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| AD&D 2nd Edition Campaign; All this talk has me itchy... | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 6 2013, 02:52 PM (1,885 Views) | |
| Sedulius | Mar 6 2013, 02:52 PM Post #1 |
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Field Marshal
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Okay, so I expect the haters won't want in on a 2nd edition campaign, but I figure I should put the idea out there. I think we should do a 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign on here, or elsewhere. Really, there is no need to do it elsewhere, because we could keep it to two threads in Off-Topic (one for in game and one for out of game). I'll be the DM. I'd love to play as a paladin, but that just wouldn't be fair when I'm the one running things. Hopefully in time someone else can be a DM too. If any of you want to do a campaign, even if it is a later edition, count me in. I jump at the chance to play my paladin. All I need is three players. One would be stupid. Two is boring. Three is enough. More is preferable. For this to work, we shall have to schedule times to play. I say this because, whenever there is combat, it would be way too slow if we weren't all here. We should honestly use and some sort of IM service for all of it, but it would be cool to keep a record and post it on here. All you need as a player is the player's handbook: http://www.orbisrpg.co.uk/Planescape/players_handbook.pdf This is the reprint and not the original, and I know some people prefer the original over the reprint, but everything needed to know for creating a character and play the game is there. So it really doesn't matter. I've skimmed it over and there really isn't much difference. For starters, just create a character using the rules not marked as optional. Don't worry about proficiencies. I like proficiencies, but we can discuss whether or not we want to use those later. You'll find this is rather simple. You roll your character, you pick out his or her race and class and alignment, you roll for gold and equip your character. If you're a mage or priest you need to decide what spells you know, but after that, that's it. No powers. No skills. None of that extra crap. Nice and simple. It's on your honor, though not completely. I'm not going to accept straight 18 ability scores. I don't care if you really did roll it, it's overpowered and, honestly, monotonous. 18 12 18 13 15 17, for example, is very powerful, but acceptable. Use whatever 3d6 method you like for the ability scores. I'm fine with characters with everything 10 and over and even prefer them. Since you might be using these characters for quite some time, I'll give my first modification of the rules now. I will allow you to use a 1d20 for ability scores. If you roll anything below 10, roll again. If you roll 20, roll again. This allows anyone to have some scores of 19, and even higher in some cases with racial modification. I don't really have a problem with this, as this is fantasy. If you don't like it, we'll discuss it later, and decide as a group whether or not we want to keep it. Also, I'll add up the total cost of your equipment. Maybe you made a clerical error. Just make sure you buy practical things too, like clothing and a backpack. This is an RPG, afterall. If you don't have that stuff on your items list, I'm going to assume you're naked under your armor (or if you're a priest, you're just plain naked) and are using very creative methods to carry your equipment. :p You should read through the handbook, skimming it at least, to familiarize yourself with the rules, but I'm the one who will be doing the dice rolling, so you don't need to worry so much. At first, I want to just go by the standard rules, using no optional rules or modifications (save for that simple one above). The standard rules are simple, and will allow us to ease into the game. As we play more quests, I'll add in rules when I feel we are ready. I'll make decisions on things like critical hit systems and other possible combat rules, but I don't want to leave the player entirely out of the decision making process on how we play the game. Indeed, if I incorporate a rule you hate, after a quest is over, I want you to voice your dislike of it so we can discuss it. The way I do critical hits, some of you will love it, some of you will hate it. It makes combat very deadly, but it also makes it much more fun. You might decapitate someone or lop off their arm. They don't just fall to the ground dead due to x amount of wounds. Critical hits don't just mean extra damage. They mean potentially fatal wounds. Of course, cutting off some creatures' heads won't kill them... ^^ But remember, I won't be using this for the first quest, probably not for the first few. And when I do use it, we shall certainly tread carefully. Anyways, any questions or comments? I look forward to getting started. |
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| East Anarx | Mar 12 2013, 01:24 PM Post #2 |
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Anarchitect
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Edited by East Anarx, Mar 29 2013, 11:47 AM.
