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This thread will host the out-of-character discussion for my Ptolus campaign. For those of you not familiar with Ptolus, it is a campaign setting invented by Monte Cook. A free Player's Guide is available in PDF form from drivethrurpg or rpgnow.
The cast of characters:
Yarag the human fighter played by French Wolf
Aerian the human rogue played by Steve Geddes
Zilroy Specterbane the human cleric played by Hogarth
Tusker Tall the half-orc druid played by Shisumo
Hintal the gnome sorcerer played by Sleepy
Dryder, James Keegan and Tiger Dave will also be joining the cast in to-be-announced roles.
Gentlemen, please post your characters here and we will discuss the specifics of your background. I hope you all have fun. The first game post will be posted by Friday, February 20, 2009.
Cheers,
-JR
Checking in. Going to work more on background tonight. I'm saving my spell selection until we get a better idea who else might be tossing magic around.
I'm checking in as well. I revised Hintal a bit so that he was more focused on urban adventure.
Friday the 20th seems like a long way off...
As per the thread instructions, here is Hintal's background, available for discussion if anyone is interested.
Background
Hintal has been a resident of Ptolus for his whole life - it's really all that he knows. His parents and most of his fourteen siblings are in some facet of the woodworking trade. Two brothers are wheelrights. Three are shipbuilders. Two sisters have their own business making fine-quality furniture for the wealthy. Two of his eldest brothers, and Hintal (third youngest in the brood), have deviated from the family trade and have taken up the work of alchemy. He spends most of his time in their shop selling goods, learning the business, and generally trying his best to help them make a profit. You'll find the various family shops (and homes) in Midtown, nearer the Guild district.
Hintal's curiosity is the one thing that his family would change if they could. His fascination with just about anything of any complexity was enough to send him off on random tangents for hours at a time. It doesn't help his productivity at work when Hintal is rapt in the spiral patterns leaves make when caught in the breezes trapped in an alleyway. At other times he would gaze for hours at the cloud formations over the horizon or the fascinating. flowing patterns that flocks of birds would make as they followed the wind.
It came as no surprise to his brothers when he first released a bolt of electricity in the back of the shop one day. With some guidance, some careful experimentation, a large volume of burn salve, Hintal finally gained some rudimentary control over what he could do. Hintal, even now, is still coming to grips with what he can do, and what he cannot do.
Rolls for my character; one 9 will be dropped. Since all the bases are just about covered, I'll go for a paladin of Lothian, aspiring toward the Knights of the Pale, if that works. I'm thinking that he'll be like a hard luck sort of character: his parents were executed when he was young and he was never the same after word. Taken in by the church, he was teased for his parents' fate by the other orphans. So he developed a morbid sense of humor and some strange religious ideas. Lost an eye in a brawl and rationalized it as a lesson from Lothian. That's what I have so far.
Zilroy's character sheet is in his profile. He's kind of an unlucky schlemiel who's trying to gain some positive notoriety so that his great-grandfather's spirit can be at peace. I don't know if anyone here is Canadian, but I'm thinking a little bit like Louis Del Grande's character from "Seeing Things"; his wife threw him out, he has a "gift" that he never asked for, etc.
Now he's a cleric of Lothian and he's ultimately looking to impress the Knights of the Veil (where his great-grandfather was well-respected before wasting his life on gambling, booze and loose women).
Background draft, spoilered for length:
Tusker committed all the usual crimes you have to commit to survive on the streets - he stole food, begged in the streets, sometimes helped other kids run cons - but he never quite got swallowed up in it as so many of the other urchins did. He avoided the Pale Dogs, kept mostly to himself, content to build something resembling a life out of the scraps he could manage to pull together on his own.
