Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, Chronicles of Darkness, Other TTRPGs

[The Cat]

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Especially if it's a little innocent child's voice that responds, that ends up belonging to a spider demon lord of the pits or something similar...

Get out of my head lol

 

[The Cat]

Eberron is going well. Dates set for the next three sessions. Players have been utilizing downtime activities and two of the players have requested access to a downtime training area for rp so lucky me. Will update soon.

 

[Totenkindly]

Our group canceled for tonight (only 3 people could make it, and considering we just got jumped by 30 pirates, we prefer better odds).

I spent time instead redoing the loot list and all the stuff people haven't claimed for about ten sessions, so we knew our resources.

 

[The Cat]

How R&R sessions of D&D get pitched as opposed to how they turn out for the party.​

 

[Totenkindly]

How R&R sessions of D&D get pitched as opposed to how they turn out for the party.​

Yeah, we had one fight against a gnoll community that we thought was blow in, and blow out -- it took I think 3.5 gaming sessions to complete. (And two summoned elementals later!)

And then we entered Belishan's Tower, which just looked like a regular landmark, and that took I think six freaking months of gaming sessions to clear. DOH!

 

[Totenkindly]

You will all die laughing when you see what happened last week to the pirate group. I mentioned above that our group got jumped by 30 pirates on the street who were trying to dissuade us from investigating a series of crimes (and a spy ring) further. The fight also opened with them bringing in a hill giant. And our druid (with all the flame spells) wasn't able to play, so we just had four players:

• a dwarf kineticist/tank
• a barbarian/cleric with a huge greatsword and necromancy spells (so kind of a WoW Death Knight)
• a kensai with full armor and a naginata
• and a monk

it wasn't even close. The closest parallel I can think of is the scene from The Mask of Zorro (1995?), where Antonio Banderas defeats what looks like twenty guys in a barracks and they also have a semi-giant with them... and it's just embarrassing to watch, you almost feel bad for them.

The DM was just like, "Dammit!" the entire time, especially when we completely tore up the hill giant. He thought the giant would give us some trouble.

From Last episode:
As we walk through the streets of warehouses, chatting about our next steps, we round a corner and find a crowd of twenty sailors blocking our path.

“…eighteen, nineteen, yes, twenty, go figure,” counts Aeon as an older crusty elf with a gold tooth and looking like something bit off half his ear steps forward.

“Your crew needs to stop what you’re doing, go away, and mind your own business. Did I make myself clear?”

“Err, not really, that’s a lot to remember. What was that middle part again?”

The elf spits on the ground and rubs it in with a boot. “Let me rephrase: You’re not welcome here.”

“What did we do now? Make another embarrassing social faux pas?”

“Just because I’m an elf doesn’t mean I speak their fucking fancy language. I’ll say it a final time: Whatever you’re looking for, DROP it. NOW.”

“Yeah!” shouts a random person in the mob behind him.

Whistling, Brandr pulls out his Emperor hat and firmly fixes it on his head. A few of the sailors blanch a bit, seeing this, whether from the hat itself or in recognition of our exploits in the Port the last few days – but it doesn’t stop another ten sailors from silently walking out behind us, blocking our retreat. Without missing a beat, Tetsuko pulls her naginata off her back and drops into a ready position.

“Come on -- do you want us to leave, or do you want to box us in?” says Aeon innocently, hand dropping to his sword. “Get your instructions straight.”

“Boy, boys, boys,” interrupts Tyria, holding up her empty hands, “no need to get worked up. We’re just out for some fresh air. This is no way to treat your new Free Captains, you know.”

“We’re under orders to stop your snooping, and your titles don’t mean shit, beg your pardon.”

As we hear the assorted sounds of pistols being drawn from their holsters and the ringing of steel from drawn blades, Tyria grins broadly, baring all her white teeth in a very blue face. “Come on, this honestly doesn’t seem fair, you know. Five against thirty?”

She pauses a moment before winking at the glowering elf. “I mean, is this all you brought with you?”


Session 25: You're Gonna Need a Bigger Bug

The elf’s face turns beet red. "Yer gonna regret that, missy." He turns back to face the sailors behind him and yells out one word: "BUGGG!"

The horde of pirates surrounding us in the street pick up the chant -- “BUG! BUG! BUG!” -- and stomping on the cobbles and clapping as we see a looming figure approach from the back. The crowd parts to let him through, with anyone too slow getting kicked unceremoniously to the side. It looks like some kind of large heavy giant – a giant of the hills? -- at least 16’ tall. Tyria lets out a whistle in appreciation.

