Character Creation and Leveling

This will be the forum we use for all things related to the creation and leveling up of your characters.

General Rules:
Stats - use one of the following choices (if, after you roll, you decide you don't like the results, you can choose one of the other options instead). The goal is to have clearly heroic characters, so I tend towards higher stats to start.
-> 2d6+6, reroll any 1s that show up once (if you get a 1 on your reroll, you keep it).
-> Point Buy (use 32 points as the option)
-> Good Array (16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 10)

Classes and Races - Anything from Wizards of the Coast is fine (Published information or Unearthed Arcana). If you are using Unearthed Arcana, the latest version of that option must be used.
*The one caveat to this is if you want to be a ranger, the Unearthed Arcana Ranger, Revised is what should be used. The base version in the book is hands down weaker across the board.

Variant Humans and Feats are acceptable in this game.

Backgrounds: Some changes to the backgrounds available in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and the PHB are required. For example, Outlander is not quite as possible, since there aren't any real Outlands. You can still have the benefit, we'll just work together on how to tweak it to fit the world.

HP: Max at first level. For subsequent levels, you can roll your HD as normal. If you roll under the average for your HD, you will take the average score:
1d6 - 4 HP minimum
1d8 - 5 HP minimum
1d10 - 6 HP minimum
1d12 - 7 HP minimum

So far, here's the character concepts I've talked with people about:
ae_dd running a Warlock
JoeCandels running a Cleric
thecton running a Bard


Feel free to plan here as a group and make your rolls for your stats and such.

Hey, are we allowed to do the purchase items option for our starting equipment?

Absolutely! Prices at character creation are as listed in the PHB. Once the game gets rolling, that may or may not be the case (some things will cost more, others will cost less).

I would like to get some type of gloves that allow for awesome punches for my melee. Like a Caestus

I'm thinking we could do a Caestus that would give you 1d4+STR unarmed strikes. Eventually I have some ideas for magic items that could be fun.

Is anybody going for anything 'beastly'? I wanna try the Aven from Amonkhet but I'm already muddling through enough verbal abuse for my Drow monk.

Speaking of magical items, what about magical darts?

I think right now we're looking at a human, a goliath, a firbolg, and a drow.

As for magical darts, I've got nothing against them in the game, though it's not likely something you'd start with. :) I'm pretty liberal with the creation of magic items, so long as they follow the complexity and rarity patterns of the existing items.

You will have the opportunity to commission pieces be crafted for some things and you may or may not be stumbling upon some extant items in your adventures.

Ok here goes

Rerolling ones

Ok so we have

13,15,14,14,12,14

Such op stats. I dislike rolling stats so will not be doing so. But i can roll with those caestus stats. May i ask to compromise for the damage, two handing them gives me.a.shiled. for +2 ac. Kinda like turning on a fighters reflexes.

I sent a barebones sheet of an Aven Fighter. Please do tell me what you think about it.

Wow an Aven.

Pretty darn cool.
I rearranged the rolls to best fit the concept. I usually like giving the roll method a shot. It turned out pretty good.

As for the Caestus, I'm ok with giving you a "Defend the Face" reaction option. So:

"Luchador's Defense" - As a reaction when you are hit by a melee attack, you can use your caesti(?) to act as a shield, granting you +2 AC on all melee attacks this turn (including the triggering attack).

The reason I'm not willing to go any more than that is if you want to do more punching and kicking damage: go monk. One item shouldn't totally replicate an entire class core mechanic. If later, you were to pick up a monk level or 2, the caestus would count as a monk weapon.

@JKL - at first glance through, it looks good. Thanks for including links to the various UA items you used.

I agree. I really wont be doing much punching anyway. Wrestlers grapple. :p i would love the +2 ac for melee. Thsts what would be most crippling with my planned style. Ranged and spells can have at me. *Randy Savage voice* Spoony dont caaaaaaare if they wanna hit me from far..... spooooony will close the gap with his might!!!

The game, as they say, is afoot! Head over here to get going!

Id like to hear more about this

I see.... ty. :)

Minor clarification on the Luchador's Defense option: it only would increase your reaction against melee attacks, rather than against all attacks.

Welcome to both Codega and Filthy_Casual!

For class, I still need to peruse the books for the juicy deets but I'm probably leaning towards something from the Xanathar books: Bard or Rogue (big surprise) caught my interest.

For race, I'm probably going to go variant or, with your approval, the tiefling variant from SCAG.

Hi guys, im a newly added player. I'm Thinking about a tabaxi monk or rogue. I haven't decided just yet. Which way would help out better?

@HypCo tiefling variant is totally fine. Next you'll be telling me the name will have Ry in the name somewhere.

Rogues and bards would both play really nicely. Marie Louise and Vlur are both a touch on the shadier side. :)

Haha, wouldn't that be weird!

So the party layout is Cleric, Warlock, and (N)PC Druid?

I went ahead and made a fighter ive been dying to play. I see a lot of casters here, so i thought id go eldritch knight at level 3 and tank. Sword and board, heavy armor. Hope to play soon!

OK now that I figured out how to roll on here, (easier than discord) here goes my character rolls!!

