An updated version. Also, can we stat up some throwing knives (because that it the weapon a Stage Magician is most likely to be proficient in)? I'd hope for something like a Wakizashi (which is the only dagger weapon), but with a small range increment on it, if that's okay.
Writeup:
Spoiler:
Backstory
Abandoned on the steps of the Child Haven Orphanage on Oakley st. Las Vegas, and a serial runaway, Lex (short for Felix) grew up primarily on the streets of Sin City. Born with a preternatural knack for legerdemain and sleight of hand, by the time he was sixteen, Lex had graduated from petty thief and pickpocket to apprentice magician, abandoned the orphanage for good and moved in with his mentor. Less than two years later, he had moved into his own place, and got a job as the front room entertainment in the Smoky Eyes Bordello. Between living on the streets, drifting around the edges of the Vegas criminal underground, auditing classes at Nevada college and working in a bordello, Lex has picked up an eclectic variety of skills.
AppearancePicture
Lex is tall and slender with curly, dark red hair; large, slanted green eyes, pale skin and androgynous features that are somewhere between exotic and unnerving. He spent most of his formative years poor and bouncing between all of the glittering variety of the Vegas nightlife and it shows - Lex dresses like a combination of drag queen and biker, wrapped up in a "lucky" coat - dark green leather lined with kevlar, because any self-respecting alumn of the City of Lights knows that the only luck you can trust is the luck you make.
Personality
Lex is completely confident, smarter than most people and unapologetic about both these facts. Because of this, he has always been a loner, but more by circumstance than preference - he often used to daydream about his birth parents coming to find him, and accepting him unconditionally (although to be fair, every orphan does that). Although his experiences have left him jaded and cynical about a lot of things, Lex is more 'mischief' than 'evil', and deeply unwilling to appear vulnerable. They have also given him a knack for manipulating people, but when it comes to honest interaction, he is far less adept.
When he receives his visitation, he will probably see it as having stumbled onto a family of sorts, and try to connect with both his father and the other Aesir Scions, and he will probably also do an abysmal job at communicating that fact.
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Birthrights (5/5)
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Thurisaz Rune (1): Grants Access to Chaos Purview
Isa Rune (1): Grants Access to Illusion Purview
Perthro Rune (1): Grants Access to Magic Purview
Lex's runestones are part of a full set, crafted from rough-hewn, opaque fragments of ice - freezing to the touch, but unmelting to any heat Lex has managed to apply.
Skin-changer’s wing (2): Mimics Sky’s Freedom boon (as per relic crafting rules in Companion p150)
This scrap of mummified magpie feathers is a fragment of one of the ancient Norse skinchanging hides, used to change shape by hundreds of mages and mystics across dozens of cultures for millennia. This one has only a small piece of that power, enough to grow a pair of white and black wings.
So would you let me swap Courage for Intellect without incurring the XP penalty on my favoured boons from Loki then (maybe take a penalty on Jotunblut or something though)?
Remember that those Virtues are valued by the Aesir as a whole, not necessarily by Loki. Despite him being a parent of yours, you could quite easily be brave and steadfast, if only to prove to your Band and other Aesir that you are *not* like him.
I guess what I was really wondering was if the Boons come predominantly from Parent or Pantheon. My image of Lex is one that takes after Loki on the Trickster front, eventually becoming a god of transformation and illusion, focusing on Expression and maybe a little of Loyalty, but prioritising a clever approach over a brave one. If Loki grants my boons, I can't imagine him having a problem with that, but if it's the legend of the pantheon as a whole that does it, then I could see getting the xp penalty.
I have an idea for a Loki Scion, but I'm wondering about the virtues, since I can't imagine Loyalty, Courage or Endurance being virtues that Loki values in his scions. Also, for Thrown weapons - can they go of Perception like Firearms, or do they have to be Strength-based.
Writeup:
Spoiler:
Backstory
Abandoned on the steps of the Child Haven Orphanage on Oakley st. Las Vegas, and a serial runaway, Lex (short for Felix) grew up primarily on the streets of Sin City. Born with a preternatural knack for legerdemain and sleight of hand, by the time he was sixteen, Lex had graduated from petty thief and pickpocket to apprentice magician, abandoned the orphanage for good and moved in with his mentor. Less than two years later, he had moved into his own place, and got a job as the front room entertainment in the Smoky Eyes Bordello. Between living on the streets, drifting around the edges of the Vegas criminal underground, auditing classes at Nevada college and working in a bordello, Lex has picked up an eclectic variety of skills.
