Hearken!
Well met, good folk of Faerun. Here be the OOC Thread for the Journal of Herlam Corkwill Campaign. This be the place for table talk, socializing, character discussions, etc. Here is also where ye shall decide on yer dialogue colours. I choose... this one.
In my signature you will find links to this thread as well as the IC Thread (once it's constructed), as well as other pertinent campaign info, such as character sheets; NPC lists, and a reminder list of house rules and DM requests.
I look forward to gaming with all of you!
(And please feel free to request any other sections in this first post that might be useful).
Player Characters:
Spoiler
Ryn Kavaren - Wandering warrior of the Dalelands, and winner of the Bears Errant Second Annual Dirty Melee in Ashabenford! Doroga Allishm - Quick-thinking, monster-hunting son of a Lyrabarran taxidermist. Roen Ravensperch - A sneaky ex-slave from Dambrath who, despite spades of personal tragedy, whistles and juggles through life in the service of the goddess of all things joyful and merry. Perelia Laethia - A self-assured elven wizard from Halruaa, intent on proving to the mentors of her youth that the path of a non-specialist mage is not only a good choice, but a way to attain a kind of power unknown to her finicky "betters". Reytaneth Kyor - A clumsy but talented druid from Rashemen who hates Red Wizards as much as she hates being mistaken for a hathran...
Important NPCs:
Spoiler
Herlam Corkwill - A greybeard adventurer who grew up as a fishmonger's son in the Cormyrian city of Marsember; Herlam is proficient in many spheres, including swordplay, the Art, songcraft and the clandestine. These days he is difficult and ailing, and relies on his daughter Daurily, once a Purple Dragon of Cormyr, to act as his agent. Daurily Corkwill- Daurily is short and slight, but stern and serious. She has inherited her father's way with words, but uses more to communicate effectively in the military manner than her father, who uses the family gift mostly to curse at people. Daurily was once a Purple Dragon of Cormyr (much to her father's chagrin) but decided to leave the army to attend to her father in his autumn years. Groban Hillspek - An Uthgardt warrior of the Screaming Wasp clan. He hails from the Silver Marches, where his tribe fights at the behest of the Simbul of Silverymoon by way of payment for an old debt... Now, having befriended Ryn by way of the Dirty Melee in Ashabenford, Groban has agreed to come to the Ashabenford Arms to meet Daurily, as well as to drink. Noristuor - The aging resident mage of Ashabenford, who was most helpful in guiding Perelia to the machinations of the Thayans in town, despite his reputation of meanness and impatience. Rider Captain Thraeg - A lifetime resident of Mistledale, the sarcastic but wise soldier cares deeply for his dale, his town and its people. Has agreed to let Roen help in defending against the drow infesting the surrounding countryside, who have recently made it known that they have a vested interest in the old man Herlam Corkwill... Otythir, Red Wizard of Thay - A Red Wizard with as yet unknown interest in Herlam and his book... Arrived in Ashabenford before the PCs, but was foiled when a few canny folk recognized Otythir and his brethren for the nefarious villains they are!... or were rather... Karpike - Commander of the Bears Errant mercenary company, currently based just north of Ashabenford. One-eyed, and an old friend of Herlam's from the Amnish Trade War many years ago. Was attacked by an assassin in his camp after the drow attack on Ashabenford was uncovered.
Reminder List of House Rules and Requests:
Spoiler
- All characters begin play with 4 free ranks in Knowledge (Local; Character's Homeland).
- All gear (including weight) and spell choice/spellbook specifics must be tracked. This means NO gear-list shortcuts please!
- Character sheets must be hosted on the Mythweavers website.
- At third level, all wizards, sorcerers, druids and clerics may cast cantrips and orisons in a Pathfinder method.
- No multiclass XP penalty, because I believe in class equality!
- Fractional base Values for multiclass characters. (UA optional rule)
- We will be using the Pathfinder rules for Dying/Stabilizing (Con score equals how much negative damage you can take before dying).
- Feel free to roll for things that you want to do before I have a chance to allow them or not, just be prepared to have to roll something else or discard the roll entirely sometimes after I respond to your actions (won't often occur, I'm sure). Does that sentence make sense?
- Your character's can say whatever the heck you like, and attempt to do whatever the heck you like, but I ask that you be courteous to your fellow players (even if your characters are less than amiable).
