Pre-Game

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May 23, 2015 4:23 pm
Players, feel free to post about your characters and ask questions about the world.
May 23, 2015 5:50 pm
Hi, all! Really excited to be here. I'd like to know more about the star spawn. My character will be a star-pact warlock so this will probably have some bearing.
May 23, 2015 6:26 pm
In this fiction they are neither simple stars nor unfathomable entities of the Far Realm. This will be interesting. Do you have stored inside you the last uncorrupted essence of the fallen stars? Capable of purifying the star-pawn and returning them to the deep sky? Or are you also affected by the darkness which has cast shadows in the fallen stars you swore a pact to?
The star spawn are various entities, creatures, objects, which are pieces of the stars, shinning white or light blue in their pure form, fragments resulting from the star's fall. They have since been corrupted by the darkness and appear as shadow creatures at night killing and sucking away the life. Thick walled cities with a night's watch and fires left burning are safe havens at night. The sprawling farms that used to exist have been abandoned, because simple farmers could not protect themselves. Food would be in short supply if not for the farmers who live inside the city and go out to tend crops only during the day light hours. Still the food to population ratio is a fragile balance. Fighting over food / sources of food/ rioting is possible though not common.
Day travel is only as dangerous as normal, an occasional owl bear or wolf. There are few bandits because they also have to survive the darkness, if they intend to camp out on the road.
May 23, 2015 8:46 pm
Hello. I am very intrigued by this set up and look forward to the game. I have several character ideas that I have been wanting to try out. I have a particular lean toward the controller classes. I have a Tiefling Psion and a Gnome Wizard (illusionist). But I am also happy to play any of the other archetypes. Either a Battlemind or swordmage as a defender. Shaman or Warlord if I need to play a leader role. Striker tends to be my least favorite archetype but Jabes has that covered so no worries there.

I'm not saying we have to have a complete set of the four, but it has always worked well in my face-to-face games if most types are present.
May 24, 2015 7:00 am
So as I said in the Tavern, I'm thinking of playing a Drow (I said "Dark Elf", but as I understand it that is something separate in 4e) Bard. As I understand it (new to 4e) it makes me a "leader", though very much in the "support" role rather than actually leading - wouldn't really fit with the personality I have in mind. I am also getting my head around alignment in 4e. In other editions I would probably be Chaotic Neutral, but I suppose that just makes me unaligned in 4e? In any case I don't want to be evil - though I will play with the whole image of an evil Lloth-worshipper in an ironic way.

So just to check - is it OK to play a Drow from the Forgotten Realm Player's Guide, and am I right about being unaligned?
May 24, 2015 2:57 pm
You are right about the alignment. They "streamlined" things in 4e and it really just bogged things down in my opinion.

As for Bards being Leaders, if you choose the Valor build you can be the kind of character that leads the charge and calls out battle tactics. Is that what you were looking for? Leaders are a little bit support and healing. Those are core concepts and tactics for all of the Leader classes, but you can add on to that. The Bard of Valor can be on the front lines and be effective. Also the Warlord and Runepriest are great front line Leaders in my opinion.Clerics are OK but I think they fall more heavily into support.

As for the Drow /Dark Elf question, I'll leave that to the Gm to rule on because that falls into the story and history category. Obviously they intend for players to have the option but it depends in how the Drow are seen in this world.
May 24, 2015 4:19 pm
He doesn't want to play the leader from a rp character perspective. He is journalist, who doesn't wait for things to happen he investigates (Correct?). You can play Drow. As DM I'm going to say don't let the technical rules like how alignment works in E4 prevent you from creating an interesting character. Explain your alignment in your back story and current day motivations. Your character comes down to more than just a word of 'good', 'evil' or 'unaligned'.
May 25, 2015 2:37 am
I'm also curious about some of the racial issues harlandski has brought up. What is it like to be a drow or a tiefling in this society? And what about warlocks and sorcerers? How are these races and arcane practices viewed in this fiction? Are they commonplace or are they met with suspicion or maybe even revulsion? Are they pursued by the law and do they need to conceal what they are?

On the subject of resources, which books or resources are ok to use for character creation? To build a star pact hexblade I would have to draw from PHB, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, and Dragon Magazine articles which I am sure I can find online and can link to.
Last edited May 25, 2015 3:38 am
May 25, 2015 2:55 am
Also, are we using all the options for 4e? Specifically, Themes and Backgrounds.
May 25, 2015 6:49 pm
You can pick themes and backgrounds. But you can also just not, if it complicates things for you.
May 26, 2015 1:11 am
Ravastine Droverson was partly born into a family of hereditary aurochs ranchers, who now raised crops during the day, spending the nights safely behind the city walls. Which is to say, that her mother Edditha was human, but when she was born, her ears told the story that her mother had not been entirely faithful, although she never explained. As she grew, her eyes and ears everyday gave proof of her elven parentage. She was raised in the human household, her step-father maintaining his relations with Edditha, raising Ravastine alongside his true children. Still, she was never his favourite, to say the least, and often bore the whip for a step-siblings misdeeds or errors.

