[D&D 5e] Kingmaker: A Noble Conquest, the Tale About to Begin (Closed)

[Uxi]

[D&D 5e] Kingmaker: A Noble Conquest
and the Getting on with It.

Be it so known that the bearer of this charter has been charged by the Swordlords of Restov, acting upon the greater good and authority vested within them by the office of the Regent of the Dragonscale Throne, has granted the right of exploration and travel within the wilderness region known as the Greenbelt. Exploration should be limited to an area no further than thirty-six miles east and west and sixty miles south of Oleg’s Trading Post. The carrier of this charter should also strive against banditry and other unlawful behavior to be encountered. The punishment for unrepentant banditry remains, as always, execution by sword or rope. So witnessed on this 24th day of Calistril, under watchful eye of the Lordship of Restov and authority granted by Lord Noleski Surtova, current Regent of the Dragonscale Throne.

Thanks for dropping by! This is my attempt to seize reigns of power and get comfortable with this whole GMing business. And this here is a disclaimer: I am a noob GM and I anticipate being clumsy even with the 5e system. Pathfinder is too hard! But I love Kingmaker. And so with careful scaling and substitutions from a 5e beastiary, I hope to share with you, newfound friends, my passion for this adventure path. At least all the way up to the acquisition of the Stolen Lands. Should we find each other agreeable enough to continue after that, I will begin auctioning off my soul to the devil that can help me figure out how to convert the kingdom building process, too! But that's a bridge we can cross when we're there.

Our story begins with Darian Edward James Lancaster II, a cool authoritative man that has been burdened with the task of reclaiming the Greenbelt. If successful, the Swordlords of Restov will grant him barony of the lands. It's a large task for a single noble, and so his house has given him the sum to gather around him companions that will help see it done. A varied pick with suit him well, and with the reputation of his household in his favor, he has an unlimited choice; ranging from his familial ties, close friends, retainers, merchants and so on, each beneficial in their own right. Those who submit are rewarded well for their obedience.

Initially, I planned to run this solo campaign for another (specifically, the player behind Darian). But, as one tends to do when communicating, we talked. We schemed. We connived. And we planned. At the end, we concluded that the vision we have works better with others. The more the merrier!... ehm, to an extent. We are looking for 2~4 players to join us. We have a few ideas for what we would personally like to play with, but in the end we really want this to be a group collaborative experience that is heavily story driven. As your GM, I want to take your characters and together paint a fresh, and way sexier take on Kingmaker.

So what am I looking for in potential players? I'm looking for players that do well in stories with:

• Non-consensual situations, PC and NPC created
• Incest,
• BDSM,
• Polyamory,
• Friendly and rivalry competing for attention within a poly situation,
• Platonic friendships,
• Erotic Horror,
  
• Death,
• and most importantly, Lawful evil campaigns.

And please note that I would be thrilled to have any assortment of good aligned characters. I firmly believe that half of the fun of running an evil campaign is the thrill of manipulating other characters into agreeing that the means justify the end. Typically, it's NPCs that get warped for the player's benefit. In this game, you get to be on the seduced end. So if you enjoy that sort of mental dynamic, please don't be afraid of applying on a Good aligned character.  Besides, inner group conflict is substantially juicier than external problems.

An important consideration is that all spellcasters spellcasters brought with Darian's party(in the sense of character concept, rather than literal character sheet things) will be of Lancaster blood. This is the particular theme of this noble house--they're a bunch of sorcery purists that make Lord Voldemort look like a centrist! Within the current family tree, Darian Lancaster (Roman100) is the eldest son to two of the most iconic sorcerers on their side of the map. He has a younger sister, Catherine Lancaster (myself). Does he have other siblings? Does he have cousins? Maybe! And there's the unfortunate bastard here and there that have benefited magically from the Lancaster bloodline, but they're not spoken of in polite company.

If you would prefer to play a spellcaster (or any character such as a bandit) from the Greenbelt, then go for it! The world is your oyster and encountering something such as a druid while in the lands is an exciting possibility!

On October 15th, I'll finish looking for applicants and start. Hopefully we have at least one! However, in the sad event that I am forced to choose in efforts to keep the campaign manageable for a newcomer GM, I will pick the 4 that I feel will create the most interesting dynamic. I will use this thread and the following space to keep track of applicants and their ideas.

Character levels start at 1. Point buy. I'm shying away from back ground inspiration / xp type stuff. Feel free to customize the bonds, traits, ideals, etc. for your background for the voice of your character. The only true restriction I'm imposing is that this is a human based campaign, because I like the idea of elves, halflings, orcs and the like being rare, and mysterious. If you want to play one of these characters, please include a good justification for why they are choosing to help humans conquer another land.

