Battle for the Five Nations (Currently Recruiting)

[hoverfrog]

Hi Play grounders.

I picked up a copy of Heroes of Battle at the weekend. I'm eager to put some of the information in the book into practice and I'd like to build some background for my existing real life Eberron campaign. I figured that I'd combine these two goals by starting a new PbP game dealing with the Last War.

Background

Almost from the day that King Boranel ascended to the throne of Breland he has pressed for victory. Breland's resources are strong, Thrane, Cyre and Aundair have recently suffered huge losses of territory and Karrnath still hasn't recovered from the loss of the Mror Holds and her own knights of the Emerald Claw are on the verge of open rebellion. Mercenaries from Valenar and the goblinoid from the border lands flock to serve Breland. House Cannith's new warforged soldiers represent a powerful military element. It is time to press the advantage and take back the Five Nations from those upstarts who have no right to hold his kingdoms.

Notes

Spoiler

System: D&D 3.5
Player Count: 4-6
Style of Play: Battle, role play, hack and slash
Allowed Content:

• PHB
• PHBII
• DMG
• DMGII
• Any Eberron
• Heroes of Battle
• Complete Warrior
• Complete Arcane
• Complete Mage
• Complete Adventurer
• Lords of Madness
• Expanded Psionics Handbook

Character Creation:

• Backstory: A couple of paragraphs
• Experience: 8000xp
• Wealth: WBL
• Ability Scores: 28 point buy
• Hitpoints/Health: Full at first, roll thereafter
• Alignment: Any

Other Notes:
The game is set in Khorvaire during the Last War (965 CY), the same year that House Cannith perfected the warforged. War rages all over the five nations, each king or queen maintaining their claim that they are the rightful ruler of the Five Nations. King Boranel has ruled Breland for four years and presses the attack, hoping to end the war with a series of decisive victories.

The Big 16

Spoiler

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.)?
3.5 D&D

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.)?
Eberron game set in the Last War. All PCs should be on the same side (Breland), or mercenaries. They may belong to a dragonmarked house but some houses are not permitted to take a direct part in combat in order to ensure their neutrality and as such cannot hold military ranks.

3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
Four to six players. My other current game had eight players and play is very slow so this time I'm going to be strict about the numbers. If there is a lot of interest then I may run two independent games. Maybe even on different sides.

I'll take reserves.

4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
Here on the OOTS forum. Please start with a character sheet on mythweavers or similar.

5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
The mid point of 4th level, 8,000xp.

6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
6000gp, slightly more that WBL for 4th (I think).

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?
Standard rules, no homebrew.

8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
See the book list above. If I don't have the book I'm afraid I won't allow it simply because I'm not at all familiar with it. Sorry if that stops you playing your favourite race and\or class.

9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
28 point buy and maximum hit points at first level, roll thereafter.

10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
Yes. I follow the idea in the Eberron books that alignment is a guide and not an absolute. Also in times of war sometimes the moral edges blur. There are rules of war of course so executing prisoners, breaking parole, etc are frowned upon.

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

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 honour system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
Please use the forum dice roller i.e. [ roll ] 1d20 + mod [ /roll ] but without the spaces. All rolls will be public and spoilered unless there is a reason for them being secret.

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.
I'll run a form of rapid advancement where you get much more xp than you would in a normal game. My experience with PbP is that you never get to advance a level because the game takes so long or it just fizzles out. I want to see characters advance.

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)?
A minimum of a paragraph. Please try to blend one another's back stories together so that you know at least one other character. Characters should be from the same nation or mercenaries attached to that nation.

15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
Battle, role play, hack and slash. My other game is mostly role play and that allows me to be quite verbose. I'm aiming for something a bit more concise here.

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?
See the list of books above. Try to stick to Eberron source books please.

Recruitment will end on Sunday morning (GMT) when I will take a good look over the submitted, complete character sheets and choose the group or groups that will play.

