Ok everyone,

There has been some discussion in the OOC thread about what characters everyone intends to play. I think we have a good group and I'm looking forward to starting, but we have a few decisions to make, and we have to get character sheets together.

First, and perhaps easiest, you all need to decide how you know each other. You could have been travelling together through Averland, met a few days prior as you were hired on, rounded up the night before from patrons in the Coaching Inn, or anything else plausible. A few of the character concepts wouldn't typically be hired on as merchant guards (the Slayer and Warrior Priest).

Second, is more or less a question I'm putting to you. I can work up a NPC to act as the merchant you all will be guarding. He wouldn't really be able bodied enough to help the party in case of attack. Another option is for one of you to take on the merchant role. Finally, this can be a joint venture among some (or all) of you. A trip to the Border Princes is dangerous, but offers a big reward. It would stand to reason that a couple of individuals might pool some resources and try to make their fortune.

Finally, y'all need to decide on character specifics. You will be given 200 points with -50 in max disadvantages, and -5 in quirks. You will be presumed to be illiterate unless you buy it. The Dwarf characters will need to take "Reikspiel" as a language if they want to communicate with the other PCs. However, they will get literacy free at the level of spoken fluency they buy. I will be adding a Teamster Talent that I suggest at least a few of you take. It will be found here along with skills I suggest everyone have. Beyond that, I encourage your party to have capability as a medic, a "face" character, at least one person with a high ranged skill, tracker/survivalist, someone good with animals, and possibly an investigator. Other abilities are surely open to you as you feel appropriate, and some overlap is probably a good thing. As stated elsewhere, I will not be posting allowed and disallowed advantages, disadvantages, and skills. Please use your best judgement (i.e. no electronics skill, no extra arms, etc.)

Some of you I will be helping through private messaging in the creation of your character, but I still want you to participate in this discussion so you have the abilities and fit the niche in the party that you want to fill. I'll also be uploading character sheet templates soon for everyone to fill out.

 As to how the slayer joins a caravan to the border prince's. I could suggest that he has to eat and a good possibility that the border region is lawless and full of challenges for the slayer.

 Not sure how much of a social type he would be but he wont run from a fight unless he has no chance at all of winning.

Isn't the whole purpose of a slayer to die in battle against superior opponents, though? Like, that's the entire reason they become a Slayer -- they have a stain on their honor that can only be erased by a glorious death. Trollslayers that become too good at killing Trolls become Giantslayers, Giantslayers who find that Giants can't kill them become Demonslayers, etc.

Why would you run from an obviously superior opponent if being killed by one is the center of your existence?

On that note, I'll go ahead and play the medic.

 Good question, which i gather is based off the gotrek and felix series of books. He is at least on the demon slayer lvl with the last series.

 But to my understanding of the slayers mindset, to toss ones life away without a slight chance to win goes against winning glory for his name. If he wants a no win battle he can jump off a cliff or charge into a horde of chaos warriors. Still others can disagree. This is how i understand those mental giants and how they work.

 I am thinking that is where they begin to make a difference between them. In Warhammer they start off going against foes which they have a chance or slim chance to win. Then if they get too good at fighting those foes then they shift up to look for bigger prey.

To be honest, everything I know about Slayers comes from the info in the warhammer rpg books:



Then there are the Giant Slayers:



And the Demon Slayers:

Instead of going off and hunting for Trolls, Skaven, or the like, a slow moving wagon would make a pretty desirable target (bait) for most slayer targets (except, perhaps, demons). All a slayer would have to do is travel with the group and he's almost assured to get the enemy to come to him.

Another option is to moderate the Slayer character some, into a Dwarven Ranger. Surface dwelling Dwarves who are often looking to satisfy a grudge.

I leave the decision up to you all, but I wanted to offer that as input.

 I am easy to work with. Ranger would have a bit more survival life. Maybe not quite the explosive damage potential. We will work it out.

I think you're both kind of right. The intersection, for me, is this line from the slayers section of the rulebook:



They want to die, and to die in battle, but I think that between player 2's Giant slayer quote, and this one it's safe to say that they generally exhaust their usual options before escalating to otherwise suicidal deeds.

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Anyways, just to give us a baseline to work off of here's a summary of the concepts from the OOC thread

Player 1 Warrior Priest
Player 2 Sailor, Physician
Player 3 Sword&Board, Sword&Pistol
Player 4 Slayer
Player 5 Former Ironbreaker, Dwarf Ranger
Player 6 unspecified Dwarf, Rat Catcher

And to give us a template to start roughing out roles with:


After some discussion with Chance, I'm going to go on and stop pursuing my first concept for now and we can either roll with my Ranger, or I'm willing to whip up a new character to fit any glaring holes in the party.

For some more details, my Ranger is raised on the surface in one of those few dwarf families that farm to provide for their hold. He'd likely have some handle animal skills, some tracking/survivalist stuff, and fights primarily through throwing axes. I'm thinking that will take up the majority of my remaining points, but I'm flexible depending on our coverage - I can always drop one of those roles and pick something else up as a backup if we need to.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:54, Sun 04 Nov 2012.

