D&D 3.5 Expedition to undermountain (No new applications, please.)

[Tamhansen]

It's been a while since I've played on E, having to leave due to family reasons, but now I'm itching for some old fashion PBP D&D. In order to get back to DM'ing I wanted to use an old module and adapt it to may style of leading games.

Before you apply, please ask yourself the following:

Do I want to play in a game where I'm expected to post at least once every two days?

If for some reason I cannot post for a while, can I notify the DM? (Basically tell me how long you're gone for.)

Am I ready for a long term commitment to the game and my character? (The campaign will be running from level one to level thirty (Yes, it isn't a typo.))



Character creation:
Your characters are young people living in Waterdeep. You may be an apprentice at the temple, a tavern wench, a stable boy, or anything suitable for your prospective adventuring class, and your age. Use the age table to generate your age, based on the class you wish to play as. If you want to roll for it that's fine but just bear in mind the age maximum.

Maximum starting age for humans and tieflings is 23, for dwarves 68, for elves 150, gnomes 76, half elves 102, and Halflings 36.

Races:
dwarf, elf, gnome, half elf, halfling, human or tiefling.

Classes:

Barbarian. (City Brawler would make a good fit.) Alternates are usually allowed if from WOTC source, please check with me. Horselord is a no, halfling substitutions are allowed.
Bard. No savage bard. Racial variant and bardic colleges are allowed (excepting mountain top and wind dancers).
Cleric. Racial substitutions and peripheral beliefs are allowed. Alternates are usually allowed if from WOTC source, please check with me.
Fighter. Alternates are usually allowed if from WOTC source, please check with me., racial variants and variant buids are allowed.
Paladin. Alternates with good alignment will usually be allowed, as is the gnome paladin alternate. Racial substitutions are allowed, for variants please check with me.
Ranger. (Urban ranger would make a good fit) Alternates are usually allowed if from WOTC source, please check with me. Racial substitutions are allowed, variants please check with me.
Rogue. No wilderness rogue. Racial substitutions and variant builds are allowed.
Sorcerer No poltergeists, for anything else check with me. You may choose a sphere if you wish.
Wizard. No alternate class, no variant specialties, though I might relent if the character has a really good background for it.

Alignments
LG, NG, CG, LN, N

Attributes:
I use the appearance stat from the book of erotic fantasy. Although this is not one of your major attributes, and it will not have any skills directly linked to it, it can provide you with certain bonusses (Or penalties) in social situations.

As such characters must be built using a 34 point build with 7 attributes. (That's roughly equal to a 28 point build for six attributes)

Starting gold
Sorcerer, Wizard = 75 GP
Barbarian, Bard = 100 GP
Cleric, Rogue = 125 GP
Fighter, Paladin. Ranger = 150 GP



The story so far:

You've only just reached adulthood. In fact, quite often you are still seen as a child by your elders. Your experience of the wider world is rather limited, and society still holds a few secrets that older people all seem to get. Your dream is to be an adventurer. Whether it is the wealth that attracts you, the fame, or simply a thirst for heroics, you only wish to be out there on the adventurers path.

Unfortunately, you're stuck here, in Waterdeep doing menial tasks in the hope of one day getting a better life. It doesn't seem to be happening though. One bright spot is the yawning portal inn. A rather worn old place where owner Durnan entertains many willing adventurers who go on quests beneath the building in the ruins of the abandoned fortress of an ancient evil wizard.

Though in reality, most of these adventurers are just braggards who go into the undermountain for a few hours, hoping to find a few trinkets and nothing dangerous, they are the closest thing your young mind has to heroes. Hopefully, one day soon you will be able to go down there yourself, but so far Durnan has refused you entry, saying it is too dangerous for children to play around down there. So for now you comfort yourself by listening to the (usually grossly embellished) exploits of those who have gone down, waiting for the one day you will finally be able to go on an adventure.

