A Hero, lost in the dark, shall be found (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

I would accept the badger mole, but we'd have to reskin it as a Wombat

Wombat

hahaha

Hey Terquem, I think you missed my question earlier, above your long post. I think you were typing it out when I posted.

As for the spinosaurus, that companion has the highest strength of all the companions. Adding tremorsense and darkvision and grab and rend to that is probably a bit much, even if you do take 3 points off of its physical stats.

I feel like you should go with a small/medium-sized companion here.

I'm not against the Shaman class, categorically, it just opens up the campaign setting to questions I haven't answered yet. The setting was created for this game. I like to engage in a little world building with every game I run, and there isn't a place for Shaman types in this culture, right now. I'd have to invent that place and fit it into the theme of the adventure, which outside of simply rescuing a hero from a dungeon, involves the interaction of a few deities in the dwarven pantheon directly.

Right now I am inclined to say no, but I'll think about it, take a look at the class again, and see if there is a place in the setting where they could be introduced.

The animal companion would need to be adjusted a bit more. I would not want both tremor sense and dark vision, and the strength does seem high.

I'd allow a bull rush attack, which wombats are actually great at (even give +4 bonus to bull rush as a race bonus), make the animal small, but sturdy and powerful, reduce the claw attacks to d4, but maybe increase the Constitution.

Are there no ghosts or other spirits in the setting as it is now?

There are ghosts, some have been friendly. There are all manner of undead, some unique to the setting. There have been demons.

There have been giants, and half-spider/half-goblin fanatics

goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears (but no orcs). There are orcs in this world, but there are no orcs on this island

There are unique possessed undead zombie-like creatures which cannot be permanently destroyed, unless the item which they are connected to is returned to a special chest (it's a bit weird)

There are cold-based undead "drowned-maidens" who were once part of a wedding party that drowned at sea, these undead women control cold-based skeletal warriors, which all have strange behaviors, such as exploding with cold ocean spray damage upon destruction

Most of the undead cannot be permanently destroyed, and return to their existence in between 1 to 7 days after being destroyed - this is connected to a curse

and Dwarves and goblins, both friendly and not friendly

And one demi-lich, who was not immediately a threat to the party, but which the party chose not to engage with any further to see where it was on the playing field.

I hope that when the game launches we will be able to role play the hiring of the new heroes by the existing party, and have many questions asked and answered at that time, which will include some information that is probably going to be incorrect, but which will fit the game well in my opinion.

Interesting take on the undead. Very much like what I’m seeing so far.

The shaman class just needs stray spirits to bond with. Doesn't necessarily need to have anything to do with deities.

I guess some might look at is as akin to necromancy.

Interesting.

Necromancy, on this island is a huge cultural taboo. The island is under what seems to be an unbreakable curse, the exact details of which the party was always a bit fuzzy on.

The animal companion would need to be adjusted a bit more. I would not want both tremor sense and dark vision, and the strength does seem high.

I'd allow a bull rush attack, which wombats are actually great at (even give +4 bonus to bull rush as a race bonus), make the animal small, but sturdy and powerful, reduce the claw attacks to d4, but maybe increase the Constitution.

Sounds fair to me, i'll get rid of tremorsense, doesn't make sense if it's a wombat anyway. replace grab with bull rush.

In that context, I have an idea for a dwarf who for some reason can feel the spirits. This scares her, so she hides it, worried about what the rest of the people on the island might think. But in times of need in her life, she's been able to draw on the spirits for aid. She doesn't know how or why.

here is Billybrainpan's submission.

As to the extra traits, I don't have a problem with what you are asking to do with the character, I would just like to know how you might be thinking it will help the character in the game?

I'd like to gain both Survival and Perception as class skills to maximize the benefit of my high Wisdom, while the +2 concentration will help with casting during combat and is a difficult bonus to come by. Getting Swim as a class skill helps minimize the chances of my sea priest ironically drowning.

Should I or shouldn't I? I'm down to two Terquem games.

Should I or shouldn't I? I'm down to two Terquem games.

If you are in two, then you know you should be in three. I would throw my hat in, but I can't dwarf.

