The Wandering Archipelago (OOC)

[thinkslogically]

Roll for hit points, but if it's less than the average you can take that instead. Super squishy isn't much fun.

PS thank you guys for the awesome summaries so far there'll be plenty of chances for you guys to meet IC too.

Rodgeir- as a rough start, for a fighter you probably want to put your highest stat into either str or Dex depending on the type of fighter you want to be. Dex is a generally useful stat (it decides initiative, evasion and helps AC), if you fancy being a light-on-your feet type. High strength is good for throwing your weight around, and you can use your str mod to intimidate people with your bulk

Otherwise, con will be useful to boost your HP stores. Half orc gets bonuses to str and con by default if that flavour helps you decide.

[Rodgeir]

Okay...

Following the basic rules v03 that I have I rolled this:

so I rolled this url=http://roll.coyotecode.net/lookup.php?rollid=174123

Do that I apply the the stats as 16 to strength, constitution, dexterity and intelligence and 14 to wisdom and charisma. I am guessing that order doesn't matter? I don't really understand how the modifier applies practically but I guess that is next?

I am using a site called roll20.net here to supplement the guide (or shortcut it would be better). It notes a +2 to strength and +1 to constitution. So final stats are:

Str: 18, Const: 17, Int: 16, Dext: 16, Cha: 14, Wis: 14

My character will have 10 + 3 hit points, right?
I am not sure how to do specializations and secondary skills. Is there a list somewhere that I get to pick from? So from roll20.net it says I can pick two from a list, so I pick athletics and perception.

Equipment: chain mail, maul and great sword, 2 hand axes, explorers pack (plus urchin stuff minus everything but the gold, not a real sentimental guy).

He will go with the Defense fighting style.

[Rodgeir]

Varsk

Half-orc fighter urchin / Grey market financier
6'4", 310lb. 30ish years old.

Personality Traits:
Unnaturally analytical and driven, considering his heritage
Diligent and determined, entrepreneur
Sleep with his back to a wall, with his most valuable things (and a weapon) close by.


Ideals:
I help the people who help meÔÇöthatÔÇÖs what keeps us alive.
I am not going back to the streets.

Bond:
(Didn't really like any on the list but maybe) I owe my survival to another urchin who taught me to live on the streets.

Flaws:
I will never fully trust anyone except my self.
Tired of being lied to (and generally suspicious that he is always being lied to)

Why is he taking this risk / opportunity?
After having over the course of 7 years built up a reasonable ÔÇÿbankingÔÇÖ business in Seahaven his business interests were quickly eroded by a combination of an aggressive attempt by the local administration to collect taxes (not just the standard bribes) on unlicensed lenders and the arrival of several, more cut throat competitors
What does he hope to gain?
He isnÔÇÖt too old to start from the ground up, just got to find the right ground to start on.
Where did he come from?
Born, abandoned and grew up in Seahaven.
What / who are he leaving behind?
Hard to find work/start a new business when you canÔÇÖt get a business license and most lenders wonÔÇÖt work with you. Besides former competitors may or may not want to kill you.
What did he do before you decided to come out here?
After 'careful' research down by the docks decided that his best chance to expand beyond his old business and have a chance to start something new would be on Caero.
How have he been able to pay for the trip?
Used the majority of his remaining earnings and favors and working on the boat.

Varsk was abandoned in Seahaven around 4 or 5. His parents were probably drug addicts or just didn't want to deal with him. Varsk hasn't really had time to think much about it. After a few years of barely surviving Varsk joined a gang. Turned out Varsk had the natural build of an enforcer but after a few years Varsk saw there was more money to be made in offering to 'protect' businesses than jumping people in the street. Eventually Varsk took his group down a slightly more honest (and profitable) path of making loans. This continued for several years and Varsk built a moderately successful and relatively violence free lending business. Then it went to hell and Varsk more or less lost it all. Having little chance of rebuilding in Seaheaven he started looking for greener pastures. His past work experience has left him with a skill set that should, expectedly, allow him to secure financing for a new business after securing some collateral. He is still a bit bitter about how his business went down after all those years of work and his near return to the streets and poverty but is confident he can start something new here. Preferably something that involves fewer threats to the clients to get paid, but he will start where he has to.

