D&D 5E [5e] Witcher: Mother of Monsters
Quickleaf
Legend
Haha [MENTION=4936]Shayuri[/MENTION] - I swear I don't normally turn retired PCs into antagonists! It just worked given Kynee's background. I sweeeaaar.
[MENTION=6883571]Firathor[/MENTION] Sure
I actually realized I sounded out the two gents on the waitlist before, but let's give them till this Thursday to speak up. After that, if they're non-responsive, you're in!
Well, I should say I'll consider you joining the party. Give me a snapshot of yourself as a player...?
Are you familiar with 5e? Have you read the original post of this thread, downloaded the Witcher PDF and at least skimmed it over? Have you read any of the actual play thread? If so, does our style of play mesh with your own? If not, what's your preferred style of play (so I can make that determination)? And how are you familiar with the Witcher setting?
From there if it looks like we'll synch up, then we'll get into talking about your character, how they link to others PCs/the party, their interest in Odvara, and so forth.
[MENTION=6883571]Firathor[/MENTION] Sure
I actually realized I sounded out the two gents on the waitlist before, but let's give them till this Thursday to speak up. After that, if they're non-responsive, you're in! Well, I should say I'll consider you joining the party. Give me a snapshot of yourself as a player...?
Are you familiar with 5e? Have you read the original post of this thread, downloaded the Witcher PDF and at least skimmed it over? Have you read any of the actual play thread? If so, does our style of play mesh with your own? If not, what's your preferred style of play (so I can make that determination)? And how are you familiar with the Witcher setting?
From there if it looks like we'll synch up, then we'll get into talking about your character, how they link to others PCs/the party, their interest in Odvara, and so forth.
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[MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION] I've played and DM'd 5e, so no problems there.
I have read the original post, and the Rogues Gallery and Play Thread. And I've had a read through the Witcher PDF too, so I think I'd like to play a Wolf School Witcher, if everything works out.
It looks like I'd be happy with how you guys play too. I've not taken part in a PbP before so, I might need to ask some questions about how you do things but I'll try to minimise that by going through all the stuff you've got up here.
As for The Witcher, I love the setting. Never played the first game, but devoured the second and third games (aside from needing to finish the DLC for the third). Been wanting to get in to a Witcher game for a while! Let me know if you'd be happy letting me join
I have read the original post, and the Rogues Gallery and Play Thread. And I've had a read through the Witcher PDF too, so I think I'd like to play a Wolf School Witcher, if everything works out.
It looks like I'd be happy with how you guys play too. I've not taken part in a PbP before so, I might need to ask some questions about how you do things but I'll try to minimise that by going through all the stuff you've got up here.
As for The Witcher, I love the setting. Never played the first game, but devoured the second and third games (aside from needing to finish the DLC for the third). Been wanting to get in to a Witcher game for a while! Let me know if you'd be happy letting me join
Right, I've got the mechanics of my character & a draft backstory together. I can't send it to you directly [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION], (haven't posted enough yet) so I've attached them to this post. If any of you lot would like to make suggestions about the backstory I'm more than happy for you guys to do so, so that the character fits into the party! In particular I don't want to just say "This is how he knows someone" so if the ideas I've put into the text file don't work for someone, please shout up and I'm sure something else can be worked out
View attachment Ferdinand background.txt
View attachment Ferdinand of Dorian.pdf
View attachment Ferdinand background.txt
View attachment Ferdinand of Dorian.pdf
Quickleaf
Legend
[MENTION=6883571]Firathor[/MENTION] Looking over Ferdinand of the noble house Dorian, Witcher of the Wolf School, great weapon master, former soldier in the Blue Stripes and patriotic TEMERIAN...
Mechanically, everything looks kosher. Did you already select your bonus equipment option from the OP? There's a list of 12 options at bottom of my OP.
Story-wise, Ferdinand is as anti-Nilfgaardian as they come. If we were running a game set in Temeria, it'd be easy to tie him into things. But the story starts in Dol Blathanna. I make that very clear in my OP. So... We'll need to devise a damn good reason for him to be so far east of occupied Temeria, near Dol Blathanna, land of the elves. How does he know about Odvara and why does he care? My OP is really clear about the story.
I'd help more, but I need more to go off of, and really this is your job as a player to tie your PC into the story & party.
FYI, I'm not planning on thrusting Ferdinand into the scene mid-fight. I just did that with Barakor [MENTION=6672752]Aramalian[/MENTION], and while I was able to pull it off, having that happen again would be verging into slapstick comedy. We need to devise a more nuanced intro for Ferdinand.
