Bo9S-themed homebrew gestalt game -- now recruiting!

[Ryfte]

Crud... found this too late... well... don't have time until tomorrow night for fluff/details but...

If you don't pick before Tuesday morning... I'll have fluff and rough in place.

How about...

Female, Earth Genasi, Jera Guller, Crusader/Fighter

Quick and dirty/basic fluff...

Earth Genasi - Crusader / Fighter
• Jera grew up playing in the stone quarries of Darga located near the main mountain range, the Black Teeth, in Embria.
• Her father was a section caller for Dunall's Grinders, a stone cutting group.
• She began working in the quarry with her mother at an early age.
• Having inherited an enormous physical strength from her father gave her an advantage and she was quite arrogant about her abilities.
• Jera in her arrogance took on the leverage rope for a slab that was too large for her to manage.
• Her mother Larau pushed her out of the way; sacrificing herself to save her daughter.
• Plagued with guilt and demoted to provisions suppliers for the workers Jera became depressed.
• Within a month she had become suicidal and her father, Dunall, consulted with a local priest.
• It was arranged that she leave the quarries and an enchantment was placed upon her which replaced the memory of what had happened to her mother with a similar one; her mother being caught in an accidental slide.
• Her new position would still entail labor but it would be away from the site of the accident and away from all those who knew of what had happened.
• She soon arrived at her new position working for Master Carthis and has been studying the way of the Crusader under his tutelage.
• A simple girl she is happy now that she has forgotten her mother's sacrifice and she is a dedicated worker both in the menial tasks assigned to her and her martial studies.

I've got another idea for either a Goliath or even Half-Ogre Crusader / Barbarian but figured I ought to start working this idea into enough detail for a decent submission. *shrug*

 

[Autumn]

Crud... found this too late... well... don't have time until tomorrow night for fluff/details but...

If you don't pick before Tuesday morning... I'll have fluff and rough in place.

How about...

Female, Earth Genasi, Jera Guller, Crusader/Fighter

You might be in luck there, cos I only just got back after being kept busy all day and now I'm pretty tired. I'll put off my decison till tomorrow.

Sorry for the slowdown, everybody. The end of term rush is killing me. But, tomorrow I'll have a decision for sure.

 

[EvolutionKB]

Sounds good, fingers are crossed.

 

[Brian Compton]

Here's the basic sheet for Bariel:

Name: Bariel Qua-min
Race: Human
Religion: Astres
Height: 5'11"
Hair: Brown, with a short beard
Eyes: Hazel

STR 15 (+2); DEX 14 (+2); CON 10 (+0); INT 12 (+1); WIS 16 (+3); CHA 10 (+0)

Fort: +2 Ref: +1 Will: +5 Init: +2 HP: 12

Skills: Balance 6, Concentration 4, Craft: Weapon 5, Knowledge: Religion 5, Tumble 6

Feats: EWP (Bastard Sword); Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword ); Shield Specialization (Heavy Steel)

Maneuvers: Steel Tornado (IH)- strike two opponents with one attack
Charging Minotaur (SD)- charging bull rush does 2d6+2 dmg., pushes back
opponent
Stone Bones (SD)- grants DR 5/adamantine for one round

Stances: Punishing Stance (IH)- +1d6 to damage, -2 to AC

Typical Spell List/Day: 0- Detect Magic (x2), Guidance; 1- Bless, Divine Power, Magic Weapon (Domain)

I may go back and change the 12 to CON. It seems silly to play a warblade and not get some use out of the INT based abilities.

 

[Autumn]

Okay. It's been a tough decision to make, because all the applications have been good. Unfortunately there's isn't room for all of you, so here's the line up:

- Zurai: Maas Gillian, Male Air Genasi Swordsage/Wizard
- Shayuri: Thorn, Female Tiefling Swordsage/Beguiler
- Brian Compton: Bariel Qua-Min, Male Human Warblade/Cleric
- drothgery: Deren Terrell, Male Fire Genasi Warblade/Warmage
- Nac Mac Feegle: Zal'Gat, Male Half-Orc Warblade/Totemist
- James Heard: Shin, Male Elan Warblade/Psion

Congratulations to you guys! You're in. Those of you who haven't yet posted any crunchy stuff, now's the time to work on that. Those of you who have, I'll now get around to looking properly at it.

You'll all have been with Master Carthis for at least a few months as the game starts, so you will know each other. Have a think about what opinions you're likely to have formed about your fellow advanced students (there are a dozen or so other students, but you six are the most skilled by some way).

Seeing as how we're now getting close to Christmas, I guess I'll be planning on getting the IC thread running around new year. It seems silly to try to get anything moving seriously before that, since many people won't be posting at full capacity for some or all of that time.

Apologies to you others - you will be my first port of call for alts if we lose any players. As I said, all the applications were good.

 

[Zurai]

Interesting. No crusaders, and only a single non-spellcasting gestalt class.

I'll look through the other characters' backstories and get some initial thoughts up, although you can expect Maas to be pretty uniform with regards to how he feels about other people

 

[drothgery]

Interesting. No crusaders, and only a single non-spellcasting gestalt class.

I think the wonky random readied manuever acquisition thing is difficult to accept.

I've got a first cut at Deren's stats almost @home, but since Tuesday's my tabletop game, they won't be up until late, or maybe tomorrow.

 

[James Heard]

I think how Shin feels about the rest of the world in general should be pretty bizarre.
Zal'Gat: "Three cats barked, the last one silent. Which one sits in the lap of the Master?"
Thorn: "When the wind blows, the rain listens. When it stands still, everyone listens."
Maas: "When a Master announces himself the wilderness, who bows?"