Current Concepts

• Darian Lancaster

  Name: Darian Edward James Lancaster II
  Age: 28
  Darian Lancaster Senior is a cold, hard man given to bouts of anger and sinister action. And his son is arguably worse.  His is a special kind arrogance that comes from the intersection of two crucibles of arrogance: being born with political power and being born with innate power.
  
  While he's not dismissive of other pursuits such as sword play or engineering he -despises- laziness, incompetence and inefficiency.  If you are a competent armsman with a grasp of tactics you are worth ten sorcerers amazed at their own Light spell.
  - Magical Noble. Boss man. Dom.
• Catherine Lancaster

  Full name: Catherine Elizabeth Justine Lancaster
  Age: 16
  Catherine's harships have been significantly easier than Darian's, namely in that there were certain expectations that never fell upon her shoulders. She was never expected to lead the household; however, the disciplinary environment remained the same, and so she's grown into an emotionally withdrawn girl with resting  bitch face. Her touch is softer than Darian's albeit tempermental, and sometimes cruel in the way that young people often are.
  
  Darian became independent in his early twenties, and though he's visited home on occasion, Catherine's primary memories and impressions of him are from a much earlier period.
  - Darian's little sister, enchantress. Domme in the making.
• (Player, Arcanist) - Sneaky rogue. Magical rogue. Cousin or some vague connection to Catherine and Darian.
• Edan - Wizard's apprentice. Bought Slave. Owned by the Lancasters.
• (Player, Voyandi) - Potential diplomat. Potential goody two-shoes.
• (Player, Caelcormac) - Potential barbarian/ranger. Something fleshy.
  
• (Player, Hopefox) - Tiger Lord. Barbarian. Corruptible.
• (Player, Chulanowa) - Antipaladin.
• (Player, Marie Reynolds)
• (Player, Marked Insanity) - Cleric of devious machinations.

[caelcormac]

You had me at Kingmaker. Since it appears you have 2 casters already I will lean towards something martial. Perhaps a ranger or barbarian hired by the Lancaster's to deal with navigating the wilderness and to stand in front while they sling spells?

[Arcanist]

Definitely interested. Should have a draft up by the weekend.

[Uxi]

Squee! Looking forward to seeing your ideas, guys! Edited the post a fraction to allow for characters that call the Greenbelt home--provided that the players behind those characters don't mind a staggered entrance.

Edit: Roman100 and I will introduce our characters soon on this thread so you can make... ehm, more informed decisions re: char gen.

[Vonandi]

I can't guarantee anything since Im usually pretty slow to the draw where character creation is conerned, but given the option would you prefer: a NCO, a missionary, a merc/bodyguard or a merchant? Assuming that the trapper/guide role will be filled by caelcormac's character. I would also be more than willing to play a goodly character if no one else does, a diplomat, perhaps?

[Uxi]

My preference would be the missionary, because I have a thing for faith workers. But there's never too many bodyguards (they're a fabulously wealthy family that can afford to eat avocado toast, they can hire as much help as needed), so don't feel like the concept is blocked. And I totally don't care how long it takes the character sheet to get finalized, so long as it happens before the first bout of combat!

[Masked Insanity]

Very much interested here. :) Thinking about a female cleric of either Asmodeus, Abadar (with a focus on subduing nature) or potentially one of the archdevils.

[Roman100]

Hey, so, I was asked to introduce my character by Uxi so that people know what to expect. Darian Lancaster is a cold, hard man given to bouts of anger and sinister action. And his son is arguably worse.  His is a special kind arrogance that comes from the intersection of two crucibles of arrogance: being born with political power and being born with innate power.

While he's not dismissive of other pursuits such as sword play or engineering he -despises- laziness, incompetence and inefficiency.  If you are a competent armsman with a grasp of tactics you are worth ten sorcerers amazed at their own Light spell.

Hope this helps!

[Hobbes1266]

I would be interested in joining with a Greenbelt witch's apprentice (wizard) if that would be alright. Possibly bought off of her mentor as a slave? Should we be sharing character sheets now or would it be better to wait for that?

[Uxi]

You can get your char-gen up!  It's not something I'm super set on getting until after the 15th.

It's a great idea! Are you looking to be owned by Darian and Catherine? All of the ideas I've heard thus far are makimg me super stoked for the group. 

