Adventures in Kara-Tur

Game Master FabesMinis

So we have:

Gavgoyle - barbarian or shaman
Mothman - sorcerer or bard
Radavel - warrior-type focused on iaijutsu, or a wu jen
Mevers - samurai

I've put a lot of the character creation stuff here. Basically, it's 32-point build as per DMG, and you have maximum starting gold. We'll be using the following variant rules from UA:

Injury (high Con scores will come in useful!)
Honor (still debating which version to use - or to adapt the one from 1E OA)

As regards background, it would be great if we could collaborate on it, and perhaps interweave them somehow. I have lots of info regarding the country and province you'll start in (you're all Kozakuran natives, you don't have to be from Miyama province but for 'samurai' characters it makes a lot of sense if you're from there). 'Shaman' by the way can be used to represent pretty much any religious character, from either the Eight Million Gods or The Way of Enlightement.

If you have any questions, drop me a line at oacampaign at brinkster.net - that way I can also splurge you with info pertinent to your background (e.g. if you're a samurai, you'll need info on the local lords and military stuff, a shaman will need religious stuff).

Hmmm... I've made all this sound like homework now... but it's fun! Honest!

Just to confirm. I'll be starting out as a samurai, as that's the best way to qualify for the iaijutsu master PrC.

As to background, I can make an outline and we can flesh it out later.

Just to confirm. I'll be starting out as a samurai, as that's the best way to qualify for the iaijutsu master PrC.

As to background, I can make an outline and we can flesh it out later.

Awesome, that could be kind of fun if two of you were of the 'samurai' social class (mevers wanted a samurai as well)- a sort of crack team sent by the daimyo to sort out weird stuff. I'll read up on the organization of the daimyo's forces and all that.

I'll put up a list of samurai families to choose from in a while; how do people feel about rolling Spot, Listen and Search into just Perception, and Hide and Move Silently into Sneak? Seems to be easier as well as freeing up skill points for you.

After a bit of thought, and trying some virtual runs of the Injury rules, I think we'll be better in a PbP sticking with Hit Points - less dice rolling to keep track of, and less time consuming.

And Hit Points make the Mind over Body ancestor feat much more useful.

I'll put up a list of samurai families to choose from in a while; how do people feel about rolling Spot, Listen and Search into just Perception, and Hide and Move Silently into Sneak? Seems to be easier as well as freeing up skill points for you.

I'm all for it.

how do people feel about rolling Spot, Listen and Search into just Perception, and Hide and Move Silently into Sneak? Seems to be easier as well as freeing up skill points for you.

Sounds fine to me. I've played PbP a lot and being willing to trim some of the 'fatty bits' really helps in the long run (as long as everyone is in accord).

I also have been feeling somewhat enamored with the 'fighter heavy' party and will go with the barbarian.

I'll put up a list of samurai families to choose from in a while; how do people feel about rolling Spot, Listen and Search into just Perception, and Hide and Move Silently into Sneak? Seems to be easier as well as freeing up skill points for you.

Sounds fine.

I'll probably go with a bard - not quite decided yet on "standard" or divine. With the otherwise all warrior party I'll have a lot of roles to fill!

I was thinking, as far as meshing backgrounds, possibly I'm along to catalogue the exploits of the two samuaris, or act as their herald or something - whether self appointed, or so commanded by their lord. Does something along those lines sound ok?

The idea of being part of a Daimyo's crack team sounds like a great hook into the world.

The Samurai I am planning on playing is basically a Katana master. To that end, I was wondering if you would let Samurai levels count as fighter levels for feat pre-reqs? Basically for the Weapon Focus / Specialisation line of feats. To me it makes no sense that in order to effectively master the Katana, I have to multiclass out of Samurai and into fighter.

Of course, it would also be great if you expanded to list of Samurai binus feats to include the Weapon Specialisation line as well, but I would understand if you didn't.

I'm going to be quite strict about Weapon Spec - it's a perk for fighters essentially, if you want to be the best at a weapon, you have to go into the fighter class.

Perhaps the two samurai could even be related somehow?

Radavel - character's looking good - I'll put up some info about the Hori family (that the Daidoji serve) - with your ancestor feat, I think it would be entirely appropriate for you to be distantly related to the Hori, and possibily through them the Niwa.

Mevers - it would be cool if you chose one of the Hori or Niwa vassal families as well, maybe you're also a Daidoji? It's up to you.

I'll try to finalize my PC as soon as I can. Work's just demanding more of my time this week.

By the way perception and sneak, are they class or cross-class skills for samurai?

