Garth Stormchaser - Hadozee first mate (sample character)

[dalamb]

Status: Under construction, adapting from old campaign where the rules were slightly different.

Basics Name: Garth Stormchaser Gender: Male Race: Hadozee (Rodanese by technicality) Class(es): Fighter / Tempest // Rogue Alignment: True Neutral Role: Striker, Skirmisher, Skillmonkey Office: First Mate Appearance Like any hadozee, Garth looks like a small gorilla at first glance - "small" being a relative term, seeing as he stands six feet tall with proper posture. Typically, though, he stands with something of a stoop, or leans over, making him seem just a little shorter. Garth dresses himself quite finely, in his opinion, with a broad tricorne hat, loose and ruffled open-collar shirt, and various belts and harnesses to hold his valued trinkets - or at least those that haven't yet been beaded onto some part of his rich fur coat. He will sometimes wear pants, if requested, for the comfort of others, but no one has yet found a pair of shoes that would properly fit him even if he were willing to wear them.

Personality Garth is generally a merry fellow, social and personable, and often joking, though some can occasionally find such traits overbearing. He has a deep love for the sea and adventures upon it, and is rarely seen without a smile on his simian features - unless those features are instead screwed up in intense concentration on whatever fiddly little trinket has caught his attention at the moment. Such obsessions tend to be fleeting, however, as Garth does not possess the mightiest of attention spans.

Statblock TBD

Background

Born and raised in Yongheng de Chuntian di Gangwan, a bustling Rodanese port, Garth thinks little of his life before he joined the crew of the Panduan Zhengyi. Though heavily equipped, it was not a war vessel; its purpose was to guard and patrol the shipping lanes, keeping an eye out for piracy and the like. While Garth learned much about nautical life from his time aboard, and while there were a few exciting battles against pirates, he eventually came to feel that the whole experience was missing the sense of adventure he truly craved.

A brief layover in Ostmouth brought him into contact with the Stormchaser, and her captain Virginia Kenway; an experienced older captain, who had served in Andaron's navy during the war, and now operated as a privateer. Garth found this life to be much more to his tastes, and served under Kenyway for several years, eventually earning the position of second mate. He experienced a number of adventures on the Stormchaser, not all of them nautical - a few plundered tombs, a few journeys deep into uncharted islands; standard Adventurer fare really.

All good things must come to an end, however, and Garth's tenure on the Stormchaser ended when the ship's first mate, a cunning bastard by the name of Anderson Reeve, led the majority of the crew in mutiny against captain Kenway, with the intention of turning from licensed privateering to straight-out piracy. Garth was one of the few who remained loyal to Kenway, and fought at her side, but eventually the fight was lost, and Kenway and her supporters left marooned on an island some distance from the main shipping lanes.

That would have been the end of them, had not the Swift Vengeance happened to pass by within only a few days. When the survivors were returned to civilization, Virginia announced her intention to retire, that her inability to see Reeve's mutiny coming proved she was unfit to be a captain any longer. Garth, still feeling the call to adventure in his blood, joined up with captain Zentaru, who he has served under for two years now. He takes his recent appointment as first mate extremely seriously.

 

[dalamb]

Character construction mechanics

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Classes: Fighter 5 / TempestCAdv 81 4 // Rogue 4 / DervishCWar 25 5

The following is incomplete, but I decided not to delay the game advertisement any further.

Character Creation Points

Character Points (19)

• +20 point buy: 4

• Craft reserve (for a friendly crafter to use for him): 2

• Initial Wealth-By-Level x 6/6: 6

• Extraordinary Skills (DEX): 1

• Extraordinary Skills (STR): 1

• Extra feats 15 = 3*5: 5

Ability Score Point Buy

Points: 45 = 25+ 5 * (4 character points)

Before magic items:

• Str 16 = 14 +2 (levels)

• Dex 22 = 18 +2 (race) +2 (levels)

• Con 18 = 16 +2 (levels)

• Int 16 = 14 +2 (levels)

• Wis 11 = 9 +2 (levels)

• Cha 14 = 14 -2 (race) +2 (levels)

Skills

Skills points:

• Rogue 4: (13+3)*(4+3)

• Dervish 5: (7+3)*5

Skills

• Max’d by being taken at all levels (10 of 10 at 12 ranks): Balance, Bluff, Disable Device, Jump, Hide, Perception, Perform (dance), Profession (Sailor), Sense Motive Tumble

Other skills (7 ranks max, taken at levels 1-4, 6*7=42 ranks).

• 7r: Appraise, Climb, Knowledge(Local), Move Silently, Swim, Use Rope

Feats

Feats by level (9 general, 3 fighter bonus, 15 via character points)

1. Fighter 1 / Rogue 1

   1. General: ?

   2. Fighter: Two-Weapon Fighting

   3. points (9/15):

      1. Skill Focus (Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Swim, Tumble)

      2. for Dervish: Combat Expertise, Dodge. Weapon Focus (scimitar)

      3. free: Mobility

2. Fighter 2 / Rogue 2

   1. General: ?

   2. fighter: Improved Initiative

3. Fighter 3 / Rogue 3

   1. General ?

   2. Points (1, total 10/15): Close Quarters Fighting (CWar 97)

4. Fighter 4 (BAB 5) / Rogue 4

   1. General: ?

   2. Fighter: Combat Reflexes

   3. free: Spring Attack, Weapon Specialization

5. Fighter 5 (BAB 6) / Dervish 1

   1. general: ?

   2. Points (1, total 11/15):

      1. Improved Two-Weapon Fighting for Tempest

6. Tempest 1 / Dervish 2

   1. General: ?

7. Tempest 2 / Dervish 3

   1. General: ?

8. Tempest 3 / Dervish 4

   1. General: ?

9. Tempest 4 / Dervish 5

   1. General: ?

Magic Equipment

   The spreadsheet I used for this is not ready for prime time (it needs a lot more documentation of how to use it and how it works), but the main idea is that you have two limits to keep track of

• the maximum value of equipment you can have, which depends on WBL and how many character points you spent on extra starting gold
• the starting XP reserve for crafting, which is based on the maximum value of equipment you can craft, which depends only on WBL

Garth took the maximum boost to starting gold (x2), and was not able to pay for crafting two of his items of magical equipment.

 

[dalamb]

Garth is a sample character; I suppose he might appear as an NPC at some point but is no longer on the Swift Vengeance. Thus the first mate position is available.

He is far from done; my intent is to finish him before any advertisement goes out but some of you might want to start character threads before he's ready. I do suggest a second

[dalamb]

I've updated Garth's build based on today's house rules revision, and added skills and some of his feats.

[dalamb]

I've added Garth's equipment.