Since I'm leaving early tomorrow morning on a vacation for two weeks, I might as well post the list of applicants I've been maintaining one last time. Apologies for any errors!
Master Han Del of the Web
johnsedwa
Monkeygod: eladarin Vekeshi Mystic
ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf
Trevor86
pad300
Hassan Ahmed: Gabriel XIII, human (Theme?) armiger 5 // symbiat 5 // (prestige class?)
I believe that the steam armor can add to strength. That would make a very thematic build.
I agree! Also the Muscle Reflexes feat, to get Str-based attacks of opportunity. The problem is that both Technologist characters submitted so far are primarily Dex-based gun- or finesse weapon-wielders, so boosted Strength really does nothing for them. Wearing the steamsuit also limits their max Dex to +0, so it feels like it is somewhat suboptimal, even with an ACP of 0! (Neither of them are wearing it, it looks like.)
Also, for characters with Unarmored Training looking for armor that isn't armor, there's leather armor made from stable shadowstuff, which may be slightly cheaper than clothborn. And, unlike clothborn or leatherborn plate armor, you don't have to have heavy armor proficiency to wear it! (Though granted, there's no penalty for wearing armor without proficiency if the ACP is 0.)
I wonder if a steamsuit (see the Steamsuit Pilot PrC) can be enchanted with clothborn? Might make it more useful for Dex-heavy Technologists if so. :)
Johnny_Panic: Lady Calista Lisia Da Romano, drow Vekeshi Mystic eliciter 5 // investigator (Detective) 5 // Vekeshi Excoriant 1
EXPRESSED INTEREST
Master Han Del of the Web
Fury of the Tempest: Docker kineticist
johnsedwa
Monkeygod: eladarin Vekeshi Mystic
ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf
Trevor86
pad300
Hassan Ahmed: Gabriel XIII, human (Theme?) armiger 5 // symbiat 5 // (prestige class?)
Whoops! I updated the file for the next time, sorry.
Lady Calista Lisia Da Romano wrote:
Theme = Drow Noble MindMage Investigator
{Nobel from feats and Traits}
Prestige class = Detective
As in investigator (Detective)
Sorry Prestige class will be Great Mind L1
You'll want to take another look at the campaign guidelines, specifically the part about Backgrounds and Campaign Traits! Every character chooses a Character Theme from a specific list of nine in the Extended Player's Guide. These supercharged "campaign traits" have a related theme bonus feat and a specific three-level prestige class that every character gets the first level in to start. :)
Crisischild wrote:
I really like these characters. All seem unique, despite everyone using the Tinker sphere lol
I suspect this is because of the character themes. They all have really strong flavor, and that helps the players carve out something really distinct with each of them!
Master Han Del of the Web
Fury of the Tempest: Docker kineticist
johnsedwa
Monkeygod: eladarin Vekeshi Mystic
ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf
Trevor86
pad300
namo
@eriktd: I assume you're talking about this text? "If you gain a gizmo talent temporarily, or retrain a gizmo talent you already possess, you can no longer maintain that gizmo (including gizmos crafted with costly projects) and the gizmo becomes completely nonfunctional after 10 minutes of losing the talent." That's just a clause there to prevent people from cheesing the system to gain permanent features for effectively no cost.
That's the bit I was thinking of, yes. :) Thanks! That makes moldable inventorship a much cooler class feature.
Gearmaster of the Turning Age wrote:
As for making gizmos permanent, I'd allow that, but with certain restrictions that prevent abuse. Examples of abuse would be creating a mechanoid army at virtually no cost, creating boatloads of civilian appliances that end up derailing the game and turning it from an AP into a crafting sim, etc.
That makes perfect sense, thanks. Don't worry, I won't try to cheese them! If you don't require Lacrimadia to maintain her mechanoids each day, I don't need to try and make them permanent. (Though, maybe I should think about giving them permanent arms and legs so I don't have to spend active gizmos on them every day...)
Re: Firearm Proficiency and gun training, in the current setting all our characters are automatically firearm trained, because they are treated as simple weapons with Guns Everywhere. The rule that gives gunslingers gun training at level 1 is to make up for the fact that their proficiency with guns is redundant in that setting. So, I'd argue that under Guns Everywhere, any character that gets proficiency with all firearms should also get gun training instead.
Hey GM, how do you want to deal with mechanoid maintenance? There are sections of the rules that suggest projects like mechanoids don't have to be maintained, and others that suggest that they do. (It matters for Lacrimadia because she has special Tinker talents that she can change each day. If she doesn't need to maintain her mechanoids, she could use those talents for other things.)
