A bit of behind the screen background. For another PbP game, one of my players had a wild mage character, and while it was pretty fun, we kind of felt like the base Wild Surge Table wasn't quite wild enough... so the players and I built it out, adding 48 new options to the Surge Table. However, that player had to step away from the campaign for RL issues, so we didn't get a chance to really play through it. I started a campaign here that had a wild mage in it, but again, they had to depart to tend to RL. Then I joined a game as a wild mage, and had shared the table with the DM in case they cared to mix it up some more... but then the DM departed as well... So... if you want Chaos, you gotta make Chaos happen.
My Background. Relatively new to being active on DDB forums, but have been a PbP DM for 7 or so years. Currently playing in 7 and running 4 games.
The Premise. All characters have been touched by Chaos, and will have levels in the wild mage sorcerer subclass. Casting leveled spells has a 1/20 chance of triggering a wild surge as normal, and it Tides of Chaos is toggled, I'll be asking for a wild surge roll after casting a spell when it's active. I may implement additional triggers (nat 20s/1s on attacks, etc.). The game will be more combat heavy than intrigue, downtime RP, so bear that in mind.
The Backstory. Characters are all members of a large mercenary company (think Malazan or Black Company), and six months ago, while on a job eradicating a cult dedicated to opening a portal to the plane of Limbo, you were changed by the chaotic energies you were exposed to. Not everyone in the company was affected, maybe it had to do with exposure levels, maybe it had to do with some sort of unexpressed genetic difference, but some members, yourself included, began to develop strange and powerful abilities. You were removed from your previous units and grouped together... the higher ups said it was tactical, but there seems to be some degree of... if not quite fear, at least wary caution among the more mundane members. Within your new unit, there are folks going through the same things you are, dealing with and learning to, well probably not master, but at least ride the surges of power they now call forth (if you've read The Poppy War, think similar to The Cike). The regulars may refer to your unit by many names, but there's a bit of begrudging pride.. you're THEIR freaks, after all! The company leadership is learning to direct your not insubstantial power most effectively, and as such you find yourselves directed into tough situations, against the hardest positions to crack, but thus far you've come out on top.
The Build. All characters submitted for inclusion in the one-shot will be Level 6 characters and should follow the basic formula below. If more submissions come in than I can run with before I cut them off, then selection will be done, in true random chaotic fashion, by a die roll. If there is enough interest, and Squad 1 is going well, I may pull from remaining submissions and try out a Squad 2.
Ability Scores: [roll 4d6 drop lowest, reroll 1's once] Name: Race: [any published] Background: [any published] Alignment: [any, but must be able to function as a member of a group] Starting Class(es)/Subclass: [You didn't start as a wild mage, for the first three levels of your career, you were something else. Any class or combination of classes, but you must have the 13 CHA prereq to multi into sorcerer] Equipment: [starting equipment from your base class, other goodies will be gained in game] Wild Mage: Must have 3 levels of wild mage sorcerer Backstory: [Need not be too in depth, but things to consider, Why, given your background and initial class, did you join a mercenary company? After being touched by Chaos, how has that changed you? How have you been coping with the changes? How do you feel about your fellow squadmates in general?] Leader Material?: [would you/your character be interested in a leadership position within your squad? It's probably a loose collective, but within the hierarchy of the mercenary crew, someone needs to nominally be in charge...] Pre-game Wild Surges: [roll 10d100s to see what sort of things have happened to you previously as a result of your new chaos magics. Some effects are permanent, or at least temporary with a duration... If you roll any of those, they will be added to your character.]
Sheets: DDB character sheet not required for application, but would be expected if selected. If you opt not to build a character sheet initially, just make sure to provide enough in thread to get a sense of your character. Sharing: I don't have stuff to share, so unless someone who joins does, be prepared to build within what you have access to. Note that options are available to purchase from the marketplace piece by piece ($1.99ea), but given that this is intended to be a short, wild, but hopefully fun tour of wild surges, you would want to decide if that investment is worth it for you.
**Posting Rate. We'll find our own pace, and I know things get busy at times for me, and do for everyone else as well, but I'd be shooting for having enough player posts that I'd be able to post with some sort of larger update at least every other day, more often if we can. Once players are selected, I will create a thread that lets them get a bit of RP/introduction in, before starting with posts sometime next week.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Finished.
I have a few ideas, but I want to see my rolls first to see which would be the most fitting. Either way, I really like this subclass, but never really gotten to play it in a satisfaction matter. (Mainly for similar reasons. DM disappearing...) This sounds really interesting.
Ability Scores:141615131211 Name: Ayen Race: Custom Lineage (there's a reason for that) Elf (who is small in size. Bare with me). Background: Mercenary Veteran. Alignment: Lawful Evil. (No, don't worry, I won't be an ass. He's just a bit too drunk on his own power and likes to test it when he can. The Lawful is more important in this case. I don't really like 5e's alignment system...) Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Hunter Ranger. Horde Breaker, if you're wondering. Equipment: Done. Wild Mage: Will do. Backstory: Oops. This turned a bit too in-depth, maybe. Oh well. Also, couldn't really find a way to put the unicorn and the tree in, but I'll remember that in case something comes up.
