Hi guys, my players and I have some characters from an old 4e game that we'd like to translate to Golarion, can you help a little, please?
1) First there's a human artificer, we think she would be great as a tinkerer alchemist from Alkenstar, although she would have Ulfen blood b/c of her red hair and light skin, instead of Garundi or Keleshite as typical for the area. She also has rose-colored irises, originally because her mother is a chaos sorceress, we think here she could be something similar, a spellcaster tied to the Mana Wastes' weird magic. Or she could have a little fey blood I guess, it seems not to be uncommon in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings?
2) Then there's an ice elf, who was a noble and a warlock/swordsman, typical deal with otherworldly entities for more power, you know the drill (originally to fight his own father, an archfey). I'm thinking snowcaster, although I don't think noble houses are a big deal in their culture, and elves don't have ties with fey in Golarion afaik, so his dad would just be a really powerful elf I suppose. His concept is that he'd make a deal with anything to become more powerful - originally it was Hell and the Shadow Plane, in Golarion... maybe a demon, like the drow? And how would you keep his nature as a magus who received his magic not through study but from a deal with something?
3) is Tor, who was a sort of lion-man barbarian. We're opting for a catfolk from Garund. He was also the king of his little kingdom, but it seems to me catfolks aren't too keen on the idea of monarchy. What could he actually be? Chieftain? Son of the chieftain? Do they have those?
4) Kat was a shaman and a trickster figure. We're inclined to make her a Tian-Min from near the Forest of Spirits. Originally her brother had killed Tor's father in a skirmish, but Garund and Tian Xia are a world away, and if she's from a Tian colony in Garund then she doesn't have any kami to chat with... although shamans must talk to something even outside Tian Xia, we just haven't figured out what manner of spirits they deal with (I guess a mix of fey, elementals, outsiders, empyreals?...).
5) and finally Shamash, who was a sort of big powerful dragon-man monk with a guan dao. For the race we think wyvaran should work pretty well, even though he'd be more reflexive and intelligent than your typical specimen. For his background... from what order could he come from? Something a little like Buddhism perhaps, maybe follows Irori, or Sangpotshi, but we don't know of an order of monks who practices that. His background also involves growing dissatisfied with his initial loyalties (which turned out to be ethically questionable), becoming a sort of thug for a syndicate, and eventually leaving to seek enlightenment via wandering the world.
That's the 5 of them. Any advice on any bit of adaptation for these guys would be very welcome, we're not exactly experts of Golarion lore and we'd like to keep some aspects of these characters as close as possible, otherwise they might change too much and that'd be a pity.
Thank you everyone!
Sorry guys, I was forgetting
6) a spirit-wolf. He hangs out mainly with Kat, a sort of animal companion. Originally he was red and had some minor fire traits - what could it be in Golarion? Perhaps simply a wolf with the fire elemental companion archetype...
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1) First there's a human artificer, we think she would be great as a tinkerer alchemist from Alkenstar, although she would have Ulfen blood b/c of her red hair and light skin, instead of Garundi or Keleshite as typical for the area. She also has rose-colored irises, originally because her mother is a chaos sorceress, we think here she could be something similar, a spellcaster tied to the Mana Wastes' weird magic. Or she could have a little fey blood I guess, it seems not to be uncommon in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings?
You seem to have this in hand, more or less. Note that despite being in Garund, almost none of the art of people from Alkenstar includes Garundi features- and more importantly, lying as it does between Nex and Geb, there's all sorts genetic combinations in play. Moreover... there are enough cosmopolitan sorts in the Inner Sea that her parents could just be descended from Ulfen, Chelish, or Taldan sorts who just swung by to steal firearms and ended up sticking around.
Timeline depending, she could also be from Varisia, intrigued by the clockworks of Xin.
2) Then there's an ice elf, who was a noble and a warlock/swordsman, typical deal with otherworldly entities for more power, you know the drill (originally to fight his own father, an archfey). I'm thinking snowcaster, although I don't think noble houses are a big deal in their culture, and elves don't have ties with fey in Golarion afaik, so his dad would just be a really powerful elf I suppose. His concept is that he'd make a deal with anything to become more powerful - originally it was Hell and the Shadow Plane, in Golarion... maybe a demon, like the drow? And how would you keep his nature as a magus who received his magic not through study but from a deal with something?
