drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour
- Status
drnuncheon
Explorer
Horacio said:
Well, both are multiclassed already...Di'Fier would make his wizardly progression even worse by splitting into another spellcasting class, and Dru already has two non-favored classes, so she's got to keep them relatively even in terms of levels or suck up a non-insignificant XP penalty. Yep, I'm a mean DM - I haven't houseruled multiclassing!
I think they're hoping for someone with healing ability as a cohort - both of them have made noises about taking the Leadership feat next level. I must admit, the thought had crossed my mind to saddle them with a paladin/guard trainee, but a paladin wouldn't last long in Freeport...
Maybe I should run a 'Create a Cohort' contest...hmm...
J
Thorntangle
First Post
Leadership is a great and powerful thing. It might be justified in a campaign with only 2 players. It's not too remote a possibility that they could have a run of bad luck and both go down. Party over (no pun intended).drnuncheon said:
Would you choose and run the cohort as an NPC or let them control him/her?
Cohort ideas:
The Rookie - Newly assigned to the beat. She's young. She's green. She's an edgy, hardnosed dwarf with a taste for the hard stuff. Together they fight crime!
Reformed Criminal - D & D have busted this roguish scamp too many times to count. He's annoyingly enthusiastic but he listens to the heartbeat of the street. He knows the dark alleys and the underground organizations. He's a marked man and lovin' it!
The Novitiate - He's on a mission from god to help the citizens of Freeport, even if it means crawling through the gutters to do it. It's his duty to spend 5 years on the street helping the masses and dishing out holy, two-fisted justice. If they can't be saved, evil-doers will end up on the business end of his mace!
drnuncheon
Explorer
OK, a couple of positive responses is all it takes! Here it is:
drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour: Create-a-Cohort Contest
Enter once, enter many times...I'll read them until my eyes glaze over and my brain melts out my ears.
Thorn: I'd be playing them, of course! Dru and Di'Fier would go too easy on each other, and besides, I want the players to be able to concentrate on their own characters. (Aren't I the epitome of kindness and selflessness?)
Taking Leadership has been a running joke for a while, ever since Di'Fier (?) looked at the feat and said, "This is an unofficial investigation that we are in charge of..."
J
...besides, they're about due for a promotion, they haven't upset Captain Donnach in...oh, three or four days...
drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour: Create-a-Cohort Contest
Enter once, enter many times...I'll read them until my eyes glaze over and my brain melts out my ears.
Thorn: I'd be playing them, of course!
Dru and Di'Fier would go too easy on each other, and besides, I want the players to be able to concentrate on their own characters. (Aren't I the epitome of kindness and selflessness?)Taking Leadership has been a running joke for a while, ever since Di'Fier (?) looked at the feat and said, "This is an unofficial investigation that we are in charge of..."
J
...besides, they're about due for a promotion, they haven't upset Captain Donnach in...oh, three or four days...
Atticus_of_Amber
Explorer
Multiclassing penalties
In my campaign, I haven't house ruled multiclassing, but I have come up with a "solution". In many cases in 3e, whenever there is an inconvenient rule, there is a way around it with a feat. Here's what I've done.
NEW GENERAL FEAT: ADDITIONAL FAVOURED CLASS
You are more able than most to keep up with more than one profession.
Benefit: You may choose one class to be an additional favoured class for you. You don't count levels in that class for the purposes of calculating XP penalties for multiclassing. You must choose an actual core character class for this feat (i.e. you cannot choose "any").
Note: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time it adds another additional favoured class, which doesn't count towards calculating multiclassing XP penalties.
Example Bimpnotten Breakthing is a gnome druid/illusionist level 3/1. In order to qualify for a particular home brew prestige class, she needs to take at least one level in rogue. To avoid taking a multiclassing penalty for the greater than two levels difference between her druid and rogue levels (illusionist levels don't count because illusionist is the gnome favoured class), she takes the feat Additional Favoured Class (Rogue). Now she discounts both her rogue and her illusionist levels when calculating her multiclassing XP penalty.
drnuncheon said:
Well, both are multiclassed already...Di'Fier would make his wizardly progression even worse by splitting into another spellcasting class, and Dru already has two non-favored classes, so she's got to keep them relatively even in terms of levels or suck up a non-insignificant XP penalty. Yep, I'm a mean DM - I haven't houseruled multiclassing!
I think they're hoping for someone with healing ability as a cohort - both of them have made noises about taking the Leadership feat next level. I must admit, the thought had crossed my mind to saddle them with a paladin/guard trainee, but a paladin wouldn't last long in Freeport...
