Hmm...as far as Ward goes...you could replace it with Furious, Ignoble, or Supreme Arrogance. That would really depend on how you feel about your right to power. Furious that others have the status that was lost to you first through birth, then through decline, finally through failure....Ignoble fits if your House's attempt at regaining a bit of power through your marriage became a juicy bit of gossip....and finally Supreme Arrogance if even after all that has happened, you still feel that you are destined for power and those who don't see it are just idiots. That would be my suggestions possibly if you don't go the route of ward.
Garran: I can see you and Maester Lucen having become, if not friends, then companions. I am sure he has asked you to gather him some odds and ends from the forest and fields around the keep.
You only really did pissed off the Deddings since you scam them, the Targaryen do not even notice a bastard of a minor House of a land that they do not even rule and are not courting yet, to side with either green or blacks.
Remember in Dorne you can inherit and you are someone. In westeros you are a bastard, cannot inherit, while some bastards can be knights they will very rarely get some importance unless they are a lord paramount bastard of targaryen bastard.
So really your Nemesis can be any ally House of Deddings, except Naelareon which will have you in worse view than they do Weyland for his colorful history.
So yes you will find yourself with Deddings and their allies as your enemies, but probably a nemesis from House Deddings is highly likely, which there is no lack of good fighters and knights.
House Naelareon takes you in as a favor to House Deddings, in the Hopes to pair you with Weyland, this is OOC so neither of you know this IC. Cruel joke by the lord, but it's a way to ensure Weyland keeps himself busy with you and not Cassondria or other noble ladies in the Tournament if he can help it. Unless of course both of you change things in your lord's eyes.
You can seek the Lord in his chambers Weyland.
True enough, Lucen, although mainly due to feeling less intimidated by your status.
I will be seeking out Maester Lucen soon enough too, I need a potion to dull my wild desires for this tourney so I don't end up like Theon!
You know it wouldn't hurt to put up what each character would feel like about the others.
Cassondria: Strained relationship due to a bit of pride and a bit of misunderstanding.
Garran: Not much of a relationship, may have gone with him a few times for a boar hunt or two but otherwise has not had much interaction with him.
Maester Lucen: His go to man for advice when it comes to politics and other house activities. Though beyond professional, not much of a relationship due to the difference in age.
Marcus: A mixed bit of admiration and respect. He is perhaps a goal of Darne's to defeat on horseback or in a duel to first blood.
Matthias: Most likely his normal sparring partner, closer in strength to each other.
Weyland: His goal as far as the blade is concerned. Though he may never show the aptitude this man has for battle, all the same he respects him primarily for prowess. He sees him a bit as naive having taken in his bastards and raised them as proper children.
Ophilia: Would see her more of as an example of what can happen if you fail at the political dance. An exotic flower that would be interesting to get to know given the differences in culture and appearance. Intriguing at the least.
Ok, Nemesis of House Deddings, held in a modicum of respect for saving the life of some minor Lord (possibly even Weyland) Lord Dedding likes or at least pretends to like. Assigned to House Naelareon as a potential warrior, a jape of sorts from Dedding, made all the more humorous as Ophelia, due to her background, is incapable of comprehending.
Ignoble seems to fit the best, so I am swapping Ward for Ignoble. Ignoble based on 1) Even as an heir, Ophelia is nothing in Westerns, 2) her family's decline became a tidbit of gossip which led to 3) her failed betrothal due to the misrepresentations of her family regarding the decline, 4) the joke assignment to Naerlareon's House, and 5) the fact that Ophelia does not seem to understand the significance of her bastard heritage.
As Ophelia is Honest and working to get power, not some landed knight, I think she would likely have been the one to 'spill the beans' regarding her house status, failing to recognize the amount of harm such an admittance would cause. This will give her a good reason to hang around (need to repair the damage she caused coupled with fear of repercussions if she were to return to Dorne at this juncture) and add to her ignoble background? It might mitigate the damage of nemesis with Lord Deddings, but would likely amplify the nemesis status with whatever knight her revelation spurned. It would also likely be a personal offense to the knight and his child as she would appear to prefer the outcome of her revelation to the marriage to the son. I think that is likely a major slight.
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Updated character sheet incorporating the new information. Once approved, I will head to Gameplay! Yay! So close.. . .
That does sound good. Trying to picture it out with others although.
Cassondria: Curious about the antics of the young lady but having a hard time communicating with her and understanding her thoughs about wanting more physical fights instead of court policies. Also a bit taken about her desire for the seat of lady and not sure how to react towards it. Obeying and serving her commands to his best efforts and fulfilling them if he can
Darne: Sees him as a future lord of the house and trains him earnestly and in his best efforts in arts of fighting, jousting, warfare & animal handling. Obeying & serving his commands to his best efforts and letter.
