Charater Creation Questions

So, I thought I'd go ahead and start the conversation.

My first questions are the basics of course.

1.) What method should be used to generate ability scores?

2.) What is everyone playing?
I know that I want to play a Changeling. I'm not sure what book the race is originally from, but I have a link HERE. It is an official pathfinder site so I hope it is acceptable.

As far as class, I can't make up my mind. I am torn between Synthesist(Summoner), Gravewalker(Witch), and Oracle.

Use the point buy method 75 points for abilities.

I will allow changelings. I'd like to know which archetypes you were leaning towards

I am leaning heavily toward the Sea Hag racial type, the Sea Lung power sounds pretty nice.

Shouldn't be a problem go for it. I can only find the oracle class, do you have books for the others.

Synthesist is a Summoner Archetype and Gravewalker is a Witch archetype. They can be found in the Ultimate Magic book I think. If not you can follow the same link I provided for the Changeling race above and find them on that site. I use an app on my android phone made by the same site. It has all of it loaded but the annotations for the different books is not always easy to figure out.

Got them, I was looking in the wrong books. Those look okay to me.

Well I built the synthesist and gravewalker. I put them both in the library. The game is set to to 0 characters so I can't submit them to the game. If you are waiting for more players I understand. But I'm ready to go.

I will fix that thanks

I am working on a Halfling Inquisitor presently. Just a forewarning, I haven't played much Pathfinder. I am sifting through my options and I did have a question: unless I am reading this wrong, 75 point buy for stats is pretty much OP. I could have four stats at 18 with that. Is that a typo or and I allowed to go crazy?

Well...I obviously can't speak for the GM here...but yes the 75 points could be spent that way, but why would you want to? If you are new to Pathfinder (or the D&D 3/3.5 it spawned from) maybe you don't know that if you take Ability Score Damage that reduces an Ability score to 0 you are incapacitated until you have time to heal. Charisma is the only Ability I personally could argue this rule shouldn't apply to, but it is written that way. There are, of course, ways to avoid this issue. Low level creatures rarely do Ability score damage. Reading the Minster Manual and learning what creatures to avoid is an option. But you'd still have to deal with the penalties to two scores that might make your character unplayable. A two in Strength means you can barely walk upright in normal clothes, add armor and you are a lump on the ground. Low dexterity means no Reflex saves, and you probably trip over your own feet. Constitution adds to your HP, and subtracts. A bad roll on the HD and you are dead. And then there is your Fortitude save to consider. Without at least a 3 in Intelligence you are not functionally sentient. Most cows have a 2, dogs are a 4 or 5. Wisdom adds to will saves, and you wouldn't be able to ituit your way out of a paper bag. Charisma makes you charming , sociable and good looking. A 3 in this score would mean children run screaming at the sight of you.

I'm sure you don't plan on min/maxing with four 18s, but there is a very good reason why you shouldn't. Characters quickly become unplayable if your Abilities aren't relatively balanced. Your question isn't stupid. If you've never played a d20 system like this one it does seem odd, but it does balance itself out.

I may have a different table but my stats are 18, 18, 16, 16, 16, 16. I'm using the table here which may be wrong. I have played DnD since '00 and while I haven't played much pathfinder, I find it hard to believe that a party of 2 such characters couldn't rule the world.

Also, don't get me wrong, I totally will play a character with those stats . . . it just seems . . . over 9000 level of strong.

Question for the GM: I am trying to consider a choice between Archetypes. I definitely want to get Preacher but am trying to decide between Vampire Hunter or Witch Hunter. What would be the bigger threat in this world? I'm guessing undead but that's only based on not being able to play them as pcs.

Ah...isee the issue now. That chart assumes a starting point of 10 and then you get points based on the smaller chart below. Our 75 points is based on a starting point of 0 for all the scores then add in racial modifiers. Or that was the method I used. "Start at 0. Points are 1:1 then add racial modifies."

Thank you foolsmask, you've actually answered all of these questions as I would have. Yes 75 is above average but a commoner has a 10 in everything and I am assuming that you are all above an average commoner.

You have never heard of vampires except as perhaps a myth, so no to Vampire Hunter. Witch hunter is Okay.

Right, it's more that he hunts undead. I'm sure there are undead in the world that he would have heard of right? Witch hunter is not hunting witches but magic users in general.

