Raven character [Archive] - Wizards Community

Raven character [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
paintedmask2
08-11-03, 05:11 PM We're about to start a new campaigne and the group has decided to take this one in a more humorous direction. We're starting at lvl5 and our DM has opened the doors to non-standard races for the first time. After some discussion, he nixed my dream of a baby dragon as too complicated (we have some newbies joining the group as others have graduated), I've settled on the idea of a raven sorceror.
The backstory I'm contemplating is that he was a human sorceror, out seeking adventure with his companions and his trusted raven familiar. At one point, however, he broke one of the basic rules of adventuring... never put on a ring without first identifying it! The ring activated an istant body switch with the closest creature... his familiar. This would have been bad enough, but the familiar then decides to take advantage of the situation, running off to enjoy his newfound humanity, leaving the sorceror stuck.
I've just got the bare bones of this in my head and I thougt I would check to see if anyone else has played anything like this before and if any of you might have some advice on how you would do it.

Thanks in advance!

http://www.geocities.com/edymnionii/PaintedMask.txt
Lord of the Ninth
08-11-03, 11:09 PM sounds interesting, does he want to return to his prior form? Or has he grown attached to his new one? Does he want revenge on his former familiar, does he need to find it in order to make the switch? And what would happen if the familiar died?
Fox Lee
08-12-03, 12:13 AM Stop me if I'm on the wrong track. I have strange and perverted ideas.

You see, this takes me back to a character of my own - a Dark Elf Sorceress (yes, I once made a female primary spellcaster! It is my shaaaaame! ;__; :p) who, as a result of screwing around with the wrong powers, wound up in the body of her own familiar, a cat. The familiar didn't make it, though - so she got herself a new one, a human girl who had... erm... "admired" her before her accident. GM ruling in this world said that the empathic link between Master and Familiar allowed for both emotional feedback, and physical feedback (albeit the latter was far weaker). So when it happened that the girl got into a relationship, the Sorceress was usually in a very unique state of... frustration :p

So I was just going to say that it might be fun to have your character's familiar be indulging in all the worldly pleasures now open to him, and have it feedback to your character. How he'd react... well, that of course would be up to you ^^
paintedmask2
08-12-03, 04:37 PM Hmmmmm... Interesting ideas Fox, but inappropriate for my campaign.
I'm thinking that after the switch, the familiar refused to allow my PC to switch back, and in a fit of rage my killed him, unfortunatly taking out his own body at the same time. I'm looking at playing him with a bit of an anger management problem, so this would fit father well... He's deffinitly going to be bitter about the switch, and constantly looking for a way to reverse it (remember, the 3.5 polymorph spells have time limits...). He's adjusted his spells to compensate; mage hand, open/close, tenser's floating disk, and plenty of summoning spells.
AmericanAstronaut
08-12-03, 05:28 PM Have you seen "The Raven" by Roger Corman? With Boris Karlof and Vincent Price among others. There is this little, ambitious, not-so-great magician who is turned into a raven by the evil Scarabeus (leader of the Wizard's Council) and he turn to the powerful, non-member of the council, to help him out. Had not he himself known the ingrediences to the anti-potion he would have lived out his days as a raven.

I'd say, use the evil wizard transformed, in a fair spell-battle, your self-important drunkard wizard who thinks he is way better than he is. Since the spell, or an item (artifact), was unique and the caster a powerful wizard, you have no choice for the moment but to stay in the form of a raven.

Now, this might be a little of a ripoff, but not many have seen the movie (that I know) and the story isn't exactly original (transformed by evil man? original? paah).

Remember, watch out for those hawks!
Edymnion
08-13-03, 05:24 PM Ah, sounds like fun.
First up, would it be too obvious to say "Take Still Spell and/or Eschew Material Components" since you don't have hands to cast with? Unless your DM is letting you use your wings for normal casting, and you can hop around on one foot while holding spell components.

Something else to look at, the rules on non-humanoid tiny sized armor. Get something like a mithril chain shirt or breastplate made for your raven self. You'll still be able to fly long as you've got a light or medium load, and mithril armor of that size is going to be near weightless. Get some dastanas to run down the edges of your wings.

How about an animated buckler? For a raven, it would be like a tower shield!
paintedmask2
08-13-03, 06:20 PM I'm hoping to get certain consesions from my DM (free still spell and eschew materials for instance) in exchange for agreeing not to seek out cheesy loopholes like armor on a bird (though if he doesn't go for that, I will certanly try that to increase my survival chances)
Edymnion
08-13-03, 08:10 PM Originally posted by paintedmask2
I'm hoping to get certain consesions from my DM (free still spell and eschew materials for instance) in exchange for agreeing not to seek out cheesy loopholes like armor on a bird (though if he doesn't go for that, I will certanly try that to increase my survival chances) I'd especially try to get the armor either way. You're going to be very vulnrable as a raven without wearing something. Altering armor shapes and sizes isn't a loophole, its a specifically mentioned rule. Armor doesn't even have to grant more than 1 point of AC, you'll want it more as an enchantment slot than pure armor.

Because you're really going to be lacking several key item slots as a raven. No belt, no boots, and no gloves for starters. Chances are you can't get cloaks either. You need all the slots you can squeeze out of it. :)
Trydan
08-18-03, 11:29 AM Edymnion, I love your armoured Raven idea. That is nice. My head is now spinning with ideas for what the evil villain of my next campaign will have perched on his shoulder.

