It is night in the outskirts of Elventree. On the ground level of what some call “the town in the trees”, a small group of people hang about in the middle of a rough semi-circle made up of a large trading wagon and two smaller carts. A tall, blonde, human-looking man with refined features leans against the wagon, idly looking towards a sturdily built redheaded elven woman who sits on a log, warming her hands in front of a campfire. Nearby the two, a group of three dwarves quietly hustle about, loading and checking supplies into the carts. One is an older, grey-bearded gentleman in somewhat fine, but faded clothes, whereas the other two are a blonde, beardless girl and a red haired and bearded young man, both of whom bear a resemblance to the older dwarf.
“Ah, there ye are. I’m glad that ye finally made it.”
The “Elven” woman in the middle by the fire stands up as you approach, nodding in acknowledgement. “It’s good ta see that Lady Elanil was true to her word about making sure that this new trading party would be well protected.” she says, in a slightly sing-song way, as she looks left and right to take everyone in. “As ye probably know, me husband and I, along with good master Stonecreek over there, have been tradin’ goods back and forth recently between Elventree and ‘bad old’ Hillsfar for a few months now. Safely, I might add. But recently, there’ve been all sorts of sightins' of goblins an’ other ne’er do wells, and even attacks now, and in enough numbers to where even me good arrow-slinging cousin and master Stonecreek’s own stout son aren’t enough to guarantee us safety anymore. Which is why we need yer aid now as well.”
"Caravan Escort" is a short home-made adventure that takes place in the Forgotten Realms in the Moonsea area. As you can probably guess, it involves safely getting a group of merchants and their goods to Hillsfar and back, and making sure that they get as much profit as they can.
Characters will be new-ish, yet slightly experienced adventurers in the Moonsea area of Faerun. They are level 2 heroes who have probably made a bit of a name for themselves in the region, particularly as reliable, trustworthy individuals who fulfill their contracts. Characters should be reasonably well known around Elventree (at least to the people in charge of defending it) and vetted and confirmed as trustworthy by important players in the area. This includes people like the local Harpers, the leaders of the local militia (because technically every able bodied resident of Elventree is a de facto member of the militia, as the whole town bands together to drive off invaders), political leaders such as Lord Dessaer and in particular Elanil Elassidil, Moonsilver Herald in charge of the region.
Your character concept doesn't have to be thatthorough or detailed though. Basically, you just need a reason to be in the village, a reason why people there trust you, and to know why you'd want to take the job. I'd be happy to help if you need any assistance with backstory, the lore of the region, etc. Details for actual character creation follow in the next post.
Sample art of a Wood Elf Village that Resembles Elventree (but not actually the village itself):
Mood music courtesy of the "Pillars of Eternity" soundtrack:
Player characters should be non-evil level 2 Adventurers made with either Point Buy (27 points) or Standard Array. Hitpoints are fixed, not rolled. Basically max HP for first level, and usually 1/2 max + 1 + con bonus for every level after that. Multiclassing is allowed, with the usual limitations in the rules. Equipment should consist of starting equipment for Class / Background AND half the maximum starting gold for the first class your character trained in. So if you were a Fighter (Soldier) / Cleric for instance, you'd get all the starting equipment and gold from Fighter and Soldier, and 100 gold, which is half of the maximum 5d4x10 (200) starting gold a Fighter can get. So that would be all the Fighter's starting gear, and 110 (10 from Soldier background, 100 from 1/2 max starting) gold to spend as you see fit, or just keep.
If you don't like some starting equipment options, you can just swap whatever you don't want for its equivalent cost in gold, and spend or keep that gold instead. The extra gold characters start with represents the earnings / treasure found / etc. received by your them during the events that got them all the way up to 2nd level. You can buy whatever non-magical stuff you want (within reason) but some more out there stuff might not be suitable for this campaign.
I haven't really invested into 5e D&D that much, so I mostly have only the SRD and basic stuff, but if you want to use something from a sourcebook outside of that, if you can provide me enough information for me to implement it, I'll give it a look.
Special note for this region: While Elventree is mostly made up of Humans, Elves, and Half-Elves, it also (in my game at least) has a small population of Eilistraee-worshipping Surface Drow who mostly live in the caves surrounding the village, rather than inside of Elventree itself. Characters can be Drow, as long as they're statted out as either High Elves or Wood Elves. My rationale for this is that these Drow have been on the surface so long, they've adapted to it and have gained both benefits and hindrances from that. They've lost their light sensitivity, but also no longer have the innate Drow magical abilities either. Instead, they've either retained some element of Drow Magic (the High Elf's Cantrip) or Drow Speed (the Wood Elf's Movement Bonus).
If you're having trouble thinking of a character, or just don't even want to, I can give you a hand and either help you figure something out, or just hand you a pre-made character, who will most likely be one of the 3e "Iconics" (Tordek, Lidda, Mialee, Jozan, etc.) who you can play how you wish.
Final Note: Make whatever class / race you want. Don't worry about a balanced party or duplicates unless you really want to. If need be, I'll add an NPC that fills the class you're missing, and/or tweak scenarios and fudge rolls (if needed) so people don't get penalized for roleplaying.
Reserved for HomeBrew Rules and other miscellania:
Proposed Homebrew rule: to keep the PBP-style combat from bogging down, every character will get 1 "Heroic Action" per combat, and if things drag on long enough, 1 more for every 10 rounds. I.E. a second at round 11, a third at round 21, etc.
