General Tabletop (D&D, Pathfinder, etc.) Topic

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

So, this is the story of what happened when I was in that campaign. First, some context. Note that he admits that this was not the most well put together plot. Spoilered for neatness’s sake.

Spoiler

So the starting party (who were played by different people) were assigned by a king to get rid of some dragon eggs somewhere. As they went to deal with them, someone known as The Stranger shows up and beats the party overall badly, including killing their Thief Rogue (the reason they suggested I be one in the first place). Of course, the party won, but they had a choice with the dragon eggs: destroy them, spare them, or take them to the king so he can deal with them himself. I don’t know what choice they made, but that does not matter too much. Soon enough they had two powerful beings on their hands: the Dark Wraith and the Light Wraith. These are not really wraiths, just very powerful beings. They fought the Dark Wraith and took his head (same fight Player McPlayerface the Orc Paladin got his ability to go sicko mode, I think) but the Light Wraith wanted it I think. The wizard Lube makes a deal with the Light Wraith or something so that they could keep the head or something, I dunno what happened. Either way, she ended up taking in the soul of a being known as Katra (Or Catra?). So, for a while, she had split personalities. They were on their way to fight the Light Wraith when I joined the party. They were fighting Goblins or something.

So, yeah. I am an unreliable narrator here, but this is as much as I remember what he told me. This is part 1 of the story of what happened when Lander Yeety joined.

Spoiler

I was just looking for somewhere to loot to live when I met the party. To review from before, we had an Orc Paladin who was more like a Fighter named Player McPlayerface, a Dragonborn Cleric under Bahamut who had only just learned how to heal (named Thorin), and a Female Wizard named Lube. Then there was this other guy who came upon us randomly showed up: Isaac. He was a card-carrying magician (literally), and he directed us to a castle where the Light Wraith was. Unfortunately for us, he was affiliated with the Light Wraith; his mother.

He also had a twin sister, but she did not do much in the story overall.

Part 2 may come tomorrow.

[Bhoop]

Hey guys. @Azure in a Roundabout @Ertrick36@Silafante @DarthR0xas I'll have a bit of time today to plan (thank god. I need a break from studying xD). I'll be sending the discord link later today through DMs. Just one question -- where would you guys like to start the campaign? (This is all assuming that none of you characters know each other)

--A forest/natural setting

--In captivity (you were captured/jailed for unknown reasons by the local lord/etc)

--in a small village (AKA, everyone knows everyone, not many places to get supplies)

--in a town (suppliers are readily available for purchase, magical services are there...to an extent.)

--in a dungeon (you already have received your job)

 

Note: I usually like making the campaign so that Magic is a rare thing to some extent. Most of it has been lost through time, and only scholars/high level magic users know a lot about magic. 

Note #2: How meta do you guys want to get with the leveling system? Like, completely integrating it in with the world  "Like, oh hey I'm a level 3 warrior. Nice to meet you." to "What are...levels?" type of thing. 

Edited March 5, 2019 by Bhoop

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

1 minute ago, Bhoop said:

Hey guys. @Azure in a Roundabout @Ertrick36@Silafante I'll have a bit of time today to plan (thank god. I need a break from studying xD). I'll be sending the discord link later today through DMs. Just one question -- where would you guys like to start the campaign? (This is all assuming that none of you characters know each other)

--A forest/natural setting

--In captivity (you were captured/jailed for unknown reasons by the local lord/etc)

--in a small village (AKA, everyone knows everyone, not many places to get supplies)

--in a town (suppliers are readily available for purchase, magical services are there...to an extent.) This.

--in a dungeon (you already have received your job)

 

Note: I usually like making the campaign so that Magic is a rare thing to some extent. Most of it has been lost through time, and only scholars/high level magic users know a lot about magic. 

Note #2: How meta do you guys want to get with the leveling system? Like, completely integrating it in with the world  "Like, oh hey I'm a level 3 warrior. Nice to meet you." to "What are...levels?" type of thing. Maybe only a tiny bit meta.

Responses in bold. I have been dealing with other things (including making other characters for other campaigns), so I have yet to really start on my Half-Elf Fighter.

