That damned black circle. It all started with that damned black circle.
You knew from the moment you saw it that it was from hell, that you should have stayed away at all costs.
But something else in you knew, against all hope, that it was only a matter of time… that somehow, when you gazed upon it, that it gazed into you as well.
Is this place what hell truly is? Is this the world of the dead?
...Unsure. It’s all been so strange.
I hope they’re taking us somewhere safe, though these white bastards have been anything but kind. To think I’d become a prisoner... Again.
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THE PREMISE
This is a recruitment thread for a 5th Edition campaign set inside a setting I’ve been brewing for awhile;
The World Without Skies, That Which Lays Beneath All Things, Wherefrom None May Leave.
It is an underworld where nearly anything is possible…
You will be starting as a recently harvested group of Wanderers, exiles from random worlds taken captive by a spear bearing troop of tailed albino men.
You have witnessed several oddities while under their itinerant care…
This saga will deal with themes of survivalism, mystery, exploration, and drama.
It will unfold in the capacity to which the players interact with its’ different facets, and will largely be player driven.
The setting lends itself to both dungeon crawling/hack and slash gameplay and immersive roleplay.
Much of the realm consists of migrating cavern systems and its’ eldritch inhabitants,but all of them also have the capacity to conduct discourse.
Roleplay is a refined drug and I would not trade it for the world.
I approach combat from a war standpoint rather than a sport approach, and the rules of the system are a means to an end, the end itself being our game.
You, the players, will be garbled into a door to the World Without Skies during your third level as a heroic character from whatever plane of existence which you hail from. Thus, character creation is wide open. We will also be using several variant rules. All of the details will be delineated below.
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THE DEETS
We are starting at 3rd Level.
Most UA/DMG/3pp options are legal on a permission basis, talk to me and GIVE ME LINKS.
Custom Backgrounds are super legal. Must have at minimum 2 Flaws.
Really emphasize your characters’ motivations, fears, and flaws. Write out backstories as meaty or as brief as you’d like, but I want to meet a real person, not a tactical build with a portrait stapled on. I need something to work with in order to make this saga shine. Flesh out your backgrounds well. If you sell me on this it will secure your slot before anything else, and there will be bennies.
Ohhhh will there be bennies.....
Extra Feat @ First Level, doesn’t stack with Variant Human.
Only legal human is Variant Human.
Pureblood snakeman mag res everything thing is illegal.
RACIAL HIT DICE:
- D8 default
- 1 Racial Bonus to a Physical Attribute: D10
- 2 Racial Bonuses to Physical Attributes: D12
- ‘Small’ Races: D6, +1 untyped AC bonus
- Minimum HP gained/level is always median.
Relative Positioning/Gridless Combat
Death @ -Con HP: NO DEATH SAVES.
Crits = Max Damage of Original Dice
Group Initiative every round (Handled by DM)
Milestone XP
Slow Natural Healing:
- Characters don't regain hit points at the end of a long rest. Instead, a character can spend Hit Dice to heal at the end of a long rest, just as with a short rest.
- Spend Hit Dice by rolling it, regain HP= Roll+CON.
- Max Hit Dice = Level. STARTING Hit Dice = Half Level.
- Regain half level Hit Dice each Long Rest.
These are essentially notes of immediately observable differences seen when one enters the World Without Skies rather than hard line house rules.
Hunger: You find yourself immediately FAMISHED. This hunger is an army of white noise, encroaching further and further closer towards yourself. It touches you, and you think it has plateaued, that the volume of insatiation has itself sated. You find yourself eating your foolish notions, voraciously.
Language: All words spoken in this world becomes true speech, and can be understood by all. Different sorts of intelligence and sentience exist, and there are different mediums by which these entities interact beyond spoken words, but speech itself is of one kind.
Vision: All is Darkness. Wanderers learn to see inside the darkness, but it is starkly different from the vision that they enjoyed prior. Actual light is often blinding. This has only a slight bearing on the mechanic rules, but cosmetically, what you would understand as ‘standard’ light levels are just shades above darkness. Also; Treasure Emits Light.
