13th Age: Dark Empire (Revised setting ideas)

[eternaldarkness]

I have an idea for a 13th Age game, but I'd like to skip the usual slow story intro phase and throw the characters right into the action right away. To that end, I would have the players start off in the thick of an adventure.

The characters would know eachother and have preestablished reasons to cooperate and work together, and the PC's would be drawing directly on the archetypal power of the icons to accomplish great deeds.

Icon rolls would be treated as plot points that allow a player to edit scenes in a manner befitting the icon they got the icon success from - a '5' lets you edit the scene, but the GM gets to add a complication with it. 6's are all goodness.

Icon roll successes would also function as free rerolls - 5's let you reroll and take the best of two rolls (minimum of 11 if both rolls are below that) and 6's make the roll a natural 20 for all intents and purposes. You can also use your icon rolls to help or hinder others in the same way - edit a scene to give them an edge or a hindrance, or make them roll twice and take the worst of the two (maximum of 10 if both rolls exceed 10) and with a 6 make them auto-fail a roll. Players can also spend an icon die to increase the escalation die by 1, with 5's also giving the die to enemies for a round and 6's just increasing it with no strings attached.

The 13th Age SRD is here: www.13thagesrd.com

Material from 13 True Ways is usable as well as races and classes from www.13thage.org pending my approval.

Basically we would start in an adventure and work out the details as we go.

So....any takers?

[eternaldarkness]

Still looking for a few good adventurers! I'm open to any kind of fantasy setting, especially a fantasy/sci-fi setting.

[FragarachZ]

I'm interested. Been looking at 13th age for some time now but I haven't really got a chance to try it before. I'd be up for both a group or solo adventure if someone were to run this system :)

[eternaldarkness]

If I don't see any more interest soon we'll go ahead solo. I'm thinking of a fun scenario that starts with the end of the world and works backwards from there.

[ShadowFox89]

 I'm going to have to bring back my elf rogue, aren't I?

[eternaldarkness]

I'm going to have to bring back my elf rogue, aren't I?

If you so desire :D I only need two to start. In fact, I prefer smaller.

[schnookums]

This seems like it might be a lot of fun, if my presence wouldn't make the group too large...

[eternaldarkness]

This seems like it might be a lot of fun, if my presence wouldn't make the group too large...

Nope, four is my limit. Start throwing out character ideas, and I'll post setting info soon.

[FragarachZ]

Character idea

Character idea

[FragarachZ]

I suppose if I make a Midgardian elf and someone else makes an anime character from the Jade Empire there will be some reason why we don't kill each other.

As for icons, do we need to roll for them on character creation, or do we just assign the 3 dice among them and you tell us when to roll?

Also what to expect in terms of sexy stuff, (since this is E) and the opening post didn't mention it? Will there be any, are monsters going to come after us with more carnal than lethal approaches, is it be a thing of relevance in the game (like solving problems by sleeping with political leaders, bribing with sexual favors, etc)?

[eternaldarkness]

Combat - to keep combat simple, the battlefield is divided into zones based on the size of the place where the fight happens. If you get into a brawl in a small tea house in the slums of the imperial city, it might only be one zone so everyone in that zone is nearby to everyone else. It takes one move to reach an adjacent zone, two to reach a zone that is Far Away (two or more zones from your location) and you need to have a way of getting there - either a movement mode like Lightfoot (which all imperial PC's get) or a clever stunt accompanied by an appropriate roll, or just icon help. Battlefields are always fluid - if someone gets tossed out of a window in the teahouse brawl above, the fight just expanded in size. If they then Lightfoot up onto the roof, it expands again.

Edit: Notice how I bolded distance/location. Do that in combat - say Jane the human and Bob the Fighter are fighting a band of orc raiders in a sword to sword melee - you would say something like 'Jane is engaged with the raiders, and Bob the fighter is nearby'

[FragarachZ]

Okay, so what do non-imperial characters get then? Btw I have no interest in wuxia or anime roleplaying so I'm on board as long as it doesn't completely take over.

[eternaldarkness]

Approved Classes (Besides the corebook and 13 True Ways classes)

My favorite unofficial official class, the Stalwart: http://pelgranepress.com/index.php/13th-age-class-stalwart/

Other approved classes from 13thage.org :
Avenger - http://www.13thage.org/index.php/classes/274-avenger

Eldritch Knight - http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=11922

Elementalist - http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=13118

Field Commander - http://www.13thage.org/index.php/classes/225-field-commander

Lurker - http://www.13thage.org/index.php/classes/306-lurker

Mindweaver - http://13persuasions.blogspot.com/2013/07/mindweaver-ad-2e-3e-4e.html?m=1

Theurge - http://www.13thage.org/index.php/classes/385-theurge

[FragarachZ]

I think I'll stick with the material on the srd. I don't know enough of the game yet to feel ready for homebrew. I'll stick to ranger, seems to work for me most of the time.

[ShadowFox89]

 I'll go with a Lurker. Blame it on playing a lot of Dishonored recently :P

[eternaldarkness]

Perfectly fine in both cases. That's two heavily damage-focused classes, so based on what gets chosen by anyone else who joins you guys may be heavy hitters. That's good because combats go fast with lots of damage-dealers, but bad if you get outnumbered or surprised. A I'll throw you guys an NPC to round out the party regardless though.

[schnookums]

My apologies, I've just been swamped but will try and come up with and post ideas for a character this weekend

[ShadowFox89]

I have work and a 40k game on Saturday,  but shall be ableto work on a character Sunday.

[ShadowFox89]

 You should hop on AIM so I can bounce character ideas off of you :P

[1SAZ]

Still have room for one more? I have a few character ideas that I can throw in to round out the group if it's lacking a particular archetype.

[eternaldarkness]

Still have room for one more? I have a few character ideas that I can throw in to round out the group if it's lacking a particular archetype.

If you are for sure joining, post up a basic character concept: brief background, race/class, and the characters One Unique Thing.

[schnookums]

Am a bit stuck with ideas, trying to narrow it down between ideas. Are Kitsune allowed as a race from the fan stuff, or is it just the stuff from the books? Was thinking of a monk or a druid (I liked the idea of Chaos Mage but was afraid it might be a bit too much)

[eternaldarkness]

Am a bit stuck with ideas, trying to narrow it down between ideas. Are Kitsune allowed as a race from the fan stuff, or is it just the stuff from the books? Was thinking of a monk or a druid (I liked the idea of Chaos Mage but was afraid it might be a bit too much)

A Kitsune Chaos Mage? I love it. Make it so.

[schnookums]

I shall do so, will need to seriously read over the rules and might need a tiny bit of help with chargen but this seems like a fun idea to play :)

[ShadowFox89]

 Think I'm gonna revive Kat for this, make her a tiefling avenger from the Jade Empire.

[ShadowFox89]

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Katherine Kazuoto is a lesson in contradictions. She is a monk, yet her vows encourage sexual activity. She hails from the Jade Empire, yet the brilliant ivory horns upon her brow and the red tail poking out from just above her butt show she is indeed not a Holy One, but quiet the opposite.

Daughter of the daemon prince Graz'zt, Katherine inherited her father's lust. It was the tantric monks of the Four Winds Temple, however, who helped teach her to channel that energy into something more positive. Despite her infernal heritage, Katherine has little interest in death and destruction. Indeed, more to the chaotic nature of her blood does she side. And it is that chaotic nature that compels her to spit in the face of her father's plans whenever she is able, going so far as to take vows of vengeance against the daemonic forces of the world.

Born to a mortal mother, a priestess of incredible power who was captured and raped by Graz'zt, Katherine escaped being raised directly by her father when a group of daring heroes rescued the priestess. Her mother was taken to the Four Winds Temple, where the wards and protections of the holy grounds ensured fiendish forces could never enter.

Not that that meant Kat never left the temple. Thanks to her fiendish heritage.... and the encouragement of the tantric sect of monks from the temple, Katherine often ventured into the nearby towns and villages to sate her hunger for the pleasures of the flesh. Male, female, elf, orc, human, it didn't matter to her. Her blood meant she aged slower and would live longer than most, so why not enjoy it?

But her peaceful days would not last too long. During one of her visits to a satellite temple, the Temple of the Southern Gale, a fierce storm struck. A dark, unholy tempest, with lightning that flashed green and rain of blood. Katherine could feel the evil in the air, it tasted all too familiar and almost familial to her. Demons by the dozens fells upon the temple. Katherine aided the monks as best she could, but eventually the defenders were overwhelmed. They retreated to the inner sanctum, and there performed a ritual. It teleported Katherine away from the temple, but had no guidance to it.

She awoke, unknown as to how much time had passed and to where she had landed. But Kat knew one thing, she had to return to the Temple and warn the monks.

[schnookums]

Bah...it's easy to find many foxgirl or kitsune pics...but finding just the right one is proving to be much harder then I thought it would be.

[ShadowFox89]

 Maybe a physical description first?

[Galick]

Room for one more, maybe? I can have a character concept in about 14 hours after I get back from work.

[eternaldarkness]

Room for one more, maybe? I can have a character concept in about 14 hours after I get back from work.

Yep. One player dropped,  so we have a spot open.

[ShadowFox89]

 What are the chargen rules?

[schnookums]

Family is in town for vacation, I had hoped to have been done prior to this but at felt I should do the basic background.

