When creating this quest, I toyed with the idea of having a character be the head of a sovereign military order (ala the Teutonic Knights or Knights Templar or historical Assassins), which still end up happening depending on what happens. I'm not opposed to ruling a place, or being an advisor, or an adventurer, though I don't want to do world conquest, which DP's ASWAH does much better than me (and whose main character has a much better background and reasoning to do so, he *is* a Targaryan, after all).
I am more partial to the Knightly Order kind of idea. Just from what little we know about him, Dommeric doesn't seem to be big on the whole shadowy assassin kind of deal. Plus in my honest opinion a knightly ghoul sounds much more interesting than a ghoulish assassin. Plus it could be an interesting plot point that if the War of the Five Kings does happen Dommeric could return home at the head of a knightly order dedicated to the Old Gods.
I'm happy to pick and choose what 3.5 and Pathfinder materials are appropriate for the quest, and this one seems good, fits Domeric and his ghoulishness well.
All three are approved for use for Domeric, I'm thinking the starting wealth bit for Landless Nobility could be changed to something like "+2 to Diplomacy checks for "foreign" nobility of the same or lower rank" so Domeric would have better relations with those who are also Lord/heir of Lord level, as well as knights, but not Kings or Emperors. Would that be too overpowered, or too weak?
I think any noble who can speak High Valyrian and has a similar equivalent of education as he has (such as a Free City magister, for example) would qualify? A Yi Tish noble would not, and I'm unsure whether a Summer Islander noble would either.
25-point buy, I want to make up for the rather meager beginning possessions by making Domeric Bolton very good at what he does.
We have to get in melee range for that one and then make a CL-check to actually cast it sucessfully (under Precoscious Apprentice rules), besides the Concentration check for casting in melee. I'd rather not.
I'm happy to listen to suggestions on the point buy, I just don't want an extremely underpowered MC, and I was wondering if 20-point buy would be better for balance issues.
Nah, it isn't about power, 25 points are good. In IRL stuff that happens shape our worldview. In that quest Viserys had unshakable resolve, no wrong thoughts, stable psyche, like a man who lives in our world where all is peachy and not in the world where you see corpses everyday.
In that case could I make a suggestion. What if Dommeric has to wrestle with imprints of his ancestors. From what we know about the ancient Bolton's they weren't the nicest of people to put it mildly. Dommeric could have to push against these darker natures that offer powerful yet incredibly twisted gifts. Like say he has just defeated an incredibly powerful opponent. He could see a ritual were one of his ancestors killed and ate a rival. In return it gave them a boon that would last a certain amount of time before they had to perform the ritual again. Depending upon how strong the person was could depend on the amount of time it gives. But to make it so that no one is going to immediately jump on the cannibalisms train you would have to offer another incentive. Like the more he resists the more control he has over his powers. So it becomes a balancing act between power and control.