What do you get when a Halfling and an Elf bring a child into the world? Well, it varies, but in Ayen's case, you got a very small Elf. At the very least, he looks like an elf, right proportions and all, but he's only 4 feet tall. He didn't receive his mother's ability to see in the dark nor his father's unexplainable luck. He did receive his mother's love for nature, but also his father's skills with people. A weird combination, that's for sure.
Skip forward. Some bad life choices led him to become a mercenary. He fought for whoever bid the highest and didn't survive because he was especially powerful or capable, rather because he always found a way to survive, even if one leg was already in the grave, and learn from the experience for future battles. At some point, he discovered he had some connection to nature that was beyond the natural one. It's not like he could make trees fight for him, but he was able to do a few tricks. The most useful one, as he came to figure out, was that magical sticks hit harder than ordinary swords. With time, he gained more understanding about the ways this magic worked and through that learned some more about how magic works in general.
Skip forward again (otherwise, it'll take me forever to write this, and it's not really that interesting). He retired somewhere around his 300th spring walking the earth - after all, an Elf-Halfling hybrid lives way longer than humans do - but retirement was not to his liking. In the small amount of time that he spent trying to do nothing in particular, he realised he no longer knew much more than how to fight. Thus, he packed his old gear and signed himself to a mercenary company. Not many knew of his name, so he had to start from scratch, as far as ranks go. On the other hand, living as long as he does, he had time to climb the ranks to be above the average goon.
After the raid on that cult, he began to notice weird effects about himself. While he could still use his natural magic, he also had a new kind of magic bursting out of him occasionally, which he didn't know how to control. He had some knowledge of magic already, so he began experimenting with it. It had... some unintentional side effects.
The first time, his gold stole itself away. In his entire long life, he had not seen anything like that. He was too entertained to even try to stop it. Another time, a guy named George appeared. George made a huge fuss about his cabbage stew, and that's how Ayen's powers were revealed to others. Ayen was repositioned to a new unit, where others like him who developed strange abilities were grouped. A weird move, he thought, since the best way to control a force like that is to divide and conquer, but the higher-ups seemed to have done the exact opposite. It didn't bother him too much though. He had no interest in a coup d'etat. His own powers interested him more. Suddenly, he was no longer a weak soldier on the battlefield. He had powers that were to be reckoned with. He became a bit drunk of his own might and would jump on every opportunity to sign himself, and anyone who served below him, to every mission. If his powers were to be unleashed freely, even better. He miraculously survived for this long, now others have to pray for miracles for themselves. His only disappointment, really, was that he was not the only one. With many others who received similar powers, he wasn't as special as he hoped to be. Occasionally, he would still be looked down on - both figuratively and literally.
Indeed, after a lot of trial and error, he was very proud to be able to force his new magical abilities to make him grow - even if for a limited time - to a normal-sized Elf. Even if that spell often carried side effects with it, reducing the size of anyone who laughed at him, or increasing his own, was his most prized ability. He even got a nickname that he heard people calling him behind his back - Shrink. It was both because he shrank people and because he was especially good at detecting liars.
All in all, not the best friend material kind of guy, but at least you can count on him on the battlefield. Especially when outnumbered.
Leader Material?: Yes, indeed. He doesn't have to be the highest in rank though. In fact, being second in command (in the party at least) is the ideal position, as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't matter too much though, I could play the same character in any rank, just act slightly different, depending on the rank. Pre-game Wild Surges: Might as well roll these already. It can help me shape the character a bit, maybe. Can't hurt, either way.
...we kind of felt like the base Wild Surge Table wasn't quite wild enough... so the players and I built it out, adding 48 new options to the Surge Table.
Ah, I see. That makes sense. I'll erase my interpretations of the rolls then since they're wrong. I did notice the bolded part when I first read it, but I didn't actually think of how it's implemented I guess. Now I know.
Okay, I know this character is quite strong. If it feels too strong to you, I'd really prefer if you tell me to change it instead of just crossing me off the list of optional players.
((Oops, disregard that. I decided to handle that differently once we're in game with the selected crew.))
Pre-game Chaos:
Only going to highlight the ones that would have been memorable, or with relevant long term impacts, #9 is busted, but if you try to fix it, I think it'll re-roll everything on you. Can just add another at the bottom or in separate post. I'm describing them in short summaries
You briefly summoned a unicorn once. You also summoned a guy named George. He was in the middle of a cabbage stew in his home a few hundred miles away. He was very confused. You made a tree come to sentience, but it didn't like your fashion sense. Your gold came to life and stole itself from you and a bunch of others.
No permanent effects, just a bunch of weird occurrences.
Wild Mage: Must have 3 levels of wild mage sorcerer
Backstory:
Atem grew up on the rolling waves, spending only half his life on land learning the way to trade and find the best opportunities. He was a confident, if hot-tempered young lad, a train in him that his mother tried to quell.
After his mother retired, Atem inherited the her ship and continued to trade on her for many years. One thing he have heard people discussing recently, was a population of kuo-toas supposedly assembled in some sort of underseas temple, and the water there had been making people sick. Interested in this particular phenomenon, Atem assembled a team of his own men to go after her and find out what had happened.
