Say D&D Were Real - Being a PC in a 21st Century World: Zolkabro's story

[Zolkabro]

Originally, a story was written in this thread about D&D becoming real on the 21st century. But then we decided that more people should write stories, and we would have 4 people all writing stories in the same setting. As the stories progressed they would overlap more and more, until they became one story and we had one big communal work.

This thread is where I will post my story.

And finally, here it is! My first update! My contribution to the story!

Update the First:
(James)

Spoiler

Today, I am not ashamed to say I woke up and screamed like a little girl.
You see, things are getting a little weird around here. Not necessarily bad weird, in fact, very good weird in some ways. But definitely weird. For instance, me waking up this morning. What happened then was scarily weird.

I woke up blearily as usual, and looked at my watch. I was half-asleep, and my brain wasn’t working properly, so I took me a few seconds to read it. Then I put my arm back under the duvet and closed my eyes again.
But then I stopped suddenly. I looked at my hand. Something seemed wrong, but I couldn’t for the life of me say what.
It was something about my hand. My watch was still there, I had all five fingers, I had fur, I had claws, I had-
Wait, fur and claws?
I leap out of bed and looked at myself. My pyjamas were taut on my skin, and all the skin I could see was covered in fur. I ran to my mirror, and stopped dead. I stared into the mirror, fascinated and terrified by what I saw. A grizzly bear stuffed into some small pyjamas stared back.
And that’s when the screaming happened.
I yelled for my brother John. I knew that out of everyone, he is the one I could trust. But only unintelligible roars came out of my mouth. I tried again, but all that came out was a deafening roar. I concentrated on what I usually look like, tried as hard as I could to look as I normally do, but of course it did nothing. I tensed all my muscles, and ended up splitting my pyjamas. John heard the roars anyway, and came running. But when he saw me, a huge grizzly bear with his brothers pyjamas torn up around its feet, he was shocked beyond belief. He hesitated, and then came to the understandable but completely wrong conclusion that the bear had eaten his brother. I tried to tell him that it was me, but no words came out, only a few desperate whines and growls.
I held my arms up to protect myself as my brother, incensed with anger, threw a chair at me. I walked over to him, and started to talk sign language. My brother stopped dead, and walked slowly towards me. He didn’t understand sign language as well as I did, but at least now he knew that this was more that just a bear.
I walked over to my desk, and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. The pen was a nightmare to hold with my paws, but I eventually managed to write in extremely untidy handwriting: “Its me, James!”
My brother turned slowly towards me, and looked me in the eye.
“You’re my brother?” He asked incredulously.
I nodded enthusiastically.
John leant towards me, and studies me eyes. He leant back after a minute or two, satisfied.
“Your eyes are the same.” he said quietly. “It really is you, isn’t it?
I nodded again.
“But, how?” he said, shaking his head slowly. “How?”

Update the second:
(James)

