[OOC] Destiny's Veil - Chapter 1: Frayed Threads and a Thousand Traces

[Tyrann]

Hey, and welcome.

I'll repost the house rules here and we can do the last quick touches on your sheet before we get the IC going. Let me know if you have any more questions regarding the build (though we can figure a lot of that out as we go) and let me know when you're ready for me to check the sheet before we start the game.

Spoiler: 16 Questions

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1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)?

D&D 3.5

2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?

Homebrewed campaign, gestalt

3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?

One player

4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?

These forums

5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?

Level 1

6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?

As per normal for your class

7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?

Everything within the allowed books is fair game (except that every class with taint in the name is banned).

8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?

99.5% of the world is human, but with the return of magic, some kids are 'mutating'.
Your parents will be human, and cosmetically so will you be at the start of the game. There is nothing wrong with being a human for the entire game, but if it's something your prefer you can build your statblock as if you were another race and you'll 'mutate' in the first few scenes IC.

9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?

Point Buy:
LA 0 – 42
LA 1 – 32
LA 2 – 25
LA 3 – 18
LA 4 – 10
LA 5 and up - not playable

HP is always max of your HD.

BAB and saves are fractional. The +2 on saves only applies the first time.

Feat progression as per Pathfinder (so at level 1, 3, 5, 7 and so on). Flaws are banned, but everybody gets two free bonus feats (as if they'd taken two flaws).

10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?

Yes but mainly for game mechanics. I don't enforce alignment restrictions on classes except that paladins and clerics have to follow their deity's teachings to some extent. If you want to play a divine caster and homebrew your own deity, give me a pitch and we can brainstorm about it.

11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?

Multiclassing is fine, no xp penalties.
PrC's can be taken on both sides of the gestalt.
Dual advancement is allowed but must be fully qualified for on one side and no early entry (except for warlock using practiced spellcaster).

One thing of note here, since this is a gestalt game:

You can only stack one stat, once, to AC/saves/attack bonus/damage.

So a Paladin//Sorcerer casting Ruin Delver's Fortune for Reflex Saves would get no benefit except for Evasion, nor would they get any benefit from a Warblade dip unless their Int was higher than their Cha.

12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?

I'll take 10 on passives and I'll roll initiative, but other than that you make your own rolls.
I've had really bad experiences in the past as a player with GM's that cheat with dice rolls. But I do think that rolling open during combat isn't ideal either, because then things like attack bonuses can be gamed too much.
So what I usually do is keep all the rolls archived and show them after combat.

13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.

Yes, see below.

14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?

Nothing huge, just a few sentences about
1. Your day to day life in your village
2. Your home / house.
3. Your friend Isabella, who is the same age as you. The dynamic between you two.
4. A brief description of your mentor in the village. What did they teach you?

Feel entirely free to spin this however you would like it. Could be that you were adopted by a local noble, could be that you’re a hunter, could be that you’re a farm hand. It’s all good, since it’s a solo campaign, so go with what you think would be cool.

15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?

Little bit of all, but mainly roleplaying and exploring, then hack&slash and finally the occasional puzzle.

16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?

Most official published 3.5 is fair game. If it's dubious or obscure, run it by me.

If it's from Serpent Kingdoms, the answer is no.

I generally don't like Dragonlance, so you can request from it, but with the exception of a few feats (like Keen Intellect) the answer is probably going to be no.

3.x Dragon Magazine on request. I own most volumes and I love them for inspiration but I'm not really comfortable blanket pre-approving them.

Spoiler: House Rules

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The list below is not entirely complete. But the most important bits are in there and it should give you an idea of how I DM.

A note up front: while these rules are fairly permissive, the aim of that is to allow you to build a character that you find interesting and compelling, not to turn it into an exercise of putting the biggest numbers onto a sheet.

I run my games as fair as I can. If I use homebrew, it will be available to you. If I ban something, I don't use it myself.

Spoiler: Mechanical things

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BAB and Saves
Use fractional BAB and saves. The +2 on a good save only applies the first time.

Spoiler: Feats

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Bonus Feats
You gain the following feats are free: Able Learner, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Point Blank Shot.

Furthermore

• When your base Str is 14 or over, you gain Power Attack as a bonus feat.
• When your base Dex is 14 or over, you gain Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat.
• When your base Con is 14 or over, you gain Endurance as a bonus feat.
• When you have 8 ranks in Concentration, you gain either Combat Casting, Combat Manifesting, Skill Focus (Concentration) or Arcane Focus [Dragon #351, works as psionic focus] a bonus feat (your choice).
• When you have 8 ranks in Hide, you gain Darkstalker or Mind Mask [Arcane Focus works for this, too] as a bonus feat.
• When you have 8 ranks in Gather Information, you gain Urban Tracking as a bonus feat.
• When you have 8 ranks in Spellcraft you gain Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.
• When you have 8 ranks in Survival, you gain Track as a bonus feat.
• When you have 8 ranks in Craft (Alchemy) you gain Brew Potion as a bonus feat.
• When you have 8 ranks in Craft (Jewelcraft) you gain Forge Ring as a bonus feat.
• When you have 8 ranks in Craft (Weaponsmith) and Craft (Armorsmith) you gain Craft Magic/Psionic Arms and Armor as a bonus feat.
• When you have 8 ranks in Use Magic Device you gain Craft Wondrous Item as a bonus feat.

These do not grant anything if you already have the feat. That is the price of having it early.
And if I even hear Chaos Shuffle I'm going to start throwing virtual books.

Feat Changes

Two-Weapon Fighting is merged into one feat that upgrades when you qualify for higher tiers. Additionally, this feat now allows you to attack once each with two different held weapons as a standard action or as part of a Spring Attack.

