Hello everyone. I'm your newest player.

The GM and I spoke and he said he really wanted a blade singer to round out the group, and I agreed control was needed. We also thought that someone who could control somewhat from melee would fit a group of scoundrels like ours better than some mage in a robe. :)

I also noticed this group is melee heavy, which is good because I will do better if you guys grant me combat advantage.

My character is an Eladrin, and I'm making him now. Got most of the sheet done but still wondering about some themes. I'm thinking of the one where it lets my fey step take one of you with so we can set up quick combat advantage, or I can remove you from a pinch. But that is still being worked on. But he will have some decent single target control like making people fall prone, slowed, more slid 3 spaces for instance which should again work well with this group's melee composition.

Background wise I'm fleshing things out but I'm thinking he came to the town trying to find some important relic that was stolen from his family/friends/people/etc and has hopes of using the thieves guild to help him locate it. He's not evil aligned, but is more neutral aligned so isn't afraid to steal and do other selfish things now and then but will be loyal to friends, family, and allies and won't kick puppies and such. I considered good aligned but a thieves guild campaign seems better for neutral alignment I'm thinking.

Nice to meet you!

The closer I am to my quarry, the better off I am, but I am not a melee character :)

Cal will have happily signed on to help you find your missing relic. That seems up my alley.

@DM: Character sheet should be ready. (See also the character description for more detailed backstory stuff)

Barracus is basically a Sith Lord, and as such his goal is to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! (*thundercrack*)

...in a reasonable manner on a cost-effective timescale.  Step one of which is to join a group with an infrastructure he can subvert to his purposes (why hello there Thieves' Guild).

As such he's going to be everyone's best friend!  He'd be more than happy to help regain your various plot coupons.

Let's not retrieve them.

The theft put Baldin on the outs with his hold, but that frees him up to adventure. Barris doesn't want the texts, because they're only useful to someone seeking dark and worrisome power, who also understands runic magic. And there's every chance that whoever took the texts won't ever be able to find the runes to which they allude.

I mean, they probably will, of course, but getting the texts back won't prevent that.

I don't want to set up lame fetch quests, just backstory and potential rumblings of something that can blow up on us later.

As Gentleman Barracus puts it I see the sacred text as being a plot coupon, or MacGuffin. Baldin's goal is to find the lost text and return it to the Hold, thus recovering his honor and reinstating his family in the clan, but that doesn't mean that it has to be used for a fetch quest.

It's simply a tool for the GM to manipulate the action as he likes. He wants the party in a certain area of the world, drop some clues and leads that the text or the thief is likely to be found in that area. In fact, unless the recovery of the text is part of some world threatening outcome then I would agree that recovering it is lame.

However when taking Baldin's quest in tandem with your background of what the text might be used for and add in the Gentleman's desire for world domination and Cal'alais' investigative nature I would say there's a good common thread as to why we would be together and the potential for a campaign that could extend all the way to Epic tier.

So I'm looking at the Prince of Genies paragon path from heroes of elemental chaos as a possible progression path moving into mid levels. It's really flavorful, and perhaps this bound being's vessel is the thing that Caylius is looking for and he just "incidentally" happens to find it and bond with it come level 10 or 11. And its class features seem really useful for a bladesinger too so both mechanically and role-play wise its interesting.

I'm thinking the spirit is a powerful noble or royal genie of some kind that long ago pissed off the Seelie Court or an Archfey in Caylius' familial lineage or some other group Caylius has ties to, and despite its awesome power it got a little too arrogant and got bound up - and tightly - by some VERY pissed off Eladrin into a special vessel (a lamp, gem, amulet, whatever mcguffin works) and it cannot be freed as easily as normal genies in a lamp. However, its power could still potentially be tapped into and there was some Eladrin infighting over it between two main factions related to the lineage that sealed it so the Eladrin decided to avoid an internal schism and sealed it away but somehow someone or something found it and stole it thinking they could use it for wishes. The plus side is this thing's power is NOT easy to tap into like a normal genie lamp would be as it needs to bond with someone of the right bloodline (like Caylius for instance). However, the downside is the thing could still be harnessed in rituals to squeeze some amount of power out and misused against the world and the Eladrin especially.

So Caylius came to Needlerock to try and find it. He is part of the strong lineage that sealed the genie initially but somehow due to luck as much as anything is able to claim ties to both of the factions that fought over and now watch over the vessel so he's one of the few people that neither faction would protest claiming the genie vessel as he has familial ties to both sides. And while its full power cannot be harnessed by a normal person, it can still potentially be used as an arcane power source or something similar by a saavy enough group or individual so the Eladrin want it recovered and either bonded to one of the right lineage or put back into storage as either would prevent its power from being wielded against them or misused against the world.

Thoughts?

In reply to Caylius Valveria (msg # 43):

I could see that integrating into a campaign story, I mean, two MacGuffins, one an almost unlimitless power source and the other a major runic text on undeath. What could go wrong if they came together?

Maybe the former can power a ritual involving the latter? How's THAT for a tie-in?

