Gaugeing interest in a weekly D&D 3.5 campaign on Saturday's or Sunday's.

[thrylax]

I tried posting a couple weeks ago for a D&D game I was going to run on Sunday's at 2pm EDT but I did not get much response. I only had one interested person for a game that needed six slots. I guess that my timing was bad, at least I hope that was the only reason.
I would really love to get a campaign going over Fantasy Grounds however, I am therefore going to give it another shot and post now that I am looking for 6 players for a lower-powered D&D 3.5 campaign that I plan to run weekly on some yet to be determined weekend day. I am only off on weekends and would prefer to run the game up to no later than 6pm EDT.
So I am asking any person interested, to post here and give me an idea of what day's/time's would be best. Bearing in mind my previously listed time restrictions.
If I can get at least 4 people that want to play during a particular time slot, I will run a weekly campaign on that day and time.
I already have a couple of 1st level adventure modules that I've converted for use in FG2 and am ready to go. Just need players to get it going.
So post here if your would like to play in a weekend campaign, and don't mind a low-powered D&D 3.5 style with role-playing as its central focus.

CAMPAIGN DETAILS:
This thread has gotten a good deal of attention, so I'm gonna go ahead and post what I think is a good start date/time for the first session and see where it goes.

License: Full License (players must own at least a FG2 Lite License to play)
Game System: D&D v3.5

Time Zone: Eastern Time Zone, USA

Game Time: Sundays from 12pm noon (-5 UTC) till no later than 4pm (-5 UTC)
Start Date: Sunday, August 4th
Planned Frequency: Weekly or Bi-weekly (Sunday's at 12pm noon).
Term: Hopefully a full campaign that goes from 1st level till the party is dead.

Text or Voice: Text Only (I find that text only tends to make for better role-play in the few FG2 games I've played in)

Roleplay & Combat Mix: 50/50 (hopefully 75/25, but depends on the players)
Number of Players in Game: 3 to 5 other players (already have 1 confirmed player, so it'll be 4 to 6 total)
Character Starting Level & Equipment: Standard 1st level starting equipment.
Character Restrictions: As discussed previously in this thread.

Scenario Details: Eliador, a town under siege. Legions of undead assault the small hamlet when twilight falls. A frightened child pleads for help to rescue his family and the remaining citizens. Can your stalwart party of adventurers discover the secret behind the attacks and survive the Nightfall in Eliador?

Link to Gamecalendar Page: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calen...ex.xcp?id=1047

[MikeParham]

Please tell more about your plans for the game. Books allowed, will there be voice chat as an option? I'm looking for a good weekend game focused strongly on roleplay, but too old to worry about trying to keep up via typing.

[thrylax]

My campaign is a homebrew world that I have been DM'ing since the late 80's. It currently operates under a slightly modified D&D 3.5 rules. It is a gritty style fantasy setting with a lower level of magic then what most would be used to. The only allowed books are the core rules PHB, DMG and MM.

The key changes to the rules involve hit points and how much damage a character can withstand before their wounds have an impact on them. I am using the Wound Point System from 3.5 Unearthed Arcana. In short, low level characters can take a bit more abuse, but high level characters cannot take nearly as much as before.

Everything from the core rules are available to play, but bear in mind that while wizards exist, they are extremely rare and most people are in fear or awe of them.
Elves too are extremely rare and despised by most humans. Elves traveling in company of other races usually do so using magical disguises to hide their heritage.

The campaign does have a lot of combat, but the focus is still on role-playing. Which is why I ask that people wishing to join submit to me actual characters rather than just a collection of stats.

I find that I usually get better role-playing from people when using text only, therefore I will not be using voice-chat, at least not at first.

I only have a Full License, so people wishing to join must have at least a Lite License in order to play.

[Dr_Babylon]

If you end up with a Sunday afternoon (Eastern) schedule, I would like to play a part in this campaign. Beginning at 2:00 pm (or so) would be acceptable. Your intended focus on characters over combat has my attention and I maintain a similar preference for the more immersive aspects of text communication. At the risk of presenting myself as melodramatic, I typically take the most enjoyment out of social interaction and character growth in my gaming these days.

Should you have a place for me, I think that I can most likely concoct a concept complete with backstory, motivation, and personality. It goes without saying that additional details regarding your setting would be very welcome but I am in no hurry.

Here's hoping a few more like-minded individuals sign on for what you have in mind.


Dr Babylon

[Mgrancey]

Sounds kinda interesting, and Sunday afternoons are open, I'm not sure about limited options for characters. The core books do have a good solid basic setting, but are kinda lacking beyond that. Not necessarily trying to be outrageous or anything, but I prefer polearms, especially the halberd, for fighters and core is pretty light on those. Also been aching to play a soulknife, which is psionics.

[thrylax]

The halberd is listed in the PHB. But unfortunately I don't use psionics at all. I may make an exception if I ever decide to run an underdark themed campaign, but the campaign I have going now will not be going there.

As for the limited character choices, I think that one may just need to broaden their horizons about what "character" means. Most people think that when they say "I wanna play a drow shadow-caster" for example, that is their character. I don't think thats a character, thats a build, which is not the same thing.

A character is someone that has an interesting back-story and personality regardless of race/class combo. For example, how about a sullen and withdrawn paladin who draws his courage from a severe case of survivors guilt and is constantly seeking to place himself in danger in order to hasten his own demise. Or a wizard who while spending late night studying his spellbooks, always liked to drain countless cups of wine, and has now developed a drinking problem. These are just basic concepts that I've come up with while sitting here typing this. If I put some more thought into it, I'm sure I could get even better ideas.
Anyway, my point being that a broad choice of race/class combos don't make for an interesting character. I would hope that players in my campaign would be able to come up with unique and interesting characters even if they were limited to only human fighters. I am nowhere near that limiting.

If I can get at least 4 interested people, preferably 6 people, then I will post the player's guide for my campaign which is in .pdf form.

When I posted that I was looking for player's a couple weeks ago, I put down that Sunday's at 2pm EDT was my desired time to play. I did not get any interested players then so I assumed that it was because of the time restrictions.

As for now, my time restrictions are that I can only run games on a weekend, preferably in the afternoon EDT and I must stop by 6pm EDT. So Sunday's are still best for me as well.

[The Overlord]

The halberd is listed in the PHB. But unfortunately I don't use psionics at all. I may make an exception if I ever decide to run an underdark themed campaign, but the campaign I have going now will not be going there.

As for the limited character choices, I think that one may just need to broaden their horizons about what "character" means. Most people think that when they say "I wanna play a drow shadow-caster" for example, that is their character. I don't think thats a character, thats a build, which is not the same thing.

A character is someone that has an interesting back-story and personality regardless of race/class combo. For example, how about a sullen and withdrawn paladin who draws his courage from a severe case of survivors guilt and is constantly seeking to place himself in danger in order to hasten his own demise. Or a wizard who while spending late night studying his spellbooks, always liked to drain countless cups of wine, and has now developed a drinking problem. These are just basic concepts that I've come up with while sitting here typing this. If I put some more thought into it, I'm sure I could get even better ideas.
Anyway, my point being that a broad choice of race/class combos don't make for an interesting character. I would hope that players in my campaign would be able to come up with unique and interesting characters even if they were limited to only human fighters. I am nowhere near that limiting.

If I can get at least 4 interested people, preferably 6 people, then I will post the player's guide for my campaign which is in .pdf form.

When I posted that I was looking for player's a couple weeks ago, I put down that Sunday's at 2pm EDT was my desired time to play. I did not get any interested players then so I assumed that it was because of the time restrictions.

As for now, my time restrictions are that I can only run games on a weekend, preferably in the afternoon EDT and I must stop by 6pm EDT. So Sunday's are still best for me as well.

I also have an affinity for halberdiers, and a straight up fighter is no problem for me. Sign me up! :D

[Dr_Babylon]

I have tentative interest in playing a halfling rogue (classic, I know) with additional character details to follow.

[JohnD]

... I think that one may just need to broaden their horizons about what "character" means. Most people think that when they say "I wanna play a drow shadow-caster" for example, that is their character. I don't think thats a character, thats a build, which is not the same thing.

A character is someone that has an interesting back-story and personality regardless of race/class combo.

...

Anyway, my point being that a broad choice of race/class combos don't make for an interesting character. I would hope that players in my campaign would be able to come up with unique and interesting characters even if they were limited to only human fighters.

Well said.

[Mgrancey]

For me, build and character are connected as they would influence each other. As far as starting goes, well summer isn't usually a good time as people are going on vacations and other similar things.

Having tons of options isn't critical for me, though it is nice, a good setting and a good group is more important. Right now, Sunday afternoon is only open spot for me, so if decide other times I wouldn't be able to be involved unless real late Sat.

So far setting sounds tantalizing, though more would be nice.

[Amarandir]

I really like the emphasis of roleplay that you have set up for your campaign. I will be purchasing the license on Friday when I get paid and Sunday is the perfect day to play. I've just recently discovered FG and have been looking for a game to persuade me to buy.

Obviously, I'm new to to the use of Fantasy Grounds so if you would let me know how to submit my character then I would get on that ASAP. Just typing this I feel like I would enjoy playing a Ranger. However, I would love to have some information on your world and the races in it, going off of the above wizard and elf tidbits, so I can make a proper choice for race/class and backstory.

[Dr_Babylon]

I must admit the taboo element catches my eye. You say Elves are often given a raw deal? I start thinking about interesting options on a pointy-eared renegade (keep off the grass? Lets play soccer!).
My experience with spell casters in FG is pretty limited so I don't think I'll go there.

[Mgrancey]

If you are buying at least a Full license, you can create a character using the Character manager, where you can export your character as an xml file and send to him or when you connect to his campaign you can select it from your unassigned local characters.

Since elves are reviled, how are half-breed races, like half-elves or half-orcs?

[Amarandir]

Thanks Mgrancy. I've been reading the guides and its been helpful too. Just to make sure I understand, I would create the characters stats and backstory to send to a GM beforehand as an xml file for verification or he would view it after I had connected to the GMs host? Sorry if I ask a million questions. I'd just rather do something right the first time. :)

On a lore point. How are Dwarves treated in this game?

[Mgrancey]

Correct, PFS characters are constantly upload and exported from FG for being run by different GMs.

As far as I know (been awhile since I tried demo), you can play around with the demo version of FG but you would have to start a game then make a character while GM, the thing is you can't export or save your character as far as I know.

With the Lite (Player only) you can make a character under the Character Manager, which when you open up the character selection you would need to hit the upload button at the bottom (looks like a tray with an arrow pointing up) which opens your local characters, once you pick and load him he is removed from your local characters and becomes a server character, though you can look at him under character manager you can't alter him.

As you mentioned playing a Ranger, you would specifically need to make two characters really, one your Ranger and the second your animal companion, currently no one has created an animal/summon/etc tab that can handle a token and stats.
Hmmmmm.

[thrylax]

Seems like I'm getting far more attention from this post than I did for my previous.

Sunday's around 2pm EDT (-4 UTC) are looking best for me at the moment. Like I said, if I can get at least 4 interested people and a max of 6, then I will run a hopefully weekely game every Sunday, with bi-weekly at a minimum if the other players would rather that instead.

Some things to bear in mind if you decide to play in this campaign. It is a homebrew campaign that has been going on since the late 80's called the World of Enrdorth. More details about the campaign will be forthcoming, but some things to bear in mind are as follows.

Magic exists, but is more rare than one would be used to in a standard fantasy campaign. Player's are allowed to play an arcane caster if they so wish, though expect most (but not all) NPC's to be in awe and/or fear of your powers. This can be both a blessing and a curse depending on where you are the the circumstances of the encounter.

Elves also exist, but most humans live in fear of elves largely because they were responsible for the destruction of the Empire of Aldariah over a thousand years before. After the destruction of Aldariah, the elves retreated north into the Great Forest of Vyalliah supposedly never to be seen again (or so most believe).
Elves that travel in human lands are usually given Glamourstones so that they may magically disguise themselves as humans so that they may travel unmolested. Elves usually have an alternate human identity that they use when not in their homeland.
Elves that travel away from Vyalliah are usually on missions for their homeland that involve uncovering magical knowledge lost to humans since the destruction of Aldariah in order to keep humans from relearning the knowledge they had lost. The elves also like to keep tabs on any human arcane caster who could grow too powerful and eventually threaten the people of Vyalliah. If a wizard/sorcerer is what the elves would deem as dangerous, they will on rare occasions send out groups of arcane assassins to deal with the threat once and for all.
Like wizards, players are allowed to play elves as characters, though they will usually remain in disguise (even among their non-elven companions) at least until they know that their companions can be trusted with their true identity.

All characters should also note, but warrior types specifically, that the setting makes use of the wound point system from the v3.5 Unearthed Arcana which gives combat a much more gritty feel than the regular hit point system does. In general, lower-level characters will be more powerful, but high level characters will be much less powerful.

The life of an adventurer is deadly and you can be sure that your character will break some bones from time to time or be beaten near to deaths door on occasion. Unless you have a cleric in the party healing from battle is an undertaking that you "may" not recover from with only a single 8 hour rest. For this reason, there is usually a LOT of down-time between adventures in this campaign, so I encourage players to have some sort of "day-job" that their characters can be assumed to be performing when their not plundering tombs for gold or selling their sword arm to the fat merchant across the way.
In my last tabletop campaign, down-time of six months (in game time) or more was not uncommon between adventures. This style of play also neatly does away with a pet peeve of mine, which is the issue of "yesterday I was 1st level novice and now, 24 hours later, I'm a 15th level master of the arcane and leader of my order.....yay!"

The rules for masterwork items and magical items have been greatly enhanced largely due to the fact that permanent magical items of any type are extremely RARE. Don't expect to get a new magic item after every adventure. Although I'm not against giving out magic items earlier if it makes sense to do so. Also, magic shops of any type simply do not exist in this setting. To help compensate for this, magic items are slightly more powerful then they would be in a typical D&D campaign.
Magic Item Creation Feats are also heavily restricted and a character will only ever receive the knowledge to craft their own magic items as a reward for a major quest, and even then only at higher levels. Crafting magic items not only requires a lot of gold to create, but also major magical components known as power components. Just finding out what sort of power component is required to create a particular magic item will usually require a quest, to say nothing of getting the component itself once you do know what your looking for.

Anyway, if your OK with this style of play, then please post below and let me know. If your not thats OK too. I completely understand that this style of play is not for everyone.

After I get enough interest posts, I will post a link here for the Game Calender and post a player's guide for those who are interested.

[Amarandir]

Thanks again Mcgrancy and thanks for the information on the world thyrlax. If playing a ranger is difficult in terms of the software then I would definitely give another class a go. Rogue is always an option. :)

[thrylax]

Half-elves are extremely rare, largely due to the fact that "most" elves would never dream of compromising their people by mating with a non-elf. For this reason half-elves will "almost" certainly be raised by their elven parent as an elf given the feelings most humans have toward elves. But the opposite, while unheard of, is not impossible.
Just give some thought about your characters early life if he/she was raised by humans and what sort of treatment they received. Perhaps your mother fell in love with a wandering bard, not knowing all the while that he was a disguised Vyallian agent. Perhaps after the tryst your father wandered off never knowing that he had sired a child. Maybe after you were born with pointy ears your mother thought you were cursed and left you to the wolves. Maybe she thought you were blessed by the gods instead. Did she force you to hide your strange features? Did she display them proudly? Just some things to think about.

Half-orcs on the other hand, get on about as well as you'd expect. If the half-orc were raised by humans (usually NOT the case) then he/she would may have a human name and behave as a human. Was your half-orc shunned? Reviled? Pittied?

Orcs on the other hand (surprisingly) are not quite as racist as most humans. Orcs value strength above all else and even if it were a half-breed who wields it, they will be treated with honor in "most" orc tribes. Although there can be a lot of difference on race between particular tribes. Half-orc raised by orcs will likely be given orc names and behave as an orc, which means there are far more likely to be barbarians rather than fighters and sorcerers rather than wizards, etc.

Paladins and Rangers are an odd case. Because both are extremely rare, you should give a lot of thought to how your character became a paladin or ranger. Such classes are not careers, they are ways of life. Most do not choose to become these classes, but are rather chosen.

Paladins are the chosen of a particular god (usually Alainus, the god of Justice and Valor). As such, there is automatically a good case to be made for them to become adventurers, as they are spoken to (usually in dreams and with signs) directly from the gods. As such, there are not officially part of any particular faith, but are honored by any faith of good alignment.

Rangers are likewise chosen of a particular spirit of nature and usually act as wardens and defenders for that particular nature spirits domain. As such, most rangers do not travel too far from their spirits domain and a good case must be made for why a particular ranger operates as an adventurer. Perhaps the ranger was sent on some long-term quest of some import to his particular nature spirit. Thats up to you to decide, but you'll need to make a good case for it.

[thrylax]

Elves are an exception with rangers however, as elven rangers receive their powers from an elven god rather than a nature spirit. Thus is can be easier to make a claim for an elven ranger as an adventurer. They can be operating largely as an other elf away from Vyalliah would, and for the same reason.

Remember, being an adventurer is not a normal life choice for people. What sort of person consciously chooses to live the life of an adventurer? What sort of personality quirks must such a character possess?
Just some things to think about as you make your character.

[Mgrancey]

Its not actually difficult, there simply isn't any method right now to handle them another way from the player side, the GM could create or copy an Animal as an NPC and share it with the player. Its not a big deal as druids, wizard's familiars and paladin's mounts would all fall under these same situation.

Since magic in the setting is low, how does the mundane abilities of alchemy and herbalism have effects, would either be able to create non-magical tonics, elixirs, teas, etc. that would provide mechanical but mundane effects: improved natural healing, negate pain or similar effects, etc.

As a thought for rangers, what about a bird spirit? That would be one that is a more mobile spirit that would be reasonable to move around, i would think.

[Amarandir]

Hmm, what sort of part do the dwarves play in your world?

[JohnD]

You keep saying you'll post your Player's Guide if you get enough interest. Posting it now might help generate the interest you are looking for.

[thrylax]

You keep saying you'll post your Player's Guide if you get enough interest. Posting it now might help generate the interest you are looking for.
Good point.....I'll post it tomorrow when I get access to my home computer.


As for dwarves. They too exist, but are extremely rare as well. Largely due to the fact they usually keep to themselves in their mountain homes. The only dwarven stronghold which has contact with humans is Baraz-Gathol located deep within the Aerimar Mountains. Other than there relative rarity (halflings being more common than the other two), dwarves, gnomes and halflings are treated more or less fairly by most humans. In other words there is no inherent advantage/disadvantage to playing one.

Something to keep in mind however, non-humans being as rare as they are, your party may be more likely to encounter social resistance if the group is not composed of mostly humans (or can pass for human).

[The Overlord]

Good point.....I'll post it tomorrow when I get access to my home computer.


As for dwarves. They too exist, but are extremely rare as well. Largely due to the fact they usually keep to themselves in their mountain homes. The only dwarven stronghold which has contact with humans is Baraz-Gathol located deep within the Aerimar Mountains. Other than there relative rarity (halflings being more common than the other two), dwarves, gnomes and halflings are treated more or less fairly by most humans. In other words there is no inherent advantage/disadvantage to playing one.

Something to keep in mind however, non-humans being as rare as they are, your party may be more likely to encounter social resistance if the group is not composed of mostly humans (or can pass for human).

This has a definite "old school" feel to it! Looking forward to playing.

[Amarandir]

Right, after I take a look at the players guide I will definitely have a decision and a good place to start with back story should I chose to play a non-human race.

I'll have to agree with ya overlord, it's taking me back to when I first learned the game. We had a tough DM. Loved her though.

[thrylax]

Since magic in the setting is low, how does the mundane abilities of alchemy and herbalism have effects, would either be able to create non-magical tonics, elixirs, teas, etc. that would provide mechanical but mundane effects: improved natural healing, negate pain or similar effects, etc.As a thought for rangers, what about a bird spirit? That would be one that is a more mobile spirit that would be reasonable to move around, i would think.Herbalism to assist in healing is used, but is simply spun into the healing skill. Characters with knowledge of the healing skill will automatically be assumed to be making used of any herbs or remedies that assist with healing. Optionally, the healing skill can be used in a fashion similar to what you describe above. The wound point system causes "truely wounded" characters to have penalties to their rolls. A characters could for example make a healing check to negate some of those penalties after combat by administering pain reducing medications, etc, etc.__________________As for the nature of nature spirits, its really up to you (within reason) but as an example, I once ran a tabletop adventure where the main antagonist was an evil ranger named Vengath Baneblade. He went by the title of the Hunter of Harkenwood. His modus operandi was that he would hire himself out as a hunter and guide through the wild and twisted Harkenwood. There he would lure unsuspecting travelers and people under his charge to their death and sacrifice them to his nature spirit called Irminsul which took the form of a great twisted oak tree at the heart of the Harkenwood. It was Irminsul that was responsible for the twisted nature of the forest to begin with.________________Anyway, one of the characters was a disguised Vyallian ranger himself and was sent there to investigate what had happened to some of his people who had gone missing. They discovered that they were last seen in the company of the Hunter of Harkenwood who was supposedly leading them to some lost ruins he had "discovered" deep in the woods. Needless to say, he came out, they didn't. Claimed it was a pack of gnolls who tore em apart and he barely got away with his own life. Sensing deception, the hero elven ranger and his human companions decided to "hire" the Hunter of Harkenwood as a guide through the forest, which he was only so happy to do. All the while, the elven ranger playing at a bumbling fool of a city dweller until the hunter led them to the location where he planned to turn on them and slay them as sacrifices to Irminsul. But then the tables quickly turned and the hunter fled.__________________Still not suspecting that one of the PC's was a ranger himself, he did not cover his tracks as well as he might have otherwise and led the party straight to the location of Irminsul which despite being an immobile tree was still able to defend itself with numerous flocks of crows, a pack of wolves and a grizzly bear.__________________Needless to say, in the end, the party managed to slay Vengath Baneblade and chopped down his spirit tree, which would eventually return the forest to its natural state.________________________Hope that gives you an idea of the sorts of things you can do with nature spirits for rangers. It don't have to be a tree. It could be a lake, a tree, a series of standing stones or really whatever makes sense._______________________On an unrelated note, seems like the new servers giving me issues. I can't seem to break the above supra-paragraph into smaller chunks. Every time I try to edit it, it just goes back to the way it was. Gotta use a bunch of ______ to break em up. It just drops the new line after I click save changes. I really do know how to write paragraphs.....sorry :-(

[thrylax]

Right, after I take a look at the players guide I will definitely have a decision and a good place to start with back story should I chose to play a non-human race.Can't seem to find an attachment link. Is there a way to add attachments to this new forum or do I have to post a Google Drive link or something similar?

[thrylax]

Anyway.....heres a Google Drive Link.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B2EYUrLHQkPtT2lYX0JxdWJ3SFU&usp=sharing

[Amarandir]

Damn, blocked by the office firewall. I'll have something to do when I get home at least. Thanks boss.

[JohnD]

Nice work.

[thrylax]

Nice work.
Although I'd like to take full credit, truth is I borrowed liberally from many different sources for that. Most notably I took large portions (with his permission) from Bruce Gulke and his awesome Mythosa Campaign setting. https://www.mythosa.net/
Unfortunately, the guide has not been updated in ages. I will probably give it a go over sometime this weekend. I'm sure there are many errors and outdated info, but it's good enough to give players an idea of what to expect for now. But thanks.
Also, I'm adding a regional map of the Continent of Landor (where most of the action takes place) to the G-Drive folder that I created using Campaign Cartographer 3.

[rhoule6819]

Hey there,

My name is Ryan. I just got finished reading all the posts here and I am very very interested in joining this campaign. This sounds like it is right up my tree. I have used fantasy grounds before, and with the lack of table top gaming in my area I would like to find a long term game to enjoy. I like the fact that you seem to be more focused on the characters rather than what you called a "build"

I would very much enjoy playing a wizard in the campaign if everyone is cool with that. I think it would be a fun RP expierence espcailyl with the way they are treated in teh world, and on top of that a possible elven party memeber (even if we wont know said character is elvan)

I am currently at work so I will read the google link you sent and try to come up with a solid chaacter background by the end of the night.

Sundays anytime work great for me

[Paranoia]

I'd be interested in doing it.

Names Kyle... Though online I only tend to go by it half the time. I'd be perfectly fine with playing on a sunday and I guess a little about me as a player... My favorite part of playing D&D is the character creation and trying to make an interesting story that feels... valid. I'm a bit of a rule buff (As in I know a lot of offhand rules and can bring them up) But I don't ever push the point once the DM says, "Well we're not doing it that way." I'm fine to play pretty much any class, and will try and make them an interesting character. I have always been big into my characters motivations and if the group starts to go against what he fights for... well it forms a problem to say the least. Oh also I like humans and will almost always play one because I find them to be the prime example of a blank slate and can be as good or evil as you make them.

That's... all I can think of for now. If you have any questions of me as a player go ahead with them.

[Mgrancey]

So potentially:

Amarandir as a ranger
Rhoule6819 as a wizards
Paranoia as something or somebody
Myself as smart or at least not stupid character (Fighter, maybe monk)
Dr. babylon -- Cleric as needed.
Ifirit01 -- something


As players, though some others that have shown interest might be players as well. Did I miss anyone?

[rhoule6819]

I think that is everyone that has really expressed interest. I know that there were some other players who posted in the thread, I believe thyrlax said he would start with four but wanted really 6, so looks like we would be good to start

[Dr_Babylon]

I am still interested. Potentially headed for a Rogue but willing to adapt. Have perused the available setting information and I am mulling over other possibilities. I wouldn't mind fielding a priest of some kind, depending on what we're using from the established world (rune domain? Cloistered Cleric?).

[Mgrancey]

Updated Player/character list.
Do you make any use of campaign management options/sites?

[Mgrancey]

Saw under the outcast races something called Drakonians, what are they somesort of half-dragon-ish type race; also what are Red-Goblins?

[Dr_Babylon]

I suspect they are being omitted from our game (at least for starting character options). There is a reference to "Tauroks" under the cultural feats, as well.

[thrylax]

I suspect they are being omitted from our game (at least for starting character options). There is a reference to "Tauroks" under the cultural feats, as well.

Yes, I actually adapted this file from another campaign style that I also run. The World of Erndorth can be basically set in one of two distinct styles of campaign.

There is the 4th Age, which is what we are going to be playing. The 4th Age is set about 1000 years after the fall of the Aldarian Empire. The 4th Age is a more gritty style of Sword & Sorcery where magic is rare. The campaign focuses more on role-playing than monster slaying. Although there is a good amount of both. The ruleset used here is a modified v3.5 ruleset with some Unearthed Arcana thrown in for good measure to lend itself to the particular style I'm going for.

Then there is the Age of Light Campaign which is set during the time of the Aldarian Empire. The Age of Light Campaign is for more High Fantasy style that is pretty much straight-up Pathfinder Rules with little modifications. The Age of Light campaign, while it has a good share of role-playing as well, tends to focus more on high adventure and a little less on characters. But again, there is a fair amount of both styles on both settings.

The other races you saw, such as Red-Goblins, Tauroks and Draconians are really only for the Age of Light Campaign. Like I said prior, the players guide has not been updated in some time and still has some references to the Age of Light in it. Although I do have a dedicated players guide to the Age of Light as well that is about 3 times the size of the 4th Age player guide that I posted.

