Character Exploration Thirteen: The Randomness

Male Human

Age: 20
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 185 lbs.

So I hadn’t really done a human yet so here it is. The thing with humans (Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) is you need to choose where you’re stat bonus goes. To that end I have decided that it should go either in the highest or lowest stat. I had two highest so I flipped a coin and the bonus went into Con.

Str 7
Dex 12
Con 18
Int 12
Wis 11
Cha 16

Homeland: Town or Village

Parents: Both of your parents are alive.

Siblings: You have 1 biological sibling.
- biological older sister

Circumstance of Birth: [Lower-Class Birth] You were born among peasants or slum denizens. You grew up working the land around a village or manor, practicing a rudimentary trade, or begging in a settlement.

Parent's Profession: Serfs/Peasants

Major Childhood Event: [Academy Training] You attended a private academy where you studied a number of skills and gained training in your current profession. Whether you were a brilliant student or a dropout, the university environment was your home for a good portion of your formative years.

Influential Associate: [The Hunter] This person was a lone wolf who nonetheless cautiously allowed you to become a member of her solitary pack. She taught you how to thrive on your own in spite of the many perils and natural dangers of your native environment.

Conflict: [Minor Theft] You stole several small or inexpensive items that belonged to someone else.

Conflict Subject: Artisan.

Conflict Motivation: Religion.

Conflict Resolution: [Denial] You feel little if any regret, and deny the event mostly so others won’t judge you. Few if any know of your part in the conflict, and your constant denials are meant to keep it that way.

Romantic Relationship(s): [One Significant Relationship] You had a true love once, but that time has passed.

Drawback: [Social Acceptance] You want others to accept you, to believe you’re special and worthy of merit. You are self-conscious about your social flaws and breaches of etiquette. Rejection is among your greatest fears. You might go to extraordinary lengths to be accepted by or seek favor from your peers.

The background I wrote for this will be posted Friday at 8am. But what kind of character would you make based on these rolls? What class would you pick? Do you have a background in mind looking at these pieces of information? Share with us and let us see your creative juices flow.

Atonement, Vengeance, and the Hounds' Pursuit

Before I start with today’s exploration into a god I’d like to talk about two things. First all of the holy symbols (baring our use of the Kofusachi one for the plaque) were hand made by my art director. One of the things I love about creativity is that you can be creative so many different ways. I tell her what they look like and she does an amazing job with these. Hopefully other people will get use out of them.

Secondarily I love analytics. I like to look at the numbers and see all the people visiting my blog, see where they came from and where they poke around. But it also tells me what you guys like. The most clicked on tag on my blog is “Dwarf” and so today we bring you one of the dwarf gods.

Every Saturday we take a look at a god from among the vast number of divine beings in Golarion. We ask ourselves if we had to make a character with the caveat that he or she must be a devout worshiper of this god what character would we make. This character must strive for the goals of the chosen god, although she does not need to be a divine caster.

Today’s god was already mentioned in one of the two dwarven random character write-ups.

Dranngvit, The Debt Miner – LN Goddess of Debt, Pursuit and Vengeance

Dranngvit Pathfinder wiki Page 

Dranngvit Archives of Nehtys Page

One of the things that caught me the first time I read what little there is to read about Dranngvit was that she’s Lawful Neutral but the dwarves still only see her as a “necessary evil.” She’s not a bad deity and she is very strict about law, but they see her as representative of something they should not need but do. In the character write-up we explored the idea of a hound of Dranngvit and we expand upon that here.

So we decided on a three tiered system of organizations this time. Represented by her holy animal, her holy symbol and her holy colors. The Gold Picks, The Red Picks and The Hounds of Dranngvit.

The Gold Picks

These are Dranngvit’s clergy, her clerics and the whole open face of her religion lies here. They have a twofold duty. When a dwarf commits a serious crime instead of banishment or death she may beseech The Debt Miner for atonement. A cleric of Dranngvit is on hand in all Dwarven court facilities in case they are needed. The gold pick themselves don’t give forgiveness or choose penalties for those who beseech their mistress, they just determine whether their goddess believe the criminal can atone. Many times the atonement is service among the Hounds of Dranngvit.

Their secondary role is as confessors. Dwarves being a very proactive lot will often attempt to atone on their own for crimes they believe they’ve committed. This can range from speaking badly about a family elder, to stealing, to murder. Dwarves who have attempted to atone on their own will come to the Gold Picks and petition to see if Dranngvit believes their atonement was enough. The priests of the Debt Miner care little for the man, they only judge the penance, was it enough.

The Hounds

The Hounds are basically Dranngvits bounty hunters. When a Dwarf flees his crime and has not been brought to justice a Hound is sent in pursuit. A Hound’s duty is to bring the accused back to face justice it is not her job to bring summary judgement on her own. To this end a Hound will do everything within her power to bring back her quarry alive.

The Red Picks

The Red Picks are little talked about they are actually considered somewhat of a myth and are a scary story told to young Dwarves to make them stay the straight and narrows. Even Dwarven law is fallible, and sometimes a guilty Dwarf goes free. If the victim of a freed Dwarf’s crime feels justice was not done, he can attempt to find a Red Pick.

Once found the wronged dwarf can petition the Red Pick for vengeance. But the Red Picks do not suffer petitioners who bring false petitions. The Red Pick will commune with her Goddess and if Dranngvit sees the truth of the matter the Red Pick will accept the plea and exact vengeance, it whatever manner her goddess demands, the petitioning Dwarf has no say.

If Dranngvit does not believe vengeance is required and the petitioning Dwarf’s heart is true she may leave freely. If the Debt Miner feels the petition was frivolous then the Red Pick may enact a small vengeance of her own upon the petitioner. To this end most Dwarves are very careful before they petition a Red Pick.

Does Dranngvit and her clergy interest you? Tell us how would you make a worshiper of the Debt Miner?

