Wrath of the Righteous (Closed)

Started by Dakkon, April 02, 2015, 04:25:14 PM

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Morganatic

#25
Quote from: FallenDabus on April 03, 2015, 11:24:07 AM
Yup, all the way to the top. Lord knows how long it will take.
Fetchling would be fine if you can find a way to knock it down to 13 RP.

Oop - if we're knocking down races above 13RP, I'll have to have a look at cutting down the Drow a little. How does removing poison use, weapon familiarity, and the perception bonus sound to you (the last because she's lost an eye at some point, judging by the picture, probably while escaping from the Parklands, and the former two because she deliberately avoided the 'backstabbing' bit of Drow society by going and inheriting a slavery-and-mining concern)? I feel a bit guilty because it's slightly 'Path of What I Wasn't Going To Do/Use Anyway', but then - taken as a whole - it does drop her down to 8RP, which is a bit more sane?

EDIT: 6:55pm - also rejigged the skills to make them work as Pathfinder-style ones, rather than that 3.5 ones. Whoops!

TheGlyphstone

#26
Quote from: FallenDabus on April 03, 2015, 02:29:18 AM


This may actually be the best way to do a gunslinger in this adventure. We could make it work for sure. This would be a very interesting character concept. I'd go with the orphan option, it will make the backstory easier to work with.


Well, he was going to be raised as an orphan either way. But with the tying backgrounds into the campaign thing, I didn't know if it would be better to have his father's fate ultimately unknown and set up for a Vader Reveal at some point. Not that a Vader Reveal counts as much when you know it's coming, but there might be a vampire bad guy ahead, and you might have been able to use the ambiguity.

Blinkin

I think Lydia is done except for gear, and I can knock that out in a couple of hours, if she gets selected (Again).
"I am a Southern Gentleman, which means that I'm a rogue and a scoundrel. When I'm not kissin' the hands of married women, I'm slipping off their wedding rings."
My Ons' & offs'
Absenses & Apologies (Updated 3/02/23)
Blinkins' Thinkin's (Story Ideas)
Yes, I really am blind.
Being Literate is the ability to read and understand a language. When you ask for literate, what you are looking for is Verbosity, which is the ability to use lots of words without actually saying very much... like politicians. I consider myself both literate and verbose.

Foxfyr

Name: M’iaq
Class: Rogue (Scout)/ (Flowing) Monk
Races: Catfolk
Character Age: 23
Alignment: Lawful Good

Character Sheet

Background: In his youth, M’iaq’s reputation was less than sterling having fallen into a bad crowd of pickpockets and thieves, but back then he went by his birth name J'Dhannar.  It didn’t help that he came from a poor upbringing with dreams of living a life of luxury surrounded by valuable baubles that he would never be able to attain through legitimate means.  Being a creature of envy that possessed the natural grace needed to attain the items of his desire, J'Dhannar took destiny in his own hands to pull himself out of the slums he was born into.  He would never forget his first ‘score’; a silver statuette of a partially naked woman with butterfly wings that glistened beautifully in the sunlight of the crowded marketplace.  In that moment, the young J'Dhannar knew he had to have it and his first attempt at theft was anything but graceful.  It was a simple snatch and run theft that instantly raised an alarm.  While the robbery itself worked against his chances of escape, his nimble stride made up for it in his ability to weave through the crowd more easily than his pursuers.  He was caught despite his best efforts, but not by those he had expected as, in the midst of his escape, an arm reached out of the crowd, snared him around the neck, and pulled him into a tightly packed group of people that shielded him from detection of the authorities.  Instead of being turned in or mugged for the very possession he had stolen, the man and his small entourage turned out to be members of a local crime syndicate who instead offered to train J'Dhannar and ultimately grant him membership into their organization.  It was an opportunity that, in the catfolk’s naivety, he couldn’t refuse.

A few years passed and he was firmly seated as a member of The Sabortooth Syndicate specializing in pickpocketing, burgling, and small-time heists.  During this time, J'Dhannar only found himself contented rather than satisfied as it seemed much of his earnings went towards the gang rather than his own pocket.  It was enough to live comfortably on, but he knew he would never attain the life of indulgence he so dreamed by doing these little jobs.  There was much talk between several close friends and himself of ‘the big score’.  Rumors of lost treasures in Sarkoris were abundant, perhaps originated from the refugees complaining of their lavish livelihoods lost to the demonic hordes.  They knew that even a small fraction of that lost wealth would be enough for them to retire in luxury.  Eventually the day came where the five of them found the ambition – or perhaps it was more ignorance – to chase their dream; they were masters of stealth and subtly, sneaking into and out of enemy lines would be little different from the several non-detection heists they pulled off effortlessly.  After a few months of planning in secret, they were ready to venture on their expedition to sneak into one of the abandoned settlements closest to the frontlines, raid a house that once belonged to a noble family, and return beyond the wardstones undetected.

