D&D 5E [D&D 5e] Planescape- In Through the Out Door (Full)

[Unsung]

[MENTION=11146]CanadienneBacon[/MENTION] Well, I've set up the group and Rogues Gallery here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showwiki.php?title=Campaign:In-Through-the-Out-Door-A-Rogues-Gallery

First time for everything, so I imagine there'll be an adjustment period.

 

[Pembinasa]

Glad to get the input; I've got Uncaged available and I'll make that the next on my reading list! BTW, does Hellbound give the original impetus for the Blood War? I've always heard it had a definite beginning that made sense, but I can't remember if that was supposed to be in the Greyhawk books or in Planescape proper.

And while I've done quite a bit of wrestling around with character concept (it really drove home to me just how hard wizards got hit with the nerf bat this edition), I think I've managed a viable and effective PC out of it. Would you like the character sheet here or in the Rogue's Gallery section?

Oh, and it might need a bit of tweaking- I had to go custom for background, as none of the available versions quite fit (though Sage was the starting point). It's up to you what works, and what doesn't.

 

[Unsung]

Planescape comes down pretty heavily on the vague side of the Blood War's origin, with the upshot being that it's generally such a gigantic, pointless waste that the why of it hardly matters-- knowing wouldn't change anything. There's a lot of history of the Lower Planes, but it's largely written in-character, as hearsay and propaganda from all concerned. Because it's Planescape, the law vs chaos angle is the focus. Demons and devils hated each other from pretty much the moment they first met, but at the same time, they're not the oldest evil beings in the multiverse. There's good reason to think Baator started the war but the tanar'ri were only to happy to respond in kind.

I'd say post your sheet here first, for discussion and comments from your fellow players, and then post the final version to the RG.

 

[Pembinasa]

All right, let's get it up to work out the kinks. I can't find some of the stuff I came up with last night, but here's what I have for him to date.

Graydon Tharnvar, Illusionist student at the Great School of Magic in Glantri

6', 170 pounds
19 years old
Human
Chaotic Good
Wizard 3

HP: 21 (Hand-rolled)
AC: 13
Init: +3
Proficiency: +2

Str: 10 +0
Dex: 16 +3
Con: 14 +2
Int: 18 +4
Wis: 12 +1
Cha: 16 +3
(Hand-rolled, plus racial and feat bonuses)

Racial Traits:
+1 to two stats (Int and Dex)
One skill of choice (Deception)
One feat of choice (Actor)
Size: Medium
Speed: 30'

Background: Magical Student
+2 skills (Arcana, History)
+1 language (Draconic)
Tool proficiency (drawing)
Equipment (including letter from patron)
Personality: Inquisitive, Studious, Cheerful
Ideal: The world is what you convince people it is. So convince them it's better.
Bond: Family, Familial Respect
Flaw: Doesn't realize he privately believes everyone and everything exists to serve wizards

Class Abilities:
Spellcasting
-Includes ritual casting
Arcane Recovery
-Can recover up to 2 spell levels per day during a short rest
Illusion savant
-Half the time and money to copy illusion spells
Imroved Minor Illusion
-can manage both sound and image with the same Minor Illusion

Proficiencies:
No armor or shields
Daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows

Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom

Skills: Arcana, History, Deception, Investigation, Insight

Spells:
Cantrips- Minor Illusion, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost

1st Level: Chromatic Orb, Detect Magic, Disguise Self, Find Familiar, Fog

Cloud, Grease, Silent Image, Sleep

2nd Level: Invisibility, Misty Step

Languages: Common, Draconic

 

[Unsung]

Graydon sounds like a good fit, and I like him. And I think that versatility and guile probably trump raw power at low levels. An illusionist should be most interesting.

Strictly by the numbers you have two spell picks too many for a 3rd level wizard. Given what other characters are getting away with, I don't really mind, but as DM I should at least try and look like I'm paying attention. What spells would you typically have prepared?

His main bonds are to his family, so what are they like? Are they a big deal on Mystara? And beyond, maybe? Does wizardry run in the blood?

