The Gray Citadel: interest and applications thread

[pfooti]

Current Applicants:

• Stratovarius
• JanusJones
• KSBSnowOwl
• AlisAtAn
• DaveTheMagicWeasel
• Banor
• AndyJames
• Tshern
• amalcon
• Akula
• Ieniemienie
• Smudgyhandsman
• Dictuum Mortuum
• PhoenixInferno

Zounds: that's 14 people for 8 slots. Sigh. 14 good applications already, and the app period is still open. This is the part I hate the most, actually, knowing I'll have to reject some people. Anyway, if I missed you or if you have questions, shoot me a PM.

This is a re-formation of a game I started over on DnDOG. That campaign pooped out, three players stopped posting altogether. It's all prepped, so why not try and run it again? Plus which, it's a GREAT adventure.

The Boring Synopsis, Upfront:
Game: 3.5 ed, non-published campaign world
Adventure: Primarily "The Grey Citadel" by Necromancer Games with some additions and elaborations. If you've played/run/read this module, please disclose that as part of your application.
Sources: Almost everything. I've got almost all the books, and have friends who can loan me ones I don't have. See below for the list of exclusions.
Characters: 4 or 5 adventurers, starting at 5th level, see below for details.
Adventure type: Urban detective work, dungeoneering. Likely a 40-60 mix of the two. Possibility for wilderness adventure, but it's unlikely.
Deadliness level: High. This isn't an adventure for the "run in and kill everything" crowd, you'll get flanked and killed. I'm not out to kill you, but poor tactics and poor planning will lead to a TPK.
Posting Expectations: 1/day, weekends off. Grammar, spelling, punctuation and paragraphs are a must. I'm in the eastern timezone.

Introduction
The dwarf looks over the party and grins. "Welcome to Dun Eamon, City of Mists! Ye can see where we got that name right out, can't ye?" Looking over the city, you can certainly see why it is so named. The sun is a mere dot in the sky, obscured by the mists, which seem to be a somewhat permanent fixture, judging by the green mossy growths on most of the city's granite stone buildings.

The dwarf speaks again, "Ye don't even need tae ask, friends, the mist never really goes away. Owin' tae the waterfall upstream thar, and tha other one downstream o' us, we're in a cloud all tha time. Ye'll want tae watch yer step until ye get the hang o' things around here, tha cobbles get a mite slippery. But other than that, Dun Eamon is a lovely little town. We've got artisans and crafters whose work in metal is known the world around, and traders of all sorts passin' through here, either to buy our wares, or to buy goods from those such as yersel', adventuers who pass over tha river to tha wild side and go gallivantin' about in tha less civilized lands." He winks and places his finger next to his nose.

"Once ye get settled in, ye'll want tae present yersel' tae tha constabulary. We keep a pretty close eye on folk in this town, lotta folk runnin' around with swords and tha like, it's best to know who's where at tha least, ye kennit?"

Thanking the ferryman for his time and information, the party heads into Dun Eamon to find a scene of wild celebration just inside the city gates....

More Details
The adventure will take a party of 4 from level 5 to level 8 or 9, give or take. There are a number of optional side-adventures I've got semi-prepared, and some good followup potential as well, if the group gels and wants to continue past the end of the module.

In the adventure, you'll be asked to investigate a series of mysterious occurrences, track down the various culprits, and eventually do some old-fashioned justice bringing. Probably with swords. Social skills and combat skills are a must. Wilderness survival isn't likely to be necessary.

