Seeking and Offering Solo Long-term Pathfinder Campaign

[Purple Dusk]

SPECIAL INFO

Wherever you see a word with an asterisk '*' attached, point at it for more info.  Try it here*.

Hello and thanks for looking!  Okay, so this will be a post of two parts; for one, I’m looking for a GM who’s willing to run a solo Pathfinder game for a character I’ve been looking to play for a while now, and second, I’m offering to GM a solo Pathfinder game for those so interested.  Since it’s more likely that people will respond to the latter than the former, I’ll start with that:

FOR PLAYERS
If you've got one of those favourite characters that you've wanted to tell their stories and experience their adventures through them, here's an opportunity to try them out.  I'm offering to put them through their paces in Pathfinder's Campaign Setting of Golarion or a homemade* setting of my own.  If you don't know anything about Golarion but have been curious* to find out, this would be a great chance to do so as well.  Let it be noted that in general, I like to tread on the darker, grittier side of fantasy.

Whilst I hate to stamp on creative freedom, I am, alas, a person and not an impartial machine; hence there are things that I favour more than others.  Being aware of the personal involvement (for many of us) that the process of creating a character that you pour your creativity into, the following are things that indicate where my interests/preferences lie for a character I'd enjoy following the exploits of... and will hopefully help prolong the life of the game.  Here are some guidelines as to the type of characters I'd be interested in catering for:

GUIDELINES

• Female* characters or Femme-Male* characters: Given as there’ll be sexual content, these are the sort of characters I can cater to best.
• Mature Minded: Occasional silliness/ditziness/coyness is cool, and even cute, but I must decline juvenile minded characters who act, think, talk and reason like a child.
• Characters with some bite*: Not prone to excessive meekness or are carpets to be walked on, both in and out of the bedroom.  Sexual submissiveness is a yes, but they should be a bit more decisive outside the bedroom.
• Ambitious: Willing enough to eventually leave their mark on history, be it founding a country, eradicating a great and powerful villain, or even eventually ascending to godhood.
• Intelligent Playing Style: As in someone who plans for the future; making strategic allies, deliberating over the repercussion of one's actions, etc...
• Proactive*: As opposed to being reactive to the GM.  This sort of gives me the chance to create adventures you want to play rather than ones I’m hoping will catch your interest.
• Sexually Liberal: Enjoys flirting* without overdoing; sexual without necessarily* being prurient; varied in their likes and tastes in partners.
• Sexually interested in Men: Mostly interested in males, though occasional* interest in females NPCs are also okay.  As with the first point, this is the sort of thing I can cater to best.
• Descriptive Writing and Good Grammar: At the least, I'm looking for a couple* of paragraphs in the majority of posts (except in event posts, such as battle or other fast-paced action where the focus is mostly on what’s happening – in which case a single paragraph or two is acceptable).

Still there after all that?  Great, then we can get to the technical side of it:

CHARACTER BUILDING

• Starting Level: 5th.
• Acceptable Races: Humans, elves, drow*, dwarves*, aasimar, tieflings, half-elves, half-drow, half-orcs*, dhampirs, changelings, kitsune*.  In general, any humanoid character would do, but consult me if they're not on this list.  Just none of the 'small-folk*' please.
• Ability Scores: Use of the points-build to assign ability scores, with 25 points to spend.
• Alignment/Personality: Any, though I'm partial towards the Good and Neutral alignments.  However, just as a note that whilst I'm allow Evil characters, I only as that they are not petty* and/or mass-murdering psychopaths – I'm thinking more along the lines of grand villains rather than small-time.
• Background: Pretty much anything, be it mundane*, to complex*, to even ones that are 'way out there'*, or any combination hereof.  As long as you can justify* it, I’m good!  Keep in mind that your character is special in some way (they get a lot of bonuses; see below) so do take that into account though.
• Traits: Standard 2, plus 1 additional if a Drawback is taken.  An extra trait will be awarded* at 8th and 14th level.
• Starting Equipment: 10,500 gp worth
• Classes: All official published material by Paizo.  No 3rd party or psionic classes please.
• HP: Maximum roll at 1st level, and a fixed amount at subsequent levels equal to 1/2 HD (i.e. 3 for d6s, 4 for d8s, 5 for d10s, 6 for d12s).  Remember that retraining rules allow you to increase this eventually.
• Templates applied to your character to help your PC do the work of 4 standard PCs!
  • DRAKANIA FAVOURED SPAWN

    This template is gained as a result of a child being affected in the womb by a Drakainia's Gestation Aura, but in this case we can put it down to being a fluke of nature or destiny creating a mythic hero in the making and having nothing to do with the Drakainia.  Of course, nothing is stopping you from mining this for background material, or I can make up some reason if you prefer to be surprised as to why such a creature in involved.
    

