[Pathfinder] Burnt Offerings

[CanadienneBacon]

[sblock=Ambrus]

I believe I'll take the Absent Minded trait instead of Child of the Streets if that's okay. Seems appropriate for a budding scholar. As for reassigning my skill point from Gather Information, I'm instead considering taking a rank in Knowledge (Dungeoneering).

Both sound fine.

I'm also toying with the idea of Taran having crafted his own leather barding (cut into the shape of overlapping scales) out of discarded scraps found in the Junktoss to supplement his own nonexistent natural armor. His Intelligence is sufficient to create leather armor by taking 10 on an untrained craft skill. I'd pay for the base materials out of his starting funds of course. It'd depend on a perceived need for protection; which I imagine Taran would have if he'd been introduced to the business end of a goblin's dogslicer once or twice. I'll likely aim to acquire masterwork studded leather or a mithral shirt eventually.

As long as you pay for the base materials out of his starting funds, leather barding isn't a problem.[/sblock]

 

[CanadienneBacon]

[sblock=Shayuri]

2. Ability scores look incorrectly allocated. Everyone has 15 points to spend...I calculate you've spent 24 (plus got another two points to spend for lowering your Str to 8). A lot of my comments are related to the ability score modifiers, which may be changing if I'm right and you haven't spent points according to the 15 point-buy allocation. Let me know if I'm missing something here.

-- You are missing the +2 to one stat that all humans get in Pathfinder. I only paid for a Charisma of 16, then boosted it to 18 with that bonus. I will make that clearer on my final sheet.

Got it now, thanks for pointing that out. Am now satisified that everything adds up as it should.

3. Where'd you earn the Marial Weapon Proficiency (starknife) feat from? I'm not seeing a clear source for it on your sheet. I know you're playing a Varisian, but neither do I see in the adventure module or Player's Guide that explicitly states Varisians get the ability to use a starknife. I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea of you having it, I'd just like to know what I'm missing.

-- Humans in Pathfinder get a martial weapon proficiency as a racial trait. You should read the Race section. There are a lot of small, but noticible changes there.

K, now I'm seeing it. Too.much.new.data.

Thanks for the comments! Hope I answered your concerns.

Ayup. All clear.
[/sblock]

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I'm off to work, so must put a hold on posting.

 

[jkason]

Are all our humans Varisian? If so it'd be good if everyone had Varisian as a language. I might be wrong, but I believe it's the default spoken language throughout Varisia.

I was just going over the Players Guide again, and that says humans of Varisian descent get Varisian as a bonus language. Does that mean it's just available to choose if you have the Int bonus, or that any Varisian starts with Common + Varisian + bonus languages from Int?

jason

 

[Shayuri]

A bonus language is known in addition to any languages gained any other way (by race, skill, class or intelligence).

For example, Druidic is a bonus language for druids. They get it no matter what.

 

[Ambrus]

Makes sense. If Varisians don't know their own native language then who does?

The term "bonus language" was used in 3.X to refer to the selection of languages from which a character could pick the extra languages granted to him by virtue of a high Intelligence score. But, looking over the the Beta playtest rules, Pathfinder seems to have done away with it as a game term; probably because the word "bonus" was misleading.

So that'd mean that every PC except the dragon and the half-orc get it for free. Neat.

Hm. I have to do a bit of research to figure out if my dragon is supposed to automatically know common or not.

Edit: The D20 SRD states plainly: "All characters know how to speak Common." It's unclear whether that's intended to apply to all PCs regardless of race or simply those included in the SRD. The Pathfinder Beta rules don't include any such unilateral mention. The entry for dragons in the SRD, in turn, only grants them Draconic automatically. So, in conclusion, I still dunno.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

A bonus language is known in addition to any languages gained any other way (by race, skill, class or intelligence).

For example, Druidic is a bonus language for druids. They get it no matter what.

Makes sense. If Varisians don't know their own native language then who does?

