I am starting Serpent's Skull next week and I am way too excited. I've been the primary GM for the last three years, so... yeah.
Here is my PC. Please forgive the formatting, Google seems to strip out all of my perfect statblock layout when I publish the site *shakefist*
I modeled him after Dr. David Livingstone, who managed a middle passage across Africa through a combination of physical endurance and non-threatening demeanor.*
*If that's historically inaccurate, leave me in ignorance. I much prefer the version in my head.
So yeah. What do you think? How screwed am I (without recourse to spoilers)?
PS — PCs get +6 HP at 1st, that's a houserule.
Get a chain shirt. You can wear it under clothing, so it doesn't need to effect the character's look at all, and it will make you vastly more likely to survive.
Also, what is it with Gnome Archivist Bards in Serpent's Skull? This is at least the third I've heard of.
Weird. I've got a half-elf archivist bard in the Serpent's Skull campaign that I'm running.
Looks like a fun character, and without risking spoilers, I can already think of several instances where he'll be very useful.
I probably will grab a chain shirt at some point when I can afford one. In the mean time, the plan is to just stay out of combat as best I can. I don't even have a touch attack, much less a melee weapon to employ, so it's withdraw actions for me!
I'm hoping that my 22 hp at level one will serve as armor, more or less.
Also, what is it with Gnome Archivist Bards in Serpent's Skull? This is at least the third I've heard of.
I dunno. Gnomes are on the short list of races with a good reason to go into the jungle, and the archivist is an awesome excuse to bust out your best David Attenborough voice.
Your biggest weakness is obviously CMD... But its so low that using feats to shore it up would be meaningless. The 6 extra HP some kind of house rule I take it?
Yep. We adopted the "Flat 6" HP variant from Pathfinder's beta playtest. However, even if you account for the +6 HP, Longacre still has more HP than anyone in the party; a fact that I find completely hysterical.
But "tough" is a word that certainly describes his inspiration, Dr. Livingstone. Endurance and Great Fortitude are likely in the future, maybe Die Hard.
CMD; I guess I'm just planning on using Escape Artist to compensate. That won't help against a lot of maneuvers, but really, how resistant should a 2ft-tall gnome gentleman be to a bullrush?
Also, thanks for the feedback. I think my boys are getting tired of hearing me talk about him.
And yes, I fashioned that ridiculous picture of him...
If a character like that works for your group, you would know better than us.
I would as your DM:
first I wouldn't allow a character with 2 stats in the negatives, let alone have a character with a 4 in a stat.
I would make sure you are keeping precise accounting of weight.
As a player I wouldn't want to go anywheres with a person that can't pull his own weight.
If a character like that works for your group, you would know better than us.
I would as your DM:
first I wouldn't allow a character with 2 stats in the negatives, let alone have a character with a 4 in a stat.
I would make sure you are keeping precise accounting of weight.As a player I wouldn't want to go anywheres with a person that can't pull his own weight.
Hmm. Are you suggesting this character can't pull his own weight? I personally thought that as a battlefield controller he's a bit over-the-top!
My GM doesn't mind the low stats. They're as much for RP as they are for anything. The 4 str comes from Gnome + Age, so yes it isn't ordinarily possible. We wanted this character to be Yoda-like.
I will be keeping neurotic track of my weight, actually. I have a medium load at ten pounds. Presently I'm carrying 9 pounds of stuff and I have a hired porter hauling the rest of my gear. Hope he survives!
Here is a link to a better layout.
Mwahahaha! This guy is Dinner! Serpent's skull (especially the first module) is deadly enough! Hope you have a back up PC! mwahahaha.
Seriously tho, we started with a party of 5 dwarves (a ranger, a zen archer, a druid, an alchemist, and a paladin) they all had good combat ability and survivability and THEY GOT TOASTED.
2 feet tall? 4 strength? I think a wild pygmy gopher might take him out!
Out of the original party only the Ranger and the druid( who was reincarnated into a half elf) are original PCs.
I have heard from alot of other groups about similar experiences.
If going into this again from level one. I think I'd want to play a Barbarian or maybe a Gunslinger, with the other character build as the back up.
