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Lurdiak posted:Right, so I've got my Planescape Sigil adventure all planned. The party's going to be escorting a shift half-orc as he smuggles a big chest from one portal to another. They're going to run into thieves, then the second portal won't be where it was supposed to be, and then a drat Mercykiller true believer's gonna show up. The thing is, the party doesn't know what's in the chest, and it's something that's both nasty and really shouldn't be in Sigil, even for a brief amount of time. The only issue is... I can't decide what it should be. Something alive, probably, but what? Ideally it should be something so taboo that it could conceivably draw the attention of The Lady. I want these characters to freak the heck out and consider jumping into the nearest portal outta town. A piece of a God.
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Mar 10, 2018 19:04
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Splicer posted:Go two levels of rogue for cunning action, then straight bard. Which bard you think? The only hold up for this though is that the group looks like it will already have two bards out of three to maybe four PCs. I don't know what we'd do with a full party of essentially bards.
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Mar 10, 2018 19:56
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Dameius posted:Which bard you think? The only hold up for this though is that the group looks like it will already have two bards out of three to maybe four PCs. I don't know what we'd do with a full party of essentially bards.
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Mar 10, 2018 20:08
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Its a new-to-DnD GM. I couldn't do that to him.
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Mar 10, 2018 20:20
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MonsterEnvy posted:A piece of a God. An entire god, trapped by a rival and being sold as a power source to a group of unscrupulous wizards (as if there are scrupulous wizards).
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Mar 10, 2018 21:36
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Enola Gay-For-Pay posted:An entire god, trapped by a rival and being sold as a power source to a group of unscrupulous wizards (as if there are scrupulous wizards). You could lift some of the atropol stuff from Tomb of Annihilation, just make it medium sized instead of huge.
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Mar 10, 2018 21:44
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Alternatively, it's Anti-Divine in nature. It's super dangerous to have in Sigil because it's basically infringing on the Lady's right to deny the gods, but it's also super dangerous to leave alone because all sorts of bad folks would do anything to have something like that.
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Mar 10, 2018 21:51
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Lurdiak posted:Right, so I've got my Planescape Sigil adventure all planned. The party's going to be escorting a shift half-orc as he smuggles a big chest from one portal to another. They're going to run into thieves, then the second portal won't be where it was supposed to be, and then a drat Mercykiller true believer's gonna show up. The thing is, the party doesn't know what's in the chest, and it's something that's both nasty and really shouldn't be in Sigil, even for a brief amount of time. The only issue is... I can't decide what it should be. Something alive, probably, but what? Ideally it should be something so taboo that it could conceivably draw the attention of The Lady. I want these characters to freak the heck out and consider jumping into the nearest portal outta town. One of the Lady's seven true names. The source code for Sigil's day/night cycle. Instructions for building those weird pictogram-speaking whatchamacallums that maintain the place. The true location of Sigil, encrypted and encyphered*. The Creator of the Multiverse's personal notes on creating multiverses. Useless to anyone who's not a Creator of Multiverses, but also evidence that gods have gods. *Like, hidden in an ancient tomb and also written down in code. The chest is the portal to the tomb, which is a very dangerous dungeon. The code is unbreakable without building a skeleton computer bigger than the multiverse (perhaps because it was initially encoded by a skeleton computer that was merely the size of a universe, which was sealed off from everything else afterwards, which is why there's an elemental plane of skeletons but nobody's ever heard of it). Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Mar 10, 2018 |
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Mar 10, 2018 21:54
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I have a quick question about the flavor behind classes in 5e, and whether a given concept is appropriate for a given class. Obviously the real arbiter of that is gonna be "ask my DM, see if it makes sense within their understanding of the setting", but I was hoping to get a sense check on whether it's a possibility worth bringing up The rough character concept I've got is a human girl with strong arcane potential who was kidnapped as an infant by a tribe of shitfarming goblins. The goblins raised her as one of her own in the hopes of building her up to become a magical superweapon that could defeat incoming adventuring parties and maybe even sack some nearby villages. That didn't quite work out - even though she grew up loyal to the tribe and came to see most humans as cruel and callous oppressors, one low-level caster isn't actually nearly enough to turn the tide. The tribe got attacked by some seasoned adventurers, she was too scared to consider fighting to the death, the adventurers mistook her for a confused and traumatized captive, and pretty much the whole tribe except her got wiped out or put to flight. From there, she's lived on her own for a couple years on the fringes between human society and wilderness, having become sorta disillusioned with the futility of the glorious goblin revolution she was meant to led but still carrying a strong personal sense of "stick up for the little guy" justice. The initial campaign hook involves helping a hamlet cast off the increasingly oppressive