[D&D-5e-2024] In the Shadow of the Dragon

[Aisede]

Ooh, now Cleo... That is an EXCELLENT character; she ties into the setting, contributes something to the setting, and has some strong motivations. I'm loving the aspect of the Scorpion Queen angle. I'm sure the GM can do all sorts of fun stuff with a backstory like that, and it adds an inherent internal conflict. And a spicy one at that.

I'm liking what I'm seeing of Todi too. He definitely seems to have his priorities straight.

[Admin Bhelogan]

Man, I am going to have some serious homework picking a party. Worst part of being a DM is having to make cuts when the time comes.

On a completely different note In the Game Folder, under Game Rules, for fun and for the first time ever, I am posting a list of my Pet Peeves. Hopefully, you will get as much enjoyment out of reading them as I had writing them. If something there strikes too close to home, and you feel offended.... I'm sorry.

[jr1v3]

Originally Posted by Admin Bhelogan

Man, I am going to have some serious homework picking a party. Worst part of being a DM is having to make cuts when the time comes.

On a completely different note In the Game Folder, under Game Rules, for fun and for the first time ever, I am posting a list of my Pet Peeves. Hopefully, you will get as much enjoyment out of reading them as I had writing them. If something there strikes too close to home, and you feel offended.... I'm sorry.

Yeah, my man! I don't wanna be in our shoes when that take place. There's a such quantity of good applications that it would make hard to pick on. Though sometimes I find GM adding an extra spot to reduce their guilt about cutting all those good applications...

I read your post and It didn't bother a bit to me. In fact, I find reasonable most of the thing you want us to avoid. I confess, I like to use TT for different languages but you gave a nice option to it so who cares about TT, NO MORE TTs!XDD.

By teh way, you are doing a great job as a GM if you ask me.

[Aisede]

Yeah, I second that. You seem to have your head on straight, Bhelobro. I know I couldn't GM anything, of any magnitude. WAY too much stress.

[Admin Bhelogan]

Uhm.. I hate to bust your bubble, but GMimg is easy. You literally just make it up as to go along!

[Aisede]

I've tried it more than once (multiple times by now, come to think of it), and I, personally, find it to be a very stressful undertaking. I'm not very good at creating narratives independently, and struggle to handle players making decisions I haven't accounted for.

[jr1v3]

Originally Posted by Admin Bhelogan

Uhm.. I hate to bust your bubble, but GMimg is easy. You literally just make it up as to go along!

NOOOOOOO, please, noooooo. don't make me DM. The make it up as you go along sound so dangerous when you suggest it to me. My wild imagination would make me kill the PCs. LMAO

[Aisede]

If I'm killing PC's, I'd much rather do it as a villain, or some supportive character for the DM. Arin12 doesn't seem to think that's a good idea, though.

[jr1v3]

Originally Posted by Aisede

If I'm killing PC's, I'd much rather do it as a villain, or some supportive character for the DM. Arin12 doesn't seem to think that's a good idea, though.

I was wondering if playing a villain like megamind would be interesting. A person that thinks is a villain but in fact end up doing good deeds because he's so bad in being evil. Like he really put all his effort and fail miserably and still consider himself the best villain of the world!XDD

[Osellic]

Name: Emberlyn "Ashfinger" Kaeldra
Race: Fallen Aasimar
Class: Pyromancer

 

(Happy to be a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer, Wizard focuzing on evocation, Warlock with a fire themed fiend patron, or a Druid from the Circle of Wildfire. Whatever makes the most sense for your world- so long as they're firey, I dont care what class it is. Granted I'm not familiar with the new DND5e rules, so if those aren't accurate anymore, happy to adjust.)

Gender: Female
Age: 33

Appearance:
Emberlyn stands as a figure marked by tragedy and flame. Her once-radiant Aasimar features are marred by the blackened scars of fire. While the burns cover her body, her left hand is completely charred and lifeless, giving rise to the name, "Ashfinger." Her skin is pale with ash-grey undertones, as though the very fire she wielded scorched her soul. Her hair, once white with a celestial glow, has become dark black, singed red at the ends. Her eyes still faintly shimmer with the remnants of her divine origin, flickering like still burning flames. Her light is cold, dimmed by the trauma of her past. She wears the scorched remnants of her priestess robes, their once-sacred symbols of healing now faded and blackened. Her staff, more a walking aid than a weapon, bears similar scorch marks—its wood burnt, twisted by the same fire that claimed her village.

Personality:
Emberlyn is haunted by the flames that both saved and damned her. Though she once embodied the nurturing warmth of a healer, she now carries the furious, uncontrollable energy of the fire that destroyed everything she loved. Guilt is her constant companion, and she hides her pain behind a mask of grim determination. Emberlyn has become pragmatic to a fault—she knows that some must suffer for the many to survive, and she no longer flinches at making those sacrifices. Her faith in the gods was burned away long ago, but she still clings to a flicker of hope that her final act will be one of redemption. Quiet and reserved, she often keeps others at a distance, fearing that the fire within her might consume them as it did her village.

