The biggest problem I seem to have is that I create a very rich and complex background for a character, yet stumble massively when converting this story into a mechanic's based character.
Which Board is the best to post a story on to get help to create a character?
The type of people I am talking about are true masters of the system, the people that can take any concept and put it on paper.
My suggestion would be to post your back story, then take your own stab at the character design. The folks on this board would then suggest pointers.
As for me, I don't attempt to go for the most statistically advantageous stats for my characters, but I do try to design a competent character based on the background and concept. I usually only plan a level or two ahead, letting the events if the game influence the direction of the PC.
Personally I create my character and story at the same time. I let them feed and build off each other. I don't let my story dictate my character and I don't let some uber optimized character concept dictate my story.
^_^ lemme see if I can get the ball rolling, though specific details help!
First part is to determine what you are adamant about in the character. This usually means race, age, gender, specific weapons, and basic combat (or skill!) approach.
For example, I have a story for a religious Human scout-fighter character that uses a two rapiers, and is good. Of that, gender, alignment and weapon is set, but scout character is a multitude of class/skill/feat/stat options.
The next is to look at specifics, and what you are willing to compromise on. Fighter is of course a class, but it may not be good scout. Rogue's a nice scout/trap finder (but maybe not the best fighter), etc, etc...
Look at each option and see if it does what you need it to do mechanically, and whether it compromises your vision too much. Archetypes that are non-human, no good (except with a certain feat). Often you'll find one class built right is actually more like your character than a more obvious class. My "Scout" uses the two-weapon fighting feat tree for her weapon rp requirement (compromised from my original vision of rapiers to uses a short sword), 3 level paladin (Holy Tactician mostly to remove smite as I didn't want her to have that kind of religious "flavor"), and X levels rogue for evasion, trapfinding, etc... scout related duties.
Her paladin levels give her a religious flavor, incredible saves (her lowest is a 14 at 10th level), and lay on hands. Cutting her off at 3rd level stopped her from getting channel and spells (not a caster!) and Holy Tactician gives her a bit of a cavalier flavor (and a free Teamwork feat to the party!).
Her Rogue levels turn her into a scout.
^_^ So to wrap up, figure out what's set in stone, then look at the most basic options (melee fighter, look at -all- melee classes, spellcaster look at -all- casting classes), and look for options that don't compromise your set in stone, making little changes to boost her mechanically.
This is the 1st of about 3-6 stories I had written about this character's background.
I am out of time as I need to get to class.The rest will be posted when I get home.
This is an odd way of telling a story, but much of it will appear in flashbacks of his youth.
Flashback #1 Kaito age 6 The Dragon Festival
Scene opens with many men and women dressed in traditional formal Japanese and Chinese outfits.
"The festival is about to begin, quickly quickly, we must hurry!" came the cries of Mr. Koyushi. "Your places are saved, we must go or we will miss it."
"Mama i am tired of walking. We came all this way, can't we just sleep one more day?" Said little Kaito.
Mizuki, Kaito's mother gave a brief sigh and smiled."No, my little dragon, we must go to this festival as it is the reason we came."
"But the weather is acting up and it looks like it is going to rain." Replied Kaito as he prepared his best pouty-face.
"There there little one, this is an event that you will remember for the rest of your life, and besides, you like the wind and rain. Now, let's go, no more stalling."
Kaito reluctantly grabbed his mother's hand and felt his mood brightening by the second.
The wind swept up the second they opened the door. The clouds had a dark blue-grey color and the wind smelled of rain. This was going to be a huge storm, Kaito could feel it.
The Festival of the Dragons is an event that has traditionally been held at the top of the highest mountain where the land touches the sky. Many Noble and Honored families had been invited to attend. This event was a secret and something that only occurs once every 50-100 years.
As they Climbed the last step to reach the meeting place, Kaito could see many adults gathered in a circle, no children save himself. Some party, Kaito thought.