influence of an army of religious zealots, so she fits right in even if she's gonna be maybe coming at it from a different angle than the other PCs The question, then, is what classes can reasonably represent that concept. The things I'm most excited about with the character in roleplaying-meets-mechanics terms are A) trying to play a high-charisma character that barely speaks any Common (if at all), and B) playing someone who gradually comes to terms with the fact that her powerful innate magical talent doesn't mean she has to bear the world on her shoulders alone. Sorcerer seems like an obvious choice - the heritage that the goblin tribe's shaman was able to sense was draconic heritage. If that's what I end up playing, I don't mind at all - they seem like a powerful class in 5e, and one with plenty to do given that they're primary casters. Would Bard make any sense with this concept, though? They've been my favorite class since 2e, everyone says they're powerful and versatile as gently caress in 5e, and I feel like their jack-of-all-trades nature fits well for a character who spent her early life trying to be everything to everyone around her, and who's had to live by her own wits for the last while. The trick is whether the way that Bardic magic works makes sense at all for her backstory, and I can't parse the PHB fluff well enough to have a strong opinion on that. There's stuff about perceiving the fundamental fabric of the universe as patterns and melodies - which like, cool, I can absolutely work with that - but I can't tell how much of that is meant to represent an inborn knack vs. how much is meant to represent studying at a bardic college What do you guys think? Anything that helps me wrap my head around this question is appreciated, really, whether it's a definitive answer on which class to go with or just some advice on how to better frame the question. Thanks in advance, tradgoons
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Mar 10, 2018 21:58
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What should I know about GM'ing adventure league compared to how I normally run poo poo which is a lot faster and looser (if it makes sense/you have a cool idea/the concept works, go for it, etc.)
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Mar 10, 2018 22:10
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Jenny Angel posted:I have a quick question about the flavor behind classes in 5e, and whether a given concept is appropriate for a given class. Obviously the real arbiter of that is gonna be "ask my DM, see if it makes sense within their understanding of the setting", but I was hoping to get a sense check on whether it's a possibility worth bringing up Mechanics and lore should be made to work for the players, in my opinion, not the other way around. That means that if the Bard is what mechanically interests you and you just think it's a neat class to play but it doesn't fit your chracter concept perfectly - just say that it does fit it perfectly after all. Stretch, reskin, and ignore the flavor that doesn't fit. You want to have your bardic magic be some innate thing instead of a performative skill honed by practice? Just say it is. Unless your DM is very strict, they shouldn't have a problem with this.
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Mar 10, 2018 22:13
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Lurdiak posted:Mechanics and lore should be made to work for the players, in my opinion, not the other way around. This. Objecting to this class stuff is innate to my character, rather than learned isn't "strict DMing", it's "has a fanwiki where their imagination is supposed to be".
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Mar 10, 2018 22:58
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Plus Bardic colleges are one of those things that get mentioned a bit here and there, but I don't really know any setting that actually did anything with them. Most Bard characters I've seen players come up with in games either had a natural talent for magic or learned it master-apprentice style. Personal fluff: I've always liked the idea of Bard magic being sort of Tolkien-ish "mastering a mundane craft to the point that you're so awesome at it the stuff you can do may as well be magic." It's not really system-supported but I like the idea of it being something you have to study, but you study it through looking at the natural world and crafts such as singing, acting, storytelling and perfecting them to supernatural heights, which is why Bardic magic just doesn't seem to follow the "rules" about what you can and cannot cast as a wizard/cleric/sorcerer etc.
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Mar 10, 2018 23:13
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Jenny Angel posted:I have a quick question about the flavor behind classes in 5e, and whether a given concept is appropriate for a given class. Obviously the real arbiter of that is gonna be "ask my DM, see if it makes sense within their understanding of the setting", but I was hoping to get a sense check on whether it's a possibility worth bringing up Grab a background that feels right. Haunted One or Outlander look right down your alley. Note that backgrounds are explicitly mix-and-match, the set ones are suggestions, so feel free to swap out skills that don't make sense or take "Goblin" as your haunted one language.
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Mar 10, 2018 23:40
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The divide between "the DM is the one who's in charge of ALL the setting, ALL of it, you just play in it" and "players should make up their own additions to the setting to best fit their characters and help make the setting more 'theirs'" has been a divide in D&D's fanbase more or less since the dawn of time. The former has been the default for so long that a lot of players literally don't even know you CAN play it that second way. Hell, I'm in a group now and I'm watching that happen; looking at a guy who's only really ever played 3e and 5e with other D&D only vets, and asking him what the species he's playing as generally thinks of something, and he suddenly gets real deer in the headlights and goes "I dunno! You never told me!" and straight up doesn't understand when I tell him "yeah, 'cause I want YOU to make it up!"
