Rose Petals Rerecruitment [3.5 seeking players]

[BelGareth]

I am potentially looking for a new member for my game the Rose Petals.

A few things:

• Make a character that can fit in with a team, and function. This is a game of spies, field agents, etc.
• This has more of a gritty/realism in regards to trauma combat, etc
• Actions have consequences in this game

[namo]

Oh, I love spy/intrigue games! (and there are too few)

Any preference regarding party role? Or it's not taken into account?

[BelGareth]

Oh, I love spy/intrigue games! (and there are too few)

Any preference regarding party role? Or it's not taken into account?

I personally don't care, and never take that into consideration for choosing players, I usually go off writing, creativity, how well of a fit i think you may, etc.

My players though, they may want something specific, and they do get a voice when picking new players.

[namo]

OK. *casts Summon Current Players IV* for their opinion

I'm thinking of making a Sneaky Blaster; an odd and tough combination it may seem, but therein lies the fun.
I'll start by reading the existing threads.

[Ilerien]

OK. *casts Summon Current Players IV* for their opinion

No strong opinions here mechanics-wise. I trust in Bel to provide adequate challenges to whatever party configuration we end up with.
I'd prefer the new member of the party to contribute to its cohesion, so to speak, roleplay-wise. :)

[rypt]

Oh man, I would love to put something together for this. Is there any established lore around warforged in this setting? I see there's one in the party already. Would a second be at odds with their prevalence within the world?

[BelGareth]

Oh man, I would love to put something together for this. Is there any established lore around warforged in this setting? I see there's one in the party already. Would a second be at odds with their prevalence within the world?

Nothing has been developed for warforged, a second one would be fine.

[Benoojian]

See you don't have a divine caster, so I'm building an Archivist. Might take me a few days, lots of work to build a spell list.

He is going to be a jovial, queer Librarian who is more excited to find a lost book than a magic sword in a hoard. His hair is so big because it's full of secrets.

[namo]

A few questions, Belgareth:
1/ What deities are used?

2/ What does "1 xp = 5 gp for crafting and spells (no costly spell components)" mean?
I have to pay XP for costly spell components? Or to the contrary they are excluded from this?

Also, if I opt for your VoP version, how are costly spell components handled?

And lastly, could there be a way to let my character have more spells in his spellbook (which has a cost in consumables) in spite of VoP, perhaps with a diminished VoP bonus, e.g. -1 natural armor? (which has a virtual cost of 6k gp when going from +2 to +1) Or something else/more, up to you.


I'm currently going for a Changeling Blaster, a "social infiltration" kind of spy more than a stealthy one.
I've read the IC threads, so I got a good idea of what's going on, and what the characters are like/can do. I think my idea would complement the party well.

[namo]

Paik, the Hidden Flame, infiltrator & blaster-in-plain-sight, is ready.

In an ideal scenario, he uses his Changeling power to get near a target, then Invisible & Deceptive* spells to blast with no one the wiser that he is the culprit.

I also made sure he complements the existing party (including the wizard; only few spells overlap, and Paik will have a different feel).


* metamagic feats from Cityscape. They are underused for good reason, since they're not strong, but I figure they're fun for a game like this.

[BelGareth]

A few questions, Belgareth:
1/ What deities are used?

2/ What does "1 xp = 5 gp for crafting and spells (no costly spell components)" mean?
I have to pay XP for costly spell components? Or to the contrary they are excluded from this?

Also, if I opt for your VoP version, how are costly spell components handled?

And lastly, could there be a way to let my character have more spells in his spellbook (which has a cost in consumables) in spite of VoP, perhaps with a diminished VoP bonus, e.g. -1 natural armor? (which has a virtual cost of 6k gp when going from +2 to +1) Or something else/more, up to you.


I'm currently going for a Changeling Blaster, a "social infiltration" kind of spy more than a stealthy one.
I've read the IC threads, so I got a good idea of what's going on, and what the characters are like/can do. I think my idea would complement the party well.

oh man, i totally spaced on answering these! apologies!

The component rules mean you don't eve pay XP for anything, and if that shows up as a component, you replace it with diamond dust or something else worth 5gp:1xp

VOP and spell components don't work together.
Though you can have a spell known and use it on other people if they provide the costly part.
Nope, same as above.

[rypt]

So I've been bouncing around a few concepts and inevitably each one creates new questions about warforged within the setting. I took a look at the background of Laird's character's which implies (a) that warforged are no longer being produced, and (b) that their may have been effort to decommission existing warforged. I'm more than happy to work with those ideas.

1. Was there in fact an effort to decommission warforged or were those rumors false? If the effort was real, roughly what percentage were decommissioned? Are those efforts still ongoing?

3. How long ago did the production of warforged begin?

2. Were warforged only created within the Kingdom of the Eternal Rose? If other nations were producing warforged of their own, are those nations still doing so?

