Goblin Squad Member. RPG Superstar 6 Season Star Voter, 7 Season Star Voter. Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber. Organized Play Member. 919 posts. 3 reviews. 2 lists. 1 wishlist. 13 Organized Play characters.
I love the Martial Arts Handbook cover and would love to hang it on my wall. I know in the past Paizo's made promotional posters for gaming stores based on their cover art (usually hardcovers), so hopefully this amazing piece makes the cut. Alternatively, I would buy this if it was made into a product, and would consider other covers in a similar line.
I've been invited to visit the Paizo office on Thursday, May 25th, but I'm having trouble working out the logistics. I'm told that if someone on the message boards gives me a lift, they too are invited for the Paizo office nickel tour.
If you have a car (and preferably has access to a toddler car seat) and is free Thursday afternoon around 3:30pm, please let me know. I'll check this thread often before I leave Thursday morning.
I'm an old PaizoCon hand at this point, but my family will be joining me for the first time this year. My wife's not as into Pathfinder as she once was and our daughter is 2, so I was wondering if anyone could recommend activities in the area or a short drive away they might want to check out.
We had Creative Director James L Sutter on the Know Direction podcast last night to dive into Starfinder, from the journey behind the scenes making the nascent decisions for the setting, to what we know about the game, to the logistics of creating a Starfinder CRB/Campaign setting book that also includes space fantasy tropes, and finally to what has changed and what's on the horizon now that the news is out.
Once again, we're trying to record as many of the seminars as we can. Not counting workshops, there are as many as three seminars running at the same time this year.
We have several recorders (at least three), but if anyone is willing to share a digital recorder for the weekend, we would appreciate it. We will only use these recorders at seminars attended by members of the Know Direction podcast network.
We're also always looking for volunteers attending seminars who are willing to take responsibility for the recorders.
This PaizoCon, the Know Direction podcast wants to talk to Pathfinder people who have something to share but haven’t had a platform on which to share it yet, people we haven’t talked to before or in a while. If you’re a third party publisher, have worked on Pathfinder material (1st, 3rd, or any party in between) or run a tool of use to the Pathfinder community, let us know. We hope to get enough response that we can switch guests every 5 minutes, allowing us to interview 15-20 individuals or groups in rapid succession. Let us know below if you are interested.
Note: This is all dependent on our event submission being accepted.
I was just talking with Crystal about the Archie TMNT Adventures. It had the colour and personalities of the cartoon but an ongoing continuity that built the secondary characters into more than just action figure advertisements (making them superior action figure advertisements that the one-and-done cartoon appearances). I ended up liking Man-Ray more than most of the turtles.
I only ever read one Mirage TMNT as a youth, and it was a Michaelangelo Christmas issue. He fought off some toughs trying to steal a Toys For Tots truck. No one got decapitated or hospitalized, and it was probably one of the tamest TMNT books Mirage released.
All of the TMNT comics from every publisher were online and legally available to read at one point, but I think they came down when the new Nickelodeon cartoon debuted. I regret not taking full advantage of the opportunity to read the entire Archie run.
Oh, and congrats on your first comic writing credit, Wes! Looking forward to Pathfinder Goblins #4.
Montreal’s newly expanded Chimera games is celebrating the occasion with Pathfinder Society players near and far. Over two days, we will be running 5 tables a session over three sessions, including running Siege of the Diamond City, the season 5 kick-off multi-media, multi-table special event. And, for (possibly) the first time ever, multilingual! We have at least one GM committed to running the adventure in French, with a second GM available.
We are still looking for GMs, not just for the special but for the other two sessions as well. And, of course, we are looking for players. If you are in the Montreal area, or feel like a weekend trip of good food and great gaming in a gorgeous city, let me know. Contact knowdirection_at_hotmail_dot_com, visit the Montreal Pathfinder Society Facebook Group, or post in this thread if you are interested in attending, and in what capacity.
While I'm, of course, also attached to the character from my scenario depicted in one of those two portraits, my favourite encounter is elsewhere in the scenario. But I can see what John likes about that NPC.
I got my copy on Friday and I'm 75 pages in. It's so good! I've enjoyed every Jeggare and Radovan story so far, but this one hooked me earlier, is delivering the camaraderie of the two protagonists to the degree that I've found missing in most of the earlier ones in the series, and is tied perfectly to the current happenings in Golarion. If you haven't picked up a Pathfinder Tales novel in a while, make this your return to the fold.
