Character Generation

[sulldawga]

I am not aiming to discourage any of you from creating partial PCs but I want to remind you that you're missing out on some of the game's greatest strengths: the Class Abilities.

• A full Warrior can end combat very quickly with Killing Blow and can turn the tide of battle with Veteran's Luck
• A full Expert can turn the tide of a non-combat situation with Masterful Expertise and turns into a Swiss army knife of skills with Quick Learner

Also, Experts and partial Experts with Craft skill can modify and customize gear. This is an underrated and powerful ability.

[Rex]

[sulldawga]

Rex, can you post Ciarra in the Player Characters thread? Make sure you spoiler the form.

[sulldawga]

So we are all on the same page:

The PCs origins are from elsewhere in the Kingdom of Caral (or further afield, if it fits your background) but they have all met on the road to Ket and have already decided to adventure together. If the players agree, I am fine with two or more PCs having been friends before now, but I'm not interested in cliques within the party. Let's all row the boat in the same direction here.

[Rex]

Works for me.

[Enoch]

I am not aiming to discourage any of you from creating partial PCs but I want to remind you that you're missing out on some of the game's greatest strengths: the Class Abilities.

• A full Warrior can end combat very quickly with Killing Blow and can turn the tide of battle with Veteran's Luck
• A full Expert can turn the tide of a non-combat situation with Masterful Expertise and turns into a Swiss army knife of skills with Quick Learner

Also, Experts and partial Experts with Craft skill can modify and customize gear. This is an underrated and powerful ability.

Gah, now you have me wanting to make a full Warrior...

[Rex]

Go for it. I have the Healer covered and the only reason I went with a partial class is you have to to run a Healer.

[Marullus]

I've been mulling this, particularly in the context as other PCs have started to form. Dropping the chiurgion and adding a wilderness shapechanger shifts the group tone - I was waffling between a nature-type or a "grit and darkness" type and it looks like the former is a better fit. Also, my initial instinct of "lets try everything in the Atlas" has been toned down - I liked the Bard as a way to have a socially-resourceful character, but there's other ways to do that... as a player, I'm not sure I can pull off a performance-based character. The bard works best with the interreligious conflict idea, but it doesn't look like there's any takers on that theme. So! Here's a revision that I like better for where we are coallescing.

Gars Ruprect, Taleteller


Gars is a taleteller, an itinerant scholar who can spin an entertaining story of times gone by with easy, likeable charm. He wears a roundshield on his back and a leather longcoat reinforced with patches of woven chain or sewn-in plates over a quilted gambeson that has seen better days - good protection for someone who likely once had more wealth than at present. He has a pack, a dagger at his belt, and carries a long-handled shovel.

Gars knows all the local languages and seems knowledgeable of the histories that once lay across the river. A curiosity, travelling with a loyal, ill-tempered giant boar he calls Lucius. He's dropped word that he's looking for companions going deeper into the wilderness than just the land-grants...

Character Sheet:

Class: Adventurer: Mage (Accursed) / Mage (Beastmaster)
Background: Scholar
STR: 12 (+0)
DEX: 14 (+1)
CON: 8 (+0)
INT: 14 (+1)
WIS: 9 (+0)
CHA: 18 (+2)

Skills:
Connect-0
Know-0
Magic-1
Convince-0
Survival-0
Perform-0
Sneak-0

Combat:
Base Attack Bonus: +0
Hit Points: 5 / 5
Armor Class: 16

Weapons:
Accursed Blade (1-hand): +3 to hit, 1d8+3 damage, Shock: 4/AC 15
Accursed Blade (2-hand): +3 to hit, 2d6+3 damage, Shock: 5/AC 15
Dagger: -1 to hit, 1d4 damage, shock 2 / AC 15
Unarmed: -1 to hit, 1d2 damage, No Shock

Saves:
Physical: 15
Evasion: 14
Mental: 13
Luck: 15

Companion:
Lucius, the Bull Pig. HP: 12 / 12. HD 2. AC: 13. Attack: +3, 1d8 (gore). Move 40'. Morale 9. Instinct 6. Skill +1. Save 14+.

