OOC Thread

This is for OOC conversations and questions

To start, do you want to use level 0 characters?
Those rules are not set in stone at all! If you have suggestions for anything, let me know!

Specifically looking for:
1. Level 0 Guidelines
2. House Rules
3. What you want to see in the game!

Sure, let's go crazy with the level 0 characters. If we're doin', let's do!

What we see is maybe a bit of a light game framework (nothing crazy there) so we can handle the funky character advancement stuff as an experiment. Other than that, I'm pretty good.

I'm not opposed to Experts receiving two additional skill proficiencies, nor Adepts getting two cantrips. I'm not experienced in 0-level characters to know a lot, but it basically sounds like each archetype is a minor Feat (Skilled and Magic Initiate, respectively). And Warrior sounds a bit like Weapon Master.

I think proficiency in simple weapons would be reasonable for the expert class so that they have something to do in combat other than hide.

Do we at some point graduate from level 0 and take a class?

In terms of a story, I think some kind of slum of a major city would be fun, where we are scraping to survive. Competing against ratmen and shit, maybe trying to start a criminal operation of some kind.

You will eventually graduate to a level 1 classed character.

Ok, how's this sound?

Expert: Proficiency in light armor and simple weapons, 2 skill proficiencies

Adept: proficiency in simple weapons, 2 cantrips from a single class

Warrior: proficiency in light and medium armor, simple weapons, and _ martial weapons (thinking either 3, 4, or all)

Upon graduating to level 1:
Experts end up having one more skill than appropriate for their class
Adepts end up with one more cantrips than normal
Warriors get ???

I'm basically trying to give you guys some sort of bonus (Aside from the extra HP that you get to keep) for starting at level 0 and working your way up :)

A slum wouldn't be a bad idea! Anyone else have an opinion?

Another option would be a frontier town at the beginning of a tumultuous change. Maybe some kind of gold rush type thing, only more fantasy-based - a recently discovered megadungeon or a gateway to a land of riches and danger. . Or, maybe war is on the horizon, or some other threat.

If we start a criminal organization it would be funny if we set it in Zakhara and called ourselves The Vipers in tribute of Naat's Al-Qadim game :)

HAH, that could be a fun twist Len! Even blend the two! We could be the vipers and we've discovered a megadungeon full of gold and mummies and spooky things oh my.

That would be truly entertaining lol

Speaking of megadungeons, I should probably toss you into one immediately!

"Level 0 Superstar looks on as the massive tarrasque in the pit licks its chops. With a heavy thud, it slams into the wall of the coliseum sending quakes through the structure. Ahyup. Baker by day, dead swordslinger by night. Just my damned luck. he mutters, staring down at his half-rusted short sword."

Level 0 proficiency @ +1, possibly? That way you get slightly more proficient when you bump to Level 1?

I was considering that as an option, yes, though even CR 0 commoners have a +2 proficiency bonus so I wasn't sure

Hmm, in that case, 2 would probably make sense. I'm kind of surprised they gave them a +2 prof as well. I'm good with either, really.

I think the idea of a dungeon being nearby is a fun idea. We would see all sorts of adventurers coming back with treasures, create a marketplace for services. We could even get hired on as hirelings haha, asked to mop up battles or soften up targets for a round or two. Carry loot back.

We could either grow up to become dungeon delvers or try to run a business that caters to the adventurer market. I could see working for a magic armour and weapons dealer that rents armour to adventurers. It might be our job to recover rented equipment when our customers perish.

That would be cool! I do really like the whole "go get our rented stuff back" line. The Recovery Squad. We offer programs where if you don't return by a certain time, we'll send people to recover your body and our gear.

Ohh! How about something like the Caves of Chaos from old-school? A bunch of different dungeons nearby, all supporting various different habitats with different creatures!

I'd figure Warriors could start with 3 martial weapons (similar to Weapon Master feat).

As for moving to level 1, I'm thinking that most players would pick one of the fighter classes if they started at Warrior, so they'd already get access to martial weapons. Not saying that's the only choice, of course, but if someone starts as a warrior it seems natural they'd stick to it. What if a Warrior instead gets expertise in one weapon of choice? This is a modification of the Weapon Mastery Feats from the UA: Feats article.

