ForeverDED / Blornvid

Welcome @ForeverDED
This thread is for your character creation. Take a look at welcome and character creation.

If you have any questions you can post them here or if you think they are general on the Q&A

Thanks!

Ok, I followed all of the directions on character creation. I submitted the character, and he (Blornvid) appears to be on the list of characters in the game. Please let me know if I left something out.

I added a bit of detail to the traits
Is the dowsing roe for water or something else?
What prompted you to go adventuring? Any background or history for me to know for bringing you into the story?

I see what you did with the traits. Thanks. Still learning how things work.

I picked those non-racial traits on the basis of his profession: blacksmith. Figured that Blornvid should be able to tolerate the heat. Didn't know about the perks. :)

Dowsing Rod: When I first read the description, I didn't realize that I had to pick something specific. Water would be smart, but as I chose blacksmith, it might make sense for him to pick some metal to mix with iron (too commonplace) to make an alloy. Or am I overthinking it? Water is a safe fallback.

Background (Feel free to edit to make appropriate): Blornvid followed in his ancestors' footsteps into the blacksmith trade. He was good at his job, content to ignore the outside world and stay focused on his work. A close friend of his was escorting a merchant's caravan when they were attacked by bandits. They showed no mercy and slaughtered everyone save for a courier who was dispatched to seek help. Something in Blornvid snapped. He no longer felt that he could just pretend that all was right in the world. He felt that he needed to do something to avenge his friend and see to it that the world became a better place.

The traits are fine. I want people to be creative and yours make sense with your Oregon and will prove useful as you adventure.

The starting magic item is a minor magic so you could get a multipurpose dowsing rod but I would limit the range or effectiveness

The background is great. I will get you in a story later

How limited? Just curious to know if it's a range thing or if it's wrong some of the time.

To keep it simple I am going to say your can only dowse for specific materials. Water, metal, stone, oil, etc. It never lies but it's accuracy and range reduce as you increase the flexibility.

Ok. Works for me. :)

I have a copy of options. Let me know your preference
1. Start on your own outside the expedition heading out to find adventure and bring peace
2. Start in the expedition as a blacksmith or guard but you want to try your hand at more
3. I could have for you to bump into another newcomer who is in the midst of an adventure and you can work together until you meet up with the rest of the characters

I think option 2 makes the most sense. He'd be working as a blacksmith to earn money to buy enough supplies/equipment to go adventuring. Obviously you've given everyone a starter set of gear, but maybe he's just trying to earn while he waits for that right opportunity to come along.

Where should I put Weapon Mastery on Blornvid's character sheet?

I added it below proficiencies

Cool. Thanks!

Blornvid and Skeeve have realy been at this a while. I was going through my notes and setting up a progression schedule. I then looked over the game veterans and added some history details and approximate Exp. You guys should have another trait by now. Go ahead and start working on what you want.

Great!

I've been wanting to get Blornvid some kind of ranged weapon, so that he doesn't have to charge headlong into melee combat all the time. Is it possible for him to gain proficiency in a bow of some kind? Character sheet says that he has 18 experience points to put to use, so would that cost him 8 to become proficient in said new weapon?

Ooo. 18? That means you can do either of the following:
- Gain proficiency in Ranged weapons (all) *and* gain specialization in one (like crossbow) so you use 3d6 to hit with it.
- Gain proficiency in Ranged weapons (all) *and* gain a Trait (like the Shield Bearer one you indirectly mentioned a while ago).
The first one leaves 2 experience left for future purposes; the second uses them all. Obviously, the Trait can be anything you want, not just Shield Bearer.

Can do, just remember ranged weapons take an action to ready/load before you fire. It can started prepared in your hand but if you change weapons you have to load it.

Alternatively you could get amour mastery that gives 3 temporary HP from armor that needs to be repaired

Again, with 18 experience, it isn't necessarily or; it's and. Get a crossbow and Amour Mastery.

Definitely the proficiency in ranged weapons. Can we say that he got to buy a bow before we set on this new venture?