We glance around the intersection we’re in. There are two narrow alleys that we could defend if we need to fall back, but the main streets are all full of angry pirates.

There’s a whoof and a crackle as Brandr’s flaming aura comes up, along with the swift clinking of Tetsuko’s armor as it forms around her and she points her naginata at the main pack.

“Last words?” says the leader.

“You're gonna need a bigger bug."

The man’s face changes to a snarl as he raises his weapon and shouts, and the entire horde starts whooping as pirates storm towards us from all sides. We instinctively pull back to each other in a tight knot, facing out and protecting each other’s backs.

Before the pirates reach us, Brandr sends out flying flames across the front line including the giant. As the leader and his compatriots immediately collapse on fire, the giant rears back briefly on his heels as all the hair on his body bursts into flame. His wail is abruptly cut off when Brandr follows it with a gout of acid to his midsection.

Pirates swarm up against us, like an angry sea assaulting a rocky islet in a storm. Blows fly every which way. Aeon is clipped alongside the head by a wild swing and goes down. The giant shoves forward, winding up with a mighty blow from his club that misses both Tetsuko and Brandr and instead sends a few pirates flying across the intersection to crash into a nearby wall.

Powering up, Tetsuko takes advantage of Bug’s overswing and gashes him wickedly twice across the midsection, blood gouting everywhere. We’ve heard giants bellow but never have heard one scream before as Bug goes into a desperate blind rage.

On the backside, Tyria drops into tiger stance and tears up one pirate before assaulting another. In the south alley, a red mist suddenly flows into existence and pirates begin to drop like flies as the cloud sucks away their life energy. The few that are still standing are just shadows running blindly through the cloud. Aeon smiles grimly.

More pirates swirl in to fill the gaps left by their dead, with a few lucky blows landing in the chaos -- Tyria in particular taking a wicked slash to her arm that bleeds profusely.

Brandr sends flames whirling through the giant and nearby pirates to the north, and this final gout is too much for Bug, whose eyes roll up white as he topples on top of other attacking pirates, crushing them under his considerable bulk. More flaming pirates go down.

After slashing down another pirate, Tyria rams her bleeding arm hard against Bug’s flaming body with a loud sizzle, cauterizing the gash, before wheeling to the pirates staring at her in terror.

“If you want to run now,” she hisses, grinning wildly, “I won’t tell!”

Two of them immediately turn to break for a nearby alley -- and the monk immediately breaks the first’s back with a hard kick. The other manages to get partway down the alley before the flames from Brandr’s aura finish him off.

More flames suddenly vent out of Tetsuko’s armor in all directions, blasting pirates and allies alike. The sailors around her drop, before she rams her naginata through the remaining one, skewering him like a fish.

As the red cloud sucks the last life from those lost inside it, Aeon feels health flow into him. He steps forward to slash at the last cluster of five pirates, bisecting one at an angle as another drops from Brandr’s flame aura.

The last three of the thirty who attacked us turn and run like hell.

There’s a rush of air and the others see a blurry Tyria darting up the street after them, easily catching them. She breaks one man’s neck and drops another unconscious to the pavement.

“What are you waiting for?” asks Tetsuko, sprinting up the street with Aeon lumbering behind. They are still too slow to reach the final pirate, who has wheeled around to plant his dagger in his downed friend, until a huge gout of acid arcs over them to completely obliterate him in a dark smear, leaving only his dagger bouncing ownerless down the street.

Behind everyone, Brandr dusts off his hands, then heads down the alley after the rest of us.

Tyria slings the unconscious survivor into a fireman’s carry and we head over a few blocks to find an abandoned warehouse to borrow. Once we have privacy, we tie our captive to a chair and Brandr stabilizes him....

Minor edit, because later drafts always improve before I send them out.

The Title of the session is now "You're Gonna Need a Bigger Bug" and Tyria's response to "Any last words?" is now the same. LOL.

 

[The Cat]

I'm NEVER going to Stop homebrewing my monsters.
I will take whatever your official content is and I will rip it open, break it down, and tear it apart, sew it together with a bunch of random parts from other things and breathe into it unholy life.
It makes me feel like some Chaldean god.
some neat stuff in there though.

