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Welcome.
The players are as follows:
Pat516
TGZ101
Davi the Eccentric
FabesMinis
bmars3
JZ
Celestial Healer
Alternate: Elor Danar
Start cooking up your characters here if you please. There is no immediate rush about this, but it's always nice to get the ball rolling. I know a couple of you already have pcs statted up that you want to play and that's fine. If you could post them, then it will help the undecided how best to fill any obvious holes.
For those of you I haven't GMed with before, be aware that I am a fanatical nagbag and mover on of games. If we're in combat and your turn comes up, you have 24 hours to post or I'll step in and do it for you. I'll do that conservatively on the whole, and I won't use an encounter or daily unless it seems like the glaringly obvious only thing to do. On the other hand, if you've been playing your character as someone who gallops recklessly into combat, I will too.
It helps if you can let me know if you're got a scheduled absence coming up, because then I don't panic :)
There are a couple of house rules posted in my DM profile which we'll be using. Nothing major. It is your responsibility to keep hp/surges/APs/XP up to date. I'll try, but I'm very bad at that.
I award double XP, so you will level quite fast - otherwise a laborious process in a pbp.
This game
You'll start at level 9. This gives you one level 10, one level 9 and one level 8 magic item, free mundane equipment and 4,200gp to spend as you will. If you're unsure whether an item really counts as mundane, ask.
Feel free to take a background and associated benefit from the Scales of War or General sets. If you have your heart set on a background from Eberron or FR, tell me and I'll take it on a case by case basis.
More detail on the game itself follows shortly, but this is just to get you started.
Estimated kick off is about 10 days/2 weeks away if that works for everyone. I've still got a deal of tinkering to do and some busy times in the next week before I can concentrate on this properly.
Woohoo!
I, too, have a striker in mind, which will be a change of pace for me. But in a party of 7, plenty of room for a couple of us.
Human beastmaster (raptor) ranger, big on stealth, perception, camouflage, and the like.
More later.
I'm thinking I want to try an assassin. Do you think that's too much overlap?
C.H., I don't think it needs to be a problem, but feel free to check out my sheet to see the angle I'm taking.
Yeah, it seems like the only overlap would be two characters capable of stealth, which isn't really a bad thing. I think they would wind up being pretty different.
I think that's what I'm going to go with. An assassin, probably half-elf.
Sweet holy maria. So we're going to have an assassin, a crocodile charming ranger, Frosty the swordmage and Gimli's cousin Dorvin all cantering around the mysterious dwarven fastness of the ancient kings.
And that's just the four we know about. It sounds delectable. I'll get some flavourful background up for you some time today I hope.
Fabes, the Iron Gazetteer which accompanied this adventure has some dwarf flavoured feats which I'll send you in case you want to use any of them.
EDIT: I've alerted Wolfgang Baur that we're going to be playing a chopped version of this and he was pretty excited to see how it plays out.
Provision can be made for a leader-lite party to survive. How you do so depends on either your scavenging skills or your diplomatic abilities.
Play what you want to play folks. If you end up in dire straits, I'm sure you'll come up with some solution or other. Speaking of which, it might be handy if someone has ritual casting in their armoury, just in case of unpleasant accidents.
A little background, which may help you to decide what you want to bring with you.
Long ago the gold of the Ironcrags and the dwarves who mined it were the stuff of legend. Such was the quality of the gold and their working of it, that even other dwarf clans muttered about magic. Among dwarves, the skill of the Ironcrag smiths was a source of pride and envy but the Ironcrag dwarves kept their secrets well.
Naturally, such a source of golden ore was not to be ignored by other races and miners and prospectors flocked to the mountains. Some were seeking gold and some the dwarven secrets. Most were just foolish. Then the ore stopped. Almost overnight, the tales and the skills and the gold vanished. The Ironcrag dwarves moved on, their mountain stripped clean of the precious ore.
Then in the last year, the rumours started.
First a trickle and then a flood of people started heading for the Ironcrags again. Fresh seams of gold were uncovered and riches poured down the mountain. Camps were set up and enthusiastic trade opened up again. Everything was going well, until winter set in. Now a dwarf trade consortium is concerned.
Two weeks ago, they sent a supply train up into the mountains hoping to get food and medical supplies to their team before the pass froze over. It never got there. Increasingly frantic messages emerge haphazardly from the mountain, begging for help and time is short.
You will have escorted the rescue mission to the mountain. Various important things will have happened on that journey which I'll fill you in on shortly (i.e. when I've filtered out the vital bits). Meanwhile, be aware that you're going to a place that's cold, short on food and resources and richer than you can imagine. Everyone has gold. Lots and lots of gold.
Dispel confusion: Supply train = rescue mission?
It seems they sent a supply train up, then the supply train needed help so they sent a rescue mission up to help them. We're with that rescue mission.
Also, getting increasingly closer to being done with my sheet.
EDIT: Permission to buy a Siberys Shard of Merciless Cold(from the Ebberon Player's Guide)?
Also, since I didn't bring me copy of Adventurer's Vault (I think that's the name) with me to college and none of the lvl10 weapon properties really stand out, would someone be kind enough to give me a summary of what level 10 weapon properties they have in there?
Isari is correct. Apologies for the confusion.
The old workings in the mountains are known as the Golden Citadel. You've arrived with the rescue mission which was sent to find out what happened to the missing supply train.
I'll take a look at the Sibery Shard and check. Will also fish out level 10 weapon properties for you.