It went as well as one would expect who wasn’t looking at it through the lens of invincibility that comes with youth.  To their merit, they had made it behind enemy lines undetected and with minimal difficulty, which may have led to them becoming more careless.  They had even made it to the settlement where their wealth resided, but by that point they were being hunted by a group of swaithe demons who were using the local fauna as scouts.  J'Dhannar and his group made it to their destination, only marginally disappointed by what valuables remained, but it there was still enough of value to make the expedition worthwhile; especially if they pillaged a few nearby houses as well.  The ambush happened while they were loading their bags with loot.  Swaithe attacked them from all directions, using the confined spaces to their advantage, and in the few moments J'Dhannar and his friends thought they could fight off the puny looking goblin-like creatures, it quickly became apparent that they were more formidable than they looked.  The call went out to scatter and abandon their heist, so J'Dhannar did what he was trained to do; get out as fast as possible, find a place to lay low, and reconvene in a safe location.

Every route out of the house seemed to have been blocked off; every doorway seemed to have one of those demons ready to pounce anything that stepped through while others seemed to strategically corner their victims.  Injured from a number of slashing claws and finding himself trapped in one of the bedrooms with enemies quickly closing in, J'Dhannar took the only exit that remained to him – he leapt out of the third-story window onto the empty street below.  Fortunately, he took the fall well and managed to dissipate much of the energy in a roll that still left him feeling battered, but he was well enough to duck into a nearby building and take several routes that were intended to shake any would-be pursuers.  After a few hours of waiting for the heat to die down, he started taking measures to track down his comrades, but none of his disguised call signs received a response and the sun was lowering in the sky.

As much as he wanted to wait for his friends, to find them or what became of them, J'Dhannar was too terrified.  It was his first encounter with the monsters that lurked beyond civilization.  They were no longer the fabled boogieman lurking under the bed; they had become the predator that stalks in the shadows, ready to devour its prey.  Suddenly his satchel partially filled with items of gold, silver, and minor gemstones no longer provided the sort of wealth he now desired.  More than anything else, he wanted to live and it didn’t matter what sort of lifestyle he would have.  Feeling trapped, alone, and in mortal peril, J'Dhannar tossed aside his pack of scavenged loot and began praying to any and all the deities for help in his time of dire need.

J'Dhannar had not realized how tired he was from the ordeal until he found himself waking to the malevolent cackles coming from a trio of swaithe.  They closed in on him with sadistic glee while he rose to his feet and prepared to fight to his last knowing full well that only death awaited him.  Regardless, these were the creatures that killed his friends and he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of hearing him beg for his life.  The foremost demon leapt at him, but it was met in midair with a salvo of arrows that streaked in through an empty window frame causing it to land short in a crumpled heap with an arrow embedded between its empty eye sockets and one where its heart likely resided.  The remaining swaithe let out a cry of surprised distress, fleeing now that they no longer had the advantage leaving J'Dhannar to peer out the window.  The woman who stood on an adjacent rooftop was just as beautiful as the statuette he had stolen in his youth and he beheld her in much the same way; she was a means to attain what he now desired – a chance to survive this nightmare.

Though he could not figure how she did it so adeptly, the woman managed to lead him out of the settlement with the sort of skill that made his infiltration of the place seem as overt as a marching band.  J'Dhannar tried on a few occasions to ask her how she found him, why she was here, or even to thank her for saving his life as they made their way towards Kenabres, but every attempt to speak was met with the gesture to remain silent.  Even in the cover of the night sky, J'Dhannar was able to see her in the dim lighting and could only marvel at his savior committing every detail to memory.  There was something about her that surprised him, namely the sort of sadness in her features and the way she clung to the symbol of Desna around her neck as though her life depended on it; it felt like a mirror to his own feelings in the loss of his friends and how desperately he had called to the divines for aid.  It would seem Desna had been the one to answer his plea by sending this woman to rescue him.  There was much he wanted to ask and say to her, but understood he needed to wait until they were safe.

The sky was starting to fill with the light that would herald the sunrise when they saw the torches of Kenabres burning in the distance.  It was there that she gave the signal to wait while she scouted ahead as she had done several times during their trip, only it had been a contingent of heavy cavalry that returned.  After a series of very skeptical inquiries, they pulled J'Dhannar upon one of their mounts with the obvious statement that it was not safe to be here before escorting him to Kenabres.  Along the way J'Dhannar told them that there was a woman travelling with him and a fraction of the patrol was sent to find her.  It was only when he was safely within Kenabres that he learned the outriders hadn’t been able to find the woman.

Instead of returning home where the temptations of his former life could put him back on the path that Desna had save him from, J'Dhannar chose to follow a path that would temper him from the vices that nearly cost him his life.  He sought out a monastery of Sarenrae to atone for his past and to overcome his desires of envy and greed by serving as a monk of their order under the name of M’iaq.  As far as he was concerned, J’Dhannar had died with the others in those ruins and felt it best to let it be believed as such by everybody else.  Even though he is thankful to Sarenrae for guiding him to redemption, he still pays homage to Desna for being there for him in his time of need so that he could start his path to redemption.

