Other Smogon Pathfinder Society Roleplay Thread

[General Spoon]

Approved by LightWolf

With the loss of social groups, it has become necessary for the 'extracurricular' roleplay elements of Pathfinder Society by Smogonites to be housed elsewhere; this is its new home. I would like to say that it has moved into its new house just fine, but I can't. All of its old belongings are waiting to be recovered from the old social group. However, its house is here, and ready to use.

Over time, we have found three main ways to roleplay our characters when not playing them. The first is through filling out a character survey, to gain a better understanding of our characters, and allow others understand them as well. The second way is through free-form conversations between our characters; the logs are cleaned up, and stored for posterity. People just ask in #flamel when they would like to have one. If you want the pastebin linked in the thread, PM me the link to the pastebin. The third, and newest, way is for your character to write free-form journal entries.

This extra roleplay activity has been fun, and has led to some interesting developments among some characters, surprising even their player!

This OP will serve to link to all the character surveys and character journals that are posted in this thread. It will also contain links to transcripts of conversations between characters.

-Please only make one survey post per character; you can always edit this post later to add/remove/change things
-Please only make one journal post per character; you can always edit this post later to add/remove/change things

The Survey

As a way of encouraging you to roleplay your character more, some Smogon GMs will give a one time d20 reroll to a character if a player fills out a character survey for them.


1. Why are you a Pathfinder?
2. Do you have a name and surname that is not ripped straight out of existing Earth mythology or popular culture?
3. Which nation did you grow up in? How did this nation influence you?
4. What do you look like? What are your wearing? How does this vary when you’re stalking through forests, sewers, deserts or in glittering cities?
5. What do you love? (Treasure and experience doesn’t count)
6. What do you hate? (Unclear and irritating darkness level rules don’t count)
7. Which other Pathfinders (PCs) do you rely on for teamwork, survival and butt-kicking? Do you have a bro? a mentor? a father figure? maybe a rival?
8. How does your race influence your views? Are you a stereotype of a certain race? How are you different from most humans/elves/gnomes/orcs/tengu?
9. What are you afraid of? Do you have any phobias or worries?
10. What is your most treasured possession?

Character Surveys

Agape
Solaris and Nyx 7/26/2013

General Spoon
Caliniel Aldanae 7/19/2013

Objection
Ashia Talibah 7/19/2013

Journal Entries

Agape
Solaris and Nyx 7/26/2013

Character Conversations
Coming Soon!

 

[General Spoon]

1. Why are you a Pathfinder?
I originally joined the organization several years ago out of a desire to ensure that field agents returned safely; feel free to call me naive. I know I was. This made me thoroughly miserable, and I'm not sure how long it would have taken to pull myself out of it without Riddlywipple's encouragement.

I continue to be a Pathfinder because I have come to love the ability to go to and see various places; wanderlust, I suppose. So, why not keep doing it?

2. Do you have a name and surname that is not ripped straight out of existing Earth mythology or popular culture?

I don't know where my adoptive family gave me my surname from, but my given name, Caliniel, was the name of a friend my adoptive father had when he was an adventurer.

3. Which nation did you grow up in? How did this nation influence you?

I grew up right here, in Absalom. The human family that raised me owned a brewery, so I began to learn about alchemical processes at a very young age.

4. What do you look like? What are your wearing? How does this vary when you’re stalking through forests, sewers, deserts or in glittering cities?

I am a female elf, and stand about 6 feet and 6 inches tall. I am quite young, at slightly less than 150 years of age. I have long, red hair, which I keep in a braid. My eyes are a shade of dark green. I have, recently, grown two pairs of wings. They are like a butterfly's wings, only they are more durable. They they are functional, measure 12 feet from wingtip to wingtip when extended. They are black and a shade of red that matches my hair.

I have a few sets of clothes that I wear when not on a mission. When I am, I wear my long, thick, dark gray coat that has many pockets and straps to hold things. Because of its dull color, it is serviceable enough until I've time to clean it. It is roomy enough that I can easily wear some armor underneath it. I wear my wayfinder, which is shaped like a butterfly, around my neck.

