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My original Cygnaran pistoleer concept could be retooled into the OotAT Gunmage story. Maybe instead of random artillery fire he dove on a grenade or something to that effect - a cache of powder that was about to go up etc. garnering him an honorable discharge. Would you allow flaws in this game? I'd like to mechanically reflect the limp somehow. The slow flaw halves your base speed which would be pretty crippling, maybe the -3 reflex save flaw? As in, he just lacks the mobility to get out of the way? He can still get up to top speed if he needs to, he just doesn't like it. Mrr, just thoughts. I kind of like the notion of this character just plain being slower, but I'm not sure they let you be an adventurer if your movement speed is 15. I would be willing to permit one flaw per character if you so wished but you're right, a lot of them are pretty devastating. Mobility is pretty important for ranged weapon users and spellcasters though, so I would strongly recommend against sacrificing it. Another thing you might consider is that he was just discharged due to completing his service contract... or possibly he retired? It might be interesting to see a 45-year-old grizzly Cygnaran Gun Mage in play. You'd be suffering -1 STR, DEX, and CON, but gaining +1 INT, WIS, and CHA so it wouldn't be particularly damning one way or the other. You could take a few ranks in Knowledge(History) and say "Back in my day..." a lot.
If youre going to be running a campaign with any kind of military interaction, WM: Superiority is a must. It's utterly invaluable in that respect. HORDES: Primal, too will open up a huuuuge swath of avdenture opportunities. And backissues of NQ are good too, especially for the Guts and Gears articles. I'm actually looking to avoid a mainstream military campaign with this one. I have no problem with ex-military concepts or mercenaries, but I'm hoping for a more exploratory and unfettered campaign. It allows the players to play a wide range of character concepts and removes the 'railroading' aspect of always having to function under the military yoke of authority. That's not to say that the PCs won't work FOR the military on occassion, but I don't want to lock them into a hierarchy like that. Thanks for the input, though. I'll keep your considerations in mind for future campaigns!
No, thank you. Iron Kingdoms is, without question, the most amazing 'alternative' d20 setting I have ever seen. I appreciate the work of everyone involved in it's production and look forward to future supplements. Thus far, I own every IK hardcover released as well as 2 issues of No Quarter and the Liber Mechanika. I'll be picking up the Monsternomicon II hopefully within the next month or two.
Ok, any pertinent bits off the top of your head I should consider? Do you remember where they're based out of? Do they have any specific military task? As far as I know, they're basically just like any other military unit except that they tend to be a bit more capable than most due to the fact that they have magic on their side. They're based out of Caspia but, as a military unit, they could be just about anywhere at any time.
Also, as far as the oracular stuff, there is the Omniscient Whispers feat in unearthed arcana. The flavor doesn't work but the mechanicery might. Yeah, there's not really much in the way of oracular abilities here. The best advice I can give is just to play your character as someone who receives flashes of insight but can't exactly figure out specific details. Consider taking some of the Luck feats from the Complete Scoundrel in order to allow you to re-roll a few types of checks once per day to reflect this 'insight.' Sly Fortune is a good 'gateway' Luck feat (since many of the really good Luck feats require at least one or two other Luck feats as a prerequisite) which allows you to reroll one Hide or Move Silently check per day. From there, you can eventually get 'Better Lucky Than Good' which (IIRC) allows you to convert a roll of natural 1 into a natural 20 once per day.
A spider just built a web over the top of my coffee cup. Like... just now? As in, you watched it take place from start to finish? You must be phenomenally bored... and obviously not drinking your coffee fast enough. :) Zack - all I've found on the Order of the Arcane Tempest is that they're the gunmage branch of the Cygnaran Military. Is there more somewhere, or did you just want to fudge it? No, that's pretty much it. They don't go into any major details (though there's some expanded info in one of the issues of No Quarter magazine that I have). They're basically just a specialist wing of the Cygnaran military who all happen to be Gun Mages.
The only problem was I was kind of digging the idea of an animal companion too... I agree that Scout is pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered here, but I would allow the standard PHB ranger for a Nyss character since the standard IK ranger is really more 'military' or 'frontiersman' themed. I would probably nix the spellcasting, though, and replace it with the alternative ranger option from the Complete Warrior (gives fast movement at level 6, freedom of movement at level 12, and some other stuff down the line).
