Shiny Doom Forum

[Corgren]

Sorry for the delay in getting this started - as many of you know now, I've been busy with a move, and after getting settled in I still didn't have much net access for a while. We're good to go now, though, so I'll get this started.

The basic idea for this campaign is that it's a long, sprawling dungeon crawl. You'll be underground a lot, and while you'll have chances to rest/restock/resupply, you'll probably have to earn those chances a lot of the time. I'm not going to make things impossible for you, but for much of the game, you won't have a support network to rely on, it'll be your character's own wits and capabilities that get them by.

So far, for character roles we've got Scott as the striker, Reg as the meatshield, Matthew for healing/support, and Jeff for ranged/arcane. As a sorcerer, Jeff'll have decent Charisma for handling non-combat interactions, but you won't have anybody particularly skillful - you likely won't be doing a while lot of sneaking, diplomacy, and quiet entering. That's not a problem, but remember you won't be on your home turf. Traveling light and being able to flee the scene may come in handy.

I'll dump some world-background in a separate post, to keep that distinct from the out-of-game matters here.
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"Instead, it has always been there. I found it during the CT scan last year, when the mummy was lifted. It lay loose in the sand around the king's body. It was mummified," Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News.

[Corgren]

We are not wanted.

It's the Gods' world, after all, not our own. We have crawled up from the muck, fought for our place, and claimed it as our own; but we did not make it.


Nor are we the first. In the beginnings of time, the God-Children dwelt upon the earth, left unwatched by neglectful deities; tall and powerful, they strode the lands, having even from birth a knowledge of what they were, and how to bend their surroundings to their will. They were the Titans, the first to rule the world.

Yet, under the Titan's feet, already the first of our kind began to rise. They were the Sharakim, and most lived as we; short lives that more often ended in violence than on a quiet bed. Yet they were a kind apart from the Titans and the beasts. Beasts can never bend the world to their will; Titans do so from the first moment of their existence...

But the Sharakim could learn. And learn they did, by sword and by spellbook, by holy symbol and by master's tool, they learned to turn their world to their own uses. Great heroes arose, and over time they won the surface of their world, and threw off the mighty God-Children, to claim the lands for their own. And the Gods returned.

Like neglectful parents, quick to claim innocence when evidence comes to light, the ods avenged the wronged Titans. Each element had its part in undoing the Sharakim. Fire burned their lives away, Wind scattered their ashes, Tides wore down their mighty projects, and Earth buried them all beneath the surface of the lands.

And yet, even against the Gods themselves, the Sharakim fought as they had against the Titans. They fought well, futile though the effort may have been; while there is no questioning the victory of the Gods, it was not an entire thing, and traces of the Sharakim yet remain upon and under the land.

There is another mark that the efforts of the Sharakim left. Despite their defeat, it is their descendants who now claim the lands; the Gods and their Children have left this troublesome world to its own fate. Those few gods who still have worshipers here answer their followers' calls, from time to time, and so divine power has not utterly left this world. There are other remnants of the time of the Titans as well, foul abominations that take what places and resources they can, though always fearful of the next learned Hero who might happen by.
_ _ _ _ _

That's more or less how history is thought of officially, and it's pretty accurate as well.The Sharakim were originally from the deep places in the Earth, but they built vast cities above the surface. The elemental plagues buried much of these cities, to varying depths, but the projects of the Sharakim were so vast that they still breach the surface in places, the tops of tall spires, or cavities left behind in a few places were the elements could not get past the shielding of the Sharakim.

The city you'll be starting in - Waterdeep - is one of the latter sorts of places. Because Water was one of the plagues as well, there are extensive underground seas and waterways, which serve as the basis for much of the economy and ecology. Waterdeep is a coastal city, a vast terraced pit sunk into the earth, with locks and canals around its perimeter, connecting an ocean harbor, a major riverway, and a sub-surface canal that leads to the interior sea. It's a feudal economy, but there is one way out of servitude - you can buy the lowest level of noble title, and become a freeman, thus earning the right to travel freely. Doing this will be your first adventure.

There's a couple ways to handle that; you can all be from the same nearby town, already friends and looking to earn your freedom together, or you might all meet up one by one and realize you all have that goal... we can play around with this, depending on how much attention you guys want to pay to that sort of detail. We could just say 'you're together, let's get on with it' as well, if you like.

