Don't write me off quite yet, I'm still of a mind to squeak in.
Name: Jan Starsmoore Race: Half-Elf Classes (Side 1): Alchemist (Mortal Chemist, Vivisectionist, Toxicant) 8 Classes (Side 2): Incanter 8 Intended Role: Mobile reach melee guy with excellent one-target-at-a-time debuff capabilities with poisons using Spheres and Alchemist stuff to ignore poison immunity, plus a casty side that's inflexible and slow due to Charged Casting but nonetheless a spectacular party buffer singlemindledly focused on the Enhancement sphere. Source of Mythic Power: Dubiously safe alchemical self-experimentation Alignment: N Traits: Potent Concoctions (Toxic Secretion, drow poison), Temple Guard, Sound of Mind Drawback: Tainted Spirit (Actually an [Ex] lung condition) Flaws: Quarter Elf, Short Attention Span Faction: Wanderlord
Image: Unsettled at this time, just 'Jan' on a token if I can't find anything that satisfies
Jan is a lanky, tan fellow with well-groomed blonde hair and a clever glint in his eye, outfitted in a loose garment that seems too light to be real armor and carrying an odd, flexible polearm- a spear with a sickle blade protruding from the side. He also carries a backpack and has a belt with a few well-padded leather pouches. He carries himself with grace, and those who are close to him can detect a curious, faint smell, like an exotic spice or trace chemical.
"Poison is a fact of life among those who participate in the palace intrigues of the courts of the Emperor and his Overseers- just as much as music, poetry, and fine victuals. Poison food, poison wine, poison daggers, poison arrows, poison creatures- we all encounter these things on a regular basis. Every noble child learns the common venoms, their prices and uses: the assassins learn the rare and priceless toxins, generals spend some time on its tactical uses in irregular and formation warfare, students of the High Art amuse themselves with a poisonous spell or two.
Everyone knows it, everyone uses it- yet no one really respects it as they should. The actual production of poisons is hazardous work- milking hideously dangerous creatures, boiling and distilling harsh substances which give off noxious fumes, handling raw materials that burn and rot the fingers- and as such, it is mostly left to the underclass. Insofar as their masters think of making improvements to the process, they think in terms of improving the yield, gaining more to sell at market or supply to their assassins. The ideas of craftsmanship, innovation, quality- no one has the time for these things. They are busy pursuing the paths to power more traditional and obvious in our society- the Overseer's way of rule, the general's path of mastery of horse, bow and sword, the subtle skills of the master murderer, the raw might of the Art. To them, poison is a mere tool.
They are wrong. Poison is a path to power all its own, with subtleties and secrets to rival any of these disciplines. Through close study and careful understanding of calcination and dissolution, sublimation and putrefaction, fermentation and distillation- knowledge of the nature of substances and the nature of the body- great things can be achieved. Seemingly trivial toxins can become seriously dangerous- and those that begin lethal can make the flesh fall right off the bone. Their study has other uses, too- astounding stimulants, miraculous medicines, mystic concoctions with an infinity of uses. It is a versatile and dangerous art, my passion and my obsession- not something for which there are textbooks or standard tools, a path I've had to forge myself.
But it is not something to be used lightly. I was...valued, as the court alchemist to the Overseer of the South. He had use for my talents, profited by them and rewarded them handsomely with riches and prestige, even a title. But I am not proud of what I did at his command. After a time I found myself increasingly convinced that if I was ever to look back on my life and feel any good and noble thing, something would have to change. But...to altogether give up poison's subtleties and wonders? I found that I could no more do this than the leopard can change his spots. And I could hardly disappear into the wilderness and make a life as as some romantic wandering hero: I'd already ensured the gruesome deaths of dozens of the Overseer's noble rivals. What aristocrat with any sense of self-preservation would let someone with that kind of skillset roam free?
But there's one authority higher than an overseer- Kaine himself- and, in the Wanderlords, a social niche for those who employ dangerous talents in his direct service. Not untouchable by lesser nobility of the sort my reputation would intimidate- but nonetheless politically dangerous to be seen targeting directly, in defiance of the Emperor's remit. The assassins have still come, but sporadically.
Such work could be as distasteful as that I'd done for the Overseer, but a Wanderlord has some considerable freedom in choosing their assignments, which has allowed me the luxury to indulge my scruples. My years in Kaine's service have mostly been spent hunting dangerous monsters, with the occasional foray into hunting down a death cult or something similarly unobjectionable- a far cry from another decade of ensuring that overambitious young princelings drown in their own blood.
This has come with its own challenges- but rewarding and interesting ones. I had men laugh in my face when I proposed to hunt monsters with poison: 'a good parlor trick, sure, but you'll fold like a cheap tent the moment you run into a vampire or devil!' An ignorant notion. That which runs through their veins may be black ichor or liquid spite rather than blood, but I have discovered over the years that, given knowledge and the right approach, their systems can be quite as fragile in their own ways as ours. I am still a long way from having minstrels sing of the virtues and mighty deeds of the Poison Hero- that may never come- but it's a start.
And for the moment, I find myself with considerable freedom of action. My orders, as they presently stand, are to coordinate with the senior member of our intelligence cell in Northvale for the next three months in service of the Empire's preservation. I arrived in Northvale to find the building serving as our headquarters there devastated by a dimensional incursion by three creatures I've tentatively identified as 'proto-shoggoths': as the cell's surviving members consist of a twelve-year old message runner, one clerk, and myself, I am the senior member of the Empire's intelligence operations in Northvale, and until I hear otherwise from Kaine himself, my task for the next three months is to 'serve the Empire's preservation' by keeping reality from falling apart at the seams."
