Bo9S-themed homebrew gestalt game -- now recruiting!

[Autumn]

When are you going to start making choices for the group? Do you want character sheets yet or just rough ideas(manuvers chosen, feats ideas, and a larger background?)

I'll give it a couple more days before I make any definite decisions on players, so I'm not asking for character sheets yet. I don't want to put people to the trouble of a full character sheet while there's still a chance they won't get into the game. For now I'm happy to talk things through on a conceptual level.

OK. I can be persuaded- human cleric/warblade it is. I'm thinking that he's semi-fanatical, but that it's a front for doubts about the separation of pureblood humans from mixed-blood.

What domains would be appropriate for a cleric of Astres?

Cool, sounds like there'll be some very interesting dynamics there.

Astresian Clerics pick from the domains of Good, Law, Protection, War, Inquisition (Complete Divine), and Purification (Complete Divine).

Ooh, half-orc with a bonus feat, that could do me very nicely (and I totally agree with your sentiment, by the way. AAAAARGH sums it up about right). Who knows, if I get along in the levels I might take some racial paragon levels .

You want me to start working up a character sheet?

Glad that the half-orc idea suits you!

See my above comments in this post concerning character sheets - tl;dr version is that you should probably hold off for now. In the meantime though, something to think about concerning his background - what kind of tribe does he come from? Those tribes with totemic/shamanistic beliefs tend to be more 'primitive' and tied to their monstrous humanoid counterparts (which fits well with your race) compared to the druidic pagans. At the most savage end of the spectrum are the marauding orc tribes who often don't bother to cook their meat once they've caught it, while at the most civilised end are those human pagans who have settled into self-sufficient farming communities. Have a think about where your character will fall on that scale, and what he'll think of his neighbours on it.

Of course as far as the Astresians are concerned, 'pagans' is a nice blanket word with which to bundle up all the recalcitrants who prefer to live in the wilderness rather than embrace their destinies.

Did the 3.5 treatment of Genasi change from the FRCS version? They're not in the SRD, and if I've got a 3.5 book with them statted out, it's not obvious which one to me (I don't have the Planar Handbook or the Players Guide to FR which would have been obvious places to look).

I'm in the same boat as Zurai - as far as I know, FRCS has the most up-to-date stats for the genasi. Those are the ones I'm working with.

I would like to go the unarmed variant of swordsage(lose the armor prof but gain monk unarmed strike damage). The other side would definately be fighter. He would focus on unarmed UFC type combat. His fighter feats would be mostly put to use to gain the various melee weapon mastery/bludgeoning type feats from PHBII. He would focus mainly on shadow hand, setting sun, and diamond mind manuvers.

That all sounds fine to me. Background looks good as well, in fact it has some rather interesting implications for plans I already had in place. I'm getting some ratbastardly ideas already.

One thing I wasn't clear on though - that last sentence makes it ambiguous, but are you intending that he will be still out for revenge on his father's killer as the game starts? If so then that works just fine.


* * *


A question for all my prospective players, something that was flagged up by Brian Compton's comments - do you feel a 32 pt buy is adequate? Or does the nature of the gestalt rules necessitate a higher point value?

I'm open to giving you guys more points to play around with, if it helps you to realise your concepts and feel better about your characters. Obviously it would mean a corresponding increase in your opponents' strength as well.

 

[Shayuri]

Hee

Don't tempt. 32 point buy can feel a bit shy, since gestalt characters often suffer from MAD.

BUT

Since they're getting the bennies from two classes, what it really means is that you need to pick a class to excel in, and just accept that you may not get full use from the other. For example, the teefer beguiler/swordsage I'm working on is like that. As a swordsage, I need Strength, Con, Dex and Wis. As a Beguiler I need Int and Charisma.

Oops.

My solution was to focus on Dex and Int...and plan on using feats and powers to make up for the fact that I'll be hitting like a little girl, and I'll be frail and not as persuasive as I might otherwise be.

Upshot: More point buy is -useful-, but not -required-. 32 point buy means you either need very high synergy between your two classes, or you have to make some choices about where and how to excel. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Shayuri]

Eee...actually, as long as I'm here, I'll pitch my concept. I touched on some basics before, but it's fleshed itself out now...