Character Twelve: Lung Bingci - Ratfolk

This was a tough one. First off where to go with a class. Investigator, Rogue and Wizard all seemed like good choices. A few people had suggested bard even with the charisma of only 13. But the other part was lore. I like to build my characters based on the lore of the world as well and I had to look at what little was already said about the Ratfolk here. And since I went with Tian Xia as the location I really wanted to use the Chinese analog stuff and I had to look up the equivalent of a Duke in China. But that’s the kind of research I like to do when building a character.

Only once in their existence have the Ratfolk been known to have a kingdom of their own. The empire of Diguo-Dashu which was driven back into the caverns of Sekamina after their deadly but failed war against the Imperial Lung Wa of Tian Xia. The Diguo-Dashu took dozens of cities and so when the empire was sealed back up into the Darklands many stragglers were left without a home, enemies of the state at worst, outcasts at best.

It was many years before the Ratfolk themselves began to create their own communities once more. Longer still before they had a home to call their own on the surface. In the Tengu controlled region of Kawnlai, the ruined City of the Whistling Sword became home to many descendants of the exiled Ratfolk of Diguo-Dashu. It was a start to make a new life.

The city in ruins was mostly disparate groups scrabbling over resources. Infighting among the Rats was common as many factions sought control. Finally war, if you could call it that, between a half dozen of the bigger families and organizations. When the dust settled Li Bingci, his family and allies stood victorious. Li claimed the title of Jueyin (roughly equivalent of Duke) and was recognized by the Tengu of the region.

Li Bingci had one son, Lung Bingci, heir to his throne and also a target. The younger Bingci was sent to live with his uncle outside of the City of Whispering Swords. Uncle Jin Po taught at one of the Academies in the human controlled lands of Tian Xia. Li sent his son not only to ensure the safety of the heir but also to educate his son in the art of magic, something the elder Bingci believed would help cement the power of his families rule.

Li’s early development was not easy he thought himself better than those who surrounded him. He would cheat his fellow students out of anything they were foolishly willing to bargain with. The younger Bingci thought because of his status that rules did not apply to him the way they did to the lesser students. This was very soon beaten out of him by Uncle Po when he became aware of his nephews activities.

Lin Po taught a very specialized school of magic. And Li was, not originally willingly, always at his side to learn. Many of the masters taught of the elements but Master Po taught of the non-element, the void. The connection between the heavens and the earths, the spiritual nature of all existence. Through these teachings Li Bingci learned how everything had a connection, even those of noble birth and those not. His duty when he would take the reins of power from his father would be to keep the City of Whispering Swords connected to the lands of the Tengu, to keep his people connected to each other and to create a balance between the heavens and the Ratfolk.

Does this fit with what you would have done? Excited about seeing a thriving city of Ratfolk in Tian Xia?

As ever we move forward. First person to post a race (Core or featured) that will be the race I use from my next randomly rolled character.

The Magic of...Magic.

So you’ve got your pointy hat and staff. Maybe you’ve got some magical tattoos. Or perhaps you have a cauldron and familiar. But really how do you cast your spells? How does you magic manifest in the world around you? Many people just want to blow things up and say I cast fireball, and that’s ok, but this article is for those who want to put a little more magic in their magic.

I’ll admit I am not a fan of playing magic users in Pathfinder or D&D. It's not like I don’t like magic however, one of my favorite games is Mage the Ascension. And one of the things I loved about Mage was the idea that all magic users forced their will upon the world in different ways. And there’s no reason why this can’t translate over to Pathfinder.

Does the Shaonti fire blooded sorcerer cast his fireball the same way as the Magnimarian Evoker? What method does the Tian Wizard use and how is it different from the Egyptian Influence Osirian wizard? Does a cleric of Asmodeus’ casting appear the same as the cleric of Shelyn?

One of the best loved NPC I had was in a 3.5 homebrew I ran. Lucius “Lucky” Littlefoot, yes I’m one of those weirdos who likes alliteration. Lucky was a beguiler and the worlds luckiest Halfling. The thing is he never cast his spells in such a way that any of the PCs knew he was a spell caster.

When they were locked in a cell he pulled out a set of picks and mumbled to himself in a language they didn’t understand. They thought he picked the lock but what he really did was cast knock. They were all curious as to why he’d take time to talk to the cricket he kept in a cage, they didn’t notice at first the orcs falling asleep on the battlefield. The multicolored sand he threw at the enemies, color spray.

But really it was the description of how he cast his spells that made the character. I didn’t just say he casts knock, he casts sleep, he casts color spray. I described the actions and let the PC figure it out.

One of the other players in my Rise of the Runelords campaign I’m in is a cartomancer witch. He doesn’t just cast spells and be done with it. When he wants to cast light he describes his character drawing an appropriate card from the harrow and the light emanating from the card. He gives the magic a distinct flavor dealing with how his character projects his will upon the world.

People constantly ask about how you can get your players immersed in the game more. And one of the best things to do is to make you world seem more dynamic. Having magic be more than just I cast scorching ray is one way to do just that. Magic should be alive (unless you’re a necromancer) as it effects the world around it.

How does your caster will his magic to work? What is his or her style and tools of the trade?

Character Twelve: The Randomness

Male Ratfolk

Age: 18
Height: 3'11"
Weight: 77 lbs.

This was a 17pt buy

Str 12
Dex 9
Con 13
Int 17
Wis 13
Cha 13

Homeland: Underground

Homeland: City or Metropolis

Parents: Only your father is alive.

Siblings: You have 2 biological siblings.
- biological younger sister
- biological younger sister

Circumstance of Birth: [Noble Birth] You were born to privilege among the nobility. Unless one of your parents is the regent, your family serves a higher-ranked noble but lesser nobles serve your family in turn.

Parent's Profession: [Duke] You are the child of a duke or duchess, the most powerful noble in the realm apart from the royal family. Your parents attend directly to the monarch and have the highest place at court. Your lands, titles, and estates are significant, and many lords and knights serve under your parents' command.

