In reply to The Raconteur (msg # 504):

Not sure if you have my link to D&D Beyond.  I think you can read everything from the PHB, because it's part of my subscription in D&D Beyond, if you joined the game link I shared.  Check out this link: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/phb

It won't let me join the game with the character I created.  Hmm.

You’ve got a level 1 bard in the campaign already. Maybe you can only have 1 at a time?

Oh, didn't realize he was already in.

You are SUCH a bard!

I've been looking at being a Rogue of the inquisitive specialty.  A detective skilled at sleuthing, snooping, sneaking, stealing, stabbing, shooting...I already designed this character on Beyond.  Considering Elf for the race.

Less the party face and more the party expert.  Don't know how much overlap that would have with a Lore Bard.  I'm still entertaining the idea of a more combat-focused character like a Ranger or Fighter though.  Maybe even a Cleric, but a lot more militant than Liseth ever was.

Hmmm.  Waiting to hear what Kellan has in mind.

Oh! Grigor!

Grigor is a big, somewhat portly middle aged native of Ustalav. With wavy brown hair and a dense beard down to his chest, he is thick limbed and a little world weary.

Although he does not know it, he was a well regarded family man back in his home village, where he had often been called up by neighbors to help with the various troubles that plauge the people of that land. He is drawing from Cossack, Streltsy and other Slavic concepts that parts of Ustalav seems to be inspired by.

Mechanically he is a Barbarian (A Lawful Good Barbarian! That's a first) with the Folk Hero background. With Bardiche in hand, he is hopefully planning on carving a swath back to his family. Potatoes and grain alcohol may or may not figure prominently in his off time.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:38, Tue 14 Apr 2020.

Kellan the Barbarian!  It fits only too well.  I wonder of Grigor stomps things too?

There could very well be some stomping involved.

I also just noticed that Liseth has 42 hp! It's funny given she is so petite and frail. I have seen level 1 Fighters in other games with a fraction of that. I guess we did make it pretty far in Runelords all things considered.

Liseth isn't frail!  She has 12 Con.  Acceptably healthy!

Yeah, HP are a wierd extrapolation in games.  Sure you can imagine a high HP fighter taking hits on his armor and soldiering through, but a little priestess in a robe?  I try not to think about it too much.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:56, Tue 14 Apr 2020.

LOL!  So good.

So, looks like we have a Bard and a Barbarian.  Liseth is leaning toward, fighter or cleric.  Or a clerical fighter?  Something with degrees in accounting?

That pushes me in the direction of Ezra Chandler, the arcane fire starter.

In reply to Pisca Neep Freemish (msg # 515):

One of the first few employees at TSR, Tim Kask, has a YouTube series called "Curmudgeon in the Cellar" where he talks about a bunch of D&D related stuff.  One of his hot button issues is apparently the treatment of HPs: as he sees them (and according to him, how EGG and others saw it) is not all the ability to take physical damage, but rather the ability to avoid damage in the first place.  (Otherwise, a 5th level fighter who had taken and recovered from near-mortal injuries several times would be a mass of scar tissue and be unable to move.)

Which makes a kind of intuitive sense, for most situations, though it gets hard to narrate effectively and make sure you're telegraphing what's actually a hit and what's an outright miss.  (Maybe you could use descriptions like "they just narrowly avoid the hit" and "your attack misses them entirely" to convey a hit vs a miss?)

There was one RPG, though I can't remember which one, that had two pools of "HP".  Or maybe it was a variant rule for 3.5?  In any case, you had a pool of actual HP equal to your Con, or something similar, and a much larger pool that worked like regular HP.  Some things, like a critical hit would affect your smaller pool, but in other cases your larger pool would be depleted first.

In reply to Pisca Neep Freemish (msg # 516):

I think that was her secondary choice?  It sounds like its that or rogue.

Yeah, my first choice was Rogue.  Though with 5th edition I'm not sure how much overlap it has with Racon's spoony Bard.

Regardless, there's nothing else in the way of a major arcane caster.

Dang, or healer either.  Maybe I'll go with Shiu Lin.

Well, as the group comes together, I'm starting to lean more towards an armored class, something with a shield.  I keep getting new ideas running through my head.

You don't want to use Shiu Lin?

Bards look to be surprisingly-proficient casters in 5E.  There's no difference in the spell progression tables between Bards and Wizards, although I'm sure they have access to different types of spells.

I'm thinking of having Rikard be a younger son of one of the county counts of Ustalav.  Since his very youngest days he's been fascinated by the history of his homeland, convinced that the area is cursed, and a firm believer that arcane and occult knowledge is the key to dispelling that curse and returning the country to its former glory.

He's traveled widely, studied at various colleges, and has a good relationship with his elder brother, who uses Rikard's knowledge for his own ends.  Their father treats Rikard with benevolent neglect; he views Rikard's studies as reflecting well upon the family and if his younger son is successful in ridding Ustalav of its curse?  Well, that could only redound to the benefit of his family.

No, that was dang, we don't have this.  So, dang, I have to change my mind.  Again.  I'd be happy with any of them.

Well, as we have two male members, that's another nudge in Shiu Lin's direction.

So be it.  A character from distant Tian Xia.

I like Shiu Lin's character concept a lot.  If that makes any difference.  :D

It does.  Thank you.

Cato, would it be problematic for the adventure if Shiu Lin was a dark elf?

The struggle is real!

In reply to The Raconteur (msg # 522):

Yeah, in the (formerly in-person, now real-time game on Roll20) we have a bard/rogue, a sorcerer/rogue, a wizard/warlock, a cleric/warlock, and a fighter.  The bard stands up well in comparison to the other casters, but yes, the casting list is a little different.  I think it's mostly illusion, healing, fear/charm effects.  Not as much evocation blasting magic.  However, Magical Secrets lets you eventually choose other spells to add to your list, and Lore bards get even more.  The bard in my game has Eldritch Blast, Toll the Dead, Healing Spirits, Counterspell, Contingency, and Divine Word for instance.  (Though they're level 16, so that's an extreme example.)

Hmm...maybe I'll do an Eldritch Knight.  I didn't realize that 5th has it as a Fighter kit instead of a separate Prestige Class.  It's always been a class that I like.

Okay, I need input from outside my own mercurial mind.  Between Rogue and Fighter (Eldritch Knight).  Any advice for fitting into the team?