Tag: RPG

  • Feat: Bonded Companion

    Feat: Bonded Companion

    Salvy

    Animal Companions, or Bonded Companions, or a key element of life in Kin. The Kin are the people of friendship, loyalty of loving those around them. This extends towards their non-humanoid companions as well. Where an elf might group in a land where spells are used to do mundane things, in Kin when a goliath needs a bit of string to finish sewing they send their swallow off to do it, or their heron to fish. Halflings have dogs that pull, push, fetch, hunt, fish, carry, and many other tasks. Human bonds with goats, rams, dogs, birds and horses are quite common. Bonds of Kin are a very essence of life. Almost everyone has one.

    This ruleset needs to do a few things.

    • Scale like cantrips, attacks and proficiency. The companion is expected to live alongside their friend for some time.
    • Build in a reason that having a Bond die is bad for the PC
    • Not destroy the action economy
    • As a bonus, can it be simplified for usage in gaming outside the World of Everflow?

    Feat: Bonded Companion

    Prerequisite: Wisdom of 13 or higher. Kin and Rangers ignore this prerequisite.
    This feat can be taken more than once.

    Two dogs on gravel

    You have an intense bond with a beast. These beasts cannot have a higher Intelligence than the character. In certain worlds the bonded companion can be a monstrosity. At this point I considered just granting access to the Bonded Companion system in a similar manner as to how Magic Initiate works, but instead built it within the Feat. The rule could be built by making Bonded Companion a Class Feature and Feat, but I digress. Taking the feat gives you Companion Points. You also gain companion points in the following manners;

    • Rangers at 1st, 3rd, 5th, 11th, and 17th levels
    • Druids at 1st and 5th level.
    • Clerics with the Nature domain at 1st level.
    • Your Wisdom modifier

    Those points can be spent on a single companion or multiple companions. A character can bond with a number of Companions equal to their Wisdom modifier +1 (minimum 1). Each new companion takes a number of weeks to establish a bond as their cost in companion points. This can be done as downtime, or could be a solo adventure. A character may only spend new points when they take the feat or if they are a Ranger or Druid at their higher levels that earn Companion Points.

    The following chart lists various Companions and their Companion Point cost.

    OneTwoThreeFiveSevenTen
    Herd dogSled DogWarhound *Giant Eagle *&Rhino &Mammoth *&
    RetrieverMastiff *Axebeak *&BisonElephant *Wyvern *&
    TerrierBloodoundOstrich &Bear *&Dire Wolf *&Roc *&
    Sentry DogGuard dog *Elk &Lion *&Owlbear *& 
    SprinterRavenPanther *&Worg *&Griffon *& 
    HeronEagle *&Bear Cub *&Hippogriff *&Pegasus *& 
    PigeonFalcon *Wolf *&Peryton *&  
    SparrowParrotTiger *&Awakened Tree &  
    Pony/MuleDraft HorseWarhorse *   
    FoxRiding HorseApe &   
    Goat/SheepMonkey    
    Awakened Shrub &Cow    

    Legend: The ‘&’ is used to indicate an animal companion that can only be paired with a Ranger, Druid or Nature Cleric. They are normally wild. The ‘*’ is used to indicate animals that can enter combat on command.

    "Postduif". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Postduif.jpg#/media/File:Postduif.jpg
    “Postduif” – Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

    As a Bonus Action the Bonder can command their animal. These commands are Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help. An animal without a * can only attack if the Bonder passes a Wisdom (Animal Handling) DC: 20 check. The Companion will continue that action until the combat is complete or another Bonus Action is used (ie they will Attack the directed target until that target is no longer participating in the combat). Some Companions have other actions that can be taken (A Retriever can Fetch as an action). Check with your DM for these other actions.

    When separated a Bonder and Companion that are on the same plane know the direction and rough travel time between them.

    If someone tries to control a Companion it is an opposed Animal Handling check for the Bonder and whatever skill or spell is appropriate for the attempt to control the Companion. The duration of the control is per the appropriate spell or skill.

    If a Companion dies the Bonder takes half their Companion’s hit points in psychic damage. If they make a Wisdom save (DC: 15) they then take one quarter of their Companion’s hit points in psychic damage.

    Variant Rule in Kin: At first level and below halflings usually bond with canines and goliaths usually bond with avians. All Kin start with an additional Companion Point.

  • Creating a new world

    Creating a new world

    It comes with just a single question. What if? What if I started a new blog? What if we talked about fantasy fiction? What if the stories told coincided with a role-playing game? What if I set myself back two decades and cracked open Dungeons & Dragons again?

    bard-dave
    Every storyteller needs their tools – a good mug, a notebook (or netbook), a satchel for tokens and memories and a block of cheese maybe some sausage, and a trusty sword.

    What if the themes were strong adult subject matter that made for gritty tales of life, death and heroism? What if magic was real? And the gods could talk, but then they stopped?

    What if the continents were small, the peoples plentiful and not all human? What if humans didn’t believe in magic because it had disappeared in the only continent they know? How about making it so they are defined more by their cultures than by their phenotype?

