Andrei Markescu's page

I hate to be impatient but do you by any chance have an ETA on a decision? Or would you possibly be open to PMing me and just letting me know if I’m not one of the ‘finalists’? I know these things time, and don’t want to make extra work for you, but there’s another game I’m considering applying to and I know I don’t have the bandwidth to add 2 new games.

My background isn't in my profile yet, but I'll have it up before I go to bed tonight.

I ran out of time for now, but everything except my background is in my profile now (although my hp might need to be adjusted slightly).

Here is my submission (still in progress). He's a former member of the Korvosan Guard who had taken a street urchin under his wing and was making sure he had enough food/clothing/etc until the kid disappeared; he tried to get the Guard to investigate but his superiors weren't interested in spending resources on one street kid. He did some digging in his off time that pointed him to Gaedren Lamm, and when his contract expired he left the Guard so he could get to the bottom of things. He's heard about Lamm's defeat (possibly through underworld rumors, depending on how public that is) and is seeking out the heroes who beat him (to confirm its true and) to thank them.

Good luck everyone! Especially Salsa- picking from this many applicants is always hard and it looks like there’s some good ones here.

@Salsa- I know it’s not required but I did add the 10 minute background answers to my profile now too.

Alright, my crunch is done and my appearance and background are both posted in my alias (please let me know if you'd like more of either); I just did a narrative background for now, but I might add answers to the 10 minute background later this week if I have time (just in case you want to use it for hooks).

Here is my player questionnaire:
1. What time zone are you in?
Eastern Time (GMT-4, or -5, depending on daylight savings)

2. How long have you been playing TTRPGs?
Since before D&D had editions (technically there was basic and advanced, but pre-2nd Edition)

3. What's your favorite part about playing TTRPGs?
The chance to experience just a little bit of the fantastical amidst the banality of daily life.

4. What do you expect from this game?
To have fun creating a compelling story together.

5. What do you expect out of your fellow players?
To embrace the cooperative elements of telling a story together.

6. What do you expect out of me?
To help us stay on track, and to have some fun yourself.

7. What are your redlines? Are there any topics, themes, or imagery that you absolutely do not want to see in the game?
I think the community standards pretty well cover any subject matter I'd prefer to avoid. I deal with a fair amount of conflict management at work and so really prefer to avoid having to deal with it recreationally; I know some disagreements may come up, and that there can be some good character development through working through that, but I really am not interested at all in PVP or direct conflict between PCs.

And, for completeness sake, here is the link to my RP sample again.

I think that should be everything, please let me know if I missed anything.

I haven't had time to type up any fluff yet, but Andrei's crunch should be done.

Still very much a work in progress, but here's most of the crunch for my Gozran kineticist.

@Udaya- I apologize if the GM offered to make an exception for you and I missed it, but I just saw you listed on Petyr’s list as a zen archer unchained monk and thought I should point out that (RAW) unchained monks cannot take archetypes for the base monk, they have their own separate list of archetypes (which you can find here).

Hey all, I’m the person being replaced (unfortunately I just don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with the game right now) but I wanted to pop in and say it’s a great party and I hope they find a great option to take over the third slot.

Also, I know it’s a bit late for this now but if anyone is still tweaking their builds (or contemplating a last minute submission) it’s worth noting that everyone in the original party had full BAB, all good saves, 6+ skill points and at least 6th level casting, so if you’re going to fall short of those marks you may want to be sure that you’re offering enough of something else to make up for that. And we each had a specialty mental stat- mine was Wis, so if you’re doubling up on Int or Cha with one of the current PCs, there might be a little bit of a void around wisdom based skills and whatnot.

Hey everyone, I really hate to do this, especially since I really like this group (and this character), but I clearly don't have the bandwidth for gaming right now, so I'm going to have to bow out. I'll leave my profile as is for the foreseeable future and you can feel free to use Andrei as an NPC if/when you like, but its been like 3 weeks since I've really been able to keep up and that's not fair to anyone else.

