Eberron Bepop (3.5 edition DnD)

Started by Zaer Darkwail, September 10, 2013, 05:48:59 AM

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Zaer Darkwail

Now, if you were fan with anime series of Cowboy Bepop or was fan of the sci-fi series called Firely and are also interested on DnD and specifically in Eberron? Then this game is for you. If none the mentioned things apply, do not bother reading further :P.

Now, premise of the game is following; you all are part of the crew on a Blaze, a fire elemental powered airship. The crew was founded somewhere after Treaty of Thronehold was written and your crew's pilot is called Bael'vaenos ir'Lyrandar, or just Bael for short. However the actual commanding presence and captain of the crew is Vandros Derram, a cyran backgrounded former military officer who was first man recruited by Bael into the crew and he then one by one recruited rest of the crew.

Now you have no idea why a Lyrandar airship is independly flying and not doing house business usually and rather takes shady jobs than honest ones. However one thing is certain; the ship is your only home as for whatever reasons you were drifted on the mercenary crew, you were in trouble and had reason or another place to stay or your usual home was too dangerous to stay....or you brought danger to it if you had stayed there. You had been part of the crew for good two years now, drifting and doing varied jobs here and there. Some less shady and some so shady you are not even sure what 'shady' is.

Char generation

Starting level: A Last War veteran some fashion or other, 8th level. Your the guys what for Crimson Battallion was founded in Sharn.
Allowed Races: Any eberron specific. Including dhaelkyr half-bloods.
Stat generation: You can either roll in Invisible Castle with 5d6.takeHighest(3) formula (I accept only Ironman clasified results with your Elliquiy username tagged in same way as it looks on E) and if not happy with the rolls then use 34 point buy.
Sourcebooks allowed: All eberron books are accepted by default and if you can link on dragon magazine stuff I approve them also (so long Eberron specific). Otherwise I got damn big book collection what allow stuff pulled from. I can allow Faerun regional feats if they make sense in your background story. But otherwise no other setting material allowed. Psionics as note are allowed and so is Tome of Battle and so is Tome of Magic. Book of Exalted and Vile Deeds are not allowed as both have outdated and broken mechanics. In later publishments (Hordes of Abyss and Legions of Hell) the vile feats got updated and so you use them than Book of Vile Darkness.
Alignment Restriction: None, expect all must be party friendly personalities and not lone wolves. In Eberron alignment is in general in flux anyway.
Starting Gold: You start with 49,000gp (eguivalent of 10th level char thanks your mercenary careers and also career during Last War). However no item cannot go past 10,000gp in value (can allow expections if most cost is related to exotic material like enchanted mithril full plate).

RP Background Requirements: I need minimum 1 paragraph descripe your origin (friends, family, childhood), 1 paragraph descripe your time during Last War (who's side you fought and why? Which armies you fought against and nemesis if any?) and 1 paragraph descripe your time after the Last War (why you did not stay in army or why got unemployed merc and what you did to survive and get by) and then 1 parapgrah how you got into crew and what is your position in there. So total 4 paragraphs with each one around 4-6 lines. Lastly every char must include a reason why they do not have home to go to and why they consider ship as their only home for past two years. Take inspiration from backgrounds from chars in Cowboy Bepop and Firefly.

Appearance: Either decent long description or a pic. Accept manga/anime pics and also drawn pics and digital art. Just avoid RL pics as they deviate little from fantasy world by personal taste.

Organization/Secret Society Association: Any allowed but must not be binding ones compared being part of the crew. So a dragonmark heir can be part of the crew but somereason said heir is not heavily involved in his/her house own business (or somehow being drifter supports it).
Charsheet format: I prefer online ones with a link to them.
Devotion/Posting frequency: One post per 1-2 days. I myself try stick to that schelude.
Player slots: Total 4 + GMPC + pilot (can be PC) and mechanic (pilot's son/daugther). So total 4 spots needed, and two extra if someone willing take role of pilot and mechanic (and pilot and mechanic must be related, adopted child is allowed) and GMPC is the captain of the crew.
Game Style: Adventure/Action game with occassional brush on mystery/investigation and puzzles. Also rare oppoturnities to deal with social high life situations but considering your conartist and mercenaries you rarely get involved such sort of deals.

kckolbe

I am a fan of both Firefly and Eberron.  I especially love me some artificers.  I generally prefer skilled/hybrid characters, but pretty open on role, though since I am not a fan of playing young characters, mechanic probably wouldn't suit me.
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

Zaer Darkwail

Who said the mechanic daughter/son needed to be young? If your half-elf you could be easily be several years older (a human daughter could be even be older).

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)
Intro Thread

Muse

 I've played a few Eberron games, Zaer, though the full metaplot is still a little bit beyond me.  If you'll have me in spite of that I'd love to play.  :) 
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)

Zaer Darkwail

Nice see your interest Muse :). Anyways there is going to be bigger plot but at start we focus on bunch mini adventures to get players feel for their characters.

Kunoichi

This idea certainly has my interest.  I'll work up a character concept when I get off work in a few hours.

kckolbe

As always, I am very open to warping my concept to fit group needs, and actually prefer feedback on which route to go.  For this game, here are the classes that interest me in some way along with what about them catches my fancy:

Spellthief
Pro: 6 sp/lvl, trapfinding, slightly better saves.  Also, flavor-wise, this just seems the Eberron version of a standard rogue, which appeals to me.
Con: Not as strong in combat, might enjoy playing a multiclass rogue/warmage more and get pretty much the same thing
Warmage
Pro: Int mod dmg on spells.  I like this because it is good for multiclassing.  With 3-4 levels of warmage and the Practiced Spellcaster feat, I can do very decent damage and still have 4 levels in any other class to fit his new life.  Also, Warmage definitely fits the idea of a war veteran.  These guys are made for war.
Con: No utility spells, only 2 sp/lvl.  I like my skills.
Artificer
Pro: Trapfinding, cheap item creation, ability to repair damage, overall solid utility character, and obviously a perfect fit for the setting.
Con: Almost useless in combat unless using wands, which would counter the cheap item creation perk
Marshal
Pro: A little healthier than the rest of the classes (d8 hit die), his auras are an excellent passive buff in and out of combat, and another good class for a war vet.  Additionally, could be fun to multiclass with the Warmage
Con: Auras are all he has going for him, possibly the weakest solo class in D&D
Beguiler
Pro: 6 sp/lvl, trapfinding, and lots of random spells
Con: Poor BAB, and no direct combat spells, would require focus toward raising spell DCs

Let me know if any of those sound good/bad or step on a concept you were thinking of playing.  I'm confident that at least a couple of these classes aren't on anyone's radar. 
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

Zaer Darkwail

Actually Vandros Deram is a Marshal 7/Sorcerer 1 class wise, so you get the marshal auras and he is support character (and his sorcery spells would focus on verbal component only category, he plans head to Cyran Avenger PrC).

Muse

  A few questions. 

  Are you going to allow flaws and racial paragon classes from Unearthed Arcana? 

  If I played a war forged, would there be sexiness to miss out on? 
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)

Kunoichi

I've got a question, as well.

Would there be any objections to me playing a Ghost? ^^; There's an online savage progression that would let me get away with just losing one or two levels, if you'll allow it, or I'd be willing to take the full +5 LA template if the online progression looks too powerful.  I could use the Ghostly Grasp feat and a Hat of Disguise to pass for normal, as well.

Backstory-wise, I'm thinking the character would probably have been on a battlefield in Cyre when the Day of Mourning happened, though I'm still undecided on which side she would have been fighting on.

Muse

  My war forged concept would be Artifcer 7, Fighter 1. 

  If it's better to be someone anotomicly endowed, I could do any number of concepts, of either gender. 
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)

Teo Torriatte

I would love to join this as well, if I may? Muse and I were discussing the possibility of us both playing war forged. We wanted to experiment with gender rolls so his character altered both of us.

kckolbe

Zaer, you are playing a marshal?!  No one EVER likes that class!  With that taken and Muse going artificer, I think I will go Warmage for at least 4 levels to give us some light firepower.  Maybe even Mystic Theurge, though that would leave me with no skill points.

Kunoichi, I think she ghost sounds cool, especially if that feat allows ghostly handjobs.  ~grins~

Muse, is your character going to be able to handle traps? 
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

Zekromnomnom

If I didn't have so many plays going right now, I would have loved to join this. I'm definitely going to read along with you guys. I LOVE Eberron.

Teo Torriatte

I'm gonna be playing a cleric, she will be fairly decent at melee for one, though, with a halberd and an adamant body.

Muse

John Smith and Gold Heart

   Cyre’s 17th Heavy Infantry Armored Corps was manufactured in the last seven years of the war.  An entire company armored and armored with adamantine, we soon found ourselves on the front lines of a number of engagements, destroying enemy soldiers and enemy fortifications with equal ease. 

   At first, we didn’t truly understand what we were doing.  Empowered with an assortment of skills and knowledge, we found books in sacked cities and began to read in our down time. 

   While the being who fought at my right hand studied books on faith, religion and healing, I took an interest in how things were created—from tools to artwork.  I learned to repair myself and other members of our unit.  Before the end of the war, I had developed from mundane crafts into a full fledged artificer.  The being who fought at my right hand found an injured child in a city we had sacked.  She prayed for the girl so hard Dol Arrah answered.  Flesh and bone knit, the child was restored and the being who fought at my right hand became a cleric. 

   This act of mercy struck me as a very enlightened thing, a way that it had moved beyond what we were made to be, so I offered that being the name Gold Heart. 

    The destruction of Cyre brought our world an uneasy peace.  My countrymen were scattered across Argonesen and beyond.   What remained of the 17th spent some time escorting refugees as they saught new homes.  In the end, we found we had no homes for ourselves.  The remainder of the 17th remained dedicated soldiers and found a mercenary army to enlist in.  Gold Heart and I were fascinated by the other races of the world.  After some study, we determined that we would alter ourselves to be more like them. 

   We would take on genders. 

   With the limited senses of a war forged, I never imagined the pleasure and pain I could experience as a being with gender.  Even with most of our armor grafts still immobile, I altered us so that the most sensitive parts could be revealed for each other’s pleasure. 

   There was pain too, intensities of emotion that nothing ever prepared us for.  For a time, we couldn’t stand each other, but eventually the bonds we forged fighting together as nameless soldiers drew us back together, and grew stronger than ever before. 

   Our experiments at a pausing point and our resources running low, we sought a new adventure.  We have all the future ahead of us, theoretically eternal lives.  Boredom could be our undoing, we reasoned, so we set out to see the world. 
 
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)

Kunoichi

If Zaer approves a Ghost character, then I'll have a few follow-up questions that will determine my own build. ^^; At the very least, though, I'll be combining nearly unassailable AC with good mobility, so I'll at least be able to act as a fairly competent tank.

Rhaegar14

I'll post tentative interest, based on the other types of characters that show interest and whether or not I realistically have time for this game.

I'm thinking I'll play a battle-hardened, elite veteran of the Last War, either a Knight Arcane/Phantom of Aundair or a Karrnathi Bone Knight. Depending on what everybody else wants to play and whether or not the rest of the party will get along with a Bone Knight.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Kunoichi

Considering that I'm planning to be an undead character, myself, I certainly don't have any problems with a Bone Knight in the party. ^^

Rhaegar14

Well, one of the other issues with the Bone Knight idea is that one of their greatest strengths -- the ability to control ridiculously huge hordes of undead -- really isn't well-suited to this campaign model.

Although, Command Undead could have some other uses... ;-)
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Kunoichi

Depending on which build I go with, you may have some difficulty beating my Will save. :P

Of course, if armies of undead won't be that useful in a game like this one, the Knight Phantom prestige class does look like a pretty good alternative.  I'm guessing you want a gish build of some sort?

Rhaegar14

I'm pretty sure Turn/Rebuke Undead doesn't allow a Will save, but I'd have to get a very high roll on a Rebuke check to command you if being a Ghost doesn't cost you a pretty significant number of Hit Dice.

And no, I'm looking at a Prestige Class with full BAB and nearly full arcane casting progression, but I was thinking I might build a healer. :-P

On a more serious note, I might roll up a Valenar battle Cleric if nobody brings divine spellcasting. Gotta have those wands of cure light wounds lol.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Muse

*points at Luna*  She's working on a warforged cleric of Dol Arrah. 
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)

Rhaegar14

Quote from: kckolbe on September 10, 2013, 04:51:33 PM
As always, I am very open to warping my concept to fit group needs, and actually prefer feedback on which route to go.  For this game, here are the classes that interest me in some way along with what about them catches my fancy:

Spellthief
Pro: 6 sp/lvl, trapfinding, slightly better saves.  Also, flavor-wise, this just seems the Eberron version of a standard rogue, which appeals to me.
Con: Not as strong in combat, might enjoy playing a multiclass rogue/warmage more and get pretty much the same thing
Warmage
Pro: Int mod dmg on spells.  I like this because it is good for multiclassing.  With 3-4 levels of warmage and the Practiced Spellcaster feat, I can do very decent damage and still have 4 levels in any other class to fit his new life.  Also, Warmage definitely fits the idea of a war veteran.  These guys are made for war.
Con: No utility spells, only 2 sp/lvl.  I like my skills.
Artificer
Pro: Trapfinding, cheap item creation, ability to repair damage, overall solid utility character, and obviously a perfect fit for the setting.
Con: Almost useless in combat unless using wands, which would counter the cheap item creation perk
Marshal
Pro: A little healthier than the rest of the classes (d8 hit die), his auras are an excellent passive buff in and out of combat, and another good class for a war vet.  Additionally, could be fun to multiclass with the Warmage
Con: Auras are all he has going for him, possibly the weakest solo class in D&D
Beguiler
Pro: 6 sp/lvl, trapfinding, and lots of random spells
Con: Poor BAB, and no direct combat spells, would require focus toward raising spell DCs

Let me know if any of those sound good/bad or step on a concept you were thinking of playing.  I'm confident that at least a couple of these classes aren't on anyone's radar.

I don't know what splat you have access to or are familiar with, but based on a couple of these ideas, I might recommend you take a look at the Factotum class (Dungeonscape) and the Psychic Rogue.

Quote from: Muse on September 11, 2013, 03:29:14 AM
*points at Luna*  She's working on a warforged cleric of Dol Arrah. 

Perfect.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Zaer Darkwail

Time answer some questions....

Quote from: Muse on September 10, 2013, 07:34:40 PM
  A few questions. 

  Are you going to allow flaws and racial paragon classes from Unearthed Arcana? 

  If I played a war forged, would there be sexiness to miss out on?

I would rule out flaws not be allowed, but I allow racial paragon classes from unearthed arcana. However no wargorfed racial classes there though :P. However I will add a house rule what I have grown fond off; you gain feat at every pairless level. Meaning you gain feats at 1st, 3th, 5th, 7th and so on levels. Overall feat gain from 7 increases to 10 in twenty level progression.