Some are born with mythic might, some receive it from a higher power, some are drawn to it by destiny, some draw them from a mighty relic. Jan has made his exaltation with his own hands- with infusions of dragon's blood, with lengthy and radical surgeries to graft tissues of powerful magical creatures or magical prostheses into his own flesh, with lengthy baths in weird elixirs that suffuse strange magics into his skin, with his own slow and painful alteration into something more than man. Not because he thirsted for power, not because there was some great goal before him- simply to see if he could, because the ideas just keep on coming to him and his own mad genius for alchemy compels him to try them somehow...but the scraps of a conscience he still retains won't permit him to try his riskier and more radical ideas on anyone but himself.
Safe? No. Reliable and consistent? No. But it has worked, and though he knows it will likely kill him someday, Jan's obsession with his craft simply will not permit him to do otherwise.
Two Weeks Ago- Imperial Capital
A slight figure moves along a row of earthen cauldrons, each as tall as his waist. Examining each in turn, he takes in every detail: the exact shade of the dull green mixture therein, its smooth and uniform consistency, the way its syrupy viscosity makes it cling to a stirring rod, the glossy, tacky sheen it takes on when daubed on a surface and allowed to cool, its acrid and medicinal smell.
Finally, he allows himself a tiny smile.
"That does it. The process will scale to five-gallon batches, and it will do it reliably and dependably. If we use freshly-fired vessels for each batch, if we use the coal burners instead of wood or peat, if we take the time to cut the nodules out and do it out of direct sunlight and we use the fermented owlbear-flesh extract and quit buying the ****ing slop that Ghazi keeps trying to sell as black vitriol, the Overseer will have all the jackalroot essence his withered little heart desires.
I am done."
Two apprentices share an uncertain glance.
"Aaah- don't we have another six or nine months of work to set up the-"
"You have another nine months of work to do if everything goes absolutely perfectly. Really, closer to a year and a half if getting the owlbear-flesh fermentation right turns out to be tricky as I suspect it's going to be. But the core of the thing is done, and I will go buggy if I have to spend one more sleepless night in a lab. The Overseer said this was urgent and I delivered, dammit. This would've taken you two decades and two dozen dead alchemists without me. But three months of fourteen-hour workdays have put me off of research for a while. This has been nice, as a change of pace- but I've a Wanderlord's writ and a mind to use it."
"How are we even going to-"
"You'll manage. If you quit being sloppy with spirits of hartshorn, you might even keep your eyesight."
Jan feels good to be out in the world again, feeling the heat of the sun, the comfortable weight of his shield and spear at his back, the nervous gazes of smart street toughs, the avaricious gazes of the stupid ones. He feels less good to be late with the rendezvous with his contact, and particularly ungood when he abruptly realizes that the building he was headed to ought to have more walls than are presently in evidence. The screams aren't reassuring, either.
He rounds the corner of the shattered wall and-
The smell of a slaughterhouse. A sea of thin, ropy tentacles, cancerously budding off from each other at angles that make the mind hurt to consider. A moment of sick, paralyzing dread rising up from his core, like a novice at their first bloody battle-
-but that's a moment decades and many adventures behind him, and Jan is too much a veteran of violence, gore and strangeness for it to stop him for more than an instant.
I don't know what that is- but if it's that slimy, sure bet it's got some kind of metabolism. Start with the #3 mix in ethanol and wyvern blood and see where that gets me...
A single, fluid, practiced motion, and both spear and shield are in-hand and envenomed. The half-elf darts forward, into the fray...
Jan Starsmoore- N half-elf Alchemist (Mortal Chemist, Vivisectionist, Toxicant) 8//Incanter 8
Mythic: Spheremaster 3
Strength: 11 +0 Dexterity: 18 +4 (+2 Physical Enhancement) (+2 enhancement) (+4 alchemical w/Mutagen) Constitution: 14 +2 Intelligence: 22 +6 (+2 racial) (+2 level) (+2 mythic) Wisdom: 9 -1 (-2 alchemical w/Mutagen) Charisma: 13 +1
Note: +4 enhancement to any one ability score for 8 rounds/day with Perfection of Self
BAB: +6/+1
CMB: +7 (+6 BAB, +4 Dex) (+1 for maneuvers accomplished with a weapon, each of which are +1 or masterwork) (+2 w/mutagen)
Fort: +10 (+6 base, +2 Con +1 luck +1 competence) (+6 vs. poison) Ref: +12 (+6 base, +4 Dex +1 luck +1 competence) (+2 w/mutagen) Will: +11 (+6 base, -1 Wis +2 Iron Will +2 racial +1 luck +1 competence) (+2 trait and +5 mythic vs. mind-affecting: any creature targeting me with a mind-affecting effect that I successfully save against must succeed at a Will save at the same DC or be stunned for 1 round) (Reroll once and keep best vs. non-mythic) (-1 w/mutagen)
AC: 22 (10 base, +3 armor, +4 Dex, +1 shield, +1 deflection, +3 Active Defense) [Active Defense added to base AC due to interaction between Shield sphere base ability and Mythic Combat Reflexes] (+2 Dex, +2 natural w/mutagen) Flat-footed: 16 Touch: 15
Notes:
Retain Dex to AC while running
-1 to AC for no shield if using longbow
Notes:
-2 attack, +4 damage w/Power Attack or Deadly Aim
+2 attack w/mutagen
With a move action, or a swift action after expending martial focus, coat a weapon with Chemical Coating (Improved Alchemist's Fire) to add +1d6+4 fire damage for (Int mod) + 2 rounds and force hit targets to catch fire, taking 1d6 fire damage on each subsequent round. A full-round action permits a DC 20 Reflex save to extinguish the fire: snuffing it magically or immersion in water succeeds automatically.