Nanako

It seemed like strange happenstance that lead to Nanoko's discovery. A villager out foraging had heard the unmistakable cry of an infant. Upon searching he discovered the strangest of sights: a fox den, with newly whelped cubs...and a humanoid child. A girl, bearing the features of both humans and foxes. Deciding that such a strange child should be brought amongst the humans the villager took the girl to raise as his own. As she grew it became clear she had a strange power about her, something that could almost be described as preternatural luck. She brought fortune to the village and was celebrated greatly...but nothing of this sort could last. And when the luck turned the blame was placed directly on her shoulders. It soon became unbearable and she found herself fleeing. For years she wandered, sometimes welcomed but only for her power, and soon cast aside when the "luck" ran out. Growing to adulthood she finally grasped the essence behind this "luck", a chaotic magic that she has been instinctively using. It was not a magic that could be mastered, but she managed to gain enough control that the magic would work only at her will and not out of her subconscious. She had not been made so bitter as to eschew helping others...but now help would only be given on her terms. 

[eternaldarkness]

Closed for now due to lack of interest.

[schnookums]

Aww, I was really looking forward to this

[ShadowFox89]

 Same.

[eternaldarkness]

I'm not completely abandoning the idea, but I would like at least one more player. I'll revise and revisit it later.

[schnookums]

Yay! It's rare not only to find someone who matches my interests but also references one of my favorite games of all time

[eternaldarkness]

My revised setting. I'm going to let the players decide beforehand whether they want to start as rebels, agents of Midgard, freelance adventurers or something else. I'm leaving it open for all previously-listed race and class choices, and I'll set a deadline of Monday to express interest and submit characters.  I'll start then whether I have one player or ten.

The best part is you don't need to write a ten-page background, just a few paragraphs or less will suffice, as long as you feel it adequately conveys who your character is. This being 13th Age, you can invent and alter the setting as-needed to accommodate your background and your Backgrounds (note the difference).

When making your characters please be descriptive, be interesting, be over-the-top. Don't be afraid to go for broke - this is the setting to do big things in. Use the icons and what little information I've given, and build on it, or even contradict it if you like.


Icons
the Archmage
Heironymus Brand is technically the imperial archmage and an ally of the High King, but it is a poorly-kept secret that the Archmage is less than thrilled with the High King's new policies and has distanced himself from his monarchs inner circle, rarely appearing at imperial functions and preferring to remain in his tower in Horizon pursuing the High Arcana rather than engaging in politics. Still, the archmage knows that an orderly and well-run kingdom is more conducive to the scholarly pursuits than a chaotic mess, and the High King doesn't dare antagonize the powerful wizard for fear of losing the crucial magical wards and High Arcana that keep nature firmly under the empires yoke. The High King knows that the Archmage is secretly assisting the Crusaders forces in defeating the empire - he just can't do anything about it.

the Crusader
The champion of the Dark Gods seems an unlikely hero, but it comes as no surprise that he defected from the kings service along with his sizeable armies when the Priestess came to power and declared all followers of the dark gods to be heretics, and even less surprising considering that he is madly in love with the now-enslaved Elf Queen  Sidera, and he is one of the High King's deadliest enemies.

the Diabolist
Shak-ti is the pre-eminent expert on infernal magics, having traded her soul and many other even dearer things to the powers of Hell in exchange for her great power. Rumor has it that the Diabolist can give you anything your heart desires if you are willing to pay the price, though reaching her or her agents can be both difficult and dangerous.

the Dwarf King
Tyr Hammerhand is the King under the Mountain, the ruler of all Dwarves in Midgard and a powerful warrior and keen general. His kingdoms resources are inexhaustible and his subterranean strongholds and mountain citadels seemingly unassailable. His people, while still officially allies of the kingdom of Midgard, have grown cold and distant toward their human neighbors, and there are unsubstantiated rumors that the dwarves are secretly aiding elements of the resistance against the High Kings forces.

the Elf Queen
Queen Sidera is the High Kings wife, and some say his slave, turned evil when her Dark Elves rose to power in the Court of Stars at the beginning of the 12th Age. She is the emperors right hand, and her dark elf spies are feared throughout the land for their cruelty and zealous pursuit of enemies of the queen and the kingdom as a whole.

the High King
Jori Dragonsbane is the High King of Midgard and a real villain's villain, having gained the throne by murdering his parents and siblings to ensure his rule, enslaving the dragons and two-thirds of the Elven race, and making his people's ancient allies the dwarves become more politically distant than they have been since the late tenth age.

the Great Gold Wyrm
Driven mad by despair and countless ages of consuming demonic essence, the Great Gold Wyrm has taken up residence in a hellhole called Oblivions Maw at the mouth of the Abyss and become a demon-devouring nightmare, sending forth his corrupted Hell Knights to scour all life from the land in the belief that the only way to save the world is to destroy it utterly.

the High Druid
From the deepest forests and hidden wilderness sanctuaries, the followers of the High Druid Tio Aman wage a brutal guerilla war against the kingdom of Midgard and its allies, emerging from the forests to strike before retreating once more into the wilds. Many people consider the High druid to be the leader of the rebellion against the High Kings new tyrannical regime, and common people from all walks of life have flocked to the green banner in search of freedom and a new way to live. The enmity between the High Druid and the Archmage is legendary, as the two are magic-users of immense power with very opposed ideologies - the Archmage controls nature and forces it to conform to patterns beneficial to the kingdom as a whole, while the High Druid uses his magic to destroy the established order and bring about a world where nature is free and untamed, which does not sit well with the Archmage.

the Lich King
Hakon Dragonsbane is the lord of the dead and an undead tyrant who was the previous ruler of the Kingdom of Midgard, once known as the Wizard King. He was knocked off of his throne and forced to retreat to his island stronghold, where he has been biding his time and building his unholy forces, awaiting the day when he could strike back at those who stole the kingdom he believes is rightfully his and make the orcish hordes pay for their role in his downfall.

the Orc Lord
With the balance of power shifted in Midgard, the Orc Lord sees an opportunity to finally bring his ravening hordes to bear and topple the corrupt civilization once and for all, and with the High King and Elf Queen both surrounded by enemies he has a chance to settle an ancient greivance with the elves as well.

the Priestess
Keket Aman was once a servant of light, and while she is still holds to her faith in the gods of light and remains pious and incorruptible, she has been sized by madness and become a ruthless inquisitor who seeks out enemies of Midgard and followers of 'false' gods alike, dealing out harsh punishments to those she deems sinners or heretics, and reserving a special hatred for followers of her brother Tio.

the Prince of Shadows
As always, the legendary thief known as the Prince of Shadows remains aloof from the events around him, his motives mysterious and his identity unknown. Some people even believe that there is no such being as the Prince of Shadows.

the Three
The Three used to be considered villains by default, but with the Great Gold Wyrm falling into madness and their hated enemies The High King and the Elf Queen turned tyrants they seized the opportunity set before them and rallied the members of their kind who yet remain free against the High King, declaring the Blue's city of Drakkenhall a free and independent city-state and allying with the Dwarf King and the High Druid to fight back against the empire and finally gain vengeance for the enslavement of their kind and the death of the White, free the Green from the Elf Queens clutches, and break the spells used to bind their kin into the High Kings service.

The Red dragon Cthur is a living engine of destruction.
The Blue dragon Ula is a sorceress, perhaps even the  original mother of all sorcery.
The Black dragon Xela is queen of shadows and assassins.

[ShadowFox89]

 Do I need to make an edit to Kat's history?

[eternaldarkness]

Do I need to make an edit to Kat's history?

Nope, not unless you want to. Soon as I get character sheets and some decisions on what you want to do from you and Schnookums I may just start early.

[eternaldarkness]

A note about assigning Icons: when you pick your icon relationships, you are essentially telling me what elements you want to see most prominently in the story, not necessarily how important that icon is to your character. You could be the High Kings only child, but by taking all your icon points with the Archmage you are telling me 'Dealing with the Archmage is what's important and fun to me'.

Next, I think I'll ease the process of getting the game going by narrowing the plot a bit: You pc-types will initially be working for the Lich King. Seems like that can't possibly be a good thing, right? Well as it turns out, his missions aren't as unsavory as you'd think: your first mission will be to rescue a young woman from the Orc Lord's slave camps. Why you are being sent to do this is not known to you, but what you do know is that the Lich King is offering you a rather large favor for doing so successfully, and there's certainly nothing objectionable about killing orcs and saving an innocent life - right?

[schnookums]

I presume my background was acceptable as well?

[eternaldarkness]

I presume my background was acceptable as well?

It was quite good and acceptable.

[schnookums]

Still working on the character, work jerked me around with a new schedule but I should be done by this weekend

[eternaldarkness]

Travel in the Kingdom of Midgard

Getting from one place to another quickly in Midgard can be tricky at times, but there are a number of ways to do it if you have the money, the connections, and the resources, aside dfrom the usual methods one might expect such as walking, traveling by ship, riding, etc.

Sky Warps/Cloud Koru: Sky Warps are naturally-ocurring phenomena that appear in random locations all over the world, usally at high points rich in magic such as mountain peaks, the tops of very high towers, and windswept valleys. Entering a sky warp will instantly lift you up on magically-empowered winds into the Overworld, where you can then use a Cloud Map, a special type of minor magical item that tracks the movements of Cloud Koru, air-dwelling cousins of the land-based Koru Behemoths, to reach your destination by hitching a ride on the backs of the massive flying beasts to another Sky Warp whereupon you can descend back to Midgard at that warps origin point. Cloud Maps can be purchased at great expense (Around 1,000 gold in most major cities, or less if the map is purchased on the black market), to travel from place to place via moving cloud islands. The High King and other powers of Midgard try to tightly control access to known Sky Warps and Cloud Maps, but some Sky Warps are hidden away in far-flung locations that are not frequented by civilized folk, and many more are completely undiscovered.

Travel via Sky Warp and Cloud Koru is also rather hazardous for the unprepared, as storm giants, air elementals, hostile tribesfolk living on the backs of the Cloud Koru, and other hazards can claim the life of a traveler.

