Mechanically, I actually really like this class. A lot of the wording is really vague, so there's a lot of gm interpretation needed here if someone actually wants to play it. I think it could fit in a campaign easily as a rich dashing noble type. Here are my thoughts.
Uniform gives you CHA to AC. Nice.
Catchphrase and Punchline are cool, maybe have them operate like Studied Target, so initially they cost a move action but after, say level 4, they use a swift. I think it would be best to only allow one per turn so the player has to choose to either buff or debuff.
Stone Convictions, Something Dumb, and After You are just flavor really, but I like them.
I'm on a Horse, Bachelor's in Marketing, and I'd Take a Bullet for You, Man all work fine as is I think.
Pleasurable Smells is odd, not sure what "nose stuff" could mean.
Biceps and Wolfdog are pretty useless, but funny.
Wardrobe Change is amazing from a flavor and mechanics standpoint.
Matrimony and the powers above are silly, but I've never played a game above lvl 15, so it doesn't bother me.
I'm toying with the idea of making a healer for PFS since they're usually very welcome at any table and I enjoy playing support roles. I think a life shaman with full channeling is how I want to go about this, but I also like two incompatible archetypes.
Mechanically, the witch doctor archetype seems superior, in that it gives a secondary channel energy pool (3+CHA / -3 cleric level). So with a CHA of 16, at lvl 4, I would have channel 2d6 4/day and 1d6 6/day.
The animist archetype seems really cool and flavorful, though. It's ability to roll diplomacy checks to cure conditions could synergize well with the higher-than-average charisma a channeling-focused character would have.
Would I be severely handicapping myself (and by extension, the rest of my party) by choosing animist over witch doctor?
Man, choosing six pokémon for a team is difficult enough, picking one is super tough. I'm actually gonna say Beldum. Still a very emotionless personality but with some evolutions to keep things fun.
I've tried looking around the forums here, seen the Monkey See, Monkey Do blog post and read druid class guides. I still have one question I'm not sure about. Is there any actual benefit to being able to speak with my animal companion? The concept it this: a Gnome druid with a badger companion and the Groundling feat which allows me to use speak with animals at will for burrowing animals (I would imagine this includes badgers as they have a burrow speed). So is there any mechanical benefit gained from this ability or is it just flavor in PFS?
To flesh out my character and give a more complete submission:
Fluff:
Most importantly, his name is to be determined. Should he be a minion of Unk, I imagine he will be called something similarly monosyllabic. Should he have been created of the tower's power, perhaps he was given a name by the tower's other minions.
Part of the backstory I'm partial to is that any memory of his past life was wiped clean. All he knows is what a more intelligent being can glean from his bones (Age at death, sex, race). With this in mind, he hold no ill will towards his master as they are all he remembers.
Personality-wise, I envision him as a "Big Stupid Fighter" type. He isn't incompetent or actually stupid, simply single-minded. He'll do whatever it takes to impress his master, which is often smashing faces. He's good at smashing faces.
If Unk ends up not being able to cast the necessary spells to command the skeletal champion himself, I don't see why the tower couldn't manage it directly somehow. Maybe on one of its holy days, a surplus of necromantic energy raised a skeleton long forgotten in the swamp nearby.
Rough draft idea here: A thuvian adventurer who came to challenge the tower reanimated and stripped of all memory from his past life. Now he faithfully serves a necromancer, protecting the tower from meddlesome do-gooders. I went with CR 7 but that's by no means set in stone.
