Ok, nuts and bolts time.

In no particular order:

General Info:
* ruleset will be 2e. With the exception of specialized settings (i.e. Dark Sun), it's pretty much an open basket. If it was printed, I'm probably allowing it. I have most if not all 2e books, so can help find things you might not have. I'm also fairly open to Dragon stuff, so if you have something you'd like to bring in, let me know and we can talk. I respond best to well-thought-out explanations.
* kits are available to any class that is allowed to have them. Multi-class characters can probably have multiple kits, as long as they all fit the same theme. The sole exception here in the Complete Book of Priests. Want a non-standard cleric? Try a specialty priest.
* psionics will be the Complete Handbook variety, with additional powers from Dark Sun (ie: The Will and the Way).
* all of the specialty priests from the Godbook Trio are allowed; they advance using the cleric XP table.
* no racial level caps, though class restrictions will be enforced. Multi-classing and dual-classing allowed, per PHB.
* starting XP is 160,000. Multi-class characters split XP evenly between all of their classes.

Stat Generation:
* I like to have PC's be more on the heroic scale, so stat gen is either 3d6 x 12, take best 6, or 4d6 take highest 3 x 6, and arrange as desired. If you don't end up with at least one 15, reroll.
* I am also happy to fudge things if we agree on a character concept that requires high stats (i.e. paladin or some multi-classes)

Hit points:
* Max at first level, then roll for all additional levels. Half or better (so minimum of 5, 4, 3, or 2 hp/level), plus any Con bonus

Proficiencies:
* We are using proficiencies, and you get extra slots as per your intelligence. Proficiencies and optional rules from the Complete books are also allowed.
* All characters start knowing Common, their racial language, if any, and one other language of the player's choice. I am not going to bother with different human dialects, I think it's an unnecessary complication.
* All characters are automatically able to read and write any modern language they speak (the defaults at the beginning, and any others they may pick up using proficiency slots). This to me was one of the stupider aspects of the proficiency system. Reading/writing ancient languages, however, is a separate proficiency than speaking them.

Equipment:
* You're all experienced adventurers, and you've had chances to pick over battlefields and tombs as victors. You can have, within reason, pretty much whatever non-magical equipment you want. You can also have a riding horse or war horse (any type), as well as a pack horse if you wish.
* All characters also start with 1 extra healing potion, one +2 weapon of the player's choice, and 7,000 XP total of magical equipment of the player's choice, subject to DM approval. Spell scrolls count as 50 XP/spell level.
* Ioun stones in the DMG are 300 XP regardless of what they do. I am therefore ruling out three: pale green (+1 experience level), lavender and green (major spell turning), and vibrant purple (stores spells). Characters can take any other stone as they wish.

Smokepowder:
* Does exist, but is mostly confined to Realmspace and the rest of Spelljammer. Not available at chargen. If you really want it, you can go looking for it.

Spells:
* Wizard starting spells: 7 1st level spells, 6 2nd level spells, 4 3rd level spells, 1d4+1 4th level spells, 1d4 5th level spells. Anything from the PHB or Tome of Magic you don't need to get approval for (wild magic is banned for non-wild mages, of course). For anything else, give me a decent justification, and I shouldn't have a problem.
* Read Magic and Detect Magic are free.
* Stoneskin is free to cast on yourself, as long as you have diamond dust on your person. Casting it on another person costs 200 gp worth of diamond dust
* See also Spellbooks, below.

Spellbooks:
* All wizards start with enough traveling spellbooks, each with 50 pages, to contain all of their spells.
* We are using the standard DMG spell page count formula: 1 page/spell level + 1d6-1 extra pages.
* For new spellbooks, consult Pages from the Mages. Standard spellbooks cost 1,000 gp, traveling books cost 500 gp. Both take 1d4+3 weeks to create, and can either be made by the character, or bought if a suitable merchant or mage can be found.
* Adding new spells to your spellbook requires time (determined by the DM) and 100 gp/spell level. Obviously, memorizing spells you've learned from a captured spellbook does not require any scribing or gold, unless you want to transfer the spell to a different book.
* Please note in your character description which spells are in which book, and how many unused pages each book contains. Just in case... :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:45, Tue 18 July 2023.

In reply to DM (msg # 1):


Going to be choosing spells soon, so I'll need to get some parameters on how many and what I'll have access to.

In terms of Languages... I know that you said to lay off of the human dialects, so just all racial/monster languages?

