Character Creation

Thread for character creation. Details are as follows:

* Check out the link here for all the available options.
* All ancestries without an asterisk (*) are allowed.
* I will be using a few house rules, most pulled from the new Weird Wizard game that I think are clear improvements. They are:
1) Your Power score automatically scales with your level and equals 1/2 your level, rounded up.
2) Warriors ignore any armor and weapon requirements to use them.
3) Rogue's Trickery can only be used out of combat once per scene or until combat begins.
4) Priest can use their holy symbol once per level per day to deal 3d6 extra damage on a hit or heal 3d6 damage to a nearby ally.
5) Monsters go first in initiative unless a player uses their triggered action that round to go first.

Please discuss your character ideas and concepts. Feel free to plan out all three paths and what you envision as your characters' goals. The more I know about what you want the better I can plan and foreshadow lol.

Haven't a full concept yet, but thinking something from Bred for Battle. Enforcer or Gallant are the first two that calls out to me. Don't know ancestry or where to take it beyond that yet.

Oh these are very significant homebrew rules! This is certainly going to be interesting. How do the new spell rules interact with spell swapping rules (OP or core)?

Having read up a little I'm thinking a Ferren Gallant, possibly going enlightened blade, cutter or mountebank for expert path. Was thinking of using the tables in the "In Plain Sight" book to roll up and see what I end up with regarding background.

How does the no power score work with number of castings?

I’m considering playing a goblin rogue. @nezzeraj can I use the rules in the "Snot and Stitches" supplement? Would you like us to roll on the character creation tables or can we choose from them? And are story complications allowed?

I've got some ideas I'm debating.

1) Goblin curse mage
2) Changeling alteration mage
3) Jotun bare knuckle brawler
4) Poison specialist
5) Reen science/tech specialist
6) Roll a random ancestry and see where it leads

Anyone have any input for what they'd like to see?

Good question. I'll take the average castings at the highest power for that tier (2 power for novice, 4 for expert, 5 for master). This gives you 2 castings for every spell at novice tier, 3 novice/1 expert castings at expert tier, and 4 novice/2 expert/1 master castings at master tier. Level 0 spells kind of skew the averages so this system leads to less castings of level 0 spells but more of the higher level spells, so I hope that's an acceptable solution. I'm open to other ideas.
Should function the same in that you can swap any spell for another spell of the same tier when you learn a new spell. That said, I never liked being able to swap out spells in the fiction, but it would make sense for something like the Weird Magic shadow effect where magic is more chaotic. Yep, any official supplements are allowed. You can pick and choose which tables to use. I've never been a fan of personality tables as I want to decide how to roleplay my character, but sometimes I do for inspiration lol. Depends on my mood. Jotun is one of the asterisk ancestries. I personally am not a fan of them so I look to exclude them whenever possible haha. Reen scientist would work great if we go with the Invaders shadow. All of your choices sounds really fun.

For talents which say, "You can use this a number of times equal to your power score," how will that change without a power score?

I think "1/2 level round up" might work, considering that you get power increases at 1,3,5,7,9 (or 2,3,7,8,9 if you're a rogue).

Edit: That might also work for determining the number of castings you get.

That could work for talents. Might be too powerful for castings if you have 5 master tier castings per spell.

Or we could do talents the same way I proposed spell castings. Depending on the talent tier you can use them as often as you have for spell castings.

Current character ideas are:
Fire Sword Paladin Kind of Guy…

Dwarven Doomseeker…

Whatever this freak is…

I like the first two best. Third is interesting though, corrupted fawn geomancer?

KCC - I'm diggin' the dwarf. I've always wanted to see the doomseeker path in play.

I like the dwarf as well!

I think you may be misunderstanding me.

What I meant was that we'd use '1/2 level round down' to replace our power score. So at level 1, it's like having 1 power for the purpose of casting spells. At level 3, it's like having 2 power for the purpose of casting spells.

Then you simply reference the chart to see how many castings of each rank you get as you level up. This keeps the number of castings in line with the original system. It would also encourage people to actually select lower rank spells, even though higher rank spells are available, as they wouldn't yet be able to cast them until they're high enough level.

With the current system, right at level 1 you can be casting rank 2 spells, and as soon as you hit level 3, you'd be getting rank 4 spells. That's a big buff to casters, who are already solid in this system.

Using '1/2 level, round up' both keeps the balance the way this system is intended while also removing the power score like you want, and allows for characters to go martial to caster path without having to be limited to low rank spells. So I could go warrior, fighter, storm mage, and pick up anything from a novice to a master tier spell with the appropriate number of castings.

Thoughts?

I'm going to let the dice decide for me, because I can't.

