This is an invite-only recruitment thread for hashing out characters. I will be posting character creation guidelines later today, probably once I am off work.
In the meantime, I'd like to ask my invitees if you would like to add a fifth player. If the consensus is "Yes" then, Kubular, please invite your friend to join.
I have no issue with a fifth character.
I have such a fun little concept. I just hope the character creation lets me get away with it. :3
So ya'll can get started batting around ideas, here's some basic nuts and bolts you can count on for creation:
20 point buy.
Two traits, you may take a drawback for a third trait. There are no campaign traits for Dragon's Demand, but I strongly encourage you all to attempt to take at least one trait or drawback that helps tie into the module, even if only thematically.
Classes: Core, APG, Magus, Gunslinger, ACG.
Haven't made up my mind on Occult yet. Nothing against it, just haven't been able to read through it more than once. I'll try to make up my mind on this in the very near future. If you have your heart set on one of these classes, the time to lobby for them is now.
Races: Core, plus...
Aasimar
Changeling
Grippli
Ifrit
Kobold
Oread
Ratfolk
Sylph
Tengu
Tiefling
Undine
The race list is curated from an intersection of player race options I find conceptually appealing and cause minimal campaign disruption.
The module is set in and around the small town of Belhaim, located in the Verduran Forest of Taldor. Taldor, being quite cosmopolitan, makes more exotic PCs easier to justify. Doesn't mean particularly strange folk won't go unnoticed, though. ;)
I'm going to have to say no to the dire bat. I'm... rather unenthusiastic about mechanics that grant significant flight capabilities to PCs before level 5-ish. Dire Bat as an option for small druids is not my favorite, but it's printed and I prefer not to take away from established options on core classes.
I would, if you don't mind waiting a bit, be willing to add Dire Bat to the list of mount options the Beast Rider archetype gains access to at 4th level.
I have an idea for a Kensai Magus I'd like to flesh out.
I have an idea for a Kensai Magus I'd like to flesh out.
Kensai! I like it.
I'm hoping you pick something really unusual for your exotic weapon.
I'm going Estoc if you'll let me wield it in one hand without an extra feat ;)
Wayang?
Races: Core, plus...
As interesting as I find the Wayang, I am going to have to say no. The list of race options I posted is pretty set.
Always ask, though. I *encourage* people to ask about ideas outside of the parameters I set, but be aware that a "no" is more likely than a "yes".
The primary reason the race selection is restricted at all is because I find that it's the element of a PC that is most potentially disruptive of a game's tone, and as I am throwing this together fairly quickly I'm setting slightly tighter parameters to maintain the tone I want than I usually do in that regard.
So! Character creation parameters. A quick recap of what I've already set out:
- 20 point buy
- 2 traits, please prioritize one of your traits helping to tie you into the module (more on that below/later).
- Classes: Core, APG, Magus, Gunslinger, ACG. Occult up for consideration.
- Races: Core, plus: Aasimar, Changeling, Grippli, Ifrit, Kobold, Oread, Ratfolk, Sylph, Tengu, Tiefling, Undine.
And here are additional, finer details:
Alternate racial traits: any you like.
Unchained Classes: Rogue and Summoner *must* be unchained, Monk and Barbarian are Unchained optional.
Unchained Alternate Rules: Background skills. You get two additional skill points/level that may be spent on the following skills only: Appraise, Artistry, Craft, Handle Animal, Knowledge(Engineering), Knowledge(Geography), Knowledge(History), Knowledge(Nobility), Linguistics, Lore, Perform, Profession, Sleight of Hand.
Archetypes: Any.
Avereage Starting Wealth.
Please chime in if there is something I have forgotten or failed to consider. Note that I *may* veto something listed as allowed here if I feel it will be disruptive to the play experience. That is, however, extremely unlikely to happen unless you are making patently absurd, power-gamey builds.
On Fluff... And this is important.
Conveniently, I can use a common touchstone to express what I expect from you in regards to fluff: Kiora and I are on pretty much the same wavelength on this subject, so her expectations stand for this game as well. In short, I want solid, fully fleshed out characters and for every inch of your crunch to connect to your fluff, especially your traits. For your background, you don't need to write me a background but you should have enough meat to your PC to give me a handful of paragraphs.
This is not to say I do not appreciate technical understanding of the game system or skill at optimization, but someone who uses that skill to draw the most out of an extremely unusual and sub-optimal character concept will impress me over someone who simply optimizes to perfection every day of the week.
