We're Gonna Take a Walk Outside Today...

Game Master Kobold Catgirl

What is this Corruption you keep mentioning?

What is this Corruption you keep mentioning?

Likely the Corruption Rules from Horror Adventures. Tempting powers that can eventually consume a character.

Ok thanks, I haven't actually looked over Horror Adventures at all, so that explains why I hadn't heard of it.

Edit: Just looked over those, they look cool, but the fact that he is citing them and nerfing the ability to pierce darkness in any way is making me nervous...

Since we're 22(!) would you consider running more than one group?

@Kobold Cleaver, what is your opinion of letting the plant shape line of spells grant additional forms of movement like the beast shape spells. As written, plant druids can't get swim or fly speeds.

Afraid not, Jonahkan. Two PbPs to run and one to play in are more than enough for one kobold. :P

There's always a lot of enthusiasm for PbPs that allow players to stretch their creative muscles in races and classes. Sadly, that means a lot of good applications will have to be rejected. Maybe someone else will be up to run something, and people will be able to take those characters there. Maybe not.

As I mentioned, though, I am considering a "bonus slot". How would that work? Well, it would basically be a quasi-NPC slot. People could come in, play an NPC for roughly a chapter*, then drop out. It would be a revolving slot, so multiple players could make use of it, but you obviously wouldn't be a major member of the party. You might barely even run into the main party, busy off doing your own thing, though your actions would likely affect them in some ways.

This is entirely my own invention, so I have no idea how it would actually work out in play, but I would like to give it a shot.

Quasi-NPC slot aside, if we go with above five players, a major necessity will be "botting" slow PCs—after about a day, another player or myself would need to be able to take over and make judgment calls. So I'm hoping everyone's cool with that. 6-7 players can become quite a handful otherwise.

*In this campaign, "chapters" will represent periods spent bypassing certain regions, during which you'll encounter unique hazards, enemies, allies and oddities. The first chapter of this game will most likely be a journey through or around a forest, for instance.

Hmmm, I'm thinking about a sylph, but they're only 6 rp and it seems like other submissions are really pushing the edge of that 15rp. How would you feel about a punched up sylph that added focused study and skilled to racial traits, and was the product of a Bene Gesserit style breeding program. The lifeline would be that his family has hidden from whatever group is doing this (unbeknownst to him), but there's a magic genetic marker that alerts them if any product of the program dies before a certain age, thus allowing them to save him, but also opening him up to their influence. Would probably take the touched by unknown forces trait for this too.

Also, are you nerfing darkvision for sylphs? If so, is there something to replace it?

My submission:

In an era long forgotten, there was once a powerful elven wizard named Dahlyndor who went to battle against Ambrosia, an ancient white dragon with an affinity for ice and destruction. The two enemies fought through the night with Ambrosia gaining the upper hand. In a final, desperate act, Dahlyndor channeled his own spiritual essence through his bonded wyrwood wand eviscerating the dragon... but destroying himself as well.

The wyrwood wand has now been found by the most unlikely wielder... Chymchym.

My concept is wyrwood wand that is a draconic bloodline sorcerer imbued with the combined essences of the elven wizard and the white dragon. The wand is now conscious but does not remember its past. It was lost/buried for over a 1,000 years until it was recently found by a monkey. The wand took the monkey as his familiar... and the monkey, much to the wand's annoyance, took the wand as his toy.

I'm basically thinking of a monkey, shape-changed to a human, wielding a charismatic, speaking wand.

The race has some nice beneficial features, but as a wand, the character has some serious limitations. It won't be able to really move without its familiar. It has no carrying capacity.

I thought of the idea from Jimmy the talking flute from H.R. Pufnstuf, for those old enough to remember that one.

Thoughts?

I wouldn't worry too much about the RPs—races can be rebalanced, after all, and I will be seeking in the post-Recruitment stage to make sure the PCs each have their balanced niche. Sylphs can get more to compensate.

I'd say the sylph gets Cloud Gazer as a bonus feat to replace Darkvision.

Ambrodahl, a few of those traits don't seem to be from the ARG. Could you clarify what they do?

Hiyas KC!
This looks like tons of fun...one race I've always wanted to give a shot is the Entobian

Would this be acceptable?

Oh my goodness they are cute. Yes, they're allowed.

I wouldn't worry too much about the RPs—races can be rebalanced, after all, and I will be seeking in the post-Recruitment stage to make sure the PCs each have their balanced niche. Sylphs can get more to compensate.

I'd say the sylph gets Cloud Gazer as a bonus feat to replace Darkvision.

That... actually makes more sense than them having darkvision to begin with. Working on my sylph phantom thief now. Based on your house rules document, I'm guessing background skills are not in play?

Thank you sir!

That's a neat set of house rules I hadn't heard of before. We might consider it, but I'll solidify the decision after Recruitment to see what players think.

Oh also, maybe I missed it, but are you using traits?

Probably not, though as with the house rules, we can decide for certain when the group is arrayed.

I like the theory of traits, but in practice it seems like the flavor usually gets abandoned for simple optimization—and if you're going to do that, you might as well cut out the middleman and just devise a similar, less flavor-bound mechanic.

So, my idea for a character is to essentially play as the familiar of one of the party spellcasters. Sprites tend to find a person or place and become it's "protector", and so while mechanically I wouldn't be their familiar, in essence, he'd kind of take on that role. It would explain why he's new to the world, having perhaps been summoned from the feywild, or whatever equivalent you have in your world? I would probably do a rogue/sorcerer, with more emphasis on rogue, into arcane trickster.

All of my sprite characters tend to have puns on the drink. So far they've been named Soda, Lemon, Limey, and Bubbles.

Maybe I should pun the other type of sprite, and call him Pixel? :-P

So, since I am applying a Warforged, what would be your reasoning behind their creation? Or would you like me to do that?

So, my idea for a character is to essentially play as the familiar of one of the party spellcasters. Sprites tend to find a person or place and become it's "protector", and so while mechanically I wouldn't be their familiar, in essence, he'd kind of take on that role. It would explain why he's new to the world, having perhaps been summoned from the feywild, or whatever equivalent you have in your world? I would probably do a rogue/sorcerer, with more emphasis on rogue, into arcane trickster.

All of my sprite characters tend to have puns on the drink. So far they've been named Soda, Lemon, Limey, and Bubbles.

Maybe I should pun the other type of sprite, and call him Pixel? :-P

What if you're the hero's annoying fairy companion instead of a familiar? :D It would be pretty hilarious for my character to have some tricky sprite following him around...

I have an idea for Gherz's backstory, he has no memories. He was found by a ranger in the middle of the woods, and the ranger had mistaken him for a tree's Trunk.

HEY LISTEN

HEY LISTEN

Yes, exactly that. XD In seriousness, though, I do think it has some fun role-playing potential, especially if it means we have a Lawful Good & a Chaotic Good character sticking together frequently.

"Now, now, no need to shout, I can hear you perfectly well."

Yes, I've made an alias. No, I'm not done yet. XD I'm thinking he'll end up taking a level of Swashbuckler for his first level. I wanted to have him start as a paladin from the very beginning... but the more I think about it, the more interesting him not being a paladin to start is. I was thinking that he's already sworn his oaths and started living his life devoted to his deity, but hasn't yet received any sign of divine approval or power for it. So maybe it could turn out that the first level's worth of adventuring was his 'final trial' of some sort, after which he is rewarded for his faithfulness with his first paladin level.

I'm sorry, I never saw the starting gold. Mostly I'm asking because kinetisist begin with 50gp as their average.

Ambrodahl, a few of those traits don't seem to be from the ARG. Could you clarify what they do?

Wrymwood Wand

Type: Humanoid, Subtype: Elf (rp:0)
Size: Small (rp:0)
Speed: Slow (rp:-1) - 20' movement
Ability Scores: Weakness (rp:-1) Cha +2, Dex +2, Str -4
Change Shape, Lesser (rp:3) - Alter Self: Static form that can't change, +10 Disguise.
Delicious (rp:-1) - -2 Escape Artist and CMB to escape grapple against a bite attack with grab ability.
Envoy (rp:1) - SLA 1/day; comprehend languages, detect magic, detect poison, and read magic.
Flex Bonus Feat (rp:4)
Gift of Tongues (rp:2) - +1 Bluff and Diplomacy, 1 additional language for each rank of Linguistics.
Low-Light Vision (rp:1)
Lucky, Lesser (rp:2) - +1 bonus to all saves
Natural Armor (rp:2) - +1 AC
Spell Resistance, Greater (rp:3) - spell resistance 11 + character level.

Also, since I could apply multiple characters I'd like you to look at thia class:Draconic Exemplar it is a class where the character eventually becomes a Dragon over time. However it requires this race:Taninim which are dragons in themselves, but are very weak as characters. Of course this is all 3rd party.

So, since I am applying a Warforged, what would be your reasoning behind their creation? Or would you like me to do that?

I'd be interested to see how you connect it to the setting—has there been a war that used them?

So, since I am applying a Warforged, what would be your reasoning behind their creation? Or would you like me to do that?

You could decide it, or I could.

Starting gold is average or rolled. If there's something in particular you really need, though, we can talk it over.

Starting gold: 1d6 ⇒ 6×10=60

I'm cool with that.

Zyxebrax Weaver/ Lily Shadow

Race: Something spider-themed; it’d be neat to make my own (using the ARG’s race builder? Or can it be more free-form?), although the Drow work fine as far as published races go, and I could always fluff something else.

Class: Vigilante (probably stalker, although I might give magical child or one of the other archetypes a go)

Basic Backstory: Zyxebrax grew up re-enacting the daring exploits of her childhood hero, The Crimson Avenger, rampaging through the town vanquishing ‘evil’ and pretending life was straight out of a bard’s tale. Life and habitual introspective thinking have toned down her youthful verve; now, Zexebrax spends most of her days helping out at the family business working as a tailor. Still her tiny ears perk up whenever a customer mentions some small problem or other, and the town’s self-appointed guardian, Lily Shadow, is sure to arrive shortly thereafter with a solution.

Mechanical Slant: Depends a bit on the final form of the race and class, ranging somewhere from a ‘Black Widow’ themed character to a more support-oriented role with lots of skills and a few beneficial spells and/or feats with just enough damage to have a real bite.

Arachna, spider race, rough draft.

Painterlilies are fine. That's a neat archetype, and I'd allow it, though Irresistible Storytelling seems slightly mediocre.

Its supposed to reflect the powers from the movie, kubo and the two strings. But yeah that particular ability is pretty underpowered. I would love combine this in the archive for my concept but alas, the two are incompatible. I might just flavor her abilities related to ink/paint/paper and take archivist.

Let me know what you think so far. Should i keep going with this?

I like it, YoLlama, and I like the idea of the transformation taking place at the start of the game.

Also, I can't believe I only now saw the Kubo connection. :P

Also, the arachna, and warforged race history, both look good. :)

Huh, well the Modifyers look interesting; the upside to playing a Vigilante is everytime you make a character someone points out a cool new comic/show to familiarize yourself with; too bad that one never saw the air.

If the Trow have a base speed of 20 does that affect their flying speed as well? If yes can they still carry a large amount? Also, with creating an Inquisitor of the Unseelie Court the minimum would be to determine Domains. How detailed to you want the description of the responsibilities of an Inquisitor of one of the Fey Courts to be?

Petalslice

There was once a great and powerful wizardess, who’s through great effort became one of the most skilled arcane mages in the land. Her only rival was a sorcerer as charming as he was powerful, and she hated him more than anyone in the world, for the rewards she worked so hard for seemed to flutter to his fingertips like gifts from the sky. One night, she challenged him to a duel on midsomer’s eve, six months hence. He agreed, and as was the custom of that place, offered her the choice to duel of magic or steel.

So the wizardess hatched a cunning plan. She contracted with the greatest swordmaker of that great city to craft her a blade she might wield, and searched far and wide with her magics for an armoursmith to craft her a suit she might wear, that she intended to enchant and enhance with all her powers so she might cut down her enemy, whom she found in the village of Barlily. The armoursmith drew many drawings, designed many designs, until finally they agreed upon the one perfect form that would protect her.

Yet whispers of the wizardess’s plan reached the sorcerer, and he seduced the swordmaker to his side, that he would craft for him a blade just as wickedly deadly as the one he’d forged for this wizardess - and of this, the wizardess could do nothing, for the laws of that place prevented it. Yet she remained sanguine, for she and only she would have the magnificent, perfect armoured suit for their duel, that would keep her safe. As the date of the duel grew closer, and the sorcerer boasted of his confidence, the wizardess only grew more nervous. So when the she and the armoursmith had completed their great work, fitted perfectly to her body, just as in the sketches, she paid him - and with a bolt of pure magic, slew him.

“Why?” He asked, for he had come to love her.

“Lest you betray me,” she answered, with tears in hers, for though she had not realised it she had grown to love him in turn.

Then the sketch stepped from the parchment and ran her clean through, for it had been given life by her magic and his soul, and wept tears of ink across their bodies.

So passed the great archmage of that distant city, and the great smith of Barlily, both replaced by lesser men - but to this day, beautiful charcoal artworks can be bought from the old smithy in Barlily. Yet the artist too, is sad, for none of her daughters will quicken to life as she had, and she fears she will be ever lonely.

Character concept: A two-handed fighter Painterlily, seeking something, somewhere that will allow her to quicken her drawings to life - perhaps the wizardess’s rival, who knew much of her magic, whom she knows nothing of but that he lives in a distant city, of which she knows neither name nor direction.

Personality: Petalslice can be rude and forthright, with an intimidating air about her, but she has a good heart and is unfailingly kind.

Painterlily Two-Handed Fighter
16, 14, 14, 13, 10, 8
STR16, DEX10(14-4), CON16(14+2), INT8, WIS8(10-2), CHA15(13+2)
Feats: Blind-fight, Extra Traits (Merciful Blade, Oathbound/Armor Expert)
Climb (Str) +7=+1+3+3, Handle Animal (Cha) +6=+1+2+3, Intimidate (Cha) +6=+1+2+3, Survival (Wis) +3=+1-1+3, Craft (Int) +3=+1-1+3
Weapon: Falchion, Full-plate armor

I'm thinking an Entobian Verminous Hunter...it will work for the wilderness/exploring theme, and a bit more bug flavor :)

How flushed out do you need the characters to be before you decide, KC?

dot, thinking a ranger/some type of arcance gish of something.

Okay, I think Isamu is pretty much finished. I haven't finalized his gear, but... what I have is already way more than you were asking for, so I thought I should stop. Expanding his background from bullet points to prose made it a bit of a novella, so, um, sorry about the wall of text. I was enjoying myself.

Oh, if it's not clear, his name follows the Japanese order, so Nakano is his family name, while Isamu is his given name.

Dot. I'm thinking of an Obitu Unchained Monk. The idea for his backstory is that he was born after the monks of the monastary where he grew up killed a Kurobozu that had arisen from within their ranks.

Huh, well the Modifyers look interesting; the upside to playing a Vigilante is everytime you make a character someone points out a cool new comic/show to familiarize yourself with; too bad that one never saw the air.

Did someone link you that show? That's crazy. I just saw the pilot last night. It did look interesting.

If the Trow have a base speed of 20 does that affect their flying speed as well? If yes can they still carry a large amount? Also, with creating an Inquisitor of the Unseelie Court the minimum would be to determine Domains. How detailed to you want the description of the responsibilities of an Inquisitor of one of the Fey Courts to be?

** spoiler omitted **

It can be as detailed as you like.

How flushed out do you need the characters to be before you decide, KC?

I could use perhaps a little more information, though I don't need much.

Fly speed is not linked to base speed, Robert.

Many abilities that grant a Fly speed grant it as double the character's base speed

Yeah, but not the Race Builder ability.

Trekkie90909 wrote:

Huh, well the Modifyers look interesting; the upside to playing a Vigilante is everytime you make a character someone points out a cool new comic/show to familiarize yourself with; too bad that one never saw the air.

Did someone link you that show? That's crazy. I just saw the pilot last night. It did look interesting

Yeah, someone posted a link in the Arachna comments.

...OH

This is gonna sound far-fetched, but my sister's cat sat on my keyboard last night (as it often does—laptop is warm) and, since your doc was open at the time, posted a bunch of gibberish. When I got back, I saw it had hit the ctrl-v keys and put a link I'd copied on the document. As well as a bunch of random characters. I did delete the stuff, but I wondered if you'd seen it. Sorry about that!

Funny that the link happened to involve a vigilante.

lol; as a cat person myself I understand, and the link was enjoyable, so no worries.

Here is the crunch for my submission.

@Kobold Cleaver Let me know what you think.

That's cats for you. I think mine is losing hair from spending all of his time near warm things. As in, he is not growing enough fur because his body thinks it is constantly 80 degrees despite it being winter where I live.