Or maybe not, I'm trying to get a handle on mixing up my "koans are cool!" with "...but they're likely to tick people off eventually, and hamper normal communication" vibe. Anyways, I haven't really read everyone's blurbs yet, so I don't know how Shin will accept anyone.

 

[drothgery]

Deren Terrell, Fire Genasi Warblade // Warmage

[sblock=Deren]Deren Terrell
Fire Genasi warblade//warmage
LN Medium outsider (native) (kind of borderline LN/LG, but right now he's a bit too ruthless to be LG in my book)
Deity: none

Init +2 Senses Listen +1, Spot +1
Languages Common, Ingan, 2 TBA
[d][/d]
AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 armor), touch 12, flat-footed 14, 16 when adjacent to ally and weilding WR weapon (adjacent allies also get a +1 to AC)

hp 13 (1 HD)
Fort +3, Ref +3 (+2 when flat-footed) Will +2
[d][/d]
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)

Melee greatsword +3 (2d6+3/19-20/x2)
Melee dagger +3 (1d4+3/19-20/x2)
Ranged thrown dagger +3 (1d4+3/19-20/x2)
Ranged ray +3 (crits on nat 20)

Base Atk +1; Grp +3
[d][/d]
Abilities Str 14 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 14 Wis 10 Cha 14
Feats White Raven Defense
Skills Concentration +5 [4 ranks], Diplomacy +6 [4 ranks], Knowledge (arcana) +6, Knowledge (history) +6 [4 ranks], Martial Lore +6 [4 ranks], Spellcraft +6 [4 ranks]
Stances Leading the Charge (WR)
Manuevers Leading the Attack (WR), Sone Bones (SD), Steel Wind (IH)
Spells
All 0-level and 1st-level warmage spells
Spell Slots
level 0 - 5
level 1 - 4
Possessions
greatsword, chain shirt, dagger, clothes, traveling gear
[d][/d][/sblock]

[sblock=Background]
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 desparely 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, 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.
[/sblock]

[sblock=description]
Age: 19
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 185 lbs
Hair: Red
Eyes: Grey
Skin: Fair, with a slight reddish cast

Deren's clothes tend to be simple and elegant, as in the style of most genasi, especially the high aristocracy. He's very tall and wiry, which isn't uncommon among fire genasi.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Abilities]
Fire Genasi abilities
+2 Int, -2 Cha
+1 racial bonus on to saves vs. fire
Darvision 60'
Confrol Flame (sp)

Warblade abilities
Battle Clarity (ex) As long as you are not flat-footed, you gan an insight bonus equal to your Int bonus (max warblade level) on Ref saves
weapon aptitude (ex) Treat fighter level as fighter level + (warblade level - 2 if warblade level >2) for purposes of qualifying for fighter feats; adjust weapon-specific feats with 1 hour training/feat.

Warmage abilties
Armored Mage (light) Warmages can cast warmage spells in light armor.

Warmage Edge Warmages add their Int bonus to the damage dealt by any spell that does damage. If a spell deals damage multiple times (frex, multiple magic missiles), warmage edge only applies the first time damage is dealt.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Equipment]Equipment and Encumbrance
cost item weight lb
- carried, worn, or in backback
50 gp greatsword 8 lb
100 gp chain shirt 25 lb
2 gp dagger 1 lb
5 gp signet ring lb
free gp explorer's outfit 8 lb
2 gp backpack 2 lb
0.1 gp bedroll 5 lb
0.02 gp whetstone 1 lb
1 gp waterskin 4 lb
1 gp flint & steel n/a
1.5 gp rations, 3 days 3 lb
0.8 gp signal whistle n/a
5 gp spell component pouch n/a

total cost: 168.42 gp total weight: 57 lb
gold on hand: 31 gp, 2 silver, 8 copper

Carrying Capacity
Light load: 58 lb Medium load: 116 lb Heavy load: 175 lb
[/sblock]

[sblock=Default Tactics]
Deren prefers to toss a few spells at an enemy, [fire] for preference, and then charge into melee. If at all possible, he'll try to position himself so allies can take advantage of his White Raven manuevers and stances.
[/sblock]

[sblock=NPCs]
Barten Terrell - Deren's father, a Fire Genasi noble who rules the province of Terrell, and may very well be plotting a break with the Empire
[/sblock]

[sblock=advancement]
Deren's likely to stay straight warblade//warmage, using the Eclectic Learning alternate class feature in PHB2 to pick up a small number of non-blasting spells.
[/sblock]

Deren's likely to be a bit opinionated about the others. He definitely has an agenda, and can have problems with those who he thinks have reasons to be opposed to it, or who he thinks should be full-on supporting it but seem wrapped up in their studies.

Maas: If we were all that indifferent to everything outside of ourselves, the Astresians would be right about us.
Thorn: She's exactly the kind of girl father warned me about. So of course she's my best friend here.
Shin: I don't understand that fellow. Good kid, and a lot tougher than he looks, but he's a strange one.
Zal'Gat: It would be easy to hate him for what he is. The orcish tribes have done more their share of raiding Terrell. Easy, but it wouldn't be right.
Bariel: And even easier to hate Astres' priests than a half-orc. At least I can fight back against the orcs. But a genuinely good man -- which I cannot claim to be myself; much must be done in Terrell's name that a truly good man would disapprove of -- is not someone I can bring myself to hate.

 

[Shayuri]

Gratefully accepted! Thanks.

I'll update with sheet soon.

Thorn is face-friendly...if a bit scheming on the underside. She tends to like people that she can get the advantage of, or that share her view of fun without overshadowing her. She actually kind of likes stuffed shirts, because they're a source of entertainment. She resents the traditional religious view towards magic however, especially shadowy sneaky magic like hers.