[D&D5E] It's Good to Be Evil: Let's Be Villains

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Tricky Dick Nixon: Jul 26, 2010; by Nyc_Tattoo

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�No one ever became extremely wicked suddenly.�
--Juvenal

The lands of Talingarde are the most noble, virtuous, peaceful nations in the known world.

Herein is the story of how you burned this insipid paradise to the ground.

It's only fair. They burned you first.

They condemned you for your wicked deeds. They branded you. They shipped you to the worst prison in the kingdom. In three days, you die. In three days, the do-gooders pray they'll be rid of you.

They've given you three days. The fools, that's more than you need to break out. And then, it will be their turn to face the fire.

In the lands of Talingarde, many crimes may send you to Branderscar Prison, but the sentence has but one meaning. You are wicked and irredeemable. Each of you received the same greeting when you arrived. You were held down by rough hands and branded upon the arm with a runic F. The mark signifies �forsaken� and the painful scar is indelible proof that each of you has betrayed the great and eternal love of Mitra and his chosen mortal vassals.

You never really felt his love before this, but it still stung a bit.

Condemned, you face at best a life of shackles and servitude in the nearby salt mines. Others might await the �gentle� ministrations of the inquisitors so that co-conspirators may be revealed and confessions extracted. Perhaps, some of you will be spared this ordeal. Perhaps instead you have come to Branderscar to face the final judgment. In three days, the executioner arrives and the axe falls, the pyre will be lit, or the noose tightened.

Through fire, rope or steel, your crimes will be answered.

For years it was known that none who were taken to Branderscar would ever escape, and yet the lax accommodations and guard only cause your blood to boil all the more. You are given a comfortable bed, and the light of the sun wakes you each morning through a stone slit. You are given fresh water and hot meals, while the guards drink from horns of wine and jest with each other about their lives openly, fearing you not. There is nothing worse than facing death amid such brazenly stupid jailers as these.

Yet none of your individual cunning is enough to make your escape on your own. You have all been well searched and every attempt to conceal anything on your person has failed. And if you could somehow slip your bonds and fly out of this prison, where would you go? Who from your former life would want anything to do with the forsaken? Despised, alone and shackled � all that you can do now is await your doom.

For each of you, your old life is over. For each of you, hope is a fading memory. For each of you, justice will be fairly meted. And who can blame fair Talingarde after what each of you has done?

If you don't want to burn it all down yet, you might not be up for this adventure.

It's Good to be Evil: Way of the Wicked is a play-by-post Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition campaign, based on the Pathfinder adventure path "Way of the Wicked" by Fire Mountain Games, but with a fair amount of editing so that someone who has read it won't expect much more than the basic outline, and a bit of a twist in theme. I would like to approach the game far less self-serious in its portrayal of evil, hearkening back to works like Dungeon Keeper in their darkly comedic take on evil, though still not pulling any punches.

Let's not mince words: In this game you are playing a dyed-in-the-wool villain. You may have a semi-tragic backstory, some cobbled together justifications, or a fanatical belief in some delusion, but ultimately you are defined by selfish glee and a destructive bucking of the system. We're not talking about the performative costumed villainy of superhero comics either. This is more of the raze-the-town, oil-up-the-rack, kidnap-the-princess kind of villainy. We want to keep it strictly PG-13, with the best example given in Way of the Wicked being the way torture was handled between Darth Vader and Princess Leia as being off-screen but impactful.

This should be a game where you feel free to go out of your way to conquer, steal, and corrupt those around you, but Way of the Wicked is well-constructed to provide a backbone of motivation for the players. It will center around a conspiracy to restore the worship of the archdevil Asmodeus to the peaceful land of Talingarde, and unify its six Good kingdoms into a unified dominion of Evil.

As far as expectations, I will be keeping updates at least every other day or so unless otherwise stated, sometimes pushing the plot along as I do. I highly encourage people join this Discord server, because it will be a huge resource for answering questions and working through character creation, and I plan to use it to supplement standard Play-by-Post for one-on-one scenes and the like. I will be selecting a party of about 7 villains, keeping in mind we're liable to lose some folks to attrition. I generally pick parties as a whole rather than on individual merits, based both on having a good rounded party mechanically as well as having the best potential for Saturday Morning Villainy. I will be using Roll20 for tracking sheets and maps as well.

Setting: Talingarde. Talingarde is a small continent, about the size of the British Isles merged together, in a fantasy world that for a long time was besieged by darkness, but has gained the protection of Good under the auspices of the sun-god Mitra, centered at his favored kingdom of Myrcia ruled by the House of Darius, in alliance with the archduchy of Helveylyn, the republics of Gebroan, the marches of Lucidor, the reaches of Skarria, and the holy cities of the Keshkevar. It's a fair bit more varied a place than the Talingarde presented in the adventure path as given, with some supplemental setting material in a second post given below. This is mostly because I think that a purely Western European setting is insanely boring and very restrictive to people of varying cultures. However, all of the cultures here are inspidily Good and equally worthy of your destructive and/or corrupting touches.

This is a secondary game for me next to my other campaign, Wyrmsea. I wanted to run two games and was working on a Fate-based planeswalker game but decided that to keep the workload manageable while still hitting my itch I'd use something that primarily used pre-made adventure path materials.

As I'm sure you've already figured if you're read this far, this campaign is designed for Evil characters. There isn't really much room for moral ambiguity here - you are Evil and ultimately you seek to spread Evil (although your reasons for that can be plentiful and varied). Lawful Evil is the preferred alignment type, along with the behaviours associated with that alignment. However, I will allow Neutral Evil and even Chaotic Evil characters if there is a lot of work made to give them compelling motivations to bond and work with the other players. However being Evil is definitely a requirement.

Due to the nature of this type of game this requires us to have some ground rules:

Life is Cheap: The Way of the Wicked adventure path goes out of its way to encourage a more measured form of evil, discouraging "murder hobos." Personally, I want to encourage people to view others' lives as cheap, but with the recognition that so is their own. I am not going to fudge the rolls when it comes to player or even party death, though I will try and work the story around it, so that I consider a natural limiter on going too crazy.

Good is Stupid: As part of the dark humor bent, the forces of Good tend to fall towards what we might call a "Lawful Stupid." They are genuinely good, naively so, and aren't actually some oppressive dystopia and making goblins "the real oppressed" or some turnabout nonsense like that. They are sometimes misguided, occasionally corrupt, and certainly human, but basically want good things and believe the world is fair. Your party stands in violation of everything they assume is true about the world, and lampshading this is going to be a core of the fun of the game. There will be some exceptions, mind, and those will be the truly dangerous enemies.

Victory is Hard: When you are Evil, the entire world is against you. This is the binding agent that should keep the party working together. If one of the members truly betrays the others, it's likely a real game over for the party, so I would very much discourage this even if they think it's what your character would do. Think of an external reason they wouldn't. You need to work together as part of the evil organization you are joining, until you are truly dark lords in your own right, and then you can dicker over the spoils. The backdrop of using a cult of Asmodeus with its focus on contracts and rules is a way to give some in-character reasons for even Chaotic characters to begrudgingly agree to equal shares of treasure and the like.

A Little Betrayal Between Friends: That being said, I don't want player conflict to be missing completely. There should be competition, friendly and not, and occasional schemes to take advantage of each other. The #1 rule I have about player conflict is that you must discuss it with the other player beforehand. Don't try to get one over on them out of character or hide information. Just be up front about what your character is doing, figure out a road-map and decide a back and forth arc that should result in a more satisfying dynamic than where you started. Honestly, think of these rivalries more as romances than as enmities, that should build up to a climax and then cool-off, and then get tangled up with others.

Always a Price: As fun as Evil is, it always bears out consequences. Nothing the players will do will entirely be able to be scot-free, but while that makes things more difficult for them, it makes their Evil feel more real and meaningful if it has an influence on the setting. The wages of their sin will slowly build up and I'll track using Dungeon World esque "fronts" the progress of certain things, and each character will be able to see how their actions and motivations have left scars on the Good people of Talingarde.

Land of Opportunity: The adventure path sets a pretty clear set of events, but I am also fond of especially between the larger adventure set-pieces of giving some opportunities for the characters to build up their own ambitions and plots, and they will get the opportunity to recruit minions and assets towards such, and eventually rule their very own dungeon (jointly) to fill with monsters, treasures, and prisoners. I don't foresee the plot going too astray from the central one, as there will be some very compelling reasons to continue along that line, but I also won't railroad. It's good to have a mix between the two.

Creepy Isn't Evil: You are Evil and there may be situations where you do Evil things, such as perhaps torture, murder, intimidation or assault, etc. The bodies and carnage you wreak upon the world will be vile indeed. But don't be a creep about it. We're keeping it strictly PG-13, and if someone tells you to cut something out, whether a player or the DM, you should respect that. Within the spirit of it, I encourage that violence and even profanity be seen through this lens, using fantasy-style replacements for common curses and using magical effects to cover the more grotesque aspects of gore (though I mean, blood is always welcome to a certain extent.) Consider how someone exploding into bloody pieces in a sudden and unexpected way tends to be more ridiculous and fun than describing how you are expertly removing the eyes from your enemy's sockets.

Have Fun, Or Else: It's a game, after all.

Character Creation

Your characters will start at 1st level, advancing to 3rd level in a very short time after their escape from prison. The adventure path as given is designed to go all the way to 20th level, in theory.
We are using the Forte and Foible method of generating ability scores: Choose one ability score to set at 18 and another at 8. The remaining 4 are somewhat randomized: Roll 1d10+7 five times, drop lowest and assign as you like. You are overall especially gifted individuals. (To avoid any silliness of rerolling, you can only roll once for an array, even if you chance up your character concept for a submission.) Please use Orokos for the rolls with "It's Good to Be Evil" as the campaign.
All races from the Player's Handbook are available. Humans will be using the variant. The feral tieflings from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide are acceptable as well. The aasimar (fallen only), goliaths, and kenku from Volo's are acceptable, as are the monstrous PC race choices of bugbear, goblin, hobgoblin, kobold and yuan-ti pureblood. If you want to play something else, such as something a bit more exotic or monstrous, hit me up on Discord. If you are a monstrous sort that can't very easily sort through polite society, don't fret too much; you will receive in-character a way to disguise your monstrous nature, and will probably want a humanoid form in mind ready for usual interactions.
You may pick any class except the Blood Hunter, the Artificer, and the Mystic from published materials or Unearthed Arcana. We will be using the Ranger Revised. Archetypes will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Please let me know what Archetype you plan to go for, and if you intend to multiclass, as I try to make class and archetype choices meaningful in the fiction.
You always receive maximum HP for each level.
You must be an Evil alignment. Lawful Evil is encouraged but not required.
Personality traits, quirks, and the like will be utilized in play for Inspiration and a great way to fill out the character.
Backgrounds no longer grant their "background trait" as given. Instead, you will select a Branding that does so in addition to your Background. (See below). You still pick a Background, which you can edit within reason, for additional proficiencies.
You will start the game with no equipment, but eventually will be able to equip yourselves with 200 gp worth of equipment. Go ahead and detail what that 200 gp of equipment would be.
Every character starts with a free Feat, which I think adds a little customization and fun to the game and makes each character feel more distinct and unique.
I will need a picture to create a token with. Generally speaking I like a standard aesthetic, so while I'm not saying "no anime", probably don't app with a picture of Shalltear Bloodfallen.

Brandings
As mentioned above, each of your characters committed a terrible crime that landed them in Branderscar Prison. These each give you a unique benefit that you can use, replacing the Background benefits other characters would normally receive, with similar narrative effects.

Arson: You have willfully started a fire that destroyed life and property. To be sent to Branderscar, you didn't start just a minor little trash fire. Your act of arson threatened a major town, city, church or castle and likely cost several or many lives. You'll be punished for your crime by facing the fire yourself.

Benefit: You always have the tools by which to start a fire at hand, or can scrounge them up in all save the most extreme circumstances, and can easily assess a structure's weaknesses, though more out of a taste for destruction than necessarily a sapper's expertise.
Attempted Murder: You tried to kill someone and didn't finish the job, leaving them bleeding but alive. To be sent to Branderscar Prison, you did not try to kill just anyone, but someone of great importance and prominence. You are to be beheaded.

Benefit: As Pirate, as your bad reputation allows you to get away with minor crimes as no one wants to invoke your wrath.
Desecration: You have violated one of the churches, cathedrals, or holy sites of the great god Mitra or his demigods. To be sent to Branderscar this was no minor act of vandalis. Instead you have done something flagrant and spectacular to dishonor the Morninglord. You will be crucified and left to die under the sun.

Benefit: You know when you are on holy ground, feeling the oppressive presence of Good and always know what would be required to despoil it and bypass its wards and protections, though may not necessarily have the means at hand.
Desertion: You have deserted from the military if one of the Talirean crowns, and been recaptured. To get sent to Branderscar this was more than a routine dereliction of duty, but abandoning your post during a time of crisis in supreme laziness or cowardice punishable by hanging.

Benefit: You always know who the weakest links are and the most likely places to find dissent and mutineers in the rank, and can always find an opportunity to stir up some trouble within an organized and military-style force.
Extortion: You have defrauded money from someone by using blackmail or threats of violence. To end up in Branderscar, this was no minor act but an attempt against someone of great prominence and for exorbitant stakes. You will be sent to the salt mines for a life of hard labor.

Benefit: You still have the leverage you had before you were imprisoned over a person of great prominence. Describe who they are, and once you are free, you may return to blackmailing them to give your organization aid, but should do so carefully.
Forgery: You forged documents issued wither by the crowns of Talingarde or by the Church of Mitra. Alas, that your forgery while competent was not entirely undetectable, at least by magic. This forged document could have cost lives, undermined the reputation of the Church or endangered the realm, and will land you in the salt mines to be worked until death.

Benefit: Any forgeries you make using any tool proficiencies (thus including works of art as well as documents) are considered "perfect" and are not detectable by mundane means, as you are not liable to make the same mistakes as before. However, magic can still reveal your treachery.
Fraud: You tried to bilk someone out of their cash. To end up in Brandescar Prison, this was no petty con job or penny ante racket. Instead you brazenly tried to defraud someone important of a huge sum of money. And it almost worked too! Oh well, to the salt mines with you!

Benefit: As Charlatan.
Grand Larceny: You had a foolproff plan to steal some great treasure. Alas, the scheme had a fatal flaw and went horribly awry. To be sent to Branderscar prison, this was no ordinary robbery attempt. You tried to steal something of great value or religious significance. For this, you will be hanged.

Benefit: As Criminal.
Grave-Robbery: It is forbidden by sacred law to dishonor a corpse after it has been sealed in its tomb by the clergy of the Mitran faith. Some may not honor this banL necromancers, golem crafters, self-styled natural philosophers and alchemists delving into the forbidden secrets of death. These ghouls expect no mercy from the magistrates of the realm, and by sending you to Branderscar Prison to be beheaded, you have received none.

Benefit: You carry the scent of death with you. Unintelligent Un-Dead ignore your presence unless provoked, while intelligent Un-Dead may still act against you but are better disposed to treat you as a possible ally.
Heresy: You have denied the supremacy of Mitra and his dogma and been condemned for it, whether decrying his worship or declaring some hidden truth of the world, or even been found in worship of a wicked god such as Olidammara, Erythnul, or Asmodeus himself. For this to be a crime you were not content to keep your heresy to yourself: You tried to sway others. You will be broken on the wheel in an attempt to force you to recant and repent, before you are crucified under Mitra's gaze.

Benefit: As Hermit, you define one terrible secret about the world that only you and your small group of believers would believe, and against all odds, it's true.
Kidnapping: You have abducted someone perhaps to ransom them, to sell them into slavery, or do unspeakable things to them. Unfortunately you were caught and your victim was rescued (if they weren't rescued -- you would be guilty of murder instead). To be sent to Branderscar Prison, you must have abducted someone of great importance or in a particularly gruesome manner, earning you a beheading.

Benefit: You have a safe house (that is, a lair) somewhere, a lair that you can store things away from the other villains and even people, one that the authorities don't yet know about, and can quickly find another within a few weeks if one's cover is blown.
Treason: You have willfully worked to bring down the current Monarch of Talingarde, the beloved King Markadian V, called the Brave, of House Darius, seated in Myrcia and Lord Protector of the Six Realms. Treason is the only crime that is still punished by the gruesome ritual of being drawn and quartered. Your stay at Branderscar will be brief.

Benefit: This crime makes you one of the most infamous people in the Six Realms and the attempt will not be easily forgotten, but that means you have a great reputation with all of those who wish ill on the Good people, earning you a stay in the most vile of places, even amid more intelligent monsters interested to hearing about your plot.
Murder: You have killed without just cause and been condemned for it. To be sent to Branderscar Prison, this was no typical killing but a particularly savage and unforgivable act. You may have also killed someone with powerful friends, or gone on a spree. You will be beheaded.

Benefit: You are never unarmed or harmless. You always know where to find a weapon more dangerous than simple improvised ones, or opportunities by which to inflict violence on others.
Sedition: You have attempted to covertly stir up rebellion against your rightful sovereign. This differs from treason in that you used words and incitement, even conspiracy, but did not take action. A subtle difference to be sure, but it is the difference between being hung on the gallows and a slow suffering upon the rack.

Benefit: As Folk Hero, as you can always find simple common people who are gullible enough to believe your rhetoric and give you shelter.
Witchcraft: You have been found guilty of communicating with or consorting with fiends or other wicked beings from beyond. Likely you were captured by the famed witch hunters known as the Lion's Lodge. This is common for warlocks especially. You will be be burned at the stake for this crime.

Benefit: You know a ritual by which you can communicate with an otherworldly being of middling rank and power that can give you information or aid, though always at a price. The ritual requires a human sacrifice, or something equally grave. If you have an Otherworldly Patron, the entity serves or is associated with your Patron, but is not the Patron itself.

The following is a sample character sheet format to use. Feel free to copy and paste from a quote.

Name:
Race: (Subrace)
Age:
Size: Category (Height)
Class: (Level)
Alignment:

Background:
Branding:
Languages: Common,

Hit Points:
Initiative:
AC:
Speed:

Passive Perception:
Passive Investigation:
Passive Insight:

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: (/)
Dexterity: (/)
Constitution: (/)
Intelligence: (/)
Wisdom: (/)
Charisma: (/)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics
Animal Handling
Arcana
Athletics
Deception
History
Insight
Intimidation
Investigation
Medicine
Nature
Perception
Performance
Persuasion
Religion
Sleight of Hand
Stealth
Survival

Armor Proficiency:
Weapon Proficiency:
Tools:

Features:

Feats:

Spell Save DC:
Spell Attack Modifier:

Cantrips:

Known/Prepared Spells:
Spell Slots:

Equipment: (Feel free to spend 200 GP on equipment to receive in the future.)

Background:

Traits:
Ideal:
Bond:
Flaw:

Tricky Dick Nixon fucked around with this message at 01:26 on May 31, 2018

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Tricky Dick Nixon: Jul 26, 2010; by Nyc_Tattoo

The Setting of Talingarde

Note: Please do not hesitate to add new details, new lands, or build on existing details, so long as they don't contradict anything herein.

History
Once the myriad people of Talingarde warred amongst themselves and fought for the idols of Old Gods. The Talireans, as they are known, worshipped those deities and demigods who walked the material realm and could command respect in that heroic, but dark age. One of the many such powers that commanded worship on Talingarde was Asmodeus, the Lord of Nessus, the master of archdevils and ruler of the Nine Hells.

Asmodeus was not necessarily loved, but he was feared and respected. He even inspired the closest thing to a unified kingdom the continent had before the current state of affairs, under the dominion of Malthryn ruled by its tiefling nobility and orcish armies. Dwarven armies kept them at bay, while elvish magics cursed the orcs to degenerate, which allowed the humans to revolt against their fiendish aristocracy, centered in what is now called Keshkevar.

Warlords and knights created fiefdoms, and soon the Earls of Myrcia soon began to consolidate and elected among their number in a Wizengamot overseen by druids and wizards King Roak, who helped them conquer up and down the river that bears his name and further still.

The priesthood of the church of Mitra, brought here from the lands of Palladia, made itself very influential by tending to those who were caught in the middle of the many conflicts, and quickly swelled. A god of many shapes and faces and ceaseless love and power, Mitra was able to find worshippers among all the races of Talingarde, though it was the human Church of Mitra with its bishops and cardinals that slowly eclipsed with their metropolitans the princes of the Keshkevar.

The House of Darius, a Keshkevarine noble house sworn to Mitra, managed to defeat the Lucidorean House of Barca over years of conflict culminating in a peaceful period that has led to the current day. With the loyalty of the Earls of Myrcia secure, House Darius made inroads with every other realm, and by defeating several threats, including the hobgoblin horde and the dragon Abraxas, winning the loyalty of the dwarves and gnomes.

When the dragonborn arrived in their war junks and armed with steel and fire, refugees from a wasting Soulplague on the jungle continent of Chuult, everyone thought it was an invasion, but the King of Myrcia treated with their leader, called the Shogun, and she was convinced by his virtue, and the offer of land to settle in the mostly untamed lands of Lucidor, which was overrun with orcs and gnolls, to swear fealty to him as the first Marchion.

The elves were impressed by this rather than threatened by their new neighbors, and joined in the crusade against the orcs, pushing them forever into the mountains, and the barbarian raiders sworn to the slaughter god Erythnul called the Meleki beyond the Banishlands into the Rough Bounds. Soon after, the ageless Archduke Faeranduil joined their realms through marriage, and Good Queen Maith, the Queen Mother of Myrcia, the still youthful mother of King Markadian V, is one of those royal marriages that binds the realms of elves and men.

With all of the Six Realms allied with the King of Myrcia, fourty years ago one of the many titles claimed was that of Lord Protector of Talingarde, and by being crowned with an imperial crown by the Artifix in Blessed Milatum, he is also sometimes called the Emperor of the Six Realms, though rarely does the High King use such a title, out of humility and wise deference to the sovereignty of the other realms.

Though a succession crisis involving their old rivals, the House of Barca, arose some time shortly thereafter, there have been years of peace and prosperity across the land since. Trade with the grand kingdoms of Palladia and the colonies of Chuult have brought in travelers from all sorts of lands, and many find themselves wanting to stay here. It is an earthly paradise, and in the river basins of Keshkevar the celestials themselves come to settle. Seelie fae dance in the moonlight of Skarria and Helveylyn, and noble genies work alongside the dwarves in their great feats of craftmanship.

What will win? Six realms of incredible Good and paragons of righteousness? Or seven branded wicked bois?

The Church of Mitra
Mitra is a many faced god, sometimes represented as a winged lion in his most unusual form, but has many aspects for each of the races of his worshipers, including the unicorn which is sacred to him, though his form usually has a more fierce leonine face. He is a god of ultimate Goodness, to an overwhelming degree, such that he eclipses the worship of all other gods. Though not a jealous god necessarily, his priesthood make the effort to slowly subsume and erase all others, adopting in syncretic ways the practices of more native religions as "demigods" under Mitra as the overgod that saved Talingarde from certain destruction at the hands of his nemesis, the archdevil Asmodeus. Mitra has different racial faces as the Morninglord, appearing as an elf, dwarf, human halfling or gnome as necessary. Mitra is also varied in gender. Humans and dwarves see Mitra as a male god, halflings and dragonborn see Mitra as a goddess, and elves and gnomes celebrate its ambiguous nature. I will be using "his" because the primary Church of Mitra is dominated by the human dogma.

This is not a forced thing. Though it is true celestials are at work on Talingarde, people flocked to his worship willingly. Many of the Old Gods had been slain in their wars, including many of the founders of the various non-human pantheons. Mitra resurrected several of them in the supposedly climactic battle between Asmodeus and his general Gruumsh that was mirrored in the heavens by what took place when humans, under the exile Sartas, overthrew the tiefling aristocracy that ruled them. As the elder races have turned to pay homage in this time to the mortal King of Myrcia, the blessed vessel of Mitra on Talingarde, so too do these deities now serve Mitra. And in turn, humans worship them as well: St. Corellon is patron to poetry and song, St. Garl to cleverness and laughter, St. Moradin to craft and tradition, and St. Yondalla to hearth and the home. There are a myriad other saints too of smaller gods and heroes from local traditions, sometimes given new names, and incorporated in the many feast days and festivals the Church of Mitra puts on. Bahamut is the only other god that is seen as a peer to Mitra, though even he swears fealty to the solar deity, serving as his loyal companion and even sometimes steed.

Worship of Mitra is found in three basic organized strains: the ecumenical Church of Mitra that is centered in Blessed Miletum under the Artifix, the cloistered anchorites that protect sacred places and texts and live in contemplation of his mysteries, and the wandering friars and nuns that go across the land righting wrongs and supporting the paladins sworn to his work. The ecumenical church also organizes three other ordained orders that help provide bureaucratic support to all Six Realms, to varying degrees of involvement: The magistrates who serve out law and order and act as judges, the inquisitors who seek out remnants of diabolism and possible heresy that may threaten the peace of the Realms,

A male cleric of Mitra is called a flamen (pl. flamines) and wears a variety of colors due to his station. Female clerics of Mitra are called vestals, and keep hearths going at night. Only flamines are eligibles to become bishops (including the princely metropolitans) or ascend to the Curia as a cardinal. However, the spiritual leader of the Church of Mitra, the Artifix, is chosen from the vestals by a sacred procedure and election, and they are also those chosen to become templars and the defenders of their temples and churches.

