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Blood of the Sea

Welcome back to d20 Diaries!

As mentioned this past Monday, today we’re going to be taking a look at one of the wonderful Pathfinder books I happen to own: Blood of the Sea!

Blood of the Sea is a Pathfinder Player Companion compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. This means it’s a thin, soft-cover book with plenty of new options intended for players creating characters. More specifically, this volume focuses on some of the aquatic races of Golarion, how you can use them in water and on land, and on underwater adventuring. This book goes hand in hand with Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Aquatic Adventures, which contains information on each of the oceans of Golarion, underwater combat, a host of new rules and some new character options.

The races detailed in Blood of the Sea include aquatic elves, cecaelias, gillmen, locathahs, merfolk, tritons, adaro, grindylow, and sahuagin. Statistics for playing these races as characters are including for all of these races except for aquatic elves, gillmen and merfolk. Aquatic elves, gillmen and merfolk can be found in a variety of sources, including the the Advanced Race Guide and Inner Sea Races. Gillmen can also be found in the Inner Sea World Guide, and the Inner Sea Monster Codex, while merfolk can also be found in the first Bestiary.

Blood of the Sea features dynamic cover art by Kiki Moch Rizky, which showcases Hakon, the iconic skald, battling an enraged cecaelia on the beach. The inside cover has a really useful map of Golarion with all of its oceans and seas labelled. I definitely read some I didn’t recognize, which is nice to see. The oceans include Abari, Antarkos, Arcadian, Embaral, and Okaiyo, while the seas depicted are Castrovin, Fever, Ivory, Inner, Shining, Songil, Steaming, and Valashmai. For more information on these major waterways you’ll need to check out Aquatic Adventures.

Up next is the table of contents and the introduction. Unlike most Pathfinder Player Companion introductions, this one does not contain any traits or character options. It does still contain a handy rules index, which lists all the new archetypes, feats, and other new rules options contained in the book, alphabetically by type with the page numbers so they can be found on for easy reference. After this we move right into the bulk of the book: aquatic races. The goodly races are presented first, each with two pages dedicated to them. Each contains information about the race in general, how they might come to be adventurers, and some new rules options which typically include statistics for playing them as a race, alternate race traits, favoured class options, feat, and archetypes. Villainous races are showcased afterwards, with two pages shared between then three of them.

Up first? Aquatic elves! Curious and respectful, these elves take it upon themselves to explore and protect underwater ruins — although they have the wisdom to leave the most dangerous ruins untouched. There’s some nifty artwork featuring an aquatic elf with a dagger that has a handle made from a conch shell, which looks pretty cool. As already mentioned, the statistics for playing an aquatic elf are not included in this book. Instead, there is a nice rogue archetype called ‘seeker of the lost‘ which I rather enjoyed. It focuses on exploring underwater ruins, disabling magical traps (which are some of the only kind to survive long periods of time underwater without deteriorating), and underwater combat. Although it’s not ground-breaking or anything, I rather like it. There are also three alternate race traits, and a total of nine favoured class options. ‘Deep sea dweller‘ allows aquatic elves to survive in the dark, depths of the ocean — sort of. It grants you dark vision and cold resistance at the cost of low-light vision and elven immunities. It does not, however, grant and protections from pressure. So it allows you to be in the lightless parts of the ocean, but not too far down. It’s my favourite of the race traits for sure! ‘Surface features‘ allows you to blend in with surface elves which, although useful, doesn’t really tickle my fancy. Why be a weird race and then choose to look like everyone else? Still, it’s sure to see use in play. It replaces keen senses. Lastly, ‘surfacer antagonist‘ is for all the aquatic elves out there who have been harmed by those nasty humans. (Ugh. Filthy land-lubbers. Am I right? lol). This trait grants you a +1 bonus on attack rolls against humans at the cost of elven magic. Yeah, against HUMANS. This trait is going to be really good in pretty much any adventure or campaign. I honestly can’t think of one where you don’t fight a human at some point. Despite it’s usefulness, ‘deep sea dweller’ beats it as my favourite character option for aquatic elves.

Next we come to cecaelias, which first appeared in Pathfinder as an enemy in Bestiary 3. I can honestly say that before reading this book they were not one of the races I ever thought I would want to play. They seem relatively impractical for a PC (being aquatic, and having tentacles), and I’m not big into octopi. It just wasn’t interesting to me. But, after reading the book, I’m probably the most excited for playing a cecaelia. For starters the artwork is awesome, and makes them a lot more relatable than the bestiary image. Their racial traits are fun looking. They have enough of the monster’s original abilities, while still being playable as a PC. They’re a powerful race, of course, at 23 RP, which puts them on par with grindylow, sahuagin, ogres, and svirfneblin. They have great flavour and cultural information. I adore that they’re super curious and social. They’re out to enjoy life, which is always fun to play. They come with three alternate race traits: ‘dextrous tentacles,’ ‘garrulous,’ and ‘tripping tentacles.’ They’re all pretty good, with ‘dextrous tentacles‘ allowing you to use your tentacles to hold and manipulate objects and increase the range of your tentacle sense ability (which gives you blindsight underwater) at the expense of being able to shoot an ink cloud; ‘garrulous‘ gives you a bonus on linguistics and diplomacy skill checks as well as allows you to learn two languages each time you invest a rank into linguistics at the expense of being able to shoot an ink cloud; lastly, ‘tripping tentacles‘ makes you really good at tripping your opponent but causes you to lose your tentacle sense ability. I like ‘garrulous‘ best, but I’m one of those players who enjoys learning a ton of languages, so I’m definitely biased. Haha. As for class options, they have only a single feat up for offer. That said, I like it, so its enough for me. The feat is ‘cecaelia focus tattoo’ which gives you a magical tattoo. Although you can have any number of tattoos, you can only activate one at a time. Once activated a tattoo functions for one hour. There are currently eight different tattoos which can increase your saves against poison or death effects, your stealth or survival skill checks, or the distance of your darkvision. Once you have the feat you can also choose to take another tattoo or increase the potency of one of your tattoos in place of a favoured class bonus, which is a pretty nifty option.

Leaving behind our tattooed cephalopods we get to a race I’ve liked since they were introduced ages ago: gillmen. I know, I know, having to submerge yourself in water or die a horrible death is tricky for a lot of campaigns, but what can I say? I like them! As mentioned previously, statistics for playing gillmen are not included this book. Instead, we get some nice flavour and cultural information (some of which is new), and a lot of class options. There’s the ‘hidden current‘ vigilante archetype which allows gillmen to take on the identity of a nonaquatic humanoid when they’re on land, and at higher levels can even let them magically travel between the land or sea. There’s also four feats, four alternate race traits, an four favoured class bonuses. Also? Awesome artwork! Its my favourite of the entire book. My favourite class options are the feats ‘surface survivor‘ (which makes playing gillmen more manageable) and ‘aphotic explorer,’ as well as the ‘venomkissed‘ alternate race trait.

Locathahs are up next, which is another one of those races I’ve never really felt an urge to play. That said, the flavour really sold it for me, and I think I’d enjoy creating one. My favourite part? They’re stinky and proud of it! Haha. Locathahs use their scent to communicate, even underwater, which is pretty cool. Locathah racial traits are a great conversion from their statistics from Bestiary 2, and the race comes in at 10 RP, which makes them approximately on par with the core races. There are also three feats here, all of which are a part of a combat style called ‘electric eel‘ that utilizes the ‘elemental fist‘ feat. I’ve mentioned in other blog posts that combat styles aren’t really my cup of tea, but I’m actually quite fond of this one. I recommend giving it a read. There are also five alternate race traits available for locathah characters, and six favoured class bonuses. I like all of the alternate race traits, but I think my favourites are ‘blunt head‘ which gives you a bite attack but reduces your swim speed, and ‘coastal emissary.‘ I also love ‘powerful smell,’ but its bound to irritate your companions. Haha.

For more information on underwater combat and the waterways of Golarion, pick up Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Aquatic Adventures

Up next is merfolk. As mentioned, the statistics for merfolk are not provided in this book. Instead there’s a lot of music-themed class options and six favoured class bonuses. In fact, they have some of my very favourite class options in the entire book. For starters there the oracle archetype ‘ocean’s echo‘ which gives you a nice selection of sound-themed bonus spells, and the ability to use some bardic performances. I’m in! (It should be noted: I love bards). There’s also a new oracle curse which is bound to be a ton of fun: ‘song-bound,’ which compels you to sing loudly whenever you speak. Yes, always. How fun is that? I don’t know about you, but I would literally sing everything my character says (I’m an average singer at best, by the way). My kids love it, too. Lastly, there are two new masterpieces in this section, one of which can grant your companions a swim speed, and the other that can scare off trespassers. Both can be sung or played on a string instrument.

Tritons are the final goodly aquatic race in this book. Just over half of the entry is racial and cultural information, most of which is new (as far as I know, haha). Their racial traits are well done, but wow! Are they ever slow on land! Haha. They’re a great conversion from their statistics in Bestiary 2, and come out to a total of 11 RP which makes them approximately on par with the core races and locathahs. There’s a paladin archetype in this section called ‘kraken slayer‘ which looks interesting, but isn’t going to see much use in non-aquatic campaigns. There’s also two feats which work well together: ‘ally caller‘ which lets you use your innate spell-like ability to summon water elementals and dolphins two extra times per day (this feat can be taken multiple times) and ‘aquatic squires‘ which makes that same spell-like ability last 1 minute per level. Not amazing or anything, but fun and flavourful. I like it. All told, though, triton is my least favourite of the goodly races featured in this book.

With the good guys over and done we come to two pages entitled ‘Enemies of the Sea.’ Here we find statistics for playing adaros, grindylow, and sahuagin, as well as a paragraph of racial information on each. Grindylow and sahuagin are both 22 RP, putting them on par with the cecaelia, while adaro are a whopping 32 RP, which makes them among the toughest races you can choose, just under gargoyles and driders. I’ve always enjoyed adaros and grindylow, so I’m happy to see they were included.

Flipping the page we get to three pages on gear — most of which is mundane. Air breathing creatures can make use of artificial gills to survive underwater for a while, while aquatic creatures with slow base speeds like merfolk and tritons can make use of land limbs to improve their speed on land. There’s also a lot of practical gear like underwater paper, pens and compasses, as well as wall hooks. But, my personal favourite mundane bit of gear? Sponge suit! This is a mandatory purchase for the next gillman I make!

There are only four magical items, but they’re all quite useful. The ‘crystal helm‘ fills with water while on land and with air while underwater, allowing a PCs out of their environment the ability to breathe. The familiar bubble can keep your familiar breathing underwater, and shimmering kilt can turn an aquatic humanoid’s tail into legs. (No need to barter with evil cecealia witches anymore… Poor Ursula’s going to be unemployed). But, my personal favourite? The ‘cloak of eternal mist.’ In addition to making you character count as if they were submerged in water, it grants you a bonus to hide in fog and mist, and can grant you concealment when immobile. The best part? Its relatively affordable.

There are four spells on the next page. They are nicely thematic, but none of them blew me away. I think my favourite is ‘arid refuge,’ a spell that can help enable prolonged underwater adventures for land-bound characters by giving them a safe place to rest. Other spells include ‘instant clot,’ ‘silt sphere,’ and ‘suspend drowning.’

Leaving magic behind we get to four pages of aquatic class options that can be taken by most races. There’s a total of five class archetypes, one cavalier order (order of the eel) and one eidolon subtype (deepwater eidolon). I particularly like the ‘aquatic beastmaster‘ archetype for hunter, which contains a whole new array of water themed animals to use with the animal focus ability. I also really like that the ‘coral witch‘ witch archetype allows you to grow your familiar out of coral, an that the ‘keeper of the current‘ inquisitor archetype can track underwater by reading traces of eddies and currents. Very cool! The last two archetypes are ‘crashing wave‘ for the cleric (which has a very interesting form of channel energy that leaves neutrally aligned creatures unaffected) and the ‘tempest tamer‘ druid archetype (which taps into the powers of typhoons, whirlpools, and other storms).

After this is a very useful chapter on the challenges facing underwater creatures who find themselves on land, and ideas and methods for overcoming those challenges (both magical and mundane). I found these four pages a huge help. It not only urges you to think about some troubles you might not have thought of, but it also makes playing aquatic races in a land-based campaign a lot more… attainable. There were certainly some topics discussed that I’d never thought of. Not because it’s obscure or anything, but just… I don’t know. I never thought about it. Haha. For example, weight. If you’re used to being buoyant, walking on land would be hard. How would you act? Imagine how heavy your body would feel to you. Sounds exhausting! What about weather? It’s a lot different than the sway of the currents. And climate? In a lot of places the ocean is cold. How does someone used to that feel on land? What about little things, like seeing a fire or cooking your food? Or keeping up with your companions? This section also has some awesome artwork of a serious ranger on a horse looking off into the distance. Except he’s not just a ranger. He’s a merfolk ranger riding sidesaddle. It’s great. Haha.

Which bring us to the last part of the book. Two pages discussing how air-breathing creatures can adventure and travel on or under water. Like the chapter before it, this section brings up some interesting topics. It also works as a handy reference for spells and magical gear that are useful for underwater exploration. There’s also a small sidebar that lists the oceans of Golarion, a few of its seas, and gives you a one sentence description about that body of water. It’s super brief, but better than nothing. As previously mentioned, players looking for more information on Golarions major waterways should pick up a copy of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Aquatic Adventures.

And that’s it! Then end.

This was a really fun, useful book that presented a lot of unique race and class options for players. I think it’s well-worth the investment. That said, due to its topic, it is quite niche. It’s not a book you’ll be able to use with every character or adventure you’re in. It’s quite focused: underwater races, and underwater class options. That said, this book invested a lot of effort into making underwater races playable on land indefinitely, and it succeeded. Some of the class options are just as usable above water as they are underwater — the ‘ocean’s echo‘ oracle archetype and the ‘tempest tamer‘ druid archetype are great examples of this. The rest, though, cleave pretty tightly to the waves. That said, there are plenty of places in Golarion where water is plentiful. The oceans, seas, and underwater, of course. There’s also the Shackles, Sodden Lands, and River Kingdoms, as well as many port towns, and the coasts throughout Golarion. There’s some settlements which are located both above and below the waves, like Acisazi (there’s at least one more, but I can’t recall its name at the moment… Hmmm… If you happen to remember it let me know in the comments!), and even Absalom has a the half-flooded district of the Puddles.