If the traits are explained somewhere (I just the list of what's available), please point me in the right direction. Otherwise, I have to ask what Shield Bearer will grant him.

So with Armor Mastery, does that mean he knows how to use his armor better to eke out those temporary 3 HP (and then pay someone to repair), or does it mean he knows how to hone his armor (like a blacksmith) to gain those temporary 3 HP (and must do repeatedly)?

Shield bearer let's you roll 2d6 on evade

You are a blacksmith but lack the tools to field repair so will have to get access to a smithy to fix it. Basically the +3 can be used anytime you like but they do not recover without tools and time.

Shield Bearer: While wielding a shield, Test with 2d6 on Evade or Goblin Agility Actions instead of 1d6. If you choose this Trait, your Adventurer gains a shield.

Basically, it layers on top of Evade to give you a better chance of success. While more useful to duende, it is still useful to anyone that is wants to use the Evade action.

Armor Master: When wearing any form of armor, you have an extra 3 Hit Points that must be lost before you take physical damage. These hit points cannot be healed and must be restored via repairing you armor. It takes a full 8 hours to repair all 3 Hit Points.

Basically, this gives you 3 "extra" hit points, but once you lose them they are gone until you repair your armor. I call these "ablative hit points", but that is my term, not the game's term.

Two other Traits in the same vein:
Tough: You gain 2 additional Hit Points.

This just gives you two new intrinsic HP. Armor Master gives you a third, but they must always be repaired eventually. This is just flat out two extra HP.

Diehard: When an attack would reduce you to 0 Hit Points, it instead reduces you to 2 Hit Points. You can do this once per day.

This is a cool one because you can never go below 0 Hit Points. So, even if you are catastrophically damaged, you still only go down to 0, then bounce back to 2 HP. So, it a way, it can effectively give you way more than 2 HP depending on how bad that last shot was. On the other hand, it only works once per day instead of being able to be healed like Tough. On the other other hand, Tough is boring and this is cool.

Thanks for the explanations, guys.

He already has the Tough trait. :)

I'm going to give these some thought. Will have an answer soon.

One other question: I picked up that magic armor. How is that affected by Armor Master trait? Say it gets damaged and no longer confers those 3 HP, is the magic negatively impacted as well?

No let's keep it simple. Unless the armor is totally destroyed the magic is fine.

Ok, I'll go with the Armor Master trait.

I was thinking and it seems reasonable for Blornvid to be able to make some repairs to his armor if he has some tools and the help of a mage or two.

This if a basic field repair guidelines
Buy Smith tools 20 gold
Buy repair materials 1 silver per attempt, pass or fail
Roll for blacksmith
A mage rolls a magic check to help heat and shape the metals
If both tests pass you can heal 1 HP
A success takes 10 minutes, failure only takes 5
Only 2 HP can be repaired before needing a smithy.

Works for me. :)

I have to finish updating his character sheet (which I hope to do today), so I'll add the blacksmith tools to the list. I assume repair materials will be bought on an as-needed basis.

Sure. Don't bother tracking materials.
Just take off a silver when attempting a repair

Plus, with the blacksmith tools you get a backup weapon in the hammer! Then you can go ham like the Armorer in the final episode of Mandalorian season 1. :)

And don't forget your shortbow or crossbow!

LOL

Ok, I bought the blacksmith tools, a crossbow, and 100 bolts (I know that you don't keep track, but I figured that spending the money would make it fair). Money deducted and some copper and silver converted upwards to make accounting easier.

I also added the ranged weapons proficiency and the armor master trait and made note of the XP cost, so balance is down to zero.

So after the roper-darkmantle combat and adjustment of traits, Blornvid has 13 XP to play with.

First thought is to gain mastery with the crossbow, but he's got that multi-tool weapon now.

Blornvid has proficiency with small and ranged weapons. The mace, axe, and sword are covered under small weapons, but what category do spear, trident, and flail fall under?

