So yeah, in case you hadn't noticed Shiro is a homebrew race, a Dragonborn, as I'm feeling generous I'll Put the stats and other such stuff up here, if anyone comes up with some good Alternative Racial Traits or extra feats stick them in the comments, and I'll throw them into the mix with your name in brackets.
The Dragonborn (RP 26-27, Thanks to Saint_Yin, for doing the maths)
Physical Description
Physically, Dragonborn are an imposing species, towering over all but the tallest of Humans and elves, with a powerful build reminiscent of their Draconic ancestry. However their scale colour, horn patterns, and markings vary wildly from individual to individual; a Red Dragonborn can be bright crimson in colour, or have dull rusty scales, however it is somewhat hereditary; A Red parent and a Gold Parent may have a Red, Gold, or Brass hatchling, but they are unlikely to have a Silver or White offspring, as such, Dragonborn clans tend to not put much stock into scale colour.
However as Dragonborn resemble their Draconic ancestors so much, their facial structure is largely static, lacking lips and complicated facial musculature, often making them hard to read emotionally, however they often denote emotion by either swinging their tails or through their choice in words.
Male and Female Dragonborn have very little difference in their appearance, besides the Females having wider hips and a slight softening of their facial features, however Females do have a taste for ornamentation with fin studs, tail hoops, armlets, bracelets, and anklets on display when they are socialising.
Society
Dragonborn society is somewhat nomadic, while it is not unheard of for Dragonborn to found villages, small towns and, very rarely, cities, it is very rare for large numbers of Dragonborn to maintain a permanent residence there, instead leaving a Token defensive force to watch over the settlement's farms, workshops and keep the peace, while a large majority of the population form into multiple small clan groups, usually somewhere between 20-100 members strong depending on the size of the settlement, and travel looking for Mercenary work; as such a Dragonborn settlement rarely has a stable population due to mercenary "Clan Companies" often packing up bags and leaving for long periods of time.
The normal population of a settlement is made up of the Wounded who can still farm, teach combat, create weaponry, or perform one of the other necessary tasks to keep the settlement running, and a single Clan that are letting their warriors heal, however most settlements have enough resources to manage 3 Clans for a short period of time.
While growing up most Dragonborn hatchlings are taught the basics of
fighting from about the age of 5, which is quickly followed by the clan
elder teaching them what little history is actually certainly known,
alongside the myths and legends of Dragonborn culture
Scale colour is usually a non-issue in Dragonborn society, a White can lead a clan group of Greens, Brasses, and Bronzes if he proves himself to be a physically strong, charismatic and tactically sound leader, however Purer colours are seen as socially attractive, with metallic Males and chromatic Females, and some of their legendary figures, such as the Son and Daughter of Io, the founders of their race, are seen as being Platinum scaled, or Prismatic scaled, incorporating all of the scale colours in a single pure radiance.
However Dragonborn culture does put a lot of emphasis on physical skill and verbal eloquence, with Dragonborn bards preferring to tell their stories with wordplay, rather than music. If an important position has to be filled and there are multiple, suitable, applicants the position will normally be decided by a physical contest of skill, or a match of wits before an audience.
Relations with other species
Dragonborn do not have the best relationship with other species, mostly talked about as overly simple mercenaries who'll do anything for something that only looks valuable, or as cold, calculating killers who spend their time profiting from the misfortunes of others, and for their part the Dragonborn find the rest of the world to have their own major faults, and enjoy needling any other species who bring up the Dragonborns faults during a discussion. Elves are viewed as frail and weak, and in extreme cases insinuated to have intimate relations with trees, Dwarves are seen as too rigid and traditional and a long running joke for Dragonborn culture is why Dwarves have such a great supply of Brown Diamonds, and Humans are considered as overly emotional, prone to breaking their word on impulse and letting their negative emotions lead them to make terrible decisions on a regular basis.
Strangely, on the rare occasion that they meet, Dragonborn and Kobolds maintain a fairly civil, if strained, relationship; recognising their common ancestors and the similarity of their histories. However most Dragonborn despise the Kobolds almost natural, and slavish, subservience to true Dragons, while the Kobolds hate the fact that Dragonborn have the power that they want, but refuse to use it to rule over other races, instead using it in the service of others, leading to a simmering enmity that occasionally erupts in incredibly bloody conflict every few decades, especially in areas where Kobolds have a true Dragon sponsor.
Ethics (Alignment) and Religion
In terms of religion Dragonborn have almost no use for gods or organised religion; sometimes outright denying their services to churches and high clergy, unless they require a service that the Dragonborn personally agrees with, however this is rare, and while a minority of Dragonborn Mercenary captains will have nothing to do with Divine magic even in the direst of circumstances, others will readily make use of a priests healing services if they find it advantageous, make a small donation as thanks, and then leave. The few Dragonborn that do take to Divine magic in battle usually worship either Cayden Cailean, Gorum, or Irori as gods that allow their worshippers to be free to worship in their own way, whether that is doing the right thing, proving one's strength in battle, or seeking personal strength, or draw some form of Divine power from powerful figures in their myths and legends such as "He Who Tamed The Storm".
