[OOC] Planescape: Divided We Stand

[Hella_Tellah]

RG • IC

​

This game is currently full, but I will continue to accept applications for alternate positions from interested players.

Welcome, cutter! Welcome to the worlds beyond your world, the great wheel of the cosmos. This is a great place! Where else can a poor sod mingle with mighty minions of the great powers, or sail the astral ocean, or visit the flaming courts of the City of Brass, or even battle fiends on their home turf? Hey, welcome to the lands of the living and the dead! So, where to begin?

Sigil, of course - there ain’t no other place worth beginning. Sigil: the City of Doors. This town’s the gateway to everything and everywhere that matters. Step through one door and enter the halls of Ysgard, or turn down a particular alley and discover the Abyss. There are more gateways in Sigil than can be imagined; with all those doors Sigil’s a useful place - and then some.

Want to share a drink with a fiend, or maybe discuss philosophy with a deva? Here it can happen in the same day, the same afternoon, even at the same table - nothing’s too unlikely for Sigil. Strange folks abound here, and any one of them may prove ally or foe. Where else but in Sigil do humans, elves, dwarves, githzerai, bariaur, and tieflings form adventurinq companies? Where but in Sigil can a well-heeled cutter hire a githyanki ship or a legion of yugoloth mercs? This is the place to live . . . or die.

But there’s a lot more out there than just Sigil. Get outside the city and there’s the planes themselves: the throne of the gods, the battleground of the eternal Blood War, and home to more horrors and wonders than ever existed on any prime world. There’s enough crusades, exploits, treasures, and mysteries to keep a band of adventurers busy for centuries to come (though why a body’d want to go to some of those places is beyond reasoning). Anyway, all it takes is the right door, so step right through!

Join me online for a Planescape campaign! Take part in the grandest, most expansive campaign setting ever produced for Dungeons and Dragons. Explore the vast, grinding gears of Mechanus. Descend through the Nine Hells of Baator. Storm the Doomguard’s citadel on the Quasielemental Plane of Salt, climb up to the other side of Bytopia, then come on back to Sigil for a pint of bub at the Mermaid’s Cups down in the Lower Ward.

For those unfamiliar with Planescape, it’s a campaign settting originally published for AD&D 2nd Edition. It differs from many D&D settings in that it focuses more on philosophical questions and the greater meaning behind PCs’ actions. You play in the various planes of D&D, from the Outer Planes where deities dwell, to the Inner Planes, where all is a swirling mass of elements. Much of the setting focuses around Sigil, a metropolis in the neutral Outlands, where various philosophical factions vie for power.

I’m looking for five characters to start play, but will continue to accept alternates past those initial five. When posting your character, please indicate whether you are willing to submit your character as an alternate in case a player drops mid-game. Recruiting for the initial party will be open for two weeks, or until I have 5 complete character sheets, whichever comes later. We’ll be playing here on EN World, using Invisible Castle for dice rolling. Please post your rolls within an sblock linking to your roll.

[sblock=Character Creation Guidelines]
Use D&D 3.5, including any WotC sources you like. We’ll also make use of the 3.5 Planescape Campaign Setting, although the game will be set pre-Faction War. Play any character you want. Always wanted to play a Pixie, Treant, or Vrock? Go grab Savage Species and be my guest. Want to multiclass with Truenaming and Incarnum magic? Go for it. Warforged artificer from Eberron? Half-Elf Harper from Faerun? Raistlin Majere’s second cousin twice removed? Do so with my blessing. Homebrewed and 3rd party material will be accepted so long as I have free access to all the relevant material. I do have access to a lot of the Malhavoc Press Sword and Sorcery line, if you’re interested in something from those.

Keep in mind, however, that powergaming will likely get you nowhere. Planescape is a setting where your alignment is every bit as important as your class, and where fighting everything you see is likely to get you mazed, flayed, killed, poisoned, banished to another plane, and served up for lunch in a slophouse in the Baatezu city of Dis. To put it more explicitly: this is not a game about killing things and taking their stuff. You have absolute freedom to put whatever stats you like on your character, but be forewarned that cleverness and good roleplaying are what actually count. Come up with an interesting character and make your character sheet reflect that. You will probably be disappointed if you make a mechanically amazing character as a primary goal and a character that’s fun to roleplay as an afterthought, because most of the game will be roleplay oriented.