I'm cool with Witch Hunter but it seems that the Vampire Hunter could simply be renamed to fit whatever undead exist in this world that I would have had contact with.

Undead are not largely a well known thing in this world. The have been mostly eradicated due to events in the past and now remain as myths.

Okay, have you posted this in the bug section in the forums?

I'm new to site and have only been here about a month. Didn't know there was a bug section. You can consider it reported though.

Thanks for having me here! Never played Pathfinder but played D&D3.5 for 10 years :-D Downloading the rulebooks now and will roll up a character soon :-)

Been reading the Core Rulebook, Advanced Player's guide, Ultimate Magic and Ultimate Combat, looking mostly at classes and archetypes. It's a lot to take in but some fun ideas that jump out at me are the Roofrunner (might be useless outside of an urban setting), the Beast Rider (T-rex mount, anyone?), and the Bladebound Magus (Elric!)

Noticed I got added. Pushed my character out there. If the GM says I'm good I'm ready to start whenever.

Hey guys, thanks for joining I'm happy to be up to 5 players. Whenever I approve your characters feel free to jump into the thread we started before we had 5 players.

Jabes: This isn't largely a urban setting, though there are cities that you will be in at times. I'm going to say no to dinosaurs on principle... Bladebound Magus I have no problems with.

Remnant: You've been approved

Just playing around here...
*Would you consider a Roofrunner with enough skill to also pull that off in the treetops?
*Ok, dinosaurs are out, that's ok. There are other cool options for mounts :-)
*How do you feel about the Spellslinger?
*Which method are you allowing for generating ability scores?

Thanks!

*Which method are you allowing for generating ability scores?

I think he said 75 points to split up (stats start at 0 each) and it's 1:1 coversion... no?

Yeah, thats the way.

That's it

I have no problems with spellslinger. Roofrunner can do trees, with a slightly higher DC due to the nature of the branches verses that of roofs.

So sorry, been incredibly busy. Will submit a character and if approved, first post this weekend.

So since this is my first time with PF I wanted to do one of several character concepts I've not played before. But also because I'm new to the system, nothing too fiddly either. Magus attracted me most, but I've played plenty of spellcaster/swordsmen before. Spellslinger looks way fun but a little fiddly and looking at party composition we seem to be lacking a tank so I'm going with the other concept that caught my eye early on: Beast Rider. Don't worry, no dinosaurs! Is there any way the starting mount can NOT be a horse or camel? Doesn't have to be powerful, just NOT BORING! Even just a refluff. I don't know, an elk or a zebra or something? :-)

EDIT: Oh heck, I just discovered the Dragoon and Roughrider fighter archetypes! Are exotic mounts available for these classes as well (without taking the Monstrous Mount feat)? I just wanna ride monsters, man! If either of these options will let me ride warbeasts I might do that instead of the cavalier.

Give me some creatures that aren't to exotic but still not standard and I will let you know which ones are good.

I don't know where to look (which book) for unusual mounts. Would tigers and such qualify? Also, everyone on the internet is going with halflings & rogues because large mounts can't fit in dungeons. I say that's totally up to the DM. I'd rather play a human but if he's going to get nerfed most of the time because he had to leave his mount behind well then this concept is no good.

EDIT: Giant lizard maybe? Bear? Dire wolf? Giant beetle?

If you're mount is not taller than you it can fit, but you might not be able to ride it. I do have some underground/dungeon areas but I have a variety of terrain. The beastiary would be a good place to look.

Ok, I've submitted Bukol, son of Umbag for approval. He's a half-orc cavalier (Beast Rider archetype). Order of the Beast...not the best order in terms of abilities but I chose this anyway just for flavor. I actually considered creating my own Order and submitting it for approval but that might get too fiddly.

He's (maybe) a bit more intelligent and a bit more cultured than the average half-orc but the orc blood in him is strong and he's constantly fighting the wildness in him. Forewarning: this guy is going to multiclass Barbarian (Mounted Fury archetype).

I haven't bought any equipment as I'm unsure how much money I have to start with. The book says 5d6x10 or average 175gp for cavaliers. Do we roll starting wealth or do we just use the average?

