[4e] The Dustbowl (QA) [Recruitment - OPEN(1)] (OOC)

Hello everyone!

I've been trolling these boards for about a week or so now, and while waiting to hear if my L4W character will be approved, I've decided to give DM'ing a chance on the PbP boards! First, a little bit of background about myself;

I began D&D around the time 3rd Edition came out, so I guess I'm still pretty newb compared to some on this board. Despite that fact, I was immediately enthralled by character creation and "pen and paper" RPG that was D&D, and subsequently bought all of the books (core and supporting), played in up to 3 campaigns at once, and have DM'ed 2 successful campaigns so far. Despite all this, I have never had the chance of DM'ing a campaign using PbP, so bear with me as this is my first shot at it. On with the thread!

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Quick Adventure System

I've been thinking of a way I can launch into the game quickly and without having to write a thorough background/world/story/religion. Something that may grow over time. So, I've decided to launch into the quick adventure. Essentially, this story will have a minimal plot (to be described at the beginning of the thread in the "Playing the Game" Forum), and almost immediately after the intro posts of the players, combat begins. This allows for many things; 1. Players to jump into the action while still getting a small chance for roleplay; 2. Allowing posters the chance to roll up a mid-heroic tier character in an attempt to test something out; 3. Build a story from the character's point of view based on their decisions. I'm hoping this will work out for the better rather than the other direction.

Guidelines for the Adventure

PC's

I'm looking for 4-5 players (no more than five) to join in. Characters MUST be created using 4e rules, with the standard 22 pt buy system. All races/classes published by Wizards (including core/supplemental/dragon/unreleased content) are allowed. Starting level will be 5 (FIVE), and wealth will be 7,000 gp. This gives leeway to have some very nice starting equipment while not feeling terribly underpowered. Please post a PDF or IMG of your character so that I can look over it briefly (I trust players most of the time). Rule of thumb for D&DI Character Builders - It should say "legal" under your portait when you're finished!

Adventure

I will post rough and/or extended descriptions when needed. During combat rounds, a grid-like system will be used, showing monsters/POIs/Etc for the combat. The grid will be updated once everyone has a chance to post their actions. Obviously, don't just post "I hit the orc." Instead, say "I pull out my crossbow and use Sly Flourish (+20 vs AC) to deal 2d6+4 (12) damage to Orc 1." This gives me an easy way of keeping track of everything.

I'm asking everyone sign up (or at least use) Invisible Castle's Dice Roller to roll their dice. This allows for some sense of contributing to the game while keeping everthing (hopefully) legal. Please linkback your dice rolls when rolling for anything (initiative, combat checks, saves, etc).

If you have any questions regarding the adventure, please let me know! After recruitment is finished, this thread will become the OOC thread and I will hope to post the introduction post within the first week.

Approved for The Dustbowl (Final)

Stick (renau1g) - Level 5 Dragonborn Hybrid Sorcerer/Warden

Mialucus (Binder_Fred) - Level 5 Elf Swordmage

Scholar (Shayuri) - Level 5 Deva

Caden (Legildur) - Level 5 Halfling Rogue

Position Currently Available

Hey eblue,

I like it, it's always fun to try out new classes/builds. Are you ok with playtest material? i.e. hybrid classes or psionic classes?

Thanks,
renau1g

renau1g,

Yes, that is also perfectly acceptable (to me at least). If you could supply a link to the information (if it's not readily available) so I can read up on them. I do have a D&DI sub as well, so you can just reference the mag and/or link. Go ahead and post a character if you're interested!

Sure - I'll work on one shortly. The hybrid stuff is from Dragon 375, it's also loaded in the CB.

So I thought I'd try a natural-style tribal leader. Stick can flip between melee and ranged pretty easily, mark foes and (when donning the armour) take the blows. He'd be from a tribe of barbarian dragonborn in the Northlands, revering the phases of the cosmic bodies and focusing on cold-type powers.

[sblock=Stick]
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Stick, level 5
Dragonborn, Sorcerer|Warden
Sorcerous Power: Sorcerous Power Strength
Hybrid Talent: Soul of the Sorcerer
Soul of the Sorcerer: Soul of the Cosmic Cycle
Hybrid Warden: Hybrid Warden Will
Dragon Breath Key Ability: Dragon Breath Strength
Dragon Breath Damage Type: Dragon Breath Cold
Background: Born Under a Bad Sign (Born Under a Bad Sign Benefit)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 20, Con 10, Dex 13, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 18.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 17, Con 10, Dex 13, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 15.