Lazyclownfish -

This sounds like a good character concept. Let me address the main issue in the game setting that will be a problem, and see if we can work out a compromise.

Hallister (the character who has been captured) and Miagnik belong to a society of heroes dedicated to the fighting of the undead.
Now, everyone on the island knows about the problem the island has.

Every few years there is a “rising” of a mysterious kind of undead which attack villages and towns, and then after some time, for reasons no one knows exactly, the attacks stop. Most people know the problem is related to a curse, and the curse is tied to a place known as The Palace of the Vampire Queen” but practically no one wants to know more than that, and much of the details about the curse are shrouded in mystery.

People on the island know even less about this secret society. What most people say are that they are fanatics, the kind of men and women who will hunt you down and kill you if they suspect you are raising the dead for your own purposes, or in any way are in cahoots with those who follow “undead” worshiping cults.

If your character talks to spirits, or uses necromancy to destroy the undead, you might get a pass, but if at any time you think about controlling the undead, raising any undead to use for any reason, you will come into conflict with the society, and that isn’t something I think I want to play out in this game.

Can we find something that will work for you while keeping these things in mind?

Should I or shouldn't I? I'm down to two Terquem games.

You would be welcome, loved to have you

I have reviewed, twice now, the Automatic Bonus Progression rules.

This game will use the Automatic Bonus progression rules

Please take note of this change when spending your character wealth on Magic Items

This will reduce your character starting wealth by ½ (this does not affect the stating money and equipment specified for all first level characters).

As a house rule (due to the rarity of all magic items in this setting) all characters will receive Automatic Bonus Progression benefits at +1 to their level (a third level character receives 4th level Automatic Bonus Progression benefits).

Please adjust your character submission equipment choices accordingly.

I’m a fan of automatic progression, so good to hear. I’ll get the character updated. So long as he gets his comfort armor, he’ll be happy. :)

Yeah that definitely works. If anything, she'd be opposed to undead. She'd have channel positive energy (either from the shaman class or cleric) which damages undead. The shaman build sets her up as an armored caster with thematic abilities tied to her connection with the spirits of her ancestors. Her magic might be a little bit eerie, but it would not be at odds with anyone knowledgeable about the undead.

She just hears the spirits. She doesn't create them or do their bidding.

Also, given your concerns, I'd lock her into the life spirit and trade the changeable one away with the Speaker for the Past archetype. It keeps the class relatively simple.

This means you won't have to be familiar with every spirit to know what to expect. Just the life spirit and the revelations from ancestor and time.

The abilities that archetype gives are consolidated really well here. Also, my character sheet would have all the text for all of my abilities formatted in a way that is easy to interpret. Look at Seltazar for an example of what I mean.

I appreciate the time you are putting into this discussion with me.

Lazyclownfish

Well, I think it is doable, and I'd like to look at the initial work up for a shaman character. Can I see what you have in mind in the form of an alias, or would you rather not go to all that trouble? If I allow the class, I'll make some adjustments to the thematic elements of the setting (something that suggest that such people as shaman exist and others on the island are not surprised or freaked out by their existence).

Everyone

Couple of notes:

I did a recruitment for the old game, just a while ago, in March, and it did not go well. There were several interested players, and all but one of them disappeared from the game in just a few months, so it sort of turned me off from keeping games running here for a while, but I’m willing to give this a go, so please be patient with me.

I post about once every other day (or less) and currently I am running 6 games, playing in 1. I do not have any plan to disappear, and have a stable economic situation, so I should be here for the long haul.
I respond to questions as quickly as I can, and I enjoy letting players expand the game setting with their own world building ideas and suggestions.

Currently (I just checked) the PVQ game has a folder on a thumb drive I keep, as well as a backup on two computers with five files, multiple maps, and the main note file is 42 pages long. I can probably fill the new game campaign tab with pages of notes, but it would bore you to tears, so I will try to keep things as simple as I can so that everyone can be ready to start playing as soon as the game launches

Hi folks. Chuffer, the gnome witch here. Glad to see so much enthusiasm! I can't wait to get to know you folks better.