Multi-Weapon Fighting is merged into one feat that upgrades when you qualify for higher tiers. Additionally, this feat now allows you to attack once each with two different held weapons as a standard action or as part of a Spring Attack.

Insidious Illusions as the ability described in RoS p.148 (gnome illusionist lvl 10) can be taken as a feat by anyone with a CL of 9.

Metamagic
Metamagics stack only with respect to the original spell, not with respect to eachother.
For example:

• A Twinned Maximized Disintegrate creates two rays, one of which is maximized.
• Occular Spell does not circumvent the “personal/fixed range” clause of Persistent Metamagic.
• Using Born of Three Thunders does not make a spell a legal target for use with Explosive Spell.

The only exception to this are Still Spell and Silent Spell, which do stack with all other metamagics.

Divination spells may not be the target of offensively oriented Metamagics, such as Metamagics that deal damage or drain levels.

Stacking reducers are fine, just don't go too crazy with them.

Mindsigh, Telepathy and [Mind Affecting]
A creature with immunity to [Mind Affecting], whether due to creature type, a Mind Blank spell, or otherwise, can opt to completely shut out all telepathy and every other attempt to contact their mind.
When a creature does so, they interact with Mindsight in the same way that a creature with the Darkstalker feat would interact with Blindsight. However, this renders such a creature completely unable to communicate telepathically or to either send or receive information through other mental channels such as an Arcane Eye spell, a Trickery Devotion Simulacrum or a Status spell. This 'firewall' persists for as long as the Mind Blank or other immunity to [Mind Affecting] persists, and may be raised or lowered at will, as a standard action.

Lifesense
The light given off by a living creature is blocked by darkness effects. Any shadow effect that sort of envelops a character (such as the Shadowcraft Mage's Cloak of Shadows or the Armor Of Darkness spell) can, at your discretion, completely block the light you give off. That does mean such spells hide your facial features and such as well, which depending on the situation may or may not be something you want.

Spoiler: Skills

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Linked Skills
The skills listed below are grouped. Their modifiers may be altered by different effects, but buying a rank in one skill gives you the same amount in the other skills, up to their normal limit. Note that this does not let you “double up” by ranking both skills, you just get full ranks in both while only paying for one. This replaces synergy bonuses.
If a grouped skill is a class skill for you, all other skills grouped with it to automatically become class skills for you as well.
Grouped skills are:

• Autohypnosis and Concentration
• Balance, Tumble
• Bluff, Disguise and Sleight of Hand
• Climb, Jump and Swim
• Escape Artist and Use Rope
• Hide and Move Silently
• Gather information and Sense Motive
• Knowledge Knowledge (Nature) and Survival
• Listen, Search, and Spot
• Psicraft and Spellcraft
• Use Magic Device and Use Psionic Device

Background Skills
In addition to their normal allotment of regular skill ranks, all characters gain 8 background skill ranks at first level and 2 background skill ranks each time they gain a level. The character's Intelligence modifier doesn't adjust this value. Background skill ranks can be used to gain ranks only in background skills, not adventuring skills. Characters can expend their regular skill ranks on background skills if they desire.

Background skills are:

• Appraise
• Craft (Any) - taken individually
• Craft (Weaponsmith) and Craft (Armorsmith)
• Decipher Script and Forgery
• Disable Device, Open Lock, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering), Profession (Mechanic) and Profession (Siege Engineer)
• Handle Animal and Ride
• Knowledge (Geography), Profession (Astronomy) and Profession (Pilot)
• Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty), Profession (Noble)
• Perform (Any 3)
• Profession (Any 3 that weren't already mentioned)

Skill Tricks

The Skill Tricks from the list below unlock for free as you qualify for them. You can know a number of skill tricks equal to up to 1/2 your character level, rounded up. The skill tricks from the list below can be used at will. Once you know a Skill Trick, you can only forget it with a Psychic Reformation.
The skill tricks from complete scoundrel not included in this list can still be taken as normal (i.e. they cost 2 skill points and, unless otherwise noted, they can be performed only once per encounter, or once per minute for scenes that don't involve combat or other conflict.) Paying skill points for skill tricks does not allow you to go over your limit for the number of skill tricks you can learn.

• Acrobatic Backstab
• Back on Your Feet
• Clarity of Vision
• Collector of Stories
• Conceal Spellcasting
• Corner Perch
• Dismount Attack
• Escape Attack
• Extreme Leap
• Group Fake-Out
• Healing Hands
• Hidden Blade
• Leaping Climber
• Mosquito's Bite
• Never Outnumbered
• Nimble Stand
• Opening Tap
• Point it Out
• Second Impression
• Shrouded Dance
• Slipping Past
• Spot the Weak Point
• Sudden Draw
• Timely Misdirection
• Tumbling Crawl
• Up the Hill
• Walk the Walls
• Wall Jumper
• Whip Climber

On knowledge rolls
I sometimes allow the “wrong” knowledge skill to identify/learn about a monster. For instance, someone with Knowledge (Nature) might be able to identify things about the anatomy of a Dragon, or someone with Knowledge (Psionics) might be able to identify the PLAs of an aberration.

Altered or Removed Skills

Diplomacy: is removed from the game as a skill you can rank.
Diplomacy in the form of RP still plays an important part of the game. And dice rolls definitely still have a place in things like knowledge (nobility) rolls for proper etiquette, appraise for bargaining, or forgery for "official" documents. But no more turning Balors into your pet kittens because you dipped marshal.

Martial Lore is removed from the game as a skill you can rank. Instead, martial lore checks are now made using your highest Initiator level + 3 + your initiating modifier (only add your initiating modifier if you have levels in an initiator class).

