Okay, players, let's get to work on character concepts and backgrounds!
Ahem, Booya!!!
Okay fellow players, first of all Hello, I'm your freindly neighbourhood Irish player, all the way from real Ireland, so you might see my times of posting as odd because I'm in Europe.
The character I propose to play is a Chelaxian sorcerer and noble of the name Kaldonis Asendror. He is in his mid-to-late twenties but already a titled patriarch of his family of one, a charming attractive man with well-kept floppy black hair and a neat goatee. He likes to wear longcoats, often green or red in colour.
He inherited his estate after his parents were killed by adventurer's in a shadow war of evil intent. Kaldonis now lives as an explorer and well-to-do nobleman, seeking advanture to redeem the name of his family and bring some light back to glorious Cheliax.
Or at least... That's what he wants you to think.
Kaldonis Asendror was born, he beleives with a ruthlessness and purpose others could only hope to possess. In his youth his older brother, the eldest in the family spurned their parents evil and scheming ways to become a crusader in far north Mendev. He left and was never again seen by the family. Kaldonis realised this placed him one step closer to the inheritance and made it his goal to take all of the steps. In his mid-teens, his sister, elder than him again, fell in love with an Andoran Pathfinder, a man who their parents forbid her to see. Kaldonis, appearing in earnest convinced his sister to chose love, and helped her flee to wed the Pathfinder, she was almost instantaneously disinherited by their parents. Leaving their only child as helpful, subserviant Kaldonis. He smiled a wide handsome smile on his twntieth birthday and began plotting to take the final step of removing his parents, as he had no aunts or uncles on either side.
He eventually fell in with adventurers arrayed against his parents plans to attack and decimate an Andoran town with summoned devils to spur a war. He gave the adventurer's all the information they needed, apparently seeking redemption for his evil family. His parents did not survive the aftermath leaving Kaldonis the sole heir of the estate, with that and the sorcerous power he had been honing for years in secret under heel, he sought what he truly desired, immortality, without selling his soul to the devils, though he'd be willing to sell or sacrifice almost anything else, he is also interested in other planar powers and paths to everlife.
Lord Kaldonis Asendror LE sorcerer (infernal bloodline)
Yeah, I made it.. :)
Okay, now for a background for my Diviner/Harrower.
I know I'm Varisian. Wealthy, supposedly from a royal family, but I think that's all in my grandmother's fantasies. Will need to work up a background for her. When I created her as a 1st level character she was mainly working as an entertainer/harrow reader. But since then she discovered she had a rather mystic connection with the cards. I also have a strange premonition ability that makes me react to things before they've completely happened. Mostly subconscious, but I'm learning to tap into it. (It's a different interpretation of the reactionary trait).
I'll roll a few dice on the character backstory generator from Hero Builder's Guidebook and see if I come up with anything more. Sometimes a character concept is based purely on a picture (the Harrower from Pathfinder Chronicles), and I just have to find a background to make it work.
Speaking for Javell DeLeon (my husband -- I can't believe we both got in!), I know he's wanting to play a monk. I think maybe a dwarf, but I'm not sure on the race. (He's at work now; will post for himself later.)
I was the cleric of Nethys or paladin of Shelyn. I'll wait and see what everyone else is playing before I decide one way or the other.
Excellent, I made it, I'm in another pbp, thanks.
I'm thinking at this point a Half-elf Rogue 8/Duelist 1.
I'll work up the details and all the crunchy bits and post them as soon as I can.
Cool! Thanks!
I was gonna go ahead with a dwarf monk but I can change if there doesn't seem to be enough fighter types. I'll work on the monk for now, but like I said, it's no problem changing.
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Nice, Heya Stardust!
OK so what do we have so Far? I'm thinking Cleric or Wizard.
Since we have a Sorceror, I'll go with a Cleric...Perhaps a Cleric of Pharasma, or Urgathoa...
Oh or I could be a Cleric/Barbarian of Rovagug!
I just noticed the other Cleric or Paladin...(prolly cleric since the Chelish Infernal Sorc)
So we're playing with PF rules? Beta and switch to Final when it hits?
What is within your concept?
Could I play an Alkenstar Sharpshooter? (Fighter/Rogue) Dwarven maybe? (Unless you have a problem with Firearms...)
