Okay, first let me preface this by saying that D&D 5E is not a very good system for handling social interaction (what most people incorrectly call role-play) and exploration style encounters let alone games that are focused on those elements. With that being said, I would like to try to run an adventure that is heavily focused on social interactions and exploration any way. It will still have elements of action-adventure of course, but I would like it if those scenes were emphasized a lot less than normal games.
So with all of that said I am proposing an urban based game where the characters are involved in various political intrigues and power struggles between the factions within the city. Churches, nobles, merchant guilds, and various criminal enterprises all compete for power, wealth, and respect within the city walls. Your characters may belong to one of these factions or they may be trying to eek out a living on their own.
If this sounds like something you might be interested in playing, let me know.
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As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
So while I disagree whole heartedly with your opinion that 5e is a terrible system to handle Social interaction between characters I do respect your opinion, and I have a particular love for campaigns that are more RP oriented vs. combat/dungeon crawl orientated. I have a Great old one warlock spect for social interaction and screwing with people's heads that will hopefully sway your opinion a little as to whether or not 5e features great tools to handle social interactions and make them fun.
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Filtch Red-whisker | N/G | Nim | 3rd lv Fighter | Brute | "We fight for the youth, we fight at all cost. For as long as we fight, we have not truly lost"
Zanthin Abrax | N/G | Human | 6th lv Wizard | Lore master | "I'd tell you how astronomically dull you truly are, but I'd need to visit the far realm just to find the words to do so."
I never tried playing a campaign with lots of social interaction and exploration/investigation but it seems very interesting.
One of my concerns is how will charisma checks handled when encountering fellow PCs in a PbP campaign. Do PCs have to make a Persuasion/Deception check first before you make an Insight check, or do they have to wait for an Insight check first and secretly roll a Persuasion/Deception check sent to the DM or just directly post it in campaign?
I recently started D&D two months ago, all in PbP format so I don't have that much experience with those kind of ability checks.
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Believer of the almighty one, the Alpha and the Omega, whose love encompasses all of his creations, RNGesus.
Started as a player at time of registration. Started to DM a month later. Hoping to get better as time progresses.
Sounds like fun. I have a socially oriented tiefling rogue I would like to play. Charlatan, pretends to be a noble, lots of charm and way to confident, all that jazz.
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Blixanix Glitterpain, Goblin Bard - In campaign: Ravnica, City of Guilds
The Soggiest DM - In campaign: Boats, Rocks & Ruffians Eira Whitefeather, Human Sorcerer/Warlock - In campaign: Death Inspectors Expanded
Roland "THUNDER HIPPO" Wolfscribe, Human Bloodhunter - In campaign: Core City: A Play-by-post Adventure
Okay, so first @profgenclean I only require die rolls when a character is attempting an action. So in your example a character attempting to lie to another character would be the one having to make a Charisma (deception) check versus the target's passive Insight plus any applicable modifiers. My basic rule of thumb is do not make any die rolls unless I specifically ask for them.
Second @dndpro, I am glad you asked about character generation. Races and classes have to come out of the PHB with the following options not allowed: barbarians, clerics with the nature, tempest, or war domain, druids, monks, rangers, wild magic sorcerers, and warlocks with far realm patrons. Ability scores use the 27 point buy. The following races aren't allowed: wood elves, drow elves, & forest gnomes. Also, the hermit and outlander backgrounds are not appropriate. Finally, for this game I am not going to use alignments since morality isn't so cut and dry. Oh, I nearly forgot, one bit of mostly flavor...none of the races are super long lived in my world, even elves only live for about 200 years.
So what I need now is a character sheet from everyone and I will post some background information on Maribor as soon as I can
P.S...Everyone starts at 1st level. I am an old curmudgeon who has just recently been dragged kicking and scream from AD&D 2nd ed. to D&D 5E.
Skills: Acrobatics, Deception, Perception, Performance, Slight of Hand, Stealth
Backstory: Abandoned by her parents shortly after birth, Emily spent most of her life dependent on the kindness of others. It wasn't until she discovered a talent with the flute that she seemed like she would make anything of herself. Now she has a small amount of coin, newly made clothes and a roof over her head, and keen blue eyes. Perhaps more coin could be had with words to the right people about what those blue eyes see.