Ethically, Dragonborn usually have a personal code of ethics that they follow loosely, no matter what situation they find themselves in, for example, if a Dragonborn dislikes slavery they will still help a slaver recapture escapees, however they will charge far more as payment than they would for killing bandits and if one of the escaped slaves has enough to make a suitable counter offer, the Dragonborn will help them escape before returning the slaver's money if at all possible. However, no Dragonborn will lie about a contract, and if they discover that they have been lied to about a contract they will either rescind their services until they hear the complete truth, or just leave a job unfinished if they feel the lie was too great.
Adventurers
Dragonborn often travel as part of a mercenary group, but if work is currently unavailable, or multiple clans are resting, it isn't unheard of for the younger Dragonborn to go adventuring in order to gain experience and reputation. Due to their training most Dragonborn tend towards Martial classes such as Fighter, Barbarian, Cavalier, and Bards.
Standard Racial Traits
+2 STR, +2 CON, +2 CHA, -4 WIS, Dragonborn are Strong, Resilient, and Vocally Persuasive, but their over-confident natures lead them into easily avoidable situations.
Size: Dragonborn are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties from their size.
Type: Dragonborn have the Dragon type
Speed: 30ft
Languages: Dragonborn begin play speaking Common and Draconic. Dragonborn with high Intelligence scores can learn the following languages: Dwarven, Elven, Halfling, Ancient (A single relevant ancient language of the DM's choosing), or Orc.
Defensive Traits
+2 Natural Armour
Immunity vs Sleep & Paralysis
Resist 5 to your Breath Weapons Energy Type (Optional, my DM thinks I should have, but it should be a Feat of some sort)
Feats & Skill Traits
Historic: +2 to Know(History), and Know(History) always considered a Class Skill
Intimidating: +2 to Intimidate, and Intimidate is always a Class Skill
Senses Traits
Low-Light Vision
Darkvision (60ft, Monochromatic)
Offensive Traits
Dragon Breath: 1/day See table below
Black - 30 ft line, Acid
Blue - 30ft line, Electric
Brass - 30ft line, Fire
Bronze - 30ft line, Electric
Copper - 30ft line, Acid
Gold - 15ft Cone, Fire
Green - 15ft Cone, Acid
Red - 15ft Cone, Fire
Silver - 15ft Cone, Cold
White - 15ft Cone, Cold
Reflex Halves DC = 10+1/2HD+CON)
Damage increases by 2d6 at every 5th level, dealing 2d6 at lvl 1, then 4d6 at lvl 5, 6d6 at lvl 10, 8d6 at lvl 15, 10d6 at lvl 20, this progression continues into Epic levels.
Alternate Traits
Racial Feats
Draconic Claws
Prerequisites: Dragonborn
Benefit: Your hands turn into claws, each deals 1d4 + STR damage, these are considered primary natural weapons.
Draconic Wings
Prerequisites: Dragonborn, Character level 5th
Benefit: Your vestigial wings grow strong enough to carry you aloft, poorly, gain a Fly speed of 50(Clumsy).
Expanded Breath
Prerequisites: Dragonborn, Character level 7th
Benefit: Your Breath weapon now covers a larger area, Lines are extended to 60ft, and Cones cover 30ft.
Extra Breath
Prerequisites: Dragonborn, Character level 7th,
Benefit: You can now use your Dragon Breath an extra 2 times per day, however your breath takes 1d4+2 rounds to recharge.
Flexible Tail
Prerequisites: Dragonborn
Benefit: You gain a Tail Swipe attack that deals 1d8 + 1/2 STR damage as a secondary natural weapon, and you gain a +4 on climb checks and acrobatics Checks made to balance.
Greater Resistance
Prerequisites: Dragonborn Character lvl 3, 7, 11, 19
Benefit: You grow ever more used to the violent magical energies inside you, your energy resistance increases by 5 against your breath weapon energy type.
Special: This feat may be taken after each level show in the prerequisites, increasing your resistance by 5 each time. If the feat is taken after lvl 19 you gain immunity to your chosen energy type.
Practised Flier
Prerequisites: Draconic Wings, Character level 9th
Benefits: Your Fly Speed Increases to 60(Good), and Fly is now considered a Class Skill for you
Shape Breath
Prerequisites: Dragonborn, Character level 5th
Benefit: You can now use either a 30ft Line or 15ft Cone template for your breath Weapon. This feat is altered by Expanded Breath to a 60ft Line or 30ft Cone.
Variable Breath
Prerequisites: Dragonborn, Character level 9th
Benefit: Choose another energy type, you can now choose which energy type you are using when you use your breath weapon. This choice has to be declared before enemies roll their saves.
Saturday, 27 December 2014
Wednesday, 24 December 2014
Character Growth: House of Flying Blades
So something a little different from my previous Character Growth posts this is more along the lines of a Character Build, so for now let me espouse on the building of a character built to make the most of Attacks of Opportunity.