It looks like there will be a lot of seminars again at this PaizoCon. The hope is that we record them all and post them to the Know Direction podcast feed as we have in the past. I'm not going to be able to do this myself, so if anyone is interested in helping out, let me know in this Facebook event so we can share schedules and recording devices to help the Pathfinder enthusiasts stuck at home experience a piece of PaizoCon 2013.
I've been formulating a character concept with a kangeroo animal companion (Bestiary 3). I was hoping to gain the companion at 1st level. Off all the classes that gain animal companions, druid was my last choice for the concept, but I can't find any other class that both has an animal companion at 1st level, and can take any animal as their companion.
You know what Wayfinder is? Wayfinder is awesome? If you are looking for awesome Pathfinder content, Wayfinder. If you are looking for Pathfinder content written by Paizo freelancers, Wayfinder. If you want to design third party material for Pathfinder that get reads by Paizo folks, Wayfinder.
The problem:
In my area, interest in PFS is still growing. However, it is still difficult to schedule more than one game on a PFS game day. As a result, if a new players wants to try the game, which happens fairly often, one of the tables (or the only table, depending on the weekend) runs a 1st tier game to accommodate the new player.
Why this is a problem:
Most people I know strongly dislike 1st level. First level has a large number of problems that are lessened by 2nd level and go mostly away by 3rd level, including:
• AC problems: If you look at the chart for building new monsters in the back of the Bestiaries, it recommends AC 12 for CR 1 creatures. There are over a dozen CR 1 creatures in the first Bestiary. Two of them have AC 12 or less: giant frog (AC 12) and horse (AC 11). Since most adventures don’t involve fighting giant frogs and horses exclusively, this means that PCs are fighting monsters with unusually high ACs. And most 1st level PCs won’t have AC 12 either. In my experience, most rounds of 1st level combat sound like this: Miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, new round.
• HP problems: On the odd hit, most characters have a 50/50 chance of surviving the damage. If anyone takes damage, the healer has very limited healing options, and the characters do not have enough gold to pack a few extra potions of cure light wounds.
• Low ranks: When I explain PFS to a new player, whether they are new to Pathfinder or just to Society, they are almost always excited by the faction missions. They read each faction individually, narrow their options down, ask questions, and look forward to participating in their own little slice of the adventure. Then when it comes time to roll for their faction mission, often they only have a 5% chance of success because the DCs are so high, and the skills required are not obviously tied to the faction. I have rarely seen a 1st level PC succeed at their faction mission, even when they do everything right but roll the right number, and I see a lot of players really disappointed in the game because of this. Not motivated, not disappointed that they failed, disappointed that the game failed them.
• The players with higher level characters (5th+) feel like they have retired those characters early.
Existing solutions:
• Pregens: Using pregens has always been an option for new players, and a much more viable one now that the NPC Codex introduced so many more options. For whatever reason, there is a stigma against running a pregen around here, and new players always ask if they can make their own characters instead. Ownership of character is a major reason I play RPGs, so I sympathize.
• First Steps: I often hear this suggestion. There are multiple problems with it in my local area. First Steps is great for new players. A mix of new players and old players hurts the fun of First Steps, especially with a majority old player party. It also suffers from virtually all of the 1st level problems.
My proposal:
Mentorship. An existing character can spend his time and resources mentoring young, inexperienced Pathfinders. A PFS character can spend his own Prestige Points to grant XP to a 1st level PC. For every two PP spend, the 1st level character gains 1 XP. A character cannot spend more than a number of Prestige Points equal to more than half his Fame mentoring character. A single character can mentor multiple 1st level characters, and a single 1st level character can have more than one mentor. Once a character reaches 2nd level, through mentoring, adventuring, or a combination, he cannot be mentored. A character who gains XP through mentoring gains a special Mentorship chronicle with no boon, gp, or PP on it, only XP. A character must be alive to mentor a 1st level character, who must also be alive.
Advantages of this proposal:
• Getting over the hump: A 2nd level character has double the hp and skill ranks of a 1st level character, the largest incremental increase of any level, bringing them closer to actualizing their character concept without overpowering them;
• New PFS players can participate in and have a better chance of surviving PFS scenarios that are balanced for optimizer players;
• It is flavourful.
I encourage everyone to pick apart any flaws they see in my proposal and share their thoughts.
I interviewed Neil Spicer about his RPG Superstar 2009 experience, the opportunities he has earned from winning that competition, and how he has given back since then. This is the first in a series on the Private Companion blog, and so far two more past Superstars are on board to share their thoughts.
