers and holy men of the Hangman walked free and unmolested, and even the roughest of men would go to them for justice.
Ira began to look into the teachings of the Lone Star, and found it to his liking. Justice was a prevalent theme, but always mediated with mentions of impartiality. It was a god for those who valued structure, who wanted to make sense of the confused world they lived in. Ira found himself drawn to it, and he came home a converted man.
But home was not all that receptive to his new found faith; while the Hangman had their respect, he was not the sort of god one welcomed into their home. They had long found their problems not the sort that the Hangmen dealt with, and it was not often that they found him a recipient of their prayers. Eventually, Ira left home. It was simpler this way, and both him and his family breathed easier when there was no discussions of what path he should be following. He had gotten their blessing as he walked out the door, and that was all he needed.
For sixteen years Ira has wandered Rethe, learning from the most well-regarded holy men of the Hangman he could find, and mediating when he came upon those in need of it. He preaches the good word of the Lone Star with an impressive fervency, and sometimes it seems a holy rage takes him over. He speaks to crowds and lone men both; any who will deign to listen get a message, that the Hangman is here and He is uncompromising. Ira went in and out of the Drop at times, but mostly kept to the Risen States and the Republic of Iron, but never to the Lotus Empire. The mere mention of the place made the hair on the back of his neck rise.
Now, inexplicably, he feels the call of the Hangman bringing him back to the Drop, and so he follows it. Clattering down dusty roads in an old cart pulled by an old mule, it is with both trepidation and worry that Ira returns home.
Appearance
Black hair flecked with gray covers most of Ira's head, though it recedes somewhat from his forehead. This is despite being a fairly young man, and its effect, combined with the lines creasing his face near the nose and corners of the mouth, is to have many think him older than he actually is. He wears a coat of supple leather, with pants and over-shirt of soft cotton. His collar is high, denoting his position as a priest. A dagger and morningstar hang at his right hip, within easy reach. His holy symbol, a silver noose, hangs openly at his neck.
To answer your first question, I would find a middle ground between the two. If there's going to be a fight here, the crunch is something that the PCs need to know.
The attitudes and tendencies of my players would also influence my decision, yes. If they are a very fluff oriented group, I would try and expand on the little things more, and give my all to immerse them as much as possible. If the group just wants to hit things, I will not stop them from doing that, either. Both are fun.
Personally, the other descriptive examples you've given bother me. These I find to be too over the top. If I was new to your table, I probably wouldn't know what to make of it. If you were a friend, I'd probably be irritated with you. If you were a really good friend, I'd probably come around to your side of the table and smack you upside the head for wasting my time with such silliness. There's a point where description stops being intriguing and immersing and becomes flowery and abstruse.
Considering the very high magic setting of most campaigns, to go into such detail about each little doodad is going to get very aggravating very fast. Saving your best stuff for the really important scenes is going to leave everyone more satisfied with the content of the adventure.
It's important to remember that you are playing a game, not just telling a story. It's very important to remember that you are playing said game with other people. If you spend the whole session going into extreme detail about the various differences between each dark and gloomy room of the dungeon, it's likely going to be a very boring adventure for your players. All they're doing is listening to you enjoy yourself. They aren't involved.
Obviously there are exceptions to this, but it doesn't seem like your group is one of those. If they were, they'd probably be reciprocating.
Finding a balance and making sure both you and your players are having fun is of the utmost importance. If you think that you're confounding your players, then you should ask them what they like. Then you should try to present an adventure that scratches everyone's gaming itch.
A little lackluster, but so be it. I was also thinking a switch hitter ranger, but a barbarian might fit the stats a bit better. How would you feel about a lizardfolk, WhtKnt?
An inquisitor of Lunastara or Azatoth could be interesting. A rock gnome, p'raps.
Hordshyrd is right, at least in part. While you can have two or more archetypes, as long as they do not replace or alter the same class feature, Synthesist and Shadow Caller cannot both be used.
...Yeah, sure, why not? Count me in. I'll need some details, though.
Edit: Ah, my apologies. Should've read the campaign info before. Although it does say "primarily" by invitation... will you be accepting applications at all?
I'm very interested. I was going to ask the same as Unruly above me; is it possible to play a character already from the prison? If so I'd probably go the Dwarven cavern-ranger approach. Perhaps a loner who abstains from underground politicking to march the paths of the caves.
As for the reason of his imprisonment, well, that I'm not sure of. It seems the prison hasn't been around long enough for most dwarves to establish family with grown children there, so I must assume he was taken by the Sovereign for one reason or another. Unless his parents were some of the first prisoners... hmm. Things to think on.
Another question - are there other prisons? Not underground ones, but regular prisons. I can't imagine every single criminal gets tossed in here.
And does the Sovereign know of the presence of this underground society? Is it common knowledge that the worst criminals get sent here?
