Tyranny of Dragons Campaign OOC Thread

Yeah, one minute.

eta more than one minute, because SCAG is a stupidly big file and my old upload of it corrupted somehow, so I'll need to reupload that later when all the roomies aren't awake and online. But I can screencap stuff, or pm you copied text. I'm too worried about copying large amounts of verbatim text in any of the forums visible to bots to post stuff directly here, so PMs for that stuff.

 

Heck, assuming humans live to be about 75 or so, they'd even have proportionately more time to be horrified about their youth, on top of having more youth to be horrified of in a stricter sense.

How much of the elven "oh, of course we're friends, I knew your grandparents" thing is some combination of A) extreme guilt/embarrassment about how they acted with said grandparents, B) an attempt to help these newer young humans to avoid the mistakes made with those grandparents a century back?

Could see most of those working, honestly. The further text given for spiritual virtue makes it more about seeking the good in others than about a particular standard. I imagine she'd pray to whichever of them her monk did, hadn't really settled on his race much. Had thought maybe a (half-?)orc or other non-tiefling non-common race, but hadn't really come to a firm decision or anything by any means.

Seems not-unlikely to have run into Pax at some point, given her vague devotion to those gods. I'd say either a while back, with her coming with someone else now, or fairly recently, arriving with Marian. Or both, having met a while ago (maybe while the monk was alive) and again more recently?

Or, at the very least, not be opposed due to racial/cultural reasons as much.

For instance, can't quite tell if Sibylline would necessarily enjoy Pax's company aaall the time. Though kind of curious how a prior interaction between them might have gone, if there was some.

That sounds better than me typing out almost-but-not-exact wording here, or more directly in a PM. Copy-paste and/or screengrab is better anyway, for accuracy.

 

I like the idea of it being fairly recent, because I don't think Marian crosses paths with most people more than once -- she's sort of wandering on a path that doesn't cross itself, if that makes sense. Also this way Pax probably doesn't know Marian's god-touched. They just both know they're followers of the Five Gods. Fun reveal once her powers become more obvious. ^_^
They seem like they'd get on pretty well, though Marian strikes me as more cautious.

 

Sounds good to me! Depending on how many followers of the Five Gods are out there, it might be part of why Pax is sticking around Marian for a bit. Get a bit more time in with another worshipper (or so she thinks) that's on the level more than the ones she dealt with in monastic life.

It's not hard to be more cautious than Pax, though. The barbarian I was considering, Vaunea, would probably be more cautious than Pax.

 

Gotta be honest I am leaning towards Auralee rn bc majority monsterous races party= hell yeah
@esotericPrognosticator how accessible would face paint be in this setting? Would I have to spring for a disguise kit?

 

This would also mean we have a support caster. Marian tries but she's a backup healer at best. I only have 5*level HP to give

 

Yep! Plus right now our party is mostly martial w/ side magics- part of the reason I was on the edge was that I wanted to see what spot the party needs filled!
(Me: bitches about playing smart characters
ME: rolls up Aura the nerd
At least she isnt the puzzle solving type so I dont have to feel stupidly inadequate on the front. I mean I still will but I'll have an excuse)

 

@Arxon Often smart characters are easier for me to play in PbP because I can sit down and puzzle out over days what they put together in a couple of combat rounds. Doesn't make high-Charisma any easier, though. :P

 

Looking at our current party line-up, I'm wondering if a cleric might be useful, though I'm still looking at the domains. Life? Tempest? Death? Race-wise, I'm thinking maybe a Wood Elf...

The only downside to this is that I've got basically no knowledge about the various official D&D gods / religions / whatnot, because all of my D&D knowledge comes from 1) two campaigns set in my DM's worlds and 2) Order of the Stick. I could spring for one of the Five Gods? Maybe the Daughter of Spring or the Bastard...

 

I dunno, a Cleric wouldn't be the worst thing to have, but we do have a Paladin and Bard for support casting, and (while I don't think I'd said it) I was planning on grabbing Magic Initiate at level 4 to pick up a few Cleric spells, one of which would be the stabilizing one. An offensive/utility caster like a sorcerer (I think you were talking about a sorc earlier?) would probably do just as much good, if that was something you were more into.

Might mean we need to take more short rests or something, but if you're not keen on Cleric I don't think there's any need to push yourself into playing one.

EDIT: Spells I was considering:

Guidance -- cantrip that gives +1d4 to someone's next ability check (skills AND initiative), seems useful

Spare the Dying -- cantrip that lets me auto-stabilize someone with a touch

Bless -- 1st level spell, +1d4 to all attacks/saving throws of three people
OR
Shield of Faith -- 1st level spell, +2 AC
OR
Healing Word -- 1st level spell, bonus action to heal someone I can see, but is also available to Bards

EDIT 2: Further unasked for explanation as to why the magic and why those spells:

Spoiler: Helen rambles too much

I figure I got lucky enough on rolls to not need to pump my stats immediately. 20 starting dex is ridiculous. So some magic makes Pax more helpful, and helps the party as a whole... and I'll be pumping my Wisdom up afterward, so Cleric or Druid are the spell lists I'll be wanting to look at anyway.