Major Childhood Event: [Academy Training] You attended a private academy where you studied a number of skills and gained training in your current profession. Whether you were a brilliant student or a dropout, the university environment was your home for a good portion of your formative years.

Influential Associate: [The Relative] There is a relative you were especially close to. To you, this person was the meaning of family. He helped shepherd you into adulthood, teaching you everything you know about the world. You are bound to this person or his memory, and you strive to keep a promise, vow, or oath that you made to him.that continues to drive you in everything you do.

Conflict: [Cheater] You broke a rule, law, contract, or agreement for your own gain.

Conflict Subject: Child or young person.

Conflict Motivation: Amusement or Entertainment. CP: 5

Romantic Relationship(s): [Several Inconsequential Relationships] You have had many lovers but no long-lasting, meaningful relationships.

Drawback: [Safety or Security] You are cautious and guarded—wary of others who might harm you, steal from you, or betray your trust. As such, you sleep lightly, always suspecting someone or something to sneak in upon you in the dark. Even when in relationships with people who trust you, there’s always the fear that they harbor hidden agendas or will change and turn against you.

The background I wrote for this will be posted Friday at 8am. But what kind of character would you make based on these rolls? What class would you pick? Do you have a background in mind looking at these pieces of information? Share with us and let us see your creative juices flow.

Lotus, Lighthouse, Prison

Here is another thought exercise I really enjoy. In worlds like Golarion that are pantheistic, the gods play a very important role. And although there are some write ups in books like the Inner Sea Gods book, a lot is left up to the imagination of the player with that in mind;

Imagine if you will you're making a character for a group. Your only instruction is that you must be a worshiper of a specific god. You do not need to be a divine casting class although you can be, but the groups purpose is going to be working toward the goals of this specific divine being. And I'd like not just a race class combo, but a little bit about why the character would choose to dedicate him or herself to this god. Feel free to make up secret or not so secret orders within the church. Or even sects outside of the church think might be interesting. With only this one piece of information that must be true let your imagination go wild with the rest.

Today's god

Korada NG Empyreal of Foresight, Forgiveness and Peace

Korada’s Pathfinder Wiki page 

A Korada’s Archives of Nethys Entry 

This particular exploration was shockingly not done on the facebook Pathfinder board I frequent. One of the guys in my regular group (He plays in my game, I play in his), pushed around some ideas regarding Korada over the course of an afternoon. Below I have included the Skype chat log so you can see how the thought process flowed. Names have been changed to protect the insane and I’ve also edited for spelling. Seriously I’ll admit it was bad. When we get excited we tend to skip letters wholesale.

Friend: Foresight, forgiveness, peace.

Friend: Future past present

Friend: unarmed strike... monks?

Friend: must be

Friend: Plan for the future that it may never surprise you and upset your peace.  Forgive transgressions and failures of the past that they may never upset your peace.  Experience each moment that passes through you so that you may live in eternal peace.

Friend: Paladin Order, Knights of the Holy Lotus.  Dedicated to the perfection of the physical form through combat training.  Primarily focused on Korada's aspect of Peace.  The great irony of peace via combat training is not lost on them.  It is part of the paradox of life as they see it.

Friend: When chaos attempts to force itself into the halls of peace, the Knights of the Holy Lotus are there to meet it with a calm heart and a hard fist.

Me: Are there feats that specialize in non lethal damage.

Friend: primarily Enlightened Paladin archetypes.

Friend: so... they are fist paladins

Me: Yeah I see them for the most part with mortal enemies fighting with non lethal. Attempting to reason with a being as they mostly defend themselves.

Friend: I would imagine they would try any method possible to avoid conflict before actually engaging in it.

Me: But when something cannot be reasoned with. Cannot see the peaceful solution they'll fight with force.

Friend: Harming others is not the major concern, it is the loss of peace.

Me: Except undead. By their very nature undead are never at peace. They are ripped from their final rest and need to laid back to their peaceful state.

Friend: I like that yeah

Me: I see them a lot of times going full defense, using combat reflex to up their AC and then standing there maneuvering out of the way and blocking their enemies blows as they try and talk them down.

Me: Is there a way to use diplomacy during combat?

Friend: I bet there is in the new book

Friend: the heroes of intrigue

Friend: otherwise no

Friend: but they could probably use bluff

Friend: to avoid combat

Me: Well then the proper lotus paladin build may need that.

Friend: the idea could use some more work... but I think I am drifting off to other sects at the moment here... let's see...

Friend: Foresight...

Me: Diviners

Friend: Yes!

Friend: Ascetics.  Seers.

Friend: prophecy is dead... but...

Friend: a man with two eyes can see the storm on the horizon

Friend: and a man who can see over the horizon... well...

Me: Maybe not just magical things, architects who have to plan cities for the future. Growth is inevitable but how do you plan for what will be.

Friend: yes exactly where I was going

Friend: One must understand consequence before taking action.

Me: Do we dam here or build further away? Is an immediate water sources more important or will there be future flooding?

Me: Oh man I got it.

Me: Ok there is a group of worshipper of Koroda from all walks of life. Actually no one with a magical way of seeing the future is allowed in this group.

Friend: ahh interesting!

Me: But they are game players. Chess maybe Go. Any game you need to think ten moves ahead.

Me:  When people need answers to questions they will find one of these master gamers. They will puzzle out answers to long term problems over a game.

Me: The game players don't answer outright. They ask more questions. They make their opponent actually think the answer through themselves.

Friend: Socratic Style.

Friend: beautiful

Friend: name.

Friend: um...

Friend: Enlightened...

Friend: light

Friend: The Lantern Keepers

Friend: ?

Friend: The Candle Men?

Me: Holy crap. They Uncle Iroh from avatar

Friend: The Watchtower.  The Lighthouse?

Friend: I was totally there like six paragraphs ago

Friend: as soon as you said they play games lol

Friend: I was like... yeah Uncle Iroh

Me: He he he

Friend: what was the name of his group?

