Hello all,

I was hoping that we could lightly discuss characters and concepts. Characters will begin at level 3 with max hp, 200 gp and 1 common magical item.

We will use the below stat array.

16, 15, 15, 13, 12 10.

Hello everyone. I’ve a few different concepts for characters.  My main one is elf (custom linage) echo knight 5 and arcane trickster to finish out.  Second concept is straight soul knife. And the third I have in mind is a Fariy shepherd druid. If none of those seem to fit with the group I can always change it up.

In reply to Lord_Sanduzun (msg # 2):

Welcome Lord S, anything specific you would like to see from me to keep you interesting in the game and the material that I post?

Hi all, I'm excited for this game concept :)

We should probably figure out what our 'guild' is like. I personally like the idea of a more mercenary organisation but can get behind a thieves guild as well.

I'm thinking generally self interested or self righteous personality types but I'd likely play a custom lineage "human" as one of these depending on what I think best fits the party:
* conquest paladin, possibly multiclassing after the level 7 aura of conquest
* trickery cleric
* some sort of warlock, maybe a hexblade or undead. Perhaps a full caster if we don't already have one.
* either a sneaky ranger like a gloomstalker or a suitable rogue, though I doubt we won't have one of these already!

I'm thinking someone who likes to feel powerful and wants to be rich even if it's only as a way of keeping score. Possibly a street urchin or criminal background with a soft spot for innocent children. I can also see a bit of the "steal from the rich and give to the poor" mentality but more on the stealing and less of the giving except where it helps them gain some sort of status or feeling of power.

I've got a handful of concepts I'm considering as well. I'm in Texas where we're having Snowpacalypse 2.0, so my home internet is down and my phone's data connection is up and down every few minutes, so my activity will be spotty until the ice melts.

The concepts I'm looking at, in no particular order right now:

[*] Wraps, Earth Genasi Twilight Cleric - healer, melee fighter, low on skills, high on thrills
[*] Leaper, Goliath Echo Knight Fighter - tactical fighter for both melee and ranged combat, and perfect for getting places we're not meant to be (may change his race to something better suited for climbing). Great in combat, less so in skills.
[*] Unnamed, Lore Bard - skills monkey with utility/healing magic. I also have a variation of the same character using a different subclass, more focused on charm/control magic. Not great in combat.

I've got a few more I'm milling over too, but those are the ones speaking to me the most right now.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:52, Fri 04 Feb 2022.

Hello all. At the moment I’m still looking at several different concepts. Probably will go with whatever ends up being needed but at present looking at Grave Cleric or Artificer. But that could change.

In reply to Lord Psynister (msg # 5):

Dang Lord P-be safe!

Let's rank out what everyone whats to play. List your top three concepts in order of fav so that we can arrive at a conclusion about what everyone whats to play-does that sound fair?

No worries on the Guild type, I can create something more mercenary that broadens the scope a bit of your relatively newly formed guild.

Quick question are there any restrictions on race, class or so on?

I think most games end up following the mercenary concept already, which is why I was looking more thieves' guild. Mercenaries and urban adventure don't mesh quite the same.

Seeing what the others are considering, I'm going to rework one of mine a bit. I think I'm going to pursue the healer role, but we have a lot of nice damage builds proposed, so I'm going to ease off of the frontline fighting healer a bit and dip more into spells and skills. I'll be back with a priority list after I've done that rework.

looks like we have a lot of good concepts.

To answer an above question



For my self I like a good story. Keep the world real. Make us a part of a bigger whole and not just the small focus. Repeat NPCs are a boon in a game like this. More so if they are fleshed out with some background. Not saying all NPCs need to be this way, but ones we deal with a good bit. As far as larger world. New traders from far off lands and news work great to build a wider scope without having to build a huge amount of the world.

Anyways I hope that helps.








So my thought here is that as a fledgling guild we will be looking to take on contracts (basically sets us as Mercs.) But the end goal of these contracts should be to gain influence.
To me that means we may trade favors as much as coin for jobs. All jobs should fall under the Guild name and credit is clearly made to the guild and not the member/s that carried it out.
We'll also need to consider the types of jobs our guild will want to take on. Do we only do law abiding jobs, or do we take any job no matter what it entails? Just somthing for us to consider.

Also Acquisitions INC I think would be a huge addition to this style of game.



Okay. So Mine in order and a bit of added detail.

1: Custom Linage Elf. Echo Knight with Arcane Trickster multiclass. My plan with this build is to utilize the Double Scimitar and Revenant Blade feat. That mean taking two weapon fighting and The character will be played more along the lines of an Assassin. The main goal being sudden first strikes (and hopefully death) from hiding.