+4d6 precision to flanked or flat-footed creatures
+2 attack on AoOs w/elven branched spear
Craft (Alchemy) 8 ranks, +3 class, +6 Int, +8 competence from Alchemy class feature, +2 circumstance, +27 total (x2 crafting speed progress with Swift Alchemy, +8 to the check when working on poisons in particular from favored class bonus: make progress on five poisons simultaneously with Beaker of Plentiful Poisons)
Acrobatics 8 ranks, +4 Dex, +12 total (+8 racial and +5 competence to jump: further +4 to jumps with a running start) (+2 w/mutagen)
Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, +3 class, +6 Int, +17 total (Use as Heal for all purposes)
Bluff 8 ranks, +1 Cha, +9 total
Sleight of Hand 8 ranks, +3 class, +4 Dex, +15 total (+2 w/mutagen)
Disguise 8 ranks, +1 Cha, +9 total
Knowledge (arcana, nobility) 8 ranks, +3 class, +6 Int, +1 feat, +18 total
Perception 8 ranks, +3 class, -1 Wis, +2 racial, +5 competence, +17 total (-1 w/mutagen)
Stealth 8 ranks, +4 Dex, +12 total (+2 w/mutagen)
Spellcraft 8 ranks, +3 class, +6 Int, +17 total
Craft (Glassware, trapmaking) 1 rank, +3 class, +6 Int, +10 total
Appraise 1 rank, +3 class, +6 Int, +10 total
Climb 1 rank, +0 Str, +1 total
Diplomacy 1 rank, +1 Cha, +2 total
Sense Motive 1 rank, -1 Wis, +0 total (-1 w/mutagen)
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1 rank, +3 class, +6 Int, +1 feat, +11 total
Disable Device 1 rank, +3 class, +6 Int, +10 total
Notes:
8 ranks in Alchemy from Alchemy sphere talents
8 ranks in Acrobatics from Athletics sphere talents
Background Skills in play
Cumulative -2 when retrying a failed skill check
Chemical Coating
Improved Alchemist's Fire
Lasting Application
Potent Poison
Specialized Venom x2 (Undead, Construct, Outsider (Evil), Plant, Ooze, Aberration)
ATHLETICS (Run package)
Swift Movement
Alchemical Expertise: Gain the Alchemy sphere with both (formulae) and (poison) packages: competence bonus equal to class level on Craft (alchemy), use it to ID potions as if using Detect Magic
Brew Potion: I have a formula book useful only for the purpose of meeting prereqs to brew potions with, not making extracts like conventional alchemists. (Note to self: pick up Formulae Geomancing next level.)
Toxic Secretion: Once daily, in a process that takes 10 minutes, create and imbibe a tincture that causes my skin to secrete a poison. I'm immune to it, but anyone that hits me with a natural attack or unarmed strike must succeed at a DC 27 Fortitude save (Int-based) or take damage equal to my Int mod and be both shaken and sickened, with a save being permitted to end the effect each round, lasting to a maximum of 6 rounds. If they fail the save on the second round, they take my Int mod in damage again, but not thereafter. 8 + (Int mod)/day as a swift action, this poison can be collected and concentrated into something that can be delivered as a touch attack or applied to a weapon, lasting 8 strikes. Two doses of poison can be collected with one minute of work to increase the DC by 2 and increase the maximum duration to 9 rounds.
The Superior Poison Enhancement talent can make it require 2 successful saves to end the effect, and the Energy Enhancement talent can make a dose deal 16 fire, cold, acid, electricity, sonic, or force damage, two of those energy types with Dual Enhancement.
Spend one use of mythic power when a creature is affected by the toxin to force them to roll saves twice and take the lowest for the duration of the poison.
Improvement (3rd): Shaken
Improvement (6th): Sickened
Sneak Attack +4d6
Torturer's Eye: Gain the Divination sphere, the Hidden Magic sphere drawback, the Instil Divination talent, and- should you lack the Life sphere- the ability to pretend you do for the sole purpose of Divine Life.
Cruel Anatomist: Use Knowledge (nature) in place of Heal
Swift Alchemy/Swift Poisoning: Apply poison to a weapon as a move or swift action, never risk poisoning self when handling poison, create alchemical items in half the normal time
Mutagen: In 1 hour, brew a dose of magical super-coffee, granting +2 to natural armor, a +4 alchemical bonus to Dexterity, and a -2 alchemical penalty to Wisdom for 80 minutes. A non-alchemist who drinks it must make a Fortitude save (DC 22) or become nauseated for 1 hour.
8th-level Incanter spherecasting (CL 16 for the Enhancement sphere, CL 11 for the Alteration sphere, CL 8 for the Nature sphere, CL 7 for all other spheres: 16 spell points, MSB +8, MSD 19, 24 vs. suppression effects such as Spell Ward. +2 competence to CL if I'm willing to accept a 100% wild surge chance: +4 to CL for purposes of effect duration, +10 to the DC of counterspell or dispel attempts made by non-mythic creatures against my magic, +7 to the DC vs. mythic creatures, +5 to the DC to identify my sphere effects or recognize them as they're being cast.)
Casting Tradition:
Mad Alchemist
True power lies in the knowledge of the nature of substances- dragon's blood and orichalcum, alicorn and alkahest. Combine and separate, distill and concentrate, all in the search for ever-greater potency- and safety precautions be damned.