Character creation rules:

• All setting-specific sources are disallowed by default (but can be brought in on a case-by-case basis)
• Neither BoVD nor BoED are allowed for PCs, but might show up a little here and there on NPCs.
• Dragon and Dungeon sources disallowed by default.
• Some Unearthed Arcana rules used:
  • Craft Points
  • Most alternate class features, except for domain wizards and spell points
  • No gestalt
  • Up to two flaws and one trait per character
  • No LA buyoff rules. You can start with LA if you want, but you've got to keep it for the campaign.
• All other sources allowed by default- Core, Completes, ToB, ToM, Races of Whatever, MIC, Psionics. Races, classes, etc. Go for it.
• No evil characters, and for that matter, no CN characters either (unless you convince me that your CN character can play well with others). This will be a team effort, and I'm not interested in mediating PvP encounters (that's for my other campaign).
• 32 point buy attributes, per the normal DMG rules.
• 9000 g starting gold, no more than 50% on one item.
• Hit points - Max at level 1, roll each level, rerolling 1s.

Commentary: Since I'm new to the site, I figure some information about my DMing philosophy is in order.

I'm willing to allow most character builds into the game. That means there is room for some really powerful characters, although I reserve the right to veto stuff out of hand. I'll do my best to warn people beforehand if they're going a direction I'll need to pull a rule-0 on, and if you try to make sure I'm not surprised by anything, it should be fine. This isn't a "jump the DM" game. On the other hand, I'm willing to use Rule-0 when necessary. Some doors may be plot-locked, impervious to your adamantine light mace and open lock skill of nine thousand. Not many, but they exist.

Furthermore, what I'm most concerned about is table balance - making sure each party member is at roughly the same power level. Otherwise I end up tuning encounters that are lethal to half the party and a cakewalk to the other half. But as long as the party is reasonable, I'm able to tweak and tune the encounters to be roughly the right level of challenge for all involved. I'll also hold to a gentleman's agreement with certain abusable tactics. For example, I won't go sundering your sword with every other attack as long as you do the same. If you start casting shatter on my NPC cleric's holy symbol, be prepared to face the same tactics.

I intend the game to be pretty nitpicky on details. Archers will have to count arrows, if you go into the depths, you'll need a torch (and food and water and bedrolls, etc). All the details that I normally skip over in tabletop play seem eminently trackable in PbP, where we're operating under different constraints. So pay attention to your encumbrance.

I use a balance between descriptive text and tactical maps in combat situations. When things are complex, such as multiple foes and terrain, I'll use maps. I'll post a graphic of the map so you can see it, and we'll talk in coordinate terms. I'll keep those combats minimized at first, at least until we can get a handle on the rhythm of the game, I don't want to spend a month adjudicating the first four rounds of our first combat.

The game has a wiki associated with it, it will be expected that you use it to post up-to-date versions of your character sheet, and anything else pertinent to your character. Links to other sites are fine, I just want to be able to have one single place for info about your stuff, rather than having to comb through a bunch of different posts and threads.

Finally, I'm serious about the posting rules. The IC-game thread needs to be well-formed. No fifteen-line posts with no punctuation, no lolling, etc. The OOC discussion thread is fine whatever way you want it, but the actual game thread needs spelling and grammar.

To Apply:

First, read this whole post. Second, post a character concept and thumbnail backstory in the thread. You don't need the full 5-level progression at this point, you could just say something like "Half-orc Barbarian 2 / Rogue 3, probably progressing in Barbarian unless the party needs a trapfinder" for the character concept. I'll be reading the backstory both to learn about your character and to learn about your writing. If you want to post a complete character, that's fine with me as well. Either way, if you make the initial cut, I'll ask you to post a fully-formed character.

The campaign will start with all the characters already in an adventuring band of some sort, arriving in Dun Eamon seeking fame and fortune. I don't want to waste a month fiddling around with pulling everyone together, this seems easier. So work that into your story.

Bonus Points go to whomever manages to name the adventuring party. Every group needs a name, be it the Band of the Red Hand, Knights of the Dinner Table, or what have you. Everyone should suggest a name (serious or funny is up to you, but if it's funny it still has to be IC), and the name that gets the most votes gets a prize: a bonus feat at character creation. Whee!

[Stratovarius]

I've read all of the post, and am going to place a more full and formal application here at the end of the day, when I get closer to my books and I have the free time to work out a character background.

