Or: Let's get nautical!
Because I cannot help going in over my head, I am now preparing to lead a 4th edition game. Not only is this my first time as a DM but it is also my first time with D&D, but I have this idea in my head and I really want to get it out. Consider yourselves warned.
The Basics
This is a play by post game. All players are welcome regardless of earlier D&D experience (as I've said, this is new for me too). Be advised: I live in Sweden and as such I am on Central European Time, which means that if you are from the other side of the Atlantic ocean It will be night here at noon for you and vice versa. The game may not always progress very quickly, but I expect you to post at least once per day. It doesn't have to be a a long post, the important thing is to keep a steady pace. As a swede I also beg your pardon for any mistakes I do while trying to handle the english language.
I am looking for 5 players and I'm trying to keep the group fairly balanced. I will choose the characters I like best at my own discretion. If I did not pick you it doesn't mean I hate you, just that the competition for the spot was fierce (No, really! I don't hate you, you've got to believe me!)
The Setting
The adventure takes place in the world of Merwil, a planet that is mostly covered by water. There are no major continents to speak of but there are however a vast number of islands an a variety of sizes that host the land dwellers of Merwil. Not all of these islands host civilized beings though and those that do are not always friendly, so adventurers will do well to tread lightly into unknown territories.
Many of the major islands have established trade agreements and enjoy if not always good then at least civil relations with each other. As each island basically governs itself you should not expect to find any large empires or expanding kingdoms, political power in Merwil is measured in commerce rather then force. The need for adventurers is still great however, many dangers still exist in the world and people able to handle them will always be in high demand.
The cosmology and pantheon are the standard ones from the core rulebooks. This is basically a standard D&D world with the added twist that the islands of civilization that the developers like to brag about are, quite literally, islands. The big changes are mostly thematical: fishing will play a much larger role then farming as it has the potential to feed more mouths, you are more likely to have a run in with pirates then with bandits and travel around the world will require access to a ship of some kind. Please try to keep such things in mind while creating your character. If you have a question about he setting please feel free to ask me here or in a PM and I will get you an answer as soon as possible.
The Characters
When you create your character, the following rules apply:
- Character creation method is the standard 22-point buy
- The characters will start at level 1
- The only race that is a no go at this moment are the Warforged. A few do exist, but they are not well suited for the life at sea.
- I am not banning any classes from play at this moment, but keep in mind that I do not have access all the books and if you play a class I do not have access to much time will be spent explaining the specifics of the class with me.
- Each character starts with 100g to buy equipment for.
What must be in your character description:
- Your characters name, class and a link to their character sheets over at myth-weavers
- A short physical description
- The characters background story
- A description of the characters mannerisms, mood, quirks etc.
Once again, if there are any questions please feel free to ask.
Posts
The Party
Defender: To be announced
Leader: TBA
Striker: TBA
Striker: TBA
Controller: TBA
One sentence description: Hand wrapped in strands of rope and foot planted on the shoulder of the ship's figurehead, he exults in the storm, eyes peering through the lightning and walls of streaming rain at the pirates' ship he pursues.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Kevdog: The short answer is that it varies. The long answer is while travel between islands is generally not a problem, where you are and where you are going might prove troublesome at times. There are quite a few clusters of islands with close trade agreements, but only the most succesful merchants can find that trade between clusters can prove profitable. Isolated islands also exist of course, but they are rarely worth any notion from most of the people of Merwil. A rule of thumb is the further you are going and the more deviation from the major trade routes, the harder you might find getting a ship (unless you own one, of course).
Tommy2Hands: It'll be fine, as I said I've not really played any of it myself. We'll work out any kinks in the gameplay as they arise.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
That would depend on what constitutes as significant I suppose, but a few islands have populations of 100 000 - 200 000 living residents in their main settlement. Most never grow to that size though.
will post my wizard when i have some solid ideas
edit: are you ok with campaign specific (scales of war/forgotten realms) backgrounds and feats?
is it ok to have a bg from one and a feat from another?
EDIT 2-
Here is the character:
Daiereth, Eladrin Wizard
Daiereth, level 1
Eladrin, Wizard
Arcane Implement Mastery: Staff of Defense
Background: Born Under a Bad Sign
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 8, Con 14, Dex 13, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 10.
Starting Ability Scores
Str 8, Con 14, Dex 11, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 10.
AC: 16 Fort: 12 Reflex: 15 Will: 13
HP: 30 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 7
TRAINED SKILLS
Perception, Arcana, Insight, History, Religion.
