Being a non-drow elf, Eilla would probably be somewhat uneasy around Sinak at first, just due to the shared history of their people. But I suspect she would learn better soon.
As we both mentioned, Osborne might owe Eilla money, or given that he's probably the better gambler, Eilla might owe Osborne money instead.
Cat an Ballen are both from humble origins in Waterdeep like Eilla, so they may have run into each other in the less-wealthy regions of Waterdeep, like the Trades Ward or Dock Ward. Maybe Cat's family makes the boots Eilla wears?
Eilla would probably find Pollyanna's pet repulsive, but tolerable; even with a ship's cat you can't get rid of all the rats from a ship's tack room, you get used to it. She would likely recommend Pollyanna clean up a bit. "A bath of seawater is always free," she might say.
Thanks a lot @Twombley. I think that Sinak is absolutely brilliant. I love the engagement with the other characters.
OK my top list is now:
Fighter: Eilla Stormpiercer
Sorcerer:Osborne Goodluck
Artificer: Catriona "Cat" Puddletwist
Bard: Ballen
Cleric Sinak
Hopefully everyone on the list is happy to play. Therefore we potentially have 1 space left.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask anyone who wants to iterate their character, those on the list and those who would like to join. I would also ask the people on the list if they have a preference, in terms of characteristics, for the last party member. Do you think you need a rogue, are you too squishy as a party or something else? If you have subclasses or want to multi-class then please share any ideas. If it makes it easier you can meta-role play and pretend we are all sitting around a table with drinks and pizza trying to determine the make-up of the party.
Thanks to everyone for your contributions to date. It feels like we are playing already :-)
As far as multi-classing goes, I was sort of thinking of going rogue after first level for Eilla, aiming for swashbuckler. But we are on the squishy side and a pure fighter wouldn't be outside of my vision for her either. Could also see her as a paladin that doesn't know she is one yet, learning she can lay on hands when things start going bad. (In this case she might have been chosen, without being asked, by Umberlee to fulfill some purpose. Could even dip fathomless warlock possibly.)
Munching on pizza, eating a couple slices and the crusts, sipping on a nice craft beer.
Agree with you Joan, we are a little squishy. Sinak has proficiency with thieves tools (though don’t know if he has any), due to his background and style, was thinking of a level dip into rogue at some point, if the story led that way.
I do feel that we need a couple of front liners, Eilla would certainly be one, but I think we need another. Either a tough ranger, monk, or fighter would be a good idea. But open to whatever the party wishes, and can modify Sinak to whatever role he is needed for. He is more of a Dex build cleric currently instead of a tank.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Pretty Paula is as mysterious at ever, grinning through the gap in her teeth and seemingly unaware of (or unconcerned with) how poorly the rags she always wears cover her filthy body as Lyra Ravenscale stands trying to make sense of the one-armed beggar's words.
Beauty is in the beholder's eye, and Lyra has to admit that Paula might be as pretty on the inside as perhaps she once was to look at. The strange woman always speaks in riddles and knows things somehow. Who and what to watch for. How to help.
Lyra's jaws ache with the effort of keeping the amiable smile fixed on her face as she listens, the black harmonica hanging at her throat drinking the midday sun as does the dark warhammer hanging on her hip, seemingly too heavy for her. She adds two coppers to Pretty Paula's jar.
"Watch for a pair of elves from the deeps, aye," Paula pokes Lyra hard with a bony finger through her scale mail. "One from waves of the deep sea and one from the deeps below the earth. The warrior with salt in her hair and the priest with the raven in his soul." the old woman looks up at Lyra knowingly. "Same raven that you have in yours, Lyra."
(OOC: Lyra doesn't yet know she is referring to Eilla and Sinak respectively).
"A few more specifics, perhaps? And what am I watching them for? And what do you know about a raven in my soul?" Lyra's smile becomes a touch more toothy but Paula only smiles solemnly, her eyes bright and calm like a well-fed bird of prey.
"They show promise, as do you. We are the hand that stops the tyrant, feeds the oppressed, and asks for nothing in return."
"Nothing in return," mumbles Lyra, trying not to sound glum about it. "Now that you mention it, one of my neighbors in the dock ward is an elven fighter. Marine I think? I haven't seen her for a bit but it could be she's just returned. And what about the gambler? Goes by Goodluck, though it could just be a nickname. You asked me to watch him at the Yawning Portal and I did. From what I've seen, my sense is he just likes to gamble and perhaps uses magic to... turn his luck. Haven't seen him act as an asset for anyone - only dice with them. An adventurer, could be. Another promising one, then?" Lyra can't help glancing nervously around the deserted alley for eavesdroppers, but her beggar contact appears unconcerned.
