Author Topic: Character Planning  (Read 56929 times)

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Risada

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #420 on: January 14, 2010, 08:43:55 AM »
As you wish, boss  :)


... by the way, is there anyone still adjusting their chars?

VennDygrem

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #421 on: January 14, 2010, 06:18:08 PM »
I think the first game post will go up either tomorrow or Saturday. I'll elaborate on other points soon.
------
Done.
Please bear in mind that I have never run a PbP game so if this all sucks, don't blame me too much. :D

As for skills, if there's any reason you should know more about a subject, I'll let you know about any circumstance bonuses that you get. As for social skills, I expect your attempts to be written out as opposed to just saying "I roll diplomacy" or "I bluff him." Diplomacy attempts will be approached from the same perspective as is detailed in Rich Burlew's system linked to earlier, but overall the rules will remain the same. Look at it like offering to bargain. You've got a proposal and you're trying to get the other party to accept that proposal. If your words are harsh or don't offer a reasonable proposal, you're going to take a penalty (or rather, success will be more difficult). If the other party has something to gain from your proposal or you're particularly persuasive, you're more likely to succeed. The actual rules don't change besides a couple circumstantial bonuses here or there, but you're less likely to completely fail on a really well-written plea just because you got a crappy roll, and you can't just win an unfriendly king over just by saying "Well, your palace doesn't smell too much like manure" and getting the right roll. Don't get me wrong, your skill rolls still affect your chance of success (a good roll on the manure-palace line means the king thinks you're making a joke at the expense of his rival's palace, for instance). I think this is fair and doesn't generally over-complicate things.

Remember, Karma is definitely in place. This is merely an extension of that existing system.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2010, 08:10:33 AM by VennDygrem »

Prime32

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #422 on: January 16, 2010, 10:22:09 AM »
Still need to do my skills. I'll go to look the relevant stuff up now.

EDIT: Done. Can I reflavour my vestige binding to have something to do with Thistle, and adjust the sign/influence to something more appropriate? (currently it's "You look sickly and diseased, and your skin becomes sallow and pockmarked" and "You cannot attack any creature with elven blood, including drow")

Finally, does anyone have suggestions for potions which could be useful? I have 1090gp left.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2010, 12:01:43 PM by Prime32 »
My work
The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

VennDygrem

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #423 on: January 16, 2010, 03:44:10 PM »
Still need to do my skills. I'll go to look the relevant stuff up now.

EDIT: Done. Can I reflavour my vestige binding to have something to do with Thistle, and adjust the sign/influence to something more appropriate? (currently it's "You look sickly and diseased, and your skin becomes sallow and pockmarked" and "You cannot attack any creature with elven blood, including drow")

Finally, does anyone have suggestions for potions which could be useful? I have 1090gp left.

Hmm, I'm wary to actually change the vestiges' signs and influence as it's just more houserules to have to reference. On the other hand, Corellon does not exist in Eberron, and thus her backstory does not fit either. I'd prefer if Thistle didn't factor directly into your abilities, as we've gone over the extent of your pact with him.

Leraje, in Eberron, would be a champion and herald of Balinor, God of the Hunt and Nature. As such, the sign you show should fit with that. While bound to Leraje and under her influence, your sign should be either a set of small, non-functional antlers that spring from your head, or that your skin becomes a light shade of green and your hair is intermixed with green, healthy leaves, or that your skin becomes green and scaly (choose one and that's the sign, for good); Under her influence you also feel Leraje's need to prove that she is the greatest hunter and marksman and must always target any bestial creature before any humanoid creature in combat. Furthermore, if you encounter any humanoid in need of aid within the boundaries of a forest, Leraje's tremendous guilt for the actions that led her to become a vestige guides you to offer help to that person.

Let me know which sign you go with and I can give you Leraje's updated back story.

bearsarebrown

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #424 on: January 16, 2010, 04:27:17 PM »
Is it okay to read the other Groups threads or should we avoid it incase we move at different paces?

