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Our GM has come up with a game where we are playing an intrigue city and kingdom style of game and we are scions/nobles of a great house.
Given this game is more intrigue based what ideas would people have to play? As far as I know we are simply members of a great house, the GM wants it Game of Thrones style but set in Faerun near Damara.
Im leaning to a rogue, but other ideas I havent considered are welcome.
Power Hungry Sorceress from a noble family :)
You might want to confer with your GM how combat oriented the game will be, but it might be really interesting to play an actual Noble Scion. Some good candidates for base classes could be bard, rogue, or even aristocrat, if it's going to be a truly low-combat campaign. Playing an aristocrat would also boost your desire to wield power as they do in Game of Thrones, because if you screw up and get assassins sent after you, you probably won't survive that hidden crossbow bolt from the crowd, which makes things so much more interesting!
A bard would be good but in my opinion none of the classes scream noble like the cavalier. They get know nobility which sounds like it would be useful in that campaign to figure out who's who and who works for who. But I could see a down side to it with most of their stuff being about horses. Maybe ask the DM if he plans on jousting competitions.
Edit maybe ask how often you will be traveling too. Nobles seem to do that a lot.
Also ask if he wants to introduce a social combat mechanic and/or implement the diplomacy fix
Ultimate Relationships by Legendary Games might also be a great addition as well as Psychological Combat and/or Complete Leadership by Everyman Gaming.
As for classes:
For Cavalier I think either gendarme or honor guard get rid of the horse. Maybe also Daring Champion? Swashbuckler would also be a great fit IMHO.
Though I must note that Damara is a rather dark land not the classical nobles and intrigue setting but a lot more frontier/mercenary, cold and dark.
What do you know about the land it's history and the house you will be part of?
Damara is the former Bloodstone Lands and part of the Cold Lands near the Great Glacier. When think of it I think of a Lich King, Castle Perilous, Orcus, Tiamat(?), the paladin King Gareth Dragonbane, a semi-secret assassin brotherhood, dragons, monks, evil Druids, witches and mercenaries and adventurers who want to earn the bounty on orcs, goblins, giants and bugbears left over from the Lich Kings reign.
You need not go all romantic noble court here. Might be a mighty knight in shining armor on a horse is better suited than a courtier, as would a stealthy killer, mighty wizard or cleric of a dark god. Or a halforc gutter rat turned paladin struggling against prejudice and evil.
I suggest you ask the DM where you can read up the history (this site is pretty spoiler free IMHO) and which city and noble house you'll be part of. And then build a character.
Court Bard could be fun. Be a posh jerk who hurts the feelings of your enemies so bad they are supernaturally belittled.
I mentioned this on another "Noble themed thread" here on the boards, but the Rite Publishing Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG) has a supplement called Way of the Samurai (PFRPG) that has rules to creating a custom Samurai clan - which could easily be adapted to creating any noble house of any culture. I've been using it to create custom noble houses and military units, while using similar "create a yakuza gang" rules to define criminal syndicates and guild houses - for a Euro-analog based game.
As an aside, samurai would fit as a noble class as well. Even reflavoring some of the features to be less Japanese, I find the samurai as a noble a better choice than a cavalier.
Also Way of the Samurai (PFRPG) features a prestige class called Bugyo, that is very much a noble holding an important government office. Of course the "Tea Ceremony" feature is a bit heavy on the Japan-flavored that too could be modified to some other activity involving diplomacy (say chess instead of tea ceremony for the same effect?). Still the Bugyo is an excellent representation of a noble government official for any "noble game".
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This is the updated email I have received.
"Your father Sir Velitrix has completed his indentured service to the Kingdom of Bloodstone. Your family served in Vaasa during the wars many years ago....Veltrix swore fealty to Bloodstone after WytchKing Zhengy fell. His brothers and he served loyally in cleansing Vaasa of the stain that pervaded the land. At 60 yrs old and with a Knighthood in hand he was awarded Baronet status within the Barony of Morov (capital city of Heliogabalus with Baron Dermot Tranthe). Velitrix gladly brought his family and retinue to his new post ....
....start of game is our family and retinue enroute to our new post.
So plz brainstorm what position and where you want to be in family status. We are technically an Upper middle class family from Vaasa whose Father has ,through deed and service, brought us into lesser nobility."
So not exactly scions of a great house huh?