If any one of the old skills is a class skill, the new ones are as well. So both Perception and Sneak are cc for the samurai character class.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to pass on this campaign. As mush as it would be cool, if I being honest, I'm struggling to keep up with my current PbP campaigns as it is.

I figure it is better to not start than begin and drop out after a short while.

Sorry to hear that!

Thinking about Perception - it makes sense if Search is kept separate. So only Listen and Spot get put into it.

I made a rough sketch of the background of Daidoji Yorinaga, FabesMinis. Please advise if it's consistent with the flavor of the campaign.

Kozakura is a very turbulent place so this sort of background works well. There are plenty of other Daidoji around, but you're the last of your branch. Hmm... yes, your great-uncle Daidoji Razan (jito of a large Niwa estate) is quite a character. 80 years old and doesn't take kindly to being reminded of it.

Hey, just to let you guys know I'm still in - but it's been a bit of a hectic week, I probably wont get around to putitng my character together until after the weekend.

I have a concept for a character, but I need to figure out if he's feasible.
I want to play one of those prototypical "blind monks" who isn't all that blind, really.

I'd take blind fight, of course, but I'm wondering if trading the ability to read (and thus, use scrolls of any kind), recognize color, make out details of shape and such would be worth allowing the blind fight feat to sort of give him "fuzzy vision." He'd still be able to target at a distance, otherwise he's not terribly useful (his other senses compensate for his blindness), and he'd be able to "see" as well as he ever can in full darkness.
I'm looking at this more as a flavor effect than an actual mechanical effect. I don't want him to be blind (as far as the mechanics of the game are concerened) since that makes him almost umplayable as an adventurer.
I'm trying to figure out if this guy will work mechanically.
Since he's my concept, it's easy for [u]me[/u] to think that my proposals are quite reasonable, but of course, I'm biased.
He's just a thoght. Let me know.

You're giving up something that is amazingly useful - scrolls etc for something that is of infrequent use... let me have a think about it... I'm inclined to say 'no' but I'll get back to you.

I've added some more stuff to the site re: history and religion as well as finding this cool pic.

@Stunty - I'm going to nix the 'blind' aspect, simply because it will make life really tricky for class abilities and whatnot.

I've added some more stuff to the site re: history and religion as well as finding this cool pic.

Sweet! But he's not nearly scruffy enough to be little Kani Ran-Tan... not by half :D

Haha, he is very smart - funnily enough I did picture him as scruffy! Oh, if Ran-Tan is family name (that's right, isn't it?) it should come before his personal name.

For the bard character, I've just found a reference to the Katari-be, a group of 'reciters' whose function it was to recite ancient legends during the major Shinto festivals, preserving myths by oral tradition. Scholars believe this group was closely connected to the priests and priestesses, who related stories about the tribes, gods and the local district.

Could be a pretty cool background if you wanted to be a divine bard.

Ooh, and Koro-pok-guru. Very interesting - I'd generally assumed they had something to do with the Ainu.

@Stunty - I'm going to nix the 'blind' aspect, simply because it will make life really tricky for class abilities and whatnot.

'kay... I'll have something up this weekend.

Oh, if Ran-Tan is family name (that's right, isn't it?) it should come before his personal name.

Oops! Thanks, I had meant to ask about that. Ran-Tan Kani it is. Has a nice lyrical quality. Give that bard somethin' to sing about!

So, as it stands we have:

Radavel - Daidoji Yorinaga - Human Samurai
Gavgoyle - Ran-Tan Kani - Korobokuru Barbarian
Mothman - ? - ? Bard
Stunty_the-Dwarf - ? - ? Shaman
Dragonmann - ? - ? wu-jen or sorcerer

With space for one more.

So, as it stands we have:

Radavel - Daidoji Yorinaga - Human Samurai
Gavgoyle - Ran-Tan Kani - Korobokuru Barbarian
Mothman - ? - ? Bard
Stunty_the-Dwarf - ? - ? Shaman
Dragonmann - ? - ? wu-jen or sorcerer

With space for one more.

Sounds interesting. What are the rules rolling dice? Also I have about a 13 hr time difference from PST. Is that ging to be a problem? This would be my PbP game so I don't know how a lot of this would work. Any suggestions would be nice.

Dice rolling will be done through Invisible Castle. It's pretty self explanatory - you can link to rolls made there Like this demo roll (1d20+2=19)

As regards time zones, I'm in the UK at +1 GMT so it doesn't really matter where anyone is. The normal expectation is for people to post at least once every 24 hours. Take a look at some of the PbPs to get an idea of how different people write about their characters and their actions.