Me: They need to be named after a piece from the game they play

Me: They were the white lotus

Me: They were named after a rare pai-sho piece.

Friend: in Go they just use stones

Me: This is Golarion. It's a fantasy world we can make up a game. Name it what we like name its pieces what we like.

Friend: very true

Friend: well I like the enlightened theme. Something with light.

Me: Maybe one of the pieces is a lighthouse.

Friend: I like that.

Friend: They can be the Light House

Friend: Another sect...

Friend: Builders

Friend: Temples, cities even

Friend: Architects and city planners.

Me: The thing about Empyreal Lords is they don't really have churches they have mystery cults.

Friend: Right.  It might be a group in a single area.

Me: The Light House Keepers can usually be found in the most unlikely of places... bars.

Friend: like one small group of paladins living in a mountain citadel, or a group of old men in a single city

Me: They love to sit in a dark corner with their game boards set up.

Friend: ahh yeah I like that

Me: They watch the people and learn about people that way.

Me: They usually have a special rapport with the inner keeper

Friend: or perhaps occasionally in a park.

Friend: at those communal chess boards they have

Friend: or something like it

Me: Because some times when someone has a question they will sit for days playing one game as the petitioner learns their answer.

Me: Definitely the park idea too. Problem is if a park or a city has a curfew they could disrupt the answer to a question.

Me: They need some place they can stay for minutes, hours, days depending on the supplicant's question.

Friend: It might be good for the petitioner to stop each night to ponder what he has learned that day.  The game can begin again where it left off.

Friend: or not

Friend: the spot might even be chosen specifically for the petitioner

Friend: by the wise man

Friend: you must meet me on the highest roof in the city.

Me: That might work too especially if the Light House Keeper feels the supplicant is being impatient.

Friend: or in the darkest sewer

Friend: Perhaps in the middle of a forest at noon.

Me: Yeah these guys are cool. And probably make great adventurers. Maybe an empiricist investigator.

Friend: yeah for sure

Friend: Other ideas I am kicking around....

Friend: City planners / temple builders.

Friend: Law men who focus on keeping the peace.

Me: And then we have the reformers. This group is not just worshipers of Kodoma. It is a mixed group of her cultists and worshipers of Sarenrae.

Friend: people who have done something very wrong, and now dedicate their lives to setting things right and finding forgiveness.

Me: Yup.

Me: Every last one of them has spent time in prison at some point.

Me: They have been brought to the light. They walk a path of personal forgiveness trying to right what they have done wrong.

Me: And they are specifically keen and reforming anyone whose turned from the path of good because of their own actions.

Me: They weren't thinking ahead. They never realized by killing the one man his child would turn to a life of crime.

Me: Shit I type horribly from my phone.

Friend: they must understand all effects of their wrong action, what their repercussions in the present are, and seek to prevent it from progressing into the future.

Me: Yes.

Friend: and ultimately, they should realize that the hardest forgiveness to attain is their own.

Me: Deep really deep

Me: I need to save this whole conversation to a text file or something.

Friend: I'll mail it to ya

For those of you who did not read the whole thing here are the cliffsnotes, we came up with societies within the framework of the worship of Korada

Paladin Order, Knights of the Holy Lotus.

Dedicated to the perfection of the physical form through combat training. Although represent the Empyreal Lords role of peace they train for battle. Irony that is not lost on them. Much like Paladins of Irori the Knights of the Holy Lotus battle more against chaos then evil. They tend to come into any situation with the goal of a peaceful solution and are sadden when they are forced to solve a problem with combat. They will however not suffer any undead to exist. By their very nature undead are never at peace. They are ripped from their final rest and need  to be laid back to their peaceful state.

The Light House Keepers

A group of game players who use Korada’s sacred game (no I did not come up with a name for it) as a way to puzzle out problems. Whereas some people will go to a diviner for a look into the future. Petitioners of The Light House Keepers are looking to solve their own problems. The foresight it takes to think 10 or even 20 moves ahead, helps this mystery cult provide answers to those who seek it.

The Reformers

This is actually a mixed group of worshipers of Korada and Sarenrae. Every last member was a criminal who at some point was imprisoned for their misdeeds. These are people who have done something very wrong, and now dedicate their lives to setting things right and finding forgiveness. Although their missions seems to be redeeming those who have fallen from the light, giving forgiveness to those seeking redemption. The final realization that brings them true enlightenment is that the hardest forgiveness to attain is their own.

For what does your character seek forgiveness? What foresight to the Lighthouse Keepers bring to you? Of you had to make a character who’s central theme was worshiping The Open Hand of Harmony, what would this character be?

Character Eleven: Vandas Ilisthian

In case you forgot, here are the random rolls for this character.

Vandas Ilisthian born poor to the servitors of House Vexidyre in the city of Zirnakaynin. Abused and beaten by his older sister, she even drowned him once when he was six. An event he barely survived after claiming to have visited the pits of the abyss. The experience wiped all fear from the heart of the young drow. Sadly the lack of oxygen to his brain also caused permanent brain damage in the young boy. As he grew the constant depredations of his sister forced him to grow bigger and and strong until he could finally ward her off on his own.

House Vexidyre was a harsh mistress, keeping its citizens in line through the sadistic and cruel tortures of the followers of Lord Shax. One of the few escapes for peasants was to give service to the Blood Marquis' chosen. But only the most depraved of drow could not only stand up to the tortures but also dish them out as well. Even though commoners could make their way into the ranks of the faithful, mostly the honor went to younger members of lesser lines of House Vexidyre itself.

Vandas wanted out, the life of a peasant was not for him. He craved power and he craved blood. In his way stood all the other hopefuls but his worst competition was Keldrinth Naragas, the lesser cousin of the House. Even among the other cousins Keldrinth was considered a lock to get the one open spot as servitor of Shax. And true to his "destiny" Keldrinth won out against all others.

