Session Zero

Here's where we can discuss the game and everyone's characters before we start play.

character creation questions:
point buy or rolled stats here?
Gear: How much gold to shop with?
Gear: Magical starting gear. How is that done? (In my vignette I gave my level 15 players 10 rolls on treasure tables A-G. If they wanted to pick a specific item from the table it would cost them 2 of their rolls. The second picked item would cost 3 rolls and so on. It would give them some random stuff, but also allow them to pick key items)
I assume all published optional rules like tashas character customisation, custom lineage, variant human, feats ect are included
What is the setting? Forgotten realms?
Backgrounds: I assume that Strixhaven backgrounds are off the table as they essentially provide a free feat
Multiclassing: Yes or no?

Jeesh. That Strixhaven stuff is bad. Clearly intended for its own adventure and not the wild since it absolutely blows away normal backgrounds.

Yep - but some of the spells are interesting.

As a first thought I’m interested in with playing a cleric. I usually rely on warrior/fighter types, not leaning too much on spellcasters.

I have been wistfully looking at everything on offer without making up my mind just yet. On the one end I want to be a in-your-face kind of character, on the other end I haven't had a chance to play with higher-level spells yet... choices, choices.

So I'm thinking about playing a human cleric from a humble background. He was living in a small village when he found out gods has chosen him. He was a kinder person before but after he started to explore his divine powers he became more arrogant and angry (thus I choose tempest domain). His main goal in this life is to put order where there isn't and put the fear of god in his enemies' heads. I'll put more details when I read the setting more and learn more about other characters. These are my initial thoughts.

I'm awaiting answers to character creation questions before making up my mind. We have been warned that this could be unbalanced, and thus I have been looking and some of the more unbalanced builds like the Moon Druid and the Palandin/Sorceror.
I never really had a chance to get the warlock class to work so that is also on my mind

Oh the agony of choice :)

Let's not make this into an arms race. I hate min/maxing and I won't bring an optimized build.

I'm looking into being a barbarian of sorts.

Point buy for stats, milestone for advancement, max out your hp, and I'll be using encumbrance. Coin does not count against encumbrance except in ridiculous cases. Starting gear, 750 gp for shopping, and one uncommon magic item. There are magic items aplenty from the word go in these adventures, and I'll tailor some of them to fit your characters. I don't own Strixhaven so I'm going to say no to the material there but everything else published is on the table. And I'll be using the optional hero points rule.

This is how I handle critical hits. Max out the damage of the first die, roll the second die, add your modifier.

I'm already really excited for this and can't wait to see what you all come up with.

Oh, and I'm setting the adventures in the Forgotten Realms.

As far as optimizing your build, I say min/max away. These fights might get rough, and I want you guys to have your best chance of survival. Also, don't be afraid to retreat when you're getting slammed.

That said there will be some RP here, it won't all be combat.

Mmmmmaybe a Rune Knight fighter, they have a thematic tie-in with the giants that might make for an interesting background.

Let me see if I got that right. Will we use 750 gp to shop instead of our standart starting equipment or in addition to it? I realize the second option sounds a bit silly but I just wanted to make sure :D Other than that I'm about to finalize and submit my character to D&D Beyond. I'm leaving some details untouched as we will probably able to edit our characters later in the process.

It may sound silly, but the second option is what I meant. Starting equipment plus 750 gold.

Make sure you all are maxing out your hp on D&D beyond, not using the average.

Oh okay. I didn't mean to be offensive, I just played some really non-player friendly games which didn't allow such things. That's why I made that comment. I'm really sorry if it sounded rude.

No offense taken. And I’m sorry to hear you’ve had some less than friendly games.

I'm kind of up in the air on character thoughts:

1) Human Noble Barbarian - a concept I had in a different game ages ago. Basically the son of a baron that holds sway over a lumber supply. Character has a wicked temper and a penchant for drink. Gets sent out on his own to "mature up" before being able to take over his father's barony.

2) A monk of some flavor. Possibly way of mercy as a wandering healer that has bounced all over the forgotten realms helping those that need help. Kind of a twisted play on speaker for the dead sort of.

3) A necromancer or evoker wizard. not a pure evil kind of guy, but rather someone dedicated to studying the cycles of life and death as a scholar rather than druidic focus OR an old warmage looking to find purpose after leaving military service.

