[CLOSED] - Interest Check: D&D 5e - Curse of Strahd

[tobisquestion]

I recently played through Curse of Strahd in tabletop format, and now I've bought the adventure and I'm hoping to run it myself in PBP format here on E.

How system heavy and smut-oriented it is will depend on the preferences of my players. I'm happy to go any which way, but know that I am very story-focused and I'll be working hard to incorporate your characters, and their backstories, into the adventure.

I have a DM account on DNDBeyond too, which I'd ideally like people to use for their character sheets but it's not a deal breaker. You won't have to spend any money, you'll have the benefit of my content sharing, and I'll Homebrew any options you want to take that I don't have access to.

What materials are allowed? - I will entertain anything you suggest as long as we can make narrative sense of it and it doesn't break the game. Unearthed Arcana will have to be approved on a case-by-case basis. Eberron I realise is the exciting new thing in the D&D world at the moment, but Eberron content is less likely to be a good fit. Make a suggestion, though, by all means.

Party size - I'd actually like to keep it to 3 or 4 players. Simple reason: I want to minimise the risk of things being slowed down by players who are unable to post as quickly as others. For forum-play, I think a smaller party will help things roll along smoothly.

What level are we starting at - Level 3, and you'll each be allowed to start with a magic item appropriate to your character.

Character generation method - Points buy, so we don't start off with any superheroes. Also, because I believe that feats are what make characters interesting, every character can get a free feat from the outset. This free feat cannot be any of the following: Lucky, Magic Initiate, Ritual Caster, Spell Sniper, Tough. Any feats your character would normally get on creation (such as with the variant human) can be anything you like, of course.

How can I maximise my chances of being selected for this game? - Give me a character who makes narrative sense. Show me that you've designed them around a concept, not a rule mechanic. Nothing wrong with min-maxing and optimising your character, but ultimately I'll be picking characters that I think will make a good story. Because roleplaying is, ultimately, telling a story more than it is playing a game. (And no obvious anime-inspired characters, please. This is not the right setting for it.)

I've had two people express an interest in playing a cleric and I'd prefer not to double up on any class in this adventure. If you've submitted a cleric or are thinking of submitting a cleric, might be worth having a back-up idea so that you don't have to miss out entirely.

[Bevatoria]

I'll put my hand up; although I'll confess I'm not..versed?...in gothic settings.

I do have DnD Beyond, however, and am familiar with it and have DMing experience (although no live playing experience, strangely enough) in 5e.

[tobisquestion]

That's cool. There's nothing you need to know in advance really. Characters will begin in a Forgotten Realms/Faerun type setting and be thrust into the gothic world of the adventure. So your character will be learning along with you!

[Xurtan]

What material would be available? I'm... tempted.

[Chulanowa]

I'm in, though with a caveat; I'm a fan of the sort of vibe where the PC's are "normal fantasy heroes" thrown into an alien gothic horror setting, rather than, y'know, everyone already coming from a brooding haunted castle in fantasy Transylvania  ;D Also a big fan of race diversity - if it's gonna be "humans and elves only" I lose interest real fast.

[tobisquestion]

What material would be available? I'm... tempted.

I have Xanathars and Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica and a few other things unlocked on DNDBeyond. I will entertain anything you suggest as long as we can make narrative sense of it and it doesn't break the game. Unearthed Arcana will have to be approved on a case-by-case basis but, I mean, in my tabletop campaign I let one player play as a Blood Arcanist so I'm pretty open minded! ^_^

I'm in, though with a caveat; I'm a fan of the sort of vibe where the PC's are "normal fantasy heroes" thrown into an alien gothic horror setting

That's exactly what CoS delivers, so you'll be well catered for on that front.

Also a big fan of race diversity - if it's gonna be "humans and elves only" I lose interest real fast.

I've heard people encourage CoS players to pick human or elven characters, and I see why because the non-hostile NPCs you'll be dealing with will be predominantly human. I certainly won't be imposing any limits, though. Design a character you're going to enjoy playing. 