Maybe I should run a 'Create a Cohort' contest...hmm...
J
In my campaign, I haven't house ruled multiclassing, but I have come up with a "solution". In many cases in 3e, whenever there is an inconvenient rule, there is a way around it with a feat. Here's what I've done.
NEW GENERAL FEAT: ADDITIONAL FAVOURED CLASS
You are more able than most to keep up with more than one profession.
Benefit: You may choose one class to be an additional favoured class for you. You don't count levels in that class for the purposes of calculating XP penalties for multiclassing. You must choose an actual core character class for this feat (i.e. you cannot choose "any").
Note: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time it adds another additional favoured class, which doesn't count towards calculating multiclassing XP penalties.
Example Bimpnotten Breakthing is a gnome druid/illusionist level 3/1. In order to qualify for a particular home brew prestige class, she needs to take at least one level in rogue. To avoid taking a multiclassing penalty for the greater than two levels difference between her druid and rogue levels (illusionist levels don't count because illusionist is the gnome favoured class), she takes the feat Additional Favoured Class (Rogue). Now she discounts both her rogue and her illusionist levels when calculating her multiclassing XP penalty.
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drnuncheon
Explorer
Session Eight, Part One: A Delivery for Devlin
DM Note: We're in the land of frequent short updates for a while, as work is rather hectic. I'll grab time to update when I can, since I don't want to fall any farther behind than I already am. We may be doing a long session this Saturday again, depending on how the Friday website launch goes...
"We've got a package for Devlin." The tough-looking elf tossed a small leather bag lightly in her hand as she spoke.
The innkeeper's son didn't even bother looking up from where he was lazily cleaning his nails with a short knife. "You kin leave it here."
Now the human with her cut in. "We're supposed to give it to him directly."
A shrug. "Ain't seen 'm in a couple weeks. You kin wait if y'want."
The elf frowned. Then she set her hand down on the wooden desk. Something made a dull metallic sound. "Maybe we could take it up to his room for him." Her hand moved slightly, and she tapped her finger on the silvery coin that was revealed.
Now, the eyes moved - they stayed locked on the coin. "Up the hall on the left. Room 3."
But even as the Watchmen climbed the stairs, a shape slipped from the front room out into the streets...
"Look at all the dust," Di'Fier complained as they entered the room. "Looks like it hasn't been used for longer than two weeks..."
"Maybe...maybe not..." Dru crossed the room with a frown, inspecting the bookshelves.
Behind her, Di'Fier mumbled something in the arcane tongue of mages. "Nothing magical," he said after a few moments of concentration, wandering around the room. "Looks like it was our man - er, snake - all right." He bent down to the mass of pillows on the floor and held up a large patch of scaly skin.
Dru continued to study the bookshelves. "There's something not right. Some of these books aren't dusty like the others...and they don't fit in, either. Volumes of elvish poetry in the middle of books on architecture...someone's already been through the room."
Her partner sighed. "Maybe they missed something?" he asked, without much hope. Turning to the other shelves, he studied a collection of oddly misshapen jars. "Wonder what's in these...gah!"
Dru spun around. "What is it?"
"Whatever's in there...it moved."
As the two Watchmen looked on, a shape floated into view through the black syrup in the jar - an albino cave rat. A living albino cave rat. Di'Fier cautiously set the jar back on the shelf. "I guess there's nothing else here."
"Wait a moment." Dru crossed the room to a bookshelf on the far wall. "Looks like a book fell back here." She pulled it free from its dusty prison and looked at it. "An Accounte of Metals Base and Pure," she read. "Must have been back there a while." Dust billowed up from the pages as she flipped through them. "Over my head. Wait...what's this?"
Di'Fier joined her in looking at the book. On the back flyleaf was a sketch covered with geometric lines, notations and equations. "That looks like the lighthouse," Di'Fier said. "But I have no idea what the arrows pointing to the different parts of it mean."
"Look at the symbol in the margin, though," Dru said. "A V in a circle."
Her eyes met her partner's. As one, they said: "Councillor Verlaine."
The pair came down from the second floor, Dru with the book tucked under her arm. "Thanks," she said dryly to the kid behind the desk. "Very helpful. I'm sure Devlin will appreciate it."
As Di'Fier pushed open the door to leave, though, Dru's ears picked up sounds that set her hackles on edge. Any citizen of Freeport knows the sound of a fight, and a Freeport Watchman doubly so. The two burst through the door to assess the situation.
Three massive, tusked orcs had a young boy surrounded - a messenger, from the looks of the satchel that he clung to like a shipwrecked pirate to a floating beam. The rough laughter of the three humanoids echoed in the narrow street, but underneath it was the whisper of drawn blades. And then, a clear elven voice rang out over the scene:
"Hey! Pig-boys!"
