Character Exploration 60 - Neeter

Random rolls sixty brings us our second ratfolk and another one I really enjoyed making. The pieces seemed simple enough, nothing over the top like the divine touch from last week’s character. Everything except charisma being decent, with a good intelligence left a lot of choices. But what character I should make is always the tough question.

Picking a class is the hardest part. I didn’t want to go straight up arcane caster. The last ratfolk was a wizard and I wanted to move away from that. Looking at ratfolk characteristics, they get a bonus to craft (alchemy), Perception, and use magic device so that gave me an idea. Investigator is a class I really love and I thought fit the stats of the character well. The next question was how to tie it altogether. The answer was like this:

Neeter

Illustration by Luis Perez

Although Winterbreak is the only city on Acuben Isle it is not the only settlement. A number of small fishing villages dot the coast of the forty-five mile long island. One of these villages was where young Neeter was born. The bastard son of his father and some woman in Port Ice, his dad took him to live with the rest of the family, which at the time included two older sisters.

Although most of the village lived off of fishing and crabbing, Neeter’s father was a salvage and repair specialist. The young ratfolk grew up around ships and the docks that housed them. Sadly his home, the boats, and many of the people he knew were demolished when he only five. A particularly harsh winter brought storms across the Lake of Mists and Veils and hurricane force winds destroyed everything in sight, killing over three quarters of the small settlement. The family of ratfolk was saved only by the cunning use of some of his father’s inventions.

Many of the former townsfolk, including Neeter’s family, made their way to the large city of Winterbreak, the center of power for House Ludovka. The much larger city already had a thriving port with many established repair facilities. Finding work was difficult for his dad and that left Neeter on his own a lot of the time. Somehow, despite his mangy look and a lack of social ability, he soon made a friend.

Burkin Hiefender was a half-elf who seemed to know just about everyone in town. Where Neeter had  problems with everyday conversation, often coming off as rude or disinterested even when he wasn’t, Burkin had a knack with people; from the former pirate captain who now owned a dockside tavern to even some of the Ludovka children. If you needed something, anything, Burkin could find it for you.

With his father’s fourth child on the way, Neeter asked Burkin to help him find his father some steady work. It came down to dealing with some of the less reputable folk dockside, but to Neeter’s family was very important. As was typical of the socially inept ratfolk, the meeting didn’t go well. Feeling cornered, Neeter attempt to manipulate one of the crime bosses, a mistake he tries to forget although the scars on his face won’t allow him to.

Dockside became his home even after his father found work with one of the repair companies. The piers, taverns, fish markets, and hoists and pulleys all felt like a part of him. Like many of the fisherfolk of the small village Neeter paid homage to Ylimancha and these coastal waters were all he needed to feel alive. But the docks weren’t all fun and games. In the shadows, hidden from the sight of man, bad things happened.

As he grew older Neeter became protective of Dockside. The facts his family lived there added to his need to keep it safe. Even the the guards of the Ludovka family kept commerce moving they didn’t always keep people safe. Humans had a hard time seeing into the darkness but ratfolk could see just fine. When the city guard left dockside at night, that’s when Neeter took over.

Even if he couldn’t talk his way out of a fishnet, Neeter had a remarkable intellect. He could piece a puzzle together quicker than most. His reflexes were about as quick as his mind as well. Combine all of that with his ability to read people - even if he had a hard time talking to them - and Neeter started solving more crime than the guard ever did. Sometimes known as “The Dockside Detective”, many of the locals would come to him if they had a problem. He was their light, and he would drag the bad things from the darkness for them.

From the darkness there is light and that light is Neeter. But is this the character you would have made? What class would you have chosen? What disaster would your character have survived? Would you have chosen Winterbreak or Port Ice as his home? How was he a bastard? It’s never too late to let us know in the comments.

Just like Neeter, I seek to bring more light to your gaming experience.  Contributions to my Patreon or Paypal help me be able to invest more of that time into creation instead of worrying about keeping the lights on. If you’d like to support your favorite content provider – come on, that’s me, admit it – please consider contributing. If you’re enjoying the blog, why not join the rest of the fans of the CRB on our social media hangouts? Facebook, Google +, Tumblr, and Twitter all have a CRB presence and my inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion.