Garran: Seeing as a valuable assest and loyal person for Lord Naelaeron. Possible instructor for future archer to be trained. Have enjoyed the hunts with him
Maester Lucan: Your typical healer in the house. Has some interesting insights to the political landscape and enjoying a good reputation among his troops. Considers maybe a bit weak (due to not seeing him training) but understand it due to his position
Matthias: Accepting him and trusting him in the household matters to some degree although keeping his eyes on him in case he might demand rights for the seat of lord. Does see him inferior but does not hate him and offers to him a bit higher respect than other knights due to his "official" bastard status
Weyland: Hatred and detest from the past keep him befriending with Weyland. Does not accept him as a part of Household knights but wont say anything since it is not his right. Have a soft side towards Weylands kids due to his own circumstances and having an idea of taking maybe both of them as his squires to offer some chances. Cant really deal with his "wifes" and cant underestand of keeping two of them nearby
Ophilia: Excotic and loveable but really no worth at all towards House. More of a hard load on your back instead. Does not bring anything to the House and could pose danger. Have clashed with lord once about this.
That sounds rather acceptable and workable.
Heading over to catch up on Gameplay!
Darne: Weyland has sparred (trained) with the young Lord of the House in the past. They have a cordial though not a close relationship as his duties to Lord Naelaron (not to mention his sons) have prevented him from interacting with the future Lord.
Matthias: Weyland has spoken with Matthias many times regarding sword play but little else. He feels for the unfortunate fate of the young man’s parents but has never delved into the subject due to his own experiences with losing someone close to him.
Marcus: Weyland feels guilt regarding his treatment of Marcus in the Stormlands. To say the least Weyland was unkind to “the Bastard” and took every opportunity to remind him of that heritage. Seeing him in this House was a shock to the system especially in light of his relationship to his own children. Perhaps it is time to bury their disputes…
Garran: Friendly when they see each other but Weyland has little love for the Hunt (well Hunts for wild animals anyway…) so has little reason to interact with him.
Maester Lucen: Weyland has sought out the Maester when he has had need of his talents. As he is a House Knight and not a mover and shaker in the Household, he has had little other reason to interact with Lucen except to retrieve messages from his Father.
Ophilia: Weyland has admired her from afar but has not interacted with her as he has enough female trouble living nearby with Gretchen and Heidi.
Lets give this a go then (IC)
Darne: I don't like my brother, true he has never really done aught to provoke it, but it irks me how he will inherit while I am married off.
Matthias: Somewhat humble for a knight, safe?
Marcus: He's a bastard, and thus beneath me, but he at least treats me with due respect.
Wayland: Exercise caution, this one seems dangerous, he plays the lovable fool but his charms will get nowhere with me...
Garran: Anyone who spends that much time with animals is someone I should be wary around. Still he seems decent enough.
Maester Lucen: He's treated me when I've had ailments, I've never thought to know him better.
Ophilia: Ophilia is... interesting, in her own lands she'd be treated as knight, yet here she is in the Riverlands, with even less status than I.
Darne: I admire his prowess. I know my standing though, and keep clear lest I provoke even more wrath than I already have.
Matthias: I appreciate Matthias. I can spar with him when needs be, to vent my frustrations, and he is always willing to train. Is it a bad sign that he never asks about me or pries??
Marcus: Why does another bastard treat me so badly when we share the same rank? Westerosi is a bizarre land.
Wayland: I know I am likely to be married off to this one some day. I treat him with dignity and respect, and otherwise keep my distance. No need to hurry the inevitable. Maybe he will find someone 'worthy of his rank' in the mean time.
Garran: The hunt. A time to practice my spear in solace. I love the hunt. Animals and the wild do not think ill of me. I wonder, though; why does he allow me to go along?
Maester Lucen: He keeps me fighting fit. He listens to stories of Dorne. I don't have any belief he would keep my counsel if I discussed my position, but I do like that he shows interest in my homeland.
Cassondria: Despite her wariness of animals, he finds her to be a very proper lady. He doesn't understand much of the "inheritance" issue that seems to surround her, but he always treats her with the utmost respect.
Darne: Again, he doesn't quite understand the "inheritance" issue, but he has found Darne to be very cordial in their few interactions.
Matthias: Garran has little interaction with Matthias, but he's found him to be a very good knight and honorable man.
Ser Weyland: His antics aside, Garran is impressed by his skill with a blade. However, he finds his womanizing ways to be disrespectful.
Ser Marcus: Both are devoted to Lord Domeric and House Naelareon, and both respect the other for that. Though he considers Ser Marcus to be of higher rank than him, he considers him the closest thing to a friend amongst the knights.