See this profile for my submission - Agos Cheimón, priest of Trembor. I'm glad to read any comments/questions/suggestions you might have. Also, let me know if you'd prefer I put all Agos's character info into an actual post on this thread; I know some GMs like to have a static (uneditable) submission to refer back to.

I didn't spend all of his WBL yet as I don't know what sort of restrictions/flavor you have for magic items. You'd said they're quite rare, so I didn't necessarily think getting a couple of "standard" +1 items would be a fit for your world.

Barnabas is updated for Automatic progression. How does automatic progression work with companions? It doesn't make sense for them to get their own set of automatic bonuses but it also doesn't make sense for them to lose out on bonuses completely.

I will get you a character sheet by tomorrow night. Thanks again for putting time into this.

Ack. With 1/2 Wealth, I can’t seem to find a way to keep the comfort enchantment on his armor. 5,200 gold and it costs 5,000. So....

Ended up getting cloak of the hedge wizard and an Ioun Stone. Lose the ability to have super comfy armor that is always clean for....

Prestidigitation at will, mage hand at will, 1/day enlarge person, 1/day expeditious retreat, Blindfight and +1 Perception.

Funny how losing 1/2 my gold meant a mechanical advantage. But I couldn’t find a way to keep the overpriced super comfy armor.

The way armor and weapons (magic) work under these rules should be carefully reviewed.

Well, originally I had 10,500 gold to play with. Spent 5,000 of it on comfort enchantment, because I liked the idea of super comfy armor. Made up for suboptimal gear with optimal Feats.

Automatic Bonus Progression assumes people will always buy optimal gear. It gives you the optimal gear so you can focus instead on fun magic items.

In my case, because I couldn’t afford my fun gear, I instead got the closest thing I could to it. A cloak that gives prestidigitation. It just so happens that the gear I could afford was better mechanically than the more fluffy enchantment that was too overpriced.

So when typing up my character I halved his WBL and promptly forgot why. Profile now updated with ABP bonuses, and most of the wealth has been spent. Currently I have 62 gp left. If I don't spend it, would it convert to 6,200 or 62,000 cp?

62cp HA! (but don't worry they spend like gp)

Just rolling some HP
1d8 ⇒ 3
1d8 ⇒ 5

62cp HA! (but don't worry they spend like gp)

Oh thank god. Even 6,200 coins would encumber him ;)

I hope everyone has a great holiday. I'll be back after Christmas will a list of all characters submitted so far

Happy New Year, everyone!

Happy New Year from Western NY!

I am going to run this recruitment a bit longer than originally planned as I am taking time this week to update all my other games with care.

I would love to see more interest, but I think we have enough player characters to add to the game to make it work.

I just wanted to jump in to say that this game has quite a few former characters with backstories that tie into the game. If anyone feels like taking on the mantle of one of them, it would be an easy and fun fit. Here's a list-

Atharessa: Dwarven Bard, has been with the group from the beginning. Servant of Moralane's family and a close friend. Often disregards her own safety while trying to help or save people.

Rownig: Dwarf Rogue, has been with the group from the beginning. Expert scout and trapbreaker. Prone to sarcasm. Often exasperated by goblins. Hallister's best friend. (If you want a character with the deepest ties to the game, he's it)

Windel: Dwarf Cleric, follower of Praggul in his aspect of a god of battle. Really hates the undead. Practical and cheerful. Enjoys a good fight.

Grunder: Dwarven Ranger with a Dire Badger pet. Originally hired as part of a construction crew for the catacombs. Didn't know he was working for horrible cultists.

Zeebu: Goblin Barbarian. Has almost no education, but is very interested in learning. No sense of fear. Sneaky and loves combat.

Mazrim: Dwarven Fighter. A guardsman sent with the group by Sir Guiess. Slowly discovered that his patron was in league with the dark forces they were trying to stop.

Maelodahk: Goblin Barbarian. Princess of the goblin tribe allied with the group. Prone to Leroy Jenkins charges without waiting/thinking about tactics first. Also prone to accidentally lighting Hallister on fire.

