Rivets Eternal: Metal Men and Fleshy Cogs (D&D3.5e; Closed!)

[KikuNoMaru]

Arrgh, I can't check wikipedia.org because I'm in China and the government blocks that site.... thank god I can still check answers.com - that's at least something.

What type of guns are there? I am thinking of changing in one of my maces for some sort of flintlock or something. I keep picturing one like Jack Sparrows or one of those types, and it just seems so damn cool.

I'll add more to the background and give a character description today

Feat and spell are posted below.

[size=-1]_{DIVINE SPONTANEITY}[/size]

Prerequisites: Ability to turn or rebuke undead.

Each time you take this feat, choose a domain that you have access to. You may now convert prepared divine spells to any spell from that domain. You expand a spell of equal or higher level, as well as expanding one of your daily turn undead attempts. This works just as good clerics cast spontaneously prepared spells such as cure spells.​

Nimbus of Light Evocation [Light]

Lvl: Clr1
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: Standard Action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1min/lvl or until discharged (D)

A glittering corona of sunlight surrounds your body at a few inches distance - until you release it as a focused blast of divine energy. The nimbus of light glows like a lantern, shedding bright light in a 30-foot radius (and dim light for an additional 30 feet) from you.
As a move action, you can coalsce the energy from the nimbus of light around your outstretched arm, and then as a standard action, fling it toward a foe within 30 feet. As a ranged touch attack, it deals 1d8 points of damage +1 point per round that's elapsed since you cast the spell (max of 1d8 + caster level damage).



BACKGROUND UPDATE:

Background:
Liend was jailed the first time for 'theft'. At least thats what they call it when you free an elf. For many years, he had worked with others in the dangerous work of freeing elves.

It is his strong belief that no-one should be the property of another, regardless of their race. He continued his work until the line of slaves was infiltrated by the police and he was captured. Charged with 'theft', his new calling is breaking rocks and doing menial work with fellow inmates and the few elves that are here.

Liend is a man with a mission. As a child his family had a number of slaves to help around the house. Though they were not rich, they were well off, his father having been in the field of design and engineering many steamcraft tools. Liend, being but a child, became attached to his keepers; His parents were often too busy to pay attention to him. When they discovered his familiarity with the work, they sold the slaves and hired new help, instructing them to not be friendly with Liend lest they get fired - or worse. Being a child, one quickly forgets after a time, much like Liend did. As he grew older, his mind became filled with other troubles - school, work, life. That is, until one day he saw an elf being prepared to be hung. His mind was much like the rest of the population at this point, uncaring about such an object - much like other things, the train o thought was - if it doesn't work properly - get rid of it and get a new one. The rope pulled taut and the crowd roared. At first it was his imagination - his eyes saw the elf choking and imagined he was saying something. But then he heard the voice. "Liend - help me." It was impossible of course. The crowd was much to loud, he thought. The elf looked at him, his eyes clear and pleading. Help me.

It was hours before he moved. The square was empty now, the gallow free of the judges, the rope removed. He had attracted many stares from the crowd after the hanging, and some even approached him, trying to shake him out of his stupor - but he just stood there. Fractured images of his childhood, his keeper, flooded back to him, and his entire life replayed before his eyes - and he had realized something. They were the same. Sure they were different in some aspects: Of course humans were cleaner, more cultured, and looked different. But still, he couldn't shake the sense - the unquantifable idea that they were the same form, with different shells.

In the church they were taught that humans had the ability to be reincarnated - they had bodies and souls, two seperate parts of existance. Once the soul was seperated, through death, it could be reunited with its body if done quickly enough. When he saw the elf being hanged - his friend being hanged, he saw, perhaps as a manifestation of his grief - a brief incorporeal shadow leave the elves body as it shuddered and hung limp. The shadow was shapeless - it didn't resemeble the elf, or any mortal form. If the soul is shapeless, that what is to stop it from entering a different shell - it would fit any vessel, even a human or an elf. They were the same.

That was the past - since then he had changed. After being caught in his trade of transporting elves to freedom, he was jailed. Now, as he sits in his cell, he realizes he doesn't regret anything. As he turns over on his bunk to try and get some rest, he pushes the voice to the back of his head. It's a mute whisper now, a simple buzzing in his ears - but he can still faintly hear it. "Liend. Help me."

 

[dave_o]

Arrgh, I can't check wikipedia.org because I'm in China and the government blocks that site.... thank god I can still check answers.com - that's at least something.