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The Know Direction Podcast is part of the Gaming Shelf at 35PrivateSanctuary.com. There you can listen to this show and other great shows such as:
3.5 Private Sanctuary
Ryan and Matt look at the classes and the races, the flavour and the crunch, the best and the worst of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5
My FLGS owner asked me if there are any APs I thought could be run in a single, 24-hour iron-gamer session. I’m not an AP expert, I have only played halfway through Kingmaker, book 1 of Carrion Crown, and am still in book 1 of Skull & Shackles. But I am really excited about the idea of completing a whole AP in one shot. Here are some of the qualities I believe any AP I ran under these circumstances would need:
Straight Forward: Minimal mini-games or new mechanics for me and the players to learn.
RP light: I rank the best things about RPGs in that order: roleplaying first, playing game second. However, RP scenes can be pretty indulgent, last variable amounts of time, and splinter the attention.
Linear: I am on a deadline and trying to balance the plot of six modules at once; going off the rails is not an option. If each module in the AP goes from Point A to point B, that keeps us on track.
Simple books 5&6: By the 15 hour mark, I see us running out of brain power. The high level stuff needs to be as easy or easier to run than the low level stuff.
Early buy-in: I would probably be running this for virtual strangers. The earlier the adventure hits the ground and gets them engaged, the better.
Fully published and well played: The more resources I can use to facilitate learning and running this AP, the better.
Preferably Pathfinder: The owner didn’t explicitly state this, but I see this as a promotional event. He would profit more off of an AP that uses the current best selling RPG on the market, not the system from which that game spawned.
I am looking for suggestions for APs that fit my criteria, and advice on any criteria I may be overlooking.
It looks like the contingency plan for when my Kingmaker/Skull & Shackles group can't play will be PFS games. I think it will be fun to run the Year of the Ruby Phoenix as an ongoing campaign, but I can't them in numerical order because of fluctuating tiers. Does anyone have any advice on what order I should play the scenarios to maximum continuity effect?
The owners of my FLGS are constantly arguing over how to display the map packs and flip maps. A branded spine sounds the solution to both their problems.
I talk to Wes about bringing the horror out in your game, and we go into specifics about Carrion Crown in [url= http://35privatesanctuary.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=473:ps0206-horror-flavour&catid=13:35-private-sanctuary&Itemid=33] 3.5 Private Sanctuary 206 – Horror.
In the session I ran this weekend, one player had his druid PC use an area of affect spell that included another PC. I let it go at the time but upon reflection, I think I made the wrong call. Another PC was unconscious and would have been in the area if her player hadn't pointed this out. As a result, the druid player delayed until only the paladin PC, whose hp total plus dying hp was above the max damage of the spell. The paladin fell unconscious, which the player later told me he didn't appreciate, the druid healed him, the game continued without a issue. I still feel I should have disallowed the action and am looking for opinions.
For anyone who couldn't make PaizoCon this year, or missed some of the seminars, Jesse Benner, Justin Sluder, Paul Rimmer, and myself recorded a large portion of it, which will be released approximately as know Direction specials daily over the next few weeks, starting today with Know Direction's PaizoCon 2012 Special 001: The PaizoCon Banquet.
Note: Although this is the majority of the banquet, the recorder cut out just after Post Monster General started talking about Pathfinder game Space. Sorry about that, folks.
Early this year I started running regular PFS events at my FLGS, Chimera Games. The store supported the program with discounts on Pathfinder products for participants and there was enough interest initially to fill two tables. It’s been four months now and interest has dropped off. Based on feedback, this is largely because players feel like characters only get interesting and feel heroic around level 3, and that at this pace they will only reach that after six months of play if they make every session.
I know players can use pregens and put that credit towards new 1st level PFS characters, but that doesn’t solve the issue my players are having. Is there another option that I am missing?
Bring your PFS character to Chimera Games (6252 Somerled Avenue, Montreal, QC H3X 2B6) on April 14th starting at noon and play in Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-11: The Quest for Perfection—Part II: On Hostile Waters, and, if there is enough interest, Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-06: Song of the Sea Witch.
Remember that when Chimera runs PFS events, customers enjoy a discount on Pathfinder merchandise.
When Sat, Apr 14, 2012 afternoon
Where Chimera Games
6252 Somerled Avenue,
Montreal, Quebec H3X 2B6
Canada
Contact Ryan Costello
514-5080880
knowdirection@hotmail.com
35privatesanctuary.com
Scenarios
#3-06: Song of the Sea Witch
#3-11: The Quest for Perfection—Part II: On Hostile Waters
That is a glorious Rune Giant. We are long overdue for a Gargantuan humanoid figure.
