[D&D-5e] War and Romance

[penbeast0]

True strike? I thought that was pretty combat oriented.

[Haelmaxan]

Placeholder. Now, it's time to read all the game info and see what happens.

Character Name: Otto Kronin Von Starhapstein Age: 23 Class: Rogue (Assassin) Species: Human Character Description: Otto isn't much to look at. It isn't that he's ugly or plain, it's something else. He alters his appearance to blend in, to look non-descript so that people will forget him more easily. He's under six feet tall with a slim build. His pale face has sharp features as if he were cut from marble, and he wears his hair short, with a widow's peak. He keeps his facial hair trimmed as he's a man of order, a man of compulsions. One of those compulsions is keeping his appearance neat, clean, and ordinary. The only thing about him that stands out is his uniform. Otto is a Blue Hat, a job he takes seriously to cover for his real career as an assassin for the crown. To do both jobs with precision, Otto must maintain his disguise, his living illusion as a man dedicated to righting wrongs and bringing justice to the wicked. The best lie is one with a bit of truth to it, and Otto lives this philosophy. He flirts with women, drinks with comrades in the Artisan District bars, and helps people with a smile on his face. All so that he can do his job. Obsessive compulsive is the best way to describe Otto's mental qualities. It makes him a skilled detective, a quality the Blue Hats find invaluable. Unfortunately, this means he ends up in the Common District on cases involving the Thieves Guild. This is unfortunate because the brotherhood has contacts in the guild, so Otto has to tread lightly. He has to get creative with evidence sometimes. One of the members of the guild is more than a contact, he's a brother, but Otto doesn't know his mark and he doesn't know Otto's. That's how the brotherhood operates. Background: Otto was born in the capital to an abusive mother and cowardly father. They weren't poor, but they weren't nobles either. They got by owning a sweets shop. It was considered the second-best sweet shop in the city, much to the chagrin of Otto's mother. She was the real brains behind the store, but his father was the face. And he was a handsome devil but a drinker and a scoundrel. When he was home, he was loving to Otto, a good father, but one that smelled of liquor. His mother was a different story. She berated Otto and her husband constantly. Nothing was good enough for her, ever. As bad as things were, Otto managed to survive. When he was fifteen, his father was found dead outside the home. He was drunk as usual and slipped, hit his head, and died in the cold without anyone knowing he was there. This was a pivotal moment for Otto. It changed his demeanor, brought out his obsessive nature, and soured his mood. A year later, Otto's mother died under mysterious circumstances at the shop. The Capital Guard sent men to investigate the death, but they deemed it an accident. Herbert Meinhoff, a servant of the crown, knew differently. Herbert had a secret profession; he belonged to a brotherhood of assassins without a name who worked solely for the emperor. The old assassin decided to take Otto in and test him. He decided to recruit the boy and test his mettle. He wasn't disappointed. Otto took to the life like a duck to a pond, often exceeding the expectations of his brothers. The only hiccup was during Otto's first kill. The eighteen-year-old Otto hesitated for a moment, but it was enough for his mark to make him, and fight back. While he succeeded in taking out his target, Otto was messed up pretty badly, too. He had to recover at the temple of Ilmater for a month. The near failure struck a chord with Otto, and he vowed never to fail again. Herbert visited Otto in the temple, told the boy he was proud and that nearly everyone choked on their first mission. Some even failed completely, but he passed the final test. He was a member of the brotherhood. The next four years were a blur of learning advanced tricks of the trade and applying those skills to killing the enemies of the emperor. Otto would infiltrate a group using disguises and aliases to win over his victim's trust. For weeks, sometimes months, he would worm his way in. Then, when the time was right, he'd strike, making it seem like an accident every time. One day, Herbert came to Otto with a new mission and a new victim. He would be placed in Kiennen, in a position of authority to gain the trust of the citizens. He would use his time to gather intelligence on his target, to become an invaluable servant until it was time. The last nine months have seen Otto become a Blue Hat in Kiennen. Such an organization gave Otto an excuse to snoop, pry, and ask questions. It allowed him to dig into his mark, to find their weaknesses. The coming festival could be the perfect time to strike. It would look like an accident of course. A tragedy born of bad luck and bad timing. None would be the wiser. Then, Otto would go back to his fake life as a Blue Hat for a while and when the heat died down, he'd return to the capital for his next mission. Otto divides his time between two tasks: his work as a Blue Hat and spying on his mark. He resists the urge to enjoy his police work, but he does enjoy it. In another life, maybe he would have ended up in such a career. If his parents hadn't been disappointments and Herbert not found him. But Otto doesn't dwell on such things, instead, he prepares for the day his mark's time is up. He watches them, learns their habits, and makes plans to engineer an accident. Festivals can be perfect for completing a job. There's the chaos of people running around everywhere, guards are down, and most are full of drink. The only issue with using a festival is time. Less time to plan, less time to prepare, and less time to make sure there are no loose ends. At the Festival: Otto will be in uniform, patrolling the festival and setting up his alibi. I don't expect him to actually kill anyone, but it is a part of his character. I fully expect his plans to be derailed and for him to be sucked into the intrigue of Kiennen.

