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My players should probably stay out.
I am always watching.
So.
The long of it:
I wanted to avoid giving the players the temptation to see these guys as faceless disposable mooks, so each of them got a modicum of personality and backstory to set them apart from each other. No long backstories. On average they got about as much characterization as you would probably get from a Team Fortress 2 character. Enough personality, quirk, and history to make them endearing or irritating. The fighter actually held interviews with the rest of the party to pick the ones he wanted on his team. It was a good bit of work but rewarding.
Since then different players have sort of adopted different followers to a degree. Some of them grew through interaction with the PCs, and through the players themselves playing them in one-off games. They continued to pick up more followers, and eventually started eyeing damn near every NPC they mete as potential recruits.
The campaign started nearing a turning point, and two players said they want to take Leadership. Two weeks later after they dropped the assault charges, I want to make this good for them.
The situation is:
The fighter's cohort, a LG half-orc paladin of Iomedae, is going to be getting Leadership. The fighter's player has been wanting to do this for a while, and the window of opportunity for it to happen in a believable way is very narrow at this point. The party is going to be popping into Kaer Maga via teleport soon, where the fighter left most of his followers to set up a temporary base while they went into Super Hostile Land. If it's going to happen it has to be then. Basically, my idea is that an oracle of some sort has had a vision that various members of the faithful must gather together to follow this paladin they've never met to set off on a crusade of some sort, said crusade being the struggle the party has been embroiled in for months. Oracle person has gathered all manner of LG clerics, paladins, inquisitors, and non-divine but faithful types, from monks to rogues, to the cause, all on the belief in this person's vision.
Paladin has a pretty damn high Leadership score...
The N Shoanti human barbarian/druid who hopes to unite the Shoanti clans(or at least get them to start working together more) also wants to take Leadership. When he and the rest of the party skipped off into super hostile territory, he asked his love interest, a Shoanti barbarian that was at the time one of the fighter's followers(and soon to be barb/druid's cohort), to seek out all the Quahs and tell them that a storm was coming and that whoever was willing to unite against the common threat to their people and Varisia as a whole. So she's been running around the Storval plateau with the barb/druid's animal companion picking up what recruits she could. Basically the recruits could pull from all of the seven Quahs.
His Leadership score, not so high, but still sizable.
Basically, both of their follower groups will have to come to them before they set off for the endgame of the campaign, because they don't have time to go out and actively seek followers.
So anyway...
Anyone have any character concepts they've enjoyed they would mind sharing for use as follower/cohort types? ;)
I'm already putting together loose and fast concepts, with enough solid answers for whatever questions the players will inevitably have(I'm serious, the followers with solid stories get accepted as is, the followers with mostly blank slates get grilled during downtime). I can fill these out eventually, but you never know what sort of inspiration will come your way when you turn to the community for ideas.
So.
Anyone here play Shoanti from the plateau and/or LG devout types, or have some as followers, cohorts, NPCs, etc.?
I'm really just trying to lighten the workload so I can keep the main focus of the campaign greased and ready for the party, while keeping an eye out for neat ideas to throw at them that I otherwise wouldn't think of.
thanks btw <3
Well according to his character sheet, Kaddock here is not LG, but he's got nothing down as being not LG. Originally built as a gestalt Oracle/Fighter, his back story is that one day he woke with visions of blood and gold (accounting for his clouded vision curse) and he told the elders and they said he had to seek the source of his weird vision and undertake a quest to do something about it.
Now Kaddock is originally for the Rise of the Runelords AP but he is Shoanti. I built him as a control specialist, using Bull Rush and Surprising Charge to keep moving enemies. He uses an Earthbreaker. One of the things I envisioned for him was a strong sense of honor and a personal code that while not exactly good, was quite lawful. He would not kill a surrendered prisoner, until after he had gotten what he needed out of them, but then he would execute them humanely and swiftly. After all, out on the Storval Plateau, life is harsh and leaving an enemy to come after you and yours again is just plain stupid. However, if a legitimate authority (such as a paladin he signed on with) forbade it, he would obey.
Not sure if that's really what you are looking for, but it's what I have.
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Actually the LG Paladin could get an easier break...
Iomedae's religion work through circles (group of faithful around a more powerful priest/cleric/paladin/etc, who in turns forms part of another more powerful circle and so until the most powerful or holiest of them).. so your paladin unknowns to his player surely is part of a circle and appointed by an Oracle of his religion as Sword Knight (every one in the priesthood of Iomedae is a 'sword', 'sword knights' are leaders of their own circles, the uptmost top circle is formed by the 'sword knights' of the most powerfula and/or devoted followers of Iomedae)
In my case I have a devoted but still naive cleric who suffered a terrible injustice on her childhood (her mother was sentenced to death), and while she resent those who sentenced and killed her, she took on her father's faith and has dedicated her life stop injustices. She is not fond of orc or half-orcs, but she will serve who Iomedae tells her... but surely will have some disagreements with a half-orc leader.
a friend of mine played a Paladin, who was the uptmost "stick up the a$$", he believed that there was evil everywhere and it was his duty to fight against it, he mistreated some villagers for their cowardly, yet he was always kind to the kids, since he had been an orphan and grew in a church he has strange notions of family.
obviously if this 2 mix they strain... while the paladin pushes others to fight evil, the cleric tries to ensure HE does not commit injustice in his search for rightfulness... discussion ensures.
my 2 faithful
I really dig the Eratil longbow thing. I'm currently playing 2 in PbP. I'll post with Vaclav Rennet and Shimei aliases below.