Karzoug looks great from the neck down, and I am so jazzed for two shades of translucent spell effects. I find his face looks a bit young for how Karzoug is portrayed in art. A touch of grey in the hair would go a long way to aging him.
Perram and I return with the latest on RPG Superstar, Paizo's GenCon PFS plans, a review of Pirates of the Inner Sea, fresh banter about ours games, and more.
In Know Direction 32, Perram and I give our thoughts on the new Pathfinder Battles miniatures, we dish out the highlights of the early rounds of RPG Superstar, and we look at the February releases from Paizo.
Join Perram and me for Know Direction episode Zero. This is the starting point for new listeners and new players to the Pathfinder RPG. If you've ever been curious about what our show has to offer, or you know someone new to Pathfinder, episode zero is the place to start.
Full Name
Rikal Elkhorn
Race
Human Skald 4/Shaman (battle) 4/Gestalt 4 | AC 18 (17), touch 13, flat-footed 15 (14) | Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +8 | HP 32/32 | Init +3 | Perception +11 |
Rikal Elkhorn
CG Male Humanoid (human) Skald 4/Shaman (battle) 4/Gestalt 4
Favored Class: Skald
FCB: +4 Skill Points
Init +3; Perception +11
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+5 Armor, +3 Dex) (AC, flat-footed -1 if Rikal casts a spell or uses his off-hand to wield a weapon)
HP 24 (3d8)
Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +3
Special Defenses +4 vs bardic performance, language-dependent and sonic effects, uncanny dodge
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OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft
Melee masterwork longspear +6 (1d8+3, x3)
Melee morningstar +5 (1d8+2, x2)
Melee dagger +5 (1d4+2, 19-20/x2)
Ranged masterwork composite longbow (+2 Str) +6 (1d8+2, x3)
Ranged dagger +5 (1d4+2, 19-20/x2)
Rage powers gearbreaker, smasher
Special Attacks battle spirit (+1 attack, weapon damage, 5/day), inspired rage +2 (+2 Str/Con), hex (chant, hampering hex, misfortune, DC 16), doors to everywhere 3/day (jester's jaunt, CL 4)
Shaman Spells Prepared (CL 4th; Concentration +8)
0-level (4/day) - mending, purify food and drink, stabilize, touch of fatigue
1st-level (4+1/day) - enlarge person OR charm person (S), hydraulic push (CMB +7), produce flame, thorn javelin (DC 15), bless
2nd-level (3+1/day) - flame blade (1d8+2), fog cloud OR summon swarm (S), lesser restoration, hold person (DC 16)
Skald Spells Known (CL 4th; Concentration +6)
0-level (6) - detect magic, ghost sound, know direction, light, mage hand, spark
1st-level (4/day) - ear-piercing scream (DC 13), invigorate, liberating command, saving finale
2nd-level (2/day) - heroism, mirror image
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STATISTICS
Str 14, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 14
Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Alertness*, Armor Proficiency (light, medium), Combat Reflexes, Extra Hex (Hampering Hex), Lingering Performance, Scribe Scroll, Shield Proficiency, Weapon Proficiency (simple, martial)
Traits Armor Expert, Numerian Archaeologist
Skills (ACP -0) Acrobatics +8, Climb +5, Diplomacy* +9, Heal +8, Knowledge (arcana) +6, Knowledge (geography) +6, Knowledge (history) +6, Knowledge (engineering) +9, Knowledge (local) +6, Knowledge (nature) +6, Knowledge (planes) +6, Knowledge (religion) +6, Linguistics +6, Perception +11, Perform (oratory) +9, Perform (percussion) +9, Sense Motive* +9, Survival +10, Swim +5
*-Versatile Performance (Perform (oratory))
Languages Hallit, Androffan, Orc, Taldane, Halfling
SQ bardic knowledge, cantrips, orisons, raging song (10/day), spirit, spirit magic, spirit animal, versatile performance (Perform (oratory)), wandering spirit, well versed
Automatic Bonus Progression +1 Resistance, weapon attunement (masterwork longspear), armor attunement (masterwork chain shirt)
Combat gear: 40 arrows, 20 blunt arrows, wand of cure light wounds (33 charges), black nanite hypogun (5 charges), 5 nanite canisters, Other gear: masterwork chain shirt, buckler, masterwork battle-ax, morningstar, dagger, masterwork composite longbow (+2 Str), shield cloak, Skald's Kit (backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, common musical instrument (drum), flint and steel, iron pot, mess kit, mirror, rope, soap, spell component pouch, trail rations (5 days), waterskin), explorer's outfit, additional trail rations (6 days), 262 gp, 4 sp
Spirit Animal:
Kuramu
Armadillo
N Tiny animal
Init +2; Senses scent; Perception +10
DEFENSE
AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dex, +6 natural, +2 size)
hp 4 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., burrow 5 ft.