Basically, a character can use a "Heroic" action to speed up combat by doing using it to do one of a few things:
1. Automatically hit an enemy, whether with a weapon or spell (Just roll for damage / effect). UPDATE: AOE spells have a limit of 1 + character level divided by 2, rounded down. So 2nd level characters can guarantee a hit on a maximum of 2 enemies with one AOE spell using a heroic action.
2. Upgrade a hit to an automatic critical once you know it'll hit (I'll provide AC's and common Save Thresholds for most enemies in combats)
3. Automatically make a saving throw or dodge an attack (even after you know the result)
4. Instantly kill (or knock unconscious) an enemy that has a CR that's less than half the character's Level (a level 2 character can insta-kill an enemy with a CR below 1 for instance, such as CR 1/2, but not an enemy that's exactly CR 1). A caster can (for flavor reasons) use any spell they know to do this, but don't use up the spell slot. Ranged weapons can only be used to do this in "Normal" range, not "Long" range.
NOTE: Certain low-CR enemies that are "Elite" (will be marked with an (E) symbol in combat) will be immune to insta-kills, but these will usually be squad leaders and such, and will not be encountered in numbers. Enemies of ambiguous CR will also be marked as (E) to denote that they can't be insta-killed.
5. If approved (after consulting with DM), automatically succeed at a skill or ability check, or some other attempt to do a special action in combat. (Succeed at stealth without making a roll, jump and land on haft of the giant's spear and balance on it, bait an orc into charging and step away smoothly at the last minute so it falls off the cliff behind you, etc.)
NEW!
6. Take an extra action in a round, similar to a Fighter's Action surge. This can be anything you can do with a normal action, and is on top of bonus actions, reactions, draw/sheathe actions, etc. Maybe it's a frantic, but lucky fumble, or maybe time just seems to slow down for your character when they focus, or they're just so well trained they do certain things almost automatically, but whatever the reason, you can take TWO actions in a round. (THREE with Haste/etc.)
7. Recover one hit die's worth of HP, including constitution bonus, without using up any of the hit die normally used for short rests. If the character is at 0 HP or less, and this causes them to reach positive hit points (1 or more) they can get back up and continue fighting even if they were unconscious or dying before.
The reason for this is two-fold:
The first is that it's hard to write what your character's going to do in combat if you're unsure of the result, and if you know what's going to happen (because you can guarantee it) you can write an exciting scene about your character feinting high then sweeping a cut across the bandit's middle, or acrobatically backflipping away to narrowly avoid a downward swipe that crashes into the brick road below. Or even scornfully breaking through a goblin's weapon AND neck in one forceful swing.
It sucks to write a really impressive and exciting description of an attack attempt, only to roll a 3 and whiff and have all that excellent detail wasted. Now you can write that charging somersault half-twist jump kick following through into a staff-swing and NOT have it all miss this time.
The second is that allowing characters to just automatically succeed should speed up combat a lot. No more "swing and miss" for 3 rounds straight, or players not even being able to take an action at all because they keep failing their save vs. Fear, Paralysis, etc. Want to get out of that Ghast's annoying paralyzation RIGHT NOW and counterattack instead of spending the good part of 5 rounds standing around frozen like a punk? Well, just use your Heroic Action, and you can get back in the fight.
Basically, I want to use this rule to make fights faster and more fun. The characters are the heroes and should be able to feel heroic in my opinion. The heroes in novels, comics, and movies don't have to make a roll every time they want to do something impressive, and that's why they can do those exciting things that they do at the most cinematic and opportune times. With heroic actions, I want to try to let players be able to do that too.
Among the approaching people is a younger, human woman. She sports a black side cut with white tips. Her left hand rest on the hilt of a rapier while she looks at the nails of her right hand. “Everyone needs some help once in a while,” she says in a bored tone without even looking at the elven woman. "The name's Umbra. When do we depart?"
A young half-elf with sandy brown hair and clear green eyes is also among those gathered. A wooden shield is slung across his back, and a quarterstaff in his hand as he stands before the group. He is dressed in traveling clothes of various hues. Greens, browns, and reds, the colors of Autumn. Around his neck a small totem hangs that appears to be the likeness of a unicorn, carved out of wood. He delivers a deep bow to the woman, and others, as he speaks.
"Greetings. The Forestarm of the Temple of Meilikki is honored to act as your protection and guide. I am Aldarin, son of Hurgal, and should we encounter any of this ilk you speak of, the full might of the forest will be brought to bear on them. Our Lady of the Forest will not suffer such evil to exist in or near her realm."
A young gnome with deep blue hair and violet eyes approaches the group. His hair is shoulder length but is a mess at the moment. He is walking to the group while flipping through a book of some sort. He is wearing a backpack and you can see scrolls attached to the side and sticking out of the top. A quarterstaff is also slung across his back. "Hmm this seems to be the place."He stumbles over a rock that is in the path, but catches himself. "Greetings! The name's Belview Copperfoot, Reseacher, Master of the Arcane, Purveyor of Tomes, Collector of Knowledge, it is a pleasure to meet you all."He looks down at the book he currently is holding, and then slams it shut. "Very well then, are we awaiting other people? As you all should know, time is money friends."
