Goblin Squad Member. Organized Play Member. 71 posts (346 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 5 Organized Play characters. 7 aliases.
I'm a bit surprised he hasn't turned up in the discussion, but there is a benign Lawful Good god of Madness in the setting: Tsukiyo, god of the moon, spirits, and jade. He's a bit like a Japanese Osiris in terms of history, what with the importance of his marriage and his death and resurrection. He's also a LG god with the Darkness and Repose domains. Comes across as a darkly romantic figure in his pantheon. Insane, yes, but he's also a functional benevolent god and devoted husband. Big hit with the samsarans.
He's....really neat and totally needs more exposure. :)
That...is actually something I'm going to need to look into because he sounds pretty freaking awesome.
Since I'm having trouble sleeping and I'm working on getting Carrion Crown prepped, I figured 'why not actually contribute to this topic', so here I go.
The Red Mage wrote:
As a sufferer of a mental illness (a severe chemical mood disorder), I am neither offended by "fantasy madness" nor do I think it contributes to any social harm. Real social harm comes from a lack of recognition that mental illnesses are also physical, chemical illnesses that should included with any other illness as an important part of overall healthcare.
See, the thing is here, there seems to be a certain 'hierarchy' of madness...at least where I live. Chemical mood imbalances? Anxiety? Those are generally not what people think of when they think of someone who is 'mad'. They mean people like me. Not to be dismissive (and if I sound this way, I'm truly sorry), but a likely reason you aren't insulted by 'fantasy madness' is because....you know it doesn't refer to you. Before I started having symptoms of schizophrenia, I had major depression. At that time, I wasn't offended either. But once you cross the line into babbling, rocking back and forth, seeing horror terrors coming for you -psychosis-...well, then I realized that people referring to 'those crazy/mad people' meant -me-. I am that. I am the person they are referring to, and I'm not really okay with it. I won't lose my head over it but it does hurt.
I'm probably biased, as I experienced a huge loss of over 80% of my friends once I was diagnosed. This wasn't a loss of friends when I started 'acting crazy' mind you, this loss was only -after- they were able to label my behavior as schizophrenia. When you're just considered weird, it's okay, but when you're schizophrenic? Well, that makes you dangerous. At least, that's the perception I've experienced.
I think a good step towards the right direction would be to have characters in fantasy that have mental stuff, but are still able to find love and support, and are still able to function. Or even characters that -can't- function well but aren't violent or treated as a gag to laugh at. The best non-fantasy example of this that I know of would be the show Perception, whose main character is schizophrenic...but also a neurology professor who helps out the police with cases that could involve people with neurological problems. The professor has problems, we are shown this, but he is also a person. We are shown him both on and off medication. I've only watched the first season and some episodes from the others, but I personally related to the main character when I was in a hard time in my life.
Keep in mind that I'm not going to burn all my paizo books if stuff like this doesn't happen. I just think it would be a step in a better direction. To, you know, not use mentally ill characters for a cheap laugh or a convenient villain. I don't know about mass murderers because I haven't researched into that, but men who attack their spouses aren't usually found to be mentally ill, though mental illness can complicate things in those cases. People can do horrible things and be 'sane'. I know, it's a scary thought, but some people just do horrible things.
As someone who suffers from schizophrenia yet still manages to run games and not attack people, I agree. Sadly, I don't know how the problem can be fixed.
Faust: LG Male Tiefling Cleric of Iomedae
Vin: NG Male Human Magus (Bladebound)
Urmsh: CG Male Half-Orc Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager)
Aerro: CG Female Dwarf Rogue (GM Run as we weren't able to get more than 3 players sadly)
Really excited but also...nervous? Half-orc AND a tiefling. Glad I'm using a heavily modified version of the trust system.
The fact that I made it a hard decision for you just fills me with glee. Glee I say! Kale was originally thought up for a game in Sandpoint, so I'll probably just revert him back to how I originally made him once recruitment starts, if you're alright with that. :)
Thanks again for the awesome! Recruitment is hard, I recently had to start two games instead of one because I couldn't decide on just 6.
I'll have to adjust my character's backstory a lot to fit this, but I'll probably the application done by tomorrow. I'm considering a human water elemental bloodline sorcerer with fisherfolk as his trait.
