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Alright so my gaming group starting gaming about two months or so ago, maybe just a month. If you read all of this, you get a brownie point.
We originally started out on the Serpents Skull Adventure Path and made characters accordingly via the guide book.
Serpent’s Skull PCs
Your band of characters begins the Serpent’s Skull
Adventure Path as passengers on a cargo ship called the
Jenivere, headed south to Sargava. The voyage promises
not only to bring your characters together as you face
adversity, but also to set you on a path into the very heart
of one of Golarion’s most feared regions in search of
wealth, fame, and ancient secrets. PCs in the Serpent’s
Skull Adventure Path are not limited to origins in Sargava
itself. In fact, characters in this campaign may be from
just about anywhere. Countless motivations draw the
daring, curious, and downright foolhardy to Sargava with
the hope of attaining personal fame and fortune, and your
PCs likely boast a variety of backgrounds and decidedly
different reasons for traveling to Sargava’s capital city.
The Serpent’s Skull Player’s Guide is intended to provide
characters with a reason to be on the Jenivere, whether they
are from a distant part of the Inner Sea journeying to a new
land or natives of Sargava returning home. The following
suggestions provide basic information on potential PC
origins, but focus on motivations to bring characters of all
races and classes to Sargava. Use this guide as a starting
point to give your PCs a reason to be aboard the fateful
voyage that launches the Serpent’s Skull Adventure Path.
The following pages outline qualities of typical members
of all seven core races, all 11 core classes, and the six classes
found in the Advanced Player’s Guide. Characters of all
alignments, religions, and homelands can play a vital role
in this campaign, and the following suggestions should
serve to spark a concept or background for your PC. You’ll
also find several new traits specific to the Serpent’s Skull
Adventure Path to better customize your characters and
link them to the campaign’s setting and plot.
I made a Tiefling N Ranger. Hes a native tribesmen of the Bas'O tribe and in the subgroup Zenji ( spelled correctly i think? ), there is more to his back story than this but basically he is not a naturally born Bas'O he was adopted by a Bas'O man who raised him in their tribal ways, claiming him in full as his child. Despite my characters desire to be Bas'O he and his father were forced to live outside the main camps, whenever camp was struck. No woman would have him and the friends he had slowly drifted away.
Over the years many of the younger hunters in the tribe who didn't like Jarvaxius, more like hated him began plotting ways to remove this 'taint' on their tribe. Its a imperfect world, the Bas'O people are no different. There were several 'accidents' over the years. Sometimes when Jar' would kill a elk or other animal that he was hunting and moved in to claim his prize. He was instead met with one or more of his fellow hunters. They would then claim he took one of their kills, stating that they had infact been tracking this animal for some time and marked it. A fight and death of one of more of the people would happen, Not because they or he were evil but because of pride and hatred. They are a tribal culture after all, they have some brutal laws that are considered totally legal i would imagine, as all of this is character fluff and there is no detailed writing on their cultural laws and how things are handled. This happened 3 times over the coarse of my characters life amongst them.
My character eventually decided that his presence was ruining his fathers life. Not to mention the battles with fellow Bas'O, which made me hate myself for being a 'monster'. On one moonlit night I had a dream of another group coming to kill me, this time no pretence or accident, they wanted me gone. And if my father had to die, so be it. Obviously they are the radicals of the tribe, not the norm. So in the middle of the night right after i woke up I gathered my things and left to find his own path. - the dm gave my Teifling a precognition ability that he cannot control ad least not very well. He ended up getting captured and sold into slavery by pirates, luckily the person who boat him was Captain Kovack, and he made him a indentured servant for 3 years.
Which is the end of the back story and the start of the adventure. The changes i made to him are, that being a sailor / smuggler of illegal but not harmful things on a merchant vessel made him more of a sailor now, so less tribal but still different. Likes to drink and smoke and party at the local brothels and taverns just like all sailors.
Ok, now we did some of the AP of Serpents Skull, mainly just the first place, no spoilers, but if you know it you know it.
We did all of the Smugglers Shiv, defeated the witch / hag at the end and the giant flying creature that was sucking blood. We repaired and got the brine demon under way and left the Smugglers shiv, only to find ourselves adrift after a accident. The worm wood found us and press ganged most of the remaining group of survivors into service, though I was able to remain hidden.
Now, before we go to the next part, wanna state a few things. My guy is tribal. Tribal cultures have some strange laws. And he is no different in that he has a set of laws that guide him ( he became LN over the course of the adventure turning back to his tribal heritage and trying to rekindle his former nationality .) The Bekyar are the rival tribe of the Zenji - which the Bas'O are in. The Bekyar are slavers, robbers, raiders, killers, demon worshipers, and pirates. Their tribe and mine do not ever get along. The Bas'O are hunters and nomads, but also a warrior culture. They prefer to not act violently, but will do so over insults, offenses and other various tribal things, they are suspicious of foreigners and don't like people who rob graves and in general bring bad luck by taking cultural treasures.