I've gotten fond of the idea of a halfing paladin of Shelyn, originally from Galt but in exile in Andoran. Like her deity, she is compassionate toward those lost in evil, hoping to prompt them to reform by her own good character and tolerance rather than being a crusader. I would think she could get along with evil party members while hoping to influence them toward good, especially for the important purpose of this module, in the spirit of this post. (I wouldn't expect her to hang out with them in a tavern just for funsies, though.)
Besides, even an evil PC has to admit a paladin is a handy gal to have on your side in the Abyss, right?
I've gotten fond of the idea of a halfing paladin of Shelyn, originally from Galt but in exile in Andoran. Like her deity, she is compassionate toward those lost in evil, hoping to prompt them to reform by her own good character and tolerance rather than being a crusader. I would think she could get along with evil party members while hoping to influence them toward good, especially for the important purpose of this module, in the spirit of this post. (I wouldn't expect her to hang out with them in a tavern just for funsies, though.)
Besides, even an evil PC has to admit a paladin is a handy gal to have on your side in the Abyss, right?
Oooh.... This would work well with Zalania, whose patron is Desna. We could get together and have a shared background. She's written several books based on her divinations, but mostly just performs as a dancer and Harrow reader, especially on the fair days in Almas. I'll put something together similar to the others in a little bit here.
She eventually realized she had a special destiny, and made her way to Almas in a pilgrimage to the Golden Cathedral. It was in Almas where she eventually purchased an ancient tower, converting most of it to her focus in the magic of divination, and offered her arcane services for pay. Over time, even the People's Council learned to come to her with political concerns. Harrowings and divinations that hopefully would set aside some of the chaos of the Common Rule. It was here that Zalania developed a taste for the sometimes hot/sometimes cold machine of liberal republican governance.
The more that Zalania divined, the more bored and irritated she became with the entire system of Common Rule. It made a great deal of sense to her but there was always an inkling of something greater, something just on the verge of awareness that could transcend the political squabbling of the chaotic People's Council. She watched the stars every night, looking for signs in the heavens. She dreamed. She searched for the clerics of Desna for their visions of the Great Beyond. And she wrote. She tried to bring everything together into something that would make sense, but she barely had the capacity to understand some parts of it herself. There had to be better answers..... somewhere.
Her life as a Varisian was a carefree one. To her, freedom seemed a natural part of life. But in the cities, it seemed sometimes that the natural freedom of people was restricted. This would change. It had to.
Zalania Sapphros NG Diviner/Harrower
I may go with ranger or fighter/ranger or barbarian/ranger. I'll think on this and the monk.
So we're playing with PF rules? Beta and switch to Final when it hits?
Could I play an Alkenstar Sharpshooter? (Fighter/Rogue) Dwarven maybe? (Unless you have a problem with Firearms...)
Two answers...
1. PFRPG final rules only, let's not bother with the Beta since release date is so close. For now, work on the concept and background, but not the stats.
2. Firearms are a no go, I think they'd feel weird in an extraplanar adventure.
oooo DM Sir, did you get the new AP PDF? With the Teiflings????
I might want to play one of those...?
I could probably roll with a tiefling (especially since I shot down your sharpshooter already). But, please keep in mind we're looking for a group that will play nicely together. I know poet's sorcerer is already LE, so I'm a bit nervous about meshing him and a tiefling together with a paladin. Don't want the game to fall apart over incompatible alignment issues. (Joana's comments above notwithstanding...much appreciated madam!)
Is there a general consensus of how much money we will have for our accumulated resources. I'm dying to find out if my Eye of Calan (bonded pendant), is going to be a Necklace of thoughts and of proof against detection and scrying and eye of the dragon
- detect thoughts at will
- proof against scrying and detection
- +10 to Perception checks.
I'm thinking it might also be a gem of seeing, but I really don't want everyone knowing that thing is the source of my power.
Just some ideas.
Kaldonis is very subtle and will play along with the paladin happily, his alignment will only shine through if he catches whiff of some path to immortality, even then he's likely to spin it in a positive light. His aim is to never be disruptive or even recognisable as evil.
Keep that in mind in my RPing.
Though, I can always make another character if your not cool with an Evil character, totally your decision.
