Shotaro Kudo's page

I missed that part of your prior post too. Ah well, I'm sorry. I must be as blind as my character!

Shotaro can't help but smirk when hearing everyone get riled up about these kids being slaves. He figures there's good in some of them after all.

"Just... lead the way?" he says perhaps a moment too late after everyone else storms out. "Hmmm..." he murmurs. "Ah well."

He will make his way around, checking the other doors, listening to hear if they're particularly well-locked or perhaps a little Strength-based lockpicking would get them open. I.E. shoulder ramming them.

"Wait." Shotaro says, holding up a hand. "Something seems wrong here." he stands, tilting his head as he listens. "The children... they're afraid. But... not just of us."

He starts to walk into the room, gently tapping his cane on the wooden floors. "If they trusted their father, they would call to him for help."

I... am pretty sure I just made my position on the matter known. I know this is going to go however it's going to roll out.

While it seems like everyone else is okay with the character robbing the party (because, that is what she's doing, taking money and resources that would be otherwise evenly split among the group to help them survive the adventure) I will state my stance against it. It lands in the same distasteful zone as willfully pvping another player; there has to be a good reason for the individual act.

I am an old school gamer, but I have changed over time to believe that one players jollies is not worth the aggravation of the rest of the players. [edit] OR the DM...

That's my stance on the matter, however. I will not question her ability to scout or roleplay her personality. I just dislike that kind of behavior because it not only breaks party trust, its one of the things that are extremely hard for players to not take personally.

You do you though. I'm outvoted here at either rate and I'm not gonna ooc anything with Shotaro.

I make an excellent scout! The problem is I use USMC scouting techniques: I know there are bad guys there when they start shooting me. :p

Shotaro sniffs the air around the dog. Does the dog smell healthy or is it filthy or sick?

"I'll stay here by the dog. You kinder sorts can go inside." Shotaro offers. "I might just scare them."

Shotaro will tilt his head several ways, crouching down hesitantly to touch the side of the dog. "Ah. Damn." he says aloud. "I thought this was a wild animal!"

He checks to make sure it's breathing. "Excuse me!?" Shotaro shouts. "I accidentally hurt your dog! Is anyone there?"

He will rise, pushing off with his cane. "I'm sorry, everyone. I think I might have overreacted."

Hey, I think everyone played to their characters. It's no one's particular fault that it happened like it did.

Besides, the blind man just karate chopped a dog. Easily explained as him still being defensive from living alone. I will write a post in a bit to help make that make sense.

We can also, for the sake of sanity, just say I did nonlethal damage and knocked it out. And it's partially on my head for jumping the shark and not waiting for you to announce whether or not it was a fight.

Well it could do a partial charge as a standard action, if it wanted to take a bite at one of us. I'll continue my actions on the normal initiative, since Shotaro at least thinks it's aggressive.

Oh! Jeez I'm sorry it sounded like it was attacking the way you described it! If it's not then I won't hit it. It's just that when an angry animal flings itself at you snarling, it's kinda... a giveaway that it's attacking.

Initiative?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

Shotaro, who was ready to walk into the room, tilts his head at the sound of the dog as the door opens. The dog comes hurtling towards him, and he spins out of Yoska's grip, chopping with his bare hand and striking the dog as it passes by where he used to be.

Standard action to strike and making a 5ft step to the side so the dog doesn't crash into me. I have Improved Unarmed Strike so I don't provoke an AoO, and I can do lethal damage.
Strike!: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
Damage: 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
It's an okay amount of damage. Dogs aren't that tough, are they?

Shotaro nods. "Yes. I am from a land in Tian Xia called Minkai." he says. "My family were silk traders. We were crossing over the crown of the world... when I lost my sight."

He sighs. "But I was fortunate. In Magnimar I received special training that taught me to use my other senses better than they could ever have been with my eyes. Vildeis, her priests saved me from a pathetic ditch and gave me the means and volition to truly live again."

Whoo! Someone is actually helping the blind man.

