My whole life is a lie. What is there left to live for!?


Advice


ok, so long story short:

the details:
my character is a Level 6/1 Bladebound Kensai Magus/Master of Many Styles Monk (mythic tier 2) Kasatha who was previously a worshiper of Asmodeous. When the campaign started, the whole party was summoned back from hell by Asmodeous and given their first mythic tier so that we could do his bidding and more or less unleash him on the world. My character was the only true "believer" in him from the get and was thoroughly devout to him...up until a party-driven plot twist pretty much moved him from the list of "allies" to the list of "wants to annihilate the party".

My character went along with what happened simply out of a need to live (believing that if he did not cooperate with the party, he was going to die). Now, however, because he has forsaken his god and savior and wasn't smitted strait back to hell, he's at a crossroads in what to believe/how to continue moving forward.

on the one hand, the "plan" the party has isn't a bad one, and pretty much seeks to keep the "war of the gods" off and away from the mortal realm. so its not a bad idea to just follow along. especially now that he is "free" of his god, he believes it is within his power to conquer the world for his own and bring peace with his own iron fist, instead of being someone elses fist.

on the other hand, he is very conflicted on what he is "supposed" to believe in anymore and doesn't feel like he can make any kinds of decisions on the matters at hand/to come unless he has a focus/goal in mind.

i will be missing out on several sessions in the near future due to work related travel during which my group will continue to play without me. I need to figure out what my character does during this elapsed time that he is away. Keep in mind that this is an "evil campaign" and my character is LE.

So my questions are as follows:

1)i am considering a complete and total "rebuild" using the retraining rules in UCamp to retrain all feats and class levels into an entirely new class. something like oracle where i take the blind curse and gouge out my own eyes, or something like that (perhaps maim my own leg, not sure). the group thinks this would be unique and interesting and would certainly be something we've never seen before - a character leaving and coming back essentially a whole new person. there are a few speedbumps, of course, such as what exactly happens to class features/feats that grant physical items such as the blackblade. One idea for the blackblade was that since a Kasatha's mouth is a mystery, it is entirely possible that he could physically EAT the blade. this works nicely for me because my character believes that his soul is trapped in the blade and is what gives it its intelligence and ability to speak to him, so eating it would allow him to "keep his soul" while still removing the class feature. Theres also the matter of retraining mythic feats such as Legendary Item which i took at tier 1 for a second weapon (he uses MWF, shocking, i know). What are your thoughts on this? what are some other good ideas along these lines? How would you go about doing this?

2) i could take a less drastic approach that only retrains a couple feats such as MWF and a couple others so that the character remains a magus and loses the monk level. I like the idea of this for two reasons: a) because i love playing a magus and b)although i am happy with how i built him, it quickly became apparent that i was trying to do too many things at once with the build. he uses MWF, Spell combat, crane style v1.0, snake style, the frostbite/enforcer build, and the intensified shocking grasp build all at once. as a result he sorta became a jack of no trades because he wasn't focused on any one thing and pretty much cant hit the braud side of a barn anymore. It's still fun to roleplay his terribleness in combat, but he's no longer an asset in a fight as he should be for the group. so should i refocus him as a single magus build concept such as frostbite or shocking grasp build? this way he could return as a "more focused and ready to kick some god behind" character that is just a more fierce version of what he was before which could show that he found his purpose and meaning in life again and is ready to get after it.

3)i am entirely open to any other ideas anyone has. feel free to throw them at me.

side note: what are some good ideas for a personal goal for him now that he's no longer the "Darth Vader" to Asmodeous' "Emperor"?


shameless bump.

come on guys! give my character a reason to continue playing/living! he doesn't know what to do...

Dark Archive

rebuild him has a heretical inquisitor.

one that stills receives his powers from asmodeus, but does things his own way.... his blackblade dies, however attenuates itself to what ever it is fighting now (bane)

Dark Archive

Another idea is to go strait Wizard, and start the path down the road to your own immortality and being a god yourself. Maybe a lich deity, or something along those lines.


Separatist cleric could also be very cool. Still worship Asmodeus but don't see eye to eye with some stuff he does.

Dark Archive

Titania, the Summer Queen wrote:
Another idea is to go strait Wizard, and start the path down the road to your own immortality and being a god yourself. Maybe a lich deity, or something along those lines.

Your phylactery could be the jewel in your now un-responsive blackblade.


I tangled with lich originally, but its not something the gm and group are comfortable with as it makes a character OP. Its one of many "goals" that he can aspire for, however, because it is certainly a means to immortality.


I feel the oracle/cleric/inquisitor is a poor choice ICly because he'd suddenly be going from an INT-based arcane caster to a divine caster which relies on different mental abilities (Wisdom or charisma instead of intellect) and you'd have to have a pretty good reason as to why Asmodeus is giving your character power after trying to kill you. If it's another divine source then you'd have to explain why they'd be willing to mess with probably the most individually powerful god in existence (except maybe Sarenrae.)

You could go into wizardry as previously mentioned. The same stat means less twisting of your character sheet. Retraining doesn't allow you to retrain your stats except your ability score increases. The same page on d20pfsrd.com suggests Alchemist, Fighter, and Wizard for best synergy. Going wizard could be explain why you don't use the black blade anymore is because it's mission was given to him by Asmodeus or some other devil and now that you're blacklisted, it wants nothing to do with you. The Bladebound page supports this idea: "Each black blade has a mission, and while sometimes two or more black blades will work in concert, each mission is singular in purpose Some black blades are very open about their missions, but most are secretive. Certain sages have speculated that an invisible hand or arcane purpose moves these weapons." Wizardry would give you more insight on how to destroy an intelligent item (no easy feat). The research and retraining could explain what your character was doing in your time off and it gives the GM a plot hook.