Although all of those other races still exist in the 4th Age Campaign, they are not really suited as player-character races because of the main focus of the game. The only races available to 4th Age players is standard v3.5 Rules, and even then, any race other than human should be VERY rare. I tend to only allow one non-human character per party, otherwise one of the things that makes the character special (i.e. his non-human-ness) is lessened. Also, due to the pervading views of most humans, a party consisting of too many non-humans would tend to cause no end of trouble for the group in role-playing situations.

I have made exceptions to that guideline in the past if the concept is interesting enough. For example, I once ran a party of all elven players. The entire party were working as agents of the Sin'Dorei (yes, I "lovingly borrowed" the name from WoW). But in the 4th Age Campaign, the Sin'Dorei are a violent sect of Vyallian elves that believe humans will never stop until all elves are wiped from the face of Erndorth. They therefore take a more "pro-active" approach to their dealings with humans than what other Vyalians would consider "proper". They are basically an elven extreamist terrorist group that actively work to undermine human civilization by causing chaos and anarchy wherever they go. They truely believe that they are working in the best interest of their people, even though they are shunned by their own people for the efforts. It was a short, but very fun campaign.

[thrylax]

Looks like I'm getting some good responses to this thread. glad to hear there are at least a few people that share my enthusiasm for lower-powered, character focused role-playing. My regular table-top group never really enjoyed the 4th Age Campaign as much as the Age of Light Campaign because of the race/class restrictions and power level. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works out over a Virtual Tabletop such as Fantasy Grounds.

I have to admit that I am new to running games over a VTT interface. I've played a few Fantasy Grounds games in the past, but this will be my first attempt at running one over a VTT. I hope any players that decide to join will bear with me as I attempt to learn how best to DM a campaign over a VTT. I hope it will go well, but I expect there are a few differences that I will need to learn in play styles as the campaign progresses.

[Dr_Babylon]

Personally, given the limitations of the medium, I feel the most important elements in starting one of these things are transparency and reciprocation. Both of these you have demonstrated so far. You know where you stand and have made sure that we know as well. It's rare to find folks around these forums who don't have the patience for a GM who is still learning. Keeping us apprised of your progress and your expectations is all I would expect of you.

Our next step should be finalizing details regarding character generation (point buy or ability score rolls? etc). Then it likely wouldn't hurt to schedule a tentative meet-and-greet session for individuals to put heads together, so to speak. If you do intend to use certain elements from the setting notes you posted, I would very much like to play a priest of the Holy Order of Vanya, I think. A benevolent, confident, intellectual healer limited primarily by her own rational objectivity, yeah, that's the ticket. If not...we shall see. (If someone else wants to be our rogue I won't kick.)

Do you have an idea of what circumstances will bring our characters together? It might help in generating a backstory if we knew if we were all childhood friends or hired by the same mercenary company or destined to meet for the first time in some random tavern.

(I have never run one of these things and don't mean to dictate terms. If I am overstepping my bounds, please let me know.)

[Mgrancey]

Yep, its in the Knowledge Arcana world guide. PCs get 25 point buy or 28 if they take a commoner as first class level.

UPdating character list then.

[rhoule6819]

Yes it would be nice to known the meeting circumstances. I think all childhood friends would be a great way to start , or at least all of us from the same town. I have a great idea for my backstory that could easily over knowning the other PC's but dont really want to start working on anything till we known the exact circumstances of the start of the game It seems though we are going to have a very interesting party. Any word from Paranoia on what type of character he would like to play?

[Irift001]

Hey thrylax, did you get the PM I sent you? I'd love to play if you're good with the concept I sent you.

[Paranoia]

I was kind of waiting on what everyone else was going to go before I threw my hat in. I was contemplating a fighter but I would be fine to be... Anything else.

A monk could be interesting too... Or a rogue.... I have ideas for each of these (Sort of)

Fighter - The Weapon master. That's the word that best describes him. He wants to be prepared for any situation, as can be seen from the number of weapons on his person. Sword and shield, battleaxe, throwing weapons, vials of acid, torches... and that's just the starting buy in equipment. His personality is best described as pissed off. Easily irritable he is the first to start a fight, or at least start throwing insults. He's not dumb really, he just doesn't think as much as he should.

Monk - The layabout. Very rarely the first to act he tends to live life carefree. Laughing at most problems and going along with people because it might be interesting. He's a peaceful man by nature and he has a tendency to try and smooth over all conflicts and reduce them to a... less lethal level. He's not really a "Monk" in the ways that he works with others to become one. It's more his way of living and conflict management that makes him classify as one.

Rogue - The knife-thrower. I don't really have a personality for him. Just that he's a guy who throws knives, and other throwable objects. Some of which that might explode or have magical enchantments. Really I have not put much thought into him.

[thrylax]

I have been reading everyones posts and I guess the next step would be to finalize the schedule and make some characters.

This next bit is a reply to Dr_Babylon in regards to his PM he sent me earlier. I tried to reply, but it says that you have exceeded your inbox capacity, so I'll repost my reply here for you.

I like this quite a bit actually. I must admit that I have not seen The Usual Suspects, though I have heard of it. Perhaps I'll give it a look sometime soon as my Netflix and Hulu subscriptions have been going to waste recently. You have certainly given a good amount of detail for your character and I must admit that a halfling crime syndicate sounds very intriguing, not to mention adorable....lol.

The only issue I would see is why exactly did this halfling rogue choose to become an adventurer. Like I said, its not a normal life decision, even for a rogue. Basically I'm trying to find a plausible way to fit everyone into the first sessions without resorting to the tired old "OK, you all meet in a tavern and...." routine.

As for what city you come from, there are many large cities to choose from, such as the lordcities of any of the numerous countries and kingdoms listed on the map of Landor, but one that really jumps out at me is the City-State of Illad. It is located in the heart of the Ethengar Freeholds and if the Freeholds had a capitol (which they don't) then the city of Illad would certainly be it. It is one of the largest cities in all of Landor and is certainly the most varied in terms of different peoples living there.

Illad is located on the eastern bank of West Lake which is really more of a small, fresh-water, inland sea then a lake. It measures about 200 miles from north-to-south and about 130 miles at its widest from east-to-west. Illad is a trade hub which facilitates just about all trade that crosses from northern Landor to southern Landor and vise verse. Illad has a population of over 50,000 people and because of its central location and important status as a trade hub also hosts a wide variety of cultures. There also happens to be a (relatively) large population of halflings who call the city home during winter months.

Most halflings in Landor usually live and operate as merchant vagabonds who ply there way across the many rivers of Landor, travelling from place to place in there river boat caravans selling there wares and shoving off again before people grow too annoyed with there presence. In some respects, the halflings of Landor live and operate much as gypsies did in historical medieval Europe. But thats just "most" halflings and may or may not reflect your particular character. Some halflings have in fact put down permanent roots in Illad, but they are few in number and usually make a living by facilitating trades with local businesses and their own people who are ever passing in and out of the city.

[thrylax]

As for the other messages and posts, I have not read them all yet as my weekdays a fairly well swamped with work and wife and a baby on the way. But I should have some time to read over them all this evening or later this week at the latest.

In regards to character creation, my opinions on that matter have evolved somewhat since I first started the 4th Age Campaigns (as I said the Player's Guide has not been updated in some time). So as it stands now, just limit your options to Player's Handbook classes with Monk being an oddity because while there is an oriental themed place on the World of Erndorth, it is located many thousands of miles away, so a monk would need to come up with a pretty good back-story as to why he will be traveling so far from home.
One possibility to help get you started, there is a small host (less than 1000 people) of refugees from Tien-Lun (the oriental themed region of Enrdorth) who are living in the City of Aramahn which is the lordcity "capitol" of Ciriah which is the seat of power for the Empire of Ciriah. Any monk character in Landor will almost certainly be one of them. If you play a monk, be prepared for a rude reception in some of the less cosmopolitan regions of Landor. Many NPC's will have never seen someone from Tien-Lun and will react to your strange ways with curiosity at best, and xenophobia and racism at worst.

As for character creation in general, there is no need to make an NPC class as I only used to have that option to try and force players to make interesting characters and as it happens, it did not work. Most of my previous players only saw it as something to be abused to try and get more power. So now, everyone, regardless of class will get a 32 point buy character so that you can actually make a heroic character. Just so long as its an "interesting character" and not just a build.

[thrylax]

I decided to post all my replies to instant messages regarding this thread on this thread so that other potential players can read what concepts other players are currently working on and maybe gain some insight into their own character concepts.

This reply is for Irift001 who PM'ed me about a gunslinger type character.

Hey man, read over your thread and I'm interested, but I'm really stuck on a character idea I'm looking to play and I don't know if it could fit in your world. Sorry in advance if it's a lot to read, I've put a ton of thought into this character.

Argus Gyre is a man who washed up on shore as a child in a basket. Contained in the basket was a grouping of papers, containing research into something, but the language was something no one in the village recognized. The local church took him in (it looks like it would be Vanya in your world.). His foster father was the head of the church and raised Argus (the boys name, based off what the wording appeared to be on a letter in his basket, and his foster father's surname) as his own. Argus took more to the martial side of things and often played the part of guard for church ventures.

Argus didn't want to leave his small home town on one particular service, knowing it would leave the church practically unmanned, but his father pushed the issue, insisting it was the way of the church. When Argus returned to town a few days later he found the church on fire, and rushed to help. Pulling some of the clerics out before the building collapsed, but he couldn't find his father. Argus learned from the townsfolk that some bandits had raided the church just before his group returned, and that his father was killed in that attack.

Abandoning his faith, Argus poured himself into his work. He had been trying to decipher whatever the papers were that were with him as a child, and knew he was close to developing some kind of weapon from it. The research was into gunpowder, and after a few weeks Argus had a functioning, single-shot pistol.

After attending his father's funeral, Argus packed his things and set out to hunt down then men who killed his father.

Argus would start the game having already killed 2 of the 4 men that attacked his church. He desperately feels a need to belong somewhere, having lost his home, and not knowing his homeland. His only clue on his homeland being the papers he has. He learned the names of the 2 remaining bandits from the other 2 he had already taken care of. He would worship Tempest now, but still keeps his father's amulet of Vanya round his neck, next to his own of Tempest.

In pathfinder player Argus with the first few levels in gunslinger, and the rest in inquisitor (like a cleric fighter hybrid if you've never played pathfinder). I'd work him out however you'd like for a 3.5. I guess a couple levels in cleric with the rest in fighter? I'm pretty stuck on the firearm though, it's part of his unknown heritage, and his need to discover it. I'm excited just thinking of being able to play Argus :)

Anyway, if you really don't want a firearm in your game, or just don't think he'd fit I totally understand, but I'd really like to play if your world, it looks like you've put a lot of work into it. PM me here or send me an email at OMMITED
Although I really like the thought you put into the character concept, I'm afraid that firearms are right out as this is a early medieval themed sword and sorcery campaign. But if you wanted to play the character "concept" rather than the weapon, that is certainly possible. Maybe you could go with a Paladin, although you'd have to adhere to a pretty strict interpretation of a Lawful-Good code of morality.

If not that, maybe you could simply go with the abandoned orphan backstory and simply be a fighter with some sort of articles that were found on you by the family who took you in which could possibly lead to the truth of your past.

If your going with the fighter/cleric combo, I suggest that you keep the raised by a priest part as it takes many years to train as an acolyte of any religion. If you want to stay a young character by the first session, I suggest that you start as a cleric and look into multi-classing into a fighter later.

Remember however that your character is only going to start at 1st level. This means he is a novice and don't know much about anything at first. Play on that initial naivety and you'll get a more interesting character in the long run. For example, maybe you could start out as a traditional cleric of Vanya, but because of their strict adherence to non-violence you will eventually discover (later on in the campaign) that you cannot remain a cleric because you do not believe in those tenants in your heart. You only became a cleric of Vanya because you thought your adopted father expected you to.

Then, at some crucial point in the campaign, you encounter someone of something so horrible that you loose control of yourself and slay a helpless villian. While that alone would not cause you to stop being a cleric per-se, may make you discover that non-violence is not how the world truely works and you begin to rethink your life. Then maybe you multi-class into a fighter and renounce your vows of non-violence, only later on discovering that there is in fact a sect of Vanya known as the Crusaders, that do not believe in absolute non-violence like most of there fellow brethren do. Then you convert, either to a Crusader (which you will initially have never heard of) or choose a different god altogether (maybe Alainus, god of Valor and Justice).

[thrylax]

Here was Dr_Babylon's concept, which I really enjoyed.


Should you have a place for me in your potential 3.5 campaign, I would gladly play a part. What follows is a loose concept of my intended character. I remain adaptable and am prepared to defend, amend, or append any element as necessitated by your setting details or the party's aims.

Basically, this owes much to the film "The Usual Suspects" so I do hope you have seen it (though if you haven't I might seem more creative than I am). My dapper little halfling is a fairly typical rogue from one of the larger human urban centers. Where he comes from, there is an infamous figure steeped in mystery and spoken of in hushed tones by cutpurses and second-story men in the know ("...a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night..."). Purportedly a halfling with enormous reach in the underworld but never sufficiently identified, we will call this kingpin Mister Tiptoe. My character claims to be a low-level operative for this Mister Tiptoe and clings to this story no matter how dire the circumstances. Ostensibly, everything he does is at the whim and direction of his employer. What makes the character particularly interesting is the notion that this Mister Tiptoe may or may not exist and my guy may or may not have anything to do with him (might be a fable spread by halflings to scare and confound the big folk). My brand new rogue will essentially be Kobayashi, speaking politely but (possibly) reinforced by the terrible threat of all-powerful halfling crime syndicate retribution. Doesn't that sound adorable? My character would be nattily attired in a wee little top hat and tailored leather armor (sans shoes, of course) and would likely stick to his sling as much as possible in combat.

Some thoughts:
-He comes from a larger neighborhood in a human city that would be a sort of Hobbitown (like a modern day Chinatown or Little Sicily), populated mostly by halflings, that he thinks of as "Stone's Throw"
-I'm still working on a name but I rather like the surname Rungbottom for my guy
-There's something appealing to me about re-enacting the final scene from "Scarface" with halflings armed with slings and potions of invisibility
-My character would not have any special advantages in this premise; he is left to his own devices to preserve his life and carry out his tasks (Bluff skill will be paramount)


What do you think?

Dr Babylon


(Rungbottom (solemnly): "Mister Tiptoe is many things to many people. Businessman, mastermind, war criminal, terrorist. Considered an urban legend by some. Nothing more than an insubstantial specter. Wishful thinking, I assure you. He is very real and very determined.")

[thrylax]

The first game I'm going to run is something I converted to FG2 called "Nightfall In Eliador" which is set in the distant mountainous region of Aerimar. It is a Protectorate of the Empire of Ciriah in name only and tends to be pretty independent. The region is inspired from and modeled after medieval Scotland, so if your character hails from this region, then choose a Scottish themed name for your character.
Aerimar has traditionally been ruled by the Ard-Ri (or High King) which in this region is really only a first among equals sort of king, with the other "equals" being the chieftains of all the various clans who reside in Aerimar. After a bloody cival war about 30 years ago, the previous High King was slain and replaced with a userper from another clan. The High Kings son, who was raised in Ciriah, had fled with a host of loyal men and pledged fealty to the then king Tredorian I of Ciriah. The king of Ciriah eventually sent a large host of knights back to Aerimar with his new vassal and took back the crown in his name. After regaining control of Aerimar, the son of the old High King named himself Ard-Ri and demanded his lords swear fealty to him. Most did so, but most of the highland clans, who were loyal to the userpers clan have yet to do so.
So Aerimar is really two different kingdoms in one. There is the more cosmopolitan Ciriahn backed lowland clans ruled by the Ard-Ri, and then there is the highland clans who while nominally are still loyal to the Ard-Ri, are really only loyal to their individual clans and see the foreign interference of Ciriah in their affairs as a blight on their honor.

The first game will take place in a holdfast in the Highlands of Aerimar known as Pendruin. Pendruin is ruled by Lord Muireach (moo-ruk) Argyle. So really you just need to account for your characters being from wherever they hail from, to the wild and mountainous highlands of Aerimar.

If you have trouble coming up with a good rationale, reply on this thread and we can all see what we can come up with together.

By the way, don't feel intimidated about coming up with a good character. If you think a concept sounds interesting, hit me up about it here and we'll see if we can make it work. I have in the past had characters that were secret heirs to conquered kingdoms, members of secret societies, misguided cultists and the offspring of Tauroks. Don't be afraid to ask, worst that can happen is I may alter your backstory a bit to better fit the particular style and theme I'm going for with a 4th Age Campaign.

[thrylax]

As an interesting side-note (at least I thought it was interesting). The only dwarves that are known to interact with people on Landor hail from the dwarven stronghold of Baraz-Gathol which is located in the high mountains of Aerimar. It is for this reason that most dwarves on Landor tend to speak with a scottish accent when speaking the common tongue. It is because the only humans they are accustomed to dealing with are from Aerimar and that is simply how they speak.
It always sort of bothered me that everyone who ever played dwarves always spoke with that accent given that there was no real reason for it.....so I decided to make a reason for it. This is it.

By the way, I added a .pdf on religion into the Google Drive. It has a few details on some of the different gods in there for those of a religious persuasion. As with the Player's Guide, this too is quite outdated, but is certainly enough to give players a good primer on some of the religions.
As I said previously, I borrowed heavily from other sources to put all this together, but mostly from (with his permission) Bruce Gulke's world of Mythosa. He also makes some RPG tools known as Tablesmith, which is a must-have for any serious RPG enthusiast.
https://www.mythosa.net/Main/HomePage

[Paranoia]

Heh good bit of information here. Most people seem to have thought more in depth than I have... backgrounds have always been my weakness (For level 1 campaigns I tend to go, "He's a person who has lived near here for most his life and spent a little time fighting various threats for X reason."). I'll give it just a bit longer (To see where everyone else jumps) before I pick what class I want to play.

[Irift001]

Well, I can do without the firearm. The 3.5 rule set is what's really hurting me. I want to play a pathfinder inquisitor, but the only thing remotely close to that is a paladin, and I don't want to be lawful at all. I've never really like playing paladins anyway to be honest.

Would you mind if we converted Inquisitor to 3.5? There's all kinds of 3.5/Pathfinder conversion rules floating around. Cleric really won't cut it as any kind of martial flavor.

I'd keep the back story basically the same, but Argus would have only killed one of the 4 men, and is tracking the remaining ones down, which has brought him to Pendruin. He would have still been brought up as a cleric (the role not the class). After the attack he abandoned his faith and began following Alainus, as long as Alainus doesn't have a problem with with Argus not being LG, and just NG. Agrus partially blames the Lawful side of things for his fathers death, since if he wasn't required to accompany the away group he could have protected the temple.

I fully understand what you mean by concept isn't just race/class, but you have said that there will be a good deal of combat, even though RP is the focus; and I think it's important you be able to enjoy your character in combat if there is going to be any real amount, and that is your class.

[rhoule6819]

Thanus Arundrel - Wizard Extraordinaire

Thanus's Life has always been a struggle and never that of a typcial child. Thanus was born on the summer solictice, Mid Year 19th 1032, in the city of (insert here). His mother, Isabella Arundrel, was a barmaid at a tavern called the Rusty Dragon, and while the wages of a barmaid were meger at best, it alwaysed seem that Thanus's and his mother always had everything they needed and then some. Thanus's father was never in the picture, so he grew up never knowing him. Every time Thanus brought up the subject Isabella would change it. Thanus was a very gifted and intelligent child and from a very young age was schooled as if he was a noble kid. Isabella told Thanus's this was because he was gifted and some day would do great things. This of course caused tension with both the noble and commer children alike and lead them to bully Thanus. One ocasion, when he was 9, one of the bigger children was bullying Thanus like they did almost on a daily bases. As the bully was coming in for another attack a puddle of grease appeared under his feet causing him to fall and break his arm. This was the first of many weird circumstances that would happen to Thanu's when ever he was in a time of trouble. One time while they local children where having fun pushing Thanus around, they "accidently" pushed him into a dried up well that went down about 30 feet. Thanus broke his leg in the fall. He called up for help, but the children where gone. After being in extreme pain for a few hours, and no sign of help coming Thanus finally blacked out. When he awoke, it was a few mintues later he was laying down next to the well, unsure of how he had gotten out. Not having enough money to pay for magical healing of this leg the already weak Thanus was left with a limp in his right leg, requiring him to walk with a walking stick. Thoughout the next years of his life, thanus would continue to have more of these black out events, never knowing what happened during them.

Thanus's life continune on like this untill he was about 13 years old. It was was Frost Fall and late at night. Isabella and Thanus were in their homes relaxing just prior to going to bed. Thanus, like usual was studying one of his many books he had aquired. A sudden sharp knock appeared at the door, wondering who it might be, Isabella got up to answer it. Just as she got to the door, it was kicked in, and the tallest man Thanus had ever seen stepped into the door. He was over 7 feet tall, jet black hair, clad in all kinds of weird looking armor and a giant sword on his back. The most distinguishing feature was the eye patch covering his left eye. As the door was kicked open , Isabella was shoved back into the home. The man looked at her then turned to Thanus pointed and spoke. "We finally found him you bitch. You couldn't hide him forever" The giant man started to walk towards Thanus, but isabella ran to intercept. As she did the man smacked her half way across the room. The sight of his mother being beaten by this man, caused Thanus to go into a rage, and like always caused him to black out. A few minutes later he regain his composure and looked upon a horrorible scene. There in the middle of the room, lay his mother bloodied and lifeless. A trail of blood lead from the house to the street, and Thanus too was covered in blood. Blaming himself for the death of the only person that cared about him Thanus grabed his walking stick, what supplies and books he could and left his house, never looking back. Having so many unaswered questions , Why do I keep blacking out, Who was that man?, What did he want with me? , Who is my real father? , Thanus left (Inser city here) that very night determined as ever to find the answers.

Thanus would spend the next two years struggling moving from place to place, town to town , and city to city seeking answers. He did what he could to survive taking jobs here and there. It was a tough life, and Thanus learned real fast how to survive on his own. During this two years, though determination and studing of various books, Thanus learned his possed magic, and that this magic accounted for the reasons why he often blacked out. Frighten at what people might thing of him due to the stigma that magic does have, Thanus vowed to always use magic as a last resort and to make sure no one knows he poses magic. He knew he must learn to control it before it controlls him so he spent what time he could these last two years studying and researching all about magic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That is all I have for my backstory for now. Its a good spot because a few things could happen. Paranoia ( or any of the other PCs for that matter) could tied our backstories together and meet in the two years my character is wondering around and become friends, that way we can try to avoid the who we all meet in a tavern.

This would be a great spot for a reason for my character to want to go to where the campaign starts? Maybe he found out that there might be answers for some of the questions he seeks there? I would like you imput thrylax on this


So a few things to point out in my backstory:

Thanus is a wizard he just does not know it yet. I think it ties well inot the fact that magic is very rare in the 4th age. His reoccuring "black outs" are him using magic, but he does not know it. The way I see it, is he is young and does not know how to contorl his magic, so its working on instinct and only genearl when thanus is in danger. As he finds out he is a wizard and learns to contorl it, these blackouts will not happen as much. His walking stick would be the staff of the magi that is detailed in the players handbook, i just wanted to give him some a reason to be needing a walkig stick, thus the limp.

Well I think thats all of it. Please if you all have any suggestions, or comments please speak up

[Paranoia]

Thanus... I think your character would work better as a Sorcerer based on the backstory I have read.

Wizards are the type that sit down and study everything in depth, and require a spellbook to do most of their casting.

A sorcerer is (Theoretically) by blood. It's more instinctual and doesn't require as much study to use.

[Irift001]

rhoule6819, if he doesn't know it he'd probably be a sorcerer, not a wizard. Wizards get their magic through extensive study and practice, sorcerers have an innate ability. Being a wizard isn't something you couldn't know about. It would be like having a degree in physics but only knowing it when you "black out", as opposed to having an untapped power you can't understand.

Edit: Paranoia beat me to it lol xD

[rhoule6819]

I will tweak the backstory a bit when i get home from work and sleep for a few.

Do we want to set up a date even if an hour or so so that we can all get to together, put up our chracters on Fantasy grounds etc?

[thrylax]

Actually, in this campaign, both wizards and sorcerers are by blood. While wizards learn to control their innate powers though logical reason and intense study, Sorcerers just sort of "feel" their way into controlling it. This is the reason that nobody can later multi-class into a arcane class unless they select either the Magical Training back-groud feat or the Arcane Empathy feat at 1st level. Wizards automatically get Magical Training for free while Sorcerers automatically get Arcane Empathy for free.

It sort of works like this, arcane casters, regardless of class, are really just untrained sorcerers. Characters who are more intelligent, will naturally seek to logic and reason their way into controlling their powers, so their arcane focus shifts slowly from charisma to intelligence. Characters with higher charisma on the other hand will tend to just let nature takes its course and intuitively "feel out" how to use their powers. The former will become wizards, while the latter will become sorcerers.

So you could just add to your backstory a bit and maybe say that eventually you found another wizard to apprentice under. Or maybe some of those books you carried around were primers written to aid in the training of young apprentice wizards and you followed them rigorously. Although it would be unheard of for a wizard to in effect "train himself" its not impossible if said person were intelligent enough.

[Irift001]

thrylax did you read my post?

[Mgrancey]

I'm thinking monk, free spirit, adrenaline junky; feels the need to go looking for challenges and exciting events, gets bored and ansty if forced to stay somewhere too long.

[thrylax]

thrylax did you read my post?
Yeah, I read it. I'm not familiar with the inquisitor however. That's not core Pathfinder is it? Lemme look into it and I'll try and help you come up with something that gives the same style of build. Like I said, my weekdays are swamped. I don't tend to do much game related stuff except of weekends. So don't be surprised if I don't get an answer before Friday evening EST at the earliest.

[Irift001]

Yeah, I read it. I'm not familiar with the inquisitor however. That's not core Pathfinder is it? Lemme look into it and I'll try and help you come up with something that gives the same style of build. Like I said, my weekdays are swamped. I don't tend to do much game related stuff except of weekends. So don't be surprised if I don't get an answer before Friday evening EST at the earliest.

No problem, inquisitor is in Advanced players guide. If I had to describe it in 3.5 terms I would say it's a cleric/ranger, with no damage dealing spells from cleric. I can email you the inquisitor pages if you want.

[Mgrancey]

If you consider a Paladin a protective divine style the Inquisitor is an aggressive divine style; the angry hand of a God, _____ hunters, RP wise they tend to be Fanatics
Inquisitors have:

high skillks (6+Int)
d8 HD
few spells (max at lvl 6, spells known, slow progression),
moderate ATK,
split F/W saves,
1 domain, powers only no spells
boost to monster knowledge lore
initimidation
judgement 1/d various effect to pretty much any combat related event typically 1:3-1:5 ratio on level up
boost to INIT
Detect align
track
lots of use in Teamwork feats, able to act as if other PCs have the feat


Inquisitor at d20PFSRD (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/inquisitor)

[thrylax]

I'm thinking monk, free spirit, adrenaline junky; feels the need to go looking for challenges and exciting events, gets bored and ansty if forced to stay somewhere too long.
I suppose a Monk is OK so long as you understand what I posted in Post #48 about monk's in this setting. I don't normally allow them as this is traditionally a medieval European themed sword & sorcery setting. Just be prepared for the negative reactions and racism you are sure to encounter from NPC's along the way. The rest of the party should also be willing to accept that as well.