There are Magus archetypes that involve bloodlines- like the Eldritch Scion.
Alternately, you could flavor a Bladebound, although they use spellbooks and the like.
3) is Tor, who was a sort of lion-man barbarian. We're opting for a catfolk from Garund. He was also the king of his little kingdom, but it seems to me catfolks aren't too keen on the idea of monarchy. What could he actually be? Chieftain? Son of the chieftain? Do they have those?
Full disclosure, I hate catfolk on a conceptual level... but I'll also note that we're incredibly light on cultural notes for catfolk or southern Garund in general, so... he could easily be a king of some sort from down there.
Kat was a shaman and a trickster figure. We're inclined to make her a Tian-Min from near the Forest of Spirits. Originally her brother had killed Tor's father in a skirmish, but Garund and Tian Xia are a world away, and if she's from a Tian colony in Garund then she doesn't have any kami to chat with... although shamans must talk to something even outside Tian Xia, we just haven't figured out what manner of spirits they deal with (I guess a mix of fey, elementals, outsiders, empyreals?...).
This one is... if her brother were a mercenary serving with some outfit that went to Garund, he could still have done this particular bit of killing without too much shell-gaming of her origins.
5) and finally Shamash, who was a sort of big powerful dragon-man monk with a guan dao. For the race we think wyvaran should work pretty well, even though he'd be more reflexive and intelligent than your typical specimen. For his background... from what order could he come from? Something a little like Buddhism perhaps, maybe follows Irori, or Sangpotshi, but we don't know of an order of monks who practices that. His background also involves growing dissatisfied with his initial loyalties (which turned out to be ethically questionable), becoming a sort of thug for a syndicate, and eventually leaving to seek enlightenment via wandering the world.
I'd have him come from Vudra- light on restrictive detail, close enough to Tian Xia to let him get his guan dao on.
6) a spirit-wolf. He hangs out mainly with Kat, a sort of animal companion. Originally he was red and had some minor fire traits - what could it be in Golarion? Perhaps simply a wolf with the fire elemental companion archetype...
The Element-Infused Creature template might help you out here. Or Fey Creature, depending on how fiery you want its fire to be.
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Thank you, Cole, for answering. I'm considering your advice.
I've seen art for Alkenstar depicting typical Garundi and Keleshite people (up to the point of black hair with white locks in the case of the former) in the Wardens of the Reborn Forge adventure - this is the archcleric of Brigh for instance. As for ethnic Varisians, they usually have too dark skin for the character. But as you mention, she could very well be the daughter of travellers, travelling scholars, etc. Yes, she's not really a problem.
The elf... I'm thinking, witches don't have good melee archetypes but for the white-haired witch, and that won't work, while magi don't have otherworldly patrons... perhaps, since magi must study spells, his teacher could have been a devil or demon, simple as that. Of course they'll want something in return... It's still a patron, just not in the mechanics-wise, witch-wise sense.
Catfolk are described a bit in the Advanced Race Guide, and here of course and I just discovered they have hunter-gatherers tribes led by councils and non-hereditary, elected chieftains. So Tor's father could have been a chieftain, but this doesn't confer any particular right to him. Still sounds okay.
Your idea about Kat's brother being a mercenary in Garund is brilliant! I love it. Yes, it's very feasible that he was a Minkaian mercenary in Garund who fought against Tor's tribe and killed his dad. When Kat comes to the Inner Sea it's gonna be... awkward. Which is good.
Wyvarans normally come from northern Garund, but in Katapesh for instance there's enough of a melting pot that Shamash could have seen a guan dao and decided it was the perfect weapon, and he could also have been exposed to Sangpotshi as for that. Maybe he briefly worked with Katapeshi criminals. We must brainstorm a former faction he left for ethical reasons... maybe when I'll have decided which AP to run.
Yeah, the element-infused template sounds just right, or even the elemental companion archetype as for that. So the Firefox - sorry, fiery wolf is taken care of. I just wonder whether shamans do have some kind of relationship with this kind of spirits - beings that are actually "just" elementals, fiends, celestials, undead, fey and so on, all considered together. Spirits figure prominently in Kat's background and world view. Perhaps she mostly thought of kami, oni, yokai and imperial dragons when she considered spirits, and now that she's come to the Inner Sea she's finding out there are a lot more types... It's a little difficult b/c I've never seen what Paizo actually means by "spirit" written down clearly and unequivocally, but it could work, sure.