Guidance is just great, it takes concentration but lasts for a minute so it's an easy boost to any ability checks we make out of battle (or to boost someone's initiative if we have the time to prepare it before a battle).

Spare the Dying is an easy way to keep people alive until more dedicated healing can happen, and spares the need for making Medicine checks or death saves or whatever. Takes an action and contact, but it's still a useful thing to have at-will access to in terms of keeping us alive.

Bless also takes concentration, which conflicts a bit with Guidance, but... it's Bless. +1d4 on all attack rolls and saving throws for the next 10 rounds for three characters. That's pretty darn fantastic. It's probably one of the best 1st level spells in the game, even if I can only cast it the once and can't boost the number of people helped.

Shield of Faith is also concentation-requiring, but can be cast as a bonus action and gives someone a shield, effectively, but with magic meaning that it stacks with real shields for AC boosting. Means I can take advantage, but also that, say, Marian can become more tanky, as the situation requires.

Healing Word is a bonus-action-to-heal, which makes it better than Cure Wounds for me, and has a pretty significant range. Lets me spot-heal someone or get someone that nearly died back on their feet. That said, only one casting per long rest is less handy for healing spells, and Bards have access to it so I might end up duplicating Auralee at that point, I dunno.

Also, if you want to play a Cleric, you totally should, they're great, and I can't think of a reason you couldn't do one of the Five Gods or something. Would make it (strangely?) common in the party, even, which'd be cool. Just wanted to reassure you that if you were going to take Cleric out of necessity that it's probably not necessary, even if it'd still help.

We'd still have more healing than the last party I gamed with (Bard, Warlock, Barbarian, Monk, Rogue) and no one died there... even if the Monk got downed a lot because they kept charging past the Barbarian into hordes of enemies that got attack bonuses for fighting in groups.

 

A CLERIC WOULD BE VERY USEFUL IN MY EXPERT OPINION
(in the campaign I'm in with @The Frood Abides DMing, we have a bard and a paladin. it has not worked out well so far. I am in constant terror for our characters' lives.)
also, keep in mind that this campaign runs up to 15th level, with enemies scaling to match. bards eventually get most of a cleric's healing spells, yeah... but they get them more slowly. like, raise dead is a 7th-level spell for bards but only 5th level for clerics, and clerics get resurrection as a 7th-level spell, juuuust at the end of the campaign. >:]

uh, and if you're thinking Life, the Mother's probably the way to go. most of Her divines are physicians, nurses, or midwives, actually; they run a lot of major hospitals in Ibra-Chalion, and generally they don't tend to sit around contemplating the mysteries of life when they could be saving a life. I've been toying with the idea of a poor divine of the Mother, physician by trade, who's been told by the Mother in Her infinite wisdom to follow around this party of idiots and keep them from killing themselves via said idiocy and is just completely fed up with everyone's bullshit, why me, why this, pls friends I live in fear.......
you could make a case for any of the Five being Death Domain (They each have Their own afterlife), but the Bastard is the one with the death demons and death magic... Tempest sounds a lot like the Father of Winter.

 

ok wrt gods for Auralee to have been raised w/ I am thinking either Savras, Deneir, Eldath, Milil, Mystra, oorrrr

Spoiler: another custom god!

Daon, goddess of history. Her symbol is a lantern, the light shining inside being a five pointed star, one for each of the creator races. Her monasteries and temples are great libraries, where books from all eras of history are kept safe under layers of magical wards. Her acolytes are dedicated to copying and recopying important tomes, and those clerics and paladins who go forth under her name usually try to record history as it happens. It is said that she gave five gifts to her first follower, the high elf cleric Chyaneth- first, a ring that allowed her to read any language; second, a quill that could write only truth; third, a book that never ran out of pages; fourth, an amulet that allowed her to sense all lies; and fifth, a sword that let her strike down evil. Her domain is knowledge.

...............orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Spoiler: yet another custom god!