(OOC: Hadn't counted on people starting this soon, but since people are talking and roleplaying, may as well start with some banter and introductions / explanations now)
Among the approaching people is a younger, human woman. She sports a black side cut with white tips. Her left hand rest on the hilt of a rapier while she looks at the nails of her right hand. “Everyone needs some help once in a while,” she says in a bored tone without even looking at the elven woman. "The name's Umbra. When do we depart?"
"Right, pleased ta meet you Umbra, me name's Elessa Dyranel, and this is me husband, Halethar whose surname I took when we married." the elven woman replies to Umbra after she introduces herself. Halethar nods wordlessly in acknowledgement when he's mentioned.
"Well now, as soon as everyone finishes gettin' here, we can get started after we quickly lay out the route and a few details." Elessa continues.
"Greetings. The Forestarm of the Temple of Meilikki is honored to act as your protection and guide. I am Aldarin, son of Hurgal, and should we encounter any of this ilk you speak of, the full might of the forest will be brought to bear on them. Our Lady of the Forest will not suffer such evil to exist in or near her realm."
Elessa's eyes light up in delight as Aldarin introduces himself, and she brings a hand to her chest in surprise. "My my, what a well spoken young man. I never cease to be impressed by the fine young men and women that the Great Hall brings to our town. You remind me a little bit of me own son. He's half-folk himself, like you, me husband and I, and also dedicated himself to a god." she practically gushes delightedly, lifting her left hand to briefly push aside the hair covering her left ear to show that it is indeed, only partially pointed.
"Except that this boy worships a proper god... and is less of a ponce." Halethar quietly mumbles as an aside, in a somewhat sonorous baritone.
Umbra snorts and rolls her eyes. "This isn't a court, darling."
With that statement, Elessa's eyes begin to kindle with a frenetic fire, and her cheeks flush as she takes in a breath and seems about to yell, but Halethar suddenly steps in front of her and places a hand on her shoulder, and the woman quiets down as he spends a moment staring silently into her eyes. Turning to Umbra, he slowly and simply states, "No, it is no court, but there's no shame in being polite, and one can get quite far in life even with simple kind words and courtesy. I feel that even just the effort to be courteous should be appreciated, don't you?"
A young gnome with deep blue hair and violet eyes approaches the group. His hair is shoulder length but is a mess at the moment. He is walking to the group while flipping through a book of some sort. He is wearing a backpack and you can see scrolls attached to the side and sticking out of the top. A quarterstaff is also slung across his back. "Hmm this seems to be the place." He stumbles over a rock that is in the path, but catches himself. "Greetings! The name's Belview Copperfoot, Reseacher, Master of the Arcane, Purveyor of Tomes, Collector of Knowledge, it is a pleasure to meet you all." He looks down at the book he currently is holding, and then slams it shut. "Very well then, are we awaiting other people? As you all should know, time is money friends."
Seeing that the other Caravan Leaders are busy, the older Dwarf turns his head from looking at the near-argument involving the half-elves, and looks to the new arrival. "Ah yes, good ta meet 'ya Belview. Th' name's Durgan Stonecreek, and it's a pleasure to be havin' ya guardin' our fine tradin' party." he begins in a rolling brogue, extending his hand to the gnome. "We're expectin' a few more hires, yes, but I cannae think that we'd be waitin' too much longer. It's quite right that time is money, and the sooner we head off, the sooner all of us can make some."
"And you as well, Durgan."Belview shakes the dwarfs hand firmly."Well looks like I can catch up on some reading while we wait for everyone."Belview walks over to a nearby tree, sits down, and pulls out a scroll and begins to read. As he reads he begins to mutter to himself and make notes.
Turning to Umbra, he slowly and simply states, "No, it is no court, but there's no shame in being polite, and one can get quite far in life even with simple kind words and courtesy. I feel that even just the effort to be courteous should be appreciated, don't you?"
Leaning forward into Halethars face, Umbra says: "Sure it can bring you somewhere. But only if the people think it's a sign of your status." She leans back again and lets out a laugh. "That's all everyone cares about: Status, power, money." She flashes her teeth in a grin. "And I'm here to make some of the latter. So why don't we stop wasting time on extended verbiage and get to it?"
With that she turns around on her heel and steps away, shaking her head. She then walks over to Belview and leans on the tree he sits under. "What are you reading there, Collector of Knowledge?"
"Ah, a respecter of knowledge,"Belview looks over at Umbra, "I am working on a new spell that will protect my allies or myself from damage."Belview gives a large grin, "Well hopefully that is." He continues to read his scroll and mutter to himself. "The name's Belview by the way, it's a pleasure to meet you."
(OOC: Still waiting on Zingbob's character, but if you guys want to go after he arrives and is ready, I'm up for that. There is one more person I invited from another PBP game, but he's pretty busy and may not join, so if you're raring to go, I can get started when we have 4 people. As a heads up, there are 2 NPC's who have adventurer levels in the Caravan. Merrok Stonecreek, who's a shield/protection Fighter, and Kaylessa Whiteleaf, who's a bow Ranger. They will be able to fight if needed in combats, but will generally stick to guarding their families and will most likely just take pot shots at whatever's near them and not really advance or engage. Also, they can't use heroic actions, so won't generally be as useful as a normal player character.)