Vandas however was not to be denied. Furious at the priests for not choosing him. Seeing it as politics over skill and devotion. Vandas stormed into the priests quarters when he was indoctrinating Keldrinth Naragas. He took the scared knife off the wall and murdered the priest, he followed up by killing Keldrinth and his eager hangers on. And when they found him he was soaked in blood tearing out the insides of his victims. The priests went to move against him but they couldn't for Shax himself was pleased. He bade that Vandas be a tool of the church to be sent against all that opposed Lord Shax.

Final Notes

Vandas Ilisthian is a Warpriest of Shax with the Champion of the Faith archetype. He only gets one skill point a level due to his int and that goes into Sense Motive everytime. You cannot turn away the wrath of Lord Shax with your twisted tongue.

The Theme is the Thing

Theme parties from the games where everyone is one race or one class at the start to parties based on other things, like the fairytale game I ran where everyone played a storybook character. A lot of times your party is just a mish mash of individuals with little in common other than a need for adventure but sometimes it’s fun to build to a broader theme.

I’m particularly fond of theme games and I’ve had great success with an all Halflings campaign, an all paladins campaign, all worshipers of the same god campaign and my aforementioned fairytale campaign. Although I understand these ideas may not work for everyone, at the very least they are a good thought exercise for a GM or player. To that effect today we are going to look at a party I’ve had in mind since D&D 3.5 when I was obsessed with the Faerun region called Calimshan.

To start with the party I had in mind had not one but two themes. The first is pretty obvious, being from Calimshan with its whole Middle Eastern analog thing going on we have an Arabian Nights theme. But since the party started with the idea of two brothers one an Air Genasi (Sylph in Pathfinder) and the other a Fire Genasi (Ifirit) I thought a four elements theme might make the party just a little more interesting.

The Party

First we need to switch the party over to pathfinder from 3.5. After each party members conversion will be a brief description of the party member and their place in the theme.

Air - Sylph Swashbuckler whirling Dervish Archetype

The original version was a fighter with Dervish Dancer PrC I think this fits the character best.

Nasim Nejem ibn Hudad one of a pair of twin sons born to the chief of the Asdeqa'a Raml tribe. Born with the blood of the great Djinn flowing through his veins Nasim grew up destine to join the ranks of the great dervishes of the tribe. Moving through the hot desert air like a whirlwind with blade flashing with the light of the beating sun. The young warrior is good natured if flighty. He always seems to be laughing and takes very little seriously. His mind has 1000 thoughts a second and the only time he seems to be able to concentrate is when he is lost in the dance of the dervish blade.

Fire - Ifirit Elemental (Fire) Bloodline Sorcerer

There weren’t bloodlines in 3.5 but this is the obvious choice. Although Ifirit have a race specific Sorcerer archetype this fits better.

Shihad Nejem ibn Hudad, brother to Nasim, born with the fiery blood of the ancient Efreet coursing through his body. Whereas his brother is wistful Shihad takes everything seriously. The fireborn mage takes everything as affront and his temper has been known to get the better of him, often. The fire in his heart has manifested itself by pushing out into the world around him. Although his brother is the combatant Nasim never looks to fight, but Shihad thinks everything is a battle that can be won in burning flames.

Earth – Human Ranger

Bare bones dunes rider eventually with a camel animal companion.

The desert wastes are hard on the nomad tribes, but among the people of the sands come hardy travelers. Some of these desert born even go so far as being able to track the smallest creatures over the windblown sands of Casamaron. Wajid El-Amin knows the truth of the desert and aids his tribe in picking the way among the dunes. The dune rider is known for his adeptness on the back of the camel and for fact that he has never spoken a lie. Wajid has rooted himself in the sands and as such has little time for falsehood, or apparently merriment either.

Water – Gnoll Hydrokineticist

This one was the hardest to change over. First off originally he was a Bhukas, a desert living Goblinoid from the 3.5 sandstorm book. The point was he was a monstrous race geared for the desert to that end Golarion has their Gnolls as desert dwellers.

Secondly he was also a druid going into the PrC Lord of Tides, which deals with water in the desert. None of the druid archetypes really fit this theme but the new occult adventures Kineitcist using Hydrokinetics really fits the bill.

Among the desert dwellers the Gnoll are known for their barbaric and cannibalistic ways. But not all Gnolls are created equally. Left for dead by his own people Water-Seeker had picked his way through the desert for five long years before being found among the wastes. The pathetic creature, nothing more than skin and bones at the time was spared by Nasim and Shihad’s father. The tribe has never regretted the decision as Water-Seeker has lived up to his name being able to find a source of fresh water from miles off.

I’m not going to really go into the mechanics of the characters. Once you get past the base race/class thing all you need is the story and the other mechanics can be added to your taste. But there you have it, a very Arabian Nights themed party with a secondary theme of the four western elements.

What themes have you always wanted to try?

Character Exploration Eleven: The Randomness

As a disclaimer for this random roll generation I’m not a drow fan, but drow was what was picked for me so I went ahead and did it. That said here we go.

Male Drow

Age: 126
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 127 lbs

This was a 25pt buy so ultra-heroic build
Str 17
Dex 10
Con 12
Int 9
Wis 16
Cha 12

Homeland: Underground

Parents: Both of your parents are alive.

Siblings: You have 1 biological sibling.
- biological older sister

Circumstance of Birth: [Lower-Class Birth] You were born among peasants or slum denizens. You grew up working the land around a village or manor, practicing a rudimentary trade, or begging in a settlement.

Parent's Profession: Serfs/Peasants

Major Childhood Event: [Died] You died, or came so close to death that you walked the boundary between the realms of the living and the dead. Having passed from life's domain once, you have a unique perspective on life, perhaps even a greater appreciation for it—or maybe your experience caused you to reject all trivial things, focusing only on matters of true import.

Influential Associate: [The Champion] You were close to someone who excelled at athletic endeavors and tests of strength or skill. Through your friendship or rivalry, you developed the competitive spirit that continues to drive you in everything you do.

Conflict: [Mass Murder] You killed several sentient beings.

Conflict Subject: Leader.