They were beckoned to take their place among those in the circle. As they did, the winds started whipping and growing to a deafening proportion. Hair and clothes were battered and beaten by the wind so much that it reminded Kaito the many kites seen at a kite festival, and couldn't help but wonder if everyone was going to be blown away.
Above the wind, Kaito could hear a low humming as the circle began their chants. Looking to his mama for support, he noticed that she was staring up at the clouds as she chanted. Kaito's eyes turned to the dark clouds overhead, only to notice something peculiar. The clouds had eels in them that were dancing and writhing about.
Then came the roar of something that could only be described as scary and threatening beyond words.
Lightning peeled from the clouds and struck the side of the mountain with and audible BOOM!
This only enlivened the crowd forcing them to chant louder and louder.
Kaito looked to his mom for help, only to see that she was chanting as well.
That's when Kaito noticed something strange about his mama. Her hair, while whipping in the wind, started to change color. It turned a silvery-white, like the lightning in the sky. This forced Kaito to look around to see if she was the only one this was happening to, but it was not. Almost everyone's hair was turning that same lightning color.
It was then that one of the eels descended from the sky, only it was not an eel, it was just like the dragons in the story books. This Dragon separated itself from the clouds and began shifting and circling, like the sea lions swimming in the oceans. The motions turned more and more violent as if the creature was in pain. Kaito reached out his hand and started to step forward to help, only to be stopped by his mother's hand as she remained in a trace-like state.
Kaito was getting more and more excited and couldn't help but jump in place as the dragon continued it's writhing sky-dance.
Then lightning struck, loud and close, only it wasn't striking the ground, it was striking the skies. Kaito shook with excitement as he saw all the members of the circle were standing straight as arrows with lightning shooting from their bodies and into the sky. This formed a ring of sorts, but a ring of pure light, where the dragon circled and danced.
It was then that the dragon stopped moving and let out a roar that shook the very mountaintop around them.
From around three-quarters of the way down her body, Kaito noticed a small dragon emerge.
She was giving birth!
She was having a baby!
As the last of the babies' tail emerged from it's tired mother, the heavens roared once again. This time it was all the Dragons in the clouds turn to announce to the heavens and the world that a new Sky Dragon had arrived.
All this excitement was too much for young Kaito to handle, he wrestled his way away from his mother and ran to the center of the circle.
"Yeah! Woohoo! Yeah! Do it again!" shouted the overeager boy as he jumped up and down cheering and waving his arms about.
The mother Dragon recoiled at the sound of the young boy, more from shock than actual fear. This recoil turned to instant anger as she spun about to move face to face with the boy. The crowd of humans went silent and bowed their heads because they knew this child had commited an act that could result in his death, and more, it shamed the family.
Only, as the mother drew her head down to face this young boy with serious thoughts of either eating him or blowing his frail form off the cliff, the strangest thing occured. The new-born dragon descended with his mother and moved to face the boy as well.
Kaito knew he did something bad, but he couldn't help himself he started reaching out to touch the baby dragon with the largest of smiles. He was so focused on the dragon itself that he didn't notice his feet leaving the ground, or that his hair had turned that same lightning color.
As he reached out, the young dragon came forward and touched young Kaito with his front legs. The two seemed to be astonished at the feel of the other, one scaly and wet with sharp claws, the other soft and smooth.
Then Kaito spoke, "Hello, I am Kaito Ryuu-Sora. Pleased to meet you." As Kaito spoke he grabbed the baby's paw and shook it.
The mother dragon then spoke in another language, which Kaito seemed to understand. "I am Mingxia and this is my son. We are honored to meet you young dragon. "
Kaito turned to his mother and smiled. To his surprise, his mother was scared or angry or something, but it didn't matter. Remembering his manners, he turned to Mingxia and bowed. "I am pleased to meet you Mingxia of the um.. Drag.." Kaito was briefly cut off as if to stop a feux-pas. She raised her head in pride and as if to announce to the world in a timultuous voice " We are the T'IEN-LONG!!" She finished in a roar toward the heavens.
The clouds roared back in the voice of a hundred or more dragons.
