It was the third day of Karia Marrhdre, the mid summer festival.
Constono Palipe duSuirre (the second son of Prince Gregory and Princess Eloise) had planned a celebration aboard the Durisperia, a shallow draft, twin hulled, redesigned barge that normally lay at anchor in Windswell Bay. The young Constono (Constono is a title, it is given to a noble who serves as a collector of fees or taxes) had invited many of the wealthy and aristocratic families of the city to this celebration, which would also correspond with the nineteenth birthday of his young fiancée Henrietta (Etta) Hezorbo. The guests would be presented with a light buffet of delicacies of the sea, pastries from local bakeries, and the finest wines and aperitifs that are available in the harbor city of Tarredore Aleingerre (which is in the old language of the original people of Geraza, and means, Love’s Night Sky).
And there would be entertainment provided by some of the cities local street musicians, dancers, acrobats and other talented individuals. One hundred guests were invited. In addition to the guests, there would be nine servants of the Constono’s household, seven crew (the ship has a very small crew for its size, as the men and women responsible for the ship have very few duties other than regular maintenance, the sip is a party barge, after all), and eighteen additional “hired” servants, mostly the entertainment but also including two cooks, and three sommeliers to supervise the catering and service of the wine.
The Constono is a young man of thirty four years. He has had, in the past, a notorious reputation for debauchery, but in the last few years has become more settled and responsible. He is handsome, tall, with black hair, that he wears short and “free” as the locals call the curly uncombed look. His fiancée is an attractive red haired girl who is soft spoken, but is rumored to be well read and of a keen intellect.
Most of the guests are close to the same age as the Constono, and in the time between the announcements and the day of the celebration many rumors were circulating that the Constono was going to be throwing one last party to reminisce on his youth before settling down to start a family.
Only one hour after the opening toast (and after a short blessing ceremony performed by a young Gymnagaophthian priestess) for reasons you and everyone else on board were not told, the Costono ordered the ship to be uuntied from the anchored platform in the bay, and the one small, square sail, of the ship set.
The winds were out of the northeast, and the large ship drifted slowly out of the bay on a calm sea (when asked about how the ship would return to the bay, the Constono joked that the barge could be rowed, and that the guests would draw straws to see who would “take the oars” (now it is important to know that “take the oars” has a particularly derogatory meaning among the nobility as it is an expression that was used to describe the period of time in the history of the Republic of Basconde when several noble families were stripped of their titles and pressed into indentured servitude as a result of the failed revolution of 1328 – many of these nobles became galley slaves on the ships of the Cartoza family, under King Joaquin Passeo Cartoza II, and when it is said that a Noble has had to “take the oars” it is said to mean that the noble has lost everything).
Three hours later, with the ship now well beyond sight of the shore, a squall rose out of the east.
There was a general panic aboard the barge, and many of the guests went below the deck while demanding that the Constono return the ship to the harbor immediately. Only moments after this the ship began to break up.
The Durisperia carried two small boats, normally stowed upside down on the forward deck of the barge, but both of the small craft had been used to bring guests to the barge, and had been tied, drifting to the stern of the vessel.
As the Dusperia broke up many of the people on board were thrown into the stormy sea, and some of those, those who could swim, managed to make it to the small crafts and escape the sinking of the Dusperia. However, these survivors were at the mercy of the sea.
One of the crafts, driven by the ocean currents and easterly gale force winds, was washed up on an uncharted island to the east of Maleoria Saint Pirocca (the southern most of three islands off of the southern tip of the Republic of Basconde). The Longitude is somewhere between 165 and 168 degrees east, and the Latitude is somewhere between 38 and 41 degrees north, approximately 200 miles to the southwest of Windswell Bay.