I'd recommend looking back over our Rogues Gallery of character sheets for commonalities...
Fergus [MENTION=2820]Fenris[/MENTION] has a Soldier background, but his backstory presents him as a consummate wandering witcher from Skellige who was never part of a military unit. So...if Fenris wants to expound on his Soldier background and make some connection to your PC (vis a vis the Blue Stripes or another military unit like the Free Slopes), that's up to you guys to figure out.
Mechanically, everything looks kosher. Did you already select your bonus equipment option from the OP? There's a list of 12 options at bottom of my OP.
Story-wise, Ferdinand is as anti-Nilfgaardian as they come. If we were running a game set in Temeria, it'd be easy to tie him into things. But the story starts in Dol Blathanna. I make that very clear in my OP. So... We'll need to devise a damn good reason for him to be so far east of occupied Temeria, near Dol Blathanna, land of the elves. How does he know about Odvara and why does he care? My OP is really clear about the story.
I'd help more, but I need more to go off of, and really this is your job as a player to tie your PC into the story & party.
FYI, I'm not planning on thrusting Ferdinand into the scene mid-fight. I just did that with Barakor [MENTION=6672752]Aramalian[/MENTION], and while I was able to pull it off, having that happen again would be verging into slapstick comedy. We need to devise a more nuanced intro for Ferdinand.
I'd recommend looking back over our Rogues Gallery of character sheets for commonalities...
Fergus [MENTION=2820]Fenris[/MENTION] has a Soldier background, but his backstory presents him as a consummate wandering witcher from Skellige who was never part of a military unit. So...if Fenris wants to expound on his Soldier background and make some connection to your PC (vis a vis the Blue Stripes or another military unit like the Free Slopes), that's up to you guys to figure out.
Fenris
Adventurer
I think that an easy method of intergration would be yes a prior association with Fergus, both as a witch and perhaps as a blue stripe. But maybe the curse drew him here. Some dream or legend gave Ferd a clue that a cure to the Black Sun curse could be found in special herbs that only grow in the marshes of Dol Blathanna.
Quickleaf
Legend
[MENTION=6883571]Firathor[/MENTION] Sorry if my last post as a bit edgy; was having a stressful week.
Finally had time to sit down and work on the role-plays – it feels like pure bliss. And I brainstormed further ideas for Ferdinand. Take what you like, cut what you don't, and adapt as you see fit...
Being born under the Black Sun (a prophesied eclipse) is a big deal. Actually, Kynee (the retired PC turned NPC) was born under the Black Sun. And obviously so was the NPC Odvara. Pretty much everyone in the stories/video games who was born under the Black Sun was touched by magic/mutation and had a dual-nature. Many of them were captured by sorcerers and experimented on; the sorcerers were fearful the children (and specifically the girls) of the Black Sun would herald some kind of apocalypse. Par for the course in the Witcher setting, the mistreatment of these girls led to a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby many of them grew up with their hearts hardened and became destructive...some were/are Sources, others stranger things.
So Ferdinand being a boy born under the Black Sun...his gender doesn't qualify him for Eltibald's prophecy...so he could have escaped the worst of the treatment...
[SECTION]Eltibald wasn't mad at all. He deciphered the writing on Dauk menhirs, on tombstones in the Wozgor necropolises, and examined the legends and traditions of weretots. All of them spoke of the eclipse in no uncertain terms. The Black Sun was to announce the imminent return of Lilit, still honoured in the east under the name of Niya, and the extermination of the human race. Lilit's path was to be prepared by "sixty women wearing gold crowns, who would fill the river valleys with blood"."
- pg.83, The Last Wish (UK edition)[/SECTION]
Now, this isn't "common knowledge" in the setting. Maybe a long-lived witcher or sorceress trained in Arcana would know about it.
One idea – given Ferdinand's Charisma, Intimidation skill, and Axii – is that he has a bit of an unnaturally intense presence that some *could* see as influence of the Black Sun. Maybe his knowledge of Axii comes from a more intuitive place, and is not 100% under his control? So he has to be careful what he says lest he accidentally influence someone? This could give him a reason to seek out the elves, and/or others like him (e.g. Odvara & Kynee), for guidance.
