Let's start off with the tl;dr ~I'm updating an extreme level, 2nd edition forgotten realms character to 5th edition and I need to factor in alot of the history.
She was a character level 35, which doesn't exist anymore. She was a chosen, specialty priest of Lathander(dead?) and had alot of mage levels as well. Her key stats were above mortal levels and I'd like to have her in this new world, updated and balanced with the spellplague factored in.
If I'm understanding things right, Murdergod did his thing and my god is dead. Murdergod kept going, killed Mystra and started the spellplague which killed or crazied most mages. I loved the ever changing nature of magic and cast from both diving and arcane pools.
I've been trapped in an Astral prison during all this and now the magics binding me have been destroyed.
(You see from your cell window, every conduit in the entire astral plane light up with a blue fire that races along almost faster than you can perceive. The conduits surrounding the prison, the ones you've been using for communication, burst with blue flame and melt away any part of the prison they licked. You now see a way to escape)
My DM has agreed to me being freed in 5th ed. but there would have been so much changed. No Lathander, my magic items would be rendered mostly useless(I think), unsure if I'm crazy or even how to apply that. It seems I did survive the spellplague so I don't know how to account for that either.
She owns one homebrew artifact and as far as I can tell, artifacts weren't affected so I would need to update that and remove powers to balance it against current relatively similar artifacts. (A 2nd Ed artifact would dominate too much)
Classes and levels are where I'm really confused. I'm essentially trying to convert the Astrally imprisoned Avatar of a (dead?) god, back into a playable character for 5e post spellplague.
This will all just come down to what your DM tells you.
What level are the other characters in the campaign? You should start out playing at the same level as them.
Honestly, this character sounds like an NPC, not a PC. The character is already above the power level of a 20th level character, especially if they're packing an artifact. High level creates a different type of campaign, it doesn't necessarily mean that the game is any more fun.
I suspect you'd have more fun playing from level 1 with a new PC (so much of D&D is about level relevance, not level power) if this is a new campaign. Any chance that your old character could have had her powers or mind wiped and become an ordinary PC? Or maybe she can have lost all her powers in the spell plague, resetting her level.
It's the continuation of her story. She was initially removed to NPC status(imprisoned) because of her power levels. With no god and no arcane spells and most of her items destroyed (keep three items) he thinks it's alright to bring her back.
I can't figure out if she a fighter now, still a specialty priest for a dead god with no spells, how was the spell plague rolled for PCs? Is there a table for insanity for spell plague survivors?
I guess the "Reborn" template could provide a new start.
Have you considered going for Divine Soul Sorcerer? It'll give you access to cleric spells in addition to sorcerer and you can roleplay it as rediscovering a fragment of Lathanders divine spark still within you and concentrate on mostly cleric spells and find ones which match the old speciality priest spell list. Going by my old copy of faiths and avatars, Lathanders speciality priests had access to Light which is a cantrip so all ok there, Faerie Fire isn't on the sorcerer or cleric list so would need DM approval to poach it from the Bard/Druid list, The level 5 spell Dawn from Xanathars Guide to Everything is probably the closest to False Dawn, But the rest of the "special" spells do not exist so would need some DM homebrew to make them possible.
Going Sorcerer would mean you'd find yourself bereft of the armour and weapon allowances you had though so a little multiclass might be in order to keep those.
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It varies greatly. There's two others that run similar ultra level characters that survived, 2 or 3 around 22nd level and 3 level 7-8s (all 2nd editions). I'm not sure who's going to transfer to the new campaign.
I think I've figured it out and she will be playable, as a level 1 with a story that makes sense.