Like I posted earlier, any Monk in Landor will most likely be one of the thousand or so refugees living in the Ciriahn Lordcity of Aramahn (the Capitol of the Ciriahn Empire). These refugees fled from their homeland of Tien-Lun after facing persecution and violence from the new emperor of Tien-Lun, Ming Shao Kang. These refugees have only been living in Landor for about the last 15 years or so and none of them have fully assimilated to life in Landor. They largely keep to themselves in a section of Aramahn's dockside district known as "The Heap". It is a sort of little China-Town of the city of Aramahn.

If your character is young, then you may not even remember your homeland. You may or may not speak Landrin (the Common Tongue) fluently depending on how assimilated your parents were with Ciriahn culture. Your native language is known as Xan and Common would be a secondary language for you, meaning that you would speak it as well as however many ranks your willing to spend in the Knowledge: Languages skill (Linguistics). See the description of the Knowledge: Languages skill under the Languages heading of the Player's Guide for more info.

If you would rather, you have the option of making Landrin (common) your native language and Xan you secondary language. This would mean that your parents have fully assimilated into Landrin culture and you grew up speaking Landrin, meaning that you would have no strange accent when speaking it.....although you would still have a Ciriahn accent.

[thrylax]

If you consider a Paladin a protective divine style the Inquisitor is an aggressive divine style; the angry hand of a God, _____ hunters, RP wise they tend to be Fanatics
Inquisitors have:

high skillks (6+Int)
d8 HD
few spells (max at lvl 6, spells known, slow progression),
moderate ATK,
split F/W saves,
1 domain, powers only no spells
boost to monster knowledge lore
initimidation
judgement 1/d various effect to pretty much any combat related event typically 1:3-1:5 ratio on level up
boost to INIT
Detect align
track
lots of use in Teamwork feats, able to act as if other PCs have the feat


Inquisitor at d20PFSRD (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/inquisitor)

There are actually holy orders that match pretty well what your describing. There are a faction of the Holy Order of Alainus known as the Children of the Light, or a more common and often derogatory term for them is White Cloaks (yes, "borrowed" that idea too). They are a fanatic group of human supremacists that believe that all non-humans and all arcane spell-caster are evil. Playing one would be a problem if you plan on playing one in a party that consists of arcanists and/or non-humans, which so far seems likely.

Although, if your willing to play with the concept a bit and willing to change your characters views later on it could be a great role-playing opportunity for you. Just a thought, but for example, you could start the campaign as a White Cloak, forced to join forces with "evil" spell-casters in order to destroy an even greater evil.....which I can already tell you will be encountered in the first game. Then, after adventuring with these so-called "evil" arcanists and non-humans, you slowly, over time, begrudgingly begin to accept that not all of them are always evil. Then over time, as your character begins to come to trust his companions more and more, you eventually come to see that some of them are in fact good and your entire religion is built upon a false idea. Maybe you start your own crusade to "save" the doomed souls of your former compatriots in the White Cloaks and convert to a new faith. Just some ideas.

The only other religions (other than Alainus) that hold a place for inquisitors are evil religions, and that just will not work in this particular campaign. The Children of the Light on the other hand are not evil, per se (depending on who you ask), but they are certainly misguided.

A character like this would certainly fit the style of character your looking for, and there is no need for a new class to do it. White Cloaks are simply clerics of Alainus with a "different" philosophy. They are "usually" lawful-neutral and are really the only non-good members of the holy order of Alainus.

[Mgrancey]

Its less that I want to be a monk and more that its they type of character I imagine him as. A very physical character, that has decent range of skills, and tends to fight with his fists and mind. Barbarian is an option but the rage and rural nature of it wouldn't fit. There are some other options but I was trying to stay with 3.5 like you said. I was planning on taking the Hands and Feet style, as it seems something that he could develop on his own rather than needing to learn from a master.

This is the guy that has arm wrestling contests, joins bar brawls, goes off looking for trouble to test himself against, climbs that dangerous and difficult mountain to get to the top. Doesn't hold down a regular job signs up for physical labor or dangerous jobs, lives a very simple lifestyle.

[thrylax]

Its less that I want to be a monk and more that its they type of character I imagine him as. A very physical character, that has decent range of skills, and tends to fight with his fists and mind. Barbarian is an option but the rage and rural nature of it wouldn't fit. There are some other options but I was trying to stay with 3.5 like you said. I was planning on taking the Hands and Feet style, as it seems something that he could develop on his own rather than needing to learn from a master.

This is the guy that has arm wrestling contests, joins bar brawls, goes off looking for trouble to test himself against, climbs that dangerous and difficult mountain to get to the top. Doesn't hold down a regular job signs up for physical labor or dangerous jobs, lives a very simple lifestyle.
Well, you could go with a standard fighter and simply specialize in unarmed combat....that seems to more fit the theme your going for. Unfortunately it will make you, I believe, under-powered for your class, which is great for role-playing purposes, but you'd have to be willing to accept that hit in power.

On the other hand, you could still make a monk originally from Tien-Lun, but after spending some amount of years training as a monk (maybe raised by the order) you discover that it was not for you and left to find your own way in the world. Much like Bruce Lee who initially trained in Wing Cung and discovered that he disagreed with their teachings and eventually developed his own style that better suited his philosophy, Jeet Kune Do.

Maybe you too could have been raised in the monasteries technique and discovered their spiritual philosophy not to your liking and now you wander the world so that you can find your own philosophy....maybe eventually founding your own fighting school that is more "Landrin-ized" and found a new style of monk, based in Landor. A monk such as this could simply take the martial arts and ditch the spiritual stuff that goes with it because he did not have the patience for it......Just a thought.

I can already imagine an interesting scenario where after you found a new school teachings martial arts, some members of your old order appear and demand that you stop teaching the Gwai Lo your peoples secrets. Could be a very fun role-playing situation. So, maybe after you do that, the next time someone wants to play a monk in Landor, instead of saying "maybe, but....." I can instead say "sure and HERE is where you trained".

[Mgrancey]

I don't want to be overpowered, but being underpowered is simply asking to get killed.

The idea of being trained but not endeared with the peaceful style and passive goals would fit, like I said he feels the need to challenge himself, not just meditate and seek spiritual enlightenment through meditation.

[Paranoia]

Mgrancey - Monk
Ifrit - Wants to be inquisitor
Babylon - Rogue
Rhoule - Wizard
Amarandir - Ranger (Taken from the first list... Have not seen updates on this)
Myself - SOMETHING

Feel free to tell me to fix any mistakes I made here.

I'm thinking I could play a cleric to feel the healy role if needed. Though if I was going divine I would prefer to play a paladin. I feel RP wise they just hold a bit more fluff, and the character I have in mind... is not really a holy healer.

I personally view Cleric as, "The Best Class". Might be my personal interpretation but a well done cleric can fill most party roles. I also see Clerics as better than Paladins in almost all ways... which just makes paladins more fun to play.

Still willing to go warrior but it doesn't seem he has a lot of need in this group... Not sure which way Ifrit's character is going to end up going so I'll wait just a little bit more before deciding on my guy... Also I am magic with character generation. I could have a first level fighter done in less than five minutes. With applicable feats and skills picked. So I'll be ready come game time... if we end up playing this weekend.

That's a good question actually. Are we doing anything THIS weekend or do we want a little more time and push it off to next? I'd be ready when it was time for us to play either way.

[Irift001]

There are actually holy orders that match pretty well what your describing. There are a faction of the Holy Order of Alainus known as the Children of the Light, or a more common and often derogatory term for them is White Cloaks (yes, "borrowed" that idea too). They are a fanatic group of human supremacists that believe that all non-humans and all arcane spell-caster are evil. Playing one would be a problem if you plan on playing one in a party that consists of arcanists and/or non-humans, which so far seems likely.

Although, if your willing to play with the concept a bit and willing to change your characters views later on it could be a great role-playing opportunity for you. Just a thought, but for example, you could start the campaign as a White Cloak, forced to join forces with "evil" spell-casters in order to destroy an even greater evil.....which I can already tell you will be encountered in the first game. Then, after adventuring with these so-called "evil" arcanists and non-humans, you slowly, over time, begrudgingly begin to accept that not all of them are always evil. Then over time, as your character begins to come to trust his companions more and more, you eventually come to see that some of them are in fact good and your entire religion is built upon a false idea. Maybe you start your own crusade to "save" the doomed souls of your former compatriots in the White Cloaks and convert to a new faith. Just some ideas.

The only other religions (other than Alainus) that hold a place for inquisitors are evil religions, and that just will not work in this particular campaign. The Children of the Light on the other hand are not evil, per se (depending on who you ask), but they are certainly misguided.

A character like this would certainly fit the style of character your looking for, and there is no need for a new class to do it. White Cloaks are simply clerics of Alainus with a "different" philosophy. They are "usually" lawful-neutral and are really the only non-good members of the holy order of Alainus.

Bleh, I'm very adverse to human supremacists, but if we could make inquisitor work I suppose I can make that work. Cleric really doesn't have the feel of "hunter for my god". Mgrancey summed it up pretty well, and you can look at his link to see it in better detail. I have no problem with you taking some of the stuff away. Like unlimited level 0 spells, team work feats, and some of the higher level stuff. Since 3.5 doesn't have unlimited 0 level that's only fair, and team work feats are pretty different in 3.5, and certainly not core. Pathfinder's classes that play any martial role are a good deal stronger at higher level so taking away some of their bigger bonuses is just fine too.

Inquisitor is really what would be the easiest and most fun for me to play, rather than trying to mash up some fighter/ranger/cleric multiclass thing and be pretty bad at all of their roles.

The people that ransacked Argus' church could have been non-humans, which would really help justify his joining the Children of the Light. Argus would be traveling to find the remaining men and bringing his on form of justice to those in need along the way. He could still follow Alainus, and simply believe most people's views on Alainus are incorrect. Just because Alainus can maintain a LG philosophy without any problems doesn't mean mortal men can.

[thrylax]

Mgrancey - Monk
Ifrit - Wants to be inquisitor
Babylon - Rogue
Rhoule - Wizard
Amarandir - Ranger (Taken from the first list... Have not seen updates on this)
Myself - SOMETHING

Feel free to tell me to fix any mistakes I made here.

I'm thinking I could play a cleric to feel the healy role if needed. Though if I was going divine I would prefer to play a paladin. I feel RP wise they just hold a bit more fluff, and the character I have in mind... is not really a holy healer.

I personally view Cleric as, "The Best Class". Might be my personal interpretation but a well done cleric can fill most party roles. I also see Clerics as better than Paladins in almost all ways... which just makes paladins more fun to play.

Still willing to go warrior but it doesn't seem he has a lot of need in this group... Not sure which way Ifrit's character is going to end up going so I'll wait just a little bit more before deciding on my guy... Also I am magic with character generation. I could have a first level fighter done in less than five minutes. With applicable feats and skills picked. So I'll be ready come game time... if we end up playing this weekend.

That's a good question actually. Are we doing anything THIS weekend or do we want a little more time and push it off to next? I'd be ready when it was time for us to play either way.
Dr_Babylon expressed interest in playing a Cloistered Cleric of Vanya. But had not to my knowledge committed to anything as yet.
As for when, I'll have to get back to you on that. I didn't expect so many replies so quickly. This weekend may not work, but I'll let you know as soon as I know for sure. Still need to get everyone's character particulars together. If anyone wants to help get the party together without having to resort to tavern cliches that would be great as well.

[Paranoia]

Personally I would prefer my character not to know people ahead of time. I just like to introduce my character and have what the party knows of him come from that point forward. There's a high chance with most of the characters I have thought of that they are quite poor (All of them have terrible money management/motivation to do actual work) so if it was someone like my fighter he might go around bothering people to let him do something for gold. If it was the paladin I have in mind... well there's a decent chance he could just go along with random people because he's bored... There's a reason why at close to thirty years old he is still a first level paladin not very high in the ranks at all.

[Dr_Babylon]

If the character I described is feasible and it won't stepping on Ifrit's toes, I will indeed be portraying a cleric of the more philosophical, scholarly, and borderline nebbish variety (total Candlekeep type). Objective intervention and a keen interest in collecting new knowledge. Look to me for your healing, brothers and sisters.

Apropos of nothing, does this world have a region analogous to medieval Russia?

[rhoule6819]

Well I will tell you what folks, we are going to have one diverse adventuring group. Should be some very interesting sessions.

I do have a few quetions for you thrylax. I was reading the dragon magazine article on the staff of the magi and it talk about the wizard having to create it. Will I start with in in game and just use my backstory of how I created it, or will I have to create it once the game actually takes places. Also i know you said wizards dont get spells each time they level but rather they have to research them (love this idea by the way) but as far as level 1 and character creation will I start will the amount of spells per the PHB?



As far as the party getting together and knowing each other. The two years my character is traveling around prior to the game starting would be a great time for characters who want to meet prior to the first session to do so. Seems like we have a lot of dive type characters, and some possibly older characters in the group. Take into mind that my character is going to be 15 and the start of the campaign, so he is going to be young. Maybe one of the other characters met him while he was wondering around and kind of takes Thanus under their wing or something along that line. If anyone has any suggetions please let me know.

I am going to be updating my backstory a bit tonight as well while at work.

As far as possibly meeting this weekend, even if we can have the full blow first session it might be great to just get everyone together hash out the rest of the chracter stuff and get us set up for the first session.

[Dr_Babylon]

Please forgive my ignorance, but I don't do the point-buy thing very often. Do ability scores start at 8 or 10 or something else?

Crunching numbers!

[rhoule6819]

In 3.5 they start at 8. In pathfinder they start at 10.

[Mgrancey]

I know that we are using the base 3.5 stuff, however I found these and thought that these two are better suited for my character. There is only one real difference between 3.5 and Pathfinder, the ki pool replacement of ki strike ;

Wanderer (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/core-races/human/wanderer-monk-human): drops the more mystical powers to give him benefits for someone who travels
Martial Artist: (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk/archetypes/paizo---monk-archetypes/martial-artist) drops the mystical parts to make him more physically adept

[thrylax]

Personally I would prefer my character not to know people ahead of time. I just like to introduce my character and have what the party knows of him come from that point forward. There's a high chance with most of the characters I have thought of that they are quite poor (All of them have terrible money management/motivation to do actual work) so if it was someone like my fighter he might go around bothering people to let him do something for gold. If it was the paladin I have in mind... well there's a decent chance he could just go along with random people because he's bored... There's a reason why at close to thirty years old he is still a first level paladin not very high in the ranks at all.
Actually, there are no "ranks of paladins". As I noted previously, paladins are chosen of the gods. They are rare in the extreme. So much so that most people believe that they all died out during the Age of Light, or believe them myths altogether. Because they are chosen by a god to be their servants on Endorth, they are almost treated as direct avatars of a particular god. This is why a character may not choose to multi-class into a paladin later, unless the player and I work something out ahead of time that is.
Paladins are almost universally wandering adventurers. Unlike everyone else, their very class is a perfect case for why they are adventuers to begin with. As such, paladins already have a perfect excuse to be adventurers. It's what they do.
A paladin character will almost certainly never encounter another paladin in their entire adventuring career, as such, there are no "paladin ranks" to speak of. Although you can expect your paladin character to be treated with extreme reverence and respect by other member of your faith, and extreme animosity and hatred from clerics of gods of opposing alignments.
For many paladins, they do not even want to be wandering adventurers, but they have no choice. Some may even feel, on occasions, resentment to their god for there ever being driven to strange places by dreams and unmistakable signs. They are ever urged to do good in the name of their particular god.

The calling to become a paladin can come to anyone, at any time. When a god chooses a new paladin (which they do only rarely) then they can choose anyone. Men, women, the very young, the very old. But once chosen, it is a lifetime appointment and will almost always end with the violent martyrdom of said paladin. Such a death though always seems to serve some higher purpose.

[Paranoia]

Hmm.... That doesn't sound like it would be best for the relaxed slacker I have in mind. I guess it could be made to work however. The guy I'm thinking of would not really mention he's a paladin (If it's actually a big deal) and probably be wayyy more chill than most other "Chosen of god"'s. But he could also be justified by, "Gods work in mysterious ways..."

[Dr_Babylon]

Always thought it would be fun to play a ranger or Druid as a total pothead. "Oh man. Can't believe I totally spaced on that spell. Bummer."

Would like to remind anyone who's still considering matters that we currently have no skill monkey types. Though, if my cleric isn't cramping Ifrit's style, I'll have a lot of knowledge skills covered. My little devotchka did a lot of reading growing up.

[Paranoia]

That is a good point. I don't know how trap heavy this campaign is going to be... but I wouldn't be surprised to see a good number. So a rogue might not be averse... I guess I could do that, I'd need to think of some interesting background for him because the previous ones wont work copy pasted into a rogue.

[Dr_Babylon]

Slacker vagabond gypsy rogue with laid back attitude?

[thrylax]

Hmm.... That doesn't sound like it would be best for the relaxed slacker I have in mind. I guess it could be made to work however. The guy I'm thinking of would not really mention he's a paladin (If it's actually a big deal) and probably be wayyy more chill than most other "Chosen of god"'s. But he could also be justified by, "Gods work in mysterious ways..."
I don't advise anyone play a paladin unless you REALLY want to be a paladin. Paladins are extraordinarily difficult characters to play over a long term campaign and unless your devoted to the idea of a consummate selfless do-gooder than you will likely not enjoy your character.
A relaxed slacker is certainly not a typical paladin. Maybe you could play it off as a character who never took life very seriously until he started having strange dreams which urged him to travel the world. Maybe the character does not think too highly of himself and the god in question (likely Alainus) see more worth in him then he sees in himself. Maybe eventually the character, after a while, turns his life around because of the experience and becomes a new person. That could be a fun idea.

Although making a paladin with the express intention of having the character fall from grace can be a fun idea for a character.

In a Age of Light campaign I ran before, I had a player who made an Ogre Paladin. Ogres in the Age of Light are not like normal ogres. They are highly intelligent, though evil, with an advanced culture. But anyway, an ogre paladin who as part of his character back-story had been tricked into donning a Helm of Opposite Alignment, which changed his previous alignment from Chaotic-Evil to Lawful-Good. He thereafter became a paladin. But as part of his character advancement the player (not the character obviously) wanted the curse left by the helm to eventually be lifted. Once the curse was removed after about 8 levels or so of the campaign, his total life experience had shifted and he chose to became Lawful-Evil and became a Blackguard. It was a great character concept, created by one of my better role-players, so it was fun to see.

[rhoule6819]

Hey Thylax,

I have really been temping to play a sorcerers now instead of a wizard, I think it will be a lot funner RP wise. How does a sorcerer work with learning new spells seeing how its more of an innate type thing compared to the wizard who has to spend time studing and researching the spells.

I know you said that sorcerers get familars like normal, im still toying with the idea ( i tend to never used familars before, always took varients that gave them up). Would u be willing to allow me to take the staff of the magi instead if I so desire?

As it sits right now we are using core rules. Are prestige classes allowed once we are further into the game, and can back up the reason for the prestige class in RP?

Thanks

[thrylax]

Hey Thylax,

I have really been temping to play a sorcerers now instead of a wizard, I think it will be a lot funner RP wise. How does a sorcerer work with learning new spells seeing how its more of an innate type thing compared to the wizard who has to spend time studing and researching the spells.

I know you said that sorcerers get familars like normal, im still toying with the idea ( i tend to never used familars before, always took varients that gave them up). Would u be willing to allow me to take the staff of the magi instead if I so desire?

As it sits right now we are using core rules. Are prestige classes allowed once we are further into the game, and can back up the reason for the prestige class in RP?

Thanks
It always bothered me that both sorcerers and wizards are essentially the exact same class. I don't think the game needs two different classes that do the exact same thing. If anything, I always thought sorcerer just should have been a variant of wizard, just like a ranger chooses whether to go down the bow path or the two-weapon path. But on the other hand, I still like the concept of a sorcerer, and since its in the rules anyway, I'll just keep it.
But because they are basically the same as wizards, I want to draw as much distinction as I possibly can between a sorcerer and a wizard, which is why I use the variant sorcerer from Monte Cook's excellent Book of Eldritch Might 2. As such, sorcerers get familiars, wizards get staffs. Sorceres can cast more spells with less variety than a wizard, who gets less spells, but with more variety. Sorcerers in this variant are also a bit hardier than are wizards, in that they get a d6 for hit die, and betters skill selection with 4 skills/level rather than a wizards 2. But to compensate, they do not get the bonus magical feats that a wizard gets.
It is for these reasons that staffs and familiars are not interchangeable unfortunately. But your not required to use a familiar if you don't want to. Its just a minor little class feature. As for staffs, there nothing stopping a sorcerer from discovering a magical staff and using it, or creating your own later in the game (if you can discover the means to do it).

As for prestige classes, yes I use them, but they are treated as a reward for in game developments to their character. Nobody can simply decide they want a prestige class and take it all of a sudden. Gaining a prestige class is a big deal and an important moment in the life of a character and is treated as such. I actually toyed with the idea of limiting Paladins and Rangers to prestige classes only, but I did not really like they way they decided to work them in Unearthed Arcana.

[Paranoia]

I think Sorc and Wizard have a different... feel to them really. IF they are played right. I imagine a sorc as more involved with the combat throwing out more damaging spells (Or buffs. Buffs/debuffs can change a battle around) and generally being there to help out with the battle. A wizard I see as a person who is more dangerous based on the amount of preparation and experience he is willing to put into his spells before the battle. I have found that a wizard will do a lot better NOT flinging a spell every round. What he should be doing is using some kind of ranged weapon, like a crossbow for instance... and saving his spells for the times when the battle needs them most. The downside to this is Wizards tend to be more complex... but end up more powerful if you play them right. (With their slightly faster rate of spell advancement they end up a bit more powerful anyways) On the other hand sorcs are what I view as the introduction spellcaster class almost. They can cast spells without having to worry about the tons of preparation of a wizard and without schools (or domains like clerics) there's not really much decision making during character gen.

[thrylax]

Whenever I run adventures, I like to use the A-B Plot structure so that characters can become more developed and interesting. Although the A plot is the more important for a particular adventure, the B plot (at least to me) is as least as important in the overall progression of the campaign as a whole.

The A plot is what you'd expect. Its the main reason for the particular adventure your currently running. For example, if the players were hired by some local lord to go to the Howling Caves and deal with the recent goblin problem that has recently cropped up in a local town, that would be the A plot. Its the main focus of that particular adventure, and the one in which the entire party will be participating.

The B plot on the other hand is what I like to use to drive deeper character development for the characters. I usually only focus the B plot on one particular character per overall adventure (not session). After that characters deals with his particular B plot (hopefully by the time the A plot wraps up), then another character will get their own B plot for the next adventure, and so on.

While other characters can certainly participate in another characters B plot, it will primarily be focused on that first character. Sometimes the A plot and B plot can be related or more rarely, even be the same thing.

As an example, while the party is wandering through the streets of Illad trying to located the secret hideout of the gang known as the Black Dragon Boys (The A plot); the parties fighter tries to hook up once more with a favored bar wench he frequented the last time he was in the city about six years back (The B plot). After he locates where she lived, he discovers that the poor girl has been murdered some years back and her young son (who is now about six years old) has been sent to work the stables across town by the dead girls former employer.

In the process of uncovering the location of the young boy, the fighter discovers that the dead girls former employer, the local tavern-keep, is in fact a ranking member of the Black Dragon Boys gang and had murdered the girl for spurning his advances. He then sold the dead girls young son into slavery to a "friend" of his who operates the stables across town. After saving the young boy (who may or may not turn out to be the fighters newly discovered son) and giving the corrupt tavern-keep a firm boot up the rear, they manage to wrangle from him the location of the Black Dragon Boys hideout which leads them neatly back to the A plot again.

Anyway, my point is, that if you want a B plot for your character, then you need to give me stuff to work with. This is the main reason why I insist on characters and not just builds. Its the B plots that matter more over the long run I believe. They are whats makes the characters more memorable not just to yourself, but to everyone your playing with too. So please avoid the temptation of saying that your fighter character (for example) is a wandering loner who never met anything or cared for anyone in his entire life. All he lives for is fighting and money.

If you give me stuff to work with that is interesting and/or entertaining, you will find that you end up with more B plots then other players.

[Irift001]

Whenever I run adventures, I like to use the A-B Plot structure so that characters can become more developed and interesting. Although the A plot is the more important for a particular adventure, the B plot (at least to me) is as least as important in the overall progression of the campaign as a whole.

The A plot is what you'd expect. Its the main reason for the particular adventure your currently running. For example, if the players were hired by some local lord to go to the Howling Caves and deal with the recent goblin problem that has recently cropped up in a local town, that would be the A plot. Its the main focus of that particular adventure, and the one in which the entire party will be participating.

The B plot on the other hand is what I like to use to drive deeper character development for the characters. I usually only focus the B plot on one particular character per overall adventure (not session). After that characters deals with his particular B plot (hopefully by the time the A plot wraps up), then another character will get their own B plot for the next adventure, and so on.

While other characters can certainly participate in another characters B plot, it will primarily be focused on that first character. Sometimes the A plot and B plot can be related or more rarely, even be the same thing.

As an example, while the party is wandering through the streets of Illad trying to located the secret hideout of the gang known as the Black Dragon Boys (The A plot); the parties fighter tries to hook up once more with a favored bar wench he frequented the last time he was in the city about six years back (The B plot). After he locates where she lived, he discovers that the poor girl has been murdered some years back and her young son (who is now about six years old) has been sent to work the stables across town by the dead girls former employer.

In the process of uncovering the location of the young boy, the fighter discovers that the dead girls former employer, the local tavern-keep, is in fact a ranking member of the Black Dragon Boys gang and had murdered the girl for spurning his advances. He then sold the dead girls young son into slavery to a "friend" of his who operates the stables across town. After saving the young boy (who may or may not turn out to be the fighters newly discovered son) and giving the corrupt tavern-keep a firm boot up the rear, they manage to wrangle from him the location of the Black Dragon Boys hideout which leads them neatly back to the A plot again.

Anyway, my point is, that if you want a B plot for your character, then you need to give me stuff to work with. This is the main reason why I insist on characters and not just builds. Its the B plots that matter more over the long run I believe. They are whats makes the characters more memorable not just to yourself, but to everyone your playing with too. So please avoid the temptation of saying that your fighter character (for example) is a wandering loner who never met anything or cared for anyone in his entire life. All he lives for is fighting and money.

If you give me stuff to work with that is interesting and/or entertaining, you will find that you end up with more B plots then other players.

I love this style of running, my only criticism is sometimes an adventures can become drawn out, and others feel it gets a bit stale waiting for their part B.

I think my character has some good part B hooks for you to pick up on. He's hunting down 3 men who ransacked his church and killed his foster father. It's always easy to come up for hooks with very faithful characters too. He also has no clue where he came from other than a now worn and illegible letter. Speaking of, could my character be from a previously unknown continent?