I'm still present as well. Unfortunately, it seems the GM has taken their leave of the forums for about two weeks now. Hope everything's all right where they are.
Reb Brown wants to play the wizard, huh? That's pretty amusing. I'll most likely make a martial, probably a fighter. How do you feel about Archetypes, Fanguar?
Edit: Actually, how much of this adventure would consist of dungeon-crawling, as well? I might make a different decision based on that.
Well, consider me intrigued! Do you have any ideas on your character specifications at this point? If you're waiting a month then there's obviously no rush to immediately start writing something up, but I am curious.
I'd be interested as well. And would also have to admit to having no knowledge of Greyhawk, except for the general fame of it. I'd read up plenty beforehand, but it'd be best to mention it before making an application. I am curious as to what you mean by "mostly" Pathfinder rules, though. What are the exceptions?
No it isn't. This is a Pathfinder Society scenario, and as such he cannot mandate that you change your character to fit his preferences in any way. As long as you follow PFS rules, you're free to do what you want.
Edit: Er, that sounded a bit harsh GM. Sorry about that. Just wanted to clarify the difference between a PFS game and a non-PFS game.
Yes! Been itching to play a goblin, and this sounds perfect. I'll be submitting a rogue, most likely. Pretty standard, but his stealth bonus is so over the top I've just got to try it. If not a rogue, then a barbarian or... well, anything else really.
I'd be interested, if you're still keeping spots open. Like most everyone I'd prefer Pathfinder and not Mythic. 5-10 also sounds perfect. 6 would be the sweet spot in that range.
I'd be very interested. I do have a question, though - would this Archetype be acceptable? It's not Paizo official, but I don't think it's too over the top.
Wow, that's a lot of prospective players. I don't know why Jigen or Irrasmus are on the list separately, seeing as I own both. Although I guess it makes sense if you're choosing based on character merits, I still feel bad having two options up there instead of one like everyone else.
Yeah, I figured I would find something else at some point. I looked some up and found one or two I could use. One thing, though - how much of the picture is being used? The whole thing, or could I crop it down to just a head, would that work?
I'd be really interested in this. I should say that I have absolutely no experience with either Roll20 or Rise of the Runelords. If that presents no problem, I'll have something written up... soon. I have finals due this week, so it might take me a day or two.
Damn. Well, that's fine. I doubted it would work, anyway. Although, if Impact + Lead Blades is a gray area, than wouldn't Righteous + Impact be grey as well? If that's the case, I'd say it's even more gray than Impact + Lead Blades, seeing as Lead Blades and Impact have the exact same effect and a size increase and an effective size increase differs at least slightly. I doubt a GM would rule in my favor, I just thought it would be fun.
I have a question about Size bonuses and stacking - mainly, does something that says something to the effect of treating as one size larger, but not having them actually BE one size larger, stack with a size increasing effect?
Example: I have a set of Righteous Full Plate and an +5 Impact Greatsword. The Righteous enchantment increases both me and my weapon to Large (assuming Medium creature). Would that then count my Greatsword as a Huge weapon, giving me a 4d6 roll (I'm actually not sure whether the jump from Large 3d6 to Huge would give me 4d6, but I'm assuming it would)?
I'm also not sure about Size effects stacking and as-one-sizer-larger effects stacking with each other, although I'm pretty sure they don't.
So if I have Righteous up, and someone casts Enlarge Person on me, do I now become Huge? Or do these not stack?
And say I'm using my Impact Greatsword, giving me 3d6. Can I cast Lead Blades on it to get 4d6, or do these bonuses not stack, as they are both treating my weapon as if it is one weapon size larger without actually increasing my weapon's size?
I really want to be able to temporarily increase my size to Huge while using what's effectively a Colossal weapon, but it seems unlikely.
While you doing your character build, just keep repeating to yourself:
"My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
and
"I lied. I am not left-handed."
Also, an ocassional "All for one and one for all!" might help.
Be inspired.
Words to live by. All right, I think I know what I'm doing now. Thanks for all your suggestions, even if I didn't really take them into account, it's still appreciated. I didn't expect Rogues to make people so touchy, so my apologies for causing some arguments. Maybe I'll give Rogues another shot in a setting that would be friendlier to someone with a ton of skills and where fighting would be comparatively less prevalent than in a dungeon. In particular I want to give the Driver archetype a shot. Getaway man for a group of ne'er-do-wells, pulling off heists with derring-do? Yes please.
Cad or Free Hand Fighter archetypes for the fighter works well with duelist. Cad gets some extra in class skills, but I think Free Hand Fighter has a better progression out to 6.
Yeah, I was thinking Free Hand as well. Looks exactly like what I want. I have a question, though. If I'm just doing Fighter up until 6, and then I do Duelist for 10 levels (and the campaign may end well before this, I don't know), what about the remaining 4? Should I resume Fighter after that, or should I go straight to 10 Fighter and then start Duelist? I don't really want to take levels in more than these two.
