Tyranny of Dragons Campaign OOC Thread

I was actually talking about the physical copy i had at one point, to make referencing it easier.

 

I would like to use the new spells from Xanathar's. I'm especially bullish on ceremony, which gives examples of what clerics and paladins might do outside of adventuring, and will help me portray the kind of quiet everyday sacredness the Chalion books did so well...

I think more subclass options are also good, though both mechanically and narrative-wise Vengeance still suits Marian best.

I think for this kind of campaign milestone leveling works perfectly well. No arguments for XP here.

 

i'm down for xanathar's spells, though i haven't looked at any of them yet. the Grave domain does look cool, though i would need to change honor being cheerful/blasé about necromancy, i guess, based on the flavor description. so i might stick with Death.

campaign milestone leveling is fine with me.

 

okay! in that case, would you be okay using the rules from Xanathar's instead of the UA ones? the UA stuff is for playtesting, after all, and presumably they took the results of those playtests into mind when deciding what the Official Published Version should look like. the Shadow Hound is probably either broken or useless if it's not in Xanathar's, is what I'm trying to say.

also, no pressure at all in this regard, but I want to remind you that Kharika (or the record of her in the character sheet in this thread) is gonna take some more work before she becomes even minimally playable. you'll need spells, class/background skill proficiencies, and full starting equipment at the very least. you don't need a detailed backstory just yet, and I can definitely help you pick the aforementioned stuff if you'd like, but yeah. I sorta got the feeling you were Stuck wrt Kharika earlier, but that might've changed between then and now? so yeah.

would printing out the one I've attached work for you? (the formatting might've gotten screwed up, but you're supposed to be able to fill it out yourself in the document, and I filled in what I could based on the sheet you have in this thread.) the blank version of that, both online fillable and non-fillable, is here under "Fifth Edition Characters Sheets," if that's helpful. :)

I just like the obvious thought the designer of the spell put into making sure people couldn't get married 2,736 times to get a permanent AC bonus. :P

yeah, she would also lose the martial weapon proficiency, which is kind of a big part of her backstory. Grave Domain gets some pretty neat bonus healing features, though, which is why I brought it to your attention.
and the spells are sick! there are two damage-dealing cleric cantrips that I can't recommend enough, by way of ensuring that the literal only damaging cleric cantrip isn't sacred flame. :P

 

I always fucking forget things if I don't quote them oh my god and then pings don't work if they're edited in so
@Lazarae cool! you've been saying Sibby's sheet is 98% finished, and from the sound of it the 98% includes the mechanical bits you need to play, so if you would just post whatever you've got in this thread you'll be all set to start. :) I know you wanted to Have The Backstory Finished, but you don't have to to start playing, is my point. I have to be able to see your proficiencies and features and things, though. :P

 

Yeah, I've been rolling the character around in my head more in the time since, so I have a better idea of things now.

 

basically my idea is, for her backstory....

Spoiler

so. she's a hexblade warlock. normally, warlock patrons are ominous, inscrutable, using their contracts as simply one more playing piece in a game originating far before the world was made, in planes beyond human knowing.

kharika's patron is not like that. to be blunt, they are awful at all that long-game planning stuff. one time, they tried to scatter some ominous looking symbols around the world, as a way of hooking other, future contractees and cultists. unfortunately, they got bored coming up with the design halfway through, so the icons are visibly much more complex in the middle and just become curvy lines on the outer edge. and when it came time to scatter them, really they just got dropped every couple miles by a guy on a horse, except for the one that they threw over the edge of a cliff. and their creepy shrines are half caved-in and overgrown with moss, but not even in a creepy way, just in a way like they didn't manage to enthrall someone who knew how to properly design an ominous temple.

frankly it's a wonder that they're even still around. the reason for this is probably a combination of extreme luck and bullheaded stubbornness, and the fact that every other patron-like being on the planes thinks they're so embarrassing that even expending the effort to eat them would be a net loss. as it is, they got thrown into the equivalent of a hole for a couple hundred years, until kharika stumbled onto them quite by accident.

after that, she pretty much just started getting work as a mercenary using those powers. sometimes she gets requests for things to do that might be part of a larger scheme, but are almost certainly just getting petty revenge or getting a look at a cool thing. i kinda imagine them as having an oddly familiar relationship for a warlock and patron, since kharika is p much the only person or being to even give this guy the time of day in 500 years. and she likes needling them, and their very straightforward attempts at schemery are kind of hilarious to her.

aaand that's her deal, i think?

