Characters creation thread

Here's a quick fix of a bad discovery in the Scholar:

Medical genius
Prerequisite: Physician Pursuit
When you spend one use of a healer's kit to tend to a creature, it also regains 1d4 HP plus your Intelligence modifier and your proficiency bonus. That creature can't regain hit points in this way again until they finish a short or long rest.

That may be enough for you to not need to pick the healer feat and make that Discovery meaningful. Because the normal one is pretty underwhelming, as it is the check I'd have asked anyway.

Sooo, it seems that we're almost set to get going?
Ferdy and Viking1031 have submitted their characters and I'll be checking them this afternoon, and from what he was saying it felt like Squadfather44 wasn't far from being done too.
So we'll start the game by Monday. Please, make sure to have clear answers to the questions I asked about your character:
Of course, most things can change of evolve as we play. But personalities are relationships will be pretty important in the game, so we need to work a bit more on that part for it to work.

Does the new medical genius discovery stack with Healer feat for more healing? Or is it either/or?

There's a couple minor changes I'm still considering. Your new Medical Genius instead of Physical Conditioning, Remove Toxins instead of One Step Ahead. Defensive Duelist instead of Healer.

I should make that explicit, but it doesn't stack. That's be straight broken.
I love the image you described with the improvised weapons, too.
Tell me when you'd done editing so that I can approve the char sheet.

Well tell you what. My one concern with Clever Applications, the Discovery that gives proficiency with improvised weapons and makes them do 1d6 damage up from 1d4, is how it interacts with the Scholar ability Critical Analysis:Charmeleon scholars don't get extra attack, instead they do extra damage on the one attack they do get due to Critical Analysis. Critical Analysis works only with finesse or ranged weapons. So a improvised weapon would use my intelligence modifier if I were throwing it but strength if I were using it as a melee weapon. If you'll rule that improvised weapons can be finesse, so that they work with Critical Analysis, I'll take that discovery. I like the idea that Theo's knowledge of anatomy is so good he can hurt you with seemingly innocuous objects like an ink pen or ceramic plate.

Theo's done. Unless you'd like to allow improvised weapons to be finesse, I don't think I'll be making any other changes.

here is where I believe we are at: (edited with new info)

Who are you?
Tamara Winafrie Chalmer, age 29, half elf Rogue mastermind
She is the daughter of Bartholomew Asclepius Chalmer and Stephara Tatiana Chalmer. Her mother was the mistress of her father when she was born. When his wife died he married her mother and legitimized her as his daughter.
The family is a merchant house.
Her father has a tendency to spoil her.

What are you known for, in the city? As level 9 heroes, you are paragons in your field of expertise: if people don't know you, they know of you.
Tamara is a known noble in the city and acts like it when in public.
She is in public not known rogue abilities but her spymaster abilities are known to those she works with.

How well are you known in your field?
Her abilities are known to those she works with as well as her family. She keeps her identity hidden as much as possible goes by the codename Shadow Fox (cliche but it is fun).

How well are you known from the public?
Again in public she is a known noble, who loves all the latest fashions and is well liked. Some do take issue with her birth but usually only those who take issue with house Chalmer.

Why do you three work together, what ties you to each other? You need a strong, durable connection
She is the half-sister of Theobold Prescott Chalmer
She is in an arranged marriage to Squadfather’s Character

Is your group already tied to one of the factions of the city?
This has not been decided.

She has 700 gp

Bartholomew Asclepius Chalmer. A severe and humorless man who is first and foremost concerned with the advancement of house Chalmer. He values strength and cunning, and while he dotes on his daughter Tamara, he views his son Theobold as overly bookish and idle, frittering his time and money away on learning things too obscure to be useful.

* Who are you?
Theobold Prescott Chalmer, son of Bartholomew Asclepius Chalmer and the late Theadora Millicent Chalmer. Theobold's mother died to illness when he was 9, which had a profound effect upon Theobold's development.

Firstly, Theobold began the study of disease and anatomy, vowing to himself that none he cared about would ever die in such a manner again. Secondly, Theobold became obsessed with the idea of bringing his mother back, prompting him to seek out forbidden knowledge of fiends, being convinced that a deal with a powerful extraplanar entity may be able to return his mother's spirit to the material plane.

