Getting ready to start the first module, and here is the party's roster so far.
- Luna "Alley" Redclaw, catfolk gunslinger (kidnapped from Garund as a kitten and raised by a dwarven gunslinging pirate)
- Morgan Adams, half-elf rogue (who wants to mutliclass into fighter and eventually go red mantis assassin)
- "Fish," tengu bard (named thusly for his gluttonous attitude towards fish)
- Fire-Eye Sang, vanara monk (pirated a path all the way from Vudra to Rampore to Port Peril; wears false eye patch and plays pranks)
So we've covered the tiger, mantis, crane, and baboon from Kung Fu Panda...
*twitch*
And I may have a 5th-player coming in as well. 10cp says he'll end up playing a Vishkanya and I'm going to be stuck with the Furious Five.
What I want to know is how the pirates are going to respond to such characters? Will it be hostility, curiosity, fear, indifference?
Tengu I know are fairly common in the Shackles, and are even considered good luck to have on ships by the more superstitious pirates, but what of the rest?
Thanks to other forum threads, I've discovered that catfolk and vanara hail from Garund and Vudra to the far south, respectively, and that Vudran pirates are sometimes seen in Rampore--so the Vanara might not be too much of an oddity.
In addition to determining the pirates' attitudes towards such characters, I would like help coming up with nicknames, insults, and gags that a pirate might impose upon such a character. I'm hoping it will help bring more life to the upcoming game.
I get the immpression that the Shackles and the people of it are pretty welcome to all races (or are at least willing give everyone an equal chance).
My own group's got a PC that's not even from Golarion. Nobody even bats an eye.
Yeah, I think the only issue you'll come across is that the exotic races go for a bit more when selling them into slavery. At least, that's how I picture the Shackle Pirates thinking of it. :P
RD, I'm curious:
Did they do this intentionally or did they just happen to make the combo?
I don't believe so. They all made their characters independently of one another.
I think maybe they are just getting excited about the new Races book coming out, and are still excited over the new races that came out in the relatively recent Bestiary III (this is the first new game we've had since its release, and some have been eager to try out the new bloods for a long time).
I've never really understood the 'menagerie' mindset. Is it really that impossible to make interesting characters with compelling backstories, personality quirks and effective abilities out of humans, dwarves and elves?
I'm all for having someone in your party who is off the beaten path, but when your party looks more like a circus come to town rather than a group of adventurers I'd think it would hinder role-play more than help it.
This isn't directed towards anyone personally, I'm just glad I don't have to deal with parties made up of half-dragon/half-drow gunslingers and beholderkin alchemists from space. Good role-players could make a group of everyday humans just as interesting without becoming a sideshow. I feel like a lot of us end up using bizarre and exotic races as a role-playing or min/maxing crutch when we don't need to.
End of rant. Sorry if I offended.
I've never really understood the 'menagerie' mindset. Is it really that impossible to make interesting characters with compelling backstories, personality quirks and effective abilities out of humans, dwarves and elves?
I'm all for having someone in your party who is off the beaten path, but when your party looks more like a circus come to town rather than a group of adventurers I'd think it would hinder role-play more than help it.
This isn't directed towards anyone personally, I'm just glad I don't have to deal with parties made up of half-dragon/half-drow gunslingers and beholderkin alchemists from space. Good role-players could make a group of everyday humans just as interesting without becoming a sideshow. I feel like a lot of us end up using bizarre and exotic races as a role-playing or min/maxing crutch when we don't need to.
End of rant. Sorry if I offended.
Some people want to change things up.
Yes I can make plenty of different, diverse humans, but I personally know that they're all humans. If I do that, I feel like I'm wasting all the potential available to me of the other races. (And wanting to play as a non-core race certainly isn't a sign of lack of roleplaying ability, or of an uninteresting character, which is what it sounds like you're suggesting)
Certainly we don't need different races, but some people want them.
I've never really understood the 'menagerie' mindset. Is it really that impossible to make interesting characters with compelling backstories, personality quirks and effective abilities out of humans, dwarves and elves?
I'm all for having someone in your party who is off the beaten path, but when your party looks more like a circus come to town rather than a group of adventurers I'd think it would hinder role-play more than help it.
This isn't directed towards anyone personally, I'm just glad I don't have to deal with parties made up of half-dragon/half-drow gunslingers and beholderkin alchemists from space. Good role-players could make a group of everyday humans just as interesting without becoming a sideshow. I feel like a lot of us end up using bizarre and exotic races as a role-playing or min/maxing crutch when we don't need to.
End of rant. Sorry if I offended.
Some people want to change things up.
Yes I can make plenty of different, diverse humans, but I personally know that they're all humans. If I do that, I feel like I'm wasting all the potential available to me of the other races. (And wanting to play as a non-core race certainly isn't a sign of lack of roleplaying ability, or of an uninteresting character, which is what it sounds like you're suggesting)
Certainly we don't need different races, but some people want them.
