When we get to determining the proficiencies Boanerges gets as a splintersoul zealot vigilante, the time comes to finally determine his patron. Alignment matters here, too ~ vigilantes can have two alignments next to each other, zealots have alignment restrictions like clerics, and splintersouls qualify for class features and things if only one (not both) alignments does. I’m fairly strongly attached to him as CG/CN in a predominantly CE society, which (I realize now) changes who I’ve been thinking his archangel is.
Presterjho’s pantheon, as it were, is modeled on that of one of my favorite not-quite-obscure RPGs, In Nomine, Steve Jackson Game’s complete redesign of a French angels-and-demons game. So far, as I’ve been digging into the details of Boanerges, I’ve been assuming that he would follow Telakh, the hola archangel of Faith (equivalent to Khalid in In Nomine). But Telakh is staunchly lawful! Back to the drawing board . . . Gebhuri, naifo archangel of Fire (Gabriel) is something of a chaotic counterpart to Telakh, the burning ecstasy of faith as opposed to the rigid discipline thereof. But I’m feeling like Boanerges’s patron should be more neutral good. For one, this gives the splintersoul splintered identity some oomph, but on another, it reinforces the “sneaky redeemer” aspect of Boanerges, which I fear is getting lost. Let’s see, the list of neutral good archangels is:
Dhanebsonhi, kruv archangel of Dreams
Khashamsorof, kruv archangel of Children
Nanahoy, hola archangel of Lightning
Yorethil, faras archangel of Revelation
Themnoth, yaim archangel of the Voice
Newosli, kruv archangel of Flowers
Sennao, wekyosthet archangel of the Ocean
Awi, yaim archangel of Destiny
Razal, rogigyos archangel of Death
That’s 9 out of the 22 most popular archangels in Presterjho, easily the most common alignment thereamong.
Let’s see . . . I want a focus on redemption and converting folk to the cause of good, yeah? So we can immediately rule out Nanahoy, Yorethil, Themnoth, Sennao, and Razal, as they’re all more concerned with other things. That leaves Dhanebsohni, Khashamsorof, Newosli, and Awi. As much as I really enjoy making unusual servitors of Children in In Nomine, I think I’ll have Boanerges serve the very mysterious Awi, whose focus is entirely on ensuring that the world turns out for the better. It also makes Boanerges quite cosmopolitan, as he comes from Not-CentralAfrica and follows a religion from neighboring Presterjho shaded by the atheistic Jedi-like worship of Time centered in Scarhas (Destiny and Fate replace the Light and Dark Sides in that religion).
Awi believes that the use of weapons leads to rash actions, and that rash actions tend to fulfill Fate far more often than Destiny. Accordingly, his favored weapon is the unarmed strike, and Boanerges gets Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat.
Social talents available to Boanerges at 1st level are somewhat disappointing, actually. I think you’re expected to take renown, but that would dilute the theme of his discomfort at having to stuff his normally huge and flamboyant personality into a small and subtle secret identity, of intimidating bluster struggling towards compassionate persuasion. I consider gossip collector for a hot second, but it feels kinda tacked-on, not hitting any particular element of his character or background. I decide to go with social grace finally. We’ll choose Intimidate, to further the contrast (and cuz it’s Boanerges’s highest mental skill).
Zealot replaces vigilante specialization with an inquisitor’s inquisition, the choice of which is ridiculously easy: Boanerges benefits from the Redemption inquisition. Awi chose him as their agent specifically to seed goodness within an evil horde. The vigilante talent at 2nd level isn’t so easy. I consider the channel energy zealot talent, but that still seems like an “overwhelming presence” thing. Harsh judgment? It does allow the judgment of purity, which is awfully tempting when surrounded by inherently magical beings like ifrits. Magical familiarity, on the other hand, is within Awi’s purview, as he is the most arcane of the archangels, and also the most associated with time. I wonder if there are any good time-related cantrips to give Boanerges? Shadow’s speed and shadow’s sight seem like good, solid, boring workhorse talents, while steely resolve makes some sense for a servant of Awi, I suppose. Team player, on the other hand, seems appropriate enough to join harsh judgment (purity) and magical familiarity as the front-runners. A quick glance at the list of cantrips reveals nothing I want for Boanerges. Let’s go with harsh judgment (purity). And splintersoul requires us to take an early quick change talent at 3rd level (the earliness costs us unshakable, too).
When in his vigilante identity ~ which I realize I really should name . . . . how about, like, the Unseen Heart of the Flame? ~ Boanerges possesses a moderate aura of good. He can also cast spells like an inquisitor as the Unseen Heart. Or would, if his wisdom was higher >.< 5 points is a lot to ask for, but I wonder if we can’t make up for it with a magical item? The answer, sadly, is hell no ~ even the smallest boost of a +2 costs 4000 gp, and at 3rd level, Boanerges only has 3000.
