Let's just keep going at this point if no one has a clear idea -- I think you'll finish the battle fine. Every do ROUND 3 actions.
Could we get a detailed description of what we're fighting? When we first encountered them, they were referred to as something like snakes but with some other features. Now they are being referred to as spiders and not snakes. Even if we don't know details about their abilities, having failed the lore rolls, we can see them.
Do they have reach with their natural weapons?
I'd also appreciate more descriptions with the melee outcomes. Just knowing the monsters hit leaves a lot to the imagination.
Could we get a detailed description of what we're fighting? When we first encountered them, they were referred to as something like snakes but with some other features. Now they are being referred to as spiders and not snakes. Even if we don't know details about their abilities, having failed the lore rolls, we can see them.
Do they have reach with their natural weapons?
I'd also appreciate more descriptions with the melee outcomes. Just knowing the monsters hit leaves a lot to the imagination.
That's the monster: https://imgur.com/mHvy
I'm happy to write more for melee outcomes -- but I'm going to expect the same from every player, every action too - ability checks, movement, any kind of item use, lore rolls -- I'd want that all to be narrated like "searching her mind from her previous experience of X....".
I went ahead and put of a recruitment post to get a couple more 1-2 more players. Even if we get 2, that will only put us at 6.
It was working earlier, site must have messed it up for some reason
I think 3 is too few to keep a game going, so I'm making the decision as DM get some new players.
yup, it would seem
Can we get out of this combat before we say he disappears so Jim doesn’t have to do his best impression of a drooling idiot for a whole round?
sure
Ok friends, I may have mentioned that I purchased Foundry and figured out how to use it -- I have a very fancy map for the next leg of our adventure once we finish this fight -- I made like a 3,000 ft. area of the forest with a bunch of tiles from patreons I subscribe too and added some additional tiles and already made tokens for everyone. It also has fog of war inputed. All you need to do is sign into the hosting platform, as the players I assigned each of your tokens to when the time comes.
Thanks for the clarifications in the Gameplay thread.
This points out a need, IMHO, for the Narrator to indicate which creature makes which attacks when narrating the NPCs attacks. Many combat maneuvers, spells, feats, etc. allow specific reactions to attacks and players need this information to make decisions. And many of those abilities alter roll outcomes by either adding or subtracting to the original result or adding an advantage or disadvantage type roll.
When I narrate, I say something about each attack, indicating which enemy (if there are multiple enemies of the same type) and which creature is attacked, with the rolls accessible so players can see what the outcomes were. After narrating the attacks I make an OOC summation of damage done, saves needed, etc., giving the game mechanic outcomes the players need to see.
I try to make it similar to a tabletop game where the narrator takes each enemy in turn, rolls the attack dice, and then describes what happens to whom. Then its on to the next NPC's attacks.
An unavoidable side effect is that we cannot honor some of the rules that specify a decision to use a particular way of changing a dice roll of an NPC be made before knowing the outcome. I tried to honor the spirit of these rules by having Shasta use her feat on the first attack, since in a tabletop game, she would have made that decision before knowing a critical hit was to come (although in this case, the way the dice came out, the crit did less damage than the non-crit, which was one point away from max).
Here is a link to a post from a recent battle moment I am narrating for a Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous campaign that illustrates what I'm suggesting. The map for this melee has tokens for the enemies with numbers so OOC comments can easily identify which is which. Notice the spoiler at the top where I put all the dice rolls. Players an see the rolls but it keeps them from cluttering up the page and breaking up the main narration.
All of this is just advice on what has worked well for me, so I hope you won't take offense at the suggestions.
By the way, I'm excited to see what new mapping features you are going to be able to use with the new software you mentioned. Let us know if we need to register like we did for the current mapping application.
I can give all the monsters individual names in foundry to resolve the issue for the next combat
Thanks for the clarifications in the Gameplay thread.
This points out a need, IMHO, for the Narrator to indicate which creature makes which attacks when narrating the NPCs attacks. Many combat maneuvers, spells, feats, etc. allow specific reactions to attacks and players need this information to make decisions. And many of those abilities alter roll outcomes by either adding or subtracting to the original result or adding an advantage or disadvantage type roll.
When I narrate, I say something about each attack, indicating which enemy (if there are multiple enemies of the same type) and which creature is attacked, with the rolls accessible so players can see what the outcomes were. After narrating the attacks I make an OOC summation of damage done, saves needed, etc., giving the game mechanic outcomes the players need to see.
I try to make it similar to a tabletop game where the narrator takes each enemy in turn, rolls the attack dice, and then describes what happens to whom. Then its on to the next NPC's attacks.
An unavoidable side effect is that we cannot honor some of the rules that specify a decision to use a particular way of changing a dice roll of an NPC be made before knowing the outcome. I tried to honor the spirit of these rules by having Shasta use her feat on the first attack, since in a tabletop game, she would have made that decision before knowing a critical hit was to come (although in this case, the way the dice came out, the crit did less damage than the non-crit, which was one point away from max).
Here is a link to a post from a recent battle moment I am narrating for a Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous campaign that illustrates what I'm suggesting. The map for this melee has tokens for the enemies with numbers so OOC comments can easily identify which is which. Notice the spoiler at the top where I put all the dice rolls. Players an see the rolls but it keeps...
All you're going to need to do Foundry is to sign into the system with this link as the player I tell you to pick (I've already assigned ownership of character tokens to specific players).
Shasta is 13
Figgy and Jimminiy are 10 and 11
Aeleni is 12.
When you click on your token after you sign in, you should see a 60ft vision radius within a fog of war that's colored like an astral nebula.
I would suggest using Firefox as the best-compatible browser for this program from my experiments with chrome, opera, opera gx, and firefox
I appreciate the enthusiasm for the maps and fog of war, but there’s no way I’m going to be able to use that kind of map software from my phone. I have realistic access to my computer every now and then. If we’ll be required to use that for the game I’ll have to withdraw.