Prepare to be wild animal food with that gnome!
Mwahahaha! This guy is Dinner! Serpent's skull (especially the first module) is deadly enough! Hope you have a back up PC! mwahahaha.
Seriously tho, we started with a party of 5 dwarves (a ranger, a zen archer, a druid, an alchemist, and a paladin) they all had good combat ability and survivability and THEY GOT TOASTED.
2 feet tall? 4 strength? I think a wild pygmy gopher might take him out!
Out of the original party only the Ranger and the druid( who was reincarnated into a half elf) are original PCs.I have heard from alot of other groups about similar experiences.
If going into this again from level one. I think I'd want to play a Barbarian or maybe a Gunslinger, with the other character build as the back up.
Prepare to be wild animal food with that gnome!
Sounds alright to me. :)
I plan on dominating a dinosaur at some point, and hiding behind that.
But yeah, I'm certainly not planning on fighting anything. My word no.
That is if you get a CHOICE of fighting anything or not. That archivist needs to be Indiana Jones! NOT his Grandmother!
We've talked about once we finish this AP, trying to do the first one again with just 10 point character builds. Kinda like Joe vs. the Island.
Even with some meta gaming (knowing what is coming) it's going to be tough with the light builds.
We've discussed a Barbarian, Cleric, Witch and Zen Archer as the "Survival Team".
Im thinking I might want a half orc barbarian just because of the orc ferocity. but human get the extra feat, and I might want to take toughness and endurance (hoping to live long enough to get diehard) as feats.
been thinking of:
Str 13
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 8
Wis 12
Chr 10
for the Human barbarian and pumping the Con +2, which would give me 18 hps if I took toughness.
Can't decide if I want Bastard Sword or endurance as the other feat.
Auto stabilize at level three with Die hard would be nice, but the extra damage out of the bastard sword would be too.
(we house rule no two handing one handed weapons... so you have to have weapons that specifically allow two hands to get the two handed 1.5 str out of it, like bastard sword, dwarf axe, or specific two handers like great sword...)
been thinking of leather studded, heavy shield and bastard sword to give some some combat versatility (more AC or more damage),
But as you see, having already been through the island once... This is what Im trying to build, and not so sure I can make it through.
Maybe you can pseudospoiler it for me then; will there be a lot of critters immune to mind-affecting effects? At present, that is what threatens to make me truly useless for some encounters!
I think he looks like a ton of fun! IF the party would be defeated by sentient beings, aka not hungry monsters, I could so see this guy passing gnomish science off as god-like magic.
I like the full body picture better in the first layout. It makes me think of Dr. Summerlee (Michael Sinelnikoff) from "The Lost World" TV series.
Our group should be starting this near the end of the year(currently in RotRL), I'm excited as well. I've been thinking of something more savage halfling (Tarzan-like), but not settled on a concept yet.
Hmm. Are you suggesting this character can't pull his own weight? I personally thought that as a battlefield controller he's a bit over-the-top!
Sorry I do not see much battlefield control, but I have no idea how your group plays.
Depending on how your group worked it out with you being so small even for a gnome, you will have a very hard time even standing up.
My GM doesn't mind the low stats. They're as much for RP as they are for anything. The 4 str comes from Gnome + Age, so yes it isn't ordinarily possible. We wanted this character to be Yoda-like.
How does a low stat make you RP? I understand it some I guess, my first character in this AP was a fighter with no ranks in climb, when it became an issue, I after a slight pause said he was afraid of heights.
I will be keeping neurotic track of my weight, actually. I have a medium load at ten pounds. Presently I'm carrying 9 pounds of stuff and I have a hired porter hauling the rest of my gear. Hope he survives!
What if he doesn't?
Sounds alright to me. :)I plan on dominating a dinosaur at some point, and hiding behind that.
But yeah, I'm certainly not planning on fighting anything. My word no.
Then why are you adventuring for?
The first module is difficult, if someone is not pulling their weight, it can lead to difficulties.Just to make it clear, if your group is used to characters in this vein more power to yas.
