Interest Check -- Play-by-Post RPG?

[Urpriest]

Hmm...

Unusual, possibly magical powers, on top of a general ability to pick up useful skills and see what needs doing...the kind of versatility that makes you the right solution for a whole range of problems, at least potentially...some support abilities...

That sounds like a Factotum. It's a somewhat obscure class from Dungeonscape, and I'm having trouble finding a good summary online, but basically it's a focused skill user with the ability to mimic a lot of other class abilities. They're mostly Intelligence-based, and they get a lot of abilities that let them "improvise" in various ways, picking up competency in skills or combat maneuvers on the fly if they have some basic training. Eventually they get the ability to cast a small number of spells, but rather than using them like a normal caster they end up working a lot more like innate abilities that can get swapped out every day.

[Adelene]

hmmmm. Very interesting, but I think it's flexible in the wrong ways for her? Like, a variety of useful skills yes, but the skills in question should primarily be mundane ones, both in the 'not magical' sense and in the 'cooking yes, picking locks no' sense. (This does have some wiggle room - a warforged might consider different things mundane compared to what a biological person would.) And there should be things she can't do, including some relatively basic things - original flavor Lurker doesn't hunt, for example. Also, like - she's smart but she's not really clever like that? Doing an int-and-cha build is fine, since she is in fact pretty smart, but being smart isn't really part of her self-concept and she's not going to go out of her way to build skills on that basis, is a thing.

[Urpriest]

Ah ok, I see what you're saying. Yeah, Factotum doesn't work too well when you want to model someone who has noticeable gaps in their skillset.

Feat Rogue might work pretty well then, or Ranger with lots of alternate class features. Either is a pretty common way to model characters with a diverse, but largely fixed, skillset. That leaves the "unusual for her species" ability...I guess the main reason I was suggesting Factotum to cover that is that it sounds like full-fledged Sorcery is kind of overkill, in the same way that Factotum turned out to be for skills. Depending on what sort of abilities you want, you could probably just get away with being a weird prototype warforged that happens to have access to them.

For my character, I've been thinking a bit about backstory. I think he's probably not completely brand new, but still new-ish. In particular, it probably makes sense for him to have done some scouting in a foresty/jungley place, to explain why they thought he would be a good addition to this mission. I don't know a lot about what would have been going on in this point of the war, though. Is the Eldeen Reaches rebelling against Aundair at this point? Does the war touch Q'barra at all?

[Adelene]

The problem with full sorcerer is less that it's overkill and more what I'd have to give up in the skill department, but yeah, I think feat rogue 2/sorcerer 2 is a good compromise - I put most of the build together and it looks all right to me. (Ability priorities: cha int dex wis con str; Feats: weapon finesse, combat expertise, improved disarm, silent spell; Spells: Detect poison, detect magic, read magic, ghost sound, message; comprehend languages, true strike. Skills as yet undetermined.)

[PlainDealingVillain]

Rather than try to have detailed stats, I'd just come up with something that makes sense for a Lurker's special power and it roughly on-par with a racial ability or a feat, and imagine that their stats include that as a 1st-level feat. Feats only selectable at character creation and/or prestige classes can patch most holes where the stats don't quite fit.

IIRC, the war doesn't touch Q'barra except insofar as pirates are more prevalent when no one has the energy to fight them because they're too busy hiring them as privateers. The Eldeen Reaches have definitely rebelled by now, but I don't remember whether they're actively at war or whether Aundair just decides 'fuck it, we don't approve but here's a non-aggression pact because we're busy playing with the big boys'.

[Adelene]

Rather than try to have detailed stats, I'd just come up with something that makes sense for a Lurker's special power and it roughly on-par with a racial ability or a feat, and imagine that their stats include that as a 1st-level feat. Feats only selectable at character creation and/or prestige classes can patch most holes where the stats don't quite fit.

I'm kind of bad at character balance, is a thing, so I'm trying to stick to letting the system do that for me. We don't have to use the resulting numbers in actual play or anything.

The sorcery is the unusual-for-her-species special talent, in this case - it coming in slowly and progressing over time is fine. (I'm fluffing it as something she's always had and that what she's learning as she progresses as a sorcerer is how to use it effectively, anyway.)

Did up a character sheet using the generator here and the warforged scout stats here; it's here.

[Adelene]

oh no

oh no

oh no

so I was trying to figure out what Lurkerforged might have as a familiar, right?

and I was going through the eberron stuff looking for setting specific things

and now she's making faces at me, because living spells are a thing and she wants her familiar to be the tiniest baby light spell.

(or maybe a flare spell. ideally she can add effects to it over time? idk.)

can this be made to happen? I assume it'll need custom statting, the living spell template doesn't generate anything smaller than medium or weaker than CR 1.

[Bluelantern]

I'm predicting this campaign will devolve in all sorts of smol cuteness piled up on top a StevenChainsaw.

[Adelene]

Well, we're doing our part for that, at least. ^^

[Bluelantern]

Well, we're doing our part for that, at least. ^^

I really like the baby-light spell, what is the minimum hit dice for a living spell?