Also, this is part two of the story I began earlier:

Spoiler

So, as the boys, girl, and I were brought into the dungeon, Isaac tells us that he knows that something is wrong with his mother. He offers some help.

Btw, Taco, Lube’s brother, is with us. He was under mind control of sorts in the battle I joined. If we killed him, we would see Katra’s wrath, but we spared him.

Anyways, some battle takes place (I had not realized that the session had already started), and I kind of just spent the entire time in my cell. I was brought out, of course, and then we approached the Light Wraith. After some talk, battle begins with Isaac being impaled to the wall by a crystal (he managed to survive that, though he was unconscious). Light Wraith brings out a minion, but everyone except me (I kind of just maneuvered into a position behind a pillar by running to one and jumping off of it to get behind another) did enough damage to him that the Light Wraith found no use in him. Lube tried to use Banishment, but failed. She then tried again with Fantasmical Nightmare or something. Spell is basically that the enemy has to roll a save or see their greatest fear and take some psychic damage as a result. However, these two were linked to one another thanks to previous events. Because of this, Lube saw the Light Wraith’s greatest fear. It’s a scene where there were two children and one man with one red eye in a field. Everything then goes up in flames, and this one gargantuan, oni-like creature runs the man through the back with his sword, picks him up, and eats him alive.

Lube, knowing what she saw, offers to help and befriend the Light Wraith. However, the Light Wraith turned around, took off her crown and mask, and died. Lube decided to take what was left, but it resulted in some magic turning one of her blonde locks red.

Shortly after, with the help of a good medicine roll on my part, Isaac was helped. Our next destination now as the castle which the Light Wraith, as a human, lived, which was in another country.

3rd and final part to come tomorrow, maybe.

[Ertrick36]

@Silafante YOUR MEMES... END HERE.

25 minutes ago, Bhoop said:

Just one question -- where would you guys like to start the campaign? (This is all assuming that none of you characters know each other)

Yeah, I'd like it to start in a town.  Then at the very least I can further sort out my supplies.  Also because I feel it'd make sense for the character I have as well as for the setting of the start of an adventure with lots of strangers.

28 minutes ago, Bhoop said:

Note: I usually like making the campaign so that Magic is a rare thing to some extent. Most of it has been lost through time, and only scholars/high level magic users know a lot about magic. 

That makes the ability to wield magic all the more cool.

Funny thing too, because before I decided to play a gnome rogue, I was gonna have my halfling bard be unknowledgeable of his magic, thinking that music was just that powerful that it'd make creatures flea in terror or cause folks to fall on their backs laughing up a riot.

32 minutes ago, Bhoop said:

Note #2: How meta do you guys want to get with the leveling system? Like, completely integrating it in with the world  "Like, oh hey I'm a level 3 warrior. Nice to meet you." to "What are...levels?" type of thing. 

I like if the leveling's integrated in the storytelling.

By that, I mean I prefer if leveling feels more like "hey, I've been practicing this new trick/spell/technique off screen, and now have perfected it enough that I can now use it regularly".  Or if it's magic, perhaps the character just miraculously learns a new spell in the heat of the moment.

So I guess what I mean is I don't really want it to be all that meta, but it could be subtly hinted at via our newly found abilities.

[Silafante]

1 hour ago, Ertrick36 said:

@Silafante YOUR MEMES... END HERE. 

No... I passed one to you

Beginning in a town seems the best way if you ask me, since would make sense to all of us to meet in a inn, we are under the same employer or similar.

About magic being rare, as long as I am not hanged for being a witch I love it.

About how meta things are, if we find someone I don't think we should know everything but if it is a lv. 15 fighter I think it is reasonable that he know that he or she is stronger than a lv. 6 for only looking how he or she acts.

About how we learn abilities my character has it easy: the bond with my patron is stronger therefore I can draw more power from it.

[Ertrick36]

Another question for the DM, can I opt out of the encumbrance variant of carry weight rules (which state that I lose 10 move speed if I am lugging around an amount of equipment that weighs [character strength X 5] or greater) in favor of the simplified one (I can carry up to [strength X 15])?  Because I've had the problem with literally every character I made where I'm constantly bumping right up on that encumbrance limit with just the bare minimum of supplies, and I just really hate this stringent inventory management.

