Talk amongst yourselves.

*Hebz calls purple*
This message was last edited by the player at 14:11, Wed 30 Sept 2015.

Very amusing.

Hey Pookies, I just noticed that your point buy math is a little off. Your character has two base 15's (9 points each), a base 14 (7 points), and a base 12 (4 points). With the last two stats as free 8's, that brings your total point expenditure to (9 + 9 + 7 + 4) = 29.

To rectify this, you'll either need to drop your Wisdom from 14 to 13, or your Dexterity from 12 to 10.

Okay, I've finished the majority of both of your character sheets, so please take a look at them by clicking on "Character Details" in the upper left corner of this page. Let me know if you see any problems.

Assuming your sheets are good, then we're almost ready to get started. The main thing I still need from both of you is to finish the steps of the "Character Creation" post, namely:

• Describe your character using the rules under "Personal Characteristics", PHB pp.123-124: two traits, one ideal, one bond, and one flaw.
• Complete all the steps under "In-Game Character Setup".
• Come up with character background details as explained under "Adventure Hook".

I'd also like at least a simple text summary of your character's personal backstory. A couple of short paragraphs is fine, but of course, the more the better.

Once you've come up with these things, please PM or email them to me (jjcarver4@gmail.com), and I'll add them to your character sheet. Don't post anything here, unless you don't mind sharing these details with each other.

Most importantly, I don't want any of this to be a sticking point that kills the entire game because you just really don't want to do it. If you are having trouble, please tell me. I will help you.

Pookies says: "I would like to claim the colour dark green and I really hope I've formatted this correctly, especially with respect to the quotation marks."

Also, I have some ... free time at the office tomorrow so I will be looking into finishing off my character creation stuff (incl. point buy math). Can't do it today since my family is coming over for dinner and I have to go grocery shopping and cook.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:02, Sun 04 Oct 2015.

I had a couple of minutes, so I took out my character sheet to check the point buy math. It is correct. My base stats are actually 14/12/15/8/14/8. I have an additional strength because using the Variant Human Traits (PHB p. 31) I chose a feat (Heavy Armor Master) that increases my strength by 1.

I have to look through the rest of the online character sheet later (hopefully I'll get a chance tonight). At first glance the weight is off from what I have by a few pounds, but unless I actually manage to get down in the vicinity of 80 lb it really isn't going to make a difference.

Oh yes, good point. I totally forgot about the feat.

As for the gear weight, it is possible that I made a mistake, so please do look it over when you have time.

One discrepancy that I can think of is that I gave you a bolt case to put your crossbow bolts in. Your fighter class gear includes a light crossbow and 20 bolts, but it doesn't mention anything for you to store the bolts in. So I tossed that in for you. It does mean 1 extra pound of weight for you to carry, though.

You also didn't note the 1-pound belt pouch that your Soldier background gives you, to store your starting 10 gp in.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:02, Sun 04 Oct 2015.

If "belt pouch" is synonymous with "fanny pack" then I'm burning it and shoving the coins in my pack.

Well, here's the thing. You start the game with 10 gp, which weighs only 0.2 lb. So it certainly seems reasonable to say that you could stuff such a small amount of cash into your backpack, no problem. Even with all the other gear you've already got stuffed in there.

But what's also true is that the PHB says a backpack can only hold about 30 lb of total gear ("Container Capacity", p.153). Even though most of the pre-made class packs ("Equipment Packs", p.151) contain quite a bit more than 30 lb of total gear - even not counting the ropes it says are tied to the outside of the pack. So I don't see much of a choice but to say that your backpack is able to hold everything the PHB says it can. However, because you're already so far over the stated capacity of 30 lb, then it also seems reasonable to say that your stock dungeoneer's pack is essentially stuffed to the seams, and can't hold very much more at all.

Therefore, unless you plan to either juggle any treasure you find on your way back to town or just leave it on the dungeon floor, then it's probably wise to bring at least one extra container to hold it. A belt pouch's stated capacity is 6 lb, which would be 300 standard coins - quite a bit more than the 10 that your character currently has to struggle to stuff into his already bulging pack.

I guess maybe we should discuss the encumbrance rules a bit more, to be sure we actually do want this kind of complexity in our game. I personally like the idea of a bit more realism when it comes to gear carrying logistics, but then again I'm not the one whose character will actually have to suffer from this. This is your first taste of what it's like to use the variant encumbrance rules. How do you feel about it?

