Help With Replacement Character Concept – SPOILERS


Ruins of Azlant


SPOILERS – You were warned, so no complaining if you keep reading.

Alrighty then. We are very nearly at the end of book 2. Stopped in the middle of what I think is the final fight.

There is a very excellent chance my PC won't survive this combat. I have no problem with that. He is behaving in character and there are consequences for what he has done. It's all good.

But I'm planning out my potential replacement character. Now since our group has done an excellent job of making friends/allies of nearly every (I think) sentient group encountered, the GM and I discussed and it seemed very appropriate that maybe one of them would want to send someone along to see what the colony is getting up to in its activities. GM wasn't sure about dealing with the flying Stryx or the intelligent constructs. He's not sure how that would effect future game headaches. I'm having trouble coming up with a fish man personality that I like. So that leads me to the Monkey Goblin tribe.

So the monkey goblins just strike me as hilarious. Especially since they don't seem to be actually evil (though still quite chaotic) or at least that is how he was portraying them.

Now the group is 7th level and has a sorcerer, slayer, gunslinger, and rogue. All amphibious races. So operating in the water is no problem at all for them. I don't want to be an 'anchor' for the party (pun intended). I still need to be able to operate in the water for extended periods of time without too much hassle.

I think we need a bit more of a melee presence. The gunslinger has often been standing on the front line and taking melee attacks just because he has a very high AC. Ranged damage has been handled by the gunslinger and blaster sorcerer. The rogue has a very high stealth and disable device. Reasonably high acrobatics and perception.

This is leading me to first level as barbarian and the rest as druid. GM agreed the Kraken Caller archetype seemed very appropriate for a tribe living on a small island even though he is worshiping Zogmugot. The Goblin goddess of drowning, flotsam, and scavanging.

Druid's wild shape for hours would of course let him operating in the water. I'm planning more on the melee aspect than the spell casting aspect. Long term buffs for himself, his animal companion, and maybe even the party after he starts trusting them. Plus he has the condition removal spells on his list that he could prep the next day when something comes up.

The level of barbarian was almost mostly character personality development, but a bit of rage is always nice in melee and martial weapon proficiency isn't useless. Though I suppose he might be mostly fighting with natural weapons when wildshaped.

I'm struggling a bit on animal companion.
- I absolutely loved the idea of the Gliding Turtle! Just hilarious picturing a goblin riding a slowly descending turtle into combat. However, we have had exactly 2 combats where it might have even been possible to get up somewhere high and glide into combat. Though I suppose we're approaching the level where I could start using air walk on it. But it also isn't at all aquatic and doesn't seem very Kraken Caller-ish
- The snapping turtle would definitely help with a tank-ish melee presence. It is at least semi-aquatic. It has a swim speed and can hold it's breath. But doesn't seem too likely for the arboreal Monkey Goblins.
- A squid would be most appropriate for the Kraken Caller. But of course could only be used in the water. Not all encounters have been underwater and I'm not sure how useful it would be in the future. Hosteling armor enchantment would let me carry it around when not in the water.

I guess I'm leaning toward either the squid or the snapping turtle. Not entirely satisfied with either though. Can you think of some other amphibious/aquatic animal companion that would be appropriate for a Monkey Goblin Kraken Caller?!?

Any other thoughts or suggestions?


Here is a very rough initial build.

ZomZom de'Blagyet:

Monkey goblin barbarian 1/druid (kraken caller) 6 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Dirty Tactics Toolbox 16)
CN Small humanoid (goblinoid)
Hero Points 1
Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +12
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Defense
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AC 24, touch 16, flat-footed 19 (+5 armor, +5 Dex, +3 shield, +1 size)
hp 76 (7 HD; 6d8+1d12+34)
Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +7; +2 vs. fear, +4 vs. spell-like and supernatural abilities of creatures with the [aquatic] subtype
Defensive Abilities fearless; Resist electricity 2
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor), climb 20 ft.
Melee mwk cold iron dogslicer +11 (1d4+1/19-20) or
. . mwk silver light hammer +11 (1d3+1)
Special Attacks rage (7 rounds/day), wild shape 2/day
Druid (Kraken Caller) Spells Prepared (CL 6th; concentration +8)
. . 3rd—greater magic fang, thorny entanglement[ACG] (DC 15)
. . 2nd—animal aspect[UC], barkskin, fire sneeze (DC 14), pox pustules[APG] (DC 14)
. . 1st—air bubble[UC], heightened awareness[ACG], longstrider, mudball[ARG] (DC 13)
. . 0 (at will)—create water, guidance, know direction, stabilize
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Statistics
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Str 12, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 5
Base Atk +5; CMB +5; CMD 20
Feats Roll With It, Saddle Shrieker, Toughness, Weapon Finesse
Traits athletic, monkey goblin (mediogalti), reckless
Skills Acrobatics +11 (+7 to jump), Climb +12, Craft (ships) +2, Diplomacy -3 (-5 vs. all creatures of different religion or alignment than you), Fly +8, Handle Animal +1, Heal +6, Intimidate +1, Knowledge (geography) +7, Knowledge (nature) +12, Lore (Zogmugot) +10, Perception +12, Profession (fisherman) +6, Ride +9, Sense Motive +2 (+0 vs. all creatures of different religion or alignment than you), Spellcraft +4, Stealth +12, Survival +8, Swim +5
Languages Common, Druidic, Goblin
SQ dauntless swimmer, fast movement, hero points, hold breath, nature bond (gliding turtle named Animal Companion), nature sense, prehensile tail, provincial, resist the waves' lure, wild empathy +3
Combat Gear oil of magic weapon, oil of shillelagh, potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of endure elements, potion of enlarge person, potion of hide from animals, potion of hide from undead, potion of jump, potion of reduce person; Other Gear +1 hosteling eel hide hide armor, +1 darkwood wooden snarlshield, mwk cold iron dogslicer[ARG], mwk silver light hammer, backpack, bandolier[UE], bandolier[UE], belt pouch, holly and mistletoe, monster mask[UE], spell component pouch, 51 pp, 7 gp, 4 sp
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Special Abilities
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Animal Companion Link (Ex) Handle or push Animal Companion faster, +4 to checks vs. them.
Climb (20 feet) You have a Climb speed.
Dauntless Swimmer Take 10 on Swim checks, even if rushed or threatened.
Energy Resistance, Electricity (2) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Electricity attacks.
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Fearless (Ex) +2 to save vs. fear effects.
Hero Points Hero Points can be spent at any time to grant a variety of bonuses.
Hold Breath (16 minutes) (Ex) Hold breath for Constitution minutes.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Nature Sense (Ex) A druid gains a +2 bonus on Knowledge (nature) and Survival checks.
Prehensile Tail (Ex) Your tail can retrieve small objects on your person as a swift action.
Provincial -2 diplomacy and sense motive vs. those whose religion or alignment differs from your own
Rage (7 rounds/day) (Ex) +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Resist the Waves' Lure (Ex) +4 on saves vs spell-like/supernatural abilities of creatures with [aquatic] subtype.
Roll With It You know how to take a hit, even if your reaction sends you bouncing and flying out of battle while shrieking at the top of your lungs.

Prerequisite: Goblin, Acrobatics 1 rank.

Benefit: If you are struck by a melee weapon you can
Saddle Shrieker -/+2 You sometimes get carried away when encouraging your mount to fight.

Prerequisite: Goblin, Ride 1 rank.

Benefit: You can choose to take a -1 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to grant your mount a +1 b
Share Spells with Companion (Ex) Can cast spells with a target of "you" on animal companion, as touch spells.
Wild Empathy +3 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
Wild Shape (6 hours, 2/day) (Su) Shapeshift into a different creature one or more times per day.
--------------------
Climb Speed is really 30'
Haven't figured that out in HeroLab yet


What about an eel companion? Eels live in little hidey holes and sunken wrecks--seems to go nicely with the palette of Zogmugot. Looks like you'd have a choice between an electric eel, which has the amphibious special quality and a 5ft move speed for some reason, which means it could come on land with you and be hilariously ineffective as it writhes around, or a giant moray, which you could use as a mount but which would have to stay in water. But honestly, giant moray's bite attack looks pretty devastating, especially if you buffed it.

I also have a feeling that an aquatic animal companion will not be something that you regret having in the next couple books.


I've decided you are right I will go for something aquatic rather than also useful on land. It just doesn't fit with the character theme.

Oooh... I didn't think of an electric eel. That does seem incredibly thematic. The tail slap is also a touch attack so should hit a lot more often even if not much damage.

Hmm...
Ok. So the Electric Eeel with the Totem Guide archetype seems very appropriate for Zogmugot. The Squid with the Bodyguard archetype seems great for the Kraken Caller druid.

I will have to consider, but I think I'm leaning toward the Electric Eel. Since its amphibious type means it could still flop around and half-assed operate on land. Very goblin-ish.

I will have the hosteling armor enhancement for taking either with me anywhere.

Thanks for the idea.

Shadow Lodge

Ruins of Azlant kind of assumes you'll all be normal above water races and hands out underwater items like candy. By the time you actually get to the underwater parts of the adventure, we had like a dozen items to breath underwater, give you a swim speed, and the like. Play whatever you want, the game won't punish you for it.


Yeah, our GM pretty much told the group it would be easier to play amphibious races. So we have piles-o-gear that is pretty useless for us. I think he just didn't want to deal with remembering all the penalties and problems with a standard race trying to operate under water.

I have more experience and with optimizing in general than most of the players. So I'm really not worried about power level or surviving. Just trying to look at what seems the most appropriate for the character concept without bringing in a lot of totally useless abilities.

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