Teleportaion Circles: Available at any Mage's Guild, a teleportation circle can transport a number of people and their belongings from one portal to any other keyed portal across vast distances instantly, but gaining use of a teleportation circle requires that you be a member in good standing of the Royal Mage's Guild and pay a fee of approximately 100 gold per person to cover the costs of maintenance, staffing, and the expensive ritual components required for the cabals of guild mages who run them to activate the portals. There are rumors that certain shady organizations and private individuals have their own teleportation circles as well, and that some can even send travelers to portals they are not keyed to, but noone knows for sure if these rumors are true.

Koru: Koru Behemoths travel not just on and above the land, but below it s well, and those who can first find places to board and then are willing to brave the lightless insides of a subterranean Koru can travel in secrecy by riding along on or inside one of the great beasts' bodies. This is exceptionally dangerous, though, as other passengers tend not to be friendly, and in addition if you do not know or have some way to anticipate the migration patterns of a specific koru you could be stuck inside of or on top of it for a very long time indeed.

[schnookums]

I'm still not entirely finished...I'm a bit stuck on the backgrounds and picking a feat, and there's number crunching that still needs to be done, but I'm close. I'll post what I have for right now and update it when I finish.

[schnookums]

Quote: No matter how often I wish to be left alone, fate keeps pulling back in to the thick of things. So maybe I need to teach fate itself to leave me alone..

Race: Kitsune
Class: Chaos Mage
Level: 1
One Unique Thing: Is the only kitsune in the world

Ability Scores
Str: 8 (-1)
Int: 12 (+1)
Dex: 16 (+3)
Wis: 12 (+1)
Con: 12 (+1)
Cha: 18 (+4)

Combat Stats
Init: +3

Basic Melee Attack
At-Will. +0 vs. AC Dagger
Hit: 1d4-1
Miss: Damage equal to your level

Basic Ranged Attack
At-Will. +4 vs. AC
Hit: Weapon + Dexterity Damage
Miss: -

AC: 12 
PD: 12 
MD: 13

HP:  21
Recoveries: 8
Recovery Dice: D6

Backgrounds:

Lived amongst the intelligent beasts: 3
Attuned with Chaos: 5




Icon Relationships:

The Lich King 1 (Positive)
The Orc Lord 1 (Negative)
The Diabolist 1 (Conflicted)

Racial Features

Once per battle when you are targeted by a nearby enemy, make a close attack using your highest ability modifier plus level vs the MD of the attacker. On a hit the target is dazed until the start of their next turn.

Class Features/Talents

Class Features
Arcane Implements
Some campaigns/GMs might decide that chaos magic is actually
divine, but as a default, call it arcane. As a chaos mage, you use
wands and staffs to improve your attacks, not holy symbols.
Common Spell Roster
Unlike wizards and clerics, chaos mages don’t choose the spells
they know. Instead, a chaos mage of a given level can access all
the spells in a category that are their level or lower. That sounds
like it might offer a large number of choices but the reverse is
true: each category only contains two or three options.
The category of spell you’ll cast on your turn isn’t up to you:
it’s random. On the other hand, you get to decide how many of
your resources you’ll use. You have a limited number of daily and
once-per-battle spells, so each turn you must decide whether
now is the time to use one of the powerful spells in the category
you’re casting from or whether you’ll stick with an at-will spell.
You don’t have many different once-per-battle choices.
Those spells are mainly for the attack and defense category,
powerful options that are often available to you

Spell Determination
You use the six stones in the bag to determine the next type of spell
you’ll be able to cast. Each time you draw a stone, leave it out of
the bag until only one stone remains to be drawn, then refill the
bag with all six. In other words, you don’t draw the last stone, but
instead refill the bag when there is only one stone left. (You also
refill the bag at the end of a battle; you’re not required to hold on to
your next available spell after combat or between game sessions.)
There are three frequently occurring moments when you’ll
draw a single stone from the bag to determine the next type of
chaos magic spell you can cast during your next turn:
• When you roll initiative, to set up the spell you can cast your
first turn.
• At the end of each of your turns, to set up the spell you can
cast during your next turn, or with your next action if you get
a standard action somehow before the start of your next turn.
• As required during your turn if you somehow get an extra
standard action (with elven grace, for example).
The next step varies depending on which category of spell you’ve drawn.
Attack: The next chaos mage spell you cast during the battle
must be an attack spell, but you won’t have to choose which spell
you are going to cast until your turn. Use the time before your
turn to figure out which attack spell you want to cast and how to
put yourself in position to make the most of it.
Defense: The next chaos mage spell you cast during the
battle must be a defense spell, but you won’t have to choose
which spell you are going to cast until you take your turn.
Iconic: The next chaos mage spell you cast during the battle
must be an iconic spell, but before you cast it you must determine
which of twelve icons is associated with that spell. If you have one
of the twelve-sided icon dice, roll once to determine the icon whose
power you’ll draw on. The Emperor has nothing to do with chaos, so
if you roll the Emperor, translate that result as the Prince of Shadows.
You could also use one of the 13th Age icon spinner rings from
Crit Success. If you’re using the ring, respin if you get the Emperor.
If you don’t have an icon die or a ring, roll a d12 and use the
table below:
Adventurer Feat: Once per day when you cast an iconic daily
or once-per-battle spell from an icon you have at least a onepoint
relationship with, roll a normal save. If you succeed,
you don’t expend that spell, allowing you to cast it again, or
another daily/once-per-battle spell.
Champion Feat: Once per day when you draw an iconic spell,
before rolling, choose an icon you have at least a one-point
relationship with. The spell you cast next will be from that icon.
Epic Feat: You can use the champion feat power a second time,
but only if you choose an icon that you have at least a twopoint
relationship with.
1: Archmage
2: Crusader
3: Diabolist
4: Dwarf King
5: Elf Queen
6: Great Gold Wyrm
7: High Druid
8: Lich King
9: Orc Lord
10: Priestess
11: Prince of Shadows
12: The Three
Letting you prepare for your next turn ahead of time
is good for you and good for the rest of the table. Use
the time between turns to consider your options and
figure out a rough plan.
Chaos and Forethought
After establishing the icon whose magic/power your spell will
draw from, you can wait to choose which of the icon’s spells you
will cast during your turn. Every icon has at least one at-will spell
and one daily or once-per-battle spell, so you’ll generally have a
choice depending on your level.

Not a Ritual Caster
Not only do chaos mages not know how to cast rituals, they aren’t
allowed to take the Ritual Casting feat. That’s not how chaos
magic rolls.

High Weirdness
There’s something uncanny about chaos mages. Some flaunt
this high weirdness, dressing crazily and carrying themselves
like punk rockers in a Renn Faire world. Other chaos mages
hide their colors, passing themselves off as more-or-less normal
spellcasters until the shock of battle gives them no choice.
Look at the huge table of random psychedelia below. Each
effect, referred to as a “weirdness,” lasts until a new weirdness
occurs or until the end of the battle. Some weirdnesses have
immediate one-time effects, while others have lingering effects,
and many weirdnesses affect everyone in the battle, not just you.
In case you’re wondering, there’s about a 50% chance that a
weirdness will be good for you or your allies. There’s about a 30%
chance that it’s going to be a random effect that will be global
and affect everyone; sometimes that’s good for the PCs, though
more rarely not. There’s a 10% chance that the weirdness will be
cosmetic with no real effect. And finally there’s a 10% chance that
it will be somewhat bad for you or your allies, but not really bad.
As a chaos mage, you don’t have to pay that much attention
to high weirdness unless you want to. If you’re a player who
enjoys the chaos mage’s random mechanics but doesn’t want to
have to deal with frequent bizarre weirdness, that’s fine: ignore
the adventurer feat for this class feature and you’ll only have to
worry about the weirdness effects when an enemy crits you. If
you do want to create random effects in most every battle, then
the adventurer feat is for you.
But first, here’s the basic High Weirdness rule that affects
each chaos mage.
Get critted, roll high weirdness: When an enemy scores
a critical hit against you, you must roll on the High Weirdness
table. Some weirdnesses have immediate effects that only happen
once, but their special effects continue.
Outside of battle, high weirdness effects are usually strange
special effects rather than powerful magical events. In other
words, things are sometimes strange around your chaos mage.
But not all the time, because that would be the new normal, and
therefore predictable.
Standard action to roll a new high weirdness effect: If you
hate the effect you’re experiencing and want to change it, you
can use a standard action to reroll a new effect. We’re not going
to make you burn your standard action and fail to escape the
weirdness you hate so badly, so if you get the same result you’re
presently experiencing, ignore it and roll again.

Talents
Stench of Necromancy
You gain a random spell from the necromancer class. Whenever
you take a full heal-up, randomly choose a necromancer spell of
the highest level you can cast. For the rest of the day, you know this
necromancer spell and can cast it according to its normal usage
pattern—at-will, once per battle, recharge, or daily—when that
option comes up during your chaos mage spellcasting sequence.
If the necromancer spell refers to Intelligence, you can
replace that ability score with references to Charisma

Trace of the Divine
You gain a random spell from the cleric class. Whenever you take
a full heal-up, randomly choose a cleric spell of the highest level
you can cast. For the rest of the day, you know this cleric spell and
can cast it according to its normal usage pattern—at-will, once
per battle, recharge, or daily—when that option comes up during
your chaos mage spellcasting sequence.
If the cleric spell refers to Wisdom, you can replace that
ability score with references to Charisma

Touch of Wizardry
You gain a random spell from the wizard class. Whenever you
take a full heal-up, randomly choose a wizard spell of the highest
level you can cast. For the rest of the day, you know this wizard
spell and can cast it according to its normal usage pattern—atwill,
cyclic, once per battle, recharge, or daily—when that option
comes up during your chaos mage spellcasting sequence.
If the wizard spell refers to Intelligence, you can replace that
ability score with references to Charisma.

