Baldrick Longhall's page

Hello!
I'm very interested as well, if anyone drops out -- I've been rereading AD&D 2nd ed recently so I can (hopefully) run a game with my siblings, but I've played 1st as well (though it's been a while). The other PbP games have stagnated, and I'm hoping for a new game!

(EDIT: I should mention that I also play in local D&D game that's based, in part, on the old Swords and Wizardry White Box, so I'm very familiar with the "roll 3d6 in order" "you will probably die immediately" style of game)

"What?! That damned 'king' was out here casting all sorts of spells -- had me go after Gideon, an' all. And then I got blasted by a dragon. I dunno how any of this is my fault..."

If someone points out the chardalyn to Baldrick, he will definitely take it -- he has quite the collection!

As for treasure. Just need to know if you looted the king or not. You had some time to look around while the allied dwarf went to get his matron.

Yeah, I think the plan was to do some looting while waiting / recovering.

Sorry -- I thought I saw a post from someone saying that, but maybe I imagined it!

Okay, I fumbled my way into creating a Campaign thread over here: Into the Borderlands

Best to do any character creation and discussion over there so that this page isn't cluttered up.

That was quick! I will take a look tomorrow.

btw, since we levelled up these characters, Baldrick is now at Level 3 Barbarian, and chose the Path of Wild Magic (assuming that's still permitted -- pretty sure I checked in with the DMs previously).

HP: +9 (58)
Rages / day: +1 (3)

Magic Awareness: Know the location of any spell or magic item within 60 feet of you that isn’t behind total cover. When you sense a spell, you learn which school of magic it belongs to. Per day: 3

Wild Surge: When you enter your rage, roll on the Wild Surge table. DC (8+CON+Prof): 13

@Greycastle: Let us know if there was anything of significance recovered after the battle. No worries if it's nothing -- we left pretty quickly, after all.

I'm not familiar with Onslaught, but I think it's fine if you want to play a harengon, just stick to the PHB for the Wizard stuff.

How do y'all typically do ability scores? Because we started with AL, Baldrick was created using the Standard Array. Normally, I'd say roll 4d6 (drop the lowest), and use the Standard Array if you don't like your rolls.

Similarly, you can roll your HP if you want, but I generally say max at level 1 and the average thereafter (where the "average" meaning 1/2 max +1; i.e., if the HD is 1d10, then average is 6)

Okay, I'm back from vacation and I just went to my FLGS to pick up an adventure book -- as mentioned, I'm not a huge fan of WotC these days, so I grabbed a third-party rewrite of a classic D&D dungeon-crawler. I'll need a bit of time to familiarize myself with it (plus work and neglected household chores might get in the way!). Let's hope for November 27.

Hmm... just noticing that this book is written in a very confusing way, but it's meant for 3-8, first-third level characters, so six of you at level 1 should be fine. I think it's based on XP rather than milestones, but I think you can expect to get to level 3 or 4 (I prefer milestones, so I'll let you know).

As for characters: Given the discussion above, I'd like to keep things to PHB+1 (or maybe +2, depending) -- basically, I'm not interested in having to cross-reference a bunch of different rules or to navigate someone's extreme min/maxing. I'm not too worried about that from this group, but I just want to have it out there before we start. I've been in groups where encounters that have been adjusted to fit the powers of one or two characters are fatal to the rest of the party, and vice versa -- neither is much fun for anybody.

Let me know your plans for characters. Having played a Ranger from PHB, I can very easily say that if someone wants to play the Revised Ranger rules, I'm very happy with that (this isn't pressure to play a Ranger, it's just that I know that the PHB version sucks lol).

Lemme know if you have any questions or concerns. When I get a chance I'll start a new forum thread for this game (just gotta remember how to do that, lol). Hopefully we can come back to this one some day when Greycastle or Turq have more time.

I'm in a PF2 game, but I don't know nearly enough about it to be able to GM. Similarly for Dungeon Crawl Classics. I'd feel confident enough DMing D&D 2e or 5e, but maybe not much else just yet.

I enjoy playing with you all, so if it'll keep more people around, I'm happy to restrict options to certain books (see my rant above).

