D&D 5E [5e] QL's Al-Qadim Game

[Quickleaf]

Ah yes, backstory!

I'm pecking at something where my character's parents wound up on the wrong side of the Brotherhood and were killed. After spending some time on the street as an orphan waif, I was taken in by a temple of Hakiyah, who quietly passed me off to the Soft Whisper.

I'll see if I can't add more hooks and intrigue and points of interest of course, but that's the overall shape of it.

Open to other ideas too though!

Ah, well if you're making her quest against the Brotherhood personal... maybe Ankabut's parents were killed - holy slayer style - by an unknown assassin working for the Brotherhood. That sort of makes for a twisted origin story, because she'd become the very thing (a holy slayer) that robbed her parents from her. And it opens up the possibility for a bit of a shadow war between Ankabut and the nameless Brotherhood holy slayer (an NPC I already have planned).

 

[Jago]

Just a note on the Healing aspect, Kaniel is proficient with an herbalism kit (to create healing items) and can use Druidic scrolls/items as well, so if we get lucky I may be able to at least serve as an Out-Of-Combat-Medic.

 

[Quickleaf]

Sounds good, I'm beginning my back story now. Here is my new sheet Salahuddin Idn Hamid al-Qadib get the backstory up shortly. As you can see I changed his name.

Looking over your sheet and it looks good! I did notice a few discrepancies... shouldn't the save DC be 19 (8+prof 4+Cha 5+rod of the pact keeper 2 = 19) ? Maybe it's an auto-calculating sheet that doesn't account for the magic item?

Also, may be a symptom of the auto-calculating, but looks like conjure elemental isn't noted on your spell list.

"I made it back to the mortal world only by paying a terrible price." This, I want to hear!

It *seems* like you're going with his patron being the Sultan of the Efreet? There's potential there, depending how planar your backstory is, for crossing paths in early childhood with Najiyah who was sold to the efreet in the City of Brass by her birth parents (or something along those lines).

 

[Shayuri]

I was thinking a mage or something, really, but honestly I have almost no specifics worked out.

One question I need to ask before I get much farther on this course though: Would having a personal stake against the Brotherhood make her a more likely agent to be tasked with this assignment, or a less likely? On reflection, it seems like the Soft Whisper might have a policy against encouraging vendetta.

I'm just trying to make sure I have some RP hooks in this, so Ankabut doesn't just stay 'the quiet gal who killz faces' the whole game long.

 

[VLAD the Destroyer]

Looking over your sheet and it looks good! I did notice a few discrepancies... shouldn't the save DC be 19 (8+prof 4+Cha 5+rod of the pact keeper 2 = 19) ? Maybe it's an auto-calculating sheet that doesn't account for the magic item?

Also, may be a symptom of the auto-calculating, but looks like conjure elemental isn't noted on your spell list.

"I made it back to the mortal world only by paying a terrible price." This, I want to hear!

It *seems* like you're going with his patron being the Sultan of the Efreet? There's potential there, depending how planar your backstory is, for crossing paths in early childhood with Najiyah who was sold to the efreet in the City of Brass by her birth parents (or something along those lines).

Yeah uploaded an old sheet. I keep going back and forth between Efreet and Djinn as my patron. Current sheet was planning on going Djinn. I just re uploaded the sheet with the fixes. If you think Efreet would be more interesting I can change things up. I guess it depends on whether [MENTION=6866331]Foxbytes[/MENTION] wants that possible connection.

 

[Quickleaf]

I was thinking a mage or something, really, but honestly I have almost no specifics worked out.

One question I need to ask before I get much farther on this course though: Would having a personal stake against the Brotherhood make her a more likely agent to be tasked with this assignment, or a less likely? On reflection, it seems like the Soft Whisper might have a policy against encouraging vendetta.

I'm just trying to make sure I have some RP hooks in this, so Ankabut doesn't just stay 'the quiet gal who killz faces' the whole game long.

Well, there are a couple of plots I have cooking for this. However, I'm also incorporating material from your PC backgrounds into it as well, so I don't want you to think you can't use some wonderful idea just because it doesn't clearly hook into one of my plots. Anyhow...

1. The Brotherhood of True Flame - These guys are the main villains, at least on the face of things, and while I'm making them a bit more nuanced than the monolithically evil secret society depicted in the Al-Qadim books, they still be evil. They forcibly convert flame mages to their cause, they persecute sea mages (and just about any other flavor of mage), they have their hand in politics and trading, and no one really knows what their end game is beyond "control the use of magic in Zakhara."

2. Return of Qaybar, City of the Jann - Qaybar is a "wandering" city that shifts between the 4 Inner Planes and the Material Plane on a 101-year cycle, and it has recently returned to the Material Plane. It's significant on several levels: Qaybar is a powerhouse magically/politically/militarily (armies of jann!), potentially disruptive to the House of Sihr (the existing jann tribe in the High Desert), a place where ambassadors from the genie courts & secret societies come to wheel and deal, and according to some mages the last place where the Seal of Jafar al-Samal (which myth says makes genie-binding possible) was kept millennia ago.

3. Political troubles among the desert tribes / Pearl Cities - This one is sort of in the background, but it is most focused on PCs who call Tajar, City of Trade, their home like Akilah & Najiyah, who are both advisors to the Sheikh of Tajar. Basically, there are people dissatisfied with the way the Sheikh - who was once an al-Badia (desert dweller) - is city-fying his kin, and this is a microcosm of a larger issue facing the Grand Caliph.

4. The Efreet - While all genies will play a part in the adventures, the efreet are going to take a significant role at some point. I don't want to give away too much, and a lot will depend on how you all approach the scalding labyrinthine politics of the City of Brass.

Now, all that said, if you have a backstory that involves sea monsters and a mutinous crew, I definitely have places where I can fit that in.

 

[Quickleaf]

Yeah uploaded an old sheet. I keep going back and forth between Efreet and Djinn as my patron. Current sheet was planning on going Djinn. I just re uploaded the sheet with the fixes. If you think Efreet would be more interesting I can change things up. I guess it depends on whether [MENTION=6866331]Foxbytes[/MENTION] wants that possible connection.

I'd say go with the Caliph of the Djinn.

More diversity makes for more interesting stories in my opinion.

 

[Jago]

This setting kills me because the more I ponder and think about it, the more character ideas I come up with. I am so happy I already have a sheet done ._.

 

[Shayuri]

Hey, right now Ankabur's backstory is totally in the air.

Maybe her dad was a sea captain...a swashbuckly merchant who dabbled sometimes in the ne'er do well...who was carrying goods (and not in the least smuggling!) through a dangerous shortcut rumored to be the abode of monsters, and his crew mutineed!

Could totes be. All I really NEED is for some event to have turned Ankabur out onto the streets, breaking all ties, so that the Soft Whisper could pick up the pieces.

 

[Jago]

Suggestion: what if her dad was a Sea Mage? Could still be very Sinbad, smuggler, etc., but was killed by The Brotherhood of True Flame (without Ankabut knowing who they are or why they killed him). Originally Ankabut lives a kinda life of luxury (her dad is basically a minor hero and rather wealthy from his voyages), but without her father, there is no estate, no money, no anything. She's already lost her mother and so basically has nowhere else to go.

The Soft Whisper takes an interest in the girl because of who she comes from and the events that lead to her being ousted, and decide to take her in and train her. Unwittingly, she is getting her revenge thanks to Grandmother.

Maybe?