Striking out into the dark undersprawl, eventually, he came into a huge chamber - that was clearly built for worship. This was where the kuo-toas had made their home. Atem found them worshipping some strange, serpentine idol.
The water began to churn and the kuo-toas fled. Atem and his men were surprised by the emergence of a monstrous Aboleth. This was the creature the kuo-toas had been worshipping, and the true source of the rancid water and slime in the vicinity. Atem and his crew put up a brave fight, but there was little they could do against such a horrifying creature. Finding that he was the last one alive, Atem, took up a kuo-toa spear and let out a cry. The strange glowing energy that sometimes accompanied his rages came in that moment, and somehow infused the spear with a magical aura. He flung it at the aboleth, hitting it straight in the eye. The creature roared and lunged at him, pulling him into the water.
For a while, that was the last thing Atem remembered.
When he came to, he found himself lying on a slimy pedestal underseas that had been constructed by the kuo-toas. They surrounded him, seemingly worshipping him in place of the idol that had previously stood in that spot. Atem was not able to communicate with the fish-men, but through gestures and other creative means it became apparent that he had killed the aboleth, somehow survived, and was now perceived by the kuo-toas as their god.
For a while, Atem was in a slump, uncertain what he should do. He had lost everything. But then, one night after a long time, Atem heard the voice again. It came like the babbling of water in his ears, or the thunder of thrashing around beneath the waves. This voice - this being - had been trying to establish a presence in the world to accomplish its own inscrutable ends, and had hopes to enslave the kuo-toas and use them as its eyes, ears and hands in the material plane.
“But you...” it said to Atem, “...you could prove far more useful to me…”
Escaping the cult, Atem finds himself hired by a large mercenary company. After he had lost everything, it was a new start for him. As for the Chaos… ah well, his life was already chaotic enough. What’s some more?
Ethan has worked in many areas during his life, but the majority of it has always been in some aspect of aiding the people of a city or town. He tended to get employed as city watch or city guard more often than not. The issue was that his fallen status would eventually be known, and he would have to leave to find a new place to call home, at least until his secret was found out yet again. When he joined the mercenary company it changed everything. No one there cared that he was fallen, they just valued his strong sword arm.
The incident with the strange magic was another time that changed his life once again. Having these strange things happening around him, simply made his fallen state a non issue. People didn't care so much about that when so many, much stranger, things tended to happen when he was around. He felt like his new team was a sort of family, and that he was no longer classified by being fallen, but by being part of this group.
You spent an afternoon smelling faintly of fresh baked bread once, and another day like rank skunk musk. Your skin is a vibrant shade of blue. Poor George, the commoner was summoned to your side, with no idea why this keeps happening to him. Your chaos exploded out of you once, sending everyone fleeing as all kinds of wild stuff happened.
Permanent effect: You're bright blue.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM:Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ohh sounds fun! Count me in!
Ability score first: 141512141314
Name: Blumeria *Bluey* Sirgula Race: Dragonborn Background: Soldier Alignment: Chaotic neutral Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Fighter (Rune Knight) Equipment: done Wild Mage: done Backstory: Bluey was abducted from her tribe as a little girl and taken to a giant tribe in the north. There she worked from early on in some mines. The only thing that kept her going was the group of working kids that she ended up taking care of. Often she would steal extra bread to feed her youngest friends. After years she made friends with a giant overseer, who helped her group of kids to escape. The kids fought hard to get through the ice, but in a storm Bluey got separated from the rest of the group. Eventually she made it to a settlement, where she collapsed. Since then, she travelled far and wide, then settled down and joined a local militia for a good 30 years - then travelled again and finally became a mercenary. When the chaos hit and gave her new abilities, Bluey took them on gratefully. She strongly believes, she is meant to have these strengths and there is something in her future, where these powers will be needed. Leader Material?: not at the beginning (maybe character development?) Pre-game Wild Surges:517721010148571465
Ability scores Chaos first: 161415151713 Name: Randy Wilder Race: Half-Elf Background: Folk Hero And Class Chaos also ! 1>13 in alphabetic order : 5 .... and that's a... Druid .. hummmmmmm Background: Folk Hero Alignment: Neutral >> leading towards Chaotic Neutral Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Druid / Circle of the Dreams Equipment: Starting Equipment. Wild Mage: Done Backstory: (very broad and quick, can precise later) Randy was a trusted halfling druid, specialised into healing the Nature. A raid from extraplanar entity left his area burned to the ground. He decided that he couldn't stay Neutral anymore and will have to act. He join the group in search of revenge. But things went wrong exiting the Limbo, he found himself transformed into an Half-elf and with strange arcane magic... (if here a lot of blue people, I could also have a slight blue skin) Leader Material?: Nah Randy is no leader Pre-game Wild Surges:
...we kind of felt like the base Wild Surge Table wasn't quite wild enough... so the players and I built it out, adding 48 new options to the Surge Table.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
This sounds awesome!