Now what comes to sexyness and such as warforge; in normal standard model you cannot experience physical pleasure at all. Closest you can get pleasure in fullfilling a function through sexual act. However I allow you can self-modify in taking levels in Reforged prestige class. The 3th level would allow transform your bodies to a point you are capable to physical pleasurable acts. I know it's 3 level in a class which gives no direct bonus to your base classes (like add casting levels to cleric or such). But it would allow you have sex as warforge and be so more sensitive to life and gain double bonus (meaning you can benefit from repair and cure spells equally and also gain greater bonus with moral stuff). Of course you still look like warforges because darkwood parts do not go off but otherwise you lack most metal components at this point and be so 'organic' constructs.

Quote from: Kunoichi on September 10, 2013, 09:32:03 PM
I've got a question, as well.

Would there be any objections to me playing a Ghost? ^^; There's an online savage progression that would let me get away with just losing one or two levels, if you'll allow it, or I'd be willing to take the full +5 LA template if the online progression looks too powerful.  I could use the Ghostly Grasp feat and a Hat of Disguise to pass for normal, as well.

Backstory-wise, I'm thinking the character would probably have been on a battlefield in Cyre when the Day of Mourning happened, though I'm still undecided on which side she would have been fighting on.

I allow you play as a ghost, a Cyran ghost would make very much sense and if you take 3 levels in progression your reason can be simple as 'I cannot find rest until reason what caused Mourning is discovered and one who ruined Cyre is punished'. Your char could even know Vandros from his time as commander (or his time in war academy or his time while he studied blacksmith work under father's guidance).

Overall though approved the concept.

Quote from: kckolbe on September 10, 2013, 10:32:31 PM
Zaer, you are playing a marshal?!  No one EVER likes that class!  With that taken and Muse going artificer, I think I will go Warmage for at least 4 levels to give us some light firepower.  Maybe even Mystic Theurge, though that would leave me with no skill points.

True that Dragon Shaman is perhaps better support class than marshal is but I do like overall the Marshal class as it's literally works better in groups and makes natural leader type. Bard or other social classes can fill the role and bard can provide aid with bardic music but it cripples bard who could be casting spells instead.

Marshal gives much nothing away when he uses auras around him and so it leaves only how to make Marshal useful in combat besides standing there. So I plan dig through Marshal Handbook for all sorts of lovely cheesy ideas :D. Anyways Warmage makes perfectly sense and take note that in PHB II introduced that you can learn utility spells with advanced learning (but you would need live with fact that they are +1 level higher in your list which is both hindrance but also boost when it comes resisting someone trying dispel your utility stuff). So Warmage could learn Fly spell as 4th level spell. With one or two artificers around and their UMD pools they can provide utility casting through wands and scrolls and they can also make them.

Check Warmage Handbook for ideas how stick as pure warmage or what feats to take.

Quote from: Rhaegar14 on September 11, 2013, 01:25:25 AM
I'll post tentative interest, based on the other types of characters that show interest and whether or not I realistically have time for this game.

I'm thinking I'll play a battle-hardened, elite veteran of the Last War, either a Knight Arcane/Phantom of Aundair or a Karrnathi Bone Knight. Depending on what everybody else wants to play and whether or not the rest of the party will get along with a Bone Knight.

Either concept is okay with me, however you need explain why a 'elite warrior' from given nation is living as a 'drifting mercenary' on a airship which questionably is living off without doing any traditional dragonmark house business. Class wise no problem but both classes are considered deeply tied to loyalty of their nation and if either one is considered as traitor they are hunted down mercilesly (which in itself can give interesting RP times if airship goes to Aundair or Karrnath and one crew member needs duck low and keep low profile or else get arrested and executed).

But if wanting full BAB + spellcasting, then Duskblade would be perfect for Aundair 'mystic knight' sort of deal.

kckolbe

#26
Some great resources, Zaer.  I am currently leaning toward a Spellwarp Sniper, which I didn't see mentioned in the Warmage guide at all, but I'm okay with it not being among the best choices.  I just like the way it feels.  Besides, with a Marshal improving our initiative rolls, I should get plenty of chances to catch folks flat footed.

I am currently working a male human character, Rogue 1, Warmage 5, Spellwarp Sniper 2.  Consider your ranged damage role filled. 

EDIT:  Can we make the rolls on E, where they are logged and everyone can see them?  Invisible Castle is too easy to cheat against.
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

Zaer Darkwail

Invisible Castle rolling I asked you use your username as same exact way how it's typed in E. Meaning I cannot go make 'Zaer Darkwail' and then getting sucky stats and then re-rolling with 'zaer Darkwail' or 'Zaer darkwail' or 'zaerdarkwail'. As I also asked the rolls done must have 'Ironman' tag, which means the stats were not re-rolled by the user.

But overall I am fine using E roller also but I myself had never figured out how to make stat rolling smoothly in E. What comes to your Spellwarp Sniper; I do find it odd it was not included although it's included in Complete Mage guide for blasters. As a tip besides depending on 'win iniative' you can get foes flat-footed by;

1) Be Invisible
2) Learn Distract Assailant via Advanced Learning as 2th level spell (can get it in 6th level as warmage)
3) Turn foe blind or otherwise unable to see or detect coming attacks
4) Best one; Use Invisible Spell metamagic feat

kckolbe

#28
You can go to invisible castle and roll.  Then, if you don't like it, you can close it out, re-open and roll again.  It will still say ironman.

I will probably go for invisibility to get my sneak attack, though flanking also allows it, if I recall, and I just need to be within 30 ft.  I'll try rolling on E, though if that doesn't pan out the point buy is pretty doable.  Will update this post with roll results.

49981   kckolbe   At 2013-09-11 11:10:34, kckolbe (uid: 6919) rolls: 5d6k3 Result: 11
49980   kckolbe   At 2013-09-11 11:10:28, kckolbe (uid: 6919) rolls: 5d6k3 Result: 16
49979   kckolbe   At 2013-09-11 11:10:22, kckolbe (uid: 6919) rolls: 5d6k3 Result: 10
49978   kckolbe   At 2013-09-11 11:10:16, kckolbe (uid: 6919) rolls: 5d6k3 Result: 15
49977   kckolbe   At 2013-09-11 11:10:07, kckolbe (uid: 6919) rolls: 5d6k3 Result: 18
49976   kckolbe   At 2013-09-11 11:09:58, kckolbe (uid: 6919) rolls: 5d6k3 Result: 15
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

Zaer Darkwail

Flanking is possible and there is in PHB II a feat which allows 'ready action' to launch ranged attack and get benefit from sneak attack. Another nice spell is 1st level one which allows a unlimited sneak attack distance.

kckolbe

I don't mind my char getting his hands a little dirty.  He is, after all, almost surrounded by tank types should things go south.  A couple of questions for ya:

Any skills seem necessary to sign on as a pilot?  I took survival and spot, but not sure what else.  Also, know of any magical items that add to the attack roll or damage of ranged touch attacks?
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

Zaer Darkwail

I need check my sources but I am sure I saw in Drows of the Underdark pair of gauntlets which aided in sneak attacks some fashion. Anyways the ship has already NPC pilot but if you do plan become a pilot of the airship in this game (and so not count to the 4 player char limit) you need to be human or half-elf from Lyrandar house with a lesser dragonmark (and preferably with level Windwright Captain PrC for obvious reasons for the 2th level feature which I allow have come in 1st level instead).

kckolbe

Ah well, was worth a shot.  I guess I'll count toward the player limit. 
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

Kunoichi

Quote from: Zaer Darkwail on September 11, 2013, 04:58:24 AM
I allow you play as a ghost, a Cyran ghost would make very much sense and if you take 3 levels in progression your reason can be simple as 'I cannot find rest until reason what caused Mourning is discovered and one who ruined Cyre is punished'. Your char could even know Vandros from his time as commander (or his time in war academy or his time while he studied blacksmith work under father's guidance).

Overall though approved the concept.

I was thinking I'd be Brelish, actually. ^^; A captain in the Brelish military who was engaged in a battle inside the borders of Cyre on the Day of Mourning, her body is now lost somewhere in the Field of Ruins in the Mournlands, just another corpse that's impossible to pick out from among the several thousand scattered about.

Still, having suffered such a sudden, unnatural death, it would still make sense for her to be unable to rest until she discovers what caused the Mourning.  Gaining vengeance might be a little more optional, but getting her body back for a proper burial would also be a strong focus, I think.

Anyway, now for my follow-up questions:

The full Ghost template says that the Ghost character gets to select up to three of the special abilities listed for the template.  If I were to take the full template, rather than the online progression, would I get to select any three abilities I wanted, or would you prefer if I selected my abilities in the way that the online template does, instead?

Also, if I take the full template, would I be allowed to select alternate abilities from other sources for my character?  I'm specifically considering selecting Telekinesis and Malevolence, from the standard monster manual Ghost template, and then the Illusion special ability from page 151 of Libris Mortis, which would give me the ability to use Major Image at-will.  This would give me a combination of three very potent abilities, but the trade-off would be that I would be starting with only 3 hit dice, so I don't think it would be overpowered. ^^;

Zaer Darkwail

I am okay with Brelish captain :).

Now, if you take full template instead savage species progression I let you choose the powers as you want, if taking progression one you pick the ghostly powers as listed in the progression table. I am also okay if you take major image at-will as one your powers.

Lockepick

Hey! Tossing my had in the ring as being generally interested!

I'm always a fan of playing 'Tool Box' or 'Skill Monkey' characters. I usually go Rogue for that (without prestige), but I could take a look at Spellthief if that is more fitting for the campaign.

I'd be willing to apply for the 'Mechanic' position -- but is the mechanic listed separate from the rest because he doesn't go on the 'away' missions? If he doesn't, I guess I'd rather be more of a 'field engineer' than a mechanic. Being the son of the pilot, PC or NPC, works fine for me.
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Zaer Darkwail

Well, the mechanic slot is separated from the PC cast role but if a PC takes role of the mechanic, then said mechanic can escort them on missions and such. However you need artificer skills to be considered 'mechanic' in airship in Eberron. So very least need 50% or so levels as artificer and then rogue if you want rogue skills.

Lockepick

Ah. Well seems like Artificer is already pretty common, I guess I'll just try to settle for a Toolbox Rogue as one of the 4 slots -- if they're still available. A dash of 'Use Magic Device' should patch any holes that not having magic skills would cause.
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Zaer Darkwail

If you want to be ultimate toolbox, factotum class from dungeonscape would be perfect class for it. If not want go rogue+Chameleon PrC route (note; changeling's qualify for the feat needed for that PrC).

Kunoichi

I'd like to second the recommendation for the Factotum class.  It was literally built from the ground up to be a 'toolbox' class, right down to having every skill in the game as a class skill. ^^

Quote from: Zaer Darkwail on September 11, 2013, 02:22:52 PM
I am okay with Brelish captain :).

Now, if you take full template instead savage species progression I let you choose the powers as you want, if taking progression one you pick the ghostly powers as listed in the progression table. I am also okay if you take major image at-will as one your powers.

Alright, good to get those questions answered. ^^ Now then, that leaves me with two potential build options I'm considering...

The first option makes use of the Ghost online progression.  2 levels of Dungeoncrasher Fighter from Dungeonscape, 2 levels of the Ghost online progression, picking up Telekinesis, then 3 levels of other classes to help me meet the prerequisites for 1 level of Master of the Unseen Hand, from Complete Warrior.  This is a build I've tried before, and it usually winds up being quite powerful.  Fighter's armor and shield proficiencies combined with the Ghost progression giving me a Charisma-based deflection bonus gets me AC somewhere around 30, with a pretty high Touch AC, as well.  I could work in 2 levels of Paladin and get high saves, and having a 30 ft. fly speed with perfect maneuverability means that I won't have to worry about mobility, either.  As for attack options...  Well, Dungeoncrasher damage and telekinetic bull rush make for a potent combination.

The second option is to use the full Ghost template, with the three abilities I mentioned and 3 class levels that I'm still a bit undecided on.  With only three hit dice I'll be a lot more vulnerable, but in addition to Telekinesis, I'll be able to possess people and toss out all sorts of realistic illusions.  This is probably the lower-powered of the two options, but it will give me a little more utility, as well.

Which of the two do you guys think I should go for?

Rhaegar14

Or just go from Factotum into Chameleon, since that's something that they can very much do (and excel at if they stay in Factotum until level 8, when they get to spend Inspiration on Standard Actions, and take Font of Inspiration a couple times). Chameleon actually greatly helps solve one of the Factotum's biggest problems, which is making itself consistently useful in combat without Iaijutsu cheese or exceedingly overpowered/boring spell choices for Arcane Dilettante.

@Kunoichi: While if Zaer is willing to handwave it I see no problem with doing so, by RAW a character with a savage progression is not allowed to take levels in anything else until they complete their savage progression. If he's not willing to handwave it, then Ghost will be your last two levels and you'll just have to deal with the next three being more Ghost. That being said, I would definitely go with the first option. Having 3 Hit Dice will make Zaer's life as a DM very hard; you'll be able to walk all over anything that can't affect you while ethereal/incorporeal, but anything that CAN will rip you apart in about two seconds. My group had a similar problem in a campaign we did where one of our players was a Pixie (they have always-on invisibility).
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Kunoichi

@Rhaegar: Actually, the online savage progression I'm using works according to slightly different rules. ^^;

QuoteCharacters are not required to complete all the levels of a given template class in uninterrupted succession. For example, a character who takes a level of wereboar could then take a level of fighter and a level of rogue (or any other combination of other class levels) before taking another level of wereboar. A character must still take the first level of wereboar before taking the second, just as with a normal class.

Thus, for these online progressions, at least, I can get away with starting out with just 2 levels in the progression.

Kunoichi


kckolbe

Quote from: lockepick on September 11, 2013, 03:44:41 PM
Ah. Well seems like Artificer is already pretty common, I guess I'll just try to settle for a Toolbox Rogue as one of the 4 slots -- if they're still available. A dash of 'Use Magic Device' should patch any holes that not having magic skills would cause.

We only have one artificer, which is Muse's warmage, who is planning on Artificer 7/Fighter 1
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Rhaegar14

*Rolls Ability Scores.*

Yeeeaaah... with three 9s, a 12, and a 13, I'll be going point buy.

I'm kind of torn on how to build, though. I don't want to put together some unholy Wizard gish and be horrendously overpowered, but I will miss the utility magic that the Duskblade simply doesn't have. I'll probably end up going Wizard 5/Warblade 1/Knight Phantom 2, and pulling my punches a little on spell/class feature selection.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Muse

I had switched to just Artificer 8.  But it looks like mine and L una's concpet has been somewhat ruled out, since I'm not allowed to simply just alter us as part of the fluff, ubt instead need to take three levels in a class to have those alterations. 

I'll take a look at the class.  Maybe it won't interupt the war forged and cleric progression enough to make us useless. 

Edit: 

This is what I had, by the way: 
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=653844
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)

Rhaegar14

*Counts.* We haaaave... six players. And nobody interested in the Pilot. That's a small issue.

