Pathfinder / Roleplaying Character Ideas Help?

[AWayToTheDawn]

Hello! I've had two character ideas bouncing around in my head for Pathfinder and was hoping to get some feedback / ideas from the community here from a roleplay perspective as well as a mechanical perspective. Without dragging out this introduction, here are the ideas!

First, I've recently liked the idea of playing a Human character that has lost his soul. Trying to find atonement for the fact his soul belongs to an evil outsider is his main driving force. He would have been Neutral Good beforehand although I have no idea who he would have been before his soul stopped belonging to him. While he's on this quest to find atonement he has to deal with the corruption that surrounds him and threatens to actually cause him to become evil. He would have to fight off this corruption and attempt to perform good acts while his very nature is being twisted to change his alignment. His secondary goal is to fight this corruption as long as possible.

Mechanically I'd be taking the Damnation feats I found while searching on the SRD for feats for another character. I like the idea of a continuing corruption of his soul leading to only the most powerful of magic able to save him once he takes all four of these feats.

Things I need help with coming up with ideas for this character:
1. Class. Other than taking all four damnation feats I have no idea what to do mechanically. Fighter maybe?
2. Why is his soul damned? This is probably the biggest problem I've encountered, as I don't want to just go with a simple, "He sold his soul to a devil." If it was even a devil. It could be a Demon. Or a daemon. Or some other evil outsider, but I'd prefer to stick with one of those three.

Any help with this one would be greatly appreciated!

Second, I've got a much shorter idea for an undine Watersinger Bard. Her personality can be summed up quickly as bubbly. Her personal belief is "What's the point of life if you don't have fun?" And is often silly, although can understand when a situation calls for a more serious outlook. She'd play a support role by battlefield control in combat, and as the face of the party outside of combat. She feels that she isn't that great at hurting enemies in combat, so focuses on her strong ties to the elemental plane of water to

Mechanically it's not that bad. I'm not sure if I'd like to go down the route focusing on using the Waterstrike to it's best potential, or specializing into Greater Reposition for Lifewater later. As well as possibly going down other combat maneuver feats and taking the Undine feat that allows Hydraulic Push to trip, disarm, or use specific dirty tricks.

Things I need help with coming up with:
1. Mechanically which side would be better to try to focus into. Trying to get the most out of Waterstrike, or combat maneuvers such as Lifewater and Hydraulic push to control combat from a range.
2. Who this character was previously, before going off to adventure. One current idea is that she is/was of a Noble line of humans or born to a council member of an Undine society. I'm completely open to scrapping that idea and coming up with something new though!
3. Why she's going off to become an adventurer in the first place. This largely depends on who she was before leaving so I'm at a loss here as well.

I'm not looking for people to write me a character, but for brainstorming ideas for both of them. And names. Names are always hard. But thank you for anything you can contribute!!!

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Hello! I've had two character ideas bouncing around in my head for Pathfinder and was hoping to get some feedback / ideas from the community here from a roleplay perspective as well as a mechanical perspective. Without dragging out this introduction, here are the ideas!

First, I've recently liked the idea of playing a Human character that has lost his soul. Trying to find atonement for the fact his soul belongs to an evil outsider is his main driving force. He would have been Neutral Good beforehand although I have no idea who he would have been before his soul stopped belonging to him. While he's on this quest to find atonement he has to deal with the corruption that surrounds him and threatens to actually cause him to become evil. He would have to fight off this corruption and attempt to perform good acts while his very nature is being twisted to change his alignment. His secondary goal is to fight this corruption as long as possible.

Mechanically I'd be taking the Damnation feats I found while searching on the SRD for feats for another character. I like the idea of a continuing corruption of his soul leading to only the most powerful of magic able to save him once he takes all four of these feats.

Things I need help with coming up with ideas for this character:
1. Class. Other than taking all four damnation feats I have no idea what to do mechanically. Fighter maybe?
2. Why is his soul damned? This is probably the biggest problem I've encountered, as I don't want to just go with a simple, "He sold his soul to a devil." If it was even a devil. It could be a Demon. Or a daemon. Or some other evil outsider, but I'd prefer to stick with one of those three.

Any help with this one would be greatly appreciated!

1. Cleric? Because you're working hard to become a good person and uphold good ideals, but you're not as alignment locked as a Paladin would be. Alternatively you could try Barbarian, treat Rage was some sort of anger manifestation of having lost their soul.
2. Something such as committing a great evil dead that one has been punished for could work. Genocide of a town, let a bunch of innocents starve to death, knowingly let your significant other suffer great pain (kidnapped into slavery, tortured etc) for some sort of personal gain?