The Whirlwind of Steel
So there are 4 things we need to take advantage of for this character build
1: Combat Reflexes, this feat allows you to make as many AoO as your DEX+1, compared to the single AoO that every character gets.
2: Weapon Finesse, Unless you want to MAD both your STR and DEX, Weapon Finesse will give you your DEX to your attack rolls instead of your STR, and synchronises well with Combat Reflexes.
2b: While it's not rules legal to give a Flying Blade Weapon Finesse, but the weapon came out in a later book than Weapon Finesse, so an understanding DM will most likely let you have this, if not, you gotta get MAD.
3:Heirloom Weapon, this trait gives you a +1 Trait bonus on AoO with a Heirloom weapon passed down by your family members EDIT: This trait cannot be taken with the "Flying Blade" weapon, as it's an exotic weapon, my mistake.
4: Flying Blade, this Exotic Weapon deals 1d12 damage, has a Crit Zone of 20(x3), and takes a -2 on regular attacks, in exchange for a +2 on AoO, alongside reach. (Found in Ultimate Combat, Paizo)
4b: While the flat rules for Reach say a Reach weapon can't be used to attack an adjacent foe, the Flying Blade is attached to a flexible chain for spinning it around, you could reasonably ask your DM to allow you to attack adjacent foes with a minor penalty.
So just to start we need a character with High DEX, STR, and at least 13 INT, and 3 feats, or Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Flying Blade) and 2 feats, making the best fit either a Fighter (Any Race), a Scout Rogue Archetype (Human/Tengu), or a Kensai Magus Archetype (Human/Tengu).
Once these starting points have been met, there are another 3 things you need to achieve
5: Get Dodge and Mobility, a somewhat aggravating feat tax for several necessary feats that will help this build take off, but the +1 Dodge to AC, and the +4 vs AoO will be useful, even if it's not outstanding.
6: Get Combat Patrol, this allows you to increase the range at which enemies provoke AoO from you at the cost of movement, meaning your next step is to.
7: Boost your movement speed, any way you can, if you're a Fighter, grab Fleet a couple of times with your plethora of bonus feats, if you're a Rogue grab a wand of Haste or expeditious retreat, if you're a Magus, learn Haste, and regardless of class, grab one of the following Boots of Striding and Springing, Feather Step Slippers, Boots of Speed, or Boots of the Raptor (3rd Party)
So at this point this build is starting to come together, as a Fighter you'll be getting these feats earlier, so you should have an easier time spotting and shoring up any weak points that reveal themselves, before the final few touches.
8: Spring Attack & Combat Expertise, another 2 tax feats, Spring Attack is useful as a feat that helps with mobility in situations where enemies aren't provoking AoO from your Combat Patrol, Combat Expertise however is a TAX, pure and simple.
9: Whirlwind Attack: the point of the 2 feats above, and most likely the last feat you'll get in this build unless you're playing a Fighter, this feat allows you to attack everything in range of your weapon as a Full Round Action, with a reach weapon that comes out to 16 squares of attack, meaning that your enemies can't simply just gang up on you to shut down your Combat Patrol without some punishment coming down on them.
10:Weapon Enhancements, Keen, Heart-seeking, Element of Choice, +1 at minimum, I would advise against getting any ability that activates on a crit as the crit range for this weapon is as small as possible.
11: If you have any spare feats at this point they'd be best spent on stuff that just boosts your to hit chance, Weapon Focus (Flying Blade), Greater Weapon Focus (Fighter or Kensai), Disruptive and Spellbreaker are good choices if you find yourself going up against Casters (Fighter or Kensai), teleport tactician may be a useful choice, if somewhat niche.
So by endgame, you should be able to, at least, make Attacks of Opportunity against opponents across the map, attack any foe who decides that keeping you from moving would be a good idea, and present a serious problem to spellcasters regardless of the distance they stay away from you.
As for everything else, Weapon Groups, Rogue Talents, or Magus Arcana, that's entirely up to you, but as always, have fun, and go out swinging.
The Whirlwind of Steel
So there are 4 things we need to take advantage of for this character build
1: Combat Reflexes, this feat allows you to make as many AoO as your DEX+1, compared to the single AoO that every character gets.
2: Weapon Finesse, Unless you want to MAD both your STR and DEX, Weapon Finesse will give you your DEX to your attack rolls instead of your STR, and synchronises well with Combat Reflexes.
2b: While it's not rules legal to give a Flying Blade Weapon Finesse, but the weapon came out in a later book than Weapon Finesse, so an understanding DM will most likely let you have this, if not, you gotta get MAD.
3:
4: Flying Blade, this Exotic Weapon deals 1d12 damage, has a Crit Zone of 20(x3), and takes a -2 on regular attacks, in exchange for a +2 on AoO, alongside reach. (Found in Ultimate Combat, Paizo)
4b: While the flat rules for Reach say a Reach weapon can't be used to attack an adjacent foe, the Flying Blade is attached to a flexible chain for spinning it around, you could reasonably ask your DM to allow you to attack adjacent foes with a minor penalty.
