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Is a Spiritualist capable of being used and utilized? Ha! I would never disrespect a wizard. That's always a bad policy. But when you have 3 fairly high stats to assign at level 1, it's hard to not be pulled toward MAD builds one couldn't typically manage. As it is I'm looking at a Time mystery Oracle. The background I'd like to use might be a bit out there though. It does connect to Strange Aeons, but in an out of left field kind of way. I'll spoiler the elevator pitch version below and if it's alright, I'll submit the character. Oracle Background: 1. There were two sisters, twins actually, who went hunting for mushrooms and truffles in the forest. They had been warned to never venture too deep into the woods; but they were having unusual success foraging and pressed farther in. 2. They are snatched by a nasty fey creature to takes them to the First World and sells them off at market. They go through a couple or three owners, managing to escape each time. Finally free to wander they try to find a way home. 3. There are ups, downs, and several misadventures along the way. The last one separates the two of them. Marisan, our character, continually searches for her sister, but to no avail. 4. Finally, an agent sent by Shyka locates Marisan and tells her Shyka can help her find her sister and return home. Marisan is taken to the House of Eternity for an audience with Shyka. 5. Shyka confirms they know where Marisan's sister is and can reunite them. But, Shyka will need Marisan to do her a favor first, payment for Shyka's trouble. Marisan agrees. 6. Shyka prepares Marisan bestowing upon her to gifts and talents she will need. She will be sent to a location in Ustalav. There she will find a group of people in. need of her help. She will know them when she sees them. Marisan is to join the group of people and ensure they succeed to the task they have before them. When this task is completed (Strange Aeons successfully completed of course), Marisan and her sister will be reunited and they will be returned top their home. 7. Marisan is a Dual-Cursed Time mystery Oracle who will be taking Fey Obedience. I'm looking at the Feysworn prestige class later on if I can make it work. Probably not 10 levels though.
I mentioned a couple of character concepts, but not builds aside from possible classes and campaign traits. I tend to build characters beginning with the "who what and why" of them first. If I have that much settled, it establishes what kind of relationship with the subjects of the campaign the character will have. After I have a person in mind, I can fit a class and the rest to them. For example, The vengeance driven character I mentioned as an Oracle or Bard could just as easily work as a Slayer or Witch. The political radical Inquisitor or Investigator one could be a Swashbuckler or Rogue. There's lots of flexibility remaining for me to build according to the party's needs. In cases like this one where there is a session zero or similar for character creation, I'm often the last person to be finalized because I don't mind filling in the gaps that remain as the other characters come together. That said, I wonder if you might consider adding one house rule. Classes that get 2 skill ranks per level receive 4 ranks per level instead. Because this particular AP is very social and those skills tend to matter more than usual, it's hard to look at a class like Cleric without wondering how to manage to contribute outside of combat and similar scenarios.
Alexius/The Raven's old frenemy Vantine from Hell's Rebels would enthusiastically confirm him as kind of awful. She is also very disappointed the game didn't last long enough for her to learn how to turn him into a toad. To be clear though, she would have returned him to his normal self in a week... maybe a month, just to teach him a badly needed lesson you see. He could be sweet when he did what she told him. :p
Hi again Slowdrifter. I didn't include any campaign links in my previous post. In case I should, here are my 3 favorite campaigns, which also include 3 of my 4 favorite characters. Rise of the Runelords: Chosen of Sandpoint Character: Rojava Brishen, Archaeologist Bard. Also my first game ever here. Luke's Crimson Throne Campaign Character: Emileva Mavrakis, Vanguard Slayer. War for the Crown with DM Vayelan Character: Amandine Santon, Psychic Detective Investigator. All 3 of these had good longer runs although none of them made it to the end. You'll also probably notice my preference for classes that make skills a big part of what they do. There are plenty more, including my active games, to look through if you like. But since my big 3 are now inactive and there is a long list of inactive campaigns to sort through, now you'll know which ones are my favorites.