I will entertain the idea of people playing any race, on the understanding that it may impact how other characters react to them. People are often eager to play a Tiefling because "I want to be a warlock and they get a charisma bonus" and "they look cool" and "I love Jester from Critical Role"...whilst overlooking that it's literally written into the race description that Tieflings routinely are the subject of prejudice and suspicion. So if you're cool with that being an aspect of your character's experience - and you have a backstory idea as to how your tiefling character came to be - then by all means play a tiefling.

Again, the same rules as above apply: If we can make narrative sense out of it, and it doesn't break the game, I'll probably allow it.

We will be starting at Level 3, and I'll let each of you begin with one magic item to be discussed and agreed before we start.

[Angie]

Oh what the hell. Always jamming for a 5e game, or any games really. Now I've never even heard of Curse of Strahd, but I'm interested enough. Is this an adventure you maybe don't want to bring a Lawful Good Paladin to? Or is it even recommended that someone come as something like that?

[Xurtan]

Hah, this might be one of the original good places to have a Paladin. Strahd's a memelord.

And hrm. I'd been considering a Fire Genasi Artificer before, with the official rules out for them now. I might tinker with something. Might also see who all expresses interest, it's that admittedly awkward situation of not wanting to be the only gay character around for a league. *snicker* 

[tobisquestion]

Is this an adventure you maybe don't want to bring a Lawful Good Paladin to? Or is it even recommended that someone come as something like that?

I played a Paladin when I went through CoS! :) LG characters are definitely welcome, and it's recommend there be at least one in the party. (Just do me a favour and don't make them a hackneyed happy clappy "Blessed be the light of Lathandar" type of Paladin like Evie from Dice, Camera Action.)

[Angie]

I played a Paladin when I went through CoS! :) LG characters are definitely welcome, and it's recommend there be at least one in the party. (Just do me a favour and don't make them a hackneyed happy clappy "Blessed be the light of Lathandar" type of Paladin like Evie from Dice, Camera Action.)

Honestly he's going to be played more like the only part of 4E that I liked, the Warlord class. More inspiring leader than holy knight cause I dunno, those types just seem too bland for me.

[Chulanowa]

(Just do me a favour and don't make them a hackneyed happy clappy "Blessed be the light of Lathandar" type of Paladin like Evie from Dice, Camera Action.)

Evelyn is precious and I will not have her besmirched.   >:)

I'm totally down for a character being treated poorly for their race - hell I've evern elbowed it into a game before (I mean... I play a lot of goblins, it's less fun when they're treated like little green halflings all the time, right?)

I will probably be leaning towards a fighter or cleric; i will NOT be playing bard or rogue, so those are definitely up for grabs  ;D

[tobisquestion]

That kind of Paladin sounds great...might even have a hook into the story for you which we can discuss later.

Fighter/Cleric both work well.

I've set up a campaign on DNDBeyond, if you want the link so you can build your character there, let me know.

[Angie]

Never used it before but I'm sure I could figure it out, hit me

[RedPhoenix]

I have signed up for this campaign so many times and it has never gone anywhere. So tempting.

Question, I've heard CoS is very unforgiving. How do you plan to handle, uh, everyone dying?

Also would content re-skinned to be a Forgotten Realms friendly version of something be more palatable or is non-FR/generic stuff right out?

[tobisquestion]

I understand the concern. I've seen a few campaign fail on here too and I'm gonna try to avoid the pitfalls that usually result in that.

Curse of Strahd is challenging, no doubt. But it's only as unforgiving as the DM running it. I'm approaching this as more an exercise in collaborative storytelling than a game. People who sign up here are investing their time and effort in a story. Character death can make for a good story, but a TPK rarely does. If the whole party dies, it will be because you REALLY forced my hand!

As I said above, you can make your character ANYTHING so long as you can sell it to me as narratively appropriate. So yeah, reskinned non-FR stuff will most likely be fine if you run it by me first

[RedPhoenix]

Nifty! Gonna ruminate on options! :)

[Aethyrium]

I may also be interested.

[Angie]

Now I'm a bit torn between a few options, Devotion Paladin, possibly a Samurai Fighter, or flipping the table and invoking my own curse and bringing the one Sorcerer I always want to play but never get a chance to.

[Rhynarion]

I'd like to take the offered link for character building.

