Iron Kingdoms (Inactive)

Game Master Daniel Stewart

Hey, just setting this up so we have a place to work on our characters

Always wanted to play a Nyss barbarian

The optional rules I will be using in this game will be as follows;
Essence (pg.53), Backgrounds (pg. 127) and fatigue casting (pg. 231). No other races will be included except the default Iron Kingdom races.

For your abilities, please roll 3d6+6 and add the two highest rolls of the 3d6 to the plus 6 like so:

3d6 + 6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4) + 6 = 19 =15 (5+4+6=15)

Anything else please just ask....it is a number of new rules so we will take it slowly :-)

So I would love to play whatever version of Warcaster they have. Do we need to buy a pdf for this or is there an SRD online? It looks like the Kickstarter showed off at least some of the Warcaster. Gun Mage would also be interesting.

I'd be interested in looking at the Mechanik class, possibly a Rhulic dwarf - if that's allowed?

Alchemist also looks interesting...

All sound good...Malinor you should be able to find a copy of the pdf at their website or maybe elsewhere.

Shari do you want to work together on your character? Perhaps on Zoom??

That would work. Maybe this weekend sometime?

sounds good....see when angie might be free....I do work Saturday but the evening might be open

Gunmage rulez, player!

I'll see if I can get a glimpse at the manual somewhere.

IKRPG Requiem, correct?

I picked up the pdf. I will get a character together tomorrow.

3d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 6) = 10 15
3d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 3) = 8 13
3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 2) = 9 13
3d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 3) = 10 13
3d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 4) = 8 12
3d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 4) = 16 18

I can live with that :-)

Making a Nyss Barbarian - Staeryt the Unblinking

@Evindyl - yes, Requiem is the right book.

I like the look of a gunfighter. Deciding between human and Iosan.

3d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 5) = 16 =17
3d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 2) = 10 =14
3d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 4) = 10 =14
3d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 5) = 15 =17
3d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 4) = 11 =14
3d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 1) = 10 =15

Let's see...

3d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 6) = 14 => 5+6+6=17
3d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 4) = 9 => 4+4+6=14
3d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 1) = 9 => 6+2+6=14
3d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 3) = 7 => 3+3+6=12
3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 5) = 12 => 5+5+6=16
3d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 2) = 10 => 5+3+6=15

I'm sure that will turn out a superb Gunmage!

If I understand well, Essences and Backgrounds give us bonuses to ability scores, but we ignore the ability score bonuses from Races, right?

That is correct Jereru. The other background abilities you get to keep, but the stat bonus is ignored for Essence.

A couple questions because I'm not that bright. ^_^

1) So humans don't get a feat to start yeah? Is there any race that does?

2) Speaking of feats, I don't like that there are some scattered throughout the book. Makes them hard to find.
Like is there a feat that just lets you use a longarm in melee? I see a lot of class features that do this, but then for some reason they limit it to pistols. Can we just say there is something lime the crossbow master feat but for longarms? ( I mean in this world of walking sentient tanks I think someone can be good enough to shoot in close quarters. There are videos of Spetznas guys doing some crazy things like that.)

3) I looked at Warcaster and Steam Mecha look expensive. Like really really expensive. Did it die? 250! Wanna upgrade? 2500! Even at higher levels I'd be afraid to use it for fear of losing it.

Roll 1: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 2) = 8 5+2+6=13
Roll 2: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 4) = 11 4+4+6=14
Roll 3: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 5, 2) = 13 6+5+6=17
Roll 4: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 5) = 12 5+4+6=15
Roll 5: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 6) = 13 5+6+6=17
Roll 6: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 6) = 13 6+6+6=18

Angie here. This will be Kita, a human gunfighter from the Protectorate of Menoth. She's been acting as a guide and/or bodyguard, and I would be happy to team up with anybody who's character would have a bodyguard. I'll work on her crunch over the weekend.

Hey Kita!

I've got an idea rattling around in my brainpan. Check your PMs.

3d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 4) = 14 = 16
3d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 6) = 14 = 17
3d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 2) = 8 = 12
3d6 ⇒ (1, 1, 6) = 8 = 13
3d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 5) = 10 = 15
3d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4) = 13 = 15

More to come but needed the ability scores first...

This is Malinor's submission.

