It's been longer than I normally leave a vote open, and it looks like most players have left their feedback, so I'm going to go ahead and close the vote. I've made some changes to our Summoner's character sheet, based on overall feedback (can't believe I neglected Cornered Fury). Swarming has been swapped out, and STR and DEX scores have been adjusted to 8 and 16 respectively, with all the changes that entails. I'm hesitant to swap the Favored Class Bonus, mostly because that cuts down on the already-low amount of trained skills, but if that's what the players want, I can do so. Likewise, I'm wary of lowering the STR value even further, as like
@Taijutsu_ said, even at the low levels, things can kill you quite handily with ability damage.
@ComiTurtle: All armor heavier than regular leather incurs an Armor Check Penalty, regardless of proficiency (in studded leather's case, -1). That's why Climb and Swim had negative values, despite having a neutral STR score.
Looks as though we're going to Ratland. Small note before the next vote: Iroyra is not trained in Handle Animal, but I think it'd be rather silly for the Rodent Empathy racial to not work simply because of that. Therefore, when making the roll, I'll be
including the bonus from that trait in addition to the CHA bonus. If you want to swap skill ranks around, you still have time to do so, but it's not absolutely necessary for this vote (core rules state that Handle Animal can still be used untrained, you're just much more limited in what you can do).
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[X] Investigate. It's time to figure out what's going on here.
- [X] Look for rats. Rodents are your friends. Maybe you can get them to do something.
You've decided that there are better things to do than stand around on a boat, waiting for something to happen
to you. Time for you to
make something happen. Your first thoughts leap to the rats undoubtedly crawling about in the deeper recesses of the ship. How do you know rats do that? Instinct? No, you definitely learned this somewhere. It was a fact taught to you by...
Ow ow
ow. The pain flares up again, driving a wedge into your skull. Okay, time to stop thinking, start
doing.
You head below the deck of the ship, and you pass several other passengers on your way to the hold. Some of them give you quizzical looks, as if they haven't seen anyone like you before. That strikes you as odd: ratfolk aren't too uncommon, are they? Truth be told, you don't know: you're the only person like yourself that you've encountered on this ship, and you don't exactly fancy risking more splitting headaches trying to puzzle that out.
They seem well-dressed too, with lots of shiny baubles. Nobles, you reason. What are you doing on a ship with nobles?
Regardless of this increasing set of puzzling circumstances, you arrive at the entrance to the hold and start looking for rats. It's a very spacious area, and it would have to be, given how much cargo the vessel seems to be carrying. Boxes, crates, and bags are scattered throughout the area, the belongings of however many individuals have charted passage on this ship. You surmise that some of this is also likely to be cargo. What is the cargo? You're not sure. You can always set about pilfering later if you so choose.
You find the rats soon enough - or rather, they find you. They seem to be drawn to your presence, although you can't explain to yourself why. Family resemblance? No, that obviously wasn't it, and you chide yourself for making such jokes. There was something else. Something...
It takes you a few moments to realize you've dropped to all fours, so great was the pain. Whatever took your memory
really does not want you thinking about this. By now, a small horde of rats have gathered around you. They seem curious more than anything and seem to be wondering why a much larger cousin is intruding upon their space.
You came here with the purpose of getting rats to do something on your behalf - time to think of what to actually get them to do.
Of course, there is the small problem of a communications barrier, but when has that ever stopped you? You don't actually know the answer to that, you realize: this is your first time trying.
[] Fetch. You can try to get the rat horde to acquire something specific. Failing that, they might turn up something random.
- [] Notes. You're on this ship for a reason. Maybe there's a paper or book that explains all of this for you.
- [] Keys. You suspect that not all of the parts of the ship are open to you, having passed by a few locked rooms. That could be useful for future exploration.
- [] Baubles. Rats will go for the shiniest thing they see, which, in most cases, is going to be the baubles you noticed on the nobility. Thievery isn't exactly the most moral of choices, but you are rather light on coin...
[] Search. There's got to be something interesting in this cargo hold.
- [] The boxes and crates. These look like pretty tough rats - they might be able to outright chew through the wood.
- [] The bags. Bags are easier, but you suspect they're much less likely to have worthwhile things. Still, provided the rats don't eat whatever's inside, it could still be valuable.
[] Track. You don't really have much to go off of at the moment, but you might be able to get the rats to shadow someone's movement, provided they have a scent to work off of.
- [] The captain. Who better than the person in command of this vessel? You'll need to fetch something of theirs, however...
- [] The quartermaster. Probably the most likely to succeed, as they will have handled most of what's in the hold. Of course, so have plenty of other owners...
- [] Yourself. It's a long shot, but... maybe someone aboard was responsible for hauling you onto this vessel - and scents don't exactly go away quickly on a ship. Still, it's probably been intermixed with other scents by now - not to mention the rats might just congregate on you...
