D&D 5E [D&D 5e] Planescape- In Through the Out Door (Full)

Unsung

First Post
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The Outlands. Infinite, much as all the planes are infinite, in number and in scope. A great untamed scrubland stretches out to the yawning horizon. The baking yellow sun never seems to set in the same place twice. The only reliable landmark is the Spire, infinite in height, and yet crowned by the impossible ring-city of Sigil, the City of Doors, full of madmen whose hubris is so all-consuming that they really believe they know the secret of the various universes.

The Outlands are a crossroads, hub of the so-called Great Wheel, and of the Ringlands, a small but self-important collection of towns and quote-unquote cities, huddled around the Spire’s shadow, sixteen of them like the ticks and silent tocks of some unfathomable sundial. The Hinterlands lie beyond, a place where reality breaks down, where rational folk do not go, or at least they don’t come back.

The Outlands. Three days from anywhere and three days from everywhere else. A precipice, below which lies heaven and hell and high water, Limbo and Valhalla and Fairyland and all points between, all the myriad worlds.

One of those worlds is home, and it’s all you can do to wonder if you’ll ever see it again...

So, any takers?

My first game on ENworld, though not my first PbP game. I’ve been running and playing in forum games since before the dawn of the new millennium.

For those who are interested, here’s a few things I’d be interested in seeing:

At least one character from Earth. That is to say, our Earth, the real world, short of any intimate knowledge of D&D’s Outer Planes. A clueless prime, the classic fish out of water, a bumpkin from a low-magic wasteland hurled into a world of fantasy. The character could be from the present day, or else drawn from any point within the last, say, sixty years or so? If more than one player wants to play this role, the characters don’t have to be from the same time or place.

At least one savvy, cynical planar. Strong faction ties (or sect, religion, Blood War, Psychomachia, etc) are a plus. Someone to serve as a tout and poor man’s mimir to the rest of the party. This could be the worlds-weary veteran planewalker, or just the snarky, know-it-all man on the street that can be found throughout all of Sigil’s wards.

Characters from the Prime. i.e, the Prime Material Plane, where all the other campaign settings of D&D (bar Ravenloft) can be found. Come from Toril, Krynn, Athas, Oerth, etc, or make up one of your own.

Planetouched or monstrous humanoid characters. The weirder, the better. Defrocked angel fallen on hard times, just-hatched juvenile dragon, senile lich, humble workaday troll/beholderkin/android just trying to make ends meet, or something else entirely. Just so long as you can fit it into the mechanical guidelines set down below. Again, reskinning is your friend.

A master and apprentice pairing. The master can break the normal level cap of 5, and could go as high as level 8, if single-classed as a wizard, sorcerer, or warlock. The apprentice should be no higher than level 3, assuming their other two levels are in a multiclass of something other than what they’re apprenticing in.

Mix and match to your liking, or do something else entirely. Not edicts, just gentle suggestions.

GROUND RULES
All PHB and DMG races and classes are available. Homebrew options will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Reskinning and/or refluffing are thoroughly encouraged. You can select feats in place of Ability Score Increases, and the variant human is allowed.

You can roll for ability scores (4d6 drop one six times, arrange as you like) or use the following array: 15 14 13 12 10 8. Use a site like Invisible Castle for your rolls or just go by the honour system, because hey, I trust you.

Your characters can, and should, vary in level, between levels 1 and 5. Choose whatever fits your character concept best.

Your mundane equipment can be whatever you might justifiably carry, but the party is low on ready cash. Exact amounts will be decided as the party takes shape.

We’ll be using the variant rules for identifying a magic item. Experimentation and the identify spell are required to learn what magic items do. You can only identify a magic item during a short or long rest if it’s sufficiently similar to one you’ve already come across before.

[sblock=Magic items at character creation]If you’re not playing being of an overtly magical nature already (Picayune and Liliana, this means you, sorry), choose two of the following: 1d4 + 2 common or uncommon potions or spell scrolls of your choice, any one common or uncommon magic item (this includes +1 magic weapons), or a magic item from the following list (each item on the list can only be taken once).