To make your character, please:

• Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die six times. Arrange to suit. Please do this at Invisible Castle’s handy site.
• Roll starting gold based on your class. When purchasing starting equipment, please only purchase what your character can carry on his person, for reasons which will be obvious in the first post of the game. No mounts or pack animals just yet. If your chosen class does not have a published starting gold roll, please ask.
• Start your character at level 1. If you’d like to play a race with a +1 Level Adjustment, you may start with an NPC class and replace that with a PC class when you gain a level. For higher Level Adjustments, use the Savage Species rules and find or create a monster class.
• Post a character sheet in any way you prefer. I like Myth Weavers, personally, but if you want to scan in a napkin or something, go for it.

Please describe your character in two paragraphs, one for background, important relationships, and so forth, and one for appearance, speech patterns, and notable mannerisms. Backgrounds should be brief, flexible, and packed with story ideas.

I recommend that you play a “clueless” character, one who has not done much traveling around the planes. The most suitable sort of character for this game will be a “prime”, someone from one of the many prime material worlds. It’s more fun to discover the setting by doing, rather than by rolling Knowledge checks all the time. Still, you’re welcome to play a character with some experience in the planes if you’d like to, particularly if you’re already familiar enough with the planes to roleplay that effectively. The opening adventure will bring your character out into the planes, so there’s no need to come up with a backstory that explains how you got there.

Generally any sort of character personality is fine, but please avoid:

• Characters without any particular beliefs or goals. Planescape is about the power of belief to change the universe; characters without beliefs aren’t very interesting.
• Characters that cannot cooperate with other players’ characters. Conflicting alignments can work so long as your character has some desire to stay amicable with his comrades. No lone wolves, please.
• Characters that cannot function in a range of tones. Your character should be playable in dramatic scenes as well as comedic scenes. No one likes a wet blanket, and a character that’s entirely comic relief becomes tiresome quickly. I like to vary the tone, pacing, and elements of a game. There can be room for horror, comedy, mystery, and armchair philosophy in a game, and indeed Planescape is much less interesting without a mix of these elements.
• Characters with multiple personalities. Just a personal pet peeve from a previous player.

[/sblock]
[sblock=On tone, expectations, and so forth]
I put this here because I feel like it pays to have everyone on the same page. Please seriously consider whether you will enjoy playing a game run by a DM who plays like this before you sign on.

I enjoy using the gamist and simulationist parts of D&D, but only when they increase the fun for everyone playing. When the pacing feels slow, I tend to simplify rules and handwave, but when the rules can generate interesting results, I use them. Case in point: Hrurgarr the Barbarian wants to smash an iron door with an adamantine axe. By the hardness rules in D&D, he will eventually be able to smash it. Unless there’s some reason why the exact amount of time it takes to smash it matters, I won’t make you roll for that. If he’s trying to smash the door in order to escape from a group of angry Yugoloths, well, we might want to roll in that case to see whether he can do so before they open up his ribcage.

I like my games to fall somewhere between pre-scripted modules and wide-open sandboxes. I’ll drop hooks that give players opportunities to play through many of the great modules in Planescape, and they’ll also have the opportunity to play through storylines based directly on their characters. Your character is also entirely free to go his own way; I’m more than happy to improvise based on what your character wants to do. Basically, I’m going to see which parts of the setting interest the players (and me!) and go from there.

Game balance is not a very interesting goal for me. If everyone is having fun, I’m happy. When a player is unhappy about game balance, sometimes they really do have a beef with how little they can contribute to the game, mechanically. Most of the time, they’re unhappy because another, more powerful character in the game has more time in the spotlight as a result of being more powerful. Since I run D&D much more like an indie game than a dungeon crawler, this tends not to happen on my watch, but please speak up if you’re unhappy.