Ben's The 7-Sentence NPC material is something worth looking at as well. This game might not be quite as character-driven as his, but those are some reasonable thoughts to at least keep in mind, I think.
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"Instead, it has always been there. I found it during the CT scan last year, when the mummy was lifted. It lay loose in the sand around the king's body. It was mummified," Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News.

[Mogri]

The psionic stuff still interests me... debating between a Maenad wilder, and a Xeph soulknife. The soulknife seems pretty straightforward as a fighter that has some psionic flare... whereas the wilder has the potential to be more customizable, but I'll have to spend more time looking through the power list to see if I can up with a good strategy... I'd still be a fan of ranged attacks (especially with the psionic shot feat).
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"A club without the right direction, is a misguided stick."
-- Master Wham

[Corgren]

Jeff: Soulknife is fine; he's not as much of a blaster, but I'm fine with running a low-magic campaign. It'd change the challenges you face a little, but that's not a problem by any means. Soulknife doesn't get it's throwing ability until second level; we can swap that into first level with a range increment of, say, 15', bump back weapon focus to 2nd level, and give you the 30' increment at 2nd level as well, if that seems balanced to you.

Wilder seems alright; the psionic version of a sorcerer, I think. It does keep the party closer to the standard roles, though as I said above, that's not a huge thing. One thing I've heard is that psicrystals can often turn out rather Wrong - like a cross between a familiar and a druid's companion. You'd have to burn a feat to get it anyway, but I think I might disallow it - open to discussion on that, though.
_ _ _ _ _

Edit: Oh, right, since y'all are pussies and scared of a few words.

The Gods originally created the universe as a spawning grown to dump off their kiddies - the Titans. The Titans are magical beings, born with world-shaping power. Beasts roamed the world, too; animals with no such power, and no way of getting.

Then the Sharakim turned up - they came from underground, there's no single story on where from. They're humanoids, and they have the ability to learn (that is, level up), which basically just freaked everybody out. They wound up fighting the Titans, then the Gods - and of course, lost.

Their civilization got buried underground, and it's the buried cities that are the underground world you'll mostly be exploring. The Sharakim themselves seem to be extinct, but most of the humanoid races are thought to be their descendants.

Underground doesn't mean no civilization, by the way. Above ground, the economy is mostly farming and livestock, with things like spice trading and metalworking; below ground, there's some farming based on fungi-type life, plus a hunting based on all the huge critters running around down there - think of it like 19th century whaling.

The surface lands and underlands are economically linked as trading partners, and have diplomatic relations with one another. In just about every case they are separate states politically, though, and each is divided into smaller countries/kingdoms.

Matthew: (Does he have an account here?) I know in the Player's Guide it says clerics can choose an ideal rather than specific deity. I'm going to tweak that just a little. Your divine power is still coming from somebody, so even if you choose an ideal, it'll be some specific God who also holds that ideal who will be giving you the divine energy.

Reg, Scott: You should both be fine for now, as your ideas are a little simpler. Still, feel free to post any thoughts or questions.
_________________
"Instead, it has always been there. I found it during the CT scan last year, when the mummy was lifted. It lay loose in the sand around the king's body. It was mummified," Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News.

[Mogri]

[Corgren]

Space'll get a little cramped even for that first-level adventure, so some range will be handy, when you've already got two front-liners beside yourself.
_________________
"Instead, it has always been there. I found it during the CT scan last year, when the mummy was lifted. It lay loose in the sand around the king's body. It was mummified," Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News.

[Mogri]

I'm pretty much leaning towards the Xeph Soulknife; probably with the 'point blank shot' feat in preparation for 'psionic shot' later, and tending towards something dextrous and sneaky. I'll build up a character sheet at some point as well as some back story notes.

Since I don't really need to buy a weapon, could I get a psionic item instead? What kind of limits (e.g. cost and level) might that incur? Medium armor is probably also in order, not sure about a shield.

P.S. Your suggestion about bringing/modifying the throwing ability to 1st level seems generally reasonable.
_________________
"A club without the right direction, is a misguided stick."
-- Master Wham

[Corgren]

We'll just start everybody out with 150 gold to purchase gear. Whatever you can buy with that is fair. Include resources for a couple day's adventuring.

Keep track of how much weight you're carrying, too. Most of you will be high enough strength for it not to matter, I think, but heavy loads do slow you down.
_________________
"Instead, it has always been there. I found it during the CT scan last year, when the mummy was lifted. It lay loose in the sand around the king's body. It was mummified," Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News.

[Mogri]

Some initial thoughts on backstory... I'll probably re-visit and tweak at some point.