We could pick one weapon and one benefit from the feats and make that a graduation bonus. For example, a Warrior could pick one of the Fell Handed weapons (handaxe, battleaxe, greataxe, warhammer, or maul) and pick one of the benefits (+1 attack, knockdown chance on advantage, disadvantage bonus, or help bonus), and they would have this benefit whenever they used that specific weapon. It feels like an equivalent to one extra cantrip or one extra skill in terms of applicability, at least.

That sounds like a great solution to me!

Hmm... I can't imagine that any smart businessman would entrust the retrieval of magical items to zero-talent nobodies with no real training... no offense to your characters :P

Especially when they were probably lost when experienced adventurers died horrible deaths at the hands of monsters!

As far as other equipment, I'm trying to decide if I want to give a flat amount based on starting "class" or let you guys roll based on your "class"

True, we're 0-level. Maybe we're the ones renting the equipment?

Got some would-be adventurers, do we? :)

That sounds fantastic! Could use any number of dungeons as source material.
Well, we're not zero-talent nobodies. We have a few cantrips, some muscles. A bit better than nobodies. But we do have one HUGE advantage over level 1+ characters.

We are dirt cheap.

Seriously. It would cut into an equipment rental shop' bottom line pretty far if they had to pay real adventurers. Those guys expect payment in GOLD pieces. I mean, a third level adventurer won't get out of bed for less than 100gp. You can't run a business like that. Plus, adventurers are unscrupulous jerks. They're more likely to steal that suit of plate mail than hall it back for a few coins. We don't even use plate mail!

And if we die or get horribly maimed, well, that's no problem for our employer. He/she probably employs lots of street filth. Quantity over quality. The turnover rate is atrocious but its better than the mines. And maybe they provide some other service for us - training. Some old or crippled adventurers are on retainer to teach magical arts, swordsmanship, the art of stealth, etc. Improves the likelihood of our success and keeps us coming back. Really selling the job on the dream of becoming a true adventurer. I imagine these teachers are drunk off their asses and next to useless, a Haymitch from the Hunger Games style, but sometimes we glean a new spell or technique from them.

How about this: You are applying for a job, both for money and because there has been an uptick in the number of monster sightings nearby and the town is worried about an attack and wants intel. Before you can work for them, you must head out and prove that you are worth the coin that they're going to pay you for odd jobs here and there.

I'm cool with whatever. That sounds good :)

I like it.

I prefer milestone, and high magic because I feel for the casters.

I generally do too, to be honest. Perhaps it's because of the rolling for stats and money as well as running an old-school module that's making me feel nostalgic for XP. I'd probably end up hating it immediately, though lol

Definitely all about the milestone. It just feels more right (because XP management is a demon lord that should be slain in the abyss).

High magic because laserpewpew. :)

Miletone & high magic for sure!

---

As posted to the Absences Thread:

Milestone and high magic for me as well!

Thank you all for talking me out of XP! I get nostalgic sometimes, and then I realize why I hate it :P

For area, you will be located in a village of about 800 people called Teley. It is on the frontier, for sure. Located to the northwest is a mountain range (name pending). To the northeast are forests. A small stream runs through the center of town from the mountains.

That's about all I have so far for the setting! Should be lots of opportunities for adventure, I hope

I think Horatio would live on the outskirts of town in a slightly slumped over stone tower. It's held up magically, is actually quite stable, but looks a bit ramshackle.

I like it! Already added it to my draft of the town :)

Still waiting on Len and Jabes to submit characters. No rush, guys, just a status update.

Should be done tonight or tomorrow morning. Got hung up on inconsequential details.

Assuming I can submit before my trip (leaving in 12hrs) I won't be around to play. Sorry, guys! Maybe you can start without me and I can catch up?

Posted what I have so far for town!

Feel free to post any ideas here if you'l like to see something specific in town. I'd like to get at least one idea from each person :)

The Stone's Throw is a dwarven bakery specializing in travel breads and cookies. The brother and sister duo Balgrukki and Tharalsea Warbrow started their store as a means to supply long-lasting rations to wandering adventurers and anyone else that found themselves in Teley. While their "stone cookies" are loved by some and hated by others, no one can deny that this specialty is a Warbrow icon that can travel with the most serious of expeditions... including the return trip.

Love it! Added to the page :)

Any other ideas?

Working on some things, bit tight on time last couple of days. Definitely day dreaming about Teley :)

I want there to be a fighting pit in town, or just outside. I think of it being a dark, primitive place like the one in the first Conan movie. Maybe it's built in a big cave. There's probably a strong connection to the slaves there, and it might be linked to the local justice system, trial by combat type of thing.