Shotaro gladly accepts your assistance to the door, and he tenses at the door, opening his senses to be ready for danger.

Hearing conversation, Shotaro wanders close. "If you don't trust her that badly, then just search her when she gets back. If she'll let you." he says. "Now can someone point me to the door so I can enter? I'm thinking a fish fry sounds delicious right about now and I want to get inside before it rains or something."

Shotaro turns his head in Adelita's direction. "Was it something I said?" he says with a grin. He continues to meander around the exterior of the building until something audibly interesting happens.

Shotaro will make his way to the side of the building, tapping with his cane. He follows after Kerda, not trying to be quiet, but not trying to make noise either.

Stealth: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Wow, I guess the tapping cane is a dead giveaway.

Shotaro actually felt fine, having dozed off several times during the journey. It was hard to tell unless he started snoring.

Disembarking, Shotaro listens carefully to the sounds of the area, tapping his cane on the ground in order to find a path. He figured the smell of the fishery was enough to guide him to the building, but it would be easier to find a door using the path.

I will be passively taking 10 on my perception checks for hearing and smell and blindsense. Total result: 16

"Well, let me know if you see any ghosts!" he says with a smirk, tapping his way towards the building.

I suggest just doing the rolls offline and then deciding on the encounter that way. There are random encounter tables, it's just a pain to post them on the game thread cause the way the dice roller works you can end up either wasting time with piddling encounters or guaranteed wipe us out cause you rolled for us to encounter the Tarrasque at level 1...

So, find the appropriate biome, do a roll (or three) and then perhaps do a bit of tailoring to the monsters to fit your desired encounter. Sometimes you can take a weak encounter and make it just right by adding an extra creature of the same type, or taking one away, OR by having them be injured already... it's a living world and monsters don't fight just the PC's.

Otherwise, you can look at the NPC codex and whip up a bunch of bandits. There's always more bandits. Or goblins. -_-

If you still want some of the forum randomness involved, decide on a creature and then roll on the encounter post how many we fight. Like 1d4+1 goblins, or 1d3, or heck, 2d3 if you want there to be a better minimum but no more than a 6.

Also, since we're in a carriage, we can have things like running battle happen where we're trying to avoid monsters too strong for us to handle right now. OR fight off bandits trying to rob us stagecoach style (love those westerns right?) or have inclement weather conditions force us to park the carriage and shelter the horses, etc. Dynamic events like that are entertaining and usually easy to pull off. In chases, just have the carriage driver make some checks once a turn to keep going fast while the party takes actions to defend or fight off attackers, or even try to slow down pursuers.

"In fact, what do you all do? Might be handy to know just how we handle ourselves."

Shotaro makes a face. "I am... in the profession of being perpetually underestimated?" he says, shrugging. "I used to be a silk trader many years ago before I lost my sight."

@Kerda, how about being surprisingly good at killing people?

In response to the dwarf's complaint about getting blood in the carriage, he calls back. "All right, I'll wait till we camp to try shaving again!"

"Yes. I can already tell this journey is going swimmingly." Shotaro says, patting his knee with an empty hand.

"It's going to be three hours, shall we exchange tales to pass the time?" he asks.

Before I go rolling anything, what would it take to get Kerda to start warming up to Shotaro?

I think we're going already, GM. I believe most of the conversation is happening on the road. However, of all the party, I'm least likely to know where we are, aren't I?

Oh Id totally drive. How hard could it be?

Shotaro nods again, likely to no one in particular.

"I thought it would be the case." he says, a bit of remorse in his voice. "Pity."

It's not hard to tell Shotaro smells of sweat and dust from the road. Otherwise he keeps very clean, likely because of his sense of smell. His voice is obviously heavily accented... If common is the equivalent of English, then he'd sound like Jet Li in most of his movies. Visually, Shotaro has strangely calloused hands for a beggar,
and without his blindfold his eyes were once brown but are almost blue-white with scar tissue.

