DM Joseph Rauel's Crypt of the Everflame into Home-Brew

Game Master Dm Joseph Rauel

A place to get to know one another, let's have a great time with this game.

Hello hello hello!

Hi everyone, very much looking forward to this!

Should be a fun group. Combat is going to be interesting.

Hey everyone! I love that I had such a great turnout and can have two tables. I am pumped.

A few "housekeeping" things.

Marching order. Come up with a single file and a side by side arrangement, be sure to include animal companions/familiars in that.

Night watch order. I will use the below option for standard sleeping arrangements when watch is needed.
20:00 - 22:00 :
22:00 - 01:00 :
01:00 - 04:00 :
04:00 - 07:00 :

Finally, at the bottom of each post you make could you have a spoiler with your prepared/memorized spells, or spells per day, or special abilities? This will help me keep things squared away for daily usage. Rage/Smite/Bardic Music can be kept in the header. Example below

Dotted with Herskor!

Thank you for the invite Dm JR, and good to be on board for this one.

Marching order... Kevin scouting, and Felix at the front. Done! :D

Alright, here we are. 3 Humans, 1 Half-elf, 1 Halfling, 1 Half-orc. That's a solid 8.5 on the Kassen diversity scale.

Team 2: Crypt of Everflame into Home-Brew

1. Herskor – Ranger (Albion, The Eye) – Arnama
2. Esgean Eyre – Druid (Therenger) – Olmira
3. Felix Riffin - Paladin (Andostre) – Sir Dramott
4. Jhessa Florica – Cleric of Shelyn (Slowdrifter) – Father Prasst
5. Aldmus Greymantle – Wizard (Flanderdash) – Holgast
6. Kevan Nimblefingers – Rogue (Ironperenti) - Jimes

I see the other group is already getting to know one another and I think that's a good idea. I am unfamiliar with the module but I believe the idea is that we all know each other (at least a little) and are peers.

Esgean is headstrong and a little aloof. She will show her emotions, the highs and lows, but she is still growing as a person. She is enchanted by simple things and falls in love easily, but is extremely shy and insecure about that sort of thing.

She spends much of her time in the forest with her bobcat companion, Rejke, practicing tricks, hunting and fishing, and exploring the wilderness. She is known to frequently disappear for several days at a time, sometimes with Olmira but mostly on her own. She is not a loner but she is comfortable being away from others.

Her mother was also a druid but died after giving birth to Esgean's younger brother Gael. Her father is a local treecutter. He is supportive of his daughter and is an active community member and respected in Kassen. Esgean is not at all conflicted about his profession. It's a way of life; there will always be more trees. Just as she knows Rejke will not forever be at her side, she's a pragmatist when it comes to the natural order.

@Esgean From my blurble on the recruitment thread:

...and finding he liked more and more each moment he managed to spend with Arnama on far-ranging patrols and hunts, in spite of her frequent lack of patience with him...

So it is possible we have met before in one of your disappearances for several days at a time.

I also noticed our skillsets are almost exactly the same, with the difference you are better at all of them, which makes me ponder my career (read: class) choices for this game :P

(For some reason, my Perception bonus is not showing - I am reviewing the character)

Re: watch order. Esgean volunteers for the 4-7 am slot. She'll use part of this time to meditate for spells while Rejke stays alert.

She can be in the middle of the marching order, probably 4th. Rejke can scout, too. (+13 Stealth, +5 Perception, Spd 50 ft). I defer to Kevan on that.

@Esgean From my blurble on the recruitment thread:

Herskor wrote:

...and finding he liked more and more each moment he managed to spend with Arnama on far-ranging patrols and hunts, in spite of her frequent lack of patience with him...

So it is possible we have met before in one of your disappearances for several days at a time.

I also noticed our skillsets are almost exactly the same, with the difference you are better at all of them, which makes me ponder my career (read: class) choices for this game :P

This group has a lot of that. I noticed I had all the same cantrips prepared as Jhessa so I changed a couple of mine. Our overlapping skills may be our strengths. Don't change anything on my account. We'll need you on the front line. Btw, I do not see your profile.