Foci:
Diplomatic Grace: Your skill at personal negotiations is enormous and uncanny. Some might even think it supernatural in nature. Level 1: Gain Convince as a bonus skill. You speak all the languages common to your region of the world and can learn new ones to a workable level in a week, becoming fluent in a month. Reroll 1s on any skill check dice related to negotiation or diplomacy.

Arts:
Bard Effort: 2 / 2
Bind Companion with the The Chosen Friend option: Some Beastmasters form a lifelong bond with a single dear companion. If a PC chooses this option, they can only ever Bind one companion, but it gains the benefit of the Shared Vitality and Mind Call arts automatically. So long as the Beastmaster lives, this chosen friend cannot truly die; if reduced to zero hit points, it disappears, but will manifest again at the Beastmaster’s side the following dawn with its full hit points. Of course, the master is expected to treat this companion as the beloved friend it is, and not as mere battle-fodder.
Shared Vitality: The animal companions you bind have hit dice no lower than your level, even if they normally have far fewer. Thus, a 2 hit die beast bound by a 7th level Beastmaster would have 7 hit dice while it remained bound. Its hit bonus can’t be less than half its hit dice, rounded up. A Beastmaster can stabilize a Mortally Wounded companion by Committing Effort for the scene as an Instant action.
Mind Call: Commit Effort for the scene as an On Turn action. For the rest of the scene you forge a telepathic bond with your animal companion. You can give it orders and receive information from the creature, at least insofar as its limited intellect allows.
Savage Senses: Commit Effort for the scene as an On Turn action. For the remainder of the scene you are capable of seeing clearly even in pitch blackness, can scent out trails and belongings as perfectly as a wolf could, and gain a +2 bonus on all Notice skill checks involving sight, sound, or smell.

Accursed Effort: 3 / 3
Accursed Blade: As an On Turn action, manifest an occult melee weapon as a one-handed 1d8 weapon or a two-handed 2d6 weapon. Both add your Magic skill to the damage roll, have a Shock rating of 2/15, and use Magic as the attack skill and the best of Str, Dex, Int, or Cha as its modifying attribute.
Rob Vitality: Once per scene, as an On Turn action, Commit Effort for the scene and target a visible foe. They must make a Physical save or lose their next Main Action, which you immediately gain instead.

Equipment:
Readied (6)
Reinforced Longcoat (war robe) - Enc 3
Large Shield (+1 AC when wearing armor) - Enc 1
1 Dagger (at belt) - Enc 1
Long-handled Shovel (in hand) - Enc 1

Stowed (12)
1 Dagger - Enc 1
Lantern - Enc 1
Tinderbox, 2 Flasks of Oil - Enc 2
Writing Kit & 20 sheets of paper - Enc 1
Rations, 1 week - enc 4
Waterskin - Enc 1
Healer's Pouch - Enc 1
Cooking Utensils - Enc 1
16 siler pieces in cash

Creation Notes:

1, 2) roll attributes: Attributes: [3d6]=8[3d6]=8[3d6]=8[3d6]=15[3d6]=14[3d6]=12. Swap an 8 to a 14. Assigned as:
STR: 12 (+0)
DEX: 14 (+1)
CON: 8 (+0)
INT: 14 (+1)
WIS: 8 (+0)
CHA: 15 (+2)

3,4,5) Background is Scholar. Free skill is Know-0. Let's see how rolling goes. (I'm aiming for particular classes that rely on CHA, so I want to see if I can raise it. As a Scholar, I have a 50% chance...)
Growth [1d6]=5 (That's Connect-0)
Growth [1d6]=4 (+2 Cha to 17)
Growth [1d6]=4 (+1 Cha to 18, +1 Wis to 9)