Gravity? Forget everything you knew.
Lack of Communication
Lack of Character Headers
Reskinned Anime/Vidya Protagonists. You know who you are.
I am looking for at maximum 6 players, and any amount beneath that is just fine.
I would like to start the game on the 13th of November.
Hit me with any questions you may have.
Godspeed.
bumperino
Hexblades are super cool.
When we cross the bridge, your shadow doesn't have to be a hound cosmetically either.
Also here's some stuff about backgrounds.
The most crucial thing for this char creation is the fleshing out of your background, identity from your home world, and your characters' driving motivations.
When I say driving motivations, I mean their conscious dreams, the subconscious elements comprising that dream, and the unconscious reasonings/formative memories contributing to why those elements are important to your character. These things don't really need to be listed out in a mechanical framework per se, but they need to be known to you and communicated to me.
If this makes that easier, here's a little form to attach to your 5e background:
Conscious Dreams: (What - Specifically)
Subconscious Motivations: (What - broken down)
Unconscious Roots: (Why - formative experiences)
Innistrad is a great plane! A tiefling witch hunter sounds cool too!
Would you try to serve the church of Avacyn, or perhaps a splinter demon cult?
How do you live among the rigid humans with your demonic appearance? Have you learned tricks of the barony's glamer, or perhaps your differences are overcomeable by traditional cosmetics? Cathar hat, stuff tail down pants, etc.
And what of your lineage? Demonblooded men are few and far between. Are you a child of the brash sorcerer Tibalt?
If you are of the Church of Avacyn, what beliefs do you find yourself cherishing and fighting for? Do you harbor any resentment for their culture of harsh uniformity and shame?
Also, the timeline from which you hail has a bearing on this. If you lived during or after Emrakuls' invasion on the plane, you may find yourself being more easily accepted by the humans, as they've seen their families warped by the otherworldly taint, in droves.
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Name: Graiel
Race: Half-elf
Graiel was a curious boy many years ago. During those years he would often visit the local bookseller and read, thanks to the bookseller's generosity. One fateful day, when a traveling troupe came through, they sold a very old book to the bookseller. The cover of this book was made of bone, the pages skin, and words written in blood. Having a bad feeling about this book, the bookseller hid away this book. Weeks later Graiel came across the book and, though he had a great sense of dread, his curiosity and love for books and knowledge won out. Steeling away the book from the seller's shop, Graiel ran into the woods to his favorite spot for peace and quiet. As he opened the book and began reading the words a wave of images, information, and emotion flooded into his mind. Overwhelmed, Graiel's psyche retreated and a new consciousness took over....
...many years have passed. Graiel has regained control but the other consciousness remains, constantly vying for control. Graiel now seeks knowledge to not just aid himself, but to also make sense of what he now knows. But most of all, to prevent the plans from coming to fruition.
Class: Warlock (The Great Old One)
Background: Hermit
*I retreated from society after a life altering event
Personality Trait 1: I've been isolated so long that I rarely speak, preferring gestures and the occasional grunt.
Personality Trait 2: I feel tremendous empathy for all who suffer.
Ideal: Greater Good. My gifts are meant to be used for good.
Bond: My isolation brought me great insight into a great evil that only I can stop.
Flaw :I harbor a dark bloodthirsty side, that my isolation and meditation failed to quell.
We'll fire with three players minimum, and we'll postpone the commencement until we reach that threshold if need be.
EDIT: OR, if this just burns out, I'm also running this game on another forum... If someone is interested on Those deets you can PM ME
Graiel, do you as a player know the origin and identity of your Great Old Patron, or is it eschewed and mysterious to you?
If not that's absolutely fine, I only ask to see what I have to work with with your personal story.
How does this entity normally communicate to you? Through similar impressions, verbal commands, alien emotions, premonitions, etc?
I understand that your character's psyche is adverse to the entity, but I doubt that with the years past that there has been no communication between the two, however malevolent, incomprehensible and abusive it may have been.
