[D&D 5e] Princes of the Apocalypse

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > [D&D 5e] Princes of the Apocalypse

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

I'm going to put in a character application for this but wanted to make it official. I should have a dwarven fighter using your champion variant up for review by tonight.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2015 00:37

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 04:04

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Porpoise I'm stealing your form while I work on my proper sheet. :eng101:

Name: Darys Stoneback
Race: Mountain Dwarf
Class: Fighter plan to use houserule champion archetype
Age: 75
Height: 5'0
Weight: 150
Alignment: NG
Ability Scores:
STR: 17 (+3)
DEX: 13 (+1)
CON: 16 (+3)
INT: 10 (+0)
WIS: 12 (+1)
CHA: 8 (-1)

HP: 13
AC: 17 total (16 in Chain Mail plus 1ac for dual wielder feat) (18 if using shield)
Initiative: +1
Saving throw proficiencies: Strength and Constitution
Skill Proficiencies: Perception, Insight, Intimidation, Athletics | All simple & martial weapons, all armors, shields. (Racial: Dwarven Weapons (battleaxe, handaxe, throwing hammer,and warhammer)
Tool Proficiencies: Brewer's tools/supplies
Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting -When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Feats: Dual Wielder (+1ac, dual wielding non-finesse weapons allowed)
Languages: Common, Dwarven
Background: Soldier
Personality Traits: "I enjoy being strong and breaking things!"
Ideal: Greater Good. Our lot is to lay down our lives in defense of others. (Good)
Bond: Those who fight beside me are those worth dying for.
Flaw: My hatred of my enemies is blind and unreasoning.
Trinket: 45 A tiny chest carved to look like it has numerous feet on the bottom: 1d100 45 Some of these things are just strange.
Cash:

Backstory:

Whether you were at the mouth of the mine beginning your shift or deep down in the mountain itself the dwarves of the Stoneback Clan went about their business the same way they had for hundreds of year. The familiar sounds of pick axes and hammers filled the tunnels with a kind of music only a dwarf could appreciate. The tink tink tink of the prospectors digging their new tunnels. The curse of a dwarf as he whacked his head and the roar of laughter from his fellows. These were the sounds that Darys Stoneback grew up hearing. Working in the mines of his family and clan was good, honest work for a dwarf. But he always had this nagging feeling at the back of his head that he was meant for something else. Tall for a dwarf and always smiling he found himself dealing with the human and elven traders that came to buy materials from the Clan. Most of the time it was because he was young and the older dwarfs didn't care to deal with the outsiders. They found the way young Darys got along with them a bit peculiar. But it often lead to better sales and happier clients so they were happy enough to let the boisterous dwarf carry on.

When the orc clans rose up all along the Sword Coast the dwarven clans were eager to send their kin to do battle with their mortal enemies. Moradin's praise was sure to fall upon any of his children who took the fight to the hated green skinned menace. And it came to be that Darys found a soldiers life to be quite agreeable. The cause was just, the fights were glorious, and being out among the finest warriors the land had to offer only drove Darys to improve. But as the years went by and friends and comrades fell he couldn't help but feel an empty space open up in his heart. He found himself wishing that he was in a place where the friends he made didn't die at his side. When it came time for his service to end he was glad to muster out of the army. But he found himself without a direction. Looking for guidance he consulted the clerics but found no answers. It wasn't until he was sitting in a tavern by himself that fate decided to give the dwarf a shove in the right direction.

I got more figured out for his backstory but need to work on the wording. Basically Darys decides his destiny is to take up brewing and open up his own tavern where everybody knows your name. He's taken to an adventurers life to raise a stake that one of his family members has promised to match if he can come up with it.

Trast fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Apr 11, 2015

# ¿ Apr 7, 2015 03:23

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Shark Mafia posted:

That numbers wizard I mentioned is probably going to end up being a warlock, im reflavoring the fey patron as some kind of computational god-machine

so on the off chance that we both get in rogue/druid would overlap less, but really, do whatever you like most

That sounds interesting. Ryuujin's had a really entertaining Modron druid in the Monster Hunter campaign so I'm looking forward to seeing what this will look like.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2015 19:42

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Testing a new template after being told the old one was busted.