Drawbacks: Expensive Locus, Charged Spells, Focus Casting [Alchemist's Lab to prepare charges, vials to use them], Skilled Casting [Craft (alchemy)], Innate Curse (Wrecking Mysticism: actually an [Ex] result of a perfectly mundanely weakened immune system from mucking about with toxic chemicals rather than a supernatural curse)
Sphere Drawbacks: Transformative Brew (Alteration), Humors (Blood), Meld Into Dark and Shadowed Brew (Dark), Necromantic Concoction (Death), Shape Focus (Energy Bomb) (Destruction), Divining Concoction (Divination), Special Delivery (Enhancement), Cursed Brew and Tongue Of Ages (Fate), Glamered Brew and Obscura Mage (Illusion), Medicinal (Life), Glowing Brew (Light), Addling Brew (Mind), Holistic Brew and Limited Nature x2 (Nature), Limited Protection (aegis) and Protective Brew (Protection), Temporal Brew (Time), Warping Brew (Warp), Atmospheric Brew and Localized Weather (Weather).
Boons: Wild Surge, Drawback Feat (Bottled Spells), +1 spell point per 3 levels
(14 max, 14/16 spell points typically spent and 13/14 charges typically prepared):
1x Enhance Equipment, CL 18 [Wild Surge] (1 spell point spent for duration 22 hours w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement and Greater Enhance Equipment, 1 spent for Dual Enhancement (natural armor through Natural Enhancement and any one of weapon, shield, armor, natural weapon or 50 items of ammunition), 1 spent to be able to target up to 9 creatures with Mass Enhancement: carries a rider effect granting three Alteration sphere traits through Mutagenic Enhancement, Greater Changes and Extreme changes and another granting a benefit from any of the version of either Nature's Carapace or Nature's Movement through Nature's Enhancement feat.
The whole thing can be individually customized for each recipient through Mythic Sphere Mastery (Enhancement.))
1x Enhance Equipment, CL 18 [Wild Surge] (1 spell point spent for duration 22 hours w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement and Greater Enhance Equipment, 1 spent for Dual Enhancement (Any two of weapon, shield, armor, natural weapon or 50 items of ammunition), 1 spent to be able to target up to 9 creatures with Mass Enhancement.
The whole thing can be individually customized for each recipient through Mythic Sphere Mastery (Enhancement.))
1x Energy Enhancement, CL 16 (One spell point spent for duration 2h 20m w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement: another spent to make it both Electricity and Acid through Dual Enhancement)
1x Energy Enhancement, CL 16 (One spell point spent for duration 2h 20m w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement: another spent to make it both Force and Sonic through Dual Enhancement)
1x Mental Enhancement (Intelligence), CL 16 (One spell point spent for duration 2h 20m w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement)
1x Physical Enhancement (Dex/Con), CL 16 (One spell point spent for duration 2h 20m w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement, another to target both Dex and Con through Dual Enhancement)
1x Superior Poison, CL 16 (No spell points spent: 2-round duration without concentration through Deep Enhancement)
1x Superior Poison, CL 16 (One spell point for duration 2h 20m w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement)
1x Enhance Focus (Bluff), CL 16 (No spell points spent: 2-round duration without concentration through Deep Enhancement)
1x Enhance Focus (Sleight of Hand), CL 16 (No spell points spent: 2-round duration without concentration through Deep Enhancement)
1x Shapeshift, CL 11 (Blank Transformation: nondescript human female)
1x Nature's Movement, CL 8 (Earth: Burrow)
1x Divine (Life), CL 6
ENHANCEMENT (Special Delivery drawback)
Instill Enhancement
Mass Enhancement
Superior Poison
Deep Enhancement
Dual Enhancement
Greater Enhance Equipment
Natural Enhancement
Energy Enhancement
Mental Enhancement
Physical Enhancement
Enhance Focus
Alternative Energy
ALTERATION (Transformative Brew drawback)
Instill Shapeshift
Undead Body
Cosmic Body
Greater Changes
Extreme Changes
[Floating virtual talent via Zoological Study!]
NATURE (Air, earth, fire, metal, plant, water packages: no geomancing package) (Holistic Brew and Limited Nature x2 drawbacks)
Holistic Brew
Master of Elements x2
Nature's Carapace
Nature's Movement
Lingering Divination
Instill Divination
Note: I virtually possess the Life sphere for purposes of Divine Life only
Sphere Specialization (Enhancement): +1 CL with the Enhancement sphere Physical Enhancement: +2 untyped bonus to any one ability score, changable whenever resting to regain spell points Perfection of Self: As a free action, gain a +4 enhancement bonus to a single ability score for 1 round. Usable for 8 rounds/day.
Racial traits:
Medium humanoid (human, elf), base speed 30' (Speed 55', run at x5 speed or x4 with heavy armor/load)
Speak Common, Elven, Gith, Athalonian, Draconic, Dwarven, Gnome, Infernal
Keen Senses: +2 racial to Perception
Low-Light Vision
Multitalented: Two favored classes (Incanter, Alchemist)
Dual-Minded
Favored class bonus 1: Half-Elf Incanter for 6 levels (+1 additional magic talent), +2 HP
Favored class bonus 2: Nagaji Alchemist (+8 to Craft (alchemy) checks to craft poison, +8/3 (2) to the DC of poisons I create)
Mythic Stuff: Path: Spheremaster Tier: 3
Mythic Tradition: of the Expirimental Subject Drawbacks: Cursed (Scourge), Recharge Required (Exposure to an alchemist's mutagen containing trace amounts of dragon's blood and arsenic), Wild Mythic Power Mythic Quality: Spherebound (Enhancement) Boons: Mythic Exemplar (Mythic Paragon bonus feat), Mythic Exemplar (Mythic Casting: Enhancement, Alteration), Mythic Exemplar (Mythic Magic Talents)
+12 HP
Hard to Kill (automatically stabilize when below 0: don't die until at -Con times 2)
Mythic Power 9/day
Surge: After a die has been rolled, spend an immediate action and expend a use of mythic power to add 1d6 to it
Recuperation: If not dead, be restored to full HP after 8 hours of rest. Additionally, expend one use of mythic power and rest for 1 hour to gain a number of HP equal to half my full total and regain the use of class features limited to a certain number of uses per day, with the sole exception of mythic power or mythic abilities.
