[D&D 5E] Monster Hunter Recruitment/OOC

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > [D&D 5E] Monster Hunter Recruitment/OOC

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Alan Maernos

The current heir to House Maernos of Waterdeep, Alan grew up knowing great luxury. His relatives conducted most of the city's financial activity, and so were never short on coin. However, Alan was never one to lust for great riches, and would often be caught simply handing money over to the poor, to his family's shame. If he was to one day lead the family, he was told, he would have to learn that one should not give handouts unless they stand to profit from it. The lessons didn't take, and Alan found himself frequently being lectured for his abundance of charity. Inspired by an old book he'd found in the attic of his family's manor, Alan began to train at weapons in his teenage years, swiftly mastering the use of blades. When he came of age, he abruptly announced that he would be leaving, offering his prowess to all those in need, free of charge. Disowning the lad for what commoners would consider poor reasons would disgrace his family, so they had no choice but to allow Alan to leave without significant protest.

However, before Alan could make it out the door, he found himself saddled with companions, as his personal retainers insisted on joining him, loyal to the end. The trio consists of a valet, a dour Elf named Qiric, a maid, a jovial Dwarven woman by the name of Bronlin, and a footman, an enthusiastic halfling known as Pergin. The respect and admire their master's commitment to helping the common folk, and will do their best to make sure he doesn't starve to death or eat something poisonous. They advised him on what supplies he would need as he ventured out into the world, and kept him from wasting too much gold. In the end, they could only save a little over two-hundred gold pieces from Alan's compulsive charity, enough for basic supplies, including a cart and pony. Neither Pergin nor Bronlin were used to long-distance travel, so the halfling rode on the pony, while the dwarf shared the cart with the group's tents and other larger or heavier items (which, all told, represent a reasonable load for the pony). As a young man a few centuries prior, Qiric had served as a soldier, and while he was no longer fit for combat, he could handle the walking without complaint. Alan, while just as unused to travel as his maid and footman, resolved to do all of his own walking, as befits an adventurer.

Idealistic to the point of naivete, Alan has only been on the road a few weeks when he hears the summons of Saori Humblefist. He doesn't hesitate to alter his travel plans, heading immediately towards Oakwood. Sure, he may not have ever been in a real battle before, but there's a first time for everything.

Race: Human (Variant version)

Class: Fighter

Age: 18

Level: 4

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Ability Scores:
STR: 16
DEX: 14
CON: 10
INT: 14
WIS: 8
CHA: 12

HP: 30 (HP Rolls by level: 2, 3, 4)
AC: 17
Initiative: +2
Saving throw proficiencies: Strength, Con
Attack line: +5 to hit, 1d8+3 damage 19-20 (x2)
Spell Save DC: 12
Proficiency Bonus: 2

Archetype: Eldritch Knight/Champion

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Perception, Persuasion, History, Investigation, Arcana, Nature, Religion

Tool Proficiency Dragonchess

Languages: Common, Dwarven, Elven

Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting (gain full ability mod to offhand damage)

Feats: Dual Wielder (+1 AC while dual wielding, dual wielding not restricted to light weapons, can draw or stow both weapons at once), War Caster (+5 to Concentration to keep spells while taking damage, can cast while holding weapons, can cast spells as opportunity attacks), Skilled (+3 skills)

Spells:

-Cantrips: Fire Bolt, Ray of Frost

-Level 1 (3/day): Magic Missile, Shield, Feather Fall, Chromatic Orb

Background: Noble (Retainers variant)

-Personality Traits: The common folk love me for my kindness and generosity; Despite my noble birth, I do not place myself above the common folk. We all have the same blood.

-Ideal: Independence. I must prove that I can handle myself without the coddling of my family.

-Bond: The common folk must see me as a hero of the people.

-Flaw: By my words and actions, I often bring shame to my family. (And should my parents ever have another son, they would not hesitate to arrange my assassination. Certain cousins and uncles are already plotting to have me "forcibly removed from the line of succession".)

Other Abilities: Second Wind, Action Surge, Weapon Bond (can no longer be disarmed of bonded weapons, can call them to hand from anywhere on the plane with a bonus action, can have up to two weapons bonded at once)

Equipment: Fine clothes, signet ring, scroll of pedigree (carried by Qiric, Alan would just as soon burn it), presumably fancier-than-normal coin purse, two Longswords (magically bonded), Scale Mail, Dragonchess set, backpack (four), bedroll (four), bell, blanket (four), bullseye lantern, mess kit (four), steel mirror, iron pot, signal whistle, two-person tent (two), waterskin (four), whetstone, fishing tackle, crowbar, grappling hook, ten-foot pole, silk rope (fifty feet), parchment (twenty sheets), ink and quill, sealing wax, map/scroll case, ten days of rations for four people, cart with saddled pony, ten days of feed, soap (enough to last forever), a sack (for the soap), climbing kit

-Trinket: A book that tells the story of a legendary hero's rise and fall, with the last chapter missing. (One of Alan's cherished boyhood possessions)

Cash: 126 gold

EclecticTastes fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Mar 24, 2015

# ¿ Mar 7, 2015 10:20

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 03:35

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Lothire posted:

As a heads up, I do hope to get enough money in your hands early enough to afford some of the upgraded armors before too long.

