The Carrion Crown (E7 goodness with House Rules frosting)

Game Master Helaman

Just a reminder, read the bits on character creation that relate to your background. Tie that into the Adventure Log entry thats on the Obsidian Portal site.

Do elves count as being prejudiced against for the purposes of a third trait?

If not, can I take Zealous to represent Baradlon's burning hatred of the undead and have it activate against undead or necromancers instead of worshipers of other deities?

Nah - standard races are just up for mild discrimination and racial prejudice ;)

Standard need to buy a drawback unlike Tieflings, Dhampir and Half orcs (and possibly changlings... haven't thought that through - they look MOSTLY human), who can have their extra trait for free because I intend to use them as props to show case the underlying ugliness of Ustalav and its fear of the 'unnatural'.

To show a semi real world analogy?

Think southern USA 1960's.

Non Ustalav Human? Think northern states Yankee... They probably call you something 'interesting' and non flattering. 'Taldan' is a common term for an outlander who looks like them.

Standard Demi Humans? Divine spell caster in the 'wrong' context or religion? Same discrimination as if you were openly Jewish. Won't matter to some, funny looks, wild rumours and whispered words for many and some real unreasoning prejudice for a minority. Kellid Barbarians (not Kellid gone native Ustalav after 2-3 generations) will get this too ,though with more fear.

Tieflings, Half Orcs, Reckonised Dhampir? Openly casting Divine caster or recognised Arcane spell caster (that doesn't blow things up and plays nice)? You're black and not just black, but those trouble making 'coloured' folk wanting civil rights who are in the part of town they don't rightly belong in. (very)Small minority of sympathisers or people who don't care. Funny looks, discrimination, fear will be the norm. Unreasoning hatred is only a few misconstrued words or events away.

Openly practicing arcane spell caster who happens to be one of the above? Oh you just hit the jackpot! They're just gonna love.... to have an excuse to lynch you.

Necromancers? Oooohboy. Its not gonna be pretty. Pitchforks and torches time.

Now I may not play it THIS ugly but it gives you an idea.

For Zealous? I think they made it that way for a reason and not a favored enemy or such. I will let this apply to worshippers of Urgathoa, cultists of the 'Old Gods', recognised agents of the Whispering Way (once it gets to that) and so on, so you SHOULD still get some play out of it if you really think Zealot fits but I'd want to see some RP out if it where you are a hardcore worshipper of Pharasma or whatever rather than just a mechanical thing.

Just a point everyone. Drawbacks should be incorporated into your RP as well.

Meh, he's not religious so much as fanatically anti-undead. I've got to go to work, but 99% of my crunch is done now. I'll think about the drawback and pick it later.

Ah, before I go, is it cool if I make him an unwitting pawn of the Order of the Palatine Eye?

I want his parents to have been killed by an undead something (still deciding), and him to have almost been killed. In the wake of this Lorrimor studied him, and made sure he was set up with a friend (who is also in the Order). Lorrimor encouraged Baradlon to become an undead hunter. Over the decades he's gotten good at it, and he's accompanied Lorrimor on several research missions. The whole time he's been working for the order without knowing it exists or anything about it. They feed him clues and occasionally use third parties to lead him on to jobs they want him to do.

Is that acceptable?

Not sure on how I want to involve the PE in characters backgrounds at this point or how much knowledge (apart from the info in the module) I want you to have access to. There is some aspects of the game that I want to mess with when it comes to them.

You can definitely be 'someones' unwitting pawn, and that 'someone' may even be a member of the PE but not sure if I want that to be official or recognised and especially don't want your 'someone' to have told you about it.

Hells, that 'someone'? It could be Professor Lorrimor :) He gave you missions and employed you from time to time. Maybe it was him all along.

In other words, its 'yes' but tread lightly around anything to do with the PE if you do want that in your background. Ideally? You don't know them and as far as you know? They don't know you. You just worked for that special 'someone'. You did strange jobs and you got paid, whether it be in coin or 'love' is up to you. The campaign trait ‘On the Payroll’ really fits in this case.

I may well run with this part of your character in Book 2 and make a really cool arc out of it but don't want to tie this down so early.

