• The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!

Under strange stars [OOC]


log in or register to remove this ad


Someone

Adventurer
I have to apologize in advance for my brutal beating of the english language. But as promised, here´s the brief introduction:

This is a strange world under strange stars. In the cosmopolitan port of Tangrabah, caravans meet merchant ships from lands scattered all over the infinite sea; rogues, swordmen, misterious sorcerers, sagely wizards and weird dervishes look here their opportunity to challenge waves and unexplored lands looking for gold, wisdom and power.

The infinite sea

What in other settings are planes and demiplanes, here are islands, ranging from a mere rock raised several inches over the waves to full sized continents, without forgetting sunken realms, treacherous coral reefs and all the conventions of the genre. The only transitive plane that joins them is the infinite sea. It´s easy to enter the plane: one just have to sail (or fly, or swim, or whatnot) beyond sight of the land. And now, only an experienced sailor can bring you back.

The sea is unlike any other. Turn 180º is not guaranteed to bring you where you were before, the orientation being a thing of more gut feeling and experience than charts and maths. Maps are limitedly useful, and most look like more a painting that something designed as a tool. Stars change every night. Of course, certain routes are easier than others, being that directly related to how often is sailed. Well travelled routes are more “stable” in lenght and tend to be less dangerous. Ships adventuring for new commercial routes more often that not do not arrive where they aimed, but almost always arrive at something if they survive the dangers of the sea; hunger and thirst, sea monsters, storms, and madness.

This affects rules in several ways. Teleport and greater teleport can´t allow you to leave your island: you need Plane Shift (Island Shift) to do that (the focus being a handful of earth from the island you want to go, a handful of earth that you personally must have taken). Likewise, spells and powers that don´t extend over planes don´t leave the sea or work from island to island. The Astral, ethereal, inner, outer and shadow planes do not exist, though spells related to them still work (with the only exception of shadow walk) Teleportation spells simply make you dissapear and appear at other location, spells that make you ethereal change you into a different state without having to move you to other plane, summoning and creation spells simply create things on the spot and so on. Astral proyection works in a slightly different way; spell that manipulate weather and divine the path do not work while in the Sea.

The islands are roughly divided in three: the lands of the men, savage islands and far realms. The lands of the men tend to be well connected, less dangerous, more civilized and follow the laws of nature fairly closely. The most famous land between them is Andalasiah, the continent where Tangrabah is located. Sailing to and from here is easier than any other port in the world, so many ships use its port as a stopover. The savage islands, while inhabited by monsters, tribes of wild humanoids and often sport an incredible variety of deadly hazards, are relatively “normal” and mundane. The far realms are a different thing: you can expect anything there, including legendary stuff like the magnetic mountain and the world´s edge. Roughly they are the adventuring equivalent to the outer planes. Rename Knowledge: the planes for Knowledge: Distant lands.

Tangrabah

Tangrabah is loosely inspired on Baghdad and Basra in the (almost) legendary times of Haroun Al Rashid (and my own city in the 17-18 century). The typical city where you can find anything, it´s a haphazard bundle of palaces, humble houses, caravasars, taverns, stores, towers and the most tangled maze of streets, alleys and backstreets in the world, the lack of planning being caused by the relative anarchy the city lived before the current ruling class unified both city and country and made caravan rutes into the continent safe. The heart of the city is the natural port, a sandy beach around a large bay. Just in the bay´s center lies the incredibly luxurious calyph´s palace, raised on a artificial island; many also live in boats and ships tied together. The rich live next to the port, and almost all of their houses have a tall and slim tower designed to spot the coming ships (since most of them are traders and merchants) Next come most of the stores and markets, where you can find anything, from needles to swords (and people to wield them), hemp and silk, sages and slaves, the strangest people buying them and of course a large body of thieves.
The working class live next to that and surrounding the city´s main fortress/prison. In Tangrabah most of the houses tend to be small, painted in white, and people make their lives on the street. Since they are narrow, moving can be difficult sometimes.
And surrounding that, out of the walls and next to the desert, the desperate, the criminals, those who don´t want to be found, or too poor to choose, survive.
It´s very big city: population is about two hundred thousand, and about 25% of it is non native.
Currency is dinar (gold coin) and dirhem (silver). 125 dirhem equals 1 dinar; in D&D terms:
1 dinar: 5 D&D gold coins
2,5 dirhem: 1 D&D silver coin.
The local language is Andalasian. It works as lingua franca: many people can speak it, even abroad.

Rules stuff

Religion: Players with divine type characters would want to know about that. There are not gods in the normal D&D sense, but that doesn´t mean people don´t worship them (real or not) and a plethora of natural and supernatural beings, from giant apes to celestials and fiends (collectively called “genies”) The player can choose whatever belief he´s following and rename his class as he want, as long the mechanics remain the same. In the case of the cleric, that means he must write a brief (about 3-4 lines) with the basics of the cleric´s ethics and where do his powers come from: pacts with magical spirits, inner power, a pseudoscientific explanation or higher ideals.

Other cosmetic changes are also allowed. Psions could want to be named dervishes or mystics, for example. Same for races: if you want to be a member of the tree people from X instead of an elf, that´s cool.