Lastly, there's not recruitment competition here, so this does not particularly matter, but I am incredibly and overwhelming biased in favor of Bards. They were my favorite class before 3.5 finally made them cool. Playing one obviously won't have any effect on you being selected (because you already have!), but I will shout with glee and be a very happy DM.
I'm going Estoc if you'll let me wield it in one hand without an extra feat ;)
You get a free exotic proficiency of your choice with Kensai, and exotic proficiency lets you use the Estoc one-handed, so you shouldn't need any extra feat!
Also, after searching high and low tonight, I have realized I left my copy of Dragon's Demand at my sister's house. I should be able to retrieve it in the next couple of days, but until then I am chagrined to confess my memory of the module's setting is somewhat hazy. I can tell you this from memory:
Belhaim is a very small town. The kind where strangers showing up is the talk of the town for weeks. Easy connections to the module are being from Belhaim yourself, or returning to visit after moving away.
A wizard, Balthus Hunclay, has taken up residence in Belhaim to do research. He's a somewhat mysterious old fellow, but one or more of the PCs could have a connection to him.
A character with a background connected to dragons or the Dark Tapestry will also find thematic ties to the module.
What's that? The Dark Tapestry you say? Not to get too spoiler-y, but yep. And if we decide to continue on with homebrew stuff of my own spinning out of the module, this will likely be a dominant element of the campaign.
@Feth, where do you stand on adding a fifth player?
Sounds good to me! :)
The word is in! Kubular, please invite your friend to the thread.
I'm torn between a beastmorph alchemist or a ninja... I like both, but I can't decide which would be a better fit for the campaign. I can give a good reason for both, although one might fit in RP-wise a bit better (I highly doubt Belhaim is going to be happy with a slightly experiment-happy chemist running around).
I'm thinking something relatively sneaky... relatively. I actually enjoy playing the character who runs around in the dark.
Finished! ...mostly!
Meet Tiktik, the kobold alchemist who is toying with alchemy to try and makeself a good and proper dragon! ...also, he's trying to meet his dragon cousin in Belhaim for a big ol' scaly family reunion... even though his cousin is long dead and gone.
As an afterthought, if need be, I have another concept in reserve that I wouldn't mind rolling out. I know this one is kinda optimized a tad, so if need be, I can scale it back (no puns intended) and roll out my other concept (he's also a kobold, but he's considerably more adorable... and a monk... which may help him fitting in).
Hahaha! I think your good. ;) A kobold Beastmorph is hardly what I'd call "power gaming". Like I said, I appreciate optimization when it's used to make something decidedly non-optimal work.
Besides, Tiktik sounds fun. A little disruption can bring character to a campaign, just don't run the train off the tracks and onto the jagged rocks below and it'll be all good.
Hello, I'm Kubular's friend~
(thanks for the invite Kubular)
also I have a bard I was looking forward to play as, mind if I rework him 'till he belongs in this module? do we need a face-man skill-monkey?
edit: juuust realized i misread that~
Yeah if you're on the right terrain that works xD
Oh, and is there a predefined list of traits for dragon's demand?
Can we also use the automatic bonus progression rules from unchained?I strongly dislike how those rules work for armor and weapons!
I'll be honest, that confused me to no end. It also seems to chuck folks who make magical arms and armor right out the window, from what I read and understood.
My buddies and I actually had a more odd, but intriguing system where magical weapons and armor are "forged" by doing something crazy cool with them as an optional thing. Like, if you slay 10 goblins in one battle with your longsword, it becomes a +1 Goblin Bane Longsword. Or if you tank an attack from an ice elemental and hang on by a thread, your armor or shield becomes a cold resistant defense object. Granted, it became more about GM fiat, but it certainly encourages ridiculously cool stunts.
Hello, I'm Kubular's friend~
(thanks for the invite Kubular)
also I have a bard I was looking forward to play as, mind if I rework him 'till he belongs in this module? do we need a face-man skill-monkey?
Yes! Please feel free to tweak that character to fit in this campaign. Always love a good Bard!
He was a gnome, if I recall correctly? A party with two gnomes and a kobold actually sounds like a trip and a half, haha!
Do you concur that if a gnome was to take the "Fey Magic" alternate racial they could select speak with animals as their first level Druid spell, and thus be able to use that ability twice per day? The first time coming from the usual gnome magic SLAs?
Yes although, as Sceg mentioned, the one from Fey Magic would only be usable while in the terrain you select for the trait.