I appreciate the enthusiasm for the maps and fog of war, but there’s no way I’m going to be able to use that kind of map software from my phone. I have realistic access to my computer every now and then. If we’ll be required to use that for the game I’ll have to withdraw.
I can do screen shots for you within reason (i.e., not 12+ a round, like 1 per round, and not like 'move over 5ft to the left, 5ft to the right, no 5ft down, wait, move again 10ft down'). I can move tokens -- but I'm not doing it 12 times a round because I'm being given insufficiently specific directions -- I'm moving them and that's where they are at that point -- I'm not offering to do 'Little to the left, little to the right, no down 3 spaces, up three, actually, I'm diagonal....'. I move them, and that's it, and we're moving on. As long as those caveats are okay, I don't have an issue with you operating via screen shots since you started the game before we used this platform.
Thanks for the clarifications in the Gameplay thread.
This points out a need, IMHO, for the Narrator to indicate which creature makes which attacks when narrating the NPCs attacks. Many combat maneuvers, spells, feats, etc. allow specific reactions to attacks and players need this information to make decisions. And many of those abilities alter roll outcomes by either adding or subtracting to the original result or adding an advantage or disadvantage type roll.
When I narrate, I say something about each attack, indicating which enemy (if there are multiple enemies of the same type) and which creature is attacked, with the rolls accessible so players can see what the outcomes were. After narrating the attacks I make an OOC summation of damage done, saves needed, etc., giving the game mechanic outcomes the players need to see.
I try to make it similar to a tabletop game where the narrator takes each enemy in turn, rolls the attack dice, and then describes what happens to whom. Then its on to the next NPC's attacks.
An unavoidable side effect is that we cannot honor some of the rules that specify a decision to use a particular way of changing a dice roll of an NPC be made before knowing the outcome. I tried to honor the spirit of these rules by having Shasta use her feat on the first attack, since in a tabletop game, she would have made that decision before knowing a critical hit was to come (although in this case, the way the dice came out, the crit did less damage than the non-crit, which was one point away from max).
Here is a link to a post from a recent battle moment I am narrating for a Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous campaign that illustrates what I'm suggesting. The map for this melee has tokens for the enemies with numbers so OOC comments can easily identify which is which. Notice the spoiler at the top where I put all the dice rolls. Players an see the rolls but it keeps...
I'm happy to try to accommodate requests within reason, but I do hope, as you're indicating in this post, that you're aware you are, and have been making thus far, a fair number of formatting and subjective-preference organization requests (like I personally don't care at all about several things like quoted posts and putting certain things in spoilers that seem to really irritate/concern you as manifestations of visual 'clutter') that I'm accommodating.
Jimminy has contacted me on discord and is withdrawing -- that leaves us with 2 players. I'm honestly burning out a little with the pbp format -- I'm happy to keep going if we can get a decent pace and people are actually enjoying themselves (I'm still not really clear if there's an essential discordance between what I value, want to do in this game and what the current players want to get out of it), but I'm also contemplating just folding up my current pbp games and creating materials for a live streaming game instead and exploring a different format.
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I don't think that's the PbP format. You run demanding games with new and extra rules (which is cool), but keep on changing things and maps and the world background etc.
That is too much for a lot of people who just want to have some fun 5 minutes of escapism here daily.
For example, i don't think Shasta meant naming the monsters individually on discord, rather focusing a bit more on the text you are writing here when doing posts and describing things a bit more here.
You can be such an awesome narrator, lately some posts seemed a bit unfocused though.
Seems your attention is really somewhere else.
Just my perception of course.
I don't think that's the PbP format. You run demanding games with new and extra rules (which is cool), but keep on changing things and maps and the world background etc.
That is too much for a lot of people who just want to have some fun 5 minutes of escapism here daily.For example, i don't think Shasta meant naming the monsters individually on discord, rather focusing a bit more on the text you are writing here when doing posts and describing things a bit more here.
You can be such an awesome narrator, lately some posts seemed a bit unfocused though.
Seems your attention is really somewhere else.Just my perception of course.
I don't have any idea what you mean about world background for this game changing. From my perspective, that's not accurate.
I don't know what you mean about changing 'things' -- I asked if anyone wanted to use some different skill rules, and didn't when everyone jumped on me about it. So, we haven't changed the rules either. Again, not seeing where that's coming from.
If you're not enjoying that it's fine, and we can stop -- I do have my own preferences for what I enjoy and find valuable in running games. Right now I feel like no one cares about any of those things, like worldbuilding and maps, and instead have constant corrections, suggestions, comments etc. about other things I'm not as concerned about, like how to format posts, or just have new comments, corrections, suggestions, when I try to do something to address it -- if you say you want it specified what monster is affected by an ability, and I address that by naming the individual entities and using the hp counter in foundry, I find it quite frustrating to then have more comments like "no, I'd rather you addressed it this way" -- I may choose to deal with issues differently than if you were the DM; if you can't ever accept that I might have my own way of doing something or my own preferences, and I don't always just want to adopt player preferences, I don't think this will work out in terms of the player-DM coordination of game expectations. If you just don't like my DMing style, sometimes it doesn't work out, and we can just agree to part ways amicably.
I'm honestly getting to the point of not enjoying this with the constant corrective comments right now (I'm not saying "complaint" because I'm trying to use more neutral language, but I am honestly feeling like there's a lot of energy trying, on the one hand, to make me DM a certain way, and a lot of attention in particular on post formatting and things that to me seem like minutiae that I don't really understand the energy and attention about when there doesn't seem to be much, or any, parallel attention to the stuff like the worldbuilding elements I've tried to weave into the narrative, but also not a whole lot of appreciation for the time I'm putting into making assets for this game or developing the worldbuilding, and not much interest either. For instance, the bugbear had a mysterious brand on his arm -- that's because he's an outcast from his tribe, and he's actually on something of a suicide mission. No one questioned or followed up on that at all, despite it coming up several times in my description of him to different players.).