Also, Character to date below

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Character Name Corym Ildroun of Evereska
Class (Kit) Thief/Mage (Spellfilcher)
Alignment  Neutral Good     
Race  Moon Elf
Experience Level       4 /3
Age     25
Sex   M
Ht.    5’4”
Wt.   130
Hair     Black
Eyes Blue
Homeland Evereska
STR 12 45 Weight Allowance 140 Max Press 7 Open Doors 4% Bend Bars
DEX 17 +2 Reaction Adj. +2 Missile -3 Def. Adj.
CON 12 80% System Shock 80% Resurrection Survival
INT 17 6 Lang. 8th Spell Lvl 75% Chance to Learn 14 Max #
WIS 12
CHA 9 4 Maximum Henchmen
Racial Benefits:
90% resistance to sleep and all charm
Bow, short/long sword +1 to their attack rolls
Opponents suffer a -4 penalty to their surprise
Infravision 60’
1 in 6 to notice secret doors; 2 in 6 if looking
Class Benefits:
Spells Per Day 2/1/0/0/0/0/0/0/0
Pick Pockets      30.00
Open Locks      50.00
Find/Remove Traps      85.00
Move Silently      35.00
Hide in Shadows      50.00
Detect Noise      20.00
Climb Walls      80.00
Read Languages

Backstab x2
Thieves’ Cant

Kit Benefits:
Detect Magic 4x Day
+5% Find/Remove Traps of a magical nature per 4 levels
Secondary Skill: Scribe

Weapon Proficiencies
Short sword, Dagger, Shortbow

Non-Weapon Proficiences (11)
Bonus: Appraising, Spellcraft, Tight Rope Walking
Engineering, Stone Masonry, Artistic Ability (Architecture), Set Snares, Heraldry, History (The Sword Coast), Disguise, Tumbling, History (Western Heartlands), History (The North)

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This message was last edited by the player at 20:51, Fri 13 July 2012.

Also, I wanted to look at getting some scrolls for my equipment, but there's no XP value listed for them.  Your thoughts?

Thanks for the character; I'll take a look at it as it stand this evening and get back to you with comments.

As for the spells, I responded to your rmail about that. Basically, anything in the PHB and ToM is open with no question, anything else is subject to DM approval and needs a story explanation (ie: who he stole it from). The wider the source, the better the story. There's a bit of dice rolling involved as well.

Languages: yes, it's just racial and monster languages.

Scrolls: You're right there's no XP for them. Um... how about 50 XP/level?

Hey there. I think you've got 5 extra thief skill points. I keep doing the thief skills math and coming up with 155, instead of 150. Also, could you provide the base skill level (with race and dex bonuses) and then parenthetical for no armor and magical trap, please? Race and dex won't change (barring powerful magic) but you could put on armor at any time, and it's easier to change those skills if we already have called out which part of them comes from No Armor.

I assume things like hit points will come as part of Part 2, with equipment and other such things.

Oh, and a general note to all elven players: elven adulthood starts at age 100, so apply age modifiers from there.

In reply to DM (msg # 5):

The extra 5 is from the bonus vs magical traps, I stuck it in there as a place holder to remind me that I would periodically get it.

I've got all of the modifiers broken out in an excel spreadsheet, but it's heck to paste from excel into this format.

 PP 5.00 HS 10.00 MS 5.00 CW 10.00

Magic Trap Bonus: +10 (I miscalc'd it before)

Aha, so that's where all the .00's came from. I was wondering about that. Ok, not a problem, just as long as we differentiate between magical and non-magical traps.

In reply to DM (msg # 7):

I have massive probs with invisiblecastle, wont letme in ec.

In reply to Yurkal Salarka (msg # 8):

You don't have to log in, you can just type in a character name and you'll be fine.

In reply to Yurkal Salarka (msg # 8):

ok here the link to my rolled dice:

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3607281/

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/search/1057642

Str-roll exceptional:

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3607308/

Stats then willbe as follows:

Str: 18/ 63
Dex: 15
Int: 14
Con: 18
Wis: 13
Cha: 15

I have currently two questions:

1. where can I see the point cost for weapon groups?
2. Equipment, as the cavalier strives for better and better equip, what are the levels we cannot cross in terms of armor, barding etc.

You can have any armor up to, but not including, any form of plate mail. Barding is a bit trickier. You're going to be riding a light warhorse, and their carrying capacity, even factoring in the higher quality bonus, is only 226 pounds without slowing the horse to half speed. You can have a set of leather barding if you want; how much you'll be wearing it is up to you.

