Hell's Vengeance OOC

[3SecondCultist]

Hm. It would appear as though I have no real way of getting Perception as a class skill, which is a shame. Still, I think I'd like to stick with the Intrigue domain. All of my social skills (sans Bluff, due to Legalistic and it not being on the class skill list) run the gamut between +8 to +10 at first level. At 3rd, I'm going to pick up the at will disguise self one.

[NeoSeraphi]

Here is Zatqualmie's character sheet.

Here is his theme: Made You Look!

Background:

Spoiler

Show

Zatqualmie (born Jim Smith, but he changed his name just to make people annoyed when even trying to mention him in conversations he wasn't present for) is a prankster who loves to drive people crazy. A devout worshipper of Lamashtu, Zatqualmie believes he was born into this world to spread madness and confusion throughout the Empire. From the early age of ten he was calling out the wrong answers in class, flipping street signs to point in different directions, and tapping dottari on their shoulder before quickly ducking behind and appearing on their other shoulder.

As he grew older, Zatqualmie realized that the rage others gained from his antics held its own kind of power. He realized that he could draw upon that power to give him the strength to defend himself against their ire. Whenever an individual gets upset with Zatqualmie, he channels that power and finds his attacks are more direct, that they pierce with more accuracy and lethality. Truly, the madness of his goddess has given him strength even when his body is frail and small.

In order to annoy as many people as possible, Zatqualmie became a mercenary (mercenaries travel a lot!) and people were eager to hire him because it meant they could get him out of the city for even a little while.

However, Zatqualmie has recently pissed off the wrong person. A minor noble, who Zatqualmie thought would be an amusing target for a prank (he stole a necklace and stashed it in the noble's pocket, then reported the theft), turned out to bear the last name of 'Thrune'.

Now Zatqualmie owes the Thrune family a personal debt after daring to besmirch their name in public, and he has agreed to work for them without pay for the next five years. Because when it comes to Thrune, not even Zatqualmie walks away laughing...

As I am afk, I cannot look at the Campaign Traits.

[3SecondCultist]

Here is my work in progress sheet for Phiarlyn d'Avar, middle daughter and Nidalese-born diplomat to a newly landed Chelish family, the d'Avars. Of course, she's not the only hidden tiefling amidst her bloodline, but she's probably one of the most subtle. I decided to change my speech color as well (since red and white are the Nidaelse colors, and salmon flesh seemed appropriate for the type of character I'm playing).

Given her extensive dealings with Thrune and the rest of Chelish high society, as well as her literal magical compulsion to keep her word and never lie due to the Legalistic Oracle curse, I'm going to be playing Phiarlyn as a sort of inhuman, Hannibal Lecter style manipulator who never outright lies but rather tries to leverage events through coercion, persuasion, and good planning. She's going to be a lot more malicious than, say, Lillisandra, since in her mind every person she screws over is another soul on the altar of the Midnight Lord. That being said, the backstory is still being written, so I'm going to make sure that she has an iron-clad reason to stick around and work with a group like Cimri's mercenaries.

... looking around, I see three separate Chaotic Evil entries. Is the preferred alignment of the AP going to be outnumbered again?

[NeoSeraphi]

Hey man. People don't like playing Lawful characters, it seems.

Me, I just wanted us to have a gnome because I haven't seen a PBP game with a gnome in years. Truly, the most under appreciated core race.

[n0ble]

Here is Zatqualmie's character sheet.

Here is his theme: Made You Look!

Background:

Spoiler

Show

Zatqualmie (born Jim Smith, but he changed his name just to make people annoyed when even trying to mention him in conversations he wasn't present for) is a prankster who loves to drive people crazy. A devout worshipper of Lamashtu, Zatqualmie believes he was born into this world to spread madness and confusion throughout the Empire. From the early age of ten he was calling out the wrong answers in class, flipping street signs to point in different directions, and tapping dottari on their shoulder before quickly ducking behind and appearing on their other shoulder.

As he grew older, Zatqualmie realized that the rage others gained from his antics held its own kind of power. He realized that he could draw upon that power to give him the strength to defend himself against their ire. Whenever an individual gets upset with Zatqualmie, he channels that power and finds his attacks are more direct, that they pierce with more accuracy and lethality. Truly, the madness of his goddess has given him strength even when his body is frail and small.