  • A single rare or very rare potion or spell scroll of your choice.
  • Two sending stones, each half of a different pair. You know the person who has one of the corresponding stones (describe who it is-- it can be another member of the party if you want). You have no idea who has the other.
  • A bag of holding. Owned by Graydon(?). This dusty leather satchel is stuffed near-to-capacity with fine gray silt, rocks, tiny bones, bits of rusty metal, scraps of cloth and fine chain mesh, and a metallic skull about the size of your closed fist, heavily smudged with dirt and oddly misshapen fingerprints.
  • A cracked lens of identification with an unknown number of charges. This monocle has a chain of finely worked gold, and must be worth something to somebody. When you hold it to your eye, you can expend 1 charge as an action to cast identify or detect magic. The lens regains 1d6 - 3 charges daily at dawn.
  • A sword which you know full well to be cursed, although you’re not sure exactly how. The sword is (or was) a longsword. The blade has been snapped in two, about two-thirds of the way up. Though it doesn’t look it, the blade retains a remarkable edge. When you attack with this sword, you deal maximized damage on a hit. (Unidentified)
  • A simple circlet of beaten bronze that expands and contracts to fit any wearer. (Unidentified)
  • A burnished gold signet ring with a coat-of-arms so worn as to be illegible, with two unidentifiable heraldric beasts flanking the central chevron. Owned by Eurid, found among the possessions of his mentor. (Unidentified)
  • A seemingly-empty brown beer bottle with a faded, once-colourful label printed in Elvish, depicting what appears to be a cartoon drawing of a smiling griffin. The griffin is making a thumbs-up gesture with one of its front talons. The bottle is sealed shut, using what appears to be copious amounts of scotch tape. (Unidentified)
  • A wobbly ioun stone with an erratic orbit and a tendency to wander between members of the same party during long rests. (Unidentified)
  • A sealed glass jar containing a waxy, pinkish paste. A shiny green fly is trapped inside, buzzing occasionally just beneath the lid. The insect has remained there, alive and apparently well, for all of the several weeks you’ve had the jar. (Unidentified)
  • A stoppered flask full of tiny wrinkled brains submersed in a slowly bubbling greenish fluid. When you place your bare hand on the bottom of the flask, you hear low, unpleasant voices in the back of your head. (Unidentified)
  • A matte-black 9mm handgun with a full clip of 11 rounds and a small metal tin containing 1d10+3 bullets and an old cassette tape ("THE DOORS GREATEST HITS"). If you have proficiency with hand crossbows (or if you’re from Earth, or another world that happens to have invented firearms), you’re automatically proficient with this strange weapon. However, if you’ve never fired a gun before, you have disadvantage with all attack rolls using this weapon until you have rolled a natural 16 or higher. Each shot fired deals 3d6 piercing damage, and the weapon can fire up to 11 rounds before reloading. The gun is accurate up to 100 feet, but falls off rapidly after that.
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(More to follow as rulings come up in play.)


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INSPIRATIONAL FODDER
The Wizard of Oz
Alice In Wonderland
The Chronicles of Narnia
American Gods
The Dark Tower
Farscape
Sliders
Land of the Lost
Gamma World
real world mythology
road movies in general


ROLL CALL
@goatunit - Eurid Turnstone, lawful neutral tiefling paladin 3 (oath of vengeance), devotee of Kelemvor, Dustman factotum
@Kiraya_TiDrekan - "Drone", neutral rogue modron druid 1, subject of extensive experiments
@CanadienneBacon - Picayune Leveaux, chaotic neutral effigy bard 3 (college of jazz), New Orleans musician, dead
@Shayuri - Shard, The Lion Who Roars At Noon, neutral good human cleric 5 (Light domain)
@Queenie - Liliana, neutral good pixie warlock 5 (Archfey pact), daughter of the queen
@Fenris- Ozymandias, chaotic neutral satyr bard 3 (college of lore), Liliana's protector and guide
@Pembinasa- Graydon Tharnvar, chaotic good human wizard 3 (school of illusion), clueless prime, student at the Great School of Magic in Glantri currently hitchhiking across the Outer Planes
@Quickleaf- Shandrizar the All-Seeing, lawful good familiar (animated spellbook) fighter 1/monk 2, previously a human archmage specializing in divination, otherwise known as Scryer Supreme of the Plane of Concordant Opposition, Master Augur of the Fraternity of Order, Diviner Preeminent in the Lady's Cage

IC Thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?424198-D-amp-D-5e-Planescape-In-Through-the-Out-Door
Rogues Gallery: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...Out-Door-Rogues-Gallery&p=6538903#post6538903

EDIT: ...Full!
 
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KirayaTiDrekan

Adventurer
Me! Me! Me! Pick me!!!!!

Ahem, sorry, got a little carried away there.

I have two possible concepts I want to do and I can't decide.

1. Lieutenant Anna Marie Johannsen, a United States Army Air Corps nurse serving in England in World War II, specifically 1939, two years prior to the official entry of the U.S. in the conflict. Anna is also a spy, providing intelligence to both Britain and the U.S. Human Soldier (Healer/Medic with proficiency in the automatic pistol replacing the proficiency with a gaming set, unless you'd rather I use a feat to be proficient with modern weapons) Fighter (Battle Master) - Level 4 (ish, could range from 2 to 5, depending on on how long she's been stationed overseas before getting whisked away to magic-land), possibly multi-classing with Rogue (Assassin, reskinned slightly to represent her espionage training).

2. Nameless, a rogue modron that was damaged during the last great modron march and left for dead. It was reconfigured and experimented on by (insert insane evil wizard person here) and now looks like a strange techno-organic frankenstein, equal parts machine and flesh. It doesn't know who or even what it is and has no memory of anything before waking up where ever a PC it can imprint on happens to be. It will then follow that PC around for a while, asking childlike questions as it figures out what it is and its place in the world (using Warforged race from the Unearthed Arcana: Eberron article...class and background are up in the air at this point).