Hey @Crisischild, I don't think "Extra Upgrade" is a gizmo that gives you more mechanoid upgrades. It's a feature of Advanced Transportation that gives all your mechanoids one additional upgrade.
And interesting overlap with Lacrimadia, specifically with Spirit Mender nature spirits vs Shepherd of the Lost undead spirits. Also some neat conflicting paradigms between them, like old-school Mage: The Ascension.
I've been getting occasional Bad Gateway errors on the spheresofpower.wikidot.com site, which was really frustrating me because it means I can't look up the thing I was checking for like an hour until the error message goes away. I'm sure some of us here have also been experiencing this.
However, I found a solution: If you edit the URL and add a forward slash ("/") after the page name, it seems to circumvent the problem. So if you are trying to look at "http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/tinker", instead try "http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/tinker/" and you should be good to go. Unless, of course, it's the increased volume of folks from this recruitment that is causing the error. ;)
Deft Maneuvers
New. You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when performing a trip, disarm, dirty trick, feint, reposition, or steal combat maneuver. In addition, you receive a +2 bonus on checks with these combat maneuvers. Now a prerequisite for the relevant greater combat maneuver feats.
Deft Maneuvers purportedly replaces Improved Feint, but seems to only grant +2 to the feint Bluff check (since feinting doesn't provoke AoOs in the first place), when Improved Feint is about feinting as a move action.
A/ So does Deft Maneuver allow to feint as a move action? Or does Improved Feint continue to exist separately? (I'm aware the Fencing sphere has a talent for that.)
There's a PDF from the creators of the Elephant in the Room houserules that updates their ruleset to be more comprehensive. The Deft Maneuvers feat in that PDF reads:
The Elephant in the Room, Third Printing, 2021 wrote:
Deft Maneuvers (Combat)
You are skilled in a variety of dextrous combat maneuvers.
Prerequisite: Dex 13.
Benefit: You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when performing a trip or disarm combat maneuver. In addition, you receive a +2 bonus on checks with trip and disarm combat maneuvers, and you can make a Bluff check to feint in combat as a move action.
You also receive a +2 bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense whenever an opponent tries to trip or disarm you.
Normal: You provoke an attack of opportunity when performing a trip or disarm combat maneuver. Feinting in combat is a standard action.
Those rules are specifically for core Pathfinder only, which doesn't have dirty trick, reposition, or steal maneuvers, but since those are mentioned in the original houserules, I think most people play as if they are covered by Deft Maneuvers as well.
Other potentials: Is anyone doing roguish things at the moment? (traps, lockpicking, and such)
Several of the characters in this thread so far have Disable Device and other trap-related skills (at least three of them, and last time I checked there were only four potential submissions). :)
I might as well include the info here, since we're on a new page.
Master Han Del of the Web
Fury of the Tempest (kineticist?)
ChrisAsmadi
johnsedwa
Monkeygod
ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf (Oceanshieldwolf)
Crisischild
Trevor86
pad300
namo
Slyness
(My apologies if I got anything wrong about anyone's applications. Let me know and I'll update this list!)
@Gearmaster, any hints for ranger favored enemies? (I am guessing that favored terrain should start with Urban, and then probably water...)
From the interest thread:
Pasha of the Nightsands wrote:
If you want to know the favored terrains and enemies of the setting, let me run those by you as well. The top three most useful terrains are, in order: Urban, Forest, and Planar, with others being useful in more specific setpieces. As far as favored enemy types, I'd say that Humanoids (which I'm lumping together), Constructs, Evil Outsiders, Undead, and Fey are the most useful, roughly in that order.
@eriktd: Since this is your first foray into Spheres of Guile, just remember that some grant what is essentially free skill ranks. I overlooked it my first time using Spheres of Guile, embarassing as it is to admit.
Thanks for the warning! :) I think I've got that correctly sorted out. Lacrimadia's got free skill ranks in Craft (mechanical) from both Trap and Tinker, which turns into a 1/2 level competence bonus, and then the free skill ranks from Artifice get retrained into Spellcraft. Study gives free ranks in its Associated Knowledge skill, Knowledge (local). And the Fencing sphere gives 5 ranks in Bluff, too!
@eriktd: A 'techno-necromancer' eh? Looks pretty cool!
Thanks! Certainly an unconventional necromancer, that's for sure. I think of her as more of a healer, since all of her undead minions will be raised into living bodies or used to power living constructs. I'm also dipping my toes into skill talents for the first time, making her something of an "operative lite" -- she feels kind of like an inquisitor with all of her altered Int-based social skills and focus on Knowledges. Only three Guile spheres (Artifice, Study, and of course Vocation), so it should be pretty easy to learn how they work and what she can do.