Mingxia released a small breath on Kaito which made him slowly sink back to the ground as the mother and son raised up toward the clouds.
Kaito Waved and shouted "Bye, Bye honored mother Mingxia"
As he raced back to Mizuki he shouted "Mama mama, did you see that?" but he noticed his mother had tears coming from her eyes.
"What's wrong?" He asked. "Nothing my boy, you are my little dragon is all" and hugged him with an almost rib-crushing strength.
Hmmm... so I'm sensing a human, a dragon theme, and an eastern theme here.
Still doesn't quite give any details on actual mechanics though, since we haven't seen/heard fighting tactics, magic abilities, and/or skill sets. Keep going.
the conversion section is also a candidate, but here's good.
off the top of my head i'd say draconic bloodline sorcerer (whatever dragon type would fit, lightning element), seeing as they sensed and awakened that in him.
I would guess one of the draconic bloodlines for a sorcerer. seems to fit the early exposure to magic and the dragon blood discovered in contact with the dragons....although more information could lead to a different conclusion.
My DM called it, and i believe he was right, in stating that this gets a bit too prophetic and starts to create a predestined path for th character.
The prophetic stuff will be included, just for the story, but the whole Auntie Mara thing could easily be changed to the interference of a priestess, rather than a goddess, please excuse that aspect when reading the below.
Aunt Mara Kaito Age 12.
Many years had passed since that day and not many words were spoken.
Kaito had learned that somewhere in his family's history, a Tien-Lung had married a human. The two had many children and that the Dragon's blood had remained so powerful that it has passed its gift down from generation to generation.
Many within the family believe that every so often a Tien-Lung in human form will bless their line again by marrying into the family.
Mizuki's (Kaito's mother) heritage has been believed to be one of those strengthened ties. Her great-grandfather, Tsuyoshi, seemed to come from nowhere and married into her royal family with no questions asked nor answers given.
He was said to be a proud man of immense stature, grace and poise, and was remembered as a kind man known for his boistrous laughter. He was quick to forgive, but woe to the man who insulted him.
A family legend stated that he was once challenged to a duel by an impetuous young man. He promptly refused and politely tried to talk the man down. This poor soul would have nothing of the sort as he insulted Tsuyoshi, his wife Hanako, and their whole family repeatedly. Three times Tsuyoshi excused the man for being misguided and perhaps drinking a little too much, three times the man insulted again and the insults got worse as he spoke.
Finally Tsuyoshi knew he had no way of walking away with his honor intact. It was said that Tsuyoshi drew his sword with one hand and crushed the mans skull with his other hand. The young fool never stood a chance.
Many questions had arrisen among the observers that day and many of the witnesses were frightened and scared.
Tsuyoshi left two weeks later and never returned.
His death was never recorded, but the Ryu-Sora knew that he left to spare the rest of the family.
Kaito's father, Katsuo, was a commander in his Lord's army. A landowner by birthright; he was a strong man with great intellect. Many of the women seemed to blush in his company, including Mizuki, so Kaito figured his Dad, must be considered attractive.
Their life was boring as Kaito lived mostly with his mother. Katsuo spent most of his time away from home as his duties kept him away in service of the army and the Emporer. Kaito spent his days studying and his nights daydreaming of the Dragon Festival.
As time went on, Kaito found his spirit slowly falling. He wished to be free and often felt as he imagined a caged bird would feel.
His thoughts and prayers began as usual, asking for the protection of his mother and father, but as time passed,they began to turn to pleas for freedom. He prayed, then eventually, begged to be released from this boring life to wander the wide oceans and see what the world has to offer.
Tensions around the home began to slowly become more and more noticeable as Mizuki recieved more and more letters from Katsuo.
When asked, Mizuki simply stated that their family has many enemies. "Trust Katsuo and he will keep us safe from harm." was Mizuki's usual response.
One day,while in the gardens, Kaito couldn't handle it anymore. He fell to his knees as the tears began. He needed to be free. With head to the ground he prayed for release from this prison.