The reason for this, he now believes, was his connection to the Green. From those very first memories of deprivation and squalor, Tusker has always felt the pulse of the world around him, and it somehow kept him focused on the world beyond his immediate surroundings. When he was 10, he spent two days carting dirt from a construction site a few block away to the roof of a half-collapsed tenement so he could plant himself a garden. He always had a pet or two around - rats, mostly, but dogs, cats, pigeons, and even a snake or two at times as well. The other kids thought it was mostly weird and occasionally neat, but a snake wrapped 'round your neck and a mangy mutt trailing your heels tends to buy you a little extra space if you want it. The garden produced a few vegetables that he could eat and sell for coppers; the animals watched his back at night while he slept. Tusker grew up with the nature of the city all around him.
It wasn't until Venz found him that he really understood what was going on, however. When the squirrel ran up to him one day two years ago with a note on its leg that read, "Come with me, and learn about the Green," it was the start of Tusker's initiation into the ways of the druids - but though Tusker came to respect Venz, an aged, grumpy, harsh, and incredibly caring mentor, a great deal, the two of them never saw eye-to-eye about how the city fit in with the Green. Venz would always insist that Ptolus, and all the other cities like it, were blights on the face of nature; Tusker would always shake his head and reply, "Tell that to my garden." When he finished his apprenticeship last month, Tusker wasted no time in returning to the so-called "blight," and all the life it holds.
Tusker has now resettled in the Warrens, near where he grew up, and though he was not surprised to find that his old garden had been torn up at some point during his two-year absence, he has started another one, and takes care to keep an eye on it. He has bigger plans now, though. His experience with Venz has taught him that too many druids cannot see the city for what it is: a part of nature, another zone of life like all the others, where many species die but where others thrive. He has begun looking for others like him, druids who might form a new Circle with him, whether they be elders or new arrivals who he might take on as apprentices himself one day. And he will act to protect his city, as any druid will in their grove. He has also made contact with several of his old friends or contacts from before his departure: FunCat, the half-elf thief with an astonishing tolerance for alcohol; Stefanie, his first girlfriend, a human who now runs a small bar on the edge of the Warrens; Mikki Machete, a scrappy fighter who hopes to win his way out of the Warrens through the arena fights and one day join the Order of Iron Might. People who've had his back before, they might one day do it again - or he might return the favor. That's how you build a Circle.
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I'm checking in as well. I revised Hintal a bit so that he was more focused on urban adventure.
Friday the 20th seems like a long way off...
As per the thread instructions, here is Hintal's background, available for discussion if anyone is interested.
** spoiler omitted **
It feels like a long way off to me too. If everyone gets finished, we'll start earlier, but I don't want to rush anyone's creativity.
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Rolls for my character; one 9 will be dropped. Since all the bases are just about covered, I'll go for a paladin of Lothian, aspiring toward the Knights of the Pale, if that works. I'm thinking that he'll be like a hard luck sort of character: his parents were executed when he was young and he was never the same after word. Taken in by the church, he was teased for his parents' fate by the other orphans. So he developed a morbid sense of humor and some strange religious ideas. Lost an eye in a brawl and rationalized it as a lesson from Lothian. That's what I have so far.
I love it. That background will work really well in Ptolus.
If the background's okay, I'm still stuck on equipment. Tusker doesn't need much - should I maybe burn my extra cash on some scrolls?
Please have a look at the background for Aerian. I've fleshed it out a little more, but am a Ptolus newcomer, so if I've got hold of the wrong end of the stick somehow or whatever...Alternatively, if you had something you wanted to add (or a different idea regarding his mentor with the Conciliators) just me know...
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Please have a look at the background for Aerian. I've fleshed it out a little more, but am a Ptolus newcomer, so if I've got hold of the wrong end of the stick somehow or whatever...Alternatively, if you had something you wanted to add (or a different idea regarding his mentor with the Conciliators) just me know...
The background is good. Just a couple of other details...
Please have a look at the background for Aerian. I've fleshed it out a little more, but am a Ptolus newcomer, so if I've got hold of the wrong end of the stick somehow or whatever...Alternatively, if you had something you wanted to add (or a different idea regarding his mentor with the Conciliators) just me know...The background is good. Just a couple of other details...
