Hello everyone, I'm looking for two players to place in my Harrowing game. It's a lovely, fun module filled with all kinds of wacky characters and situations. This particular game features a restrictions, in that only archetypes that relate to the Harrow are allowed.
The two current characters are a Sczarni Swindler Rogue and a Cartomancer Witch, but don't fret about party balance: having a fun, creative character is the most important part.
You will begin playing captured by a weird planar traveler known as the Nightpeddler, enslaved and transported to an outpost in the desert.
Level: 8
Races: Core, Featured and Uncommon up to 17 RP
Classes: Suit Seeker Inquisitor, Card Caster Magus, Cartomancer Witch, Story Summoner (uses the unchained spell list), Harrow Bloodline Sorcerer, Harrowed Society Student Arcanist, and Sczarni Swindler Rogue. Additional archetypes can be homebrewed and houseruled if you'd like (I cobbled together a variation on the Varisian Pilgrim Cleric, for instance).
Harrow Warden Monk and Order of the Hammer Cavalier are Harrow-themed regarding lore, not gameplay, so not allowed.
Abilities: 20 pt buy, none over 18 or under 8 before racial modifiers.
Alignment: All and any, with some caveats. Lawful characters should know that the module takes place far from organized society and that the Harrow deck is bound to the powers of luck and randomness. Be mindful of this. Evil characters WILL be allowed, but take note: should you harm the party, murdering you in retaliation would not only be allowed, it would be thematically appropriate for the scenario. If you want to be evil, keep it tasteful. All in all, play alignments responsibly.
Traits: Two, and flavorwise appropriate.
Additional Rules: VMC is allowed, Automatic Bonus Progression and Background Skills are in effect.
Bonus Abilities
Your character is an expert harrower. You all get these abilities for free:
- Deck Connection: You starts the game with a masterwork harrow deck, which works as the wizard's arcane bond item (or the equivalent Arcane Bloodline feature if you are a spontaneous caster, Arcanists use the wizard-like rule). Any number of times per day, you can spend 10 minutes to attune with your deck. Doing so replenishes any card that has been destroyed. In case the whole deck has been destroyed, this attunement requires 8 hours and 200 gp per character level and generates a new masterwork harrow deck, without any magic enhancements that may have been placed on it. In case you are not a spellcaster, the deck allows you to prepare and cast a single 1st-level spell from the wizard/sorcerer or witch spell list once per day. The save DC of that spell is based on your highest mental score.
- Expert Harrower: You gain Harrowed as a bonus feat.
- Heart of the Cards: Choose one: you can use Harrow Casting as per the Harrower prestige class a number of day equal to half your character level, with access to all of the six Tower abilities, you can cast a greater harrowing spell as a spell-like ability once per day, or you gain access to the Card Sharp, Papercraft Tools and Harrow Strike rogue talents.
Posting Expectations: I'm going to take a page from Painlord and say "I'm going to hold you to the same standard as I hold myself: I expect you to post as often as is needed, adjusting to the pace of the group, as set by me. I plan to post at least once per day. When you do post, I expect you to push the action/story/RP or leave/pick up RP hooks. If our pacing changes to the point of negatively impacting your ability to keep up, I hope and expect that you will talk to me earlier rather than later. I promise to do the same if our positions are reversed." I admit I'm not the most punctual GM, but I am consistent and I won't abandon the game. If you have to leave or be away from the boards for a while, please warn beforehand.
I want to make a fun game. If you want to play a race for its flavor but the racial modifiers are all wrong (I don't mean suboptimal, I'm talking dwarf sorcerer wrong), or if you would like to take an archetype that would not be compatible with the harrowed one for just one feature(like Spirit Summoner and Story Summoner), ask away! I don't guarantee that I'll agree to everything, but I'll do my best to keep an open mind.
What to submit:
- Crunch. There will be time to collaboratively tweak your builds, but I want the complete character. You don't need to make an alias right away but keep fluff and crunch together.
- A backstory. There won't be a connection to the backstory during the module, so you can keep it short, but I'd like a paragraph on what made you go adventuring and another on what you did during your first levels.
- A description of your personality, with a couple of quirks. Tell me if your character dislikes boiled vegetables, has a secret love for romantic literature and an irrational fear of chickens, stuff like this.
- A roleplaying sample. Tell me a scene from your past, or how you found yourself captured, anything you like. Does not need to be extra-long.
Dotting as well, any chance that appropriate Spheres of Might/Power archetypes would be on the table?
An interesting idea!