Ziel, goddess of the dawning sun, a daughter of Selune. Her symbol is a ten pointed star with a closed eye in the center. She is very concerned with mortals and their lives, and is very young for a goddess. Her clerics and acolytes run many monasteries and cloisters, and as a goddess concerned with mortals Ziel finds the knowledge that mortals have accumulated to be very important. Her temples often have feast days/celebrations that are open to the public. Ziel has two sisters- Kezra, the goddess of the sun at noon; and Jaezo, the goddess of the sunset. They are, in order, lawful good, chaotic evil, and true neutral, although some contend that Kezra is neutral and Jaezo is evil. Once, Kezra became extremely obsessed with a human maiden who put the laundry out to dry at noon every day. Kezra would disguise herself in all sorts of shapes in order to get close to the maiden- an eagle, a lion, a young adventurer, one of her shirts- but every time the maiden paid her no attention. Finally Kezra came down in all her divine glory and demanded that the maiden be hers- and still the maiden refused. In a rage Kezra tore her apart and flung the pieces of her across the sky. Jaezo, who often watched her sister's antics, told Ziel what had happened. Ziel searched the cosmos for the pieces; however, she could find all but one, for Kezra kept it on her person at all times, and without that one she could not return the maiden to life. In dismay, Ziel asked her mother for help, and Selune found the maiden's soul and lifted it up, and made each piece of her body into a point of light, and so the maiden, who was named Eno, became the goddess of stars- a collection of lights that are weak by themselves, but together shine more brightly that Kezra by far, and to this day Ziel and Eno have a close relationship.

(tell me if either of these gods are stupid/not setting appropriate/ect)

 

OK but in fairness, that campaign was written by OSR bloggers, not WotC committees. And it was designed for a far less forgiving system than 5e. None of you have even hit zero yet.

Also someone's misled you. Bards get raise dead and resurrection at the same levels clerics do. They don't get revivify, true, but Auralee could pick it up with her Magical Secrets at level 6 since she's Lore College if she really needed it. @Arxon might not want to focus on healing, though, and more healers are always welcome.

 

I'm cool with healing! I think valour get the more useful options for stat/roll boosting anyways.

 

I know I wouldn't have a lot of fun if I felt obligated to play The Healer, the dedicated sort where that's the main thing the character's expected to do. Having it as a side thing means I can spend a turn keeping somebody from dying, that's good stuff and boy oh boy am I feeling the lack in the other game. But focusing on it... well, I've heard enough complaints from people in MMOs and games like Team Fortress and Overwatch to know it'd be constant stressful babysitting. Maybe it'd be easier to play if I looked at it as battlefield control...?

But if you expect to have fun doing it, then that's all good. Wood elf having the dex and speed to get in and out to heal people might be good, most healing spells require touch.

(our characters over there need to barricade in a room and take a nap so the bard can song of rest going)

 

Yeah, 5e's a lot more forgiving about party roles and things. Life Clerics get other things to make their healing better, but between the addition of Short Rests and some of the other stuff, the Dedicated Healer role is much less vital to survival.

EDIT: That being said, Clerics can do lots of non-healy things and make themselves a partial healer as well, with the right Domains and spells and such.

 

So, I got my copy of Volo's back, and... immediately fell in love with Lizardfolk again because whoever wrote the fluff for the section deserves a goddamn raise. So I'm gonna see if I can't maybe figure out a way to do Salt after all? Gonna reroll for Salt, though, so that Pax is still viable separately if anyone wants, I dunno.

Spoiler: DICE

5 1 4 2 6 = 15
2 6 2 6 = 14
4 1 1 1 2 6 5 = 15
4 2 5 6 = 15
1 6 4 2 1 4 = 14
6 3 1 6 6 = 18

...Google's browser die-roller seems OP. I swear to fuck this is legit. But also, I might just maybe... use the stats I rolled before... because those are at least vaguely balanced and fair? At least in comparison to these. I guess that's what rerolling ones can do for you, but still... I felt weird keeping the last ones before because of how good they were. These are just... much moreso. Feels too much like rerolling to get better, blech.

Anyhow, the things I realized that made me interested in Salt again were:

• Lizardfolk are super rad;
• It's probably not a bad thing to tamp down my internal optimizer some;
• Salt is pretty versatile in terms of which class would be appropriate;
• Even if I end up sticking with Pax, it's fun, good practice, and I can have some options ready to fill in the roles that others don't want to do so much.

That said, I dunno how close we are to being ready to go, don't want to throw people off and cause more delays. So feel free to tell me to just settle down and stick to Pax, because Pax is still pretty great as well.

 

oh my god my computer crashed and deleted the character sheets i was working on ;-;

 

Heyyyy, that's a thought. We could make some spare characters, so if anyone's interested in playing but feeling overwhelmed by the character creation process, they'd have the option to adopt the free-for-grabs characters.

I know I love an excuse to scour books and stuff. :3c

 

Well, I'm definitely thinking cleric. (I actually like playing healers in TF2 & Overwatch; it's not a chore for me, even if the idiots I'm healing are dumbasses sometimes.) I'm also thinking death domain; dabbling in necromancy could be fun. So I think they'll be a saint of the Bastard, then. Wood elf also seems good for Dex reasons, so I'll stick with that.

I'll try & do a more detailed character sheet soon, hopefully tonight. Gotta think on a backstory, though my first thoughts were of a cleric who, while not someone who enjoys seeing other people in pain and who is invested in healing the wounded, is also fascinated by death & associated processes, and doesn't particularly have a problem with the idea of repurposing corpses (thus, the necromancy.)