This is over on the character creation page. Bold section for emphasis.

Please write up 3-4 paragraphs for you to put on your character sheet about your history etc. This is more for you and for your fellow players.

I don’t need a big detailed war and peace background but I do want you to answer these and keep these handy on your character sheet in a spoiler or tucked away at the bottom. I’ll dig around in these.

a) How do you know the Professor? How close was your relationship and for how long? Why do you think, he chose to think of you among the many hundreds that he had worked with or had known? (Meeting him abroad is well and good, regular correspondence is fine and its ok to make up your own reason for him favouring you)

b) Why are you in Ustalav? Do you live here? Are you studying? Visiting relatives? Doing research? What are you doing for a living – after all it costs money unless you have something else to provide you income. (Ideally, aim for a reason that will have you no more than 2-3 weeks travel from Ravengro).

c) What drives you? What are your passions and what are your goals?

d) What do you fear? What do you hate? Do you have any secrets? (Its ok to answer ‘nothing’ to some or all of these).

e) What is your appearance and how do project yourself to others? How far removed from that is your self image.

Finally come up with 2-3 personality quirks and a catch phrase or a habit if you can.

Well, as far as Baradlon is concerned, there is no PE. He's never been told it exists or had anything to do with them directly. (Thus leaving everything PE in your hands. I just want their eventual reveal to be "You've been working for us for decades without knowing it.." or something :P)

As for why he's Forlorn but still elven, I was thinking he'd already have grown up in Kyonin most of the way. Elves are "children" for 110 years. I want him to have been the equivalent of like a 12 year old human when his parents got killed. So not old enough to be on his own, but not a total kid either. So that was probably 40 or 50 years before the campaign is going to begin, since Baradlon is 130 now. That means he technically spent most of his life with elves, though he's lived roughly a human lifespan amongst humans, and began doing so while he was still a child. Whether that makes him technically a Forlorn or not I'll leave to the scholars.

That would make Lorrimor probably a student when he met Baradlon. So it would have been the maybe 18 or 19 year old "adult" Lorrimor meeting the 90 year old "child" Baradlon. Lorrimor studied the effects of the attack on Baradlon (His pale skin, hair and eyes. He used to show heavy signs of drow heritage before the attack).

Forlorn is cool. You can reskin it to 'hard life' or similar and still get it as a + to fort save so I am cool with it.

Liking the drow heritage angle. Could be another angle to the forsaken part too. Kyonin Elves are likely a bit 'spooked' by his appearance... wondering what it means and whose heritage is 'tainted'. Very cool.

We've got a lower strength Cleric of Pharasma - a melee cleric or paladin would not go astray.

Who you calling weak?! but yeah, more meat shields are great.

I'll leave my background a little vague if you don't mind as I prefer to have things work out in game. It's more interesting. As I wrote however, I'd know Lorrimor from the good professor's studies in Osirion.

I'd be in Ustalav for the funeral of course and that alarming letter. I'd assume that we've been called together to be Undead Slayer TEAM!
Who you gonnna CALL?! GHOST BUSTERS!
Jaru really needed a change of scenery anyway to forget about his past failures.

He won't really be powered by hate, but def takes undead as a horrible thing that need to be studied and ended. more an Egyptian Ichabod Crane, though not too wimpy.

btw it strikes me funny if Jaru gets a bit annoyed about the Palantine Eye. He sees it as a bunch of white folks playing at being Original Gangsta with his culture. : )

Caliphas sounds good as a starting point. Carrion Hill? good heavens no!

Alright, I think I'm totally done. Can you please review the character and make sure everything is ok? Thanks!

Just add two or three paragraphs on the narrative backstory and we are good to go.

Loner fits.

btw it strikes me funny if Jaru gets a bit annoyed about the Palantine Eye. He sees it as a bunch of white folks playing at being Original Gangsta with his culture. : )

That will be hilarious. Again, we'll wait in game for the reveal of the PE

Okay, I added a concise as I could make it narrative backstory. I usually write much longer, more detailed stuff, but I resisted the urge and kept it on point.

Great.

One down.