I suppose for each of these, permission to create my own answer is just as helpful as an answer. It's just that I'm reluctant to take those liberties without permission given an existing warforged character.

[BelGareth]

So I've been bouncing around a few concepts and inevitably each one creates new questions about warforged within the setting. I took a look at the background of Laird's character's which implies (a) that warforged are no longer being produced, and (b) that their may have been effort to decommission existing warforged. I'm more than happy to work with those ideas.

1. Was there in fact an effort to decommission warforged or were those rumors false? If the effort was real, roughly what percentage were decommissioned? Are those efforts still ongoing?

3. How long ago did the production of warforged begin?

2. Were warforged only created within the Kingdom of the Eternal Rose? If other nations were producing warforged of their own, are those nations still doing so?

I suppose for each of these, permission to create my own answer is just as helpful as an answer. It's just that I'm reluctant to take those liberties without permission given an existing warforged character.

1. unknown
3. unknown
2. nope, they are everywhere.

[rypt]

1. unknown
3. unknown
2. nope, they are everywhere.

Me count good!

If I wanted to make a warforged that would be recognizable as an early model, what would an appropriate age be?

[BelGareth]

Me count good!

If I wanted to make a warforged that would be recognizable as an early model, what would an appropriate age be?

lol

And I be honest, I haven’t written any fluff for them, so feel free and develop it as you want

[Athaleon]

I'd be interested in playing a Swordsage or similar type, but would I be able to potentially be in the Rose Petals and Black Dahlias at the same time?

[rypt]

I've settled on a Warforged Wu Jen (Metal) 6 / Swiftblade 3. The goal is to provide some damage, some buffs, some crafting ability, and some fun metal-themed utilty.

Spoiler: Pilgrim

Show

---

Captain Mathews leaned back in his chair and rubbed his tired eyes. As much as he wanted to sleep, he knew that these scouting reports would inform every dreadful decision he would have to make in the coming hours.

"And the bridge at Anghor's Crossing?" the captain asked.

"Destroyed, sir," answered the young Sergeant Witton. "At sunset, as ordered."

"Good." There was little joy in Mathews' voice. "That should buy Licilla and the 32nd another day or two. And how are we faring to the northeast?"

"Not well, I'm afraid, sir. The mercenaries hired out of Kez'Karak did not perform as we had hoped. The Suns advance quickly, though it seems a portion of their forces have been slowed south and west of Caerdyd."

"Oh? Slowed by what, exactly?"

Witton flipped through a few pages of his notes until he found one particular handwritten line. He read it once, furrowed his brow, then read it again. "Well, sir, according to Amari's report, their supply trains have been harried by... a solitary warforged."

Mathews suddenly sat upright in his chair. "A warforged, you say? Out of Caerdyd?"

The sergeant hesitated. He wasn't sure what to make of his superior's reaction. "Well, in the vicinity of Caerdyd. Yes, sir. Amari writes, and I quote, 'a solitary warforged of unknown origin.'"

Matthews smiled a genuine smile then, something Witton hadn't seen him do in days. The captain leaned to the side of his seat and gestured for the sergeant to take the chair beside him.

"I was about your age when I first visited Caerdyd," the captain began. "It was my second assignment under Maeric. It's a mining town, has been for generations. And it so happens that deep in their mines grows a rare form of lichen which, when refined, can be used as a reagent in the production of a particularly potent form of poison. Forty-some-odd years ago, the Petals discovered that someone in Caerdyd had been producing large quantities of the stuff, and I was ordered to put an end to it. It should have been an easy mission. It was, actually, right up until someone collapsed a mine shaft on my head. It took me the better part of two days to dig myself out. Ruined my favorite blade in the process.

"By the time I had cleaned myself up, I was certain that whoever I was after had already fled town. So, before starting my search anew, I decided to pay a visit to the local smithy to see if he could fix my sword. Turns out, Caerdyd's blacksmith at the time was a warforged. An older model, judging by the way he spoke, but not one I recognized. The locals called him Pilgrim, and as they told it, six years had passed since he stumbled into town so badly damaged that he couldn't recall his own name, let alone where he'd been made or how he'd ended up in the eastern hills. The town's smithy at the time took him in, fixed him up, and ultimately gave him a job. Seems they got along rather well, because when the old smithy passed, he left the forge to Pilgrim.

"In any event, it looked like the warforged did good work, so I left him my broken blade and went back to my room to get some rest. I was so sore that I'm pretty sure I could have slept for days. But instead, I woke up early the next morning to a gods awful commotion out in the hallway. So I grabbed my boot knife, dragged my aching body to the door, and there out in the hallway was Pilgrim. And right beside him, pinned to the wall by his own poisoned dagger, was a miner-turned-alchemist by the name of Uriel. Uriel had enough poison hidden under his floorboards to kill everyone in Caerdyd a hundred times over."