That being said, weight concerns are not the only thing to consider when it comes to deciding on a campaign's desired gear-logistics complexity level. There's also the matter of where and how your character is carrying the gear. When writing up your character sheets, I just automatically organized your inventories into separate bags, and made some realistic assumptions about what you'd be able to fit and how, since that's how I naturally think of these things. This is what led me to examine the capacity discrepancy in the class gear packs, which most people probably would have just glossed over.

Ultimately, I'm willing to budge on this a bit, but I don't want to run a silly parody where your character gets away with stuffing five suits of armor and a ten-foot pole into a single non-magical backpack. So please do let me know what level of bookkeeping you're comfortable with, but in the end you will definitely have to do some kind of accounting.

Which is why I do recommend that you keep the belt pouch, or at least trade it in for a couple of canvas sacks.

Also, Pookies, I went ahead and updated the spelling of the word "armour" wherever it occurred in your character sheet, to accommodate your more elegant Canadian sensibilities.

Any more thoughts on the encumbrance rules? Are we just going to stick with the variant rules from the PHB, and then deal with the potential repercussions of having to drop your backpacks at the beginning of every fight?

In reply to Wizzrobe (msg # 14):

Im all for encumberance.

Okay, we're going to actually start this game soon. I plan to create the first in-character thread no later than Monday of next week (November 2nd). Anyone who isn't ready by then will just have to deal with me controlling your character and posting on your behalf until you become available.

In the meantime, your characters have made their way to Neverwinter, and are free to move about the city and conduct any business they wish. Check out the campaign setting and background post to get a feel for how things are in the Neverwinter area at this time.

If you have anything your character may want to buy, sell, or do in the city, go ahead and post it here. You can find your starting equipment and cash on your character sheet.

So there's no starting gear you want to sell, nothing you want to buy with starting cash from the standard equipment lists in PHB chapter 5, no information gathering around town or other preparations your character wants to do before we get started?

In reply to Wizzrobe (msg # 17):

No I'm eager to get on the road with my old friend.  (Is that a hint that I should buy/sell something?)

No, I'm really just encouraging you to look over the equipment lists in chapter 5 of the PHB, to see if there's anything else you might want to pick up before starting your journey. Keep in mind that you start with 15 gp spending cash. And, as per the rules for "Selling Treasure" on PHB p.144, you can automatically sell anything you don't want from your starting inventory for half its stated value.

If I were you, I personally would sell the torches that come in your stock explorer's pack, since they weigh a lot and you don't really need them for anything - you already have darkvision to see and a tinderbox to light fires. They're only worth 1 cp each, so you'd only get 5 cp total for selling them, but it would also dump 10 pounds of dead weight from your already overloaded pack.

Also, I'm not sure how much you've thought about the logistics of hauling around dungeon loot, but a mule costs only 8 gp and can carry 420 pounds of crap. You do have to feed it and find a safe place to leave it while you're crawling dungeons, but it's something to think about.

In any case, a couple of 1 cp sacks to lug around your treasure might be smart to have (as per the discussion I had with Pookies a bit earlier in this thread). Thankfully, though, your wise friend Steamknuckle has already accounted for this by bringing a handful of sacks of his own.

I'll need you to decide exactly where your character is traveling in the caravan. The rest of the party is arrayed as follows:

• Willow is on point, riding her mastiff.
• The wagon follows next, with Stumpy in the driver's seat and Steamknuckle riding shotgun.
• Rudo brings up the rear on foot.

You can either take up any position you prefer in the marching order, or just ride in the back of the wagon.

I still need to know your preferred travel position in the caravan.

Also, please go ahead and make a gambling check to resolve the current situation in the IC thread. This will be a contested Intelligence check, so just roll a d20 in the Dice Roller, plus your character's Intelligence modifier of +1, and post it here. You would also add your proficiency bonus to this roll if you were proficient in playing cards, but you're not.

In addition to this, please let me know (here in this thread) how much total money your character is willing to risk before quitting the game. Your relative performance on the gambling check will determine how much of that money you win or lose.

Finally, when you post to the IC thread, please either click the "Post a Reply" link in the very lower right of the screen, or remember to remove the "In reply to So-and-so (msg # N):" clutter from your post. The IC thread is supposed to be narrative, so I don't like seeing procedural spam like that there. I don't mind seeing this in the OOC thread, though, so respond however you like here.

05:38, Today: Zhaquadan Mudsmither rolled 8 using 1d20+1 ((7)).

I didnt see the post option at the bottom.

If I can ride in the back I will do that.

I will be willing to loose half a gold piece.  I would quit if I made a gold piece.

