Doing something cool for my players

In the next month or so I'll be running Carrion Crown, time permitting. I only have a three people players though, so I'm thinking up ways to up their power a tad. They'll have 25 point buy, but I'm also trying to come up with some flavorful extra powers to give to the group. I have the paladin and dhampir inquisitor figured out, but the witch is giving me trouble.

Each player is going to be loosely associated with one aspect of Pharasma's faith:

The paladin of Abadar will represent Fate. Unbeknownst to the character and the player, he was murdered on the way to Ravengro and sent back to the mortal plane to complete his destiny (defeating the Whispering Way). I'm using the Restless Souls rules from Rite Publishing. Basically he's got a list of cool feats to manifest weird ghost-powers, and he'll get a bonus feat from that list at level one, then one every 4 levels afterwards.

The dhampir kinslayer inquisitor will represent Death. He'll be getting the Ray Brand power for free at level one (essentially a bonus feat), and then at level 5 he'll receive the paladin's divine bond with a weapon. He'll only be able to augment his Slayer's Brand, and I'll be giving him a custom list of abilities to pick from. I think I'm going to tone the ability down to 1 round per level though. It seems like it'd be a little much to give him the divine bond at full strength.

The witch is giving me trouble though. She's going to represent Birth, although even that's a stretch as the character the player created doesn't really have a connection to her aspect like the other two characters so conveniently did. I know she'll have a raven familiar and between levels 1-4 it's going to slowly manifest the abilities of a Nosoi (Improved Familiar for free). Beyond that though, I'm kind of stumped. A free pearl of power ability is always great for arcane casters, but I feel like that would be kind of unimaginative and it doesn't represent her aspect of Pharasma. Maybe something that would better fit RP situations instead of combat? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated :]

Do you ever kill PCs? A one-time free reincarnate could be a nice boon to represent birth/rebirth. Giving Sacred Touch as a bonus trait would be flavorful, but not particularly powerful.

Oh man, great idea! Sacred Touch isn't quite on par with what the other two players are receiving, but giving her healing and resurrection powers would be perfect! The PCs in our games tend not to die very often since everyone knows the system pretty well, but this player would be just the type to create interesting RP scenarios by benevolent use of resurrection powers on NPCs. I'll give her some sort of incrementally increasing resurrection magic after level 4 with a use limit or some such complication to make using them require some strategy.

Interesting idea. Seems like all three are actually being watched over by Pharasma. Perhaps part of the Pally's plotline could be him finding this out, with an option to switch to being a Pharasma pally (with a waiver on the alignment restriction obv). You are also left with the final fourth aspect of Pharasma which is Prophecy. Perhaps this could be part of your plotline as well. If you want to make more of Kendra, she could perhaps be this aspect.

Back to the witch, what about the powers of the Restoration domain and/or Resurection domains. Or adding spell(s) from those domains to her spell list.

You could give the witches damaging spells (if she uses any) some holy aspect having them deal half their damage as positive energy, thus dealing more damage to incorporeals.

And via the same effect you could rule that her other spells have a lesser chance of not working on incorporeals. Like lower the chance from 50% to 30% or something like that.

A problem I see with what you are doing is that the witch player could see her pc different than you and be unhappy to have birth associated with her.
Perhaps ask him/her in advance. That may spoil the surprise but still better than the surprise of a player hating what you do to his/her pc and you being pissed that your work isn't appreciated.

What patron does the witch have?

A problem I see with what you are doing is that the witch player could see her pc different than you and be unhappy to have birth associated with her.

Perhaps ask him/her in advance. That may spoil the surprise but still better than the surprise of a player hating what you do to his/her pc and you being pissed that your work isn't appreciated.

What patron does the witch have?

That's exactly part of the problem I was having :l The other two characters just fit the bill perfectly without my doing anything, but the witch doesn't. I still would like to make them a sort of "chosen of Pharasma" group, (and the player has said her character is very interested in the Pharasman fate), but I won't do it in such a way that shoehorns the character into my little plot.

Just to give some background info on the witch, she's played the character briefly in the past, and she's a spacey, slightly weak-willed, slightly mad young woman with no real moral compass or sense of ethics. Completely neutral.

Interesting idea. Seems like all three are actually being watched over by Pharasma. Perhaps part of the Pally's plotline could be him finding this out, with an option to switch to being a Pharasma pally (with a waiver on the alignment restriction obv). You are also left with the final fourth aspect of Pharasma which is Prophecy. Perhaps this could be part of your plotline as well. If you want to make more of Kendra, she could perhaps be this aspect.

In art, Pharasma is depicted as the midwife, the mad prophet, or the reaper of the dead, depending upon her role.

Each temple has a high priest or priestess for each aspect of the faith—birth, death, and fate.

The paladin's going to represent Fate, which I'm folding Prophecy into. The player wants to follow Abadar, but each player will have strange dreams from time to time in which they witness their respective aspects of Pharasma. They'll serve to clue them into their "chosen" status, as well as give them extra motivation to follow the plot, which this AP seems to be lacking >.> The paladin's first dream will be to witness the Prophecy aspect of Pharasma whispering to Abadar in the Boneyard, and the two of them looking at him and coming to some sort of agreement as the dream ends.

Back to the witch, what about the powers of the Restoration domain and/or Resurection domains. Or adding spell(s) from those domains to her spell list.

Still not sure what patron she'll pick, but I really like this idea. A cleric domain would be along the right power level, and the player would enjoy having those abilities so I'd be avoiding pushing anything on her. I could even flavor it to tie into her familiar-turned Nosoi - It would enter the realm of death itself to bring the soul back!

Ok, I think I've come up with an answer. Since the stern midwife aspect of Pharasma is more accessible than birth, I modified the Souls subdomain a bit to invoke a sort of stern, no-nonsense "midwife of the dead" theme.

Crow - Maid of Soul

Touch the Spirit World (Su): With a touch, you can empower a weapon to affect incorporeal creatures. The weapon touched deals half damage to incorporeal creatures, or full damage if it is a magic weapon. This benefit lasts for a number of rounds equal to your level. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

Ward Against Death (Su): At 8th level, you can emit a 30-foot aura that wards against death for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. Living creatures in this area are immune to all death effects, energy drain, and effects that cause negative levels. This ward does not remove negative levels that a creature has already gained, but the negative levels have no effect while the creature is inside the warded area. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.

Domain Spells: 1st—deathwatch, 2nd—gentle repose, 3rd—speak with dead, 4th—death ward, 5th—raise dead, 6th—serenity, 7th—resurrection, 8th—power word stun, 9th—true resurrection.

The paladin's going to represent Fate, which I'm folding Prophecy into. The player wants to follow Abadar, but each player will have strange dreams from time to time in which they witness their respective aspects of Pharasma. They'll serve to clue them into their "chosen" status, as well as give them extra motivation to follow the plot, which this AP seems to be lacking >.> The paladin's first dream will be to witness the Prophecy aspect of Pharasma whispering to Abadar in the Boneyard, and the two of them looking at him and coming to some sort of agreement as the dream ends.

Sounds great! If you do type these up, post them back to the boards and I'll link them from the "DM resources" thread...

Cool stuff!

Very cool idea's.