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Mar 10, 2018 23:41
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Through the efforts of myself and the good GM, we've managed to drag the players out of their shells in that respect. Now almost everyone jumps at the chance to name a place, or make up a fact about something. It makes for such a better game, forget those GMs that want everything established down to the tiniest detail.
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Mar 10, 2018 23:46
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Thanks for the advice and reassurance, everyone! That kind of "roll with what players want, let them refluff mechanics to support their character concepts as required" approach is definitely what I've taken with my own DMing, but I wasn't really sure whether it'd be the sort of thing that's considered okay to broach with another DM who hasn't explicitly mentioned that kind of principle already. I'll bring it up - if the response is too dogmatic of a refusal, that might be a good sign for me to politely withdraw interest in the game
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Mar 11, 2018 00:21
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Jenny Angel posted:Thanks for the advice and reassurance, everyone! That kind of "roll with what players want, let them refluff mechanics to support their character concepts as required" approach is definitely what I've taken with my own DMing, but I wasn't really sure whether it'd be the sort of thing that's considered okay to broach with another DM who hasn't explicitly mentioned that kind of principle already. I'll bring it up - if the response is too dogmatic of a refusal, that might be a good sign for me to politely withdraw interest in the game For me, if I was starting with a new group, it'd be a (small) red flag if this sort of thing wasn't explicitly discussed before the game. If nothing else, because it prevents people getting frustrated with each other. Also, that's the point where the DM that I really really don't want to play with either tells me to read a massive fanwiki for setting details, or dumps their original-setting-do-not-steal (because it's also the outline of their original-novel-do-not-steal) documents on the table.
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Mar 11, 2018 00:29
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Jenny Angel posted:I have a quick question about the flavor behind classes in 5e, and whether a given concept is appropriate for a given class. Obviously the real arbiter of that is gonna be "ask my DM, see if it makes sense within their understanding of the setting", but I was hoping to get a sense check on whether it's a possibility worth bringing up I really like this concept, and think it would make a great bard. Take your expertise in things like Survival or Athletics that you would pick up living with a tribal society, and maybe go Lore bard and pick up some Druid spells for that "wilderness" flavor. You can flavor your music as tribal stuff, or sort of a weird primal melody emerging from your background. A dip in Warlock like the person above suggested would be pretty neat too, and could get you some neat tricks. But I agree, play what you want and flavor it how you like, and if your GM isn't into it he needs a better imagination and you should join my game instead.
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Mar 11, 2018 00:39
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Lurdiak posted:The only issue is... I can't decide what it should be. Something alive, probably, but what? Ideally it should be something so taboo that it could conceivably draw the attention of The Lady. I want these characters to freak the heck out and consider jumping into the nearest portal outta town. Its a living priest of Aosakar. http://www.rilmani.org/timaresh/Aoskar
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Mar 11, 2018 01:55
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RC Cola posted:Anyone have some fun simple backstories for a fighter or paladin? In addition to what other people have said, you can also use this site to get some ideas: http://whothefuckismydndcharacter.com Just hit refresh a lot until something appeals to you.
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Mar 11, 2018 02:20
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FRINGE posted:Its a living priest of Aosakar. AlphaDog posted:One of the Lady's seven true names. OutsideAngel posted:Gods are still banned in Sigil, right? MonsterEnvy posted:A piece of a God. Enola Gay-For-Pay posted:An entire god, trapped by a rival and being sold as a power source to a group of unscrupulous wizards (as if there are scrupulous wizards). Mr. Maltose posted:Alternatively, it's Anti-Divine in nature. It's super dangerous to have in Sigil because it's basically infringing on the Lady's right to deny the gods, but it's also super dangerous to leave alone because all sorts of bad folks would do anything to have something like that. Splicer posted:A big shielded box of artefacts and relics, clearly stolen. Anyone with an appropriate background or training can tell there's literal god tier stuff in there. Unfortunately one of those gods is Aoskar. Splicer fucked around with this message at 12:24 on Mar 11, 2018 |
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Mar 11, 2018 12:22
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Splicer posted:Assuming it's just someone smuggling something through Sigil for convenience, there needs to be a reason why the convenience of Sigil outweighs the dangers of taking it briefly through Sigil. Since nobody outside of Sigil gives a crap about Aoskar, the story focus goes from "Oh god we're hosed" to "Why is this even here?" In the now, Priest had to speak with Fell (who is strangely immune to immediate death sentencing or mazing), and then needed to be exfiltrated quietly and without high-key attention. As far as "sense" goes, its as good as a scrub orc smuggler being trusted with (and in turn trusting low level PCs with) a living god.
