First, I agree the tattoos are gone.
However, if as a witchdoctor Maskor would have been able to apply it to himself or others, I don't see why he couldn't make new ones for himself. If an actual shaman or tribe elder is needed, then no, they are gone.
Mostly the description implies they work by personal conviction, so I would myself allow him to reapply them .
Since the reincarnate spell specificaly states its a new body hes coming into, I would deny the scarshield until a new set of scars could form, but otherwise I would rule that he could keep the archetype.
I assume Maskor leaned heavily into his orc heritage, and since he soul/mind is unchanged, he could arguably end up even more dedicated to his previous racial identity.
In other words, since this happened in game I would allow him to keep his Archetype.
This is meant as a fun little exercise.
what custom magic item would you plant/craft in your campaigns?
things that arent in the books, but would be eminently useful, like;
a 'ring of gentle repose' for the tomb of a great king or hero.
a 'gate of detect disease' for the wealthiest brothels in your capital.
not to mention a 'bar of prestigitation' to clean and colour your clothes and dishes, 'needle of mending' anyone?
how about an 'ambassadors earring'; detect magic and arcane mark effect on it. the arcane mark guarantees providence and it glows if the wearer is under any magic effects (one color if hes under an enchantment effect, another if he's under an illusion, etc.)
what other type things would you expect to see in a magic rich society where not everyone is looking for a fight or adventure?
First of all, this post contains spoilers for snows of summer
If details on this module are unwanted, read no further
Okay
My group finished the pale tower today, and during their quest thei've displayed some... questionable moral judgement.
Early on, they captured one of the fey on the taldor side of the portal, they tried to extract information by force feeding him enough alcohol to make him sick, then gagged him and casualy threw him into a backpack. Leading to him chocking to death on his own vomit.
They let Nadya be taken to the tower, have considered robbing the Waldsby merchants of they're magic items. Not acted on the impulse yet though.
They ambushed a contigent of tower guards, prompting one to surrender without a fight.
After they had him tied up, but wasnt willing to actively help against his employers, they executed him and the rest of the prisoners (soldiers that didnt bleed to death) to screams of horror.
On the raid on the pale tower itself, they captured Mierul, and threatened to torture her with cold iron if she wouldnt tell them witch potions were cure mods.
They summoned fiends to empty the vault (and trigger any traps might be there), so they wouldnt have to enter it.
Frankly, it might be overdue to yank the good alignement off those pretending at it.
However, i'm thinking about adding a few vulnrebileties and advantages to the alignment shift, flavoring it as them starting to more and more go into Baba Yagas thrall, gaining more benefits from the mantle, but also starting to lose themselves to it.
I generaly dont allow people to play evil, and i dont belive they intended to be so either. This might be a case of in the course of hunting monsters, the players becoming them in turn.
Might be all smiles and cheers when they first get dr/cold iron and immunity to cold, only to realize they now are cold fey themselves.
Anyone have any imput on wether i'm courting disaster or not?
The group occassionaly seem a tad op as is, and this will potentionaly make them worse.
So i'm starting up a new group this sunday.
The group are mostly newbies, with only one player having any experience with pen and papir rp.
The plan was after the characters were done, to run a homebrew or a free 1st level module to let them get a feel for the concept and rules before starting them on the reign of winter adventure path.
Question is, what module if any should i start with?
Will i be able to run a weekly game off the monthly instalments of row?
Is it at all a good idea to cut a groups teeth on a sprawling adventure path, when they lack the basic knowlege of tropes and tactical thinking that serve as a baseline for more experienced rp'ers?
I'm thinking of introducing a gmpc to help the group if they get totaly lost, even if i normaly frown on such tools.
And i'm currently leaning on using the hollow's last hope module as a intro adventure.
The only adventure path i've previously played through is shackled city, so i dont have what might be considered basic knowlege of any differences the pathfinder adventure paths might hold.
