Canadienne Bacon, what are we looking at deity wise?
You'll want to take a look at the pantheon in the Rise of the Runelords Players Guide. It's available as a free .pdf download from paizo.com. The pantheon is on page 7 of the Players Guide .pdf. The link below will take you to the download page.
Name: Elyra
Race: Human (Varisian)
Class: Ranger
Align: LG
Feat: Precise Shot,?
Skills: Survival, Spot/Listen, Knowl. Nature and Geography
Elyra is a tall Varisian woman with olive skin and close-cropped black hair. She is broad-shouldered and well-built, but her chiseled features would be better described as handsome than beautiful. Like most Varisians she wanders from place to place, making her way in the world as a string of odd jobs rather than plying a single trade. She has worked variously as a hunter, guide, drover and sellsword. Despite these changing careers, she has always chosen honest work, a decision that sometimes puzzles her family.
She left her family in the north when she received a good offer to work as a caravan guard. A string of such jobs brought her to Sandpoint, where she waits, looking for the next good opportunity to come her way.
For all her wanderlust, Elyra is a hard-headed and practical woman. She knows that the gods move in the world, that spellcasters wield twisted arcane powers, and exotic beasts lurk in the forgotten places of the world. But these are only her problem if they cross her path. For her, life is putting her feet on the road, food in the pot and, Erastil willing, coin in her purse.
Thus far I'm seeing two male protectors (half-orc cleric and human paladin) and three women (two casters and one ranger). You'd probably get a lot of rp mileage out of the tension that would result between the protectors and the arcane casters, plus you'd probably get some interesting dramatic tension between the female ranger and the female arcane casters.
Glad you liked her. Class-wise, if we don't get a rogue, she could be rewritten as a Scout (from Complete Adventurer). Scouts have the Trapfinder ability, so we'd be covered there, and I could buy her the Track feat. The net result would be a really good "skill monkey," which suits me just fine. And that could increase the tension between the down-to-earth trail guide and the wielders of eldritch power.
Are you familiar with the Scout class? I don't think significant changes would be needed for an upgrade to Pathfinder. I'd lobby for going from a d8 to a d10 hit die, but I don't feel strongly about it.
Anyway, let me know your thoughts, and let's see how the composition of the party shakes out. I'm happy to go either way with the character.
So is that the party then? Should I pitch some other character concept?
Yes. I've amended the originating post (OP) to reflect final party composition and have closed recruiting early. What can I say, I liked what I saw.
I have you down to play a metallic dragon because that was your stated first interest. In perusing the list of character concepts, which I briefly list in the OP, you can see that there is still some wiggle room for your concept. A noted gap in party composition is the role of rogue/trapfinder. You can fill that role if you like or you can elect to forego it--the party has healing, figting, and magic well-covered. If we have to do without "skill monkey," so be it. Every party is unique, and I'm fine with things as is.
Please play what you like and are interested in playing, but please also consult with the rest of the party to see how you can best dovetail your character to the other characters. Dragons tend to be show-stoppers. In the interest of fairness, I prefer if you create a character that won't constantly steal the spotlight. I also prefer you to not have to hide and lie in wait all the time, so a Hat of Disguise is probably on order (unless you can manuever some other way to disguise your dragony goodness at low levels). I'll work out compensation for the Hat to the rest of the party in a day or two.
I am familiar with the Scout, yes. I don't own Complete Adventurer, but I've read through it (though it's been a while). I DMed a Scout in a tabletop game in 2006/2007.
I think, for the moment, you should leave Elyra as is. Let's have Ambrus and renau1g flesh out characters, then we'll see where we're at. If, in watching things develop, you feel strongly pulled to make alterations, we'll have you do so.
ALL -- please note the 15 point buy. The PF RPG uses a different point buy scale than the 3.5 PHB.
If you haven't downloaded the free beta version of the PF RPG, please do so. If you're unable to download it, contact me via wlburford@hotmail.com, put Burnt Offerings in the title of your e-mail so I know it's not spam, and we'll work something out in private.
I haven't begun to vet stats yet, so if you need to make alterations based on the allowed point buy and the stipulations of the PF RPG, now's the time.
I've wanted to try Talia in Pathfinder for ages now!
Thanks!
I'll get stats posted asap.
And I think we should get some kind of group connection going. Perhaps the arcanists are coming up from that large city to the south to investigate odd magical happenings in the Lost Coast and we hooked up with the rest of you because you had a common destination...sort of like those road trip callboards in universities...
Or maybe one or more of us have ties, family or friendship or similar...