I'm leaning on a Wizard of the oft-overlooked School of Enchantment.

[tobisquestion]

Since things are moving now, I've added some more detail to the opening post. In particular, regarding the character builds:

- I'd prefer people to use points buy, since it prevents any superheroes from joining the party and is more versatile than Standard Array
- Every character can have a free feat, because I love feats and think they are what make characters interesting. Your Free feat cannot be Lucky, Magic Initiate, Ritual Caster, Spell Sniper or Tough. You can take these feats as normal instead of an ASI, or if you would get a feat anyway as a Variant human, for example.

I've had some people PM me about not wanting to spend money on DNDBeyond. You shouldn't have to spend anything. Create a free account, ask me for the link, create your character there and if there are any options you want to take that don't seem to be available, let me know and I'll either purchase them or create them as a Homebrew option.

I've had two people express an interest in playing a cleric and I'd prefer not to double up on any class in this adventure. If you've submitted a cleric or are thinking of submitting a cleric, might be worth having a back-up idea so that you don't have to miss out entirely.

[Tavarokk]

Tentatively interested. What's the deadline for applications?

[tobisquestion]

I'm setting a strict deadling of "Meh, whenever".

Obviously I don't want to drag it on forever and ever. Plus I'm already pre-empting the guilt I'll feel about the players I have to turn down! (I've been in the rejects pile for D&D games on here myself.) So that makes me want to not leave it open for too long. Once I have four characters I'm really happy with, I'll start the wheels turning. I'll probably hold of making any final decisions until the weekend.

You don't have to submit a full character sheet to be considered. I'm more interested in your character concept. Tell me your character's race, class, archetype, and a rough bio of who your character is. The rest can be sorted out later.

[Tavarokk]

Think I'll roll with a half-elf sun soul monk diverted from her piligrimage. Gotta fish for an image now and hammer out a background.

[Xunzar]

I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head. I've been wanting to do CoS for a more than a year. I'm jonesing for it at this point.

The characters that I have in mind as options, any of them are viable

Human Druid cleansing the darkness from Borovia (there is much unnatural there)

Human or Tiefling Sorcerer with a connection to the Land in the Mists (see the origin)

Human or Drow Wizard obsessed with the future and telling her own fortune (Divination specialist)

Tiefling Warlock looking for her origins (okay, so I might be cribbing a little from the #Wafflecrew with this one)

Or I could always be the Bard.

In other words, I want to play a caster, but I'll go with what meshes with the party. I can roll stats if you want me to a little later.

[tobisquestion]

Those all sound fine.

I'd like to emphasise that no matter who your character is, I'll work with all the players individually to plant seeds in their backstory that link into the world of the adventure. I want to make sure that there are some surprises for everyone!

[Angie]

I've had some people PM me about not wanting to spend money on DNDBeyond. You shouldn't have to spend anything. Create a free account, ask me for the link, create your character there and if there are any options you want to take that don't seem to be available, let me know and I'll either purchase them or create them as a Homebrew option.

I wanted to bring this up-originally I had the idea of an Order of the Crown Paladin, but it's in a UA supplement and wasn't available in Beyond. I have a few ideas involving the tenents and how he actually ends up respecting them, but I can do that with Devotion Paladin too so it's up to GM if we get someone who can pull aggro like a boss or the master of SMITE

[tobisquestion]

So I've checked, and Order of the Crown is part of the Sword Coast Adventurer's guide. It is available on DNDBeyond but I don't have that content. I'll see how easy it is to create it as homebrew for you.

[Angie]

So I've checked, and Order of the Crown is part of the Sword Coast Adventurer's guide. It is available on DNDBeyond but I don't have that content. I'll see how easy it is to create it as homebrew for you.

Ah, I was told by a friend it was UA content so that's what I went with. If it's too much trouble I'll just go Devotion (and probably write an in character treatise on law and how important it really is)

[tobisquestion]

Most things in D&D were UA at some point, then they get written into a supplement book and become part of the approved corpus. Crown oath is fully approved now. Give me a couple of hours and I should be able to copy it into Homebrew.