"I doubt you will have reason to care, but my name is Shotaro Kudo. You can call me Shotaro. Or 'blind man' if you so desire. I'll help on this quest the queen has given us however I can, so long as you don't expect me to shoot a bow or tell you what color the queen's throne was." he chuckles to himself. "I hear it's red."

He shrugs. "I may be blind, but I have learned how to compensate for that. I'm a pretty good fighter... at least in my opinion!"

"A tired, dusty blind man?" Shotaro muses, his hand running along the handle of his battered cane. "I couldn't think of a more expendable person for something shady."

After a second, he adds. "I hope it isn't, though."

Heh. Thank you PixiePym. Gives Shotaro much more to go on.

Earlier...
Shotaro mainly remains quiet, sitting on a nearby chair or on the floor if there's nothing nearby while the group gathers. He tilts his head and listens to the individuals as they introduce themselves but does not speak unless spoken to. He's not used to having people he can talk to, and having lived many years as a blind beggar, he's used to being ignored.

If each player could, on their next post, indicate what their vocal timber is or a key smell they have, that would be great. I have scent out to 10ft and it's my primary way of identifying a person once I've met them.

---------
Now

He stands when royalty enters. Hearing a female voice he is at first puzzled, but soon understanding comes. He doesn't know about being famous, but he accepts her statements for the time being. Talking back to a royal person seemed bad manners, regardless.
What did the queen smell like when she walks in front of him? Expensive perfume? Obviously, Shotaro picks up any menace in her voice but he can't exchange a look with her even if he tried.

Once they're escorted out of the throne room and ushered towards the outside, he navigates the convoluted chambers with only the lightest use of his cane. Retrieving his pack, he hopes this carriage has enough room for everyone on it.

Inside the transportation, he seems to be enjoying taking a load off his feet. Once he can hear and feel them on the road, he speaks.

"Seems rude of her to make such demands, and offer us nothing to pay for the medicine she requires us to get. Is it expensive? It must be if it's something we can't acquire here." he says, possibly changing the subject of any other conversations happening in the carriage. "And some form of payment in advance would help ensure people stay on task."

He bows his head. "Forgive my impertinence, sirs, and madams. I am merely wondering aloud." He pats his tattered clothes. "I suppose beggars can't be choosers, now can I?" he chuckles at his own joke.

Post that over in the gameplay forum! :D

Shotaro taps his cane on the stones as he walks.

Dressed in sackcloth clothes, this Tian looks to be fairly rough around the edges. Sun-weathered skin and dark hair that's bleached along the top from being exposed to the day, giving it a dappled brown appearance. He is surprisingly handsome with a sharp jawline and chin, his rough shaven appearance doing more to comport a feeling of rugged self-reliance than one of mere peasantry. A black silk strip of cloth, embroidered with violet lotus flowers, covers his eyes, an indication of blindness as well as the one item of comfort he seems to possess.

Under his saggy peasant's clothing is several bands of treated leather, stitched together to protect his torso and thighs. Besides this armor is a pack that's scratched and worn, spattered with dried water spots. Despite this, the leather is thick, and the pack is of great quality under the wear and dirt. A spear is strapped to the pack, jutting almost entirely upright.

The blind man continues his way along South Seneschal street, his cane tapping along the ground in front of him as he goes. He seems to move oblivious to the crowds, though he makes enough noise that most people avoid running into him. Nearing the bridge, he is stopped by a soldier.

"Sir." he asks. Shotaro stops. "This is the castle, blind man. Perhaps you're lost?"

the blind man tilts his head. "Lost? Hard to know where I am if I've never seen a map before." he says. "Though, I do have business at the castle, if that's what you mean." he reaches into the fold of his shirt, and withdraws a missive.

"Here." he holds the letter out, into open air two feet to the soldier's left. "I had to have the messenger read it to me, but I am to understand that I'm expected by the lord."

The soldier looked at the man with annoyance, an expression lost on Shotaro as he snatches the letter out of his hand. "That's a new one." the soldier scoffs. "Let me see that!"

