Zaries's page

They are both Item Bonus, so no to using both

Ahh, I didn't realize Item Bonuses didn't stack. Thanks!

Would using both the Expanded Healer's Tools and the Battle Medic's Baton allow you to add both bonuses on relevant checks (since the Healer's Tools are specific)? I know the Healer's Tools are technically 2 handed, but since they can be retrieved and stowed as part of the action that uses them, would that interfere with having the Battle Medic's Baton? Also, if we take into account the errata note for Battle Medicine, where worn items only need 1 hand to access the necessary parts from them, would that make the difference?

Side note: I'm 99% sure you're not able to use the Healer's Tools bonus to perform Battle Medicine, but I figured I'd ask if that's not the case, since I'm here.

[random conspiracy nonsense] Ihys didn't want to be some distant aloof creator eternally above and apart from his creation and all their wonderful variety, and so he welcomed being discorporated by his brother's betrayal, his essence sundering apart and soaking into all of creation, so that he became a part of his own creation. Now, countless millenia later, he's bubbling up from within that creation, re-coalescing into the singular form of Ihys once again.

But what does this mean for living creatures, to have the creator within manifesting outside of them? Do they lose something ineffable in the process? Some spark of creativity?

And did his original seeding of himself into his own creation somehow foil the ultimate goals of his brother, to dominate this creation, by infusing a spark of creativity, a yearning to be free, within them, and will his removal from it make all living things once again vulnerable to his dark designs? [/random conspiracy nonsense]

You... I like you. XD

Like... domains, or a more general 'areas of interest'?

He'd likely have at least Law or Good, if not both, since he's LG. That surprised me since he's the reason for mortal free-will, but there we are.

Something Creation related would be good too. Equally surprised there's no direct counter to the Destruction domain, tbh.

Depending on how he feels about the whole thing with his brother, it might be interesting to have a LG deity with a keen interest in revenge or retribution.

I'm definitely a fan of him being about creation, on top of mortal free will. I think I'll add that in with some of the ideas from Set. Personally, my version of Ihys in this campaign will not be mad at his brother, since he's all for free will, and all that. In fact, he's not even intentionally coming back, it's just happenstance, for reasons I'm still polishing, but at the very least, everyone with free will basically has an iota of Ihys in them, and one of my players is accidentally gathering them until he comes back way down the line. (This should be vague enough for if any of them see this post).

Thank you very much for the help, by the way!

I'd be inclined to make him the opposite of Asmodeus.

Asmodeus has Law, Evil, Magic, Trickery, Fire

So Chaos, Good, Artifice, Knowledge, Water

Those aren't domains traditionally tied together, particularly Artifice and Chaos and Water, so that kind of suggests some interesting themes, like ancient forgotten race devoted to Ihys (and long extinct) who fashioned cities of coral deep below the sea, beautiful whorling spires decorated in mother-of-pearl and lit by luminescent sea life during their heyday, structures covered with murals and reliefs, and philosophically driven as a culture to pursue knowledge, and to record what they experienced in wordless works that were more art than literature, on every surface of their undersea homes.

I could of course end up picking whichever four or five Domains I want to play with the most, and then just rationalize my choices as thematically appropriate because of translation errors and unreliable narrators over the aeons giving us a skewed perspective of what Ihys was really like... :) GM's can get away with that.

I really love all of this, and having the knowledge domain really makes sense in this first place, since he's reportedly the one that discovered speech, and hence, knowledge. I'm kinda digging the idea of going complete opposite, especially after who knows how many eons have passed; I could definitely believe that his version of lawful good is actually the current standard for chaotic good, or even that his personal code that makes him lawful is effectively that everyone deserves to be happy, or something to that effect, making what good he actually does a bit more chaotic.

You've also just helped me write a bit about my group's aquatic adventures, now, which I had yet to actually figure out what to do for, so thanks for inadvertently helping with a second conundrum I was having! XD

So, I'm trying to figure out exactly what the portfolio for Ihys would look like for reasons in my campaign. Long story short, he's coming back through convoluted means, and will be interacting with players, so I'm trying to figure out his character. At the very least, I know his areas of concern would include free will, at the very least, and possibly passion to some extent.

Any ideas that might help flesh him out? I don't want to do him a disservice.