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| meh | Mar 12 2013, 02:45 PM Post #3 |
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1st Lieutenant
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I would love to do this, but I have absolutely zero experience with it. |
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| New Harumf | Mar 12 2013, 02:55 PM Post #4 |
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
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This is me, also. |
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| Allied States of Arv (ASA) | Mar 13 2013, 08:05 PM Post #5 |
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Consortiums Ministrater
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What level do we start at? Ps: I am interested and have played D&D before. Edited by Allied States of Arv (ASA), Mar 13 2013, 08:14 PM.
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| New Harumf | Mar 14 2013, 09:09 AM Post #6 |
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
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Oh. Wait. Are we just talking straight D&D here?? |
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| East Anarx | Mar 14 2013, 02:24 PM Post #7 |
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Anarchitect
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Uhh yep... Or gay D&D in your case, NH. :P But, yeah, as I understand it, Sed wants to DM a regular old Dungeons and Dragons campaign using the 2nd edition rulebook and he wants to modify the rules in the ways he outlined above. |
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| New Harumf | Mar 14 2013, 03:11 PM Post #8 |
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
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So, this is not some sort of electronic version of D&D (or gay D&D as E so blithely points out)? OK, I'm in. |
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| Rhadamanthus | Mar 14 2013, 06:36 PM Post #9 |
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Legitimist
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I want to do this, but I can't commit time-wise. I'm starting a new job on Monday, and until I find an apartment that is closer to my place of work, I'll be doing a long commute. |
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| Sedulius | Mar 15 2013, 09:41 AM Post #10 |
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Field Marshal
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E, your character is perfect. Everyone else, the way E did it is basically the way to go about it. You don't need to provide a background for me, nor do you need to load up on food like E did, but this is roleplaying, so I encourage you to flesh out your character as much as you wish. Of course, E, given that you did load up on so much food and have a tent, that means your character wouldn't usually have to pay for food or lodging. It allows you to camp in the wilderness. So, while you won't need it for what I have in mind for a first few quests (because we do need to ease into this), when we do get into the wider campaign, your character is already prepared ahead of time. Of course, guys, this is almost an experiment. I have no experience DMing, though I've been reading about how to DM since before 9th grade, so I am knowledgeable (have to start somewhere). We're doing it on the internet. Some of you also don't have experience playing, which is fine (again, you have to start somewhere). I'm starting it out relatively simple for exactly these reasons (no proficiencies, nor the dozens of other optional rules). So if you have no experience in D&D, you will be fine. I won't put you through some baptism by fire. Your character might die, but I'm going to try to start out easy enough. We're starting with level 1 characters, so I'll make sure you face enemies appropriate to your level. This doesn't mean I'll make it easy. My level 1 paladin once killed two hydras (extremely lucky critical hit rolls, which we aren't using yet), killed a hag (a powerful witch creature), and survived a fight against her army of gnoll minions (we had to retreat and form a shield wall in a tight space, and some of us died, but we took a lot of them down before we were able to escape). Earlier in the same quest, my character had his shield broken through by a leucrotta (some sort of weird deer-badger monster), was kicked down, and broke his ass (so I'd assume his pelvis was fractured. Again, this was because of critical hits). So, I'm not going to quite all out like the quest I described above (that we were successful was luck), but I will attempt to make it challenging. NH, this is AD&D 2nd Edition, so it's not quite normal D&D, but yes, not electronic, save for the use of our computers to communicate. I wouldn't call it gay or straight. lol I'm going to do a campaign setting similar to Europe during the Reformation. So there will be a religious war going on, early firearms (arquebuses), knights in Gothic plate, and all that good stuff, but also, don't worry, I haven't forgotten this is D&D. There will be plenty of orcs and elves, but certainly you won't be running into a lich or a dragon every day. Common creatures are common for a reason, as very rare creatures are very rare for a reason. As for time, I knew this would be the main constraint. If we can get few hours in once a week or even once every two weeks, we're doing good. I have to prepare anyways. We should shoot for getting through a quest in a session. Ideally, we'd do something like three hours each Saturday, or something like that. But everyone has different schedules. So we just have to plan our sessions. When we can get together, we get together. My schedule is open for now, and I figure for most of you weekends will work. Since I only saw the interest in this just today, I'll need time to prepare things, and brush up on the Dungeon Master's Guide, and some of you need time to make characters and familiarize yourself with Player's Handbook. Soo... How does Saturday the 23rd sound? Say... 3 PM Central Time? |
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| Nag Ehgoeg | Mar 15 2013, 06:32 PM Post #11 |
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The Devil's Advocate
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**** God I hate thacko. And rolling up stats. And class requirements. And race requirements. And AD&Ds spell prep system. Player's Guide says the DM will pick my starting spells for me, but I'll pick them if you want me to. **** Central time... minus the five, carry the one... that's... 2100 in real time? Yeah, I can go four hours or so. Edited by Nag Ehgoeg, Mar 21 2013, 02:02 PM.