Feats



Equipment

Wealth:

Bio

Bio
It seemed like strange happenstance that lead to Nanoko's discovery. A villager out foraging had been forced by circumstances to go far deeper in the forest then he would have liked. To his shock he discovered what appeared to be a human child playing amongst the animals. Well, it appeared to be a human at first until the villager noticed the tail and ears. The girl had the features of both humans and foxes. Deciding that such a strange child should be brought amongst the humans the villager took the girl to raise as his own. Despite being taken from her home she didn't seem to protest or struggle. As she grew it became clear she had a strange power about her, something that could almost be described as preternatural luck. She brought fortune to the village and was celebrated greatly...but nothing of this sort could last. And when the luck turned the blame was placed directly on her shoulders. It soon became unbearable and she found herself fleeing. For years she wandered, sometimes welcomed but only for her power, and soon cast aside when the "luck" ran out. Growing to adulthood she finally grasped the essence behind this "luck", a chaotic magic that she has been instinctively using. It was not a magic that could be mastered, but she managed to gain enough control that the magic would work only at her will and not out of her subconscious. She had not been made so bitter as to eschew helping others...but now help would only be given on her terms. 

[eternaldarkness]

Don't sweat the feat too much, just pick one that seems cool, like a racial Feat. You can anyways change it later. As for backgrounds, try my method: one background that describes something you did: lived among the beasts is good, raised by sentient animals is better. Pick another background that describes something you can do: as a chaos mage, something that describes your magical powers of their source is a good one. If you need a third, one that describes a connection to some facet of the world is a good one.

Well start as soon as you're done, and others can join later.

[schnookums]

I'm holding out for the feat for now as I just couldn't find anything I liked (or rather, I did like but I don't qualify because they're champion level feats, like the Fox Form racial feat). I did decide on the 'human but with fox ears/tail' look for her. Actually, the look that caught my eye was something like Horo/Holo from Spice and Wolf, especially with the cloak to conceal her ears/tail. (yes, I know she's a wuff and not a fox but the look still works). I also tweaked my background a bit, made her older when she was found to match the background. I hope this all is alright, let me know if I need to change anything.

Image

Image2

[ShadowFox89]

 Oh look, it's the Wolf half of Spice and Wolf :P

[eternaldarkness]

I'm holding out for the feat for now as I just couldn't find anything I liked (or rather, I did like but I don't qualify because they're champion level feats, like the Fox Form racial feat). I did decide on the 'human but with fox ears/tail' look for her. Actually, the look that caught my eye was something like Horo/Holo from Spice and Wolf, especially with the cloak to conceal her ears/tail. (yes, I know she's a wuff and not a fox but the look still works). I also tweaked my background a bit, made her older when she was found to match the background. I hope this all is alright, let me know if I need to change anything.

Image

Image2

Love it. I'll get an ooc and story thread up soon.

[eternaldarkness]

Rules/Setting and Characters: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=234389.0

OOC: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=234403.0

Main Story Thread: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=234554.new#new

Still looking for players. Refer to rules and setting info on the above threads. Character creation is standard point buy or array, as per the 13th Age codebook/SRD.

Currently the party is: Kitsune Chaos Mage (Played by Schnookums)
Werebeast Occultist Necromancer (My GMPC)
Tiefling Avenger (Played by ShadowFox89)

As of the game's start, the pc's are on a ghost-powered ship heading for the mainland, travelling on a mission at the behest of the Lich King to the Orc Lord's lands for a purpose that will be revealed when you arrive at your next destination. This is a great time to join in.

[schnookums]

Changed classes, eh? Putting the romance back into necromancy?

[eternaldarkness]

Changed classes, eh? Putting the romance back into necromancy?

Lol, I needed him to be a force multiplier since the party is small. Summons turn the tides of battles fast, and necro spells always do something even if they miss.

[Dhi]

Hi eternaldarkness, I was looking at 13th Age again as a way to run Planescape (factions as icons). The four campaigns I have played of 13th Age I enjoyed, but they were so short-lived. Looking back on the 18 post long campaign we did here on E, it seems we were both writing in that one, though I don't think we ever interacted. Some of us took our characters offsite to continue that story, so I'm sort of fond of the character Missy.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=184363.msg8864371#msg8864371

I notice there's already one kitsune character, and that's what Missy was always intended to be. I would probably rework the character some for a race change and to brush up on the rules, since I haven't played in like a year and a half.

[Crash]

Hah I was looking at this game too with the idea of recreating Little Fox, but it looks like you already have a sorcerer.

[eternaldarkness]

Hah I was looking at this game too with the idea of recreating Little Fox, but it looks like you already have a sorcerer.

We have a Chaos Mage and Necromancer, actually. You don't have to worry about party balance- leave that to me- and even two characters with the same class can be very different both mechanically and personality-wise.

Hi eternaldarkness, I was looking at 13th Age again as a way to run Planescape (factions as icons). The four campaigns I have played of 13th Age I enjoyed, but they were so short-lived. Looking back on the 18 post long campaign we did here on E, it seems we were both writing in that one, though I don't think we ever interacted. Some of us took our characters offsite to continue that story, so I'm sort of fond of the character Missy.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=184363.msg8864371#msg8864371

I notice there's already one kitsune character, and that's what Missy was always intended to be. I would probably rework the character some for a race change and to brush up on the rules, since I haven't played in like a year and a half.

You're welcome to join in, and I'd be happy to help you get back up to speed. Just let me know if you need anything.

Edit: ah, I remember her! Actually, you don't have to change a whole hell of a lot mechanics-wise. It might well be that fox demons life her are something else entirely different from kitsune, which are different from fox-like werebeasts such as Hakon.


I'm about to post the intro scene which happens aboard the Ashen Maiden as it crosses the Midland sea for people to roleplay while we see if any more characters pop up.

[Dhi]

schnookums, I notice Sionn's One Unique Thing is that she's the only kitsune in the world. Are you flexible on that?

[Crash]

Little Fox Who Calls Winter

Little Fox Who Calls Winter Little Fox or Calls Winter Level 1 Half-Elf Sorceress Str      10 ( -- ) Con      14 ( +2 ) Dex      14 ( +2 ) Int      10 ( -- ) Wis      12 ( +1 ) Cha      18 (16 +2 Racial) ( +4 ) AC:   13 PD:   14 MD:   14 Init   +3 HP   24 Recoveries 8 ( @1d6+2 )

One Unique Thing:
As a child Little Fox was lost in a storm and stumbled into the first lair of the Great Platinum Wyrm.  It was filled with ancient draconian pictograms.  She knew they were important, but couldn’t understand what they said.  She eventually fell asleep in the warmth of the immense cavern and when she awoke she was once again in the storm but heard the voices of her tribe looking for her.  When she returned to the village she found that the pictograms were faintly traced onto her skin.  She still has no idea what they mean, but her magical talent manifested soon after.


Icons:

Great Platinum Wyrm (2 point, Heroic Positive)
Little Fox’s tribal totem is the Platinum Wyrm an ancient representation of the Great Golden Wyrm.  It is said that much of the tribes lore was passed to them by the Great Platinum Wyrm and their shamans were charged with the guardianship the North.  The Platinum Wyrm appeared to little fox in her dreams as a child marking her forever as a Shaman of the tribes. 

Elf Queen (1 point, Ambiguous Conflicted)
There are ancient pacts made between the tribes of the North and the winter fae, that bind them together.  The Half-Elves of the Northern Tribes are not born of human and elven parents.  They are a race of Half-Elves that breed true, born of those ancient joinings of humans and winter fae generations ago.  The ancient pacts still hold but the Northern Tribes are their own people and the Elf Queen doesn’t fully trust her northern half-kin.

The White (1 point, Ambiguous Negative)
Not all of the Northern tribes serve The White.  If fact they are split with a equal serving The Great Golden Wyrm in the guise of the Platinum Wyrm.  Those that serve the Platinum Wyrm work to protect the sacred sites that weaken The White from raiders of the Winter Dragon and the agents of the Archmage who seek the magic contained within for their own designs.

Backgrounds:

Shaman of the Northern Hills 4
Little Fox was the shaman of her tribe before the disappeared.  The former shaman instructed her in the stories and tales of the Northern Tribes as well as the knowledge of the beasts of the far north.  Skill should help in legends and folklore, arcane lore, use magic device and heal.

Tundra Walker 2
Life in the far north is harsh.  It takes brains as well as brawn to survive.  All children of the northern tribes learn how to hunt gather and survive in the far north.  They know the subtlties of the lands and can recognized differences in the white snow that others miss.  Skill should help in survival, navigation, spot, notice, climb, ride (sled), and jump.

Spirit Friend 2
A shaman must bargain with the spirits of the North, be they storm, snow or under ice.  Creature Lore, diplomacy,  Speak Languages:  Hold basic conversations with non-humans of the far north including the winter fae (GM to decide what she can speak).

Racial Trait: Surprising!
Reduce a natural d20 roll by 1 once per battle

Class Features:
Dancing Lights
Gather Power

Talents:
Fey Heritage
Blood Link (Great Platinum Wyrm)
Metallic Protector Heritage

Feats:
Gather Power (Adventurer)

Spells:
Breath of the White
Lightning Fork
Freezing ray (Scorching Ray only Cold instead of Fire)
Resist Energy

Equipment:
Good Winter Clothing 1g
Standard Traveling Gear 5g
Bone Shortsword 4g
Cloth/Padded Armor 1g
Javelin 2g
Tent, Small 2g
Sled and Dogs 15g

Story:

Little Fox grew up in a small village in rolling hills north of the Tundra at the foot of the Frostfang Peaks.  Children of the Northern Tribes are taken care of by the village as a whole and while there is a special relationship that a child has with her birth parents, they attached to the community in a way that is tight knit and personal.  She gained the name Little Fox for she was a slight of frame and nimble and a magnate for danger.  Who Calls Winter was added later when she became the tribes shaman.