The opening illustration was created by the fine artist Luis Perez. You can find him on Twitter, Tumblr, and on Instagram at luisperezart. 

Off the Top Rope

Making a Pro Wrestler in Pathfinder

One of the first questions we get asked when we meet new people is, “what do you do?” My answer is usually kind of convoluted because I do so much stuff. Beyond writing for some third-party Pathfinder publishers and putting out content for this blog, I have a few other hobbies that make me a little money. One of those hobbies is getting dressed up in colorful tights and throwing people around. I’m a professional wrestler.

Today I’m going to do something I don’t usually do and talk a little about mechanics. I’m going to use my other career as a means to both play with a fun off-the-wall concept and talk about how there is more than one way to build a character around the same concept. So without further ado, the myriad ways to make a pro wrestler in pathfinder.

When people think wrestler they often think grappler, which is a legitimate path to take. The most obvious route to a great grappler is the Tetori Monk archetype. The straight up monk, the Maneuver Master archetype, or the Master of Many Styles archetype could also be used to make an expert grappler. Fighter has two archetypes that would do well in the style of a wrestler, the Free-Style Fighter and the Unarmed Fighter. Being a combination of Fighter and Monk, Brawler would also be a go-to class for a grappler. The Strangler archetype would work well in this manner.

Being a grappler is not the end all and be all of being a pro wrestler. Although we frown on the word “fake”, as the athletics required and injuries sustained are very real, it is common knowledge that wrestling is a performance. To that end why not create a wrestler who is a performer? There is a very rarely used set of feats called performance combat feats. Also the performance wrestler needs to know how to draw the crowd in.

The Gladiator archetype for Fighter is perfect for the athletic performance. The Bard is also a great choice for this. The celebrity archetype could represent the wrestler’s larger than life persona. The over the top bravado of the Rake archetype for the Rogue would do well cutting promos on his opponents. Although just about any combat class that doesn’t dump charisma could make an excellent performer.

But what about tag team wrestling you ask? Well, maybe not, but we’re going to pretend you did. I can think of two ways to go about it. The first is teamwork feats. Underused because many players don’t think about making their characters as a duo, and many times there’s only one front-line fighter in a party of four that sticks to the perfect party idea. Teamwork feats could be played off as good in-ring chemistry between the partners, a fluidity of motion.

The second, and probably my favorite way, is the animal companion. What better tag team partner than an animal companion, I say. My favorite idea is the luchador Brawler. The Wild Child archetype allows the Brawler to have an animal companion. My build for this uses an ape as the companion and the two wear luchador masks. The Great Silverback and his tag team partner, Man. Man is obviously the ape because it’s funnier that way.

There are of course dozens of other ways to pull off the wrestler concept. The Brawler, Beast-Wrestler archetype could be a performer who wrestles bears. You could also try mimicking gimmicks as if wrestling were real. A tattooed Barbarian as the old power and paint style gimmick, ala the Road Warriors or Demolition. A Cleric or Warpriest of a dark god could be your Undertaker. The Flame Dancer Bard archetype could be Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat when he used to come out breathing fire.

Once you’ve got your character all you need now are your wrestling moves. Strikes are fairly easy with unarmed strikes being more than just punches and kicks. What about some of the big finishers. Unarmed strike works for most of those two, all you need as an added feat or ability. Stone Cold Stunner. Just using stunning fist and describe the move just like SCA would do it. Want to try a spear like edge? Pick a feat that lets you get a trip action as part of an attack. The second in the Cudgeler style line does just that on a charge. Combat should be full of great description and you can work in just about any move with the right feat.

Have you ever made a pro wrestler in one of your games? Have you ever been inspired by a wrestler to make a character? Has a player ever used combat performance feats in your game?

Whatcha gonna do, brother, when the CRB runs wild on you? If the CRB has pinned you for the 1-2-3 perhaps you’ll consider becoming a contributor to my Patreon. If you’d like to see more of the CRB follow me on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter to become a part of the CRB family. My inbox is always open on all platforms.