Arcane
Only three choices here, but that doesn't make it easier. I liked all of them and could easily see any one of them taking the arcane caster role for this game.
But, I must cut so: I am dropping Ylenna.
As I said, I liked them all, but she didn't speak to me as much as the other two. It might just be sorceror vs other caster types.
I am keeping Aleira and Nikolai for now, but I prefer the alley witch to take the primary arcane spot. Nikolai is holding on in case the wild card is an arcane type, but that's unlikely.
This is more a case of how much I like the idea of someone attuned to the city for this urban campaign than anything particularly wrong with Nikolai. Aleria's story is gritty and dark, and I like that for this AP.
Divine
Surprisingly, this category had the most submissions. I will usually lean to a full healer first for the divine role, since the party will need it sooner or later. There are some interesting choices for wild-card in this mix as well, but have to narrow down.
As a result, I am dropping Zirom, Terrance, Giorgio, Truly, and Marius.
Zirom is an oracle, and I'm just not all that into that class. The gnome/Varisian thing confused me a bit, and, as i said before, the fortune-telling part creates some conflict in the story.
I already took a dwarf, so Terrance gets squeezed a bit. Plus I liked the other full cleric's stories a bit better.
Giorgio is a nice character, and could be a good wild-card but he just didn't speak to me as much as some of the others.
The urban druid idea is sound for this game, and I had a hard time dropping Truly. Ultimately, I was more interested in the theurge idea of Twilight's as the divine wild-card candidate. One of the hardest choices I had.
Marius was in the running for the full cleric spot. I liked the idea of Shelyn, who seems under-represented in my experience, but the build was a little weird. High strength and only middling wisdom. I just went the other way.
For now, Mirela and Twilight can stick around. Mirela will be the main healer. Twilight is in as one of the wildcard choices, but probably won't make it as full divine, given the planned progression.
That leaves:
Skills
These are my favorite types to play, but that didn't make choosing among them any easier...
Ultimately, I am dropping Kyoden, Derik, and Finneas.
This story will already have one vigilante so starting another hero might make things more crowded. The Oni will have to make his appearance in another story.
Needing the MW item and building the story around that kind of turned me off from Derik. There were other choices I liked better.
Ultimately, I struggled to drop Finneas. The idea of the prankster bard is filled with such promise from an RP perspective, but gnomes aren't my favorite, and his backstory is a bit forced based on his age etc.
That leaves Atticus and Devan in the running still. I am putting Atticus in the skill role mainly because he has the Disable Device skill which will come in handy before all is said and done. Devan is in the hunt for the wild-card spot.
Whew...After all that, the main party will be:
Front Line Fighter - Nargun Firehelm - dwarf barbarian, invulnerable rager, his wife was killed and now he's out for revenge against Lamm.
Arcane Caster - Aleira - human alley witch. Sold to Lamm as a child for a dose of shiver by her mother, Aleira still bears the scars of a brutal beating, but that experience tied her to Korvosa's heartbeat in strange and mystical ways.
Divine Caster - Mirela Wintrish - human cleric of Erastil. A former pawn of Lamm, Mirela escaped his clutches and the city to study the faith of Erastil. Now she plans to return to free the little ones.
Skill - Atticus Fulvios - human investigator. Bookish and well-educated, Atticus lost his employer's child to Lamm's clutches, and now needs to get the boy back.
These players can check in on the Discussion tab, which should be open for business. I will be going over your builds in detail tomorrow, making sure all is legal and game-ready. If you have minor changes or purchases to make to flesh out, then please do so.
Still need to fill the last party spot - the wild card. The candidates are:
White Feather - Shoanti monk. Left for dead after a double-cross by former boss Lamm, he is out for his own revenge.
Nicolai Fontescu - Varisian Diviner, fortune-teller and Harrowwer. His lovely wife was murdered by Lamm or his associates. He is determined to bring the man to justice.
Twilight - Half-Elf Calistiran priestess who also has Acadame training. Her lover was murdered under suspicious circumstances, and she has just discovered Lamm may be behind it.