When she was a young girl Little Fox, always a wanderer got lost in a storm.  She happened upon a large cavern in the ancient hills.  It was barren yet warm and filled with strange pictograms.  Waiting out the storm she fell asleep and dreamed of the Great Platinum Wyrm.  He told her this was his lair when he was but a child and he would be happy to share it with her if she were to help him in return.  Now Little Fox was a curious and quizative little girl, but she had been taught well and remembered the responsibilities of the guest the Village Shaman had taught her and the others, so she agreed to help the Platinum Wyrm.  He smiled and bade her to rest and when she awoke she was no longer in the cavern, but in a snowy field outside of her village, her skin covered in the pale lines and whirls of the pictograms she had seen.  When she told her parents and the village elders what had happened she was given over to the Tribe’s Shaman to be trained as Little Fox had clearly been marked.

As a Shaman her duties were not only to the village but the tribe as a whole and as she grew she began to travel the Northern Hills.  She saw the signs of The White’s stirrings and consulted with other Shamans.  Upon her return to her village after once such gathering she found her village empty.  There were no signs of violence, no signs of disturbance at all.  They had just vanished.  Distraught Little Fox searched and searched, but found no clues to the whereabouts of the villagers.  She prayed to the Platinum Dragon and consulted the spirits and creatures of the ice and listened to the omens all of which have led her to the town of Snowguard where she hopes she can find those that might help her not only find her family but deal with a greater evil that the omens have only hinted.

Motivation:

Find out what happened to her family and the rest of her village.

[Dhi]

This is the flavor I would be shooting for.

Bio

"No, no! That isn't how the story should go," came the complaint from an audience of spirit-foxes.

Missy paused her performance, and took off her mask. "But this is a true story, based on real events."

"Make it more exciting," yipped one of the foxes of Oinari. "There should be two kitsune this time," another recommended. "I would like there to be a boat." All nodded in unison that this was what the story was missing.

"Very well." Missy donned her Noh mask over a growing smile, and began the tale again:
"Once upon a time, there was a brave kitsune girl who lived in the land of the Dragon Empire. All knew her coming from her flowing crimson mane, the joyous scamper of her little fox named Lucky, and the swords crossed over her hips. At the behest of the dread Lich King, she had boarded an extremely haunted ghost ship in search of adventure. What, you may ask, was a loyal servant of Oinari doing in the service of death? First, let me tell you of the companions who traveled with her..."

[eternaldarkness]

I love the Fox theme we have going. I may change an icon to accommodate.

Edit: Dhi, I love that.

[eternaldarkness]

The Diabolist, revised

the Diabolist
Shak-ti is an infernal sorceress of immense power, a fox-demon with (supposedly) thirteen tails, and the pre-eminent expert on infernal magics, having traded her soul and many other even dearer things to the powers of Hell in exchange for her sorcerous might. Rumor has it that she can give you anything your heart desires if you are willing to pay the price, though reaching her or her agents can be both difficult and dangerous, as she is a trickster on par with the Prince of Shadows (in fact, the two have an ongoing rivalry), and a  shapeshifter without equal.

[eternaldarkness]

Main Story Thread: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=234554.new#new

Feel free to jump in if you're ready. I'll give it a day or two so people can finish before the real action begins.

[Crash]

Oops didn't read the redone icons.  Not Sure if Little Fox fits this.  May have to look at something different.

Hmm I could change Great Golden Dragon to The Three with a particular affinity to Ula.  That might work.  Need to work on some tweaks to her relationship to the Elven Queen too.  Will work on it tonight.

[Crash]

I think I am going to switch to a Defensive Minded Eldritch Knight with a good relationship to the Lich King and a negative relationship to the Elven Queen. 

[eternaldarkness]

I think I am going to switch to a Defensive Minded Eldritch Knight with a good relationship to the Lich King and a negative relationship to the Elven Queen.

Awesome! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[eternaldarkness]

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE ON CHARACTER CREATION AND MY DM STYLE

First: You can, at your option, exchange a talent for one talent from another class if you so desire. This is to widen the range of concepts you can build. Any more extensive class-blending requires multiclassing.

Second: Backgrounds can also represent special powers. For example - Hakon's Kingly Bearing Awesome Presence of the Future King background functions as mild magical compulsion - like a Jedi Mind Trick - in the narrative, even though it still requires a background roll.

And Third and most important: Be fucking awesome. Your odds of success are directly proportional to how much you entertain me. If there are two ways to do something, and one way is boring and easy while the other is interesting but impractical, choose the interesting way and you can be assured of greater chance to succeed. Your characters are not mere fresh-off-the-farm nobodies like a level 1 D&D character: You are Epic. You are important. The Icons need you, want you, fear you. You have the potential to change the world, and where you tread, the world bows to your powerful destiny.

In combat, make your attacks interesting. Improvise. You can make your mechanics look however you want, so don't just swingg your sword - describe how you furiously cross blades with the ninja pirates you're fighting. Paint a picture in my head of how you're totally pwning these chump npc's with your mad skilkz. Tell us how your mighty spell hits with the force of a million explodingns. Talk shit to your enemies - dialogue doesn't stop because combat began.

The game, the setting - they're yours. I'm just here to provide the backdrop and enhance the fun. Without you players, there is no game.

In summary: Own the story. It's yours, not mine.

[eternaldarkness]

Edited my edit of the last post. I had more to say there.

[PaleEnchantress]

Not fully finished but this is as far as I'm going with my character sheet tonight. The character Image I chose I think is a good one but I'm willing to hear opinions on it. If anything is amiss let me know. As I said I've got more to add anyway.




Lamia Lamashtu



Bio:
The abandoned wooden shacks that rotted in the most decrepit area of the port's shanties were shunned even by the beggars. The liquid filth was home to a wide variety of vermin and pests. The few taverns and porters that did business in the area paid no mind to disposing of their trash and refuse among what was left of the buildings. Some people however had no choice but to live in them. As much as the homeless needed the charity of others they were quick to take from each other if they could. One man and woman could not exist among the other people. They were both blind and deaf or nearly so. On their own they could find foul sustenance among what others discarded. They stayed hidden to avoid being victimized. The one time they knew they had to find another was when the female was ready to give birth.
      It was no happy occasion to have another mouth to feed, and yet the pair were too fearful of others to allow their child in any one elses hands. Unlike his parents the child was quite canny and in full possession of his visual and auditory senses. His screams went unheard as pests and vermin crawled over him inside the lightless box in which he existed. His first words were things said to beg of others. He would often to go the other parts of town to prostrate himself before others hoping to evoke enough sympathy to acquire from strangers what he could not from his parents. Earp had been what his parents called him. It wasn't even so much a name as it was a sound that was easy for them to make. He was a cute baby that despite being underfed grew into a beautiful boy a pediastric relationship with a rich gentleman became his salvation.
      In his patrons household he became a sponge for knowledge. He was given an education, find clothes, and enough food to never be hungry. Using his body to please his much older mentor seemed odd at times but the human connection at least filled the cold he felt within. Earp even became friends with his masters children and was often paraded at gatherings for his unconventional wit and exotic beauty. Years of contentment passed until foreign troubles called his patron away. The mistress of the house would not let him stay anywhere on the property and so Earp went back to the streets and stayed once more in the light less squalor his parents did. In his extreme depression he didn't even see the diseased condition his parents flesh was in. He contracted their leprosy and his beautiful body and face putrefied. In time he was forced to a leper colony. His face and genitals withered and ruptured first. His appearance had been the one thing he had, and without it he was treated even worse than his parents had been. His bitterness and loss made him welcome death. He exhaled his last labored breath alone and unwanted.
   When his life began to fade, before actual death, he felt something calling to him, a presence which felt like the welcome embrace of an old lover. It offered him a chance to get back at the world for what it had done to him.  It would give him power unlike any other that he could use to vent his hatred of people. It was a power that could bend minds and reality itself to his capacious whims.  At first he was apprehensive. All the power in the world would not be worth having to live with his diseased and deformed body. No, the unknown presence said it would not only restore his health but make him more beautiful than anyone else could ever be. It didn't even seem to want anything in return. It wouldn't have mattered if it did want something. Its offer was worth almost anything. He accepted and when he did he felt a malevolent darkness within the presence he hadn't felt at first. But before he could even question it the presence was gone and himself remade. Then the only darkness he could feel was the one he created within himself.


Quote: "What a strapping hero you are, ready to come to the rescue. You know there was a time I would have given my heart to a man like you . . . and you'd have spit upon me for it!"
Race:  Human
Class: Occultist
Level: 1
OUT:"I am truly "The Fairest of them All", but once in a while I must consume the life of an innocent with a ritualized kiss or my body withers and decays"

Ability Scores
Str: 8  / -1
Dex: 14/ +2
Con: 12  / +1
Int: 18 / +4 (+2 Class)
Wis: 8 / -1
Cha: 17 / +3 (+2 Race)

Combat Stats

Init: +2

Melee attack
At-Will
Target: One enemy
Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC
Hit: WEAPON + Strength
damage
Miss: —

Ranged attack
At-Will
Target: One enemy
Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. AC
Hit: WEAPON + Dexterity
damage
Miss: —

AC: 12
PD: 11
MD: 14

HP: 21
Recoveries: 8
Recovery Dice: 1d6 x Level + Con Mod

Backgrounds:

Irrisistable Siren of Count Florien's court and eater of his children + 4

The gossip mill is turning with the story of a beautiful courtesan who charmed his way into the arms of Count Florien.  Florien was mostly just another "yes man" to The High King, but he lavished the courtesan with attention.  When the courtesan finally left he took the lives of Florien's heir and second son with him. He could smell the youth and innocent affection within them, just as he can smell it in children and virgins. The boys bodies were found naked nearly mummified and lacking their genitals, perverse grins stuck forever on their dead faces. The Count's daughter is his only surviving child and Florien himself is but a pale shadow of a man. Some aren't sure if he is more hurt by the loss of his sons or that of his lover who they now call "The Siren" and "Child Eater" even though he didn't actually eat  any children.