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| East Anarx | Mar 16 2013, 12:18 AM Post #12 |
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Anarchitect
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Nag, if by "rolling up stats" you mean rerolling anything lower than a 10, as Sed asked us to do, then I'm just wondering why you have a problem with it? If by "rolling up stats" you mean rolling as opposed to just making them up, or something else, then I'm just confused. Generally speaking, I don't have enough experience with D&D to have strong preferences regarding the rules, (other than that they be reasonably understandable and fairly consistently applied,) but I'm curious to hear your opinion because I recognize that you've probably played more than I have. Also, what's thacko? Sed, I'll try to be around next Saturday afternoon. Could you doublecheck my half-assed math to see whether or not I can actually afford all the stuff I purchased? I intend to check it again myself some time between now and then too. |
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| Nag Ehgoeg | Mar 16 2013, 07:16 AM Post #13 |
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The Devil's Advocate
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I made a character before bed and appear to have misread the re-rolling bit (thought it only applied to the D20). Thanks for pointing that out, fixed. By "rolling up" I mean "generating random". I prefer games where you make a character without any random elements. So every character starts with (say) one stat at 18, one at 16, one at 14, one at 12 and one at 10. Then you can choose where to put your stats. Or better yet, point buy systems where you have (say 20 points to buy your stats with (a 10 costs 0, 11 costs 1 point, 14 costs 5 points - that sort of thing)). Even a system where you roll six times to get your numbers, then assign those numbers to any stat you want is more fun than rolling up a 10 for strength when you might have wanted to play a warrior (not that I want to play a warrior). Thacko is the pronunciation of THAC-0. To hit armour class zero. I realise that in print I should just write THAC-0, sorry about that. It's just habit to say "thacko". It's a set number you have to hit that you subtracts negative armour class from. Later editions just have Armor Class (AC) as the target number you have to hit with buffs giving you straight additions to your roll and nerfs subtracting directly from your roll. Much easier to work out on the fly for DM and PC alike. And it's more intuitive. (My clothes give me AC 10 which is worse than the AC 0 you get from full plate and a shield - decreasing your Armour Class is a good thing as it brings you closer to THAC-0). Edited by Nag Ehgoeg, Mar 16 2013, 02:33 PM.
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| Sedulius | Mar 16 2013, 10:53 AM Post #14 |
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Field Marshal
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THAC0 is simple. To-Hit-Armor-Class-0. Let's say you have a THAC0 of 15. If you roll a 15 or above on a 20 sided die (1d20), then you hit armor class 0. To use for other armor classes, you simply subtract the armor class from your THAC0. So, to hit armor class 10 with a THAC0 of 15, it would be 15 - 10 = 5, so if you roll a 5 or above, then you hit armor class 10. To hit armor class -5 with a THAC0 of 15, it would be 15 - -5 = 20, so if you roll a 20, then you hit armor class -5. The books do a crappy job of explaining this, to be honest. Now, the rule is, a roll of 1 is always a miss, and a roll of 20 is always a hit, unless the DM otherwise specifies. I'll stick with this rule for now. I think it would be interesting to have creature you couldn't possibly hit, so you would need to use your head in the situation rather than hacking away, BUT if a level 20 warrior with strength 8 can hit almost anything with even a normal weapon, I think it would be possible for a level 1 character to get a lucky hit on almost anything in rare circumstances. E, I will look over your equipment and do the math as you ask. I was so taken aback by the detail you went into, I forgot to. Nag, the restrictions make the game more interesting. When any person of any race can do anything, true distinction between races is lost. The humans have only one advantage in 2nd edition: they are the only race that can be any class and has no level restriction. All the other races have some special abilities. Take away the restrictions, and you lose the balance against those abilities, and there would be no reason to play a human. Why play a human paladin with no special abilities when you can play an elven paladin that has infravision and attack modifiers to sword and bow? Anyways, if you don't like what you rolled, you can reroll. You certainly don't have to go with the first set of stats you roll. Hmm... I can see there is some misunderstanding here. I'm fine if you assign the numbers you roll to any stat. Like I said, the dice rolling method is up to you. But I figured I'd post the d20 method I use since I would allow that and it is advantageous. I should probably post all the 3d6 die rolling methods... |
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| New Harumf | Mar 16 2013, 11:32 AM Post #15 |
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
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Edited by New Harumf, Mar 30 2013, 10:48 AM.
