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I don't do a lot of PFS and I don't have any characters that could really cut it there. Most of My PFS guys are level 1. I have one level 3 guy who is a fighter 2/ rogue 1 - I was trying to build a slayer before there were slayers. He didn't really work that well. If you're desperate I could play a pregen though. Is this for a PbP game?
No rush here but I hope everything is okay.
FYI guys I know my posts have slowed down a bit lately. Not here necessarily, but in general. Here's what's going on. Right now we have a staffing shortage at my workplace, and I have been pulling extra shifts. This has left me pretty tired and worn out. I also expect to be training some new hires soon (though I'm not sure when), and since I do most of my posts from work it is unlikely I will be able to post much on those days, but we don't have a schedule for that person yet, so I don't yet know which days I am doing that, and I may not end up knowing until I arrive for my shift. So since I may not have any warning I'm letting you guys know now. The training will probably be spread over three days. After that I am leaving for a much needed Vacation on September 30th. I expect to have internet access, so I should be able to post in that period, though it may be a bit irregular. Sorry for any problems this might cause, and if I don't respond in a reasonable time bot me as needed. Things should be back to normal for me in mid-October.
"If we're picking codenames," Yazan calls quietly from up ahead, "I call 'Copperhead.' Like the snake. Heh."
FYI guys I probably can't post on Saturday, and not on Sunday until late.
Take your time. :)
".... Sound good?" "Yah, sure." A red tail with a leaf-shaped pad at the end emerges from under Yazan's cloak. She looks at the others rather embarrassedly, while she hands her sword off to the tail. While the tail holds the sword, with her free hand she makes a gesture covering her face as she murmurs under her breath. Yazan quickly fades from view, until there is nothing left.
"Do whatever you're gonna do. I'll be by the big hole," says Yazan's disembodied voice. Unseen by the others (though the clink of her armor is still audible), Yazan heads for the wide hole and takes up a position to one side.
"The bastard sword is her chosen weapon, yes? And she loves rabbits." Yazan draws her bastard sword. "Yes, like her son. Kellids like big weapons." "But now it looks like we need to make like jackrabbits and run! Lead the way!"
When the messenger gives his orders, Yazan jumps up and secures her gear, before rushing off with the others. "The Fertile Flame?" Gillian asks curiously. "That's not a name I've heard for Sarenrae before." As the group runs for the command tent, Yazan tries to respond between breaths. "Ha! No... you wouldn't have ... The... Fertile Flame... is Feronia. ... she is honored... by the Kellid tribes... to the northeast. ... But... Feronia is ... the mother of... Ragathiel... if that helps..." Yazan pants. I guess knowing about a minor deity would be (religion) DC 15:
Feronia "The Fertile Flame" is a true neutral elemental deity. Her domains are destruction, fire, protection, and liberation. She is the mother of the Empyreal Lord Ragathiel (whose worship is common in Magnimar), and for a time was the wife of Dispater, the arch devil. Her worship is rare among "civilized" cultures.
http://www.archivesofnethys.com/DeityDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Feronia "If we go this way," his finger traces a line through the battlefield, "... If we get lucky, we won't get spotted by a patrol the rest of the way in...." "Yah, fine. This armor is noisy though." Yazan murmurs something and taps her knees with her fingers. Then she looks up, and dons an orcish battle mask. "Okay, ready?"