Alan looks solid, and I think we can work his background into the game after a while. In regards to your cohorts, if you want to track down a facial picture for each one, I'll turn them into little icons we can use during the game when they speak or are interacted with. Doesn't look like they can be used for battle, but we can waive the "won't go to dangerous areas" thing so they can be with you if you like. They'll be fluff pieces that mostly stay out of direct conflict, supporting you indirectly (we can come up with ways to utilize 'em as we go).

There's a point later on where you'll be visiting Waterdeep as part of a thing the group can do. Being kinda/sorta part of a family with their hands in the city's coins could lead to an interesting event or two.

Well, yeah, the Retainers are more just characters to help out with simple errands, cooking, cleaning, and so on, the description says flat-out that they aren't meant to fight, plus I felt that with only four players, having a few tag-alongs would keep it from feeling too lonely. And no rush on working in his backstory, I figure it'll just crop up as a subplot over time. Wouldn't want to overshadow any of the other party members. Also, yeah, Alan's status in Waterdeep is complicated as both the heir to a powerful family and the black sheep of the same, and it will be fun to explore that when the time comes.

Anyway, it was surprisingly hard to find appropriate pictures, apparently fantasy artists don't approve of characters in non-combat roles, but here are the best results I could find.

Qiric (he decided to leave his nice suit behind and stick with simpler clothes, ignore what appears to be a sword in his hand, I'm hoping it'll be cropped out on his pog)

Bronlin (style's a bit more exaggerated than I'd hoped, but there's surprisingly little art that depicts dwarven women properly, i.e. having beards)

Pergin (I found this one so quickly that I actually got angry, given how frickin' impossible it was to find a picture of an elf in precisely the same style of clothing)

# ¿ Mar 8, 2015 00:03

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Hey, given the party's composition, I'm gonna make some minor last-minute revisions to my character. I noticed that five of the party's six characters have at least a secondary focus on social skills, so I want to swap some stuff to reduce the redundancy.

To summarize, I swapped my Charisma and Intelligence, then switched Intimidation and Deception for Perception and Investigation.

EclecticTastes fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Mar 9, 2015

# ¿ Mar 9, 2015 02:34

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Hey, Ritorix, quick question, are you planning to go Battle Master or Champion at 3? I was thinking Champion for Alan, but with my current build, Eldritch Knight is an intriguing possibility, so let me know if you want Champion so I know what to plan ahead for.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2015 00:44

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Trast posted:

I've read some posts about goons being underwhelmed by eldritch knight so you might want to post in the 5e newbie thread and see if anyone there can break it down for you and any reasons why it might perform below average as suggested.

I'll be sure to do that if I ever care about effectiveness or optimization.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2015 03:13

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

ritorix posted:

Neither, fighter is just a stopover to steal a few class options. He'll still be a melee combatant though.

Badical. Champion it is, then. I wasn't looking forward to pouring a bunch of feat/ability score increase options into bringing spellcasting up to snuff. I mean, it looked pretty interesting from a flavor perspective, but it seemed like it would take away from my preferred playstyle of hitting things with swords all day every day.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2015 04:13

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

I think due to the slightly anarchic nature of the turn-taking, we've hit some rather wasteful targeting snags. Vorag and Kail killed the fallen bandit twice over, so Bestiary's fire would probably have been aimed at a different target, likely the bandit at A3, at which point he would drop, as well, having suffered sword hits from Alan.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2015 06:05

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Well, regardless of whether or not Bestiary's fire was aimed at the weakened bandit or not, they're both dead now. Is it okay if I pop Second Wind before we exit Combat Mode? It's a pretty efficient healing method for first level.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2015 17:51

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

I'd say the most efficient way to streamline combat is to have all the enemies go on the same Initiative number. Then all the players can act at once after the first enemy turn, even if some of the party got to go before them on the first turn (because, with the enemies all going at the same time, it's just a big block of all the player turns before the next enemy turn).

# ¿ Mar 12, 2015 20:22

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Anything with a constant passive effect works for me. If it has finite charges after which the effect goes away, I definitely don't want it, unless it's a Ring of Wishing or the Deck of Many Things. Items with daily charges are sort of in the middle, I like stuff like the Cape of the Mountebank, but most of the time I'd still like some kind of passive secondary benefit. For weapons, the more deadly, the better. I also enjoy wondrous items that do interesting things that are ultimately useless in terms of the campaign.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2015 13:18

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Considering how inexpensive most incidentals like drinks and inn stays are, I recommend we put money into it such that the remainder is easily divisible by six. For the four-hundred, for example, I'd suggest putting forty into group savings, leaving the rest of us with 360 to divvy up.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2015 19:33

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Hey, could we, like, slow down? I can only make so many posts in a day, and you guys are just blitzing whole scenes without me and Kail. Like, at least give us a day to get in on a scene like that, because now I have to catch up, while working around what's already happened.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2015 15:23

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 03:35

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Also, Mage Armor stacks with Robe of the Archmagi. That's part of the reason the Robe of the Archmagi is so good.

EDIT: Never mind, my encyclopedic knowledge of 3.5 has once again interfered with my keeping up with 5e's horrible, horrible changes to perfectly good concepts like Mage Armor. And in any case, how will the enemies hit Malo when Vorag, Alan, Kail, and Varella are murdering them at melee range?

EclecticTastes fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Mar 27, 2015

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 22:51

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