Darys Stoneback
[HP: 13/13] [AC: 17]
Hit Dice: 0/1 (D10)
Movement: 25ft
Full Equipment List and Funds
Backstory

# ¿ Apr 12, 2015 22:09

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

How would that even work? You'd never be allowed into towns and I'm pretty sure a cleric of Lathander would be obligated to end your misery.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2015 16:21

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Sereia the paladin would probably not be keen on a zombie. And Darys would see you as in a state of torment needing to be ended with an axe.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2015 20:36

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

I'll do MonkE a solid and post this from IRC.

MonkE posted:

4:08 PM <MonkE> Hey just thought I'd pop in and mention the reason i havent been posting too much and wont be for the next day or two is graduation stuff sorry

# ¿ May 18, 2015 00:43

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Dr. Doji Suave posted:

Unfortunately with my schedule tightening up, and my own game to run, I will need to bow out. It's been fun but I don't have the time to really 'dive into' the game like I wanted since the job change.

Boooo! I was enjoying Khidash. But you have to pay the bills.

# ¿ May 28, 2015 15:14

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Did everyone level while I was on vacation? I thought you at least needed a short rest to trigger that when experience is reached.

I'll work on a fourth level sheet for Darys tonight.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2015 17:47

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Ryuujin can we get an update? We're all agreeing to go after the Air Cultists but haven't had anything from you since the 28th. It's a Three day weekend in the USA so should be a decent to to grind some turns out.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2015 05:23

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

P.d0t posted:

It's a 3-day weekend in Canada, too, eh?

I wasn't sure if Canada had a labor day being a socialist paradise already.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2015 06:32

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

And my hammer time.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2015 16:22

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Lothire posted:

The Howling Hatred Cultists and Featherknight Society shenangians

I've been collecting our thoughts on IRC, and I found few of us aren't really happy with the situation as it is. These guys very clearly attacked us however many days ago it was, and as players, we know they are likely the "air" variety of cultists. There's no way around that.

We all played nice for as long as we could, but we got no reward in the form of in-game evidence as to what these people are up to or who they work for. Nothing concrete, anyways. While the Manticore hunt was a neat side-attraction - and Four did manage to find a note that is suggestive - we are left feeling like we're being given no reward for our investigation skills. Ryuujin has done well in giving us outside-the-game tidbits (Savra is a quest character, for example, but one we can't do anything with her yet), but we are still stuck with a very basic question: Knowing what we know, do we kill these guys or not?

Four has set himself up for some tactical espionage action, and I'd prefer not to mess that up. As well, I want to play Quilian as being very suspicious of these people. As such, I'd like to facilitate Four's current play in assassinating this Lord individual. However, I want to fight.

At this point I don't think we're off from the notion that these people are cultists, since we have been attacked by these very people earlier, and we are indeed here to destroy them all. If we are somehow wrong (I really do doubt this), I'm willing to play out whatever happens after that. It might be a stretch for some of our characters, though I believe the idea that they are cultists is probably enough for them to go in this direction. Ultimately, it's a bit difficult to decide comfortably, but I fear we may be hitting a stalling point.

So my current suggested action is this: We spend another night in the tower. Four acts out his plan, and if there's a bunch of noise or an alarm goes off, etc, we all get to start fighting some knights. At the end of the day, we're here to do that - fight stuff. This seems a nice way of going about fighting stuff for us. We keep the Lord (maybe some others) alive for real questioning, and then move onto the Sacred Stone Monks place.

I'm fine with this. Darys tried to provoke a response already and didn't get anywhere. Now there is even more evidence that these people aren't right.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2015 21:13

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

That is a lot of stuff to digest and many good points. I'll try to come at it from my own end first.

Darys is a homebrew meant to test some things to improve the fighter class. That was made clear in the beginning. But the way the encounters seem to be designed has been really frustrating. He usually has to spend two to three rounds just moving and dashing to get in range of the enemy. By then the rest of the party who are strong in ranged combat have crushed most of the mobs. Lars is straight up PHB and he's immensely powerful. Quilian is also straight PHB and even if ranger isn't considered a top class Lothire still knows how to maximize things and he's able to do considerable damage. ADP and Lothire aren't to blame for that. They are playing the characters they apped. However starting fights closer to the enemy would be helpful from my perspective.