Suddenly, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look and there stood a beautiful red-haired woman in a traditional Japanese outfit.
This took him by surprise enough that he jumped to his feet and stood away from the woman.
She was tall and carried and carried an air of pride and confidence that reminded him of his mother.
"Who are you?" Katsuo asked.
The woman paused for a moment as if to consider her words carefully, "I am your auntie Mara."
"Aunt Mara? Mother never told me about you." Replied Kaito as a look of distrust shown across his face.
"Oh? She didn't? Huh, how strange. Well, i am your Aunt Mara and i have come to help you." As she spoke, Mara walked forward to sit on a stone bench.
Her stride was unlike anything Katio had seen. Her hips swung in what Kaito would consider an almost vulgar manner, if it wasn't so attractive. While walking, she kept her hand on her hip as if carrying a man's sword.
"Sit." She stated as she patted the bench. Kaito did as he was told.
"So, tell me little... Kaito was it?" To which Kaito nodded.
"Tell me Kaito, oh wipe those tears away, it's embarrassing." Again Kaito did as he was told without response.
"Tell me, what would you give me if i could take you away from here and promise you adventure and excitement?"
Young Kaito did not know how to respond. There was nothing he truly owned besides his toys from his youth.
"I have nothing to give." he responded with a sniff.
"I am in a generous mood kid, I'll tell you what. Let's make a deal. Your family is about to be in a lot of trouble soon enough. I will help you when you call for me and you will owe me one." Mara responded with a grin.
"Owe you one what? What trouble? What are you talk..." But Kaito was quickly cut off.
"Putt putt, forget about that for now, just answer the question. Will you agree to owe me a favor if i help you at a future time of your request? " Replied Mara as Kaito forgot about the trouble.
"Um, ok."
"Deal" replied Mara before Kaito could ask any more questions or change his mind.
"Shake on it. " She held her hand out to shake Kaito's hand, which again, was an unfamiliar custom to you Kaito.
Kaito grabbed her hand, still a little confused and felt a sharp pin prick in his palm.
"Ouch, what are you doing." He responded while trying, unsuccessfully, to pull his hand away.
"A Deal sealed in blood." Responded Mara as she quickly grabbed his wrist to hold it still while pulling a pin from her hair. She pricked her own hand and returned the handshake in kind.
Kaito looked up and saw that her hair had fallen. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life. He tried to speak, but found that she was looking down below Kaito's waste.
"Haha, well look at that."
As Kaito looked down he noticed his little man was standing straight out and pointing at her. His Face flushed red.
"Oh, don't worry kid. I have that effect on many men, er, boys...nevermind."
She leaned down and kissed the boy full on the lips.
"Just forget about me for now kid, you will remember me when the time comes."
Kaito snapped to as his mother entered the garden.
"Kaito I was calling you, are you ok?" Mizuki asked as her fearful face turned quizzical.
"Um, yes mother, i just." He looked at the spot of blood on his hand. " I just poked my finger on the rose bushes."
"Well, come along now son, it is time to wash for dinner."
The two walked back to the house.
At this point i was pretty much shot down.
I had 4 other parts of this story planned, but was already told that this is far to epic for a 1st level character and I should tone it down quite a bit.
I agreed to the to epic part and changed the Aunt Mara encounter to a meetng with a priestess rather than Besmara.
The outline of the rest was going to be as follows:
Part 3 will include the moving of Kaito and Mizuki to a smaller home atop the cliffs near the ocean.
There their home will be attacked. Kaito's mother will kill a man and take his katana/wakizashi. The katana/wakizashi has the crest of the family that attacked.
The mother will give the son to Kaito to hold while she tries to defend them as the attack forces them to an open view of the ocean.
Kaito will be knocked into the ocean from an explosion that weakens the mother.
Mizuki, Kaito's mother will meet her final demise in a heroic attempt to defend her son's descent into to the ocean, only to drop her featherfall spell to prevent Kaito from being riddles with arrows.
Kaito survives with only the katana or wakizashi of his family's enemies.