Six Realms

The Kingdom of Myrcia: Myrcia is the shining high kingdom, primarily humans but including as well a large population of hill dwarves, stout halflings, rock gnomes, a smattering of high elves and dragonborn, and other less common races. It is a feudal but peaceful kingdom along a single river, with rolling farmlands and plentiful markets. Most of its settlements were former strongholds of old Myrcian warlords that have now spilled out to become towns, much less defensible than before. It is the cultural hub of Talingarde.
The Metropolitans of Keshkevar: The ancient cities of Keshkevar are the oldest on Talingarde, from its original human settlers, though many of the buildings were not built by humans, predating even the coming of the elves and dwarves. This was the center of the Malthryn Dominion, but today is the center of power for the Church of Mitra, as their metropolitan bishops have eclipsed the authority of their former princes to rule over the cities. It is a highly cosmopolitan area of all races, and also the highest concentration of tieflings, who once ruled as the aristocracy.
The Marches of Lucidor: Once a wild land ravaged by wild orcs and rampaging gnolls, the coming of the dragonborn proved a boon when they tamed it with their folded steel and iron discipline. The dragonborn now serve was a warrior aristocracy over the marches, which are predominately human, with the highest concentration of forest gnomes outside of Skarria. The dragonborn and the elves are very close as well, and here is the only place where you can find cathedrals and shrines devoted to a god other than Mitra, as Bahamut is respected for his allyship to the sun god. Even though it has been tamed, the people here are rougher, more militant and highly influenced by the fierce honor culture of the dragonborn. Though dueling is forbidden by the church, it and the tradition of vendetta are still practiced here by human and dragonborn alike.
The Archduchy of Helveylyn: The high elves of Helveylyn are political refugees from the grand empire of Gafgarion back on Palladia, where the elves became more and more envious of the younger races. The Veylish elves have instead tried to become closer with the younger races, though they still are slow-moving and often clueless about the quick moving political events to their south. This has also led to a split between their people, as some have moved to the eastern forests in the Banishlands to live more wild, natural lives. The Archduchy is a highly magical place close to the Feywild, and closely tied through marriage to the Kingdom of Myrcia.
The Republics of Gebroan: The three city-states of Gebroan are only one political part of the dwarves, as the old mountain dwarves that still live underground have all but isolated themselves from humankind, leaving hill dwarves to primarily be the face of their race. Mastering the desert with great engineering, and then the sea with their trade, the dwarves are the commercial backbone of Talingarde with their banks, and despite being deeply Good are still somewhat avaricious by nature, countered by their generous and protective demeanor. Each Lord Mayor of the Free Cities is elected for life, and each has chosen to recognize the King of Myrcia as their suzerain, as opposed to the Kings Beneath the Mountains.
The Baronies of Skarria: Skarria is perhaps the strangest and wildest Realm of Talingarde, surrounding the lake of Skarda. The gnomes, a wild people that are more fey than mortal, rule this land, which also includes halflings, humans, and goliaths, which are all strong allies of the gnomes. Their wolf-spider cavalry is feared and their ambush tactics have kept the hobgoblin armies in check, making them more militant than would be expected of gnomes, but they are overall a culture devoted to the protection of the natural world. They have no one leader, and indeed don't have fiefs but rather roaming Baronies of clans and families that move semi-nomadically in a circuit and burrow down in marshes, lake cities, and the forests.

People of Talingarde

Humans: Humans are roughly divided into seven ethnic groups: Myrcian, Keshkevarine, Lucidorean, Riaani, Tantalic, Yutak and Meleki. Myrcians are the Anglo-Saxon kind of western European we expect, while the Keshkevarine are semi-Hellenic North African in culture, with very dark skin and curly hair. Lucidoreans have olive skin and almond eyes, while the Riaani are known for black hair and eyes and reddish skin. The Tantalic people are Scandinavian in look with fair skin and hair and many braids. The Yutak are an almost Inuit type people that live primarily on the Isles of Sleat. The Meleki are a barbaric people wearing woad and a propensity for heterochromatic eyes, as well as cannibalism.
Dwarves: Hill dwarves, known as the Gebroans, are cosmopolitan and sea-faring people, with an eye for commerce but also strongly tied to their cliff-side cities and forts. The mountain dwarves, called the Moresain, are isolationist and blind to the goings on of the world, believing their surface-dwelling kin have turned their backs on their old culture, and can be found in the Crumples and Skysongs.
Elves: The high elves of Talingarde are much more gregarious and tend to be very eager to explore the world of the younger races, though it often seems like a holiday with them and without seriousness. They are called the Veylish. The Shalish elves, wood elves, are those that left Helveylyn to live in the Banishlands and attempt to create a purer world, and tend to hate the younger races. Dark elves are rare in Talingarde, known as Draalish or simply Draal. They are a common threat on Palladia, but only a small redoubt of their kind is found on Talingarde in the Carrow Crags.
Gnomes: The mysterious and mystical forest gnomes are the nobles of Skarria, while the rock gnomes touched by civilization and having lost some of their spark have spread as a more commoner class, though keeping still the fey moods of their cousins. Gnomes are often consider far closer to the fey than the elves are, and indeed the elves do not have a fey origin as they do in other settings, though the elves are still fond of the Seelie and often treat with them.
Dragonborn: The dragonborn come from the jungle continent of Chuult, and according to their own origins they were the chosen children of Bahamut that were created to battled the forces of Tiamat on this world. However, a terrible plague caused them to leave Chuult and resettle in Palladia and Talingarde, and those that settled here in Lucidor have become a warrior-aristocracy there. Something of a samurai vibe is intentional. Samurai with Russian accents.
Halflings: The halflings have as ever been beneath the notice of Good or Evil, living simple lives. They trace their origins to the tribal ghostwise who live in the same steppes of Attallissia as the goblinoids. Stout halflings are those that have settled to an agrarian lifestyle, found in many realms in little shires but most concentrated in the Vales, between Skarria and Myrcia. Lightfoots are a more cosmopolitan and nomadic people, living in small family units that go from town to town, working as artisans and traders.
Orcs: Orcs primarily live in the Desperations and the Rivals, and are mountain folks. They used to be live in what was Helveylyn and Lucidor, as part of the Dominion of Malthryn, and had a proud culture that has now become completely feral. Half-orcs are the best equipped to reclaim that culture, as the elves cursed full-blooded orcs to destroy themselves with enchantments.
Tieflings: Tieflings were descended from humans who consorted with devils, having a distinctly fiendish heritage that can be traced to Asmodeus himself. They formed the aristocracy of the Malthryn Dominion, and nowadays they are scattered and reviled. Not simply the descendants of fiends, those that claim the race of tiefling also claim heritage to the Dominion. They live in isolated groups in partly secret, and many have started to become diluted in blood, inspiring some to enter in somewhat incestuous partnerships. If you choose the feral subrace, you are more likely someone touched by fiendish heritage (likely more demonic than devilish), like a cambion or the like, in your family tree.
Aasimar: Aasimar are especially common in Talingarde. Though celestials, unlike fiends, do not lay with mortals, they still feel the need sometimes to have a personal touch on the world, and will choose unborn children to join their essence with and join as their guardian spirits. Some aasimar are driven down dark paths by the presence of their passenger, however. These fallen aasimar are the only ones available to players in this game, and still hear their weakened conscience, trapped inside their souls as they become terrible villains.
Goliaths: The goliaths are a rare and reclusive people, but known for being paragons of Good who try to best challenges and fight the wicked giants of the ordning. They are part of that giant hierarchy themselves, and serve as the heralds of the storm giants on very rare occasions. They live in the Skerradras mountains and are close allies of the gnomes. There are some minor tribes that live further north, near the Bounds. They have some settlements on the coast as well and make great mariners.
Kenku: The cursed children of Yan-C-Bin, they once sought to betray him and were inflicted with a terrible curse. Far more prevalent on the continent of Chuult, they came around the same time as the dragonborn due to the plague there, and are often associated with carrying it to Keshkevarine ports. They are seen as ill-omened and pests, flocking and often finding themselves in the employ of Evil due to their propensity for making excellent minions.
Goblinoids: Primarily live in the steppe and Cazcus Wild, though goblins and bugbears especially have spread everywhere in roaming bands. Especially reviled by the halflings and gnomes whom they are the natural enemies of, and possibly related to in some very old legends.
Kobolds: Scampering and found in almost any corner but especially caves and mountains, though also cities and the like in the sewers and slums. The perpetual minion of every other people, far departed from their draconic heritage.
Yuan-ti: From the jungle continent of Chuult, the yuan-ti are the racial enemies of the dragonborn and have followed them here, infiltrating on occasion in the worship of Tiamat's consort Meershaulk, and may become involved in the Asmodean conspiracy.

Tricky Dick Nixon fucked around with this message at 04:20 on May 28, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 03:12

GenuineRevelry: Aug 12, 2010; Decor Aficionado

Well, I've rolled worse. Stat block will be 18, 14, 13, 13, 12, 8 for this WIP

Name: Salvatrix Upicias
Race: Human (Variant)
Age: 19
Size: Medium (5'6)
Class: Wizard (1)
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Background: Charlatan
Branding: Sedition
Languages: Common, Sylvan

Hit Points: 7
Initiative: +2
AC: 12
Speed: 30ft

Passive Perception: 11
Passive Investigation: 14
Passive Insight: 11

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 8 (-1/-1)
Dexterity: 14 (+2/+2)
Constitution: 13 (+1/+1)
Intelligence: 18(+4/+6)
Wisdom: 12 (+1/+3)
Charisma: 17 (+3/+3)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics +2
Animal Handling +1
Arcana +6
Athletics -1
Deception +5
History +6
Insight +1
Intimidation +3
Investigation +4
Medicine +1
Nature +4
Perception +1
Performance +3
Persuasion +5
Religion +4
Sleight of Hand +4
Stealth +2
Survival +1

Armor Proficiency: None
Weapon Proficiency: Daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows
Tools: Disguise Kit, Herbalism Kit

Features:

Arcane Recovery - Once per day when you finish a short rest, you can choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than half your wizard level (rounded up), and none of the slots can be 6th level or higher.

Feats:

Actor - Charisma +1. Advantage on Charisma (Deception) and Charisma (Performance) checks when trying to pass yourself off as a different person. You can mimic the speech of another person or the sounds made by other creatures. You must have heard the person speaking, or heard the creature make the sound, for at least 1 minute. A successful Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check allows a listener to determine that the effect is faked.

Diplomat - Charisma +1. You gain proficiency in the Persuasion skill. If you spend 1 minute talking to someone who can understand what you say, you can make a Charisma (Persuasion) check contested by the creature�s Wisdom (Insight) check. If you or your companions are fighting the creature, your check automatically fails. If your check succeeds, the target is charmed by you as long as it remains within 60 feet of you and for 1 minute thereafter.

Spell Save DC: 14
Spell Attack Modifier: +6

Cantrips: Firebolt, Friends, Prestidigitation

Known/Prepared Spells: (1st) Charm Person, Find Familiar, Mage Armor, Shield, Sleep, Tasha's Hideous Laughter
Spell Slots: (1st) 2

Equipment:

Disguise Kit (3 lb.) [25GP]
Forgery Kit (5 lb.) [15GP]
Arcane Focus: Dark Crystal (1 lb.) [10GP]
Spellbook (3 lb.) [50GP]
Component Pouch (2 lb.) [25GP]
Clothes, Fine (6 lb.) [15GP]
Dagger (1 lb.) [2GP]
Crossbow, Light (5 lb.) [25GP]
Crossbow Bolts x 40 (3 lb.) [2GP]
Case, Crossbow Bolts (1 lb.) [1GP]
Rope, Hempen 50ft (10 lb.) [1GP]
Tinderbox (1 lb.) [5SP]
Waterskin (5 lb. (full)) [2SP]
Backpack (5 lb.) [2GP]
Bedroll (7 lb.) [1GP]
Blanket (5 lb.) [3SP]
Mirror, Steel (.5 lb) [5GP]
Perfume, vial [5GP]
Ink, one ounce bottle [10GP]
Robes (4 lb.) [1GP]
Pouch (1lb.) [5SP]
Ink pen
Soap
Torches

Background: The night hag Dear Mother �rsebeth stalked the Rough Bounds for years before the foolish Meleki arrived to take refuge. They were nothing but prey for the crone. She proved to be nearly as devastating as the armies of dragonborn and their elvish allies that had forced them to flee. In desperation, the Meleki took from that which was meant for their god Erythnul and offered in sacrifice all that they could to appease the thing that stole sleeping men's souls. Cattle, enemies, orcs. Nothing seemed to please the night hag. Then, in a moment of desperation, children.

Salvatrix Upicias was such a young girl. She was as wild as they come with a lint of cunning in her eyes just behind the fear. Dear Mother �rsebeth was so old, in spirit if not in flesh, and had grown so weary of stalking the shadows to feast on the souls of evil men as they slept. In this moment, a brilliant plan took form. The child would serve her. She had never cared for covens, the other hags so selfish and thoughtless, stupid and cruel. No, if Dear Mother �rsebeth was to do all the work she deserved the fruit of her labors. But with this child, she needn't stalk the night in search of prey. The girl would do it for her. That is, if she could learn a few simple tricks.

Tricks the growing Sal took to like a fish to water. All it took was the occasional threat of consumption to get the girl to really apply herself to her lessons. She would charm her prey and bring them to her Dear Mother, who took the visage of a kindly crone, without a second thought. No tale or title could make the girl question her service to Dear Mother and Sal quickly became night hag's favorite toy. How could she not cherish the girl's ability to lure small men to such a horrid demise at the night hag's hand? It was as if she had taken after �rsebeth herself. But the Dear Mother's love was fickle. Failure was met with stern and cruel punishment. Yet still, if you were to believe Sal herself, there were many happy years in her childhood. But as the girl grew into a woman, the night hag found herself facing a challenge that tested the very fabric of her patience. Youthful rebellion.

You see, Salvatrix Upicias had not forgotten tales of how those beyond the Bounds had forced her people to this treacherous land and the barbarian girl wanted nothing more for those beyond the Bounds but for their walled cities to fall into chaos and fire. It was when she could no longer hold her tongue that Dear Mother �rsebeth grew tired of Salvatrix and threatened her adopted daughter with consumption once more. Sal's soul, Dear Mother remarked, had been darkened enough to provide just as ample a bounty as as any other. The threat stung more than �rsebeth could have possibly predicted. Rejected and terrified, Salvatrix Upicias found the resolve to collect her spell book and simple belongings and steal away into the night.

The rest of her story is simple. Sedition is an ugly crime though one that can be difficult to prove when there aren't so very many willing to confess to your manipulative intentions. The weak willed, it turns out, were not much better at resisting interrogation than they were mundane and arcane charms. It was in Bastia that the whispers of revolt became too much and what had lingered under the surface in the surrounding villages became too loud to hand any longer. Sal was apprehended with little trouble and sentenced to Branderscar for her efforts.

Thank the gods Dear Mother �rsebeth couldn't see her now. She would be so disappointed. There was nothing more frightening than disappointing Dear Mother.

Traits:
There is no greater thrill than when my prey learns to covet me.
They think I'm weak and that's just the way I like it.

Ideal: Desire. All power is born through desire for more.
Bond: Years of service to the night hag Dear Mother �rsebeth has left me easily cowed. I'll always submit to the most commanding party.
Flaw: I get too attached to be effortlessly cruel. Sometimes, I enjoy the lie more than my prey does.

Class: Wizard

Spellbook: Musky rags of suspect leather with bloodstained words of power wrapped tightly around my forearms.
Ambition: I will prove to my people that cunning has threefolds the weight of strength and usher in a renaissance under our new God, Asmodeus.
Eccentricity: I'm easily flustered by things I don't understand.
Study: I only really took to my lessons when I realized that with the arcane arts I could be in control.

GenuineRevelry fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Jun 1, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 04:45

TheFireMagi: Nov 6, 2011; ...She's behind me, isn't she?

Rolling for Stats: 5#1d10+7 13 16 15 15 10

Worm Sharpfang, Goblin Loremaster

Worm, a name chosen through the proud goblin tradition of choosing the first thing to catch Mama Gob�s eye after birth. A scrawny thing even for his kind, it seemed a sure thing he�d be the next to lose the game of �eat the runt.� But Worm was wily and cunning, and by that, he learned quick the tricks of �stay quiet and out of sight in the back� as well as �kick the next smallest in front of you.� Even starving and scared, he still knew well enough to let the biggest climb their way out of the litter pits first. Hunger pains passed. Being eaten did not. The ways of goblin survival as a whole came easily to young Worm, such as the lesson of �Do not ambush the completely cloaked stranger just because they are alone, because chances are they�re secretly a master swordsman and will chop you into gobby bits.� A lesson that the bigger goblin runts would have done well to learn sooner.

Ten years passed, and Worm wriggled on. For goblins, that was noteworthy in itself, for they were a people prone to getting their young dead in a number of ways. The Sharpfang tribe in particular, while jagged of tooth, were not the brightest lot. Only the eldest goblins of the tribe, the loremasters and shamans, had a brain shared between them. It was these elders that Worm listened to while the other youths played games of �skullball� or �eat the new runt.� He heard of the glorious _{relatively speaking} battles of yore. Of the spirits of the wild that only the wisest and most knowledgeable goblins could call upon, if they focused and channeled their energies together. Worm listened, he did.

Months later, the Sharpfang tribe began one of their usual raids on one of the many forest burrows of Skarria. A standard affair: rush in, steal some food, stabbity stab a few smallfolk, lose a few goblins, retreat. Unbeknownst to the tribe, this burrow was well aware of their approach, and had prepared themselves an ambush. When the goblins stormed into the empty village, they had but a moment of confusion before the villagers leapt out from hiding with improvised weapons ready� before vines wrapped up around them and the smallfolks fell upon the dirt. Never a people to leave a sudden advantage untaken, the tribe fell upon the entangled villagers with a pint-sized fury.

Worm, considering his part done, simply listened from the rear as the villagers, a mix of gnomes and halflings, shouted out in anger and fear. And, to his great interest, neither language was entirely alien to him. He recognized only fragments and pieces, at times but a single word in the chaos, yet he recognized them all the same. When the tribe returned to their dens, Worm brought his idea, his belief, his theory to the elders: the smallfolk that despised goblinkind so were related to their mortal enemies. No, for Worm to be able to understand both the gnomes and halflings yet spending little time in either�s company� perhaps, the two and their languages were spawned from goblinkind then.

The elders, let alone the rest of the tribe, hadn�t the slightest notion what this scrawny runt was going on about, of course, even after he tried many times to explain his reasoning to them. Worm earned more than a few knocks for such nonsense, and yet, the tribe took to it. Not out of true belief or comprehension, but out of amusement. That the gnomesies and the halfsies were their young spawn, their inferior children. Another way to taunt the smallfolk in their raids. It wasn�t exactly what Worm intended, but nevertheless it spread like wildfire. Both within the tribe, and the survivors of their raids. A mockery, an affront from the Sharpfang tribe not only upon the gnomes and the halflings, but also upon Mitra who at times descended upon the smallfolk in their respective forms. If it was the evil and cruel goblinoids who had splintered off from the pure and good smallfolk, that was one matter, but for the Sharpfangs to imply the opposite...

Something had to be done. It was not true, of course, an absolute farce. Yet the Church of Mitra could not stand such a disgrace to the reputation of their Morninglord. So their enforcers laid in wait in the forests of Skarria. They easily fended off the eventual raid from members of the Sharpfang tribe, took several prisoner, and learned the location of their dens. Then, the end came. They swept through, shining armor and divine light and blazing swords and shouting for Good and Justice and Righteousness and all the many virtues that they were so known for. And, they found the heretic, the one who started this absolute farce of a rumor. A scrawny runt, a feeble, novice and untested druid. An easy target. Yet they were brutal and merciless even so in their capture of the goblin, maiming its face in the process. An easy target, but not an easy death for what it had begun. Bloodied and beaten, it was bound and prepared for travel. To Branderscar Prison. To be tried, and executed. The End. A Happy Ending for All.

...He would survive, the bloodied and beaten thing thought to himself. Survive and avenge his fallen tribe, no matter what it took. Even if that meant getting on his knees and begging. Even if that meant playing the servile fool. Even if that meant crawling through the dirt.

Even if that meant living like a worm.

quote:

_{Name: Worm of the Sharpfang Tribe

Race: Goblin

Age: 12

Size: Small

Class: Druid 1

Circle: Shepherd

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Background: Tribe Loremaster [Sage]

Branding: Blasphemy - Not just related, but Goblinoids are the true ancestors of both Gnomes and Halflings, identifiable by their languages being derived from Goblin.

Languages: Common, Goblin, Gnomish, Halfling

Statistics

Hit Points: 11

Initiative: +4

AC: 14 (unarmored) / 16 (Studded Leather)

Speed: 30 ft

Passive Perception: 14

Passive Investigation: 13

Passive Insight: 14

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)

Strength: 8 (-1/-1)

Dexterity: 16+2 (+4/+4)

Constitution: 15+1 (+3/+3)

Intelligence: 16 (+3/+5)

Wisdom: 18 (+4/+6)

Charisma: 13 (+1/+1)

Skills

Acrobatics: +4

Animal Handling: +4

Arcana: +5

Athletics: -1

Deception: +1

History : +5

Insight: +4

Intimidation: +1

Investigation: +3

Medicine: +6

Nature: +5

Perception: +4

Performance: +1

Persuasion: +1

Religion: +3

Sleight of Hand: +4

Stealth: +4

Survival: +6

Armor Proficiency: Light armor, medium armor, shields (druids will not wear armor or use shields made of metal)

Weapon Proficiency: Clubs, daggers, darts, javelins, maces, quarterstaffs, scimitars, sickles, slings, spears

Tools: Herbalism kit

Features

Darkvision [Racial]: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Fury of the Small [Racial]: When you damage a creature with an attack or a spell and the creature's size is larger than yours, you can cause the attack or spell to deal extra damage to the creature. The extra damage equals your level. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Nimble Escape [Racial]: You can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.

Feats

Historian - +1 int, History prof., when I Help as a Bonus action my ally gets +my prof if I pass a DC 15 History check and they can understand me.

Spell Save DC: 14

Spell Attack Modifier: +4

Cantrips: Primal Savagery, Infestation

Known/Prepared Spells: Entangle, Cure Wounds, Create or Destroy Water, Goodberry, -

Spell Slots:

Equipment:

Truncheon

Two sets of manacles

Explorer's pack

2 Flasks of Oil

34 Silver Dragons [SP]

Horn of Whiskey

--- Later ---

Studded Leather [45 GP]

Quarterstaff [2 SP]

Dagger [2 GP]

152.8 GP

Background: Tribe Loremaster [Sage]

Traits: I'm used to helping out those who aren�t as smart as I am, and I patiently explain anything and everything to others.

Ideal: Knowledge is the path to power and domination.

Bond: I will bring terrible wrath down on the 'evildoers' who destroyed my tribe.

Flaw: Once I pick a goal, I become obsessed with it to the detriment of everything else in my life.

Class: Druid

Treasured Item: A necklace of fangs collected from the elders that passed before the destruction of my tribe.

Guiding Aspect: As demonstrated by the actions of the wolf, an individual�s strength is nothing compared to the power of the pack.

Mentor: I was not the only runt who learned from the elders of my tribe, and it was one of my fellow pupils who betrayed the location of our dens.}

TheFireMagi fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Jun 14, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 04:54

Tricky: Jun 12, 2007; after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage

Excellence; Lilith bet Rasho bin Zariel; Bladesworn of Asmodeus

From the moment of her birth, Excellence was told by the world at large that her heritage was something to be ashamed of. A mark against her, but one that she could simply work through if she only dedicated her body and soul to Good. Perhaps she would have, despite it all, had it not been for the family that surrounded her. The House of Rasho had never been truly respected in the old days of the Dominion, ironically owing to their complicated heritage even then, but her parents simply took that as an opportunity to double-down on the tradition and appeals to the past. The resurgent Dominion would see their loyalty, surely, and reward them for it.

They trained their dear daughter in the ways of the Bladesworn, the traditional courtly role of those who traced their heritage to Zariel, but the time came when it was expected that she would serve the Dominion-in-exile. There were two options: breeding, or building influence in the world beyond. Excellence was too prideful to even consider the first. She was a proud daughter of the House of Rasho and Zariel's blessing ran thick in her blood. Hardly fitting to see that wasted as some broodmare. Instead, she took her services to the armies of Keshkevar.

It was not easy for her in the army, as you might expect, but there exists a fundamental truth: the forces of Good can't resist a tale of redemption, of casting off the burdens of Evil that rest in one's blood. Slowly, but surely, she won the respect of those she fought with under the banner of the winged lion. As the years passed, she managed to reach the unthinkable � for a Tiefling � rank of captain. It was then that Asmodeus made himself known to her. Dreams and visions and portents abounded as he whispered dark temptations of a resurgent Dominion... with her in primacy. She wholeheartedly accepted.

The corruption of her men did not take as long as you might think. They all shared a bond of metaphorical blood, after all, and the whispers of resentment against those that lived in luxury while they fought and died were a recurring theme. Excellence offered them a way to strike back. It was well known that the honorable King Markadian V made the pilgrimage every year to receive the Artifix's blessing on Mitra's Ascent, the most holy of holy days. It would provide the perfect opportunity to strike the realm of Talingarde to its very core. The only problem was the sheer amount of scrutiny her lot would be under if they were on duty. Her service record was impeccable, but the church had ever eyed her with disfavor.

So, in order to prepare for their strike at the heart of Talingarde, they vacated their post at a border outpost. If all had gone according to plan, none would have discovered their absence until it was too late. Unfortunately, fate, as ever, intervened. A delayed supply convoy discovered the empty outpost and, with the speed of magic, passed that along to Keshkevar high command. Given that everything needed to be perfect for King Markadian V's impending visit, they couldn't allow an errant band of soldiers to roam free. They organized a manhunt and, a matter of days before Mitra's Ascent, discovered Excellence and her band.

The group was apprehended and held prisoner. It was a minor matter, really, worth only flagellation and forced labor before a return to society. In fact, when King Markadian V heard of the events that transpired, he made a point to personally come and commute the band's sentence as a gesture of goodwill and forgiveness on Mitra's most holy of days. Many accepted his blessing, losing their nerve and anger as they gazed upon their sovereign. Excellence did not. When he extended a hand to her, she spat in his face. She cursed him for a coward and a blasphemer both, using such evocative language that one of the attending flamen fainted from the shock.