** spoiler omitted **
Thanks.
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Well, my pc will be named SHAR-NYM NADAL, being a human boy of about 17 years (he doesn't actually know how old he is).
Class = Rogue
Background to come.
One question:
If I have a malus on STR and use Weapon Finesse with my dagger, I do 1d4 damage minus the STR modifier?! I never actually happened to experience this case and I want to be sure.
Well, here he is. Finishing touch and Background still missing.
I opted not to have max starting gold, because of my background.
One more thing: Don't worry, JollyRoger, I will not be bored, in fact I DMed
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And one more question: I never heard of "Maneuver Resistance". Could someone please explain where to find this...
Might that be
DC = 15 + the target's CMB? From p. 150?
The resistance to Combat Maneuvers is usually 15 + your CMB (which is usually your BAB + Str modifier). However, some things provide for more resistance. If you have the Defensive Combat Training feat, for instance, that makes all maneuver attacks against you suffer a +4 to the DC. And if you have any of the Improved feats (grapple, trip, sunder, bull rush, etc) those add another +2 to the DC vs that specific type of maneuver. Hope that helps.
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One question:
If I have a malus on STR and use Weapon Finesse with my dagger, I do 1d4 damage minus the STR modifier?! I never actually happened to experience this case and I want to be sure.
Weapon Finesse only applies a dex modifier to attack rolls in the place of the str modifier. The damage roll is still subject to a str modifier, so yes, if you have an 8 STR, then weapon damage rolls are -1 point of damage (to minimum of 1, I believe).
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Just to clarify, I made that up - it's not really an "official" statline (compare with the villain statblocks for the Superstar contest). I just thought it would be a handy thing to have already done the math on, for the GM's sake.Thanx, Sleepy, what I've thought!
Added MR to Nym's statblock.
I figured that now. A great idea, Shisumo! I will have all my players have that line on their character sheets!
Started background but lots more ideas to be added and refined.
That will be done on and off over the weekend. Plus I have his equipment to do. Should be ready for Monday.
One general question, do you have a cunning plan to get us all together for the start? Or do you want us (as per the Ptolus Player Guide) trying to form associations to each other in or around a place, like a tavern or whorehouse?
Either way the party members will probably only have known Yarag for a few weeks. He is a down-on-his-luck noble that was kicked out of House Rau recently.
Also he is a 6ft tall, slim built warrior with broad shoulders and a quarterstaff for protection. Anyone seeing him work will realise he is strong as an ox, even if he does talk posh.
I have tentaively put Yarag as working on the docks but if anyone prefers another area then I can swing it. Just thought we should start at the bottom.
Cheers
P.S. Introductions to those I haven't gamed with before (and hello to those I have), played and DMed for a long while, but not as long as some of you, married, one son, and living on the coast of Devon, England.
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One general question, do you have a cunning plan to get us all together for the start? Or do you want us (as per the Ptolus Player Guide) trying to form associations to each other in or around a place, like a tavern or whorehouse?Cheers
P.S. Introductions to those I haven't gamed with before (and hello to those I have), played and DMed for a long while, but not as long as some of you, married, one son, and living on the coast of Devon, England.
Oh, I do have a clever plan to get you all together. Not to worry. I will be revealing it shortly.
I live in sunny Florida in the USA. I am a complete anglophile though. I love all things British. I have had the pleasure of visiting England twice and am planning another trip for the year the husband and I turn 40. He's never been to England but loves swords and armor. He definitely needs to see the Tower of London and the British Museum.
As for Yarag...
Whatever happened to get you kicked out of House Rau, you can bet Gordon Rau had something to do with it. His animosity only grows as the two of your grow into adulthood.
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JollyRoger -
I just noticed that Dryder's included bonus hit points on his character sheet. Are we using that rule, and if so, which version?