Maester Lucen: Garran has worked with Maester Lucen to gather medicines from the wood. He has also gleaned some healing knowledge to go along with the rudimentary skills his father had taught him.
Ophelia: Garran finds the Dornish woman to be incredibly strange. She seems completely oblivious to how things work in Westeros, and doesn't really fit within the system of the house.
Quick question regarding stats:
My Persuasion is 2D-1D-1D if lower status than other character.
Does this mean my Persuasion roll is:
against persons of higher status, and
against everyone else.
which allows a theoretical narrow chance for success, or even negative values (as above).
Or
This is also important with regards to Status, if I am Status 2-1D, then there are theoretically some people to whom my Bastard status would not apply. If I am Status 1, it is a slightly different kettle of fish.
I am fine with either version, just want to make sure I act appropriately.
Cassondria: As a woman of standing, Lucen treats her with the same deference as he does his Liege's wife. Beyond creating headache powders and other 'common' cures, he has had very little dealing with her.
Darne: As the son of his liege, Lucen treats the boy as he does his sister. Again, he would never intrude on their time, but has had a number of conversations about politics and house intrigue with the young lord, but the lad would rather be in the practice field than listening to him.
Matthias: As a bastard himself, Lucen feels for the man, but has very little interaction with him, other than as a healer.
Marcus: Again a kinght and bastard, the only interaction is when healing is needed.
Garran: Lucen respects the Huntsman greatly, and feels almost himself when talking to the man. He is the only member of the household who he feels he can 'be himself' with. Garran's knowledge of the woods and fields has benefited Lucen on a number of occasions.
Weyland:Another knight, and a bastard to boot, with his own children. Not sure what to think of the fellow, but he is good with his weapons.
Ophilia: Lucen is very interested in Ophilia. While she is different and exotic, he is more interested in the blase she keeps and how she got it. Would love to take her in his care and teach her more, but not sure how to approach her.
Hm, I am sure it states somewhere that you can never have your dice score smaller than your rank
--> Meaning if you have Persuasion 2, you cant have more than -1 on it so it should be in the end Persuasion 2 -1D and not -2. This does not give you any chance in the game IC. Either you have to pick another one or need to wait for Warlord ruling.
Persuasion so low as being in negative, your chances of improving your well-being or status in Naelareon or anywhere else, well, I am afraid you will always stay like that
I believe the solution IC is to observe the interplay of the House and the more persuasive members, and practice in the mirror as often as possible followed by OOC solution of using the IC play to justify increasing Persuasion early and often.
Ophelia needs to run away from intrigues lol and avoid any persuasion roll involving conversation.
Take Reviled Drawback instead of Ignoble
Reviled
When engaged in an intrigue, your opponent’s disposition is one step
worse than normal. In addition, you take a –1D on all Status tests.
That probably would be a better one, I didn't see that one for some reason.
I think unless, I run into someone in the hall or otherwise given the distance Ophelia and Cassondria are keeping from Darne I am ready to proceed to next day.
I have at least two things I would like to do that first night but I am waiting for Matthias to respond to me before I head to do them...
Once everyone is ready we shall proceed to the tournament and some little mechanics for it.
Mostly Darne was looking for an excuse to flirt with Ophelia and ask more about Dorne
Heh! Reading through the book, now that I am home, how would you feel about Cursed, "Whenever you would spend a Destiny Point, roll 1d6. On a roll of a 1, the Destiny Point has no effect and is wasted", in place of Ignoble?
It fits the background well, from her homeland, to how she came here, to . . well everything.
sure, approve change ;)
Heh! I noted that about myself as well.
= 19 is nice, (DoS = 2, I think) but . . . 4 damage weapons mean anyone wearing bone, wood, ring, or better armor will not actually be hurt. . . again, I think.
Fortunately, that's where Degrees of Success come in. That's the idea behind Garran and his bow - get multiple DoS and increase the damage. Eventually, he's going to get a Longbow, too.
-> 16
So, if I'm hitting Defense 10, that's an extra degree of success (1 degree for every 5 over the target number). I have 4 Agility, so I deal 8 damage. And that's a poor roll.
You deal 4 damage x DoS
so 2 DoS = 8 Dmg only brigadine or higher can soak all that damage.
Just remember you are subject to the same deadly rolls.
Yep. And I have a lot less AR than most.
Does this game have cover rules?
I have to say, I really like this rules set especially for this setting feels more gritty than the Pathfinder/D&D rules.
To do list:
Once I do those two things, I will worry about getting better with the spear.
