Strange Lands, a tale of Shadows and Heroes OOC

Drago765 Fri Feb 28, 2014 1:45 am

Welcome to Snerviak. A strange realm with quite a few dark goings on that... Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself aren't I? *Ahem* You see, Snerviak is your typical, run-of-the-mill fantasy setting on the outside, Drow aren't trusted because of the secrecy and trickery surrounding their race, fae are thought to be wild and beautiful, Dwarves dig deep into the mountains for riches... But that's just the surface. You see, this realm has a bit of a problem that many people have been trying to hold back and defeat, and that is an affliction to the land that is known by many names, but most commonly called "Derakan". You see, this is not just an affliction to people, but to the land itself. Lands afflicted by Derakan rarely see sunlight, and as such the plant life is changed to rely more on the Earth and, with the help of a little magic, the shadows. This isn't the only effect, as strange creatures and energies appear in lands like this as well. Twisted beings that should not be seen by any mortal and that are fiercer than most of what the Fae's homeland brings up appear, sporting strange, eldritch abilities that simply do not belong in this realm. And the energies in the land start to affect the inhabitants themselves. Now, here's where the good part comes in, people affected by these energies are affected in many ways, ranging from mutation to insanity, but not all people touched by these energies are twisted. In fact, they rarely gain new powers and insight into matters, such as finding out that undead aren't actually all that bad if properly handled. Of course, this is frowned upon by some, some who are too set in the ways of the world or too worshiping of Pleor's light that they think you must be a heretic to think these things, but a lot of the world is starting to realize the effectiveness of these new heroes, though only starting. Of all those affected by Derakan, Fae find themselves the most affected, at least in terms of range of effects. A member of the Fae affected by Deranak are more likely to just gain powers... But they're also more likely to be twisted by the energies, becoming dark, bloodthirsty creatures bent on killing. Anyways... This is where you come in. You are some of the lucky creatures who find themselves still in control of themselves (If a little different) and gaining powers from this mysterious energy. With it, you have just become Snerivak's newest power and its greatest enemy, and your actions will shape the future events of this world and how the world views those affected by these energies. Will you find out the mystery behind the source of this madness, or will you rebel against those who outcast you and start a war? The choices are endless, and you're the forerunners of fate. Welcome to Snerivak.

Map:

Characters:

Ramsus Fri Feb 28, 2014 2:22 am

My in-progress character: http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=811830

Drago765 Fri Feb 28, 2014 3:56 pm

Mechanics info, quoted from the one who asked me all the questions.

Ramsus wrote:Since I asked Hum all manner of questions prior to this going up and he ran off after posting the setting flavor, I'm gonna throw up the mechanical info people need to make characters. This is just sorta a placeholder till Hum adds it into the first post himself though.