2: Fariy. My initial thought was going Circle of the Shepherd for this one. I'm not overly sure how well the concept would fit in with a Thieves Guild though. Thus I've actually shifted on this character and want to do a Cleric of the Trickery Domain. I feel this would fit in the game better and offer some interesting Role Play opportunities. With this build I'd focus more on being a support character rather than front line.

3: Half Elf Soul Knife. I'm considering a couple of level dips for this build. So this one I think could be a bit of fun. I want to play him as a con artist and less combat focused. Actually He will have an avoidance of violence in general. Thus appearing to be unarmed. I'd focus on more Cha based skills than the stealth skills.

Note: Reading this through before posting it may come off vague, please let me know.



An absolutely fair point, a thieves guild is fine with me so long as it includes an appropriate amount of thuggery and other crime that doesn't limit us to pickpocketing and heists (though some of that is nice too).

Given the interest of other players in cleric and/or a healer type character I'll take that off my list. I really think we should have at least one trickery cleric in a thieves guild as the flavour and utility is just too good to pass up.

Assuming someone else is playing a cleric, my preferences would be a Custom Lineage Human or Variant Human:
1) Conquest Paladin. I'd go dexterity based with light armour and pick up stealth proficiency either through a background or a v-human skill.
I see this character as "the muscle", mostly using intimidation and force as their tools rather than social finesse. they're more likely to smash and grab than crack the safe.

2) Undead Warlock. Resident creep and scary person. I'd probably go with Vecna (or similar) as a patron and be more interested in gathering knowledge than coin.

3) Obligatory sneaky thief type if we don't already have one. Probably a Gloom Stalker Ranger or Arcane Trickster Rogue.



I think this is the right idea and I absolutely think if we're leaning towards thieves guild that we would take unlawful jobs as well but maybe not take official credit. Unless we want to go full Robin Hood, I think we're not the good guys.

I'm also a fan of the Acq Inc stuff. Given the game is not currently rated Mature or Adult we'll probably not be going too dark so this sort of light-hearted content or bureaucratic style villainy could be quite fun.

I did some rebuilding on mine characters.

1) V Human (Fey Touched) Circle of Stars Druid. Skill proficiency is still low, but ability scores moved around making him much more versatile on the skills front. He will be a support character with damage potential when necessary. He has plenty of healing and can help with ingress/egress with spells like Pass w/o Trace, Fog Cloud, Entangling Roots, and Silvery Barbs. Since he's a druid, he can shake up the spell selection every day, based on the job.

2) Kobold Draconic Sorcerer. He likes to light things on fire. And when I say "things", I'm talking about his enemies. He has high damage, low versatility due to the limited spell selection, but the things he does do, he does well. Send him out to make a hit. Send him to burn down a competitor's warehouse, to destroy evidence, or just as a high profile distraction. You need buildings on fire to make an escape? How many, and can he stay and watch?

3) Cust Lineage (Telekinetic) Valor Bard. Skills-focused, high Int/Cha. Poor damage output, but good buffs/debuffs for combat, and high versatility.

When I made the LFD post to start with, aiming for a thieves' guild concept, I assumed the unlawfulness was fully implied. If we were only doing lawful stuff, we wouldn't be thieves in the first place. I think by doing unlawful stuff we A) get to stick to the primarily urban setting, B) get to have our version of recurring villains essentially be the law enforcement and/or political leaders of the town (not to mention rival guilds), C) get to become far more invested in the NPCs and locations within the city itself. You don't just offer protection to the warehouse district because you want the coin, you do it because that's where Little Jimmy's grandfather lives, where Fat Tony works with the guy who forges documents for us, and because Slick Riddik's shop is there and that's the primary front for our smuggling operations.

I think the credit always goes to the guild, from the start. We'll have reputations within the guild, but to the outside world we're not individuals, we're Shadows.

so going through the classes we listed and I think this would be our ideal set up

Rosslington your Conquest Paladin (1st option)
Lord Psynister your Druid (1st option)
And for my self The Con Man (3rd option)

I feel this would give us the muscle we need. A healer that can double down as a spy and do some of the stealth we need. A party face that can back up the druid with the stealth.

What I see as second best would be

Rosslington your Undead Warlock (2nd option)
Lord Psynister your Telekinetic Valor Bard (3rd Option)
And my self The Elf eco knight/ arcane trickster (1st option)

With this set up we would have some magical might (all 3 characters). Party faces in both the warlock and bard. We would double down on muscle (bard and my trickster knight). And we would still have someone who can do all the harder stealth stuff.

