PC and the Sable Company

[Karui Kage]

In my CotCT game coming up, one player has expressed interest in making a Ranger that takes the "Sable Company" feat, getting him a Hippogriff at 5th level.

Any suggestions or advice on the inevitable difficulties this will have accompanying it?

Spoiler for the rest:

Spoiler:

First off, he can take it by 4th level at the earliest. So near the end of the first module, start of the second, I think. The Sable Company doesn't get dissolved until later, what level have most had that happen?

So when he takes the feat, has anyone had a player do this, and how have they played it? The feat implies 'graduation' from the Academy, but it's not as if he's been able to participate much in it during the adventure. Maybe in the few days of off time between books?

Second, what kind of ramifications happen when the Company is dissolved? Actually, even before that, will there be a conflict of interests? Most of the 'quests' come from the Korvosan Guard, and the Seneschal is in hiding.

There's a lot to think about. Any advice is very helpful.

Thanks!

[deathboy]

Karui Kage wrote:

In my CotCT game coming up, one player has expressed interest in making a Ranger that takes the "Sable Company" feat, getting him a Hippogriff at 5th level.

Any suggestions or advice on the inevitable difficulties this will have accompanying it?

Spoiler for the rest:
** spoiler omitted **
Thanks!

I haven't started the AP as of yet but I also have a player interested in going this path as well. The thing to remember is that they can't take the feat until lvl 6. Though the player qualifies for the feat at 4th level.

As for disbanding and what not, it still doesn't mean that the group disolves, or doesn't go underground. So it may turn into a proper resistance group with benifits.

[Golbez57]

To be clear, the OTHER prerequisites for that feat, beyond Ranger levels, are what limit it to characters of 6th level and above. Also, not all Sable Company members have the feat, just the elite, as James (or maybe Mike...?) has noted elsewhere.

Spoiler:

The Sable Company is disbanded at the beginning of Pathfinder 9. If the levels of the iconics in that issue are an indication, characters should be 7th level by that point, so your player's character could have the feat and be an established member of the Sable Company by that time.

Also, while Neolandus Kalepopolus is missing, and the adventures assume that Field Marshal Cressida Kroft is the primary contact/"quest giver", you can still use Marcus Endrin in this role occasionally. He's the commander of the Sable Company. I plan to use him more than as-written, so his brutal death in PF 9 stirs more hatred for Ileosa than it might otherwise. Not all the PCs in my campaign are "save Korvosa!" by nature without some nudging, but vengeance against a wicked tyrant will motivate them through the challenges of "History of Ashes" and "Skeletons of Scarwall."

[Fletch]

I like Golbe's plan. If your game hasn't started yet, see if you can't make the Sable Company commander the primary contact. The Three Musketeers parallels are obvious and worthwhile.

[fray]

Globez: cool idea.
I've already started it, but I am going to try and use that a bit. I think it will help with motivations later.

[Terok the Sly]

The big issue with this adventure set and this feat is how difficult it will be to really utilize a hippogriff in a city setting. There is really only one adventure path so far where it will really be useful.
Its not like you can take the hippogriff into the Arkonas house...
I would be worried about the PC feeling like he wasted a feat as it will be hard to work in ways to use the Hippogriff.

[Karui Kage]

The feat should be a *little* less useless because we're using PRPG rules, and they'll have a lot more feats than normal. Still, I thought about that as well, and need to bring it up to him.

In the matter of flight, does having a hippogryph mount make things any easier at later modules? I don't think so, the one with the Shoanti and the one at Scarwell seem like it would be more convenient, but not necessarily easier.

It will be interesting to see how he takes

Spoiler:

the Sable Company's disbandment...

[roguerouge]

Karui Kage wrote:

The feat should be a *little* less useless because we're using PRPG rules, and they'll have a lot more feats than normal. Still, I thought about that as well, and need to bring it up to him.

In the matter of flight, does having a hippogryph mount make things any easier at later modules? I don't think so, the one with the Shoanti and the one at Scarwell seem like it would be more convenient, but not necessarily easier.

It will be interesting to see how he takes ** spoiler omitted **

Yes. It will make scouting easier. So he'll be able to get the lay of the land (how big the house is, where windows and doors are, guard rotations, etc.)

Spoiler:

I can think of any number of ways that having a flyer would come in handy in the Shoanti parts of the adventure, esp. given the number of people tracking the party.

[Karui Kage]

Oooh, that's a good point. I'll have to think about that.

Spoiler:

Obviously the people tracking the party would know their capabilities for the most part, especially a big hippogryph. I wonder if there's any kind of measures they can take to help shield them from above? Spells, items, anything.

[Norgerber]

And when the first big Emberstorm comes up he can assure his comrades that he will see to it that their charred and blackened remains get a proper burial as he outflies the storm. :) hehe

[Gamer Girrl]

I, too, have a player who is in the Sable Company and aiming toward a hippogriff companion.

