I think I'm going to play a barbarian! I've never done it before so I'm quite excited. And I'm all for knowing each other if that makes it easier. Probably human. I'm thinking I'll make her a bodyguard for hire, on temporary terms. She moves from job to job, preferring the nomadic lifestyle.

Gris, have you narrowed down your decision at all?

Uh, kind of the opposite actually...as I'm reconsidering my original character concept now.

Sorry >.>

If you have a preference, feel free to pick whatever you like and I'll work around you. :)

Glad at least one of us is decisive, Eri!

I'm currently leaning toward the Stars Druid. Twilight Cleric is amazing, so I considered doing that if you're going to remake Gris and Eri is going for a Barbarian (temp hp every round on a raging barbarian is insane), but I'm leaning more toward the druid at the moment.

Tbh, stars druid looks really good.

I think I will try to dual class, if that's okay.  I'll divide levels between Shadow Sorcerer and Hexblade Warlock.

GM, did Amur have its own language and, if so, would it be too meta to pick it as one of the languages our characters know?

Quick rules point: I’m going to say no to multiclassing.

As for a language, it would depend on your background. An archeologist that is studying Amur would likely know the language but a regular sailor would not.

Okay, thank you.

I was thinking about giving my character the cloistered scholar background from the sword coast adventurer's guide, but whether or not he specifically studied the Amur is debatable.  I wanted him to hail from the Dunnothi port city of Sirai, so Amur's fate could feasibly be of academic interest to him.  A cautionary tale maybe?

If there's no dual classing, I guess I'll go Shadow Sorcerer.  I've only played 1 Sorcerer before and that was a long time ago. :)

Edit - I'm also thinking variant human, if that's allowed.  Aiming to pick up the skilled feat, which would mean he starts with 4 languages (2 human, 2 cloistered scholar) and 8 skills/tools (2 sorcerer, 1 human, 2 background, 3 skilled)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:15, Thu 09 Sept 2021.

If you are going to be from one of the many libraries of Sirai, there should be no issue having a cursory knowledge of Amur. It would be similar to a layman's knowledge today of the Roman Empire. The main information is there but the details are fuzzy.

Amur spoke a dialect of Giant as their main language, though the melting pot effect means that multiple different languages were common in the city. Goblin might come in as a close second due the the prevalence of hobgoblin guards and watchmen.

No issue with variant human or the feat choice.

Which languages would be associated with the study of astrology?

Celestial is the language of the gods and heavens.

What are we doing for ability scores?

I’ll let you choose from 4d6(high 3), standard array, or (my personal favorite) the 24d6 dice pool.


Dice pool (24d6)
Assign as many dice as you want to an ability and roll for your score. Highest you can get is still 20 but you can ensure higher scores with more dice. Obviously you have to roll at least one dice. Abilities with only 1d6 have +3 added to the score. Word of warning, there are no do-overs with this method.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:08, Fri 10 Sept 2021.

Pool of 24 sounds...interesting.

My table game, before Covid, had a guy use it and his character got 20 and 18 for Strength and Constitution but was a 7 and 9 in Wisdom and Charisma. He basically roleplayed it like MCU Drax.

Sure, let's give it a shot.

00:07, Today: Wrenn Muernig rolled 7,14,17,13,14,7 using 3d6,4d6,5d6,4d6,5d6,3d6.  Ability Scores.

I've done more with less.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:09, Fri 10 Sept 2021.

I guess I'll try 24 dice too :)

2d6, 4d6, 4d6, 5d6, 4d6, 5d6

11:17, Today: Griswold Ortmann rolled 7,18,15,16,16,15 using 2d6,4d6,4d6,5d6,4d6,5d6.  Ability Scores (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha).

Well, okay.  With Variant Human that gets me:

7,18,16,16,16,16

Did I do this right?  I think I did roll above average, but only by 3.  That's pretty crazy Oo

Though, I guess 24 dice works out as 4 dice per stat, which is straight up better than 4 dice keep highest 3.