I sent a PM to you about the weapon groups.

Background question-

In my initial character concept I expressed interest in Architecture. I backed that up by taking it as an artistic ability prof, engineering, and stone masonry.

My question is whether or not it would be feasible for me to have already done some work in this field.  Do I have any clients, orders, or prospects?  Do I know craftsfolk? Have I done business with them?  Is there a guild or order that I ought to be affiliated with or aware of?

Yes, I think it's plausible, though it depends partly on whether your character is actually interested in architecture, or is using it to case buildings.

I don't think you've done any major projects, and at this point they've probably all been for humans. Lower-tier merchant costers, taverns, maybe some road work, stuff like that. Pick a city in the Western Heartlands and/or North for this to have been done in (does not have to be Scornubel). In that city you'd have a fair number of contacts in the local builders and craftsfolk, and would at least have been introduced to the more experienced and influential architects.

You don't have any current projects, though you likely have some feelers out, and if you want to further develop that, you're welcome to. I'm not going to go for a guild approach for architects. That's more for the builders. Architects would be more on an "old master" approach. You've reached journeyman stage, and the people you've worked for previously have been happy, but you don't have the name recognition for anyone to come to you.

The interest in architecture has layers.

On the surface, yes, it's absolutely a great cover to take tours of buildings in order to case joints and such.  In like Flynn.

Just beneath the surface, I believe that Architecture and Engineering should give me significant insight into how buildings are laid out--where would a secret room best fit within the footprint of the building, where would be the most effective places to place traps, etc...

But at his heart, Corym is actually an artist.  He doesn't just retrieve stolen spells and artifacts, he retrieves lost ones as well.  It pains his heart that even his kin value the power housed in buildings and crypts, when the buildings and crypts themselves are so awe-inspiring.  He wants to recreate lost buildings and forgotten cityscapes so that the artists can be remembered as well as earth-shattering spells and all-corrupting riches.

Question:  How detailed do you want our backgrounds? 1k words? Less? More?  I know that we're all CK sages, so we tend towards being verbose, but I don't want to make it burdensome for anyone.

Also--Would you like me to make up significant NPCs in my background, or would you like to play "Fill-in-the-Blanks"?

I need at least medium detail in your backstories. Part of that is so I can get a good feel for your characters (and properly sink hooks into them... mwuahahah!), but it's also because you're starting above 4th level. So a bit of detail on what you've been doing since first level would also be nice.

Beyond that, it's up to you. If you want to give people names, or tie things to specific dates, or expand beyond that basic level, great. I don't mind. I don't have any problem grabbing any NPC you create and tie to your background and working with him/her/it, and I'll let you know if anything you come up with won't work, so we can tweak it until it does.

Nym's coming under way guys. Hopefully, he'll be done by tomorrow. I can't wait to get our rp going!

In reply to DM (msg # 16):

backstory to be rdy in the next 24 hours

question: nobility level, low or medium??

PM sent with answers.

I have Nym's stats and everything (backstory's finally completed; YAY!!)I just need to do the rest. DM, can you make some 0 Level spells at will spells so that I don't become helpless? I don't want to go running around and screaming my head off..

There aren't any 0 level spells in 2e. A wizard has the spells they've memorized, and then that's it (unless they know a ranged weapon, or sneak in for a quarterstaff hit). That's one reason we're starting at 10,000 XP; I wanted the wizards to be more than just walking sleep spells.

Ok, general roll call time.

We've got everyone's backstory more or less thrashed out, with the exception of Elorfindar, whose player has been having some RL issues. And with this group of lore lords, that's obviously of highest order. I have not, however, received any nitty-gritty character sheets from anyone except Corym. Since I've seen stats from most people, I wanted to check in and see where everyone was on putting character sheets together for my review. You're welcome to post them here, or PM them to me, either way.

Also, I realized I haven't said anything about spell memorization. I've always thought that "10 minutes per spell level per spell" thing broke down severely once you got anywhere above the intro levels, and that 3e's "one hour" was a bit too neat. So I'm reducing memorization to 1 minute per spell level per spell, which happens after 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. This holds true for priests as well, and they're not tied to any particular time of day. Yes, this means that you can reload multiple times per day if you can manage to sleep that long. It also means NPC's can do the exact same thing.

Working on stats as I type this. And the character background details too.