| FAERITH
ALACASTER (THE COLLECTOR) Character Design Decisions General Idea From the very beginning, I wanted a utility caster with stealth and healing as secondary capabilities. I settled on a primary wizard with a bit of woodsy Ranger and a touch of arcane-friendly Cleric. I later learned that the Council of Thieves adventure path is set in an urban environment, so my original idea probably isn't going to be a perfect fit with this campaign. Ability Scores I originally built Faerith thinking that 15 point buy was standard. Karl (GM) suggested this wouldn't be enough for the AP (hinting that it was going to be pretty dangerous), so I upped it to 20 point buy instead. With that to work from, I focused on high Intelligence (up to 16 before racial modifier), because not only is Int a wizard's primary ability, but it also great for increasing the number of languages available, improving the number of skill ranks to work with (wizards really do get shortchanged on skills per level) -- and Int is tied to the Spellcraft skill that I desperately wanted to raise (for future magic item crafting). After assigning intelligence, I gave a few points to Dexterity (raising it to 14), and few points to Constitution (up to 13) and Wisdom (up to 12), giving Faerith an extra hit point per level and the potential to cast second level cleric spells. Hit Points For Faerith's hit points, I took the maximum die for Pathfinder wizards (6 on 1d6) at first level and added 1 point for his Con modifier. At second level (cleric) I rolled a 4 on 1d8 and added that plus 1 for Con. That brought Faerith up to 12 hit points. That's more than he would have had under 3e. Race I generally lean toward elves, half-elves or humans (in that order of preference). In the Pathfinder system, half-elves are really hard to beat. They get still get elven immunity to sleep effects, resistance to enchantment effects and low light vision, but also get Skill Focus as a racial bonus feat and can select two favored classes at character creation. I decided on Spellcraft for the focus skill and picked Wizard and Ranger to be his favored classes. I probably should have selected Wizard and Cleric instead since it doesn't look like there's much need for a Ranger in CoT. Class By picking Wizard as his first character class, Faerith gained early access to the Scribe Scroll bonus feat. I anticipate having Faerith do a lot of magic item crafting, if he can get enough gold to pay for the materials. However, when he advanced to level two, I had him take a level of cleric, not realizing that his caster level didn't advance. The Craft Wondrous Items feat has CL 3 as a prerequisite, so by dipping into cleric, it's going to take Faerith longer to get what I consider to be the coolest item creation feat in the game. Fortunately, the cleric level is a major part of the character concept and has been very useful already, so this unexpected result doesn't sting too much. Wizards and clerics get 0-level spells (cantrips and orisons, respectively) that can be prepared for the day and cast as often as needed. This ability is so good, it makes me wonder why everyone doesn't take at least one level in a spellcasting class sometime in their lives. Arcane Bond Pathfinder allows wizards to choose between a special bonded object or a traditional animal familiar. The bonded object option allows the wizard to cast an unprepared spell in an extra slot (which is a very nice benefit), however, I've always liked the companionship of familiars, especially ones that can fly. Since Raven familiars can speak any one language that their master can, I prefer to select them. For Faerith's familiar, Charn, I decided that he should speak Celestial -- primarily so their conversations could be more private and less likely to be understood by their enemies. As a side note, I got Charn's name from the dead world Jadis escaped from in The Magician's Nephew. Spell School Instead of going with a universalist wizard, I had Faerith focus on Abjuration as his specialty school (with Illusion and Necromancy being the opposition schools). In Pathfinder, opposition schools are not prohibited, just prohibitively expensive to use (each spell prepared from an opposition school uses up two spells slots instead of one and they are a lot harder to learn than both in-school and non-school spells). Faerith will probably never prepare opposition school spells except when crafting a scroll or other magic item (incurring a +5 craft DC penalty on such magic items -- which is another reason to keep Faerith's Spellcraft bonus high). The Abjuration school grants a very handy energy resistance ability that can be re-aligned to a different energy type each day, depending on the anticipated need. This isn't a perfect defense and Faerith doesn't always have the protection he needs for a given situation, but it's a nice power to have available. Abjuration also gives him the ability to grant a +1 deflection bonus to himself and his allies seven times per day (3 + Int modifier). Cleric Domains From the first time I saw the description of the Knowledge domain and its Lore Keeper power, I knew that I wanted it for Faerith (whenever he got around to taking a cleric level). The fact that