The Harpers at Phandelin (D&D 5e | Seeking Players)

[PhantomPistoleer]

Game Links
In-Character
The In-Character Thread can be found here.

Game Summary
Who are you?
Players will assume the roles of extremely well-trained Harper Agents who have been dispatched to handle various threats: shapechanging orcs, a mysterious cabal led by an enigmatic figure named the Black Spider, and a young Dragon that has made its home in the Sword Coast.

Where are you?
Characters will start in Phandelin, a small village off the Triboar Trail.  Phandelin is located near the Sword Coast of Faerûn, between the large cities of Neverwinter and Waterdeep.  For the purposes of this campaign, we will use the following map: 

What will you be doing?
Characters will live in an adventuring sandbox that has a skeletal base in all current published adventure modules that are set, or can be set, in the general vicinity, including, but not limited to, The Lost Mines of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak, Ghosts of the Saltmarsh, Tales from the Yawning Portal, etc. etc.

How many players will there be?
Since the game is sandboxy in nature, the game can accommodate as little as four party members and as many as twelve.  Parties are encouraged to split, as all players gain experience in real time (on a monthly basis).

How can you be accepted?
Consider the following:
1)  Do you want to play D&D?  If yes, then ask:
2)  Can you post about three or four times a week?  If yes, then, you may consider yourself to be auto-accepted.

CHARACTER CREATION
You will play as a Harper Agent.  Among other things, Harpers are generally 'good.'  Please keep that in mind as you build your characters.

1.  Available Races
All published races are available.  Races may be modified pursuant to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.  You may create your own custom races using the rules in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

2.  Available Classes
All published classes are available.  PCs start at level 2.  PCs start with max HP.

3.  Abilities
PCs start with 20s to all stats.  Stats may exceed 20 via racial bonuses and feat bonuses.  For example, a human would start with an ability array of 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21.  A variant human might end up with an array that looks like 22, 21, 20, 20, 20, 20.  PCs may never take the ability score improvement.

4.  Background
PCs may start with any published background, plus they are "Harpshadows" for the Harper faction.  See below.

5.  Starting Equipment
PCs start with all starting equipment plus an additional 100gp.

6.  Feat
PCs start with an extra feat.

THE HARPERS
Harper Ideals
The Harpers represents a scattered network of spellcasters and spies who advocate equality and covertly oppose the abuse of power. Bards and wizards of good alignments are commonly drawn to the Harpers.

Goals
-- To gather information throughout Faerûn;
-- To promote fairness and equality by covert means;
-- To thwart tyrants and leaders, governments, and organizations that grow too powerful.
-- To aid the weak, poor and oppressed.

Beliefs
--  One can never have too much information or arcane knowledge.
--  Too much power leads to corruption. The abuse of magic must be closely monitored.
--  No one should be powerless.

Harper Ranks
Harper agents are trained to act alone and to rely on their own resources. When they get into scrapes, they don't count on fellow Harpers to rescue them. Sometimes Harper agents must band together to face world-threatening foes, at which point the deep friendships between them forge the kind of fighting force needed to overthrow tyranny and eradicate evil.

Watcher (1 Renown)
Harpshadow (3 Renown)
Brightcandle (10 Renown)
Wise Owl (25 Renown)
High Harper (50 Renown)

RANK 1: Watcher (1 Renown)
This is the rank a character receives when first joining the Harpers.

Receive Your Faction's Insignia. The insignia for the Harpers is a small pin in the shape of a silver harp. Secret agents sometimes identify themselves with slightly concealed purple scarves.

RANK 2: Harpshadow (3 Renown)
Harpshadows have shown that they are aligned with the Harpers' goals, and can take on more responsibility.

Faction Training. The Harpers offers training in a Musical Instrument, Calligrapher's supplies, and Disguise kits.

RANK 3: Brightcandle (10 Renown)
Brightcandles are reliable faction agents, entrusted with many secrets and deserving of additional support during adventures.