Another idea – in a fairytale vein, Ferdinand and Odvara dreamed of one another, some kind of preternatural connection due to the Black Sun. The nature of this vision might even make Odvara out to be a potential threat (e.g. due to a destructive wild surge, her being a Source). If you liked this approach, you'd need to flesh it out more...WHY travel so far for this vision? Was Nilfgaard or Temeria involved somehow?
Another idea – a bit more complex, but having fought in the Third Northern War alongside the Blue Stripes, it's possible Ferdinand was directed to Dol Blathanna (which is sort of a protectorate established with Nilfgaard's blessing, since the elves fought for Nilfgaard in the Second Northern War in exchange for their own land) to convince the elves to separate from Nilfgaard. Now, that's the sort of task you'd imagine a character like Vernon Roche or an ambassador or a retired general undertaking, not a witcher...so if you liked this approach, you'd need to flesh it out with some monster-hunting stuff suiting the School of the Wolf...tracking a powerful monster that hunts a wide range and holds several villages in its thrall...perhaps a monster like Old Nan (if she is indeed a monster)?
Just a few thoughts.
Finally had time to sit down and work on the role-plays – it feels like pure bliss.
And I brainstormed further ideas for Ferdinand. Take what you like, cut what you don't, and adapt as you see fit...Being born under the Black Sun (a prophesied eclipse) is a big deal. Actually, Kynee (the retired PC turned NPC) was born under the Black Sun. And obviously so was the NPC Odvara. Pretty much everyone in the stories/video games who was born under the Black Sun was touched by magic/mutation and had a dual-nature. Many of them were captured by sorcerers and experimented on; the sorcerers were fearful the children (and specifically the girls) of the Black Sun would herald some kind of apocalypse. Par for the course in the Witcher setting, the mistreatment of these girls led to a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby many of them grew up with their hearts hardened and became destructive...some were/are Sources, others stranger things.
So Ferdinand being a boy born under the Black Sun...his gender doesn't qualify him for Eltibald's prophecy...so he could have escaped the worst of the treatment...
[SECTION]Eltibald wasn't mad at all. He deciphered the writing on Dauk menhirs, on tombstones in the Wozgor necropolises, and examined the legends and traditions of weretots. All of them spoke of the eclipse in no uncertain terms. The Black Sun was to announce the imminent return of Lilit, still honoured in the east under the name of Niya, and the extermination of the human race. Lilit's path was to be prepared by "sixty women wearing gold crowns, who would fill the river valleys with blood"."
- pg.83, The Last Wish (UK edition)[/SECTION]
Now, this isn't "common knowledge" in the setting. Maybe a long-lived witcher or sorceress trained in Arcana would know about it.
One idea – given Ferdinand's Charisma, Intimidation skill, and Axii – is that he has a bit of an unnaturally intense presence that some *could* see as influence of the Black Sun. Maybe his knowledge of Axii comes from a more intuitive place, and is not 100% under his control? So he has to be careful what he says lest he accidentally influence someone? This could give him a reason to seek out the elves, and/or others like him (e.g. Odvara & Kynee), for guidance.
Another idea – in a fairytale vein, Ferdinand and Odvara dreamed of one another, some kind of preternatural connection due to the Black Sun. The nature of this vision might even make Odvara out to be a potential threat (e.g. due to a destructive wild surge, her being a Source). If you liked this approach, you'd need to flesh it out more...WHY travel so far for this vision? Was Nilfgaard or Temeria involved somehow?
Another idea – a bit more complex, but having fought in the Third Northern War alongside the Blue Stripes, it's possible Ferdinand was directed to Dol Blathanna (which is sort of a protectorate established with Nilfgaard's blessing, since the elves fought for Nilfgaard in the Second Northern War in exchange for their own land) to convince the elves to separate from Nilfgaard. Now, that's the sort of task you'd imagine a character like Vernon Roche or an ambassador or a retired general undertaking, not a witcher...so if you liked this approach, you'd need to flesh it out with some monster-hunting stuff suiting the School of the Wolf...tracking a powerful monster that hunts a wide range and holds several villages in its thrall...perhaps a monster like Old Nan (if she is indeed a monster)?
Just a few thoughts.
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Psst, unless you're intentionally modifying the witch's eldritch blast, she should be rolling 2 attack rolls to do 2d10 damage. Unlike most cantrips, when Eldritch Blast 'levels' its damage up, it actually fires multiple blasts rather than just making a single blast stronger. This has the advantage of the warlock being able to target more than one creature with a single casting...but it does mean multiple to hit rolls to do full damage as well.
Great atmospherics as usual in the post!
Great atmospherics as usual in the post!
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