Herskor can take any watch.

We'll need you on the front line. Btw, I do not see your profile.

Profile uploaded. Had to remove Sense Motive for Perception. Not sure I am a 'frontliner' though.

That's our weakness as a party. That morningstar can do some serious damage. There should be a good mix of healing/buffs/control to support you and Felix. Esgean can get in there too once she runs out of spells in the 3rd round. With Kevan's sneak attacks we'll be fine.

AC16 + 12hp is decent at level 1 I think, so that is not too shabby. But in scuffles he tends to start/walk around with his bow in hand first.

Wait, just found our frontliner - Kevan ;)

This group has a lot of that. I noticed I had all the same cantrips prepared as Jhessa so I changed a couple of mine. Our overlapping skills may be our strengths. Don't change anything on my account. We'll need you on the front line. Btw, I do not see your profile.

Ha, I was just looking at how my spells overlapped with yours and Aldmus' as well! I'm probably going to switch out something for stabilise and also realised guidance is basically redundant for me because of blessing of the faithful.

I'm guessing that most of us will know one another to a lesser or greater degree and I'd definitely be up for establishing any specific links or friendships with people. Jhessa's been at the temple for a year and feels like she's found her place and her calling - she is confident in her faith. She takes pride in her appearance, looks for beauty in all things, and loaves to dance. She's personable, patient and easy to rub along with, so her friends tend to seek her out for advice. Based on being a figure in such a central part of the village, and given that her appearance turns heads, I expect most folk at least know who she is.

In terms of party composition, skills etc are there any glaring omissions between us and what are our strengths and weaknesses? We seem to be pretty strong casting-wise but that probably makes us a bit more squishy at this point than some parties. Ecclesitheurge is definitely more vulnerable than your average cleric because of no armour so if Jhessa's wading into melee something probably gone horribly wrong! I'd probably put her somewhere in the middle of the group for that reason. Are we taking watches in pairs? I'm easy with whichever slot but probably makes sense to match people with low/high Perception.

I think we're okay as long as we can keep the Paladin in the fight.

Jhessa and Esgean would certainly know of each other and likely inhabit the same social circle. Esgean is younger but is tall and looks older than 15. She almost certainly admires/looks up to Jhessa as an older peer. Esgean is also quite attractive (13 Cha) but has no idea what to do with herself. Anyone she's interested in is either just as awkward as she is or gets scared away by the 35-pound wildcat sitting beside her.

I think we're okay as long as we can keep the Paladin in the fight.

Hey! What about the Ranger?

You too! As long as you're not walking around with your bow. ;)

@Herskor,I like the idea of you and Esgean having met and spent time together while exploring. I would go as far as to say she trusts you enough to have revealed her darkest secret: she once bludgeoned a man to death with a rock. Only her brother, father, and Olmira know about that.

@Felix, with 14 Cha every teenage girl in Kassen knows who you are. That's a burden you'll have to live with.

I like that idea! More to come after my dinner ;)

Heya folks!
Good group of characters...gonna be a lot of fun.

First off, Marching Order: Aldmus would prefer to be the second to last, or in the last row if we're going side by side. Prefer is the optimum word there. If needed up front for magicking' out of combat, third in line, or second row. (All open to discussion.)

Second: Generally, Aldmus would want the first watch, and then wake up during the last hour of last watch to memorize his spells.

As far as Personality: Aldmus is sarcastic, witty, and a bit arrogant. It's a combination that sometimes allows him to come across as charming, simply by saying clever and humorous things. (Clever Wordplay Feat)

He's also curious and a bit impatient at times, and often thinks he's the smartest guy in the room...which he might be, but this can get him into trouble with authority figures. Think 'Tom Sawyer as a former apprentice wizard'. Despite all that, though, Aldmus is loyal and reasonably kind, detesting bullies of any kind...which again, can get him into hot water.

