Open Invitation

[FriendlyFrog]

Hi y'all, it's FriendlyFrog here. I stated my interest back at the CO boards, and now came here to say hi.

I was interested in joining the game even from the beginning, but knew that the I'd be way too busy from the end of the winter to the beginning of the summer. But at least for now it looks like I'll have a good amount of free time I could spend playing. It has been a while from the last time, as I'm the designated DM of out group for the most of the time. If I end up with having my spare time cut, or am not chosen for the game for some reason or another, I'd still be willing to play a smaller role in the plot. It'd be fun to to antagonize the rest of the group, I'm sure!

I have some experience with play-by-post games. I've played in about a half a dozen, which all lasted only about 4-7 months, and am not in one currently, if you wanted to know.

Now I think I'll have to read through everything that has come out before to know what's the situation like. Looks like there's a lot! I'll try to think what kind of a character I'm most interested in playing. I do have a few (does a number with double digits qualify as a few?) concepts I've been wanting to try for some time now, I'll see if I can dig them up. Is there anything in particular the party lacks or would like to have? I'm open to all suggestions.

- FriendlyFrog

[Fil kearney]

Hye FF and Mittenninja!

glad you could swing by and say Hi.

I'm gonna have to go first come, first serve on this, because I really can't just figure a better ay to do it, so if you to think yer up for it, yer in.

that is gonna grow our party to 9 theoretically playing... 4 actually at the table with dice.
FF you'll know from PbP experience that we're gonna hae a bunch o folks that will naturally come and go, so I'm overstocking, like an airplane over booking their flights for asured attendance.

So, FF if you find you won't be able to stick it through then we'll just drop your characte back to NPC and you are welcome to do mean and nasty things to the team instead.

With Random entering the fray, we're gonna have 3 bases of operation..

Zarzak's grove in the wilds of the elden reaches
Random's "Cracked Mirror" tavern in Sharn
Aurok's "Turquoise Sonia" a WCC Airship (also currently in Sharn)

I'd also like to point out we're using ghostwalk rules without the silly "manifest zone" rules.

the cosmology is completely different and is found in the wiki sigged below.

as for what do we want? It doesn't matter. I"ll adapt the encounters to maximize your frustrations Play whatever you please, as long as you are striving to keep in balance with the team.
I'd recommend goig on th wiki to "comparing the builds" to see where you fit in.

-- has everyone updated "comparing th ebuilds" since last level? please do so.

I"m also asking everyone to update their characters onto the character sheets provided at this website.
using the wiki to build yer character is great, I would also like to see it on the standard sheet here, for easier viewing and summarizing.

go up top of page to tools, then characer options. That will allow you to build a character onthe character sheet. you are welcome to discuss yer build here until you have settled on something, thne e'll give you a wiki password to throw it up there for abuse.

[MittenNinja]

Sounds good! I PMed you the character background i'm going to be working with. Now I just have to get a build together.

[dhraksis]

I have the basic build done, here it is Drow weretiger6/ranger1/scout3/la1/ranger1//wizard7/abjurant champion5
continue with wizard to 20 and ranger/scout the other side. ill post the actaul build on the comparing the builds page

D

[Fil kearney]

right on, D!

next step is figure out yer faction, and some background. Full gear as normal, pick yer whatevers. permanizing spells is fine, although you may want to select gear to do it for you, since spells can be removed. gear is a bit more reliable. we cn bs a lot of the gear for tiger form... it'll just be a bit more expensive, whihc is fair for a full casting pouncer.

[FriendlyFrog]

Sound good to me, too. I'm still in the middle of reading all there is, boy you've been busy!

I was thinking of playing a psionic character, it's been a while since the last one, but your character creation rules tempt me to try something a little more exotic. I'll see what I can think of, and probably post a few character concepts and/or builds later.

[meanliar]

I should be ready to post up the character build and concept tomorrow.

Including counting on the IC stuff.

[Fil kearney]

right on guys. I'll throw you the password for the wiki to set up shop in.