I could do something with a Windwright Captain... *Ponders.*
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

kckolbe

Actually, lockepicke might make a good pilot as well, since he likes skill types.  Muse could be the mechanic (since he is an artificer).  Muse, as for your idea, you don't really need to be more human.  With the spells your and Luna's char both have access to, and our fairly generous starting gold, you guys could have some item that makes you able to get sexy for periods of time.  Polymorph is only a 4th level spell, after all, which both your and Luna's char could cast.  In short, there are ways we can get all 6 of us in game.

By the way, writing up my char's bio as a deserted from Karrnath.  That sound doable to you, Zaer?
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Lockepick

I took a look at the suggestions, but I feel like both Factorum and Chameleon are basically giving me half-spell casting at the cost of skill points, and Sneak Attack: the only thing that makes a toolbox viable in combat.

If the four regular roles are filled up, I'd apply for the pilot, but I guess I'm worried about him not being involved in 'missions' or whatever. If he's still perfectly involved, I'm fine with going for pilot.
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Zaer Darkwail

Kunoichi: I am fine with either one, but going full template is perhaps better as even if you are group of mercenaries (and so get involved in fights) but considering Eberron as merc you can be involved jobs where utility or social skills are needed. So playing by as full templated ghost with 3 HD gives more utility (and nice powers) but same token your vulnerable (but also with via AP boosting your level roll you can be hard to kill permanently).

Muse: The reforged class does not really 'add' or 'continue' features to either artificer nor cleric. Closest 'power gamey' approach with warforge who goes reforger is that if he was a bard who specialized on social situations. Which neither you nor Luna are. Reason why I lock the whole sexual aspect behind a PrC is to emphasis how 'big' the 3th level change in that PrC is. I am not against warforges having sex but me as GM I demand something more than 'I just strap dildo into my body frame and play it's like mine' approach. As warforges having sex is major leap in their species perspective (if speaking sex as; able get physical enjoyment from it). But warforge can use dildos or other physical activity to stimulate and give pleasure to others but unable receive it. Only reforger is able to pull off the change needed to able enjoy sex same way as living normal humanoids do (and have any interest for such as reforger is practically warforge who wants experience emotions like normal humanoids do and it sounds Muse's and Luna's chars both fit profile perfectly).

Side note; Alter self would allow change your form but the form must be a living construct version of the said species. So you would look 'robotic' even when you use it to turn into a orc. Where as polymorph is less limited and would be doable.

Rhaegar14: Windwright Captain progresses spellcasting in 1st level and it asks profession (pilot) 10 ranks and rest skills can be bought with cross rank levels (balance and UMD). So any class which provides profession skill (or gain skill via a feat) is viable. So you can be a full caster or gish build and still qualify to be Windwright Captain. Only other demand is lesser (not least) dragonmark of Storm and qualify for it (means your race must be half-elf; I thought humans also qualified but it seems they don't although Lyrandar house has both humans and half-elves). I suggest you check dragonmark related builds for casters and here is Dragonmark Handbook just for relating how to get most out from dragonmarks.

kckolbe: Muse char's can be mechanic although I originally intended mechanic to be related by blood to the captain but I am fine with that the mechanic is not 'must be related' sort deal. Anyways the deserter background is okay for me and char from being Karrnath, despite GMPC is cyran and so has general dislike to all five nations military people, but he does not have blind hatred to everyone and rather may had grown bond to you guys during two years.

lockepick: Toolbox can be viable in combat without sneak attack. The tier system places factotum above rogue when it comes being skill monkey and toolbox because factotum as naked vs a armed rogue will win the fight both combat and skill wise across all levels. You just need play smart with factotum more than just with rogue. Example factotum can use alter shape to take form of octopus (alter self mimicked spell) and do multiple sneak attacks with tentacles (they can mimic sneak attack feature with font points as I recall or that they added Int to dmg or otherwise had means get lots of dmg).

But do not plan to force feed rogue, spellthief or factotum to you; just play what feels comfortable :).

Clarification: In the original post I wrote that pilot, mechanic and the captain all are NPC's, the captain specially being GMPC (meaning compared standard NPC I treat him as player character of mine and may be in spot light along with you guys and be actively on missions while NPC's stick on the ship). However, if players pick up roles as pilot and mechanic (I originally wanted mechanic be related to pilot but after consideration it's not a must have, so any artificer will do and pilot is strictly tied to be half-elf with dragonmark of storm and one level in windwright captain), then pilot and mechanic both can be involved on adventures or missions actively (besides pilot just piloting the ship or mechanic taking only care of the ship).

Reason why I listed pilot and mechanic as NPC's was that both are needed for the airship to have any functionality. But if players pick them, they get to play those chars same way like rest do (and not chained to stay in the airship).

kckolbe

QuoteMuse char's can be mechanic although I originally intended mechanic to be related by blood to the captain but I am fine with that the mechanic is not 'must be related' sort deal.

Well, I was thinking that Luna's character could have been the captain's daughter, an idealistic young cleric.  That would still give the mechanic a connection to the pilot through her.

Also, is there a minimum of gold we must spend?  I currently have about 19k gold left.
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Zaer Darkwail

Luna's char is a warforged, so captain cannot be 'related' to warforged. Although crazy as it sounds some humanoid may have 'adopted' a warforged as son/daughter some reason or another (and I am okay with that). The mystery how warforges are done is still mystery to even most Canniths (expect those who used Creation Forges).

Anyways cap spending to gold is 10,000 per item unless most price is related to exotic material. The spending minimum (meaning how much you must spend) does not exist. Although advice is that you spend most of it but you can put money to savings.

kckolbe

I thought that the lore behind Luna's character is that she was human and died, but Muse's character "created" her into warforged...kinda like RoboCop, only sexier (sorry).
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Muse

I could handle the loss of 3 levels of Artificer.  What really bugs me is the loss of attached components.  *Sighs* 

Maybe we can come up wiht a different concept. 

*  *  *

Hmmm? No, no.  There was a human girl who was dying,but Luna healed her as she became a cleric.  ^_^;; 

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)

kckolbe

Muse, does the use of the polymorph spell help?
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Lockepick

I appreciate the clarification, and Windwright Captain sounds interesting, but it wasn't really what I was looking to play.

I do appreciate the advice and assistance, I think I just don't like playing casters very much. I feel guilty when I do awesome stuff, and I feel lame when I have to compare it to a full attack round, and it is under performing. It's a little hang-up by mine.

Right now, if there is still a Non-mechanic/pilot spot open, I'd probably roll a Rogue or Spell-Thief. The latter has some cool flavor which might make up for the loss of focus. I will read over Factorum again, to see what all the hub-bub is about, but I wasn't super enticed the first read through.

I've honestly lost track though, so no clue if I should roll up some stats or if there is no room for me.
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Muse

  Luna and i are looking at Shifters now. 

  Luna would still be playing a cleric. I'm still up in the air. One of my concepts is a wilder from Sharn who worked the high steel before enlisting in the war.
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)

Kunoichi

A Shifter Cleric?  Hmm.  In that case, might I recommend the Moonspeaker prestige class from Races of Eberron?  It's got class features that give slightly more benefit to Druids, but even Clerics can get some very nice abilities out of the class. ^^

kckolbe

Hm...if Muse is going Wilder and lockepick rogue/spellthief (I prefer spellthief for both flavor and versatility), then we are down an Artificer (mechanic).  I'd be willing to take up that role instead of the Warmage if it means everyone gets to play.
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
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I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

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Kunoichi

Er, kckolbe, Zaer has already pointed this out, but we don't really have to have an Artificer if nobody wants to be one. ^^; The ship's mechanic will just be an NPC.

kckolbe

#60
But he is only allowing 4 chars plus pilot and mechanic, and we have six players interested.  I'm willing to play an Artificer 4/Duskblade 4.  He'd excel at destroying constructs (including Warforged).  Also, he'd be human, making a relation to the captain possible.
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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Kunoichi

Ah, I missed that. ><; In that case, playing an Artificer certainly wouldn't be a bad choice.  You'd be able to contribute in a very wide variety of ways.

kckolbe

Plus, I like the idea of his being able to kill constructs easily, and Duskblade compliments that nicely with the attack bonus and spell channel ability (which seems to allow infusions).  They also both cast off of Intelligence, which works nicely, and can both wear medium armor.  He is to them what clerics are to undead.

I picked the combination for flavor, but they really do work together nicely.  He won't be the strongest fighter by any stretch, but he is capable enough, plus I rolled nicely on stats so I can afford to play something less powerful.
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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Kunoichi

I kind of like the 'Hordeficer'-style builds for covering melee, myself, but I suppose having a small army of homunculi at your beck and call could slow the game down a bit. ^^;

I think you'll find the Unofficial Artificer Handbook to be a good resource, though.

Zaer Darkwail

Just note that infusions do not work on duskblade's spell channeling via melee strikes. Same reason as I would not allow it work with sorcerer 4/duskblade 4 (by channeling other class spells via melee strike). Only spells channeled are duskblade own class ones.

However, you can get the construct harming spells via Extra Spell feat and artificer infusions blend well in 'temporally empower my sword and armor' aspect being duskblade. Also my own house ruling duskblades get somatic weaponry at level 1 (so they can cast by waving their shield and sword around to cover somatic components of the spells they cast).

Anyways it's correct that there is 4 PC slots and then pilot and mechanic spots (and if not filled I use NPC instead).

kckolbe

Quote from: Zaer Darkwail on September 12, 2013, 02:40:46 PM
Just note that infusions do not work on duskblade's spell channeling via melee strikes.

I may pass on duskblade then and just go artificer.
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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Zaer Darkwail

Ok, going full artificer is not bad choice either :). Just check the handbook as it speaks in very good detail about artificers and build ideas.

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)

Kunoichi

So, now that my build's been settled on, I've got a couple of magic item-related questions.

In Complete Psionic, there's an item called a Psychoactive Skin of Ectoplasmic Armor.  It costs 3,000 gold, takes up the Body slot when equipped, and basically acts a set of full plate that counts as light armor and can be put on and taken off as a standard action.

The item appears again in the Magic Item Compendium, on page 170, but there it costs twice as much, but also doesn't take up a slot when equipped.

For my first question, would it be possible for me to purchase the cheaper version that takes up an equipment slot, rather than the more expensive slotless version?  And for my second question, would I then be able to enchant the item as armor from there?

Zaer Darkwail

You can take the cheaper version and you can further enchant it so long it takes actual equipment slot to wear it. You could in theory make the full plate made from mithril (and so kind of work as advanced magitech bodysuit armor). You can change psionic nature of the armor into arcane one easily.

Kunoichi

That's good to know. ^^ If I give it the Glamered enchantment, could I describe it as shape-shifting into whatever sort of clothing I want it to be?


Rhaegar14

Well, let me clarify a bit on the matter of the Windwright Captain and our need of a pilot; I would rather play the Knight Phantom. What I'm saying is that I'm willing to jump on this grenade if no one else will lol.

And Zaer, Windwright Captain requires 6 ranks of UMD, which means without at least 1 level in a class that has UMD as a class skill you can't qualify by 8th level. This, in turn, limits the number of classes that qualify easily/naturally. If I've found all of them, the list goes Artificer, Bard, Beguiler, and Spellthief.

Now, just about any other Arcane casting class can qualify by 8th with a Rogue dip. If I were to roll up the pilot, I'd probably do a Half-Elf Spellthief 1/Duskblade 6/Windwright Captain 1.

Also, for your GMPC, I highly recommend the Legendary Captain PrC. I was gonna mix it with Windwright if the former didn't require that the character be master of the ship.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Lockepick

Rolled up my Stats on Invisible Castle. Not sure what I should be posting, so I'll post everything! It said I was 'Ironman!" the whole time, but this last page doesn't seem to say that, so no clue if I fucked that up.

http://invisiblecastle.com/stats/view/34090/

STR 17, DEX 17, CON 15, INT 10, WIS 15, CHA 13

I'll try to get some details and a sheet up sometime tomorrow.
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Marie Reynolds

Would there still be room in this game perchance?

Kunoichi

So, I've got a level in Cleric, and the Magic domain let's me count as having a level in Wizard for the purposes of activating magic items.  Anyone have any good recommendations for magic wands to make use of?

kckolbe

Quote from: Rhaegar14 on September 12, 2013, 06:24:17 PM
Well, let me clarify a bit on the matter of the Windwright Captain and our need of a pilot; I would rather play the Knight Phantom. What I'm saying is that I'm willing to jump on this grenade if no one else will lol.

That's pretty much how I felt about the mechanic.  I really liked my Warmage.  Of course, our group has changed a bit since then and gotten more magical.

Kunoichi, not sure you'll need wands, but I imagine one with a buff spell (haste?).  What kind of char do you plan on building?
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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Zaer Darkwail

As a ghost? Just take note that you possess only items which you wore before you died (so any material items you cannot carry to ethereal plane or through walls and such as incorporeal entity). Ofc having ghostly bag of holding would allow carry them extra dimensional space.

Rhaegar14: A dragonblood sorcerer variant gets UMD instead profession and craft skill. Factotum also gets all class skills as class skill. Anyways you can get it as class skill by via a feat (it's called City Slicker but you can re-flavor it to have different four skills what you want to have). But level dip as rogue or spellthief also works :). Gives at least balance as class skill for the ranks.

Anyways being captain you would get ensured spot in the game, also I could add use magic device as class skill for dragonmark heir (it makes lot of sense when think about it). One level dip is enough for lesser mark and getting UMD as class skill after 4th level (and so can trade two levels after 5th skill points for cross class skill). Not to mention after finishing windwright captain you could go on either as duskblade or take more levels as dragonmark heir and unlock greater dragonmark (and more spell-alike abilities and have more influential improved standing in house Lyrandar). Not to mention gives nice selection of social skills which can be useful besides your ability swing sword around.

Zaer Darkwail

Quote from: Marie Reynolds on September 12, 2013, 07:09:02 PM
Would there still be room in this game perchance?

So far 6 players and two of them go to pilot and mechanic. So 4 slots are filled but this is not 'first posters pick' based on the game as I watch also char concepts and backgrounds when I select the players finally. I make final decisions around before next weekend. Depending how fast potential players post their chars up.

Kunoichi

@kckolbe: Zaer recommended I take the full template with three class levels build, so I went with two levels of the Feat Rogue from Unearthed Arcana and one level of Cloistered Cleric from the same.  I can pretty much use any wand from either the Cleric or Wizard lists, so that should give me quite a bit of versatility, at least with proper wand selection.

Though, now that I'm thinking about wands, that brings up another item question: Zaer, one well-known trick for saving money on wands is to take them off of lists where they're lower-leveled, such as the Trapsmith prestige class having Haste as a first-level spell.  Would it be alright for me to take advantage of this trick, or would you prefer if I tried to avoid it?

Zaer Darkwail

I would say you avoid the trick because it's unlikely those of specialist caster classes make wands and sell them (if they make wands they are exclusively for themselves). However if you want go wand blaster route, get the item which allows combine three wands into one rod and fire the three wands off same time for blaster fun :P.