"Aye. Promise. All of you show it and others as well, but whose heart is willing? Return to the Yawning Portal. They may all be there already. I'm sure you'll have no trouble losing a coin or two to Goodluck. Befriend the two elves if you can. A tiefling urchin too - cutpurse most likely, but I've always had a soft spot by those struggling under the boot of some overweening noble. We are the song for those who have no voice."
"Yes, so I hear. Song and voice I have aplenty, as it happens." Lyra touches the dark harmonica at her throat. "I'll talk to your whole gaggle of promising people." Lyra turns to go. I had better if I want my sponsors to keep paying for my lodgings in this city, modest though they are.
She can hear the one-armed woman cackling softly, yet with a certain motherly gentleness. Lyra turns the corner out of the alley, sauntering towards the Yawning Portal. She plays a quick lively riff on her harmonica and smiles. I've never had trouble talking with anyone. How hard could this be?
Character Race and Class (with potential Subclass, if you are already thinking that far ahead)
Variant Aasimar Wizard
Am willing to add a subclass to help cover and missing spots:
Character Background
Haunted one
Character Portrait
Character Personality
He has several different levels. On the top, he manages to mask what he’s gone through by portraying as the classic Aasimar in his steadfast belief in goodness. He often will pretend to be naïve as he as learned that people will pay him no regard if he plays dumb. Underneath that though, he is a gentle and caring towards his friends and will often be the natural healer for anyone who needs it. Dive a little deeper, and one will see the dangerous side of him in the terrifying anger he can get if one of the people he cares about is hurt and at the core, he is a boy who mourns his parents and bashes himself for their death.
Character Backstory (Including how your character came to be in the Yawning Portal Inn)
Fireworks was never truly cared about by his parents. They weren’t abusive or dismissive of him, they simply didn’t have the time. It was like those little stuffed animals we forget about when we grow older. Absorbed in their goal of restoring good to the world, they left their own familial duties behind. He wasn’t angry about it either; he assumed that it was normal for people like him. It wasn’t until he was around seven or eight that he realized something was wrong. He’d met with a street urchin who immediately befriended him and cared about him in a way that siblings would have. With someone who finally cared about him, he started to realize that even with their goals, his parents should have cared about him, should have treated him like a child. Disillusioned by the life he had been living, he grew resentful of his parents. His own family had left him, who was to say other people wouldn’t. The everlasting hope of goodness still remained but he no longer believed in his family. Eventually, he decided to run away from his parents with his friend. Ironically, this was the only time his family cared for him. Ironically, this was the only time his parents cared about him as they dashed through the streets looking for him in the dead of night. They found him- held at knifepoint by an unknown figure. In their fear for their child, they failed to noticed the entire swarm of people who shot them dead and then left Fireworks to mourn. His friend helped him up and they stumbled back to his house. He ended up leaving their home anyway. After selling the house and everything in it, he headed anywhere away from that place. After hearing about the massive conflict in the city, he started his journey there, hoping that if he could stop the conflict, he would atone for what he did to his family.
Cat has thieves' tools and proficiency with them, so she could fill the spot of a rogue in that regard. As far as sneakiness and extra damage goes though, she hasn't got much, so having someone dip into rogue or be a rogue may be helpful. Alternatively I could re-spec Cat into a battle smith rather than artillerist to make her a little tankier and give her a fun little construct companion, but that wouldn't be until 3rd level. I am also considering a dip into wizard, probably evoker or war magic if I go up to 2nd level in Wiz. But we shall see. This game only goes up to 5th level after all.
It makes sense Cat's family would supply Eilla with boots. She may even get a discount for being a loyal customer - at the very least she gets a punch card. Your tenth pair of shoes is free! If Ballen is from a humble section of the city, Cat would likely know them too - especially if they bought Puddletwist shoes/boots! There's a punch card in it for you if you do! :)
If Sinak is someone who is willing to talk with Cat about her latest ideas and inventions, she will talk his ear off. He learns all about her prospective wand and arcane turret designs, as well as potential arcane clockwork constructs that operate with similar principles as the little clockwork toys that she's become an expert at creating. It's a little difficult to keep up with her - she talks fast and enthusiastically while throwing around a lot of proper nouns. Cat thinks Sinak is really nice.