I've wanted to try Talia in Pathfinder for ages now!
Thanks!
I'll get stats posted asap.
And I think we should get some kind of group connection going. Perhaps the arcanists are coming up from that large city to the south to investigate odd magical happenings in the Lost Coast and we hooked up with the rest of you because you had a common destination...sort of like those road trip callboards in universities...
Or maybe one or more of us have ties, family or friendship or similar...
HMmm... well I think playing a magic-user, maybe I'll go with a sorceror as well, perhaps even a different elemental bloodline to add some competition amongst our PC's as to who's elemental is "stronger/better"... hmmmm or perhaps a wizard who's both jealous and envious at the ease of your powers, whilst he/she was stuck spending years to learn even a minor cantrip.
I think it'd be really cool to have a sorceror/wizard thing going.
With 15 point buy, Talashia will have an Int of just 10, tops. So you can be on her case about being a 'dullard' or something...while secretly envying her Charisma of 18 and how easily she gets her way, and the natural way she wields her powers.
She on the other hand can scoff at your nerdiness, while feeling insecure that you know so much more than she, and have access to so many different spells.
Yay, I made the cut! I didn't expect it would be settled that quickly. Thanks for the consideration CB.
Unfortunately, a dragons isn't well suited to fulfilling the role of rogue/trapfinder since they don't have most of the rogue's key skills as class skills; probably because, as reptiles, they lack the fine manual dexterity for proficient tool use. If it's a crucial niche then I'd suggest going with mfloyd3's proposed character revisions. Otherwise I could come up with an altogether different character to better fit the bill.
I've got a few ideas for fitting in with the group. A righteous dragon may have come to be tied to a religious institution or order in the area and so may be linked to our cleric or paladin characters that way. On the flip side, as eldritch dragon can naturally be tied to fellow practitioners of the arcane arts such as our wizard or sorcerer PCs. Lastly, depending on the region's ties to the ancient past, a scholarly dragon might naturally gravitate towards a group with an interest in exploring local ruins. Mixing the three ideas to some degree might also be feasible and particularly fruitful.
I'm curious to acquire and read more about the particulars of Golarion dragonkind and how they might differ from standard D&D dragons. To that end I hope to get my hands on Paizo's Pathfinder Chronicles: Dragons Revisted supplement within the next few days to read through it. At a glance, Sandpoint being a small community on the coast, it'd seem that bronzes are the most likely metallics to be found in the area.
I'm also anxious to try tying my character to Sandpoint's background if somehow possible. To that end I've skimmed through some online material about the place and a few quick initial ideas sprang to mind. Assuming that you're more familiar with the locales and their back stories CanadienneBacon, I was wondering if you could give me some feedback on these ideas.
CanadienneBacon
The New Cathedral: I thought that, if entrusted to the righteous clergy of the cathedral as a hatchling, lairing there might be appropriate and fun way to hook up with other faithful PCs. With a hat of disguise a hatchling could hide amongst the decorative stone gargoyles and so serve as a secret guardian for the place while learning about local humanoid society and culture.
The Sandpoint Theatre: Seems like an interesting place for a quirky and theatrically-minded brass or copper dragon to secretly lair; haunting the place à la the Phantom of the Opera while keeping a curious eye on performances and those patrons who come to watch them. It might also serve as an interesting justification for how the dragon came to have appropriated his hat of disguise and why he'd enjoy masquerading as an animal amongst the local populace. Depending on Cyrdak's background and personality, he may be a willing accomplice to the dragon's residency and deception.
The Rusty Dragon Inn: What can I say; this place seems tailor made to house a wily dragon in plain sight. I don't know what it or its current owner's back story is, but the big rusty dragon statue on the roof could make a dandy lair for a small dragon if it were hollow. Perhaps the place was originally built/financed by a cosmopolitan draconic ancestor and my character's occupancy is merely a legacy that the current proprietor must accept if she wishes to continue running the place without interference.
The Old Light: A mysterious ruin next to the water; possibly a great place for a scholarly bronze dragon to secretly lair. Depending on its layout, perhaps there's a small sea cave/flooded basement hidden beneath the ruins somewhere.
Naturally, my dragon could have some kin amongst the locale populace if there are any sorcerers with draconic ancestry in the area. That might help establish long term relations within the community; my hatchling could simply be "staying with relatives" in the area so to speak.
Anyway, these are just ideas off the top of my head. Let me know if anything in particular seems to jive well with Sandpoint's or its residents' background in the module. At this point I'm still aiming to flesh out relationships and ties before settling on the dragon's exact subrace and build.
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