OOC Discussion

Here's the thread for Out of Character discussion of the game.

Hey! Thanks for having me!

Been playing for a few years, relatively new to 5E, primarily a 3.5/pathfinder background but I think I'll hang in there just fine.

I'll give the history thread a good read over after I get off work today before I'm ready to discuss any character ideas.

Of course!

I played tons of 3.5 before moving to anything else. 5e is much simpler, but isn't quite so far apart from it as 4e was.

Is anyone else here new to 5e? Does anyone need an explanation for how to build a character?

Also, just in case it wasn't considered, as you'll be explorers, 1 or 2 people having skill with Cartographer's Tools would be handy.

Glad to be part of a new group. I am an AD&D vet who has been playing 5e now for a bit. Never tried any in between. I have a warlock with dex so can do all the non combat thief duties. Also have a clerics on hand if the party needs that more.

Thanks for all of the details in the other threads.

I started on AD&D, too, but that was so long ago and I was pretty young.

Not a problem, though! World building is tons of fun, but all of you are welcome to add your own details, locations, myths, lore, etc. Feel free to have your character be familiar with some of the important figures, if it's applicable. Also, let me know if there are any questions about what I wrote.

Thanks for letting me on! I'm a regular GM with a weekly game for some newbies running Phandelver. I've done play-by-post in middle school, but nothing since, so I might be rusty.

I'm hoping to do a Dwarf Bard to buff rather than fight as much. If we're wanting to be more optimized, I can switch up my character more towards that end. And I'll take the rest of my character ideas to the thread for that.

Yeah, of course! Glad you're here. I haven't done play by post in a while either, at least not on a forum (I run something chat based though, which is pretty similar), so I wouldn't be worried about being rusty. We'll all figure it out :)

As far as my thoughts on optimization, I'll curve the encounters to the capability of the characters. If the group is extremely powerful, then I'll make the fights harder, and if they're not, then I'll be more standard in how I build them. In short, play the character that you want to play. If you have more fun being optimized then do that, and I'll adjust accordingly. If you're looking for something more roleplay focused, then there's plenty of that here, as it is my preferred style, and you'll be just fine.

Thanks for having me here! :-)

By way of introduction, I'm Jabes. I'm from Manila, Philippines (GMT+8). Besides the time zone difference I also keep odd work hours as I am a chef running my own cake business. We like making geeky cakes. Here's one, and here's another. :-)

I was introduced to D&D almost 30 years ago (AD&D back then) and to this day I still play with the same group of guys, my best friends. We played 3.5E when that came out and spent 10 years on a campaign, skipped 4E, and recently started a 5E campaign. I'm fairly new to PbP, having only discovered GP earlier this year. It's been fun trying out new game systems and character concepts I would never have gotten off the ground in my IRL games.

Whenever I play I try to do something new. Sometimes that means something a little unconventional, but other times that just means something I myself have never tried before. For this game I think it might be the latter.

I'm thinking of playing a ranger with the acolyte background. I'd like to give the Revised Ranger a spin, and take the Deep Stalker archetype at 3rd Level. :-)

I'm also considering taking the Crossbow Expert feat as that's something I've never tried before. There seems to be a lot of debate about this feat's usage so I'm trying to read up on it.

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Some questions for our DM (yes, I have read through your post on house/variant rules):

1. For this game will we be using grid maps, or theater of the mind?

2. Which (if any) of the optional Combat Options from the DMG are you implementing?
*Climb onto a bigger creature – DMG 271
*Mark – DMG 271
*Disarm – DMG 271
*Overrun – DMG 272
*Shove aside – DMG 272
*Tumble – DMG 272
*Cleaving through creatures – DMG 272
*Hitting Cover, Lingering Injuries, Massive Damage, Morale – DMG 272

I am equally ok with all, some or none of the above being in play. I just want to know how you intend to run things. In the past I made the mistake of creating a character based on a certain concept and it got approved but in the end the character felt blah because of having been limited by the rules (which I hadn't thought to ask about in the beginning) he couldn't do many of the things I had envisioned him doing. Thanks!

Looking forward to this adventure with you guys! Cheers!