Ability scores: 161210171212
Name: Bryn Amastacia
Race: Half-elf
Background: Urban Bounty Hunter
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Rogue/Swashbuckler
Equipment: [starting equipment from your base class, other goodies will be gained in game]
Wild Mage: Must have 3 levels of wild mage sorcerer
Backstory: A half elf born from a flighty human woman and a more serious elven father, Bryn was raised by his father,a mid-level government official after his mother left for adventures untold. Although he tried to adopt his father's sense of duty, he still couldn't escape his mother's love of adventure and fun. As an adult he learned a fanciful method of fighting and sneaking around with the intention of becoming a scout for the local army, but instead became a swashbuckler who hunted down bounties for the city watch. He took what was supposed to be a temporary position with the mercenary company for extra money and to sharpen his skills even more when the incident happened. At first the new chaos magic odd and the wild surges unnerving,but he's decided to go with it and see where it leads him. At least he's not alone in this new group.
You turned yourself bright blue. You've become invisible before. Once you turned most of your unit into sheep, but they got better. You grew a long beard made of feathers. Depending on how often you sneeze you might still have it. You took a short trip to a weird plane of weightless, directionless void, but thankfully only for a few seconds. You once ended up completely naked during a job.
Permanent effects: You're blue, and maybe have a feather beard (basically if you want to have one or not).
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
(Malazan inspired chaos wizards? This definitely sounds like my cup of tea.)
Ability scores: 161312121416
Name: Kinras Ironhand
Race: Warforged
Background: Acolyte
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Class: Order Domain Cleric 3, Wild Magic Sorcerer 3
Backstory:
Kinras was a construct made by the acolytes of Gond, and was trained to combat agents of chaos. He was "rented" out to the mercenary group due to their conflict with Limbo cultists, and while there was exposed to the plane’s energies. This caused some sort of malfunction, and drastically shifted his personality. He became more human, somehow, more bitter and chaotic, and decided that the quiet temple of Gond was no place for him. He joined the mercenary group in his own words "for the money," but he really is still grappling with the two sides of himself—the warforged side and the Limbo side, and thinks that being around others like him may help. He generally remains a bit aloof from his compatriots, but has been known to join in the conversation at odd times with even odder remarks.
Leadership: Probably not, as he’d be a newer member.
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
((Though now I'm thinking if you all explode yourselves in the first outing, maybe I do pull from Malazan and everyone plays as puppets the rest of the way.))
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
One shot - Yes please. Chaos ensuing - Oh yeah! I'll throw in on this. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?!? Let's see what the dice say.
Ability scores: 141415161715
(Taking inspiration from _Grimnir_ ) Class Chaos 13 (is that really chaotic? Both rolling a 5?)
Name: Verne Leagallow
Race: Halfling
Background: Folk Hero
Alignment: Neutral Good
Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Druid - Circle of Shepherd
Equipment: Done
Wild Mage: Done
Backstory: Verne had always been happy tending fields and seeing to the animals in his village. He had never had dreams of grandeur, or of leaving the village mind you. His village elders had other plans. Seeing his aptitude for caring for the animals they had sent him to the city as an envoy of sorts. A representative of the village sent to the city as a sign of good faith. He was to tend to the livestock of some noble in hopes of garnishing favour.
A mere 2 years after leaving the village, Verne had grown restless. The livestock were kept in such good order by a team of herders that he found himself with not much to do for most of the ten-day. A bored halfling leads to much mischief. Naively he took up with a couple of ruffians, as they seemed to have much more fun. The fun quickly turned to money making. Turns out you could go around doing jobs for people and get paid for it. A new concept for the halfling. He enjoyed the freedom that came with being a body-for-hire. He moved from one mercenary group to another, whomever had the most exciting offer at the time. When the chance to fight off an evil cult came knocking he couldn't say no. Little was he to know what would happen to him.
Leader Material?: His folk hero status might indicate so, but he has only ever stumbled into greatness.
You once split in half, and now somewhere in the world is Redliw Ydnar, your good/evil/lawful/chaotic twin. You once ended a fight by conjuring a fake table filled with fake, but very, very appealing food. Everyone dropped their weapons and pretended to eat the fake food.
Permanent effect: There's a copy of you somewhere that really hates you.
Your feet once grew wings and you could fly for a short time. You've got a lawful good/evil twin that broke off from you. Dnahnori Sarnik thinks you suck, and that they're the real one, and are plotting your downfall. You once had a protective shield that coated your body for a couple days, until you got in a fight, it made you invincible for a short while, until it shattered. You are bright blue.
A bit of behind the screen background.
For another PbP game, one of my players had a wild mage character, and while it was pretty fun, we kind of felt like the base Wild Surge Table wasn't quite wild enough... so the players and I built it out, adding 48 new options to the Surge Table. However, that player had to step away from the campaign for RL issues, so we didn't get a chance to really play through it. I started a campaign here that had a wild mage in it, but again, they had to depart to tend to RL. Then I joined a game as a wild mage, and had shared the table with the DM in case they cared to mix it up some more... but then the DM departed as well... So... if you want Chaos, you gotta make Chaos happen.
My Background.