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I love this module. I've both run and played it. Would that be a problem? I think I'm fairly good at separating player and character knowledge but I AM human and so am definitely imperfect at separating player and character knowledge :-(.
We're coming in mid adventure, I assume. I'd like to ask one question
Have they met the Rabbit Prince yet? Because if they haven't, I'm SO going to create a character who would duel and interact properly with him :-). He is my favourite character in the whole module
Edit: You almost certainly know this but the author of this module had extensive notes that didn't make it into the final product (about the same amount as DID make it in). These notes, IMHO, greatly enhance the module.
So, the following seems to thematically really fit in to me so I thought that I'd ask.
A Speaker for the Past Shaman. They use their old family Heirloom Harrow deck to commune with the spirits of the past. Mechanically probably unchanged except their Harrow Deck is required to commune with spirits and possibly as an extra component to some spells
@Aipaca: You know I love the systems, but I made the thread before knowing about it, so I'm checking with the current players.
@pauljathome:
About those notes, I read what she wrote in the discussion thread. Are those the ones you meant?
As for the class, I'm not sure, as I wanted some Harrow mechanics to be tied to it. I'm thinking about changing the familiar to a Cartomancer Witch's Spell Deck, though you'd lose the Spirit Animal features; and perhaps tying the Wandering Spirit choices to the cards, having you choose specific mysteries in accordance to cards you draw, losing some flexibility in exchange for something like increased CL for those spirit magic spells. Any ideas?
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Yup, I mean the notes in the discussion thread.
As to the class, the archetype already swaps out the familiar and communes with the spirits to regain spells. So, mechanically, that is already handled. But it also loses the Wandering Spirit so it doesn't combine with your idea.
Getting a random wandering spirit every day is an intriguing very Harrow-esque idea. In principle I quite like it. Not sure how that gets balanced given that one sort of needs to build for specific abilities.
But this is for 1/2 of a module. Balance isn't really all that important :-). I'll just make sure to build a character where the secondary spirit isn't crucial to the character.
Why don't we keep this simple? I replace the familiar with a bonded object that, obviously, has to be my Harrow Deck.
Every day I consult the deck and the deck determines what my wandering spirit is that day. If my character is chosen, we'll come up with the mapping of card drawn to spirit (probably a pretty simple mapping :-)).
Oh, would also probably have to draw cards for hexes. Essentially purely flavour but this is all about flavour :-).
@GM Sappy, I'm thinking of a Card Caster Mystic Magus from the Champions of the Spheres book, if SoM/SoP is approved by your current players.
@pauljathome: Alright, go for it!
@Aipaca: The Spheres systems are OK. Also, in the Auspician's Handbook playtest there are a few card-themed options for the Fate sphere, mostly the Parzivalian Knight Paladin archetype and the motif talents.
Well that archetype looks like a hell of a lot of fun, and looking over the allowed classes it seems like full-BAB front-liner is something that will be appreciated by the rest of the party, will get to work on it!
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Marinda is a middle aged Varisian Fortune Teller who keeps, despite her best efforts, stumbling into adventures.
Mechanically, she is a human Shaman with the Witch Doctor archetype. Somewhat modified to use the Harrow Deck to determine her daily Wandering Spirit.
Merinda was born into a travelling Varisian caravan and has spent her entire life in one.
From an early age she apprenticed to her mother, a renowned fortune teller. She expected her life to be fairly normal. Love, marriage, children. Nothing more exciting than the occassional encounter with the local constabulary or some minor bandits.
She was partly right. Love and marriage came to her, she has gradually become a leader in her group.
But a boring life? That was not in the Cards.
She doesn't know if her strange fate is a result of the Harrow Deck that she found. Or perhaps Desna, the Goddess that she worships, has a sense of humour and thinks that, in return for all the good luck she has definitely been granted, some bad luck was also in order.
When she was only 16 she was exploring some ancient ruins near to where her caravan was camped. The ruins, close to a road, had doubtless been searched thousands of times. But, somehow, by pure chance she stumbled onto a box under a pile of rocks where a wall had recently collapsed.
Inside the box was a Harrow Deck, a very old one. When she touched it, something happened. It was if the cards chose to speak to her. Many of them speaking.
Every morning from that time she has studied the deck. Every morning, the Theatre has talked to her. Or a spirit within that card has. Every morning, a spirit from a different card has also talked to her. And every day she has found herself able to use the deck to accomplish magical things.
Since then excitement has come to her despite herself. When a cousin was kidnapped by goblins, what choice did she have but to go and help rescue him? When the town they were resting in was besieged, of course she helped heal the injured at the battle front.