Ballen had started taking to picking her audience more often than performing in random, open spaces, preferring to utilize her small talents in more focused ways. When she spotted Eilla returning from the seas, she decided to follow her in hopes of...well honestly she wasn't sure but an early childhood friend was better than none and perhaps if she had made something of herself, Ballen could too. And so she found herself at the Yawning Portal for a while, giving performances to small crowded tables and individuals and helping with some cleaning duties on behalf of Durnan after he caught her with her hand in the till but took pity on her, for which she was extremely grateful. Though she hasn't been at the inn for too terribly long, she has noted a few other regulars and although too shy to talk to them directly much, she appreciates their presence, especially the gambling loving halfling. She may or may not have given him a nudge in the right direction once or twice.
Being approached so directly by Sinak, Ballen is almost immediately put on her back foot. The last time a male had approached her so directly was...extremely awkward and uncomfortable (made worse by the fact that she is technically a teen not an adult). Although Sinak seemed to mean well, she found her words faltering a bit, also not knowing if this was an agent of the noble she had taken from some years ago. Her dirty black and red hair half stuck in a knot in the back swayed slightly with her small horned head. "I...umm...Ballen..." was all she managed before ducking off behind the counters.
Ugh, already had too much pizza last night! But Mountain Dew is always good. ^-^ So I originally mentioned going college of whispers, possibly being able to also semi work the rogue position, but since bard is so flexible I am open to filling other roles. I think it is very possible Ballen has run across just about everyone except Sinak until he arrives at the tavern. Not necessarily in the best way but she doesn't mean any real harm to anyone. If we have a healer, a tankier person already, she can either stay on the buff/debuff side of things or lend herself to more offense/defense spells, more damage output perhaps.
Described in the form of her faction contact (the beggar, Pretty Paula) asking her to keep tabs on several of the other PCs and the ensuing back and forth.
Hopefully everyone on the list is happy to play. Therefore we potentially have 1 space left.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask anyone who wants to iterate their character, those on the list and those who would like to join. I would also ask the people on the list if they have a preference, in terms of characteristics, for the last party member. Do you think you need a rogue, are you too squishy as a party or something else? If you have subclasses or want to multi-class then please share any ideas. If it makes it easier you can meta-role play and pretend we are all sitting around a table with drinks and pizza trying to determine the make-up of the party.
Thanks to everyone for your contributions to date. It feels like we are playing already :-)
I was watching this thread while I figured out whether one of my other PbP groups had fizzled out. Mechanically, the party build is a bit odd at 1st level. Maybe that's just because of the multi-classsing that the players are planning?
Other than the chainmail, Ellia would make a lot of sense as a Swashbuckler Rogue.
If your bard wants to focus on proficiency in DEX skills, it would be better to swap the character's DEX and INT scores.
Skills
Two characters with Arcana proficiency, but no one with History, Nature, or Religion.
Two characters with Perception proficiency, but one of them only has an 11 WIS.
Two characters with Sleigh of Hand proficiency, but neither one is your party's highest-DEX character.
Two characters with Stealth proficiency, but again, neither one is your party's highest-DEX character.
The only character with Investigation proficiency has the party's second lowest INT score.
Four of the characters have proficiency in Insight.
Face skills
3x proficiency with deception, but one of those characters only has an 11 CHA
1x proficiency with intimidation, but Ellia only has a 10 CHA (maybe you'll let her use her STR bonus for intimidation?)
2x proficiency with persuasion, but one of those characters only has a 12 CHA
1x proficiency with performance
You've got plenty of characters with high INT bonuses, but there's very little coverage of the INT skills.
The group's two lowest ability scores (based on average and median) are STR and WIS. Some good options to balance the party:
Focus on STR + melee. Add a barbarian "tank" for your melee front line.
Focus on WIS + melee. Add a monk. Probably will have a low strength and not as tanky, but still melee-focused.
Focus on WIS + melee + stealth. Add a ranger. Also not as strong or tanky, but with the right character, you can get a hybrid stealth + melee character with a high WIS.
Cool, thanks for the feedback Ben_Evolent. Yes I ended up making Eilla a Fighter at level 1 because of the chain armor in the image I got the idea for her from, and stuck with it because the party overall is a bit squishy. But she could definitely be built as a Swashbuckler Rogue, actually the plan for level 5 was Fighter 2 / Swashbuckler Rogue 3, although I hadn't decided in what order she would take them. A benefit of starting Fighter first is she gets 2 more HP that way, since first level is max HP while the later ones are rolled with a minimum. Also the chain mail comes free, whereas if she took Fighter later she'd have to buy it. On the skills front, I chose Intimidation rather than History (which was originally one of her skills) kind of without thinking too much about it, but it makes sense a sailor would have heard a lot of stories so I'll probably go back to History.
Character Background: Far Traveler or Faction Agent
Note that I currently do not have SCAG, but once I switch his background, he'll lose proficiency in Religion but gain proficiency in Insight.
I think that either of these backgrounds work with the backstory.