Melee claw +0 (1d2–3)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
STATISTICS
Str 4, Dex 15, Con 11, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 9
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 7 (11 vs. trip)
Feats Alertness, Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Perception +10, Swim +1; Racial Modifiers +4 Swim
SQ improved evasion, share spells, empathic link, deliver touch spells
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Natural Diver (Ex)
Armadillos can hold their breath underwater for up to 6 minutes. Their dense armor naturally causes them to sink; they can inflate their stomachs to counter this, accounting for their racial bonus on Swim checks.
Protective Ball (Ex)
Some armadillos can roll up into a ball, increasing their natural armor bonus to +3 but decreasing their speed to 0.
Special Abilities:
Traits
Armor Expert: Reduce armor check penalty of armor worn by 1.
Numerian Archaeologist: Numeria is a land ripe for archaeological exploration, since so many of the strange technological dungeons have been either avoided by the superstitious barbarian tribes or have been locked down by the Technic League, leaving many of them untouched and ripe for exploration. You’ve studied the strange language associated with these eerie technological ruins, and are eager to start exploring them—you suspect that Torch’s namesake is in fact part of a larger buried ruin, and you hope to enter these ruins and learn their original purpose by exploring the caves below town. You gain Androffan as an additional language. In addition, you possess a knack for technological items; when you use a timeworn technological item, roll twice when determining any glitches the item might cause and choose which result to use as your actual result. Talk to your GM for more information about resolving glitches.
Skald Class Abilities
Bardic Knowledge (Ex): A skald adds 1/2 his class level (minimum 1) on all Knowledge skill checks, and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained.
Cantrips: Skalds learn a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells, as noted on Table: Skald Spells Known. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they do not consume any slots and may be used again.
Raging Song (Su): A skald is trained to use music, oration, and similar performances to inspire his allies to feats of strength and ferocity. At 1st level, a skald can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. For each level thereafter, he can use raging song for 2 additional rounds per day.
Starting a raging song is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. A raging song cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the skald is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action each round to maintain it. A raging song counts as the bard's bardic performance special ability for any effect that affects bardic performances. A skald may learn bard masterpieces.
A raging song has audible components, but not visual components. Affected allies must be able to hear the skald for the song to have any effect. A deaf skald has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use a raging song. If he fails this check, the attempt still counts against his daily limit. Deaf creatures are immune to raging songs.
If a raging song affects allies, when the skald begins a raging song and at the start of each ally's turn in which they can hear the raging song, the skald's allies must decide whether to accept or refuse its effects. This is not an action. Unconscious allies automatically accept the song. If accepted, the raging song's effects last for that ally's turn or until the song ends, whichever comes first.
At 7th level, a skald can start a raging song as a move action instead of a standard action. At 13th level, a skald can start a raging song as a swift action instead.
Inspired Rage (Su): At 1st level, affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. While under the effects of inspired rage, allies other than the skald cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration. At 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter, the song's bonuses on Will saves increase by 1; the penalty to AC doesn't change. At 8th and 16th levels, the song's bonuses to Strength and Constitution increase by 2. (Unlike the barbarian's rage ability, those affected are not fatigued after the song ends.) If an ally has her own rage class ability (such as barbarian's rage, bloodrager's bloodrage, or skald's inspired rage), she may use the Strength, Constitution, and Will saving throw bonuses, as well as AC penalties, based on her own ability and level instead of those from the skald (still suffering no fatigue afterward). However, inspired rage does not allow the ally to activate abilities dependent on other rage class abilities, such as rage powers, blood casting, or bloodrager bloodlines; the ally must activate her own rage class ability in order to use these features.
Versatile Performance: At 2nd level, a skald can choose one type of Perform skill associated with the skald class. He can use his bonus in that skill in place of his bonus in the associated skills listed below. When substituting in this way, the skald uses his total Perform skill bonus, including class skill bonus, in place of the associated skill's bonus, whether or not he has ranks in that skill or if it is a class skill. At 7th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, the bard can select an additional type of Perform to substitute.