Personality: M’iaq has become somewhat socially reserved after his encounter in the Worldwound, the ordeal clearly having left an scar on his self-confidence that may never heal.  In situations where leadership and initiative of decision making is needed, it is very difficult for him to overcome the hesitation that comes from self-doubt.  This does not make him any less pleasant to talk to or spend time with; in fact there is nothing he enjoys more than the merriment and a good laugh among friends.  Another effect his time in the Worldwound had on him is making him fiercely loyal to his companions.  Haunted with the unshakable notion that he had abandoned his friends in the past and left them for dead has given him a hardened resolve to do whatever it takes to save those he cares about.

Though he is now walking the path of redemption for his illicit past, M’iaq still battles with temptation to take morally questionable shortcuts for addressing situations.  Years had passed since the divine intervention of his redemption, causing the pain of the lesson to dull enough for the rejection of such temptations to become more conscious decision rather than primarily reflexive.  His training at the monastery has given him the discipline needed to overcome those desires, but there is still a part of him that worries about relapsing and discussions involving such questionable actions tend to clearly make him uncomfortable on a personal level.

Appearance: M’iaq is covered from head to toe in medium-plush fur that is light orange on his back that transitions to beige on his front and muzzle.  His eyes are rich amber in color with the vertically slit pupils felines are known form.  A long, relatively thin tail sways behind him as he walks and is usually a good indicator of the sort of mood he is in when also considering the position of the triangular ears upon his head.  The musculature of his legs, arms, and chest manage to be clearly pronounced despite the layer of fur upon them, but those are more of a result of acrobatic and agile endeavors rather than raw physical might.




I see M'iaq filling the rogue role as far as dancing around the battlefield and throwing out a lot of attacks using flurry or combat styles while also having a range of skills.  Sorry for the lengthy background, I just really got into it while flushing out his character. I see him being particularly vulnerable to certain temptations from an RP standpoint as well as being perticulalty conflicted between his former life and his current one since they are bound to clash at some point. Even having him pulling out his lockpicms is likely to stir up old memories that would be fun to elaborate on. I forsee his involvement with this campaign as being just as much or an internal struggle as it would be an external one.

Pockets

Quote from: Pockets on April 02, 2015, 10:14:41 PM
I have the crunch for my character done. I'll get the fluff done for him tomorrow.

http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=146153

Well shit! It didn't save or I forgot to hit the save button. Guess I have to do it all over again.
08/02 - New A/A Update

TheGlyphstone

#30
Quote from: Pockets on April 03, 2015, 12:42:13 PM
Well shit! It didn't save or I forgot to hit the save button. Guess I have to do it all over again.

I was wondering about that actually, but figured it was a placeholder. ;D

Pockets

Meh, the hardest part is the equipment. I know everything else.
08/02 - New A/A Update

TheGlyphstone

#32
@DM: Can I start out with a Wand of Inflict Light Wounds as part of my initial equipment, now that I'm reminded? It's 75% of my starting cash, but it'll also be my only reliable method of self-healing.

Similarly, I get a duplicate Gunsmithing feat from Holy Gun 1 and Gunslinger 1. Can one of those be traded out for another feat I qualify for, like Rapid Reload (Pistol)?

Dakkon

Everyone: The first post has been updated with a new link to the description of Kenebras. The file is still syncing with my dropbox, so it may not be available right away, but it will be there soon.

Quote from: Morganatic on April 03, 2015, 11:34:58 AM
Oop - if we're knocking down races above 13RP, I'll have to have a look at cutting down the Drow a little. How does removing poison use, weapon familiarity, and the perception bonus sound to you (the last because she's lost an eye at some point, judging by the picture, probably while escaping from the Parklands, and the former two because she deliberately avoided the 'backstabbing' bit of Drow society by going and inheriting a slavery-and-mining concern)? I feel a bit guilty because it's slightly 'Path of What I Wasn't Going To Do/Use Anyway', but then - taken as a whole - it does drop her down to 8RP, which is a bit more sane?

EDIT: 6:55pm - also rejigged the skills to make them work as Pathfinder-style ones, rather than that 3.5 ones. Whoops!
Sounds fair.