Shotaro stands, his head tilted, as the soldier reviews the missive. He seems patient as the man calls over another soldier, shows him the paper, they review the seal, and then one of them goes off to confirm. Minutes pass, and eventually the second man returns and whispers something into the first's ear.

"You'll need to turn over any weapons. " The soldier tells him, tapping the shaft of Shotaro's spear with his own. The blind man nods, leaning on his cane as he unslings his pack and holds it out. "You're going to watch it for me? That's very kind of you." he says. "I'll want it back of course. That spear's been very good for fighting off wild animals."

The soldier huffs, taking the heavy pack and dropping it unceremoniously on the ground behind him. "And your cane sir." he says.

Shotaro frowns. "Well, how will I walk? I could stumble and fall. Perhaps someone from the castle could guide me?"

The soldier, already annoyed beyond his limits, grunted. "Fine. Don't cause any trouble." he says.

Shotaro smiles in the man's general direction. "I'll try not to." he says. With that, he starts tapping his way across and into the castle where he asks someone less hostile to guide him to where he's supposed to be having his audience.

I just suddenly had a funny thought.

Years of adventuring pass in the PFS, and one day Shotaro spouts. "You know, I've been in the Pathfinders for years... still haven't ever found one." and then when people stare at him he waves a hand in front of his blind face.

I'll have to ask him for a frank assessment. From my experience, it can be a hard class to find the sweet spot for with a 15 or 20 point buy (it's fairly multiple attribute dependant), and harder if you aren't human! Extra feats really help some classes...

He seemed excited to try it and he's had some amusing game night quotes since then. I hope the stuff I publish gets appreciated. Only my first book got an Endzeitgeist review so I've still got a ways to go.

Korvosa is fine. If it's all right, I'd love it if Shotaro has NO IDEA exactly how he ended up there. He was wandering the roads, traveling along caravan routes, and getting directions every so often, and then some number of weeks later there he was.

I run a tiny 3PP you can see my entire catalog of seven products HERE and occasionally have done some freelancing for other 3PP's.

Oh nice! I just saw Owen KC Stevens say he made one of your Direlock characters and was liking it! That's high praise in my book!

Aaaand we're all built, I think? This should be fun.

I'm a 32 year old stay at home dad and author, so I'm at my computer pretty much all the time. Also an insomniac so some days I only sleep like 3 hours.

I've been playing tabletop games since 2000, and I also write for a few of the 3rd party developers for Pathfinder and Starfinder.

I prefer to do block initiative so that there's less of a 'we gotta wait 5 days for x person to post their action cause they were on vacation and we all go after them' things.

However, I also suggest that another method to handling that is when you have to take time away from the boards indicating here in discussion and saying what your character would do in advance, and that way the gm can bot you quickly and with little effort. Or a different player if you want to designate one. It's not like we can't see everyone else's character sheets here, right?

It's going to be a challenge for NPCs and party members to push past that, but will be interesting if they can.

I literally have no reason to judge you, since I have no ability to see your mug, despite how butt-ugly it might be! :P

Either way I'm fine with it. Shotaro wouldn't mind having a friend, since he's been kinda lonely since he was abandoned. But also rescuing a person would be cool too.

Also, I think that a divine duo would be more helpful... You could go Cleric/rogue and achieve much the same effect.

Shotaro spent the last couple of years in Magnimar, so Varisia would be the easiest place to start, AND it has the advantage of having all manner of things for players to do in it.

Also, hello! *waves*

I hope we get along well. :)

As an addition, I want to let everyone know I'm playing a blind character, but I am not nearly as disabled as you'd think I'd be. Careful selection of my abilities and whatnot means that really, the only (adventuring) things I can't do are shoot ranged weapons at people further than 30 feet away and tell you what color something is. I can walk and move or climb just like most other people, and I am good in a fight, especially melees but I can break out the longspear for support fighting too.