I do think I'm gonna stick with the Nyss though, and probably take up Zack's suggestion of doing a Scout. It sounds like that's exactly the kind of thing this concept needs. The only problem was I was kind of digging the idea of an animal companion too...Hmmm... I'll look (and ask) around to see if there's anything we can do to get you an animal companion as a scout. It'll probably cost you a feat slot or possibly giving up one of your scout abilities to do it, but I think there's a way to make it work. I started a thread for your benefit. It looks like you might be in luck. These are some damn handy messageboards, let me tell you.
I do think I'm gonna stick with the Nyss though, and probably take up Zack's suggestion of doing a Scout. It sounds like that's exactly the kind of thing this concept needs. The only problem was I was kind of digging the idea of an animal companion too... Hmmm... I'll look (and ask) around to see if there's anything we can do to get you an animal companion as a scout. It'll probably cost you a feat slot or possibly giving up one of your scout abilities to do it, but I think there's a way to make it work.
It certainly sounds like a viable concept. I can see that the character would bring an interesting world view and several useful skills to the table. You might want to consider the Scout class from the Complete Adventurer instead of going Ranger/Rogue. Scouts get trapfinding and 8 + Int skills as well as a few mobility-enhancing abilities and a fun ability called 'Skirmish' which adds to AC and damage in any round that you move more than 10 feet. The Scout has rogue attack bonus and does not get Favored Enemies or spellcasting, however, and I think gets only a d6 hit die but man that Skirmish bonus adds up. Since most guns only fire one or two shots anyway, you could pick up Shot on the Run and move from cover to cover, blasting people with fistfuls of d6s at every turn (stopping to reload occassionally)!
Ahh... the classic 'disgruntled ex-military' concept. It works, but it lacks a lot of the inherent 'niftiness' of your other option. It could certainly be a fun concept to see played out, but I'm worried that his overeagerness is going to do him more harm than good. Resurrection does not come easily in this setting (indeed you'll be extraordinarily fortunate if it happens at all in this game). RE: Sasha's Bodger idea -
Only problem is, I'm having trouble thinking of a Druid concept atm that, personality-wise at least, is not bascally Sy'yll. Which means maybe I SHOULDN'T play a social outsider type character and instead go for something a little different... You could always go against the stereotype and play a genuinely compassionate druid instead? People would still pee themselves when you walked by, though.
EDIT: Take THAT, censorship! Yes, the boards are censored here but, you know what? We can take things in the spirit of Firefly and invent 'Immorese' cursing in order to bypass the filter. It could be fun! And yes, while druids are typically bitter and spooky, they aren't necessarily bad. If I recall correctly, the same alignment restrictions apply in IK as they do normally (meaning, any alignment with the word 'neutral' somewhere in it). Thus, you could be Neutral Good and just chase people off when they try to cut down your trees. Entangle won't hurt anyone, but you better believe that superstitious lumberjacks will leave those trees the hell alone if the vines and branches start trying to choke them! Lumber 'jacks, on the other hand......
Meh, I'll see what Steve's coming up with, and meanwhile I'll start contemplating Concept 2. I kinda want a magic user... but I feel generally ok with just about anything. You could do a druid, since it doesn't look like anyone is planning a cleric. You aren't exactly the 'healbot' that a cleric is, but in IK, healing is kinda limited anyway. Plus, as you've seen, druids get a fairly nice complement of combat spells that can really mess people up. Besides, I can say all I need to say about a druid in Iron Kingdoms with two little words: heat metal. "Oh, I'm sorry. Is that gun loaded?"
You guys could all make elves and then Steve could remake "Mad Jack" in the form of a 'battlefield salvage specialist' who is really just a crazy Cygnaran fighter who thinks that "guns are fer sissies." That party dynamic would be fun to watch for a little while... until it spiralled into a black hole and obliterated itself.
...Unless there were 4...*nudges Zack* UNLESS THERE WERE FOUR.... :D Yes, if you ALL want to make Nyss, then it won't be such an issue. However, you'll basically be condemning yourselves to a campaign that avoids technology, civilization, and the entire human race. You might as well play Drow. :P That's not to say I can't develop an intriguing storyline to accomodate this notion, just that if you really want the gritty, metal-on-metal taste of IK, you're not going to get it with a pack of elves.