So essentially a 'first impression' thing that has no relevance later on? In that case we may as well skip ahead to Richard and Dvalin knowing you. There's a reason we're all player characters. You don't use diplomacy skill to improve the attitude of other player characters towards you, for example. The players just decide how they treat each other. And player-characters with low CHA scores are allowed to be friendly towards others if they want, and vice-versa. There's a reasonable amount of adjustment expected from a RP standpoint. Friction will be plausible at the beginning. But let's not overdo it. Yazan is dependable and a team player. Reacting negatively to Yazan because "it's how my character would act" could get pretty tired after a while and will only serve to disrupt the game. Our job as players is not to explain why our characters won't work together; it's to imagine reasons why our characters would work together. The game will be much more fun for both of us if we can do that. Ability score also defines Charisma as a measure of empathy, emotional inteligence, so to say - not just personal magnetism or force of personality... The CRB defines Charisma thus: "Charisma measures a character's personality, personal magnetism, ability to lead, and appearance." I think I've covered that. But rather than just go by the textbook definition, which is a bit vague and not always useful, I also try to let the game inform me of what the ability scores do based on how the game mechanics treats them. If by empathy you mean, does Yazan relate to others? The answer is no, not much. Yazan has trouble relating to other people as her background and upbringing has been very different than most. But if by empathy you mean the ability to understand the motivations of others, and tell what they are thinking and feeling, I would say that mechanically that comes under the sense motive skill and therefore Wisdom. Wisdom Yazan has. And let's not conflate Charisma and Alignment. There's no reason a low CHA character ought to be a "serial killer" as that is really an alignment issue rather than a score (or possibly a sanity issue). High CHA characters can be evil, and low CHA characters can be good. Obviously. ================================================================= I understand we've had our friction in the past in GGGM's game but I had hoped we could have a fresh start in this one. It sounds like you think I am playing my character "wrong" and that I have broken an unwritten rule by dumping my CHA to 5. You are entitled to your opinion, but if you are critical of the way I roleplay, I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself. I'll play my character and you can play yours.
I understand it's an easy 4 points to squeeze out via dumping if Cha is not used for the build mechanically, but I did assume you dropped it so low for RP reasons... How I build characters varies from one character to another. But I often start with a character build concept and think "What would this character be like?" and "How would this character get this way?" Once I began seeing Yazan as a low-CHA character, I couldn't see any reason not to keep dropping CHA further. I usually interpret Charisma as your personal magnetism. A high Charisma character attracts others, and people are more interested in pleasing them. They are entertaining and charming. Someone who doesn't have that kind of magnetism would tend to get ignored, or have their opinions dismissed. People would find a low-CHA character unpleasant and unappealing. While Charisma and physical attractiveness are not directly related, most "ugly" races also have a CHA penalty. So that is a part of it for Yazan. She is pretty freakish in almost any society. People have a hard time seeing past the surface with her, or caring about her needs and opinions. Most people that don't just reject her end up seeing Yazan as a useful tool towards some end, and not as a person they are trying to get to know. As a result, Yazan tries to get approval by doing favors for others since this is what she knows. Deep down she is pretty lonely. But she is suspicious of friendly overtures because in the past this usually only occurred because someone wanted something from her. It does mean though that once others accept her into a group she will be very loyal to them since she has a hard time making friends and thus prizes the ones she has. She also tends to overlook the flaws of those she can call "friends," and this has got her into trouble before. I figure once people (i.e. the party) have a chance to see how she acts and get used to her appearance, they may learn to see her differently. Hopefully that won't take too long for player-characters. :)
"Really? What kind of ruin? And why do they care about what happens on the surface if they live below it?" "The Fertile Flame is a goddess of fire, but also of protection and freedom. It is she whom I serve. If what you say is true, she would want these drow stopped."
Yeah I wrote into Yazan's story that she typically gets abuse from strangers more often than not. Most of the time if she is treated favorably it is because someone thinks she can be useful. I'd appreciate it if you don't overdo it though. BTW, I'd never seen the "Unhindering Shield" feat before. That's kind of awesome, and it opens up a whole bunch of interesting options for THW and TWF fighters. Also monks.
"You will fight when you are told to fight, Yazan." Though she is used to abuse at the hands of strangers, Yazan looks at Davlin with surprise. "You sayin' you're the boss? I thought it would be an elf." Yazan shrugs. She sits on a camp stool, draws her bastard sword, and begins polishing it. The sword has a symbol on the hilt similar to that on her shield. "An' I'll fight, don't you worry. The elves say it's how I can pay my 'debts.' I'm sure they figure I'm expendable. Heh. I'll do what's required, but I mean to survive. I always do, somehow."
