Recruiting: high scale Pathfinder, Taldor, aka Byzantium focused

Started by Kolbrandr, June 02, 2013, 03:46:12 AM

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Kolbrandr

Quote from: EroticFantasyAuthor on June 08, 2013, 04:15:11 PM
Sorry, do followers get NPC wealth by level or PC wealth by level?

I'm going to say pc wealth given that their highest possible level is 6 and "what's the worst you could possibly do with that" is crossing my mind. Don't actually answer that question.

RubySlippers


kckolbe

Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
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Kolbrandr


Muse

A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Kolbrandr

Quote from: Muse on June 08, 2013, 04:52:52 PM
You know there's charts for NPC Wealth?

I'm aware, but I don't mind being somewhat more generous in this regard.

Muse

A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Meliai

    {{A/As updated 5/8}}           

EroticFantasyAuthor

Also to keep items balanced, could use the item level charts from the back of Magic Item Compendium(3.5) as guidelines. Don't buy items with price ranges above your character's level, that sort of thing.

Kolbrandr

Quote from: EroticFantasyAuthor on June 08, 2013, 05:14:07 PM
Also to keep items balanced, could use the item level charts from the back of Magic Item Compendium(3.5) as guidelines. Don't buy items with price ranges above your character's level, that sort of thing.

I'm going to go with having faith in people not wanting to be heinously abusive before pointing to charts from there and such.

kckolbe

So, Kolbrandr, is there any general worldbuilding issue you need a hand with?  Pending level, I think I've got my character's stuff about as done as it can be.
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Kolbrandr

If people are interested, I could do a relatively brief listing of various families royal and senatorial, and organizations I was otherwise going to develop, and they could grab one up to flesh out.

kckolbe

I could take a senatorial family on, whether from scratch or notes.  What other organizations?
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

EroticFantasyAuthor

Since I'm rather new to the whole in-depth political stuff, I'm not sure what help I can provide.

I'll of course be attempting to work on my characters' mercenary company/battalion.

I can help with the mechanical stuff, building NPCs and decreasing DM work-load, that sort of thing.

I would like at least level 10(level 8 cohort), 14(level 12 cohort) would be awesome. I'll happily put in work, just fear my inexperience will negatively affect the amount  I can do.

kckolbe

EFA, if it helps, some of the questions I expect he'll want answered are:

1) Which district is your organization based out of?
2) Does your organization have rivals (as one can expect there are many merc companies out there)
3) What overall alignment would you say your organization has?
4) What types of jobs would you say your organization excels at?
5) Does your organization have ties to any other organization or individual?
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

EroticFantasyAuthor


Shaitan

Late arrival throwing in a hat, still reading up on the long series of posts, would there be room for a half elf commoner given a senatorial position and a hereditary title based on the fact that he was the last survivor of a border incident that wiped out a small town, as well as the same guy who stalled out and defeated the cause of said incident. Said incident was exacerbated by the fact that bureaucratic red tape caused the patrol sent to investigate the issue to be delayed somewhere in the range of a year and a half to two years. Little bordertown that wasn't even on an important border Taldor, mostly just primordial forest that everyone ignored. Stuck in the wilderness he survived, I hate to use a reference but think something like the green arrow less drama more oh crap zombies, wraiths, and swarms of undead and less rich playboy, more youth growing up hunting with a bow in the woods. He's that guy that the Taldan government is holding up as the everyman as a political and general nationwide morale campaign, which this character has every plan of capitalizing on to his own purposes. Since his return from the wilds he's played part in several small campaigns for rather decisive victories, generally using some brutal methods that regular taldan knights would have scoffed at, had they known. However between his unorthodox approach to combat, his waffling between chivalry and pragmatism, and his mount, he's not going to be accepted as anything but a political figurehead by most politicians until he makes his name more prevalent and highly associated with other things beyond morale for the public.

In combat he is a mounted archer on the back of a well trained large wolf companion, which probably makes some people a little uncomfortable, but works beautifully for outrunning most undead. Out of curiosity does the feat every level apply the animal companion as well as the character? I figure that it doesn't but it would make sense if it did.

Looking at a kobold press variant of ranger called spellless ranger// either wizard or rogue or martial artist monk with chevalier and maybe some duelist levels later on, who wants to change taldor back into what it used to be, rather than the den of corruption and bureaucratic red tape that it has become, barely waddling along under it's own momentum. The reason for the redemption subtheme is that the character sees himself as a knight (read: paladin who gets the girl) of the realm, whether he is seen as that or even if anyone agrees with him on that, doesn't mean anything to him, he's still gonna try, with some dirty tricks that one learns in the wilds stuck alone for a few years.