And you can have my resistance to bludgeoning slashing and piercing from non magical non silvered or non adamantium weapons when you pry it from my cold dead hands. It was never a failure of the martial classes to include it. It was a failure of specific DMs for not properly outfitting their players with regular silver and admantine weapons. The whole point of a mother fucking challenge is to give the players a bunch of riddled ways to get around the obstacles and cheer them on while they figure it out and solve the problems in a narratively satisfying way.

A DM's fault lies not in the stats, but in themselves.​

 

[The Cat]

 

[Totenkindly]

We had fun last night, storming an apothecary's shop that is a front for a spy ring in the isle.

Anytime the guards were about to die, they could use a Reflex action to chug a mutagen potion. It looks like the outcome was random. One guard turned inside out and became a blood-soaking monster, another became a fast zombie, a third became a huge insect like creature that didn't survive that transformation, another's bones turned to jelly and he just collapsed into goo, another became a giant flesh zombie of some kind that smashed through a wall to get at us, and another became very fast and dangerous with high resistances but the barb/cleric smiting him took the wind out of his sails.

We only retrieved one sample (from the very first guard, who Tyria grabbed and strangled until he passed out). It's just a bottle full of black goo marked "XXXXX". Lol. I'M not identifying that. Are you?

I dunno. This apothecary is worrying me a bit. I wonder what she's got up her sleeve when we find her.

 

[The Cat]

They say, don't start your campaign in a tavern
It's cliche to begin in a tavern.
Its not a good place to start.

They'll say; you've built a whole world outside of a tavern
Why not start in a cavern?
A random field of battle, in a random field on some camels
Show your players that you care.

And I said what about a breakfast at Tiefling's?
She said I think I remember the spot,
and as I recall all of us players quite liked it.
And I said, well I think that's the spot.

At Tiefling's you can swap coin for some rumors,
sing kareoke with some doomers; in the shadow of the demon lord
At Tiefling's you can swig some drinks with some goblins,
play some pool with hob goblins,
or pick up on a bug bear.

And I said what about a Breakfast at Tiefling's
She said I think I remember the spot;
That place where we came after a'delving.
And then spent all of that treasure we got.

So when they say don't start your campaign in a tavern
But everyone loves a good home brew tavern
So I'll always say: fuck it why not.

 

[Totenkindly]

Taverns are where everyone knows your name.

(Or if they don't already.... they will soon enough.)

 

[Totenkindly]

This part of last week's session was a trip. Both me and the goblin also got extra hero points for doing crazy heroic shit too....

....In this south room, there’s colorful chemicals, bubbling potions, jars of powder, lots of glassware, and lots of alchemical apparati set up. There’s also a bricked-in fireplace we recognize. And on the far side of the room we see a woman in bright chainmail with a laden utility belt. We hear her curse as she drops an empty vial on the table and vanishes, followed by the smashing of glass in the room’s corner.

Tyria ducks into the room to grab a powder and liquid, then whips them across the chamber at where the woman had been standing, hoping to at least mark her presence by a cloud. As she ducks back into a side corner, she hears the materials hit the table and start to bubble, but we don’t see any shape revealed. There however is a small explosion, which makes Tyria giggle.

Brandr meanwhile activates his aura and walks across the room while raising his shield. Meanwhile, Tom-Tom gets the idea to run back to the cat’s room and spike the southern door shut there, in case the woman tries to escape that way.

“Hey!” calls Brandr. “HEY!” He announces the far west door has just opened and shut, insinuating the invisible woman went through it. Aeon heads to the far door immediately, even as another explosion goes off in the lab, leaving an ugly gas cloud hanging in the air.

Despite her ability to see what’s invisible, Tetsuko sees nothing in this room so she leaps over a table (knocking over more glassware) and pops open the west door just in time to see a woman in the far corner, in dreads and silver chain and painted face, drifting up through a hole in the ceiling, retracting a ladder behind her.

A second later, Tyria barrels past the envoy, takes a flying leap for the ladder, and snags it before it is retracted. The woman she can’t see releases the ladder, which slides back down to thud into the floor. Tyria scrambles up the ladder to a new room and sees two doors on the north wall. Not sure where the woman is, the monk positions herself between both doors, to tag anything that opens either of them – or maybe her presence will at least dissuade the woman from fleeing until her allies can arrive.

Brandr pops his head up the trapdoor and steps into the middle of the room.

Another explosion goes off in the lab below, sending up another large green gas cloud. Coughing and gagging from the burning in his lungs, Aeon can feel his skin reddening. He scurries up the ladder, sees Tyria protecting two doors, and opens one of them to reveal a fancy-tiled bathroom with a nice stone basin and several wall mirrors.