Thank you again, some of this stuff I could have done on my own, but it helps me a lot to have someone as a sounding board - and you also gave me some really good advice! Thank you, Cole!
is #6 a player? If not you could have Kat be a spiritualist, and the spirit-cat as their ghost companion.
No, no, it's not a player - it was a sort of totem spirit/animal companion the character had in 4e. We are thinking Kat should be a shaman of the nature spirit, or an unsworn shaman. Usually the spirit animal should be equal to a familiar, but originally Kat had this nice fiery wolf-kami... of course she could start at 1st level with, say, an ioun wyrd that when she takes the improved familiar feat coalesces into a wolf, or with a wolf who starts off with the stats of a fox (maybe it's still a cub!). And the elemental familiar archetype can be applied anyways to model its fiery nature.
The translation of mechanics is the hardest part, I find, although reflavoring works pretty well.
Cat's Meow does have a Lionoid race. That might be worth a look.
3) is Tor, who was a sort of lion-man barbarian. We're opting for a catfolk from Garund. He was also the king of his little kingdom, but it seems to me catfolks aren't too keen on the idea of monarchy. What could he actually be? Chieftain? Son of the chieftain? Do they have those?
Mmm, maybe. We were talking earlier and the player likes the Amurrun/catfolk very much. It seems they span the whole range from "nekomimi" to "upright feline", a bit like TES' khajiit. They're also official and canon, which I prefer to 3rd party stuff that doesn't actually have a place in Golarion - we really love the setting.
Thank you, though - if we have trouble with the catfolk, push comes to shove we might use the chatoulim's mechanics and flavor it as a catfolk.
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#2. Consider Oracle? Otherworldly patron, no spellbook, and some Oracle builds can be frightening combatants.
#2. Consider Oracle? Otherworldly patron, no spellbook, and some Oracle builds can be frightening combatants.
Mmm, divine magic... I think it'd be better if it was arcane. Also, worshipping deities? This guy? Definitely not the type...
I don't know, mardaddy, the spellbook isn't a problem, we'd just need a gish who had acquired his magic through a pact. The oracle ain't it, but neither is the witch... honestly right now I think a magus is the closest match, even though they don't make a deal with a patron, by default - we can say his teacher was a fiend and taught him magic in exchange for his services as a combatant...
Maybe he could multiclass as a demoniac or something to get more fiendish flavor - actually, a diabolist seems about right now that I'm reading it, very fitting...
What we haven't established very well is why a snowcaster would ask a devil to teach him magic and why he would make a deal with them... maybe he was a snowcaster envoy, decided he liked the rest of the world better and left his people, and started studying magic under a devil in the guise of an archmage... something like that, I dunno...
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Ah, grasshopper, your premise... "These divine vessels are granted power without their choice..."
Oracles do not necessarily worship (or do not have to, anyways.) Just as easy to handwave into a pact as Magus -- But, if you are set on it not being divine, cool... You know what works for your game.
Ah, grasshopper, your premise... "These divine vessels are granted power without their choice..."
Oracles do not necessarily worship (or do not have to, anyways.) Just as easy to handwave into a pact as Magus -- But, if you are set on it not being divine, cool... You know what works for your game.
And yet: "Instead of worshiping a single source, oracles tend to venerate all of the gods that share their beliefs".
;P
That said, I understand an oracle doesn't have to worship anything, the power is thrust upon them without their choice - like in Alahazra's case, right? But even then, yes, divine magic is definitely the wrong flavor, too focused on healing and subtle buffs instead of fiery death and all manners of illusions, evocations and so on. Plus there are some arcane spells that were written expressedly for magi, stuff that enhances melee attacks and performance. I think a magus with diabolist as prestige class when he gets there would match the old version of the character more closely, really.
All that said, thank you mardaddy - I appreciate you taking an interest in this conversion. If you have any other ideas about this or other characters, please, do tell - there's still a lot we need to get right!