So, I think I've said before that I don't have D&D Beyond nor many of the books -- this is partly bc I can't afford it and partly bc I'm annoyed with WotC. I particularly do not appreciate the lack of balance that they maintained -- it really seems like in order to keep up, to stay on equal footing with other players, you have to keep buying the newest products.

/rant

Anyway, that's my beef with them, not with you. It's okay with me if you want to play Harengon.

I do like the AL rule of PHB + 1 book, but maybe that no longer makes sense either. I dunno. Let me know what your plans are -- I can always make the encounters more difficult :P

No worries!

I'm happy to start something new -- hopefully Greycastle or Turq can come back to this game at some point so that Baldrick can continue to wrestle with the his past and the unknown magical force that sometimes possesses him -- I'm sure that 10 rounds of wild magic was annoying for some, but I had a blast!

I'll settle on an adventure and start laying the groundwork for a new game once I get back from vacation (next weekend). My FLGS has the revamped Castle Amber for 5e, so I might go old-school ;)

I also have a friend who is interested in joining us, so that'll help with the loss of Avendryl.

Stay tuned!

Survey results:

Start over with new characters: 2
Continue with current characters (Frostmaiden): 1
Continue with current characters (Storm King): 1
Start over, play Humblewood: 0

So, basically, 50 / 50 (start over / keep going). I haven't voted (and there are 6 of us -- I'm guessing the last person is Greycastle, but I dunno for sure).

Ok. I’ll wrap up the current run and put the characters back in Ten Towns. That way we can figure out where to go from there.

Just a note. I’d like to apologize for the posting rate of this last run. It’s been terrible and I’m honestly surprised the group stayed together for the most part. I appreciate all of you and let’s see where this goes when Baldrick gets back.

Thanks, Greycastle. No worries about the posting rate -- as others have said, we've all been busy. I'll try to encourage a faster pace, but I don't want to push people away either.

Please let us know:

1) Are we levelling up? (I'm pretty sure you said yes, but I just want to confirm)

2) Any preference to where we take things from here?

kk I'll give it a good think (possibly while staring at books at my FLGS). I've heard Avernus is good too.

As mentioned, I'll be away for the next two weeks. I'm probably going to bring my computer with me, so I can check in, but I doubt I will have an opportunity to get started on something new.

So far we have 4 responses to the survey (I haven't responded as I assumed I would be a tie-breaker). Right now, things are split between continuing with these characters and starting over.

Personally, I would like to keep playing Baldrick because he's on the cusp of some new abilities (we're about to level up, which opens up his Primal Path abilities). But since I'm taking over DMing for a bit, I won't be able to play him anyway, so it sort of doesn't matter if we drop this for now.

I'd like to hear from Greycastle, though -- I'm not sure if he wants me to move Rime along, if he's planning to come back to it eventually, or wants to drop it entirely. I'm going to lend a bit more weight to that opinion, since that's why this group was started. If the consensus is to start over, I'll start a new thread so we don't mix the new adventure with this one.

lol -- that's gonna depend on the players more than the adventure, I think

If the group does decide to start over with new characters, is there an adventure module that people are interested in trying?

(I'll have to pick up something, regardless, as I doubt I'll have time to write my own)

My suggestion is holing up in the elevator room for now.

I linked it above -- basically, you play as woodland creatures: there are 5 birds (corvids, domestic fowl, pigeon, raptor, owl) and 5 mammals (deer, hedgehog, mice, raccoon, fox). And then make standard D&D characters based on those races er... lineages (whatev -- I don't have up-to-date D&D books...).

I could send out the character creation portion of the guide, so you wouldn't have to purchase anything.

Anyway, just a thought -- no pressure either way.

Pretty sure Greycastle said that we would level after this adventure.

Storm King starts at level 1, but we already did a piece from the middle (the last time I DMed, when you fought the giants). If that's the direction we go, I'll just keep picking level-appropriate adventures from that book -- we don't have to start over.

That said, I know Rodalas has talked about starting over with new characters. I could be up for something like that too -- I have the Humblewood books and would like to run that book one day.

....