Conflict Motivation: Pleasure.

Conflict Resolution:

Romantic Relationship(s): [Several Significant Relationships] You’ve engaged in a number of partnerships, but for some reason or another your relationships always fail.

Drawback: [Power] You long for the ability to influence the world around you, whether that’s as small as a village or as large as a plane of reality.

The background I wrote for this will be posted Friday at 8am. But what kind of character would you make based on these rolls? What class would you pick? Do you have a background in mind looking at these pieces of information? Share with us and let us see your creative juices flow.

Symbols of Service

Here is another thought exercise I really enjoy. In worlds like Golarion that are pantheistic, the gods play a very important role. And although there are some write ups in books like the Inner Sea Gods book, a lot is left up to the imagination of the player with that in mind;

Imagine if you will you're making a character for a group. Your only instruction is that you must be a worshiper of a specific god. You do not need to be a divine casting class although you can be, but the groups purpose is going to be working toward the goals of this specific divine being. And I'd like not just a race class combo, but a little bit about why the character would choose to dedicate him or herself to this god. Feel free to make up secret or not so secret orders within the church. Or even sects outside of the church think might be interesting. With only this one piece of information that must be true let your imagination go wild with the rest.

Today's god

Lissala LE Goddess of Obedience, reward of service, runes

Lissala’s Pathfinder Wiki page 

A Lissala’s Archives of Nethys Entry 

This post was originally put to the pathfinder group a while ago so below will be a summary of some stuff we came up with. But let’s hear what you guys would do if you had to make your follower of Lissala.

One of the first things that came up in the discussion was this.

“I See her as a soldier’s goddess. Order and obedience to the chain of command. Monks that take a vow of silence and venerate obedience to the order to which they belong. On a more deviant tangent, S&M subscribers”

To which I came up with The Chained Ones whose fighting style incorporates attacks with the manacles they all have around their ankles. Even though it appears that shuffle along due to the restricted gait they can have they are actually quite agile in combat and move with surprising grace.

Then the discussion led toward a sect or secret cult. Lissala was worshiped in ancient Thassilon and she is mostly a forgotten god. The Runelords themselves venerated her with the Runelord of Sloth being her priest. And we came up with the New Runelords.

Seven cults each led by one of seven nobles trying to fashion themselves into the new Runelords. Each cult moves separately from the other but the seven nobles get together to discuss plans for their future as a whole. The seven worship Lissala together for guidance and then use that to lead their individual factions. Loyalty and service are well rewarded whereas failure and treachery (at least failed treachery) is punished harshly.

Each cult acts based on whichever Runelord that Noble fashions himself. The would-be Runelords are all exclusively human and bigoted against non-human races who they see only as pawns. The self styled Runelords sit a dark room around a table conspiring with each other. They each wear a mask, they don't even know each other's identities and can only tell each other apart by their symbol of office, the weapon of the Runelords they are emulating

What six of the seven don’t know is that one of them is a servitor of the Runelord of sloth, who was the original high priest of Lissala. He fashions himself as the new Sloth Runelord and brings along these other would be runelords for the ride. He's the only one who knows the identities of the six other members.

The servitor is a lich who had been trapped within his/her phylactery for these millennia without the means to find a new body. In recent times (after the Rise of the Runelords AP when knowledge of Thassilon was growing) tomb raiders, including a noble found a ruin, and the lich saw a chance and took over residence of the nobles body. After an accident of course.

Now that you've seen the end product I have compiled from what other people have come up with, what would you do with a worshiper of Lissala?

Character Ten: Kokan Hybusa

I hadn't really hashed out any mechanics this time around just that he is a base rogue but here is the tale of Kokan Hybusa.

Before we get into it here are the random rolls in case you forgot.

Born in Tian Xia but relocated to the Andoran port city of Augustana along with his family and a flock of other Tengu, Kokan Hybusa has always been a bird out of place. Bullied by his sister before they moved, bullied by the human children when he arrived in Avistan and all but forgotten as the middle boy of eight children by his parents. Life seemed ever so rough for the young Tengu. It didn't help that as he grew older he spent most of his time in books, absorbing as much knowledge as he could possibly get his wings on.

Kokan's search for knowledge didn't just stop at the temporal. He spent much time studying magic, although he had no aptitude for it, and religion as well. One of his early mentors was a Halfling sage named Ilsa Tanglebriar. The young Tengu would listen to her tales of the days she was a slave in Cheliax and her musings on the portents of the future. When asked about his future though she would furrow her brow and don a dour face, claiming not to be privy to that information.

Kokan was set to go off to study with masters in the Universities of Almas when he finished his studies in Augustana. But fate has a way of changing plans for you. Although he was very used to being bullied himself, now that his younger brother the, runt of the family was in school the bullies had started in on him. One day on the walk home Kokan's brother Takaaki was ambushed by a group of young thugs. Kokan ran to his aid and for the first time fought off attackers. Kokan was unaware of his own strength in in a fit of mindless rage one of the bullies fell, impaled on Kokan's beak.

Kokan was beside himself, he never intended to kill anyone. The bully's friends sought to slander him, but witnesses not the least of which was the Halfling seer Isla painted a better picture of his selfless act of defense. Still with the stain of death on his beak the offer to university fell though and Kokan was left with no future.

In the intervening years Kokan held a number of jobs and seemed ever the picture of the hardworking peasant. But in this time the Tengu was plotting and waiting. He kept his eyes open and his mind sharp, learning everything he could about the underworld of Augustana. Until one night he said his prayer to Calistria and took up a mask and a blade and stalked the streets. He stopped a mugging that first night at the cost of two broken ribs, but his true mission in life had begun. No more bullies, no more scavengers preying on the weak, just vengeance.

Making A Character For The Game You're In

One of the statements I hear a lot of is, “just let the player make whatever they want.” One of the practices I see very often is that GMs let players make characters before they come to the table. What I see happening with this a lot is that players end up with characters that don’t fit the game.