DM Note: We're in the land of frequent short updates for a while, as work is rather hectic. I'll grab time to update when I can, since I don't want to fall any farther behind than I already am. We may be doing a long session this Saturday again, depending on how the Friday website launch goes...
"We've got a package for Devlin." The tough-looking elf tossed a small leather bag lightly in her hand as she spoke.
The innkeeper's son didn't even bother looking up from where he was lazily cleaning his nails with a short knife. "You kin leave it here."
Now the human with her cut in. "We're supposed to give it to him directly."
A shrug. "Ain't seen 'm in a couple weeks. You kin wait if y'want."
The elf frowned. Then she set her hand down on the wooden desk. Something made a dull metallic sound. "Maybe we could take it up to his room for him." Her hand moved slightly, and she tapped her finger on the silvery coin that was revealed.
Now, the eyes moved - they stayed locked on the coin. "Up the hall on the left. Room 3."
But even as the Watchmen climbed the stairs, a shape slipped from the front room out into the streets...
"Look at all the dust," Di'Fier complained as they entered the room. "Looks like it hasn't been used for longer than two weeks..."
"Maybe...maybe not..." Dru crossed the room with a frown, inspecting the bookshelves.
Behind her, Di'Fier mumbled something in the arcane tongue of mages. "Nothing magical," he said after a few moments of concentration, wandering around the room. "Looks like it was our man - er, snake - all right." He bent down to the mass of pillows on the floor and held up a large patch of scaly skin.
Dru continued to study the bookshelves. "There's something not right. Some of these books aren't dusty like the others...and they don't fit in, either. Volumes of elvish poetry in the middle of books on architecture...someone's already been through the room."
Her partner sighed. "Maybe they missed something?" he asked, without much hope. Turning to the other shelves, he studied a collection of oddly misshapen jars. "Wonder what's in these...gah!"
Dru spun around. "What is it?"
"Whatever's in there...it moved."
As the two Watchmen looked on, a shape floated into view through the black syrup in the jar - an albino cave rat. A living albino cave rat. Di'Fier cautiously set the jar back on the shelf. "I guess there's nothing else here."
"Wait a moment." Dru crossed the room to a bookshelf on the far wall. "Looks like a book fell back here." She pulled it free from its dusty prison and looked at it. "An Accounte of Metals Base and Pure," she read. "Must have been back there a while." Dust billowed up from the pages as she flipped through them. "Over my head. Wait...what's this?"
Di'Fier joined her in looking at the book. On the back flyleaf was a sketch covered with geometric lines, notations and equations. "That looks like the lighthouse," Di'Fier said. "But I have no idea what the arrows pointing to the different parts of it mean."
"Look at the symbol in the margin, though," Dru said. "A V in a circle."
Her eyes met her partner's. As one, they said: "Councillor Verlaine."
The pair came down from the second floor, Dru with the book tucked under her arm. "Thanks," she said dryly to the kid behind the desk. "Very helpful. I'm sure Devlin will appreciate it."
As Di'Fier pushed open the door to leave, though, Dru's ears picked up sounds that set her hackles on edge. Any citizen of Freeport knows the sound of a fight, and a Freeport Watchman doubly so. The two burst through the door to assess the situation.
Three massive, tusked orcs had a young boy surrounded - a messenger, from the looks of the satchel that he clung to like a shipwrecked pirate to a floating beam. The rough laughter of the three humanoids echoed in the narrow street, but underneath it was the whisper of drawn blades. And then, a clear elven voice rang out over the scene:
"Hey! Pig-boys!"
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drnuncheon
Explorer
Phew. That was exhausting.
Just woke up after recovering from a marathon 10-hour Saturday session of Dru and Di'Fier - which means that I'm now even farther behind in the writeups. I've got eight pages of notes from that session alone (doubling my backlog!), and since the most recent writeup was from less than a page, there's a lot of material to get through. (On the other hand, the website launch went off with barely a hitch, so my life might calm down a bit.)
Let me tell you, faithful readers, that Dru and Di'Fier were on fire last night. (Sometimes literally.) Criminal wizards, fanatic assassins, frame-ups, betrayals, deathtraps, shocking revelations, and the highest body count ever! In those ten hours they managed to fight their way through the rest of Terror in Freeport and most of "Thirds of Purloined Vellum".
For those of you considering an entry into the 'Create a Cohort' contest, start working those pencils, because this double session pushed them all the way up to 6th level - and they're going to need the backup...