You are one of the castaways
Ability Scores will be determined by Point Buy, 22 points, and no score may be lower than 9, after the application of racial modifiers
Evil Alignments will be allowed (be forewarned at this time in the Republic of Basconde, it is considered Evil to support the overthrow of the King of Eshia – the country to the east, across the sea, from the Republic. The Republic of Bascond occupies three islands each about 1500 square miles in size and the southern tip of very large Island of approximately 75,000 square miles in size that is also the location of the Country of Vologna and the Country of Drasbia)
You are (the player’s choices are):
1) Male or Female
2) Human (Anthandran, or Volognan), or Halfling (Basconde, or Eshian), or Dwarven (Holdandun), or Elven (Drasbian), Half-Elven (Drasbian/Volognan or Drasbian/Anthandran) or a Half-0rc (Beauvingian)
3) Ship’s crew, or Servant (Household or Hired for the party), or Aristocracy
All Bascondes are Halflings, in case that is not clear. Only Anthandrans and Volognans are Humans, although other races live in Basconde they are not considered citizens of Basconde
You may have up to three levels in a combination of PC and NPC classes, but if you have more than two levels one level must be an NPC class level. Classes that are excluded from consideration are Barbarian,Druid Ranger, Sorcerer, Monk, Gunslinger
You have no gear Your clothing is suitable for the environment, for now
You have suffered a loss of 1d6 hit points
You may have one Trait
There are three NPC survivors
Henrietta (Etta) Hezorbo, the fiancée of the Constono
Tessrimea Niessomat, the gymnagaopthian priestess (she is a second level cleric of Nerimexetas, a sea goddess, aligned toward good, with lawful tendencies)
Mario Burammi, a Halfling (Eshian), a sommelier
There can be as many as 8 castaways, and should there be more applicants than 8 (doubtful) a selection process will be established
Rules will be derived, mostly, from the Pathfinder Core Rules as found in the PRD, but expect deviations that may be made to facilitate the story as it is presented here in a public forum environment (mostly this means that any combat will be abstracted a bit).
Not only does the setup look intriguing, but the level of detail here hints at an awesome homebrew.
And ofc, playing in a game without it eating up precious Adventure Path I havnt played yet is a bonus (not alot of homebrew recruitments from what ive seen)
Do you have any maps of the area to help us get a better understanding of the region? Considering playing a ninja who was pretending to be a servant to try and kill someone on the ship.
This sounds amazing. I'm thinking of rolling up a halfling bard that was hired on as entertainment. I'll try to put the crunch together by tomorrow. What level do we start at?
Maps, that's a sore subject. I wish I could make beautiful computer generated maps for everyone of the world of Hamth, but I can't. I'm not talented in that way. I do have a lot of hand drawn maps of my campaign world, and maybe I can find a way to put them on a DeviantArt account or something. And of course, I wouldn't be showing you a map of the island, that would be sort of defeating the purpose of being a castaway and all.
The starting level is mentioned in the post up there, isn't it?
I'd be interested. My initial thought is a 2nd level fighter onboard as an honor guard (so much for light duty :). I'll flesh him out and put something up tomorrow if that works.
I was thinking of a fighter/expert. I want to be skills-y, but don't think I want to actually go rogue or bard. I had given consideration to wizard, but don't think I'd want to be a wizard without my spellbook.
If I did a wizard I might feel too compelled to try to get gamebreaky. I find martial characters more fun. But maybe like a scholarly warrior would be really cool.
Never played PF nor PBP but have been trying to do both for a while... So, meet Alkahaya, a friendly half-orc sailor, caught in the middle of the storm
The stats:
Alkahaya, Chaotic Neutral Male Half-Orc / Fighter 1 / Commoner 1 / Warrior 1
STR 17, DEX 15, CON 14, INT 12, WIS 10, CHA 11
HP:30
Fort +7, Ref +2, Will +0;
Init +2 (+2 Dex, +0 Misc);
AC 12 (touch 12, flatfooted 10)
You say it is presently considered Evil to support a certain geopolitical goal. I'm not saying I'm going to take the bait, but hypothetically: In this case, does this mean that PCs with that aim will be considered objectively more Evil by the DM, or just that the people around us won't like us? I repeat: I'm not necessarily saying I support "Operation: Eshia Freedom" or whatever.
