[D&D 5e] Spelljammer Academy [CLOSED]

The introduction reads
✅ Adult Content or Controversial Themes. As PG-13 as D&D published adventures usually are. There will be blood, perhaps a tentacle or two.

✅ Character creation and restrictions.
Sources: Any official published material is automatically approved, but not Strixhaven. UA or anything homebrew swing it by the GM first
Rases Native to Forgotten realms - No spacemonkies
Customization: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything variant humans and feats are allowed
Stats: 4d6 drop low and if the die rolls suck, then you have point-buy as a backup.
Starting level: 1
Gear: As normal

✅ Game Duration and Post Frequency. 5 pr week. Expect 1 per day, with slow weekends

✅ Player Experience Requirements. I would love to have a mix of new and experienced GP players. I expect the experienced players to help out the new ones.

✅ How to Apply. Post a character concept here in this thread, it doesn't have to be fully fleshed out yet. By the weekend 23 or 24 of July I will pick 4-5 players.

✅ Welcome Marginalized Groups. Anyone who can treat their fellow man, woman or something in between with dignity and respect is welcome

✅ What to expect from me as a GM: I am fairly stable here on GP and is reachable on discord. I like to use the latest technology that GP's awesome dev team puts out. So there will be battle maps and tokens when swords are drawn. I encourage the use of the custom character sheet as all integrated die rolls are on.
But when the swords are put away, I enjoy roleplay, ethical dilemmas, and prefer the rule-of-cool over rule-as-written

I'm thinking of a Human Fighter (Noble background). Being the 3rd son of a minor noble house, he realizes that he stands no chance with getting a title or lands. Thus he signed up to make a name for himself on his terms.

I’d like to play an Artificer - I think that the class will be great played in a Spelljammer setting!

While I totally agree with you @therecusant that the artificer is an awesome class that lends itself well to spelljammer, I would like to just a little more insight in the character you propose than just a class.

This post is a good example

I’d love to join if you have a spot! I have an order of scribes wizard set up that should be pretty fun to play for this campaign.

I’m a returning D&D player (played TT D&D years ago) who just joined GP and am starting to really get into the hang of PBP, so I’d love to join this campaign :)

And just to add some background: the character is a scribe and aspiring loremaster who is driven by an insatiable curiosity for the multiverse, and what better way to satisfy that curiosity than by joining the Spelljammer Academy? I imagine him as a squishy but intelligent character whose curiosity constantly gets the better of him, causing him to want to follow all sorts of story breadcrumbs as the campaign progresses.

As a trained scribe he will also also be keeping a record of his explorations, findings, and secrets learned along the way, to one day perhaps long the future share it with the academies and libraries back in Faerun, assuming his precious journals don’t fall into the wrong hands first.

Assuming you will allow Eberron as a source, I'd start to build a Mark of Making Human with a Battle Smith trajectory and proficiency in investigation (I have in mind a sort of agreesive Dr Who!) The character's tinkering would ultimately lead to the production of a Steel Defender who I envisage as Maria/Maschinenmensch the Robot from Metropolis (1927). The character would be a black sheep scion of House d'Cannith. In the vacuum caused by the destruction of the house leadership in the Mourning, this character has served in turn, the alchemist Jorlanna of Fairhaven, the weaponsmith Zorlan of Korth, and Merrix of Sharn, the innovator of warforged. But he has done so only to slake his own thirsts. As such, he has no home with any of the factions and has fled Eberron for the Pholgiston ... if a Pirate I must be...

Sounds like fun.

I have an idea for a ranged rogue.

She is young, rebellious and very much the cool and relaxed type. She really isn't the best student around. But she was send to the academy with gold from her rich family, and their hope that getting on a Spelljammer Crew would teach her some discipline.

I have an idea for a Variant Human Wildfire Druid called -Aosa Torick, or "Torch"- with an Outlander background. Their "bond" is a sworn vengeance on the person(s) that ravaged their homeland - I'm thinking deeply poisoned beyond repair by some unknown and unnatural magic, perhaps from another plane. So the motivation to go to Spelljammer Academy is to get to other planes to search. This character would be amicable, making friends easily, but ultimately a little cold with the underlying attitude that destruction is necessary for growth, and in nature the strong survive.

Edit to add: I have played seriously for about 5 years, including several large campaigns and a variety of small ones. I have played by post before and I am eager to do it again. I am enthusiastic about RP, love the rule of cool when it makes sense, and I am interested in making a good/compelling story for all involved. Sometimes the complexities of rules or mechanics trip me up, so I would be grateful for the chance to experience and learn the Spelljammer material before August.

I will also drop my hat into this!

I have 4 concepts for the GM to pick (evaluate which one fits this adventure the best):

1. A goblin dragonwarden ranger named Weefs (it could be fun if the drake would be re-skinned, if I may, as some kind of alien or gem counterpart, that got picked up on the way). Weefs is a young pirate goblin that heard a rumour that they are giving ships to those who successfully finish the academy, and what is a pirate without a ship?2. An artificer named Elizabeth Gully (Variant human), it is her dream and ambition to become the chief mechanic on the board of some wealthy ship, so she studied day and night to reach her dream and gain a full scholarship at Spelljammer academy, for her parents are simple crafters and couldn't afford to pay the fees.3. An Echo knight/monk Dhampir named Alan Mortem. The lad has been around for the past 200 years - turned at 16, by some crazy wizard that died before he himself reached the oh so wanted cliched immortality. Now Alan is forever stuck in that body, not that it bothers him much, except when he wishes to drown in alcohol. Later he served in an army for almost half a decade (Soldier background), which was followed by 150 years of slow farmlife in solitude. Now that he's both sick, tired and rusty from the slow life, the Academy looks like a nice place to regain skill and bring contrast, right?4. Fathomless or Celestial warlock Jess Freeman a variant human noble used as the scapegoat for her family's prosperity and sent abroad to the academy so her presence "doesn't provoke unwanted encounters" (basically sold to her patron and then disposed of so her family can enjoy safe waters for their merchant businesses, a common form of human sacrifice in Middle Ages). The lass herself is rather timid and joins the crew as historian/ cook, with that being her hobby for years, she even finds it really lucky that finally her skills have a practical use!