Hi Slowdrifter, I'm very excited to see War for the Crown on offer. I had a chance to play it here a few years back and it's easily my favorite AP. Sadly the game didn't last as long as I wanted it to. I've been playing Pathfinder, with a couple of dips into Call of Cthulhu, here for about 11 years. Before then I'd played a little bit of AD&D back in high school, but nothing ever organized enough to finish a module. We had plenty of fun with it though. After high school I didn't play at all for many years, almost forgot about it entirely. Then I came across an article, this one right here . Reading it reminded me how much fun it had been and made me want to pick it up again. It took me a while to figure out how to start. Nobody I knew was interested. After a while I found out about Pathfinder and learned there was a PFS group at the game store just down at the end of my street. I started there and played for about a year. I enjoyed it but was disappointed in how episodic it was. Nothing ever built on what had come before. I stumbled across PbP here and haven't looked back since. RP is my happy zone. I'm proud to say that the WftC run my party had did very well using what must be close to the least amount of physical violence possible. Social and reputational violence was different story. Anyway, I'm in my early 50s and live in the USA, Portland Oregon, so UTC -8. I've typically played in several games here concurrently and can post daily. I have a couple of ideas for characters I'm weighing. 1. Human with father's side of the family Taldan, and mother's side from Iblydos. A Cyclopian Seer archetype Oracle with the Intrigue mystery, or a Wit or Court Bard archetype Bard. Campaign trait Disgraced Noble. She has no strong opinions on government or those kinds of boring subjects, but she's coming for Maxillar Pythareus hard and she will have her retribution. Think Cordelia Chase if you've seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or if not let's just say she's a mean girl. 2. Human from an aristocratic family who has radicalized. Now secretly a Milanite Urban Infiltrator Inquisitor, or could be an Investigator. She is a bit of an oddball among her allies in the Milanite church and underground political groups because she is more an incrementalist than revolutionary. Rather then looking at Andoran in admiration, she looks at Galt in alarm. This is why she would be willing to take a chance on reform with Princess Eutropia before tearing the monarchy down. Young Reformer Campaign trait. Sincere, a good planner, maybe not the best sense of humor, but has the ability to fly under the radar in most crowds, including those her allies don't get invitations to.
Probably! Jaquelyn is a caster druid, but more leaning into battlefield control and weather, so there is a lot of space for an oracle to fill if you want to. With Oracle I wasn't thinking about healing as the main purpose of the character, although Oracles can heal as part of the overall package. Having access to the divine spell list could be handy. I'm thinking either the Waves or Succor mystery. Waves might be too close to what you're doing though Jaquelyn since it's a lot of aquatic or water spells and with that battlefield control. The wood mystery also kind of fits weirdly enough considering the ships are made of wood. Regardless of mystery, I'd be making a battle ready Oracle. I can put either Str or Dex high enough to do alright in melee. Probably Str with a boarding pike. I think Ramada is going for primary healer but he's not really there yet. What we don't have is someone who can disable device, would've thought Ramada had that but I didn't see it on his sheet. Oracles can have Disable Device and Trapfinder at 1st level with the Seeker archetype, which is quite good all around. On the other hand, I could also dip 1st level as Unchained Rogue (I wouldn't want to play a Rogue all the way) and then go into Okayo Corsair archetype Swashbuckler using an urumi. I've been wanting to try it out for a long time. Looks very cool. I'll think on it a little more and submit tomorrow or Saturday.
Would an Oracle be something the party would benefit from having? Also, could I use the set of ability scores I rolled back during the original recruitment?
Yeah, I was thinking Celestial as well. But I think I was wrong about 2 extra languages looking at it more. When the GM said 2 I think it was 2 total rather than 2 extra. Taldane is the same as Common, yes. So unless Humans get a bonus language, it should be 1 language by default and 1 language for INT. I'll leave it at Taldane and Varisian unless told differently. I did make one build change. I dropped trained in Craft and trained Lore: Underworld instead. If I don't really need Athletics trained for any good reason, I'll move that point to Craft. It seems repairing shields is a thing and bucklers are flimsy.
A couple of questions to anyone who has an opinion on them. 1. I need to add 2 languages for Ro. One of them will be Varisian because it makes perfect sense. I'm stuck on what to choose for the second one. Ro is human so there's nothing else that's an obvious choice if you've lived most all your life in Sandpoint. But what about boarding school kids? What language might be considered a refined or "classy" language you'd be taught in school? I'm thinking like the way Catholic schools used to teach Latin (or maybe they still do), or a language that is marked as something sophisticated people know, like French tends to be for Americans. I've always used Elven for this in the past, but any other suggestions? 2. If a character is trained in Acrobatics, is there good reason to train Athletics as well? And vice versa. Or is one of the two good enough?
Wait. You can just use a LINK to PB2e like that? I didn't realize... Yup. If you go to the menu drop down and find the "export" category, one of the options is "share copy of character" it will give you the sharable link. It might cure the missing Natural Ambition problem. My shared character sheet has it on there.
Smiles-a-lot very kindly and generously sent me a PM offering to free up Rogue for me to take. I had a bought of weakness for some hours this morning when I was tempted to pass on the offer in favor of Bard with Swashbuckler archetype. All those extra spells compared to Bard archetype looked really shiny. But, I resisted (not understanding the magic system or casting in 2e helped) and I will be fielding a Rogue-Bard as I had initially planned. I should have the mechanics done no later than Friday. Backstory and so forth is already done since I'm reviving a 1st ed. character to give her another shot at finishing RotRL. I will need to tweak things just a little because the prior game did have some custom features that need to be cleaned up, but it should be a simple thing to do. Rogue is better for the character in the end. She considers herself a singer and entertainer. But she is also something of a dirtbag punk as Talene can attest to. Despite some minor faults though, she's really the nicest narcissist you'll ever meet.