Right after the bathroom becomes visible, the door next to Tyria is yanked open. The monk immediately strikes at the middle of the open door and feels her blow connect with something.

Tetstuko pops up the ladder, sees only the open doors, and runs through the one not blocked by Aeon. She can hear a door slam somewhere off to the east. As she passes a north corridor, she catches a glimpse of Tom-Tom approaching, who apparently took the north staircase in an attempt to head off our quarry.

The envoy reaches the corridor end, at which are two doors. Listening, she hears movement to the south, but trying the knob reveals it’s locked. She leans back, then kicks it open to reveal a bedroom and a familiar figure.

“She’s in here!” she calls out. “Trying for the chimney!”

Something blurs by Tetsuko – it’s Tyria. She leaps towards the chimney and gets in front of whatever is there, grappling with it. The envoy can see Tyria trying to spin the woman away from the chimney and freedom, but her foe is fierce and plants her feet solidly so that the monk just can’t reposition her.

Hurrying into the room, Brandr casts magical cold at the space in front of Tyria, but it’s not enough.

“Nice try… but take this as a prize,” whispers a proud voice in the monk’s ear as she slips from her grasp. Tyria hears something heavy and metal hit the ground at her feet, and blindly lashes out with one foot, knocking the grenade into the chimney shaft. We all hear it bounce down the shaft before exploding, and in the smoke and haze belching from the opening we all see the distinct outline of a woman before she leaps down into the shaft.

Hearing the commotion and seeing everyone rush past his hallway, Tom-Tom runs south just in time to trigger a large ballista bolt trap. He sees it coming from the corner of his eye and manages to dodge enough that it only gouges a big chunk out of his side. Running into the bedroom, he makes an amazing leap over a table almost in slow-motion as everyone watches in shock. With a triumphant shout, the goblin lands in the shaft and disappears.

Everyone winces repeatedly as we hear Tom-Tom bounce off wall after wall before hitting bottom with a loud ka-THUNK.

“…spikes… down here…” we hear him call weakly after a few moments.

Aeon huffs into the room. “What the hell’s going on?!” As Brandr quickly fills him in, Tetsuko grabs some rope from her bag and tosses an end down the shaft.

“DAMMITSHE’SGETTINGAWAY!” snaps Tyria, as she dives headfirst into the shaft and grabs the end of the rope on her way down.

Tetsuko’s eyes widen at the implications, before she quickly braces herself with her naginata across the opening and wraps a few coils of the rope around her hands. Tyria jerking up hard at the end of her fall almost yanks her off her feet but she manages to stay upright.

Tyria looks a few feet down into Tom-Tom’s bleary and pained face before swinging over him, avoiding the spikes she can see sticking through his torso.

They’re in a cellar, with a door on the north wall and a rusted padlocked gate on the far side. She rushes to the first door as Tom-Tom croaks something and throws it open – revealing a stairwell full of impassable rubble.

“At…the GATE!” Tom-Tom blurts.

Tyria spins and immediately starts tearing at the space in front of the gate, gratified to feel her fingers catch on something there.

There’s another loud clatter as Brandr plummets down the shaft fast, letting his shield absorb as damage as much as possible at the bottom and leaving Tom-Toom to WHOOF as the dwarf’s weight rams him harder down on the spikes. Still lying there, Brandr casts fire at the gate and hears someone cry out.

Tyria watches in astonishment as the padlock shakes and then pops open. She slashes wildly at the area, trying to hit her quarry before she flees. She can see blood splattering now on the ground with each step as the woman runs away.

There’s another tink-tink as a grenade flies out of the corridor and explodes near the spikes, but Brandr’s aura absorbs all of the flame.

Groaning with effort, Tom-Tom points one finger at the hallway. With a loud CRACK, a lightning bolt rips across the room and down the corridor to bring a distant screech.

Now Aeon scrambles out of the chimney vent as both Brandr and the goblin complain, then runs for the tunnel, getting out a chakri which he whips down the hall hoping to hit something – and he watches as it does and falls to the ground.

Up above in the third-story bedroom, now all alone, Tetsuko shakes her head in consternation, ties the rope off on a bed leg to be safe, then shimmies down the chimney.

Tyria sprints past Aeon down the hall and runs smack into the invisible woman, quick as a snake wrapping her arms around her. “Nice try,” she whispers where she expects the woman’s ear to be, “but take THIS as a prize, bitch!” and rakes her fingers hard right across the woman’s midsection, feeling them draw blood.