Studious beloved of Duke Tiberious "The Regulator"  + 2

Tiberious is a frugal man and strict enforcer of The High Kings will. He was also a family man with a fondness for the affection of adolescent boys. Lamia was his prefered lover for many years and in that he learned of Tiberiouses magical dabblings as well as history, architecture and many other "classic" educational studies.


Vicsissitude adept, castrator, and Idol at the blood bath temple of the dark goddess Cybelee +2 

Lamia has dealings with the cult of Cybelee. The cult offers sculpting of flesh to its supplicants, ritual baths tinctured with blood and oils that will erase scars, supress the effects of advancing age, and ensure fertility. The cult is also heavily invested in the slave trade, especially on behalf of the Crusader. Cybelee's cult is almost entirely responsible for many of the popular trends in the slave trade such as selective breeding, heavy excersize regimens, castration of male slaves not being bred or used for sex with their owners, and the ritual sacrifice of a slave showing signs of advanving age. The average slave is healthier and more obedient than ever before. Those that hold comoassion and freedom in high regard (like The Priestess) claim it is not worth the cost, just as they worry that service to "The Dark Mother' Cybelee involves playing with magicks as black as that of the fiends they claim to hate so.


Icon Relationships
None

Features

Quick to Fight (Racial Power)

At the start of each battle, roll initiative twice and choose the result you want.

Class Abilities

Arcane Implements
You use arcane power to alter fate. While wands and staffs are designed for casting spells that are different from the spells you use, given a little time you can bend such an implement to your will. Perhaps somewhere in the worlds is a magical implement that would make it easier for you to retain your focus when you cast a spell, but no one’s ever heard of such a thing.



Delayed Magical Healing
As you send your intellect beyond the conventional reality of the worlds, you distance yourself from the worlds’ power of healing. Magical healing effects heal you one round after the effect would normally be applied. You gain the healing at the start of the turn of whoever applied the magical healing effect, or at the start of your next turn if you drank a healing potion or found some other way of magically healing yourself during your last turn.
Practically speaking, you can ignore this momentary delay outside of combat. You can also ignore it when you rally; rallying isn’t a magical healing effect.
In battle, there will be times that your allies cast healing spells on you with the expectation that you’re going to be badly wounded this round . . . only to find that you’ve skated through untouched and the healing ends up wasted. The Fates can be cruel, especially to the one who does not bow to them.



Focus and Spellcasting
Wielding your arcane power of reality requires two steps. First, you take time to focus your mind on the skeins of destiny that pull the material world along. Once you have this focus, you can cast a spell (to distort reality). Casting a spell generally expends your focus until you can gain it again. Sometimes, however, you manage to retain your focus, allowing you to cast a spell again during your turn or the next round.
Gaining your focus requires a standard action, and it draws opportunity attacks just like using a ranged attack does. (The “range” in this case is “beyond this world.”) Once you have your focus, you can expend it to cast an occultist spell. You can cast most of your spells only in response to an event, typically during an enemy’s turn or an ally’s turn (indicated by the trigger line in a spell stat block). For example, you might be able to force an enemy to reroll a natural odd attack roll, which means you can cast that spell only when an enemy makes such an attack. These spells require interrupt actions, and you can only use one of those each round. You are interrupting space/time and putting it back together in a manner more pleasing to your discerning soul. The typical cycle for you is to gain your focus during your turn and then expend it by casting a spell during someone else’s turn.
Retain Focus: You normally have to expend your focus to cast occultist spells. Most of your spells allow you a chance to retain your focus, however, when the spell’s attack roll is within the listed range. The range is on the low end, so the worse your roll (generally when you miss) the more likely you’ll be to keep your focus. Each spell with a retain focus range lists that range at the end of the spell stat block.



Rebuke
With focus, you can pummel someone with their own negative karma. In addition to the spells you normally know based on your level, you also know karmic rebuke. There are no feats associated with this spell. If you want to use it to the fullest effect, take the Superior Rebuke talent.
Karmic rebuke requires a quick action instead of an interrupt action. It’s designed so you can cast it during your turn when you’ve retained your focus, then use your standard action to get your focus back that same turn.
Karmic Rebuke
Close-quarters spell ¿ Quick action to cast; expend focus ¿ At-Will
Target: One nearby enemy
Attack: Intelligence + Level vs. MD
Hit: 1d6 + Wisdom psychic damage.



Spell Choices and Flexible Recharge
Like the standard spellcasters in the 13th Age core rulebook, you choose the spells you will be able to cast after each full heal-up.
When you successfully recharge a spell, you can regain any spell of that spell’s level, not necessarily the same spell again. For example, the occultist has used brilliant comeback cast at 5th level, and now she’s resting and rolling to recharge. In effect, she’s rolling to recharge not that particular spell but a 5th level spell slot. She succeeds on the recharge roll and selects a 5th level spell that’s not currently one of the spells she knows. If she likes, she can prepare brilliant comeback again, but she could also choose any other spell she doesn’t already have prepared.

Talents

Warp Flesh
"Not so pretty now are we?"

When you cast a spell that targets Mental Defense and the target has a higher MD than PD, the attack “twists” and targets PD instead. When a spell twists this way, it deals force damage instead of its normal damage type.
The ability of the occultist to deal force damage demonstrates that underneath surface phenomena, the worlds are composed of force, but no one knows what that really means. Run with the story-consequences of “flesh-warping” attacks as you wish.


Icon Channeler
"Bathed in moonlight, I'm proclaimed by angels cry. Think well. Do take your time. Because your soul will be mine the day you die."

During your meditations, when you peer behind the veil of reality, you align your soul with the great powers that govern civilization. You have three fewer relationship dice than normal (probably none at adventurer tier, one at champion tier, and two at epic tier). Instead, when all the characters get to roll relationship dice, you get a 5 to apply to any icon you choose. Like any other character, you can gain relationship dice through extraordinary story events. Remember, just because an icon is out to kill you doesn’t mean you have relationship dice with that icon. Dice represent the utility of a connection in the story not its strength. If you encounter icons other than the standard ones, you can probably talk the GM into letting you align your soul to them, but expect it to cost you.


Enthrall
"I hear their moans when I torture them. I feel their last labored breaths within my mind they die. I remember what they did to me and I know that I am much more merciful than they deserve"
This functions similar to the Ranger’s Animal Companion talent, except this talent has a few extra feats that make these creatures function more like thralls that want to protect their master, as opposed to companions that you’d want to keep safe and alive.  Other than that, all the rules of Animal Companions – including the additional 2 recoveries, and available companions – also apply here.


Brain Melting Secrets
I will give this whole wretched world the reward it truley deserves!
You have looked upon reality squarely, with no veil, smoke, or mirrors. It would be more than enough to drive any other mortal mind insane. When you touch the minds of your enemies, you reveal to them some small hint of the unsettling reality that you know all too well. They try to not even look at you afterward. . . .
When you hit with a spell attack that deals psychic damage, one target of the attack can’t attack you during its next turn this battle unless you are the only nearby enemy.

Feats

Ritual Caster

Iconic Channeler
Choose three icons when you take this feat. Each time you apply your 5 to one of those icons, roll a d6. On a 5–6, change that 5 you’re applying to a 6.
The High King, The Diabolist, The Prince of Shadows

Spells

4 1st-level spells per full heal-up

1st-Level Spells

Better Yet, Here
Brilliant Comeback
Timley Mistake
Inevitable Fall




[/quote]

[eternaldarkness]

PaleEnchantress, that was absolutely inspiring. The only change I'd make is to be more descriptive with backgrounds. Courtesan Siren of (insert evocative court name here), and then fold Smell innocence into that background as well, put the spare point in well-read apprentice and then make that more evocative as well - who was your wealthy benefactor? Say something about why being his apprentice is noteworthy - Apprentice of the great wizard Spellsby the Lecherous is better (as an example).

[Dhi]

13th Age is such a cool game and I hadn't realized how much support it's garnered over the last couple of years. I'm tempted to pick up 13 True Ways and 13th Age Bestiary now.

Pending input from shnookums, this is the reworked character.

Missy

Mischievous Three Tailed Fox Goads Devil (Missy for short) Level 1 Kitsune Ranger Str      10   ( -- ) Con      12   ( +1 ) Dex      18   ( +4 ) Int      10   ( -- ) Wis      14   ( +2 ) Cha      14   ( +2 ) AC:   17 PD:   13 MD:   13 Init   +5 HP   24 Recoveries 8 ( @1d8+1 )

One Unique Thing:
I am a performer in a cosmic play for the entertainment of the foxes of Oinari, amoral tricksters and sometimes allies of humanity. I must act according to their impish whims.

Icons:
Prince of Shadows (1 point, Ambiguous Positive)
During her priesthood in Santa Cora, Missy offered discreet aid to the Thieves' Guild when they needed a foot in the door, a safe place to hide, and a healer who tells no tales. In exchange for being on good terms with Highway bandits (which doesn't necessarily mean she's never been robbed- just that they're polite about it), Missy is sometimes called on as a reluctant ally of the Guild.

High Druid (1 point, Ambiguous Conflicted)
As a messenger of Oinari, Missy has long walked the fringe between civilization and the wild, a true friend to neither. Helping small communities to harness and live in relative harmony with nature has made her some enemies among the High Druid's more extremist agents.

The High King (1 point, Ambiguous Negative)
Centuries ago, the stories say, a kitsune became the queen of a previous High King and led him to his downfall. This mischievous demon continued to plague the courts of the Midgard until she was discovered and driven into the swamp. Missy is both a blood relative of this storied kitsune and a minor criminal in her own right, guilty of tax evasion, aiding bandits, trespass, lèse-majesté, and obscenity.

