The Noctuary [OOC]

[chaincomplex]

The Noctuary

IC Thread ▪ Tactical Maps

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Player	Character	Build
paradox26	Varis of Tyr	LN Mul Psion 3/Wizard 1/Cerebremancer 6/Mind Mage 10
remetagross	Ux Utanar Tibur Randall Amblecrown	LG Dragonborn of Bahamut Dragonfire Adept 20
namo	Syana, Seeker of the Dragonsong	NG Changeling Bard 7/War Weaver 5/Recaster 5/Sublime Chord 2/Sacred Exorcist 1
Taelas	Aeric Hartford	LN Human Ranger 1/Fighter 19
Chambers	Lorwyn Suaril	CG Human Rogue 3/Warlock 7/Arcane Trickster 10
Metastachydium	Delja "Quince" Utorak	N Nixie Swashbuckler 3/ Battledancer 1/ Swordsage 2/Fist of the Forest 2/Duelist 10

Party Info. The PCs have begun their search for the fabled Noctuary.

• Date. Highharvestide 1374 DR, Year of Lightning Storms
• Time. Midday 12:00 PM
• Location. —

Maps and Points of Interest. The maps we're using for planar and overland travel, and when appropriate links to IC POI descriptions.

• Planescape. Great Wheel, Arcane Inner Flow
• Forgotten Realms. Sword Coast

General Resources. Links to wikis, archives, fan sites, tools, and so on.

• D&D 3.5e. OGL SRD, Complete SRD
• Pathfinder. Archives of Nethys, OGL SRD (incomplete), d20PFSRD
• Planescape. Planescape Wiki, Timaresh, Interactive Map of Sigil
• Spelljammer. Spelljammer Wiki, Interactive Map of the Arcane Inner Flow
• Forgotten Realms. Forgotten Realms Wiki, Candlekeep Archives, Interactive Map of the Sword Coast

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Spoiler: Notes and House Rules

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Encumbrance. Track at an eyeball level of detail, i.e. if you are clearly not carrying enough for weight to be salient or you have substantial weight-management options like a portable hole relative to what you are carrying, don't worry about it. If you are carrying gear with potentially problematic weight relative to your carrying capacity, check if it puts you at a worse encumbrance class, or alternatively invest in weight-management options.

Tracking Time. Usually before scenes I will announce the rate of time progression. There are several common rates we will be using.

• Combat. Time is tracked in rounds, e.g. in combat encounters. We may occasionally track time in rounds even in noncombat moments if the beat-for-beat progression is critical in some manner.
• Adventuring. Time is tracked relative to specific actions taken, usually in fractions of minutes to hours. This is standard adventure pace. Examples: making skill checks, exploring a dungeon.
• Downtime. Time is tracked in days. Players must give descriptions of activities taken for a given day, and justify that said activities can be fit into a day. Examples: working a job, making progress crafting, making progress retraining.
• Campaign. Time is tracked in months. Players must give descriptions of plans for a given month, and justify that said plans can be attempted in the given timeframe. Examples: undertaking large crafting or retraining projects, conducting long-term research.

Combat Rules. Tactical combat will proceed as usual, except with regards to initiative. Players will roll initiatives, which will be averaged and rounded up to create a player initiative block. All players will act in this block in the order they post. NPCs will act according to usual initiative rules.

Bookkeeping. I'll be making lots of rolls and adjudications behind the scenes. Here's what needs to be kept updated and clear so I can make these decisions accurate.

• Numerical bonuses to ability scores, saves, and skills should be kept up to date, or you may lose out on bonuses you should have when I do background rolls.
• Special senses, such as darkvision, arcane sight, foresight, etc. should be kept clearly listed so I can tell what you can sense at any given moment.
• Special defenses, such as immunity to mind-affecting effects, aura of protection against evil, DR 15/magic, etc. should be kept clearly listed so I can tell what you are vulnerable to at any given moment.

Being a Player. These aren't rules, just suggestions.