[Hobbes1266]

I think that being owned by the siblings would fit best, yes. I think maybe she would be sold as a way for her mentors coven to gain political favor and to help ensure that slavery would remain legal once the siblings become rulers of the region, since it's difficult to declare slavery illegal if you own a slave.

https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2013503

[HopeFox]

I'd love to try a Kingmaker game! I have a concept for a Tiger Lord barbarian living in the Greenbelt, who wants to see the lands united under a strong, wise ruler, and might be easily manipulated into not quite getting the "wise" part. I'm a big fan of all of those sexy situations listed!

[Chulanowa]

This... might be a good space to try out the antipaladin (well, just a paladin in 5e) of Dahak I've been mulling over for a while now.

Or heck, who knows, all sorts of ideas there 

[Marie Reynolds]

I am interested in this game  since it is  human centric are the half blooded races of the table like half-elves and Half-Orcs?

[Uxi]

Not necessarily off the table. If you can write them convincingly as a "half-race" that has never really belonged to either group (unless they happen to appear astonishingly more like one or the other), then that is good enough for me as far as atmosphere goes.

Edit: I've extended the first post. The ideas have been collected and organized! Slightly. There's also information on Catherine now.

[Servile Sliver]

I love Kingmaker but I'm more familiar with PF than 5e. Hopefully that isn't too much of a problem, one of the big selling points for fifth is how easy it is to learn. :)

It looks like you've got plenty of casters so I'll put a rogue up for the running. She'd be a classic rogue rather than an arcane trickster, which it looks like you already have an app for, but if that's already too close then she would work just as well as a fiery swashbuckler instead of a stealthy scout.

Her backstory is basically "what if the unlucky protagonist of a smutty VN struck out for adventure"? She took to the seas in search of adventure as a young girl and severely mis-judged the integrity of the crew of cutthroats and pirates that she joined on with. She hoped that they would teach her to sail, fence, explore and carouse. Instead they were barely out of sight of land before she was lashed to the railing and made available to the lusty crew. After that she was traded to a merchant vessel for a load of tobacco where she spent as much time kneeling between the commandant's knees as she did swabbing his quarters. From there she was sold on the auction block in a Chellish port and acquired by a cruel noble with an inquisitive mind and an interest in the transformative powers of alchemy. After a string of travails and humiliations she was finally able to escape and made her way to the stolen lands in search of a life of freedom at last. Ever the poor judge of character she signed on with Darian's expedition as a scout. It would simply be a shaaAAAaaaAAAaame if she ended up once again dominated, coerced, or enslaved.

Given the nature of the campaign she'd be a human. Or if you're be interested in size differences, race play, and ageplay (without crossing any creepy boundaries) she could be a halfling.

[Roman100]

I think the focus is less on 'everyone be human' than it is for the -Lancasters- to be mostly human.  I will get clarification from Uxi, though!

[Hobbes1266]

I was under the impression that anything other than humans would be considered rare and therefore would need an explanation for why they would be in the group.

[Uxi]

Halflings are more common in this area, right? If you want race play we can push that.

The Lancaster peeps are definitely all human. I want other races to be rare, but I am flexible if it is for 1.) The sake of sexy discrimination 2.) adding atmosphere (like, characters from the greenbelt, and 3.) Interesting in terms of what they contribute socially.


Also... since we have such a big response, Roman100 is going to do some Co GMing so we can include more. We will only take so many combat characters; however, if you want to RP with us as a captive to be broken, or just for the social aspect of following bannermen around, then you will be accepted alongside everyone else. It's mostly combat and roll resolutions that stress me out... but wouldn't it be great to have a thriving small colony?

[Servile Sliver]

Yeah, I figured that halflings were less in the category of 'mystical and rare beings' and more in the category of 'humans and their lackeys'.

If you're limiting combat characters I would also be fine playing a hireling or Leadership follower or similar quasi-npc tier character. If you can add me as a party member that's great, if not I'd be happy to play one of the colonists or captives.

[Hobbes1266]

Edan is mostly set up for utility to be honest, I picked skilled over warcaster which is objectively better in combat, I only really gave her fireblast because it felt obligatory to have a way to deal damage.

[Zaer Darkwail]

This... might be a good space to try out the antipaladin (well, just a paladin in 5e) of Dahak I've been mulling over for a while now.

Or heck, who knows, all sorts of ideas there 

You could roll paladin of conquest, the oath fits for LE sort paladin who crushes wilderness/pagans under iron rule of civilization (fits for very well for hellknight from order of the nail).