Item Procurement. The Harpers can procure the following items for a Brightcandle:

Uncommon rarity: +1 weapon or +1 shield, cloak of elvenkind
Rare rarity: +1 armor, ring of resistance

RANK 4: Wise Owl (25 Renown)
Wise Owls are trusted voices within the Harpers. They are looked up as champions. For more information on the general benefits of this rank, refer to Factions.

Becoming a Mentor. The Harpers can requisition a harper bard or harper illusionist to serve the Wise Owl.

Character Submissions
Header
Please use the following header when submitting a character & character sheet.

NAME
Race | Class | Background
Character Sheet

Brief summary of events prior to character's rigorous training with the Harpers.  You should probably abstain from fully developing a backstory until you can coordinate with other players whose characters underwent the same insane experience.  To be blunt, your characters underwent a truly traumatic experience in order to become who they are as the Harpers' Spearpoint.

Character sheet
Please submit myth-weavers only.

[Cherry Ronde]

Hello, I'm interested!

I'm not terribly familiar with D&D 5e but I thought I would try my hand at a firearms-wielding fighter to keep the build simple, with the intent of having the flavour of a pistol-wielding spy/agent for the harpers.  Would that be all right?

[PhantomPistoleer]

Hello, I'm interested!

I'm not terribly familiar with D&D 5e but I thought I would try my hand at a firearms-wielding fighter to keep the build simple, with the intent of having the flavour of a pistol-wielding spy/agent for the harpers.  Would that be all right?

Sure.  Totally doable.

With the extra feats, you could get her more skills, too.

[AribethAmkiir]

Interested.  Trying to figure out how a Druid would fit.

[PhantomPistoleer]

Interested.  Trying to figure out how a Druid would fit.

The last survivor of her druid sect, a young YC was adopted by a Harper agent.  He handed her over to Project Spearpoint, where YC underwent years of torturous training to become one of the greatest Harper agents in the Realms.

[peachfuzz221]

Interested, especially after watching the new film. I’m still inexperienced with 5e, though slowly learning.

[PhantomPistoleer]

Interested, especially after watching the new film. I’m still inexperienced with 5e, though slowly learning.

Oh, don't worry about being inexperienced with 5e.  But you SHOULD know that the character creation options are OP and are totally irregular.

[peachfuzz221]

Oh, don't worry about being inexperienced with 5e.  But you SHOULD know that the character creation options are OP and are totally irregular.

Could you explain further? I was thinking a monk.

[PhantomPistoleer]

Could you explain further? I was thinking a monk.

I think I would only confuse you further.  How about I help you a bit?

So you want to play a monk!  What kind of race do you want to play?

[Cherry Ronde]

Let me know if this is OK!  I've only made a few D&D 5e characters so I might've made mistakes.

Light
Human | Fighter | Spy
Character Sheet

"Light" is the codename of one of the Harpers' most skilled markswoman, who was inducted into the Harpers at a young age when another Harpshadow saved her from a cult that was interested in her budding telepathic abilities.  As an adult, she found those same talents guiding bullets into her worse opponents.  Light is often aloof and with a smile that doesn't seem terribly genuine, hiding a lot of trauma and scars in her heart, but friendly enough to her close partners and skilled at both gunfighting, infiltration and negotiations.

[peachfuzz221]

I think I would only confuse you further.  How about I help you a bit?

So you want to play a monk!  What kind of race do you want to play?

I was thinking either half elf or a genasi.

[PhantomPistoleer]

Let me know if this is OK!  I've only made a few D&D 5e characters so I might've made mistakes.

Light
Human | Fighter | Spy
Character Sheet

"Light" is the codename of one of the Harpers' most skilled markswoman, who was inducted into the Harpers at a young age when another Harpshadow saved her from a cult that was interested in her budding telepathic abilities.  As an adult, she found those same talents guiding bullets into her worse opponents.  Light is often aloof and with a smile that doesn't seem terribly genuine, hiding a lot of trauma and scars in her heart, but friendly enough to her close partners and skilled at both gunfighting, infiltration and negotiations.