So just to start we need a character with High DEX, STR, and at least 13 INT, and 3 feats, or Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Flying Blade) and 2 feats, making the best fit either a Fighter (Any Race), a Scout Rogue Archetype (Human/Tengu), or a Kensai Magus Archetype (Human/Tengu).
Once these starting points have been met, there are another 3 things you need to achieve
5: Get Dodge and Mobility, a somewhat aggravating feat tax for several necessary feats that will help this build take off, but the +1 Dodge to AC, and the +4 vs AoO will be useful, even if it's not outstanding.
6: Get Combat Patrol, this allows you to increase the range at which enemies provoke AoO from you at the cost of movement, meaning your next step is to.
7: Boost your movement speed, any way you can, if you're a Fighter, grab Fleet a couple of times with your plethora of bonus feats, if you're a Rogue grab a wand of Haste or expeditious retreat, if you're a Magus, learn Haste, and regardless of class, grab one of the following Boots of Striding and Springing, Feather Step Slippers, Boots of Speed, or Boots of the Raptor (3rd Party)
So at this point this build is starting to come together, as a Fighter you'll be getting these feats earlier, so you should have an easier time spotting and shoring up any weak points that reveal themselves, before the final few touches.
8: Spring Attack & Combat Expertise, another 2 tax feats, Spring Attack is useful as a feat that helps with mobility in situations where enemies aren't provoking AoO from your Combat Patrol, Combat Expertise however is a TAX, pure and simple.
9: Whirlwind Attack: the point of the 2 feats above, and most likely the last feat you'll get in this build unless you're playing a Fighter, this feat allows you to attack everything in range of your weapon as a Full Round Action, with a reach weapon that comes out to 16 squares of attack, meaning that your enemies can't simply just gang up on you to shut down your Combat Patrol without some punishment coming down on them.
10:Weapon Enhancements, Keen, Heart-seeking, Element of Choice, +1 at minimum, I would advise against getting any ability that activates on a crit as the crit range for this weapon is as small as possible.
11: If you have any spare feats at this point they'd be best spent on stuff that just boosts your to hit chance, Weapon Focus (Flying Blade), Greater Weapon Focus (Fighter or Kensai), Disruptive and Spellbreaker are good choices if you find yourself going up against Casters (Fighter or Kensai), teleport tactician may be a useful choice, if somewhat niche.
So by endgame, you should be able to, at least, make Attacks of Opportunity against opponents across the map, attack any foe who decides that keeping you from moving would be a good idea, and present a serious problem to spellcasters regardless of the distance they stay away from you.
As for everything else, Weapon Groups, Rogue Talents, or Magus Arcana, that's entirely up to you, but as always, have fun, and go out swinging.
Sunday, 21 December 2014
Contract Journal 1: Bandits in the Swamps
Been a while since I last had to dust you off, eh.
Managed to get a new contract, finally, maybe I'll get something interesting to do for a change, but I doubt it, it's just clearing out bandits, again.
Agreed upon rates, 220 per pair of ears (Notifying mark is a small tattoo), and 500 per bandit leader.
Signatories, Shiro, the Clanless, and Guard Captain of Mechanist.
So first things first, got to organise transport for myself and 4 others to the Town of Drellin, further in the swamps, which has apparently been set upon by several organised groups of Bandits in the last few days. Victor keeps crowing about how he can summon us ghostly steeds to carry us above the water, but given the fact that we don't know exactly what we're going to be going up against I told him to not bother, and just look for something more mundane.
Luckily we didn't have to look for long, a resident of the area, who calls himself "Ducky", offered to ferry us "Fine looking adventuring types" for a "Small fee" of 4 gp each, which we decided to accept after seeing his boat, which looks fine, apart from the holes, and the stench of fish, and the dark, ooze that seems to have filled several recesses on the hull.
Interesting note,"Many Names" is seasick, clearly we need to use boats for transport more often.
After an hour or so we entered the first of the Mangrove trees, this swamp air is starting to disagree with me, and according to Lily and "Many Names" we were being followed by something on the banks, is it wrong that I want the bandits to have tamed ape-men, and use them for combat, but nothing materialised from the trees, during that leg of the journey.
And we've come to a fork that our intrepid guide doesn't remember existing, I told people to take the right fork, but did anyone listen to me, of course not.
And now with a 5 minute break to argue, and reconsider, and to form a committee, and argue, and panic, and argue some more, before deciding yes we'll go down the right fork. At least Chak shows some tactical sense and suggested that we try to confuse our pursuers by using an illusion of ourselves going down the other fork, combined with a cloud of fog summoned by Victor, got our pursuer's off our backs and going the wrong way.
After moving far enough down river, we disembarked from the boat, covering it with debris from the riverbank, and leaving Ducky behind to protect the boat.
We quickly came across a lone bandit collecting firewood, which we proceeded to capture, with the intention of interrogating him for information, before being rudely interrupted by another two bandits, who were promptly dispatched, and de-eared, which may have had something to do with our captive's sudden show of compliance, that and Chak took his ears off with a dagger, on a surrendered opponent.