6) Pick your class. I want to play with what's in the Atlas and those are all half-classes, so I'll combine two to be an Adventurer. I'm liking the vibe from an Accursed / Bard. So, he's a wandering scholar born to a Pact-infused lineage. I like him delving into the unknown beyond the river to find ancient secret knowledge. Perhaps more about himself. Modifying this to be a better character instead of aimed at "all of the Atlas." He takes the nature-oriented route by using the Partial Mage (Beastmaster) class from the main book in combination with the Accursed. Both are quasi-mystical powers that can come with his Pact-infused lineage. He remains a wandering scholar with Know of what's across the river, and with his Diplomatic Grace focus keeps the core scholarly elements of knowledge of languages and preternatural social skill. He just no longer does it with song. The most important part of the change is roleplaying with an animal companion, and it changes the direction of growth with leveling (more mystical, less music.)

7,8) Pick Foci. With those two half-classes, I'll end up with Arts instead. I only get the single Foci pick. I love the sound of "Amundi Godblood Foci" and that meshes well with his "born this way Accursed" idea. I'm torn between Night Walker or Wildtongue - they both have profound effect on who this character will end up being. Either a darker/grittier guy, or a more druid-like character. I'll reserve th right to change this later... lets see what the rest of the party looks like. I'll put down Night Walker for the moment - it is grittier more 'accursed' feel and my other PC in a West Marches game is already an animal-talking druid. Having given up the partial-Expert class, I'm not elligible for the Amundi Godblood foci, so can't take either Nightwalker or Wildtongue. Instead, I'll take Diplomatic Grace, which keeps the key scholarly/social aspects, as noted above.

9) Pick one skill. I'm going to go for Magic-1. As an Accursed, that's really important.

10) He's a Mage with the tradition of Accursed.

11) I don't get spells, but I get Arts from both Accursed and Beastmaster.
- For Accursed, I get Accursed Blade. (I like the asthetic of summoning the weapon rather than Eldritch Blasting.) I then pick one. For now, let's say Rob Vitality. That looks interesting. We may change this if the character evolves in relation to group dynamics before play starts.
- For Beastmaster, I get Bind Companion - but it describes how to swap out companions. I'm going to take the Chosen Friend option that means he is bound to one special animal that instead levels with him and is mystically preserved from death. He gets the shared viality and mind link with that one special companion. For his free pick, he chooses Savage Senses, helping him as a wilderness explorer.
- I need to set both their effort scores. That's Survive-0 and +2 Charisma for Beastmaster effort of 2/2. Then Magic-1 and +2 Charisma for the Accursed effort of 3/3.
So, this seems to be the appropriate place to talk about the companion. He needs to pick a 2HD Animal that he is permanently bound with. The two books only have four 2HD animals - a giant pig, a giant goat, a giant spider/wolf hybrid, and a giant cockroach. Sure, we could adapt from other sources and have a wolf or something, but this got me thinking of the "why do people always get cool wild animals?" conversation. It is more likely that a special animal companion will be of domesticated stock - so why not a pig? I really started getting into the idea of the personality and roleplay of a giant boar... especially a boar who can talk to him telepathically, so I can roleplay the responses as one-sided conversations for fun. Maybe he raised it from a piglet, and as he's accursedly-magical, formed the bond. When it grew to its full size (the 2HD Bull Pig is a swine the size of a cow, so 62 inches at the shoulder and 1,000+ pounds) he went with it. So, meet Lucius, giant tusked pig and travel companion.

d11.png (583.04 KiB) Viewed 5166 times

12) Looking at Bard/Mage or Accursed/Expert it is 1d6 either way. Max hit points in house rule. Con +0. Total hit points is 6. Beastmaster is a partial mage, not a partial expert. So, this makes it use the Accursed/Partial Mage table. That costs -1hp (1d6-1 HD). Total HP now 5 instead of 6.

13) BAB is +0. (It will remain that way until +1 at level 5. As a partial expert, it would've been +1 at level 2 and +2 at level 5.)