Character Portrait: No portrait, yet. Here's a description.
Ixsas is a little over 6' tall. He's athletic, but you'd describe him as wiry, not strong. He wears a hood and a scarf across his face, similar this image (ignore the glowing blue hands). His brothers at the monastery were used to his appearance, but he was told that it would be startling to others. Ixsas has a reddish, copper-colored skin, but parts of his skin are dark, dusky black, like that of a runner snake. He grows no hair on his face or head. His head and most of his face (except for the skin around his eyes and mouth) are covered in scaly skin. See, for example, this image. His face has a similar level of scale as that image, but the scales on his forehead and over the top of his head are more prominent, more like these scales. The scales are black, different from the skin color on the rest of his body. Ixsas's teeth are also slightly pointed, giving his smile a rather jagged look. They also give him a bit of a lisp. When he says his name, it sounds like, "Iksthas." When a sentence ends on an 'S', he tends to draw it out into a hiss. Ixsas has light hazel eyes with regular pupils, but they look startling in his dark face. His eyes reflect light and look green in dim lighting.
Ixsas wears sturdy clothes but in an unusual style and cut. He is clearly not from Waterdeep.
After years of training, Ixsas is finally out in the world. While he did not like the monastery and is glad to be free, he feels lost without the structure it provided.
Living his whole life in the monastery, and focusing on martial training, Ixsas us unfamiliar with the way that most other people live. He learned about it, but he has no personal experience with how regular folk earn wages or how a normal family works. He is perceptive but simply quite ignorant about history, current events, or even how regular commercial transactions work in Faerûn.
Ixsas is disciplined and ready to use what he has learned. He is confident and self-reliant, and his personality can be very direct and forceful. In the monastery, the job was always to determine the goal of some exercise and then to excel at that goal. When given that kind of structure, he functions well. He currently has no goals of his own.
Character Backstory (Including how your character came to be in the Yawning Portal Inn):
Ixsas does not remember how he came to be at the monastery where he was trained. His first memories were of chores and physical training (and what many would consider abuse). He did not like it there, but it was remote, and everyone nearby recognized the uniforms that the children from the monastery. When he ran away, the locals would return him to the monastery. Ixsas eventually resigned himself to the training and eventually learned to excel.
Ixsas later came to understand that his monastery was not a religious order for those seeking enlightenment. It was a training facility for bodyguards and assassins. That seemed wrong to him, but the only way out was by completing his training. Yuan-Ti monks were valuable commodities because of their inherent resistance to spells and poison. When he reached adulthood and had completed his initial training, Ixsas was sold into a sort of indentured servitude. He has only recently arrived in Waterdeep.
Option 1: Ixsas does not know his new employer. He was sent from a monastery far to the south (on or near Chult) and recently arrived on a ship in Waterdeep. His instructions were to find the Yawning Portal Inn and to locate an elf name, Sinak. He was to aid the elf in his upcoming mission.
Option 2: Ixsas was sold into the employment of some important family or faction in the city (need DM's help to figure out what's appropriate). He is a low-level agent just carrying out his first solo job. He was sent to collect on a debt from Osborne (or maybe Ballen?), but I wouldn't want the relationship to be too antagonistic. Being rather naive, perhaps Ixsas is tricked into joining the party on their upcoming adventure. "Yes, we're going to get you the money: I don't have that kind of coin on me! But, listen, Ixsas, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with your employer. You can't just let me wander off to get the money. I know! Why don't you come with me while I get the money? That way, you can be sure that I don't try to run off, and once we get the money, you can take it right back to your employer." After seeing the Monk in action, perhaps Osborne thinks that he can get a free bodyguard for his upcoming adventure, and when the adventure is done, he'll be able to settle one of his debts in the end. Win-win!
Additionally if Ellia's ship took passengers, maybe he was a passenger on her ship. Or, if not, perhaps she saw him at the docks and helped him find the Yawning Portal Inn. "Excuse me. I need to find the...," glancing at a piece of paper, "...Yawning Portal Inn. I think that it's a building of some kind."He looks hopelessly away from the port at the streets leading away from the docks, each one lined with buildings as far as the eye can see.
Thanks Ben, some good points. Have some imaginary pizza. A good character, the squishy factor is important. I will send you some details of the factions later today. Great the see people iterating their characters
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gan-Re: Aarakocra Barbarian - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight | DM - Keys of Empire
That’s a pretty impressive analysis, but is this going to be the type of game where we need an optimized character build in order to succeed? I usually just make my characters based on what I think would be fun to play, not necessarily what’s going to be the most effective in gameplay terms. Cat’s no exception to this. If she needs to be made more effective or changed altogether, then I’d like to know so I can come up with that.