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| Nag Ehgoeg | Mar 16 2013, 03:31 PM Post #16 |
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The Devil's Advocate
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Yes, but in later editions you don't have THAC-0. At all. To hit something you just need to roll equal to or over their AC (Armor Class). So if I wear +2 full plate and have AC 15, you need to roll 15 to hit me. This is easier than having THAC-0 at 13 then subtracting the -2 I get from having +2 full plate. Adding armour adding to armour class is intuitive. Having a high armor class subtract from the difficulty needed to hit you and having negative armor making it more difficult to hit you is not intuitive. It's not difficult, it's just not intuitive. Same goes for how natural armor works. In 3.5/Pathfinder, natural armour works just like regular armour -- by adding to your AC making it more difficult to hit you. If you have armoured scales for skin, it's harder to hurt you. It's harder if you're wearing normal clothes, it's harder if you're wearing leather armour, it's harder if you're wearing full plate. Anyone who attacks you has to get through your armour and your scaly hide to do damage. But natural armour doesn't effect THAC-0 that way. Wear normal clothes and your natural armor makes you harder to hurt. Wear leather armor and your natural armour makes you harder to hurt. Wear full plate and your natural armor has no effect. So if you're naturally tough, wearing crappy armor can make you even tougher, but decent armor is a wash. THAC-0 isn't the only time when negative modifiers are good things, AD&D is rife with times when you subtract modifiers so negative numbers are good (like the Haste spell). BUT negative numbers aren't always good. Having -5 AC is good, but you get that from +5 Armor. Conversely a -1 weapon is bad, a +1 weapon is good. In 3.5/Pathfinder positive numbers are good, negative numbers are bad. Always. +5 Armor gives you +5 Armor Class. + Initiative makes you faster. It's more my gripe against AD&D than anything else. I'm not saying that I want to play Pathfinder (I'm already playing Pathfinder -- I signed up to this thread for the nostalgia kick), I was just having a good natured gripe at your system of choice. Didn't mean to rant so much about it. Sorry about that. You want me to split this stuff out and merge it into the other thread? **** NH for your reference: Regarding alignment, you might find this webpage useful. I believe only unintelligent creatures can be unaligned in AD&D. If the concerns of good and evil, law and chaos don't matter much to your character, then they are probably Chaotic Neutral or True Neutral. Can't speak for Sed, but if I was running a game, I'd let you be "unaligned" - but Chaotic Neutral seems to fit your background and your perceived lack of alignment. Page 136 tells you your starting money - it's 2d6 x 10 gp. Spells... Page 165 states "Whatever the case, your character begins play with a spell book containing up to a few 1st-level spells. Your DM will tell you the exact number of spells and which spells they are." Page 34, table 4 states that with Intelligence 15 you can know 11 spells of each level. Appendix 3: Wizard Spells begins on page 260, so you might want to look over the level 1 spells and see which 11 you like best. Your Wisdom and Charisma are both less than 10. You'll probably want to roll those again to get a value of 10 or more like Sed said in the first post. Edited by Nag Ehgoeg, Mar 16 2013, 03:43 PM.