My character, is a dirty dirty fighter. He would use poison if he knew how, he has used traps, he would slit a sleeping persons throat, he has slaughtered a entire village of people because they had been trying to kill him and eat him since he met them, and he is willing to steal and take what is most certainly not his, so long as hes taking it from people who he thinks have it coming or are his enemies.
He has cut the heart out of a particularly strong foe and taken a bite of it to show his dominance over the dead man and absorb some of his power ( all flavor, no in game benefits .)
Being a sailor for many years he doesn't like Chelaxians given their devil worship and pension for slavery. Infact pretty much doesn't care for any kinda slavers at all. Is willing to commit acts of piracy, and that does make him a pirate in all honesty, but for reasons he can justify. Such as sacking a merchant who is a slave trader, sacking a military vessel of a nation he dislikes, sacking another pirate ship, ransoming a captured prisoner, and making sure they are not mistreated while in captivity. Blowing up a shipping yard, with civilians inside if the mission calls for it given the circumstances.
All in all, my guy is a dirty bastard. But.. He is not a Raping and Pillaging and plundering, anything he can get his hands on pirate. And thus is where we run into my problem folks.
The AP has now switched to Skulls and Shackles.
The shipping lanes of Golarion’s seas and oceans
are filled with fat merchant vessels laden with
trade goods both mundane and exotic, as well
as the pirates and freebooters who prey on them. Under
the banner of their Hurricane King, these buccaneers
sally forth from that archipelago of lawless pirate ports
and anchorages known as the Shackles, plundering the
shipping of countless countries and trade consortiums,
then vanishing back into the maze of islands and reefs they
call home. The nations of the Inner Sea would like nothing
more than to end the pirate menace once and for all, but
the eternal hurricane known as the Eye of Abendego has
thus far shielded the Free Captains of the Shackles from
the threat of retaliation.
In the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, the PCs take
on the role of pirates, but they must make a name for
themselves in piracy, plunder, and disrepute to truly
become infamous Free Captains of the Shackles. The
most important thing to keep in mind when creating
your character is that piracy plays a significant role in
this Adventure Path—your character should want to
become a pirate, or at least not be opposed to the idea.
This guide offers some tips about the types of characters
that will be best suited for adventuring in the Shackles,
as well as campaign traits to flesh out those characters’
backgrounds. Finally, it provides rules for ship-to-ship
combat (including sample ships) that will play a major role
in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path as the PCs captain
their own ship in search of plunder and infamy!
Skull & Shackles Characters
Characters of almost any race or class can be found in the
melting pot of the Shackles, so long as they have a reason
to embrace a life of piracy. In fact, the only class that is
probably not a good fit for the Skull & Shackles Adventure
Path is the paladin, whose alignment restriction and code
of conduct are in direct opposition to the themes of piracy
and plunder in this campaign.
And my character, Jarvaxius is simply not willing to be a pirate in the stereotypical sense, and while i do not know how the adventure will unfold or how my DM will change things I'm being left with the impression that the campaign has drastically changed. We lost a player because of the text in the adventure guide alone.
He was unwilling to make a character that would be a pirate in any way. We gained a new player and while I think the new guy is pretty cool, his character is a stereotypical pirate. He is of a evil alignment ( yes i know not all pirates are evil, stereotype here. ) he has intimidated the npc crew into following him and has the backing of a powerful npc vampire that the crew is even more afraid of. I've been found and tied up and gagged.
The Dm has decided to be nice and rather than just kill me for being a stow away; the vampire is a former npc companion and took pity on me? Declaring to the evil pc that I was to not be harmed (cause he wanted to kill me for being a stowaway), so long as I made a choice to either become a pirate and serve him -vampire, and as a extension of that servitude, obey the evil pc whom he has placed in charge. Or get off the boat at the next opportunity and don't make hostile actions.
My character and the other ranger, ironically we are both tieflings, are very much so opposed to the idea of being a stereotypical pirate's, which has been made OVERLY and CRYSTAL CLEAR in game by things pc's and npc's have said. That that is where the campaign is heading. This other ranger is also hiding right now / lost because of a storm but is returning( missed a few sessions because of personal things .)
The only person my character knows is the human fighter from the survivor group who has embraced piracy and is 100 percent behind his new captain and change in lifestyle. We agreed next session his character and mine would have a talk about why it is ok for me to be a pirate ( thus my character stays in the game ) or just in general him trying to convince me to come to their side in this matter.
A change in lifestyle... That's basically what this is. The Dm is telling me that even though I made a character for another AP, he said that this changeover was going to happen and that my attitude and argument is wrong. I and another player distinctly recall him saying the AP was NOT going to switch and then never bringing it back up until all of this happened.