4) A rogue of some flavor.

Really just have an overabundance of characters in my head, so whichever fits best into our little crew. Would be equally happy to play any of them.

I drew up a human rune knight fighter to see what it's like. A +13 athletics roll with advantage makes for fun grappling. I might stick with this.

I'm going with a rogue (assassin)/monk (shadow) build, creating a ninja from Kara-Tur. She has three levels of rogue and specializes in acrobatics and stealth, not trapfinding and disabling devices. Her primary focus is monk.

I'm looking at a male beasthide shifter barbarian, path of the beast, that hates giants named 'Scar'.

Thanks to JoshuaMabry shared resources in D&D beyond I found the background Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion that laid the foundation for a character concept for a human sorcerer like character.
In short, my characters parents were famous adventures like Alaeros Margaster or similar.They both have something to tell me about making on their own. He is much about the lifestyle, she emphasises her mental abilities as a Aberrant Mind sorceror with her halo

Gene I’m using my phone right now and I fat fingered the remove character button for Scar. Please resubmit him here on GP.

I'm sticking with human tempest domain cleric. I've edited most details of my character, even shopped some stuff. A quick question: since character sheet creation is mostly done using D&D Beyond, do we have to fill out all the details on GP as well or is it enough if we just fill the name, abilities, proficiencies etc?

As far as I’m concerned you can just throw your characters name on a Gamersplane character and be done with it. That way you can post as your character.

With Adam chrome/Firefox extension you can copy paste dndbeyond character to GP

I drew up a goliath evocation wizard. Specific details of the things below I'll flesh out if the general character is okayed/finalized.

General idea is that he was a clan mage for a goliath tribe. As a young woman, however, she left her tribe and joined a mercenary outfit from the north. She fought as a warmage with them for several years, honing her use of flame and frost magics. Along the way, she picked up a few things that allow her and her squad (from the company or the adventuring band) a bit of utility (things like tiny hut, telepathic bond, etc).

She's generally kind to those she works with and to those she doesn't yet know. The exception is if she's identified someone as an enemy, whether through contract or experience. To those she marks as an enemy, her hatred is easily detected and cannot be shaken. It was something that got her into some manner of trouble in the mercenary life when her outfit would be hired by someone they'd fought against in the past. It was difficult for her to separate the two and kept her from rising in rank beyond a certain point.

I haven't done any looking at magical items or any additional gear yet, just the basic stuff. I did pick the "normal" allotment of 24 spells in her spellbook (6 for first level, +2 for each character level 2-10). Assuming she hasn't recorded any additional to this point unless there is some way you'd want me to spend part of the 750 (per spell copying rules) to pick up some extra spellbook entries ;).

Getting an electric pencil sharpener for GM. To fix his fingers. BZZZZZZZZ. The SCAR has returned.

Can we buy magic items with the 750gp? What are the prices for those again?


As for Atgørvimaðr Jötnarblóð, he is an Uthgardt from the Frozen North. His tribe has waged war against the frost giants for centuries and atrocities happened back and forth. Atgørvimaðr has frost giant blood in him. So much in fact that he was cast from his tribe as a young adult for the shame of his birth once he did not stop growing. In an effort to regain his honor he became a hunter of giants. He learned their tongue and script, then their magic. Mighty have been his deeds, enough so for him to be honored among his people. But he still thirsts for the glory of battle against the giant-kin and since travels to rid the world of their kind.

Atgørvimaðr is about 2m20cm and all muscle while clad in sky metal armor encrusted with runes and charms of bone and hair. He is bound by the honor of the Uthgardt traditions and he worships Uthgar and his tribal totem Sky Pony (pegasus). He mostly came because he heard there were giants to kill and he wants the honor of slaying them. If the little soft southerners pay him to do so then all the better! :)

Custom Backgrounds are fine?? Below is what I was looking at.

Smuggler: Scar has trafficked the Dragon’s Breath (a brandy-like liquor) for avoiding tariffs or contraband to avoid the seizure. Stolen elven wine under the gaze of the moon and even it sold for twice its value in the morning. He's been shepherd illicit the goods and also a non-humans into and also out of the city by the secret routes.