Oh, I totally get that. And I'm not knocking any individual choice to play any sort of character... I just like relatively realistic party's, you know, groups that actually have a reason to be together. I remember a group I knew once that consisted of the young daughter of a knight striving to live up to her murdered father's legend (human Paladin), her father's former stablemaster and huntsman (human Ranger), her tutor and advisor (human Mystic Theurge) and a rakish boy whom they had adopted in their wanderings (we used the halfling racial stats for him and made him a rogue). It seemed an ideal party that might set out on adventures together, sharing a common bond and a common goal - that of restoring the family name and influence.
On the flip side, when I see a tengu, a half-dragon, a changling and thing from another world that glows, well I feel like I'm watching an MMO unfold, or some sort of half-assed super-hero group perhaps. Again, that's just me - as I said, I completely understand an individual player wanting to explore his options, but an entire party of completely random exotic and bizarre creatures just seems... forced.
I've never really understood the 'menagerie' mindset. Is it really that impossible to make interesting characters with compelling backstories, personality quirks and effective abilities out of humans, dwarves and elves?
If you weren't going to rant, I was going to. I've quietly tiptoed away from many a PbP recruitment thread, just for this reason.
I wonder if the people playing the half-naga whatevers are the same naysayers that insist that "elves are awful, are devoid of depth and must adhere to this rigid stereotype that nobody wants to play." in the race threads?
I don't envy you, Ravingdork. I've met plenty of people who'd want to play in a group like that, but noone that'd want to GM it. (Though I can imagine it'd be an incredible pick for that Ruby Phoenix Tournament module... hrm...)
Oh, I totally get that. And I'm not knocking any individual choice to play any sort of character... I just like relatively realistic party's, you know, groups that actually have a reason to be together. I remember a group I knew once that consisted of the young daughter of a knight striving to live up to her murdered father's legend (human Paladin), her father's former stablemaster and huntsman (human Ranger), her tutor and advisor (human Mystic Theurge) and a rakish boy whom they had adopted in their wanderings (we used the halfling racial stats for him and made him a rogue). It seemed an ideal...
That's fair. Though I would point out that it's no less difficult for a tengu, or whatever else, to have a good, compelling reason to be with a group and adventuring than it is for a dwarf, or an elf, or a human.
In the style of your example for example, I've seen a group consisting of the sole suli member of a human family (went on the adventure out of a big brother complex, to protect his sister), his sister (human), a friend of theirs (she had a crush on the sister; oread), and the student of their NPC patron (gnome).
...There was also a dwarf, but I don't remember if he had much reason to be there. I think he just followed (at first) because the group had powerful enemies, and his religion was big on combat.
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I just started this campaign and we have 6 PCs - 5 of them are human. It makes the elf stand out as being something very odd and out of place. I guess it's all perspective.
Totally depends on your style of play- normally I'd agree with Mercurial but at the same time the OP's party does sound like a lot of fun.
As for the original intention of this post, the extra cash for slavery sounds like an ideal motivation if they start to get out of line (and once the pirates of the Shackles hear about their crew, there will surely be a bounty on their exotic kung-fu heads).
Pirate's attitudes depend on the kind of game you want. I'd go down the route of maybe 4 different groups of pressgangers went into Port Peri and when three of them came back with 'oddball' races, Capt. Harrigan didn't have time to go back for more so just made do but gave Mst. Scourge an earful for not co-ordinating better. This would also explain why he hates them so much and allow for him to focus on the most weird of the lot for his hatred (i'd pick the vanara).
As for nicknames, I've been trying to come up with some for my party after I read the way the Cavalier got his nickname in this thread.
"Mangy" seems to fit most of your characters!
Hope that helps
KD
All you need to do is come up with stats for an "Awakened" Panda Bear monk. (Use the drunken master archetype but replace the alcohol with food...)
... I might be stealing these for a ship to ship encounter in my game...
I've got a ARG built medium Reefclaw barbarian, a Undine Shark Totem Druid, and a ARG built Cecaelian Sea Witch.
Weird is a matter of perspective.
Attitude varies from pirate to pirate. We already have werewolves, rashakas, tengu, and other exotics written into the campain setting and AP. If anything, Shackles is the one AP that I think ANY race is valid in; so long as they have reason for wanting to be a pirate. The bigger concern would be how a LE character (the Mantis assassin prestige class) fit in to a predominately CN campaign.
As far as insults/nicknames (with pirates, that line's blurred)
Catfolk: Fuzzbutt, Furmonger, Darling Kitty, Cub, Cat
Tengu: Crow, Fish-breath, Rat-with-wings, Buzzard breath, Bird-boy
Vanara: Flea-eater, Banana-breath, Tree-sleeper, Ape
Vishkanya: Forked-tongue, Lizard-breath, Fangs, Scales
Half-Elf: I avoid insulting Red Mantis, as a rule. However, any of the typical half-blood insults work.