Relatively new to being active on DDB forums, but have been a PbP DM for 7 or so years. Currently playing in 7 and running 4 games.
The Premise.
All characters have been touched by Chaos, and will have levels in the wild mage sorcerer subclass. Casting leveled spells has a 1/20 chance of triggering a wild surge as normal, and it Tides of Chaos is toggled, I'll be asking for a wild surge roll after casting a spell when it's active. I may implement additional triggers (nat 20s/1s on attacks, etc.). The game will be more combat heavy than intrigue, downtime RP, so bear that in mind.
The Backstory.
Characters are all members of a large mercenary company (think Malazan or Black Company), and six months ago, while on a job eradicating a cult dedicated to opening a portal to the plane of Limbo, you were changed by the chaotic energies you were exposed to. Not everyone in the company was affected, maybe it had to do with exposure levels, maybe it had to do with some sort of unexpressed genetic difference, but some members, yourself included, began to develop strange and powerful abilities. You were removed from your previous units and grouped together... the higher ups said it was tactical, but there seems to be some degree of... if not quite fear, at least wary caution among the more mundane members. Within your new unit, there are folks going through the same things you are, dealing with and learning to, well probably not master, but at least ride the surges of power they now call forth (if you've read The Poppy War, think similar to The Cike). The regulars may refer to your unit by many names, but there's a bit of begrudging pride.. you're THEIR freaks, after all! The company leadership is learning to direct your not insubstantial power most effectively, and as such you find yourselves directed into tough situations, against the hardest positions to crack, but thus far you've come out on top.
The Build.
All characters submitted for inclusion in the one-shot will be Level 6 characters and should follow the basic formula below. If more submissions come in than I can run with before I cut them off, then selection will be done, in true random chaotic fashion, by a die roll. If there is enough interest, and Squad 1 is going well, I may pull from remaining submissions and try out a Squad 2.
Ability Scores: [roll 4d6 drop lowest, reroll 1's once]
Name:
Race: [any published]
Background: [any published]
Alignment: [any, but must be able to function as a member of a group]
Starting Class(es)/Subclass: [You didn't start as a wild mage, for the first three levels of your career, you were something else. Any class or combination of classes, but you must have the 13 CHA prereq to multi into sorcerer]
Equipment: [starting equipment from your base class, other goodies will be gained in game]
Wild Mage: Must have 3 levels of wild mage sorcerer
Backstory: [Need not be too in depth, but things to consider, Why, given your background and initial class, did you join a mercenary company? After being touched by Chaos, how has that changed you? How have you been coping with the changes? How do you feel about your fellow squadmates in general?]
Leader Material?: [would you/your character be interested in a leadership position within your squad? It's probably a loose collective, but within the hierarchy of the mercenary crew, someone needs to nominally be in charge...]
Pre-game Wild Surges: [roll 10d100s to see what sort of things have happened to you previously as a result of your new chaos magics. Some effects are permanent, or at least temporary with a duration... If you roll any of those, they will be added to your character.]
Sheets: DDB character sheet not required for application, but would be expected if selected. If you opt not to build a character sheet initially, just make sure to provide enough in thread to get a sense of your character.
Sharing: I don't have stuff to share, so unless someone who joins does, be prepared to build within what you have access to. Note that options are available to purchase from the marketplace piece by piece ($1.99ea), but given that this is intended to be a short, wild, but hopefully fun tour of wild surges, you would want to decide if that investment is worth it for you.
**Posting Rate. We'll find our own pace, and I know things get busy at times for me, and do for everyone else as well, but I'd be shooting for having enough player posts that I'd be able to post with some sort of larger update at least every other day, more often if we can. Once players are selected, I will create a thread that lets them get a bit of RP/introduction in, before starting with posts sometime next week.
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
Finished.
I have a few ideas, but I want to see my rolls first to see which would be the most fitting. Either way, I really like this subclass, but never really gotten to play it in a satisfaction matter. (Mainly for similar reasons. DM disappearing...) This sounds really interesting.
Ability Scores: 14 16 15 13 12 11
Name: Ayen
Race: Custom Lineage (there's a reason for that) Elf (who is small in size. Bare with me).
Background: Mercenary Veteran.
Alignment: Lawful Evil. (No, don't worry, I won't be an ass. He's just a bit too drunk on his own power and likes to test it when he can. The Lawful is more important in this case. I don't really like 5e's alignment system...)
Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Hunter Ranger. Horde Breaker, if you're wondering.
Equipment: Done.
Wild Mage: Will do.
Backstory: Oops. This turned a bit too in-depth, maybe. Oh well. Also, couldn't really find a way to put the unicorn and the tree in, but I'll remember that in case something comes up.
What do you get when a Halfling and an Elf bring a child into the world? Well, it varies, but in Ayen's case, you got a very small Elf. At the very least, he looks like an elf, right proportions and all, but he's only 4 feet tall. He didn't receive his mother's ability to see in the dark nor his father's unexplainable luck. He did receive his mother's love for nature, but also his father's skills with people. A weird combination, that's for sure.