[Mgrancey]

How much control do I have over backstory, I have a couple of different ways for inspiration and one of the key things is that he has dreams/memories from previous lives. So I am working on stuff that he could remember.

[thrylax]

How much control do I have over backstory, I have a couple of different ways for inspiration and one of the key things is that he has dreams/memories from previous lives. So I am working on stuff that he could remember.
Thats not a easy question to answer, but I'll give it a shot. I would love to give everyone complete and total freedom to come up with whatever they wish for their characters backstory. But from experience I can say that some players, perhaps even most, simply will see it as an excuse to power-game and gain as much stuff as they possibly can for their characters. So I can simply say that if you make a backstory "in good faith" to the spirit of the style of game I'm trying to run, I will accept just about anything. All I can say is run it by me and I'll do what I can to try to make it work.
But I can say that if I get a backstory such as, "my character is the son of the god of war and my daddy, because he loves me, gave me a +4 to all my stats and a Vorpal Blade +20 of Castle Slaying" that idea is right out.

Nobody has to come up with their entire backstory all at once either. Feel free to add to it whatever makes sense as the game progresses and time goes on.

[Mgrancey]

Perfectly understandable, thankfully I've only run into a few like that worst situation was for PFS at a convention (decided to play a Cheliax whose great~~grand-daddy killed a 1000 demons; indecently the # of demons just kept going up).

so far key points of character are:

restless soul looking for adventure to challenge himself
has dreams/memories of past lifes (specifically one as a magic user)
searching the world for lost lore
PAST LIFE: involvement in some important event which 'shadow' is still being felt and is drawing him in


Two things before I take off.
1 I don't want to know who past life or important event was
2 He is probably definitely going to want to pick up Bard levels damnit.

[thrylax]

Alright, I've checked with the wife and I am now officially ready to say that I'd like to start the first game on Sunday, August 4th at Noon EDT (-5 UTC) till say 4pm or so EDT (-5 UTC).
I only have a FG2 Full License so players wishing to play must own at least a FG2 Lite License in order to do so.

Game System: D&D v3.5

Time Zone: Eastern Time Zone, USA

Game Time: Sundays from 12pm noon (-5 UTC) till no later than 4pm (-5 UTC)
Start Date: Sunday, August 4th
Planned Frequency: Weekly or Bi-weekly (Sunday's at 12pm noon, -5 UTC).
Term: Hopefully a full campaign that goes from 1st level till the party is dead.

Text or Voice: Text Only (I find that text only tends to make for better role-play in the few FG2 games I've played in)

Roleplay & Combat Mix: 50/50 (hopefully 75/25, but depends on the players)
Number of Players in Game: 3 to 5 other players (already have 1 confirmed player, so it'll be 4 to 6 total)
Character Starting Level & Equipment: Standard 1st level starting equipment.
Character Restrictions: As discussed previously in this thread.

Scenario Details: Eliador, a town under siege. Legions of undead assault the small hamlet when twilight falls. A frightened child pleads for help to rescue his family and the remaining citizens. Can your stalwart party of adventurers discover the secret behind the attacks and survive the Nightfall in Eliador?

Link to Gamecalendar Page: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/index.xcp?id=1047

[thrylax]

Perfectly understandable, thankfully I've only run into a few like that worst situation was for PFS at a convention (decided to play a Cheliax whose great~~grand-daddy killed a 1000 demons; indecently the # of demons just kept going up).

so far key points of character are:

restless soul looking for adventure to challenge himself
has dreams/memories of past lifes (specifically one as a magic user)
searching the world for lost lore
PAST LIFE: involvement in some important event which 'shadow' is still being felt and is drawing him in


Two things before I take off.
1 I don't want to know who past life or important event was
2 He is probably definitely going to want to pick up Bard levels damnit.
Are you completely against ever finding out whose past life your experiencing? I think discovering that could be an interesting dimension to add to a character. But its your call. If you are for finding out at some point, I already have a pretty cool idea where to take it. But never fear, I can come up with good ideas regardless.

[Paranoia]

Well I have been thinking of a rogue I could roll with.

If you were to look at him normally he would appear to be a large human. A little over six foot tall which would be noticeable if he had not been trained to blend in... Just a bit of mindset from him...

Slouch a bit where necessary... don't wear noticeable dark cloaks unless the goal is not to be seen at all. Normal clothes, just look like one of the crowd. Nobody expects a large man to have quick hands, use that to your advantage. Subvert the expectations of the target. They expect a thief in the night, not the one in plain sight. Do what it takes to survive.

He grew up in some city as part of either some gang... or with a small group of children in similar situations. He had always been bigger and stronger than the others around him. But it just made him less built for the lifestyle he was forced into. Because of that he was forced to adapt. Think quicker, move faster, it's always better just to not be noticed at all. It was due to this that he managed to survive as he grew older where many of his friends died from the transition of petty child crimes to the ones of adulthood. He had learned to blend where many of them had relied on speed and luck. Speed and luck can only get you so far as it turns out. He finally grew old and strong enough that he acquired the interest of a local bandit gang. Many of them didn't see him more than a bit of muscle for jobs, which he was perfectly fine with. He didn't strive to get ahead he only did what was required of him and used quick wit and skill where it was not expected to stay alive. He spent a few years like that before finally it started to wear down on him....

Unfortunately I need to get going now so I'll need to put more thought into this later. But I like the feel I have for him thus far, just need to find how he got into the adventuring scene... and if it happened before or after the start of the campaign.

[Irift001]

So Thrylax, are you alright with working out inquisitor with me? I can stat up the character and show it to you if you want.

[thrylax]

So Thrylax, are you alright with working out inquisitor with me? I can stat up the character and show it to you if you want.
I checked it over and inquisitor seems a bit OP for this campaign. If I ever get around to running an Age of Light Campaign I'd certainly give it a try, but for this campaign I'm afraid its straight 3.5 PHB only.

[Irift001]

I don't really see a way to play Argus without drastically altering his backstory then. I could play a cleric, but they have no skill points so are in no way suitable to hunt down their deity's enemy. What I mean by that is they have few tools at their disposal to find/identify their enemies, they also can't realistically compete in any martial combat. Paladins would be much much more defensive than offensive, which Argus is not. Any purely martial class would also deviant pretty far from Argus' backstory, and while I suppose he could just be a ranger or fighter, that's what I play the majority of the time and would like a change.

Put simply, I'd like a small selection of divine spells, and to be able to compete in martial combat. So unless you can think of something for me I suppose I'll bow out. I'm really looking to play Argus, if I can't no worries, I understand.

[thrylax]

I don't really see a way to play Argus without drastically altering his backstory then. I could play a cleric, but they have no skill points so are in no way suitable to hunt down their deity's enemy. What I mean by that is they have few tools at their disposal to find/identify their enemies, they also can't realistically compete in any martial combat. Paladins would be much much more defensive than offensive, which Argus is not. Any purely martial class would also deviant pretty far from Argus' backstory, and while I suppose he could just be a ranger or fighter, that's what I play the majority of the time and would like a change.

Put simply, I'd like a small selection of divine spells, and to be able to compete in martial combat. So unless you can think of something for me I suppose I'll bow out. I'm really looking to play Argus, if I can't no worries, I understand.
I understand, this sort of campaign is not for everyone. It really goes against the grain of what most players expect from D&D these days. But if I ever decide to run an Age of Light Campaign, which I may do after this one ends, hit me up. Its pretty much just straight-up Pathfinder, so the Inquisitor should fit in there nicely.
Until then.

[Dr_Babylon]

Well with a part-Bard and my proposed Cloistered Cleric, it would seem like we'll have our knowledge and lore covered. I am pleased with the notion of the natural magic-user (sorcerers) being treated not unlike mutants (been watchin' some X-Men recently) by society at large. Here's hoping that harboring such a being proves...eventful. I do believe I can cover some divination action so, if selections are tight, our mage need not worry on that front.

In the case of Domains, what's the group consensus regarding Healing vs Sun. Less impressive as it may seem, a tiny boost to healing spells will certainly see more use but, in the event of many undead, would we rather I can do the occasionally enhanced turning? Thoughts?

Not my place to say but those who are officially on board might jot what they're working with on the Calendar page so we are all on the same page regarding what we have covered. We can always adapt afterward. If needed, I am still willing to change my direction, of course.

[Mgrancey]

Are you completely against ever finding out whose past life your experiencing? I think discovering that could be an interesting dimension to add to a character. But its your call. If you are for finding out at some point, I already have a pretty cool idea where to take it. But never fear, I can come up with good ideas regardless.

Sorry, what I meant about not knowing was for back story, right now I am probably somewhat doubtful of the dreams. I was honestly hoping to run into the repercussions of his past life's involvement in whatever magical event he was part of. I was going to use that as part of his momentum, was deja vu, I think i remember this, dreams of past events, and inconvenient or poorly timed flashbacks. If reincarnation is unusual then its probably because of something I did previously.

I see him starting off wandering around, helping people, living big, seeking challenges to overcome, and being nosy and looking for lost lore about magic, life, and death. As awareness that the dreams aren't just dreams but memories he will start to try and figure out who he was and why he's remembering since it would be quite unusual. Saddest part is I can see him moving towards bard because of the investigation and lore parts (don't really care about the magic or social stuff), but I know that monk in 3.5 have the same restriction as pallys with no other classes or else done with class. :( Not a big deal would have to wait to see if remembering would spark magic in him or not otherwise would rather play a non-magical bard.

[Paranoia]

Well if you wanted just a fluff bard going fighter/rogue who just knows how to play some music could be done. Though hell if you wanted to progress just for the entertainment side of things in mind I'd ask to be able to trade out skills you have for other skills to be class skills. I know it's a change to gameplay but if it's for a reason more fluff wise than anything I don't see a reason why it couldn't work. (I actually considered playing this rogue as a happy musical fellow at first and was planning to ask to trade some skill for perform (Music/Juggling) since it fits the character background and spending 2 points to do something your character has focused on seems... off)

But that's just how I'd try to do it.

[Mgrancey]

Well if you wanted just a fluff bard going fighter/rogue who just knows how to play some music could be done.

Sorry no, The part of bard that I would want is the knowledge and lore part (when I think of bard I think of Eberron's take on it; if you want someone who can sing, dance, etc. just get an expert. Bards are gatherers of lore and secrets; inquisitive characters who solve mysterys or go ruin exploring); honestly I would really want is the Bardic Knowledge and skill points with class skills for knowledges; I don't really care about the rest of the class but there's no way to get just bardic knowledge, and he's not the type to be willing to go to a bardic college; he would gain lore knowledge from paying or sneaking into libraries to read, sites he's run into, listening to others, trading for information, etc. If he did go to college he's probably gotten into a lot of trouble for disappearing and skipping classes. Hmm. [stopped and looked up Variant Bards in Unearthed Arcana]

Would it be okay to play a Bardic Sage?

I know we are using 3.5, are we using full out skills list or slightly more condensed version like Monte Cook did with Arcana Evolved and Pathfinder? I'm guessing 3.5 kablooey list.

[thrylax]

Sorry no, The part of bard that I would want is the knowledge and lore part (when I think of bard I think of Eberron's take on it; if you want someone who can sing, dance, etc. just get an expert. Bards are gatherers of lore and secrets; inquisitive characters who solve mysterys or go ruin exploring); honestly I would really want is the Bardic Knowledge and skill points with class skills for knowledges; I don't really care about the rest of the class but there's no way to get just bardic knowledge, and he's not the type to be willing to go to a bardic college; he would gain lore knowledge from paying or sneaking into libraries to read, sites he's run into, listening to others, trading for information, etc. If he did go to college he's probably gotten into a lot of trouble for disappearing and skipping classes. Hmm. [stopped and looked up Variant Bards in Unearthed Arcana]

Would it be okay to play a Bardic Sage?

I know we are using 3.5, are we using full out skills list or slightly more condensed version like Monte Cook did with Arcana Evolved and Pathfinder? I'm guessing 3.5 kablooey list.
There is no reason you can't do that character concept with a class other than bard. Just make a character with high intelligence and get a lot of ranks in Knowledge skills. There are very few skills that most classes actually "need" so anything left over from a high intelligence can go over to build a concept like what you have in mind.
I actually prefer that players make some tough choice in order to build interesting characters. Even if in the process the end up with a build that is not "mechanically optimized" to what a power-gamer would build. For me at least, its not about mechanical optimization to squeeze the most DPS out of a build, its about making a real life living, breathing character, with their own wants, desires, hopes and dreams. This to me is what a true RPG has over any MMO that has been or ever will be. Its the one thing that I get from real tabletop D&D that I can't get from WoW or DDO, or Elder Scrolls Online or any computer game that will ever be.

So don't worry if in the process of spending skills on things that your build "don't need" you end up with the true character you want to be. Trust me when I say you will absolutely not feel the lesser for it in the long run. At least not in THIS campaign.

As for the previous posts about Sun vs Healing domains, I can tell you that both would be extremely valuable in this campaign arc I have dreamed up. Although the overall campaign arc is still in its infancy and subject to change, I can say with a good degree of certainty that undead will feature prominently throughout, beginning with the very first adventure. I'd like to run Expedition to Castle Ravenloft for this campaign as well, so there is a whole series where undead abound.
As for healing, in this campaign, where much in game time will be lost to the party simply recovering from their wounds from the previous adventure and specific injuries to critical locations will be numerous and often, I can say that clerics who can heal would be a godsend......pun intended.

[Mgrancey]

Actually missed the section about bards being from the Book of Eldritch Might II, I like that bard a whole lot more than the standard one.

[thrylax]

Actually missed the section about bards being from the Book of Eldritch Might II, I like that bard a whole lot more than the standard one.
Something to bear in mind however, is that the spellsongs listed in that book are based upon D&D 3.0 and not 3.5 rules. The differences are subtle but important. The spellsongs are basically just variations of already existing spells from the wizard spell list. Some of those spells have altered from 3.0 to 3.5. One important one is the Spellchord "Enhance Physical Form" which is basically just the wizards spells Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace and Bear's Endurance all rolling into one.
In 3.5 those spells add a +4 bonus to the chosen state for 1 minute/level. But in 3.0 they added 1d4+1 points to the chosen stat for 1 hour/level. Since this is 3.5, spellsongs listed for the variant bard will be altered to fit their 3.5 counterparts and not the 3.0 versions that are listed in the Book of Eldritch Might 2.
In most cases this will not be important, but some, like the spell listed above for example, it is an important difference.

[thrylax]

I'd like to see where everyone is at character-wise. As of now, we seem to have the following.



Amarandir = Ranger (if he's still playing, no updates in a while)
Rhoule6819 = Thanus Arundrel - Wizard Extraordinaire
Paranoia = Human something maybe Paladin maybe Rogue
Mgrancey = Monk (Has strange dreams and thinks it may be a past life experience)
Dr_Babylon = Cloistered Cleric of Vanya (Concerned with her lack of empathy for others)
GrnEyedAngel = Likely a fighter type meat-machine (Half-Orc if I know her half as well as I think I do)


Remember, I'd like to try to limit characters to no more than one arcane caster, one paladin and one non-human per party. Otherwise their rareness is lost. One of the cool things about playing such a character in this campaign is the very fact that they are rare. I can make exceptions to this guideline in certain cases. For example, an elf who travels in the guise of a human could be OK as they are not drawing undue attention to the party. Half-orcs also do not count against the limit because they are in fact somewhat common (at least compared to other non-human races).

[Paranoia]

The real potential downside I see to playing a rogue is... rogues kind of are MUCH less effective where undead are concerned. (Except if they have the required things to be able to sneak attack them, but those are not easy to get... and impossible base PHP?) So I was kind of wondering what percentage of undead we'd be looking at. Like over 50%? Because if so that could be a serious problem. Unless there are going to be enough traps and other things to STILL make a rogue worth it despite that.

[thrylax]

The real potential downside I see to playing a rogue is... rogues kind of are MUCH less effective where undead are concerned. (Except if they have the required things to be able to sneak attack them, but those are not easy to get... and impossible base PHP?) So I was kind of wondering what percentage of undead we'd be looking at. Like over 50%? Because if so that could be a serious problem. Unless there are going to be enough traps and other things to STILL make a rogue worth it despite that.
Your still seeing it from the view point of a regular style of D&D game. Although it may end up like that (depending on the types of players we get) my goal is for a more character-driven RPG with accent of the "role" over the "roll". In which case you should not concern yourself as much with DPS or whether your character will be less effective because of lack of traps. The main focus will hopefully be on playing an interesting character in an interesting world. So if playing a rogue type character seems like a fun character to "role-play" then by all means do it and don't worry so much about effectiveness. That being said, if I know there is a rogue in the party, I will try my best to make sure that character has the chance to "do their thing" no matter what style of play we have.

Even if a rogue cannot do a sneak attack against undead does not mean they are ineffective. Scouts are always effective, and tripping zombies when they don't even realize the attack is coming is a great way to be effective, even against undead.
Remember that zombies get 1 standard action per round only. So if you trip one, its entire combat round must be used to stand back up again, effectively making them useless. Locked doors, chests and secret doors are always a possibility, even in an undead filled dungeon.

On the other hand, if a rogue does not seem like an interesting character to role-play, then do not make one. Don't worry about whether or not someone else thinks that the party "needs" one or not or even if everyone in the party in already playing them. Remember, its about the character, not the build.

Like I said prior, I would hope that everyone can come up with fun, interesting and different characters even if everyone in the party were limited to nothing but human fighters.

[Mgrancey]

I'm actually thinking of Bard over monk, with the back story I've come up with. Especially since bards are done with monte's variation in Eldritch Might II, it fits better than typical bard. So do bards have schools/guilds or are they more solo?

[Dr_Babylon]

Mavra Pastukhova sat high on a wagon seat beside its driver. The man, named Arkady Drovosekov, was a kaluk or independent farmer from the Vos border who remained hale and hearty despite his many years. Having grown tired of the harsh levies placed on landowners on the frontier by the Rhakier Khaganate, he was currently committed to the arduous process of resettling his extended family in more auspicious lands. It had seemed a fool's errand not worth the risk when the young cleric had first taken up with the Drovosekovs but, after the last several tendays in their company, she could not refute the purity of their resolve.

The elderly patron noticed her solemn scrutiny and flashed his teeth in an affable grin around his pipe-stem. She smiled politely and turned her attention back to the rocky terrain surrounding the road. The mountainous highlands of this region of Aerimar were quite different from her native lands and she found the change in geography fascinating.

These good people had been generous enough to allow her to join their procession despite her lack of resources. Indeed, Mavra's sequestered upbringing had left her with few skills to aid even this modest expedition. They had, no doubt, been quite pleased to learn of her healing talents but had never become exploitative of the gifts Vanya granted. Sadly, the extensive skills she had cultivated as an archivist and scrivener had seldom seen any use at all in the world at large. She could only smile ruefully at her initial presumption regarding the value of the philosophical teachings that had most intrigued her throughout her education. As it was, Mavra did the best she could to take her cues from the other woman in order to make herself useful whenever the wagons ceased their ponderous transit at the end of every day.

The shadows grew longer and she glanced around at the other members of this humble caravan for any indication of making camp for the night. Mavra spotted little tow-headed Vadim, son of Arkady's eldest daughter and her husband, waving to her from the back of the heavily-laden wagon leading her own. The boy was perhaps four years old and utterly fearless while, in contrast, Mavra had originally been quite nervous around him, lacking any prior exposure to children. Now she had to admit that she adored him for his many guileless questions and reflexive hugs. The cleric returned Vadim's eager gesture with a fond smile.

Among the others, Mavra found that she had made the most profound impression on Kirill, the kulak's youngest son. She thought of him as an adolescent though she believed that the soft-spoken, broad-shouldered lad and she were of similar ages. Kirill had shown great interest in Mavra's faith in particular, asking her for clarification on many related topics. He had even occasionally joined her for her dawn observances. Admittedly, she had come to suspect that his habitual proximity had less to do with the tenets associated with her robes than the female form she concealed beneath them. In any event, the company was appreciated even if it was misguided. She did wish that Kirill would not come to her with quite so many minor injuries in need of a healer's touch. The boy was likely to do lasting harm in his pursuits.

Mavra had yet to come across any other members of her faith or, for that matter, any clergy at all. She understood that the Holy Order of Vanya existed in many forms throughout the land and she was rather curious about the superficial differences in doctrine and outlook they might maintain. She knew that most worshipers were recognized by their white robes trimmed with gold. Where she came from, those who occupied the majority of their time at library study and dissertation within cloistered settings avoided this practice, wary of the omnipresent ink and dust. At the massive, domed temple that she called home, novitiates garbed themselves instead in voluminous cassocks of charcoal coloring and ornamented with sunbursts in the soft golden-orange of a new dawn. The combination bore some resemblance to a rather striking species of butterfly seen only in the summers of Rhakier. Mavra had been pleased to discover early on that these displaced farmers favored an approach to personal hygiene almost as vigilant as her own, and she was permitted time and resources necessary to keep her splendid attire at least relatively clean. On the road, beneath her vestment, Mavra wore her armor more often than not and had even decided that she might be getting used to its extra weight. At least she no longer felt a poor imitator of the impressive Crusaders of Vanya that she had read about when she donned the studded kuyak. Regarding the heavy steel pernach that lay on the wagon-bed behind her, she was less confident. While Kirill had gently insisted that she showed great improvement in loosing quarrels from his samostrel, the brutality inherent in swinging a bludgeon sickened her.

It had taken her some time but Mavra was tentatively getting over the certainty that she did not belong in this world. She had left the shelter of the church at the behest of her prelate. Her superiors had used discretion in removing a number of novices from their ranks as a cost-cutting measure in the face of diminished community influence. The sad reality was that the Holy Order of Vanya, as well as other similarly benevolent, less than lucrative traditions, simply did not command the respect it once did. The changing political atmosphere had put additional stresses on her temple and, consequently, Mavra's rank had seen a significant and hasty redistribution. She remembered her final confrontation with Prelate Zakhar and felt a bitterness that surprised her. Curiously, if the ecclesiarch's criticisms were anything to go by, letting these negative emotions in could only serve to enhance her standing in the church. She supposed her wishes and regrets had little purpose. Objectivity demanded that she deal with the here and now instead of lamenting over what should have been. Vanya only illuminated one day at a time.

The wagon came to a halt, interrupting Mavra's introverted meandering as the driver whistled loudly to signal an end to the day's progress. They would make camp here for the night.

"Pendruin tomorrow or day after, baryshnya," the senior Drovosekov assured her, climbing down from his seat. Arkady's determined unwillingness to use proper church forms of address had irritated her initially but she had learned that he was burdened by his own crisis of faith so she no longer took offense. "Your journey will soon be ended."

"With respect, tovarisch," Sestra Mavra told the valuk, "I sincerely hope that is not true."



(Just tossing something up there to give an idea of where I'm headed here. I like stories. If anything needs adjustment, I am all ears. I should say that Mavra's background is pretty heavy on scholarly pursuits of knowledge, lore, religion, etc. If this is where Mgrancey wants to go with his Bard then I suppose I can make...like, a Barbarian or something. I know I shouldn't be too concerned about overlapping but I detest the idea of being the "other" knowledge guy.)

[Paranoia]

Oh I do understand where you're coming from. But I find equal parts fun in role-play and gameplay. Okay maybe a bit more from the role-play side than gameplay. But the reason I was hesitant is that I have played a character that has seemed useless in a campaign before. I once played a character that was focused on mind effecting abilities, it's what he was for and if he could do that he was great. Only we never encountered anything that could be influenced by those. So I spent all the time seeming... useless as we were non-stop pitted into battle against things that were just immune to everything I could really do and this character was NOT a close combatant. Admittedly the DM for this campaign wasn't very... well good. I assumed you were better but I just had to check. I do get that it's more about story rather than combat... but it's true that combat and gameplay will still be present, so having a character you can enjoy to play RP wise is good... but also combat wise.

Also I am heavy into characterization. Hell if given half a chance I am much more likely to try and talk the party OUT of fights (Unless I am playing a character that has a different mindset than that). I enjoy getting into characters heads and finding out what makes them tick. While it might not be the way you'd go about it I tend to decide character class first, and then go about making a character I find interesting and deep that pushes the norm of what you might expect for that class. If I could get a testimony from the other people I play with on average they'll tell you that most of my characters are deep and fun to be around. Honestly the biggest weakness I have is making backgrounds, I do much better getting in the mindset of a character and knowing HOW they'll act rather then figuring out where they came from (Which I understand can make up WHY they act like they do).

Anyways I think the rogue will be fine for me. His backgrounds a bit... generic but there is a lot of room and ideas I have to delve into him deeper and make him open up more. I have ideas of how it can go but I NEVER set it in stone how I PLAN for it to go. How he develops is based on the people around him and the events that happen. If he opens up and becomes friendly to the group it'll be because there were reasons for it. If he stays off to the side and doesn't really socialize... it'll because of things that happened. Who the person he becomes will be built based on how he thinks combined with everything else around him.

EDIT: Now that I think of it I am also prone to giving characters... downsides. Not for a reward or anything. Just having a character missing an arm or an eye. Having them deliberately cause problems for the group by acting like they normally would (Last game I played my fighter punched the crap out of a ranger in the party because he would not shut up and he put everyones lives in danger, it ended up with the Ranger leaving the party). It just makes them feel more real to me, and I have always been bothered by the hive mind effect of groups where they all just mass together and agree perfectly to go do X... without a rhyme or reason for some of the characters. Hell I had one that was emotionally dependant on the group and that was his only reason for going with them into places. But at least it was a reason.

[thrylax]

Just in case I'm giving off the wrong impressions about what I'm looking for in a player. I don't have any problem whatsoever with players wanting to be powerful characters. Its one of the reason we play this game I think, to give us ordinary folk a taste of power which we sometimes lack in our own mundane lives.

The only things I try to guard against is characters that are nothing more then simply their race/class combo and feat selection. Most players I've had in my tabletop campaigns have been of that sort unfortunately (not that I'm making any such judgements about any of you). There have been exceptions to be sure, but it just seems that most people only think about their characters as nothing more than a collection of stats and numbers to be crunched to mechanical perfection......and thats all.

So that said, please feel free to go about making your character any way you like. If that means choosing race/class first then by all means do so. If you can't come up with a great backstory before the game starts, don't worry too much about it, maybe something will come to you as the game progresses. And if anyone needs help with ideas for character backstories, please feel free to hit me up.....I got a million of em. Sometimes the simplest things can make for a great character concept.

I once had a player whose only "initial" character concept was a backwoods redneck....complete with hillbilly accent. (That accent comes from the Ethengar Freeholds by the way, and many of the same stereotypes that exist for hillbilly also exist for your average Freeholder). Anyway, he made a ranger that was very plain spoken with his own sort of home-spun wisdom about him. The character was initially a total redneck and was sort of a cross between Grizzly Adams and Sheriff Andy Taylor. Looked like Grizzly Adams and acted and spoke like Andy Taylor. The character was one of the better true characters I've ever had the pleasure to host on the World of Erndorth. So if you ever find your way into the Ethengar Freeholds, don't be too surprised if you hear tale of a great mountain of a man that is part grizzly bear who goes by the name of Arthur Stonebreaker, The Bear of Bethel.