The types of Perform and their associated skills are: Oratory (Diplomacy, Sense Motive), Percussion (Handle Animal, Intimidate), Sing (Bluff, Sense Motive), String (Bluff, Diplomacy), and Wind (Diplomacy, Handle Animal).
Well-Versed: At 2nd level, the skald becomes resistant to sonic effects. The skald gains a +4 bonus on saving throws made against bardic performance, as well as all sonic or language-dependent effects.
Backstory:
Rikal was born the second of two sons into the Black Elk Tribe in Numeria. His father, Tagarn, was the tribe’s chronicler, responsible for teaching and remembering the oral history of their tribe. His mother, Shrina, tended to the wounds of their warriors as one of the healers using poultices and bandages. From an early age, all children of the Black Elk Tribe were expected to learn how to forage for food and track game. For Rikal and his brother, and later sister, they were also taught the history of their tribe. Not just when the chieftain or shaman called on his father to tell the tribe one of their legends, but whenever his father could take the time. He thought it important that they learn the legends, but because he thought one of them would follow him as the chronicler of the tribe and wanted to be sure each had the knowledge necessary. His mother passed onto them the basics of the healing arts.
As he grew older, Rikal joined the other children in learning to fight with weapons and armor, as was tradition in their tribe, and passed the first two of the Warriors’ Trials, the Trial of Combat and the Trial of the Hunt, at the age of 16. Now, he had only the Trial of Spirit to pass. Along with other candidates to be Warriors, he went with the shaman of his tribe to a cave on their lands where could be found a pool of some strange liquid. The shaman told them they would each be required to drink from the pool, and then remain in the cave until dawn. If they did not flee or perish, they were to return to the village at dawn. He then left them there. Each of them drank from the pool, and when it was Rikal’s turn, his vision grew dark…
He could not explain what he saw next. He seemed to be in a metal cave. There were strange items - items that looked like the technology that brought about ill fortunes. He saw letters and words in a strange and unknown language. As he stared at them, he suddenly began to understand what they said, their meanings, as well as he understood his own tongue, Hallit. When the visions ended, he found that it was dawn. He knelt on the floor of the cave as others lay there, stirring from sleep. In the dirt before him were the symbols from his vision - symbols he understood despite the visions end. Quickly, he erased them before others could see him, afraid of what they might think. With the exception of one who looked as though he had been crushed by a giant fist, all who had entered the Trial of the Spirit had survived, and none had fled. Together, they returned to the tribe and were inducted into the ranks of its warriors. Rikal kept what he had seen to himself, though he burned to tell someone of the visions and the strange language. That night, he again had a similar vision, and again awoke knowing more of the strange language. In time, as the visions kept happening, he began to fear that he was cursed and would bring doom to his people.
Two years later, while on a solo hunting and scouting trip in the area near Torch, he met a shaman by the name of Ulfar Burnhands. Feeling strangely at ease, he accompanied him back to his home, and dined with him. Before long, he found himself telling this stranger about the visions, his fears of what they meant, and of his understanding of the strange language. Ulfar listened, and when Rikal finished, Ulfar explained that Rikal was not cursed, but that the strange substance had given him knowledge of the strange relics that lay scattered about Numeria. He told him that the great purple fire of the town of Torch was likely generated by one such relic, and that he need not fear he would ruin his kin. As though a great weight had been lifted from him, Rikal returned to the tribe and reported the town as too much trouble for too little loot. The Black Elk tribe moved on, but when they were near, Rikal would find time to scout and visit with Ulfar. Now, as the tribe has come close to Torch yet again, he has received word from Ulfar that he must come at once due to an urgent matter. What could have happened? He hopes the shaman is alright, for he has grown to enjoy his companionship. Gathering his equipment, he now journeys to Ulfar’s home, worried for his friend’s safety.
Appearance & Personality:
Rikal stands just under 6 feet, and is somewhat small for a member of his tribe. He is typically garbed in clothing of animal hides and furs, along with his hide buckler and a chain shirt he gained as spoils in a raid on another tribe. He keeps his weapons close at hand, for he never knows when he may need them. His Kellid ancestry is readily apparent, and he takes pride in his history.
Despite his distrust of outsiders, Rikal has an easygoing nature with those he considers friends and tribesmen. He does not often share the story of his vision or his understanding of the strange language with others, however, for fear that his tribe will exile him and other tribes will hunt him. He enjoys telling the legends of his clan, and often tells his stories to a cadence while beating on his war drum around the fire.