 Maybe your ranger has goblins as a favored enemy but because there was no discussion as to what the game would be about you had no clue you were never going to see a goblin in the game. Maybe you’ve come up with an enchanter you wanted to play but you were unaware that the game consisted of a lot of mindless undead and constructs thus making your mind-effecting powers ineffectual 90% of the time. Or maybe it’s as simple as you come to the table with a desert dwelling druid, and the game takes place in the arctic region of the world.

I know this isn’t an issue for folks who play a super sandboxy make it up as you go along campaign, but a lot of GMs have an idea they are going to work with even in homebrew, and there are very specific things that go on in a module or one of the Pathfinder APs (adventure path). So today we are going to talk about making a character for the game you’re playing.

One of my first suggestions is don’t let players make their characters alone. At the very least the GM should sit with the player when making characters. This allows the GM to make suggestions based on their knowledge of what will happen during the game. If the GM knows there are never going to be goblins but undead are going to be a heavy theme he may suggest the player switch his rangers favored enemy. No player likes having an ability on their sheet they’ll never use. But beyond that it helps connect the story.

I run the Shattered Star AP and one of the first things it says is that the players are working for the Pathfinder Society, they are aspiring or junior Pathfinders. By giving this piece of information you can help the player make a character that will from the start fit into the game. I can't even count the number of times at the beginning of an adventure when a GM sets out the initial plot hook and a player says, “My character wouldn’t be interested in that.” If your character wouldn’t be interested then why did you make that character?

One of the things I love about Paizo’s APs is that each AP has a Player’s Guide. A short PDF which Paizo offers for free on their website. These Player’s Guides, give a lot of information on what to expect,  the region play will start in, and they even give campaign traits which help start the player with a connection to the AP that also gives a mechanical advantage to the character.

When I do run homebrews I try and keep all of this information in mind as well, and I work with my players to make characters that will be both fun for them to play and connected to my scenario. I’m running a group of strung together modules right now, with some interspersed original ideas and I sat over the course of a week or two with each player making sure their characters were prepared for my the game I wanted to run, and so far it’s been a blast.

I think however things are easier to understand if given an example. So today we’re going to create a character for one of the APs I’ve never played or run before, Carrion Crown. First thing I’m going to do is download the Player’s Guide from the Paizo site.

To start we get our plot hook all the characters somehow knew a man named Professor Petros Lorrimor, a famed scholar, explorer, and teacher. We know that all the characters will have traveled to the land of Ustalav to attend the funeral of the Professor and that each of the characters was named in his will, so our character is probably assumed to have been close to the professor. This gives us a huge starting point to attach our character to the game.

Now the Player’s Guides all give campaign traits and as a player I almost always take one of these as they give the character a stronger connection to the story. As a GM I require the players take a campaign trait. Looking through them I’ve decided on the On The Payroll Trait;

“Whether he needed a bodyguard in a rough neighborhood, a guide to an isolated archeological dig, or information on a specialized topic, Professor Lorrimor was never shy about hiring professionals to help him attain his goals. Over the course of his long career, thousands of people throughout the world served his needs and benefited from his generous wages (usually covered by his academic benefactor at the time). He had contacts in most areas of expertise in every corner of the known world, a knack for recognizing talent, and a desire to be surrounded by the best and brightest at all times. Whatever job the professor originally hired you for, your performance captured his attention, and he hired you many times throughout your career, sometimes even for jobs away from your home, always paying your expenses and compensating you well for your time. In your area of expertise, you are among the best.

Benefit: Your years of hard work have paid off, granting you an additional 150 gp in starting wealth.”

This trait gives us a lot of leeway on the character choices to be made and extra starting gold is always a nice benefit for doing so. Next up I’m going to think about class a minute, each class is listed in the book with suggestions on roleplay aspects and some mechanical recommendations. I’m going to play a ranger I think both because it’s one of my favorite classes but also because the mechanical recommendations highlight a point I made earlier about not choosing abilities that may be worthless.

Here are the recommendations for ranger.

“Suggested ranger archetypes for the Carrion Crown Adventure Path include Guide, Infiltrator, Skirmisher, and Urban Ranger. Good favored enemies include aberration, animal, construct, humanoid (human), and undead. Rangers with the favored terrains of forest, mountain, swamp, and urban will find their talents most useful during the course of the campaign. See the druid section for suggested animal companions.”

And the druid section on animal companions says this;

“Any animal companion native to temperate land environments would be appropriate for this adventure, particularly cougars, falcons, owls, and wolves.”

I’m getting a picture of a rough and tumble type here. Maybe a bodyguard hired on by the professor when he would move through the darker parts of Ustalav. Before I delve to deeply into what I’ll do with the actual ranger class I must decide on a race. Everyone has their go to race, mine is usually human, and to that end as a way of playing something I don’t usually, I’m going to go half-orc on this one.

Looking at the suggest archetypes none of them really stand out to me, there is a corpse hunter archetype but I don’t like that either. So I’m thinking the Skirmisher archetype, since I don’t like spell casting, with a wolf pet.

And honestly that would be enough everything else, the mechanics can be molded around the basic story. A quick look at a map of Ustalav and the pathfinder wiki page for it and I’ve got an even clearer picture.

A Half-orc from the county of Canterwall where Ustalav abuts the Orc held Belkan hold. Distrusted because of his parentage he spends a lot of time wandering especially into the haunted wastelands of the prison county of Virlych. He was a guide to the professor on a number of occasions when he was investigating something or another in the area. The Half-Orc has become quite adept and fighting off the undead that plague the region.

After that you can play fill in the blanks and write a much longer background, I know I would. But even this is enough to satisfy any GM that you’ve made a character that fits into the campaign that you’ll be playing. He’ll be happy he won’t have to fight you tooth and nail to go on the adventure he’s planned.

How do you make a character when starting a new game? As a GM how much information do you give your players?