[Paranoia]

Yeah. I just wanted to give the impression that I wasn't one of those players. I have played with stat crunchers who ONLY care about that... and it's no fun. It leaves you disinterested with your character and the storyline. I'm actually preparing a call of cthulhu campaign for some of my friends and I have been getting tired of very... bland characters from some of them. So I set a requirement that they each needed to give me five people they know from their past. Alive or dead, friend or foe. I don't care. I just needed them to KNOW some people and then give me how you know them. I feel that it gave a few of my players a huge chance to develop their characters further. Making a background alone is okay if you put effort into it... but a lot of people don't. I found that this made them think of people they knew and had new experiences in their past to speak of. Not to mention that having a few contacts to be able to call on never hurts. Prevents the feel of the characters just popping into existence from the god knows where.

Tomorrow I'll work a bit more on my rogues backstory. I figure more details will start to come up. People he met, organizations he dealt with, etc. I also don't plan to reveal all of it to everyone. I'll reveal a bit but not too many details. To the DM I'll send all the information for him to know about and approve. I think it's a lot more interesting when you have to learn things about the character from them. Not to mention if we really go into plots dealing with other characters specifically it'll make it a lot more interesting for everyone involved. Also I'll give him a name at some point tomorrow hopefully. Names are my weak point however so I might ask for some advice on that one.

[thrylax]

There are a great many random name generators available on the net. While true that all the realms in Landor are modeled after real world historical times/places, just because your character comes from a certain place does not mean they must have a name to match. Perhaps you were raised there, but you mother/father comes from elsewhere. Perhaps the named you after a wandering adventurer who saved their village a couple decades back, perhaps they simply liked an exotic sounding name.********************************************* ************************************************** **A great one I recommend is Bruce Gulke's Tabesmith program. It has random name generators, random character traits/mannerism generators, treasure generators, there are even random City and Dungeon generators. The list is really endless. Been using it for years. https://www.mythosa.net/Main/TableSmith?from=Utils.Html************************ ************************************************** ***********************One important bit of info I'd appreciate before we start, is why/how you ended up in Aerimar to begin with. Its pretty remote and isolated, especially the highlands of Aerimar. So how did you get there and why are you there. If you have trouble with this, may I offer a suggestion and simply say that odds are at least 1 character in the party could be from Aerimar. It automatically gives you a great reason to be there and you already know your name will be Scottish inspired along with their accent and mannerisms. Not to mention, perhaps if you have any friends/family then they will be close at hand for the first few adventures, which can make for some great role-play opportunity to say nothing of built in character hooks. Which is really what I'm looking for as a DM, is good plot hooks for the characters to bite on. But don't let me force the issue, please feel free to be from wherever you like.********************************************* ************************************************** **As a side note, I also not against allowing players to detail the places where they come from even if it does not exist yet in the world. Entire kingdoms on Erndorth have been the sole invention of some of my players over the years. So if a place/style does not exist on the map, run it by me and if its reasonable, we'll just add it to the map and viola, instant background for your character.**************************************** ************************************************** *******In fact the god Solsek-Ro was invented entirely by one of my tabletop players years back. He wanted to play a cleric of the god of fire. My campaign did not at the time have such a deity, so I allowed the player to invent one. He stole the name from (I think) Everquest I believe, but everything else about the god/religion was invented totally by the player. Solsek-Ro has been a major deity in the campaign ever since and has been the god of choice for at least one other player after that.********************************************* ************************************************** **(Note, paragraphs are not formatting correctly in this post for some reason. Had the problem before. Any time I try to edit it, it simple drops the blank line altogether).

[thrylax]

Mavra Pastukhova sat high on a wagon seat beside its driver. The man, named Arkady Drovosekov, was a kaluk or independent farmer from the Vos border who remained hale and hearty despite his many years. Having grown tired of the harsh levies placed on landowners on the frontier by the Rhakier Khaganate, he was currently committed to the arduous process of resettling his extended family in more auspicious lands. It had seemed a fool's errand not worth the risk when the young cleric had first taken up with the Drovosekovs but, after the last several tendays in their company, she could not refute the purity of their resolve.The elderly patron noticed her solemn scrutiny and flashed his teeth in an affable grin around his pipe-stem. She smiled politely and turned her attention back to the rocky terrain surrounding the road. The mountainous highlands of this region of Aerimar were quite different from her native lands and she found the change in geography fascinating.These good people had been generous enough to allow her to join their procession despite her lack of resources. Indeed, Mavra's sequestered upbringing had left her with few skills to aid even this modest expedition. They had, no doubt, been quite pleased to learn of her healing talents but had never become exploitative of the gifts Vanya granted. Sadly, the extensive skills she had cultivated as an archivist and scrivener had seldom seen any use at all in the world at large. She could only smile ruefully at her initial presumption regarding the value of the philosophical teachings that had most intrigued her throughout her education. As it was, Mavra did the best she could to take her cues from the other woman in order to make herself useful whenever the wagons ceased their ponderous transit at the end of every day.The shadows grew longer and she glanced around at the other members of this humble caravan for any indication of making camp for the night. Mavra spotted little tow-headed Vadim, son of Arkady's eldest daughter and her husband, waving to her from the back of the heavily-laden wagon leading her own. The boy was perhaps four years old and utterly fearless while, in contrast, Mavra had originally been quite nervous around him, lacking any prior exposure to children. Now she had to admit that she adored him for his many guileless questions and reflexive hugs. The cleric returned Vadim's eager gesture with a fond smile.Among the others, Mavra found that she had made the most profound impression on Kirill, the kulak's youngest son. She thought of him as an adolescent though she believed that the soft-spoken, broad-shouldered lad and she were of similar ages. Kirill had shown great interest in Mavra's faith in particular, asking her for clarification on many related topics. He had even occasionally joined her for her dawn observances. Admittedly, she had come to suspect that his habitual proximity had less to do with the tenets associated with her robes than the female form she concealed beneath them. In any event, the company was appreciated even if it was misguided. She did wish that Kirill would not come to her with quite so many minor injuries in need of a healer's touch. The boy was likely to do lasting harm in his pursuits.Mavra had yet to come across any other members of her faith or, for that matter, any clergy at all. She understood that the Holy Order of Vanya existed in many forms throughout the land and she was rather curious about the superficial differences in doctrine and outlook they might maintain. She knew that most worshipers were recognized by their white robes trimmed with gold. Where she came from, those who occupied the majority of their time at library study and dissertation within cloistered settings avoided this practice, wary of the omnipresent ink and dust. At the massive, domed temple that she called home, novitiates garbed themselves instead in voluminous cassocks of charcoal coloring and ornamented with sunbursts in the soft golden-orange of a new dawn. The combination bore some resemblance to a rather striking species of butterfly seen only in the summers of Rhakier. Mavra had been pleased to discover early on that these displaced farmers favored an approach to personal hygiene almost as vigilant as her own, and she was permitted time and resources necessary to keep her splendid attire at least relatively clean. On the road, beneath her vestment, Mavra wore her armor more often than not and had even decided that she might be getting used to its extra weight. At least she no longer felt a poor imitator of the impressive Crusaders of Vanya that she had read about when she donned the mail. Regarding the heavy steel pernach that lay on the wagon-bed behind her, she was less confident. While Kirill had gently insisted that she showed great improvement in loosing quarrels from his samostrel, the brutality inherent in swinging a bludgeon sickened her.It had taken her some time but Mavra was tentatively getting over the certainty that she did not belong in this world. She had left the shelter of the church at the behest of her prelate. Her superiors had used discretion in removing a number of novices from their ranks as a cost-cutting measure in the face of diminished community influence. The sad reality was that the Holy Order of Vanya, as well as other similarly benevolent, less than lucrative traditions, simply did not command the respect it once did. The changing political atmosphere had put additional stresses on her temple and, consequently, Mavra's rank had seen a significant and hasty redistribution. She remembered her final confrontation with Prelate Zakhar and felt a bitterness that surprised her. Curiously, if the ecclesiarch's criticisms were anything to go by, letting these negative emotions in could only serve to enhance her standing in the church. She supposed her wishes and regrets had little purpose. Objectivity demanded that she deal with the here and now instead of lamenting over what should have been. Vanya only illuminated one day at a time.The wagon came to a halt, interrupting Mavra's introverted meandering as the driver whistled loudly to signal an end to the day's progress. They would make camp here for the night."Pendruin tomorrow or the next day, baryshnya," the senior Drovosekov assured her, climbing down from his seat. Arkady's determined unwillingness to use proper church forms of address had irritated her initially but she had learned that he was burdened by his own crisis of faith so she no longer took offense. "Your journey will soon be ended.""With respect, my friend," Sestra Mavra told the valuk, "I sincerely hope that is not true."(Just tossing something up there to give an idea of where I'm headed here. I like stories. If anything needs adjustment, I am all ears. I should say that Mavra's background is pretty heavy on scholarly pursuits of knowledge, lore, religion, etc. If this is where Mgrancey wants to go with his Bard then I suppose I can make...like, a Barbarian or something. I know I shouldn't be too concerned about overlapping but I detest the idea of being the "other" knowledge guy.)This is great! I sincerely hope you decide to play this character because now I'm hooked. I'm Looking forward to playing this campaign with such high caliber players. :-D

[Paranoia]

Also just read the story text wall by Babylon... I have been defeated this day. But I refuse to lose the war. I'll have something at least half that good before we start, if not moreso. I do a bit of writing on the side but I don't often use that in conjunction with my characters. I'm not great with backgrounds but being able to do a snapshot of the past like that... that's something I can do.

[Dr_Babylon]

Thank you for the kind sentiments. I look forward to working alongside you all in this endeavor.

I am eager to hear more details from the less communicative members of our cabal. At this point, it is less about revealing secret histories and vulgar motivations in our characters than giving our fellow players an idea of what they should expect. The rural, relatively under-populated region in which we will begin would seem too intimate of a setting for astute adventurers to have heard nothing of each other.

(I apologize for the wall of text. Character creation makes me...garrulous.)

[thrylax]

Decided to make another quick post before work. Hopefully I'll get some more players signing on in the Campaign section. Once again, for those who don't know already, the link to the campaign section is https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=1047.
I need to get some more people to add their characters to that section so that I can see what we're working with. After that, I imagine that the hardest part will be getting past the parties initial introduction to the game. I always dread the first game of a campaign the most, mainly because I hate resorting to the tried old "your in a tavern" cliche. Make no mistake, I'll use it if I have to, but I despise having to resort to that nonetheless.

So the sooner I can see whose playing what, the sooner I can start to work on actual initial hooks for each character without resorting to the tavern cliche. Once we get past the initial hook, things will go smoother and all I'll need to worry about is the adventure at have and possibly whats happened during the significant downtime since the last adventure.

Like I said before, make sure your character has something to do during downtime, as in this campaign it tends to be a long time in game-time between different adventures. Costs of living will be incurred, as well income for those of you lucky enough to have a means of making coin. The down-time is also a great time to work on little pet projects like crafting, researching and generally practicing your skills to keep from getting rusty. To say nothing of healing from serious wounds from your last adventure for those not fortunate enough to have a cleric in the party.

Which reminds me, I do have a system in place for "skill rust" which means that characters who have been non-active for a extended period of time will inevitably become rusty in certain aspects of their characters. This "skill rust" can be mitigated by continued practice, but there is not enough time in a day to practice everything. Don't worry though, as "skill rust" only really starts to apply if its been over a year of in-game time since your last adventure, and that rarely happens. Especially if the characters make it known that they are "actively seeking" another bit of excitement.
If a character incurs "skill rust" then its just basically applied as a "negative level" as from an energy drain attack that goes away naturally as a character adventures once more. It only usually applies to the first few encounters of a new adventure and then goes away by itself.

In general, skill rust is something that rarely comes up and when it does its just a minor annoyance rather than a serious debilitation. Its just something I use to wring a little more detail out of the game.

[thrylax]

The day draws near. Any players who have previously expressed an interest in playing in this campaign please make a post here and update your characters on the Campaign Link. When you post here, I would appreciate it if everyone could make a brief post telling everyone a bit about your character. Even if you start the game not actually knowing and of the other characters, making a brief post here will help other to envision your character with a bit more ease once they do get acquainted.

Remember, their stats and gear don't matter so much as their traits and mannerisms. I'm not asking for a novella here either. Just a quick paragraph or three that gives a brief description of "who" your character is. Perhaps the way they dress or speak. Their personality, or most important, what sorts of things motivate them to be who they are.

Choosing to be an adventurer is NOT a normal life decision for most people. What is it about your character that is driving them to be the perhaps one person in ten thousand who did make that choice? Or was it your choice at all? Maybe your character was subject to a curse or geas that forces them to do what they are doing. In the case of paladins, they rarely choose to be where they are, but are rather driven there by an unseen and overwhelming urge.

Just some things to think about.

[thrylax]

On a separate, but related note. I hope that everyone will bear with me for this first game that we attempt to play. As I posted previously, I am an old hand at running RPG games, but am very new to running them over a VTT program such as Fantasy Grounds 2. I'm sure that some things will be very different and it may take me some time to find the right way to pace the game over such a medium as this. Since we're using text based communications, I assume that the pace will slow a bit, but the automation of a great deal of combat over FG2 may speed up other areas as well. Overall I hope that means the pace will be the same.

I would love to spend more time on role-playing and less on combat minutia, which is something that I hope FG2 can offer us. That said, this first adventure is still just a pretty standard, getting my feet wet, sort of affair. Don't expect any elaborate plot twists or much of a B plot at all for this first one. Before I can properly dive into the individual characters making up the party, I would first have to get to know them a bit better. This is the reason I'd like a brief post about your characters before we start.

Dr_Babylon has already posted a wonderful example of the sort of thing I'm looking for. It says a great deal about not only the character he is going to play, but a good deal about a group of Rhakiery settlers that he (or rather she) is traveling with. You don't all have to write a short story like he did (although if you want to, I would love to read it). But like I posted before, just a quick something that gives me an idea about how best to motivate your characters in the hopefully many adventures to come.

[Paranoia]

What does it mean to be alive? The thought assailed him making it one of the many reasons his knees shook with such vigor. The chill in the air was one that would make most men huddle in layered clothing and still feel the bite of the wind. Is it living just to struggle against death? He was numbed to the chill however, he had stopped caring about it hours ago. His gaze was locked on three mounds of dirt, each of them with a small trinket placed on top. Was there really no purpose for them? Standing alone in this place, a small hill just outside of town. A shovel lay nearby, the digging had been hard with a layer of snow a foot deep and even the dirt had seemed hard as ice. Were they really just born to die like this? He stood for a few more minutes staring at the graves of what had been his friends just a few hours before. They were just a bunch of dumb kids, the realization had come much too late and had lost most of them their lives.

They had grown up together. The outcasts for whatever reasons. None of them asked each other and none of them wanted to be asked. When one of them overheard of a lucrative job happening by one of the larger gangs in the area and it sounded simple enough. There was going to be a time when a local jewelry shop would be purposefully unwatched. The right hands paid so guards would look away, a backdoor carelessly left unlocked. It had all seemed so simple. They would slip in robbing the place a short time before the larger gang was said to arrive. There would be nothing to trace it back to them and it would allow them to get ahead for once rather than simply living off a pocketed apple or two. That’s how things were supposed to go at least.

It’s hard to say when the plan started falling apart as it was a collection of minor things happening one after another. Tools forgotten, people late, the snow deeper than had been expected… It had just seemed that the universe was fighting against them going, and had they been smarter they would have called it off. Thinking back on it it’s quite easy to see the signs, when something sounds too good to be true that’s because it usually is. If such a big lucrative job was going on it would have been more quiet, and they heard about it in more than one place. It only made sense that others would have heard about it too, but they were still surprised when they ran into another group of thieves in the night.

Both sides panicked and began to lash out at each other. As a group they had never had serious needs for the daggers they held under cloaks. It was all just for intimidation, a blade to scare someone in the right place could end up saving lives. Of the thief and the victim. But when faced with that group who had eyes that shown the willingness to kill, well they didn't stand much of a chance. It was luck, speed, and skill that made him able to escape the scuffle. He had assumed everyone else was running too, it only made sense. They were not a group of killers and the others were much more trained. There was little reason to fight. It turned out that either the rest of his group didn't see that way or just couldn't get away. He never got a chance to ask them himself.

He returned a few minutes later after finding nobody following him to be assailed with the vision of four corpses in the snow. The rest after that was almost a blur. By the time he knew what he was really doing he had dragged his three friends to a quiet location. Many people die in this world without ever having a true moment of rest… maybe in death they could finally be at peace. He wasn't going to just leave them there, if others found them they would be dragged off to the fires. If they were burned it would be like they were never even there. He began to dig uncaring of the cold around him.

He had watched them for a while now. They all were gone leaving him alone again. Memories flashed before him as he made no real effort to push them away. They had each been there for him when it mattered and he hoped that this was enough on his part. He knew tears were customary at the passing of friends but he just couldn’t find it in him to cry. It might have been the lack of energy, that surely had something to do with it. But most of all it was a feeling that this was the true face of the world. To die with no purpose. Turning away from the graves he pulled his scarf up against the chill for the first time in hours. He thought for a long moment before finally saying, “I’m sorry… But I can't stop moving here. I’m betting that there’s some point to all this…” The alternative was too scary to admit, “I’ll be back one day… once I have found the answers. I can't die yet…” With that he began to push his way through the ever thickening layer of snow.


Okay then. This is actually just a snippet from his past. I'd say probably eight to nine years ago. This isn't his entire backstory of course... I'll be coming up with the rest of that soon. This was just to establish the feel of the character and one of his major motivations. He wont always be this gloomy, probably more... detached.

[thrylax]

Actually I rather like it, quite a lot actually. I wish every player put half as much effort into their characters as a couple of you seem to be doing. This is a GREAT starting point for a character. I really like the idea of someone who is motivated not by greed per se, but by a simple desire for there to be a higher purpose in his life. I can totally see a person like this becoming an adventurer, if for no other reason than for his life to have some meaning beyond simple existence, waiting until the day comes that he finally does die. A man who is determined to make his life count for something, anything; even if it means his life is shortened because of it.

I like that a lot. great story by the way. Another addition to it, if you like, would be an episode where he seeks revenge for his friends death. Did he already try to get revenge? Did he fail or succeed? Or is vengeance yet to come? I can already envision an entire adventure or two built around the notion of him trying to get revenge for his friends death.

In which case you may consider making the above episode have happened more recently than eight or nine years, that way the desire for vengeance would still burn hot within him, and it may yet be many more years to come before vengeance is finally realized. Also, it means that your first level character is not too old when the campaign starts. Like I said before, there is a lot of downtime between adventures and your age may actually become a factor later in the campaign.

Perhaps this happened very recently indeed. Maybe even days or weeks ago. The trauma of the event having driven him out into the world, where he finally ends up in Penarduin just before the first snows of winter close the Redshank Trail until late spring. The Redshank Trail being a major trade route through Aerimar. It runs from Morden, through Bridore's Pass between the Blackrise and Aerimar Mountains, and into and through Aerimar itself. It finally stops down in the lowlands at Caladone, the Lordcity of Aerimar.

[Paranoia]

Actually I thought about vengeance... I wasn't sure if that's the route I wanted to go with him. If he was interested in vengeance it wouldn't be the one at the other group that he met that night... It was mostly confusion that had caused that incident. He would be more interested in vengeance on different people. I'll send you a message about that later (So that not all players know eheheh).

Regarding his age I imagined his starting age being 25 or 26 for the campaign. I imagine that this event happened when he was 15 or 16. It seems the age where people start to consider themselves adults. If you want it could be a year or three after. So he's still quite young and hasn't had enough time to really get over things. I'll include in my message why I would like this.

Starting out... I doubt he's going to have a "Day Job" during time skips. Unless something drastic happens. He's more likely to spend that time stealing what he needs to live and doing odd jobs to get by. I've always been a fan of making bases and organizations so who knows... maybe if things go the right way he'll set up his own at some point. But not for a while, he's much to inexperienced/poor for that...

Anyways I'm pretty excited about this. I feel that it should be an interesting campaign, I'm not sure how my character will get involved with the party... But depending on what kind of big event happens at first I could easily see him offering to join a group of adventurers to help out... Well at least to try and experience a side of life that others are much to afraid to.

[thrylax]

Day job doesn't necessarily mean "job" per se. Just something that your character does with their down-time. Robbing people blind is a perfectly acceptable day job....err night job.....and it may not really be "acceptable" but you get the idea. Its something you can do to make a living during the down-time.

As per page 80 of the v3.5 PHB, you can use a profession skill (or slight of hand in the case of a pick-pocket) to earn 1/2 your check result in gold per week of dedicated work. Of coarse thats "dedicated" work of 10 hours per day, 6 days a week (Erndorth has only 6 days in a week, with 5 weeks per month).

I assume that most characters have "other" interests to persue in addition to making a living. So my system is modified slightly and is your total skill check result (or just take 10) in gold per month, which allows the characters to perform other activities as well, such as practicing other skills to prevent skill rust, maintaining relationships with people who are important to that character, etc, etc.
In addition to allowing characters time for "other things" during down-time, this system also cuts down on profession rolls as well, which is always a plus in my book.

[thrylax]

Unfortunately, GrnEyedAngel has decided that she can't commit to a D&D game every week so decided to bow out of this campaign unfortunately. So that means we only have 2 players now, maybe 3. So its more important than ever for anyone who IS definitely playing to post that fact on here or on the campaign page. If we can't get at least 4 people we may have to postpone until we get enough players. We "may" be able to try with only 3 players, but I don't like your odds of survival much.

Once again, here is the link to the Campaign Page.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=1047

[Paranoia]

I could call in a close friend of mine. Of the ones I play with he's... well one of the only good ones. He tends to get into making really odd characters so expect something... different than you are used to. It's up to you if you want me to call him in (and up to him if he wants to join).

Can't think of anyone besides him however so I can only potentially contribute one player.

[thrylax]

I am certain that I can find other interested players to join, but unfortunately they are exactly the types of players I'm trying to avoid in this campaign if at all possible (bland, splat book, power-gamer sorts). But if you think this friend of yours would be willing to play in this style of campaign and can actively contribute to a good time for everyone, then by all means invite him to join.

[Paranoia]

Alright I'll talk to him about it. This is the guy that when I ran a magic campaign where arcane casters were viewed as... potentially dangerous mad men (Inspired by the wheel of time *Whistles casually*) he went against the system and rolled an arcane caster with one arm... He power games a bit but not overly so and I have to say at least half the time it's an accident when it happens. But he doesn't let that become the point of the game. He really enjoys his unique characters.

((Now that I think about it the power gaming that me and him do might be a force of habit due to... past DM's we have played with where the world was put to a ridiculous power level and we were not. If we didn't learn to power game we kind of fell behind the DM PC's...))

[Mgrancey]

Sorry, been a bit busy and forgot to join on the calendar.


Like I posted earlier, any Monk in Landor will most likely be one of the thousand or so refugees living in the Ciriahn Lordcity of Aramahn (the Capitol of the Ciriahn Empire). These refugees fled from their homeland of Tien-Lun after facing persecution and violence from the new emperor of Tien-Lun, Ming Shao Kang. These refugees have only been living in Landor for about the last 15 years or so and none of them have fully assimilated to life in Landor. They largely keep to themselves in a section of Aramahn's dockside district known as "The Heap". It is a sort of little China-Town of the city of Aramahn.



This is the option that I am going to go with. As a side question would I need to take Knowledge History (tien-lun) seperatly? Secondly, are there any Tien-Lun cultural traits? The only place that I know of that has similar traits though weaker is the d20 Wheel of Time campaign.

Additionally, I am a little confused over learning new languages. I know that there is Knowledge Lang. which improves my ability to speak a language I know; but how do I learn pick up new languages? Do I simply have to buy Know. Lang (Aldarian)?

[Paranoia]

I have begun making my character and I just realized something... I can't have quickdraw as a level one rogue. NOR can I have weapon finesse to use my dex instead of str for attack modifier. Being a human with two feats has now just become a lot harder because I'm not allowed to take the things that scream rogue to me. This is something that's filling me with an unmatched sadness. I guess I can pick two things I don't usually go with so I'll survive. I'm not used to playing a level one rogue to say the least.

Guess the only thing left on my character sheet to do is... 1) Languages known (I need two more), 2) Gear and 3) Name. Languages are easy. I ask for some good languages to know and you might give me a few ones to work with. Gear's not too complex. Some food, daggers, and knick knacks for getting by. Name that's hard... I have to decide on something.

I guess to put more of a point to this post... How's everyone else's characters coming along? We have focused heavily on RP elements of characters and I just kind of want to make sure that gameplay wise everything is getting set up too. I have had campaigns where players showed up without characters made. I doubt it would happen here but it always makes me sad. Oh also I'm doubtful but if anyone needs help building a character feel free to ask. Thus far we seem to have a lot of vets... but it can't hurt in any case.

OH and DM question... Do you want us to be more secretive about our characters stats and skills? I know groups that are completely open but I have heard of games where these things are kept secret to kind of... well give more mystery to what each character is capable of.

[thrylax]

This is the option that I am going to go with. As a side question would I need to take Knowledge History (tien-lun) seperatly? Secondly, are there any Tien-Lun cultural traits? The only place that I know of that has similar traits though weaker is the d20 Wheel of Time campaign.

Additionally, I am a little confused over learning new languages. I know that there is Knowledge Lang. which improves my ability to speak a language I know; but how do I learn pick up new languages? Do I simply have to buy Know. Lang (Aldarian)?
You can learn a new language by spending a feat on it, but you also have a number of additional language slots equal to your Intelligence modifier bonus. In any case, ALL characters automatically get Landrin (Common) for free regardless of where they come from. You also know your native language for free as well if that language is not common.

Please take note however that just because you can learn additional languages, does NOT mean your character necessarily has them at first level. You must justify why your character knows a particular language before they can select it. Most people do not go around knowing a lot of languages, even if they are capable of learning them.
Knowing Landrin (Common) is automatically justified since it is a trade tongue and the most common language on Landor. Just about everyone along any trade route anywhere in Landor can speak that.

If your character is a scholarly type, that can also be a justfication for speaking multiple languages as well. Wizards, Cleric and Bards are automatically justified for knowing any language they choose. But other classes are not. So if you want your character to speak a certain language that is not their native language and not common, you must explain why they know that language and where they learned it.

Theoretically there are cultural traits for people from Tien-Lun as well, but since nobody has every played a character from there (at least not since 2nd Edition D&D) I have yet to determine what those cultural traits would be. If you have some suggestions, please feel free to post there here, otherwise I'll look into it sometime before this weekend when I get some more time. As a side note, cultural traits are not required. Players have the option to select them by spending their 1st level feats on them, but you don't "need" them. Cultural traits and Background traits are a tiny bit more powerful than standard feats however.

Also, since your going with Bard rather than Monk, there is really no reason to be from Tien-Lun to begin with now. I only suggested that when I read you wanted to make a Monk and that previous suggestion was the only one I have to account for how an Asian themed Monk ends up in a European themed setting.

[thrylax]

I have begun making my character and I just realized something... I can't have quickdraw as a level one rogue. NOR can I have weapon finesse to use my dex instead of str for attack modifier. Being a human with two feats has now just become a lot harder because I'm not allowed to take the things that scream rogue to me. This is something that's filling me with an unmatched sadness. I guess I can pick two things I don't usually go with so I'll survive. I'm not used to playing a level one rogue to say the least.