So, in case you were wondering, I'm just trying to set up a little character-developing roleplay with this card game. I figured now was a good time for all the characters to introduce themselves so that you can get a feel for their personalities.

However, if you'd rather just get on with the action, then let me know. I won't mind either way. There's plenty of time for the characters to express their personalities as the campaign progresses.

This is good just be patient with me.

I forgot to mention before, every time your character sleeps for the night, it's considered taking a "long rest" (PHB p.186). So, right now you are free to do anything a long rest allows you to do - which, currently, is really just changing your list of prepared spells. I don't imagine you have any reason to do this, but I just wanted to let you know that this is your prerogative every time your character gets a full night's rest.

Please let me know if you want to change any of your prepared spells. Otherwise, I plan to advance the game sometime before noon tomorrow.

Post here to let me know what your character wants to do in the current encounter.

Also, if you have any questions about the environment or anything like that, then you can ask them here.

I want to clear the path but I want to approach this cautiously so I would like to look around to see if I can notice anything like hiding thieves etc.

I will update the game map with a view of the current scene as soon as I have time. Please stand by.

Okay, I finally got some time to set up the map for the current encounter. To see it, click on "Game Map" in the main menu at the top of the page, then scroll down and select "Map/Image for group 0" from the drop-down list. You should see a map titled "Road to Phandalin", with tokens for each character arranged in their current positions.

Once you've had a moment to check out the map, please let me know what you want to do. As far as your character can tell, the creatures hiding on the embankments above the horses are not yet aware that you've spotted them. You can safely assume that they've seen your party and are watching you, though.

I'm not very aggressive so I'm going to wait for someone else to take the lead/make the first move.

Very good. I agree that this is the proper way to roleplay your character. However, generally you will still need to say that, since you are the only player so the action is still going to be centered around you.

The first combat of the campaign has begun! And, since you critted your initiative roll, you get to go first.

Please check out the current tactical situation by looking at the updated group 0 map, and then let me know what you want to do. You might need to clear your browser's image file cache if you load the map and it doesn't look like it has changed. This site has a lot of problems with file caching of this sort, so you might need to do this often. Please let me know if you have any problems.

Okay, the first round of combat is over. Please check out the updated group 0 map. Your character is up next. Only one goblin is left alive, and your character is the only party member who has taken damage, but it's quite a bit of damage.

Please be aware that if you want to keep the last goblin alive, then you can try to just knock him out with a melee attack, rather than kill him (see "Knocking a Creature Out", PHB p.198). That's up to you, though.

Would my God want me to perform a ceremony of some sort for these goblins or can I silently agree to leave them be?   I want to thoroughly search the horses,  the map case,  and the surrounding ground for any signs of the two riders (blood and/or foot trails etc.) and then vainly attempt to move the carcasses.

Istishia, like all the primordial elemental lords, is aligned true neutral and doesn't really care about the concerns of mortals. He would not care one way or the other if you showed any particular respect, or lack thereof, for the corpses of these goblins.

For this reason, the church of Istishia doesn't have a lot of rites and rituals pertaining to ordinary life. There's no particular reason your character would feel compelled to administer funeral rites for these goblins, or anyone else for that matter. This ties in with the church's generally passive stance on most things.

The only reason Istishia happens to have blessed your character with an affinity for healing is because the life-giving nature of water is just one of his many aspects. Another Istishian priest would just as likely specialize in the destructive nature of water, since all of its qualities are equally important to him.

Source: http://www.nj-pbem.com/data/Go...mangods/Istishia.htm
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:06, Wed 02 Dec 2015.

If you want to leave any of your equipment behind in the wagon for this mission, then let me know. For example, the other characters are dumping all their rations except for one day's worth, to lighten the load of their packs. Steamknuckle is also leaving behind his tinker's tools. If there's anything similarly non-essential that your character would not want to bring, then indicate that here.

Also, please let me know if you have any special preference for your character's place in the marching order. This is more significant here since the trail is narrow and the group will be walking single file. If you don't have a preference, then it will be Willow, you, Steamknuckle, and then Rudo in the rear.

As always, if you have any questions, then that's what this thread is for.

Check out the group 0 map. I've updated it to reflect the new scene.

Please let me know what your character wants to do.

By the way, you've earned 75 XP for achieving the first story milestone. Congratulations.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:04, Fri 04 Dec 2015.

The map has been updated.

It's your turn now. If you choose to follow Rudo and Burgess through the briar thicket to take a swing at the goblin, then crossing through the thicket counts as difficult terrain (PHB p.182). However, since you're already pretty close, you can still close that distance in one turn.

