6th-level PF characters needed: Villagers defend their homeland


Recruitment

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About my style:
I believe in show don't tell. So I did not write Halan is smart and stern...descriptive styles backstory. I wrote a scene that provides insights into the character and lots of story to build upon. I also think that mechanics and narrative should be married whenever possible so build stuff comes up in the scene as justification for why he should go on this mission. I have also changed the same to make it phonetically similar to his fathers.

Scene:
“Halan, you are my son and you have been blessed by the bora as a storm blade. You fly as the arctic turn does, so I have to ask you to complete a task for me. You were trained by our best blade and our wisest elders so this task falls to you.” Halak says knowing the risk he is bestowing upon his son.

With a warrior’s composure, Halan checks his equipment. To vellum spell book with oak covers holstered beneath each of his arms, a scimitar engraved with ice and lightning at his hip. Rations, check. Water, check. Bow, check. He runs through the list. Check, check, check.

Once he knows he is ready he replies, “What is the task?”

“The world is being put out of balance. The elves are taking advantage of us. Some people believe me, but many do not so I have to continue my work here. I told you about the group that captured me. They know of the elves’ involvement. I fear if they come into contact with our people, they will be attacked win or lose this will strengthen the elves and weaken everybody else. I would like you to go to them, join them, and advocate for people while I do the same here. Get them to deal with our people non-lethally and aid me in building an alliance. Your cold spells should be perfect for this task.”

Halan says calmly, “I understand.”

Halak says, “I knew you would not say no, so I hand your cousin make these for you.”

Halak hands over a pair of bracers with a core of bent greenwood. “You can store your wands in these to retrieve them in combat rapidly.”

Halan smiles, “She gets more talented by the day. I hope her alchemy does not burn the village down.”

“They travelled from Brookside a while ago so I have sent out scouts to find where they are heading. Once we have the location you will intercept them. Find Vors Falchen he is a good person tell him who you are he will listen. Approach with you weapon sheath in your hands with your arms outstretched and say I sent you.”

Halan salutes.

His father wraps both arms around him and holds him tight.

They say in unison, "May the winds lift you and the earth ground you."


Sounds good, Halan!


Here's the crunch for my (baggageboy) submission pending a little more equipment spending. I'll be adding an outline of his background later today. I'm going to leave it in a bulletized list form until we can agree on the points and then craft it into a narative after.

Please review this and let me know if there's anything that I need to change or that you have questions about.

Also quick question, since I took herbalism as my nature focus can I start with some concoctions free or at half price? I don't want to go crazy, but it would make sense for Frytor to have some of these on hand and he wouldn't have paid full price. Thanks :)

Also I assumed PFS standard for hp.

Edit: So putting down the backstory want faster than I expected, it's in there now :) I'm happy to make adjustments, just let me know where things need to change.


Yes, PFS hitpoints.

Things specific to Fyrtor:

Yes you can have a number of pre-made, free concoctions up to your wis mod and get further concoctions at half price.

So I assume you mean your father was from Iustia? That's the major, mostly human nation in this setting. The Bishopric of Helm is also mostly populated by humans but it's significantly smaller in just about every sense of the word.

You describe an interesting area of Helm that I hadn't really devised yet. You speak of Northern Helm as "untamed" which is interesting. Helm also has a wild border to the south where the barbaric lands are. But I can see that much of the north of Helm might only recently be under significant settlement. Interesting. But goblin/orc threats would be mostly in the south of Helm as those humanoids live in the barbaric lands almost exclusively. Perhaps you're thinking of the south of Helm?

Let's see if, with some input from me, we can come up with a more specific plan for how/why Fyrtor would hypothetically join the party.

First possibility I think of: Fyrtor traveled to the Serpent Isles to talk to some of the druids there hoping they would help defend against attacks in the south of Helm. In those islands he encounters the PCs dealing with a pirate menace on their way to go deal with an orc problem (which is the party's current trajectory). Fyrtor probably had to pay a fisherman pretty well to take him into the isles as they're known for pirates and... well... serpents. But there are some strong druids there too!


I will check in periodically for the end of recruitment. If I'm fortunate enough to get picked, or you want more information don't hesitate to PM me!


Response to Brookside GM: I could put all this in a PM, but I feel like letting everyone see usually helps to keep the number of repeated questions down, plus sometimes it's fun reading about another character and watching them get created even if they aren't yours.

Response:
Awesome! Yeah I can have the locarion be the South of Helm instead of North and my fater's kingdom be Lustia. Also, I left the motivation vague to make it easy for you to graft into the overarching story. I think the reading you proposed is perfect.