Here's a question: Does it -have- to be a full pantheon? I'd personally love to see something a bit more accurate and complex than a simple pantheon of deities.
I'm interested! I'm thinking a sorcerer of the elemental (water) bloodline. I've applied to various pbps with this character, so I'll have to tweak him to fit in Absolom, but I should be able to do that without much problem. I -love- when my characters get borked, so this seems right up my alley.
Sorry, I was away from my computer for a day or so.
I was planning on following the books as well as I could, but if the PCs 'jump the rails', so to speak, then I'll come up with new content the best I can. I'm not yet sure what alignment restrictions I'll have. I'm usually okay with allowing any alignment as long as I'm assured the character will be able to work with the group, but that only tends to work with players I know and trust to keep their promise.
I have no problem with the rich parents trait, or an Infernal Sorcerer.
If I did this, it would be my first time running a PBP game, so things might not work out as well as they would with a more experienced DM. I can generally post once a day at least on weekdays, but I might be somewhat scarce on the weekends.
I'd also like to start a different recruitment thread when/if I decide to do this. I want to make sure my players put a certain amount of thought into their characters before jumping into a game with them. However, I would give you guys some special consideration. I'll go ahead and look up how some other DMs run pbp games and recruitment threads.
If I were to run one of the following, which would people want?
ICONS Rpg - FATE system superheroes
Mouseguard - Medieval society mice
Burning Empires - Sci-Fi Invasion of a planet by intelligent worms that burrow into people's brains.
Apocalypse World - Post Apocalypse role-playing
Currently,
I'm running
Star Wars (Saga System)
Dresden Files RPG
and a Zombie Hack (Saga and d20 Modern Hack)
You can look at Smerg posts to review my GMing style.
I'd personally prefer Mouseguard, but I'd have to review the rules again before playing.
I've been -thinking- about running a pbp, and if I do, it would be Council of Thieves. What kind of a DM are you looking for? I focus mostly on the roleplay aspects of the game, but that doesn't mean there won't be combat.
Alrighty then. I think I'll play my water shaper. He might still go into summoning or sorcery, but I think he'll work a lot better in a group, and fits the flavor of the game a bit more.
Here's what I have so far:
Kale Porter
Human Aldin Adept 1, Twilight aligned
[Race]
Human: Medium, 30 ft, One bonus known skill at 1st level, One bonus feat at 1st level
Aldin: Favored Skills - Diplomacy, Knowledge (Nobility), Language
Favored Feats - Fascinate, Jack of All Trades
[Statistics]
Str +0, Dex +1, Con +0, Int +5, Wis +0, Cha +0
Favored Skills: Concentration*, Craft (any), Diplomacy [Aldin], Sense Motive*, Knowledge (Any), Language [Aldin], Survival*, Swim*
Feats: Shaping Talent, Arcane Focus (Water), Widen Arcana, Empower Arcana, Arcane Training (Cold Shaping, Water Shaping)
Skills: Concentration (+8), Diplomacy, Knowledge (Arcana) (+9), Knowledge (Local), Sense Motive, Survival, Swim
[b][Arcana][b]
6 Cold Shaping (10)
6 Water Shaping (10/20)
I'm still interested, I just got caught up in festivities this weekend. If Nevin is going to be going into sorcery, then I might go with a character I have that would work really well as a water shaper, if that's okay.
I have a character that could be a cleric of Gozreh or an water element bloodline sorcerer that I'd love to play. I'll try to have a backstory later tonight. Would you like to pick between the two concepts, or would you prefer I picked one? :o
Edit: Here's his backstory as a sorcerer.
Kale Porter:
Kale grew up and was born in Port Peril. His mother was a kind and loving priest of Gozreh, though his father was a fairly temperamental and stern man. His childhood was simple and easy, mostly due to his father's work as a merchant, which kept more than enough food on the table. Things didn't get difficult until Kale's sister, Lydia, was born when he was about 7. There were complications with his mother's pregnancy, and she died in childbirth.
Without a mother around, Kale had to learn responsibility at a young age, and found himself having to help take care of his sister as he grew older. However, instead of resenting Lydia, he saw her as the last remaining link to his mother. His relationship with Lydia became more and more important to him as he grew older, and his father grew more and more difficult to live with. While he never beat Kale, he would scream and yell at him if he didn't follow his directions to the letter. While Kale clung to his sister after his mother's death, his father clung to his late wife's religion. He'd have his two children perform services every day, and began to raise Kale with the intention of having him go into the priesthood, though this didn't become apparent to Kale until he was in his teens.