In order to annoy as many people as possible, Zatqualmie became a mercenary (mercenaries travel a lot!) and people were eager to hire him because it meant they could get him out of the city for even a little while.

However, Zatqualmie has recently pissed off the wrong person. A minor noble, who Zatqualmie thought would be an amusing target for a prank (he stole a necklace and stashed it in the noble's pocket, then reported the theft), turned out to bear the last name of 'Thrune'.

Now Zatqualmie owes the Thrune family a personal debt after daring to besmirch their name in public, and he has agreed to work for them without pay for the next five years. Because when it comes to Thrune, not even Zatqualmie walks away laughing...

As I am afk, I cannot look at the Campaign Traits.

Here is my work in progress sheet for Phiarlyn d'Avar, middle daughter and Nidalese-born diplomat to a newly landed Chelish family, the d'Avars. Of course, she's not the only hidden tiefling amidst her bloodline, but she's probably one of the most subtle. I decided to change my speech color as well (since red and white are the Nidaelse colors, and salmon flesh seemed appropriate for the type of character I'm playing).

Given her extensive dealings with Thrune and the rest of Chelish high society, as well as her literal magical compulsion to keep her word and never lie due to the Legalistic Oracle curse, I'm going to be playing Phiarlyn as a sort of inhuman, Hannibal Lecter style manipulator who never outright lies but rather tries to leverage events through coercion, persuasion, and good planning. She's going to be a lot more malicious than, say, Lillisandra, since in her mind every person she screws over is another soul on the altar of the Midnight Lord. That being said, the backstory is still being written, so I'm going to make sure that she has an iron-clad reason to stick around and work with a group like Cimri's mercenaries.

Backstory for Talia is completed! Here is a character theme to go with it. I'll try to get to Hell's Rebels soon.

Spoiler: Backstory:

Show

Talia grew up as a slave in the (Blank) household in Egorian. Her grandparents had made the mistake of incurring several debts that they were unable to repay. They were arrested, sold into slavery, and their children and childrens' children grew up as slaves. Talia grew up as a bright and cheerful young girl, always asking questions and being curious about the world around her. These were not good attributes for a slave to have. Her parents did their best to teach her to keep her head down, even beating her themselves when they saw the need. The best times of her youth were when she was completely ignored, instead of being subjected to the petty cruelty of the Chelaxian elite or her fellow slaves. It eventually sunk in that that besides her parents, nobody else in the world gave a damn about her, she was the only person who cared about her own interests. Her life was filled with constant drudgery, spending her time cooking, cleaning, and serving as a maid in the estate. She dreamed of being able to go out and see the world, but it looked like she would never have the chance.

Darien (Blank) was a Diabolist in the service of his household. He was considered the black sheep of the family. The man was renown for being paranoid and ill-mannered, and for having committed several egregious faux pas in the Egorian court. The only reason that the family hadn't completely ostracized him was that he was a talented Diabolist. Traditionally, it was expected that Practitioners in Cheliax would take on Apprentices. This served the purpose of advancing the Arcane arts, while also adding to the Master's prestige, and it potentially gave them a contact to call upon if their Apprentice went on to become accomplished in their own right. Darien was not interested in acquiring an apprentice. The overwhelming majority of Apprentice Candidates came from wealthy famiies which were stakeholders in the state of Chelish Politics, which did not help to alleviate Darien's paranoia. The only value that Darien saw in an Apprentice was having someone to handle the menial aspects of the Art for him.

Darien had started using the slaves in the household as assistants in his work. Many of them failed to last longer then a week, having succumbed to the typical hazards that one is exposed to while working for an amoral mage. The Overseer singled out Talia to be his latest assistant. Despite her fear of the infamous Devil-binder, Talia had managed to thrive in her new role. Darien had started to teach Talia enough of the Arcane Arts to be useful as his assistant. She was frequently tasked with cleaning up Darien's workspace, preparing spell components, handling the non-magical aspects of potion brewing, and other such tasks. Darien didn't believe in coddling, and he was very harsh when she made a mistake or otherwise forgot a detail from one of his lessons. However, there had been times when Darien had almost been a paternal figure to Talia. Talia never let those moments distract her from the fact that as far as Darien was concerned, she was simply a piece of lab equipment whose sole purpose was to make his life easier. She consistently lied about the amount of time that she needed to complete her work, just so she could steal a few more hours with Darien's private library. Talia filled in the gaps of her limited education. She didn't have a good life, but she was able to achieve a sense of sense of fulfillment that she never previously had.