14) Gear package. I see this guy as rather self-sufficiently equipped as a delving scholar. I'd like the Pieced Armor, but that only comes with the armored warrior who gets no food and no coin. So, I'll pick the Scholar package, which has what I think I'd need plus 80sp, of which I can spend 50sp to add a War Robe. He has a staff, but it's to be a tool not a weapon. If the GM allows, I'd like to put a head on it and have it be a long-handled shovel instead. (I love adventuring with a shovel.) Last, I'll pick up some Cooking Utensils for 4sp. He's a wanderer not a heathen. Looking up the "Healer's Pouch" there is only a reference that implies that not having one would be a penalty to trying to use the Heal skill. I don't have or intend to have the Heal skill, but using it unskilled in a pinch might be worth keeping it. I see this guy as a Taleteller, not a musician, but having a bodhran drum or a lute might be cool... that's not in the lists so GM's discretion. I would gladly swap the healer pouch for a simple instrument. I spent an additional 10sp to get the large roundshield for a +1 AC, which he carries readied on his back until needed. That leaves him with 16 sp remaining still.

15, 16) Hit bonus with weapons. His unarmed is pitiful (-2 unskilled to-hit, +1 for Dex). He mostly is reliant on his Accursed Blades. He can summon them at will and they fight with Magic+Charisma. So, being accursed makes him decent in a close fight if he needs to be. (He carries the dagger for show... being unarmed would be too suspicious.)

17) Armor class is 14 War Robe +1 Dex for 15 AC. Spending 10sp to get a large roundshield, which adds +1 AC for 16 AC. (This has a big effect on Shock, which he wouldn't overlook.)

18) Saves. Physical (STR/CON) are both +0 so it is 15. Evasion (INT/DEX) are both +1 so that's 14. Mental (WIS/CHA) gets the +2 so 13.

19) Name and Goal. I picked Gars Ruprect off one of the book's tables. The cultures don't line up between the Atlas and the GM's statements so far, but so I remember, I picked a Kytheronian name which seemed a likely origin culture full of displaced nobles with long or forgotten eldrich histories. I think that inspires the concept here. His goal is to find lost secret knowledge in the ruins beyond the river now that the land is opened, which may or may not relate to his own liniage and history. (All this stays the same - we're not pursuing the interreligious conflict of Music and Justice. He just has a more interesting and useful set of Pact-liniage abilities he's learning to use, and it includes his bond with Lucius, the giant pig.)

[sulldawga]

Can you guys do me a favor and format your PC entries in the Player Characters thread like Marullus did? Having the stats all laid out is extremely useful when you or I or anyone else need to go there to figure out what a character can do.

[Rex]

I can when I get home from work tonight. Figure about 8 or so hours from this post.

[sulldawga]

When I look at the entry in the dictionary for "jack of all trades, master of none", there's a picture of this adventuring party. Three Partial Expert/Partial Mages and one Partial Mage/Partial Mage.

Not one Warrior in the bunch! We'll see how wise that is. I honestly don't know. The dice will decide.

Marullus | Accursed (M)/Beastmaster (M)
cybersavant | Wise (E)/Skinshifter (M)
Rex | Expert/Healer (M)
Enoch | Expert/Necromancer (M)

Urson and ybn1197 are welcome, nay encouraged, to make PCs and join us but, for now, we are going to proceed without them. Let me know if anyone needs help/advice with finalizing PCs. I think a couple of you are missing a skill choice.

[Rex]

Would it be beneficial for me to go Warrior/Healer? I don't mind running a straight Warrior but then we have no Healing and Healers have to be Partial.

[sulldawga]

Would it be beneficial for me to go Warrior/Healer? I don't mind running a straight Warrior but then we have no Healing and Healers have to be Partial.

Everyone loves chargen because you get to fit the pieces of the puzzle together carefully and make your dream PC. And then you actually play the game and some of them are sub-optimal and get torn to shreds. So you might as well play the PC you want and then you can decide on the PC you "need" if the first one gets killed.