Okay, I just set up a survey -- let me know ]What's Next?

I am happy to keep things going, with these same characters if that's what we want.

We will have to have a short hiatus, though -- I will be away for the next two weeks and won't have time to prep or get a new adventure started. Otherwise, no problem.

@Greycastle: Should I switch to Storm King's Thunder again and you can pick up Rime if/when you DM next?

"*COUGH* *cough* *wheeze* Oh my head. They got me good, friends -- fair burned off my beard." Handing Umikh back a healing potion to replace the one he poured down Baldrick's throat, he then quaffs a second one.

Healing Potions x2: 4d4 + 4 ⇒ (2, 4, 2, 3) + 4 = 15
Should I assume, we are waiting around at least long enough to benefit from Gideon's spell? If so, I'll add that 11 hp as well -- let me know if that's not correct.

Surveying the group, Baldrick takes a break from holding his nose due to Turq's stink to clasp Umikh by the shoulders: "You've saved me again friend but... oh!" he cries out mournfully, "That blasted King got to you with his foul magics! Oh my dear friend, you've shrunk! Perhaps the cleric can remove this curse?"

I don't think pursuing any further combat is wise while we are covered in stink, but Baldrick isn't known for his Wisdom. Aren't we supposed to fight a dragon still? I don't want to fight a mountain of dwarves, but wasn't the plan to get rid of the King and a dragon?

Whispering: "Gandolfa? Is that the, er," waggles his fingers, "Queen?"

No worries! Baldrick also has healing potions, plus that Inspiration, so I haven't lost hope. Just waiting to see how Greycastle adjudicates the next couple of rounds. Hope you had a great trip!

lol -- well, lemme know if we get to round 15 and he hasn't been stabilized!

@Greycastle: It occurs to me that you recently awarded Baldrick with some Inspiration -- could that be used to roll with advantage on that final death save?

Round 5
Magic Surge5: 1d100 ⇒ 29
You teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see.
Turning away from Gideon, Baldrick disappears; reappearing almost immediately in the combat room, next to Turq: "Moradin's Beard, Turq -- what happened to you?!"

~Participates in combat as needed~

Round 6
Magic Surge6: 1d100 ⇒ 69
Each creature within 30 feet of you becomes invisible for the next minute. The invisibility ends on a creature when it attacks or casts a spell.
"Did you actually kill that king? He's still out here casting spells (or... someone is, anyway). Where'd you all go?!"

~Probably our enemies either attack (in which case we fight them) or they run away.~

Round 7
Magic Surge7: 1d100 ⇒ 58
For the next minute, any flammable object you touch that isn't being worn or carried by another creature bursts into flame.

~Unless there are enemies to fight, Baldrick probably spends this round standing there looking confused, wondering what happened and where the enemies have gone.~

Round 8
Magic Surge8: 1d100 ⇒ 44
For the next minute, you can teleport up to 20 feet as a bonus action on each of your turns.

~Runs (i.e., teleports) down side corridors / rooms, looking for enemies who have run off.~

Round 9
Magic Surge9: 1d100 ⇒ 12
Roll a d10. Your height changes by a number of inches equal to the roll. If the roll is odd, you shrink. If the roll is even, you grow.
Height Change: 1d10 ⇒ 10

~I didn't note a height for Baldrick, but I think of him as about average height for a dwarf, say 4'8. So, this height change would put him at around 5'6. Assuming he's alone (because he's teleporting and the others are being healed), the others won't notice until he returns. Because the duergar are always changing size, Baldrick himself doesn't notice until he's back with his friends. Just thinks the corridors have gotten smaller.~

Round 10
Magic Surge10: 1d100 ⇒ 8
You cast Fireball as a 3rd-level spell centered on yourself.
Fireball damage: 8d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 6, 4, 3, 6, 4, 1) = 32 48 damage
DC 13 DEX save (adv): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 51d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

~Hopefully, Baldrick is either alone or is standing next to enemies when he explodes into Fireball. Unfortunately, 32 damage puts him at exactly 0 HP that's enough damage to put him unconscious. Not sure what'll happen next, but I'll roll some Death saves...~

EDIT: Oh shit, it's actually worse than that. Round 4 Magic Surge was to maximize the damage of the next spell. So, that Fireball actually does 48 damage. I mean, it's all the same to Baldrick, but bad for anyone else nearby. DEX DC 13, fyi.