Does the disallowing of Dungeon/Dragon include the Dragon Compendium? I'll assume yes until told otherwise.

My initial thoughts on the build are a Gnome Beguiler, LN or NG in nature, with a possible lead into the Shadowcraft Mage, although with a reserved application of the inherent power of that build unless absolutely necessary. I'll certainly be looking for assistance before finalizing the build.

[Banor]

Very interested into this, building something and I'll back with a more elaborated concept. Leaning toward Paladin-ish character, maybe something like Gray Guard or something like that

[JanusJones]

Also applying.  Will be playing either a stealth-based character or a Dragonfire Adept, and will be happy to post a more formal application tonight.

Looking forward to this - I LOVE deadly games!   

[pfooti]

Does the disallowing of Dungeon/Dragon include the Dragon Compendium? I'll assume yes until told otherwise.

My initial thoughts on the build are a Gnome Beguiler, LN or NG in nature, with a possible lead into the Shadowcraft Mage, although with a reserved application of the inherent power of that build unless absolutely necessary. I'll certainly be looking for assistance before finalizing the build.

Yeah, I've found that there is a lot of gratuitous stuff in the Dragon/Dungeon/Compendium material. That said, if there's something that's key to your character, there's no harm in running it by me.

Heh, you're one of the two people who mentioned the beguiler->shadowcraft mage thing. So here's my conditions (house rules? RAI?) on that class: "realness" caps at 100%, no hoping the badguys make their will save for 160% damage fireballs, and also no shenanigans with earth spell or sanctum spell. You can heighten all you want, (or even use earth spell for a free level bump), but you cannot make a spell a higher level than you'd normally be able to cast naturally using earth/sanctum spell.

There's no need to race to apply here, I'll wait a few days and see how many people are interested. Ideally, I'd like to see a party o 6-8 PCs. Really, I want about 6 PCs, but it seems like starting with 8 and some redundancy is a good idea for a PbP campaign.

[Dictum Mortuum]

I have applied for the other game in these boards. However, i have a spellthief character that needs a home. He is a gnome, using the infamous imp familiar trick to get as many 2nd level and lower spells he wants to. I have played this character in a faerun tabletop adventure and fell in love with him . However, he is not able to do much in battle, he's more of a social type.

He initially was an sly agent of an Elder Evil, spying for his masters, adept at changing forms, using trickery and disguise. I'm looking for something different now, for example making him non-evil and changing his original demeanour to something more cheerful and funny. He will probably be able to support the party as a secondary spellcaster, scout and party face.

[Stratovarius]

Those are certainly reasonable rulings on the SCM, and going above 100% real always struck me as a rather unusual thing. I may just stick with Beguiler, or wander into another prestige class. Things are certainly uncertain at the moment.

[ksbsnowowl]

Color me interested.  I'm thinking something along the lines of a human Rogue/Swashbuckler with Able Learner, Daring Outlaw, Undo Resistance (FCII) and a family heirloom cold iron short sword.  I'll probably take the Death's Ruin Rogue Alternate class feature from Complete Champion.  Might dip a level or two of Swordsage for Assassin's Stance and the Shadowblade feat.  He'll play up the part of a family line dedicated to hunting and destroying evil spirits (outsiders, undead).  More of a sneaky warrior type (will be more Swashbuckler than anything else), but may have a few social skills maxed (Bluff, Sense Motive).  Think investigator and eradicator of evil spirits, ala the TV Show "Supernatural."  Investigate, do a little breaking-in on occasion, that sort of thing.

Preliminary background is that I was a hunter with my father and sister.  My sister was a mage (I’d knock down SR, she'd fry the beast).  Our father was killed early in our career, thus resulting in my inheritance of the heirloom cold iron blade.  Recently my sister went missing.  There was a lot of blood at the scene, but no body.  I don’t know if she’s alive or dead.  Unable to find clues after months of searching, I joined up with our band of adventurers in hopes that our travels might allow me to stumble across a clue to my sister’s disappearance.