Also, since the dog successfully knocked the goblin prone with its bite attack, you will have advantage on any melee attack you make against him (PHB p.292).
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:25, Sat 05 Dec 2015.

The group 0 map has been updated again.

Please let me know if there's anything you want to do before the party enters the cave: cast spells, prepare gear, search the area more thoroughly, whatever. Just let me know.

Also, I took some liberty in arranging the group's marching order. You can see it on the current map. Rudo has already agreed to lead, and it would make sense to put Willow in the middle of the order since she can't see in the dark. That really just leaves you to take up the rear, since you are a somewhat combat-oriented type and Steamknuckle is too weak to be all the way in the back. Please let me know if you have a problem with this order.

Sounds good.   I will cast light.

On what exactly?

On my hammer.

I should clarify.

If you have any questions for me, about the current game situation or environment, then you should ask those here in this thread. This is how you gather information to inform your character's next action.

However, if you've already decided what you want your character to do next, then you should just go ahead and post that in the in-character thread. You don't have to say it here.

On the other hand, if you have any role-playing questions, not for me but for your character to ask one of the other characters, then you should do that in the in-character thread as well.

Also, you get to decide what color the light is when you cast the Light spell.

White

I guess you ignored my second-to-last post. Allow me to clarify even more.

When you are ready to take an action, please post it in the IC thread. Not here.

Please feel free to think outside the box to try to solve problems that come up in the game. You have lots of attributes and skills that you can roll against. If there's something you want to try, or if you have any questions about what you can do, then please ask. Even suggesting things that other characters might be able to do can be useful.

But if you just can't think of anything, then that's fine too. This game is really all for your benefit, so please do whatever is most fun.

I should have done more research but I didn't know that Steamknuckle could see through the eyes of his pet.  He should be shooting the whole cave.   Willow didn't have to climb up that shaft if pass could just fly up it.  Can he tell pass to move quietly and even walk if needed?

Well, her name is Peas, not Pass. But yes, it would have been smart to use the owl to scout things out from the start. That is one of the main benefits to having a familiar in this game. However, to be honest, this did not occur to me until a few days ago.

Besides, since you are the only human player, I generally try to let you do most of the strategic thinking and decision-making for the party. If I do too much of that myself, then it becomes less of a game for you and more of just a slightly interactive work of fiction. So I encourage you to come up with your best ideas for how to tackle the party's problems. However, when you are busy or can't come up with anything, I don't mind occasionally stepping in to move the story forward.

To answer your question, yes, Steamknuckle has a telepathic link with his familiar, and can command her to do whatever he wishes (as long as they stay within 100 feet of each other). And yes, she can walk to be even more stealthy, although her walking speed is only 5 feet per round (as opposed to her flying speed of 60 feet per round). Since she's an owl, and owls can't really run very fast.

Autocorrect and no time to proofread/edit.

I like the choose your own adventure books.  You write very well and seem to be motivated to do so and practise is always a good thing.

Yes, it is true that I appreciate the opportunity to practice my writing. But what's also true is that I'm running a published adventure, with pre-written details to which only I am privy, and secrets that I don't want to just dole out to you on a silver platter.

It's not exactly a meaningful exercise in creativity for me to roll secret Intelligence checks for my NPCs to see if they can think of a solution that I, as the real-life DM, already know. However,  what is interesting is for you to try to challenge yourself to come up with these solutions on your own, without the insider knowledge that I possess.

Sorry for the long delay. I've been pretty busy with all the holiday stuff going on. I will try to post an update sometime tonight, but I can't make any promises.

Thanks for the quick response.

However, just to be clear, there is only one goblin standing on the bridge. If you carefully read Steamknuckle's two summary posts (messages 145 and 149 in the IC thread) then you'll see that only one goblin is mentioned standing there.

You are welcome to revise your character's statement accordingly, if you wish.

Just to be clear, a javelin is considered a "simple" weapon, and as a cleric, you have proficiency in all simple weapons.

However, it's also true that you can do just as much damage with your handaxe, so it's not strictly necessary for you to borrow a javelin from Rudo in order to participate in a ranged surprise attack on the goblin bridge guard.

The main benefit to borrowing a javelin would be to not lose your handaxe - since you only have one, whereas Rudo has five javelins.

Stand by for a map update. In the meantime, please feel free to examine the environment of the side tunnel, and come up with a plan for how to navigate it. If you have any questions, please ask.

Okay, the map is updated.

After carefully investigating the tunnel, your character is not certain whether the rock ledge will withstand the weight of everyone in the party, although it seems unlikely.