She strongly suspects the hand of the Gods are in some of this. Surely it was the most extreme coincidence that her caravan just "happened" to be in the small village when a grizly murder resulted in a shadow rising, a shadow who would surely have destroyed the entire village if not for the powers granted to her by The Theatre.
Her powers have been slowly growing over the years. And she has managed to accumulate some interesting items, most of them given to her as gifts in thanks for her help.
Marinda is a warm hearted motherly sort. Compassionate almost to a fault she is constantly taking lost children, animals, or entire villages under her wing.
While very interested in helping others she TRIES to do it without endangering herself. She is now the matriarch of her clan and knows that she cannot be easily replaced.
While she likes to look for the good in others she is no naif. She is aware that evil is a very real thing in this world, that the innocent looking beggar may be a bandit scout in disguise.
She LOVES fortune telling. It is one of the best ways to help others.
She despises with a fiery passion anybody who overtly or covertly worships evil in any form, or anybody who is so evil that they cannot be redeemed. Not a warrior she won't necessarily directly confront them but she will oppose them whenever possible.
While she was still an unmarried girl of 19 Marinda developed a great passion (or so she though) for Costin, a young man who had recently joined the Caravan as a guard.
He was everything a young girl could want. Handsome, well spoken, brave, able to sing or dance both to entertain others and in more private settings.
Like all Varisian caravans, the time after the evening meal was a time for partying and enjoyment.
Marinda and Costin were dancing when Marinda noticed that Gabriella, a young girl of 12, was staring at Costin with puppy eyes.
Marinda : "Costin, Gabriella really has a crush on you. After this dance, you should go and ask her to dance"
Costin : "Why would I do that? I only have eyes for you. No other woman even exists for me."
Marinda chuckles, and says "Flatterer. Go make her happy. One dance and she'll be dancing on air for weeks."
Costin : "No, I won't. She is too young for me and ugly to boot."
It was this last cruel comment that opened Marinda's eyes. In the back of her mind she'd always had a little doubt as to how decent a person Costin was but she'd pushed those doubts aside. But now it was clear.
Very, very loudly Marinda slapped him and spoke in a loud voice for all to hear
"You are a selfish, selfish man. You should be ashamed of yourself for saying such a thing"
However, once again it seemed that good fortune and bad were mixed. It was not two days later that she was approached by Durril, who would eventually become her first husband
Greater Harrowing 1/day
Still have to spend some money.
Marinda
Female human (Varisian) shaman (witch doctor) 8 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 35, 113)
Medium humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +6
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Defense
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AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 19 (+6 armor, +1 deflection, +1 Dex, +1 natural, +1 shield)
hp 67 (8d8+24)
Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +13 (+1 vs. enchantment effects)
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Special Attacks channel positive energy 5/day (DC 18, 6d6), channel positive energy 7/day (DC 16, 3d6), hexes (aura of purity, cackle[APG], evil eye, life link[ACG])
Shaman (Witch Doctor) Spells Prepared (CL 8th; concentration +13)
. . 4th—spike stones (DC 19), summon nature's ally IV; restoration[S]
. . 3rd—dispel magic, stinking cloud (DC 18), stinking cloud (DC 18), stinking cloud (DC 18); neutralize poison[S]
. . 2nd—barkskin, cure moderate wounds, remove paralysis, shield companion[ACG]; lesser restoration[S]
. . 1st—cure light wounds, entangle (DC 16), frostbite[UM], obscuring mist, remove fear; detect undead[S]
. . 0 (at will)—create water, light, purify food and drink (DC 15), stabilize
. . S spirit magic spell; Spirit Life Wandering Spirit
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Statistics
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Str 8, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 20, Cha 18
Base Atk +6; CMB +5; CMD 17
Feats Extra Hex[APG], Extra Hex[APG], Extra Hex[APG], Harrowed[ISWG], Quick Channel[UM], Selective Channeling
Traits extremely fashionable, harrow chosen
Skills Acrobatics -3 (-7 to jump), Bluff +15, Craft (calligraphy) +5, Diplomacy +15, Handle Animal +8, Heal +19, Knowledge (nature) +3, Knowledge (planes) +3, Knowledge (religion) +7, Perception +6, Profession (fortune-teller) +20, Profession (merchant) +11, Profession (midwife) +11, Sense Motive +9, Spellcraft +3, Survival +9
Languages Common, Varisian
SQ counter curse, healer's touch, spirit animal
Combat Gear healer's kit; Other Gear agile breastplate[APG], mwk buckler, phylactery of positive channeling, traveler's any-tool[UE], harrow deck[UE], masterwork fortune-teller's deck[APG], 4,645 gp
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Special Abilities
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Aura of Purity (8 minutes/day) (Su) 10 ft radius aura negates diseases, inhaled poisons, and noxious gas effects.
