Since we're planning on starting over this campaign with fresh characters, I might as well start up a thread to set up characters and party discussion here.

In reply to David Foxfire (msg # 1):

sticking with meiou :p

For simplicity's sake I may copy/paste Tark myself, or at the very least stick with Fighter as a class.

Admittedly, part of that is how I can't consider a Vanilla Warlock worth the effort here.

Now, let's see... David's Pandafolk and their bonkers "Add Prof bonus to AC" is pretty tempting, light armor only isn't much of an issue when you quickly blow past full plate (Usual homebrew "I have +2/+2 stats to anything but STR/CON only" doesn't hurt either.)

But as easy head start as that is, being handy with Javelins and STR weapons, or getting a feat to start with are more my style. So I'll be sifting through my more usual options through the night.

who i play will largely depend on tim's choice.  i can't decide.  :p

How would you handle having a merfolk in the team, David? I mean mechanics aside... would you be able to have such a thing? Like would we be around water enough times to bother? Whether we were or not, would I be allowed a wheelchair or some such? Just curious because I have been wanting to try playing a merfolk for a very long time and it is just one of those things that isn't conducive to us landlubbers and our land-based campaign settings. :p

Get her a carriage.  Problem solved!

www.disneyclips.com/imagesnewb4/images/ariel_eric_carriage_ride.gif

...(and new problem arises)
This message was last edited by the player at 03:45, Mon 23 Jan 2017.

In reply to Tam Selhana (msg # 5):

could potentially create an artifact like my reequip bracelet that makes you human for say X many hours or till undone but you need to rest in water for 8 hrs to recharge. just an idea.

I'm 99% done with a Boring Human Fighter™ Outside of a request for a Character Name *Checks dust collecting bin of recycled names*  James Hill, There's basically just one quirk left I need to ask about.

Main thing is whether or not this game will allow me to swap out my Fighting Style for OOC Game Mechanics later (Once I get some real armor* and/or cloak of protection), rather than something like "Please In character fill out a dozen forms, pay a fantasy college loan, and spend several uninterrupted months or you have to start over."

So if I could start out Duelist, and switch to Great Weapon once I'm allowed to move past slumming it with bargain bin heavy armor, that'd be handy.  Otherwise, it's the usual gig of shrugging my way through a fresh Two handed build fighter with a one handed weapon until then.

*Useless Facts: "Real Armor" is the name of the heavy armor tree in Dungeonmans.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:29, Mon 23 Jan 2017.

Since we're restarting Lost Archive, there won't be enough water to have an appropriate Merfolk character in here, but I will allow Triton Characters.  (Otherwise known as Sea Elves)  You can find them in Volo's Guide to Monsters

I have not only reset the Roll20 table, but also set up a Public Onenote that all of you can edit, so you'll have a place for character sheets, Campaign Notes, the requested Monster Stat Blocks, and so on.

For those who aren't in Roll20 yet, the invite link is: https://app.roll20.net/join/1254542/VtXw2A (It's the same one as the Friday table, so most of you are already in here.)

The One Note's link is https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjghU-xdUFQahUKiEjBUdcRy0XQB

You're still going to bury the needed on demand RPOL/Roll20 game information... In One note... Baby steps.... Baby steps...

But for serious. Putting the enemy stat blocks in the one note is not going to help matters beyond a bare minimum "Well, technically I did what you asked" sense.

While it would be okay for a slow to browse glossary, one note listings for the enemy information is horribly obtuse for actually playing a game.

Since I figure Roll20 GM tags for all your players are right out when it comes to you (The streamlining in the usual games I'm in use that to make the GM notes section on enemy tokens viewable to all players, along with us being able to adjust them as needed)...

Actual, viable play by post methods for getting that information across in a practical manner open to you are:

A: Listing the stat blocks in the opening RPOL post, reminders on first GM post of fresh pages.  Keeps it in site without disrupting gameplay to do the digital equivilent or running to your bookshelf for the monster manual one note is.

B: Making player accessible Handouts in Roll20.  Lets you reference the information, in roll20, while you roll your dice in roll20.

See also: Listing character sheets (or at the very least direct links to them. Not "Here is a link to a main page, have fun digging through the sub folders!") in your RPOL Character description. So if people need to check something to help their fellow players, you don't need to try and recall which one of a dozen one note links given months ago (and then which sub folder inside a subfolder that might not even have their name on it).

TL;DR: Please, pretty please, sweet baby Jesus please.  Put the information relevant to playing your RPOL and Roll20 games players need to see.... where you can see it on RPOL and/Or Roll20.

You know. Use the play by post functions of play by post websites, trying to run a play by post game.

The overarching campaign info and the like works very well for One Note, because you don't need to check that when you're in the middle of trying to roll dice.  Not so much anything relevant to actual in the moment gameplay and combat.

Now to try and scrounge up some sleep after coming away from RL shenanigans only to see this and I cant finish this sentence without what's left of my self restraint crumbles like Sarah Connor dreaming of judgment day.