Tell me more about Graiel, the lad himself. What was his home life like, and who were his primary role models? What were his favorite stories among all the books he found?
Does Graiel suffer from wanderlust?
I look forward to our successive conversations, all.
Godspeed.
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Ooofa. Great questions that I have no answers to. I originally theory crafted a great old ones warlock that ended up seeming solidly evil. A bit of flavor change of vicious mockery and dissonant whispers because they do psychic damage to be the warlock sharing some of his insanity (also this warlock gets short range telepathy makes it so much more flavorful). Plus phantasm force at level 3, granting a glimpse of the GOO. As I said though the character concept was evil so I could never play him in most games.
So I endeavored to create a good version of this flavor filled build. The only idea that came to me was a good guy with some level of possession/influence from a GOO. Thus was born Graiel. The hermit background seemed amazingly fitting and I could justify the spells cast as either a reluctant combatant unleashing or the other side of him coming out in combat.
A blanket response to your questions is; I can work on answering some to all of those questions, or we can leave it a bit ambiguous for now and shape the character as we are inspired and those questions need answered. I am generally more partial to the latter because it leaves much more opportunity to work with than hard defined backgrounds. The characters I create are as much mine to mold as they are for everyone else at the table. "Wouldn't it make it interesting/cool if _____ grew up like this..." (etc..). This tactic also helps mold a character that fits more cohesively into the group, as it generally leads to molding compatible personalities and/or interests.
I'm all about all of that. Take time to let the questions and the following ideas simmer, get back to me on what you find, and we'll use them as springboards to develop him organically in game.
And being evil is absolutely fine, so long as your desire keeps you within the bounds of being coexistent with the party. I'm sure you've heard plenty of platitudes about that alignment.
Humans gain +1 to two different ability scores of their choosing.
Sorry if that was unclear, when I wrote the OP I was mentally exhausted
Chaotic Evil can coexist and thrive, it's all about what their desire is. They may be subversive about social routines and cultural norms moreso than others of their tangential alignment cousins, and find themselves more staunchly positioned on their opinions, but CE doesn't need to be inherently irrational.
Whatever alignment you really want to play we can make it work, if you can make it work. It shouldn't be a big deal, and I'm not worried about it.
I will think on it and may turn it into a bit of a disturbed mute. We shall see.
Also, what GOOs do I have access to? The 5e GOOs don't really have as much of the horror inducing madness as Lovecraftian.
Do the other races get their normal modifiers?
Your physical capabilities may indeed be atrophied, but in the realm in which you now reside you find yourself having greater access to other senses with which you can communicate. You could very well communicate predominantly through psychic impression, however secure or risky.
With words or pictures, or music, or... you get the idea.You have access to all worlds fictional or otherwise, so you may be touched by the 5e canon, or you could in truth be a tool of Nyarlathotep itself...
Other races get normal mods, yes.
Because of the free extra feat I'm giving to all races, and because I like getting players out of their comfort zone, I have nerfed the human race comparably.
Everything is legal, but must be given permission.
If there's a concept you really really like but there's also a game breaking mechanic attached we can work on it and temper the mechanic.
It can all fly, just don't try to break our game.
On that note, a reiteration:
Weird ideas fit here, just let them be developed and have weight...
And our saga will invariably be terrible and immaculate.
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Warlock 3
HP: 19
Str 10, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 18
Save Prof: Wis, Cha
Skill Prof: Arcana, Investigation, Medicine, Religion, Survival, Herbalism Kit
Languages: Common, Elven, Aklo, Deep Speech
Equipment:
Crossbow (20 bolts), Arcane Focus, Scholar's pack, Leather Armor, Cudgel, 2 daggers
A scroll case full of notes from your studies, a winter blanket, a set of common clothes, herbalism kit, 5gp
Feat: Actor
Eldritch Invocations: Book of the Ancients (Detect Magic, Identify), Eyes of the Runekeeper
Spells:
0 : Eldritch Blast, Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, *Vicious Mockery, Light, Thaumaturgy*
1 : Dissinant Whispers, Tasha's Hideous Laughter , Armor of Agathys
2 : Phantasm Force
Awakened Mind: can communicate telepathically with seen creature within 30ft
Looks good!