Aldmus has a raven Familiar who can actually speak, though it's usually in short sentences, that under usual circumstances will be kept out of combat. (We'll see how that goes) The bird, Grimble, was once the familiar of an older wizard, and is a bit pompous.

As far as everything else...he's a novice wizard. Squishy for a few levels. Will do my best to be creative with his spells so he's useful.
He's got good Appraise, Knowledge and Spellcraft skills. He's decently Perceptive, and can "use" Grimble for another Perception check when needed.

To hear him tell it, he's spent the last several years as an overworked, indentured servant (apprentice) to Holgast, and while he knows he owes the "Old Man" a lot, he's a bit prickly over Holgast's teaching methods. At the start of the game, Aldmus will know the others, but will have been kept so busy cleaning, cooking, and studying, it would have been a rare occurance for him to have time to socialize with the other participants.

So based on what everyone's said, that could give us a marching order of something like:
1. Felix
2. Kevan
3. Jhessa
4. Esgean
5. Aldmus
6. Herskor
That's the single file and then still works for three ranks of two (1-2, 3-4, 5-6).

I've put Herskor at the back as he's some decent muscle and ranged, in case anything sneaks up from the rear. But if that's a weakness then maybe swap for Kevan. I was assuming paladin on point with a rogue near the front for stealthing and trapfinding. This then puts the three casters towards the middle/back for protection and buffing.

Thoughts?

That works well. I like it.
No issue here.

Perfect!

At the risk of adding clutter I put my prepared Spell list in my headers. I'll never remember to add it to every single post. As I use them I'll strikethrough the spell name.

I see that someone else came up with marching orders while I was working on this post, which is totally cool. But I did the work, so here's what I came up with. :)

Single File:
Felix
Kevan
Herskor
Aldmus
Esgean
Jhessa

I put Kevan in 2nd place so that they can move forward to scout as necessary or position for sneak attacks easier.

Side by side:
Felix - Herskor
Aldmus - Kevan
Jhessa - Esgean

I'm happy to go with what Jhessa has, though. Here's a watch order proposal.

Night watch order:
20:00 - 22:00 : Aldmus(6)
22:00 - 01:00 : Felix(0) Kevan(6)
01:00 - 04:00 : Herskor(6)
04:00 - 07:00 : Esgean(7) Jhessa(3)

I put people in the watch slots they volunteered for, if applicable. The numbers after each name are the current Perception bonuses.

Half of us need an hour each day to prepare spells (and come 4th level, that could bump up to 5/6ths of us), so I think we just need to accept that starting at 7:00, we'll take an hour to do that before we go.

At the risk of adding clutter I put my prepared Spell list in my headers. I'll never remember to add it to every single post. As I use them I'll strikethrough the spell name.

I was going to suggest that we do the same thing for the same reason. It's easier to maintain this information on our alias page than updating and copy/pasting and updating into each post.

I know that I need to catch up on this thread more, but I'm at work and work expects me to stay busy for some reason. I will add that I'm fine with growing Felix into a defender or a two-handed crusher as we discover what our needs are. But I figured at level one, the difference is minimal, so I went with the large spiked ball on a chain that makes a fun 'whoosh' noise when you swing it. In fact, it would be cool if Felix could find a cool iconic weapon at some point and build around that.

Will update more, hopefully tonight.

What you say also makes a lot of sense! Happy enough with either.

And night watch order also logical. Good work!

What you say also makes a lot of sense! Happy enough with either.

Well, the main difference between our two setups is if Kevan wants to be offensive or defensive, so let's wait and hear their preference.

And night watch order also logical. Good work!

Thanks!

I am ok with either marching order - I say we take it out for a spin :)

I am not even sure myself if I actually prefer to be in the frontline even when carrying the bow - at least it gives me a first shot with clear LoS.

Am also ok with closing the marching order to give an additional buffer if we get attacks from that direction.