Character Exploration 10: The Randomness

Tengu

Abilities (includes Racial adjustments 22 point buy)
Str: 15
Dex: 13
Con: 10
Int: 17
Wis: 11
Cha: 11

Age: 22
Height: 4'11"
Weight: 98 lbs.

Homeland: City or Metropolis
Parents: Both of your parents are alive.
Siblings: You have 7 biological siblings.
- biological older sister
- biological older sister
- biological older sister
- biological younger sister
- biological younger brother
- biological younger brother
- biological younger brother

Circumstance of Birth: [Lower-Class Birth] You were born among peasants or slum denizens. You grew up working the land around a village or manor, practicing a rudimentary trade, or begging in a settlement.

Parent's Profession: Serfs/Peasants

Major Childhood Event: [Bullied] In your early life, you were a victim— easy prey for those stronger or cleverer than yourself. They beat you when they could, using you for their sport. This abuse nursed a powerful flame of vengeance.

Influential Associate: [The Seer] You were close to a person who claimed to see the future—perhaps an oracle, seer, prophet, or merely some festival charlatan. Whether they're true or a trick, you've seen visions of distant places and of times that may come to pass. The seer's influence either made you into an optimist with a drive to change the future or a fatalist resigned to accept it.

Conflict: [Murder] You killed someone.
Conflict Subject: Child or young person.
Conflict Motivation: Family.
Conflict Resolution:

Romantic Relationship(s): [A Few Significant Relationships] You’ve tried to make deep connections with individuals on several occasions, but it’s never worked out.

Drawback: [Power] You long for the ability to influence the world around you, whether that’s as small as a village or as large as a plane of reality.

The background I wrote for this will be posted Friday at 8am. But what kinda of character would you make based on these rolls? What class would you pick? Do you have a background in mind looking at these pieces of information? Share with us and let us see your creative juices flow.

One Door Opens...

Here is another thought exercise I really enjoy. In worlds like Golarion that are pantheistic, the gods play a very important role. And although there are some write ups in books like the Inner Sea Gods book, a lot is left up to the imagination of the player with that in mind;

Imagine if you will you're making a character for a group. Your only instruction is that you must be a worshiper of a specific god. You do not need to be a divine casting class although you can be, but the groups purpose is going to be working toward the goals of this specific divine being. And I'd like not just a race class combo, but a little bit about why the character would choose to dedicate him or herself to this god. Feel free to make up secret or not so secret orders within the church. Or even sects outside of the church think might be interesting. With only this one piece of information that must be true let your imagination go wild with the rest.

Today's god:

Alseta LN goddess of Doors, transitions, years.

Alseta’s Pathfinder Wiki page 

Alseta’s Archives of Nethys Entry 

This post was originally put to the pathfinder group a while ago so below will be a summary of some stuff we came up with. But let’s hear what you guys would do if you had to make your follower of Alseta.

Here are the 7 Sects, Orders and/or secret societies of Alseta the Goddess of Doors, Transitions and Years.

Alsetan Orders

Knights of the Door

This sacred order of Alsetan Paladins actually protect the holy sites of other gods. As Alseta looks over their realms when they are away so to do the Knights of the Door keep vigil over other god’s temples. With many of the Paladins of Sarenrea and Iomeda away fighting in the worldwound it has fallen upon the Knights of the Door to protect their assets in the lands further from that hellish place.

Hosts

Some clerics of Alseta are brought into the ranks of the Hosts, a group of mediators who welcome in representatives of other gods when negotiations between the deities chosen needs to happen. Alseta's clerics provide safe passage to and from such meetings often with the aid of Knights of the Door and Those Who Walk. Meetings conducted under the roof of an Alsetan Host are known to be some of the safest around.

Those Who Walk

A shortened name for Those Who Walk Through Walls these devout Alsetan are travelers who specialize in getting around obstacles such as locked doors. Teleportation specialist, rogue lock pickers, stealthy ranger guides and anyone who finds joy in getting from place to place even though bared doors joins Those Who Walk. Those Who Walk are well skilled at getting themselves in but also learn the secrets of keeping others out. It is a well-known coopetition amount the sect that individuals well attempt to create a sealed room that others must try and find a way into, high honors are given to those who can confound even the masters of opening the way.

The Portal Hunters

Some doors on this world were not meant to be passed through. Unspeakable things prey upon this world through these unsealed gate ways. The Portal Hunters divine the locations of these unattended passage from other worlds and shut them down if they can or the church of Alseta will build a temple around the portal and assign a cadre of Knights of the Door to make sure nothing that shouldn't be on this world comes through.

Alsetan Sects

The Openers

Abject poverty, slavery and rigid social structure can keep those who would become great from having the ability to do so, especially in this time of lost prophecy when the old way of the orphaned child becoming king because pf destiny are no more. Not so much literal but metaphysical and figurative doors are swung wide by the openers as they transition those who would great into positions that would allow them this greatness. Oracles, diviners and anyone who can sense greatness on someone as well as those who can help with the transition are drawn to The Openers in a hopes that they can bring about some good on a world that can be very harsh at times.

The Order of the Barred Door

The order is a very small sect of dwarven trapsmiths, Engineer and former thieves who strive to perfect the art of security. Some believe they are an offshoot of Those Who Walk Through Walls who spend their lives continually trying to win the competition of the impenetrable room.

Alsetan Secret Societies

Keepers of the Queue

The keepers are a sect of Galtan worshippers who take Alseta's teachings to the extreme. Those who stagnate, who are happy to stay still, who do not progress, who clog the line. They must be purged and transitioned to their final form, that of a corpse. Occasionally they will spur into action those whose destiny should be great by removing obstacles that keep them content, such as loved ones. More than a few heroes have begun their path because The Keepers transitioned their husband, wife or child into the next world. Unlike many evil clerics the Tenders abhor the undead, they see them as the ultimate form of stagnation, never being able to move on to the next world. Never the chance for the soul to become something more than it was or reincarnate into a greater destiny.

Now that you've seen the end product I have compiled from what other people have come up with, what would you do with a worshiper of Alseta?