Do not expect strict adherence to wealth-by-level guidelines, or encounters that are always the perfect CR to challenge the party. I will give you ample opportunity to avoid getting steamrolled by the opposition, but be forewarned that you will meet NPCs that you cannot easily kill, and some of them will be antagonists. Know also that killing your enemies is not always the most effective way of defeating them.
[/sblock]
[sblock=House Rules]
Experience Keys
For me, the default experience model in D&D 3.5 is needlessly math-heavy and encourages stupid behaviors, like trying to clear dungeons and kill everything that moves. For this game, replace the default experience model with one in which players define what is important to their characters and gain experience when those topics come up in play. These are called “keys”, and are cribbed from The Shadow of Yesterday.

Keys are the motivations, problems, connections, duties, and loyalties that pull on your character. To the player, they're highly important because they generate experience points. They’re also a great way to tell your DM what you want to see in-game.

Players are strongly encouraged to create their own keys. Creating a new key is easy - they follow very simple rules. A Key must involve a motivation, problem, connection, duty, or loyalty. Keys come in two types:

• Motivations. When the motivation is fulfilled in play, gain an experience point. When the motivation is fulfilled against good odds, gain three experience points.
• Everything else. When the Key comes up in play, gain an experience point. (You can use this three times per level. This applies to all Keys below.) When the Key presents a minor problem, gain two experience points. When it presents a major problem, gain five experience points.

All Keys have a Buyoff, which is a reversal from the Key by the character. All Buyoffs give the character 5 experience points. This Buyoff occurs only when you, the player, wants it to happen: you can lose a battle with the Key of Bloodlust and still keep the Key. If you want your character to undergo a change in her personality, though, adding to the story, you can take this Buyoff by fulfilling it. If you do take the Buyoff, you can never take this Key again.

Your character starts with 3 keys, and may select (or create!) up to 3 additional keys over the course of the game. You may add a new key each time your character gains a level. Once you reach 6 keys, you may replace a key each time your character gains a level.

Experience can be spent in four ways: gaining a level, creating a permanent magical item, casting a spell with an experience cost, or retraining your character.

• Gaining a level costs experience points equal to 5 times the level to be attained (5 experience for a 0-level character to reach level 1, 10 to reach level 2, 15 to reach level 3, and so on). Changing classes requires you to seek out a mentor. We will roll hit points each level, although a clever cutter might find a way to get a re-roll if he's looking for one.
• Creating a magical item costs 1 experience point, possibly 2 for exceedingly powerful items. One-time use items such as scrolls, potions, power stones, feather tokens, etc. have no cost in experience points. Artificers’ crafting pools follow standard (RAW) procedures for item creation.
• Casting a spell with an experience cost will almost always cost 1 experience point. If the player wants to make an exception, however, a wish that costs 25 experience points might be interesting.
• Retraining a feat, skill, spell selection, or other such permanent decision costs 1 experience point, and you may also need to seek out a mentor.

[sblock=Example Keys]
Key of Ambition (Motivation)
Your character's gonna be a high up man around these parts, no matter how many faces you've got to step on to get there.

• You gain 1 XP whenever you earn a boon from someone important, earn a slight gain in prestige, or make a rival look bad.
• You gain 3 XP whenever you ruin, kill, or otherwise eliminate a rival, and improve your own position because of it.
• Buyoff: Relinquish your power and position.

Key of Bloodlust (Motivation)
Your character's a real tough cutter, always puttin' berks in the dead-book.

• Gain 1 XP every time your character defeats someone in battle.
• Gain 3 XP for defeating someone equal to or more powerful than your character.
• Buyoff: Be defeated in battle.

Key of Conscience (Duty)
Your character watches out for folks less fortunate than himself.

• Gain 1 XP every time your character helps someone who cannot help themselves.
• Gain 2 XP every time your character defends someone who is in danger and cannot save themselves.
• Gain 5 XP every time your character takes someone in an unfortunate situation and changes their life to where they can help themselves.
• Buyoff: Ignore a request for help.