I don't play Chaotic Neutral, but I'm not a fan of it because everyone uses it as the "I can be totally crazy and do whatever the *CENSORED* I want 'cuz I'm chaotic neutral... duuuude, I'm just playin' my character bro!"
I'm still pondering the details, but I'll be aiming for some kind of male Elf (probably CG, particularly if I can't be CN) with 1 level of Aristocrat and 2 of some magical or paranormal class of a sort one couldn't be in Organized Play - if too many other people start talking about Witches/Sorcerers/Wizards, for example, I'll obligingly move into some weirder territory, perhaps Psion, perhaps an updated Tome of Magic Shadowcaster, with DM's permission. I might like to chat a little about altering these classes in small, non-power-hungry ways from how they've been written.
Character personality might be rather Daria-ish, if you know what I mean.
DetectiveKatana wrote:
I don't play Chaotic Neutral, but I'm not a fan of it because everyone uses it as the "I can be totally crazy and do whatever the *CENSORED* I want 'cuz I'm chaotic neutral... duuuude, I'm just playin' my character bro!"
My judgement of people who play CN that way is that they don't truly understand the alignment. I think you're talking about the people who consider themselves Chaotic-aligned, but really aren't, know what I mean? If you don't mind my saying so, this setting sounds like a great "Jack Sparrow" environment.
Barely-Relevant Personal Note: I've pondered at times developing a campaign world based with some modifications on Might & Magic III in which the only banned alignment would be LN, the thinking being that, at least in that setting, it is the alignment characteristic of soldiers, slaves, and peasants, not the sort of people who would or could become adventurers.
Tossing up my offer for consideration here. Changes will be made if campaign-related things pop up that would require it.
Caderre Morosini:
Caderre Morosini
Male Human Aristocrat 2 Bard 1
N Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +7
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 10 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 18 (3d8)
Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +6
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Special Attacks bardic performance (standard action) (6 rounds/day, bardic performance: countersong, bardic performance: distraction, bardic performance: fascinate (1 targets) (dc 12), bardic performance: inspire courage +1
Bard Spells Known (CL 1):
1 (2/day) Grease (DC 13), Charm Person (DC 13)
0 (at will) Prestidigitation (DC 12), Detect Magic, Mending, Dancing Lights
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 14
Base Atk +1; CMB +1; CMD 15
Feats Combat Reflexes (4 AoO/round), Dodge, Weapon Finesse
Traits Resilient
Skills Acrobatics +8, Bluff +8, Diplomacy +8, Escape Artist +7, Knowledge (geography) +4, Knowledge (history) +10, Knowledge (local) +8, Knowledge (nobility) +10, Linguistics +7, Perception +7, Ride +7, Sense Motive +7, Stealth +8, Use Magic Device +7
Languages Common
SQ bardic knowledge
Other Gear You have no money!
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Bardic Knowledge +1 (Ex) Add +1 to all knowledge skill checks.
Bardic Performance (standard action) (6 rounds/day) Your performances can create magical effects.
Bardic Performance: Countersong (Su) Counter magical effects that depend on sound.
Bardic Performance: Distraction (Su) Counter magical effects that depend on sight.
Bardic Performance: Fascinate (1 targets) (DC 12) (Su) One or more creatures becomes fascinated with you.
Bardic Performance: Inspire Courage +1 (Su) Morale bonus on some saving throws, attack and damage rolls.
Combat Reflexes (4 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
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How are hit points per level determined or rolled?
Also: May I request a minor alteration to the ability score rules, either that the minimum permitted ability score be lowered to 8 or our points be increased to 24 (which is the other number you said you were considering)? I ask primarily because, having experimented some with ability score calculation, either change (or both) would make character design easier and more even. If nothing else, odd-numbered ability scores, particularly if permanently that way, make me kind of...itchy, you know?
*grimace* I'm not terribly lucky with random ability rolls (I swear by every god, I rolled a '3' once). Could we mollify it somehow? There are many ways to do that.