(EDIT: Oh yes, and since I forgot to mention it, expected post frequency is once a day or so. If you can't always do that, it's okay. I may however have to move the story forward and just assume your character goes with the flow if you've been away for 2+ days or so, and getting a warning ahead of time for extended absences is always good. And if you want to quit for any reason, that's fine too. Also, the last potential player will probably be joining too, for a total of 5 players, with 1 more slot staying open in case Chubchilla wants to join or something)
Thurgar surveyed the scene as he approached. The caravan looked just about ready to depart with its dwarven crew, hill dwarves by the look of them, bustling about the last of the riggings. The elves, of course, doing whatever it is elves do when they're in charge of things. Thurgar never could figure them out.
The rest of the sellswords were easy to spot. The lady tough was already brow-beating the colorful book worm, and the overly genteel half-elf was already making himself a target. Well, this'll be fun, he thought as he strolled into the group. A mix of brains and muscle. He liked them already.
"Aye, pleasures all 'round 'n all that," he broke in, not much caring who was listening. He stopped, using the axes hanging at his sides as hand rests as he considered his new companions a bit more, knowing they, in turn, would consider him. He stood straight and tall, or as much as a dwarf could muster, anyway. An old habit from his military training. He clenched an old pipe between his teeth, left unlit on the off-chance that good hunting game was near, and perhaps out of fear of burning his beard again. Jobs had been scarce in town, lately, and no butchers were in need of meat, and with the downtime came a few lazy naps without dousing the leaf embers first. This escort mission should get him back in his old habits quickly.
"Aye, Thurgar Bakebean, at'cher service," he said turning to the Elven woman near the fire, "need an extra 'and gettin' things squared away?"
"Aye, pleasures all 'round 'n all that," he broke in, not much caring who was listening.
"Aye, Thurgar Bakebean, at'cher service," he said turning to the Elven woman near the fire, "need an extra 'and gettin' things squared away?"
Elessa is looking away distractedly, blushing after the intense moment her husband spent looking into her eyes when Thurgar surprises her by speaking.
"Oh... yes, welcome!" she says in a startled voice, turning her head quickly to the new arrival. "I-it's good ta be of acquaintance Mister Bakebean. It's kind of ye ta offer ta help, but we've got things mostly loaded, an' we should be about ready to leave by the time me cousin arrives." the woman replies, gradually getting her wits back about her while talking to Thurgar.
While the two are talking, the young female with the blonde hair, and the redheaded younger male dwarf wander over to Thurgar, seemingly done with packing for now. "Well now, look a' this, broother. Didn' expect one o' our kine this far outside a' Elmwood, ya live close t' these parts, Thoorgar?" the young woman speaks up in a musical voice. She seems still quite young-ish, more like an older teenager than an adult woman, and looks like she may even have a bit of growing left to do. As she crosses her arms and regards the new dwarf, her brother steps forward and offers his hand. "Hail t'ya master Bakebean, fancy seein' you here in this town o' mostly elves, humans, and their mixed sons an' daughters. My sister Oria ya'v just seen, an' my name is Merrok Stonecreek, formerly th' only guard this tradin' party needed, along with th' half-elf's cousin Kaylessa." he says by way of introduction, holding his long red beard close to his body with his left hand as he offers his right. "Not t' say that I don' appreciate you an' the other new guards comin' t' help, mind ya. Y'look a right sturdy lad, an' with th' attacks we been gettin' lately, we could use all th' help we can get."
(OOC: Update - Still waiting for Zingbob, but if he doesn't finish his character and post by tonight, I'll just move the campaign along, and give him an opportunity to join later by either retcon-ing what his character did after the fact, or just meeting up along the road or at the first stop near Elua's Lighthouse. That's if he's not too busy to join, which I'd totally understand.)
The teenage half-elf finally emerges from the back of the caravan wearing armor that is clearly at least two sizes too big for him, a worn and tarnished shield that bears the old and partially ruined insignia of Tyr comes out leaning on a staff to balance all of the weight he's carrying on his back. Which looks far too much for a weak and pale-faced teenager to be able to carry. Nevertheless, he does so. As he gets closer you notice two things that are very evident. The first thing is that he has two very shiny gauntlets, while the other is that he has a dimly pulsing amulet around his neck. They're not very obvious, but they are quite clear as he gets closer. He then looks around at the other people gathered nearby, and takes in all of them. Then his gaze focusses on the two leaders of the caravan and he speaks in a very timid voice, almost shying away from speech (choosing blue if that's ok): "Oh... Was everyone er- waiting on me? I f-forgot to change into umm... my armor today. I'm uh... like r-really sorry about that. I d-din't, uh, mean to be a hinderance. A-anyway... I uh... I-I'm Jim." He pauses for a moment and then his eyes expand realizing that he probably should continue. "It's Dirkell... Jim Dirkell. I am... uh... from R-Red Larch. It's down by the-the Dessarin Valley er- there's a long story with adventurers." he seems to put a bit of an edge on his normally soft voice as if there's something darker behind that. "B-but I ended up through a t-teleportion (done on purpose) circle. A-and then I ended up in Phlan... and then I ran away... and then I ended up in M-Mulmaster... and then I ran away... oh... I'm t-talking too much aren't I?" He thinks at that point he's been going off on a bit of a tangent about his and he also believes that everyone is staring at him (even if they're not) so he kinda shies away from the crowd, leaning once more on his walking stick. While looking around at the other members and thinking just how hopelessly outmatched he is by everyone else.
