I've been playing in Paizo's adventure path, Rise of the Runelords, for a handful of sessions now. I've been thinking that it might be helpful to document my experiences with the module and the character I'm playing so that later, when I attempt to take a crack at writing an updated Wizard Handbook, I can reference my own play.
House Rules:
-Stats are determined by rolling 5d6, re-roll 1's, drop the two lowest, two pools of 7 and drop the lowest score from that. This generally results in really good stat pools, and in some cases *obscenely* good. Most people in the group have at least one 18, if not two or three.
-Traits are allowed to be taken, up to a maximum of two. I have taken that many, because I'm no fool.
-Some of the setting has been altered to fit within the DM's homebrew campaign setting, which I have found causes some interesting situations.
-We are operating along the fast XP track, as the adventure path was intended to be run with 3.5e rules. This has proven to be a wise decision.
-Actions can be downgraded, so that free < swift = immediate < move < standard < full-round. This is awesome.
The PCs:
-Tekna, Half-Orc Paladin. Looks to be going 2-Handed smashin'. Only good-aligned character in the party, which has caused us endless amount of hilarity as he tries to keep us in line. Sometimes makes decisions both in building and using his character that sound awesome, but might not work so well in practice. Time will tell.
-"Jack", Human Rogue. Looks to be going down the archery route, which will be difficult but might be workable. CN without being Chaotic Stupid, or at least learns his lesson after the first time something goes wrong. Capable at what he does both as a character and a player, but not to a thorough CO standard.
-Durbin, Dwarf Fighter.
Sword MY AXE and Board. Uses his high AC as an excuse to charge, power attack and cleave at every opportunity, so I guess for this level he's doing fine. LN without being Lawful Stupid, although his gruff demeanor has nearly gotten him into hot water once or twice. Built reasonably well, as his player takes advice from me on what is or isn't generally a good option.
-?????, Half-Elf Oracle. This character has only been able to show up for one session, which was largely an RP-athon. Can't remember the character's name or alignment, and has been so far unimportant. Will update if this changes at all.
Finally, there's me:
Danathriel
Male elf conjurer (teleportation) 1
N Medium humanoid (elf)
Init +15; Senses low-light vision, Perception +8
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AC 17, touch 15, flat-footed 12
(+2 armor, +5 Dex)
hp 9 (1d6+3)
Fort +3; Ref +5; Will +5; +2 against enchantment
Immune sleep
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee Longsword +3 (1d8+4/19-20)
Ranged Shortbow +5 (1d6/x3)
Special Attacks Arcane Duelist 8/day
Supernatural Abilities (CL 1st) Shift 5 ft. 8/day
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st) Dimentional Steps 60 ft./day
Spells Prepared (CL 1st)
1st - Color Spray x2, Grease, Summon Monster I
Cantrips - Detect Magic, Prestidigitation, Read Magic
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Str 16, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 16, Cha 16
Base Atk +0; Grp +3
Feats Alertness (so long as Quill is within arm's reach), Improved
Initiative
Skills Craft (alchemy) +9, Knowledge (arcana) +9, Knowledge
(history) +9, Knowledge (planes) +9, Linguistics +9, Perception
+8, Sense Motive +5, Spellcraft +9
Languages Common, Elven, Draconic, Celestial, Sylvan, Orc, Goblin,
Infernal
SQ Elven magic, summoner's charm, summon familiar (greensting
scorpion named Quill), cantrips
Traits Warrior of old, Kyonin gatekeeper
Other Gear Longsword, shortbow, haramaki w/ armored kilt,
explorer's outfit, adventurer's kit, extra blankets, spell component
pouch, travelling spellbook, shaving kit, cologne, stationary,
reading glasses, 5 gp
Besides benefiting from the obscene stat-rolling I mentioned earlier, my DM has allowed me to have my greensting scorpion grant +4 to initiative instead of +2. This keeps it even with the dinosaur as far as raw benefit, plus I think he's much cuter. That combined with Imp. Init, Warrior of Old, and my high Dex gives me the fantastic Initiative score I have. In addition, I have applied the Elf's favored class benefit to my Shift ability, which means later on I will be able to use the ability to liberally jet around the battlefield. With my Con, I don't sweat missing the extra hit point per level.
I will be splitting up the journals not by session, but by plot point. Initially reserving two posts per book plus this intro, for a total of thirteen. We'll see how this goes...