I will check it tomorrow.

I was thinking either half elf or a genasi.

Either would be good.  I really like half elves, though.  They are really powerful in this edition.

What about a background?

[PhantomPistoleer]

Let me know if this is OK!  I've only made a few D&D 5e characters so I might've made mistakes.

Light
Human | Fighter | Spy
Character Sheet

"Light" is the codename of one of the Harpers' most skilled markswoman, who was inducted into the Harpers at a young age when another Harpshadow saved her from a cult that was interested in her budding telepathic abilities.  As an adult, she found those same talents guiding bullets into her worse opponents.  Light is often aloof and with a smile that doesn't seem terribly genuine, hiding a lot of trauma and scars in her heart, but friendly enough to her close partners and skilled at both gunfighting, infiltration and negotiations.

Actually, I just checked it and I have to say, you did really well.

I think the only two things I noticed were that you get one language and you also have a feature from your background, which, I think, is the same as Criminal (Criminal Contact), but you'd call it an Espionage Contact.

Edit:  Oh, but I don't think you did your additional features right.  You get a bunch of features because you're a harper agent, and you get access to all armors, martial and simple weapons, shields, etc. etc.

[peachfuzz221]

Either would be good.  I really like half elves, though.  They are really powerful in this edition.

What about a background?

Hm, I’m still workshopping, but I was thinking one dead parent and the other was a piece of scum that used him/her as a puppet to do their bidding, whether that was stealing, hurting people or causing other such mischief. My character was neglected in the process until eventually their only existing parent was caught for his/her crimes and my character was left as a lowly street urchin. Something will happen to make their whole perspective change and they change their life to be become a harper as atonement for the way they lived in their childhood.

[PhantomPistoleer]

Hm, I’m still workshopping, but I was thinking one dead parent and the other was a piece of scum that used him/her as a puppet to do their bidding, whether that was stealing, hurting people or causing other such mischief. My character was neglected in the process until eventually their only existing parent was caught for his/her crimes and my character was left as a lowly street urchin. Something will happen to make their whole perspective change and they change their life to be become a harper as atonement for the way they lived in their childhood.

Oh, Urchin. Cool, let me know once you've figured out your race so we can start building the character.

[AndyZ]

Phantom, let me pitch you a concept.  I’m thinking of a Reborn who was originally killed off and desecrated, but attempted to be raised by a cleric of Lathander, and who has since been granted powers.  Her heart is pure but she’s not particularly devout or worshipful, but obviously the Morninglord saw something in her.  I imagine it was the Harpers who found her desecrated corpse in the first place.  Call it a personal touch, but I’ve never been good at playing divine characters who are truly devout, even if they still keep to good actions and such.

I have a few ideas; this one just keeps calling to me.

[c0i9z]

How about a kobold artificer?

[PhantomPistoleer]

How about a kobold artificer?

LOL.  Sure.

[AndyZ]

Can we buy common items, and if so, how much for them?  I’ve been thinking about a moon-touched longsword.

[PhantomPistoleer]

Can we buy common items, and if so, how much for them?  I’ve been thinking about a moon-touched longsword.

You can purchase items using Sane's guide to Magical Items.

[AndyZ]

Okay, but that list only has the items in the DMG.

[PhantomPistoleer]

Okay, but that list only has the items in the DMG.

150gp.

[c0i9z]

We can't take attribute boosts, but can we take half feats?

[PhantomPistoleer]

We can't take attribute boosts, but can we take half feats?

Yes to both.

[c0i9z]

Nahree
Kobold | Nahree | Urchin
Character Sheet

Brief Nahree used to live in the city's underground. Regarded as a pest by most, as were many of the kobold and goblins that infested the cities, he possessed a peculiar talent. Two of them, in fact. Tinkering with some of the scrap he found, usually fixing and improving it so it would sell for more, and a talent for the magical. He'd spy, unseen on wizards and mages, performing their craft, and find odd ways to replicate them, usually through the use of the mechanical devices he'd gotten so adept at making.