@Storyteller Shadow: Ha! It's been a while since I've seen that face. Seems I'm a few inches ahead of you with 2e so here are a couple of things I've found very useful for character creation. There are lots of class and other guides here: Pathfinder 2e Guide to the Guides I use this site for character building. It saves lots of switching back and forth and page flipping trying to keep everything straight: Pathbuilder The free archetype rules provide a second set of "feat slots" starting at 2nd level. Those are used for taking abilities for the archetype you choose. There are both class and non-class archetypes. So Talene could take Cleric as a class and then add a class archetype like Fighter and pick up some Fighter class abilities through the archetype. Non-class archetypes work the same way but they tend to focus on a non-class thing like Loremaster or Acrobat. They work the same but give abilities that may or may not come from other classes. It's a sort of semi-gestalt I guess you could say. But you don't take the better of either class, you only take the available choices for the archetypes at each level when you get an archetype slot. The class guides help a lot because they almost always discuss good and bad class-archetype pairings. Also a note on Pathbuilder. The free archetype option is turned off by default. You can add it by going to Menu -> Character Options -> Use Free Archetype Character Rules, which is down in Advanced Options.
Thanks for the invitation DoctorEvil! Like I implied in my interest post, I've had a few runs at RotRL before but never made it farther than Book 2. I was thinking about rebuilding a favorite character of mine from before (you know the one Storyteller Shadow), which would have been a Rogue, probably Thief racket, with Bard archetype. But if there's already going to be a Rogue in the mix I'm less sure. My experience with 2e is quite thin. So I'll probably look for something easy to play. The class that looks most interesting to me is Thaumaturge; but it also looks too complicated for me to take on this early. I'll do some looking around today.
I suppose if I'm choosing a set of top three campaigns I've been in I'd go with these in no particular order: Sample Campaigns: Rise of the Runelords: Chosen of Sandpoint (Playing Ro Brishen) War for the Crown with DM Vayelan (Playing Amandine Santon) Luke's Crimson Throne Campaign (Playing Emileva Mavrakis) If you're looking for more particular scenes or situations within games, I could pull some out. Let me know.
I am so in for this! I've been hoping a recruitment for Season of the Ghost would come around for a while now. I've been playing Pathfinder for about 12 years now. I started with PFS tables for a couple of years until PFS chapter close by shut down and I found the games here. Since then I've played here exclusively. I've had a go at a large majority of the 1st ed. adventure paths. But since it's fairly rare for the games to last all the way through, the only AP I've played to completion was Iron Gods. War for the Crown, Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and Jade Regent made it as far as book 4. My 2e experience is thin. I've made some characters and applied for a few games here. Two of the 3 games I got into didn't even start. I played in a Rusthenge game for a little while. I'll be applying with a Human Rogue (thief probably) character: Ren Yexiang I will need to go back through the sheet to make sure there's nothing I need to update or change, but the basic character concept will remain the same.
Hey, I was in Idaho doing the family-in-a-cabin thing for Christmas. Not as off the wall as it might sound (if that sounds off the wall) Since I live in Portland Oregon and have relatives in eastern Washington and Idaho. So, sorry for missing the debut and being a tad behind. Over the last few days I've been thinking about the party. It seems, to me at least, there should be a character with strong personal ties to Mendev and/or the Worldwound. Someone who's there trying to save and restore the place, not just to kill demons. Also, at least one human in the party might make sense with the locations being very human in terms of the history and population. With this in mind, I'm going to set aside Endellion in favor of a Kellid Human character who's main goal in fighting the demons of the Worldwound is because she wants to reclaim ancestral Sarkoris for her people. I'm keeping Ranger as it was before. But, I'm switching out Inquisitor for Cleric (Herald Caller) of Pulura. I'll be going into Stargazer at 6th and doing all 10 levels to 16th then back to Cleric. Since Stargazer advances both spell casting and channel energy and that's all a Cleric has anyway how could I not? I'm thinking down the road we might decide having access to the full range of 7-9 level Cleric spells might be a handy thing. Anyway, I should have character completed and a gameplay post in by the end of today.
Ehh, I'm feeling kinda wobbly about the dedicated hour as well. I'm on Pacific time, so in theory it isn't a huge problem. On the other hand, I also know that PbP games go for a very long time (with luck), and things change over time. If I'm saying "sure" now, how can I know the same will be true 6 months or a year or 18 months into the future? I'm not saying no, just a bit concerned about saying yes. In any case, the character I have in mind is an Elf Ranger (Tanglebriar Demon Slayer / Transporter) who is up in Mendev on assignment as a military observer from Kyonin.
