|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ive created 2 other threads on topics in this vein: Character naming and Naming your items/ weapons.
In musing on the topic of personalising PFS experiences though, it got me thinking about a topic that few people pay much attention and it seems nowadays fewer actually take.
Vanities.
There is a wealth of these which are taken because
A)they make selling things more profitable
B)the make busying things cheaper
C) Coming back from being dead is a lot less financially painful.
However there are others that rarely get a look in and some which are undoubtedly ignored completely.
Thus.. and this will be a spoiler laden topic:
If you have picked up a vanity, do you have a story behind why you did? Did you find an npc in some far flung place and decided he just had to be your new porter? Join the Assassins guild because of a run in with some Mantis types?
Paint a picture if you will behind your vanity.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
A group of us regulars in my local area (Norfolk VA) recently all built Sczarni characters of Varisian descent. All of the characters are in a caravan together. As a result we have all purchased the Caravan vanities. The "founder" of the Caravan is a locally famous character Mickey "The One Punch Repeating Ballista" O'Toole, based heavily off of the character Mickey from the movie Snatch. He was a bit of a local hero for not only being a great roll player but a spectacular role player.
|
My Gunslinger, being from Arkenstar AND an Alchemist, runs a gun shop to repair them and to sell ammo. That and she needed an excuse to build a gun range within the city limits.
My Wizard is heavily tattoed (several spell tattoos AND a Varisian tattoo) and after I got the race book she got a permenant fire ink tattoo on her arm. I saw the Tattoo parlor and HAD to have it. Add in the boon from waking rune and she is a very colorful teifling to see.
My. Taldane cleric has a caravan company! though she doesn't WORK ,A Lion Blade of Taldor AND a Baroness doesn't work in sales! No, she FINANCES the business as an 'interested investor.
|
I am a necromancy student currently on contract from Osirion. I have recently set up a small apothecary in Absalom, which I will also expand into a curio shoppe featuring my taxidermy work. Among the stuffed beasts I shall pose the undead specimens leftover from my necromantic experiments and those animated or commanded on pathfinder outings. Retaining undead within the city is nominally forbidden, but amongst my stitched and stuffed trophies they shall remain well hidden in plain sight, motionless, breathless, tireless, waiting. Perhaps I will even charge admission!
I've also had my hound, Dargon, trained to track the undead on our travels. Unable to take him as a true familiar, he may serve by watching our camp by night and rooting out the unliving by day so I may wrest their secrets from them by speech, spell, or scalpel as needed.
I should hope to acquire a small cabal of like-minded, fearlessly curious arcanists to reform the Arcane Research Society we once held in Sarathel, but that was a lifetime ago...
|
|
My Elven Cavalier, Liran Ver'Ha, purchased a Farm outside Bellis, and currently works with his two sisters (My fiancee and her sister) on the Ver'Ha family farm and meadery. Roleplay wise it is where he retired his old warhorse to make room for his Axe Beak mount.
He always brings some mead with him on adventures. It was all drunk at the end of Port Godless by the party. We needed it. All of it. Plus some.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
We had a string of characters unravel from the ship vanity.
One of my first PFS characters was a mighty pirate, by the name of Captain Swagger (elevated to Admiral Swagger in retirement). At the end of his career, he had accumulated a handful of vanities. A pair of wenches, Sapphire and Jasmine; his ship -- Revelry; and the pirate cove he now spends his days relaxing on. When I made Swagger, other local players made pirate-themed characters as well, and together we formed a sczarni crew that took to doing Pathfinder missions for the coin alone. Definitely some of the best games I've ever played.
He retired after defeating the most powerful creature he'd ever face at the end of a an epic five-hour battle during Year of the Shadow Lodge. After mounting the beast's head as the new figurehead on the Revelry he passed the position of captain to his first mate, Ausk Stormbrow, who took to sailing the waters in his own brig, The Shadow Mastiff. The remaining players from Swagger's crew joined up with Ausk, as did some new folks, and the pirate-themed characters continued.