Spoiler:

I was very glad I had the first three adventures before we began, since there will be time enough for the player to reach her goal of having her boy get his 'griff before the Company goes bye-bye ::chuckle:: I can't wait to see her reaction!

I am liking the ideas of making Endrin more visible in the early adventures, so his demise (and that of the Company) hurts all the more for all, not just the Marine. Also, I was thinking that many of the now "defunct" Marines would be adopted into the Guard, so Croft can keep them safe and keep control of the Tower and the Military Academy in her side's hands and out of the Queen's and her Maidens.

[Norgerber]

Gamer Girrl wrote:

I, too, have a player who is in the Sable Company and aiming toward a hippogriff companion. ** spoiler omitted **

I suspect the final book will give us a "State of Korvosa" including how the underground is progressing. I imagine a lot of the resistance will be ex-Sable Company Marines.

[Karui Kage]

Well, it looks like he's aiming for Scout/Ranger now, with the feat that lets you gain certain abilities while progressing strictly in either class (skirmish while taking Ranger levels, for example). He'll likely start with Scout, he sees Ranger as requiring a bit more training and wants to hold off on that until he can join the Sable Company. I said that after the group had made a name for themselves, that could likely occur around 2nd or 3rd level.

So now he's planning to take his first three levels as a Scout, and then take full Ranger levels. He will be able to take the Sable Company Marine feat at 7th level then.

Spoiler:

By 7th level, it looks like the Sable Company will be about to dissolve or just have dissolved. So that means he will have had to get his Hippogriph from likely sympathizers to the Company, maybe former members. I can see his presence in town, along with the entire group, as irking the Queen as there's still a Marine flying around town doing missions.

Looks like it will make good timing, since by the end of that adventure, around 9th-10th level, the party will be fleeing the city.

[tbug]

Sad confession: My search-fu is weak.

I know we've been given an estimate on the size of the Sable Company, but I can't find it. My next game includes a scene where there's a Company Muster that the marine PC attends, and I want to describe everyone being there.

Anyone know where I can find out about how many marines there are?

[Gamer Girrl]

tbug wrote:

Sad confession: My search-fu is weak.

I know we've been given an estimate on the size of the Sable Company, but I can't find it. My next game includes a scene where there's a Company Muster that the marine PC attends, and I want to describe everyone being there.

Anyone know where I can find out about how many marines there are?

Page 16 of the Guide to Korvosa: "Roughly 200 Sable Company marines (about two-thirds of the entire company) live and sleep within the tower"

So the full muster would be roughly 300 marines with their leaders :) Specific enough with you being able to add or subtract what you need.

[tbug]

Thanks!

[tbug]

Okay, I prepped a handout for my PC (Serai Leroung) for when she joined.

Spoiler:

When Serai was a little girl she was often found in the stables of the Great Tower, visiting the hippogriffs. She much prefered to be there than in the library, much to her family's dismay. When it became clear that she would never be an academic, her mother bought her a commision as an oberleutnant in the ground wing of the Sable Company (hoping that by keeping her out of a flight wing that she'd be safe).

Serai was often the target of the contempt of her fellow marines, even occasionally from her wing leader, Major Shalmi Kalepoplis, though in this case it was subtle and infrequent. Between having a purchased commission (rather than one that she'd earned) and her choice to be a rural ranger, Serai was considered a bit more of a mascot than a companion in arms. Through all this, however, Commandant Endrin defended her right to be there and encouraged her to follow her dreams.

When she graduated this month from the Korvosa branch of the Endrin Military Academy, the Commandant made sure that he was on hand to oversee her welcoming into a flight wing. She had to resign her commision in the ground wing, but as soon as she did she was given the rank of leutnant and assigned to Squadron Three of Wing One. Her new wing leader, Major Harinma Arionne, shook her hand and welcomed her to the team. The company's executive officer, Oberstleutnant Kalior du Moire, congratulated her on the transfer but warned her that the hard part was just beginning.

Serai's problems haven't completely disappeared. Her flight partner, Oberleutnant Minyala Hosgins, considers the Mephits to be useless aristocratic dross who leech off the city's resources. Her family has a tradition of dumping their most useless members there since there's no other use for them, and this has coloured her opinion of Serai. Hosgins's old partner, Leutnant Arklem Margor, was killed in the riots following the king's death last month, and Hosgins still mourns his death.

The other two members of Serai's squadron are Hauptmann Audrei Charthagnion (who is the squadron leader) and Leutnant Jampic Henderthane. Hauptmann Charthagnion is a pleasant woman rumoured to have made a pact with a devil to increase her fighting ability. Leutnant Henderthane is, like his partner, an urban ranger, so the pair are often assigned to Korvosan patrols rather than expeditions out of the city. Serai's addition to the squad thus raised some eyebrows, and there are rumours that Third Squadron is being groomed to establish a presence in a Korvosan city without any hippogriff marines.