Been trying to think of a good source for some custom characters to tackle Skull & Shackles, and decided to try bringing to Golarion a few favourites from Firefly.
check out the others:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rvkx?Firefly-Custom-Characters-Mal#1
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rvkz?Firefly-Custom-Characters-Jayne-Cobb
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rvl0?Firefly-Custom-Characters-River-Tamm
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rvl1?Firefly-Custom-Characters-Inara#1
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rvl2?Firefly-Custom-Characters-Kaylee#1
Shepherd Book – Male, human, Cleric
Favoured card type: Blessing
Str – D6
Dex – D6
Con – D4
Int – D8 – Kno +2
Wis – D10 – Div +2, Per +1
Cha – D6
Weapon 2
Spell 3
Armour 1
Item 3
Ally 2
Blessing 4
Hand size 5 []6. []Proficient with Weapons
Instead of your first exploration on a turn, you may reveal a card that has the Divine trait to choose a character at your location. Shuffle 1d4+1 ([]+2) random cards from his discard pile into his deck, then discard the card you revealed.
You may evade a bane with the human trait ([] and place it on top of the location it came from).
I like this design conceptually, but I don't think it really comes together.
First, you only have 40 points of dice in your skills, when the standard is 42, so you can probably up one die. Second, you have 2 weapons, but no weapon use skill and only a d6 for either str or dex. Essentially, you have the card distribution and powers of a mixed support/combat character, but the stats of a pure support character. I feel like he's going to be really frustrating to play as.
I'd recommend going one of two directions: give him somewhat better combat ability, possibly upping his strength or dex and maybe even giving melee/ranged (He was clearly skilled with weapons, even though he chose not to use them). The other direction is making him a stronger support character. In that case, I'd probably try to give him more spells and blessings, allowing him to support other people on their turns, so there's less of a penalty if he can't do anything on his own explorations.
Sorry if this wasn't very helpful. I don't think there's anything wrong with the individual powers here. I just look at the overall card, and I don't really see much worth playing. I think you need to do something to make it a bit more exciting.
I definitely struggled with this one- I've only gone for six characters, as I want to play them as a party, so I needed a healer other than Simon- all the clerics so far have had a healing ability.
The evade power was to represent unspecified connections, and his ID card, but it's not quite right.
I might go for something which allows him to discard a blessing (representing turning away from his more 'reformed' nature) to gain a short-term combat boost.
I definitely struggled with this one- I've only gone for six characters, as I want to play them as a party, so I needed a healer other than Simon- all the clerics so far have had a healing ability.
The evade power was to represent unspecified connections, and his ID card, but it's not quite right.
I might go for something which allows him to discard a blessing (representing turning away from his more 'reformed' nature) to gain a short-term combat boost.
That's an interesting idea. I really did like the evade power conceptually, but it just wasn't very powerful. You could go several ways with the blessing discard, and I'm curious to see where you end up with it.
Again, v2-
Shepherd Book
– Male, human, Cleric
Favoured card type: Blessing
Str – D68 []+1 []+2 []+3
Dex – D6 []+1 []+2
Con – D4 []+1 []+2
Int – D8 – Kno +2 []+1
Wis – D10 – Div +2, Per +1 []+1 []+2 []+3 []+4
Cha – D6 – Dip+1 []+1 []+2 []+3
Weapon 2 []3
Spell 3 []4 []5 []6
Armour 1 []2
Item 3 []4
Ally 2 []3 []4
Blessing 4 []5 []6
Hand size 5 []6.
Proficient with Weapons
Instead of your first exploration on a turn, you may reveal a card that has the Divine trait to choose a character at your location. Shuffle 1d4+1 ([]+2) random cards from his discard pile into his deck, then discard the card you revealed.
You may discard ([] recharge) a blessing to use a d12 for your strength or dexterity dice on your combat check
You may evade a bane with the human trait ([]and put it on top of the location it came from).
Roles
“Wasn’t born a Shepherd”
Hand size 5 []6.