Darien's paranoia grew worse. Talia was the only one who had been privy to this knowledge, but the Devils of Hell had started to regard Darien as spent goods, and not worth investing their time in. In order to maintain his power base, Darien had started to research binding more unpredictable and volatile entities. She realized that Darien's madness would get her killed. She needed a plan. Running away from the estate wouldn't be sufficient. They would send slave-catchers after her, and they would either bring her back to be punished or do worse. She made a plan, and she contemplated the consequences of her actions. Now that the (Blank) had sold her parents, there wasn't anyone else in the Estate she gave a damn about. She did feel some amount of sentimentality towards Darien, but if it was a choice between him and her, Talia knew that she had to look after herself.

Talia sabotaged Darien's summoning circle. When Darien called forth a Qlippoth into the Material Plane, the entity escaped and rampaged throughout the estate. Talia had managed to sneak off the estate grounds, and when the screaming started, she took her meager possessions and fled Egorian. She didn't know the extent of the damage or whether or not Darien survived, she was just focused on getting as far away as possible. She hoped that in the chaos of the Qlippoth's wake, it would be presumed that she been killed and her body had been destroyed. She wound up in Longacre, where she was recruited by Cimri. Talia didn't knew what her future had in store, but she would be damned before she became a slave again.

These all look great! I'll have a table up with characters, xp etc. later today.

[NeoSeraphi]

I have a query! The gnome's Dirty Trickster racial ability allows Zatqualmie to ignore the Int requirement for Combat Expertise, Improved Dirty Trick, and any feat that has Improved Dirty Trick as a prerequisite.

Can I trade away Weapon Familiarity and Obsessive to allow that to also apply to Improved Feint and feats that have Improved Feint as a prerequisite? The Tantrum feat is so flavorful and it's not like I have a lot of feat slots to spare, so letting me wave some prereqs wouldn't be that powerful, I think.

Feat path looks to be:
1) Weapon Finesse
3) Combat Expertise
5) Improved Dirty Trick
7) Greater Dirty Trick
9) Improved Feint
11) Tantrum
13) Greater Feint

Actually, looking it over, Improved Feint doesn't prevent AoOs or buff the check and Tantrum's text removes the benefits of Greater Feint, so I will just take Tantrum at 9 and have fun.

[n0ble]

The table is up! Please let me know if I've missed anything.

[NeoSeraphi]

If you are tracking archetypes (you did for Rofl's character), Zatqualmie is a Brutal Pugilist.

[3SecondCultist]

Also, you should put all of the Archetypes in brackets for consistency, so Dual-Cursed should be (in brackets) behind Oracle.

[NeoSeraphi]

New game? New OOC? New characters? New writing sample.

Spoiler

Show

Zatqualmie grins at the shopkeeper.

"Now, Steve. I know we have had our differences-"

"You swapped the price tags on my strongest sword with the tags on the dagger I found on the street."

"But I think you'll find-"

"You painted 'Ladies' Day, 50% off' on my window. I couldn't remove it for a week."

"that I've turned over a new leaf!" the gnome interjects with emphasis. "Straight and narrow, just like the arrows you had to sell for 3 silver on Ladies' Day."

Steven glares at him.

Zatqualmie sticks his hand out. "Come on! Look, I'll even get you some big name customers. I promise."

The shopkeeper rolls his eyes. "I'll believe it when I see it."

--------------------------

Steven was in the back of his shop, working on inventory when he heard the bell from the front door jingle. A customer.

"Coming!" Steven calls, heading out into the front area. "Welcome to the Salt and - Lady Helberes!"