I'm in this AP now, and the dm says that I have no reason to be 'forcing' my character to have this ideological confrontation. That I am the one with the problem, that I am the one causing the problem. He has even sited an example about why I am wrong in this entire situation.
http://www.giantitp.com/articles/tll307KmEm4H9k6efFP.html
Stating that as the Player it is my job to curb my characters entire life to meat the adventure path and the fun goes on, and the group keeps playing. And in all honesty i agree, if only i had made a character for Skulls and Shackles, not Serpents Skull. I put a LOT, way more than required, into taking time to make this character and now I'm having arguments / heated debates about how I'm essentially causing a disruption to the group by voicing that my character is not going to be a pirate, ad least not the kinda pirate that seems to be where the AP is pushing. - the player of the evil pc has stated that slavery, vice and everything a pirate is known for is what he is, and what he will push the crew towards, and punish those that do not agree.
I don't have a single problem with the new guy's character or the new guy. He came into the group for Skulls and Shackles. Don't get me wrong, my character and his as of right now probably wont get along well, but they haven't even had a chance to meet because of the various circumstances surrounding the last few games, the continuing argument revolves around the one line in Skulls and Shackles Pc guide that only PALADINS can absolutely possibly have a problem with being a pc in this AP, that no other class combo or alignment could possibly ever have issues in this campaign with being a pirate.
- for snarky remark, see the Sea Dragons sub section in Faiths of Balance under Abadar, LN clerics of the god who will tolerate slavery, WILL NOT work with pirates, they actively hunt them, they are actively planning on a way of destroying the shackles. I sited this example to him as the new character i had considered making until i read that. As i am completely willing to make a new character that better fits with the group. And his response was to say he'd change how Abadar is so i could play one and be a pirate if i wanted to play one. While i appreciate this Dm's willingness to alter the Game world, I'd rather not go that far as it seems wholly unnecessary. And just make a Cleric of Gozreh.
Again i don't know what the DM is planning or where the AP actually goes but at this point I've been given the option to either make a new character and retire this one or have him become a pirate and break his people's moral code relating to slavery and not hurting those he doesn't see as deserving it, but rather those I'm ordered to hurt by a captain who controls via fear and a whip. And while I've considered him breaking his code and just changing his mindset and trying to find a way to justify it based on past events, i really cant figure a way to do it. Mainly because I've already slowly changed him during the first AP, he went through a physical and mental metamorphosis, his time on that island change him in many ways and I've move him forward on a path that has led him to his current moral issues.
So all in all, here is my question. Is there a way for me to justify why my character Jarvaxius should change his lifestyle to become a pirate, keeping in mind the type of pirate he is going to be forced to become if he says yes. Or am i totally wrong and just need to shut up? Or should i just roll up my new cleric of Gozreh, who likes doing anything that's fun and involves destruction of civilization.
Links for incite into your choice.
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Mwangi_%28human_ethnicity%29
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Mwangi_Expanse
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/17789/wikis/mwangi
A short recap. This issue has been in debate for so long in the group and the situation in game is this. A vampire has taken over the vessel, he has one true ally - the evil pc, he has several ally's of choice, one pc and many npcs, anyone else has been intimidated into service. I am locked up in the hold and although free of my bonds have no reason to try and escape as My character doesn't know of any way to escape. There are no islands or places of even remote safety nearby, that he knows of.
Going down fighting is something he has thought about but he feels more weighed down by the lost and confused feelings. Again i don't know where the campaign pushes the pc's but at this time based on everything my character knows, the ship is 100 percent pirate. And i have been given a ultimatum to either convert and do as i am told or get off at the next port, which will be at the beginning of the next session.
Is your opinion that despite the evidence pointing towards the fact that the ship i would be a sailor on is intent on enslaving and pillaging in every way a pirate can, that my character who has strong objections about slavery will function just fine with a group of people who want all of those things? OR should my character get off at the next port?
I really like this character but i don't know if i can justify him being a member of a crew that is most certainly going to push towards wanton destruction and enslavement at the first opportunity.
Edit: Oh and he has been informed that there is a port nearby, that they are going to, where he can get off.
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No brownie point for me. :-(
This is the reason there are Player's Guides for the APs with Campaign Traits there-in, so all the players can make characters that are appropriate and motivated for the long campaign.
Bait and switch AP is a dick move, but now you've got to deal with the situation.
Sticking to your character's ideals and forcing a bloody confrontation that kills the fledgling AP would be a dick move on your part, despite it being what your character would do.
If the new AP and its evil direction seems fun, and you don't want to make a new character, then revise his back story and/or personality until he can get on board with them. Just because you imagined or wrote down this stuff doesn't mean you can't revise it all.