I like your idea here, but I think the specifics leave a lot to be desired. How well you'll fare depends a lot on your group. If they're willing to be meat shields to protect you and your hireling throughout the adventure, you have the ability to enable them to be much more effective.
The 4 str is not something I would personally allow as a GM. Yes, it's reduced by age and being a gnome, but it still started as a 7 before that. This is in addition to a starting 7 wis as well before aging, which just seems like bad form to me. Despite your high con, it still makes you far too susceptible to one bad save taking you completely out of the game. If there's anything that adds a little strength damage to you, you're pretty much toast.
You're also too weak to really even consider wearing better armor, as a chain shirt by itself weighs 12.5 lbs for a small character, which gives you a medium load alone. If you think a 12 AC will get you far as you continue to adventure, well... good luck.
As you're exploring the jungle, what do you expect to be able to contribute? You're weak and slow, so much that you need a hireling to haul your gear along. If your hireling eats it (jungleish things like hostile natives, wild animals, poisonous plants, diseases, etc. could all easily do it), do you expect the rest of the party to become your pack beasts?
There are certainly some encounters against creatures immune to mind-affecting effects, and it wouldn't take a lot to render your character a liability. Your only option for those fights is to use bardic performance to help your allies. Since you've given up inspire courage for naturalist, what happens when you encounter a monster that you don't have the appropriate knowledge skill for (say, undead)? Your only option left is really to hide and hope for the best, which means yes, you wouldn't be pulling your weight.
Given the right party expectations the other players might be okay with this, because you will do quite well in other situations, but will it be enough to keep you alive and not resented?
Incidentally, how do you plan on dominating a dinosaur? Dominate Animal is a druid only spell, and only lasts 1 round per level.
EDIT: Also out of curiosity, what skills does Perform (gesticulate) give you for Versatile Performance? I'm assuming Perform (lecture) is based on oratory.
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Also out of curiosity, what skills does Perform (gesticulate) give you for Versatile Performance? I'm assuming Perform (lecture) is based on oratory
Archivist bards don't get versatile performance, so it doesn't really matter.
Another concern you (the OP) should have about the 4 strength is poison. There are a lot of poisonous creatures in SS, a good proportion of which do strength damage.
And wow, if you ever fight shadows, you are one dead gnome.
If you don't intend to do any "attack roll" style fighting (just control/support) I'd be concerned about running out of spells/performance at low levels. There are some ealry situations which can easily turn into long "grind-like" slugfests.
That having been said, there are a lot of knowledge checks to be made in this AP, and archivist is an awesome choice there.
Also out of curiosity, what skills does Perform (gesticulate) give you for Versatile Performance? I'm assuming Perform (lecture) is based on oratoryArchivist bards don't get versatile performance, so it doesn't really matter.
Good point! Missed that part of the archetype.
The hireling exists mainly to haul the load of stuff I bought that is "expeditionary" in nature — like the big tent. If there is a camp made, he will be staying there. I expect he very well might die at some point, I'm not too worried about that.
I am going to rely heavily on naturalist, and I will be able to take 20 on knowledge checks once per day or more, so if something is really giving me trouble I'll whip that out.
Yes, poison scares the heck out of me right now. I will be jacking up my fort save as much as gnomishly possible as time progresses. Excellent point there.
AC I plan to augment as soon as I can get better armor that is light enough. 12 should be fine for now. The party is large, and has a lot of front-line pets and the like. My plan is to make myself a low-priority target by being small, probably hiding a fair amount of the time, and not busting out spells until I know they are necessary.
For completeness sake, the rest of the party is: Hound Master Cavalier, Summoner, Monk, Cleric(Cayden). The eidolon and the hound are going to be doing a lot of fighting, it appears, while the cleric, cavalier and my gnome buff everyone into the stratosphere.
We are not really optimizers, can you tell?
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Heh.
The issue to me Lincoln, is once you have Naturalist up your essentially relying purely on your Bard spells to pull your weight in combat- don't get me wrong, the Bard is actually my favourite class; but he IS a second rate caster to the big boys.