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on April 03, 2015, 11:39:54 AM
Well, he was going to be raised as an orphan either way. But with the tying backgrounds into the campaign thing, I didn't know if it would be better to have his father's fate ultimately unknown and set up for a Vader Reveal at some point. Not that a Vader Reveal counts as much when you know it's coming, but there might be a vampire bad guy ahead, and you might have been able to use the ambiguity.
Go Darth Vader, especially if the fate of the mother is left slightly ambiguous as well. I will make it work and it will be epic.
  ;D

Quote from: Loki Aesir on April 03, 2015, 12:32:21 PM
I see M'iaq filling the rogue role as far as dancing around the battlefield and throwing out a lot of attacks using flurry or combat styles while also having a range of skills.  Sorry for the lengthy background, I just really got into it while flushing out his character. I see him being particularly vulnerable to certain temptations from an RP standpoint as well as being perticulalty conflicted between his former life and his current one since they are bound to clash at some point. Even having him pulling out his lockpicms is likely to stir up old memories that would be fun to elaborate on. I forsee his involvement with this campaign as being just as much or an internal struggle as it would be an external one.

No need to apologize. I just skimmed it, but it seems to be a very good fit.

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on April 03, 2015, 01:15:14 PM
@DM: Can I start out with a Wand of Inflict Light Wounds as part of my initial equipment, now that I'm reminded? It's 75% of my starting cash, but it'll also be my only reliable method of self-healing.

Similarly, I get a duplicate Gunsmithing feat from Holy Gun 1 and Gunslinger 1. Can one of those be traded out for another feat I qualify for, like Rapid Reload (Pistol)?

Yes, healing is likely going to be very important in the first bit. I'd advise anyone who has leftover cash to invest it in some form of healing. Swapping the feats should be okay.

TheGlyphstone

Amusing problem I just ran into - after buying my Wand for 750, upgrading my pistol for 150 (trait discount), and buying a chain shirt, I didn't have any money left to buy ammunition. :D

Fixed it by downgrading the chain shirt to Studded Leather, now I've got a nice supply of bullets and a gunsmith kit. I'll have to loot armor from a bad guy when we get the chance.

Pockets

If you have the appropriate craft skill, you can make your own equipment for 1/3 the cost unless the DM says otherwise.
08/02 - New A/A Update

Chulanowa

Quote from: Morganatic on April 03, 2015, 11:34:58 AM
Oop - if we're knocking down races above 13RP, I'll have to have a look at cutting down the Drow a little. How does removing poison use, weapon familiarity, and the perception bonus sound to you (the last because she's lost an eye at some point, judging by the picture, probably while escaping from the Parklands, and the former two because she deliberately avoided the 'backstabbing' bit of Drow society by going and inheriting a slavery-and-mining concern)? I feel a bit guilty because it's slightly 'Path of What I Wasn't Going To Do/Use Anyway', but then - taken as a whole - it does drop her down to 8RP, which is a bit more sane?

EDIT: 6:55pm - also rejigged the skills to make them work as Pathfinder-style ones, rather than that 3.5 ones. Whoops!

easy way to keep the flavor at a lower RP is just to make her a half-elf of Drow heritage. You get that charisma bonus just the same, and there's some alternate racial traits for drow spooky stuff. It's also a good way to be treated as dubious rather than kill-on-sight in a crusader city. Remember, intelligence and wisdom are Paladin dump-stats  ;D

TheGlyphstone

Quote from: Pockets on April 03, 2015, 03:00:06 PM
If you have the appropriate craft skill, you can make your own equipment for 1/3 the cost unless the DM says otherwise.

I have Gunsmithing, which lets me craft ammunition at 1/10 of the cost. The problem was that I was at exactly 0 cash left over, so I had to drop something to free up any coin at all. It was only a -1 AC difference in the end.

Morganatic

Quote from: Chulanowa on April 03, 2015, 03:02:18 PM
easy way to keep the flavor at a lower RP is just to make her a half-elf of Drow heritage. You get that charisma bonus just the same, and there's some alternate racial traits for drow spooky stuff. It's also a good way to be treated as dubious rather than kill-on-sight in a crusader city. Remember, intelligence and wisdom are Paladin dump-stats  ;D

I honestly don't massively care about the bonuses, that background's more important. A half-elf wouldn't work at all with the whole 'Darklands slave-owning noble scion releases something nasty blessed and holy in the deep underdark, it drives her to make penance through crusade' background. Also, Kenebros isn't a city full of 'I <3 SMITE EVIL' types, according to the Golarion background - it's a gathering point for all crusader types in a thousand mile radius. Given that tieflings - literal demonspawn with horns, forked tails, and hooves - are allowed in the city as part of the Crusades (albeit facing significant personal discrimination - the corebook has them paying higher prices for goods and risking getting muggedin the street), I don't think it's inevitable that members of more exotic races are going to be killed on sight by four thousand clones of Miko from GitP. Plus, as earlier, any prejudice that does exist just makes things interesting, and provide opportunities for RP - what kind of alliances does the struggle against the Worldwound cause? Does it escalate existing animosities, and if so how? Do you go along, and hide in the shadows, to get along, or do you stand up for yourself? etc.

Anyway, I guess this is a question for FallenDabus - does the background read like it will fit? You're working out the 'touched by divinity' thing with TheGlyphstone, shall I switch to something else to keep a hypothetical party trait-balanced?

