Malachi Constant's page

Your formatting's a little different than I'm used to but I can understand everything, so that's all good.

I can change it up if you'd prefer something else!

Mechanically the only thing I'm seeing is a couple of your skills have off numbers, but I'd guess that's from just copy-pasting or routinely going down, which are minor errors I make all the time. I'm also still unsure on your Background but I know you were as well, so just let me know when you have that squared away--and I hope you find something fitting from the sources available!

Whoops. Yeah, copy and paste errors for sure. I think I fixed all of those. And the background I went with was Charlatan, which is now noted on the sheet. It's not exactly what I want, but it was the closest thing I found (and isn't a major thing) so it'll do.

In terms of backstory, it looks good. My only question is how exactly Malachi came to hire on with Gundrenn Rockseeker's caravan, but that can be explained easily enough even in game.

Through mostly paranoia, Malachi stays on the move. If they're going somewhere he hasn't been, and it's a chance for him to blend into a crowd, he'll be interested in joining up.

Also, I don't know when we're starting but FYI I'll be away from the 2nd to the 9th as I'll be at GenCon.

I'll muse some today on knowing each other.

Re: Boston and its Weather--Boy, yeah, the heat. I know it's summer and it's been bad all over but seriously, it's killer out there. Not as bad in the evening as in the daytime, although at tonight's Red Sox game the temperature at 7 PM was apparently 92 degrees, so still really really hot. I'm always thankful for hotels with air conditioning.

Yeah, it's been abnormally hot. Like, 90-95 and humid as a bastard for like 3 weeks. I hope it was at least a good game! And that the rest of Boston has been fun.

and tomorrow we'll be in Boston for most of the day into the night

How are you enjoying our terrible heatwave?

Hello! Thanks for the selection!

Thanks! Glad you like him.

The only real question I have right now is what his mechanical Background is; I didn't see it marked on the sheet.

Oh right - I was going to flip through Sword Coast and see if there was anything that fit better. Right now I'm using Charlatan, which I don't super love.

Here is Yorick's Warlock. For the name of the game, I think my vote goes to "A Fistful of Coppers", but I really, really love 3:10 to Eberron.

Also, I feel I should ask before making the change: Would anyone be opposed to me changing the dollar value to just equal gold pieces instead of silvers? "Silver dollar" sounds better than "gold dollar," at least to me, but the conversion rate means you guys are dealing with hundreds of dollars a lot of the time, and that seems unnecessary to me. Also, a gun costing fifty dollars seems more fitting for the period than a gun costing five-hundred.

That makes sense to me. though I think I did the conversion entirely wrong on my sheet, now that I hear that aloud.

Malachi pats the remaining fires off the family. "Find a safe place." He urges them. Trying not to snort as Reno mentions the fire being arcane, he mutters to himself, "Course it is," thinking how much this could have gone better.

'Nothing to do about it now.' he thinks. Turning towards Astora and Vulcarr to thank them for their assistance, he notices them fighting the escaping unhallowed. "Bah, let them go. They'll turn up again."

1d8 ⇒ 5

HP: 20/26

Malachi gladly moves out of the way of the large fire creature as it knocks the door down, taking a moment to pat himself off from the flames. While he was fairly certain that this being would be of greater help to those inside than he would, it was his mess to clean up. He pulls his jacket up higher around his head, takes a deep breath, and charges in, determined to rescue the individuals.

Defy Danger Con: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (5, 3) + 2 = 10
Assuming I can use Con for this since he's kind of haphazardly running into fire with little preparation aside from trying to not, you know, die. If not, with a Dex it'll be a 9.

That bond works wonderfully for me. In the reverse, I'll do either "I will make Astoria respect the power I wield." or "Astora is wary of my power, for good reason". Any preference, @Astora?

HackSlash or DefyStr: 2d6 + 0 ⇒ (4, 2) + 0 = 6

Malachi holds up a finger to the Unhallowed. "Give us a minute, yeah?" Without waiting for a response, he throws himself against the door of the building, hoping to simultaneously create an escape route for those inside, and also be in a position to lure the creatures into the fire.

Glad to see this game come back!

1d8 ⇒ 1 Well.

HP: 25/26

Malachi frowns as his purple flames catch onto both himself and the buildings. Patting his clothes until the fire goes out, he looks at the flames beginning to spread. "Really shouldn't have gotten involved." He mutters.

As Astora shouts at him he waves her off, abruptly, noting more flames on his coat sleeves. He pats those out quickly, and runs over towards the building. Beginning to pound on the door, he shouts "Oi! There's a fire!"

Channel: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 1) + 2 = 4

Seeing the Unhallowed turning towards him, Malachi mutters a string of expletives and prepares to release another burst of energy, this time directed at them specifically.