- ALL ROLLS by you fine players must be done in the dice thread which will be linked to in my sig. I reserve the right to roll in the comfort of my hovel, though I may make some rolls public on the dice thread depending on circumstances. Please trust that I am NOT a big fudger of rolls. I suppose everyone does it sometimes, but the practice usually sends a shudder down to the very depths of my soul (for serious).
- Initiative will still be rolled as normal, but both sides will be averaged and each side will act as a chunk, to avoid being bogged down in small DM posts and longer wait times between PC posts. If anyone has any other suggestions on how to keep everyone's stats and initiative relevant while speeding up the process, just let me know!
- More as they come up.
Maps:
Spoiler
And here's a link to a good map of Faerun
It's clickable. Each section takes you to a detailed map of that region. Very cool stuff, though I would suggest using the Campaign Setting book maps whenever possible for reference, as the online regions link to some 2e and 4e information and sub-maps.
Sounds great, sir. And don't forget about the Druid! She'll be checking in sometime today. All in all I think we've the makings of an excellent party... AND an excellent group of adventurers!
Cool. This should be fun . I did have a to do list though.
The first seems to be to pick a dialog color... so howsabout this one. I doubt anyone else wants it, and it seems right for the character.
Other then that, I did come up with a (small) issue and a question yesterday, when I was looking over all the Forgotten Realms books, seeing where I wanted the character to go from there.
The small issue is the lack of a decent prestige class for melee in the Realms. . Not that there's not a lot of really cool ones, especially flavor wise, it's just that they tend to suffer from 3 issues. 1) They generally require membership in an organization that I may or may not be able to belong to or you have to be from a different region then my character; 2) They're frequently based around mounted combat, which I have no idea if that's going to be much of a thing; 3) A lot of them only have abilities that work in certain areas, so if we ever leave those, most of those abilities become useless.
Now, I don't want to be a whiner, and I'd be perfectly happy going with Ranger (and probably a splash of Horizon Walker). They both fit well with the character. But... I also started thinking about it, and an idea for a prestige class popped into my head, a Wanderer/Explorer type who's good at getting places.
So the question is, if I wrote up that class, would you review it with an eye to letting me use it?
In either case, looking forward to meeting the rest of the team and getting started :)
Keylac, if you wrote it up in full and let me see it I'd absolutely consider it. You could call it like a Realmswalker or something neat like that.
As for the druid, her sheet isn't quite done. She's got some work-work to do today, but when she's done she plans on finishing that stuff up and posting. She's most excited for the game to begin as well. Also I think she's got some character art on the go...?
RavagerofFells: Thank you sir! Your name is on my alternates list as of now.
Allo, all! A big thank you to The Smoking Man for choosing me; I've been itching to get back into the Realms.
I see we have an excellent class spread (so long as our druidess is willing to provide some healing spells) and an excellent range of character homelands as well: we are Rashemi, Dambrathan, Dalelander, Lyrabaran, and Halruuan. More representation from the far East than the far North of the Realms, unusually enough. In any case, I look forward to having the chance to play alongside you all!
Roen will speak in Dark Orange.
Looking forward to our druid and any art she produces!
As long as the druid has a wand of Lesser Vigor or something along those lines, we should be fine in the healing department. It's also really good to know that Perelia has two meatshields to buddy up with; she's a classic, squishy wizard, and while she doesn't have abominable AC or hp she's definitely not made for direct combat.
Indeed. And worst comes to worst druids always have healing available to them, though they are indeed more effective when they are using wands to heal with. More space for other spells.
So, tell me about your characters, at least combat-wise. We'll have to figure out how to fight together sooner rather than later, and I'm also a bit interested.
Perelia fights like a classic Batman-Wizard; she has a variety of useful tools that she uses to affect the fight as a whole, not really concentrating on dealing damage. She's halfway decent with a longbow, and has a Wand of Magic Missile (CL 3) for when she just needs to blast things.
So, tell me about your characters, at least combat-wise. We'll have to figure out how to fight together sooner rather than later, and I'm also a bit interested.
Perelia fights like a classic Batman-Wizard; she has a variety of useful tools that she uses to affect the fight as a whole, not really concentrating on dealing damage. She's halfway decent with a longbow, and has a Wand of Magic Missile (CL 3) for when she just needs to blast things.
