Hulgfar silently invokes the ancient tribal prayer of hoping someone else gets the gnome
The first four character ‘history and current situation’ e-mails have been sent.
I am nearly at the end of my term, so should be able to finish all the remaining preliminary stuff and **start the adventure ** :eek: 
in a day or two.
(Fellow teachers will sympathise with the slight delay - the pupils know the end is nigh and have increased energy levels…)
I’ll just set some style rules now…
This thread is for:
- spectator, player and DM witty comments
- lengthy rules queries and the explanations
- anything else that isn’t the game itself
The game thread is for actions and short technical questions only (mainly so it’s easy to follow and refer back if necessary).
In the game thread, please use blue for spells: ‘With a flourish Arthur Grimshaw unleashes his Pyrotechnics on the camp fire’ and green for comments or short questions for me: Does my character know what Basilisks eat?.
Players are invited to give a description of their character here (see post #75 for example).
You don’t need to reveal any secrets, but it will help the game flow if the players know roughly what each party character can do.
I will try to keep trakc of everything, but it will definitely help if spell-casting player clearly spell* out what they are loading each day.
*ho ho
Just so everyone knows (I have talked to glee about it already) I am currently moving, it kind of came up suddenly but it means that my time won’t be as free as I would like until the end of the month. I am going to be here as much as I can, but with the move and me being new to D&D, my participation will be lowish for a bit.
It will ramp up as I get a feel for what it is I am doing.
Bung me a few simple guidelines and I’ll keep things moving for you.
You’ve defined your character pretty well!
I’ve got my Ranger sent over!
Sorry for the time it took; the history is long-ish and I kept leaving the relevant details at work. :o
Your timing is impeccable (sort of!) - I shall write up your character, send you and 3 others your ‘history and current situation’ and … get things started.
Woot!
My vacation is almost through- I’ll think out and type up a character description for a Warrior Monk tomorrow on the plane. How many weapon proficiencies should I plan for? Is there anything else I should know about playing as a Monk?
The class is quite unusual and interesting.
My advice would be to wait until you get the full description before making any decisions. It is a Fighter (not a Thief), so most of the stuff in your ‘Character Classes’ file will apply.
Given all 8 players have checked in, you are now our 1st official reserve.
So there’s not a rush to set you up and I hope you won’t mind if I leave you until the adventure has begun…
Little Plastic Ninja’s Ranger is nearly done and I am confident the four remaining character histories will also go out today.
Thanks for your patience - as What Exit? told me, writing up the characters takes a lot of time!
We will start with these characters:
Malacandra Illusionist / Thief (Gnome)
Fluiddruid Fighter (Lizardman)
What Exit? Druid (Human)
NAF1138 Cleric (Human)
Wolfman Ocean Barbarian (Human)
ArrMatey! Magic User (Human)
Paladud Paladin (Human)
Little Plastic Ninja Ranger (Human)
Appleciders is standing by as our Warrior Monk reserve.
For those of you who like statistics, here is the average of all your character characteristics:
Constitution (13.7)
Strength (12.8)
Wisdom (11.0)
Intelligence (10.8)
Dexterity (10.6)
Charisma (10.5)
Your characters have a combined total of four 18 scores and three 17 scores.
To balance, they also have one 5 and three 6 scores. :o
This reminds me of the time my character wanted to hire a henchman. Of course you try to estimate their skills…
Glee "I’ll judge his dexterity by asking him to play darts. "
DM (gloomily) "Are you staying in the room when this happens? " :eek: :smack:
“Roll for new piercing…”
Average party Charisma is under 8 except for the Paladin and Druid. That’s what the late Gygax gets by defining a stat with negligible in-game effects. 
One of the things I like about 3.0 / 3.5 is that they find ways to make Charisma matter. In 1e and 2e it only really mattered for Paladins.
I almost never make Charisma my dump stat! I love Charisma! One game I played had another guy playing a superhero with the superpower of being superhumanly good-looking – in Champions system he went 10 points above Greek god in Comeliness. “Only half a point per Comeliness point? Comeliness 40!”