AC: 17 Fort: 18 Reflex: 14 Will: 19
HP: 58 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 14

TRAINED SKILLS
Nature +7, Intimidate +13, Athletics +12, Perception +7

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +4, Arcana +1, Bluff +6, Diplomacy +6, Dungeoneering +2, Endurance +2, Heal +2, History +3, Insight +2, Religion +1, Stealth +3, Streetwise +6, Thievery +3

FEATS
Level 1: Mark of Warding
Level 2: Hybrid Talent
Level 4: Focused Expertise (Quarterstaff)

POWERS
Hybrid Sorcerer at-will 1: Blazing Starfall
Hybrid Warden at-will 1: Earth Shield Strike
Hybrid encounter 1: Hungry Earth
Hybrid daily 1: Form of Winter's Herald
Hybrid utility 2: Nature's Abundance
Hybrid encounter 3: Ice Dragon's Teeth
Hybrid daily 5: Glacial Armor

ITEMS
Staff of the Serpent +2, Summoned Layered Plate Armor +2, Cloak of Distortion +1, Giant Lizard, Draft, Impenetrable Barding (heroic tier), Potion of Resistance (heroic tier), Elixir of Reflexes (level 8) (2), Acrobat Boots (heroic tier), Potion of Regeneration (heroic tier) (2)
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======
[/sblock]

Looks good renau1g! Seems interesting with the hybrid abilities, have to see how it plays out. We have at least 1 adventurer now, let's hope more can join!

Colour me interested, Eblu!

Are the characters in the same adventuring party at the begining of the game? That tends to simplify things as well.

As for characters, I've got an idea for Silipsiss of the Water, an emanciated dragonborn Warlock. His Fey pact with a river goddess/spirit gives him water-based powers (Eldritch Blast as a Waterhose attack, etc). He does require minor tweeking of the spell descriptors however (The "fire" Descriptor on the 3rd level Fiery Bolt changing to "force" so it becomes his Depthcharge Geyser for example -- pity there isn't any official "water" descriptor out there ) so I'll understand if you want to keep the game entirely "legal".

The other idea I'm toying with right now would be an elven Swordmage (Mialucus of the bloodless storm). Sharpness, blade growth and throwing his scimitar in a flat spin accounts for most of his attacks. Duelist, magical component acquisition specialist, exterminator, all in the name of money and skill...

What do you think?
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Binder Fred, nice to meet you.

Binder Fred,

To answer your first (and easier) question, yes, all characters will be considered in the same party at the beginning of the game. How they got there and what they are doing there will be played out during the course of the adventure I hope!

As far as your characters go, if it is possible within the current 4e ruleset to create a dragonborn with fey pact, by all means. I don't see any upfront problems with changing descriptors of certain spells from "fire" to "water" or "force" at the moment, as it shouldn't interfere too much with the initial gameplay. But I wouldn't go much farther than that (like granting any special powers, etc).

Elven swordmages are also cool too As long as its by the rules, it's alright with me. If you have questions before you post, you can add them here or certainly PM me.

Hi. Like you, I started playing early to mid 3e, but this is my first pbp. I understand if you would rather I didn't play because of that, but this looks like a good one to start considering it's very loose and casual campaign wise. If you wouldn't mind me playing, I would need links to whatever page is used for the character sheets you want us to link, and I'm not fimilliar with how to use invisible castle. Again, if you're not ok with that it's fine with me. The only character I was looking into trying out was an Eladrin fey Warlock/Rogue. If that's a problem with you Binder Fred, I can try to work out something else if you decided you weren't interested in your other idea. Just let me know if you're ok with me joining in.

Cherub,

Of course we'd love to have you! Currently, we're looking at one or two defenders/controllers, so a rogue would work well. We're probably gonna need a leader at some point, but that's not bad.

Here's a link to a downloadable character sheet that you can fill in: Here. If you have a D&D Insider subscription (here) Then you can use their tools. It's very handy and I recommend it, but it does cost money. Otherwise, just follow the books and type it out like renau1g did as well.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Ahh, forgot invisible caste. Just follow the link and fill in the instructions. It's very simple.