When she was still small, she left home and the family trade, taking to the streets. A small cabal of urchins held court in the popular Square of the Dawn, scrounging for leftovers from the days trade. Death came easy on the streets, and Ravastine lost many friends during a particularly harsh winter. She was a sturdy girl, and didn't mind the cold as much as the others. She relished the freedom, and was rarely as abused as she had at her fathers stern household.

She was either rescued or recruited one night. It was the winter solstice of her 11th year. Festival ale meant that there were many unguarded pockets, but her shivering fingers were caught by one inebriated man, a knight of Erathis in common garb. He took one look at her, cheeks sharply defined against underfed cheeks, and decided to take her as his squire.

Arnould the Bold raised her he would a son in the confines of the small but proud Erathian temple. Of mixed blood himself (the servants believed him to be part earth-spirit and the rest human, or worse a half-dwarf abomination), he taught Ravastine some history of the city, of the starfall, and of the unending battle against the fel beasts of the night. He taught her the commandments of Erathis, along with the martial ways, how to see into the hearts of men, and to face down miscreants. Now, newly freed from his tutelage, Ravastine has vowed to help protect the city from enemies both within, and without.
May 26, 2015 3:36 pm
Beautiful description.
(your character sheet till says Paladin of the Raven Queen)
Did you role for your ability scores? or did you point buy? (str, dex, ect.)
May 26, 2015 4:05 pm
ShadowFire says:
Beautiful description.
I agree! Great backstory and description, @Qralloq!

Here is Uhlskah Kilth's backstory.

***

When the stars fell to earth, Uhlskah Kilth's parents were in Dragon Pool, trading the rare gems they had brought overland from the distant Underdark. Part merchants and part spies, they found themselves cut off from their source of wealth and their paymasters. Zesniss Kilth already knew that she was carrying a child, and she had hoped to take her husband back to the Underdark so he could raise their daughter or son on the profits of the expedition. Pragmatic to the last, she instead used the money to buy a discreet gemcutter's workshop in the basement of a building in the better part of town. Over the last 80 years the couple have established themselves as among the leading gemsmiths in the city. Their son (alas, not daughter) has proved a far less profitable venture.

Cut off from the Drow culture and religion, it proved very difficult to instil Drow values into young Uhlskah. Entering his "teens" (ie his 60s) this turned into open rebellion. Uhlskah trained as a musician (of all things!) and delights and terrifies the masses with his dark appearance and darker references to Lolth and the evil deeds of the Drow, which to him are just artistic devices. His drive to gather new, local material for his songs has led to a fascination with the dark underbelly of Dragon Pool. He has taken to investigating every criminal rumour that he hears, and weaving truth with fiction to amaze and horrify. He has also found that there is a kind of magical power in his music, which he never experienced in his parents' dull sermons about the worship of the Spider Queen.

***

(Still working on the character sheet - am using the basic array of stats, modified by race if that's OK. Hope to finish it in the next 24hrs, then I'll submit it).
Last edited May 26, 2015 4:09 pm
May 26, 2015 4:39 pm
Yes, that's fine. In case this is different from what you are used to
the standard arrays for 4th are
(16,14,14,11,10,10)
(18,14,11,10,10,8)
(16,16,12,11,11,8)

Great Backstory too!
May 26, 2015 4:41 pm
Thanks, and like your backstory to, harlandski. I'll update the char sheet more once it's fully working. I also used the standard array from the PHB with racial mods.
May 26, 2015 7:47 pm
Great back stories, guys! I've a back story in mind for my character but need to write it out. Already submitted character sheet but it's still lacking details. I hope the 4e character sheet bugs have been fixed. I am also using one of the stat arrays from PHB page 18.

Am interested in the official investigators in Dragon Pool. Does this Fringe Division/ X-Files group have a name? How does one become an agent? In a world where monsters, demons, magic and undead exist, and where dark life-sucking things outside the city walls are a fact of life, what would still be considered strange? What sort of cases would such a group be called on to investigate?

Also:
Jabes.plays.RPG says:
I'm also curious about some of the racial issues harlandski has brought up. What is it like to be a drow or a tiefling in this society? And what about warlocks and sorcerers? How are these races and arcane practices viewed in this fiction? Are they commonplace or are they met with suspicion or maybe even revulsion? Are they pursued by the law and do they need to conceal what they are?