I also drink often. It is a habit I got into when I was younger, and never bothered to stop. I will sip from my wineskin throughout the day. It has never impaired me before, and I do not expect it to in the future.

5. What do you love? (Treasure and experience doesn’t count)

I like be able to travel and see places I have not seen, and experience that which I have not yet experienced. I did not realize that I loved this until recently, and it is thanks to Riddlywipple that I learned this about myself. It is for these reasons that I am continuing to be a member of the Pathfinder Society after abandoning my original reasons for joining. After realizing this, I have taken to venerating Desna.

I also like to learn languages. I have learned several while growing up, and I continue to learn new languages in my spare time. The more I know, the more likely I'll be able to hold a conversation with somebody I've just met.

And I also love Riddlywipple; a faerie dragon. He is so cheerful all the time, and I can't help being happy around him. Despite having met only recently, he has quickly become a very close friend to me.

6. What do you hate? (Unclear and irritating darkness level rules don’t count)

I hate succubus. On an assignment, my team fought and killed a succubus. She was...an incredibly loathsome creature. She was very unnerving. I...I will be glad if I never see another succubus as long as I live.

7. Which other Pathfinders (PCs) do you rely on for teamwork, survival and butt-kicking? Do you have a bro? a mentor? a father figure? maybe a rival?

Berry Frenzu was a Pathfinder who was always living in the moment. She didn't think ahead, ever, and this caught up with her before long. She will be missed.

Pullum Inferni is a sorcerer of some talent. He is a dependable member of any party, though he can also be expected to complain for much of the time.

8. How does your race influence your views? Are you a stereotype of a certain race? How are you different from most humans/elves/gnomes/orcs/tengu?

Being raised by humans, I have noticed that I am a little different than other elves. For one, most other elves do not care for the field of alchemy, which is what I make a study of. Some of the benefits derived from my studies are...somewhat unsettling.

I have also bonded with a faerie dragon. The bond between me and Riddlywipple is sort of like the bond I had with my scorpion familiar, only it feels different, somehow. Its hard to explain.

9. What are you afraid of? Do you have any phobias or worries?

I am afraid I will overestimate my abilities, and will get killed, or somebody else will get killed as a result.

10. What is your most treasured possession?

Hmm...I think that would be my wings. I grew them recently; Riddlywipple helped me to grow them, using some dragon magic. They're lovely, and I've found it so much fun to fly, however tiring it is on my back.

 

[Objection]

Good thing I had this backed up.

1. Why are you a Pathfinder?
Short answer: I needed a job.

Slightly longer answer: I needed a job better than the one I lost.

Oh, I suppose you want to know about that. Well, I hail from a rather poor family who were already struggling to make ends meet when it was just mother, father and grandparents. Father would get paid to do a lot of heavy lifting down by the docks. When I came along, that was another mouth to feed so mother had to get a job as a waitress at a rather mean-looking tavern. My family had to make all sorts of sacrifices too (not blood ones of course), but we managed to stay afloat for five and a half years.

Then father broke his back, and as a result he lost his job. That meant we no longer had enough money to sustain the entire family. Desperate times called for desperate measures and, before I knew it, I was being given away to this rather creepy merchant. My mother sobbing on my grandfather's shoulder was the last thing I ever saw of my family before the man took me away.

I learned two things about that man on my first day with him. The first was his name: Zahur. The second was that what he sold was not stuff you could find in the open bazaar. No, he dealt in various poisons, not only buying and selling them but also brewing them underneath his shop. Except he didn't brew them personally. That was done by his 13-year-old "assistant" Omari, who appeared very bruised and battered. I recall Zahur shouting at Omari about failing to meet demands or something, and then he said he had brought a little helper. No prizes for guessing who that was! Yes, if I was to be fed and looked after, I had to earn my keep.

