Midnight PbP at Paizo - Recruitment

[nightflier]

The changes from 3.5 to PFRPG are not that great, in all honesty. Perhaps the greatest change is the way how skills work - and that is simplified from 3.5. You shouldn't have any problem in creating a character.

The game should start in about a month or so.

And I love your concept.

[neverfox]

I don't know. I love PF compared to 3.5. It feels like an old car restored. I'm never going back.

[DaveTheMagicWeasel]

Sorry for going quiet - hurt my shoulder and not been able to type.

Right, I'm interested.  Fleshing out the idea brings me to the Warg Heroic Path (or possibly Doomed Hero's rewrite at the bottom of page 1 of this thread).  Thinking Mountain Lion/Lynx/Cougar/whatever as bonded animal (using leopard stats?).  I think it'd be cool for him to wear the mountain lion pelt as protection against the cold and then melds into it when he changes.  He maybe believes the pelt is what gives him the power, but in reality it was eating the (were?)-lion's raw flesh when he killed it.

Think it would play in to the feral aspect of the character and some good RP opportunities.  Plus, I'd imagine eating the flesh of his enemies will seem less odd to the rest of the party if done in lion form rather than dwarf form

Mechanically gives some nice utility (climb speed, scent, balance/jump/stealth bonuses, etc), a decent combat form later (looking at the Pathfinder Wild Shape rules I'd have to wait till 7th level before I can use pounce and grab, and till 9th before I get rake).

Background would be originally from one of the now destroyed northern clans, spent most of his life prowling through the cold peaks and ruined holdfasts in the north, hunting stray orcs & goblins and exploring the ruins of dwarven civilization.

I don't know. I love PF compared to 3.5. It feels like an old car restored. I'm never going back.

Thing is, that's exactly what put me off - 3.5 didn't need restoring, a decade of houseruling and homebrew stuff all over the internet served that purpose imo.  What it needed was a root & branch overhaul to correct the systemic problems - most notably Linear Fighters/Quadratic Wizards, Magic Item Christmas Tree, the CR system being basically guesswork, etc.  The rewrites are probably better than the 3e/3.5 iterations in many cases, but Pathfinder was several years too late to really spark my interest.

Besides, if I DM it's generally going to be either Midnight, where the changes to casting & magic items resolve many of the big problems, or Tome, where the changes the melee classes resolve the problems (albeit in the opposite direction).

I'm not saying it's bad, just that it didn't do what I wanted it to do so I didn't bother.  If I'm gonna play a game in it then I'd have reason to learn it.  But deep down, I'm waiting for either 5e or Pathfinder 2e and hoping one of them saves me the hassle of writing my own rpg...

[Exile]

For myself, Pathfinder is the only iteration of AD&D's core rules that I've ever put money into acquiring - and I've been at this long enough that I can remember the fanfare preceding the release of the original Unearthed Arcana.  I've acquired bits and pieces of good settings for AD&D, but even those - such as Midnight - tended to be ones that altered how it worked on a fundamental level.

In contrast, Pathfinder's the first iteration to actually motivate me to pay for the core rules themselves.  I tend to prefer simpler, grittier, lower-powered settings - but the efforts that have been made to make every character type significantly customisable, to give every one stylish things to do, and to ensure that no one is a one-trick pony or a one-shot weapon... those all appeal.  It looks a great deal like a fulfilment of the stated design goals for 3e that led to the recruitment of Over the Edge's Jonathan Tweet.  I suppose that I simply like the feel of the game.

[Doomed Hero]

Dave, your concept sounds great, there's just one thing you might not know. We've already had two very similar versions of that concept in the game. A savage halfling rogue with the Beast path who died at about 2nd level, and an Orc Barbarian with the Wereling path who disappeared into the woods at the beginning of 3rd level.

I for one like the recurring themes (maybe the group is destined to have an animal man in the ranks or something), but just in case you didn't want to do something that had already been done in the game I thought I'd let you know. Also, I'm not sure how Nightflier feels about duplicate heroic paths.

[DaveTheMagicWeasel]

Hmmm... great minds and all that eh?

Was just flicking through the Paths and that one stuck out as the most flavourful.  Ironborn, Mountainborn and Steelblooded are obvious fits, but a little dull imo.  Part of me really likes the irony of a Quickened Dwarf (Rage + Burst of Speed would be a terrifying combo!).  I could possibly go for Null, but it's so situational and unfortunately Disruptive & Spellbreaker would be closed off to me as a Wildlander/Barbarian.  Shadow Walker might fit for a sneaky Dwarf, maybe throw in some Rogue and shift the emphasis, but I've never really understood all the love that path gets.

I think Warg is the more flavourful choice so I'm inclined to stick with it.  I'll wait to see what nightflier thinks...  Ironborn, Steelblooded & Quickened would lead the pack as an alternate choice.

[nightflier]

I have nothing against warg, if done with dedication and flavor. I would like to avoid having two PCs with same heroic path in the same group, or even in the game if possible, but I'm prepared to work with that if the player needs specific path for his character concept to work. I'm finishing a job I'm currently working on, so I put a lot less work in the preparation for the campaign than I planed to, but I should have all the heroic paths combined in one document and made available to potential players by next Monday at the latest. Same goes for the races document as well.

[nightflier]

So, TwiceBorn, are you in? I need to know soon.

[TwiceBorn]

So, TwiceBorn, are you in? I need to know soon.

Sorry for the prolonged silence - I've been giving this a great deal of thought. I'd really like to join, but I don't think the timing is right for me to jump into another PbP. Thanks for the opportunity, though. Maybe next time...

Have fun!