Pathfinder: Pirates & Mercenaries [Closed]

[Mister Ugly]

Nathan Billiard

Description: Nathan is a big man standing 6'3" and weighing in at 200 pounds and it seems to be all muscle. Bugling arms and broad thighs and muscled chest all hint at his strength. Yet Nathan also moves well, maybe not as graceful as an elf or some of those showy swashbuckler types but he is no lumbering ox. His hair normally is a deep black but these days he keeps himself bald and laughs that his brain is so smart it makes his hair fall out. Though his big hands are callused, they can be very gentle. For the ladies...well he has never had a complaint about being small where it counts. Han is heterosexual but has no problems with other sexual lifestyles. Growing up on a ship has shown him many different ways of being with someone. He just prefers the soft, sexiness of a female.

Personality: Nathan tends to be open and upbeat most of the time. He can brood though and these days has more to brood and worry about then ever before. Nathan tends toward being the watchdog for others. He is quietly alert almost all the time. Ready to step in if things get rough. Being the 'big man' has been problematic, at times, and he tends to let things slide off his broad shoulders. Nathan often says little instead he watches and listens though he can tell a tall tale with the best of them when he wants to.
A ready smile and laugh makes him seem friendly but Nathan lets few people get close. He has seen much suffering and had loss of those he cared about so now he finds it hard to allow someone to really get to know him.
'Han' to those that call him friend has several quirks. He collects scrimshaw especially older pieces. He likes the gemstone Alexandrite and has many pieces of jewelry with that stone in them. He likes how the gem shifts color in different light.

Background:
Nathan or 'Han' as his close friends call him has been called a bastard many times and he fully admits he is one. After all his ma and pa never married but then that is how it just was in the ship and culture of the ocean that he grew up in. Of course calling him a bastard in jest is one thing, call him that seriously and he will either put an arrow in your eye or cut you from neck to groin.
Nathan was born on the ocean in a mild summer rain, though he claims it was a raging storm, on a small ship that carried goods for the royals under charter. The 'Blue Star' was a fast ship and smartly sailed. There he grew up understanding the ocean and it's ways. Learning to track by the wing and clouds and to swim and use a bow and sword. Nathan grew up big and tall. Strong like is father and yet having a decent sense about things like his mother. He learned to be a sea ranger, a rare breed many would say yet Nathan understands the sea. Nathan had been helping on another ship on the voyage to the new lands, when the Blue Star was lost with all hands. His parents and siblings and family all perished. Nathan drinks a bit more these days and tends to be a tad bit darker and brooding.
Many claim his mother was fey touched and that he also is that way gaining something extra that most humans do not have. Nathan has raised a rare Blue falcon and now it has become his companion.

Hopes and desires: Han wants his own ship at some point as well as a good woman and a family. Close friends and good life of sailing and adventure. He is not the type to want something grand or to be the leader yet he is very capable of being just that sort of person.

[indarkestknight]

I find it somewhat ironic that we're going to be getting scars of destiny despite there explicitly being no 'higher destiny' involved in this game.

If we have more than one character concept we're deciding between, should we submit two separate applications? Or would it be preferable to poll the potential playerbase to see which concept they'd be more interested in having in the party?

Is there a submission deadline?

[Silver Phoenix]

I find it somewhat ironic that we're going to be getting scars of destiny despite there explicitly being no 'higher destiny' involved in this game.

Believe me, the irony wasn't lost on me ::)

If we have more than one character concept we're deciding between, should we submit two separate applications? Or would it be preferable to poll the potential playerbase to see which concept they'd be more interested in having in the party?

Is there a submission deadline?

If the character concepts are radically different, make different submissions.  If it's just a reskin (e.g. same person, different class), note it in the same post.

I'm going to let this ride out for a week, so choosing date will be Sunday 23rd this month (got a full week ahead, so I may not be as active as I'd like), with launch being estimated on the 25th or 26th.

[VonDoom]

Hrrm. Will have to mull it over, since I'm not a big fan of the length limit.

One point I feel necessary to bring up, though: the potential bonus item for full casters that goes up to twice the wealth limit. That seems somewhat unfair, especially since single casters tend to be far less dependent on items to do their 'thing' to begin with. At level 6 they don't have a huge advantage on non-casters yet, but it's pretty much on the cusp of where that starts to happen. I'd recommend either simply removing that bit, or at least opening it to all characters if they can propose a suitable item of significance to their character.

[Blinkin]

Tari's adjusted for the application process, you can find her here.

[Cataclysmic Archangel]

Hrrm. Will have to mull it over, since I'm not a big fan of the length limit.