Kunoichi

Nah, I don't have the feats to go the wand blaster route. :P I'm more going for utility wands.  Knock means we won't have to worry about getting locks open, for example.

Would it be alright if I got a custom item of +10 to Hide?  It would cost 10,000 gp, and I'm thinking it would take up my feet slot.

Zaer Darkwail

Chameleon ring would overall do better job; disguise self and +10 to hide is good combination and it costs bit over 10,000gp.

Kunoichi

A Hat of Disguise and custom +10 skill item are cheaper, though. ^^;

Zaer Darkwail

Is custom item cost based on the +10 skill ring?

Kunoichi

It's straight out of the rules for creating magic items.  A magic item that grants a +10 competence bonus to a skill would be worth 10,000, according to the math given on the second table, and that's the cost for every +10 skill item listed in the Magic Item Compendium, so it seems pretty clear.

The reason having a +10 item and a Hat of Disguise is cheaper than just buying the ring is because there's an extra cost for combining two items together, by the way. ^^; I'm not yet at the point where my item slots are all full, so having two separate items and a lower overall cost is better for now.  At higher levels, though, I'll probably wind up spending more gold combining various items together, once I get to the point where I have all my equipment slots filled.

kckolbe

Zaer, which auras do you plan on taking?  I was thinking of taking 2-4 levels of marshal to represent my character having served under the captain's during the Last War.  Currently leaning toward Motivate Charisma and Motivate Intelligence for my character.  I know you are planning on Motivate Dexterity, probably Determined Caster as well.   Just wanna make sure there isn't too much duplication.
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
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Zaer Darkwail

Vandros Derram will have Determined Caster, Master of Tactics, Motivate Charisma and Motivate Strength minor auras. Then have Motivate Attack and Motivate Care major auras. Also via feat he has extra draconic aura since 3th level; Senses (so bonus to spot, listen and initiative). Not mention he would then have 3 auras active then as Senses is based on him having dragonblood (he will have dragonblood sorcerer archtype, plan qualify for it being silverbrow or rather brassbrow human).

Also he will have Adreanline Rush variant from PHB II so he can provide temporal HP equal his marshal level (or double that if party is under 50% HP).

kckolbe

I will then take Motivate Intelligence and Motivate Charisma as well, since I might want to use that one in combat (for Use Magic Device), also Motivate Ardor for Major.  I'm thinking of doing an archery focus, though obviously his combat contributions will be minimal. 
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

Zaer Darkwail

Steady Hand would help with both ranged spells and ranged physical attacks (as major aura).

Rhaegar14

Wow... with no flaws, no racial bonus feat, and no feats from class levels, the pilot build coming together in my head is very, very feat-starved. Never even mind fluffy feats (past the Dragonmark), I'll be leaving basic gish no-brainers behind. Bleh.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Kunoichi

#91
So...  nobody has Motivate Dexterity?

I suppose that means there'll be a level of Marshal in my future. :P

Edit:
Quote from: Rhaegar14 on September 12, 2013, 09:56:11 PM
Wow... with no flaws, no racial bonus feat, and no feats from class levels, the pilot build coming together in my head is very, very feat-starved. Never even mind fluffy feats (past the Dragonmark), I'll be leaving basic gish no-brainers behind. Bleh.

I think I'd probably try to avoid working Windwright Captain into a gish build, myself. ^^; As-written, it really works much better with just a straight Bard entry.

Kunoichi

#92
Leisha of Breland (formerly Captain Leisha Skyvalley, Brelish Army)


I should have the backstory for my character worked out in a couple of hours. ^^;

Edit:

My early life doesn't matter much, or at least not to me.  It was another life, and everything that happened in that life feels... distant, dreamlike.  I don't really have many clear memories of those days.  I was born and raised in Starilaskur, and life at home was... not perfect, but much better than it could have been, now that I think back on it.  I remember that dad fought in the Last War in his early days, and that he'd taken a bad enough wound that they'd had to remove his leg and send him home to recover, away from all the fighting.  Needless to say, he hated the War, and was often very vocal in his insistence that no daughter of his was ever going to go off and join the army.

When I ran away from home at 16, naturally my first move was to enlist.

Military life was pretty simple.  First I went through the same basic training as everybody else, where the drill sergeants managed to knock some discipline into me, then I settled into the life of a soldier.  It was boring, for the most part, follow orders, maintain readiness, go where they told you to go and do what they told you to do...  And then there were those brief, exciting, frightening, action-packed days where the actual fighting and dying happened.  I don't really remember many of the individual engagements, they tend to all bleed together over time, but I do remember that my military career lasted for 8 years, and that I was good enough at being a soldier to earn a promotion or two over that career.

The Day of Mourning is also a bit jumbled in my memories, but that's for a different reason.  I can quite clearly remember that the final battle in the Last War was a free-for-all, forces from Thrane and Cyre and Darguun, and of course the Brelish units I fought alongside, all converging together onto the same battlefield in a four-way battle for control of the area.  Then came a bright flash of light some ways off, and everyone paused for a few seconds as a massive grey cloud rose in the distance.  The fighting soon resumed, however, even as the sounds of battle were gradually drowned out by a keening, wailing sound that got louder and louder as the cloud got closer and closer.

The last thing I can remember is the mists washing over us, the ground shaking as the earth tore itself apart right in front of me, men and women and warforged falling to their deaths as a massive cliff rose up, and then pain and darkness... and then nothing.

Things get fuzzy again, after that.  I know from checking calendars that it took six months before I walked out of the Mournlands again, but it was impossible for me to track the passage of time while I was in there.  I don't know how long it took before my spirit rose, or how much time I wasted just sitting around, haunting that abandoned battlefield.  I... I thought I was in Dolurrh, at first, that I'd managed to evade the Keeper's grasp, and that all that was left was for me to wait around and see if I'd succumb to apathy, or if maybe someone would bring me back, somehow.

I don't know how long I spent walking after the boredom got to me, either, but eventually the mist sort of solidified into a wall up ahead of me, and when I pushed through that, I recognized the Brelish countryside.  I eavesdropped on a few conversations, managed to figure out what had actually happened to me, what I had become, but after that...

Well, would you know what to do or where to go if you were in my situation?  Friends and family were out, I'm a dead woman and I have no intention of ever troubling them with the knowledge that I've become undead on top of that, and as for making new friends, that's not easy when most people out there view you as little more than a dangerous monster.  Still, they say all roads lead to Sharn, and that's eventually where I ended up, too, haunting the Cogs until I managed to beg, borrow, or steal the magic items I needed to pass as one of the living.

As for why I joined up with Derram and his merry little band of misfits aboard the Blaze?  Well, let's just say we have similar goals.  As with all ghosts, I'm sick and tired of running around half-awake in this world, and I want to move on to my final resting place in the next.  And in order to do that I need to take care of a little unfinished business, here in the land of the living.  Working with Derram is probably my best shot at that.

Zaer Darkwail

Quote from: Rhaegar14 on September 12, 2013, 09:56:11 PM
Wow... with no flaws, no racial bonus feat, and no feats from class levels, the pilot build coming together in my head is very, very feat-starved. Never even mind fluffy feats (past the Dragonmark), I'll be leaving basic gish no-brainers behind. Bleh.

Yeah, quite bit starved :P. You have 4 feats, and that's why I suggested dragonmark heir so you get lesser dragonmark (requirement for windwright captain) for free. So you have 3 feats to play with gish build wise.

Lockepick

@Rhaegar: If you'd like - I'll play the pilot as a Bard. Dropping the main 'toolbox' idea. If you want to play the pilot, feel free. I just felt bad that you seemed forced into it after having a more concrete idea; where I don't really have a concrete idea. Easier for me to force into a mold. Let me know: Your pick here.
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kckolbe

My, how we keep changing!  Just to make sure I have this right, here's what I think we have so far:

Rhaegar: A hybrid melee/arcane combatant
Kunoichi: A hard to hit, low health type with all sorts of tricks up her incorporeal sleeve
Luna: A cleric with some resilience
Muse: Full Psionic caster
Zaer: A party buffer with light utility and light damage
Lockepick: Our captain, the man with connections

I am still thinking of building hybrid artificer/archer, though currently unsure what we really need to round out.  Obviously I'd need to take at least 4 levels in Artificer, but what abilities does the group need?  Offhand I can think of a trap disarmer (and possibly setter), and skill at forgery could certainly help out as well.  I'm unfamiliar with a lot of the classes you folk are playing, so unsure how to complement them, fill the requirements of "mechanic" (Artificer 4+), and, of course, have fun.
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

Muse

KC, may I suggest--instead of multiclassing--just an elven artificer?  Or an artificer of any race with their first level feat as Militia?  At worst, Artificer 1, Fighter 1, Artifcer 2-7. 

Artificers have the same base attack bonus as clerics. 

Zaer is giving us feats as if we were playing Pathfinder (every odd level.)

You could take Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot and Rapid Shot by now.  :) 

And you cuold make your own magic bow, and arrows for all occasions. 
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)

Zaer Darkwail

The artificer handbook which I linked earlier gives good build ideas for artificer and being a elf artificer is good way get bow proficiency for free. Also artificer benefit a lot from one feat which gives +1 hit and dmg with magic weapons.

Muse

  Some metaplot help, if someone would be so kind? 

  Arlsan is from Sharn.  When he signed on in the last years of the great war, who would he be staring at across the battlefield?  As in, what countries?  And would one of them be more likely than the others to have shifters? 
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)

Zaer Darkwail

So far as I know Eldeen Reaches kind of 'sat out of the way' from Last War and shifters were found across all Five Nation armies as scouts and mercenaries (kind of like changeling rogues as infiltrators). None the countries really sported massive number of shifters nor formed units exclusively from shifters.

Muse

:)  Cool cool, so who would have someone in the armies of sharn been fighitng against?  Was it a massive freeforall?  Or were there confused alliances where you could sometimes hope to find some countries with you and others against you? 
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)

Muse

Okay, wow!  Moonspeaker is nice!  Is there any way to give a cleric of Dol Arrah Knowlege: Nature as a class skill? 
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)

Muse

Zaer, you said no flaws.  Would it be permissible to take a Trait? 

http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Versatile_(3.5e_Trait)
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)

Zaer Darkwail

Quote from: Muse on September 13, 2013, 12:35:31 PM
Okay, wow!  Moonspeaker is nice!  Is there any way to give a cleric of Dol Arrah Knowlege: Nature as a class skill?

You can take Cloistered Cleric for knowledge domain and that domain gives all knowledge skills as class skill for you. Or as I suggested via feat you can get 4 skills added as 'forever class skill' category.

Quote from: Muse on September 13, 2013, 01:11:25 PM
Zaer, you said no flaws.  Would it be permissible to take a Trait? 

http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Versatile_(3.5e_Trait)

No traits.

Kunoichi

Quote from: Muse on September 13, 2013, 12:35:31 PM
Okay, wow!  Moonspeaker is nice!  Is there any way to give a cleric of Dol Arrah Knowlege: Nature as a class skill?

Cloistered Cleric's free Knowledge domain would cover it, or instead of worshipping Dol Arrah specifically, you could worship the Sovereign Host as a whole and pick up the Plant and/or Animal domains.  If you take the latter option, the Animal domain would also allow you to qualify for Spontaneous Summoner, which would let you get a little more use out of those class features centered around Summon Nature's Ally spells. ^^

As for getting more information on the course of the Last War, Breland shared borders with Darguun, Cyre, Thrane, and Aundair, so those were the main enemies that Brelish troops would have fought during the War.  Breland also shares a border with the Eldeen Reaches, but as Zaer said, the Reaches mostly kept to themselves after declaring independence from Aundair during the War, so there wouldn't have been much more than the occasional border skirmish with them.

The Forge of War is the supplement book for the Last War, and Five Nations should also give you some good insight for playing a Brelish character, if you want to look into it a little more on your own.

Rhaegar14

#105
Quote from: Kunoichi on September 12, 2013, 09:56:41 PM
I think I'd probably try to avoid working Windwright Captain into a gish build, myself. ^^; As-written, it really works much better with just a straight Bard entry.

Yeah, but I don't like Bards lol. Now, a Beguiler, on the other hand, you might have a point on, but the lost caster levels punish them a lot harder than Duskblades or Bards.

Quote from: Zaer Darkwail on September 13, 2013, 05:44:16 AM
Yeah, quite bit starved :P. You have 4 feats, and that's why I suggested dragonmark heir so you get lesser dragonmark (requirement for windwright captain) for free. So you have 3 feats to play with gish build wise.

That would cost me too much Duskblade casting. With two levels lost from Windwright Captain and one from a Spellthief dip, any more lost caster levels and I wouldn't be able to get 5th-level spells by 20 (admittedly, there's no way this campaign will last that long, but to me, it's a pretty good benchmark to evaluate where "too much" is).

Quote from: lockepick on September 13, 2013, 09:55:43 AM
@Rhaegar: If you'd like - I'll play the pilot as a Bard. Dropping the main 'toolbox' idea. If you want to play the pilot, feel free. I just felt bad that you seemed forced into it after having a more concrete idea; where I don't really have a concrete idea. Easier for me to force into a mold. Let me know: Your pick here.

I would greatly appreciate that. However, there are ways to keep the toolbox appeal and qualify for Windwright Captain by 8th. Like I said, Spellthieves qualify naturally, and they're pretty much just Rogues that trade in some of their sneak attack damage for a little spellcasting and the cool-if-not-hugely-useful Steal Spell feature. Plus, the Craven feat and a Swordsage dip at 9 can more than make up for the lost Sneak Attack damage.

A Half-Elf Spellthief 5/Thug-variant Fighter 2/Windwright Captain 1/Swordsage 1 with Able Learner, Least Dragonmark, Lesser Dragonmark, Craven, Weapon Finesse, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Swordsage bonus) and Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feats has 4d6+9 sneak attack damage, with four attacks on a full attack. Plus, Able Learner makes his Spellthief class skills effectively class skills for all of his classes (though he'll lose two skill points per level on the two levels of Fighter). Admittedly, it's a bit less impressive before 9, with only 2d6+9 sneak attack and no fourth attack from ITWF, but it's only one level-up away, and a straight Rogue wouldn't have ITWF before 9th anyway.

EDIT: Zaer, I'm rereading some of the Eberron books to work out the gory details now, but at first glance, do you see any problems with my character being a member of House Lyrandar that gave up his position within the House hierarchy to fight in the war? That would give him an easy in-road to the group; he could be closely related to the pilot.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Kunoichi

Hmm.  You know, looking over the Windwright Captain prestige class now, it looks like you only actually get a ship out of it from the second level of the class, rather than the first.  So, our pilot would need two levels in the class, rather than just one...

Rhaegar14

Quote from: Kunoichi on September 13, 2013, 04:09:26 PM
Hmm.  You know, looking over the Windwright Captain prestige class now, it looks like you only actually get a ship out of it from the second level of the class, rather than the first.  So, our pilot would need two levels in the class, rather than just one...