Ruins of Azlant Lost OutPpost Book One — The Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path is a great choice for aquatic adventures and races. Ruins of Azlant begins with Ruins of Azlant: Book One: The Lost Outpost

Those of you looking for adventures to play aquatic races or aquatic themed archetypes in should try the Pathfinder Modules: Plunder & Peril (which is a level four adventure that takes place in the Shackles), Ire of the Storm (which is a level one adventure that takes place in Sargava), River into Darkness (which is a level four GameMastery Module for 3.5 that takes place almost entirely along the Vanji River in the Mwangi Expanse), or — my personal favourites — Seers of the Drowned City (a level six adventure that takes place in a half-flooded ancient city in the Sodden Lands), and From Shore to Sea (a level six adventure that involves ancient Azlanti ruins and a super insular town on the coast of Cheliax). Those looking for a longer campaign should check out the Ruins of Azlant Adventure Path (which begins with Ruins of Azlant: Book One: The Lost Outpost), Skull and Shackles Adventure Path (which begins with Skull & Shackles: Book One: The Wormwood Mutiny), or even the Kingmaker Adventure Path (which begins begins with Kingmaker: Book One: Stolen Land). I know, I know, Kingmaker seems like an off choice. But, it takes place in the River Kingdoms (which has a whole lot of rivers), it’s encounters and adventure structure allow for regular resting (and taking a dunk in the nearest water source), and you can build your own town. Perfect for those high-maintenance aquatic races looking to make a unique mark on the world.

Overall, I highly recommend Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Sea. It was an enjoyable, inspiring read.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at Blood of the Sea with me today, and that this article can help you decide if this delightful little book was right for you.

Until next time,

Jessica

Character Focus: The Tangletops

Hello everyone!

We just finished up a wonderfully busy long weekend! In addition to celebrating Canada Day, playing The Shackled City Adventure Path, and Heroscapes, we also celebrated my wedding anniversary. After nine years of marriage and eleven years together, my husband and I couldn’t be happier. Wow, it’s passed in a flash! Curious what I got for my anniversary? Jewelry, flowers, something romantic? Nope! Something way better! My husband and kids got me The Shannara Chronicles: Season 1 (which is awesome so far), the Iron Gods Dice Set, and a the Pathfinder Battles: Iconic Heroes Set 5. Can you say ‘spoiled’? As for my husband, my kids and I picked him up a Magic The Gathering Fat Pack for Dominaria! There were all kinds of goodies in there! I’m curious to see what he makes from it.

But, enough about my family. Today we’re going to talk about another family: the Tangletops!

Who?

So glad you asked!

During the recent OutPost convention my children made their second Pathfinder Society characters. My husband didn’t. He wasn’t sure how much he would enjoy play-by-post gaming, so he waited. But, AFTER OutPost? Ah! He wanted more. My husband made a total of three characters after that, two of which he really enjoys, and one of which he decided needs some work. One of the ones that really clicked was a strange gnome by the name of Toban Tangletop.

Toban is an experienced gnome with an eclectic past. He’s travelled the world, and tried his hand at nearly everything he could. In time, he came to worship Shelyn, the goddess of art, beauty and love. He also developed a complete and total obsession… with food. Toban became a chef who creates art through fantastic meals. He drew on his vast experiences to make fusion food, drawing on traditions throughout Golarion. Toban is always looking for rare ingredients and new recipes. Toban enjoys cooking for friends and strangers alike. He is not shy and is prone to approaching strangers and cooking them a meal unlike any other! Toban is adventurous in his cooking and willing to try new exotic foods. Because of this Toban has developed a strong stomach. Every meal and tasty treat he creates is a holy communion with his goddess, Shelyn.

Toban is short even for a gnome. He is barely over 3 feet tall and weighs 37 pounds. Toban has a rather large bottom lip that flaps when he speaks. He has black hair and a wildly long moustache. When Toban is in thought he often taps a finger on the bottom of his lip which makes a popping sound. He wears flamboyant leather clothes and a spectacularly over-the-top tophat which clashes with the rest of his clothes. He carries his cooking supplies with him wherever he goes.

PZO1115_500 — Read more about inquisitors, as well as five other base classes, in the Advanced Player’s Guide.

Mechanically, Toban is a gnome inquisitor of Shelyn who works for the Grand Lodge Faction. He selected the protection domain. He uses his divinely gifted magic to heal wounds, and understand foreign languages. He’s quite old, but uses his vast experience of the world to his advantage, so he chose ‘breadth of experience’ as his first feat, which is honestly one that we LOVE in my household. To better represent his adventuresome eating habits he took ‘resilient’ as a trait. He also took ‘weathered emissary’ to help him in learning new languages.

Toban’s a knowledgable fellow, and an amazing chef. But, he strongly cares about using fresh ingredients, so he’s also good at perception and survival. Although he tries to make friends, his eccentricity can sometimes get in the way.

In battle, Toban always to gives humanoids a chance to surrender and repent, believing that death ends all chances for that person to create beauty. A tragedy! When forced into battle he uses a fine glaive, or his cooking knife. He can also hurl globs of acid at his enemies. He carries acid vials, holy water, and smokesticks, wears studded leather armour. He also carries plenty of healing scrolls, and recently picked up a healing wand. His wayfinder hangs around his neck, while his backpack is overflowing with cooking equipment.

So far, Toban has completed a single scenario: #5-08: The Confirmation. He’s currently working his way through #7-10: The Consortium Compact, alongside “Scaredy’ Sir Lansle Eine, Lady Naysha, and a few other colourful characters.

But, perhaps the strangest thing about Toban, is his family.

My daughter had the chance to play alongside Toban during his confirmation with her character, Lady Naysha. She thought he was hilarious! A day or so earlier she had been begging me to let her make a third Pathfinder Society character so she could play more play-by-posts, and I had relented. She’d been stewing over character ideas for days. She was pretty sure she wanted to play someone who could be a melee character, which is a role my daughter very, very, VERY rarely tries to fill. Fighter? Barbarian? Monk? She couldn’t decide.

That night we watched some Bleach on Netflix and my daughter saw Ururu fight for the first time. No idea what I’m talking about? You can see a short video of it on youtube here.

My daughter thought it was amazing.

“Mom! That little girl is just like me!”

She held up her tiny little fists and showed me her ‘fighting stance.’ Then threw a little punch that would flatten a fly — if my daughter had better aim — but not much else. When she tries to punch my daughter also lets out a little squeak of effort, which makes her ‘fierce’ attempts at battle the cutest and funniest thing you’ll see. It should be noted, she’s the same proportions as Ururu, tall and skinny with slender little arms and tiny fists.

“I’m just a little girl, Mom. But, I am pretty strong you know!”

She threw a few more punches accompanied by some squeaks.

I smiled.

After the episode was over my daughter announced quite proudly that she had figured out what she was going to make. It would be a little girl fighter, just like her and Ururu. A little girl who fought with her fists and was a monk. Except she wasn’t a girl! She was a girl gnome! She would be Toban’s sister, and she would act like a shy, scared little girl. Until battle! Then she’d say something like ‘Please don’t hurt me! I am just a little girl’ before punching them in the stomach really hard! “She is not a weak little girl, Mom! She is strong! And also a big LIAR! She will try to trick people all the time!”

My daughter then showed us a demonstration of her character’s fighting style, which involves some fine little punches and a lot of squeaking.

Very proud of herself, we pulled out the rulebooks and got to work.

PZO1110 — Monks can be found in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook, along withall the rules you need to play Pathfinder!

She decided that her character would be named Rosie. Rosie Tangletop. She would be Toban’s sister. Even though she is a gnome, she looks like a little girl. She has brown hair done up in pig tails, big brown eyes and a big happy smile. She wears a little pink cotton dress, stretchy little shorts, and comfy shoes. She keeps her eyebrows trimmed to better help her blend in with human children. She’s tall for a gnome and very slender and frail looking. She acts shy and meek. She would be a monk, of course.

After some reading and planning, she decided that Rosie carries no weapons at all. Instead, she gave her ‘throw anything’ as her monk bonus feat. She also invested in some vials of acid and a holy water. For her regular feat she ended up settling on weapon focus (unarmed strike). Rosie’s good at physical skills — acrobatics, climb, and stealth — as well as bluff. She’s hoping to invest in disguise at her next level up, but couldn’t afford to from the start. Why? Well, Rosie would use those skills to become trained in Handle Animal and Profession Cook!

Rosie picked up a love of cooking from her brother and, even though she doesn’t worship Shelyn (or any god for that matter), she is a well-trained chef who makes artistic culinary creations. She’s prone to making the food she’s served ‘better’ by pulling out her cooking tools and ingredients at the dinner table and spontaneously making a custom sauce to enhance the meals she’s been served. Then she cleans up and shares her additions with everyone else present.

As for handle animal? My daughter loves rabbits. She decided that Rosie had a pet rabbit that she purchased from an animal breeder and fellow Pathfinder, Bunny Paras. Rosie named the rabbit Lily, and keeps her in a familiar satchel when on missions. She took the trait ‘animal friend’ which gives Rosie a bonus on will saves as long as she keeps her rabbit nearby, and made handle animal a class skill.

Rosie also took the trait ‘loyalty’ and the alternate race trait ‘vivacious’ which helps her recover faster at the expense of the gnome spell-like abilities.

All in all, Rosie Tangletop is a sneaky little thing. She looks meek, but she packs quite a punch. She’s currently working her way through Scenario #6-10: The Wounded Wisp. She’s has great fun cooking in the middle of the Wounded Wisp — which earned her a job offer as a chef. She also was one of the only people who managed to harm the choker they faced in the cellar. Archers and melee fighters missed, and there was poor little Rosie, squeaking in ‘fear’ at the back of the group. She picked a wine bottle off the shelf, and tossed it, sending it end over end towards the monster, past companions, and down the hall. And scored a critical hit! Which dealt MAX damage. My daughter has never laughed so hard after an attack roll in her life. She was absolutely thrilled with herself. Rosie’s bottle tossing saved the day. She’s also shadow-boxed with an illusion, followed clues, solved mysteries and discovered secret chambers. All without having to break her ‘child’ persona. She’s had an absolute blast, and her first adventure’s not even over yet!

With the announcement of Gameday VII on play-by-post, my family and I have been trying to finagle our way into some scenarios together. One of the ones I managed to get them into involved the three of them. Having already played the scenario in question I had to sit this one out. My husband chose to be Toban. My daughter clapped her hands in glee and chose Rosie! This would mark their first scenario where the brother and sister duo would be on the same mission.

And my son?

“Sign me up with a Tangletop, Mom!”

“You don’t have a Tangletop, dear,” I reminded him.

“I will make one.” He assured me.

So we signed him up and he’s been plotting ever since.

images — Read more about Shelyn and the other gods of Golarion in Inner Sea Gods!

He knew he would be a gnome — “A fun, happy one, Mom!” Shortly after he decided that Toban would be his big brother, and Rosie would be his twin sister. His character desperately wanted to be like his big brother, Toban. He tried to be a chef, but he was horrible at it! He does worship Shelyn, though.

With a bit more thought, my son decided he would be a painter who fought with an iron brush. He would be a bard, and when he casts spells he draws through the air with his paintbrush, while describing what he’s making. After a bit more thought, he decided he would instead be a skald. He’d never made one of those before. We did a bit more digging and he settled on being an urban skald.

With those decisions made we got down to work. He decided to name his gnome artist Jastrokan Tangletop. He would be a member of the Sovereign Court. He gave up a few of his gnomish racial traits to take ‘eternal hope’ which allows him to reroll a critical fail once a day, and gives him a bonus on saving throws against fear and despair. For spells he chose comprehend languages and silent image. He wanted the ability to understand anyone, and to make his paintings come to life! For cantrips he chose detect magic, resistance, sift and spark. For his trait he chose ‘simple disciple,’ which gives him a bonus on profession (painter), and unswaying love, which gives him a bonus on saving throws against charms and compulsions. As a skald he gains scribe scroll, which is replaced by extra performance for PFS play. For his other feat he selected prodigy, which makes him better at profession (painter) and perform (oratory). His archetype gives him ‘controlled inspired rage’ instead of the basic ‘inspired rage’ raging song the skalds get, which he’s quite excited about. With a whopping 12 rounds/day of music at his disposal, he’s thrilled to get to start instructionally painting his way through battle. It’s going to be hilarious!

When it came time to buy his gear, Jastrokan went a little overboard. He purchased a whopping 10 iron brushes for battle, two alchemists fire and a holy water. His other combat gear includes leather armour, and a buckler. He bought plenty of painting supplies, of course, and a spell component pouch. In addition to some standard gear (like backpack and a bedroll) he bought a pet songbird (a thrush), and a familiar satchel to keep him in.

With his character complete, my son and I got to work writing his backstory. Here’s what he had to say:

Jastrokan was born and raised in Sandpoint, with his parents and his twin sister, Rosie. Their older brother was a famous travelling chef. Rosie and Jastrokan always wanted to be just like their big brother, Toban, so they tried to cook, too! Rosie was great, but Jastrokan was terrible! And his food tasted gross! Instead, he painted pictures of his sister’s tasty food for signs. He realized he was pretty good at it! He started painting other things, and soon became a really good artist. He started worshipping Shelyn.

PZO1129_500 — You can find the skald, as well as nine other base classes, in the Advanced Class Guide!

Eventually he got bored. He started to travel, and paint all kinds of things. His favourite things to paint were places and things that people hadn’t seen for a long time. Ancient ruins, dangerous monsters, hard to reach wild places, and magical relics! What fun!

A while ago his parents died, so the Tangletop family had a reunion in Absalom. Jastrokan was sad, but was also happy to see his brother and sister. He found out Toban worked at a local church of Shelyn, and that both Toban and Rosie were Pathfinders. Jastrokan missed seeing them, and he did love seeing new things… So he joined up, too!

Jastrokan is a chipper little golden-eyed gnome with a wide, smiling face framed all around by fluffy red hair. He takes great pride in his appearance, and keeps his hair and beard will brushed. He wears a white button up shirt and two vests — one blue (worn buttoned up) and one orange (worn open). His pants are black and around his neck is a little blue ascot. On his feet are good sturdy walking shoes. He wears a backpack that is bulging with gear, and carries a whole bunch of paint brushes sticking out of his pockets and belt. His fingers are stained by different colours of paint. On one of his arms is a wooden buckler that has been painted with a beautiful picture of a sunset and birds. He also wears a satchel, from which peeks a colourful little songbird.

Jastrokan is kind, adventurous, and very curious. He is bold and bright!

With Jastrokan created and ready for adventure, the Tangletops are complete. At least until my daughter decides I should make a Tangletop of my own, I suppose… Haha. So where are the Tangletop’s off to first? They’re signed up to play Scenario #6-01: Trial by Machine in session two of the Gameday VII convention. Although, if I can find another game for them to play in session one, they might sneak an extra game in before hand!

I hope you had a great weekend, and you enjoyed taking a peek at the Tangletops. If you haven’t signed up for any Gameday VII games, and you’d like to, I recommend doing so soon. Games are filling up fast!

Best of luck,

Jessica

Dice Gift — Take a look at these bad boys! I love my new dice!