Good question. Let's do this: Assume you rolled the highest possible on your hit die and add your constitution bonus. If you're taking a level in a favored class, you may add +1 hp or +1 skill point, as described on page 11 of the Beta PHB.
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Well, my pc will be named SHAR-NYM NADAL, being a human boy of about 17 years (he doesn't actually know how old he is).
Class = Rogue
Background to come.One question:
If I have a malus on STR and use Weapon Finesse with my dagger, I do 1d4 damage minus the STR modifier?! I never actually happened to experience this case and I want to be sure.
I believe the answer to that is yes. Damage from the dagger will be 1d4-StrMod
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I'm checking in as well. I revised Hintal a bit so that he was more focused on urban adventure.
Friday the 20th seems like a long way off...
As per the thread instructions, here is Hintal's background, available for discussion if anyone is interested.
** spoiler omitted **
I like it. He'll be fun.
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Right JollyRoger, I shall incorporate that in my background information.
DM Only
1) Yarag was born in the family home, with 2 of the finest healers in attendance.
2) His current home is an Inn, the Wishing Well, run by Tauren Bracenbeer, a fat and jovial halfling.
3) Yarag is still in shock over being kicked out of House Rau.
4) His two friends are Faucard, his batman halfling from the Guard, and Hegdera Nagel, the sister of his dead friend in the cadets.
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I'm checking in as well. I revised Hintal a bit so that he was more focused on urban adventure.
Friday the 20th seems like a long way off...
As per the thread instructions, here is Hintal's background, available for discussion if anyone is interested.
** spoiler omitted **
Just a couple additional things:
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I'm checking in as well. I revised Hintal a bit so that he was more focused on urban adventure.
Friday the 20th seems like a long way off...
As per the thread instructions, here is Hintal's background, available for discussion if anyone is interested.
** spoiler omitted **
Just a couple additional things:
** spoiler omitted **
Alignment is on the second line, right above intitiative. I can probably set it off a bit so it's more prominent:
Thanks for the extra info, I'll spend some time this weekend expanding on some of his familial background.
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Checking in. Going to work more on background tonight. I'm saving my spell selection until we get a better idea who else might be tossing magic around.
Just a couple of additional details:
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Zilroy's character sheet is in his profile. He's kind of an unlucky schlemiel who's trying to gain some positive notoriety so that his great-grandfather's spirit can be at peace. I don't know if anyone here is Canadian, but I'm thinking a little bit like Louis Del Grande's character from "Seeing Things"; his wife threw him out, he has a "gift" that he never asked for, etc.
Now he's a cleric of Lothian and he's ultimately looking to impress the Knights of the Veil (where his great-grandfather was well-respected before wasting his life on gambling, booze and loose women).
There is no "concentration" skill anymore. Did you mean "spellcraft"?
There is no "concentration" skill anymore. Did you mean "spellcraft"?
No, I was just confused. :-) I changed it to Heal.
Gallows is ready for a look. I opted for the skill point rather than a hit point.
Background, sorry it's really long.
I don't remember too much about my parents, except that I loved them and was happy when I was with them. The good parts are hazy; all I can see clearly is the day they were hung. Davrel, that stern wonderful bastard, dragged me there himself. I had my eyes and my ears covered and I was crying my head off ("crying my head off", attending an execution? Ha ha? Not funny?). I didn't hear their crime when it was read. I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to see. But Davrel pulled my hands from my eyes when the hangman pulled the lever and the floor fell out. When I shut my eyes, he put a hand on my brow and held them open that way. I don't remember much about my parents.
Father Davrel was a lovable sort, huh? He's head of the orphanage in Midtown. Davrel's tough on his charges, always has been. Being raised by a dwarf is bad enough, but a dwarf with a divine mandate to switch you at every opportunity? Tough stuff. I hated him for most of my life for the day my parents hung from the scaffolding and he made me watch. "Gallows child" he called me when he lost patience (which was often) and the other kids took it up. There's nothing a bunch of orphaned and damaged kids want more than another kid to take it out on. But he also saw something in me and he recommended me to squire for one of the paladins working with the guard, a woman named Alessa.
Alessa wasn't bad, at first. We got along okay and she was a lot nicer than Davrel (not hard). She didn't mind if I was a little strange and I did my job well enough. She even called me "Simon", the moniker my loving parents had given me. It was when I was toward the end of my term of service, age 17, that we fell out. We were eating at a tavern near the docks after a raid on a gang of smugglers (she and a few other knights had been called in to handle some undead and evil spellcasters). Squires don't talk unless they're talked to, you know? Especially when other knights are around.
Well, some drunk at the next table was giving my mistress the eye, you know? Making comments. And I'm not supposed to stand for that. It's beneath her to notice, but not beneath mine. So I walk over and tell this drunk to mind his manners, real calm and courteous like I'm supposed to. He tells me to shove it where the sun don't shine, he'll look where he likes. I've done my job, I've got my response. I'm supposed to sit down and be discrete, right? Wait until he asks me outside so it wasn't me causing trouble. But then he says something about me. Then he says something about my parents (keep in mind, I hadn't known what they had done). I didn't wait until he asked me, hell, I didn't wait until we were outside. I socked him right where he sat. Alessa broke up the fight, then chewed me out in front of everyone and took her coat of arms from my tabard. I wasn't a squire any more and I would never be a knight.
From there I took up as a guard at a little chapel in Midtown, on the border with the really bad part of town. They needed someone to watch the collections, make sure no one messed with the priests and congregation. I didn't mind it, but I carried a lot of anger around. I hated everyone and everything and if I had known anything outside of Ptolus, I would have picked up and left. So one night (I was 19, I remember) this real unsavory type swipes something from the alms plate. It was the middle of the sermon, so I couldn't say anything. But I kept in his area for the whole time in case he ran. After the priest was done, I grabbed him and demanded he empty out his pockets. He gave me the song and dance. The priest told me to let him go, that he had seen the whole thing and didn't care. That this guy needed it if he was stealing from the church. I couldn't believe it. So off he went, with a pocket full of stolen money meant to feed poor families and keep the roof from leaking in the chapel.
I couldn't let it go. I just couldn't. I got a sense of him from asking around; a small time thief and thug living in the Warrens. No family to speak of, but a habit for fallen women and booze. One of thousands, I'm sure, knowing Ptolus like I do. I found him one night outside a really crummy looking tavern. I demanded the money back. He spit in my face. We had a little fist fight in the muddy gutter. I was over-confident, assuming that a trained fighter against a scrapper would always win. I didn't know how high the stakes were. I didn't see. He pulled a knife, gave me a few cuts. I gave him some more bruises (I still wasn't mad enough to try and kill him; this was just a few coins after all). Until he got lucky and took my eye out.
I knew enough to stay up, to avoid falling to my knees screaming "my eye! my eye!". He almost got me again, but I avoided it through luck alone. I hit him in the side of the head and he fell. I forgot all about why I was fighting him in the first place. I had to get my eye taken care of. The priest at the chapel wouldn't help me, though. He said I had picked a fight when he told me not to, that I fought for pride and not for Lothian or the people of this chapel. I was furious, because I knew he was right. I thought I knew how the world was, I thought I could block out my eyes and ears and avoid the truth my whole life. That I had failed as a squire, that my parents could have been innocent if I just kept it from myself long enough. Lothian had to show me otherwise. I hadn't been using that eye, so he took it from me.
Before I could have it healed, before I could move on, I had to know. I had to see. So I staggered, bleeding, to the orphanage where I grew up. Davrel was up, of course, handling some paperwork. He was surprised to see me, from his quizzical eyebrow, but his face remained impassive.
"Davrel,"I croaked, panting and shaking (I had lost a lot of blood),"what did my parents do? Why were they killed?"