46 minutes ago, Silafante said:

About how meta things are, if we find someone I don't think we should know everything but if it is a lv. 15 fighter I think it is reasonable that he know that he or she is stronger than a lv. 6 for only looking how he or she acts.

I'd say rather we could tell by the extent of power they wield or by the power hierarchy (as in, who they give orders to and who, if anyone, they receive orders from).  Usually, character power is discernible by tiers.  Level 1-4 characters are just average schmoes, 5-10 are capable adventurers, 11-16 are great heroes and villains, and 17-20 are practically demi-gods.  And levels only apply for characters of playable races, as most non-humanoid creatures are measured by challenge rating instead (for the purposes of experience gain and balance).

[Silafante]

48 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

Another question for the DM, can I opt out of the encumbrance variant of carry weight rules (which state that I lose 10 move speed if I am lugging around an amount of equipment that weighs [character strength X 5] or greater) in favor of the simplified one (I can carry up to [strength X 15])?  Because I've had the problem with literally every character I made where I'm constantly bumping right up on that encumbrance limit with just the bare minimum of supplies, and I just really hate this stringent inventory management.

I'd say rather we could tell by the extent of power they wield or by the power hierarchy (as in, who they give orders to and who, if anyone, they receive orders from).  Usually, character power is discernible by tiers.  Level 1-4 characters are just average schmoes, 5-10 are capable adventurers, 11-16 are great heroes and villains, and 17-20 are practically demi-gods.  And levels only apply for characters of playable races, as most non-humanoid creatures are measured by challenge rating instead (for the purposes of experience gain and balance).

I kinda tried to say that if he/she is a high level adventurer it should tell with his interactions and how he acts with other people, but you said it better .

[Bhoop]

1 hour ago, Ertrick36 said:

Another question for the DM, can I opt out of the encumbrance variant of carry weight rules (which state that I lose 10 move speed if I am lugging around an amount of equipment that weighs [character strength X 5] or greater) in favor of the simplified one (I can carry up to [strength X 15])?  Because I've had the problem with literally every character I made where I'm constantly bumping right up on that encumbrance limit with just the bare minimum of supplies, and I just really hate this stringent inventory management.

TBT I'm not too stingy when it comes to weight and how much you can carry. I've never really stressed it, so yeah, go for it if you want. 

 

Also, when it comes to money, Do you guys like the old money system where 10 copper = 1 silver, 10 silver = 1 gold, 10 gold = 1 platinum? Don't get me wrong, its a nice system, but I like this one much better:  100 copper = 1 silver, 100 silver = 1 gold, 100 gold= 1 platinum. Thoughts?

[DarthR0xas]

I'm fine with whatever for rules, I'm not very picky with how things are run, or where we start and all that jazz.

[Ertrick36]

16 minutes ago, Bhoop said:

TBT I'm not too stingy when it comes to weight and how much you can carry. I've never really stressed it, so yeah, go for it if you want. 

Also, when it comes to money, Do you guys like the old money system where 10 copper = 1 silver, 10 silver = 1 gold, 10 gold = 1 platinum? Don't get me wrong, its a nice system, but I like this one much better:  100 copper = 1 silver, 100 silver = 1 gold, 100 gold= 1 platinum. Thoughts?

- Excellent.  Pack rat gnome, here I come!

- As an American, the latter does feel more comfortable, I guess (since you got 100 cents to a dollar).  Also makes platinum seem more valuable - like it's something that only nobles have an abundance of, rather than something that any odd adventurer can have 10 or so of.  And makes copper feel all the more worthless, just like the useless mint known as "pennies".

[Silafante]

34 minutes ago, Bhoop said:

TBT I'm not too stingy when it comes to weight and how much you can carry. I've never really stressed it, so yeah, go for it if you want. 

 

Also, when it comes to money, Do you guys like the old money system where 10 copper = 1 silver, 10 silver = 1 gold, 10 gold = 1 platinum? Don't get me wrong, its a nice system, but I like this one much better:  100 copper = 1 silver, 100 silver = 1 gold, 100 gold= 1 platinum. Thoughts?

I am fine with it but if we do it should we change the money we have for starting equipment?