[spiderwrangler]

Str: 18, Const: 17, Int: 16, dext: 14, Cha: 14

Still need Wis. Dex is a good one to have for AC (depending on armor used), initiative, and Dex saves are pretty common.

Overall, you've got really high stats, so have lots of freedom to build your fighter out as you want.

[Rodgeir]

Thanks for pointing out the missing Wisdom. I missed the 6th dice roll as it was on the same line as title I'd given the roll.

I am looking at the character sheets and trying to work out how to specialize. It seems that everyone gets 4 +2 to things except that Burns got 5? Do I just pick 4 (or 5) of those? I have requested access to edit the sheets.

Do I need to pick an alignment?

[thinkslogically]

Alignment doesn't hugely matter, so pick one if you like, but I'm not counting

I would just point out that we have a Gwen already and now a Gren. I'm ok with that, as long as you're ok with the inevitable typos

Nice stats by the way, I'll read everything properly later tonight but it looks good. You're starting equipment should be detailed in your background. The only other thing I need from you is a PM with any ideas you have on how you'd like to join the group. I've got a few ideas, but it depends how quickly / dramatically you'd like to join in

[Rodgeir]

Name changed to avoid any confusion and I won't spend time on alignment.

I suspect my luck with rolls was probably used up there. I tried doing it on the D&D web page to far lower numbers before I noticed I couldn't export/screenshot the results I got as they kept scrolling down (and saw spider's link).

I have actually been around since LSN's first game, so around 7 years now!

I am going to edit my first post with equipment and stuff as I think I figure it out. Also I see now on page 1 that roll20 is the recommended page for this .

[spiderwrangler]

When I get home, I can help work you through the options you have.

[Rodgeir]

When I get home, I can help work you through the options you have.

I would appreciate it. Am I missing anything else or get anything wrong?

[thinkslogically]

Nothing leaps out. You're joining the group late, so you don't need to have had contact with any of them beforehand. Umm... We can chat by pm some more

[Rodgeir]

Nothing leaps out. You're joining the group late, so you don't need to have had contact with any of them beforehand. Umm... We can chat by pm some more

Absolutely, nothing I have written is set in stone and I can change it to fit the story line since that umm.... strikes me as that may be needed!

[spiderwrangler]

Skills: Pick two from Acrobatics, animal handling, Athletics, history, insight, perception, survival.

Fighting style: archery, defense, dueling, great weapon fighting, protection, two weapon fighting.

Equipment:
Chain mail OR leather armor, long bow, arrows

Martial weapon

Martial weapon OR shield

Light crossbow and bolts OR two hand axes

Dungeoneers pack OR explorers pack

((Didn't see you did some of this above.))

[spiderwrangler]

Ok, so if you're wanting to go two handed weapon bashing, fighting styles that would lend itself well would be either Defense or Great Weapon Fighting (the maul is more likely to trigger GWF than others, but does net you a lower die roll for your Half-Orc's Savage Attacks feature on crits).

You do get to choose a second martial weapon (or a shield).

I've built out a sheet for you, and granted you access, so you should be able to modify it as you need.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Welcome man! ...I probably should redo Gwen's backstory one of these days because it is kinda bleh...I have a tendency to leave it vague and build as I go on. Because I am crap at writing/storytelling.

[thinkslogically]

Well, I've got a bit of a better idea what sort of stuff is going on in the world now, but if you guys want to add to the lore of any of it, you're very welcome

[Dlover]

DLover as Mehriv Turajin ... and tries to wrangle the rest of us (and the rest of the world) into acting reasonably.

When you say it like that, I feel like I need to be equipped with a rolled newspaper, or a paper fan.

