Or for just any sort of general chatter.

I was blown away to check RPOL 4 hours after placing the application and finding a whole wall of applications. There are a lot of great folks out there looking for games it seems! Because I already have about three times more applicants than players I can accept I'm turning off the player wanted ad since there have already been a lot of great applications and not enough space. I'll be sending out messages to people shortly.

For those who weren't able to get in, I was trying to prioritize getting a balanced party of people who also had that slot as their main interest as I didn't want anyone getting stuck playing a class they weren't passionate about. I had a lot of people proposing interesting characters and it was definitely hard to pick.

Thanks for the interest everyone!

Good morning folks!

Welcome to the Sword's Edge. Our ship will be setting sail this afternoon with a brief introductory post. No need to fret about rushing on your character sheet though, the introductory thread will just give people a chance to post about their arrival to the ship and what brought them there. No rolls or stats necessary. The actual starting thread will be in a day or two to allow folks the chance to make their characters.

There was a question regarding starting equipment. For now we'll go with the basic starting equipment.

I'm just getting back into the swing of running systems based RPGs on here, so I'm keeping things simple for the moment. Thus the one shot rather than planning something more grandiose!

Good to have everyone, I'm looking forward to getting to solving our high seas problem!

Another quick update as I've had another couple of questions regarding what rules are or are not allowed:

My approach this game is that I'm going to allow anything that's included in the books that are on the approved list, so long as it doesn't explicitly break the lore of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (After all, if I'm going to use a published setting I should really embrace the source material) So other than the Lucky feat, pretty much everything else is on the table.

So for the hit point dice, are we doing the roll for it or take the average plus your con modifier?

In reply to Faith (msg # 4):

They said:

With the numbers it's shown me today, I'm not even going to consider rolling for my HP.

Hi all.

Noticed your rolls for ability scores in the Dice Roller, Saulucian. That's not good. Maybe you could use standard array instead? What do you say, DM?

The DM let me swap an 11 and a 9 both to 15's.

Not to worry, we're not complete slaves to the dice here. I definitely want to make sure everyone has an effective character and gets a chance to shine. As Saulucian mentioned, I gave him a bump to a couple of scores since they were so painfully average.

Looks like a busy morning! We'll have those character sheets whipped up in record time. We still have a 5th player joining us, they'll get added when I get their name.

Do the other players have a preference between having a Bard or having a Druid with them on this sea voyage?

I'm interested in both and could play either.

One would be college of creation while the other would be circle of the land (coastal). I'm open to either and suggestion from the crowd.

If we really need skill monkey I could alsoo do College of Lore for 10 skill proficiencies...

If you're equally happy with either concept, which is the most important, I think maybe a druid? Limited social challenges aboard a ship. Additional healing would be welcome, although both classes can do that. Maybe a druid would have too much overlap with a sea cleric?

I'd go for Druid. Good utility either way, but more versatility.

From a roleplay interaction standpoint a druid would be fairly distinct from the rest of the group as well!

Looks like most people are pretty much done so I'll work on putting together the opening thread tonight. (For Naim who I know hasn't started yet no worries! If you at least have your stats rolled up soon then you'll be able to make a melee attack pretty quickly!) From my GMing experience on RPOL I've found that keeping momentum going is one of the most important things, in case anyone felt things were moving a little fast.

Oh and Faith, about your HP question! Jaryn put my response to his same question. You can take the average or roll, up to you. I forgot to reply as the answer was already up.

I'm also a fairly scatter brained GM, if I don't reply to something immediately it tends to get forgotten. For that reason I try not to read messages unless I have to time to respond immediately, but if you send a question my way and haven't heard anything for three days feel free to poke me again, odds are high that it slipped my mind.

Yeah, having played both classes before (though each subclass is different also), they both play very differently. I think I agree, I think that druid might be more fun for this game. But it's up to you. =)

Cool, thanks everyone. Druid Naim reporting for duty.

Ship's doctor or something reporting for duty (herbalism kit prof, healer's kit, medicine prof). Also scouting/crows nest spotting with Wild Companion

---

@Talon - I see starting equipment, given that hide and leather armor cost the same (10 gp), can Naim start with Hide armor to get him all the way to 16 AC with his shield?

NBD if not, just had to ask!

As they cost the same feel free to exchange the two armors!

Ha! You know it's going to either be really good or really, really bad when your first in-game roll is for initiative and you get a natural twenty. I see some fun 'whiff!"s coming in my future heh.

Off to an exciting start!

