DnD 3.5 Thayan Campaign Wanted Small Group GM/Players Interest Check

[RubySlippers]

Focused specialist is not bad I took some of the variants but I would still be up a spell doing that, and other schools are all inferior anyway.  :D

I'm dropping Enhantment, Illusion and Necromancy and as a Red Wizard hitting Evocation.

That leaves:
Conjuration the mightiest of all the schools of the Art.
Abjuration (defense magic)
Divination (enhanced intel is always good)
Transmutation (broadest of all schools)
Universal
and some Evocation spells.

That will do.

[Warlock]

I should also get down to make mine as well. I decided go with Illusionist 3/Master Specialist 2/Red Wizard 3 because I realized that if I am 20th level (someday) I could make Simalcrum clones of mine to lead circles....and thus extend their uses when they buff me when I lead the circle.

Example; if I buff each simalcrum have single prepared 20th level spell, they cast it to buff me and even if I lead five members I get 100 stored spell levels to buff myself and spells which I prepared.

Assuming GM allows such shehanigans :P.

I'm just going to qoute myself ''Rule Five: What you can do, I can do better. Power gaming is a joy unto itself, a player pushing the limits of what the system allows. Beautiful. A Game Master does not suffer under any restrictions, keep that in mind.
'' That said, I enjoy devious minds and dastardly plans.

A quick reminder: We're using Pathfinder's consilidated skill system which means the following changes. With the exception of Concentration staying. Feats are also gained at every odd level instead of normal feat progression.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Ok, that's decent. I ran into trouble with mine as I want keep shadow weave schools open for mine. But then again I take variant which removes the extra spell slots as specialist (instead giving +2 illusion spells per level and any class learned illusions are treated as learned by spell mastery feat).

Illusionist bans; Conjuration&Evocation (flash and bang and as illusionist I can copycat either school spells mostly via shadow evocation/conjuration)

Red Wizard ban; Transmutation (learned all useful ones at level 5 and spending enormous amount gold on scribing some top best transmute spells, or need plan take 3 feats to break out from the ban)

Leaves;

Abjuration - Defense spells, must have for any wizard in country infested arcane using rivals
Divination - Cannot ban, nor want to
Illusion - Most underestimated magic school with some potent defense spells and some which allows bull some credible bullshit (silent image on wall to create image of a wall, thus force adventurer using detect magic run straight to wall for 1d8 damage inflicted on self for cheap laughs)
Necromancy - Debufs and powerful minions! Just need corpses! Save or die spells! Also if facing necromancer can take over it's minions (or blast them).
Enchantment - Make enemies your friends and helps debuf foes to be weaker against illusions.
Universal - Here I come wish!

Warlock: Understood! So do you allow using energy transformation field spell scroll, arcane energy manipulation (feat from Lost Empire of Faerun) and use of spell engine spell scroll and Absorption scrolls to able get 34 9th level spells in 10th level ^_^

Of course above tactic needs lots of gold and able get hands on wizard who can scribe said spells naturally....but we are in country which founded magic walmart

[Warlock]

Warlock: Understood! So do you allow using energy transformation field spell scroll, arcane energy manipulation (feat from Lost Empire of Faerun) and use of spell engine spell scroll and Absorption scrolls to able get 34 9th level spells in 10th level ^_^

Of course above tactic needs lots of gold and able get hands on wizard who can scribe said spells naturally....but we are in country which founded magic walmart

I honestly wonder why Red Wizards and the Hathrans (also have circle magic) don't use this on a massive scale, it's the equivalent of real-world nukes.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Most reason is that red wizards do not cooperate so well together. No doubt if you purchase spell engine, absorption and energy transformation field from same red wizard, he no doubt starts connect dots in there and start wonder what for your collecting said scrolls.

As 10th level apprentice nuking his master is possible in surprise (and before master does his circle empowerment for the day). Hathrans other hand may be less ambitious and they have more respect and fear for magic than red wizards do (who are naturally high and mighty arrogant, it's like Thay got bad personality traits from Netheril and Hathrans got the good traits).