Character wise I've been playing Darys straight up without much intrigue. He's a dwarf out to make money and fight things. You know, a dwarf. He's there to brawl and have a good time. Mechanically since he is a home brew experiment I've always been open to tweaking him as things move along. There is the potential for the changes to be very powerful. I already made the decision to drop his damage dice increase to something lower before the game even started. Ryuujin is playing a two handed version of the homebrew in another game and when you combine it with the homebrew race he has the changes are outright devastating to enemies.

In regards to how to get things back on track I have a thought or two. Since the order of events we've done is contributing to the disconnect perhaps a soft reset is in order. But instead of redoing the Air Tower and the Water Keep how about jumping a little ahead to get clear of the triggers and narrative we jumbled? Jump ahead to level five or six and then give everyone a basic primer about what we would have done. Perhaps we discuss our options in OOC and make a group vote and that is how the past gets set. A lot of game series have a mechanic like that where you're given a choice to choose your course through events that normally would have taken a playthrough of a previous game. For example for the Air Tower we get presented a choice of A. Playing along B. Murderhobo or C. Something else. That informs the DM as to how the following events play out. That way we're not going over content again and not losing progress. Plus we get a jump in levels and exposure to the new stuff that often you don't see in games because stuff happens.

Waador brings up a very valid point about encounter difficulty though. I'm probably the least experienced table top player in the bunch. But playing PBP and having you guys around for advice is a pretty decent education. I've gotten into the habit of using cover, stealthing, being more creative with my skill checks, etc. The rest of you are very experienced when it comes to creative application of the rules and abilities. The encounters in this module don't seem to be designed with that in mind, more so for completely new people. So if there are ways to toughen up encounters it could help bring a challenge.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2015 18:37

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

P.d0t posted:

In light of that, I'm just gonna leave this here:

I'll try and check threads each day up until the weekend, but whether or not that'll lead to posts is sort of a coin-toss.

Camping is at least a nice getaway from such a line up of shifts.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2015 05:58

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Pdot, Waador, and I were discussing something today. Circumstances in the game and items that Darys has been awarded have had me thinking about playing him differently. The idea of redoing him as a great weapon fighter. It would just mean a couple feats being switched. I'd also likely tune down the damage from Ryuujin's original draft rules like I did with the one handed damage. Basically the damage dice would have doubled. I've been playing with a 50% increase. Waador suggested the versatile 1d10 thrower could go to 2d10 or 1d15.

Any thoughts, objections, feedback?

# ¿ Oct 22, 2015 01:30

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

P.d0t posted:

ur trippin' brah, I had nothing to do with that discussion

Maybe it was some other surly Canadian.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2015 04:19

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 04:04

Trast: Oct 20, 2010; Three games, thousands of playthroughs. 90% of the players don't know I exist. Still a redhead saving the galaxy with a [Right Hook].

Waador posted:

Beyond that, what I think the 'right' way to use a warhammer is, is as follows:
> Fighting style: Defense (+1 AC) or Dueling (+2 damage, 1-handed) or Great Weapon Fighting (+X damage, 2-handed).
> Feat (bonus): Mobile (because you want to actually play in the game)
> Feat (Lv. 3 fighter): Heavy Armor Mastery (bringing you from 17 STR to 18 STR)
> Feat (Lv. 4): +2 Strength (bringing you to 20 strength)

At that point, you need to make a few choices being:
> Are you using it one-handed (3d4+5 warhammer + shield) or two-handed (2d10+5 warhammer). This actually ends up being appropriate, because the former has average damage of 12.5, with the benefit of +2 AC, whereas the latter has average damage of 16.0, and +0 AC.
> The 'right' answer is probably still to use the warhammer and shield, because as mentioned, two-handed warhammer doesn't qualify for great weapon fighting. If you want to get something to do with your bonus action and reaction, you'll need to take the shield master feat. Otherwise, these action options will go to waste each round.

I find out of the options that have been discuss over the last few days in irc and these posts I'm finding the above is probably the best option long term. Defense Fighting Style and a shield will bring Darys to 23 AC which would make him very tankie. And he'll still be able to do respectable damage thanks to the thrower at range and up close due to the modified damage rule. At level five fighters gain a second attack which will boost his damage output once again. Then at level six I'll have a stat increase per normal fighter rules that I can use for either shield master or toughness.

Unless there are any objections I think I'll go with this basic set up above.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2015 03:07

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