Here’s a quick build:

CG Human Rogue 2/Swashbucker 3

Str 10 (2)
Dex 16 (10) +1 levels = 17
Con 14 (6)
Int 16 (10)
Wis 12 (4)
Cha 8 (0)

1. Rogue 1 – Able Learner, Undo Resistance
2. Swashbuckler 1 – Weapon Finesse
3. Swashbuckler 2 – ?
4. Swashbuckler 3
5. Rogue 2

Skills: Balance (5 ranks), Bluff (8 ranks), Gather Info (8 ranks), Hide (8 ranks), Listen (8 ranks), Move Silently (8 ranks), Search (8 ranks), Sense Motive (8 ranks), Spot (8 ranks), Tumble (8 ranks), Use Magic Device (7 ranks)

4320 gp on +1 Cold Iron Shortsword
3500 gp on Rod of Escape (MIC)
 350 gp on Everlasting Rations (MIC)
   90 gp on Everburning Torch
 740 gp.

[AlisAtAn]

@ Stratovarius: I`m the other Beguiler ---> ScM Applicant. Sent a PM asking for consent and returned to find your post in the thread. Just wanted that out there so you dont think I stole your idea. Anyways, I`m sure we can come to a reasonable agreement should both be accepted into the party.

I`ll ask here, since it concers Strato as well... Would a 1lvl dip in Shadow Adept from Forgotten Realms slip by you unnoticed?

[Stratovarius]

Of course. I'm also amenable to changing the current iteration of the build. I'm certainly not totally tied to the Beguiler idea should other ideas necessitate a change.

As I've mentioned in other places, my DnD playing ability has been restricted, and thus something with a simpler tactical outlay may be better for me.

[DaveTheMagicWeasel]

Posting interest.

I've got my own game to DM tomorrow, so probably won't have anything concrete till after then.

EDIT - so I lied and thought of some ideas already.

What I'm trying for is a tank/brute who will have some use in social situations.

Possible options:

Option 1

Factotum 3 / Warblade 2 - Good skills, and can use Cunning Strike to increase chances of delivering his strikes.  Current leading contendor, possibly heading for Chameleon...

Option 2

Cloistered Cleric 1 / Barbarian 1 / Crusader 3
Feats: Avenging Strike, Power Attack, Divine Might, Extra Rage, various devotion feats (deity dependent).

It's a good demon smiter, with a bit of diplomacy and intimidate.  It's a bit too similar to Egil tho and don't like being repetitive with my builds.

Option 3

I'm tempted to do a Dungeoncrasher - Goliath Barbarian 1 / Fighter 2 / Warblade 1, but iI'm not sure how to make it useful during investigation/social situations.  Any ideas?

*sighs* if only the Setting Sun throws were based off of Bull Rush - that would be so cool.

[Tshern]

I'd like to apply too. However, if someone who didn't make it to the other game wants in, I'm willing to give my spot to one of the poor suckers.

[AlisAtAn]

Char concept. Will be making some nitpick changes and give myself some more gear, but about 95% done.

Whisper gnome, Dark template.

Lawful neutral\Chaotic good. Most likely.

32point buy:
str 8
dex 14
con 16
int 18
wis 13
cha 8
(+1 int @ lvl 4)

Beguiller 1: Flaw [Murky Eyed], Flaw [Noncombatant], Shadow Weave, Spellfocus (Illusion), Heighten spell
Beguiler 2:
Beguiler 3: Obtain familiar, Advanced Learning [Distract assailant]
Beguiler 4: +1 Int



Skills: 64 skillpoints @ lvl 4
Maxed: hide, move silently, bluff, concentration, listen, spot, UMD, sleight of hand,

4 arcane knowledge, 2 Perform [violin].

Skill tricks: conceal spellcasting.