Skill Proficiencies: Perception, Stealth
Language Proficiencies: Dwarvish, Giant

A fancy leather vest, a set of common clothes, and a leather pouch with 15 gp

Feature: Down Low: Mainly you are the acquainted with the specific network of smugglers those who are to be willing to help you out of the most difficult situations. While in a specific town, city, or even other similarly sized community (depends on DM’s discretion), of course you and your companions could be stay for free in the safest houses. So, the safe houses shall provide a poor lifestyle. While in staying at the safe house, you can simply select to keep up your presence (and that of your companions) a secret.

@GeneCortess is that the Smuggler background from Ghosts of Saltmarsh? You can absolutely use that.

@Khulod I've never seen an actual price list for magic items. I use the average of the ranges given in Xanathar's. That makes potions of healing and other common potions 35 pg, and uncommon magic items 350 gp.

@Dramasailor Feel free to spend some gold copying spells into your spellbook.

@Khulod Would you spell your characters name phonetically just once for me? I can't get my brain around it.

Everyone please let me know when your finished with your character.

Being a known smuggler, Scar has been around. It's known that Scar doesn't work with the law but comes highly approved. Usually, he isn't too hard to find either. Asking around usually can locate him rather fast. He does leave a mark wherever he travels.

Has he hooked up with any of you? Was there something you needed badly? or had someone that needed to disappear or be moved? Scar is known to do favors and has connections.



Scar's five feet height is totally brown fur covered from head to toes. He has a flat nose and prominent pointy teeth. His feet are bare has small, pointed ears.

His yellow eyes seem to always take in all that is about him and his voice seems to pause a lot when he speaks. He has a bestial feel about him all the time.

You get a feeling of a bear when you see him. Something that you don't want to hug you. Being around him is Like you're working with a wild animal.

He does wear pants and shirt with a vest. Likes his fancy cloak too. Ever so proper he is.

For the "free" uncommon item, I'm taking a dagger of warning (advantage on init, party within 30' can't be surprised unless incapacitated by other than unnatural sleep, awakens companions within 30' if normally asleep at the start of combat).

Spent 150 gold to copy Dispel Magic

Spent 350 gold for a Brooch of Shielding (resistance to force damage, immunity to magic missile)

Reserving 260 gold (250 + 10 from starting gear) for any in-character purchases once we get rolling.


At this time, I'm good to go with both D&D Beyond and GP sheets.

Good to go with both GP and Beyond sheets.

Neither can I! :D

It's actually old nordic and it should mean something like 'exceptional man frost giants blood'.

Having heard a bit of nordic it probably sounds like the Swedish chef moaning and grinding his teeth. But I'll try:

You are now Arnold Schwarzenegger and say this:
Aht-Guhhr-vimj-ahdrr juhht-nar-bluhhd

Suppressing my Scandinavian cringe :)

I'll have my character done soon. I hope to find some time tonight, but my IRL group is meeting so... 95% of the character is finished, enough for @JoshuaMabry to review on dndbeyond

In addition to a bunch of poison flasks etc (I used the prices given on D&D Beyond here) I have chosen the Wand of Magic Missiles and Javelin o Lightning for my uncommon rare items (one is free if I'm not mistaken, the other counted as 350 gp) and three potions of healing (D&D Beyond says 50 gp but in accordance with our GM's post, I counted it as 35 gp). I still have 20 gp left, which is fine. Other technical details of my character are finished. I also choose some personality traits which I want to use as well. If we won't be able to see each other's character sheets from the campaign site, I'll write them down for other players. I also added an avatar. Thus, my character is finished. I'll think more aboout my character background but I kind of want to make him a person who dislikes his past and only focuses on what lies in front of him. It may be enough to know that he came from a humble background but now thinks of himself much better.

Actually not that bad :)

I have submittet Annastellar Margaster. She is the daugther of Alaeros Margaster a famous hero from Waterdeep, and such she has been presented among the rich and powerful. Her father shadow is dark and she will go to greath lengths to get out of it.

If everyone’s good to go I’ll post the first of our play threads in a few hours when I get off work.

cool

I'm ready! I purchased a cloak of protection and winged boots.

Good to go!!

I've started a new thread here.