Sterwick Campaign - Rule discussion and joining

[Ravager]

Nice character Mag.

I'm going to post the first part of my proper character biography. Hope you all like it . I intend to look up some placenames and insert those tomorrow, instead of just using villages and towns.

Alturiak (February) - 1349DR- The Year of the Bridle
Several townships were in danger and a hero's assistance was required. A crazed dragon was nearby, fully in the Rage, which caused them to act instinctively, blatantly ignoring their own intelligence. The dragon Hexamateles was certainly more than a match for many though and many villagers and would-be heroes had already been slain. Hexamateles was also depriving the locals of food and livestock and so, had to be swiftly dealt with.
The call for heroes spread far and wide, it wasn't long before Kylath was considering aiding the towns. His motivation wasn't mere greed as many others who were interested in this mammoth task, Kylath wished to make a difference and do a truly good thing.
Soon he traveled to the afflicted areas and met with others who had the intention of slaying Hexamateles. Fighting the dragon in greater numbers was likely to make the task easier and so enlisting the aid of a ranger, cleric and mage, the group set out to hunt their prey.
Upon entering a forest clearing the dragon swooped down on them. Its claws instantly killed the mage. The remaining three adventurers fought bravely against the beast but were fighting a losing battle, the cleric deserted them, fleeing for her life while Hexamateles was distracted.
Kylath dealt a massive blow to one of the dragon's front legs causing it to rear up on its hind legs and cry out in agony. By some fluke, one of the creature's claws smashed into and sliced through his breastplate. Kylath fell and the dragon limped away, the ranger followed assuming that Kylath was dead after suffering such a grievous injury and wanting to take the opportunity to destroy the dragon at its weakest hour.
He lapsed in and out of consciousness in great pain. However, Kylath was not alone, as he believed; he was being watched by a benevolent half-deva.
She'd been watching him for some time now, at first witnessing the progress of would-be dragon slayers and now this human who had struck a chord within her. She couldn't bear to see this man die but equally couldn't reveal her presence to the Primes. She saw that Kylath may not wake again and decided to take a risk, to heal him while he was unconscious and then disappearing before he awoke. This was best for everyone. She kneeled beside him and began the healing spell, making sure that it wouldn’t seem obvious that something unnatural had caused him to survive, Kylath woke just before the spell was complete and saw his benefactor and was awestruck by the being before him. He refused to let her leave and although the human was in no state to stop her, she didn’t really want to leave and the damage had already been done.
She introduced herself as Rhilassa, a traveling cleric who had heard the dragon’s anguished cries and rushed to see if she could help the local villagers assuming that it was attacking them again. Rhilassa had to make an excuse to leave despite her wish to tarry longer with Kylath. He also seemed disappointed in this, but she promised that she would visit again and he reluctantly let her go.

~~~

And so, this was the situation was for the next few months, with Rhilassa visiting Kylath for the odd day every few tendays. They talked for hours and couldn’t bear to be apart but her commanders in Elysium, one of the Upper Planes, forbade any kind of relationships with Primes, especially those that they had not sanctioned themselves. She had to be sure that they didn’t find out so she couldn’t spend too much time on the Prime Material Plane.
Gradually she built up her confidence to reveal her true nature to her friend, Kylath. He didn’t reject her, as she had feared, it was almost as if he had sensed there were secrets and was relieved that it didn’t turn out to be so much worse. The burden was now shared, as he had to keep Rhilassa’s presence secret from those he was now adventuring with, as she had to keep him secret from those she knew in her homeland. Despite these great problems, their relationship blossomed and they vowed to find a way to settle down together someday. This was given more urgency when the couple found out that Rhilassa was pregnant and they would soon have a child. With the gold he had earned from his many adventures, Kylath bought a remote farm in preparation to settle down.