That’s a pretty impressive analysis, but is this going to be the type of game where we need an optimized character build in order to succeed? I usually just make my characters based on what I think would be fun to play, not necessarily what’s going to be the most effective in gameplay terms. Cat’s no exception to this. If she needs to be made more effective or changed altogether, then I’d like to know so I can come up with that.
No idea about this campaign. Definitely agree with you in terms of "what would be fun to play."
On the other hand, the hope is that a party has some balance. Each character brings particular strengths that balances out the group. You don't have to do it that way, of course, but that's the goal. Since KudosWyvernspur already hinted at the party composition, I was looking at the existing party composition to see how I could build a character who could fill some gaps, and I found it a little difficult.
IMHO, Cat is great. But, yeah, looking at the party now, I'd probably tweak the backstory a little. She could still have the same goals, but maybe switch her background to Sage. Cat wanted to strike out in a different direction from her parents, so she started hanging out near some great library or academy just to hear the scholars talking about science and magic. Maybe she charmed one of the scholars with her enthusiasm. ("Aren't you a bright spark? I came from modest means, too. The trick is that one someone gives you a chance, make the most of it! How would you like access to the library?") Maybe a lecturer was impressed at her intelligence ("To solve that puzzle at such a young age...what a prodigy!") Maybe she was already starting to tinker with things and made something / fixed something for one of the librarians. ("That's been plaguing me for weeks! It would be a great help to have such a bright kid around.") In any case, she wasn't an official student or an official apprentice, but she spent years there, learning whatever she could and blending those ideas with her own practical know-how. Going from Guild Artisan to Sage lets her switch her Insight and Persuasion for Arcana and History. Since you already picked Arcana, you can pick another skill from the Artificer list (maybe Investigation?). You could play her the same way, but that way she would bring a +5 bonus to History and one other INT-based skill. You also have the researcher feature from the Sage background, which could be useful if the party needs to dig up some obscure information. She'll generally want to leave the Persuasion and Insight to other party members, but the party already has plenty of others who can cover those skills.
This idea of tweaking to this degree is strange to me. When I’m creating a character, I have an image in mind - what they look like, how they would act, what their motivations would be. As I’m making choices going through, I try to match up with what I imagine the character would do, even if that leads to “wrong” choices, or something that might not make sense from a “best possible roll” standpoint. Some of my most fun characters have been weak in many areas, and not a “good” character from a standpoint of maximized stats / roll potential. I think we could use some strength on the front line as I mentioned earlier, but IMHO I don’t know that I want to endlessly tweak my character trying to search out the best rolls. I think for the last character a tough ranger, fighter, monk or barbarian would fill the role. Excited to begin the adventure!
This idea of tweaking to this degree is strange to me.
I wouldn't worry too much about min-maxing a particular character, but it's not a bad idea to tweak skills or spell selections once the party starts to form. Like I said, I did the analysis when thinking about possible character applications, so I thought that I'd share. Feel free to ignore it. :-)
Sorry to bother but can anyone clue me in how to stop receiving notifications for this thread? All the advice I'm getting is specific to computer users and I'm exclusively mobile.
FYI - I also have a goliath barbarian that I need to get into D&D Beyond. So if the party wants more of a tank, then I'd be happy to switch out Ixsas for my barbarian. I was thinking of the character as more of a huge, happy companion with an attitude more like Fezzik from The Princess Bride. "I can't help that I'm the biggest and the strongest."
16 / 14 / 16 / 8 / 10 / 10
Still working on the background with KudosWyvernspur.
Possible connections to the party:
Option 1: He was sweet-talked by Osborne and considers him his best friend. Osborne, of course, gets into enough trouble that he likes having the big guy around.
Option 2: He has been sailing with Ellia in a kind of Inigo & Fezzik duo.
Option 3: He decided to protect either Cat or Ballen after he helped scare off some thugs who were giving her some trouble or after she helped him in some way.
Basically, he would join the party as a sort of sidekick to one of the other characters. "Wherever (s)he goes, I go." He knows his role, and he is happiest when someone else is calling the shots.
Being a non-drow elf, Eilla would probably be somewhat uneasy around Sinak at first, just due to the shared history of their people. But I suspect she would learn better soon.
As we both mentioned, Osborne might owe Eilla money, or given that he's probably the better gambler, Eilla might owe Osborne money instead.
Cat an Ballen are both from humble origins in Waterdeep like Eilla, so they may have run into each other in the less-wealthy regions of Waterdeep, like the Trades Ward or Dock Ward. Maybe Cat's family makes the boots Eilla wears?