So here goes:
1) Changeling
2) Clockwork
3) Dwarf
4) Faun
5) Goblin
6) Human
7) Pixie
8) Remade

5! That's a goblin! I'll go with my curse mage idea. And if he dies, I'll go with one of the other concepts I had. :)

Can we use In Pursuit of Power to change out some mage talents?

So here's my rolls for my character.

"He’s a thug, isn’t he?" asked the girl.

"No, not a thug. A Thuggee," said the older priest.

"What’s the difference?"

"A thug is common parlance for a common criminal who uses their muscles to rob people. Or someone who acts as hired muscle for some criminal enterprise. The word itself has been shortened from something much older - Thuggee. Thuggee are a murderous cult, dedicated to an old forgotten goddess of death and - I shall choose my words carefully here - marital relations external to the formality of wedlock.

"They practice forbidden magicks, using such dark arts to unnaturally twist and enhance their bodies - or to cause pain and suffering upon others. They are liars and deceivers, and only care about their own pleasure and power."

The girl interrupted the story with a question, "I heard forbidden magic would stain the soul. Do they not fear the afterlife? Do they not fear Hell?"

"He is a goblin, my child. Goblins are cursed fae. The Fae do not have souls like you and I, destined to be reborn in a new body as the New God intends. No, the fae have souls that are bound to their bodies. And though they are ageless, they can still be killed. When they do die, their souls die as well, rotting away as the flesh rots on the soil."

"But goblins are cursed fae - they have been stripped of their immortality. They have the worst of both worlds - they die young, rarely living more than a handful of decades, and their souls die with them when they pass. They do not transcend into the underworld to be reborn. No, my child, this creature shall never face the fires of Hell, he shall never suffer the consequences of his actions in the afterlife. This is his one and only life. That’s what makes him so dangerous. Be wary around him."



Fingas isn't a nice person - unless you are a goblin. He is actually rather kind and willing to help out any fellow goblin. But years of torment at the hands of humans and other people have left him sour and bitter, with a thirst for revenge against those who have treated him and his kind poorly. This is why he has spent time studying the forbidden magics - in hopes of laughing at the suffering of the people who have trampled upon his kind.

So why does he care about the Maidens of the Moon? Why does he give a rat's ass about them? Short story is, he doesn’t.

The Maidens were complete cunts. They looked down upon him, both literally and figuratively. They were secretive about their magic and wouldn’t tell him shit. They hated dark magic, which forced him to be extra secretive about it himself. But they accepted goblins. They accepted his people. Some of them were goblins themselves and occasionally he was able to pry some of their secrets from them - not the priestesses, mind you, but some of the other servants. Or at least the goblins in their service.

Fingas had connections and he was able to get shit done; unsavory shit - and sometimes some of their goblins would ask him for help. That’s mostly how he pried their secrets from them; he would trade information for services rendered. A goblin was being harassed? He’d curse the shitheel and send them packing. Once there was this human shitstain that beat the crap out of some goblin girls. Stole everything they had. When Fingas got to him, he laid out one of his best curses and turned him into a goblin girl - "Let’s see how you like it being one of us. Let’s see how far you will make it, treated like shite by your own kind, living as the very thing you despise." Fingas got shit done.

Well, now that the Maidens have all disappeared, the goblins who worked for them were all in a tissy. They came to him, knowing that he gets shit done. They begged him. They pleaded with him. They offered promises and favors and, well, it’s a good thing they weren’t Maidens because they sure aren’t now.

And now? Now Fingas is on a mission to find the Maidens. He doesn’t care about their fate, but he does cares about his goblins. His goblins care. He will do it for them.

Ah I understand now. Yes this is an easy solution too, I like it.
Yep!

I actually am quite taken by the idea of classic evil wizards. Not that genies couldn’t be mixed in, but evil wizards is a simple classic. The magic effects will already be weird, so maybe that balances out the lack of genies.

Not willing to die on the hill though.

Let me know which system you decide to use, so I can put the correct number of castings on my character sheet. I'm good with however you'd like to go, just need to know! :)

Your idea is simpler haha. My only question is that it would boost characters with only one or two magical paths, wouldn't it? If castings are based solely on level, only amount of spells would differ among 3 magic paths and 1. Not that it would be bad, just curious what you think.

This would be good to discuss in the campaign creation thread :P But yes I like the idea of evil wizards too. I will decide the specifics behind the scenes so there will be a little mystery for you to uncover.

Yes, it would. That's effectively how WW is, and I assume that is what you're trying to model. I think it's fine that it does so; partial casters could probably use the boost.

I do know some people on the SotDL discord believr that going warrior-caster is "trap" option due to the limitations of the power score. Making all PCs have a power score of '1/2 level, round up' effectively eliminates that complaint, while allowing for the design I think you are aiming for. Heck, you could probably not even use the tiered spell system in your original post, just keep this one and it'll accomplish practically the same thing.