Dakkon

Quote from: Morganatic on April 03, 2015, 03:20:21 PM
Anyway, I guess this is a question for FallenDabus - does the background read like it will fit? You're working out the 'touched by divinity' thing with TheGlyphstone, shall I switch to something else to keep a hypothetical party trait-balanced?
You could if you wanted to. One thing that I've seen done before for Wrath is people offering slightly adapted versions versions of their backgrounds for multiple traits so that there is greater flexibility in picking the final group.

Pockets

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on April 03, 2015, 02:58:39 PM
Amusing problem I just ran into - after buying my Wand for 750, upgrading my pistol for 150 (trait discount), and buying a chain shirt, I didn't have any money left to buy ammunition. :D

Fixed it by downgrading the chain shirt to Studded Leather, now I've got a nice supply of bullets and a gunsmith kit. I'll have to loot armor from a bad guy when we get the chance.


Hey Glyph, you can buy wands with partial charges unless the GM says no. For a first level spell, at caster level 1, it's 15 gp per charge. Just as an FYI
08/02 - New A/A Update

TheGlyphstone

Quote from: Pockets on April 03, 2015, 04:14:08 PM

Hey Glyph, you can buy wands with partial charges unless the GM says no. For a first level spell, at caster level 1, it's 15 gp per charge. Just as an FYI

...the problem was already solved, quite a while ago. Also, partially charged wands are - for reasons we don't need to get into - carrying very bad associations for me, so I won't even be considering it.

Quote from: FallenDabus on April 03, 2015, 04:06:53 PM
You could if you wanted to. One thing that I've seen done before for Wrath is people offering slightly adapted versions versions of their backgrounds for multiple traits so that there is greater flexibility in picking the final group.

Are you planning on one person with each trait? I know I can easily adapt my background to be either a Child of the Crusade or Touched By Divinity, though I'd prefer TbD.

eBadger


   
Aesa Wyrmborn
Arcanist 2


It was clear from her birth that Aesa was no ordinary girl, with her flame-bright eyes and feverish skin.  As a toddler she began playing with flames, laughing as she held her hand within them as though it merely tickled.  As a child, she began to focus her will into magic. 

It was not unexpected.  Years before a massive dragon had descended from the sky upon the wooded mountain village, great beats of its scarlet wings sending waves of ash and the stench of burnt flesh through the streets.  It demanded sacrifice, and Aesa's mother Aella was chosen as the most beautiful maiden, to be chained in the forest and left for dead as the beast instructed.  But Aella was not devoured; for months she was forced to serve the creature, which seemed to change forms as easily as clothing from beast to demon to man.  Finally, having stolen as many riches as it could find, it departed with barely a word, leaving behind its concubine.  Aella gave birth on the remote glacial peak of the Iron Mountain; she took weeks returning to her village.  While the strange babe proved hardy, Aella never fully recovered, dying of lingering wounds and sickness during Aesa's childhood. 

The clan accepted the child as they had accepted Aella's sacrifice: stoically and honorably.  Not compassionately.  The girl was too different, too full of rage, anger, and destructive magic.  For her part, Aesa wished little to do with the near strangers who had left her mother to her death.  She took their courtesy as her due, devoured their knowledge with vague contempt and prepared for the day she would seek revenge against her father. 

With little more than her magic and clothes Aesa set out to find her father Ciamar and devour his heart.  Her first destination was Ciamar's mountain stronghold, which she knew had been left filled with books and magic.  But when she reached the freezing pinnacle she discovered it was occupied; the twin sisters claimed they had merely followed the smell of power, but gave small hints they might know more.  With the enticement of knowledge and power the sisters convinced Aesa to remain as their servant.  The irony of drudge work in the very structure where her mother had once been enslaved was not lost on Aesa. 

The sisters were not cruel at first.  Powerful witches, they taught Aesa some ways to control her power and focus her innate arcane energy.  The library likewise proved a useful resource.  It was not until the dark solstice that things turned awry.  The sisters wished to perform some ritual, a dark and powerful thing involving the sacrifice of a small pseudodragon.  The witches claimed the power they gained would help Aesa seek out her father across the slim boundaries of the planes, but when she walked outside to slit the tiny beast's throat over ancient stones, the athame paused.  Aesa didn't hear the cruelty of her father in the creature's telepathic pleas but the first echo of kinship.  After an hour with the blade poised at Vareth's neck she released him, spilling her own blood instead for the ritual. 

Her substitution was not discovered until it was too late.  The cauldron and its noxious brew exploded, burning not only the sister's faces but their very souls.  Aesa, too, was changed: her magic magnified, her body rippled with fire and her hair turned to flame as she was pulled partway across the planar boundary.  For days she writhed in agony, slowly piecing herself back together - for the most part - through inhuman fortitude, although the grip was tenuous, likely to strain with her emotions. 