J
Just woke up after recovering from a marathon 10-hour Saturday session of Dru and Di'Fier - which means that I'm now even farther behind in the writeups. I've got eight pages of notes from that session alone (doubling my backlog!), and since the most recent writeup was from less than a page, there's a lot of material to get through. (On the other hand, the website launch went off with barely a hitch, so my life might calm down a bit.)
Let me tell you, faithful readers, that Dru and Di'Fier were on fire last night. (Sometimes literally.) Criminal wizards, fanatic assassins, frame-ups, betrayals, deathtraps, shocking revelations, and the highest body count ever! In those ten hours they managed to fight their way through the rest of Terror in Freeport and most of "Thirds of Purloined Vellum".
For those of you considering an entry into the 'Create a Cohort' contest, start working those pencils, because this double session pushed them all the way up to 6th level - and they're going to need the backup...
J
drnuncheon
Explorer
Re: Re: Phew. That was exhausting.
We will also begin taking bets on how long the paladin will last in a city like Freeport...
J
Horacio said:
We will also begin taking bets on how long the paladin will last in a city like Freeport...
J
drnuncheon
Explorer
Session Eight, Part Two: Some Unlikely Bibliophiles
Still in the Land of Short Updates - I'll try to throw these up more often at least, so I can catch up to the current time. Look for more (hopefully) Monday!
Dru
"Hey! Pig-boys!" Dru stood with a mocking grin in the doorway of the Marquis Moon, book tucked under one arm and blade held lazily in her hand. Behind her, her partner was already incanting the words of his mage armor spell, summoning the eldritch protective forces around him. As the orcs' attention turned to the pair of Watchmen, the messenger slipped to the side, away from the fight.
Dru lifted her blade and advanced, slipping it easily past the creature's feeble guard and into the flesh of its arm. Bright blood jetted from the wound as the blade slid back. Then her partner joined the fray as well, his massive battle-blade nicking another one of the ruffians. These wounds only served to redouble the orcs' resolve: greataxes were hefted and the air rang with metal on metal as the guardsmen were forced back before their opponent's mightly blows. Dru's rapier was not enough to turn aside one of the weapons, and it bit into her shoulder, sending blood flowing down her arm and loosening her grasp on...
The book! Dru thought as the tome was pulled from her numbed fingers. Twisting in surprise, she saw the messenger spin and run from her, the evidence they had found clutched to his chest. "Di'Fier!" she roared, diving out of the path of an orcish axe. "It's a setup! He's got the book!" Her partner growled, and his mighty swing clove deep into the orc that had wounded her. The black raven that had been circling the battle banked and winged its way towards the running boy - but there was no way for the bird to stop him. Dru hesitated only a moment, and then she began to run. A blade whistled over her head as she bent almost parallel to the street and chased the so-called "messenger". Behind her, she could hear a cry of pain as an axe slammed into Di'Fier. Just hold them off, Di'Fier, she thought fiercely. I'll be back - but I'm not letting this lead go!
Behind her, she could hear the gutteral tongue of the orcs: <<I'll take care of him, get the female!>> Dru redoubled her efforts to catch up to the messenger, abandoning everything but speed...when suddenly, the boy stopped dead in his tracks and whirled. Dru saw the knife glint in his hand almost too late. Even as it was, the blade dug into her side as she twisted frantically away. Gritting her teeth against the pain, the elf lashed out with her blade, opening a deep gash across the boy's face.
Half-blind from blood and pain, the messenger howled: "The Brotherhood will make you pay!" As it happened, his knife was not to be the instrument by which such payment would be exacted - unless it was empty air to which his threat was addressed, of course. Dru could hear the thundering feet of the orcs chasing her - and behind them, Di'Fier chasing the orcs. She spun, just in time to avoid the pair of massive axeblades aimed at her. Then Di'Fier slammed into them from behind, his blade biting deep into one of them. "Dru! He's getting away!" cried the Watchman.
The elf whirled back and saw that it was true. She lunged with her blade, striking the boy in the leg, but by the time she had recovered, he was half-limping, half-running again. Dru took a few steps after him, and then her hand dropped to her belt. A half-pound of razor-sharp steel whirled through the air and into the fleeing messenger's back, and he spilled forward onto the cobblestones, still sprawled across the book. In an instant, Dru was beside him, rolling the body away and snatching up the book. It's nice to know we're on the right track, she thought as she turned back to the fight.
Di'Fier sent one of the orcs crashing to the ground even as Dru advanced on the other. The orc turned to deal with this new threat, batting away her thrust, but splitting his limited attention proved to be his undoing, as the Watch-mage's heavy blade took him across the spine. Where's the last? Dru thought for a moment - until she saw the crumpled body in front of the inn. Good. All accounted for.