Guess the only thing left on my character sheet to do is... 1) Languages known (I need two more), 2) Gear and 3) Name. Languages are easy. I ask for some good languages to know and you might give me a few ones to work with. Gear's not too complex. Some food, daggers, and knick knacks for getting by. Name that's hard... I have to decide on something.

I guess to put more of a point to this post... How's everyone else's characters coming along? We have focused heavily on RP elements of characters and I just kind of want to make sure that gameplay wise everything is getting set up too. I have had campaigns where players showed up without characters made. I doubt it would happen here but it always makes me sad. Oh also I'm doubtful but if anyone needs help building a character feel free to ask. Thus far we seem to have a lot of vets... but it can't hurt in any case.

OH and DM question... Do you want us to be more secretive about our characters stats and skills? I know groups that are completely open but I have heard of games where these things are kept secret to kind of... well give more mystery to what each character is capable of.
I'm not a big fan of the "secret notes passed under the table" style of RPG. I've had too many bad experiences with those sorts of games. Feel free to post whatever you like about your character and if its something that the other "characters" would not know about, I expect the players of said characters to be able to role-play that fact and not use it to some sort of advantage.
This is an issue that has in the past only come up if one of the players in the party is secretly an elf traveling in the guise of a human. Usually, the players knew this fact from the beginning, even though the characters did not learn this fact for some time to come and it usually made for a great role-playing scene when the fact comes out.

As for Weapon Finesse, I assume you mean you can't take it because you need a BAB of +1 or better to select it. In which case, just ignore that fact. Allowing a character to have Weapon Finesse at first level is not going to affect the balance of the game one little bit, so feel free to take it now if you like.

[Mgrancey]

I figured that, but I like the idea of him traveling around and half-recognizing stuff from memories that were always a mystery before.

No ideas off head at moment about cultural feat, will need to look at and think about.

[thrylax]

I am down, however a co-worker of mine had a family crisis and ask me to cover for work weekend because she is out of state, so this sunday is one that I can't make.
Because of this, I was wondering if it would better to postpone the game for Sunday or not. The first game of a campaign is a particularly important one as its gets the entire party together. I'd hate for someone who plans on being a regular player to miss it. So I'll leave it up to you all.

Do we postpone for maybe next Sunday, or just go on as planned and hope I can find a way to fit another player in at some point after the game has started? For the time being I am available on weekends pretty much anytime, but weekdays I can only play from say 6pm to 9pm EDT (-4 UTC) or so.

If you have a suggestion as to another time, you can vote for a new time or the same on here or on the campaign link.

[thrylax]

On a separate note, I posted a map of the Highlands of Aerimar into the G-Drive. It is still very much a work in progress, but its good enough to give you an idea of whats where. By the way, forgot to add a scale before rendering it. 1 Hex = 12 miles.

G-Drive - https://drive.google.com/folderview?...FU&usp=sharing (https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B2EYUrLHQkPtT2lYX0JxdWJ3SFU&usp=sharing)

[Mgrancey]

i'm alright with either

[Paranoia]

If we need to wait we can wait. I can play some during the week if needed. Friday is pretty much the only day I really can't do anything.

I'd like everyone to be there when we play because well... there's not a ton of us as is.

[Paranoia]

Hey there, thrylax. This is Paranoia's aformentioned friend. I'm actually sitting next to him at 3 am right here so please, forgive me if I do not sound the most articulate at the moment. I'm going to say. I am interested. I can't promise you that I've read everything that has been posted at the moment, but I will make strides later. I am interested regardless however.

I'm going to do this to myself again. And I am going to hate it. But I would be interested in running a Paladin. I'm sure Paranoia will back me up here as he knows how I have both a love/hate relationship with this style of character. Yes. I am that guy who will bring up the fact that we cannot just kill the unarmed, unconcious man lying on the ground. Because that's ****ing evil. You do not know how many times I have had to have this discussion with players.

At this point, I have an idea for two characters. One would be a sort of racial paragon. He would start off as a Half-Orc, or possibly an elven fighter. The point here would be to bring him under the power of a deity to unify his race into a. Hell I can't think at the moment. I almost want to say a 'Unified Culture'. Perhaps begin a (small/large) town to gather them and make the primary race (Humanity hoooo) see us as something other than reclusive idiot barbarians. This, again, would start as a fighter, then through developments fall under the power of the proper deity to become a paladin.

The other idea I have is a more difficult one. For a long time I've wanted to run the paragon of a dying or a 'dead' god. Someone who seeks to return this deity back to power by re-establishing worship under them. I realize that this might not be how you have the gods set up in this world (Which is to say Worship = Prominence) but if you are willing to let me do so, even at a reduced power scale due to my gods 'issues' then I would love to run the character.

In either way, I'd probably spend a little while both trying to gently gather members to me, be it racial or religious, and then building some kind of stronghold for them to gather at safely, funded through adventuring.

If you hate both of these base ideas, please inform me and I'll see what else I can scrape up from my mind.
- Umarov

[Dr_Babylon]

Cormac pensively observed the peculiar customer sitting at the bar as he calculated the night's earnings. Something about her put him on edge and he was hard-pressed to discern a source for his unease. He was a man of middle years and burly frame, craggy as the highlands surrounding his lonesome inn. He had weathered many a drunken brawl and had even boarded the occasional infamous fugitive or two at his roadhouse and still this spry wisp of a girl made him distinctly uncomfortable.

The girl sat and sipped her tea, apparently unconcerned with being the point of focus. She was small in stature upon her barstool, her fur-booted feet hanging free of the floor by a considerable margin. About her slim shoulders hung a cloak that looked like deerskin but from a thicker-furred species than those with which Cormac was familiar. Tanned hide fashioned into armor with stitching both elaborate and crude completed her garb. Her unruly mass of raven-black hair was cropped boyishly short and her pale, delicate countenance would have been quite lovely if not for the severity of her expression. She bore a curved blade of exotic design in a plain wooden scabbard at her right hip. The impression she gave was a curious mix of unsophisticated audacity and subdued grace. Fortunately, Cormac's few respectable lodgers had retired for the night and this strange girl was the only occupant of the common area.

Aside from the the dark and lanky wolf that had come in with her. Inexplicably, the hard-nosed innkeeper had found himself incapable of voicing any protest upon their entry and now the beast lay contentedly with its chin upon the hard-packed earth of the floor near the hearth. Relaxed though it seemed, Cormac suspected the wolf was monitoring his behavior in its master's presence.

His barmaid Teasag dutifully remained to tidy around the taproom but took pains to work as far from these two guests as possible. She was careful not to meet her employer's eye, the tension in the air putting her on the defensive. As a fellow native of rural Aerimar, Cormac knew that the typically sensible wench privately prided herself on identifying suspiciously fey elements when they were presented.

"Can man who crosses river without getting wet truly appreciate accomplishment?" the waif inquired suddenly. Her voice had a rich, almost throaty maturity that belied her apparent youth. The accent was unfamiliar, rolling out the girl's pronunciation of "river" slightly and making "wet" sound closer to "vet". Her clear gray eyes were almost forceful in their focus but a vague humor played about her lips.

"This land is quite different from steppes and forests to which I am accustomed but perhaps this is good thing," she continued when Cormac only gaped at her in response. "I did not detect it at first but I am certain Golod is here."

He nodded dumbly at her, wondering if his complete lack of comprehension would dissuade her.

"You are unaware of it, of course," she reassured Cormac and he actually felt relief as she took on a sly, almost teasing smile. "You are not attuned to world as am I." She sat up straighter and took on the bearing of a lecturer before explaining further. She furrowed her brow as if in concentration, considering her words carefully. "Golod is formless essence or...spirit. Golod is what drives voracious urge and impulse but more than that. It is hunger, true, but is also..." She trailed off, gesturing with one small hand before her as though attempting to conjure a clearer image out of the air.

"Appetite?" Cormac asked, surprising himself with his cooperation.

"Da," the girl confirmed with a pleased nod. "Hungry wolf on prowl for prey is certainly succinct symbol of this force, but is also present in whirlwind and wild fire. Wherever something is taken by need or yearning of something else. When winter's chill seeps inexorably past fur and flame into skin and bone or dark of night eats sunlit land each new dusk, that is Golod. In living creatures, is aspect that trades misery and turmoil dearly for chance to survive. This is why rose grows thorns and why fish plucked from water finds strength to struggle so fiercely without breath."

She paused and took a long, thoughtful sip of her tea. Cormac waited patiently for her to continue but she only stared impassively at him, as though her enigmatic point had been made.

"I am called Pchelka," she told Cormac, staring intently up at him as if to better imprint her identity upon the aging innkeeper's senses. Pchelka nodded at the wolf by the hearth and, with a grin, added, "He is Demyan." The animal lifted its head and its startlingly intelligent gaze met Cormac's for several heartbeats and he could not help but notice that its eyes matched the gray of its master's.

"I am originally from Rhakier, as is Demyan, but we have been away from there for some time." Pchelka hesitated again as though trying to decide how best to provide further details. "I was not always...understanding of Golod. I was born Mavra Pastukhova which, of course, seems quite funny in retrospect." She uttered a little chuckle of amusement but the humor was lost on Cormac so she continued. "As child I lived with family in small village on border with Vos lands. Was simple life and most villagers were farmers and shepherds. One day this changed."

Pchelka looked to the wolf on the floor and Cormac could have sworn that some unspoken communication passed between them, as though the animal were silently encouraging the girl. She gave Demyan an almost imperceptible nod and turned back to her audience of one.

"This was more than decade ago now and I was only little girl so memory is not complete. Some say childhood is like strange dream, over too quickly and impossible to hold onto all experiences. Looking back as adult, this was much more like nightmare, I think. I have been told that dangerous man was hiding in plain sight among villagers. He pretended to be...herbalist and scholar. Many knew him as trusted neighbor. In truth, he was volshebnik, what you would call wizard. None can understand his motives for secret life but he had come to attention of ambitious rival. They quarreled within village square and peasants were powerless to contain their ire. None can know if either survived but result of selfish use of aberrant energies had dreadful consequences. Dark magic destroyed homes at center of village, killing outright those lucky few who had not sought refuge. Grotesque affront was not ended there."

Pchelka lifted her cup to her lips to finish the last dregs of her tea. Her hands trembled ever so slightly, the only sign of her emotional ties to her story.

"Perhaps unnatural conflict had left terrible stain upon region and as...perversion of Golod, earth sought to cleanse or to heal by taking whatever it could from any within reach. But some wounds never close." The girl bit her lower lip, her gray eyes very distant. "First vibrant color was drained away, as though world was seen through dismal veil. Meat and crops lost taste and even drinking water became murky and stale. Then animals simply began to lie down and die, turning to dust one by one. It was not long before people followed. Some may have talked of escape but where would they go taking nothing with them? Last memory of family was inside tiny cabin, belongings shriveling and peeling without benefit of fire. Beloved faces...slowly turning to ash, voices maddened by wretched suffering. Wandered alone away from village some time after."

Pchelka sighed and toyed with her empty cup.

"I met Burya not long after, living as liberated recluse in taiga," she said, her tone becoming markedly less somber. "Fortunate thing as five-year-old devotchka is poor match for winter season spent in Rhakieri forest. I remember he took me to icy stream and I bit him hard on hand. Such was my terror and confusion." She smiles fondly at the memory. "Was then he first called me Pchelka. He had heard of village's accursed fate and was certain that I too would soon be dead. I would not speak and was covered in...residue from final days spent in ruined home. He only wished to bathe me as comforting, futile gesture and I fought him. Burya does not give up easily and he won me over in time but from then on I became Pchelka, or "Little Bee", because, he said, I would sting him even if it killed me. When I did not die, he began teaching me of life in forest and of Golod. It is truly what I was meant for."

A subtle resolve took over her pale countenance as Pchelka's tale drew to a close.

"At Burya's side I learned of others who walk similar path, others who understand Golod. That is how I came to travel with Demyan. We look for places where world is...stained by wrong actions and try to stop those who would scar it. And we wait for Golod to tell us how best it can be fed."



(I never know where to end these things. Made a few changes to avoid seeming superfluous. Still a religious character from Rhakier but now we'll have some extra effectiveness in natural settings. This ought to be fun for party interaction as Pchelka has some trouble trusting strange men, has little regard for civilized academic pursuits, and has nothing but cold disdain for arcane spellcasters. Also, she has a pretty wolf buddy!)

[thrylax]

Hey there, thrylax. This is Paranoia's aformentioned friend. I'm actually sitting next to him at 3 am right here so please, forgive me if I do not sound the most articulate at the moment. I'm going to say. I am interested. I can't promise you that I've read everything that has been posted at the moment, but I will make strides later. I am interested regardless however.

I'm going to do this to myself again. And I am going to hate it. But I would be interested in running a Paladin. I'm sure Paranoia will back me up here as he knows how I have both a love/hate relationship with this style of character. Yes. I am that guy who will bring up the fact that we cannot just kill the unarmed, unconcious man lying on the ground. Because that's ****ing evil. You do not know how many times I have had to have this discussion with players.

At this point, I have an idea for two characters. One would be a sort of racial paragon. He would start off as a Half-Orc, or possibly an elven fighter. The point here would be to bring him under the power of a deity to unify his race into a. Hell I can't think at the moment. I almost want to say a 'Unified Culture'. Perhaps begin a (small/large) town to gather them and make the primary race (Humanity hoooo) see us as something other than reclusive idiot barbarians. This, again, would start as a fighter, then through developments fall under the power of the proper deity to become a paladin.

The other idea I have is a more difficult one. For a long time I've wanted to run the paragon of a dying or a 'dead' god. Someone who seeks to return this deity back to power by re-establishing worship under them. I realize that this might not be how you have the gods set up in this world (Which is to say Worship = Prominence) but if you are willing to let me do so, even at a reduced power scale due to my gods 'issues' then I would love to run the character.

In either way, I'd probably spend a little while both trying to gently gather members to me, be it racial or religious, and then building some kind of stronghold for them to gather at safely, funded through adventuring.

If you hate both of these base ideas, please inform me and I'll see what else I can scrape up from my mind.
- Umarov
I can be pretty flexible when it comes to character concepts, but please understand that this is not a typical D&D campaign, or at least it is my hope that it will not be a typical campaign. The setting is quite a bit different than what most players may be used to. Magic is rare, non-humans are are, and the power level of the game is quite a bit lower than what most would be accustomed to.

I do allow players to play those rare things (thats part of what makes them so cool, is that they are rare). But I limit the party to only one arcane spell caster (bards, sorcerers or wizards) and one non-human per party. Paladins and rangers too are extremely rare as well. I once toyed with the idea of making them prestige classes, but I did not like the write up for them in Unearthed Arcana, so I dropped that idea. There are no paladins or rangers in the party, so it would be fine to play a paladin if you wish (the party does need a warrior type still).
As for the dying god bit, there are many gods that are waning in power or have disappeared outright since the end of the Age of Light. In fact the region in which we are starting (Aerimar) is one of the only places left that still worship the old god of the sun Belenos (also know as Pelor to most of the rest of Landor). That could be a great concept to go with if you are willing. It would not necessarily matter if your character where originally from Aerimar or not as paladins are automatically equipped with a great excuse to be wandering adventurers who travel the world, looking for wrongs to right. If you do decide to go that route, I already have a great character arch thought up for the campaign and a Paladin of Pelor (or Belenos if your from Aerimar) would work wonderfully.

[thrylax]

(I never know where to end these things. Made a few changes to avoid seeming superfluous. Still a religious character from Rhakier but now we'll have some extra effectiveness in natural settings. This ought to be fun for party interaction as Pchelka has some trouble trusting strange men, has little regard for civilized academic pursuits, and has nothing but cold disdain for arcane spellcasters. Also, she has a pretty wolf buddy!)
It seems you have a great talent for characters. I must admit, I was a bit dismayed after seeing that you had changed characters, but after reading this, I think I like this one even better than the last. It even fits with the overall campaign arch better as well. I wish I had more players like you when I was still running D&D face-to-face. I am looking forward to playing this game with all of you. I hope we can start soon.

[Dr_Babylon]

I am comfortable with delaying as I would also like to see everyone on the same page from the onset. That being said, if you have any free time before our first session, it might be a good idea to briefly fire up your server and let some of us enter character information and do a sort of meet-and-greet (out of character). It may also be easier to address final concerns in person (so to speak) and it will give us a chance to test connectivity. It's all about making that first session a little smoother as there will always be obstacles. I am certain the times where we will all be available for an official session will be precious and few. We should avoid filling that time with calculations and trouble-shooting where possible.

[DeusSpud]

Okay, Umarov here again, since I had forgotten what my account name was last night. Anyways:

I'd love to run your character arc, since this is something I've actually wanted to do for a good while. My only major issue at this point is, well, I'm not a huge fan of Pelor. He's. I'm gonna go with bland here. Basically when it comes to the two paladin-y gods of paladinhood, I can't not think of Pelor or Heironeous first. They're just the standard norm from what I've seen. And, I actually really dislike playing the standard norm. If it wouldn't ruin your plans, I'd like to discuss some other gods, maybe see if anyone else works for this.

[thrylax]

Okay, Umarov here again, since I had forgotten what my account name was last night. Anyways:

I'd love to run your character arc, since this is something I've actually wanted to do for a good while. My only major issue at this point is, well, I'm not a huge fan of Pelor. He's. I'm gonna go with bland here. Basically when it comes to the two paladin-y gods of paladinhood, I can't not think of Pelor or Heironeous first. They're just the standard norm from what I've seen. And, I actually really dislike playing the standard norm. If it wouldn't ruin your plans, I'd like to discuss some other gods, maybe see if anyone else works for this.
That's fine. I actually have a list of god's in the players guide I posted in the google drive. Link is in previous post. Have a look at Alainus , god of justice and valor. May be what your looking for, though Alainus is far from a dying god.

[thrylax]

I am comfortable with delaying as I would also like to see everyone on the same page from the onset. That being said, if you have any free time before our first session, it might be a good idea to briefly fire up your server and let some of us enter character information and do a sort of meet-and-greet (out of character). It may also be easier to address final concerns in person (so to speak) and it will give us a chance to test connectivity. It's all about making that first session a little smoother as there will always be obstacles. I am certain the times where we will all be available for an official session will be precious and few. We should avoid filling that time with calculations and trouble-shooting where possible.
I agree. I'd like everyone on board for the first game as well. I'll go ahead and start the server at the planned time tomorrow and everyone can at least make their characters and say hello, etc, etc. I guess we'll reschedule the first actual game for next Sunday then if everyone's good with that.

[Mgrancey]

Ah nature, the woods, the open sky, the winding roads, the bandits. Okay the bandits are annoying, and their idiotic slurs more so. Why is that I can never meet a some-what intelligent bandit, though I suppose if they were some-what intelligent they wouldn't be a bandit after all.


Blah, blah, blah, give us your money or we'll take it from your corpse.


Seriously? I wonder if there is some kind of school of banditry or something. Probably better then the colleges I got sent off to, dusty lifeless books, droning old men who haven't ever seen the outside of a city wall, pompous little shits that think money is every. Money didn't keep us from getting driven out by that bastard Kang, it doesn't get you friends or acceptance, it can't buy you a longer life, or anything else that really matters in life.

I speak up hoping to solve this without trouble "Guys, I don't have anything that you would find useful. I am just a poor scholar from a poor family."

Nope, didn't think so. Time to hoof it out of here.

I take off into the woods hoping to at least break them up and loose them, I suppose this is one of the benefits of having been a refuge, though I didn't appreciate having to run from the brats who would beat on me since they could get away with it.

Now that I have them separated, it's time to start dealing with them.

I pull out my short bow and put down one of the bandits, then take the other through his knee putting him down on the ground. This time I move more deliberately through the woods, while the bastard I maimed draws the rest of them to him, I'll just wait for them to go by and then keep on going.

I pretty sure most people would consider something wrong with me, seeing as being in danger just seems to make me feel alive rather than weighed down with the monotony of city and town life. Oops.

I stand above a short cliff looking across a small chasm that has a river running through the bottom of it. As I contemplate the situation and come down off my high, I consider solutions to my problem, unfortunately it seems that I have run out of time as I hear more cursing and plans for how I shall be made to suffer.

Really, that's the best they can come up with?

Taking a quick glance around my mind is made up and I pull my small axe out and chop off a dead limb from a nearby tree. Taking a quick moment to listen, I then drag the branch over to edge and with a grin I jump off with it. Just before I hit the water, I whistle out one of the secrets of the world I have learned, one of the only good things from those boring old colleges, and our landing in the river isn't as harsh as it should be. I look back to where I jumped off the edge and see the bandits glaring at me as I am swept away, I grin and wave back before I am out of site.


I honestly wonder what drives me at times. I know I'm not normal being thrilled by danger and surviving stuff that nearly kills me, but then I am on what is probably a wild goose chase as well. Ever since I can remember I have had dreams or visions, I am honestly not sure, though I am heading off to find out. I remember seeing warriors in some kind of skirt or half-robe that is decorated in, what I have found from research, a tartan. It is apparently a method to identify oneself as part of a clan, and is primarily from the area of the world where I am heading. Pendruin is the closest city I have found to where the Donahue clan, which the tartan I have identified from my dreams is supposed to belong to, is located and if I am lucky there will be some interesting ruins to explore!

After finally finding a good spot to pull myself out of the river at, I setup camp for the night and strip down to let my clothes dry and check on my gear to see what's still good. Luck and very nice waterproof bag is with me and only have some ruined paper and soggy rations which will be tonight's dinner after warming and drying it by the fire. I make sure to bank the fire and setup my hammock in the trees above with my gear before I get some sleep and ask for a peaceful night from my ancestors who watch over me.


I am a powerful wizard and the time to start shall be soon. I have only this one chance to perform this ritual. I go over my notes, books, and the circle and sigils I have painstakingly crafted, using the rarest, most powerful dangerous reagents I could gather, steal, scam, or have acquired to ensure that I will be successful. My body trembles, from the nervousness I feel, the rush of my blood through my body, and finally as the time approaches to start as magical forces start to align in the final moment. I carefully step to the center of my circle and start to speak...

I am suddenly awake and I can feel my heart hammering in my chest. I'd probably fall out of my hammock but this is an all too common occurrence for me. I take a couple deep breaths and wonder about the meaning and purpose of these dreams. Am I viewing the past so that I can correct so wrong? Am I cursed to see parts of the future? I am pretty sure none of them are from the present as I know I have repeats of some dreams. Its the beginning of dawn and there isn't much purpose on going back to sleep. As I peek out of my hammock and look check to see if I had any visitors during the night, I grin....

[DeusSpud]

That's fine. I actually have a list of god's in the players guide I posted in the google drive. Link is in previous post. Have a look at Alainus , god of justice and valor. May be what your looking for, though Alainus is far from a dying god.

Hm. Leafing through the religions, I have to say, I'd like to know more about Tempest. How he's doing in these lands and overall.

[Mgrancey]

Chuan Jin (Just call me Jin), a rather unusual scholar.

Appearance:
Dressed in an unusual but rugged style of clothes, the material is silk but the tabard-ish shirt has long sleeves and some weird style of buttons on the right side. The pants are rather loose around his legs and tucked in a sturdy pair of boots. He is usually sporting a dashing grin, walking with a half-staff and a has his black hair tucked up underneath a nice hat.

Motivations:

Lost lore and secrets
Understanding of dreams
Seeking out challenges to improve himself


Quirks:

Prays to ancestors watching over him.
Starts to grin when things get dangerous
Bit of a geek when it comes to stories, legends, and lore.

[rhoule6819]

Hey guys,

Everyone 's characters are looking awsome! I do appoligize that we had to post pone one more week due to me but I just wanted to say thanks, I would really hate to miss the first session.

I can't wait to play!

[thrylax]

Hey guys, Everyone 's characters are looking awsome! I do appoligize that we had to post pone one more week due to me but I just wanted to say thanks, I would really hate to miss the first session. I can't wait to play!No worries. I hate to start a campaign without one of the players present, and it seems like most everyone else feels the same way as well. That said, I'm going to start the server today at noon as planned, just to kick the tires a bit and make some minor tweaks to the game as needed. If anyone wants to log on at noon we can at least say hi and maybe finalize some character information and I can answer some questions people may still have. I have server alias enabled on my server as well and I will post the connection information in the discussions part of the campaign link. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/index.xcp?id=1047

[thrylax]

Hm. Leafing through the religions, I have to say, I'd like to know more about Tempest. How he's doing in these lands and overall.Tempest has no paladins as his alignment is neutral rather than lawful-good. That said, most priests of Tempest are actually multi-classed Cleric/Fighters which fills the same role as a paladin would in the party, even though they are bound by a completely different code of "ethics". If you want to make an actual paladin, then Alainus is the god your looking for, but if you don't want to be lawful-good, then paladin is DEFINITELY not the class your looking for. But ultimately its your decision as to what "sort" of character you want to portray.

Since the gods do not (and cannot) interfere directly in the affairs of mortals, there is a great deal of leeway when it comes to "interrupting" what it means to serve a specific god. Some of the most intense rivalries on Erndorth are between clerics who worship the same god, but disagree strongly with what that gods tenants are or should be. A great example of this would be clerics of Vanya. Most priests of Vanya are pacifist healers who shun violence. But then there are the faction of the church known as the Crusaders, who worship Vanya all the same, but have turned their back on the shunning of violence because the world after all is a violent place and the most "good" can sometimes only be done at the point of a sword. Or so they believe. The Crusaders are considered heretics and outcasts of the Holy Order of Vanya all the same.

Another good example would be the Holy Order of Alainus, who is the Lawful-Good god of Justice, Valor and Protection. But the faction of their Holy Order known as the Children of the Light have paid a lesser heed to Justice part of their faith in order to pay more heed to their Protection part of the faith. They too are considered by the church proper to be "askew" from the "true path". The Children of the Light are Lawful-Neutral even though they worship a Lawful-Good god.

[thrylax]

As a side note, I am using Tenian's language extension for 3.5E for this campaign. It "should" download it for you automatically when you connect to my server, but if it does not, you can get if from the link below or from my Google Drive. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?15561-Tenian-s-language-extension-for-3-5E&highlight=language

Also, I posted the chatlog from this morning in the G-Drive so that those who were not present can keep up to date with whats been happening.
We did not play today as it was postponed until next week. But we did do a lot of general discussion about the game if your interested to have a look.

[thrylax]

For those who may be interested, I finished updating the languages extension to be specific to the World of Erndorth. Seems like its working OK. Works just like the original, but scans for Erndorth language instead of the base.
The file is located in the G-Drive.