Proficient with Weapons
Instead of your first exploration on a turn, you may reveal a card that has the Divine trait to choose a character at your location. Shuffle 1d4+1 ([]+2) random cards from his discard pile into his deck, then discard the card you revealed.
You may discard ([] recharge) a blessing to use a d12 for your strength or dexterity dice on your combat check ([] and add d4)([]+2)
[] You may evade a bane with the human trait ([] and put the bane on top of the location it came from).
[] Add 2 ([] 4 ) to your check to defeat villains ([] and henchmen)
[]You gain the skill disable ([] and craft) Intelligence +3.
Answers in a Bowl of Soup
Hand size 5 []6 []7.
Proficient with Weapons
Instead of your first exploration on a turn, you may reveal a card that has the Divine trait to choose a character at your location. Shuffle 1d4+1 ([]+2)([]+3)([]+4) random cards from his discard pile into his deck, ([] and 1 []2 cards from your discard pile into your deck) then discard the card you revealed.
You may discard ([] recharge) a blessing to use a d12 for your strength or dexterity dice on your combat check.
[]If another character plays a blessing on your check, you may add a d12 instead of the normal die. ([]if you succeed at the check they may recharge that blessing instead of discarding it)
You may evade a bane with the human trait ([]and put it on top of ([]or under the top card of) the location it came from).
Shepherd’s Book
Item
Object
Divine
Owner: Shepherd Book
Reveal this card to add D4 to your Divine or diplomacy check
Discard this card to automatically succeed at your check to acquire a card with the divine trait. If you have the Cleric trait, you may recharge it instead.
You made a lot of progress with this one. I like a lot of the things you did here. It's a big improvement.
1. First of all, you have a few typos to address. One, I don't think a d68 strength is balanced, or readily available at game stores, so you should probably stick with a d8 :). Two, You made the evade a human power require a feat in 'wasn't always a shepard' when it's baseline in the other 2. That means you have another feat to work with in that role.
2. I was initially concerned about being able to recharge to hulk up on the base card, but the more I've thought about it, only being able to use a blessing should be more than enough balance. Good call.
3. I don't like a power feat giving a skill with a +3 bonus. (I don't remember if there were already cards that did that, but I can't think of any) Just flavorfully, going from no skill to one of the highest trained in that skill doesn't work for me. I'd go with Int+2 for Disable and Craft.
4. I'm very worried about the blessing power in the 'answers' role. Having absolutely no limit on the type of blessing to be played, and you getting both the d12 AND recharge effects seems strong, even without you being able to play blessings on yourself. It's a new take on the power, so you may want to at least test it, but I'd put a very short leash on it, and have a replacement power in reserve.
5. For Sheperd's Book, I like it overall. I would consider going from Discard/Recharge to Bury/Discard (possibly Bury/Recharge). Giving anyone the ability to repeatedly pick up Divine spells and blessings seems like it's something you'd be getting a bit later on.
Hope that helps!
The d68 is when an alliance cruiser turns up to blast the shark for you :p
For the extra power, I'll add +2 to checks against ships.
I'll start by changing the blessing power to non-combat checks only - it feels more thematic anyway. If it seems overpowered, I can always tweak.
I think I'll go for bury/recharge on the book - all clerics are going to have divine anyway, so it's less distorting for them.
Jirelle has a very similar power - gaining a skill at +3 on a d8, with an option to add a second, but 2 is probably reasonable here.
The d68 is when an alliance cruiser turns up to blast the shark for you :p
For the extra power, I'll add +2 to checks against ships.
I'll start by changing the blessing power to non-combat checks only - it feels more thematic anyway. If it seems overpowered, I can always tweak.
I think I'll go for bury/recharge on the book - all clerics are going to have divine anyway, so it's less distorting for them.
Jirelle has a very similar power - gaining a skill at +3 on a d8, with an option to add a second, but 2 is probably reasonable here.
Ah, okay. I was thinking something had a +3 added, but couldn't remember. It still doesn't feel right to me, but obviously the people who do this for a living disagree, and you should probably trust them more :).
Those other changes sound good. Looking forward to hearing how it goes!