Spoiler

Four hours later, I was still pretending to be asleep so my parents wouldn’t find out, while my brother covered for me.
Suddenly, I got pins and needles in my right leg. I shook my leg a bit, and stamped it a bit, but it wouldn’t go away. Suddenly, it spread to the rest of my body. First my other leg, then my arms, then it spread to my torso. I looked at my arms, and saw where the strangle tingly feeling was coming from.
The bristles of fur were wriggling like brown worms sticking out of my skin. Slowly, they started to burrow into me, until in some patches they had entirely disappeared. I started to shrink too, and it felt almost as if I was shrinking in the wash. My claws slowly retracted into my fingernails. I was almost human again. At last, there was the horrible feeling of something pushing into my face, as if my nose were being turned inside out. I felt my long jaws shortening, and my nose becoming normal again. Last of all, my bear ears lost their fur and moved round to the side of my head, where they became normal.
I was human again.
I felt like running for joy. I was suddenly filled with boundless energy, and I felt like I could run the marathon. But my room isn’t that big, so I had to make do with a little victory dance instead. I then ran over to John’s room, where he was browsing on his iPod Touch. He didn’t see me at first, he was staring too intently at what he was doing. I heard him muttering to himself:
“It can’t be… How can this be happening?… I never downloaded that app… Is this even real?”
Then, my eyed widened in surprise as John raised his hand and out of it came another hand, glowing blue. It floated out of his hand like a ghost, and then chucked a book across the room. He clenched his fist and it disappeared, but I was immediately reminded of something.
D&D is one of my favourite games, and, strangely, that little flame in his hand looked hand looked just like a Mage Hand spell, which telekinetically moves an object weighing 5 lb or less.
I coughed loudly, and John looked up. He smiled that I was back to normal, but didn’t seem at all surprised. He motioned for me to come closer, and I went and sat in his armchair, while he sat down in his desk chair.
“I’ve worked out what’s going on.” He said quietly.
“Before that, what was that in your hand? A Mage Hand?” I asked.
He smiled. “How perceptive. Yes, that was a Mage Hand, from D&D.”
I nodded, and then realised what he had just said. “Wait, what?” I exclaimed. “I was only joking! You’re casting D&D spells now? How?”
“I’m not sure, but it seems that I have some abilities that are from D&D, and I definitely couldn’t freeze things solid before,” he said, gesturing towards what had been a glass of water, but was now a big piece of ice frozen into a glass.
“Ray of Frost?” I asked.
He nodded.
“So, what happened this morning? A polymorph spell?” I asked. “Or maybe it was an illusion? I’ve never played an illusionist, I don’t know if you can do that. Or was it a Druid’s Wild Shape ability?”
John nodded when I mention Wild Shaping. “I’d say you were a druid, but I know little about them. You’re the one who loves to play druid.”
“Wild Shape comes at level 5, so I must be level 5 or higher. Wild Shape also lasts 1 hour per caster level, but I don’t know how early in the morning it was when I first changed, so that’s no help.” I paused, and then asked John a question. “So, what class did you get? Wizard?”
He nodded again, and grinned. I grinned back.
“Knew it!” I chuckled. “There was no question about it. The maths and science whizz would obviously get wizard.”
“The reason I know, is because of this.” he said, holding out his iPod Touch. John has the newest one, 32 gigabytes, and very cool. He was pointing to an app I hadn’t seen before. The icon was an old leather book, with a mysterious swirly spiral on the cover. The name below it said, Spellbook.
I looked up at him, surprised. “This is your Wizard spell book? In your iPod touch?” My serious expression faded, and I descended into fits of laughter. For the first time, I actually started to think about the implications of all this. The things I could do! I was probably a level 5 druid, with all kinds of spell and abilities. I stuck my head out the window, and stretched out a hand to a nearby pigeon, sitting on the roof. It fluttered down to the window sill, and pecked my hand. I grinned. Wild empathy was awesome.
John smiled too. “You’re really starting to get the hang of this, aren’t you, James?”
I sat back in my chair, and nodded with satisfaction. Then I frowned again.
“Where are our character sheets?” I asked.
“No idea!” John grinned. “But I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.”

Update the Third:
(James)