Tentative Statblock:
Human skeletal champion fighter 5 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 252)
NE Medium undead
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +12
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 23, touch 12, flat-footed 21 (+9 armor, +2 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 49 (7 HD; 2d8+5d10+5)
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +7 (+1 vs. fear); +2 racial bonus vs. hot climate, +2 racial bonus vs. poison or distraction abilities of swarms
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4; DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune cold, undead traits
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee greatsword +12/+7 (2d6+9/19-20) or
. . 2 claws +5 (1d4+2)
Special Attacks weapon training (heavy blades +1)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 19, Dex 15, Con —, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +6; CMB +10; CMD 22
Feats Furious Focus[APG], Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Two-handed Thrower[UC], Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (greatsword), Weapon Specialization (greatsword)
Traits armor expert, seeker
Skills Acrobatics -2 (-6 to jump), Climb +4, Disguise +4, Intimidate +5, Perception +12, Ride +2, Sense Motive +6, Spellcraft +4, Stealth +2, Survival +5, Swim +4
Languages Common
SQ armor training 1, heart of the sun[ARG]
Other Gear full plate, greatsword
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Armor Training 1 (Ex) Worn armor -1 check penalty, +1 max DEX.
Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Damage Reduction (5/bludgeoning) You have Damage Reduction against all except Bludgeoning attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Furious Focus If you are wielding a weapon in two hands, ignore the penalty for your first attack of each turn.
Heart of the Sun +2 save vs. hot climate & 1 step less severe, +2 vs. poison/distraction abilities of swarms/vermin.
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Quick Draw Draw weapon as a free action (or move if hidden weapon). Throw at full rate of attacks.
Two-Handed Thrower Gain Str bonus when using two hands to throw a one or two-handed weapon
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.
Weapon Training (Blades, Heavy) +1 (Ex) +1 Attack, Damage, CMB, CMD with Heavy Blades
Hm. Had an idea I think I might like more: a minion-minion. If we have a necromancer in the group, I think it would be fun to play a skeletal champion (skele with an int score).
Skeletal Champion Template:
From here
“Skeletal Champion” is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal creature (other than an undead) that has a skeletal system (referred to hereafter as the base creature) and a minimum Intelligence of 3.
CR: A skeletal champion’s CR is +1 higher than a normal skeleton with the same HD.
Type: The creature’s type becomes undead. It keeps subtypes save for alignment subtypes and subtypes that indicate kind.
Alignment: Any evil.
Armor Class: Natural armor as per skeleton.
Hit Dice: Change all of the creature’s racial HD to d8s, then add 2 racial Hit Dice to this total (creatures without racial HD gain 2). HD from class levels are unchanged.
Defensive Abilities: A skeletal champion gains DR 5/bludgeoning, channel resistance +4, and immunity to cold. It also gains all of the standard undead traits.
Speed: As standard skeleton.
Attacks: As standard skeleton.
Abilities: Str +2, Dex +2. As undead, it has no Constitution score.
BAB: Its BAB for racial HD equals 3/4 of its HD.
Skills: Gains skill ranks per racial Hit Die equal to 4 + its Int modifier. Class skills for racial HD are Climb, Disguise, Fly, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (religion), Perception, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, and Stealth. Skills gained from class levels remain unchanged.
Feats: A skeletal champion gains Improved Initiative as a bonus feat.
Saves: Base save bonuses for racial Hit Dice are Fort +1/3 HD, Ref +1/3 HD, and Will +1/2 HD + 2.
Instead of using a construct template and all that, I might go with an oread for my "child of the tower" idea. Not sure on a class yet. Might see what else is submitted and try to fill in gaps.
If the magic tower gets selected, I've got an idea I think I'd like to run by you fine folks. An "offspring" of the tower of sorts. A golem formed of the bricks that compose the tower and imparted with some of it's power. I think I would roleplay it as someone doing everything they can to impress a mentor figure. Maybe slightly childish, not sure. I suppose further discussion is more fitting for the next phase of recruitment.
Side note: while Penok is listed as an arcane caster, the cure spells are on his list and his spells will mainly focus on buffing. On top of that, in combat he can hold his own with a crossbow while his phantom wrecks face in the front lines. But wait, there's more! call within the next five minutes-
I would like to submit Penok, a Young Kellid man whose been haunted by the soul of an ancient spacefarer. The being is filled with rage and rarely forms coherent thought. Penok has spent the past few years travelling across Numeria to try to understand the ghost that haunts him. Recently, it has been demanding he go to Torch.