It's good that in the new PFRPG, a paladin can work with evil characters - the code's been loosened up quite a bit - if allied to fight a "greater evil", which I'm sure will be everything else we'll be fighting. I doubt that the paladin will be able to determine much about your evilness anyway, unless she consults with me, and I will heavily overcharge. :)
The paladin in question has had a very heavy dose of reality. After all, the chaos that engulfed her home arose from what ought to have been a paladin-endorsed move -- Galt's rebellion against the diabolists of Cheliax. She is very well aware that the destruction of evil is not the same thing as the establishment of good and that indiscriminate crusades against wrong can lead to even worse consequences if not properly thought through. She shouldn't have a problem with the sorceror; she saves her smiting for unambiguous evils with no chance of reformation -- outsiders and the undead.
Hope to have her bio up later tonight.
So if you were using the Book of Divine Might's numeric alignment system, you'd be like a L(2)G(4 or 5) Paladin...
Yeah, it's not like she's a paladin of Iomedae or something, running off all militant. Just as Shelyn grieves for Zon-Kuthon and holds out hope of his reformation, her heart is heavy for the evil she sees in the world without feeling that Golarion would be better off if she just smote everyone.
Plus, her experiences in Galt and Andoran have persuaded her that the rights of individuals to choose their own paths lead to less misery than the imposition of heavy-handed top-down reform. She has a very strong sense of personal honor and virtue, but she doesn't think it's her place to force anyone to follow her example. After all, she is mortal and fallible; she might end up no better than the successive revolutionary councils destroying her homeland.
So if you were using the Book of Divine Might's numeric alignment system, you'd be like a L(2)G(4 or 5) Paladin...Yeah, it's not like she's a paladin of Iomedae or something, running off all militant. Just as Shelyn grieves for Zon-Kuthon and holds out hope of his reformation, her heart is heavy for the evil she sees in the world without feeling that Golarion would be better off if she just smote everyone.
Plus, her experiences in Galt and Andoran have persuaded her that the rights of individuals to choose their own paths lead to less misery than the imposition of heavy-handed top-down reform. She has a very strong sense of personal honor and virtue, but she doesn't think it's her place to force anyone to follow her example. After all, she is mortal and fallible; she might end up no better than the successive revolutionary councils destroying her homeland.
I think I love her already!!! And Kaldanis loves a good-guy!
This will be interesting, really....
A paladin of a Chaotic deity. I guess as long as they share the good alignment, we're all on the same side. :P
You law-lovers, you. :P
Shelyn is NG, so it's not quite as much as a leap as a Desnan or Cailean paladin.
Dwarf monk. Will have background at a later date. LN or LG. Not sure which at this point. Tending towards good though.
Going to be an interesting party I'm thinking. ;)
Well here is the background that I have so far:
Armorneus "Morn" Lithdiir
Male Half-elf Rogue 8/Duelist 1
Background:
Morn’s parents were killed in a shipwreck while travelling to the western coasts of Varisia when he was but a lad. He was snatched from the sea by some of the sailors on the ship, but his parents were never found. With the help of his rescuers he was able to get work as a cabin boy on a ship, the Sea Pixie.
While serving onboard the Sea Pixie, Morn was taught to fight and sail, when he wasn’t performing his duties to the captain of the Sea Pixie. After several years serving on the Sea Pixie, the ship and crew were in Riddleport and Morn decided to take his earnings and stay in Riddleport.
Morn found after a time that few of the skills that he learned onboard ship did him any good on land. Soon his money gone, he had to turn to more nefarious pursuits to be able to survive. Still when he had money, he paid his own way, but when he didn’t he did what he had to do to survive. He learned the ways of living in the streets of Riddleport. Morn, learned to be a bit of a trickster, and eventually meshed his sailing skills with those of living on the streets by his wits.
Morn then took up travelling the world in search of adventure and wealth. Travelling both by sea and by land, he found that there were not many places in the world that he could not go and see.
Eventually he became a member of the Pathfinder Society in Magnimar. He has travelled the world for the society searching for lost knowledge and relics, using his unique skills to aid him in these quests.
Morn is over 6 foot tall with tan skin from his constant traveling. He has blue grey eyes and long red hair, unusual for a half-elf, which is tied in a pony-tail using a series of colored strips of cloth. As a traveler, when he has a mind to worship a deity, he reveres Abadar.
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Or...Would you object to a Kobold or Lizardfolk Cleric of Apsus?
I'm so confused...What's this adventure going to entail, other than being planar?
If he's a kobold, could he have the kobold throwback breath weapon to bring him in line with a normal human power wise? (from uh, the kobold trilogy I think...or was it in the PFCS?)