Edited March 6, 2019 by Silafante

[Bhoop]

17 hours ago, Silafante said:

I am fine with it but if we do it should we change the money we have for starting equipment?

As far as starting equipment goes, Anything you get from your background is acceptable, but please turn any gold you get to 10 silver. You can choose to get the recommended starting equipment in the class section from the PHB, or if you want to buy, feel free to use the official system first, with rolling for gold of course. 

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

I worked a little bit more on my Half-Elf Fighter today. He was a Soldier is all I can say right now.

Now, though, we have the last part of that story:

Spoiler

So, we set sail to this new country. On that boat, this man came upon us. I don’t remember if he ever gave his name, but I remember two things:

1. This man might have been a ruler in this land(?).
2. He called Lube “Ocean”.

Lube had no idea why she was called that. Later, Lube and Isaac went below deck.

Now, throughout the campaign before now, Lube had been in love with this man, and she mostly was not subtle about it. That was addressed between the two in their conversation, though Isaac never answered if he ever reciprocated her feelings (just giving her an Ace of Hearts). Another thing Lube wanted was an explanation for everything that had happened with her. She was seeing all of the Light Wraith’s memories and stuff, but Isaac stopped that with a nice little spell at the cost of knowing the general minds of other people (which can sometimes be unpleasant). Thorin was trying to listen in on the situation, but I think he was spotted.

We come to the port. Everyone is going off, minding their own business, while also looking for a way to get to the crystal kingdom the Light Wraith ruled (Lube became its successor). Lube meets a shady figure somewhere, though, and they talk. With these new powers of hers, she could see this man was mentally insane. It became an encounter as he gave her both a letter and a poisonous dart to the leg. Luckily, I was able to hear the commotion, and I checked up on her with a Med check. The poison was like nothing Lander the Rogue had seen, as the poison made you weaker, slowly taking your memory away and, soon enough, killing you. It was bad, but we needed to get to the kingdom now. The shady man was part of a cult that was seeking to kill anyone and everyone linked to the Winter bloodline (the bloodline the Light Wraith and Isaac were from). So we had to break it. Thanks to Isaac and his sister having flying creatures, though, we got there in a few hours. The kingdom was completely desolate except for one tower and one person, that shady figure. We confronted him, but he said he wanted me. I thought that this man knew of me from my background (I was a criminal burglar for a mob I was born in. They never gave me its name), so i approached him. I soon found my throat at barbed knifepoint and myself grabbed. As he knife was slowly digging into the throat, everyone was figuring out how to get Lube on the throne (since it could heal her, and she was basically Mother Winter 2.0). So, everyone went to distract him. Lube did find a way to get on the throne. The castle was reforming soon after. The shady figure, letting go of me, asked us what we have done, and ran off. I said I had my character flip him off on him way out. However, we soon found out what we had done. The ground shook and opened up beside us. The creature that was the Light Wraith’s greatest fear rose up. It was the Pure Wraith, our BBEG for this campaign. The Pure Wraith was the size of a Titan from Attack on Titan; no even bigger probably. He was bigger than any figure we had, so we improvised and used a drink to represent him. 

The Pure Wraith gave us all a chance to surrender, but us in this now supernatural arena (everything had changed in the world when the Pure Wraith appeared) we were not going to let it happen. The Pure Wraith then stabs Isaac and kills him the same way that he did the man’s father. This obviously brought a lot of negative emotions onto everyone, especially Lube and Isaac’s sister. Our final battle (with me providing Dharkon’s theme for the fight) has begun.

I did a little sliver of damage with a short bow against the guy’s health of almost 400. I tried to climb on him before, but I failed. I was a lv 5 Rogue in a Lv 5-6 party with Lv 1 Rogue equipment. I was not prepared. I only survived the fight because I managed to dodge an attack, and the Pure Wraith thought he could give us an even match by bringing our health to twice our maximum for the fight.

Thorin the Dragonborn Cleric used Sacred Fire as our first attack on the thing. It did little damage.

Player McPlayeface the Orc Paladin did something I did not expect: he went sicko mode. At full health. He did the most damage out of any of us, since sicko mode gave him a greatsword, which he had one as well. We did not mind the weight consequences, this was the final battle. This sicko mode this early had costs though that would come later.