I am an Ogrun Mercenary Warcaster. I will work on the fluff tomorrow.

I do have one question. I am currently leaning towards Controller Warcaster. I get the ability to heal my bot by my Intelligence Modifier after each long rest. If my bot gets smashed, but the Cortex survives, can I just keep healing it each day until it goes back to positive and then have it start rolling around again? If not I may shift over to Soldier.

Looks like we're a bit Combat heavy. I think I'll recreate Staeryt as a droll, sarcastic Skaald (Bard). I've got a good story about him coming to mind and it might balance things out a bit. Still basic story, just different approach.

Nyss
Gifted Essence
Spy Background

So far I think we have only one dedicated front line fighter and maybe a robot. But Bards are super helpful and can do melee if you want.

Nevitash- Melee Warcaster and maybe Buddy the Bot
Shari- Alchemist(?)
Kita - Gunfighter
Jeeru- Gunmage
Atlas- Warcaster(?)
Evindyl- Arcanist Warcaster (I think)
Scranford- Nys Bard

We are a bit Warcaster heavy.

I will be something else: there is nothing devine on that list.
I read all about clerics being the first users of magic last night.
Could certainly do that ...

Gifted Iosan Seeker (Priest of Morrow) [Benefaction Domain]

Ah...

Okay, maybe it's just me, but I'm having a look at the Gunmage and honestly, I don't know...

Play whatever you want or you think is interesting...the composition of the group should not matter too much...

What are we doing for starting equipment? Is it what we get from our class and background, or roll for starting wealth, or...?

Play whatever you want or you think is interesting...the composition of the group should not matter too much...

and in that case, I would rather play the Arcanist, the arcanist Arcanist, the spell guy, as opposed to the Gunslinger/Steamjack arcanist less magical guy ...
... who am I kidding, I want this pendant
PENDANT

Work hard and maybe you can EARN such a pendant...lol.

It would seem that you are correct about Prestidigitation only the Gun Mage and Gifted...as well you must be Gifted to cast magic (not divine).

Kira - As a gunfighter, you start with:

• (a) light armour or (b) any simple weapon
• (a) a simple or martial pistol or (b) a simple or martial rifle
• 20 rounds of ammunition
• (a) a soldier’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
• a set of gunsmith’s tools

For your background you receive:

• 2 hand crossbows or 1 heavy crossbow,
• leather armour
• thieve's tools
• a hooded cloak
• a set of common clothes
• a belt pouch with 15 gold

There's some things I'm finding a bit odd. But it can be I misread them, or didn't find the appropriate rules.

-Is there a way, other than a 2 level dip in Gunfighter, to ignore or mitigate the Magazine property of a weapon? There was the Gunner feat before, but it clearly doesn't work here since it ignores Loading instead of Magazine.

-Gunmages seem to cast spells like Warlocks, but they have Spellcasting instead of Pact Magic. Does that mean they merge spellslots when they multiclass? I'm guessing they don't, and that they behave exactly like Warlocks, but I can't find it specified in the book.

-Under the Fatigue Spellcasting rules it specifies the effective level of druid, clerics, rangers, wizards, etc, but what would be the effective level of, e.g., a Battle Chaplain? I'm guessing same as an Eldritch Knight (which is also not specified, but should be 1/3)? And what about Gunmages/Warlocks, which have full level but limited slots? It seems they put up a specific rule for the setting but then forgot they have specific classes/subclasses for the setting.

-Are there any new feats in the book other than the ones presented when you choose your Essence? I can't find any reason why, for example, one would want to use a pistol instead of a hand crossbow, unless I am missing something or it's only for flavour (which is fine).

-Are there any errata to this book? I've found some odd things that don't match (e.g. Trick Shots being once per rest but then one of them stating "once per round...")

Not intended as a critique, rather an attempt to understand what was the designers' intentions and what you, as a DM, have in mind.

Kira - As a gunfighter, you start with:

• (a) light armour or (b) any simple weapon
• (a) a simple or martial pistol or (b) a simple or martial rifle
• 20 rounds of ammunition
• (a) a soldier’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
• a set of gunsmith’s tools

For your background you receive:

• 2 hand crossbows or 1 heavy crossbow,
• leather armour
• thieve's tools
• a hooded cloak
• a set of common clothes
• a belt pouch with 15 gold

Thanks, just wanted to check as I've played games where instead of using starting equipment, we start with starting gold and buy our stuff instead.