~~~

Not so long after, Rhilassa gave birth to a son who the pair named Sh’rarn, an elven name that they felt reflected their new son and meant ‘Son of Light’. Rhilassa then went to meet with her superiors in Elysium; she did not want to worry Kylath so he wasn’t forewarned. Unfortunately her Solar commander took the news harsher than her worst fears. It forbade her from seeing either Kylath and/or her son ever again and bound her to Elysium by taking away her ability to teleport. In addition a Geas spell was forced upon her, to prevent her from taking any way back to the Prime. Rhilassa was to be an example to others who would consider breaking the rules.

~~~

Kylath knew nothing of this only that his soon-to-be wife, had vanished without a trace. None of the locals had seen her.

[darkwolf]

Hi guys,

I want to say that I enjoyed reading all your character's info & history. Imagine a tiefling, a drow sorcerer, an ansimaar, a dwarven fighter & a dwarven cleric too....really very creative and refreshing!

Well, i'm still clueless on how to add other things to my character so if anyone has ideas i'd welcome them

Thanks & rgds...

[Magrus]

NPC name: Halgrath
Class : Cleric
Race : Human
Alignment : Neutral Good

Stat:
STR 14 (+2)
DEX 13 (+1)
CON 12 (+1)
INT 11
WIS 16 (+3)
CHA 12 (+1)

You need:

Initiative, Attack, Armor Class, Saves (Fortitude, Reflex and Will), Equipment, Spells per day, and Spells memorized.

If you can't figure out how to get those, let me know and I can figure it out for you, and suggest equipment and spells to memorize.

[darkwolf]

Originally Posted by Magrus

You need:

Initiative, Attack, Armor Class, Saves (Fortitude, Reflex and Will), Equipment, Spells per day, and Spells memorized.

If you can't figure out how to get those, let me know and I can figure it out for you, and suggest equipment and spells to memorize.

Thank. Some question from me:
a) Do we deduce Initiative, Attack, Armor Class, Saves (Fortitude, Reflex and Will) from the six primary stat? Or we roll them again?

b) How much gold do i start with as a cleric?

c) How about domain or deity (eg Tempus)? Where can i get the information about benefits & spells? Since this is not CRPG, I think what spells i can remember surely are just some of the actual spells that is available in the DnD campaign...

Thanks a lot

[Magrus]

Originally Posted by darkwolf

Thank. Some question from me:
a) Do we deduce Initiative, Attack, Armor Class, Saves (Fortitude, Reflex and Will) from the six primary stat? Or we roll them again?

b) How much gold do i start with as a cleric?

c) How about domain or deity (eg Tempus)? Where can i get the information about benefits & spells? Since this is not CRPG, I think what spells i can remember surely are just some of the actual spells that is available in the DnD campaign...

Thanks a lot

a) Initiative=Dexterity Modifier, plus any bonuses permitted by racial or class abilities, magic, equipment, or feats. For your character, you have a Dexterity of 13, which, any attribute at 12 or 13 gives you a +1 attribute bonus. So, you have an Initiative of +1.

Attack= BAB + Strength Modifier (melee attack) or Dexterity Modifier (ranged attack) + Magic, Feats, etc.

This means for you: 1st level cleric has a Base Attack Bonus (BAB) of 0, and you have a Str modifier of +2, and Dex mod. of +1. So, attack is +2 (melee) and +1 (ranged). For Grapple attempts (this gets complicated btw), you use BAB +Str mod. + Size mod, which, for you, would be the same as your Melee Attack.

Armor Class= 10 +Dex Mod +Armor +Shield + Deflection + Dodge, etc

Now, there are a few types of AC (Armor Class).

Flat-footed does not allow Dexterity or Dodge bonuses.

Touch Attacks, ONLY allow Dex, Dodge and Deflection Bonuses.

So, for your character, without armor and shield and magic bonuses:

AC: 10+1 Dex=11 for Standard AC and Touch, and 10 for Flat-footed. Add in Armor bonus when you choose armor, and Shield bonus if you buy a shield as well.

Saves:

Fortitude, Reflex and Will saves are all determined by your class, racial abilities, attributes, and miscellaneous things (magic items, spells, etc.) On the "cleric" page of that website, it has a list of Saves progression for each of Fort, Ref, and Will.

At 1st level they are

Fort: 0
Ref: 0
Will: 2

So, with your attributes you would have:

Fort: 0+1 (Constitution bonus)=+1
Ref: 0+1 (Dexterity Bonus)=+1
Will: 2+3 (Wisdom Bonus)=+5

B) Clerics start with 5d4x10 in gold. So, roll 1d4 five times and multiply that by 10 to get your starting gold. You can go through and find equipment here
http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/equipment.htm

C) Deity I don't know where to lead you to. I have books I can look at, yet they don't give you any on the SRD unfortunately. If you can't find a way to get deities, maybe if you told me what kind of personality you were going for, I could browse and suggest one or two. That, or you could go through http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spellLists/clericDomains.htm and see what you think would fit your character and choose two domains. There are clerics that follow ideals rather than deities too in the game.

I hope that helps.

[Ravager]

Here's another deity website with a few rare god(esses): http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cham...00Deities.html
It also has the required alignments and statistics. But finding a deity that is close to your alignment is more important than the stats. My paladin's diety isn't going to match the alignment and stats completely but is close enough- the Red Knight.

I was going to add townnames to my bio, but then I realised I have no idea where Sterwick is on the FR map, if it is at all.
So if you could tell me the area where you're basing it Kipi, or if you just made up the name, that would help.

[Yepi]

2 Dwarfs were met by combat, 2 dwarfs had a baby son;Kazar. Kazar was a menace from the start, he would run amock poking animals and his disgrunteled and concerned parents with sticks, throw stongs at things both animate and inanimate and a throng of other things not worth mentioning. His parents had begun to plot, to get rid of their son, a changeling child they believed. Surely something like this could not be one of gods creations. 1 cold night they abandoned him in the forest with some provisions and other nessecities, they themselves had escaped on foot never to be seen again. Waking up, he could not find them. Hours did he spend searching for them, every day screaming their names out into the silent night. He was only a child, barely strong enough to hold a sword. One night he gave up hope and started training himself. Training himself enough to survive outside the forest. He would spend his days foraging, and studying the books he was left. Slowly but surely he had begun to understand the basic rudementaries of the dwarven language. Soon after he left the forest, on a journey, a neverending journey to nowhere.

((OOC:Its abit crap but im abit tired, and currently ill from a mild version of writers block as well as having laringitis and a mixture of 5 allergies all exploding at the same time. I feel awful in other words.))

[Ravager]

The bio's fine . Hope you feel better soon.

Sh'rarn Part 2.

Eleint (September), 1372- The Year of Wild Magic- 2 Years Ago.

It was just another day for hard work for Sh’rarn, cutting logs for the fire and helping his father with the tasks of running a farm. Lately his father had been gruffer than usual; it was soon to be Sh’rarn’s birthday…and the anniversary of his mother’s disappearance. Thanks to this, the boy’s birthdays were rarely happy affairs despite the efforts of his father.
Father had gradually been turning to drink as the answer, though of course this only served to make him more irritable and even dangerous. In these alcohol-induced fits of rage he blamed himself and the birth of Sh’rarn for Rhilassa’s desertion of them. Sh’rarn knew little of his mother, only what his father and the locals had said, but he didn’t truly believe that she had deserted them willingly. Now he could get away from his father, attempt to find his mother and carry on her good works in Faerun. Secretly he had been training his combat skills and soon he intended to leave. He felt guilty about leaving his father to fend for himself, but he’d try to send gold back when possible and hope that he would accept it.