Backstory:
Once a devout cleric of a god of healing, Emberlyn dedicated her life to aiding the sick and impoverished in a small, struggling village. For years, she was a beacon of hope, using her divine magic to heal and bless the crops, of her meager town, but when the famine struck, her powers began to falter. The sickness spread faster than she could cure it, and the land withered as if cursed.

In desperation, Emberlyn sought a way to save her people, venturing into forbidden rites and calling upon powers far beyond her control. She reached out to an ancient fire entity—a primordial being of destruction, one that promised to burn away the sickness. And it did. The flames consumed the illness, but they did not stop there. Her entire village was incinerated in the process, reduced to nothing but ash.

Now, Emberlyn carries the burden of that terrible mistake. Her soul is bound to the raging fire, and its power courses through her. She has learned to wield the flames, but they burn her as much as they burn her enemies. Despite the destruction she caused, she still seeks to do good, and control the power within her. Since the tragedy she has found a new home in Willowrest and joined the Opal Guard. She hopes with their guidance she may still have some chance at redemption.

Ideal:
Emberlyn feels an unbreakable responsibility to atone for the destruction of her village.

Flaw:
Emberlyn struggles to control the fire within her. It is a part of her, wild and furious, and sometimes she fears she might lose herself to it completely. She also carries immense guilt, and her need to atone makes her reckless, willing to sacrifice herself and others if it means achieving her goal.

Greatest Achievement:
In her youth, Emberlyn once healed an entire village struck by plague, channeling divine light that saved countless lives. It was the height of her faith, and it earned her the admiration of many. To this day, it is the one memory that still gives her hope, though it is tinged with bitterness.

Greatest Fear:
Losing control of the fire inside her and repeating the tragedy of her village on a much larger scale. Emberlyn fears that one day the flames will overtake her entirely, and she will become the very thing she fights against—an unchecked force of destruction. Additionally, she fears she is beyond redemption, that some part of her wanted and caused the devastation.

Shame:
Her greatest shame is the death of her village, an entire community she was sworn to protect. The charred remains of her hand are a constant reminder of the lives lost due to her desperate pact.

 

Please let me know if any of this needs to be changed!

 

Emberlyn staggered through the thick smoke, her breath coming in ragged gasps as the village burned around her. The sickness had taken everyone—her mother, her father, her friends. She had tried everything, but nothing had worked. Nothing could work.

Except this.

She clutched her chest, feeling the searing heat growing inside her, the fire that had ignited the moment she whispered the words, sealing the pact with the fiery entity. It had promised to burn out the sickness. It had promised salvation.

But now… it was spreading.

Her skin felt like it was splitting open, molten heat rushing beneath the surface. Flames leapt from her fingertips, uncontrolled and wild, catching everything they touched. Her gown had already been singed away, leaving patches of blackened skin exposed. Where her chest should be, molten cracks glowed, the searing light pulsing like a second, unnatural heart.

"I didn’t… mean for this," Emberlyn whispered, clutching her hand against her chest, only for the flames to leap from her charred fingers, catching on the wood of the nearby house. The structure groaned, embers drifting skyward as the roof collapsed, sending sparks into the night air.

Around her, people screamed—those who had survived the sickness now running from the fire that consumed their homes.

"No! Stop!" Emberlyn cried, falling to her knees, tears streaking through the ash on her face. Her hands clawed at the ground as if she could pull the fire back inside, contain it somehow. But the flames were too strong, bursting from her body with every heartbeat. Her skin blackened further, charred flakes of her hand falling away as the flames danced out of her control.

The fire laughed in her mind, a cruel and ancient sound, mocking her helplessness.

More, we demands more. Let it take everything, child. Let them burn.

Her whole body was aflame now, her chest an exposed mass of molten energy, and yet the voice inside her head wanted more. The fire wanted to consume it all.

"No… no, this isn’t what I asked for!" she screamed, staggering to her feet, her vision swimming as heat blurred the edges of her sight. "You said you'd end our plague! That you'd free my people!"

We are! We are freeing them for the horror of their existance. They shall suffer no longer once we embrace them.

Her heart twisted as the squeeling of a child tore through the night. Stumbling toward the sound, she reached out instinctively, only to see flames explode from her palm, setting the porch alight.

“No!” she shrieked, yanking her hand back, but the damage was done. Fire roared up the wooden beams, spreading faster than her mind could comprehend.

Her eyes locked onto the window—two children huddled together inside. The flames were inching toward them.

Panic welled in her throat. She had to stop it. But how? Her every breath fanned the fire. Her every step left ash in its wake. She wasn’t saving anyone; she was destroying everything she touched.

"No, please," she whispered, her voice cracking. She didn’t know what to do. She could barely think past the pain and the burning rage inside her.

The fire spirit’s voice returned, echoing in her skull. You cannot control it. Set them free. Let us burn.