With your warrior boost, I wouldn't even be worried that it makes mixed casters too strong. But if you were really worried about it, I might grant warriors one additional boon at level 5 to make up for it. (Especially if you're going for a more heroic campaign compared to a more horror campaign).

Rogues have a bit of a debuff with the out of combat trickery limitations (WW says once per minute vs your once per scene), but lots of people think rogues are a tad too strong, so maybe your limitations help. But even with it, I was still strongly considering rogue. Priests get a little screwed with your initiative system, having to choose between prayer and acting before enemies, but you make up for it with the holy symbol idea, and I think it works out nicely.

Awesome, good to hear your thoughts. I did rogue and priest changes precisely because it was effectively a boon every roll with trickery and prayer. We'll go with your idea for power level. So you can take any spell of a level equal to 1/2 your level, rounded up when you learn a new spell. Sounds like everyone should take 1 dip into a magic path. I'm sure there will not be any consequences... mwahaha

Group so far:
1. Ferren gallant
2. Goblin magician
3. Goblin rogue
4. Dwarf brawler
5. Human ??

@nezzeraj How much money do we have to purchase starting equipment?

Starting wealth + 2d6 silver. You can also have one piece of armor or a weapon of your choice for free.

Thanks! I've also rolled up interesting things and one of them is "a weapon of the GM's choice," so let me know what you would like my goblin rogue to have. :D

Let's go with a pistol! Give me a good backstory on how you got it lol.

Challenge accepted. Finishing up my character sheet crunch today, I'll write up the backstory some time in the next few days.

Sounds great. Hope to start before next weekend.

For my character, I've decided to piggyback off of a couple other players. I'm going to be a human who used to be a goblin. Path currently undecided and I'm still going through character creation.

At some point I stole a rank 0 incantation of the GM's choice from a traveling wizard. What's the incantation?

How did you change from a goblin to human? For spell, let's go with conceal object.

CONCEAL OBJECT
ILLUSION UTILITY 0
Target One Size 1/2 or smaller object within short range
Duration 1 minute
You cause the object to become hidden for the duration. When a creature would encounter the target through one of its senses, such as by touching it or seeing it, the creature must make a Perception challenge roll with 1 bane. On a success, the creature can perceive the object as normal. On a failure, the creature cannot perceive the object until the spell ends.
Sacrifice When a creature you can see attacks you, you can use a triggered action and expend a casting of this spell to impose 1 bane on the triggering attack roll.

Hmmm… the group is basically three goblins, and a ferren then, at this point. I wasn’t expecting it to lean so much in that way!

I’ll try pick something that fits with that kind of idea! Will have something tonight.

When the world needed Heroes…
THEY answered!

The world is fucked.

I should disband the campaign right now just for this post lol. So we have a human swapped into a goblin body and a goblin swapped into a human body? Lol this is going to be wild.

Well, you did make the campaign's theme Weird Magic! :D

Lol technically I just gave you the option, you all voted for it! But that works out really well thematically haha.

Starting Wealth

So I could swap out the basic weapon from lifestyle with a leather armor of some kind? Through my rolls I ended up with 2 swift weapons, so don't really need a third.

Oh, right! Extra silver!

Yep, sounds good.

Hargrac"May the Honored Dead forgive me for throwing in with this dirty, stinkin’ lot!"

To Hargrac, the goblins were a means to an end! There was no quicker way to meet your doom than by spending time in the company of goblins. The greenskins had no chance of putting an end to the dwarf themselves, no, no!

Rather, Hargrac divined that goblins were the punching bag of all manner of creatures! Stick around long enough, and something worth fighting would show up to give the goblins a good thrashing! And when it did, Hargrac would be there to fell or be felled!

"By the looks of this lot, I’ll be dead within the week!" he grumbles, before breaking into a low, ugly laugh!

As you've surmised from the other responses, a Soul Swap incantation that was warped by the weird magic of the coming shadow allowed for a mortal and goblin to swap bodies! Also conceal object will be fun to find a use for.

Character is coming along nicely. Used the Snot and Stitches background tables since it was who they were before.

Nice. I have a 4 day weekend so hopefully we can get started Thursday or Friday.

I am going on holiday on Saturday so will be busy this weekend traveling and getting the lay of the land, but should be back to posting on Monday. I am bringing my laptop and will have internet.

Just as an early heads-up, I will be on an extended vacation from June 17th through June 28th. I will not be able to post during that time, but feel free to bot my character to keep things moving. I don't want to hold things up!

I'm back from my cousin's wedding. Got to spend a lot of time catching up with family I hadn't seen in 20 years! Lots of fun!

Great to hear! 20 years is a long time!

Anyone want to work out some connections? Are we starting as a unit, or will something bring us together at the start?