[Morbis Meh]

Well then I am throwing my hat in as a shifter druid using the Racial substitution levels and I plan on going into mooncaller... as for fluff well I think I will have her as a shaman of her people and recognize to survive the coming war they will need to side to survive. Since their kind has always been regarded with disdain she will make a concious effort to make nice with the softer races. She will be a proud chieften but a wise and long visioned one.

[mistformsquirrl]

I'm interested. I do have a couple questions though:

1) How soon do we need our character sheets to be finished by?

2) What optimization level are we looking at? I don't have a solid concept yet; so I figure I ought to ask whether I should be loading myself for bear or if I should just keeping it simple. Either is fine with me, I just don't want to overshadow the group or be a load on them by misjudging the expected power level.

[Morbis Meh]

I was wondering if traits/flaws are allowed and how many... as for optimization if it means anything I plan on taking all 3 levels of the racial substitution for Shifter druid so i will lose wildshape until I regain it as a mooncaller so I am not an optimized druid but still a solid tier 1 with a good PrC to go into.

[hoverfrog]

As for optimisation I'm happy for you to metagame to your heart's content. As a player I tend not to as I prefer the role play aspect of having characters with quirks and weaknesses. As a DM if you're finding it easy then I'll just make encounters more challenging. That may not be so fair on the less optimised characters but a party plays as a team so strong characters support the weaker ones and it all balances out...hopefully.

As for traits and flaws, I love these as a player but as a DM it just gives you extra feats almost for free. As long as everyone has them then this isn't such a bad thing.

So, two flaws maximum and only from the SRD and two traits too, again from the SRD only. I'm sure there are lots of others to choose from but I'd rather not approve or disallow them on a case by case basis.

[Morbis Meh]

Originally Posted by hoverfrog

As for optimisation I'm happy for you to metagame to your heart's content. As a player I tend not to as I prefer the role play aspect of having characters with quirks and weaknesses. As a DM if you're finding it easy then I'll just make encounters more challenging. That may not be so fair on the less optimised characters but a party plays as a team so strong characters support the weaker ones and it all balances out...hopefully.

As for traits and flaws, I love these as a player but as a DM it just gives you extra feats almost for free. As long as everyone has them then this isn't such a bad thing.

So, two flaws maximum and only from the SRD and two traits too, again from the SRD only. I'm sure there are lots of others to choose from but I'd rather not approve or disallow them on a case by case basis.

No problem, it just makes it nice to have the ability do more in shifting out of the gate. I will make this character very unique I promise she shall be fun and quirky! Though she will be terrible at talking to people which shall be entertaining!

[Morbis Meh]

Rolling HP
(3d8)[16]

[mistformsquirrl]

I have to work on the build yet, but I think I'm going to go Human Cloistered Cleric, probably going Divine Oracle -> Thaumaturge ASAP.

Thematically I'm thinking an oracle drafted into the Brelish military to provide intelligence and spell support.

*edit*

Two divine casters isn't too much right? I can switch if necessary. I'm still figuring out what I want to do.

*Double edit* Oracle may not be available, I misread the list and thought Complete Divine was up there. Oops.

[Mantid]

Hmm... I'm interested in this one. Kicking around ideas still, so many great choices for both a war campaign and a Eberron campaign!

The book list has Complete Warrior listed twice. Did it just get included twice or is one of the other "Complete" books usable? Divine? Psionics? Certainly not Scoundrel.

[Morbis Meh]

Originally Posted by mistformsquirrl

I have to work on the build yet, but I think I'm going to go Human Cloistered Cleric, probably going Divine Oracle -> Thaumaturge ASAP.

Thematically I'm thinking an oracle drafted into the Brelish military to provide intelligence and spell support.

*edit*

Two divine casters isn't too much right? I can switch if necessary. I'm still figuring out what I want to do.

Depends what you're wanting to accomplish with your character and if we both get accepted. My character will be heavily focused on shifting and eventually summoning/buffing with some battlefield control thrown in for fun. Shifting 3/d for 11 rounds a piece in a good way to start

[hoverfrog]

Divine Oracle is in Defenders of the Faith. It isn't a book that I own though I could probably get access to a copy...hang on...my googlefu is strong. It looks like a pretty tough prestige class but doesn't it rely quite heavily on a skill that was removed from 3.5? Also weren't Prestige Domains also removed from 3.5?