Hey Grumbaki, can I suggest that you include each submission's Character Theme in your summary? I think it's pretty distinguishing as far as character type and likely roles the character will play, and so on. Lacrimadia's a Spirit Medium.
I love incanters, but Lacrimadia is really a soul weaver. I gave her a single level of incanter for only one reason: so that her channel energy is keyed to Intelligence instead of Charisma. :P
I've written a background and done some more tinkering (ha!) with Detective-Chirurgeon Lacrimadia, my tiefling Spirit Guide (soul warden//technician//Urban Empath) submission. There's a few kind of tricky things I'm doing that I've outlined in notes on her profile for you to consider if you have a chance. :)
I’m working on a tiefling soul weaver // technician Spirit Medium! I have it mostly done (here) but I’ve been waiting to see the rules before finalizing things. :)
Me also. :) Fortunately, I'm just about to leave to drive to the theater for another performance of my current show, and I have two more performances tomorrow, so I won't be tempted to keep refreshing the Recruitments page. ;)
I didn't want to say anything during the recruitment, but I thought you should know that you made a slight error in your character.
You traded feats for a Spheres of Might talent progression. However, this explicitly isn't allowed for high casters, which you are as a Fey Adept. For reference:
Quote:
Combat Training for Non-Spheres of Might Classes
While any class can buy some facility with the combat spheres by taking the Extra Combat Talent feat, some characters may want to delve deeper into the system. A character can gain a combat talent progression by trading out some or all of their standard feat progression as described in Table: Feat to Talent Progression Conversion.
Characters who gain a combat talent progression in this manner gain it only for levels gained in classes that do not grant a combat talent progression or High Caster casting progression (including classes that grant 9th level spellcasting or an equivalent), adding all such levels together to determine their total number of combat talents, but still losing the exchanged feats. This means that High Casters and classes that already grant a combat talent progression gain no talents from this exchange.
I realized this, because I also made this mistake...
Actually, this is explicitly allowed by the gestalt rules, from here:
Quote:
A gestalt character may trade feats for combat talent progression (under the normal rules in Spheres of Might for doing so) even if they have a High-Caster class on one side of the gestalt, but only if they have at least one class that is not a High-Caster at any level
@Pasha, you're really not making it easy to state a preference. :) Both adventure paths still sound amazing! When I saw your post declaring it was War of the Burning Sky I started polishing my character ideas again with enthusiasm, and then when you changed your mind I went back to the other one with equal enthusiasm. :)
I'll go along with whatever you decide to run, but I must say I am very interested to see all the custom work you did on Throne of Night. It sounds like it was truly a dark labor of love!
Go for it! Once you've got started with the two games you should be able to gauge how difficult it is, but maybe you can look forward to running the other two after they are completed. :P
Hey DBH, my handle is @eriktd with a k, and my submission's character is spelled "Cíli" with a special character over the first "i". I normally wouldn't be picky about the spelling, but without a link I imagine finding my character's profile based on your list will be more difficult if both reference names are wrong. :)
Thanks for the stuff about the gods and the campaign starts. I really dig the idea that there are eight deities who serve (sort of?) the spider goddess and correspond to the eight schools of magic!
What else do you need to make your decision? I suppose there's no chance you'll do more than one?
All of my questions are about the character creation, which probably won't help you decide-- like, are you doing characters the same as in your Coliseum Morpheuon campaign? What do the traits look like? Are the gods of these games the Pathfinder pantheon, or something else? How does each campaign begin, and how do the characters know each other? This all goes to background and relationships, and it should also help me familiarize myself more with the settings. But don't feel like you have to satisfy my curiosity and go into all this until you're ready to put together a recruitment. :)
I had made a skills character for your recruitment, Karinna Fordyce (Avenger vigilante, face skills and fighter talents), and I'd be happy to join you if you still need players.
I too have been thinking about character concepts for each of these games, so that when Pasha chooses one I will be ready to write up mine fairly quickly.
For Throne of Night, as I mentioned briefly before, I am thinking of a Conscript (Toxicologist) // Scholar (Harmacist). The character would be a poison specialist, obviously. Very Spheres of Might focused (Alchemy, Barrage), and pretty archetypical as a drow wielding a hand crossbow. I'm thinking very roguelike in skill choices, with Disable Device and Stealth. Depending on how many feats the characters get, this one might also be able to do some Scout and Scoundrel stuff.