Found the OA wujen, and the only difference between it and the Complete Arcane wujen are the initiative ability at first level.

OA is a +4 once per day, CA is reroll once per day.

Question, any problem with the sudden meta magic feats. (they are usable once per day with no level increase and applied at will, rather than as many times as desired with the level increase)

Sorry, you've lost me on the sudden meta-magic feats... Is that in CA? It's not a class feature of the OA Wu-Jen.

Sorry, you've lost me on the sudden meta-magic feats... Is that in CA? It's not a class feature of the OA Wu-Jen.

They come from a few different sources, you can look them up here:

http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Feats.pdf

Oh, yes ok I see. Thanks for that; they're new ones on me. Yeah, I'd allow them. They fit with the flavour of the wu-jen.

Dice rolling will be done through Invisible Castle. It's pretty self explanatory - you can link to rolls made there Like this demo roll (1d20+2=19)

As regards time zones, I'm in the UK at +1 GMT so it doesn't really matter where anyone is. The normal expectation is for people to post at least once every 24 hours. Take a look at some of the PbPs to get an idea of how different people write about their characters and their actions.

Alright I'm game then. How does an aging Monk sound? I don't have access to OA, what are the acceptable races?

If you don't have access to OA.. then the acceptable races are:

Human

... er that's it.

There are only 3 other races in the game and they're all in OA... it does look like most people will play humans, so no worries. Take a look here for more info:

Campaign website

Don't forget to apply cumulative aging penalties for age if you're going to make him older than usual. Aging penalties

Ok human it is. Don't know if your familiar with Thonlysheet program but I will be using it to create my character. I'll shoot you the stat block when its done. I can use some suggestons as for a background though.

The usual thing is to create a messageboard alias with all the character info and post as that alias in the game thread, but feel free to send me your sheet.

Background - what sort of thing would you like to know?

Maybe something like a wandering monk kind of like err....what's the name of the blind samurai? Like him only not blind, just kind of wanders around getting into trouble and helping people.

I have no idea who the blind samurai is... haha :)

I suppose what I meant was.. did you have any questions about religions, social background etc

In terms of names, monks and shamans only use one name, having given up the use of their family name aupon entering the priesthood.

I'll probaly have more questions about the world in general once I get a chance to review the website you created. Unfortunately that won't be until tomorrow nite.

Not a problem - excited to have a monk on board!

Found the OA wujen, and the only difference between it and the Complete Arcane wujen are the initiative ability at first level.

OA is a +4 once per day, CA is reroll once per day.

Ish .... wish I had known that.

(and if wishes were fishes...)

Character numbers basically done, working on a back story.

Basics are an incredibly rude, somewhat backward Wu Jen in service to whoever our lord is.

I still need to figure out my starting spells and gear, and I should be ready to play.

I should have my sheet e-mailed to you by the end of the day... If I can find 10 minutes to sit down uninterupted and finish the damn thing =P

To everyone, you don't necessarily need to email the sheets to me...

If you could all create aliases as your characters and fill in all the info in that alias' profile, you can then post as that character in the game.

@Dragonmann - I have an idea about who you can be in service to... hehehe

To everyone, you don't necessarily need to email the sheets to me...

If you could all create aliases as your characters and fill in all the info in that alias' profile, you can then post as that character in the game.

@Dragonmann - I have an idea about who you can be in service to... hehehe

Outlining the background a bit more. My master was a prestigious Wu Jen, who swore no loyalty to the courts of men. At one point our master's father needed something done, and the price tag was me (at the time a child).

Now years later, I have been returned to "do what I was meant to do" though I have no clue what it was

Depending on the setup I may be the younger brother, cousin, or bastard sibling of our patron. In no case to I expect or desire to be a welcome addition to the household. More of a nuisance, even if I am a handy nuisance

I'll have to think about how you fit in... I'm thinking at the moment that Yorinaga may be linked with at least one of you as his remaining household servant(s). Those not in this grouping will be strangers (maybe linked to each other, probably not) and you'll meet in time-honoured adventuring fashion to confront danger (no, not in a pub... or tea-house as the case may be).

I've started getting my character together. I've got the alias created but how do I switch it over?

When you make a post there's a little box at the bottom of the section you type in. It says "Post As" and you can drop down and choose your alias.

Oh... and their 1st Level characters.

Oh... and their 1st Level characters.

Doh! I should have asked. Thanks for the heads up. I need the aging mods for my character, I have lmited access to the core books.

Greetings from a wu jen