All in all, I think we've had at least a dozen players over the last couple of years make characters specifically to be a crew member on another player's ship.
Definitely my favorite vanity.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ksenia
Ksenia has the Taldor noble vanity and thanks to <redacted> the Eagle Knight vanity (When I ran <redacted> I wanted an entire party of Taldans, Chels and Sczarni, almost got it).
Since most of the titles are ineffectual, I decided Lady of Almas fit perfectly. :-) I even recently paid to have her silken ceremonial armor glamered so she can appear in full Eagle Knight dress. (And let's face it, an Irrisen Jadwiga who is a Taldan noble, being an Eagle Knight on top of it, is funny.)
She does have a 'mechanical vanity' I bought theives guild, since I was putting points in sleight of hand. (Hey I'm Taldor, faction missions might have needed it.) I joke she tells people, "I came south to learn, and fell in with a band of murders, cutthroats and robbers. Then I joined a thieves guild!"
For my GM boon at Origins I took the Cinderlands Boon, just so she can be scantly clad in the heat as well as the cold. Is that vain enough?
Samiel
I don't have Mayim's vanities off the top of my head.
|
|
I am Baku Shadescar, Riftwarden of Osirion (vanity), patroller of Mendev (from Wardstone Patrol), worshiper of the Seventh Veil (Sivanah), and I consider myself a humble Student of Philosophy (trait). I seek to understand the mysteries of Time (my Witch patron), for time has a way of revealing, and concealing, all mysteries.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My Paladin bought a Farm. She breeds horses there. This is because, se just adores animals and was very happy when she got her paladin mount. Being a bit simple, the city life of Absalom tends to overwhelm her sometimes. So she goes to the farm to spend some time with the animals in a more relaxing environment that lets her focus on manual labour, which she is good at. It could be said that choosing the vanity for her was caused by the acquiring of her mount, not any specific scenario.
|
|
I have a few favorite vanities; I usually try to buy one per PC that defines the PC in question’s non-Pathfinding time. It rarely works, but I’ve tried. I’ll take a stab at a few of my favorites, as with twelve PCs I don’t think I could reasonably do them all justice. Note that as PCs get higher in level I start spending their Prestige a lot more liberally; at least in the 1-5 range I am not (with one exception, my bloatmage Harmandar) sinking much PP into fluff, so these characters are all in the 9+ range, where they've got 16 PP banked for a rainy (bloody?) day.
Filraen’s retirement strategy initially included either a Coastal Island or Pathfinder Lodge vanity. However, the coastal island was going to clean out all his prestige, and what’s a vacant patch of land in the sea going to do for anyone if you can’t afford to put any structures on it? Likewise, the Pathfinder Lodge just didn’t fit; titular Venture-Captain or not Filraen has little love for the Decemvirate anymore and I can’t see him leading a Lodge with Decemvirate sanction after Eyes of the Ten; he is especially disgusted by the way they fail to share knowledge pertinent to the missions their field agents are sent on with the very field agents they’re putting in danger. So, Filraen purchased the Information Brokerage vanity in an attempt to set himself up in the role vacated by Grandmaster Torch; the Society’s spymaster and dealer in secrets who uses his knowledge to forewarn field agents of key pieces of information left out by their loyalist masters while hiding beyond the reach of any reprisals either in his tower in Westcrown or in his office at the Acadamae in Korvosa, where he is a tenured professor.
Lucy, member of a noble house on the outs after the Henderthane Affair, has used her status as a Pathfinder to set up an import/export business. She has now purchased multiple Ship vanities, and while she hasn't the faintest idea how to sail herself she aspires to expand her fledgling import/export business in order to reclaim some of the prestige her family lost in the aforementioned Henderthane Affair. She already has a legitimate cover business and is even willing to move some “hot property” for the right price. Also, as a legitimate business owner she decided to set down roots with a Country Estate within sight of the city of Korvosa; she can't return to the home country yet, but she can certainly live in the Imperial backwater. Its better than living Andoran, or Taldor...