Captain Matthews stood and stepped over to the window. "I went back to Caerdyd a handful of times over the years. Sometimes because I was in need of a strong arm, and other times because I wanted Pilgrim to make me something new. But then Alana was born and I got promoted to desk duty...." He sighed. "It's been more than twenty years now. I guess I shouldn't be surprised he's still out there."

Without turning from the window, Matthews continued to address Witton, who stood immediately. "Sergeant, I want you to get word to Wayfinder Amari. She is to immediately locate and confirm the identity of that warforged. If she can accomplish this in the next 24 hours, then the bottle of Sezzarian Red on the shelf in my office is hers. Wake your best rider, then tell the stablemaster that he is to ready his swiftest horse. I will speak to Illya about requisitioning a scroll of teleport."

"Aye, sir!" Witton saluted, then hurried off his tasks.

Captain Matthews watched as the first rays of dawn began to rise above the horizon. "Better late than never, right, old friend?"

[namo]

Spoiler: Sample - Paik

Show

One step forward, two steps to the right. Assassination is like a dance.
Your 'partner' zigs, you zag.

Paik tamped the beads of sweat on her forehead. She was not new to this, yet she always felt under pressure while on the job, however much she may have prepared. In the present case, she had cased the location before, as a maid.
She squared her shoulders and sprang into action: her hands fluttered in the night air and, with stars her only witness, she turned invisible.

She was standing near the portal to the garden in front of the mansion, a looming but graceful building, with its marble colonnades and stucco ornamentation. A building made from blood, as far as she was concerned: the owner, Viscount d'Esquina, was a murderer and a slaver. The Petals had proof enough... yet they knew it wouldn't be enough to get the man convicted, for he had money and allies.

The next step: turning into air.
Who said fire blasts are for unrefined mages? Just because I can melt near anything with my arcane talent... doesn't mean I don't appreciate subtlety.
A now gaseous Paik swirled up in a spiral. She slithered up against a column, looking for an open window. There! On the second floor. In, then up again through the stairs. She passed a guard who, shoulders stooping, was fighting to stay awake.
One more guard at the entrance of the noble bedchamber, but he never saw nor heard a thing - he simply felt a welcome breeze on his skin.

She gets in through the keyhole, crosses the antechamber, and once in the room, she makes sure the Viscount is indeed there, and sleeping alone.
She turns solid again, and looks at the slumbering form critically.
Focus inward, her flesh jiggles: she adjusts her appearance. In Paik's place now stands the Viscount.

1, 2, !
He casts without a sound, with simple, practiced gestures. Nothing much seems to happen, but the jerk of the body getting pierced by terrible flame; it would take a sight extending into the magical spectrum to see the bed erupt in a conflagration of red, oranges, golden flames; really quite pretty - an art amateur like the Viscount would appreciate, surely. For good measure, a second lance of fire, to make sure the job is complete. Touching the burnt body, he shrinks it and pockets it.

"Guards, guards!! I've been attacked!" he then shouts at the top of his lungs.
He had taken the precaution of wearing a nightgown tailor-made - by him - for this act: it appears singed.
He has smeared some soot on his one side of his face, to make it more convincing. He starts to limp out into the antechamber.

Paik can be him for a few days. Enough time for him to repent for his crimes... and then disappear.

[rypt]

Here's a work-in-progress sheet for Pilgrim. For flaws, I'd like to request Forlorn from Dragon #333 and Gullible from Dragon #325.

For now, I have him taking Adamantine Body (I saw that there was a heavy armor user in the party previously). I like the idea of him being slow and deliberate out of combat, and then frighteningly fast once a fight breaks out. Having said that, if there's any concern that his lack of sneakiness might be a hindrance to the party as a whole, I'm happy to swap to Mithral Body instead.

[BelGareth]

Here's a work-in-progress sheet for Pilgrim. For flaws, I'd like to request Forlorn from Dragon #333 and Gullible from Dragon #325.

For now, I have him taking Adamantine Body (I saw that there was a heavy armor user in the party previously). I like the idea of him being slow and deliberate out of combat, and then frighteningly fast once a fight breaks out. Having said that, if there's any concern that his lack of sneakiness might be a hindrance to the party as a whole, I'm happy to swap to Mithral Body instead.

That’s up to you, if it’s a concern now, I’d assume it will be one in game as well.

[rypt]

That’s up to you, if it’s a concern now, I’d assume it will be one in game as well.

Heard. I swapped out Adamantine Body for Mithral Body and made some equipment changes to pick up an Essence of the Scout and a Scout's Headband.

[BelGareth]

I'll be closing recruitment, and choosing player(s) Monday.

[Benoojian]

Reposting Daniel Wright, my Gish Librarian, in case the link got too buried on the Discord

[BelGareth]

Apologies, i was called out for not updating here. I have chosen rypt as the new petal, thanks everyone!