An alternative, if folks want to consider it, is that individual archetypes, races, feats, spells, magic items can be inidivually purchased on DNDBeyond. I thinks they're usually $2 each. I don't expect anyone to do that though, just mentioning it in case it's useful.

[Rummy Tum Tum]

Color me interested. I'm thinking of playing a wizard detective of sorts. A man--leaning changeling but could change if preferred--who seeks out mystery and truth for knowledge and profit. This has led to a number of bland jobs like catching the cheating spouse or finding the noble's missing pet, but he has to fund his arcane pursuits and put food on the table somehow!

I as a player don't know too much about this setting, except for the main bad guy spoiler everyone talks about, but I think my guy would be intrigued by the mystical and strange aspects I've heard of. He would be just giddy for all things strange and creepy, until strange and creepy tries to trap and kill him. Then he might be cautiously eager.

[tobisquestion]

Just to clarify one thing - your characters will not be aware of Barovia or Strahd at the beginning of the story. Barovia is outside of Faerun and it's not somewhere you can get to by normal means.

[Rummy Tum Tum]

That's good to know.

My character's fascination wouldn't come until he gets there or hears anything about its existence in game. It's more fun that way either way.

[tobisquestion]

There are now about 8 people interested and at various stages of character decision. So that I can get a clear picture of who has decided on what character they want to play, here's a super simple form for you to use, and an example below:

Code Select Expand

[b]Name:[/b] NAME
[b]Race:[/b] RACE
[b]Class & Archetype:[/b] CLASS - ARCHETYPE
[b]Short Bio:[/b] BIO

Name: Rudiger Morelmoss
Race: Forest Gnome
Class & Archetype: Bard - College of Lore
Short Bio: Rudiger grew up in the Morelmoss forest, the son of a luthier. He would travel out of the forest to the local port town of Arlesbay to demonstrate and sell the instruments to visiting merchants and travellers. However, his heart was always more in the performance aspect of his profession. One day, a group of sailors were so entertained by his performance that they jokingly invited him to join their crew as a resident minstrel. Excited by the prospect of travel, Rudiger took them up on their offer and signed up, leaving the woods and his family behind. After some years, the crew disbanded and Rudiger got a small boat of his own, travelling from place to place in search of new knowledge and adventure.

[RedPhoenix]

Name: Silver Judge Cynthianna Gilmandis
Race: Human (Variant)
Class & Archetype: Cleric - Knowledge
Short Bio: An orphan from the city of Waterdeep, Cynthianna grew up as a pickpocket nicknamed Red, who was taken in by a Judge of Bahamut - a traveling cleric who dispenses wisdom and justice - when the street kid tried to pickpocket the judge. Given a proper name and education, Cynthianna has been recently named a Judge in her own right, although her loyalty to the doctrine of Bahamut is not quite what is taught in the churches, she maintains the Platinum Dragon's blessing with her knowledge and wit, while bending the law in favor of those who grew up as she did.



I did get your PM tobi (can I call you that? :) ) and I will see if I can get her up on DND beyond and also pick the free feat (yay!)

[Angie]

Name: Harold Dean
Race: Human
Class & Archetype: Paladin - Order of the Crown
Short Bio: Born to a family of farmers, Harold gained the notice of knightly orders after fighting off a powerful orc chieftain in a raid on his family farm (though he contends that he and all his brothers fought the orc together, and he merely struck the killing blow). He has grown into a skilled warrior and a scholar of law, even publishing his thoughts on various legal systems he has seen and calling for more merciful laws for lesser crimes.

(However, I'm noticing that this concept is very similar to RedPhoenix, so allow me to submit an alternative)

Name: Tinalia von Grazen
Race: Human
Class & Archetype: Sorcerer - Bronze Dragon
Short Bio: Born to a family of minor merchants, not rich but not poor either, Tinalia was often regarded curiously for her strange hair color. One day, an animal got loose and almost trampled a group of children. Tinalia's magic awoke on that day, allowing her to stop the rampaging beast. She soon fled the city to avoid the clutches of multiple factions vying to recruit a budding sorcerer to their side, and now wanders seeking the truth of her magic and her own origin.