Ghorbas is an alchemist and merchant, who has invested the considerable wealth his work with the Pathfinders has accumulated into building and maintaining an alchemist’s shop in Absalom as well as building his reputation in Qadira itself; he is not Kelish, just greedy. To transport his wares from the City at the Center of the World, he also owns a ship and a caravan to distribute his goods across the face of Golarion, and after his last adventure must carefully weigh the advantages of investing in a second caravan (to broaden his overland reach once his goods land in Katheer), upgrading the shop itself (more and better goods), or diversifying his holdings (an Artisan's Shop for a different Craft skill). He has also recently purchased a place among the Prophets of Kalistrade; he can see no other religious practice worthy of his efforts.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
|
My bard recently bought his first ever vanity. We were supposed to carry a cursed item from someplace to some other place. None of us in the party wanted to be the one to do it, so I spent the Prestige and bought a Porter.
We called him Guiness the Stout. He's a Dwarf. And now whenever we have a dangerous McGuffin to carry anyplace, he's the one to do it!
Did I mention that my character is a Sczarni? ;-)
|
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
My alchemist bought a porter to carry him around in his pimped-out rickshaw, or to carry an umbrella to shade him from the sun if he deigns to walk. He also got the title of Brother from the Lantern Lodge before it closed, and insists on everyone using it.
My monk also got a porter who follows him around with a 300 pound log, as part of his monastic training. I'm still waiting for the day that log comes in handy...
|
|
This is what the divination's say about me past.
"He's an old salt beard who's ship crashed 150 years ago, he ended up stranded on a volcanic island, one day during a storm he wandered into a cave, a mudslide and bonk on the head later, he had no memory of any of it."
Then I met this new family of Spinosaurus, it took me some time but I learned to communicate with them, now we're family.
Trouble has befallen me "families" home island (the volcano is looking none-to-pleased) and I have to make fame and fortune to buy myself and my family a newer, safer island. Grandmaster Torch promised me an island should I turn over the names of the Decemvirate and work my way into their good graces.
After [Rivalry's End], I found that Valsin could offer me the same island for my loyalties, oh the joy of a safe, non-volcanic home!
Now me an my "brother" Gnom carry out missions for the Pathfinder Society in a concerted effort to earn rights to our own, dormant, island.
|
My now Retired Cleric had the temple vanity and the Brother the from Lantern Lodge. Being the merciful healer that he is he willing heals the bbgs so that may repent of their sins. He now spends his days in Goka helping out Amara Li with the day to day running of the lodge.
My rogue Natasha owns her own Caravan because it helps her bring in and take out the numerous items she has acquired to Absalom.
|
|
My monk, Brother Fung Xi, is a Temple Member at the the Temple of the Dawnflower in Absalom. After being on the receiving end of Kyra's healing during numerous missions, and having theological discussions with her, Brother Fung decided to give back to Sarenrae by putting in time helping to heal the masses with his skill at accupressure and herbal medicine.
|
|
I've said this before, but my -1 is a jeweler first, a dwarf second and a pathfinder third. Galdur XXI has the vanity trait and lots of rings. He opened a jewelry shop in Absalom and fellow pathfinders from a PaizoCon table helped me name it. The Emerald Heirloom came about because of all the emerald eagles he brought forth while questing for perfection (and the emerald rings he ogled while others were successfully perceiving important stuff (yeah rolled a lot of 3's that day) :)
On a recent trip to Nantumba, other pathfinders (I was GM) created a distraction by talking about a fashion book titled the 'Book of Galdur.' Galdur XXI will purchase a shop there as well ( spoilers).
|
|
I have two characters who have purchased vanities so far:
Kseniya, my Spirit Guide Oracle with the Life Mystery, is a devout follower of Sarenrae (she also belongs to the Silver Crusade) and has from her first mission onwards always considered herself a Healer-Priestess of the Dawnbringer (she does have a rank in Knowledge-Religion to back up that claim). Naturally she got the Temple vanity as soon as she had enough prestige to pay for it-- that makes her Healer-Priestess claim rather more official. It does have the extra benefit that she can now use her Healing skill to make day job rolls, but I'd've done it for the flavor without that cookie anyway.
