Mummy's Mask: inventing some characters
Feb. 11th, 2023 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethThe Mummy's Mask Player's Guide is free via the paizo website and it has lots of good suggestions for how to invent a party for this adventure.
The Archive of Nethys has all the rules online. Mummy's Mask is first edition.
Combine them and you can get... very lost in the multiplicity of possibilities.
But I made a start:
I decided my adventuring party for Mummy's Mask will be the Dust Diggers.
... then I discovered a bestiary entry for Dust Digger.
So the group named themselves something blandly archaeological, but, it turns out to be a sort of sand starfish with big pointy teeth.
A Dust Digger has five arms, so I shall have five characters.
I had four characters sort of chosen before I looked up a Dust Digger, but one of them turned into a paladin without me deciding to, so if I also want an Imperious Sorceror then I need a new character.
Dust Diggers are asexual... hmmm. Don't think that's the unifying theme of the group, actually. But they reproduce by making a smaller version of themself, so, one of the characters can be offspring of at least one of the others.
... Dust Diggers also try and eat their young, but I think that's not going to come up. Probably...
If the Sorcerer bloodline comes from the absent parent then the youngling can be just now learning their powers and how to deal with them, researching their background, disconnected from their heritage. That way you get a bloodline without a duplicate power set.
If there's going to be a single parent I figure I'll make them a single dad.
So my Paladin, who looks a lot like Mick Rory, has a daughter who is no longer able to contact her mother, just as her own strange powers start to manifest.
And since an Imperious sorcerer has to be human, the Paladin is too.
... actually, I sort of hate playing other races. It feels like a disability thing: instead of being the vulcan or the robot, hello, I am actually a human, and so are all my characters.
Five humans in a group misses a lot of game mechanical possibilities, but, I am fine with that.
Pathfinder has this whole zero to hero arc for their characters. Which is grand, but, it also has random roll age tables in the back, and they make a lot of the characters quite young. And I increasingly do not want to do that.
So I have to keep coming up with reasons the characters are a bit more mature than they might game mechanically need to be.
One possible reason is they're an aasimar. For some reason the aasimar and tieflings, the ones who are a little bit celestial or fiendish, can take long enough for their first level skills to click that they can actually random roll their way into middle age.
... so having said all human party, maybe possibly an aasimar oracle? They were just getting on with life, and then in middle age they suddenly got these strange new powers as an oracle, and they're in pretty much the same boat as the sorcerer until they figure out how to use them. But they're sort of a mature student.
... I remember being in classes full of 18 year olds. For years, and years, and years. Okay, yeah, I can do that story too.
I have for a while wanted to do a themed all autistic set of characters. Like you can easily argue from Legends of Tomorrow that Mick, Len, Ray and Ava are four different flavors of autistic. Not that they ever say that. But you can get the whole party together without having to label them, and just have them be Very good at their thing, and possibly not very talkative, or a bit oblivious, or a collector of details, or very much attached to having a plan.
Not that I'm saying the writers room sat down and did that on purpose with labels. Just that fans have taken the characters and run, and made it look good. So there's an argument to be made.
ANYway
I also the other day saw a scan of Slayer Interrupted, a Buffy graphic novel that had two stories interweaving, one about Giles confronting his inner Ripper, one about Buffy in a mental health place. With demons, because Buffyverse, but. There was a page I remember as being Giles' dad telling him he should have stayed in the museum.
Which seemed mean.
But how about a character background: An archivist who works in a museum, becoming Very well read in his Special Interest, and becoming a fully fledged Bard (archivist archetype). But he doesn't go out into the world with his new skills because his father tells him to stay at the museum. Until of course this adventure starts, because he ... has one of the adventure guide traits to motivate him, I'll decide which. But also he has just decided it is time and nearly past time to prove himself. Prove to his dad he can do it.
(His dad wasn't being mean on purpose, and later when we meet him we discover the two of them are *very* much the same, down to the probable same diagnosis. His dad only advised him to live the same way he had. Tension but not evil, so it's resolvable.)