So knowing the proposed list of characters so far and given time to think things through more while the site was down, I've dropped the Ranger and Oracle ideas I'd mentioned before. There actually seems to be a dearth of basic smash 'em up martial character submissions. With a 25 point buy, I believe I can put together a really nice Fighter VMC Bard to lead a party into battle. Lots of armor, big ole greatsword. @GM Hurley: Is Variable Multi-Classing allowed? Would a character background of being a former Gray Maiden be too much of a divergence if it still connects well to the plot of the campaign? There are some nice Gray Maiden options for Fighters and/or Cavaliers I'd like to play with.
@GM_DBH: Yeah, I love Slayer. The only tiny complaint I have about the class is I wish there were more talents that were Slayer specific and good rather than most all of the desirable talents coming from Ranger and Rogue. But that's a small nit-pick. My CotCL started with trapfinding as well since she covered the Rogue needs for the party. That's not needed in this case though. I love me some skills so Slayer aside I tend to go with classes like Bard, Investigator, and Inquisitor the most. Of those I think Inquisitor is the best designed overall. I think it's the one that comes closest to bridging the gap between martial and 6th level caster classes. But, it's also far less a support class and more a self-buffer. Anyway, after rooting around through what's possible with Swashbuckler, I think it will be my choice. It's also the one I haven't played before so it's freshest to me. I do worry about the weak Fort and Will but I discovered Swashbuckler can get the twist away feat, which helps immensely with Fortitude. Taking the noble fencer archetype helps with Will. I'll take the Inspired Blade / Noble Fencer archetypes. This also probably works most seamlessly for a backstory with Vencarlo to bring my character into the game.
Hi everyone! Thanks for inviting in to your game. As Kayleigh mentioned we were both playing in a CotCC campaign that ran a maybe about 3 years and folded approximately where this one is now (I guess). My character was a Slayer who was two-handing a falchion, very simple since I was quite new to Pathfinder back then. I was thinking about reworking the Slayer with something more interesting like sword and board TWF. I worked up a quick draft to 9th level and discovered for myself what most people already know; if a character goes the TWF route that is all they do. Everything goes into just making it work. So, I started looking at a couple of other options and now I've drafted out two to consider. I've taken the standard 1 level dip in Swashbuckler for Investigators, but otherwise never played the class. I'm surprised how stout it is. Lots of damage (as long as precision damage works) and probably quite hard to hit between the good AC and opportune parry and repost. Saves are the big weakness. Reflex is excellent and the others are pretty bad. Even trying to help Will and Fort as much as I can, by 9th level I can't fit in the feats to improve those two. The other possibility is a Sanctified Slayer Inquisitor mostly focused on ranged combat. This character would be rebuilt from one I used in a Kingmaker campaign up to 3rd level. Most of the feats are going to archery, but it's better I think to think of her as a switch hitter. She's an Inquisitor of Cayden Cailean (this may sound like a head-scratcher but trust me it does make sense) so she has rapier proficiency. With EitR in use she can automatically swash-a-buckle with no investment. Archery requires a bit of strength so I wouldn't bother with dex to damage. Between studied target, which works equally with ranged and melee, and sneak attack coming from Sanctified Slayer, damage is decent. This doesn't factor in buffs from spells yet. Also the Inquisitor has some nice mobility upgrades from the travel domain and better save bonus across the board. Not quite as good as full BAB, and through using limited resources to get there, but I was surprised at the parity with the Swashbuckler. Either way, I can link the character to Vencarlo as one of his students. If a go with my old character's version and Swashbuckler, I just alter her background to the somewhat happier alternate timeline where the things that happened in the worst possible timeline didn't happen to put her in contact with the party from the beginning. With the Inquisitor, still a student of Vencarlo's. I have that same connection worked out as well for the background. I'll get this all figured out and give you a character to look at over the weekend.
