Anyway, it got me thinking. Good ol' Ultaash might be more complex than I originally conceived.
The kalashtar are a compound race: incorporeal entities from the alien plane of Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams, merged with human bodies and spirits to form a distinct species.
Hmm. So I wonder, is it possible for the human spirit and the quori spirit to be in conflict? Is a Kalashtar ever "of two minds" about an issue... literally? I don't really want to play a pure lawful good character in this party, but there might be a lot of fun involved in having a lawful good quori spirit occupying a neutral evil (say) human host. On the other hand "schizophrenia" gets old quick. If we prefer a single-minded (hah!) character maybe I can switch to neutral good and not worry about it.
I didn't know during the last adventure that
Every kalashtar enters adulthood with a fundamental choice: try to live a normal life as a persecuted exile in Adar, or take up a more active role in combating the Inspired in the world.which definitely puts a new spin on things.
Oh, and the name "Ultaa" came from an apparently legendary Kalashtari hero quoted in the book. Ultaash is fine. Though after reading this I kind of like Kanatash.
Also, I am prettier than you! :)
Ben
4 comments:
<< Hmm. So I wonder, is it possible for the human spirit and the quori spirit to be in conflict? Is a Kalashtar ever "of two minds" about an issue... literally? I don't really want to play a pure lawful good character in this party, but there might be a lot of fun involved in having a lawful good quori spirit occupying a neutral evil (say) human host. On the other hand "schizophrenia" gets old quick. If we prefer a single-minded (hah!) character maybe I can switch to neutral good and not worry about it. >>
This issue isn't specifically addressed, but the general rule is that Kalashtar are born, not bonded, these days, so your human and quori halves basically grew up together. I think the split personality idea is intriguing, but doesn't really belong to this race, and more to the point, I think you're right that schizophrenia would get old quick. I do think it would be possible to play Lawful Good in this party, if you were more of the type to do as you believe but not force your beliefs on your new friends, a "lead by example" type of thing. However, I understand that playing Lawful Good is a pain in the ass. I think if you were Neutral Good, maybe having grown weary of all the strictures of the monastery where you grew up and set out on your own, that would be OK. I do think Good is an important part of the Kalashtar race, and not just because that makes it less likely that you'll be casually mind-reading and mind-frying everyone you meet.
<< Every kalashtar enters adulthood with a fundamental choice: try to live a normal life as a persecuted exile in Adar, or take up a more active role in combating the Inspired in the world. >>
This does indeed put a new spin on things. It seems likely that you decided to leave the monastery out of an uncommon, possibly even unique, sense of adventure alien to your people, but the desire to battle the Inspired and prevent them taking over is certainly possible. Perhaps you're tracking a specific Inspired, one who killed a member of your monastery/family or took something of value or something else? That might explain what you were doing on the airship.
<< Oh, and the name "Ultaa" came from an apparently legendary Kalashtari hero quoted in the book. Ultaash is fine. Though after reading this I kind of like Kanatash. >>
Yeah, I knew it came out of the book, which is weird since they spelled out the suffixes elsewhere. Poor editing, maybe? At any rate, Ultaash, Ultaa or Kanatash... any of the three is basically fine with me.
<< Also, I'd like to rearrange his feats, if that's OK, removing the psicrystal familiar altogether. He's too selfish for a familiar, and there are some other feats that look good though I don't recall at the moment what they are. :) >>
That's all fine and good. As you said, you were building a character under unusual time pressures, and I have no problem with you re-working him to your tastes.
<< Here are some others I could pick, though, since you're such a scaredy-cat. >>
Scaredy-cat my ass. :) I remember running up against your uber-Champions characters.
One thing I did notice, and you may already know this... you can only spend as many psionic points in a round as you have levels in psion. So no more than 4 points expended on powers in each round.
Your level one powers are probably OK, as you note. Getting a +8 AC bonus seems potentially abusive, but isn't a deal-killer at the moment and probably won't be *too* over-powered once you get to the point where you can wear armor and use your psionic abilities to boost AC.
However, I would suggest considering one of the alternative powers, as they all sound potentially interesting and give you some things you can do with your powers out of combat.
On level 2, don't you have to take Control Air? It's your "Domain" psionic power, essentially. I think you're better off ditching either Energy Stun or Mental Disruption, maybe both, since they all essentially duplicate with Energy Missile. A little more flexibility with Levitate (Handy power, as we now know), Energy Adaptation (ditto, based on your adventures in the Mournland and elsewhere), Cloud Mind or Id Insinuation probably would be a good idea. I'd skip Identify, if only because most of the psionic items in the world reside in your homeland, and you're pretty far away from that right now.
Btw, I didn't remember the psionic items you wanted (the two Dorjes), so you'll need to refresh my memory on that and update the character sheet to reflect their presence. Best to stock up on any psionic items you want now, as they'll be exceptionally rare in most of Eberron.
<< I like the idea of hunting a particular ne'er-do-well. You know, an evil-doer. Trr'rrst.
Kanatash it is. Kanatash Ultaa, for continuity. >>
OK, that works. Go ahead and update the online character sheet, and maybe fill in some of the background, whenever you get a chance.
<< I knew about the 4 pts per round, though I mistakenly thought it was 4 pts per power (it is that too, I believe). >>
You are correct, it is 4 points per power. The 4 points/round thing was my misunderstanding of it. It's still essentially the same thing, since you can't generally use more than one power in a round, but it is indeed a restriction on augmenting powers rather than on how much you can spend in a round.
<< The dorjes are going to be my only way to manifest powers I don't know myself, so their selection is pretty important... especially because I'm not going to be able to recharge them or get replacements, I'm assuming. >>
Right. That's why I wanted to warn you up-front, and let you know that if you were looking at getting a psi-crystal or something that would give you a few more power points to spend, now would be the time to do it. I wouldn't rule out a trip back to your homeland at some point, but it's a tricky business. The safe assumption is that once your psionic items are used up, it's going to be damn near impossible to recharge them without a quest to find someone who knows what they are.
Okay, you guys may not care about this at all, but...that's what you get for letting the preacher game with you.
The personality conflict here is consistent with the Chrisitan concept of "flesh vs. spirit" or the "old man" vs. the "new man." The idea of the evil still within you (I would use brokeness or sickness instead of evil in a real world analogy!) working at cross purposes with the new, spirit part of you, drives a good portion of the ethical texts of the new testament. Paul writes about it in the 7th chapter of Romans.
Okay, sorry for the sunday school lesson, it IS a fascinating character concept. (and my bard is NG so, I'll be your friend!)
And if you liked the 7th chapter of Romans wait until you read my 8th chapter where I resolve that nail-biting cliffhanger!!
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