Brandr uses burning jets to propel himself off the spikes, then sees Tyria wrestling with something down the tunnel, and whips a blast of cold down the corridor at her.

The woman somehow slips out of Tyria’s grasp like a snake again. “Going somewhere?” the monk snaps, lashing out across the woman’s back, adding another gash. “Don’t think so.”

There’s another tink tink tink, and then a force explosion goes off, tossing Tyria backwards, then another grenade landing behind her that blows her forward.

Feeling miserable, Tom-Tom hastes Aeon and then performs the horrible task of yanking himself off the spikes. As he pulls free with a groan, he remembers the words of his dear mama: “You can never get somewhere else without leaving something behind.” The words do little to console his stomach pain.

Aeon runs up and whips the chakri once more – and this time it flies the whole way down the corridor to smack into the far wall before returning to him.

“She’s on the ceiling,” calls Tetsuko as she runs towards us and flings a handful of magic needles upwards. We watch the alchemist shimmer into existence, a look of surprise on her needle-covered face, before she falls off the ceiling and plops on the ground unconscious in the middle of our group.

We quickly strip her before tying her up for later interrogation. When we drag her back to the basement, we see she tried to torch the items on the table but didn’t have enough time, leaving a number of papers behind and still legible. Her diary and papers describe the work she’s been doing, which includes experiments cultivating, growing, and raising madragoras.

We confirm her name is indeed Zarskia. Along with the research papers, she has many reports for the ships that have been coming and going to the Port — their cargos and their times in and out of port. There is a description of the spy ring we discovered, specifically mentioning Corlan, Hayden, Fairhaven, and Rowena. There’s a letter about needing an assassin, and introduction papers to the assassin we eventually captured (Giles).

Three weeks ago, there was a letter saying, “Silence is now the key. Our plans go into full force once the agents finish their preparations. Discretely sell your business and clean up your team, then report to Nisroch.” We know Nisroch is a town to the north and apparently our next lead.

We can see Zaskria has translated a lot of Infernal writing into Common.

“I think our angel is awake,” says Tom-Tom, still rubbing his tender side where he had been recently full of spike holes. Zarskia is indeed stirring and glaring at us. After a quick prep, we remove her gag fully prepared to squeeze whatever other information we can get from her.

“You fools,” she spits contemptuously once she can speak freely. “You will get nothing from me. I will be retrieved and you’ll be left with nothing! NOTHING!” She laughs maniacally.

Right on cue, an interdimensional portal swirls into existence and a large red hand reaches out. “Morons! You will rue the day you interfere –” she cries, right before the hand — instead of rescuing her — envelops her head and squeezes mercilessly. We hear something pop and blood squirts out past all the finger joints to splatter the walls, before the hand reopens, drops the mess, and disappears back through the portal, which then evaporates as quickly as it appeared.

“Hmm. I honestly thought retrieval meant something else,” notes Tyria.

As we go to packing the remainder of her gear and papers before making our escape, Brandr extracts Zarskia’s dreadlocks from the goo, then pulls out a scalpel to add a few more digits to his extremity collection.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Totenkindly]

We did our first real "ship to ship" style combat last night, versus applying PC combat rules to naval combat.

The Big Race starts next week! WE HAVE TO WIN.

We also decided our "pirate colors" (pirate flags tend to be black and white) is a black flag with a bony middle finger being offered.

"GIVE THEM THE FINGER!" is Captain Tyria Helstorm's cry, when we run our colors.

 

[Totenkindly]

 

[Totenkindly]

 

[Totenkindly]

So we are still going pretty strong on our PF2 Pirate adventure.

We ended up winning the pirate race, in part because our arch nemesis cheated and we busted him so he got disqualified. (Now he REALLY hates us.)

As a reward, we were given a small island that we have to bow to our will within three months, to throw the pirate council a spectacular party. If we succeed in winning them over, we'll get our own seat on the council.

We've managed to mostly take the fort and clear out an area below ground that provided a malfunctioning teleport pad. We also got into a fight with a giant phase spider who insists we have to steal a gem back from the local cyclops or she'll continue to harry us. So currently we made it to the island's bluff area and are fighting a lot of cyclops. We have just dinged 10th level.

Tyria is such a hoot to play. Last session, she was getting some cover next to a statue, from a pterodactyl swooping in to get her. It missed and triggered her reaction -- and she critted it. Long story short, she dodged the swoop by stepping to the side, then rammed the bird sideway as it passed so that it crashed into the 30' statue and tumbled across the ground, whereupon another party member pinned it to the earth with her naginata.

