Looking for Feedback on Character Backstory

[MukkTB]

My group is starting a new campaign. The players have decided that they want to play a group of raiders or bandits. So far the party is chaotically aligned, with a slight tendency towards evil. After some thought I have decided that I am not interested in creating an evil character. The area is Rahadoum, so I can be an outlaw simply by being a divine spellcaster. As an outlaw falling in with a party of other outlaws seems like a natural course. This is the background of the character, who starts as a level 1 Nature Oracle by name of Rubani.

Rubani is the son of a (human) political family (*1) in the city of Manaket. He attended the Occularium, an arcane academy, earning a basic degree. (*2) It was an easy course for the politically connected. Rubani understood that he was not an outstanding student. (*3) He did not feel uncomfortable with magic in general, so he eventually turned to meditation and attempts at spirituality as he searched for an area where he was more competent. Despite his lack of any formal instruction, he was able to make contact with the local spirits. In fact he was overly successful, to the point that spirits constantly accompany him. (*4) He has been able to learn more magic with these experiments, but he is now in danger of rousing the suspicion of the local authorities. (*5)

Rubani was further radicalized by coming into contact with a cult of Sarenrae. In that context he perceives the god as a great spirit worth allying with. His religious knowledge is poor (*6) so expect him to misunderstand a great deal. Religious texts are forbidden and the cultists are unlikey to be well informed either. They have been able to tell him something about Paladins. Impressed by the tales, Rubani has decided to emulate them.

Rubani took what he was taught about familiars and applied the technique to a warhorse. (*7) This is part of a broader context in which he attempts to emulate what he believes a Paladin should be. He is trying particularly hard to fill the role within the society of the cult even as his understanding is limited and his solutions amount to hacks. He is particularly out of the loop when it comes to the Paladin code of conduct. Through his cultural lense, he misunderstood how dogmatic the code is, and thinks that it is a kind of philosophy, open to constant debate and evaluation. He has the image as Paladins as committed philosophers living out their beliefs. This fits him very well because as a son of politicians, he has studied debate, rhetoric and philosophy. (*8) To look the part he has acquired decent armor and a selection of weaponry.

This has created a potential situation with Rubani’s family where he has to tread carefully. He has explained his sudden martial interest by saying, “I won’t make it very far as a Wizard. I plan to serve the city by entering military service.” This is a fairly honest claim. Rubani believes he can make the world better by his current course of action. However there is a significant chance that he will be found out, which will create a scandal. He will make the attempt to conceal his identity when displaying magic. When he cannot conceal his identity he will attempt to conceal his use of magic.

1. He starts with the feat Noble Scion.
2. He learned enough arcane magic for the Arcane Dabbler trait, a skillpoint in Knowledge Arcana, and one in Spellcraft.
3. His Int is 13 which is better than average but not really enough to make a great wizard and his Wis is 12 which is enough to notice this fact.
4. He has the Haunted Curse, and the Spirit Guide Archetype. The Haunted curse means that at any moment there may be small ghostly phenomenon in the right around Rubani.
5. Rahadoum persecutes all people of faith and divine spellcasters. As a result he has the paranoid drawback. People really are out to get him.
6. He has no skillpoints in Knowledge Religion.
7. This is the Bounded Mount from the nature mystery, which comes with 6 int. incidentally it would be pretty funny if the horse had a non-good alignment.
8. He has one skill point in Artistry Philosophy, and another in Diplomacy.

I feel that this story gives the DM a number of options for interacting with the character in setting up the story. I expect things to go wrong for the character pretty quickly. But that is where the story comes from. I would appreciate some ideas on how to handle this as it unfolds in game.

[Geddy2112]

Overall, this is a pretty cool backstory! Good job. Throw on some medium armor, grab a large weapon and go about feigning being a warrior. You can buff yourself enough to fight as good as one.

You have a lot of room to grow, in all directions. You are not tapping a lot of your class skills, but study of religion is going to get you a rank or two in knowledge: religion(I assume your character wants to learn more about religion). If you are riding your mount, then there is a rank in ride. Exposure to nature is knowledge:nature and probably survival. Enough paranoia and interaction with humanoids nets some in sense motive.

For the nature mystery, life leach, natural divination, nature's whispers, spirit of nature, and trancendental bond are all good choices. I would take nature's whispers next, then natural divination, then life leach, then spirit of nature then transcendental bond. All of which can be fit easily into your backstory over time. Nature's whispers is about your innate understanding of magic. Natural divination follows a similar vein. Life leach is a mimic of vampiric touch, an arcane spell. Spirit of nature is your resolve to live, and transcendental bond is your eventual total trust in the party.

A major concern is being a good aligned character in an evil party. Since you are an oracle you don't have to maintain an alignment, but neutral/chaotic good won't last long in a CN/CE party. Seranrae is forgiving and patient, but she is also about putting the city to the sword when they are unrepentent murderhobos. Be ready to either confront the party when they go murderhobo, or fall with them.

[MukkTB]

I'm pretty sure that my character's presence will push the party alignment to around C/N. Players wanting to do something obnoxious will have to sneak around behind my back. Or there will be a confrontation which means fodder for roleplay. While I plan on becoming an outlaw, I would lean toward Robin Hood, not murderous bandit. I would not accept the latter behavior. (I don't actually plan on theft as a thing the character will regularly do.)

After some consideration I have decided to throw open the options for which God the character may have been exposed to. I'd appreciate some feedback or ideas on which would be best. I should note though that this character is not ordained by any clergy or religious authority figures. Nor has the character had direct contact with any gods or their celestial servants. As such he does not need to qualify for the god's approval. He won't fall because the class is not dependent on a morality code to keep its powers.

Cayden Cailean could be amusing. This god is probably most likely to be OK with the character's behavior. There could be some misunderstandings in the beginning where my character comes to believe the god is much more serious than he really is. "I worship the hero god Cayden Cailean."

Alternatively I could worship a stick in the mud L/G deity. It would be quite a scene at some point later in the character's career when he makes his way out of the desert with several levels and a bunch of stories that he proceeds to tell to some legitimate ordained clergy of the god.

[Geddy2112]

A nature oracle is likely to get their powers from a more natural god; Gozreh, Shelyn and Erastil are all good choices. Gozreh would probably be the most lax, Shelyn probably does not fit with your backstory. Erastil is LG, but its not the extremist LG like Iomidae or Toraug. Cayden Caliean is a good choice for the robin hood style character to worship, even if he did not grant you your powers. There is also no reason you can't worship more than one deity, or even all of them. You are not a cleric of deity X, you are an oracle, one touched by the divine. It might be a good thing to explore in game and pick up deities or a favored deity to worship. You have been exposed to Sarenrae, maybe if you find Cayden Caliean or Desna worshipers you find their more lax style of worship to be more your taste. Or maybe you respect the stern authority of Erastil, even if you want no part of it personally.

Also, it is not an if but a when about having to confront your group on being thoughtless murderhobos, if they have chosen to do so. Not ragging on people playing raiders and bandits, and I applaud your group if they can roleplay this constructively. In my experience however, if you have an L or G on your character sheet, players will go out of the way to commit murder, theft, extortion, terrorism and genocide in front of you. Then they will inform you that not only is it not evil, but they are right and you are wrong. So, just be ready to stand up being the good guy in the non good party. The average alignment of the party is largely irrelevant when somebody decides to be a rogue agent.