I'm not entirely happy with my background yet - can I cobble together my own? I want something between the bodyguard and the wilderness guide.

EDIT: From my background, can I get two light pistols instead of 2 hand crossbows? They're actually cheaper.

Double Edit: My human culture gives me the stat bonuses (which we ignore becuase of the essence rule), but also some skill and weapon/armour proficiencies. Do we still get those? Essences don't give us proficiencies.

According to the book, you only lose the stat bonus for the race.

Erryll Reyven
Arcanist

SHEET
IMAGE

When are we thinking of getting this started?

For your equipment, you can sell off anything you do not wish to have at book cost, and then buy extra equipment with the money. Does that help some?? Also, you can exchange items if they are at the same price or lower.

Nevitash - As soon as everyone has their characters finished we can get started

Ok…lets see what I can do to answer your questions.

Is there a way, other than a 2-level dip in Gunfighter, to ignore or mitigate the Magazine property of a weapon? There was the Gunner feat before, but it clearly doesn't work here since it ignores Loading instead of Magazine. [/url]

I would allow the “Fast Reload” as a feat that could be taken by someone who has the “Martial Firearms” ability.

Jereru wrote:

Gunmages seem to cast spells like Warlocks, but they have Spellcasting instead of Pact Magic. Does that mean they merge spellslots when they are multiclass? I'm guessing they don't, and that they behave exactly like Warlocks, but I can't find it specified in the book.

Players Guide pg.234 wrote:

There is no simple way to represent an Iron Kingdoms warlock using rules from other sources. We do not recommend them as characters until we produce an additional supplement detailing their unique traits and warbeast bonds.

Jereru wrote:

Under the Fatigue Spellcasting rules it specifies the effective level of druid, clerics, rangers, wizards, etc, but what would be the effective level of, e.g., a Battle Chaplain? I'm guessing same as an Eldritch Knight (which is also not specified, but should be 1/3)? And what about Gunmages/Warlocks, who have full level but limited slots? It seems they put up a specific rule for the setting but then forgot they have specific classes/subclasses for the setting.

For the Battle Chaplain, as the book says, they are fighters first, and priests second (pg. 113), so the ½ level rule would be in effect. As for the Warlock, see above

Jereru wrote:

Are there any new feats in the book other than the ones presented when you choose your Essence? I can't find any reason why, for example, one would want to use a pistol instead of a hand crossbow, unless I am missing something or it's only for flavour (which is fine).

Yup, for the most part. It represents the themes of the world.

Jereru wrote:

Are there any errata to this book? I've found some odd things that don't match (e.g. Trick Shots being once per rest but then one of them stating "once per round...")

None that I have seen so far.

GM Questions:

How are you going to handle Coal? Are you going to handwave the logistics or do we need to do the math?

I obviously cannot afford the coal at level one, if ever. Are we going to assume that Buddy has fuel to run on or should I for the most part assume that I am just running suboptimal fuel and then if I hit an area that I really want to blow the money on coal to stop Buddy from being at Disadvantage I can specify that we are using coal? Do I need to track cost it if I use suboptimal fuel? The more logistics there is the less fun Buddy might end up being.

Yeah, when I said Warlocks I didn't mean IK Warlocks. I meant DnD Warlocks, with pact magic, having 2 slots for most of their career and spells up to level 5. Because that's what Gunmages are.

I'll try to post a character and maybe you'll see what I mean.

Thank you for your answers.

To some extent, it will be hand waved...I might make you simply pay a monthly upkeep fee that assumes you keep the water and coal hopper full, but if ever I need to know exactly how much you have on hand I will let you know...sound good??

Cool, I will update my equipment a bit. But otherwise I am ready to go.

Where will the game be starting? It'll help me with my fluff to know where she ends up.

You were all on a train from Cygnar heading for Corvis...you might have met waiting for the train or on the train, but we will start before you get to Corvis....

Excellent!

Y'know, I agree with all the foibles pointed out here about the system. Yes, I was looking for a whole bunch of gun-specific feats, but didn't get it. Yes, it looks like the Arcanist is better suited to this scene than the Mechanik (which is a class I don't get at all, but that's not important.)