Spoiler: Weapons and Items

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Permanencied Spells and Common Effects
Permanencied Spells re-activate 1d4 minutes after being dispelled. For the caster level, use the lower of the two castings (the original spell and the permanency). The XP costs are unchanged.

All the Common Item Effects listen under MIC p. 234 (Enhancement bonuses to abilities, resistance bonuses to saves, natural armor and deflection bonuses to AC) are no longer available in that form.
Instead, they become a permanent part of your character, with the gold cost refluffed as the cost of training and training equipment. Because your character actually learns these things, they are no longer considered magical effects.
That means that these bonuses persist in an anti magic field. Their type is unchanged. So enhancement bonuses still don't stack with enhancement spells, etc.

Weapons and Items

• Anyone proficient with a whip may use it as if he had the Lasher's "Third Hand" class ability (Sword and Fist p.25)
• Shield Bonuses now also apply to touch AC if the shield is worn. (So this does not apply to animated shields.)
• Amulet of Mighty Fists has its cost reduced to twice the price of a normal weapon enhancement. So +1 costs 4,000 gold, +2 costs 16,000, etc.
• Untyped bonuses don't stack with themselves (think of things like Nightsticks and Eager Weapons.)
• Spellblade (PGtF 120) is allowed, but with a few tweaks. It now grants infinite SR against a single spell or power. So it only works against spells that allow SR or PR. If it is used for immunity against a power, it is called a Psiblade. Additionally, any given instance of a spell may only be redirected once by a spellblade. At a second contact, the spell must either be absorbed or let through.
• And obvious things, such as Starmantle Cloak not stacking with Evasion and items like Dust of Sneezing and Choking being banned.

This list is not complete, but it should give you an idea of what I will and won't allow.

Spoiler: Combat

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Actions in combat
Within reason, free actions (such as dropping a weapon or calling an item from your gloves of storing) can be taken off turn. They still cannot be taken in response to an enemy against whom you are considered flat-footed.

Death Threshold
You die at -10 or – half your total hp, whichever is lower. You bleed out 10% of your max negative hp per round. This is added behind the comma (so if you have a floor of -12, you lose 1 hp for rounds 1-4 and 2 hp at round 5.)

Spoiler: Casting

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On XP costs
All abilities that have an XP cost require payment of that cost, no matter the origin or mode of the cast. I don't care if it's cast as (Su). I don't care if you summoned an Efreeti. You're still paying.
In that same vein, things like Thought Bottling or Restoration/Drain combos will get DM smote.

On cast times
If you mimic a spell, you use the casting time of the mimicked spell or the original, whichever is longer. Supernatural Abilities and SLAs take the same amount of time to "cast" as regular spells. Wings of cover is an exception to this ruling and is always immediate, even when mimicked. Because rule of cool.

On psionics and transparency
I treat psionics as the third school of magic.
That means there is full transparency in all ways, in the same way you would expect there to be transparency between arcane and divine magic. Note that this does not mean that psionic characters qualify for feats or classes that require arcane or divine casting, or vice versa.

Cantrips
Cantrips may be used at-will. (This includes cure minor wounds. which now only heals you to a maximum of 50% of your max hp.)

Metamagic (posted in feats, but putting it here too for completeness)
Metamagics stack only with respect to the original spell, not with respect to eachother.
For example:

• A Twinned Maximized Disintegrate creates two rays, one of which is maximized.
• Occular Spell does not circumvent the “personal/fixed range” clause of Persistent Metamagic.
• Using Born of Three Thunders does not make a spell a legal target for use with Explosive Spell.

Divination spells may not be the target of offensively oriented Metamagics, such as Metamagics that deal damage or drain levels.
Stacking reducers are fine, just don't go too crazy with them.

Spoiler: Changes to Magic and Psionics

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Spoiler: Magic

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Abjuration

• Disjunction suppresses magic items that fail their will save for 5 minutes. If an item has a limited amount of charges per day (or shorter period), all charges are expended (so set at 0) for that day.
  Disjunction still strips off all temporary magical effects on the target without any check. Contingencies (even crafted) are stripped. Non-temporary magical or psionic effects, such as permanencied spells or psionic circuitry will be usable after 5 minutes (though in the case of psionic circuitry all PP will be lost from the capacitors).
• Mage Armor is now an Abjuration spell
• Mind Blank - A creature under the effect of Mind Blank can opt to completely shut out all telepathy and other attempts to contact their mind.
  When a creature does so, they interact with Mindsight in the same way that a creature with the Darkstalker feat would interact with Blindsight.
  However, this renders such a creature completely unable to communicate telepathically or to either send or receive information through other mental channels such as an Arcane Eye spell, a Trickery Devotion Simulacrum or a Status spell.
  This 'firewall' persists for as long as the Mind Blank or other immunity to [Mind Affecting] persists, and may be raised or lowered at will, as a standard action. The same can be done for morale effects, but this too works both ways and renders a character vulnerable to demoralization and fear effects.

Conjuration

• Body Outside Body: On top of the limitations already in place, clones expend your own resources when using any Su abilities, SLAs, PLAs, manifesting, maneuvers, soul binding, infusions, invocations, shadowcasting, truespeaking. In the case of incarnum you can share Essentia with your clones. You may only have one instance of this spell active at any given time.
• Gate has its calling function and xp cost removed.
• Plane shift - Work a little differently in this campaign. This spell does still have a function, but it lets you get into or out of pocket dimensions (you'll mostly find these in ruins).
• Planar binding/ally – Spell can only be cast near planar rifts, which are notoriously unstable. Planar binding is risky business and is usually not attempted without a crew of some sort to safeguard the summoning circle.
• Phantom Stag - Now has a casting time of three full rounds, up from 1 round.
• Phantom Steed - Now has a casting time of three full rounds, down from 10 minutes.
• (Greater) Teleport only works along ley-lines. I'll add more details to this later, but here is the short of it: You can teleport along 'highways' on the world map. When traveling upstream, the maximum distance traveled is halved. Also, ley-lines can be warded, forcing travelers to exit the line and travel physically beyond the ward.
• Teleportation Circle can be dispelled both at the entry point and the exit point.