She also was winging arrows at the phase spider queen after it had taken our goblin druid up to the ceiling to gnaw on him, and she managed to ding it with a crit which was enough (after all the damage from that fight) to push her to parlay.

She's just so flippant and mesmerizing, just like her namesake Tyrian from RWBY.
And hilariously, she might resemble him even further -- our resident psycho dwarf mad doctor/surgeon has just picked up the feat that allows him to implant things in people... and one of the four recipes/plans he got was a tail. Tyrian in the show has a tail (although that one is poisonous), the one Tyria can get would give her additional balance skills as well as grappling bonuses.

(p29) Flying the Finger for Fun & Profit

The annual Pirate Regatta is essentially held along the fringes of a ginormous hurricane, for fun and giggles. After we check around, we expect our main opposition during the race to stem from four…

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(p30) Turtles All the Way Down

Tyria pretends to be asleep as the unexpected presence glides into her cabin, her sensitive nose registering a cloying scent of brine and rich soil. Whatever is approaching her is completely silent…

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(p31) Wormwithers & The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day that He Totally Had Coming Because It Couldn’t Have Happened to a More Deserving Loser (So Burn in Hell You Big Fat Jerk!)

As everyone scrambles for their positions, we see our attacker surge boldly towards us. Fully expecting The Revengerer with Captain Harrigan waving his cold fist at us from the bow, we’re shocked t…

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(p32) There are Winners, There are Losers — and then There are Inept Cheaters Who Get Ridiculed by All

As we sail on, the near-impossible rain and wind drop to more manageable levels. We are now able to see several pillars rising out of the ocean, perhaps all part of exposed reefs. But these outcrop…

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(p33) Another Problem on The Horizon

When Aeon has some free time, we have him identify many of the items we found on Wormwithers’s body that Tyria could not: Sentient sword — Has runes, serration (Vicious), and hums/faint whisp…

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(p34) You Don’t Have to Be Crazy to Hide Here… But It Helps

We sail partway into the bay and look across the water at the landmark on the other side – the fort? If so, it would be our base of operations and the site of the infamous party we need to throw fo…

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(p35) The Basement Below Rock-Bottom

As Sang strips off our unconscious madman’s gear and begins a full body cavity search, the poor monkey chitters woefully nearby but is too wary of Tetsuko to close the distance. “Poor little guy,” …

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(p36) Didn’t Know of the Spider, ‘Til We Actually Spied Her

“Captain, the ghosts – they’ve awakened more of them!” Tyria stares at the little goblin facing her with concern on his face, out of breath from running down the passage after her. “Scuttle my butt…

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(p37) How to Stuff a Wild Crabkini

When we return to the main hall of the fort, we find out that our crazy prisoner managed to somehow slip from his bonds but was stopped by the goblins, who are now plopped on top of him. Nearby we …

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(p38) Cyclops, Die-Clops, They All Fall Down

We tromp along the beach, heading for the bridge we had seen from our ship. It doesn’t take long to reach the road, which is comprised of large worn cobblestones. The bridge itself is also made of …

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[Totenkindly]

Also fun: Our GM told us to make up a level 10 PF2 character for a short adventure at some point (3-4 sessions?).

I decided to make a Magus to learn how they play.

Partway through trying to learn the action economy and building the character, I realized that for all intents and purposes, Weiss Schnee from RWBY maps perfectly to an Aloof Firmament Magus template. (I'm using Elf/Sylph for the heritage/ancestry.) Like, it was frightening how much of her ability set mapped DIRECTLY into Magus. And she really is a magus -- basically they move in, have to set up their attack, and then do spellstrikes (a melee strike, through which any spell can also be channeled if they hit). You have to prep the spell strike each as well before doing it again, action economy is tight for magus -- but this is what Weiss does on the show. Yang, the chaotic pugilist, often just charges in relentless, but Weiss is all about precision and concentration and executing her moves perfectly, and you can see it before each attack where she focuses on what she's doing.

Weiss is a one-handed fighter (no armor) using a rapier that uses dust to magically trigger various elemental attacks depending on what she loads. She also can cast sigils to change velocity/momentum among other things. Her one final power I can't really build into it at this stage effectively is her Summon ability -- in the show, she can summon any foe she has defeated, to fight for her. (This is something I *could* do if I had a bit more stats or magic items, she could use a Summon Construct or Summon Animal spell if she could only get it jacked up to a decent level.)