Two divine casters doesn't represent a problem really, not when they are as different as a moonspeaker and a divination specialist.

[mistformsquirrl]

I'm mainly looking at a combination of summoning and divination with some buffs and heals tossed in as needed.

*Edit*

I was thinking the 3.5e Divine Oracle from Complete Divine hehe, but if you don't have the book no worries.

[hoverfrog]

Originally Posted by Mantid

The book list has Complete Warrior listed twice. Did it just get included twice or is one of the other "Complete" books usable? Divine? Psionics? Certainly not Scoundrel.

Well spotted. Copy and paste isn't one of my better skills. I've updated it and will add any books I've got at home to the list later.

Thanks.

[mistformsquirrl]

Rolling HP:

Spoiler

[roll0]

[mistformsquirrl]

Gah, I hit preview post on the previous one, forgot that wrecks the roll.

*facepalm*

Right, let's try that again:

Spoiler

(3d6)[5]

[Morbis Meh]

I know this will be redundant to ask but may I use the armor found in races of the wild, they tailor to druids, if not I will stick with what I can use (hide armor ) other than that i suppose her only equipment aside from a wand or two will be a periphat of wisdom.

Edit: Are spells and magic items restricted to those books as well? I will need an answer before I finish the rest of my crunch since druids get love in Spell compendium

[Siege Tower]

Posting interest. I shall try and have my character ready by the end of the day.

I'm thinking of making a cleric with the zen archery feat to make them a ranged character.

[The_Admiral]

I want in as a Warforged Wildshape Ranger. Guess what I'm trying to do

[Morbis Meh]

Originally Posted by Captain_Obvious

I want in as a Warforged Wildshape Ranger. Guess what I'm trying to do

Break the game with wildshape cheese? I am curious, what would be the point of using a warforged you would lose all of your immunities when you shape change into whatever you change into since you are becoming that creature. Though if you're making a reference to transformers it is at least comical.

[The_Admiral]

Exactly how optimized is this game supposed to be? If it ain't very, I'll stick to the unoptimized Wildshaping Warforge. If it is, Human Psion is is. I shall also call my psicrystal Bit.

[Morbis Meh]

Originally Posted by Captain_Obvious

Exactly how optimized is this game supposed to be? If it ain't very, I'll stick to the unoptimized Wildshaping Warforge. If it is, Human Psion is is. I shall also call my psicrystal Bit.

That's entirely up to the party from what I gather, I am nerfing my druid significantly by choosing shifting over wildshape but moonspeaker makes up for that (though it's a long ways away) and if the spell selection is limited to those books then the spell casting won't be as powerful otherwise. Though I am wondering if the character i am making will be grossly offended to the warforged, who can actually turn into animals, or mildly interested... Do whatever makes you happy sir

[mistformsquirrl]

Mine's not quite done yet, but the backstory is. I want to get feedback on it before I go any further since it's a rather critical element to how I pick the character's abilities.*

Story (Work In Progress):

Spoiler

Kera is an oracle of sorts - a young woman with powers of foresight and clairvoyance. With no warning she sometimes receives powerful visions from an unknown source - these visions are physically exhausting and quite uncomfortable to receive, leaving her quite tired afterward. Oftentimes other plainly supernatural phenomena will coincide with her visions - sometimes she'll appear to be struck by lightning (though she and those nearby remain unharmed), other times she'll be left floating a foot or two off the ground, babbling incoherently until the vision has passed.

Understandably these... gifts... have made life very interesting for Kera. People have difficulty relating to her experiences, and vice versa, which has lead to having few real friendships. Mostly Kera keeps to her books, studying history, geography, religion and various bits of ancient lore. That might have been the basic pattern of her life for it's duration - studying and trying to ignore the regular unpleasant supernatural intrusions - but fate had other ideas.