Round 11
Death Save 1: 1d20 ⇒ 10

Round 12
Death Save 2: 1d20 ⇒ 2

Round 13
Death Save 3: 1d20 ⇒ 10

Round 14
Death Save 4: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Round 15
Death Save 5: 1d20 ⇒ 7
~DEAD~

lol -- well, that's the advice I give other people too, but some groups like a balance. Also, I'm not entirely sure of the current make-up of your group (elf, halfling, thief, cleric?).

I had my fingers crossed for dwarf, but I think you have to roll that on the occupation table (?). At any rate, with okay STR and STA, I'm likely going to build a warrior, but I'll work on the details tomorrow (depending how long it takes to disassemble my garden before the frost hits!).

Actually, maybe I'll just roll things right here.
(fyi, I'm using the 2019 QuickStart Guide -- it looks like the 2023 version omits a bunch of stuff, including the second half of the Occupation table)

Hello everyone,

I posted my desire to join over in Recruitment, so figured I'd give a short introduction here before I build my character. So far, I only have the Quick Start Guide for DCC, but I have played once or twice. I also grew up playing AD&D in the late 80s and 90s, so the rules feel very familiar to me.

I took a long hiatus and didn't get back into RPGs until about 10 years ago, so if you look through my aliases on here you'll see a lot of D&D 5e, PF1, and PF2 characters, though I've explored various other systems.

Let me know if you think the group needs bolstering in any area. I can aim to design a character in a particular direction, though of course the dice will decide some of these things.

Thanks!
I'll roll up a character over the weekend and post then.

Baldrick brushes some lint from Gideon's shoulders, claps him once or twice on the arms: [b]"*ahem* you, um ... you're looking ... well? Let's go check on the others, shall we?"[/ooc]

Baldrick quickly turns on his heel and heads back into the combat room.

Looks like you're hand-waving the rest of combat -- not sure if I should roll the rest of those Wild Magic surges (1/turn for a minute means 10 rolls!).

Hello, are you still looking for a new player?

I'm interested, but I'm not all that familiar with DCC (though I grew up playing AD&D, so I'm familiar with the genre). I have the starter book, but I'm guessing I'd have to track down the core rulebook at some point.

Yeah, I was thinking that Sanctuary would work to prevent a further attack, but Gideon would have to get out of the current Grapple first. I like the idea of interacting spells, though!

WIS save: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3

@Gideon: You should roll to avoid the Grapple first.
(Also, I think Sanctuary is a Bonus Action, so you still have an Action on your turn)

yeah, if Baldrick (or anyone else) fails a WIS save vs. Sanctuary, they wouldn't be able to target Gideon with a Grapple (or other Attack Action). They'd be able to make that save every round, though.

(otoh, B's WIS save is trash, which is why he failed the Suggestion in the first place)

I don't think a 14 is enough to hit the king

Grappling is an Attack Action, so imo Sanctuary is a good solution.

Magic Surge4: 1d100 ⇒ 33

"Maximize the damage of the next damaging spell you cast within the next minute."

"Clangeddin's Shield, cleric! Nobody cares about a bit of blood on their clothes -- let's just get you out of here before it's your own blood!"

Grapple (adv): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 181d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Baldrick drags Gideon further into the room, toward the elevator.
I will wait to move us on the map until Gideon rolls to avoid the grapple

And a second roll to prevent Gideon from breaking the grapple on his turn
Grapple (adv): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 161d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

DEX save (adv): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 71d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

@Greycastle: Do we get a Poison save if someone near us is stinky?

I think we've all been busy, so don't worry about it too much.

I mainly want to check in to see if people are okay with an increased rate.

Does Baldrick get additional saves to beat whatever is making him do this?

afaik, the only way Suggestion ends after a failed save is to complete the suggested action, for the caster to lose Concentration, or if the caster or one of their allies attacks the person affected.

I would be happy to run things again.