Spoiler

I sat in my desk chair, thoughtfully. When John had told me was amazing, and I knew it was true, but it did present some problems.
First and foremost, how would D&D being real work? Do we have to roll dice to decide the success of anything we do?
To test this, I poked my head out the window and tried Wild Empathy with a pigeon again. I hadn’t rolled any dice, but it still worked. So how did dice come into play? And was there even a chance of failure? I concentrated, and a number appeared in my head: 17.
It was like something had spoken straight into my mind. There was no voice, and yet it spoke. There were no letters, and yet I read it. It was just imprinted in my mind.
I went over to the stairs, and jumped down the last 4 steps. That should have caused a jump check, and sure enough, the number 15 appeared in my head. It was an easy jump with a low DC, so of course, that was enough.
I was starting to get the hang of things, and I had to admit I was enjoying it. I sat back down in my chair and focused on the feeling I had got when the dice rolled in my head. I pictured a trail left by it, a trail of light in my mind. I close my eyes, and imagined myself following that trail. I eventually came to a huge white wall, on which text slowly started to appear. At the top it said my name: James Montagu. On it were lists of stats, equipment, spells, skills, feats, etc.
I had found my character sheet.
I opened my eyes, then smiled at the discovery. I opened up a character sheet template on my computer, closed my eyes, and started to type.
I was not looking at the screen, I just somehow knew what to write. I was a level 5 Druid, Neutral Good, and with excellent stats.
I was looking at the other information section, and it said I was gestalt, even though the only class listed was Druid. I leant back, and asked the character sheet why this was. The words appeared in my head: “You must choose the other class.”
There it was again. Those words that just popped into my mind, just like dice rolls. Where did they come from? A cosmic DM? God? Both?
I was pleased by my discovery, however. It seemed that I was in fact being given freedom to choose my own class, despite what I had previously thought. I closed my eyes again, and asked how classes were chosen.
The reply came: “Look within yourself and you will find the answer.”
I pondered the response, and realised after a few minutes what it meant.
Nothing here was random. Everything was very carefully planned. Each person who received class levels received them based on their own character. John was a Wizard because he was very academic, always focus on maths and science. I was a Druid because I love nature, and have been in Scouts for six years. I had built shelters, fires, done tracking, and lived among the wild when camping, and I had loved every minute of it. It seems that being Senior Scout paid off! It also explained why I already had five levels, while John had started off at a low level. All the nature training I had done to live with the wild had brought me this.
But now I had to choose another class. I knew it must be one that suited me, not just something that would make me powerful. Barbarian? No, definitely not, I got high grades at school and loved reading. Fighter? No, I am not the physical type. Paladin? No, I’m the wrong alignment. Ranger? No, I live with nature, not off it. I decided that it would be a caster. Wizard? No, too serious. Sorcerer? No, wasn’t charismatic enough.
Then I had it. Psion. Casts spells and uses the academic mind, but isn’t as serious and aloof as a Wizard. Uses mental might, and sheer force of mind and determination, instead of the fists. It was perfect.
I felt power flow into me. I was a Psion.
I automatically gained the five levels in Psion, but first I had to choose a discipline. Just like every time a play a Psion, I could not choose between Psychometabolism, and becoming an Egoist; and Psychokineticism, and become a Kineticist. Egoists cast healing spells and can transform themselves and others, which Kineticists unleash blasts of pure energy across the battlefield.
I decided to be a Kineticist, because most of the appeals of Psyhcometabolism I already had because of my Druid levels. I felt more power flow into me. I quickly chose me spells, and I was almost complete. All that remained was too assign skill points. But first, I had to tell John about what I had found.
I ran into his room, where he was sitting back in his arm chair while Mage Hand tidied his room. He grinned at me as I entered.
“I could get used to this, I think!” He said cheerfully, as a glowing blue hand did all the jobs he usually despises.
I did not smile, however. I was too intent on telling him the news.
“John, focus!” I insisted. “Think in your mind. When you cast a spell, there is a feeling in your mind. Of dice rolls and sourcebooks, of stats and skill points. Focus on that, and follow it.”
John frowned in confusion, but did as I said. After about 30 seconds of silence, much longer than it had taken me, he gasped.
“My character sheet!” he exclaimed. “I can see everything! I am a Chaotic Good Level 2 Wizard/Cleric…” Here he paused, and frowned. “I’m multi-class?”
“No, you're gestalt.” I replied.
“Gestalt? What’s that?” he asked.
“It’s when you take two classes, take the best aspects of each, and combine them to make an even better class. I’m gestalt too, Druid/Psion.”
John nodded slowly, then opened his eyes.
“But why cleric?” he asked. “Wizard, sure, but Cleric?” I’m not religious at all!”
I thought for a minute or two, then realised.
“You can be a Cleric of a cause too, you know.” I pointed out. “And you have always been very focused on causes. Pacifism, freedom if speech, voices for the people, etc. Do you remember all those protest marches you have been on?”
“I suppose so…” he replied. “So I’m a Cleric of Freedom?” He smiled. “Awesome.”
“And also, have you chosen a school of specialisation for you Wizard levels?” I asked.
“Nope, I better get to that.” John said, as he walked over to his desk, made the Mage Hand disappear, and opened a PDF of the Player’s Handbook. “Time too decide!” he said.
I smiled. Things were looking up.