Either way voicing interest, my concept being a hexblade, male half-elf warlock who's mother was also a warlock (a elf) but he was raised among humans. Her mother being outcaste from her homeland who decided to try 'normal family life' with human but after ten years (since his birth) she abandoned her family on whim (or by order of her patron? who knows). Because he was abandoned by his mother he became bit of rebel and someone who has less respect for women (at least not believe they have commitment and are whimsical creatures). He is chaotic neutral so universally he is selfish but not evil by default but he can be dastardly when provoked (but otherwise has no respect to laws and such).

His story where he got his pact (or rather his patron which is sentient magical sword) comes through crisis as his village got attacked by bandits and in moment when he was about to get butchered voice spoke to him and offered a pact in return for power. He accepted the bargain and got power which he started blast around with. But because of the attack, chaos and wielding magic reckless manner (and it reminding his mother) his father and his own home village kicked out despite he scared bandits away with his magic.

So he has been mercenary since and thought use one pics below;

Pic choices

What comes to my char patron, well it's not identified but it's some supernatural aspect of warfare/battle. As there is no specific single/sentient weapon but rather armory itself which is source of power (yes, going for pact of the blade in 3th level present that idea/concept). Most likely in pathfinder lore Gorum. Or servant of Gorum (like First Blade which is bunch of animated weapons in form of swarm).

Alternatively I could roll a druid, who is local from Riverlands (a human druid).

[HopeFox]

Okay, here's what I've got for my concept!

She's a barbarian, so obviously she's good at combat, but overall her focus is on knowledge and tradition. She knows a lot about the history and spirituality of the Tiger Lords and the geography of the Greenbelt, making her a good asset (willing or otherwise) for taming the area. She wants to see her people united, and there are quite a few ways to do that...

Is variant human okay? If so, I've given her Ritual Caster (wizard) to represent her shaman training. The Kellids see the line between arcane and divine magic as quite blurry, and she uses her magic to invoke ancestor spirits for protection and guidance. Her ritual book is an eclectic mixture of prayers and arcane theory.

Yonda of the Tiger Lords

Yonda
Variant Human Barbarian 1

Character sheet

Alignment: Lawful good
Ability Scores: STR 14, DEX 12, CON 16, INT 14, WIS 8, CHA 10
HP: 15
AC: 14
Saves: Str +4, Dex +1, Con +5, Int +2, Wis -1, Cha +0
Background: Sage
Armour/Weapon Proficiencies: Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons
Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, History, Nature, Religion, Survival
Languages: Common, Hallit, (two more languages)
Gear: Greatsword, javelin (4), light crossbow, explorer's pack, bottle of black ink, quill, small knife, common clothes, a tattered document from the old Kellid kingdom of Sarkoris, silver wire and bell
Currency: None
Class features: Rage 2/long rest, unarmored defense
Feats: Ritual Caster (wizard)
Rituals in book: Alarm, find familiar
Familiar: Her great-grandmother, Korda, whom she has conjured from beyond death to be her spirit guide in this life. She currently takes the form of a raven.

History

Yonda was born into the Tiger Lords, and lived her childhood on the move, riding between grazing grounds and raiding opportunities with the rest of her tribe. She learnt to hunt and fight with her brothers, sisters and cousins, but when her tribe's shaman recognize her keen mind, she was taken as his apprentice, taught the history of their people and the secrets of the world around them - gods, spirits, animals and plants, and the mysterious forces that bound the world together.

Ever hungry for more knowledge, Yonda pledged herself to upholding her people's oral history, and, under her mentor's guidance, she traveled to other tribes and beyond to seek out new lore. The world beyond her tribe's lands was confusing but rich with lore, and there was always more to learn.

Now that Yonda is a woman - sixteen years old - she has stopped to examine her place in the tribe, and her tribe's place in history. To follow in her mentor's footsteps and become the next shaman would be a good life, but she knew there was more she could do. The Tiger Lords fought amongst themselves, they fought with their neighbours, and the Greenbelt was hostile to the world outside. She could become a shaman, take a husband, raise a family, fight alongside her people... but that would not help them achieve their true destiny. The Kellids had once ruled a mighty kingdom, and there must be a way to see them rise again. So she struck out on her own, looking for a new path for her people.

Background features

Trait: I have studied under all the wisest shamans and storytellers in the Greenbelt - or I like to boast that I have.
Trait: I’m used to helping out those who aren’t as smart as I am, and I patiently explain anything and everything to others.
Ideal: Tradition. We cannot know who we are without knowing who came before us. (Lawful)
Bond: Whatever happens, I must preserve the knowledge of my people.
Flaw: I would do anything to see our old kingdom restored.

[Marie Reynolds]

Sadly i cannot lock down a concept So I am going to withdraw.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Sadly i cannot lock down a concept So I am going to withdraw.

Aw, sad to hear :(