For ten years I was a slave to Zahur, being forced to do the dangerous task of making poison for him. Far too often I accidentally poisoned myself, and Zahur had to pay an "old friend" of his to cure me. Zahur got really mad when that happened, and then ... well, let's just say I could guess why Omari was so badly injured. Things only got worse as the years went by - Omari died on my 11th birthday, so from then on I was overworked just so Zahur's big bag of gold was kept full with gold. As much as I hoped for some figure of righteous authority to shut Zahur down and save me from what looked to be an eternity of torment, I learned that as long as Zahur made "generous donations" to the city officials, they'd just look the other way.

One day, some time when I was 15, I screwed up a dose of poison. Not in the usual way, but certainly in a way that made Zahur mad at me. He flipped the table I had been doing my work on and the liquid from the screwed-up poison flew out of its vial and into my mouth. I remember feeling rather peculiar inside, and then suddenly I grew about six inches taller and my body's usually petite frame became very bulky and muscular. Later I would come to know the proper name for what I had accidentally created: mutagen.

When Zahur saw me rise from the floor in this new form, his expression changed from anger and authority to sheepishness and panic. I remember as he backed away and I stomped towards him, ready to rip him limb from limb, he stammered something about listening to him and getting back to work, but at that point I was having none of it. I vividly recall what I said to him:

"Ever since my family gave me to you, you have abused your power over me. You put me and Omari in danger every day and you never even looked after us right. Well now I have the power, so you listen to me for once! I'm getting out of this living Hell, I'm getting the city guard down here and I'm taking your gold away so you can't bribe them like you usually do. You sit down and don't do anything. Is that understood?"

Unfortunately, Zahur was not having that. His angry demeanour resumed and he yelled something at me. Since it wasn't him agreeing to this new arrangement, I didn't pay attention and instead grabbed his neck and slammed his head against the wall over and over. Every crunch from his skull cracking was pure karmic pleasure. Of course, there's only so much smashing a skull can take, so I soon started punching and kicking the other parts of his body, not wanting to rest until literally every single bone in his body was broken.

Somehow, the authorities seemed much more interested in the sounds of a fight coming from under the floor of Zahur's shop than they ever were in any illegal sale of poison, and as fate would have it, I reverted to my normal weak form mere seconds before the guards burst in. They saw the destroyed body of Zahur, and they saw me, and they put two and two together and threw me in prison.

My stay in prison was very short though. A man who I initially guessed was a bounty hunter bailed me out. When I asked why, the man said that he had been sent to capture or kill Zahur, and when he learned that I had already beaten him to the punch, he wanted to thank me and this was his way of saying thank you. I figured that this man was not a bounty hunter, so I asked him what he was. He then told me about the Pathfinder Society and asked if I wanted to join. Given that the alternatives were prison life and poverty, I accepted immediately.

And that's how I became a Pathfinder.

2. Do you have a name and surname that is not ripped straight out of existing Earth mythology or popular culture?
Ashia is the name of the street where my parents lived before I was conceived. I have heard that Talibah means knowledge in one of the ancient languages, although my studies of ancient Osiriani and Thassilonian have not yielded any results on this front.

3. Which nation did you grow up in? How did this nation influence you?
I grew up in Osirion. When I wasn't toiling away underneath Zahur's shop, I found myself intrigued by the significance of the nation's history. It's why, during my Pathfinder training, I wished to study the languages of ancient times. So far I have the hang of ancient Osiriani and Thassilonian.

4. What do you look like? What are your wearing? How does this vary when you’re stalking through forests, sewers, deserts or in glittering cities?
Usually I am 5' 1" and have a rather petite frame. My long, black hair is pretty much always unkempt. My skin is a light brown colour while my eyes have a darker brown tone to them. I have learned how to create mutagens that can make me grow to 5' 7" and make my body either muscular, lithe or bulky, as well as causing my fingernails to lengthen and sharpen into claws and my teeth to transform into razor-sharp fangs. I also know how to create an extract that can make me twice as big as before.

I am usually dressed in a white buttoned shirt and brown trousers and shoes with a beige apron over the top. When I go out adventuring, I wear some form of armour over the top of these regular clothes, plus a couple of bandoliers to hold my alchemical concoctions. My current armour of choice is a chain shirt made of mithral. If I'm going to go somewhere where there's poison, illness or just a horrible smell in the air, I will put on a white doctor's mask so I don't have to smell it. On a recent mission, I was told to wear warmer clothes, so I have a fur coat and heavy duty boots for when I'll be going to cold climates.