Appearance
Lex is tall and slender with curly, dark red hair; large, slanted green eyes, pale skin and androgynous features that are somewhere between exotic and unnerving. He spent most of his formative years poor and bouncing between all of the glittering variety of the Vegas nightlife and it shows - Lex dresses like a combination of drag queen and biker, wrapped up in a "lucky" coat - dark green leather lined with kevlar, because any self-respecting alumn of the City of Lights knows that the only luck you can trust is the luck you make.
Personality
Lex is completely confident, smarter than most people and unapologetic about both these facts. Because of this, he has always been a loner, but more by circumstance than preference - he often used to daydream about his birth parents coming to find him, and accepting him unconditionally (although to be fair, every orphan does that). Although his experiences have left him jaded and cynical about a lot of things, Lex is more 'mischief' than 'evil', and deeply unwilling to appear vulnerable. They have also given him a knack for manipulating people, but when it comes to honest interaction, he is far less adept.
When he receives his visitation, he will probably see it as having stumbled onto a family of sorts, and try to connect with both his father and the other Aesir Scions, and he will probably also do an abysmal job at communicating that fact.
My stepdaughter always tries to convince me to let her use shocking grasp as a defibrilator, or to use it on water to shock everything touching the water.
This was the second spell I ever cast - fried a pair of dire rats in a sewer, but ended up sitting the rest of the adventure out (it was AD&D - I had one spell and 3HP). One of the best things about tabletop RPGs (or PbP) is that you have flexibility you'd never get in a video game.
Thanks for all the help guys :) I think I've got it pretty much sorted now, just one question left - my Magical Knack, should it be for Oracle (with a 2 level dip, this gives me 4d4 on my Burning Hands mystery spell, which is pretty good for crowd control against hordes of minions) or for Paladin (to bump up my durations and such)?
I'm currently leaning towards Oracle, so that my dip will have slightly more staying power in terms of spells staying useful.
Thanks again Rory but I think fencing grace is better?- add dex bonus to damage, for no negative (and since I can get the weapon focus prerequisite with the adopted trait, it's not any more expensive :))
Thanks Eltacoliber :) I'd prefer to be a paladin than an Oracle, but a 3 level dip into branded flame oracle is so very very perfect (especially since I'd already given her the fluff for branded, almost exactly, as part of a since-abandoned burnished skin trait) :D I even get flaming sphere! Although I might still go for a dex fighter, just for personal preference ..
Bye bye sorcadin (losing fly and umd will hurt though)...
Rory, also thanks, hopefully a 3 level dip into oracle, and access to as much armour as I want will make it a more cohesive build :)
Thanks :) I didn't know that feat existed - and it's perfect for me :)
Soooo the feats I need are
Weapon finesse,
Weapon focus/rapier
Fencing grace (finesse+focus)
Improved critical/rapier (lv 7)
Angel blood
Angel wings (lv10)
Extra lay on hands
Greater mercy
Ultimate mercy
Hmm... Can I take adopted (human) to get Adoptive Parentage (Tengu) and get weapon focus (rapier) free? She was going to be raised in a temple of ragathiel in magrimar (hence adopted, human), but since she can fly, and humans can't, it wouldn't be unreasonable that if there was a good-aligned tengu (who was high enough level to fly as per tengu wings) took a significant hand in her training (hence Adoptive Parentage, tengu)... Also it's interesting from an rp point of view.....
I don't want to build an entirely min-maxed character, but I'm also worried about ending up with the worst of both worlds, hence I turn to the internet for advice.
What I'm thinking of is an Aasimar (Emberkin) paladin of Ragathiel with a few levels in Sorcerer (Elemental/Primal Fire) 25 point buy, starting level 5. The DM said I could pick any variant ability that didn't give a +2 stat bump, so I went with natural flight (20', poor), because flying is awesome. Any first party material is allowed, but no Psionics/Path of war, 3rd party is on a case-by case basis.