What do you think of the outline overall? Should I start crafting it into a narrative? It's a fairly large story once I start fleshi g it out, so I might try to do it in chunks of that's ok. I'll take some time later today to finalize my equipment.


I finally found some time to continue work on my submission, I very much hope to be done in time for another review before closure of recruitment.

One more question crossed my mind the answer to which might be relevant to other arcane casters:
A certain amount of Wealth-by-Level as written is usually, in the form of treasure, handed out in consumables. Potions, Wands, Scrolls, that sort of thing. Upon defeat of an enemy caster, a Spellbook might be aquired.
My point is such: During a regular career lasting to level 7, there would have been several opportunities to add new spells from scrolls, copy from friendly casters as 'bonus payment', or from aquired spellbooks taken from foes.
Right now, I only have the basic level-up spells in my spellbooks. Certainly it would be a possibility to spend wealth on scrolls to add, but then, consumables are usually not supposed to 'impact' WBL in a significant way(that is, not permanently, expended consumables are usually 'compensated' for)

So basically, I am wondering if arcane casters that are not limited by spells known could, to better represent a normal casting career, add a number of spells(1-2 or so) extra to the levels they know, things they would have copied from somewhere outside of level-up in a normal game? Or do so at a discount, at least(copying from another spellbook is usually cheapper compared to purchase of a scroll - or the fee might be waived entirely if offering a wanted spell in return and the exchange is quid pro quo).

As said, no biggie, merely curious.


Thanks, Halan. We'll see how it goes. A little time left but I can tell it's going to be a tough choice.

Baggageboy:

I like the outline and I think it will work well. The character feels more like a man of the country who's made due with limited resources (e.g. by herbalism) rather than a godling who goes adventuring for fun. I look forward to seeing it fleshed out.

Mordred asks a good question. This almost always depends on the GM to be thoughtful about these kinds of opportunities or at least reward enterprising players. My witch in Kingmaker, for example, never gets to find friendly witches to copy from because the module is written with spellbooks and friendly wizards. And of course GM has his hands full already with all the kingdom building. Rant over.

So yes, you can have some extra spells. I'll allow two extra spells per spell level to have been previously copied for twice the normal cost of copying them into the spellbook:

0 10 gp
1 20 gp
2 80 gp
3 180 gp
4 320 gp

This is an approximation of the fact that sometimes you'll get to pay only the copying cost but sometimes the person you are copying from will want a small fee.


I do not envy these recruitment processes. Though, I have to say it is fun to read different peoples back stories and see their builds


Brookside GM, can you give me a name for a small village (other than Brookside) near the southern outskirts of the Bishopric of Helm similar to what I have discribed? I figure Frytor and his father would have had to be Simi near a comunity to trade with, but if I use Brookside it might be difficult to entangle the timelines.

Also if you have any npcs or lore built up that would fill in the "druids" that would be awesome, otherwise I'll just make it up and we can tweak it as needed :)


baggageboy:

Something that has enriched this campaign a lot has been player participation in the world-building. So if you want to make up druids, towns, etc to help populate the world, that's great! I just exercise editorial oversight as necessary.

But since you asked, I'll provide these. Names in the Bishopric of Helm tend to be very English and mundane, to emphasize how non-exotic the origins of the PCs are (e.g. Brookside is near a small river). You can be from the small village of Woodsdale, home to some farmers and foresters. The only npc druid thus far was an orc, actually, so I imagine these are very different druids. They are probably loosely organized and somewhat few in number as there aren't too many powerful actors within Helm as it is a small and relatively week nation. Probably the most powerful person in the entire nation is a level 15 cleric (the Bishop). So the druids in the south of Helm are probably loosely organized individuals (mostly human with perhaps a couple of gnomes) who keep to themselves, enjoy the wilds, and occasionally tend to or protect the natural world.


Ok I'll put together some stuff soon then :) I look forward to adding to this world.


Still in progress, but please take a look at what I have put together so far and let me know what you think. I'm not the best writer out there, but I think the story as least makes sense.


All: I just realized I had an old version of the world map in the campaign journal in this alias. Fixed.

Fyrtor:

Looks interesting! I'm liking it so far. Here are my questions/comments so far:

1. I see why you would think there are mountains in the southern portion of the Bishopric but those are just called the Southern Hills. Everything still works, though. Hills can have steep and dangerous places too.

2. Hmmm I like mundane things in this setting so how about not something fancy like a gold or silver mine? How about a copper mine?