Of course! Glad to have you. Happy to see that the time zone difference didn't keep you from joining in time.
Introductions are a good idea. Those cakes look amazing! That beholder is spot on. As far as introducing myself, I'm Matt. Feel free to use Matt or Momo, Mo, GM, whatever you like. Since getting out of the Army, I've been going back and finishing school. I first played a tabletop RPG 20 years ago, got really into it 12 years ago, and even more so in the past 6 years as a GM. I worked at a Dermatology private practice for a good while, but now I'm trying to get into a grad program with the end goal of being a Biology teacher. Here's a picture of my old army job, though not as awesome as beholder cake: I'm on the right.
I'm pretty open with the sort of concepts I allow, so feel free to try anything and I'll do my best to work with you on it.
I think I might've told you this already, but I'm a big fan of their changes to the Ranger. I'm also a big fan of Deep Stalker, not to mention how appropriate it is for this game! Sounds like a great idea.
The feat is very, very good. Here's my understanding: When you make the Attack Action with a one-handed weapon, you can use a Bonus action to make an additional attack. This is not an additional Attack Action, only an attack, and thus it is only one strike. So if you have a level 5 Deep Stalker Ranger, you can make two attacks with a one-handed weapon (which could even be the same hand crossbow, since you ignore the Loading property) by using your Attack Action (with the Extra Attack class feature) and then use your Bonus Action to make a third attack with the same or different hand crossbow.

That's how I'll run it, anyhow.
These are questions that I wish I'd thought to answer, so I'm glad you're bringing them up! :)
I was pondering that myself. Theater of mind is easier, and I don't mind running it that way, but I know that some people prefer grid maps. I've got a subscription to Roll20 with plenty of tile sets that I can use to build good cavernous maps, but it might mean slower posting when maps are required. What would everyone prefer?
So, Shadow of the Colossus is probably my favorite video game of all time, so of course I'm allowing climbing onto bigger creatures! From this list, though, I will accept all of them except for Massive Damage and Morale. I feel like Massive Damage is a death sentence for level 1 characters. I've added these to the list of variants with their book explanations for anyone that doesn't have the DMG to look them up. Check on it so that you know your options! As far as Lingering Injuries go, I'm going to be pretty conservative in my use of them. I won't be throwing them on people with every critical hit or upon failing a Death Saving Throw. I'll probably use them if you drop to 0 HP, or if you suffer significant environmental damage (such as breaking your leg from a fall).
Of course! Looking forward to it, too!

I personally love theatre of the mind and use it most often in my games. My only PbP games have used that as well, though were much less structured with their rules. My vote is for theatre of the mind.

Would work for me if that's what the preference is :)

When you really really want us to see something special, it would be nice to give us a map or image, but we don't need grids IMHO.
If we have the urge to do a real time Roll20 session some day, it would be great to talk to everyone too, perhaps as a one off or special event.

Jabes, the crossbow expert feat sounds like great fun. And those cakes are awesome. Too bad they wouldn't make the trip to the US.

This sounds like a solid compromise for me. I do plan on using a good bit of images, even if they're just pictures of dark and creepy hallways, or images of beasts once you get a good look at them. Mostly I'll be relying on description though. For the big, important fights, or if a fight's positioning is especially complicated, then I'll make a map for it to just show off for the initial start of the fight. If I feel it's necessary, anywho.
I wouldn't be opposed, if people wanted to, and if we could schedule it.

I uploaded a new version of the map with a couple more mountains, rivers, a few more towns, and I used some colored pencil to denote territories, buuuut that just made it look messy. Still, it's probably more informative that the last one, even if it looks worse.

Might redo it sometime.

So, the work that has been keeping me busy lately is going really well. That in mind, I should probably be able to start the game sooner than previously expected. Likely by the time you guys are done with characters, I'll be ready.

Please let me know if there's any other way that I can help, such as world information that you'd like more detail on, rules clarifications, and the like. Thanks, guys! Very excited to see this group play out.

I'm glad you like the cakes, XOSkel10 and MoMo! Thank you for the kind words. :-)

MoMo, from the Army to Dermatology, to grad student and Biology teacher, that's some real breadth of experience!

Glad to "meet" you both! And you too, Tarrasque and IndustrialQueue! I hope we won't find Tarrasque's namesake down in those dungeons! :-D

Only done half of that so far, but yeah, I'm working on it!
Nice to meet you too. A Tarrasque in the Underworld is a pretty terrifying thought. How'd it get down there? Maybe it'd be better if it was confined to a small space, though.

The first post is up. Let me know if you guys need any more information; I'm not always the clearest.

HOW DOES ONE PUT PICTURE ON THIS?!?! IT REFUSES ME!

Haha, it is kind of difficult. There's a guide for it in the Guides section of the forum. I upload to dropbox, but you have to change the img url a little for it to work.