Lv 1 Reborn High Elf, gaping chest wound, cleric (whatever sun god there is now, +Madness(rolled on a madness chart and adapted to fit the character)
Will do anything that someone tells them to do for the first two minutes after dawn as long as it isn't self destructive. (Permanent quirk)
Has uncontrollable tics and tremors. Disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks and saving throws that are STR or DEX based.(First 100 hours of campaign)
I try to become more like someone else I know adopting his or her style of dress, mannerisms, and name (Lathander). (Permanent and possibly detrimental)
-----------------
The reborn template would give her flashes of her past life for story purposes, she's still a cleric and still thinks of herself as the embodiment of Lathander (no alignment change needed and will progress to believing she is Lathander) and subtracting the magic items due to statements made upon receiving them (walk with me until I die. ~Well, I died and the artifact was taken back)
I think I've figured it out and she will be playable, as a level 1 with a story that makes sense.
Lv 1 Reborn High Elf, gaping chest wound, cleric (whatever sun god there is now, +Madness(rolled on a madness chart and adapted to fit the character)
Will do anything that someone tells them to do for the first two minutes after dawn as long as it isn't self destructive. (Permanent quirk)
Has uncontrollable tics and tremors. Disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks and saving throws that are STR or DEX based.(First 100 hours of campaign)
I try to become more like someone else I know adopting his or her style of dress, mannerisms, and name (Lathander). (Permanent and possibly detrimental)
-----------------
The reborn template would give her flashes of her past life for story purposes, she's still a cleric and still thinks of herself as the embodiment of Lathander (no alignment change needed and will progress to believing she is Lathander) and subtracting the magic items due to statements made upon receiving them (walk with me until I die. ~Well, I died and the artifact was taken back)
Time to flesh out a 5th Ed character
I think you are making your char's life far more difficult than you have to. That is a lot of permanent problems with that char.
I agree. I would take out the tics and tremors and maybe the dawn thing. I do like the trying to be Lathlander thing. If other characters in your campaign have detriments like madness, ignore this. Or maybe ask your DM to give her a bonus as well. Maybe her connection with the past gives her visions or advantage on History/Arcana/Religion checks.
I'm not going to lie, this character sounds stressful to play as or alongside. Even if it's not intentional, it'll eat a lot of the spotlight that should go to the other characters and story. I'm not going to tell you not to play it, but I do think it would be a lot more fun (for you and your friends) to make a new character alongside everyone else!
And of course, if everyone else is also playing their old characters, totally ignore this!
It varies greatly. There's two others that run similar ultra level characters that survived, 2 or 3 around 22nd level and 3 level 7-8s (all 2nd editions). I'm not sure who's going to transfer to the new campaign.
The DM needs to start all the characters off at first level (or a level that they choose), so all of you will be playing the same level characters. The game doesn't work well if there are vast power disparities.
Has uncontrollable tics and tremors. Disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks and saving throws that are STR or DEX based.(First 100 hours of campaign)
For like... 20 sessions? Unless your campaign is a walkover, you should expect to die fairly soon off the bat.
I confess that I find your post confusing, and I don't think that you've explained how any of this works in a way that gives the people here are a chance to respond in the most helpful way because your game sounds so unusual and non-standard that it probably bears little relation to a game of 5th ed D&D. Were you playing 2nd edition recently? Or was this 20+ years ago? We would be expecting the following for a new campaign:
Your DM will determine your character level, not you
The party will be composed of characters of equal level at the beginning of the campaign
You do not need to have a bunch of self imposed disadvantages to gameplay. Doing so will just mean that the party must face weaker challenges than it should. This is likely to be frustrating for the DM and other players.
Characters with deity level knowledge are impossible to play effectively from the beginning of a campaign, and no DM I've ever known would allow it
Characters with such vast backstory know too much to be enjoyable party members. Mystery is interesting
Let's start off with the tl;dr ~I'm updating an extreme level, 2nd edition forgotten realms character to 5th edition and I need to factor in alot of the history.
She was a character level 35, which doesn't exist anymore. She was a chosen, specialty priest of Lathander(dead?) and had alot of mage levels as well. Her key stats were above mortal levels and I'd like to have her in this new world, updated and balanced with the spellplague factored in.