Not possible. You can't have 10 ranks in any skill before 7th level, which means with 8th-level starting characters you could at most have one level of Windwright Captain.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Kunoichi

In that case, I don't really see why the pilot needs a level in Windwright Captain at all.  The ship is basically going to be a plot device anyway, and you only actually need the Lesser Mark of Storm and the appropriate class skills to pilot it, not any actual levels in the class, so...

Zaer Darkwail

Quote from: Kunoichi on September 13, 2013, 04:09:26 PM
Hmm.  You know, looking over the Windwright Captain prestige class now, it looks like you only actually get a ship out of it from the second level of the class, rather than the first.  So, our pilot would need two levels in the class, rather than just one...

And if you paid attention I said I give the ship class feature in 1st level instead 2th level to help explain how PC has a airship :P.

Anyways Rhaeger; it's okay for house member to break from hierarchy go participate in the war. However all houses did participate in the Last War one way or another and the so much agreed 'diplomatic immunity' in battlefield was bullshit in reality. If house of Healing cured Breland troops, the Karrnath did not hesitate charge the dragonmarked healers despite there was supposed to be protection for them. So, there is no need break from house hierarchy to participate in Last War. But if you wanted go 'fight for my country' approach, then you had to break out so your not counted as part of ancient treaty which prevents dragonmark house members entering military service or marry to nobles etc. But to let a dragonmarked member of the house to do that they would not allow without a god damn good reason (as every mark manifesting member is valuable to the house).

Anyways overall war wise it was everyone vs everyone but most battles happened in Cyre's soil and so Cyre was pretty much grinded slowly smaller until Mourning happened.

Kunoichi

Quote from: Zaer Darkwail on September 13, 2013, 04:35:56 PM
And if you paid attention I said I give the ship class feature in 1st level instead 2th level to help explain how PC has a airship :P.

When and where, exactly? ^^; I can't find it in the first post, and I clearly missed it whenever you said it the first time.

Rhaegar14

Yeah, given that the Knights Arcane are a well-known part of the Aundairian(?) military, he would no longer be part of his house. I wasn't going to present him as a Dragonmarked character; even if I liked the idea of that (I don't, he's no longer directly a part of his House) I don't have the extra feats to sink into it on a gish build hahaha. In fact, he may have even joined the Knights Arcane under an assumed surname, since the Houses value their presumed neutrality.

Nitpick on the naming convention; wouldn't the pilot's last name be d'Lyrandar, not ir'Lyrandar? The ir' prefix is reserved for long-standing royal families and families that were recently granted title. Characters who are related by blood to the Dragonmarked houses (such as any character with an actual Dragonmark) use the d' prefix.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Zaer Darkwail

Quote from: Kunoichi on September 13, 2013, 04:51:19 PM
When and where, exactly? ^^; I can't find it in the first post, and I clearly missed it whenever you said it the first time.

Quote from: Zaer Darkwail on September 11, 2013, 11:35:07 AM
(and preferably with level Windwright Captain PrC for obvious reasons for the 2th level feature which I allow have come in 1st level instead).

I refered for the freebie airship with the '2th level feature' naturally.

Rhaegar14: Aye, my bad. I kind of mixed meaning of ir' and d'. So pilot's last name would be d'Lyrandar. Anyways your char concept is okay and also that he uses different surname.

Kunoichi

Oh. ><; So that's where it was.  My bad, then.

Lockepick

I apologize for being so wishy-washy, I keep trying to hammer down ideas. Quick question: Would a Factorum's 'spells' count for the perquisite of "must have 1st level arcane spells/infusions?" for Windwright Captain?
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Rhaegar14

By RAW, no, because they're spell-like abilities. Zaer could choose to allow it anyway, though.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Zaer Darkwail

Factotum 'spells' are spell-alike abilities. However I would allow a warlock to become windwright captain so factotum qualifies so long they can progress their spellcasting via a PrC (meaning if PrC progress casting, factotum gets more spell-alike spells). But if factotum spell progression is strictly to their class only, then you need one level dip to some other class to get in to be windwright captain.

Lockepick

Hmm, I don't think it fits that criteria, no. Probably going to go Bard.

Thoughts on 'Words of Creation?'
Re-read your 'allowed' list. Sorry!
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Rhaegar14

Oh God yes. Combine with Song of the Heart and Dragonfire Inspiration for endless amounts of win.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Kunoichi

Plus there are a few other spells and magic items that can pump up Inspire Courage, too. ^^

Zaer Darkwail

Aye, no Words of Creation but the Song of the Heart (Eberron feat) + Dragonfire Inspiration (dragon magic or was it races of dragon?) to get nice cheese going on.

Anyways bard is good toolbox and one full marshal and one partial marshal can cover basic boosting (not sure does traditional inspire courage stacks with marshal aura but the dragonfire inspiration replaces normal bonus with raw dmg). But overall bard spell list can be very dandy.

Rhaegar14

Dragonfire Inspiration is Dragon Magic. However, I see a problem. It requires the Dragonblooded subtype, and subraces (such as Forestlord Half-Elves) don't manifest Dragonmarks. Dragonfire Inspiration is without a doubt worth one feat, but I'm not sure if it's worth two (Dragontouched prerequisite).
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Zaer Darkwail

Vandros Derram is brassbrow human and that subtype yields dragonblood. Also so far as I know having dragon's blood in your veins is not obstacle to manifest a dragonmark (Vol example was a full elf half-dragon and manifested Mark of Death). So you can be Forestlord half-elf although problem is to fit the subtype lore to Eberron setting. A somekind distant ancient ancestry is possible, traits of forestlord may be mystery to you and your parents etc. As overall the subtype details are subtle differences and only noticable one is able to blend into tree and exit from another tree from short distance (it can be easily qualify for rumors of frolicking with feys than related to ancient pact with green dragon).

Considering Vol's father was a green dragon.....it opens some interesting subplot ideas that your ancestors were elves from Vol clan who later married humans and made half-elves who carried ancient pact with them. Or something similar but overall the ancient elven nation x dragons do not normally mix as they consider each other enemies (they grouped together only wipe out House of Death because Vol was viewed as dangerous abomination by both sides and it irony brought lasting cease fire).

Lockepick

If you're comfortable with me playing a 'Forest-lord half-elf' for the Pilot -- I might take you up on that. I kind of like the idea of somebody so equipped to work in nature deciding he wants to be an airship pilot...

Inspire Courage is a Morale boost, and I don't think multiple Morale boosts stack. Not sure what kind of bonuses Marshals cram out.
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Detailed List of O/Os and Plot Seeds

All of my image links were previously photobucket and broken -- I'm fixing them as I use the avatars again, or for current games. Please let me know if there is something that needs updating!

kckolbe

Attune Magic Weapon is a good feat.  What I'm asking, though, is what the group currently doesn't have.  I work a lot better when I know what gaps are left in the group.
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

Muse

I've been workign with Luna.  We cranked out a full progression Wilder and Cleric of Dohl Arrah. 

I think artificers have a whole lot of collor.  It would be really neat to play one.  Also, if we don't have a rogue or spelltheif, the artificer makes a great trapspringer. 
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)

Kunoichi

Quote from: kckolbe on September 13, 2013, 09:41:57 PM
Attune Magic Weapon is a good feat.  What I'm asking, though, is what the group currently doesn't have.  I work a lot better when I know what gaps are left in the group.

Hmm.  We've got a Cleric, probably with feat and spell selections geared towards being a battle Cleric, then we've got a Wilder, a Gish, a Ghost, a Bard, and you were considering playing an Artificer, as I recall...

An Artificer would definitely fit right in. ^^ We've even got enough of our bases covered that you could build it however you like.

Muse

#127
Here's Arslan so far: 
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=654940

Arslan's extended family are the descendants of a small clan of Shifters who lived in a cliffside city on a mountain range for ages and ages.  Their domain was threatened at the beginning of the War and they took sanctuary in Sharn.  There they discovered that their head for heights made them naturals to construct, maintain, and repair the highest towers in the city. 

The companies in charge of these public works were corrupt and--while the Skywalker clan shifters earn more than a lot of people in Sharn, they're still hardly prosperous.  (IF they scrimp and budget, they can provide a home for their wife and children without their wife having to work.  But that's a stretch.) 

The old men in the Skywalker clan have developed a habit of taking one final climb up the highest towers when they grow too old to work.  They say they're climbing to the moons, but everyone knows that this is their way of facing their deaths with dignity, in a final challenge against the wind and the rain and the steel and the stone. 

Arslan never was satisfied with the life of a high steel worker.  After his father climbed to the moon, he'd had enough and enlisted in the army for the final years of the Great War. 

More to come: 
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)

kckolbe

#128
Basically, I'd just like if Rhaegar and Kunoichi could give me a brief idea of what they would bring to the group in and out of combat.  It would really help a lot.

EDIT:  My char so far http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=655221
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

Kunoichi

In-combat, I've got a few different options that I can bring to bear.  I can use Malevolence to take control of powerful opponents, for example, though that's a move best used on foes with a low Will save, such as Golems.  I can also bring the many and varied uses of a CL 12 Telekinesis spell to the fight, and I've got Improved Trip to help me make especially good use of the 'Combat Maneuver' part of the spell description.  Finally, I've got at-will Major Image at CL 3, which can have all sorts of uses.  Illusory walls, fake monsters...

Out of combat, the above abilities all also have their uses, and I can fly, go through walls, turn ethereal, and have a high enough skill check to be of some use in Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Hide, Intimidate, Listen, Perform (Sing), Search, and Spot.  I also auto-succeed on all Move Silently checks due to the Incorporeal subtype, and have Trapfinding, so I can find traps for the party in a pinch, though not disarm them.

Rhaegar14

Out of combat, I have Wizard spells, banned schools will probably be Enchantment and Necromancy. I haven't worked out exactly what spells I have yet, but it's a Tier 1 spell list. I can do anything.

In combat, I will primarily be a melee fighter when buffed, probably with some supporting blasting or battlefield control (control might be hard; I don't want to bring "I win" spells like Glitterdust). If we're ambushed and I don't have any buffs up, I'll probably be staying in the back like an actual Wizard.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

kckolbe

Thanks.  I think I will lean toward melee, then, since that makes you, Muse, and sometimes Kunoichi ranged types in the case of an ambush.  Not sure about Lockepick's char.  Any thoughts on what to expect there?
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

Rhaegar14

Quote from: kckolbe on September 14, 2013, 02:49:09 AM
Thanks.  I think I will lean toward melee, then, since that makes you, Muse, and sometimes Kunoichi ranged types in the case of an ambush.  Not sure about Lockepick's char.  Any thoughts on what to expect there?

Yeah, my 5 levels of d4 Hit Dice and +1/2 BAB haven't been offset enough for me to pretend I belong in melee without buffs on yet lol.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Kunoichi

Quote from: kckolbe on September 14, 2013, 02:49:09 AM
Thanks.  I think I will lean toward melee, then, since that makes you, Muse, and sometimes Kunoichi ranged types in the case of an ambush.  Not sure about Lockepick's char.  Any thoughts on what to expect there?

With proper spell and item selection, Lockepick's character will be pretty good at tossing out buffs for the whole party, particularly with Dragonfire Inspiration giving several dice of bonus energy damage to attacks.  If Inspire Courage could be made to work on constructs, this would make for a pretty awesome combination with the 'lots of pet homunculi' type of Artificer, but I haven't managed to find anything yet.

Rhaegar14

Actually, after a bit of thought, I've decided that I'll be our mobility specialist. Alternative modes of movement, teleports, obstacle negotiation, things like that. It fits the character, and the Wizard spell list is great for it.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

kckolbe

So a melee fighter that can "bounce" around the battlefield?
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

Rhaegar14

To some extent, yes. Though it's a rare moment that mobility spells are worth standard actions in the heat of combat. Still, things like Swift Expeditious Retreat and Swift Fly certainly aren't off the table.

However, I more meant out of combat. There will be times when we have to get across obstacles, and for whatever reason the ship will not be able to ferry us over. Or we'll have to fight something else that's flying and will need our own fly speeds. Stuff like that.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Rhaegar14

Biography Time! I'll put together his crunch and personality tomorrow.



Name: Demvarien D'Lyrandar, formerly Demvarien of Stormhome
Race & Class: Half-Elf Knight Phantom
Age: 51
Biography:

"I am the sword of Aundair. I am the first to arrive and the last hope when all seems lost. I saw the very worst of the Last War, and when the next one starts, I will see the worst of it too. I am one of the Knights Arcane's finest. I am a Knight Phantom, and if you face me on the field of battle, you will know what it is to fear."

Demvarien was born in Stormhome as a nephew of the current Matriarch of House Lyrandar, Esravash. Being closely related to the ruler of the House, Demvarien lived a life of comfort and luxury during his early years, and had the finest teachers gold could buy. Though he did not manifest a Dragonmark, early in his studies he showed a sharp intellect and a grasp of arcane knowledge. When the first Magewright was brought in to teach him the basics of arcane magic, the young Half-Elf took to spells like they were part of his blood. He was singled out by the Matriarch to be groomed for membership in The Twelve, and when he was old enough, Demvarien was sent to the University of Wynarn to receive magical training beyond what Magewright tutors could teach him. The year was 967 YK, and Demvarien was nineteen years old.

For a time, Demvarien was very happy at the University. Though many of its halls were empty of students, there were enough there for him to make friends and have a budding social life. However, one by one, his friends all left for the war, drafted in service of the crown. One by one, Demvarien received news of their deaths in combat. By his third year at the university, the young Half-Elf could take no more. He left his House in self-imposed exile, abandoning the name d'Lyrandar and calling himself Demvarien of Stormhome. Demvarien signed on with the Aundairian military as a battlemage not long after.

Many of his comrades saw Demvarien as less than a real Aundairian soldier, feeling that he could not so easily cut his ties to his Dragonmarked House. Rather than arguing with words, the Half-Elf argued with his actions, showing tremendous bravery and skill on the battlefield. He rose quickly through the lower ranks of the army, and it was not long before he was recognized by the Knights Arcane. Shortly afterwards, he was offered training and membership in the most elite order in the Aundairian military, the Knights Phantom. Demvarien eagerly accepted.

For two decades and most of a third, Demvarien fought ceaselessly for Aundair in the battles of the Last War. In the year 994, however, his military career came to an end.

In one of its many battles with Karrnath, Aundair sought to establish a foothold on the Eastern bank of the Scions Sound. Demvarien's unit of one hundred Knights Phantom was sent far ahead of the rest of the force to capture and hold a small ruin North of Rekkenmark, to serve as a temporary base for the expedition force into Karrnathi territory. The unit was well in advance of the main Aundairian force, in order to keep the Karrnathi from recognizing Aundair's true intentions and increasing their defenses appropriately. The Knights captured the ruin quietly enough in the middle of the night, but the defenders sent word before being overwhelmed. By the next morning, a force outnumbering their own many times over was gathered outside the small fortification to force them out. All they could do was try and hold on until the rest of their forces arrived.

