"Come one, come all for the City of Skilled Hands welcomes you! You may have heard of the dangers besetting the ever-warm hearth of the north, but now Mount Hotenow is calmed, the orcs have been driven back, surely never to return, the Chasm has been sealed and the High Road is cleared! The city has weathered these storms and will do more than survive! Under the guidance of Lord Protector Neverember we are entering a new era, one in which we rebuild even grander than before! There are new guilds forming, still young and thirsty for enterprising members, there are lands and plentiful work. So come one, come all, your future lies in Neverwinter!"

-Advertising pamphlet found in Amn

Adrift Aboard the Sword's Edge is a stand alone adventure of a ship bound for Neverwinter which encounters problems during the last leg of its voyage. There is the possibility of this turning into a larger campaign, but for the time being we'll be starting with a more modest undertaking.

Setting: The game will be set in Faerun. Only materials from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide will be considered canon.

Game Style: This game will be combat heavy because lets be frank, combat is where D&D excels. Rather than fight this core trait of D&D, the game will be embracing it. With that said, I still would like to see rich roleplay and interaction, including in the combat. What this game will not have much of is diplomacy or puzzle solving.

Player Expectations: Your character is your own, play them as it appropriate. However, it's the players responsibility to bring a character who will fit into the adventure, so think of a justification for why the character would travel with this ragtag band or would engage in adventures. If they truly wouldn't? Best make a new character! Keep in mind that broody loners and silent protagonists are great for video games or movies, but less so in a collaborative tabletop game. Engage with your fellow PCs, ask them about themselves, react to things they do, you'll have more fun that way, trust me.

Character Creation

Accepted Source Books:
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
Player's Handbook
Xanthar's Guide to Everything
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything

Anything from these books will be accepted.*

*With the exception of the feat Lucky. In a format as slow moving as play-by-post I'd really rather not keep track of 3 free rerolls so it isn't going to be allowed.

Level: Characters will begin at level 3.

Ability Scores: Ability scores will be determined by rolling 4d6 and dropping the lowest result.

Starting Equipment: We'll be using the basic starting equipment for level one characters. Let's be honest, level three is the new level one anyways when it comes to 5E!

Combat: Combat will be handled using theater of the mind, so no physical game boards or miniatures. Instead combat will be described to explain how far or near things are to one another. It's less precise, but infinitely easier for the GM.

Also for the sake of expediency since play-by-post can really bog down in combat, enemies ACs and HPs will be openly displayed. Players should post any time they're able to, I as the GM will then put things into the proper order based on initiative after the fact.

Note: For ease of the GM, in your character biography tab (Those lines beneath your name) Please use the last line to indicate your HP. The first number being your current health, the second number being your maximum. So it'll look something like:

Gary the Great
Paladin extraordinaire
33/44

It's up to the player to update this! I'll use the current number displayed for setting up combats. Please be kind to your GM and keep this up up to date, the GM has enough work to do without managing players character sheets!
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:46, Sun 21 Mar 2021.

To keep things easily readable and universal across everyone's posts, here are some guidelines.

Posting Rate: This game is intended to move at a brisk pace. Expect to be posting every other day. During combat once all the players have posted or two days have passed the combat thread will be updated, whichever comes first.

Dialogue: Use some color for this just so it's easy to see when something is spoken. It doesn't matter if people share similar colors. I for one will be using Blue for most things.

Combat Information: For clarity, regardless of the flavor text you include in your message, at the bottom include a mechanical breakdown of what was done.

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Example 1:

John the Mighty lets out a roar so grand it must have been heard by the gods themselves. Hefting his mighty battle-notched axe in one hand, he charges headlong into combat, sweat and bloody flying as he swung his mighty weapon with all the fury of a true northern wildman. These goblins would never forget John! Especially as their ability to forget would soon be snuffed out. "I'll show you who is the best goblin slayer, Glen the Sneaky!" he bellows.

Initiative 16
John attacks Goblin 3: Attack 22 - Damage 11

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Example 2:

With a whimper Sally hurried towards the back of the tomb, away from those grasping mummy fingers. She really should have asked for more pay. Too late now though. Opening up her spell book she raised her voice above the din of battle and incanted the magic words. "Alakazoo!" her voice boomed through the dusty air. From her fingertips launched burning lines of fire, two struck the closest mummies and their dry wrappings combusted with a bright flare. The last ray went wild when Sally's hand trembled and narrowly passed over Glen's head. "Sorry, Glen!" Sally called out meekly to the singed dungeoneer. She'd buy him a pint at the tavern later to apologize.

Initiative 9
Sally moves as far from the mummies as she can
Sally casts Burning Ray
Burning Ray 1 - Attack 17 Damage 18
Burning Ray 2 - Attack 22 Damage 13
Burning Ray 3 - Attack 4 (Sorry Glen!)

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This message was last edited by the GM at 14:44, Sun 21 Mar 2021.