I simply don't agree with some of these opinions about what the best way to run a game is. I can accommodate requests within reason -- but I don't accept that there's one way to do this, or one good model for how to run any specific kind of game. There may simply be a mismatch here, and we should all find different play groups.
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Apologies if that came across offensive somehow or "corrective".
You know i like a lot of your game ideas and enjoy playing with you.
I get your idea with this awesome big map exploring. It's cool and probably works well on Foundry.
I just think that's not really a PbP game anymore then somehow and wanted to point that out in relation to you getting burnt out about PbP gaming and loosing people.
That's all.
I'm happy to game on though.
Apologies if that came across offensive somehow or "corrective".
You know i like a lot of your game ideas and enjoy playing with you.I get your idea with this awesome big map exploring. It's cool and probably works well on Foundry.
I just think that's not really a PbP game anymore then somehow and wanted to point that out in relation to you getting burnt out about PbP gaming and loosing people.
That's all.I'm happy to game on though.
I don't know what that means -- you still need maps for PBP -- the game runs of 5ft positioning on a grid. You need to know cover too, so it's hard to use the rules with just a rough sketch -- you have to know where all the furniture and other obstructions are too.
I spent a lot of time putting together the next encounter to make it tactically interesting with complex terrain so there's more going on than this current tedious slog fest with a line of players and a line of attackers, and slugging back and forth for weeks on end -- I'm sure everyone will immediately jump on me and disagree for whatever reason, but I view that partly as a limitation of the imaginative space I can create with a less powerful VTT.
If we're continuing, I'm just going to rule this current combat is over and move on with the story -- it's been going on too many weeks already.
Updated -- combat's over with the spider snakes, I'm moving the story along and we're kicking off on the Foundry map. Everyone who wants to keep playing -- sign onto the link I gave with the player token I already set up. Everything is already assigned.
I will keep playing for a while, but I joined this game to get a chance to learn something about 5E Dnd. Since joining this game, Bodacious has started an A5E game that I've joined and am enjoying.
Some of what I suggested were just suggestions that I expect to ignore if you don't wish to adopt them. But I do demand a few things of a Narrator in order to enjoy the game play.
During melee, I need to know the details that are necessary to make strategic decisions. I need to know where the enemies and allies are for movement and for knowing whether there will be attacks of opportunity if my character moves a certain way or casts a spell, etc. That's the reason I find D&D fun.
I tend to run finesse type characters who don't just wade into combat and starting swinging a sword at things. Not that there's anything wrong with that type of character for those who prefer it, but I like to look at my character sheet, review my special abilities, spells, etc., then decide what combinations of movements and actions will be the most advantageous.
If I have to ask the narrator for details before acting, it breaks up the flow of the game. I've been doing this for close to ten years, so I've learned what works for me and what doesn't. Finding a compatible narrator for a player's preferred style is part of the process and it doesn't always work out.
So I won't make any more suggestions, but you know what I am hoping for, and if I cannot enjoy the game then I'll likely withdraw as well, with no hard feelings.
Jimminy has contacted me on discord and is withdrawing -- that leaves us with 2 players. I'm honestly burning out a little with the pbp format -- I'm happy to keep going if we can get a decent pace and people are actually enjoying themselves (I'm still not really clear if there's an essential discordance between what I value, want to do in this game and what the current players want to get out of it), but I'm also contemplating just folding up my current pbp games and creating materials for a live streaming game instead and exploring a different format.
It's fair to say that if you're not enjoying the process, there is no point in continuing. From what I've seen of your profiles, it looks as if you started a whole bunch of games a few months ago. You might have been too ambitious and would enjoy it more if you focused on your favorite game and let the others go.
I know from many years experience that being the Narrator is time consuming. Just yesterday, I spent a few hours reviewing the NPCs that will be challenging a group of high level characters. I made Word documents with the NPC profiles for easy access and to make sure I know the rules for all the feats and other abilities possessed by each NPC. I made map tokens and set them up on the map so that will be ready to go. I keep a detailed record of what each PC and NPC has done on each turn in the melee. I keep track of what buffs are on what PCs and NPCs. It's a lot.
On top of that, I had a ret-con to make that took about an hour because of the complexity of the melee situation with four PCs and 6 NPCs. And this is just one game I am narrating. There are two others, plus I'm a player in several.
So being the narrator to just one game is a big time commitment. Players appreciate this because it makes the adventures and characters come alive. But if you're not able to keep up with the demands, it shows, and players start to lose interest. I've had many great moments in PBP over ten years. So I appreciate what you are trying to do. I hope things improve and we can get a steady crew and work out expectations and commitments.
So far, I've tried to open the Forge link in two different browsers, and I just get the circling dots and nothing else. I'm reinstalling Firefox to try that.
I'm in the game, but when I select the player number listed for Shasta and put in my password for The Forge, it does not accept it. Are we supposed to make separate passwords for the game?
I may have to wait for a new computer, now on order, to arrive, to be able to function well in the site.
I assigned an 'owner' to each token -- vision should be turned on for all tokens.
I will keep playing for a while, but I joined this game to get a chance to learn something about 5E Dnd. Since joining this game, Bodacious has started an A5E game that I've joined and am enjoying.
Some of what I suggested were just suggestions that I expect to ignore if you don't wish to adopt them. But I do demand a few things of a Narrator in order to enjoy the game play.
During melee, I need to know the details that are necessary to make strategic decisions. I need to know where the enemies and allies are for movement and for knowing whether there will be attacks of opportunity if my character moves a certain way or casts a spell, etc. That's the reason I find D&D fun.
I tend to run finesse type characters who don't just wade into combat and starting swinging a sword at things. Not that there's anything wrong with that type of character for those who prefer it, but I like to look at my character sheet, review my special abilities, spells, etc., then decide what combinations of movements and actions will be the most advantageous.
If I have to ask the narrator for details before acting, it breaks up the flow of the game. I've been doing this for close to ten years, so I've learned what works for me and what doesn't. Finding a compatible narrator for a player's preferred style is part of the process and it doesn't always work out.