Lube used the following spells in the battle, in order. All of which were in her spellbook (note that I remember almost none of the names of these spells):

• A spell that allowed her to basically read up on her opponent—as well as some extra stuff—as a bonus action.
• Disguise self to disguise herself as the Light Wraith (Pure Wraith responded with “Welcome back, Olivia”. This was the Light Wraith’s true name.
• A spell that was able to let her see that Isaac’s life force was still somewhere (the DM had promised that Isaac would be alive)
• A barrier of sorts that was able to take two blows from the beast before it shattered.
• Banishment. This was what ended the battle. We did not have much time to wrap the campaign up, so this banished the Pure Wraith to another dimension. Pure Wraith went out Final Fantasy final boss style.

The aftermath? We all went our separate ways in the end. Thorin we don’t know, likely continued what he did before in serving Bahamut. Player, sadly, died from using sicko mode too early. And Lube became queen of the new Crystal Kingdom as Lube Taco Winter (Taco was her maiden name. Yes, same went for her brother Taco). She married Isaac and had some children.

Lander? He went back to doing his business: being a nomad that looted to live, with contacts of a mob separate from the one that raised him.

We started a sequel campaign today. I was still playing Lander, now ten years older. We had a new party otherwise, consisting of a Dragonborn Fighter, Dragonborn Wizard, Tiefling Wizard, and Dwarf Monk (The Rocket Dwarf, actually. He has +6 to Athletics). The Monk and Lander are likely to both be healers when possible. We were all at level 1 (I reset my character to a level one variant. He still is the same character, now with more experience).

Will be back tomorrow with my character’s backstory, and a summary of what happened in the new campaign so far.

So, what did you guys think of this three-part story? I did not seem to get any reactions.

[Ertrick36]

1 hour ago, Bhoop said:

turn any gold you get to 10 silver.

So if I had 15 gold, that gets brought down to 150 silver (or one gold piece and 50 silver pieces)?

I think I get it.

15 minutes ago, Azure in a Roundabout said:

He was bigger than any figure we had, so we improvised and used a drink to represent him.

BEWARE, THE EVIL CUP OF DEATH!

18 minutes ago, Azure in a Roundabout said:

• A spell that allowed her to basically read up on her opponent—as well as some extra stuff—as a bonus action.
• A spell that was able to let her see that Isaac’s life force was still somewhere (the DM had promised that Isaac would be alive)
• A barrier of sorts that was able to take two blows from the beast before it shattered.

• Some kind of divination magic.
• Another divination spell, maybe Contact Other Plane or some kind of detection or locate spell.
• Sounds like Mage Armor.

For easier reference, abjuration is for protection, conjuration is transportation and summoning, divination reveals information, enchantment is mind-affecting spells, illusion is self-explanatory, necromancy is spells that deal with life and death, transmutation manipulates materials, and evocation is pretty much everything else (fire and healing spells, for example).

I've been having to refer to Roll20's imperfect list because the player handbook doesn't have the spells organized by magic school.  And I obviously don't have every supplementary book or piece of media for 5e, so I don't know about every subclass, feat, monster, or spell.

41 minutes ago, Azure in a Roundabout said:

Dragonborn Fighter, Dragonborn Wizard

Two dragon bois, yet the things they do couldn't possibly be further apart from each other.

1 hour ago, Azure in a Roundabout said:

So, what did you guys think of this three-part story? I did not seem to get any reactions.

Sounds like it was fun for you.

DnD works best when you experience it yourself or witness the story unfold.

[Bhoop]

https://discord.gg/xN39Cf

Here is the discord link (it expires in 24 hours)

Please DM me in discord to let me know when you've joined!

[Silafante]

55 minutes ago, Bhoop said:

https://discord.gg/xN39Cf

Here is the discord link (it expires in 24 hours)

Please DM me in discord to let me know when you've joined!

Neato, I am already in

PS: But what happened to Dorcas?!

[Ertrick36]

24 minutes ago, Silafante said:

PS: But what happened to Dorcas?!

Something along the lines of:

Self-inflicted poison mutton.

But really though, very sad tale.

We should probably be keeping our discussions to the Discord now, btw.