I hope the community might aid in assisting me in making this as smooth an experience as possible for everyone involved
Strenght: probably at about 11-12, I'm 6'2" with a reasonably bulky build, but never been one for push ups, or pull ups.
ranks in swim and climb though.
dexterity: 11-12, I haven't really fallen down (near misses don't count), even when casually walking on ice or leaning my chair at precocious angles, for several years. my reaction speeds while not amazing, are pretty reasonable. my aim is mostly true. assume ranks in balance and stealth
constitution: I'm kinda unsure, maybe 12-13. I've no allergies, don't smoke, able to run for about four minutes at fair speed. able to run a 5k, but a wreck for a week afterwards. able to take large amounts of physical punishment, but a single aspirin basically sends me into a coma
intelligence: I'd say conservatively 13. I speak two additional languages fluently, my native tongue's neighboring languages don't count, although I understand and can communicate in them and the latin language family. assume more then one skill ranks in linguistics. I am not by any means the smartest guy in my circle of friends, but I'm generally smarter than a great portion of the people I interact with on a daily basis.
rank in profession: Pilot (and i guess by extension rank in fly too)
wisdom: I'd say about 11, in the common range, but often insightful. easily distracted. skill ranks in perception.
charisma: 9. positive modifiers in intimidate, bluff, diplomacy, and at least three ranks in perform. not really memorable though, and my social abilities comes from training rather then natural ability.
probably a 2-3rd lvl rogue.
seeing as I've skill to spare, and several ranks in some of them
as far as I can tell, the temple sword is hands down the the best monk weapon which one has proficiency in from the start.
all the other initial monk weapons seem only to be useful in that you can make a combat maneuver as part of a flurry with them, while the temple sword remains viable as a actual weapon til 8th lvl.
If one's willing to spend a feat on proficiency though, i would think either the 7-branched sword, 9-section whip or 3-section staff would be the pick of the litter.
again, thanks for the compliment.
as you say, I think he has the desire to do good, but as a result of his pyrrhic victory, he has lost his confidence that he can be good.
I was thinking that he used to see himself as a type of percival, but as he failed to live up to his ideal, he might be more inclined to attempt a more black knight approach. to channel the monster he has within so to speak, but as a result of his post-traumatic stress he's mostly not able to pull that off either.
he's wracked with guilt, tempered with his need to crush his dark mirror (Ledge). it wont be a priority of the campaign by any measure, but if he can manage a clean victory, he might feel worthy of an atonement, if however its another pyrrhic victory, he will probably slink away to die again.
after consulting the guide, and doing a 15 point mental build of a paladin, I reason
str15 dex12 con12 int8 wis14 cha11 with racial adjustments and 4th lvl
str16 dex14 con10 int8 wis14 cha13
except for the con it seems reasonable for a pally, and workable for an inquisitor. as feats go 1st:toughness 3rd:improved monster lore. to kind of offset my major weaknesses
he's strong and personable, he likes to read, but his imagination is lacking
thanks for the compliment
it may be interesting to try and play him as having some measure of post-traumatic stress, that rears its head from time to time.
I guess us being 'kalamarian black ops' we could settle with black bagging our corrupt guards, but maybe that's not much better?
so.. my first post.
my group has just been recruited to join the 'kalamaren imperial black ops organisation' and seeing as my character is a foreigner and a ronin to boot, the gm has hinted that I might want to roll up a new character. seeing as I'm not really eligible to join.
so here was what I was thinking of presenting (having been inspired by Kelsey Arwen MacAilbert's thread), and I would welcome some feedback.
the story of Kopaki starts thus: 'Corvus and White were part of an adventuring group in their younger days. during these expeditions, they both touched an ancient artifact before the cleric could warn them that it contained a malevolent presence. soon enough the artifact was destroyed and as far as the party could tell no harm had come of it.
some time later the group had taken enough arrows to the knee that they decided to split up and retire, settling down to raise families of their own.
Corvus married a lovely lass and together they had their son Kopaki, it was evident that something was wrong with the babe, he was far to pale, would not stop crying, and after a while they noticed he didn't seem to grow any larger.
Corvus and Nimue (his wife) consulted the local priest about what could be wrong with the child.
after extensive questioning the cleric concluded that the child was a cursed damphir, having gained the condition from his fathers brush with the evil artifact.
the couple was devastated and at a loss for what to do. the cleric warned that their son would be a monster from his nature, but the right kind of nurture might redeem him. he suggested that they give the child to the church for rearing, as they would be venerable before their son would barely be a teen, while the church could be a constant guardian.
reluctantly Corvus and Nimue gave up their son and adopted their other children.
Kopaki grew up in a monastery with kind, but stern monks guiding him through the years, when he was old enough to understand he was told of his origin and nature in such a way that he didn't turn resentful.
as he became old enough he heard the calling and joined his church's order of paladins
after several years of faithful service he was given the post of guardian (sheriff) of a sleepy village in the outskirts of kalamar.
it wasn't an exiting post, but he did his job dutifully and earned the trust and love of the villagers, even taking in as his ward a young orphan named Spark.
it was of course too good to last. a mad bandit alchemist called Ledge began terrorizing the province with his minions.