[Rummy Tum Tum]

Name: Inian Grell
Race: Changeling
Class & Archetype: Wizard - Onomancy (UA)
Short Bio: Inian Grell, a name not given by doting parents, but stolen in an instance he cannot remember. For a very formative part of his life, he thought he was the high elf boy his Arcanist parents birthed and loved. He learned magic from them, received his first spellbook from them, and was well on his way to becoming a great Arcanist himself. But when he discovered (or more accurately, rediscovered) his shape-shifting abilities in his mid-teenage years, the truth came out and he was cast from home, only free from a prison sentence due to some form of leftover sentimentality on the Grell's part.

He kept his stolen name, perhaps for the same reasons of sentimentality, or because he simply knew no other course. In the years since, he has searched for purpose; for truth about himself and other creatures and magics that hide, by their very nature, in mankind's presence. And if that meant chasing mundane problems to feed himself or to grasp onto some semblance of the hidden and the arcane scarcely known, so be it.

Character Sheet

[Xunzar]

Name: Malen Karkir
Race: Human
Class & Archetype: Druid - Circle of the Land (or possibly the Moon, depending on the party)
Short Bio: Born in a small village, Malen's life was turned upside down when possessed mauraders came into town, burning and pillaging. He fled into the forest and was found by a Circle whose enclave was rapidly being corrupted by the attacks. He's spent the past fifteen years helping to cleanse the taint from the forest. Undead and the unclean are abominations in need to cleansing.
_____OR_____

Name: Ishtar
Race: Tiefling (Devil's Tongue)
Class & Archetype: Warlock - The Fiend
Short Bio: She seeks redemption for her own origins. Ishtar always feels the shadows of the Nine Hells at the back of her mind, tempting her and whispering. She's been on her own for a long time now, fled from the orphanage and forced to reach into her cursed blood to defend herself.

[RedPhoenix]

Okay here's the DNDBeyond Sheet. Hopefully I did it right.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/RedPhoenicia/characters/23455999

[Dreaming Space]

I'd try to sign up for this, but I'm already running Curse of Strahd myself. It's probably the best 5E module out so far. I hope you all have a great time. :D

[tobisquestion]

I'm gonna say at this stage that Harold Dean is definitely in the party, mainly because I've got a freakin' exciting hook-in for him.

The other characters look great too...and wouldn't it make my life easy if I just selected the party now when there are just four players with characters submitted! But I know there are some others being discussed privately, so I'll give it until the weekend at least. I need to be careful about selecting the spellcasters of the party in particular. Barovia will chew up and spit out a band made up only of squishy wizards and sorcerers, so it'll need to be balanced.

That said, keep on submitted exactly the characters you'd want to play. Kudos to everyone who has submitted multiple options. That will definitely make life easier.

[Tavarokk]

Name: Amaya
Race: Half-elf
Class & Archetype: Monk - Sun Soul
Short Bio: Given that she was a child of an elven traveller she'd never known and an innkeeper's daughter who, before long, married another, much less exciting, but much more pragmatically chosen suitor, it wasn't exactly strange that Amaya left home to seek her own fortune early. Granted, joining a monastic order wouldn't normally be an adventurously-minded teenager's first choice - monks sometimes visited their town to proselytize, but she didn't care for their doctrines any more than her peers. What caught Amaya's eye instead was beauty of the martial art they'd occasionally display, grace and precision of movements and also freedom born from self-sufficiency and inner strength.

It is in pursuit of these qualities that she became a monk of the Sun Soul, quickly powering through initial training on sheer physical talent. Then, however, her progress slowed - the more advanced and esoteric techniques required patience, and self-awareness, and wisdom to master. Although Amaya managed to complete the basic form of her order's style eventually, she was not satisfied with the speed of her growth, and so, at the abbot's suggestion, she set out on a piligrimage to seek experience and inspiration from the world amd, hopefully, put her training to use for a good cause.


Name: Sherhu
Race: Half-orc
Class & Archetype: Barbarian - Zealot
Short Bio: Sherhu is a somewhat rare case of a half-orc growing up in an orc tribe only to leave it for human society. Naturally strong and gifted at fighting, she was a poor match for the traditional duties of an orcish woman, and while it was possible to side-step that by swearing allegiance to one of the orcish war gods, she felt little interest in joining the so called warriors' struggles for status and loot either. She did not care for raids and skirmishes. She did not care for conquest or pillage. She did not care for gods and their grudges. All that mattered was to challenge herself, to put her life on the line and feel the fate shift under her hands and grow stronger for it. Thus, she left.