But indeed the potential of circle magic is darn fun and thus one reason why I grew interest play red wizard this year once I realized how freaking amazing it can be (and broken at times).

[RubySlippers]

Actually all you need are apprentices that is the leader must have Circle Leader and the other five powering them must have Magic Tattooes read peons say all 3rd level they feed the master each  2nd level spell its +10 Levels for the day and if they dare decide to attack the red wizard they better win and I won't teach mine the variant tricks or focused specialization to keep the advantage.

It would help if the master is more trustworthy my character is not an asshole, likely her apprentices would be less likely to turn on her. At least if chosen properly.  ;D

[Warlock]

Actually all you need are apprentices that is the leader must have Circle Leader and the other five powering them must have Magic Tattooes read peons say all 3rd level they feed the master each  2nd level spell its +10 Levels for the day and if they dare decide to attack the red wizard is one they fail the master can do what they want to the peons.

It would help if the master is more trustworthy my character is not an asshole, likely her apprentices would be less likely to turn on her. At least if chosen properly.  ;D

Which is why we have spells like Dominate Monster/Person and Simulacrum to do away with pesky details such as free will. :P

[RubySlippers]

Or an outside threat like a war, a slave uprising and so forth to kind of force the Red Wizards to suck it up for the good of the nation.

[Kunoichi]

I suddenly feel as though I should be making much more optimized choices with my mount's feat selections... :P I wonder if mounts can pick up flaws?

Edit: I'm serious about that question, by the way. >>; Tentative stats for the tiger so far are...

RAGNOSS, Magebred Tiger
Size/Type: Large Outsider (Native)
Hit Dice: 10d8+18 (62 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 60 ft. (12 squares)
Armor Class: 27 (-1 size, +2 Dex, +11 natural, +5 armor), touch 11, flat-footed 25
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+23
Attack: Claw +21 melee (1d6+9+good aligned)
Full Attack: 2 claws +21 melee (1d6+9+good aligned) and bite +19 melee (1d8+4+good aligned)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab, pounce, rake 1d8+4
Special Qualities: Empathic link, excellent learner, improved evasion, low-light vision, scent, share saving throws, share spells, swift breed
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +8
Abilities: Str 29, Dex 18, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Acrobatics +21 (+33 Jump), Climb +15, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (Local Thay) +11, Perception +14, Stealth +17 (+21 in tall grass), Survival +7, Swim +22
Feats: Bravado (Flaw; cannot use dodge bonuses to AC or use the withdraw action), Fussy (Flaw; sickened for the duration of any ingested potion, -4 to Fort saves vs ingested poison), Multiattack (B), Apprentice (Soldier), Otherworldly, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Shock Trooper, Leap Attack, Knockback
Equipment:
+1 Mithral Chain Tiger Barding


Needless to say, I think that buffing the tiger is going to be a valid combat tactic for at least one of our wizards. :P

[RubySlippers]

I have one use for the slave, guard when I go to the market to get my monthly gold from merchants she put money into, I will cut her brother in for 20% of the gold for the use of her unless she fucks up then I'll see she is severely dealt with.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Fine with the 20% cut but any punishment should decided by me as I am primary owner, you can do any non-permament harm to her as you wish of course. But if you leave a scar I ask refund or money enough for me go to Kossuth temple to remove the scar.

Kunoichi: What is knockback? Is it a feat? Anyways overall it's up to ST decide are flaws allowed or not but I would say the both flaws you picked are quite horrible and would prefer not have them on the tiger. Ingested poisons is common tactic to make your pets unusable in Thay (and easy to fool to eat poisoned stake).

