[3.5ish] Gestalt Characters game - anyone interested?

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 7:14 pm

DrPraetor wrote:Re: K'th'on (Kaelik)
Weren't you going to have a magic item of some kind?
Why don't you work for the Drow any more?

You might have missed a bit here.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 7:55 pm

Yeah, K'th'on is my character.

Magic item I wanted was "Command Word- Magic Weapon at will." I never got feedback on that specifically, just "Oh, once per day? Sure" which is absolutely useless for my character, so I bought other stuff. Considered a Hat of Disguise, but also useless, if a 7' bug man is implicated in a crime, the watch is just going to assume any bug man they see did it.

Though I never got any feed back about him just having a sack full of 90 lbs of elf jerky. The explanation being Thri Kreen eat pretty much anything, particularly like elf, and K'th'on will frequently take the bodies of his contracts for food. Also, if he could start with a mask of alchemically preserved person face, again, from a recent past kill, that'd be nice too.

He doesn't work for the drow anymore because his employer was killed by another drow priestess and he skipped town in the chaos. He's fairly pragmatic. The other priestess sent out drow to kill him, but he rose as a sword wraith.

DrPraetor · Post by **DrPraetor** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:13 pm

*facepalm*.

Sorry, still tired from work and such. Too many Ks in names.

Unlimited spell-at-will items make me very nervous; you can have it if you want but I'm still not sure why you'd care. I don't think it works on your soul knife, or your claws, so...? You could get an item of persistent Magic Fang, wouldn't that be more to the point?

Elf Jerky is also fine, as is the preserved face.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:45 pm

I think (keyword, think) mind blade and eldritch blast count as manufactured weapons. However, I just respent all the money, so no worries. Also, awesome.

Edit: oh, forgot to say "and preserved hands." Basically, there's only so much makeup can do, so if he really needs to disguise his race, he pulls the gloves onto which ever pair of hands they'd fit, hides the others under a cloak, and wears the mask.

DrPraetor · Post by **DrPraetor** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:08 pm

EDIT: Eastern U.S. is GMT MINUS FIVE. Not plus five. Oy. But I was moving the dates in the right direction, so it's all coo.

This weekend is probably not going to work. Could everyone please post your hours of availability for Sat/Sun 8/10 and 8/11? I'm doing this in GMT... I'm GMT -5, could realistically start at 9AM on Saturday morning... so...

[*] DrPraetor - 2PM Aug 10 GMT to Midnight Aug 11 GMT
[*] Endovior - ???
[*] Korgan0 - 7AM to 2PM, Aug 10 GMT; 7AM to 2PM Aug 11 GMT
[*] Prak_Anima - ???
[*] Winnah - ???

Do we have any issues remaining with character generation? People can continue to modify their characters if they wish.

Okay, for me and Korgan0, only overlap is 7AM to 2PM Aug 11 GMT, that's... 2AM to 9AM my time on Saturday night.

Works next weekend but may not be a long term solution

.

--DrP

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:42 pm

Basically from around 7 AM GMT to around 2 PM GMT, seeing as I usually do stuff through the afternoon on the weekend and I have Prak's game to worry about in any case.

edit: I also kinda fucked up that time zone conversion spreadsheet and now it's not playing nice with my efforts to remake it- does anyone have a spreadsheet that they can just upload, or am I going to have to fix everything by hand?

Endovior · Post by **Endovior** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:38 pm

This month, my weekends are genuinely free. If the only time during those weekends in which things can actually happen winds up being some obscene time, I can make arrangements. That said, I wouldn't expect this to be a permanent situation, and in any event, I'll be busy for the month-ending weekend, as I'll be moving.

(For reference, I'm on GMT -4)

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:02 pm

Timezone spreadsheet

Saturdays, especially a week from today, I have a IRL game from 1am to 8am GMT.

As for availability, 8/10 I could reasonably do 5pm-12am, 8/11 8pm-1am (8/12) would be the best time range, due to my fucked up sleep schedule.