I hope my leaving doesn't disrupt things too much for the rest of you. Happy gaming.

Sorry, RL has been crazy the last week or two. Things are calming down now and I'm hoping to have gameplay posts up tomorrow.

"Are any of these vials things that would be useful for..." Andrei starts before suddenly being cut off by the appearance of the flying saw.

I always use initiative blocks when I run PbP. It's pretty similar to what you're describing (I think) but I still roll initiatives, I just separate into groups by result (so everyone who beats the bad guys goes in group 1, then the bad guys go as group 2, and anyone who got beat by the bad guys goes in group 3). That said, I'm cool with however you want to do it and, generally speaking, anything you can do to speed things up in PbP is helpful.

Andrei frowns at the discovery of the bones and nods at Petyr's suggestion. He works with his two companions to gather the bones, and whatever ash they can, from the furnace and carry them outside. Not wanting to dull his blades, he uses the weapons found inside as makeshift shovels to dig a small burial mound and places the remains within it.

"Lady of Graves, grant peace to this troubled soul. Send your servants to shepherd them to your Boneyard, from whence they might find their place in eternity." Having so prayed, he moves his right hand in the symbol of Pharasma's sacred spiral as a final blessing and then respectfully covers them in earth.

"Alright, back to the investigation?" he asks after a moment of silence passes. "Lead on."

DC 14 reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

I forgot about inspire courage- please add another +1 to my hit and damage rolls. Also, with fire resistance I believe that’s 2 damage on the failed save.

I'm getting ready to leave for my week of camping- like I said before, I'll try to post from my phone when electricity and cell signal allow but please feel free to bot me if needed.

It takes a moment for Andrei to process what’s happening, but when he does he moves up and joins the fight against the living furnace.

kukri (pa): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
for: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

"So..." Andrei mutters as he joins in surveying the room, "do one of you want to go first, in case there's a ghost you need to stab?"

perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Andrei nods and follows Petyr towards the furnace. "It's a shame we don't know the spell for protecting ourselves against fire yet," he remarks, "if I was a ghost who died in a fire, I bet burning people from the furnace would probably seem like a pretty good idea..."

While we're at it, a quick heads up- I'll be camping Aug 6th through 12th. I'll be in a cabin with a bed, but no electricity. I'll do my best to make short posts whenever I go in to town for supplies, but I won't have any reliable means of charging my phone so it may be kind of hit or miss. Feel free to bot me if necessary (assuming we're up and running again after our GM's surgery).

No worries, I know how it goes. I hope everything goes to plan.

Andrei steps over and slashes at the last remaining skull.

kukri (fe): 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 2 = 16
for (cold-iron): 1d6 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 2 = 7

Lief

Am I supposed to be able to move my own icon on roll20? I know I usually ask someone else to because I post from my phone but I'm on the computer right now and couldn't move it? Either way...

Andrei moves up to the leftmost skull and slashes at it with his cold-iron kukri. "Kill them first and then we'll worry about what they are!"

kukri (pa): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
for: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
+2 to both hit (for 20) and damage (for 13) if they're undead

Andrei grits his teeth and sighs. "No matter what route we take, I suspect that won't be the last haunt we come across."

Kukri in hand, he sets to helping Petyr search the area and adds, "maybe if we can get to the bottom of what happened here we can figure out how to free these accursed souls..."

I'm assuming that at some point Petyr and Park have informed me that they can attack haunts with their weapons (rather than using up resources like fervor), so...

Andrei reflexively raises his hand to try to channel energy into the haunt, but remembers that his friends are capable of combating it with their weapons, so he pauses just short. Still, he can't quite bring himself to lower his hand or let go of the almost conjured energy.

I'll ready an action to lay hands on the haunt if it feels like its going to affect me. I'm not sure if that requires an attack roll, but I'll post one to avoid any slow down.
touch atack (if needed): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
positive energy damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

"Sounds like as good a place to start as any," Andrei replies to Petyr's suggestion as he finishes packing up the rest of the stuff they'd found. Then, after drawing both his knives again, he follows his friend's directions towards the next location.

