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.

Depending on if I take Life or Grave, Kreo could be heavy armour based but an actual big strong bruiser I will not be.



Possibly, or at least he's open to helping you with your performance if you're a friend to the worker. But Kreo's "entertainer" type is more the "negotiable companion" type, if you catch my drift?

We actually did discuss starting levels early in the other game's ideas thread!  We decided on 3rd level back then, too, so we're consistent ;D  Do we get a free feat at 1st level like the last game?


Oooooh, I see :)  I will love to see how the 'By Popular Demand' background feature will get performance gigs for Kreo ;D  But yes, Veracity is from the gutter and all for fighting for the common man and taking down the exploitative fat cats!  Ribald performances will be in her repertoire.

I've been busy lately and trying to manage a wrap-up post for Opalia, but shouldn't be a problem to be finalized here by April 8th.  My next challenge is to find character art!

HA - Goblin paladin Frack won't catch your drift at all, but he will think how nice it is of Kreo to be friends with negotiables (who he assumes are people from the province of Negotia).

Oh, great, thanks for the reminder! I think I'm in favor of doing the free feat again, with the encouragement that you use it to take something flavorful for your character rather than simply something mechanically very strong (not saying Lucky or GWM can't be flavorful, just that I'd prefer if the flavor were the motivating factor). Cora taking Chef in the previous game is a good example of what we're going for here - it was the perfect feat for her, flavor-wise, and I worked with her to make it mechanically competitive with other options so it wouldn't feel like a huge sacrifice to take it.

I've been experimenting with using Bard, Google's new AI chatbot thing, to suggest ideas for the setting. It hasn't done a great job so far, it tends to suggest pretty generic and repetitive things. For example, I copied and pasted the information about the Constabulary and asked for some NPCs to populate it. Here's what it came up with:

Constable Claghorn: The head of the Coglinton Constabulary, Constable Claghorn is a gruff and no-nonsense man who is determined to keep the peace in his city. He is a skilled fighter and a fair leader, but he is also quick to anger and can be quite ruthless when necessary.

Constable Jenkins: Constable Jenkins is one of Claghorn's most trusted officers. He is a loyal and dedicated man who is always willing to follow orders. He is also a skilled fighter and a good shot, and he is always ready to put his life on the line to protect the city.

Constable O'Malley: Constable O'Malley is one of the newest members of the constabulary. He is a young and idealistic man who is eager to make a difference in the world. He is a skilled fighter and a good shot, but he is also inexperienced and can be quite reckless.

Constable Jones: Constable Jones is one of the most corrupt members of the constabulary. He is always looking for ways to make a quick buck, and he is not above taking bribes or turning a blind eye to crime. He is a skilled fighter and a good shot, but he is also a dangerous man who should not be trusted.

Constable Smith: Constable Smith is one of the most loyal members of the constabulary. He is a dedicated and hardworking man who is always willing to follow orders. He is also a skilled fighter and a good shot, and he is always ready to put his life on the line to protect the city.

Constable Brown: Constable Brown is one of the most experienced members of the constabulary. He is a wise and seasoned man who has seen it all. He is a skilled fighter and a good shot, and he is always ready to offer advice and guidance to his younger colleagues.

Constable Green: Constable Green is one of the most feared members of the constabulary. He is a ruthless and brutal man who is not afraid to use violence to get what he wants. He is a skilled fighter and a good shot, and he is always ready to put the fear of God into criminals.

Constable Blue: Constable Blue is one of the most enigmatic members of the constabulary. He is a quiet and reserved man who keeps to himself. He is a skilled fighter and a good shot, but his motives are often unclear.

Constable Red: Constable Red is one of the most hot-headed members of the constabulary. He is a quick-tempered and impulsive man who is always looking for a fight. He is a skilled fighter and a good shot, but his temper often gets the better of him.

It seems like everyone in the constablery is a skilled fighter and a good shot! They must have the best training program in town! :)

With that said, it at least gens up a few different aspects of characters, even if not overly-deep.

...and for the record I never trusted Constable Jones. He has those shifty eyes.

Trying to figure out which of them broke Kreo's horn at a wildcat strike . . . hmmmm

Trying out this portrait. At first glance, it's kind of a menacing look for Frack. I like to think of this as more of a lovable, sheepish grin than a menacing sneer. Like he's thinking,

"I hope it's okay that I ate the last biscuit"
or
"I hope nobody else can smell that!"

Yikes! Those are definitely not the vibes I'm getting from that fellow :-)

All the goblin portraits I could find were pretty much the same (glowing eyes, angry teeth showing). It's almost as if they were trying to convince players that it's okay to kill these guys because they are mean and ugly.

I immediately have a thought about randomly sticking a knife in the goblin at odd moments throughout the story.  "Oh, sorry about that.  The eyes you know." or "Oops, couldn't help myself.  Those teeth!"

mcm287
mcm096
This message was last edited by the player at 13:00, Fri 07 Apr 2023.

I've got my head on a swivel, former Sikuaq! On a swivel!!!

...and Kreo, thanks for those couple less-aggressive recommendations.

Was there any other guidance for character creation apart from level 3 and one bonus feat? Tinkering with dnd beyond at the airport.

Starting equipment? HP? Normal point buy?