Devan Covarie - Varisian bard. Mother taught him to sing at a young age. His lover was also slain by Lamm or his agents.
I will decide this final spot tomorrow. In the meantime, please explain how you will complement the rest of the team and why you should get that last spot.
Anyone else who wants to express their opinion or make a vote, I will listen.
Alright, so it's time to sell myself! I might as well stop Barding if I can't manage that.
1) Several of the chosen players have high Intimidate scores, but none of them is a true face character. There might come situations, especially in an urban setting, where a more friendly approach would be conducive to loosening tongues and opening doors.
2) None of the current party is as good at being manipulative or perhaps more importantly, recognizing when the party is being manipulated.
3) Combat support. The bard's Inspire Courage ability grants an extra 5% chance to hit and increases damage for everybody (and it gets better with age). Plus everyone gets guitar accompaniment to their badassdom!
4) Devan's higher Perception skill can help spot clues/hidden items/traps.
5) Devan can fill the role of scout, with a high Stealth, plus possibly render the necessity for fighting null with a well-placed Sleight of Hand check.
6) As time progresses and new spells are chosen, Devan can add the role of backup healer to his face/skill/buff role.
7) Combat Support, part deux. Devan's Will saves vs sonic spells and effects are fairly high, and will become much higher at 2nd level. Devan's Countersong and Distraction performances could be the difference between a TPK and a relatively easy encounter with a charm-based baddy.
8) While Devan has a low strength and won't be one-hitting bosses anytime soon, with a decent armor upgrade he could provide support to Nargun to prevent and create flanks and other battlefield advantages.
9) Being a bard, there will be no Knowledge skill that Devan can't at least try his hand at. Oh, the walls of this cavern are leaking? I picked up a little dungeoneering here and there from some crazy half-orc spelunker. That thingamajig is glowing? I heard a story about something similar once...
10) On an OOC note, I'm a 30 year veteran (cut my teeth on AD&D 2nd edition) who takes his role-play seriously, and I assure you my role-playing contribution will be just as valuable as my character's contribution to the party.
I'm pumped to make it this far, and thank you for your consideration!
Wow,... awesome! Sorry to the other two casters. I thought both were really strong consequently didn't really expect to get through! Good Luck to all the Wildcard chances.
Thanks for the consideration. I thought I'd gotten all of the combat stamina references out of there, but I must have missed one or two.
I'll take under consideration your backstory notes as well. I think in my mind Garran had a boring caravan guard job, but the backstory does make him seem like he has some experience.
Happy gaming, everyone!
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Hey guys, thank you for taking me through to this stage, it's gearing up to be a really exciting game.
I'm going to pull out of the running though, I think Devan or Twilight will be a far better fit for the group than White. So I just want to make things very slightly easier by removing myself from the discussion.
Thanks again and I hope you all have a fantastic game, hope our paths cross again in future!
Thanks for considering me for the wild card spot.
Combaty reasons:
Twilight brings a wide range of party support spells to the group. She can handle the cleric buffs so that Mirela can focus on archery during a conflict.
Blessing of the faithful allows her to provide a +2 bonus to one person on almost any roll as needed, augmenting to hit against high AC opponents, AC against hard hitting opponents, saves against special attacks and even skill uses outside of combat as needed.
For one round Bit of luck allows an ally to roll 2 dice and take the best which would allow Nargun or Mirela double the chance to both hit and crit on their high multiplier weapons.
Or, for one round touch of chaos forces an opponent to roll 2 dice and take the worst result which would assist party members in avoiding hits and make an opponent much more susceptible to Aleira's spells and hexes.
Between Aleira and Twilight, a single opponent may end up with -2 to hit (evil eye) against a target that has +2 AC (Blessing of faithful) or find itself with a -2 AC (EE) facing an opponent with +2 to hit (BotF).