[CrackedPepper]

Interesting, a secret assassin posing as a cop. You really took my take on violence to heart. Gives me much to ponder.

[The Rat Queen]

Originally Posted by penbeast0

True strike? I thought that was pretty combat oriented.

Guidance and Resistance could be 'combat oriented' too, but they're not attack spells. I figure anything that gives a bonus, rather than dealing damage, is a utility spell. It's a combat utility spell, true, but it doesn't directly harm anyone.

[AlexN]

Alfred Name: Alfred Knecht Age: 38 Class: Gloom Stalker Ranger Species: Human Character Description: At first glance one would think Alfred a type of soldier, from some ultra-light scout division that wanders in front of the army to find the best routes. To the contrary, he is most at home in what some call the urban sprawl. A sort of urban tracker and manhunter, Alfred hunts people within the city using Shadowfell magic to be swift and unseen in faceless crowds and dark alleyways. If one is astute in the use of magic, a chill might go down your spine upon passing him when you get the otherworldly sense of those Shadowfell magics that aid him. He does not rely on much social stealth or flowery words to convince others; he is more used to deduction and calculation to find who he is seeking. This urban ranger looks like he is always tired with bags under his eyes and his equipment is well worn. Background: Alfred has always been a waif of the city. He does not care about the civil strife brewing around the country, local happenings have been the only thing he has worries for. He finds people; finds people and delivers the unfortunate souls to whoever pays him to deliver them, and whatever end that will befall them. The local regime (the Duke and his camp) probably make a plurality of his contracts, though discretion is his biggest virtue, so he does not bother inquiring who exactly wants these unlucky people. He merely delivers this cargo who are hard to find to whatever grim fate they probably earned for themselves. To sleep at night he assumes they did something wrong, though deep down he knows it is probably not true. Alfred is also sure he has worked both for the Artisans Guild and the Patricians before. He swears on one occasion he worked for both of them in the same immediate conflict, the names and faces kept meshing up with the local marketplace gossip and deduced he was hired as an unwitting party to said conflict. He tries to avoid playing both sides on purpose but when dealing with intermediaries of intermediaries, it was bound to eventually happen. In the immediate past, Alfred has gone through something of a moral crisis. He was tracking a suspected revolutionary and finally had him cornered, though Alfred made a few blunders and had announced himself prematurely. They came to blows and Alfred got bested when the young commander pierced his stomach with his blade. His enemy must have known that Alfred had delivered some of his comrades to the regime before, and yet the man slung Alfred on his back and took him to the closest temple of mercy for healing. When Alfred awoke, a note was left on him with a request to remember this kindness done for him. Alfred felt like he owed it to him, was somewhat miffed he was making him re-evaluate his vocation instead of just letting him fade away. Alfred has always tried to be a man of his word. He healed up just in time for Lord Frederick’s festival. A festival where one of his handlers was sure to be. The Duke’s men that hire him for the dirty work are almost always the ambassadors to the common folk, can’t have someone notable doing the pay-offs and wet work. Alfred is adamant about returning his advance payment to his employer and will tell them he is retiring….at least from their employ. Alfred gives out a sigh as he knows there is almost no way he can get out clean. Maybe he has some leverage because he more or less knows "where the bodies are buried", or at least who has been turned over and disappeared. Some noble families might not like the fact that some of their distant relatives might have been delivered...

[penbeast0]

Originally Posted by The Rat Queen

Guidance and Resistance could be 'combat oriented' too, but they're not attack spells. I figure anything that gives a bonus, rather than dealing damage, is a utility spell. It's a combat utility spell, true, but it doesn't directly harm anyone.

I'd agree that resistance is pretty solely a combat spell as well, just defense instead of offense. Guidance is just good for everything but it's great for non-combat situations whether you need a boost to your musical performance check, insight to see whether that person is really into you or just playing you, or pretty much anything.

[1Skell]

Originally Posted by CrackedPepper

In short, a character in this game shouldn't pick violence as their first option to solve an issue. That could bring disaster. If all options are exhausted, then you have no choice.

Personally I find making a character any other way borderline immersion-breaking. In any world where one cannot know the abilities or even identity of other individuals, a character with a violence first approach wouldn't live long. Especially in a world with nobility. To me its as bad as a character that explicitly suggest to forego talks of strategy when the party was just ambushed and is considering walking in an enemy den. Saw that happen once.

