The context for these questions is that my GM is running multiple games and he needs rules for a couple different kinds of vehicles to use in-game. He's busy with RL stuff right now and I promised I'd look into it for him.

According to him, one adventure will be military themed and will involve the characters operating around (possibly in) things like steam tanks. The other adventure involves setting out with a group of sky pirates aboard their airship and hunting flying monsters.

I was looking at the main book and started to wonder to myself: 'how would one go about designing a really cool fantasy vehicle?'

I haven't quite found the rules for doing such a thing yet, but I was truly hoping to learn how one would design something like one of the airships from Eberron or a steam powered tank from WarCraft or Warhammer.

Is there a way to do such things?

At Level 1, you'll get 100 silver to spend, which doesn't stretch that far -- once you buy a weapon or two and possibly some armor, you've burned through most of your starting stake. Unless you take an option (like Krensky's Magus) that essentially saves you the cost of a mage pouch, you'll want to buy that and any other kits that are essential to one of your core skills.

Depending on how much of a stickler for gear your GM is, you might want to hold aside 15-20 silver for a Large Sack (3s), 50' Hemp rope (6s), Waterskin (5s), Rations (7 days, 5s) and whatever other minor gear you'd want as a default "adventurer's pack"

In terms of Lifestyle, you'll get class bonus (if any) + Cha bonus to divide between Panache and Prudence. Personally, I tend to dump at least 2 points into Panache right away to get the +1 Appearance bonus and better income early.

For starters, I think I'll buy a rapier with the Drake upgrade. It'll eat most of my money, but it means I won't have to worry about dropping or sheathing my weapon to avoid a penalty every time I want to cast a spell. My GM's a bro and a forward thinker, so he already gave the okay on the "adventurer's pack" idea, saying that it was just logical that anyone traveling like that would pack some essentials. I'll skimp on armor for now and use my last ten silver to buy a purse (for pocket change), a large sack (because sacks are awesome), and a whistle (because that uses the last two silver and I never know what may come in handy).

I think that sorts equipment, unless anyone has any better ideas. Also, what would be the best level to make the change from Mage to Rune-Knight?

Sounds fine.  That's the beauty of Fantasy Craft.  There's more than one way to accomplish what you set out to do.

I know, it's why I consider it a much more favorable game system than others.

Sounds like a Red Mage!
just make sure you get a pimp hat with a feather on the side and you are set

I'll also need a simple-minded Fighter, a jackass Thief, and a psychotic Black Mage. Then I may put my ingenious plans into action!

That works great, that init bump lets you both cast an early buff and get into a combat stance (Work the Line is a beaut, especially once you can synergize it with Fencing Mastery and Mage Armor).

Exactly! Now my only remaining problems are selecting my spells and buying equipment. Seeing as I haven't done this much, I still don't know exactly how to handle these parts. I know my character will need a good balance of defensive spells, offensive spells, and buffs but I'm not sure which ones would fit my playstyle better.
Also, I don't know exactly how well equipped a level one character should be. I've looked at the Coin and Lifestyle a few times but I'm still a little lost.

Any suggestions?

I had my eye on Fencer for my Specialty.

• Bonus Feat: Fencing Basics
• Decisive: You gain a +5 bonus with Initiative.
• Edged Proficiency: You gain the Edged proficiency.
• Fast: Your Ground Speed increases by 10 ft.
• Parry: You gain the Parry trick.

With it I get a great bonus feat, Edged proficiency for free, and the Parry trick. Also, if my BAB is going to suffer a little it may be a good idea to have the lead in initiative as often as possible. Also also, if my elf is going to be wearing heavy armor it may be prudent to have the boost in speed so he doesn't end up sluggish. Sound good?

Alright, but I'm still a little nervous about it ending up as a big mess. My initial concept was for this tall, creepy dark elf warrior who fought in spiky full plate, carried a nasty looking sword in one hand, and shot lightning out the other.

Too much? Too little? Too weird? Is it even feasible?

Okay, so if I want to make my soldier more mystically adept alongside his martial skill what are some good options? I'm hoping to eventually take levels in rune-knight.

Okay, so I'm trying to make a soldier that knows some magic too. I know that  my best bet is to make sure he gets the "The Gift" feat at first level but I have a couple of questions about the process from there:

- I'm assuming that The Gift grants you a casting level. Does that mean that I get to choose my wisdom + spellcasting ranks number spells as usual?

- If I choose spells above level zero, how do I cast them?

Also, any other information about this process would be appreciated.

I was actually imagining something more average sized and not so much insect as... a gastropod/cephalopod/primate mix. Like a baboon made nasty with a snail and the result got a squid stuck on its head.

...

I'm sorry . No one deserves that kind of imagery being forced on them.

Have you seen this?

I have now, thank you.

Welcome to the slippery slope

No kidding.

I like what you wrote-up; it looks like it would be good for a heavy hitting tank character with some choice feats. There are probably a lot more possibilities to explore, and I think I'll try to cook something up but it probably won't be tonight.

I'm thinking the Horror species would be something sneaky and good at secretly murdering folks...

I was running a digital thumb through my core book today when I started to wonder about all the different possibilities for characters of very unusual races/species.

Say I wanted to make a playable species with the Ooze type. What would be the best way to build such a thing? Or what if I wanted to make a really strange, alien species and give it the Horror type? What would be some good options?

Hi Ice, the key is that anything in a green cell can be changed. If you take a look at the table of species underneath the talent & specialty sections, you will see that the attribute modifiers for saurians, unborn are green. That's where you apply the attribute modifiers. This also needs to be done for some human talents in the Talents table.

Hope that clears things up!

Sorted. Thank you, I'll post more if I need help.

I'm trying to make  a saurian character but I can't seem to figure out how to apply the attribute modifiers. There's some red text on page one that says I need to apply them but I don't know how.

Oh god.

A troll bar fight must look like something out of Splatterhouse.

I was definitely thinking that hydra regenerate purely on organic power, no mysticism about it...unless the hydra is a mage in which case there is plenty of magic but in a totally unrelated and coincidental manner.

All this talk of regeneration gets thinking of all the weird/bizarre/just-plain-wrong things that regenerating critters could get up to. A hydra literally arguing with itself could wind up with one of its irate heads taking fangs to neck flesh and biting off one of its siblings, knowing that it would just grow back. Or perhaps a particularly mean-spirited troll would go around carving off his fingers and sticking them in places where people could find them.

True, the second option does reek of overpowering. However I think I might try the first one and see how it takes.

Beyond the mechanical range of things there are a few flavor options that I could imagine arising for regenerative species.

For instance:  - Hydra don't keep their brain(s) in their heads.
                    - Trolls have no taboo against self-mutilation (as it rarely lasts).
                    - If trolls are crazy enough they can have contests to see who can regrow a limb faster.

Add more if anyone likes.