This is the discussion thread for DM Doomed Hero's Black Sands game.
House Rules will be added to the Campaign Info tab shortly.
20 Point Buy
All races are "skinned" as various kinds of human and "fluffed" as exotic cultures. A halfling might just be a human midget. An Elf might just be a willowy person from a culture that focuses on education and martial training from a young age. (I'm asking everyone to avoid particularly exotic races, please)
Two traits. Each trait must come from a different category. I will allow custom traits, as well as slight alterations or "refluffing" of existing ones to better fit your backstory.
Average starting gold for your class
No guns
Your characters will begin as accused criminals who have been offered the choice of prison or debt. You chose debt, and now are essentially indentured servants to the state who are working off your crime-debt by doing things no one else can/wants to. Please come up with the crime you were accused of and the circumstances under which you were caught. Based on your crime I will be granting you a bonus trait.
This will be primarily a dungeon crawl/exploration game but there will be occasional urban adventures involving street chases, roof-climbing, gathering information and that sort of thing.
You will need a tracker, and you will need someone who can disable traps.
Please read the Campaign Info and go ahead and start discussing concepts.
Can you explain how Size Matters works a little more DH? Will it be opposed by CMB. I can potentially see it making certain combats much harder, as melee fighters would likely end up having to provoke a great deal more aoos, will CRs be adjusted? I'd argue that Awesome Blow is supposed to do this, but honestly I've never found the feat very satisfying, seriously give up my biggun's full attack to do a slam and a bullrush with a limit of 10 feet, although I suppose they are auto prone.
I'll probably plump for the divine role here, so likely oracle or cleric, Is there a list of appropriate domains, etc., for the Egyptian deities anywhere?
Think I'll run an actual criminal, no false accusations here :). I like skill characters so I'll probably cover one of the required skill sets.
Size Matters is essentially a free Bull Rush attempt if you get hit buy a well-placed blow of the right damage type from a creature significantly larger/stronger than you. It's rather situational but the gist of it is that if a big creature hits your with a slam attack or bludgeoning weapon and beats your AC by 5 or more, it initiates a Bull Rush. It shouldn't make fights harder. Just more interesting and tactical.
You pick your domains. Most priests worship the entire pantheon, but have a particular patron that grants their powers. Just pick the god you like best and pick two domains in that god's theme. I'll work with you. As long as it makes thematic sense I'll probably be fine with it.
(You're right about Awesome Blow. It's terrible.)
Think I'm going to go for a human caster Oracle with the life domain, dual cursed, legalistic and blackened, with the extra revelation and skill focus knowledge nature - for later eldritch heritage - feats. I'll go Str 7, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 18.
I'll take misfortune and channeling for my mysteries. I'll be wholly useless at combat -6 to hit with a melee weapon, but have a semi decent AC and be a heck of a healer. Actions would be use misfortune every round, on an ally or an enemy - gotta love immediate actions. Use spells or channel.
Encumberance might be a problem until I can pick up some items, but I'll work around it. Equipment, um, studded leather armor 25gp, wooden shield 7gp, won't bother with a weapon, holy symbol, back pack, etc.
Background wise, I think I'll go with Ash the Egyptian god of Oases. His crime will be arson, after he was the only survivor found in the burnt out remains of a nobles tower - his hands were badly burnt during these events. Probably a slighter older man who was saved by an oasis after being abandoned in the desert without water. I figure the noble who later died in the fire found something of great value in the desert and decided to kill off his servants so there was no chance of others learning of his discovery so he simply fled in the night with all the water and mounts. I'll fine tune details and knock up a sheet shortly.
That's a great backstory.
Thanks DH, I worry about what I'm going to be doing in combat - healing being a tad suboptimal, though I think this is less true than the forums would have you believe - but misfortune ought to keep me feeling useful. I just wish 1st level oracle spells weren't so blah.
Just working on the sheet now, Blim - my halfling Magus for Almagafor's game - took far longer than I expected. He should be an amusing flanking buddy for your half ogre :)
Can't seem to edit this profile, just want to see if posting helps...
Hmm, it does not. Apparently there is a bug that will be fixed shortly so I'll post profile here for the moment.
Male Oracle of Life 1
NG Medium Humanoid
Experience 0/2000
Init +3 ; Senses Perception +0
(Init: +3 dex)
==DEFENSE==
AC 19, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+4 armor, +3 dex, +2 Shield)
hp 11 (1d8, +2 con, +1 fc)
Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +1
==OFFENSE==
Spd 20 ft - due to medium armor, and encumberance.
==STATISTICS==
Str 7, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 18
Base Atk +0, Cmb -2 Cmd 11
Feats: Skill Focus Knowledge Nature, Extra Revelation
Skills:[5] Diplomacy +8, Knowledge Nature +5, Knowledge Religion +4, Spellcraft +4, Use Magic Device +5
Languages: Common
Favored Class Oracle
Favored Class Bonuses
1 +1 HP
Traits: Child of Nature: +2 trait bonus to Survival for finding food and water, +1 trait bonus to Knowledge Nature, and survival becomes a class skill. Birthmark: can serve you as a divine focus for casting spells, and you gain a +2 trait bonus on all saving throws against charm and compulsion effects.