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

4 hours ago, Bhoop said:

https://discord.gg/xN39Cf

Here is the discord link (it expires in 24 hours)

Please DM me in discord to let me know when you've joined!

I may not get a Discord account in that time. Will there be another chance?

[Ertrick36]

13 hours ago, Azure in a Roundabout said:

I may not get a Discord account in that time. Will there be another chance?

Anyone who's already in the group can can send you an invite, just ask when you're ready.

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

14 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

Anyone who's already in the group can can send you an invite, just ask when you're ready.

Ok

So, we now have two campaigns run by my DM; one in the lunchroom, the other in the classroom of the club teacher. The latter is a Mines of Phandelver campaign with my Silver Dragonborn monk, a Gold Dragonborn Wizard (au version of the Dragonborn wizard of the sequel campaign), a Bronze Dragonborn Fighter (same as the Wizard), Elf Cleric, and Drow Sorcerer (player went to get lunch, but the cleric’s player says he would not be back when the period ended). Yes, we had two Dragonborn, now we have three.

Btw, I might have to tell the stories I promised tomorrow. Just don’t feel like telling today.

Also, I rolled my first Nat 20 throwing a dart at a hostile goblin.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Azure in a Roundabout

[Silafante]

1 hour ago, Azure in a Roundabout said:

The latter is a Mines of Phandelver campaign with my Silver Dragonborn monk, a Gold Dragonborn Wizard (au version of the Dragonborn wizard of the sequel campaign), a Bronze Dragonborn Fighter (same as the Wizard), Elf Cleric, and Drow Sorcerer.

Yes, we had two Dragonborn, now we have three.

With all those Dragonborn I am expecting a lot of racist (specist?) jokes. Am I the only one?

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

3 minutes ago, Silafante said:

With all those Dragonborn I am expecting a lot of racist (specist?) jokes. Am I the only one?

Maybe

[Ertrick36]

On 3/7/2019 at 1:11 PM, Silafante said:

With all those Dragonborn I am expecting a lot of racist (specist?) jokes. Am I the only one?

By the very nature of the game, it's a given that there's just gonna be some fantasy racism and jokes of that nature.

Actually, now that I think about it, here's a general tip/reminder for those who might be new to roleplaying and/or DnD.  When we play, we act as characters whose personalities and morals might differ from our own in some respects.  As such, one should keep a few things in mind.

• Try not to just roleplay yourself being inserted into a fantasy world.  You can make a character who is similar to yourself, but unless it's a supremely meta campaign, there are bound to be differences between your character and yourself, even if they simply just boil down to origin.
• Keep in mind that this applies for everyone.  So if a player character is a dick to your character, that character's player may not actually hate you.  Though between a group of strangers/acquaintances it's generally not a good idea for the party to start off sour towards each other, but just bear that in mind if you feel another player character's actions make you mad.
• In the end, it's fiction.  While some degree of seriousness would be appreciated, it is best not to treat it too seriously.  All the characters we play as aren't real, and everything that happens in the game has no bearing on the real world.  If something happens in the game that upsets you, don't take it out on the other players or the DM or create needless drama.

 

If it seems like things are quiet here, it's because further preparations are being made through the Discord.

[Bhoop]

Just thought of this. I know its probably a thing we've all realized, but I'd rather clarify right now. This is a party of all generally good characters right?

[Ertrick36]

18 minutes ago, Bhoop said:

Just thought of this. I know its probably a thing we've all realized, but I'd rather clarify right now. This is a party of all generally good characters right?

Yeah, my character is labeled as chaotic good.

Not doing evil for my first real campaign, that's for sure.  I'd prefer if I could actually make some friends with the party and not be a jerk looking to betray everyone's trust in the long run.

For the record, I pretty much have my character solidified at this point.  I'm now working out some of the details of the backstory and affiliations, all the really important stuff (stats, traits, and equipment) is done.

Also, I hope I'm not sounding too much like a lecturing drone with my previous post.  I just know from personal experience precisely how bad things can get between roleplayers if they take it way too seriously (watch literally any video of GMod roleplaying and you'll know exactly what I mean), and it's just never fun to roleplay with people who can't match your wavelength in that regard.  So I just wanted folks to know where I stood with this as well as maybe give advice to those new to roleplaying.