I will reroll ones but only once I believe that's your rules :)

Not bad, ok rerolling the two ones

So we have,
18, 15, 14, 14, 12, 11

Not a bad stack at all. :)

The dice roller can be a bit interesting, specifically when dealing with multiple dice of different sizes.

Currently, you cannot do 1d20+1d4, for example. You need to do 1d20, 1d4 and then we do the addition on the fly. I know Keleth is working on an update to the roller that I thought corrected this, but it isn't live yet.

Marie-Louise isn't shady.... Je bent zelf schaduwig!
ML is a very sweet girl with a slightly twisted view of the world... And as long as you can handle her speaking directly into your head you'll be juuuust fine, probably, maybe....

I like the bits where she is just messing with people by being a little voice in their heads.

I'll write up a back story for Stitch right away just drawing blanks right now, that's what my mid numbing work does, and Marie-Louise is quite the unique character, lol. I picture Wednesday from the adams family

Wednesday was indeed part of the inspiration, combined with the semi creepy parts of my own brain... And I'm looking forward to finding out what you guys are bringing to "the table"^^

Roll 'em up.

DM, would I be able to tie these in with the SCAG variant?

Final:
17, 16, 14, 14, 13, 13

Absolutely yes Hyp.

Im ready to join in, feel free to weave me in when and how you see fit. If someone has the time to fill me in on the basics, (such as the coloured font/bold font) im sure I can figure most of it out but just a quick note so I can jot down the basics would be cool

In terms of etiquette and things like that, there are a few things that I've found to be pretty common throughout play-by-post games:

Character actions are posted in unadorned plain text.
Your speech is done in bold text.
Internal thoughts are handled through italics. I've seen some folks use colored and italics for this to help differentiate.
Telepathy and the like ML has been using Crimson Bold Italics to differentiate
I do information about the spell I am casting or the actual game mechanic I am using in red font. I also try to include a link to the spell in the post, just a quirk of mine so I can get to the spell details quicker.
Anything out of character is posted using the OOC tags.

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In general, I have a block of information I put at the bottom of my character's posts in combat that I keep in a google doc for quick access:

Casting silence.
1st 4/4 | 2nd 3/3 | 3rd 2/2
39/39 HP | 13 AC | Inspiration 0 | Wild Shape 2/2
Currently Prepared ([*] indicates a ritual spell):
1 - [Heal in Wild Shape form - 1d8], Goodberry, Ice Knife, Create or Destroy Water
2 - [Heal in Wild Shape form - 2d8], Heat Metal, Moonbeam, Locate Animals or Plants [*], Barkskin
3 - [Heal in Wild Shape form - 3d8], Water Breathing [*]

This lets me capture the mechanics I'm using that round, my spell slots available, my HP, AC, special features, etc, as well as my current prepped spell list (for casters only, obviously :) )

Looks like this in text form (remove the '/' character in the first tag to make it work):

[co/lor="red"]Casting [u/rl=http://engl393-dnd5th.wikia.com/wiki/Silence][/i]silence[/i][/url].[/color]
[co/lor="blue"]1st 4/4 | 2nd 3/3 | 3rd 2/2[/color]
[co/lor="teal"]39/39 HP | 13 AC | Inspiration 0 | Wild Shape 2/2[/color]
[co/lor="tomato"]Currently Prepared ([*] indicates a ritual spell):
1 - [Heal in Wild Shape form - 1d8], Goodberry, Ice Knife, Create or Destroy Water
2 - [Heal in Wild Shape form - 2d8], Heat Metal, Moonbeam, Locate Animals or Plants [*], Barkskin
3 - [Heal in Wild Shape form - 3d8], Water Breathing [*][/color]


I do not expect you all to do it to this level! I do ask that you keep track of your current HP, modified AC, and special abilities in some way that's easy for you and easy for me to also see. :)

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In terms of things that make it go smoother, a lot of times in live games, people will wait to roll damage until after seeing if the hit lands. To speed up PBP games, it's common to include both the attack and damage in one set of rolls:

Rogue Rapier Stab with sneak attack: 1d20+5, 1d8+3, 1d6.

This will let the DM grab your damage right away if it hits, or they can ignore it if it's a miss.

Spoilers are very useful for things like speaking in other languages (so other players can read it if they have the language or can skip it if they don't have it). Also useful from a DM perspective for things like perception rolls:

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With regards to the GamersPlane dice roller, there are some things to be aware of (examples included as rolls on this post):

The system doesn't currently allow for adding dice rolls together (such as 1d10+1d4). If you type in a roll like that in the dice roller, you will end up with 1d10+1 and a second roll of 1d4.

You can put multiple rolls in a single line, very helpful for advantaged rolls:

Advantage Attack Roll: 1d20+5, 1d20+5, 1d8+3

Reroll Aces is from other game systems where you "explode" the die when it gets its maximum value. So if you were to roll a 1d6 with reroll aces, and you got a 6, it would reroll the 6 and add the new dice to the total in addition to the 6. Example below.

Thank you i appreciate all that information, and I'll do my best to keep it up to par. If there's something I'm messing up on or missing, please point it out so that I can correct it!

It'll all shake out into a habit soon enough. :) I'll get you written in soonish, just need to figure out a good way. I've got a pretty solid idea, just waiting to get all of HypCo's details to make sure both write-ins work well.