C1NDER

Please discuss character creation here. Thanks!

Ok, so I am going with a Slayer (Vanguard archetype).

I was going to make them ranged and work in a the Artemis angle, but I don't think I can make all that work thematically.

Name: Nikias Spyros
Class: Slayer (Vanguard)

I would have him be an officer in the war, or someone that was in some sort of command placement. I will either make him a two-weapon combatant or 2-handed (haven't decided yet, but I'm leaning towards two-weapon spear and shield - traditional and the class works well for it, I think)

I suppose Ares might be a god he might worship, so that battles go in his favor. He hasn't been let down yet!

Still quite a bit to discuss, but there's a starting point. Let me know thoughts.

It's an awesome class setup.

If you want to be an officer, it looks like the phalanx is broken into groupings of
* ~2 dozen (enomotiai led by enomotarchs)
* 50 (penekostyes)
* and the 100-man lochos led by the Lokhagos.

And then things get bigger from there, but we're still trying to keep you just under the radar enough that you can escape and not immediately be noticed. I think the Lokhagos has some nice teeth.

What was your theme concern with Artemis? Weaponry? Because you could have been part of the cavalry (Hyparchos or Hipparmostes). These fellows appear to rank higher than plain horse archers.

My concern was in wanting my character to be an officer/commander of sorts, but also that the followers/hunters of Artemis (near as I can tell) were all female. I have no concerns playing a female character of course, and could argue their presence in the Trojan war, but wasn't sure how to argue that AND being a leader in the war.

Slayer seems fitting for a ranged character, but in looking at it more closely it'll be a wicked set up for spear and shield and just fits well, so that further pulls from the Artemis connection, as I'm leaning away from the bow.

I would be alright with Nikias being a Lokhagos. Like you said, he had some weight then in the battle but wasn't so important that people would immediately notice his absence.

Makes sense to me. I dig it.

Ares certainly works. If it's something that would impact Nikias, he did side with the Trojans (granted, he was tricked into it). Athena sided with the Greeks and is more of a strategist, but dang she got petty during the war. Of course, as a soldier with rank, you would have had a devotion long before this particular war, so either works.

Does this mean you'll be on the older side of things? 34 is the cutoff for no stat changes, but you could easily go up to 40-ish.

Also, do you want a touch of magic, or would you rather start without? Whether that or some sort of battle-bonus, your class doesn't require any homebrew, so I'm willing to do some elsewhere.

Sure, I'll have him start a little older and rough around the edges (let's say 42ish), but experienced and fierce in battle.

Looking into it more, I could see him more aligned with Athena, especially during the war, but he would have also prayed to Ares. I see him as a farmer, maybe herdsman, back home, so he would also likely pray to Hermes. He is god-fearing, and strongly believes all gods are due some modicum of respect lest they turn their attention the wrong way. He hopes to be ever in the good graces of those mentioned, even if the war placed Athena and Ares in direct confrontation.

In starting, I don't think overt magic would fit well for him. At most, a blessing or luck bonus to hit and/or damage (the Favor of Athena, perhaps?). It would be a battle bonus, but would be unknown to him and could be taken back if he was not paying the right tribute. Do you have anything else in mind?

I like the idea of something subtle. What about this?

Warrior's Heart
Athena recognizes a good and faithful servant. As long as you remain active in your military discipline, and in the favor of the goddess, aging affects you slower by one category (though your maximum age remains the same).

Basically, though you're a "Middle Aged" character, you don't take those stat changes until you're "Old". You also don't get the mental stat increases, but that's because I know such a boon is a mythic feat, which we're not at.

Sounds great to me! Thematically, Nikias moves and thinks like a younger/spryer version of himself. He'll chalk it up to regimen and faith, and if he were to lose it, he would blame it equally on not having the same. Perfect.

I guess he's about sorted then, I'll work on getting him actually built and submitted.

Were we using the automatic bonus progression chart for managing standard boosts? So starting off, everyone will have +1 saves, +1 AC, +1 attack/dmg, and +1 deflection AC?

Remember in a low-magic setting, you treat your wealth as half normal, but your bonuses as 2 levels higher. So you also get Mental and Physical Prowess +2 as described on the page.

Ah ok, good deal. Thank you.

As mentioned in the main ooc thread, I dropped the archetype. It was really good, but now I can grab shield master at lvl 6 which is huge.

I'm almost done with my sheet. Equipment-wise, any chance we can homebrew using regular spears as one-handed weapons? Hoplite spears were around 6ft I think, and a short spear is only 3ft as written. A regular spear is 5ft, seems closer.

EDIT: Noticed the Fighter has an archetype called Phalanx Soldier, that includes this at level 3:

Phalanx Fighting (Ex)
At 3rd level, when a phalanx soldier wields a shield, he can use any polearm or spear of his size as a one-handed weapon.

This ability replaces armor training 1.

So maybe something like this could be homebrewed?

Rolling HP

You can take Phalanx Fighting as if it was a feat.

You are fundamentally approved, but don't forget your feats, traits, spear, etc.

Can you please show your work on your ability scores? I'm one off, but I imagine it's because I assigned things differently.

Thanks!

Of course!

Base 15 point buy:
STR 14 (5pt)
DEX 13 (3pt)
CON 14 (5pt)
INT 10 (0pt)
WIS 12 (2pt)
CON 10 (0pt)

Human: +2 DEX
Lvl 4: +1 INT
ABP Lvl 6: +2 INT
ABP Lvl 7: +2 STR

Final:
STR 16
DEX 15
CON 14
INT 13
WIS 12
CON 10

For traits, I'm looking at:

Shield Bearer
&
Fast-talker

OH! There it is. I forgot that in Pathfinder the ability score increase is +1 every 4 levels. You're good!

Ooh, nice character art!

Thank you! I took a good little while digging around until I found one I liked.

A couple of changes:

Took the lvl 4 +1 from INT to DEX instead, so final scores:
STR 16
DEX 16
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 12
CON 10

Nets me one more point to AC and initiative, but invalidates the combat expertise line. I'll be swapping out the level 4 & 5 feats for something else, TBD later tonight.