Mythic Sphere Mastery: Enhancement (Mass Enhancement as a bonus talent. Expend 1 use of mythic power to apply any one known (enhance) talent to each target instead of applying the same enhancement to all of them, paying the single highest spell point cost among all used enhancements.)
Preferred Item:
Trismegistan Laboratory (Simultaneously a Featherglass Alchemist's Lab, three different Implements granting a +2 enhancement bonus to CL with the Enhancement sphere and +1 to the Alteration and Nature spheres, a Formula Alembic, a Hybridization Funnel, and my 3,200 gp Expensive Locus neccesary for casting due to my casting tradition) (16,475 gp, 5.75 lb)
Jan Starsmoore- N half-elf Alchemist (Mortal Chemist, Vivisectionist, Toxicant) 8//Incanter 8
Mythic: Spheremaster 3
Strength: 11 +0 Dexterity: 18 +4 (+2 Physical Enhancement) (+2 enhancement) (+4 alchemical w/Mutagen) Constitution: 14 +2 Intelligence: 22 +6 (+2 racial) (+2 level) (+2 mythic) Wisdom: 9 -1 (-2 alchemical w/Mutagen) Charisma: 13 +1
Note: +4 enhancement to any one ability score for 8 rounds/day with Perfection of Self
BAB: +6/+1
CMB: +7 (+6 BAB, +4 Dex) (+6 for maneuvers accomplished with a weapon, each of which are enhanced to have a +6 enhancement bonus) (+2 w/mutagen)
Fort: +16 (+6 base, +2 Con +1 luck +1 competence +6 resistance) (+6 vs. poison) Ref: +18 (+6 base, +4 Dex +1 luck +1 competence +6 resistance) (+2 w/mutagen) Will: +17 (+6 base, -1 Wis +2 Iron Will +2 racial +1 luck +1 competence +6 resistance) (+2 trait and +5 mythic vs. mind-affecting: any creature targeting me with a mind-affecting effect that I successfully save against must succeed at a Will save at the same DC or be stunned for 1 round) (Reroll once and keep best vs. non-mythic) (-1 w/mutagen)
Notes: +3 racial vs. death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, and stunning.
AC: 40 (10 base, +9 armor, +4 Dex, +7 shield, +1 deflection, +3 Active Defense, +6 enhancement to natural armor) [Active Defense added to base AC due to interaction between Shield sphere base ability and Mythic Combat Reflexes] (+2 Dex, +2 natural w/mutagen) Flat-footed: 36 Touch: 15
Notes:
Retain Dex to AC while running
-7 to AC for no shield if using longbow
Concealment 20% in normal but not in bright light
Further 40% miss chance vs. ranged attacks
Notes:
-2 attack, +4 damage w/Power Attack or Deadly Aim
+2 attack w/mutagen
With a move action, or a swift action after expending martial focus, coat a weapon with Chemical Coating (Improved Alchemist's Fire) to add +1d6+4 fire damage for (Int mod) + 2 rounds and force hit targets to catch fire, taking 1d6 fire damage on each subsequent round. A full-round action permits a DC 20 Reflex save to extinguish the fire: snuffing it magically or immersion in water succeeds automatically.
+4d6 precision to flanked or flat-footed creatures
+2 attack on AoOs w/elven branched spear
Craft (Alchemy) 8 ranks, +3 class, +6 Int, +8 competence from Alchemy class feature, +2 circumstance, +27 total (x2 crafting speed progress with Swift Alchemy, +8 to the check when working on poisons in particular from favored class bonus: make progress on five poisons simultaneously with Beaker of Plentiful Poisons)
Acrobatics 8 ranks, +4 Dex, +12 total (+8 racial and +5 competence to jump: further +4 to jumps with a running start) (+2 w/mutagen)
Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, +3 class, +6 Int, +17 total (Use as Heal for all purposes)
Bluff 8 ranks, +1 Cha, +9 total
Sleight of Hand 8 ranks, +3 class, +4 Dex, +15 total (+2 w/mutagen)
Disguise 8 ranks, +1 Cha, +9 total
Knowledge (arcana, nobility) 8 ranks, +3 class, +6 Int, +1 feat, +18 total
Perception 8 ranks, +3 class, -1 Wis, +2 racial, +5 competence, +17 total (-1 w/mutagen)
Stealth 8 ranks, +4 Dex, +12 total (+2 w/mutagen)
Spellcraft 8 ranks, +3 class, +6 Int, +17 total
Craft (Glassware, trapmaking) 1 rank, +3 class, +6 Int, +10 total
Appraise 1 rank, +3 class, +6 Int, +10 total
Climb 1 rank, +0 Str, +1 total
Diplomacy 1 rank, +1 Cha, +2 total
Sense Motive 1 rank, -1 Wis, +0 total (-1 w/mutagen)
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1 rank, +3 class, +6 Int, +1 feat, +11 total
Disable Device 1 rank, +3 class, +6 Int, +10 total
Notes:
8 ranks in Alchemy from Alchemy sphere talents
8 ranks in Acrobatics from Athletics sphere talents
Background Skills in play
Cumulative -2 when retrying a failed skill check
Chemical Coating
Improved Alchemist's Fire
Lasting Application
Potent Poison
Specialized Venom x2 (Undead, Construct, Outsider (Evil), Plant, Ooze, Magical Beast)
ATHLETICS (Run package)
Swift Movement
Alchemical Expertise: Gain the Alchemy sphere with both (formulae) and (poison) packages: competence bonus equal to class level on Craft (alchemy), use it to ID potions as if using Detect Magic
Brew Potion: I have a formula book useful only for the purpose of meeting prereqs to brew potions with, not making extracts like conventional alchemists. (Note to self: pick up Formulae Geomancing next level.)