Short versions -- Vaclav was brought up to worship Erastil rebelled, wandered, joined a merc company, had a near-death experience that turned him back to Deadeye. Still has a weakness for strong drink.
Shimei (Legacy of Fire, cleric/ranger)-- orphaned young, lives to avenge his town by killing gnolls. Doesn't even know Erastil's real name. Calls him the Bow-father.
here's Vaclav
He's going straight cleric. His story line is about redemption, and his efforts to earn it despite his imperfect nature. Most of the time he'll be the law-giver, but get a couple drinks in him and good night! The remorse the next day will be quite heartfelt.
here's Shimei. He'll probably work up 2 or 3 levels of cleric for each ranger level. I'm deliberately spiking him so that the party's main cleric can really shine as such. I look forward to role-playing Shimei's frustration as the other cleric gathers more obvious power than Shimei. "Am I not worthy? Do I not serve you as well?"
Neither Shimei nor Vaclav is an optimized build. They're both way concept driven.
...and Maelorn, from the same SD Campaign. Human, but a Priest of Torag and a student of Dwarven Customs (I chose the avatar because of the beard and the rings in it). He's LG, but without a stick up his butt, and is the sort who spends his downtime helping out the people generally ignored by most adventurers.
A Shoanti (stats, history, etc. in the profile).
Here he is at 1st level;
Kalanoq Smoke-in-the-Eyes
Human ranger 1
LG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses Perception +5 (ish, see below)
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14; (+2 Dex, +4 chain shirt)
hp 11 (1d10+1)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +1
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee greataxe +5 (1d12+6, +1 damage on first hit)
Ranged thrown bola +3 (1d6+4 +trip)
STATISTICS
Str 18, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10,
[10 + 5 + 3 + 0 + 2 + 0 = 20 (+2 Str)]
Base Atk +1; CMB +5; CMD 17
Feats Exotic Weapon Proficiency (shoanti bola) (B), Quick-Draw
Skills [7] Bluff 0 (+0, add +2 vs. humans), Climb 0 (+4), Craft (traps) 1 (+4), Handle Animal 1 (+4), Heal 0 (+1), Intimidate 0 (+0), Knowledge (dungeoneering) 0 (-), Knowledge (geography) 0 (-), Knowledge (nature) 1 (+4), Linguistics (CC) 1 (+1, Common (Taldan)), Perception 1 (+5, add +2 vs. humans), Ride 0 (+2), Sense Motive 0 (+1, add +2 vs. humans), Spellcraft 0 (-), Stealth 1 (+6), Survival 1 (+5, add +1 to follow tracks, +2 vs. humans), Swim 0 (+4)
Languages Shoanti, Common (Taldan)
Special Qualities wild empathy (1d20+1), favored enemy +2 (human)
Combat Gear chain shirt (100 gp, 25 lbs), dagger (2 gp, 2 lbs), greataxe (20 gp, 12 lbs), 2 shoanti bola (30 gp, 4 lbs); Other gear backpack (2 gp, 2 lbs), whetstone (2 cp, 1 lb)
(175 gp)
Kalanoq’s Shoanti heritage is obvious to all who see him, from his imposing size to his guttural speech to his foreign weapons. Gruesome scars covering his left side, from shoulder to chest to back, and rising up to his neck, show where tribal tattoos were burned away when he was cast from the Shundar-Quah, although only another Shoanti would be likely to recognize the significance of those scars, or to his name, ‘smoke-in-the-eyes,’ an insult indicating someone who is a fool or is deluded, whose vision has been obscured or clouded.
Fortunately, his current Sword companions care little for matters of honor or disgrace from some distant tribe they’ve never even heard of, and his uncanny tracking ability, way with animals, wilderness survival skills and unorthodox fighting style have won him much favor with his fellows, as he charges like a silent berserker into a fight with brigands, hurling his strange weapons and often causing foes to fall like wheat before the flail, only to look up in time to see his greataxe falling upon them.
While he is not himself a berserker, despite his tendency to rush headlong into danger, his own teeth are stained reddish-black from the foul-smelling Shoanti herb called ‘barbarian’s chew,’ although he does not spit it’s juices the way others do, apparently swallowing the bitter substance to avoid leaving behind a trail…
A Paladin of Iomedae (the rest don't have 1st level stat-blocks, but the backstories and themes can certainly be pillaged).
A quite different Paladin of Iomedae.
Unusual follower of Irori (Pathfinder Monk / Rogue, former Darklight Sister).
Cleric of Irori.
Not your average follower of Torag, a Ninth Legion Bard.