    
    
    • +4 bonus to any two ability scores.
    • +4 luck bonus on all saving throws.
    • +4 increase to natural armour.
    • 1 Bonus feat.

    
    Usually a character would be entitled to start with 1 mythic rank from this template, but I'm withdrawing that in this case and replacing it with 1 bonus feat instead.  Your PC will still have the chance to become a mythic character at some point.
  • HAUNTED ONE

    Your character acquires the Haunted One template.  In this case, I won't strictly enforce the fact that the spirit is capable of forcing your PC in a desired direction – we can assume the spirit has merged with the PC completely and they are now one and the same - no need to worry about the Haunted weakness.  But if you think you'd enjoy this extra dynamic, let me know and we can also work something out to provide for that.

I'm always happy to hear about characters and your hopes for them, as well as offer suggestions and builds since I have the vast majority of Pathfinder material.  Don't worry about making them too complex - the more I know, the better I'll be able to cater to your wants.  In fact, see below for just how complex and outlandish a character can be (as well as an example for things to work into your own characters!)  Feel free to PM me with questions, anything you'd like to discuss, or prospective characters.

Finally, if you're interested in having a side-kick in the form of another player, feel free to recruit one, though they will be built in a more standard manner and should always be ready to follow your PC loyally (with occasional sub-quests of their own).

SEEKING A GM
Although a bit of a shot in the dark, I'm putting up this character in hopes that someone will want to GM a game for him.

Erodel Varil is a time displaced half-elf* who was amongst the second of his kind to be born into the world after his sister.  After the death of his sister, he isolated himself and concentrated only on following her ideals of trying to make the world a better place.  A botched assassination attempt resulted in a misfire of one of his arcane experiments that saw him lost in the chaos of the Maelstrom, where he suddenly had access to an unlimited font of creation in that plane's extremely malleable nature and he spent years thereafter developing and perfecting his inventions, becoming a powerful ascetic and arcanist.  His experiments, however, angered the native proteans and on his attempt to leave, he became trapped in stasis for a period spanning millennia, and has only recently returned to a world he no longer recognises.

CHARACTER STATS

Height: 5' 11''   Weight: 165 lbs.
Race: Aasimar Half-elf (Angel ancestry)
Class: Monk* 2, Magus* 3
Traits: Affable, Awakened from Stasis, Mutant Eye

Above average in height, Erodel is heavily and economically built.  He has handsome, if somewhat ruthless features, framed by a wild mane of raven hair.  A discordant note reveals itself in a third vertical eye he has upon his brow, giving him three amythest eyes that glitter like gems when the light hits them at the right angle.  Despite this, even a momentary look into those eyes hints at the immense intellect behind them.

Though he appears relatively early in years, the longer one looks at him, the more it seems that he is less possessed of youth than of a certain quality of agelessness – something that seems to complement the air of otherworldly grace he seems to possess.

EARLY HISTORY
Born in the early times of the world when humanity was just beginning to form the rudiments of empire and were coming into conflict with the elven kingdoms, Erodel and his older sister, Elmindreda, gained the distinction of being the first two of their kind – children of both elves and humanity.  Born to one of humanity's earlier queens and an elven kings, they immediately garnered instant attention.

Even at birth, they were marked as being different even from others of their own kind, by possessing a third eye upon their brow – many seeing this a mark of the Lamashtu, Demon Goddess of Monstrous Births.  Nevertheless, they had the shelter of the crown and in time proved to be prodigies, even at an early age where they particularly excelled in pursuits of the mind and their scientific innovations and contributions to the empire of man where they resided were numerous.

However, these accomplishments proved deeply unpopular with the human supremacist elements of the time.  This eventually culminated in the mob-lynching and pyre-burning of Elmindreda.  This would have also been Erodel's fate had the crowd not been so entranced by bloodlust that he managed to slip his bonds and escape.

MIDDLE YEARS
Whilst it was largely expected that he would slip into irrecoverable decline with the death of his sister, it was during this time that Erodel was visited by an extant presence that he took to be the spirit of his dead sister.  Allowing himself to become host to it, he was reinvigorated and gained access to its vast storehouse of knowledge, where after he secluded himself and began to follow in the footsteps of his sister to help make the world a better place.  This strong, and sudden, comeback earned him the nickname of Terramon, the All-Enduring.