Winnah · Post by **Winnah** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:51 pm

I'm at GMT +10. I should be able to make one of those days, I'll just need to make sure the time is confirmed a few days beforehand. I'm usually an easly riser, unless I have been drinking, I also don't mind staying up late.

Your sunday evenings are my monday morings though, so 2pm GMT sunday is the ablsolute latest I will be available. I'm otherwise fairly flexible.

DrPraetor · Post by **DrPraetor** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:34 am

I never updated the time slots.

I have a manuscript that I need to get to my co-authors by Monday; so I probably can't run this weekend anyway.

This has also put me slightly behind schedule in setting up the adventure. We can continue with the background on this board, if people wish.

First, a little world background:
[*] You are on the majority-human Prime Material. There are other Prime Material planes in which Humans are not the dominant Humanoid, but not this one. So there are relatively few countries/regions which are not-majority-human (or human derived, vampires and things).

[*] The various D&D settings provide competing pantheons. So there is a culture/country where people worship the Greyhawk deities (which is where we will start), another where people worship the Krynn deities, and so forth.

[*] The technology level is early rennaissance (so there are crossbows and such), but the culture is more of the late classical period, so there is an Emperor, who has legions, and the local nobility owe him nominal fealty.

We are starting in a satellite village of the coastal city of Tomis. The terrain is quite pleasant but the hills are full of evil.

http://www.123rf.com/photo_3707184_chur ... mania.html

Okay, it's up to you guys why you're here, but suggestions:
Cy (Winnah) - The spirits have led you to this place. A great enemy of the true world is just over yonder hill. Death and wickedness are not your enemy; it is the great corruption you must oppose.

Malak (Endovior) - You have a letter of introduction to the Local Abbott of Loviatar; she is a foreign Goddess but a friend of your faith nonetheless. The southerners have many trade relations here, and a sizeable expatriate community. They have recently established a pilgrimage retreat in this village, and with as few friends as they have, they don't ask questions.

Prak_Anima (K'th'on) - You also had a letter of introduction, but it isn't working out. First, the human "ritter" who wanted you to eat the people who were trying to undermine it's authority? It isn't here any more; it was taken back to the capital for doing too good a job terrifying the villagers and keeping them in line. When you met the new human "ritter", you were very nice and said you had no hard feelings if it had work for you. But this human, it was clearly sickly, whenever you came to talk with it, it would start shivering and get all damp. You even tried to be nice to it - even though it only has five children, that's a lot for a human, so you told it that it was very fertile, and very wise to have so many young in case something happened to the older ones. But this only made the human worse! You are getting bored in its house and you may have to go elsewhere.

Arran (Korgan0) - You were first mate on a ship, plying the gentle sea (which is to the east, and is actually black since we're in fantasy land) trading aromatic woods and furs. When you made port in Tomis, the boat was sunk, your Captain showed up in a panic, told the crew to trust no-one and scatter in different directions, and vanished himself.

Your vocabulary word for the first session is: Catamite.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 3:32 am

DrPraetor wrote:Cy (Winnah)

Malak (Endovior)

Prak_Anima (K'th'on)

Arran (Korgan0)

One of these things is not like the other...

Winnah · Post by **Winnah** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 6:59 am

No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.

I have decided that Druidic Avenger is not worth losing Spontaneous Summoning, so I wish to drop the ACF and just use the normal Druid class. I would lose Rage, Fast Movement and the penalty to Wild Empathy. Regain spontaneous spells and an animal companion.

Not particularly fussy about the AC. Ultimately it is a meatshield/buffwhore, so I'm happy to use whatever. Something with the scent ability might be useful as a tracker and I would prefer something small or common enough, so as to not draw much attention as an obvious threat, such as a dog, horse or dire rat. Poison spitting dinosaurs are cool and all, but probably not welcome in a city.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:14 am

Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.