Alchemist is probably to best for pure gameplay reasons. A transformation-specialist uses both strength and intelligence like the Magus. Plus one of the grand discoveries is the Philosopher's Stone which grants immortality without Lichdom. The roleplay would be that, after being spurned by your god and master, you become obsessed with power and eternal youth. While researching, you uncover rumours, legends, and even some scattered research notes about ancient alchemists who learned to master their bodies and reshape them, granting them great power. The most famous was said to have lived for centuries using some kind of magic no wizard or priest could identify...


I'm not sure why losing your faith would make you want to change your class, especially as the classes you have don't have anything to do with a diety. The only class feature you have that could be linked to a god is your black blade, you have already indicated that your character believes it contains his soul, so that doesn't have any obvious need to be gotten rid of. Of course the black blade has it's own purpose, which either you don't know or haven't mentioned, but as long as you and it are in agreement on the whole drop Asmodeous idea, it shouldn't be a problem.

Now, fixing a character that you broke by retraining is not a bad idea. I think one or two feat changes could accomplish that. Whether you want to completely drop MoMS and be straight Magus is optional, it has cost you a BAB, but you can probably still keep it and manage to hit things, with a feat or two and the right arcana, hitting for a Magus isn't usually too much of an issue. In truth though, you would probably be more powerful as a single class.

As far as your character motivation, revenge is always good. you mention wanting to rule with an iron fist, so simply going after power and conquest is a viable option. Apparently that is also connected the more altruistic goal of bringing peace, and adds some flavor to the darker motivations.

Basically, I would ask what prompted your character to worship Asmodeus in the beginning? It seems to me like his values and morals haven't changed, just his perception of how well they align with Asmodeus. He then should want what he has always wanted, but would seek out now methods of achieving it, either different allies or perhaps eschewing any alliance completely after being betrayed.


Is the rest of the party Evil?


DrDeth wrote:
Is the rest of the party Evil?

Well he said "Keep in mind that this is an 'evil campaign' and my character is LE." I kinda assumed that this meant the whole party was evil as well.


Larkos wrote:
DrDeth wrote:
Is the rest of the party Evil?
Well he said "Keep in mind that this is an 'evil campaign' and my character is LE." I kinda assumed that this meant the whole party was evil as well.

I know, but then there was something about changing and plot twist and forsaking, so i was unsure.


DrDeth wrote:
Larkos wrote:
DrDeth wrote:
Is the rest of the party Evil?
Well he said "Keep in mind that this is an 'evil campaign' and my character is LE." I kinda assumed that this meant the whole party was evil as well.
I know, but then there was something about changing and plot twist and forsaking, so i was unsure.

Fair enough. In fact, this does seem like a good place to start a heel-face turn (going from bad to neutral and maybe on to good.) But I don't know if that would bone the rest of the campaign for the DM or put him into conflict with the rest of his party who didn't seem as shaken by Asmodeus' betrayal. So I based my advice on the assumption that he'd stay evil.

The Exchange

Although a LN character is always a valuable asset to a LE party. Among other things, he can go get donuts without being hassled by the fuzz - I mean, the paladins.


Ring of invisibility + Air Elementalist Wizard = damned frustrating opponent.

An invisible, flying wizard is damned near impossible to fight if you don't have see invisibility.

Add in a handful of rods of enlarge spell, and you are one dangerous MoFo.

You can hover, invisible, almost a third of a mile from someone and blast them with fireballs.

Just a thought.

If you want to retrain as a wizard, Air Elementalists are the best IMO


Balwer,My character, decided to align the party with a different cult. He did so in a situation where he could either go along with it or die. So he had to forsake Asmo and suffered no consequences, so his faith got messed with.


Stay out of my thread Chaotic Fighter!

But yes...his character made a good choice for the party over all and mine was left with a religious conundrum: denounce asmo or die. I chose the former.

As far as the questions so far: yes the whole party is evil. My faith in asmo was that of a cultist of his following and my purpose was to be his instrument of destruction. I now have to come up with my own personal reasons and goals and motivations, which I think I've got pretty nailed down now: achieve immortality, ultimate power, and 'bring peace to the galaxy' like a true sith.

As far as the rebuild, I think I'm gonna go with a simple change a few things and keep same basic concept rebuild. The black blade has its own mission that the gm has tied into the story somehow and I'm interested to see what ends up happening, so I don't want to flat out remove that from the plot.

My question now is what do I need to do with what I currently have for thus character to be more of a "streamlined" magus? I already had intensified spell and Enforcer and magical lineage shocking grasp. I'm thinking of keeping those and changing MWF to arcane strike, then later grabbing rime spell, maximize spell and spell perfection to round out the nova/frostbite builds and focus entirely on that.

The monk level I will keep and just retrain crane style to snake style and stick to a couple extra AoOs when the opportunity presents itself instead of focusing on a crane/snake defense.

Thoughts?


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i like the idea of using Reach Spell on a magical lineaged Shocking Grasp.

Its basically a 1st level spell mimicking Emperor Palpatine.

5d6 damage at caster level 5 within 35 feet, AND you get +3 to attack rolls against people in armor? All in a lvl 1 spell?

hell yeah. make some wands of that.

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