House Rules & Character Generation

Sources
Anything outside the PHB, run it by me on a case by case basis - it's safe to assume I'll be permissive, however. I'll also consider material from UA and third party sources.

House Rules
Side Initiative. PCs make a group initiative check (PHB 175) - each character rolls a d20 + their initiative modifier, and if half or more of the group succeeds the check then the side as a whole succeeds, and it is their side's turn first. The DC for this check is 10 + the highest initiative modifier of the opposing side. When it is a side's turn, the members of that side can act in any order they choose (in PBP, this means 'first come, first served'). Once everyone on that side has taken a turn, the other side goes. A round ends when both sides have completed their turns.
Hit Points per Level. Hit points for 2nd level and beyond are rolled with advantage.
Lifestyle Expenses. Rather than track food, drink, lodging and incidental purchases, we will use the Lifestyle Expenses option from PHB 157.
* Wretched (--)
* Squalid (1sp/day, 9sp/week)
* Poor (2sp/day, 18sp/week)
* Modest (1gp/day, 9gp/week)
* Comfortable (2gp/day, 18gp/week)
* Wealthy (4gp/day, 36gp/week)
* Aristocratic (10gp+/day, 90gp+/week)

Character Generation
* Create 3rd level characters.
* For equipment, take the kit provided by your background and class and roll starting wealth for some extra coin to spend.
* Generate ability scores by rolling 4d6, drop the lowest, in order.
* Characters get a bonus feat at 1st level (variant humans may therefore have two feats). You may not choose Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master, Sentinel or Sharpshooter as a bonus feat - treat them as if they have a minimum character level of 4th.

Concept Guidance
Your characters are 3rd level so have a couple of adventures under their belt, but have yet to truly make a name for themselves.

It's up to you whether any of them know each other or are meeting for the first time - actually, I might roll some random connections, in the spirit of the game.

The story will begin with the PCs meeting a man named Andis Kyrtsor in the Battered Shield inn in Quainbluff (see the world thread), having been sent letters or messages inviting them. If the vague promise of reward and important deeds is not enough to stir their attention, each letter also contained some personal piece of information, a secret or bit of private knowledge known only to the PC and a close, deceased acquaintance - a family member, friend, mentor, lover, rival or foe. Decide who that person was and what the information is as part of your backstory.

what do you mean by starting wealth?

As per PHB pp. 143. Normally you get either the gear listed in your background and class or a rolled sum of gold based on your class. For our purposes here, you get both.

For my school, I'm wanting to try war magic in xanathar's guide. I'm still thinking about spells. I want to take Tasha's Mind Whip from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. So far, I think that's all I want to grab from outside of the PHB, but I might want to grab one of those Summon spells out of Tasha's as well later in the campaign.

Good to go on the spells.

As for War Magic... one of the things I've had to learn GMing 5e after starting in AD&D 2e and 3.5 is that if a class ability looks overpowered, it's probably not. That said, having GM'd for a Fighter / War Mage, War Magic might be the closest thing to genuinely OP in the game. It's probably less of a problem when you have light-armoured wizard AC rather than full plate and shield wizard AC, however.

Arcane Deflection does present a timing problem in PbP. If I have to check with you every time I make an attack or provoke a save it's going to slow things to a crawl. I'm willing to give it a shot, but be aware we may have to house rule the ability so that it works proactively or passively somehow instead of reactively.

Is there a thread where you want us to roll our stats? Since the scores are in order, I'd like to make my rolls before deciding on a class and concept.

That would be the Dice Roller thread.

That's wierd. Most people write off war magic as something to take solely for role play reasons, because they dont think its powerful. I think they are mostly thinking of the power surge.

I could be wrong. The character in question can routinely set their AC to 24, forgo spells and still hack things with a sword, but a pure wizard probably won't present those problems. As I said, I'm perfectly willing to give it a shot, and house rule the timing if it proves problematic.

Milo Greenbottle
Looks great! The troubles with goblins in his background meshes nicely with some of my plans. A few prompts/elaborations:

* What's the name of his village, and what's something about it that's noteworthy or someone significant, to him or in general, that lives there?
* Tell me a little something about the mountains he's from. What's a type of creature or monster that is common there, and what's a resource or geographical feature that makes the range unusual?
* While rescuing the children from the goblin camp, Milo overheard their leader speaking into a polished black stone, like a palm-sized jet mirror. He didn't understand what the goblin was saying, but he did hear the name 'Lady Fervida' in Common, spoken in tones of dread and reverence. That was the name Milo told his father shortly before his father's untimely death.

The village's name is Emall, and it is known for the sulphur deposits in caves nearby, rich enough for not only the use of the local alchemists, but also for moderate export. Since it is the only source in the region, the miners make a healthy profit from the sales. Which is why they are willing to brave the bulettes which are seen a little too frequently for everyone's comfort in the Shadowcap Mountains.

Awesome, thank you. I'll add that to the setting info. I see you've adjusted his HP, so Milo's good to go!

My wizard will wear studded leather, so my passive AC is 13, and not 22. Hopefully won't be as big a problem.

Great timing - I just posted some info about hobgoblins in the world thread. Take a look and see if you want to adjust anything for Glanduk.

I'm not entirely convinced the subraces are properly balanced, so if any of them seem unduly weak or powerful let me know and we'll adjust.

You took average HP instead of rolling with advantage. That's fine. I think statistically you'd be better off rolling, but I've played wizards, I know the dread of rolling low on that puny D6 Of Life. :)

I really, really love the idea of a rogue legion breaking away from the Empire to support Operation Big Shiny Disco Ball. That's ripe with possibilities.

"I'm not sure if the soldier background will ever come up, but it seemed to fit."

If you players put something in your backstories or mechanics, as a GM I will always do my damnedest to make sure it's relevant and cool.

I did indeed mean Exhaustion. Too many similar systems in my head.

All right, couple of prompts for Loudboy:
* Who were the orcs that the Fire-Bringers triumphed over, and how was Glanduk instrumental in securing victory in that battle?
* Who leads his former squad, the last time he saw them?

Raven, go ahead and post Glanduk's backstory to his sheet or somewhere to keep track of it.

Hero, looking good, though I think you should have some tool/instrument proficiencies recorded somewhere and an equipment list.

Oh, he has a +2 History bonus, even with expertise. We must protect this poor, sweet summer child at all costs. Kudos to you for powering through the flaw the dice saddled you with.

Thanks, I'm not done putting together the character sheet yet, but I felt like I was holding everyone back.

I have the character built on DNDBeyond; I'm just transferring the details slowly.

I'll let you know when it completes.