She awoke in a cage of cold iron.  She was never sure if the sisters had always been evil, although it quickly became clear they had never had any information to give her, but the broken rite seemed to have scorched away all their goodness even as it had burned Aesa's soul into something purer.  Kept for two months as a pet, servant, slave and all too often as a victim, she quickly came to realize how kind her clan had been.  She would even come to think fondly of the home she'd exiled herself from, where no one reviled her eyes or grew terrified of a simple cantrip.  Where no one turned to violence upon her for simple amusement or curiosity.  For the witches had observed her resilience and new found power, and sought to claim it as their own.  Their next ritual saw Aesa chained across the very stone where she'd refused to sacrifice before; stripped in the freezing wind, the sisters clawed out a piece of her soul to serve as their plaything, a bauble of mysterious energy, and left her to die. 

Aesa holds memories, during that long night, of Vareth's voice, of his small claws scrabbling at the chains, but she knows that must be delusion.  Her fate was hers alone, and of her own making.  It was only when she hovered on the brink of mortality, the control so recently learned to hold herself together slipping, that she discovered a new talent.  She came apart, sparks in the wind, only to reform again a short way distant.  With grim fury, she returned to the stronghold and murdered both witches in their sleep. 


Physical Description:  Aesa is mostly human, but the traces of her strange heritage are unmistakable.  Her eyes flicker with an internal flame, her skin is hot to the touch, and she smells faintly of ashes and smoke.  When emotional, her blond hair dances with tongues of fire. 

Personality:   Aesa bears the emotional scars of her abuse, is slow to trust or touch, but never meek; she is quick to stand up for herself or any others she sees needing a voice.  Unused to friends, those she does make are absolute.  She is good, but this is still new enough to her that she distrusts it.  She struggles with dark thoughts, tends to let the ends justify the means, and possesses an unearthly allure; disturbingly similar to the sensuality of a succubus. 

Hellfire Pendant: A small globe of pure flame wrapped in platinum filigree, the shard broken from Aesa's soul is hot to the touch.  Despite its obvious power she is able to make little use of it presently: but it radiates enough energy that Aesa has little need of sleep.  (Casts Keep Watch 1/day) 

Story Role: Aesa has several motivations for joining the crusade.  Primarily, she seeks to slay her father and all others of his kind.  Vengeance has been a lifelong quest: she would have little idea what to do without it.  However, there are also aspects of redemption and the simple need to affirm to herself she is better than her lineage. 

Dakkon

Quote from: eBadger on April 03, 2015, 04:51:22 PM
Aesa Wyrmborn[/size]
Please post a breakdown of your custom race in this thread so that I can go over it. Also, I'm not a big fan of custom items, so I'm going to disallow the Hellfire Pendent. Sorry.

Morganatic

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on April 03, 2015, 04:46:11 PM
...the problem was already solved, quite a while ago. Also, partially charged wands are - for reasons we don't need to get into - carrying very bad associations for me, so I won't even be considering it.

Is it a monk-and-UMD-related issue, because if so, I sympathise ... :(

QuoteYou could if you wanted to. One thing that I've seen done before for Wrath is people offering slightly adapted versions versions of their backgrounds for multiple traits so that there is greater flexibility in picking the final group.

QuoteAre you planning on one person with each trait? I know I can easily adapt my background to be either a Child of the Crusade or Touched By Divinity, though I'd prefer TbD.

It's interesting that both characters were touched by divinity by Empyreal Lords ... if FallenDabus is willing, there'd probably be some sort of possible link there. Of course, I don't want to push you away from TbD - Breaker-of-Chains could work with a few different background traits, she just needs that connection with Arshea, and subtle manipulation by the meddlesome higher power doesn't have to come in the form of a background trait ...

Quote from: eBadger on April 03, 2015, 04:51:22 PM

   
Aesa Wyrmborn

Just got to say congrats on your excellent taste wrt. the extremely fashionable trait, the official Best Trait in all of pathfinder - I was gutted when I couldn't nab it myself ...

TheGlyphstone

Quote from: Morganatic on April 03, 2015, 05:43:09 PM
Is it a monk-and-UMD-related issue, because if so, I sympathise ... :(

How did you guess? ???


Dakkon

Quote from: Morganatic on April 03, 2015, 05:43:09 PM

It's interesting that both characters were touched by divinity by Empyreal Lords ... if FallenDabus is willing, there'd probably be some sort of possible link there. Of course, I don't want to push you away from TbD - Breaker-of-Chains could work with a few different background traits, she just needs that connection with Arshea, and subtle manipulation by the meddlesome higher power doesn't have to come in the form of a background trait ...
It may be workable... But I'm not sure.