Skills: Deception (expert), Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Persuasion (expert), Sleight of Hand
Backstory: Puziriaz has always had a way with words and when he managed to steal a gold ring from a drunken nobleman he got into the "tricking people into helping the impoverished noble" business. In other words, Pizzazz thinks highly of himself, he now thinks of himself as quite the businessman and scrapes in a few silver and gold here and there. He promises favors to whoever helps him, but before they can claim it he has changed his identity once again.
Backstory: Ajax comes from the coast and has sailor background. After his one year military service, he started to work for merchant guilds as guard for the transport from the coast and had several opportunities to know the city. He is loyal and ordinate but, even if he may not be considered the smartest one, he gets angry when somebody try to fool him.
Backstory: Urji was a lieutenant in his regiment, giving sound advice to his captain. Soon his regiment was lost in the mountains after setting a camp there and awaiting orders from high command. There was nothing for months. Eventually the men fled service or started fighting with each other. They eventually had to resort to surviving on the land but it was scarce. The surviving turned into complete chaos and everyone turned to basic primal instincts. Urji survived the longest but after dealing with the utter chaos, it broke him. The things that happened in the mountains lead him to a cave and become lost until a roaming patrol found him. He was talking to something in his hands but they couldn't ever see it. He was brought to the city they lived in and had to make a living back in society once he came back from his lost self.
Tarvon came to Maribor to make and honest living. He soon found that, At least in his experience, there was no such thing. All of the contracts, even the piece work, were already taken by guilds and enforced by corrupt bureaucrats.
He started thinking differently about honour and fairness when starvation set in. Tarvon discovered that he had an innate ability to influence and manipulate others. With a differing tone, a way of leaning in on someone, and using the right words and pressure, he could get most people seeing things his way. Once they did they were quite happy to keep him happy.
Using his emergent abilities Tarvon is slowly, ever so slowly, carving out his own kingdom in the back streets of his new home. An island of influence, in a sea of corruption and chaos. He enjoys this new game and hopes he lives long enough to become a real contender before the powers that be in Moribar notice him and then come to crush him.
Nations, there is a sidebar reference in the PHB on page 26 that references the Deep Gnome, but there is not an actual entry that details ability adjustments and sub-racial feats. If you can provide me with a reference then I will reconsider.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
Okay, first let me preface this by saying that D&D 5E is not a very good system for handling social interaction (what most people incorrectly call role-play) and exploration style encounters let alone games that are focused on those elements. With that being said, I would like to try to run an adventure that is heavily focused on social interactions and exploration any way. It will still have elements of action-adventure of course, but I would like it if those scenes were emphasized a lot less than normal games.
So with all of that said I am proposing an urban based game where the characters are involved in various political intrigues and power struggles between the factions within the city. Churches, nobles, merchant guilds, and various criminal enterprises all compete for power, wealth, and respect within the city walls. Your characters may belong to one of these factions or they may be trying to eek out a living on their own.
If this sounds like something you might be interested in playing, let me know.
As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
That sounds like it could be fun. Forgotten Realms, other D&D setting or a homebrew thing?
So while I disagree whole heartedly with your opinion that 5e is a terrible system to handle Social interaction between characters I do respect your opinion, and I have a particular love for campaigns that are more RP oriented vs. combat/dungeon crawl orientated. I have a Great old one warlock spect for social interaction and screwing with people's heads that will hopefully sway your opinion a little as to whether or not 5e features great tools to handle social interactions and make them fun.
Filtch Red-whisker | N/G | Nim | 3rd lv Fighter | Brute | "We fight for the youth, we fight at all cost. For as long as we fight, we have not truly lost"
Zanthin Abrax | N/G | Human | 6th lv Wizard | Lore master | "I'd tell you how astronomically dull you truly are, but I'd need to visit the far realm just to find the words to do so."
I never tried playing a campaign with lots of social interaction and exploration/investigation but it seems very interesting.
One of my concerns is how will charisma checks handled when encountering fellow PCs in a PbP campaign. Do PCs have to make a Persuasion/Deception check first before you make an Insight check, or do they have to wait for an Insight check first and secretly roll a Persuasion/Deception check sent to the DM or just directly post it in campaign?
I recently started D&D two months ago, all in PbP format so I don't have that much experience with those kind of ability checks.