Adele's bio:
It was a time of great hope in Galt, the empire of the diabolists shaken off and the excesses of the revolution not yet apparent. Adele's grandfather, in particular, was overjoyed about Galt's independence from Cheliax, where so many halflings were enslaved. She spent a great deal of time with her grandfather, learning not only gardening but folk songs and dances of their homeland. Claude was immensely proud of his country's heritage and of the beauty of its capital city, the history of each building, statue, and park he detailed to his granddaughter as they walked its streets.
Sadly, however, the chaotic and bloodthirsty nature of the leaders of the revolution soon became apparent, and the proud spring in Claude's step became a perplexed grimace on his face. The necks which fed the final blade Madame Margaery changed from those of the corrupt and oppressive nobility to those of innocent citizens who had gotten on the bad side of the revolutionary council -- or whose death would fill their pockets. The public art of Isarn fell victim to neglect or to vandals. Claude Dujardin struggled alone to keep his park well-tended and free of vagrants, but increasingly he found himself at war against hungry squatters and mobs of violent radicals intent on the destruction of artifacts of Galt past as symbols of their former oppressors.
When at last the Grey Gardeners came for Claude Dujardin, guilty of sympathy toward and collaboration with forces of oppression, it was not a surprise. There were citizens enough left in Isarn who harbored affection for the dedicated old halfling that he was repeatedly warned to flee, but he refused to abandon the parks that his forefathers had tended for so long. His son and daughter-in-law bundled up Adele and fled across the border into exile, one of the last groups to make it through before Andoran soldiers began to deny entrance. Claude Dujardin's soul was imprisoned in the blade Madame Margaery before the forbidding black obelisk of the Monolith in his beloved Isarn.
Adele, confused and heartbroken, traveled with her parents to the city of Almas in Andoran, where they made their new home. The little halfling girl, however, felt that Almas never measured up to the beauty of Isarn, which grew more exaggerated in her mind as she remembered her grandfather's stories. She venerated her heritage and her homeland as it once was, following her grandfather in his devotion to Shelyn, goddess of beauty and art. As well, she identified with her deity's sorrow over the loss of her brother and took hope from Shelyn's unending optimism and embrace of life and love in the face of adverse circumstances. As she came of age, it was a seamless transition to devote her life to Shelyn's service.
While Adele has grown to love her adopted home of Andoran and has performed many tasks to help and defend its people, she has never let go of her hope of seeing Galt return to the beauty and order it once knew. Her deepest and most constant sorrow is that her beloved grandfather's soul is not free to enjoy the beauties of Shelyn's realm -- that a soul of such culture and love of beauty is trapped in an instrument of mindless violence. Although she has heard rumors that it is possible to bribe a Gray Gardener to release a particular soul, she feels that it would be selfish to assuage her own grief while allowing others to continue to suffer. Her ultimate hope is to release every soul from imprisonment to final blades -- to allow each to find its own way to the reward or punishment it deserves. In pursuit of this goal, Adele has forged a close association with the church of Pharasma in researching the destiny of the soul after death.
I put her in Almas so that she and Zalania can already know each other. She went for the Harrow readings and stayed for the friendship!
I'm also considering giving her some levels of bard, as might be indicated in her backstory, but I'll have to wait on the final rules to work that out exactly.
Is there a general consensus of how much money we will have for our accumulated resources.
We'll stick to whatever the core rulebook recommends for starting character wealth at 9th level. For the Beta, that was 46,000 gp. So that's probably a good ballpark figure to think about.
Going to be an interesting party I'm thinking. ;)
Absolutely! I'm really pleased with how the characters are shaping up, with thought going into the their personalities and how they will relate to one another. I'm thinking I should require backgrounds before stats in my other game I'm starting too, this is going so well. :)
Xayden Xailean the Wanderer
Gnomish Cleric of Cayden Cailean 9
I'll have more info when I get back from the store and have a chance to write some background.
Xaaon, I like this idea more than that of a kobold or lizardfolk. I've never been a great fan of monstrous PC races. Tiefling is about as far as I'd go.
Besides, I think a gnomish devotee of Cayden Cailean would be an absolute riot!
So, I'm trying to analyze how well the party is balanced. You'll definitely have to rely a lot on Joana's paladin to do most of the heavy lifting, but she should be well supported by the more mobile monk and rogue. And, Xaaon's cleric may also be able to hold his own in a straight-up melee depending on how he's constructed. I think you'll be fine.