Upload the Fourth:
(James)

Spoiler

Now that I had chosen my classes and spells, all that remained were to assign skill points. I noticed that several skills already were maxed out for free, without me having to spend skill points. These were the skills that I had learnt in real life. I noticed a ridiculous amount of knowledge skills about all the many subjects that I was interested in. There were two Craft skills, Craft (Pottery) because I have been making pottery since Year 3; and Craft (Shelters) because of all the outdoor shelters I had made in Scouts. I had ranks in Heal because of the First Aid courses I have done, and ranks in survival, again because of Scouts. I also had ranks in Perform (Cello) because I have been playing cello for some years now.
So now the skill points that should be assigned should go to things that would help me in my classes, not things that would help in the rest of my life, because they were already filled out.
So after putting ranks in all the necessary skills, I took a look at what feats had been assigned to me. I apparently got a bonus feat because I needed glasses, and seeing as I don’t count needing glasses as a flaw that was an excellent trade-off. I was a little offended to see that Stunted Growth was listed there. Apparently being short for my age counts as a flaw as well. I grinned when I saw that I got a bonus feat for having no fashion sense, and I also got a bonus feat because of my asthma. I was surprised I had so many flaws, but they were all minor things that I hardly cared about anyway, so I was just happy that I got plenty of bonus feats.
Some notable feats were Weapon Focus: Longbow, probably due to all the archery I have done; I had Animal Affinity; and I had blind-fight, probably because of the time I went for a week blindfolded to raise money for charity.
I was looking through my character sheet again, to see if I had missed anything, and realised that I was missing the obvious. My race wasn’t human! It said I was a Grey Elf. That meant +2 to Dexterity and Intelligence, and all the other abilities that Elves had. I felt my ears, and realised that they were slightly pointed. It seemed that D&D had changed my body as well as my mind.
I ran into John’s room, and saw that his ears were pointed too, and rather taller than mine. He was a High Elf, the most common type. High Elves do not have a bonus to Intelligence, but but they don’t have a penalty to Strength like Grey Elves do. I explained to him that our races were different, and he told me that he had chosen a School to specialise in.
John specialised in Transmutation, and his barred schools were Necromancy and Illusion.
Because he was the Cleric of a cause, he was able to choose whatever domains suit his cause best, and he chose Liberation and Runes.
He had also assigned his skill points, and found that he had bonus feats for the flaws short-sightedness, asthma, and being shaky.
We were complete. Two PCs in the real world, ready to go out and play D&D in real life.

Update the 5th:
(John)