Character Focus: “Scaredy” Sir Lansle Eine

My kids have grown to love play-by-post gaming over the last few months. They created their first Pathfinder Society characters back in December so they could play a scenario my brother wrote. Scenario #9-10: Signs in Senghor was a ton of fun. Mr. Ice, Bunny Paras, Paras and Enzo Jeggare accomplished their goals, made allies, and escaped the clutches of a dangerous monster. So when OutPost was announced they made the decision to move their characters online so they could play some more. In addition, they made their second characters. Lady Naysha and her beloved stuffed animal Miss Whiskers, the ever forgetful Fuzzzy and his clever owl Bobby joined the ranks of the Pathfinders.

Note: For more information on Mr. Ice, Bunny Paras, Paras and Enzo, check out the following posts: Joining the Pathfinder Society, Signs in Senghor Part One, Signs in Senghor Part Two, Farewell to OutPost, and The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch. For more information on Fuzzzy and Lady Naysha, check out these posts: Outpost 2018 and Farewell to OutPost.

Recently, they decided they wanted to do more. They each took some time to think, and registered their third Pathfinder Society characters. Today, we’re going to take a look at my son’s.

He wanted to make a paladin. He also wanted to make someone from Fuzzzy’s past. Someone who knew Fuzzzy before he was a forgetful old man. Someone who knew he was a hero. He’s a big fan of demons in his d20 games, which worked well with his concept. In no time at all, on the way to school, he announced suddenly:

“Mom, I am going to make Fuzzzy’s brother. He died too. But when he came back, he didn’t get to forget. He remembers. And it makes him really scared.”

Immediately, I smiled. “That’s a great idea! Do you think he’s going to give in to his fear?”

My son thought for a moment. “He will be very scared. He will shake and stuff and hide behind his shield. But he is a paladin, Mom. Even though he is scared, he will try to protect other people. He will be a hero even if he wants to pee himself in fear and run away.”

“That sounds like he is very brave.” I pointed out.

My son nodded. “The bravest!”

By then we were at school, so he waved at his friends and handed me his backpack. I reminded him not to talk about ‘demons’ too much in school — unsurprisingly a touchy topic for a grade one classroom — and off he went to play.

After school he did his homework (with only mild complaints), and slowly typed his way though his play-by-posts. He pulled out our Pathfinder books and began to look at the pictures. After dinner we say down to make his character.

Choosing a race, class, and religion was easy. Fuzzzy had been a human in life, and his brother would be one as well. He worshipped Iomedae, and was a paladin. We quickly discovered a favoured class bonus for humans that he loved: “Add +1 to the paladin’s energy resistance to one kind of energy (maximum +10).” He chose to go with Fire Resistance 1 to start with, due to his unfortunate past with demons. He knew he wanted to fight with a longsword and a shield. Dented ones! And some big heavy armour that was scratched. The same gear he wore in his battles in the Worldwound. He chose improved shield bash, and weapon focus longsword for his feats.

He also chose his stats quite easily: Str 18, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 8. Strong and healthy. A little smart and a little wise from his time in the military. But not very nimble — his armour is too hard to move in for that. And not charismatic at all! He’s so nervous and scared that it bugs people. Also, he’s used to friends turning out to be traitors and demons and things! So he doesn’t trust people very easily. He is too scared they might be demons in disguise to be good at making friends! He knew that the low charisma could be a problem for a paladin, but he decided he was fine with that.

Then something wonderful happened. As we were browsing through archetypes we came across two that he wanted: torturer crusader and warrior of holy light.

Tortured Crusader is an archetype from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Horror Adventures that represents a paladin who has lived through more terrifying and horrifying experiences than most. These events have left a scar on him. Perfect! It uses Wisdom instead of Charisma — even better! It gives him access to more skills per level than a normal paladin, and new skills. He gives up diplomacy and handle animal (fine with him!) and he gains access to survival skills, and a bunch of skills that would be super useful to a guy who tries to battle demons everyday. They can’t detect evil. Seeing the evil all around them only reminds them of how horrible life is. This could also help keep his new character scared all the time, since he has no idea where evil might strike from next! Their smite evil is also a little different. It’s less effective at level one, but later becomes more effective. My son thought this was alright with him. They can’t use their healing powers to heal others, instead he can only heal himself with them. This is because they want to protect others from evil so much, that they can’t ask others to fight beside them. Even though this is quite a downside for his healing powers, my son liked it. He decided that his character wanted to protect everyone from the pain and trauma that the demons caused him, so he would fight them all on his own. Also, this ability would give him extra uses of smite evil, which he thought was pretty cool. Soon he’ll also gain the ability to set conditions that could cause his healing powers to automatically trigger on himself. My son loved this idea, deciding that it was Iomedae herself, still granting him some extra help now and then.

The second archetype he liked is the Warrior of the Holy Light from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Advanced Player’s Guide. This archetype made him give up his spell casting. Instead, he can make a magical aura of light that makes himself and his allies a little bit better at fighting. Later, it can do other things, like healing ability damage, providing energy resistance, and even harming evil creatures. He immediately decided to give himself this archetype along with the trait, birthmark. His paladin would have a birthmark on his left palm that looked like a glowing sword. It works as his holy symbol, and helps him shake off charms and compulsions, which is really helpful against demons! When he gets access to his light abilities, it will be his holy birthmark that glows with light. When this happens, his scared paladin will turn into the man he used to be. Iomedae’s holy light will help him remember what its like to be brave.

From there, filling in the rest of his character was easy. He chose ‘a sure thing’ as his second trait, gave himself ranks in Knowledge (planes), Knowledge (religion), Perception, Profession (soldier), Sense Motive and Survival. He chose abyssal as his bonus language. And he spent his money on some good gear. A longsword, heavy steel shield, scale mail and some javelins. He also invested in holy water. He made sure to pick up a wooden holy symbol of Iomedae and a battered old copy of her holy text. His, from before his death. He also invested in a shield sconce and some torches. The rest of his gear was pretty basic: backpack, bedroll, so on and such. With a bit more tweaking, he was ready!

We painstakingly typed up his character sheet on our computer, registered him online. My son browsed through character images and quickly found one he liked. Then we spent some time writing his character biography.

He was ready!

So, on behalf of my son, we’re introducing Sir Lansle Eine. Brother of Fuzzzy. Paladin of Iomedae. Known to most as Sir ‘Scaredy.’

Sir Lansle Eine and his brother Sir Palad Eine were holy paladins in the service of Iomedae. They battled together in the Worldwound and saw many horrors. In the end, at twenty-four and twenty-five years of age, they died. But as the demon tore apart their bodies, Iomedae plucked their souls from the Boneyard and placed them in new bodies. They were brought back to life by their faith and devotion and self-sacrifice. But when they came back they were not the same. Death changes everyone.

Palad came back in the body of an old man, with no memory of his past life. He calls himself Fuzzzy now, and doesn’t remember Lansle at all. Fuzzzy has a pet owl who is very smart—a gift from Iomedae—who keeps Fuzzzy safe and on track. Lansle visits his brother often, but it always makes him both happy and sad. It hurts being forgotten.

Lansle didn’t change as much as Palad. He looks the same, and he remembers everything. That’s the problem. Dying at the hands of demons was terrifying and it left a deep scar on Lansle’s soul. He is scared of dying, and all the things that might make him die. But, he is still a paladin in his heart.

He can’t stand on the sidelines when evil is in the world. He won’t waste his second life.

Sir Lansle decided to do some good. He takes care of his brother, even though Palad/Fuzzzy doesn’t remember him. And he joined the Pathfinders. More specifically, the Silver Crusade. Through his missions he is going to make the world a better place. Even though it makes his knees shake, and his arms turn to jelly. He is a scared, but very brave, guy.

Luckily, my son had no trouble finding a game for him to play in. Sir Lansle is currently working his way through Scenario #7-10: The Consortium Compact. Stopping a shipment of horrible drugs from being spread across the Inner Sea? Definitely a good start!

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at my son’s new character. I know I enjoyed helping him make it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jessica

Character Focus: Mummy’s Mask: The Fateway Five

In the past I’ve spoken a lot about my home game of the Mummy’s Mask Adventure Path. Played by my brother, sister-in-law, and my husband, with me GMing, it’s one of the only face to face games I have running that is adults-only. We play on Friday evenings (presuming everyone is free), while our kids run around like maniacs, enjoy a movie night together, and indulge in some popcorn. It’s been a total blast. But, despite the many times I’ve mentioned it, I have yet to get into detail about the characters involved. Safe to say it’s overdue!

But first…

What is Mummy’s Mask, anyway??

PZO9079 — Mummy’s Mask: Book One: The Half-Dead City, by Jim Groves.

Mummy’s Mask is a six part adventure path for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, intended to bring your characters from level one to around level seventeen. This campaign takes place in the deserts of Osirion, and involves trap-filled pyramids, haunted tombs, scorching deserts, bustling bazaars and more undead than you can shake an ankh at! The Mummy’s Mask Player’s Guide is a free download on Paizo’s website, and contains a ton of useful information for player’s looking to make characters that have lasting ties to the campaign. My home group has recently completed Mummy’s Mask: Book One: The Half-Dead City, and have moved on to Mummy’s Mask: Book Two: Empty Graves, both of which take place in the desert city of Wati. For those of you looking to run the game as a GM I highly recommend picking up the Mummy’s Mask Adventure Path Pawn Collection, which has a over a hundred unique pawns for use in this campaign. You’ll also get a TON of use from the Mummy’s Mask Poster Map Folio. Trust me, by the end of Empty Graves your map of Wati will have had one hell of a workout. Mine’s already covered in a ton of numbers and labels I’ve added in permanent marker, to help my players keep track of the many locations in this quirky city. The campaign is also available in other formats, including The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Mummy’s Mask Base Set, and as a series of audio stories beginning with Pathfinder Legends: Mummy’s Mask 1: The Half-Dead City. I haven’t had a chance to play either the Card Game version of the campaign, or to listen to the audio tales, so if you’ve done either let me know what you thought of it in the comments!

If you’re interested in my previous posts about Mummy’s Mask, check out Mummy’s Mask: Game Aids, Mummy’s Mask: The Shrine of Wadjet, Mummy’s Mask: The Canny Jackal, and Mummy’s Mask: The Dead Come Knocking…

PZO9080 — Mummy’s Mask: Book Two: Empty Graves, by Crystal Frasier.

Now, let’s meet the heroes of our tale…

Our home game centres around three wonderfully colourful characters played by my husband, my brother, and my sister-in-law. Together they make a powerful team called the Fateway Five. No, that’s not a typo. So who are these three numerically challenged heroes? I’m glad you asked!

First up, Kasmet! Kasmet is an attractive catfolk rogue with a pelt like that of a clouded leopard, and an exceptionally long, fluffy tail to match. She’s sneaky and greedy, and particularly adores shiny, sparkly treasures, jewelry and gems. She can pick locks and disable traps–although so far she’s had quite foul luck with that disabling thing. Nimble and quick, she’s prone to tumbling around the battlefield, flanking her enemies before tearing into them with her sharp, well-manicured claws. Kasmet’s a worshipper of Bastet, the ancient Osirion goddess of cats, pleasure and secrets. She can speak the ancient tongue, and is particularly interesting in discovering what she can of Osirian’s ancient past. She’s a sassy thing and more than a bit…. catty. She wears the most luxurious equipment she can get her hands on, and has a particular fondness for clothing and jewelry with an Ancient Osiriani aesthetic. Kasmet travelled to Wati to delve into the recently opened tombs in the little town’s massive necropolis. On the journey, she travelled with another catfolk, although the two couldn’t be more different.

Nazeem Salahadine — Artwork discovered on Pinterest that looks similar to Nazim Salahadine. If you know the artist, let us know so proper credit can be given!

Nazim Salahadine is my brother’s undead-hating catfolk cleric of Pharasma. Nazim looks like an overgrown persian cat. He wears traditional Osiriani armour, and wields a khopesh and shield. He always leaves his chest fur exposed, which he strokes whenever he’s excited, causing him to purr loudly. He’s territorial, and is prone to rolling around all over the things he desires or plans on visiting, marking such places with his scent and hair. (I’m sure you can imagine how much the innkeeper likes that habit…) He eats a lot (and often), favouring fish and a nice tall cup of milk. He’s incredibly pious, and is often heard spouting Pharasman prayers, or blessing himself and others with a spiralling motion over the heart. He’s also a well-trained midwife. He despises undead with his whole being, always attacking them without remorse, with an ear-piercing ululation on his tongue and his khopesh held high!

Nazim also came to Wati to explore the necropolis, although for entirely different reasons than Kasmet. While she was drawn by greed, he was guided by fate. Not long ago, Nazim died. He had been prepared for death. Had known it was coming. So as his spirit wandered the endless desert he had died in, he opened his heart to his goddess, and prepared to walk the spiral. To allow her to draw him into the Boneyard and her realms. But as her psychopomps appeared before him, another made their presence known: Anubis, an ancient death god of Osirion. Anubis destroyed the psychopomps and punched Nazim right in the chest while uttering the words: “Your time has not yet come.”

Nazim awoke on the hot desert sand, dehydrated and alive once more. Emboldened with purpose, but worried at having been denied his judgement in the Boneyard, he found a single word written in the sand beside him. ‘Wati.’ And there he traveled.

Since arriving in Wati, Nazim has made cherished friends and met the love of his life: the mysterious Black Kiss. Unfortunately, her skin is toxic. Also unfortunately, she left him. Sort of. More accurately, she left town. They were never really dating in the first place. It was more like he announced that they were meant to be together and she laughed. Although, his persistence did earn him her attention and some smiles. But, with his beloved soul-mate gone, Nazim is now heartbroken and forlorn, periodically breaking down into sobs and tears. Kasmet thinks he’s being an idiot.

MIKE — Wonderful art by onionholic which inspired the appearance of Arc Goodstorm.

The third and final member of our party is Arc Goodstorm. Played by my husband, Arc is a socially awkward, plant-obsessed witch. He grew up with his over-bearing, druidic mother, Gwen, in a desert oasis, and until leaving a few months ago had never spoken to another person. Prone to blushing brightly and stammering at women with wide-hips (who he finds incredibly attractive), Arc’s still learning the ways of the world, and the intricacies of social interaction. He’s hilarious to see in action!

But, Arc’s not all adorable awkwardness! He’s a dependable spellcaster, a magical healer, and a talented herbalist capable of making all kinds of wondrous balms and cure-alls. He’s a caring physician, and a passionate gardener. On his back he carries a deep, heavy basket filled with soil and luscious plants, which he tends with care. His rabbit familiar, Mischa, lives inside the basket, and a sarcastic silvanshee named Kal follows him around most of the time, mocking him and his friends. And his dates. And everything, really. Except the rabbit. The silvanshee LOVES his rabbit. Which brings us to members four and five of the team. See? They can count!