If I'm understanding things right, Murdergod did his thing and my god is dead. Murdergod kept going, killed Mystra and started the spellplague which killed or crazied most mages. I loved the ever changing nature of magic and cast from both diving and arcane pools.
I've been trapped in an Astral prison during all this and now the magics binding me have been destroyed.
(You see from your cell window, every conduit in the entire astral plane light up with a blue fire that races along almost faster than you can perceive. The conduits surrounding the prison, the ones you've been using for communication, burst with blue flame and melt away any part of the prison they licked. You now see a way to escape)
My DM has agreed to me being freed in 5th ed. but there would have been so much changed. No Lathander, my magic items would be rendered mostly useless(I think), unsure if I'm crazy or even how to apply that. It seems I did survive the spellplague so I don't know how to account for that either.
She owns one homebrew artifact and as far as I can tell, artifacts weren't affected so I would need to update that and remove powers to balance it against current relatively similar artifacts. (A 2nd Ed artifact would dominate too much)
Classes and levels are where I'm really confused. I'm essentially trying to convert the Astrally imprisoned Avatar of a (dead?) god, back into a playable character for 5e post spellplague.
Any tips or guidance y'all could offer?
Follow *your* DMs guidance on how to build your PC for 5e, much like you did when you built your PC in 2e. This didn't change with the edition.
You DM will have to discern how to implement all of your kit, including your artifact. If said DM were the one asking this question, I might suggest that they ditch all of the items and artifacts throughout the world and make you go find them. Gives a reason for the restart at 1st level and the reset to mundane weapons.
As far as class goes, I could see Paladin, Warlock, Monk and Sorcerer. Cleric not-so-much, as you've lost your deity and thus your power source. Gonna have to find a new one. Overarching concept might be that your PC is exceedingly frustrated much like a superhero that suddenly found their kryptonite and has become powerless. Ditch the ticks and quirks and play them as an alien mindset, unable to relate to the world around them or their sudden weakness.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Admittedly, the epics I've been involved with span further and deeper than most campaigns I can't remember the last time I got to play a session where everyone were close in level. Our DM based the encounters off the relative level of the players that could make it that week. If there was a demigod and a few 10s, a 13 and a 4 we could expect the demigod to be separated to do more RP play and the others went adventuring. The games always felt balanced and challenging even when the overall power levels of the game were elevated.
The 3 different madness traits I rolled were to try to rectify an (avatar-esque/hierophant/demigod/???) creature that outlived their (creator/provider of divine energy/god) and factor in the Spellplague. I haven't found any references that explain what happens to an avatar when the god dies so I'm having to adapt what I can find. It might be in Faiths & Avatars but I don't have access to that book right now.
(Insert blurb about mages dying, going crazy or surviving with no access to magic)
In the last battle the character participated in, if she was able to die, she would have been obliterated. What ended up happening was my heart exploding out of my chest and the rest of me being cast into an Astral prison through a fanged and chompy portal. My psyche was held trapped. I was stuck forever.
Time passes (15 years irl, ??? in game)
My DM learns about the spellplague and the year of Bluefire and my character is back in play if I can adapt it.
As you said, deity level characters with an insane history and magic available at a whim aren't a whole lot of fun to play. Everything is easier, the loot is whatever because at this point it never matters. So bringing back a god is pointless.
The Bluefire broke the magics holding me and I'm supposed to take it from there.
With that in mind, the Reborn template covers my damaged body and the history and feels like it was tailor made to bring this character back in a new life. At certain points in the story I might be able to remember a story creating factoid from my past, which as I understand it is now history from a hundred+ years ago.
Since I 'died', my artifact should be taken away. The request I made when it was gifted to me was "Walk with me until I die."
The madness really is where I'm having issues. She would have lived in physical stasis, in an Astral prison on the Astral Plane through the death of Lathander at the hands of Cyric and the death of Mystra and finally freed yet not unscathed by the spellplague.