Elaine de Maris (a 1st-level character who might be getting a slight rebuild as Elan de la Mer before hitting 2nd level) is an Undine Slayer who more or less concentrates on being an amphibious sniper with an underwater crossbow. She has accepted an invitation to join one of Absalom's Hunting Lodges following her first mission (i.e., when she'd earned the two prestige points necessary to pay for that vanity)-- apparently enough folks were impressed with her underwater hunting skills, very much akin to modern spearfishing practice, to decide she'd be an asset to their organization. This character also has a day job check now-- using survival to represent her underwater hunting makes much more sense than giving her 'profession-fisherman' when her prey may be the same but the techniques are totally different (the vanity lets me use survival for day job checks-- it's still up to me to explain exactly how she's using it).
Almost all of my characters have applicable skills and make day job checks, btw-- and really, it's not so much for the money, which folks have noted isn't all that much compared to the loot from each mission; but is much more to flesh out my characters and explain what they're up to and how they're paying the bills between PFS adventures. Most of my characters that I've made only have one or two adventures under their belt so far and so haven't earned enough prestige to do much with vanities yet(Crispin "Kitty Boy" and Kseniya are the ones I have been focusing on so far-- I haven't really found anything that Crispin would want to spend prestige on yet-- for day-job checks, well... Crispin's a dancer, and he's actually pretty good at it-- and what better job for a self-described "Kitty Boy" than showing off and partying it up in public?).
|
|
All (three) of my society characters have bought vanities.
My bloodrager Saphira has the ship vanity, mostly because I've been adding the skull & shackles chronicle sheets to her which makes her a pirate, and a pirate needs a ship. So now she sails the Inner Sea with her Man-o'-war The Drunk Tribute. I'm saving up for an island vanity to have a nice hideout from which to sail from.
Alma, my arcane trickster, purchased a wizard's tower to have a hideout for her dayjob, namely thief (the thieve's guild vanity, to use sleight of hand as dayjob). The added advantage of the wizard's tower reduction in spellbook scribing costs help offset the prestige class.
Shamira, my hunter, joined a hunting lodge as soon as she was able, because anything to get out into the wilds and getting paid is a good idea.
|
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
Hmm. A coastal island might be nice actually. Goes well with my title. It's quite expensive though.
Looking at the coast of many vanities - particularly the ones that enhance Day Job rolls - I get the feeling whoever wrote them thought that PP would be much more plentiful compared to gold/XP than they are in practice.
|
|
I have several characters with vanities that suit their characters:
Trade Princess Katarina acquired her title and a caravan at the same time, signifying her transition from a small time con artist to a successful merchant (although it's still a bluff-driven caravan). The idea of rising up from her poor roots has been a theme I've tried to develop in that character.
Auggie, my rogue who thinks of himself as Batman to the Silver Crusade's Justice League, has purchased several vanities to help further that analogy. He has a townhouse in Absalom, and a butler (seneschal) to help him recover after rough nights of dispensing justice from the shadows. He also works at the temple, but he has only one rank in the heal skill, so he is more of a philanthropist volunteer who never gets paid much for his efforts.
My paladin, Dr. Barjandar, also works at the temple between Pathfinder missions, but he's actually good at healing people because he's, you know, a doctor.
|
|
I have realized that I might just get a vanity for Crispin Kitty-boy... He's had several run-ins with the Blackros museum and the Blackros family-- he doesn't like them much at all, because they're slavers, their morals are highly questionable on other counts, they built their wealth on very underhanded trading methods (did I mention Crispin's Silver Crusade and a Sarenite?)....