At second level Twilight will bring some more arcane to the group. I would choose my spells based on the needs of the group. At the moment some aoe such as colour spray or sleep would be what I lean towards.
As I level up I will pick up spells like blur/displacement on the arcane side and pack around prayer/magic vestments type spells on the divine side.
With the scribe scroll I get from wizard I would start writing a book called "Wand of cure light wounds: The book". It will have 50 pages. ;)
Out of combaty reasons:
The church taught Twilight how to interact with commoners and nobles as everyone regardless of their standing have passions and secrets alike. I focused her skills on social interactions and deception as these were appropriate to the character's faith and seemed to fit the city based setting.
As for the members individually:
Atticus is a distinguished Acadamea graduate. Though she may never have met him personally, Twilight knows of him as his extraordinary accomplishments at such a young age made him a topic of conversation among the faculty and his portrait hangs on the wall of honours. Should his name come up for some reason she would recognize it.
Nargun is a dwarf consumed by vengeance, Calistria approves. His deity, Cayden, also has ties to Calistria depending on which stories you believe.
Twilight has a keen interest in curses. In many stories revenge has come in the form of a curse spit at the offender and whether deserved or not witches have a reputation for being experts on curses. Twilight would be keen on learning what she can from Aleira.
On the surface Twilight wouldn't have much of a connection with Mirela, but they might be a foil for each other. Urban vs rural values and beliefs.
best of luck to y'all
Looking at Twilight's excellent pitch, I realize I should probably post the role-playing aspects I see that might materialize.
Atticus: The book-smart investigator and the street-smart bard would compliment one another greatly. On the surface it seems an unlikely match, but as they help each other and grow it will foster empathy and understanding that both methods can be sound investigative tools.
Aleira: Aleira would appeal to Devan as a kindred spirit, someone who was dumped on by their circumstances but managed to fight through it in their own way and make a niche for themselves in the city. Her specific circumstance would remind him of what his mother might have been if she had had the strange gifts that he himself seems to have.
Mirela: Mirela would be a welcome distraction for Devan, both with her low-key good looks and the contrast between her appearance and her speech/attitude. As a bard, Devan would delight in seeing the surprise on peoples' faces as she spoke in her lower-class slang. In addition, he would likely be agreeable to the Erastilan disdain for Abadar, though for different reasons.
Nargun: Nargun and Devan both lost the loves of their lives to Gaedran Lamm. I can see them both feeding off each others' grief and desire for revenge on the person who took a large piece of their lives away. Future-wise, I can see the outlook of Cayden Caillean appealing to a bard most definitely, and foresee many fond nights out on the town as they heal their mental wounds together.
Maybe he will break down and just pick both of us? =)
In the land of milk and honey, maybe. Either way, I can't really fault him for either direction. Best of luck! :)
I have made the command decision to do as you suggest above and accept both players (Twilight and Devan) for the game. Feel free to join over at the Discussion tab.
This officially closes recruitment for this game (at least for now). Thanks to all who participated. I am looking forward to a fun game!
Thank you for the consideration. Good luck to those that got selected.
Hi there,
I'm one of the three last originals players (With Twilight and Mirela), and we enjoyed the adventure so far.
We lost two players (the bard and alchemist) and the GM in the recent months. We are currently level 6 ( Invulnerable Barbarian, Cleric of Erastil and Cleric/Wizard of Calistria), and we are stuck in the middle of the second book of the AP.
We need both a new GM able to pick up the game, and two new players (probably someone with Disable Device)
The urgency would be a GM, but don't be afraid to post your characters here.
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I cannot offer to GM, I enjoy GMing in person, but honestly despite my efforts PbP GMing quickly loses its sheen. Likely because I can't voice act my characters out and I work best bouncing ideas from players in the immediate.
Would be interested as a player, and could send out feelers for a potential GM.
I’m potentially interested in playing, though GMing is beyond me.
I don't have them, I can't answer for the others
You might have more luck getting GM attention if you post a new thread here Looking for Replacement GM.
Thank you for the advice GM SuperTumbler