INTERESTED!
might choose a paladin, but let us know also about character creation. i.e.:
- if human variant is allowed
- which others races are present in the city, or else which are not allowed
- starting level and skills composition (standard array, point buy or else)
,
Sounds like fun. I have a socially oriented tiefling rogue I would like to play. Charlatan, pretends to be a noble, lots of charm and way to confident, all that jazz.
Blixanix Glitterpain, Goblin Bard - In campaign: Ravnica, City of GuildsThe Soggiest DM - In campaign: Boats, Rocks & RuffiansEira Whitefeather, Human Sorcerer/Warlock - In campaign: Death Inspectors ExpandedRoland "THUNDER HIPPO" Wolfscribe, Human Bloodhunter - In campaign: Core City: A Play-by-post Adventure
Okay, so first @profgenclean I only require die rolls when a character is attempting an action. So in your example a character attempting to lie to another character would be the one having to make a Charisma (deception) check versus the target's passive Insight plus any applicable modifiers. My basic rule of thumb is do not make any die rolls unless I specifically ask for them.
Second @dndpro, I am glad you asked about character generation. Races and classes have to come out of the PHB with the following options not allowed: barbarians, clerics with the nature, tempest, or war domain, druids, monks, rangers, wild magic sorcerers, and warlocks with far realm patrons. Ability scores use the 27 point buy. The following races aren't allowed: wood elves, drow elves, & forest gnomes. Also, the hermit and outlander backgrounds are not appropriate. Finally, for this game I am not going to use alignments since morality isn't so cut and dry. Oh, I nearly forgot, one bit of mostly flavor...none of the races are super long lived in my world, even elves only live for about 200 years.
So what I need now is a character sheet from everyone and I will post some background information on Maribor as soon as I can
P.S...Everyone starts at 1st level. I am an old curmudgeon who has just recently been dragged kicking and scream from AD&D 2nd ed. to D&D 5E.
As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
Interested! Would probably like to play either dragon sorc, wizard, or knowledge cleric. Race dependent on class
Name:Kakaryn Baharoosh
Race: Dragonborn
Class: Paladin
Background: Noble
Stats (Including racial bonus): 17, 10, 14, 8, 10, 15
Proficiencies: Athletics, History, Persuasion, Intimidation
Backstory:
Brainwashed by the teachings of his church since child, he devoted every inch of his life to spread the one and only true faith.
His noble upbringing pities the masses as they believe other heretical religions.
He vows to eliminate these heretics that spread false beliefs and show the masses the one and true faith either by his words or force.
Equipment: Whip, Shield, Chain Mail
Name: Emily Silverswift
Race: Human (variant)
Class: Rogue
Background: Entertainer
Stats (Including racial bonus): 11, 16, 10, 13, 10, 15
Skills: Acrobatics, Deception, Perception, Performance, Slight of Hand, Stealth
Backstory: Abandoned by her parents shortly after birth, Emily spent most of her life dependent on the kindness of others. It wasn't until she discovered a talent with the flute that she seemed like she would make anything of herself. Now she has a small amount of coin, newly made clothes and a roof over her head, and keen blue eyes. Perhaps more coin could be had with words to the right people about what those blue eyes see.
Equipment: Flute, Rapier, Leather Armour, Shortbow
Name: Puziriaz Brightsmile (AKA Pizzazz)
Class: Rogue
Background: Charlatan
Stats (Including racial bonus): 8, 14, 10, 16, 10, 16
Skills: Deception (expert), Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Persuasion (expert), Sleight of Hand
Backstory: Puziriaz has always had a way with words and when he managed to steal a gold ring from a drunken nobleman he got into the "tricking people into helping the impoverished noble" business. In other words, Pizzazz thinks highly of himself, he now thinks of himself as quite the businessman and scrapes in a few silver and gold here and there. He promises favors to whoever helps him, but before they can claim it he has changed his identity once again.