@GM Hurley: I'm tossing around a couple of character ideas but I have some questions about character creation rules before I can decide anything for sure. One of the possible characters is a Ranger, a Kellid from a small tribe that was pushed eastward into the Golushkin Mountains of Brevoy under pressure from the Sunder Horn tribe. The tribe had settled in to a symbiotic relationship with the dwarven Golka Clan until the dwarves disappeared. Since then it's gotten harder to make a living. The Ranger has been variously a smuggler and bounty hunter farther south. The plot connection is to the Golka's disappearance of course. In this case I'm wondering about two archetypes. The first is the Transporter . It seems very cool and well matched for the early campaign exploration. But I wonder whether or not it would remain useful as the campaign continued into the later books. Thoughts or opinions on it? The second archetype is Blood Hunter . I like this one because it seems to address some of the things like the lack of flexibility of favored enemy and favored terrain that makes the Slayer so much more attractive. It's a Paizo creation, but like the Vampire Hunter and Omdura, it doesn't seem to be official. Would it be okay to use it? The second character idea is a character from Uringen in the River Kingdoms. She and her twin sister were alchemical ingredient gatherers who wandered into a spot in the Embeth Forest and got snatched into the First World. After various misadventures and escapades yada yada trying to get back, they were separated. The character then turns to trying to find her sister. Shyka then steps in and offers her a deal of the "you do something for me, and I'll find your sister for you" sort. The something the character must do for Shyka is insert herself into the expedition going to the Stolen Lands and ensure they succeed. Succeed at what? Shyka won't say. But if Shyka is wanting to put a finger on the scale it's probably quite big, maybe Choral the Conquerer or the Shadow plot. My idea with this character is the finish with the Feysworn Prestige class. But how to get there is tricky. Feysworn seems best suited for a full casting class because it advances spell casting and its features are mostly those that help full casters more than others. A Wizard probably works best on the arcane side. On the Divine side, which I've been leaning toward, a Time Mystery Oracle seems very thematic. My question here is about the Half-Elf Multitalented trait. Can a prestige class count as the second favored class, allowing the character to continue selecting extra Oracle spells as an FCB bonus? Finally, would you allow Variant Multiclassing?
As for what I'm thinking of doing with that set of rolls. I believe it's going to be an itinerant Cleric of Kurgess. She travels among the festivals and fairs of the region throughout the year where she offers her services as a referee for competitions and games. Hopefully it's paid work, but she will provide the service gratis if not. When she's not busy overseeing contests, she puts on children's puppet shows with her traveling cabinet that opens up into a small stage. Of course the theme of these performances are sportsmanship, fair play, honesty, and self-confidence.
Me too! Some people have all the luck. :(cries in silent jealousy It's the best set of rolls I have ever had for anything in any game I've ever played over many years. I just can't account for it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I've been quietly working on my character Pellegrina for a while as I've had a bit of time here and there. I'm only getting to really looking at the rule book this weekend, but the system neutral aspects of Pellegrina are: Appearance and Personality:
Height: 5'6" | Weight: 135 lbs. | Hair: Auburn Brown | Eyes: Gray-Blue Appearance Pelligrina has gray-blue eyes and thick auburn brown hair that tumbles in curls and ringlets down her back. Her complexion is a slightly lighter bronze than usual for Taldans and flawless. Although she tends to wear dresses if all things are equal, Pelligrina does not have a particular look she has adopted. She dresses according to weather, activity, and social convention. She does wear revealing clothing on some occasions, but it isn’t necessary for Pelligrina to do so. Whatever she puts on seems to cling and mold in just the right ways to highlight her figure. One thing Pelligrina does always avoid is over-dressing. She considers an overabundance of jewelry or other ornamentation to be gauche and a little pathetic.
Notes on Personality and Other Things Not Yet Covered: Myers-Briggs personality type: ESTP "It isn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just 'It'." –Rudyard Kipling “That quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force. It can be a quality of the mind as well as a physical attraction.” — Elinor Glyn -Pelligrina has "It". -Pelligrina is an extrovert who enjoys, almost craves, the company of others most of the time. She is witty and engaging in conversation, with a polished sense of humor. Pelligrina only cares about convention just enough to avoid scandal and is very open to new experiences. -One of her greatest assets is her almost unassailable self-confidence. It helps her often avoid one of the pitfalls of being beautiful and having attention focused on her. She feels no need to be competitive, so she doesn’t engage in the kinds of behaviors that pit her against others for attention, praise, or prestige. She knows she rarely has a serious rival among the people around her, so she has nothing to prove. Among her less exalted, new up and comers social set, eschewing drama and pettiness only enhances her position by making her seem more down to earth and relatable. -Pelligrina usually gets what she wants anyway, without need to be combative or difficult. She is persuasive enough to subtly nudge things in the direction she wants them through making comments and observations, or obliquely signaling approval or disapproval, that she doesn’t need play the queen bee or diva. - Reading Pelligrina’s background could easily leave one with the impression she is a cynic and nihilist who is only concerned with amassing power for herself. This isn’t the case. While Pelligrina is a narcissist, and does want to achieve power and wealth for herself, she is not willing to