Why, you might ask, does a silvanshee follow him around? The answer is part love and part laziness. Kal (short for Kalenthadris) is charged with finding and putting an end to undead on the material plane. Unfortunately, he’s extremely cowardly and doesn’t like to put himself in danger. But, you know who does? Humans! They’re super reckless! And there’s so many of them! Enter Arc! Despite Kal’s irritating jokes, constant pranks, and habit of leading Arc into trouble (only to promptly vanish and leave Arc to fend for himself) Kal’s a big softy. He’s enchanted with Arc’s rabbit familiar, Mischa, who he converses with as if they could understand each other. And when push comes to shove, Kal’s been there to heal Arc on more than one occasion.

And there you have it! The Fateway Five. Heroes of Wati and, maybe one day, something more…

Tune in later this week for an update on our Mummy’s Mask Campaign!

Jessica

By feather, fur, and scale!

My kids are Earth Rangers. No idea what I’m talking about? The Earth Rangers are a kids conservation organization which empowers Canadian children to embark on missions to save local ecosystems, endangered animals, and do their part to reduce pollution, waste, and climate change. It’s free to join, and in addition to missions, videos and games there’s also an educational blog my kids enjoy reading. Both of my children are members, but, because of my son’s dedication to saving the planet, he set out at the start of this school year to accomplish two things:

One: start a litter collecting club to beautify the school yard and neighbourhood parks.
Two: get the Earth Rangers to come to his school.

It should be noted that he’s seven years old.

While his litter club is still in the works (he had to wait until he snow melted before his teacher would help him get it started), just this afternoon the Earth Rangers came by his school to put on a presentation. Now, this isn’t super strange–they do school assemblies across the country–but it’s never happened at my son’s school before, nor any of those nearby. He’s been trying his best to get this to happen all year long, so you can imagine how excited he was that they came. And man, did they put on a show! In addition to an energetic, fun assembly, they also brought along a quartet of awesome Animal Ambassadors to show off. My favourite? The barn owl that they sent soaring through the gym right over the crowd! My son’s? The three-banded armadillo which we got to see scurry around, roll up, and nibble on some mealworms. My son got mentioned during the opening, and at the end both of my children and I got to go behind the scenes to meet all the animals personally, and chat with the presenters. Surprisingly, once my daughter got up close it was the ball python that stole her heart.

They honestly made my kids ~~day~~ m~~onth~~ year.

Which brings us to the topic of todays blog: animals!

I have yet to meet a player of d20 games who has NEVER made a character that has a pet. Perhaps it’s a familiar, an animal companion, or a mount. Whatever the case, animals are a huge part of most d20 games–as both companions and enemies. I find that among children, they’re an even bigger draw. My daughter’s first character had so many pets I took to calling the entire party the ‘Animal Crew.’

Everyone’s got a favourite animal. Chances are everyone’s got a favourite choice for familiars and animal companions, as well.

My daughter? Easy! Rabbits are her favourite familiar by far, and that’s not even taking into account that they grant their masters +4 initiative! She’s also a huge fan of the arctic hare. And animal companions? Parasaurolophus, of course! Particularly if you let them ‘sing.’

My son prefers pigs as his familiar of choice–mostly because he thinks they’re adorable. They also grant their masters +3 diplomacy, which is handy for those of you who want to make friends. For animal companions, he favours the boar, although he’s also pretty partial to owls and eagles on occasion.

PZO9429_500 — Rabbits were originally introduced in the Pathfinder Player Companion: Animal Archive,alongside a ton of other animals and archetypes.

My husband’s top choice for familiars is the raven, which can speak any one language. Awesome! And his favourite animal companion, hands down, is the wolf. Love those free trip attacks!

And me? The fox is my favourite animal by far, so choosing my favourite familiar is a simple decision. Fox, fox, and fox again. Maybe toss in an arctic fox for a bit of variance… Haha. Those lovely little fennecs grant a +2 on reflex saves.

But animal companions? Wow, tough choice! I’ve always been a big fan of the grizzly bear. But then there’s the crocodile… Who doesn’t want a badass beast who can go on land OR water? But, when it comes down to it, I’m a big sucker for the ankylosaurus. SO COOL! Unfortunately, every time I’ve made one it’s master died a horrible death within a session or two. Haha. I’m cursed!

But, in my opinion, it’s not what animal you choose that makes your pet important, but how you choose to play them. Big or small, they can be living breathing characters and allies–not just a pet you give a scratch here and there.

My daughter has a druid with a pet parasaurolophus who loves to sing and dance. She dresses her in bows and fluffy tutus, and always gives her hugs. She spends time comforting her pet, and always plays that little dinosaur as a young, skittish, easily scared little (big) thing. When battle starts, she doesn’t just tell good old Paras to attack, she tells her to strike up a battle tune, which sets her dear tooting, and bellowing, and shaking her tail. That’s not to say that Paras never enters the fray–she does. She whips that tail around with a vengeance whenever her master’s hurt. But, it is to say, that Paras is a character, more than just an extra attack form.

PZO9454_500 — Familiars of all kinds–as well as some nifty archetypes–can be found in the Pathfinder Player Companion: Familiar Folio.

I have a meek, shy wizard who fell in love with a vicious, man-eating dog during a session, and ended up taking it home with her. Barely able to control her big, snarling brute, clearly it’s Prickles the dog who’s the alpha in that relationship. Unfortunately, that same wizard hates killing things and, knowing she won’t be able to stop her dear dog from devouring something once he gets a taste of blood, she never orders him into the fight. That said, Prickles is a territorial pup. With the awesome bodyguard archetype, from Ultimate Wilderness and the Animal Archive, if there’s one thing he won’t abide is someone harming ‘his pet’ (my wizard). I have a ton of fun roleplaying these two and their weird, unbalanced dynamic.

My husband’s most memorable pet is a rat familiar named Rothmhar, who is a direct conduit to the foul god Mhar. Rothmhar and his master, Haji both devour rocks during their communion, which causes Rothmhar to froth at the mouth and engulf itself in a transformative, rocky, cocoon. Upon hatching he not only grants Haji magical powers, but he also has his ugly flesh pierced by sharp rocks. Also? He hates Haji’s girlfriend. You can read more about Rothmhar in my Iron Gods blog posts: Iron Gods: Character Focus: Haji and Nix, Iron Gods: Part One: Into the Weeping Pond, Iron Gods: Part Two: Bring Out Your Dead!, Iron Gods: Part Three: Gremlins, Iron Gods: Part Four: The Dead Desert and Iron Gods: Part Five: High Times in Torch.

In another campaign, when we played the Second Darkness Adventure Path (which starts with Part One: Shadow In The Sky), my husband’s character befriended a sleazy scumbag named Bojask, and made him his cohort. Later, Bojask got a horribly stupid and overly friendly swamp barracuda, named Gulper, for his animal companion. This dopy thing was hilarious and a total blast to have in the party, especially as he licked and tried to ‘hug’ his grumpy, cussing owner. Half-way through the campaign, poor Gulper died. So heartbroken was the party we used resources to have the goof reincarnated, only to have him come back as a ram. As lovable as he was before, Gulper was even funnier trapped in the body of a completely different animal. He kept trying to bite when he should headbutt and swim when he couldn’t. But the best part? The first time the poor thing found himself in water and had no idea he couldn’t breathe water. HILARIOUS. In time, he died again, and this time was brought back as a spider. Admittedly, that didn’t last long. The poor thing kept trying to lick people with a non-existent tongue, and only ended up poisoning them with his mandibles. In the end, we paid a ton of money to have him returned to his proper form, only to have poor Gulper–who had finally gotten used to being a spider–adjust all over again! You haven’t laughed until you’ve seen a swamp barracuda try to figure out why he can’t shoot webs and climb up walls. Priceless!

s-l300 — Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Ultimate Wilderness alsoreleases some great new familiar and animal companions, as well as archetypes for both!

But my favourite pet of all time? It belongs to my seven-year old son. In a previous blog post we talked about the creation of a character of his, Fuzzzy. Fuzzzy is paladin of Iomedae who died battling demons in the Worldwound alongside his brother. Luckily, Iomedae rewarded them for their service, seeing them brought back to life in new bodies. Unfortunately, Fuzzzy found himself in the body of an old man, with no memories of his past life. Or any memories, really. He barely recalls what happened two minutes ago. Now a wizard, Fuzzzy is accompanied by an intelligent little owl, who keeps him on track and safe. This little owl, Bobby, ranks as my favourite pet by far! Seriously! They have such a wonderful relationship. Take a peek at any of his play-by-post adventures and you’ll see what I mean.

Now, I know all of you have beloved familiars and animal companions! You’ve got funny stories and heartfelt ones. And plenty more of you have preferences. So let us know YOUR opinion in the comments! Share your picks for favourite animals companions and familiars! Tell us about the most memorable ones you’ve created or played. Did you ever see someone else with a pet you wish you’d thought of? By all means, let us know!

Whether they’re feathered, furred or scaled, we want to hear from you!

Until next time,

Jessica

Iron Gods: Part Five: High Times in Torch

Today on d20 Diaries we’re heading back to Torch, for more of the Iron Gods adventure path!

Iron Gods is a six-part adventure path by Paizo Publishing that fuses technology and fantasy into one awesome Pathfinder campaign. The first volume, Iron Gods Book 1: Fires of Creation, is written by Neil Spicer, and is intended to bring characters from levels one to four. The Iron Gods Player’s Guide is a free download on Paizo’s website, here. For further information on the Iron Gods campaign, check out my blog post ‘Iron Gods Adventure Path.’ For information on our characters, check out my blog post ‘Iron Gods: Character Focus: Haji and Nix,’ and for information on our first few play sessions, check out my blog posts ‘Iron Gods: Part One: Into the Weeping Pond, Iron Gods: Part Two: Bring Out Your Dead,’ ‘Iron Gods: Part Three: Gremlins,’ and ‘Iron Gods: Part Four: The Dead Desert‘ If you’re going to play Iron Gods yourself, I highly recommend picking up the Iron Gods Adventure Path Pawn Collection, which has a ton of unique pawns for use in the campaign.

Pheonix 'Nix' — Art that inspired Nix. Discovered on Pinterest. If you know the artist or the source let me know, so proper credit can be given!

The trip back to Torch had been hell.

Despite their wounds, Nix had insisted on digging through the piles of debris for useful parts and scrap. She was an impulsive woman. Impatient, and reckless, but she was also brilliant. The bits of wire and metal she might find in the blocked passageways could become something wonderful with a bit of tinkering in her workshop. Like the massive metal arm that she wore. Built from scrap salvaged from the junkyard, it was a fine replacement for her missing one, which had been torn off by a piece of malfunctioning machinery a few years ago.

Haji had watched with exhausted fascination. His one remaining eye piercing the darkness with ease. The second eye socket was filled with a glittering gemstone, and surrounded by a strange triangular rune that had been branded into his flesh by his one-time master. The same master who had taken his eye.

Perched on his shoulder, a hideously ugly rat with strange rocky protrusions jutting from his flesh hissed in impatience. The rat was Haji’s keeper, and the source of his magical powers.

Haji eyed his rat-master and shook his head.

“I’m not leaving her behind.”

The rat hissed again and nipped Haji on the ear, clearly disappointed in his decision.

In the skulk caverns, Sef had eyed them with ill intent. It was clear she was contemplating taking advantage of their weakened state to murder them, but apparently thought better of it. She bit her tongue and let them pass. For now, their alliance still stood.

The swim through the Weeping Pond was the worst. It’s toxic waters stung their wounds, and made their eyes water. Although Rothmhar was unwounded, neither Haji nor Nix had much strength left in their limbs. Swimming while weighed by scrap and scavenged equipment took forever, and in the end they ended up walking along the bottom of the lake for the better part of an hour. Finally they clambered up onto shore wet, exhausted, with their wounds seeping puss. Unsurprisingly, this meant their first stop would be the Temple of Brigh.

The Temple was crowded with worshippers all praying that the Torch would reignite. Without it, many of them would starve and the town would sputter and die. The old high priest, Joram Kyte, was in the middle of leading a sermon, so Haji, Nix, and Rothmhar plopped down at the back of the chapel, bleeding all over the pews and stinking the place up with the toxic fumes of the lake. To say they made a disturbance was an understatement.

In time the sermon drew to a close, and the worshippers moved on to pray privately, either in the chapel, or by creating a useful device in the holy workshops nearby. Joram strode over to them with a pleasant smile on his face.

“I see the caverns proved a challenge today. Lucky for you, Brigh blesses all who beseech her for aid.” He gestured at a nearby donation box made of elaborate clockwork parts.

“You cheap bastard,” Nix cursed.

Haji dug a pile of money out of his belt pouch and dropped it into the box. With a clicking and a whirr, the box began to move. Sprouting metal protrusions It formed and created a golden mask—the holy symbol of Brigh, goddess of invention and clockworks. The mechanical face bowed it’s little head, then clinked and clanked its way back into its constituent pieces and withdrew itself inside.

“A fine blessing, indeed!” Joram remarked with a wide grin. “Now, let’s see what we can do about those wounds?”

It took more than a few castings, prayers, and a heavy dose of antiseptic cream before Haji and Nix were feeling more like themselves. Haji was grateful to the clerics, but Nix grumbled and complained the entire time that she could just brew her own potions at home. To drown her out, Haji explained to Joram what they had seen.

“The behaviour of these skeletons it strange,” Joram admitted. “Can you describe their behaviour in detail? And their bodies… Is there any chance they were particularly rotten zombies? I… have heard tell of something similar sounding…”

After further conversation, Joram sighed. “I believe that this red light is a sign that the skeletons are being controlled by another. By an intelligent undead, capable of forming a mental link with the skeletons, and bending them to his will. Unfortunately, if I am correct, then there’s a high probability that these unquiet skeletons will reform daily.”

Haji scowled. “Reform?”

“But, we just destroyed them!” Nix exclaimed. She crossed her arms in an angry pout.

“And you’ll need to destroy them again tomorrow,” The preacher added with a stern look.

“So how do we stop their rejuvenation?” Haji asked.

“You’ll either need to destroy their controller, or bring their spirits peace. I’m afraid I can’t tell you more without witnessing them personally.”

“Bring them peace?” Nix scoffed. “Pretty hard to do when they’re shoving their claws into your chest! Ass.”

Joram ignored the insult and shrugged. “If I’m wrong, you’ll soon find out. But, if I’m right… Well, it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared. Have I mentioned that we sell holy water? Brigh protects all who show her the proper respect.”

Haji nodded quickly, before Nix could insult the old priest further.

With their holy water in hand, and their purses significantly lighter, Nix and Haji left the chapel and entered the streets of Torch. Wide, well-worn dirt roads stood empty. The forges and bellows lining the roads were quiet and dark. Doors were shut. Windows shuttered. Shops closed.

Torch was dying.

Eventually they came to the home of Val Baine. Val was a child, barely twelve, but she had promised to feed Haji, Nix and Rothmhar. Not indefinitely, of course. Only while they were exploring the caverns under Torch. Val’s father, the town councillor Khonnir Baine, had gone missing in those same caverns, and Val was hopeful that Haji and Nix would bring him home.