War of the Burning Sky has me thinking of a much more lighthearted character. I'm looking at combining two kind of goofy Spheres class archetypes that I've always wanted wanted to play: Blacksmith (Iron Chef) and Elementalist (Elemontalist). I'd style the Elemontalist into an Elemintalist, with minty-fresh cold powers, though as a skilled chef they would be able to use it to spice all sorts of dishes. I picture the character as a hearty and loyal servant type, probably of the Bosavian breed of ratfolk, and they would usually fight with improvised weapons, particularly pots and pans.
Finally, for Zeitgeist, I have been noodling a character based on the "Spirit Medium" theme mentioned in the Player's Guide. My plan is a tiefling Soul Weaver (Shepherd of the Lost) // Technician (Innovator)-- my focus is on collecting souls and using them to power all manner of gadgets and gizmos. I figure the character grew up in Danor, had a good education, and got very good at crafting non-magical devices to do the things that would have been done with magic if it weren't for the Great Malice. Since no magic meant no raise dead spells, the character focused on reanimating corpses using technology instead. So the character is sort of a necromancer, but the creatures they bring to life are more like constructs.
Here's Cíli (pronounced "KY-lee"), a dwarf Zen Archer who was raised by elves, recently orphaned when giants destroyed their village in the mountains. She has come to Trunau in search of her dwarven father.
I've played the first book twice before too. I believe I applied for your game the last time you started it, though I don't think I got in. But the opportunity to play this adventure path with Grumbaki is compelling, as is the idea of skipping past the first part and going right to Giantslaying. ;)
I'll post my dwarf-raised-by-elves Zen Archer monk character here too, and withdraw her from the other game if you choose me.
I'm a big fan of party restrictions that promote cohesion, but I know you also have to keep trapdoors open for characters of players who leave the game or who join later, so everyone being drow from the same origins is tough to make work later in the game. You'll probably also have to rewrite some of your campaign traits if the characters are not all drow. But I'm fine with that if you are, of course!
I've been looking at a drow poisoner-- a Conscript // Scholar (Harmacist). Looking forward to seeing how the campaign traits and character building rules support that. :)
Thanks for writing up the terrains and foes. That gives me a great overview of what the characters are likely to be doing.
What sort of information are you wanting about enemies and environments? Something general like caves, forests, deserts, dragons, undead, outsiders, etc? Or something more specific like some of the breakdowns I did on a few of the Azathyr's cool locations? I'm fine talking about either!
Awesome! Sounds like a fun game. I was just thinking of the generic info that Paizo gives for rangers to choose their favored class features, but anything you want to share would be interesting reading!
Are all the characters in Throne drow? I've started noodling character concepts just in case.
I'd love a breakdown of the sorts of enemies and environments likely to be encountered in each of them, but really I think it's up to you which one you run, Pasha!
Ooo, Zeitgeist: The Gears of Revolution also sounds really exciting. Steampunk and intrigue! I'm certainly interested in all three, so whichever one you decide you want to run I will certainly do my best to put together an application.
Your adaptation of Throne of Night sounds amazing! I like the idea of Kingmaker with an Underdark twist. And War of the Burning Sky seems to be very heroic, kind of like Hell's Rebels, which is certainly a fine story to tell.
Does your Pathfinder adaptation include Traits? I always find Traits are the best place for me to start with concepts when making a new character.
I got involved in Pathfinder Society for a while in 2016, and that's when I started posting here, but not very much until like 2018. And it looks like I applied for a Way of the Wicked game in December 2018 with a character very similar to Nibs. I guess I just have it in my head that Nibs is the character I want to play the adventure path with. :P
@eriktd: Duskashae looks looks pretty cool! I saw that you explicitly left a few open plot hooks I can run with down the road. Would you like the discuss those and get something worked out pre-game or would you prefer I just make it a surprise that you roll with? I'm fine with either one.
Ooo, I think I'd prefer the surprise if I have a choice. I really enjoy learning more about the setting as I go, and not knowing what to expect sounds really fascinating!
Here's the profile for Nibs the Wicked, as well as his background and description.
Background:
Nibs was caught performing a vile ceremony in his underground chamber; he had captured five others of his race and knotted their tails together before ritually killing them as part of a spell to bind a strange otherworldly being to him known as the Rat King. This evil outsider burst forth from the fresh corpses compelled to serve the novice summoner, and unfortunately for Nibs the authorities arrived immediately afterward. Yet this was not the crime that Nibs was charged with-- The authorities were looking for Nibs because he had also murdered the head librarian at one of the pre-eminent magical colleges in Matharyn, in order to gain access to an evil tome with a particularly understated title called The Conjuration of Legends. This book, inked with the blood of dark ones from ages past, would allow Nibs to realize his dream of becoming king of all the ratfolk, by ritualistically stealing the Rat King's crown and taking it for his own.