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| Comrade Queen | Mar 16 2013, 04:19 PM Post #17 |
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Comrade Bitchqueen
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Yeah, THAC0's always been the weak link in 2nd edition. First you have to subtract and then you have to add, when it would just be simpler to do one or the other. Period. Hell, even 1st edition only had THAC0 as an optional rule; all the to hit numbers were already calculated in the DM's Guide and Monster Manuals' combat matrices. (I have books from all three editions in case anyone was wondering.) I have rarely met a D&D fan that actually liked THAC0; it is almost universally reviled. In any case, if you could actually start these sessions at 10pm central/8pm pacific, I might be interested, since 3pm/1pm is actually unreliable for me. Also, concerning messenger services and dice rolling, there are actually several free virtual tabletops out there to choose from. You might consider using one. |
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| Rhadamanthus | Mar 16 2013, 04:31 PM Post #18 |
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Legitimist
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To me, class/race restrictions represent a sort of Rococo aesthetic, while the more even arrangement of later editions seems like a very streamlined Neoclassical approach. The somewhat asymmetric approach feels more organic to me than the more systemized version. |
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| Nag Ehgoeg | Mar 18 2013, 11:43 AM Post #19 |
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The Devil's Advocate
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3pm Central is 9pm my time, which is pretty perfect for me. 10pm central is 4am my time which is not undoable but a couple of hours earlier or later would be better for my sanity. Ultimately I can do any time until I start my new job, but I'd rather not start play at 4am. 3pm Central has got my vote. Edited by Nag Ehgoeg, Mar 18 2013, 02:11 PM.
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| New Harumf | Mar 18 2013, 01:20 PM Post #20 |
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
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I am assuming we are talking weekends?? Friday nights?? What? Regardless, I am NOT a night owl. Ergo, any starting time during my drinking hours (generally 3ish pm to 9ish pm CDT) would be fine with me, unless it is Monday or Wednesday, when I have late classes to teach. |
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| Nag Ehgoeg | Mar 18 2013, 02:03 PM Post #21 |
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The Devil's Advocate
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| New Harumf | Mar 18 2013, 04:06 PM Post #22 |
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Bloodthirsty Unicorn
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I will be at my niece's wedding in Chicago, sooooo I don't think they would like me playing D&D during the reception. After that, I am on the road returning to Houston till the 27th. Sorry. |
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| Allied States of Arv (ASA) | Mar 18 2013, 06:58 PM Post #23 |
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Consortiums Ministrater
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STR - 13 DEX - 18 CON - 12 INT - 13 WIS - 11 CHA - 13 Name: Evidon Starr Sex: Male Handedness: Ambidexterous Race: half Elf Class: Warrior/thief Alignment: Neutral Evil Height: 5"10 Weight: 145 Age: 35 Known Languages: common, Elvish, Gnome Blind Fighting Disguise Forgery Appraising Starting Money:(130Gp)left(30Gp) belt,boots(riding),cloak(GCloth),Baldric,3Tunic,2Vest,Camel,Saddle Bags(L),BackPack,4Beltpouches(4L),Flint&Steel,SignetRing,Tent(S), RidingSaddle,Scimitars,1Dirk,4Daggers,Leather Armor(worn under clothes),soap Scimitar M S 5 1d8 1d8 Background: Born to an elf slave in a country to the East he was sold at a young age to a shipping captain, When they made port some years later in the town of Maelnon Evidon escaped. After that he lived on the street learning how to fight and steal to survive. That is until the local thieves guild led by Pasha Baradonas adopted him. Now having learned what he could from them hes left them, although not without pilfering what supplies he wanted, and made his way into the world. Edited by Allied States of Arv (ASA), Mar 19 2013, 07:06 PM.
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| Al Araam | Mar 18 2013, 10:37 PM Post #24 |
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Demigod of Death & Inactivity
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I'd like to participate. I'll start working up a character if there's still room. Edit:
Any glaring errors? I'm not sure how best to handle food, so I'd appreciate suggestions on that front. Edited by Al Araam, Mar 19 2013, 01:08 AM.
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| Allied States of Arv (ASA) | Mar 19 2013, 09:23 AM Post #25 |
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Consortiums Ministrater
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Well since you don't have any pack animals you might be a little bogged down with carrying around that barrel of Ale. For food probably just trail rations but he seemed to indicate that we shouldn't worry to much about food in the first few sessions. |
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11:37 AM Jul 13