At the sight of them, Val smiled. “You’re back! Did you find my father?”

Haji shook his head no, while Nix ignored her and held her stomach dramatically.

“I’m starving.”

“I see,” Val sighed sadly. But a moment later she smiled. “I’m sure it won’t be much longer now! You’ll bring him home, soon.” She led them into the nearby bar that was her father’s. “We’re having roast crow for dinner. Come on.”

The bar was large and empty, having been closed by Val until the day her father returned.

Val was a decent cook for a kid. Better than Haji and Nix, anyway. Of course, that wasn’t saying much, as Haji had been known to eat garbage and rotten meat on occasion, while Nix often cooked out of the same pot she brewed alchemical concoctions from. Standards were not high.

They stuffed themselves, and then Haji stuffed himself even more. Food had been scarce growing up, so he had a habit of gorging himself to bursting whenever possible.

Eventually they left and made their way to the market. They had goods to sell, and Nix was intent on discerning the uses of the strange devices she had discovered. The market was pretty empty, with only a few stalls in operation, but they were lucky. They met a man by the name of Sanvil Trett who was an expert in the advanced technology that littered Numeria. He was a friendly fellow, who chatted away happily with Nix and explained how all of her scavenged goods worked—for a fee, of course.

Haji didn’t like the man. He smiled entirely too pleasantly at Nix and flirted with her while they talked. After Haji wrapped his arm around Nix and gave the man a growl he backed off a bit, and the conversation turned professional. Turns out Sanvil was pretty helpful. They learned that the silverdisks they regularly used as currency were batteries capable of charging up advanced technology. Most of the ones that they had were spent, and had no purpose other than money, but others had a visible lattice of metal lines on one side that shimmered in the light like a rainbow. These possessed the power to recharge advanced devices. The strange pen-like stick Nix had found a while back was a zipstick. When charged it would send a minor electrical current into something. Although not powerful on its own, a zipstick could be used with ion tape and some other advanced devices. Ion tape was pliable and sticky, but solidifies when electrified, becoming solid and smooth. Another shock caused it to revert to its original form. The smooth rectangular disks they had turned out to be a strange kind of key, which would open doors within metal ruins—presuming the ruins still had power. Nix also picked up an e-pick—a set of tools that would help her pick electronic locks—and some of that splendid ion tape!

After a bit more ooh-ing and aah-ing over the devices Sanvil had for sale, Haji and Nix wandered off to sell some of their more mundane loot. Afterwards they would head back to Nix’s house to rest, recover, and brew a heaping pile of potions for the next day.

On the way they came upon a messenger.

“Miss Nix! Mr. Haji!”

Nix turned with a raised eyebrow to find a scrawny messenger holding out an envelope.

“What?” Haji growled.

The messenger stuttered nervously. “P-p-please come and visit the illustrious Silverdisk Hall! My master bids you welcome!”

Haji glowered at the messenger with his one good eye, while Rothmhar hissed at him.

Nix raised an eyebrow. “Your master? Seriously? Garmen Ullreth just suddenly decided to offer us an invite to spend our coin at his casino?” She scoffed. “How generous of him.”

Haji snatched the envelope out of the messengers hands and opened it. Inside was a fancy invitation and a writ for 100 gold worth of credit at the casino. Sure enough, it was addressed to them personally, and signed: Garmen Ullreth.

“M-my master has heard of the good you are doing for the town of Torch, and wanted to honour you for your efforts. The c-c-credit is good on our games, beverages, and food.”

“Food?” Haji’s frown transformed into a bright smile.

“Uh, yes, sir!” The man stammered.

Nix let out a laugh. “We’ll be there.” She told the messenger. “Now, get.”

The messenger scurried off, while Haji and Nix went back to the business at hand: selling their loot and buying supplies for Nix’s crafting. By the time they got back to Nix’s crowded home/workshop it was late afternoon. Nix only had a few hours to tinker and brew before they left for Silverdisk Hall.

PZO9085_500 — Learn more about the wonderful town of Torch in Iron Gods Book 1: Fires of Creation!

The casino was swanky! Staffed by scantily clad workers, and filled with the finest furniture in town, Silverdisk Hall was like another world. Tables of card and dice games filled the main hall, while a bar and restaurant at the back served food. Impeccably clean servers wound through the crowds of grungy townsfolk, carrying trays of alcohol and drugs for sale. And everywhere they looked: siverdisks. Haji and Nix found their way past the half-naked greeters and over to the cash counter. A burly looking fellow with bulging muscles and a sleazy smile gave Nix a wink before cashing in their voucher for ten shiny silverdisks.

“All games and services are paid for by silverdisks here. When you’re ready to cash out, just come on back. Enjoy yourselves, now!”

Haji growled in response.

Nix snatched up the silverdisks and discovered one had a tell-tale shine to it. She pulled out her zipstick and pressed it against the silverdisk, like Sanvil had taught her. The shine on the circuitry faded. Nix clicked the button on the side of the zipstick and a small jolt of electricity shot sparked at its tip.

“Ah!” She exclaimed happily. She waved the zipstick around for Haji to see and smiled brightly. “Did you see?” After testing it a few more times, and wasting half the charges provided by the battery, Nix finally put the stick away and returned her attention to her surroundings.

“Care to waste our coin on gambling?” She asked.

Haj shook his head. “No. But I will waste it on food.”

Nix laughed. “Honey, food is never a waste.”

There was a chuckle from behind them, and a hand fell on Nix’s shoulder. “Oh, my dear, this is delightful!”

Nix and Haji turned to find the infamous Garmen Ullreth smiling at them. He was clean and handsome. Dressed in gleaming sutdded leather armour, and with a rapier on his hip, the man was clearly well off, and not to be trifled with.

Haji growled, but refrained from threatening the overly wealthy (and politically powerful) man.

“Oh, Miss Nix! You must have a brilliant mind to forge such a wonderful device! Your arm is exquisite! And you, Mr. Haji! I was told you were a terrifying sight, but I must say, I’m impressed. That gaze alone could send a trained warrior crying back to his mother’s skirts.”

With a bow, Garmen introduced himself. “My name is Garmen. I’m the owner of this fine establishment, and I’m so happy you could join me.”

Haji grunted, but Nix smiled. “Thanks for the invite.”

“Oh, it’s the least I could do for the saviours of Torch! Now, go on. Enjoy yourselves. It’s on me, tonight.”

Garmen gave Haji a bow, kissed Nix’s good hand in farewell, and was gone as fast as he had appeared.

“Well, that was weird.” Nix remarked.

Haji only grunted. “Let’s eat.”

Wandering through the tables, the duo made their way to the bar at the back of the hall. They sat down to eat, only to discovered Sanvil Trett already there.

“Hey! Happy to see you two again!” Sanvil greeted them. “I didn’t peg you for the gambling type.”

“We’re hungry.” Haji remarked.

“Hungry? But the food here is horribly over priced!”

Nix laughed. “Figures.”

Haji shrugged. “We’re eating free tonight. So why are you here, then?”

Sanvil smiled. “Why, didn’t you hear? They only deal in silverdisks.” Leaning over conspiratorially he whispered, “They don’t know the difference between a charged disk and a spent one. I cash in my sales from a day to disks, and often end up with one or two that are charged. That’s a ton of profit! I just hang onto those at the end of the night, and trade in spent ones. It’s great turnaround!”

Nix let out a laugh. “That’s genius!”

Sanvil grinned. “Let’s keep it our little secret, dear.”

Haji narrowed his eye at Sanvil, and growled.

“Miss. Nix.” Sanvil corrected. “And Mister Haji, of course. And now, if you’ll excuse me, It’s time for me to cash out.”

Sanvil excused himself and left, while Nix and Haji ordered—horrendously overpriced—food.

Deeper in the bar there was a disturbance. Some drunk loser at the other end of the bar was making a fool of himself.

A drunk loser who also happened to be Nix’s dad.

“Figures.” Nix scoffed. Turning to Haji she added, “You eat. I’ll check on him.”

While Nix settled down her father, Haji watched the gaming hall. He saw some strange things, but nothing particularly weird. There was a lot of cheating by the dealers. And a lot of guys walking around had ropes wrapped around their forearms and fists. He had seen people like that around Torch, but had no idea who they were. A gang, maybe? Some weird fashion trend? Fist-fighters? He didn’t know and, frankly didn’t care. There was a suspicious woman slinking around the tables. Foolish girl was going to get herself killed. And a surprising number of customer altercations. The rope-fisted fellows were prone to picking fights with other patrons, only to have the dealers take advantage of the commotion to cheat for the house.

Haji shook his head. He didn’t understand gambling.

The silverdisk’s didn’t go far. A few drinks each and a couple of helpings of food, and suddenly they were broke. The place was a money pit.

Haji and Nix left the Silverdisk Hall not long after arriving, no richer than they went in. On the plus side, they were full, and drunk. They stumbled home happily, their earlier brush with death temporarily forgotten. They spent the night wrapped in each others arms, with Rothmhar hissing at them angrily.

They had survived one hell of a day! But, with another battle against the strange skeletons looming on the horizon, they might not be so lucky next time…

Thanks for checking out d20 Diaries today! Haji and Nix’s adventures playing Iron Gods Book 1: Fires of Creation, will continue soon, in their sixth instalment: Master of Skulls. We hope you’ll join us again!

Jessica

Farewell to OutPost

As we roll into the month of May, we reach the end of the online play-by-post convention for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Starfinder Roleplaying Game: OutPost!

OutPost marked my first PFS convention. It was also my husband and children’s first foray into play-by-post gaming, and their second adventure in the Pathfinder Society, so it was pretty exciting for us! My husband signed up for one game, while my children each signed up for two. And me? Well, I signed up for a lot. Three for Starfinder and three for Pathfinder. Plus the Solstice Scar Special.

All of the scenarios were a blast, and we had the wonderful luck to play alongside some awesome GMs and players. All told, not counting specials, OutPost hosted fourteen games of Core Pathfinder Society Scenarios, fifty-seven games of Classic/Standard Pathfinder Society scenarios, eleven games of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and twenty-four games of Starfinder. That makes for nearly a hundred games!

So, what did we play?

I’ll tell you!

Black Waters

GrandLodgeSymbol — Glyph of the Open Road, symbol of the Pathfinder Society and the Grand Lodge faction.

My husband, children and I all signed up for an old classic: Scenario #06: Black Waters. From season zero, this adventure is intended for tier 1-2 and 4-5, and was written by Tim and Eileen Connors back before Pathfinder had it’s own rules set. It was being run by one of my favourite GMs I’ve had the pleasure of playing alongside on Paizo’s Messageboards, GM Shieldbug, who gave us a great game. Seriously. It was such a wonderful experience, my kids and husband are now thoroughly spoiled. I warned them after we finished this scenario to lower their expectations for whatever scenario they signed up to next, because not all GMs are as awesome as Shieldbug. They didn’t believe me at the time, but for the record, they do now. If you happen to be lucky enough to join a game he’s running, I highly recommend leaping at the opportunity. You won’t regret it.

Black Waters takes place in the Beldrin’s Bluff district of Absalom. Once a neighbourhood full of the wealthy elite, this area was devastated by an earthquake a decade or so ago, which killed many, and sent an entire chunk of the cliffs the neighbourhood was built upon, tumbling into the sea. Included in this devastation was a school for the city’s elite called the Tri-Towers Yard, which collapsed into an ancient underground necropolis. As the buildings are destroyed, black foul water rose up from below, drowning all those who weren’t crushed. The Tri-Towers yard was sealed up, and no one has been allowed inside–or into the necropolis–since. Lucky for us, the Pathfinders have finally been granted clearance, presuming they treat the site with respect.

My husband played Enzo Jeggare, a well-groomed, Chelaxian nobleman with pale skin, black hair, grey eyes, and a fabulous moustache. He’s a handsome, if lanky, gentleman with a reputation as a philanthropist and a conjurer. He enjoys fine wine, fine company, and ancient magical objects. Enzo is a secretive man, which gives him an air of mystery. Though well-practised in the art of evasion, he’s an awkward liar. He is never without his Devil Deck—a beautifully illustrated harrow deck adorned with images of devils and infernal symbolism—and a worn-out dog figurine that he can occasionally be seen speaking to. Enzo’s an occultist who specializes in conjuring creatures. He used his esteemed family’s political connections to gain membership into the Dark Archive’s faction of the Pathfinders, and is hopeful that handling other objects of power will allow him to access other magical abilities.

My daughter played a two-tailed kitsune druid (saurian shaman) with pink fur and eyes by the name of Bunny Paras. She is always accompanied by her pink and yellow pet parasaurolophus, called Paras, and adores rabbits. She and Paras run a rabbit farm–although they are sold only as pets, and are not for eating! Bunny Paras is a vegetarian, and a good healer. Paras loves to sing and dance, and is very, very loud.

My son is playing Senton, a pale Ulfen ranger better known as Mr. Ice. He is always shivering with cold, and has constantly chattering teeth. He wears warm winter clothes in every weather, including a big furry hat on his head, and a fur cloak and boots. He has a black patch on his cheek from some old frost bite, a big bushy beard, and a full moustache. Under his hat his hair is grey and his eyes are blue. He likes to fight with his short swords and his fine longbow. Senton works on Bunny Paras’ rabbit farm as a guard. He often lays traps to protect the farm.

Their characters were first introduced in the d20 Diaries blog post: Joining the Pathfinder Society, where I talked about their backgrounds, creation, and mechanics. Their first adventure, playing Scenario #9-10: Signs in Senghor, was chronicled in a two part series on d20 Diaries: Signs in Senghor: Part One and Signs in Senghor: Part Two.

But, this kooky trio wasn’t the only Pathfinders on the case. I played my wood kineticist, Everbloom, a wild and curious kitsune who grew up alone in the wilds and views life and death as just another fascinating part of existence. Her fur is an orangy-brown, with bits of leaves and flower petals constantly tangled in its length. Everbloom’s easily fascinated by people and places, and just as easily bores of them. More than a little aloof and uncaring, Everbloom comes off as way nicer than she actually is.

The final character was Tera Fosham, a veiled ifrit oracle with clouded vision whose healing touch and blessings were invaluable on this adventure.

Together, these five Pathfinders enjoyed some awesome roleplaying with their venture captain (Drandle Dreng), at a fancy dinner party held alongside Absalom’s nobility, and with the caretaker of the Tri-Towers Yard, who is equal parts sad, deluded, and gifted. Possibly insane. I’ll leave that up for debate! From there they investigated the haunted classrooms, and foul black waters of the estate. Battling off monstrous bugs and undead, they descended into the ancient necropolis to discover its secrets. Along the way, they made some amazing discoveries, and even saved a little girl. The frail–but still alive–Junia Dacilane. Junia reappears a decade down the road in the Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-05: School of Spirits (which is a delight), and can even be found in the Pathfinder Society Pawn Collection, which I only recently discovered and am itching to get my hands on!