So I won't make any more suggestions, but you know what I am hoping for, and if I cannot enjoy the game then I'll likely withdraw as well, with no hard feelings.
As I said, I'm happy within reason, to accommodate things, and I understand these rationales for a few of the issue and would be happy to work with you on those.
At the same time, if you're going to make one request after another, it would be helpful to focus on things that actually impact your ability to post an action, like information you need, rather than things that don't really impact the game except from an aesthetic angle, like the organization of, or material placed in, spoilers and whether the previous post is quoted or not, and what information goes in a header -- that seems clearly to be just a preference, and honestly it's getting to be a bit for me much on top of all the other requests/suggestions/comments/concerns/prompts etc. It'd be helpful if there are some of these aesthetic issues that are just driving you nuts for whatever reason you could just make a list so we could all deal with it in one fell swoop and be done with it so we don't continue in this vein. I can tell you have a format you've developed and really like, and I'd be happy to try to incorporate that within reason, but it feels at this point like every post is "could you do this, could you do that, what about this, what about that". I'm just trying to give you a sense of my perspective at this point.
This is the only game I'm running on this site at this point, so there's no divided attention at this juncture.
It's hard to find the right mix of DM preference and player preference -- maybe we just don't have that here. I'll keep posting for now and see if we can find our way to a better pace/understanding, with the idea this may just not be a good mix of play styles and we'll have to reevaluate.
I'm in the game, but when I select the player number listed for Shasta and put in my password for The Forge, it does not accept it. Are we supposed to make separate passwords for the game?
I may have to wait for a new computer, now on order, to arrive, to be able to function well in the site.
there shouldn't be a password, just select the player number I indicated and it should let you sign in.
How do you know which user is Shasta?
Couldn't figure that one out.Seems Sebecloki did something with sheets i don't really understand, we seem to be lacking actors and tokens though, hence you can't see.
There are actors and tokens and they're turned on, I tested character vision on everything already.
I made a new recruitment post to see if we can get this back on track. If anyone needs help signing into Foundry, my discord handle is Sebecloki#9083. I can direct you via chat. The UI is a little complex and nonnutritive, but I can tell you step by step what buttons to push.
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I get the message that i don't own a token.
Also on login, there's just player 2-12 + gamemaster.
Who is which player? Would be good to have character names there instead.
You need set owners on the actors in the actors directory as far as i know. Then we can see the tokens of that actor, because we should have automatic ownership.
Except if this works very different from the PF2 module.
I get the message that i don't own a token.
Also on login, there's just player 2-12 + gamemaster.
Who is which player? Would be good to have character names there instead.
You need set owners on the actors in the actors directory as far as i know. Then we can see the tokens of that actor, because we should have automatic ownership.
Except if this works very different from the PF2 module.
That's what I was saying, I already set ownership. It will be easier to try to resolve this on discord then posting back and forth.
there shouldn't be a password, just select the player number I indicated and it should let you sign in.I'm in the game, but when I select the player number listed for Shasta and put in my password for The Forge, it does not accept it. Are we supposed to make separate passwords for the game?
I may have to wait for a new computer, now on order, to arrive, to be able to function well in the site.
I select Player 13, put my Forge Password in the next line, and it says invalid password entered. If that password is supposed to be my Forge that I would use for logging in, then I'll change the password and try again.
I checked and I'm using the correct password. Is there a different password for this particular group that the creator of the game has to give to each player to be able to log in?
I updated my profile as it had my email address as my display name. I changed it to Clebsch.
From what I understand, you can assign or not assign a password, and I didn't make one for this game, so I'm not sure what the issue with a password is. I can try to direct you on discord later.
Okay, that's irrational, to have a field for a password that doesn't have to be entered but it gives an error message if you enter something instead of recognizing that there is not password needed and just loading the program.
Anyway, I got past the first screen, but then my computer locked up trying to load the map. May be too high resolution. It may be my computer, which is getting replaced this week with something that should have no issues with memory or speed.
I'll try again.
Okay, that's irrational, to have a field for a password that doesn't have to be entered but it gives an error message if you enter something instead of recognizing that there is not password needed and just loading the program.
Anyway, I got past the first screen, but then my computer locked up trying to load the map. May be too high resolution. It may be my computer, which is getting replaced this week with something that should have no issues with memory or speed.
I'll try again.
It's not the easiest UI -- I had to have someone with experience walk me through it the first couple of times while signed onto the same world. I can do that if we can find a time we're both on discord -- I can tell which buttons to push one after the other.
I've found it to be worth the effort because this program can do things that no other one can -- you couldn't assemble maps like this in GIMP, it would be literally un-openable. I also have mood music and weather effects -- like I have a sound track of creepy forest music for the goblin territory.
The A5E modules can also automate the entire play experience -- like you click a button for an attack and click the target and it rolls everything and automatically deducts hitpoints -- I'm not trying that b/c it would require uploading custom monster stats long with PC stats for this game, and they're also still updating stuff from v 9 to v 10, but it is incredible.
I'll make a DM PC sun cleric so we can have a priest again --
Using set 2- 18, 17, 17, 16, 16, 15
5th level human sun priest/light priest. I also made him strong so he can be a combatant. I think I just need to pick spells and extra equipment, I'll finish him tomorrow or the next day and make an alias.
Strength: 20 (+4)
Dexterity: 16 (+3)
Constitution: 20 (+4)
Intelligence: 15 (+2)
Wisdom: 18 (+4)
Charism: 16 (+4)
HP 80
AC 17
Origin
Human Traits
Age. Humans reach basic maturity around age 18, although many continue to grow in body and mind through their twenties. Only the most exceptional human elders live past 100 years.
Size. Most adult humans are in the 5 to 6 foot range, although taller and shorter statures do occur. Your size is Medium (with your Narrator’s permission, your size can instead be Small.)
Speed. Your base Speed is 30 feet.