VennDygrem

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #425 on: January 16, 2010, 04:37:09 PM »
For the most part you won't get much out of it other than how that particular group interacts with the same story. Puzzles, trap placement, some encounters, etc. might differ however so that anyone who reads the other group's thread won't necessarily glean any details that could lead them to metagame in their own thread ("Oh, that square is trapped, so I'll avoid it when we get to that point! Ha ha!"). In fact, you guys may well wind up in completely different places depending on how you proceed, so there really ought not to be any danger. I don't want to see you guys metagaming however. If anyone's played 4th edition and the first published adventure, large portions of the preliminary leg of this adventure are going to be familiar anyway, though I'm modifying it so that you guys can actually be challenged somewhat. :)
Once that leg of the journey is over, you'll move on to the completely freeform leg of the campaign, where you'll be able to determine where in the world your group travels to next. Not that I'm trying to railroad you guys in the beginning, you guys could very well decide to pack up and leave, however, that's really counter to the point of the mission right now.

Prime32

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #426 on: January 16, 2010, 10:50:45 PM »
Still need to do my skills. I'll go to look the relevant stuff up now.

EDIT: Done. Can I reflavour my vestige binding to have something to do with Thistle, and adjust the sign/influence to something more appropriate? (currently it's "You look sickly and diseased, and your skin becomes sallow and pockmarked" and "You cannot attack any creature with elven blood, including drow")

Finally, does anyone have suggestions for potions which could be useful? I have 1090gp left.

Hmm, I'm wary to actually change the vestiges' signs and influence as it's just more houserules to have to reference. On the other hand, Corellon does not exist in Eberron, and thus her backstory does not fit either. I'd prefer if Thistle didn't factor directly into your abilities, as we've gone over the extent of your pact with him.

Leraje, in Eberron, would be a champion and herald of Balinor, God of the Hunt and Nature. As such, the sign you show should fit with that. While bound to Leraje and under her influence, your sign should be either a set of small, non-functional antlers that spring from your head, or that your skin becomes a light shade of green and your hair is intermixed with green, healthy leaves, or that your skin becomes green and scaly (choose one and that's the sign, for good); Under her influence you also feel Leraje's need to prove that she is the greatest hunter and marksman and must always target any bestial creature before any humanoid creature in combat. Furthermore, if you encounter any humanoid in need of aid within the boundaries of a forest, Leraje's tremendous guilt for the actions that led her to become a vestige guides you to offer help to that person.

Let me know which sign you go with and I can give you Leraje's updated back story.
Actually, I was wondering if I could tie it to Harath in some way.
My work
The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

VennDygrem

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #427 on: January 17, 2010, 12:16:33 AM »
Who is Harath? As far as I can tell, -harath is just a common name suffix for male Kalashtar.

Prime32

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #428 on: January 17, 2010, 03:59:28 PM »
Who is Harath? As far as I can tell, -harath is just a common name suffix for male Kalashtar.
The second part of a kalashtar's name is their quori's name. Two kalashatar with names ending in -harath have the same quori spirit (originally the kalashtar were something like the Tok'ra, but when the first hosts had children their spirits were shared between them, and by now they've become so stretched that they're reduced to little more than vague voices).
« Last Edit: January 17, 2010, 04:01:43 PM by Prime32 »
My work
The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

VennDygrem

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #429 on: January 17, 2010, 04:38:39 PM »
Who is Harath? As far as I can tell, -harath is just a common name suffix for male Kalashtar.
The second part of a kalashtar's name is their quori's name. Two kalashatar with names ending in -harath have the same quori spirit (originally the kalashtar were something like the Tok'ra, but when the first hosts had children their spirits were shared between them, and by now they've become so stretched that they're reduced to little more than vague voices).

I can't find any reference to that in the ECS or RoE. Where is it located?

Prime32

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #430 on: January 17, 2010, 05:49:03 PM »
Who is Harath? As far as I can tell, -harath is just a common name suffix for male Kalashtar.
The second part of a kalashtar's name is their quori's name. Two kalashatar with names ending in -harath have the same quori spirit (originally the kalashtar were something like the Tok'ra, but when the first hosts had children their spirits were shared between them, and by now they've become so stretched that they're reduced to little more than vague voices).