This weekend I have a business conference that will be consuming most of my synapses and caloric energy, and I will probably not have access to my laptop as I'd like to. I'll try to check back and do the CC back and forth as is plausible.
In the meantime, please be considering the motivations of your character, the reason why your character has such motivations,
and their flaws, and how those flaws affect how they interact with themselves and others.
Really think about it and let it simmer in your brain.
Also, any and all expository information about your character, their previous life, and their homeworld is greatly appreciated and can greatly inform our saga.
Before we officially begin, you will each gain private messages from me and we will have a short discourse about your individual first moments inside of the underworld, and you will receive information.
The timeframe for all of this is dependant upon when and if we reach 3 players.
If the 21st of November expires before this takes place, any players here can feel free to join us on the sister saga on rpg.net.
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Evening. I enjoy 5th edition and would be happy to join your game should you still have room.
Assuming this is the case, would you be ameniable to me playing a Dwarven Stone Sorcerer?
I was thinking of him serving Avacyn as Cathar. Adopted as a baby by an inquisitor, high up in the ranks. That would have given him the protection needed to grow up comfortably around the clergy. It would also have given him the entryway into becoming a member himself. The uniform would have given him the confidence needed to move around in the world, regardless of his looks. (He'd developed his mask of Many faces none-the-less)The timeline does play a large part in this, and I personally really like the idea of the gap left when Avacyn dissapears. The darkness and unrest that follows... The Cathars going full Spanish inquisition on the population and getting their morals and ideals twisted.
I imagine an inquisitor that was so forward thinking as to save a tiefling baby and raise it like her own might find herself in a bind with her culture turning even more xenophobic than usual.
Her honor would have been questioned, and she'd have stepped down and maybe gone into hiding. But it would fit Roscoes background pretty well if she'd been locked away by the cult-gone-mad.
He wouldn't have been able to get to her, and all around him his own people were starting to do things that went completely against everything Avacyn stood for as he saw it. Cathars were running wild, dispatching random judgement to the people fueled by greed and lust.Roscoe would have been so disillusioned by this that he turned against the new modus operandi of the church. He would see himself as part of the true believers. That Acacyn hadn't abandoned them would play a big role in this state of mind.
Everywhere where he would encounter Cathars having wild witch-hunts, burning innocent people for crimes imagined, Roscoe would hunt them down.I see him knee-deep, distanced from the church, plowing through rain and mud hunting the corrupt clergy. Loneliness for company, but he's too obsessed with following his feelings to notice.
He's a witch hunter, taking down traitors of his faith as he sees it. He punishes those that take their frustrations and weaknesses out on the innocent.I didn't know about the sorcerer, but it fits great. The image I had found for Rosco turned out to be Tibalt so that's cool. He would have been one of Tibalts spawn, found by the inquisitor.
That's what I have in large lines, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.
I think that all sounds really organic, and I love it.
This won't have much bearing in-game, but due to the fact that Tibalt's state is the product of maligned magics, I think that Roscoe would have grown into it as well, which could help his rapport with his strict zealot parents. This is your choice.
Would you say that the origin of your hexblade stuff is derivative of Avacyn, or perhaps somewhere else? Perhaps even, the same powers which disfigured your true father...?
Again, all your choice.
Does Roscoe define for himself subjectively what denotes a witch, or does he accept the definition of the greater church (or perhaps his own radical sect)? THIS potentially has a great bearing on the game to come, and your answer will be enjoyable regardless of the decision.
Is most of the rest of his personality steeped in stubborn subjectivity? What other flaws do you see Roscoe having? What is he afraid of? If these permeating issues weren't consuming the whole of his life, what would his dreams be? What would he want to accomplish?
I look forward to playing with you.
For reference's sake, this saga will take place after our previous adventure inside of the Maze of the Blue Medusa. I don't know if things will overlap, but they may depending on how things play out.
Dwarven Stone Sorceror sounds sick, can't wait to see what you're brewing. I await your submission with all... vehemence.
