King of the Trollhaunt Warrens
A Paragon Tier Adventure
Armed with ancient fomorian magic, the troll-chief Skalmad has sworn to destroy the small border-town of Moonstair. Somewhere in the depths of the Trollhaunt—a vast wilderness of marsh, moor, thicket, and hill—Skalmad plots his next attack. For the first time in centuries, the monsters of the Trollhaunt have a leader with the wits and the willpower to reforge the old realm of the trolls. But who dares to stand against Skalmad, King of the Trollhaunt Warrens?
I want to run a play by post game, but decided it'd be cool just to do a runthrough of one of the published adventures, rather than trying to make a standing long-term campaign. If, at the end of this adventure we want to keep going, maybe we will with the next module.
Character Creation Guidelines
I'll be taking 5 Player Characters in the standard configuration (1 of each Leader, Controller, Defender and 2 Strikers).
- Starting level is 11.
- You get three magic items of your choice, on each of level 10, 11 and 12. You may select lower level items if you wish.
- You may select any amount of mundane equipment that you wish at no cost
- You also get 5,000 GP with which to purchase miscellaneous extra magic items, rituals, components, consumables, etc.
Your party is an established group of professional adventures (and, thus, will need an adventuring company name) who are heading to the town of Moonstair to deliver a package to the mayor, Kelana Dhoram. It's a lot simplier than your usual jobs, but you were "going that way anyhow".
Character submissions should include a link to a Myth-Weavers character sheet and a synopsis of your background and character traits. Bonus points for a Character Builder generated PDF of your character for my records. Any published class or race is fine.
We'll go with the standard "One post a day during the week" pacing rules, and the best five characters will get selected, not necessarily the first five characters.
Posts
I'll up him to 11 and post him shortly.
Edit: Oh, and I assume by any published class or race you will allow the playtest build for Barbarian?
Yeah, that's cool. We'll go over it again once the PHB2 drops to see if anything's changed
The party already has one Bag of Holding and a set of Everlasting Provisions (becasue micro-management is not my idea of fun )
I'll post a sheet later tonight.
You are absolutely welcome. This will be my first time trying to DM something in Paragon tier and only my second attempt at PbP, so we'll be learning together
A picture
Background
Years upon years passed and Jack remained untouched by raiders and scavengers, buried under mounds of dirt caused by the battle. Though something did stir above him. As time passed a large tribe of spiritual men and women lived unpon his resting ground, living off the land and praying to the spirits of the wild. These people chanted and battled for the spirits for which they were granted powers of healing and survival. Eventually these people moved on, but the spirits remained.
Without men, women, and children to support them, the uplifted spirits sank slowly back into the earth, where they found Jack and gave him the strength and ability to break free from his dirt casket. Or so that is what Jack believes happened. One way or another the spirits of the earth embodied and still embody his metal form, giving him the life and mental/physical ability he doesn't believe he had before his death.
Free from his tomb Jack searched the land for adventure, and still does.
Appearance
Jacks head is probably the biggest visual difference when comparing him to modern warforged. It is large and bulky unlike most warforged, with a long horn protruding itself from the top of his forehead. On his brow is inscribed J.A.C.K, and above that the numbers 2 - 4 are inscribed. His eyes glow but flicker constantly, as if about to go out any second, unless at an emotional high, in which case it glows bright red.
Personality
Edit: Just made him again with character builder now that I have it. Here is a stat block, though for some reason my Paragon Path power isn't showing up..
Warforged, Barbarian, Frenzied Berserker
Feral Might: Rageblood Vigor
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 22, Con 18, Dex 14, Int 11, Wis 9, Cha 12.
Starting Ability Scores
Str 18, Con 13, Dex 13, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 10.
AC: 25 Fort: 25 Reflex: 19 Will: 19
HP: 93 Surges: 12 Surge Value: 23
TRAINED SKILLS
Perception, Endurance, Athletics.