Where to make character sheets: http://www.myth-weavers.com
If you don't have an account, set one up, it's simple. Then make a 4e character sheet. Only issue is you're going to want a name for your character before you make the sheet. Or you could just go with your Class name I guess.
Level: 5
Races allowed: All except for Deva and Revenants (if you want to do something that doesn't officially exist, wait till Hum is back and ask him) One thing to note is your Race's ability bonuses won't matter with the classes we're using.
I'm pretty sure Hum agrees with me on the standard of "dude, don't play a race someone else is, there's plenty enough for some variety". Also... don't pick Human since... yeah, I didn't design the classes with them in mind cuz Humans are boring and you already play one irl.
Abilities: Standard as per the PHB
I recommend this (pre-racial/level bonuses) stat spread: 18 (primary stat), 14 (secondary stat), 11 (one of the two stats from the defense category your secondary and primary stats don't belong to), 10, 10, 8 (< don't put this in Con, especially you Clockeye)
Bonus feats: Everyone starts with a free Expertise type feat (most of them have Expertise in the name). Next level we'll be getting Improved Defenses for free. (The reasoning for this being that these kinds of feats only exist because of Wizard of the Coast making math errors and basically patching these things in as a "quick fix".)
Skills: We each start with any six skills trained we like (plus anything we get from races/etc.). Still you're probably going to want to pick skills your stats are good for. (And we might want to discuss who has what a bit as a group.)
Powers: There are some ways for you to take Powers other than what your class grants. There's Skill Powers in PHB3 that anyone trained in the appropriate skill can take. In various other sources there are racial dependent powers, powers from Themes, and other stuff maybe too.
Background and Themes: We're using both. Here's two handy links.
Backgrounds: http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3084151
Themes: https://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3331711
Magic Items: One level 6 item, One level 5 item, four level 4 items. Special rule (don't abuse to buy an extra level 5 item or anything), if we want one (or more) of those last four items to be a item lower than level 4 we can just subtract the value of the item from the gold cost and keep the remainder to use for other item purchases or to hold onto for later. (Don't spend any leftover on consumable items.)
Consumable Magic Items: 200gp allowance. Keep the spare money. Denote this seperate from any money leftover for Magical Items (we're going to have separate piles of money for these things so that spending gold on anything but more permanent items isn't shooting ourselves in the feet).
Mundane Items: fffff forgot to ask, we'll have to wait I guess.
Reagents: Think we might be getting a pile once the game starts of maybe Hum will be handing out some before. Dunno exactly.
Rituals: Yeah ok, this only matters to Paper. And I don't know. I think Hum is gonna give you a few extra ones you start with?
Languages: What your race/etc. says, but don't fret, we can learn more in game.
Homebrew stuff: Anything in my Homebrew thread here in the forum and I can make new stuff that, with Hum's approval, people can take if they request something that doesn't exist elsewhere and is reasonable. (Don't forget to check out the post after the classes for miscellaneous stuff of use to just about everyone.)

Generally useful resource: http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/database.aspx
("Multiple Sources" typically means Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom and/or Heroes of the Fallen Lands, but not always.)
Hum also has another useful resource thing he or I can send people via skype.
Also I have most of the 4e books (aside from the Book of Vile Darkness) you might need and a Dragon Magazines 364-406 so if you need something, just ask.

What people are playing as far as I know:
Me: eladrin/drow half-breed Gloomhound
Copper: pixie Darksinger
Sub: [race] Longshadow
Paper: [race] Corrupter
Clockeye: Shade Windracer

Ramsus' suggestions for people:

Copper:
Feats: Staff Expertise and Superior Will
Level 2 Utility: Take Shadowsight

Sub:
Feats: Bow Expertise or Shadow Expertise (one of my homebrew feats), Hidden Sniper
Weapon: longbow or even spend a feat on superior weapon training to get Greatbow
Level 2 Utility: Take Shadowsight

Clockeye:
Feats: Bludgeon Expertise and Mark of Storm

Paper:
Level 2 Utility: Take Shadowsight

Addition: You can get whatever mundane items you want, just as long as you don't go overboard with item costs.

Drago765 Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:38 am

Have a post based on Deities!

The gods and their purview's (Skip if you have read both the PH and the DMG):

Deities don't have alingments, they instead focus on their purviews.
Lolth wants to be god of all fae races and is not going to possibly side with the Primordials if they come back to life. She's also basically the spy of the gods, though only Ioun and Vecna know this.
Torog doesn't exist because he is too petty, this is no reason for alarm or drastic change.
Thazradin may or may not exist, even clerics have never heard of him.
Angels can be made and serve any god.
A god can invest more energy into creating an Angel, have an Angel stay in their service long enough, or have them do something important and that Angel will become an Angel of said god, becoming much more powerful and changing appearance to match the god they serve.
Mortals typically aren't strong enough to summon Angels of gods, but can summon "Shadows" of them, which look just like them (though experts might be able to tell the difference) but are typically weaker, though diverse in their power levels.
Chosen, people who are chosen by the gods to be their servants in the mortal realm. Pretty badass.
The gods each have their own different divine domains.

Paper Shadow Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:38 am

Paper Shadow's Super Awesome Happy Fun Time Character Sheet: http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=815115

Gearhead765 Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:41 pm

Well I guess I'll just put my character sheet so far right here since it's about %50 done (At the time of this post). Here it is.

Edit: ...Or it was but I apparently forgot to save changes and don't have time today to write up all of the back-story again... Mad