It was during this time that Erodel investigated the nature of his third eye that had led up to the persecution of his sister as being demon-tainted.  Though he always suspected the influence of Lamashtu, he was never able find definite proof, but did uncover his ancestry through to the Empyreal Lord Arshea, or at least a very close subordinate angel.

Following in Elmindreda's footsteps, Erodel began looking into the "seven virtues of rule" – seven qualities a leader must engender in his people and personify in himself, lest his state collapse and fall into ruin – but whilst his sister was focussed on societal innovation and cooperation, Erodel was more focussed on magic and engineering, the latter of which he was particularly advanced in for his day and age.  However, her death had forcibly brought his attention to the brutal reality of the world around him.

True to his nature, Erodel approached this from an intellectually technical point of view, rather than trusting to appealing to the better nature of people.  His belief was that if he could create embodiments of these virtues in some tangible form, even if only ephemeral, it would then actually be possible to work them into the fabric of society rather than simply remaining as vague philosophical concepts that were only paid lip-service to.  With the spirit augmenting his great mastery of knowledge, Erodel  began to push the boundaries of magical and scientific theory further.  This earned him some discreet admirers and followers in certain circles with whom he disclosed his theories.  Though Erodel would not complete it himself – deeming that it would lead to dangerous developments – this in time led to the development of Sin Magic.

Due to his abnormally high intellect, Erodel was able to theorise aspects of advanced technology, but the constraints of his time prevented this from becoming anything but theories.  So in time, he began to focus on the creation of an artifact that was meant to concentrate the virtues of rule – the Sihedron, which would be the culmination of all his theories.  Despite this, the same elements that saw to the death of his sister manifested again, which saw his tower of refuge stormed by fanatical mobs.  In the chaos, the prototype Sihedron became unstable and detonated, laying waste to the tower but catapulting Erodel into the Maelstrom.

THE TECHNOLOGIST
Despite being disorientated at first, Erodel eventually managed to get his bearings, but even so would have died were it not for the patronage of a keketar protean, named Exsalshae, who was curious enough about this strange little creature enough not to try and destroy him out of hand.  With his immense command of knowledge, Erodel was able to continually vex Exsalshae's preconceptions of chaos and the forces of creation and destruction, enough so that the keketar decided it would benefit the cause of chaos to keep him around for the insights he could provide.

Exsalshae's goal, like that of every other protean, was the destruction and eventual return of the multiverse towards the primal chaos.  Though Exsalshae continually probed Erodel on matters of destruction, the half-elf was able to learn much of creation inferred from omissions in the keketar's reasoning.  In this manner, he was eventually able to turn the raw potential of the Maelstrom into a source of unlimited creation – freed from the mundane, he now had the ability to create high scientific achievements as he had envisioned them from the beginning.

After a span of several years, Erodel finally created his masterpiece – an immense ship of metal and technology that would be able to sail the darkness between the stars.  However, Exsalshae eventually discovered what he was doing and along with a host of proteans, made a concentrated attack on Erodel's stronghold.  The events that followed were almost a mirror of the events that led up to Erodel finding himself in Maelstrom as he was once again in the process of forging a greater and more powerful Sihedron.

This time, Erodel was not near the artifact as he fought to defend his ship.  The resulting explosion badly damaged the ship and pulled it through the resulting gateway back to the Material Plane.  Erodel attempted to follow; he managed to enter the gateway but not exit it before it closed on the other end, leaving him stranded and insensate in the nowhere between planes.  In hindsight, this was fortunate otherwise he would have burned up in the atmosphere falling back down to the world.  Though held in stasis, much of his power was expended and drained to keep him from fading into oblivion.  Either through unconscious desperation or by some other circumstance he found himself back upon the world, his powers greatly diminished and partly amnesic, discovered shortly after by the Pathfinders.

GOALS
Erodel's largest and most overriding goal is to unite all the nations of the world into a single world-spanning empire that he dubs the Celestial Empire – a realm of woodland, crystal, magic and technology – with himself crowned as the Star Emperor, and a council of 13 witches to govern it from a flying capital/citadel.  To do this, he intends to recover the starship, wherever it might be, and reunite the pieces of the Sihedron to serve as his symbol of rule, and find women of exceptional power.

His main motivation for this is to honour his sister's memory and make the people of the material plane into a significant power that Outsider of the Outer Planes can no longer look upon as backwater rustics, pawns to be moved in their schemes, or souls to be harvested for their power.