Part 4 will be about the crew of the Pirate ship The One-Eyed Otter.
This is the crew that pulls Kaito's nearly lifeless form from the ocean. Kaito will live with this crew and befriend many of them before a storm. The storm will include a meeting of Katio and his young Tien-Lung friend.
The crew will see Kaito's strange heritage as his hair turns lightning white.
Superstitions will run rampant and, ultimately, the captain will sell Kaito to the owner of a whore house, slave trafficker and owner of an opium den, known as the Dragon Lady.
Part 5
The Dragon lady's Leutenant ( known as her Enforcer) will abuse and mistreat Kaito as Kaito is forced to "clean up" after the women who are raped with many being killed by the most violent of men.The Dragon-lady cares nothing about how his leutenant treats her women, as long as she stays rich.
Kaito will piss off the Leutenant and the Dragon-Lady, by saving a new woman from their clutches and setting her free.
He will be beaten almost to death, but will call in his favor from his Aunt Mara.
Again, this would need to change as it is already involving super-powers such as gods etc..
He will force the Dragon-Lady ( via threat of unleashing Aunti Mara on her again ) to hire the finest swordsman to train Katio while the Dragon-Lady herself will teach Kaito how to unlock his heritage and hidden gifts of magic.
She will also teach him how to craft tattoos with the intention of Kaito eventually getting craft magical tattoos as the Dragon-Lady is a Tattoo Sorceress.
Kaito will join the adventure when the lessons are up and he is no longer in the service of the Dragon Lady.
Special note: Kaito's debt will be repaid to Mara in this manner " In Life or in Death, Auntie Mara, I will repay my debt when and where you call me."
Again, too prophetic and tries to place too much campaign direction in the hands of the player and not the DM.
As far as race, i was not sure if it'd be a Human with Draconic blooded trait or a Sylph ( as Sylph are very cole in racial abilities to the imperial dragons.)
Not sure how well a Sylph would translate to a Tien-Lung descendant, but I'd love for Kaito to be able to fly and do some of the other things a Sylph can do.
I could just go with a Dragonborn Bloodline, but i wanted to focus his stats on other things besides mostly Charisma.
I would normally ask to play a Cabalist, which is a 3rd party Magus archetype, but my DM is adamantly against anything 3rd party.
As far as Archetypes. The kensai fits well, but the hexes of a hexcrafter also fit amazingly well. Evil eye, Healing, Nails(Claws), Tongues, Weather control, Storm of vengeance ( at high levels); all these hexes fit the Tien_Lung also known as an Imperial Sky Dragon well.
Not sure about the stats, but i figure intelligence, strength, dex and charisma will all fit this character well.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
That's all i have at the moment. It seems like he's either a Draconic bloodline Sorc or something else.
I did have an image of him holding a sword in one hand while shooting lightning from his other.
Maybe a magus just doesn't fit because it's more of a racial bloodline thing. not sure where to go from here.
I never mentioned, this is for a Skulls and Shackles game... ug, long day.
4 is easy enough (if allowed): Inscribe Magical Tattoo Prerequisites: Craft (calligraphy, paintings, or tattoos) 5 ranks, caster level 5th. (I assume this is what you meant?).
Your build needs 5 levels in caster to take this (and 5 ranks in craft.
Sword Fighter and Magician are a little trickier. Of course, the default is Magus, especially if you want to attack -and- use a spell at the same time. If not, there are several more options.
Sorcerer makes the bloodline a viable choice. Some bloodlines to look at are:
Stormborn: Focus on wind and lightning, including several lightning based bonus spells and the ability to grant your weapon the shock property (and later shocking burst).
Draconic: An iconic dragonborn bloodline.
Elemental (air): A nice bloodline to really hit home on the "air" properties. Unfortunately, no real "lightning" option.
You may also consider looking at the for the wind Mystery.
I'll post more in a bit, once I review other options. I'll note that you mentioned not wanting to go too much of charisma, and if I have time in a bit I'll give a few sample character ideas if you like.
Sounds great and thank you.