Luckily our captive was able to tell us about one of the three camps, and give us some basic information on the camps boss, Clayton, at which point we managed to formulate a fairly basic plan, which goes as follows.
Step 1) The rest of the group hide in the trees around me as I walk up to the bandit camp, and challenge their leader to single combat, where if I win they surrender, and come in willingly, and if I lose I lose.
Step 2) If the bandits cheat, I mean when the bandits cheat, the rest of the group springs from hiding and uses their surprise appearance to their advantage.
And the plan worked, mostly, Lily failed to hide successfully and walked into the bandit camp with me, where we were bound with leather straps, and almost thrown in a pit before I gave the signal. After that it was an easy enough fight, the bandits cleaned up with no difficulty, although I hope none of the bandits escaped to warn the other camps.
Managed to get a new contract, finally, maybe I'll get something interesting to do for a change, but I doubt it, it's just clearing out bandits, again.
Agreed upon rates, 220 per pair of ears (Notifying mark is a small tattoo), and 500 per bandit leader.
Signatories, Shiro, the Clanless, and Guard Captain of Mechanist.
So first things first, got to organise transport for myself and 4 others to the Town of Drellin, further in the swamps, which has apparently been set upon by several organised groups of Bandits in the last few days. Victor keeps crowing about how he can summon us ghostly steeds to carry us above the water, but given the fact that we don't know exactly what we're going to be going up against I told him to not bother, and just look for something more mundane.
Luckily we didn't have to look for long, a resident of the area, who calls himself "Ducky", offered to ferry us "Fine looking adventuring types" for a "Small fee" of 4 gp each, which we decided to accept after seeing his boat, which looks fine, apart from the holes, and the stench of fish, and the dark, ooze that seems to have filled several recesses on the hull.
Interesting note,"Many Names" is seasick, clearly we need to use boats for transport more often.
After an hour or so we entered the first of the Mangrove trees, this swamp air is starting to disagree with me, and according to Lily and "Many Names" we were being followed by something on the banks, is it wrong that I want the bandits to have tamed ape-men, and use them for combat, but nothing materialised from the trees, during that leg of the journey.
And we've come to a fork that our intrepid guide doesn't remember existing, I told people to take the right fork, but did anyone listen to me, of course not.
And now with a 5 minute break to argue, and reconsider, and to form a committee, and argue, and panic, and argue some more, before deciding yes we'll go down the right fork. At least Chak shows some tactical sense and suggested that we try to confuse our pursuers by using an illusion of ourselves going down the other fork, combined with a cloud of fog summoned by Victor, got our pursuer's off our backs and going the wrong way.
After moving far enough down river, we disembarked from the boat, covering it with debris from the riverbank, and leaving Ducky behind to protect the boat.
We quickly came across a lone bandit collecting firewood, which we proceeded to capture, with the intention of interrogating him for information, before being rudely interrupted by another two bandits, who were promptly dispatched, and de-eared, which may have had something to do with our captive's sudden show of compliance, that and Chak took his ears off with a dagger, on a surrendered opponent.
Luckily our captive was able to tell us about one of the three camps, and give us some basic information on the camps boss, Clayton, at which point we managed to formulate a fairly basic plan, which goes as follows.
Step 1) The rest of the group hide in the trees around me as I walk up to the bandit camp, and challenge their leader to single combat, where if I win they surrender, and come in willingly, and if I lose I lose.
Step 2) If the bandits cheat, I mean when the bandits cheat, the rest of the group springs from hiding and uses their surprise appearance to their advantage.
And the plan worked, mostly, Lily failed to hide successfully and walked into the bandit camp with me, where we were bound with leather straps, and almost thrown in a pit before I gave the signal. After that it was an easy enough fight, the bandits cleaned up with no difficulty, although I hope none of the bandits escaped to warn the other camps.
Saturday, 20 December 2014
The Motliest crew of Ne'er Do Wells
I realise this one's a little late, but I wanted to play a couple of sessions before writing up anything on the other characters in the campaign, otherwise I might have misrepresented them.
Firstly is Lily a Changeling Druid, played by C
It occurs to me that I should at least be trying to keep notes on this band of ne'er do wells that I seem to have accrued recently, for tactical and social reasons, that and I can remember who exactly is violently sea-sick.
So let's start with the least personally offensive, Lily; judging by the little I've seen her do in combat, or in anything really, I'd assume she's a Druid, but I'm not 100% certain, either way she's certainly quiet and reserved, not speaking up in any situation unless I press her for an opinion, and even then she's fairly monosyllabic. I suppose when you can summon and control your own lightning cloud, you don't need to say much at all. I've got no real problems with her and I don't expect to really meet any.
Next up is Victor, an Elf Wizard, Conjurer, played by M
And swiftly following her up on the problems scale is Victor, who by all of his accounts is a Wizard, and the Wizardiest Wizard of all, and his Familiar Ludin, a Dust Mephit who he has rather disturbingly dressed up as a 12 year old Girl, and constantly insists that we refer to her as we would a normal child. The fact that he has never shown his face to us either is somewhat disturbing, but I have no reason to believe that he actively means the party any harm, still the fact he throws around his spells openly does not instil me with confidence of his mental state.