Hmmm, how about: this archivist has a lifelong friend who has been training to be a Paladin, but has trouble being as Lawful as he needs to be. He can manage Good, but Law doesn't come easy. And Sarenrae, his goddess of solar flame, is also more Good than Lawful. But he thinks of himself as big and strong and not particularly wise, so he has been trying to be her blade, and follow the rules set down to make up for what other people tell him is his lack of understanding.
Lately his daughter's new powers and determination to head out into the world to try them have given him an incentive. ... he suddenly understands the rules better when it's his daughter breaking them.
The archivist researches the place the daughter wants to go, and discovers something alarming enough he needs to take action, to go with them and try to help.
The oracle is a long term friend from the archive, who knows the Archivist better than the Paladin. She has been a very bookish academic until now, but as a Lore Oracle she doesn't exactly have to give that up. But now there's something they all need to know which needs a bit of roving research.
So that's four of them.
But when they get to Wati they realise their skill set is somewhat short: they know about traps from books but not well enough to disarm them!
They recruit a local guide, one who has a great deal of anger about the mess that the new official tomb robbing policy is going to make. These academics with a bloodline to investigate may be the best of a bad bunch. And there's something familiar about the young one.
(The local could turn out to be a lost relative or just someone who recognises aspects of themself before they ran into so many limits on their research. Or perhaps they're the first one to recognise Imperious greatness...)
Probably the older three are Middle Aged, the local is in their twenties, and the kid is a teenager. Sorcerers can start age 16, but that seems a bit young. Say eighteen and sure she could have started this two years ago...
So:
Paladin of Sarenrae (Undead Scourge), LG, Human Male, Middle Aged. Will be using a scimitar and a lot of flame. Father of:
Sorcerer (Imperious Bloodline), NG, Human Female, new adult. Not as serious about Sarenrae, actually maybe resents that Kelesh imposed her worship so widely. Wants to know more about her other heritage, which leads her to Wati where the adventure begins.
Bard (Archivist), Lawful Neutral (because he has been trying to follow the rules so far), Human Male, Middle Aged. Follower of Pharasma, both the major religion in Osirion and a reason to befriend someone who trained to smite undead. Pharasma's church are running the lottery to go into the dead city. They are not happy with the situation, and expect it to go very poorly.
Oracle (Lore Mystery), Neutral. Aasimar female, Peri blooded, Middle Aged. Much better at the knowing of things than the running around smiting them, but, her friend needs support. Is going to have to develop their Charisma as they go along, and has never been counted among the wise, but has a great deal of knowledge memorised to hopefully make up for it.
... might have been better off as a wizard, but didnt get the grades for it and couldnt afford the fees anyway.
Has been considered slow all her life because memorising things and assembling a well rounded set of life skills are very different skill sets. Will have to grow rapidly to survive all this.
Oracles are less strictly associated with one deity, since their Mystery calls them, not a specific god. But the Lore Mystery gets along with Abadar, Irori, and Nethys, deities of good deals, self improvement, and magic.
The Sorcerer and Oracle might both or either have the Seeker archetype, which is mentioned in the Player's Guide, and would give them a little bit of Disable Device. It would tie them to the Pathfinder Society specifically, which is always handy in a Pathfinder game, but feels like a bit of an override on other motives sometimes.
last the local:
Alchemist (Crypt Breaker). ... yes a full Rogue might make sense, but, would a bunch of academics trust one when they found one?
Human Person (no the rule book doesnt list that as an option but try it on for size)
Neutral, for now.
Crypt Breaker alchemists have bombs designed to work best on corporeal undead, and they get Trapfinding and a number of trap related rogue talent options.
Seems like fun.
So when they go to register the group they need to come up with a name, on the spot. Someone says Dusty, someone says Diggers, Dust Diggers are born.
The Archivist recognises the monster name, but thinks it's on purpose, because there's five of them. Turns up later with some tabards or badges with a toothed star on them, and a little flag for their tents.
... the others do not find wearing these appealing.
... archivist likes it when they are all labelled.
Campaign Traits:
Undead Crusader for the Paladin is a way to get him in on a tomb robbing contest.