The term "bonus language" was used in 3.X to refer to the selection of languages from which a character could pick the extra languages granted to him by virtue of a high Intelligence score. But, looking over the the Beta playtest rules, Pathfinder seems to have done away with it as a game term; probably because the word "bonus" was misleading.

Looking at the elf racial section in the beta ruleset, I note the following with regard to racial bonus languages:

Languages: Elves begin play speaking Common and
Elven. Elves with high Intelligence scores can choose any
of the following: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc,
and Sylvan.

Looking at the cleric section in the beta ruleset, I note the following with regard to class bonus languages:

Bonus Languages: A cleric’s bonus language options
include Celestial, Abyssal, and Infernal (the languages of
good, chaotic evil, and lawful evil outsiders, respectively).
These choices are in addition to the bonus languages
available to the character because of her race.

As far as class-related bonus languages go, you're still selecting out of a list of possibilities according to your character's Int bonus. And it looks to me like it's the same as the 3.5 PHB for racial languages--each race is provided a list of bonus language options, from which a player may select one or more depending upon his character's Int bonus. I wouldn't infer, from looking at the beta ruleset, that bonus languages are automatically granted. Think of it this way--a character of Varisian blood may or may not have grown up knowing his roots, his culture, or his family's background. There's little basis for an automatic assumption that he knows Varisian simply because he was born of Varisian blood.

That said, it's dumb not to get what in this very specific case is a very specific subset of a language that makes a great deal of sense for a PC to possess. So, yes, if you're Chelish, Varisian, or Shoanti, you get the bonus language of your race/sub-race for free. If you so chose. I can certainly see cases where someone would decline a language. That decision, however, will remain yours as a player. Is this an across the board thing that will apply to all bonus languages for all classes and races? No way. I don't think the beta rules support that idea.

If you want to press me on this a bit more, shoot an e-mail my way. As always, you'll find me malleable if you make a good argument that I can buy into. wlburford@hotmail.com

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I've vetted and posted responses to three of the six character sheets. I'll try to hit the next one tonight, and the last two tomorrow morning. Since I've already composed my opening post for the actual gameplay thread, immediately following my review of the last character sheet, I will officially open the game for play. Look for the game to begin mid- to late afternoon Thursday (tomorrow).

Any kinks remaining in character sheets will need to be satisfactorily worked out prior to the first use of stats (which usually but not always occurs during the first combat). If your sheet's not complete (and this includes a background for your character) by the time I need to call on you for something specific, I'll pass on your turn until your sheet is done. Most of you are waiting on me, rather than me waiting on you for stats, so this shouldn't be much of a problem for most of the group.

 

[Shayuri]

Regarding language:

I honestly thought I read in the Player's Guide that Varisians got the Varisian language for free. Reading it again, I now can't find that...therefore I apologize for my assertion above that it's so. I'm not sure now where I got the idea, but it seems not to be the case.

Sorry about that!

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Regarding language:

I honestly thought I read in the Player's Guide that Varisians got the Varisian language for free. Reading it again, I now can't find that...therefore I apologize for my assertion above that it's so. I'm not sure now where I got the idea, but it seems not to be the case.

Sorry about that!

Actually, I'm pretty sure that I read something about Varisian and the Varisian race, too...but the last time I was really into reading up on all my Pathfinder was Fall 2007, so it's hard to remember what tidbits were in which book, and where.

I think it's also important to remember that we're dealing with a beta version of a ruleset that isn't yet published--there are bound to be inconsistencies in the beta that will (hopefully) see improvement by the time the official rulebook is released in August. Since we're dealing with so many supplements in this game, some of which we're bound to confuse in our minds with the 3.x PHB, this probably isn't the last rules discussion we see where someone states, "X is true. I saw it here," only to have someone else retort, "No, X is not true. Y is true. If you'll look in sub-section 19 of paragraph 8 of chapter 2 of Whidgamagidgit Rules Supplement..."

Personally, I try to go with what makes the most common sense for the specific situation. This does, however, often lead to inconsistency. C'est la D&D, eh?