 

Spoiler: unless you'd rather talk about this in PMs? in the interest of DM-player confidentiality?

are you thinking of the entity as manifesting in a weapon or creating sentient weapons? (tbh I like the idea of her patron being like. the SORD..... of sentient weapons. a lot.) or as something that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with sentient weapons whatsoever? because they could just be a Thing from the Shadowfell, they don't actually... have to have anything to do with blades. also, there are going to be details about her patron that Kharika doesn't know to start with. I mean, she might not fucking know what they are, just have a sense of their presence in dreams or in certain places or whatever. (or she could know a bit more than that; that's up to you.) regardless, there's going to be some kind of discovery arc involved. do you want to be the one to come up with those Plot Twist details, do you want to brainstorm them together, or do you want me to come up with them and surprise you? because we could do any of those things. :)

edit: ALSO THAT'S A NEAT DEAL I LIKE IT I FORGOT TO SAY THAT INITIALLY

 

DMs are fine!

 

the SORD..... pact warlock is an extremely powerful concept tbh

 

Right now my response is !!!!!!!!! with a dash of :D! but I can brain more tomorrow.

 

so far my braining has resulted in:

Very glad you're back!

Hell yeah continue the campaign!!

Narrative points for leveling up make sense, especially when you consider the training that'd sensibly go into developing these improved abilities and things.

I do still like the general notion I had for Thunder, what with his background situation and his general starting goals... But I admit I'm feeling uncertain there. I remember I wasn't super happy with how I actually wrote him just starting out, that there was something missing or offtune or something. That, I should be able to workshop. I don't remember what I had in mind for his overall build design besides "GRAPPLE," and I don't know if there's been any other releases with stuff related to it (the Xanathar's fighter options aren't relevant).

Edit: I bought DICE for him I will will him into working, let's DO THIS

 

It's a week, so status update and question before I sleep.

Update: still content with background and initial character goal, still checking through the newer resources but don't see anything major I'd want to switch to, so redesign should be easy and minimal.

Question: With everybody at least checking if they want to redsign / do new characters, are we going the IC thread afresh from the start, or edit to retcon back anything that no longer meshes?

 

Hey all, I want to apologize for anxiety spiraling on the thread. I think it messed with the momentum for restarting the game, and I seriously did not mean for that to happen. I want everybody to be here and having fun!

So, given the context of taking hiatuses from Kintsugi for mental health stuff, I'd like to put a pause on me joining the game until I'm in some degree of therapy to see to my baggage. Right now I'll feel better if I step out and know I'm not a blockage to anything.

And on the pragmatic side, I figure Thunder is a character concept who could work well as a mid-campaign addition. So if my motivation in stepping out is ultimately that I'm still anxiety spiraling right now, then once I'm doing a little better I could ask to come back.

I seriously hope all is well for everyone!

 

I can't speak for anyone else but I don't think your anxiety spiral was responsible. eP hasn't posted anywhere on the forum for over a week, so the overwhelmingly likely explanation is that the DM is busy -- which, given current circumstances, is also completely understandable.

 

@swirlingflight you are completely free to step out for a while if that's what you want to do, but if you feel that a large part of your motivation for doing so is so you won't bother others with your anxiety, please know that for me personally it is not bothersome, nor do I think it makes you a worse player in any way. :) @The Frood Abides is right, I haven't been on the forum for a while, but the particular timing of that has nothing to do with you and a lot to do with getting ready to go back to real school for the first time in over a year. (and it's my senior year. college admissions, anyone? ugh.) I also have moved recently, aside from returning home after a year away, and I've been spending significantly less time on the computer than I did a year ago in an attempt to, well, demonstrate that I'm not depressed to my family, I guess, so they don't worry about my going away to school.