Divination

• Detect Magic, (Greater) Arcane Sight - Cannot detect illusions unless you beat the save first.
• I reserve the right to not disclose everything (within reason) when you use a spell of the "please spill the entire plot" variety. I won't do this lightly, though.

Evocation:

• Holy Word and similar spells like Blasphemy, Dictum or Word of Chaos key off your character level or your caster level, whichever is lower.
• Miracle is not available to PCs except for exceptional situation involving quests and the like. This ban includes things like shadow emulations, Su abilities and items. For clerics with the luck domain, Miracle is replaced by Foresight.

Illusion

• Shadow Conjuration/Evocation/Shades - Quasireality caps at 120%
• Simulacrum is limited to one at a time. If a Simulacrum attempts to cast Simulacrum or similar spells such as Ice Assassin, it is immediately destroyed. A Simulacrum can have no more HD than your character level.

Necromancy

• Astral Projection: While using Astral Projection, the magic of your items follows you around. The gear you leave behind becomes mundane for the duration of the spell.
• Death Watch has its [evil] tag removed

Transmutation

• Fabricate now has a duration of 1 round/level, is SR: yes and allows a will save if used on attended items.
• Glibness is now an immediate action with a duration of one round. The somatic component is removed.
• Polymorph Any Object - is generally not available to PCs except for exceptional situations involving quests and the like.
• Shapechange - Is allowed, but I reserve the right to veto (Su) abilities that I think are too powerful.

Universal

• Wish is not available to PCs except for exceptional situation involving quests and the like. This includes things like using bound creatures or items.

Spoiler: Psionics

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As far as I'm concerned recharge tricks fall into the category of infinite loops. I'm not even going to try to fix them. Just do us both a favor and don't use them.

Where XPH and CP conflict, always go with XPH. And the astral construct nerf from CP is dumb, so we don't use that.

• Metamorphosis, Greater - See shapechange. Caps at 25 HD.
• Synchronicity – Allows you to ready the standard action it consumed only. If a manifested synchronicity did not consume a standard action, it is wasted. To translate: this means that twinned or linked Synchronicities are wasted. It also means that in situations like a combo with Schism, you couldn't use synchronicity with your second mind to ready for your normal mind. My issue with synchronicity is that it's too good for its level and PP cost. Schism, anticipatory strike, and linked power hustle are all still on the table.
• Time Hop, Mass After exiting the Mass Time Hop, the subject of the spell can't take any actions until its next turn.

Class-related fixes and bans
You can only shadow pounce once per full cycle of initiative
Divine impetus can grant a maximum of one extra swift action per full cycle of initiative.
Every class with Taint in the name is banned.
Any class that deals precision damage gains Penetrating Strike (DSc p. 13) as a class feature when they take their 3rd class level in that class.

[Thokk_Smash]

Tyrell Blaze, Passionate Youth

Spoiler: Day to Day Life

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Tyrell has taken it upon himself to bring together like-minded villagers and form a makeshift militia. After his parents died and Alister, his mentor, left, he decided a villager child would never again lose their parent. So his day-to-day starts early with a quick breakfast, then it's off to meet with the newest recruits of the season. In the afternoon, he takes over patrolling the area around the village, then at night he spends time in meditation and personal training.

Spoiler: Tyrell's Home

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Tyrell's house is a simple affair. Although his "uncle" Geoffrey (actually his mother's best friend) is the leader of the village, Tyrell prefers to live in the home his parents built and that he was born in. It's a one-story home with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a shed in the backyard. The walls still have marks where Tyrell's parents measured his height as he grew.

Spoiler: Dear Isabella

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Fiery of hair and spirit, Isabella has been Tyrell's boon companion since childhood. His uncle's youngest daughter, she is a spitfire and a virtuoso who has been able to master whatever she put her mind to. Although Geoffrey wishes she would be a proper lady, he can't help but give in to her whims. She joined Tyrell's militia, thus giving it the weight of her father's name. There are, of course, rumors that she is enamored with Tyrell, but he's never noticed one way or another.

Spoiler: Tyrell's Mentor

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Alister Luna, or "Lunatic Alister", is a berserker and Tyrell's father's platonic life partner. They fought on opposite sides in a border war decades ago; Alister was abandoned by his comrades, and Tyrell's father chose to take him prisoner instead of killing him. Alister felt he owed his savior a life debt, and so followed him into retirement despite how boring it was. When Tyrell's father died, Alister went on the warpath against the goblins in the area, and would occasionally go on extended trips from the village in order to clear out a den he'd heard of. From Alister, Tyrell learned to stay true to his passions. It was Alister who inspired him to form the militia.

Spoiler: Tyrell's Parents

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Tyrell's father was a great soldier named Lucien. After the last war, he earned enough acclaim to warrant anything he desired, but all he wanted was to retire to live the rest of his life in peace.

Tyrell's mother was Constance. She fell in love with Lucien at first sight, and despite Geoffrey attempting to interfere out of jealousy they were married within a year of Lucien arriving in the village.

