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Excellent. Let me take a quick look over the classes again, but I might prepare the alternate Ranger. What kind of insidious job could we have taken to land us in jail, hmm? Kidnapping a royal family member and holding them for ransom? Assassination? Racketeering? Intercepting travelling war funds? Drunken fights with the local guards? Or maybe three different crimes within the area?
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But if they were a lawfully bad guy, we'd probably still be jailed. I think morally grey is the best area for us to be in. As far as I can tell, the animal companion at 4th level's initiation modifier is wisdom...but the Ranger itself, it's initiation modifier is unnamed. It's likely wisdom as well, so we'll go with that.
Also, don't forget Martial Traditions. They look pretty cool and can add some flavor to the character.
So what if we did another bad guy a favor by assassinating his boss and were paid to take the fall and jail time? Just some neutrally grey folk in a lawful evil city, gettin' by.
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So there's this Martial Tradition called the Cirque de la Fumee. They're a travelling circus who are secretly mercenaries and will perform merc duties if the money is good.
“I join a family that provides a service. I don’t have to agree; just support. I keep the secrets of my family, I protect them from outsiders, and I speak up when it is right to do so. Just as a magician never reveals his methods, neither will I, and may my faithless tongue shrivel and rot if I break faith.”
Is their swear in oath.
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Two kinds of individual serve the Cirque de la Fumée. The main body - the performers - travel with the Cirque itself, put on shows, and move in the direction of employment. These members take pains to preserve the secrecy of the Cirque’s mercenary identity, shrouding its paramilitary dealings from outsiders even as they are hired out as soldiers, spies, and more. The other members, known as talent scouts, travel far and wide; these members handle recruitment, make contact with potential clients (always ensuring the anonymity of the Cirque itself), and are entrusted to handle difficult and dangerous jobs that require a lighter touch, or for which the Cirque is willing to cooperate with outsiders.
On the whole, the Cirque de la Fumée is fairly honorable. They don’t go back on their contracts, refund clients for failed jobs, and refuse jobs that require atrocities - which isn’t to say that they don’t have their darker side. When money is tight, or the story is intriguing enough, the Cirque is willing to assassinate, kidnap, and ruin lives. Individual members are expected to object and recuse themselves if they cannot stomach a job, and a passionate enough objection - assuming the Harlequin can rally her fellows - may lead to refusing the work. The Cirque de la Fumée always brings a personal touch to its duties, treating even war as performance art, and leaves a stunning variety of calling cards - posed bodies, fresh flowers, poetry, and more are all common. Others are sometimes unnerved by this ritualistic behavior, which is just how the Cirque likes it.
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Mm, yes, I see what you're getting at. It was just an idea. We could be from a larger company that just happen to be caught up in a scandal or two, or maybe prisoners of war, or are we more freelance mercs that did something illegal and it's up to us to sort things out alone.
Long story short, freelance or part of a company? I'm cool either way.
Also, I'm leaning towards a Catfolk ranger. But race and class don't define the entirety of a character. But I'm pretty sure he would be a findsman, one who is more suited for hunting down living and thinking targets.
Hey guys! Nice to be here. I like the idea of something more gray, morally ambiguous too - neutral, or even chaotic good. I love Firefly, for example, and Cowboy Bebop. As for race/class, I'm not there yet - it's gonna depend of the GM ruling. I'll probably try something more defensive from path of war :)
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Cowboy Bebop is the thing alright. I'm going for a striker kinda character, using the two claw attacks from the catfolk and broken blade. And eventually, an animal companion who also strikes.
So my character will function as a finds-man, tracker, and a well-rounded adventurer. There's a rogue, probably. I can't promise the best of stats, as catfolk lower Wis and increase Dex and Charisma.
I'm thinking my character was an ex yeoman, cultivating the land of some noble family or something. Then he left and joined the yet-to-be-named-group when they came into the land.
We still need a name for our group. I'll look some up and we can decide from them or from decide from not within them.
I like the Solstice Lords thing on this Martial Tradition, by the way! It could give us a cool line of work.
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The more dangerous form of neutrality: the ultimate balance of the univerrrrseee! This tradition looks pretty cool, as it offers different aspects to different alignments, but all function within one group.
I would love to take on the Autumn role, with a lawful evil catfolk ranger guy. Bribing and making under the table deals.
So, "The Wolves of Erheath" would be our group name, and we would be part of the "Lords of the Wheel"? I like it!
Did you check the "Solstice Lords" within the Lords of the Wheel? It seems they work almost like an "Internal Affairs" type of thing.
“I am not an assassin, to kill for mere money. I am not a murderer, to kill for convenience, or a thug, to kill for respect. I am a Lord, who kills to bring harmony, to ensure balance, and preserve the world against the forces which would destroy it. All things have their season to flourish and their season to die, and to this principle I dedicate my blade, my heart, and my soul. The Wheel is both beautiful and inevitable, and should I turn from it, let it crush my faithless heart.”