Side notes: would have loved to have combined blackblade magus with ranger, but as you said magus is a no no, lol.

Stat rolls as noted racial modifiers not included: Str17, Dex17, Con16, Int18, Wis15, Cha13, 7 was dropped.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4081246/
5d6.takeHighest(3).minroll(2) → [4,3,6] = (13)
5d6.takeHighest(3).minroll(2) → [3,2,2] = (7)
5d6.takeHighest(3).minroll(2) → [6,6,6] = (18)
5d6.takeHighest(3).minroll(2) → [6,5,4] = (15)
5d6.takeHighest(3).minroll(2) → [6,6,5] = (17)
5d6.takeHighest(3).minroll(2) → [6,6,5] = (17)
5d6.takeHighest(3).minroll(2) → [6,6,4] = (16)

I am working on a more detailed background for him and the house he is the master of, just needs a good bit more work and I wanted to get the hat thrown in as it were.

kckolbe

I believe Skirmisher is a decent spelless ranger, if you haven't checked that out.  How would you see his alignment?  Also, how did he go from commoner to master of a House?
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Shaitan

I did look over the skirmisher but it just didn't feel right for the background, lacked the survival capability to go a year plus alone, and I really like the kobold press rewrite of the ranger, not to mention the dm mentioned considering kobold press material.

I see the character being neutral good at the start and getting close to both lawful and chaotic good all throughout the campaign, namely due to the paradox's of his own beliefs. For master of the house, it's all a political maneuver to raise morale, the house is poor, few interests just enough to keep it above water. The taldan government had to deal with either admitting they ignored a necromancer playing in their own backyard  and let a whole town get wiped off the map while the only survivor fought all of the undead the necromancer was playing around with and managed to kill the necromancer before they got around to doing anything, or they could twist it into a surprise attack by a hidden foe that was quickly resolved by a talented young man who had earned entry into the nobility, which he could either accept or deal with being a renegade. His first introduction to the talden patrol that finally got to looking was him hunting them until after a few tries with one of the druids they paid to help after a week of getting their rear ends kicked in guerrilla warfare, this was his home and battleground for several years. So he got trapped by a druid setting up a trap with the taldan battlemage and the rest of the patrol  running him into it. This of course led to him realizing who he was fighting against, being lost in the woods fighting everything but your mount leaves a guy just a teenie bit paranoid ya know. He cooperated then, when he was unintentionally informed back in the capital city Oppara by a clerk in passing that the reason they were so slow was due to the fact that their main reference maps didn't include the town's name, and no one thought to check out the issue further until the messenger had practically tossed a vial of alchemists fire into a tax record storage area. The town wasn't on any crossroads just didn't get a name to it's dot on the map.

As for why he didn't get adopted into a house and instead got his own, he's a battlescarred young man, not even 19 at the time with more live battlefield experience and trauma than many twice his age, and he didn't take well to finding out the reason why the messenger was ignored, started going postal, punching the daylights out of the clerks in the office, one of which had some connections to another house. Remember he's the only survivor, everyone that died got raised as some form of undead, he ended up having to kill his own mother's undead body in some form, whether intelligent or not I haven't decided yet, but also had to kill and bury virtually everyone he knew that had been raised as undead, and the necromancer got more talented at raising as he went and a bit more creative in creating the undead. He can see the forest for the trees bound in red tape. Now he has learned a few things, including significant self control since part of his deal is that he would fight in any conflicts Taldor needed his expertise in guerrilla warfare. Which granted time to learn how to navigate the new field he was in now, politics. He learned many skills in the environment of learn now or die, and he didn't stop learning there, he's a smart guy, swords don't run out of charges, arrows can be reused and don't take long to make, spells run out fast. He's just found a new battlefield to fight on and is learning the tricks to try to win, which is why he's not out in on some campaign and is actually getting to see the home he received as part of his bribe to shut up for the time in years not too long before all of this starts. Time enough for him to attend parties as the newly minted nobleman, and begin making contacts at all of the posh parties which he is carefully guided by an assistant who is far more knowledgeable than he is about the etiquette he needs to follow and is unwilling to let him forget it.