List of Languages, in no particular order.............
abyssal
aquan
auran
celestial
draconic
druidic
khuzdul
vyallian
giant
gnome
goblin
gnoll
halfling
ignan
infernal
orc
sylvan
terran
undercommon
aldarian
khas
landrin
vos
varghani
avarin
apian
rohirric
khazrani
nord
xan
rhakiri
izondian

So type these in exactly to make the extension work properly. Example below, without the quotes of coarse.
Usage = "/lang landrin this is me speaking in Landrin, also known as common"
"/lang vyallian this is me speaking in vyallian, also known as elvish"
"/lang khuzdul this is me speaking khuzdul, also known as dwarven"

[Paranoia]

Alright guys... here's the situation... Apparently it just so happens that this saturday I have a friend who is throwing a graduation party... then the sunday right after it is a friends birthday party... The number of times I have social obligations is so small that normally it doesn't come up. But it seems that I'll unfortunately be busy during that time. (Spud will be too. It's his girlfriend to blame here)

Anyways... I was wondering if we could manage to arrange something possibly on the Thursday/Friday... or Possibly next Monday would potentially work as well. It would be a one time thing as... Sundays are the day when I chill out and nobody talks to me I don't know how this happened...

Really sorry to have to bring this up after we have already had to delay the starting week. But y'know it's all Spud's fault really. So blame him.

[DeusSpud]

Gee thanks man. Tell me about a cool game and then throw me under a bus when we suddenly have social lives.

Seriously though yeah, I feel really bad for this guys. Normally our lives are full of lazy hours being lazy bastards, but every once in a while the stars align and THOOM we have a goddamn full social calendar. It's usually really goddamn annoying.

[Mgrancey]

Don't feel to bad, checked schedule today for next week and with return of sales at work we've returned to the stupid wasteful hours of being open for hours after the rest of the mall has closed. I am probably going to be having a very long and boring evening.

[Dr_Babylon]

Whatever we need to do to get this thing on track from day one is fine with me. I feel that if this is done right, the group can really mesh and the story will only benefit. Thus, I am all for delaying until all elements are in place.

On weeknights, I am only available after 9:30 pm Eastern, which includes this Friday as well as next Monday. My Wednesday and Thursday nights are spoken for.

[DeusSpud]

When I don't have a suddenly randomly clogged social calendar, I'm clear every single day at all times EXCEPT Friday and Saturday. Those two days I have things going on usually 100% of the time. I COULD multitask on saturdays if it really came down to it.

[Paranoia]

It sounds like it would be too late for our DM if I remember right. I'm pretty much in the same boat as Spud. Busy fridays can normally do stuff later saturday... every other day I'm usually free and nobody wants to talk to me.

[thrylax]

Seems like we have some real life issues cropping up. I know it happens. Life takes precedence over a game. I agree with the general concensus and think it would be better to delay rather than get off to a poor start with fewer players. So we can just stay on hold for another week if the majority agrees. I may be able to do another time or day, but I'll have to get back to you on that. In the meantime, we'll just reschedule for the following Sunday.

[Paranoia]

Awesome. It's much appreciated. I'll be ready next weekend even if it kills whoever is involved.

[Dr_Babylon]

With the additional week for prep time, may I say it would be awful nice if we could get one more player to contribute. I can't help but feel it will boost our chances for success in the lofty endeavors before us. We have a number of fantastic personalities involved but there are countless concepts unaccounted for.

Keeping it simple, we currently boast the following:

-A dauntless armored warrior of no small social standing (knight)
-A wandering scholar and Renaissance man of exotic aspect (bard)
-A student of arcane magic forced to hide his splendid gifts (wizard)
-A resourceful scoundrel who lacks only for opportunity (rogue)
-A crusader in tune with the cruelty of the natural world (druid)

I cannot help but feel we could still benefit from the insight and creativity of a properly motivated player. Our characters have yet to meet and our story has only just begun, but great things surely await us.

Any interested individuals should not hesitate to post here or contact the creator of this thread. Please tell us what you have in mind.


(I apologize in advance if I have misrepresented anyone's intentions here.)

[Paranoia]

Heh yeah... I always like more people capable of healing. I do however fear that with the current progression of the thread the chances of someone randomly joining are rather... slim. We might need to look into the realm of other sources... But as I have said before Spud was the only person I was going to be able to contribute. The rest of the people I know are... not suited for a more advanced level of play. *Cough* Actually roleplaying *Cough*

[levinth]

I could be interested in this campaign, I find I roleplay much better in text only games (I guess I'm just a bit shy around strangers!) I have couple of questions regarding scheduling... will this be a weekly commitment? I am starting a nursing degree in October and I may well be on placement some weekends, I just don't know yet. I could certainly commit until October, at which point, if scheduling was a problem, I would be happy to bow out in game for some reason, if not i would obviously want to continue!

Also I'm moving house just before and while I hope to arrange the internet connection to transfer smoothly, these things never seem to be! I can probably nip round my friend's to play, but I thought it worth pointing out my real life commitments first, before I get too carried away plotting a character...

If these seem like surmountable problems to you, I will have a detailed read through this thread and the players guide and come up with a character concept. I'm thinking human ranger for class/race combo, but I would need to read the material more thoroughly before I start planning a backstory.

It's also worth pointing out that I am used to playing pathfinder and it's been a few long years since I played 3.5, so you would probably need some patience rules-wise. That said, it sounds like this campaign will be more roleplay based, so I hope that's not too much of a problem.

If you could let me know about the scheduling, I'll get reading through the materials and this (very long) thread! Thanks :)

[Paranoia]

Hah well that just proves me damn wrong.

Well... from what I gathered we plan to play weekly on sundays... I'm personally fine with you joining but I'm just a player.

A note about rangers, apparently they are super rare or something and each of them is an aspect of a certain kind of... animal spirit or something? I didn't actually read much into it because of not planning to play one. But just thought you might be interested to know that.

FINALLY as for not knowing rules... I am used to playing with people that know minimal to none, so I don't mind a few rule hiccups. As long as you are TRYING to understand things and not getting distracted while we play looking at websites (Had it happen far too often) I don't mind you.

[levinth]

The animal spirit sounds interesting. Could you point me towards where you read that? I have a lot of reading to catch up on if I'm able to do this and some idea of what order to do it in would be a big help!

I'm certainly not the sort of person to spend hours trying to find a rule! I once played in a game where the GM did that and I didn't enjoy it so much... I would much rather use other players and the GM as sources of knowledge to learn from, as long as they are happy to teach as needed.

[Paranoia]

Uhm... Well I don't think the ranger thing was gone into in too much detail. If it was again I didn't really pay attention to it... Here's the link to the resources we're using for this campaign so maybe you can find something about it in there. - https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B2EYUrLHQkPtT2lYX0JxdWJ3SFU&usp=sharing

It's also a generally good idea to read into that anyways.

[thrylax]

Trust me, I've already done what I can to answer your questions. And here, in fact, is the backstory in question:

For a moment, Gustav Langsdorfer allowed himself a rest. This was really not going as he had expected. Here we was, holding his master's saddle, with the master in question nowhere to be seen. Memories took him for a moment. This was familiar.

Bastard son of his father, a Lord-Knight with his own holding, Gustav was generally a child in happy spirits. The only thing he wasn't entirely happy about was the fact that, one day, he would have to learn how to rule his father's lands. This was happily solved for him however, when his mother and father finally concieved. It was then that, as the new second in line to inherit, Gustav turned his attention to more 'important' things, mostly having his father regale him with old tales of knighthood and adventures.

As time pressed on, Gustav inherited more and more of his father's physical traits. Long in arm and skinny in body, no matter how actually strong he was. At sixteen years of age, two years into Gustav's squireship, the holding of Langsdorf found itself under attack from orcish raiders. Heading out to defend the walls, Gustav, his father, and the knights of Langsdorf held the walls bravely. Sadly, the walls fell, and the Orcs took their assault to the town proper. Having fallen back to defend the town, the knights of Langsdorf clashed with the orcs in a horribly bloody pitched battle, only breaking when the orcs fell back to regroup.

It was after a particularly pitched battle that Gustav's father came back, bleeding from beneath his armor. That very night, he died from his wounds, but instead of mourning, Gustav's family took to action. At the dawn of the next day, the armor of the Lord of Langsdorf took to the field of battle, obviously dragging it's limbs because the lord was bringing himself to fight, even past terrible wounds. With renewed spirit, the Knights of Langsdorf threw themselves into battle once more, rallying under their supposedly dead, but fighting lord. It wasn't until the battle was won, and the armor had returned home that Gustav removed the armor. Having spent the entire battle shambling after the rest of the knights in the armor he had no idea how to actually wear, he hadn't actually gotten into the battle. But he had been effective enough anyways.

The funeral had been somber, but it had helped cement his desire to follow his father's path. The fact that his mother had begun jokingly referring to him as "The Dead Knight" did not help curb his life choices.

A few years later, and here he was. His Knight and he were on a quest to investigate reports of undead attacking a city, and from nowhere his knight's horse had stepped in a hole in the road, breaking it's ankle. After making sure he was okay, Gustav had given the knight his horse, that he may arrive in town on time to conduct his investigation. Something felt wrong though.

With that thought, Gustav got to his feet once more. There was work to be done, no matter how he looked at it, and the time for rest was over.

As for my questions with armor. It might or might not be my intent to purchase my father's armor from my family at some point, as symbolic as it is to me. Yes, he has a germanic name, but it was in my belief that Ciriah has a massive mishmash of cultures, so it wasn't too strange for him to have a name as such.
I hope I'll be forgiven by placing this online before clearing it with DeusSpud, but I'm pretty sure he's OK with it since its his characters backstory. THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is HOW IT IS DONE! I love the backstory and I hope eveyone will take a page from a few of these books that have been posted by others to come up with your own creative and unique character backgrounds.
I was VERY impressed with everyones so far and this one is certainly no exception. I'm rather toying with the idea of allowing him to start play with some really cool (but broken) armor as a reward for such creative story telling. In fact, I think I will just go ahead and do that. The armor is broken (3 strikes against it) so its not really what you would call "usable" until it has been repaired. Since it would take 900 gold and a master armorer to make the armor usable once more, I don't think its too OP to let him have it at first level. It will take many game sessions before he would be able to afford to have it repaired anyway, to say nothing of finding a smith with skill enough to do the job. So by the time hes able to actually use the armor, he may well have earned it in the game anyway. But if people think its too OP, then let me know and we'll try to work something else out.

[thrylax]

Somethings to consider. The armor would have been a gift from the Emperor of Ciriah, personally to Gustav's father (or grand-father) and would be considered a family heirloom. It is unlikely that your fathers wife (since you are a bastard) would allow you to have it, instead opting to inherit it to her son and your fathers legitimate heir. Its not likely to be a simple matter of money, as the armor is very distinct and any knight of Ciriah certainly would know who the armor once belonged to on first glance. It is also a matter of honor. The very fact that you were loved by your father was likely to make his wife very angry, and its possible that his angry wife would see you wearing the armor as a grave insult to her honor as well. So would be highly unlikely to sell it to you. But this is just speculation on my part and you are free to invent those close NPC's yourself if you wish. Maybe your fathers wife (however unlikely) was rather fond of you. Who knows? Thats right, you do. Please inform us......I'm dying to hear more of this great character you have invented.

[rhoule6819]

I have to say I am very impressed by everyones backstories so far. I have been going back and forth on if I wanted to go Wizard or Sorcerer , and finally decided that I will go sorcerer. With that said I am going to work on my backstory to try to improve it and bring it up to the quality that everyone else has. I have to say though coming up with backstroies is my biggest weakness and I tend not to be a creative person in general ( I guess thats why I decided to be a scientist for a living). I am more of a flesh out a character though role play type of guy.

I will give it my best shot to bring up the quality of my backstory. Any suggestions once i repost a revised one would be greatly appricated.

Keep up the good work everyone.

[Dr_Babylon]

I sincerely hope you aren't hesitating out of fear of judgement or harsh scrutiny. Frankly, you've asked the most important question, "Where did my character come from?", and that puts you head and shoulders above a large number of players I have worked alongside. From there, it helps to decide at which point in their life they first took to the road less traveled (Pchelkam, for instance, was five and an arcane duel destroyed her village) and trace a line to where they are at when they meet the rest of the party (Pchelka is on something of a long-range reconnaissance mission for her order). Determine what drove them along this path, what they got out of it, and what they might have lost along the way and you've got a backstory. Not that I am necessarily the best to give lectures on the subject.

I was very much looking forward to exploring Pchelka's animosity toward a studious secretive spellcaster but I think I will find similar challenges in deciding how she will react to one "afflicted" with natural magical talents.

Can't wait to see what our newest prospective member presents. Vastly dissimilar views on natural order and man's place in it could be fine source material between us.

[Dr_Babylon]

Oh and Gustav sounds terrific. Certainly sounds like a very different perspective from the rest of the group. Will be very interesting to see how individual needs and expectations (character wise) fit together.

[rhoule6819]

Oh I am not hesitating out of fear, if anything everyone here is making me want to step up to the challenge and make my character story even better, and has inspired me to do so.

And thanks for the tips Dr_babylon. I think the biggest issue I am having with my backstory right now is trying to find a good reason why my character would be in the place were the campaign started. I think once I have that, I can really build and work on the foundation of the backstory I have.

If anyone has any suggestions on why a lonely arcane caster such as myself would be in the area please speak up :-)

[Dr_Babylon]

If he is indeed from somewhere else, perhaps he heard things were different in Aerimar, rumors of arcanists actually finding acceptance there. Or he wishes to lose himself in a more rural setting where no one knows who he is? Possibly he is on his way to a more distant locale and this is just a stopover along the way. If there is a question of control over his gifts (clinging to the X-Men comparison here), maybe he is in search of some means to rein in or curtail the raging torrent of power within?

If you will forgive the impertinence, what drives him aside from this business of isolation and fell magic? What occupies his mind from day to day? What keeps him going and what makes him wish he could just give up?

(Substitute "she" for "he" where applicable. Good lord I hate coming off as pedantic...)

[Paranoia]

Heh. I actually am quite similar. I role-play better in the moment, a character is never fully developed before I start playing them. Little quirks, how they talk, hell half the time what they look like... It just tend to be things that fall into place unless it is a major driving force of the character. I think the issue with backstories that I have is details, I tend to either go too much or not enough into depth. Hell even the backstory I posted was just a snapshot of a character in a moment.

Anyways I have started to feel that my rogue is falling a little behind the curve (Admittedly he was the character I had the least thought put into) so I'm just going to have to step up it up once we get into game. Playing a fairly quiet guy in a roleplaying system can be a huge challenge to not cross the line of, "Talking too much" and "That person's not even really here". Honestly I choose to play charismatic characters most the time due to how much I enjoy being in the thick of conversations... So this is going against what I am used to playing. I'm not using that as an excuse mind you. It's just an area that I need to put more work into obviously and plan to...

Final point... I do have to say I'm pretty excited. As I have said multiple times. The opportunity of playing with a group of people and a DM that seemed half as into it as you guys all do would be cause for celebration. For a while it has been mostly me and Spud leading conversations... no the entire campaign around us. People would just bow out and not respond to the situation just choosing to be there... A party that has no interaction with each other no matter how deep the characters is just a bunch of plans built to fall apart. I hope the game goes beyond just "People who travel together" and potentially go the route of people having, "Friends"... or even "enemies"/rivals in the group. Hell I'm making no plans for how things will go but just the thought of the possibility makes it hard to sleep.

[JohnD]

Hey all, just stepping in to say that it isn't necessarily a bad thing to add another player a few sessions in, if it looks like the addition is needed. I have taken this approach a few times and it works fine, especially if you weave it into the story (some characters will leave, others will join etc...).

[levinth]

The wind caught under her wings as she soared high above the ground. From up here she had the choice to see the vastly changing landscape of continents or the lives of individuals, going about their daily business. Was this what it felt like to be a goddess?

Looking down she saw herself, staring up at the sky, chasing herself, one on the ground, one in the sky, both heading in the same direction. She could feel the connection between them, as if they were one spirit, bound to find and defend each other to the last. She wanted to guide and protect this tiny version of herself below. It was her, but more vulnerable; her, but younger. It still hadn’t learnt to spread its wings and fly the nest.

Dala woke up gently. Her sleep was always peaceful and resting. Her dream was always the same. She had tried sharing it with her parents, but they had no interest in her “imaginary games”. They thought at 17 she was too old to be believing in dreams. But there was something spiritual about it for her. It was like a voice calling her from the sky, telling her to follow, telling her she would grow with it. The voice, whatever it was, pulled her. And it was getting stronger, more insistent in its need for her company. Soon she would have to follow it, she was just waiting for a sign.

I thought I would introduce my character concept this way - seems more creative than just writing about how she looks and acts... My idea was that she would spot a sign in the sky (constellation? hallucination?) and decide to follow it. She has a relgious devotion to her belief that something out there is looking for her and is bonded with her, but she has yet to find what it is exactly, all she knows is what she sees in her dream. She is willing to give up her family and home life (which I have a few ideas about) and follow these signs to find out what they mean. She is skilled with a bow, something her father thought would be useful to teach her, and has eagle eyes, spotting things that other people would just ignore, meaning that she is precise with her weapon of choice.

Just a few ideas to test the water... Any feedback would be gratefully accepted (as would some help turning this concept into a viable character in terms of rules, like I said I'm used to Pathfinder rather than 3.5).

[Paranoia]

I like the idea thus far. I mean it sounds like a definite goal starting out and it plays into the whole, "Rangers and spiritual aspects". I'm not the final judgement if this is what the DM meant by it but it does sound like what he was going for. I have not actually played with a ranger that is much more than, "A character that uses a bow" so it'll definitely be interesting to see one develop.

Also at JohnD... I guess you're right. It's just that I have a natural bias against it due to past groups just slapping the character in without rhyme or reason. Though that should be no reason for me to judge this one based on it... But it does sound like we might be getting someone else anyways so it's all good.

[levinth]

I'd like to make her a lot more than just a character that uses a bow (although I will probably go that way with her, rules wise). I think as she is only level one, she is quite naive about how much of an impact this bond will have on her in the months and years to come. At the moment it's just a compulsion, that others might find odd or strange, because she seems to have no real reason for it. The reason for the compulsion though, is that she is in some way and for some reason that i'm still working on, drawn to this eagle, who has plans for her to serve it, almost like a cleric/ paladin might serve their god. I did think about having her rescue or aid an injured bird as a child, and use this as the start of the bond, which has grown over time and will continue to do so, but I'm not sure about that bit. Ideas welcome!

[Paranoia]

Oh I had a question for the DM. Would it be possible to trade "Shurikens" for "Small throwing knives" Just use the same stats but not have them be Shurikens... because I don't think Shurikens fit the setting... or the character. Having tiny expendable knives just seems to fit better... That's about it.

[Dr_Babylon]

I think the eagle and innocence angle is quite lovely. Certainly a very different connection to nature in its positivity from Pchelka's which is primarily based on the dreary inevitability of mortal failing and obligation to her (possibly) nefarious Druid order. I tend to view these things, rather selfishly, from the perspective of how they might impact my own character's path. I think your Ranger will either be someone Pchelka will never be able to empathize with (a bit of a silly dreamer, etc) or someone from whom she can learn a great deal from. It seems they will be of an age and I love the idea of being the dour, nose-to-the-grindstone type contrasting with your relative naïveté. Soaring, majestic eagle flying wisely above it all and reactionary, fearsome wolf skulking hungrily below.

Archery seems like a good idea as well. I suspect we might be otherwise quite limited there. This is merely reacting in support of your current tentative state. It sounds like you have some very good ideas here.

[Mgrancey]

Oh I had a question for the DM. Would it be possible to trade "Shurikens" for "Small throwing knives" Just use the same stats but not have them be Shurikens... because I don't think Shurikens fit the setting... or the character. Having tiny expendable knives just seems to fit better... That's about it.

Just to make sure, you do know you can throw daggers, they have range 10 ft. There are also darts, better actually, which would be essentially the same thing that your are looking for:
Cost: 5 sp
DMG: d4 Piercing
Crit: x2
Range: 20 ft
Simple Ranged Weapon
Weight: 1/2 lb.


Chuan Jin views Bard magic as knowing a secret of the world. He has learned to access something that exists everyone in the world, sound and music, the breeze through a forest (speed or agility), the roaring of a water fall (a relentlessness), the sound of a heartbeat (life effecting), burbling of water (stealth maybe), etc. This may not be correct, but considering that he's skipped a number of classes to go research in a library or on expeditions, I figure its only natural for him to have formed a different opinion. This is also because he has a Tien outlook, honored ancestors and the 1,000 spirits of the world, he views it differently from others. Or am I putting too much of personal spin on this?

Minor healing notes are a deep 3 beat humming like that of a heartbeat.
Cushion fall notes is a whistle like the sound of wind through branches.

[levinth]

I think the eagle and innocence angle is quite lovely. Certainly a very different connection to nature in its positivity from Pchelka's which is primarily based on the dreary inevitability of mortal failing and obligation to her (possibly) nefarious Druid order. I tend to view these things, rather selfishly, from the perspective of how they might impact my own character's path. I think your Ranger will either be someone Pchelka will never be able to empathize with (a bit of a silly dreamer, etc) or someone from whom she can learn a great deal from. It seems they will be of an age and I love the idea of being the dour, nose-to-the-grindstone type contrasting with your relative naïveté. Soaring, majestic eagle flying wisely above it all and reactionary, fearsome wolf skulking hungrily below.

Archery seems like a good idea as well. I suspect we might be otherwise quite limited there. This is merely reacting in support of your current tentative state. It sounds like you have some very good ideas here.

Thanks for the support. :) I don't think Dala would play as a dreamer... She might seem that way to outsiders at first, but anyone who bothered to get to know her would realise it was more of a faith that she didn't understand yet, than just being a ditzy dreamer. I'm hoping that as the character grows, she will learn that nature is as brutal as it is beautiful (maybe from Pchelka?), but I'm hoping it will be a gradual progression as she loses her original innocent nature and has to fight for survival.

[Dr_Babylon]

That was all I meant to imply, that Pchelka the perpetual harsh-reality crusader might originally view the nature-based beliefs of another as insubstantial or flighty. Her organization thinks of their own gloomy take on the natural order as the right one, of course, and exposure to one of less limited focus can only be an asset.

Have you decided on a cultural basis for the sky-bonded Ranger (not that it is a requisite)? It would seem we have representations of Chinese philosophy, Arthurian (or Baltic?) chivalry, Caledonian hooliganism (the Aerimarian rogue), and Russian forest folklore. Though the spellcaster has yet to announce his origins, we are already a veritable United Nations of adventure! I like labels...

[rhoule6819]

Life, Discovery, and Journey.
The Tales and Tribulations of Thanus Arundrel Sorcerer Extraordinaire
By Thanus Arundrel



Prolog:
My Life had never been that of a typcial child. I was born on the summer solictice, Mid Year 19th 1032, in Abèidh , a small farming community in Aerimar. My mother, Isabella Arundrel owned a small piece of farming land where we managed to survive. My mother and I had moved to Abèidh when I was still a baby, and while very obvious that mother and I were not native to Aerimar, the people of Abèidh accepted us as their own. I would often dream of that I was born some big city with lots of people, or maybe some mysterious island off the coast. Mother never talked about were they were orgianlly from nor about my father. Every time I tried to talk about the subject mother would change it. I often wished she would tell me stories of father, who he was or why he was not with us. Maybe he died fighting off a dragon, or was some great general in the kings army. Anyway I am getting off track.

I was a very charasmatic child even from a young age. though I did not have many friends growing up. Many of the children of Abèidh thought he was sick with some monsterous disease. You see I was very small statured for my age, and often would suffer from frequent blackouts. No one in the town, not even the local healers, could explain the cause of these blackouts. This didn't stop me from helping out around town. I enjoy helping those in need and would often going out of my way to help people, even if most of the time I was not making things better. Come to think of it, in my younger years I probally made things a lot worse off.

Life continune on like this, uneventful, untill I was about 14 years old, thats when it all changed. It was was Frost Fall 1046 and late at night. Mother and I were in the house relaxing just prior to going to bed. Suddenly the towns warning bell started to ring. You see Abèidh does not have any type milita or town guard for that matter. If the town is in trouble they ring the town bell and the townfolk rally together to defend it. Both mother and I knew something was terribly wrong it had to be for them to be rining the town bell. Before Mother could tell me to stay in the house and hide in the back room, I was already out the door running to help. You see, I saw this as my chance to prove myself to the town, that I am a help and not a hiderance. As I turned the corner to the town center,I saw a large force of bandits fighting the vastly outnumbered villigers, a few of which lay down on the dirt bleeding to death. I grab the nearest weapon, which happen to be a pitch fork and ran to help. Looking back at the events now, what good would I have really done with a pitch fork?

Just has I got close enough to fighting one of the bandits appeared out of no where brandishing a small rapier. He looked towards me smiled, see that I was an easy kill, lunged foward to end my puny life. I froze, what was I to do? There I was 14 years old, barely living life, and about to die to a bandit because I was too incompentent to defend myself, I was too weak. Right before he was to jab the rapier through me, Mother jumped in front of him, taking the full blow of the bandit, instantly killing her. It seemed as timed slowed down for me as I watched my mother die for me She died becasue I was weak. Furious with anger I wanted nothing but to tear that man apart. Yelling things that wasn't even common touge, in fact at the time I didn't even think they were words, I ran at the man. That is when it happened again, I blacked out.

I came too moments later, all the townsfolk were staring at me with a look of horror. Unsure what happened looked around to see what was going on. That is when I saw it, most of the bandits lay dead on the ground in front of me. Had the town folk really defend off the bandits? That is when the towns folk started shouting at me. "Wizzard!" some of them shouted. "He has magic!" others shouted. Thats when he heard one villager call out "Get him! He is goign to get us all killed." I was afraid. I had no idea what was going on, all I saw was a look for fear on the faceas of the people who I grew up around. They looked at me like I was some monster. Afraid for my life and I turrned around and ran. I ran as fast as he could back to my house, grabbed what little supplies I could, and kepted running. I did not know where he was runnign too, or how long I had been running. All I knew is it was daytime now, and did not know where he was. I made his way to a clearing on the side of the too tired to continue on. I had some many quetions that I wanted answered. Who was I What was my mother trying to hide.? Do I really have magic? Before passing out, one last word came out of his mouth "magic"

If I knew what I did now, back then all those years ago maybe things would of turned out different. If I had known the bandits where there for me, or that If I had magic, I could have been strong. Maybe even have saved mother.

Chaper 1:

It has been a year since the events at Abèidh. I am more alone then ever. I have grown in the past year, have uncovered some answers but have even more questions.

........To be continued

[levinth]

I agree that some more information about starting countries would be useful. I remember there being a little about regional traits in the guide, but some more detail would be helpful in creating a background within the world for a character.

Also, when is the first session planned for? In other words if the DM okays my character, when would it need to be ready for? I will do some expanding on my character tomorrow, when I have a bit of time.

[levinth]

I agree that some more information about starting countries would be useful. I remember there being a little about regional traits in the guide, but some more detail would be helpful in creating a background within the world for a character.

Also, when is the first session planned for? In other words if the DM okays my character, when would it need to be ready for? I will do some expanding on my character tomorrow, when I have a bit of time.

Edit: Sorry for the double post, my browser is playing silly b*****s... and I don't know how to delete a post...

[Dr_Babylon]

There is an entry on the Calendar under "Nightfall In Eliador" stating that showtime will be Sunday the 18th of August at 12pm EDT (be there or be square).

I hope I am not overstepping my bounds in suggesting that the available content is such that it may be easier to make a few requests for different national identities in order to narrow it down. There is a lot of stuff available that may not be terribly easy to post everything. Should our esteemed members be considering, say, the equivalent of Hungary, Spanish Africa, or an unnamed tropical Maori island, it may be best to voice it. Again, I know I am not in charge here but there is no harm in setting a focus to facilitate an easier exchange of information.

