Greetings, all. Welcome to the Discussion thread for the campaign! For now go ahead and post in, and if you have any questions or concerns, let me know. I'll go over characters one more time to make sure we're all ready, and then I'll be putting up Gameplay shortly!
Hello! Thanks for the selection!
Good to be here. I'll clean up the profile and get that backstory on the profile as well.
Nice. Thanks Loup!
Hello everyone.
Sorry, I'm checking in late. There was a three day weekend in Puerto Rico that threw off my posting.
Alright, everybody's here! It's very late where I am, so I won't be doing really any update here tonight, but I'll hopefully go over everyone's characters one more time tomorrow and get this show rolling shortly after that. I am on vacation with my family right now, visiting family and friends in New England, and tomorrow we'll be in Boston for most of the day into the night, so I may not be able to get things updated until Wednesday, but bear with me and we'll have a great time going soon!
and tomorrow we'll be in Boston for most of the day into the night
How are you enjoying our terrible heatwave?
Is everyone okay with knowing each other before the adventure starts? I find it takes care of some of the awkwardness if we can assume a camraderie.
Dom is a bit of a rolling stone anyway, so he could have met anyone without much fuss.
What do you guys think about getting caught in the midst of a kobold raid of a town?
I believe that Drake and I were planning to know each other. We discussed having Drake be the outlaw that Jed sold out to, but we haven't talked about it in a bit.
Just some quick notes here as I've spent a long day out and I'm very tired:
Re: Boston and its Weather--Boy, yeah, the heat. I know it's summer and it's been bad all over but seriously, it's killer out there. Not as bad in the evening as in the daytime, although at tonight's Red Sox game the temperature at 7 PM was apparently 92 degrees, so still really really hot. I'm always thankful for hotels with air conditioning.
Re: Knowing One Another--If you guys want to take it into your hands to do that, awesome! I'm planning the first scene to be the iconic sort of coming-together moment at a rail station, where figures walk toward each other with their dusters whipping in the breeze, but you can certainly know one another beforehand. Certainly would be neat to hear about how you all dealt with them kobolds!
I'll muse some today on knowing each other.
Re: Boston and its Weather--Boy, yeah, the heat. I know it's summer and it's been bad all over but seriously, it's killer out there. Not as bad in the evening as in the daytime, although at tonight's Red Sox game the temperature at 7 PM was apparently 92 degrees, so still really really hot. I'm always thankful for hotels with air conditioning.
Yeah, it's been abnormally hot. Like, 90-95 and humid as a bastard for like 3 weeks. I hope it was at least a good game! And that the rest of Boston has been fun.
Alright, I'm awake and available now, so I double-checked over folks' characters and backstories. Not everyone needs feedback, but here's what I've got at the moment.
In terms of backstory, it looks good. My only question is how exactly Malachi came to hire on with Gundrenn Rockseeker's caravan, but that can be explained easily enough even in game.
Feel free to talk about knowing one another if you like, I'll wait to open this up into gameplay until this evening at the earliest, unless I hear back from you guys that you need/want more time.
I'll say it's been about three years since Dom was last in Phandalin. He found a job that took him elsewhere, and just drifted for a bit.
I'll say it's been about three years since Dom was last in Phandalin. He found a job that took him elsewhere, and just drifted for a bit.
Alright, that sounds good. In that case you'll know many of the people and places in Phandelver, but not much about its current situation, at least at game start.
Your formatting's a little different than I'm used to but I can understand everything, so that's all good.
I can change it up if you'd prefer something else!
Mechanically the only thing I'm seeing is a couple of your skills have off numbers, but I'd guess that's from just copy-pasting or routinely going down, which are minor errors I make all the time. I'm also still unsure on your Background but I know you were as well, so just let me know when you have that squared away--and I hope you find something fitting from the sources available!
Whoops. Yeah, copy and paste errors for sure. I think I fixed all of those. And the background I went with was Charlatan, which is now noted on the sheet. It's not exactly what I want, but it was the closest thing I found (and isn't a major thing) so it'll do.
In terms of backstory, it looks good. My only question is how exactly Malachi came to hire on with Gundrenn Rockseeker's caravan, but that can be explained easily enough even in game.
Through mostly paranoia, Malachi stays on the move. If they're going somewhere he hasn't been, and it's a chance for him to blend into a crowd, he'll be interested in joining up.
Also, I don't know when we're starting but FYI I'll be away from the 2nd to the 9th as I'll be at GenCon.
Lucky guy! Have fun.