Ryn goes for the simplicity of violence. If the enemy is at a range, he starts out with his longbow. Assuming he's mounted, he follows up with a lance charge before jumping off the horse with his greatsword. If for some reason dismounting is a bad idea, he uses his saber from the saddle.
Roen is a crossbowman who will do his best to stay out of melee, as he is unfortunately quite fragile. We should do our best to make sure he gets his sneak attack opportunities, though, as it can pretty much double his damage output. He can scout ahead, with excellent Hide and Move Silently, but will need backup when combat begins.
Roen's first roll went quite well as well! A memorable performance, just short of an extraordinary one. Since he's neither martially nor magically inclined, he'll likely end up doing his own thing for a little while. Fortunately, unlike most of the rogues prowling the streets, his own thing is pretty harmless.
EDIT: Hmm. Sorry about the length. I got a bit carried away.
Last edited by Dragonsong : 07-07-2012 at 12:23 AM.
Exhaustion and discomfort had quickly fallen away as he met travelers who greeted him with a smile and nod, a stark contrast to the traditional Dambrathan greeting of attempting to display that one was better armed than the other party and thus should not be attacked
Hey guys. I'm sorry to be so delayed. I've got two jobs and they've both been crazy this week, but it shouldn't be this way again once the weekend is done.
You all have great taste, and your devotion to detail is glorious. I've read your character profiles, and totally love them. Keylac, I'd considered 'Ryn' as a name for my character, but picked something else. Couldn't believe it when I eventually saw yours. And when you chose your text colour, guessing no one else would want it, I laughed because it's exactly the one I would've chosen. And of course Dark Orange would've been my next choice. I like everyone already.
I'm afraid I'll be playing a human Druid from Rashemen, which is maybe not an enthralling choice, but I'll try to make up for that. She'll be called 'Neth', a short part from the full name Reytaneth Kyor. Her companion is an easily-distracted owl named Gyl. Thrilling details to follow. I'll be finished very soon. I'd be done already if my work wasn't so insane. I suppose I'll choose this colour to speak with, if that's alright. And I'll do everything I can to best prepare for healing my worthy comrades.
You'll discover quickly I'm relatively new. I apologize in advance if I ever do something absurd. You may find my attention more drawn to character interactions and the atmosphere of the settings, etc... but I won't neglect everything else. It's just what I've found makes every other part of these games more captivating.
It seems that in an overtired fit of n00bness, our hapless druid has misinterpreted my ability rolling instructions and rolled a few too many arrays. She was attempting get an array that wasn't overpowered, with at least one really bad score (her character concept has a handicap she'd like to run with). I'll be giving her one of the arrays she rolled - one that won't be TOO over- or underpowered. I am informing you folks for the sake of DM-PC transparency.
Know that Neth has been judged before the gods, and that their justice is right and final.
Now then. I'll be making another quick post and then it's off to bed. Hope to be hearing from TheDivineWind (Doroga) and Neth (the Rightly Judged) sometime tomorrow!
And a warm welcome to Neth. Don't worry, we were all new at some point, and in my humble opinion character interaction is the proper heart of the game anyway. And a Rashemi character is actually not particularly common, in my experience, so I'm eager to see how you'll play yours. Hope to see a post from you soon, rightly-judged one!
And when you chose your text colour, guessing no one else would want it, I laughed because it's exactly the one I would've chosen. And of course Dark Orange would've been my next choice. I like everyone already.
I suppose I'll choose this colour to speak with, if that's alright. And I'll do everything I can to best prepare for healing my worthy comrades.
See you all in the IC soon,
Neth
If you want to use Sienna, go ahead. I'd made guesses (so far I'm 0/2) of which colors people would want, then picked one far from them
If you wanted to use it, I can just use this one instead.
Also, nice to meet you, and I look forward to playing with you. A clumsy druid with an easily distracted owl sounds like a lot of fun to meet.
It's in the lower range for this game. It's one of the ones you rolled except I did a tiny switcharoo to give you a lower than average stat. Hope it works.
To Everyone Else: I'll be back to DM mode later tonight!
I had two questions, one relating to this being the first PbP game I've played, and another about your rule for a mechanic.