For the first day, they held against the onslaught with minimal losses, their elite training winning the day. But the undead do not tire, nor do they run out of spells. By the end of the second day, with no time to rest and insufficient numbers to take turns refreshing spells, the Knights had lost more than half their number. On the dawn of the third day, when the Knights Phantom heard the horns of Aundairian reinforcements, there were only a handful of them left, desperately fighting for survival. When the reinforcements arrived, Demvarien, badly wounded, stood as the only survivor of the hundred Knights that had claimed the ruin.

Something inside Demvarien broke in the aftermath of that battle. His taste for bloodshed was gone, and he had no more stomach for war. The Half-Elf was granted the Aundairian military's highest honor, and his comrades received the award posthumously. Demvarien was removed from the front lines for the rest of the war, training prospective recruits in the battle techniques of the Knights Phantom. When the Treaty of Thronehold was signed, he was dishonorably discharged.

For a little while, Demvarien lived a civilian life, free of his House and the Knights Arcane. But despite his best efforts to hide it, the Least Dragonmark that had manifested on the dark day when he outlived his comrades had come to the attention of House Lyrandar. Demvarien was "persuaded" to rejoin his family, and assigned to work on the airship of one Bael'vanos D'Lyrandar as a bodyguard and mercenary.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

kckolbe

Rhaegar: I love his eyes.  I think that the mobility abilities will definitely come in handy.  Thus far it seems that just about all of us have some support abilities (except possibly Muse, not sure about psionic utility spells).

Zaer: Not sure about a last name for my character, or if he would even have one.  I was thinking that he would not have proper House ties.  If I am not mistaken, each House has multiple families of different status.  Wherever your character's family is on that ladder, I was thinking that my character's family would be a couple of rungs below, preferably subordinate to your family.  So, where your character received his commission as a Marshal, mine was only able to manage a position supervising the handful of magewrights assigned to your character's unit.  Over the course of the war, both of our characters got promoted, with my character eventually breaking out of the magewright division and becoming a proper sub-commander.

So, with that idea, would he have a last name?
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

Lockepick

I'm going Bard 7/Captain 1. Taking Dragonfire Inspiration and dropping Inspire Competence to increase my Inspire Courage by 1. It's only a total of +2 right now -- but it'll go up to +3 when I get Bard 8. Not sure on spells yet, there are a LOT of sources to check for that. I'll be focusing on, in this order: Weather/Air spells (for the ship); 'Social' Spells; Buff Spells. Maybe Shatter for other ships...
Like what you see? I am currently looking for new plots!

Detailed List of O/Os and Plot Seeds

All of my image links were previously photobucket and broken -- I'm fixing them as I use the avatars again, or for current games. Please let me know if there is something that needs updating!

kckolbe

Lockepick, sounds great.  I'll definitely need the +2 when attacking with my crappy BAB of 5 (I had to spend 9k to get it to 6 for a second attack).  Since Bards are pretty handy on skills, mind picking up open lock?  That one's cross class for me.  I wouldn't mind having someone assist me on disabling traps, either, but that only needs a DC 15, so isn't much of an investment.

As for my char, he is a melee type with acceptable damage (about 18-19 per swing), but slightly low attack bonus and lowish AC (19) for a front line guy, and while 57 health is pretty decent, it will go quickly.  In combat, just think of him as a 5th or 6th level fighter.  Out of combat, he is an expert at disabling traps and forging documents.  His UMD is good for scrolls.

Once I hit level 9 he'll be a very decent crafter.
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

Muse

 Arslan doesn't have much group utility, but he does have a telepathic power called Mind Link.  It's like Rary's Telepathic Bond on a sliding scale. 

  So if we start in a group, I can keep us in teleptahic comunciation at any range for almost an hour and a half!  :) 
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)

Teo Torriatte

#142
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=655636

During the waning few years of the Last War, Reala went to war alongside her shield sisters from the Eldeen Reaches. They were engaging against a scout team from Sharn, when they were outmaneuvered and pressed into a gravely disadvantageous position. Knowing when to fight and when to cut and run, Reala and her sisters decided to run, but Reala tended to wear heavier armor and was much slower and a lot less stealthy than the other girls. She was lagging behind, but encouraging her sisters to leave her if they had to, if thats what it took for them to get away. And when the other girls looked back, Reala had vanished.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a man had dropped on top of her and shoved her through a thick growth of bushes, into a small clearing where they faced off. She shifted.. and so did he! They tussled for a moment in their bestial forms, and she was able to hold him off, but when they both shifted back at the same time, he had an even greater strength advantage and was able to overpower her. He was able to tie her up and left the field with Reala as his battle trophy.

To be continued...


Kunoichi

Quote from: Muse on September 14, 2013, 10:55:26 AM
Arslan doesn't have much group utility, but he does have a telepathic power called Mind Link.  It's like Rary's Telepathic Bond on a sliding scale. 

  So if we start in a group, I can keep us in teleptahic comunciation at any range for almost an hour and a half!  :)

It's just too bad for me that I'm immune to that particular power. :P Ah well, one of the downsides of being a ghost.

By the way, I noticed on your build that you had to take a couple of Expanded Knowledges to get some of the powers that you wanted.  Might I recommend the Educated Wilder ACF for a few bonus Expanded Knowledge feats?

Also, I recommend picking up the power Ego Whip at some point, because that's going to be a very debilitating attack against a variety of foes. ^^

Muse

http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=654940

Arslan's extended family are the descendants of a small clan of Shifters who lived in a cliffside city on a mountain range for ages and ages.  Their domain was threatened at the beginning of the War and they took sanctuary in Sharn.  There they discovered that their head for heights made them naturals to construct, maintain, and repair the highest towers in the city. 

The companies in charge of these public works were corrupt and--while the Skywalker clan shifters earn more than a lot of people in Sharn, they're still hardly prosperous.  (IF they scrimp and budget, they can provide a home for their wife and children without their wife having to work.  But that's a stretch.) 

The old men in the Skywalker clan have developed a habit of taking one final climb up the highest towers when they grow too old to work.  They say they're climbing to the moons, but everyone knows that this is their way of facing their deaths with dignity, in a final challenge against the wind and the rain and the steel and the stone. 

Arslan never was satisfied with the life of a high steel worker.  After his father climbed to the moon, he'd had enough and enlisted in the army for the final years of the Great War. 

   Arslan never was very stealthy, but people always put shifters as scouts, so that's where he wound up.  Rather than ruin the silent movement of his comrades, he made a habit of taking to the trees and the rooftops, serving a lookout, sniper, and death from above ambush expert.  (It helped when the platoons artificer crafted him a magic crossbow of deep crystal and a magic chain shirt of mithril.) 

   Three years before the end of the war, Arslan and his troop wound up maneuvering against an enemy band of shifter scouts.  The running was hard and the fighting was harder.  The eneimes faked a retreat several times trying to lure them into ambushes.  He didn't even realize the group had really broken when he noticed a straggler in feminine armor beneath him. 

   Arslan had been cured of his awkwardness about fighting women during the war.  Hardening his body psionicly, he dropped from the tree with his dagger drawn and onto her back. 

   The girl managed to keep her feet!  As they both staggered, Arslan tackled her through some bushes, loosing her halberd and his daggers.  They both tumbled to their feet, unarmed.  The girl, Arslan could see now, was almost fully human.  If it weren't for the anamilistic light in her golden eyes he would doubt she was a shifter at all... 

   Then her muscles ripples and her head went almost entirely lupine and arslan had no further doubts! 

   The older man bulked up, nails extending into claws as he shifted as well.  They wrestled for almost a minute, occasionally gouging each other but both were too heavily warded for their wounds to endure. It was only when their shifts exhausted simultaneously that Arslan was able to overpower the smaller girl and bind her in silk rope to lead back to his army in triumph. 

   It turned out that their main force had suffered a crushing defeat that day and they had to move five miles extra to get to the new camp.  Arslan turned over his prisoner with the promise of 75% of the  ransom award, then ate, crawled into his tent, and snored. 

   The girl haunted his dreams.  She'd been young, with a fierce spirit and hopeful face. Barely old enough for love and surely too young for war! 

   Pained screams startled him awake in the morning.  Arslan dressed quickly and followed them the cries to the front of the captain’s tent.  The girl hung naked by her wrists, being stroked with a leather lash. 

   Furious, Arslan bellowed, “What are you doing to my prisoner?” 

   The captain glared at him, and he continued, “Sir, I doubt she'll be worth much ransome covered in scars!” 

   “New orders from the top, scout.  No more ransoming prisoners back to fight us again.” 

   Arslan growled as the lash was lifted again and strode up to the officers, who's garuds drew their swords, “Then by right of the laws of war, I claim her as my war bride!” 

   There were some gasps—not that he'd invoked the right to take a slave so much as because he'd defied the captain, who'd lost friends in the most recent battle, but he laughed and cut the girl down for Arslan.  “Enjoy her, boy!”

   Arslan carried the girl to his tent, lay her down on the bed, and began to wash her wounds...
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)

Muse

Quote from: Kunoichi on September 14, 2013, 11:43:38 AM
It's just too bad for me that I'm immune to that particular power. :P Ah well, one of the downsides of being a ghost.

By the way, I noticed on your build that you had to take a couple of Expanded Knowledges to get some of the powers that you wanted.  Might I recommend the Educated Wilder ACF for a few bonus Expanded Knowledge feats?

Also, I recommend picking up the power Ego Whip at some point, because that's going to be a very debilitating attack against a variety of foes. ^^

Oh, that's awesome!  I'm pretty sure it's compatible with Shifter Wilder too. 
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)

kckolbe

Wait, Muse, your char is a melee type as well?  I wish you'd said something earlier.  I listed you as a full psionic caster and you didn't correct me.
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

Lockepick

#147
With the requirements for Windwright Captain + Social Skills + Obligatory Perform = I'm actually pretty tapped on skills. I managed to work in Open Lock, though.

I can drop Gather Information for Disable Device, in hindsight. GI doesn't work too well in high end, or PbP games, so it might be wise to drop it.

Other note: I took Spot -- but couldn't fit in Listen or Search. Figured Spot made sense for a pilot, but let me know if this is an issue.

I've also worked it so I'll have 'ranks' equal to half my Bard level in EVERY skill that a Bard can take -- even stuff that can't be used untrained.

I did just realize... Is 2/6 of the party members (Warforged and Ghost) not viable targets for Bardic Music...? That's sort of a bummer.
Like what you see? I am currently looking for new plots!

Detailed List of O/Os and Plot Seeds

All of my image links were previously photobucket and broken -- I'm fixing them as I use the avatars again, or for current games. Please let me know if there is something that needs updating!

Kunoichi

Quote from: Muse on September 14, 2013, 12:09:53 PM
Oh, that's awesome!  I'm pretty sure it's compatible with Shifter Wilder too.

Yes, it is. ^^ The Mantled Wilder ACF on the same page isn't, though.

Quote from: lockepick on September 14, 2013, 12:53:56 PM
I did just realize... Is 2/6 of the party members (Warforged and Ghost) not viable targets for Bardic Music...? That's sort of a bummer.

Actually, as Living Constructs, Warforged are viable targets for Bardic Music.  That said, I also don't think we have any Warforged party members among the submitted characters anymore, so it's a moot point.

Zaer Darkwail

Quote from: kckolbe on September 14, 2013, 07:53:41 AM
Lockepick, sounds great.  I'll definitely need the +2 when attacking with my crappy BAB of 5 (I had to spend 9k to get it to 6 for a second attack).

Just note that if he uses dragonfire inspiration, he does not provide +2 bonus to attack and dmg rolls (he just provides +2d6 to dmg rolls via energy dmg suitable to his draconic heritage; which as forest lord means acid dmg). However Vandros provides +2 untyped bonus to melee attack rolls (he is intima-tank build wise).

Also Vandros Derram is not from dragonmarked house; he is commoner from Cyre who was trained in war academy to become a marshal. His family had connections to Cannith house (their crafted blades were exceptional even five nations wide standards), but besides that no other known contact or marrying to the house.

Lockepick

Dragonfire Inspiration is optional though, if we need that BAB and we're not near Vandros.
Like what you see? I am currently looking for new plots!

Detailed List of O/Os and Plot Seeds

All of my image links were previously photobucket and broken -- I'm fixing them as I use the avatars again, or for current games. Please let me know if there is something that needs updating!

Zaer Darkwail

Aye, dragonfire inspiration is optional.

Rhaegar14

Lockepick, you should take the Song of the Heart feat (Eberron Campaign Setting, +1 to Inspire Courage), buy a Badge of Valor (MIC, +1 to Inspire Courage 3/day) and know the Inspirational Boost spell (SpC, 2nd-level, swift action, +1 to next Inspire Courage). A 7th-level Bard can do much better than +2 if he knows what stuff to bring.

It should also be noted that a bonus to attack rolls does not equal BAB for the purpose of iterative attacks.

Also, kckolbe, what item did you get to increase your BAB? Short of items with a few, very specific spells, I can't think of anything that would do that, and Wizard 5/Warblade 1/Knight Phantom 2 is at that blowful +5 line too.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

kckolbe

A lesser crystal of mastery gives you a medium BAB with the item it is attached to.  At level 8, that is a BAB of +6.  It costs 9000 just for the lesser crystal, though, so my weapon is currently nonmagic.

Admittedly, I'm a bit annoyed.  If you recall, I initially had a fun and decently strong character (spellwarp sniper) that I was looking forward to playing, but I switched to the artificer so no one would get kicked out of the game.  At the time, my character was already finished, bio and everything.  I then worked up a really fun and interesting artificer/duskblade, but that got kicked out since the infusions didn't work with channel (side note: Infusions don't work with anything.  I'd almost rather the class just didn't have them, or better yet, that they could qualify as divine or arcane or anything.  As far as all other classes and feats are concerned they just don't exist).  So then, after (apparently) determining that we seemed to have more ranged than melee, I worked up an acceptable mechanic that could also be our trap disabler (since our original one switched chars) as well as do forgery, which can be handy.  He wasn't as inspired, but he was different and provided some good stuff to the party.

Now I find out everyone is melee, even the cleric and psionic, and I feel compelled to redo my character again.  But given the restrictions on the character I'm just not looking forward to it, and am seriously considering just dropping. 
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

Zaer Darkwail

kckolbe: You can generate any char you feel is fun and want to play it. It is not a 'must' to fill a spot as pilot nor mechanic in the game. I make then selections of the chars once all are done with chargen stuff and then start the game.

Also your not forced to change to melee or ranged with any of your concept; lack of 'ranged DPS' is not going to be a game breaker. I as GM can adapt encounters according party setup but I definitely plan sometimes create situations where party wishes they have ranged combat support.

If you went artificer as full, then take note that your own char could be a melee guy but he can have homonculust which specializes on ranged combat (or work as in-combat healer with pouring down healing potions on people or throw alchemist fire around). You are 8th level guys and in Eberron your baddest badasses around; most NPC's you encounter you can just plainly steamroll in combat.

