Greetings, weary wanderers. Come inside, away from the gloom and the chill of the fog-laden air, and warm yourselves by the cheery glow of my hearth. What brings you here? And whence hail you? How have you come to be who you are? All these things I would know as we share the comforts of my hall this merry eve.
And so shall I ask that you all generate 11th-level
gestalt characters for your respective warlords. We will use a 30-point buy for stats. As is conventional, please perform all die rolls in the game's dice roller, and fill in the character sheet templates I have set up here with your details. I suggest you ensure you check the "secret roll" box for each roll in the dice roller, so as not to tip your hand to your rivals.
I'll start adding the pertinent game rules for "Fields of Blood" as we go, but let's get our characters going first, so we know where we're starting from! Feel free to write up your character's backgrounf as much or as little as you please. Detailed and interesting background stories can always provide for adventure later on...
For those who don't know how the point-buy system functions, each ability score starts at 8, and you have 30 points to improve your starting stats. Scores of 14 and below cost 1 point per point of increase, but beyond that the costs increase thusly:
Ability score point costs
Ability score | Point cost |
---|
9 | 1 |
10 | 2 |
11 | 3 |
12 | 4 |
13 | 5 |
14 | 6 |
15 | 8 |
16 | 10 |
17 | 13 |
18 | 16 |
If you are playing on including any non-standard class options, please make sure you have okayed them with me before proceeding. Some prestige classes are available, though I ask that you inform me of any prestige class choice before including it, as there are those that operate differently under gestalt rules.
From the above-linked page:
quote:
"A gestalt character can’t combine two prestige classes at any level, although it’s okay to combine a prestige class and a regular class. Prestige classes that are essentially class combinations-such as the arcane trickster, mystic theurge, and eldritch knight-should be prohibited if you’re using gestalt classes, because they unduly complicate the game balance of what’s already a high-powered variant. Because it’s possible for gestalt characters to qualify for prestige classes earlier than normal, the game master is entirely justified in toughening the prerequisites of a prestige class so it’s available only after 5th level, even for gestalt characters."
I will address the specifics of any enquiries relating to the above as they come up, though with regard to "prestige classes that are essentially class combinations", certain such may be permitted, but they will take up
both of your class choices for a given level.
Please see the additional post below for "Fields of Blood"-specific rules that you may wish to incorporate into your character build. I
strongly recommend you give serious consideration to the Command skill, as this skill is mostly used to determine many important factors in mass battles. Unit initiative, unit cohesion in carrying out orders, unit morale, and tactical positioning before battle is joined are just some of the things that can depend on this skill. Generally speaking, if you plan to lead troops into battle, it's smart to have this maxed out, as not only winning an opposed check, but the amount by which you win an opposed check can be the deciding factor in many an engagement.
With regard to equipment, the standard starting gold for an 11th-level character is simply not appropriate to the setting. In a low-magic world peopled by tribesmen of modest means and no real currency to speak of, characters (even warlords) do not stroll around carrying the equivalent of 66,000gp worth of gear or coinage. Revenue and available resources for your clan holding are determined by the production of your individual districts, not by your character's lucrative past life as a dragon-slaying planes-wanderer. I will allow each character to possess up to six masterwork weapons, two masterwork shields, and two suits of masterwork armour of your choice. Please note that half-plate and full plate do not exist in the setting; banded mail is not produced or used in Albion, but is the standard armour of Rome's legionaries. Each of you will have the option to purchase further high-quality weapons and armour once the game begins, as you will have ready access to skilled smiths and the coin to get whatever you need. Each of you will also start the game with one special item (detailed later), a clan heirloom passed down (or bloodily wrested) from warlord to warlord. Other than that, you are rich and powerful. It's quite reasonable to assume that in your position of power you would have a reasonable number of other useful items of standard equipment (meaning no spyglasses, water clocks, alchemy equipment, etc...) lying around your soot-laden hall, but don't go too crazy on that front, as it will be an easy matter to procure anything you need in the town market once the game has started. You will even be able to just send out your lackeys to gather such things. Why lift a finger when you have men standing idle who can do it for you?
You will not start with any spare cash, but you will be able to generate barter-ready metal rings (the most common local equivalent of coinage) by pillaging your own tax stores. If you have any specific equipment concerns or requirements, PM me.
Also, if you have any further questions, or would like expanded information about anything mentioned here, or if I've missed something out that's quite important, let me know in a PM and I'll update this thread with more details.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:13, Wed 30 Mar 2016.