Gear:
Hewards haversack       2000
Bag of tricks         900gp
Hand of the mage       900gp
Feather token [tree]       450gp
Vestment of many styles    500gp
Hardanger fiddle, common.    5Gp
3x Blessed bandage       30gp
Mithral shirt         1100gp
Rapier            20gp
Shortbow, 40arrows      30gp

Total: 5935. I`ll be spending couple thousand of eternal wands\runestaffs too. And some nitpick to personalize the char.




Growing up the only child of a once great illusionist, I always dreamed of living the extragavant life of the acrobatic rouge or the playful bard, but forced to memorize arcane theory from an early age, and never much of the fighting type anyway, I ended up not quite the mage, but with a knack for illusions. Not quite the acrobatic rouge, but still insightful at there ways. What does that make me? A bard? I do play the violin... No? Not a bard? Aaaawww....

I left my home and mother behind as soon as I came of age, seeking the truth about my father, whoever he may be. Mom never spoke much of him, but I know the truth is out there somewhere. After all, its not like he doesnt exist?

Behind the scenes regarding backstory: The plot twist here is, that the accident that forced mom to cease here adventuring career, was her getting pregnant while having some fun with a shadow illusion of some kind... Resulting in a gnome with the dark template and her sticking to normal illusions for the rest of her life. Course my char doesn't know that...


NOTE: I`m willing to take care of trapfinding if no-one else would rather. Also maxing UMD so healing with a wand of lesser vigor is not an issue.

[Stratovarius]

Alright, switching tracks somewhat. Enchanter/Master Specialist.

[AndyJames]

A total newbie to PbP here. I am interested, but I suspect that I would be needing a lot of hand holding for the first few "sessions". If you are willing to take me on, just let me know and I will come up with a build. I have a ton of them lying around... Like the Crucian Monk named Leo... 

[Banor]

I'm wondering if you would accept the Sublime Way Marshal (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=752414) for my character. It does seem very balanced and pretty fun to play. If you do, I'll probably go with straight Marshal, otherwise, I might do something like RKV

[Tshern]

A total newbie to PbP here. I am interested, but I suspect that I would be needing a lot of hand holding for the first few "sessions". If you are willing to take me on, just let me know and I will come up with a build. I have a ton of them lying around... Like the Crucian Monk named Leo... 

If I get a spot, donate it to Andy. He really needs to get a piece of the tasty PbP action.

[JanusJones]

The following are all build options.  I've tried my best to be VERY limited, not indulging some of my more devious and powerful builds (since I detected a distinct odor of "I don't like too much CO!" in the DM's post . . .  :wink).  If we're really going to have a proto-ScM, however, maybe I should step up my game a bit . . .

Regardless, here are some of my thoughts . . .

Master of the Unseen Claw:
Lesser Drow Swordsage 1/Fighter 1/Sleeping Tiger Monk (Exemplars of Evil - Invisible Claw) 2/Swordsage 1

Feats: WP Finesse (Sleeping Tiger 1), Improved Initiative (Sleeping Tiger 2), Shadowblade (1st), Adaptive Style (flaw), Vital Recovery (flaw), WP Focus - Unarmed (Swordsage 1), Extra Readied Maneuver (3rd).

Highlights: Wis x 2 to AC, Dex + Str to damage, Dex x 2 + Str to damage when striking a flat-footed opponent, massive Initiative mod.

Maneuvers: Burning Blade, Wind Stride, Mighty Throw, Counter Charge, Sudden Leap, Wolf Fang Strike, Cloak of Deception
Stances: Child of Shadow, Stonefoot Stance

Tactics: With Dex + Wis x 2 to AC and 20% concealment with a movement (according to the Sage, the Swordsage's AC bonus and the Monk bonus stack!), the Master is relatively well defended, and with a Dex + 4 (Imp. Init) + 2 (Drow Fighter) + 1 (Quick to Act) Initiative, he usually goes first in any combat.  He can go invisible using either his Invisible Claw ability (gained from an Exemplars of Evil sub level, which does NOT require a monk to be evil aligned) or Cloak of Deception to strike a foe, making it flat-footed, which grants him Dex x 2 to damage.