Ok. Character concept #1: Resurrect Sy'yll. Or rather, recycle, reduce and reuse Sy'yll, since I'm assuming we're going to be back at level 4 again and Sy'yll never actually died, unlike our good friend Yfel. Yes, you will be back at level 4 again and, by 'resurrect' I just meant 'rehash the concept.' Obviously, the events of our previous IK campaign will not have occurred in the history of this upcoming one. Ian, regarding your 'stubble and hat' concepts, I think a Dwarven Gun Mage or War-Bard would be perfectly appropriate, though I would think Gun Mage would be more appropriate since War-Bards get all kinds of Knowledge skills and other abilities that seem quite a bit beyond the scope of a gunsmith, worldly or not. You do have a good point on the human, though. The extra feat and skill points would go a long way and, as a Gun Mage, that extra 10 ft. of movement might mean the difference between making it to cover and getting shot. Charisma is an important aspect for both classes, so a dwarf might be at a mechanical disadvantage. Not a crippling one, but a noticeable one nonetheless. If Ali intends to remake Yfel and Sasha re-hashes Sy'yll, you'll have melee combat and arcane magic pretty well taken care of. The Gun Mage would augment the party nicely with ranged combat and a few utility spells that the sorceress might otherwise lack. The bard, of course, would be your skill monkey. If Steve wants to do a ranger or rogue, however, the skill monkey position becomes less vital and Gun Mage becomes the clear choice for you. I kinda like the idea of a Malcolm Reynolds-style Cygnaran Gun Mage, though. Maybe he was a captain in the Order of the Arcane Tempest and got discharged for some reason or maybe he retired early because he'd spent enough time on the battlefield to end his service contract.
I recognize that Steve is (or was) contemplating playing a Nyss. If we don't want to have 2 of the damn things in one campaign---or if the character concepts are too similar---I will let Steve have his turn with Nyss-joy and I'll play something else. Putting two Nyss in the party begins to stretch the bounds of credibility. I suppose that we could have two, but I feel that the party dynamic would suffer for it.
The Idrian accidental witch bit would probably be PrC'ing to Spellsword if you'd allow it. I'm less and less sold on this char because it's kind of an internal and emo-esque story. Maybe depending on the group though... No problem with the Spellsword PrC. You might want to check out the Abjurant Champion from the Complete Mage as well. Pretty much anything from the IK books, core books, PHB2, and the Complete Books is cool with me. Obviously, certain PrCs and feats may need to be tweaked to fit the IK 'flavor' and many of the Divine Feats will probably be revised or outright banned (such as the Reserve feat 'Touch of Healing' from the Complete Champion) in order to maintain setting cohesion. As a general rule, though, most things should be fine.
I"m going to cry. The site just ate my like 9 page concept spill. Oh... that's sad. :*( Long posts have a tendency to be devoured here. I always advocate copying long posts to your clipboard (do they call it that anymore?) and then waiting to see if it actually posts when you click the 'Submit Post' button. If it does, you're golden. If not, Ctrl + V is your savior and you can always retry. Sometimes, the post will get made but you won't see it immediately and it will magically appear an hour later. This phenomenon is thankfully rare. The random post devouring, however, is not as rare as we'd like it to be.
I'm mostly focusing on character concepts and backstories for the time being. Once I get a good feel for who and what the characters are, I can get down to working out the plotline that will accomdate the concepts you've developed. I would advise you to come up with at least 2 concepts that appeal to you because if you are dead-set on one concept and someone else is dead-set on another concept that is very similar to yours, we'll end up with a lot of overlap and that's generally not a good thing from a balance standpoint. Just a couple of paragraphs to detail where the character is coming from and why they're an 'adventurer' should be sufficient to lay the groundwork. You're going to be starting at level 4, FYI.
Heh, no problem Sean. As I currently don't have anyone in reserve for either of my two Forgotten Realms campaigns, you will be the first to know if a slot opens up in "Fade to Black" (assuming you don't mind an evil game) or "Echoes of Eternity." I strongly doubt that this will be the last PbP I start up here, either. I'm known to be quite the masochist and enjoy finding new ways to obliterate my free time. :D
I didn't throw up a post in the Gamer Connection forum because I am only starting this game up as a special request from several personal friends of mine. Two of the greatest players I have ever had the honor of gaming with moved away from me last summer and the inability to game together has been heartbreaking for all of us. This saga, set in war-torn Western Immoren, is nothing more than an attempt to rekindle some of that lost flame. My apologies to those who would jump at the chance to be included in this game, but the positions are already filled. As always, comments by lurkers in this thread are welcome and I hope you enjoy watching this tale unfold in the Play-by-Post section once we've gotten a chance to put the character concepts together here. Ian, Steve, Sasha, and Ali... may the character concept discussions begin!
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