Recruiting: high scale Pathfinder, Taldor, aka Byzantium focused

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

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Erich Norden

Quote from: Muse on June 03, 2013, 07:34:13 PM
Erich, unless some of the ladies volunteer, maybe we could play each other's female cohorts?

That's basically a general offer to exchange the playing of supporting cast, so we don't have to roll play with ourselves too much.

I suppose it's possible, but on second thought if we're both playing male spymaster archetypes of lower nobility with each of us playing the others' female courtier cohorts, people may have trouble telling us apart. ;)  I'll try coming up with a different character, but I do like the idea of introducing our respective PCs as allies from the outset.

Trilogy

Room for one more? I've always wanted a chance to play a gestalt game, and I have a character concept already made up that would fit perfectly:

Since we're talking about Taldor, how about a Lion Blade? Starting out Bard/Rogue and then moving into that when possible. I'm thinking she's the half-elf bastard daughter of some royal, who, while she obviously couldn't be given any formal acknowledgement by her father, was provided for by inducting her into a Bardic college as a child, where she was groomed to eventually be taken to the Shadow Schools and become a Blade, possibly reporting directly to her father once she's risen through the ranks.

I see her as being an artist at heart- she's an assassin, really, but she thinks of it as "performance art," and the royal family as her patron.

I'd be willing to play a cohort or something for another player too, just to maximize useful roleplay opportunities. Hell, if anyone wanted, I could start with her acting as the cohort of another character, undercover...

Kolbrandr

Some somewhat delayed notes for that a badly made dinner is starting to slowly murder me this evening (there may be no more replies till tomorrow really);

Callie: potentially viable just fine

Erich: Did you want to be some kind of merchant prince who is also an envoy to Taldor you mean? Also possible and all, just thought they were separate ideas. In which case we'll need to eyeball the society of whatever nation you were thinking to be from to tailor you accordingly. Katapesh for instance while technically ruled by an oligarchy in an loose sense, is otherwise entirely trade dominated.

Ruby: Are you looking to be, like, the head of the entire Calistrian church in Oppara? Of some kind of branch of it?

Muse and Ebb: playing each other's cohorts is fine /within reason/. Which is to say, if people use cohorts to get around the no LA characters thing for play options, the GM will cry and also say no and then cry again. Not that I really feel like anyone would do that, I just want to put out there, don't do that. Otherwise, if you're making a pc race style cohort, same general guidelines restrictions (cohorts will use gestalt, and same stat generation, feat per level)

Shadow: I normally am, yes, give me a bit to see how less like death I feel and some meds I took to kick in though. Which is to say, can otherwise talk it out tomorrow night then worse comes to worse.

And finally, stat generation!

Going to go with what a friend of mine calls epic rolling: 5d6, take 3 highest, reroll 1s, roll 7 times, drop lowest roll, arrange to taste otherwise. If you get below +10 in total stat bonuses, reroll the whole shmear. If it again sucks or is just not to your liking, just use 30 point buy. 

"Gah, so generous!" you might say, and this is indeed so, but there are several reasons for that.

1) Look at fiction in various media for a bit, from gaming fiction to Arthuriana. How often do you really see the main sorts with some super bad multiple score equivalent (yes yes, Raistlin, fine, good job smart guy ;p), or look at rpg gaming and a variety of even mid range style npcs that are portrayed as being pretty capable across the board in innate capacity. Now those are you! I always get a bit annoyed if in a game about a genre, you don't ever end up with an option to feel like certain things within it. More to the point, if I want you to feel like you can play a character that is into being more broadly able and not exactly or even especially optimized at all, a shot at a better stat spread tends to make that so.

2) So you might notice a bunch of my answers are "potentially, that is totally fine", because that is super true. The flip side to that though is a to this point unspoken "but potentially not". If something ends up looking really, really broken, either at char gen, or how it ends up working out in play through no fault of anyone, I am pretty likely to go "that needs to be changed/dialed back" or even "that just doesn't work". And in games like PF, a note like that can sting. You by then spent a while pondering out your build most likely, after all. And you know, design is tricky and play can go in all kinds of directions, who knows what will go down in practice, so it might be a thing that comes up. So if that sting comes up, I'm inclined to ease the feel of it by otherwise being generous with the other hand, as it were.

Finally, try to flesh and talk out concepts first before completely diving into character build. Levels might end up varying after all.

Kolbrandr

Quote from: Trilogy on June 03, 2013, 08:25:31 PM
Room for one more? I've always wanted a chance to play a gestalt game, and I have a character concept already made up that would fit perfectly:

Since we're talking about Taldor, how about a Lion Blade? Starting out Bard/Rogue and then moving into that when possible. I'm thinking she's the half-elf bastard daughter of some royal, who, while she obviously couldn't be given any formal acknowledgement by her father, was provided for by inducting her into a Bardic college as a child, where she was groomed to eventually be taken to the Shadow Schools and become a Blade, possibly reporting directly to her father once she's risen through the ranks.