[Fil kearney]

Originally Posted by FriendlyFrog

Sound good to me, too. I'm still in the middle of reading all there is, boy you've been busy!

I was thinking of playing a psionic character, it's been a while since the last one, but your character creation rules tempt me to try something a little more exotic. I'll see what I can think of, and probably post a few character concepts and/or builds later.

on that note, psicraft is the same as spell craft, etc. you can use potions and scroll sfor psionic stuf if you prefer the flavor... Prc's are transparent with psionics... you can qualify for mindbender as a telepath etc.

so be free to muck it up as much as you want. I know mittens isplanning on a pyrokineticist (wow... actuall viable as a gestalt type character!)

so we'll see what flavor you got, and we'll all chew on it to make sure it scales well with everyoe else for balance.


Meanliar... haven't heard too much about what you've decided on yer build... I gotta say, I'm anxious to find out!

[FriendlyFrog]

That's good to know, thanks.

Right now the basic concept I'm thinking of is something like this: A psionically talented person who has such mental strengths that his whole person has become a manifestation of his intelligence. Mechanically I'm thinking of a psion, probably a psi-gish, with Intelligence and skill synergy. Perhaps a variation of the Chrono legionare.

If I have questions about character creation, where should I post them? Here, or is there a more appropriate thread?

[Surreal]

If it's a question about creation rules, then either here or the ooc thread. If seeking build advice/suggestions, then maybe start a new thread or start working on your page in the wiki.

[meanliar]

It was originally conceived as...

Spellcaster (generic) 5
War Weaver 5
Havoc Mage 5
Cleric 1
Church Inquisitor 2
Dweomerkeeper 4
Fatespinner 2
Bloodline (Storm Giant) 3
...with a few other levels tossed in. I'm dropping the originally-considered Runesmith angle though - my re-reading of the class implies that by taking it I still can't toss in Personal range spells into the WarWeave and have it affect others, so there's little point in taking it.

If possible, I'm going to try to squeeze in Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil, but juggling feats to pull it off could be tricky.

The basic idea is to end up with 20th level casting for both generic Spellcaster and one other full caster class and a good smattering of low-level combat abilities (Pounce, a few ToB maneuvers and techniques just to have something to do other than buff all the time).

Question 1: Is customizing the Havoc Mage allowed? As-written it only casts arcane spells; could this be altered to allow non-arcane casters to take the class? If so, I'd probably end up taking the class twice, once for each progression.

He'd be Illumian, with the following templates:

Half-minotaur
Lolth-touched
Monster of Legend
Saint
...and possible Spell-touched but I doubt it.

The basic concept is that he's a mystical progeny created whole-cloth by the animist spirit of the world, similar in concept to the Sovereign Host but earth-bound as a mortal.

There's some tweaking I'd like to do with it and need help to fully customize it as desired, though:

Question 2: Monster of Legend allows casting as a Cleric of 5th level. Previously you'd said that this would stack with Cleric levels for casting; I was wondering if instead of Cleric this could be any full casting class. As a cleric, he'd be interested in a divine apotheosis, but as a psion things would go differently. I'm curious if you'd let him swap out Cleric casting for Psion, Archivist, or other full casting classes.

Question 3: Lolth-touched would obviously be altered to allow non-evil recipients, since its basically a divine favor. I assume this is okay?

Question 4: Half-minotaur would be to account for his spirit of the land bit. He's a big, badass bruiser from the woods (Half-minotaur) as a primary race, but his "Illumian" designator is actually more a representation of his primal connection to the universe and his ability to use the progenitor runes of the Illumians to power himself.

Question 5: Finally, Saint since he's an outsider-type, a god-as-man. However, I wanted to tweak this away from being Exalted and towards a neutral manifestation of raw magical power backing him rather than a universal sense of goodness. The template requires 3 exalted feats to jump into and so I'd like to know what alternative feats would qualify to achieve that sort of effect.

I'll have more time tomorrow and toss this onto the wiki.

[Fil kearney]

The majroity of classes, PrC's, templates, and monsters are left mechanically alone. The only changes that we've seen so far are possible LA adjustments where warranted for exotic monster races, and flavor text like alignment, organizations, or specific dieties as prereqs.
as such, here are some answers....