She's also insanely dexterous, precise, a melee fighter who casts spells through her rapier when she strikes things, almost flying about. I am able to pick some cantrips that are either elemental in nature, but i was also able to take an elf feat that allows her to cast a primal Caustic Splash while making it ANY energy type I decide, on the fly. so that is all covered.

Like, it is just so cool how I can emulate this with the Magus "Aloof Firmament" build, including some of the special abilities.

Character build

Thereal Lace
Magus 10

---

N
Medium
Elf
Sylph
Humanoid
Perception +16; Low-Light Vision Darkvision
Languages None selected
Skills Acrobatics +22, Arcana +18, Athletics +14, Diplomacy +12, Intimidation +12, Lore: Academia +16, Nature +14, Occultism +18, Performance +14, Religion +14, Society +16, Stealth +17
Str +2, Dex +5, Con +3, Int +4, Wis +2, Cha +0
Items +2 Armor Resilient Unarmored, Ring of Wizardry, Bracelet of Dashing

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AC 29; Fort +18, Ref +20, Will +19; Resolve
HP 116
Attack of Opportunity

Trigger A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it's using. You lash out at a vulnerable foe. Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If your attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, you disrupt that action. This Strike doesn't count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn't apply to this Strike.
Recognize Spell

Prerequisites trained in Arcana, Nature, Occultism, or Religion Trigger A creature within line of sight casts a spell that you don't have prepared or in your spell repertoire, or a trap or similar object casts such a spell. You must be aware of the casting. If you are trained in the appropriate skill for the spell's tradition and it's a common spell of 2nd rank or lower, you automatically identify it (you still roll to attempt to get a critical success, but can't get a worse result than success). The highest rank of spell you automatically identify increases to 4 if you're an expert, 6 if you're a master, and 10 if you're legendary. The GM rolls a secret Arcana, Nature, Occultism, or Religion check, whichever corresponds to the tradition of the spell being cast. If you're not trained in the skill, you can't get a result better than failure. Critical Success You correctly recognize the spell and gain a +1 circumstance bonus to your saving throw or your AC against it. Success You correctly recognize the spell. Failure You fail to recognize the spell. Critical Failure You misidentify the spell as another spell entirely, of the GM's choice.

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Speed 35 feet
Melee +1 Weapon Striking (Greater) Ghost Touch Cold Iron (Low-Grade) Rapier +20 (Deadly d8, Disarm, Finesse, Magical), Damage 3d6+4 P
Spell Swipe

(Magus) Prerequisites Spellstrike Requirements Your Spellstrike is charged. You attack in an arc and enact your spell against everyone you hit. Make a Spellstrike, but roll separate Strikes to attack two creatures, each of whom must be within your melee reach and adjacent to each other. If your spell could affect two or more targets, your spell affects whichever foes you hit, not just the first target; otherwise, choose one target to affect with the spell. A Spell Swipe counts as two attacks for your multiple attack penalty, but the penalty doesn't increase until after you make both attacks. If you're using a weapon that has the sweep trait, its circumstance bonus applies against both targets. You can use this activity with only melee Strikes, even if you have the starlit span hybrid study or a similar ability. If you use Expansive Spellstrike to Spellstrike with an area spell, apply the area as described in Expansive Spellstrike, choosing one of the creatures you Strike to determine the area and whether the spell fails due to a critically failed Strike. If you use Expansive Spellstrike to Spellstrike with a targeted spell, the spell is lost completely only if both Strikes are critical failures.
Spellstrike

(Magus) Frequency until recharged (see below). You channel a spell into a punch or sword thrust to deliver a combined attack. You cast a spell that takes 1 or 2 actions to cast and requires either a spell attack roll or a saving throw. You imbue its effects into an attack instead of executing the spell normally. Make a melee Strike with a weapon or unarmed attack. This counts as two attacks for your multiple attack penalty, but you don’t apply the penalty until after you’ve completed the Spellstrike. The infusion of spell energy grants your Strike the arcane trait, making it magical. If the spell required a spell attack roll, use your Strike’s results to determine the effects of both the Strike and the spell. If it required a save, the target of the Strike rolls its saving throw normally, though if your Strike was a critical failure, the target is unaffected. After you use Spellstrike, you can’t do so again until you recharge your Spellstrike as a single action, which has the concentrate trait. You also recharge your Spellstrike when you cast a conflux spell that takes at least 1 action to cast; casting a focus spell of another type doesn’t recharge your Spellstrike.
Arcane Cascade