OOC: Sorry for the delay I've been at a convention and had absolutely zero time to post (hence why I haven't posted in the other campaign either).
At those words, Jim looks a bit hurt, but he tries to (unsuccessfully) regain his composure as he stutters out: "I-I can do a lot! Uh... I can... walk! Ummm... I can protect people, I-I guess." He trails off, unsure of what else to say.
Introduction:
It is night in the outskirts of Elventree. On the ground level of what some call “the town in the trees”, a small group of people hang about in the middle of a rough semi-circle made up of a large trading wagon and two smaller carts. A tall, blonde, human-looking man with refined features leans against the wagon, idly looking towards a sturdily built redheaded elven woman who sits on a log, warming her hands in front of a campfire. Nearby the two, a group of three dwarves quietly hustle about, loading and checking supplies into the carts. One is an older, grey-bearded gentleman in somewhat fine, but faded clothes, whereas the other two are a blonde, beardless girl and a red haired and bearded young man, both of whom bear a resemblance to the older dwarf.
“Ah, there ye are. I’m glad that ye finally made it.”
The “Elven” woman in the middle by the fire stands up as you approach, nodding in acknowledgement. “It’s good ta see that Lady Elanil was true to her word about making sure that this new trading party would be well protected.” she says, in a slightly sing-song way, as she looks left and right to take everyone in. “As ye probably know, me husband and I, along with good master Stonecreek over there, have been tradin’ goods back and forth recently between Elventree and ‘bad old’ Hillsfar for a few months now. Safely, I might add. But recently, there’ve been all sorts of sightins' of goblins an’ other ne’er do wells, and even attacks now, and in enough numbers to where even me good arrow-slinging cousin and master Stonecreek’s own stout son aren’t enough to guarantee us safety anymore. Which is why we need yer aid now as well.”
"Caravan Escort" is a short home-made adventure that takes place in the Forgotten Realms in the Moonsea area. As you can probably guess, it involves safely getting a group of merchants and their goods to Hillsfar and back, and making sure that they get as much profit as they can.
Characters will be new-ish, yet slightly experienced adventurers in the Moonsea area of Faerun. They are level 2 heroes who have probably made a bit of a name for themselves in the region, particularly as reliable, trustworthy individuals who fulfill their contracts. Characters should be reasonably well known around Elventree (at least to the people in charge of defending it) and vetted and confirmed as trustworthy by important players in the area. This includes people like the local Harpers, the leaders of the local militia (because technically every able bodied resident of Elventree is a de facto member of the militia, as the whole town bands together to drive off invaders), political leaders such as Lord Dessaer and in particular Elanil Elassidil, Moonsilver Herald in charge of the region.
Your character concept doesn't have to be that thorough or detailed though. Basically, you just need a reason to be in the village, a reason why people there trust you, and to know why you'd want to take the job. I'd be happy to help if you need any assistance with backstory, the lore of the region, etc. Details for actual character creation follow in the next post.
Sample art of a Wood Elf Village that Resembles Elventree (but not actually the village itself):
Mood music courtesy of the "Pillars of Eternity" soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYgWb2T1YsM
Character Creation:
(For reference, not necessary to read, but helpful short Forgotten Realms wiki article on Elventree: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Elventree)
Player characters should be non-evil level 2 Adventurers made with either Point Buy (27 points) or Standard Array. Hitpoints are fixed, not rolled. Basically max HP for first level, and usually 1/2 max + 1 + con bonus for every level after that. Multiclassing is allowed, with the usual limitations in the rules. Equipment should consist of starting equipment for Class / Background AND half the maximum starting gold for the first class your character trained in. So if you were a Fighter (Soldier) / Cleric for instance, you'd get all the starting equipment and gold from Fighter and Soldier, and 100 gold, which is half of the maximum 5d4x10 (200) starting gold a Fighter can get. So that would be all the Fighter's starting gear, and 110 (10 from Soldier background, 100 from 1/2 max starting) gold to spend as you see fit, or just keep.
If you don't like some starting equipment options, you can just swap whatever you don't want for its equivalent cost in gold, and spend or keep that gold instead. The extra gold characters start with represents the earnings / treasure found / etc. received by your them during the events that got them all the way up to 2nd level. You can buy whatever non-magical stuff you want (within reason) but some more out there stuff might not be suitable for this campaign.
I haven't really invested into 5e D&D that much, so I mostly have only the SRD and basic stuff, but if you want to use something from a sourcebook outside of that, if you can provide me enough information for me to implement it, I'll give it a look.
Special note for this region: While Elventree is mostly made up of Humans, Elves, and Half-Elves, it also (in my game at least) has a small population of Eilistraee-worshipping Surface Drow who mostly live in the caves surrounding the village, rather than inside of Elventree itself. Characters can be Drow, as long as they're statted out as either High Elves or Wood Elves. My rationale for this is that these Drow have been on the surface so long, they've adapted to it and have gained both benefits and hindrances from that. They've lost their light sensitivity, but also no longer have the innate Drow magical abilities either. Instead, they've either retained some element of Drow Magic (the High Elf's Cantrip) or Drow Speed (the Wood Elf's Movement Bonus).