Backgrounds:
Oinari's Messenger 5
(Oinari's Messenger is a renaming of the ranger talent Tracker)
Missy is a traveling priestess for Oinari, god(dess) of agriculture, fertility, swordsmiths, traveling merchants, and progenitor of the kitsune from whom Missy draws her demonic heritage. Messengers of Oinari serve as wilderness guides and aid communities with animal husbandry, childbirth, hunting small game, and farming. They are less at home in the deep wilds of the world, far from civilization.

Highwaywoman 5
(Highwaywoman is a renaming of the rogue talent Thief)
Laying low along the roads of Midgard, finding boltholes and charming kindness from strangers, Missy has lived as a romantic bandit, supping at the teat of civilization while enjoying the freedom of the wilds. A highwaywoman hides in the shrubs and the stable eaves, enters the inn under dead of night for a breakfast egg, and knows well the banners of the road patrols and which have the good sense to take a bribe.

Traveling Merchant 3
Touring wares across the small towns of Midgard's trade routes, Missy accumulated a working knowledge of supply and demand, economics, and the habits of the Highway bandits while meeting more rural people than she could ever possibly remember.

Noh Performer 3
Performers of the folk Noh tradition are trained to portray emotion while wearing masks, becoming masters of nuance and body language. Memorization of the codified Noh plays has lent Missy a colloquial knowledge of the spirits, gods, and history depicted in its 250 stories.

Blesser of Boats 2
Missy became one of many priestesses in Santa Cora to bless fishing boats, both at christening and at each launch. She knows how to give blessings, and has superficial knowledge of fishing vessels and their captains. Used as a special power, Missy may bless a journey with unusual speed, with shrouded secrecy, or with providence of the land (but only one at a time).

Racial Trait: Foxfire

Talents:
Double Melee Attack
   Your weapon damage die drops one notch. In exchange, make a second attack when the attack roll is even.
Tracker
   Tracker background 5
   Terrain Stunt as a quick action
Thievery
   Thievery background 5
   Thief's Strike power

Feats:
1) Thievery (class)

Goodies:
Twin Dao Swords
Thumb Ring Bow
Fur Armor
Marbles, chicken feathers, sneezing dust, itching powder, and a hundred other minor annoyances.
And a fox named Lucky.


Bio
"No, no! That isn't how the story should go," came the complaint from an audience of spirit-foxes.

Missy paused her performance, and took off her mask. "But this is a true story, based on real events."

"Make it more exciting," yipped one of the foxes of Oinari. "There should be two kitsune this time," another recommended. "I would like there to be a boat." All nodded in unison that this was what the story was missing.

"Very well." Missy donned her Noh mask over a growing smile, and began the tale again:
"Once upon a time, there was a brave kitsune girl who lived in the land of Midgard. All knew her coming from her flowing crimson mane, the joyous scamper of her little fox named Lucky, and the swords crossed over her hips. At the behest of the dread Lich King, she had boarded an extremely haunted ghost ship in search of adventure. What, you may ask, was a loyal servant of Oinari doing in the service of death? First, let me tell you of the companions who traveled with her..."

[eternaldarkness]

Very nice, Dhi. I love the detail you put into your Backgrounds. Go ahead and add your character to the character thread, and any changes that need to be made you'll have until the end of the intro to make.

[PaleEnchantress]

I like what Dhi did too so I added some backstory with the backgrounds. The cooperative story telling nature of the game means just creating something like the cult of Cybelee isn't just allowed but actually desired, right? I hope im understanding this.

[eternaldarkness]

I like what Dhi did too so I added some backstory with the backgrounds. The cooperative story telling nature of the game means just creating something like the cult of Cybelee isn't just allowed but actually desired, right? I hope im understanding this.

You are correct. The Cult of Cybelee now exists and will appear in the game.

[ShadowFox89]

 Just like there's an order of tantric warrior-monks.

[PaleEnchantress]

So far its necromancer, occultist, chaos mage, and ranger?

[eternaldarkness]

So far its necromancer, occultist, chaos mage, and ranger?

And Avenger when Shadowfox gets done.

Edit: And Crash's Eldritch Knight

I redid Hakon's BG's too, since you guys were so inspiring:

Backgrounds: Tutored by the Lich King 3
Hakon is the Lich King's namesake and great grandson, and like all the members of his bloodline he has an affinity for arcane magic, especially necromancy. Hakon has extensive knowledge of Arcane lore in general with a specialty in necromancy, since he was taught by the originator of the art.

Acolyte Priest of Atropo, Goddess of Endings 1
Before his wanderings, Hakon studied briefly at the Cathedral in Santa Cora, and was ordained as a priest of Atropo, the goddess of endings, though he was never very religiously inclined.

Aura of the Future King 4
It is written in the stars that someday Hakon will ascend to his throne as a mighty king, and others can sense the weight of destiny on him. It pulls them in like fish caught in a net and makes them inclined to obey his commands and heed his words no matter how they feel about him. This is especially effective on Dragons, though creatures who respect no human ruler such as orcs, demons and devils are unaffected.

[PaleEnchantress]

And Avenger when Shadowfox gets done.

Edit: And Crash's Eldritch Knight

I redid Hakon's BG's too, since you guys were so inspiring:

Backgrounds: Tutored by the Lich King 3
Hakon is the Lich King's namesake and great grandson, and like all the members of his bloodline he has an affinity for arcane magic, especially necromancy. Hakon has extensive knowledge of Arcane lore in general with a specialty in necromancy, since he was taught by the originator of the art.

Acolyte Priest of Atropo, Goddess of Endings 1
Before his wanderings, Hakon studied briefly at the Cathedral in Santa Cora, and was ordained as a priest of Atropo, the goddess of endings, though he was never very religiously inclined.

Aura of the Future King 4
It is written in the stars that someday Hakon will ascend to his throne as a mighty king, and others can sense the weight of destiny on him. It pulls them in like fish caught in a net and makes them inclined to obey his commands and heed his words no matter how they feel about him. This is especially effective on Dragons, though creatures who respect no human ruler such as orcs, demons and devils are unaffected.

Oooh great reads! What kind of class is Avenger?  I think this may be a group who relies on control and minions for "tanking"  so we are a 6 person group? cool.

[eternaldarkness]

I anticipate losing a few people after the first few weeks of the game, so I recruited a few extra. If everyone stays, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Avenger is a single-target damage class focused on accuracy and locking down a tough target then swording their ass to death.

[ShadowFox89]

 Which, as ED knows, fits Kat perfectly.

[Crash]

My EK will be heavily defensive focused forcing foes to fight her and warding others.  Should be different for me and fun.  I will try to get most of her finished tonight.  I have night work tomorrow, funeral Thursday, Tabletop RPG Friday and the beach on Sunday so I will be busy this weekend.

[PaleEnchantress]

Eternal darkness can help me fill in the important details of the flat personality expendable npc beefcake that follows me around, like "is he more a nearly naked monk" or "is he more nearly naked barbarian?"

[eternaldarkness]

Eternal darkness can help me fill in the important details of the flat personality expendable npc beefcake that follows me around, like "is he more a nearly naked monk" or "is he more nearly naked barbarian?"

Nearly naked barbarian, most likely.

[eternaldarkness]

So far, we have three deities known in the setting just from backgrounds: Atropo the Lifecutter who brings the end of life so that it may begin anew, Dark Mother Cybelee who shapes the raw living flesh thus created into lifeforms pleasing to her, and Oinari of the Bountiful Harvest, who guides and guards the mortal races until their ends come.

These three goddesses were not originally related, or even part of the same pantheon (Oinari followed her Kitsune children to Midgard from the Jade Empire, far across the sea to the east, and Cybelee comes from the frozen Northlands beyond the Frost Range mountains following in the wake of the orcs who worship her alongside their war god) but they have since joined forces to advance their own collective interests and for mutual defense against their enemies.

The three goddesses have a stronghold in the overworked, based on their ever-moving cloud kingdom called Arcadia where the souls of their devout followers go to receive their just rewards according to their piety in life and the whims of their goddesses. It is relatively easy for a mortal to find Arcadia, but once there gaining audience with any of the goddesses is quite a bit harder and potentially hazardous.

It is worth noting that priests and followers of the goddesses usually get along and cooperate for the greater good, often even sharing temples and shrines, but that conflicts and schisms are not unknown both between and within the faiths.

[eternaldarkness]

For a good example of what a multiclassed character looks like, look at Hakon. He's a Necromancer/Commander. Cuz he's the boss (for now).

[Crash]

I am thinking of these backgrounds for my EK.  In order of oldest to most recent background.

Backgrounds:

Maiden of the Fallen Stars: 2

Maerwen was a Handmaiden to Queen Sidera before her betrayal of the Court of Stars.  The Handmaidens were adept at courtly duties and trained in etiquette and diplomacy.  The more capable of the maidens were used as ambassadors to other kingdoms and some say spies.  Only those Maidens that were away from the Court of Stars escaped the massacre.  Possible Skills include Speak Elvish, Diplomacy, Knowledge (Ettiquette), Knowledge (Nobility), Sense Motive

Scholar of Lost Souls: 2

Driven by despair and vengeance Maerwen used her arcane knowledge to delve into the dead realms.  She studied with the Death Priests of Callowell, the Orcish Nightwitches and the ancient texts of Elven Shadowseers trying to understand the nature of death in hopes of reconciling the pain and loss within herself before the necromancers of the Lich King offered a way to ease her pain and gather a measure of revenge against her former Queen.  Possible Uses: Spellcraft, Knowledge (Arcane), Knowledge (Theology)...etc...