Fast Learner. With their shorter life spans, humans can acquire knowledge at a higher rate than more long-lived heritages (although not all acquire the wisdom to use it). You gain proficiency in one additional skill of your choice. In addition, you require half as much time as normal to train yourself in the use of a suit of armor, tool, or weapon during downtime.
Intrepid. Your survival instinct is remarkably strong. When you make an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, you can choose to gain an expertise die on that roll. Once you use this trait, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Human Gift:
INGENIOUS FOCUS
Not all human minds work the same—some have a nearly miraculous level of focus. People with this intellectual mode often bring a surprising level of insight and passion to almost any topic they engage. In spite of their brilliance, they typically have difficulty with more general awareness. You have the following traits:
Inexorable Concentration. When you fail a Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration, you can immediately reroll it, taking the new result. You may use this trait a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1), and regain all expended uses after a long rest.
Resident Expert. You have a reputation for painstaking detail on certain tasks and subjects. Choose two tools with which you are proficient , or a skill with which you are proficient from Animal Handling, Arcana, Culture, Engineering, History, Medicine, Nature, or Religion. When you make a check with that tool or skill and the d20 shows a natural result of less than 10, you can count the d20 result as being 10.
Culture Traits:
COSMOPOLITAN
Cosmopolitans grew up in one of the world’s largest, most diverse cities. People of every heritage and way of life brush shoulders, speaking any tongue that can be imagined. Any faith can find a place of worship—even if it is in a home and not a proper temple. The main roads are active all through the night, and there are shadowy alleys where any good might be procured no matter the hour.
Folks tend to have polarized opinions on the city—you either love it or hate it. For some people the big city is a cesspool of corruption and debauchery, but for others the cosmopolitan lifestyle represents what could be: a peaceful global society. The ideal of creating a culture where everyone can fit in fills some folks with hope.
Characters raised in the cosmopolitan culture share a variety of traits in common with one another.
Discreetly Armed. Even while armed, you know how to keep the fact discreet and nonthreatening. You gain an expertise die on checks made to persuade others to let you remain armed or to conceal weapons or items about your person.
Fashion Sense. You know how to read people through their clothes and bearing. After you spend at least 1 minute observing a creature within 60 feet, you can use an action to make either an Insight or History check against a DC equal to the creature’s passive Deception check score. On a success, you learn the following information about that creature:
Whether the creature has a lower Charisma score than yourself.
The creature’s culture and national origin (if any).
The creature’s social standing in the local majority culture.
Skill Versatility. In the big city, you never know what skills you’ll need to get by. You gain proficiency in Culture and one other skill of your choice.
Urban Denizen. You know your way around big cities, and know how to find people in urban locations. You can make an Investigation check to learn the location of (or at the Narrator’s discretion gain a helpful clue to the trail of) a person by discreetly asking around in the right places. The difficulty of the check is DC 15 if the individual is not hiding, or DC 20 if they are trying to conceal their location.
Well-Connected. You gain an extra connection, selected from a background of your choice. This person is of a different heritage or national origin than yourself.
Languages. You can speak, read, write, and sign in Common and two additional languages.
Background
NOBLE
You come from a family with hereditary power. Since you’re taking up a life of adventuring, it’s quite likely that you’re a second child or more distant heir with no vast inheritance to look forward to. You’ve got to make your own way in the world with only your years of training from armsmasters and private tutors, your many rich relatives and friends, and your not inconsiderable personal wealth.
How rich and powerful is your noble family? Will the titled head of the family help you out of trouble? What is your family’s coat of arms or heraldic symbol?
Ability Score Increases: +1 to Strength and one other ability score.
Skill Proficiencies: Culture, History, and either Animal Handling or Persuasion.
Tool Proficiencies: One gaming set.
Languages: One of your choice.
Suggested Equipment (Cost 16 gold): Fine clothes, signet ring, writ detailing your family tree.”
Feature: High Society. You know of—or personally know—most of the noble families for hundreds of miles. In most settled areas you (and possibly your companions, if well-behaved) can find a noble host who will feed you, shelter you, and offer you a rich lifestyle.
Adventures and Advancement. Your family may ask you for one or two little favors: convince this relative to marry a family-approved spouse, slay that family foe in a duel, serve under a liege lord in a battle. If you advance your family’s fortunes, you may earn a knighthood along with the free service of a retinue of servants and up to 8 guards .
NOBLE CONNECTIONS
Your perfect elder sibling to whom you never seem to measure up.
NOBLE MEMENTOS
A keepsake or love letter from a high-born sweetheart.
Destiny
DEVOTION
Devotion can be a pure or foolish thing. A beloved, a nation, a cause—anything may be the object of your Devotion, but very few are worthy of it. For you the choice is clear: the love at the center of your life is worth dying or killing for, and there is no limit to your service and sacrifice on its behalf.
Source of Inspiration: Its Own Reward. You draw inspiration from seeing your duty through to the end. You gain inspiration whenever you complete a quest, fulfill a difficult promise, or commit an act of self-sacrifice that includes grievous injury to yourself.
Complete a quest, keep a promise to your own detriment, keep an innocent safe while seriously endangering yourself, commit an act of genuine self-sacrifice.
Inspiration Feature: Selfless Aid. Your aid is a lifeline and a steadying source of resolve. Whenever you take the Help action to aid an ally attacking a creature, you may spend your inspiration. If you do, in addition to the normal benefits of the Help action, that creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you until the start of your next turn.
FULFILLING YOUR DESTINY
You fulfill your destiny of Devotion when you perform an act of selfless devotion.
Die while saving the lives of others, complete a massive undertaking personally entrusted to you, succeed at the cause you devoted your life to.
Fulfillment Feature: Miraculous Revival. Universal forces are often inclined to restore those who die heroically for noble causes, blessing their sacrifice by making them better than they were before. As long as you have not died of old age, 24 hours after you die (or in 24 hours, if your death triggered gaining this feature) you miraculously revive intact with full hit points. You appear after “narrowly surviving” the circumstances that killed you—climbing out of the chasm you fell down, crawling from the rubble of the structure that collapsed over you, waking up from impossibly lethal wounds that prove superficial, or magically transporting from the plane of existence you were caught in. In addition, the first time you are revived in this way, you gain a +1 bonus on all future attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.