• 1–2 posts/week is a soft requirement. You won't get booted for missing a post here or there, so you don't need to worry about that. Just remember that a slow pace will kill a game. If you can't make a post IC in a timely manner, consider leaving one line OOC briefly describing your actions, so that we may progress the scene.
• Many skill checks or saving throws will be reactive, that is, I will do them on my side and behind the scenes, and there will be many of these. I'll do my best to telegraph this so you're aware of how e.g. skill-heavy the demands on your character are, but no promises; not all checks were made to be visible to players.
• On that note, be proactive with making ability or skill checks. If there's any generous interpretation where they have any physical or mental effect on the scene, they will have an effect. If the wrong ability or skill is used, I will substitute the right modifier if appropriate.

Spoiler: Interest Check

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On any given world of the planescape, the wisest and most powerful will eventually learn rumors of a secret cosmic observatory hidden in the space between worlds. It is said that those who find this hidden observatory will find as well their deepest desires fulfilled. Many mortals and divines have sought this secret place. All have failed, until now.

Until, that is, you entered the picture.

You are among the wisest and most powerful on Toril, so you have heard these rumors. Your odds of finding this observatory remained nil, however. For a long time you have searched fruitlessly for this place that will, allegedly, grant any wish. For a long time you have failed to find any leads whatsoever. But one day you stumbled upon the one thing almost no one else across the entire multiverse has managed to find. The one lead that will bring you success where all others have failed. You now know this observatory's name.

It is called THE NOCTUARY, and it is calling to you.

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Adventure Premise. OK, so there are three things going on. First, you want to get to the Noctuary. You have some dream or desire you want to fulfill that's beyond any mortal power available to you. Second, you'll want to figure out how to use the Noctuary once you get there. This is an extensive process of discovery that will take you across the planescape. Third, there is a hidden danger lurking at the edge of existence threatening the multiverse. You don't have to deal with it, but it might get in your way while you're working out how to make use of the Noctuary.

This adventure will be a lengthy pointcrawl taking place in the Planescape and Forgotten Realms campaign settings. All canonical AD&D 2e, D&D 3e, and D&D 3.5e settings are of course connected and so will be available. For our purposes your characters are natives of Faerûn.

I will run the adventure by populating the world(s) with points of interest and NPCs with their own goals. There will be no overarching narrative and I will always adjudicate outcomes in isolation according to D&D's rules and whatever else is salient in its microcosm. In other words, this is not an adventure with an epic story. This is a dynamically evolving game board with many small stories.

Of particular interest is that this adventure will start at level 20, and you will hit epic levels soon, so plan for that. Most -crawls, hex- or otherwise, tend to concentrate at the lower end of the power curve. We're starting right at the top.

Game Info. In summary:

• System. D&D 3.5e
• Setting. Canonical Planescape and Forgotten Realms (incl. Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Eberron, Spelljammer, etc.)
• Style. Equal parts combat and noncombat, be ready for trials of all kinds
• Theme. Role play however you want, but there will be minor elements of heavier themes like time, memory, etc.
• Sources. All 1st-party WotC material for D&D 3e/3.5e plus Dragon Compendium, ask for specific Dragon magazine material
• Mapping. Larger-scale maps will be posted in-thread, tactical mapping will be through Google Sheets
• Player Count. 4–6
• Posting Rate. 1–2/week
• Variant Rules. Fractional BAB/saves, block initiative (players only)

Character Building. For the fluff just write a bit to characterize your PC. Something between a paragraph and a page. Can be history, personality, appearance, whatever—anything that gives your character compelling dimensionality. As for mechanics:

• Alignment. Any, but any overt or covert hostilities between PCs must have mutual OOC consent
• Race. All standard and monstrous races and templates, LA buy off allowed
• Class. All base and prestige classes, no multiclass penalties
• Ability Scores. 40 point buy
• Flaws. Up to 2
• Level. 20 (200,000 XP)
• Hit Points. Max all HD
• Wealth. 840,000 gp

Interested in joining this game? I request you submit a full character sheet. You don't have to: (i) pick all your spells/powers/maneuvers/etc.; (ii) spend all your wealth; (iii) account for all your crafting; or (iv) spec out your familiar/companion/etc. You can finalize these details if and when you join this game proper. But I need to see enough to know how your character works. If a spell, power, maneuver, item, follower, etc. is critical to your character concept, do include it.