1 Handed = Light / 2 handed = heavy

just a heads up. The all drinks/elixir dispensed from the pack lose their magic/alcohol 1 day after leaving the pack. So you cant stockpile

Wasn't thinking of doing that, but ok.

I bought a copy of TinyDungeon 2e. Is there anything I should know or avoid before plumbing its depths for Blornvid's advancements (XP spending)?

not really. This is a high fantasy so anything that meshes with that from the settings should be ok or can be tweaked to be so, ex: shaman and psionics.

Lesse ...

Armor is being done differently, so its different than even the Advanced weapon and armor rules in the book.

Pure fighters don't have any great prestige traits, so custom traits are being worked on for that.

All of the traits listed, other than Armor Master should all be fine. Heritages are all different, too.

The mechanics of advancement are the same, too. (Using Experience Points on page 21.)

I'll migrate if the rest of my group is willing to go.

1) I don't want to clutter up any of the main threads with this discussion, so @daryen, how is the following gatehouse loot being divvied up?

30 pp; 160 gp; 900 sp; Full Plate (1500 gp); 4000 cp; Hourglass (25 gp); Silver Holy Symbol (25 gp)

2) I was planning on taking Weapon Mastery for the crossbow, but the recent discussion about Weapon Adept has me a little confused. Also, that Resolute trait seems really interesting. Thoughts?

what do you need clarified for Weapon Savant?
new traits posted here

Let's deal with the loot first. :-)

We gave away the Holy Symbol and Hourglass. That was just a calculation to try and put us in a good light with the Lady at a comparatively low price of 50GP. It sounded like everyone was on board, but if not, we can just give them to Skeeve and he'll gladly take the hit. I'm gonna assume we were all good with that.

On to the cash: 30 pp; 160 gp; 900 sp; 4000 cp. Divide that four ways and we get 7.5 pp; 40 gp; 225 sp; 1000 cp. I suggest that we simply round down the pp to 7 for Skeeve, Blornvid, and Ealdwig, and let Kaarik get 9 pp. That makes up for his part of the two items Skeeve gave away since he likely will be somewhere else and not benefit from the gifts. Assuming we convert the cp and sp into gold, we end up with:
7 pp; 72 gp; 5 sp for Ealdwig, Blornvid, and Skeeve
9 pp; 72 gp; 5 sp for Kaarik.

The big thing left here is the plate armor. It's worth an absolute mint at 1500 gp (or 375 per person). I originally recommended just leaving it behind because it probably isn't the easiest thing to smuggle out of there. But leaving it behind "cheats" Kaarik out of his share of the armor. Also, technically, I am not sure how much the Manor has claim over all of the stuff in the outlying buildings. Plus, I am not sure what the Manor's cash situation is. If they're hard up, that 1500 gp will be a huge help. (Particularly if we dump a bunch of refugees on them.)

How about this: let's give all of the pp to Kaarik, but keep the division of the other coins as mentioned above. This does short Kaarik a bit, but the trade off is that we don't have to drag the armor with us or worry about all of those other considerations, and he gets his cash now, no strings. So, I guess my final recommendation is this:
72 gp; 5 sp for Ealdwig, Blornvid, and Skeeve
30pp; 72 gp; 5 sp for Kaarik
plate armor still in gatehouse vault
Holy Symbol and Hourglass given to Sylfir

Oh, so Adept is the next level after Mastery?

Weapon Mastery -> Weapon Specialization -> Weapon Savant (4 techniques)

Weapon Adept is an technique of weapon savant that lets you have advantage on an entire category of weapons.

@Psybermagi: Interesting. But I think I'm going to go with the Resolute trait. The rulebook says that will grant Blornvid Advantage on all saves. Acceptable?
That works for me. I think we should make sure that Ealdwig/Arkmenos is good with that. That plate mail will likely go to the Manor, maybe as tribute or payment for the Gatehouse (besides our oath of loyalty).

Weapon Specialization is how you get entry into the actual Martial prestige traits. However, as far as gateways go, it's pretty cool.