FEATS
1: Ritual Caster
1: Moon Elf Resilience
POWERS
1, At-Will: Illusory Ambush
1, At-Will: Scorching Burst
1, Encounter: Force Orb
1, Daily: Flaming Sphere
Spellbook: Freezing Cloud
ITEMS
Spellbook, Adventurer's Kit, Arcane Implement, Staff, Cloth Armor (Basic Clothing), Make Whole, Explorer's Fire, Comprehend Language, Alchemical Reagents (Arcana) (50), Arcane Mark
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
also, a concept image:
like this, only a little younger looking, but this is good enough for reference.
and finally, background, mannerisms, etc.
On the night of his birth, his home town was hit by a hurricane. The town was abandoned (and later destroyed by the hurricane) as the townsfolk evacuated onto a merchant ship. The refugees were dropped at various towns, some with relatives, others with no more money with which to pay the merchants for transport. Daiereth's family was able to afford passage to Jarusel, shortly before abandoning him at an orphanage.
He was never told of what happened to his parents, nor does he particularily care to know. At the age of 6, one of his teachers noticed his uncanny thirst for knowledge - specifically about history and the arcane arts. Even at the ripe young age, Daiereth was able to perform a simple Prestidigitation. The schoolmaster immediatly notified the local mages guild.
The elder council of Arcanis Majoris, the local mage guild, debated about accepting this young pupil. Yiasho, a human wizard who was one of the more respected elders pettitioned for his entrance, and it was granted.
Daiereth began training with the guild. He was trained in rituals and spells for years. He studied the spells until they were mastered. 12 long years in the guild, with little contact with anyone not in the guild had made him an excellent practicioner of magic.
Over the years, Yiasho bonded with Daiereth, treating him as a cross between student and son - more student than son, but the bond was clear. As Daiereth reached the age of apprenticeship, it was a surprise to no one when Yiasho offered his services.
Yiasho knew that there was little left for either of them to learn in the guild, and so decided that Daiereth's apprenticeship would be in the world as it was. They quickly struck a deal with an explorer ship, "The Crimson Tide". They would join the crew in order to find and identify magic items in exchange for room, board and a small share of profits. The captain quickly agreed to the business proposition, and the pair travelled with the crew for many years.
6 years later, Yiasho passed away. After a sailor's funeral, Daiereth left the ship at Illesius Bank, seeking a new purpose. He had long ago been informed that his apprenticeship was over, and that he was ready to find his own destiny, but stayed with Yiasho out of respect and wishing to learn as much as he could from the old man.
With no such constraints, he spent a full year in Illesius Bank, seeking a challenge worthy of his attention. He frequents the various taverns and bars of the town, knowing that sometimes, the greatest adventures can begin with the dregs of society.
Personality Traits
Young and energetic while decidedly calm and stoic in outward appearance, he struggles to maintain a calm peaceful core, while in his mind, he is exitable and often rash.
When there is a course of action he wants to take, he will spend a great deal of time rationalizing it in his mind so he can rationalize it to others.
He can talk to great lengths about anything he knows much about - and he knows much about much. He is always on the lookout for new information, but hates the fishermens yarns - tales often embellished beyond reason, to the point where very little information can be found.
Still, he is pleasant and calm to all he meets, even when faced with danger. When confronted by something extraordinary, he will often take a moment to observe it and the effect it has, take note in his mind, and utter only a simple "Hmm."
edit: updated
I imagine the party being (for lack of a better word) "fixers" of a sort. A merchant might hire them to ensure a safe passage or investigate why one of his ships has gone missing, as an example. Transportation should mostly be a non issue (chasing around town for a week to find a captain willing to set sail for island x isn't precisely fun) but they will mostly have to rely on their clients for transportation, at least to start with.
As long as it isn't anything tied direcly to that setting (a background stating you are from Amn or something) feel free to use them. The rule of thumb is keep it as general as possible to avoid inconsistences.
Please feel to apply anyway. As I've stated I'm in a different timezone then many of you, so the pace might be somewhat slow anyway. As long as everyone can post something about once every day I'll consider it a great success really.
Basic Info
Half-Elf, Ranger (Beast Master)
Background: Explorer/Ne're Do Well
Starting ABILITY SCORES
Str 12, Con 13, Dex 15, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 15.
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 12, Con 15, Dex 15, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 17.