Cackle (Su) As a move action, extend the duration of other hexes by 1 rd..
Evil Eye -4 (8 rounds, DC 19) (Su) Foe in 30 ft takes penalty to your choice of AC, attacks, saves, ability or skill checks (Will part).
Harrowed +1 on saves vs. enchantment; can draw Harrow cards for bonuses.
Healer's Touch (Su) As a standard action, move up to half speed & touch up to 6 people to auto-stabilize them.
Life Link (8 max bonds, 100 feet) (Su) Bond drains your HP to heal others.
Quick Channel Channel energy faster by expending more uses
Selective Channeling Exclude targets from the area of your Channel Energy.
Shaman Channel Positive Energy 6d6 (5/day, DC 18) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.
Share Spells with Familiar Can cast spells with a target of "You" on the familiar with a range of touch.
Speak with Animals (Ex) Your familiar can communicate with animals similar to itself.
Speak with Familiar (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.
Witch Doctor Channel Positive Energy 5d6 (7/day, DC 16) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.
Looking to return to Pathfinder after a long hiatus for personal matters. Dotting this as it intrigues me greatly!
Here is Aipaca's submission, a man displaced from everything he knows but confident that good will triumph and that he will return home, eventually.
Hrain always listened to the myths of his people, the Rapuun Tribe of the Meyori Lowlands. From the creation myths, to the stories of the Great Migration, to the more recent tales of the Tragedy of Flokr or the Legend of Mabro. His grandmother told them to him throughout the years she cared for him as a young child, teaching him the morals of their people and the use of the sacred Tumaan deck. The deck was a culmination of the stories, the tropes within it reflecting the future and the past through the lens of his peoples history and mythology. It was his sense of right and wrong and knowledge that a true hero could vanquish any evil that led him to becoming the Montoje, or Protector, of his tribe. Sworn to defend it even unto his death, he used his skill at arms and his afffinity for the sacred Tumaan deck of his people to slay beasts and turn aside invaders. This was until the day he discovered the corruption amongst his tribe's elders. They had forsaken the old ways and were using fell magics to lengthen their lives and maintain their power. Hrain could not stand aside, but the elders overpowered him and the next thing he knew he was awakening as a possession of the Nightpeddler. Far from home and with no way of returning, Hrain was to be a curio, and was allowed to keep his family terbutje and shield, in order to provide the maximum amount of authenticity and entertainment to those whom the Nightpeddler sells him to. Despite his current situation, Hrain is confident that his story, and that of his tribe, is only in a temporary low. Heroism and good shall prevail, and he will find a way back home and overthrow the evil elders. How he will do that, he is not sure, and he would be happy to contribute to any cause of good in the meantime, as growing his heroism can only make a heroe's outcome ever more likely.
Hrain rushed in to Elder Finu's quarters, hoping and prayaing that what the Great God Nahiri had shown him was not true. He pushed past attendants and sycophants, penetrating through the bustle of the outer Elder Council room into the inner sanctum. Forcing his way past the guards who were in no way ready for the burly armoured figure to push through them, he saw it. Elder Finu, dagger slashing across the throat of a child and the blood from the wound spraying up and coalescing in an otherworldy manner, collecting in the open mouth of the elder as his body shook, colour alternatly draining from his body before flushing back healthy and hale.
"NO! cried Hrain as he drew his father's father's weapon and rushed the Elder. From the corner of the room stepped Elders X and Y, their hand whipping out as arcane energy bound Hrain's hands and feet in manacles much harder than bronze, dragging him to his knees.
As the last of the blod flowed into Elder Finu he lowered the knife and let the child's body slump in front of him. "Ahhh, our Montoje, so nice of you to join us Hrain. I don't know what caused you to barge in here, but obviously this is a situation that we will not be able to resolve... reasonably."
"You monster! That is a child! This is not our way!"
"Foolish brute. This is our way. You are a relic and must be dealt with. Sleep now."
With his final words, the Elder whipped out his hands in a flurry of symbols as Hrains vision grew hazy before everything faded to black...