Next season saw her as a mercenary and a follower of Tempus, a cleric of whom was attached to the same army. That campaign is now over, however, and it's time to find another good fight to join.

[tobisquestion]

After some discussion, Inian Grell is also confirmed for the party.

So there is a Paladin and a Wizard for definite.

I want to emphasise that my choosing two of the characters submitted so far doesn't mean I'm rejecting the others! I'll wait until the weekend and pick two more characters that fit the campaign and make the party nice and well-rounded.

[RedPhoenix]

I agree with Angie that the two characters are very similar, and being that she's squishy seems like two strikes against her anyway so I'm going to withdraw Cynthianna from the applicants. Have fun everyone!

[Angie]

Okay, character sheet is built, do I need to link it or something? Also, I have no idea what to take for any sort of magical item so...I throw it to the mercy of the DM, or just reject it outright.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Name: Rolder Travand
Race: Human (variant)
Class & Archetype:  Rogue 3 - Swashbuckler (aim later on multiclass into fighter - battlemaster after 4th level)
Short Bio: Rolder hails from Damara region, from city of New Sarshel, he is son of a lord (member from ruling council). He has been a mischievous brat entire life, always doing pranks or mischief whenever he could get away with it. Then his father grew tired of his antics, so he made a cunning ploy to lure his son into adventure with terms if he conquers new land or grand new business menu for the family he is made into the head of the family.

However, Rolder was not that motivated to become family head, far too much responsibility (his elder brother is more suited for that anyway). However, like all youths in Damara, he had thirst for adventure and so he set on the road and has been on it since then, a vagabond of a son to his father's dismay. Enjoying the life of danger, gambling his life for the just a smile of a beautiful maiden (yet curse himself later being suicidal). But whether by the blessing of Tymora, goddess of luck, luck has been in his side or that he had unknowingly struck deal with a devil ensure his survival. He does not know (nor wants to know for certain). None the less he gambles, has fun and lives by the whim of the wind and road, whatever it leads do and he has got into plenty of adventures (and troubles, which he have managed slip away from, including one hanging event whereby luck rope had snapped broken).
Special: Request as custom magic item a magical quarterstaff which functions as a finesse weapon (as normally quarterstaffs aren't finessable). Bonus chosen feat will be Polearm master (and human variant; Luck). Also fine if GM allows rule use quarterstaff as finesse in return drop of dmg dice (from d8 to d6 one-handed and d8 2h). So magic item could be hat, pair of magical dices or such.

[Bevatoria]

Name:Xis Shonai
Race:Genasi (Air)
Class & Archetype:Ranger 3 -  Horizon Walker
Short Bio:Xis has always tended to wander the world, never feeling entirely settled or satisfied.  An outcast at his birth in the great mortal city of Waterdeep, his mother cared for him as best she could; Xis has never known his true father.  His mother remarried and had several human children, who seemed to only tolerate Xis. As an indirect result of that, the moment Xis came of age, he left Waterdeep to roam the world and hone his intrinsic abilities.

After several years of travel, he is confident, quiet, amicable to most strangers but capable of sudden bouts of anger if he is offended.  Even after over thirty years on this realm, Xis has never encountered another one of his kind.  Tends to carefully choose which causes to involve himself in; the mere wars of human and elvenkind are not to his taste.

Fighting for his own survival, however...

Misc:Still thinking about the magic item assuming this submission isn't too eclectic for the world.

[SilkenVenom]

Name: Baenrel Quel’sara
Race: Shadar-Kai
Class & Archetype: Ranger – Gloom Stalker
Short Bio: A native to the Shadowfell like the rest of her people, Baen has spent her early life throughout the realm. In an infinite plane was an infinite number of paths to follow and secrets to find. She would not stay among her people forever though. The time came in her life where the Raven Queen called upon her to travel to the Material Plane in her service.