If you have any other ideas, then please post them!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
paintedmask2 08-11-03, 05:11 PM	We're about to start a new campaigne and the group has decided to take this one in a more humorous direction. We're starting at lvl5 and our DM has opened the doors to non-standard races for the first time. After some discussion, he nixed my dream of a baby dragon as too complicated (we have some newbies joining the group as others have graduated), I've settled on the idea of a raven sorceror. The backstory I'm contemplating is that he was a human sorceror, out seeking adventure with his companions and his trusted raven familiar. At one point, however, he broke one of the basic rules of adventuring... never put on a ring without first identifying it! The ring activated an istant body switch with the closest creature... his familiar. This would have been bad enough, but the familiar then decides to take advantage of the situation, running off to enjoy his newfound humanity, leaving the sorceror stuck. I've just got the bare bones of this in my head and I thougt I would check to see if anyone else has played anything like this before and if any of you might have some advice on how you would do it. Thanks in advance! http://www.geocities.com/edymnionii/PaintedMask.txt
Lord of the Ninth 08-11-03, 11:09 PM	sounds interesting, does he want to return to his prior form? Or has he grown attached to his new one? Does he want revenge on his former familiar, does he need to find it in order to make the switch? And what would happen if the familiar died?
Fox Lee 08-12-03, 12:13 AM	Stop me if I'm on the wrong track. I have strange and perverted ideas. You see, this takes me back to a character of my own - a Dark Elf Sorceress (yes, I once made a female primary spellcaster! It is my shaaaaame! ;__; :p) who, as a result of screwing around with the wrong powers, wound up in the body of her own familiar, a cat. The familiar didn't make it, though - so she got herself a new one, a human girl who had... erm... "admired" her before her accident. GM ruling in this world said that the empathic link between Master and Familiar allowed for both emotional feedback, and physical feedback (albeit the latter was far weaker). So when it happened that the girl got into a relationship, the Sorceress was usually in a very unique state of... frustration :p So I was just going to say that it might be fun to have your character's familiar be indulging in all the worldly pleasures now open to him, and have it feedback to your character. How he'd react... well, that of course would be up to you ^^
paintedmask2 08-12-03, 04:37 PM	Hmmmmm... Interesting ideas Fox, but inappropriate for my campaign. I'm thinking that after the switch, the familiar refused to allow my PC to switch back, and in a fit of rage my killed him, unfortunatly taking out his own body at the same time. I'm looking at playing him with a bit of an anger management problem, so this would fit father well... He's deffinitly going to be bitter about the switch, and constantly looking for a way to reverse it (remember, the 3.5 polymorph spells have time limits...). He's adjusted his spells to compensate; mage hand, open/close, tenser's floating disk, and plenty of summoning spells.
AmericanAstronaut 08-12-03, 05:28 PM	Have you seen "The Raven" by Roger Corman? With Boris Karlof and Vincent Price among others. There is this little, ambitious, not-so-great magician who is turned into a raven by the evil Scarabeus (leader of the Wizard's Council) and he turn to the powerful, non-member of the council, to help him out. Had not he himself known the ingrediences to the anti-potion he would have lived out his days as a raven. I'd say, use the evil wizard transformed, in a fair spell-battle, your self-important drunkard wizard who thinks he is way better than he is. Since the spell, or an item (artifact), was unique and the caster a powerful wizard, you have no choice for the moment but to stay in the form of a raven. Now, this might be a little of a ripoff, but not many have seen the movie (that I know) and the story isn't exactly original (transformed by evil man? original? paah). Remember, watch out for those hawks!
Edymnion 08-13-03, 05:24 PM	Ah, sounds like fun. First up, would it be too obvious to say "Take Still Spell and/or Eschew Material Components" since you don't have hands to cast with? Unless your DM is letting you use your wings for normal casting, and you can hop around on one foot while holding spell components. Something else to look at, the rules on non-humanoid tiny sized armor. Get something like a mithril chain shirt or breastplate made for your raven self. You'll still be able to fly long as you've got a light or medium load, and mithril armor of that size is going to be near weightless. Get some dastanas to run down the edges of your wings. How about an animated buckler? For a raven, it would be like a tower shield!
paintedmask2 08-13-03, 06:20 PM	I'm hoping to get certain consesions from my DM (free still spell and eschew materials for instance) in exchange for agreeing not to seek out cheesy loopholes like armor on a bird (though if he doesn't go for that, I will certanly try that to increase my survival chances)
Edymnion 08-13-03, 08:10 PM	Originally posted by paintedmask2 I'm hoping to get certain consesions from my DM (free still spell and eschew materials for instance) in exchange for agreeing not to seek out cheesy loopholes like armor on a bird (though if he doesn't go for that, I will certanly try that to increase my survival chances) I'd especially try to get the armor either way. You're going to be very vulnrable as a raven without wearing something. Altering armor shapes and sizes isn't a loophole, its a specifically mentioned rule. Armor doesn't even have to grant more than 1 point of AC, you'll want it more as an enchantment slot than pure armor. Because you're really going to be lacking several key item slots as a raven. No belt, no boots, and no gloves for starters. Chances are you can't get cloaks either. You need all the slots you can squeeze out of it. :)
Trydan 08-18-03, 11:29 AM	Edymnion, I love your armoured Raven idea. That is nice. My head is now spinning with ideas for what the evil villain of my next campaign will have perched on his shoulder. If you have any other ideas, then please post them!