Table: Devotion Destiny
d6 Motivation
1 Love: They come first—above the rest of the world if need be.
Class Features
CLASS FEATURES
As a cleric, you gain the following class features.
HIT POINTS
Hit Dice: 1d8 per cleric level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per cleric level after 1st
PROFICIENCIES
Armor: None
Weapons: Simple weapons
Tools: musical instrument
Saving Throws: Wisdom, and Charisma
Skills: Choose two Medicine and Religion
EQUIPMENT
You begin the game with 125 gold which you can spend on your character’s starting weapons, armor, and adventuring gear. You can select your own gear or choose one of the following equipment packages. Also consult the Suggested Equipment section of your chosen background.
Holy Warrior’s Set (Cost 121 gold): Longbow and 20 arrows, mace, scale mail, explorer’s pack, reliquary divine focus (holy symbol)
DEFENSIVE BLESSING
Starting at 1st level, the high powers which guide you bestow a modicum of protection for your journey. Choose one of the following options.
SPIRIT SOLDIER
You gain proficiency with light armor, medium armor, and shields.
SACRED CALL
Also at 1st level, your clerical vocation anoints you with certain graces for spreading your message to the people. Choose one of the following.
CLERICAL CHARISMA
Crowds find your public presence irresistible. You gain proficiency in the Performance skill. Whenever you use Performance to deliver a sermon or to sing holy songs in a town or city, even on a failed check other than a natural 1, you still attract a crowd of people no smaller than your spell save DC.
SPELLCASTING
Sanctioned by the highest powers, you can cast spells to enact sacred miracles. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the cleric spell list.
Level
Cantrips
Known
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
1st
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
2nd
3
3
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
3rd
3
4
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
4th
4
4
3
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
5th
4
4
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
6th
4
4
3
3
—
—
—
—
—
—
7th
4
4
3
3
1
—
—
—
—
—
8th
4
4
3
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
9th
4
4
3
3
3
1
—
—
—
—
10th
5
4
3
3
3
2
—
—
—
—
11th
5
4
3
3
3
2
1
—
—
—
12th
5
4
3
3
3
2
1
—
—
—
13th
5
4
3
3
3
2
1
1
—
—
14th
5
4
3
3
3
2
1
1
—
—
15th
5
4
3
3
3
2
1
1
1
—
16th
5
4
3
3
3
2
1
1
1
—
17th
5
4
3
3
3
2
1
1
1
1
18th
5
4
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
1
19th
5
4
3
3
3
3
2
1
1
1
20th
5
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
CANTRIPS
At 1st level, you know three cantrips of your choice from the cleric spell list. You learn additional cleric cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Cleric table.
In addition to these, you also know the thaumaturgy cantrip.
PREPARING AND CASTING SPELLS
The Cleric table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your cleric spells. To cast one of these cleric spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
You prepare the list of cleric spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the cleric spell list. When you do so, choose a number of cleric spells equal to your Wisdom modifier + your cleric level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Casting spells doesn’t remove them from your list of prepared spells.
You can change your list of prepared spells whenever you finish a long rest by meditating for at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.
SPELLCASTING ABILITY
Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your cleric spells. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a cleric spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
RITUAL CASTING
You can cast a cleric spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell prepared. You can also cast the ceremony spell as a ritual whether you have the spell prepared or not.
SPELLCASTING FOCUS
You can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus for your cleric spells.
CHANNEL DIVINITY
At 2nd level, you are able to channel the energy of your greater entity directly, and use it for a variety of magical effects. You start with two of these effects: Turn Undead and an additional effect dependent on your chosen Cleric Archetype. Some archetypes provide additional uses of Channel Divinity as your cleric level increases, detailed under the heading of your chosen archetypes.
You may choose which Channel Divinity effect to create each time you use this feature. You must then finish a short or long rest before you’re able to Channel Divinity again.
Some Channel Divinity effects require saving throws. The DC for this is the same as your cleric spell save DC.
From 6th level you can use your Channel Divinity twice between rests, and beginning at 18th level you can use it three times between rests. Finishing a short or long rest regains your expended uses.
CHANNEL DIVINITY: TURN UNDEAD
As an action, you present the holy symbol of your greater entity and speak a divine word, rebuking the undead. Each undead creature within 30 feet that can see or hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage from any source.
A turned creature must use its turns trying to move as far away from you as possible. It cannot willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also cannot take reactions. On its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape any effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.
PRINCIPLES OF DEVOTION
At 2nd level, after much contemplation and communion with your greater entity, you pledge to uphold certain standards of behavior beyond what is necessary for adventure. In return, your greater entity grants you one of the following related boons. When you fail to uphold this pledge, you lose any benefits from it until 24 hours after you finish a long rest and rededicate yourself.
CHASTE
In exchange for forgoing pleasures of the heart and flesh, you are hardened to the persuasions of others. Add your Wisdom modifier to any saving throws made to resist being charmed. You also gain one skill specialty chosen from Insight, Persuasion, or Religion.
ARCHETYPE FEATURE
At 2nd level you gain another archetype feature.
SIGNS OF FAITH
At 3rd level, you gain a sign of faith of your choice. Signs of faith are detailed at the end of your class description. The Signs Known column of the Cleric table shows when you gain new signs.
COMPASSIONATE NURSE
Your insight and sympathy more than make up for your lack of formal medical training. You gain an expertise die on Medicine checks. In addition, you may always choose to use Wisdom when making Medicine checks.
ABILITY SCORE IMPROVEMENT
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
SACRED OFFICE
Also at 4th level, your mission has taken root and is known through much of the land, conveying rumors both good and ill about your deeds. Choose one of the following.
AUSPICIOUS COLLABORATOR
The higher powers you are attuned to have witnessed your deeds and bestowed upon you a quality of worthiness. Your requests for aid are perceived as opportunities for partnership rather than impositions.