Wow guys. The builds are looking good. I need to narrow down my class and get to work!

Hay-yup

I am thinking Dirge Bard. I worked on a paladin today and I just can't see myself RPing one. I will work on a build tonight and see what you guys think.

He will have inspire courage, knowledge skills, buffs/debuffs, healing, control, and be decent in melee and range.

Bards are cool. And great all rounders.

I do enjoy playing them.

Now I'm bouncing back and forth between a scholary wizard type and full on undead hating paladin.

So right now we've got a Ranger, Bard, Investigator and Cleric ?

Hmmm.

Now I'm bouncing back and forth between a scholary wizard type and full on undead hating paladin.

So right now we've got a Ranger, Bard, Investigator and Cleric ?

Hmmm.

If you want to do a wizard, I can do a more martial class.

Great.

One down.

I think I'm pretty much set. Give it a look and let me know.

Bard can be a sort of melee class depending on how you build them. Again, don't focus on thinking you need 16-18 Charisma. Bards will top out at level 2 spells. 14 will get you your bonus spell slot. A melee Bard can be built much like the Melee cleric. 3 x 14 Str/Con and Cha. You still have a +2 there to throw around. A Moroi-Born Dhampir could be a good combatant dirge bard as well. You even have your own healing in 'Cause Light Wounds' as a spell. A standard Dhampir is a good dex fighter build if you throw a 14 in dex and go to 16.

On the issue of Dhampir. Any Paladin taking Dhampir as a race? I'll allow their Lay on Hands to work on them as normal. Can't see your god hatin' on one of their special servants. Normal anti undead channeling though? That be bad for ya.

Food for thought though 10 strength is bad for carrying capacity and armour. I may be ok from time to time to let stuff slip but a warrior with 10 strength suffers once they strap on armour. Having a 17 Dex and investing in a little strength (and going 18 at level 4) may be a better move if you are going dex build melee.

The game will be a lower range in power (another of the traits of an E6-8 game) so don't expect you'll be fighting AC20 guys every battle and if they come up a lot? Its for a narrative reason.

Guys in heavy armour are scary to low level warriors because its hard to hurt the wearer. A troop of guys in heavy armour is something to respect. Once you guys start hitting level 4-5, its not the advantage it once was when it comes to them defending themselves against you.

Bard can be a sort of melee class depending on how you build them. Again, don't focus on thinking you need 16-18 Charisma. Bards will top out at level 2 spells. 14 will get you your bonus spell slot. A melee Bard can be built much like the Melee cleric. 3 x 14 Str/Con and Cha. You still have a +2 there to throw around. A Moroi-Born Dhampir could be a good combatant dirge bard as well. You even have your own healing in 'Cause Light Wounds' as a spell. A standard Dhampir is a good dex fighter build if you throw a 14 in dex and go to 16.

On the issue of Dhampir. Any Paladin taking Dhampir as a race? I'll allow their Lay on Hands to work on them as normal. Can't see your god hatin' on one of their special servants. Normal anti undead channeling though? That be bad for ya.

Food for thought though 10 strength is bad for carrying capacity and armour. I may be ok from time to time to let stuff slip but a warrior with 10 strength suffers once they strap on armour. Having a 17 Dex and investing in a little strength (and going 18 at level 4) may be a better move if you are going dex build melee.

I like the Dhampir, but I do not want the cleric to have to take Selective Channeling so he doesn't zap me every time he channels on undead or our companions.

GM Helaman wrote:

Great.

One down.

I think I'm pretty much set. Give it a look and let me know.

Nice succinct background.

Just add in the answers to the questions at the bottom of the Character creation page at the bottom of your character - use spoilers if you wish to hide them.

2 down.

Just a reminder to set up a status bar in your profiles... something like this...

Check the character out and see what I've done with the Gender line of the profile.

I've got 25 pt characters, I even got a character whos build points are likely in the 40s but this is one of my favourites. I just like lower range games is all.

Can we spoiler the stat line or would you prefer to see it outright?