[Enoch]

I've actually been toying with a full Warrior, given our lack of them. The most exciting options to me are a polearm fighter (grace and reach) or an archer--but I suspect a melee fighter is better at the moment.

I think someone with the Healer partial mage is pretty important.

[Rex]

Part of the reason I went expert instead of warrior was the low stats (2 at -1). Now that I have only 1 at -1 maybe warrior would work. I will look at it when I get home tonight. Also does a healer need wisdom or intelligence more?

[sulldawga]

Part of the reason I went expert instead of warrior was the low stats (2 at -1). Now that I have only 1 at -1 maybe warrior would work. I will look at it when I get home tonight. Also does a healer need wisdom or intelligence more?

Stabilizing a Mortally Wounded companion is Int/Heal or Dex/Heal. Otherwise, it looks like using the Heal skill doesn't allow you to add any attribute bonus.

For the Healer class, Effort is calculated with either Int or Cha. The Healer Art Purge Ailment uses Wis/Heal or Cha/Heal against magical poisons or diseases.

[Enoch]

I've got a Warrior rolled up. I think having a healer on the team is probably a very good thing, if you want to stay with Healer.

[Rex]

Staying with Healer for sure, but may go with Warrior instead of expert. I have 2 +1 I think but but one must be physical and 1 has to be mental based on how my rolls went.

[cybersavant]

cybersavant, I'm looking at your PC.

I see kinda crummy stats. 2 rolls of 6. I'll assume you're going to change one of them to 14 and I'll let you change the other to 8. Then it looks like you rolled a d6 on the Growth table and got +2 Physical, which you sank into Dex. That should make your final stats:
10 STR
16 DEX (+1)
10 CON
14 INT (+1)
10 WIS
08 CHR

Survive-0 is your free skill, and then you rolled 6 (Sneak-0) and 7 (Survive-1). You get one more free skill, a bonus skill related to your Wise concept, three skills from your Wise art, and one more "free" pick because you can't take Survive-2 from Skinshifter. You've got Exert, Magic, Notice-1, Stab, and Work listed. These are fine, but it would be useful to know which one is related to your Wise concept.

I am fine if you want to make a Partial Wise/Skinshifter. Just know that this is a full magic setting so you may find the Wise class underpowered.

You do get a move bonus from Walk Like Wind as well as from your quadruped Wild Shape. So you're 10' faster as a human and 20' faster as a puma.

Skinshifter Effort is 1.

I am giving all PCs max HP at level 1.

Looks good to me.

i like the flavor of the wise [ not sure why they didn't put in an optional rules for higher magic game - keep the partial expert focus, or something ]

i changed one 6 to 14
i did 3 rolls - 1 growth, 2 skills - got the duplicate survive
skilled art gives me magic, notice, sneak
background gives survive, work, physical +2, swapped third survive for notice1
free skill (hobby) - took stab as i had no combat skills
skinshifter - gives survive
wise - give know
Amundi godblood gives exert skill

[cybersavant]

So we are all on the same page:

The PCs origins are from elsewhere in the Kingdom of Caral (or further afield, if it fits your background) but they have all met on the road to Ket and have already decided to adventure together. If the players agree, I am fine with two or more PCs having been friends before now, but I'm not interested in cliques within the party. Let's all row the boat in the same direction here.

this is what i had in my app

As a preteen, Kaithar came wandering into the area west of Ket on the opposite banks of the Moche River. Vorthon the hermit [hedge wizard] took the boy in and raised him on the edge of the community. Kaithar served as an assistant rather than as an apprentice as Vorthon always suspected that the lad would not remain in Ket and waited for the day the boy-man would leave.

Kaithar is taking advantage of the push into the western lands to retrace his unremembered journey to Ket as a boy. He hopes to discover where he came from and who he is.

He could be out gathering herbs, etc and meet the others