[DnD 5e] The Advent of Shadow (Closed)

[Caitlin]

Is there anything exceptional going on in the village that would make our player characters become adventurers? I'm finding it difficult with the background to come up with reasons why my character wouldn't be perfectly happy leading an ordinary life in this seemingly ordinary village. From what I imagine, most people would be farmers, carpenters, tailors, merchants, etc. and not be very skilled with weapons since you don't need those a lot unless it is for hunting or keeping dangerous animals at bay.

[Naughty Miss Adventure]

My next entry was going to introduce possible ideas in that regard :-)

[Caitlin]

Ahh, I'll eagerly await that update. ;)

[Quasar]

Naughty, are the adventurers who founded the town still alive (I'm assuming 2 generations is like 40-odd years), since I was thinking of having them as my character's parents, if that's possible.

[Caitlin]

Naughty, are the adventurers who founded the town still alive (I'm assuming 2 generations is like 40-odd years), since I was thinking of having them as my character's parents, if that's possible.

I wouldn't be surprised if a quarter of the town is their offspring. :P

[Naughty Miss Adventure]

Naughty, are the adventurers who founded the town still alive (I'm assuming 2 generations is like 40-odd years), since I was thinking of having them as my character's parents, if that's possible.

It's certainly possibility I'd be willing to entertain.

I wouldn't be surprised if a quarter of the town is their offspring. :P

Unlikely though, lol.

Just for everybody's information, most of the people in the town moved in after the adventurers made a small home for themselves in the area, figuring that they'd cash in on the safety of having battle experienced people nearby.

[Quasar]

It's certainly possibility I'd be willing to entertain.

Awesome.  I think I will throw in my pitch for a paladin or a bard build.

[Naughty Miss Adventure]

The class origin suggestions are now up in the WB thread.  I won't be doing one on the Backgrounds since doing the classes took a bit more out of me than I thought it would.  Just uses common sense when choosing them and let your creativity guide you when explaining them, and run them by me.

I will throw the building guidelines up shortly.

[AndyZ]

What all do we have so far?

[Caitlin]

What all do we have so far?

I made a half-elf bard, but I don't know if it's going to get approved yet. I could also make a human version of it, but I like the idea of the half-elf a lot.

Quasar wants to make a paladin or a bard, Muse is interested in a druid or a martial class, 1651Leviathan might be interested in a wizard, and HopeFox can make a druid, warlock, or sorcerer. I think that's it right now.

[edit]
I went back to page 1 to gather older feedback:
Corinthi is interested in a half-orc warlock, clonkertink a cleric, paladin, or fighter, RedPhoenix a cleric or paladin, and CeruleanSerenity a tiefling rogue.

Others have also expressed interest, but didn't offer a character/ class idea yet.

[Corinthi]

Actually, I'm leaning halfling ranger, because it fits better with the setting. The half orc feels too outside the box.

[Caitlin]

Ah, right. I only noted the first feedback I saw. Sorry about that. It's just so much to go through already lol. ;)

[CeruleanSerenity]

Tiefling rogue is probably my top idea right now - an orphan who grew up in the village who, beneath her playful and mischievous nature, is deeply insecure about what she is and afraid of being found out. She probably has a habit of nicking food from the fields of a foul-tempered local farmer, too.

But I haven't decided yet... I'm also considering a human fighter, maybe the granddaughter of some war hero who settled in the village, or a sorcerer or wizard (I haven't come up with the details for those yet, though).

[Muse]

  Let's put our heads together then, Fox. 

  Would your girl be part of the 'green faith'?  Or maybe she might have a bond with Rini and Rini's grandmother from the mutual experience of being pagans? 

  Rini's maternal grandmother is a midwife/healer.  Think of the Wisdoms from the Two Rivers, but instead of the respected head of the woman's circle, she's a pagan who can call upon minor supernatural power summoned from mysterious gods, pagan and fae.  So, she's both respected and feared, and even the people who welcome her socialy are a little antsy.  (The village witch!) 

  Rini's father is a ranch hand working for the town's most sucessful horse rancher.  Rini's mother--kimi--could be a relatively soft spoken homaker with a gift for the violin, or she could be a figure of mystery who wandered off when Rini was young.  I leave that to you, Miss! 

  Rini love's her father very much.  She got her first hints of awareness of the Green--not from her grandmtoher--but form observing the life systems in the barn.  Cats, Mice, Hroses, Flies, birds.  All itnerconected in a soft of brutal harmony.  It was speaking ot her grandmother about this that made her grnadmtoher begin to teach her.  Her first healing was of a ginger kitten who'd fallen from the loft.  He is now her best friend, a proud tom cat named Strut. 

[Laughing Hyena]

Wow this looks like fun. I wanna join as well potentially. I know not everyone can get in but I'll work on a character I saw the world building thread so I'll adjust my decision on that note.

[Naughty Miss Adventure]

Just to keep everyone in the picture with regards to future matters, being a small village (and everyone being part of a group!) I'll be expecting each of the PCs to know one another in some capacity and be on reasonably friendly terms.