But I am ALL IN for this game and I'm just going with it. It's gonna be nuts, it's gonna be fun, and part of it will probably be unfair, sometimes for us and sometimes agin' us. But I've played Shadowrun, so some twitchy rulesets ain't gonna scare me away! So let's tally ho! =)

I am doing a Ogrun GunMage for 1st level, and then it's bard all the way, baby! (It's gonna be awesome!)

(If anyone wants a shared background with a former stick-in-the-mud that is losing his way, I am all ears! =)

@Nevitash: When I was reading over Warcaster, it mentioned saving on fuel by hauling in a cart. Do you want to do that? I will ab-so-lutely pitch in for that. A cart is 15gp and a mule is 8 and I will sell what I can to get you there so your little buddy can swing for all he's worth!

@Jereru: Yeah, I get what you're saying about Warlocks and the Gunmage is a Warlock. Methinks that once we start playing it'll be obvious that the Gunmage isn't suited for the variant rule, so I'm happy to burn that bridge when we come to it. ^_^

Here's my homebrew background, tell me if you think it works.

Caravan guard
You spend your long days and weeks working as a caravan guard. Whether you are guarding merchant’s wagons full of trade goods, bands of pilgrims, or archaeologists exploring old ruins. You spend long days in the saddle or on foot, keeping an eye out for danger. You are used to being paid to defend your clients with your life. Sometimes you work alone, sometimes as part of a larger company; some of your jobs last mere days, some last weeks or longer. As a result, you are well-travelled, and familiar with the highways and major routes through the areas you work.

Ability score increase: Dexterity or Wisdom
Skill proficiencies: Perception and insight
Tools: Gaming set
Languages: You spend your days travelling across borders, and often negotiating passage with locals. You know 2 languages in the areas you work.
Equipment: 2 simple pistols or one martial pistol, spyglass, maps showing highways and major roads, travelers clothes, a hooded cloak or jacket and hat, pouch with 10 gp.

Feature: Canny Passage: You are familiar with local customs involving crossing territories, including who needs to be negotiated with, bribed, or avoided. You are also well-versed in spotting potential ambush sites. Roll with advantage on diplomacy checks to negotiate passage, and on perception checks to spot ambush sites.

Excellent!

Y'know, I agree with all the foibles pointed out here about the system. Yes, I was looking for a whole bunch of gun-specific feats, but didn't get it. Yes, it looks like the Arcanist is better suited to this scene than the Mechanik (which is a class I don't get at all, but that's not important.)

But I am ALL IN for this game and I'm just going with it. It's gonna be nuts, it's gonna be fun, and part of it will probably be unfair, sometimes for us and sometimes agin' us. But I've played Shadowrun, so some twitchy rulesets ain't gonna scare me away! So let's tally ho! =)

I am doing a Ogrun GunMage for 1st level, and then it's bard all the way, baby! (It's gonna be awesome!)

(If anyone wants a shared background with a former stick-in-the-mud that is losing his way, I am all ears! =)

** spoiler omitted **

@Nevitash: When I was reading over Warcaster, it mentioned saving on fuel by hauling in a cart. Do you want to do that? I will ab-so-lutely pitch in for that. A cart is 15gp and a mule is 8 and I will sell what I can to get you there so your little buddy can swing for all he's worth! I was actually going to have my Arcanist learn Floating Disk ... so that he could conjure the 5 or 10 it would take to carry a few hours of coal ;)

@Jereru: Yeah, I get what you're saying about Warlocks and the Gunmage is a Warlock. Methinks that once we start playing it'll be obvious that the Gunmage isn't suited for the variant rule, so I'm happy to burn that bridge when we come to it. ^_^

LOL @ SR = twitchy rulesets

and everyone has their schtik, right?
I read and read and read for hours and came up with a build that starts with prestidigitation & mage hand and unlimted arcane bolts ... so I am ready!!! Couple years ago, we might have called that a Warlock, yesterday probably a sorcerer, today an Arcanist. But it doesn't really matter 'cause he never has to reach across the table for his drink, and his clothes are always clean.

Well, in any case there's gonna be a gunmage already. I'll think about it and see if I can make it work somehow.

This will be my character - a Rogue Alchemist. She's human, Llaelese, Ryn.

Will be working on crunch today along with fluff.