Toxic Secretion: Once daily, in a process that takes 10 minutes, create and imbibe a tincture that causes my skin to secrete a poison. I'm immune to it, but anyone that hits me with a natural attack or unarmed strike must succeed at a DC 27 Fortitude save (Int-based) or take damage equal to my Int mod and be both shaken and sickened, with a save being permitted to end the effect each round, lasting to a maximum of 6 rounds. If they fail the save on the second round, they take my Int mod in damage again, but not thereafter. 8 + (Int mod)/day as a swift action, this poison can be collected and concentrated into something that can be delivered as a touch attack or applied to a weapon, lasting 8 strikes. Two doses of poison can be collected with one minute of work to increase the DC by 2 and increase the maximum duration to 9 rounds.
The Superior Poison Enhancement talent can make it require 2 successful saves to end the effect, and the Energy Enhancement talent can make a dose deal 16 fire, cold, acid, electricity, sonic, or force damage, two of those energy types with Dual Enhancement.
Spend one use of mythic power when a creature is affected by the toxin to force them to roll saves twice and take the lowest for the duration of the poison.
Improvement (3rd): Shaken
Improvement (6th): Sickened
Sneak Attack +4d6
Torturer's Eye: Gain the Divination sphere, the Hidden Magic sphere drawback, the Instil Divination talent, and- should you lack the Life sphere- the ability to pretend you do for the sole purpose of Divine Life.
Cruel Anatomist: Use Knowledge (nature) in place of Heal
Swift Alchemy/Swift Poisoning: Apply poison to a weapon as a move or swift action, never risk poisoning self when handling poison, create alchemical items in half the normal time
Mutagen: In 1 hour, brew a dose of magical super-coffee, granting +2 to natural armor, a +4 alchemical bonus to Dexterity, and a -2 alchemical penalty to Wisdom for 80 minutes. A non-alchemist who drinks it must make a Fortitude save (DC 22) or become nauseated for 1 hour.
8th-level Incanter spherecasting (CL 16 for the Enhancement sphere, CL 11 for the Alteration sphere, CL 8 for the Nature sphere, CL 7 for all other spheres: 16 spell points, MSB +8, MSD 19, 24 vs. suppression effects such as Spell Ward. +2 competence to CL if I'm willing to accept a 100% wild surge chance: +4 to CL for purposes of effect duration, +10 to the DC of counterspell or dispel attempts made by non-mythic creatures against my magic, +7 to the DC vs. mythic creatures, +5 to the DC to identify my sphere effects or recognize them as they're being cast.)
Casting Tradition:
Mad Alchemist
True power lies in the knowledge of the nature of substances- dragon's blood and orichalcum, alicorn and alkahest. Combine and separate, distill and concentrate, all in the search for ever-greater potency- and safety precautions be damned.
Drawbacks: Expensive Locus, Charged Spells, Focus Casting [Alchemist's Lab to prepare charges, vials to use them], Skilled Casting [Craft (alchemy)], Innate Curse (Wrecking Mysticism: actually an [Ex] result of a perfectly mundanely weakened immune system from mucking about with toxic chemicals rather than a supernatural curse)
Sphere Drawbacks: Transformative Brew (Alteration), Humors (Blood), Meld Into Dark and Shadowed Brew (Dark), Necromantic Concoction (Death), Shape Focus (Energy Bomb) (Destruction), Divining Concoction (Divination), Special Delivery (Enhancement), Cursed Brew and Tongue Of Ages (Fate), Glamered Brew and Obscura Mage (Illusion), Medicinal (Life), Glowing Brew (Light), Addling Brew (Mind), Holistic Brew and Limited Nature x2 (Nature), Limited Protection (aegis) and Protective Brew (Protection), Temporal Brew (Time), Warping Brew (Warp), Atmospheric Brew and Localized Weather (Weather).
Boons: Wild Surge, Drawback Feat (Bottled Spells), +1 spell point per 3 levels
(14 max, 14/16 spell points typically spent and 13/14 charges typically prepared):
1x Enhance Equipment, CL 18 [Wild Surge] (1 spell point spent for duration 22 hours w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement and Greater Enhance Equipment, 1 spent for Dual Enhancement (natural armor through Natural Enhancement and any one of weapon, shield, armor, natural weapon or 50 items of ammunition), 1 spent to be able to target up to 9 creatures with Mass Enhancement: carries a rider effect granting three Alteration sphere traits through Mutagenic Enhancement, Greater Changes and Extreme changes and another granting a benefit from any of the version of either Nature's Carapace or Nature's Movement through Nature's Enhancement feat.
The whole thing can be individually customized for each recipient through Mythic Sphere Mastery (Enhancement.))
1x Enhance Equipment, CL 18 [Wild Surge] (1 spell point spent for duration 22 hours w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement and Greater Enhance Equipment, 1 spent for Dual Enhancement (Any two of weapon, shield, armor, natural weapon or 50 items of ammunition), 1 spent to be able to target up to 9 creatures with Mass Enhancement.
The whole thing can be individually customized for each recipient through Mythic Sphere Mastery (Enhancement.))
