Can you help me understand the setting better?

Alright, so another question. Let’s assume I was interested in trying to get into online play, what sort of assumptions are made about character builds, backstories, or motivations? One idea I had been bandying about was a priest of Hurian and former Royal Marine who was ordered to sink a Harvester ship (with lightning and fate points!) his commander couldn’t catch, figuring death was a kinder fate for the children on board, but he was so racked by guilt he deserted and is looking for a way to redeem himself. Would something like that work, or am I still thinking like a pathfinder player?

I had been thinking that (by using fate points), he was able to sink the ship with lightning bolts (figuring divine archtype and royal marine background) and couldn’t take the guilt (as it had been loaded with stolen children). It sounds like I may be underestimating harvester ships?

I had been thinking that (by using fate points), he was able to sink the ship with lightning bolts (figuring divine archtype and royal marine background) and couldn’t take the guilt (as it had been loaded with stolen children). It sounds like I may be underestimating harvester ships?
I’m late to this thread, but welcome to the forums!

It is highly unlikely that a single Priest of Hurrian would be able to sink one of the Black Ships, regardless of Fate. You could certainly tweak the backstory a little though. Maybe the children were on a smaller boat being ferried to the main Ymandragoran ship? Something like a skiff or rowboat would be a much easier target.

The general idea is a cool one, I think you can make the backstory work with some minor tweaks. Keep the questions coming

Alright, cool, I could make that work, though I have another question related to a different character idea. How easy is it for a priest to change their deity? For example, I was also thinking about a priest of Neroth of the Dark Triumvirate who generally agrees with their stance on the necessity of suffering, and that human beings must endure trials and pains as their duty, but started to feel that most people were suffering only because of their fear of the church, and not out of a sense of duty to the gods, and eventually decided that Anshar’s beliefs on suffering and burdens were more in line with his own beliefs.

You could do that just in backstory (though your backstory would be unofficial). Just create a priest of Anshar and say he used to be a priest of Neroth. This would not be strictly living campaign legal but being from Canceri is also not campaign legal (and, as far as I know, nobody outside Canceri reveres the Dark Triumvirate).

The thread Akira links to is well worth the read. As indicated there, within the living campaign it is impossible. Once the character is built, the Crisis of Faith that would precipitate the change cannot be resolved within the confines of the campaign. For one thing, there arguably isn’t enough time. Now, you could probably build it into your background where the entire thing happened before the character starts play. Understand there are limits to making this work though.

1) Mechanically, the only spells you could take would be for the god you are transferring in to.
2) You could and should make sure to take any talents or weapon proficiencies as best as possible to reflect the god you started with along with the skill associated with the original god.
3) You may want to consider a background other than one of the faith based ones that help represent the time of the crisis where he walked away. So avoid things like Initiate of the Gods, Templar, etc. Not required, but may help reinforce the concept.
4) If you want to represent the growing into the new faith using the Devoted Path out of Codex of Heroes. At Tier 3 you could take Anointed Priest of the new faith.
5) If you want to RP through the final strengthening of faith that ignites the ability to cast and make use of Devout talents, consider starting play without using any of them and then pick an appropriate story event which is the final catalyst for igniting your faith.

My primary character went through a vaguely similar experience. While deeply religious he had faith, but not Faith. He acquired the weapon of his god Cadic, in a shrine devoted to him with a critical success on a perception check after being “rebuked” in the shrine of Illir. I had never intended the character to gain access to Devout talents or spells. Martial archetype with a 2 Charisma and no weapon proficiency with short sword. All of that changed with that in game event. My planned build for him went out the window. The next 8 ranks were used RPing and adding the mechanical pieces necessary to make use of the weapon and ignite his faith into Faith. It’s been a blast.

I understand having too many character concepts. I have 4 characters built and played at least once. I rarely get to play #3 or #4 and if for some reason there was time, I’d probably build #5 or maybe play #4 more. The “problems” with a rich universe.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

No Canceri characters, huh? That’s too bad. Seems like there could be a lot of potential depth there.

You can download the campaign guide which is a little dated but includes the list of what’s not allowed (from memory: Ymandragore, Canceri, and Tultipet). I had originally wanted Ss’kethis to be Ashen Hide but it’s disallowed because they are technically from Canceri (even though they are mostly separate and do not follow the Dark Triumvirate (they worship Nier but don’t (yet at least) fall in line with typical Dark Triumvirate)).

If this is a home campaign, go for it! We presently don’t have a huge amount of material on Canceri in ARPG (it’s on the list from what I’m told, but it is not near the top of the list to do), and if you wanted to make your character a Cancerese Nerothian “Secret Policeman” Priest, the role you want to go for would be what are called Abjurers. These are religious hit-squads which act kind of like Inquisitors, and typically move around in groups of 3 (one Nerothian, one Nierite, and one Sarishan). They tend to wear obscuring masks, and are feared by much of Canceri as the enforcers of dogma. For more information, please see this product: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/20781/T … _45322_0_0

Now, if this is meant as a Living Arcanis-Legal campaign character, I’m not sure the character concept will really work. As stated, Canceri is not a playable nation, and outside of Canceri itself the Dark Triumvirate is not worshiped. You probably COULD make a case for a character coming from the Hinterlands who follows a very Cancerese-like worship of Neroth, but by and large even the chaotic religious area of the Hinterlands finds Cancerese (especially the Nerothians) repellent.

Neroth is, however, not exclusively worshiped in Canceri, which means you do not have to be tied to that nation! One of the first “commandments” of Illiir in the Canticle (the holy book of the Pantheon of Man) is that “All Gods must be given their due”, and this includes Neroth. In Coryan, Neroth is worshiped as the God of Disease and Medicine (not necessarily healing, I should point out, but medicine), as well as being the caregiver of the mentally infirm. They perform burial rights and are also the undertakers and morticians, and are given the bodies of the dead after the Beltinian clergy deals with the souls of the dead. By and large, Neroth is still thought about with fear and a little disgust by the ‘common folk’, mostly out of the ancient fear of death and the dead (and the pollution it is thought to bring), but he is venerated there. The most prominent Nerothian Holy Order in Coryan is the Order of the Deathbringers of Neroth, who are almost the most “Lawful Good” order out there, believing that it is there Neroth-given mission to hunt down all evil in the world due to a mistake made by their Lord in killing Illiir (who got better) in a very Pandora’s box-like myth. It should be noted that while the Mother Church of Coryan isn’t necessarily AGAINST the existence of undead (or the raising of the dead as minions), it is considered rather gauche and is a continual sticking point between the followers of Beltine and Neroth, and such activities would almost certainly be frowned upon by the common folk.

In other nations, Neroth is viewed in much the same way as in the Coryani Empire, with greater or lesser influence being given to some of his more extreme aspects (read: undead and disease). Milandir is probably the LEAST tolerant of Neroth due to their history of war with Canceri, and the worship of Neroth is pretty much exclusively restricted to his role as mortician and undertaker with Beltine taking over most of his medicinal roles.

Also of note: Neroth is not the God of Suffering, but the Lord of the Dead, Disease, the Body, and to an extent the Mind. Anshar is the comforter of the Suffering and the patron of the outcasts.