do just anything to get it. She has aligned herself with reformists in Oppara because she sincerely believes reform is need if the nation is to survive. She favors Princess Eutropia both because she sees her as the nations best chance at reform, and because Pelligrina is also a eldest child who will not inherit more than a dowry because she is female. She bears no ill-will against her younger brother. Truthfully she consider being Baronet of Tregan small potatoes and wants to leave the hinterlands behind. She still rankles at being automatically excluded though, having to take a harder path with fewer options. - Tregan is a small town along the border with Galt. It has hosted large numbers of refugees from Galt for many years. Living so many years of her life there, Galt’s woes have playing an important role in shaping Pelligrina’s politics. She is not a revolutionary but an incrementalist. She believes reforms must come, but not too much too rapidly. The monarchy, nobility, and Senate must remain in place to provide stability. Were she ever in the position to do so, Pelligrina would vote to expand the size of the Senate to include seats for commoners. - So far Pelligrina has kept her mirror’s communication with her and what she has learned from it a secret. Not even her parents are aware. In keeping with this, Pelligrina has rarely used magic if other options are viable. Her mirror and others have trained her well in using her natural assets flexibly and creatively; most of the time they will see her through the obstacles she’s confronted without the risks that magic involves. - Pelligrina doesn’t consider herself a ‘witch’. The term often carries negative connotations, especially where she from near the Verduran Forest. If and when she is pressed to account for it, she would use some alternative term like ‘arcane practitioner”. -Pelligrina was raised in an Abadaran household, but she was never interested in religion until she was introduced to Calistria. This happened at Lady Breau’s Academy for Young Women. Predictably, Shelyn reigned supreme there for Lady Breau and most of the girls. However, a small, more daring set of students venerated Calistria on the down low. Pelligrina took to Calistria far more readily than Shelyn. The distinction for her was one of comfort and complacency. Calistria is for the young and hungry, while Shelyn is for those who have mostly reached a point of satisfaction with their lives. Pelligrina certainly defines herself as among the young and hungry group. Pelligrina is still not a very devout person. In her thinking maybe the time will come later in her life when she’s accomplished all she hoped and is ready to settle in as a Shelynite. She doesn’t think Calistria would mind. One of the most appealing things about Calistria to Pelligrina is the goddess’s transactional outlook. - While Pelligrina is an extrovert with a forceful personality, she is also aware of the value of reading people and adjusting her behavior to match what she thinks will appeal to them most. Although seduction is often sexual in nature, at its root it is an invitation, and not all people are in induced by the possibility of attaining the same desires in the same ways. Being a chameleon is the name of the game. - Pelligrina is not always ‘on’. She exercises a skill set when it is advantageous. She is no more always seductive than a thief is always picking pockets. When she is not on, she’s good company. Pelligrina is a good conversationalist who likes small talk and has a good sense of humor. She is pleasant, and tries to be considerate to others. She does have genuine friends. - Her biggest flaws are her great confidence in herself and her need to have her way in most things. She may take foolish risks when she underestimates the danger. She may also be petulant when she doesn’t get her way in things that are important to her. Pelligrina also struggles with showing patience, but usually she can control herself, especially if the payoff is significant.
Background:
Pelligrina is the daughter of Baronet Vorstal Revay of Tregan and his wife Euphemia. She was their first child, much doted upon for the first 10 years of her childhood. When her younger brother Gaillard was born, Pelligrina’s parents had to split their attention, something she did not take well. Pelligrina became sullen and jealous. She’d always been an assertive attention-seeking child, but this was the first rift with her for her parents. Euphemia, who handled most all of the childcare, sought relief by buying Pelligrina off with a fine gift to show her how much her parents still cared for her. Euphemia always considered appearances important. While Pelligrina was still a couple of years short of her teen years, her mother reasoned it was always good to teach fundamentals early. Euphemia thought it time for braids and wearing whatever was within easiest reach to be left behind. She gave Pelligrina an antique hand mirror. It was fully adult sized and a work of art. The frame and handle was a single piece of ornate brass, while the mirror itself was flawlessly polished silver. Euphemia thought having such a mirror might nudge Pelligrina onward a little toward more mature interests. Euphemia got the results she was looking for, in far greater abundance than she could have imagined. Pelligrina adored the mirror, and at first it was a source of fun for both of them. Euphemia showed Pelligrina different ways to do her hair. She bought a cosmetics kit for her daughter and showed her how to use it. But after some months, Euphemia had exhausted her tricks and tips, while Pelligrina’s interest in spending time occupied with her mirror only grew. More and more often Pelligrina spent time with her mirror alone. Pelligrina was not as enraptured with her own appearance as her mother believed though. It was all of the other things her mirror showed her that kept her enthralled. It did not happen in the presence of her mother, but Pelligrina’s mirror showed her what she could be in the future, beautiful and adored by all who knew her. Early on Pelligrina experienced only the briefest glimpses of visions and flashes of feelings, but as she and her mirror slowly adjusted to each other it could communicate more coherently to her. She learned the mirror held secrets it could teach her, magical and otherwise, if she would