Key of the Coward (Motivation)
Your character's a peery sort--he avoids combat like the plague.

• Gain 1 XP every time your character avoids a potentially dangerous situation.
• Gain 3 XP every time your character stops a combat using other means besides violence.
• Buyoff: Leap into combat with no hesitation.

Key of Faith (Duty)
Your character's been prayin' for favors since before her momma was born.

• Gain 1 XP every time she solves a problem with divine power.
• Gain 2 XP whenever this character converts someone to her faith.
• Gain 5 XP whenever this character defends her faith even though it brings her great harm.
• Buyoff: Your character renounces her beliefs.

Key of Fraternity (Connection)
Your character is real chummy and loyal to some other berk (an NPC or another PC).

• Gain 1 XP every time this character is present in a scene with your character (maximum 3 per level).
• Gain 2 XP whenever your character has to make a decision that is influenced by them.
• Gain 5 XP every time your character defends them by putting herself at great risk.
• Buyoff: Sever the relationship with this person.

Key of Glittering Gold
Your character loves to hear jink clatter together.

• Gain 1 XP every time you gain a significant amount of treasure or gold.
• Gain 3 XP every time you double your wealth.
• Buyoff: Give away everything you own except what you can carry lightly.

Key of the Guardian
Your character's protecting somebody--the clueless leading the clueless, eh?

• Gain 1 XP every time this character is present in a scene with your character. (Up to three points per level)
• Gain 2 XP whenever your character has to make a decision that is influenced by them.
• Gain 5 XP every time your character rescues them from harm.
• Buyoff: Sever the relationship with this person.

Key of the Impostor
There's not a cutter in the planes that knows the real dark about you.

• You gain 1 XP whenever you pass yourself off as someone/something you're not.
• You gain 2 XP whenever you convince others in spite of serious skepticism.
• You gain 5 XP whenever your story survives a deliberate, focused, "Hey everybody, look!" attempt to reveal your identity.
• Buyoff: Confess your imposture to those duped.

Key of the Masochist
Your character's barmy for pain.

• Gain 1 XP every time she is reduced to 1/2 hit points or less.
• Gain 3 XP every time she takes ability score damage.
• Buyoff: Flee a source of physical or psychic damage.

Key of the Mission
Your character has some kind of axe to grind.

• Gain 1 XP every time she takes action to complete this mission (2 XP if this action is successful.)
• Gain 5 XP every time she takes action that completes a major part of this mission.
• Buyoff: Abandon this mission.

Key of the Outcast
Your character is on the outs with some group--a faction, culture, organization, or the like. This separation defines your character as much as membership in the organization defines its members.

• Gain 1 XP every time her status with this organization comes up.
• Gain 2 XP every time her disassociation brings her harm.
• Gain 5 XP every time the separation brings your character great pain and suffering.
• Buyoff: Regain membership in the organization.

Key of Renown
"You must be the worst assassin I've ever heard of." "But you have heard of me."

• You gain 1 XP whenever you see to it that your name and deeds are known, by bragging about them or making sure there are witnesses.
• You gain 2 XP whenever you put yourself at risk to do something unnecessary or foolish that will add to your reputation.
• You gain 5 XP whenever you risk your life to take credit for your actions (bragging that you were the one who killed the Duke's son, for example.).
• Buyoff: Give someone else credit for an action that would increase your renown.

Key of the Swindler
Your character's a real knight of the cross-trade, always peelin' some berk for a handful o' jink. You'll pull a con just for the challenge of it, come to that.

• Gain 1 XP every time your character lies, cheats or steals his way to success.
• Gain 3 XP every time your character gets caught in a con and still gets away with it.
• Buyoff: Renounce your life of crime.

Key of Vengeance
Your character hates a particular organization, person, or even species or culture.

• Gain 1 XP every time your character hurts a member of that group or a lackey of that person.
• Gain 2 XP every time your character strikes a minor blow at that group or person (killing a member of the organization or one of the person's lackeys, disrupting their life, destroying their property).
• Gain 5 XP every time your character strikes a major blow at that group or person.
• Buyoff: Let your enemy go.