Yes, Inscribe Magical Tattoo is exactly what i meant.
There are some great images of traditional Chinese and Japanese that are easily searchable on yahoo. These often include a butt, so i wont post anything here.
So I don't expect this to be 100% what you expected, but this may give you some non-magus ideas. I'm going to (yes, I has too much free time) look at a magus build as well.
Spoiler:
Angelkin Aasimar
Alter Self 1/day
Darkvision 60ft
+2 bonus to heal/knowledge planes
Resistance 5 to Acid, Cold, Electric
Alternate Racial: Scion of Humanity (less outsider look)
Feats at level:
1st: Combat Casting
3rd: Weapon Focus (Katana)
5th: Inscribe Tattoo
7th: Elemental Focus (+1 to save DC's of Electric spells)
Bloodline 7th: Dodge (+1 ac)
9th: Greater Elemental Focus (+1 to save DC's of Electric spells, stacks)
11th: Angel Wings (Reskin to Dragon, gain fly speed =P)
Traits:
Heirloom weapon (Proficient in Katana)
Desperate Focus (+2 to concentration checks)
Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell with the [electricity] or [sonic] descriptor, increase the save DC by 1.
Bloodline Powers: Your mastery of the storm is reflected in the unique panoply of powers you manifest.
Thunderstaff (Sp): At 1st level, you can touch a weapon as a standard action, giving it the shock property for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your sorcerer level (minimum 1). At 9th level, you can confer the shocking burst property instead, but the duration of the power is halved. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
Stormchild (Ex): At 3rd level, you gain resist electricity 5 and resist sonic 5, and treat wind effects as being one step less severe. At 9th level, you treat wind effects as being two steps less severe and gain blindsense 60 feet against concealment from natural or magical fog, mist, or weather effects.
Thunderbolt (Sp): At 9th level, you can command a stroke of lightning to strike from above in a 5-foot-radius cylinder 60 feet high. The thunderbolt inflicts 1d6 points of damage per sorcerer level; half of this damage is electricity and half is sonic. A Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier) halves this damage. Creatures failing their saves are deafened for 1 round. At 9th level, you can use this ability once per day, at 17th twice per day, and at 20th three times per day. This power has a range of 120 feet.
This build will give you the katana (as a one-handed weapon), but your lack of combat related feats will make it more of a defensive tool (threaten, capable of damage without casting). Combat Casting and Desperate focus will help you to throws spells in Melee, and elemental focus+greater+bloodline will give you a +3 to your electric based attacks.
Spell wise you should focus on buffs and electric/sonic attacks. You'll use things like mage armor and shield to keep you alive in melee, and any to hit/strength/damage buff to hit hard with your shock-imbued sword. Magic items should also revolve around giving you defense.
This particular approach is more caster/lightning heavy, though your katana is useable (and has some nasty tricks). That bloodline itself is really cool (to me!) and I think fits well. Hopefully others chime in, as I'm not the best build maker.
4 is easy enough (if allowed): Inscribe Magical Tattoo Prerequisites: Craft (calligraphy, paintings, or tattoos) 5 ranks, caster level 5th. (I assume this is what you meant?).
Your build needs 5 levels in caster to take this (and 5 ranks in craft.
Sword Fighter and Magician are a little trickier. Of course, the default is Magus, especially if you want to attack -and- use a spell at the same time. If not, there are several more options.
Sorcerer makes the bloodline a viable choice. Some bloodlines to look at are:
Stormborn: Focus on wind and lightning, including several lightning based bonus spells and the ability to grant your weapon the shock property (and later shocking burst).
Draconic: An iconic dragonborn bloodline.
Elemental (air): A nice bloodline to really hit home on the "air" properties. Unfortunately, no real "lightning" option.
You may also consider looking at the for the wind Mystery.
I'll post more in a bit, once I review other options. I'll note that you mentioned not wanting to go too much of charisma, and if I have time in a bit I'll give a few sample character ideas if you like.
while 3pp, the cabalist magus AT fits all those criteria.