I know a lot of players out there would say that I’ve made catastrophically suboptimal choices when building Boanerges, but I like to think that Awi had this exact process in mind by choosing him. Boanerges is meant to seed goodness within his horde, and the process of doing so is meant to build within him the wisdom that Awi so prizes. The plans of an archangel, let alone a yaim archangel (the yaim are not like other angels ~ they are direct emanations of the divine), are fractal, complicated, and multifaceted. In terms of planning for the future, Boanerges should be all caught up in terms of spellcasting by 7th level (with his 4th-level ability increase going to Wisdom, and a headband of inspired wisdom +4 costing 16,000 gp).
Showing posts with label zealot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zealot. Show all posts
Friday, July 13, 2018
Friday, July 6, 2018
OK, maybe not from Prester . . . (Fantasy Friday #3)
Thinking about the charau-ka as a possible race for Boanerges brings the jungliest region of this continent to mind. It occurs to me that an elemental theme could work well there, drawing on images of the rainforest as a place of nature at its most intense and individual (as opposed to the, like, unitary image of powerful nature that comes with places like mountains, the arctic, and oceans). That as-yet-unnamed region, analogous to Central Africa in geohistorical placement, shares a border with Prester in the middle of the continent. If I place Boanerges just on one side or the other of that border, they can be a member of a swashbuckly force of evil ifrit, perhaps based on something like Boko Haram or God’s Army. I like that idea! OK, Boanerges is now officially an ifrit.
Looking at the race description, I note already that there’s a base trait I wanna replace with an alternate trait ~ as a vigilante, even if Boanerges is a zealot and a divine spellcaster, the fire affinity trait helps him out all of not at all. Fire in the blood (which gives him a morsel of access to fast healing when he takes fire damage) would replace fire affinity not only ably, but in line with some of Boanerges’s themes, I daresay. Hypnotic (which boosts an ifrit’s ability to fascinate) is a little tempting, as a reference to the swashbuckling element. But Boanerges, again, would probably gain spellcasting through the zealot archetype, and I dunno how many inquisitor spells cause fascination. Nor do I actually know yet if Boanerges will take the zealot archetype. And the same arguments apply to the boons given by his Celestial Obedience to his yet-unchosen archangel. Fire in the blood it is!
As for their gender, making them female would seem to play into old Victorian ideas of the woman as the civilizing force (an idea that pops up unfortunately in too many Second Wave feminisms). Similarly, making them trans or nonbinary in any way would seem to underscore too much the dual nature of Boanerges ~ another trope that can lead to icky things. An agender Boanerges is more tempting, gives them more texture to their psyche, but in the end has, I think, the same problems. I guess cismale is the best option for Boanerges.
Choosing his race also lets us determine Boanerges’s age, height, and weight. I’m gonna call vigilante a self-taught class so we roll 60+6d6 for his age, getting 76 as his age. That makes him a little young for an ifrit vigilante (average age would be 81), which I think is appropriate for his character. He’s tall, though, living up to his personality, as a 2d8 roll of 14 tells us that he’s 6’4” and a 2d8x5 roll of 40 gives us a weight of 150 pounds. I think he’s actually come out pretty skinny, though his charisma makes him seem larger than he actually is.
I also note that there are several racial feats available to ifrits. Blistering Feint, which makes the ifrit better at feinting when using a fiery weapon and does damage with the feint as well, is especially noteworthy ~ although we’ve already chosen Boanerges’s 1st-level feat (Celestial Obedience, recall), I’d wanna pick up Combat Expertise at 3rd level, Improved Feint at 5th, and Blistering Feint itself at 7th (assuming the redeemer theme in Boanerges doesn’t cause me to grab any feats in between all these). Firesight (which improves visibility in smoky conditions) and the Scorching Weapons feat tree (which lets you make your weapon fiery) are tempting; maybe if there’s ever a chance for Boanerges to pick up a bonus feat.
Oh, wait. Celestial Obedience requires Knowledge (planes) 3; it can’t be taken until 3rd level. OK, I’ll create Boanerges at level 3, then, and have him take Combat Expertise at level 1. Except he’s obviously not smart enough >.<
Vigilantes have a Hit Die of d8, so rolling 2d8+8+9 gives Boanerges 28 hit points. 6 skill points per level gives us 21 skill points. Knowing that we want Boanerges to have Celestial Obedience, we immediately spend 3 of those on Knowledge (planes), which is a cross-class skill. Cross-referencing the vigilante skill list with the barbarian list (in order to reflect Bonerges’s evil horde origin), we find that Acrobatics, Climb, Craft, Intimidate, Perception, Ride, Survival, and Swim are on both lists. Let’s drop Craft and Swim out of that list out of hand as being inappropriate for Boanerges’s cultural origins, leaving a total of 6 skills. Intimidate definitely gets the full 3 skill ranks and Acrobatics, too, as both are central to the tactics of the ifrit horde that birthed Boanerges. That’s 12 points left. If we give Perception, Ride, and Survival 2 points each (all of them are basic, universal skills in the region and the horde), we’re left with 6 more skill points. I’m thinking that I want Boanerges to qualify for the mystery cultist prestige class at 8th level, so I need to make sure that Knowledge (religion) (another cross-class skill) gets the full 3 ranks. And we’ll use the last 3 skill points to give Boanerges the ability to protect his secret goodytwoshoes identity, with a rank each in Bluff, Disguise, and Stealth. Yeah, that’s pretty low ~ Boanerges was raised to be flashy and big and eye-catching, not subtle and quiet and unseen!