So kill off the rest of my magic items, chalk it up to spellplague casualties. Right before being imprisoned, I was in a heavy fight and would have permanently blinded anyone looking at me with detect magic. Everything I had available would have been in use, actives or switched on. That being the case, I think the Spellplague would have killed them.
Prayers go unanswered or do they? No idea if Aumaunator grants Lathander clergy spells. I was also an arcane caster with some measure of skill and so fully vulnerable to the Bluefire burning the magics in me as well.
Since I survived and figured at the very least there had to be some of the most serious trauma available inflicted on the character. One of each of the madnesses (temp, long term, permanent).
The temp was the 2 minutes of the day, do what anyone tells you as long as it's not obviously self harming. Everything happens at dawn for Morninglords so I though it could be adapted to fit. (every morning when she first wakes up, she's having troubles functioning ~me before coffee)
The long term effect of the tics was rolled and for time, I rolled a 10 for d10 x 10 hours. Four in game days of recovery. It initially sounds horrible but when placed against a campaign that lasts years or decades, it's not alot of time.
The permanent madness I rolled could have been a character killer. When I rolled be like someone I know, the character has always been obsessed with Lathander and working that into the madness just seemed to fit really well.
As for our DM; the epics he ran were fun and entertaining and I would say we're spiked with too much magic but after playing various games over the years, it roughly balances out. Over the years he ran campaigns for 1-15 players with 100 different group combinations with classes from every sourcebook, all sourcebook races and even some monstrous races.
I really enjoyed playing with that group and I'm sorta getting back into my revamped and updated character but I need to adapt her as best as I can to make her make sense. She shouldn't be what she was and she can't be normal because she isn't. That leaves a reboot version.
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Hey there, first post so be gentle.
Let's start off with the tl;dr ~I'm updating an extreme level, 2nd edition forgotten realms character to 5th edition and I need to factor in alot of the history.
She was a character level 35, which doesn't exist anymore. She was a chosen, specialty priest of Lathander(dead?) and had alot of mage levels as well. Her key stats were above mortal levels and I'd like to have her in this new world, updated and balanced with the spellplague factored in.
If I'm understanding things right, Murdergod did his thing and my god is dead. Murdergod kept going, killed Mystra and started the spellplague which killed or crazied most mages. I loved the ever changing nature of magic and cast from both diving and arcane pools.
I've been trapped in an Astral prison during all this and now the magics binding me have been destroyed.
(You see from your cell window, every conduit in the entire astral plane light up with a blue fire that races along almost faster than you can perceive. The conduits surrounding the prison, the ones you've been using for communication, burst with blue flame and melt away any part of the prison they licked. You now see a way to escape)
My DM has agreed to me being freed in 5th ed. but there would have been so much changed. No Lathander, my magic items would be rendered mostly useless(I think), unsure if I'm crazy or even how to apply that. It seems I did survive the spellplague so I don't know how to account for that either.
She owns one homebrew artifact and as far as I can tell, artifacts weren't affected so I would need to update that and remove powers to balance it against current relatively similar artifacts. (A 2nd Ed artifact would dominate too much)
Classes and levels are where I'm really confused. I'm essentially trying to convert the Astrally imprisoned Avatar of a (dead?) god, back into a playable character for 5e post spellplague.
Any tips or guidance y'all could offer?
Short answer: ask your DM. Or just build as a new character with backstory.
This will all just come down to what your DM tells you.
What level are the other characters in the campaign? You should start out playing at the same level as them.
Honestly, this character sounds like an NPC, not a PC. The character is already above the power level of a 20th level character, especially if they're packing an artifact. High level creates a different type of campaign, it doesn't necessarily mean that the game is any more fun.
I suspect you'd have more fun playing from level 1 with a new PC (so much of D&D is about level relevance, not level power) if this is a new campaign. Any chance that your old character could have had her powers or mind wiped and become an ordinary PC? Or maybe she can have lost all her powers in the spell plague, resetting her level.