5. What do you love? (Treasure and experience doesn’t count)
Regular me likes to accumulate knowledge, as well as brewing alchemical substances that aren't poisons. In fact, my favourites are those that heal or protect against nasty conditions like sickness.

Mutated me likes the taste of humanoid flesh.

6. What do you hate? (Unclear and irritating darkness level rules don’t count)
Regular me tries not to hate things too much, although an obstacle that refuses to be overcome can become quite hated quite quickly. I'm also not a fan of undead, although I can tolerate their presence if it is beneficial.

Mutated me dislikes the taste of almost all other kinds of flesh, although animals, magical beasts and some outsiders are OK.

7. Which other Pathfinders (PCs) do you rely on for teamwork, survival and butt-kicking? Do you have a bro? a mentor? a father figure? maybe a rival?
In the field of battle, I like to quaff a mutagen and an enlarging extract, and then charge into melee, so if someone else is in close combat before me, I can help them take down our enemies more quickly. In turn, I appreciate those who can hamper our enemies in other ways, such as slowing them down.

When not battling, I have knowledge about both the natural world and the magical one and can pick locks quite handily. One thing I am not is a diplomat, and while I may be able to get insights about people we interact with, I must leave any persuasion to whatever allies I have.

8. How does your race influence your views? Are you a stereotype of a certain race? How are you different from most humans/elves/gnomes/orcs/tengu?
Aren't all humans different anyway? I suppose mutated me's love of humanoid flesh sets me apart from almost all other humans.

9. What are you afraid of? Do you have any phobias or worries?
The thing about the mutagen is that, while it makes me stronger, it also plays havoc with my mind. As a result, I have to maintain a balance between the strength of mutated me and the intellect and sanity of regular me. My main fear is that I will lose that balance, whether it be that my mind degenerates and I become wholly bestial in nature, or that I remain permanently in my weak form and become easily exploited just like when I was a child.

Also, spiders. Regular me is shaken by even the smallest of them, while mutated me cringes at the thought of encountering a horde of giant ones.

10. What is your most treasured possession?
My alchemical crafting kit, coupled with my alchemist training (if that counts as a possession). It is these two things that allow me to gain the power required to do my duties as a Pathfinder and to escape from those who might usually be stronger than me.

 

[Agape]

I really need the colts back home to fix the video feed of this. *grumble*



Begin report zero/one. Nyx reporting. Recipients: clearance level one personnel of the Iris project; first-hoof Golarion (tier red) contacts.



We first discovered this dimension when our equipment received an extradimensional signal from a 9th-dim coordinate area we had not sent any probes or teams in. We identified it as a magical summoning beacon broadcast to cover about 70% of the dimensional coordinates we had become aware of. Someone either had more nerve than us combined or was plain insane. That beacon spell was basically a free one-way ticket for any being capable of receiving such calls to enter the place of the beacon's origin. What made us curious and confident enough to answer that call with a mare of our own was the lack of any safety measures against malevolent being such as demons usually built into such spells.



After one initial travel mishap I finally met Solaris. After some insignificant personality conflict he explained to me that he was in need for an extraplanar servitor or an "eidolon" to protect him while he was operating for intelligence agency called "The Pathfinder Society". It quickly become apparent to him that he was utterly clueless on how he should have performed the summon and had performed the ritual with utter haste to get a presentable eidolon for his work interview. The luck of that guy. Who knows what kind of Nightmare (heh) he could have caught interest of?



However, the HQ did not want to have anything to do with him. They said: "Too dangerous, not aligned with our immediate goals!" But after I had cleverly tricked Solaris into telling me some more info about the dimension he was in, the interest of my superiors was roused. This dimension was one out of multiple whose constituted a pocket multiverse together. And here was the jackpot: Around nine of those individual dimensions were places where beings of Solaris' plane would appear upon dying. We had found the first system with accessible afterlives. The leader was exhilarated. For the first time we would have hands-on, empirical data on a full extradimensional afterlife system. All we would have to do was to have some information exchange with a local mage to be able to launch the first expedition that would directly answer the questions the Iris programme was established to seek answers for.