EDIT: And also the frustrated 'that wasn't supposed to make it to the live post' stuff you miss when being awake for roughly 20 hours.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:50, Mon 23 Jan 2017.

In reply to Tark (msg # 11):

After hearing what you said, I should just focus on the Roll20 table and not One Note for the campaign.  Perfectly understandable.  I felt I was pushing things myself.

It'll take me some more time for me to reset everything there then.

Oh, by the way, everybody starts at Level 1.  Meiou, because it's fitting your theme, you can have the Requip Bracelet, but at zero renown invested in it.

For balance, everyone else can have a Common to Uncommon Magic Item of your choice, on top of any standard equipment.  (This is to keep you survivable at the first couple encounters.)

Thank you very much, seriously.  Part of the "Why is this small thing so frustrating?" situation was how so close yet so far things have been.

The One Note itself overall isn't the problem, you can list as much stuff as you want there for the convenience of yourself, as much as others.

The real stumbling block, is the not making any of the stuff needed on the spot in the middle of combat or (post combat healing/Pre combat buffs etc) readily viewable or usable "In Game" such as it were.

MOST of the stuff you want to list on One Note, is just fine with an always in plain view link there. Typing up the same character sheets multiple times is a pain for GM and Player alike. So you preferring to store your own full character sheets in your usual places also makes perfect sense.

Along with the campaign notes and similar bulk information where asking you to copy/paste the updates in multiple locations would be a dick move to the GM.  Because that is the kind of thing where your preference for One Note IS quite helpful, so long as the link is handy.

The big deal stuff for making readily accessible and viewable "In Game", will be FULL Monster info. And cheat sheets for player info on their Roll20 Tokens GM Notes block so YOU have an easier time in combat as well. (The top of a sheet HP/AC/Saves "Did I hit/Get hit?" stuff).

Full Player character sheets meanwhile, or a direct link to them, are most conveniently stashed in the RPOL "Character Description".  This means that not only can you select it from The Cast listing, but all you have to do is click on their name on the post to bring you to it.  If you clicked on Tark's name over to the left, for example.  Easy on demand viewing of my sheet.

The distinction of RPOL "Character Description" vs RPOL "Character Sheet" is also important.  Me and my pals have been using the character description section for our sheets for years.

Because the actual RPOL "Character Sheet" involves a dozen extra button presses for the GM to deal with,per character, and nobody else can see them anyways.  They are designed more for the "GM control freak/Hide your PvP sheet" style. Not an exaggeration, because players are not even allowed to write in their own character sheets by default (That takes ANOTHER, per character, button for the GM to press).

TL:DR:
Listing Combat relevant information in RPOL And/Or Roll20, good.

Listing Overall campaign information in One Note only (with an always handy link), Good.

Listing Combat relevant information in RPOL/Roll20, AND One Note, Good.

Listing Combat relevant information ONLY on One Note (And not so much as a link to a character sheet in your RPOL character). That's the bad part.

The RPOL "Character Description" box is better for character sheets (Or links to them), than the actual "RPOL Character Sheets". For reasons ranging from "Save the GM from a million extra button presses" and "Players can't even write in their own character sheets? what"


This is super convenient, and also caters to my obsession with "Why yes, I did count pennies for mundane items like soap" with mundane objects that only ever hits me when I'm writing a level 1 character. Which develops when you can't even play an alien space commando in a high powered comic book setting without a GM telling you "Hey, you never specifically said you bought a flashlight!"

My sheet's all sorted then.  So I just need an RPOL character name (James Hill) for them.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:40, Tue 24 Jan 2017.

James Hill created! Enjoy!

Thanks, got my sheet set up. I can revise the "+1 Maul of Caber Tossing" if required.

Magic item wise, I hooked myself up with a weaker version of an older edition weapon.  Being able to chuck a +1 maul with no other Damage/On Crit/Side effects perks may not seem as impressive as other options at first...

But when 5th ed likes to do things like to slash ranged weaponry option distances compared to multiple other editions, suddenly "12 tile thrown weapon" is that much more attractive.

Take sling effective ranges for example.  Pathfinder, 10 tiles, -2 penalty if you try to shoot a bit past that. 4th ed, 10 tiles and a -2 penalty if you try to shoot a bit past that.
5th ed? LOL 6 tiles sucker, and reroll take worse if you fire it so much as 1 tile more than that!

I'll be playing Mittens.  Haven't figured out build yet.  Please do me the favor of adding a character sheet to your roll20 place and giving control to me.  And/or simply make me a GM so i can do it myself.

Here's what I'll be playing:

Chestnut Quickstep (Kender* Bard)
   A kender who wants to learn other people's customs to try and fix the way his people interact with other races. He likes high-paced music and tends to write very METAL lyrics / songs. Primarily plays violin, but is musically versitile while also being quite versatile in the skills department.

*I tend to just use halfling stats for Kender since that is more or less what Kender are; just the Dragonlance halflings.

Okay, I know that Nathan will need a new character sheet, so who else needs one?