Eilla would probably find Pollyanna's pet repulsive, but tolerable; even with a ship's cat you can't get rid of all the rats from a ship's tack room, you get used to it. She would likely recommend Pollyanna clean up a bit. "A bath of seawater is always free," she might say.
Thanks a lot @Twombley. I think that Sinak is absolutely brilliant. I love the engagement with the other characters.
OK my top list is now:
Fighter: Eilla Stormpiercer
Sorcerer:Osborne Goodluck
Artificer: Catriona "Cat" Puddletwist
Bard: Ballen
Cleric Sinak
Hopefully everyone on the list is happy to play. Therefore we potentially have 1 space left.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask anyone who wants to iterate their character, those on the list and those who would like to join. I would also ask the people on the list if they have a preference, in terms of characteristics, for the last party member. Do you think you need a rogue, are you too squishy as a party or something else? If you have subclasses or want to multi-class then please share any ideas. If it makes it easier you can meta-role play and pretend we are all sitting around a table with drinks and pizza trying to determine the make-up of the party.
Thanks to everyone for your contributions to date. It feels like we are playing already :-)
Gan-Re: Aarakocra Barbarian - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight | DM - Keys of Empire
As far as multi-classing goes, I was sort of thinking of going rogue after first level for Eilla, aiming for swashbuckler. But we are on the squishy side and a pure fighter wouldn't be outside of my vision for her either. Could also see her as a paladin that doesn't know she is one yet, learning she can lay on hands when things start going bad. (In this case she might have been chosen, without being asked, by Umberlee to fulfill some purpose. Could even dip fathomless warlock possibly.)
Thanks for offering to buy the pizza Kudos. ; )
Munching on pizza, eating a couple slices and the crusts, sipping on a nice craft beer.
Agree with you Joan, we are a little squishy. Sinak has proficiency with thieves tools (though don’t know if he has any), due to his background and style, was thinking of a level dip into rogue at some point, if the story led that way.
I do feel that we need a couple of front liners, Eilla would certainly be one, but I think we need another. Either a tough ranger, monk, or fighter would be a good idea. But open to whatever the party wishes, and can modify Sinak to whatever role he is needed for. He is more of a Dex build cleric currently instead of a tank.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
"Oi, Ellia! I'm on the cores of winnin' a big one verry soon! I might be able to pay off the debt I owe ye."
He looks to Cat "Oi, I recognize ye. Shoe shop, yeah? How would ye like to sit down at this here table and put down some bets?"
He sees Ballen and asks him the same question as Cat.
He responds to Sinak, he says, "I just be a verry lucky guy, is all."
Pretty Paula is as mysterious at ever, grinning through the gap in her teeth and seemingly unaware of (or unconcerned with) how poorly the rags she always wears cover her filthy body as Lyra Ravenscale stands trying to make sense of the one-armed beggar's words.
Beauty is in the beholder's eye, and Lyra has to admit that Paula might be as pretty on the inside as perhaps she once was to look at. The strange woman always speaks in riddles and knows things somehow. Who and what to watch for. How to help.
Lyra's jaws ache with the effort of keeping the amiable smile fixed on her face as she listens, the black harmonica hanging at her throat drinking the midday sun as does the dark warhammer hanging on her hip, seemingly too heavy for her. She adds two coppers to Pretty Paula's jar.
"Watch for a pair of elves from the deeps, aye," Paula pokes Lyra hard with a bony finger through her scale mail. "One from waves of the deep sea and one from the deeps below the earth. The warrior with salt in her hair and the priest with the raven in his soul." the old woman looks up at Lyra knowingly. "Same raven that you have in yours, Lyra."
(OOC: Lyra doesn't yet know she is referring to Eilla and Sinak respectively).
"A few more specifics, perhaps? And what am I watching them for? And what do you know about a raven in my soul?" Lyra's smile becomes a touch more toothy but Paula only smiles solemnly, her eyes bright and calm like a well-fed bird of prey.
"They show promise, as do you. We are the hand that stops the tyrant, feeds the oppressed, and asks for nothing in return."
"Nothing in return," mumbles Lyra, trying not to sound glum about it. "Now that you mention it, one of my neighbors in the dock ward is an elven fighter. Marine I think? I haven't seen her for a bit but it could be she's just returned. And what about the gambler? Goes by Goodluck, though it could just be a nickname. You asked me to watch him at the Yawning Portal and I did. From what I've seen, my sense is he just likes to gamble and perhaps uses magic to... turn his luck. Haven't seen him act as an asset for anyone - only dice with them. An adventurer, could be. Another promising one, then?" Lyra can't help glancing nervously around the deserted alley for eavesdroppers, but her beggar contact appears unconcerned.
