Character Creation Discussion Thread

[droobles]

2 questions:

 

Where should our apps go and should further questions be made on this thread?

 

EG: is leadership feat banned? Could we use the elephant in the room feat tax fiz?

[PerilousAdventures]

Are the Spheres of Guile worth playing in this game or it is mostly going to be action/adventure? Just checking even if I'm more than likely thinking of doing a Sphere of Guile side + Sphere of Power side.

[Saberfan]

This thread is for those of you who have questions that need answering, whether those concern the minutiae of building your character, rules clarifications, or related topics. If you have questions about your character's backstory or similar fluff-related details, those are best handled in whatever thread you create for submissions.

[Saberfan]

4 hours ago, droobles said:

2 questions:

 

Where should our apps go and should further questions be made on this thread?

 

EG: is leadership feat banned? Could we use the elephant in the room feat tax fiz?

Moved the topic here to this section to keep things neat. My apologies, this campaign folder is still a work in progress.

The Leadership feat is banned, but class features or Spheres that grant it are not.

Elephant in the Room will not be used in this game.

Edit: There is a section for character submissions now.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Saberfan
Added information (see edit history)

[Saberfan]

22 minutes ago, PerilousAdventures said:

Are the Spheres of Guile worth playing in this game or it is mostly going to be action/adventure? Just checking even if I'm more than likely thinking of doing a Sphere of Guile side + Sphere of Power side.

Moved the topic here to this section to keep things neat. My apologies, this campaign folder is still a work in progress.

The Spheres of Guile are generally worth playing, although you may get a little less utility out of some options depending on what contracts the party takes on as planar adventurers.

[PerilousAdventures]

Alright good enough for me!

[Llyarden]

Are non-DDS sphere things (eg Veilweaving sphere, Dragoon class, Card Casting spherecasting drawback, talents like Earthswimmer, etc) allowed?

Edited December 29, 2023 by Llyarden (see edit history)

[Taggerung559]

Seconding the question about non-DDS content. Specifically thinking about dipping into reaper.

[VennDygrem]

One thing I see missing in the creation guidelines is a line about traits. Should I assume the standard 2 free traits? Can an extra be bought by taking a drawback as normal, or is that disallowed?

I've seen plenty of games use different rules around traits, from full normal rules (2 plus 1 with drawback), to ruling the drawback must be relevant to the character (no picking something easily ignored), to disallowing the extra trait/drawback. Rarely, if ever, are traits fully disallowed, but it could happen.

Additionally: Since players are being encouraged to create their own multiversal races/ancestries/what-have-you, how are Favored Class Bonuses being handled? Are players free to pick any, or should they pick a single race for the purposes of qualifying for traits/feats/FCB's, or should we assume just core, non-alternative bonuses as available? This also ties into race-locked options for traits, feats, and certain items.

[Saberfan]

8 hours ago, Llyarden said:

Are non-DDS sphere things (eg Veilweaving sphere, Dragoon class, Card Casting spherecasting drawback, talents like Earthswimmer, etc) allowed?

5 hours ago, Taggerung559 said:

Seconding the question about non-DDS content. Specifically thinking about dipping into reaper.

I am generally fine with most of the 'third-party' Spheres content outside of the Drop Dead Studios stuff, but it's a good idea to ask about specific things that you might want to take just to be sure. As for the material you two mentioned, all of those save Earthswimmer are fine by me; that one has a very niche interaction that can be problematic.

47 minutes ago, VennDygrem said:

One thing I see missing in the creation guidelines is a line about traits. Should I assume the standard 2 free traits? Can an extra be bought by taking a drawback as normal, or is that disallowed?

I've seen plenty of games use different rules around traits, from full normal rules (2 plus 1 with drawback), to ruling the drawback must be relevant to the character (no picking something easily ignored), to disallowing the extra trait/drawback. Rarely, if ever, are traits fully disallowed, but it could happen.

Additionally: Since players are being encouraged to create their own multiversal races/ancestries/what-have-you, how are Favored Class Bonuses being handled? Are players free to pick any, or should they pick a single race for the purposes of qualifying for traits/feats/FCB's, or should we assume just core, non-alternative bonuses as available? This also ties into race-locked options for traits, feats, and certain items.

