[OOC] The Snug Retreat

[Snicker]

Originally Posted by Vaynol

Not her whole life but she has lived in Cilsie certainly I'd say for the last 8-9 years.

Then, let's see...Rana is probably unusually uncurious about Lili's past; she's living in Cilsie now, and that's what matters. If Lili mentioned her inevitably glorious destiny, Rana didn't say anything, but inwardly thought it was bunk (and wasn't that good at hiding it). She surely enjoys Lili's performances, though (there's not much else entertainment in Cilsie), and was probably one of the people to unsuccessfully proposition her.

Also, a question for the DM: Does Cilsie use dog sleds at all? Is there any need to cover that much distance?

[97mg]

Noquarter19: That beast list is fine! If there are any others that you're not sure of, let me know, as aside from during blizzard times, the general area would be nice to have plenty of wildlife.

Snicker: Thanks for your thoughts on the relationships! I've popped them into the table in the characters thread

[97mg]

Snicker: I reckon we can factor in some dog sleds for sure! Very handy for carting things around, and also bringing supplies into the village from outside

[Noquarter19]

Getting down to the last of it. My sheet is here, and the only things I need to do now are pick up a few odds and ends (specifically, a crossbow case and bolts, an herbalist’s kit, and a shovel).

 

I know you said that additional purchases would be handled in character, though that was specifically mentioning trading out starting equipment, and the stuff listed above would be “in addition to,” so I haven’t added this stuff to my sheet yet (also because I didn’t know if you’d handwave some of it and let me start out with it). I could have tweaked how I took my levels and gone Ranger for level 1 instead of Druid, and it probably would have been the smarter choice since I would have gotten the free longbow with arrows instead of a light crossbow and no bolts. It would have also gotten me better saves (STR/DEX vs INT/WIS), an additional simple weapon, and a whole 1 additional starting HP… but I would have lost out on having proficiency with the herbalism kit, and where we don’t necessarily have a dedicated healer, I figured that would be useful to have, as well as make for fun immersion-y role playing.

As for Wyl’s thoughts on the other characters… (spoilered for easy addition to the chart).

 

It’s been some time since Lili first came to Cilsie, and it’s been really nice having her as a part of the community. Her company and joyful music have been like a warm fire on a cold night. However, the young bard has also been something of a conundrum for Wyl, at least in the early days of her stay. Given her frequent requests for him to guide her throughout the region (often, seemingly, going nowhere in particular), Wyl started to think that the singer had a “thing” for the older man. After seeing how others who approached her were gently let down after making their intentions clear, Wyl concluded that she was either a) just friendly to everyone without being interested in a relationship, or b) carried a torch for the older man but was too shy to say anything. Not wanting to guess wrong and have it impact their friendship, Wyl has gone with the first conclusion. He had asked once about what she was looking for out in the wilderness, but when she couldn’t give a direct answer, he let the matter drop. Everyone has their secrets, and he had no interest in prying them from her. Besides, if she wasn’t bringing harm to the natural world around her, he has no issue spending time out in nature with a beautiful woman at his side.

 

A curious friendship, though one that Wyl is all too happy to have in his life. By the same token, the little gnome and her rampant curiosity for the world around her can be downright exhausting – not in a bad, “I’m fed up with you” kind of way, but in a “This is the third tree you’ve gotten stuck up in and now I’m having to come up there and get you down and then carry you back to the lodge because you’re freezing” kind of way. It’s not that Wyl dislikes going out into the field with the little gnome, but in the early days at least there was a lot of “Don’t touch that, don’t eat that, you can’t go out in just pajamas.” Now that Aeona has started to recognize the dangers inherent in the nearby world around them, she is somewhat less apt to rush off and do something rash in pursuit of sating her intellectual curiosity. Instead, she just asks Wyl first, early and often – and he does his best to answer. He’s also taken to offering to carry her about in draft horse form when they’re off exploring, which serves the double purpose of keeping her from falling behind and albeit, marginallykeeping her out of mischief.

 

The druid has spent many an evening sidled up to the counter while Kirra served up drinks. Given that bartenders tend to be listeners more than talkers - and given that Wyl is very much the same way, the two of them often spent their evenings saying little. Still, that is not to say that Wyl does not enjoy her company. It’s comforting to be there, sitting across the bar from her with the warm fire crackling in the background and a mug of ale filling his belly. Occasionally, when she was caught up with business, Kirra would break out her violin and fill the air with her sweet melodies. Once, when Wyl had a bit too much to drink, he started talking about how great she was, how he’d love to make beautiful music with her, and that true story, he has proficiency with the flute, he just doesn’t own one yethe was skilled with the flute, but this apparently sounded like some sort of innuendo. Somehow, he found himself tossed out into a snowbank a few seconds later. To date, he’s not brought it up again, and he’s careful about how much he drinks around her.