AC: 14 Fort: 13 Reflex: 13 Will: 13
HP: 28 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 7
TRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics, Athletics, Endurance, Nature, Stealth
FEATS
1: Weapon Proficiency -- Rapier
POWERS
1, At-Will: Hunter's Quarry
1, At-Will: Hit and Run
1, At-Will: Nimble Strike
1, Encounter: Deft Strike [Half-Elf]
1, Encounter: Evasive Strike
1, Daily: Sudden Strike
ITEMS
Adventurers Kit, 1lb canvas, 1lb case, fishhook, parchment sheets X 3, sealing wax, spyglass, rapier, leather armor
Background/Personality Traits
"Hello there fine merchant. My name is Findarato Nehamsier 'L Puero... Ahhh, I see your attention wavering. No matter, no one calls me anything more than Finn anyway. Barely any time to call that out if the boom is about to strike you in the head I always say. What's that? Oh that? That's Nast. She's harmless. Well, I suppose she IS trying to eat your halfling clerk, we have not eaten in quite some time after - Alright then. I'll show myself out"
Finn came from restless stock, the result of his father's silver tongue and an elven woman who did not know her limit in drinking. From the former he gained his gift of talk, the latter his ease of movement. Elves didn't take kindly to him, and his father has always been nothing more than a legend he changed on the flip of a coin to serve his current purpose. Without a family and without a purpose, Finn threw himself into the crew life with abandon - accomplishing himself quite well through the years. As of late work has been meager, but Finn knows there is something out there in the oceans calling to him. All he has to do is listen.
Personality Traits
A glint of a smile and a kind word have gotten Finn further in life than the turn of a blade, although he could take the whisker's off of a catfish before the creature was half out of the water of course. He's easy going, quick to laugh and more than likely willing to try and talk his way out of trouble before anything else. He does have a few nervous tics, most of which include rolling coins across his knuckles or getting on the nerves of merchants with just a few too many attempts to bring down their price a bit more. Usually these get worse the further he is from the sea, or the longer he goes without having Nast with him.
i see how it is
As yours was in first, I freely step back though. My bad.
nope nope
i will present another thing
it's all good
edit: gonna make up a warlock instead!
edit: any race except for warforged?
like shadar-kai?
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Well, I don't have any material for using them as player characters, so if you do make one please inform me about their abilities and such (You can send a PM or something).
edit: I would however prefer to stick to races I have texts on, for future reference. This includes the PHB, Forgotten Realms and Dragon issues 364-370.
Garret Deftblade, Halfling Rogue
Str: 10
Con: 12
Dex: 18
Int: 10
Wis: 10
Cha: 18
Rogue Tactics: Artful Dodger
Powers:
Piercing Strike (PHB)
Sly Flourish (PHB)
Fox's Gambit (MP)
Handspring Assault (MP)
Feat: Quick Draw
Trained Skills:
Athletics, Acrobatics, Bluff, Insight, Stealth, Thievery
Garret comes from an average halfling family that owns a small fishing company along the northern coast of [island name]. He is the only son and when his parents eventually pass away, the company will belong to him. He doesn't have much interest in the fishing business, however. He prefers to live the life of a vagabond, traveling from town to town, begging and stealing what he needs to live and doing whatever odd jobs he happens to take an interest in. His stays in towns usually don't last very long, as he can't help but get into trouble.
He would say that trouble is always out there, just waiting to be found in all the small, dark places that people refuse to look. Garret isn't above looking in such places to see if he can't find something interesting. Interesting things aren't always trinkets or valuables, though. He pokes around into people's secrets as much as he does their belongings.
He is incredibly charismatic, and can usually con his way into conversations or social gatherings relatively easily. He would rather go in through the front door in broad daylight than sneak around the back at night. Relying on his harmless appearance and likable personality, he's managed to sneak around much more effectively than he ever could by trying to avoid people's attention entirely.
"Why try and hide? Just make it so they ignore you. That's much more simple."
The characters are currently in a town called Illesius Bank located in the cluster of islands called the Rephides (reff-ID-s). The towns population is about 15 000 and it's located along one of the major trade routes in the area.
There are two major cities within distance plausible your characters may have been born in given their current location. The first is Port Feron, the largest settlement in the Rephides with a population of about 120 000. I's a major trade port and you can be sure that any trader worth mentioning will be passing by eventually. It is also home to many of the wealthiest merchants in the area (not to mention many of the poorest people also).