WRT: Automatic Bonus Progression
I neglected to state this in the character creation parameters, so thank you for bringing it up.
I overwhelmingly favor it, a little for the reasons Kubular mentioned, but mostly because it encourages using item slots for gear outside of the Power Six.
I do not recall it utterly hamstringing Armor/Weapon crafting (do we have anyone planning on going that route?), but I will review the rules for the system before I make my decision. You can expect that by tonight, midday tomorrow at the latest. If you have any finer points on the system you'd like to elucidate, now is the time.
I've actually been reading into that weapon/armor crafting myself and it basically nerfs the savings you get from it, but it really isn't that bad imho.
Basically you only forge items with the non-enhancement bonuses (e.g. a sword that has +0 to hit and damage but +1d6 fire or something) and then the value of the enhancement is subtracted from your inherent bonus that you get from leveling.
With this system there is a table that dictates how much to decrease the cost of items, which also decreases the return on investment for that feat.
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I really love monk-types and I was thinking about playing a Martial Artist but its looking more and more underwhelming as I read into it. Not generally a big fan of the Brawler, but I guess it's more a flavor limitation for me.
I'm still also considering other things like Barbarian or Bloodrager. Gunslinger is also looming tall in my mind. Is Trench Fighter available just in case I want to go Mysterious Stranger?
Also, I'm not sure how to tie into the AP with my traits except maybe to have a drop or ten of dragon's blood running through my gnome's veins. He can be resilient and have extra gnome magic because of it I 'spose... oh, and bard magic, heh.
Sounds like my elf is going to be the towering giant of the group lol
Maybe the cranky old wizard wants to study a gnome that has a dragon somewhere in his family tree~
or helped insert the dragon into said family tree hehehe
...a gnome with a dragon in his family tree? Would that mean I have a gnome for a cousin?
...oh hells no! Gonna be the most screwed up family reunion ever.
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or helped insert the dragon into said family tree hehehe
*scrubs out brain*
or helped insert the dragon into said family tree hehehe*scrubs out brain*
Pass that scrub brush over here...
Maybe the cranky old wizard wants to study a gnome that has a dragon somewhere in his family tree~
or helped insert the dragon into said family tree hehehe
I will have the book back in my possession within a day or two. Then I'll be able to post a list of location hooks and possible NPC connections to help tie your character to Belhaim. If you come up with something before then, like you're awkward family reunion, that is totally cool!
Pass that scrub brush over here...
or helped insert the dragon into said family tree hehehe*scrubs out brain*
Yeah, there are going to be a whole lot of "accidents" happening to this poor gnome while I'm around.
Nothing personal, dude, it's just... no, actually, scratch that, this is VERY personal.
I really love monk-types and I was thinking about playing a Martial Artist but its looking more and more underwhelming as I read into it. Not generally a big fan of the Brawler, but I guess it's more a flavor limitation for me.
I'm still also considering other things like Barbarian or Bloodrager. Gunslinger is also looming tall in my mind. Is Trench Fighter available just in case I want to go Mysterious Stranger?
I was pretty happy with one I played up I about level 5, but this could be a personal taste thing. I will advise, though, that the unarmed Fighter archetype (forget what it's called) might get you closer to what you're looking for (possibly with VMC Monk?).
Oh, right! Variant Multiclassing is on the table. Sorry, it's such a "no brainer" option to me that I forgot to mention it.
Pass that scrub brush over here...
or helped insert the dragon into said family tree hehehe*scrubs out brain*
Yeah, there are going to be a whole lot of "accidents" happening to this poor gnome while I'm around.
Nothing personal, dude, it's just... no, actually, scratch that, this is VERY personal.
If said hypothetical gnome went Green Dragon Desciple, and thus began manifesting draconic heritage with no outside influence, I imagine Tiktik would be positively apoplectic. ;)
If said hypothetical gnome went Green Dragon Desciple, and thus began manifesting draconic heritage with no outside influence, I imagine Tiktik would be positively apoplectic. ;)Pass that scrub brush over here...
or helped insert the dragon into said family tree hehehe*scrubs out brain*
Yeah, there are going to be a whole lot of "accidents" happening to this poor gnome while I'm around.
Nothing personal, dude, it's just... no, actually, scratch that, this is VERY personal.
He does that and we're gonna have us a dead gnome! I WILL NOT have some filthy fey scrapling making a mockery of my family tree! Look at him! He doesn't even have any scales!
And now, all I can picture is Tiktik being the Vegeta to the gnome's Goku.