If you're having trouble thinking of a character, or just don't even want to, I can give you a hand and either help you figure something out, or just hand you a pre-made character, who will most likely be one of the 3e "Iconics" (Tordek, Lidda, Mialee, Jozan, etc.) who you can play how you wish.
Final Note: Make whatever class / race you want. Don't worry about a balanced party or duplicates unless you really want to. If need be, I'll add an NPC that fills the class you're missing, and/or tweak scenarios and fudge rolls (if needed) so people don't get penalized for roleplaying.
Reserved for more administrative details, and/or TLDR
Small Regional Map of the Moonsea area for Reference:
Reserved for HomeBrew Rules and other miscellania:
Proposed Homebrew rule: to keep the PBP-style combat from bogging down, every character will get 1 "Heroic Action" per combat, and if things drag on long enough, 1 more for every 10 rounds. I.E. a second at round 11, a third at round 21, etc.
Basically, a character can use a "Heroic" action to speed up combat by doing using it to do one of a few things:
1. Automatically hit an enemy, whether with a weapon or spell (Just roll for damage / effect). UPDATE: AOE spells have a limit of 1 + character level divided by 2, rounded down. So 2nd level characters can guarantee a hit on a maximum of 2 enemies with one AOE spell using a heroic action.
2. Upgrade a hit to an automatic critical once you know it'll hit (I'll provide AC's and common Save Thresholds for most enemies in combats)
3. Automatically make a saving throw or dodge an attack (even after you know the result)
4. Instantly kill (or knock unconscious) an enemy that has a CR that's less than half the character's Level (a level 2 character can insta-kill an enemy with a CR below 1 for instance, such as CR 1/2, but not an enemy that's exactly CR 1). A caster can (for flavor reasons) use any spell they know to do this, but don't use up the spell slot. Ranged weapons can only be used to do this in "Normal" range, not "Long" range.
NOTE: Certain low-CR enemies that are "Elite" (will be marked with an (E) symbol in combat) will be immune to insta-kills, but these will usually be squad leaders and such, and will not be encountered in numbers. Enemies of ambiguous CR will also be marked as (E) to denote that they can't be insta-killed.
5. If approved (after consulting with DM), automatically succeed at a skill or ability check, or some other attempt to do a special action in combat. (Succeed at stealth without making a roll, jump and land on haft of the giant's spear and balance on it, bait an orc into charging and step away smoothly at the last minute so it falls off the cliff behind you, etc.)
NEW!
6. Take an extra action in a round, similar to a Fighter's Action surge. This can be anything you can do with a normal action, and is on top of bonus actions, reactions, draw/sheathe actions, etc. Maybe it's a frantic, but lucky fumble, or maybe time just seems to slow down for your character when they focus, or they're just so well trained they do certain things almost automatically, but whatever the reason, you can take TWO actions in a round. (THREE with Haste/etc.)
7. Recover one hit die's worth of HP, including constitution bonus, without using up any of the hit die normally used for short rests. If the character is at 0 HP or less, and this causes them to reach positive hit points (1 or more) they can get back up and continue fighting even if they were unconscious or dying before.
The reason for this is two-fold:
The first is that it's hard to write what your character's going to do in combat if you're unsure of the result, and if you know what's going to happen (because you can guarantee it) you can write an exciting scene about your character feinting high then sweeping a cut across the bandit's middle, or acrobatically backflipping away to narrowly avoid a downward swipe that crashes into the brick road below. Or even scornfully breaking through a goblin's weapon AND neck in one forceful swing.
It sucks to write a really impressive and exciting description of an attack attempt, only to roll a 3 and whiff and have all that excellent detail wasted. Now you can write that charging somersault half-twist jump kick following through into a staff-swing and NOT have it all miss this time.
The second is that allowing characters to just automatically succeed should speed up combat a lot. No more "swing and miss" for 3 rounds straight, or players not even being able to take an action at all because they keep failing their save vs. Fear, Paralysis, etc. Want to get out of that Ghast's annoying paralyzation RIGHT NOW and counterattack instead of spending the good part of 5 rounds standing around frozen like a punk? Well, just use your Heroic Action, and you can get back in the fight.
Basically, I want to use this rule to make fights faster and more fun. The characters are the heroes and should be able to feel heroic in my opinion. The heroes in novels, comics, and movies don't have to make a roll every time they want to do something impressive, and that's why they can do those exciting things that they do at the most cinematic and opportune times. With heroic actions, I want to try to let players be able to do that too.
Among the approaching people is a younger, human woman. She sports a black side cut with white tips. Her left hand rest on the hilt of a rapier while she looks at the nails of her right hand. “Everyone needs some help once in a while,” she says in a bored tone without even looking at the elven woman. "The name's Umbra. When do we depart?"
Picture:
A young half-elf with sandy brown hair and clear green eyes is also among those gathered. A wooden shield is slung across his back, and a quarterstaff in his hand as he stands before the group. He is dressed in traveling clothes of various hues. Greens, browns, and reds, the colors of Autumn. Around his neck a small totem hangs that appears to be the likeness of a unicorn, carved out of wood. He delivers a deep bow to the woman, and others, as he speaks.
