I know I was supposed to have my Pathfinder character finished last week, but I still had details to work out. They were the small but potentially powerful tidbits that I never figured out for my last alter ego, the capricious male dwarf who dressed like Dolores Umbridge. I knew I needed to work out feats and skill ranks for him, and I never did. I wondered how the rest of my party had such amazing bonuses to their abilities, while I seemed so basic. Everyone else had fleshed out their characters while I was procrastinating, that's how.
Last week when we met, we presented our backstories to the new game master (GM), and he gave us each a bonus ability based on what we had created for ourselves. Then he placed us in a setting where we could get introduced, and that was all we had time for. He and I talked about the feats I should take, and how they would affect my fighting abilities, but all I did was jot down a note, tossing aside my character sketch at the end of the evening and forgetting about it.
Tomorrow we kick things off for real. We are a motley crew assembled from wildly divergent timelines and worlds, from the ancient to the magical to a real-world accounting department. My man is from a traditional fantasy realm (and as I've mentioned, heavily influenced by The Hound from Game of Thrones). For the first time, I've done my homework. I found a fillable PDF form online for his statistics sheet, and this time I chose one that calculates the important stuff for me. I didn't have to struggle with an obnoxiously complex rulebook. I plugged in the first few numbers and saw how it did the math. Suddenly the stress lifted, and it was no longer an onerous task to select feats or assign skill ranks. My bonuses and penalties appeared in the right boxes. I'm basically done, except for figuring out how much money he starts with, to know what equipment he has beyond weapons and armor. Now I can focus on cleaning house and figuring out what snacks I'll be providing instead of panicking about last-minute work on my character. Anything to reduce stress--I'm all for it.
(Apropos of nothing in the text, I wanted to explain tonight's song choice. 30 years ago today, the second lead singer of my favorite band was hired, completely changing the trajectory of their musical evolution and creating a schism between the purists among the original fans and those of us who were more open to change. At the time, I was basically living under a rock in Oklahoma, and had no idea the first guy had quit the band, nor did I know that the new guy existed. I was just so excited the day I bought their fifth album on a cassette and popped it into my car. The first song, above, had a long musical intro. Then this unfamiliar voice came on, and I had to pull over, confused. I looked at the artwork. I studied the lyrics. What did all the symbolism mean? Was the first guy dead? I was distraught. It took months for me to ferret out the story in the pre-internet days. Since then, I have had almost 30 years to marvel at one of the strongest, most unique voices I've ever encountered in rock and roll. I loved the old singer. The new one changed my world. I just wanted to acknowledge this anniversary.)
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