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Anyone here play a character with any?
I'll give an example.
My half-orc barbarian has a goal. He wants to have an entire outfit looted from defeated enemies. This started when, on the spur of the moment, he demanded that a prisoner hand over his pants. He proudly wore those pants as a sign of his victory. Later, his party captured a cultist. The half-orc stole the man's boots, which more-or-less fit him (yay for being an invulnerable rager, take that non-lethal-your-boots-don't-fit-damage). He's currently on the hunt for a new shirt and, most importantly, a hat.
None of this has any mechanical benefits. But it just ended up being something that he's working towards.
Anyone else have a story like that?
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For most of my characters, their important goals aren't mechanical. Feeding the hungry, protecting the homeland, and the like. I don't think I have played a character in decades who was all about the acquisition of powerful things. I guess that is part of why I am out of step with traditional Pathfinder.
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I am playing a dancer who wants to open a burlesque bar.
She also wanted to be famous in other planes of creation for dancing but that's already happened.
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I've always thought it would be interesting to collect a vial of blood from the different enemies you kill, until you have enough to fill up a tub. Then, things will turn into a real bloodbath.
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What something like true love?
Well I've just pursued finding the shiniest things, lighting the biggest things on fire, and then just retiring as a cult leader for fire. Simple amenities.
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I only played one character whose goals were more or less mechanic, this one I am posting with.
She received one piece of a set of powerful (and cursed) items and got herself obsessed with getting all of them, knowing that they will make her more powerful but that they were dangerous too.
She was completely obsessed, thinking that it was her destiny (nobody told her that, she just started believing it) and lying to herself saying that she wanted to collect the items to protect other people from their evil influence.
She is a NE character with a kinda selfish and ambitious nature.
In the end of the story she finished getting all the desired items... And she sacrificed all of them for the greater good (yes, being neutral evil, alignments are a complex thing). Most of her magic equipment was composed of those cursed items, so she sacrificed a lot of her wealth there. And she has never regretted it. She actually feels really proud of herself for having done the right thing.
Even though I was playing her, I was surprised by what she did and that she was completely sure of what she was doing. She didn't redeem herself or anything like that by doing it. She's still NE and proud of it, but even evil characters can have heroic moments.
My other characters have less materialistic goals.
My witch only wants to keep her party alive. Doesn't care a lot about her own life, but her party has to live. Also she wants to find a place that she could call home.
My ninja wants to know herself better. She has been taught to deny herself and to see herself as a part of a whole rather than a single individual and now she's exploring what being herself means.
My elven cleric wants to bring back the old good days for her people and fight corruption against her kind, discover ancient and forgotten knowledge and live her life to the limits.
And I guess I could mention a lot more characters but these are the four that come to my mind now.
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Which character?
They all have various goals.
The most important and impossible one is my Kingmaker character; he wants to establish a lasting memetic culture that continues through the ages as a form of shifting according to the needs, but ultimately good (preferably lawful), so that, by the time the kingdom and even all the people that now live (even immortal ones) are dead, and forgotten, the concept of a lawful good culture will linger.
He wants to create something so subtle and pervasive that it influences future generations, even once the original culture itself is no longer a thing.
He's working on various ways of doing that, from slowly increasing the celestial bloodlines; to finding ways to alter culture of ogres (and see if there's a way to "uplift" them out of their self-imposed inbred corruption), to working out psychological-mathematical probabilities of cultural elements so that it has the best chance of working out, regardless of the "free will" of various people and their choices (in other words, by accounting for the freedom of choice, but also psychological probability and tendencies, and influences from the beyond, as much as possible); and by establishing long-lasting "semi-eternal" guardians (he knows Pharasma's gig - he's not trying to make them "eternal" any more than anything else really could be) and people capable of leading and guiding others through the ages beyond just himself and his goals.
He's also doing so with the understanding that such can be corrupted or destroyed, and figuring out how to avoid or correct for that.