That would be cool! I can't imagine they would allow it in town (unless it's in a warehouse that blocks out sound), but somewhere nearby for sure. Something that's out of sight of the regular populace, but close enough to be used in 'law enforcement', or just for adventurer's to prove their worth.

It would likely have some sort of competitive factor on top of being used for legal issues.

As per my absence post here, I'll be on vacation on the beach from March 31 - April 7 with unknown internet connectivity. Feel free to bot as needed!

Work on this has been a bit slow, so I offer my apologies! I promise I am still working on it, and will be happy to add things to town as we play and as you come up with ideas :)

So, this place that you're looking to be hired at will be a combination of a few things, kind of a jack-of-all-trades type of place. People can do a number of things there:

1. Purchase or rent equipment
2. Place ads for work
3. Take on jobs that have been posted
4. Get training from seasoned adventurers for a fee (reduced for members)

Anything else I should add to the list and any ideas for a name?

The Crossroads Club

Do they offer medical attention?

Name suggestion: The Ivory Stand of the Ebongarde.

I imagine that they probably have a priest there if someone needs healing. Most of the retired adventurers also probably know some first aid

Hi guys! Sorry for the long absence. I think you know what's next: I am sadly withdrawing from this game. A real shame, because I think this would have been so much fun! See you around, my friends!

Nooooo! We need a Jabes in this game :(

Well, since Jabes is leaving, we need to figure out a plan. A couple of ideas:

1. An NPC companion
2. Move on with three players
3. Get a new player

If we move on with number 3, should I go for an experienced GPer who we know will more than likely be consistent or should I go for the first person to ask?

This is a pretty experimental game. I think if we add a new player they will need to have more than a rudimentary understanding of D&D concepts.

I think we can run with a three-person party. Or, if we feel like a fourth is needed, we get a veteran. Consistency could be implied if they've already been around a while.

That was my initial thought, but I wanted to know your guys' feelings on the matter

I agree with CancerMan. If we end up needing a fourth, it should certainly be someone that has a good grasp of D&D mechanics in general and is willing to be flexible with them. Plus, the nice part about not being an established campaign, you can easily modify the difficulty of combat or non-combat encounters out of the gate, so 3 isn't horrible.

I also agree - three is good. Nothing to add except wheee! We're starting! I will post Seraphina's inaugural post in the game thread later tonight.

Going on vacation from April 18th to April 26th. Prep will be going on beforehand, and then rest and unpacking when I get back, so I probably won't be consistent from now until the 30th or so!

Hey, anybody interested in trying D&D Beyond? I've recently bought into the service with the full subscription, which allows me to share the digital books I've purchased with my players (Currently PHB and Xanathar's Guide). All you have to do is make a free twitch account and log into dndbeyond.com, you can connect to my account and read those books online, legally, for free.

Once you have your own account, use this link to hook up to my account

One of the most exciting features is the built-in character builder. Because I have the PHB and XGtE, you can make any kind of character that use those rules. The free accounts allow you to store up to 6 characters. Full disclosure, I think I can snoop in all of your character sheets.

I'm not planning on integrating this into any of our games that we play together at the moment. This is mostly just me sharing this thing so you guys can try it out if you're interested. In the future, I think I might use the dndbeyond character sheets for a GP game; they are super slick! Very easy to keep track of what items you're currently using, calculate encumbrance, keeping track of how many uses of an ability you have left, or spell slots. And it calculates everything. So, say you have dual wielder feat and you choose to wield two short swords - your AC automatically goes up by 1.

I heard an interview with one of the head guys on the project and it sounds legit. They are true D&D fans and seem to have full support from WoTC. There are many new features that are promised to be added in, and the price (they say) is not going to increase.

The price of buying all the books AGAIN in a digital format is pretty steep. I am able to do this because if you install the dndbeyond app on an iPad you can use iTunes GC's to buy D&D books, and I have hundreds of dollars of iTunes GCs because I taught a student whose parents worked for apple and every Christmas he gave me a huge iTunes GC. So, while I don't know if the pricing is worth it or not, it was basically free for me, so whatever. I'm only paying the master subscription with my own cash. I will likely be buying the rest of the core books, Volo's Guide, the SCAG, and maybe even the Tortle Package to use in D&D Beyond. After that, I might start buying new products digitally rather than pay for the hardcover books, since they're like 40% of the physical book price. So, you'll get access to that stuff too. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, I'm looking at you!