Kale didn't want to be a priest. In fact, he'd rather do anything but be a priest, even if it meant being a fisherman for the rest of his life. Despite his late mother's profession, Kale associated religion with his dad and long, boring ceremony. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that being a fisher wouldn't be so bad. The sea seemed to call to him, and he -did- visit the docks every chance he could get.
Eventually, Kale made his thoughts known to his father. It didn't end well. They argued for hours, until Kale was finally kicked out of the house. Angry and frightened, Kale roamed the streets of Landrino that night. He was only 16, and so presented an easy target to some muggers looking for an easy mark. They cornered him in an alley, and when they found that he had no money on him, they began to take their frustrations out on the boy. Heart still racing from the argument with his dad, Kale snapped once he felt fist hit his face. With an angry scream, he drew back a punch with everything he had, and...missed. That was all it took to drive him over the edge. Just beyond his hand, ice cold water formed and shot out at one of the muggers, hitting him in the face and knocking him out. Then, in a blast of light, Kale fired out a missile at the mugger who had hit him, striking the man in the chest and causing a fatal wound. The third mugger ran.
Kale was horrified at what he'd done. He ran back home and begged forgiveness from his dad. His father let him in without asking about the bruise on his son's face. In the days that followed, Kale tried to forget about that night. His dad was very critical of arcane magic, and he saw his power as a punishment from the gods. Curiosity though, eventually got the better of him, and he began practicing with his powers when he thought nobody was looking. Mostly he'd move various objects without touching them, though sometimes he'd create light with a snap of his fingers.
Eventually, his dad found out. He walking in on Kale as he was casting a spell, and the resulting confrontation led to Kale running away from home. He lived on the streets for a few weeks until he ran into a recruiter for a crew. Kale saw this as he chance to get away from his dad, so he joined without too many questions on his part.
I think I'll have her be from the City, if that's alright. :D I'm still reading through the rules, but I should have some more to post here later tonight.
Answers: What she summons depends on the situation. Yes, if she wanted to show off her skill, she would summon an infernal creature, but generally she'd be more apt to summon an elemental or animal of some sort. When she does summon infernal creatures though, she rationalizes it by saying that it's not an evil act to gain control over an evil creature. Though if she were in a party with people who greatly disapproved of her use of such creatures, she's probably shift her focus to elementals and animals.
Her eyes are bloodshot and almost constantly dry and irritated, but they're a lot better then they were a few days after the accident.
She certainly could slip into CE in the right (or wrong) group, but given that she does have a propensity to at least -try- to be kind to others, it would take a lot for her to lose that. Personally, I'm hoping she'll grow as a person and possibly head towards the more good side of CN.
Outside of combat, she can be seen with Acid, but once combat starts, unless Acid really would be the best option, she tends to summon a variety of different creatures.
Her parents are somewhat embarrassed of how their daughter has changed, and while they put up a front of caring, they don't tend to make contact with her, leaving Rica to be the one to check in to see if they're even still alive.
On some level, she senses that Acid is basically a part of her, even if she doesn't consciously realize it. Because of this, she tends to be much more quick to react with anger towards him than any other summon, because of her own issues with herself. Even so, if the fact that she's enslaved him pops up, she'd probably react with denial and guilt. Speaking is one of those things that she doesn't allow Acid to do, and Acid is generally fine with this, because he honestly sees Rica as his better. Generally, she doesn't think about it, and indeed she puts a lot of effort into -not- thinking about it.
My table top CotCT game just died, so hopefully I'll be able to still play this character, if you're okay with me having already played parts of the first book. I'm normally not as narrative as you'd probably like, but I'm wanting to push myself, and I'd be more than happy to provide a writing sample.
Rica Hismar:
Name: Rica Hismar
Race: Human, Chelaxian (Born in Korvosa)
Class: Summoner (Master Summoner)
Alignment: CN
Age: 22
Appearance: Rica is of medium height at 5'5", and has a thin, almost lanky build. Her hair is cut just above her shoulders, and is a deep black. Her eyes, however, are the most striking thing about her. They are amber, but look painfully bloodshot. Otherwise, Rica is fairly attractive, dressing in well-fitted, flattering suits and walking with a black cane. Why the cane? Because it gives her something to gesture with as she casts, and it's fancy too!
