Tales of the Eldeen Reaches: The first night : a lot of questions & skill checks

My PbP games are going belly-up or are on hold. Sigh. So I'll start one
Since I've been rerading a lot of Eberron thingies as a preparation for the FtF game I'm going to run, I'e come up with a few ideas for campaigns.

Six young shifters have just passed their Rite of Becoming. The Druid Scarfang asks them to accompanie him to the Great Druid Oalian at Greenheart.

Lvl 1
36 pt buy
Max starting gold
Eberron-Races of Eberron-Complete Divine-Complete Arcane-Complete Adventurer.

Background and concept first, worry about the numbers when I approve your character.

Players:
- Shaggy Sellsword : Ranvar Hardheart shifter Clr 1 of Balinor
- Krug : Caw, Level 1 Shifter Sorcerer
- Ferrix : Umbra, shifter rogue
- Defcon1 : Roral Parl - Male Shifter Fighter [1]
- Ozmar :silver shifter barbarian
- Bront: Stulgar shifter ranger

Rogues gallery
The Game

Ranvar Hardheart
Clr 1 of Balinor

Growing up, Ranvar reveled in the glories of tales told by his grandfather, wars fought against brutal crusaders, Aundairian agressors, and other-worldly incursions. According to grandfather Craggin, he was there for all of it. Ranvar is older now, and more wise to what Poor old grandfather Craggin could have possibly been present for, but the joys of Grandfather Craggin stories always will have a hold on Ranvar. This joy of stories of exciting travel, grand hunts, and heroic battles led him to joining the ranks of warrior-priests of the Church of Balinor.

Ranvar is a hearty and tough priest of Balinor. A real man's man, Balinor loves to drink, hunt, fight, and pray with equal fervor. He respects the druids of the Reaches, and craves adventure in their name. He is fiercly loyal to the idea of an Independant Eldeen Reaches. If this game goes far enough, I'd love to turn moonspeaker.

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Interested. Will try to post something soon.

Hooboy! Sounds cool!

I am looking into a character whom I think I will call Karz. He will be a Shifter Barbarian/Druid (my thought is that he was raised as a barbarian, and then joins the druid circles as a young adult, taking his second level in the druid class, possibly as a result of in-game events, such as an encounted with Oalian. He'll probably advance all his levels in druid thereafter.)

I'll work up the concept after I've had a chance to re-read Races of Eberron and the Eldeen Reaches for plot hooks.

Ozmar the Feral Player

Caw, Level 1 Shifter Sorcerer

Caw always wondered what his nature was. He looked more human than his fellow shifters, but he knew his nature was different. While the Shifters had ties to the earth, he knew his magic was more arcane in nature. Physically weak, he was often bullied by other shifters, with their feral nature. Nevertheless, he was talented in the arcane arts, some even whisper 'Dragonmarked', and his ability has helped the tribe to spy and scout out foes, including alerting them of an ambush.

However, he feels the eyes of suspicion on him, which has bred paranoia amongst some members of the tribe afraid of his arcane abilities, and is eager to leave with Scarfang on the journey after his rite of becoming. He hopes he is chosen...

Description: Caw is thin and frail looking, with black raven feathers adorning his sleek black robe. Aluir, his raven familiar, often chooses to sit on Caw's head, which the sorcerer has gotten used to. His shifter ability is Shiftwing (Races of Eberron page 25), but his wings resemble a crow's more than a humans.

Ooh, I was pondering creating a reach runner at some point, A Shifter Barb and/or Ranger could be fun. I'll poke around and see what I come up with.

And B-movie has been moving off and on. I think it will move more once the death and distruction starts. I'm usually a better fantasy player than I am a modern, so I'll take some blame for that game not going as well from my end as it could.

Umbra is like the shadows, the shifters of his tribe whisper that he has the mark of the traveler in his eyes. Perhaps it is true, perhaps not, but Umbra's talent amongst the shadows is unmatched by all but the most skilled of runners. To himself however, Umbra hears the whispers of his tribe and feels disheartened by their distrust, yet there lurks a darkness in his soul that whispers in his dreams when the hidden moon is said to rise.

Even his name betrays that something lurks within the darkest reaches of his own shadow, a name he chose for himself, as if it had come to him out of the whispers.

He heartens to prove to himself that the darkness within does not hold sway, that he will give honor to his tribe, this trip with the druid Scarfang gives him that opportunity.

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Umbra would be most likely either a rogue or a scout, I'd probably choose the Longtooth shifter trait, mostly out of RP reasons, as it's not particularly suited for a rogue.

I could see some really interesting relations between Caw, the sorcerer, and Umbra; both semi-outcast, untrusted, yet I doubt that either would fully trust the other.

Hey DrZ

Looks good. I like a game with a theme or unifing idea behind the party. And shifters are cool.

Good luck.

thotd.

Ferrix and Krug have a green light. ShaggySpellsword as well.

Ozmar, try describing the character a bit more

Bront, try a character concept .
Btw, B-movie is going along fine by me. It's a very open-ended thing, someone has got to make decisions now and then.

I might allow five, max six players.


Now for the setting:

Redstone Spring is a small thorp at the end of a narrow trail in at the edge of the forest. Only hunting tracks lead further into the woods. There are a few farms in the small valley, there's a small inn, a,d a few houses od specialised craftsmen. A few times each year a peddler arrives, and once a year the merchants come to buy the crops of tobacco, the pelts and skins the hunters collected over the years.

Each year at spring the end of winter is celebrated, and those who turn sixteen are recognised as adults, free to make their own decisions.

This is the canvas you must paint your background on. Feel free to populate the thorpe with NPC's. There are non-shiftyers in the village as well.

Have fun.

Chack the first post of this page, I'll update it regularely with the things I "green light"