ANYWAY that's a bunch of excuses/explanations, but I really am not bothered by your expressions of anxiety, Swirl. :3 (anxiety is aaaaaabout the only strong negative emotion in other people that I don't find unduly distressing or uncomfortable, as a matter of fact.) if anything, they make me more comfortable and able to deal with anxiety regarding this game that I may feel myself. so if you're interested in the game, but you don't want to bother me/the other players, I would urge you to reevaluate that in the light of what I've just said. on the other hand, if you think participating in it in your current headspace is just making you anxious and not adding anything positive to your life, I would definitely endorse your stepping out until you're in a better place. it's just that you've been really passionate and involved, and I would hate to lose that both as a DM who appreciates enthusiastic players and a person who likes to see other people be happy. :)

in the interests of actually getting back into the IC thread (which, yes, I think we will continue as is, considering that not much has happened yet) sometime this century: I've got Thunder talking to a couple of kobolds (which may or may not continue depending on what Swirl wants to do) and Vitae, Honor, Marian, and Salt herding some townsfolk towards the grange. if @KarrinBlue and @Lazarae would like to introduce their characters before the story progresses any farther, and if they'd like a little time to tend to their character sheets before that happens, just let me know and I'm happy to wait for that. similarly, if anyone feels the need to completely overhaul their character sheet before we progress any further (because the people have spoken, and yes, we're using Xanathar's), tell me so now and we'll wait till everyone's ready. but if everyone's content with the story as it is at this moment, I'mma start resolving the townsfolk-herding attempt, because I'm excited to get the ball rolling again.

 

I'm fixing a few things with Sibby, also going off one of my meds with some pretty nasty discontinuation effects so I'm doing everything real slow. But my interest remains! Shit has just been profoundly fucky

 

While I'm on this thread, I had a backstory idea I wanted to run by @garden .

Was Honor the one who taught Marian to use a sword? My character was obviously a decent fighter before she went on the road, but that's not a weapon a peasant would have used much. I pictured her overpowering the guards through raw strength and the element of surprise. On the other hand, Honor was a battlefield medic and had seen plenty of action. And I figure the two of them have been traveling together for some time by the time they reach Greenest.

 

Well, I took a couple weeks to thing about things. I glanced in briefly (not logged in) to check on responses, and kept them in mind as I thought. And I dipped my toes in a couple other rp ventures - one on GitP, a couple more over on DW - and paid a lot of attention to where I was getting anxious.

I worry a lot when I think people are counting on me or hoping for a lot from me. About letting them down, and them deciding to stop bothering looking for anything from me - rather than toning down their expectations while still including me. I worry about people saying reassuring things to me in hopes that it'll help me to do what they want, while not quite meaning those reassurances, and doing that awful glance at each other behind my back thing.

So I've been nervous, here, because I volunteered for a character with insider info and.. honestly, I more than half fished for reassurances earlier when I spiraled myself to the edge of quitting outright to rid myself of the worrying.

But, like, nobody here is a complete stranger, the way people in most of those other games are. I've known all of you at least in passing for years, and all of us expect people have stuff going on that might interfere sometimes. We're all on a forum where there's striving to work with/around/through brainbugs.

I do still need to get into therapy and probably medication. I'm gonna write up an outline of where I expect Thunder's situation is going to stress me - and others - out. But I do want to be part of the game.

Thank you all for chiming in earlier

 

hi i just wanted to say i'm still here, i'm just kind of flailing a little bit in most areas of my life rn and i keep... not exactly forgetting that this is a thing, but forgetting that i should probably do something? related to this thing? and then my brain just kinda goes ??? and throws it out, just like most of my other social connections right now

so, just to check in, i'm still interested, just having some issues focusing on anything, especially social things. hope y'all are doing ok.