[Chulanowa]

Oof. It's hard to build in 3.5 once you've had a taste of Pathfinder  Even so, I'm game. Even have a few ideas because, hey... Waterdeep? Undermountain? Can't go wrong!

[Zaer Darkwail]

I voice interest also, but have to ask why you allow tieflings but not aasimars?

[Chulanowa]

Because nobody likes a teachers' pet 

[Zaer Darkwail]

Not sure what aasimars you have met but I have met wide variety of them . Including goth-alikes.

[Tamhansen]

Mainly because at the time that the events take place, Aasimar are not known to exist outside of the eastern realm. It's the same reason half orcs aren't on the list. They do not walk around in waterdeep. If a player character would be one, they'd be a curiosity, someone of interest. Instead I'd like the players to be very common, or at least that's how they start out. Tieflings on the other hand, are a significant part of waterdeep's population.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Ok, then second question; are focused specialist (from Complete Mage) wizard variant okay? Or the following sorcerer variants; Divine Sorcerer (Complete Champion), Battle Sorcerer (Unearthed Arcana), Stalwart Sorcerer (Complete Mage). If Divine and Battle Sorcerer are okay, I had sort idea for a aspiring 'mage knight' type of char which haves a divine inspirations (or born gifted with magic while being raised in temple of Mystra). Or something similar but not related to Mystra (still not decided on race yet).

[Tamhansen]

I'll have to look up Battle sorc, but have no issues with the others. I don't have the unearthed arcana on me so I'll get back to you tomorrow.

[Chulanowa]

Every single published variant can be found here. including stuff from Dragon and the "dead levels" pieces from the WotC website.

[Chulanowa]

Well, I'm st up to go with either a barmaid-turned-burglar flavor of rogue, or a squire / apprentice / stablehand kind of fighter.

[Muse]

*waves* i'd like to try.  :) 

I was thinking of an aprentice wizard, but if Zaer becomes a sorcerer, maybe a priestess of Selune would work better?  Or Kosuth.  :)

[CalliLurk]

Chu you are doing the squire and like it! Hi everyone. This will be my first group game attempt here. I am looking at a Sorcerer as well, nothing special as of yet. I like my interactions to form the character. This is actually a remake of my very first 3.0 Sorcerer and not enough changed between editions that much so why the hell not. She was flipping awesome. But her name is Mara Stormwind, human sorcerer, kicked out of her town in the Dalelands when she showed her magic potential. She went to Baldur's Gate, worked at the inn there, killed some rats and kobolds underneath it and decided she wanted something more and went to Waterdeep. Pretty much her.

[Chulanowa]

My, aren't you a demanding one 

[Carly]

I would love to play.

I only know srd20 with some awareness, I played 3.5 a while back and remember some of it but I don't own books. Is that ok ? I dont need to  be the most powerful character I can be, as long as I have perfect skin i am happy :)

In short I understand some basics but may need help - so if it has an ooc page I might use it a lot to understand some mechanics. I hope that is ok also.

I am excited about this and love to eventually play a game where we manage to get to high levels, I could play any class that is needed, although i typically like clerics and mages - but I dont mind going a rogue or a fighter if the need calls for it.

[Carly]

One thing I was hoping for was quick battles, where we state our intentions and any backup actions in case our initial attempt fails and then the gm/dm resolves the entire battle from one post each - or something like it, what I am afraid of is that everyone post once per turn, meaning we have really long drawn out battles that go on for ages were everyone posts a one liner with a roll and we wait for everyone to do the same - many times until everything is resolved. I am worried that play by post could be bogged down if we do that.

Thoughts? Do others have that concern too ?

[Tamhansen]

Hi Carly, I have no issue with players who are less familiar with the system, and will be on hand to help.

As far as combat goes, I do tend to try and make it a bit more abbreviated than you would around a table, for exactly that reason. But once the players are selected we will discuss together how we will handle combat and other scenes that require turn based actions.