 

Even though Rana is younger than Wyl, he respects her a great deal. The Duliks have lived in Cilsie for ages, while Wyl has only lived in the small community for eleven years, yet he was always made to feel welcome. It helps too that they both have similar philosophies about nature, about hard work, about fostering good relationships with the community, and about doing what it takes to make sure that no one is left out in the cold. He loves her dogs and often asks to take them for walks (and talks), he checks in with her and her family regularly to see how they’re getting by, if they need anything, etc. It’s not as though he has tried to insert himself into their family, it’s more a sign of his respect for the Duliks. Although Wyl has now grown accustomed to the way of life in Cilsie and the wilds surrounding it, in the early days it took him a while to acclimate to the area and to the different kinds of people living there, people who were so different from the self-centered city folk Wyl was used to. He would never outright call her his sister, but Rana and the Duliks are the closest thing to an actual family that Wyl has.

As always, feel free to tweak or nix any of this stuff should it not jive with how you view your characters behaving. I tried to integrate what the rest of you had written without going too far afield, but of course that’s a subjective thing and I have no issue making changes.

[Snicker]

I'm working on Rana's sheet now. I'd planned to focus on the crossbow, as befit her character art, but I'm afraid of redundancy with Wyl and leaving the party without sufficient tankiness. Hmm...

While I'm working on that, I have a few questions for our DM:

• What is the most common language in Cilsie, besides Common?
• Can we spend our starting gold during character creation?
• If my class allows me to take a martial weapon during character creation, can I take a simple weapon instead?

[Vaynol]

Hopefully, all things being equal I should have my sheet finished tonight.

[97mg]

Noquarter19: You can have the shovel, no worries. Sorry I wasn't very clear with the starting gear stuff. You are welcome to purchase items you want with whatever starting gold you have, at book rates. It was mainly the trading out of starting gear for other goodies that I thought might be fun to RP. Swapping and trading is probably a big thing in Cilsie, for both items and services etc, so I wanted to make something of that.

The herbalism kit and sacrifices you made for it are awesome! It will certainly be handy, relevant, and useful . I've rarely experienced one being used much in a game, so it will be refreshing for me to see that change lol.

Snicker: I'd think elven, dwarvish and halfling for sure! Of those... probably elvish is the big one. Spending starting gold is no problem, book rates! Ditching a martial for a simple weapon is fine I reckon, as long as the value is equal to or less than what you're supposed to have, if that sounds ok?

Vaynol: That's great! No rush either folks, take your time and have fun with this setup stuff. I want everyone to be really happy with their characters

[97mg]

Hi team! One thing I've been thinking about is crafting... which isn't very fun in 5e. It seems like an important feature though for a survival-based story, so I'd love your thoughts on the following changes to non-magical item crafting:

Formula: An item to duplicate, or demonstrated familiarity with an item is enough to provide the required formula.

Tools: Access to the relevant tools is required. I say access... because borrowing them is always an option. You can always attempt to craft without proficiency in them, but the DM will set a DC, and we'll negotiate which ability check is most relevant.

Time Taken: 5GP value of item per day.

Cost: Half of value of item in materials, or some clever collecting of relevant materials IC (eg buying and negotiating for them, finding them, upcycling etc).

Collaboration: For each additional person helping to craft something, the time taken is divided by the number of workers. The helpers do not need to have the applicable tool proficiency, but need to be able to explain IC how they can assist! This could be carrying materials, emotional support, keeping watch over simple processes, mundane supportive tasks, and other handy things any un-trained assistant might be able to do.

Does this sound ok? I've not seen a lot of crafting in 5e and there are lots of alternate rules out there. I wanted to keep it simple though.

[97mg]

Noquarter19: I've changed your AC to 14 in my grid, to account for the Dex. Is that right?

[Vaynol]

Sheet is done and linked in my character concept. Let me know if any issues.

[Noquarter19]

Originally Posted by 97mg

Noquarter19: I've changed your AC to 14 in my grid, to account for the Dex. Is that right?

1 from armor, 3 from Dex... yep that math checks out in my brain

I like the updated crafting rules, will they eventually make it to the guidebook thread?

No word from Cheshire yet?

[97mg]

Vaynol: Sheet looks great!

Noquarter19: I'll totally copy the crafting rules over!

Cheshire might be suffering from some lack of sleep hehe, no rush on the mechanics if you're reading this, I doubt a brawl will break out at a council meeting lol.

[Cheshire]

I am here. Have a newborn so things are a little chaos right now haha. I will be working on Kirra’s relationship with everyone else tonight, as well as the character sheet. Also tryingg to decide on what kind of monk to be.

[Noquarter19]

Oh no worries, and congrats on the little one, I miss those days. My little guy is 7 now, and while I'm glad he sleeps through the night, I do miss when he was just a peanut. Having him fall asleep in my arms was one of the best things in the world... right up until he’d decide to puke all over me!

[97mg]

Hi team! I've opened up our game thread, so feel free to hop on in whenever you like