Well diving into older Spelljammer lore, I would love to play an aarakocra or lizardfolk ranger who has been raised on ancient legends of a lost homeworld of his people and jumps at the chance to sail off in search of it. Note that I don't expect the adventure to actually bend in that direction, it is about the journey even if the destination never shows up.

Hihi! I'm thinking of a Lawful Good Divine Soul Sorceress with a strong sense of justice and drive to protect the weak and bring people together, as a means of attempting to save herself from her past failures or crimes. Lemme know if that would be fun!

I would love to play a svirfneblin swashbuckler rogue, who has lived in the Underdark most of his days, but he heard tales of the open sea and desired to be a part of swashbuckling adventure. Though, he is not very intelligent, and did not realize that he signed up for voyages in the Astral Sea, instead of the earth-bound sea.

How about a plasmoid arcane trickster who was left on Nimbral as a baby and wants to go into space to find its people? :P

Sorry no. Not for this game. The launch point is in the forgotten realms

I saw but still thought I'd try. Thanks!

And technically that race haven't been published yet ;)

I would love to join your game.

I feel that this game needs some music, therefore a bard/rouge of Tabaxi perigee. He will be of no tribe as he was whisked away as a kitten, brought to a city then abandoned once the family had finished their holidays.

Grew up in an alley behind an inn, he is self taught in music (taste of music may not be everyone’s taste, based loosely 90’s grunge) and parlour tricks learnt from traveling wizards and sorcerers.

He probably has stowed away on a boat in search of a mystical land of his own imagination, build upon the tales of passing adventurers.

Never tried Spelljammer even after 30 years of DnD :)

I have several ideas, all pretty loose. These are:

Druid, Circle of Spores. Idea is these spores came from a meteorite and his circle worship them and the stars they came from.

Paladin, Oath of the Open Sea (unofficial material, but seems to fit Spelljammer well)

Barbarian, Path of the Ancestral Guardian. Idea is they venerate a star and their spirits return home to it. Had this idea about space spirits protecting him. He seeks to spread the dust of his farther in space. But also had this idea about an opposing force, a star of evil and, well, he seeks to kill this star because… he is a barbarian and why not slay a star.

This is what I am going to do. I'll make two games. One for Class ε (epsilon) and one for Class σ (sigma). Those two games will run parallel, and by the end of the first chapter, we will see if we have to merge some classes (games)

This means that I will be inviting 10 players for 2 games. And seriously hope that I am not overextending myself. :D

I salute you, DM!

I would like to throw my hat into the ring if you're still taking people (or as a backup). I would like to play some manner of goblinoid or orcish cleric who is eager to spread his religion to other planets. He doesn't think much of the other gods, but doesn't hold it against followers of lesser gods. They haven't tasted the food we have, yet. Haven't chosen a god or specifics, yet, but I think playing the proselytizing missionary cleric could be fun in a space game.

And thus the adventure was completed. We played 3 of the 4 chapters from the adventure on D&D beyond.
We started chapter 1 and 2 with two separate games or classes, with about 5 players in each. By the time we started chapter 3 The real commitments had taken a few players and as the cadets was graduated, it was natural to merge the two games into one for their first real mission.
By the end of chapter 3, and the start of the holidays both some players but also the GM had trouble with the posting frequency, so I ended the game and wrote an epilogue to round off the overall plot.

Congrats! How was the Spelljammer material in play?

It had its ups and downs. I like the 3rd chapter the best, where the adventures were put in a foreign ship and given their first real mission. It had one very tough combat encounter and one easy one. I wished that I had seen this youtube short about the Healing issue before the hard one. (I had players going down and up like a yoyo). In the end, there was a lovely murder mystery. Unfortunately, we were all dealing with some game fatigue, real-life issues, upcoming holiday, or just plain forgetfulness, so the players did not investigate.

Any good posts from the game to share? Maybe in some sort of advent calendar door? 😁

Sorry to hear that you face the trifecta of causes for delay. How did you resolve the healing mechanics for ships? I ask because I found Spelljammer supplement's healing to mean one would never pursue dry docks when you can slap a mending cantrip on any character.

The Healing Issue you cited is 5e's effort to avert the need for constant passive or active healing, which adding a negative mechanic without increasing the positive mechanic (i.e., raising output of healing spells, SR healing, etc. to match the damage output) only increases player frustration and aversion to healer roles. Characters will yoyo in 5e, but you don't have a player imprinting their knuckles into their own face as they burn spell slot after spell slot from their limited spells per day trying to make a dagger or war pick's worth of healing sustain a fighter taking four-to-five hits' worth of damage in a single turn. It's a good way to make a party of Brave Sir Robins rather than an MMO priest appear in D&D.

Healing in general is a dodgy mechanic. I think damage reduction options would be more interesting, or having fewer but more impactful healing spells. Spending 3-4 rounds/spells in a fight is boring and doesn't feel rewarding.