So my build will definitely be Warlock//Incarnate, since it fits Tyrell and my vision for the character the best. Him being martially-inclined in the backstory seems underrepresented, but Warlock is kinda essential to the concept of bonding with the spirit and how he gains his powers and, again, Soulborn is just such garbage that I would hate to choose it.

If you would be open to hearing homebrew requests, I was interested in this:

Spoiler: Fire Genasi by Edge

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Fire Genasi Racial Traits

• +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma: Fire genasi possess bright and forceful minds.
• Medium size
• Base Land Speed: 30ft.
• Humanoid (planetouched, incarnum) type
• Darkvision 60ft
• Blessing of the Flame Imperishable (Ex): Fire genasi never take nonlethal damage from heat exposure in very hot or extreme heat conditions, and possess fire resistance 5.
• Primal Soul: A genasi's soul roils with primordial power. They increase their essentia pool by 1, or gain an essentia pool with 1 point if they do not already possess one.
• Blazefury (Su): This racial ability is an essentia receptacle with the usual capacity for the fire genasi's level. As long as the fire genasi has at least one point of essentia invested in this ability, she gains a +2 racial bonus to Strength and deals an additional 1d4 points of fire damage with metal weapons she wields. Each additional point of essentia invested in this ability increases the bonus fire damage by 1d4 points.
• Cinderfoot (Su): This racial ability is an essentia receptacle with the usual capacity for the fire genasi's level. As long as the fire genasi has at least one point of essentia invested in this ability, she gains a +2 racial bonus to Dexterity and improves her racial fire resistance by 5. Each additional point of essentia invested in the ability improves her fire resistance by an additional 5 points.
• Pyresoul (Su): This racial ability is an essentia receptacle with the usual capacity for the fire genasi's level. As long as the fire genasi has at least one point of essentia invested in this ability, she increases her racial bonus to Charisma by 2, and gains the ability to cast produce flame at-will as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to her character level. Each additional point of essentia invested in the ability increases the fire damage her produce flame spell-like ability deals by 1d6 + caster level (maximum 5). Once invested into this ability, essentia remains so for 24 hours and cannot be reinvested into other essentia receptacles.
• Automatic Languages: Common, Ignan. Bonus Languages: Any.
• Favoured Class: Sorcerer, Warblade or Wizard.
• Level Adjustment: +1

I'm mostly inclined to go Human because LA 0 gives such a good point buy, plus a bonus feat and skills are always nice. But consider this: bonding with a spirit of pure Passion, as well as potentially absorbing/bonding with the fire emblem Orb of Fire, would be a perfect reason for him to mutate into a Fire Genasi. I didn't want to request this until after I got in, and whether or not I can use this Fire Genasi determines what point buy I use, so my ability scores might need to be tweaked.

Here is Tyrell's sheet: https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/?id=2857188

Mechanical questions:
Haven't assigned background skills yet; are they linked as well, like adventuring skills?
A mechanical gripe, but gosh-darn Warlock and Incarnate are godawful for skill points and skills XD

[Tyrann]

I'll allow Edge's Fire Genasi, sure.

And yes, both warlock and incarnate do have very few skill points. It helps a little that you have 14 int.

Background skills are also linked.

I noted you took a spiked chain. Feel free to refluff that and use the same stats if you prefer. Or don't, up to you.
How were you planning on combining that with the warlock, though?
And are you 100% sure you need the warlock levels for the pact idea? You could technically 'pact' with anything and gain class features for it I guess. But that's up to you.

[Thokk_Smash]

Me? Hyperfixate on something that isn't necessary??????

......

It's more likely than you'd think.

Although honestly, I think I will drop the Incarnate side in favor of Ranger. This would better represent his life before everything happened, then the Warlock side is gained when he makes the pact. For the record for that, I'm imagining he'll try run in and stop them from taking Isabella, then get gutted, and pacting/bonding with the spirit saves him and turns him into a Fire Genasi. But obviously that's negotiable.

The worst thing about Ranger is that it tends to lend itself to a Dex build, but I'm debating being a frontliner with Eldritch Glaive, if you'll allow it (the bonded spirit would turn into the glaive). I may be a bit ambitious, but with your generous feat allowances and the Ranger combat style feats, I could try to be a switch-hitter: Eldritch Glaive in melee and archery at range.

With one of my feats I got Improved Buckler Defense, since I'll be using a two-handed weapon or bow. Not sure what to pick for my other two; Combat Reflexes could be one. A shame Extra Invocation is locked at requiring Lesser invocations.

I'm sorry for taking so long to reply. My creativity during the day can be a bit of a drought sometimes.

Edit: And forgive me asking, but do we get average gold per class, or max, or how do we do equipment?

[Tyrann]

Me? Hyperfixate on something that isn't necessary??????

......

It's more likely than you'd think.

Although honestly, I think I will drop the Incarnate side in favor of Ranger. This would better represent his life before everything happened, then the Warlock side is gained when he makes the pact. For the record for that, I'm imagining he'll try run in and stop them from taking Isabella, then get gutted, and pacting/bonding with the spirit saves him and turns him into a Fire Genasi. But obviously that's negotiable.

The worst thing about Ranger is that it tends to lend itself to a Dex build, but I'm debating being a frontliner with Eldritch Glaive, if you'll allow it (the bonded spirit would turn into the glaive). I may be a bit ambitious, but with your generous feat allowances and the Ranger combat style feats, I could try to be a switch-hitter: Eldritch Glaive in melee and archery at range.

With one of my feats I got Improved Buckler Defense, since I'll be using a two-handed weapon or bow. Not sure what to pick for my other two; Combat Reflexes could be one. A shame Extra Invocation is locked at requiring Lesser invocations.

I'm sorry for taking so long to reply. My creativity during the day can be a bit of a drought sometimes.