I see her as being an artist at heart- she's an assassin, really, but she thinks of it as "performance art," and the royal family as her patron.

I'd be willing to play a cohort or something for another player too, just to maximize useful roleplay opportunities. Hell, if anyone wanted, I could start with her acting as the cohort of another character, undercover...

Lion Blade is entirely possible (it seems to have been updated on the pfsrd site at least), and you can play your own character of just fine really. That concept is entirely possible as well.

ShadowFox89

Call me Shadow
My A/A

RubySlippers

Ruby: Are you looking to be, like, the head of the entire Calistrian church in Oppara? Of some kind of branch of it?

The faith is CN that means each holy place is usually on its own so a branch.

Muse

Quote from: Erich Norden on June 03, 2013, 08:18:11 PM
I suppose it's possible, but on second thought if we're both playing male spymaster archetypes of lower nobility with each of us playing the others' female courtier cohorts, people may have trouble telling us apart. ;)  I'll try coming up with a different character, but I do like the idea of introducing our respective PCs as allies from the outset.

*Sweat drop*  Did I somehow give people the impression that I was going to be a spymaster?
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: RubySlippers on June 03, 2013, 08:43:37 PM
Well I got a 6, 11, 12, 14, 14, 16 before racial modifiers and level boosts still playable with some planning. And neither clerics or monks need to be to smart - note I did get it to 8 a bit slow is one thing but stupid is not. :D

Note, you can reroll if you got below +10 in total modifiers, or just take the point buy option instead of the whole thing. Or keep it if you like though, yes.

Erich Norden

Quote from: Kolbrandr on June 03, 2013, 08:31:52 PM
Erich: Did you want to be some kind of merchant prince who is also an envoy to Taldor you mean? Also possible and all, just thought they were separate ideas. In which case we'll need to eyeball the society of whatever nation you were thinking to be from to tailor you accordingly. Katapesh for instance while technically ruled by an oligarchy in an loose sense, is otherwise entirely trade dominated.

They're two different but similar concepts; a native Taldan who owns a shipping company and a foreign emissary staying in the capital long-term.  If there's too much overlap with another character concept, though, I'll come up with something else.

Quote from: Muse on June 03, 2013, 08:44:27 PM
*Sweat drop*  Did I somehow give people the impression that I was going to be a spymaster?

That was Ebb's concept, my bad.

Kolbrandr

While I focus on things that can be talked out fairly easily because feeling like death, on forum rating, does NC-Human feel like it would be the good enough place to top out for the rest of you? Was already brought up.

ShadowFox89

Call me Shadow
My A/A

Muse

I enjoy that rating.  Taldanes certainly seem chauvinistic enough. 
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)

RubySlippers

Quote from: Kolbrandr on June 03, 2013, 08:46:05 PM
Note, you can reroll if you got below +10 in total modifiers, or just take the point buy option instead of the whole thing. Or keep it if you like though, yes.

I rerolled I did 4d6 drop the lowest on those. After three sets I got a legal set of stats after racial and level modifiers her stats are:

Strength 14, Dexterity 16, Constitution 14, Intelligence 14, Wisdom 18 and Charisma 20. Took the Dual Talent racial option for two +2 modifiers one in Charisma and the other in Wisdom.

She is a promoter of her goddess Charisma is oddly most important IMHO. I wanted to roll my stats point buy is less fun.

Kolbrandr

Quote from: ShadowFox89 on June 03, 2013, 08:57:47 PM
I'm fine with NC-Human.

Would you allow the Swashbuckler 3rd party class? http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/adamant-entertainment/swashbuckler

That class is actually one of my personal 3rd party favourites.. but I really don't want to open the third party floodgates for it. Consider fighter/rogue and taking duelist over one of them? Similar results.

Ebb

Quote from: Kolbrandr on June 03, 2013, 08:55:57 PM
While I focus on things that can be talked out fairly easily because feeling like death, on forum rating, does NC-Human feel like it would be the good enough place to top out for the rest of you? Was already brought up.

NC-Human sounds fine to me. If someone wants to do exotic stuff with another PC (and that player's permission), then they can always spin a thread up over in the other area and do it off-camera.

For those interested, you can use the site "anydice.com" to do the Epic Rolling Method Kolbrandr describes:

1) Go to anydice.com
2) Enter the following: output [highest 3 of 5d5] + 3
3) Click on Calculate (shows you the odds, if you're curious and not Han Solo. 6% chance of rolling an 18, fyi)
4) Click on Roller to roll dice
5) In the blank type a 7, since you're doing 7 rolls
6) Then pick the best 6 of the ones that come up

It's easier than it sounds, really.