Life was not easy for Nibs, it should be said; ratfolk are among the lowest of the lower classes in Matharyn, and perhaps he would have received mercy if he had been born a human or an elf or even a halfling. Instead, his involvement with the theft at the High College allowed the patriarch of his brood, a low-stakes crime boss called Feyling, to cast him out of the tribe. So much for clan loyalty! Not that it matters much, as Nibs was captured soon after-- probably "ratted out" (so to speak) by his former boss. Nibs will certainly be executed for his crimes, but he believes that Feyling will also suffer for his betrayal, whether or not Nibs can mete out justice himself.
Always outside human society looking in, Nibs grew obsessed with arcane magic and would often sit in the tunnels beneath the grand library listening to the wizards and sorcerers practicing their spells. He spent all of the pittance he received for serving the gangs on improving himself, learning to read and write and understand the basics of magic theory. But magic seemed to him the answer to all of his problems: he wouldn't have to work or serve, and he could punish those who had wronged him. Once he could understand them he began sneaking into the library and stealing books, which he read voraciously. He learned about devils and other outsiders and how they can be bound by occult rituals, and he knew he had found his calling.
The Rat King lives inside all ratfolk, or so the legends told. Nibs plotted his ceremonial summoning very carefully, to ensure that the spirit would be forced to serve him and not the other way around. And yes, the creature that emerged looked exactly like him in every detail, except for brief afterimages when it moved, almost as if many identical copies of itself were overlapping the same space. But while the essence of the Rat King was summoned into this eidolon, a great deal of himself was also subsumed into the body. This permanently altered Nibs's brain chemistry, awakening a feral rat aspect that immediately became visible on his face, causing him to snarl and snap whenever he tries to speak complex arcane formulae. This makes him furious, but he tries to pretend it is perfectly normal.
If he were to somehow escape imprisonment and execution, Nibs dreams of running his own empire, probably underground but eventually even on the surface. Perhaps summoning the spirit of the Rat King has inflamed these desires, but it gives him joy to picture driving Feyling and his henchmen from their burrows and alleys near the Matharyn docks, and setting up a gang of ratfolk all loyal to him instead. He would steal Feyling's own bodyguard, Berger, and make him protect Nibs instead. Perhaps he is even thinking too small-- he could imagine one day setting up and leading a criminal organization that spans all of Talingarde. With his eidolon's help, he might someday become the literal Rat King, and bring his subjects to the better life that they have been denied for too long.
Description:
Nibs and his eidolon appear more or less like ordinary ratfolk. His fur is dark and his eyes are black, and he wears clothing like other humanoids-- often dressed all in black like a ninja, or a deep gray cloak like a rogue. He has often pretended to be a halfling on dark nights, adopting a slightly boisterous and broguish dialect to keep surface folk from looking at him too closely. His voice is rough and whispery, with a slightly lower-class accent and an occasional growl or snarl as his sharp teeth get in the way of his words. He is generally not very clean, and looks especially dirty after being imprisoned for the journey to Branderscar. When summoned, Nibs and his eidolon both have a glowing red rune inscribed on their tongues.
Left to his own devices, Nibs is calculating and quiet. Around other creatures-- particularly those who are bigger and stronger than he is-- he is obsequious and servile, though he hates this instinct in himself. He loves magical things: scrolls, wands, wondrous trinkets of all sorts. He thinks of himself as a great and powerful wizard and enjoys things that encourage this charade. He also likes rats in general, and he devotes hours to caring for them and training them. He is afraid of cats and other creatures that typically prey on rodents, partly for himself and partly on behalf of his many pets.
But we will not be using Spheres. I understand it adds versatility but I don't really like it.
Cool, cool. I am thinking I will go with a Legendary Summoner, which means he will be Unchained. I have built most of the character's chassis, now I just need to develop his background and story hooks for you. :)
Has anyone looked at This template before? Divine Champion, +2 CR. Way too late for me to make use of it, but it seems amazing.
With Con40, you get 59 rounds per day of turning into a Divine Champion. Doing so gives you +23 stat bonuses, D12 HP, full BaB, entirely different feats, and special powers.
First saw it and thought...make a character that is 2x spell casting classes as Gestalt. Something like, Arcane Caster 20, Divine Caster 20. Pure spellcasting power, focus on getting Con and casting stats to 40. And for when spells fail? 59 rounds of Str/Dex40 at full BaB with all of the combat feats you need.
Seems like a fun template to build a character around.
I agree! With Con as an ability focus, I imagine something with an Incanter (Fortified Casting) // Kineticist would be pretty amazing! There's so much good 3rd-party stuff to support Kineticists. I'd love to see someone make a character like this!