In reply to HEarlPendelfield (msg # 8):

No restrictions.

Are Strixhaven backgrounds available? I wouldn't mind having more than just 2 cantrips.

In reply to Lord Psynister (msg # 15):

I have a dislike of Strixhaven but I think that allowing the backgrounds found within would be fair. Additionally, I do not have any of the Acquisition INC material so it would be unlikely for us to see their inclusion here.

Apologies.

I don't care for Strixhaven either, I would take it purely for the extra spells.

I'm going to lock in the Stars Druid for mine. I feel pretty cheesy doing a race with a feat while using a background with a feat though, so I'm going to swap to a half-elf for my race.

Attempting this from my phone, so I will be brief.

Looking at the following in order of preference.

1) Half-Drow Artificer(Armorer subclass)
2) Drow Rogue (Phantom subclass)
3) Hill Dwarf Grave Cleric

What do you guys think.

Yeah, I feel the same way. It does feel bad that the backgrounds can be very mechanically powerful compared to most others but don't really fit with a lot of character concepts. The powergamer in me really wants to take Lorehold Student but it doesn't feel right. I do wonder if WOTC'll be trying to balance that out with reworks of the older backgrounds in the updated sourcebooks they intend to put out in the next few years.



As Psyn has locked in Star Druid I'm happy to lock in Conquest Paladin.
As said before I'd go with a dexterity build and will also have high charisma, going with the Criminal background so that I will have access to both stealth and thieves' tools. I'm likely to pick up Telekinetic with my racial feat in order to shove people around the battlefield or in front of oncoming carts, this'll also go nicely with my fear effects at later levels.

Sand, I actually think your Echo Knight/Arcane trickster would work really well here as well,  but if you prefer your Con Man idea you should go with that.


I like the Grave Cleric as a full caster that compliments the party best so far and I'll feel better about not going Lorehold Student knowing you'll be able to stick next to me with Spirit Guardians later on.
That being said, all of these will work great so you should play the one you are most interested in.

My druid's Cha is currently sitting at a 13. I could swap his Int/Cha in order to be a face if we're lacking that, but lots of skills are tied to Int. I don't mind doing it, I'm just throwing that out there.

I'm slightly in favor of the echo knight over the soul knife, but I think either one would work just fine. When we're together, Pass w/o Trace gives us enough of a Stealth buff to make up for characters not being specifically built for such. When it comes to individual work, of course, that goes out the window.

I'll have a 16 or likely 18 charisma at character creation (I'll actually do the build when we're decided) as well as proficiency in a couple of charisma skills so can easily be a 'face'.

A 13 Cha for you is probably plenty.

Edit: Here's what I've got as a draft
https://drive.google.com/file/...hOG/view?usp=sharing

For the common Item I'm tossing up between the Horn of Silent Alarm and a Clockwork Amulet.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:59, Sun 06 Feb 2022.

 Yeah 13 cha for you will def be enough.

I plan to go with the Con Man. Rouge 3/Bard x Thinking Whispers Bard will be a nice combo for this. I'll be maxed out for Cha on this build and have all the social skills. I'll go Half Elf and pick up the Charlatan background.




I think any and all of these would go nicely with what we have. So pick the one you like the most.

All fine choices. I have a slight preference for the Artificer simply because it has easy access to some magic items like Bag of Holding that could come in handy for jobs. It's also unique compared to the other selections, we don't have anyone doing arcane or an Int-based class otherwise.

Both of the others are nice too, different strengths for different situations. I haven't gotten to play a Phantom yet, but they look cool. Clerics are one of my top 3 classes, and their spells are awesome, so I'll never dissuade someone from playing one.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:37, Sun 06 Feb 2022.

If we have any further questions please feel free to PM to be directly on posting them here. I would like to start creating characters and working out character quirks, questions that happen during creation.

Let's begin with everyone posting their character's name, lineage, and class so that I may get everyone added.

Remember we will begin at level 3, max hit points, and 3 points of inspiration.

Nickname: Shim
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Druid 3, Circle of Stars
This message was last edited by the player at 20:35, Sun 06 Feb 2022.

Name: Dysmia
Lineage: Human (Custom Lineage)
Class: Paladin (Conquest)

Ok so been playing around a bit with my concept and have it all figured out. Changing up the race slightly to add a bit more of fun RP.

Name: Avex
Race: Changling
Class: Soul Knife Rouge

Okay think I will stick with my first choice.