Ok, the mount. I've gone through the bestiaries and decided not to go too fancy. There's a whole bunch of options that I liked but I think a dire boar or a worg would be most appropriate flavor-wise. I'm going to need help with the mount stats.

Thanks!

Sources used:
Core Rulebook
Advanced Player's Guide
Ultimate Combat
Advanced Class Guide
Bestiary 1
Animal Companions

Both are good mounts, let me look at my books for the rest.

Use max starting gold for first level. The stats should be what they say in the beastiary, and I'm going to retcon the last post, go with the dire bear as the worgs are evil and Pathfinder seems to have downside them a bit unless they are winter wolf worgs. If you can come up with some backstory for the winter wolf worg to be good than I'll allow it.

I actually said "boar," not "bear," but when you said winter wolf an idea came to me of how he came to have a winter wolf worg mount or a dire bear (perhaps re-skinned as a polar bear?) and that got me all excited!



I'm still writing it up but the story is basically this:
-Bukol is from a northern tribe of half-orc barbarians & druids.
-Either their tribe's warriors routinely use polar bears as mounts or they use dire wolves but Bukol's mentor raised a winter wolf worg cub and passed it on to him.
-His mentor also established the Order of the Bear (or Wolf, depending on which mount you'll allow). This is just a re-skin of the cavalier Order of the Dragon. The order created a new kind of warrior which caused some division in the tribe. Some regarded these Beast Riders with awe but hardcore protectors of the old ways regarded them with scorn.
-Mentor traveled to the southlands on a mission but didn't return. Bukol followed to learn what became of him.
-I mentioned before that Bukol will eventually multiclass into Mounted Fury. I'm not optimizing here. What I'm seeing is his eventual acceptance of his heritage and embracing some of the old ways. But this will all come much later. For now he's dedicated to his Order and his mentor.

Both mounts are good, sorry about the misreading of boar (dire boar if you still want it). And with that back story I'll allow the winter worg. Polar bear is also good, I'm going to let you choose.

Great! Fine-tuning my character sheet now.

I've redone and renamed my character and submitted the new sheet. Urthask, son of Galazur: Half-Orc Beast Rider. Please let me know if I missed or need to change anything. Thanks!

You're good to go.

Thanks for accepting me :) What rules do you want me to follow for character creation? Not sure how far along you guys are.

EDIT: Basically, should I start at level 1?

I will attempt to have my character done by Monday, but I will post my ideas here before I go ahead with it

Start at level 1, I've accepted most ideas right off. The information you need should be in the threads.

I am making a paladin at the moment, I apologize that it's taking so long

Character submitted, Garrett Hammerfell, Paladin

Should I read all of the adventure so far or just come in and be surprised?

It is up to you how knowledgeable you want Garrett to be. And he looks good and has been approved, do you want to jump in how you would like or would you like me to write you in?

Go ahead and write me in whenever you get a chance :)

Got a question. How much are we allowed to put in for our character history? Do we have an established setting we have to stick to or is it freeform? Also, Gods. How many? Do they have names or should I make it up?

Fairly freeform but with a few restrictions.. Undead are largely unheard of, they have passed into myth so most people don't believe in them. There are only 2 towers of high magic. Use the standard gods from the pathfinder books, but you can make one up and check it with me if you don't like them, they will however need a name.

Welcome to the group!

Via this thread though http://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/948/

We're also down one I believe. D=

so we are. drat, just got back to full. You should really need all five to get through anything I throw at you.

Thanks for the warm welcome, I am very much looking forward to hopping into the game :)

Well maybe Bane can magic one of the Pack Mules I hear they're at a bonus to seduce dragons... How this helps us I have no idea.

I'm not sure how that helps either, but it is a pretty neat ability

Now if I only had dragons planned in the near future :D

Trying to stall until Naatkinson shows up... also out of character cough *I think Bane's a dragon* cough... just sayin'

Just waiting to be written in :) I imagine I'll show up shortly after you set out

You're in

And a fifth player has joined us! Full up party

Before combat starts would it be alright to switch up my equipment and feat selection a bit to better represent my god?

My plan: Get a longsword and shield instead of a heavy flail (Iomedae's favored weapon is a longsword), and switch weapon focus over to longsword

this is acceptable

Thank you. I was looking into the God I'd chosen and thought this would fit better

I'm all for fluff and making the character work over any mechanics and rules :D