"Greetings. The Forestarm of the Temple of Meilikki is honored to act as your protection and guide. I am Aldarin, son of Hurgal, and should we encounter any of this ilk you speak of, the full might of the forest will be brought to bear on them. Our Lady of the Forest will not suffer such evil to exist in or near her realm."
Umbra snorts and rolls her eyes. "This isn't a court, darling."
A young gnome with deep blue hair and violet eyes approaches the group. His hair is shoulder length but is a mess at the moment. He is walking to the group while flipping through a book of some sort. He is wearing a backpack and you can see scrolls attached to the side and sticking out of the top. A quarterstaff is also slung across his back. "Hmm this seems to be the place." He stumbles over a rock that is in the path, but catches himself. "Greetings! The name's Belview Copperfoot, Reseacher, Master of the Arcane, Purveyor of Tomes, Collector of Knowledge, it is a pleasure to meet you all." He looks down at the book he currently is holding, and then slams it shut. "Very well then, are we awaiting other people? As you all should know, time is money friends."
(OOC: Hadn't counted on people starting this soon, but since people are talking and roleplaying, may as well start with some banter and introductions / explanations now)
"Right, pleased ta meet you Umbra, me name's Elessa Dyranel, and this is me husband, Halethar whose surname I took when we married." the elven woman replies to Umbra after she introduces herself. Halethar nods wordlessly in acknowledgement when he's mentioned.
"Well now, as soon as everyone finishes gettin' here, we can get started after we quickly lay out the route and a few details." Elessa continues.
Elessa's eyes light up in delight as Aldarin introduces himself, and she brings a hand to her chest in surprise. "My my, what a well spoken young man. I never cease to be impressed by the fine young men and women that the Great Hall brings to our town. You remind me a little bit of me own son. He's half-folk himself, like you, me husband and I, and also dedicated himself to a god." she practically gushes delightedly, lifting her left hand to briefly push aside the hair covering her left ear to show that it is indeed, only partially pointed.
"Except that this boy worships a proper god... and is less of a ponce." Halethar quietly mumbles as an aside, in a somewhat sonorous baritone.
With that statement, Elessa's eyes begin to kindle with a frenetic fire, and her cheeks flush as she takes in a breath and seems about to yell, but Halethar suddenly steps in front of her and places a hand on her shoulder, and the woman quiets down as he spends a moment staring silently into her eyes. Turning to Umbra, he slowly and simply states, "No, it is no court, but there's no shame in being polite, and one can get quite far in life even with simple kind words and courtesy. I feel that even just the effort to be courteous should be appreciated, don't you?"
Seeing that the other Caravan Leaders are busy, the older Dwarf turns his head from looking at the near-argument involving the half-elves, and looks to the new arrival. "Ah yes, good ta meet 'ya Belview. Th' name's Durgan Stonecreek, and it's a pleasure to be havin' ya guardin' our fine tradin' party." he begins in a rolling brogue, extending his hand to the gnome. "We're expectin' a few more hires, yes, but I cannae think that we'd be waitin' too much longer. It's quite right that time is money, and the sooner we head off, the sooner all of us can make some."
"And you as well, Durgan." Belview shakes the dwarfs hand firmly. "Well looks like I can catch up on some reading while we wait for everyone." Belview walks over to a nearby tree, sits down, and pulls out a scroll and begins to read. As he reads he begins to mutter to himself and make notes.
Leaning forward into Halethars face, Umbra says: "Sure it can bring you somewhere. But only if the people think it's a sign of your status." She leans back again and lets out a laugh. "That's all everyone cares about: Status, power, money." She flashes her teeth in a grin. "And I'm here to make some of the latter. So why don't we stop wasting time on extended verbiage and get to it?"
With that she turns around on her heel and steps away, shaking her head. She then walks over to Belview and leans on the tree he sits under. "What are you reading there, Collector of Knowledge?"
"Ah, a respecter of knowledge," Belview looks over at Umbra, "I am working on a new spell that will protect my allies or myself from damage." Belview gives a large grin, "Well hopefully that is." He continues to read his scroll and mutter to himself. "The name's Belview by the way, it's a pleasure to meet you."
(OOC: Still waiting on Zingbob's character, but if you guys want to go after he arrives and is ready, I'm up for that. There is one more person I invited from another PBP game, but he's pretty busy and may not join, so if you're raring to go, I can get started when we have 4 people. As a heads up, there are 2 NPC's who have adventurer levels in the Caravan. Merrok Stonecreek, who's a shield/protection Fighter, and Kaylessa Whiteleaf, who's a bow Ranger. They will be able to fight if needed in combats, but will generally stick to guarding their families and will most likely just take pot shots at whatever's near them and not really advance or engage. Also, they can't use heroic actions, so won't generally be as useful as a normal player character.)
(EDIT: Oh yes, and since I forgot to mention it, expected post frequency is once a day or so. If you can't always do that, it's okay. I may however have to move the story forward and just assume your character goes with the flow if you've been away for 2+ days or so, and getting a warning ahead of time for extended absences is always good. And if you want to quit for any reason, that's fine too. Also, the last potential player will probably be joining too, for a total of 5 players, with 1 more slot staying open in case Chubchilla wants to join or something)
Thurgar surveyed the scene as he approached. The caravan looked just about ready to depart with its dwarven crew, hill dwarves by the look of them, bustling about the last of the riggings. The elves, of course, doing whatever it is elves do when they're in charge of things. Thurgar never could figure them out.
