Welcome! The History & Overview thread fills in some more details about Coglinton, but I'm still trying to leave a lot up in the air so there's room for whatever details you all need to flesh out your backstories and play the characters you'd like to play. So please use this thread not only to discuss ideas for your characters but any thoughts you have on what or who else could be fun additions to our world here.

Woohoo, we're here :D

Now seeing the expanded background info, I've given a little more thought to my character!  Veracity is a young tiefling woman who has had a hard life in the caldera.  She was orphaned at the age of four when her elderly grandfather worked himself to death at a JP textile mill, and she was conscripted to work as a chimneysweep.  Tiefling children were sought-after for chimneysweep work, because not only were they small enough to shimmy down narrow flues, but they could also survive heat that would kill children of most other races.  It was a meager and cruel existence, and her only joy was sneaking into theaters to watch stage performances.  She decided she wanted to be an actress and so would practice impersonating the many and varied people she'd overhear about her work in Coglinton as a way to pretend it be somebody else.  It turned out she was pretty good at it.  So good, in fact, that she discovered a knack for a sorcery of guile and trickery she came to refer to as 'the Cunning'.

By her early teens she quit chimneysweep work and fell in with a thieves' guild, leaving her birth name behind to take up the 'virtue' name of Veracity.  The name was chosen ironically, because lies are an actress's trade and she puts them to good use in her ludicrous small-time con schemes.  Though the schemes resulted in disaster more often than not, Baz Cinderhorn took a liking to her and mentored that clever resourcefulness into something useful before it got her killed.  Now she's an angsty young woman with a talent for chicanery, a dislike for exploitative capitalism, and a fierce loyalty to her surrogate father, Baz.

That's my rambly character concept so far!  Left the details vague to leave room for connections with other members of the Cinderhorn crew, which I would be happy to work on with y'all :)  I'm kinda torn between Creation and Eloquence bard, and am also between Urchin and Charlatan for background.

Hi all. Happy to be forging a new character with all you fine folks. Also, some great and inspiring world building from our DM here! I'm looking forward to seeing all this play out.

Here are my initial thoughts for my character:

Pançaronz Proclaatiz is a strong draconic name, which is a stark contrast to his physicality. Not only is he a small humanoid of mostly kobold blood, he has poor health; most likely on account of being born in the most poisoned and polluted of slums, amidst the slag heaps of the lowest slopes.

After a terrible fire in the area, this sickly kobold child was apparently the sole survivor from the little hovel he had shared with his family. He was rescued by a human constable by the name of Ljubina. Childless herself, she took him home and raised the little kobold with her husband Felík.

(The fire could be an old plot hook of some kind. Maybe many were sick in that area and someone set a fire to cover up something?)

Although they had his birth records, the two humans just called the child Procz, which was easier for human tongues, even if his foster father was well-versed in the Draconic language. A historian, small-time mage and sage, Felík knew Draconic well. Many years ago, Felík had helped sort and identify magical treasures from Skakatoa's vast hoard.

(Felík has a secret book that Procz has discovered, to be discussed with our DM.)

Although they were not warm and affectionate people, they nursed Procz to some health. Confined to bed for most of his adolesence, the young kobold only had his foster parents to talk to, and being inquisitive and curious he prodded both with questions pertaining to their lines of work.

As a young adult, and in somewhat better health, he started limping through Coglinton, getting to know it. Inspired by his (now retired) foster mother, Procz wanted to become a constable himself. He was turned away, of course, with a substantial amount of ridicule. Officially, he failed physical tests and health requirements.

Procz did not give up, and stared patrolling Coglinton on his own, looking for criminal activities where he could intervene. He soon came across some thief guild smugglers and warned them to surrender. They did not, and Procz defended himself as best he could (with some minor magic) when they attacked.

He managed to stay alive until some real constables arrived. An officer in the constabulary, who seemed to know his foster mother, debriefed him. Learning about what had transpired, the officer waived the requirements, and let Procz join the constabulary after all. Procz didn't realize the officer had ulterior motives. (Maybe they think Procz can be easily manipulated, or plan to use him for something where they need someone disposable.)

Other notes:
-I was thinking maybe Procz has a police dog which he can ride?
-I also have an idea for a discovery Procz has made in his foster father's library. I'll send a PM to our DM with some notes and ideas we can discuss off the open board.
-I'm happy to discuss connections with other characters, if anyone can find hooks here they can attach to.

Edit: After some thought, I think I'm pretty much determined to go with wizard.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:58, Thu 16 Mar 2023.

Kreovliam (Kreo) was once just another face in the crowd, working a thankless job down in the lower districts. But all that changed when a wildcat strike was called in response to a worker dying at one of the tanning houses. Kreo joined the strike in solidarity, and got the brunt of a guard's club for his troubles, but gave as good as he got, finding he had a taste for the solidarity of the worker. He began organizing, meeting with his comrades and doing what he could to protect them.