The well-dressed minor noblewoman smiles at the shopkeeper. "Good day to you, serah. I was told by a friend that this was an excellent place to have my family's signet ring authenticated. You see I misplaced it some time ago and when it mysteriously returned I thought that perhaps it had been swapped with a forgery. One of my father's houseguests claimed you were the finest appraiser in the capital."

Steven stares in shock. From behind the woman, Zatqualmie sticks his head out and gives the human a wink.

Steven quickly clears his throat and nods. "Of course! Of course, please come right this way and set the ring on the table."

He grabs his magnescope from the counter and slips it over his right eye, then walks over to the jewelry counter. The woman sets her ring in front of him and he sits down to take a closer look.

Phhhhhhhhhtttt....

A loud, drawn out sound fills the silence. The noblewoman gasps as she looks down at the man. "Why serah! Did you just flatulate in my presence?"

Steven quickly stands up. "No, my lady, it was just a whoopie cushion. See?"

A pungent stench fills the air. The noblewoman steps back quickly, covering her nostrils. "A troglodyte and a liar? How sickening!"

Steven narrows his eyes. "No, ma'am, please, that's just a stink bomb. If you give me a moment to locate it..." He takes the magnescope off to give him broader vision of the room. The gnome is nowhere to be found.

"My word! Is that a gang symbol on your face?!" the noblewoman asks, covering her mouth.

Steven blinks and glances down at his glass countertop. His reflection shows a ring of black ink around his right eye.

"Please, my lady, this is all a big misunderstanding-"

"You are the worst kind of man! Abadar curse you and this dirty, smelly shop!" She turns around and storms out.

Somewhere, far away, a twinkling of laughter can be heard.

[3SecondCultist]

New game? New OOC? New characters? New writing sample.

Spoiler

Show

Zatqualmie grins at the shopkeeper.

"Now, Steve. I know we have had our differences-"

"You swapped the price tags on my strongest sword with the tags on the dagger I found on the street."

"But I think you'll find-"

"You painted 'Ladies' Day, 50% off' on my window. I couldn't remove it for a week."

"that I've turned over a new leaf!" the gnome interjects with emphasis. "Straight and narrow, just like the arrows you had to sell for 3 silver on Ladies' Day."

Steven glares at him.

Zatqualmie sticks his hand out. "Come on! Look, I'll even get you some big name customers. I promise."

The shopkeeper rolls his eyes. "I'll believe it when I see it."

--------------------------

Steven was in the back of his shop, working on inventory when he heard the bell from the front door jingle. A customer.

"Coming!" Steven calls, heading out into the front area. "Welcome to the Salt and - Lady Helberes!"

The well-dressed minor noblewoman smiles at the shopkeeper. "Good day to you, serah. I was told by a friend that this was an excellent place to have my family's signet ring authenticated. You see I misplaced it some time ago and when it mysteriously returned I thought that perhaps it had been swapped with a forgery. One of my father's houseguests claimed you were the finest appraiser in the capital."

Steven stares in shock. From behind the woman, Zatqualmie sticks his head out and gives the human a wink.

Steven quickly clears his throat and nods. "Of course! Of course, please come right this way and set the ring on the table."

He grabs his magnescope from the counter and slips it over his right eye, then walks over to the jewelry counter. The woman sets her ring in front of him and he sits down to take a closer look.

Phhhhhhhhhtttt....

A loud, drawn out sound fills the silence. The noblewoman gasps as she looks down at the man. "Why serah! Did you just flatulate in my presence?"

Steven quickly stands up. "No, my lady, it was just a whoopie cushion. See?"

A pungent stench fills the air. The noblewoman steps back quickly, covering her nostrils. "A troglodyte and a liar? How sickening!"

Steven narrows his eyes. "No, ma'am, please, that's just a stink bomb. If you give me a moment to locate it..." He takes the magnescope off to give him broader vision of the room. The gnome is nowhere to be found.

"My word! Is that a gang symbol on your face?!" the noblewoman asks, covering her mouth.

Steven blinks and glances down at his glass countertop. His reflection shows a ring of black ink around his right eye.

"Please, my lady, this is all a big misunderstanding-"

"You are the worst kind of man! Abadar curse you and this dirty, smelly shop!" She turns around and storms out.

Somewhere, far away, a twinkling of laughter can be heard.