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Mar 11, 2018 12:37
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Re: Paladin and Fighter Lore. I play my Paladins as squires of X order until level 5. Until then they're on a pilgrimage to find their very own mount of insert rare or magical beast here. Then at level 5 I actually play out the ritual for a few seconds at a long rest. I set out an offering, approach the creature without my weapons and armor, etc. My favorite Fighter origin is to crib from Samurai Jack and have your character be someone thrown halfway across the continent on the cusp of victory. Your primary goal is to find a way home, and unless you find the specific style of sword/bow/spear you trained with at home weapons are just off enough to be uncomfortable.
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Mar 11, 2018 20:20
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RC Cola posted:Anyone have some fun simple backstories for a fighter or paladin? For Fighter... 1. Similar to Razorwired's, the fish out of water. You're from a foreign culture, whether a far distant kingdom or a demihuman enclave or whatever, entering the larger world for the first time to retrieve something of personal or cultural value, or elude an enemy from back home. This is a cool Fighter one because Fighters tend to be gear-heads, and you can get really into describing your exotic arms and armor. 2. Warrior without a war. Whether because you're a veteran of a recently-ended decade-long conflict, or a gladiator from a country where bloodsport was just outlawed, you're a guy or gal who knows one thing (slinging sword/spear/axe) and your trade is no longer viable. Adventuring is a decision borne of economic desperation. Goes really well with the "too old for this poo poo" or "guy who's seen too much" type warriors. 3. Five Great Masters. This is a cool one if you're playing a fighter because you're way into the whole kensei-style "master of the sword/spear/whatever" archetype. You're the most promising student of an aging master who tells you that he has nothing left to teach you; to truly understand the secrets of the blade, you'll have to seek the other four great masters. These can all become adventure hooks, NPCs, or antagonists in the game later, and is a particularly fun one if your DM is into it. For Paladin... 1. You're a Paladin of the goddess of love. You prefer fine clothing to heavy plate, and select your arms and armor for their beauty and style. You have a zest for life, instead of being a grim champion or conservative blowhard, and think the best way to increase the net good in the world is to spread joy, beauty, and fun. You hit the road because you're looking for your own Queen (or King) of Love and Beauty. Goes well with the Oath of Ancients, thematically, fun if you wanna roleplay a good-natured Lothario (don't be a creep). 2. You're a Paladin of the god of wisdom. You're more interested in books than horses and swords, and you stick to comfortable gear that isn't ostentatious; your secondary weapon might be a quarterstaff or something, so you don't have to carry a big axe all the time. You think that knowledge and creative invention will lead to happiness and progress for all. You're trying to find the missing books of your holy scripture, a thing you believe exists because of your research, that you imagine will usher in a century of progress in thought and theology. 3. You're a poo poo Paladin. That is, an ethically poo poo one. Until very recently you were a bad person - a bandit, mercenary, or enforcer for a thieves' guild - who was good at fighting, but lousy at being a human being. But a recent tragic death - the loss of your one true love, your pious brother, or your dear old mum - has set your moral world in a tailspin; you know that they went to heaven, and if you don't change your ways, you're goin to hell. So you're swearing oaths and trying to stick to the straight and narrow, but temptation is right around every corner, and even a Paladin gets to party once in a while, right?
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Mar 11, 2018 22:40
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Reminder that 5e paladins are beholden to no alignments and their power doesn't come from gods. They don't even need to be religious. They are powered by
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Mar 11, 2018 22:45
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Finally I can make the Libertarian Paladin I always wanted to.
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Mar 11, 2018 22:48
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Conspiratiorist posted:Reminder that 5e paladins are beholden to no alignments and their power doesn't come from gods. They don't even need to be religious. Eh, yeah, but I think the religious stuff can be a useful tool. I think "let's start with the god of magic/art/time/disease/whatever and see where that thought takes me" is a really handy way to come up with a quick, comprehensible background for a divine character that isn't a boring stereotype. D&D players have a bizarre preoccupation with writing gargantuan, diverse pantheons, and then any time a religious character comes up they just default to our own stereotypes about medieval Christians. Baku fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Mar 11, 2018 |
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Mar 11, 2018 22:55
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I prefer boring stereotypes because it gives the chance to develop a sensible character identity, rather than players unwittingly shoehorning themselves into dumb gimmicks. Gimmicks that might not even be supported by the system, much to their dissatisfaction during the dice-rolling parts of D&D. People also seem to have a phobia of seeming 'generic'; hell, I had a DM point out that it was refreshing to see my paladin was just a young lad that answered the call to adventure and tries to do the right thing. Apparently that's something he had never seen before in years of running multiple games a week.