3. Perhaps the villagers trade certain labor-intensive crafts to the dwarves that they made during the winter? Needlework, carpentry, etc?

4. I'm a little confused as to where Daryl and Helen were and what they were doing when they met during these excursions. If Daryl is an Iustian soldier, why would he be in the Southern Hills of Helm?

5. I look forward to hearing more about who Daryl developed into as an adult and changed during his time with the druids. I'd also love to hear about how he's responded to the current crisis. Maybe his area has experienced a surge in organized goblin attacks from the Barbaric Lands, which would be very unusual.


Cool, I'm happy to answer your points

Responce:

1. I was looking at the world map and kinda assumed the hills were mountains, but hills work fin too. Is there any forest mixed in?

2. Copper would be fine,

3. That would make sense. That can be another portion of the village's economy.

4. I figure Daryl and Helen are something of refugees when they meet the woodsale excursion. But sinc I wanted to try to focus more on Frytor I will expand the Daryl and Helen story in time I think.

5. Yes, I need to keep building on to this, but this will be the base.


Sounds good Fyrtor. I'd like to know a little more about what they are refugees from. Looking forward to it.


Hmmm - how is the party for (seperately) trap detection and device disabling, please?


The party is fine with traps (UC rogue) but it hasn't come up much.


I only managed to squeeze two Level 2 Spells into the budget, but that'll still help!
Thanks for the swift answer. I finally managed to get all the backgrounds stuff in order to re-submit for review.
Still posting here because I forgot to mention in PM: I will be visiting family over this weekend, and may or may not be online between Tomorrow morning and Monday evening.


Thanks for the heads up, Mordred.

Re-recruitment will close tomorrow at 5 pm EST.

Here's my list of complete submissions (for some secrecy reasons, I'm not listing character name):
baggageboy (druid but a little more background would be helpful)
Grandlounge (magus)
MordredofFairy (arcanist)

Incomplete submissions:
Harakani (wizard has a lot of ideas I just haven't seen the alias yet)
Timeskeeper (witch but needs background)

Expressed interest:
Gummy Bear
Simeon aka GM Coyote

If I missed your submission, please tell me! If you are still interested, there is time. I will be answering PMs/questions in this thread as much as I can today in order to help people fit into the world. I know it's tricky in this homebrew campaign but that's because you get to help make the setting!


Here's an update on Frytor. I still need to finish up Daryl and Helen's backstory a bit, but I wanted to post this with what it has for finishing up Frytor himself and how he might run into the party. If anything needs adjustment just let me know :)


Fyrtor:

I like the update. This could work nicely. Regarding the parents, I don't normally ask for a backstory to start that far back but when parents are made an important part of the background it's helpful to know a bit more about them.

One small note is to keep an eye out for typos. Not a big deal at all and I certainly make my fair share. Just makes for smoother reading. :)


Ok, all finished now. I also updated his equipment to finish spending his money and fill in some of the necessities. I'll try to minimize my typo's in the future. I know it can get annoying. Let me know what you think and if you have any further questions or suggestions :)


Very interesting build Fyrtor. Not sure I’d advise on VMC Cleric though. Cha7 means you get a Domain but no channeling.

Maybe VMC Magus? You could get Dex to Hit and Damage, and with VMC get Level to damage along with a few swashbuckler moves.


I know that I am missing out on the channeling, but there are very few ways to get a domain and in order to be a decent face Frytor really needs the conversion inquisition. Plus spontaneous cure spells in addition to spontaneous nature's ally work out well.

At first I built him with 12 cha and reduced Dex, but it just didn't seem to be worth the build points for 2 channels per day at a reduced power level.


Just noticed this thread, so I hope I have some time left to apply.

I have a brawler that I can adapt, but not sure I can do it in 10 minutes from my phone. I have Griff Stonefist that was built for another game that didn't get of the ground. I can update his stats and such when I get home in a couple of hours, but his background would be mostly the same except for changing out some place names.

Edit: Nevermind, I was judging your needs from the first post, not the most recent re-recruitment post. Have fun.


Recruitment is closed. I'll let people know my decision today or tomorrow.


After some really tough deliberation, I've decided to accept two characters.

Fyrtor Smithson and MordredofFairy. Don't post in discussion or gameplay yet as we'll be bringing you in soon. We'll plan via PM.

To those not accepted, I'm sorry I can't take more. There were EXCELLENT submissions not accepted.


Congratulations to those who made it!


Congrats. This game looks like a labor of love. If it's alright I would like to lurk and read some of the gameplay :)

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