The other is Jarusel, also known as the City of Temples. Located in the nearest other cluster, the city takes up all of the island it's located on (which is considered holy ground for all lawful good, good and unaligned dieties, and a few of the evil ones also). The streets are filled with temples honoring the gods and godesses and it's considered a grave sin (and an equally bad crime) to in anyway defile any of them. Almost all members if the civilized races make some sort of pilgrimage here at least once per lifetime and it therefore difficult to determine the number of people in the city at any given time, but there are about 75 000 permanent residents.
If you want a character hailing from a smaller town please feel free to create your own island in the Rephides, there are a significant number of them. For the purpose of this any town/island with less then 10 000 is considered small.
If you want something in between some examples of medium sized settlements (10 000 – 50 000 inhabitants) might be Terhamn, Wilgast's Hope, Vigas, Hartown and Urgal's Landing.
The Shadar-kai are in the monster manual. The DND Insider character creator had info for using them as PCs.
No worries either way, you've got both of your strikers so I'm out anyway.
Ah. I've only got PHB1, so druids and swordmages are right out, for me. I'll let other people do the defending, I guess.
Although making a choice that most make not make, ie NOT half-elf. Gnome or doppleganger.
Is this going to be really socialable with lots of challenges etc? If so i wanna use the doppleganger's change any into different humans and bluff everyone out, if not im gonna go the gnome route. Gnome + MC to get stealth + the feat that says if you miss with a ranged/area attack while hidden - you stay hidden.
Basically the whole "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" character.
Ill write something up if you are ok with doppleganges or gnomes and bards.
Brath, Dragonborn Fighter
Dragonborn, Fighter
Fighter Talents: Battlerager Vigor(Martial Power)
Appears in Martial Power
Each time an enemy hits you with a melee or a close attack, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier (after the attack is resolved).
When you gain temporary hit points by hitting with an attack that has the invigorating keyword, those temporary hit points stack with any other temporary hit points you already have.
When wearing light armor or chainmail, you gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls with melee and close weapon attacks whenever you have temporary hit points. This bonus increases to +2 if you’re wielding an axe, a hammer, a mace, or a pick.
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 19, Con 15, Dex 12, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 10.
Starting Ability Scores
Str 17, Con 15, Dex 12, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 8.
AC: 16 Fort: 16 Reflex: 11 Will: 10
HP: 30 Surges: 11 Surge Value: 9
TRAINED SKILLS
Intimidate, Endurance, Athletics.
FEATS
1: Dragonborn Frenzy(PHB)
POWERS
1, At-Will: Brash Strike(MB)
1, At-Will: Reaping Strike(PHB)
1, Encounter: Covering Attack(PHB)
1, Daily: Knee Breaker(MP)
ITEMS
Chainmail, Adventurer's Kit, Battleaxe, Longsword, Dagger
While he does have blood connections to the now abandoned Dragonborn island kingdoms Brath has no concern over his heritage and left his nomadic tribe as soon as he was of age. Due to his natural abilities Brath managed to get plenty of gold through safeguarding goods ships and other jobs requiring brute strength. Eventually he became a member of The Salty Stirge one of the many pirates crews that prowl the island waters and would earn him much more than his previous work. Brath stayed with the crew for about five years as a faceless thug who would raid ships killing indiscriminately. The crew was prosperous but the law managed to catch up with them in a grand battle with the Stirge facing heavy odds. Before the ship was sunk and the crew captured Brath abandoned ship and managed to escape, eventually washing up onto the shore of one of the Rephides Islands. Brath does not know if there are any other survivors and he doesn't really care. After wandering the islands for a least a month returning to strings of oddjobs. Brath is now keeping a low profile within the Illesius Bank hoping for some kind of lucky break.
Brath is a quiet grumpily one usually keeping to himself with most of social interaction being bartering his pay or sending his axe into someone's chest. Despite this he is able to keep his emotions in check and rather than attack enemies in a blind rage he fights strategically in order to hurt his enemies as brutally and effectively as possible. Barth is still very much a pirate and only will use his weapons provided he is paid for it and has no trouble betraying his allies or employer if a better offer comes along. Oddly enough however Brath is brutally honest and sees no point in being deceptive to others. Being a hired thug most of his life Brath has focused on hurting people and keeping himself alive making him have very focused, but very effective talents.
I may have dithered between character ideas too long, dammit. Ah well.
if you think you can make a sweet character, you should put it up, no matter what role it is.