Also, for reaching Level 2... There are a few spell options I have. First, I gain one L1 spell, and then I think I can exchange one L1 spell for another? So I'm thinking I'll swap out Mage Armour, and then two two L1 spells I take... It seems like Sleep, Color Spray, Chromatic Orb, and maybe False Life are the options to consider? But it seems like Chromatic Orb needs me to get a very expensive diamond, which my Focus can't account for since it's got a monetary value attached. So I guess I'm interested on input on which two spells I should take?

As for the hit points... 1d6 (or 4) + con mod for sorcerer, and we're taking the higher value? So 3<4, Con mod is 2, so Mehr gains 6hp?

[thinkslogically]

You will need to find spell foci for them to work (I'm not handwaving that quite yet!), but we can work with it. The Gloriana is a trade vessel after all let me know what you need.

[Arch Lich Burns]

And a spray bottle!

Gwen will change hellish rebuke to comprejend languages and pick up protection from good and evil

Innvoctions: Mask of Many Faces and Devil Sight.

Hp: 1D8+3 = [7]+3 = 10 Wooo!

[spiderwrangler]

Are any of the gems we found suitable for chromatic orb? Sleep is very good early on, chromatic can do decent damage and provide a work around for damage resistances. Color spray only lasts a round, for a similar mechanic, sleep has a better effect that lasts longer, but doesn't affect as many HP worth of targets. False life is only useful if you get it off BEFORE combat starts, otherwise you're giving up a turn to gain 5-8 HP rather than targeting an enemy.

Sleep and chromatic orb are the strongest of the 4 in my opinion.

[Dlover]

For the spells, or the slappy things? The only spell my wand can't supplement is Chromatic Orb, which needs a diamond worth 50GP, so i can't buy that even if it's on board.

If you mean spell foci versions of the slapstick items... I mean, it'd be funny to have Mehr prepared to slap the world into acting reasonably, but I'm not gonna spend money on it.


--

Yeah, I had some doubts about False life. I'd probably prefer Chromatic Orb and Sleep, but if we can't get our hands on a 50GP value diamond I can't use Chromatic Orb. And even though Color Spray is similar to Sleep, the rest of the Sorcerer L1 spells... Kinda suck, I think.

[Nioca]

LEVEL UP! (sorta. In the morning)
Syli gains the following:
New Hit Dice (d8+1): 4 5
Wild Shape: Assume shape of studied beast twice each short/long rest. Max CR1, No flying/swimming speed, 1 hour duration.
Combat Wild Shape: Gain ability to use Wild Shape as a Bonus Action. While in Wild Shape, can expend a spell slot as a bonus action to regain 1d8 HP level of slot expended.
Spellcasting: One additional Level 1 slot, one additional spell prepared per day.

Seeing as I just got promoted to primary healer, I think that extra spell prepared and spell slot is going to come in handy.

[Dlover]

Dayum, druid gets a fair few features at level 2... Just to be sure I'm not being dumb and missing stuff I should be doing, that is all from Druid level 2, right?

[Nioca]

Yep. Wild Shape is universal across all druids at level 2. Combat Wild Shape is an additional level 2 feature specifically for Moon Circle Druids (Land druids get more spells instead). And each level of druid nets both an additional spell slot and the ability to prepare one additional spell per day.

ADDENDUM: You get a little something extra too. Font of Magic, which grants you Sorcery Points. At L2, the only thing they're good for is being converted into an extra 1st level spell slot (although that's handy in and of itself), but come next level, you get Metamagic, which lets you alter the spells you cast as you're casting them.

[Dlover]

Ah, so I thought you were actually gaining three features, thinking your note on the spellcasting improvement was a separate feature itself.

[thinkslogically]

Levels 1-3 are kind of like "training levels" - by L3 you're basically equivalent to L1 in previous editions.

I'll have a look at your progression when I can and figure out how you can RP them in

Burns: I haven't looked at protection against good and evil, but you should probably know that lizard folk are neutral in 5e.