Stephanie: Gnome Wizard. Maelodahk's half-sister, also a princess of the goblin tribe aligned with the group. Raised by goblins but looks far more dwarven in appearance. Intelligent and careful, but sometimes displays a very goblin knack for blowing things up.

Edit: Just realized some of these characters break Terquem's All Dwarves rule, so ignore the ones that aren't dwarves I guess

That... seems like a really cool idea. The Bard and Rogue both would be really interesting. My shaman build/concept sort of fell apart on me. Sometimes builds don't pan out.

Is the GM open to players applying to play one of these? If so, what should I submit?

Edit: I skimmed through some of Rownig's posts, and I have a pretty good sense of his personality and dialect. Definitely the kind of character I like to play. A thousand post character is a lot to dig through! I'd want to dig a bit deeper to find some detail on his friendship with Hallister before playing him though.

I would definitely be interested in that if it is an option.

Playing those characters is an option, but with Rownig I would want to be sure the previous player had no intentions to return to the game

Alright, well let me know and also let me know what I should submit to you for consideration. I have plenty of roleplaying examples I could link.

Or I could write something from the perspective of one of those characters. If the Rogue is coming back, I'll take a loot at the Bard or Cleric instead.

So far these players have shown interest in this game

Chobo – Dwarven Ranger

JonGarret – Dwarven Paladin

Gumbaki – Dwarven Mutation Warrior (Kurgan Kegstalker)

Revengealpha – Dwarven Fighter (Brawler)

Billybrainpan – Dwarven Druid

Goodwicki – Dwarven Cleric

Lazyclownfish – Dwarven Rogue

If I missed anyone, please repost with your character idea/intention

If you are still interested in this game, please post here again, and I will select from those still interested in playing in this game.

This game will begin with a role playing encounter between the characters from the Palace of the Vampire Queen game and the new characters, in a tavern in the village of Three Willows, which lies along a swift river below the mountains in the lands under the control of the Vessocho family (Sir Henri Vessocho, who was Hallister's Lord, and Moralane's father).

I'm still interested with Barnabas and Scruff. Never got an answer on my above question about automatic bonus progression and animal companions.

It's worth noting that Barnabas and Scruff are a very similar concept to Grunder. With only a name change, you could just take over that character with new mechanics.

I'm still interested with Barnabas and Scruff. Never got an answer on my above question about automatic bonus progression and animal companions.

I will research Automatic Progression and Animal Companions today, but if I understand correctly, the Automatic Progression basically takes the place of the kinds of bonuses that apply directly to ability scores, to hit, and AC bonus, which Animal Companions don't normally get from magic items,

But it is worth looking into

So far these players have shown interest in this game

Chobo – Dwarven Ranger

JonGarret – Dwarven Paladin

Gumbaki – Dwarven Mutation Warrior (Kurgan Kegstalker)

Revengealpha – Dwarven Fighter (Brawler)

Billybrainpan – Dwarven Druid

Goodwicki – Dwarven Cleric

Lazyclownfish – Dwarven Rogue

If I missed anyone, please repost with your character idea/intention

If you are still interested in this game, please post here again, and I will select from those still interested in playing in this game.

This game will begin with a role playing encounter between the characters from the Palace of the Vampire Queen game and the new characters, in a tavern in the village of Three Willows, which lies along a swift river below the mountains in the lands under the control of the Vessocho family (Sir Henri Vessocho, who was Hallister's Lord, and Moralane's father).

Going to bump this list again - and hope the players see this and let me know if they've decided to move on or if they are still interested in this game

This recruitment is still open to anyone interested

I'm still interested, but I had a funeral. I'll see if I can get stuff sorted this evening.

I'm still interested, but I had a funeral. I'll see if I can get stuff sorted this evening.

So sorry to hear that. I hope everyone is doing as well s can be expected

I think I'd rather stick with Barnabas. It always feels weird to play a character someone else made.

@terquem Normally I spend some percentage of my wealth on items for my companion, but with automatic bonuses wealth is halved and those items don't exist.

I'm still interested to play with Agos, dwarven cleric.