    Have they stopped believing in themselves, in their gods? Do they see good and evil? How?

    Is there slavery? Why? Is there nobility? Can someone be both?

    These questions and the cascade of answers start to form more questions. It’s a nearly infinite series of responses. World building, particularly the creation of a world that breathes, is hard. Crafting a world-space that can withstand episodic gaming is harder.

    Take chunks at a time. That’s what Full Moon Storytelling will be. Small chunks of content for use in a campaign setting, built around a custom set of rules adapted from 5th edition D&D, but with accompanying tales. If the setting says “The Necromancer is just someone trying to be good” there will be a story that explains how that happened.

    As The Worthing Saga took a novella and broke out portions into branch stories, Full Moon Storytelling takes a campaign setting, rule set and crafts micro-fiction, short stories, plotless narrations and episodic adventures within the World of the Everflow.

    Maybe that’s where we start, not with a character, but with a story about a fountain that flows from a cliff and diverts along two paths – the Font of Two Paths, the Two-Headed Spring, Pool of Life, Lake of Wonder. The Everflow influences the western peninsula of Kin, is clearly unnatural and …

    This is Full Moon Storytelling. It’s a way to share writing, writing process and to think aloud, while words spring forth from tiny digits. Things will happen live, in front of you. Process will be as important as output. Creation is play. Come, join me at this fire under a full moon with clear sky as we look up through trees staring towards the open world of wonder, knowing that behind those trees at your back is whatever reality you can imagine.

    Fediverse Reactions
  • Check out Ginny Di’s video about etiquette in online RPGs

    Check out Ginny Di’s video about etiquette in online RPGs

    After many, many months of the covid-19 pandemic more people are playing D&D than ever. Much of this is online. Long-time players and D&D rookies both are discovering the challenges of gaming via video.

    Ginny Di put together a strong 12-minute video that hits on the common challenges and solutions that come up at virtual tables. Even if your virtual table play is going well this is a good reminder. If you haven’t played virtually before the package is an excellent starting point.

    When I watched this it reminded me of one my habits as Awf — I can dominate the channel rather than share the spot light. When I play as Thoumas, the group interplay is different. We split the party frequently, something that is harder to handle on a VTT, in my experience. Coordination requires a bit more care.

    Her best piece of advice, at least for my groups (hi guys), is to use the text chat for out-of-character stuff. That clears space for the DM to manage the game. My second favorite is to schedule a little bit of the time pre & post game to communicate about non-gaming things. Be friendly and social with each other, because being social during the pandemic is hard enough.

  • Taien Sahul – the ripper lizard

    Taien Sahul – the ripper lizard

    Out in the lands of Mehmd mammals and avians are rare. Many of the ecological and domestic niches are instead filled by lizards, amphibians and dinosaur-like creatures. The Taien Sahul are small saurs based on the Velociraptor by Sam Stockdale at ENWorld.

    In Mehmd they tend to roam the wilderness, though certain tribes of Unkempt in the South and the Isles use them as companions. When free they roam in packs of 9 or so (3d6). Their Pounce needs quite a distance in order to be used, but when the commit they tend to rush prey quickly. Taien Sahul can survive in deserts, having advantage on CON checks to deal with dehydration.

    Photo by Innermost Limits on Pexels.com

    Taien Sahul – the ripper lizard
    Small beast, unaligned

    Armor Class 13 (natural)
    Hit Points 3 (1d6)
    Speed 45 ft., climb 10 ft.

    STR 7 (–2)
    DEX 15 (+2)
    CON 10 (+0)
    INT 3 (–4)
    WIS 14 (+2)
    CHA 7 (–2)

    Skills Perception +4, Stealth +4
    Senses passive Perception 14
    Languages —
    Challenge: ½ CR 50 xp

    Keen Sight: The raptor has advantage on sight-based Perception (WIS) checks.
    Pounce: If the raptor moves at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hits with a claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 10 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If a target is prone, the raptor can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.
    Pack Tactics: The raptor has advantage on an attack roll against a target if at least one of the raptor’s allies is within 5 feet of the target and isn’t incapacitated.

    ACTIONS
    Multiattack: The raptor makes two melee attacks, usually using both claws unless they’ve pounced.
    Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d4+2 piercing damage.
    Claws: Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d4+2 slashing damage.

  • Queen and Konstruct: A Goblin’s Lyfe

    Queen and Konstruct: A Goblin’s Lyfe

    There are two important things in a goblin’s lyfe. I’m talking about all of us, the gobkon, the hobkon, the mulkon — all of us — our relationship to the Queen and our Guild. This is hard for you humans, with all your divergent nations and cities and faiths and disgusting menagerie animals to understand.

    Goblin
    By creanita design und ausführung by nina saner (CC BY-SA 2.0)

    I’m a printer, part of the Ratxet Guild. My engines run on the power of muls (best!) or whoever else I can hire. The clockwerks give that comforting noise as sheaf and stamp press against each other leaving words behind.

    We’re into gears, mostly. But also some other interesting clockwerks. Frankly, we do better with springs than the Union does. Sure, they’ve the Queens’ Stamp – so we cannot sell to others. In our builds we don’t buy from the Union anymore.