Background:
Rica was born an only child to a Chelish couple in the Heights of Korvosa, the largest city in Varisia. Her mother was minor nobility, while her father was an artisan, specializing in decorative furniture. Truth be told, Rica's parents weren't particularly keen on the idea of having a child, but they did so to satisfy her mother's family. They did little to raise Rica, letting her spend most of her time with Astin, an elvish member of the family in fealty to the Hismars. He helped raise her, along with her house servant, Lydia. Lydia and Astin were fine company, but Rica always yearned for attention from her parents. It wasn't until she was 12 that she decided that such hopes were silly, and that she should instead work to improve herself.
It was Lydia's stories of magic that first got Rica interested in the arcane arts. She told Rica of the Acadamae, and how it was where the greatest conjurers got their schooling. The idea of summoning creatures from other planes thrilled Rica like nothing else, so at the age of 17, she began begging her parents to let her enroll. Her parents were reluctant, what with rumors of the Acadamae using failing students as test subjects, but they eventually agreed, if only on the hope that Rica would make something of herself, something worthy of the Hismar name.
Luckily for Rica, the Acadamae saw that she had an inborn talent for magic, so they admitted her as a regular student. Though Rica had talent, she barely scraped by in her classes, lacking the discipline of most students. She failed in most all schools of magic besides conjuration, but she was the best conjurer in her class. She even permanently damaged her eyes once when she attempted to craft a potion, a mistake that her teachers forbid her to completely fix. Irritated by what seemed to be a lack of commitment on her part, the teachers pushed Rica into a group exercise in which she'd have to fight for her life in order to pass.
Her instructor summoned two imps, and set them on her and her fellow students. While most of the students reacted to the threat by casting magic missiles at the imps or by raising magical shields, Rica panicked as the imps seemed to focus their attention on her. She forgot everything she'd learned, and instead locked into a series of fearful thoughts. She wanted -something- to save her, -something- to protect her. To her surprise, something answered her call.
Green smoke erupted from the air in front of her, and from it came a creature that spoke to her in her mind, linking itself to her. It appeared to be a large, green canine creature with a long tail and yellow eyes. Rica's instructor dismissed the imps, and quickly ordered Rica to 'dismiss her monstrosity'. She blinked for a few moments, unsure of what to do, but somehow dug within herself to remember how to release a summon.
After that incident, Rica was kept locked in one of the empty dorm rooms for three days while the instructors and Headmaster Toff decided what to do. They had never seen someone summon a creature such as that, and a few of the teachers wanted to study Rica to see exactly what was in her that had pulled such a creature. Luckily for Rica, Headmaster Toff instead decided to study her from a distance, explaining to Rica that her talents were 'unfit for the Acadamae'. At the Acadamae, you either graduate, or you're never heard from again. There are no dropouts, so Toff letting Rica leave was a big deal, to say the least.
As for Rica's view on things, she truly believed herself to be 'too good' for the Acadamae, so she left without much of a fuss, once she realized what she could do. She found that she could summon her green companion at will, and that she could even share it's thoughts. She reveled in the control she had over it, and soon had it reduced to a whimpering slave. Little did she know that the creature was, in fact, bonded to her very soul, and was in a way a reflection of her subconscious.
Personality: Rica, at her core, wants to be noticed. If she has to gain power to achieve that end, then so be it. When she found she could summon up a large, green wolf to her side, she used that power almost to the point of abuse, having Acid follow her around wherever she went.
Rica has problems with authority and discipline, and gets by mostly on her natural talents. She would much rather prove herself at something she knows she can do than to try something she's unsure about and fail. In her mind, Rica is a master summoner, and that's all she cares to be. In this way she appears lazy, but if something catches her interest, she'll stop at nothing to see it through. She failed at everything but summoning because it didn't interest her...at least that's the way she sees it. In truth, she is in many ways immature and insecure.