In years past, a fiendish cult of unusual size and power sacked a small village on the outer borders of the realm. Those they did not kill in ritual fealty to their hellish masters, they kidnapped and brought back to the deep mines and caves they had taken residence in.

----

Time ago, the Astresian Church responded to this threat with a mounted contingent of knights and paladins. They tracked the evil to its lair and found it well fortified. Astre was with them though, and they fought through the barricades and warriors. They fought through spell and trap. They faced unnatural fear, but their courage did not fail. They faced mighty illusions of magick, but they were not swayed. They slew the cult to the last screaming man and woman, and recovered the few townsfolk that survived.

----

One of the young women rescued grew round with child afterwards. She did not recall what had happened during her captivity, though the nightmares persisted to that day. Fearful of what the baby might be, she tried to sneak away to have it and kill it alone...but was discovered and a midwife summoned. The baby seemed perfectly normal, but the mother would not have it. The midwife, not knowing what else to do, brought it to one of the houses of Astre, in hopes that it could be raised with the blessing of God.

----

Thorn is an orphan, raised by the good nuns of an Astresian refuge for children in need of a family. Astre is, after all, the great Father, and He loves all children! Well...most children. Thorn earned her nickname from the longer and more accurate moniker 'Thorn In My Side.' Sometimes shoe. Embracing it as a badge of honor, her real name dwindled from neglect and has since vanished from all but early records.

She was reckless, feckless, uncontrollable, inconsolable, impious, disingenuous, and worst of all, contagious. Not only did she take perverse joy in wreaking of havoc, but she inspired other kids to help or do the same. Unable to simply kick her out due to her youth and their vows, the sisters did the only thing they could...kept ratcheting up punishments until Thorn finally felt obligated to make a dramatic escape. An escape aided and abetted by the nuns themselves, though subtly enough that Thorn never knew her daring midnight flight ("to be a pirate") was exactly what they wanted.

Out on the streets, Thorn was surprised at how hard things could be, and nearly went back several times. Each time though, despite cold and hunger, she managed to stick to her guns. She even came up with a plan. Using a bit of the magic she'd been so careful not to let the nuns know about, she disguised herself as a young boy...a role she played well enough to be taken on as a cabin boy on a ship.

The captain of the Bountiful Voyager was a 'gentleman adventurer' by the name of Nigel Squireson. Unlike most adults Thorn had known up to then, he seemed to enjoy her wild streak and even encouraged her roguishness. Even when the jig was up and her true nature was revealed, he kept her on as cabin 'boy,' with the understanding that she'd maintain the disguise for the purpose of the crew. For her own safety and to assuage superstitions. Impressed with the moxie needed to have made such a pretense work for so long, he decided to take Thorn under his wing and teach her in the ways of sword, stealth, and trickery that were his tools on the high seas and ports.

In time, despite all she'd learned with Nigel, Thorn returned to the land and its comforts. Having mastered the dual arts of steel and spell, she felt ready to make her own way in the world, and was determined to do just that.

 

[Avalon®]

Autumn, are you still accepting players?

I was thinking of having something like a warforged. Would they be acceptable?

 

[drothgery]

Fleshing things out a bit, with something that might be totally nixed because I'm not sure Autumn would want a persistently... difficult province like Terrell in the Empire...

Those in the Imperial City always said Terrellians were difficult. The last to fall to the Astresians, and they never let anyone forget it. It hadn't surprised anyone, that. Five generations before Astres' rise to power, the Efreet Lord Ren Terrell had shocked his peers by taking the daughter of one of his human councilors not as a concubine, but as his wife. Historians in the Imperial capital made it a cynical gesture, as Terrell had desparately needed human soldiers to hold a province threatened by monsters and barbarians. Bards in Terrell still told epic love stories, though few told them elsewhere; Terrellian bards were no more fond than anyone else of Astresian prisons.