Equipment: Rapier, Dagger, Leather Armour, Shortbow
Blixanix Glitterpain, Goblin Bard - In campaign: Ravnica, City of GuildsThe Soggiest DM - In campaign: Boats, Rocks & RuffiansEira Whitefeather, Human Sorcerer/Warlock - In campaign: Death Inspectors ExpandedRoland "THUNDER HIPPO" Wolfscribe, Human Bloodhunter - In campaign: Core City: A Play-by-post Adventure
Name: Ajax , human (variant)
Class: Fighter
Background: Sailor
Stats (Including racial bonus): 16, 11, 16, 10,10,10
Backstory: Ajax comes from the coast and has sailor background. After his one year military service, he started to work for merchant guilds as guard for the transport from the coast and had several opportunities to know the city. He is loyal and ordinate but, even if he may not be considered the smartest one, he gets angry when somebody try to fool him.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/dndpro100/characters/2429400
,
Name: Urji, Rock Gnome
Class: Fighter
Background: Haunted One
Stats (Including racial bonus): 9(-1), 13(+1), 12(+1), 17(+3), 15(+2), 8(-1)
Skills: Arcana, Insight, Investigation, Survival
Equipment: Quarterstaff
Backstory: Urji was a lieutenant in his regiment, giving sound advice to his captain. Soon his regiment was lost in the mountains after setting a camp there and awaiting orders from high command. There was nothing for months. Eventually the men fled service or started fighting with each other. They eventually had to resort to surviving on the land but it was scarce. The surviving turned into complete chaos and everyone turned to basic primal instincts. Urji survived the longest but after dealing with the utter chaos, it broke him. The things that happened in the mountains lead him to a cave and become lost until a roaming patrol found him. He was talking to something in his hands but they couldn't ever see it. He was brought to the city they lived in and had to make a living back in society once he came back from his lost self.
Edit: Changed Deep Gnome to Rock Gnome
Nations,
Deep Gnomes are not a playable race in the Player's Handbook. If you want to play a gnome you can choose to be a rock gnome.
As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
Kweinir, what race is Puziriaz?
As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
Name: Tarvon Slatehammer
Race: Hill Dwarf
Class: Rogue
Background: Criminal
Stats (Including racial bonus): Str10[+0], Dex13[+1], Con16[+3], Int12[+1], Wis9[-1], Cha15[+2]
Proficiencies: Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion, Stealth
Backstory:
Tarvon came to Maribor to make and honest living. He soon found that, At least in his experience, there was no such thing. All of the contracts, even the piece work, were already taken by guilds and enforced by corrupt bureaucrats.
He started thinking differently about honour and fairness when starvation set in. Tarvon discovered that he had an innate ability to influence and manipulate others. With a differing tone, a way of leaning in on someone, and using the right words and pressure, he could get most people seeing things his way. Once they did they were quite happy to keep him happy.
Using his emergent abilities Tarvon is slowly, ever so slowly, carving out his own kingdom in the back streets of his new home. An island of influence, in a sea of corruption and chaos. He enjoys this new game and hopes he lives long enough to become a real contender before the powers that be in Moribar notice him and then come to crush him.
Equipment: - Leather Armour- Dagger(2)- Shortbow- Shortsword- Arrows (20)- Backpack- Ball Bearings (bag of 1,000) (1000)- Bell- Candle- Clothes, Common- Crowbar (2)- Hammer- Lantern, Hooded- Oil (flask) (2)- Piton (10)- Rations (1 day) (5)- Rope, Hempen (50 feet)- Tinderbox- Waterskin- Thieves' Tools- String (10)
Link to PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10405q1y76_AB8ZPj_VHlOSSFuU6ohMyf/view?usp=sharing
@Auberginian Which edition PHB are we using? If I need to switch to a Rock gnome then I have no problem with it but Deep is in 5E.
Nations, there is a sidebar reference in the PHB on page 26 that references the Deep Gnome, but there is not an actual entry that details ability adjustments and sub-racial feats. If you can provide me with a reference then I will reconsider.
As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/races/gnome#DeepGnome
I'll make the switch just in case. Not sure if that could count as I built Urji in the DnD Beyond character builder.
Ah, sorry. Puziriaz is a tiefling!
Blixanix Glitterpain, Goblin Bard - In campaign: Ravnica, City of GuildsThe Soggiest DM - In campaign: Boats, Rocks & RuffiansEira Whitefeather, Human Sorcerer/Warlock - In campaign: Death Inspectors ExpandedRoland "THUNDER HIPPO" Wolfscribe, Human Bloodhunter - In campaign: Core City: A Play-by-post Adventure