Rica acts in many ways that suggest she has narcissistic personality disorder. She's confident in her abilities at summoning, and believes that she's special. Why else would Toff have let her go? Even so, she's subconsciously afraid, insecure, and self-hating. She worries that she might not be able to measure up to the image she has of who she wants to be, and a part of her hates what she's become; a haughty girl who doesn't know how to build anything meaningful in her life. Most of the time though, she quickly shoves such painful thoughts to the side. She puts a lot of work into maintaining her image, especially to herself.
Rica has a strong, commanding personality, despite having little knowledge of how to deal with people, her only friend being an introverted elf. She gets by in most social interactions with being forceful, which had a tendency to get her into trouble with her teachers. Part of her craves social interaction, but she doesn't quite know how to go about it. When meeting someone new, she tends to go on and on about herself, as if they should accept and like her by the very virtue of who she is. It's not that she's not interested in other people, she just has trouble shutting up about herself. She's used to Astin and Lydia nodding and accepting whatever she says, so when people confront her, she doesn't know how to react.
Deep down, Rica knows there's something wrong with her, but she's afraid to examine herself to find out what that is.
Notes: I haven't read Academy of Secrets yet, so if the backstory contradicts anything from there, I apologize, and am willing to change it. I made her ability as a summoner rare based on a comment by James Jacobs a while a go stating that summoners didn't really have a set place in Golarion yet. I'm thinking of having her be of the master summoner archetype, to better reflect her interest in summoning many different types of creatures as opposed to forging a relationship with her eidolon.
Motivation?: Rica revels in attention, so I could easily see her doing something that amounted to near-treason, especially if there was some sort of reward in it for her.
I'm thinking a human adept that will later go into summoning (from the companion), if that's allowed. :)
Concept:
Rica Hismar - A slightly narcissistic human (Aldin) adept with an inborn talent for magic, Rica's nature is a careful balancing act between her Light and Shadow. I'm thinking over the course of the game, she might fall to corruption, drawn by the promise of power sorcery brings. I'm more into games that are story driven as well, but I understand if you don't want a character that might cause issues by being selfish. I've played neutral/evil characters in parties before and am confident in my ability to have them work with a group, but I understand if you don't believe me, or prefer to not deal with it.
I..actually have this exact tarot deck so....yes, I'm very interested. I've had the pdf book for a while, but never got around to reading it. I'll go ahead and look up character creation, if that's okay with you. :D
Elf ears are larger than human ears. There are more muscles in elf ears. Elves have a +2 bonus on Perception checks.
What this more or less means is that elves CAN move their ears a bit more than humans... but not THAT much more. I'd say there's about the same amount of ear-moving powers among elves as there are in humans, but that elves who CAN move their ears can move them a little bit more dynamically than humans.
They can't make them droop or perk up or stick out straight from their heads though. That makes too many people angry.
Oh wow, thank you -so- much for replying! It really means a lot.
I'm currently running a game where I find myself wanting to draw the PCs a lot, and, well, one of them asked if his elf's ears moved to the point where he'd draw them back during times of stress or something, and since that sounds a bit....like something that would anger people, I though I'd ask before giving him the go ahead (yes, I know it's my game, but I figure we're playing in Golarion, we better do our best to get the setting right). As it stands, I told him he might be able to flick them, but that's the extent of it, and he's cool with that. Once I figure out where to post art on the boards, I might post some of the art I've done. Don't worry, there won't be ridiculous elf ear acrobatics.
If what you're really asking is, do elves have gigantic, Deedlit-style, ugly-as-sin Mialee ears which they can wiggle and wriggle anime-wise, then not only do you get no biscuit, but I will tie you to a chair and make you watch me feed all 100 of your biscuits to a slobbery goblin.
Hey, hey, my players wanted to know. Personally I'm more on the side of 'they can kind of flick them, but...no, they aren't like dog ears'.
This is very relevant to my interests, since I'm the artist in my current Pathfinder group, as well as the GM. I've looked everywhere, but I haven't found any info as to whether or not elves can move/wiggle their ears. Any help at all would be appreciated.
More campaign settings that aren't just 'insert medieval stereotype here'. I have all the crunch I need. All I want is fluff and maybe some races and prestige classes to go along with the fluff.
And the settings? Better be info that's over 100 pages long. The more fluff the better.
The way I see it, inquisitors can also just be zealous followers of a deity that don't see their god's teachings the same way other followers do, or don't necessarily agree with the temple's teachings.
