D&D 5E [5e] Witcher: Mother of Monsters

[Fenris]

Hmm, maybe I should whip up playbooks for Source & Witcher since they're such defining characteristics.

You know I read the first four Witcher books just for this game right? No pressure, but as Queenie says, you know you are going to anyway.

 

[Quickleaf]

You know I read the first four Witcher books just for this game right? No pressure, but as Queenie says, you know you are going to anyway.

Lol, nah if there's no need, then no need I didn't realize you'd delved so deep into the Witcher books! I've still only read The Last Wish. How did you enjoy the others?

 

[Fenris]

They were good. Lots of intrigue and political machinations.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=8058]Queenie[/MENTION] [MENTION=4936]Shayuri[/MENTION] Here's my quick playbook for Sources; you'll need one of the other playbooks I PMed you for the first three "universal" tables.

It may be that the other 3 guys have moved on, but I'll give them at least a couple days before opening up the game to others. If we do open up the game to a few others, I'd prefer you guys to suggest players that you'd like to RP with. Since you're all more PbP experienced than I am, I suspect you each have players who you've enjoyed gaming with here.

 

[Shayuri]

Alright, I'm gonna go through this just to see what I wind up with. Not rolling randomly, mind. Talashia is too established a character in my head to do that with at the moment. Spells and skills listed look like they're for Beyond the Wall, not 5th Ed, so they wouldn't apply to this version (but would if we ever actually played Beyond the Wall). But it gives a little flesh to some of Talashia's early life which could come up in RP.

Childhood
- What did your parents do?

My father was a local merchant, I learned to name my price and charm my customers. (+2 Cha, +1 Int, +1 Dex; Haggling)

- How did you distinguish yourself as a child?

Everyone has something to teach, and I learned a little from them all. (+1 Dex, +1 Int, + 1 Wis)

- Who else in the village befriended you?

I broke someone’s heart, or maybe they broke mine. (+2 Cha, +1 Con)

Awakening

- What event triggered your awakening?

I always felt different from those around me. An old soul. My Awakening was unusually gradual, and it wasn’t until I was older that I realized it was magic. Source Weakness: I trigger a Wild Magic Surge when you are singled out and subject to intense prejudice or alienation. (+3 Wis; Insight skill)

- What is the nature of your gift?

Tempestuous and fickle, the Power moves through you like the storms. I learned the cantrip Conjure Sound, the spell The Howling, and the ritual Fair Weather. (+2 Cha and learned spells listed)

- What happened once when you lost control?

Destructive power put buildings and innocents in harm’s way. The friend to my right protected the innocents from my unwitting endangerment, and gains +1 Dex. (+2 Dex, Spell: Magic Missile)

- How did the village react?

A sorcerer from Ban Ard or Sorceress from Aretuza offered you guidance, sought to
recruit you for training as a wizard, and revealed your True Name.. (+2 Int; gain Naming Ceremony ritual)

This is fairly close to the scenario I picked before, though it glosses over Talashia's dad selling her to a witcher before she was passed off to the sorcerors.

 

[Quickleaf]

Alright, I'm gonna go through this just to see what I wind up with. Not rolling randomly, mind. Talashia is too established a character in my head to do that with at the moment. But it gives a little flesh to some of Talashia's early life which could come up in RP.

Yes, that maps to your backstory for Talashia nicely, thought the touch about village heartbreak could be interesting.

I think when we discussed character creation before...witcher Kynee (Axel's PC) had been the "friend to your right" who witnessed Talashia's wild surge at the witcher stronghold and intervened?

Does that Source Weakness work for you?

Spells and skills listed look like they're for Beyond the Wall, not 5th Ed, so they wouldn't apply to this version (but would if we ever actually played Beyond the Wall). But it gives a little flesh to some of Talashia's early life which could come up in RP.

Yeah, I followed the Beyond the Wall format with no pre-defined skills.

On one hand, 5e is a more streamlined and familiar system, and Beyond the Wall has OSR idiosyncrasies like paralyze/poison/spell saves & sometimes you want to roll high while sometimes you want to roll low. OTOH, 5e's magic doesn't feel as magical as the spells and the cantrip mis-casting mechanic from Beyond the Wall, and Beyond the Wall's "playbook" approach to character background, adventures, and campaigns is really system neutral.

I *think* we can extract the cool stuff from Beyond the Wall without changing systems.

For example! We can give Talashia a bonus known spell (The Howling) and knowledge of her True Name. How does that sound?

We could adapt the True Name rules thus: Your True Name can be used for weal or woe. A friend using your True Name can use Help to grant you a saving throw against an ongoing effect (e.g. petrification and polymorph), or to grant you advantage on rolls associated with healing or "buffing" magic (e.g. cure wounds, bardic inspiration, spending hit dice during a short rest). However, a foe can use your True Name to gain advantage on its attacks against you, or impose disadvantage on your saving throw against its attacks or spells, for the duration of the encounter.

For The Howling, here's the original spell description from Beyond the Wall:

The Howling
Range: Near
Duration: 1 round/level
Save: yes
The caster calls out painful words of magic, her voice
growing to a howling shout. Soon, many voices rise
on the winds, creating a deafening cacophony in the
immediate area. Everyone in near range, both friend
and foe, must make a saving throw or else cover their
ears and do nothing else for the duration of the spell.
Even those in range who succeed at their saving throws
suffer a -2 penalty to all actions. Creatures who cannot
hear, or who are mindless, such as skeletons and
zombies, are unaffected.

 

[Trogdor1992]

If this opens up I want you to know I'm very interested

 

[Axel]

I've been practically inactive here for a few months. Slain in RL, and working too many night shifts...

For this, I will make an effort to return. The setting and the group had sooo much potential.

I have read none of the books and have no knowledge of them. I do like Kynee "as is", but more than willing to take advice on tweaks and mods.

Let's do this thing!

​

 

[Steve Gorak]

Hey Guys!

Wow, I'm glad this is live again, and I'm thrilled that the pace is already fast!

So, my character Ethian was a moon druid, with the Magic without borders feat. I like rituals, and he had a bunch. How would this translate with the new sourcebook beyond the wall?
Thanks and cheers!

SG

 

[Shayuri]

I think the Beyond the Wall content is largely supplementary in this case. Beyond the Wall is actually a whole different game system that has a cool 'lifepath' style character generation system. Quickleaf has some ideas about incorporating some of that just to add some depth to the RP in this game, with perhaps some minor system imports.

So you can use your character just as he was, and bring in a playbook (choose a few from the list in the original post and QL will PM you details) to use for some background stuff, either to give some details to your existing backstory, or as inspiration for a backstory.

--

Also yeah, Kynee was present for Talashia's surge, which wound up busting them both out of jail or something? I'll have to go back and check that out again.

Being persecuted/judged unfairly is definitely one of Tala's triggers though!