Carnival in Pathfinder

[The Giamarga]

To take a page out of Ryan's thread,

Things we have learned over the past week:

1) I am really bad at stating up Vistani.

Incidentally Ryan also missed/decided against spelling out the racial spell-like abilities for his statblocks. I rather like the inclusion of them.

[Nemesio]

Started my Hermos portrait. On my second draft... Should be scanning and posting it within the next few days...

[Nemesio]

Ok. Here is a pencil sketch of Hermos. My second draft actually... Figured I'd try and get some feedback before inking it (I prefer pencil myself, but ink looks more professional), or starting a third draft... Lemme know if I'm totally off base here, but I was going for more of a normal looking giant, like the ones historically working in freak shows, rather than a lanky ogrish type...

[Mortavius]

Wow. Amazing work Nemesio.

I would say your interpretation is spot on with mine. I also think he should look "normal."

I like how you've framed him; it makes him look big.

[Mortavius]

The Organ Grinder

Timeline
713 BC: The Organ Grinder is born in Nova Vassa in the Equaar tribe of the Kaldresh Tasque.
741 BC: The tribe that the Organ Grinder is part of is tasked with trading some of their horses to a minor noble. The Organ Grinder refuses to part with the animals because of the noble’s horrible treatment of his own stock and the resulting trouble caused for the tribe, coupled with going against the Captain’s orders causes the tribe to expel him.
747 BC: The Organ Grinder is taken in by Carnival.
760 BC: Present Day.

Base Stats
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 11
Racial +4 Wis, +2 Cha
Leveling +1 Wis
Aging Middle Aged
Favored Class + Skill Ranks

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 5; XP 1,600
Vistani (Equaar) Bard (Animal Speaker) 5
NG Medium Humanoid (Vistani)
Init +0; Senses Perception +12

Defense
AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10 (+4 Armor if worn)
HP 42 (6d8+12)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +8

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee MW Mithral Dagger +6 (1d4+2, 19-20)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5th; DC 11 + spell level)
Constant – Detect Magic
At Will – Calm Animals, Ill Omen, Spark (Touch only), Tracking Mark
1/day – Bestow Curse, Charm Animal, Legend Lore (Touched Object only)
Spells Known (CL 5th; Concentration +6; DC 11 + spell level)
2nd (2/day) – Animal Messenger, Animal Trance, Summon Nature’s Ally II, Summon Swarm
1st (4/day) – Cure Light Wounds, Remove Fear, Sleep, Summon Minor Monster, Summon Nature’s Ally I
0th – Daze, Ghost Sound, Know Direction, Lullaby, Mending, Resistance

Statistics
Str 15, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 13
Base Atk +3, CMB +5, CMD 15
Feats Animal Affinity, Skill Focus (Handle Animal), Spellsong, Voice of Wrath
Skills Appraise +10, Handle Animal +16, Heal +9, Knowledge (Nature) +12, Perception +12, Perform (keyboard) +9, Ride +7, Sense Motive +14, Survival +11
Languages Patterna, Vassi, Balok, Skurra
SQ Animal Friend (Cat, Dog), Bardic Knowledge, Bardic Performance (13 rounds/day; Attract Rats, Countersong, Inspire Courage +2, Soothing Performance), Mist Navigation, Moon Madness, Nature’s Speaker (Cat, Dog), Versatile Performance (Diplomacy, Intimidate), Well Versed (+4 to save vs. Bardic Performance, Language & Sonic effects)

Equipment
MW Mithral Dagger, Studded Leather +1 (rarely worn), Potions of Cure Light Wounds x5, Oil of Purify Food & Drink x4



Time to get back in the swing of things with the next NPC, the Organ Grinder. Of all the Skurra, this is always the one I liked the most. He just looks so sinister. Ironically, he's probably one of the nicest of the Skurra, in his own way.

I chose Nova Vassa as his homeland due to it's connection with horses and the Equaar tribe, but also because of his facial hair. It's reminiscent of Nova Vassan style, so it all fit well together.

[The Giamarga]

Well i get what you're saying about fighter, ranger or rogue. But IMHO the animal speaker bard does fit. It is an introvert archetype focusing much of the bards class skills on animals rather than humans or an audience.

An animal speaker focuses not on the ears and minds of humans, but on the creatures of the wild and those in the underbellies of cities.

I just like the animal friend ability too much to not make him one and I see you just gave him exactly that ability. As for spellcasting, there already is a general increase in spellcasting for a vistani in PF, and he is described in 2e to be able to summon/call creeplings. And with his rather low charisma and level hell only gain very few spells.

I'll try to whip up alternate stats for him as an animal friend bard.

[Nemesio]

When making my Equaar and Canjar Vistani NPC stats, I switched around their Evil Eye spell-like abilities to better reflect the powers attributed to said tasques in VGttV.

So here is what I did for Equaar... They were said to be able to object read, and they weren't just good with animals, they were scarily good! Also don't forget about their figurines. Since the animating statuettes were used to defend a particular tribe, The Organ Grinder probably wouldn't have one of his own, but who knows?

Evil Eye Spell-Like Abilities (CL [HD]; concentration + [HD plus Cha mod])
Constant—detect magic
At will—animal trance (DC 12 + Cha mod), calm animals (DC 11 + Cha mod), ill omen (DC 11 + Cha mod), spark (touch only)
1/day—bestow curse (DC 13 + Cha mod), charm animal (DC 11 + Cha mod), legend lore (touched object only)

Whadda ya think...