Since it's "any neutral", this basically means we can be NE, LN, TN, CN or NG. Quite the spectrum to be sincere! I like the LN-TN-CN chain, or the LN-TN-NE one.
So, ah. Hi folks. Jade Ripley, Dreamscarred Press. I wrote the Traditions you've been discussing! Saw your thread while I was passin' by, figured I'd pop in to say hi. Lemme know if I'm intrudin'.
Hi Jade! Nice to see you around. :) This "thread" is about a PbP game to start that requires a Trio. The game is focused on Path of War, hence why we'd like to explore Traditions.
Am I correct to assume the "Solstice Lords" work as some sort of "Internal Affairs" for the "Lords of the Wheel"?
In a group of three people following the Tradition, would each one of us occupy one of the seasons (Summer, Winter, etc.) and have a last season missing, or would we all be from the same "season"?
Welcome! You're not intruding :)
Flagged you guys' thread to be moved to the PbP forum. Just a heads up so you'll know where to find it when it gets moved.
Hi Jade! Nice to see you around. :) This "thread" is about a PbP game to start that requires a Trio. The game is focused on Path of War, hence why we'd like to explore Traditions.
Am I correct to assume the "Solstice Lords" work as some sort of "Internal Affairs" for the "Lords of the Wheel"?
In a group of three people following the Tradition, would each one of us occupy one of the seasons (Summer, Winter, etc.) and have a last season missing, or would we all be from the same "season"?
Welcome! You're not intruding :)
Solstice Lords are the internal affairs branch, yes. They generally pose (and to an extent, serve) as a member of another Season so as to deflect both internal and external suspicion; the Solstice is not casual knowledge.
As far as mixing Seasons, both styles potentially have merit. The trouble tends to be if someone loses track of the long-term picture and ends up in conflict with a fellow Lord, in terms of mixing things - but the varied approaches also make such mixed groups more versatile. It may be easiest to mix outside of direct opposition - that is to say, Autumn and Summer, or Spring and Winter, but not Spring and Autumn or Winter and Summer, but whatever totes your goats, my friends.
Solidly N Lords can join whatever Season they wish, incidentally. The Solstice keeps an eye on the choice such people make, as it tends to reveal something about their character and values.
While an entertaining (and yes, I'm stealing ideas from it) thread, shouldn't this go in the PbP area?
We should bring the GM in this thread, or pull it back to him :)
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He's looking for applications in a trio sorta manner. But I don't think it's really a PbP thread, cuz we aren't playing, just discussing the concept of playing.
So we're going with the Solstice lords. Which is an excellent idea! I am leaning towards Autumn, with the disguise of being a Winter soldier. Get it? We could each be a separate season, disguised as a different season, or not, but all work for the same goal: balance in the world.
Gotta bribe people in the guise of providing order.
He's looking for applications in a trio sorta manner. But I don't think it's really a PbP thread, cuz we aren't playing, just discussing the concept of playing.
That would fit under either "Recruitment" or "Play by Post Discussion" pretty well. =)
I know the game you're talking about, but it's still PbP stuff.
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Sloan Rybar was from an immigrant family, but knew the ways of ambushing prey and hunting like no other. So he offered his skills to the local lord, who was a small time noble. Being accepted, he worked to feed his family.
But then bandits came and threatened the local noble house. They named the lord a coward and the lord's pride wouldn't stand for such insults. So he gathered what men he could, Sloan included, and foolishly charged into the bandit camp. He was captured and Sloan escaped.
Technically out of a job, his family became ill with their slow starvation. Losing his parents to the common cold, he became an adventurer. And was found by a recruiter of the Lords of the Wheel while hunting in the cold, mountain air.
He lived for the Lords, passing their trials with the utmost faith. Willing to commit himself to their goal wholeheartedly, he was slowly moved into the internal affairs as a man who only cared for the goal and could do away with most of those that upset the balance of things.
He now operates in a mercenary company called the Wolves of Erhearth as an undercover Solstice Lord, handling the group's foreign connections.
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And then, in a little city-state called Marienburg, there was a local overlord who was spreading chaos through his hate speeches on other races. He was raising taxes to incredible, back-breaking amounts to fill his own wallet, threatening war on all of his peaceful neighbors.
The Wolves might have been led there by the trio of Solstice lords to see if they could secure a deal with this tyrant's enemies. But a fight broke out between the citizens and the guards, and the Wolves became involved.
Most of the Wolves were jailed, including the Solstice lords, under the pretense of trying to perform a coup (which wasn't a bad idea at all) and working against the city-state itself (which only included the tyrant).
I'm just spit-balling here, so if anyone has any other exciting things on the more recent trio backstory, feel free to comment away!
I like it! I think, however, we need to bring it up to the GM already. I'm not sure he'll like the whole Solstice Lords thing - he might want to make a change or two, I guess.