Announcements/Catch Up
Throughout my weekend away I have been brainstorming the map and the hooks and the movers and the shakers, and I'm realizing that with 5e, some interactions will play out differently, moreso than I had originally realized. Thus, I need to communicate this even more clearly:
While you may hail from a Vancian world of magic, this realm does not operate on the same scheme unilaterally. Mechanically, spell slots is still what we're using for the sake of simplicity. But each spell you know is not a formula. It is a part of a bigger piecemeal craft which you have found yourself abiding by. Each of those components interact with different entities and realities in differing capacities, and as such, the yields cannot always be so certain.
What does this mean, mechanically?
Sometimes, spell effects will have other consequences, however beneficial or woeful. And beneficial isn't just a political word thrown in there for me to try and say that I'm nerfing magic, or anything like that. This underworld is alive, and as you will soon come to learn, it is unlike what you may be accustomed to. Cast your spells and delineate the roll's rewards as usual, but the world may react differently. Natural law has little bearing in this world, and telling you this before you've seen it yourself is already saying too much.
You all have my affection and goodwill. I mean to run a raucous game that we will remember for years to come.
But I will need a modicum of extra trust from you to do this.
What do you say?
Also, I intend to implement Inspiration mechanics in this saga in some form, and make it work for the PbP setting. I don't have it solved yet, but will be pretty cool I think.
We are on course to start PM intro snap shots soon, and then begin our misadventure. As soon as all our comrades have manifested, we will set sail... Unless of course there's one more passenger left? We have enough room... Post by this Thorsday, the 16th.
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Kran Deathsteel was a proud member of the Deathsteel clan, known for their battleragers and berserkers and a fearlessness in battle that terrified their enemies.
Unlike many of his brethren, Kran was a stone singer, an important position in the clan that spoke to the stone, drawing magic from it in times of need to strengthen the warriors of his clan in battle with the Elves, a race of cultists who worshipped terrible beings from a place known only as the far realm.
These Elves sought to conquer all around them, using the odd powers of their racial pact with the dread beings to cast offensive magic. Magic that could attack others with the elements. Such magic was unnatural and immoral. Everyone knew some sort of magic, either minor or major, but to be able to harm others was forbidden by the gods.
These Elves, however, had turned their backs on the gods.
In the 84th year of his life, the Elven army came to his clans Kaer (or ancestral fortress), intent on wiping his noble clan from the annals of history. This was done because his older brother had spoke to the stone and had it guide him into the forest home of the Elves, where he stole inside their castle in the dead of night and killed one of their princes in single combat. His brother, knowing his life was forfeit, sang to the stone and caused the building to tumble down around him, destroying a swath of forest in the process.
He had done this great deed because an treacherous Elven archer had murdered their father not two months hence.
So it was that the Elves came in force, and the battle was joined. The Dwarves relied on siege engines and divination magic to accurately target command tents. The Elves relied on their blasphemous battle magic to assault the first gate repeatedly, until finally the stone could bear no more, and the Elves blasphemed again by stepping onto his clan's hallowed ground.
For every Dwarf that died, a hundred Elves went to their fate, to make introductions for them to the Raven Queen.
It mattered not, however, for the Elves seemed to have unlimited numbers, and so the Dwarves were slowly forced back, to the Second gate, which held for eleven days against intense and continual fire; an entire cadre of stone singers collapsed, pouring their life essence into repairing the walls. Their sacrifice was not in vein, however, as it allowed for an orderly evacuation to the Third Gate, which was held by veteran stone singers, battleragers, and priests of Moradin.
Third Gate held for over a month, but was disabled by Dwarves who were weak willed and allowed Elven magic to control their bodies. They opened the gate, and the real battle began: the battle for Citadel Steel.