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Mar 11, 2018 23:05
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Splicer posted:Same for all of these, except maybe the last one. If you're just trying to get them from point A to point B why would you smuggle any of those through Sigil rather than do literally anything else? Smuggle them into Sigil to wreck the place, yes, but that's very different to the story Lurdiak's describing. My interpretation of the setting was that the city of doors was often the only (or only viable) way to get from point A to point B, even when it's an obviously bad idea. But I've never stuck super close to setting guides so I'm not gonna argue if someone wants to tell me that whatever sourcebook says otherwise. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Mar 12, 2018 |
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Mar 12, 2018 00:28
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Conspiratiorist posted:I prefer boring stereotypes because it gives the chance to develop a sensible character identity, rather than players unwittingly shoehorning themselves into dumb gimmicks. Gimmicks that might not even be supported by the system, much to their dissatisfaction during the dice-rolling parts of D&D. Paladin of a Concept is a 2 edition old thing at this point. Its only snowflakey if you think Dragonborn are snowflakey. My paladin is a rebel commander. His god has come up maybe twice in 5 levels. The thing that defines him and makes him do foolish heroic things is that he believes in a free kingdom more than anyone, more than the people leading the rebellion even. Its a story done to the point of cliche that you can do with a knight in shining armor type. It just doesn't involve a god.
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Mar 12, 2018 00:32
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I like playing characters who are legitimately out adventuring. They're out to have a good time, and at this point in time the most interesting thing going on is climbing into a hole to murder a manticore and maybe get a magic sword out of it, or at least a cool story worth a round of drinks.
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Mar 12, 2018 00:41
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Splicer posted:I like playing characters who are legitimately out adventuring. They're out to have a good time, and at this point in time the most interesting thing going on is climbing into a hole to murder a manticore and maybe get a magic sword out of it, or at least a cool story worth a round of drinks. Richer and cleverer than everyone else!
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Mar 12, 2018 00:56
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Update: the players were completely fine with giving demons the chest without opening it up. When told that a baby god was in there, their reaction was "Good luck in hell, fucker!". I'm so proud of them.
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Mar 12, 2018 03:22
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I was toying with a Good aligned Paladin with an Oath of Conquest for kicks.
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Mar 12, 2018 03:29
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Gridlocked posted:I was toying with a Good aligned Paladin with an Oath of Conquest for kicks. One of my players is looking like he is going to do this for our upcoming Curse of Strahd Game. (I stated it's a good idea to have a good aligned Paladin or Cleric in the party, and he wants to try a Conquest Paladin.)
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Mar 12, 2018 04:42
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I'm currently playing a Lore Bard who grew up in a remote cottage with her mother who was a bard, and taught her some bard magic. She married and moved out into a town, had children, and then when her mother became ill she moved her into her house too and looked after her. Now, her mother has passed away, she seperately (amicably) from her husband and her children have all left home and keep sending her postcards from the cool places they're visiting. She's decided she wants to see the world, take up barding again and have some adventures before she gets too old. She is easily the character I enjoy playing the most. Despite her sounding pretty boring, I'm loving playing a normal person with no tragic backstory and plenty of living family. The only thing that's vaguely different about her is that she is a half-elf, but she's never met her elf father and doesn't identify as elvish at all, so she covers her ears up and pretends to be human.
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Mar 12, 2018 04:58
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I'm looking to get in the next organised 5th ed night at a local bar; sort of a more relaxed adventurers league thing. Character creation is standard array, 3rd level, core rulebooks only (including Volo's). My girlfriend wants to take a straightforward smash everything character, and was leaning towards the paladin. Any ideas on how to get the most combat oomph out of the class while keeping things simple & fun for a second time player? I think she'll be fine with whatever given how innately powerful the class is, but she's pretty dead set on tooling everything we encounter.
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Mar 12, 2018 05:12
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Gridlocked posted:I was toying with a Good aligned Paladin with an Oath of Conquest for kicks. "Everyone gets full rights and benefits of citizenship. Every person is equal in the eyes of the government. Citizenship is not optional."
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Mar 12, 2018 05:14
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Admiral Joeslop posted:"Everyone gets full rights and benefits of citizenship. Every person is equal in the eyes of the government. Citizenship is not optional." Something like that yeah. "Civilization is good, you will be civilised."
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Mar 12, 2018 05:23
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