I don't mean to beat a dead horse here, but the bard I posted earlier could go a long way towards that end. You have all the combat bite of a fighter, skills enough to be usefull, and spells to really support yourself and the rest of the party.
Not that there is anything wrong with fighters... It's just that a bard fills the tool box better than most other classes, making sure that you have some trick up your sleeve for just about anything.
Yeah, sorry about ignoring most of your suggestions here, but I really just have no interest spellcasting unless I'm dedicated. If I'm going to duel, I really just want to stab people, and I want to do the jam-getting-out-of with just physical ability. Mainly because of the roleplaying component, and there's no way the character I intend to play is going to be a bard. I appreciate it, though.
Prioxis, I'm interested in learning more about what you want out of your character if you're still around.
Sure. Well, with regards to skill ranks, the more I think about it the more important I find it, seeing as not many people think a pure Rogue would do the whole dueling thing very well. The massive amount of skill points that Rogues acquire really seems to be their one redeeming feature, aside from Sneak Attacks, and I didn't really want to do Sneak Attacks anyway (I was fine with it, as I was a Rogue, but I just don't really see a duelist sneaking around someone to stab them in the back, rather than just fighting them in a test of mettle). But, I also don't really NEED all those skill ranks. I'll get a fine amount going with fighter/duelist and a decent amount of Int.
What you said about the fighter/duelist path sounds exactly like what I would want, and I could totally justify it with what I have in mind for the character with regards to roleplaying. The thing is (and this is a very disappointing discovery, I have to say), I don't want to be playing another class as a Rogue, only I'd be doing it better than as the actual Rogue. It's ridiculous. If I wanted to play a Rogue, shouldn't I be able to do it as a Rogue? The knowledge that I can get better damage and all the skill points I could ever want, accomplish everything a Rogue can, but better, with a different class, the knowledge that what I intended to be is, for all intents and purposes, completely superfluous, is pissing me off. And maybe I didn't actually want to be a Rogue, I just thought that it would be the best way to get the type of character I wanted. I wanted to be the guy who gets people out of a jam, and I guess I'll be doing that as a fighter.
All right, thanks everyone. I'm just going to give it a shot and see how it goes. The only way I'll know whether or not it's for me is to give it a shot, right? And I'm not really concerned about doing amazingly, I just want to be a boon rather than a hindrance, and I think I can manage that. Thanks again for all the advice, it's all appreciated.
You could try a fighter/rogue hybrid going into duelist.
So like 4rogue/3fighter/10duelist/3fighter or 4rogue/4fighter/10duelist/2fighter.
It sounds like you want duelist. 6fighter gets into duelist too. Find some archetypes that trade away the medium and heavy armor proficiencies.
This is something that I've been considering. Duelist looks fun, but I'm not too keen on multiclassing. I kind of just wanted to stay just straight Rogue, although taking Fighter levels could be just what I'm looking for, and it doesn't seem over the top at all.
Hey all, I'm soon to be joining my first ever game of Pathfinder (or any tabletop RPG, for that matter) and I need some advice on how to build the Rogue I'm hoping to play.
I want to be something akin to a fencer, quick on his feet, in and out of the melee. I want to avoid TWF, because that seems to be the standard way of getting the most out of a rogue in combat, and I want to do something more... creative? Unusual? I dunno, something that isn't seen as often. That said, I also don't care so much about creativity that I'm willing to sacrifice significant combat ability for it. Planning ahead, the rogue talents I've largely dedicated to making my out of combat rogue skills more efficient, except for Finesse Rogue and Weapon Training (which I intend to use for Rapier), although Deadly Sneak, Fast Tumble, and Bleeding Attack are all tempting.
The feats, however, I'm not sure on. So far the only ones I've been keeping fairly firmly are Dodge, Mobility, Dazzling Display, and Shatter Defenses. I want other skills that compliment disabling opponents, keeping them flat-footed, and navigating the battlefield so I can sneak attack them. I was thinking stuff like Agile Maneuvers + the Trip tree, Repositioning Strike, Sneaking Precision, Critical Focus, Improved Critical, Blinding Critical, and Tripping Strike to tie together the Critical and Trip feats. But as I've never played before, I'm not sure how well it might work in combat. It might even be poor on paper, I don't know.
That pretty much wraps it up. Looking at it, I don't think I actually NEED Dodge and Mobility for prerequisites for any of these feats, so I may drop them to make for others. Maybe drop a rogue talent for Combat Trick so I can get another feat. I could also go Swashbuckler for the extra Combat Trick so I could have Dazzling Display and Shatter Defenses + 10 of the feats I was considering. Obviously the campaign or the character may not last nearly that long, but I like to plan way in advance. Even if this is fine, or needs only minor tweaking, I'd like to see other options for how to build my character. If you guys have any interesting ideas, even if they're completely different from this, I'd like to see them. Thanks.