She spent a fair number of years there with a small number of companions, jaunting back to their home in the Shadowfell briefly when necessary. The time away from the oppressive realm allowed them all to express themselves, to learn about other races and their role in Raven Queen’s designs. During one particular hunting trip, the group ran afoul of a band of orc raiders. Though Baen managed to escape, the rest of her people were not so lucky.

She spent the next years in hiding, trying and hoping to find a new entrance to the Shadowfell and back to the Fortress of Memories.

OR


Name: Angelique Dahrk
Race: Human (Variant)
Class & Archetype: Wizard-Necromancy/Cleric-Grave Domain
Short Bio: Angelique grew up within a temple to Kelemvor, god of the dead. Both of her parents had sworn themselves to his service, and thus it was expected she would as well. As a curious child, she liked to explore the depths of the temple, even managing to find a way into the forbidden archive. There, she found books on arcane magic; old journals of spell casters past that had been locked away because of the dark magics within. Each night she would stay up late and study them, even practicing the incantations within. In her teen years, she began to develop new theories and question the wisdom of the high priest.

In the end, her best friend revealed her secret and she was cast out of the temple for her perceived heretical beliefs. She didn’t see the undead as abominations to destroyed in Kelemvor’s name. They could be powerful tools, so long as they were returned to rest once their task was complete. Her peers didn’t see it that way and was exiled. While most would be distraught, she found it as an opportunity to put her theories to the test and maybe even find a way to prove them all wrong.

[tobisquestion]

Misc:Still thinking about the magic item assuming this submission isn't too eclectic for the world.

Not too outlandish at all. A Genasi would definitely turn heads in Barovia, but that's fine. And there was a Horizon Walker ranger in the party when I played this campaign tabletop.

Submissions are looking great guys. It's gonna be a tough choice and will mostly come down to what I think makes an aesthetically satisfying mix for the story. I'm suspending judgement about who I pick for the last two characters until Saturday.

[tobisquestion]

Okay, character sheet is built, do I need to link it or something? Also, I have no idea what to take for any sort of magical item so...I throw it to the mercy of the DM, or just reject it outright.

No need to link the CS here, I can see it in DND Beyond and it looks fine! Magic items discussion will be after the party's complete, just to avoid wasted effort on the part of anyone else.

[Isengrad]

I do want to drop interest in here as well.

Name: Alasdair Cromwell
Race: Half-Elf
Class & Archetype: Blood Hunter-Order of the Ghostslayer
Short Bio:Alasdair was the son of a trapper/hunter that operated out of Luruar, most notably sold her wares in Silverymoon or to other trade caravans for export. She taught her son well in both blades and bow, a little training here and there to get him familiar with the weapons of her trade. It was a modest life, but a good one. unfortunatly while he was hunting with her one night, they wandered to close to to the Ghostwood in search of Deer, there his mother met her fate at the hands of malevolent undead.

He would have been killed to were it not for the intervention of a different kind of Hunter, wielding light like a weapon the warrior chased away or dispatched the ghosts that threatened him. With nowhere to go, Alasdair became ward of the order, and was trained in it's arts.



Name: Ander Hornraven
Race: Human(base)
Class & Archetype: Fighter-Arcane Archer
Short Bio: Growing up along the Northern sword coast, Ander found his calling serving as part of the Axe of Mirabar, His light frame unsuited to close quarter combat they taught him the way of the bow and eventually the secrets of the arcane archer. Prepping arrows of power to decimate would be attackers in a coordinated volley from the high walls.

Eventually wanderlust set in, a yearning to see something beyond what he could see from the high walls, so he resigned his commission and struck out into greater Faerun to see where the gods lead him.

[tobisquestion]

Alrighty guys, I've constructed the party that'll play in this campaign and let the players know they're coming along. I won't list who I've picked because I don't want to hold them up as 'winners'.

There were lots of great characters put forwards and honestly I feel like a real rat for every one I haven't picked. It was only a couple of months ago I was nursing my own pride from not getting picked for a D&D Campaign here on E!

So I really am sorry. Rest assured it wasn't because I didn't like your character. But I'm a storyteller by trade, and the party I've assembled is the one I feel will tell the best story.

All the best and thanks for your contributions and interest.