Want to follow along with their adventures? Check out the complete gameplay for our group here.

In the time since playing Black Waters, Enzo, Bunny Paras, Paras and Mr. Ice have played through the Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch, and are soon to begin Scenario #7-10: The Consortium Compact!

Delirium’s Tangle

My children were so excited to play in OutPost that they created a second character each for the occasion, a pair of twenty-five year olds who couldn’t be more different. Lady Naysha is an oracle of whimsy who stumbled in the First World through a fairy ring, and came back over a decade later looking like not a day had passed. A few years have passed since then, but she still doesn’t look a day over twelve. Lady Naysha has a child-like enthusiasm and innocence about her. She believes her stuffed rabbit, Miss Whiskers, is the source of her powers (which is entirely false, by the way), and can all upon her fairy friend to play tricks on her enemies. Contrariwise, my son made a paladin of Iomedae who is brave, bold and true! Unfortunately, he died fighting in the Worldwound. Iomedae took pity on him and granted him a second life, but he was reincarnated as an old man, with horrible memory problems. Unable to even remember his name, he calls himself Fuzzzy, and he relies on his pet owl, Bobby, to keep him on track. For full details on my Lady Naysha and Fuzzzy, check out my blog post OutPost Commences.

I joined them, with my dwarven fighter, Juno Berik, a self-centred woman who believes she’s far more important than she’s given credit for. Together with some other quirky characters, they entered a complicated maze underneath Absalom City to search for a lost minotaur prince, Nuar Spiritskin, in another classic PFS Scenario, #45: Delirium’s Tangle. This is a tier 1-5 scenario written by Crystal Frasier. Personally, I find this is a difficult scenario to run by play-by-post, as navigating a maze is always tricky in person, never mind over message boards. When it could take an entire day for a team to roll a single perception or survival check–which could be done in seconds in person–there’s a high probability the game will get bogged down. Fortunately, our GM was wonderful at streamlining the navigation process. In fact, this scenario finished first out of all the games I played! As poor navigators, the sheer number of pit traps we endured (and by endured I mean fell into over and over again) was painful (literally), and has left permanent mental scarring on Juno. Fuzzzy was also traumatized by the event–for about a minute before he promptly forgot about it. The fights and secret chambers were interesting, and left my kids hungry for more information on the maze and its connecting chambers. The final battle was interesting, as was the wrap-up roleplaying. All in all, we had a lot of fun, although this one certainly left a lot of unanswered questions.

You can read our complete gameplay experience here, if you’re interested.

In the time since, Lady Naysha’s begun Scenario #5-08: The Confirmation, alongside my husband’s character, Toban Tangletop (check out the ongoing gameplay here). Fuzzzy’s moved on to combat the Master of the Fallen Fortress (a free download on Paizo’s website, by the way) and rescue a lost Pathfinder (check out the ongoing gameplay here). And, Juno’s decided to tell the Aspis Consortium where to shove it, in Scenario #4-07: Severing Ties. Currently being as boorish and mean as she can be, she’s in Riddleport, happily dragging the Aspis Consortium’s name through the mud. This scenario’s about to begin a two-week break while some of the participants go on vacation, but you can check out it’s progress so far, here.

The Unseen Inclusion

250px-Scarab_Sages_faction_symbol — Symbol of the Scarab Sages, a faction of the Pathfinder Society.

I was positively thrilled to bring my beloved half-orc monk, Kenza Bloodborn, through Scenario #9-04: The Unseen Inclusion. Why? Well, as a member of the Scarab Sages, whose faction stories have come to an end, I wanted to see my stoic warrior tackle a Scarab Sage-centric mission. Taking place in the Thuvian city of Merab, Kenza delved into haunted ruins on the hunt for a mysterious spirit that even now seeks her master’s jewels… Part dungeon delve and part investigation, I had no idea what to expect with this scenario when I signed up for it, but I ended up having a blast. She had plenty of opportunities to hurl herself into danger to protect her allies, and nearly died on more than one occasion. You can check out the complete gamplay here.

In the time since, Kenza’s journeyed to Absalom for the first time, in order to pay her respect to the centre of her order. There, she’s been called on by Venture Captain Drandle Dreng, on a mission of great importance… Fetching him a bottle of wine. Fortunately, this mission is a lot more than it seems at first, leading the group through hidden chambers, abandoned homes, conspiracies and secrets, and even into Absalom’s Temple of the Fallen. That’s right, she’s playing through a super quick run of Scenario #6-10: The Wounded Wisp. Check out her adventure so far, here.

Yesteryear’s Truth

But not everything’s about Pathfinder! I’m also involved in three wonderful Starfinder Society Scenarios. My primary SFS character, a bold, boastful vesk solarion with far more brawn than brains by the name of Julakesh Starfist participated in Scenario #1-03: Yesteryear’s Truth. We’ve already spoken about Julakesh earlier this week, but if you’ve missed it, check out my blog post Competitions and Compliments. If you’re interested in reading Julakesh’s experiences in Yesteryear’s Truth, the complete gameplay if found here. Want a summary? She discovered a new planet, engaged in amazing battles, attempted to befriend the planet’s natives, and made a lot of people laugh! Seriously, a ton of fun. Speaking of fun, Julakesh recently began a new adventure that’s tailor made for her: Scenario #1-07: The Solar Sortie. Or, it’s half made for her, anyway… Sent to retrieve information from a corporation that orbits the Sun, Julakesh gets to begin this infiltration by impersonating a gladiator! This pretty much consists of her being herself, in front of a large adoring crowd. Awesome! And all that other subtle espionage stuff? Well…. we’ll cross that bridge up (and mess it up horribly) when we get to it! Check out the start of out adventures, here! It’s been a ton of fun so far (and it’s only just begun).

Fugitive on the Red Planet

I also used OutPost as an opportunity to try out two Starfinder classes I had yet to have a chance to test. Firstly, I created a proud, smooth-talking ysoki xenoseeker envoy by the name of Aurora Vim (Rora, for short) who was tasked with finding a rogue Starfinder and retrieving an powerful object he stole from the Society in Scenario #1-02: Fugitive on the Red Planet. Her adventures took her to the grungy planet of Akiton alongside a haan, a human, and a whopping three other ysoki! Apparently those furry little fellows are popular! All in all this scenario was a lot of fun, and Rora really had a chance to shine throughout its length. It was completed quite quickly, and was hosted by a wonderfully humorous GM. You can check out the complete gameplay here.

Following her adventures on Akiton, Rora hopped a shuttle back to Absalom Station, where she’s been invited to attend a gala in honour of the First Seeker, Luwazi Elsebo. Scenario #1-05: First Mandate is right up her alley, and has seen her wheeling and dealing with a bunch of movers and shakers–including Zo!, who I’ve been dying for her to meet! This scenario is reaching its climax, but you can check out its progress so far, here.

Cries from the Drift

I also made a curious but awkward shirrin spacefarer operative, Zez’ka, who is prone to announcing her emotions to the world. She’s friendly, but super awkward, and honestly a blast to play. Unfortunately, Scenario #1-04: Cries from the Drift, is a horror scenario, which tossed my chipper shirren into the most traumatizing, suspenseful, and gory Starfinder Scenario to date. This adventure particularly benefits from having the element of surprise, so I won’t mention much more in the way of spoilers. What I will say is that if you’re uncomfortable with body horror, don’t play it. That being said, when played by play-by-post the suspense is lost, so it turned out to be a fun, romp despite the tone. For those of you who aren’t afraid of spoilers, our complete gameplay can be read here. In the time since, Zez’ka has joined a delightfully fun and carefree mission, which won’t possibly be as traumatizing for her as her previous one was! Right? Right…? Wrong. She’s currently engaged in Starfinder’s second horror scenario, Scenario #1-10: The Half-Alive Streets, which amuses me to no end. She’s currently oblivious to the dark turn this scenario’s going to take, and is currently having great fun making friends and shopping. You can check it out here.

The end to these Starfinder scenarios will mark the sixth games I’ve played in the SFS, which means I’ve reach a milestone on my Alien Archive Boon. No idea what that means?

PZO7105 — The alien archive boon features creatures from Starfinder Roleplaying Game: Alien Archive, which you will need to make full use of the boon.

Well, let me enlighten you!

For every Starfinder Society game you participate in as a player (not a GM) you can get your GM to sign your boon sheet, which is available here. When you have six games played you can apply this sheet to a new character to make them either a wrikreechee, or a ryphorian. Or, you can wait until you have twelve games played, and then apply it to a new character to make them a barathu. After applying it you can start a new boon, and begin earning new plays. Note, that there is a time limit on earning credit for this boon. After June 14th of this year they’ll be releasing a new boon in its place, which will let you unlock other races for play.

Now, of the current options, I think I’d get a kick out of a Barathu, but I won’t have a chance to earn that bad boy. I’ll be hitting six, which leaves the wrikreechee and ryphorians. And for me, the choice is clear! Ryphorians! I have honestly no idea what I’m going to make for her class, but its definitely going to be different than the others I’ve got! Soldier, perhaps? That’s a question for another day!

And that’s it!

OutPost and its associated adventures have come to an end–for this year. But, there’s plenty more adventures out there waiting to be played!

Until next time,

Jessica

Iron Gods: Part Four: The Dead Desert

Today on d20 Diaries we’re heading back to Torch, for more of the Iron Gods adventure path!

Iron Gods is a six-part adventure path by Paizo Publishing that fuses technology and fantasy into one awesome Pathfinder campaign. The first volume, Iron Gods: Part 1: Fires of Creation, is written by Neil Spicer, and is intended to bring characters from levels one to four. The Iron Gods Player’s Guide is a free download on Paizo’s website, here. For further information on the Iron Gods campaign, check out my blog post ‘Iron Gods Adventure Path.’ For information on our characters, check out my blog post ‘Iron Gods: Character Focus: Haji and Nix,’ and for information on our first few play sessions, check out my blog posts ‘Iron Gods: Part One: Into the Weeping Pond, Iron Gods: Part Two: Bring Out Your Dead,’ and ‘Iron Gods: Part Three: Gremlins!’ If you’re going to play Iron Gods yourself, I highly recommend picking up the Iron Gods Adventure Path Pawn Collection, which has a ton of unique pawns for use in the campaign.

As Nix, Haji and Rothmhar stepped into the metal ruins for the first time, their footsteps echoed down the corridor loudly. The walls, floors and ceiling were made of smooth, dark grey metal–glaucite–while panels of lighter material ran along the ceiling eight feet above. To their left and right, the tunnel was blocked by piles of rubble, but ahead it continued through an open doorway.

Nix stepped forward to sift through the rubble with excitement. She was an impulsive woman. Impatient, and reckless, but she was also brilliant. The bits of wire and metal she might find in the blocked passageways could become something wonderful with a bit of tinkering in her workshop. Like the massive metal arm that she wore. Built from scrap salvaged from the junkyard, it was a fine replacement for her missing one, which had been torn off by a piece of malfunctioning machinery a few years ago.

‘Wait!” Haji hissed. A far more cautious creature than Nix, Haji was often the voice of reason in their relationship.

With a roll of her golden eyes, Nix paused.

Haji peered into the darkness with his one remaining eye. The second eye socket was filled with a glittering gemstone, and surrounded by a strange triangular rune that had been branded into his flesh by his one-time master. The same master who had taken his eye.

Haji spotted a figure down the tunnel… It was still and silent. Unmoving. Looking closer he realized it had three spider-like legs, two metallic arms, and a single red lens in the centre of its head. It was a robot–the same kind they had fought outside Val Baine‘s home (see Iron Gods: Part One: Into the Weeping Pond for more details). This one looked to be in much better condition, though. It’s outer shell was solid, it’s arms looked to be all in joint, and its legs looked even and well-oiled. Recognizing the threat it could pose, Haji approached the robot with his falchion.

Nothing.

Slowly, he poked it.

Nothing.

With a shrug, Nix began to dig around in the debris.

The robot in front of Haji whirred to life. It’s lens lit up, bathing Haji in bright red light.

“It’s awake!” Haji exclaimed, swinging at the robot with his falchion.

Parts of the robot’s chassis split open under the assault, but its didn’t slow. It swung its metal arms at Haji, knocking the breath out of him.

The stones and gems braided into Haji’s hair and beard jingled as he was knocked around by the blow. On his shoulder, Rothmhar hissed at the robot.

Turning to see a robot bludgeoning her boyfriend, Nix stalked forward. With a big downward swing she yelled, “Hey! Leave him alone!”

Her morningstar smashed parts of the robot apart, but a moment later, a strange flickering occurred around the damage, and the metal bits started repairing themselves.

“Well, shit!” Nix swore.

The battle continued, but the robot didn’t stand a chance. Already aware of its weaknesses, Haji and Nix made short work of the metallic monster–though its ability to quickly repair itself did draw out the battle.

As it collapsed to the floor in pieces, Nix leapt upon the robot’s body, pulling parts and pieces out for her own use. Soon it was nothing but scrap, and its repairing capabilities no longer functioned.

Further down the hall they came upon another entry hatch that led into a room filled with a tangle of broken cages.

“Was this a… prison?” Nix asked.

Holding up a few bits of ancient bones, Haji shook his head. “No. Animals were kept in these cages. Or… aberrations, maybe. Creatures not of this world.”

There were two other doors leading out of the ancient menagerie. One was open while the other was sealed shut. Nix tried to break her way into the sealed door using her wide array of tools, but had no luck. In another pile of rubble they discovered a few strange technological objects. Nix was thrilled, but Haji insisted she wait until they were home safely before fiddling with them.

In time they came to a room with a pair of machines protruding from opposite walls. They were covered with coils of metal tubes and nozzles, which were aimed at the room’s interior.

“What’s does this thing do?” Haji asked Nix.

Nix smiled widely and examined the weird machines. “I… I don’t know, but they don’t seem to be working.”

With a shrug they continued on through the room. Past another door, they found themselves in a tunnel of rough stone.

“What?” Nix complained. “That’s it?”

“No…” Haji mused. “I… There’s something strange with this rock. It’s not… Real.”

“The rock’s not real? What are you talking about?”

“It’s… artificial rock, I guess. It was formed this way, into this tunnel.”

“What the heck for?”

Haji shrugged. “I don’t know.”

With their weapons drawn they proceeded down the tunnel and came across a large rock formation that looked a bit like petrified coral.

You can find the ghelarn, a large aberration, in Iron Gods Part One: Fires of Creation.

As they approached, something deep inside the stone formation moved and a mass of long, tentacle like protuberances reached out from the centre of the rock formation and lashed at the duo.

Haji growled and slashed at it with his falchion, slicing some of the rubbery tentacles apart.

The tentacles recoiled, hiding inside the rock formation like it was a shell.

“What the hell?” Nix asked. “Should we kill it?”

Rothmhar hissed and bobbed his head. A moment later, Haji grunted. “Yes.”