Suffice to say a pardon was no longer in her future. The court palantine urged the King to send her to Branderscar, as surely the hatred that suffused her flesh was an unquenchable blaze. Sadly, reluctantly, the King agreed. And so it was. Excellence, no, Lilith bet Rasho bin Zariel was to be hung as a coward and a deserter.

quote:

Name: Excellence (to the masses); Lilith bet Rasho bin Zariel (to fellow Tieflings)
Race: Tiefling (Zariel)
Age: 25
Size: Medium (6' 6")
Class: Paladin 1
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Background: Soldier
Branding: Desertion
Languages: Common, Infernal

Hit Points: 13
Initiative: +1
AC: 11
Speed: 30

Passive Perception: 10
Passive Investigation: 9
Passive Insight: 12

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 18 (+4/+4)
Dexterity: 12 (+1/+1)
Constitution: 16 (+3/+3)
Intelligence: 8 (-1/-1)
Wisdom: 11 (+0/+2)
Charisma: 20 (+5/+7)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics +1
Animal Handling +0
Arcana -1
Athletics +6
Deception +5
History -1
Insight +2
Intimidation +7
Investigation -1
Medicine +0
Nature -1
Perception +0
Performance +5
Persuasion +7
Religion -1
Sleight of Hand +1
Stealth +1
Survival +0

Armor Proficiency: All
Weapon Proficiency: All
Tools: Playing Cards, Vehicles (Land)

Features:
Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Strength score increases by 1.
Darkvision: Thanks to your infernal heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can�t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Hellish Resistance: You have resistance to fire damage.
Legacy of Avernus: You know the Thaumaturgy cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Searing Smite spell as a 2nd-level spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Branding Smite spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Infernal.
Divine Sense: As an action, until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity. Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated. You can use this feature a number of times equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier. When you finish a long rest, you regain all expended uses.
Lay on Hands:You have a pool of healing power that replenishes when you take a long rest. With that pool, you can restore a total number of hit points equal to your paladin level x 5. As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to restore a number of hit points to that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool. Alternatively, you can expend 5 hit points from your pool of healing to cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it. You can cure multiple diseases and neutralize multiple poisons with a single use of Lay on Hands, expending hit points separately for each one. This feature has no effect on undead and constructs.

Feats:
Infernal Constitution: Fiendish blood runs strong in you, unlocking a resilience akin to that possessed by some fiends. You gain the following benefits:
�Increase your Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
�You have resistance to cold damage and poison damage.
�You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned.

Spell Save DC: 15
Spell Attack Modifier: +7

Cantrips: Thaumaturgy

Known/Prepared Spells: -
Spell Slots: -

Equipment:
Chain Mail (75gp)
Shield (w/ Holy Symbol Emblem) (15gp)
Longsword (15gp)
Playing Cards (5sp)
Burglar's Pack (16gp)
Clothes, Traveler's (2gp)
Clothes, Fine (15gp)
A Bunch of Javelins (5sp x ??)
61.5gp for the communal horse+carriage fund

Background: Soldier

Traits: I face problems head-on. A simple, direct solution is the best path to success.
Ideal: Conquest. I am equal to the sum of the foes I have defeated in combat.
Bond: I�ll never forget the crushing defeat my company suffered or the enemies who dealt it.
Flaw: I have little respect for anyone who is not a proven warrior.

Class: Paladin

Personal Goal: Glory. You will lead the world into a grand new era, one that will be branded with your name.
Symbol: An inverted pentagram against a stylized flame. Asmodeus has Excellence's devotion, but she also honors the blood of Zariel that runs thick in her veins.
Nemesis: King Markadian V, the Brave. Excellence may well admit that her plan was ill-conceived, eventually, but she will never forgive the look of pity in his eyes when they met.
Temptation: Fury. When your anger is roused, you have trouble thinking straight, and you fear you might do something you�ll regret.

Stats!: 5#1d10+7 17 15 12 11 11

Tricky fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Jun 1, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 05:08

Successful Businessmanga: Mar 28, 2010

Gertrude Penderghast, Grave Cleric of Vecna.

Gertrude had always been a kind and happy woman, her parents were the exemplars of what a parent should be, giving her a wholesome and enriching childhood. She'd grown into a fine young woman and married a strapping young man who could deliver domestic bliss. Mitra had blessed the couple with a bushel of healthy children as the years flew by and things were good.

Gertrude spitefully spits whenever her far flung past comes up. it had been so easy to believe in some up and coming beneficent light. A kind god who'd protect them, who would never let anything bad happen! Where had Mitra been when the plague swept through Ravenwood? When her children, husband, and eventually the entire citizenry of the hamlet succumbed? Where had Mitra been when the dead, her family and close friends, began to rise?

The paladins came eventually of course, but they weren't really needed. The cursed plague had soaked into Gertrude's bones and the dead simply ignored her as one of their own. The village was razed to the ground, all trace burned from the map to remove any hint of the "disease", and Gertrude was turned out into the world penniless and alone.

As it turns out living the idyllic doting mother lifestyle doesn't leave you with a lot of money earning talents outside of raising children, and she hadn't been ready to even consider being around children after her ordeals. She didn't starve though. The Mitrans had a habit of burying sentimental objects with their dead, and though for the most part this meant things like a favorite tool or a family keep sake for the peasantry, the richer fools tended to be buried with their most impressive jewels or other ostentatious objects. Gertrude needed to eat, and so she did what had to be done.

One of the larger crypts she'd broken into was the site of a life changing event, she'd been picking through old bones when she found a perfectly preserved journal hidden away inside the clothed rib cage of a skeleton. The contents were fairly banal, simply a journal of a simpering noble who listed their secret regrets, and she wouldn't have thought anything of it in normal circumstances, but that was the day snippets of Vecna's whispers began to filter into her mind.

Crypt robbing isn't exactly a sustainable task unfortunately, the ultra rich only die so often afterall. With her advancing age Gertrude had become more brazen, so it's no surprise she was caught outside of Milatum. Gertrude had her eyes set on a sacred crypt outside near the capital, but luck wasn't on her side that day. A nobleman was touring the grounds, and had no qualms about setting his guard on a heretical old woman trying to smash her way through a stone crypt's door with a hammer.

Gertrude's tale would have likely ended then and there with a blade through her chest, but Vecna is loathe to lose such a productive servant. When the guard had drawn his blade back from Gertrude's chest, there had been blood, but the hag in front of them continued to stand. Vecna had delivered a small miracle, not that it did much for her. Within moments she'd been tackled to the ground, bound and gagged, and days later was being shipped off to Branderscar.

_{pre:
Name: Gertrude Penderghast
Race: Human (Myrcian)
Size: Medium (5'2' 146lbs)
Class: Cleric (Grave)
Proficiency: +2
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Background: Crypt Robber
Crime: Grave-Robbery
HP: 8/8
AC: 14 (Unarmored)/ 19 (17 w/mage armor +2 shield)
Speed: 30
Passive Investigation: 12
Passive Insight: 16
Passive Perception: 16
Spell DC: Wis: 14

Attributes/Saves:
STR: 8 (-1/-1)
DEX: 18 (+4/+4)
CON: 10 (+0/+0)
INT: 15 (+2/+2)
WIS: 18 (+4/+6)
CHA: 14 (+2/+4)

Skill profs: *Expertise
Insight (+6) Class
Religion (+4) Class
Deception (+6*) Racial
Investigation (+4) Background
Perception (+6) Background

Weapons: Simple Weapons

Armor: Light, Medium, Shields.

Tools:
Background: Poisoner's Kit (+4)

Languages:
Racial: Common, Goblin
Background: Giant

Feats:
Magic Initiate- Gain 2 cantrips and a level 1 spell from another class. (Wizard)
Control Flames (Cantrip)
Mold Earth (Cantrip)
Mage Armor (Level 1, once per long rest)

Silver-Tongued:
+1 Cha
Expertise in Deception
Deception vs Insight: no OAs from target and advantage to attacking it until eomnt.

Features:
Domain Spells: Bane, False Life

Circle of Mortality:
Heal max amount with spells when healing creatures at 0 HP.
Learn the Spare the Dying cantrip, usable at 30' range as a bonus action.

Eyes of the Grave
As an action become aware of the presence of undead within 60'.
Doesn't work if they're protected against divination.
Doesn't reveal identity/capabilities.
Usable 4 (wis) times per long rest.

Background:
Grave Robber
Ignored by mindless undead unless provoked.
Bonus to disposition with intelligent undead.

Personality Traits:
I'd never betray something told to me in confidence, other than to Lord Vecna,
not that you'd know that was happening.

I'm familiar with the silence of the grave, I just wish the living would emulate it.

Ideal:
Knowledge: Power is found in hidden ledgers and overheard conversations.

Bond:
I'm nearing the end of my time alive, a path toward undeath needs to be found.

Flaw:
The living are terrible at following instructions. I'll do it myself or use the undead.

Equipment Wishlist:
Caltrops x 5 5gp
Clothes, Fine 15gp
Clothes, Costume (Vestal) 5gp
Clothes, Traveler's 2gp
Dagger 2gp
Explorer's Pack 10gp*
Holy Symbol, Reliquary(Vecna) 5gp
Manacles 2gp
Mastiff 25gp
Pick, Miner's 2gp
Poisoner's Kit 50gp
Powdered silver 25gp
Ruby Dust 50gp

Clothes, Common .5gp
Darts x16 .8gp
Flask .02gp
Ink Pen .02gp
Sack x2 .02 gp (30lbs of flour .6gp)
Soap x2 .04gp
200gp total.

*Backpack[Containing]
Bedroll, mess kit, tinderbox, 10 torches, 10 days rations,
waterskin, and 50' hempen rope.}

First 4 rolls 17, 9, 12, 10
The 5th roll because I'm a dumb. 15
Assigned
Str: 8
Dex: 17+1 racial
Con: 10
Wis: 18
Int: 15
Cha: 12 +1 Racial +1 feat

_{Save DC: 14

Cantrips: Control Flames, Guidance, Light, Mold earth, Spare the Dying, Toll the Dying

Prepared Spells Bane, Bless, Command, Detect Magic, False Life, Healing Word, Inflict Wounds

Feature: Mage Armor (Once per long rest)

Lvl. 1 [2/2]:

Effects:}

Successful Businessmanga fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Jul 6, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 05:36

Mr. Humalong: May 7, 2007

Still forming a character concept, but ~~here is my terrible roll (13 12 10 9 8)~~ here is my mulligan roll (15 14 13 9 8).

Name: Tlaloc
Race: Half-Elf
Age: 33
Size: Medium (6'2")
Class: Sorcerer (1)
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Background: Hermit
Branding: Grave-Robbery
Languages: Common, Elvish, Sylvan, Infernal

Hit Points: 11
Initiative: +3
AC: 17
Speed: 30

Passive Perception: 10
Passive Investigation: 12
Passive Insight: 10

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 8 (-1/-1)
Dexterity: 16 (+3/+3)
Constitution: 18 (+4/+6)
Intelligence: 14 (+2/+2)
Wisdom: 10 (0/0)
Charisma: 16 (+3/+5)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics +3
Animal Handling
Arcana +2
Athletics -1
Deception +5
History +2
Insight
Intimidation +7
Investigation +2
Medicine +2
Nature +4
Perception
Performance +3
Persuasion +3
Religion +4
Sleight of Hand +3
Stealth +5
Survival

Armor Proficiency: Shields
Weapon Proficiency: Simple, Martial
Tools: None

Features:
Darkvision 60 ft

Fey Ancestry - Advantage on saving throws against being charmed, magic cannot put me to sleep.

Metal Magic - When I learn a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, I can select the spell from an additional list of spells (see here), in addition to the sorcerer spell list. It becomes a sorcerer spell.

Stone's Durability - HP maximum increases by 1, and increases by 1 again whenever gaining a level in this class. As an action, gain a base AC of 13 + CON mod if not wearing armor, and skin assumes a stony appearance. Effect lasts until ended as a bonus action, I am incapacitated, or I don armor other than a shield.

Grave-Robbery - You carry the scent of death with you. Unintelligent Un-Dead ignore your presence unless provoked, while intelligent Un-Dead may still act against you but are better disposed to treat you as a possible ally.

Feats:
Menacing - Increase CHA by 1 (max 20). Gain proficiency in Intimidation, or expertise if already proficient. During the Attack action, you can replace one attack with an Intimidation check vs the Insight of a target within 30 ft. On a success, the target is frightened until the end of your next turn; on a failure, it can't be frightened this way for 1 hour.

Spell Save DC: 13
Spell Attack Modifier: +5

Cantrips: Booming Blade, Chill Touch, Mold Earth, Lightning Lure

Known/Prepared Spells: Absorb Elements, Thunderous Smite
Spell Slots: 2 1st Level

Equipment: War Pick (5 gp), Shield (10 gp), two Daggers (4 gp), Sickle (1 gp), Component Pouch (25 gp), Explorer's Pack (10 gp), two Potions of Healing (100 gp)

Background: Hermit

Traits: I see omens in every event and action. The gods try to speak to us, we just need to listen. I often get lost in my own thoughts and contemplation, becoming oblivious to my surroundings.
Ideal: Power. Solitude and contemplation are paths toward mystical or magical power.
Bond: I'm still seeking the enlightenment I pursued in my seclusion, and it still eludes me.
Flaw: I like keeping secrets and won't share them with anyone.

Backstory:

I needed a shin bone from a gnome. It was absolutely vital that I obtain it. The ritual would not work without one. The voice was very clear about that. How was I to know they would take offense to my rummaging through their cemetery? I didn't even expect them to have guards posted, what with their strange habit of wandering from city to city.

Idiot gnomes. I traveled all the way to Zakros from the Desperations and what happens? I get caught graverobbing. And the grave of some legendary hunter of theirs, too! Terrible luck. They say I defiled the sanctity of the entire cemetery. The other materials I had on me didn't help my case, either. The scalp of a goblin wouldn't have bothered them, but carry around an entire goblin head and everyone loses their minds.

Hypocrites. They hunt the goblins, I've watched them.

Or maybe it was the mummified fingers of that elf that sealed my fate. I found those, the land gave them to me. Not my fault they don't believe I haven't been going around cutting fingers off of elves.

The human tongue I am guilty of cutting off, though. I'll confess to that. The voice tells me to do it, the voice of the land. The land gave me my powers, the land can take my powers away. I have to obey its commands. I have no choice!

From the land we were born, and to the land we all shall return. Now I'm stuck here in this prison. I have to get out. The ritual must be completed.

The voice commands it.

Mr. Humalong fucked around with this message at 00:57 on May 30, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 05:44

P.d0t: Dec 27, 2007; I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...

why bother branding someone, if you're just going to put them to death 3 days later?

# ? May 28, 2018 05:53

Tricky Dick Nixon: Jul 26, 2010; by Nyc_Tattoo

P.d0t posted:

why bother branding someone, if you're just going to put them to death 3 days later?

Not all are executed immediately, some are sent to work until they die in some local salt mines, which probably have a higher escape rate than the prison itself.

Additionally it serves a ritual purpose, not unlike shaving inmates' heads, beyond whatever practical reasons might have inspired it. A sign of disfavor from God, in a very religious society, letting the person branded know that they have no chance of redemption in the time before they die.

It dehumanizes the target, and makes the job of execution easier, like giving them a hood or the like.

# ? May 28, 2018 05:58

Relentless: Sep 22, 2007; It's a perfect day for some mayhem!

Character?: 5#1d10+7 16 9 17 11 17

Despite his best efforts, Shadow never knew exactly how he ended up at the Temple of Eavarias.

Located north of Bastia, a waypoint and fishing town outside the Banishlands, the Temple is a cold and lonely place. There is fishing and gardening to be done to feed the templefolk, floors to be swept, studies to attend, and above all, practice. Morning, noon and night, practice. Since he was a small child, this is all Shadow has known. Surrounded by the dragonborn warrior monks, he was always different. Furred, not scaled. No affinity for the cold or lightning or fire, though he did always love finding a moment to curl up in front of a fire. He lacked the ironbound discipline the rest of his compatriots found so easily.

Instead of carrying water up the 100 stairs, balancing two buckets on a pole, he fashioned lids and ran up the stairs. Instead of sweeping the long hallways carefully from one end to the other, he fashioned a pushbroom and did it in one pass.

Instead of being rewarded with a belt, he was forced to balance buckets only for them to be emptied at the top, to sweep already clean halls.

Instead of being told his past, his history, his family, Master Galruuk told him useless fables.

For 15 long years, Shadow studied the ways of the temple monks. For 15 years he learned how to punch, kick, elbow, and bite. To leap from pole to pole in a snowstorm, to withstand the blows of wooden swords, and to weave around them.

For 15 long years, he taught himself how to hide. How to still his breath, become one with the shadows, to be so quiet he could climb along a ceiling without the monks under him suspecting a thing.

At the end of it all, he found himself in the Master's study, alone, looking for some piece of his past, a scrap, a note, anything. Shadow did not find his history, but he did discover scrolls that described untold power. The ability to stop someone's heart in their chest. The ability to become one with air itself, or suck the heat out of the room, or force the earth to heed your call. To channel the heat of Sun itself. The power to become invisible, or steal the life force from your defeated enemies.

And Master Galruuk found him, reading these teachings. Master Galruuk tried to discipline Shadow, to turn this into another teaching moment for his student. But Shadow was done being taught. He had stolen the lessons he wanted, and a lantern thrown onto the desk quickly burned the rest. It burned them, and the rest of the teachings. It burned the recent records, and the new. It burned Master Galruuk too. But by then, The Wayward Shadow was gone.

He didn't spend long in Bastia, or Nostoy, or any of the other towns as he headed to the coast. Finally being free suited Shadow. A night here, a couple days there, always something new to find, someone new to meet. In the larger cities, he found he could join in with the entertainers, as a curiosity, and performing acts of strength and agility. The basics he had learned at the monastery were enough to woo the crowds, balancing on his fingertips, catching apples on his claws while blindfolded. He even told some of Master Galruuk's fables. But eventually they found him. The black panther man had attacked a holy man, burned a temple. There aren't very many of those in Talingarde. Shadow was good at running, and good at hiding, but everyone has to sleep.

In the end, sitting in a cold, damp cell, a thought occurs to Shadow. This world resists change, resists those that don't fit into pretty little boxes and who don't follow orders. Shadow fix that, burn it down and rebuild it. But there's also one fable his mind keeps wandering back to. Something about rabbits and badgers and working together. Shadow wants to reshape the world, but that doesn't mean he has to do it alone. Some friends would make this journey more pleasant. And he just arrived at the one place he might meet some people who have the same idea...

quote:

Name: The Wayward Shadow (Aka Shadow)
Race: Taxabi
Age: Early 20s
Size: M (5'10")
Class: Monk 1
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Background: Gladiator
Branding: Desecration
Languages: Common, Draconic

Hit Points: 12/12
Initiative: +5
AC: 18
Speed: 30, climb 20

Passive Perception: 15
Passive Investigation: 9
Passive Insight: 15

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 16 (+3/+5)
Dexterity: 20 (+5/+7)
Constitution: 18 (+4/+4)
Intelligence: 8 (-1/-1)
Wisdom: 17 (+3/+3)
Charisma: 12 (+1/+1)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics +7
Animal Handling +3
Arcana -1
Athletics +5
Deception +1
History -1
Insight +5
Intimidation +1
Investigation -1
Medicine +3
Nature -1
Perception +5
Performance +3
Persuasion +1
Religion -1
Sleight of Hand +5
Stealth +9
Survival +3

Armor Proficiency: None
Weapon Proficiency: Simple weapons, shortswords
Tools: Drums

Features:

Cat's Claws: I can use my fanged claws to make unarmed strikes dealing 1d4 slashing damage. They also give me a climbing speed of 20 feet.

Feline Agility: When moving on my turn in combat, I can move double my speed. Once I do this, I can't do it again until I don't move at all on one of my turns.

Martial Arts (Monk 1, PHB 78) [1d4]
Monk weapons: shortsword, simple weapon (not two-handed/heavy), unarmed strike
With these, I can use Dex instead of Str and use the Martial Arts damage die
When taking an Attack action with these, I get one unarmed strike as a bonus action

Unarmored Defense (Monk 1, PHB 48)
Without armor and no shield, my AC is 10 + Dexterity modifier + Wisdom modifier

Feats: Stealthy

I gain expertise with Stealth, or proficiency if not so already. When I'm hidden, I can move 10 ft to another position without revealing myself, provided that I won't be clearly visible in this new position either. [+1 Dexterity]

Equipment:
Quarterstaff (2 SP)
Burglar's Pack (16 GP)
Dice Set (1 SP)
Drums (6 GP)

Background: Entertainer

Traits: I am intolerant of those that do not respect their place in the natural order.
Ideal: Tradition: There is power in the old ways, and it will be mine.
Bond: I am better than the fools around me, and I will prove it.
Flaw: My tail betrays my inner thoughts. I also sometimes push things off tables for no reason.

Relentless fucked around with this message at 01:17 on May 30, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 07:48

Wahad: May 19, 2011; There is no escape.

Brandenscar, yesterday

"Have you anything to say for yourself, monster?" Berend the guard furrowed his bushy eyebrows, staring at the impassive face of the young girl before him. Well, she looked like a girl. But her scales on her face and the long fangs in her mouth, unconcealed by makeup, betrayed her monstrosity. He didn't know exactly what she was, but the magister had called her a "wan-tee". Whatever. She was a monster, a witch, and a kidnapper besides! The poor princess had fortunately been recovered by her father's knights, and thus the monster had been apprehended. The monster said nothing, simply stared at him, blinking slowly. "These may be your last words before your execution, monster. Choose them wisely!" he continued.

"Just do it. If this takes any longer, my lunch will disagree with your stink." Her voice was maddeningly monotone, and her expression remained unmarred by petty anger or annoyance. Berend bristled, his jowls flabbing about as he waved about the red-hot brand.

"Pfah! By order of the magister, I brand you as a kidnapper! Your crimes will be known for all who see you on your execution in three days."

She didn't scream. Didn't even flinch. When they took her away to her cell, she simply sighed, almost wistful, if Berend didn't know better. He knew for sure that the executioner would find great joy in ridding the world of such a monster.

Semetros, three weeks ago

"We have to run." Ihintza's voice was, for once, not so terribly monotone, and Soraya felt her heart flutter in her chest. "We can just go. I have...a place. And ways to deal with the guard. I love you, Soraya." The young noblewoman was pained to hear the anguish in her former handmaiden's voice. She too had found a feeling in her heart for the yuan-ti, strange as it might be. But whatever she knew of the snake people before didn't matter. Ihintza was different. She was hers. Soraya knew that the other girl loved her, and that it wasn't a trick to get at her father.

"Alright. We'll go tonight. There's a storm coming. It'll help cover our escape. But we must pack things, first." The two young girls scrambled about the room as the rain pattering on the balcony became heavier and heavier... but there was not a doubt in their mind that their love wouldn't let them overcome the obstacles in their way.

Semetros, three years ago

"Milady?" Fareen, the old manservant of her father, cleared his throat in that strange, high-pitched way, and Soraya Nasrin Mitralaxis turned away from the window. Behind the crooked old man stood a young girl - her age, perhaps a bit younger, with a neutral expression. "Your new handmaiden." She scowled, but he added: "Your father insists, I'm afraid." He knew her too well.

"Alright, Fareen. Leave us, then." The aged man bowed, and left the chambers, leaving Soraya with her new handmaiden, who curtsied as a greeting. "What is your name?" She stepped towards the other girl with a critical eye, looking her over. She wasn't pretty, to be sure, but there was a certain cuteness to her slightly odd features, though her clothes were plain at best.

"Ihintza, milady."

"First things first, Ihintza." Soraya pronounced the name with some difficulty. A foreigner, then? Her mastery of languages had never been the greatest, much to her father's displeasure. "Don't call me 'milady'. That's for the stuffy old people that serve my father. Just call me Soraya." Ihintza nodded, still keeping the neutral expression. No real subservience like some of the people in the castle, no annoyance like others at being a servant. She simply stared. "And we'll have to fetch you some better clothes. If you're to be seen with me, this rag won't do."

Somewhere deep in the Rough Bounds, eight years ago.

"Faster!" Clutchmother Kassalin's voice barked out over the group of young pureblood. "The Fangs of Meershaulk are no sloths or wastrels! You must be faster! Strike without hesitation, move as the serpent!" The young ones moved through their form exercises with an increasingly rapid pace. Some stumbled, here and there, but some stood out. Strong Gutxissun, whose arms could break even the most stalwart defense. Clever Bassajaun, who always thought he could get away with things without her seeing. And Ihintza. Nimble, quick Ihintza. She might have made a perfect Fang. She was obedient and a well-versed liar, even at so young an age. But her attitude was a problem. Even now, she had little faith in her people, or her god. During prayer she would simply be quiet, and Clutchmother Kassalin knew the young pureblood had little affection for the serpent god. But such things might be corrected, over time. There were still years to go before they would be released into the wild. She would simply have to be more strict. She would make a Fang out of Ihintza yet; and she would make an excellent vessel for the Serpent God's power.

Brandenscar, now.

Light hit Ihintza's eyes with a merciless cheer. The bed had been too soft for sleep, much like the beds back in Semetros. Soraya would have liked it, though, she thought, a realization that came to her unbidden. A pang of guilt stabbed her insides. She had been so foolish, to think she could've gotten away with it. She should have planned it better, like she had been taught. Calculate the odds. Devise a contingency plan. A Fang of Meershaulk should know better.

But she was no true Fang. No perfect serpent like her broodmates. She was marred with emotions. Not always, but on occasion. Only when it mattered. Like with Soraya. And it had left her here, in this cell, with her execution three days out. At least, that's what the guards wanted. But Ihintza's emotional disfunction had left her with another problem. She wasn't simply going to sit here and take this. She had found love, even for a brief moment, before they had taken it from her.