I'll be on a road trip to the Martimes from the 3rd to the 10th, posting will be there but might be intermittently slower.
As for knowing anyone, Siann's just arrived from overseas and pretty much come directly inland. Could be she met one or two on the train....
Loup, how do you want to handle Siann's 'disguise'? Should she be rolling a deception check everytime she meets someone...or go with her assumption that people see what they want to see. If they see a person dressed as a lad, who is built like a lad, fights like a lad....they see a lad. I'm assuming the common western trope that women aren't quite as liberated and equal as today, dresses and petticoats and all.
Just realized I'd been misspelling the name, woops. You've mentioned backstory stuff to me, so I know you've got good stuff in mind; just try and get it up in the profile when you can, along with knowing reason for Jedidah to sign up for the job.
Actually, I had his name misspelled in the alias. I was typing too fast and never fixed it.
And I'll type up his full backstory. It's mostly the kind of stuff that I've already talked about.
Malachi--No need to change, unless you want to take the time to do so. Honestly I understand everything in your profile fine. Background and backstory stuff sounds good, so you're set. Have fun at GenCon!
Siann--As far as the disguise goes, I'll say that only people who are particularly looking for anything would require an opposed roll; most folks will just accept what they see, or use Passive Perception against a high DC or something. Generally I'll handwave it for most folks. As far as ladies and liberation, I'm thinking that for the sake of character options and such, I'd normally say they're slightly more liberated on the frontier, so while people might view it as odd, there won't be a scandal every time a woman swings a sword or shoots a pistol. Makes practical sense as well.
Jedidiah--Alright, no problem.
I'm hoping to get gameplay rolling later today, although I can't pinpoint an exact time or promise 100% that it will happen, as I'm still visiting family and things have a tendency of coming up. Still, I should have an opportunity at some point!
I should be done editing my sheet some time tonight. I started the other day, but was interrupted. I will include my reasoning for him joining the caravan with the backstory on the alias when its finished.
Alright, Gameplay is finally up! Sorry it took so long, I should never have bothered trying to get this started while I was still visiting family. If it isn't last-minute outings to see a movie (the new Jason Bourne film is quite good), it's spotty wi-fi, or 18-month twins causing trouble and demanding attention (gods help my aunt and uncle). However, after an incredible 10-hour drive home, I'm here and have the post up! Check in when you have the time; I'd suggest starting with a description of your character and then you can do as you please. You're all arriving at the same time, perhaps by fate, perhaps by trope, or perhaps through convenience.
Malachi and Siann--No problem on your trips, I obviously understand how things go. You can either post in now and I can bot you as needed while you're away, or else we can retcon the numbers and have you arrive whenever you return. Either way is fine, just let me know!
EDIT: Not sure if you want to mark it on your sheets or anywhere, but I've decided we'll use the Healing Surges option as presented in the 5E DMG on page 266-267. Should help with you guys staying alive without much magical healing.
Just a minor note and check-in, since I may not have made it clear: the station platform is quite empty at the moment, with only the party and Anders there. I'm trying a bit to spiritually copy/allude to this opening scene.
So far only one post, although it's only been a day. Are people still around? I know some folks are traveling. EDIT: Ah, here we are! Didn't see those posts. Serves me right for trying to multitask.
I completely forgot to check this this week. My bad.
Alright, for right now we're moving forward without Malachi; when he gets back he'll join us where we are as soon as it makes sense.
Who are we waiting on right now, exactly? I'm just a little confused.
I'm up next, but the goblins go before me, so we're waiting on the GM.
Yeah, sorry guys, I was traveling the last couple days again, and once again was surprised with no Internet.
I have to say, I'm starting to see a problem with the firearms rules. Now I basically can only attack every other round. Which basically means I'm useless for now because the goblins will be dead before I can shoot again.
Never f*cking mind. Entirely different complaint. Don't invent a new rule that's name is two letters different from an entirely different rule that's located in a different book that I have to check to make sure that I know what I'm doing. Calling a rule 'Reload' when 'Loading' is a quality in the Core Rules in unnecessarily confusing.
Yeah, that was my big fear with the introduction of Reload. I really don't know what else to call it, though.
Try 'muzzle loaded' or something like that. The difference is obvious since most people will know what that means and know that a revolver or rifle is not.
Ah, but the problem with that is that the revolver also has the quality, since this is pre-cartridge technology, and each shot has to be reloaded by hand with a firing cap and the ball bullet being placed in separately. The problem is that at least within my knowledge there aren't really any synonyms for "reload" within the sense of firearms. I suppose I could call it cap and ball for convenience's sake, but that doesn't really fit the actual descriptor and mechanics of what's going on.