On the subject of resources, which books or resources are ok to use for character creation? To build a star pact hexblade I would have to draw from PHB, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, and Dragon Magazine articles which I am sure I can find online and can link to.
Last edited May 27, 2015 8:04 am
May 27, 2015 1:53 am
Character Intro:
Kirrian Shadowpool is a male gnome who has lived in Dragon Pool for 60 years. No one is share where he came from exactly, but one day he showed up with a bag of gold and gems and bought an old mill that had been converted into several stores and living quarters for the shop owners. He immediately evicted all the residents of the building making a name for himself in town as a miser and curmudgeon. He did however posess some skill in the Arcane arts and he made a business out of helping people with whatever issues they brought to his door. The children of Dragon Pool especially dislike him as he has been known to play cruel pranks on them if they stray to close to his shop. There are rumors that he has abducted children and eaten them in the past, but the adults have never listened to these tales because no one can name any actual victims. What the adults dislike is the armed guard that is nearly always on duty at his home. The face changes from time to time, but there is always an armed and armored gnome lurking about the grounds who will chase off anyone not approved by Kirrian. All in all he is tolerated but not well liked by the towns folk who don't take the time to get to know him.

Those who do get to know Kirrian find him to be a bit abrasive, but also honest and open. If they spend time getting to know him they learn that he is actually a high ranking noble among the fey courts, exiled to the Material Plane for an unknown reason. They also learn that the guard he employs is the last remnant of his station that he clings to.

His friends, those rare and precious few who get him to open up, learn the true reason he lives the way he does. Eighty years ago when the event called the Start all happened, a new gate to the Feydark opened in Dragon Pool, in the basement of the old mill that Kirrian lives in. It was unknown to many for a time, even the denizens of the Feydark did not realize it existed. However it was discovered and dark and horrible creatures began to slip through and brought terror to the city. A band of brave warriors fought their way through the Feydark to find the portal and seal it. Unfortunately they were to late. A powerful Formorian had claimed the gateway and the surrounding area as his personal holdings. The brave warriors, fey nobility one and all, fell by tens to the grotesque giant. In the end, only two remained, a gravely injured eladrin knight and his faithful servant, Kirrian. As his master lay there attempting to gather his strength for an assault that would kill him, Kirrian approached the self made formorian king and proposed a bargain. If the formorian would guard the gateway in the feydark, Kirrian would give up the Feywild and all of its glory and serve as its guard in the Material World, protecting the dark despot from reprisal by the people of Dragon Pool. The formorian was not exactly worried that anyone would challenge him, but he liked the idea of not having to put up with pests crawling through his door. As an added bonus he was gaining what he saw as a servant, a fine tribute to his kingship.

When Kirrian went back to his master and told him what had transpired, the feylord was moved by the sacrifice. He bestowed Kirrian with a title, granting him great status among the fey. This also entitled him to an honor guard, Kirrian elects to keep his guard limited to one volunteer who is free to go at the asking. His notieriaty among his people has made him famous and there never seems to be a shortage of willing guardsmen or women ready to serve. His current guard is a gnomish woman named Grindylow. She has taken to the task well and maintains the cover Kirrian has created for himself very well. She is however at times, a little over zealous in her duties and Kirrian has had to remind her that the people of Dragon Pool, especially its children are the reason they guard the gateway in the basement.

It has been several years since the formorian king has bothered Kirrian. He secretly hopes that he has been forgotten, but will not voice the idea for fear of tempting fate. However, there are stories of odd occurrences in Dragon Pool of late that make Kirrian worry that the corruption of the Start all has breached the veil between the Feydark and the Material Plane again. His duty is two-fold now. Protect the city, indeed the world from the things in the dark, and investigate the corruption to make sure it is not seeping into the Feywild.

--------------

So there it is. I figure at least one of the party, if not all, know what Kirrian is all about. He gladly investigates any disturbances, fearing they are fey-related and somehow a result of his lax supervision (not that he or Grindylow are ever lax). He is built using the Witch build from the Heroes if the Feywild book. I used one of the arrays in the PHB then racial modifiers. He has the Sidhe Lord Theme, Grindylow is the name of his current summoned guard. His familiar is a Course Attendant, it looks like a miniature Eladrin female dressed in closing white silks Kirrian dresses in dark blues, grays and blacks. Usually diseveld and patched to keep up the idea that he is not nice and distance the citizens of Dragon Pool, but he has never actually hurt anyone. Grindylow is the opposite in dress, all gleaming silver armor and resplendant clothing, though also in dark colors to show who she works for.
May 27, 2015 2:23 am
Well done, foolsmask. Excellent details and ties to the world.
May 27, 2015 2:50 pm
Yeah, fantastic stuff, foolsmask.

Sorry guys, but the bugs on the character sheet are proving a real roadblock to me at the moment. I spent half an hour putting in feats and features, with detailed descriptions, and then when I went back - all gone :-(

I've posted again on the bug thread http://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/612/ and hope it will be fixed soon.

In the meantime, can anyone recommend a good form-fillable pdf sheet for 4e? Ideally one that does the sums for me, as my knowledge of 4e mechanics is still shaky at best. And one which has space to write the description of powers, feats etc. I thought I could at least post my character as pdf, and then once the bugs are fixed can transfer it across there.
May 27, 2015 3:01 pm
Harlandski, I just filled in what I could. You could list feats and powers in notes so that the GM can approve your concept (note to self: do that).
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