Spoiler

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am very intrigued and excited by what has happened here. But whatever little bro thinks, we mustn’t run away with ourselves.
I admit, this does have the potential turn the world into a paradise. We could cure any diseases, repair the environment, use magic to improve our lives, the possibilities are endless.
However, this also has the potential to turn the world into a piece of sh*t. And call me cynical, pessimistic, whatever you like, but I think that this is more likely.
The fact is, most people in this world are *******s. And if they get class levels, we get a load of evil maniacs running around with god-powers. Not good. As I said earlier, the possibilities are endless for good-aligned PCs. But they are endless for evil-aligned PCs too. Slaughtering people with a flick of you finger, torching entire countries, and turning the dead (of which there will be no shortage) into zombies.
When I had first worked out what was going on, I had asked myself several questions. Now I decided to see how many I could answer.
First and foremost, how widespread is this?
Well, I could see that it isn’t just us. I’ve been watching the news, and while most people are calling them elaborate hoaxes, D&D monsters have been sighted everywhere. There had been a gorilla in Central Park, New York, but it was more than just a gorilla. The news said that somebody had edited an extra pair of arms into the video, but I know computers like the back of my hand, and you couldn’t edit arms on with that quality. And although my brother was the nature freak, not me, even I knew that you don’t get gorillas with fur like that. I decided that I had better ask James about that later, because I tend to play games like Paranoia and Call of Cthulhu rather than D&D, and was therefore not very experienced at it. But I was pretty sure that James would recognise what that thing was.
There had also been reports of ordinary animals going crazy, which I think is animals turning into their dire equivalents. There had been reports of some cats ripping a poor man into shreds, and birds flying down and attacking pedestrians. I had also heard reports of a skeleton seen doing Michael Jackson dancing on rooftops in New York.
So monsters are coming, and that means PCs are coming too. We’re not alone, but we’re not without enemies either. And we need to accept that everything not going to be fine and dandy.
Next question: How much of D&D was becoming real?
Monsters, PCs, character sheets, dice rolls, but what else? Do we fight in rounds now, taking turns? Turn-based gaming in real life would not work. Would people just freeze when it isn’t their turn? What if your turn ended mid-jump? It always made me crack up when someone would end up hovering in mid-air because they exceeded their movement per turn.
And what about splash damage? There are some weird discrepancies there. And also, if someone is dealt a certain amount of damage, do they fall unconscious just like that, with no major injuries? That would be really strange, but actually pretty useful. I could fall unconscious, be healed, and have no broken bones or concussion or anything.
However, I have no way of knowing any of this until I start combat, so on to my third and final question: What the hell do we do now?
My brother had suggested we go to the park and see what we can do, so we set off walking there. We were currently almost there so I decided it would me best to just see what happens, but I had prepared several defensive spells with combat in mind. I know that I have tried to appear calm in front of James, and I think he is convinced I am all excited about this like him, but inside I am close to panicking. With the amount of evil people in the world, things could get very difficult.
My train of thought was interrupted by our arrival at the park. I looked at James who had already run over to a tree and was grinning broadly. He put a hand on a tree and closed his eyes. The tree glowed green, and rustled it’s branches. In turn, James glowed green slightly and started muttering. It took me a few seconds to realise he was talking to the tree. After a while he frowned, and looked up.
“Do you have Create Water prepared?” James asked. I opened my mouth to reply, but he waved a hand and shook his head. “Wait, no, wizards don’t get that spell. Never mind.”
“Wizards don’t, but clerics do.” I replied. “What do you need?”
“This tree says that because it hasn’t rained in a while, the trees are all short of water. We need to make it rain in the park.”
“What? For a bunch of trees? What’s the point? I’m not wasting one of my spell slots on them!” I scoffed. Or at least, I was scoffing until James punched me round the face.
“Trees and animals are just as important as people!” He yelled at me. “And you’d better not forget it!”
And with that, he turned around, cast Jump, and his feet glowed as he leapt high into the air. In mid-air, he stretched out his hands, and they glowed as water spurted out of both his palms, showering all the trees with water. As he landed, the large tree he had spoken to before shook it’s branches again, and James smiled.
“Your welcome, buddy.” He said, giving the tree a companionable pat. Then he turned to me, and his smile faded. “Thanks for the help, John.” He sneered sarcastically, before turning around so that his back was facing me.
I sighed, but there was nothing I could do. I had a look around, and felt a number appear in my head like before, 6. That was terrible for a spot check; enough to spot most things, but if anything at all was hiding then there was no way I would spot it.
Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I was sure that something was wrong. I was about to voice this worry when James spoke.
“So, we’re still missing something.” he said. “You need a familiar, and I need my animal companion.”
I held up a hand. “Hold that thought,” I said, and took a deep breath. I brought my hands to my face and cupped them over my mouth, and made an owl noise.
But this wasn’t just an ordinary owl noise. It echoed, it resonated, it flowed through the city. It sounds weird, but I could feel it resonating through most of London. And then, I felt something call back. I closed my eyes, and honed in on the call. I felt it come closer, and then I heard another owl hoot in reply. I opened my eyes, and saw a beautiful owl swooping down from the sky towards me. It was an eagle owl, with gold and black feathers, a hooked black glossy beak, two long plumes on it’s head, and beady orange eyes watching me expectantly. I somehow knew exactly what to do, and stretched out an arm. The owl glided in a circle around me several times, before coming to rest on my arm. It fluttered its wings, and then settled, its head held high. It looked powerful, dignified, proud, and yet also wise. There was a slight mischievous look in the way it held it’s wings behind the serious wise look, and I fell in love with it instantly.
This bird was amazing, and I knew that it would be with me for as long as I lived.
He was still looking at me expectantly, so I smiled, and gave a low hoot. The owl hooted back, and I stopped. I knew that now I had to name my familiar, but I had no clue what name to give it. I hesitated, then smiled. I had the answer.
“Owl, I name you Magos, and I would be honoured if you would be my familiar.”
Magos, my new familiar, nodded slowly, and it’s eyes glowed brighter. Then Magos fluttered onto my shoulder, and I turned to James.
For once, he was lost for words.
“Well…” he managed, “Well, that was cool.”
“Only cool?” I protested.
He grinned. “That was awesome.”
I nodded slowly. It was indeed, awesome.