0th: 4/
1st: 2/4
Oth: Detect Magic, Light, Purify Food and Drink, Enhanced Diplomacy
1st: Burning Hands, Cure Light Wounds, Command
Oracle’s Curse
A dual-cursed oracle must choose two curses at 1st level. One of these curses (oracle’s choice) never changes its abilities as the oracle gains levels; for example, an oracle with clouded vision never gains darkvision 60 feet, blindsense, or blindsight. The other curse comes with its normal benefits.
Class Skills
A dual-cursed oracle gains no additional class skills from her mystery.
Bonus Spells
These bonus spells replace the oracle’s mystery bonus spells at these levels: ill omen (2nd), oracle’s burden (4th), bestow curse (6th).
Revelations
A dual-cursed oracle gains a new revelation at 5th level and 13th level. These are in addition to the normal revelations she receives at 3rd level, 7th level, and so on. In addition, the cursed oracle may select the following revelations in place of a mystery revelation.
Revelations:
Misfortune (Ex): At 1st level, as an immediate action, you can force a creature within 30 feet to reroll any one d20 roll that it has just made before the results of the roll are revealed. The creature must take the result of the reroll, even if it’s worse than the original roll. Once a creature has suffered from your misfortune, it cannot be the target of this revelation again for 1 day.
Blackened: Your hands and forearms are shriveled and blackened, as if you had plunged your arms into a blazing fire, and your thin, papery skin is sensitive to the touch.
Effect: You take a –4 penalty on weapon attack rolls, but you add burning hands to your list of spells known.
Legalistic: Whenever you break your word (either purposefully or unintentionally), you become sickened for 24 hours or until you meet your obligation, whichever comes first. However, once per day, you can make a vow to yourself that grants a +4 morale bonus on any one roll you make while trying to fulfill a promise made to another individual.
Looking at the stat spread you're working with and thinking about the number of players in this game, I'm going to boost the point buy to 25. MAD characters shouldn't suffer for 4 levels before they start to work
Hmmm, in that case I'll bump Int and Wis to 12 and put my extra skill point into survival for +4. Will save becomes +2, Knowledge Nature goes to +6, and religion to +5. I'll probably shift him to lawful good to, since that fits legalistic better.
Since we're reskinning the races this might be a good time to play around with the ARG racial creation rules as long as we don't get too out there. Would it be something you might consider?
Yes, under the caveat that you keep things sane. The idea of keeping everything skinned as human is to make the setting less fantastical. I'd like to steer clear of races with magical or extraordinary abilities, but I'm willing to let you play with the race builder if you can make something work with those constraints.
Just don't be surprised if I ask you to make some alterations.
Who are we still missing here? I know we lost Drawesome, but shouldn't there be a third?
Still waiting on Fanguar.
I'm here. I've been lurking, trying to decide what class to play. I'll probably just go wizard.
As for crimes, I'm leaning towards sedition against the emperor. Nothing too extravagant, but maybe something said after too much wine where there were too many ears about.
Replace all instances of Emperor with Pharaoh.
I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote the game info. Durp. Edited.
Bumping this. I'm guessing everyone's just busy for the weekend.
Ha, Saturday is my long work day and I just got Joe Abercrombie's Red Country... I'll try and prod.
Ok, I think I'm good other than gear. speaking of which, do we start with any, since we've been arrested and what not?
Racial build, see if this works for you. Took enclave protector, its fairly low key, the only flashy ability being Faerie Fire, not sure if that was OK.
Will work on rest of build tonight.
Good question about gear.
Basically, you weren't locked up for long. Justice is pretty swift in the Last City. You were arrested, spent no more than 2 days in prison before your arraignment, chose a fine/debt rather than jail time, and were released. The things you had on you at the time you were arrested weren't given back (but they can be petitioned for if they are unique and recognizable), but if you have a house or a stash somewhere, you have gear.
More specialty gear can be assumed to be provided for the job you take (if there's ruins to survey the state will provide rope, paper, charchol and some food and water, for example). This extra gear will be hand waved as part of an "adventurer's kit" once we get to that point.
Alton, I'm fine with those abilities. Where do you see the fairy fire coming from? Is it from heritage of something otherworldly? The blessing of the gods?
I was thinking it was a left over from when they were direct servants of the gods. Such a time being so far back there are numerous stories of why they aren't touched by the gods anymore, their own belief that they were forced into an exodus from paradise and the subsequent intermarriage with other tribes and races having diluted what was once divine blood. Others tend to believe they were cast out and stole the little power they have left.
Okay here's the recruitment thread for a new member. If I have it right for APs we want to avoid, Rise of the Runelords, Carrion Crown - as Fanguar has played, and Serpent's Skull because I'm currently running it. Are there any other APs that people wish to avoid?