Yessir!!
Except that those two most Melee characters are Small!!!
We have a gnome cleric (Cayden Cailean), a halfling paladin (Shelyn), and elf rogue/duelist, a dwarven monk (Ouat?), a Varisian diviner/harrower and myself a Chelaxian sorcerer (Infernal).
Of course I can probably summon or dominate some extra muscle as required, and will pick spells that allow me to do so.
Don't forget our half elf rogue.
It basically means the first line is shorter than the second. We'd look great in portraits. Maybe we can even get a bonus for firing weapons or throwing daggers over their heads to prevent from hitting them in combat. (Sorry, I didn't get precise shot.) Well, maybe I can still get that. I actually went the Combat Expertise route, so I'm not too bad in melee combat. I can defend myself. Nah, let the little people go ahead.
I'll be in the back with my wand of magic missiles Pew! Pew!
Speaking of portraits, we should definitely get one from those artists that keep hawking their wares on the boards. :)
Speaking of portraits, we should definitely get one from those artists that keep hawking their wares on the boards. :)
That would be awesome! Hopefully, the thought of this end result will inspire all of you to write incredibly detailed physical descriptions for your PCs. :)
Unless I'm the one doing the art...since I've recently started doing art on there as well...Well I took the oldest commission but haven't uploaded the inkwork I've done so far, and I recently bought a graphic tablet to help with my photoshopping of the inkwork...it's so fun...
I say go for it, Xaaon!
Everyone, I want to let you know that the game will pick up in the city of Westcrown, in Cheliax. So, please include in your backgrounds a reason to be there. Thanks!
Will do, I usually write more complex backgrounds once I have cemented out my meta-mechanics...where/how I got magic items/ etc. it's a pretty organic creation.
Everyone, I want to let you know that the game will pick up in the city of Westcrown, in Cheliax. So, please include in your backgrounds a reason to be there. Thanks!
I think 3/4 of us were in Andoran, but okay. Westcrown works too.
I'll read through the Westcrown info in and figure out a reason to be there...
Westcrown is right up the coast from Almas. Maybe Adele periodically goes there when she's scraped together enough gold to buy halfling slaves and bring them back to Andoran and freedom? Zalania could come along for the ride.
EDIT: Xaaon, where's the Westcrown material you're talking about? Bastards of Erebus? (I don't have my PDFs yet.)
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Westcrown is right up the coast from Almas. Maybe Adele periodically goes there when she's scraped together enough gold to buy halfling slaves and bring them back to Andoran and freedom? Zalania could come along for the ride.
EDIT: Xaaon, where's the Westcrown material you're talking about? Bastards of Erebus? (I don't have my PDFs yet.)
Yeah, in AP25. wow, can you believe they're on #25 now...crazy...
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Westcrown is right up the coast from Almas. Maybe Adele periodically goes there when she's scraped together enough gold to buy halfling slaves and bring them back to Andoran and freedom? Zalania could come along for the ride.
EDIT: Xaaon, where's the Westcrown material you're talking about? Bastards of Erebus? (I don't have my PDFs yet.)
Hmmmm...maybe Xayden was a gnome slave you freed, one of the first slaves you freed...that's why he was drawn toward the worship of Cayden...
Westcrown is right up the coast from Almas. Maybe Adele periodically goes there when she's scraped together enough gold to buy halfling slaves and bring them back to Andoran and freedom? Zalania could come along for the ride.
EDIT: Xaaon, where's the Westcrown material you're talking about? Bastards of Erebus? (I don't have my PDFs yet.)
Alright, but I may be in Westcrown for an entirely different reason than most people think.... Mwhahaha. (I happen to like my job as a diviner for the rich, famous, and politically astute of Andoran.)
But my divinations are incomplete, sometimes. And I have to find the right information to fill in the gaps. The Clerics of Desna can only provide so much. So, it's off to the diabolists (or maybe one in particular, my lord?) to see if I can get devils to tell me the rest of the information. I won't make any pacts or anything, but I'll pay what I can.
I seem to have developed a rather strange addiction to gathering information. Information that will lead to the perfect freedom of man. (Golden Anarchy).
So... can I do all that with a Neutral Good alignment. I think so. As my intentions are definitely noble. I seem to be at some odd crossroads of Law and Chaos.