One goal one of my characters has is invading and purifying/hallowing the abyss, and subtly "corrupting" the demons and qlippoth there so that they secretly become lawful good mind-copies of himself. While recognizing any such thing is hypothetically temporary, at best, he kind of hopes to trick the Abyss into doing that itself (in the same way the abyss learned to "use souls" to create demons, except this time it's probably him). Recognizing the inevitable corruption against NI forces of fundamental evil that will occur, he also is working on setting it up so that anything that becomes corrupt is instantly exploded into one last hallowed region and disintegrates everything evil nearby. Though, I suppose this one can kind of be done mostly mechanically.
One goal a character has is to create a fake religion that somehow becomes true. He doesn't really care it's final alignment so long as it's not-evil and not-true-neutral (and prrrooooobably not lawful?).
One goal a character has is to create a persona of its (it's a doppleganger) that becomes so famous and powerful that the persona actually ascends to become a saint and then deity. Note: the doppleganger itself doesn't care - it just wants the persona to succeed.
One goal a character has is to become a Chelaxian noble on some lightly-ruled southern coast in order to maybe influence things later, perhaps. He also wants to see about a long-term "partnership" with a fellow Pathfinder, and a local guide. Also, he wants to, ah, "get to know" a dragon. He, uh... he's pretty... well, he's unique. >.>
So that's just a few off the top of my head. There are many more, and they get weirder, I'm sure...
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I have a character whose goal is coalescing right now.
She started out wanting to kill her arch-nemesis, an evil Sorceress who killed her parents & destroyed her home village. I took the idea from a story feat in Ultimate Campaign, but the GM asked me not to take the feat. Just as well, since when said arch-nemesis confronted the party, she knocked my PC & her twin brother unconscious -- only to be slain by a barbarian friend. That was mechanic-free, sort of, since I didn't have the feat.
It turns out that the arch-nemesis wanted help against a far-away nation that enslaves sorcerers. (Albeit, being evil, she had a nasty way of trying to get it.) And who showed up after that fight? Someone from that nation with a docile pet sorceress wearing a pretty gold collar. My PC didn't confront him, but fled.
But the memory is troubling her. I don't know if she's going to start trying to end slavery around her, or actually foment a revolt in a nation. I think she understands that that's above her pay-grade...
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More specific than my first post:
Little Flower wants to be a better person than she was raised to be. She slips now and again. She tries to do as much good as she can while doing the things that she must.
The Prince just wants to experience and do things, and avoid Court and Councils. Mostly he wants to quiet the ghostly voices of his ancestors, especially all the judgments on how little he has accomplished, and how easy he has it.
The Huntress seeks the one who cozened her into betraying her people, and then betrayed her in turn.
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My Kingmaker PC wanted to wear stripey pants and build a Brothel in every city. He accomplished both goals (though Brothels got changed to Dance Halls about halfway through the campaign)
My Viking wanted to own a ship and now owns several. He also wants to have the official title of “Jarl” though it always seems to elude him somehow. He paints all of his armor red (partially due to the old SNL “Big Red” skit), and he brags incessantly.
Chief Sharky the goblin wants to “give glory to Lamashtu” by creating animal headed humanoids and humanoid headed animals through the practice of “animal husbandry” using the Demon Mother’s Mask. He also likes converting humans and similar races into cannibals “for the glory of Venkelvore”. Those who won’t adopt these practices willingly are given to the tribe’s Cleric and Witch to be turned into ghouls. In semi-related news, my orc PC in another game theoretically enjoys creating “half-orcs who will never be as strong as their father” (though always in an “offscreen” sort of way - nothing specific)
I think the old Planescape setting was interesting since it could help give your PCs some roleplaying goals. For instance, a Sensate was likely to take some risks for the chance to have new experiences.
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I am currently playing a CN necromancer wizard who is on a quest to find the most delicious ham sandwitch in the land
"... and animate it."
I am currently playing a CN necromancer wizard who is on a quest to find the most delicious ham sandwitch in the land
"... and animate it."
You can get a lot of inspiration from real life for that one, I guess.
More a habit than goal, but a 3.5 fighter I played wanted to meep trophy pelts or apparel from stuff the party killed. Giant croc skin boots, direwolf pelt cloak, cave bear rug in the party's club house, that sort of thing.
Or my wizard/ lore master who journals/ records everything mystical or historic the party comes across. Sketches of rune circles (with noted alterations just in case the image could be active), rubbings of grave markers and reliefs on walls, and the like.