It was during this battle that Kran found himself cut off from the front line, having sung to the stone and used it to empower his axe. In an instant, the corpses of a half-dozen elves littered the ground in front of him, and this forced the Elves to pause for just a moment, until the Elven warlock strode forward. He wore a medallion of bronze shaped into a baleful eye around his neck, and as he reached the front of the host he touched his amulet and began to speak in a tongue that seemed to radiate madness. Kran tried to charge, but felt his limbs pulled down by the stone around him. As he plodded forward, step by agonizing step, a circle began to form around him, a perfect black circle. He was a stone's throw away from the warlock when the circle snapped shut and Kran fell, roaring defiantly.
As he fell, he took his axe, an artifact of his clan, and slammed it into the wall of the circle, trying to slow his fall. The axe began to melt, but it did bite the wall, and his descent slowed, until it finally stopped, leaving a jagged tear in the side of this place he found himself falling in.
Nature, however, abhors a vacuum, and with a terrible rushing of air, Kran was pulled into the rift, spinning for what seemed both an eternity and an instant, before he crashed to the cold stone floor and was still.
When he came to, a group of albino men were snapping the manacle on his left wrist shut and pulling him roughly to his feet.
TL:DR: Kran comes from a world where offensive magic was outlawed by the gods (although magic that makes you better at killing others is just fine). The Elves made a pact with the Elder Gods to get the power of battle magic and rampage across the world. The ancestral home of Kran's clan was lain siege by the Elves, and Kran was thrown through a hole to somewhere, but managed to escape by ripping a hole in the fabric of reality with an artifact that was destroyed in the process. The resulting implosion brought Kran to the world where the game will be set.
I should have him built and an alt made for him shortly.
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Here is Kran's alt, all ready to go.
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If there's still room, I'd like to throw my hat in. Need to come up with something, and I've had two non-consecutive hours of sleep since about 4 am yesterday.
There is so much room, Thratch. Take your time.
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I have a couple of concepts I'm working on, and would like input for which one to move forward with:
1) Halbadier or Knight who failed to protect his charge. The royal family was slaughtered and he blames himself. Therefore, he is on a twisted quest for redemption and he will stop at nothing to gain power to ensure he will not fail his charge again. Also, may or may not be "cursed" for his failure (aka was human but uses a different races stats and image; may also be questing to remove the curse).
Mechanical Options: Pact of the Blade (hex blade?) + Fighter (Tiefling). Or straight Ancestral Barbarian (half-orc) reflavoring nearly everything about the class. Knight background.
2) A human with a mysterious past (ie I haven't written it yet). He is consumed with flame. His entire body is literally on fire (may or may not affect things around him). He hovers above the ground as he moves, never really touching anything.
Mechanical Options: Uses Fire Genasi stats and evoker wizard. OR Race unknown + Pyromancer Origin Sorcerer (from Kaladesh PDF) or an appropriate one in the new book (but it's at home and I'm in the hospital right now; daughter was born yesterday). Unsure on background feature.
3) Halfling Stone Thrower. Happy-go-lucky lucky guy who was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time (or was it really the right place? What do the fates have in store for him?). This was actually my first idea, but I was hesitant to play another halfling in a game with Wuliev.
Mechanical options: Divination Wizard 2 + Arcane Archer. Grab either Lucky feat or Magic Initiate. Reflavor a cantrip as throwing rocks (preferably Eldritch blast if I can figure out a way to do it). All spells and other abilities flavored as just a bit of luck. :)
4) A man on a path to become One with the multiverse. He believes that by removing thought and focusing on the now, one will ensure oneself to always be in the exact place the multiverse needs to you be at that exact moment in time.
Mechanical Options: Monk, Shadow subclass. Mostly for the shadow teleport, which allows the multiverse to "move" him to the spot he needs to be.
5) Some sort of githyanki Gish class. Never played a Gish before. And the Githyanki are full of flavor.
What do you guys think will best fit in with the party? Or what would you like to see?
Thratch, I am Wuliev. Just Making sure this is clear
All of those options are sick, I think that personally/subjectively the hexblade's story is the spiciest and we could get a lot of good stuff out of it.
However, all of these ideas are sick and I would much rather you play what you already know you want to play.