the domain turns all knowledge skills into class skills (with the resulting +3 bonus when at least one rank is taken in each skill) made it even more desirable to me. The Knowledge domain and the Lore Keeper power really helped me to shape the "Collector" aspect of Faerith's character concept. The second domain was difficult to decide on since I was torn between the flexibility and defensive values of the both the Rune domain and the Trickery domain. Trickery seemed more useful over the long haul and perhaps a bit closer to the character's nature and play style, so I went with that one. Diety This was an exceptionally tough decision for me to make, since I had already settled on the Knowledge domain but was still trying to decide between the Rune or Trickery domains. This left me bouncing back and forth between Nethys (the major god of magic) and Sivanah (a minor goddess of illusion, trickery, knowledge and mystery). Both were on equal footing for me until I realized that Sivanah offered Stealth as a class skill. Traits I initially had a hard time figuring out the whole traits thing, but once I realized that we could on pick one general character trait and one CoT campaign trait, then everything made sense. I selected Classically Schooled (a general trait) for the small bonus it gives to the Spellcraft skill and then Pathfinder Exile (because it provides the very cool Wayfinder (a light-emitting magical compass). Languages Since Faerith has an 18 Int (after racial bonus) that gives him four additional languages (not counting Common and Elven). I decided to select Chelaxian (since that's where the campaign is set), Celestial (something Faerith could use when conversing privately with his raven familiar), Draconic (since it's just plain cool), and Orc, which may or may not ever come in handy. Infernal would probably have been a better choice for CoT, since there are so many devils/spawn in Westcrown. I still haven't figured out if additional languages can be learned after character creation. If that is in the core rulebook or the Pathfinder Reference Document, I haven't been able to find it yet. Feats I gave Faerith the Improved Initiative feat to help him act early in combat. Skill Focus and Scribe Scroll were first level bonus feats provided by his half-elf racial heritage and wizard training (respectively). Equipment Since I was creating Faerith away from the gaming table, I decided to give him the average wealth for a first level wizard character rather than rolling for it. This gave Faerith only 70 GP to work with. I had him create his own bow and arrows (20 normal arrows and 5 silvered), so the price would be within range. With a +8 skill modifier (1 rank + 4 Int mod + 3 class skill bonus) against a DC 12 to craft these items, there was little chance of failure/wasting materials. Material costs for such items is 1/3 the normal purchase price for a retail version. In addition to all of this, I had Faerith use his Scribe Scroll item creation feat to make two scrolls of Mage Armor at half the retail price. Unfortunately, the DC to create magic items is contradicted in both the core rulebook and the online Pathfinder Reference Document. In some places it is listed as 5 + CL of the item and in other places it is listed as 10 + CL. Fortunately, in either case, Faerith's then +12 Spellcraft mod was more than good enough to scribe first level spells onto a scroll. 0 Level Wizard Spells Faerith usually prepares Acid Splash, Ray of Frost and Mage Hand as his daily cantrips. Acid Splash, in particular, has been a great benefit as it works at range, requires only a touch attack roll, provides no saving throw and offers no chance for spell resistance. This is Faerith's go-to damage spell. Ray of Frost is less useful, but still valuable. There is no saving throw against it, but it can be resisted if the wizard's SR is beaten by the target. Mage Hand is rarely used, but can be very beneficial when it is. Faerith doesn't currently have any of his opposition school spells in his spell book as those would cost something to add. If gold becomes more plentiful, Faerith will complete his collection of 0 level wizard spells at a cost of 5 GP each. The DC to add these spells is 21. 1st Level Wizard Spells Faerith currently has Shield, Mage Armor, Sleep, True Strike, Magic Missile, Floating Disk and Obscuring Mist written in his spell book. Of these, he typically prepares Shield (but has never cast in combat), Sleep (which he usually casts in opening rounds against groups of living enemies), and Magic Missile (which is nice for its range and force damage type, but still kind of weak, especially since it allows spell resistance). Eventually, I would like for Faerith to have all of the first level wizard spells in his spellbook, including those from his opposition schools. As soon as he gets enough gold and finds a willing teacher (or scroll, if necessary), Faerith will attempt to write Silent Image (with a +5 DC opposition school penalty) and Burning Hands into his spellbook at a cost of 10 GP each. The DC to add these spells is 16. 0 Level Cleric Spells Coming soon 1st Level Cleric Spells Coming soon _____________________ |
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