FEATS
1: Weapon Proficiency (Fullblade)
2: Armor Proficiency (Chainmail)
4: Armor Proficiency (Scale)
6: Warforged Tactics
8: Power Attack
10: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade)
11: Blood Thirst
POWERS
1, At-Will: Howling Strike
1, At-Will: Recuperating Strike
1, Encounter: Avalanche Strike
1, Daily: Bloodhunt Rage
2, Utility: Barbarian Great Leap
3, Encounter: Blade Sweep
5, Daily: Thunder Hawk Rage
6, Utility: Instinctive Charge
7, Encounter: Great Shout
9, Daily: Stone Bear Rage
10, Utility: Wellspring of Renewal
ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Javelin (5), Magic Scale Armor +3, Bloodsoaked Bracers (heroic tier), Horned Helm (heroic tier), Potion of Vitality (paragon tier), Amulet of Protection +2 (2), Bloodthirsty Fullblade +3
I'll come up with another concept maybe shortly. We'll see.
Arcanto the Tiefling Warlock
A sample post:
You've got a great place here. Great people and great beer. Can't get much better than that.
Arcanto had always had a way of talking to people and making them feel relaxed. Most of the time, by the end of the night people would believe anything he said as if it had come straight from one of their holy books. The barkeep smiled at him and nodded.
Haven't had a party like that in years, though. You just showed up and suddenly everyone was having a great time. I made enough gold tonight to hold me over for another month or two.
Arcanto smiled in response. It was a good night. Nothing would be able to spoil it.
As he stood to leave, he felt a familiar presence begin to tug at his mind. NO! Not now! he thought to himself. He had felt this presence before many times. He knew what it was and what it could do. Get out of my head, Arcanto demanded. The presence began to draw closer. He could begin to hear the the presence's voice telling him to destroy this place. Arcanto would not do something like that at least while he was in control. He quickly stood up and slammed his palms down on the table. His internal struggle was now apparent to the barkeeper who looked quite surprised. He had seen nothing yet, though.
Arcanto's eyes faded to black and fire began to lick around his hands pressing against the table. Arcanto had to get out of there and fast. The table caught fire. The tiefling did not move, though. As the fire grew, so did the look of horror on the face of the owner. He quickly ran behind the counter and grabbed the bucket of water he had used to wipe his table down with. With a splash the water hit the table and the tiefling. Arcanto looked up apologetically for a moment before the voice took over. With a look of fear stuck on his face, the owner's life was snatched from him.
Eyebite was normally not a move that Arcanto used to kill enemies with but was highly effective against the weak bartender. The bartender's body fell to the ground lifeless. Arcanto looked around, his black eyes looking for anyone present to kill. With a small flourish, Arcanto appeared near the door. He held his hand out, palm facing towards the bar full of alcohol and he chanted a couple of words. Fire erupted from the ground and quickly caught everything near there on fire. The heat of the flames quickly filled the room and smoke began to pour from the cracks in the building alerting those outside to the danger on the inside.
Arcanto had to get control of himself otherwise he would cause more pain to the innocents outside. He struggled against his demonic nature attempting to pry control of his body back from the presence. However, it was not yet finished. With a small flourish, the tiefling tossed his cape around and spun towards the door. He then opened it and stepped outside. People were just starting to gather around and stare at the burning building when he exited. A guard off in the distance yelled to Arcanto to hold where he was. Arcanto's hand came up again but this time with the rod being held. Try as he might to stop himself, he could not do anything. After another muttered word, what looked like black lightning forked from the end of his rod and struck the guard in the chest. Arcanto began moving through the crowd. They parted as if he had a plague they would catch if they got too close. Arcanto laughed. Another guard, hidden in the crowd, swung his sword from behind Arcanto. It was a perfect swing and would've sliced any normal man in two. A dark shield seemed to be covering him for the split second before the sword would've connected with his body preventing the blade from coming in contact with the tiefling. He suddenly vanished and all that was left there was a small black puff of smoke. He had gotten away.
Arcanto continued to struggle for control of his body but there was nothing he could seemingly do. Eventually, his consciousness passed to unconsciousness.
He awoke late into the next day. He was in the middle of the forest sleeping on a tree. The town was south of him, he knew that for sure as he recognized the road off in the distance.
Well, there's another place I can't return to... He thought to himself. Quietly cursing his week will, Arcanto stood up to leave. He needed to figure out how to control his "dark side" and he needed to figure it out fast.
Basic Attack +26 vs AC -- Damage 1d10+19 (+5 if enemy is prone) (+2 if Longtooth Shifting is active)
Oh, hush, you have as much chance as the rest of us. Besides, a rogue is always needed!
I'd be interested in rolling up a character for this thread if I don't make it into the other one - how long are you going to be accepting applications?
Newbies are, of course, welcome
ditto.