People of all backgrounds are more drawn to help you than they would ordinarily be. You gain one specialty chosen from Culture or Persuasion, and you gain an expertise die on Persuasion checks related to seeking aid.
SYMBOL OF MIGHT
The strength of the powers you serve is obvious to anybody you interact with, and you are able to use it to garner a certain level of fear and compliance. You gain one Intimidation specialty, and you gain an expertise die on Intimidation checks made to convince others to comply with your demands. The people you intimidate are no longer friendly towards you, if they were previously.
EMPOWERED TURNING
At 5th level your greater entity grants you improved ways to turn undead or other abhorrent beings. You gain this feature again at 8th, 11th, 14th, and 17th level. Each time you gain Empowered Turning, choose one of the following:
TURN IDEOLOGY
Choose one of the following: Chaotic, Evil, Good, or Lawful. When you use Turn Undead, you can also choose to affect creatures with the chosen alignment trait. You can select this option multiple times.
SUN PRIEST
Whether it’s the first hopeful rays of sunrise, the roar of flame in darkness, or the gentle glow of a candle, sun priests wield and worship the power that illuminates and warms the world.
While sun priests are bound by this common archetype, their intentions, methods of worship, and philosophies differ greatly. Some may see the light as symbolic, choosing to add warmth and light to the world with joyful acts, feasts, and fun, while others choose to illuminate new knowledge and discoveries, enlightening minds and changing the world. Still more revere the homely hearthfire or cherish the cleansing properties of a white-hot flame.
Sun Priest Spells
1 burning hands, faerie fire
3 continual flame, scorching ray
5 darklight, fireball
7 fire shield, wall of fire
9 creation, wall of force
FAVORED ILLUMINATION
Starting at 1st level when you choose this archetype, you learn the dancing lights, light, or produce flame cantrip. This does not count against your number of known cantrips.
FLASH FIGHT
Also at 1st level, you learn that light is everything on the battlefield. You can use an action to touch a hostile creature within your reach, gently illuminating it with your divine will and granting advantage on attacks made against it before the start of your next turn.
Alternatively, you can use an action to touch an ally within reach, surrounding them with a coruscating shimmer of bright light. Until the start of your next turn, creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls against the touched ally.
Once you have used this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
CHANNEL DIVINITY: RADIANT BURST
Starting at 2nd level, you can use an action to clutch your holy symbol and emit a bright blast. In addition to dispelling any magical darkness within 30 feet, enemy creatures within 30 feet make a Constitution saving throw or are blinded by the light for 1 minute. A blinded creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Alternatively, you can choose to make the light more harmful. On a failed saving throw a creature takes radiant damage equal to 2d10 + your cleric level, or half damage on a success.
Cleric: Light Domain
Gods of light – including Helm, Lathander, Pholtus, Branchala, the Silver Flame, Belenus, Apollo, and Re-Horakhty – promote the ideals of rebirth and renewal, truth, vigilance, and beauty, often using the symbol of the sun. Some of these gods are portrayed as the sun itself or as a charioteer who guides the sun across the sky. Others are tireless sentinels whose eyes pierce every shadow and see through every deception. Some are deities of beauty and artistry, who teach that art is a vehicle for the soul's improvement. Clerics of a god of light are enlightened souls infused with radiance and the power of their gods' discerning vision, charged with chasing away lies and burning away darkness.
Source: Player's Handbook
Light Domain Spells
Cleric Level Spells
1st Burning Hands, Faerie Fire
3rd Flaming Sphere, Scorching Ray
5th Daylight, Fireball
7th Guardian of Faith, Wall of Fire
9th Flame Strike, Scrying
Bonus Cantrip
When you choose this domain at 1st level, you gain the Light cantrip if you don't already know it. This cantrip doesn’t count against the number of cleric cantrips you know.
Warding Flare
Also at 1st level, you can interpose divine light between yourself and an attacking enemy. When you are attacked by a creature within 30 feet of you that you can see, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll, causing light to flare before the attacker before it hits or misses. An attacker that can't be blinded is immune to this feature.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Channel Divinity: Radiance of the Dawn
Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to harness sunlight, banishing darkness and dealing radiant damage to your foes.
As an action, you present your holy symbol, and any magical darkness within 30 feet of you is dispelled. Additionally, each hostile creature within 30 feet of you must make a Constitution saving throw. A creature takes radiant damage equal to 2d10 + your cleric level on a failed saving throw, and half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that has total cover from you is not affected.
Feats
ATHLETIC
Your enhanced physical training grants you the following benefits:
Your Strength or Dexterity score increases by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When you are prone, standing up uses only 5 feet of your movement (instead of half).
Your speed is not halved from climbing.
You can make a running long jump or a running high jump after moving 5 feet on foot (instead of 10 feet).
HARDY ADVENTURER
You can endure punishment that would break lesser beings.
You can endure punishment that would break lesser beings.
Your maximum hitpoint total gains a bonus equal to twice your character level, increasing by 2 for each level you gain after taking this feat.
During a short rest, you regain 1 additional hit point per hit die spent to heal.
MEDIUM ARMOR EXPERT
Requires proficiency with medium armor.
Medium armor is like a second skin for you.
You do not suffer disadvantage on stealth checks while wearing medium armor..
The maximum Dexterity modifier you can add to your Armor Class increases from 2 to 3 when you are wearing medium armor.
STALWART
You can quickly recover from injuries that leave lesser creatures broken.
Raise your Constitution attribute by 1, up to the attribute cap of 20.
Treat the total of any hit die used to recover hit points as equal to twice your constitution if the result rolled is less.
Tough
Source: Player's Handbook
Your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to twice your level when you gain this feat. Whenever you gain a level thereafter, your hit point maximum increases by an additional 2 hit points.
Okay, that's irrational, to have a field for a password that doesn't have to be entered but it gives an error message if you enter something instead of recognizing that there is not password needed and just loading the program.