But whether motivated by cynicism or love or both, Ren and his heirs forged a true bond with the humans who had settled their last outpost of civilization. The humans of Terrell fought for their Lord -- Ren Terrell's genasi great-grandson -- when Astres' armies came, just as hard their planetouched fellows did. It was not until Astres brought a third army to bear -- two already having been broken on the walls of Terrell's capital -- that Martaan Terrell gave in to the inevitable, surrendered his city, and offically accepted the Sanction. He could not hold forever against both the Empire and the enemies that had always plagued his province, and appeasing the Astresians was possible.

And a millenia later, Deren Terrell still held to the same philosophy. He wished there was an alternative. But too few would rally to his father's banner if he raised it in rebellion. And the Astresians had never seen fit to deal with the barbarian and monster threats more permanently. If they feared Terrell would go its own way and discard the hated Sanction the second they no longer needed the Empire, well, Deren could not blame them; that fear was quite well grounded in many ways. But in other ways it was groundless, as Terrell did need the Empire.

At least for now. Barten Terrell had sent his son to master the arts of war, spell and sword. Deren wasn't privy to exactly what his father wanted him to do with the skills he expected him to acquire. But he expected that Barten had a plan. Certainly their had to be some reason beyond 'it will be good for you' to send him for training with Master Carthis in Embria rather than bringing a master to Terrell.

Deren Terrell
LN Fire Genasi warblade//warmage
Str 14 Dex 12 Con 12 Int 16 Wis 10 Cha 14
- will concentrate mostly on Diamond Mind and White Raven manuevers
- would use the Advanced Learning alternate class feature for warmages in PH2 to pick up a handful of non-blasting spells

 

[Brian Compton]

I don't have a full idea yet, but here's what I'm thinking:

Cleric/Warblade. The domains would be Protection and War. The main Warblade schools would be Iron Heart and Stone Dragon. Stat focuses would be on Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom, with Intelligence and Constitution being back up stats.

Bariel (pronounced bar-EYE-el) came to the faith of Astres when a visiting cleric came through his community. He immediately caught fire when he heard the story of Astres, and the cleric encouraged him in the faith. He also told him to learn the way of the sword in order to better deal with dangers. I'll flesh this out later.

What would Astres favored weapon be?

 

[Autumn]

Hee

Don't tempt. 32 point buy can feel a bit shy, since gestalt characters often suffer from MAD.

<snip>

Mmm, you have a very good point. I appreciate your self-restraint.

Since nobody else has been clamoring for a raised value either, 32 pt buy can stand.

Eee...actually, as long as I'm here, I'll pitch my concept. I touched on some basics before, but it's fleshed itself out now...

<snip>

Looks great! A good old-fashioned swashbuckly background.

Minor nitpick - it's Astres, not Astre.

Only thing that needs a little expansion is how exactly she came to enter Master Carthis's tutelage. Hmmm. If you didn't have anything in mind, it's possible that maybe she was caught in some minor misdemeanour by a local guard, who saw potential in her and considered it a shame to just throw the book at her and put her in a cell - so instead sent her packing to Carthis, hoping some simple living and physical labour would put her on the straight and narrow at the same time as her martial skill improved.

Just an idea of course - if you have other thoughts then go ahead.

Fleshing things out a bit, with something that might be totally nixed...

No way.

Looks extremely well thought-out and interesting... and I love it when players flesh out their own niches in the setting. It all fits in perfectly with my own ideas, too. Good stuff.

Sorry for ignoring your first post by the way, I just now noticed it.

Glad I didn't lose your interest.

I don't have a full idea yet, but here's what I'm thinking:

Cleric/Warblade. The domains would be Protection and War. The main Warblade schools would be Iron Heart and Stone Dragon. Stat focuses would be on Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom, with Intelligence and Constitution being back up stats.

Bariel (pronounced bar-EYE-el) came to the faith of Astres when a visiting cleric came through his community. He immediately caught fire when he heard the story of Astres, and the cleric encouraged him in the faith. He also told him to learn the way of the sword in order to better deal with dangers. I'll flesh this out later.

What would Astres favored weapon be?

Great, thanks for the info. All looking good.