What type of guns are there? I am thinking of changing in one of my maces for some sort of flintlock or something. I keep picturing one like Jack Sparrows or one of those types, and it just seems so damn cool.

I'll add more to the background and give a character description today

Feat and spell are posted below.

[size=+1]_{DIVINE SPONTANEITY}[/size]

Prerequisites: Ability to turn or rebuke undead.

Each time you take this feat, choose a domain that you have access to. You may now convert prepared divine spells to any spell from that domain. You expand a spell of equal or higher level, as well as expanding one of your daily turn undead attempts. This works just as good clerics cast spontaneously prepared spells such as cure spells.​

Nimbus of Light Evocation [Light]

Lvl: Clr1
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: Standard Action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1min/lvl or until discharged (D)

A glittering ciriba if sunlight surrounds your body at a few inches distance - until you release it as a focused blast of divine energy. The nimbus of light glows like a lantern, shedding bright light in a 30-foot radius (and dim light for an additional 30 feet) from you.
As a move action, you can coalsce the energy from the nimbus of light around your outstretched arm, and then as a standard action, fling it toward a foe within 30 feet. As a ranged touch attack, it deals 1d8 points of damage +1 point per round that's elapsed since you cast the spell (max of 1d8 + caster level damage).

Those look totally fine.

There are matchlocks, flintlocks, and percussion cap firearms. Clerics don't have any proficiency in firearms off the bat, but you do have a slightly changed skill list -- Craft (Alchemy), Concentration, Diplomacy, Heal, Knowledge (Arcana, Religion, Steamcraft), Profession, and Spellcraft.

EDIT: I went and grabbed the Wikipedia entry on steampunk for ya, and it's open source --

Origin

The term "steampunk" was originally a tongue in cheek variant of "cyberpunk". The prototypical "steampunk" stories were essentially cyberpunk tales that were set in the past, using steam-era technology rather than the ubiquitous cybernetics of cyberpunk but maintaining those stories' "punkish" attitudes towards authority figures and human nature. Originally, like cyberpunk, steampunk was typically dystopian, often with noir and pulp fiction themes, as it was a variant of cyberpunk. As the genre developed, it came to adopt more of the broadly appealing utopian sensibilities of Victorian scientific romances.

Steampunk fiction focuses more intently on real, theoretical or cinematic Victorian-era technology, including steam engines, clockwork devices, and difference engines. While much of steampunk is set in Victorian-era settings, the genre has expanded into medieval settings and often delves into the realms of horror and fantasy. Various secret societies and conspiracy theories are often featured, and some steampunk includes significant fantasy elements. There are frequently Lovecraftian, occult and Gothic horror influences as well.
[edit]

Early steampunk

Inspired by the Scientific Romances, Voyages Extraordinaires and Edisonades of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, Steampunk as a genre developed in the 1980s as an offshoot of, or reaction to, Cyberpunk.

K.W. Jeter's 1979 novel Morlock Night is sometimes cited as crystallizing the genre: It incorporates elements of Wells' The Time Machine, which Jeter expands with his own ideas. Other early examples include Robert Heinlein's 1980 novel The Number of the Beast, whose characters travel between alternate universes that are realizations of classic SF stories, or Philip José Farmer's 1983 foray into the writing style of L. Frank Baum, A Barnstormer in Oz. But often overlooked are Michael Moorcock's The Warlord of the Air: A Scientific Romance in the Tradition of Jules Verne, which dates to 1961, and its 1974 and 1981 sequels, The Land Leviathan and The Steel Tsar, respectively (collectively republished as A Nomad of the Timestreams). Moorcock's works were among the earliest to remold Edwardian and Victorian adventure fiction within a new, ironic retro-futuristic framework, and also had a strong influence on the later absorption of fantasy elements into the steampunk genre, as these novels, like most of Moorcock's large body of inter-related work, are usually classifed as science-fantasy, featuring supernatural or fantastical elements in addition to science and technology.

William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's 1992 novel The Difference Engine is often credited with inspiring the term "Steampunk". This novel applies the principles of Gibson and Sterling's Cyberpunk writings to an alternate Victorian era where Charles Babbage's mechanical computer was actually built. However, the earliest citation for the term belongs to Jeter. [1]

Some cite the origin of the Steampunk concept going back as far as Walt Disney's 1954 adaptation of Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The film was a benchmark in its conscious choice to maintain a Victorian look and feel rather than updating the story (as was the case with the 1953 adaptation of Wells' The War of the Worlds). There is also a case for the steampunk genre actually beginning in the Victorian era itself, with Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

The present and growing popularity of Steampunk is likely due in large part to comic books and movies, such as the works of animator Hayao Miyazaki or Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's two League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book series. Moore's concept and writing made the series popular, but reviews attaching the term "Steampunk" to it became many people's first exposure to the term.