(Concentrate, Magus, Stance) Requirements You used your most recent action to Cast a Spell or make a Spellstrike. You need to meet this requirement only to enter the stance, not to remain in it.. You divert a portion of the spell’s magical power and keep it cycling through your body and weapon using specialized forms, breathing, or footwork. While you’re in the stance, your melee Strikes deal 1 extra force damage. This damage increases to 2 if you have weapon specialization and 3 if you have greater weapon specialization. Any Strike that benefits from this damage gains the arcane trait, making it magical. If your most recent spell before entering the stance was one that can deal damage, the damage from the stance is instead the same type that spell could deal (or one type of your choice if the spell could deal multiple types of damage).
Bracelet of Dashing

(Invested, Magical) Activate Jangling Dash (concentrate) Frequency once per day; Effect You gain a +10-foot status bonus to Speed for 1 minute.
Occult Known Spells DC 28, attack +18; Cantrips Phase Bolt, Warp Step
Arcane Prepared Spells DC 28, attack +18; 5th Blood Feast, See the Unseen (H+3); 4th Draw the Lightning, Invisibility (H+2); 3rd ; 2nd Sure Strike, Gecko Grip; 1st ; Cantrips Musical Accompaniment, Slashing Gust, Needle Darts, Ignition, Gouging Claw
Arcane Prepared Spells DC 28, attack +18; Cantrips Frostbite, Tangle Vine
Primal Innate Spells DC 24, attack +14; Cantrips Acid Splash
Arcane Innate Spells DC 24, attack +14; Cantrips Detect Magic
Primal Innate Spells DC 24, attack +14; Cantrips Live Wire
Arcane Innate Spells DC 24, attack +14; 2nd Blur; 1st ; Cantrips
Arcane Innate Spells DC 24, attack +14; 2nd Illusory Creature; 1st ; Cantrips
Arcane Innate Spells DC 24, attack +14; Cantrips Light
Focus Spells (3 points) Sky Laughs at Waves

Shield (Amped)

Force Fang

Imaginary Weapon

Additional Feats Ancestral Mind, Arcane Sense, Basic Wizard Spellcasting, Cantrip Expansion, Cat Fall, Elemental Wrath, Elven Weapon Familiarity, Expansive Spellstrike, Force Fang, Nimble Crawl, Psi Development, Psychic Dedication, Quick Squeeze, Skill Training, Slippery Prey, Steady Balance, Swift, Sylph, Wildborn Magic, Wizard Dedication
Additional Specials Archetype Conscious Mind (The Tangible Dream), Archetype Psychic Cantrip (Standard Cantrip: Shield (Amped)), Archetype Psychic Cantrip (Unique Cantrip: Imaginary Weapon), Archetype Psychic Casting Ability (Intelligence), Conflux Spells, Hybrid Study (Aloof Firmament), Skill Training (Athletics), Spellbook, Spellstrike Specifics, Studious Spells, Wizard Archetype Arcane School (School of Civic Wizardry)

Oh and hilariously there's a cantrip called Musical Accompaniment. Basically music plays for an entire minute that changes based on what the character is doing. Who is Thereal Lace? She goes in to attack while her own personal soundtrack is swelling and emphasizing everything she does, lol.

 

[The Cat]

Im running an Eberron game. One of my players...is teaching me life lessons. I'm teaching them in game life lessons. Keep murdering everything you run across...accidentally kill the crown prince of the vegipygmies. Wake up tied up in vines surrounded by trees ready to write a strongly worded letter on the vellum of your skin. The party save you. The Chwinginga touches him an puts a minor curse. Let me know the next time you wild shape. Congratulations youre now a gecko. You have all your same stats but now you look like a gecko for 1d4 days.

 

[Totenkindly]

The silliness of this week was Tyria (who already had Titan Wrestler feat) getting Whirling Throw, and then a gang of crusty Cyclops picked a fight with us. It was already going to be interesting, when suddenly one of the spellcasters hit her with a Heightened Enlarge spell -- making her bigger than the cyclops. As they basically all freaked and crapped their pants, she started grabbing them and pitching them into each other, while the other casters summoned pools of lava and acidic muck for them to collapse into.

Yeah, it wasn't a very long fight...

The other bit was our dwarf tank/medic getting snagged by (essentially) a lurker when we weren't looking, and then we had to find the stupid thing and beat it senseless until it spit him out.