One point I feel necessary to bring up, though: the potential bonus item for full casters that goes up to twice the wealth limit. That seems somewhat unfair, especially since single casters tend to be far less dependent on items to do their 'thing' to begin with. At level 6 they don't have a huge advantage on non-casters yet, but it's pretty much on the cusp of where that starts to happen. I'd recommend either simply removing that bit, or at least opening it to all characters if they can propose a suitable item of significance to their character.

I suppose if I don't know what you're talking about, I can't abuse it, but... huh?

[VonDoom]

It's in the character building part of the edited opening.

[TheGlyphstone]

Now that you mention it, that is odd. Mundanes are generally far more dependent on items, since their class features depend on gear and stats.

[Blinkin]

Question for the GM...

What terrain are the characters most likely to see?

[TheGlyphstone]

Race question - I was considering using poisons, to complement the 'Lethal Chef' archetype I had in mind, but poisons are expensive. Can I use Vishkanya to partially mitigate that problem? Possibly as a native of the strange lands the fleet is sailing too, if it's too exotic to be native to the lands we're from initially.

[Silver Phoenix]

Hrrm. Will have to mull it over, since I'm not a big fan of the length limit.

One point I feel necessary to bring up, though: the potential bonus item for full casters that goes up to twice the wealth limit. That seems somewhat unfair, especially since single casters tend to be far less dependent on items to do their 'thing' to begin with. At level 6 they don't have a huge advantage on non-casters yet, but it's pretty much on the cusp of where that starts to happen. I'd recommend either simply removing that bit, or at least opening it to all characters if they can propose a suitable item of significance to their character.

I did think about it a bit, but generally non-spellcasting classes will be getting the most out of the bonus progression (which will bolster any mundane gear they possess), whereas casters generally get just over half the benefit (boost to defensive abilities), but loose out on others.  Likewise, this is their chance to get a solid magic item of their choice (unless they invest in relevant creation feats).

Likewise, the effort is group-wise, as I don't picture this being a competitive sort of game.

Just one further thing to note for full-casters; effective preparation and choice of their spells will be critical for their effectiveness - half the survival problems faced by the group will not be from hostile enemies, but also the environment itself.  I generally will drop enough hints as to what half your spells should be; the other half will have to come from inference and a little bit of resourcefulness on part of the caster - this won't be a game where a spellcaster can get around on a full bevvy of fire and lightning.

Question for the GM...

What terrain are the characters most likely to see?

Forests, plains, mountains, and swamps in order of most frequent to least (for the immediate future at least).

Race question - I was considering using poisons, to complement the 'Lethal Chef' archetype I had in mind, but poisons are expensive. Can I use Vishkanya to partially mitigate that problem? Possibly as a native of the strange lands the fleet is sailing too, if it's too exotic to be native to the lands we're from initially.

I can see them as acceptable; perhaps a far wandering exotic race from the east who hire themselves out as mercenaries to the war-riddled west...

The lands sailed to are virtually unknown and unmapped to everyone from the mainland - basically, the land that time (and everything else for that matter) forgot.

[Mister Ugly]

Forests, plains, mountains, and swamps in order of most frequent to least (for the immediate future at least).

It seems I may have jumped the gun a bit with the character concept. A ranger with favored terrain water may not be that useful to the party! No problem I can make the switch to a more sensible ranger type!!

MU

[Cataclysmic Archangel]

Just one further thing to note for full-casters; effective preparation and choice of their spells will be critical for their effectiveness - half the survival problems faced by the group will not be from hostile enemies, but also the environment itself.  I generally will drop enough hints as to what half your spells should be; the other half will have to come from inference and a little bit of resourcefulness on part of the caster - this won't be a game where a spellcaster can get around on a full bevvy of fire and lightning.

Hmm.  This both makes my current concept more challenging, and a bit more interesting.  While I wasn't thinking fire and lightning, he definitely wasn't a survivalist.  More like 'I'm stuck here with the rest of you losers'.

[Silver Phoenix]

It seems I may have jumped the gun a bit with the character concept. A ranger with favored terrain water may not be that useful to the party! No problem I can make the switch to a more sensible ranger type!!

MU

I wouldn't abandon the concept entirely as there will be plenty of sailing and water-born environments.  I can see how I might have misunderstood Blinkin's question now, thanks to your observation.

What I should have said is that shore time will consist of forests, plains, mountains, and swamps for the immediate future when not sailing on their ship.

[Latooni Subota]

. . . Why am I suddenly making a strength-based dervish bard? @.@

[TheGlyphstone]

Vishyanka Ninja it is, then, all the exotic in one juicy poisonous package.