It's a flavor build, not a functional one, but would be fun, I think.

Stepping Jack, Everyman:
Human Factotum 5

Feats: Font of Inspiration (1st), Font of Inspiration (flaw), Font of Inspiration (flaw), Font of Inspiration (3rd).

Tactics: Jack is a man of all trades, master of many - a true renaissance man.  He uses his massive amount of Inspiration points (read: cleverness!) to supplement his impressive array of skills, fueling an Indiana Jones-style adventuring ability.  Int to initiative and all Strength and Dex-based skills and checks makes him sneaky and a consummate trapfinder, and Iaijutsu Focus makes him a devil on an attack.  He can also add Int to hit, saves, and AC, when necessary, and won't hesitate to do so if the occasion warrants.  He is a wand-user, and often snipes at foes with inspiration-fueled accuracy (read: sneak attack!).  He'd also be able to do some party healing, helping out the local sawbones with the work of patching the party up.

This one would fill a rogue-role nicely, and would give me a chance to play another underpowered (for me!) flavor build to see how it worked.

Basher
Goliath Barbarian (Lion Totem; Complete Champion) 1/Dungeoncrasher Fighter 3 (yep - an ODD FIGHTER LEVEL - YEEEK!)

Feats: Power Attack (1st), Extra Rage (flaw), Reckless Rage (flaw), Improved Bull Rush (Fighter 1), Knockback (Fighter 2), Extra Rage OR Combat Reflexes (3rd).

Tactics: Gets mad and starts in to smashing stuff.  With Large size and 20 ft. of reach, this is a lot of stuff.  When he bashes, anything that gets hit is subjected to a bull rush; if it hits something, it takes 4d6 + 2xStr mod in damage.  Big, brawly, entertaining.  Strength would be 22 base, but would go up to 30 when raging, making him a pretty beefy cat.

Not the best detective.  Sigh.  Oh well!

Hidden Flame, Draconic Sniper
Strongheart Glimmerskin Water Halfling Scout 3/Rogue 1/Scout 1

Feats: Dragonfire Strike (1st), Precise Strike (Strongheart), Shape Soulmeld - Fellmist Robe (flaw), Shape Soulmeld - Kruthik Claws (flaw), Improved Skirmish (3rd), Swift Ambusher (Scout 4)

Tactics: Fires nasty arrows from hiding.  Deals 5d6 skirmish damage and 6d6 sneak attack, and accesses Improved Skirmish early thanks to Dragonfire Strike.  Useless against undead and constructs, however, and thus justifiably fears them.  A sniper and a skill monkey, decent at hiding.

Fair enough.  A bit limited, but the skills keep him from being entirely one-trick.

These are just a few thoughts.  Any opinions or selections would be welcome.  I could also give you some brief stats for any of the following:

Thri-Kreen Killer: Loads of attacks, loads of damage.
Primordial Half-Giant Warlock/Rogue: Invisibility at will is fun.
Super-sneak: Who needs invisibility when you can't be seen anyway?
Pouncer: I have a million of these.  One of my favorites, a Neaderthal called Bounder, could make an appearance . . .
DFA: Yep, I could play one.  Yep, it'd kick butt.
Marrulurk: It's fun to look like a lil' schemy Anubis.  Plus they kinda rawk.  Hizzard.  Sneaky death attacks.
Dwarven Werebadger: Badgers?  We don' need no steekin' BADGERS!  Fun with massive Con.
Werespider: Entomanthropes are neat.  Find them here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040621a

[AndyJames]

Thanks, Tshern



*cough*

I am surprised...

No Dragonwrought Loredrake Kobold shenannigans? 

[JanusJones]

As stated, I'm playing nice . . .  :wink

But if you WANT something sick . . . 

. . . but, I'm embarrassed to reveal my ignorance here . . .

What's a Loredrake?