You would not believe how satisfying it was to start typing for the first time and be able to use b, f, v, p, m and n normally... Though your keyboards aren't made for insectile claws, bad primate slave race.

I have decided that Druidic Avenger is not worth losing Spontaneous Summoning, so I wish to drop the ACF and just use the normal Druid class. I would lose Rage, Fast Movement and the penalty to Wild Empathy. Regain spontaneous spells and an animal companion.

Not particularly fussy about the AC. Ultimately it is a meatshield/buffwhore, so I'm happy to use whatever. Something with the scent ability might be useful as a tracker and I would prefer something small or common enough, so as to not draw much attention as an obvious threat, such as a dog, horse or dire rat. Poison spitting dinosaurs are cool and all, but probably not welcome in a city.

Have you considered a nice arthropod companion?. In a few levels you could have an easily hidden, tasty swarm of spiders.

Endovior · Post by **Endovior** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 4:36 pm

Regarding motivation... the best way to specifically put Malak somewhere is a quest item. If a letter of introduction was sent to an 'allied' church, that suggests something big-ish... perhaps he's there to investigate rumors that the Chalice was in the area, or something; there are any number of artifacts that would be particularly useful to vampires.

DrPraetor · Post by **DrPraetor** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 5:57 pm

/me laughs hysterically.

Done. The relic in question, if it exists, is a sacred fang of the Sainted Bloodwyrm, a dragon-vampire said to have ruled his kind (Dragons? Vampires? Both? Legend conflict) in the previous age of the world. Find enough chunks of him or her, learn how to Vampify Dragons, you know the drill.

It was stolen by a Paladin of Ehlonna centuries ago, who fell in love with someone inappropriate, become corrupted/was cursed/whatever happens to Paladins. Turns out a lot of the placenames around here are related to events in her legend.

Endovior · Post by **Endovior** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 6:14 pm

Excellent; that works nicely.

That said, how aware of Illumians are the locals, in general?
This can range from "What's with the glowy symbols?", in which case Malak can easily pretend to be a normal human who's under the influence of some kind of buff spell... to "Hey look, another one of those bastards", which tends to be the inevitable result of too much Illumian activity in a given area, since Illumians are all about spying and sneaking and treachery, which tends to make them bad neighbours. Since Illumians can turn the glowiness on and off at will, this isn't too huge a deal... except that having them off means not getting certain bonuses.

Also, and just incidentally; all these odd-numbered stats are fairly annoying, especially with the possibility of stat-boosting Wishes being far in the future. Any chance that we could do the "+1 bonus to two different stats" thing, at those levels that grant stat bonuses?

Winnah · Post by **Winnah** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 9:34 am

Uhh yeah... Cy would probably look out of place. At night, or at a distance he could probably pass for a tall, slender Elf or Half-Elf. However, he exhibits many plant-like qualities, such as grass-like hair and mossy stubble. His skin appears to have qualities like paranchyma rather than flesh, taking on a verdant green hue in warmer months and a withered brown in colder weather. His appearence can further vary depending on which Killoren Aspect he is manifesting as well as whatever Vestige he has bound. Plus he is wearing a colourful robe, sleeps outside and smells like he has not bathed in an age.

He will probably have been directed to the area by the spirits a few weeks ago and has made a makeshift camp outside of the village, either near a wooded area or on the beach, both if possible. He can be found either foraging in the wilds or offering his services as a rat-catcher to the residents of the village, a task for which his pet rat, Bojangles has been specially trained, or so Cy claims. Any vermin he does catch either end up in Cy's and Bojangles bellies or are subdued by Wild Empathy and released on the other side of town a few days later.

Cy is simply biding his time until the 'spirits' reveal more of their plans for him.