As the resident strongman, I'll carry whatever those two don't want.

Not sharing his companions' understanding of, or interest in, arcane magic, Andrei sticks the wand into one of the many leather loops on his belt and waits quietly while the others work to make sense of what they found.

Curses be damned, lets just take it all!

This is just a thought--I have no idea if Petyr would even want it, or if our GM would want to offer it--but what about detect magic as an at will racial spell-like ability? With the normal RAW racial options, you can trade fiendish sorcery and your normal spell-like ability for the ability to use deathwatch (a 1st level cleric spell) at will... it seems like if that's a fair trade then giving up both those things for detect magic (which is actually 0th level) should be more than fair?

Again, I'm not sure Petyr would even want that, but I thought I'd throw it out there as a possibility since without it we're going to struggle with identifying magic items and whatnot.

"If I recall my lessons correctly," Andrei says as he sets aside the hammer and razor, "silver is necessary for overcoming some undead creatures' resistance to harm... can either of you use these effectively at all?"

*earlier*
Andrei sighs at the mention of the undisturbed dust. "Anyone solid, you mean" he chimes in. "Ghosts and specters and those sorts of things wouldn't disturb the dust at all, so this just means there hasn't been anyone solid in this part of the prison recently..."

*now*
"They might have changed it to an entertaining space after the blueprints were filled," Andrei reasons aloud, "but the bars would make sense for a property room. Inmates come in to be processed and have to pass any belongs through the bars to someone whose safely on the other side of them."

I'll always try to assist perception checks to look for traps; since its an active check, I can cast guidance on myself first which makes it impossible for me to fail (so Petyr's default check should be a 22).

"Hmm..." Andrei remarks as Petyr meticulously works the safe's lock, "with the condition of this room I worried it might be haunted by the fastidious ghost of some former employee."

He pauses for a moment to be certain that none is about to pop into view then begins gathering the potions. "We'd theorized that the warden might have keys in here... any sign of anything like that in his desk, or anywhere else?"

do we want to take 20 searching the room or just roll? if we roll, our bonuses are close enough that it might be worth all rolling separately (to triple our chances of a good roll), but if we're going to take the time to take 20 me and Park can/should roll to assist Petyr.

Andrei fiddles impatiently with his blades as he moves along with the others. "If there's enough darkness here to create haunts, I suspect there's probably enough to foster other kinds of unlife too..." he offers. "We may want to limit unnecessary chatting so we can listen for any creatures that may prowl these halls."

Park and I both only fail an aid check on a natural 1, so we could probably call Petyr's take 10 result a 21/22? (Technically there's a 1/400 chance that we both miss it on the same roll, but we're probably not going to make 400 perception checks in here, I'm guessing)

"I'm afraid I haven't mastered channeling energy yet," Andrei answers with a bit of a scowl, "but if a cure light wounds spell will work then I should have some options. Shall we get moving again?"

Fervor can heal by touch (like a weaker Lay Hands); I'm guessing that if clw works against haunts that would too?

Andrei, who's carrying a kukri in each hand, looks at the fading faces on the door with disgust. "I don't suppose I can just slash at things like that, can I?" he asks with a note of frustration as he follows the others to the left.

Danke, Petyr

Hey everyone, I’m really sorry for falling silent without any notice!

Last week I returned to normal/full-time work and it’s proved a bit more challenging than expected. I continue to recover well, but after being on the computer a lot at work (and all the little ways you use your shoulder throughout the day without really even thinking about it when you're not laid up at home recovering), I haven't been up to getting back on it afterwards to post. I’m getting to the point where I should be able to post during breaks and after work with some regularity again soon. And, I’m actually off tomorrow, so I’ll catch up on reading posts and get a post up in gameplay then.

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Andrei surveys the grounds of the prison as they pass through the gates. "I'd guess that smaller building was probably living quarters for the warden or someone important..." he offers. "I'd suggest we start there- see if there's any existing records that might shed light on what was going on here? Could be a good place to find keys too?"