We'll see how the combat encounter goes! I forgot how much initial book keeping there is a the start of combat with getting initiatives and actions all sorted out! And boy, those numbers you folks pulled out, it looks like these will be a quick couple of rounds!
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:12, Tue 23 Mar 2021.

@Talon - are you going to tell us when to do round 2 or when you post Faith/crew5/Iclos can we just go?

How do you want us to show/note our Acrobatics/Athletics check results? Put them in our round 2 post or just an OOC post with the check results for those who have already gone this round?

Oh, good question!

As soon as the previous round summary has been posted you're welcome to post for the next round. I'll make it clear when combat has ended. Just include your footing roll in your combat actions for the next round, it doesn't apply for the first round, the wave didn't hit till the end!

I'm pretty sure I failed my Athletics check, believe I got a 9. So would my fire bolt have still cast?

In reply to Faith (msg # 21):

Talon said we can standup with 1/2 move, so I think you should be fine. Maybe just add an IC line about getting tumbled and standing or something? otherwise it'd be at disadvantage for prone.

Yup, your spell will still go off. From what I've read prone isn't so punishing in 5E, it mainly means if you fail and the crew goes before you that they'll get advantage on their attack. (Back in my 3.5 days I'm fairly certain it used ones whole turn to stand back up.)

Mainly I wanted to mechanically capture the fact that all of this action is taking place on a rolling ship in a storm!

Okay, edited my post to have Faith land on her ass on deck, she'll get up next round.

You can build a dice roller link that'll let you roll initiative for all parties involved, and just roll initiative on our behalf when combat starts to cut out some of the bookkeeping. You can quote my example to see how it's done.

Example: Group Initiative

that's pretty cool!

Oh wow, that's a handy trick, I saved that to play with later. There are a lot more fancy bells and whistles nowadays it seems, I was impressed a couple of you guys had the hyperlinks in your character sheets too.

strong start, but it was bound to happen, two 1's in a row :D

Oh ouch, I feel your pain man. But hey, you got em out of the way, right?

I know we're doing 'theater of the mind' and I'm not trying to complicate things, so figured I'd just ask and see what you said - the one that moved away from Jaryn, would they provoke an attack of opportunity? Are we using those?

Oh, yup it definitely would! Thanks for bringing it up, slipped my mind!

Haha perfect.

Jaryn's OA takes out the one attacking Naim which explains why I missed it so badly... it was already down :D

Don't forget that Shield spell I mentioned using as a reaction when I get hit. Saul don't care much for getting punched in the face unnecessarily. ;)

Good point! This is why I try to refrain from posting for players when possible! Amended the post so that Saul's reaction blocks the damage.

Naim, you can edit your post if that changes your healing priorities.

This is definitely why I started with combat to get back in the swing of managing actions in a play by post format. Normally I'm not a very combat heavy GM, but this is also D&D.

In reply to Talon (msg # 34):

Does the captain still look injured? if so I'll shift my healing to him.

I'd say for 'kill stealing' but you don't seem that broken up about it, lol.

I'm going to hold my action for this round. Pretty sure things will work out where the VC;s will be dead so I'm not really needed at the moment.

Feel free to post the action hold then, you can set up a contingency, something like "If any crew are still up by my turn, I attack them." In the rules it's called "Readying an action" as long as it's a cantrip there's no real downside to it. (Though readying a spell that uses a spell slot means the spell will be wasted if the contingency criteria isn't met.)

Plus posting is the fun part!

Edit: Naim, the captain looks pretty healthy at this time after your first big heal. I'll disregard the spell for now and you can let me know if you still want to cast it next round.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:48, Wed 24 Mar 2021.

In reply to Talon (msg # 38):

Talon - does the captain still look hurt? need to know so I can update my post please :D

Ha, I just edited my last post as I realized I had overlooked responding to you.

this does not bode well :D

No no, we got the worst rolls out of the way and now can roll better during combat. Be positive!

I'll update again this afternoon since 3 of the 5 of you have posted. We're moving fast, but I want to keep the early game momentum alive.

Also, color me surprised that no one made any sort so social check regarding that rescinded offer of a chest of gold! :P

Faith isn't one for social skills. Karma will take care of Mr. Goldenbough.

In reply to Talon (msg # 43):

Wrong alignment and situation. There's other things to take care of in the moment for Naim :D

Any number of my other characters would have joined the thieves' efforts after Faith and Iclos went on :D

Sorry, been sick and crazy busy at work. I'll try to catch up and post tonight or tomorrow, though I may not be able to post every day or multiple times a day.

Also - what the hell!??! LOL! We all rolled less than a 10 for initiative!!