And she was going to see the world burn before she gave up on that.
--

Name: Ihintza
Race: Yuan-ti Pureblood
Age: 20
Size: Medium (5'6")
Class: Warlock 1 (Hexblade)
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Background: Charlatan
Branding: Kidnapping
Languages: Common, Abyssal, Draconic

Hit Points: 9
Initiative: +3
AC: 13 (With armor in equipment list: 17)
Speed: 30ft

Passive Perception: 9
Passive Investigation: 12
Passive Insight: 9

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 8 (-1/-1)
Dexterity: 17 (+3/+3)
Constitution: 12 (+1/+1)
Intelligence: 10 (0/0)
Wisdom: 9 (-1/+1)
Charisma: 20 (+5/+7)

Skills
Acrobatics +3
Animal Handling -1
Arcana +2
Athletics -1
Deception +7
History +0
Insight -1
Intimidation +5
Investigation +2
Medicine -1
Nature +0
Perception -1
Performance +5
Persuasion +5
Religion +0
Sleight of Hand +5
Stealth +3
Survival -1

Armor Proficiency: Light, Medium, Shields
Weapon Proficiency: Simple, Martial
Tools: Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit

Features:
- Innate Spellcasting: Know poison spray cantrip, cast animal friendship unlimited times but only with snakes. Cast suggestion starting at 3rd level once per rest. Use CHA for casting these spells.
- Darkvision: See in the dark up to 60ft.
- Magic Resistance: Advantage on saving throws vs spells and other magical effects.
- Poison Immunity: Immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition.
- Hexblade's Curse: Once per rest, as a bonus action, curse a creature within 30 ft you can see as a bonus action for up to 1 minute. Gain proficiency bonus to damage rolls against the cursed creature, crit on a 19 or 20 on attacks against the cursed creature, and regain HP equal to warlock level + CHA when the cursed creature dies. Curse ends early if caster or cursed target dies or caster is incapacitated.
- Hex Warrior: Upon finishing long rest, touch a weapon you are proficient with. Use CHA for attacks and damage on that weapon until the next long rest. Benefit extends to all weapons summoned with pact of the blade.

Feats:
- War Caster: Advantage on CON saves to maintain concentration when taking damage, perform somatic components even when hands are occupied with weapons or shields, can cast 1-action casting time spells as opportunity attacks.

Spell Save DC: 15
Spell Attack Modifier: +7

Cantrips:
- Eldritch Blast
- Mage Hand
- Poison Spray

Known Spells:
- Charm Person
- Arms of Hadar
Spell Slots: 1

Equipment:
- Studded Leather Armor
- Shield
- Longsword
- Disguise Kit
- Dungeoneer's Pack
- Arcane Focus: Crystal (Jade Necklace)
- 83gp leftover from starting 200

Background:
Traits: Sarcasm and insults are my weapon of choice / I prefer to be alone than among other people, (especially) including my own kind.
Ideal: Aspiration. I strive to make something of myself.
Bond: I have an interest in an unsuitable mate, which I can't suppress.
Flaw: I feel twinges of emotion, and it shames me that I am imperfect this way.

Wahad fucked around with this message at 23:12 on May 28, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 09:00

Ryuujin: Sep 26, 2007; Dragon God

Feng

Supposedly born of the union of an Orc man and a Human woman Feng has long had to rely on his own strength. Abandoned at a young age, supposedly because of his mother's shame, though he is uncertain as he has no memory of either of his parents, he grew up on the streets. The people of Talingarde however are sickeningly sweet and caring, in some ways, and time after time Feng was taken in and brought to an orphanage or foster family to be cared for. However each time he saw these people who tried to take care of him as weak, and as trying to weaken him. Perhaps his orcish blood was too strong, perhaps the edges of the curse touched him, he was not feral and he did not fly into a frothing rage, but he had a burning anger deep inside and a tremendously strong desire to use his strength. And so each time he would flee the orphanage or foster family, usually just after getting into a fight or destroying something.

At times he would find other abandoned children on the streets, before they were caught and handed over to orphanages and foster families, and he would take them over. He would instill in them the drive and skill to survive the streets, to hunt and kill, to fight, the power of Might Makes Right. But again and again the children would be captured, possibly given some punishment depending on what they had done, and then sent off to orphanages and foster families.

As time went on Feng began to grow into a strong young man, nearly an adult. And so when he was captured they no longer tried to send him to an orphanage or foster family, instead they sat him down and talked to him about his desires, about his strength, and about how he could put that drive to good use. And sent him off to the army to be trained and made use of. And he did well. He followed orders well enough, he proved quite capable at combat, and he was certainly strong and hearty. But as time went on he found that contempt was growing for his fellow soldiers, or more often his commanding officers. They were weak. They banded together not as a focusing of power and might, but as a feeble attempt to appear stronger and to protect themselves. They wouldn't do what was necessary to win.

The final straw was when his unit was sent out to deal with some rebels that had formed. And were decimated. Most of his fellow soldiers died or were injured to the point that they couldn't continue. His commanders survived by not being on the field of battle. Cowardice. Weakness. And when he returned he found that his commanders were not willing to go to the lengths necessary to obliterate the rebels that had done this. Enraged he stalked off. He went about systematically hunting down and killing the rebels he remembered seeing, wherever they were. Sometimes the rebels seemed to be ordinary folk, and sometimes he may have killed ordinary folk by mistake, but it was all for the greater good. Might Makes Right and one cannot let failure remain, one must wash away such stink with the blood of those who dared to rise up.

When he returned to what remained of his unit he was questioned. Where had he gone, what had he done. Witnesses were brought forth saying that he was seen killing citizens. He responded with "They were Rebels. They must die for what they did. You would not do what was needed. You were too weak, too cowardly. I am strong so I did what must be done." Understandably his commanders were upset with this. They tried to capture him and punish him, and he responded with violence. He killed his immediate commanders, and a number of other soldiers. But eventually he was overwhelmed with sheer numbers and captured.

For the murders he had committed, and for killing his commanding officers, he was brought to Brandescar Prison. Taken to the branding room he was asked for his statement as the fired the iron. "Might Makes Right. I am Strong so I am Right. They were Weak so they were Wrong." He looks the brander in the eyes. "You are Weak. All of you. This whole nation is Weak. The Weak must be cleansed in blood." As the iron brand is placed upon his flesh he doesn't flinch, instead he inhales. "The smell of burning flesh. So delicious. This world must be broken so that the Strong can once more rule the Weak." And he was taken away as the brand upon his flesh still smouldered.

pre:

Name: Feng
Race: Half-Orc
Age: 21
Size: Medium (7')
Class: Fighter 1 (eventually Brute)
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Background: Soldier
Branding: Murder
Languages: Common, Orc

Hit Points: 14
Initiative: +3
AC: 13
Speed: 30

Passive Perception: 15
Passive Investigation: 9
Passive Insight: 15

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 20 (+5/+7)
Dexterity: 16 (+3/+3)
Constitution: 18 (+4/+6)
Intelligence: 8 (-1/-1)
Wisdom: 16 (+3/+3)
Charisma: 14 (+2/+2)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics +3
Animal Handling +3
Arcana -1
Athletics +7
Deception +2
History -1
Insight +5
Intimidation +3
Investigation -1
Medicine +3
Nature -1
Perception +5
Performance +2
Persuasion +2
Religion -1
Sleight of Hand +3
Stealth +3
Survival +5

Armor Proficiency: All
Weapon Proficiency: All
Tools: Dices, Vehicles (Land)

Features:
Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Darkvision: Thanks to your orc, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in
dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can�t
discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Menacing: You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill.
Relentless Endurance: When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to
1 hit point instead. You can�t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
Savage Attacks: When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the
weapon�s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Orc.
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.
You adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options.
You can�t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
Second Wind: You have a limited well of stamina that you can draw on to protect yourself from harm.
On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your fighter level. Once you use
this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Feats:
Dual Wielder: You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:
�You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.
�You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.
�You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.

Equipment:
Chain Mail (75gp)
Longsword (15gp)
Longsword (15gp)
Dice Set (1sp)
Explorer's Pack (10gp)
84.9gp

Background: Soldier

Traits: I enjoy being strong and like breaking things. I can stare down a hell hound without flinching.
Ideal: Might. In life as in war, the stronger force wins.
Bond: I�ll never forget the crushing defeat my company suffered or the enemies who dealt it.
Flaw: My hatred of my enemies is blind and unreasoning.

Ryuujin fucked around with this message at 22:04 on May 28, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 10:12

TheNabster: Apr 26, 2014; "Today I will cause problems on purpose"

I need more D&D in my life gimme that.

Stats: 17, 15, 14, 11, 9

Ick the Manbiter

"When in the Kobold's warren remember the tunneler's mantra.
Check the ceiling
Check the walls
But don't forget to check the floor."

Kobolds, of all the monstrous races that inhabit the world of Talingarde there are none quite as disdained and despised quite like the little draconoids, gone were the days of the terrible hordes that slaved under their monstrous draconian overlords and struck terror into the heart of the small-folk, now they are just barely above vermin to many of the six kingdoms, a nuisance rather than a threat. And that is perhaps why the incident in Fisher's Glen caught the law enforcing body of the Kingdom of Myrcia by surprise.

Several weeks before the local township reported a series of break-ins, including multiple valuable idols stolen from the Church of Mitra, and the cold house of the local tavern cleared out of its meat the culprits were tracked back to an as of then undiscovered Kobold Warren in the hinterlands, and soon afterwards a squadron of six Crownsguard were dispatched to conduct some pest control and retake what was stolen. The skirmish was successful with no casualties amongst the guards with all the items reclaimed and the Warren successfully destroyed, its occupants scattered into the wilds. It was another success for the Crownsguard and the people of Fisher's Glen welcomed them back with open arms for the retrieval of their valued possessions, and partook in a feast before they were to leave back to the capital.

And they were almost all killed during the night.

One kobold was not present during the raid on the warrens because he was out in the wilds checking on rabbit snares, but he was there to see the results, and the humans carrying off the things the clan had taken from the settlement. And to say he was angry would be missing the opportunity to say he was enraged beyond rational belief. And so he had tirelessly stalked those humans all the way back to the human settlement they had come from, and waited until they were drunk and sleeping to strike. And he got all but two of them who had managed to corner and subdue him but not before he bit a few fingers off in the struggle. And so when the seemingly feral and muzzled kobold was brought forth in the courts there were a great many people who failed to believe that this tiny three foot cretin managed kill four trained guardsmen, but nevertheless multiple murders had been committed of the king's own law-keepers and thus, judgement had to be handed down that he was to be executed by beheading.

In hindsight they shouldn't have given him time before the execution.

Name: Ick
Race: Kobold
Age: 7
Size: Small (3'0")
Class: Ranger 1
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Background: Outlander (Swapped athletics for intimidate)
Branding: Murder
Languages: Common, Draconic, Dwarfish, Halfling

Hit Points: 12/12
Initiative: +5
AC: 15
Speed: 30ft

Passive Perception: 15
Passive Investigation: 14
Passive Insight: 13

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 6 (-2/+0)
Dexterity: 20 (+5/+7)
Constitution: 14 (+2/+2)
Intelligence: 15 (+2/+2)
Wisdom: 17 (+3/+3)
Charisma: 11 (+0/+0)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics +5
Animal Handling +3
Arcana +2
Athletics -2
Deception +0
History +2
Insight +3
Intimidation +2
Investigation +4
Medicine +3
Nature +2
Perception +5
Performance +0
Persuasion +0
Religion +2
Sleight of Hand +5
Stealth +7
Survival +5

Armor Proficiency: Light armour, medium armour, shields
Weapon Proficiency: simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: Musical Instrument (Banjo)

Features:

>Favoured Enemy (Humanoids): You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks against creatures of the chosen type. Additionally, you have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them. When you gain this feature, you also learn one language of your choice.

>Natural Explorer: At 1st level, you have the following benefits:
-You ignore difficult terrain.
-You have advantage on initiative rolls.
-On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.

You gain the following benefits when traveling for an hour or more:
-Difficult terrain doesn't slow your group's travel.
-Your group can't become lost except by magical means.
-Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling, you remain alert to danger.
-If you are traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
-When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would.
-While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.

Feats:

>Crossbow Expert: Thanks to extensive practice with the crossbow, you gain the following benefits:
-You ignore the loading quality of crossbows with which you are proficient.
-Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
-When you use the Attack action and attack with a one handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding.

Equipment: (Feel free to spend 200 GP on equipment to receive in the future.)

Traits: I'm always picking things up, absently fiddling with them, and sometimes accidentally breaking them.
Ideal: Vengeance. The world should remember why they used to fear the dark of the cave.
Bond: I will bring terrible wrath down on the ~~evildoers~~ do-gooders who destroyed my ~~homeland~~ clan.
Flaw: Violence is my answer to almost any challenge
Sworn Enemy: You are obsessed with your foe, and you collect books of tales and history concerning them.

TheNabster fucked around with this message at 22:52 on May 31, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 10:40

Bad Seafood: Dec 10, 2010; If you must blink, do it now.

WIP, rolled dem stats: 16, 17, 8, 9, 13

"Shady" Glenn Dunbarrow

_{(A Portrait of the Merchant as a Young Man, a piece by Lafcadio Delamante; funded by the Dunbarrow patriarch, Stanislaw Dunbarrow, in commemoration of his son taking over the coastal branch of the family business)}

I believe in Talingarde. Talingarde has made my family's fortune. My father raised me in the Talirean fashion. He gave me freedom, and he taught me never to dishonor the teachings of Mitra.

I love Talingarde, your honor. I love its people, its values, its way of life. The streets I grew up in were safe and secure, and the roads I use to carry out my business are both straight and narrow. No one thrives in isolation your honor. A healthy community is a joint-responsibility. I am but a humble servant of the people, an instrument of commerce whose success brings prosperity to my neighbors. The Dunbarrows are a household name, a vital organ of regional capital. My thoughts are only ever of my countrymen.

Despite the indignity of my arrest, I stand here in solidarity, in peaceful recognition of the rule of law. I need not even ask you to disregard the slander my accusers have brought before you, for I have faith in the power of your righteous discernment. The evidence will betray my innocence, and you will see me absolved of any wrongdoing. I yearn to return to my shop, to my cart and stable, but instead stand before you. For Talingarde. For Mitra.

May Mitra bless the ruling of this court.

***

_{(Stanislaw's Boy, a published courtroom sketch)}

Alright, alright, I admit it: mistakes were made. Not my mistakes, mind you, let's keep that clear. I'm the victim here, understand? Understand?

The market's never wrong. If the people want something, they'll pay for it. Even if it's illegal. Even if it's unpleasant. Assassins may be vilified, but they still get paid. The black market wouldn't exist if there weren't a need for it. Banning something only drives up the price. It's bad business.

I've always been good with numbers. Learned how to count 'fore I learned how to read. Kept the ledgers for my old man. Just numbers on paper, but those numbers add up. Numbers are everything. There's nothing in this world you can't buy with a big enough number. A big enough number can enslave a man. A big enough number can control a whole country. I realized then that everything was numbers, and the man with the biggest number wins.

I love maps. My old man kept a trunk of 'em up in his office. Used to sneak up there and jimmy open the lock and spend the whole evening just going over maps. Started drawing my own. Got real good at it. Started drawing other things; got good at that too. Maps, crests, documents, seals. Had the knack, you know. Just came natural. Praises to Mitra.

People respect you when you've got talent. When you've got money. With the right talent you can make a lot of money. With the right words you can make a lot of people make a lot of money for you. I'd handle the shipping manifest, the passport, the goods. Reproduced a Delamante. That one took awhile. Did you know both museums still claim they're the original? Yeah, that's a lie. I keep it in the attic. Sometimes I'd throw parties and invite people up to see it. The right people, of course.

Know what's real good business though? War. Comb over enough history books and you'll start to see the pattern. Supply goes down, demand shoots up, they'll always need more, and the movers and shakers are sittin' pretty. Been awhile since the last war though, but that ain't a problem. War, like anything else, can be manufactured. You just need the right tools for the job, and the right people.

"Hungry dogs bite," my old man told me, "But a well-fed mutt'll never betray you." You can swindle the customer when they're not looking, your business partners when you can afford to, and strangers whenever you please, but the staff you keep? The Help? The Help is sacred my friend, and the storeroom's hollowed ground. An operation's only as effective as its employees, and no good king were ever done in by a well-kept court.

So I do as he says. I go fishing for talent, treat my boys right. Didn't want for nothing. Shady Glenn's gotcha. Regal Cavendish, retired spy. Shanks Joungarm, alchemist, tinker. Velvet Lily, cut-purse and -throat. And me, the forger. "Stanislaw's Boy." Hmph. Shoulda known then they were wolves. Dogs breed loyalty, but a wolf's only true to its nose. They smell blood in the air, they go for the kill, and guess who's left holding the envelope, his fingerprints all over the declaration of war that never was? Me, Glenn Dunbarrow. "Stanislaw's Boy." Buncha rat bastards, ungrateful son-bitches.

Coulda made out like saints if not for those wayward skull-thumpers. I still don't know if they just got scared or had bigger plans. I swear, I get out of here, I'll get somebody to put the boots to 'em; grind 'em up fine like the salt in this mine. Then it's back to business, and I gotta feeling business is gonna be boomin'.

***

TL;DR here's the 3x3 breakdown:

Three-sentence Backstory:

Enterprising son of a merchant family with a good public face but some morally suspect side-hustles.
Betrayed by his underlings in the middle of a job which shocked the nation; he got slapped while they escaped.
His reputation in ruins, he's going full-on mob boss.

Three Beliefs:

It never hurts to play by the book, provided you're the author.
If you can afford the best, you can't afford not having it.
Diplomats kill more soldiers than soldiers do.

Three Goals

Get even with those idiots who burned me.
Land a position as a "Key of Power."
Become filthy, obscenely, gratuitously rich. We're talking Scrooge McDuck, swimming in your own bank vault levels of rich.

Name: "Shady" Glenn Dunbarrow; "Stanislaw's Boy."
Race: Halfling (Lightfoot)
Age: 44
Size: Small (2 feet, 11 inches)
Class: Rogue Mastermind (1)
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Background: Guild Artisan (Merchant Variant)
Branding: Forgery
Languages: Common, Halfling, Dwarvish

Hit Points: 7
Initiative: +5
AC: 17 (15 without armor)
Speed: 25 feet

Passive Perception: 19
Passive Investigation: 20
Passive Insight: 14

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 8 (-1/-1)
Dexterity: 20 (+5/+7)
Constitution: 9 (-1/-1)
Intelligence: 16 (+3/+5)
Wisdom: 14 (+2/+2)
Charisma: 18 (+4/+4)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics +5
Animal Handling + 1
Arcana +3
Athletics -1
Deception +8
History +3
Insight +3
Intimidation +4
Investigation +5
Medicine +1
Nature +3
Perception +3
Performance +6
Persuasion +8
Religion +3
Sleight of Hand +5
Stealth +5
Survival +1

Armor Proficiency: Light armor
Weapon Proficiency: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, long swords, rapiers, short swords
Tools: Cartographer's tools, thieves' tools

Features:

Lucky
When I roll a 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, I can reroll the die (but must use the new result).

Brave
I have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

Halfling Nimbleness
I can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than mine.

Naturally Stealthy
I can attempt to hide even when I am obscured only by a creature that is at least one size larger than me.

Expertise
My proficiency bonus is doubled for two skills I am already proficient in. At 6th level I can choose two more skills I am already proficient in to receive this benefit.

Sneak Attack
Once per turn I can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature I hit with an attack if I have advantage on the attack roll with a finesse or ranged weapon. I can also receive this benefit if my target is currently engaging another enemy who isn't incapacitated.

Thieves' Cant
I can speak in code, yo.

Feats:

Observant
I am quick to notice details in my environment. My Wisdom score increases by 1, if I can see a creature's mouth while it is speaking a language I understand, I can interpret what it's saying by reading its lips, and I have a +5 bonus to my passive Perception and Investigation scores.

Spell Save DC: N/A
Spell Attack Modifier: N/A

Cantrips: N/A

Known/Prepared Spells: N/A
Spell Slots: N/A

Equipment:
Studded leather, a hand crossbow, and a dagger - 120 gp
A set of traveler's clothes and a set of fine clothes - 17 gp
A pack (flavored as a satchel), a bag of ball bearings, and a crossbow bolt case containing 20 bolts - 5 gp
Cartographer's tools, thieves' tools - 40 gp
An abacus, an ink pen, a bottle of ink, 10 pieces of parchment, a cylindrical map case for holding papers, and a frankly ridiculous amount of chalk - 15g
10 sacks, 5 flasks, a lamp, a waterskin, a signal whistle, a whetstone, and 2 bars of soap - 3 gp

Background: Guild Artisan (Merchant Variant)

Traits: I like to talk at length about my profession.
Ideal: Greed; I'm only in it for the money.
Bond: I will get revenge on the people who destroyed my place of business and ruined my livelihood.
Flaw: I'm never satisfied with what I have - I always want more!

Bad Seafood fucked around with this message at 16:35 on May 29, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 13:08

Tardzilla: Aug 31, 2006

Stat rolls!: 5#1d10+7 16 15 10 11 9

Azura Vochstein, your future Queen

Have you ever loved someone and hated them at the same time?

Those are the feelings Azura has for the woman who raised her, and whom she owes everything to. Azura was a child filled with raw, untapped magical energy, and it was that power that she held that caused the people around her, including her own parents, to fear, and mistrust her. They saw her powers as a curse, a bad omen that would bring doom to them all, so they cast her out of their community, and forced her to live on her own in the streets. The days following were filled with misery and suffering for the girl, and, just when she thinks she wouldn't be able to go on any longer, she noticed a hand that was extended to her. When she looked up, she saw an older woman, dressed in fine clothing, smiling down on her. "Poor child," she said to the young Azura, "You've suffered so much, haven't you? Here, let me help you." The woman, never letting go of her smile, helped Azura up, and lead her back to her home, where she gave the half-elf a place to stay. That person, who helped the poor Azura when she had nothing left, who gave her a new home, and even raised her as her own, was Ophelia Vochstein, a woman Azura would see as her mother.

Ophelia was no ordinary woman, though. She is the head of House Vochstein, and holds a considerable amount of influence towards the other noble houses, and is generally loved by the people around her. They all saw her as a selfless woman, who's known for her kindness and her generosity, and how she always works to do what she believes to be right for the common folk.

But little did they all know that it was all a mask.

What most don't know is that Ophelia actually controls her own secret underground organization, where she is referred to as The Queen of the Underworld. Ophelia- the same Ophelia that most see as a saint, is, in actuality, a ruthless and cunning woman, who isn't afraid to step over people to get what she wants, and crushes anybody who even dares get in her way without a second thought.

And Azura almost idolized those qualities about her mother.

Her foster mother revealed her true nature to Azura early in her life, and she told her that she knew about her powers, and she also saw a great amount of potential in Azura, and hoped that one day, she would grow up to be a worthy successor to her empire. Azura worked hard over the years, doing everything her mother told her, hoping that she would be considered ready to take over in her mother's stead, but that day never came for her, and she was slowly growing impatient. Everytime she asked if she was ready, her mother would say, "Not yet," and when she asked when, Ophelia would say, "The time will come soon enough." But she was ready! She's been ready for a long time now! Can't her mother see that!? Does she think her daughter isn't powerful enough, is that it? Why does she keep denying me my rightful place!?

Azura became fed up with her mother, and decided that, if her mother wasn't going to give her what she deserved, then she'll just take it from her. But, as much power as Azura had, her mother was much more powerful than she was, and a much more accomplished mage, but that didn't stop her. She'll do anything to gain the power she needs, even if she has to make a pact with demons.

The ritual was almost ready. All she had to do was make the sacrifice needed- a piece of her soul, and she would gain enough power to crush her mother, but before she could complete it, soldiers barged through the door, and stopped her. Ophelia knew about her daughter's plans, and tipped off the guardsmen on the night of the ritual, and Azura, filled with a new-found hatred for her mother, was taken away. She would be tried, and burned at the stake.

...But Azura was not going to die. Not today. She will survive this, and she will be free again. She will take her new throne, and become the new Queen of the Underworld, and she will do anything it takes to achieve her goal, even if it involves killing the woman who raised her.

quote:

Name: Azura Vochstein
Race: Half-Elf
Age: 21
Size: Medium (5' 0")
Class: Sorcerer 1 (Wild Magic)
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Background: Noble
Branding: Witchcraft
Languages: Common, Elvish, Draconic, Infernal

Hit Points: 9
Initiative: +3
AC: 13
Speed: 30

Passive Perception: 10
Passive Investigation: 11
Passive Insight: 10

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 8 (-1/-1)
Dexterity: 16 (+3/+3)
Constitution: 16 (+3/+5)
Intelligence: 12 (+1/+1)
Wisdom: 10 (+0/+0)
Charisma: 20 (+5/+7)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics +5
Animal Handling +0
Arcana +3
Athletics -1
Deception +5
History +3
Insight +0
Intimidation +7
Investigation +1
Medicine +0
Nature +1
Perception +0
Performance +3
Persuasion +7
Religion +3
Sleight of Hand +3
Stealth +3
Survival +0

Armor Proficiency: None
Weapon Proficiency: Daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows
Tools: Dragon chess set

Features:
Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 2, and two other Ability Scores of your choice increase by 1.
Darkvision: Thanks to your elf blood, you have superior vision in dark and dim Conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in Darkness as if it were dim light. You can�t discern color in Darkness, only shades of gray.
Fey Ancestry: You have advantage on saving throws against being Charmed, and magic can�t put you to sleep.
Skill Versatility: You gain proficiency in two skills of your choice.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and one extra Language of your choice.

Feats: Spell Sniper
You have learned techniques to enhance your attacks with certain kinds of spells, gaining the following benefits:

- When you cast a spell that requires you to make an attack roll, the spell�s range is doubled.
- Your ranged spell attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.
- You learn one cantrip that requires an attack roll. Choose the cantrip from the bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell list. Your spellcasting ability for this cantrip depends on the spell list you choose from

Spell Save DC: 15
Spell Attack Modifier: +7

Cantrips:
- Chill touch
- Message
- Prestidigitation
- Ray of Frost
- Vicious Mockery (Taken from Feat)

Known/Prepared Spells: -
- Burning Hands
- Magic Missile
Spell Slots: - 2

Equipment:

Background: Noble

Traits: If you do me an injury, I will crush you, ruin your name, and salt your fields. I will make you know your place, as I grind you beneath my heels.
Ideal: If I can attain more power, no one will tell me what to do.
Bond: I am denied my rightful place as Queen of the Underworld. I will make the throne mine.
Flaw: When faced with a choice between a path to power and my friends, power is the only right choice.

Class: Sorcerer

Arcane Origins: You are related to a powerful creature that is the source of your power. The only one who knows the identity of the creature, and the relationship you share with it, is your mother.
Reaction: Your neighbors hate and fear your power, causing them to shun you.
Supernatural Mark: Your hair grows at a prodigious rate.
Signs of Sorcery: Illusory blue flames wreathe your head as you begin your casting, then abruptly disappear.