Nonetheless, I'm thinking of spending the 20 prestige points to be adopted into the Blackros family (because it's funnier that way, and I do have the option of hanging that on the character)-- it's not by marriage or necessarily Crispin's own choice, it's because (for Gods-only known what reasons) the Blackros family have come to regard Crispin as the family cat...
|
|
I got a pirate ship on my Seeker. I think it's been with him ever since Field Guide became legal. Been both a boon and a bane on him, but overall something really memorable and even evocative.
Initially it was an incredibly dangerous buy for a fifth level melee character who'd just changed factions("I do this for Taldor", my ass). I really tensed with my 6 pp when entering cqc with a boss, for instance. Eventually I got far enough that it didn't matter much anymore, but 10 pp with zero benefits was a bit much in hindsight.
Then I played Blood Under Absalom. There my character, who had just hit season 3 and realised that Finesse and TWF with a shield wouldn't really do it anymore and was constantly struggling, got to use his ship as part of an encounter and boy did it become a highlight of that session.
After that the ship started to have a life of its own. Dagon's Eye and its terribly lawful and entirely notn-piratical crew would feature each time a party left for faraway nations or just crossed the Inner Sea. And I wasn't the only gm to do so either. It's been a bit of a local running gag.
Nowadays I've retired my Seeker but have a crewful of misfits ready to serve as characters, from a scholarly chirurgeon to a dwarf bosun. And naturally that Seeker's protege is a crew member too.
It's a gift that keeps on giving.
|
Greetings Hashram,
You are looking in the wrong brochure for the tower. It can be found in the Society Primer, next to the option for obtaining your own Lodge, which I purchased, being recently promoted to Venture Captain.
With regards,
Venture Captain Shamira, Mammothrider of the Slothjaw Following.
|
|
I have a Taldan Paladin that I modeled after a Southern Bell. The characters has a keep from a module which I can't remember that allows you to forgo a day job check for extra prestige. Took Always Fashionable trait, the similar Taldor vanity, nobel title vanity, the Farm, the Island, the Mansion, and several porters.
Basically she owns a plantation on a private island.
I plan on GMing Eyes of the Ten so she can finally retire to idle-rich and pass on her advice to her protege.
Yes, she's a snobby, stuck up rhymes-with-witch, but nothing says a Paladin can't be one. In the event that she has to actually interact with the common folk, she can just put on her poor-people-gloves and get to work.
|
|
My halfling rogue is an escaped Chelaxian slave and has been building his business up since early on. First he purchased shares in a caravan, eventually buying it out. Then he began working in property brokerage, buying and selling land and buildings. Between Veteran Caravan Services and Freedom Consulting, he can move most anything in Golarion anywhere in Golarion. :)
|
|
Three words:
"Because you cannot trust goblins with your explosives"
Servicing Absalom now for three years in providing the finest in explosives and fireworks.
(Artisan's Shop vanity. I even hand out business cards and coupons to the other players at my table. I cannot wait to get a +2 to CHA so I can hire a seneschal to run the business.)
|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
|
My Andoran Magus took ranks giving her the title of Eagle Knight-Captain.
My Chelaxian Summoner had a boon from Zarta that let him take an Eagle Knight title... mainly to annoy the Andorans. as well as Signifier rank in the HellKnights.
My Melee arcaeologist has Lion Blade from Taldor faction, Eagle knight from playing <redacted> and is now Darchive. He also has a herald vanity to represent the slave he bought during <redacted> to serve as his announcer.
|
|
My cultural-appropriating Taldan Samurai has himself a herald that he calls Stewart and also has dominion over the previously-mentioned keep. Once he's regained his prestige from a slightly embarassing bout of minor death, he intends to obtain a steward for the keep, and will probably call him Harold, regardless of the poor man's name.
My reforming ex-pirate also obtained a scholar to help with studies of the divine which seemed to be coming up frequently. He affectionately nick-named her Books, and then she's persisted to be absolutely useless at providing help. He consistently fantasizes having her walk the plank in order to impress upon her successor the importance of actually being knowledgable about essential things, but can't help but think that his companions in the Silver Crusade would see this as back-sliding and not a good captain's take on discipline.