1x Energy Enhancement, CL 16 (One spell point spent for duration 2h 20m w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement: another spent to make it both Electricity and Acid through Dual Enhancement)
1x Energy Enhancement, CL 16 (One spell point spent for duration 2h 20m w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement: another spent to make it both Force and Sonic through Dual Enhancement)
1x Mental Enhancement (Intelligence), CL 16 (One spell point spent for duration 2h 20m w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement)
1x Physical Enhancement (Dex/Con), CL 16 (One spell point spent for duration 2h 20m w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement, another to target both Dex and Con through Dual Enhancement)
1x Superior Poison, CL 16 (No spell points spent: 2-round duration without concentration through Deep Enhancement)
1x Superior Poison, CL 16 (One spell point for duration 2h 20m w/o concentration through Deep Enhancement)
1x Enhance Focus (Bluff), CL 16 (No spell points spent: 2-round duration without concentration through Deep Enhancement)
1x Enhance Focus (Sleight of Hand), CL 16 (No spell points spent: 2-round duration without concentration through Deep Enhancement)
1x Shapeshift, CL 11 (Blank Transformation: nondescript human female)
1x Nature's Movement, CL 8 (Earth: Burrow)
1x Divine (Life), CL 6
ENHANCEMENT (Special Delivery drawback)
Instill Enhancement
Mass Enhancement
Superior Poison
Deep Enhancement
Dual Enhancement
Greater Enhance Equipment
Natural Enhancement
Energy Enhancement
Mental Enhancement
Physical Enhancement
Enhance Focus
Alternative Energy
ALTERATION (Transformative Brew drawback)
Instill Shapeshift
Undead Body
Cosmic Body
Greater Changes
Extreme Changes
[Floating virtual talent via Zoological Study!]
NATURE (Air, earth, fire, metal, plant, water packages: no geomancing package) (Holistic Brew and Limited Nature x2 drawbacks)
Holistic Brew
Master of Elements x2
Nature's Carapace
Nature's Movement
Lingering Divination
Instill Divination
Note: I virtually possess the Life sphere for purposes of Divine Life only
Sphere Specialization (Enhancement): +1 CL with the Enhancement sphere Physical Enhancement: +2 untyped bonus to any one ability score, changable whenever resting to regain spell points Perfection of Self: As a free action, gain a +4 enhancement bonus to a single ability score for 1 round. Usable for 8 rounds/day.
Racial traits:
Medium humanoid (human, elf), base speed 30' (Speed 55', run at x5 speed or x4 with heavy armor/load)
Speak Common, Elven, Gith, Athalonian, Draconic, Dwarven, Gnome, Infernal
Keen Senses: +2 racial to Perception
Low-Light Vision
Multitalented: Two favored classes (Incanter, Alchemist)
Dual-Minded
Favored class bonus 1: Half-Elf Incanter for 6 levels (+1 additional magic talent), +2 HP
Favored class bonus 2: Nagaji Alchemist (+8 to Craft (alchemy) checks to craft poison, +8/3 (2) to the DC of poisons I create)
Mythic Stuff: Path: Spheremaster Tier: 3
Mythic Tradition: of the Expirimental Subject Drawbacks: Cursed (Scourge), Recharge Required (Exposure to an alchemist's mutagen containing trace amounts of dragon's blood and arsenic), Wild Mythic Power Mythic Quality: Spherebound (Enhancement) Boons: Mythic Exemplar (Mythic Paragon bonus feat), Mythic Exemplar (Mythic Casting: Enhancement, Alteration), Mythic Exemplar (Mythic Magic Talents)
+12 HP
Hard to Kill (automatically stabilize when below 0: don't die until at -Con times 2)
Mythic Power 9/day
Surge: After a die has been rolled, spend an immediate action and expend a use of mythic power to add 1d6 to it
Recuperation: If not dead, be restored to full HP after 8 hours of rest. Additionally, expend one use of mythic power and rest for 1 hour to gain a number of HP equal to half my full total and regain the use of class features limited to a certain number of uses per day, with the sole exception of mythic power or mythic abilities.
Mythic Sphere Mastery: Enhancement (Mass Enhancement as a bonus talent. Expend 1 use of mythic power to apply any one known (enhance) talent to each target instead of applying the same enhancement to all of them, paying the single highest spell point cost among all used enhancements.)
Preferred Item:
Trismegistan Laboratory (Simultaneously a Featherglass Alchemist's Lab, three different Implements granting a +2 enhancement bonus to CL with the Enhancement sphere and +1 to the Alteration and Nature spheres, a Formula Alembic, a Hybridization Funnel, and my 3,200 gp Expensive Locus neccesary for casting due to my casting tradition) (16,475 gp, 5.75 lb)
Last edited by Toptomcat; Jan 11th, 2021 at 01:10 AM.
Don't write me off quite yet, I'm still of a mind to squeak in.
The more the merrier! The harder my job is the better the game will be for it! (I hope!)
__________________
Apply for Rise of the Old Ones! "Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep,
And yet a third of life is passed in sleep."
- Lord Byron
I hate to do this last minute, especially after taxing a couple of you with repeated questions, but I'm going to have to withdraw my app.
This game is a unique opportunity, but I have to be honest with myself and I know I won't be able to bring the energy or time needed for this campaign with my current RL workload and on-site game load.
Thank you LeoByron and Eviltedzies for all the help along the way. Good luck and have a great game!
__________________
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
@UngainlyFool - Sorry to see you go, but I completely understand not having the proper time/energy needed to devote to a game. It's no fun joining a game if you feel pressured to post and or are unable to enjoy your character properly due to real world constraints.
Thank you for the time and effort you have already put into your application. I wish you good dice fortune and happy gaming!