If that is the hexblade, define that build against Roscoe's such that it's not annoyingly redundant. Which is super easy with the warlock class, so I'm not worried at all. Even then, if your characters do share similarities, where you do contrast could potentially introduce more livid conflicts and dramas, which I'm all about.
That being said...
Party balance is a lie, so don't worry about that if you are.
So glad to have you on board, my dude.
It'll be some time for me to check out the new book. I left it at home. Currently in the maternity ward with my wife and newborn daughter.
Holy crap dude CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
Is this your first child? I'm sure she's gorgeous!
This is my third. :)
My other two are 3 and 4.
Build the tribe my man. So happy for you guys.
@Vrog: Kran looks great, I'll mull through his details soon. Let me know if you need anything.
@Saashaa Let me know if you have any more info for Grail now that you have your alignment decision made. Looks great!
@Y.T. All of those decisions are flawless, I love it. You're set. For your listed invocation you have eldritch blast, but I don't think that's the actual name for it, I know there are a few which augment Eldritch blast from level one; do you mean +Cha to spell damage? Lmk! Looks great!
AN ANNOUNCEMENT
As we play through this medium, I need you to keep this in mind at all times;
Never take the in-game information I present to you simply at face value.
There will never be only one right answer, and I very well may not have a singular right answer to any given scenario in mind as they come about.
If a certain route taken is fruitless, I will try to communicate this clearly so we don't need to waste our time beating dead horses.
If the 5e rules are insufficient or egregiously cumbersome for certain ideas, don't fret. If there's a will there's a way, and if our game doesn't push the boundaries of the system then I'll probably feel a little upset at least, lol.
If your character has natural darkvision give them +1 to perception checks and passive perception.
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Graiel, do you as a player know the origin and identity of your Great Old Patron, or is it eschewed and mysterious to you?
If yes, then he knows what he must do to stop it
If no then he still has an idea how to stop, but is in search of its identity
How does this entity normally communicate to you? Through similar impressions, verbal commands, alien emotions, premonitions, etc?
I envisioned visions, undescribably horrible terrible visions. Also he learns some when he allows the possession to flow, so, I imagine with his attack spells he'll get little bits more. With his rejection and steps he has taken, I imagine that the entity isn't attempting as much communication anymore and is trying a different route. Probably going the route of inflicting insanity.
Tell me more about Graiel, the lad himself. What was his home life like, and who were his primary role models? What were his favorite stories among all the books he found?
Graiel's life was pretty much his own due to his mother being a cook and having an estranged father. He took up a hobby of reading and was drawn in. His role models became those heroes in the stories. Above all of the stories, his favorite was of the studious wizard that used his knowledge to outsmart the villain and save the realm.
Does Graiel suffer from wanderlust?
Graiel wanders to find answers to the questions he seeks (i.e. the answer to question 1). He also is trying to stop aforementioned entity.
Will be sending out intro PM's now. We will begin that discourse over the next few days, and will officially begin gameplay on Friday.
Please get your character alts in order during.
Thratch, just do it as you're able, no worries.
If you have any character questions please ask away and we will resolve them; otherwise assume that you are A-Okay!
I'm also going to be opening the Discussion thread momentarily.
Ok, I've decided to combine some of the concepts. Background isn't detailed,
Merek is a knight in the Court of the City of Brass. The City of Brass is a 40 km wide floating city that meanders through the elemental plane of fire, ruled with an iron fist by the Grand Sultan - the leader of the efreet.
He was strong, competent, loyal. He knew his place, and he took his service seriously. His job was to protect the family of the Grand Sultan.
He failed.
A coup occurred, and his wards were slaughtered. As a knight of good standing, he was not killed. Instead, he was dishonored. He was stripped of his rank and titles. His sword and armor were melted in the eternal fires, his medals shredded. A line was scratched through his name on the brass records. He was banished.
But the Fire still burned within him. The Brass still shone in his eyes.
===============
This character is a mix of the burning man concept and the fallen knight concept. As he grows, he will regain his personal honor through sheer will.