[HopeFox]

This looks like it could be a lot of fun! I like the idea of starting out as normal folks dreaming of becoming adventurers. I can come up with a concept for just about any class, but I'm having some thoughts about a fighter or urban ranger at the moment.

[Zaer Darkwail]

I was thinking of an aprentice wizard, but if Zaer becomes a sorcerer, maybe a priestess of Selune would work better?  Or Kosuth.  :)

Go ahead and make apprentice wizard :). My char is going to have very few spells. More a gish sort char with few handy tricks than full devoted caster, besides wizard brings unmatched versatillity and my char is going to be waging in melee with weapon while wizard can stand back and focus on battlefield control or other spell uses (my char gets few blasting spells but he is not blaster; mixing between self-buffs and some handful utility and blast spells). As battle sorcerer + divine sorcerer combined I have -2 spells known and -1 spell slot per level (harsh penalties but it fits flavor for a son of adventuring parents where one is sorcerer and other is a knight sort figure).

Here comes my char, need approval for pair of feats he has but otherwise he is done number crunch wise :)

Aaron Brightstar

Approval needed&source citations

Silverbrow humans are race variant from Dragon Magic (source). Divine Sorcery is a feat from dragon magazine (source). Kelgore's Firebolt is from Complete Mage (source). Battle Sorcerer is from Unearthed Arcana (source, scroll down to sorcerer). Divine sorcerer is from Complete Champion alternative class feature (source, scroll down and open spoiler for sorcerers ACF list).

Point of the build/ACF's etc? Well, battle sorcerer reduces spell slots and spells known by -1 to both. Divine sorcerer sacrifices familiar and later on 5th level spells known by -1. So by default I have -2 less spells known and -1 less spell slots per spell level (minimum 1 spell known and 0 on spell slots). So to way add some versatility I went to double take on divine sorcery to gain two useful domains (power wise) and able to once per day pick on either domain spells known to me as sorcerer. Later on I get on 5th level Good domain spells added to my spell known but able cast them only once per day.

So even this way my spell selection is very narrow compared to pure sorcerer builds and silverbrow humans is just flavorful racial archtype which helps explain 'where sorcery potential came from' sort story. Also if approved it opens up later picking spells which get enchanced when cast by dragonblood subtypes or some feats related to draconblooded chars (or draconic sorcerer feats). I base my domain choices and overall church of Mystra lore for these sources;

http://petesfr.wikidot.com/the-church-of-mystra
http://www.nj-pbem.com/data/Gods/humangods/Mystra.htm

Biography

Aaron Brigthstar was born to adventuring married couple; Lady Alistria Dracoward and Lord Maldrake Brightstar and he has also eldest sister Melissa Brightstar. His both parents are active adventurers who travel with group of their own friends (who are sort like family friends also as Aaron has met each one at least once during his 15th birthday). His parents travel a lot but they are present in his life much as they can and at times they are long periods of time at home in Waterdeep. Each time they bring new tales to tell to him and his sister Melissa and they both are deligthed to listen to them and his elder sister attends as scholar at House of Mysteries (church of Mystra) and studies both arcane and divine magic and has personal goal to become a dweomerkeeper!

However, despite strong desire to go do own adventures, his parents and sisters are rather over protective of Aaron. Thinking he is far too young to adventure or do anything exciting! His sister is traditional babysitter but she drags Aaron along to the temple of Mysteries, where in truth his sorcerous powers awakened as he touched Mystra's altar after giving offering to her! Aaron had always felt connection to Mystra albeit unexplained one, so one day without much thinking he bought a cheap scroll from temple shop and burned it as offering to Mystra and thanked her for providing world wondrous magic which allows protect his parents and allow them travel rapidly between adventures. Then shining blue flame coated Aaron and he panicked and rolled around as he thought he was on fire! A priest was present at time and once calming down Aaron he confirmed somereason unknown to clergy Mystra herself blessed Aaron with sorcery....which albeit in truth he had always potential for as according his mother there is silver dragon blood running in the family from distant ancestry to mountain community in Neverwinter where mother's ancestors come from originally. Aaron studied for time excited manner in the house of Mystery on magic, faith and bit historic lore and magic! But he quickly grew bored on the lectures (albeit smart he is energetic and grows bored quickly on traditional class room studies) and started hang around with knights of the church and learn swordplay from them instead much for Melissa's frustration who saw using weapons barbaric and potentially hazardous to her precious little brother!