[The Giamarga]

Well well. I'll have to recheck their 2e powers, but this would make the expert version much more similar to the animal speaker.

How did you differentiate the other two tasques?

[Nemesio]

First off, I must say that Ryan's Evil Eye Spell-Like Abilities were pure genius. That being said, when making my Naiat they were unaltered, but in making NPC stats for the Equaar and Canjar, I found them to be somewhat problematic as is... I never finished my NPCs from the different tasques, but most of them wouldn't need to have their evil eye spell-like abilities altered in many ways, if at all...

In changing them I tried to be balanced and had to get a little creative... You can see below what I did... Balanced? I hope so, but the Vistani aren't a balanced PC race, so who cares right?

Ryan's Evil Eye Spell-Like Abilities (CL [HD]; concentration + [HD plus Cha mod])
Constant—detect magic
At will—cause fear (DC 11 + Cha mod), hold person (DC 12 + Cha mod), ill omen (DC 11 + Cha mod), spark (touch only)
1/day—bestow curse (DC 13 + Cha mod), burning gaze (nonlethal damage only, DC 12 + Cha mod), charm person (DC 11 + Cha mod), suggestion (DC 12 + Cha mod)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Equaar Evil Eye Spell-Like Abilities (CL [HD]; concentration + [HD plus Cha mod])
Constant—detect magic
At will—animal trance (DC 13), calm animals (DC 12), ill omen (DC 12), spark (touch only)
1/day—bestow curse (DC 14), charm animal (DC 12), legend lore (touched object only)

My changes are mostly plain old addition/subtraction... Swap out one 2nd level spell for another, or two 2nd levels for a 4th etc...

For the Equaar, I switched around quite a bit, because I don't see them as having the same reputation as most Vistani. People fear them more for their power over animals than for their ability to curse, although they still can curse, as you can see.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Canjar Evil Eye Spell-Like Abilities (CL [HD]; concentration + [HD plus Cha mod])
Constant—detect magic
At will—cause fear (DC 11 + Cha mod), hold person (DC 12 + Cha mod), ill omen (DC 11 + Cha mod), spark (touch only)
1/day—bestow curse (DC 13 + Cha mod), burning gaze (nonlethal damage only, DC 12 + Cha mod), shadow conjuration (nonlethal damage only, DC 13 + Cha mod)

For the Canjar, my changes were more minor... Rather than using their evil eye for enchantment, they gained the shadow conjuration ability, which like Ryan's burning gaze, it inflicts only nonlethal damage (which is mostly illusion anyway!) Basically the Canjar needed to be able to create the Zsalev (see VGttV), and now they can...

[The Giamarga]

I like it a lot. It gives the vistani race more options, similar to the other PC races in Ryan's rules. Only the half vistani still have only very few options.

[Nemesio]

Thanks bud. We all try our best to please on here.

Makes me wanna finish up my Vistani NPC examples...

BTW if they ever make a movie starring the characters from Ravenloft's Carnival, a young Ted Danson should play Hermos. LOL!

[Mortavius]

Well i get what you're saying about fighter, ranger or rogue. But IMHO the animal speaker bard does fit. It is an introvert archetype focusing much of the bards class skills on animals rather than humans or an audience.

An animal speaker focuses not on the ears and minds of humans, but on the creatures of the wild and those in the underbellies of cities.

I just like the animal friend ability too much to not make him one and I see you just gave him exactly that ability. As for spellcasting, there already is a general increase in spellcasting for a vistani in PF, and he is described in 2e to be able to summon/call creeplings. And with his rather low charisma and level hell only gain very few spells.

I'll try to whip up alternate stats for him as an animal friend bard.

Fair enough. I did read the Animal Speaker when you suggested it. I think the thing that turned me off the most was that they get Summon Nature's Ally spells. No matter how much other aspects fit, the idea of the Organ Grinder casting spells (even if he only has a few) doesn't jive with me. His ability to call Creeplings and Fidgets is just when he plays the Organ, which can very easily be described as nonmagical (whistling to call a dog, for example).

I didn't quite give him the Animal Friend ability; it's actually coincidence that they're similar. I just gave him the ability he already has in 2E.

[Ryan Naylor]

You could say it's a non-magical skinning of a Summon spell, though.

[The Giamarga]

I read up on the abilities from VRGttV. Legend Lore is not right. It should rather be a short term long range version of locate creature. Also switching two 2nd level spells for one 4th level is probably not balanced. The following spells might also fit for the Equaar's legendary tracking ability: tracking mark, maybe you could switch it out for animal trance which imho does not quite fit for all equaar. (But i would probably give it to the Organ Grinder's bard build)

Ryan what do you think of Nemesio's alternate spell likes?

As for the Organ Grinders spells as a bard he has to include a vocal component and as a skurra he can't talk. So naturally he casts by playing his instrument. The spells if chosen right give a handy rules framework for different "squads" of creeplings he can summon and deploy.

Though there's one rather grave downside to a bard build: Handle Animal, Heal, Ride and Survival are not a class skills.

[The Giamarga]

Thanks bud. We all try our best to please on here.

Makes me wanna finish up my Vistani NPC examples...

BTW if they ever make a movie starring the characters from Ravenloft's Carnival, a young Ted Danson should play Hermos. LOL!

I like the portrait btw. Good work! Ted Danson sure is long limbed enough i can justimagine how the cgi him a little bigger similar to Harry Potter's Hagrid but more gangly vs stocky.

BTW I made some notes on which classes and archetypes are most appropriate for Vistani characters, might I post it in your NPCs thread? Do you mind if I post some NPCs there too?