I can't find any reference to that in the ECS or RoE. Where is it located?
If it's not there, it's in Secrets of Sarlona.
My work
The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

tallan

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #431 on: January 17, 2010, 06:12:02 PM »
It's also in RoE, page 59.
Deep in the tomb of indelible gloom, an angel waits to die.
High on the peak, where only fools seek, a dragon tried to get high.
To which one we go, well f*ck if I know, the point is to question why.

VennDygrem

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #432 on: January 17, 2010, 06:20:23 PM »
Ok, that's what I was looking for. I passed over it looking for references for names.

Technically there's no real connection between quori and hunting or archery, as they're all much more focused on psionics. The 'remnant of a quori spirit' sort of matches the idea of vestiges, but the quori never really had the sort of power that the vestiges did.

Suppose I go along with your idea. What do you propose as the Sign and Influence? There is no published material on specific quori, let alone the 67 quori that escaped Dal Quor to form the Kalashtar race.

----
Also, I'd try to move things along by posting the actions of your contact, but I'm trying to let everyone get their character introduction out of the way. I won't wait for everyone, just the majority.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2010, 06:22:26 PM by VennDygrem »

BowenSilverclaw

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #433 on: January 17, 2010, 06:37:12 PM »
I'll try to get basic fluff up tomorrow, been too busy/emotionally distraught the last couple of days (and too wasted right now), sorry.

~Bowen
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Quote from: J0lt
You caught a fish.  It was awesome.   :lol

VennDygrem

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #434 on: January 17, 2010, 07:28:55 PM »
I'll try to get basic fluff up tomorrow, been too busy/emotionally distraught the last couple of days (and too wasted right now), sorry.

~Bowen


You ok? Don't worry about it, you should be able to catch up fairly easily. We can just assume you stumbled downstairs as well by now, or that you missed the meeting. Either way it won't matter too much.
---
I've updated the NPC profiles under General Player Knowledge, with portraits and what brief details you've uncovered. I'll keep those profiles up to date as you meet or hear of other important NPCs.

BowenSilverclaw

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #435 on: January 17, 2010, 07:31:23 PM »
I'll try to get basic fluff up tomorrow, been too busy/emotionally distraught the last couple of days (and too wasted right now), sorry.

~Bowen


You ok? Don't worry about it, you should be able to catch up fairly easily. We can just assume you stumbled downstairs as well by now, or that you missed the meeting. Either way it won't matter too much.
---
I've updated the NPC profiles under General Player Knowledge, with portraits and what brief details you've uncovered. I'll keep those profiles up to date as you meet or hear of other important NPCs.

Yeah, I'll live, thanks :)

Just been really busy with exams and had some emotional real-life stuff that I needed to get out of my system. Sorry about any delays/troubles.
"Weakness? Come test thy mettle against me, hairless ape, and we shall know who is weak!"

Quote from: J0lt
You caught a fish.  It was awesome.   :lol

VennDygrem

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #436 on: January 17, 2010, 07:38:41 PM »
Don't worry about it. I just wanted to finally get things started since people seemed to be itching to go. The intro is just a chance to introduce the characters. :)

VennDygrem

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #437 on: January 19, 2010, 09:17:50 PM »
Speaking of which, I just mentioned this to Group B, but the same goes for Group A; Any information you manage to get out of the Tavern threads carries over into the Game thread, but the majority of skill rolls, spells, and other abilities used don't count toward your total (if you stay up all night casting spells, they still get refreshed in the morning, for instance).

Those threads are thus what I call "pseudo-canon."

The_Mad_Linguist

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #438 on: January 19, 2010, 09:20:35 PM »
So, continuing my question from the tavern thread, how's the weather up there?   ;)

Yeah, Lyrandar probably does weather forecasts better, but Orien can compete.
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VennDygrem

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Re: Character Planning
« Reply #439 on: January 19, 2010, 11:30:04 PM »
It's really cold. In fact, you might run into a bit of an icing problem.  :lol

The sky is overcast, but that's common for winter, and it's night time so there's not really a whole lot you can tell about the weather, especially not for the coming day. You'd have to teleport miles into the sky for a visual forecast. Judging from the usual weather in the past few days, you figure tomorrow will be cold, and the day after, and so on. It doesn't seem likely to snow anytime soon, however.