I still haven't fully settled into what I wanna bump next. I mean if I wanna be a jouster for the house then it wouldn't hurt to get more in animal handling and Fighting (Or my specialties).
Then there is always sneaking about and pretending to be someone else to ruin other houses reputations....
Knowledge would not be amiss to be a better politico. Same with awareness.
This is almost as bad as Vamp, too many good things to choose and not enough XP to do it with!
Combat Defense is tricky, high armor people tend to have 8 - 11.
Medium Armor guys are 9 to 12
Light armor guys can be anywhere from 9+
Blood of Rhoyne should help. its +2 C.D.
Just as point of reference:
Squire/Trained Cavalry Soldier
Animal H. 3 Ride 1B
Athletics 3 Strength 1B
Endurance 3
Fighting 3 Long Blades 1B, Spears 1B
Combat D. 7 Health 9
Intrigue D. 6 Composure 6
So this is about the statics an average warrior you will face. The equipment will obviously vary. Some abilities are different if we are talking of an archer of course, or another none mounted NPC fighter.
Hmm...it does make me feel a little better that Darne is at least on the level of a Trained Cavalry Soldier.
Makes me feel a tiny bit more hopeful that he won't embarrass himself at the tourney.
It will help me stem my desires to make him more Fighteresk
I started out with the concept of a strange cross between Verys and Arya as a Sand Snake, and went from there.
I think I will continue to specialize Spear but focus from here on out as an alien learning to survive in Westerosi politics. . . Persuasion and Knowledge.
I didn't start with anything over 4 because I don't think the concept really allowed for being better than 'trained'.
That is what you would be jousting as a squire Darne... common and young knights are harder than that.
Common/Young Knight
Agility 3
Animal H. 3 Ride 1B
Athletics 3 Strength 1B
Awareness 3
Endurance 3
Fighting 4 Long Blades 2B, Spears 2B
Status 3
Warfare 3
This are the statics of the common knight you will joust to begin with, then they will get harder.
I started with honestly no concept other then I would prefer the political. I do enough fighter types in tabletop as is so I wanted to do a face. Rolled the crunch and came up with....well something along the line of what Tyrion might have been like if he hadn't been an imp.
@Warlord. I feel like when it comes time to roll dice for the tourney I will be paying homage to the dicegods by delivering unto it some virgin dice. (Ie, I may straight up be outside my house when we start the tourney sacrificing a few of my d4s through fire)
I like the relationship idea, so here goes:
Cassondria: An intelligent, capable young woman. Admires her intelligence. Wishes she had a better relationship with her brother Darne.
Darne: Genuinely likes Darne. Both amused and irritated by his sometime irreverent manner.
Lucen: A capable healer, perhaps more. Haven't really gotten to know him.
Garran: A stout and true woodsman. Reliable, at least when it comes to hunting and other related activities. Hasn't had much interaction with him.
Weyland: Very conflicted about Weyland. On one hand he is a very capable Knight and owns his past. On the other, troubled by the same past for which Weyland has taken responsibility.
Marcus: Admires and respects him. A stern man who demands the utmost in from those who serve and support House Naelareon. He trusts his judgement.
Ophelia: An unusual and attractive young woman. Sees a kindred spirit in her desire to make something of herself.
I guess we are just waiting for Weyland & Warlord getting the discussion out of the way before moving on.
I have to say it was a nice start. Just thinking how to approach Cassandria and Ophelia IC as those game- & relationshipswise seems to be hardest characters to approach for discussion. What I try to mean with this is that the game will be mostly then talking between some of the characters without interaction happening between all players
or Warlord got some hideous plan underway to get that achieved
I have a few conversations planned for the evening, once I finish with warlord I will post them all at once to save time so we can get to the tourney
Sorry, Cassondria came off a bit colder and sulkier than I intended. I will strive to get her more "integrated" with the group.
Though one of the advantages of PbF is that it is far easier to have the group split off, than when it's face to face and you have to physically talk to each group in turn, while the others twiddle their thumbs.
Talk about good player interaction =3
I won't hurry you if you feel you have things to do with other players, just let me know when yer business is done.
While packing, Ophelia takes some extra time to sharpen her spear, and make some practice thrusts with her small pointed sword. Mostly, she is killing time so that she can explain
This one is the Discussion thread Ophelia ;) but dully noted lol
Matthias is going to gain himself a nickname wasting so much water everyday cleaning himself like a woman ;)
Doh! too late to edit. I am deleting my bookmarks. . . I should have last week.
Lovin' it so far :-)
My poor dice rolls will be a source of frustration but what can you do, the dice Gods cannot smile on all of us.
Glad you are enjoying it, you are all still in time to make some modifications to your characters change stats around etc...