Character and World Creation

Please let me know if there are skills attributes (or indeed other things) that you think might be handy for the group. If not, I'll be back in a few to flesh something out character-wise. Quick question please. I vaguely remember a post somewhere mentioning Raynor and one other deity/god. Could someone help please?

And here's the HP roll to go with that awesome CON of 3

Oh boy. I know what you mean, but I think that was over a year ago :D
I may have written it down in one of the wiki pages. Let me check.

Larinia, godess of the moon
(edit: If you just want to make one up, go for it :) )

How much of this game did you read? o.O
I'd say have a look at the party at this moment. There are definitely some skills we don't have in the group. But also don't feel bad about something we've already got. Just be aware you'll have to 'share the spotlight' for that skill.

Not sure if you read this, but you can pick from any 2 skills and abilities, it's not limited by anything else you pick.

Sure, that will give an idea of how things play. But make whatever you want, don't try to fit into what you have seen. The world fits itself around the characters, what you pick and what you do with them will define what sorts of things happen and what you and the party need to overcome. You are defining the world when you make a character.
Perfectly fine. It is only your 'adventuring face' that is 'fresh', your actual face might be old and wrinkly. You can be whatever you want to be, but you have not been adventuring before and have have not wondered far from your home. The wide world is new to you.
They are all handy. Take what interests you. We will adjust the world to make them relevant. There is benefit to taking things that others have not taken, both so we can spread our skills around, and so we don't step on each others' toes, but there is also benefit to doubling up on something so the game can focus on where the party is competent.

It is good manners to first ask other players if they are happy with us taking what they have already chosen.
Calling out to the gods for help during Character Creation?! Wow! No wonder you got three +2s.

We don't have any setting-established gods, the players come up with that themselves. For Raynor you can ask @TheGenerator for details.

If you also end up being a 'cleric' of Raynor, then you will share creative responsibility for defining what they are like. It is OK if you each experience different aspects of your god. If you worship another god, define them, but we don't want animosity between PCs or their gods.

The 'classes' in the rules are just examples, so don't pay too much attention to the terms 'Fighter' and 'Cleric' and such. Make whatever you want from any combination of two Skills and two Special Abilities.
Your CON is actually +0 since you rolled less than 6. Nearly half the rolls on `2d6` will be less than 6, so it is 'pretty average'.

Your Attributes:
STR - +2
DEX - +2
CON - +0
INT - +2
WIS - +1
CHA - +0

Which is pretty good. Lots of +2s which are one-off from the highest any can ever be.

You can make a character (use the Custom sheet) and Submit them, I will accept them (without review) and then we can have a place to store your values and see how they are developing.

We can work out how you are part of the party. We can do anything to get you in, including saying 'you were with them from the start'. Since we are in an area where it makes easy sense to have you join, that is simpler, but not required.

Maybe you are a friend of Norbert's? He is from this area and might know your character lives nearby and suggest we get your help? It will depend a lot on what sort of character you make as to why you are helpful, and that might not even be apparent from the start. Already knowing one of the PCs is always useful for building trust within the party.

I can also see ways to have an old NPC bring you in, but that gets complicated, while having some benefits.

Maybe you have your own reasons for being out here in the forest, or your own reasons to want to deal with the problem the party is facing. Be careful of tying your character too closely to the current events, that can make it hard to justify them staying with the party afterwards, but also don't worry about it too much, we will make it work.

Don't create a character who 'solves' the current problem, that both spoils things for everyone else, and leaves you at a loose-end once it is done.

There is a chance it was only added after you had started playing, those things are easy to miss. :)

Thanks all for the tips. I'm reading through the entire "The Two Barons" thread - it's loads of fun - and have read the summary for the earlier adventures. I'll have a character created and shared in a couple of hours.

Submitted a character. Reasonably sure there's not too much skill/ability duplication with others in the party. I've tried to sketch a background that I wouldn't mind RP-ing and also something that reasonably justifies his stats (I think). Olden is cleric-y but not the most devout around. Cooked up a new god after reading a bit about the two currently in play. Went with an older character for a bit of byplay with the young bloods, and with another "cleric" for a bit of fun with Raynor's chosen one. Happy to update anything at all as per your suggestions.

I don't know the best way to get him into the story. For what it is worth, he used to run a wayfarer's shrine, basically an inn without overt commercial transactions, but with a tiny bit of religious mumbo-jumbo thrown in, so it's conceivable caravan guards or one of the heroes might've been past his place some time. Also fine with the "he was always there" assumption. Happy to leave that with you all.

I still haven't finished reading the RP thread. Will get back to it now.

Accepted. If one of the other players could confirm that they can see the character sheet, that would be great, as the GM I can always see the sheets, and it is very hard to tell if they have been set up correctly so that others can.

I have added a new note to the Help! Thread with the instructions that may have been lost deep in this old thread.
Almost everyone seems to be taking Tough. Albert has Cure, which an instant Magic version of Heal, but we have missed having someone who knows what they are doing in regard to medicine.
63 and still +2 STR and DEX? Wow. +2 is one less than 'the best anyone has ever been'. +3 is the MAX, really. This is fine, just making sure you are interpreting the Attributes right, this is not DnD, and definitely not DnD 3.5 with its +58s. :)
That's fine. I assume you mean mean 'play on from' since you won't be playing the background.
Just to make sure you are not taking that out of misunderstanding. We have a fair bit of clericy stuff going on, but that is because we have active cleric-interested characters. Don't make something to try to fit in with such past events, whatever you choose to make will get similar levels of focus. Make another 'cleric' if that is what you want, of course.
That looks good.
Albert is also on the older side, but you will make him feel young by comparison. :)
Only Norbert is from around here, but they could easily know about you. There was a recent (brief) search for a shrine of some sort, but that went nowhere, we can revisit that and have Norbert remember about your place and we seek you out.