He considered me a long moment and said, plain as day,"They were Chaos cultists. They worshipped the devils imprisoned below and smuggled resources to other cults."
I passed out.
But in my feverish state, I learned. I saw. Davrel wasn't being cruel, he was trying to make me accept that people can be decent on the surface and still be rotten underneath. He knew that if I grew up thinking that my parents were good people that had been unjustly executed, that if my only memories were fond ones, then I might well fall into the same business they had. Sometimes justice is cold, but it needs witnesses nonetheless. The chip on my shoulder got smaller and I stopped hating the dwarf. My eye had been attended to when I woke. I explained to Davrel what I had learned, what I believed: that Lothian had guided my attacker's hand to blind me and that a wound to the flesh was a boon to the spirit.
"Gallows", he said and shook his head,"Lothian isn't a crime lord or a loan shark. He doesn't mutilate people to send a message."
But I know I'm right. It was after that day that I could feel my god's presence in me. That I could sense foul evil in the hearts of men and monsters and deliver my lord's justice in a swift and powerful strike when I felt their wickedness. Even Davrel couldn't deny it and while the other paladins question my sanity, call me an apostate and a heretic, they don't question my devotion. My parents served Chaos. I will set myself against it and the Knights of the Pale will one day recognize my devotion and invite me into their midst. I am a knight now and I will rise to meet the enemies of my god and my city, every wound a divine insight.
Background almost done. Equipment done.
DM only
Glad you guys like him. I hope he isn't too dark for the game; he probably keeps his heretical views mostly to himself and just disguises it as dark humor when he can. I always feel like people assume paladins have to be boring and flat to work and I wanted to see if I could make one that's more conflicted.
The eye came out of thinking about Catholic saints and the medieval church's love of saints' body parts and relics along with various orders of flagellates and such.
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Background almost done. Equipment done.
DM only
** spoiler omitted **
How about this
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Glad you guys like him. I hope he isn't too dark for the game; he probably keeps his heretical views mostly to himself and just disguises it as dark humor when he can. I always feel like people assume paladins have to be boring and flat to work and I wanted to see if I could make one that's more conflicted.
The eye came out of thinking about Catholic saints and the medieval church's love of saints' body parts and relics along with various orders of flagellates and such.
Good stuff. I'm glad so many of you are interested in the Knights of the Pale and the Keepers of the Veil. They are two of my favorite groups.
Tiger Dave will not be joining us, so we're down to seven, which is a good number. I think we are all just about ready and can start tomorrow night maybe.
I'm going to start the action on a cold evening in Midtown. I'll work with each of you individually on what brings you there. Also, if any of you want to be friends or acquaintances before the game starts, feel free.
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Well, here he is. Finishing touch and Background still missing.
I opted not to have max starting gold, because of my background.One more thing: Don't worry, JollyRoger, I will not be bored, in fact I DMed ** spoiler omitted ** two times wich where toally different and I enjoyd both times! Actually I can't wait to experience it!!!
As for you Shar-Nym
Can you work with that, or am I putting too much pressure on you?
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GM:
Tusker might easily know Nym and/or Gallows... By reputation, if not necessarily in person.
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No, I was just confused. :-) I changed it to Heal.
There is no "concentration" skill anymore. Did you mean "spellcraft"?
Zilroy
Does that work for you?
Zilroy
** spoiler omitted **
Sounds good to me.
As for your spoiler, that's all good. I just wanted you to have the option.Doh! I mean that for Tusker, not Zilroy. Sorry for the confusion.
Got it. Cool.
I imagine Gallows could know almost anyone connected to the church of Lothian, though it's unlikely they would want to associate with him based on his borderline heretical dogma. Beyond that, he could conceivably know anyone that works with the lower class or orphaned children.
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Got it. Cool.As for your spoiler, that's all good. I just wanted you to have the option.Doh! I mean that for Tusker, not Zilroy. Sorry for the confusion.
Tusker,