It has been confirmed so far that the area of Aerimar in which we will be starting has been patterned after the Scottish highlands (or moors?) and the Khaganate of Rhakier and neighboring Vos Lands are essentially slightly different flavors of medieval Russia (*Pchelka shakes her fist territorially*). Our unorthodox Bard, Chuan Jin, hails from a more cosmopolitan region that boasts a sizable population of expatriated citizens from a distant Chinese-themed area.

...I'm just gonna quiet down now before I create more confusion.

[thrylax]

Oh I had a question for the DM. Would it be possible to trade "Shurikens" for "Small throwing knives" Just use the same stats but not have them be Shurikens... because I don't think Shurikens fit the setting... or the character. Having tiny expendable knives just seems to fit better... That's about it.
I'm not sure why you'd wanna use shurikens to begin with.....even from a pure stat point of view.
Daggers CAN be thrown at the same range as a shuriken; they can also be used in melee (shurikens cannot); they cause double the damage and have double the threat range of a shuriken......plus, its already a throwing knife.
Just my two cents.....but in answer to your original question, shurikens come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and whose to say that one of those shapes is not a cute, tiny little girly throwing dagger. What you choose to call the weapon is unimportant, so name it what you will if you don't like the idea of using a shuriken.....but then, why?

[thrylax]

Life, Discovery, and Journey.
The Tales and Tribulations of Thanus Arundrel Sorcerer Extraordinaire
By Thanus Arundrel
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . To be continued
Nice.......gonna place Abèidh on the map of Aerimar as well.....thanks for the great backstory.....I can certainly do something with this.

[thrylax]

There is an entry on the Calendar under "Nightfall In Eliador" stating that showtime will be Sunday the 18th of August at 12pm EDT (be there or be square).

I hope I am not overstepping my bounds in suggesting that the available content is such that it may be easier to make a few requests for different national identities in order to narrow it down. There is a lot of stuff available that may not be terribly easy to post everything. Should our esteemed members be considering, say, the equivalent of Hungary, Spanish Africa, or an unnamed tropical Maori island, it may be best to voice it. Again, I know I am not in charge here but there is no harm in setting a focus to facilitate an easier exchange of information.

It has been confirmed so far that the area of Aerimar in which we will be starting has been patterned after the Scottish highlands (or moors?) and the Khaganate of Rhakier and neighboring Vos Lands are essentially slightly different flavors of medieval Russia (*Pchelka shakes her fist territorially*). Our unorthodox Bard, Chuan Jin, hails from a more cosmopolitan region that boasts a sizable population of expatriated citizens from a distant Chinese-themed area.

...I'm just gonna quiet down now before I create more confusion.
Almost everyplace in the campaign is in fact based off of real world history. I cherry pick interesting times and places from history, do some fantasy make-over surgery on it, and drop it into the campaign world. Not every place meshes exactly with real world times and places however. Some are a mix of several places and times, and some are outright fantasy fabrications with no real-world equivalents. But for a very rough draft of inspiration for places I will put down the following list.

Kingdom of Erlan = Roughly medieval France, sorta.

Kingdom of Rowanos = Roughly dark ages England, sorta.

Aerimar = Based on medieval Scottland.

Ethengar Freehold = Mix of Renaissance Italy in political theme, and southern United States in dress and speech.

Ryliah = medieval Spain in style with a good dash of Persian mixed in due to that countries history.

Tara-Moldav = medieval Hungary, Romania

Kharadas (The Ulthian Empire) = medieval Germany (The Holy Roman Empire)

Ciriah = Wierd mix of King Authur's mythical England and the Roman Empire

Northwilde & Khorvaire = Roughly medieval Slovakia, Hungary

Rhakier & The Vos = Medieval Russia (The Rus Khaganate)

Nordenheim = Dark Age Finland, Sweden, Norway (The Vikings)

The Khazrani = The Mongols

(Kingdoms of Avongar) = Get a little weird here as these are very fantasy themed regions. But roughly, most of them are themed after Greek civilization during the late Roman Empire (Byzantium) in style, dress and speech, but with a heavy dose of fantasy elements.

[levinth]

Thanks for the list Thrylax. :) Am I okay to go ahead and join the game? Is my character concept suitable for your world? I've applied on the game calendar but it won't let me add more details about my character there...

[thrylax]

Thanks for the list Thrylax. :) Am I okay to go ahead and join the game? Is my character concept suitable for your world? I've applied on the game calendar but it won't let me add more details about my character there...
Seems fine. I just have to ask as I'm not certain what you plan on playing. My impression is that this is for a Ranger, correct? In which case there are things you need to know about Rangers, and that is that they receive their powers from nature spirits rather than traditional gods (unless your an elf). They are extremely rare and tend not to travel much as they typically act as guardians of their particular natures spirits demense.

These natures spirits are tied to a particular area or thing, such as a great boulder at the heart of a vast forest, a group of standing stones built by ancient druids in ages past, a great tree, a clear still pond, really just about anything natural. While these nature spirits can inhabit something with some mobility (such as a great white stag for example) they cannot range too far from their place of power. They possess great powers while within their demense, but their power diminishes the further away they get.

These spirits typically invest druids and rangers to act as their defenders and as a supplementary set of eyes. In exchange for this service, druids and rangers are given great powers and responsibilities. Since they act as defenders, they tend not to travel too far afield from their particular nature spirits demense. But if a nature spirit is powerful enough, and has enough protection to spare a couple of rangers for something important enough to it, they may allow for a ranger to wander the world if it serves their purpose.

I can say that there are events transpiring in the world (or will soon enough) that would certainly be cause for concern for just about all nature spirits (and a few gods as well). So there is your excuse to be a travelling adventurer (because rangers especially need one). While the reason is as yet unknown by your nature spirit (let alone yourself) there is concern enough for druids and rangers the world over to be travelling the realm to look for signs of the "unnatural".

There is no need to report back home, as your spirit always has the ability to see what you see and knows what you know. Just follow the signs and seek the unnatural. Eventually, if enough rangers and druids find enough of these signs, the pieces of the puzzle will hopefully slowly begin to take shape. If there is some great danger to the natural order, the spirits of nature will eventually uncover it; hopefully before its too late.

[Paranoia]

Can't read anything on page 20 right now but quick version.... Shurikens are stupid cheap and come in bundles of five. The book I was reading I thought I saw daggers were 5 Gold each but... it might be wrong or I could get a different size or something. I'll have time to look into it later.

Essentially the point of a very cheap low damage throwing weapon isn't the base weapon damage, a ranged weapon at 30 feet can be used for Sneak Attacks, so the real damage would be from there. I planned to have a few higher rank more expensive daggers for more... vital targets but just a quick attack at range it can work.

Anyways like I said I could be wrong and mistaken and will check it again later... But if I remember right Shurikens were like 5 for a gold or something like that.

[Dr_Babylon]

Am I off-base in understanding that you'd need to burn a feat on Exotic Weapon Proficiency just to throw a shuriken with any talent? In which case, darts (or throwing needles, if you will) for the win. Unless it's for the sake of pure style you're talking about, in which case I completely concur.

[Paranoia]

Oh pure style. I just wanted some throwing daggers, considering I rolled quite low on cash getting a reliable number means I need to go a weapon with ammo route (Cheap but destroyed on hit)... and do Shurikens require a feat? Hrm... Well I'll check into it later when I get a chance to clear up this issue.

Just too busy at the moment.

[DeusSpud]

Quick question. The area we're travelling to. It has been brought to my attention that it is, in fact, cold. Would Adventurer's clothing be sufficient to stay warm here, or am I going to need full out cold weather clothing?

[thrylax]

Quick question. The area we're travelling to. It has been brought to my attention that it is, in fact, cold. Would Adventurer's clothing be sufficient to stay warm here, or am I going to need full out cold weather clothing?
Cold weather gear, while not required (at least not yet) would certainly be useful once winter fully sets in. However, don't feel like you must purchase it before game time or die of exposure. There will be plenty of opportunity to buy needed equipment once the game gets going.

[levinth]

Seems fine. I just have to ask as I'm not certain what you plan on playing. My impression is that this is for a Ranger, correct? In which case there are things you need to know about Rangers, and that is that they receive their powers from nature spirits rather than traditional gods (unless your an elf). They are extremely rare and tend not to travel much as they typically act as guardians of their particular natures spirits demense.

These natures spirits are tied to a particular area or thing, such as a great boulder at the heart of a vast forest, a group of standing stones built by ancient druids in ages past, a great tree, a clear still pond, really just about anything natural. While these nature spirits can inhabit something with some mobility (such as a great white stag for example) they cannot range too far from their place of power. They possess great powers while within their demense, but their power diminishes the further away they get.

These spirits typically invest druids and rangers to act as their defenders and as a supplementary set of eyes. In exchange for this service, druids and rangers are given great powers and responsibilities. Since they act as defenders, they tend not to travel too far afield from their particular nature spirits demense. But if a nature spirit is powerful enough, and has enough protection to spare a couple of rangers for something important enough to it, they may allow for a ranger to wander the world if it serves their purpose.

I can say that there are events transpiring in the world (or will soon enough) that would certainly be cause for concern for just about all nature spirits (and a few gods as well). So there is your excuse to be a travelling adventurer (because rangers especially need one). While the reason is as yet unknown by your nature spirit (let alone yourself) there is concern enough for druids and rangers the world over to be travelling the realm to look for signs of the "unnatural".

There is no need to report back home, as your spirit always has the ability to see what you see and knows what you know. Just follow the signs and seek the unnatural. Eventually, if enough rangers and druids find enough of these signs, the pieces of the puzzle will hopefully slowly begin to take shape. If there is some great danger to the natural order, the spirits of nature will eventually uncover it; hopefully before its too late.

I think my idea was basically that the nature spirit would be an eagle, so my character would have similar traits to one, but that they hadn't actually found each other yet, they were destined to find one another during the course of the adventures, because the bond was there and leading Dala to her nature spirit. Does that make sense? Would it work in this campaign, or do I need a rethink? Perhaps the nature spirit is actually leading her towards the source of this trouble without her even knowing as yet?

[levinth]

Also, how much money do we get to spend on starting gear? Thanks.

[Mgrancey]

Also, how much money do we get to spend on starting gear? Thanks.

Standard which is kit or roll for starting amount, so far as I know.


Low cost and focus on sneak attack is why I had suggest darts, a mini throwing knife would fit within dart (simple ranged weapon, everybody should be able to use it) I would think, especially if you were thinking of knives made for throwing, compared to a dagger/knife which weren't. The difference in cost, weight, and range would all be understandable, which would also be why they don't make good melee weapons since they are lighter, don't have hilts, and a properly sized handle. Function wise, shuriken were meant more as distractions and possibly to deliver poison, as far as I know so the extra damage is really just a mechanical effect unless you got lucky and hit a critical area.
At least as a GM that would be what I would call at least, though it is up to Thrylax.

[Paranoia]

I guess so. If I rekit darts into small throwing knives it wont be too bad. Darts always just sounded to lame to me... and honestly I forgot they existed all together. Also when I did a quick check I didn't see anything about needing exotic weapons for Shurikens, not saying I still plan to use them but just a rather interesting point. I plan to get a good bit of use out of my throwing weapons, as they can be used for the first round as a sneak attack... and having ranged attacks in general never hurts. Not to mention I seriously love throwing characters but in D&D they seem to fall just a bit behind, just a little bit. Master thrower is a fun looking prestige class though and I have meant to play it for a while now. (Not saying I plan to this game, I just would like to at some point in the future) This character is more built for close range combat with using a throwing knife to fill the gaps where needed, so darts will work for this purpose.

I have a few more things I need to get down on paper (Notepad) but then I'll throw my character sheet + more past details at the DM. Let him look them over if he wants to, not if he doesn't.

[Mgrancey]

That the major group shuriken fall under is Exotic Weapons, since they are atypical to standard fantasy weapons, unless doing an Eastern/Asian campaign.

I do agree with you darts seem kinda silly, for a ranged weapon, though sneak attack or poisons do make them much more lethal. As a note, the feats that concern Ranged attacks (PBS, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, etc...) can be used with darts or any ranged weapon. So you could take them and be throwing multiple darts in a round eventually; admittedly I would need to look up and around about combining sneak attack upon such. QUICK DRAW and 2 WEAPON FIGHTING would let you melee 1H and throw darts at the same time, becoming a whirlwind of stab/slash/flying pointy death.

[Paranoia]

Cannot take quickdraw yet due to not having a +1 BAB... Tragically. That'll be at a later point in the campaign. Also... You might be right about Shurikens... I forgot they were organized as such so that's my bad. Which really makes shurikens not very good at that's just sad. Anyways I am not planning to use poisons, I considered it but it didn't seem fitting for my character. He's not the poison type of guy. Anyways yeah a dagger in the throat (Dart reskin) with sneak attack can be quite effective for a first round. Not against zombies. I need a zombie plan, so I guess maybe some torches. Zombies on fire is a good route right? What could possibly go wrong?

[Mgrancey]

Bolas, clubs for skeletons, tangleweed bags.

[thrylax]

Also, how much money do we get to spend on starting gear? Thanks.
Take the average as listed on "Table 7–1: Random Starting Gold" located on page 111 of the v3.5 Player's Handbook.

[thrylax]

The day draws near. I hope everyone is ready.
I'd like to take a few moments to chat about VTT Etiquette and maybe some ways we can get through the game a little more smoothly while using text only communications.

First of all, I'd like to ask everyone to be punctual when we start the game. I doubt all the other players will enjoy waiting for an hour to start because we are all still waiting on players to connect. That said, I understand that we'll likely need a full hour of prep before the game gets underway just asking/answering various questions people have about some things that have not been covered yet.

I think we already mentioned this last time everyone connected to test the server, but I'll restate that I will leave a 15 minute window open on the server for people who may be late or whatever (it happens from time to time). We'll usually spend that time before every game anyway just recapping the last session and dividing up loot, etc, etc. So no worries if your only going to be a few minutes late.

I would also like to ask that everyone have their characters 100% complete before logging in so that the other players don't sit idle while other players are finishing their characters up. If you have any questions about your character that needs answered before you can finish, please ask here or on the Game Link Discussion Area. On that note, I have a strict policy that says that if it isn't listed on your character sheet, you don't have it. So if you think your character would always carry an extra change of clothes, an extra dagger in his boot, and fishing hooks, then please purchase them and list them on your sheet.

On a related note, if (for example) one of your characters gets pick-pocketed by an NPC thief and you fail to notice the theft, I will just silently remove whatever items (or money) the thief lifted from you and not inform you. So if you go to look on your character sheet and notice that something is missing, it will be up to you to figure out what happened to it (assuming that you ever notice its missing in the first place).

Although I'm sure we'll have some issues and bumps in the road (particularly in the first game) there are some things we can all try to do to minimize such things. I'm going to list some of the things that I think may come up while we play that I'd like everyone to keep in mind.

Please try not to chat while someone else is chatting. In other words try not to interrupt other people. I think I may use an "initiative order" of sorts for role-playing encounters as well as combat. The "initiative" will just be an unmodified 1d20 roll to determine in which order people get to speak so that everyone is not trying to talk over one another. We'll see how it goes first however. If its not an issue, then it won't need fixing to begin with.

If you must roll a die to keep occupied when its not your turn, please don't drop the die into the chat window. Just roll it on your desktop so that it does not clutter other peoples chat screens.

I'd like everyone to try to make use of the chat modifiers when chatting (CTRL, ALT, SHIFT). So that when your speaking in character it will display such. When your asking a question out of character, it will display that as well. Anyone not used to FG2 may take some time to get used to it (myself included), but its something we can work on.

I advise you all have some sort of system in place to divide up treasure. For example, who gets the Shiny Awesome Magic Sword +50 of Castle Slaying, and who gets stuck with the Trident of Fish Command. That is something that should be handled in character by the party and I will not get involved in such discussions myself.

There will be times (frequently I hope) where I will stop advancing the game forward to give the party time to interact with each other (in character). So that we can squeeze out some hopefully quality role-playing in between combat encounters. I encourage everyone in the party to do everything they possibly can "in character".
When you make an attack, describe the action. When you cast a spell, describe that as well. I hope that all of you will take the opportunity to do more on your turn than simply say "I attack" or "I cast Magic Missile at the darkness". Nothing elaborate or anything, just a quick sentence with some description of your attack.
For example, Instead of saying "I use power attack and charge the orc" you can instead try "I bellow out a fearsome roar of attack as I charge into the orc with my axe held high. As I approach I give a mighty swing with both hands and . . . . . . ." roll your attack (and assuming you hit), ". . . . . . .slice into the hapless orcs chest, exploding it like blood sausage and spraying thick, black blood over his remaining comrades!"

If anyone can think of anything else to help keep the game going, please post it here so we can all read it.
Thanks, and hope to see you all Sunday for the first game.

[Dr_Babylon]

I think between communication, patience, and mutual respect we should do all right. It will take some time to develop a real rhythm. No plan survives contact with the enemy, as they say. My biggest issue is going to be keeping my angst-filled, low-charisma wild child quiet during the more important diplomatic discussions. An anti-social character remains something of a new experience for me. That and she's kind of unlikely to embrace others who do her talking for her...


(p.s. It's probably just me, but a Trident of Fish Command sounds like an interesting item for a Druid to tinker with.)

[Paranoia]

I don't fight many castles... but a trident of fish command. That sounds bitchin.

Spud - Man, Tridents of Fish Commanding? Where can I sign up for

[levinth]

From the text-only games I've run, I'd say the main thing is to remember that everything runs slower. My group at the moment manage 1 complete encounter in 45 mins to an hour. Personally i don't think this is a bad thing. I think if people are happy to take their time, there is more scope for thinking about how your character would react/ behave etc. Maybe this group will be faster, who knows, but I think it's worth being aware of it.

Also, my personal pet hate as GM is people who are playing their character whilst also chatting on fb/ tweeting/ whatever. I think focusing on the game is only courteous to your GM and other players. The last thing you want is to be "busy" when your character is thrust into the limelight!

Just my thoughts on ettiquette :)

Do you want us to upload our characters xmls to here?

[Dr_Babylon]

It occurs to me that I may have one or two things to finalize on in-game character sheet, though the details are certainly complete. I will do my best to log on as early as possible if the server will be available before wheels-up.

[Mgrancey]

Unfortunately, I got called in to work 11 to 5 or 6 tomorrow. I have no problem on you guys playing tomorrow as Sundays are mixed bag, I hadn't been working any for a long time and now it seems to have shifted to workiing them semi-regularly, so can't guarantee would be able to be regular player.

[Paranoia]

That... sucks. Sorry to hear about that, maybe you'll be able to jump in at a later point?

[thrylax]

Unfortunately, I got called in to work 11 to 5 or 6 tomorrow. I have no problem on you guys playing tomorrow as Sundays are mixed bag, I hadn't been working any for a long time and now it seems to have shifted to workiing them semi-regularly, so can't guarantee would be able to be regular player.
Maybe this is a sign that the economy is recovering. Seems like I'm seeing places posting hiring signs all the time now rather than reading about people getting laid off. No worries, it is what it is. If you can make it great, but if not, hey, its only a game and there will be others. Family and work should always come first over a game....no matter how awesome the game.

[thrylax]

On a related note, sorry I had to bail as quickly as I did today, but the game went almost an hour over and my wife was starting to get prickly. I told her how awesome you guys were and how this was the best group of players I had played with in a long while and shes cool with it now. :-D

Anyway, just wanted to say that I thought all of you were among the best players I've run with in a while. I wish my last few tabletop groups were as great as you all seem to be. Everyone seems to have a focus on role-playing, which I love. I'm sorry we didn't focus more on that aspect this first game, but I really wanted to get the Fin & Fleece fight over with and wrapped-up before logging today. Alas it was not to be. I hated stopping in the middle of a fight like that, but the clock just caught up to me.....and passed me by by about 50 minutes as well.

I probably should have done more role-playing in the pub before the fight and stopped it there, but I didn't want everyone to think that there would NEVER be any combat, for those of you that prefer those sorts of things. So I also wanted to do at least one fight today as well. I thought about turning the Pig N' Whistle scene in Cumbrae into a good old fashioned bar brawl, but since the party was not even together yet, I opted out of it.

Anyway, the hardest part, and the most time consuming part (getting the party together in an organic way) is done and over with, so now we can focus on the game in earnest and I promise to cut down on the railroading quite a bit now as well.....I don't normally do much railroading as a DM, but it does save time when getting a party together and I appreciate your patience on that matter.

I really enjoyed the game, far more than I had hoped I would. I also hope to see you all again next Sunday at noon EST where the game will really start to take off. I expect a lot more combat will ensue for the next few sessions, but once the dust settles, the survivors at least will get to enjoy more role-playing opportunities and I can start to get into my normal A/B Plot system from there.

[Paranoia]

Heh. I played Gavin a bit different than I was actually planning to. Hell as bad as he is with talking to people I think I have put those two points into charisma mistakenly... Honestly the plan for Gavin was to be more in the back not talking too much when outside parties came around... But that would have left Pchelka(Close nuff) take over talking and after making that kid cry... well he didn't want to leave someone that bad at diplomacy in charge. *Cough* As for getting the party together... yeah it's always expected to have a roughish first session. Hell nobody is expecting perfection out of anyone else and if they are then they are dumb. We're all here to have fun... and hit a more RP focused gameplay than we are used to. I think we have reached that.

Anyways I did have a lot of fun, and I do understand why we had to stop. Hell I was expecting us to quit at four. The fact we went over that much really surprised me honestly. I'm glad we're such a RP heavy group. Everyone was getting involved and honestly that's what I have wanted for a loong while. I know it's been said but I'm used to just me and Spud going back and forth... and honestly two person dialog gets old quickly.

I'll need to find some reason for Gavin to stay around these people... Can't think of anything good quite yet but he's an odd man so I can bring up some confusing logic to make it all okay in his mind.

[thrylax]

OK, I think I fixed the Erndorth Languages.ext extension. Last time it was not showing properly for Aldarian and I changed "vos" back to "voslic" so that it is the exact same as listed in the Player's Guide to hopefully avoid confusion.
Remember that to use it properly, the languages must be entered on your character sheet EXACTLY.

The accepted list of languages currently stands at the following. . . . . . . .

abyssal
aquan
auran
celestial
draconic
druidic
giant
gnome
goblin
gnoll
halfling
ignan
infernal
orc
sylvan
terran
undercommon
aldarian
apian
avarin
izondian
kas
khazrani
khuzdul
landrin
nord
rhakiri
rohirric
varghani
voslic
vyallian
xan

[Dr_Babylon]

Yeah I thought we made a pretty good showing of ourselves and I have positive thoughts regarding our future together. These things have to be given time to build momentum as we all get a feel for each other's expectations and capabilities. It is of tremendous worth that, I think, we all established unique personalities on our very first outing.

I do wish that our party had some kind of arcane caster as it would mesh very interestingly with my own character's motivations. Perhaps we will be able to add a recruit at a later date.

Looking forward to seeing you all again this Sunday (proposed time is up on Calendar page for your voting pleasure).

[thrylax]

Unfortunately, levinth will not be able to make the game Sunday. I was wondering if you all wanted to wait till he can play too since were now down to 3 people, or try to play as is. Its too bad really, cause the game is really gonna start to get going next session I hope.

On a related note, I will be starting a new job on Monday. For the time being my schedule still gives me weekends off, but that will change after my initial training period of about 5 weeks. So in a little over a month, I will no longer have Sunday's off, but we can go for another day/time if you all are able. After my training I will be off on Friday's & Saturday's for the 8 weeks following that. So maybe we can reschedule for one of those days when the time comes.

[thrylax]

Also, Dr_Babylon it seems, has set up a private forum for us to use as well. Thanks, I really appreciate the effort you all seem to be putting into the campaign. I'm looking forward to seeing where we all end up together.
https://beyondeliador.freeforums.net/

[Mgrancey]

Well, a previously closed department is opening back up again and I'm getting a shot in it, which if it works out will have me working 11 am - 6 pm.

[Paranoia]

Fridays me and Spud are busy. But every other day is fine.

[Dr_Babylon]

I can understand that playing with a diminished party is not ideal but I would prefer to put in at least a little game time tomorrow. Life intervenes and I bear no ill will against those who cannot attend but I feel making some progress would do our group good. I realize that I am likely the minority on this view and will abide the general vote.

To those whose recent changes in life have been toward the positive, I offer my sincere congratulations.

[Paranoia]

I'd be... fine with playing tomorrow I guess. I'll be awake and around anyways, no matter what we decide.

Hopefully these kinks will all get worked out and we can get down to some consistent gameplay. Heh.

[thrylax]

Which if we do play that begs the question of what happens with characters whose player cannot make it. Write them out and pretend they were never there? Play on with a lifeless character? Some of the things we probably should figure out. Maybe we can do tomorrow as a strict role play session instead or just hang out and chat. In any case I'll start the server and we can figure it out tomorrow.

[Paranoia]

Well... Unless the player leaves I'd say the character stays around, potentially under DM auto-pilot? While it's not an optimal solution it's not like we really have one at that. I just find trying to write out characters or make them vanish... makes things more... hollow. I just tend to pretend that person chose that day to be VERY quiet.

[thrylax]

I am going to start making more use of the forum that Dr. Babylon has provided for us and making less use of the FG2 forums. But if there is anything important about the game that needs to be seen, I will likely still post both on the new forums, and the Game Calender link in the FG2 website. I am likely going to stop making use of the "Gaugeing Interest In....." forum post here altogether however.
In case you missed it before, the link for the new forums is...................
https://beyondeliador.freeforums.net/

[saibot1337]

Is recruitment closed? If not I would like to join.

[Paranoia]

Pretty sure we are still looking for more players (Three currently). At the moment we have a Knight, a Ranger, and a Rogue. You can see the details about them a bit earlier on, I think the DM has been doing some recruitment on the side so I can't tell you what the new players might have rolled...

Anyways what would you be interested in playing? Maybe I can help you with a few basic details and then get things fine tuned up.

[saibot1337]

I'm a fan of party balance, so if you have 2.5 melee characters, I would lean towards a divine caster. Off the top of my head, I think I am feeling a "greedy" human cleric of Nyrike from Kharadas.

"Doc" Lavian Bremondt was once prosperously employed as a healer of the the Kharadas thieves guild. Things turned south for him when the guildmaster's son contracted gangrene. Lavian saved the son's life by amputating his foot and permanently ruining his promising career as a rouge. For that, Lavian was rewarded with a beat down, two broken legs, and left in a dumpster for dead.

Luckily, being a cleric, Lavian could deal with injury...but he couldn't risk running into the thieves guild again, so he had to get out of town. Lavian turned south toward Lyndon and set up his own practice as a doctor. Life became profitable again as Lavian swindled....errrr.....overcharged....eerrrr...prov ided high quality medical care at competitive prices! After a few years, however, the Kharadas thieves guilds discovered Lavian's whereabouts when a thieves guild member who was in Lyndon and required healing strode into his clinic. That night Lavian's clinic was burned to the ground and Lavian was on the road again. Once again Lavian headed south towards Aerimar looking to start a new life.