1. leave havoc mage as is.
2. leave as cleric. it does stack.
3 lloth touched is simply flavor text. make it whatever touched you want.
4. half minotaur is flavor text... make em look like whatever you want. the illumian mix is cool.
5. leave saint as is.

Considering yer intentions, I would lean heavily on alliance with Celestine. what you are building sounds to me like would enjoy tearing hell a new gate, if you know what I mean.

so, full arcane/divine progression with some tanking ability? if you haven't swung by comparin the build on the wiki recently, you may want to look over what roles we are defining and pick 3-5 to really specialize in. that will help everyone see how you are defining yer role, and thus figure out how to balance the party appropriately.

looking forward to the progression, ML!

[FriendlyFrog]

OK, I'm still relatively new to using wiki, so I'll be posting here until I get the hang of it (shouldn't take long, I learn fast).

Here's a raw scetch for my build as it now is:

Human

1. Ranger 1 // Psion 1 --- Spellwise, Able learner, Psicrystal affinity, Track
2. Ranger 2 // Psion 2 --- Power attack
3. Ranger 3 // Psion 3 --- Endurance, [Open feat]
4. Ranger 4 // Psion 4
5. Slayer 1 // Psion 5 --- [Open feat]
6. Slayer 2 // Factotum 1 --- Iron will
7. Slayer 3 // Factotum 2
8. Slayer 4 // Factotum 3
9. Slayer 5 // Jordain vizier 1 --- [Open feat]
10. Slayer 6 // Jordain vizier 2
11. Slayer 7 // Jordain vizier 3
12. Slayer 8 // Jordain vizier 4 --- [Open feat]
13. Slayer 9 // Jordain vizier 5
14. Slayer 10 // Psionical trickster 1
15. SancMnd 1 // Psionical trickster 2 --- [Open feat]
16. SancMnd 2 // Psionical trickster 3
17. SancMnd 3 // Uncanny trickster 1
18. SancMnd 4 // Uncanny trickster 2 --- [Open feat]
19. SancMnd 5 // Uncanny trickster 3
20. SancMnd 6 // Factotum 4

A few notes: SancMnd = Sanctified mind. Psionical trickster = Magical trickster changed to use psionics as the Adaptation section suggests. Uncanny trickster is used to progress Factotum. Strong-arm Ranger combat style from Dragon 326.

This would give me full Psion manifesting progression, full BAB, nice skills and lots of skill tricks that I can use more often than normal by using power points, and nice Int synergy from Factotum, Jordain vizier and the psionic power Control body. I'm also thinking of the Dragon magazine feat Keen intellect from the Oriental adventures update issue, but I don't have it myself so that I'll first have to borrow it from a friend.

I'm going to have to change the flavor of Jordain vizier, as it's strongly a Faerun specific PrC. I was thinking of keeping most as it is, but change Halruaa to the organization the Twelve, but I'm still looking for other options. I'm also thinking of changing the flavor of the Illithid slayer to that of a Quori slayer, using the SRD version of it. I was thinking of a background that includes learning psionics under a Kalashtar that specialized Quori hunter because the Jordain vizier Code of conduct didn't allow him to learn arcane magic.

You've said earlier that a full BAB/full casting progression PrC isn't considered to be double progression, fil, but if this has changed let me know and I'll try something else instead of Slayer and Sanctified mind.

I'm exploring my option considering the race. I'm pretty sure I'll use Human as the base race, but a template or two with the LA bought off might work well. I'm considering Shadow creature, Phrenic and Half-celestial (BoED version). Though now that I think of it, the ToM Karsite might work well as the race, too. It would fit the no magic flavor. Empty vessel, or rather the more PC-friendly Chosen from Secrets of Sarlona, is an option, too.

If any of you have any questions, suggestions, advices, corrections, criticism, anything at all, just go on ahead and tell me.

[ChristopherGroves]

I may be interested if another position opens up. In the meantime, mebbe I'll just make some antagonists for Fil ....