With war in full swing, Kera has been rather suddenly pressed into service in the Brelish military. While initially hoping to profit from her visions, the military quickly discovered her other talents to be more immediately useful. Kera often serves as a low-level field advisor by way of her impressive knowledge and divination abilities. Once in awhile she may get a vision that's actually comprehensible and relevant to the situation at hand.

She also sometimes acts as a medic, healing wounded soldiers at aid stations and doing what she can to keep people alive. Generally this is discouraged by her commanders, but they haven't actually tried to stop her yet.

Is that reasonable? I'm trying to play up the oracular side of things (and thus justify some divination focus), as well as leave a good plot hook available. That said, I don't want to be annoying or anything, I can rewrite if needed.

I also wanted to clear one other thing specifically:

Spoiler

I know it's odd, but I decided she made the most sense as an agnostic cleric. Right now I'm thinking her spellcasting is largely based on her oracular ability - maybe through play she'll even discover why she has visions; and that might change her outlook - or maybe not.

I'm bringing it up because while I've done the "cleric with no gods" thing before, usually I have more driving that character than just an alignment. I don't want that to be a problem either, but I also think it's suitable, which is why I'm asking.

*I also have realized that this character is leaning heavily toward the divination and healing side of things - with summoning just being a tool. So I might be skipping Thaumaturge unless some inspiration strikes me to keep it, or someone has a good idea for how to fit summoning into the concept beyond "It's useful".

[Infernally Clay]

I'll go Sorcerer to balance out the divine casters, aiming for the very Eberron Windwright Captain. Any chance I can waive the Half-Elf requirements for the Dragonmark and Prestige class?

[Siege Tower]

Rolling hp and finishing up the character.

(3d8)[3][8][2](13)

I present to you, Ajani Beleren the cleric archer.

[hoverfrog]

Originally Posted by Morbis Meh

I know this will be redundant to ask but may I use the armor found in races of the wild, they tailor to druids, if not I will stick with what I can use (hide armor ) other than that i suppose her only equipment aside from a wand or two will be a periphat of wisdom.

Edit: Are spells and magic items restricted to those books as well? I will need an answer before I finish the rest of my crunch since druids get love in Spell compendium

Sadly I don't have Races of the Wild or Spell Compendium. They were on my Christmas I'd obviously been too naughty for Santa.

[hoverfrog]

Originally Posted by Siege Tower

I'm thinking of making a cleric with the zen archery feat to make them a ranged character.

Complete Warrior is fine.

[hoverfrog]

Originally Posted by Captain_Obvious

I want in as a Warforged Wildshape Ranger. Guess what I'm trying to do

If you get poisoned while in ape form do the penalties accrued disappear when you change back?

[The_Admiral]

I hope it does. It's impossible to poison a robot.

[hoverfrog]

Originally Posted by Infernally Clay

I'll go Sorcerer to balance out the divine casters, aiming for the very Eberron Windwright Captain. Any chance I can waive the Half-Elf requirements for the Dragonmark and Prestige class?

Bear in mind that the first elemental airships went into service in 990CY. I'm sure that some experimental airships could be shoehorned in without too much trouble though. House Lyrandar are the true children of Khorvaire. They are a blend of the old elves of Aerenal and the young humans of Khorvaire and are blessed with the Mark of Storm. Rather than being half breeds with no place they have forged a place for their race. In other words, no, the mark of storm belongs to half-elves.

[hoverfrog]

Originally Posted by mistformsquirrl

Mine's not quite done yet, but the backstory is. I want to get feedback on it before I go any further since it's a rather critical element to how I pick the character's abilities.

It looks good from a role play perspective.

Given the nature of the gods in Eberron I think that agnosticism is a reasonable conclusion. Agnosticism refers to a question of knowledge rather than belief and nobody really knows if the gods exist. If they do then they don't speak to you plainly anyway.

With a moonspeaker in the party you'll probably have an abundance of summoning which will make a healer all the more important. I think that you'll compliment one another's strengths quite well.