Maybe both being stolen were part of a bigger conspiracy or plot that will somehow incidentally get solved some time around level 10? :P

Hey guys...are any of you taking the nature knowledge skill? How about thievery?

In reply to Caylius Valveria (msg # 46):

I took Thievery. Runepriests are one of a handful of classes that have it as a class skill.

I have thievery as well. I assumed that was a mandatory :)

I also have a natural bend toward nature but I didn’t take it as a trained skill.

I will have wisdom 12 dex 14 with more dex over time. I can take nature training if you guys have thievery.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:21, Mon 04 Jan 2021.

In reply to Caylius Valveria (msg # 49):

I'm the other way: 16 Wisdom, 12 Dexterity, with Wisdom to increase.

In reply to Cal'alais Eltharin (msg # 48):

Thieves guilds tend to have many streams of income. I went with the con people out of their money, and if that fails lean on them approach.

I'm still tweaking the character.

I'm having a issue with theme. I really like my prince of genies idea it's the perfect tie in for why he's in the city. But it wants elemental origin or diplomacy training and I can't waste a skill training on diplomacy and will have to take an elemental theme to change his origin...I'm thinking watershaper or windbender. But I'd prefer illhurian guardian it is easy to reflavor into searching for the genie vessel and I like the eladrin fey step focus like I can take one of you with when I teleport...like drop ourselves behind enemies or escape being surrounded etc.

So still deciding.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:05, Tue 05 Jan 2021.

In reply to Caylius Valveria (msg # 52):

How do you know how the roleplaying will take you in the next 11 levels? It might become desperately important for you to train in Diplomacy.

But if the paragon path is important to you now, despite being years of game time away, is there a reason you can't take a background that gives you Diplomacy as a class skill?

Edited to add: I understand that the full progression of a 4th Edition character is something people enjoy doing and seeing play out. I'm assuming that some allowance has to be given for uncertainty, though. I mean, we could all die early on. Or our DM could be one who enjoys doling out extra feats and skills where it makes sense.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:22, Tue 05 Jan 2021.

I have a question about that.

backgrounds give it as a class skill but that doesn't mean that you're trained in it right. I think it requires training and my understanding was I have to use up one of my three initial trainings or take a feat. I did consider taking charisma 12 and dumping wisdom and taking diplomacy trained however. and I suppose I'm not afraid of using one or two feets the fat note is skill training for example I might end up taking thievery to represent skills that he learns after joining the thieves guild for instance where is that character creation he wouldn't have the skill so I feel like the mechanics would be supporting the narrative in that choice. Maybe I can do something with diplomacy that way too like maybe the guild teaches him how to be a little more smooth or something.

In reply to Caylius Valveria (msg # 54):

A background can give you an extra class skill, but yes, you still have to choose it as one you take at character creation.

It makes sense to be trained in Thievery before or after joining the Guild. In the one hand, they probably offer training, on the other hand why would they take someone who wasn't already trained? The guild training could be represented by our improvement over time.

I don't understand the point about ability scores. Those don't need to change. Paragon paths in 4th Edition don't depend on ability scores, for the most part.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:28, Tue 05 Jan 2021.

I'm gonna take all this feedback into consideration tonight and try to finish up the character. I think I'm more comfortable now with not having everything I need up front as I can use feats to make skill tweaks. I don't have "a build" in mind not all levels pre planned. I really like the genie vessel tie in though for his background so will build toward that holistically.

In reply to Caylius Valveria (msg # 56):

Cool.

To our GM: do you want us thinking about magic item wishlists? My preference these days is to really have to work for the items I think I need for the adventure, not just get them because I'm "supposed to." Like, if things go wrong, I could wind up behind the "expected" curve, and maybe have to take risks to get back on it.

This can't be more than academic for a while, but none of the runepriest at-wills increase in damage at epic level.

I'm really glad for all these plot ideas, and I plan to incorporate everything I can!

Just as a reassurance,  thievery and Stealth are not required skills by any stretch of the imagination.  I'm happy to reward creative solutions to problems, and the heist-mission intro has multiple solutions.

Barris, I prefer not to use Wishlists or build expectations.  When you guys find an interesting magic item, I want questions to come up about "how do we use this?".  When you commission a magic item from one of the many craftsmen (or make it yourselves) I want it to feel like an achievement in and of itself, rather than a blip in your radar.  There will be lots of interesting junk, and certain fights might give components you can use to shortcut the cost of building an item you want.

I do feel you on the at-will powers,  tho.  Imma houserule something on it, if we get to there.

In reply to Guildmaster (msg # 59):

Yeah, it's not a huge deal.

I probably won't use really random stuff or commission something unless I get desperate. But I enjoy getting desperate.

As for the at-wills, I think it was probably an oversight, but it might have been related to the idea of not increasing augmentable at-wills at level 21. Maybe having versatility is expected to make up for raw damage, hence why the psionic striker doesn't use augmentation.

I'd prefer to have it be a surprise on white items I find as it makes it feel more immersive and realistic.

In reply to Caylius Valveria (msg # 61):

It's still surprising to me, even with a wishlist, because I tend to put down a lot of options for things I'd enjoy using.