Muse

Quote from: kckolbe on September 14, 2013, 12:25:53 PM
Wait, Muse, your char is a melee type as well?  I wish you'd said something earlier.  I listed you as a full psionic caster and you didn't correct me.

Sorry, I crashed out pretty hard last night and have been busy most of today. 

  I'm sure a min-maxer wouldn't call Arslan melee specked, but he's got medium base attack, physical buffs, an enchanted deep crystal dagger to go with his crossbow, and bracers that make his claws magical when he shifts.  Arslan does pretty well in most situations. 

  In fact, his only real ranged damage is energy missiles, and that's  just short range.  (So I'm not exactly throwing psionic fireballs at the ground while we sail overhead.) 

 
 
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)

kckolbe

#156
Quote from: Zaer Darkwail on September 14, 2013, 03:43:09 PM
kckolbe: You can generate any char you feel is fun and want to play it. It is not a 'must' to fill a spot as pilot nor mechanic in the game. I make then selections of the chars once all are done with chargen stuff and then start the game.

Thanks for the reminder.  I think I am going to be a little selfish then and go back to Sniper.  I'll still be able to take care of traps.
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

Rhaegar14

Besides kolbe, you gotta remember, "prefers melee" and "useless at range" are very different things. All Luna's character has to do is carry a sling and all of her Battle Cleric buffs will work for ranged attacks. Demvarien will fling attack spells if he has to fight at range, and Muse's Psion has his crossbow and energy missiles. With a built-in fly speed, it will be a rare situation in which Kunoichi's ghost cannot close to melee (though that might be borderline suicidal if the rest of us can't), and lockepick's Bard will buff as just as effectively for ranged attacks as melee.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Kunoichi

Quote from: Rhaegar14 on September 14, 2013, 04:17:04 PMWith a built-in fly speed, it will be a rare situation in which Kunoichi's ghost cannot close to melee (though that might be borderline suicidal if the rest of us can't)

Actually, ironically enough, it's staying at range that is the more dangerous combat option for me. :P Thanks to my armor and the incorporeal subtype, my AC is going to be extremely difficult to get past, even when caught flat footed or taking touch attacks.  My hit points and saves, on the other hand, are decidedly lower, meaning that one unlucky miss chance roll with a fireball could leave me in serious danger of dying.

I'm probably going to be getting into the middle of the enemy formations a lot as a result, which should be interesting.

Rhaegar14

#159
Quote from: Kunoichi on September 14, 2013, 05:03:06 PM
Actually, ironically enough, it's staying at range that is the more dangerous combat option for me. :P Thanks to my armor and the incorporeal subtype, my AC is going to be extremely difficult to get past, even when caught flat footed or taking touch attacks.  My hit points and saves, on the other hand, are decidedly lower, meaning that one unlucky miss chance roll with a fireball could leave me in serious danger of dying.

I'm probably going to be getting into the middle of the enemy formations a lot as a result, which should be interesting.

Yeah, but if you're in the middle of their formation, then you can get hit by MY fireballs. XD

EDIT: Zaer, I'm working on my character sheet right now. Would you mind if I gave my character a Travel Cloak? It's an item out of Magic of Faerun, but it really has nothing to do with the Forgotten Realms setting; it's rainproof and creates food and water.

EDIT #2: Character sheet (assuming Travel Cloak is approved) is tentatively finished except for spell selection, a few more items after I've spent what I want to spend on extra spells, and maneuvers known. I'll have to finish those later, unfortunately. Those of you interested in the work in progress can look here. Does anyone know of a cost-efficient item that provides a bonus to all Knowledge checks? I've dipped into a bunch of them for Knowledge Devotion and I'd like to consistently be able to get above a 15, and especially a 20.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Kunoichi

The Collector of Stories skill trick from Complete Scoundrel should be worth looking into, I think.

Zaer Darkwail

Aye, I double the notion of 2 SP sacrificed for Collector of Stories for +5 bonus to ID monsters (and where knowledge devotion roll is done anyways). Anyways travel cloak is okay item.

kckolbe

I took Knowledge Devotion as well.  I tend to avoid it unless playing a high int or skill type char, though.
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

kckolbe

#163
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=654002 (Just finishing up minor equipment)

"Life started off simple enough.  Working class, no question there, but comfortable enough.  Family mainly consisted of magewrights and merchants.  My father was a trap smith.  He sold them to merchants, mainly, or merc companies, sometimes just gave them away for discounts down the road.  My mother was a magewright, talented enough.  I was the youngest of three, and apparently the one to get all of my mother's magical talent and then some.  My brother and sister ended up with simple lives, my brother becoming a merchant and my sister, the oldest of the three of us, working in textiles.  Technically, they both did their time in the war, just like everyone had to, but my brother ended up a quartermaster and my sister never even saw military.  They just had her at work producing uniforms and minor magic robes, cloaks and things.  I wasn't as lucky there, or maybe I was the lucky one, but I'll get into that in a bit."

"No one was too surprised when I got selected by The Twelve to learn the arcane arts under them.  It was a nice deal.  I would learn the basic cantrips from apprentice mages, some low tier spells if I picked up fast enough (which I knew I would), spend my two years in the army out of the way as a magewright, then return to The Twelve as an apprentice to more senior members, where I would be introduced to stronger magic.  It wasn't the most exciting life, but I accepted.  Anyone in my situation would have."

"It didn't last long at all, less than a year.  Turns out the kind of pranks and challenges I was used to with my siblings didn't go over so well with my new instructors.  These apprentices spent so long on the bottom of the food chain that they think having someone under them makes them important.  One of them took offense and challenged me, but didn't explicitly state the terms. I accepted and named my own.  I knew he was more advanced than I was.  After all, he was an instructor.  He could cast back to back fireballs where I could only manage a single acid arrow.  Fortunately, he was foolish."

"I hit him with the acid arrow he taught me to cast as he was walking down a corridor.  He hadn't seen me hiding, and even as I cast it I crouched back behind the doorway.  I let the acid continue to burn while he searched, readying my next spell as he blustered in search of me.  A lesser orb caught him next, just as he was casting a spell on himself, and the spell failed.  From there the battle was mine.  He only hit me with one spell, and it was a good one, but it wasn't enough, and it didn't do nearly as much as the three spells that struck him.  Some other students, having heard the noise, had flocked to the area by the time it was over.  Thanks to them, I had witnesses that he never actually yielded, even though he was too dazed to do anything when my last spell hit him.  He died before anyone could get a potion on him."

"Fortunately, there were witnesses to both his challenge and the lack of yield, so I wasn't charged with anything.  Unfortunately, he was a member of one of the Houses, so that ended my apprenticeship to The Twelve.  I was still under contract, though, so I was sent to the Warmage College of Karrnath.  For the first year, it was horrible.  Constant drills, repetition, opponent studies...horribly taxing stuff.  Plus they made me 'unlearn' a lot of techniques.  Believe me when I say that it was almost a year and a half before I successfully cast a spell I hadn't already known.  By then, though, I loved it.  The first year may have been nothing but rote memorization and classrooms, but the second year was tactics and magic.  Any wizard would have hated his time there.  In two years of constant study, I stayed in the same tier of spellcasting as when I arrived, but I learned so much.  In that second year we were encouraged to fight and wield our new spells, and marvel at how much power even our cantrips had.  Mine, especially, proved powerful."

"Unfortunately, my apprenticeship ended after that second year, and it was time to serve my two years.  Initially I'd been slated as a magewright, but my transfer to the Warmage College had changed that.  I was assigned to a Warmage unit, and since I wasn't advanced enough to cast fireballs or lightning bolts, I was placed on the front.  Now, the front line for Warmages isn't the same as the front line for infantry, since there's a line of infantry in front of us, but there's plenty of folks that make it through, not to mention attacks from opposing mages and archers.  I only had to do two battles before I got promoted and moved back to line defense.  There my job was different.

Instead of just hurling all the spells I could at opposing forces, my job was to crouch just behind the 'fireballers' and protect them from anyone that had broken through or flanked around...we were very easy to flank."

"After...several months...maybe more, things changed for the worse.  Remember what I said about infantry being our guards?  That went away.  Apparently trained infantry were too valuable to sit and guard us, so they took our infantry away and started putting zombies as our front line.  It wasn't a complete failure.  Enemies were less interested in charging a line of zombies, but flank attempts got a lot more successful.  I had a small squad of folks
under me by then, as well as a nice variety of attack spells (still no fireballs), but I'll be damned if every one of them wasn't used up protecting our own flanks while the zombies just stood there waiting for a head on charge.  Hell, sometimes we had to charge the enemy just to keep from getting routed from behind.  Still, it was enough to almost wipe us out.  Everyone thinks those undead kept Karrnath in the war, but moving them to guard us may be what kept us from winning.  They pretty much lost all magic support by doing it."

"I didn't put up with that for long...maybe three battles.  I had a bit of rank by then, on account of all the warmages above me getting wiped out by routes.  I made it clear that undead infantry was not good enough for warmage units, that we were too valuable for that.  He denied the request.  I was reasonable, so I suggested that instead we disband as a unit and get merged into existing infantry divisions, live ones.  That he denied, as well, said we weren't worthy of marching with them.  That got a kick out of his assistant, some upjumped warrior.  When I caught them both off guard with a quick fireburst, he died first.  The commander went down with just one more spell.  I thought about how it had taken me three spells to kill an apprentice mage once.  Now I'd taken out two officers with just two spells."

"The commander had lived long enough to activate the traps around the office, but my father had taught me all about them as a child.  It didn't take long to disable them and escape."

"Of course, I was spotted leaving, no helping that.  The war wasn't finished, but I was, at least in Karrnath."

"I knew that there was no heading back to Karrnath.  The apprentice mage had too many friends, and too many people saw me leaving the office of a now dead commander.  Instead I headed to Breland, specifically Sharn.  Large cities were easy to disappear into, and a high crime rate meant nothing but opportunity.  I worked as a guard, a merchant, and at times a thief.  Eventually I latched onto Morgrave University, and received a letter of marque as well as a light sponsorship to go exploring grave sites, many of which were overrun with undead, which I was happy to destroy.  I was always happy to head down there with some untested cleric, watching him desperately try to turn a wave of zombies as I methodically picked them off one by one.  I became known Larsen Grave, and I had a great reputation.  Eventually, jobs got scarce.  I'd made the mistake of never signing with any kind of guild or party, and once again I was wanted dead by important people, but this time I hadn't even wronged anyone.  Oh well, I was tired of working solo anyways."

(How I ended up with the crew)

"Now I am a crew member on the Blaze, and I do a little of everything.  My main responsibility seems to be crafting traps for both sale and defense, or getting rid of other folks' traps when they are in our way.  Occasionally I forge documents of passage or registration, simple stuff that could have been authorized by a number of people.  I serve as a strong arm when needed, though I'm far from the only one capable of handling himself."
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

Kunoichi

kckolbe, might I recommend a Cloak of Resistance to help boost your saves? ^^; Trust me, you really don't want to neglect those.

kckolbe

I can get that in amulet form, right?  Also, my fort save is better than it looks, as I can substitute a concentration check for a fort save once a day.
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

Kunoichi

No, but you can get it as a vest, which will take up your Torso slot for equipment.

kckolbe

Thanks.  My character is complete.  By the way, lockepick, I got up to a +21 on Disable Device with this guy, so if you want to give up the skill feel free.
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

Rhaegar14

Thing that occurred to me last night. I can't find an official ruling on this. Zaer, from what level can I assume my character has had a Headband of Intellect? The extra Intelligence means extra skill points.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

kckolbe

Quote from: Rhaegar14 on September 15, 2013, 03:00:05 PM
Thing that occurred to me last night. I can't find an official ruling on this. Zaer, from what level can I assume my character has had a Headband of Intellect? The extra Intelligence means extra skill points.

Only Pathfinder grants extra skill points, I think. 
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

Zaer Darkwail

I remember in the 3.5 edition errata somewhere indicated same thing; headband if worn 24/7 gives skill points. Anyways the point where you get SP is treated same as if you had got it since beginning. As I by my own ruling retro-actively reward skill points when someone increases their intelligence modifier (example Bob the fighter had Int 12 when he started but he raised it to 13 to qualify combat expertise in 4th level and then 8th level raised it to 14 and so he gains 10 skill points; 7 from every level after first and 4 from first level).

kckolbe

Oh wow, glad they fixed that.  In that case, looks like I have some more skill points to spend.  Any requests?
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

kckolbe

So, I know I don't have any levels in artificer, but out of curiosity, is there a Craft skill relevant to being a ship's mechanic?  I have 21 skill points left.
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

Zaer Darkwail

Woodcrafting would be one suitable skill for repairs as airship is made from wood. Also some bits of metalwork also is there.

kckolbe

I put some points in knowledge: architecture and engineering and craft: shipbuilding.  Skill-wise, he's as much a mechanic as needed.  He's missing infusions for magical repairs, though.
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

Rhaegar14

#175
Oh damn. I just realized that Warblade only grants proficiency in all martial melee weapons, and therefore doesn't technically qualify Demvarien for Knight Phantom (which requires proficiency in all martial weapons). Zaer, are you willing to let that slide, or am I going with Crusader instead?

EDIT: Spell selection is done, as is the entire character sheet if Zaer approves Warblade to qualify for Knight Phantom. If not, all that's left to do is switch his dip to another class. I'll put up a Personality blurb some other time; sifting through all the spells in the PHBs, SpC, and Dragon Magic took way too long for me to want to do anything else with it right now.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Lockepick

I think, after all of this, I'm going to have to withdraw. I need to trust my gut that if it's this much trouble for me to work up a character, maybe it's not just a good fit. I think I just got excited about any idea involving airships...

Sorry to dick everybody around!
Like what you see? I am currently looking for new plots!

Detailed List of O/Os and Plot Seeds

All of my image links were previously photobucket and broken -- I'm fixing them as I use the avatars again, or for current games. Please let me know if there is something that needs updating!

Zaer Darkwail

lockepick: Sad see you go after so long trying figure out a good char :/. Good luck and have fun in E!

Rhaegar14: I myself had escaped notion that warblade only knows all martial melee weapons, I myself would rule they get martial weapon proficiency as usual (so can use martial ranged weapons).

kckolbe

I am going to bow out as well.  Have fun all.
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

Zaer Darkwail

Well, I guess we make a roll call now; Who all are still interested on this game? If so if you have posted chars (or posted more than one because shifting on char ideas), please link them on the next post so I get clear idea what potential players I still have.

Muse

Still here! 

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Quote from: Muse on September 14, 2013, 12:07:52 PM
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=654940

Arslan's extended family are the descendants of a small clan of Shifters who lived in a cliffside city on a mountain range for ages and ages.  Their domain was threatened at the beginning of the War and they took sanctuary in Sharn.  There they discovered that their head for heights made them naturals to construct, maintain, and repair the highest towers in the city. 