Blood of Pharoahs is a good fit for the Imperious bloodline, but the Sorcerer's research would have to start small and build, to get them that high. If their research leads to Wati then a lot of lost details lie among the dead there.
Inquisitive Archaeologist for the Bard... because I dont want to have two people with the same trait, and an archivist who learns all about the buildings seems appropriate. As a Pharasmin he'd study the building of tombs, but in Wati that's half the city!
For the Oracle... I kind of want to go with Resurrected? They've had a recent shock, where they had reason to doubt their skills, but also reason to rely on divine magic. I think that's an interesting place to start. And the trait says they develop a fascination with mortality.
Wati Native for the alchemist seems obvious, but there's also Trap Finder and Devotee of the Old Gods.
Trap Finder gives them a +1 trait bonus to disable device for their trap skills but given their archetype the rest is ineffectively doubling up. Not for them.
Devotee of the Old Gods has the most flavor. "your devotion to one of the deities of Ancient Osirion has helped keep the memory of Osirion’s past alive—a past that still lingers on in the untouched necropolis of Wati."
... so many good traits, so many good reasons to be there, kind of want to add more people...
Five is enough people to keep track of in one scene, and one more person than the Adventure Path is optimised for.
Maybe I'll give them cohorts, later...
The alchemist is a devotee of the old gods. That's why they want to look in the old town. They haven't been wandering around in it already, and they aren't so focused on traps that they just want in for the demonstration of skill. They want to connect with the old times.
Which will give them a connection to the Sorcerer as she researches the ancient history. And a reason to dislike not only Sarenrae but Pharasma and Nethys, those late comers to a region with a perfectly good pantheon already.
So the alchemist is there for the sorcerer and already vaguely annoyed with the others. Tension!
The party will have to prove a respect for history or risk losing one of their own with essential skills.
I know this is not especially fascinating to read. It's meant to be a game and I wouldnt be inventing all the characters at once in a game.
But with this set of characters you can tell it as a Chosen One story with an older supporting cast
or
you can tell it as a bunch of mature students trying to put their new degrees into action, while keeping their kid out of trouble.
Everyone's got insecurities to work through and power to grasp.
I think it could be fun.
The Archive of Nethys has all the rules online. Mummy's Mask is first edition.
Combine them and you can get... very lost in the multiplicity of possibilities.
But I made a start:
I decided my adventuring party for Mummy's Mask will be the Dust Diggers.
... then I discovered a bestiary entry for Dust Digger.
So the group named themselves something blandly archaeological, but, it turns out to be a sort of sand starfish with big pointy teeth.
A Dust Digger has five arms, so I shall have five characters.
I had four characters sort of chosen before I looked up a Dust Digger, but one of them turned into a paladin without me deciding to, so if I also want an Imperious Sorceror then I need a new character.
Dust Diggers are asexual... hmmm. Don't think that's the unifying theme of the group, actually. But they reproduce by making a smaller version of themself, so, one of the characters can be offspring of at least one of the others.
... Dust Diggers also try and eat their young, but I think that's not going to come up. Probably...
If the Sorcerer bloodline comes from the absent parent then the youngling can be just now learning their powers and how to deal with them, researching their background, disconnected from their heritage. That way you get a bloodline without a duplicate power set.
If there's going to be a single parent I figure I'll make them a single dad.
So my Paladin, who looks a lot like Mick Rory, has a daughter who is no longer able to contact her mother, just as her own strange powers start to manifest.
And since an Imperious sorcerer has to be human, the Paladin is too.
... actually, I sort of hate playing other races. It feels like a disability thing: instead of being the vulcan or the robot, hello, I am actually a human, and so are all my characters.
Five humans in a group misses a lot of game mechanical possibilities, but, I am fine with that.
Pathfinder has this whole zero to hero arc for their characters. Which is grand, but, it also has random roll age tables in the back, and they make a lot of the characters quite young. And I increasingly do not want to do that.
So I have to keep coming up with reasons the characters are a bit more mature than they might game mechanically need to be.
One possible reason is they're an aasimar. For some reason the aasimar and tieflings, the ones who are a little bit celestial or fiendish, can take long enough for their first level skills to click that they can actually random roll their way into middle age.