Looks like I've got a lot of catching up to do here. I'll get caught up and posted as soon as I can.

OW, dang! Big hit, er bite!

Edit: Can Jaryn reach either of the still-standing crewpeople with the rough terrian without using a dash?
This message was last edited by the player at 05:01, Mon 29 Mar 2021.

You'll be able to reach them this turn with a normal move after you adjusted slightly last turn.

Combat is wrapping up quite a bit quicker than I expected! Clearly I've got some encounter tuning to do! (Though Xanthar's swore to me that these were at least fair encounters.)

This is nearing the end of what I had planned for the one shot, the rapid posting and quick combat resolution was much quicker than I anticipated, but as this was barely a week, we'll continue the adventure after the Sword's Edge reaches port. But that's getting ahead of myself! (I'll also tweak some of the combat information for the next adventure to hopefully make distances less confusing in this abstracted form.)

Happy to continue! I love the characters, setting, story and DM'ing.

Yes, I'm having a lot of fun in this game. I'd love to continue as well.

Talon - Naim healed Jaryn for 5 hp in that last round as a reminder.

Got that corrected!

I'd like to say I'll keep a sharper eye out... but realistically I'll probably keep making oversights so good to keep on it!

It's interesting getting back into structured system play. D&D definitely is balanced around having multiple encounters between rests so I'll have to give some thought for structuring future adventures. I'm definitely not one to throw out encounters just for the sake them, I want all the combat to be meaningful. (For example the way I structured this adventure: Encounter 1: Introduces the Problem, Encounter 2: Establish a little flavor that this ship had other passengers who had their own problems/goals Encounter 3: Resolve the problem.)

Someone should hurt crewman 2 since they're only at 1 hp :D

Can we currently see the area we're trying to get to?

Ignore that, I reread the prompt so the reason I was asking doesn't really matter.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:07, Wed 31 Mar 2021.

What a bunch of total crap rolls! Sheesh! Sorry gang. Jaryn is going to be NO help.

Iclos doesn't have a strong claim on the loot. Healing potion should go to someone without healing spells. Iclos is thick as a block (but very wise) so investigation is not his thing. If anything Iclos wouldn't decline one of the Water Breathing potions.

Was that 17 gp each or total?

17 gold to each of you! I'm going to be generous on the loot side of things to try and offset the slower pacing of RPOL.

And I edited the post to clarify, but in case someone reading it before then: I counted Naim's 20 as 2 successes regarding the Athletics checks. (Though the old rule of "A natural 20 on a skill check doesn't guarantee success" still holds true, so don't expect to be walking up any walls, balancing on clouds, or other impossible things just because a natural 20 is rolled :P!)

Those green vapors will start rising up again. You've still got a few seconds left before it becomes a concern. It didn't take long to go through the wizard's pockets.

With the cargo secured and the storm passing, the green vapors aren't a threat anymore as the urgency of the moment has passed. As no skill checks were rolled to dig into the matter more, what exactly happened will remain a mystery it seems! :P

Wrapping up the first adventure there. As it was so quick we'll do another quick one shot! I'll have that next thread opened before too long.

In the meantime I've opened a loot thread where you can continue discussions on the loot distributions.

Hope everyone enjoyed the first leg of our adventure, thanks for bearing with me on the many small oversights! I'm enjoying getting back into the swing of things.

And thanks for keeping things going while I was completely out of pocket to attend the funeral last week.

In reply to Saulucian Bensvelk (msg # 62):

Condolences on your loss!

Hello. Does the Constitution loss come back with rest?

Edit: Also, I guess I'm fine with the loot thread resolution since it's closed already, lol.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:46, Sat 03 Apr 2021.

Or do I have to have like Lesser Restoration cast on me?

Also, do we pay the Lifestyle Expenses for the week and a half, if not working (or for the time we're not working of it) or are we handwaving it?

Your constitution will have naturally healed. It was mainly dangerous if there had been a few failures.

And no, don't worry about lifestyle costs as it's a one shot if we do something longer term we can discuss if that's an aspect people would find entertaining.

I'll get a post in the opportunity thread tonight, busy family day today!

As 3/5ths of the group have posted I'll be updating before too long!

Hello. Are magic items for sale in town and if so do we have prices for them (or are we using the downtime rules from Xanathar's instead which means it takes like a week and we can't do that right now)?

As there aren't any gold prices listed we'll say they aren't available for purchase in this one shot. It may be something to look into the future. Reading through the books, I got the impression that magic items are intended to be fairly rare, but RPOL is also pretty slow. It might become possible to purchase fairly common sorts of magic items.