The strange beast attacked from within its stone carapace, lashing with its tentacles and spitting a sticky substance. The tentacles tore into Nix’s flesh, causing deep, bleeding wounds. Haji struggled against the goop’s entangling tendrils, but the little rat on his shoulder hissed and began to gnaw right through it. With a growl, Haji strained and struggled, and burst his bonds. He swung his falchion and severed some of the strange creature’s tentacles, while Nix smashed through the stone-like exterior with her morningstar. As stone shattered, revealing a pulsing purple mound, Haji drove his blade right into the centre of the mass. A strange, viscous liquid exploded out of the beast’s wounds, splattering Haji and Nix.

Nix stumbled over to the side of the cave and wiped the goo out of her face. She was heavily wounded during the fight, although Haji came out unharmed. Nix activated one of her gadgets, causing a metallic beetle to scurry over her body and spray a healing foam into her nastiest wounds. As it crumbled to pieces she activated a second one, then scooped the parts back into her backpack.

“Well, that was fun.” Nix groaned sarcastically.

Haji looked her over with worry, while Rothmhar hissed in his ear. With an annoyed look at the rat, Haji grumbled, “Yeah, I’m going.”

Then he looked back at his girlfriend. “You alright?”

“Shiny.” she replied, though she clearly wasn’t. “Come on, then, before that rat bites your ear off.”

Rothmhar hissed at Nix, then tossed its nose up in the air.

With Haji and Rothmhar leading the way, they continued down the tunnel. After a few twists and turns it opened into a large cavern. The floor was red sand, and the cavern walls behind them were steep but smooth. Difficult to climb, they disappeared out of sight in all direction–left, right and up. Nix’s sunrod barely pierced the gloom.

“Can you see the other side?” Nix asked.

Haji shook his head. “No. And not the ceiling or side walls, either. This cavern is… vast.”

Nix let out a short “Huh.”

It was eerily quiet in the cavern, with no sign of the pervasive damp of the previous caverns they had been in, and no distant echoes. The sand at their feet looked natural, but bore no dunes or gentle curves as it would on the surface. It was flat and still. Unnaturally so.

A shiver ran up Haji’s spine. He couldn’t shake the sudden feeling of unease that overcame him. But Nix hobbled off a few steps into the sand, apparently unconcerned.

“We need to stay together,” Haji warned. “It would be easy to get lost in here…”

“Lost? It’s so quiet in here you could hear my footsteps from a mile away.” She chuckled, but then stopped. “Speaking of footprints… I found some. Looks like a few pairs. What do you think?”

Haji moved over to check them out. Sure enough there were a few sets. “Looks like a group of people traipsed through here, and headed off ahead. One of ’em was wounded. Khonnir’s group, maybe. Some time later another few tracks came through. And it looks like… one pair managed to leave again.”

“Leave?” Nix asked. “Oh! Yeah!” she exclaimed with a clank of her metal fingers–it would have been a snap had she used her good hand. “That guy we found in the cold mold! That naked freak said he had stumbled out of here like a madman.”

Haji nodded absently. “Gerrol Sondor. He was a friend of Khonnir’s. And the woman’s name was Sef. She said nothing of the sort, by the way.”

“Same difference.” Nix replied. “Should we follow them?”

Haji nodded and drew his falchion. “Yes.”

They set off following the tracks through the sand. After a short time they could see none of the cavern walls at all. They were adrift in an endless expanse of motionless sand.

Suddenly, Haji stopped. “Did you hear that?”

“What?” Nix asked.

Rothmhar sniffed at the air.

Suddenly there was a shifting of sand. Footsteps. Then more.

“Who’s there?” Nix called out. “Show yourself!”

At the edge of Haji’s vision he saw a figure. Skeletal and tall with a massively elongated cranium and four arms, the creature stalked through the sands. And there, to his left! Another. And another from behind.

“We’re surrounded…” Haji told Nix.

“Shit! I can’t see them. Where are they?”

“They’ll be in your light soon. Looks like they’re slow, though. And stupid.”

Suddenly, the eyes of one of the skeletons glowed red. That skeleton cocked its head, looked right at Haji and met his eyes. Then it charged him, bounding across the sand in an instant.

“BAH!” Haji exclaimed in surprise.

The skeleton tore into him with a clawed hand, ripping flesh with its ancient bones.

“Slow, my ass!” Nix exclaimed.

Rothmhar hissed at the skeleton while Nix hurried over to Haji. She swung her morningstar at the skeleton and smashed a gaping hole in its skull. The skeleton turned on her, it’s red, baleful eyes focusing on her with hate.

“I thought you said it was stupid!” Nix exclaimed.

The skeleton launched itself at her and tore gaping wounds in her arms and neck with its claws. Suddenly, the light in its eyes faded. The other skeletons traipsed mindlessly closer, when suddenly another’s eye-sockets lit up in a red light. It looked right at Nix, and charged at her, zipping past Haji in order to swing a claw at her back.

Haji roared in anger. He raised his sword and brought it down on the skeleton that had so heavily hurt Nix. As his blade struck bone it sent a jarring vibration up his arms, but he powered through, tearing through the skeletons ribcage and spinal column with his oversized sword. The skeleton fell to pieces, but around them, others moved closer.

Nix quickly swung her morningstar, taking the red-eyed skeleton out at the knees, and sending it toppling to the ground. But, even as it fell, the red light transferred to another skeleton, and in the distance, they heard more footsteps. And more… And more…

The red light was moving faster now, jumping from skeleton to skeleton and imbuing each with intelligence before moving on. As the skeletons all surged forward, swinging their claws at Nix, and trying to tear her weapon from her hand, Haji roared.

“Run!” He bellowed. “RUN!”

Heavily wounded, Nix took off after the trail of footprints, dripping blood across the sand. Haji took another swipe at the skeletons before following her. As the ran they could hear more skeletons shuffling out there in the distance. Nix quickly activated another of her gadgets, causing a clockwork beetle to scurry it’s way from her belt over to the bleeding wounds across her chest. It sprayed a magical antiseptic foam across her open wounds, causing them to heal–partly. After healing her, the beetle crumbled into tiny pieces. This time she didn’t spare the time to retrieve them.

As she hobbled across the desert, pouring blood, Nix hissed at Haji, “I’m out of healing.”

Haji raced after her. “I’ve got some left, but it’ll only slow us down.”

Quickly, he shoved his hand into one of his belt pouches and let out a quick prayer to Rothmhar. His words were strange and unintelligible, but they had a dark and foul sound. As he muttered the brand around his eye surged with power, Rothmhar let out a fierce hiss, and the trio of rocks inside the pouch began to magically glow. Haji pulled out one of the rocks, which struck one of the skeletons in the chest and caused its ribcage to explode. It stumbled on for a few steps before tumbling to the ground in pieces.

The path led Nix to a rock formation that jutted up out of the sand like a miniature mountain. As they raced along it’s edge Haji threw his other two stones, both of which smashed into skeletons. As the bones fell lifeless to the dirt, Haji let out a whoop.

Atop the rocks to Nix’s left, there was a sudden pair of glowing red lights–another skeleton. It eyed Nix, but let her run right past. Instead, it focused on Haji and his magical stones. It leapt off the crags and landed upon Haji, knocking him over into the sand.

Haji let out a growl of pain and lashed out at the skeleton. He managed to get to his feet, but the skeleton gave a deep gash across his arm for the trouble. He gripped his falchion in his hands and faced off against the red eyed skeleton, just as the other skeletons caught up to him. Surrounded, he let out a growl. From the sand beside his foot, little Rothmhar hissed menacingly.

“Don’t stop!” Haji yelled to Nix. “Get out of here!”

At his words, Nix spared a glance behind her. Seeing Haji surrounded, she growled. “Like hell!”

Haji swung his falchion at the most damaged of the skeletons around him and forced his blade through the bones, causing it to shatter to pieces. “Come and get me, you freaks!”

The red eyed skeleton attacked with all four arms, tear and scratching at Haji’s exposed skin.

Haji grunted in pain and spat a glob of blood on the ground. “That all you got?”

As the red light left the skeleton’s eye sockets and entered another’s, Haji knew he was done for. The second skeleton attacked him with its many sharp claws, then the third… He howled in pain and fell to his knees. He tried to swing his sword, but it was too heavy… His hands weren’t working right…. And his vision… Why was everything so blurry? Soaked with blood, and moments from death, Haji lost his grip on his sword, and toppled over, bleeding in the red sand.

Rothmhar hissed and nipped at the skeleton who had taken down his friend, but his teeth did nothing to the monster’s ancient bones.

One of the skeletons raised its claws in the air, ready to drive them down into Haji’s chest. There was a shuffling of sand and an explosion of bone, as Nix smashed her morningstar through its skull. She let out a strangled cry–half sob and half scream–and stood over Haji’s body.

Waving her morningstar menacingly at the last two skeletons, she smiled like a mad woman. “Over my dead body, bitches.”

The skeletons turned their attention to Nix, tearing and cutting her flesh with their bony, clawed hands. She screamed in pain, and fought back. Howling in rage and frustration.

She wouldn’t let Haji die here. Not alone.

Bloody and near death herself, Nix fought.

Meanwhile, Rothmhar had buried himself into Haji’s belt pouch. He grabbed a vial in his mouth and scurried back out of the sack. He dragged it across Haji’s chest and perched his hideous body right up beside Haji’s open mouth. He worked at the vial’s cork, gnawing it out with his teeth until the vial opened with a pop. Then he nudged the vial over, into Haji’s gaping mouth. Slowly, the healing potion trickled into Haji’s throat.

Above them, Nix had smashed one of the skeletons, but her wounds were great. The last wounded skeleton dugs his four hands into her chest and tore, yanking great hunks of skin off and sending her tumbling to the ground. She landed with a dull thump, tangled in a heap just inches from Haji.

Haji opened his eye just in time to see Nix fall beside him like a lifeless doll. Blood covered her and she was missing massive hunks of flesh. As her head smashed into the sand she caught sight of him just for a moment, before her eyes looked past him–dull and unfocused.

Haji let out a howl of anger and launched himself at the skeleton, pounding it with his fists… his head… a nearby rock. Anything he could grab hold of. He vented his anger and pain on the creature, slowly smashing in its skull with blind rage. Finally, the red light left its eyes.

With bloodied hands, and broken knuckles, Haji heaved in gulps of air, panting with exertion and anger. He screamed, then crawled across the sand to Nix’s side.

She didn’t look good. She was pale and bloody, bruised and broken. She looked dead.

He pressed his hand against her, and prayed loudly to Rothmhar. The rat hissed at him in anger, clearly thinking Nix wasn’t worth it. But, Haji didn’t let up. He snarled his prayers over and over. Beneath his hands, Nix didn’t draw breath. Her heart didn’t beat.

Haji glared at Rothmhar and continued to chant in the foul tongue, forcing his prayers upon the hideously ugly rat. Rothmhar let out a rather human sigh. Finally, the brand around Haji’s eye burned with power, and a surge of healing energy poured from Haji’s hands and down into Nix’s chest. Some of her wounds healed, and he felt a single beat of her heart under his palms. Haji continued to chant, funnelling more and more of Rothmhar’s magic into his dying girlfriend. Eventually she drew in a shuddering, weak gasp of breath. Her eyes refocused. She blinked, and groaned.

“You’re not dead,” she rasped. Her bloody lips turned up into a smile.

A wide grin broke out across Haji’s face. “Neither are you.”

Nix chuckled, but then hissed in pain.

“Don’t move,” Haji ordered her. “You’re too wounded, and I’ve got no healing spells left.”

She groaned and dug a few vials out of her pockets. “Drink,” she told him, “You look like shit.”

But instead of drinking them himself, Haji fed them to Nix.

Bloody and wounded, but alive, they both struggled to their feet.

“Ugh, this place sucks.” Nix groaned.

Haji nodded. He put an arm over Nix’s shoulders and pulled her close. “Let’s go home.”

Rothmhar chittered angrily up at the duo, clearly displeased that despite saving their lives he was given so little attention.

Together, they limped their way back to through the metal ruins, on their way back home.

Thanks for checking out d20 Diaries today! Haji and Nix’s adventures playing Iron Gods Book 1: Fires of Creation, will continue soon, in their fifth instalment: High Times in Torch! We hope you’ll join us again!

Jessica

Competitions and Compliments

I’m not one to brag.

I don’t usually do it.

But, I’ve been getting a lot of compliments lately and, as my husband so eloquently said: “You should write about that.” So here we are.

Compliments. That’s not a weird thing, I know. People get compliments all the time, right?

Fair.

But, when your father’s compliments are sweet, pleasant gems like: “You look good. That’s new.” and “Did you lose weight? You’re not as fat as you usually are.” you understand why some nice, no-strings-attached compliments from someone other than my wonderful husband, and adorable children, is a big deal.

So as I was sifting through my personal messages on the Paizo website the other day, I read one that included the words, “I was taking a look through your Paizo profile…and just noticed who you are!”

Huh? I thought. Do I know this person from real life? Have I horribly offended them in the past in some way?

Nope!

He knew me from something I’d created.

This is new for me.

On occasion, Paizo announces design competitions on their blog. These are short, miniature competitions where fans are asked to create a stat block on a theme, or something similar. I’ve entered nearly all of them, and done quite well. The most recent one involved creating Eleven, from the wonderful television show Stranger Things, as a Pathfinder character. Any level, any class… Your choice. Make her. It was a ton of fun! There were a lot of great entries, with a few class variations. In an effort to duplicate her many abilities, most of the entries placed her between CR 6 and CR 11, with a few brave souls aiming for lower CR ranges. I put in a version of El that made her a young telekineticist 7/psychic 4 (click the Spoiler button beside meloriel!). My brother (Theron Pearroc) put in a version that made her a young psychic bloodline sorcerer 9/loremaster 5 that made great use of the technology guide and the lassitude spellblight.

The first design competition I entered, challenged the entrants to recreate the final villain from Book Five of the Reign of Winter Adventure Path: Rasputin Must Die! using the rules from Occult Adventures. As a huge fan of that adventure path, and all things occult, I had an absolute blast with that challenge, although the stat blocks high CR and the many new rules meant that it was quite challenging! I ended up making him a CR 17 occultist, but if you’ve never played Reign of Winter, be forewarned! Reading my entry (or any entry) will definitely cause you to go “WHAT?!?” and have one of the many great surprises of that Adventure Path spoiled! Beware the spoilers! I earned an honourable mention in that competition, which made me literally jump for joy. Yes, literally, literally. I got at least an inch of air (which is big for me. I don’t jump…)

Happily, this is how my friendly GM knew me. He liked my entry, and not only remembered it, but USED IT. As far as compliments from total strangers go, I don’t think there’s a nicer one than that. Something I made for a d20 game, USED. By someone other than me?! Gasp! Haha. (And there was much rejoicing!)

Druid - Lini.jpg — Lini, Pathfinder’s Iconic Druid. Art by Wayne Reynolds. Lini can be found in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook, and many other wonderful Paizo products.

