Rules and Policies

Remove player on repeated unannounced absence
Every time a DM post a story progress post players are expected to answer in 20 hours, not counting weekends (I will be flexible to when a weekend starts/ends)
If player fails to answer in 20 hours it could be assumed PC is passive and follow party (out of combat) or does default action in combat
If player fails to answer in 72 hours (or 72+48 hours if a weekend is in between) he will be warned by DM in a PM once during the game. DM will remove player on repeated 72 hour absence
Exception: player may warn about expected absence indicating when it will end if that is less than a week.

Charactersheet approval deadline
I expect all player character sheets to be approved within week since I've send invitation. I will be flexible about this deadline as it also depends on me, but if DM and player can't work effectively on character sheet approval it is a good indicator that there will be problems in game as well, so I reserve rights to remove players that I can't get to design their characters to my satisfaction in timely manner

Rules: RAW.

DM try to enforce rules as written and do not use any variant/optional rules. If a player believe DM has it wrong please write me a PM or in OOC chat - I may make mistakes and I am ready to fix my mistakes. But please to quote and link PHB chapter/page where the rule I have missed or done wrong is. I will ignore comments like "but other DMs do this..."

Custom battle rules tailored for PBP and 1 post per day
Battle will be run ope round par day that means battle happens this way:
1. When DM announce start of a battle, DM roll initiative for monster and announce who is surprised
2. Until the next day DM post each player have to:
2.1. Roll initiative
2.2. If based on initiative and surprise PC goes before monster that player have to submit first round action
3. DM "resolve" all PC actions that happen before monster move simultaneously AND announce and resolve monster move/action
4. ALL players submit their reactions to last monster move, next move/action
5. DM resolve all PC actions simultaneously AND announce and resolve monster move/action
6. Repeat steps 4-5 until battle is over.

If a player fail to submit action by next DM post (I will make sure for you to have at least 20 hours after previous DM post with monster actions), then DM will resolve "default" PC behaviour. Default behaviour is dodge action unless player gives simple and precise instructions about his alternative default action (i.e. blooming blade if in melee, but eldrich blast closest enemy if not).

Reaction spells/features
My aim is for this game that it has a steady flow and is not bogged down by needing to alter existing posts (I'm looking at you Sentinel feat, reaction spells and similar shenanigans) or waiting for inattentive players.
I mean - reaction features only dealing damage such as opportunity attack could be resolved outside of active creature turn. But I may require you to describe your reaction triggers during your action even at the start of the battle in a way that DM could resolve your triggers for you. I hope you will help to avoid this by choosing appropriate character builds.

FAQ
Q: What if two PCs attack same enemy and it dies from fort attack?
A: DM will choose different target instead. In critical battles DM may wait for player to decide different target/action
Q: I want to base my action on previous player actions or even monster save results
A: Sorry, this will not be possible in my game. I assume your PC is not as flexible.

Character death
ToA is deadly module. Some of the character may die and most probably will:
1. Players must be morally ready for this to happen
2. Players must be willing to create new character and work with DM with regards to how and when new PC will be introduced to the story
3. Players must be prepared that the new PC may not be introduced immediately and they would need to wait for a couple of days or even few weeks to get their new PC introduced to the story

New PC creation
New PC will star at the same level as current party
You will have new ability scores for new PC - again decide if it is point buy or roll.
You will only have starting equipment regardless of PC level, though exception may be applied and some additional items/money granted by DM.

No questions for now. I will post them should they come up.

For now, I understand and agree.

Thank you for this information. It is going to make some strategy shift with limited use of reactions. I think i know the answers for these but just wanted to double check and clarify some thoughts I had:

There is no counterspells correct?
Can Bards use cutting words if its stated in each round? "I will use cutting words if the vampire attacks Cilia with an attack roll of 18-23"
if its used on the enemies save? "I cast fireball and Tiamat rolls between 18-23 I use cutting words"
as something like a save? The Oni rolls a 20 to hit with 30 damage. "I use cutting words to distract the Oni as it
strikes me (rolls a 4) oh I saved as its now under my AC! Just the way we would roll a saving throw to see if we are affected
Would Warcaster Feat be usable for casting a spell as a reaction? Enemy runs away and now its our turn. I cast fireball as a reaction and then fireball as an action

Thank you I just wanted to make sure I was clear on these rules and wanted to double check what you thought.