The rest of the sellswords were easy to spot. The lady tough was already brow-beating the colorful book worm, and the overly genteel half-elf was already making himself a target. Well, this'll be fun, he thought as he strolled into the group. A mix of brains and muscle. He liked them already.
"Aye, pleasures all 'round 'n all that," he broke in, not much caring who was listening. He stopped, using the axes hanging at his sides as hand rests as he considered his new companions a bit more, knowing they, in turn, would consider him. He stood straight and tall, or as much as a dwarf could muster, anyway. An old habit from his military training. He clenched an old pipe between his teeth, left unlit on the off-chance that good hunting game was near, and perhaps out of fear of burning his beard again. Jobs had been scarce in town, lately, and no butchers were in need of meat, and with the downtime came a few lazy naps without dousing the leaf embers first. This escort mission should get him back in his old habits quickly.
"Aye, Thurgar Bakebean, at'cher service," he said turning to the Elven woman near the fire, "need an extra 'and gettin' things squared away?"
Elessa is looking away distractedly, blushing after the intense moment her husband spent looking into her eyes when Thurgar surprises her by speaking.
"Oh... yes, welcome!" she says in a startled voice, turning her head quickly to the new arrival. "I-it's good ta be of acquaintance Mister Bakebean. It's kind of ye ta offer ta help, but we've got things mostly loaded, an' we should be about ready to leave by the time me cousin arrives." the woman replies, gradually getting her wits back about her while talking to Thurgar.
While the two are talking, the young female with the blonde hair, and the redheaded younger male dwarf wander over to Thurgar, seemingly done with packing for now. "Well now, look a' this, broother. Didn' expect one o' our kine this far outside a' Elmwood, ya live close t' these parts, Thoorgar?" the young woman speaks up in a musical voice. She seems still quite young-ish, more like an older teenager than an adult woman, and looks like she may even have a bit of growing left to do. As she crosses her arms and regards the new dwarf, her brother steps forward and offers his hand. "Hail t'ya master Bakebean, fancy seein' you here in this town o' mostly elves, humans, and their mixed sons an' daughters. My sister Oria ya'v just seen, an' my name is Merrok Stonecreek, formerly th' only guard this tradin' party needed, along with th' half-elf's cousin Kaylessa." he says by way of introduction, holding his long red beard close to his body with his left hand as he offers his right. "Not t' say that I don' appreciate you an' the other new guards comin' t' help, mind ya. Y'look a right sturdy lad, an' with th' attacks we been gettin' lately, we could use all th' help we can get."
(OOC: Update - Still waiting for Zingbob, but if he doesn't finish his character and post by tonight, I'll just move the campaign along, and give him an opportunity to join later by either retcon-ing what his character did after the fact, or just meeting up along the road or at the first stop near Elua's Lighthouse. That's if he's not too busy to join, which I'd totally understand.)
The teenage half-elf finally emerges from the back of the caravan wearing armor that is clearly at least two sizes too big for him, a worn and tarnished shield that bears the old and partially ruined insignia of Tyr comes out leaning on a staff to balance all of the weight he's carrying on his back. Which looks far too much for a weak and pale-faced teenager to be able to carry. Nevertheless, he does so. As he gets closer you notice two things that are very evident. The first thing is that he has two very shiny gauntlets, while the other is that he has a dimly pulsing amulet around his neck. They're not very obvious, but they are quite clear as he gets closer. He then looks around at the other people gathered nearby, and takes in all of them. Then his gaze focusses on the two leaders of the caravan and he speaks in a very timid voice, almost shying away from speech (choosing blue if that's ok): "Oh... Was everyone er- waiting on me? I f-forgot to change into umm... my armor today. I'm uh... like r-really sorry about that. I d-din't, uh, mean to be a hinderance. A-anyway... I uh... I-I'm Jim." He pauses for a moment and then his eyes expand realizing that he probably should continue. "It's Dirkell... Jim Dirkell. I am... uh... from R-Red Larch. It's down by the-the Dessarin Valley er- there's a long story with adventurers." he seems to put a bit of an edge on his normally soft voice as if there's something darker behind that. "B-but I ended up through a t-teleportion (done on purpose) circle. A-and then I ended up in Phlan... and then I ran away... and then I ended up in M-Mulmaster... and then I ran away... oh... I'm t-talking too much aren't I?" He thinks at that point he's been going off on a bit of a tangent about his and he also believes that everyone is staring at him (even if they're not) so he kinda shies away from the crowd, leaning once more on his walking stick. While looking around at the other members and thinking just how hopelessly outmatched he is by everyone else.
OOC: Sorry for the delay I've been at a convention and had absolutely zero time to post (hence why I haven't posted in the other campaign either).
DM of Tomb of Annihilation (and more) Group 2 and Group 3
Umbra's still leaning on the tree and rolls her eyes. "Well, Jim, what's your expertise? Besides running away, I mean," she says with a chuckle.
At those words, Jim looks a bit hurt, but he tries to (unsuccessfully) regain his composure as he stutters out: "I-I can do a lot! Uh... I can... walk! Ummm... I can protect people, I-I guess." He trails off, unsure of what else to say.
DM of Tomb of Annihilation (and more) Group 2 and Group 3