Edit: And forgive me asking, but do we get average gold per class, or max, or how do we do equipment?

Easiest question first: max gold for your highest gp class.

No objection at all to eldritch glaive, though I will say that isn't the easiest build to do in a solo game because the glaive requires a full action normally.
The traditional build is to use the fade into violence feat but then you need an ally and it isn't very heroic.

Maybe we should homebrew a class? With invocations for "fairy" powers. And then something with ocarina of time link vibes, but with fire powers / sword magic, a magic shield, and special arrows mixed in?

Or if you'd rather stick with warlock, consider the eldritch claws feat from dragon #358?

[Thokk_Smash]

Max gold is nice.

I didn’t notice the Ocarina of Time parallels before you mentioned them, haha. I don’t know how well I could contribute to a homebrew class, and I don’t want to put such a big burden on you unless you don’t mind it taking a few days. I feel bad enough that we haven’t started the game yet because I haven’t been able to make a decision.

If you're open to homebrew classes, I'd like to request:

The Sagittarius. It keeps the Ranger vibe and kinda mixes in a “chosen one” vibe. Then I could put Incarnate on the other side to represent the bonding with the spirit.

If I go archery, would you allow Power Attack to work for ranged weapons?

[Tyrann]

Max gold is nice.

I didn’t notice the Ocarina of Time parallels before you mentioned them, haha. I don’t know how well I could contribute to a homebrew class, and I don’t want to put such a big burden on you unless you don’t mind it taking a few days. I feel bad enough that we haven’t started the game yet because I haven’t been able to make a decision.

If you're open to homebrew classes, I'd like to request:

The Sagittarius. It keeps the Ranger vibe and kinda mixes in a “chosen one” vibe. Then I could put Incarnate on the other side to represent the bonding with the spirit.

If I go archery, would you allow Power Attack to work for ranged weapons?

Hmm I could allow Sagittarius. It manages big numbers but that's all it does, which makes it nice and predictable.

Power attacks working on ranged attacks that deal damage is approved. Bows function like 2-handed weapons.

Don't feel bad that we're still hashing out your character. I like your concept and I want you to enjoy what you play. At the end of the day, the class does matter.

[Thokk_Smash]

Hmm I could allow Sagittarius. It manages big numbers but that's all it does, which makes it nice and predictable.

Power attacks working on ranged attacks that deal damage is approved. Bows function like 2-handed weapons.

Don't feel bad that we're still hashing out your character. I like your concept and I want you to enjoy what you play. At the end of the day, the class does matter.

I'll update Tyrell to be Sagittarius//Incarnate, then.

By the way, do you still use Discord? I shot you a message there. I figured that might be faster than forum posts if we do end up having to homebrew something in the future.

Edit: I've updated Tyrell's sheet appropriately. I'm waffling on whether to keep his Strength at 14 or put those points into getting Wisdom to 16. On the one hand, keeping Strength so high splits his focus a bit. On the other hand, it gets him Power Attack for free, plus in a solo game having a decent carrying capacity could be useful.

Cerulean Dodge is a feat I'm debating; the bonus Essentia is nice, but the Dodge bonus is only against one person, and I could swap back to Improved Buckler Defense which can apply to all attacks.

I'm also considering 'brewing a Soulmeld or two to represent the bond. A Soulmeld should be within my capacity to make. Maybe one that lets you make arrows out of the elements, one at base and other elements with invested essentia?

[Tyrann]

I'll update Tyrell to be Sagittarius//Incarnate, then.

By the way, do you still use Discord? I shot you a message there. I figured that might be faster than forum posts if we do end up having to homebrew something in the future.

Edit: I've updated Tyrell's sheet appropriately. I'm waffling on whether to keep his Strength at 14 or put those points into getting Wisdom to 16. On the one hand, keeping Strength so high splits his focus a bit. On the other hand, it gets him Power Attack for free, plus in a solo game having a decent carrying capacity could be useful.

Cerulean Dodge is a feat I'm debating; the bonus Essentia is nice, but the Dodge bonus is only against one person, and I could swap back to Improved Buckler Defense which can apply to all attacks.

I'm also considering 'brewing a Soulmeld or two to represent the bond. A Soulmeld should be within my capacity to make. Maybe one that lets you make arrows out of the elements, one at base and other elements with invested essentia?

I don't really use discord much anymore, no. But I get direct notification via e-mail for this thread so that works I guess?

The stat spread seems fine like this. It suits the background.

If you want extra essentia, I'd recommend getting Bonus Essentia. With your race that would net you 4 stat points, right? Which in turn translates to AC.

I think Tyrell is good to go except for choosing soulmelds.
The arrows aren't needed because of reasons..
But I don't mind if you brew something (with the caveat that I might veto or change it). I'd suggest a crown chakra soulmeld that has something to do with idea(l) you're contracting with.
I'll also brew a brow chakra meld, but it would be spoilers to tell you about that now.

Also, I think once we have that meld hashed out we can get started? Sheet looks good.

[Thokk_Smash]

I don't really use discord much anymore, no. But I get direct notification via e-mail for this thread so that works I guess?

The stat spread seems fine like this. It suits the background.

If you want extra essentia, I'd recommend getting Bonus Essentia. With your race that would net you 4 stat points, right? Which in turn translates to AC.

I think Tyrell is good to go except for choosing soulmelds.
The arrows aren't needed because of reasons..
But I don't mind if you brew something (with the caveat that I might veto or change it). I'd suggest a crown chakra soulmeld that has something to do with idea(l) you're contracting with.
I'll also brew a brow chakra meld, but it would be spoilers to tell you about that now.

Also, I think once we have that meld hashed out we can get started? Sheet looks good.