Second, I've got a much shorter idea for an undine Watersinger Bard. Her personality can be summed up quickly as bubbly. Her personal belief is "What's the point of life if you don't have fun?" And is often silly, although can understand when a situation calls for a more serious outlook. She'd play a support role by battlefield control in combat, and as the face of the party outside of combat. She feels that she isn't that great at hurting enemies in combat, so focuses on her strong ties to the elemental plane of water to

Mechanically it's not that bad. I'm not sure if I'd like to go down the route focusing on using the Waterstrike to it's best potential, or specializing into Greater Reposition for Lifewater later. As well as possibly going down other combat maneuver feats and taking the Undine feat that allows Hydraulic Push to trip, disarm, or use specific dirty tricks.

Things I need help with coming up with:
1. Mechanically which side would be better to try to focus into. Trying to get the most out of Waterstrike, or combat maneuvers such as Lifewater and Hydraulic push to control combat from a range.
2. Who this character was previously, before going off to adventure. One current idea is that she is/was of a Noble line of humans or born to a council member of an Undine society. I'm completely open to scrapping that idea and coming up with something new though!
3. Why she's going off to become an adventurer in the first place. This largely depends on who she was before leaving so I'm at a loss here as well.

I'm not looking for people to write me a character, but for brainstorming ideas for both of them. And names. Names are always hard. But thank you for anything you can contribute!!!

1. Waterstrike has the most creative applications, but the combat meaneuvers gives more crowd control. I say it really depends on how much creativity the DM allows to alter the mechanics.
2. A wandering traveler might also work, one who is interested/fascinated by water and the inner workings of it.
3. The easiest answer here is gold, adventuring is far more profitable than almost everything in the D&D universe (Mechanically speaking. If your DM has allowed more profitable careers in their world, they are effectively house ruleing/homebrewing it). Other than that you could say they're on a pilgrimage. What could work best though to get an idea as to what your party members are doing with their characters, and see if you can tie a group connection. Like say you're all group of mercenaries, or you're all going on a trip together etc.

 

[Minibit]

I've moved this to the Institute, but it'll still be linked in General for a week. The Institute is all about helping people with their stories and characters, so I think you'll get a better response here!

 

[AWayToTheDawn]

I've moved this to the Institute, but it'll still be linked in General for a week. The Institute is all about helping people with their stories and characters, so I think you'll get a better response here!

Thanks! I wasn't sure where to place it ;P I'll keep that in mind next time haha

• Cleric? Because you're working hard to become a good person and uphold good ideals, but you're not as alignment locked as a Paladin would be. Alternatively you could try Barbarian, treat Rage was some sort of anger manifestation of having lost their soul.

• Something such as committing a great evil dead that one has been punished for could work. Genocide of a town, let a bunch of innocents starve to death, knowingly let your significant other suffer great pain (kidnapped into slavery, tortured etc) for some sort of personal gain?

I agree with the divine related idea and was actually looking into trying to find a way around Paladin's restrictive alignment and the Damnation feats technically changing his alignment to some type of evil. I'm strongly considering Warpriest now that I've thought about it as well. I like the flavor of having ties to a good deity and trying to prove himself enough for them to intervene and save his soul. Or slowly give him enough divine abilities to fight the devil/demon/daemon and take it back himself.

I looked into the hellbred race in 3.5 and think it's a good inspiration. He committed evil acts or was evil and as he was dying he attempted to repent and find atonement. A good deity hears this and gives him a second chance, although his soul is still damned as it stands. It ties back into the warpriest idea and would make alot of sense haha.

• Waterstrike has the most creative applications, but the combat meaneuvers gives more crowd control. I say it really depends on how much creativity the DM allows to alter the mechanics.

• A wandering traveler might also work, one who is interested/fascinated by water and the inner workings of it.

• The easiest answer here is gold, adventuring is far more profitable than almost everything in the D&D universe (Mechanically speaking. If your DM has allowed more profitable careers in their world, they are effectively house ruleing/homebrewing it). Other than that you could say they're on a pilgrimage. What could work best though to get an idea as to what your party members are doing with their characters, and see if you can tie a group connection. Like say you're all group of mercenaries, or you're all going on a trip together etc.

After looking at the archetype more closely it seems like alot of what it can do is up to the DM's interpretation of the abilities. Many of it's actions aren't exactly spelled out and it feels very open-ended in it's water-bending abilities. Although taking improved and greater feats for combat maneuvers (like trip and reposition) seems strong with the class. Being Undine makes the hydraulic maneuver feat available and being a Watersinger adds Hyrdaulic Push to her spell list. Basically it can trip/disarm with hydraulic push as well as provide battlefield control and a flanking buddy with the animated water.