Key of the Vow
Your character has a vow of personal behavior that she has sworn not to break. This could be a dietary restriction, a requirement to pray at sunbreak every morning, or something else like that.

• Gain 1 XP for every adventure in which your character does not break this vow.
• Gain 2 XP every time your character does not break this vow even though it causes her minor harm or inconvenience.
• Gain 5 XP every time your character does not break this vow even though it causes her great harm.
• Buyoff: Break this vow.

[/sblock]

Proxy Points
Proxies are the servants of deities and other Powers, imbued with divine power. For being a good player, the Power of Games (that's yer DM, berk) will make you his Proxy every so often.
Players start with 1 Proxy Point. They can gain a Proxy Point for being entertaining, clever, or interesting, writing well, or just generally being excellent.
Proxy Points can be used to:

• Edit a scene. Want there to be an antique sword hanging on the wall that you manage to grab and use to defend yourself? Want to meet a certain somebody in the Lady's Ward? Make it happen in your post, then let us know you've spent a point in an sblock beneath it. Please play nice with your godlike powers.
• Temporary feat. Gain the use of any feat until the end of the scene. Must make a certain amount of sense in context.
• Improve a roll. Take any d20 roll that came up 10 or less, and add 10 to it. This can get you a natural twenty, if you want it.
• Inspiration. Get a hint from the DM.
• Recover. Go from dying to 0 hit points and stable. You character regains consciousness, but still suffers all the negative effects of the disabled condition.

Shapeshifting
A character that wishes to change shape into something must have either already seen the creature in question or succeed on an appropriate Knowledge check to know it well enough. The Knowledge check is rolled in secret; the character always believes he knows the creature well enough to perform the transformation. If the caster fails the Knowledge check, the change is not completely successful, and the new form is flawed in some hazardous and entertaining way. This rule applies to Wild Shape, Polymorph, Alter Self, Changelings’ abilities, and similar open-ended shape-changing abilities. It does not apply to characters with a permanent, unchanging alternate form, such as shifters, lycanthropes, and certain fiends.

Firearms
Firearms have been developing in various parts of the multiverse in the last couple of decades. They aren't exactly common yet, but you can get just about anything in Sigil. They vary considerably, but there are two basic models. Most firearms count as heavy crossbows for purposes of proficiency. Gunpowder firearms are exceedingly loud. It is impossible to maintain stealth while firing a gun without resorting to some form of supernatural silencing.

Rifle (simple, 50gp, 1d10/19-20x2, 80 ft., 8 lbs, piercing)
Loading a rifle is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity.
Pistol (simple, 100 gp, 1d4/19-20x2, 20 ft., 2 lbs, piercing)
Loading a pistol is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. You can fire, but not load, a pistol with one hand at no penalty. You can shoot a pistol with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons.
Gunpowder, wad, and shot (10 rounds) - 1 lb., 1 gp.
If your supply of ammunition gets wet, it is unusable until you can dry it out.

Rules Lawyering and Unbidden Advice
If in the course of the game you believe I’ve made a mistake in using the rules of the game, please limit the scope of your argument to a single post in the Out of Character thread. It is entirely possible that I will make a mistake in the rules, although it is also possible that I've intentionally glossed over a rule that I find a poor fit to the situation at hand. A mistake discovered can never alter the course of the game’s events retroactively, but I will seek to rule correctly in the future and will see to it that any player harmed by an unfair ruling is duly compensated. Excessive argument over boring topics (such as the contents of rule books) will result in the DM mocking you through LOLcat photoshops.

Please try not to advise other players unless they ask for advice. Discussing tactics in-character is to be expected, but please establish with other players how much they are willing to have their character take directions from yours before you elect yourself squad leader. Inexperienced players deserve a chance to learn the game on their own terms, and it is not your job to optimize the party to suit your needs.[/sblock]
[sblock=Resources]
Planewalker - The source for Planescape material. Be sure to check out the 3.5 Planescape Campaign Setting!