Tardzilla fucked around with this message at 20:19 on May 29, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 13:53

Tricky Dick Nixon: Jul 26, 2010; by Nyc_Tattoo

After sleeping on it, I've decided that if the four generated ability scores (in addition to your forte/foible) you have have a cumulative ability modifier of +1 or less when added together, you can take a mulligan and roll again.

I'll have some feedback tonight on any applications partly or mostly finished.

# ? May 28, 2018 16:59

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

Benny R. Cane, Esq. (Rogue 1 / Cleric of Asmodeus 19)

pre:

17 / 13 / 12 / 13 / 18 / 8

High treason isn't the sort of thing you see in court every day. Benny would know. He was a lawyer. One of the best, actually.

The technical definition, which you would know if you were a lawyer, is someone who has 'tried to topple the rule of King Markadian V of House Darius'. Normally this sentence is reserved for failed assassination attempts. You know, the sort of person who makes a run at a royal family member with a dagger or a piece of cutlery at a rare public appearance. Benny's conviction isn't quite like that, though.

Thirty years ago, Benny made a deal with a merchant group from the Underdark. Drow, obviously, though they almost always acted through intermediaries. They wanted to establish a foothold for their business interests on the surface, and they needed a collaborator to do it. Specifically, they needed someone to drive a truck through every legal loophole in the book, in order to keep their other collaborators out of jail and off the executioner's block. In exchange for being that collaborator, Benny got to sit at the top of the pyramid on the surface, and also enjoyed the fruits of a long, distinguished, and exceedingly profitable career practicing law.

Things escalated over time, though. After a number of years, it wasn't simply keeping the employees on the payroll out of jail, it was planting evidence and casting suspicions upon competing business interests, or convoluted political maneuvering that involved false testimony from numerous witnesses in order to put pressure on whatever or whomever the flavor of the month happened to be. A disturbing proportion of those witnesses had false testimony implanted through arcane surgery, since that was considered to be more reliable and less of a risk of exposure than using bribes or employees of the organization. With each passing year the criminal network grew, and before too long Benny was the de facto don on the surface of one of the largest drow-sponsored mafias the world had ever seen. It was inevitable that, eventually, his crippling hold over the economy of Talingarde would become unassailable.

The problem with taking drow money, though, is that you get drawn into drow politics. It was also inevitable that the whole drat thing would come crashing down, though a non-drow could never really anticipate that. For a reason he still doesn't yet know, his Underdark contacts abruptly pulled their support for his operation, and all of the arcane, divine, economic, and physical resources he had been using to prop up his organization had the rug swept out from underneath them, with all of his below-the-ground contacts disappearing like ghosts. To make matters worse, as far as he understands it an extremely well documented and verifiable dossier of every crime his organization had arranged for the last thirty years made its way to the council of sages that advise the royal family. Before he even knew what was happening, he was in chains and scheduled to be executed. Worse still, a disturbing majority of his employees were also implicated, and were also quickly sentenced. They got off easy, at least, since the vast majority of them were indicted on charges of extortion, forgery, and fraud, all of which tended to result in a sentence of a lifetime of hard labor in the salt mines.

For his own part, his charges were upgraded to high treason due to their long-lasting and carefully calculated nature, and due to the fact that they were obviously escalating on a path that was on a collision course with the royal family and general political stability of the realm. He also suspects (rightly) that the prosecutors felt it would be rather unwise (extremely rightly) to send the leader of the mafia to the salt mines with the entirety of his criminal network. With their options rather limited, high treason was simply the only choice. Another ten years, and King Benny would have reigned on the throne, backed by an army of unthinkable creatures from beneath the earth, and the dark powers that they worship. That was the narrative at his trial, anyway. Frankly, it probably wasn't far from the truth, though he supposed he'd never get to find out, now.

pre:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name:		Benny R. Cane					Alignment:	Lawful Evil
Race:		Half-elf					Crime:		High Treason
Class:		Rogue (1)					Background:	Scholar
Age:		73						Size:		Medium (5'11)

STR		 8 (-1)	[ 8 base]				INT		14 (+2)	[13 base + 1 racial]
DEX		14 (+2)	[13 base + 1 racial]			WIS		18 (+4)	[18 base]
CON		12 (+1)	[12 base]				CHA		20 (+5)	[17 base + 2 racial + 1 feat]

HP		 9 /  9	[ 8 rogue + 1 ability]			AC		12	[ 2 ability + 0 shield + 10 armor]
Speed		30'	[30 racial]				Initiative	+2	[ 2 ability]

Passive...
  Insight		16
  Perception		16
  Investigation		16
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special abilities:
  Crime:	High Treason
		  � You tried to topple the rule of King Markadian V of House Darius.
		    This is the highest of crimes, and a gruesome means of execution is reserved for your punishment.
		  � Punishment: Death by drawing and quartering.
		  � Benefit: This crime makes you one of the most infamous people in the Six Realms and the attempt will not be
		    easily forgotten, but that means you have a great reputation with all of those who wish ill on the Good people,
		    earning you a stay in the most vile of places, even amid more intelligent monsters interested to hearing about
		    your plot.

  Half-elf:	Fey ancestry
		  � You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can�t put you to sleep.

		Darkvision
		  � You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.
		  � You can�t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

  Bonus feat:	Devilishly Charming ('Diplomat' in all but name)
		  � Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
		  � You gain proficiency in the Persuasion skill.
		    If you are already proficient in this skill, you add double your proficiency bonus to checks you make with it.
		  � If you spend 1 minute talking to someone who can understand what you say, you can make a Charisma (Persuasion)
		    check contested by the creature�s Wisdom (Insight) check. If you or your companions are fighting the creature,
		    your check automatically fails. If your check succeeds, the target is charmed by you as long  as it remains within
		    60 feet of you and for 1 minute thereafter.

  Rogue (1):	Sneak attack +1d6
		  � +1d6 once per turn, with a finesse or ranged weapon.
		  � You must have advantage on the attack roll, or another enemy of the target must be within 5'.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills:
Athletics		- 1		---			STR	[0 proficiency - 1 ability]
Acrobatics		+ 2		---			DEX	[0 proficiency + 2 ability]
Sleight of hand		+ 2		---			DEX	[0 proficiency + 2 ability]
Stealth			+ 2		---			DEX	[0 proficiency + 2 ability]
Knowledge
   (arcana)		+ 2		---			INT	[0 proficiency + 2 ability]
   (history)		+ 4		[Background]		INT	[2 proficiency + 2 ability]
   (investigation)	+ 6		[Half-elf]		INT	[2 proficiency + 2 ability + 2 expertise (rogue)]
   (nature)		+ 4		[Background]		INT	[2 proficiency + 2 ability]
   (religion)		+ 4		[Half-elf]		INT	[2 proficiency + 2 ability]
Animal handling		+ 4		---			WIS	[0 proficiency + 4 ability]
Insight			+ 6		[Rogue]			WIS	[2 proficiency + 4 ability]
Medicine		+ 4		---			WIS	[0 proficiency + 4 ability]
Perception		+ 6		[Rogue]			WIS	[2 proficiency + 4 ability]
Survival		+ 4		---			WIS	[0 proficiency + 4 ability]
Deception		+ 9		[Rogue]			CHA	[2 proficiency + 5 ability + 2 expertise (rogue)]
Intimidation		+ 5		---			CHA	[0 proficiency + 5 ability]
Performance		+ 5		---			CHA	[0 proficiency + 5 ability]
Persuasion		+ 9		[Rogue]			CHA	[2 proficiency + 5 ability + 2 expertise (feat)]

Equipment:
Arms			Simple / Rogue				[Rogue]
Armor			Light					[Rogue]
Tools			Thieves' tools				[Rogue]

Languages:		Common / Elven / Undercommon		[Half-elf]
			Thieves' cant				[Rogue]
			Draconic / ???				[Background]

Saves:
Strength		- 1		---			[0 proficiency - 1 ability]
Dexterity		+ 4		Rogue			[2 proficiency + 2 ability]
Constitution		+ 1		---			[0 proficiency + 1 ability]
Intelligence		+ 4		Rogue			[2 proficiency + 2 ability]
Wisdom			+ 4		---			[0 proficiency + 4 ability]
Charisma		+ 5		---			[0 proficiency + 5 ability]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Waador fucked around with this message at 04:32 on May 30, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 17:36

Capfalcon: Apr 6, 2012; No Boots on the Ground,
Puny Mortals!

Stats part 2!: 5#1d10+7 12 9 12 12 12

I was 50 when I first learned about death. My great, great, great grandmother had passed when she was trancing one evening, and we didn't discover her until the morning. The most surreal part was that she looked like she was just sleeping. Which is ridiculous, of course. Elves don't sleep. I think that's what made me realize how unnatural death is.

After the funeral, I decided that I was going to devote my life to making sure that no one had to go through such an awful ordeal again, and the most natural path for that seemed wizardry. So, I decided that I would begin my studies in the Helveylyn Academy. Unfortunately, it... ah... didn't too long for me to discover that I didn't actually have much of a knack for wizardry. I was barely passing in the first few decades, and I only really mastered the most basic of cantrips. Alchemy, though, was much intuitive to me, even if I had to grit my teeth while I was doing my research. You see, alchemy is looked down on by the instructors of the Academy as a mere curiosity compared to real wizardry, but I did my best to ignore their disdain.
Not even a season had passed before I had exhausted the Academy's sad, little alchemy section.

That's when I started expanding on them.

So, I spent my days struggling to make a flame appear in my hands, and my nights revolutionizing alchemy in the neglected laboratories. My experiments started simply enough, but I knew what I was working towards. And how could I work on the halting death without a few samples. So, recently deceased birds and rats were my test subjects, but I knew they wouldn't keep my occupied for long. Indeed, I was working on humanoid corpses within a week.

And when I was finally caught, do you know what those short-sighted, arrogant fools charged me with? Go ahead, guess!

Graverobbing!

Can you imagine? That's they all they charged me with! I had reams of meticulous notes spelling out every one of the breakthroughs I'd made! I had alchemicly reanimated dead flesh! I was working on non-magical revivification of the recently deceased when those fools burst into my secret lab. They had all of that, and they charged me with grave robbing. It's like some sort of sick joke.

...Of course, all of my work is probably warming some narrow-minded zealot's hearth now.

It's tragic, really. I had always planned on sharing my work with the others. I had thought that they'd understand that conquering death took getting your hands a little dirty, but it was all "Blaspheming the natural order" this and "Crazy crackpot" that. At first I thought they were in denial of my work, but during the second day of my interrogation, I realized that they were serious. They thought dying to go spend eternity as a jumped up outsider's lick-spittle was how things should be. At that moment, what respect and admiration I had for my teachers and peers evaporated. Whatever talent for arcana they might have, they're dead to me.

quote:

Name: Pharom Ashgrove
Race: High Elf
Age: 113
Size: Medium (5'9")
Class: Artificer (1)
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Background: "Natural" Scientist: Death is a curse from Mitra, and all curses can be broken... with the right sacrifices.
Proficency in Arcana, Medicine, and Alchemist Tools
Branding: Grave Robber: You carry the scent of death with you. Unintelligent Un-Dead ignore your presence unless provoked, while intelligent Un-Dead may still act against you but are better disposed to treat you as a possible ally.
Languages: Common, Elvish, Infernal

Hit Points: 9
Initiative: 2
AC: 16 (without armor, 12)
Speed: 30

Passive Perception: 11
Passive Investigation: 17
Passive Insight: 11

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 8 (-1/-1)
Dexterity: 14 (+2/+2)
Constitution: 12 (+1/+3)
Intelligence: 20 (+5/+7)
Wisdom: 12 (+1/+1)
Charisma: 12 (+1/+1)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded, Expertise Underlined)
Acrobatics
Animal Handling
Arcana
Athletics
Deception
History
Insight
Intimidation
Investigation
Medicine
Nature
Perception
Performance
Persuasion
Religion
Sleight of Hand
Stealth
Survival

Armor Proficiency: Light
Weapon Proficiency: Longsword, Shortsword, Shortbow, Longbow, Crossbow, hand, Rapier
Tools: Thief's tools, Alchemist's tools, Smith's Tools, Tinker's Tools

Features:
Fey Ancestry: Advantage on charmed saves and immune to sleep magic.
Trance: Trance 4 hrs. instead of sleep 8.
Magic Item Analysis: You know the artificer spells detect magic and identify, and you can cast them as rituals. You don�t need to provide a material component when casting identify with this class feature.
Alchemist�s Satchel: You craft an Alchemist�s Satchel, a bag of reagents that you use to create a variety of concoctions. The bag and its contents are both magical, and this magic allows you to pull out exactly the right materials you need for your Alchemical Formula options, described below. After you use one of those options, the bag reclaims the materials. If you lose this satchel, you can create a new one over the course of three days of work (eight hours each day) by expending 100 gp worth of leather, glass, and other raw materials.
Alchemic Formulas

Alchemical Fire. As an action, you can reach into your Alchemist�s Satchel, pull out a vial of volatile liquid, and hurl the vial at a creature, object, or surface within 30 feet of you (the vial and its contents disappear if you don�t hurl the vial by the end of the current turn). On impact, the vial detonates in a 5-foot radius. Any creature in that area must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 fire damage. This formula�s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach certain levels in this class: 4th level (2d6), 7th level (3d6), 10th level (4d6), 13th level (5d6), 16th level (6d6), and 19th level (7d6).

Alchemical Acid. As an action, you can reach into your Alchemist�s Satchel, pull out a vial of acid, and hurl the vial at a creature or object within 30 feet of you (the vial and its contents disappear if you don�t hurl the vial by the end of the current turn). The vial shatters on impact. A creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 acid damage. An object automatically takes that damage, and the damage is maximized. This formula�s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach certain levels in this class: 3rd level (2d6), 5th level (3d6), 7th level (4d6), 9th level (5d6), 11th level (6d6), 13th level (7d6), 15th level (8d6), 17th level (9d6), and 19th level (10d6).

Healing Draught. As an action, you can reach into your Alchemist�s Satchel and pull out a vial of healing liquid. A creature can drink it as an action to regain 1d8 hit points. The vial then disappears. Once a creature regains hit points from this alchemical formula, the creature can�t do so again until it finishes a long rest. If not used, the vial and its contents disappear after 1 hour. While the vial exists, you can�t use this formula. This formula�s healing increases by 1d8 when you reach certain levels in this class: 3rd level (2d8), 5th level (3d8), 7th level (4d8), 9th level (5d8), 11th level (6d8), 13th level (7d8), 15th level (8d8), 17th level (9d8), and 19th level (10d8).

Feats:
Alchemist

Increase your Intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

You gain proficiency with alchemist�s supplies. If you are already proficient with them, you double your proficiency bonus to checks you make with them.

As an action, you can identify one potion within 5 feet of you, as if you had tasted it. You must see the liquid for this benefit to work.

Over the course of any short rest, you can temporarily improve the potency of one potion of healing of any rarity. To use this benefit, you must have alchemist�s supplies with you, and the potion must be within reach. If the potion is drunk no more than 1 hour after the short rest ends, the creature drinking the potion can forgo the potion�s die roll and regains the maximum number of hit points that the potion can restore.

Spells
Cantrips:
Mage Hand

Spells Per Day
0

Save DC
15

Equipment:
Scale Mail
Shortsword
Dagger
Longbow
Crowbar
Thief's Tools
Alchemist's Supplies
Alchemist�s Satchel
Backpack

Traits:
Single Minded: A bomb could (and has!) gone off in the same room as Pharom when he was working, and he only cares insofar as it might damage his samples.

Evangelical about his work: Pharom has explained his alchemic work to skeptical peers, disinterested professors, and eventually, hostile inquisitors. He'll talk about his work with anyone who isn't actively hostile at the drop of a hat.

Ideal:
Knowledge: Pharom believes the path to power and self-improvement is through knowledge.

Bond:
Pharom has been expelled in disgrace from the Helveylyn Academy, and he's going to get his revenge on them.

Flaw:
Easily Flattered: Years of (benign) neglect in the academy has left Pharom a bit insecure, and the easiest way to get him to do what you want is flatter his ego.

Capfalcon fucked around with this message at 23:33 on May 29, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 17:56

Double May Care: Mar 28, 2012; We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Caterwaul, Kenku Bard

The kenku man hands you a letter sealed with the signet of Bishop Carevet.

Send this man hence to the cell specified in my previous correspondence. Let it be known that he is no heretic, but rather a cutpurse after my meager sum of coin. The fool thought he could impersonate my nephew and infiltrate my private quarters while I was away. This fool, furthermore, thought it wise to make off with my prized bust which I had privately commissioned by our finest sculptor. Should the story go public, kindly omit that detail from the record.

Mitra's blessing go with you.

- Bishop Shinn Caravet

The kenku holds up a finger and searches his pockets, producing another note. He leans closer as he hands it to you, shoulders hunched over.

Greetings,
I am Lord Raul Chipstone of the Chuult Chipstones, a lineage spanning eight generations. Below are a small selection of my family's accolades for your perusal...

His eyes dart around, then he twirls his finger toward the note. On the back is something written in Primordial, which quickly rearranges and morphs into Common.

Caterwaul, the Crowing Conman
Identities Stolen, Documents Forged, Coffers Cleared
"If money begets happiness, I'll make someone very sad!"

You may be asking, "What business do I have with a common thief?" But I am a professional thief with pedigree to prove it (see reverse). My trade consists of several foolproof* steps to bring someone from riches to rags.

1. Make contact with the target or a close acquaintance.
2. Learn the speech and mannerisms of said person.
3. Craft a disguise of physical AND magical nature.
4. Infiltrate the target's home or business and abscond with their savings and other valuables (jewels, deeds, artifacts, etc.).
5. Evade pursuit while laughing at the target's newfound failure.

Is it cruel? Of course. But doesn't it please you to find the self-righteous wells-to-do dragged into the dirt by what can only be a downfall "of their own making"? Those who don't need their money have the most to lose, and what a fine lesson it would be to live with the common folk when once they stood high in their towering manors.

Financial ruin unmasks people from the horrors of the world. A jolly old moneylender paid two dwarves to strongarm my father's purse away from us, claiming ownership. Just like that, the world around my father was withered and drained of color. The look in his eyes that last day shook me more than hearing of his demise the following morning. My mind was set on making this man suffer like I had.

First I had to learn the method of my comeuppance. Thankfully a band of bards would soon take me in after I admired their talent and presented a modicum of my sad tale. They taught me the ways of disguise and deceit and allowed me to borrow their voices for the vocal component, though they generally used their power for more altruistic things. After I kidnapped a loud audience member and forced him to tell me some rudimentary phrases, they knew it was time for me to be on my way. So did I. I found the moneylender's residence, donned his face and made off with his safe and some trinkets he must have pried from the hands of his victims. By the time he arrived at the scene, his gold had been distributed to someone more deserving; my mother Coor.

Of course, he was not the only target of my revenge. All the people that wronged me or my mother were thrown to the wolves. Then when that list expired, I offered my services (as I am now) to whoever needed a bit of spite in their life. Eventually I began "punching up" as the case was, targeting the truly wealth-obsessed. Merchants, moneylenders, and nobles.

As for the stolen wealth... I invest it in my business, of course. I bought a house where I keep my costume pieces, writing desk, and some... accoutrements. Musical instruments I'd like to play someday, landscapes I found striking, and something comfortable to sleep in for me and my... visitors. But most of it goes toward replenishing my supplies of makeup and stationery.

As you reach this part of the letter, the kenku presses his arm against a pouch on his belt, suppressing a loud jingle.

And just a little walking around money, of course. Money begets happiness, after all.

Now, whose life do you want to ruin?

* Success not guaranteed. Look where I am now.

quote:

Name: Caterwaul (lit. "mraoww")
Race: Kenku
Age: 16
Size: Medium (5' 3", 94 lbs)
Class: Bard (1)
(Intent: College of Whispers)
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Background: Charlatan
Branding: Fraud
Languages: Common, Auran

Hit Points: 7
Initiative: +4
AC: 14
Speed: 30 ft

Passive Perception: 18
Passive Investigation: 19
Passive Insight: 15

Stats Roll: 5#1d10+7 14 16 9 8 15
Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 9 (-1/-1)
Dexterity: 18 (+4/+6)
Constitution: 8 (-1/-1)
Intelligence: 14 (+2/+2)
Wisdom: 17 (+3/+3)
Charisma: 18 (+4/+6)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics +6
Animal Handling +3
Arcana +2
Athletics -1
Deception +6
History +2
Insight +5
Intimidation +4
Investigation +4
Medicine +2
Nature +2
Perception +3
Performance +4
Persuasion +6
Religion +2
Sleight of Hand +6
Stealth +6
Survival +3

Armor Proficiency: Light
Weapon Proficiency: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Tools: Disguise kit, Forgery kit, drum, lute, lyre

Racial Features
Expert Forgery:
Kenku Training:
Mimicry:
Background Features
Second Identity
Class Features
Spellcasting: (CHA)
Bardic Inspiration: (d6)

Feats
Observant: +1 to Wisdom, +5 to Passive Perception/Investigation, can understand intent of creatures speaking in an unknown language as long as their lips are visible.

Spell Save DC: 14
Spell Attack Modifier: +6

Cantrips: Minor Illusion, Vicious Mockery

Known/Prepared Spells:
Disguise Self
Heroism
Illusory Script
Sleep

Spell Slots: 1st (2/2)

Equipment: (150.8/200 GP, 44 lbs)
Rapier
Dagger
Lyre
Backpack
Disguise kit
Forgery kit
Hooded lantern
Oil flask (2)
Lead-based ink (3 bottles)
Tinderbox
Mess kit
Rations (5)
Waterskin
Fine clothes

Background: Charlatan

Traits: "Now is not the time for your mewling! The situation is dire enough without your shrill catcalls." "And would it please you to be a little less polite to our enemy?"
Ideal: "'As long as it helps you,' right? Just selfish gain. You really are nothing without your precious gold."
Bond: "Robbing a bishop of my standing... If you cross my path again, I'll kill you where you stand!"
Flaw: "I have a task and coin. That should be persuasion enough for one of your ilk, is it not?"

Double May Care fucked around with this message at 14:02 on May 31, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 18:48

wiegieman: Apr 22, 2010; Royalty is a continuous cutting motion

Rekkar Rawthroat

Rekkar paid his dues right down on the streets in the war-torn continent of Palladia to the west. For years, he muscled, hustled, and learned the biz in the legendary Palladian Overmob, the sprawling criminal orgainzation that many say is the real government of the fractured city states. Whenever someone got some bright ideas about not paying back a loan, or opening a business where they didn't belong, or just disrespected the wrong guy, Rekkar's boss sent him over. Then he sent someone the next day to reson with whatever was left.

So, now that he's made his bones and thinks he's king of the hill, Rekkar gets the bright idea to start his franchise somewhere new. Somewhere that doesn't have any real competition. Somewhere like that perfect little bubble kingdom, Talingarde. Seriously, have you seen the sailors that come off the boats from that place? Lightweights. Rekkar figured he'd own the docks three weeks after he stepped onto shore, but he was wrong. It took five, but he was trying to make a good impression, which he's almost as good at as making a bad one. He even started pulling together dirt on the people who mattered, just like home -- own the judges, own everything else, right? The games were rolling, the girls were popular, the cleaners were making it all look legit. And then, he found out why nobody had set up shop in Talingarde before.

Honestly, it was kind of embarassing. Taking some hits in a real turf war, yeah, that happens. But getting your rear end handed to you by a bunch of kids? That stuff doesn't happen to a professional. It was like a bad nightmare. The morons he'd had working his businesses couldn't even pick a loving 19 year old noble and his girlfriend out of a crowd. Only in Talingarde, right? God, he still wants to strangle that sly one with the stupid, floppy, white hat he wore. They even hauled him up right in front of the same judge he had the dirt on, and the smug bastards all acted like this was some big old victory over the evils of the outside world. Yeah, got news, rear end in a top hat -- you still slept around, and I know who the money was for.

Whatever. The mines can't kill him, and Rekkar loving Rawthroat never, ever forgets a face.

quote:

Name: Rekkar Rawthroat
Race: Goliath
Age: Probably late twenties
Size: Medium
Class: Fighter 1
Alignment: NE

Background: Criminal (Enforcer)
Branding: Extortion
Languages: Common, Giant

Hit Points: 13
Initiative: 1d10+0
AC: 10
Speed: 30'

Proficiency: +2

Passive Perception: 12
Passive Investigation: 8
Passive Insight: 10

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: (+5/+7)
Dexterity: (+0/+0)
Constitution: (+3/+5)
Intelligence: (-1/-1)
Wisdom: (+0/+0)
Charisma: (+3/+3)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics +0
Animal Handling +0
Arcana -1
Athletics +7
Deception +5
History -1
Insight +0
Intimidation +5
Investigation -1
Medicine +0
Nature -1
Perception +2
Performance +3
Persuasion +3
Religion -1
Sleight of Hand +0
Stealth +2
Survival +0

Armor Proficiency: All
Weapon Proficiency: Simple/Martial
Tools: Thieves' Tools, Cards

Features:
Great Weapon Fighting Style - Reroll 1 or 2 on two-handed damage rolls.
Stone's Endurance - Once per short rest, ignore 1d12+CON damage from one hit.
Second Wind - Once per short rest, use a bonus action to regain 1d10+Level HP.
Mountain Born - Good with heights and the cold.
Powerful Build - Count as a size larger for moving/carrying things.

Feats:
Great Weapon Master - Free attack when I crit or drop an enemy, and option to take -5 on attacks for +10 damage.

Equipment: (Feel free to spend 200 GP on equipment to receive in the future.)