I like the idea of her having lived in a restrictive Undine community or a noble human family that wouldn't have allowed her to explore until she finally got fed up and left. Although, I agree that the reason she's becoming an adventurer should tie in more with the party as a whole as it opens another way to have the characters fit together. (I've had afew groups with dysfunctional parties that can't work together due to personalities and being created and set in stone within a vacuum.) It may have been that she couldn't stand staying in such a restrictive place, or that she finally found a group or partner that she can travel safely with.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

I agree with the divine related idea and was actually looking into trying to find a way around Paladin's restrictive alignment and the Damnation feats technically changing his alignment to some type of evil. I'm strongly considering Warpriest now that I've thought about it as well. I like the flavor of having ties to a good deity and trying to prove himself enough for them to intervene and save his soul. Or slowly give him enough divine abilities to fight the devil/demon/daemon and take it back himself.

Warpriest works well too.
Anything with Divine ties that doesn't revoke all your powers simply for an alignment shift would be solid honestly.
Just go with whichever class/theme you like the look of the best.

I looked into the hellbred race in 3.5 and think it's a good inspiration. He committed evil acts or was evil and as he was dying he attempted to repent and find atonement. A good deity hears this and gives him a second chance, although his soul is still damned as it stands. It ties back into the warpriest idea and would make alot of sense haha.

That was something I considered suggesting, but since you never mentioned 3.5 I had chosen not to.
But if 3.5 is allowed, then yes definitely go Hellbred. It fits the bill far better than any other race possibly could.

After looking at the archetype more closely it seems like alot of what it can do is up to the DM's interpretation of the abilities. Many of it's actions aren't exactly spelled out and it feels very open-ended in it's water-bending abilities. Although taking improved and greater feats for combat maneuvers (like trip and reposition) seems strong with the class. Being Undine makes the hydraulic maneuver feat available and being a Watersinger adds Hyrdaulic Push to her spell list. Basically it can trip/disarm with hydraulic push as well as provide battlefield control and a flanking buddy with the animated water.

Then definitely run it through with your DM first.
It's a terrible thing to invest a ton of time in a character, only for the DM to prevent it from doing most of the things you planned to do.

I like the idea of her having lived in a restrictive Undine community or a noble human family that wouldn't have allowed her to explore until she finally got fed up and left. Although, I agree that the reason she's becoming an adventurer should tie in more with the party as a whole as it opens another way to have the characters fit together. (I've had afew groups with dysfunctional parties that can't work together due to personalities and being created and set in stone within a vacuum.) It may have been that she couldn't stand staying in such a restrictive place, or that she finally found a group or partner that she can travel safely with.

Tying it in with other party members is always something I strongly recommended.
It helps prevent Prisoner Dilemma situations, and gives additional RP hooks both campaign wise and character wise.

 

[AWayToTheDawn]

That was something I considered suggesting, but since you never mentioned 3.5 I had chosen not to.
But if 3.5 is allowed, then yes definitely go Hellbred. It fits the bill far better than any other race possibly could.

Whether 3.5 material is allowed or not I'll likely borrow the idea and run it by a DM as an idea. I really like the flavor and it can be simulated by giving +2 Con or +2 Cha as a human, and using the bonus feat as the first Damnation feat. The rest would basically just be a starting point for roleplaying.

Then definitely run it through with your DM first.
It's a terrible thing to invest a ton of time in a character, only for the DM to prevent it from doing most of the things you planned to do.

I'd like to flesh out the idea abit more if I do find a place to play her. Pathfinder specifically or just roleplaying would be fine with me. One other part of the problem is that there isn't always a TON of water available... A decanter of endless water satisfies that, or else I would have to have a DM fiat that her create water can just make an amount up to what she can control with Watersong. Hopefully one of those things can work :P

Tying it in with other party members is always something I strongly recommended.
It helps prevent Prisoner Dilemma situations, and gives additional RP hooks both campaign wise and character wise.

I'll likely leave it vague for now until I find a group to play her in. If I manage to find a group that she can fit into well I'll come up with more specifics haha.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Whether 3.5 material is allowed or not I'll likely borrow the idea and run it by a DM as an idea. I really like the flavor and it can be simulated by giving +2 Con or +2 Cha as a human, and using the bonus feat as the first Damnation feat. The rest would basically just be a starting point for roleplaying.

That works fine too.
Pick whatever you personally like/enjoy more.
And then if your choice involves 3.5 materials run it through the DM first.

I'd like to flesh out the idea abit more if I do find a place to play her. Pathfinder specifically or just roleplaying would be fine with me. One other part of the problem is that there isn't always a TON of water available... A decanter of endless water satisfies that, or else I would have to have a DM fiat that her create water can just make an amount up to what she can control with Watersong. Hopefully one of those things can work :P

Just keep a source of water on yourself them.
Technically you could use a handy haversack (a quick access version of a bag of holding) and just fill it with water.