Followed Swiftly by Chak, a Ratfolk Bard, played by K
And Chak, oh dear, Chak. He introduced himself so well, seemed interested in actually forming a group in order to make some money, and do some good, and then shattered all of our trust in him by cheating at cards, over copper pieces. He says it was just to test our skills, and while I may appreciate the excuse, it doesn't alter the fact that he tried it multiple times, and despite his argument of, "I wouldn't adventure with someone whose skills I don't know" the fact we had to catch him doing it breaks any trust he had, and once trust is so easily broken, it is much harder to repair. Can sing really well though.
And Lastly "Royce", a Human Knife-Master Rogue, Played by A
And now we finally get to "I Have Many Names, Some Call Me the Black Fox, Some Call Me the Scoundrel, Mostly the Ladies Call Me the Scoundrel", IHMNSCMTBFSCMTSMTLCMTS for short, or "Many Names" for when I don't want to lose my mind. He's as quiet as Lily, as trustworthy as Chak, and as serious as Victor, and the only person to openly challenge my leadership, and do it incompetently at that, "What can you sit on, but not take with you? A Chair" A chair my cold, scaly ass, I could carry the Clockwork throne of Mechanist across the world without tiring. A prolific womaniser, I'm waiting until I see him in combat to judge whether or not I want him around, still if he's half the thief he claims to be I can find a use for him, liking him or not is a secondary matter.
Saturday, 6 December 2014
The Bloody Past Revealed, Meet Shiro the Wanderer
So Gulag's dead, alongside several other people, and the DM has decided to move his campaign away from the ancient, undead infested library where we last left "The Dead Men" meaning that not only have I rolled up Gulag's replacement, Shiro the Wanderer, but everyone else has rolled up new characters as well, so that's 2 blog posts right there, but for now I'll focus on Shiro.
(Once again using the Pathfinder and 3.5 rules, although the DM allowed me access to a homebrew race that he helped me build)
Shiro is a Dragonborn (if you guys start yelling Fus-Ro-Dah over the internet I'll do nothing because you're safe behind the internet), who wants for nothing in particular, other than gold to buy food, a villain to kill for gold, and a history book to read while drinking booze. Maybe he'll try to find the mage who killed his entire clan in a single night of blood and fire, maybe he'll tell tall tales in a town tavern for a tankard of ale, maybe he'll wander into a ruin for a chance to find some unexplored facet of the world's history; but whatever he does, at that point in time it'll be the best choice he can make, and he'll do it regardless of what he has to personally sacrifice.
Personality wise, Shiro is mellow enough to roll with life's punches and while he is often openly sarcastic, foul-mouthed, and dismissive, he tries to restrain himself from taking the violent option; even after threatening such an outcome. He's also fairly physically competitive, while he might not openly challenge others to display feats of strength, he will unconsciously try to one up them when such things come up.
As a combatant Shiro is a powerhouse (Class is Fighter, with the stacked archetypes of Two-Handed Weapon Fighter, and Dungeon Crasher from D&D 3.5), charging straight into the centre of any melee and striking at any opponent within reach with his sword Strength of the Betrayed (also known as Angelslayer's Fang, Truth Seeker, Blade of Regicide, Poison of the Weak, and Rebellion), or throwing his opponents around with enough force the not only break his opponents against walls, but break the walls as well.
At the moment Shiro is travelling with the party in an attempt to find a cure to the Rune-Plague that is sweeping the southern Marshes of Ark, and hopefully make some money doing so.
(Once again using the Pathfinder and 3.5 rules, although the DM allowed me access to a homebrew race that he helped me build)
Shiro is a Dragonborn (if you guys start yelling Fus-Ro-Dah over the internet I'll do nothing because you're safe behind the internet), who wants for nothing in particular, other than gold to buy food, a villain to kill for gold, and a history book to read while drinking booze. Maybe he'll try to find the mage who killed his entire clan in a single night of blood and fire, maybe he'll tell tall tales in a town tavern for a tankard of ale, maybe he'll wander into a ruin for a chance to find some unexplored facet of the world's history; but whatever he does, at that point in time it'll be the best choice he can make, and he'll do it regardless of what he has to personally sacrifice.
Personality wise, Shiro is mellow enough to roll with life's punches and while he is often openly sarcastic, foul-mouthed, and dismissive, he tries to restrain himself from taking the violent option; even after threatening such an outcome. He's also fairly physically competitive, while he might not openly challenge others to display feats of strength, he will unconsciously try to one up them when such things come up.
As a combatant Shiro is a powerhouse (Class is Fighter, with the stacked archetypes of Two-Handed Weapon Fighter, and Dungeon Crasher from D&D 3.5), charging straight into the centre of any melee and striking at any opponent within reach with his sword Strength of the Betrayed (also known as Angelslayer's Fang, Truth Seeker, Blade of Regicide, Poison of the Weak, and Rebellion), or throwing his opponents around with enough force the not only break his opponents against walls, but break the walls as well.