Traits:
Ideal:
Bond:
Flaw:

chargen reroll: 5#1d10+7 11 9 10 16 17

wiegieman fucked around with this message at 23:03 on May 28, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 20:25

Rhjamiz: Oct 28, 2007

Might get something for this we'll see

# ? May 28, 2018 21:37

Wol: Dec 15, 2012; See you in the
UNDERDARK

dead bird

Wol fucked around with this message at 07:14 on May 30, 2018

# ? May 28, 2018 23:00

Shogeton: Apr 26, 2007; "Little by little the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him"

Egina Aduz

quote:

Name: Egina Aduz/Coringaer (Orcish/Elven)
Race: (Subrace) Half-Orc
Age: 30
Size: Category (Height)
Class: (Level)
Alignment: Chaotic evil

Background: Entertainer
Branding: Grand Larceny
Languages: Common, Orcish

Hit Points: 10
Initiative: +1
AC: 11
Speed: 30

Passive Perception: 9
Passive Investigation:
Passive Insight:

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: (14/+2)
Dexterity: (12/+1)
Constitution: (14/+2)
Intelligence: (12/+1)
Wisdom: (8/-1)
Charisma: (18/+4)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics
Animal Handling
Arcana
Athletics
Deception
History
Insight
Intimidation
Investigation
Medicine
Nature
Perception
Performance
Persuasion
Religion
Sleight of Hand
Stealth
Survival

Armor Proficiency: Light Armor
Weapon Proficiency: Simple melee, hand crossbow, rapier, longsword, shortwords
Tools: Disguise Kit, Pipes, Harm, Dulcimer

Features: Criminal Contact
Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to O hit points but not killed outright. you can drop to I hit point instead. Vou can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest
Savage Attacks: When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon's damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit

Feats:
Inspiring Leader: (Spend 10 minutes to give 6 allies (including myself) within 30 ft Temp hit points equal to Level + Cha modifier.

Spell Save DC: 14
Spell Attack Modifier: +6

Cantrips: Minor Illusion, True Strike

Known/Prepared Spells: Charm Person, Disguise Self, Faerie Fire, Thunderwave
Spell Slots: 2

Equipment: (Feel free to spend 200 GP on equipment to receive in the future.)
Scale Mail: 50 GP
Greataxe: 30 GP
Disguise Kit: 15 GP
Pipe: 2 GP
Lyre: 30 GP
Dulcimer: 25 GP
(152)

Background:
An impure child will be born,
The blood of the high ones power
mixed with demons and orcs,
They shall raise and nurture,
the seed of their destruction,
the undoing of their works

This prophecy was the reason for the woman known as Egina Aduz among orcs and herself or Coringaer to father, the couple that raised her and elven society. A female Shaman of the orc tribes, Argana, assisted by a mysterious figure sought to bring about the fulfillment of this prophecy. They found the mage Aldanel, a wizard of great knowledge and respect. With the aid of the stranger, she was changed into the guise of his wife, and brought to his room.They lay together, and she was taken back to the rough mountains where the orcs reside. The couple, not one to speak too often about things of flesh, never found out the deceit. And Egina Aduz was born, and spent her first seven years among the orcs, learning their rough ways.

Yet then, a stranger arrived to Aldanel's home, and spoke to him about a half-orc child that was being raised. Scrying soon found the child, and a group of adventurers was hired to retrieve her. They succeeded. They slew Argana, and brought the young half-orc back. She was given the new name of Coringaer. Aldanel, happy to see that his child would not be among the orcs, wished not to raise the child. For an elf lives time differently than a half-orc, and the child's presence was ever a reminder of the violation he had suffered. And so, he found a human pair of husbands living in the Duchy of Helveylin, and bade them raise the child. He would watch over her from afar

Garon and Disman, were a soldier and a merchant that had met over their travels, and they were well to do. Growing up, Coringaer wanted for nothing, being given love, understanding and the best tutors in everything she set her mind to that money could buy. Yet the eyes of those around her looked upon her with pity,and for one who grew up among the orcs, there is little worse insult to give. Bitterness grew in her heart, and each insult towards those who had 'raised' her as a child caused a stubborn affection for her mother's blood. For her fathers' sake, she learned to hide her anger behind a mask of gratitude. When she became an adult developed an interest in music and history, her parents supported her, finding a mysterious man who would train her, being in town the very day she asked it.

And train her he did. She became not simply a musician, but a bard, and he told her about many a story. Among the legends he told her, was the prophecy. It found a place in her heart. Her whole life, she had felt like a loose end. A child taken care of because of pity, an unwanted half blood that is raised because it is the right thing to do. The Prophecy gave her hope that she might be the one. For some time, she hesitated, for she had affection for her parents. As she set out on her own, and became a bard, and the sight of her playing the harp was seen as a symbol of how 'kindness and civilization win out over orcish savagery' her heart embittered and hardened.

She started to develop shady contacts from playing in worse bars. And arranged for weapons and goods being smuggled towards the orcs, every looted coin the greenskins paid went back into providing more, the eager bardess funding her own life with songs. When she mentioned the prophecy, and suggested that perhaps it was her that might be meant to break the curse, the orcs laughed though. Being of mixed blood was a stigma, but the orcs could appreciate how only one of elven blood might lift their curse, but the orcs would never believe that a woman, who they saw as weak, might be their salvation.

Coringaer's resolve was shaken. Had she really no purpose? Yet her mind turned to other plans. If she could not be the one, than she could be his mother. And it happened to be so that a Count Vesperr Morthil, the Silver Ogre was there. He was handsome and charming, but also powerful, having returned from fighting the Frost Giants. And she came to him and seduced him, for of Vesperr's many virtues temperance was not one, and she laid with him. And she bore a son, and told none of his father. She raised him to know he had a grand fate, and that the Duchy, and the servants of Mitra were his enemies who would slay him. She taught him deceit and pride, and by asking her own fathers, hired tutors sought to teach the child magic from a young age, so that one day he might learn to break the curse. To the world, he was called Mele Harma, 'loved treasure' but her own name for him, spoken only in her house was Dushkul, 'hidden vengeance'

All this time, she sought to support and strengthen the orcs, to make sure that once her child was of age, it would have allies among his people. And it was then she reached too far. For a large shipment of weapons for the king's own army had arrived, with the intent to suppress a rising orcish threat. She called in favours, she took on debts, she paid good coin in bribes and fees to have the caravan be ambushed by orcs and betrayed by her agents among them at the same time. It was a good plan. It might have worked, but never got the chance. For her sire, Aldanel had watched her, yet only now and then. He had known her outward facade of loyal if somewhat shady half-orc was but a sweet veneer around a heart filled with bitter pride. Yet he had not dared to condemn his own daughter, and as he kept his silence, to speak up would accuse him of silence as well. Yet now Coringaer had pushed too far.

Hours before the ambush, she and all her co conspirators were arrested. She screamed and cursed and blasphemed as she was dragged out of her house, away from her wailing child, ten years of age.

On her trial, once it became clear that the evidence was overwhelming, she found that only her parents pleaded for mercy, her sire cold as he testified to all the crimes he had seen. To her parents she spoke the only words of regret, telling the judge that they knew nothing and had been nothing but kind. But her sire, and the judge, and the king and Mistra, she finally dropped her mask. She demanded that she be called Egina Aduz, and taunted the judge for weak that despite her intent to see him and his butchered, she still relied on others to do the deed. She shouted out a prayer to Gruumsh to look after her son when she was silenced, and taken away to branded.

And so she awaits her execution in Branderscar. The only mercy her parents got was that she was simply too hang, rather than be broken and crucified for her heretic words.

Yet her fate did not end here.

Traits: "II pay close attention to any prophecy, and put heavy stock on them."
Traits: "I change mood as quickly as I change the tune of my instrument"
Ideal: "The strong rule the weak."
Bond: "I will do whatever it takes to have my child lead the orcs to glory."
Flaw: "I will glorify and justify anything done by orcs"

Shogeton fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Jun 1, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 01:14

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].

Posting to show my interest in this. Will work on something tomorrow as I am currently in a cook-out induced coma.

-Edit- Documenting my orokos stat roll. I forgot to put in the campaign name but it's the first roll on my log in over a year so, http://orokos.com/roll/626723 5#1d10+7: 5 # 15 [1d10=8] 16 [1d10=9] 8 [1d10=1] 16 [1d10=9] 16 [1d10=9]

Trast fucked around with this message at 03:04 on May 29, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 01:30

Quornes: Jun 23, 2011

Ander Goodbrew, Cannibal Chef and Halfling Ranger

Background:
Ander Goodbrew is a cautionary tale, about a halfing who was pushed too far over the breaking point and snapped. Before the incident, Ander was your picture perfect halfling. Bright and cheerful and always a pleasure to be around. So what caused this pleasant fellow to become the boogey man of Keshkevar?

It all started with an earthquake. You see, Ander was a chef of no small renown. Yearning for larger pastures, he moved to the big city in search of more exotic spices and food to cook. After a short stint at a tavern a noble, Benson Yonderveil, passing through loved his cooking so much he offered to hire Ander to become part of his personal cook staff. Ander was hesitant at first but with the promise of a large salary accepted. He worked for many months in the kitchen, slaving over hot pots and turning spits, keeping the noble and his guests well fed. It was thankless job, with much praise lauded onto Benson for the "loveliest meal I've had in ages!" and "the best eggs benedict" and so on.

Then there was the earthquake...it happened during a dinner party Benson was hosting, involving several of the upper nobility of the Keshkevar city they were in. After hours of laboring away and cooking, Ander had prepared a feast that utterly exhausted the mansions larder. Just as the food was served the quake struck. They quickly fled before an afterquake, even stronger, brought down parts of the mansion and much of the surrounding area. Many people were trapped, several dead and more wounded. No one knew how long it would be before help would arrive, if at all.

On the second day, Benson quietly took Ander aside. "Are you sure there is no more food to be found?! They'll start killing each other soon for what crumbs they can find."

"No, there's nothing!" cried Ander. But Benson leaned down to whisper in the halfling's ear and the chef paled. "You...you don't mean it do you?"

"Its the only way. Go get the...special larder." Benson said, leaving the conflicted halfling behind. Ander stared mutely down at his hands for a minute, before heading back into the kitchen. An hour later, sizziling plates of meat were ready, fresh from the "reserves". Just the next day though rescue arrived and the horrific deed was discovered. The footmen became visibly ill, throwing up as they entered the kitchen to see Ander cutting up longpig. He cried out "I had to! He commanded me to!" but Benson denied all knowledge of the deed, vilifying his cook as a monster who had suckled at his very bosom only to strike out like this. Benson managed to flee the guards, flee the city, and ran into the woods. It was a scandal but knowledge of what happened that day quickly died out. But in the woods, Benson remembered the taste, the dark things he had done, and that happy little chef died. What was left was...the taste and desire for more.

Months later, after a series of disappearances with no signs of bodies, rumors started to spread of a boogeyman who would snatch and eat people. No one paid attention to it until, on a trip out to his countryside holding, Benson's carriage was ambushed and the man dragged off. Guards aided by the finest wizardry noble gold could buy found Benson in an old abandoned cabin. Ander was there, a crazed and gaunt shadow of his old self, sharpening his knives and whispering to his former employer how he was going to cook the man. He put up a fight but was no match for the wizard's spell. The halfling awoke in chains, on his way to the infamous island prison...

The others in the cart with him left the muttering and humming halfling alone. Over and over, he repeated a list of names like a mantra. "Benson, noble count Benson...who else was there for my feast? Lady Gyre, breastmeat looking so sweet. Lord Robert, hamstrings so fine. Bishop Carter, all skin and bones. Sir Issac, all meat, dark meat. Lord Winston, all fat and grease. Maybe cut with lemon? All those nobles...priests...its their fault. THEY ate. Poor Harrison, just the butler but dead and full of meat. They eat us, eat the poor and lower class. It is just meat though...tasty meat. So many ways cook it. Butter and braze, fillet and sear, flour and bake. I must pay them back...treat them to my feast. Only, they will be the feast." He had been too trusting, too afraid to die. So he had crossed that line, and now burned the bridge that went back. Only the taste was left and the quest for...more.

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus?
The people will need feeding, yes feeding. He'll have all the tools and assistants he could ever need. A ready supply of meat for the larder, to king and serve. Asmodeus will be generous, yes quite generous. All Ander ever wanted to do was cook, now he'll serve the table of the archfiend himself.

pre:

Name: Ander Goodbrew
Race: Halfling (Stout)
Age: 28
Size: Small (3'5)
Class: Ranger (1)
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Background: Guild Artistan
Branding:Kidnapping
Languages: Common, Sylvan, Halfling, Elven

Hit Points: 14
Initiative: +5, Advantage
AC: Base 10 + 5 Dex
Speed: 25

Passive Perception: 15
Passive Investigation: 14
Passive Insight: 15

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 17(+3/+5)
Dexterity: 20(+5/+7)
Constitution: 19(+4/+4)
Intelligence: 15(+2/+2)
Wisdom: 17(+3/+3)
Charisma: 8(-1/-1)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded)
Acrobatics
Animal Handling
Arcana
Athletics
Deception
History
Insight
Intimidation
Investigation
Medicine
Nature
Perception
Performance
Persuasion
Religion
Sleight of Hand
Stealth
Survival

Armor Proficiency: Simple/Martial weapons.
Weapon Proficiency: Light Armor, Medium Armor, Shields
Tools: Cooking(Expertise)

Features:
Lucky: Reroll any 1's, must take second result.
Brave: Advantage on fear/frighten rolls.
Halfling Nimbleness: Move through space of any creature larger than yourself.
Stout Resilience: Advantage/Resistance against poison.
Favored Enemy (Humanoids): +2 damage, advantage on Survival to track and Int to recall info on favored enemy.

Natural Explorer:
You ignore difficult terrain.
You have advantage on initiative rolls.
On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.
You gain the following benefits when traveling for an hour or more:
Difficult terrain doesn't slow your group's travel.
Your group can't become lost except by magical means.
Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling, you remain alert to danger.
If you are traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would.
While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.

Feats:
Gourmand

Spell Save DC: 8+Proficiency+Wis Mod
Spell Attack Modifier: Proficiency+Wis Mod
Cantrips:
Known/Prepared Spells:
Spell Slots:

Equipment: (Feel free to spend 200 GP on equipment to receive in the future.)
Studded Leather
Kukri(Shortsword) x2
Shortbow
Burglar's Pack
Cook's Utensil
Fishing Tackle
Quiver
Hunting Trap
Arrows 60
Pony
Military Saddle
Thieve's Tools
Flute
2 Cards, 2 Dice
Whetstone
Mess Kit

Traits: Compulsively cleans his tools and cooking/dining area. Does not clean his nails. Constant humming. An irrational fear of rabbits.
Ideal: A Dish Best Served Cold. Ander hates the nobility and priests. Up there lording over us poor folk, stuffing themselves while the commoners starve. Well, its time to eat the rich!
Bond: My families heirloom chef knife. And the meals it cooks.
Flaw: The Taste. Ander desires to have tasted the unique...flavor of the many and varied creatures of the world. Sometimes strongly so.

Stats (Rolled wrong number last time): 5#1d10+7 15 17 8 17 11

Quornes fucked around with this message at 10:12 on May 29, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 02:11

Waroduce: Aug 5, 2008

PICTURE HERE

Name: Aurelian
Race: Human
Class: Paladin
Aurelian Background

Found on the eastern fringes of Lucidor by an old wandering Inquisitor, Aurelian grew up at the foot of a pulpit. Raised amongst frontier priests and Inquisitors, Aurelian spent long hours studying the legal and spiritual texts that governed their lives. The old Inquisitor traveled the borders of Lucidor and the Banish Lands spewing for holy sermons from his soul, spreading the Word of Mitra to those on the fringes of His Holy Empire. The Inquisitor met with village elders, temple priests and all who populated the Banish Lands, protecting His people from Heresy and ensuring they did not stray from the path of good and righteousness. With his dogmatic upbringing, Aurelian quickly became a devout preacher, his oratory skill and charisma wining him many followers.
Called �Bearer of the Word� by his converts, Aurelian carried the Word of Mitras to the frontier and ensured his followers never strayed too far from the sacred texts of his youth. He sought to aggressively eliminate all blasphemy and heresy within the expanding borders of Mitra�s Holy Empire and build monuments and places of worship in any place he passed through. Aurelian scribed works on spirituality, righteousness and gave grand sermons to any who would hear him.

However, as Aurelian grew in standing amongst the people, word filtered back to Bastia, Nostoy and Crinaan, reaching the ear of Inquisitor General Laredian, High Protector of Eastern Lucidor. Summoned to an audience, Aurelian set off West for the first time in his life, passing through established cities and towns much different than the loose collection of settlements he has touched before. The cosmopolitan temples, decedant lifestyles and pomp of the city clergy was stunning to Aurelian considering his spartan upbringing and close adherence to The Word. His soul�s joy withered and turned to despair as he progressed further westward. The Dragonborn influence became apparent in the temples themselves as monuments to Bahamut were erected next to or in favor of Mitras. The human priests explained that these were but faces or aspects of Mitras, but the faith felt foreign and alien to Aurelian for the first time in his life�..and his own brothers condoned it! Different Words said in worship, different rituals, done by strange looking creatures.

Aurelian was shaken by the shattering of his universes and fled back to the eastern fringes and struck out into the wilderness. he had turned against the Emperor as a King and Mitras as a deity no longer worthy of his worship. Aurelian believed that the Emperor was wrong to accept such broad styles of worship ihe ntended to discover if there were truly deities worthy of humanity's respect. To this end, though Aurelian no longer had any love or loyalty for the Emperor or Mitras.

After 40 days and 40 nights of wandering the wilderness of the Banish Lands, Aurelian stumbled upon a cave of ancient texts containing great works of spiritual authority and supernatural wonder. Legal treaties and religious texts painted a picture of a strong ruler over a structured and ordered society let down by the fall of the Orcs turning into brutish savages from their noble warrior backgrounds, and the tieflings, lost touch with reality through their own decadence. Asmodeus was failed by his two chosen races, but would not be failed by Humanity.

Aurelian returned from his pilgrimage clad and armored in the faith that there were entities deserving of worship and strong enough to hold a world together and demand proper devotion. Aurelian returned to his frontier lands and began Bearing the Word again�.however this time it was the Word of Asmodeus.

Inquisitor General Laredian had waited patiently for Aurelian to reappear and when word returned that he was preaching a new kind of faith, Witch Hunters and Inquisitors were dispatched to capture him and deliver Aurelian to Branderscar

Waroduce fucked around with this message at 07:08 on May 31, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 02:32

Tricky Dick Nixon: Jul 26, 2010; by Nyc_Tattoo

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus? Do not hold back. Every terrible imagining of what is possible after the complete and utter victory of evil, what do you do? What is the glorious epilogue you feel you deserve, the role you will play under diabolic tyranny?

Though a few of you have mentioned it, describe for me in a paragraph or so your character's justification as to why they got caught. Obviously they themselves are not to blame, so who is? Name names. Give me some faces, some people that need to be paid against. And if possible, give a hint of what failings of your character were truly at fault.

I am going to keep my feedback mostly focused, generally speaking I really like the concepts thus far.

Salvatrix: It's not required but I'd recommend cooking up a second Trait, or do what Tricky did and if you have it use the class traits as a basis for adding some more from Xanathar's. Also, you will get an item shortly in play that will let you use Disguise Self at will, so I would recommend another spell. Two choices that would be thematic with your background and inclinations would be Find Familiar and Silent Image.

Worm: We discussed previously about archetype which is what I was going to ask more about. I am though not sure about the feeling of a goblin that has had no exposure to human culture somehow being better at History than most. I would try and incorporate something into the history that explains this, like discovering a dragon's old library or something. I've also been rolling in my head about the Heresy charge. I would probably say that really your crime is more like Blasphemy, though otherwise everything the same, and crucifixion still awaits you, but probably not much effort has been made to break you on the wheel or the like. As above, not required but I'd recommend a second trait. or to do what Tricky did and if you have it use the class traits as a basis for adding some more from Xanathar's. I would also probably suggest focusing on the more shillelagh route than primal savagery, if only to round things out. Thematically, might I recommend Infestation? (http://engl393-dnd5th.wikia.com/wiki/Infestation)

Excellence: You pre-empted my feedback when we talked about the Desertion angle. I would like to maybe get more of a feeling on Lilith's relationship with Asmodeus, and I would like you to elaborate on what her Oath of Conquest would mean once taken, in the way the vows apply to her life and how you think they'd regulate her behavior.

Gertrude: With a lot of Cha-focused casters applied and an enchantment-focused wizard, I would probably use the single level 1 spell choice to pick up something other than Charm Person, but I'd leave that to you. I do like the feat choice. I think as described Neutral Evil does feel more fitting. I do recommend however that you pick up the Religion skill. You're both a Cleric and you deal with the Un-Dead, and that skill is going to be used a lot for rituals to Vecna, and for identifying and dealing with the Un-Dead as well as fiends and the like.

Tlaloc: I like this aesthetic and feeling, though it feels there's a lot of unanswered questions for us to build on. For one, Tlaloc is a half-elf but it doesn't seem to feature at all into his background. Does it mean anything to him at all? What do you think are the sources of his magic in his heritage? How do you square the idea of "Everybody's Friend" when you wear a skull for a mask, collect dead corpses, and listen to voices of the land telling to you kill?

Ihintza: This character edges a little towards anti-villain territory, which isn't bad. In fact I'm all about having, just as I sought for Wyrmsea, kind of a character to balance things out a bit. But a big thing that sticks out to me is the choice of patron. Hexblade is a patron, not a boon. It means being sworn to a mystical weapon of terrible power. What is this weapon? What does it want? How, if at all, is it related to Meershaulk? I feel with the yuan-ti skill set and inclination as a Charlatan, a Great Old One patron would serve you better, as that is closer to Meershaulk's bag. Second question: What is Soraya a princess of? There is only one human royal family, that of Myrcia, where there is a single daughter of the King and his sole heir due to the late Queen Aria's death, Princess Anoushka. Is she from a foreign land? What is she doing in Talingarde? Is she from an old "princely" house of nobles in Keshkevar that no longer have political power? I like that aspect of the concept a lot, just needs a bit more specifics.

Feng; Simple and to the point, like a Brute. But what's motivating the Might Makes Right philosophy? Is it like some coda in his blood he cannot resist, or is there some fundamental event or mentor in his life that passed that on? Rarely people come to such strongly held beliefs without some influence, internal or external, and I feel that's where Feng could be most fleshed out.

Ick: Kobold batman, from the other side. I dig it. But I'd like to explore what lengths and how grandiose he might get in that. The reason I made the Batman comparison is I feel that's a way to think about that central motivation of creating fear and maybe getting a little more gonzo with it beyond just killing folks. Also recommending as I did before the second trait or using the Class traits, but not a requirement.

Halfling Worm of Prosperity: I don't have much to comment on directly here concept wise. But the mechanics look good and indicate a certain kind of character.

Azura: I don't get quite as clear a picture of this character as I do from Chilchack up there, but there are tantalizing details, so we'll revisit once you get there.

Benny: I'm not going to be able to grok having literally Denny Crane alongside these fantasy characters. I might recommend looking for a different look. I do take that a lot of the depths of Benny's underground operations were mostly delusional, when I read between the lines, because something of that scale, unless he was mainly the dupes of the Draal (which is the equivalent to "drow" in this setting terminology wise), is probably beyond a 1st level character. Another thing is like with Tlaloc is that Benny's race seems completely incidental to the character. The last thing to touch on is the lawyer aspect: I like the idea of a evil lawyer in a game heavily touching on Asmodeus and infernal contracts. But its really not made clear what role they play in society, and Benny seems far more a crime boss than a lawyer. If you played more the Saul Goodman type to a criminal operation and then had to take the fall, that'd probably make a lot more sense with the concept.

Pharom: This is an option I wouldn't normally consider but your concept really would justify it: Would you be interested in trying Artificer as an Alchemist? You'd want to switch the Dexterity and Intelligence but otherwise it should fit. Arcane Trickster Rogue still works fine if you don't want to mess with changing, too. I didn't want to include Artificer at base because I wanted the technology of the game to be very classic, but you justify the construct servitor aspect by making it likely more a galvanic flesh golem type creature than piece of clockwork. Lastly, if you do stick with Arcane Trickster, I'd recommend a different cantrip since you'll get mage hand as a central mechanic for that archetype. Prestidigitation is always good for small-scale wizarding.

Caterwaul: Loving the name choice, but will revisit this once concept is down.

Rekkar: I dig this approach as kind of what to me is a more common crook type, but with big ambitions. There's a few details I would change: The Overmob is a cool name I'd keep, though they probably wouldn't use Palladian as an adjective since that's like calling yourself the "Asian Mafia", a bit awkward since it's a whole continent. Overmob alone works fine. The other concern I have is as a goliath, I'd like some attention paid to that. Goliaths have a particular culture, they are pretty isolated and in this setting in specific they are usually heroes and part of the ordning, working alongside storm giants as the go-betweens between giantkind and smallfolk. That isn't to say there aren't those that don't live within that culture, I just think there's an interesting detail or story to tell there and expand upon. What put Rekkar on his path rather than seeking glory in the ordning? Or does he still in some way internalize it?

Kiihei: As with Caterwaul will revisit, but I am curious: What's the source of the name? Kenku names are usually onomatopoeic and not strictly words.

Egina: We talked a lot about this as you are putting it together so obviously I gave a lot of feedback already. I would recommend, but not require, thinking of a second trait, or using the Class traits from Xanathar's to build on.

Ander: Will revisit when complete.

# ? May 29, 2018 05:09

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

I'm not going to be able to grok having literally Denny Crane alongside these fantasy characters. I might recommend looking for a different look.

I mean I can find a different picture but you and I are never going to be able to unsee what is already there.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

I do take that a lot of the depths of Benny's underground operations were mostly delusional, when I read between the lines, because something of that scale, unless he was mainly the dupes of the Draal (which is the equivalent to "drow" in this setting terminology wise), is probably beyond a 1st level character.

I think it depends on how you look at it. There's definitely an element of 'how much boom can you bring to the party' in order to stay at the top of the hill, but there isn't much difference between a [Rogue1/Cleric8] with inherent spellcasting and [Rogue1] with a cache of wands of magic missile and fireball and polymorph hanging from his hip (or in this case probably more likely wands of charm person, modify memory, and dominate person, but you get the idea). The way I wrote it up, basically his entire ability to maintain a criminal enterprise was contingent upon arms shipments coming in on schedule to prop up his regime. There is definitely an element to it of 'you only get to do this for as long as your dark elf masters allow it', but that seems to be exactly how an evil race would institute a puppet regime on the surface.