Fair enough on Discord.

Bonus Essentia feat is hard-locked at character level 6, otherwise I would take it. If you're good raising that restriction then that'll probably be the choice.

The Fire Genasi's features only give the +2 racial bonus once no matter how much essentia you pump into it. The essentia determines how much of the rider effect (1d4 fire damage, +5 fire resistance, produce flame damage) you get. Plus, at level 1 the maximum essentia I can put into anything is just 1 anyway, lol.

Crown Chakra soulmeld it is! I'll work on it overnight and hopefully have it done before I go to bed. If not, sometime tomorrow for sure.

[Thokk_Smash]

Okay, so his Soulmeld. As I said, I'm imagining that he will attempt to save Isabella and as many people of his village as he can. His friends and comrades in his militia are dying around him. These are people he's trained beside, people he's laughed and danced and sang with around bonfires in the dead of winter, on their namedays, at the harvest...and even as he tries to rally them, they're cut down. If only he were faster, if only he were smarter...he curses his weakness as the flames lick up his body and begin to engulf him.

He remembers the day his parents died, saving him after a wayward trek through the woods went wrong. He remembers staring into the Orb of Fire, and its constant flame would always stoke the embers in his heart when they sank low. It almost seemed to pulse with his heartbeat, quickening and slowing with the ebbs and flows of his passion.

And he remembers, as the years went on, he would glimpse the image of a small figure within open flames. It grew more solid in recent years, always appearing when he was deep in training or leading the others in a hearty song. Was he hallucinating it then?

Because he hallucinates it as he lies dying in the flames of his village. Except...it's not a hallucination. It approaches him, and offers its hand, urging Tyrell not to give up. Urging him to fight.

Through flame-cracked lips, he declares, "I will...stoke the fires of life...when they gutter out!"

And so he rises from the flames, skin reddened, hair waving in the air like an open flame...and a circlet of obsidian glass floating just above his head, that glows with a deep orange within.


Everspark Circlet

Spoiler

Show

Everspark Circlet
Descriptors: Lawful, Good (Maybe)
Classes:All
Chakra: Crown
Saving Throw:No

An obsidian-black glass circlet forms atop your head, floating just above your skull. It pulses in time with your heartbeat, bolstering your resolve and reassuring all who look upon you.

The Everspark Circlet calls upon the fires of life itself. Your inner fire is strengthened and reinforced, giving you immunity to Fear. It also enflames your force of personality, giving you a +1 Morale bonus on all Charisma checks.
Essentia: You gain an additional +1 Morale bonus on Charisma checks per essentia invested in this soulmeld.

Chakra Bind(Crown)
The circlet settles onto your head and expands, sheathing your head in a proper crown of blazing life.

TBD

At this level, +2 to Charisma checks is definitely strong, but I think it's far from game-breaking. The Chakra Bind, I'm thinking, maybe a Morale bonus on attacks and damage for himself and all allies who can see him?

(And I know I may be projecting and dictating what will happen in the game with my little soliloquy/stream of thought up there, but I had some inspiration)

[Tyrann]

Circlet is approved, I like it! Though I'm not so sure about the morale bonus. That's essentially a bard but better. But let's see what we think your character needs as it comes up.

And about the feat: that's what I get for thinking I remember things like these when I haven't read the actual text in years. Let's stick with the rules as written on when feats are allowed. But we can be flexible on what you pick for the first fight.

For now, let's get going.

Here's the IC.

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...6#post25918536

Note: there may be things or people on the map you aren't aware of yet. But this is what you know / see right now.

The orb of fire is giving off a warm glow.

[Thokk_Smash]

Great googly moogly, the lieutenants and Isabella are far away. Well, let's see how this goes...

[Thokk_Smash]

Very subpar first attack. Even if I hadn't PA'd I still would've missed, lol.

[Tyrann]

Haha I had intended for AH 16 to be under a tree so you'd have cover from some things but not all things. I think you thought there was a smoke cloud there? Which, fair enough, there probably should be because of the fire, so I'll go with that.

Edit: or you may have meant low branches. But either way I'll give you the benefit of smoke.

If you'd like, you can roll a hide check to use with you move action.

And for your next attacks, don't forget to add point blank shot!

[Thokk_Smash]

I was trying to get cover while still progressing even a little bit. There's almost a thousand feet between him and the lieutenants, and he can only move so far so fast while still attacking lol.

Also, I edited my post a bit at the end of the narration.

[Tyrann]

Oh you're online. Neat. Could you roll a hide check?

[Thokk_Smash]

Hide: (1d20+7)[23]

Argh, Point Blank Shot! *writes it on the back of my hand to see when I'm writing*

[Thokk_Smash]

Also, I didn't really register this before earlier today, but: a flipping catapult??????? How did they get that into the village quick enough that I didn't wake up till they literally catapulted my house?

[Tyrann]

Reason :D

Don't worry, all will be explained eventually.