Questions for Kolbrandr: (Please feel free to put off until tomorrow; first priority is getting well)
1) For hit points, should we roll, or take average at each level, or something else?
2) I'm starting to work on my guy. He's the head of an Academy, which I figure is small potatoes next to a Noble House, but might be on the order of a Trading Company or a branch of a church. Plus there's the whole running a spy ring / information broker. I figure he's not exactly the Shadow Broker -- a couple of rungs down, but known and respected within the city. Rolling it all up to your 8-14 range, I was figuring around level 11. Does that sound reasonable?
3) As far as playing cohorts for other people, I'd see it entirely as a way to foster more roleplaying. I wouldn't expect that the cohort I'd play for someone else would be in any way allied with my main character. In fact, the further apart they are the better.
I also think it would work best if there weren't any direct circles; so if I play the cohort for player B, then they would play the cohort for player C, etc. Not just a back and forth swap, otherwise you're just roleplaying two different pairings against the same other player.
But this is all theoretical. It's enough work to stat up one high level character for now.





ShadowFox89

Quote from: RubySlippers on June 03, 2013, 09:05:51 PM
I rerolled I did 4d6 drop the lowest on those. After three sets I got a legal set of stats after racial and level modifiers her stats are:

Strength 14, Dexterity 16, Constitution 14, Intelligence 14, Wisdom 18 and Charisma 20. Took the Dual Talent racial option for two +2 modifiers one in Charisma and the other in Wisdom.

She is a promoter of her goddess Charisma is oddly most important IMHO. I wanted to roll my stats point buy is less fun.

It was roll 5d6, 7 times, take highest three of those 5, reroll 1's.

Quote from: Kolbrandr on June 03, 2013, 09:10:38 PM
That class is actually one of my personal 3rd party favourites.. but I really don't want to open the third party floodgates for it. Consider fighter/rogue and taking duelist over one of them? Similar results.

Really don't like multiclassing >.<
Call me Shadow
My A/A

Xerial

So, I have a bug in my head now... an idea that tickles at me... a different tack. I'm going to work up two characters, and try to write for both. Whichever seems best to me when it's done will be presented as primary, though both will be up for review.

The first is the revolutionary as detailed above.

The second is a Naval Officer who has retired from seagoing service instead to head a unit dedicated to ferreting out illegal magical and religious practice (with a focus on digging out sects of worshipers of Sarenrae). I'm thinking Rogue (Swashbuckler Archetype)/Inquisitor. He would worship either Asmodeus or Abadar, I'm leaning towards the former.

RubySlippers

Quote from: ShadowFox89 on June 03, 2013, 09:12:05 PM
It was roll 5d6, 7 times, take highest three of those 5, reroll 1's.

Really don't like multiclassing >.<

I meant the statsI did with the 6 the other rolls were made asyou wanted it just took three tries to get at or over the +10. Point buyis boring I prefer rolling.

Ebb

Quote from: Xerial on June 03, 2013, 09:30:00 PM
That should be highest 3 of 5d6... I used 5d5, was floored by how ass the rolls were. Just caught it.

Nope, actually that's right. Rolling d6's and discarding the 1's is equivalent to rolling d5 and adding 1. So what you're doing is rolling 5 5-sided dice, picking the highest 3 of them, and then adding 3 to the total.

If you did output [highest 3 of 5d6] + 3, then you could potentially get a high value of 21 instead of 18. Try it and do like forty rolls; you'll see a bunch that are over 18, which shouldn't happen. All scores ought to be between 6 and 18, just skewed heavily toward the high end.

Xerial

Aye, I caught the math error on my part... hence the removal. That said, I seemed to have shyte luck.


Edit: And evidently you have to reset the roller instead of just adjusting a value. I changed it back to a five, re-rolled, and got: 20, 16, 11, 18, 10, 20, 18. While that makes me cackle, I'll have to fix it up.

Ebb

Quote from: Xerial on June 03, 2013, 09:36:42 PM
Aye, I caught the math error on my part... hence the removal. That said, I seemed to have shyte luck.



I hear that. Ask not for whom the bell curve tolls; it tolls for thee.


Xerial

Is there a proper link function from this? All I can seem to link is the setup.

Ebb

Not sure, never tried to do that. I don't see one offhand.

Xerial

Using the above mentioned technique, for one of the characters I'm cooking (of which I'll play one):

First Roll: 17, 17, 12, 18, 16, 13, 17 {Drop the 12}

For the other character:

First Roll: 14, 15, 17, 15, 12, 13, 15 (Drop the 12}

Which leaves one character with a decisive edge, but I can work with both sets of stats.

ShadowFox89

 I like to use invisible castle, much easier.

Still not sure what setup to use... I like the idea of someone searching for revenge.... Anyone want to be the focus of the revenge?
Call me Shadow
My A/A