From what I'm gathering, the Warrior Priest would be primarily a support character, but be able-bodied enough to fill minor rolls in melee combat (perhaps even tank), medic (via spells), face, and maybe even investigator (if I pushed points the right direction.

What do you all think would be best for the group as a whole? Obviously, I can't do all these things at once, but I could be great at one, good at two, or half decent at three.

As far as motivation is concerned, I could be a sort of "Shepherd Book" (for those familiar with Firefly): "Been out of the world for a spell... like to walk it a while. Maybe bring the word to them as need it told." I.e., a personal "Mission," as it were. I needn't much of any personal ties to the other party members so much as a faith driven motivation.

Let me know if you want to go medic; I can go sailor/investigator/face instead of physician/medic.

I honestly don't have much of a preference. I'll probably be a better back-up medic (since I can have only Minor Healing) and focus on other things so you can roll a doctor of sorts. If you'd rather play the investigator/face, I'll put more points in medical skills and less in face/investigator skills.

Ultimately, I leave the decision to you. :)

Put all your points into smiting chaos.

It's what Sigmar would want.

Right, but face, investigator, and medic skills may indirectly benefit that cause as well as melee combat prowess. ;)

Perhaps I'm meta gaming a bit, but I don't want the party to suffer because all I can do is hit things.

If that's what the party needs, though, by all means I shall hit things well.

Chance, could you possibly clarify what you mean by the Investigator role? It seems that the face would likely have at least some ability to interrogate, and a tracker/survivalist would likely have the perception required to pick up on physical clues. Is there an element to that role that I'm not thinking of that would require extra coverage?

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I agree, it's generally not the best idea to have just a pure "beat-stick" character, and some face skills would likely be required to be an inspiring speaker/priest. It's ultimately your decision but I think something Combat/face heavy with a tertiary medic capability would be helpful to the party and fit the WP role pretty well.

I'll give it a couple days to see, but it doesn't seem like there are too many enthusiastic applicants for the tracking/survivalist role right now. So barring any objections or related discussion, I'll go ahead and start sheeting (is that a word?) my ranger this week as ranged combat and tracking/survivalist focused with extra points thrown towards animals.

I'm going with a medic. I'll also have investigative abilities.

It's a bit difficult to be combat/face heavy (having different, expensive controlling attributes), but I'll see what I can come up with along those lines. Deception (an integral part of being a Face is typically Acting and Fast-talk) doesn't seem to fit a righteous man. I'll have things like Diplomacy, Public Speaking, Interrogation, Intimidation, etc.

That's why faces are usually just faces.

You'll need: Detect Lies, Psychology (it's very useful for predicting how someone will react), Body Language, Diplomacy, Carousing, Fast-Talk, Acting.

Reaction bonuses are mandatory, as there are many social interactions that do not rely on skills.

Empathy might also be useful.

With 200 points you can either be good at two complimentary things or terrible at three disparate ones.

edit: If we need a face I would be fine playing the merchant.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:26, Mon 05 Nov 2012.

The game will only have occasional social interactions. As long as the party has someone to act as spokesman when the need arises, you all should be fine. The Warrior Priest will already have Public Speaking, Enthrallment, Captivate, and Intimidation. One or two more social skills (Fast Talk, Diplomacy, Carousing, Detect Lies, Body Language, interrogate) and he should do fine. Not to say he has to fill this role, but you all certainly don't need a dedicated face.

Investigator is not necessary, and between a spokesman and a survivalist, the party should be able to cover any investigative challenges that come up.

Can you tell I've never built a face? I forget how expensive things get sometimes...

Ah, yes: "spokesman"—that sounds much more like what I was getting at. I can do that. :o)

In light of that I'm going back to my "grouchy sailor" idea.

Hi everyone, sorry I was absent from the early talks about roles - I won't be able to post much on weekends, but can post regularly during weekdays.

As for my concept, I think my rat catcher could cover some of the investigator and tracker skills. I hope to build him so that he's a bit like a typical fantasy thief or rogue, with a decent helping of stealth and shadowing.

That said, I like the look of the Teamster talent (it seems worth it just for hold out and smuggling, for my character) and will probably take a level or two in it which will help with animal handling, etc.

Does that work with what everyone else is doing?

 So, no one is leaning towards the arcane side in the group?.

Hi guys. Looks like Player 6 and I have something in common; I also rarely get a chance to post on the weekends, but I'm pretty active during the week. So, sorry I missed out on the earlier discussion.

Between my two ideas, I'm more inclined to go with the "sword and board" type (I forget who put it that way, but I like the sound of it); his history includes a failing noble family, so that might recommend me for the "Spokesman" role (alongside the Sigmarite), and could put me as a financier for the caravan itself (sinking a little cash on a shipment to try and turn a profit).

As far as investigation and magic goes, I've got nothing. My character has some military background though, so I could add some survivalism/tracking type stuff if we still need it.

Again, sorry to have missed the earlier discussions.

Hi all,

I took a first pass at my character, and thought I should post it so I could have time to make any changes for feedback/GM notes, etc.

It's located here:

https://docs.google.com/open?i...QseLNbWd6YWpaTlBraW8

I took a dog as my ally, and I based it on the Hound from DF 5.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions or whatever.