I've had thoughts about methods that combined random rolling with point buy. One model would be:
First roll 6 3d6s (yes, just 3d6), reroll all 1s (so the lowest possible roll that would stick would be '6'), and once that's settled, you get 10 points you may add to those results, following normal point buy rules, and may reduce any score of 10 or above by up to 2 for the appropriate points back (i.e. lowering an 11 to 10 gets you 1 point, lowering a 17 to 16 gets you 3 points, lowering a 10 to 8 gets you 2 points, lowering a 16 to 14 gets you 5 points). For instance:
6 rolls of 3d6, all 1s rerolled. Results:
13
13
13
8
11
14
On top of that, we have 10 points to spend. Results:
I normally actually prefer straight point buy, but I'll go with whatever the GM decides. Would you like us to roll in-forum when you actually start recruiting?
If nothing else, some 'safety valves' I've seen more than once in random-roll games are: rerolling of all 1s and possibly also 2s (so lowest roll permissible would be 6 or 9); roll 3 glued-together sets of 6, pick your favorite of the 3; guarantee at least one 16 or higher or total combined modifier of something like +7 or more (in which case a 14/14/14/10/10/14 array would pass unless you were also using the 'guaranteed 16+' rule, and an 18/8/10/6/18/14/10 would pass without question, but a 14/10/10/10/14/12 would not pass, nor would a 6/18/6/16/16/8).
I was about to post interest. However, seeing that it will be random roll turns me off quite a bit of it. I prefer all players to be playing on the same power level than someone getting incredibly lucky with the dice and having stats that might far outstrip basically everyone else there.
What if someone rolls a 17 and a pair of 16s and another person rolls no higher than a 15. How is that fair? If you really desire random rolling, the only one that I've really liked is the Focus/Foible system from Way of the Wicked- 18 in 1 stat, 8 in another, 1d10+7 for the rest.
If you really desire random rolling, the only one that I've really liked is the Focus/Foible system from Way of the Wicked- 18 in 1 stat, 8 in another, 1d10+7 for the rest.
Never heard of that one, but I like it. May I suggest changing it to 2d6+6? Given that he was initially talking about point-buy with 22 or 24 points, it sounds like we're leaning toward a slightly higher-powered game anyways.
What do you think of my combined random-roll/point-buy method, Berenzen? Ameliorate your concerns any?
I don't understand why there is a need for it to be "fair"? Success is not predicated on high ability scores but on the choices you make and the roll of dice.
I don't understand why there is a need for it to be "fair"? Success is not predicated on high ability scores but on the choices you make and the roll of dice.
Nonetheless, it's nice to make certain nobody gets stuck with ability scores that blow chunks - especially when you started by saying 22 or 24 point-buy. I'm not as bothered by random rolling as Berenzen evidently is, but I would like at least one or two of the 'safety valves' I mentioned if it is done randomly; alternatively, I must say I like the method he suggested.
Even though we start with no equipment, Wizards, Alchemists, and other mages who depend on grimoires, component pouches, alchemy kits and the like won't be denied them, will they? That would be BAD....
Hang on, I don't think we've settled on a method...
...otherwise, I DID just try randomly rolling a suite as you suggested above (2 5d6 drop 2, 4 4d6 drop 1). I used the old dice-rolling program Wizards of the Coast used to offer for download on their site (maybe they still do, I don't know). My results were:
(6,3,5,5, drop 3)=16
(6,6,5,5, drop 5)=17
(1,6,4,3, drop 1)=13
(1,1,5,4, drop 1)=10
(5,6,6,6,6, drop 5 and 6)=18
(3,3,4,2,6, drop 2 and 3)=13
Better than I normally do, I must say. I swear these are the actual, unfudged numbers I got when I tried randomly rolling just before I posted this. Would they potentially be acceptable?
I am seriously considering banning the chaotic neutral alignment
Is that in reaction to my char post? I thought it was perfectly appropriate for a half-orc that learned that he has to fend for himself and that no-one is ever going to help him out of sheer goodness.
I’m going to keep thinking about ability scores, reviewing the suggestions, and try to come to a final decision about what will work best for this adventure, hopefully, today.
Meanwhile,
Let me try to clarify the “Evil” thing.