Kopaki resisted as well as he could the raids and assaults on the unwary travelers, and met with some success.
then one day, one of Ledge's minions rode into town and issued Kopaki a challenge.
"Ledge is rigging the dam to explode, you have one hour to stop him paladin, and if you try to evacuate the village that time is forfeited"
being faced with the imminent destruction of his hamlet, Kopaki rounded up his posse, entrusted Spark to a couple he trusted and rode off to face the madman.
it was an uphill battle, but finally he and about a fifth of his posse made it to the top of the dam where the giggling maniac and the rest of his band stood ready.
"before you charge ahead, mr. never-do-wrong I would like to call your attention to my enchanted collar" he touched a slightly glowing collar around his neck, "it's got a twin, which I took the liberty to fit to this strapping young lad." at his words a henchman produced a bound, gagged, and struggling Spark, Kopaki's normal pale complexion turned positively grey. "you see, this here collar, which can only be undone by saying the right phrase by the way, joins your young protegee and mine life energies together, so anything you do to me, he experiences likewise. kill me, and you will have to kill me to stop me, and your little friend is killed too. isn't that just hilarious?
right I've had my say, so if you would excuse me, I have a dam to blow up."
Kopaki and his slightly stunned men charged to intercept, Kopaki managed to make his way to Ledge, as their duel commenced, he tried to deal non-lethal damage and various maneuvers, but they were too evenly matched
Ledge kept taunting the harrowed paladin telling him they were two sides of the same coin, how his father White had chosen to keep his monster child, until he had burned down their cottage at the ripe age of twenty, that Kopaki could never win until he was willing to embrace the monster within.
finally hurt and desperate, Kopaki resorted to deadly force, his foe laughing unceasingly, after every connecting hit, he risked a glance to spark, and saw the gashes appear, mirroring the ones he was administering to Ledge.
in the end, the never ceasing laughter was cut off as Kopaki ran Ledge through his black heart, the body falling into the water reservoir, disappearing from sight. not even sacrificing a second glance to his foe, Kopaki raced to the now limp form of his ward. no matter how hard he searched, there was no sign of life in him. the anguish he felt at that single moment was so crippling, he hardly noticed he had fallen.
as he returned home, with the battered remains of his men, the silent crowd watched their protector clutching the unmoving figure in his arms, and knew they had no reason to be jubilant.
soon after Kopaki left the village, feeling unworthy of being their protector any longer.
returning to his childhood monastery, the priests offered the fallen paladin atonement, but he refused, claiming that even though he regretted his actions, he could not repent them, as he would have to do the same actions, every time he'd be placed in a similar dilemma.
after a while he locked himself into his cell and decided to let himself waste away to nothing.
at length a celebrated inquisitor by the name of Liam came to the monastery and asked to be show to Kopaki.
more a shadow than any semblance of man at this point Kopaki made no show of acknowledging his visitor.
Liam stood in the doorway and began to speak, "we were impressed with how you saved your village," he said, "but its not over of course. Ledge is still out there." at this revelation the lips of the suffering man whispered, "lies... I saw him die with my own eyes, killed him with my own sword"
"what you killed was but a similarcum, an artificial copy of the real monster still haunting kalamar" Liam said, "I came here hoping to find the man willing to sacrifice everything he loves for the greater good, and recruit him into the emperors service."
with some effort he managed to slightly open one eye
"what use would the emperor find in a fallen paladin?" he asked incredulously.
"some," Liam said with a suppressed smile, "we can offer you the means and the opportunity to have a second shot at ledge, all we ask in return is your unquestioned service to the throne."
slowly forcing himself to sit up Kopaki regarded the other man
"what opportunity? what means?"
Liam at this point knew he had gotten his recruit.
"we will retrain you, I have a feeling you will enjoy being an inquisitor. and our network will forward any new intel we receive on Ledge, next time he strikes you will be able to start the hunt while the trail is still fresh. do we have an accord?"
"would you be so kind, as to ask the monks to bring me some bread and water?"
so basically I was planing on playing a damphir inquisitor sin eater, formally a fallen paladin
15 point buy I'm not really sure what build would suit him best, as his stat array should be plausible for both an inquisitor and a paladin.
the only feat I have really decided on is toughness, to compensate for his con penalty.
we are at about 4-5 lvl
any feedback or suggestions are welcome
I apologize if my wall of text seemed insurmountable or boorish, it merely is part of my character creation process
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