Woohoo Planescape! :D
 

Unsung

First Post
Two posts, but quite the enthusiastic response. @CanadienneBacon @Kiraya_TiDrekan I haven't been in a game with you yet (a very near miss with you, Kira), but I've seen you around. I've seen you work, and I've gotta say, you've each got a spot if you want it. :D

I like both your characters, Kira. I'm going to hold off on saying more more until after I've seen what other concepts come out of the woodwork. I don't want to sway anyone's decision just yet.

Edit: Modern weapons are allowed for any stray earthlings that find their way into the cast, but a lack of bullets might eventually pose a problem. Firearms will probably be deadlier than they are in the DMG, but nevertheless I think swapping out one of your tool proficiencies is a plausible trade. Maybe not from a balancing standpoint, but it's realistic. I like it. The balance of firearms will probably lie in their rarity.
 
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Shayuri

First Post
Oh man.

A game where I can trot out some really WEIRD ideas?

Um, ok. Um. Damn, where to start?

Let me do some distilling here.
 

[MENTION=6781406]Unsung[/MENTION], would you please post some more artwork relevant to the setting and the campaign (if you have access to any)? I'm kind of in love with the idea of participating but have never played Planescape, so it would take some thinking and mulling before I came up with a character. It would be helpful to me to draw inspiration from some art.

I'm thinking either: 1) human from The Real World; or 2) off-the-chain monstrous humanoid. Like Shayuri, I feel drawn to do something new, something I haven't done before, something weird. The pic you posted above makes me think of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and the movie Blade Runner.

Thursdays and Fridays are court days for me, so if I fall off the radar until Monday or Tuesday next week, it's because of work and not because I forgot.
 

Shayuri

First Post
Planescape knowledge? I can help. Indirectly. :)

http://mimir.net/main.shtml

Also, Unsung, maybe change the font and color of your intro post? Right now it's a tiny font that's black on dark grey background and it's murdering my eyes like tiny kittens in tiny experiments involving poison gas and quantum superposition.
 

Unsung

First Post
Alright, so I think I fixed the formatting issues with the first post. I copied it over directly, which sometimes seems to cause issues, but not always.

The Mimir remains an excellent primer to Planescape. I'll also tout (ha-ha) sciborg's PS Inspiration Thread over on www.planewalker.com (and the wiki on the pre-crash mirror of the site) as a great fantasy inspiration thread in general, not only for Planescape.
http://www.planewalker.com/content/ps-inspiration-take-ii-getting-back-infinite-staircase
http://mimir.planewalker.com/forum/ps-inspiration-thread

Anyway, ask and ye shall receive:

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Her Serenity, The Lady of Pain, enigmatic 'ruler' of the Cage and face of the brand
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Map of the Outer Planes
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Cityscapes, Sigil and beyond
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Planescape's other, unofficial mascot, the modron
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Iconic Planescape artist Tony DiTerlizzi
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Factol-Rhys-by-Tony-Diterlizzi-2600-(1994-04)-TSR-AD%2526D-2ed-Planescape-Campaign-Setting-Boxed-Set---Planescape-Campaign-Setting---a-players-guide-to-the-planes.jpg

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Giovanni Piranesi, major inspiration on the project
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Robh Ruppel, another of the primary artists on Planescape
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Last but not least, Dana Knutson, designer of the Lady of Pain
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Planescape: Torment, the cRPG that nailed it
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Bestiary on Gamebanshee http://www.gamebanshee.com/planescapetorment/creatures.php
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And more besides.
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At the core of Planescape is the idea that belief informs reality, that if enough people believe a thing it is possible to reshape reality. The Outer Planes, the heavens, hells, and various other afterlives, all run on this concept. Gods are fed by the belief of their followers and starve away to nothing without it. The theory goes that a lone mortal whose will was strong enough could do the same thing, but in practice it's all much easier if you get a bunch of folks together who all believe the same thing with you. And it's even easier, they suppose, if that thing is already true. Which is where you get Sigil and its factions, philosophers with clubs, out to bend the multiverse to their will by acting in accordance with what they have decided is the purpose of life.

It was a mid-Nineties setting and there's definitely an air of punk!punk about it. Hacking reality, as it were. And the default role of PCs is as troubleshooters running jobs between rival factions and armies.
 


Queenie

Queen of Everything
Ohhh... Unsung. I just touted you over in another thread for a part time piratey gig with these gals. I don't know Planescape so I'm a little hesitant, but I lurve your writing. Still, I feel like I'm hogging up lots of spots in lots of games, I just want to PLAY and my games are pretty slow right now. What kind of posting are you looking at? I do think Fenris would be interested but he's ya know, sleeping, so would have to look in the morning. It just sounds so cool <3
 

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