1) How would combat, and it's descriptions, normally be handled? For example, suppose I go to smack a goblin with my greatsword. In a regular game, I'd roll to hit, possibly describing how I go to do it (I prefer to wait on that), then the DM tells me if I hit, and then I describe what I did to him, or the DM does.
When looking at other IC games though, people were describing what they did at the same time they rolled. I wasn't sure if this was because they already knew the HP and AC of the target, or the DM told them they hit/killed it through a different channel, such as the Dice Thread, or what.
2) Mechanics wise, how do you handle it if I wanted to attack a specific part of my enemy, or accomplish a specific effect from battle. Say, I wanted to smack his helmet to annoy him or rotate the helmet, blinding him; or I wanted to hit his shield (as opposed to him), but hard enough to smack it into him; cut someones belt so their pants fall down, mooning my party members. You know, good classic tactics and fun
I had two questions, one relating to this being the first PbP game I've played, and another about your rule for a mechanic.
1) How would combat, and it's descriptions, normally be handled? For example, suppose I go to smack a goblin with my greatsword. In a regular game, I'd roll to hit, possibly describing how I go to do it (I prefer to wait on that), then the DM tells me if I hit, and then I describe what I did to him, or the DM does.
When looking at other IC games though, people were describing what they did at the same time they rolled. I wasn't sure if this was because they already knew the HP and AC of the target, or the DM told them they hit/killed it through a different channel, such as the Dice Thread, or what.
You typically do not say if you kill your target in your post; what people usually do is roll either in the IC or in the Dice thread (dice threads are less common), and the look to see how good your rolls are. Through experience, you can tell what looks like a good attack and what doesn't. You then post in the IC (or edit your IC post if there wasn't a Dice thread) giving a description of your attack based on the roll, leaving room for ambiguity. At the end of the round the DM clarifies what hit and what didn't.
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2) Mechanics wise, how do you handle it if I wanted to attack a specific part of my enemy, or accomplish a specific effect from battle. Say, I wanted to smack his helmet to annoy him or rotate the helmet, blinding him; or I wanted to hit his shield (as opposed to him), but hard enough to smack it into him; cut someones belt so their pants fall down, mooning my party members. You know, good classic tactics and fun
There are no rules in 3.5, or in most modern versions of D&D, to accomplish this. The Rogue class is able to take some feats from Complete Scoundrel that do something similar to a called shot, but that isn't an option for Druids. You can attempt to Sunder his weapons or shields, but that's about the extent of that; and you'll find that Sundering is a very poor choice in combat. Sorry.
Also, why are you guys signing your posts? It's cute, but if you want to sign each post the same way, why not just use your signature?
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Thank you to Akrim.elf for my beautiful avatar.
Last edited by RaggedAngel : 07-07-2012 at 12:53 PM.
Well, I'll try to field these as best I can since our DM seems not to be back in until tonight.
1) In most games, combat runs like this:
a) DM asks for/rolls initiative
b) characters all state their actions for the round and make the rolls in a spoilers tag (or state that they want to wait to see what other character's actions result in first). Often players will identify secondary or tertiary actions with clauses to activate them in case other player's actions change the battlefield. Most commonly, everyone just says "I do X, Y, Z" and the DM does his best to figure out how that would all play out, giving a description of the turn's action for all characters, NPCs, and critters involved.
c) Rinse, wash, repeat. Since we're doing rolls in a separate thread, I would suggest writing up your action, and then posting the rolls in the roll thread -after- posting those actions. That way you don't run the risk of acting with foreknowledge of your actions results and meta-gaming it up.
2) DM's tend to handle these differently. There are some mechanics for a number of the things you suggest. Personally I would think many of those would fall under the Slight of Hand skill, or a dex roll, with the DM determining the DC based upon relevant factors (if the person is paying attention, distracted, or have an opposing dex/skill check).
-edit-
There are probably some actions you might attempt that simply aren't possible, or the DC is beyond anything you can succeed at. Helmets are shaped not to slide around, or often have straps. Pants might be secured by more than just waistbands. So on and so forth. If the DM wants to be clever about it, he could make you roll a deal of rolls (stealth to get close, or some sort of CHA roll/skill roll to bluff your way close without revealing your intent for mischief.) Actions like those are usually hilarious and awesome in a game, but difficult to get working~
Last edited by TheDivineWind : 07-07-2012 at 01:09 PM.