I'll continue to think on it and try to come up with something, but in the meanwhile we'll have to do our best to just parse through it. It's still not nearly as bad as Pathfinder gets at times.
I forgot that "light" and "finesse" are now different categories. I'd prefer to keep the handaxe because I feel it's a little different. I'll just use my Strength modifier for attacks.
Did we lose some players? I'm cool with a smaller group, but I just want to be sure.
Malachi mentioned he was going to be away for a while, but I invited him to let us know when he was back and we'd find a way for him to jump in. I haven't heard anything from him, though, so he might either just not be checking in, or he's not interested anymore.
I've been busy moving into school, but I'm still around.
Hey, DM, I was thinking it might be cool to pick up a scimitar later, but reflavor it as a cavalry saber. Any issues with that?
Not at all, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm hoping to have happen in this game.
Sorry for the delay guys, first week of classes demanded attention, and then I came down with an annoying illness yesterday into today. I'd love to update now but I can feel the fever and medicine combining to mess with my mental faculties, so I'll have to update tomorrow. Spoiler, though: Dom succeeded.
Man, sometimes the dice just suck.
To clarify, is Dom also up?
He's stable, although not actually up (conscious) just yet. Jed can spend a point of lay on hands on you, though, at which point you could both use healing surges to get some health back, and potentially the group may want to take a rest to get hit dice/hit points back. It's you guys' call.
That's what I figured. Just wanted to be sure.
I don't have Lay on Hands left. I used it earlier. We're first level, I only get like 5 points a day. Also, only fighters get healing surges unless you're using a rule from a splat book that I haven't read.
Ahh. I forgot about that.
The healing surge is from the optional rule in the Dungeon Master's Guide, on page 266. I would have sworn I mentioned in here we'd be using it, but maybe that only happened in the other game's Discussion thread, where they were concerned with healing. It basically lets you use Hit Dice to heal in combat as an action, with certain limitations on how many you can use. I'm making it a minimum of 1 Hit Die that can be used and recovered.
Sorry that wasn't clear earlier, again, I'd have sworn I posted it. It's a bit situational in when it's actually good to use it, though, and considering how this section has a lot of melee enemies, it probably would have been more trouble to use it than not so far. My apologies, though.
Decided to add the text for healing surges here. I'll also add it to my character sheet in case someone needs a quick refresher.
This optional rule allows characters to heal up in the thick of combat and works well for parties that feature few or no characters with healing magic, or for campaigns in which magical healing is rare.
As an action, a character can use a healing surge and spend up to half his or her Hit Dice. For each Hit Die spent in this way, the player rolls the die and adds the character's Constitution modifier. The character regains hit points equal to the total. The player can decide to spend an additiona l Hit Die after each roll.
A character who uses a healing surge can't do so again until he or she finishes a short or long rest.
Under this optional rule, a character regains all spent Hit Dice at the end of a long rest. With a short rest, a character regains Hit Dice equal to his or her level divided by four (minimum of one die).
For a more superheroic feel, you can let a character use a healing surge as a bonus action, rather than as an action.
DM, are we using an action or a bonus action?
I'm keeping it a full action for right now, because it feels more fitting for the feel we're shooting for: gunfighters taking a breather behind some cover for a few seconds, recovering enough to keep on gunning. Bonus action seems a tad much for just now, but I'm open to changing it as time goes on if people want, once we see how it all works in action.
EDIT: I also allow you to spend a Hit Die during a short rest if you're unconscious, as long as you're stable and there are friendly folks giving you some aid. (As in this case, and most cases where people are still conscious around you.)
So can we surge now before we get in to another fight?
If you wish. You can also wait for a short rest period if you want to try that, which will let you spend a hit die as well. (Although I guess the most efficient way to go about it, if you're conscious, would be to spend a surge now, take the short rest, and just regain the Hit Die you spent on the surge so you have it for later.)
Well unless we're going to leave and come back later, I don't think we have time to take a short rest before the goblins come back with reinforcements.
We could also spend our surges now, and then kill the goblins to the man, and THEN take a short rest. Alternately, it didn't seem to me necessarily like they were coming back for reinforcements, but Simon's the only one who saw it IC. Either way, we ought to spend a Surge now so that we're in good enough shape to fight. If we can get away with taking a short rest, I say we do, but if group consensus is against that I'll follow.