I prefer it out right. Its a little metagamey just seeing it there but I don't have to faff around unclicking or clicking - the information is there in my face. Helpful to you as players too. I was in one game where the player didn't use a stat bar and found he'd gotten down to 1hp because he forgot how bad he was damaged over the course of a week-10 days in game play.

yeah, that's a prob I've found is that folks don't update the bar plus there's no record for where you were back in Rnd 2. I prefer giving stats each round of combat in my post. but can adapt to what you want.

BTW- are you planning to just roll out init at the start of combat? that's worked best for me rather than waiting for everyone to roll.

Also, would you mind posting the link to the Obsidian Portal site under the Campaign Info tab? Nice job there. I've added a bit more on my background info and should have everything covered. Again, I prefer to show rather than tell so... when we getting started?

On that note, I will be out of contact this weekend. I'm usually around, but if not I will give you a heads up that I'll be away. In this case away Sat and Sunday.

Yeah, DM rolling initiative, and running initiative in blocks makes PBP combat 10x faster and smoother.

It makes it even faster if you give us the monster's AC, CMD and saves so we can resolve our own actions within our combat post. I know a lot of DMs aren't into that though. I'm guess since you're old school probably not. However if you want to see an example of how it works I could show you in one of my games.

yeah, that's a prob I've found is that folks don't update the bar plus there's no record for where you were back in Rnd 2. I prefer giving stats each round of combat in my post. but can adapt to what you want.

BTW- are you planning to just roll out init at the start of combat? that's worked best for me rather than waiting for everyone to roll.

Also, would you mind posting the link to the Obsidian Portal site under the Campaign Info tab? Nice job there. I've added a bit more on my background info and should have everything covered. Again, I prefer to show rather than tell so... when we getting started?

On that note, I will be out of contact this weekend. I'm usually around, but if not I will give you a heads up that I'll be away. In this case away Sat and Sunday.

Yeah - once everyones characters are done i'll have all the links in status etc but will also throw it up there for now. I want to move to a new thread post generation for a fresh start.

Init will be me rolling.

Also how do you guys want to do things if ppl can't post for 36+ hours on a week day?GM bot or player bot?

Yeah, DM rolling initiative, and running initiative in blocks makes PBP combat 10x faster and smoother.

It makes it even faster if you give us the monster's AC, CMD and saves so we can resolve our own actions within our combat post. I know a lot of DMs aren't into that though. I'm guess since you're old school probably not. However if you want to see an example of how it works I could show you in one of my games.

I may give it a try but to be fair I will be messing with the CL until I find the right balance and I'd prefer you didn't see how the sausage is being made.

Baradlon"Nighteyes" Vontarfonel wrote:

Yeah, DM rolling initiative, and running initiative in blocks makes PBP combat 10x faster and smoother.

It makes it even faster if you give us the monster's AC, CMD and saves so we can resolve our own actions within our combat post. I know a lot of DMs aren't into that though. I'm guess since you're old school probably not. However if you want to see an example of how it works I could show you in one of my games.

I may give it a try but to be fair I will be messing with the CL until I find the right balance and I'd prefer you didn't see how the sausage is being made.

yeah, I'd leave all that good info behind the screen and keep us guessing. I'm VERY old school. ; )

I'm cool with bot-ing. As a GM, I'm not particularly consistent there: I'll usually do it with a fighter when the course of action is pretty clear, but spell casters get esp tricky with battlefield control and GM knowledge. I usually punt to another PC in those situations.

In non-combat situations, I go with quorum quite a bit. If 2-3 say go in a group of four and it's not combat or anything dire, move on. Folks can always retro a comment in. The main thing is to keep the momentum going in my opinion.

Amen to that Brother!

I prefer the DM bot people who aren't posting, or they just recede into the background if it's not a combat situation.

I like the seconded system. Once we're together as a group and know each other a little, if one person suggests something another can second it. If an idea is seconded and no one speaks against it within X amount of real life time (I've used 48 hours in the past), that's the course of action the DM advances the party along.

Hey, I like that.

Lets do the seconded system (24 hours M-F, 48 on weekends) to be triggered after no post for 36 hrs M-F, 48 on weekends)

This is the avatar I plan to use if I do the halfling bard.