commit to learning them would and follow the path it could reveal to her. Pelligrina promised to commit. It was during the years when she was fifteen and sixteen that her parents worried about Pelligrina’s obsession with her mirror the most. Pelligrina became moodier and withdrawn. She was forgetful, and sometimes seemed to be lost in a waking dream. Pelligrina’s state was due to the increasing intensity of what the mirror was teaching her. Arcane knowledge was difficult and exhausting, and sometime the things she learned were frightful. Her mirror assured Pelligrina that nothing it showed her could harm her, and that she would come to master it all as long as she did not abandon its tutelage. Pelligrina believed her mirror and stayed the course. It had proven itself to be a friend she could trust. Her mirror always kept its promises. She was more and more beautiful over time as it had said she would be. It taught her how to use her beauty to best effect, showing her how to be persuasive and how to lie well. She now knew how to do some things with magic, and was learning still more. By the time Pelligrina was 17, her parents were making plans for her marriage. There was no particular date set, nor groom in mind, but there were steps to be taken before those goals were reached. One concern was Pelligrina’s education. Tregan was far too small a town to host any educational institutions suitable for Pelligrina so she had been schooled at home, mostly by Euphemia herself. While Pelligrina demonstrated intelligence, she had never shown scholarly inclinations. Her assets were her exceptional beauty and pleasant personality. Her parents felt Pelligrina could be highly competitive among the top echelons of Taldor’s nobility if she were polished up to present at her finest. It was a financial burden, but her parents found a finishing school in Oppara and sent Pelligrina to prepare for coming out into society. Pelligrina received her parents’ decision very enthusiastically, not because she was interested in finding a husband, but because she needed access to Taldor’s center of power for her own agenda. Learning the manners and comportment of Taldor’s elite would be helpful as she forged a path to a seat in the Senate. Pelligrina’s mirror emphatically urged her to avoid marriage until the time was right, not soon by any measure. This was advice Pelligrina didn’t really need; she had seen her parents’ marriage firsthand. Pelligrina wouldn’t describe her parents’ marriage as unhappy exactly. But, she did know her mother was disappointed with her husband’s paltry position in a crude frontier town. Knowing she would be tied to her husband’s fortunes didn’t appeal to Pelligrina. She knew she could probably do better for herself if she could find her opportunity. It was in Oppara that Pelligrina really began to find her stride and flourish. Her first year at Lady Breau’s Academy for Young Women was largely uneventful, with Pelligrina busy laying the groundwork for the next. By the start of the second year Pelligrina had sniffed out enough compromising information to blackmail Lady Breau into putting aside most all of the rules. Being able to come and go from the academy when she wanted, and without a chaperone accompanying her, allowed Pellingrina to begin establishing herself as a known presence in Oppara, making acquaintances and procuring invitations to the right kind of establishments and gatherings. Pelligrina found it easy to make a good impression wherever she went, and some strategically selected lovers meant she was able to be in a lot of places. In the year since her graduation from Lady Breau’s Academy, Pelligina has had more free time to redouble her efforts. She now specifically seeks out reform-minded leaders and politicians, including those who support Princess Eutropia. Through other connection she’s made Pelligrina knows who Lady Martella Lotheed is, and also that she’s quite close to the Princess herself. The unusual position Lady Martella occupies makes her extremely interesting to Pelligrina because she is both reasonably accessible and (as rumor has it) acting at times on the Princess’s behalf. The supporters of the Princess Pelligrina has met may be with Eutropia in spirit, but do nothing of consequence. Pelligrina knows well she will need to demonstrate she is a person of quality before she rises to the Senate. Her current position in society isn’t exalted enough, she isn’t rich enough. She has no impressive past career in the military, nor is she famous for some other reason. Being well known for being well known isn’t enough. Pelligrina will have to do the yeoman’s work of gaining experience and demonstrating a talent for politics first, and Lady Martella surely has people to whom she farms out tasks. On a handful of occasions, at meetings and other social events, Pelligrina has been able to chat briefly with Lady Martella. Self-promotion is inherently gauche, so Pelligrina was carefully danced around the subject of working for Martella in some capacity. She’s never requested anything, but instead has tried to create the circumstances for Lady Martella to more or less come to the idea herself. When they have spoken, Pelligrina obliquely focuses of three points she wants to get across. 1. She is deeply committed to the cause of seeing Princess Eutropia receive her rightful inheritance. 2. While she has enjoyed making the social rounds now that she is of age, she has grown bored with its repetition and frivolity. She feels the need to do something of substance, ideally to make Taldor a better place. 3. She easily wins people’s confidence, and once she has their ear, she is persuasive. This is especially true of men, who seem compelled to try to impress her. 4. She is adept at handling even awkward situations with tact and delicacy. Whenever she happens across Lady Martella and finds the opportunity, Pelligrina baits her line again, and hopes Lady Martella will bite. In her letters home, Pelligrina writes her parents often, she frames her activities in terms of husband hunting. They are footing the bill for her to remain in Oppara after all. She may not see eye-to eye with her parents’ plans for her, but being discreet about her differences with them can’t harm anything. Besides she ceratiny doesn’t want to risk having her funding cut off, or being ordered home.