Going to do rolls here because it's quite a few:
Attack Theo charge against AE 23 - (1d20+5)[18]
Damage Theo charge against AE 23 - (1d12+3)[4]

Attack Theo charge against AE 23 - (1d20+5)[25]
Damage Theo charge against AE 23 - (1d12+3)[6]

Attack Rowan against X 21 - (1d20+3)[8]
Damage Rowan against X 21 - (1d6+1)[6]

Finn -1 combat expertise against AF 29 - (1d20+1)[13]
Damage Finn charge against AF 29 - (1d8+2)[5]

Iris hide check - (1d20+4)[10]
Crossbow attack Iris against M 24 - (1d20+5)[7]
[roll=SA damage Iris against M 24]1d8+1d6+1[/roll]

Nolan hide check - (1d20+6)[24]
Rapid shot 1 Nolan against M 24 > AL 37 > AM 40 - (1d20+1)[20]
Damage Nolan against M 24 - (1d8+2)[9]
Rapid shot 2 Nolan against M 24 > AL 37 > AM 40 - (1d20+1)[6]
Damage Nolan against M 24 - (1d8+2)[10]

Miles healing potion - (1d8+1)[5]


---
Enemies
[roll=W22 against Rowan (AC 18)]1d20+1[/roll]
damage - (1d8+1)[7]
[roll=X22 (if alive) against Rowan (AC 15)]1d20+1[/roll]
damage - (1d8+1)[7]

[roll=AD21 against Theo (AC 16)]1d20+1[/roll]
damage - (1d8+1)[9]
[roll=AE21 (if alive) against Theo (AC 16)]1d20+1[/roll]
damage - (1d8+1)[3]
[roll=AF21 against Theo (AC 16)]1d20+1[/roll]
damage - (1d8+1)[9]

[roll=AF29 (if alive) against Finn (AC 20)]1d20+1[/roll]
damage - (1d8+1)[4]
[roll=AF30 against Theo (AC 20)]1d20+1[/roll]
damage - (1d8+1)[8]
[roll=AM 37 archer against Finn (AC 20)]1d20-3[/roll]
damage - (1d8)[8]
[roll=AL 40 archer against Finn (AC 20)]1d20-3[/roll]
damage - (1d8)[6]

[roll=AN 27 archer against Tyrell (AC 17)]1d20+1[/roll]
damage - (1d8)[1]

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Tyrann]

Crit confirmation of nat 20 archer against Finn (AC 20)
(1d20-3)[15]

Edit:

I copy pasted Theo one time too many but it doesn't matter, AE 23 goes down either way between that attack and your shot.
All of Theo's attackers miss
(see IC for enemy attack rolls)

Rowan misses and gets missed in Turn
(see IC for enemy attack rolls)

Finn misses and gets hit once, by an archer on a nat 20. Leaving him at 6/12 hp
(see IC for enemy attack rolls)

Iris misses M24
Nolan takes down M24 and misses his second shot against AL 37

Miles is back in the fight with 8/9 HP. He's in cover for this turn.

One enemy archer attacks you, but misses

[Tyrann]

Alright, IC is updated!

[Thokk_Smash]

Will save, DC 17: (1d20+4)[11]

Oof, big miss on that first one. If only I had my Luck rerolls from Sagittarius level 2

[Thokk_Smash]

I mean, I guess I can roll the crit confirmation: (1d20+4)[14], (2d8+6)[15]

[Tyrann]

Two questions before I roll out this turn:

1) Tyrell already is on Z25 on the map. Do you want him to move one square down, to Z26?

2) The soldier on AA18 is already downed. They don't all have the same amount of HP, so depending on the target you pick 3 might be to 'kill' it. You've managed to down one of the soldiers engaged with Theo. Did you want to take your second shot at the second soldier fighting Theo, one of the two fighting Rowan, or the straggler behind them?

[Thokk_Smash]

Answering 2.) first, I'll switch my target to AF21 fighting Theo.

For 1.) I suppose I'll move to Z26.

But I think you might be looking at my post from December 3rd? I just posted something this morning that's targeting different people.

Like, I'm pretty sure I took out AE18 last round, and injured the middle enemy that Theo is fighting, which Theo then killed and commented on something being rotten.

[Tyrann]

Spoiler: Rolls

Show

Friendly

Rowan Attack - (1d20+3)[7]
Rowan Damage - (1d6+1)[5]

Theo Attack - (1d20+5)[10]
Theo Damage - (1d20+3)[4]
Theo AOO Attack - (1d20+5)[15]
[Roll=Theo AOO Damage[1d20+5[/roll]

Iris Hide - (1d20+4)[18]
Iris Crossbow Attack - (1d20+5)[10]
Iris Base damage - (1d8+1)[3]
Iris Sneak Attack - (1d6)[2]

Nolan Rapid shot 1 - (1d20+1)[13]
Nolan Damage shot 1 - (1d8+2)[6]
Nolan Rapid shot 2 - (1d20+1)[9]
Nolan Damage shot 2 - (1d8+2)[3]

Miles Attack - (1d20+3)[14]
Miles Damage - (1d8+2)[6]

Enemies (if alive)

Enemy Soldier W22 - (1d20+1)[16]
Damage - (1d8+1)[2]

Enemy Soldier X22 - (1d20+1)[11]
Damage - (1d8+1)[5]

Enemy Soldier AF21 - (1d20+1)[6]
Damage - (1d8+1)[6]

Enemy Soldier AA22 - (1d20+1)[16]
Damage - (1d8+1)[9]

Enemy Soldier Y37 - (1d20+1)[9]
Damage - (1d8+1)[6]

Enemy Archer AH38 - (1d20+1)[14]
Damage - (1d8+1)[2]

Enemy Archer AM37 - (1d20+1)[14]
Damage - (1d8+1)[2]

Enemy Archer AN27 - (1d20+1)[8]
Damage - (1d8+1)[5]

[Tyrann]

Rerolling the one misplaced bracket for damage.

(1d12+3)[11]

Also, that was a LOT of misses..

Also also, Theo didn't listen but the poor man just saw a zombie charge at you so..

[Thokk_Smash]

Hopefully Soldier AA22 was aiming at me, otherwise someone might have gone down

[Tyrann]

Yeah that was the one chat was charging you, I messed the letters up. It got AOO exploded before it got to you.

By the way, I don't particularly mind but are you sure you like your character's name? You keep accidentally using my forum handle as your character name haha.