I'm talking about R3 as a potential starting point for exploring.

*earlier*
Andrei mostly remains silent throughout the conversation, occasionally smirking or chuckling to himself about certain details, or the memories they invoked. He does, however, chime in at the mention of Aldori dueling swords, laughing and explaining, "Oh, wait just a minute there! You absolutely can use a dueling sword in duels: 'that's literally its purpose'..." He laughs again and looks over at Petyr. "What was that Taldan prat's name? Zandrian, or Xantrian, or whatever? Do you remember? He showed up ready to fight, and so certain he'd run the list and be the first one ever to step forward and emerge unscarred, and then when they told him he couldn't use an Aldori sword he had a fit for at least a quarter hour. He even measured and weighed it against a sawtooth sabre! 'Look how similar they are in length and weight, how could you say that jagged thing is acceptable, but this elegant dueling blade isn't? That's literally it's purpose!' Ha! He was so worked up."

He pauses once more for another laugh before concluding, "And after all that, they let him use the sword and in his first match his opponent just knocked it out of his hand and cut his cheek while he was picking it up."

*now (or later, or whatever)*
After dinner is over, while Petyr is helping with the dishes, Andrei heads out to the shed Kendra mentioned to take stock of what tools and exploratory equipment might be available there.

perception (taking 20, just in case anything's hidden out there): 20 + 8 = 28

Andrei remains quiet while meeting with the council. On their way back towards the Professor's place he offers, "That was a good thought, Park, asking about a map. Especially since they think there is one. If its still there we should be able to use to head straight to the wardens offices to check for keys, and if its not we'll have good reason to believe that someone with access to the records in the Town Hall is involved with what's going on. Either way, we learn something of value; well done."

When they arrive back at their temporary home, he inhales the lovely smell deeply and smiles softly. He follows Petyr into the kitchen and joins in washing up. "I didn't realize how hungry I was until I smelled that chicken," he tells Kendra warmly, "it smells incredible."

No complaints here on just a description.

My posting might be a little bit spotty as I transition back into working, but I should be ready now to keep up with our usual pace in this game.

I'm working on leveling right now, pretty straight forward.

+8 hp
+1 BAB, all saves, and all current skills
combat style (2wf)
fervor (4/day)
and 1 extra 0th and 1st level spells/day

My posting might still be inconsistent for a little while but I should be ready to start moving again now, I think.

Edit: one question/skill of note... I forgot linguistics was one of my skills. I like it (and am kind of picturing it as one of the few classes I enjoyed at the university) but I have to pick a new language with each rank. I think maybe (without actually looking back over the thread) one of the books in the professor's collection was in Necril- between studying that tome and whatever other books on it there might be in the house, is there enough material available for me to take Necril this level? If not, are there any other languages we've come across that there is enough books available to learn?

Hey, sorry. My recovery is going well, but I'm still dealing with mental haze (from the meds) and limitations on how long I can sit at a computer before it becomes too painful (which is especially challengin when I have to type everything one handed). I have some stuff I need to finish up tonight or tomorrow but I'll try to level Andrei up tomorrow evening or Friday during the day and then I should be good to go (more or less, my posting may still be a little spotty for another week or two).

5+2+1=8 not 10?

I’m too drugged up to level up yet but, huzzah! I’ll get Andrei done in a couple days.

Welcome back!

I had a crazy week, and I'm having surgery also (a week from today), so my posting is going to be a bit spotty for a bit then, but otherwise I'm ready to start moving again any time.

Thanks for the update!

I'm actually having surgery on the 28th, but with any luck I should be back pretty quickly.

Yeah, Park, take care of yourself!

I’m fine with whatever. With only 3 of us, taking a break until he comes back might be the best option, but if you both want to limp on with just me and Petyr until then, that’s fine too.

Entirely unsure how to explain all that they knew (and still didn't know) to the town's councilmembers, Andrei furrows his brow, scratches his beard, and turns to Petyr or Park to do the talking.