Channel: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (4, 6) + 2 = 12
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2 (2 Piercing)

"Shouldn't get involved." Malachi mutters to himself, but he's already moving to assist. As the woman starts dexterously jumping up on boxes to get to higher ground, he watches, nearly dumbstruck. "Huh." It comes out with a mixture of surprise and respect.

Still, the creatures were doing their best to climb after her. She may have gotten away for now, but they looked nothing if not persistent. Raising a hand, Malachi focuses his attention on the one closest to her, but then changes his mind. Instead of blasting any of the creatures, he instead fires arcane energy from his fingertips at the boxes, eliminating their means of climbing after her (and his own escape as well)

(Technique is Arcane Shot. Near, Projectile, 1d6 Damage, +2 Piercing.)

"Always do." Malachi mutters with a sigh. Relieved to be, at least for the time being, left to his own devices, he hurries in the direction that the Unhallowed supposedly are.

Sure, yeah.

Parley: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 6) + 1 = 11

"I saw you use arcane power, your one of those freaks who can summon the power of the void!" he pushes you "I think you should get out of here". What do you do?

Malachi lets the man push him, and then walks closer to the man. But instead of pushing back, Malachi gets close to his face and whispers quietly, such that others can't hear him. "If I am what you think I am, then you should be a lot more afraid of me." It comes out almost as a challenge, and as Malachi leans back, his eyes appear to flash purple around the irises, for just a moment.

So, Malachi I've just realized that I hadn't established if you get persecuted for this gift. if so, great (well, not great for your character, but for continuity). If not, that's fine too, ill just retcon the guy to be harassing you about something else (maybe he thinks you shoplifted)

Oh! Sure, I like the Persecution angle. In general I was intending to have my character be sort of secretive about it anyway, so this gives him more cause to not be "showy" with it.

Malachi frowns at the man. "I'm afraid you must have mistaken me for someone else..." He replies calmly. "What freaks do you mean?"

Hey are we in town together having already joined up, or is it more that some of us have met before and will reunite for joined efforts? I'm basically not sure if I should be surprised or not when I inevitably see someone else.

Spout Lore: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6

Malachi takes another drag as he hears the cries for help. He'd heard some tales of the Unhallowed, but nothing concrete. They sounded like fairy tales to him, things parents made up to scare their children, keep them behaved. Cursing, he puts out the cigarette with one hand and pulls out the staff strapped to his back with the other. "May as well see what the fuss is about." He grumbles to himself, following the sounds of commotion.

Malachi walks through the streets of Chillhollow, slowly, looking around with a critical eye. 'How strange that this place should be spared.' He thinks. Stopping by a market, he looks at some of the trinkets that people have brought back from inside the walls.

Pausing for a moment, he picks up a framed photo. Turning it in his hands, he can see it move slightly. 'Ah, what can't magic do.' he thinks with a smile, which quickly fades as he realises that the people in that picture are probably dead, and that no one would be coming to buy it. He places the photo down gently.

Stepping away from the market shop, he lights a hand-rolled cigarette and takes a drag, once more surveying the area. 'Lots of people coming through.' He thinks. 'They would do well to stay out of my way.'

@Reno - There is an empty gameplay thread for dotting purposes!

Malachi:

Are channelers a new thing?

Does your Rift have a voice?

I don't think they'd be new. I imagine the Rift has been around for a long time. Maybe they've always been kind of a closed community? Something between a cult and a secret society.

It does have a voice, but not physical. It's telepathic, and sounds like the thousands of souls that make it up (or are trapped within it or whatever) all speaking at once, saying the same thing, but kind of overlapping. There are legends within the Channeling "community" of people who have spoken with it, but they may or may not be legitimate.

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Ack I missed so many things. @GM can you make a Gameplay thread for us to Dot?

1.) What is your characters theory about the fall of Wrey (no promises anyone's will be right, but I ,like to have ideas)

2.) what is one feature that differentiates this setting from a regular tolkienesque fantasy?

The Arcane Magic that Malachi channels comes from a living source - a being of pure energy. There are many who worship this entity as a god, and believe that it is made up of billions of souls, and that when we die, we will join it. Malachi does not worship it, and does not believe that, and suspects that it has its own motives. He has tried to find ways to communicate with it, but has so far been unsuccessful. Regardless, he believes it is behind what happened in Wrey.

Vulcarr, Morr, Malachi, have either of you have heard of the great Reno Jackson, world renowned explorer?

Probably, if you're that famous. Malachi would have come to Wrey to do some investigating of his own. He tends to be a loner in general, but (though he'd never admit it), Wrey scares the hell out of him. Whatever actually occurred, it's likely something that shouldn't have ever happened, and in his mind it's a pretty big game changer. He'd have wanted others around who were more knowledgable about certain things.

Malachai, one of my ideas for why Vulcarr is different then your own arcane golem is that in order to create a true "living" golem, one is required to give/sacrifice a portion of your essence in order to awaken the golem permanently. This in turn has lead to another idea of perhaps attempting to awaken Vulcarr caused his memory loss. It's an interesting idea, one I leave to the DM.