What classes do you enjoy? What alignments? What alignments are allowed? What do the others play?
What is the starting level? What sources allowed?
Cavalier might be a good fit for the son of a knight. Or be the sickly outsider third son who studied wizardry. Or the halforc bastard son?
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Whatever you like and fits in with the party, really. Maybe put some effort into good social skills.
'Noble' is a term easily applied to absolutely any class. I've got an Orc Barbarian Princess in my (currently on hiatus) Pathfinder game. Now, granted, she's a princess of a barbarian people...but still.
I mean, Gregor Clegane of Game of Thrones is likely a Barbarian (maybe with a Fighter dip) in terms of class, and with rock-bottom Charisma to boot, but he's still a nobleman, and officially a knight.
So...make a character like you normally would. Some party coordination is likely a good idea, but that's always true, though in this case you're gonna want to decide things like who's the eldest child, and your existing relationships as well as what Class everyone is.
This is the updated email I have received.
"Your father Sir Velitrix has completed his indentured service to the Kingdom of Bloodstone. Your family served in Vaasa during the wars many years ago....Veltrix swore fealty to Bloodstone after WytchKing Zhengy fell. His brothers and he served loyally in cleansing Vaasa of the stain that pervaded the land. At 60 yrs old and with a Knighthood in hand he was awarded Baronet status within the Barony of Morov (capital city of Heliogabalus with Baron Dermot Tranthe). Velitrix gladly brought his family and retinue to his new post ....
....start of game is our family and retinue enroute to our new post.So plz brainstorm what position and where you want to be in family status. We are technically an Upper middle class family from Vaasa whose Father has ,through deed and service, brought us into lesser nobility."
If you were to use the "Create a Samurai Clan" rules to build the noble house Velitrix, what you'd need to know is the general alignment of your noble house (usually within one step of loyal members of that house) which provides 3 personality traits. Then you'd want to assign 3 personality traits for the liegelord - in this case probably the Baron of Morov. Then you'd want to assign 3 personality traits to your father - all personality traits are included in the rules linked above. You then pick one alignment trait, one liegelord trait, and one of your father's traits to represent your noble house traits which in turn affects the scores of your house's qualities (honor, morale, society, lore). Note: the Samurai clan creation rules are based off the city stat block.
You'd also want to know the population of your noble house, that is all serving members of the family, in-law allies, included military unit (if any), and all noble servants. This would not include the population of the people your house has responsibility over. Then determine your noble house's wealth level. Population and wealth level determine how many enterprises your house is associated, as well as its purchase and import limits.
Taking the time to do all this really helps define your noble house in way that is looking at a stat block, like looking at a character sheet and comprehending the whole.
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18 years has past since the Heroes of Bloodstone defeated Wytchking Zhengy and the Brotherhood of Assasins, uniting Vaasa and Damara. Then uniting the barbarian lands of Narfell....
A united and prosperous kingdom of Bloodstone ruled by Queen Citysong and The 6th Duke of Bloodstone Victor Kheldren leads the region in commerce and Military might. King Vaux and Queen Nia of Narfell rule the eastern lands.
The heirs of Bloodstone and Narfell have reached their late teens.....
The arranged marriage of the Princess of The Kingdom of Bloodstone and Prince of Narfell is underway......
....held within Heliogabalus where Baron Dermot Tranthe governs benevolently.
Ok so my concept new campaign starts here....a new House has begun with the newly united Scions begin their life....
....Pathfinder Forgotten Realms meets Game of Thrones intrigue setting is what iam striving for. Using PF rules. (Not actually in GoT world)
Using the old capital city of Damara, Heliogabalus for the new House. Now a major trade center in the North, within the Kingdom of Bloodstone.
So each Player will control 1 Scion and 1 servant/ or armsman/or merchant/type backup character.
1st lvl start for main. O lvl for backup at -500 xp tnl. No Flaws. No Favored class feats. 2 traits. Pf only classes.
Play a discrete witch, something like Evil Eye and Misfortune could be fun applied to diplomatic talks and have just as much utility as combat. Two nobles are pleading their cases in front of the king, and you're just standing there giving Sir Badguy of Eviltude the stink eye, and he's blundering his arguments sounding like a fool leading to Sir Goodguy of Yay!dom winning the day.
But honestly, play what you think would be the most fun, sounds like the DM wants Characters, not statblocks, so think up the story you want to play and what works best for that :)