__________________
~ To be alive is not to live; living requires reaching beyond survival for something more. Reach for that something and find what dreams breath life into your existence. ~
I hate to do this last minute, especially after taxing a couple of you with repeated questions, but I'm going to have to withdraw my app.
This game is a unique opportunity, but I have to be honest with myself and I know I won't be able to bring the energy or time needed for this campaign with my current RL workload and on-site game load.
Thank you LeoByron and Eviltedzies for all the help along the way. Good luck and have a great game!
I am very sad to see you go but I appreciate that you came to this realization before the game started rather than after. I am confident your competition are breathing a collective sigh of relief!
You are a gifted writer and any game would be lucky to have you but I completely understand and hope to have a chance to game with you in the future. It was a pleasure to assist in any way I could during the process of creating Tess so it's no big deal.
Good luck in your endeavors in life and on-site!
Cheers!
__________________
Apply for Rise of the Old Ones! "Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep,
And yet a third of life is passed in sleep."
- Lord Byron
Tell me about it! Already so much action and drama!
If those of you who are still interested could help me out, would you be so kind as to add a single line to the main block of your application near the "Intended Role" header which reads:
Faction: (Guardians of the North, Athalonian, Wanderlord, Dzid, Githyanki, Fire Gray Elves, Other?)
It will just give me a quick reminder for easy reference. I wish I could just edit in myself but I don't have admin powers here.
__________________
Apply for Rise of the Old Ones! "Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep,
And yet a third of life is passed in sleep."
- Lord Byron
My submission has been updated with one basic version of my crunch and one accounting for typical daily buffs. 'Typical' is rather elastic, as I'll be picking three Alteration sphere traits and a version of Nature's Carapace or Nature's Movement to grant to every party member daily along with big bonuses to equipment and natural armor.
I've written my sheet on the assumption that your ruling on total max sources of Mythic bonuses to caster level does not apply to minor, conditional CL bonuses like Arcane Endurance, and that your ruling on non-mythic traits and feats that boost caster level instead applying to MSB and MSD does not also apply to non-mythic class features like the Incanter's Sphere Specialization. If this is not the case, let me know and I'll readjust.
Also note that his presence in the party is likely to do odd things to perception of party wealth and gear-acquisition priorities in the long term, since his presence as a party member obviates the need for four of the 'Big 6' magic items- armor, weapon, Amulet of Natural Armor, Ring of Protection. Five for shield-users with Soul Shield. If this is an issue...that'll be tough to hear because it'll mean a wholesale retool of his casting side, but I think I could accomplish a rework given enough notice. Probably I'd replace it with Conscript or Slayer or something else straightforwardly martial, though a Spiritualism Hedgewitch/Sphere Arcanist focused on flexible bonus talents would be another possibility.
Last edited by Toptomcat; Jan 7th, 2021 at 03:09 AM.
I've written my sheet on the assumption that your ruling on total max sources of Mythic bonuses to caster level does not apply to minor, conditional CL bonuses like Arcane Endurance, and that your ruling on non-mythic traits and feats that boost caster level instead applying to MSB and MSD does not also apply to non-mythic class features like the Incanter's Sphere Specialization. If this is not the case, let me know and I'll readjust.
Arcane Endurance of the Spheremaster Mythic Path, only adjusts Caster level for the purposes of duration of Sphere effects, therefore, it will not count towards the Caster Level adjustment limit from Mythic sources. You are also correct that the Caster Level bonus from Incanter (or other) Specializations, is not included in the limitation I imposed on caster level adjustments from non-Mythic Traits or Feats, since it is, as you pointed out, a Class Feature.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toptomcat
Also note that his presence in the party is likely to do odd things to perception of party wealth and gear-acquisition priorities in the long term, since his presence as a party member obviates the need for four of the 'Big 6' magic items- armor, weapon, Amulet of Natural Armor, Ring of Protection. Five for shield-users with Soul Shield. If this is an issue...that'll be tough to hear because it'll mean a wholesale retool of his casting side, but I think I could accomplish a rework given enough notice.
If your Enhancement Sphere effects might double some of the bonuses characters in the party already possess at the start of the game, I would allow them to re-appropriate their purchases accordingly if they wanted to. You would have to confer with them before the start of the game should you be invited to join.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SelfAwareNPC
Man, we got people sliding in at the last minute like tequila shots at last call. ^_^
I wonder if we'll have more last minute applications tomorrow?
__________________
Apply for Rise of the Old Ones! "Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep,
And yet a third of life is passed in sleep."
- Lord Byron
Last edited by LeoByron; Jan 7th, 2021 at 03:12 AM.
The build is much changed from the initial and still being hammered out. A WIP sheet is currently linked to the post.
__________________ Merry Christmas!
"The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon."
-G.K. Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles (1909), XVII: "The Red Angel"
There is a little over 8 hours left until deadline. We seem to have 3 unfinished applications from Toptomcat, Zealot, and Imperial Prophet. Do you guys think you can get them finished by tonight, 11h59 EST? If you can get at least the background and personality done with the barest skeleton of the build that should be enough. I will give time to polish characters and make adjustments and revisions before the game starts. I need to approve everyone's mechanics before we start anyway.
I hope to see these apps completed but if I don't hear from you guys I will close the advert and send invites either tonight or tomorrow.
__________________
Apply for Rise of the Old Ones! "Death, so called, is a thing which makes men weep,
And yet a third of life is passed in sleep."
- Lord Byron
I'm not clear on what you're still looking for from me: 'background' and 'personality' are presented together in a first-person monologue in spoiler tags.
Last edited by Toptomcat; Jan 8th, 2021 at 09:52 PM.
Jan 6th, 2021, 01:02 AM