Skip forward. Some bad life choices led him to become a mercenary. He fought for whoever bid the highest and didn't survive because he was especially powerful or capable, rather because he always found a way to survive, even if one leg was already in the grave, and learn from the experience for future battles. At some point, he discovered he had some connection to nature that was beyond the natural one. It's not like he could make trees fight for him, but he was able to do a few tricks. The most useful one, as he came to figure out, was that magical sticks hit harder than ordinary swords. With time, he gained more understanding about the ways this magic worked and through that learned some more about how magic works in general.
Skip forward again (otherwise, it'll take me forever to write this, and it's not really that interesting). He retired somewhere around his 300th spring walking the earth - after all, an Elf-Halfling hybrid lives way longer than humans do - but retirement was not to his liking. In the small amount of time that he spent trying to do nothing in particular, he realised he no longer knew much more than how to fight. Thus, he packed his old gear and signed himself to a mercenary company. Not many knew of his name, so he had to start from scratch, as far as ranks go. On the other hand, living as long as he does, he had time to climb the ranks to be above the average goon.
After the raid on that cult, he began to notice weird effects about himself. While he could still use his natural magic, he also had a new kind of magic bursting out of him occasionally, which he didn't know how to control. He had some knowledge of magic already, so he began experimenting with it. It had... some unintentional side effects.
The first time, his gold stole itself away. In his entire long life, he had not seen anything like that. He was too entertained to even try to stop it. Another time, a guy named George appeared. George made a huge fuss about his cabbage stew, and that's how Ayen's powers were revealed to others.
Ayen was repositioned to a new unit, where others like him who developed strange abilities were grouped. A weird move, he thought, since the best way to control a force like that is to divide and conquer, but the higher-ups seemed to have done the exact opposite. It didn't bother him too much though. He had no interest in a coup d'etat. His own powers interested him more. Suddenly, he was no longer a weak soldier on the battlefield. He had powers that were to be reckoned with. He became a bit drunk of his own might and would jump on every opportunity to sign himself, and anyone who served below him, to every mission. If his powers were to be unleashed freely, even better. He miraculously survived for this long, now others have to pray for miracles for themselves. His only disappointment, really, was that he was not the only one. With many others who received similar powers, he wasn't as special as he hoped to be. Occasionally, he would still be looked down on - both figuratively and literally.
Indeed, after a lot of trial and error, he was very proud to be able to force his new magical abilities to make him grow - even if for a limited time - to a normal-sized Elf. Even if that spell often carried side effects with it, reducing the size of anyone who laughed at him, or increasing his own, was his most prized ability.
He even got a nickname that he heard people calling him behind his back - Shrink. It was both because he shrank people and because he was especially good at detecting liars.
All in all, not the best friend material kind of guy, but at least you can count on him on the battlefield. Especially when outnumbered.
Leader Material?: Yes, indeed. He doesn't have to be the highest in rank though. In fact, being second in command (in the party at least) is the ideal position, as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't matter too much though, I could play the same character in any rank, just act slightly different, depending on the rank.
Pre-game Wild Surges: Might as well roll these already. It can help me shape the character a bit, maybe. Can't hurt, either way.
1: 22
2: 20
3: 89
4: 79
5: 19
6: 71
7: 88
8: 59
9: roll]1d100[/roll]
10: 63
Not messing with the dice roller. 9.2.0: 46
Mystery Roll: What should I roll here?
I don't see anything that should summon a guy named George. There're the Modron and the Flumphs, but neither is a person.
Ah, I see. That makes sense. I'll erase my interpretations of the rolls then since they're wrong. I did notice the bolded part when I first read it, but I didn't actually think of how it's implemented I guess. Now I know.
Okay, I know this character is quite strong. If it feels too strong to you, I'd really prefer if you tell me to change it instead of just crossing me off the list of optional players.
Varielky
((Oops, disregard that. I decided to handle that differently once we're in game with the selected crew.))
Pre-game Chaos:
Only going to highlight the ones that would have been memorable, or with relevant long term impacts, #9 is busted, but if you try to fix it, I think it'll re-roll everything on you. Can just add another at the bottom or in separate post. I'm describing them in short summaries
You briefly summoned a unicorn once. You also summoned a guy named George. He was in the middle of a cabbage stew in his home a few hundred miles away. He was very confused. You made a tree come to sentience, but it didn't like your fashion sense. Your gold came to life and stole itself from you and a bunch of others.
No permanent effects, just a bunch of weird occurrences.
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
I do like chaos! I have a perfect character in mind, but I’ll roll first and see what I can do.
Ability scores: 15 12 12 12 13 12
Alright... that’s some mediocre rolls. I’ll have to think about it a bit.
Name: Atem Rakyevra
Race: Human
Background: Sailor
Alignment: Neutral
Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Warlock (Fathomless)
Wild Mage: Must have 3 levels of wild mage sorcerer
Backstory:
Atem grew up on the rolling waves, spending only half his life on land learning the way to trade and find the best opportunities. He was a confident, if hot-tempered young lad, a train in him that his mother tried to quell.
After his mother retired, Atem inherited the her ship and continued to trade on her for many years. One thing he have heard people discussing recently, was a population of kuo-toas supposedly assembled in some sort of underseas temple, and the water there had been making people sick. Interested in this particular phenomenon, Atem assembled a team of his own men to go after her and find out what had happened.