One of the "experimental" aspects of Wrath of the Righteous was the idea of having the campaign traits impact the course of the adventure. Each one modifies a characters background in some major way and then pays off in a big way in the Third and Fourth adventures. It's not that I'm unwilling to have more than one PC with each trait, it's that the payoffs are very specific, and their impact can be very easily diluted by having more than one PC with the same trait. I'm not going to say much, but Touched by Divinity is one of the biggest payoffs, and my personal favourite of all of them, but that also means it is very, very specific. You are right that the dual Empyreal Lords makes it more viable, but I'll have to think to see if that trait being shared is possible. Sadly, it's pretty difficult to make this a transparent issue without giving away the resolution, which I obviously don't feel like doing.

So yes Glyph, I am planning on only have one person with each trait (sorry for missing you earlier), barring something tying the characters together as suggested in the Player's Guide. Child of the Crusade could work for your character, but I really think that Touched by Divinity is a much, much better fit. If you and Morganatic want to avoid competing with each other for traits, I'd suggest that Breaker be the PC who's backstory changes. I know that may seem slightly arbitrary since I can't really explain myself, but you guys will just have to trust me on this one.

Pockets

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Emeric Kessel

Background: Emeric’s life was determined before he was even born. His parents were crusaders who had had a tryst with him being the outcome. His parents adored him when they laid eyes on him but the life they had chosen for themselves was not the life they felt they could give up in light of the fact that the Worldwound had no yet been closed. Instead, they relinquished him to the Church of Iomedae where he was raised with the intent that he would become a member of the clergy, be it a Cleric, Paladin, Inquisitor, or even an Oracle.

Emeric was an apt pupil taking to his studies with a fervor not seen by many, but in his off time he ran about the city with some of the other orphans and street urchins getting into trouble. He learned equally from the school of the street and the classrooms of the church. But his faith in the church was shattered one day.

For weeks, orphans had gone missing but they hadn’t been adopted out. They just went missing, never to be heard from again. One night Emeric couldn’t sleep after a particularly fierce switching had left him with more than a few painful welts that plagued him still. He heard the Headmaster come into the dormitory and gently rouse one of the older boys. The boy followed the Headmaster out of the dormitory without a fuss. Emeric being curious as to what the Headmaster might have wanted at such a late hour decided to follow on silent bare feet.

He followed them to one of the many storerooms in the Orphanage/church cellar and watched the Headmaster strike the boy from behind with a blunt weapon before tying and gagging him up on an altar. Emeric knew something was wrong when the Headmaster replaced the Holy Symbol of Iomedae that hung above the altar with a brass bullheaded icon. Emeric immediately recognized the words the Headmaster chanted from a scroll as those being Abyssal and knew he should go run for help but he remained frozen.

Soon a demon appeared, Emeric would later learn that this was a glabrezu demon. Emeric startled and accidentally knocked the door open. The demon saw him at the same time the Headmaster did but before the Headmaster could say or do anything, Emeric was running only to find that he couldn’t figure out where he was going, stopping to get his bearings he felt an unearthly pain rip through the small of his back as the demon impaled him through the small of his back and lifted him up intent on biting his head off. But a visiting Inquisitor had arrived late and had heard him screaming for help as he ran.

He put an arrow through the demon’s eye. It dropped Emeric to the ground. Emeric did not know what happened after that. He awoke sometime later, his body aflame with fever and his midsection bandaged heavily. He slipped in and out of consciousness for what seemed like a couple hours but turned out to be weeks. His injuries had become infected and had taken longer to heal.

He learned that the Headmaster had been found guilty of consorting with demons and had been sentenced to burn at the stake as a heretic. But when he asked about the man who had saved him, they knew nothing only that he had been found next to the shattered demon and the Headmaster kneeling on the ground, his head in his hands confessing his sins. The Brothers and Sisters of the church helped him regain his strength and he decided that he needed to strike out on his own. The church held nothing for him. He suffered from fugue and the Clerics of Iomedae recognized it for what it was. They gave him supplies and some silver to travel with.

Emeric travelled to Magnimar where he fell in with the wrong crowd. He became a decent thief but his heart wasn’t into stealing from just anyone. His targets had to have had a reason to deserve being robbed. He had started to develop his own code of conduct and finally broke ties with the gang he had been running with. He hit the road again this time trying to figure out what he wanted.

He felt the calling of the Church, but it was conflicted with his need to be his own man and the fact that he had nearly been killed by a demon summoned by a man he had trusted. He had stopped a small temple whose holy symbol he didn’t recognize. Deciding to pray for guidance, he prayed fervently for the entire night and well into the next day.

As he stood from his prayers, he was met by a man who seemed vaguely familiar. The man said that a man did not have to be a member of the clergy to be a member of a given faith. That a man’s actions determined his worth and not his profession. The man gave Emeric an old well worn holy text and told him to read it.

Emeric devoured the text and learned about an Empyreal Lord named Ragathiel who, born of a Demon Lord and a goddess of Fire, had earned his place among the Empyreal Lords and now stood at the forefront of the war against Hell and the Abyss. Inspired Emeric stayed another week learning all he could about Ragathiel and chose him as his Patron deity. He had soon left praying for guidance when he heard that Mendev was calling for another Crusade to close the Worldwound.