When you look at what it means to actually run a criminal enterprise (if you aren't actually doing a lot of murdering but just have the threat of it lingering around), the difference between a level 1 character and a level 9 character for most 'face of an organization' purposes would be Persuasion/Deception +9 vs. Persuasion/Deception +13. It's not a trivial difference but either way you're regularly making very difficult checks to modify the behavior of others, and either one can be successful at it as long as a) nobody calls their bluff or b) they do have the boom to back up their bark.

I could also make a fairly compelling argument that a level 1 half-elf rogue is more qualified than a level 9 human cleric to cause tears in the social fabric of society through long-term sociopathic planning. Once you carve out the access to expertise, the human cleric would have half as many skill proficiencies and also be at +9/+9 for the key social skills, so it's a question of whether access to half a dozen useful spells per day outweighs the benefit of higher skill rolls on average dozens of times per day. That could probably go either way, but practically speaking level 4 and level 5 spells on the cleric list are absolute garbage for social manipulation (except for scrying and divination, and to some degree geas) so it's not like all of those caster levels would give a tremendous edge if you aren't doing the dirty work yourself.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

Another thing is like with Tlaloc is that Benny's race seems completely incidental to the character.

This also probably depends on how you look at it. I sort of view human as the default "eh I was born this way, who gives a poo poo about it", and race only starts to matter more when it negatively impacts your life. I think a half-orc or goblin character is definitely informed by their race more than others, but when you're born into the races already winning the popularity contest on the island they start to matter less, and it becomes more about what economic class you were born into. In this case the ability to afford training in every knowledge skill suggests a significant economic weight behind his childhood, and there's definitely more to be explored there of "how did you get to be such an rear end in a top hat when you were born with everything". If you really want to dial back into his childhood it probably involves an absentee [high] elven father, because it was just vacation sex for him and who gives a poo poo about a half-human child that's going to be dead by the next elven summer? That leads into some dark mental places of 'well gently caress my elven half then' which leads into the otherwise [mostly] unusual territory of a half-elf dealing with dark elves willingly.

Apart from that, I do think half-elven blood informs the character's future more than the past. As written the Talingarde here is pretty cosmopolitan and I don't really get the sense being half-elven (or even a full elf) would matter to someone during their formative years, because other races are everywhere and it's just kind of whatever in a lawful good mostly-not-racist society. I do think you need to be in the realm of 50 to 70 years old to have had enough time to make the social rolls required to build a criminal empire, but if you're human and get sent to prison at 73, honestly, would you really give a poo poo if they were going to hang you? "Eh, I had a good run, whatever." wouldn't be an unreasonable response. Moving to half-elven gives you another century or so to work with, which keeps your skin in the game in a lot of ways. Similarly I'm not sure you could do a criminal mastermind with elven blood because you'd need to be insane to risk state execution when you live for a thousand years, so half-elf is sort of the only place where this actually could work (other than dwarf I suppose).

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

The last thing to touch on is the lawyer aspect: I like the idea of a evil lawyer in a game heavily touching on Asmodeus and infernal contracts. But its really not made clear what role they play in society, and Benny seems far more a crime boss than a lawyer. If you played more the Saul Goodman type to a criminal operation and then had to take the fall, that'd probably make a lot more sense with the concept.

I think that's the crux of it, really. There's a 73-year-old Benny in there who has graduated from defending criminals and slowly gaining their loyalty and a huge rolodex of favors owed, and there's a 32-year-old Benny in the past somewhere that was actively defending those criminals and building that rolodex. Both are interesting archetypes to play, but I struggle to see how anyone could get sent to prison for building that rolodex in a lawful good society that almost certainly has public defenders to ensure people a) get due process and b) are given a fair trial. The 32 to 73 year time gap is purely a wolf in sheep's clothing story of this really helpful guy who finds disenfranchised people let down by the system and gets them out of jail like a couple seasons of Serial, except he's finding guilty people and building up blackmail on them to make them part of his empire. Exactly how and when dark elven machinations start to fit into that probably isn't day 1 and probably isn't two weeks before the story starts, but it's also closer to a two or three hundred page backstory.

I guess really the issue there is I need to work backwards from 'where in this character's life cycle does he actually get sent to prison' and the answer to that question seems to be further along in the process of the fall from grace. The crime could probably be switched from high treason to forgery to jump into the story much earlier in the process to allow for that, but at that point there's also no reason not to just leave the island with your perfectly forged passport instead of getting arrested, so it gets a little weird.

Waador fucked around with this message at 12:13 on May 29, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 05:56

Ryuujin: Sep 26, 2007; Dragon God

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus? Do not hold back. Every terrible imagining of what is possible after the complete and utter victory of evil, what do you do? What is the glorious epilogue you feel you deserve, the role you will play under diabolic tyranny?

Though a few of you have mentioned it, describe for me in a paragraph or so your character's justification as to why they got caught. Obviously they themselves are not to blame, so who is? Name names. Give me some faces, some people that need to be paid against. And if possible, give a hint of what failings of your character were truly at fault.

Feng; Simple and to the point, like a Brute. But what's motivating the Might Makes Right philosophy? Is it like some coda in his blood he cannot resist, or is there some fundamental event or mentor in his life that passed that on? Rarely people come to such strongly held beliefs without some influence, internal or external, and I feel that's where Feng could be most fleshed out.

Feng is a true believer in Might Makes Right, and has had it proven in his past many times, from both sides of the equation. When the group is victorious he intends to be the iron fist of Might Makes Right. He will fashion the people of the land, and especially the soldiers, into true specimens of Might. He will grind into them the drive of strength. He will crush them with his Right, and in doing so reforge them into the hardest, strongest, most ruthless nation possible. And then it will be time to test their honed strength on the other nations.

Feng was caught because he was overwhelmed by weak sycophantic soldiers who could not understand his philosophy of Might Makes Right and of doing what must be done to be successful. Clearly they were wrong to let the Rebels grow, clearly they went about the wrong methods of dealing with the rebels, and were far too weak to take them out as they should. And then they were too weak to join him in removing the weak rot that led Command. The worst of the lot was Sergeant Jacob Thurgood the Third. A pompous, weak willed, and weak of wrist aristocrat that had gained his position based off of family connections and brown nosing. Not good hard soldiering and strength of arm like Feng. They were both of the same rank, they both saw the same things, they both saw the mistakes of command. But Sergeant Jacob did not react as Feng did. Instead when Feng cut down the Captain and other members of command Jacob instead rallied the rest of the unit to take Feng down. His actions got him promoted to Captain, even while Feng was shipped out to Brandescar. As Feng tussed up and shipped out he watched as the pompous Jacob, now captain, toasted his capture with his sycophant cronies. The new Sergeants Marius Malcus and Bartholomew Wintz, and the Corporeals Wicky and Tim Mink. Weaklings all. And filled with the same rot that had infested the army. Clearly they would all need to be strained from the society, discarded with the other detritus in the process of reforging the army and nation.

As far back as Feng can remember he had a desire to test his strength, to use it, to unleash it. That said he was not always the biggest and strongest around. When he was much younger, before he started forming and leading gangs of children, he was weaker than those older, bigger, and stronger than himself. And far too often he was pushed around by those bigger and stronger than himself, at the orphanages, at various foster families, and of course on the streets and gutters. And he would not take being pushed around, the rage hidden inside him would flare out and he would strike out. And of course being younger and smaller he didn't always win. Far too often in his early years he felt the true brunt of Might Makes Right. As those who were stronger than him back then made the rules. He could not fight back against the adults or the older, bigger, children. For they out massed him and had far more strength. Of course as he grew things changed. And Might Makes Right began to swing in his favor.

# ? May 29, 2018 06:42

Tricky: Jun 12, 2007; after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus? Do not hold back. Every terrible imagining of what is possible after the complete and utter victory of evil, what do you do? What is the glorious epilogue you feel you deserve, the role you will play under diabolic tyranny?

"While my strength holds, I will rule the world in the name of Asmodeus. There will be room for the others, of course, as advisors or consorts or whatever position they might fit best in, but my sword is His and through it all will know His will. I must admit, though, that I do not have the luxury of tarrying in this world like an elf. My time will pass and another will rise to His service. This is as it should be. The strong will provide the iron law to the realms of man, and I will go to join Asmodeus's legions."

"Before the years sap away my health, though, I do have one other great ambition. I would cast off the remainder of the human weakness that infests me. By spell or ceremony, perhaps even by the grace of Asmodeus himself, I would see myself ascend to the promise of the blood that fills me. I would transcend this flesh and be reborn as an Archdevil."

quote:

Though a few of you have mentioned it, describe for me in a paragraph or so your character's justification as to why they got caught. Obviously, they themselves are not to blame, so who is? Name names. Give me some faces, some people that need to be paid against. And if possible, give a hint of what failings of your character were truly at fault.

"The fault lies with Private Karakk, our unit's quartermaster. If it wasn't for her failure to properly account for the unexpected arrival of our supply shipment, our plan to strike down King Markadian V would have proceeded into its final stages. It also did not escape my notice that she was the first to beg for mercy and receive the King's pardon. I smell a rat. While it rankles me to let a traitor roam free, I suppose I can't do much about her in the days I have remaining. Suffice to say that she should hope I never have her at my mercy. There will be none. Nor, too, will there be any for any of the others that accepted the King's mercy. Blackblade, Small Toma, the Irimore twins... I have many names on my list."

Honestly speaking, Excellence failed pretty much entirely because she doesn't have a great grasp of the big picture. She's very able on the battlefield and as a figure to rally around, but planning is not her strong point... and, as you might imagine, the people that were assigned to a Tiefling were hardly shining examples of martial virtue and determination. She wouldn't admit it, but this taught her a lot of the benefits of surrounding herself with talented people. Even Asmodeus uses others to best enact his will. Why shouldn't she?

quote:

Excellence: You pre-empted my feedback when we talked about the Desertion angle. I would like to maybe get more of a feeling on Lilith's relationship with Asmodeus, and I would like you to elaborate on what her Oath of Conquest would mean once taken, in the way the vows apply to her life and how you think they'd regulate her behavior.

For sure. I think the key touchstone between Asmodeus and Lilith is that, for so much of her life, she was torn between opposing views on the past. Her parents offered it as glowing nostalgia, society as a whole as a grim reminder. Nobody was particularly interested in talking about what she could be or do. There is a piece of her, though I doubt she'd ever admit it, that needs to feel as if she's part of something greater. The past didn't serve. Asmodeus's dark whispers of what could be? They most certainly did. So, in essence, she's thrown in with the Lord of Nine Hells because she wants to feel needed and important and he was the first to offer that. She takes her oath to him seriously and is most certainly going to be one of the, if not the, most enthusiastic of the party towards furthering his ambitions. I'd imagine the times they speak, in dreams or prayers, to be like conversations with a daughter who's very much in the time of her life when her insanely powerful devil dad-surrogate is the greatest and the best and, really, she just wants him to be proud of her. How proud would conquering the Six Realms in his name make him? She intends to find out.

I think, once she takes the oath, she's consciously defining herself entirely as his mortal sword and the one who will bring his reign upon the lands of Talingarde. If there was a time where she might have been talked down, even after the prison escape, it would definitively pass at that moment. She is, in this life and those beyond, His bladesworn. The tenets themselves, I think, are pretty well in line with how she already presents herself. She didn't try and launch a rebellion to conquer the kingdom from the ground up, no, she wanted to crush the King in glorious battle and shatter the spirits of the Six Realms in one stroke. The latter two are a bit fuzzy, as they don't really seem to come into the narrative until there's the dungeon that's been teased or the party has made some major headway on actually taking and holding land. At that point, I fully intend to roll with them, but a lot of it would require some narrative finesse with the party both IC and OOC. If you want, I can definitely brainstorm some more wildly applicable tenets with you later this week.

Tricky fucked around with this message at 16:53 on May 30, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 06:52

Successful Businessmanga: Mar 28, 2010

quote:

Gertrude:

I'll be moving from Death to Grave domain. I have to do a stat reshuffle, but the concept is staying the same. Bonus points I'll actually be good at religion now which fixes my main complaint about taking that. I'll come back to the questions once I've done the rebuild.

I was reminded that Clerics can just prepare animate dead normally and that was the only reason I took the death domain :v:

. The book fluff about the Grave domain is certainly like Ooooh noooo undead bad, but the actual mechanics are pretty spot on with like even the faintest brush of paint.

1: Circle of Mortality I'm the one who bosses death around, if I say a person isn't dying they're not dying. Max healing on 0 hp people and the spare the dying cantrip for auto stabilizing (which makes dropping medicine to get religion bearable.)

Eyes of the Grave: Magical undead radar. Pretty basic necromancer trick.

2: Channel Divinity: Path to the Grave: Sapping some fool's life energy to make it easier to kill them by powering up an ally with it. Mark a target and give them vulnerability to all damage from the next attack.

6: Sentinel at Death's Door: I'm mastering the powers of life and death, you can die when I say you die. Wis mod in crits negated against people within 30' of me.

8th: Potent Spellcasting: It's extra damage, nothing really to see here :v:

17: Keeper of Souls: Sucking the last breath out of dying person to give your pals a little bit of extra pep in their step. Once per round heal an ally or myself by the number of HD a creature had.

For a Domain that's fluffed up as opposing the undead, they get absolutely zero support in actually doing it. Hell they get Antilife shell which is "Hey anyone alive, stay the heck away from me. But hey undead pals, feel free to come on in

# ? May 29, 2018 07:09

Wahad: May 19, 2011; There is no escape.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus? Do not hold back. Every terrible imagining of what is possible after the complete and utter victory of evil, what do you do? What is the glorious epilogue you feel you deserve, the role you will play under diabolic tyranny?

Currently, Ihintza wants only one thing. To get back to Soraya, murder and burn her way through all the fools and obstacles that seek to keep them apart, and get their happy ever after. But before that fateful night, they would sometimes talk of marriage, of some day ruling the local lands together, when Soraya succeeded her parents. Of course, being only a minor noble, that meant it was a small dream, at best. But...what if one could take the power they feel they deserve? They could be doted on by thousands of servants. Revel in every luxury they can possibly imagine, with nobody to stop them, or say no. If there are no good kings to stop them, no fools to say that it is wrong for them to be together...well, that would be just peachy.

Ihintza's people might like to see a larger area of operations, so they don't have to cower away from their ancient enemies, but rather to keep the dragonborn as slaves (among other races) and raise Meershaulk to a proper place alongside Asmodeus. But unfortunately for them, Ihintza no longer feels particularly beholden to them. All she wants is her own little paradise, with her love.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

Though a few of you have mentioned it, describe for me in a paragraph or so your character's justification as to why they got caught. Obviously they themselves are not to blame, so who is? Name names. Give me some faces, some people that need to be paid against. And if possible, give a hint of what failings of your character were truly at fault.

On the contrary, Ihintza is perfectly aware that she was to blame for her being caught. She should have locked the whims of her heart away and planned their escape better, left no trace of their goings, and been more sneaky. She could have done it if she'd been more careful. But she didn't. She was foolish in her love, and paid the price. The ones that caught her - and more importantly, took away Soraya back to the safety of her home - bear the prime target of her wrath. Ser Galenos, the head of the troop of knights that had come chasing after her, and his men. Lord Azad Seyed Mitralaxis, Soraya's fool of a father. Those in particular she would like to see suffer. At length.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

Ihintza: This character edges a little towards anti-villain territory, which isn't bad. In fact I'm all about having, just as I sought for Wyrmsea, kind of a character to balance things out a bit. But a big thing that sticks out to me is the choice of patron. Hexblade is a patron, not a boon. It means being sworn to a mystical weapon of terrible power. What is this weapon? What does it want? How, if at all, is it related to Meershaulk? I feel with the yuan-ti skill set and inclination as a Charlatan, a Great Old One patron would serve you better, as that is closer to Meershaulk's bag.

Perhaps it is a better choice. But I wanted to take a different approach to the 'typical' yuan-ti infiltrator. The short version of it on Ihintza's end is the following: aside from the usual skills of deception and manipulation, they were trained in close combat and physical skills, to ensure they have ways to make their way home in case they get caught and their magics get cut off. A plan B, if you will. As the top of her 'class', so to speak, Ihintza was the first to receive the proper blessing, and the weapon she was allowed to commune with was called the Fang of Meershaulk (which her and her broodmates are named after). The Yuan-ti priests believe it to be a weapon of an ancient past, and to be imbued with a shard of the sleeping serpent god's essence. She wasn't allowed to take the relic on her journey beyond the Yuan-ti territory, of course; but the link was established nonetheless.

Whether the Fang is actually a part of Meershaulk I wanted to leave vague at best. I think if it isn't, the entity might pretend to be to keep the worship going. What it wants is simple and complicated at the same time. The simple part is to taste blood. The relic has been used as a ritual blade for sacrifice in the yuan-ti temples for centuries. It promises that Meershaulk's power grows as it is fed more, and it bestows some of this power on select beneficiaries; but it seemingly never ceases to be hungry. What it really wants is to be unleashed into the world. No slow, drip-feeding of ritual sacrifices. It wants to relish in massacres, in grand battles and wars, to gorge itself on blood (and, perhaps, other essences) to the point of bursting. Ihintza, in the Fang's eyes, is a potential pawn in this goal.

If you feel like it is easier fit in the group to take Ihintza with a GOO pact serving Meershaulk directly, I'll be happy to switch, though.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

Second question: What is Soraya a princess of? There is only one human royal family, that of Myrcia, where there is a single daughter of the King and his sole heir due to the late Queen Aria's death, Princess Anoushka. Is she from a foreign land? What is she doing in Talingarde? Is she from an old "princely" house of nobles in Keshkevar that no longer have political power? I like that aspect of the concept a lot, just needs a bit more specifics.

If there only is one royal family, perhaps I erred in using the word princess, though I'll admit I'm not sure what the term is for a duke or count's daughter. I guess duchess/countess-to-be? She's not a foreigner, I don't think, but having her being from an old house that has no real political power anymore (barring some minor governance role over the city or the immediate area, perhaps) I think suits her just fine. Even a land with one monarch still has nobility, and Soraya and her father probably figures into that more than anything. And Ihintza's 'handmaiden' assignment was supposed to be more a practice run than anything else - if the family has no real power, it's a playground, so to speak, to learn the things one needs to get into the places with real power and behave the right way. But we all know how that turned out.

# ? May 29, 2018 08:23

Successful Businessmanga: Mar 28, 2010

quote:

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus? Do not hold back. Every terrible imagining of what is possible after the complete and utter victory of evil, what do you do? What is the glorious epilogue you feel you deserve, the role you will play under diabolic tyranny?

When the dust finally settles, Gertrude will be gone, in public presence if not physically as well. Using her mastery over the powers of death and the well earned boons of Asmodeus and Vecna, she'll fade as far into the background as she can. From the shadows she'll be able to scour any remaining hidden truths from Talingrade and then take to the wider world to do the same. Asmodeus will have his foothold onto the remaining lands of the world, and Gertrude will be happy to serve Vecna more easily in the oncoming times of turmoil.

quote:

Though a few of you have mentioned it, describe for me in a paragraph or so your character's justification as to why they got caught. Obviously they themselves are not to blame, so who is? Name names. Give me some faces, some people that need to be paid against. And if possible, give a hint of what failings of your character were truly at fault.

It's easy to start believing you're unstoppable after decades of successfully getting away at something, Gertrude is sure Lord Vecna has his reasons for guiding her down this path. Perhaps the warden or his subordinates had some hidden blackmail material that Vecna wanted. No matter, it would find its ways to her hands eventually. As to her captors, Gertrude had no doubt that the petty Baron¹ and his cadre² of³ trained⁴ guards⁵ would be dealt with in time. It wasn't proper for a servant of Vecna to be so fresh in the minds of anyone too important.

quote:

Gertrude: With a lot of Cha-focused casters applied and an enchantment-focused wizard, I would probably use the single level 1 spell choice to pick up something other than Charm Person, but I'd leave that to you. I do like the feat choice. I think as described Neutral Evil does feel more fitting. I do recommend however that you pick up the Religion skill. You're both a Cleric and you deal with the Un-Dead, and that skill is going to be used a lot for rituals to Vecna, and for identifying and dealing with the Un-Dead as well as fiends and the like.

Magic Initiate Changes (Druid->Wizard)
Primal Savagery->mending
Mold Earth is the same
Charm Person->Mage Armor (What's that green mist floating around your body? "Oh this? My husband's ghost, here to protect me.")

Locked in at Neutral Evil.

New stat spread musses up skills so
Stealth->Investigation

Grave cleric gives me spare the dying, which is normally a full action touch spell, as a 30' ranged bonus action spell, so stabilizing wounded people negates the need for
Medicine->Religion

Thieves' Tools got swapped to poisoner's kit because like half the submissions have them now, so coverage is there.

Pick up Prodigy at 4th to expertise religion and maybe pick medicine back up.

¹ The Baron Omar Franciscus
² Onesimos Efrat
³ Wilfrith Vid
⁴ Gero Yasin
⁵ Swanhyld Liontyne

Successful Businessmanga fucked around with this message at 20:51 on May 31, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 09:56

Tricky Dick Nixon: Jul 26, 2010; by Nyc_Tattoo

Had a few moments at work and saw some applications were finished and some followup from other folks.

Follow-up on Gertrude: I was pretty ready to say flatly "no" to using Grave. There's a bunch of other Domains that are more appropriate for Vecna or an undeath god, and the way Grave is written it should be inimical to that kind of thing. But I'm also a little impressed you went through the effort to think it through, and I prefer people who do the work and present it rather than ask permission. Frankly, Death suffers from a lot of the same lacking quality as the others options in the DMG, so I'm also sympathetic to wanting a better option. Which is all to say: "I'll allow it, counsel, but mind where you take it."

To Shadow and Glenn: As with the others, the other main questions of what role your character envisions for themselves in the New World Order, and who specifically they blame and would want revenge on, stands.

Shadow: There is an unspoken tension of growing frustration. A complete lack of moral fiber or willingness to learn, that makes me think of a cat. Perhaps without the care of tabaxi parents to rear it, they do tend to grow awry. I like that quality a fair bit, but it conflicts a bit with your apparent obsession with perfection, which I'd pair with a secret trait if you can think of one. The other minor quibble I have is regarding the gladiatorial background: There are no blood sports in Talingarde. I don't mind you taking the background but it would better represent being more an Italian-style "bravo" and getting into duels and vendettas on the streets of Lucidor, which had an honor culture even before the dragonborn arrived, and still practices dueling even if they have to keep it secret from the church.

Glenn: It's refreshing to get someone who's only in it for the money. It's a good launching point, and might providing a grounding force, but I'm curious: What do you think would lead this character to be willing to drat a nation to rule by devils? What is it about wealth that really motivates him? He seems to come from wealth already. The mentioned Scrooge built himself up from scratch, and that is one of his endearing points. Your character started from privilege and wants for more; why do you think that is?

Kiai: Minor quibble that I don't think changes much on your background, but hobgoblins have been pretty isolated and dismantled in the south. A more likely foe in the Banishlands you'd face are gnolls. You might even consider switching Goblin for Gnoll, it may come in handy on the adventure. I find myself in a similar boat as I am with Ick wherein I like the character a lot, but the scope of their villainy could use a little illustration. A crazed brute killer who falls upon spellcasters and bashes curses can be really compelling, it doesn't have to be a mastermind. My suggestion might be to focus on the aspect of wanting to overcome the curse, similar to Egina's orcish connection, which could make you a character that is totemic for the kenku and might rally them to evil. The other minor note: Eagles are kind of symbols of righteousness and good in this setting, maybe it'd be more accurate to say your character is empowered by elemental evil air, ala Yan-C-Bin? The other issue is with the Chaotic alignment, I'm curious what would cause them to bond with the party. I assume they would view them as a new flock in kenku fashion, but I'd like your take in what would keep your character from thinking the path to glory would be defeating the villains they are working with.

# ? May 29, 2018 16:49

DeathSandwich: Apr 24, 2008; I fucking hate puzzles.

Contemplating rolling something up. My original thought was a black widow/maneater enchanter wizard until I seen that it was basically the first application :v:

Plan B would probably be a Pact of the Tome Warlock with either a fiend or Raven Queen patron.

# ? May 29, 2018 17:40

Shogeton: Apr 26, 2007; "Little by little the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him"

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus? Do not hold back. Every terrible imagining of what is possible after the complete and utter victory of evil, what do you do? What is the glorious epilogue you feel you deserve, the role you will play under diabolic tyranny?

My own role is of lesser importance as the role of my son. He will be the saviour and the leader of the orcs. When he breaks the elven curse, they shall unite behind him, and, provided Asmodeus proves strong enough to be worthy of following, they will brutally kill every one interfering with his rule. Except the elves. He will hunt them down, destroy all of their works, wipe them out. I could of course be his adviser and spymaster. Enemies within and without will try to destroy him, and I will see all their plots end in their bloody deaths. If things moves more quickly, and he is not of age, then I will have to find some orc to manipulate to hold the orc tribes together, despite the curse, and wait my son to come and claim his place.

quote:

Though a few of you have mentioned it, describe for me in a paragraph or so your character's justification as to why they got caught. Obviously they themselves are not to blame, so who is? Name names. Give me some faces, some people that need to be paid against. And if possible, give a hint of what failings of your character were truly at fault.

My 'sire' Aldane of course. So ashamed of my birth, but too weak to simply cut me loose as I assumed he'd done. He took me from my family among the orcs, even though he didn't want me. Of course, the prophecy, fate demanded it to be true. I don't want him to die though. No, I want him to see what he was instrument him. I want him to see the blood of his blood bringing an end to his world. Then, only then, will he die.

The silver Ogre has, count Vesperr Morthil done me no wrong personally, but I look forward to him too realizing his part. And then there are the adventurers who killed my mother and took me from them. All of it fated of course, but that will not save them from my vengeance if I get my hands on them. It is more than twenty years ago, and I was seven when I saw them, but I know the name of their band. The Lion's Claw.

On... anohter note, there are my foster parents Garon and Disman. They need to be sheltered from the worse of the storm that is coming. Either after our victory, they can get some cushy position that doesn't require them to do anything they'd find revolting, or possibly just a boat ride of the continent along with some wealth to build a new life elsewhere. If anyone has harmed them though, to get to me, or because they figured they were involved, I will make them beg to be allowed to die.

Obviously, the fact that her father was crying on her pretty much screwed her from the start. But even so, there was no particular reason she had to go for that haul. She could have kept things way more low key. Thing is that Egina is rash and stubborn, even while she can be subtle. She'll see an opportunity, assume it is clearly fated that this happens to be here, and then starts to pursue a goal doggedly, even to her own detriment.The idea that she is the one spoken off in the prophecy, the idea that if she can't be it, it has to be her son, the decision to bear a son to the Silver Ogre, all of them were life altering choices made in a flash and pursued over years and at great personal expense and risk. She wants to be meaningful, have a Grand Purpose, be an important part in the Grand Story of these lands, and is entirely willing to risk her life to make it happen.

quote:

Egina: We talked a lot about this as you are putting it together so obviously I gave a lot of feedback already. I would recommend, but not require, thinking of a second trait, or using the Class traits from Xanathar's to build on.

I'll go with 'shifting moods rapidly', partly because of her rashness, partly because she's used to shifting her demeanor on a dime as part of her double life.

Shogeton fucked around with this message at 12:28 on May 30, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 18:20

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus? Do not hold back. Every terrible imagining of what is possible after the complete and utter victory of evil, what do you do? What is the glorious epilogue you feel you deserve, the role you will play under diabolic tyranny?

I left these out of the last post as they're in a bit of a separate direction, but can probably comment on them. I guess part of it is I needed to figure out the traits/bonds/etc. first in greater detail. In general here's how it all fits together:

Trait -- "Measure twice, cut once."
Benny doesn't shoot from the hip. Things are planned out days, weeks, months, years in advance, and he sticks to the plan. It's true, sometimes plans change, and you need to be able to adapt, but a good plan has contingencies built into it.

What does this mean for a role in the new world order?
It takes a great deal of planning to orchestrate a coup, but it takes a great deal more skill to rebuild a nation afterwards. Because, let's be honest, this isn't going to be a bloodless coup. In the aftermath of whatever comes, Benny won't just carve away his own little kingdom and disappear, he will begin the process of rebuilding, and he will have already begun the process of ensuring everyone is able to defend what was forcibly taken. There will be detailed plans of action to deal with problems, detailed resource allocations to ensure continuity of government, and contingencies both physical and literal in the arcane sense to create the mutually assured destruction that is necessary to pave over a good nation and use its bones to animate an evil nation.

Ideal -- "If you want it done right..."
Benny isn't a gently caress-up. Things need to be done properly and they need to be done in the context of the grander plan. If you're about to make a decision based on emotional need because "this doesn't matter", rather than doing what is needed to set up a move twelve steps from now that does matter, odds are pretty good that you and he are about to have a long conversation. Mind you, as a 'people person', Benny understands that not everyone is well-suited to long-term planning, and there's some give and take to any situation.

What does this mean for a role in the new world order?
Right out of the gates Benny is going to be developing a personality assessment of his comrades. The closer to the goalpost they get, the more concerned he's going to get about 'what comes next'. He knows that, left to its own devices, evil people tend to fracture and fight amongst themselves. Doubly so if there are a bunch of emotional people involved. A civil war among the victors in a coup is a distinct possibility, and he intends to get in front of that far in advance, both by developing alliances and favors owed by everyone involved years before it will matter, and weaving a complex system that will ensure everyone needs each other to survive. Basically, he has no interest in orchestrating a coup just to launch right into the opposite side of another one, and he's afraid people less forward-thinking than himself will just take things one challenge at a time. So, he's happy to do the worrying and thinking for them before they need to do so.

Bond -- Honor among thieves.
When it comes down to it, there's a reason Benny was successful in the role he carved out for himself. He treats people with respect, and he deals with them honestly. He might not treat everyone equally, but if you're "one of his", he's a straight shooter with you. There was, as he saw it, never any 'cloak and dagger bullshit' with his own men, and he honored his word to other people. That made him a fixed point and a known quantity, which is a rare and precious resource in the criminal underworld. You don't need to be the most powerful guy in the room to get something done, you just need to have the trust of the people who are powerful enough to make things happen. That's a reputation that has cachet in the future.

What does this mean for a role in the new world order?
Here's the thing, this matters for a new world order as well. Benny isn't a short-term thinker. If you're going to overthrow the government in some fashion, guess what happens next? Allies from the mainland get involved. Allies from other loving planes get involved. Even if you can manage to pull off a coup overnight, you need to immediately get working on establishing diplomatic ties with new allies, and smoothing over relations with the allies of your dead king. Benny realizes that 'diabolic tyranny' is going to require a human face to deal with nearby nations, and he sees himself as a key element in anyone's ability to keep the whole thing from being undone by the armies of six other nations and the celestial realms. Whether that's diplomacy, bribery, espionage, or corruption, he's going to take his criminal empire global and he's going to do it under the auspices of international relations.

Flaw -- "What the gently caress is wrong with you?"
If he doesn't respect you, Benny is an rear end in a top hat. Great ways to get onto his poo poo list include making decisions based on emotion, dogma, or anything else that isn't well-vetted game theory and rational models of decision making. This tends to conflict with his desire to build a team and work out mutually beneficial deals (the lawyer in him shines through), because sometimes people need to be called out for their bullshit. Executing a prisoner because they worshipped the wrong god is loving useless if they had information you needed, and you deserve to be punched in the face for it.

What does this mean for a role in the new world order?
Practically speaking, building a nation of evil creatures is going to require a lot of brainwashing. Benny finds it a bit distasteful, but he wouldn't have any qualms establishing and coordinating a ministry of propaganda to get people on-side to his way of thinking.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

Though a few of you have mentioned it, describe for me in a paragraph or so your character's justification as to why they got caught. Obviously they themselves are not to blame, so who is? Name names. Give me some faces, some people that need to be paid against. And if possible, give a hint of what failings of your character were truly at fault.

Benny knows exactly why he got caught. He put his faith in extrinsic power, propping up his regime on a steady supply of wands and scrolls and poisons and mercenary talent. He should have built his pyramid starting with intrinsic power at the top, power that he could control, and that nobody would have been able to take away from him. Relying on other people was a mistake, and he realizes now that it was a shortcut to victory. He shouldn't have accepted help from others, but rather kept building his empire slowly but with loyal people. His takeaway for his next attempt is to improve himself as part of the process, wielding his own might rather than the strings-attached firepower of others, and playing more carefully when it comes to allies. Practically speaking he knows that the only people who matter are people with magical power, so he needs to find a way to make that happen. Once he's got that accomplished, though, he does have a poo poo list written up. The greatest hits include two dark elves, Ornabros Kront'tarran and Sendan Jusztorzza, who hosed him over royally when they turned off the loving taps. He assumes they might already be dead, but if they aren't he's going to find them and, after finding out what their loving problem was, he is going to loving kill them. Depending on their answer to the 'why' of it, he might also flood their subterranean home with sea water in order to kill everyone they've ever known -- if he's being honest he hasn't really decided yet.

On the surface world, his poo poo list also includes the prosecutor and judge in his case, Pierce Powers and Grosgril Heavycoat, respectively a human and a dwarf. He doesn't really begrudge them using his case as a high profile way to make their careers, but he does begrudge the tone the lawyer took with him during the trial. As for the judge, he thinks the guy is a complete loving rear end in a top hat, because he shut down valid legal arguments and defenses in the 'spirit of the law' rather than the 'rules as written'. The guy's a loving judge, okay? The written rules loving matter and if you're going to decide your cases on the spirit of the law rather than the merits of a legal defense rooted in the actual legal system maybe you're the one who deserves to be drawn and loving quartered. Benny's also not entirely pleased with the divination wizard that was on his payroll, Uqmarim, a black dragonborn with no last name. It's not really a 'kill this guy and everyone he's ever loved' sort of displeasure, it's more a 'you had one god drat job' sort of displeasure, and he feels particularly compelled to track the guy down and hash that poo poo out with him. Depending on the conversation Benny's response could go either way.

Waador fucked around with this message at 18:30 on May 29, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 18:25

Brainamp: Sep 4, 2011; More Zen than Zenyatta

Fremen, formerly Mason, a man of no consequence

They say that the human life is short and thus you should enjoy it to the fullest while you've got it. I call that bunk. A fruity saying handed to us by the elves that live drat near forever and think it adorable when we humans scurry about due to our lack of time on this world. I tried that life and it turns out that the dread tolling of the bell sounds the same whether you step cautiously towards it or rush headlong. To be human is a curse, and attempting to flee that curse is why my death instead chooses to chase me rather then waiting for me to meet its embrace naturally.

As the youngest son of the House of Armistead, my upbringing was rather openhanded. I was given what I wanted and could do as I pleased, as long as it didn't interrupt the family plans or the grooming of my elder siblings. I will not bore you with the details of a childhood that happened too long ago to matter anymore. It was not particularly interesting, unless you enjoy tales of a bored child wasting his days with other bored children.

That boy eventually grew up as they are wont to do. His boredom, my boredom, had been replaced with a decadence that served to hide a fear that was growing within me. With every day that passed, I felt more empty inside. There was no struggle in my life that my parent's wealth and reputation could not solve. No great challenge that reached out to name me as the one who would solve it. All I had was a talent for magic and a good and proper schooling. Neither of which quelled the dawning horror that my life was rushing away faster than I could manage.

Oh, I tried that whole, "living life to the fullest," that the elves shove down our throats. I practiced a multitude of arts, fancied myself as a soldier for several years, and played the games of court as well as someone with as little power as me could. These activities entertained me and the friends I made, but it was all for naught. My dreams were dominated by night terrors and I spent more nights dwelling on how much time I had left before it was all over. I'd like to say that I was struck by inspiration while I was still young, but the world doesn't work that way. The revelation that I could even attempt to thwart my end would not come for sometime.

It was during a sojourn to Milatum in my later years that I found my way out. The Church of Mitra had done everything it could to stamp out concrete knowledge of the former lord of this land, Asmodeus, but it seemed that even they could not resist preserving a few relics of his worship. Texts that I secreted out of their libraries to entertain myself with. It was in those volumes of forgotten lore that I discovered the true extent of Asmodeus' power. There were always prices to pay, but if the texts spoke true there would never be a need for me to feel fear again.

In hindsight, it was probably the taking of those texts that set the witch hunters on my trail. At the time though, I was more concerned with sharing my newfound knowledge with those I knew also held my fears. Friends and associates from across the years that all grown old and would leap at the chance to be young again.

I guess you could call it a cult, in that we were a group of like minded individuals all working under the ancient instructions of a dark god. We preferred to call ourselves the Fremen. Freedom from the tyranny of time and the mockery of those priests who had worked to shut away the knowledge that we so desperately desired. Whatever the name, our goal was clear. Using the rituals found in the texts, we would once again become young and free from that ever looming threat we call age.

The ritual took time and it took blood. Some of ours, but mostly that of others. The key ingredient was our new bodies. Time could not be reversed on our forms, so the ritual would allow us to simply exchange spirits with another human. We would have their youth and they could enjoy our waning years, assuming we let them live. Fortunately, I had a great resource of youths to draw upon. The nieces and nephews my brothers and sisters had produced. They loved their uncle who had entertained them with cantrips and illusions while their parents were too busy being aristocrats, so it was doubtful they would have cause for worry when he asked the lot of them for a favor.

I know it seems cruel, but their deaths were a sacrifice I was willing to make for the continuation of my life. Anyways, we had everything we needed. It might have been a bit prideful at the time, but we honestly felt that we could not fail. Nothing short of Mitra himself reaching down to squish us like bugs could stop our ritual. We were wrong of course, my current imprisonment attests to that. The Witch Hunters had traced our steps from Milatum and across Myrcia, unbeknownst to us. Had we been a bit hastier, we might have lost their pursuit, but alas.

It was the night of the ritual when they arrived. My beloved family, our new bodies, had been arranged before us on a cold cellar floor. Terror was in their eyes as we spoke the words of transference. Glee was in ours as they struggled at their bindings. Suddenly, a loud crack on the door interrupted our chanting. We were stunned, until someone shouted to continue. We had so little time left. The words rolled on as the door began to give way. A darkness fell across us, tying my cohorts and I to the screaming group in front of us. The Witch Hunters burst into the room at that moment, tossing their alchemical grenades and cutting down the nearest of my cohorts. We could not move or defend ourselves from the expert warriors and I felt that familiar fear gripping my heart, until a calm voice whispered in my ear.

"Do not be afraid. You shall have what you desire. Just be sure to return the favor."

My vision faded as a Hunter's blade rushed to meet my neck.

I felt nothing for a time. At first I thought the voice had been a madness induced delusion and that death was even more boring then I could have imagined, until a tingling sensation crept up my body. The tingling began to hurt, as if a thousand ants were crawling over my nerves. With a mighty effort, I opened my eyes. A confusing scene lay before me. The blood and bodies of my fellow Fremen were scattered across the room and the Witch Hunters who had caused their deaths were consoling and escorting our sacrifices outside. Then my eyes drifted over a curious sight. A body I recognized, but had only seen in mirrors. The truth dawned on me as I brought the eyes of another down examine myself.

I might have hidden the true effects of the ritual from our assailants had I not been overcome with emotion at that moment. Mad laughter sprang from my chest as I examined the hands before me. My hands. Smooth and free of any callouses or wrinkles. The hands of a noble boy who'd never needed to handle anything heavier than a quill. My laughter continued unabated, even as the hunters dragged me from the pit to face judgement. I've sobered up a bit now, what with my imprisonment, upcoming execution, and that matter of a favor still to be paid to Lord Asmodeus, but at that point nothing else in the world mattered to me. I had won. I had beaten Death itself.

Now I just need to do it again.

Name: Freman
Race: Human (Variant)
Age: 22 (Formerly 68)
Size: Medium (5'9")
Class: Warlock (1)
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Background: Charlatan
Branding: Witchcraft
Languages: Common, Elvish, Infernal

Hit Points: 7
Initiative: +2
AC: 12
Speed: 30 ft.

Passive Perception: 13
Passive Investigation: 6
Passive Insight: 13

Attributes (Modifier/Saving Throw)
Strength: 10 (0/0)
Dexterity: 15 (+2/+2)
Constitution: 8 (-1/-1)
Intelligence: 12 (+1/+1)
Wisdom: 16 (+3/+5)
Charisma: 18 (+4/+6)

Skills (Proficiency Bolded, Expertise Italicized)
Acrobatics +2
Animal Handling +3
Arcana +5
Athletics 0
Deception +6
History +3
Insight +3
Intimidation +4
Investigation +3
Medicine +3
Nature +1
Perception +3
Performance +4
Persuasion +4
Religion +3
Sleight of Hand +4
Stealth +2
Survival +3

Armor Proficiency: Light, Medium, Shields
Weapon Proficiency: Simple, Martial
Tools: Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit, Painter's Supplies

Features:
Otherwordly Patron: Fiend
Expanded Spell List: Fiend
Dark One's Blessing - Starting at 1st level, when you reduce a hostile creature to 0 hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier + your warlock level (minimum of 1).

Feats:
Prodigy - You gain one skill proficiency of your choice, one tool proficiency of your choice, and fluency in one language of your choice. Choose one skill in which you have proficiency. You gain expertise with that skill, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it. The skill you choose must be one that isn't already benefiting from a feature, such as Expertise, that doubles your proficiency bonus.

Spell Sniper - You have learned techniques to enhance your attacks with certain kinds of spells, gaining the following benefits:
When you cast a spell that requires you to make an attack roll, the spell�s range is doubled.
Your ranged spell attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.
You learn one cantrip that requires an attack roll. Choose the cantrip from the bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell list. Your spellcasting ability for this cantrip depends on the spell list you choose from.

Spell Save DC: 14 (8+2+4)
Spell Attack Modifier: 6 (2+4)

Cantrips:
Eldritch Blast
Minor Illusion
Toll of the Dead

Known/Prepared Spells: Burning Hands
Spell Slots: 1 (1st level)

Equipment: 19 gold left
Studded Leather
Shortsword
Crossbow, Hand
Lantern, Hooded
Robes
Clothes, Fine
Component Pouch
Tinderbox

Background:

Traits: Flattery is my preferred trick to getting what I want.
Ideal: Aspiration. I'm determined to live forever.
Bond: I come from a noble family, and one day I'll reclaim my lands and title from those imprisoned me.
Flaw: I'm convinced that no one could ever fool me the way I fool others.

Attribute Rolls.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus? Do not hold back. Every terrible imagining of what is possible after the complete and utter victory of evil, what do you do? What is the glorious epilogue you feel you deserve, the role you will play under diabolic tyranny?

By the grace of Lord Asmodeus, I would have all of time itself to contemplate my place in it. While I was not groomed to be the statesmen my siblings were, I feel that ruling over Talingarde forever would give me ample time to learn. I would not do this alone of course. Though my fellow Fremen were almost all butchered by those Hunters, their legacy would not end. A new cult of Fremen will arise and serve Lord Asmodeus eternally. We would cast out the Church, the elves, the dwarves, and any others that pretended to pity humanity's mortality while denying us the chance to escape it. With time and Asmodeus on our side, nothing would be impossible.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

Though a few of you have mentioned it, describe for me in a paragraph or so your character's justification as to why they got caught. Obviously they themselves are not to blame, so who is? Name names. Give me some faces, some people that need to be paid against. And if possible, give a hint of what failings of your character were truly at fault.

My fellows were old, careless, and most of all, scared. They blundered about gathering what we needed, giving the Witch Hunters ample time to track us. The Lion's Lodge is officially a group dedicated to hunting monsters and demons, but the fact is that they are the Church's house cats, hunting down any vermin that crop up in return for treats from their master. Still, they are all vicious warriors and famed in ballad and song. Gerard the Hound in particular still swims through my mind, as his blade was the one that almost ended my life on that night. An honor I suppose. One that I wish I could repay in turn. Though, now that I think about it, even the Hunters shouldn't have discovered our exact location so quickly. They must have been informed, but by who? Several Fremen were missing that night, but I thought them accounted for. Lady Moriah was held up by one of her many parties and Sergeant Morgan was escorting new soldiers from Ascolon to Castlecliff. Both events would prevent them from attending the first ritual. Or was it the sacrifices? If one of them snitched before I led them to the ritual site, Jacob, my brother and current head of the house, could easily have sent word to the Lodge.

Brainamp fucked around with this message at 08:41 on May 31, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 19:42

TheNabster: Apr 26, 2014; "Today I will cause problems on purpose"

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus? Do not hold back. Every terrible imagining of what is possible after the complete and utter victory of evil, what do you do? What is the glorious epilogue you feel you deserve, the role you will play under diabolic tyranny?

The problem with the plans of Ick the Manbiter, is that they are motivated solely by his seething hatred of all the 'greater races' of elves, dwarves, halflings, humans all that sort of thing and thus they lack a certain important component. Namely the part of the plan that goes 'so after I have done this, what do I do next?' Reckless yet cunning, impulsive and yet calculating, someone who has been obsessing for years over his chosen foe to suddenly find themselves bereft of them would cause Ick to start climbing the walls in wound-up frustration if not kept in check, he might start getting ideas in his head about his erstwhile 'allies' within the order. And so the only place Ick could be at home in, is right in the midst of the next battle waged against good, not at the front because he is not a front-line kind of fighter but in the midst of where the enemy feels he is safest in order to do what he does best. There are whole kingdoms of men beyond the sea from this one, whole new civilizations that can be made to quake in fear at the mention of dragons and if even then there is nothing left in the material plane to direct Ick's terrible obsession, even if he has cut a swath through the land itself in his personal dark crusade.

Then there is always the realms of the gods themselves.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

Though a few of you have mentioned it, describe for me in a paragraph or so your character's justification as to why they got caught. Obviously they themselves are not to blame, so who is? Name names. Give me some faces, some people that need to be paid against. And if possible, give a hint of what failings of your character were truly at fault.

Ick seems to vibrate with rage briefly and then slams both tiny fists on the table "So close, so close, Ick hunts down filthy warren raiders back to their settlement, he watched them eats and guzzle down mead and spirits paid for with stolen gold, he waits until they sleep and Ick, he strikes. He kill one before he wakes, two before they know what happening, three as they run, four as they drunkenly fight back. I see five, I grab five by collar, plump lord-ling I about to gut like squealing piglet he is."

"Hateful Halfling! Filthy Halfling! <Insert Extended and Intensive Draconic Swears Here> She cuts Ick, she cuts him bad, Ick fights tooth and claw, refuses to back down and tries to tear out throat with teeth but Ick is struck by cowardly fat human from behind in struggle, blacks out, put in small cage, dragged before human court and mocked openly. Ick screams terrible blood oaths, Ick swears vengeance upon humans, sevenfold vengeance on HALFTHING! Ick will KILL, Ick will EAT, Ick will wear skull as decorative HAT!" The rest of this interview was cut short by the Kobold being carried off screaming to dark cupboard until he calms down again.

Tawna Brightmoon noble scion of minor noble house, royal seneschel and personal trainer to lords and ladies was a little bit of an odd hat for a Myrcian native, as she got her training not from the barracks of the Crownsguard, but in the Marches of Lucidor to become a well-honed warrior. She is courageous, loyal to a fault, yet possessing of the savvy to put a stop to many a devilish plot before they come to fruition, a dangerous warrior against the forces of darkness by any stretch of the imagination. The one black spot on her record was when one of her charges, Lord Walton Farrell who had been gaining his training in arms from the Crownguard, was attacked by particularly vicious and maddened Kobold.

She managed to save the young lord's life, but was too late to save the lives of the other four guards in the group, and the fingers on the lord's sword hand were lost from the creature biting them off in the struggle before she managed to put a stop to it. She would have killed the wretch right there and then but the Lord Hector Farrell demanded the highest of punishments that could be brought for wounding his son so, and also for the murder of the four other guards in the process. The creature was banded off to the Brandescar, and she was sure she'd never see it again.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

Ick: Kobold batman, from the other side. I dig it. But I'd like to explore what lengths and how grandiose he might get in that. The reason I made the Batman comparison is I feel that's a way to think about that central motivation of creating fear and maybe getting a little more gonzo with it beyond just killing folks. Also recommending as I did before the second trait or using the Class traits, but not a requirement.

At level 0? There were no plans other than 'kill em all!' and that was the problem, he was so wound up with the idea of doing terrible violence to the people that had wronged his clan that he didn't stop to consider what might happen if his roaring rampage of revenge didn't go as planned, or if he was caught, or if he ended up in a direct fight with someone who in game terms was probably a good 10 or so levels above him in experience and thus got his rear end kicked. It was humiliating, it stoked the fires of his personal vendetta and expanded it to include everyone in the kingdom and beyond, and it also hammered into him a hard lesson.

Never fight fair.

It was after that rear end kicking and in the time leading up to his execution at Brandescar that he actually started to try and find out more about his favoured enemy. He learned their languages, he read their culture, he went into extensive details to find all the ways that they could be hurt and hobbled, and then he started to dive into the things that scared and terrified them. And he did this all so that the next time, he wouldn't just blindly charge in and try to shiv everyone taller than him in the room, he wouldn't stoop to fighting on their rules, he would fight on his and he would use every dirty trick in the book, every last bit of knowledge he knew to bring down the forces of good that pushed him to this brink and he would crawl back from the precipice and stab them in the vulnerables.

In non fluff terms
>I added the trait "Sworn Enemy: You are obsessed with your foe, and you collect books of tales and history concerning them."
>I have with your permission, swapped the Athletics proficiency in the Outlander background for Intimidation. Ick does not run, he skulks, and he was more comfortable beneath ground than in water or in the open air and what kind of character seeking to strike fear into his enemies wouldn't be proficient in Intimidate.

TheNabster fucked around with this message at 19:33 on May 30, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 20:36

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 00:23

GenuineRevelry: Aug 12, 2010; Decor Aficionado

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

What is your role in the new world order after the victory of Asmodeus? Do not hold back. Every terrible imagining of what is possible after the complete and utter victory of evil, what do you do? What is the glorious epilogue you feel you deserve, the role you will play under diabolic tyranny?

I will be a grand vizier, an advisor to the highest in the land and a consort to many powerful men and women of the new order. They will each think I serve them more loyally than any other and they will each find themselves at a loss when I abandon them in their darkest hour. I will raise my people no higher than our filthy kind deserve and curse them to live under the eternal thumb of cruel lords just as they would have done to me. The Dragonborn eradicated, I'll make a spellbook from their Shogun's hide before I convince my betters to cast them from this land and let none speak their name.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

Though a few of you have mentioned it, describe for me in a paragraph or so your character's justification as to why they got caught. Obviously they themselves are not to blame, so who is? Name names. Give me some faces, some people that need to be paid against. And if possible, give a hint of what failings of your character were truly at fault.

I am going to keep my feedback mostly focused, generally speaking I really like the concepts thus far.

That damned Archivist Rasrinn Sharthejeth. The rest of them were so ready to right the grave injustice that was done to Lady Goode but he wouldn't stop asking questions. Like anyone can remember their mother's name on the first try. And then he has the gall to be upset because I can't remember that Castlecliff is upriver of Stagfall. Or is it, Stagfall is upriver of Castlecliff? It doesn't matter! They didn't know either until he spoke up. Then that damnable Lordling Yryassa Mulkunduamek got it into her head to inquire personally. They had me branded in shackles by the end of the week. What an embarrassment, and worse yet, now Dear Mother is going to think she was right.

Tricky Dick Nixon posted:

Salvatrix: It's not required but I'd recommend cooking up a second Trait, or do what Tricky did and if you have it use the class traits as a basis for adding some more from Xanathar's. Also, you will get an item shortly in play that will let you use Disguise Self at will, so I would recommend another spell. Two choices that would be thematic with your background and inclinations would be Find Familiar and Silent Image.

I really liked what came across with Excellence's class traits. I went ahead and added a second trait and filled out the class traits with Study filling in for why Sal became a wizard in the first place. I ditched Disguise Self for Find Familiar that will almost certainly take the form of an Owl. I think it fits right in with Sal's whole aesthetic.

GenuineRevelry fucked around with this message at 23:17 on May 29, 2018

# ? May 29, 2018 20:52

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > [D&D5E] It's Good to Be Evil: Let's Be Villains

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