EDIT:
Also rolled for starting gold:

12:17, Today: Griswold Ortmann rolled 4 using 3d4.  Starting Gold (roll multiplied by 10, +10 gold from background).

Total of 50gp.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:17, Fri 10 Sept 2021.

Damn, I'd say the dice roller liked you.

Well, I think it was only 3 points over average, but I might be wrong.  And the gold roll was very poor.  Still, I think I managed to get what I needed.

Regardless, I am just about done with my character.  Still a couple of kinks to iron out.  But here's a little about what Wrenn and Eri's new characters would know, if they had spent even a little time with him:

Name: Khalazar Ul Atahbi
(Also known as: Old Man Gloam)

Place of origin: Sirai, Dunnothi

Appearance:
A very old human man, who relies heavily on his staff to stand and walk.  He has exceedingly long hair, eyebrows and beard.  All are translucent-white (think polar bear fur), thin and wispy.  He peers up from under said eyebrows with tired, misty eyes, whilst his honey, but dusty skin is like a landscape of valleys and mountains, covered in deep-set wrinkles.

He wears either travelling garb, or scholarly robes.  Both are unremarkable and dully coloured.

The strangest thing though is the way light seems to interact - or rather fails to - interact with him.  No matter how bright or direct the light-source, he only ever seems to be illuminated by diffused lighting.  No part of him ever gets cast into strong contrast and no part of him ever casts a shadow. Its as though a permanent storm cloud hangs over his head.

He and his belongings feel 'clammy' to the touch.

Personality:
Quiet and often curt, sometimes to the point of harshness.  Can be polite, though this often feels laboured unless in the right company.  Not overly inconsiderate of others, even favouring benevolence, but makes no secret that his own wellbeing is his first and foremost priority.  Loathes physical contact.

Background:
Khalazar is more than willing to talk about himself, though he is sparse on details and, considering his age, short on stories.  He tells how, when he was young and through no fault of his own, he was subject to a terrible misfortune.  An event doomed him to a fate worse than death.  However, at the 13th hour, thanks to an incredible twist of fate, he was spared.  Partially.  He now exists trapped between worlds, spending his life searching for a way to complete his restoration.  He makes particular note of the human scholar who was instrumental is his half-salvation and asks if you have heard of her.  You have not and it seems foolish for him to have asked, as he mentions she was already old when he was but a boy.

Old Man Gloam:
Khalazar's cold nature, age and physical...quirk, has resulted in many false rumours and fearful tales being told about him.  Mostly by children who enjoy scaring their friends with ghost stories of "Old Man Gloam who snatches children from their homes."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:10, Sun 12 Sept 2021.

How’s character generation coming?

Sorry I'm a little behind! I've been trying to get the house ready to sell. I should have my sheet done tomorrow I believe. Wednesday at the latest. I'm trying to get my nerve up to decide which method for ability scores I want to take my chances with. Dice rollers do not like me....

No rush at all. Just wanted to check in and see if y’all had figured out a common backstory yet.

My sheet is done, save the physical description stuff and making some decisions about his background traits.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/prof.../characters/57828801
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Mon 13 Sept 2021.

Okay, I've made Khalazar in D&D beyond too now.  It took a while as I had to homebrew a bunch of stuff that I have the books for but have not purchased on D&D Beyond (its kept private so not being shared with the community at all).

Anyway, here's the 'share' link for his character sheet, hopefully this works:

https://ddb.ac/characters/58138823/OUvZOg

Wrenn, it seems our characters might be acquainted through scholarly pursuits.  If so, that could make us friends, colleagues, or rivals?

Also, I love that we're starting as two super weak (Strength 7) scholarly characters that are (most likely) going to have to rely on Eri's character to do literally *all* the physical tasks.  Its a very evocative set-up.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:19, Tue 14 Sept 2021.

I have more or less all the books, so I can share them in the campaign if we're all doing DDB.