Hey, nice! I like it! I think our character will need a bit of a lighter touch sometimes, to prevent the game from getting too grim as we crush the spirit of Cheliax's good citizens beneath our iron heels. Your character seems just the type to keep us all honest, at least.

Also, n0ble has asked for my help in making the Roll20, so as of right now we're co-GMing on it, just until we've made a few maps and he's gotten the hang of things. After that's done, I will rejoin as a player (I'll be able to toggle in and out of GM mode, but will obviously refrain from doing so to avoid metagaming). The link to the Roll20 game is here. I've gotten everyone models already, and will set up profile-model links for inter-map transfers once you're all on!

[Rofltrollcopter]

As far as potential for lighthearted moments goes, I could maybe see Talia and Phiarlyn becoming evil besties depending on how the first few encounters goes. Kind of similar to a Taylor-Lisa relationship. I'm not quite sure if the comparison to Joresh works quite yet. There is still a level of naivete to her actions, which comes from the restricted worldview that one would get as a slave. She's still ignorant about how a lot of the world works.

[Farmerbink]

Along the same lines, Barl is an (empiricist) investigator-'kuz they're the best investigators, really.

Regarding alignment, I'll find some explanation for Barl to be lawful or neutral evil. Three CEs is a bit steep for my tastes.

[Rofltrollcopter]

To help resolve my decision angst, I'm switching Talia to be an elf. I'm also going to switch the alignment over to NE, which means I need to figure out a new campaign trait. I've done my fair share of chaotic role-playing already, but I also can't justify having Talia be Lawful.


Also, I'm totally down to have Talia been previously owned by the d'Avars for the sake of dramatic irony, as long as Cultist can rationalize Phiarlyn not turning Talia over.

[3SecondCultist]

To help resolve my decision angst, I'm switching Talia to be an elf. I'm also going to switch the alignment over to NE, which means I need to figure out a new campaign trait. I've done my fair share of chaotic role-playing already, but I also can't justify having Talia be Lawful.

Also, I'm totally down to have Talia been previously owned by the d'Avars for the sake of dramatic irony, as long as Cultist can rationalize Phiarlyn not turning Talia over.

Okay, well for what it's worth, the d'Avar household is actually Nidalese (plus they're more upper middle class than actual nobility), so in hindsight that might not work. It would have been interesting, though.

And hooray! More varied alignments! I look forward to reading your revised backstory, Rofl.

[Rofltrollcopter]

I think the backstory still fits NE, Talia is more then capable of playing by the rules, she is just willing to break the rules when following the status quo is bad for her long-term interests.

I'm not sure about what trait I want to go with, maybe Ex-Iomadean? It says in the flavor that potential greviances agianst family members count as well. Is there a historical instance of the Iomadeans being jerks, despite being a Lawful Good Religion? Kind of like how the Church of the Silver Flame in Eberron had some dark chapters in its history, despite being a good aligned organization.

[3SecondCultist]

I think the backstory still fits NE, Talia is more then capable of playing by the rules, she is just willing to break the rules when following the status quo is bad for her long-term interests.

I'm not sure about what trait I want to go with, maybe Ex-Iomadean? It says in the flavor that potential greviances agianst family members count as well. Is there a historical instance of the Iomadeans being jerks, despite being a Lawful Good Religion? Kind of like how the Church of the Silver Flame in Eberron had some dark chapters in its history, despite being a good aligned organization.

Iomedeans are fallible, just like everyone else. Ultimately that's a question for n0ble to answer as the DM, but while the world of Golarion isn't as much 'shades of grey' like Eberron, there should still be some room for error.

Something you could ask for is to refluff the trait slightly? I did that with my campaign trait, changing it from 'Chelish Noble' to 'Nidalese Diplomat', while keeping the same in-game boons.

[n0ble]

I think the backstory still fits NE, Talia is more then capable of playing by the rules, she is just willing to break the rules when following the status quo is bad for her long-term interests.

I'm not sure about what trait I want to go with, maybe Ex-Iomadean? It says in the flavor that potential greviances agianst family members count as well. Is there a historical instance of the Iomadeans being jerks, despite being a Lawful Good Religion? Kind of like how the Church of the Silver Flame in Eberron had some dark chapters in its history, despite being a good aligned organization.