Tariq Wahdi, Human Ranger
No big deal then. We'll plan on starting midway through next week.
In that case I think I will be changing up my Barbarian a tad after it releases. I want to see if they have a paragon path which will focus more on the spiritual aspect of things.
A semi-crazy wizard with a hunger for knowledge and a willingness to do whatever it takes to get it.
Personality:
Background:
His first trip led him to an old ruin in the snowy mountains where he found a vast library of arcane texts. There he learned the language of the library's builders, a language he eventually came to know as Deep Speech. He also learned the secrets of alchemy, and the power of the arcane arts.
This experience left him with a wealth of information and power stored in his mind, more than he can seem to recall at any given time. It also left him with an insatiable hunger for more. He has been adventuring ever since, braving impossible odds and cheating death in the never ending search for knowledge.
Joining up with an adventuring company afforded him the opportunity to take on more dangerous adventures than he could on his own. He jumped at this chance, since the most interesting finds always came with the most danger. It was through these life-threatening encounters that he found his gift for psychic magic, using his power over the mind to influence his enemies and destroy them from the inside out.
PDF Character Builder sheet
Background:
But, many years later, the forest did burn. Despite Erdan's best efforts - and he was gravely injured during the battle - Erdan and his soldiers were unable to stop the seemingly endless tide of Orcs. The forest was burned and its inhabitants slain. Erdan awoke a day later, lying in the corpses and ashes of the battlefield.
Erdan made his way to civilization, where he was overcome with guilt for failing to protect his people. He took the occasional small job to survive but mostly lived in squalor and his own self-pity. It was a full two years later when the Orc armies began to make their way south to the village where he lived. The village hired a group of adventurers to scout the situation and, if possible, turn away the Orc's advance. Erdan joined the group, volunteering as guide and scout as he saw this as a chance at a little redemption. The group was successful at turning away the Orcs. Erdan decided to move on with his life and decided to accompany the adventurers for a while on his quest for redemption.
PDF from character builder is available here.
Stats from Character Builder:
Bruno Bearpuncher, level 11
Dwarf, Fighter, Dwarven Defender
Build: Guardian Fighter
Fighter Talents: One-handed Weapon Talent
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 21, Con 18, Dex 11, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 11.
Starting Ability Scores
Str 18, Con 14, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 11, Cha 10.
AC: 27 Fort: 24 Reflex: 19 Will: 19
HP: 103 Surges: 13 Surge Value: 25
TRAINED SKILLS
Streetwise, Endurance, Athletics.
FEATS
1: Armor Proficiency (Plate)
2: Dwarven Weapon Training
4: Toughness
6: Weapon Focus (Hammer)
8: Dodge Giants
10: Improved Initiative
11: Hammer Rhythm
POWERS
1, At-Will: Tide of Iron
1, At-Will: Cleave
1, Encounter: Shield Bash
1, Daily: Villain's Menace
2, Utility: Boundless Endurance
3, Encounter: Rhino Strike
5, Daily: Crack the Shell
6, Utility: Settling the Score
7, Encounter: Come and Get It
9, Daily: Jackal Strike
10, Utility: Last Ditch Evasion
ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Cloak of the Walking Wounded +2, Guardian Shield Heavy Shield (heroic tier), Plate Armor of Sacrifice +2, Staggering Craghammer +3, Belt of the Brawler (heroic tier)
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
Appearance:
Bruno is relatively young for a dwarf and keeps his beard in ornately decorated dreadlocks. His plate armor is dinged and dented from countless strikes, which he takes great pride in. On his shield is an image of a heavily muscled dwarf punching a bear in the face.
Personality:
1. His mother.
2. Ale.
3. Adventure, especially fighting or contests of strength.
4. Gold, and the spending thereof.
Bruno may not necessarily be the smartest, but he's loyal and stubborn and damn near impossible to kill.
I feel like dwarf fortress has done wonders for the popularity of dwarves as a species.
It's quite possible, but I've never played it. Can you actually punch a bear in the face in-game?
You can punch a bear's face clean off in-game.
yes. or gouge its eyes out. or strangle it.
EDIT: I tried coming up with a tabletop version of DF with some friends once, but it quickly became a logistical nightmare for the GM. It is a cool idea though.
Should we roll for stats or pick an array or what?
God, I wanna play a dwarf...its been so long.
Correct.