My intended idea for Hargrac is that he would think the group to be pushovers, in classic dwarf arrogance fashion, and then hopefully develop a grudging respect for everyone!

It would be great if you had a previous connection with our human in the group - from before the change. But also, you haven't seen him in a few years.

Yeah, I thought the human and the ferren might be a good in, too! I wonder if the ferren keeps its cat form a secret or if we all know about it!

Hargrac might see them as a pair of humans!

One human that acts like a cat. One human that acts like a goblin.

Hargrac: "Humans are weird."

I think its best if everyone met during the level 0 adventure we skipped. We can just narratively describe what happened. My suggestion is you were all at the Moon Temple when the priestesses disappeared. You were asked or volunteered to travel to Set the City of Gods to see what happened, and then on to the largest temple in Lij if the solution wasn't found in Set. The trek from Low Country to Kem could provide bonding moments.

Maybe I already have a grudging respect for them then! But Doom is just around the corner!!

Theo is mostly open about his Ferren status once he can trust someone. So if we've gone through a level 0 adventure together you'd probably know. He's a former hunter and more recently pickpocket as far as professions go. He had to abandon his work as a hunter and make his living in other ways once he came to the big city.

He used his hunting skills to hunt down pickpocketing targets! (and mice!)

@TheForsakenEvil How's your character coming? Just waiting on yours.

Good, I just need to put it on here and off my notepad. I've been abnormally busy this past week, sorry bout that.

Ok no problem. I'll probably start the game tomorrow and you can just post when you're ready. I know Furmyr is on vacation so might be slow posting too. We'll do the Prologue talking about level 0 and how you came to be on the adventure and all that so it won't be super time sensitive.

Awesome! @Dmbrainiac Are you still around? Will you be able to keep up regular postings for the next adventures?

Level 2 Brawler
Characteristics Health +5

Combat Prowess: Your attacks with weapons deal 1d6 extra damage.

Vicious Strike: When the total of your attack roll with a weapon is 20 or higher and beats the target number by 5 or more, your target becomes impaired until the end of the next round.

Sorry, I've been struggling to keep up with my games lately. My work schedule recently changed again and my free time has effectively been cut in half. I'll take this opportunity to bow out of the game. Thanks for the opportunity to play!

Understandable. Thanks for letting us know. I hope things get better in the future. Free time is important for everyone.

Shall we recruit some more and meet them on the boat? What has Fingas done to that poor goblin??!

Lots of known faces! Hello everyone, what are you all playing?

I am playing a Gallant (a warrior type), looking to go for blade, cutter swashbuckler or mountebank as expert path.

Right now, I am playing a Brawler. Dwarf, with a view to moving into some kind of doomseeker later on!

Any wizard or priest in the party?

Bookrat is playing a mage. No priest. Any official published paths are on the table.

Hi! Good to see you again!

I've got a goblin curse mage with a cruel streak.

Are we rolling starting wealth or do I start with some gold? I have chosen to play as a Priest of Father Death, Mortemiar Holmes.

You get one free weapon or armor of your choice, plus 5d6 ss for level 2.

Rolling starting coins. 10 silver. Okay, I have chosen Brigandine for armor and taken a sword as weapon. I have also bought a healing potion, adventurer's pack and a small shield.

Damn those are some unfortunate rolls lol. So in the story so far the party was at a festival to the Maiden of the Moon when suddenly all the priestesses vanished on stage after proclaiming a prophecy that the end of the world is nigh. The village sent the party to investigate the disappearance and hopefully save the world. The whole adventure will be in the Confederacy of the Nine Cities, moving north on their journey towards Lij where the largest temple of the Moon is located. The party started in Kem, City of Blood and is heading to Set, City of Gods as the next destination. As a priest of Father Death that could be a great destination for you as well.

This will complement my character as he might be wandering in the Set checking on the Solemn Brotherhood over there, while studying and practicing funerary rights. On the other hand, Bookrat and KCC is well aware of how much bad roller I am. That too, I am playing with Death magic which targets strength and strength challenge rolls, the stat which is really high for most monsters. Either my character will perish or will really be a burden on the party.

As long as you have fun! I will be interested to see who is the worst roller than, because it's hard to be KCC in bad rolls! Your character is approved. The only thing that stood out is your damage, I think you added Str mod as a bonus to damage but SotDL doesn't have that feature. Everything else looks good. You might want to choose writing instead of a language if you have the choice because I think only one character right now can read lol.

Can everyone make their character sheets public please?

Oh no… Not you too! ㅠㅠ

Welcome abroad @Sitara!

Quick question folks: Does every one have a mount or are we all mount-less? Just finalizing equipment and wondering if I should go for a horse.

They've been traveling up the coast by boat so far. A mount isn't really necessary.