I knew that I was forgetting something. Thanks for asking about these things.

Everyone will get two traits.

Race requirements for all content will be waived.

[Rhallan]

Any alignment restrictions? Nature of necromancy/views thereof?

Edited December 29, 2023 by Rhallan (see edit history)

[Saberfan]

1 hour ago, Rhallan said:

Any alignment restrictions? Nature of necromancy/views thereof?

No alignment restrictions, but the usual expectations of 'play nice and don't cause trouble for either your teammates or the organization your character belongs to' applies.

While necromancy is considered evil by some overgods who rule their own planar clusters- Pharasma from Golarion's universe and Ao from Faerun's have certainly deemed it evil- and it carries a heavy spiritual burden in those places, it is not a Multiversal truth and players should not expect it to be evil everywhere. Necromancy can, of course, be used for evil just like anything else, but there's nothing innately sinister about it in the overall context of this setting. Speaking personally outside the context of the setting, however, I love necromancy and Spheres does a good job of making it fun, so I don't have any issues with it myself.

[Taggerung559]

I've stumbled into another question.

With just 1st party sources, magus spell combat cannot be combined with flurry of blows. The reason for this as I understand things is that spell combat is a specific full round action, whereas flurry of blows is a modified full attack action, similar to how you can't use cleave and vital strike together since cleave is its own specific standard action.

Enter spheres. The arcane weaponeer magus archetype has an alternate spell combat class feature which says

Quote

When he makes a full-round attack using only melee weapons, he can also use any sphere ability with a casting time of 1 standard action or less as a free action at any point during the attack.

The specific wording of the unchained monk's flurry of blows is

Quote

At 1st level, a monk can make a flurry of blows as a full-attack action.

So if you had those two, and you made a flurry of blows which is a full-attack action, and you did it with melee weapons, would that be compatible with the spell combat of arcane weaponeer specifically?

I assume no because it almost seems too good to be true for the character I'm brewing, but I'm failing to find something to prevent it.

edit: and on a completely separate note, what method do you have in mind for combat battlefields? theater of the mind, roll20, google sheets, that sort of thing.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Taggerung559 (see edit history)

[Saberfan]

20 minutes ago, Taggerung559 said:

I've stumbled into another question.

With just 1st party sources, magus spell combat cannot be combined with flurry of blows. The reason for this as I understand things is that spell combat is a specific full round action, whereas flurry of blows is a modified full attack action, similar to how you can't use cleave and vital strike together since cleave is its own specific standard action.

Enter spheres. The arcane weaponeer magus archetype has an alternate spell combat class feature which says

The specific wording of the unchained monk's flurry of blows is

So if you had those two, and you made a flurry of blows which is a full-attack action, and you did it with melee weapons, would that be compatible with the spell combat of arcane weaponeer specifically?

I assume no because it almost seems too good to be true for the character I'm brewing, but I'm failing to find something to prevent it.

I'm pretty sure that both the normal and Unchained versions of Flurry of Blows have been ruled as a special full-attack actions by Paizo, meaning they can't be spliced with certain things that modify those even though they are actually categorized as full-attacks. That said, I'd like to ask what you were looking to use that specific interaction for? If it's something relatively inoffensive by my standards, I could give things a deeper look and see if I can figure out a compromise within the rules.

Edit: Maps are something I will discuss with those selected since not everyone may have access to, or be willing to access, certain things like Roll20 or Google Docs.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Saberfan (see edit history)

[Rhallan]

1 hour ago, Saberfan said:

No alignment restrictions, but the usual expectations of 'play nice and don't cause trouble for either your teammates or the organization your character belongs to' applies.

While necromancy is considered evil by some overgods who rule their own planar clusters- Pharasma from Golarion's universe and Ao from Faerun's have certainly deemed it evil- and it carries a heavy spiritual burden in those places, it is not a Multiversal truth and players should not expect it to be evil everywhere. Necromancy can, of course, be used for evil just like anything else, but there's nothing innately sinister about it in the overall context of this setting. Speaking personally outside the context of the setting, however, I love necromancy and Spheres does a good job of making it fun, so I don't have any issues with it myself.

That is exactly how I feel myself. Thanks!