The first thing I'm going to be doing is putting as part of the opening story toss them in a pit and cut away the rope.  Figuratively.  Basically, I'll be opening up in an old ruin (read: dungeon) that they've discovered and, village life being so tediously dull, have decided that it would be exciting to poke around through it, even if they should know better!

This will give players a chance to polish their teamwork and get to know each other's style, as well as giving me a chance to get used to working the tactical aspect of D&D via forum.  Also, the plot needs to kick of somehow, so, my apologies for the shoehorn, though I shall try to make it as seamless as possible.  Again, to reiterate, it is likely to be a shaky start, so please take things with a pinch of salt.

[CeruleanSerenity]

That sounds fine to me. It's a typical way to begin a D&D game, but there's nothing wrong with that, and getting a game off to a quick start can be a good thing even if it takes a bit of conceptual squeezing.

I already have some ideas for how my character might know the others... but that will mostly have to wait until we start submitting them. When will you be ready for that?

[Naughty Miss Adventure]

I'm still reviewing the material I want to work with, so I'm hoping to put the finalized PC building rules up in a few hours from now.

[ZombieMania]

Loved your world building thread. I am interested. (:

[ZameRagues]

*Has flashbacks of dnd and pits as he works on ideas*

Fighter, Either a blacksmith herself or the wife of a blacksmith in Besander.

Fighter 2, A member of the militia who tends to twist words around to suit his need.

Barbarian, A slightly intimidating carpenter that fells her own trees for her craft.

Monk, An elven traveler that showed up in Besandar severely wounded and has stayed to recover for far longer that necessary

[Laughing Hyena]

I might wanna try a dragonborn wizard just to shake things up with my old habits. I read about how they are much more human in appearance and how wizards are met with a lot more suspicions and fear save for those sworn to the Silver Sanctuary. And for the sake of better storytelling potential, I would not mind it if he was not of the Silver Sanctuary. I think I could help contribute to the village as a teacher of both reading and writing. As well as history and lore. That is how he could fit in. As for his powers, I was thinking to make him a transmuter or abjuration specialist. Gotta figure out who could have apprenticed him or where he got his magical knowledge from.

[Naughty Miss Adventure]

Just one thing to note Hyena; the characters are meant to be fresh of the farm types, literally in some cases. :-)

More practically, they are of 1st level, which would make for a highly impractical teacher - a true wizard of the Silver Sanctuary earns his badge and initiation at 7th level.  The main theme for this idea is lack of worldly experience for the protagonists to start with - I'm more or less modelling things on the Lord of the Rings, where humble people rise up to the occasion.  Also, in all but the rarest of occasions, everyone should come from the village itself.

Things to keep in mind when building a character ;)

[Laughing Hyena]

Just one thing to note Hyena; the characters are meant to be fresh of the farm types, literally in some cases. :-)

More practically, they are of 1st level, which would make for a highly impractical teacher - a true wizard of the Silver Sanctuary earns his badge and initiation at 7th level.  The main theme for this idea is lack of worldly experience for the protagonists to start with - I'm more or less modelling things on the Lord of the Rings, where humble people rise up to the occasion.  Also, in all but the rarest of occasions, everyone should come from the village itself.

Things to keep in mind when building a character ;)

I said he was a teacher of reading and writing, lore and history. You do not need to be 7th level to teach that. That kind of education alone would be amazing for a village. And he is definitely not of the Silver Sanctuary. Still this kind of makes it impossible to play a wizard unless the elven wizard in the village has him as an apprentice.

[Corinthi]

Still this kind of makes it impossible to play a wizard unless the elven wizard in the village has him as an apprentice.

Not true. In the same paragraph Miss Adventure mentioned the Elven Wizard, she gave two other ideas for potential wizard origins. The feeling I get is that the characters should be young, inexperienced, and have not necessarily found themselves yet.

Plus, there's nothing wrong with being an apprentice to a vaguely defined NPC.

[Naughty Miss Adventure]

I said he was a teacher of reading and writing, lore and history. You do not need to be 7th level to teach that. That kind of education alone would be amazing for a village. And he is definitely not of the Silver Sanctuary. Still this kind of makes it impossible to play a wizard unless the elven wizard in the village has him as an apprentice.

Not particularly, as it is possible to be self-taught if you have access to the right notes.  The 7th level thing was meant to be a general indicator of the mileage needed for fully-fledged Sanctuary wizard, rather than the minimum level needed to teach. A 1st-level PC is a student ready to take the final exam with a 60:40 chance of passing; if he was trying to teach others, he could probably throw out some pointers, make it look like he's teaching, but he'd also be coming up blank as often as not when his students have questions for him, unless he's a real prodigy.

I've left the exact details of the villagers rather vague so that there's some maneuvering room available for such matters where they pick up their proficiency.  Characters, if they possesses any professions, are currently in their apprenticeship.

If you'd like him to be apprenticed under the village wizard, its as simple as saying so and then we flesh out the details after.  Alternatively, one of his parents might have done some wizardly studies, but didn't make it, yet kept their notes.