Sure! I mean if you wanted to re-fluff it to be Ex-(Insert god name here), as 3sec suggested that would be totally fine

[NeoSeraphi]

Zatqualmie is Ex-Lamashtan!

(He can't worship her while he's sleeping)

He wakes up and converts back to her every day!

[Farmerbink]

In light of Rofl's change of alignment, I'll let Barl stay CE.

I won't lie, in light of my own somewhat inexplicable exhaustion, there's a certain degree of relief in not having to look through campaign traits again.

[Rofltrollcopter]

You can consider Talia to be mechanically done. n0ble, would you like me to make a seperate character sheet for Talia's familar, or would you prefer it if I included a statblock on Talia's sheet?

The one bit i'm still struggling with is how to incorporate the Ex-Iomedaean trait. It's not likely she would have been exposed to Iomedaean ideology or that of any other good-aligned deity. So I might just go with "somehow, the Iomedaeans were responsible for her family becoming enslaved". Alternatively, is there a term for someone who categorically rejects moral absolutism? Is there a term for someone who does that?

[n0ble]

You can consider Talia to be mechanically done. n0ble, would you like me to make a seperate character sheet for Talia's familar, or would you prefer it if I included a statblock on Talia's sheet?

The one bit i'm still struggling with is how to incorporate the Ex-Iomedaean trait. It's not likely she would have been exposed to Iomedaean ideology or that of any other good-aligned deity. So I might just go with "somehow, the Iomedaeans were responsible for her family becoming enslaved". Alternatively, is there a term for someone who categorically rejects moral absolutism? Is there a term for someone who does that?

I'd prefer if the familiar was included in a stat block on her sheet, just so everything is in one place.

You could always chart Talia as someone who was born into slavery, but had faith in Iomedae because her parents did.Then she gradually had her faith in Iomedae reduced and stripped away through increasing acts of cruelty from her master. It would certainly open the door for Talia to straddle the line between Cheliax and the GR's devotion to Iomedae if thats the way you wanted to take it. Alternatively you could always pick a god or goddess that fit what you wanted for your character, as long as they were fairly prominent on Cheliax of course Totally your call

Le Small Edit: Once everyone has sorted their gear I will post the IC so we can begin

[NeoSeraphi]

Updated Zatqualmie's gear section.

[Rofltrollcopter]

Is Barl's inventory the last thing we are waiting on?

[Farmerbink]

It's possible? I'm working on it now.

I tried to post this several minutes ago, but it was short enough that it took less than a minute after my previous post. Anyone have suggestions for languages? I get 4 more, but don't know what would be useful or prominent in our starting area. Couldn't find much on the PG about it.

[3SecondCultist]

It's possible? I'm working on it now.

I tried to post this several minutes ago, but it was short enough that it took less than a minute after my previous post. Anyone have suggestions for languages? I get 4 more, but don't know what would be useful or prominent in our starting area. Couldn't find much on the PG about it.

Beyond Common and Infernal? I'd suggest Celestial, Halfling, Varisian, and Shadowtongue (or maybe Strix). Knowing the language of the dissidents will allow us to better clamp down on the dangers that face Cheliax, after all.

[n0ble]

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been absent for a while, the job hunt and the job I actually have were keeping me really busy. I'm going to post the IC very shortly, but just wanted to ask the group how they wanted to start out. The way I see there are two options.

1) We have everyone meet up and RP their way to the opening heist, that way everyone isn't just crowbared into combat and can meet up rather organically.
or
2) The natural opposite: we can start the game the night of the Tannery Heist if people are hungry for action and want to get into things.

I can write up the intro post to reflect either one based on what people want

[NeoSeraphi]

Ooooh. Both have their merit.

I shall side with the chaos in me and vote for throwing us right into the fray!

[Rofltrollcopter]

Either way sounds good, I have a slight preference for in medias res.

[3SecondCultist]

Put me down for another vote of throwing us into the action! I like the idea of us doing some flashbacks as well.

Out of curiosity, does the AP specify what day we're supposed to start on? I haven't downloaded any of them yet, and am still debating the merits of doing so.