You typically do not say if you kill your target in your post; what people usually do is roll either in the IC or in the Dice thread (dice threads are less common), and the look to see how good your rolls are. Through experience, you can tell what looks like a good attack and what doesn't. You then post in the IC (or edit your IC post if there wasn't a Dice thread) giving a description of your attack based on the roll, leaving room for ambiguity. At the end of the round the DM clarifies what hit and what didn't.
Sounds reasonable. Thanks much. :)
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There are no rules in 3.5, or in most modern versions of D&D, to accomplish this. The Rogue class is able to take some feats from Complete Scoundrel that do something similar to a called shot, but that isn't an option for Druids. You can attempt to Sunder his weapons or shields, but that's about the extent of that; and you'll find that Sundering is a very poor choice in combat. Sorry.
I'm actually aware that there aren't any mechanics in the game for it, which is why I was asking for how he likes to handle it . I would note though, I am not the druid, I'm the warrior. It's an easy to make mistake though, happens all the time. I think it's because druids are in tune with nature, ie primitive, and I hit things with other things, ie cavemanlike.
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Also, why are you guys signing your posts? It's cute, but if you want to sign each post the same way, why not just use your signature?
Mainly? Cause the act of putting "-Key" or whichever I use at a given time helps me complete the thoughts and move on. Using a signature line just doesn't do that for me.
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1) In most games, combat runs like this:
a) DM asks for/rolls initiative
b) characters all state their actions for the round and make the rolls in a spoilers tag (or state that they want to wait to see what other character's actions result in first). Often players will identify secondary or tertiary actions with clauses to activate them in case other player's actions change the battlefield. Most commonly, everyone just says "I do X, Y, Z" and the DM does his best to figure out how that would all play out, giving a description of the turn's action for all characters, NPCs, and critters involved.
c) Rinse, wash, repeat. Since we're doing rolls in a separate thread, I would suggest writing up your action, and then posting the rolls in the roll thread -after- posting those actions. That way you don't run the risk of acting with foreknowledge of your actions results and meta-gaming it up.
Again, sounds reasonable. I suppose I'll have to see how he wants it specifically, though you guys are giving me ideas on how to write once I know how he wants it. Previously, I was debating setting up two-four spoiler tags. It Hits, It Misses, It Kills, and It Critically Fails.
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2) DM's tend to handle these differently. There are some mechanics for a number of the things you suggest. Personally I would think many of those would fall under the Slight of Hand skill, or a dex roll, with the DM determining the DC based upon relevant factors (if the person is paying attention, distracted, or have an opposing dex/skill check).
That's a possibility. Not one I like, but a possibility (no Sleight of Hand ). We'll have to see. It would be fun to get to do more things in combat then just "Hit it with the ROCK!"
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There are probably some actions you might attempt that simply aren't possible, or the DC is beyond anything you can succeed at. Helmets are shaped not to slide around, or often have straps. Pants might be secured by more than just waistbands. So on and so forth. If the DM wants to be clever about it, he could make you roll a deal of rolls (stealth to get close, or some sort of CHA roll/skill roll to bluff your way close without revealing your intent for mischief.) Actions like those are usually hilarious and awesome in a game, but difficult to get working~
True specific actions may not work as well; the helmet is a good point, though they move a lot more then you'd expect given that they have to have a certain degree of excess volume inside. It was more a question of general ideas to have fun in combat, not so much a to-do list though. And I'll leave the stealth shtick up to Roen; I only got enough so as to not stick out like a sore thumb.
Thanks much for replies folks.
- Keylac the Mad, Ruler of the Heavens, God-On-Earth, Lord of all Creation, Master Shuffle-boarder.
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The Journal of Herlam Corkwill - OOC
. Not that there's not a lot of really cool ones, especially flavor wise, it's just that they tend to suffer from 3 issues. 1) They generally require membership in an organization that I may or may not be able to belong to or you have to be from a different region then my character; 2) They're frequently based around mounted combat, which I have no idea if that's going to be much of a thing; 3) A lot of them only have abilities that work in certain areas, so if we ever leave those, most of those abilities become useless.