If the new AP and its evil direction seems fun, but changing your character's personality and/or history is not fun, then retire the character and bring in a new one. Possibly without waiting for port, your original character broods in a corner until they can escape back to their homelands, and one of the other crew members becomes more talkative when you introduce him as your new PC.
If this evil game isn't your style, then let the GM know you're not into this one, and possibly get another game going in the meantime with the folks that have left or are also unhappy.
An excuse to change personality could be a dark enlightenment about how the strong eat the weak in nature, and why shouldn't it be the same with humans. You were weak enough to be taken as a slave, but now you're free. So, it's up to the people you meet to make sure they are strong enough to stay free and not end up at your mercy instead...
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i originally posted this in the Skulls and Shackles section to get a larger group of viewers. If your interested click Here
Edit: I suppose i could just change his back story but that seems wrong somehow. But your correct i do enjoy this character. I suppose i could either change him to Bekyar, which would fit perfectly, or leave him as bas'o and go with the dark enlightenment thing.
Join the crew but declare no slavery?
Stay on to ensure that it is not part of your ship's daily events.
Plundering and sacking the mainland shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as the locals are more intimidated than injured or enslaved. Plundering and sacking the invader's towns tho.. that might be right up your alley? use your conscience as a guide to make this ship a privateer more than a bloody pirate cruise? Robin Hood the $@#^#$ out of that thing.
If your influence is not enough to curb the bloodthirsty (pun intended) intent of the crew then engage in one or two raids until you can amass a bunch of powder or other flamables and scuttle the boat after ensuring a lifeboat is handy. Enlist your fellow, non-evil PCs in the endeavor.
If you GM doesn't go with either option then it's in your best interest to find a new GM. Forcing your players to play evil characters is above and beyond a dick move.
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One issue with that @Bltzkrg242 if i try to secretly be a robin hood kinda guy, I'm a ranger / zen archer and i don't have bluff, lol. So getting past the sense motive checks from the captain may be a challenge. Its worth considering though. And again i dont know if I could even successfully pull it off without being found out, I'll think more about it.
I'm not saying to be secretive about the Robin Hoodness part... Agree to join the crew on the condition that...
If that doesn't work then hire someone sneaky to bring the explosives/flamables on board if you need to.
then move along. If your game and or actions are controlled by a god NPC/GM and you have little choice in the matter... what's the point?
Have him tell you a tale of pirates with out roleplaying it at all and be done with that suck GM.
Can't help if you won't boil down ALL the history into just what is most significant. No brownie point for me.
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I've decided to prep a new char, i will still have my discussion in character but based on the rather a$$h0leish way the dm has communicated in the past recently i get the impression he just wants me to shut up and stop fighting him. I doubt my main character will continue to be in the game and quite frankly the 30 mile drive, gas money and the 4 hour sessions, only once every two weeks are other reason to not play.
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Alright. I've done some reconsidering of my actions and words. There are things going on outside of this forums scope that I'm unwilling to post about as they are not appropriate here. But basically it boils down to this. I've over reacted about what i have perceived as going on.
The Dm and I have been friends for a long time, and as friends do sometimes we fight or clash on our points of view. And as I don't work as much or have a family life to attend to i have more free time to think and fester over certain things than a person who has these things does. I could go into more details but it isn't require on here.
This isn't a spoiler because he has taken his own path with the adventure as most dm's do in their own ways. based on your questions regarding the vampire, Jask from SS, the Cleric of Nethys is the Vampire. Circumstances led to him being slain via blood loss by Big Red and weather or not that's coherent with rules doesn't matter, given that story is usually more important than rules anyhow.
So anyway. Base on recent communications and very need apologies on my part given my words have been somewhat over the top and spiteful recently, I've been informed that it's more than likely that my character will be able to adapt to the situation as it is presented.
And btw he has read both postings of my question here and to paint him in a less than 'evil overlord' light I will quote something he has posted on our Facebook group.
"Ol Bes smiles on the freedom of the sea n that whov pledge their lives to it. But not all who brave the waves do so for tastes of glory. Some seek to plunder no other than the freedom itself.
SLAVERS I say!. . and spit on their kind, for they bring not glory nor fame but the fate of chains upon us all.
In life I knew not but the shackle and the chase of crimes for others greed. By Nethys' hand, I now sail upon the night's black sea cursed as a slave of undeath until none shall know more the cuff or whip..
..My crews shall profit from the fatten'd merchants, whose haughty galleons float their ways back to the greed of the North Not a coin shall I keep form myself, for this not be my part of the game. But of the cowards of the fleshtrade and them devil kissin' Chels who drive it, be ye warned cross my bow and it'll be a sea hell for all'v ya!"
~fro the marks of Jask Derindi(risen)-Dread Vampire & Pirate at large!