It's the continuation of her story. She was initially removed to NPC status(imprisoned) because of her power levels. With no god and no arcane spells and most of her items destroyed (keep three items) he thinks it's alright to bring her back.
I can't figure out if she a fighter now, still a specialty priest for a dead god with no spells, how was the spell plague rolled for PCs? Is there a table for insanity for spell plague survivors?
I guess the "Reborn" template could provide a new start.
Have you considered going for Divine Soul Sorcerer? It'll give you access to cleric spells in addition to sorcerer and you can roleplay it as rediscovering a fragment of Lathanders divine spark still within you and concentrate on mostly cleric spells and find ones which match the old speciality priest spell list. Going by my old copy of faiths and avatars, Lathanders speciality priests had access to Light which is a cantrip so all ok there, Faerie Fire isn't on the sorcerer or cleric list so would need DM approval to poach it from the Bard/Druid list, The level 5 spell Dawn from Xanathars Guide to Everything is probably the closest to False Dawn, But the rest of the "special" spells do not exist so would need some DM homebrew to make them possible.
Going Sorcerer would mean you'd find yourself bereft of the armour and weapon allowances you had though so a little multiclass might be in order to keep those.
It varies greatly. There's two others that run similar ultra level characters that survived, 2 or 3 around 22nd level and 3 level 7-8s (all 2nd editions). I'm not sure who's going to transfer to the new campaign.
I think I've figured it out and she will be playable, as a level 1 with a story that makes sense.
Lv 1 Reborn High Elf, gaping chest wound, cleric (whatever sun god there is now, +Madness(rolled on a madness chart and adapted to fit the character)
Will do anything that someone tells them to do for the first two minutes after dawn as long as it isn't self destructive. (Permanent quirk)
Has uncontrollable tics and tremors. Disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks and saving throws that are STR or DEX based.(First 100 hours of campaign)
I try to become more like someone else I know adopting his or her style of dress, mannerisms, and name (Lathander). (Permanent and possibly detrimental)
-----------------
The reborn template would give her flashes of her past life for story purposes, she's still a cleric and still thinks of herself as the embodiment of Lathander (no alignment change needed and will progress to believing she is Lathander) and subtracting the magic items due to statements made upon receiving them (walk with me until I die. ~Well, I died and the artifact was taken back)
Time to flesh out a 5th Ed character
I agree. I would take out the tics and tremors and maybe the dawn thing. I do like the trying to be Lathlander thing. If other characters in your campaign have detriments like madness, ignore this. Or maybe ask your DM to give her a bonus as well. Maybe her connection with the past gives her visions or advantage on History/Arcana/Religion checks.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
I'm not going to lie, this character sounds stressful to play as or alongside. Even if it's not intentional, it'll eat a lot of the spotlight that should go to the other characters and story. I'm not going to tell you not to play it, but I do think it would be a lot more fun (for you and your friends) to make a new character alongside everyone else!
And of course, if everyone else is also playing their old characters, totally ignore this!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
The DM needs to start all the characters off at first level (or a level that they choose), so all of you will be playing the same level characters. The game doesn't work well if there are vast power disparities.
For like... 20 sessions? Unless your campaign is a walkover, you should expect to die fairly soon off the bat.
I confess that I find your post confusing, and I don't think that you've explained how any of this works in a way that gives the people here are a chance to respond in the most helpful way because your game sounds so unusual and non-standard that it probably bears little relation to a game of 5th ed D&D. Were you playing 2nd edition recently? Or was this 20+ years ago? We would be expecting the following for a new campaign:
Follow *your* DMs guidance on how to build your PC for 5e, much like you did when you built your PC in 2e. This didn't change with the edition.
You DM will have to discern how to implement all of your kit, including your artifact. If said DM were the one asking this question, I might suggest that they ditch all of the items and artifacts throughout the world and make you go find them. Gives a reason for the restart at 1st level and the reset to mundane weapons.