Jamsheed Shaikos

Occupation and History: Working under Master Daidon, a blacksmith, Jamsheed’s ability to materialize a blade on demand made him invaluable to the business, helping to visualize new designs and letting customers pick from a variety not necessarily in current stock. While the blades themselves were incorporeal and of no use to the patrons, they still appreciated the wealth of design choices they could see.


Physical description: Jamsheed is an average build Xeph (e.g. 5’8”, 150 lbs.) with most of his hair shaved, save a shoulder-length pony tail. He has relatively light skin for a Xeph, which is still noticeably dark tan/brown compared to caucasian humans. He prefers relatively simple clothing, often somewhat tattered and baggy. This was not to say he was messy and unkept, but he preferred that his skills are what people focused on, not his appearance.


Attributes and Skills: Being one of the few Xephs (let alone Psions) in Shaikos, while Jamsheed had learned to ignore the sneers and insults, he was even more adept at recognizing and stealthfully avoiding intense situations (high DEX). While he could hold his own in the few scuffles he’s had, he prefers to avoid confrontations to begin with.


Values and Motivations: After his father’s suspicious death working for one of the knights in Shaikos, Jamsheed had grown to quietly question the authority structure. While he dare not let his feelings show, he longed to be a free man, and not suffer at the whims of any cruel vassals. This was not to say that Jamsheed did not stand for law and that which was good in the world, but he realized that the law could easily be abused in the wrong hands, and wanted no part of that.


Interactions with Others: As with most Xephs, Jamsheed was jovial, and excellent at calming tensions with his humor and whit. While a generally welcome addition to most groups, Jamsheed was also not the life of the party, and chooses to have relatively few close friends, as opposed to a large group, where he knows none of the members well.


Useful knowledge: While he has little knowledge in crafting weapons, Jamsheed has grown to recognize many different blade types and designs, making it easy for him to spot a shoddily crafted sword from a true weapon, designed and forged by a master, capable of imparting much more harm. This also allows him to materialize some pretty menacing-looking weapons for himself, although their true power is still limited by his largely self-trained soulknife skills.


Distinguishing Feature: Jamsheed is quite stubborn and has gotten used to being self-sufficient, and will often refuse help, even if it ends up hurting him.
_________________
"A club without the right direction, is a misguided stick."
-- Master Wham

[Mogri]

Would any of these be a good extra language to know?
Draconic, Elven, Gnoll, Goblin, Halfling, Sylvan
_________________
"A club without the right direction, is a misguided stick."
-- Master Wham

[Demonic Dragon]

This is Matthew.
I am still debating on the race. I've been looking at catfolk but I am not too sure since the lack of some info. I've been looking at this pdf located at http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Races.pdf. I've just got the crystalkeep.com and d20srd.org site which Sara forwarded to my e-mail. What's my limitations on what to pick as far as race as concerned.
If I've got some room to fly in the mazes then I wouldn't mind being a raptoran. If the cieling isn't that high then flying would be worthless. That's why I was looking at the catfolk for its speed. I am looking at speed or flight to evade potential threats and to get closer to my comrades at an effective rate for healing/echantments.

[Corgren]

Jeff's Character Sheet: http://www.roguepenguin.com/castellar/profiler/view.php?id=3943

Reg's Character Sheet: http://www.roguepenguin.com/castellar/profiler/view.php?id=3944

Scott's Character: http://www.roguepenguin.com/castellar/profiler/view.php?id=3945

Matthew's Character: http://www.roguepenguin.com/castellar/profiler/view.php?id=3946

Dima's Character Sheet: http://www.roguepenguin.com/castellar/profiler/view.php?id=3998
_________________
"Instead, it has always been there. I found it during the CT scan last year, when the mummy was lifted. It lay loose in the sand around the king's body. It was mummified," Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News.

[Mogri]

I must apologize for this oversight...

After I got out from under the spider that drained my constitution, my character raised his fist at it and yelled Con (ala Kaaaaaaahn)!
_________________
"A club without the right direction, is a misguided stick."
-- Master Wham

[Corgren]

:I
_________________
"Instead, it has always been there. I found it during the CT scan last year, when the mummy was lifted. It lay loose in the sand around the king's body. It was mummified," Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News.

[rklee]

Dima's back from his multi-month vacation. Could we add him here if he is interested? With a smaller/faster group it might be easier and more interesting for him.
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"My Heart Is In the Work" - Andrew Carnegie