Also Bravado negates some spells buffs which give dodge bonuses :P. So not able buff it that much. But anyways let's go with the feat build; Multiattack (base, thus free), Apprentice:Soldier (curious but possible as animal has Int 6, gives nice class skills and bonuses, just remember large size gives +4 intimidate bonus), Power Attack (must haves), Improved Bull Rush (nice combat maneuver), Shock Trooper (nice applications to bull rush and gives nice battlefield control).

Leap Attack would must have in later levels, as you leap and pounce from all things....it's plain ugly to watch.

I do remember there was magic item, horse shoes (but can be anklets) which give air walk as at-will for mount. Or even increased land speed +30'ft.

[Kunoichi]

That arrangement works for me, too.  The Halfling slave girl (whose name I have decided is Rima) would also be able to double as a pleasure slave, if anyone's character is into that sort of thing. :P

And Zaer, keeping the mount from being poisoned would probably be one of Rima's responsibilities.  Though, to help out with that, Ragnoss does have his own Travel Cloak to provide him with the daily amount of food and water that he requires.  As for the Bravado flaw, do you have any alternatives to recommend?

Knockback is a feat from Races of Stone.

[Warlock]

I suddenly feel as though I should be making much more optimized choices with my mount's feat selections... :P I wonder if mounts can pick up flaws?

Needless to say, I think that buffing the tiger is going to be a valid combat tactic for at least one of our wizards. :P

If flaws are allowed for animal companions/mounts would depend on how liberal you are with the word ''create'', and we could check the definition of the word to see if we can find something....

cre•ate (kriˈeɪt)
v. -at•ed, -at•ing,
adj. v.t.
5. to arrange or bring about, as by intention or design: to create confusion.

You select a base creature as a mount, so there isn't a ''creation'' in a normal sense, but since you need to make adjustment because the mount ability often grants additional abilities that you need to arrange and include then it would fit under definition and larger concept of ''create'' in ''A player may select up to two flaws when creating a character. ''.
*sniffs*

My work is done. I could arbitrarily OK it, but where's the fun in that. xD
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Kunoichi: What is knockback? Is it a feat? Anyways overall it's up to ST decide are flaws allowed or not but I would say the both flaws you picked are quite horrible and would prefer not have them on the tiger. Ingested poisons is common tactic to make your pets unusable in Thay (and easy to fool to eat poisoned stake).

Also Bravado negates some spells buffs which give dodge bonuses :P. So not able buff it that much. But anyways let's go with the feat build; Multiattack (base, thus free), Apprentice:Soldier (curious but possible as animal has Int 6, gives nice class skills and bonuses, just remember large size gives +4 intimidate bonus), Power Attack (must haves), Improved Bull Rush (nice combat maneuver), Shock Trooper (nice applications to bull rush and gives nice battlefield control).

Knockback feat

I'd honestly say that they're good. Flaws are supposed to penalize the character in some way. Both are a good mix of social and combat related penalties (and can add further complications).

[RubySlippers]

Oh are her magic items going to be Shadow Weave items or standard seeing who owns her.

Still refining my character, but she is coming along. But what is the starting gold for an 8th Level character?

[Warlock]

Oh are her magic items going to be Shadow Weave items or standard seeing who owns her.

Still refining my character, but she is coming along. But what is the starting gold for an 8th Level character?

27'00gp

[Zaer Darkwail]

Shadow weave user can only use shadow weave items and they are made by shadow weave users. So that sense I strongly likely take apprentice (and convert it to mentor) feat to get UMD as class skill so I can use weave magic items like wands, scrolls etc. Plus mentor gives me a 4th level apprentice and two levels later said apprentice becomes cohort :D

Kunoichi, would you like roleplay also my apprentice gained via mentor?

Anyways if GM allows feat and if you check tiger does not eat anything contained poisonous then ok. Although the Bravado is tricky but can work around it perhaps (some spells give luck bonus to AC).

[Kunoichi]

Sure, I wouldn't mind roleplaying your Apprentice.  And if she's going to double as a cohort, I've even got some build ideas. ^^ Seeing as we're rather light on healing, a priestess of the church of Shar could be useful to have around...