But, it’s the second design competition I entered which made me happiest. In it, we had to recreate one of Pathfinder’s many iconic characters, and make them evil. Delightfully, deliciously, evil. It was really enjoyable to participate, and in the end I made a cruel version of Lini, the gnome druid. And I won. Not only did I win some store credit that I used to purchase some awesome Pathfinder Society Scenarios (the shipping and duty fees are too high to make buying physical books from their website manageable for me), but I also won a custom avatar which I rock on the messageboards all the time. It was a blast.

Now, that’s not the only delightful compliment I’ve received regarding one of my creations lately. I’ve also received a lot in regards to a character I’ve made. Who? My first (and greatest) Starfinder Society character, Julakesh Starfist. Julakesh is a bold vesk solarian who’s strong, proud, and entirely full of herself. She’s prone to accidentally insulted her companions with her generous compliments, getting herself into fights too dangerous to pound with her fists, and generally making people laugh. She’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer. In fact, in that analogy she’s more of a spoon than a knife. But I love her. She’s among my most fun characters to play. Ever. And that’s saying something.

She’s has been called “hilarious,” “great fun,” and “absurd.” More than a few people have mentioned that they love her, with the sweetest being “<3 Julakesh all the time always!” (Here’s looking at you, ElektraDawns! You made my day! Haha.) She’s received personal invitations to join games, and people seem to be pleased to get to play with her a second time. Her recent acceptance of an invitation to a game included excited squealing and the ever-eloquent (and very flattering) exclamation: “Yayy!” But the best compliments I could have possibly gotten?

“On so many levels she is my favorite vesk character I’ve ever seen!”

“…one of the finest vesk characters I’ve seen played since Starfinder was published.”

Seriously. If either of you are reading this, you’re SO NICE.

Now, I’m not saying Julakesh is everyone’s cup of tea. She’s not. I’m sure some poor person she’s played alongside has wanted to tape her mouth shut, and break my fingers to prevent me from typing. But, I am saying, she’s brought some joy to people–myself included–and I hope she continues to do so as her Starfinder career continues.

So who is this, Julakesh anyway?

StarfinderCover — Check out the Starfinder Roleplaying Game: Starfinder Core Rulebook for more information on vesk!

Julakesh Starfist is a fierce looking vesk with horns circling the top of her head like a spiked crown. Her scales are mottled black that never reflects light and bright white that almost seems to glow. She is well muscled and just under seven feet tall. Clearly a warrior! Curiously she bears only one weapon: a small azimuth laser pistol holstered on her hip. A glowing orb of bright white light hovers around her, following her wherever she goes. During battle she grasps the ball of light and it energizes her fists, making them surrounded by a blazing, bright white light.

Julakesh is brave, bold and adventurous. Like most of her kind she revels in the glory of combat and competition. She loves exploring new planets and—most especially—being off planet. She’s most at home in the depths of space and enjoys floating around with her jetpack outside the ship whenever it is stopped.

Before becoming a Starfinder, Julakesh was a vesk soldier. She spent most of her time policing residents and putting down rebellious behaviour among the barbarous feline humanoids on Vesk-6. She treated her charges with respect but revelled in the opportunity for glorious combat, or competition among her fellow soldiers. As she rose through the ranks her chances for combat increased, and eventually she was given the opportunity to join a combat vessel bound for a fierce battlefield on another planet. She accepted the honour with great enthusiam and left Vesk-6 for the first time since she joined the military.

Unfortunately, a solar flare and the subsequent coronal mass ejection struck their ship, causing most of the systems to fail and the nearly all of the crew to die. Of those few crew remaining, all of them were left changed—three suffered slow radiation poisoning, one’s scales turned a sickly brown, one lost more than half his muscle mass and two suffered terrible mutations. The energy from the corona bonded with Julakesh in a moment of intense pain, leaving her capable of using the very elements of the universe as a weapon—the power of gravity and the power of the stars. She was no longer Vesk, she was something other. Something greater.

Through luck and determination, Julakesh and her fellow ailing soldiers managed to steer the ship back to Vesk-6 where they were taken care of by the military doctors. Julakesh was cleared for active duty, but found the next few years of work unfulfilling. Although she enjoyed combat as much as she always had, her gaze was constantly drawn heavenward, she knew in her heart she belonged among the stars.

Eventually she left behind her promising military career and set out into the unknown on a passenger ship travelling to Absalom station. As they took off into the beautiful void of space, Julakesh finally felt at peace. This was where she belonged.

Want to join the Starfinder Society? Download the Starfinder Roleplaying Guild Guide for more information. It’s a free download on Paizo’s website. )

Her travels have taken her far and wide since then, but as much as she loves discovering and exploring new planets and stars, she’s always happiest in the void of space, surrounded by silence and stars. She has recently joined the Starfinders, in the Wayfinders, and is excited to push new boundaries and travel the unknown depths of space.

Her love of glory and battle shines through no matter the circumstances, not only from her bright exuberant smiles, but also from her loudly exclaiming her joy for all to hear. She’s easily confused by long words, and has absolutely no understanding of advanced technology. She hacks ‘puters’ with a fist, and never lies. She’s a happy, energetic soul, quick to laugh and often smiling. She doesn’t have much of a verbal filter, and her well-meaning compliments tend to insult her fellow Starfinders.

She offers pleasant and friendly greetings…

“Greetings, companions! The honour is YOURS!”

“You look at least half-competent! Wonderful! If you’re a quarter as capable as I am we’ll be a formidable team!”

“Hail, friend-bug! We shall soon break bread and bones together!”

She provides compliments and encouragement…

“You are not as feeble as I expected!”

She’s always ready for a good time…

“Ah! Yes! Let us hope there are terrifying beasts and dangerous traps within this ‘mainframe’ they spoke of! THAT WOULD BE GREAT FUN!”

She’s always willing to lend a helping hand…

“Yes! You are very meek and pathetic! Be happy we are here to make you a winner!”

“After my mission and befriending your many soft people, I will pound you into the dirt many times! This will make you stronger! You will know how to use your weapons, then!” She thumps her chest and smiles. “If you are lucky, you will then be as strong as a child among my people! A great accomplishment! You will see! You will be proud! Bring honour to your name!”

She’s understanding…

“Ah, yes! Puters! I know these! When they make noises I don’t like I punch them dead! Many of my fellows do not like this. They caress the puters instead, with fingers and some invisible force called coding. You are one of them, yes? A lover to puters?”

And she’s always ready for a fight…

“BRING YOUR FACE TO MY FISTS!”

“TO BATTLE, FRIENDS! IT IS TIME TO EARN OUR HONOUR! AHAHAHAHAAA!”

All in all, she’s one colourful character, and I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about her as much as I enjoyed sharing her with you today. If you’re one of the delightful people who have given me kind words about Julkaesh, thank you so much for the feedback! It means a lot. To read more about Julakesh, you can check out some of her previous play-by-post games, including The Commencement, and Yesteryear’s Truth. Or, pop in and check out her current misadventures, in The Dire GM’s Solar Sortie.

Until next time,

I wish you honour and glory (and more than a few laughs)!

~~Julakesh Starfist~~
Jessica

The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch

Another week has passed, and another of our OutPost games has come to an end. It was an oldie, but a goodie, from way back in Season 0. Scenario #06: Black Waters was an absolute delight. Put on by GM Shieldbug, the best GM I’ve ever had the opportunity to play alongside, my kids, my husband and I all had a ton of fun! Black Waters is designed for 1st to 5th level characters, and was written by Tim and Eileen Connors. In it, the Pathfinder Society sends its agents to the Tri-Towers Yard, an elite academy for the children of Absalom which was destroyed and flooded by an earth quake a decade ago. During the quake the school collapsed into an undiscovered necropolis, and the Pathfinders have been itching to get at the ruins ever since. Kept out of the mass graves by the (understandable) sentimentality of the influential parents whose children died in the tragedy, the Pathfinders have bided their time. Now known as the Drownyard, the Pathfinders are finally granted a chance! Sent to retrieve a magical ring, this scenario is more than just a dungeon delve. It’s got a surprisingly wide cast of entertaining characters to interact with, from influential noblewoman Lady Dacilane, to a gardener who is more than he appears, and the spirits of the dead themselves. I highly recommend this one!

Five lucky Pathfinders were chosen for the job, including my husband’s character: Enzo Jeggare, a Chelaxian occultist with a splendid moustache and a habit of summoning a dog to battle on his behalf. My daughter played Bunny Paras, a two-tailed kitsune druid with a fondness for dinosaurs and rabbits. Bunny Paras owns a rabbit breeding farm and is a vegetarian. In addition to her many pet rabbits, she has a pet parasaurolophus named Paras, who loves to dance and toot out rocking tunes. My son was paying Senton, an Ulfen ranger better known as Mr. Ice who fled south to escape the continual cold of his homeland: unfortunately, he’s still freezing anyway. I played my wood kineticist, Everbloom, a kitsune who grew up alone in the wilds and views life and death as just another fascinating part of existence. More than a little aloof and uncaring, Everbloom comes off as way nicer than she actually is. The final character was Tera Fosham, a veiled ifrit oracle with clouded vision whose healing touch and blessings were invaluable on this adventure. For more information on Enzo Jeggare, Bunny Paras, Paras and Mr. Ice, check out the following blog posts (Joining the Pathfinder Society and Signs in Senghor: Part One and Part Two) where I talked about their backgrounds, creation, and their first adventure playing Scenario #9-10: Signs in Senghor. To read about our adventures playing Black Waters, check out the gameplay thread, here.

After wrapping up that wonderful game, my kids wanted to immediately begin another one, but my husband had other plans. Knowing he was only one adventure shy of a reaching level two, my husband suggested I GM them through another scenario this weekend, and my kids agreed. I spent some time thinking about what my kids love best about playing Pathfinder. Fulfilling faction goals, of course, which means missions that have importance to the Scarab Sages and the Dark Archives. My daughter loves adventures that contain animals and cute things. Definitely nothing with lycanthropes. My son loves missions where he gets to interact with colourful characters, and make friends. Also? Turns out he loved messing with the Aspis Consortium, which he saved his good pal Gideon Wren from. And my husband? Something he’s never done before. And surprisingly, he showed interest in missions regarding the Shadow Lodge. Awesome! So after a ton of sifting, reading and sorting through the scenarios I own, I made an absurdly long list of potential scenarios we could play, and set to work reading. In the end, I decided to run us through an old scenario from Season 0 intended for Tiers 1-7: Scenario #14: The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch. Why, you might ask, did you choose to run that old thing? Well, for starters, Grandmaster Torch is an important character to both the Shadow Lodge and the Scarab Sages, so I definitely wanted to ensure my family got to meet him before we played later scenarios which might involve or mention him. Second, this scenario takes place in Qadira and involves the illegal smuggling of Osirian artifacts, a topic which would interest both my son and daughter’s characters, as they are members of the Scarab Sages. Third, it involves retrieving the stolen relics, all of which have magical properties, and turn out to be more dangerous than originally thought–aspects which could interest my husband’s character, who is a member of the Dark Archives faction. Fourth? This scenario has a lot of roleplaying opportunities, not just with your venture captains and Grandmaster Torch, but also with the people around each of the relics, and the people who possess them. And lastly, although this scenario might seem to be pretty straightforward, there’s actually a lot of ways that players who think outside the box could shake up or alter how the encounters are supposed to take place. And if there’s one thing my family’s good at, its coming up with crazy plans and ideas that no one’s accounted for. In short, I thought they’d have a blast.

And I was right!

The sigil of the Dark Archives, a faction of the Pathfinder Society.

We began our adventure with a short introduction to it’s setting: Qadira and the city of Sedeq, followed by our mission briefing with Venture-Captain Yasmin Kal’al (complete with pictures, of course!). From there we set out into the city, to track down the smuggler Matzal Chaim and determine who he sold the relics to. Bunny Paras and Mr. Ice were also interested in who his inside contact was within the Osirian Cultural Ministry, without whom the relics would have remained out of his hands. They found Chaim, and came up with a good plan to corner him, but he noticed them and fled into a bathhouse. While our Iconic filler character and Mr. Ice watched the outside entrances an exits, Enzo and Bunny Paras chased him into the bathhouse, and cracked out a bunch of wonderful skill checks to avoid slipping on wet tiles, pushing past crowds of bathers, jumping over baths, and seeing through stream. Enzo nearly slipped and fell on the tiles, while Bunny Paras was thrown off guard when she had to slip past a group of naked bathers who fled from Paras in a panic. In the end they caught up to their target, but they were too late. He had run into a private bath and was cut down by the guards–guards working for the notorious information broker, Grandmaster Torch. Lucky for them, Torch had the information they were looking for and was willing to part with it–for a price.

My kids had a blast interacting with the ever-creepy Grandmaster. My daughter immediately began trying to purchase other, non-related, frivolous objects from his associates for her rabbit farm (a giant rabbit statue and planter, anyone?), while my son offered Torch a whopping two dollars for the information. Hearing the price was 3,000 gold pieces, Mr. Ice sure was surprised! He bargained for the information by offering favours and was rewarded with four names–one for each person who had purchased one of the stolen statuettes. Mr. Ice promptly asked for more information on them, in exchange for another favour each. Grandmaster Torch was more than happy to oblige. With that information, my son set out to learn more by offering MORE favours, but was interrupted by Enzo Jeggare, who had to drag his companions out of the bathhouse before they agreed to any more favours and absurdities. Clearly, his companions had never dealt with anyone unscrupulous before! Not trusting the Grandmaster, Enzo himself led the group through the streets of Sedeq to find each of their targets.

Although it’s expected that the PCs will have to engage in four or five combat encounters during this scenario–some groups might manage three or four–my family managed to use quick thinking, cunning plans, distractions, summoned creatures and childish optimism to complete three of those encounters non-violently. That left only two battle encounters for the entire scenario. A real feat! The battles all went well, but weren’t particularly difficult for them. But in this scenario it was the interactions and roleplaying that really shined. Everyone had a BLAST.

After completing their mission and some minor interactions with their venture captain, the group was given an invitation to have dinner with Grandmaster Torch–an event which Enzo accepted with some trepidation, Bunny Paras was happy for, and Mr. Ice was over the moon. Seriously. He was SUPREMELY excited. In the end he decided that Grandmaster Torch was his second favourite NPC, and he wanted to make him his best friend–alongside Gideon Wren, of course! Mr. Ice invited Grandmaster Torch to his upcoming birthday party, and the group bid him farewell.

And so our scenario came to an end. As their third scenario, they got to spend some time levelling up their characters to level two, and purchasing gear. And which adventure will they go on next time?

I’m thinking… Scenario #7-10: The Consortium Compact! It’s a low level, repeatable scenario involving the Aspis Consortium that I think my kids will rally have a ball with!

And that’s all for us today!

See you next time, on d20diaries!

Jessica

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