Themes and Tabs:
THEME: Social Butterfly
So, obviously more work to do figuring out Pellegrina in game terms, but I know the direction I'm heading which will help move things along. The backstory references Pellegrina having a magical mirror (actually a mirror familiar) since she was originally supposed to be a Pathfinder Witch with the Mirror/Seducer Archetypes. Initially I planned to get rid of that, but I do kind of like the mirror. I might try to work it in so I can keep it if I have room. Also some amount of spell casting might be good for Pellegrina, she's obviously not going to be leaping into combat to any good effect. Anyway, work in progress.
Delta Green is a variant of the Call of Cthulhu system, which I really love. I suggested Pulp CoC earlier. The differences as I understand it are CoC 7th ed. = characters that are average people, Delta Green = characters that are elite, more skilled, but still fundamentally average, Pulp CoC = heroic characters, both more skilled and harder to kill. So Delta Green makes characters more durable and more skilled. But let's face it, with 7th ed. if you're making a character you might as well make two because you'll need the backup soon enough. Pulp doubles HP and makes healing somewhat easier and adds more to skills. Characters are more larger than life individuals who can expect to survive combat even if it is still quite risky. Pulp CoC can also be adjusted up to almost superheroic by adding some options, or down to about Delta Green by going very basic. All the versions run most everything that happens in the game through skills and d100 though. There are no classes or class levels, and advancement is through improving skills by using them. Roll modifiers are rare and usually just comprise roll twice and take the better or worse if there's a bonus or penalty. This, along with the simplicity of everything else in the system is what I like most about the system. Since sanity rules won't matter (probably) in this particular case, those could be dropped and the system is even simpler. EDIT: So, having never actually played Delta Green I started to wonder if I'd gotten what I said about it correct enough or not. So, I went looking for comments by people to do know them both. What I found boiled down to Delta Green is CoC x The X-Files. Pulp CoC is CoC x Indiana Jones. Since I know the Pulp side I can say that's a pretty good one sentence summary. Indiana Jones is a Pulp CoC character living in a world of CoC 7th ed. people. Hopefully the Delta Green characterization is equally right on. And at this point I've tangented rather far off and away from the subject of what to use for this game. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I've played a tiny bit with Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE) and it will probably do what you want it to do. It's designed to be setting neutral. I found SWADE to be a little hard to pick up, but like I mentioned I didn't play with the system very long at all. Those who know it better seem to consider it easy to use.
Liberation South America is the favorite of mine. So much intrigue, are you a Bogotano trying to have the Spaniards leave? Are you Fillipino officer serving in the Spanish military working for the viceroy in Lima? Who do you support? So many choices. This sounds like the characters wouldn't necessarily be acting as a party? Would characters be doing their own things in different places on different sides? BTW there's a podcast that coverers the Latin American revolution(s) that's quite good, Revolutions Season 5. Its focal point is Bolivar and the Viceroyalty of the New Kingdom of Granada, but it doesn't ignore other areas. It's fairly thorough, but doesn't get bogged down in small details that could make it slow and dry. Even then it's still 25 episodes that average about 40 - 45 minutes.
I'm absolutely interested. I love this sort of game. Of the settings you list I think my favorite is Liberation Period South America 1810s-1830s. It's not one that ever comes up. My second choice would be WW1. I'd like to pitch the interwar period of the 1920's - 1930's as a setting though if I may. It's extremely obvious, but there are reasons it's a classic. 1. It has a truly global reach that isn't close to matched even by WW1. 2. There's no "great war", but during that period Asia enters the mix in big ways with China and Japan, and most of the rest of Asia by way of anti-colonial movements. There's also the Russian Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, and the list goes on. 2. It's better known historically, which makes it easier to digest as a setting without lots of prep on everyone's part. 3. It has a good balance of technology. Lots of cool things are in the picture by then, but nothing that's too crazy that needs to be curbed in some way. This applies well across the board for weapons, transportation, information access (no computers), media... 4. Interwar Berlin! Interwar Shanghai! I've played with the old (not sure how many times new versions may have come out) Top Secret rules. I don't remember them well after so long, but I don't recall them not getting the job done just fine. But, since I'm already taking the liberty of making suggestions, I have a weird one. Pulp Call of Cthulhu with the Lovecraftian elements stripped out could work well. It's fairly rules light and intuitive. It has a good character building system that is very flexible and handles skills really well. The pulp version also has rules for weird science if that sounds interesting.
Hi Sarah, I'd be interested in this if it's not too late to chime in. I haven't used the Mist system before, but it does sound like one that I'd like and take to well. War for the Crown is also a big draw for me. I have a past attempt at WftC that valiantly struggled on to the start of Book 3 before folding. It might be my favorite Paizo AP. I do have a couple of loose character concepts based on prior characterss I've made for the AP, and Investigator and a Witch. I'm not too concerned about the particular classes, But maybe one of them could work in terms of backstory, etc. I'll PM you about them. |