Or --once you have caught up with the story-- you might feel that the current events are enough to have gotten you involve.

Or you can just be wandering by. Maybe you get caught up in the miracle on the road.

Just say the word as to what you would like and we will come up with a way that makes sense (enough).
Albert was an actual commercial innkeeper, so you have that in common as well.
Not likely in these parts over the last few decades. Maybe you come from outside this valley? Maybe on the road in and out? Then you could be passing this place on your new pilgrimage?
But you are still a priests of Selusia? Same as they were? What did they not approve of? Just that you did it your way?
Remember that Cure is the 'magical heal them now' 'spell'. Heal is not a Special Ability, it is a Skill. Skills mean that when you are doing something everyone can do, you don't 'fail' on a 6-, it mostly-works, but there is still a cost --as with all 6-s. This is 'medicine' and herbs and 'first aid' --as befitting that INT +2-- it can stop people from getting worse and dying, but does not directly give them back HP.

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Feel free to change anything that you find is not working the way you expected, even after we have started playing when you have seen it in action a few times and realise.

I can see Olden

Cool. That means everyone can. Thanks.

Sorry, my brain's stuck in a 3.5e mindset where Attributes are concerned :) Didn't realize just how outrageously high my STR and DEX rolls where. Equally so, taking "Tough" was a panic reaction to the CON value of 3.

I'm going to flesh out his DIY get-hands-dirty handyman background a bit more to account for the former. For the latter, I'd like to drop "Tough" and take "Tinker". Olden would look at "Tinker" as mechanical aptitude rather than as a thief-skill to do with locks/traps. Will also try and give him some basic medicinal lore while I'm at it.

I think I'm OK with the cleric-y nature of the build. It wasn't a reaction to recent happenings really. That said, Roald's sudden religious awakening has left me a bit confused :)

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Yes that's right. Starting from where he currently is.

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Same god but different approaches/philosophies, yes. Olden appreciates the human side of his religion and doesn't care much for the orthodoxy, a view that his parents, clearly, didn't appreciate, being high falutin' priests of some sort.

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I've got a small preference for the "just wandering by drawn by the miracle" mode of entry. Please let me know if that works for everyone, let me know when Olden should make an appearance, and I'll try and follow everyone else's lead. Thanks very much for your patience @vagueGM.

You are not alone, that is a common issues when coming from such games. :)
I thought about suggesting Tinker when reading the farrier/handy-man bit.
Sure. Though such mechanical skill also helps with locks. I am not a big fan of 'traps', for complicated reasons to do with them not actually working in RPGs.
Lore and Heal should cover that from a mechanical standpoint, your backstory as a wayside succor provider should cover it from a in-fiction standpoint, but go ahead and enforce that in play as and when you want it to come up.
'Confused' how? Can we help?
Cool. We can make that work.
If we are going with meeting on the road we can do it any time you are ready. Don't rush though. We can fill out more details as we play, but we are all happy to wait for you to be as ready as you need to be. No hurry.

Raynor has come to our aid in the past. He provided us with light emitting weapons when undead are near. He has shown his gift of healing many times through Albert. So Roald at his wit's end called to Raynor for help, and he responded...

Roald is confused as well at this point ☺️

You seem like a native English speaker, if something I write is unclear or just completely wrong, I'm not offended by any corrections or if you ask for a clarification.

Poor Roald, he know nothing of these mythical 12s that you roll. :)

Oh no, nothing to do with language. My first language isn't English either. My stupid brain had all these stereotypical notions of Roald as a fighter-type and was going, Hold on, I thought Albert was the one who could tap into Raynor's blessings/assistance? as I read the thread.


I've read at least a couple of the RP threads in full now including "The First Sacrifice" so I'd like to jump in now IC if I may, please? Will keep an eye on the OOC thread for tips/corrections/suggestions/nudges/smacks on the head.

Yeah. We are not limited by such outdated ideas. :)
Albert has the Cure Special Ability, he can always use that gift from his god (dice willing, of course). Roald asked for help and Raynor deemed him worthy in this moment, that is not guaranteed to happen again. Similarly, Albert showed particular faith in Raynor at a previous time of need, and got the equivalent of a sort of Bless Special Ability in the form of undead-fighting glowing weapons for the whole party (eventually).

If it is on your sheet you mostly control it, if it is not part of your sheet and character then any such Special Abilities can still happen with GM discretion.
There is a real downside to discussing things in a separate OOC thread. Someone reading the RP thread has no indication that there might be more happening. I still think it works better than having long, multi-post discussions in the middle of the RP thread, and the OOC parts should not be needed to follow the RP, but sometimes it can help.

For reference, the relevant OOC part starts here.
By all means. Narrate your character arriving on the scene.

Maybe your medical and religious explanations of what just happened (exhaustion leads to shock) could be helpful, but think about what your character might do that leads the others to accept or even invite you along on their rescue mission. We don't need a very good explanation for your joining --though it does help a little-- it will work no matter what.
You and fossball can work out in the OOC thread if there is some preexisting connection between you, but if you are not from this valley then ignore that, he may have heard of you at best.

I think we are set up for Norbert to remember some old guy or familyfriend to live by a shrine in the wood. He seemed tough as old leather. And maybe smelled it a bit like it too :)

It feels a bit like ropeskipping: we are spinning the rope and are ready for you to jump in.

Unless he is from outside the valley. It may be easier in the long-run to not have him attached to this place that we are probably about leave? It's up to palemantle.