After my assignment to this dimension was rushed and approved by our leader Herself, I and a happy Solaris with a new job researched the matter in the library of the Grand Lodge in Absalom. That's when our enthusiasm was sobered up somewhat. The "planes" of afterlife were inhabited by fierce warriors and dozens of divine beings of varying powers that were worshiped as gods on Golarion. A little bit too much even for the most special of Iris ops. How could we ever get scientific research done on places like that? Also it seemed that extradimensional beings were affected differently by the magical laws of this multiverse. While I as an eidolon would be virtually immortal, that protection wouldn't apply in the more dangerous afterlife planes where beings routinely ripped souls apart from their 7 or 8d bounds. It seemed that restoration and resurrection spells which were astoundingly abundant on Golarion were not effective on "outsiders" like me. The breakthrough had hit a roadblock.



Interestingly, Solaris came up with an answer. Apparently the mightiest heroes on Golarion routinely visited those planes. He said: "It's no big deal for them." After a few days of history research he managed to convince me. Apparently even he could gain enough power in his lifetime to easily "Storm those suckers in Hell". Additionally, working for the Society would be one of the fastest ways to gain such might, even if he hadn't gotten the job because of that.



After lengthy discussions with the HQ, I was assigned to this dimension for an indefinite time under Solaris' command. He had achieved what he wanted when he first opened the beacon, perhaps even more. In return he offered us help extracting data from Golarion and promised to join the future expedition to the planes of afterlife. I hope for his sake that he doesn't do that by getting himself killed.


Begin report zero/two. Nyx reporting.



The laws of magic here are very peculiar: When we attempted the jump for the first time, I was wearing my full Iris scout field gear. That went horribly wrong. After regenerating from that attempt we tried again, this time porting my gear via standard jump procedures without Solaris. We did manage to get both my gear and myself here without complications, but when I donned the suit on again a split happened and I was bounced out of this plane yet again. In the end out of all my gear all I am able to hold to on this plane are my contact lenses and my comms plug. Alas I have only gotten it to work with short-distance communication spells of Golarion. If mom was here she could certainly align the spell matrices swiftly so that I'd have full coverage within and outwards of this pocket multiverse. If I only had some crystals from home!



However, I have acquired multiple items of interest from this plane also; it seems that personal magical items enchantment is highly developed here. I have bought a metal helmet similar to the one the demon that was my past life used to wear. While I dislike it, it seems to do the trick when dealing with difficult inhabitants. Besides the helmet, I have also grabbed a chestpiece capable of storing life energy, a neat item indeed.



It seems people have reached many of our achievements, both magical and technical through enchantment here. My hypothesis to explain this is the abundance of external magic in this plane. Seemingly every…body? here has the potential to become a "wizard" while only a minority having innate magic is called "sorcerers". I have to research if I am able to utilise this external magic while my own powers are nullified through the summoning bond.



Don't even get me started on divine magic. This pocket multiverse seems to have hundreds of beings that reach the power level of a demigod or demigoddess, most of whom have some capability of sharing their powers to seemingly any of their followers. However, without raising the security level of this mission I am not to draw their attention at all. Thankfully all followers of the divine here seem to primarily follow their own agenda, making it easy for me.



I haven't had any opportunity to dress casual here. Usually Solaris just has me bounced back from situations where I would draw unwanted attention. It is alright: I am taking this as a long-lasting mission that probably leaves me with little downtime. When I am not actively doing a Pathfinder mission on Golarion, I furiously write down my findings back in the HQ. I hope mom will get clearance to access the data soon…


 

[Agape]

1. Why are you a Pathfinder?
The organization gives me the best opportunities and resources to obtain data on this realm. As a bound "eidolon" I am given access to the intelligent society in a level I could only dream of, were I to accomplish this as an undercover mission.