"They must have seen us go up to Milos' room," Di'Fier said, kicking one of the bodies over onto its back as he cleaned his blade. "Looks like the cult had it staked out just in case they left something behind. What are we going to say in our report?"
Dru shrugged, digging in her pouch for some potions to close her wounds. "They resisted arrest. More important, what are we going to do with this book? I don't want to leave it with your family - that would put them in danger."
Di'Fier smiled. "Tear out that last page and keep it with you. I've got an idea."
Still in the Land of Short Updates - I'll try to throw these up more often at least, so I can catch up to the current time. Look for more (hopefully) Monday!
Dru
"Hey! Pig-boys!" Dru stood with a mocking grin in the doorway of the Marquis Moon, book tucked under one arm and blade held lazily in her hand. Behind her, her partner was already incanting the words of his mage armor spell, summoning the eldritch protective forces around him. As the orcs' attention turned to the pair of Watchmen, the messenger slipped to the side, away from the fight.
Dru lifted her blade and advanced, slipping it easily past the creature's feeble guard and into the flesh of its arm. Bright blood jetted from the wound as the blade slid back. Then her partner joined the fray as well, his massive battle-blade nicking another one of the ruffians. These wounds only served to redouble the orcs' resolve: greataxes were hefted and the air rang with metal on metal as the guardsmen were forced back before their opponent's mightly blows. Dru's rapier was not enough to turn aside one of the weapons, and it bit into her shoulder, sending blood flowing down her arm and loosening her grasp on...
The book! Dru thought as the tome was pulled from her numbed fingers. Twisting in surprise, she saw the messenger spin and run from her, the evidence they had found clutched to his chest. "Di'Fier!" she roared, diving out of the path of an orcish axe. "It's a setup! He's got the book!" Her partner growled, and his mighty swing clove deep into the orc that had wounded her. The black raven that had been circling the battle banked and winged its way towards the running boy - but there was no way for the bird to stop him. Dru hesitated only a moment, and then she began to run. A blade whistled over her head as she bent almost parallel to the street and chased the so-called "messenger". Behind her, she could hear a cry of pain as an axe slammed into Di'Fier. Just hold them off, Di'Fier, she thought fiercely. I'll be back - but I'm not letting this lead go!
Behind her, she could hear the gutteral tongue of the orcs: <<I'll take care of him, get the female!>> Dru redoubled her efforts to catch up to the messenger, abandoning everything but speed...when suddenly, the boy stopped dead in his tracks and whirled. Dru saw the knife glint in his hand almost too late. Even as it was, the blade dug into her side as she twisted frantically away. Gritting her teeth against the pain, the elf lashed out with her blade, opening a deep gash across the boy's face.
Half-blind from blood and pain, the messenger howled: "The Brotherhood will make you pay!" As it happened, his knife was not to be the instrument by which such payment would be exacted - unless it was empty air to which his threat was addressed, of course. Dru could hear the thundering feet of the orcs chasing her - and behind them, Di'Fier chasing the orcs. She spun, just in time to avoid the pair of massive axeblades aimed at her. Then Di'Fier slammed into them from behind, his blade biting deep into one of them. "Dru! He's getting away!" cried the Watchman.
The elf whirled back and saw that it was true. She lunged with her blade, striking the boy in the leg, but by the time she had recovered, he was half-limping, half-running again. Dru took a few steps after him, and then her hand dropped to her belt. A half-pound of razor-sharp steel whirled through the air and into the fleeing messenger's back, and he spilled forward onto the cobblestones, still sprawled across the book. In an instant, Dru was beside him, rolling the body away and snatching up the book. It's nice to know we're on the right track, she thought as she turned back to the fight.
Di'Fier sent one of the orcs crashing to the ground even as Dru advanced on the other. The orc turned to deal with this new threat, batting away her thrust, but splitting his limited attention proved to be his undoing, as the Watch-mage's heavy blade took him across the spine. Where's the last? Dru thought for a moment - until she saw the crumpled body in front of the inn. Good. All accounted for.
"They must have seen us go up to Milos' room," Di'Fier said, kicking one of the bodies over onto its back as he cleaned his blade. "Looks like the cult had it staked out just in case they left something behind. What are we going to say in our report?"
Dru shrugged, digging in her pouch for some potions to close her wounds. "They resisted arrest. More important, what are we going to do with this book? I don't want to leave it with your family - that would put them in danger."
Di'Fier smiled. "Tear out that last page and keep it with you. I've got an idea."
- Status