Johnny Dinero’s entrance into the game was eerily similar to a movie that did not come out until about 10 years later – the Mission Impossible movie that starts with Tom Cruise in priests’ vestments…
Thing is, required stats for Rangers require pretty darn good everything that isn’t dexterity and charisma. It grates against my very soul to have a negative modifier for dexterity – too many years of playing rogues and light fighters, perhaps – so **Cadogan ap Gwion ** will be irascible, craggy, and possibly smell like ferrets.
And Druids and Bards. But then it only mattered from the point of view of qualifying for the class, which was an idiotic idea - it had a negligible effect on anything they did. So yes, tossing in game mechanics like making paladins’ innate abilities Cha-related, and bards’ spells Cha-related… that’s a big step up.
I actually prefer playing high-Cha characters. But as I need high Int and Dex for an illusionist/thief, and have terrible hit points (a level lower, and average 1-5 hit points per level) unless I up my Con, ain’t no way anything’s getting wasted on Cha. I’ll have to satisfy my high-Cha urges with Gil-Gandel in the other game.
Well Charisma should not be wasted on a bard. A Bard should be all about reaction rolls. Half of playing a bard is suppose to be persuading and entertaining people without resorting to magic and skills.
My pain was that I was not willing to lower a stat below 9 and I felt it was in my best interest to have an 18 Wisdom. As a 15 charisma is required, I have 4 stats with 9s. So no bounses in anything but Wis & Cha. I will have to ensure I make use of the Cha bouns somehow in game.
I have usually played low cha characters. Never really thought about it before, but I guess it’s from a basic assumption that the kind of people likely to break of society and go adventuring are likely to be loners, eccentrics, and wierdos.
That was one of the things I liked about Palladium breaking it out into stats for Phsyical beauty, and one for Mental afinity(how much ‘character’ you have once people get to know you).
And for an introduction for whenever you meet him.
Hulgfar is dressed in fairly simple leather, skins, and furs. Very likely you notice that the leather is different than most you have seen, but you can’t quite identify it. He is a man of average height and frame, but is noticably well muscled(noticable even through all the hair).
His movement are exacting and purposeful, never random or wasted. He has a hardend look about him with a number of scars, and a deep intensity of expression, and those with a eye for it may detect a twinge of deep regret. Always quitely studying and judging those around him. He doesn’t engage in small talk much, and when he does say something it is concise and directly on point. Although when engaging heavily in ale he may tell the tales about the great journeys and battles on the longboats of the legends, but that is a rare occurance. He does speak with knowledge on some matters that are kind of surprising from his apperance (these may come up in due course of the game).
He says little about his family or upbringing. Only talking the tribe he belongs to when matters require it, and then nothing extra is voluntered.
He carries a large spear, and has a dagger, a long dirk with a blade like a spearhead. He carries a small bag around his waste, with essential supplies, and is not inclined to gather additonal belongings.
He is noticable suspicious and distrustful around nearly any magic, be it friend of foe. A wizard would be wise not to catch him off guard with the use of magic.
Erjg looks about like your standard young lizardman - as a non-lizardman, don’t they all pretty much look the same to you, anyway? He has moist, dull green skin and yellow eyes, with a muted orange crest on his head. Erjg is accustomed to the company of humans, but is reserved in groups.
Ergj wears no armor and little clothing - short dingy cloth trousers tailored to accommodate his tail, and some necklaces of seashells and beads. He carries a large bastard sword with him nearly constantly, and spends a great deal of time caring for it. He also carries a shield on his back, and has a mace swinging at his belt.
He seems to observe without judgement, and has an expressionless appearance as he takes in the happenings around him. He is a keen observer, and is calm - at least, he appears so outside of battle. Ergj is often impassive but never meek. His voice is raspy and deep. He asks for no understanding of his roots or heritage, and accepts without resentment that he is an outsider among other humanoids.
Sure, but in that case you might as well say “Okay, sod actually being a bard, I’ll play a charming swashbuckler of a fighter, and have better combat skills and more hit points.” It would have been simple enough to grant a Cha-based bonus to the bard’s Charm skill, and no more unreasonable than giving thieves Dex bonuses to their class skills.
Not that I’m angling for anything in the ME campaign though - GG is working just fine as he is.