It was then that he knew what he had to do. He travelled to Kenebres to answer the call. He hopes to find a group of like-minded individuals who will overlook his period of self-doubt and cooperate for the betterment of Golarion.

Personality: Emeric is an all business kind of guy. He is pious and reverent without being fanatical. He has a definite Robin Hood complex that sometimes tickles his nose and causes him to take risks he otherwise shouldn’t. But he is a generally good guy who likes to try and play the peacemaker. He hates demons with a rabid fanaticism that one might expect to see from a Paladin but is intelligent enough not to just attack first and ask questions later.

Appearance: Emeric is for the most part a clean guy, but isn’t a fanatic about keeping clean shaven so he’s usually got a day or two on his face before he decides to shave or at the very least, trim. Given his time in an Iomedean Orphanage, he is fastidious about his cleanliness and often cleans the tools of his trade, sometimes just because he’s bored.

Sexuality: Emeric is straight heterosexual. While a virgin, he knows that the notion of being with another man feels unnatural to him, he is willing to turn a blind eye to same sex relationships so long as it is consensual.
08/02 - New A/A Update

Morganatic

Quote from: FallenDabus on April 03, 2015, 06:17:54 PM
It may be workable... But I'm not sure.

One of the "experimental" aspects of Wrath of the Righteous was the idea of having the campaign traits impact the course of the adventure. Each one modifies a characters background in some major way and then pays off in a big way in the Third and Fourth adventures. It's not that I'm unwilling to have more than one PC with each trait, it's that the payoffs are very specific, and their impact can be very easily diluted by having more than one PC with the same trait. I'm not going to say much, but Touched by Divinity is one of the biggest payoffs, and my personal favourite of all of them, but that also means it is very, very specific. You are right that the dual Empyreal Lords makes it more viable, but I'll have to think to see if that trait being shared is possible. Sadly, it's pretty difficult to make this a transparent issue without giving away the resolution, which I obviously don't feel like doing.

So yes Glyph, I am planning on only have one person with each trait (sorry for missing you earlier), barring something tying the characters together as suggested in the Player's Guide. Child of the Crusade could work for your character, but I really think that Touched by Divinity is a much, much better fit. If you and Morganatic want to avoid competing with each other for traits, I'd suggest that Breaker be the PC who's backstory changes. I know that may seem slightly arbitrary since I can't really explain myself, but you guys will just have to trust me on this one.

No probs! I'll re-jig the background, probably going with Stolen Fury. It's an eh trait, but, hey, Breaker-of-Chains is plenty good as is. Should be able to work it quite interestingly into her whole 'freedom from the past by suffering for the past' thing.

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on April 03, 2015, 06:00:09 PM
How did you guess? ???

Fellow veteran of the Great Giacomo War.  :-(

TheGlyphstone

#49
Quote from: FallenDabus on April 03, 2015, 06:17:54 PM
It may be workable... But I'm not sure.

One of the "experimental" aspects of Wrath of the Righteous was the idea of having the campaign traits impact the course of the adventure. Each one modifies a characters background in some major way and then pays off in a big way in the Third and Fourth adventures. It's not that I'm unwilling to have more than one PC with each trait, it's that the payoffs are very specific, and their impact can be very easily diluted by having more than one PC with the same trait. I'm not going to say much, but Touched by Divinity is one of the biggest payoffs, and my personal favourite of all of them, but that also means it is very, very specific. You are right that the dual Empyreal Lords makes it more viable, but I'll have to think to see if that trait being shared is possible. Sadly, it's pretty difficult to make this a transparent issue without giving away the resolution, which I obviously don't feel like doing.

So yes Glyph, I am planning on only have one person with each trait (sorry for missing you earlier), barring something tying the characters together as suggested in the Player's Guide. Child of the Crusade could work for your character, but I really think that Touched by Divinity is a much, much better fit. If you and Morganatic want to avoid competing with each other for traits, I'd suggest that Breaker be the PC who's backstory changes. I know that may seem slightly arbitrary since I can't really explain myself, but you guys will just have to trust me on this one.

You've yet to steer us wrong in any of the other games you've run. So if Morganatic doesn't mind going for something else, I'll 'lock in' on Touched By Divinity, with CotC as a backup.


Also, I plan on submitting as the 'frontliner'/tank slot in the 4-person makeup. I'm lightly armored (for now), but I have the damage output to make me 'sticky' - enemies cannot ignore me, and the short range increments of a pistol mean I'll be up close anyways. D10 hit dice make me decently survivable, and I plan on dipping Trench Fighter pretty soon - Mysterious Stranger 1/Holy Gun 2/Trench Fighter 3/Holy Gun or Mysterious Stranger out to 20, so I'll so have my Heavy Armor Proficiency back and be extra sturdy.

Quote
Fellow veteran of the Great Giacomo War.  :-(

I should have guessed.