We're still waiting for JZ, bmars3 and TGZ101 to check in, so no rush.
I guess you're planning on a level 2 Siberys Shard augment to your weapon? I'm uncertain to be honest. There's no reason why you can't as the setting is technically adept and packed with dwarves well able to augment a weapon, it just feels a bit iffy to me. Let me think about it.
Level 10 weapon properties below. If any of these look appealing, let me know and I'll fish out more detail for you.
Ashurta’s Blade Weapon 10 5,000 GP Seekers of the Ashen Crown
Berserker Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Player's Handbook
Blackshroud Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault
Elemental Twist Dagger Weapon 10 5,000 GP Player's Handbook 2
Final Word Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Dragon Magazine 365
Flaming Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Player's Handbook
Flensing Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Dragon Magazine Annual 2009
Footpad's Friend Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault
Lifedrinker Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Player's Handbook
Lightning Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Player's Handbook
Poisoned Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault
Righteous Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault
Rousing Hammer Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault 2
Runic Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault 2
Supreme Skirmisher’s Bow Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault 2
Thane Blood Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault 2
Thieving Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault
Vengeful Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault
Weapon of Evil Undone Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault 2
Weapon of Great Opportunity Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault 2
Winged Dagger Weapon 10 5,000 GP Player's Handbook 2
Wraithblade Weapon 10 5,000 GP Dragon Magazine Annual 2009
Isari is correct. Apologies for the confusion.
The old workings in the mountains are known as the Golden Citadel. You've arrived with the rescue mission which was sent to find out what happened to the missing supply train.
Ah, thanks. So two weeks isn't really egregiously long to not have heard from the supply train. Long enough to worry.
EDIT: But not really long enough for the train to be late and for us to be sent after them and have arrived, is it?
Essentially, what I'm doing is chopping out the first section of the adventure.
The supply train being sent up to the Golden Citadel was the last one going up before weather closes the pass. A message got back from the Citadel saying that the supply train never arrived and that conditions are getting desperate. People are ill, there isn't enough food and they need supplies urgently.
You are arriving as part of a rescue mission which has two purposes. One is to find out en route what happened to the original supply train. The second is to do what you can to help in what has become a refugee camp at the Golden Citadel.
In practical terms, the timeline isn't really that important. You do need to know what happened on your journey up and I'll tell you all that just as soon as I've finalised what is really vital.
Black is a reasonably attractive blonde woman with a tendency to babble disjointedly when trying to explain things. When on the hunt, though, she is entirely focused and quiet, communicating only with her companion, the falcon she calls "Night." She gets her nickname from the clothes, armor, and mask she wears when working -- or possibly her somewhat macabre sense of humor.
Her primary skills are in scouting and tracking, specifically in the mountains. She moves quietly and hidden, with Night helping keep watch for anything that might hunt her. Her rapport with the bird verges on or into the uncanny -- what he is aware of, as is she, and vice-versa. They are also highly protective of each other.
Having grown up in the mountains, Black is quite comfortable around dwarves, as much as a human woman can be. She prefers to be hired by them, as the pay is generally good and her skills in much demand among a race that seldom shares them.
Her main weapon is a pick -- again a sign of her upbringing. But she also has a talent around things natural, specifically the storms that pass through with regularity. She moves like a hunting cat (sometimes literally), and her treasured wooden carving of a mountain lion gives her some mystical control over the storms.
Black would likely be previously acquainted with any dwarves in the rescue party, probably including Dorvin.
Hi, sorry for the wait.
I'm thinking of two possibilites:
1) An old, crotchety dragonborn who loves wealth. Like his dragon ancestors he wants nothing more than to luxuriate on a bed of jewels and precious metals. But great wealth has proved elusive to him, which is one of the reasons why he's so crotchety. He would be some kind of defender; a fighter or barbarian. He wants to go to the Golden Citadel because he wants help the stranded miners, who might want to repay him with a lot of gold.
2) Darla a cleric of the Raven Queen. Clerics are often the least popular class choices, yet necessary. I enjoy playing them against the stereotype of the caring field medic. Darla adventures because she likes to be around death. She does a good job keeping her fellow party members alive, but only because they kill a lot of things. She wants to go to the Citadel because she has a good hunch that getting there and back is going to be full of delicious casualties.
Who would you guys prefer to travel with? :)
Runic Weapon Weapon 10 5,000 GP Adventurer's Vault 2
Can I get some info on what this one does? If I don't like it, I'll just default to Lifedrinker Weapon.
As for why Isari's even there in the first place, he's travelling the world looking for a cache of arcane knowledge/relics left somewhere in the multiverse by an ancient swordmage. He heard a rumor that it might be somewhere in the Ironcrags, so he decided to head up. When he heard about the rescue mission, he joined because he that way he gets some help getting up there, gets to help some people in need, and since the rescue mission probably can't get down for a few months he should have some time to search some of the nearby mountains.
Property: When you hit with an arcane power using this weapon, you gain temporary hit points equal to the weapon’s enhancement bonus.
Ooh. So, if I'm lucky I basically get two free temp HP a turn?
Just checking, no odd restrictions on it, right? So no reason I can't put this on a Bastard Sword? In any case, I think we've got ourselves a winner.
Nayce is known to operate on the margins of morality. While he insists upon only taking missions that promote the greater good, his methods sometimes make the more righteous types cringe a little. But, he is known as a man who can be counted on to do what needs to be done, and some on the mission may have worked with him before.
I have most of the stats done on another computer, and I will finish them and put them up when I get a chance.