Just a heads up that at some point I might close up access to this to make room for some future game I run if I run out of space for them. In the meantime, enjoy!

I've also got Beyond with the master tier. :) I love love love it. I make all my characters (save for Feldty) with it before porting them over here.

Since I don't have a ton of call for face to face games, the digital options there have been great for me. I particularly like how the adventures play out. I e got the PHB, DMG, Xanathar's, player races from Volo's, a few things from SCAG, Tomb of Annihilation, Out of the Abyss, and the monster manual. :)

The only thing I dislike is the limited number of campaigns you can have there (I think only six), so I have to be sparing in sharing it out and such.

I would definitely be interested in trying it out! I've been considering it for a while, so this will be a good chance to check it out. Thanks for sharing, Len :)

For another link to play with, feel free to follow the instructions above, but you can join my campaign to view my library here.

I decided to make myself a black dragonborn paladin to hang around your campaign. ;)

Thanks Dramasailor :) I added a half-elf paladin/sorcerer to hang around yours!

As posted in the Absences thread, I'll be traveling from 04 June 2018 through 15 June 2018. I don't know how much wifi access I'll have, so consider my participation to be limited.

Hey everyone, I'll be camping from August 13-17th and unavailable for posting. When I return I will have guests until the end of August. I will be able to participate again, but my pace might be affected sporadically. Feel free to move my character forward any time.

As posted in the Absences thread, since there is the possibility that some do not follow that forum:

When we leveled up, I did not take a martial microfeat. I remember talking about it, and I know CancerMan selected Fell Handed: Maul and gets +1 on maul attacks. I recall asking about ranged weapons in regards to that but can't seem to find the discussion. Anyway, I went ahead and added a similar perk for Seraphina and slings, +1 to attack rolls. Is this okay?

100% approved :-)

This is awesome. Now when Drek tells us again about the cabin at that spot near the mountains, Seraphina and KV will make it 200 yards down the road before they both forget, instead of on the doorstep.

Now that we've played with this method of character creation a bit, how do you all feel about it so far?

I don't DISLIKE it. From a story perspective, it's a lot of fun. It doesn't play super well with the various online tools available, but that's a minor thing in the grand scheme. It does, in some ways, make it more difficult to keep track of what you should and shouldn't have. Live games it would be less bad I think, when the time between levels isn't so much of a gulf.

I find it to be an interesting thought experiment. I did plan out what attribute increase and feat I would pick at every level, which gave me a good idea of what to pick and when. However, I will add the caveat that I picked what is probably the easiest class to plan ahead with. Fighters have more ASI opportunities, which means more feats that have the potential to also bump up attributes.

As an example, here's what I have for KV:
0: 8 HP; Light, medium armor; 3 martial weapons: greatsword, maul, heavy crossbow
1: 20 HP; CON +1 (12); Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting; Second Wind; Fell Handed +1 Attack
2: 27 HP; STR +1 (13); Action Surge

3: STR +1 (14); Champion; Improved Critical
4: STR +1 (15); Feat: Heavy Armor Master (STR +1 = 16)
5: STR +1 (17); Extra Attack
6: STR +1 (18); Feat: Tavern Brawler (CON +1 = 13)
7: STR +1 (19); Remarkable Athlete
8: STR +1 (20); Feat: Durable (CON +1 = 14)
9: CON +1 (15); Indomitable
10: CON +1 (16); Fighting Style: Defense
11: CON +1 (17); Extra Attack (2)
12: CON +1 (18); Feat: Savage Attacker
13: CON +1 (19); Indomitable (2)
14: CON +1 (20); Feat: Mobile
15: WIS +1 (10); Superior Critical
16: WIS +1 (11); Feat: Sentinel
17: WIS +1 (12); Action Surge (2); Indomitable (3)
18: WIS +1 (13); Survivor
19: WIS +1 (14); Feat: Great Weapon Master
20: DEX +1 (10); Extra Attack (3)

I'm going to place this game on hold until Len returns

I completely understand. Keep us updated!

Makes sense!

I can't let this game go. Can we keep playing please?

Of course!

As some of you may have seen on the Discord server, things have changed a lot for me recently and I feel as if I no longer have the time to give all of my games the attention they deserve. I feel that it's now necessary to shut some of my games down and unfortunately this is one of them :(

I look forward to gaming with all of you in the future!