Anyway, I got past the first screen, but then my computer locked up trying to load the map. May be too high resolution. It may be my computer, which is getting replaced this week with something that should have no issues with memory or speed.
I'll try again.
It's not the easiest UI -- I had to have someone with experience walk me through it the first couple of times while signed onto the same world. I can do that if we can find a time we're both on discord -- I can tell which buttons to push one after the other.
...
The A5E modules can also automate the entire play experience -- like you click a button for an attack and click the target and it rolls everything and automatically deducts hitpoints -- I'm not trying that b/c it would require uploading custom monster stats long with PC stats for this game, and they're also still updating stuff from v 9 to v 10, but it is incredible.
I'm on Discord. Send me an invite to join your group.
I ran something like you describe in the last paragraph for Pathfinder years ago. If you have a group that can all play at the same time (VTT) and if you are willing to put in the time to input all the PCs and Monsters, it can be a good thing. We're not heading that way unless you are thinking of taking this off PBP.
Okay, that's irrational, to have a field for a password that doesn't have to be entered but it gives an error message if you enter something instead of recognizing that there is not password needed and just loading the program.
Anyway, I got past the first screen, but then my computer locked up trying to load the map. May be too high resolution. It may be my computer, which is getting replaced this week with something that should have no issues with memory or speed.
I'll try again.
It's not the easiest UI -- I had to have someone with experience walk me through it the first couple of times while signed onto the same world. I can do that if we can find a time we're both on discord -- I can tell which buttons to push one after the other.
...
The A5E modules can also automate the entire play experience -- like you click a button for an attack and click the target and it rolls everything and automatically deducts hitpoints -- I'm not trying that b/c it would require uploading custom monster stats long with PC stats for this game, and they're also still updating stuff from v 9 to v 10, but it is incredible.
I'm on Discord. Send me an invite to join your group.
I ran something like you describe in the last paragraph for Pathfinder years ago. If you have a group that can all play at the same time (VTT) and if you are willing to put in the time to input all the PCs and Monsters, it can be a good thing. We're not heading that way unless you are thinking of taking this off PBP.
I was just pointing out it exists -- I'm not going to try to use it for this b/c I'd have to upload homebrew monsters, and I don't have time to do that.
The next three days are going to busy with a variety of tasks that will interrupt my usual posting times. I'm getting a new computer and remodeling the room where I keep the computer. In addition to my school duties, I have a dentist appointment Thursday. I'll try to post sometime in the next few days, but it will not likely be every day.
I've got at least 2 additional players making characters right now, so the party should be restored to acceptable parameters within the coming week.
All that information is a little overwhelming. It would help me role play if you could give a short summary of what Shasta and the other PCs would know about the place minus all the ancient history. Most people just know about the recent past and maybe some stories or legends about more distant events.
I envisioned Shasta as a traveling entertainer when she's not sidetracked by adventures. How would Sikrystal compare to other nearby cities she might travel to and from? Are there any imperialistic storm clouds on the horizon that people are worrying about or are people thinking that kind of stuff is in the past and they can focus on building back to a prosperous economy.
Most of that probably won't matter once where in the forest looking for the kidnapping victim, but anything you have time to provide along these lines would be helpful to me.
I'm still waiting on my new computer. Looks like it won't be ready until Monday at the earliest.
Which parts are overwhelming? The stuff about the two dragon godddesses is recent history, so you'll have to be more specific about time frame and topics.
Everyone would know the town used to be part of the elven empire, and that it was once a larger port city. The legacy of the four empires is a major aspect of local history everyone is familiar with.
This region is a hinterland realm sandwiched between two other powers, each dominated by other dragon deities -- one is a necromantic kingdom to the north east, and another is a merchant oligarchy to the south west.
Each of these realms has large, cosmopolitan cities which Shasta might have visited. The capital of the necromantic city of Pleglion is know as Phlox-Phlogiston. It's a big port city that has a harbor waters that are contiguous with the ones that this town sits on. It's administrated by the four temples of the four black dragon gods that rule the kingdom. It regularly sends out emissaries to nearby realms to try to establish temples and spread the influence of their gods. The inner city of Phlox-Phlogiston is contained behind a black wall that's 1,000ft high and thick, and is covered by magical darkness. In the center of this district is a black tower with four spikes/pinacles where the four dragon gods live.
The capital of the merchant oligarchy of Slizitha is called Cylabril, and its streets are literally paved with gold, and its buildings sheathed in gold leaf. Everything is studded with precious gems. The entire city is worth several planets of wealth. There are flying islands over the city, the highest of which is the residence of the dragon goddess Astabilor who rules the realm. The thieves guilds of the city have an entire parallel government and social system -- like a king or queen of thieves, that exists beside the outward government of merchant lords who buy their seat on the Great Council.
This helps. What is the consensus that the dragon gods are really gods or just old and powerful dragons who claim to be gods? What is the difference between the dragon as god and just plain old dragons? Are the dragons that inhabit the area just minions of the gods?
Paizo was down when I had more time to post earlier today. I'll get caught up Tuesday.
There are several echelons of dragon gods -- some are bonafide gods like Tiamat, Bahamut, and some unique ones for this setting. I'll have to put together a map of the larger world -- but this continental area is in the middle of four other continents, each of which has a dragon high lord who's a real demigod, and has dozens of draconic servants under them ruling satrapies -- there's a region of desert ruled by a blue dragon highlord, a region of flame ruled by a red dragon highlord, a region of forest ruled by a green dragon highlord, and a region of swamp ruled by a black dragon highlord. The two poles also have huge frozen continents ruled by separate white dragon highlords. Each of those demi gods has dozens of dragon satraps, from great wryms down to rulers of individual towns.
The goblin green dragon patron is a genuine demi-god or lesser power (though not the green dragon highlord I wrote about above), the others mentioned here are just powerful dragons with some distinctive magical abilities. The entire world has hundreds of dragons that control everywhere from an individual town or territory, to a kingdom, to an entire empire, or are deities that live on the magical halos or on nearby planes.