This is the out of character thread for the Bleak Depths of Phandelver. Post all table talk, questions, and irrelevant memes here. We only have three players, but I want to get started so I will leave recruitment open as we begin to see if more trickle in. The In Game thread will go up Monday the 4th. Between now and then I will post the house rules I am proposing to create a dark fantasy experience for your opinions. We can also talk about posting expectations. Thanks for your interest, and I hope to have a good time with you all!

Mechanics

These are some rules changes to get the dark fantasy feel right. They can change if we need them to, but I have played with most of them before.

1. If a hit drops you unconscious, it deals permanent damage. The damage is rerolled and subtracted from your maximum hit points. If your maximum HP hits 0, you die. Also, critical hits drop you (and enemies) unconscious.
2. Because crits are so much more lethal, you need to have some method of controlling the likelihood of one. The only way to get a critical success is to roll 2 successes when you have advantage, and the only way to get a critical failure is to roll 2 fails with disadvantage.
3. Long rests are now a week long, and short rests are now a 30 second breather. It will make sense when all monsters in the dungeon are converging on your position and the door won't hold long enough to give you your 30 minute rest.
4. For setting relevant reasons you and many npc’s don’t die after getting sliced up and bled out. Instead, you lose memories. For every failed death save, lose a personality trait, ideal, bond, or flaw. If you are missing a personality trait, ideal, bond, or flaw because you have died and you fail another death save, you have the option to replace it with a disruptive and negative phrase. Feel free to descend into madness, get corrupted by power, or lose all hope. Negative personality traits cannot be removed, and if you ever have 5 you die permanently. You can still die from 3 failed death saves and massive damage.
5. To represent the shifting balance of combat, I will frequently assign advantage or disadvantage when I post to sum up what has happened so far in a fight. Assume this only applies to attack rolls.
6. Many more that you will discover as you go :) For now, know that courage is represented by charisma and sanity is represented by wisdom. Survival is used for navigation. Light and inventory will be an issue as well.

Posting

Running D&D play by post is very different from running it live. The following are some expectations about posting and narrative that should reduce drag and add to the story. If any aren’t working out, we can discuss and modify them.

1. Post whenever, but I will progress the scene every two days regardless of who has or hasn’t posted.
2. I cannot describe every detail and event that is out of your character’s control. You will need to roleplay for npc’s and make attacks for them. I will post the “DM’s Notes” for enemy tactics in a combat encounter, npc knowledge in a social setting, and other necessary details. I will base information on the party’s passive skill rolls, but if you don’t trust what you see or want to do something outside the box, feel free to roll skill checks. If you unbalance a situation by having enemies commit to a stupid strategy or something similar, I will re-balance it in a way that does not undo your storytelling.
3. Combat can’t be turn based without dragging on for weeks. Your turn is whenever you post, and you can have as many turns as you want. In exchange, every time you take your turn an enemy (controlled by you) takes its turn. Whoever has the higher initiative bonus (no roll, please) resolves their action first. You do not get an extra turn when I act for enemies. Assume that enemies use their basic attack unless self preservation kicks in, in which case the use the dodge action and run away (potentially provoking an opportunity attack). I’ll handle any special abilities. If you see defeating 4 goblins as making 4-6 basic attacks, there is no point in dragging it out over the course of 4-6 turns. It's okay for you to game this a bit when in a tough spot, but keep it reasonable.
4. Keep the narrative realistic. This is dark fantasy, not low fantasy, so I will tolerate some cool Legolas stuff, but I will reward actions that are both cool and realistic more.
5. If you are going to say something crappy about another character, make sure it is entirely in character and does not target the player’s writing, choice of personality to roleplay, or lack of out of character knowledge/skill.

Opinions on all of this?

I'm keen ta join Gremorn - Minataur - fighter 

Cool! I copied the join link below, it sounds like you have a character ready. It'll be good to have you!

https://ddb.ac/campaigns/join/1394951323266257

Gremorn'background, Was trained as a soilder, practically from birth, for a labyrinth under constant raid. Gremorn had been in battle before he was sommoned by a dark conjourer attempting to command him to do unspeakable things. Gremorn rebelled his commands, being forced to defend himself and ending the dark conjourer's plots. Being stuck in an unfamiliar land, he ventured out into the unknown.

heyo these rule changes sound awesome. I'm eager to start and all that, but I'm a little frustrated that I can't build a character I want cause dnd beyond hides everything that's not phb behind pay walls. Any way around this or am I just stuck with PHB race/classes? 

Sounds extremely interesting. I would be interested to join with Jark Mayne, Dragonborn Cleric of Ilmater, the Broken God.

aeya: Yeah, I just started using this website a few months ago so I'm not a pro at it. The paywalls suck, so I've been manually typing feats and subclasses into box labeled "other" under notes. Some classes and feats have a page on roll20, so I copy and paste from there when I can.

Jabthar: Great! That brings us up to four!

If you still have room for one more i would love to join! I have a hobgoblin fighter setup or I have a wood elf monk. PM me if you have a space or want further details.

Thanks for you consideration!

Yes, I would welcome a fifth player! You can play whatever you want, we have the stereotypical party roles covered already.

Any chance I could join? I'd like to play a githyanki warlock pact of the sword (of course) whose patron is a stolen greater silver sword (from the new Tome of Foes). As a bonus, I have the legendary bundle, so if I join, I can turn on EVERYTHING in DDB for you guys to use.

Whaddya say?

David

P.S. My last PbP just fell apart so seeking a new one. I really enjoyed it.

Ooh, a bribe! We just started a day ago, so you haven't missed anything. Here's the link to join, you can introduce your character however you see fit.

https://ddb.ac/campaigns/join/1394951323266257

I wonder if I could join you?

I have several characters (all spellcasters) I could play and I really want to play my neutral evil necromancer (I also have a warlock, a bard, a ranger, a priest, and a druid). I roleplay heavily, because it's a lot of fun, I also post reliably.

Cool, go ahead and play the necromancer if you want. This is dark fantasy, so it would be fitting.

That gives us 7 players, so I'm going to close down recruitment for now.

What level? 

Point buy? 

Standard starting equipment? 

Start at level one, but you can use whichever method you want for stats and gold. I didn't limit anyone else.