As a Dungeon master I will most likely consider your character to be “Evil” if your character demonstrates a lack of respect for life, or a lack of compassion, and unless it has a direct affect on how certain rules are interpreted, I will probably not make an issue out of it (though I personally do not like running games for players who want to play characters who lack compassion or have a disregard for the value of life).
As far as the setting is concerned, it can be a bit more complicated.
Several Years ago, the Halfling population of the mainland (the land was referred to as Eshia, and the people who settled there, from Basconde, began to call themselves Eshians) began to demand economic freedom from the strangling taxes and tariffs imposed upon them by the nobility of the Republic of Basconde. A sort of civil war broke out between the Eshians and the Bascondes, and it seemed, from the very beginning, that the Republic would put down this revolution with ease, but a powerful human nation far away to the west, called the United Kingdoms of Anthandra (more formally the United Kingdoms of Anthandra, Liegridan, Holdandun, and Goralda) entered the war on the side of the Eshian people. The naval power of the Anthandrans, and the blockade of important ports in both Eshia and in Basconde, ended the war with practically no bloodshed.
That war is commonly referred to as the “War of Eshian Independence”.
Since that war, agents of the Republic of Basconde have attempted no less than three counter revolutions. All have failed. Most of the weakened nobility of Basconde support the independent country of Eshia, and Eshia, a constitutional monarchy, has tried to maintain a cordial and friendly diplomatic trade relationship with the now significantly reduced in power and size Republic (Anthandra maintains a presence in Eshia, almost certainly keeping anyone from supporting those interest in Basconde from attempting a full scale overthrow of the Eshian Government). But, there are still nobles of Basconde who are openly hostile toward the country of Eshia and will speak of counter revolution with impunity.
So, to be a person who lives in Basconde and supports the position that Eshia should not be an independent country and that it is right for Basconde to plan and carry out counter revolutionary tactics against the government of Eshia, is considered, by most citizens of both Eshia and Baconde as “Evil” or “Bad”.
Finding out that a noble family is supporting financially or otherwise counter revolutionary movements, could put a person in a difficult position, if they live in Basconde. You might want to expose the nobles, bring what you’ve learned to public attention, but in all honesty, it is difficult to tell exactly what any common Basconde really believes on the matter and what you think is a friend could very easily turn out to be an enemy.
Also, as a cultural tip, Eshians tend to treat Bascondes with a mild sort of racial prejudice (referring to the nobility of Basconde with a variation of the pronunciation of their nationality with a long “Z” sound at the end, thus saying, Bascondez when referring to them).
There are some subtle differences between Eshain Halflings and Basconde Halflings (and between common Basconde Halflings and Basconde nobility). I won’t go into it here, unless there is an expressed interest.
I am seriously considering banning the chaotic neutral alignment
Is that in reaction to my char post? I thought it was perfectly appropriate for a half-orc that learned that he has to fend for himself and that no-one is ever going to help him out of sheer goodness.
yes, sort of, but please, I mean no offense.
You see, I tend to see a lot of CN alignments in these forums.
Now, first of all, it is mostly my fault for trying to run PbP games here set in my own campaign world setting, because, hey, it is always going to be easier to let people create characters based upon what is written about Golarion, right?
So, let me explain this, if you are interested. That country over there, across the sea, called Eshia, well Eshia is the west coast of a huge continent called Emalia. Emalia is ruled (mostly) by the Beauvingian Empire. Emalia, Eysturlun, Anthandra, these are all places on the world of Hamth. I’ve been running games on Hamth for 36 or 37 years. There are, technically speaking, no Half-Elves or Half-orcs on Hamth (I’ve, not, ever, in my table top games allowed characters who are traditional “D&D” “Half-elves” or “Half-orcs”). Instead, if you, as a player, want to use the rules for Half-Elves you play a Drasbian or an Elf from the “Three Rivers Region” of Goralda (the Drasbians are modeled after the people of Highland Scotland, 17th century, and Elves of the Three Rivers are modeled, very loosly, after Native Americans, both are fair skinned Elves – the “true” elves of Hamth, the Tradians, are green skinned, and not much taller than dwarves). And if you want to use the rules for half-orcs, you play a Beauvingian.