Bojangles

Bojangles; Dire Rat
small magical beast (augmented animal)
Initiative +4
Hit Dice: 3d8+3 (16)
Speed: 40, climb 20
Armour Class: 18 (+1 size, +4 dex, +3 natural), ff 14, touch 15
base attack/grapple: +2/-2
attack: Bite +7 melee (1d4 plus disease)
full attack: ""
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +2
Special Qualities: Low Light Vision, Scent, Share Spells, Evasion
Abilities: Str11 dex18 con12 int1 wis12 cha4
Skills Climb +12*, Hide +11*, Listen +3, Move Silently +7, Spot +3, Swim +12*
Feats: Stealthy, Weapon Finesse(b), Combat Reflexes
Alignment Neutral

*+8 Racial to Climb and Swim, Dex mod to checks. +4 Size to Hide, Stealthy: +2 hide and move silently.

Tricks: Attack (all), Track, Down, Hide

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 10:22 am

Cy probably smells earthy/plantish, actually. The specific type perhaps depending on aspect.

Winnah · Post by **Winnah** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:08 pm

Good point. Ancient aspect; hair and eyes turn white, smells like a tropical rainforest. Destroyer aspect. Hair and eyes turn black, smells like wood ash and ozone. Hunter Aspect; features turn feral/animalistic, grows mossy fur and has a musky, beastial odour.

RE arthropod companions: I checked out the web article and it looks pretty cool, but the issue with some of the vermin seems to be control. In the case of an animal, you can at least train the thing to make certain tasks simple commands (rather than a DC 25 push). The vermin seem to be relegated to Attack/Don't Attack only.

That is not a bad thing though. If you need to replace an Animal Companion and you don't have months of downtime to train the thing, then a vermin companion could be pretty sweet. A fire and forget missile that has all the benefits of share spells (so traditional Animal Companion buffs stil work) as well as things like venomfire. Those swarm companions could be downright nasty, even without digging up the hivemind rules.

If Bojangles bites it, I'll have to look into that list further. At the very least, it might be an effective means of harvesting poison.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:31 am

Also a handy way to take care of "will the city let my animal companion in?" If it's a wolf, you probably have issues. If it's a swarm of spiders, they just crawl in in bits unnoticed and lurk under floorboards and shit, going unnoticed until someone tries to mug you.

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Mon Aug 13, 2012 7:56 am

Okay, I have a backstory of sorts. Arran grew up in a dirt-poor family in one of the setting's larger metropolises, learning the arts of petty theft and begging from his uncles and aunts. Like many children who go to bed hungry most nights, he dreamt of something more. In his case, it was becoming a wizard. He sought admittance to the local wizard college, and was refused, despite having superlative marks. Arran took his refusal as a personal insult, and vowed his revenge. He took up the study of more unconventional arcane magics under the tutelage of a disgraced wizard, and set out as a professional con artist and thief, never looking back. He hopes one day to return to the wizards who so cruelly dismissed him and prove them wrong about him.

As for what he's doing in the coastal town in question, what makes the most sense is that he was doing a job of some kind in the nearby city in question, things went wrong, and he's lying low for a while.

Sorry it took me so long, guys.

DrPraetor · Post by **DrPraetor** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 8:07 pm

Okay, let's try again with the scheduling:

http://doodle.com/bhn2wdyw7meyy8qk

or, if you want to suggest more times:
http://doodle.com/bhn2wdyw7meyy8qk8ye2p9td/admin

(note - it should have time zone support enabled)

--DrP

Endovior · Post by **Endovior** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 8:22 pm

I don't know if/when I'll be available in September, since I'll just have moved, and suspect a non-zero chance that there won't be any Internet yet.

DrPraetor · Post by **DrPraetor** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 8:24 pm

Hm... and I can't run tonight. Enter your name and leave all the boxes unchecked?

We might try ~Sep 15, actually - waiting a month seems like a long time, unless we're actually going to make a successful campaign out of this. In which case the long slog to start just proves people are in for the long haul

.

--DrP

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:34 pm

There's a caveat on the earliest time slot for me, I can only play for about 4 and a half at that time due to another game that evening.