[Zaer Darkwail]

Sure, I wouldn't mind roleplaying your Apprentice.  And if she's going to double as a cohort, I've even got some build ideas. ^^ Seeing as we're rather light on healing, a priestess of the church of Shar could be useful to have around...

Ok, just remember for her to qualify as my apprentice she needs to have one level in same class as I do to qualify as apprentice. So a specialist wizard (not necessary illusion specialist). Also as general rule apprentice does not accompany in adventures but it's up to GM decide. It's harder to keep apprenticeship going if task where my char is send takes several weeks to complete. So it could be ruled apprentice comes along but does not directly partake in dangerous parts of adventures.

[RubySlippers]

Who says she will be adventuring I was planning on sticking to role-playing her but as a retired fortune seeker, and money will not be an issue with her feat plus will allow her options to recruit more funding by issuing bonds of investment for others minus her Patron who gets investments for their network at no costs.

She is a middle level professional Red Wizard, mostly worked to get the robes to make sure options open up in commerce and chooses her politics carefully. And there is only one Zulkier truly on top and we know who that is.  >:)

[Kunoichi]

Actually, Zaer, from what I'm reading, the mentor and apprentice aren't required to have the same class.  Your apprentice just won't get bonus spells per day for being your apprentice if she isn't a wizard.  And with the build I've got in mind, she should be able to do fine as a cloistered cleric...

[RubySlippers]

Just pointing out I'm a role-player she will have her strong points but risking her neck to seek power is not one of them, even though she has the mind for it she doesn't have the heart.

[Kunoichi]

That's okay, I'm sure we'll stumble into dangerous and exciting situations somehow. :P Rivals might send assassins, or a bound demon could break free...  Plenty of possibilities for danger on the streets of Thayan cities.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Actually, Zaer, from what I'm reading, the mentor and apprentice aren't required to have the same class.  Your apprentice just won't get bonus spells per day for being your apprentice if she isn't a wizard.  And with the build I've got in mind, she should be able to do fine as a cloistered cleric...

Aha, ok. Cloistered Cleric is fine for me.

[Snake]

That's true though. Thay is very dangerous for most people.

[Kunoichi]

Okay, keeping the build fairly simple, let's make her a Cloistered Cleric 6 whose patron goddess is Shar.  From what I can find online, that makes her domain choices Cavern, Darkness, Evil, Knowledge and Undeath.  That seems... a bit limited for the greater deity who set up the Shadow Weave (no Magic domain for that?  Not even Trickery?), but I think I can work with it.

Knowledge Domain for free from Cloistered Cleric, Evil Domain has some decent spells to it, especially if we can buff her caster level, Undeath gets a free Extra Turning feat...

For feats, Apprentice (Spellcaster) is a must, of course, adding UMD to her spell list.  Initiate of Shar would be good for her human bonus feat, making Bluff and Stealth into class skills and adding a few extra spells known.  Assuming we could find some fitting flaws (Coward and Skulker?), I'm thinking we can add on Darkstalker to help her stealth skills further.

Extend Spell for the other bonus feat, then Persist at 3rd, Divine Metamagic (Persist) at 5th, and that's feat selection all taken care of for now. ^^ She'll be picking up Shadow Weave Magic at 7th and Tenacious Magic at 9th, but aside from that I don't have too many further plans for her feats.

STR: 8
DEX: 14
CON: 10
INT: 12
WIS: 16
CHA: 16

Trained skills will be Stealth, Knowledge (Religion), Use Magic Device, Spellcraft, Concentration, Bluff, Diplomacy and some sort of fitting Profession (Temple Prostitute?), and I'm thinking she's definitely going to be more of a social contact and healer, rather than any sort of fighter-type character.  A couple of Persisted Mass Lesser Vigors can keep the party in good health if any adventuring needs to be done, and otherwise she'll mostly just hide and do occasional utility casting.