With Specialization, you pick a weapon you have Mastery in. (For Blornvid, that's his axe.) Now, when you use that weapon, you get free focus. So, to hit in combat you get 3d6 *and* you only need to roll 4,5,6 to hit.

After Weapon Specialization, you then can take Weapon Savant. It has several options to choose from, but it boils down to getting four techniques that help you fight. So, for example, with Weapon Savant you can take Light Discipline and take two Martial Techniques. (One of the available Martial Techniques is Weapon Adept.)

I'll go make a summary post of this on the Base thread. Changed my mind, I'll just do it in his character thread.

Your choice so all good. Resolute might not be flashy but it really helps with thinks like not dying and stuff :)

And not getting poisoned!! It really helps with that, too!

what poison, there be no poison nonsense here . . . . at this time . . . . or place . . . . that you know of

Yeah, Resolute it is. All those frickin' spiders.

@Psybermagi @daryen

Hey guys,

I'm heading up to Maine Friday for my son's college graduation and a short vacation, and next weekend I have to pick up my daughter from her school. Which got me to thinking long term. Looking out for the next two to five months, things are looking a bit busy. I've decided that I should probably scale back my gaming a bit in the interum. Of the five games that I'm a player in, two are coming to end this month and the other two are slow enough that I only need to post once or twice a week. I still have the two games I'm GM-ing. That leaves Tiny Shattered Lands.

Seeing as how we seem to be in-between jobs right now, I think it might be a good time for Blornvid to head out to the Manor and see if he can get that forge working at the gatehouse. Get that place in working order, but off stage.

I've really enjoyed this game and the people I've had the pleasure of gaming with. This was my first GP game. Psybermagi, you've been great. I've learned a lot of PbP GM-ing by watching you. I don't want to quit and leave the game, but I think I should take a break for a while. Would it be ok to push Blornvid off stage for a bit but not retire him? I'd like to come back to it when things settle down on my end. If that doesn't work for what you've got planned, I understand.

Have fun. Blornvid can do as you say. Take a break and feel free to come back when you have time. I have one other long term game and totally understand the need for a break now and then. I doubt I could have keep things going without daryen stepping up. If you have time do an in game post telling the others Blornvids plans.

FYI : if you do not contact us every couple weeks I might remove you from the game (basic game house keeping) and archive Blornvid. If that happens you can still come back by just apply to the game or PM me or daryen.

Oh, I just realized!

Blornvid, at least temporarily, retires to the Gatehouse and sets things up. He can get the forge working and make it his. He can *also* whip out that backpack of his and set up the coolest bar in the area, too. Sylfir sets up a B&B in the main manor, then Blornvid sets up the Gatehouse as a dwarven pub! That is just so cool!

Ooo! Ooo!

You could just flat out turn the Gatehouse into an instance of Tiny Tavern!

Sounds fun!

Sounds good to me!

What sort of bimonthly contact would you like? I can post about what he's doing at the gatehouse here in this thread—I definitely don't want to clutter up any of the active game threads.

You can post here, the chat thread
If you want I can leave the base or manor thread open for you if you want to do it in character
Mostly it is just to remind you and me both that there is an ongoing game that is waiting for a PC
I understand life happens and some times you just need to step back a bit. However most players tha pause end up ghosting which is why I am asking for contact. As I said Blornvid can be archived and you can rejoin whenever but if players dont maintain contact I like to remove them from the game just to lighten the lists of things to track

Totally understand. And I've seen that here. Let's go with the Manor thread, unless you think that you're going to need it in the immediate future. I'll try to kick it off on Thursday. My kindle is better than my phone, but still way short of my keyboard.

Sounds like a plan.

I get the desire for a better/bigger keyboard. I really hate how autocorrect seems to mess with my mind so I don't always see its "corrections" until after I hit the post button. And then I still seem to miss a bunch. Spelling is not a strength of mine :P

The Manor is now in the Sidelines. Everyone can read it but only ForeverDED and DM can post there. The manor can be moved to the top for public access if other go there.

Feel free to post there at your convenience.