Although it would be inaccurate to label the science fiction written during the actual Victorian era (such as the pioneering works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, including Mary Shelley, though she was of the Empire era) as "steampunk" since the punk element is virtually absent in them, there is no doubt these works are a direct inspiration for modern steampunk authors. The term "classic steampunk" is sometimes, though rarely, used to refer to these works.
[edit]

Types of steampunk

There are two main sub-genres of steampunk: historical steampunk and fantasy steampunk. Historical steampunk tends to be more "science fictional": presenting an alternate history, presenting real locales and persons from history with different technology. Fantasy steampunk, on the other hand, tends to present steampunk in a completely imaginary fantasy realm, often populated by legendary creatures coexisting with steam-era or anachronistic technologies.

Although originally conceived as being Victorian-era science fiction only, the term has become common use for many related forms of speculative fiction set in the pre-Electric age era. Sub-genres include:
[edit]

Historical steampunk

In general, the category includes any pre-electricity science fiction work with an emphasis on steam- or spring-propelled gadgets. This also includes many alternate history stories in the genre. The most common historical steampunk settings are the Victorian and Edwardian eras, though some in this "Victorian steampunk" category can go as early as the Industrial Revolution. Some examples of this type include the comic book series League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Girl Genius, the novel The Difference Engine, the roleplaying game Space: 1889, and the book series "A Series of Unfortunate Events". The next most common setting is "Western steampunk", being a science fictionalized American Western, as seen in the television shows The Wild Wild West and The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and films Wild Wild West and Back to the Future Part III. See Science fiction Western for a list of fiction combining these two genres. There are also "Medieval steampunk" stories set in the Middle Ages, in which steam and industrial technology is developed in the Medieval era. The suspiciously sophisticated ancient traps of the Indiana Jones films and earlier works that inspired them are examples of historical steampunk elements within mainstream fiction, as is the Marchand the Toymaker subplot of the Hellraiser horror movie franchise.
[edit]

Fantasy steampunk

Since the 1990s, the application of the steampunk label has expanded out of the pure science fiction realm into other forms of speculative fiction, including both steampunk science fiction alongside traditional fantasy or horror elements. Fantasy steampunk is any work of fantasy fiction that combines magic with steam- or spring-powered gadget technology. China Mieville is one of the better-known fantasy steampunk authors. Other notable examples of fantasy steampunk include the Goodman Games role-playing game DragonMech, the Castle Falkenstein role-playing game, The Vision of Escaflowne anime series, the Ironwolf comic from Maury Chaykin and Mike Mignola, the Thief first-person sneaker series, many of the games in the Final Fantasy console role-playing game series, where characters get around in airships run by steam (especially Final Fantasy VI, which has the most prominent steampunk themes), and the PC game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, in which the world is torn between its roots in magic and its steam-driven, industrial future. The movie Edward Scissorhands could be included as well, combining gothic and steampunk as many of Tim Burton's movies do.
[edit]

Other forms

As a continuing play on the cyber/steam-punk naming convention, there have been a handful of divergent terms based on the general conceits of steampunk, although dissecting such a fringe genre is mostly a frivolous exercise in semantics. "Clockpunk" (so called because of the use of clockwork machinations, as opposed to steam-engine) is one of the more relatively prominent, inspired by the "ahead-of-their-time" designs of Leonardo da Vinci and set during the Renaissance era or a fantasy equivalent thereof. The term was coined in the GURPS role-playing supplement GURPS Steampunk, and appears most famously in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, in which things we would consider "modern technology" are invented with a combination of Renaissance technology and, perhaps, magic. Other clockpunk works include Pasquale's Angel by Paul J. McAuley and the comic book 1602 by Neil Gaiman. The best-known example of this subgenre, however, is probably the Milo Rambaldi subplot of the TV show "Alias".

The "sandalpunk" sub-genre posits a world in which ancient civilization never collapsed into the so-called Greek Dark Ages and instead saw rapid technological advancement after a few key discoveries are made or developed into industrial technologies, such as Hero of Alexandria's steam engine, built around 130 BC or the Antikythera mechanism. One such example is Inne piesni (Other Songs) by Jacek Dukaj.