Satyr Entertainer, that much is certain. I've two class combination ideas I wanted to try and I want to see what everyone's thoughts are.

Idea the First

Mastermind Rogue/Battlemaster Fighter, running around being support for the party and using skill and technique to overcome our foes. Boosting people, maneuvering, using ranged Help, just getting into the thick of it.

Idea the Second

Cleric (domain to be determined)/Divine Soul Sorcerer. The best healing a character can have! A supporter in the sense of keeping you all on your feet, keeping us all alive, and hopefully managing a few useful spell slings along the way. Currently leaning this direction but either could be fun. Can come in many different domain flavours but I'm leaning away from Twilight and Peace as I've read them and they're almost TOO good on a small dip before sorcerer.

Top domain picks I think are either Life (more healing) or Grave (more preventative healing) though Grave comes with wanting to go more into Cleric for longer.

Lineage question

I briefly considered applying Hexblood to Satyr, thought it'd be cool as I'd keep proficiencies and swap out for some story stuff, but I realized instruments/tools are lost with hexblood (skill proficiency still there so not a huge loss). Entertainer likely provides all the instrument proficiency I need though so what are people's thoughts on gaming the system slightly for my own benefit? Really depends if Mirthful Leap and increased land speed (and being a fey) helps the group out or is going to be a thing I'm just "um, actually"ing about frequently
This message was last edited by the player at 13:18, Thu 23 Mar 2023.

I enjoy satyrs. We don't see enough of them.

I can't recall if Caell previously indicated that Procz was going to be an investigator rogue or something else. If Procz is an investigator, from a group perspective it would make more sense to lean into Cleric rather than rogue and it sounds like you're leaning that way anyway but obviously go with what sounds the most fun to you.

Of the two domains I quite like Grave. Life has always felt like the 'default' to me. My personal favorite is Twilight. I can't really speak to lineages - I haven't used them much. It sounds like you'd still be covered with entertainer, and I'm always in favor of more plot hooks.

I have a complaint: everyone's concept is so good, that I am now intimidated!!! Way to go. Your blasted creativity is psyching me out.

So looking for a little help. Still toying with the Goblin Paladin idea, but not sure how to fit him into this setting. I picture him as kind of an "accidental paladin", or at least one that the establishment wants no part of. So I'm wondering in a place as chaotic as Coglington, do they even have paladins? Is there a group of tall, clean, well-armored humans, strutting around like they own the place? Would they be gnomes in this setting? Or maybe dragonborn?

I may be biased in this direction, but the first concept that comes to mind for me is an Oath of Redemption Paladin champion of the masses. I played one in another campaign DM ran. They're the pacifists of the paladin class and make for interesting roleplaying.

It stands out to my mind that nothing at all has been specified about religion in Coglington when Edge of the World dedicated considerable weight to it. Either its left to our devices to flesh out as we see fit, or religion is a secondary concern in this capitalist dystopia and I kind of like that latter option - the church as a vestigial relic with limited scope and reach. Something like the Church of Ezra in Ravenloft might be fitting. In fact, Coglington lends itself very readily to the trappings of Ravenloft - even down to the point of relegating everywhere outside of Coglington to merely 'elsewhere'. The brothers fit very nicely into the role of Darklords.

Outside of formal religions one could easily imagine a Cult of the Dragon in this setting, or something like a Cult of the Machine God. Miners might leave offerings for the cave spirits, and factory workers might have rituals to appease the gear spirits.

Kreo's not that good, I don't see why you should feel intimidated. You can slum it with me until you realize you're cool like the other people!

Oath of Redemption is tight, only alternate suggestion I can give is Oath of the Ancients, tapping into something deeper than Coglington, something that is granting you power despite your goblinness because it doesn't care, regardless of the societal pressure that puts you under. It helps that much like Redemption, Ancients is a solid defensive buff on your party too . . .

re Kreo: understood on the rogue, oh no, how will I survive being "forced" to play a spellcaster idea I actually might enjoy? I keep talking myself out of spellcasty characters, might as well take the plunge

Grave cleric is pretty tasty, oooooo you twisted my arm! Alright!

Satyr or Hexblood, I think I'll talk with the DM some for it

Clerics are fun, but I've played way too many of them. Wizard is at the top of the list, with Artificer a close second. He is first and foremost a big brain in a small and frail body.

As for a paladin, Fergus, I'm thinking the capitalist powers won't mind religious orders of the people, as along as the orders' main concerns are feeding and healing the sick and poor (it's cheaper for the rulers having someone else take care of them than paying themselves), like the Salvation Army. When religious orders are concerned with changing society, however, that's when the ruling powers might have an issue. Religions that embrace suffering might have a place in this society as a means of control.