As far as class goes, I could see Paladin, Warlock, Monk and Sorcerer. Cleric not-so-much, as you've lost your deity and thus your power source. Gonna have to find a new one. Overarching concept might be that your PC is exceedingly frustrated much like a superhero that suddenly found their kryptonite and has become powerless. Ditch the ticks and quirks and play them as an alien mindset, unable to relate to the world around them or their sudden weakness.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Admittedly, the epics I've been involved with span further and deeper than most campaigns I can't remember the last time I got to play a session where everyone were close in level. Our DM based the encounters off the relative level of the players that could make it that week. If there was a demigod and a few 10s, a 13 and a 4 we could expect the demigod to be separated to do more RP play and the others went adventuring. The games always felt balanced and challenging even when the overall power levels of the game were elevated.
The 3 different madness traits I rolled were to try to rectify an (avatar-esque/hierophant/demigod/???) creature that outlived their (creator/provider of divine energy/god) and factor in the Spellplague. I haven't found any references that explain what happens to an avatar when the god dies so I'm having to adapt what I can find. It might be in Faiths & Avatars but I don't have access to that book right now.
(Insert blurb about mages dying, going crazy or surviving with no access to magic)
In the last battle the character participated in, if she was able to die, she would have been obliterated. What ended up happening was my heart exploding out of my chest and the rest of me being cast into an Astral prison through a fanged and chompy portal. My psyche was held trapped. I was stuck forever.
Time passes (15 years irl, ??? in game)
My DM learns about the spellplague and the year of Bluefire and my character is back in play if I can adapt it.
As you said, deity level characters with an insane history and magic available at a whim aren't a whole lot of fun to play. Everything is easier, the loot is whatever because at this point it never matters. So bringing back a god is pointless.
The Bluefire broke the magics holding me and I'm supposed to take it from there.
With that in mind, the Reborn template covers my damaged body and the history and feels like it was tailor made to bring this character back in a new life. At certain points in the story I might be able to remember a story creating factoid from my past, which as I understand it is now history from a hundred+ years ago.
Since I 'died', my artifact should be taken away. The request I made when it was gifted to me was "Walk with me until I die."
The madness really is where I'm having issues. She would have lived in physical stasis, in an Astral prison on the Astral Plane through the death of Lathander at the hands of Cyric and the death of Mystra and finally freed yet not unscathed by the spellplague.
So kill off the rest of my magic items, chalk it up to spellplague casualties. Right before being imprisoned, I was in a heavy fight and would have permanently blinded anyone looking at me with detect magic. Everything I had available would have been in use, actives or switched on. That being the case, I think the Spellplague would have killed them.
Prayers go unanswered or do they? No idea if Aumaunator grants Lathander clergy spells. I was also an arcane caster with some measure of skill and so fully vulnerable to the Bluefire burning the magics in me as well.
Since I survived and figured at the very least there had to be some of the most serious trauma available inflicted on the character. One of each of the madnesses (temp, long term, permanent).
The temp was the 2 minutes of the day, do what anyone tells you as long as it's not obviously self harming. Everything happens at dawn for Morninglords so I though it could be adapted to fit. (every morning when she first wakes up, she's having troubles functioning ~me before coffee)
The long term effect of the tics was rolled and for time, I rolled a 10 for d10 x 10 hours. Four in game days of recovery. It initially sounds horrible but when placed against a campaign that lasts years or decades, it's not alot of time.
The permanent madness I rolled could have been a character killer. When I rolled be like someone I know, the character has always been obsessed with Lathander and working that into the madness just seemed to fit really well.
As for our DM; the epics he ran were fun and entertaining and I would say we're spiked with too much magic but after playing various games over the years, it roughly balances out. Over the years he ran campaigns for 1-15 players with 100 different group combinations with classes from every sourcebook, all sourcebook races and even some monstrous races.
I really enjoyed playing with that group and I'm sorta getting back into my revamped and updated character but I need to adapt her as best as I can to make her make sense. She shouldn't be what she was and she can't be normal because she isn't. That leaves a reboot version.