The Astresian favored weapon is the Bastard Sword (katana). The original human settlers on Valis came from a culture that was Oriental in feel (Astresians tend to roughly Chinese or Japanese physical characteristics - yellow-brown skin, dark hair). Their culture has become Westernised since the rise of Astres, taking on many elements inspired by real world Judaism and medieval Catholicism; their architecture is something like an amalgamation of Imperial Chinese and Gothic styles. In their weaponry and armor, however, the old traditions have endured with little change.

Autumn, are you still accepting players?

I was thinking of having something like a warforged. Would they be acceptable?

Still considering new submissions, yep. I'll make my choice of players over the weekend.

Warforged are becoming something of a pet hate of mine, because of the tendency for everyone to want to play one in any Eberron game. I have a sneaking suspicion that this might have something to do with the fact that they are significantly more powerful than any other LA+0 race I can think of. I'm not completely averse to the idea of giving them some kind of niche in the setting if you can come up with a really compelling concept, but otherwise playing one isn't something I'm gonna encourage.

This fits in well, too. Maas is completely unconcerned with matters of politics.

(Not that I want to dissuade you from running a political-themed game if others want to - I as a player love political machinations)

Any general information you can give me on a specific Air Court that I can incorporate into the background?

So sorry! Like drothgery's first post, this completely escaped my notice. Think it got posted at the same time as one of my replies, and I foolishly didn't check. Anyhow, better late than never yes?

Politics are likely to feature in my plot devices, but how far you engage with them and on what level you involve yourselves is completely up to you.

As for information on a specific air court - I can detail one for you if you like, but my preferred approach would be to leave that up to you. Think scheming, plotting Djinnis locked in elaborate byzantine feuds with each other and you can't go far wrong. Half-elemental and Genasi lords are also not unknown, and anything with an [Air] subtype is a definite possibility as a player in the House of Air and could potentially be the lord of a court.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Zal'Gat (no last name/title because he hasn't yet completed the trials of manhood) was abandoned as an infant by his mother, who bore him after being raped as a tribe of orcs swept through her village. Despite his unusual toughness, he surely would have perished had fortune not intervened. The squalling infant was found by another, different roving band of orcs. Initially taking him for an orc - so prominent was his heritage - they took him in and began raising him.

However, as he grew, despite his strength and toughness it slowly became clear that there was another race's blood flowing through his veins, and slowly he was accorded less and less respect, avoiding death only by his martial prowess and the fact that he was being trained by the tribe's shaman. On the night before his sixteenth birthday - the day when he would normally have attempted the trials of manhood to become a full member of the tribe - the shaman came to him. He explained that if Zal'Gat were to attempt the trials the following day he would surely be killed in the process. He then offered the young warrior a choice. He had spoken to the elders, and demanded the right to give Zal'Gat a different trial.

Zal'Gat was to go forth into the human lands and learn of their ways of battle, becoming a match for any soldier of Astres or minion of the Elemental courts, and only then would he return to the tribe. If he had such powerful knowledge to teach the tribe, the Elders would have little choice but to accord him the rights of a man. To this end, Zal'Gat began travelling into lands strange to him. He learned a few tidbits along the way, but his true tutelage did not begin until he met a student of Master Carthis, who - impressed with the young barbarian's skill - sent him to the province of Embria with a letter of introduction to Carthis himself.

 

[EvolutionKB]

That all sounds fine to me. Background looks good as well, in fact it has some rather interesting implications for plans I already had in place. I'm getting some ratbastardly ideas already.

The last sentence is ambiguous on purpose yes, all to better the plothooks. If I were chosen, I'd would submit a longer more detailed background to better define goals and such. I am thinking at this point however that he would seek revenge on the one that killed his father, once he was confident that he was a capable enough warrior. The killer's true identity is unknown thanks to wearing a heavy robe and cloak that concealed his face.

 

[drothgery]

No way.

Looks extremely well thought-out and interesting... and I love it when players flesh out their own niches in the setting. It all fits in perfectly with my own ideas, too. Good stuff.

Sorry for ignoring your first post by the way, I just now noticed it.

Glad I didn't lose your interest.

Cool beans.