[Silver Phoenix]

. . . Why am I suddenly making a strength-based dervish bard? @.@

What did you originally have in mind?

[Latooni Subota]

I was going cleric, but I was idly looking at different pictures and such and suddenly BAM, dervish dancer archetype with a bloody scythe. My friend made a comment about pole-dancing and I giggled. I'm not sorry. :3

[Cataclysmic Archangel]

Been talking to Phoenix, and making the comment that I'm putting together a specialist wizard.  Sheet to come when I have more energy and time to throw together full Backgrounds and such.

[Latooni Subota]

http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=978143

Name: Adelheid Weber
Age: 24
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Bard (Dervish Dancer)



Adelheid is a beautiful half-elven woman, standing at an even six feet tall. Her skin is porcelin-white, with hardly a blemish to it, her body svelte in shape with just a enough curves and lean muscle to draw the eye to her scandalously high-cut skirts and silky dancer's garb. Her hair is the color of spun gold and falls down to her pert bottom in loose waves, though is generally pulled up into a loose ponytail with tastefully 'messy' styling. Her features are sharp and somewhat exotic for King Arlan's realm, due to her father's far-eastern features giving her just a hint of something different to her eye shape and facial structure, despite her very western pale blue eyes. It's rare to find her without gold bangles and armlets, and the quality of materials she wears are always top-class, even her knee-length heeled boots! The most jarring thing about her appearance though has to be the MASSIVE warscythe she carried around, and incongruously frightening weapon for such a beautiful woman.

Adelheid is a native of the King Arlan's domain, an orphan raised in the capital city by the temple of Calistria. While it is a rare occurance for THAT faith to raise orphans, particularly exotic-looking children can find a home there. Adelheid grew up with the tenants of Calistria in her ears, and in fact joined the church as one of many Sacred Prostitutes, though she never heard the 'Call' of her goddess. Instead she was gifted with arcane magic, a subtle kind that fit in with her church's powers. Adelheid was always a fan of the warriors and knights that visited her though, and she was careful to learn more than a few tricks from them, eventually becoming strong and swift enough to protect herself. In the height of the war she protected the faithful of Callistria from invaders and supported flanking and hit and run attacks, at least until she was forced to flee with the others on the great fleet of ships. Ever-loyal to her kingdom, she decided to support them in their journey across the ocean.

If there could be one phrase to describe Adelheid, it would be 'Force of Nature'. While she carries herself with quiet confidence in passing, when she speaks or acts she pulls attention to her through her beautiful voice and sheer force of personality. Her bravery and social skills give her a 'larger than life' feel, as she gladly presses on in even the worst situations. Being a Sacred Prostitute of Calistria, she absolutely has a sexy and seductive side, and is more than used to using her silver tongue to get what she wants. Man or woman, elf or halfling, she really is open-minded enough to do what (or who) needs to be done to get the job done. Adelheid is a bit of utility, a hard-hitting hit and run kinda girl with a wide variety of useful magic and healing powers.

I don't have specific hopes for the game, really. I just really like the concept of the game, and want to have a lot of bloody great fun settling a new region of untamed wilderness and adventuring!

[Mister Ugly]

I was going cleric, but I was idly looking at different pictures and such and suddenly BAM, dervish dancer archetype with a bloody scythe. My friend made a comment about pole-dancing and I giggled. I'm not sorry. :3

I am sure some ship somewhere has a pole you can dance around. Of course I would betcha there is a clothing requirement to do so [or lack there of   O:) O:) ]

MU

[TheGlyphstone]

Gragh. I wish I could just squeeze one more feat in somehow...I guess I can always use a Trick to get a bonus feat.

[Latooni Subota]

Looks like it's time to buy some Glamered armor. Not exactly big enough of a corset to have mithril chain sewn into it, eh? >.>

[indarkestknight]

May as well give everyone a heads up about what I'm considering.

Character #1 would be an Arcane Zorro, a magus using spell combat, spellstrike, and arcane mark... though Fencing Grace being incompatible with spell combat is really putting a damper on this. (I could use a scimitar and Dervish Dance, but... Zorro? With a scimitar?)

Character #2 would be a sword-devil ranger, using the new archetype written by Erik Mona for Red Sonja, which will be revealed this coming Wednesday with the release of Worldscape #1.

[Cataclysmic Archangel]

Character #1 would be an Arcane Zorro Sinbad, a magus using spell combat, spellstrike, and arcane mark... though Fencing Grace being incompatible with spell combat is really putting a damper on this. (I could use a scimitar and Dervish Dance, but... Zorro? With a scimitar?)

Fixed it for you.