If Spaz decides a squishy caster, I may do a more melee oriented build.

Cool

So, who is missing? And what roles do we have?

Dex Melee Ranger, Caster Cleric, (temp: Caster debuff bard), Bathmat Djinn Investigator/skill monkey... Spaz TBA

I took profession Fortune Teller to possibly do Harrow reading later if you plan to incorporate them in the game (I saw it was a big deal in the player's guide). I can't afford Harrow Cards yet.

There is a trait that gives them to you.

Could I take the Harrow Born trait instead of my campaign trait and say the doctor heard me performing at a funeral and told his daughter if anything happened to him have me play at his funeral?

The other two traits are crucial to my build and this brings harrow cards into the campaign.

If you agree to dump the ubiquitous Subject of Study for Harrow Born, I'll agree to an exemption for this one case.

And sure yes, Play at his funeral - I think that is awesome. Guys... you keep missing this for some reason.

Please write up 3-4 paragraphs for you to put on your character sheet about your history etc. This is more for you and for your fellow players.

I don’t need a big detailed war and peace background but I do want you to answer these and keep these handy on your character sheet in a spoiler or tucked away at the bottom. I’ll dig around in these.

a) How do you know the Professor? How close was your relationship and for how long? Why do you think, he chose to think of you among the many hundreds that he had worked with or had known? (Meeting him abroad is well and good, regular correspondence is fine and its ok to make up your own reason for him favouring you)

b) Why are you in Ustalav? Do you live here? Are you studying? Visiting relatives? Doing research? What are you doing for a living – after all it costs money unless you have something else to provide you income. (Ideally, aim for a reason that will have you no more than 2-3 weeks travel from Ravengro).

c) What drives you? What are your passions and what are your goals?

d) What do you fear? What do you hate? Do you have any secrets? (Its ok to answer ‘nothing’ to some or all of these).

e) What is your appearance and how do project yourself to others? How far removed from that is your self image.

Finally come up with 2-3 personality quirks and a catch phrase or a habit if you can.

Is my answer to that no satisfactory GM?

Eminem - I like the bard. Good AC and support abilities. The only thing is I kinda doubt you can carry all that stuff at 10 str with a small character. I don't know if Hero Lab does the encumbrance math for you, but I would double check that. Also not sure if grease will get more play than cure light wounds would. That's more of personal choice though.

I think I have Vigilance adjusted and ready to go. The extra skills I took were Acrobatics and Knowledge (History).

If you agree to dump the ubiquitous Subject of Study for Harrow Born, I'll agree to an exemption for this one case.

And sure yes, Play at his funeral - I think that is awesome. Guys... you keep missing this for some reason.

Quote:

Please write up 3-4 paragraphs for you to put on your character sheet about your history etc. This is more for you and for your fellow players.

I don’t need a big detailed war and peace background but I do want you to answer these and keep these handy on your character sheet in a spoiler or tucked away at the bottom. I’ll dig around in these.

a) How do you know the Professor? How close was your relationship and for how long? Why do you think, he chose to think of you among the many hundreds that he had worked with or had known? (Meeting him abroad is well and good, regular correspondence is fine and its ok to make up your own reason for him favouring you)

b) Why are you in Ustalav? Do you live here? Are you studying? Visiting relatives? Doing research? What are you doing for a living – after all it costs money unless you have something else to provide you income. (Ideally, aim for a reason that will have you no more than 2-3 weeks travel from Ravengro).

c) What drives you? What are your passions and what are your goals?

d) What do you fear? What do you hate? Do you have any secrets? (Its ok to answer ‘nothing’ to some or all of these).

e) What is your appearance and how do project yourself to others? How far removed from that is your self image.

Finally come up with 2-3 personality quirks and a catch phrase or a habit if you can.

Of course! Thank you. You da man! I will start on the background/questionts/appearance!

Hoping we can start the Australian Monday/US sunday - I accept that you may not be able to post Sunday but it gives me breathing space to finalise.

Would ask that you be ready to play or send me a PM.

i'll be around sunday night US time.

As for why Lorrimor chose him, Jaru can only hypothesize that the professor got himself some of that Old Time Religion!