Gawds! I’m making so many mistakes with Boanerges >.< Zealot, which I think I am in fact taking along with splintersoul, swaps out a few class skills for Knowledge (religion) and Spellcraft. More importantly, it reduces the skill points per level to 4! My 21 points get reduced a full 6 points to 15 ~ I’ll take a point out of the various general-ed skills I gave Boanerges (Perception, Ride, Survival, Bluff, Disguise, and Stealth).
Looking at the race description, I note already that there’s a base trait I wanna replace with an alternate trait ~ as a vigilante, even if Boanerges is a zealot and a divine spellcaster, the fire affinity trait helps him out all of not at all. Fire in the blood (which gives him a morsel of access to fast healing when he takes fire damage) would replace fire affinity not only ably, but in line with some of Boanerges’s themes, I daresay. Hypnotic (which boosts an ifrit’s ability to fascinate) is a little tempting, as a reference to the swashbuckling element. But Boanerges, again, would probably gain spellcasting through the zealot archetype, and I dunno how many inquisitor spells cause fascination. Nor do I actually know yet if Boanerges will take the zealot archetype. And the same arguments apply to the boons given by his Celestial Obedience to his yet-unchosen archangel. Fire in the blood it is!
As for their gender, making them female would seem to play into old Victorian ideas of the woman as the civilizing force (an idea that pops up unfortunately in too many Second Wave feminisms). Similarly, making them trans or nonbinary in any way would seem to underscore too much the dual nature of Boanerges ~ another trope that can lead to icky things. An agender Boanerges is more tempting, gives them more texture to their psyche, but in the end has, I think, the same problems. I guess cismale is the best option for Boanerges.
Choosing his race also lets us determine Boanerges’s age, height, and weight. I’m gonna call vigilante a self-taught class so we roll 60+6d6 for his age, getting 76 as his age. That makes him a little young for an ifrit vigilante (average age would be 81), which I think is appropriate for his character. He’s tall, though, living up to his personality, as a 2d8 roll of 14 tells us that he’s 6’4” and a 2d8x5 roll of 40 gives us a weight of 150 pounds. I think he’s actually come out pretty skinny, though his charisma makes him seem larger than he actually is.
I also note that there are several racial feats available to ifrits. Blistering Feint, which makes the ifrit better at feinting when using a fiery weapon and does damage with the feint as well, is especially noteworthy ~ although we’ve already chosen Boanerges’s 1st-level feat (Celestial Obedience, recall), I’d wanna pick up Combat Expertise at 3rd level, Improved Feint at 5th, and Blistering Feint itself at 7th (assuming the redeemer theme in Boanerges doesn’t cause me to grab any feats in between all these). Firesight (which improves visibility in smoky conditions) and the Scorching Weapons feat tree (which lets you make your weapon fiery) are tempting; maybe if there’s ever a chance for Boanerges to pick up a bonus feat.
Oh, wait. Celestial Obedience requires Knowledge (planes) 3; it can’t be taken until 3rd level. OK, I’ll create Boanerges at level 3, then, and have him take Combat Expertise at level 1. Except he’s obviously not smart enough >.<
Vigilantes have a Hit Die of d8, so rolling 2d8+8+9 gives Boanerges 28 hit points. 6 skill points per level gives us 21 skill points. Knowing that we want Boanerges to have Celestial Obedience, we immediately spend 3 of those on Knowledge (planes), which is a cross-class skill. Cross-referencing the vigilante skill list with the barbarian list (in order to reflect Bonerges’s evil horde origin), we find that Acrobatics, Climb, Craft, Intimidate, Perception, Ride, Survival, and Swim are on both lists. Let’s drop Craft and Swim out of that list out of hand as being inappropriate for Boanerges’s cultural origins, leaving a total of 6 skills. Intimidate definitely gets the full 3 skill ranks and Acrobatics, too, as both are central to the tactics of the ifrit horde that birthed Boanerges. That’s 12 points left. If we give Perception, Ride, and Survival 2 points each (all of them are basic, universal skills in the region and the horde), we’re left with 6 more skill points. I’m thinking that I want Boanerges to qualify for the mystery cultist prestige class at 8th level, so I need to make sure that Knowledge (religion) (another cross-class skill) gets the full 3 ranks. And we’ll use the last 3 skill points to give Boanerges the ability to protect his secret goodytwoshoes identity, with a rank each in Bluff, Disguise, and Stealth. Yeah, that’s pretty low ~ Boanerges was raised to be flashy and big and eye-catching, not subtle and quiet and unseen!
Gawds! I’m making so many mistakes with Boanerges >.< Zealot, which I think I am in fact taking along with splintersoul, swaps out a few class skills for Knowledge (religion) and Spellcraft. More importantly, it reduces the skill points per level to 4! My 21 points get reduced a full 6 points to 15 ~ I’ll take a point out of the various general-ed skills I gave Boanerges (Perception, Ride, Survival, Bluff, Disguise, and Stealth).
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