Knight of the Eternal Chorus:  4

The Knights of the Eternal Chorus guard the mausoleums and graveyards of the Lich King’s kingdom.  They are tasked with the continuous song of lamentations that keep the dead at peace when not called upon by the necromancers of the Lich King.  The Knights of the Eternal Chorus have a reverence for the dead and the positive energy, sentient undead who exist within the kingdom.  The Eternal Chorus are chosen from the ranks of Death Knights that make up the Lich Kings personal guard and as such have been trained in skills such as Performance (Song), Riding, Intimidate, Perception.

[eternaldarkness]

Crash, those look like solid Backgrounds from my first reading. They add to the setting and we're fun to read, and give a good idea what they generally cover. Thumbs up.

[Crash]

Okay I need to write up her background and formalize her relationships with the icons and I should have here character sheet done.  Maybe By Saturday night I am thinking.

[eternaldarkness]

Okay I need to write up her background and formalize her relationships with the icons and I should have here character sheet done.  Maybe By Saturday night I am thinking.

No hurry. So you guys know, if you have your characters basics down you can hop in the main story thread and roleplay until everyone's done. Nothing combat-wise will happen, and in the unlikely event something absolutely must be rolled and your sheet isn't done, we'll figure it out.

If you are done, though, post your sheet in the character thread so I know who we're waiting on.

[PaleEnchantress]

Aaha you went commander? And I thought I was the premiere leader type of the group (Mechanics wise). Do you think your Con score might get in the way? Before I went Occultist quite a few multi classes were looking good

[eternaldarkness]

Aaha you went commander? And I thought I was the premiere leader type of the group (Mechanics wise). Do you think your Con score might get in the way? Before I went Occultist quite a few multi classes were looking good

I've used this build before. Con isn't an issue because you're never in melee unless you fuck up horribly.

[PaleEnchantress]

I've used this build before. Con isn't an issue because you're never in melee unless you fuck up horribly.

Ah, I thought commander practically had to meele. Cool that it isn't the case.  I posted my charsheet and might start on an IC post, not sure if it will be finished tonight.

I wanted to ask, when we level up you're cool with a bit of retraining? Like move a background point, swap a feat out, maybe change a icon relationship point. Im quite pleased with my character at the moment but it's very possible something wont be as fun or useful as I thought it was or I might want to try something a bit different.  Also you're cool with helping us make custom feats? I've got nothing particular in mind at the moment but i expect experiencing the gameplay will get me scheming.

13th age is a very unique change for me. In D&D I'm quite an optimizer and a big part of that is that I need to use various tricks and synergies to be able to do what I want to do. I'm not satisfied if my character doesn't have the the proper feats/abilities/scores/skill/whatever to accomplish what I have in mind. Part of its charm is I do have a bunch of things that can interact and show the mechanics of how I can control people by influencing their dreams or whatever.

13th age has neither the need nor ability to be an exercise in number crunching. Normally I tend to hate systems people hail for being "Balanced" because they are boring as hell. Also anytime I hear someone  something like "I'm a role player not a roll player, lol" I want to spend some quality time introducing them to water torture. 13th age is wonderfully different though because the simple rules aren't simple to limit your options, but to expand them.  Its a backdrop that lets everyone work out what they want and get there. Its a great system for DMPC's too since a lot of story telling power is in the other players. The DMPC will have lots to work with that isn't just stuff planned out from their own head.

[eternaldarkness]

Don't worry, you get to retrain one thing every level, and shifting Talents and Backgrounds/icon relationships, or having them grow and change organically is exactly what I intend to have happen. I can already tell you that unless the players intervene, Icons will change, Hakon will be a king, and the 13th Age will be the last age. You all know this IC too, especially our Occultist and Chaos Mage - they can feel and see the weight of destiny hanging over Hakon and the rest of the party like a Sword of Damocles.

Speaking of Hakon, he's pretty much just a walking plot token. His effectiveness depends entirely on the rest of you, and what he does will depend on what you all would have him do. Mechanically, he's just there for support - make everyone better just by being there, without doing a lot himself.

At the end of the intro, you'll get one chance to make any changes you want too. Nothing is finalized until you reach Shadow Port, so think of the current chapter as a tutorial.

[Crash]

Ah, I thought commander practically had to meele. Cool that it isn't the case.  I posted my charsheet and might start on an IC post, not sure if it will be finished tonight.

I wanted to ask, when we level up you're cool with a bit of retraining? Like move a background point, swap a feat out, maybe change a icon relationship point. Im quite pleased with my character at the moment but it's very possible something wont be as fun or useful as I thought it was or I might want to try something a bit different.  Also you're cool with helping us make custom feats? I've got nothing particular in mind at the moment but i expect experiencing the gameplay will get me scheming.

13th age is a very unique change for me. In D&D I'm quite an optimizer and a big part of that is that I need to use various tricks and synergies to be able to do what I want to do. I'm not satisfied if my character doesn't have the the proper feats/abilities/scores/skill/whatever to accomplish what I have in mind. Part of its charm is I do have a bunch of things that can interact and show the mechanics of how I can control people by influencing their dreams or whatever.

13th age has neither the need nor ability to be an exercise in number crunching. Normally I tend to hate systems people hail for being "Balanced" because they are boring as hell. Also anytime I hear someone  something like "I'm a role player not a roll player, lol" I want to spend some quality time introducing them to water torture. 13th age is wonderfully different though because the simple rules aren't simple to limit your options, but to expand them.  Its a backdrop that lets everyone work out what they want and get there. Its a great system for DMPC's too since a lot of story telling power is in the other players. The DMPC will have lots to work with that isn't just stuff planned out from their own head.

Huh.  Role players and not Roll Players are exactly the kind of players I prefer to GM and RP with.  I won't insult the Min/Maxers with water boarding but maybe this isn't a game for me.

[eternaldarkness]

Huh.  Role players and not Roll Players are exactly the kind of players I prefer to GM and RP with.  I won't insult the Min/Maxers with water boarding but maybe this isn't a game for me.

I find it pretentious and more than a little bit elitist to say crap like that, mainly because there's a lot of baked-in assumptions in saying it. First being that wanting to play a game well (because an RPG is a game, its right there in the name) makes you bad. The second assumption is that one cannot be a good role player while also enjoying and being good at the game part; one does not preclude the other. The idea that it does is a myth made up by people who want to feel superior to others, but the truth is those are often the people who have the least impact on the narrative because they tend to be bad at the game side - the part that has a big effect on the narrative (this is less true with 13th age since everyone gets ways to affect the narrative directly).

Not to mention the fact that it's insulting to people who put forth the effort to learn a systems ins and outs and translate an idea into stats. It's a lot of work and a labor of love for even the worst of power gamers. If we didn't care, we wouldn't bother - we'd just go play videogames (yes, I consider myself a power gamer.) And say screw these stupid nerd games. Powergamers are your allies, not your enemies. A writer makes a great story and the artist a pretty picture, but its the mechanic - the engineer - who can bring those words and images to life and make them move. It is the same with rpg's - you can say you're the world's greatest swordsman all day long, but if the numbers on your sheet say otherwise and you keep losing to mooks, you aren't.

So what I'm saying is this: leave if you want. Personally, i would prefer you stayed because i think you have a lot to contribute. But if you leave, do so informed, and next time you hear someone spout that 'role play vs. roll play' malarky, give a thought to my spiel above.

[Dhi]

13th Age for me was the spiritual successor to D&D 4E with an addition of narrative game elements like Icons, OUT, and improv-based character powers. It took a game I already enjoyed and evolved it more in a direction I like, a direction WotC would never be in a position to do themselves.

Of all the complaints I saw leveled at 4E, and there have been a lot out there on the untamed vistas of the internet, the most common was that it was too gamey, too bolted down in its assumptions for the sake of game balance. It's interesting that our perceptions of the system could be so different; to me it's almost 4E with the serial numbers filed off.

[Crash]

Oh I understand both sides of Roll Play vs Role Play (I see it as more of a gradient than an absolute). I simply lean towards the Role play side of things as a preference and do not consider myself a power gamer so I will bow out.  Enjoy, 13th Age is a really fun game I am sure you will all enjoy it.

[eternaldarkness]

Oh I understand both sides of Roll Play vs Role Play (I see it as more of a gradient than an absolute). I simply lean towards the Role play side of things as a preference and do not consider myself a power gamer so I will bow out.  Enjoy, 13th Age is a really fun game I am sure you will all enjoy it.

Alright man, happy gaming.

[ShadowFox89]

>Can't player 13th age because you're not a power gamer

Eternal, have you ever known me to be GOOD at mechanics? :P

My only day off today, so I'm working on EVERYTHING that I need to do for all my games.

[eternaldarkness]

>Can't player 13th age because you're not a power gamer

Eternal, have you ever known me to be GOOD at mechanics? :P

My only day off today, so I'm working on EVERYTHING that I need to do for all my games.

You have a tendency to be enthusiastic about making characters that are good at what you intend them to be good at, so I'd say you're pretty good at making characters that are fun to play and play with, which is really what's important.

[ShadowFox89]

 Here's Katherine's sheet so far: http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=282549

[eternaldarkness]

Still room for a few more players! The first combat just started, and this is a great time to jump in. Tanky warrior classes like Eldritch Knight, Fighter, Paladin, and Stalwart will get preference over casters. An 'expert' class like Avenger, Lurker, Monk or Rogue would also be welcome, though casters will have to really wow me as the party is very caster-heavy.

Current Party makeup:
Human Occultist
Human Necromancer
Kitsune Chaos Mage
Tiefling Ranger
Possibly a Tiefling Avenger if a certain person ever finished his character and gets posting

[ShadowFox89]

 If I stop getting six-day weeks at work I could :P

[eternaldarkness]

If I stop getting six-day weeks at work I could :P

I was messing with you, buddy. Take your time - you've got a slot wherever you're ready. And if you want, I can run you a solo in the same world until your schedule allows you to join the group.