Redclaw's Young Rebels OOC

[Redclaw]

I expect Corbin and Jaden would be friends by now. Afterall, half of Jaden's extended family lived in the same hamlet Corbin is from. Heck, it's conceivable that Jaden's immediate family took Corbin in after the tragedy with his home.

That could be a great link, and would definitely add some fun interplay to the adventuring party. It's a classic relationship, and gives Jaden one heck of a reason to play defender, especially if Corbin is a few years younger.

Maybe his grandmother or great grandmother was part of the same adventuring group. Maybe it's strange fate and destiny that all of their grandparents adventured together even though our characters don't know about it and we unwittingly pick up where they left off 60 years ago. Or, maybe we could just have completely disparate sub adventures dealing with the things our various adventuring ancestors did separately from each other. On a related note, perhaps that could also lead to learning Corbin and Jaden might actually be related without knowing it (common grandparent or great grandparent who was an adventurer). I certainly like the idea of a number of his mother's bedtime stories actually being real events an ancestor on his mother's side was part of. It's a fun idea to play with.

Yes, yes, and yes. I had started down a few of these roads, but I'm always happy for more ideas. Of course, how reliable your family stories really are is open for some debate.

Hmmm.....just had a thought. If Bheazir is actually involved in that raid at Skravress' and he wasn't actually caught (ie, planted or uncovered the incriminating evidence without being seen) maybe Jaden was the second culprit. He certainly has reason to hold a grudge against the Bloodscale and he is no stranger to mischief and trouble.

That could work, although it seems a bit too subtle and sneaky for what I've read of Jaden so far. Perhaps Bheazir recruited him after the scarring incident...

 

[Redclaw]

I like the grandfather idea. Perhaps we could include some past ties to Norsten and Phillian (if Bheazir's grandfather was banished too, it might not just be over magic) in their adventuring days.

Gladr would probably know about Bheazir's grandfather, as his old man's old man would keep remembering the good old days.

Some ideas for their adventures:
Defeating one of the Great Wyrms (perhaps why they fled to Evenfall)

Accidentally causing the invasion, and wanting their descendants to fix it.

Ideas?

I'd prefer that you keep Norsten and Phillian out of it for now. Norsten isn't that old (his father was speaker after the second flight), and Phillian is more studious than adventurous.

I like the idea of the rambling gramps with the stories of his youth. How much did Gladr believe his stories? I remember some of the stretchers my grandfather told me.

Don't go too far with the scope, however. They weren't quite so important as to have taken out a Great Wyrm or caused the invasion. You need to work yourselves up to that level of significance.

 

[Zweischneid]

I like the grandfather idea. Perhaps we could include some past ties to Norsten and Phillian (if Bheazir's grandfather was banished too, it might not just be over magic) in their adventuring days.

Gladr would probably know about Bheazir's grandfather, as his old man's old man would keep remembering the good old days.

Some ideas for their adventures:
Defeating one of the Great Wyrms (perhaps why they fled to Evenfall)

Accidentally causing the invasion, and wanting their descendants to fix it.

Ideas?

Awsome, no need to aim to low

But yeah, as with redclaw, I think this is aiming both too high and too low at the same time for a background.

Too high:
If our grandparents would be the guys (!) who brought about the second flight and killed a Great Wyrm as they went along (Epic tier stuff, to use the 4e terminology), you easily alienate some other players by occupying a major, major plotline by default.

Too low:
Unless there's a secret we don't know yet, sparring with Norsten, the constable and possibly Phillian will likely be heroic tier stuff. If the "grandparent adventurers" did something half as worldshaking as bringing about the second flight, putting those town authority guys into the same boat would seem strange (not to mention the PCs chanceless against them). Besides, every other town or village we'd ever visit would loose out on Evenfall for having only less important NPCs.

The middle ground:
I would see our grandparents as lower paragon tier adventurers. They adventured together, they fought against (smaller) dragons and might have been, knowingly or unknowingly, been up to a lead towards something bigger if a plot-hook is needed. They may have been in charge of a town like Evenfall, though ruling it just and fairly and without a dragon overlord.

Somewhere along the line they got beaten for it, lost friends, family and fortune and fled to settle somewhere far away in Evenfall where noone knows them. If our group ever manages to put up with a Great Wyrm, it should have long ago surpassed this legacy however.

 

[Zweischneid]

Hmmm.....just had a thought. If Bheazir is actually involved in that raid at Skravress' and he wasn't actually caught (ie, planted or uncovered the incriminating evidence without being seen) maybe Jaden was the second culprit. He certainly has reason to hold a grudge against the Bloodscale and he is no stranger to mischief and trouble.