~~~

A tenday later it was time to leave, Sh’rarn snuck away in the darkness, full well knowing that his father would oppose his leaving, he just hoped that his disappearance would not be seen as a betrayal.

~~~

Several days later he heard the sounds of swords clashing over a nearby ridge, what he saw astonished him. A huge force of humans and goblinoids were fighting each other and even though the humans were outnumbered they seemed to be getting the upper hand. Nearby were some impressively armoured men giving instructions to runners. Sh’rarn cautiously wandered over…

One of the men attired in plate armour looked in his direction and spotted him.
“Ho! Who are you?! And what are you doing here?”
“I..er..”
One of the others stepped in and saved him, “He’s obviously no spy for the goblinoids! He’s barely armed. What’s your name, son?”
“Sh’rarn, sir. What’s happening here?”
“We're fighting the goblin heathens that threaten the area.”
“How? You're not on the battlefront, nor so you appear to be spellcasters.”
The man glanced back at him “We fight them with strategy, these men could be overrun if they didn’t know the enemy tactics, how they fight and what they do”.
“I’m interested in learning more.”
“Really? You could always visit our stronghold nearby”. The armoured man gave directions and Sh’rarn headed off. He really was interested in this ‘Red Knight’. Knowledge seemed to be saving lives here and yet the faith was still relatively unknown. Perhaps he could learn more of his faith and even spread the word of its existence. Surely this was a cause his mother would approve of.

~~~

Upon arriving at the stronghold Sh’rarn was welcomed by an acolyte, “Sir Kiradien sent word for us to expect your arrival, I hear that you wish to learn more of our faith?”
Sh'rarn nodded.
“New initiates are always welcome as are those seeking knowledge.”
They discussed the finer points of the dogma and beliefs in the faith and Sh’rarn confirmed he wished to join after hearing after more of the details. After completing some tests designed to check his abilities, the hierophant suggested Sh’rarn become a Paladin similar to Sir Kiradien and to train with him. Over the next two years Sh’rarn traveled with his new mentor, learning much of the foes of mankind in Faerun.

Kythorn (June), The Year of Lightning Storms (1374 DR).