I'm going to move this game forward while we wait for our new member. If you haven't posted in Gameplay, please do.
I've added a section on Debt Law to the campaign info tab. please take a look. let me know if you have any questions.
Edited background a bit. See if it's closer to what we need.
That works great. Well done.
A murder, arguably in self-defense, isn't that significant of a crime in the Last City. Duels are common. It wouldn't have even been an issue if you and the merchant had fought the legal way. Your crime wasn't even specifically murder. It was actually "breach of the peace", which is basically violence of any kind that isn't done according to the rules.
A note on Languages-
There are many, many languages spoken in the Last City.
The most common, Dust-Tongue, is a pidgin tongue of about a half dozen others used primarily by merchants hawking goods and by Duster thugs and urchins who live in the dregs of society. It is marked by a continually evolving slang. It has no standard written form, but has a surprisingly intricate graffiti language of gang symbols and bastardizations of other alphabets called Dust Scratch. Anyone who speaks Dust Tongue and has at least 1 rank in Knowledge Local is able to understand Dust Scratch.
The next most common language is usually referred to as the Last Tongue. It is the language of the aristocracy and of the educated. It's written form is a precise alphabet consisting of trios of lines and angles called Last Script. It is essentially a more complex form of Cuneiform. Anyone fluent in the Last Tongue with at least one rank in Knowledge Engineering can read Last Script.
The last notable language is the Elder-Tongue. It is considered the oldest language and it is painstakingly preserved. It is spoken by the Vizirs and by most of the priesthood and by historians, academics and wizards. It's written form is essentially Egyptian hieroglyphs, commonly called Glyphs. It is a far more complex language than any other. Written fluency requires at least one rank in Knowledge: History, Knowledge: Arcana and Knowledge: Religion.
This has been added to the campaign info tab
Neat, I like the debtor stuff, very interesting concept.
I've given Hasani Last and Dust Tongue, and swapped out my UMD rank for a rank in Knowledge Engineering since he really needs to be literate in order to have filfilled his previous duties.
No problem. Sorry for all the hiccups getting this off the ground. This concept is evolving as we go.
No worries, you're building a world, these things tend to evolve as you go along.
Wow that seems more like straight death sentence!
Unfortunately the Pharaoh has no daughter. No children at all that anyone is aware of.
The idea might work with one of the other ministers daughters or something like that.
Looks good.
Put an alias together and I'll have you meet the group at the dig site.
How I run Initiative-
I will make your initial Perception and Initiative checks and post the results.
Those who succeed both may act in the surprise round and are not flat footed to the enemy. That means they saw them coming and reacted quickly.
Succeeding in a perception check, but not beating the enemy in Initiative means you saw them, but did not react in time to defend yourself well. You get a standard action, but are flat footed.
Succeeding in initiative but not making your perception check means you did not see the attack coming, but reacted quickly enough to try to dodge. You do not get an action because all your energy is being spent trying to keep from being hurt and make sense out of what is happening.
Failing both means you were completely blindsided. You are flat footed during the surprise round and don't get to act, and because you haven't acted by the time the enemy goes again in Round 1, you're still flat footed. This is a bad situation to be in.
In the surprise round, even if you do not get an action, I would still like a post from you. Tell us how your character was surprised.
After the surprise round complexities sort themselves out by the end of round 1, I will go to a round-robin combat style. The party may act in whatever order they like. Actions will happen in game in the order they appear. This keeps the narrative fluid and easy to follow. Feel free to discuss tactics in or out of game. If you want to wait for the wizard to cast a spell before you attack, go right ahead.
Any questions?
Bradar-
I decided to get you in at the gate rather than the site itself. Until you get your Alias up we'll assume you're asleep in the wagon or something. Don't feel rushed.
Are you initiative rules for every combat, or just those with surprise rounds?
Just the ones with surprise rounds. When surprise isn't an issue I just say "no one's flat footed" and roll a group initiative to keep each side able to post in a block. Doing it that way keeps it easy for me.
Got an alias and will jump in soon.
To sum up what's happened so far-
Farooq shouted a warning just before a bunch of people burst out of the sand and rushed forward to murder you all.
Alton didn't see them coming, but reacted very quickly, drawing his weapons.
Bradar and Hassani were slower to react, caught completely by surprise. The bad guys rushed them and started stabbing.
And thus ends the Surprise round.
Everyone should be able to edit the map now. Feel free to move yourselves around.
As a note, the sides of the wagon (but not the front or back) provide full Concealment. I allowed Farooq to cast through a hole, using it like an arrow slit, because Color Spray is an AoE spell that doesn't require an attack roll. For most attacks it's going to be a lot more difficult to aim and strike through the canvas.
Hassani, if you take a look at the map, I'm not sure you can catch both enemies in the flames without catching Bradar also. You could if you get out of the wagon, but not from where you're currently marked.
Saw and edited.
Play is to you, Farooq
Any chance of firing a crossbow bolt through a tear in the wagon side?
If not, I'm just going to hide in the wagon.