Yup, saw Skravress in your background. The Bloodscales already making quite a name for himself.

I put up the idea of the other masked vigilante up there to be either used by an interesting player, or alternatively by Redclaw.

If you want to be this other culprit, I think that would be awsome. Would have to flesh out the event a bit more maybe to fit in the characters, but I could easily see Bheazir coming up to Jaden during one of his lonely practice hours with a not-so-good plan to expose Skravress. Maybe a bit:

"I know the Bloodscale is pressing valuables from the villagers. I have seen him take the silver from Mary the midwife a tenday ago, and I know she's already payed the constable her part. Not only do the poor folk need to tribute the Dragonlord, now they also need to bribe that brute of a guardsman. But I think I know where he hides his vault. If we could get into his hovel during one of his nightshifts, we would return the rightful things to the villager, just like Aalados the Green, who took from the wicked and gave to the poor! But I do need someone smaller than me to squeeze through the dormer he leaves open to clear the smoke.. that savage doesn't even have a chimney. You, know more than anyone how the Bloodscale tyrannizes the people!
What do you think?"




Of course, it likely would not have turned out quite like that.. but that'd be another story

 

[Redclaw]

The middle ground:
I would see our grandparents as lower paragon tier adventurers. They adventured together, they fought against (smaller) dragons and might have been, knowingly or unknowingly, been up to a lead towards something bigger if a plot-hook is needed. They may have been in charge of a town like Evenfall, though ruling it just and fairly and without a dragon overlord.

Somewhere along the line they got beaten for it, lost friends, family and fortune and fled to settle somewhere far away in Evenfall where noone knows them. If our group ever manages to put up with a Great Wyrm, it should have long ago surpassed this legacy however.

This works well. Adventurers caught up in the horrors and aftermath of the Second Flight relocate and tell their grandchildren about how life used to be before the dragons took over. It sets the stage for your rebellious attitudes.

 

[renau1g]

Updated Corbin's sheet...

 

[OutlawJT]

Updated Jaden's sheet to add his stats/crunch. How did you get Bheazir's stats text so neat and orderly and column like Zwei?

Redclaw: Normally I'd agree that sneaking in to out Skravress would be uncharacteristic of Jaden (the sneaky part anyway). Given his history with the dragonborn guard, however, he would have motivation to out him and he is not confident enough to confront him openly yet. Until he has a chance to prove to himself he's ready he wouldn't want to risk having to face that challenge again.

 

[Zweischneid]

Updated Jaden's sheet to add his stats/crunch. How did you get Bheazir's stats text so neat and orderly and column like Zwei?

Setting the text between (code) (/code) with tag brackets gives a format where every letter and space is identically spaced (for writing.. well codes.. by intend). Should be able to 'quote' my character post and steal the format if you like it. It's unfortunatly quite fiddly at times.

Updated my equipment also...

 

[Redclaw]

Another round of thoughts on characters, with continued aknowledgement that you all might have seen things I missed, so I’m ready to listen if you think I’m wrong.

Corbin, Bheazir and Akhara look ready to go.

OutlawJT—Scale mail is not available in Evenfall, as the smith doesn’t have that much skill with heavy armor.
--Small creatures use versatile weapons two-handed, so you should probably switch your weapon talent.
--Your write-up of the marking ability is a bit off.
--Combat Superiority is a bit off, too. It only stops movement if it was the movement that provoked the opportunity attack.
--Fort defense should be 15, (+2 fighter bonus +3 str)
--Hit points should be 29 (15+ con score)

Warlock Lord—What languages does Gladr speak?
--Hit points should be 21 (10 + con score) and thus his surge heals 5

 

[OutlawJT]

Redclaw: What armors are available? Would it be possible to have scale that was salvaged from the ruin of the halfling hamlet? As to powers/class features, I was just paraphrasing to save space and time. I was in a hurry when I posted my crunch. As I understand from reading the fighter's marking ability I think I had it spot on. Any time I attack something whether it be ranged or melee whether I hit or miss I can choose to mark it. If it attempts to shift or attack someone other than me while it is adjacent to and marked by me I can take a basic melee attack against them as an immediate interrupt. I think the marks only last till the end of my next turn with Combat Challenge but I just wanted to include the basic mechanic to save time. I wasn't sure on the two-handed/one-handed weapon issue. As small size I have to wield the bastard sword in both hands but by 4th edition rules it is still a one-handed weapon. I'll change it to reflect two-handed though. Bastard sword is my weapon of choice all the way so that's where I will throw my support statwise.