It looks like the most stable portion of the debris pile would be along its edges, where it touches the tunnel walls. It's possible, although far from certain, that the group could cling to the walls and make it to the top without disturbing the pile.

However, this could possibly be a non-trivial maneuver with some risk of failure. Your character is not sure.

Finding myself a bit disturbed by the grammatical ambiguity in the official "long rest" rules (PHB p.186), I did some research. This is the most useful discussion I found on this topic:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthrea...-you-start-all-over/

You can click on that link and read through it, if you wish, but you don't have to. The short version is that I am now comfortable interpreting the rule as meaning that you can occasionally be interrupted by short combat encounters while resting, and still go on to receive the full benefits of a long rest after eight hours. However, if you are continually interrupted during those eight hours, then you won't.

What this means right now is that Zhaquadan can participate in the current fight, and then go back to sleep and still get all his HP and spells back after eight hours. Assuming, of course, that no further goblins show up to investigate why these ones went missing...

With the successful completion of Klarg's hideout, each participating character receives 275 XP. This, along with the 75 XP already received for the initial ambush encounter, will be enough to advance everyone (except for Stumpy and Sildar) to level 2.

I will handle leveling up all the NPCs. Please let me know how you'd like to level up Zhaquadan. You can see some basic guidelines in the "Leveling Up" post of the rules thread, and also on p.15 of the PHB. If you're interested in multiclassing, then you can read about that on pp.163-165 of the PHB.

If you choose to level up as a cleric, then you don't need to worry about much at level 2. You don't get an ability score improvement (or feat) until level 4, and you don't get a proficiency bonus increase until level 5. So all you really need to do is decide how you want to increase your HP, pick another 1st-level spell to have prepared, and then read up on the rules for Channel Divinity (PHB pp.58-59, with life domain's channel power on p.60).
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:23, Wed 16 Mar 2016.

No multiclass, I will take the set amount of HP (5?), Sanctuary as my next spell,  and I will try to remember my channel.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:32, Sat 19 Mar 2016.

Once you've settled lodging at the inn for your character, please let me know what you'd like to do while you're there, if anything.

Aside from the party and the innkeeper, there are three grizzled-looking men sitting at the bar drinking. You could feasibly strike up a conversation with any of those characters.

I don't want anything at the coster at this time.

 Not sure where to post this.  I don't trust Halia so I am  going to suggest going back to the inn but as soon as we are away from the exchange I want to suggest an alternate plan.

Yes, this is the proper place to post out of character stuff like this.

Also, just so you know, you can always try to get a read on an NPC's true intentions or whether or not they are lying by making an Insight check. Your character currently has a +5 to that skill. You can either post the result of the check in this thread, or attach it to an in-character post using orange "OOC:" text at the bottom.

For example:

OOC: Attempting to decipher Halia's true motives.
16:31, Today: Wizzrobe, for the NPC Example NPC, rolled 19 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 14.  Insight.

What does Zhaquadan know about this eye thing?  What should I roll again?

You can roll an Arcana check to see what your character knows about this entity. It looks like Zhaquadan currently has a +1 modifier to the Arcana skill.

If you roll badly, then if you wish, you can post simply that Zhaquadan pauses a moment in uncertainty. Then I will back up your roll with another Arcana check from Steamknuckle, who is a bit more likely to know about this thing with an Arcana modifier of +5.

Bumping this just to be sure the game stays alive. I will post again soon.

Bump.

Bump.

Bump.

I do not remember much of anything, do I?

I know we only look at this thing once every few months, so it's reasonable to have to jog your own memory for something that would be much closer at hand for your character. To be fair, we've been crawling through the Redbrand hideout for over three years now and in all that time we've only covered a span of maybe a few hours of game time.

What I do for my own sake is every few months I go back and re-read everything, at least from the current chapter. This helps me to stay on top of things to inform my next post. I assume you've got plenty of free time to do the same yourself, though I understand why you might not feel like doing that. The story has had a lot of time to pile up and is now pretty cumbersome to read through.

I also sent you a long time ago what I hoped would be a helpful private message titled "Quest Clues", with some condensed references to important posts throughout the story. I haven't updated this in a while, but it still might be helpful for you to get the Cliff's notes version of important details when you need them.

For now, though, I will help you out by pointing you to this relevant post: link to a message in this game

Feel free to post your character's response whenever it's convenient for you.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:50, Wed 12 Aug 2020.

Bump.

Bump.

Bump again.

Bumping to keep the game alive.

Bump.

Bump.