2. Do you have a name and surname that is not ripped straight out of existing Earth mythology or popular culture?

No and yes. It's relative. Where I came to be my name is original. However there are countless dimensions, or "planes" as you call them, whose denizens call their home "earth". Certainly in some of those planes my name can carry some broader cultural meaning. Alas I don't know enough of the planar exploration progress in Golarion to know of any particular planes you could be referring to.

3. Which nation did you grow up in? How did this nation influence you?

That is a long story indeed. Let's just say that me coming to the world was an accident of sorts and I initially had some conflict with the equines inhabiting my home plane, my people. Eventually, with help I came to understand who I was and what was my purpose in life: To protect my close ones and those in need of protection on our path to understand what it is to be a breathing soul.

My childhood was initially harsh but my mom raised me to the values of our society and herself: close friendship, universal appreciation and the power of cooperation. My friends taught me to have fun and explore. Our ruler taught me -and She still does- the strengths and shortcomings of perfection. In the end, I still am to be influenced more by my nation. I am certain of this because of the project I am working on at the moment.

4. What do you look like? What are your wearing? How does this vary when you’re stalking through forests, sewers, deserts or in glittering cities?

I am a pitch-black alicorn mare about your height and a wingspan of five feet. My mane and tail are dark violet and my green eyes have vertical pupils that I usually prefer to normalize by wearing magical contact lenses.

5. What do you love? (Treasure and experience doesn’t count)
What is love? The bond between a couple? The moment when a mare licks her foal? Two friends opening their hearts bare to each other? Doing a double night shift without telling the tired fellow that gets released early due to that? Sacrificing oneself so that another pony might survive? Dying for a good cause? By the definitions of love I agree myself most to, I can claim only to love my mother, my closest ones, my nation and perhaps our rulers.

6. What do you hate? (Unclear and irritating darkness level rules don’t count)
I hate demons, mind-control and expectations of continuous perfection. Not in any particular order.

7. Which other Pathfinders (PCs) do you rely on for teamwork, survival and butt-kicking? Do you have a bro? a mentor? a father figure? maybe a rival?
Solaris is a weirdo. He has an anachronistic firearm, below-average intelligence, and more luck than anyone I know. I think he shouldn't have had it in him to create that dimensional beacon that summoned me. I must keep an eye on him.

The Pathfinder Society has many humanoid agents I have been sent on missions with. I have tried to protect them, sometimes only well and sometimes giving my very best. One knight named Alexander really perplexed me. He clearly loves his horse, Sora but why does he not always bring her to the missions? (Regarding horses and other equines on Golarion: only phenotype matches the equines I have grown with, they have significant structural and intellectual differences from us. Some mages here tell of spells that make animals "intelligent and anthropomorphic". I must do more research. For some reason the agents haven't approached me very much beyond professionalism. I cannot put my hoof on it but I think xenophobia might be to blame.

8. How does your race influence your views? Are you a stereotype of a certain race? How are you different from most humans/elves/gnomes/orcs/tengu?
As an alicorn, I was different from others always. I grew up being different, but loved. With alicorns being few and far between, I had few mortal models to idolize. This, I think, caused me to favor individual thinking and self-reflection. From the perspective of the humanoid races you mentioned, I am probably a monster. *chuckle* I am certain were I not here as an eidolon under Solaris they would quickly group up and kill me for profit.

9. What are you afraid of? Do you have any phobias or worries?
I fear my closest ones dying before this project either manages contact with our afterlife or immortality as a byproduct from dimensional exploration. Sometimes I worry about my mom not being able to know where I am at the moment besides "a mission of extreme importance spanning for indefinite time".

What I fear the most is being abandoned… Even I could be restrained and trapped either by coincidence or by malicious beings in these dangerous missions. Perhaps the project would deem rescuing me too big a risk to even be attempted...

10. What is your most treasured possession?
The first set of clothes and the first disguise kit my mother gave to me: enchanted eyeglasses, a simple light green scarf to cover my wings, a cloth headband and socks. I must confess: I love socks.

Revised on 26.7.2013, reroll spent