In a concesion to the setting´s feeling, we´ll remove the rapier from the list of weapons and will make the scimitar finesseable (this already benefits Al-Khazad, iirc)

Other than that, there are not other house rules worth mentioning, (except that, if I understood the “manifest from another power´s known” rules right, they are clearly abusive)

The first post is ready, and I´ll post it this Wednesday at this same hour. You should have at least a working concept of your character, enough to roleplay it, but a complete character would be better since it´ll probably be needed soon; I´ll post it earlier if all characters are finished by then.

In your first post make a brief description of your character as usual in pbps, then in the first two or three pages announce in the first line your character name and class, -or at least until we´re all familiar with them and don´t have to check this thread or our notes to see who´s who-. In your posts, make clear what´s speech, thought, actions and OOC comments; I´d prefer speech between quotes, thoughts in italics and quotes, and OOC comments between brackets; normal text is actions and general roleplaying. In combat, any help is welcomed: please post things like temporal modifiers to hit, damage and saving throws, resistances, damage reductions, contingent/permanent/active spells and any other thing I could forget. OOC comments, specially in combat, discussing things like strategy are definitely allowed.

My own posts (specially combat posts) will be separated in two: the fluff and the crunch. The fluff is a novelized version of what happened in the post/round; it will only be inspired of what happened in it, and not a slightly adorned version of the round following iniatiative and combat rules, so don´t look here for rules details. The crunch will include the rules thing and probably a map with a (very) crude cenital drawing of your characters and foes, like the one you can see attached in this same post. If you want, post here a drawing of you to use in the maps. If the map scale don´t allow pictures, I´ll use colored spots instead.

I´ll be lenient (with reduced DCs and giving minor bonuses and small xp rewards) adjudicating cool stunts and moves in action scenes, but don´t exaggerate. We´ll aim for what we could find in hollywood movies before the eighties, not anime or hong-kong action films; thus, jumping down the roof to attack someone is ok, charging by jumping on top of incoming flying arrows is not. Also, you can assume reasonable atrezzo in the place. In a tavern, you can grab a barrel and throw it at your foes, even if I did not say anything about available barrels. You can´t grab a adamantine greataxe, since they don´t lie unatended in normal taverns. That probably will force me to improvise on the spot, if you try unorthodox combat maneouvres, but I hope it´ll work if we don´t abuse of it; if neccesary, I´ll desing and post a specific rule about those.

I think I don´t forget anything. I´m reviewing now the already posted characters, and will post again soon.

Finally, I´d like to hear any suggestion you could have to make this game more fun and enjoyable.
 

Attachments

  • examplemap.jpg
    examplemap.jpg
    34.1 KB · Views: 59

Someone

Adventurer
Shin´nairo should have 70 hp (10(1st level)+5.5x9(9 fighter levels)+10(Con))

Al-khazad: If I understood well, Dex has 2 level increments, so it´s 16?
Two weapon defense grants +1 AC, not +2. Total AC is 10+8+3+1=22
Hit points are 69 (sorry, I wasn´t clear here. It adds to 8+4,5x9+20=68,5 rounding up)
Since scimitars are now finesseable (house rule), add +1 to all attacks with Lightning Breath. the scimitar crits on a 15-10, not 18-20.
Wild empathy should be +11?
You have 5 skills ranks unspent (I´ve counted them a dozen times)
High wisdom allows you to prepare an extra 1st level spell.
Rangers use holly and/or mistletoe, though you can change that for a holy symbol if you want.
I´ll stat Xerxe later. Any ideas on how do you want she to be?
 


rangerjohn

Explorer
I must have miscalculated, I thought I was using dex already. I remembered about improved critical last night. The +2 to wild empathy is a synergy bonus from handle animal skill. You are correct on two weapon defense, I caught the +2 from the fighting defensively line. No ideas on Xerxe, its mostly roleplay being half the party level. Will change the holy symbol, I assume these would be included in the spell component pouch? Finally, the most important question, I assume this means I'm in?
 


Zerth

First Post
Princess Amira of Banzidar
Female Human Cleric 3 / Sorceress 4 / Mystic Theurge 4
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Deity: Jazarr. The royal house of Banzidar made a pact with a powerful air spirit named Jazarr several generations ago. The land of Banzidar lies in ruins now, but the spirit has continued to honor the pact providing the last surviving member of the Banzidar royalty with divine power. Jazarr is also known as the Wandering Wind, a spirit who is constantly on the move, never at home in any place, but also never lost as he rides the countless winds of the Infinite Sea.
Age: 24
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Languages: Andalasian, Auran

Racial & Class abilities:
Bonus feat at 1st level
Four extra skill points at level 1, one extra point per level thereafter
Aura - Chaos and Good
Spontaneous casting (Cure spells)
Turn Undead (9 times/day as 3rd level cleric)
Domains (Air and Travel)
*Air: Turn or destroy earth creatures. Rebuke, command or bolster air creatures. Usable 9 times/day.
*Travel: Survival is a cleric class skill. Freedom of movement 3 rounds/day.