Update the Sixth:
(James)

Spoiler

Okay, after I had done gawping, my first thought was: Why don’t I get a cool animal? I mean, druids get animal companions, but how the hell do I get one? I can’t just call any random animal, I don’t even know what animal I want! Does the animal choose the druid?
“The wand chooses the wizard, Harry.” said Olivander, in my head.
To hell with that! I’m not waiting around till some mangy dog comes over and decides that I would make a good master. Firstly, I don’t want to end up waiting for an animal companion forever, and secondly, I’m not particularly keen on ending up with some pet who thinks that I can open tins of pet food nice and quickly.
I mean, I love animals, except dogs, who scare me shi-stiff! I was going to say stiff! Scare me stiff! Honest!
As I was saying, I love animals, and would be happy with pretty much whatever comes my way, but I can’t help thinking about other people’s reactions when I present my proud companion in battle: Tibbles, the black cat with white socks, who likes comfy chairs. Not exactly dignified, you know?
But there was nothing I could do about all this. I turned my attention to John, who was talking intently with Magos. John looked back up at me.
“Something’s coming.” he said.

(John)
Magos is pretty cool, I must admit. The fact that he can fly is pretty darn awesome already, but he can also see in the dark further than most humans can in the light, hunt and kill almost any rodents. Becoming my familiar had also increased his intelligence dramatically, and he babbled on for a while about how much clearer the world was. But when he stopped mid-sentence, I knew there was trouble.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
I could feel his thoughts on the edge of my mind. It was a strange sensation, like I was in his head, but I concentrated and focused on what I could see. I closed my eyes, then recoiled, thrown out of his head. Unfortunately, I knew why.
In his head I had felt fear. Pure fear, absolutely terrified. Even his instincts to fly away had been frozen by this all-consuming panic. I had only been able to understand two words in this turmoil. I looked at James.
“Something’s coming.” I said. Through the panic I could feel a sense of something coming closer. I didn’t know what, but it definitely scared me. It was coming closer and closer. Closer and closer and closer…
I closed my eyes. “Closer and closer and closer and closer!” I yelped. “It’s coming! It’s coming, and it’s getting closer! Closer, and CLOSER!” My eyes snapped open. “It’s here.”

(James)
I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m scared. John and Magos seem to be going crazy, but John has made it quite clear that we are under attack. My head span, unable to think because of the sheer terror that had taken hold. What could have affected John like this? He was completely unflappable, whenever anything scary happened I would feel like wetting myself while John would be calmly assessing the situation and coming up with a solution, while comforting me at the same time.
But now look at him! A wreck, kneeling o the floor, swaying, his eyes wide open. Magos was lying beside him. Magos looked almost dead in the way he had fallen, but I could see he was alive from he way he was constantly shuddering.
But John had said that whatever ‘it’ was, it’s here. But where. I span around. Nothing there. I turned again, and thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I whipped around, but once again, nothing there. I heard a chuckle from behind me, but as once again I span round, I saw nothing there. I backed away, terrified. My breathing was quick and heavy, and my hands were shaking. I looked around frantically in all directions, but we were alone. Every time I thought I knew what was going on, I looked, and there was nothing there. I heard footsteps coming closer and closer, but they just seemed to disappear whenever I looked around, and there were no footprints.
I looked back at John, and found he was gone.
“No!” I yelled, and ran towards where he had been. There was no sign of him being there at all. I looked around, and realised it was dark. How long had I been here? We had come around mid-morning. I looked around again, and heard snide laughter from behind me. Once again, I turned, but all I saw was darkness. Somehow, I had been here for hours and hours, and John had disappeared. I was alone in the dark, and it was here.

[Jade Dragon]

If he's a Druid, his clothes are absorbed when he uses wild shape.

[Zolkabro]

Originally Posted by Swiftmongoose

If he's a Druid, his clothes are absorbed when he uses wild shape.

Oops, forgot that. And with druid being one of my favourite classes as well!
Ah well, new part is up. Just ignore that little discrepancy and call it poetic liscense.
Hope you enjoy it!

[Zolkabro]

New update is up! Feedback, please?

[Tychris1]

I like it haven't been able to fully read it but it's interesting (Mainly skimmed). Heh cleric of pacifism, how weak.