At the moment Shiro is travelling with the party in an attempt to find a cure to the Rune-Plague that is sweeping the southern Marshes of Ark, and hopefully make some money doing so.
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Mechanical Talk: Taking the Initiative
Hey all, how ya doing?
I've been thinking on this a bunch and while I'm not one-hundred percent certain, initiative really feels like a gamist concept.
Now I'm not going to say it's wrong the way it's handled in games, after all you're attempting to simulate how a person responds to sudden combat, fast people can suddenly fumble all of their actions as the shock of aggressive actions stuns them, and slow, clumsy people can respond to their aggressors in a matter of moments. A D20 which gives you a certain level of luck on these rolls is a good way of simulating luck, but once it's been rolled Initiative remains static and unchanging, and for a mechanic that's supposed to represent the chaotic nature of actions in combat that's just a little bit naff.
Now there's nothing to be done about the fact that initiative is a gamist concept, even rolling for initiative is unrealistic, and simulationist, but there are a couple of ways of changing up the system, some of which are better than others, and others which help give the feeling of being in a very chaotic fight with advantage shifting from fighter to fighter.
So with that said let's get started
Method 1: The Regular Method
I've already said what I feel needs to be said on this systems disadvantages, but it's a good system for a simple non-important fight, 5 Heroes vs 30 Goblins, sort of thing, it's simple, easy enough to track, and only requires one roll, and can be house-ruled easily enough.
Popular house rules involve, +WIS to your initiative, natural 1 means you don't act in the first round, and only taking one action each in the first round.
Method 2: The Re-roll Method
This method is good for representing a chaotic fight between roughly equal forces, both in power and number. At the beginning of the fight everyone rolls initiative, goes in that order, and at the end of the first round, depending on how you want to rule it, either everyone or just the people who want to, re-roll their initiative for the next round, before the fight continues.
Now obviously this method requires more book-keeping on the part of the DM and players, so it might not be suitable for a singular DM, or an inexperienced DM, but as I said it can help set the scene for a chaotic bar-fight, or a melee on top of a city wall where combat flow is often prone to change and tracking large amounts of initiatives isn't an issue.
Method 3: The Direct Roll Method
This method is just another version of method 1, but it does warrant it's own title if only because whenever it comes up it seems to carry a stigma. This method completely ignores any positive stat modifiers that might alter the Initiative roll, and just relies on the roll of a D20. If a slow Fighter with a DEX of -1 rolls an 18, and the nimble Rogue with a DEX of +5 rolls a 15, well too bad the fighter's going first, he rolled higher, you want to go first, roll higher next time fuckwad.
Now this method may be almost completely luck based, but it does have it's advantages, surprise rounds for one, you're flat-footed and unable to respond, I wouldn't allow you to add your positive DEX mod to an initiative roll in the that round; negative modifiers still apply, but that's because that makes sense for that particular situation, and really if you're unlucky enough to still be rolling a penalty stat in these days of Stat buy and 4d6 , re-roll low, drop low then either cover for it with tactics or suffer for your shitty luck
Method 4: The Direct Stat Method
Kinda similar to the above Method 3, but instead of rolling a D20 and going with that, your Dexterity score is your initiative in combat, only way to change it is through magical items that increase your dexterity score, or Improved Initiative.
It's not very fun, but it requires almost no book-keeping on the DM's part, and can be altered simply to be Dex Score + DEX mod, or roll but you can't roll above your Dex score + your DEX mod. (Eg, a Alchemist with a Dexterity of 17, and a mod of +3, couldn't roll above a 20)
Method 5: The -10 Step Method
This method might be my favourite in concept, but I've never got to play it, so I can't speak for it's effectiveness, but at the start of combat everyone rolls their Initiative and throughout the turn, acts at their initiative, and again at the initiative -10, -20, -30, until the initiative reaches 0, and everyone re-rolls initiative.
This one might be a little hard to explain via words, so I'll quickly do an example
Initiatives:
Rogue 23,
Fighter 9,
Wizard 16,
Cleric 13,
Goblin A 19,
Goblin B 5,
Goblin C (Nat 20 so +10) 33.
So the turn order should look like this
Goblin C Acts at 33
Goblin C acts before Rogue at 23
Rogue Acts at 23
Goblin A acts at 19
Wizard acts at 16
Goblin C before Rogue and Cleric at 13
Rogue acts before Cleric at 13
Cleric acts at 13
Goblin A acts before Fighter at 9
Fighter acts at 9
Wizard acts at 6
Goblin B acts at 5
Goblin C acts before Rogue and Cleric at 3
Rogue acts before Cleric at 3
Clerics acts at 3
Initiative reaches 0, everyone re-rolls
As you can see if someone rolls luckily on Initiative, or has put a lot of time, money and Feats into improving their initiative, they get a lot more chances to alter the way combat happens, but this method is also immensely complicated and requires far more book-keeping than any other method shown above, and I wouldn't recommend this method for large combats, but I would say to use it for duels, climatic final fights, and small but important combats.