Counterspell is part of DnD and I am totally fine PCs using it.
What I don't want to happen - PCs declare their reaction after the time-slot defined by the rules. i.e. if rule say reaction is after to hit roll but before damage roll, I can not pause game between those two rolls foe every enemy hit.
I am eager to work together with you to find a solution to that problem - during monster turn DM is deciding when each PC is triggering their reactions based on player provided instructions (please, not too complicated).

What I want - I want players who have a character concept lime "College of Lore", "Chronurgy Magic" and such to reserve your character concept for different game and use something simpler for this one. There will be 6-7 players in this game, it will already be challenging for DM to orchestrate 7 player turns in a single battle. If 2-3 of you will be doing reactions altering single enemy action in a different ways - I will first - make mistakes, second - burn out as a DM and give it up the game...
Hope you could understand me

I did a highlevel encounter (4 level 15ths vs a adult gold dragon, GreyWord was one of the players) it was a mess of reactions that negated other already posted actions. There is no easy way to handle this in pbp and I understand GreyWord wants to avoid it.
If we just agree on some soft programming when we use readied actions and reactions just like the examples.

Perfect thank you for this clarification.

@runekyndig yeah i can totally understand the reason behind it especially since we are playing in this type of format. It bogs things down when you are trying to backtrack and the players dont have a chance to inturupt like the example he gave between saying the attack roll and the damage roll. But since reactions is one of the 4 main things players can do (action, bonus action, reaction and movement) i didnt want to just write it off as oh well i just cant use one of these elements. But instead make sure i understand if there is any wiggle room like announcing any reactions i may do (like the way hold action works) if A happens I do B. That way it wont be too crazy with everything going on. If the GM said no reactions at all including opportunity attacks or hold actions id be cool with that as long as it was clear before hand that the PC and NPCs didnt have that option.

Understand and acknowledge the rules pieces.

And definitely agree with the reaction mess I was in the same game there. I've always liked to use the "soft programming" approach of:

Action: Stab the big bad guy with my sword!
Reaction Trigger: The first time big bad guy tries to hit someone other than me, I quickly lash out at him.

then when the DM goes to do the resolution of things, that gets worked in.

The few points we all kind of have to buy into with that are:

1. DM Integrity - Our pre-posting of intended reaction uses shouldn't sway the DMs decision of who an enemy will act on.
2. Simplicity and clarity of instructions - It should be something sortable in a sentence MAYBE 2 and not require any complex effort.
3. Less-flexible use of feature - Because we have to be specific with instructions, it may be that at a real table, you'd see the big bad attacking your guy, but a minion creature is attacking your friend. In that case, you'd shift your reaction to them and call it a day. Here, you may lose that opportunity.

All sounds reasonable to me. I understand and agree.

All good for me

On the reaction matter.

1. How about abilities that force a reaction from an npc? I am looking at dissonant whispers here.

2. Can we safely assume that, if we don't prepare a reaction, we default to AoO on first opportunity?

We will tailor dissonant whispers and similar things when they happen. I would like to say that the part "immediately use its reaction, if available, to move as far as its speed allows away from you" will trigger after all players have done their actions, but we could vote on that.

As for first opportunity - yes I will trigger first opportunity, that's why you need to "program" it in a way that it does not trigger on unimportant things. I'm playing as 9 level artificer in IRL game right now and I never use opportunity attack because my reaction is terribly important for flash of genius. At certain level you may need to turn off AoO.


But we will get there. Right now I just wanted you to be aware of reasons I do not suggest you to pick character builds based on reaction

Anything needed to survive in the jungle is considered a
You could buy mundane item from official representative of a merchant price. The "full price" is price stated in PHB multiplied by 4 and object to haggling. Contact DM with the item you are looking for to agree on if that item is mundane.

If DM say that is not mundane in Chult you have following option (quote from module):
There is no haggling at black market

I understand and agree. I'll begin work on my character in the New Player thread.