Kolbrandr

Alright, the first thing to note, so the Taldan high society have a peculiar sort of racism. Which is to say, on the one hand, they totally let that bearded/unbearded thing completely slide when dealing with foreigners or demihumans (in the sense that males of such can grow beards if they want to just fine, it's not seen as some social/legal offense), on the other hand, they're a touchy bunch as regards Taldan lineage in the aristocracy, which is to say, elevating a half elf into the noble castes is basically allowing for that they might get married to another noble, have kids, and throw a generational spanner into being able to say that the lords of Taldor are Taldan/human/Aroden's original favoured people. It's a little bit like how in Cheliax you would think being a tiefling would be well accepted, yet tieflings get crapped on there for somewhat similar reasons.

It's not to say half elves or the like have it anywhere as bad as, say, tieflings in Cheliax. There are half elves in high prominent church positions entirely accepted in Taldor, for instance, and demihumans in the military (though probably not tons, Taldor is a largely human populated nation and all), mercantile and crafting strata, so forth. It basically comes down to that generally speaking the aristocracy itself has a "you must be this human to ride" sign outside of it. Oh you could be a popular and well paid performer to nobles, or courtesan or what have you, or have some other thing that lets you move in all the right circles, but you wouldn't quite be of them, all the same.

So while it's on the edge of possible for a half elf to be raised up to the senatorial castes for one thing thereby if the Grand Prince was suitably impressed, generally speaking the Grand Prince can probably find less socially controversial ways to award distinction. Or even just make the title non hereditary or otherwise meaningless. They'd probably and likely have uplifted foreigners even before a half elf otherwise (they're at least human, and Taldor did after all create local noble families in its various dominions, so that has precedent on its side).

So my first question thereby becomes, how integral to your concept is being a half elf?

I did say I'd at least consider Kobold Press stuff, so I'll give the spelless ranger a read, but I was otherwise going to recommend skirmisher or trapper if you want to be a ranger and go without spells.

kckolbe

Even if he were human, being granted his own House just seems odd to me, especially given his youth.  Personally, I think it would make more sense for a major House like Varian or Branas to make him an esteemed retainer, or maybe even be given a place of rank within the royal guard or city guard.  Also, no matter how badass a giant wolf is (very badass), it isn't a proper mount for a noble of Taldor.

Remember, this was an area that wasn't particularly important to Taldor.  And he was killing undead, which are scary, but aren't the mighty forces of a rival nation. 

Lastly, I think there are ways he could have followers without his own House.  He would be a hero, and other commoners looking for an improvement in their own life would seek him out.  Perhaps just past the bit of forest was a small noble House headed by your now cohort, that is in your debt for preventing a wave of undead from reaching them.  This would make your cohort the powerful one, status-wise, but still gives your player access to the nobility.
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Kolbrandr

Being fair, it's not impossible to just get raised up to either caste by a Grand Prince going "tada, you are now of this caste!", there's just a context to eyeball it happening in.

Also, I made an npc house of dudes that ride around on appropriately sized lions ;p I grant you that they're the national animal of Taldor and that the Branas have been doing it for six thousand years probably means no one bats an eyelash at them doing so.

Shaitan

The race is mutable, though I would prefer half elf, the house thing can be changed, it's not a bit deal. Mostly looking for a warrior stuck in a situation far outside of his expertise and trying to make a change, He's stuck in a city as a ranger, he's lived on battlefields and the forests, and now he's there trying to change an empire, he's got a plan, not necessarily the skills to back it up so he's looking for allies to save it. He's a ranger trying to be a paladin and failing at it, he's the knight that every other taldan knight looks at and thinks you're doing it wrong. wtf were you thinking. He's the outsider on the inside.

Kolbrandr

Okay, the next thing, I've done a read through of the Kobold Press Ranger, and used the PF no spell rangers, the skirmisher and trapper, as my baselines to measure it against. So the thing there is, it's markedly better than them, which makes me leery of using it, to be honest with you. I mean, if this was, say, a Midgard campaign (hey, someone run a Midgard game, that setting's great! Someone not me!) and thereby using the Kobold stuff as across the board baseline default, I'd be more comfortable with it, and all their classes and class variants, from Battle Scion to Elf Archer, the Paladin Aspect powers, what have you, but.. not really what I'm doing here. And with gestalt as is, I'm really gunshy on a "more Ranger than Ranger" class variant.

If you're looking to dodge dealing with spells as a ranger, neither of those archetypes work for you?

Shaitan

Flavorwise I love the two archetypes, just not mechanically, I think they are shoddy and tacked on. Please pm me if you would like to discuss viewpoint in more granularity, I don't want this to be a mechanics thread in a game interest/recruiting thread.

As for spellless ranger versus the other two archetypes, yeah its better, that's undeniable. This is just my personal impression to note my view on the variant class versus the two paizo archetypes, not intended as a class versus power level argument, for that take it to pms with me please.