Originally Posted by A7ice

I understand that this may lead to an insolvable argument, but I find myself on the opposite side. I find the Background system to be refreshing; it eliminates the need to repeatedly play the same Species to gain necessary bonuses, which often restricts Species to specific Classes. Now, you have the flexibility to choose any Class and mix it with any Species. In my opinion, Species still retain their relevance and unique flavor without overshadowing other aspects of the character creation process.

But that just it... my opinion.

I share the thought regarding the species bonuses, but in practice the new rules just shift the limitation to the backgrounds. Try to make something outside of a class stereotype, like a sage bard that studied musical theory and composition techniques with books and in privacy instead of being an entertainer that learned approaching the world of performances and you'll feel that. My opinion is that in practice TCE gave the best answer - here's the bonuses, put where you want and tell in your backstory why they are there.

Originally Posted by penbeast0

I'd agree that resistance is pretty solely a combat spell as well, just defense instead of offense.

I would agree most of the times, but we can't forget traps and damaging obstacles. Resistance can fit well, although situationally, in exploration.

[purplerook]

I’m looking forward to a game of intrigue. However, I think intrigue requires a certain type of player and character build. Give a player a character with a big sword and heavy armor and they’re going to want to use it. Having a character clanking around in heavy armor - means that the group will have issues with stealth.

The typical DnD approach is a single party (of 4-6 characters). There’s a single group that is both empowered by and limited to the group - social encounters (the group needs one face), locks (one character with Thieves Tools). Similarly, one character without Darkvision means the group needs a light source, one character without Stealth (or with heavy armor), and the group will not be stealthy.

There’s another approach, which doesn’t work well Facebook-to-Face, but can work in PbP. This is having multiple one or two character threads where different characters investigate different aspects of the mystery and then come together to share information. The group might all come together for climactic moments - e.g., thwarting an assassination, breaking into the BBEGs headquarters.

[Azathool]

Yup, I had some initial real concerns with Knobble, he is a low-wit Barbarian... who surely only thumps things, and can take lots of being thumped. But he's a friendly giant, good at making tables, chairs and Knobbles Golden Juice.

And... the new 2024 rules fix some of the "I hit stuff" issues. He can use Rage to replace the stat with STR, so obviously Intimidation helps with +STR, but also others; Stealth for example, survival, acrobatics and even perception ! No armour = ok AC so no clanking, and a Quarterstaff is now "ok" with the Topple knockdown ability.

Not sure of the ASI I will take, but probably something more "social"'ish, as he is a Farmer after all. Hope you like Maple Syrup oneverything, Knobble does.

[Haelmaxan]

Otto may be a hired killer, but he only kills one target. If I get in, I hope to have him evolve into something more than an assassin. I'd like to see him find real friends or even a real romantic partner. It would be nice if he left the brotherhood and became a Blue Hat for real. He does enjoy helping people. Quitting would put a target on his back, but that would be for the DM to work with.

[purplerook]

IMO, there’s a simple fix for Backgrounds - let people create a ‘custom’ background - ASI, Origin Feat, Two Skills, One Tool, and 50 gold of equipment.

[penbeast0]

I agree with Purple Rook but I would expand the origin feats by adding about 6-8 of the less powerful general feats too and tool or language. With the trueism that the GM can always adjust it if they feel it's not coherent.

[penbeast0]

Originally Posted by purplerook

I’m looking forward to a game of intrigue. However, I think intrigue requires a certain type of player and character build. Give a player a character with a big sword and heavy armor and they’re going to want to use it. Having a character clanking around in heavy armor - means that the group will have issues with stealth.

The typical DnD approach is a single party (of 4-6 characters). There’s a single group that is both empowered by and limited to the group - social encounters (the group needs one face), locks (one character with Thieves Tools). Similarly, one character without Darkvision means the group needs a light source, one character without Stealth (or with heavy armor), and the group will not be stealthy.

There’s another approach, which doesn’t work well Facebook-to-Face, but can work in PbP. This is having multiple one or two character threads where different characters investigate different aspects of the mystery and then come together to share information. The group might all come together for climactic moments - e.g., thwarting an assassination, breaking into the BBEGs headquarters.

Intrigue doesn't need stealth. A paladin can clomp around in big heavy armor, but can switch into party clothes and gather intelligence, have romantic trysts, and otherwise use their face skills for intrigue in a different way than a thief type. We're very sneaky, us paladins. People underestimate us in that regard.

But yes, it might require splitting the party or focusing on noncombat situations . . . like all of us starting at a ball for example.

[CrackedPepper]

Or a festival.

[The Rat Queen]

Originally Posted by CrackedPepper

Or a festival.

Ah, crap.

GUYS, THE GM HAS A PLAN! We're screwed...