Lady's Cage Mush Library - Hits the key points about the setting in a quickly digestible format.

Voila!'s Dictionary of Planar Cant - Whatsamatter, cutter? Can't tumble to what berks in the Cage are sayin' when they rattle their bone-boxes?

Sovelier Sage SRD - My favorite presentation of the SRD.[/sblock]
Thank you for your interest!

 

[Shayuri]

I would like to try a Beguiler of some stripe; human, changeling or tiefling...

I'll think on it and provide more shortly.

 

[Voda Vosa]

Perhaps a warlock of some kind. I love planescape, so this drew my attention quickly!

 

[Antithetist]

I'm massively keen, Planescape has always been dear to my heart and it's been forever since I've got to play in the setting.

Will work something up, pondering an Archivist.

 

[Theroc]

Since you've said optimization is not necessarily a prerequisite for this, I'd like to try something that I've been led to believe is not particularly optimal, but still fairly strong(in the long run). I am considering a web excerpt based along Savage Species levelling process to gain the LA templates and such, and was interested in creating either a Dire Werewolf, Werebear, or Weretiger. What basic class I'd be using after that would likely depend on which lycanthrope I end up choosing and how the progress of the campaign/adventure goes, if it goes that far.

Additionally, I was wondering what your stance on the alignments for Lycanthropes go, as I was considering having my lycanthrope being a natural lycanthrope who simply wants to find a place where he belongs and people won't judge him due to his condition, and failing that, to carve out his own little piece of the Cosmos where none would oppress him.

If that's not alright with you, that's cool, I just wanted to try this as I really enjoy Lycanthropy but rarely find a place where they'd fit due to it being powerful but not entirely optimized, it usually is stuck between both states.

 

[ethandrew]

Yes please? I'm thinking a specialist Wizard right now, most likely a conjurer, race undetermined.

Coincidentally, how high of levels should we plan on plotting for? Because my character might be different if we're planning on capping at high levels versus if this is just a low level foray.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

I would like to try a Beguiler of some stripe; human, changeling or tiefling...

Excellent! I was hoping to see you here.

I am considering a web excerpt based along Savage Species levelling process to gain the LA templates and such, and was interested in creating either a Dire Werewolf, Werebear, or Weretiger.

Additionally, I was wondering what your stance on the alignments for Lycanthropes go, as I was considering having my lycanthrope being a natural lycanthrope who simply wants to find a place where he belongs and people won't judge him due to his condition, and failing that, to carve out his own little piece of the Cosmos where none would oppress him.

Sounds fun! Your character can have any alignment you like. Related note: I don't mind chaotic monks, lawful barbarians, or evil paladins, for that matter. Consider all alignment restrictions lifted!

Coincidentally, how high of levels should we plan on plotting for?

Well, I changed the experience model in part because I wanted something that fit Play by Post a little better and would level a little faster in that way. The way the math works on the Keys system, advancement gets slower for every level after 5th, which suits my idea of the "sweet spot" in D&D. I imagine we'll be hard-pressed to get past 5th or 6th level in a reasonable period of time, just because Play by Post runs slower.

If you decide to specialize in Conjuration, you should be aware that it's simultaneously the most useful school, and the one most likely to be restricted by local conditions. While in the planes, the summon monster line of spells can only summon a creature from the same plane--you can't summon a succubus on Ysgard, for instance. You also can't teleport into or out of Sigil, although you can teleport within Sigil with a successful spellcraft check.

And to everyone else, welcome! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

[sappire07]

have room for me?

 

[Hella_Tellah]

have room for me?

Yup, recruitment is open until September 2nd (Japan time).

 

[Theroc]

STR 17, DEX 12, CON 14, INT 9, WIS 11, CHA 9

Poor, poor Viktor.

I'm going to try and bungle through starting out this Lycanthrope using the Savage Progressions from Wizards, but I'm not certain how it will work the first few levels(as you get the animal abilities on separate levels from the shapeshift itself... so you can turn into a bear but be unable to fight as one. )