... so having said all human party, maybe possibly an aasimar oracle? They were just getting on with life, and then in middle age they suddenly got these strange new powers as an oracle, and they're in pretty much the same boat as the sorcerer until they figure out how to use them. But they're sort of a mature student.
... I remember being in classes full of 18 year olds. For years, and years, and years. Okay, yeah, I can do that story too.
I have for a while wanted to do a themed all autistic set of characters. Like you can easily argue from Legends of Tomorrow that Mick, Len, Ray and Ava are four different flavors of autistic. Not that they ever say that. But you can get the whole party together without having to label them, and just have them be Very good at their thing, and possibly not very talkative, or a bit oblivious, or a collector of details, or very much attached to having a plan.
Not that I'm saying the writers room sat down and did that on purpose with labels. Just that fans have taken the characters and run, and made it look good. So there's an argument to be made.
ANYway
I also the other day saw a scan of Slayer Interrupted, a Buffy graphic novel that had two stories interweaving, one about Giles confronting his inner Ripper, one about Buffy in a mental health place. With demons, because Buffyverse, but. There was a page I remember as being Giles' dad telling him he should have stayed in the museum.
Which seemed mean.
But how about a character background: An archivist who works in a museum, becoming Very well read in his Special Interest, and becoming a fully fledged Bard (archivist archetype). But he doesn't go out into the world with his new skills because his father tells him to stay at the museum. Until of course this adventure starts, because he ... has one of the adventure guide traits to motivate him, I'll decide which. But also he has just decided it is time and nearly past time to prove himself. Prove to his dad he can do it.
(His dad wasn't being mean on purpose, and later when we meet him we discover the two of them are *very* much the same, down to the probable same diagnosis. His dad only advised him to live the same way he had. Tension but not evil, so it's resolvable.)
Hmmm, how about: this archivist has a lifelong friend who has been training to be a Paladin, but has trouble being as Lawful as he needs to be. He can manage Good, but Law doesn't come easy. And Sarenrae, his goddess of solar flame, is also more Good than Lawful. But he thinks of himself as big and strong and not particularly wise, so he has been trying to be her blade, and follow the rules set down to make up for what other people tell him is his lack of understanding.
Lately his daughter's new powers and determination to head out into the world to try them have given him an incentive. ... he suddenly understands the rules better when it's his daughter breaking them.
The archivist researches the place the daughter wants to go, and discovers something alarming enough he needs to take action, to go with them and try to help.
The oracle is a long term friend from the archive, who knows the Archivist better than the Paladin. She has been a very bookish academic until now, but as a Lore Oracle she doesn't exactly have to give that up. But now there's something they all need to know which needs a bit of roving research.
So that's four of them.
But when they get to Wati they realise their skill set is somewhat short: they know about traps from books but not well enough to disarm them!
They recruit a local guide, one who has a great deal of anger about the mess that the new official tomb robbing policy is going to make. These academics with a bloodline to investigate may be the best of a bad bunch. And there's something familiar about the young one.
(The local could turn out to be a lost relative or just someone who recognises aspects of themself before they ran into so many limits on their research. Or perhaps they're the first one to recognise Imperious greatness...)
Probably the older three are Middle Aged, the local is in their twenties, and the kid is a teenager. Sorcerers can start age 16, but that seems a bit young. Say eighteen and sure she could have started this two years ago...
So:
Paladin of Sarenrae (Undead Scourge), LG, Human Male, Middle Aged. Will be using a scimitar and a lot of flame. Father of:
Sorcerer (Imperious Bloodline), NG, Human Female, new adult. Not as serious about Sarenrae, actually maybe resents that Kelesh imposed her worship so widely. Wants to know more about her other heritage, which leads her to Wati where the adventure begins.
Bard (Archivist), Lawful Neutral (because he has been trying to follow the rules so far), Human Male, Middle Aged. Follower of Pharasma, both the major religion in Osirion and a reason to befriend someone who trained to smite undead. Pharasma's church are running the lottery to go into the dead city. They are not happy with the situation, and expect it to go very poorly.