Overall, I'd say the Golarion Pantheon works well enough. I've never really liked the idea of godly pantheons being such a huge part of setting design, compared to cultures/races/nations, wildlife, and terrain. I understand their function, don't get me wrong, but how many generic sun-gods and ultimate-evil gods do you really need?
The paizo gods are all more-or-less complex enough and nuanced enough that It takes more than a short sentence to describe them. Sure, you can say that Erastil is stodgy old man, and Iomedae is a 40K Sister of Battle, and Zon-Kuthon is a Cenobite, but it's far better than most setting's spread. And a few are really, REALLY awesome (cayden cailean) or REALLY creepy (Lamashtu).
really, the only stinkers are Gozreh and Torag. old-school druidism and Droskar are both way more interesting as nature deities and dwarfy-mc-beard-axe deities, respectively. The rest at least have some sort of nuance or hook. for example, Urgathoa stands out because she's a fleshy, gluttinous undeath god with memorable art, as opposed to your standard skeleton guy.
Really? No love for Gozreh? I thought he/she was one of the more interesting gods, personally.
I lost most of what I wrote due to Word crashing. I don't want to hold us up any longer by retyping the entire thing out, so I'll keep this brief, and just trust you to ask if you need more info.
Yandara was born in Kyonin 137 years ago to a priestess of Calistria. He grew up with the local temple, until he reached adulthood, at which point he decided it was his duty to spread the word of Calistria to the 'lesser' races. He traveled for a time, before finally arriving in Korvosa where he connected with the small temple of Calistia there. He'd been in Korvosa for about 7 years when he was framed for the murder of a well-known merchant. He found out through another member of the temple that it was Lamm who had framed him so. The only 'witness' was killed, so the trail never happened, but the damage to Yandara's reputation has been done. Now he thinks of nothing else but revenge on the man called Lamm.
Re-reading the player's guide now. My base concept is a CG elf cleric of Calistria (mostly focusing on her trickery and vengeance aspects, particularly righteous vengeance. Like going after Lamm. :D ) If that sounds good, I'll go ahead and write up a background. :)
I'm interested, seeing as how my tt group is going to be biweekly instead of weekly like I though. :D The only problem is that I'm currently in a CotCT game TT, and while I'm confident in my ability not to metagame, I wanted to make sure you don't mind having a player who's been through most of the game already. Let me know if it's not a problem, and I'll think up a concept. :)
I play a summoner who mistreats her eidolon (doesn't let it talk, yells at it when it misses, ect). Little does she know that it's bonded to her soul, so there's a level of self-hate there...
Not to mention my DM agreed to play out the eidolon 'misbehaving' once in a while, basically acting as my character's subconscious in a living, breathing form. My character doesn't want to risk her skin to do something with little reward? The eidolon uses emotional blackmail on her because subconsciously my character doesn't want her companions to get into trouble without her. Fun stuff.
I'd -prefer- to watch a pbp game, since then I wouldn't have to worry about making a certain time every week, but I would be open to watching in on a chat game if the DM and players offered, especially if it was also Council of Thieves.
As to what I'm running, I'm running the Council of Thieves adventure path table top at least biweekly at a friend's house. I ran the first session last night, and while my players assured me they had fun, I'm very worried about how I'll be handling the parts that require more roleplay and quick thinking (ironic, since roleplay is my forte when I PC).
Laithoron:
I was actually trying to get up the courage to dot your OoC thread right before I wrote this thread! I've enjoyed reading your wiki so far, though I haven't started with the actual posts. I might have to start with your summary and go from there. :)
Joana:
I've actually read almost everything in the CoT subforum that caught my interest. I didn't think to check the Campaign Journals subforum though, awesome idea!
As for the problem of passing the game...yeah, I just started thinking about that. I'm not looking to see how people handle specific problems in the AP though, since I want my game to be somewhat unique anyway, what I am looking for is to watch how DMs handle problems as they come up, if that makes any sense. If not, I blame my lack of sleep. xD;
Thanks for the well wishes guys. Don't worry, nothing bad is going on, I just got GM duty shoved on me irl, so most of my time will be spent freaking over that.
The party looks pretty awesome so far. Can't wait to see you guys start! :)