What I want is a dex-based melee Paladin with the ability to throw a Fireball (eventually) and all the Charisma.
My current build has
Stats: STR 8/DEX 16/CON 14/INT 10+2/WIS 9/CHA 17+2 (+1 from level up)
Class: Paladin (Favoured) 4/Sorcerer 1 (I'm thinking of an eventual 14/6 build maybe? - presuming I get that far)
Archetypes: Oath of Vengeance or Oath against Fiends/Elemental or Primal (Fire)
Traits: Magical Knack (Sorcerer - +2 to caster level, up to hit dice)
Seeker (+1 to perception, class skill)
I'm also considering taking Slippery (+1 to stealth, class skill) and the Headstrong drawback(if you don't stop/correct an action that contradicts your alignment, you are shaken for 1 hour - seems very paladin) - the DM said either 2 traits, or 3 traits+1 drawback.
Skills: Diplomacy 1 (+9), Fly 1 (+7), Heal 4 (+6), Knowledge/Religion 3 (+7), Knowledge/Planes 1 (+7), Perception 4 (+7), Use Magic Device 1 (+9)
I might pick up some additional skill points for level up in Paladin, to go towards Stealth/UMD/Perception/Sense Motive.
Feats: The feats I'll want to have by level 20 are
-Weapon Finesse (no brainer) (1)
-Angel Blood (5/6)
-Angel Wings (Because Flying!!)(6/7)
-Greater Mercy (2)
-Ultimate Mercy (5/6/7)
-Extra Lay On Hands (3)
-Improved Critical/Rapier (With Bless Weapon, I get a 20% crit chance against evil monsters)(4 - 7th level is the earliest I can get this, assuming I take no more than 2 sorcerer levels)
-Combat Casting
-Spell Penetration?
-Unsanctioned Knowledge?
-Agile Manoeuvres?
-Some Metamagic?
-Arcane Armour Training?
-Weapon Focus/Rapier? (Doesn't really seem worth it...)
Have I missed anything really important? Paladins don't exactly get a lot of Feats, and mine are spread pretty thin already. Also, I'm not sure what order I want these feats in. I'm thinking the order I numbered, but I'm not sure...
For Spells, I intend to focus my sorcerer primarily on Fire spells, and some Buffers I don't get from my Paladin List; Unsanctioned Knowledge is a potential feat for the same reason - it's pretty trivial for me to drop Wisdom from 9 to 8, and bump Intelligence to 13 (since Emberkin get a +2 bonus to it).
For Armour, I'm thinking things like Bracers of Armour and a Haramaki/Silken Ceremonial Armour (can I add a Haramaki to Silken Armour like I could an armoured quilt?) This takes advantage of my Dex, and doesn't require me to spend my precious feats on Arcane Armour Training, but on the other hand, a Mithral Shirt is pretty excellent, and it's pretty unlikely I'm going to boost my Dex by much more than +6...
For Weapons, Rapier seems the obvious choice, because of the great Crit range, and it's compatibility with Weapon Finesse (I could also go with Kukri, but I like Rapiers better) I guess I could also use a feat on 2-weapon fighting, but I think my BAB will suffer enough from multiclassing.
In terms of level order, I'm thinking Sorcerer 1, Paladin 5, Sorcerer 1, Paladin 5, Sorcerer 4, Paladin 4 (but really, I have no idea).
Queries - Is anything I've laid out a really bad idea?
- Are there any obvious choices I've missed that can boost my multiclass synergy, or my ability to fly?
- Is taking 6 levels in sorcerer too many? I'm quite attached to Fireball, but it seems like without Metamagic and stuff, it would only be good for thinning out minions once I got to a high enough level to get it. How many levels should I take in Sorcerer, considering that I want to get the Aura of Faith from Paladin 14? (And should I take Unsanctioned Knowledge as well/instead?)
- Does the order in which I plan to use my level-up have any obvious failings
- What should I use my level-up bonuses on?
- If I'm taking Angel Wings anyway, should I pick a different Variant Ability (and are there any in particular I should look at)?
- Could this character pull its weight compared to a reasonable single-classed character?
Thank you very kindly in advance for any advice/assistance. :)