So Melissa started assign Aaron on scribe duties....writing scrolls and learn scribe's craft under her tutolage...which Aaron did but grew bored on also! He wanted to go out and adventure but her sister is watching him like a hawk so he would not run off and threatened she will track him down with divination spells and get him grounded if he ever dares to leave! However Aaron is stubborn, young and also clever as he acted submission and waited just perfect oppoturnity to sneak out from temple of Mystra and go for a adventure....finding friends and have own tales to tell for his parents and impress them! He is proud of his parents and he wants to be like them as he grows up!

[Cataclysmic Archangel]

16 replies already.  Amazing.

Since I started this with the 'looking for' thread, I'd be remiss to say I wasn't interested.  I have an idea that will need some research, and unfortunately I'm unavailable until Thursday to start any REAL work, but I will say that the idea is a devotee of Shar.

[Tamhansen]

I love that picture. Everybody has their own preferences so I won't object to people using manga or other styles, but I like a teeny bit of realism, despite it being fantasy. It's easier for some races than others though.

[Chulanowa]

Well, due to popular demand -eyeballs Callilurk- I'm going to be going with

one

of

these

three

. Sadly I have to run off to work before I can actually pull together some really solid ideas. I mean they look to me like a rogue, fighter, and priest of Sune or Sharess.

Personally I have a kind of low tolerance for manga styles, or the weirdly over-wrought Korean MMO-looking stuff (you know, with the filigreed swords and half-boobplates on a chick with legs half a mile long?) Zaer's picture there is juuuuuust north of my limit, since that dude looks likehe has a personality that isn't defined by hairstyle 

[CalliLurk]

Well I have 2 pictures in mind. The first one is

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

is for lower levels and then move to this one

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

When we start getting to higher levels. Do we need to post more for ideas. And yes... go with 2 or 3 Chu!

[Zaer Darkwail]

Well, I myself favor the anime/manga style pics but I am open to use any image/pic source as visual presentation of my char but I seeked a 'young adventurer' as google search and that pic spoke to me 'take me' so I used that one :). I tried find something pretty young looking for my char as I may later levels (and age) some other pics. But as we are starting as young adventurers so I tried seek something innocent but cute alike (but also mature enough that they are not child and such).

From those three pics my favorite is second and last one, albeit last one appears it could be a pretty male also (and first pic is nice but I think the rogue is a halfling). Also gorgeous pic choice there Carly :).

[wander]

Okay, I'mma gonna dip my toe into this, it's been a while for me with 3.5 though I feel this could be fun if I make it into the party. 

I already have a general 3.5 character statted here, at Level 1 for starting games like this. Obviously I'll tweak their stats and coin/starting gear to be more in-line with the game, (plus share their bio) though for a basic build, I have something done to share with the rest of the class. 

They can be found ar the bottom of this post, spoiler tagged 'Bellamy Carter, Human Rogue on the way to becoming a Shadowdancer'. Scroll past all the pics of pretty male FCs I like to play. ^^;

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=215565.msg10825383#msg10825383

If all looks well, I'll make the tweaks needed, add their bio in and I'm ready to play. 

[HopeFox]

So I've given it some thought overnight, and I'm now very much leaning towards a half-elf ranger (with the racial substitutions from Races of Destiny). His father is a human in Waterfeep's city guard, and his elven mother visits about once a decade and is generally useless. He does a bit of work for the guard, helping to investigate criminal groups, but it's all very dull. I can steer him towards melee or ranged combat depending on what the party needs.