Name: Adragon
Race: Half-Drow
Class: Artificer

As we finish up with our Session Zero and begin making characters. Please let me know when you are finished so that I can set your languages and review your trinket

Okay, I think Adragon is pretty much finished.

I’m just mulling over a few items but otherwise I’m done

For point of reference (as I’m a Changeling) My main Alias is Noel. He’s a Half Elf “merchant.” This will be the one the group openly deals with. Won’t be advertising that Avex is a changeling. I’ve a total of 5 different alias built for this character.  So should be fun. Think I’ll make a few notes on pics to switch between for each alias.

I have the sheet done on D&D Beyond, and a link to it in my character sheet. I've started the process of porting it over to here, and will get that finished up during lunch or after work. The languages are already in place, so those are ready.

I just rolled for the trinket, I'll look that up and get it added later as well.
11:21, Today: Shim rolled 67 using 1d100.  Trinket. – 67

I've got the majority of the build done as seen in the pdf I linked previously.
I'll aim to get everything copied across here within 24 hours.

I think my sheet is ready to go. I'm going to go in and add dice roller links to everything later, but that just makes it easier to use, it won't add or change anything.

@GM I think everything should be up to date in my character sheet now, please let me know if anything is missing or you need me to clarify or expound on anything.

I rolled a 22 for a trinket, I'm not sure which table you intend to use or if you have your own.
17:06, Today: Dysmia rolled 22 using 1d100.  Trinket.

For my common magic item I have selected the Horn of Silent Alarm (XGtE 127).



I'll likely do the same at a later time too, the initial bbcode set up is a pain but pays off in the long run.

@GM I'd like to suggest that we have a thread called "Quick Sheets" where each character can have one post to keep track of resources like spell slots, lay on hands, consumables etc.
Players can also have a Private to GM line in there for anything that's secret.
I've had this sort of thing in previous games and it has really helped to have a one stop shop for all the things that have to be tracked and looked up commonly. It also helps the players to have an idea of available party resources.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:20, Wed 09 Feb 2022.

I forgot about the magic item, and I had something cool picked out, too... Time to go digging again, I guess.

I don't remember which item it was that I had settled on before, but I think I'm going to go with the Horn of Silent Alarm for mine.

Twinsies!
Not a bad idea actually as we could use them to signal each other during heists.

Great idea, I love this!

I am in a game with praguepride and they post combat scenes like this. This is hugely helpful to players and I plan to duplicate it:



Talitha fires off a trio of arrows and misses as does Faeli's Telekinetic projectile.

Razyll's holy blast burns the creature further causing boils to bubble on its skin, popping to release sizzling black ooze and pus onto the stone floor.

Arialis comes in with her dual blades while Tristen tries to pin him from the other side but the three-armed goblin parries perfectly.

Kaddock meanwhile fires off a pair of arrows and while parrying both fighters the goblin dodges both arrows.

The goblins takes a swing at Arialis and then suddenly lurches backward. It knocks Tristen with enough force to cause the warrior to take a step back...right onto the rickety rotten wooden lid over a zombie pit. The goblin giggles a wicked high pitched laugh as the boards begin to crack giving Tristen just a split second to try and jump to safety....

Make a DC 20 reflex save and then a DC 15 Reflex check to avoid the pit! Arialis can also move up to aid another at the expense of a move and action on her turn.

The first reflex save lets you jump to the side without any other penalties. If you fail that then The second reflex check is the "grab the edge" action which stops your fall but will then require Athletics (climb) checks to pull yourself up.


Round 3




Private to Character: Resource Tracker
Inspiration Points: 0/3
Other consumables: 0/2
Other consumables: 1/1

Cantrips: Daze, Detect Magic, Divine Lance, Light, Stabilize
1st Level: Heal, Sanctuary



This message was last edited by the GM at 14:41, Wed 09 Feb 2022.

You may use any ruleset for trinkets in the published 5e books.

22 A small wooden statuette of a smug halfling
From the good old PHB :)

Do you want character descriptions in Book of Shadows, or do you mean to put some other description entirely in there?

How's everyone doing?

I'm doing alright, all things considered. I'm looking forward to getting into this game :)

Doing well. Looking forward to playing.

Preparing some opening plotlines and characters please hang in there,

*grips edge of seat*

So... how about that local sportsball team?

Three strikes, scored a touchdown for the grand slam, got a trophy.

I liked when the one team tried to sport hard but the other team sported even harder.

glad being sick didn't mean I missed the start.

You're good, LS. Still waiting on the GM to pop back up.

See what I mean about the concept being cursed?

It is starting to look that way, yes.