[Zolkabro]

Originally Posted by Tychris1

I like it haven't been able to fully read it but it's interesting (Mainly skimmed). Heh cleric of pacifism, how weak.

He's not a Cleric of Pacifism!
He's a Cleric of Freedom. It's sort of like, voices for the people, equality, freedom of speech, democracy, that sort of thing. Although, if it's for the people and often not for the governemnt, does that fit in with Lawful Good?

[Jade Dragon]

Originally Posted by Zolkabro

He's not a Cleric of Pacifism!
He's a Cleric of Freedom. It's sort of like, voices for the people, equality, freedom of speech, democracy, that sort of thing. Although, if it's for the people and often not for the governemnt, does that fit in with Lawful Good?

Maybe, but he's more likely to be neutral good.

[The Glyphstone]

I'd agree that if his devotion is to the people, and not so much the government, he's probably Neutral Good instead of Lawful Good. He's not actively anti-government, so he isn't Chaotic Good - just indifferent towards it.

[Zolkabro]

Okay, I'll edit that. Thanks!
EDIT: I've decided to make John Chaotic Good.

Also, I have noticed that mine is the only one not to have recieved a full critique by the head writer. Could this be remedied? I would like to know what you think, and how I could improve this.
Feedback by everyone else is of course wonderful as well, but I would quite like Cog's opinion.

[Zolkabro]

Next update is up!
It's very short, but I had to sort all that out, and it is following on from an extra long one, so I hope you don't mine.

Anyway, enjoy, and please give feedback!

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by Zolkabro

Okay, I'll edit that. Thanks!
EDIT: I've decided to make John Chaotic Good.

Also, I have noticed that mine is the only one not to have recieved a full critique by the head writer. Could this be remedied? I would like to know what you think, and how I could improve this.
Feedback by everyone else is of course wonderful as well, but I would quite like Cog's opinion.

Incorrect, I haven't gotten Cog's feedback yet either.

[Jade Dragon]

Poor hand-eye coordination isn't a flaw, it's a low dexterity score.

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by Swiftmongoose

Poor hand-eye coordination isn't a flaw, it's a low dexterity score.

It can also be the Shaky flaw - you can have great reaction time, but bad hand-eye coordination.

[Zolkabro]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

Incorrect, I haven't gotten Cog's feedback yet either.

Yeah, but your one has been up for less than a day. Mine was the first one (apart from Cog's)!

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

It can also be the Shaky flaw - you can have great reaction time, but bad hand-eye coordination.

That's what I meant by it. John is still perfectly agile and has fast reactions, but his hand-eye coordination leaves a lot to be desired.

[Dragon Elite]

Wow, this is great! I really like the description of following the die--that part was just vivid. Keep up the good work!

[Zolkabro]

Originally Posted by Dragon Elite

Wow, this is great! I really like the description of following the die--that part was just vivid. Keep up the good work!

Thanks a lot!

[Jade Dragon]

John barred necromancy and enchantment? Necromancy has one of the best 1st level spells, ray of enfeeblement, and enchantment has all around good stuff, sleep, deep slumber, charm person, etc. And I can't think of any reason to specialize in transmutation, except for an extra bull's strength per day, and eventually an extra time stop. personally, I think generalist wizard is the best. If you want to specialize, take the spell focus feat.

[Zolkabro]

Originally Posted by Swiftmongoose

John barred necromancy and enchantment? Necromancy has one of the best 1st level spells, ray of enfeeblement, and enchantment has all around good stuff, sleep, deep slumber, charm person, etc. And I can't think of any reason to specialize in transmutation, except for an extra bull's strength per day, and eventually an extra time stop. personally, I think generalist wizard is the best. If you want to specialize, take the spell focus feat.

Hmm, perhaps...
I'll edit the barring of Enchantement, I think it was very stupid of me for that to be barred, and maybe I will change the specialisation, but I would still like John to specialise, and Necromancy is definitely barred.
Thanks!

EDIT: John specialises in Conjuration, and his barred schools are Illusion and Necromancy.

[Dragon Elite]

But... but... Illusions are so fun!

[Jade Dragon]

Originally Posted by Dragon Elite

But... but... Illusions are so fun!

Yeah! I would've barred divination or something, illusions can be really useful, even the lowly silent image can make an illusion of an adamantine wall.