"Aye. Promise. All of you show it and others as well, but whose heart is willing? Return to the Yawning Portal. They may all be there already. I'm sure you'll have no trouble losing a coin or two to Goodluck. Befriend the two elves if you can. A tiefling urchin too - cutpurse most likely, but I've always had a soft spot by those struggling under the boot of some overweening noble. We are the song for those who have no voice."
"Yes, so I hear. Song and voice I have aplenty, as it happens." Lyra touches the dark harmonica at her throat. "I'll talk to your whole gaggle of promising people." Lyra turns to go. I had better if I want my sponsors to keep paying for my lodgings in this city, modest though they are.
She can hear the one-armed woman cackling softly, yet with a certain motherly gentleness. Lyra turns the corner out of the alley, sauntering towards the Yawning Portal. She plays a quick lively riff on her harmonica and smiles. I've never had trouble talking with anyone. How hard could this be?
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
I am happy to join of course!
Cat has thieves' tools and proficiency with them, so she could fill the spot of a rogue in that regard. As far as sneakiness and extra damage goes though, she hasn't got much, so having someone dip into rogue or be a rogue may be helpful. Alternatively I could re-spec Cat into a battle smith rather than artillerist to make her a little tankier and give her a fun little construct companion, but that wouldn't be until 3rd level. I am also considering a dip into wizard, probably evoker or war magic if I go up to 2nd level in Wiz. But we shall see. This game only goes up to 5th level after all.
It makes sense Cat's family would supply Eilla with boots. She may even get a discount for being a loyal customer - at the very least she gets a punch card. Your tenth pair of shoes is free! If Ballen is from a humble section of the city, Cat would likely know them too - especially if they bought Puddletwist shoes/boots! There's a punch card in it for you if you do! :)
If Sinak is someone who is willing to talk with Cat about her latest ideas and inventions, she will talk his ear off. He learns all about her prospective wand and arcane turret designs, as well as potential arcane clockwork constructs that operate with similar principles as the little clockwork toys that she's become an expert at creating. It's a little difficult to keep up with her - she talks fast and enthusiastically while throwing around a lot of proper nouns. Cat thinks Sinak is really nice.
Ballen had started taking to picking her audience more often than performing in random, open spaces, preferring to utilize her small talents in more focused ways. When she spotted Eilla returning from the seas, she decided to follow her in hopes of...well honestly she wasn't sure but an early childhood friend was better than none and perhaps if she had made something of herself, Ballen could too. And so she found herself at the Yawning Portal for a while, giving performances to small crowded tables and individuals and helping with some cleaning duties on behalf of Durnan after he caught her with her hand in the till but took pity on her, for which she was extremely grateful. Though she hasn't been at the inn for too terribly long, she has noted a few other regulars and although too shy to talk to them directly much, she appreciates their presence, especially the gambling loving halfling. She may or may not have given him a nudge in the right direction once or twice.
Being approached so directly by Sinak, Ballen is almost immediately put on her back foot. The last time a male had approached her so directly was...extremely awkward and uncomfortable (made worse by the fact that she is technically a teen not an adult). Although Sinak seemed to mean well, she found her words faltering a bit, also not knowing if this was an agent of the noble she had taken from some years ago. Her dirty black and red hair half stuck in a knot in the back swayed slightly with her small horned head. "I...umm...Ballen..." was all she managed before ducking off behind the counters.
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OOC:
Ugh, already had too much pizza last night! But Mountain Dew is always good. ^-^ So I originally mentioned going college of whispers, possibly being able to also semi work the rogue position, but since bard is so flexible I am open to filling other roles. I think it is very possible Ballen has run across just about everyone except Sinak until he arrives at the tavern. Not necessarily in the best way but she doesn't mean any real harm to anyone. If we have a healer, a tankier person already, she can either stay on the buff/debuff side of things or lend herself to more offense/defense spells, more damage output perhaps.
I've finished adding some character hooks for Lyra Ravenscale in post 27 above.
Described in the form of her faction contact (the beggar, Pretty Paula) asking her to keep tabs on several of the other PCs and the ensuing back and forth.
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
I was watching this thread while I figured out whether one of my other PbP groups had fizzled out. Mechanically, the party build is a bit odd at 1st level. Maybe that's just because of the multi-classsing that the players are planning?
You've got plenty of characters with high INT bonuses, but there's very little coverage of the INT skills.