I am also ok with the watch order - Herskor should be pretty flexible for now in that aspect.

Out of curiosity, what is everyone's overall location? I am in Europe, and usually can post during most of the day. Usually...

Perfect!

At the risk of adding clutter I put my prepared Spell list in my headers. I'll never remember to add it to every single post. As I use them I'll strikethrough the spell name.

Love that idea. I'll do the same for Aldmus.

I'm also fine with either set of marching order. Howsabout we act all efficient and label them Set Orders A and B, and we can call it out as needed.

"Everflamers! Single Set Order B! Kevan Defense Mode Activated!"

lol

As for my location, I'm in Michigan, just North of Detroit, EST for posting. I'm off work for the next month and a half (I had ankle surgery) so I'll be posting pretty much any time during the day. Once I'm back to work, it'll be late afternoons or evenings.

USA, west coast. What's say we open up Gameplay?

Hey guys! Had a meeting at the end of work followed by a PTO meeting and now at home getting the kids ready for bed. I am going to dive into the postings here and respond shortly. I will have our first gameplay post up in the morning.

USA, Kentucky, EST

Kevan assumes everyone is a friend and tries to be as helpful as possible. He also lies like he breathes and is a klepto, just saying. He is a bit of a do first and think later kind of fellow so he has the 30' move but not the balance bonuses of standard halflings. Standard rogue, sneak, pick locks, pick pockets.

GM, let's use Jhessa's marching order.

I live in Houston, which is CST. I work full-time, and my wife and I have two young kids, so I work full-time again. :)

Felix tried a lot of different trades before he fell into hitting-things-for-the-gods as his career, so he's at the very least recognized by most of the town, even if not everybody knows him personally. But he'd like to change that! Felix would like to get to know everybody! And he's friendly enough to have a go at pulling it off.

I plan to role play him as perpetually friendly, and rarely gets upset. But is he not upset because of his faith that things will work out or because he's not smart enough to know he should be upset?

I'm in the UK (GMT) and also juggling work, life and a rampaging small person (not a halfling barbarian, though he does a decent impersonation). Should be pretty flexible with posting times though. And I'll sort out my spell list/other abilities for the headers asap.

Team, great job getting marching order and nightly watch together. If tweaks need to be made, please just let me know.

I am 100% okay with you using the header for all your character info. I also would like it if you had memorized/prepared spells and/or special abilities in a place that is easily updated. If that is in the header, perfect. If it is at the bottom of your daily post, perfect. It's more for ease of me knowing what you have without diving into your alias.

Please feel free to ask any questions as we go. I am going to make a post a little bit later this morning to get things started in the gameplay thread.

USA, Illinois, CST

I have two questions, actually:

1) Can we keep things like the Marching Order, Nightly Watch schedule, and any homebrew rules (For example "HP = Max at level 1, rolled beyond that") in the Campaign Info tab so that we don't have to hunt them down in a forum post every time we need to reference them? If I don't think about any particular fact for 48 hours, there's a 50/50 chance that my brain will discard it.

2) Felix worships Iomedae because I'm assuming his mentor does. Is that who Sir Dramott worships? I figured he's a Knight of Ozem or something similar.

I realized I have 3 more tricks to add to Rejke since I added her ability point to Int. I'll finish that up this morning.

Felix 1) I am going to put all of the creation rules over in the campaign info tab. When leveling up happens, I will remind everyone to roll their HP in the discussion page. Marching/Watch order I will have up top in the header of the campaign so it will always be on the active page.

2) Crazy enough it has Sir Dramott slotted as a Paladin but it does not give him a deity. Seeing that Lastwall primarily worships Iomedae or Gorum I have no issue with him being a paladin of Iomedae. If anyone knows if that is canon or not feel free to chime in. But as the DM I am good with saying it is our canon moving forward.

Everyone feel free to wrap up and minor tweaks. Don't over think what is and what isn't covered when it comes to mechanics. Have your character be your character. We all know how games on the boards can fall victim to attrition, so build a character that you want to play.