Striking out into the dark undersprawl, eventually, he came into a huge chamber - that was clearly built for worship. This was where the kuo-toas had made their home. Atem found them worshipping some strange, serpentine idol.
The water began to churn and the kuo-toas fled. Atem and his men were surprised by the emergence of a monstrous Aboleth. This was the creature the kuo-toas had been worshipping, and the true source of the rancid water and slime in the vicinity. Atem and his crew put up a brave fight, but there was little they could do against such a horrifying creature. Finding that he was the last one alive, Atem, took up a kuo-toa spear and let out a cry. The strange glowing energy that sometimes accompanied his rages came in that moment, and somehow infused the spear with a magical aura. He flung it at the aboleth, hitting it straight in the eye. The creature roared and lunged at him, pulling him into the water.
For a while, that was the last thing Atem remembered.
When he came to, he found himself lying on a slimy pedestal underseas that had been constructed by the kuo-toas. They surrounded him, seemingly worshipping him in place of the idol that had previously stood in that spot. Atem was not able to communicate with the fish-men, but through gestures and other creative means it became apparent that he had killed the aboleth, somehow survived, and was now perceived by the kuo-toas as their god.
For a while, Atem was in a slump, uncertain what he should do. He had lost everything. But then, one night after a long time, Atem heard the voice again. It came like the babbling of water in his ears, or the thunder of thrashing around beneath the waves. This voice - this being - had been trying to establish a presence in the world to accomplish its own inscrutable ends, and had hopes to enslave the kuo-toas and use them as its eyes, ears and hands in the material plane.
“But you...” it said to Atem, “...you could prove far more useful to me…”
Escaping the cult, Atem finds himself hired by a large mercenary company. After he had lost everything, it was a new start for him. As for the Chaos… ah well, his life was already chaotic enough. What’s some more?
Leader Material?: He would like to think so, yes.
21 95 51 66 20 89 59 70 76 78
Ability scores: 13 14 11 13 11 13
Name: Ethan Storm
Race: Fallen Aasimar
Background: City Watch
Alignment: LN
Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Paladin (Conquest)
Backstory:
Ethan has worked in many areas during his life, but the majority of it has always been in some aspect of aiding the people of a city or town. He tended to get employed as city watch or city guard more often than not. The issue was that his fallen status would eventually be known, and he would have to leave to find a new place to call home, at least until his secret was found out yet again. When he joined the mercenary company it changed everything. No one there cared that he was fallen, they just valued his strong sword arm.
The incident with the strange magic was another time that changed his life once again. Having these strange things happening around him, simply made his fallen state a non issue. People didn't care so much about that when so many, much stranger, things tended to happen when he was around. He felt like his new team was a sort of family, and that he was no longer classified by being fallen, but by being part of this group.
Leader Material?: Yes
Pre-game Wild Surges:
1 ... 18
2 ... 13
3 ... 93
4 ... 62
5 ... 39
6 ... 90
7 ... 78
8 ... 99
9 ... 90
10 ... 59
X
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
Ohh sounds fun! Count me in!
Ability score first: 14 15 12 14 13 14
Name: Blumeria *Bluey* Sirgula
Race: Dragonborn
Background: Soldier
Alignment: Chaotic neutral
Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Fighter (Rune Knight)
Equipment: done
Wild Mage: done
Backstory: Bluey was abducted from her tribe as a little girl and taken to a giant tribe in the north. There she worked from early on in some mines. The only thing that kept her going was the group of working kids that she ended up taking care of. Often she would steal extra bread to feed her youngest friends. After years she made friends with a giant overseer, who helped her group of kids to escape. The kids fought hard to get through the ice, but in a storm Bluey got separated from the rest of the group. Eventually she made it to a settlement, where she collapsed.
Since then, she travelled far and wide, then settled down and joined a local militia for a good 30 years - then travelled again and finally became a mercenary. When the chaos hit and gave her new abilities, Bluey took them on gratefully. She strongly believes, she is meant to have these strengths and there is something in her future, where these powers will be needed.
Leader Material?: not at the beginning (maybe character development?)
Pre-game Wild Surges: 51 77 2 10 10 1 48 57 14 65
Wild Surge !!!!! I love it !!!!
Ability scores Chaos first: 16 14 15 15 17 13
Name: Randy Wilder
Race: Half-Elf
Background: Folk Hero
And Class Chaos also ! 1>13 in alphabetic order : 5 .... and that's a... Druid .. hummmmmmm
Background: Folk Hero
Alignment: Neutral >> leading towards Chaotic Neutral
Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Druid / Circle of the Dreams
Equipment: Starting Equipment.
Wild Mage: Done
Backstory: (very broad and quick, can precise later) Randy was a trusted halfling druid, specialised into healing the Nature. A raid from extraplanar entity left his area burned to the ground. He decided that he couldn't stay Neutral anymore and will have to act. He join the group in search of revenge. But things went wrong exiting the Limbo, he found himself transformed into an Half-elf and with strange arcane magic...