Beauvingians, people of the Beauvingian Empire of Emalia, are physically imposing, tall and strong, with mottled grey-green skin color, mostly black and dark brown hair, with pronounced receding hairlines, and oversized lower canine teeth, which often protrude from their mouths. They tend to be over confident, aggressive, and demanding of respect (as the Beauvingian Empire is the oldest continuous empire in the world, according to the Beauvingians). Beauvingians are not socially “outcasts” anywhere in the world, and are often treated with respect. In fact there is a subset of the Beauvingian people, called Zavarians, who are quiet beautiful, and have more solid skin colors of dark green or dark grey, and are not mottled, have thicker, silkier hair, and beautiful sky blue or emerald green eyes.
So, in this setting, there is not any reason for a “half-orc” (a Beauvingian) to be chaotic neutral, by default (though a character could be CN, if the player really felt it was important to the character’s existence).
There are barbaric, and even underdark dwelling, Beauvingian-like people, and they are, culturally, called “Orcs” and are the monster type “Orc” from the bestiary.
And to some people of Anthandra, Beauvingians are sometimes called “Half-orcs” (because there are monsterous “Orcs” in Anthandra, and very few civilized Beauvingians) not because they are “Half” blood, but because the term is used in a derogatory way (expressing the Anthandrans opinion that the haughty and arrogant Beauvingians are related to the orcs in some way).
Also, for anyone who is interested. On Hamth, most intelligent races are collectively known as “Panura”. You are Panura, if you can communicate with another race, and your race does not eat other intelligent races. So, Elves, Halflings, Beauvingians, Dwarves, Lyphs, Eysturluns, and many other races are Panura, whereas, orcs, goblins(Yraduluns), and Dragons, are not Panura.
I could get on a soapbox when it comes to talking about ability scores.
I think far too much emphasis is placed on them. You should know (but if you don’t, well, meh) that I started playing Dungeons and Dragons when your ability scores were used to paint a picture of what your character was like, and hardly affected actual game play at all. Now, I understand how important they are to most players, but let me say this. Sometimes it sounds, to me, like emphasis on ability scores really comes down to a subtle power play on some player’s parts who think that there is an aspect to this game (and I know in some games there is, but again, not in my games) that involves player versus player competition. I despise player versus player competition (I have no problem with character versus character competition, so I hope everyone understands the distinction).
And, let’s say, for a moment, that some players have great ability scores and some do not, it is my opinion that this would create a very interesting dynamic in this scenario where survival of the group becomes dependent on the limitations of some and the compassion of others.
I once played a game that had you roll a 1d8 and than add it to 10. though survivability was very low in the game, and the requirement to get into classes you wanted was incredibly stringent
Ha! That totally makes sense now, I'll be happy under these circumstances to change my alignment - a bit of background helps a lot!
So if you decide to let me in the group, I guess I'll change Alkahaya's background and make him NG.
And, let’s say, for a moment, that some players have great ability scores and some do not, it is my opinion that this would create a very interesting dynamic in this scenario where survival of the group becomes dependent on the limitations of some and the compassion of others.
I would just like to say that I disagree with you on how interesting that makes things. However, a few very specific problems can come up with randomly generated stats and most of them are due to power fluctuations in the group.
The first, and biggest one though, is character concept. Within a point buy you can focus you character's attribute points to match what you're imagining. With dice rolls, you kind of have to decide what concept you want to play after you see what numbers you're working with.
The second is power discrepancy in the group. And not because of player vs. player competition, but because of contribution. Assuming, hypothetically, that we had one person who rolled 18s and 16s all day, while the rest of the part averaged 11s with maybe a 14 (Just enough to not be textbook useless), then you've got one guy who towers over all of the others. You might can specialize your skills and such to still be useful in some situations sometimes, but there can be a lot of cases where you're like "Well, no sense in us bystanders stressing out, let's go get the hero."