Oracle (Lore Mystery), Neutral. Aasimar female, Peri blooded, Middle Aged. Much better at the knowing of things than the running around smiting them, but, her friend needs support. Is going to have to develop their Charisma as they go along, and has never been counted among the wise, but has a great deal of knowledge memorised to hopefully make up for it.
... might have been better off as a wizard, but didnt get the grades for it and couldnt afford the fees anyway.
Has been considered slow all her life because memorising things and assembling a well rounded set of life skills are very different skill sets. Will have to grow rapidly to survive all this.
Oracles are less strictly associated with one deity, since their Mystery calls them, not a specific god. But the Lore Mystery gets along with Abadar, Irori, and Nethys, deities of good deals, self improvement, and magic.
The Sorcerer and Oracle might both or either have the Seeker archetype, which is mentioned in the Player's Guide, and would give them a little bit of Disable Device. It would tie them to the Pathfinder Society specifically, which is always handy in a Pathfinder game, but feels like a bit of an override on other motives sometimes.
last the local:
Alchemist (Crypt Breaker). ... yes a full Rogue might make sense, but, would a bunch of academics trust one when they found one?
Human Person (no the rule book doesnt list that as an option but try it on for size)
Neutral, for now.
Crypt Breaker alchemists have bombs designed to work best on corporeal undead, and they get Trapfinding and a number of trap related rogue talent options.
Seems like fun.
So when they go to register the group they need to come up with a name, on the spot. Someone says Dusty, someone says Diggers, Dust Diggers are born.
The Archivist recognises the monster name, but thinks it's on purpose, because there's five of them. Turns up later with some tabards or badges with a toothed star on them, and a little flag for their tents.
... the others do not find wearing these appealing.
... archivist likes it when they are all labelled.
Campaign Traits:
Undead Crusader for the Paladin is a way to get him in on a tomb robbing contest.
Blood of Pharoahs is a good fit for the Imperious bloodline, but the Sorcerer's research would have to start small and build, to get them that high. If their research leads to Wati then a lot of lost details lie among the dead there.
Inquisitive Archaeologist for the Bard... because I dont want to have two people with the same trait, and an archivist who learns all about the buildings seems appropriate. As a Pharasmin he'd study the building of tombs, but in Wati that's half the city!
For the Oracle... I kind of want to go with Resurrected? They've had a recent shock, where they had reason to doubt their skills, but also reason to rely on divine magic. I think that's an interesting place to start. And the trait says they develop a fascination with mortality.
Wati Native for the alchemist seems obvious, but there's also Trap Finder and Devotee of the Old Gods.
Trap Finder gives them a +1 trait bonus to disable device for their trap skills but given their archetype the rest is ineffectively doubling up. Not for them.
Devotee of the Old Gods has the most flavor. "your devotion to one of the deities of Ancient Osirion has helped keep the memory of Osirion’s past alive—a past that still lingers on in the untouched necropolis of Wati."
... so many good traits, so many good reasons to be there, kind of want to add more people...
Five is enough people to keep track of in one scene, and one more person than the Adventure Path is optimised for.
Maybe I'll give them cohorts, later...
The alchemist is a devotee of the old gods. That's why they want to look in the old town. They haven't been wandering around in it already, and they aren't so focused on traps that they just want in for the demonstration of skill. They want to connect with the old times.
Which will give them a connection to the Sorcerer as she researches the ancient history. And a reason to dislike not only Sarenrae but Pharasma and Nethys, those late comers to a region with a perfectly good pantheon already.
So the alchemist is there for the sorcerer and already vaguely annoyed with the others. Tension!
The party will have to prove a respect for history or risk losing one of their own with essential skills.
I know this is not especially fascinating to read. It's meant to be a game and I wouldnt be inventing all the characters at once in a game.
But with this set of characters you can tell it as a Chosen One story with an older supporting cast
or
you can tell it as a bunch of mature students trying to put their new degrees into action, while keeping their kid out of trouble.
Everyone's got insecurities to work through and power to grasp.
I think it could be fun.