The companies in charge of these public works were corrupt and--while the Skywalker clan shifters earn more than a lot of people in Sharn, they're still hardly prosperous.  (IF they scrimp and budget, they can provide a home for their wife and children without their wife having to work.  But that's a stretch.) 

The old men in the Skywalker clan have developed a habit of taking one final climb up the highest towers when they grow too old to work.  They say they're climbing to the moons, but everyone knows that this is their way of facing their deaths with dignity, in a final challenge against the wind and the rain and the steel and the stone. 

Arslan never was satisfied with the life of a high steel worker.  After his father climbed to the moon, he'd had enough and enlisted in the army for the final years of the Great War. 

   Arslan never was very stealthy, but people always put shifters as scouts, so that's where he wound up.  Rather than ruin the silent movement of his comrades, he made a habit of taking to the trees and the rooftops, serving a lookout, sniper, and death from above ambush expert.  (It helped when the platoons artificer crafted him a magic crossbow of deep crystal and a magic chain shirt of mithril.) 

   Three years before the end of the war, Arslan and his troop wound up maneuvering against an enemy band of shifter scouts.  The running was hard and the fighting was harder.  The eneimes faked a retreat several times trying to lure them into ambushes.  He didn't even realize the group had really broken when he noticed a straggler in feminine armor beneath him. 

   Arslan had been cured of his awkwardness about fighting women during the war.  Hardening his body psionicly, he dropped from the tree with his dagger drawn and onto her back. 

   The girl managed to keep her feet!  As they both staggered, Arslan tackled her through some bushes, loosing her halberd and his daggers.  They both tumbled to their feet, unarmed.  The girl, Arslan could see now, was almost fully human.  If it weren't for the anamilistic light in her golden eyes he would doubt she was a shifter at all... 

   Then her muscles ripples and her head went almost entirely lupine and arslan had no further doubts! 

   The older man bulked up, nails extending into claws as he shifted as well.  They wrestled for almost a minute, occasionally gouging each other but both were too heavily warded for their wounds to endure. It was only when their shifts exhausted simultaneously that Arslan was able to overpower the smaller girl and bind her in silk rope to lead back to his army in triumph. 

   It turned out that their main force had suffered a crushing defeat that day and they had to move five miles extra to get to the new camp.  Arslan turned over his prisoner with the promise of 75% of the  ransom award, then ate, crawled into his tent, and snored. 

   The girl haunted his dreams.  She'd been young, with a fierce spirit and hopeful face. Barely old enough for love and surely too young for war! 

   Pained screams startled him awake in the morning.  Arslan dressed quickly and followed them the cries to the front of the captain’s tent.  The girl hung naked by her wrists, being stroked with a leather lash. 

   Furious, Arslan bellowed, “What are you doing to my prisoner?” 

   The captain glared at him, and he continued, “Sir, I doubt she'll be worth much ransome covered in scars!” 

   “New orders from the top, scout.  No more ransoming prisoners back to fight us again.” 

   Arslan growled as the lash was lifted again and strode up to the officers, who's garuds drew their swords, “Then by right of the laws of war, I claim her as my war bride!” 

   There were some gasps—not that he'd invoked the right to take a slave so much as because he'd defied the captain, who'd lost friends in the most recent battle, but he laughed and cut the girl down for Arslan.  “Enjoy her, boy!”

   Arslan carried the girl to his tent, lay her down on the bed, and began to wash her wounds...
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)

Kunoichi

I'm still interested. ^^

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Quote from: Kunoichi on September 13, 2013, 12:12:09 AM
Leisha of Breland (formerly Captain Leisha Skyvalley, Brelish Army)




My early life doesn't matter much, or at least not to me.  It was another life, and everything that happened in that life feels... distant, dreamlike.  I don't really have many clear memories of those days.  I was born and raised in Starilaskur, and life at home was... not perfect, but much better than it could have been, now that I think back on it.  I remember that dad fought in the Last War in his early days, and that he'd taken a bad enough wound that they'd had to remove his leg and send him home to recover, away from all the fighting.  Needless to say, he hated the War, and was often very vocal in his insistence that no daughter of his was ever going to go off and join the army.

When I ran away from home at 16, naturally my first move was to enlist.

Military life was pretty simple.  First I went through the same basic training as everybody else, where the drill sergeants managed to knock some discipline into me, then I settled into the life of a soldier.  It was boring, for the most part, follow orders, maintain readiness, go where they told you to go and do what they told you to do...  And then there were those brief, exciting, frightening, action-packed days where the actual fighting and dying happened.  I don't really remember many of the individual engagements, they tend to all bleed together over time, but I do remember that my military career lasted for 8 years, and that I was good enough at being a soldier to earn a promotion or two over that career.

The Day of Mourning is also a bit jumbled in my memories, but that's for a different reason.  I can quite clearly remember that the final battle in the Last War was a free-for-all, forces from Thrane and Cyre and Darguun, and of course the Brelish units I fought alongside, all converging together onto the same battlefield in a four-way battle for control of the area.  Then came a bright flash of light some ways off, and everyone paused for a few seconds as a massive grey cloud rose in the distance.  The fighting soon resumed, however, even as the sounds of battle were gradually drowned out by a keening, wailing sound that got louder and louder as the cloud got closer and closer.

The last thing I can remember is the mists washing over us, the ground shaking as the earth tore itself apart right in front of me, men and women and warforged falling to their deaths as a massive cliff rose up, and then pain and darkness... and then nothing.

Things get fuzzy again, after that.  I know from checking calendars that it took six months before I walked out of the Mournlands again, but it was impossible for me to track the passage of time while I was in there.  I don't know how long it took before my spirit rose, or how much time I wasted just sitting around, haunting that abandoned battlefield.  I... I thought I was in Dolurrh, at first, that I'd managed to evade the Keeper's grasp, and that all that was left was for me to wait around and see if I'd succumb to apathy, or if maybe someone would bring me back, somehow.

I don't know how long I spent walking after the boredom got to me, either, but eventually the mist sort of solidified into a wall up ahead of me, and when I pushed through that, I recognized the Brelish countryside.  I eavesdropped on a few conversations, managed to figure out what had actually happened to me, what I had become, but after that...

Well, would you know what to do or where to go if you were in my situation?  Friends and family were out, I'm a dead woman and I have no intention of ever troubling them with the knowledge that I've become undead on top of that, and as for making new friends, that's not easy when most people out there view you as little more than a dangerous monster.  Still, they say all roads lead to Sharn, and that's eventually where I ended up, too, haunting the Cogs until I managed to beg, borrow, or steal the magic items I needed to pass as one of the living.

As for why I joined up with Derram and his merry little band of misfits aboard the Blaze?  Well, let's just say we have similar goals.  As with all ghosts, I'm sick and tired of running around half-awake in this world, and I want to move on to my final resting place in the next.  And in order to do that I need to take care of a little unfinished business, here in the land of the living.  Working with Derram is probably my best shot at that.

Rhaegar14

I'm still here. Below is consolidated background and character sheet, with added personality blurb.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Character Sheet



Name: Demvarien d'Lyrandar, formerly Demvarien of Stormhome
Race & Class: Half-Elf Knight Phantom
Age: 51
Biography:

"I am the sword of Aundair. I am the first to arrive and the last hope when all seems lost. I saw the very worst of the Last War, and when the next one starts, I will see the worst of it too. I am one of the Knights Arcane's finest. I am a Knight Phantom, and if you face me on the field of battle, you will know what it is to fear."

Demvarien was born in Stormhome as a nephew of the current Matriarch of House Lyrandar, Esravash. Being closely related to the ruler of the House, Demvarien lived a life of comfort and luxury during his early years, and had the finest teachers gold could buy. Though he did not manifest a Dragonmark, early in his studies he showed a sharp intellect and a grasp of arcane knowledge. When the first Magewright was brought in to teach him the basics of arcane magic, the young Half-Elf took to spells like they were part of his blood. He was singled out by the Matriarch to be groomed for membership in The Twelve, and when he was old enough, Demvarien was sent to the University of Wynarn to receive magical training beyond what Magewright tutors could teach him. The year was 967 YK, and Demvarien was nineteen years old.

For a time, Demvarien was very happy at the University. Though many of its halls were empty of students, there were enough there for him to make friends and have a budding social life. However, one by one, his friends all left for the war, drafted in service of the crown. One by one, Demvarien received news of their deaths in combat. By his third year at the university, the young Half-Elf could take no more. He left his House in self-imposed exile, abandoning the name d'Lyrandar and calling himself Demvarien of Stormhome. Demvarien signed on with the Aundairian military as a battlemage not long after.

Many of his comrades saw Demvarien as less than a real Aundairian soldier, feeling that he could not so easily cut his ties to his Dragonmarked House. Rather than arguing with words, the Half-Elf argued with his actions, showing tremendous bravery and skill on the battlefield. He rose quickly through the lower ranks of the army, and it was not long before he was recognized by the Knights Arcane. Shortly afterwards, he was offered training and membership in the most elite order in the Aundairian military, the Knights Phantom. Demvarien eagerly accepted.

For two decades and most of a third, Demvarien fought ceaselessly for Aundair in the battles of the Last War. In the year 994, however, his military career came to an end.

In one of its many battles with Karrnath, Aundair sought to establish a foothold on the Eastern bank of the Scions Sound. Demvarien's unit of one hundred Knights Phantom was sent far ahead of the rest of the force to capture and hold a small ruin North of Rekkenmark, to serve as a temporary base for the expedition force into Karrnathi territory. The unit was well in advance of the main Aundairian force, in order to keep the Karrnathi from recognizing Aundair's true intentions and increasing their defenses appropriately. The Knights captured the ruin quietly enough in the middle of the night, but the defenders sent word before being overwhelmed. By the next morning, a force outnumbering their own many times over was gathered outside the small fortification to force them out. All they could do was try and hold on until the rest of their forces arrived.

For the first day, they held against the onslaught with minimal losses, their elite training winning the day. But the undead do not tire, nor do they run out of spells. By the end of the second day, with no time to rest and insufficient numbers to take turns refreshing spells, the Knights had lost more than half their number. On the dawn of the third day, when the Knights Phantom heard the horns of Aundairian reinforcements, there were only a handful of them left, desperately fighting for survival. When the reinforcements arrived, Demvarien, badly wounded, stood as the only survivor of the hundred Knights that had claimed the ruin.

Something inside Demvarien broke in the aftermath of that battle. His taste for bloodshed was gone, and he had no more stomach for war. The Half-Elf was granted the Aundairian military's highest honor, and his comrades received the award posthumously. Demvarien was removed from the front lines for the rest of the war, training prospective recruits in the battle techniques of the Knights Phantom. When the Treaty of Thronehold was signed, he was dishonorably discharged.

For a little while, Demvarien lived a civilian life, free of his House and the Knights Arcane. But despite his best efforts to hide it, the Least Dragonmark that had manifested on the dark day when he outlived his comrades had come to the attention of House Lyrandar. Demvarien was "persuaded" to rejoin his family, and assigned to work on the airship of one Bael'vanos D'Lyrandar as a bodyguard and mercenary.

Personality: Demvarien can come off as a cold individual; he is extremely logical and turns an analytical eye towards any situation, particularly tactical assessment. At his heart, however, he cares deeply for the good of others, and is a particularly loyal friend. However, the Half-Elf also bears more than his fair share of emotional scars from the war. He still bears old enmity towards citizens of Karrnath, Thrane, and the Eldeen Reaches, though he tries to keep himself from being overtly hostile. In addition, violence is hard on Demvarien. He has healed enough of his wounds to engage in small skirmishes with few side effects, and even in larger battles, three decades of military discipline keep him functional until the threat has passed. However, after a large battle or an encounter with undead, Demvarien can suffer from psychological breakdowns of varying degree as he is hurled back to that dark day in Karrnath.
Pretty much scrapped my signature because everything in it is hilariously out of date. I might work on fixing that eventually.

Zaer Darkwail

Hmmm, so far three. I hope Luna is still around and interested.

Teo Torriatte

#184
Quote from: Zaer Darkwail on September 17, 2013, 06:46:38 AM
Hmmm, so far three. I hope Luna is still around and interested.

Ooh yes, definitely!  :-)

Here is what I have so far.. a sheet and some background-

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=655636

During the waning few years of the Last War, Reala went to war alongside her shield sisters from the Eldeen Reaches. They were engaging against a scout team from Sharn, when they were outmaneuvered and pressed into a gravely disadvantageous position. Knowing when to fight and when to cut and run, Reala and her sisters decided to run, but Reala tended to wear heavier armor and was much slower and a lot less stealthy than the other girls. She was lagging behind, but encouraging her sisters to leave her if they had to, if thats what it took for them to get away. And when the other girls looked back, Reala had vanished.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a man had dropped on top of her and shoved her through a thick growth of bushes, into a small clearing where they faced off. She shifted.. and so did he! They tussled for a moment in their bestial forms, and she was able to hold him off, but when they both shifted back at the same time, he had an even greater strength advantage and was able to overpower her. He was able to tie her up and left the field with Reala as his battle trophy.

She had assumed, based of reports from other released prisoners, that it would be a matter of stewing in a cage for a few days and then being ransomed off back to her own people. But instead, she found herself stripped naked, strung up by her wrists in front of what she had assumed was the captain's tent. He produced a lash and started to ask questions, to which she just stubbornly shook her head.

It only took the first stroke for the young shifter to start screaming. Her first screams came out all bestial sounding, since she had shifted in an attempt to summon the strength to break free of her bindings. She squirmed as he struck her again, and again, her legs flailing, her cries of pain echoing through the camp.

The other soldiers just watched, seeming to be amused by the spectacle. It saddened her that the war had turned what she could only assume were basically good men into bloodthirsty animals. But she didn't have a whole lot of attention for such concerns, in fact as the lash struck her pale flesh over and over, she started to wonder if she was even meant to survive this. By the time she spotted the man who had initially captured her, she was covered in blood and welts, barely able to keep her head up to gaze hopefully at him. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but she had felt something when they had fought, sensed that he, too, might have been a decent, even honorable man, maybe even the kind who had the decency to deplore such treatment of prisoners... that hope was all she had left...

But even then she was not prepared for what he would say next. He would claim her as his war bride?!?

Her eyes widened, and in her half delirious state all she could do was chuckle, as if it was some kind of joke. "War bride, that's a good one..." she muttered... "at least I will die laughing..." and then finally the pain and blood loss became too much and she passed out.

Zaer Darkwail

Okay, got four players then. So the game is 'full' unless someone has interest play the pilot (fill the requirement to have entered the PrC) or play the ship's main engineer (by having levels in artificer, around half levels to be competent in the job).

Kunoichi

So... does that mean we're ready for an OOC thread? ^^;

Zaer Darkwail

Yup, although I got Chloe contact me in PM and tell interest about to be pilot (and liking the PrC what is requirement for the pilot although aiming later for storm sentry PrC). I will open OOC thread and char thread soonish.