The group's two lowest ability scores (based on average and median) are STR and WIS. Some good options to balance the party:
Cool, thanks for the feedback Ben_Evolent. Yes I ended up making Eilla a Fighter at level 1 because of the chain armor in the image I got the idea for her from, and stuck with it because the party overall is a bit squishy. But she could definitely be built as a Swashbuckler Rogue, actually the plan for level 5 was Fighter 2 / Swashbuckler Rogue 3, although I hadn't decided in what order she would take them. A benefit of starting Fighter first is she gets 2 more HP that way, since first level is max HP while the later ones are rolled with a minimum. Also the chain mail comes free, whereas if she took Fighter later she'd have to buy it. On the skills front, I chose Intimidation rather than History (which was originally one of her skills) kind of without thinking too much about it, but it makes sense a sailor would have heard a lot of stories so I'll probably go back to History.
Good to hear from you!
Possible ways to link him to the party:
Thanks Ben, some good points. Have some imaginary pizza. A good character, the squishy factor is important. I will send you some details of the factions later today. Great the see people iterating their characters
Gan-Re: Aarakocra Barbarian - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight | DM - Keys of Empire
That’s a pretty impressive analysis, but is this going to be the type of game where we need an optimized character build in order to succeed? I usually just make my characters based on what I think would be fun to play, not necessarily what’s going to be the most effective in gameplay terms. Cat’s no exception to this. If she needs to be made more effective or changed altogether, then I’d like to know so I can come up with that.
No idea about this campaign. Definitely agree with you in terms of "what would be fun to play."
On the other hand, the hope is that a party has some balance. Each character brings particular strengths that balances out the group. You don't have to do it that way, of course, but that's the goal. Since KudosWyvernspur already hinted at the party composition, I was looking at the existing party composition to see how I could build a character who could fill some gaps, and I found it a little difficult.
IMHO, Cat is great. But, yeah, looking at the party now, I'd probably tweak the backstory a little. She could still have the same goals, but maybe switch her background to Sage. Cat wanted to strike out in a different direction from her parents, so she started hanging out near some great library or academy just to hear the scholars talking about science and magic. Maybe she charmed one of the scholars with her enthusiasm. ("Aren't you a bright spark? I came from modest means, too. The trick is that one someone gives you a chance, make the most of it! How would you like access to the library?") Maybe a lecturer was impressed at her intelligence ("To solve that puzzle at such a young age...what a prodigy!") Maybe she was already starting to tinker with things and made something / fixed something for one of the librarians. ("That's been plaguing me for weeks! It would be a great help to have such a bright kid around.") In any case, she wasn't an official student or an official apprentice, but she spent years there, learning whatever she could and blending those ideas with her own practical know-how. Going from Guild Artisan to Sage lets her switch her Insight and Persuasion for Arcana and History. Since you already picked Arcana, you can pick another skill from the Artificer list (maybe Investigation?). You could play her the same way, but that way she would bring a +5 bonus to History and one other INT-based skill. You also have the researcher feature from the Sage background, which could be useful if the party needs to dig up some obscure information. She'll generally want to leave the Persuasion and Insight to other party members, but the party already has plenty of others who can cover those skills.
This idea of tweaking to this degree is strange to me. When I’m creating a character, I have an image in mind - what they look like, how they would act, what their motivations would be. As I’m making choices going through, I try to match up with what I imagine the character would do, even if that leads to “wrong” choices, or something that might not make sense from a “best possible roll” standpoint. Some of my most fun characters have been weak in many areas, and not a “good” character from a standpoint of maximized stats / roll potential. I think we could use some strength on the front line as I mentioned earlier, but IMHO I don’t know that I want to endlessly tweak my character trying to search out the best rolls. I think for the last character a tough ranger, fighter, monk or barbarian would fill the role. Excited to begin the adventure!
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
I wouldn't worry too much about min-maxing a particular character, but it's not a bad idea to tweak skills or spell selections once the party starts to form. Like I said, I did the analysis when thinking about possible character applications, so I thought that I'd share. Feel free to ignore it. :-)
Hello all,
Sorry to bother but can anyone clue me in how to stop receiving notifications for this thread? All the advice I'm getting is specific to computer users and I'm exclusively mobile.
Again, sorry to interject.
FYI - I also have a goliath barbarian that I need to get into D&D Beyond. So if the party wants more of a tank, then I'd be happy to switch out Ixsas for my barbarian. I was thinking of the character as more of a huge, happy companion with an attitude more like Fezzik from The Princess Bride. "I can't help that I'm the biggest and the strongest."
16 / 14 / 16 / 8 / 10 / 10
Still working on the background with KudosWyvernspur.
Possible connections to the party:
Basically, he would join the party as a sort of sidekick to one of the other characters. "Wherever (s)he goes, I go." He knows his role, and he is happiest when someone else is calling the shots.