I love the concept... but I do think if your going to be so spell dependent you should be a Lore or Nature Oracle; and handily, the charisma will make low dexterity much less of an issue for you than it is now.
Good point! Missed that part of the archetype.Also out of curiosity, what skills does Perform (gesticulate) give you for Versatile Performance? I'm assuming Perform (lecture) is based on oratoryArchivist bards don't get versatile performance, so it doesn't really matter.
There's a modified class ability table for the archivist on my sheet under the footnote at the top of the statblock.
I should also mention, I really, really hate bards and bardic music in particular. This character is sort of an experiment in just how non-bardic I can make the bard through use of archetypes.
I wanted to use the bardic music mechanic in a way that doesn't involve music or dancing at all. I really love the idea of a very knowledgeable professor shouting advice to the other PCs: "Hit him in the eyes, it's the only unarmored part of his anatomy! No, no, those are the false eyes, go lower!"
Heh.
The issue to me Lincoln, is once you have Naturalist up your essentially relying purely on your Bard spells to pull your weight in combat- don't get me wrong, the Bard is actually my favourite class; but he IS a second rate caster to the big boys.
I love the concept... but I do think if your going to be so spell dependent you should be a Lore or Nature Oracle; and handily, the charisma will make low dexterity much less of an issue for you than it is now.
Hm. Yes.
I have the same concern really. I basically sacrificed the "functional in melee" part of bard and got nothing in return.
The problem is, I really like the way his bardic stuff turned out. it's the perfect flavor for the character!
Nothing left to do now but plug the holes and see if it floats...
Is it worth spending feats to fix the Str-poison problem? I was probably going to go with Great Fortitude for purely thematic reasons, but now I realize it might be more necessary than that.
But then... Harmonic Spell. Spell Focus(Enchantment).
For those of you analyzing the class, also bear in mind that I know my GM and he will probably be very permissive when it comes to manipulating NPCS, be it through magic or skills. We don't have an adversarial playing style, so he'll probably make life easy for me if it doesn't break the game outright.
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Have you read the Player's Guide for this AP ? It gives many good pieces of advice for all classes.
You have far too many Mind-Affecting spells IMO. In any AP, it will put you at a disadvantage as soon as you meet undead, constructs, plants ..., or anything with a good Will save.
In Serpent's Skull, the disadvantage is even worse (according to the PG).
Grease should help you there. I think you can get further good ideas from Treantmonk's guide to Bards.
I am starting Serpent's Skull next week and I am way too excited. I've been the primary GM for the last three years, so... yeah.
Here is my PC. Please forgive the formatting, Google seems to strip out all of my perfect statblock layout when I publish the site *shakefist*
I modeled him after Dr. David Livingstone, who managed a middle passage across Africa through a combination of physical endurance and non-threatening demeanor.*
*If that's historically inaccurate, leave me in ignorance. I much prefer the version in my head.
So yeah. What do you think? How screwed am I (without recourse to spoilers)?
PS — PCs get +6 HP at 1st, that's a houserule.
I think this guy is awesome. He will be an absolute blast to play (the most important thing), and I think you'll find him contributing more than most people think. The information alone will be invaluable.
Not everyone has to contribute in combat with... combat. I'm betting there will be people to do that. He has his weaknesses and that's great.
I love your fluff changes for the bardic song. I also like how you use you HP's as abalative armor (i've done that myself a time or too).
I'll give this guy the biggest compliment I can give, he doesn't look like any other character I've seen.
The Black Raven, Cainus, thanks for the feedback.
Session one has already happened, so I'm locked in for good or ill. Of course I'm going to take grease, that spell is great! So maybe I'll be okay.
I'll give this guy the biggest compliment I can give, he doesn't look like any other character I've seen.
Wow, thanks! That is high praise for me.
campaign spoilers now
So, during the first session, I was forced to hang back at the top of the cliff top because of my pathetic climbing skill. It was alright though, we don't mind splitting the party when it makes sense to do so, and I wasn't the only coward.
Other than that though, it was a blast, I made a lot of insights with rolls and roleplaying amongst the NPC castaways. And I also found out that my Sean Connery impression is not as bad as I thought (still bad though).