“No…” Emberlyn’s voice faltered. She reached toward the flames, tears streaming down her face, her body shaking with the effort to pull them back, to suppress their hunger. And to her shock, they responded. The fire flickered, hesitating, as if waiting for her command. With a shaky breath, she whispered, "Stop. You… you will not take them."

Her hands moved in unfamiliar motions, desperate, clumsy, but the flames obeyed—if only for a moment. A flicker of her will was enough to send a pulse of magic out from her body, encircling the children in a dome of light that curved inward, shielding them from the inferno surrounding the house.

They huddled closer, their tear-streaked faces peering up at her through the barrier of flames. Emberlyn felt her control slipping, her body trembling under the strain of holding the fire back. Every part of her burned, her skin flaking and cracking, but she refused to let go.

For a moment, there was silence—just the roar of fire and the crackling of wood. And then, the shield exploded outward, sending the house and flames with it. The force hit her like a wave. Her legs buckled, and her body crumpled as the fire exploded outward from her chest, consuming everything in its path. She could no longer feel the pain—her nerves were too charred, too broken to register anything but a dull, hollow ache. Her skin peeled and flaked away like brittle parchment, and still the flames burned on, relentless, eager for more.

She collapsed into the ash, her charred hands sinking into the scorched earth, fingers now nothing more than blackened bones. The heat was unbearable, but she could no longer fight it. The flame's cruel laughter echoed in her mind, growing louder as her vision dimmed, the world becoming a blur of red and orange.

"I... I didn't want this..." Her voice was barely a whisper, a cracked and broken thing, lost beneath the roar of the flames. She watched helplessly as the fire spread, devouring the village, leaving only death in its wake.

Through the haze, she saw the children, running, escaping. Their small forms vanished into the smoke, and Emberlyn let out a shaking breath. They were safe. She had saved them.

But no one else.

The fire raged on, and as the heat consumed her body, Emberlyn's thoughts grew distant. Her vision narrowed, darkening around the edges. And then, with a final exhale, her world went black.

[Alemar]

Originally Posted by Admin Bhelogan

On a completely different note In the Game Folder, under Game Rules, for fun and for the first time ever, I am posting a list of my Pet Peeves. Hopefully, you will get as much enjoyment out of reading them as I had writing them. If something there strikes too close to home, and you feel offended.... I'm sorry.

OOOF I don't feel attacked, but I do enjoy me some TT tags! LOL

Also I tend to edit dice posts (not the rolls the posts) because If I know I need to roll a 15 to hit, I will roll that first to see if I even need to bother going in with the damage and other ability rolls like sneak attacks, smites or whatever... why roll the extra clickity clacks if the sword doesn't even hit in the first place? So then I'll edit the damage into the same post to try and keep everything together (and not make 2 or 3 posts for a single round of combat...)

either way I'll try not to annoy you too much with my idiosyncrasies if I manage to make selection

[Admin Bhelogan]

Originally Posted by Alemar

OOOF I don't feel attacked, but I do enjoy me some TT tags! LOL

Also I tend to edit dice posts (not the rolls the posts) because If I know I need to roll a 15 to hit, I will roll that first to see if I even need to bother going in with the damage and other ability rolls like sneak attacks, smites or whatever... why roll the extra clickity clacks if the sword doesn't even hit in the first place? So then I'll edit the damage into the same post to try and keep everything together (and not make 2 or 3 posts for a single round of combat...)

either way I'll try not to annoy you too much with my idiosyncrasies if I manage to make selection

That's pretty normal for how I roll for a post. One at a time to see what is needed next. (I think you missed the part where you hit preview over and over again until you ate sure the bad rolls are out of the system) But, I use a separate dice for thread, and then link to the results with a summary in the game post.

[jr1v3]

I do that too. Also, I realized that the rolls dice have a norm here of producing low results with consistency and that is pretty unnatural. Something wrong with the php programming perhaps? SHould I do the preview thing as well? I don't know I feel like a little guilty if I do that.. It's like cheating! LOL

[Lentil Sponge]

Originally Posted by Aisede

Ooh, now Cleo... That is an EXCELLENT character; she ties into the setting, contributes something to the setting, and has some strong motivations. I'm loving the aspect of the Scorpion Queen angle. I'm sure the GM can do all sorts of fun stuff with a backstory like that, and it adds an inherent internal conflict. And a spicy one at that.

Oooooh, you do flatter me, thank you! The standard of apps across the board has been pretty high, tbh.

[Alemar]

Originally Posted by jr1v3

I do that too. Also, I realized that the rolls dice have a norm here of producing low results with consistency and that is pretty unnatural. Something wrong with the php programming perhaps? SHould I do the preview thing as well? I don't know I feel like a little guilty if I do that.. It's like cheating! LOL

I've actually found that the preview before post actually results in lower average rolls so I try not to do it... the dice gods are fickle and hate being tested (in my experience)