It all depends on how much book-keeping you want to do mostly, and while most people are plenty happy with method1, it's all up to you if you want to spice up your combat.
and if you do so take the initiative, Carpe Jugulum.
I've been thinking on this a bunch and while I'm not one-hundred percent certain, initiative really feels like a gamist concept.
Now I'm not going to say it's wrong the way it's handled in games, after all you're attempting to simulate how a person responds to sudden combat, fast people can suddenly fumble all of their actions as the shock of aggressive actions stuns them, and slow, clumsy people can respond to their aggressors in a matter of moments. A D20 which gives you a certain level of luck on these rolls is a good way of simulating luck, but once it's been rolled Initiative remains static and unchanging, and for a mechanic that's supposed to represent the chaotic nature of actions in combat that's just a little bit naff.
Now there's nothing to be done about the fact that initiative is a gamist concept, even rolling for initiative is unrealistic, and simulationist, but there are a couple of ways of changing up the system, some of which are better than others, and others which help give the feeling of being in a very chaotic fight with advantage shifting from fighter to fighter.
So with that said let's get started
Method 1: The Regular Method
I've already said what I feel needs to be said on this systems disadvantages, but it's a good system for a simple non-important fight, 5 Heroes vs 30 Goblins, sort of thing, it's simple, easy enough to track, and only requires one roll, and can be house-ruled easily enough.
Popular house rules involve, +WIS to your initiative, natural 1 means you don't act in the first round, and only taking one action each in the first round.
Method 2: The Re-roll Method
This method is good for representing a chaotic fight between roughly equal forces, both in power and number. At the beginning of the fight everyone rolls initiative, goes in that order, and at the end of the first round, depending on how you want to rule it, either everyone or just the people who want to, re-roll their initiative for the next round, before the fight continues.
Now obviously this method requires more book-keeping on the part of the DM and players, so it might not be suitable for a singular DM, or an inexperienced DM, but as I said it can help set the scene for a chaotic bar-fight, or a melee on top of a city wall where combat flow is often prone to change and tracking large amounts of initiatives isn't an issue.
Method 3: The Direct Roll Method
This method is just another version of method 1, but it does warrant it's own title if only because whenever it comes up it seems to carry a stigma. This method completely ignores any positive stat modifiers that might alter the Initiative roll, and just relies on the roll of a D20. If a slow Fighter with a DEX of -1 rolls an 18, and the nimble Rogue with a DEX of +5 rolls a 15, well too bad the fighter's going first, he rolled higher, you want to go first, roll higher next time fuckwad.
Now this method may be almost completely luck based, but it does have it's advantages, surprise rounds for one, you're flat-footed and unable to respond, I wouldn't allow you to add your positive DEX mod to an initiative roll in the that round; negative modifiers still apply, but that's because that makes sense for that particular situation, and really if you're unlucky enough to still be rolling a penalty stat in these days of Stat buy and 4d6 , re-roll low, drop low then either cover for it with tactics or suffer for your shitty luck
Method 4: The Direct Stat Method
Kinda similar to the above Method 3, but instead of rolling a D20 and going with that, your Dexterity score is your initiative in combat, only way to change it is through magical items that increase your dexterity score, or Improved Initiative.
It's not very fun, but it requires almost no book-keeping on the DM's part, and can be altered simply to be Dex Score + DEX mod, or roll but you can't roll above your Dex score + your DEX mod. (Eg, a Alchemist with a Dexterity of 17, and a mod of +3, couldn't roll above a 20)
Method 5: The -10 Step Method
This method might be my favourite in concept, but I've never got to play it, so I can't speak for it's effectiveness, but at the start of combat everyone rolls their Initiative and throughout the turn, acts at their initiative, and again at the initiative -10, -20, -30, until the initiative reaches 0, and everyone re-rolls initiative.
This one might be a little hard to explain via words, so I'll quickly do an example
Initiatives:
Rogue 23,
Fighter 9,
Wizard 16,
Cleric 13,
Goblin A 19,
Goblin B 5,
Goblin C (Nat 20 so +10) 33.
So the turn order should look like this
Goblin C Acts at 33
Goblin C acts before Rogue at 23
Rogue Acts at 23
Goblin A acts at 19
Wizard acts at 16
Goblin C before Rogue and Cleric at 13
Rogue acts before Cleric at 13
Cleric acts at 13
Goblin A acts before Fighter at 9
Fighter acts at 9
Wizard acts at 6
Goblin B acts at 5
Goblin C acts before Rogue and Cleric at 3
Rogue acts before Cleric at 3
Clerics acts at 3
Initiative reaches 0, everyone re-rolls
As you can see if someone rolls luckily on Initiative, or has put a lot of time, money and Feats into improving their initiative, they get a lot more chances to alter the way combat happens, but this method is also immensely complicated and requires far more book-keeping than any other method shown above, and I wouldn't recommend this method for large combats, but I would say to use it for duels, climatic final fights, and small but important combats.
It all depends on how much book-keeping you want to do mostly, and while most people are plenty happy with method1, it's all up to you if you want to spice up your combat.
and if you do so take the initiative, Carpe Jugulum.
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