I'm trying to work through a backstory for my character, but I'm still not 100% confident in my knowledge of the times. Maybe he is joining a troop of warriors as a chaplain of sorts? I'm not sure how a monk/priest would find himself in such a situation.
Should I put points into linguistics? I'm not sure what the language distribution was like then. Looking back, maybe I should just to allow him to know Latin. I tried to make his spell list somewhat realistic, let me know what you think.
Thanks for the links. Now I've got some reading to do. By this time, Christianity was the religion if the day, correct? Then the question is what domains would a Catholic priest have? Ideas: Good, Healing, Law, Community, Glory, Protection. Subdomains: Purity, Martyr, Light, Redemption, Restoration. Idk, just some thoughts.
This looks interesting. I'd like to make a support focused ecclesitheurge cleric. Any suggestions/guidelines on God(s) and domains? I'll be honest, I'm not very knowledgeable in the time period.
Ok, I know I said I wasn't going to submit an idea, but here goes. It might be a little cliché, but I've been tossing around ideas and out rolled an evil druid.
Nature is beautiful and perfect. Civilization is unnatural and evil. Darshan cares little for the lives of others if they choose any path divergent from his own. Mankind (along with plenty of other races) has raped the very earth that created it. If Golarion will not return to its former glory on its own, Darshan will help.
Evil plan: This is not set in stone. He could be a low level (3-5) guerrilla warrior who's current focus is to eradicate a local village. He could also be an epic level entity bent on total planetary annihilation as a means to turn back the clock to before sapient life carved its mark on Golarion.
@servant6: Character looks nice, I like the idea you've got for background as a member of the city guard. The one note I'd make is that the First Guard are who actually patrol the Ascendant Court and are all atheistic and worship no gods, and so your character being there officially is unlikely. However, feel free to just be a city guard who feels this whole business doesn't smell right.
Mechanically, he is a tank in every sense of the word. I think I can pull this off in Pathfinder by utilizing the Stalwart feat in tandem with the Intercept defensive ability. This will allow me to, as an immediate action, take the damage from attacks done to adjacent allies, applying my max DR 8/- when going total defense. As I level, I will obviously increase that DR and shrug off even more damage. In essence, any allies adjacent to Tosguld are invulnerable as long as he is standing.
Story-wise, as mentioned previously, he is a member of the city guard (being level nine, I imagine he is fairly high ranking). Tosguld, a devout follower of Torag, is wary of this "Last Disciple" and has been keeping an eye on him since he first showed his face. Recent events at the Starstone Cathedral have only made him more distrusting of this newcomer.
Dotting in. Working on a Cavalier (Constable archetype)/Stalwart Defender. He'll be a member of the Absalom city guard assigned to this "issue." Mechanically, party support/tank.
This post is just a PSA for those of you who use Hero Lab.
I use Hero Lab for character creation and I love it. Translating all the information from the sheet to the forums can be a pain, however. Except it's not because there's a button that will do it all for you and I've been doing it the hard way for no reason all along. /facepalm
Message Board Notes: As I am sure most of you know we are not receiving notifications of new posts. If I missed a question please report and I will pay more attention.
Good to know I'm not going crazy.
Thanks for adding background skills, Will has been updated.
I've decided to draw up a moroi-blooded dhampir antipaladin from the Jerunsen family. I'll post the alias once I get the character sheet and background up.
Last question, promise. So doppel aside, a regular dhampir could be of any family with either the moroi +2 str +2 cha -2 con spread or nosferatu +2 str +2 wis -2 con spread?
Does that mean that Jerusen is the only family that opens Dhampirs as options? (Sorry, now I'm getting away from my original question about the doppel. I just have so many ideas :b)
Ok, just because I'm slow :b
I could play a doppelganger CR1, get all the benefits listed under doppelganger 1, and have 8 class levels, correct? Also, are the racial skills class skills for that level, or how does that work?
Thanks for answering all these questions :)
Sorry, edit: Also, if we choose to play a Dhampir, are the heritages and accompanying attribute distributions restricted in any way?