I'll likely get the main thread updated in the next couple of hours.

Time to stock up on healing potions, then.

No word from Faith for a few days so I'll be removing her and bringing on one of the folks from our wait list. Sinceno has been hiring other folks too it will seem!

Hello all,

I will be jumping in in the aforementioned character's stead. From the sound of it I have been hired by the same individual and should be meeting you where you are shortly (Once I'm all approved and what not.)

Just wanted to shout hello and let you know I'm excited to be joining you all on this adventure :D

Welcome aboard. What class/spec are you playing?

Playing a crusherlock archaeologist on the search for eternal life.

Mechanically I can move things around the field a bit for now and know a lot about dungeons and ruins and such. Just a good ol fashion blasty boy with a bit of a twist.

Wtf is a crusherlock archaeologist?

*googles*

Googling it myself, I see that it is not a commonly used term yet and my friend was wrong...

Basically he built out a Warlock patron of the genie, dao specifically for the bludgeoning damage, and took the Crusher feat so he could always move things around whenever he hit them. When he brought it to the table he called it a crusherlock and I just thought that was a thing until you questioned it lol. So this character build emulates his but without all the evil intentions crap he put behind it. Still out for myself but not to hurt folks.

The archaeologist part is just a background that I am now realizing comes from a book not on the approved list. So I may need to adjust that.

Edit: Thats what I get for speed reading through the character creation thread. My bad
This message was last edited by the player at 01:23, Sun 11 Apr 2021.

I'll add action tomorrow, just realized you wanted actions too.

Genie patron (Dao) with the Crusher feat and archaeologist... took me a minute to figure the term but it makes sense :D

Yeah, it makes a lot more sense now. I was like, "what level of homebrew malarkey just walked in here!?"

on the archaeologist thing, I mean custom backgrounds are a PHB rule, so you can essentially create it even if Talon won't just allow that background itself.

Though for my games I tend to allow whatever background even if limiting the other books... let people do their character history however is my general rule.

That said... this is Talon's game, so check with them :D
This message was last edited by the player at 17:52, Sun 11 Apr 2021.

Welcome aboard!

I do homebrew backgrounds all the time. The options in the PHB are nice, but they don't come close to covering all walks of life.

The archeologist background will be fine. I do actually have access to that one via a PDF, but like other folks have mentioned, the background is less a concern than if people applied for the game and wanted to use a feat or spell they'd found from some dark concern of the untested internet.

I'll have to look up what the book suggests for custom backgrounds, I didn't recall that rule from when I browsed through!

I mostly use Beyond these days, so I don't have page #'s but in chapter 4 just before the Acolyte entry it has this:

So basically you take a standard background feature/equipment and then customize the skills/tools/languages/personality traits. Or you work with DM to create a custom feature, but I never really find that part necessary personally. One of the published ones almost always works for me, maybe with a skill or tool swap here or there.

Note to self: This is why there should be multiple threats. :P I shudder to think how this is going to go when my combat encounter balancing swings the other direction!

Sorry about that, unexpectedly had to work yesterday and then the usual stuff today. Jumping in now, post may take a few minutes.

Huh. I could have sworn I marked that down, but my last post before the one you healed me in shows the same damage.

Also, I'm super-tired today and updated my AC to 26 at first instead of the hit points, lol. Jaryn gets harder to hit the more damaged he is! =P

Things have quieted down. No word from our DM for some time now.

In reply to Iclos Scarcreek (msg # 89):

Yep. It's generally a sign that the game is dead, but it could be the DM getting sick or reacting poorly to a vaccine, so I'll wait a bit longer before I start making the tombstone.

I tend to just shrug. Things happen. Even if the game lies quiescent for a while no reason it can't come back in weeks or months later if/when the DM gets more time.

I'd like to keep playing Naim for sure I know that :D

I've been playing on this site for close to 20 years, and only twice have I seen a game make a significant comeback and not peter out again within a month. It's like a habit that you either stay on top of or it's gone.

Hey there. My job had some recent changes and I'm finding the new responsibilities soaking up most of my mental energies. Not entirely unexpected which is why I mentioned running things as a one shot here. So no one is in suspense I'm going to fold things up here. Thanks for joining me in our brief adventure upon the high seas!

Thanks for letting us know, and thanks for the fun, boss!

Good luck to you.

Sorry to see it close down, but thank you for the fun and for letting us know.

In reply to Talon (msg # 93):

Thanks Talon! Sorry to see this go as I was enjoying the characters, but totally understand!