It was finally time to leave the stronghold of the Red Knight and his mentor behind. Soon he would be spreading the knowledge of the Red Knight by himself.

~~~

Rhilassa witnessed the young paladin leaving the stronghold through a scrying device in Elysium. She had been watching Kylath and Sh’rarn for a while now, since the Solar had relaxed the rule somewhat, however, she was still not allowed to visit the Prime Material Plane or communicate with anyone on it. It was at least slightly more bearable being able to see them.
She was proud of the path her son was taking, she only wished she could see him in person…

I might add more details about the 2 years of initiation during the week. If anyone can suggest any improvements or sees any flaws, please mention them and I'll try and add/correct.
One thing I was thinking of changing was a race for the 1/2 celestial, Rhilassa. I know Aasimar have less celestial blood in them, so that's not possible, but I'm not sure of lesser 1/2 celestial creatures that look relatively human (e.g. not like a hound archon or a floating light ).

[Kythras]

Well, it seems my skillz have been bested, by Rav of all people!

All the same, damn good bio Rav hehehe *Evil Grin* Twaynith....aaah Twaynith...

Anywho, onto my proper question...

@Kipi...

In this campaign are the adventurers going to
A) Know eachother at the begining of the campaign already be a party
B) Meet in an inn, very cliché but always good
C) Perhaps some of the players could know eachother previous and just include the newcomers...

*cough*C*cough*

[Magrus]

My character most definately is in a situation of his past where he's not met you folk. Well, there's a possibility with the other dwarves, yet, the way I'm thinking of things, highly unlikely. I need to find the time to write out what has been crawling through my head the last few days on this character.

[Kipi]

First of all, I want apologize that I haven't posted much here lately.
Reason is basketball and studies, which have taken all of my spare time. I've hardly had enough time to make quick visits on Spam Factory, and even those have been VERY short visits, 5-30 minutes usally.

So, to the point.
FIrstly, if I don't comment iun this post something you think I should have, please notify me with post or PM, it's just that there have been quite much posting between my visits

1) The whole campaign is situated in one island, in Forgotten Realms. The interesting part is, that even when the world is Forgotten Realms, you can't find this island in any map, cause it's my own creation.
So, how have you got there? The whole group has arrived with trading ships, most of you in same ship, except Magrus (), so IMO you have either meet earlier or at least get known eachother during that trip. WHen you have arrived to the island, you travelled to small city called Isthiar, which is the start location of the campaign. If I'm even specific, the starting location is tavern called Isthiar's Rest, which is sitated in the center of the city.

The year is 1374 (Thanks Rav )

The following is only my idea how Mag has joined your group, you can think of it on your own, or you can use mine idea:
Mag's character arrived with earlier tradeship, and by accident arrived to same city as other group (Isthiar). When Mag was spening time in the tavern, trying to figure out what to do next, he noticed the rest of the party arriving, and got idea that maybe he can get some action by joining their group.

So, mainly I'm giving you the responsibility to think the reasons why each character decided to travel that lonely island, maybe they heard some interesting rumors or were jsut bored enough and decided to take first ship which left, regardless where it was heading.

I'll include some maps and make the thread later today, when I'm at home (I'm currently posting this in university ).

Here are some rumors and such which have something to do with the island (that doesn't still mean that those have something to do with the campaign itself ):
1) Rumors have spread that there is large army of Orcs camping near the city of Isthiar, planning to conquer the whole island from humans. Humans, elves and dwarves have tried to chase that army away by themselves, but because there are some different opinions between those three races, they haven't allied, so they haven't succeed of driving orcs away.

2)Few years ago markets started to get some very good quality items from that island, made by local dwarven kingdom. It's said that they have found very rich source of iron and mithrill which is also very high quality.

3)Local elven kingdom (which is somewhere inside the Forrest of Earel) is arranging great feast for all their elven cousins (except Drows) to celebrate their new king.

4)City of Isthiar has problem with skeletons and other undeads. These problems didn't exist before several months ago.


Okay. at this point I will also add, cause it's actually quite important to you know, that at the very beginning your party will get NPC member, which is under my controll, but acts as any other PC, same rules apllies to him also. But more of that later.

@Mag:
Sorry forgot to answer you, your plannings are okay.

[Ravager]

Sounds good Kipi . Whereabouts is this island though? Near any major cities? North or South Faerun?

[Kipi]

Okay, character thread is almost ready to go, still have to pick some bios and descriptions from here.
But remember, DO NOT post there before the game starts! This is because I want to keep it as clean as possible, so that it will be easier to find anything. The only thing you are allowed to post are "journal entries" during and right after the sessions. Also I'll post some important DM info, like quests and those.

EDIT
@Rav
Please, shorten you bio! It's too big for one post!

EDIT2
THe beginning of that thread is dream of every mod, 7 post, and every single on of them from same poster

[Yepi]

Kythras reminds me of viconia from baldurs gate 2

[Ravager]

I kind of agree with that.

Maybe my bio's going to stay intact, I hope so...

I think I might start a thread as a prologue to the campaign - it'd be dialogue based. Could be used as part of the explanation why characters managed to get a boat to Sterwick.

And it might keep Kythras happy to have a chance to roleplay Twaynith early.

During the campaign it could possibly be used as a place for character dialogue when we're not playing the campaign.