Mechanically, he'll be a Tiefling Dragon Sorc with the elemental adept feat, and everything will be focused on fire (including spells). As a knight, he'll be in the thick of combat, but as he has been dishonored, he refuses to use a knight's weapon or armor. Instead, he uses a simple stick, and his armor will come as a curtain of fire around him.
Stats will be generated over the next day or so.
Sweet. Sounds awesome.
If mechanically he is a tiefling, in the story is Merek in truth an Efreeti?
His personal arc revolves around forgiving himself?
What obstacles in specific does he have of completing this task?
Perhaps he has nightmares of the event taking place that he can't shrug off. I would assume the memories he shared with the comrades of his order and their complete rejection of him would be even more jarring.
Who among them does Merek remember most? Who are they?
Did any of the order have sympathy for Merek, or is the City of Brass simply too devoted?
Where did he meander to when his banishment took place, and through his successive sojourns who became his closest friend?
If mechanically he is a tiefling, in the story is Merek in truth an Efreeti?
I was thinking more of a vague unspecific humanoid who's racial powers come from a mix of living on the Plane of Fire and personal will power, rather than a race. Also, I wanted to disconnect him from the infernal fluff.
If we go back to how tieflings were written in 2e, they could have any sort of heritage, including efreet. I was really torn between using the tieflings and the fire genasi, but in the end I wanted a sorc rather than a wizard, so I went with the tiefling.
And heck, I still may change it to fire genasi before this is all done.
His personal arc revolves around forgiving himself?
Yes.
What obstacles in specific does he have of completing this task?
I haven't fleshed out the story of what, exactly, happened (and may never do so), but his primary obstacle is that he blames himself, and so long as he does that he cannot heal. I'm guessing that he'll have to find another group of innocents to "adopt" and save before he can go down the path of self recovery.
Perhaps he has nightmares of the event taking place that he can't shrug off. I would assume the memories he shared with the comrades of his order and their complete rejection of him would be even more jarring.
Yeah, I like the PTSD aspect of the character. Nightmares makes for a good characteristic.
Who among them does Merek remember most? Who are they?
I have some vague ideas of children, but I haven't fleshed them out yet.
Did any of the order have sympathy for Merek, or is the City of Brass simply too devoted?
I'm going to say that yes, he does have some allies back home. He blames himself more than his old comrades blame him. Since this was a coup, his primary enemies are those responsible for the coup and they're the ones who stripped him of his power. But as he blames himself, he agrees with them despite his old comrades and friends trying to convince him to stay and fight the good fight.
Where did he meander to when his banishment took place, and through his successive sojourns who became his closest friend?
This depends on when he was captured by the pale men and brought to the world of endless night.
In my mind, that's the direct place he went to after banishment. Kind of like the polar opposite of the Plane of Fire, where everything is always bright.
I have this idea that he used to be powerful - commanded the sword and fire together. But now he fights without blade or armor (thinking of changing his staff to a broken sword, aka dagger).
Have more to write but out of time. Leaving hospital.
Awesome. Can't wait to hear more.
So, you will be arrested by these men after you fall into the black portal.
How that takes place is a whole other issue. You can largely decide how it takes place, the doors are malleable in nature.
So we roll for HP or always take the book value?
Roll, and minimum health is equal to half your HD.
Also, HD is determined by your Race as opposed to your class, rules are in the OP, lmk if there's any confusion.
Ok. Before asking the question, I decided to switch to fire genasi. That have a bonus to one physical stat. So they're using D10.
10 for 1st level, then two more the the next two levels. For a D10, 6 is average.
Starting HP is 24, before other bonuses.
get it sonnn
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I missed that HP were race and not class generated. So I should have
34 HP.
Read through the Gameplay Thread (only two pages have yet transpired)
and we will move forward from there.
If accepted, I will PM you with details concerning your 'drop' into the scenario.
Please ask me any and all questions if things are unclear.
I look forward to playing with you.
Cheers.
bump
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I may be interested. I’m mulling over some ideas.
Feel free to shoot em at me!
I'd love to help those ideas grow in any way I can.
Ask me questions! Let's talk! Let's play together.