Yazan eyes Richard's "ally," and then Richard himself for a moment, and then shrugs. "Alas, we have no leader as of just a few hours ago. Nel, our old commander, was stationed elsewhere and we were told to expect some new recruits to the squad. That must be you, naturally." Yazan looks at Aishe for a moment, and then looks back at Dvalin. She shrugs, and goes back to polishing her sword. "Looks like Dvalin here wants the job, seein' as he's already started givin' orders. I don't care who it is, as long as it's no fool." She finishes polishing the sword, and examines the bright finish of the dark metal. She looks at it for a few moments, then puts the sword back in its sheath. "Anyone want to tell me what this fight is about? I heard it's elves versus elves. Some kinda civil war?"
A bizarre-looking woman in spiked plate armor is escorted into the tent by two stern-looking elves. The woman has skin like burnished copper and pupil-less eyes that look like gold. She has tusks at the corners of her mouth, much like an orc, but these too are gold. She has black wiry hair with a golden streak at her left temple. And one side of her face is a mass of burn scars. She smells of sulfur and woodsmoke. Overall the effect is not appealing at all, and she looks rather grim and forbidding. She glares at the elves as they remove a small red ribbon that is wound around the hilt of the woman's large sword. One the ribbon is removed the elves nod to one another and to any elves in the tent, and they give the woman a stern look, before leaving the tent. The woman rubs her wrists. She scowls at any elves that are present, but when she sees that there are non-elves here her expression softens. She almost smiles when she sees the mask worn by the witch doctor. "So... which one of you's the boss? I'm Yazan." Yazan pulls a shield from the gear on her back and begins strapping it to her left arm. The shield is deep blue and shows a yellow bonfire in the middle. "What are we supposed to do? I hear there's a fight that we get a piece of. Do we have a plan?"
Red 5, standing by. :)
Howdy! Gillian is...well, you'll see. She likes fire (something she and Orthrus seem to have in common) but is a little reluctant to admit to it sometimes :) Yazan is an inquisitor of Feronia, a fire goddess. :) Sadly the inquisitor spell list doesn't include many fire-based spells.
Hi, folks. Anything the new guys need to know before we get started? FYI in combat Yazan is a rather tanky fighter, wearing full plate armor and carrying a shield. Her damage output isn't that great but with her bane and domain abilities it can spike somewhat once in a while. She has really good knowledge abilities and intimidates using Dazzling Display.
Yazan gives her elven captors a feral look as they release her into the company of a group of non-elves. "I am ready for battle. Even if I die here, it is better than the noose. Or however elves execute people... For all I know they sing people to death."
I have basically done Yazan except I still have to convert my point form notes about background into prose. As Orthus can tell you, I have a tendency to write long and the beginning part of her background went on longer than expected. I still have a fair bit to do there. Also I have 30 gp with which to buy rations and rope, etc. Still have to do that. But the key thing is that in her travels Yazan eventually fell into membership of a Nomen raiding band. After a time a member of the band came across a map which reputedly held the location of a treasure hoard in the Mierani forest. Believing they could sneak in and then out with the treasure, the band entered the forest, but got ambushed by elven scouts. Most of her band was killed, but Yazan was captured (possibly along with others in the band). Originally planning to try and execute the intruders, the elves guarding Yazan were summoned to Celwynvian to fight the menace there. Yazan was given a choice: Die, or fight the elves' enemy at Celwynvian. If she were to do that, she would be allowed to live and leave the forest. Does that work?
Not finished, but coming together. Notice you are rolling for HP and taking the roll or average (whichever is more). By average I'm guessing that means round up? Not bad. So that would be 8 + 7 + 5 + 5 + 8 + 5 = 38 + my starting HD which would be 8 = 46 + CON bonus (14) = 60. |