[Dragon Elite]

All of the schools are good. It's always hard to choose. And I agree with divination, too many people will have Mind Blank for those powers to kick in.

[Zolkabro]

Originally Posted by Swiftmongoose

Yeah! I would've barred divination or something, illusions can be really useful, even the lowly silent image can make an illusion of an adamantine wall.

Originally Posted by Dragon Elite

All of the schools are good. It's always hard to choose. And I agree with divination, too many people will have Mind Blank for those powers to kick in.

I completely agree that it would be better to bar divination, but you are not allowed to. So illusions had to go.
Also, I am not doing this about what would be the most powerful. Remember that all the characters are based on real people. I am choosing what fits my real brother's character best. Same with myself, all the feat, flaws, and skills are the things that I would really have. With all the characters, the only thing changed is the names.

Sorry if this had not been made clear.

[Tychris1]

Originally Posted by Zolkabro

EDIT: John specialises in Conjuration, and his barred schools are Illusion and Necromancy.

Dude, seriously? No love for the Necro? It's making my love for this story go to and fro.

Although I must ask why did you ban Necromancy? It's not evil, it's pretty useful (Ray of enfeeblement and several powerful spells. Plus you can raise the dead and have guards for your house so you can sleep at night without freaking out if your next door neighbor is a gestalt Barbarian Cleric going to smash through your windows and rip out your entrails.), and is equally beneficial (Skeletons used as policemen/gardeners/farmers? Constant police, wildlife protection 24/7 plus the added benefit of new wildlife being planted by them, and farmers having Skeletons work the machinery and harvest while they manage the more complicated things. That sounds pretty awesome.) as it is negative.

A raise dead is as evil as a fireball spell.

[Zolkabro]

Originally Posted by Tychris1

Dude, seriously? No love for the Necro? It's making my love for this story go to and fro.

Although I must ask why did you ban Necromancy? It's not evil, it's pretty useful (Ray of enfeeblement and several powerful spells. Plus you can raise the dead and have guards for your house so you can sleep at night without freaking out if your next door neighbor is a gestalt Barbarian Cleric going to smash through your windows and rip out your entrails.), and is equally beneficial (Skeletons used as policemen/gardeners/farmers? Constant police, wildlife protection 24/7 plus the added benefit of new wildlife being planted by them, and farmers having Skeletons work the machinery and harvest while they manage the more complicated things. That sounds pretty awesome.) as it is negative.

A raise dead is as evil as a fireball spell.

Necromancy is the magic of dead people. That just doesn't suit the character John. It's a cool school, yeah, but you need to think what fits John, not just what would be powerful and cool.

[Zolkabro]

New part is up!

Sorry for the hiatus, I've been ridiculously busy, but I have written an extra long update to make up for it.
I have decided to do this one from John's point of view. I wasn't sure whether to show him as very kind, polite, and nice, but very clever; or a cynical genius. I went with cynical genius, and I hope I did it well. Feedback?

Anyway, enjoy, and please critique.

[Dragon Elite]

You're right:

It was, indeed, awesome.

The wait was worth it for that update! I love John and you should do more with his point of view.

[Zolkabro]

After a lot of deliberation, I have decided to set Transmutation as John's specialisation again. I'll probable change it back, or maybe I won't, but I am definitely being pretty fickle on this.

I need to settle on something, and I decided on Transmutation because of how many transmutation spells there are. Thoughts?

[Zolkabro]

Update:
Transmutation is definite.
Next section will have action in it.
It will flip between their points of view.
I am a complete and utter idiot who keeps forgetting to write stuff.

I'm really sorry about having another hiatus, I will do my best to get another update up ASAP. I have a day off tomorrow, so I will do some writing then.

EDIT: By the way, nobody is posting stuff on other people's stories. Go, keep them alive! Don't lose interest! I don't want this project to flop!

[Dragon Elite]

Heh, it's okay to have hiatus', just keep up the quality.

[Zolkabro]

Update 6 is up!

I've gone for a rather darker approach here, and i decided to leave on a cliffhanger what was happening.
Speculation? Opinions?

I don't know if any of you watch Doctor Who, but some of this was inspired by the scenes where Amy and Rory are running through the TARDIS corridors.