Dependence on a single character (Or maybe a pair of them) may make for a fun read in literature, but man is it annoying when you're playing the guy who's dependent.
So let me see if I understand you, am I am probably misinterpreting what you are writing, but are you saying that you think it is “annoying” when weaker individuals come to depend on stronger individuals for their survival?
And as far as character creation choices being limited by not being able to custom build your ability scores to suit the concept you have in mind, yes, I agree that that is true. However, I play a different game than you do, and therefore I do not see this limitation as problematic.
I think it is annoying, in a game, if I don't feel like I have a place where I can shine. Think about it in terms of classic fictional party roles. There's usually the strong guy, the smart guy, a jack of all trades, a face, and so on. Now, I can play clever and crafty and make myself useful even if I end up with an INT and WIS of 9, but then I'm not really playing the character that's on my sheet.
Like I said, that's an extreme case and I think I'd be really happy to play in this game in any case. I just figured I'd present the game from a perspective that is different than the "But what if I have to fight my party member? He'll be more powerful than me!" attitude that I have seen in the past.
This is great. Even if I don't get picked, I might just read what will be going on on this PbP. The Mediterranean Renaissance setting is beautifully drawn and happens to be a favourite of mine.
Anyway, I'll go with an Aristocrat 2 / Wizard 1 or viceversa. He'll be a noble, either Human Volognan or (much more likely) Basconde halfling. He'll be good-natured although a bit odd, more interested in arts and crafting than politics and business. His family is important, yes, but most people think he was invited on the Durisperia as a joke, so that the Constono would have someone high-born to mock and whisper about with his young fiancee and his other peers.
My PC doesn't mind though. He went with the flow, and albeit a bit taken aback, he's seeing a fun side in this "shipwreck for fun" thing that the Constono did.
So, all this back and forth has me a bit confused: are we going with rolling for ability scores as opposed to the original 22 point buy? I don't feel particularly strongly one way or the other, but if we are going with rolls, I just want to fix up my application for it.
It is bothersome that suggesting rolls turns potentially good players away, but let's go with the two 5d6 rolls, drop two, and four 4d6 rolls, drop 1, method, and see if there is enough interest. I really hope to have at least seven castaways, you know, for good luck.
I think it is annoying, in a game, if I don't feel like I have a place where I can shine. Think about it in terms of classic fictional party roles. There's usually the strong guy, the smart guy, a jack of all trades, a face, and so on. Now, I can play clever and crafty and make myself useful even if I end up with an INT and WIS of 9, but then I'm not really playing the character that's on my sheet.
Like I said, that's an extreme case and I think I'd be really happy to play in this game in any case. I just figured I'd present the game from a perspective that is different than the "But what if I have to fight my party member? He'll be more powerful than me!" attitude that I have seen in the past.
I see that that is a valid point. For this adventure, it is probably not that important. I try to give every player an opportunity for their character to "shine" one way or another
I think far too much emphasis is placed on them. You should know (but if you don’t, well, meh) that I started playing Dungeons and Dragons when your ability scores were used to paint a picture of what your character was like, and hardly affected actual game play at all.
Except mechanically, they do. Ability scores affect basically everything, particularly at low-level. They affect your skills modifiers and how many skill points you get, they affect how accurate you are when attacking, and how much damage you do. They affect your class features, and how much of a beating you can take. Ability scores are ingrained right at the core of your effectiveness, particularly if you are a fighty dude.
Terquem wrote:
And, let’s say, for a moment, that some players have great ability scores and some do not, it is my opinion that this would create a very interesting dynamic in this scenario where survival of the group becomes dependent on the limitations of some and the compassion of others.
Except it doesn't. Nobody wants to be the dude that runs to everyone to ask them to do something for him because he can't do it. An adventuring party should be a group that each fulfills a particular niche so they're strong at one set of things, and not as good at others. If everyone else has decent scores and one dude that has mediocre skills, that last dude is just a liability when it comes to any sort of contested rolls, and it doesn't provide any sort of interesting dynamic.
You want to put in that dynamic- make it an NPC, don't put a player in that 'role'.