 

[Queenie]

I'm not good with the rules so can't comment there but I do love your picture and your characters bonds and ideals. He should get along just fine with the Pixie! Welcome to the group

 

[Queenie]

How are we doing equipment / HP? You prob mentioned it somewhere and I just forgot :-o

 

[Pembinasa]

Glad to have him meet with such good reception! [MENTION=8058]Queenie[/MENTION], much obliged for the welcome, I look forward to adventuring with you.

In regards to character crunch, if I'm not mistaken wizards start with six 1st level spells then gain two spells of any level they can cast when their character levels up? That would give an additional two at Second, and two 2nd level spells at Third. Also, I'd gone a bit more custom with background at first (partly because I hadn't realized character class gave proficiencies as well) and would still like to swap History for Perception, given the kind of school he goes to. Glantri wizards have a saying: "When a mage is tired of searching for invisible scorpions in his shoes every morning, he's tired of life", and that seems like training that would be ground in a lot more than a brief overview of Glantrese history, no matter how well they can make you feel like you were there. (Swapping a language for drawing was just me trying to fit in Graydon's sketching hobby; there doesn't seem to be much mechanical support for that kind of thing.) As to standard spell selection, it would be 1st- Disguise Self, Fog Cloud, Grease, Silent image, Sleep; 2nd- Invisibility, Misty Step.

On the fluffier side, Graydon is effectively majoring in Illusionism with a minor in Conjuration. (I'd been considering having it the other way around, but the illusionist concept had more meat on the bone- especially with the wizard list lacking any and all Outer Plane summoning spells. A conjurer would have so much less reason to come out that way!) His parents, Dalton and Malaia Tharnvar, are fairly prosperous merchants who cater to the wizard crowd for exotic spell components and research ingredients, etc; they have shipping interests down South and maintain good relations with the aquatic elves in that area. They would be living a wealthy lifestyle with money to spare normally, but they always scrimped and saved carefully to put two of their sons through the immense expense of wizarding school and one day grow to BE somebodies. (EVERY noble in Glantri has to be a skilled wizard, but also any wizard could potentially become a noble.)

I'll type more later, but it's 1 in the morning and I'm starting to lack coherency. Night!

 

[Unsung]

@Queenie For nonmagical equipment, take anything that makes sense for your character. Use your discretion, and remember your carrying limitations as a pixie (or ghost, etc). The key limiting factor is that, whatever else you're carrying, you don't have much liquid cash.

@Pembinasa Was that a Discworld reference...?

Hmm. Well, you do have eleven spells. I thought you had twelve, but I miscounted the first five as six. I mean, if you *wanted* a twelfth spell, that would be fine.

Definitely go ahead and swap Perception for History, and drawing proficiency for a language. Don't feel beholden to your background or even your class list for skills or tools. I don't think 5e tries to be comprehensive or definitive with these lists. For instance, we [used to have] a dwarven bard with Mathematics as a trained skill on Spell & Crossbones. So if there's something you don't see, I encourage you to bring it up, or if you don't have quite enough proficiencies and there's something you feel naked without, I'm being pretty flexible about character creation. As you can probably see.

If you're open to a little light rules-hacking, we might be able to find a way to open up summoning to wizards and at a lower level. Say, conjure animals as a 1st level spell, but you can only summon half the number of creatures, at half the CR? So one CR 1/2 beast, or two CR 1/4 beasts, or four CR 1/8 beasts. And perhaps they have celestial or fiend (or elemental, or construct?) as an added type instead of fey, depending on Glantri's spellcasting traditions.

That's probably pretty precariously balanced, but with the way wizards learn spells, there's probably a lot of rules-hacking that goes on in-universe. For example, I'm sure there are wizards who summon celestials (and fiends), but that's independent research, from going out into the world and finding the necessary scrolls and ancient tomes, not something that spontaneously comes to them as they level up.

A very comfortable life, Graydon has had. Glantri sounds like my kind of town. City. Nation-state. How magically advanced are they? Are we talking Torilian levels, where they might as well open an embassy in Sigil (and maybe they already have)? Or slightly short of that?

 

[Shayuri]

Do we start with any magical items?