STR 8 (-1) [0 pts]
DEX 14 (+2) [4 pts, +2 item]
CON 12 (+1) [4 pts]
INT 12 (+1) [4 pts]
WIS 17 (+3) [8 pts, +2 item]
CHA 22 (+6) [10 pts, +2 levels, +4 item]

Saves:
Fort +6 [Clr 3 + Sor 1 + Mys 1 + Con 1]
Refl +7 [Clr 1 + Sor 1 + Mys 1 + Dex 2 + Feat 2]
Will +14 [Clr 3 + Sor 4 + Mys 4 + Wis 3]

Init: +2 (+2 Dex)
BAB: +6/+1
HD: 8 + 2d8 + 8d4 + 10, hp 48
AC: 15 [Base 10 + Dex 2 + Deflection 3], touch 15, flatfooted 13

Attacks:
+6/+1 melee, damage 1d4 piercing / slashing, 19-20 x2 (+1 Dagger)
+8 ranged touch spells

Feats:
Eschew Materials (human bonus)
Lightning Reflexes (1st)
Spell Penetration (3rd)
Greater Spell Penetration (6th)
Leadership (9th)

Skills:
Bluff +11 [5 ranks, +6 Cha]
Concentration +15 [14 ranks, +1 Con]
Diplomacy +12 [4 ranks, +6 Cha, +2 synergy]
Knowledge (arcana) +8 [7 ranks, +1 Int]
Knowledge (distant lands) +6 [5 ranks, +1 Int]
Knowledge (nobility & royalty) +2 [1 rank, +1 Int] (cc)
Knowledge (religion) +8 [7 ranks, +1 Int]
Sense Motive +5 [2 ranks, +3 Wis]
Spellcraft +8 [5 ranks, +1 Int, +2 synergy]
Survival +8/+10 in Far Realms [5 ranks, +3 Wis]

Equipment:
hairband of Charisma +4 (16,000)
periapt of Wisdom +2 (4,000)
gloves of Dexterity +2 (4,000)
ring of protection +3 (18,000)
+1 dagger (2,302)
wand of Cure Light Wounds [39] (750)
Royal outfit (200)
Bag of Holding I (2,500)
silver fan [her holy symbol] (25)
scroll case, contains: Transmute Rock to Mud, Polymorph, Tongues (arcane) and Neutralize Poison (divine).
Bedroll, ink (vial), inkpen, 5 paper sheets, mirror, signet ring, soap (2lb.), waterskin, bottle of fine wine, noble's outfit, spell component pouch

Money: 218 dinars

Cleric spells: (caster level 7th)
0th - 5 DC 13 (create water, detect magic x2, purify food and drink, read magic)
1st - 5+1 DC 14 (bless, comprehend languages, doom, remove fear, sanctuary, shield of faith, longstrider*)
2nd - 4+1 DC 15 (bull's strength x2, resist energy, silence, wind wall*)
3rd - 3+1 DC 16 (bestow curse, dispel magic, prayer, fly*)
4th - 1+1 DC 17 (freedom of movement, dimension door*)
*domain spell

Sorceress spells: (caster level 8th)
0th - 6/day DC 16 (disrupt undead, mage hand, mending, message, prestidigitation, acid splash, ray of frost, dancing lights)
1st - 8/day DC 17 (mage armor, magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, shield, enlarge person)
2nd - 8/day DC 18 (gust of wind, tasha's hideous laughter, fog cloud)
3rd - 6/day DC 19 (haste, lightning bolt)
4th - 4/day DC 20 (ice storm)

Character info:
Amira is the last surviving member of the Royal House of Banzidar, a distant land in a far away island. Her homeland was raided by a group of renegade efreeti and she has been an adventuress ever since.

She is a stunningly beautiful woman with long black hair reaching her waistline possessing exellent leadership qualities. She is proud of her heritage and usually doesn't even try to hide it in any way, covering herself in a luxurious silk dress decorated in jewelry. She is obsessed about increasing her already vast magical abilites and knowledge and willing to throw herself in great danger in order to reach her goal. Amira tends to be proud and vain, but she is also kind-hearted.

Daily spells used:

Cleric
0 -
1 -
2 - bull's str x2
3 -
4 -

Sorceress
0 - 0/6
1 - 2/8
2 - 0/8
3 - 0/5
4 - 0/4

Air mephit cohort
Razeem: small outsider (air, extraplanar) HD 6d8+12HP 43, init +7, speed fly 60 (perfect), AC 19 (+1 size, +5 Dex, +3 natural), attack 2 claws +12 (1d3+2) , SA breath weapon, spell-like abilities: blur, gust of wind, summon mephit, DR 5/magic, fast healing 2. Saves fort +7 ref +10 will +7. Stats: Str 14, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 14, Cha 15.
Feats: weapon finesse, improved initiative, flyby attack. Skills: Bluff +10, escape artist +15, hide +18, diplomacy +7, disguise +7, intimidate +7, listen +16, move silently +14, spot +16, use rope +10, search +8.
 
Last edited:

Zerth

First Post
I took leadership feat and would like to have some kind of air creature as a cohort as it would fit well. Would an air elemental be acceptable as a cohort?
 


Voidrunner's Codex

Remove ads

Top