GURPS Steampunk also introduced several other variations on the steampunk theme, including "timepunk" (a general term covering any historical variation on steampunk), "bronzepunk'" (steampunk set in the Bronze Age), and "stonepunk" (steampunk set in the Stone Age, as seen in The Flintstones).

In between the historical and fantasy sub-genres of steampunk is a type which takes place in a hypothetical future or a fantasy equivalent of our future where steampunk-style technology and aesthetics have come to dominate, sometimes (as in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines) as a result of modern computer-based technology being mysteriously forgotten. Other examples include the Neotopia comic, Theodore Judson's Fitzpatrick's War and even Disney's Treasure Planet film. This could also be considered a type of Retro-futurism.
[edit]

Steampunk as a subculture

Because of the popularity of steampunk with people in the Goth, Punk and Industrial subcultures, there is a growing movement towards establishing Steampunk as a culture and lifestyle.

The most immediate form of steampunk subculture is the community of fans surrounding the genre. Others move beyond this, attempting to adopt a "Steampunk" aesthetic through fashion, home decor and even music. This movement may also be (more accurately) described as "Neo-Victorianism", which is the amalgamation of Victorian aesthetic principles with modern sensibilities and technologies.

"Steampunk" fashion has no set guidelines, but tends to synthesize Punk, Goth and Rivet styles as filtered through the Victorian era. This may include Mohawks and extensive piercings with corsets and tattered petticoats, Victorian suits with goggles and boots with large soles and buckles or straps, and the Gothic Lolita and Elegant Gothic Aristocrat styles.

"Steampunk" music is even less defined, and tends to apply to any modern musicians whose music evokes a feeling of the Victorian era or steampunk. This may include such diverse artists as Rasputina, Thomas Dolby, Paul Roland, The Dresden Dolls, Vernian Process, Sarah Brightman, Jill Tracy, Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand.​

 

[dave_o]

IMPORTANT NOTE! I said that Clerics didn't have proficiency in firearms, but I was totally wrong. Firearms in Sorcery & Steam are SIMPLE WEAPONS!

 

[Songdragon]

I think we've only got one character confirmed, so totally have room here. But keep in mind anyone is free to submit a character, and if there are too many I'll just pick the most well thought out ones and let the rest be alts.

Waddya mean by 0 for 2?

Cool... I'll think of something, then.

0 for 2 meaning that for 2 PbPs I have joined, both have died. The GMs for both just stopped posting with no real explaination. I don't blame anyone, it happens. Just hoping third time lucky! A few who have posted here were in one or the other.

~ Songdragon ~

 

[Bront]

Ok, I think I got the concept. Think I'll be going Swashbuckler to start, though might mix in some Fighter. I'm thinking a dualist who's out to prove the blade is still mightier than the gun... if used with someone of skill...

I still may try the bard though... I've had an incling to play a singer. I could do it as a Rogue too I guess...

I'll have a sheet and background up in a little ok.

 

[dave_o]

When you're ready to submit your character for approval please put it in this format: http://www.enworld.org/attachment.p...achmentid=21419, and create a Rogue's Gallery thread with your PC in it. Post a link to it, and I'll approve/disprove it.

EDIT: I also award some bonus XP for finding a visual representation of your character, and for particularly good backstories.

 

[Bront]

Question about Child and Musical Prodigy.

They give you bonuses to Perform, but as the 3.0 instead of 3.5 version. Does the perform version apply to any Perform skill? Or just one?

I'm going Bard it looks like, because I can build the character I've wanted to for a while.

 

[dave_o]

Question about Child and Musical Prodigy.

They give you bonuses to Perform, but as the 3.0 instead of 3.5 version. Does the perform version apply to any Perform skill? Or just one?

I'm going Bard it looks like, because I can build the character I've wanted to for a while.

Keep in mind I'm not allowing Heritage Feats. But any bonuses to Perform would apply to any Perform skills as per 3.5 rules.

 

[Bront]

Pout

I was looking for a child Prodegy singer been a concept I've been working with for a while, just could never pull it off quite right till those 2 feats. Oh well.

 

[dave_o]

Pout

I was looking for a child Prodegy singer been a concept I've been working with for a while, just could never pull it off quite right till those 2 feats. Oh well.

Sure ya can. Just have that be your backstory!