Loving all the character concepts!  So let's see what our group is looking like here...  Correct me if I have any of these wrong:

• Opalia : Tiefling Bard
• Caell : Kobold Wizard
• Cora : Satyr/Hexblood Cleric/Divine Soul Sorcerer
• Fergus : Goblin Paladin
• Arvid : Autognome/Warforged Artificer OR Deep Gnome Barbarian
• Sikuaq : Dragonborn Rogue

Fergus:  I came across a memorable homebrew Paladin oath a while back that could be a fun fit for this setting, if you're looking for ideas: https://imgur.com/a/kIa7n  The Oath of the Common Man, aka the Communist paladin ;D  Not even religious, but rather fights for worker's rights and solidarity for all!

Cora:  Veracity and Kreo should be a performance duo, since she's a bard and he's an entertainer :D  Vera's bard shtick is more about acting, dancing and oratory, but she'll play instruments and stuff, too.

Caell:  I love Procz the dog-riding kobold constable ;D  Probably he has arrested Veracity at some point in her criminal career, but maybe we got to be friends afterward.

I'm trying, as much as possible, to avoid race-based social organization along the lines of "all the gnomes are like this and all the elves are like that." The city isn't really run by gnomes as a whole, just by two brothers who happen to be gnomes. Their underlings and managers and such aren't necessarily gnomes. Dragonborn are a little bit of an exception because of their obvious association with dragons, but even they are divided in terms of how much they identify with the former overlords vs are trying to put it behind them and assimilate into modern Coglinton.

I don't know that the city currently has much need for an order full of knights in shining armor. The gnome brothers are primarily concerned about threats from within, an uprising of their workers and whatnot. I could see this being maybe a diminishing band of withered veterans who fought against the dragons and are trying to keep the spirit of heroism alive in an age that no longer values it? So the character wouldn't himself be a veteran but someone who looks up those who were.

Some combination of the two. We can flesh it out or not depending how much your character concepts require it. Here's something I discussed with Cora via PM that might be relevant to others:

I haven't thought too much about gods/religion so there's plenty of space for you to innovate there. The most prominent would probably be:

Gond (god of artifice)
Urbanus (god of cities and civilization)
The Gearlord (god of technology and constructs)

I think theirs would all be relatively modern religions/cults, in vogue only since the revolution. Small churches and cults of any other god could persist, remnants of the pre-draconic world, their worship having been kept alive by slaves who worshiped in secret and passed holy relics down through the generations, so that those inheriting them today have only the vaguest idea what they once represented.

That's just to inspire you, not to constrain you. If you have other ideas, bring them on!

This is a cool idea. Might make its way into the world whether or not it works for the goblin character :-)

I haven't looked at the mechanics but Veracity's Communist Paladin is a fun concept.

Are we starting at level 1? I don't know if that was ever specified.

Good question, we had not discussed. I was going to suggest 5 but that's not a strong preference. Does anyone else have preferences?

I personally like working my way up from as low a level as possible because I can learn what works and what doesn't for my character when I have less options to juggle. With that said, I will gladly start at a higher level if that's what mostatherestaya prefer.

My opinion regarding level, is that there is too high a discrepancy between 1st and 10th, even if they claimed to fix that with 5th edition - with the so-called bounded accuracy. Going from struggling against a couple of rats to slaying dragons over just a few months is a little silly.

I've found that 3rd level is a good point to start. All classes have made their subclass choices by then. In a tabletop game, those two levels can be used for individual backstory tied up to subclass choices. On RPoL, playing through all that backstory can be a little tedious.

Starting at 5th level will most likely mean that the characters are slightly distinguished already. That's beneficial if your character has some notoriety or is an intimidating badass (which is hard to be if you can barely manage those rats).

So, I vote 3rd to 5th somewhere :)

I'm inclined to agree with Caell. 3-5 is a good range. All of the subclass choices have been made by then and the characters have started to come into their own and truly differentiate themselves.

I'm really enjoying what you all have come up with so far. The world is becoming richer and more alive for me with every detail you add. Could we set a goal of getting concepts finalized by next weekend (April 8)? I should be more available than I have been the last few weeks (OK, months) to discuss with you as needed. I don't want you to force anything and I'll bear the brunt of finding ways to bring you all together, but please do keep an eye out for opportunities to create connections with other characters.

Based on feedback so far, I'm leaning toward starting at Level 3, but still happy to hear input if you have a different preference.

Thanks!

I'm away April 1-8. Going down south with my parents and kids. I can make either concept work, although just looking at the numbers we have a lot of clever characters and very few brawny ones so the barbarian might be the better fit from a balance perspective.