Esgean's animal companion has Int=3 and knows the following tricks: attack (all creatures), come, deliver, detect, down, fetch, flank, flee, watch

With the Watch trick, she can take the 4-7 shift and give Esgean and Jhessa more time for shut-eye/spell memorization/whatever. Please include Rejke on the watch list.

Also, GM, as part of the backstory, Rejke has been a faithful companion for several years. It will be sad when she inevitably dies but until then, given her intelligence, I intend to roleplay Rejke as understanding Esgean more or less fully within reason, but be considerate and limit Rejke's actions to known tricks so as to not to actually be running two characters. Please let me know where the lines are if this gets to be a stretch.

Herskor will not be comfortable with only Rejke on watch - just a heads’ up.

Mainly because in his head an animal is still an animal - it interprets things as an animal, thus may judge a threat differently than we would. And wrongly ;)

New proposed watch order:

20:00 - 22:00 : Aldmus
22:00 - 01:00 : Felix, Esgean and Rejke
01:00 - 04:00 : Herskor
04:00 - 07:00 : Kevan, Jhessa

Felix has the worst Perception, so he's nearly useless at watch unless we're attacked by a marching band. Having two extra eyes at that time makes sense.

@DM, thanks on both counts!

That's fine as long as our spellcasters are getting 8 hours of sleep. Esgean and Rejke do not have to be on the same watch. Rejke is +5 Perception.

@Herskor, I wouldn't presume to say how you should rp, but if we have spent time together exploring the wilderness then you know Rejke is no common animal, and have a good idea of what she is capable of.

Technically, first watch will be Aldmus and Grimble, his raven familiar. Should have mentioned that. Didn't think of it.

@Herskor, I wouldn't presume to say how you should rp, but if we have spent time together exploring the wilderness then you know Rejke is no common animal, and have a good idea of what she is capable of.

Yeah, I get that - it is more a matter of how I (and consequently my characters) see Familiars and Animal Companions in RPG games. Smart, empathic, highly intelligent animals, yes. Still animals though, with their own perceptions, interpretations, and way of seeing things. That is what I feel makes them interesting :)

The gameplay thread is active, FYI.

Technically, first watch will be Aldmus and Grimble, his raven familiar. Should have mentioned that. Didn't think of it.

Excellent point!

Doh! Missed that it was active. Thanks for the heads up!

You'll have to forgive me, getting two tables off the ground is interesting. I have my spreadsheets and word docs separated now. Also, getting everyone's questions sorted out. But I will have todays post up by/around lunch.

Equipment: The adventure specifically says that the PCs only take weapons/armor and class specific items. A look behind the curtain, they will provide the group with set gear. In game, it should heighten problem solving skills as a team transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. Also, should heighten the anxiety/nervousness around this quest for your PCs.

Animal Companions / Familiars: These are part of your character, please include them in your daily post and RP. Think how epic the combo of Drizzt Do'Urden/Guenhwyvar. Their story is so intertwined that I do not think about one without the other. That is how I would love your character and AC/F to be viewed as we move forward.

I can update the night watch to this if that is what you all want. Also, it is always available to change over time:
20:00 - 22:00 : Aldmus
22:00 - 01:00 : Felix, Esgean and Rejke
01:00 - 04:00 : Herskor
04:00 - 07:00 : Kevan, Jhessa

Equipment: The adventure specifically says that the PCs only take weapons/armor and class specific items. A look behind the curtain, they will provide the group with set gear. In game, it should heighten problem solving skills as a team transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. Also, should heighten the anxiety/nervousness around this quest for your PCs.

Does that mean no rations, and no stuff like ropes, tools, etc? Only weapons and armor?

I think I get it. No backpack, no bedroll, no rope, no flint & steel...

I pared down my list to only include:
Hide Shirt
Quarterstaff
Sling
10 Bullets
Spell component pouch
Bag, waterproof (for goodberries)
Handwraps (used on feet when necessary)