(if here a lot of blue people, I could also have a slight blue skin)
Leader Material?: Nah Randy is no leader
Pre-game Wild Surges:
24 8 11 36 69 52 80 35 21 35
Currently Playing: Regdus Ironfist (Greyhawk) Lvl 1 Storm Sorcerer ; Goraseth Drerjoxian (Icespeak) Lvl 3 Paladin Oath of Glory; Lerak (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight) Lvl 3 Barbarian Wild Magic
In Pause: Grimnir " Shadow-Feet", Lv 11 Owner of "The Basilisk & the Monk" (OotA) - Kurma Kappa, Lv 8 Priest of Oghma (ToA)
Currently DM'ing: Princes of Apocalypse >> Tomb of Annihilation
Yep! Kept 1-2 and 99-100 the same, but otherwise all even rolls are something new.
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
Here is the link to Ethan's sheet...
Ethan Sheet
This sounds awesome!
Ability scores: 16 12 10 17 12 12
Name: Bryn Amastacia
Race: Half-elf
Background: Urban Bounty Hunter
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Rogue/Swashbuckler
Equipment: [starting equipment from your base class, other goodies will be gained in game]
Wild Mage: Must have 3 levels of wild mage sorcerer
Backstory: A half elf born from a flighty human woman and a more serious elven father, Bryn was raised by his father, a mid-level government official after his mother left for adventures untold. Although he tried to adopt his father's sense of duty, he still couldn't escape his mother's love of adventure and fun. As an adult he learned a fanciful method of fighting and sneaking around with the intention of becoming a scout for the local army, but instead became a swashbuckler who hunted down bounties for the city watch. He took what was supposed to be a temporary position with the mercenary company for extra money and to sharpen his skills even more when the incident happened. At first the new chaos magic odd and the wild surges unnerving, but he's decided to go with it and see where it leads him. At least he's not alone in this new group.
Leader Material?: Sure
Pre-game Wild Surges:
48
37
63
32
94
22
20
17
27
3
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
(Malazan inspired chaos wizards? This definitely sounds like my cup of tea.)
Ability scores: 16 13 12 12 14 16
Name: Kinras Ironhand
Race: Warforged
Background: Acolyte
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Class: Order Domain Cleric 3, Wild Magic Sorcerer 3
Backstory:
Kinras was a construct made by the acolytes of Gond, and was trained to combat agents of chaos. He was "rented" out to the mercenary group due to their conflict with Limbo cultists, and while there was exposed to the plane’s energies. This caused some sort of malfunction, and drastically shifted his personality. He became more human, somehow, more bitter and chaotic, and decided that the quiet temple of Gond was no place for him. He joined the mercenary group in his own words "for the money," but he really is still grappling with the two sides of himself—the warforged side and the Limbo side, and thinks that being around others like him may help. He generally remains a bit aloof from his compatriots, but has been known to join in the conversation at odd times with even odder remarks.
Leadership: Probably not, as he’d be a newer member.
Pre-game wild surges:
15
27
25
18
18
53
82
38
67
93
Character sheet: https://ddb.ac/characters/45583210/tyHhL1
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
((Perhaps less Malazan inspired (I've only read the first book) than fitting into the irregular mercenary unit trope.))
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
(Eh, same difference. It’s more of a feel thing.)
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
((Though now I'm thinking if you all explode yourselves in the first outing, maybe I do pull from Malazan and everyone plays as puppets the rest of the way.))
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
(Everyone dying definitely would be in character.)
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
One shot - Yes please. Chaos ensuing - Oh yeah! I'll throw in on this. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?!? Let's see what the dice say.
Ability scores: 14 14 15 16 17 15
(Taking inspiration from _Grimnir_ ) Class Chaos 13 (is that really chaotic? Both rolling a 5?)
Name: Verne Leagallow
Race: Halfling
Background: Folk Hero
Alignment: Neutral Good
Starting Class(es)/Subclass: Druid - Circle of Shepherd
Equipment: Done
Wild Mage: Done
Backstory: Verne had always been happy tending fields and seeing to the animals in his village. He had never had dreams of grandeur, or of leaving the village mind you. His village elders had other plans. Seeing his aptitude for caring for the animals they had sent him to the city as an envoy of sorts. A representative of the village sent to the city as a sign of good faith. He was to tend to the livestock of some noble in hopes of garnishing favour.
A mere 2 years after leaving the village, Verne had grown restless. The livestock were kept in such good order by a team of herders that he found himself with not much to do for most of the ten-day. A bored halfling leads to much mischief. Naively he took up with a couple of ruffians, as they seemed to have much more fun. The fun quickly turned to money making. Turns out you could go around doing jobs for people and get paid for it. A new concept for the halfling. He enjoyed the freedom that came with being a body-for-hire. He moved from one mercenary group to another, whomever had the most exciting offer at the time. When the chance to fight off an evil cult came knocking he couldn't say no. Little was he to know what would happen to him.
Leader Material?: His folk hero status might indicate so, but he has only ever stumbled into greatness.
Pre-game Wild Surges:
17
65
45
14
40
76
14
62
100
1
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock