Every tap room needs its casks to be stored somewhere... generally down, below it.
"Huzzah! A toast to our illustrious GM for choosing us as players! Drinks all around!"
Looking forward to a fun game with all of you! :D
So, which one of Tara Ravenheart's aliases will be joining us?
As always, mysterious! Welcome all! Lords and Ladies, you are all well met, and a gracious thanks to GM for the selection!
Yep!
How very average of you dice roller...
Hello hello! Thank you Oblivion's Scion!
So, just to summarize what you have before you here with me, outwardly joyous half-elf-looking bartender (one of many). She is bloodrager who takes the form of a serpentine being, some say is very medusa-like, and it is best to not make her mad.
Raquel is a human barmaid/entertainer and the requisite cleric of Cayden Cailean. She is cheerful and gregarious, and totally not the secret heir to the throne of Brevoy! :D
Nisli is a very pale skinned, platinum blonde girl who comes into the Broken Broadsword occasionally each week. She lives in the forest outside town but comes in to ply her trade treating the ill and injured.
She's a mousy one, chubby cheeked and baby-faced with larger than average front teeth when she smiles. She's quite slender, to the point it seems a feather could knock her over. The mousy description isn't just physically apt; Nisli is also bashful and quiet.
Nisli tends to be awkward socially. She's not good at small talk and shies away from much engagement with others at the Broken Broadsword, definitely a wallflower.
If you're familiar with the animated show Bigmouth, Nisli has a lot in common with Missy.
I believe we're deciding as a group where the general setting for the campaign will be. Any thoughts? Suggestions?
I am okay starting wherever
I assumed Brevoy or River Kingdoms as well, but I’m fine in any location.
Yeah, same here, Brevoy, the River Kingdoms, maybe Iobarian borderlands. That's why I have Nisli's origin in Galt, it's approximately nearby every one of the places.
It's a huge chunk of space though, so my impression is we'd be narrowing it down.
Oh, a build question as well for Oblivion's Scion.
I assumed that all the things that change class abilities given in the DG rules apply to the main class even if the class is unmodified. For example the Druid weapon proficiencies change from the normal listed weapons to a single martial weapon group due to the Druid's 3/4 BAB?
That's why Nisli has a bow. I chose the Bow weapons group. I'm assuming she is no longer proficient with the scimitar or scythe because she doesn't have proficiency in the heavy blades group.
That's correctly done right?
Hey crew, great to see everyone getting excited for the game. I just got out of a very long, and rather eventful, day of work. To help me unwind, let me address some of the questions as they stand.
Boram All weapon related feats and abilities that would previously apply to a single weapon now apply to a weapon group. So yes, finesse training in the light blades would be the appropriate choice to cover daggers, short swords, rapiers, and the like.
Boram yes, confirming from earlier that hit points are indeed rolled as a half hit die plus half the die. So a d8 is now D4+4, etc.
Nisil those changes were more so intended for if you advanced your combat skill. However, the standard druid armament is based around a specific image of the druid, that often does not line up with many build concepts. If you would prefer to go with simple weapons plus one martial group (In this case Bows), I am perfectly fine with that. I think skill with ranged weapons would be very appropriate for an air based druid.
On the topic of weapon groups, at one point in time (and they don't have books in front of me, so this might date back all the way to 2nd edition combat and tactics) there were two types of weapon groups: type groups, and style groups. A weapon type group would be a cluster of weapons that are similarly made and use similar mechanics (light blades, axes, bows, ETC). Style groups were a cluster of weapons that fit a certain theme or genre, where a character might get a little bit of training with a variety of different tools that fit their purpose (rogue, druid, monk). The catch was you could gain proficiency in a style group, but any feats applying to a "group" had to be applied to a type group. I will dig through my books and notes when I get home to make sure I am going straight up to edition.
Setting I am really leaning towards the southeast corner of Brevoy, where it meets the Stolen Lands, and Ioboria stands on the other side of the mountains. It gives us lots of 'unknown' to play with. Does this work for everyone?
I just dropped Tara a message, as she hasn't dotted in yet. I noticed the last week in her game posting has slowed, likely because of the holiday. I am leaving her character choice up to her. She did propose the idea of being able to trade out characters between 'sessions'. I thought the idea might be fun, and wanted to open up to other players if they also had other characters they might want to explore. Just an idea.
Finally, I have created an avatar for the proprietor of the Broken Broadsword, Finnegan McTavish. I will likely GM from this profile, but use his when we are in the inn!
A couple quick addendums:
Favored Class Bonus is not restricted by race, so you may select bonus hit point, skill point, or a third option as you choose. Moreover, I am feeling generous, so everyone gets two per level. You cannot take anything twice in the same level, and you may also take one that applies to an ability related to your subclass.
Cleric Channel uses wisdom instead of charisma. Every other divine caster has all their abilities and casting from the same ability score (paladin and Oracle both cast and channel off charisma, Inquisitor casts and gets its powers off wisdom, and warpriest casts and channels off wisdom). The charisma dependency is a holdover from old editions, and makes a MAD character even more MAD solely for the sake of being able to heal its party.
How do people want to do combat? Do we want to use battle maps or theatre of the mind, and if maps, do we want to host on roll20, google docs, or something else? I appreciate everyone's thoughts.
Setting
As long as the location isn't too out in nature, my character is fine. She is an urbanite, so the larger the city in which she works the better, and better tips.
Finnegan McTavish, Proprietor of the Broken Broadsword
Both Raquel and Lilianne have worked together in the past as bartenders. Lilianne has worked at the same place for 10 years (I'm hoping at the Broken Broadsword). Raquel has worked there for about 3, but also in other places before that. In my backstory, the bartender of where she works is one who has been sort of encouraging me to get out and partake in an adventure (given the number of adventurers coming through, there is plenty to be had) because Lilianne is kind of seen as cheery to the front of the house, but behind the scenes, it's like she's missing something. Some have tried to assume this is because she needs more excitement in her life, probably trying to hook her up with people or get her into situations that involve a jolt of excitement for her sake, but they are missing the mark. She misses being herself and will forever until the gods reverse her curse (being half-elf). Would Finnegan and the Broken Broadsword be a good fit for us to have had or still do have employment? Would this NPC you've constructed be a good fit for the backstory I've made or would you want me to tweak it for how you have his personality?
Battle Plans
I prefer google docs. I think it's super easy to have a translucent grid you copy-paste over any map image you want to use for combat and you scale it to size. Use boxes to cover concealed areas and then we can also move our own figures. I don't really need the chat functions etc of roll20. As for theater of the mind, I enjoy it. I am okay with either. I'd say if there are numerous bad guys, it might be good to use a map for tactics purposes, but it isn't necessary.
Boram with your Combat advance (and thus proficiency in all martial weapons), you could definitely do that. With the Finesse Training applying to "Light Blades", if you wanted to go with a more "swashbuckler" style, an option could be Rapier and Main Gauche (with kukri reskinned as the defensive dagger). This game is about flavor, so such a handwave perfectly fine. And, I mean, come on, you get a d4 for the rapier instead of a d3 with the kukri - that is a HUGE bonus!
Setting The Broken Broadsword will most definitely be a permanent, brick-and-mortar building in a set location... but of course, this is a world of fantasy and wonder, so anything IS possible. Given it's close proximity to both the Stolen Lands AND the mountains into Iobaria, I thought Restov would be a good choice. Alternately, we could have it be an "Inn on the Road", a traveler's waypoint outside of Restov, perhaps just on the western side of the mountain pass. Any preferences?
Spell Availability A couple more minor house rules. First, it as always irked me that nature casters (those casting with the power of 'life') have a slower progression for Cure spells. So, anyone with nature casting gains Cure spells at the same progression as other divine casters. Second, all casting classes have access to all six of the 2nd level ability score spells (bull's strength, bear's endurance, etc).
I will try to compile all the various house rules into the Campaign page.
Also, I heard back from Tara, she is supposed to dot in today.
I think Restov city proper, just outside of it (such as a tavern on the way into Restov), or at minimum a day's walk to the city proper and back, maybe a few miles out would be my preference. It doesn't have to be "urban". I just would like an urban setting close by.
Restov works perfectly for Raquel’s backstory.
Not a fan of roll20, so I would prefer Google Docs or theater of the mind for combat.
I’ll tweak Raquel’s stats to account for two favored class bonuses and Wisdom-based channeling!
This all sounds good to me. I'm fine with google docs or Roll20, all the same to me.
Thanks for the nice casts perks for Druids! Nisli will stick with a bow, but I doubt I'll invest much in it, probably no more than Precise Shot. I expect she'll be too busy casting most of the time within a couple of levels.
Restov or environs works fine, Nisli just needs some forest nearby. Or maybe not. Living out a ways of the Rostland Plains in a little stone and sod house works too. More sky to see.
I might think about putting together a second character if I find the time. I was thinking about an Antiquarian Investigator / Slayer who's all about making herself rich dealing in rare items, less Indiana Jones and more René Belloq.
Anything from Tara Ravenheart yet?
I'm sure she'll hop in here eventually.
I traded a couple messages with Tara. She is rather bogged down short-term between work and caring for her niece (her sister is sick). I'm going to get things started in the morning, she can join in there after. We are starting in an inn, after all. So someone can walk in at any time.....
And it seems like Google docs is the preferred method for maps/combat. I have used it some before for maps, and seems to work well enough for others. Plus you can access It just fine from a mobile device, so that is nice.
So what's the plan? Are we going to wait for Tara to join or are we going to have her join in later? Is there something we should do in the meantime?
Apologies, last couple days were a bit hectic. We are now live!
Hurray!
I will be out of town from 12/18 through 12/26, with limited or no internet access for much of that time. Normal posting will resume when I return on Monday, 12/27. Please bot me as necessary.
Apologies for the last week guys, I was trying to give Tara a little more time to get on board, then one of my colleagues at work went out on quarantine after testing positive for covid. He is doing fine, mostly minor symptoms, and the rest of us are still negative.
Raquel, no worries, it's a busy time for everyone. Post when you can, we will assume you were coming along for any activities.
That post gave me a chuckle, GM.
Well, I mean, this is supposed to be a game full of Tropes... And one o the first player interactions is about pipesmoking... How could I pass up such a golden opportunity?!
Sorry, for being away so long, between work, holidays, and an auto accident, the past month or so has been really full and hectic. I'm getting caught up now.
I'll be taking another short staycation from 1/1 through 1/5. Posting will be sporadic until I return to work on 1/6.
Happy New Year everyone!
Happy new year! No more vacations scheduled till March so I'm around again for a while. :)
I believe we are waiting on our illustrious GM, yes?
It seems so, yes.
This is bringing back bad memories of the last game he ran. He disappeared from that too and it went inactive. I hope that doesn't happen again.
Well, I think it's been long enough to declare this one dead me chums. :( This long and no word? I think it's time to retire poor Lily. See you all on the boards.
I'm going to mark this game as inactive for myself. If the GM does return, please send me a PM and I'll rejoin the game. If not, see you all around.