Hrain awakened uncomfortably bound to a chair. Gazing about, he sees strange apparatuses whose function he could not guess, and a being sitting on a chair across from him scribbling into a small book. As a continues to get his bearings, the being looks up at him, and says something that Hrain cannot understand.
"I do not understand your language villain." Hrain says calmly.
The being leaps to their feet and crosses the room to a table full of flasks of liquid. Selecting one, he walks over to Hrain and unstoppers it in front of him. Hrain figures that if he wanted to the being could probably force him to drink anything, so he opens his mouth to accept the liquid.
It burns, first his throat, then his mind.
After thrashing about for what feels like an eternity, Hrain's vision returns and he casts about furiously for the man, before suddenly realising that he now understands what he had said before - "Ah, you're awake. Good.".
The man speaks again. "Understand me now? Ah yes I see that you can. Excellent. You are to be a gladiator, entertaining your master's guests. I will show you to your quarters, your weapons and armour are there. You will be fed well and get to fight worthy opponents. Any questions?"
Hrain has many, but doesn't think that asking them is the right move right now. He shakes his head.
"Very well. Follow me." Hrain tests his bonds but the man waves his hand and the whole chair lifts into the air, carrying Hrain behind the villain...
Clad in armour made from the skin of a Great Drake that his ancestor slew, with the wooden shield that allowed his great grandfather to block a blow meant for the Sacred Idol of Nahiri, and wielding the terbutje of his grandfather, Godclaw, Hrain is a sight to behold, a warrior without compare who can stand against the tides of evil and never back down. With grey and red marbled skin and intense gaze he sits calmly in his cell in the Nightpeddler's prison, awaiting the moment he knows will come, to escape.
When using his magics, the symbol of the card's power he is drawing upon is emblazoned across his shield, itself resembling a huge wooden card.
Right now you are two applicants for two places, with a handful of dots, but I noticed I didn't put an end date. So let's say that
Recruitment closes on Saturday 17.
Sounds good, any issues/things you want changed to better fit the campaign with Hrain?
Hello! I'm one of the aforementioned players, and this is my character, Niklos. As you can plainly see, he is a remarkably honest and upright fellow in every way. Positively packed to the brim with scruples, he is. Yessiree.
Anyway, here's my two cents on the characters submitted so far (GM Sappy has the final say, of course):
@Aipaca: I find it kind of hard to get a grasp on Hrain, as I'm not familiar with the rules you're using (not that I have an issue with you using them), and he doesn't seem to have any connections to Golarion as a setting (or any part of it that I know, at least). I do like seeing an alternative take on the Harrow, though. Getting to interact with a paladin would be... interesting, to say the least.
Out of curiosity, what god do you worship?
@pauljathome: I really like Marinda, both mechanically and fluff-wise. Some extra healing/support magic is a nice addition, and stops you from overlapping too much with our witch. The existing group members are quite young (half-)Varisians, so it would be cool to have an older character with a shared culture. Seeing her interact with Niklos would be interesting, as he has some issues with maternal authority.
Dot, played a suit seeker once. Loved it.
Ok, so:
@Aipaca: I concur with Niklos that you don't seem to be from Golarion. Is it because the Nightpeddler is a planar traveler, so you wrote in a character from a different world altogether?
@pauljathome: she sounds really nice; how did she get taken as a slave by the Nightpeddler?
@GM Sappy and Niklos:
Yeah I kind of ran with the 'planar traveller' thing, and had Hrain's elders use the Nightpeddler to get rid of him. However, Hrain is a very good aligned character, and would easily become invested in any group who serve good or who are playing out the tropes of a myth or legend. He would also swear a debt to anyone who freed him from the Nightpeddler to help their cause, so that would be an easy way to bring him in.
I think the fluff-text for the Parzivalian Knight archetype is just glorious, and I built a lot off of it for him:
More than a few paladins and other champions of Good are inspired to take up their vocation by sagas, chansons de geste, and romances about Good triumphing over Evil. Parzivalian knights take this one step further. Their conviction that these stories are how the world should work forces the world to actually work like a story. This manifests as an almost instinctive ability to project consecrations that turn the tide of battle in their favor.
@Niklos:
Hrain worships Nahiri, who is the Erastil of his world, and anyone with a passing knowledge of Erastil would recognise them as the same if Hrain described his god. Similarly, he calls his Harrow deck and cards different names, but anyone with knowledge of the deck would recognise that they are the same thing.
Any thoughts @GM Sappy?
Ye, I'd say you can both get to the Discussion Thread and we'll smooth out the last details.
Congratulations, you both look like lovely characters!