* What are you known for, in the city?
Theobold became embittered towards clerics and priests when faith-based remedies failed to cure his mother of her terminal illness. He studies medicine that doesn't require magic or the intervention of gods and is purely based on science and evidence. He's practiced at first aid, herbal and alchemical remedies, and surgical interventions.

Theobold's interest in the occult is an open secret in Vikaastea so those with a problem involving diablerie or witchcraft often go to Theo to ask for help investigating those matters.

During the course of one such investigation, Theobold's client, a wealthy and powerful merchant and his entire family were slaughtered under mysterious circumstances. Many blamed Theobold and his penchant for dabbling with the occult for bringing doom upon the family, and as a result Theobold is unwelcome at the balls and functions of the upper crust in the city. (This is my in-fiction reason for Theo being noble-born yet not having the Position of Privilege background feature.)

* Why do you three work together, what ties you to each other? You need a strong, durable connection
We're family. By blood in Tamara's case, by marriage in squad's case.

* Is your group already tied to one of the factions of the city?
Despite being distrustful of gods and clerics, Theo knows several ranking members of the Silver Hand from his time studying medicine in the Ilmatari scriptoria and libraries. There's one particular Silver Hand who Theo treats for a chronic illness that Theo would consider a friend. They don't see eye to eye on matters of theology, but they both enjoy spirited debate and consider one another to be valued companions and confidantes.

update my answers above.

Ok I am a spymaster, do I work for the city (city watch) or just our house (thoughts)

As a spy master, you could (to your choosing) also have joined the rather well hidden Guild of Shadows. And learn things. But that also is a significant commitment, as they are not knows for accepting resignation letters.
For now, you only know that they exist.

Fortunately for you, here's my opinion on the matter.
Improvised weapons
Now, if they were close enough to be considered similar to the original object and therefore be use as such, it would not be an improvised weapon. But as you are proficient with improvised weapons, we can apply that rule to some extent.
So, if you use something that is similar enough to the intended weapon, and if said weapon is a finesse weapon, you can use it as a finesse weapon.
For memory, a finesse weapon is a weapon that can either be efficient through brute force or be used with precision. The later usually being the more efficient way to use it.
A club isn't a fitness weapon, but a cane sword certainly would be.

Strength is pretty clearly meant to be a dump stat for this class. It's class feature from which most of its damage comes from is Critical Analysis which only works with ranged or finesse weapons. Finesse weapons in 5e are dagger, dart, scimitar, rapier, short sword, whip; of which scholars are only proficient with dagger, dart, and short sword. Dart is only ranged so my only melee options are dagger or short sword. I'm hoping that even without the Clever Applications discovery that gives improvised weapon proficiency you'll be ok with me considering the cane sword as a short sword, and the surgical scalpels Theo carries as daggers because I don't think I'll be taking it.

After thinking about it., i don't think she would be directly involved with Guild of Shadows. I am thinking more that she would be more part of the spy network for the city for she would want to be able to protect Squadfather or her brother if necessary (though they might not like that she is trying to do so). She might even report to squadfather anything she finds that needs the city watch to take care of, for her going to see him would not raise suspicion.

I see her protecting her family first, alliances second and city third. the guild of shadows she would see as a potential rival to her goals, though she would work with, around or against them as long as it fits her goals.

The Flaming Tree Consortium explicitly hires thieves and assassin's in their faction description, seems to follow that they would hire spies as well. Also given that Chalmer is primarily a mercantile house, it stands to reason you'd have contacts in the consortium. I think that faction makes the most sense for you

True but is that the guild of shadows or is there other ones? It would make sense for me to be nominally attached to the Flaming Tree consortium since our family is primarily mercantile. So whichever would be the most advantageous for our house would where she would be as well as in protecting the alliance with squadfather's house.

A cane sword would definitely fall in the shortsword categery. Or a dagger, depending on the size of the blade.
Surgical scalpels... well, they are nothing like daggers, but if I were to create rules to describe their effect, if would be very similar to a dagger. So let's accept them as dagger for the sake of simplicity.

The thing is: that whole Finesse thing doesn't exist to reflect a common physical property, but rather open some mechanical opportunities to some non-strength builds. It is a very mechanical thing. So unless we do very stupid things, it's hard to break balance with that. I just need to not give it to everything, because it is supposed to limit your options.

How about a dart? Could a scalpel be a dart?