Maybe I should set up a Google poll, but some of the things that come to mind are:

1) Do people want to continue or is everyone burnt out? (as mentioned previously, this is kind of my only D&D outlet, so I'd like to keep going)

2) Do we want to keep going with Sunblight, or switch to something else? (the last time I DMed here, we did a little side-venture involving giants, but I'm happy with whatever)

3) Do we want to change the rate of posting? (I know that everyone is busy, but we're at about 1 post/week or 10 days, and I'd like to try to get back to once every two days or so. But I also realize I'm probably the only one obsessively clicking refresh five times / day)

4) Is anyone else interested in DMing? It would be great to have two DMs, if possible, so we could keep switching back and forth.

5) Do we need to recruit more players?

Magic Surge3: 1d100 ⇒ 38
1d6 ⇒ 3 flumphs controlled by the DM appear in unoccupied spaces within 60 feet of you and are frightened of you. They vanish after 1 minute.

The sound of music surges as Baldrick charges straight south, grabbing Gideon around the waist, and attempting to haul him bodily from the room:

Grapple (adv): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 221d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Gideon: You will have to roll Athletics or Acrobatics to break or avoid the grapple. If failed, Baldrick will haul you through the doorway (5' south of your current position). He'll be out of movement, but he's not going to let you go just yet. Since it's then your turn, we can roll another contested grapple check immediately to see if you can break free -- I'll roll that now, just in case:
Grapple (adv): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 151d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

"Why are you still in here?! Turq is down -- we have to get you to safety!!"

Oh! Sorry, I didn't realize.
Okay, if I'm moving "carefully," then I will instead end my movement north of Turq and away from the Flaming Sphere.

Thanks -- Sorry for the confusion!

Okay, seems like nobody took a swing at Baldrick, so he'll continue to move toward Gideon.

Magic Surge2: 1d100 ⇒ 97
"You are surrounded by faint ethereal music for the next minute"

You can't really make it over the sound of combat, but as Baldrick draws near, you can just make out the tinkling of a piano.

Baldrick paws briefly at his ears, before giving his head a good shake and continuing his rush toward the cleric.

Action = Disengage

Gonna be hard to teach without those textbooks!

And, yeah, looks like both Avendryl and Mellaina are gone. I dunno how Greycastle is going to feel about adding someone new mid-adventure, but maybe we need to reassess soon anyway.

My hope is that things will get back to a better flow now that summer is over, but maybe I only think that bc I work in education.

oh shit -- I was looking back at some old posts and I just realized that Baldrick had another magic surge at the start of combat: "Creatures have disadvantage on saving throws against the next spell you cast in the next minute that involves a saving throw."

Assuming that magic surges that he causes are considered "spells he casts," then those DEX saves should be at disadvantage.

Oh yeah, that and I also wanted to add a reminder that anyone ending their turn in the Grease spell (currently Blue furry, large Teal duergar, friendly Yellow duergar) needs to roll a DEX DC 13 save or fall prone.

fyi, Baldrick entered Rage on his last turn, so that damage is halved -- Baldrick at -17 (i.e., 32 hp)

Magic Surge1: 1d100 ⇒ 19
"You cast Grease centered on yourself."

Grease (10' orange square): Each creature standing in its area must succeed on a DEX DC 13 save or fall prone. A creature that enters the area or ends its turn there must also succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone.

Immediate DEX saves needed for Yellow and Teal duergar, and Blue furry.

DEX save (w adv): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 201d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

Baldrick's eyes widen at the king's words, and he glances over his shoulder toward the way they came in; then does a double-take as he sees the chaos in the room: "GIDEON!! No -- it's not safe! I ... I'm coming to save you, buddy!"

As his words cry out and the duergar king steps away, a slick of oil spreads out from Baldrick's feet, but, surefootedly, Baldrick extricates himself from the melee and runs around the combatants.

Action = Disengage
Bonus Action = Convert level 1 spell slot to SP

No worries! There's a lot going on -- I'm just excited to roll ten Magic Surges :P

@Greycastle: Do Pink and the King have a turn now?
Because some wild magic is going to happen, I don't want to post in advance :)