That's a good idea, and is something that Malachi would absolutely not ever do.

That sounds reasonable to me. The way that I imagine mine working is that it's (for lack of a better term), just an ordinary mannequin that I then have to imbue with magic.

Vulcarr could be more naturally occurring, (eg: a personification of fire, which is more what I think Astora would have fought) or because he's been created by Morr, could well be similar to what I do.

In fact, if they are similar, it could be that's my background connection with Morr - perhaps I got my golem from him, but for whatever unknown reason, mine doesn't hold life permanently as his does.

Hello Hello! Happy to be here!

@DM - Do you want to ask us questions or would you prefer a different approach?

Oh, certainly not dropping out, I put it in my alias. Sorry, I should have been more clear.

That's quite alright. I got something (albeit brief) together in time, and I'd rather not be an exception and hold things up. Appreciate the offer, though!

My crunch is done, I still have to finish up the backstory, but I'm going to super try to get it done in the morning. I'm not sure what timezone the noon cutoff is, but I'm in EST so that's what I'm going to aim for, and hopefully it works. :)

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That really sucks, sorry to hear. :( Hopefully things improve soon. No worries on the delay, family comes first.

I'm ready. Let me know if you have problems with myth-weavers.

Wait, are we supposed to have max starting gold? I thought it was average.

I believe I am as well.

Or a flim-flam man who wants people to think that he is just a typical sorcerer/wizard.

Ooh I like that. I'll go with that if it'll alleviate the issues.

@Malachi I think occultist may be closer to that concept. They draw power from objects and rituals rather than having inborn power.

A "normal mage" is, in this setting, a non-psychic caster. Psychics are common in Vudra but not in Avistan which is where Ustalav and Lepidstadt are. "Normal" to them is a wizard, sorcerer, witch, or adept.

The reason I asked really is that, as I said before, I wrote Samuel as not knowing what he is. Meeting another psychic, especially another mesmerist, would be a key character development for him. He seeks to understand his power better so he can grow stronger.

Occultist is another reasonable way to go with it, it just isn't the direction that I wanted to take.

But like, what I mean about questioning "normal" is that most branches of magic already don't necessarily work the same way, at least in the fiction. Wizard's get spells from their tomes, Alchemist's from their formulae books. Sorcerer's from an innate understanding of how reality works and can be altered. Druid's and Cleric's from meditation - one with nature itself and one with a deity. Bard's from "We just do it". And then add in the idea different spells have different components (Verbal, Somatic, Material), and that it can be learned to cast spells without these things (Silent Spell, Eschew Materials, or Still Spell).

My point being that "not a normal mage" is kind of a vague and broad statement, because I am not sure what "normal" would be, when there are so many different approaches or different manifestations. We don't need materials, but there are lots of other casters who presumably wouldn't, as well.

I think that we're on the same page with our Stare / Lying abilities, that we'd recognise them as things we can innately do that most others can't (though obviously some Sorcerer's / Bard's / Inquisitor's have some similar powers). We don't necessarily know what we are or aren't, but we know we have some abilities.

Where I was differing was about how we cast the actual spells we have - While there are a lot that make sense as far as things we can do by just the nature of being psychic, there are others that I have issue seeing that way. Things like Obscuring Mist or Grease or Cat's Grace or several others I have more trouble rectifying as simply "I make it happen". That's the kind of thing that I was more thinking of fluffing up with materials, if that makes sense?

So, since this is reasonably homebrew to start, I'm not super sure what "normal mage" will entail. I'm planning on playing the Mesmerist parts as largely just "Con Man", and having the more magic parts as being largely driven by knowledge / materials at hand. Malachi is largely based on John Constantine, because I dig the idea of this guy who mostly just talks his way out of things, but has the ability to do rituals and things when he needs to. I'm also very enamoured by the way that he just sacrifices the people around him / his friends in the spur of the moment, yet the decisions haunt him.

I'm imagining that Malachi will actually have some kind of spell book, even though Mesmerist's don't typically have one, and that he'll look at it when he goes to cast, even though no caster does. And the idea is that he can do rituals and cause problems, but mostly only when he's like, backed into a corner. As far as knowing what he can do, I'm not sure that he would know, but I also don't think he'd lose much sleep wondering. It's the case of "I know I can do just enough to keep myself alive." sort of thing.

@Malachi I noticed in your background that he has materials for spells. Do psychics need material components? It was my understanding that they didn't.

No, you're right, they don't - it's just for flavour. I'll probably play him as having things simply as a roleplaying device.

Some of us might already be a little crazy...

Thanks for the pick! Super excited for this game. I'll get to work on gear today.

Here is my "Shamelessly inspired by John Constantine and named after a Vonnegut character" Mesmerist. I kept the background on the short side but am happy to expand upon it.