    My first engine was a climbing device. Lean it up against a feral tar-tree and you’ll be able to get to the top on a platform to work that tree with nary your own effort. It was a tough build, because I needed it to be strong enough for a hob. Without a brother there were no hobs to help me. Sis rode atop my shoulders during the entire testing phase.

    At Test it showed a new mechanic for the tar-tree. A Baroness blessed the family via flag and decree. Mother’s standing improved, and the full family took on that glory.

    Now, sister is part of the Airxip Syndicate. They’re relatively new. Taking our bike-props and bladders from the Sisterhood, and the Federation’s tar stacks, the Syndicate built those awesome airxips. I don’t understand her werk. There’s something about steampipes. She’s done well for mother. Her flags came from a Countess, one for her and one for mother. Blerxa left on the First Flight with me.

    I’m Phatha Phioxa Baroness-flagged of the Guild. Sis is Blerxa Phioxa First-Countess Flagged and Many Unfurled of the Syndicate.

    We are what we build and how much the Ladies, may they serve the Queen, reward us for our werks.

    A few more daughters like us and mother could be a Lady. If Blerxa and I hadn’t left for the untamed lands of the Kin Blerx may have earned mother the knighting on her own.

    Our werks are trapped from knowing since we are far from Queen, so I expect mother to have a few more gobkon. Maybe I’ll find out if I go back, not until after I figure out how to use the power of horses in my next werk. They smell, but they are even stronger than mulgobs.

  • Fighter: Conscript, version 1.3

    Fighter: Conscript, version 1.3

    In general I’m fascinated with Tier 1 play. But there’s another trope that I enjoy — the old-timer who retreated from the life of adventure and war, but who for some reason gets called back into it. They’ve done their best to avoid violence. Instead violence seeks them out. The Fighter: Conscript (final name TBD) has seen things. Things no one else should see.

    When they get the call to return to their former life they are no longer concerned with having the best weapon and the best armor. Their wits and experience taught them that any tool can be used for any job.

    Design Goals

    With this subclass the desire was to build a character who attempted to retire from their life of violence. They still know how to fight, they just stopped. Then, for whatever the cause, they re-entered the realm of warfare. Most often this transition occurs when they are on their farm, in their tavern, working their forge.

    They use the weapons at hand and the armor of peasants, and yet fight like the mightiest warriors. The build should support the use of simple weapons and lesser armors with Strength being the primary stat.

    Fighter: Conscript

    You are a light fighter who once served as a conscript in a standing army or militia. While there you learned the horrors of war. You also learned how to survive. You fought with what was available. Then, the war ended.

    Now, you attempt to forget your past. Your neighbors may look at you as a hero or a villain. That depends on your behavior and their opinion of the forces for which you fought. You go about your days, an expert smith, carpenter, vintner, or other artisan.

    Recently you’ve felt the call. You are duty bound to pick up your sickle, spear, gambeson, and those well-worn boots again. Your people need help, and you are called to serve.

    Tough as Nails

    Starting at third level you may choose to use your Strength bonus to Armor Class rather than Dexterity when wearing any light armor or medium armor.

    Plowshares into Swords

    At third level you gain the following abilities as a reflection of your life after service.

    • You are proficient in improvised weapons.
    • When using simple or and improvised weapons you gain +1 to damage on a successful attack.
    • You gain proficiency in an Artisan’s Tool. If you are already proficient in an Artisan’s Tool you may instead choose to have expertise in that Tool.
    • When recovering spent ammunition you recover all of it, rather than half.

    Wise Beyond Years

    At seventh level you gain proficiency in Insight and Intimidation. If you already have one or both of these skills you may take any Wisdom skill instead.

    Heart of the Lion

    At tenth level you are noted for refusal to give up the fight. You have advantage on saving throws that would impose the following conditions: Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, or Stunned.

    Rally from Defeat

    At 15th level you inspire your teammates. When an ally within 30 feet fails a saving throw that causes damage you may use a reaction to grant them temporary hit points equal to your Fighter level + your Wisdom bonus and they may reroll the saving throw. They must accept the second result. Your ally must be able to hear you. This ability may be used proficiency bonus number of times per long rest.

    Bones of Steel

    At 18th level your Armor Class is adjusted by both your Strength and your Dexterity Bonus. This bonus is not subjected to a limit based on the armor. When you take damage you may use a reaction to spend a Hit Die to recover Hit Points as if you were taking a short rest.

  • Uprising & Rebellion in a Magic Setting

    Uprising & Rebellion in a Magic Setting

    Oppressive governments are a staple of genre fiction. From Robin Hood to the Vlad Taltos series, from Thay to any place ruled by a Sorcerer-King in Athas – the tales of tyranny that must be overcome are common.

    An uprising is nearly impossible against these powers though. They have access to magics and personnel that make hiding difficult. Identifying who is in rebellion within a society that has the fantastic equivalent of an NSA, CIA, KGB, etc at the surface level seems easy. Yet, in our modern world with facial recognition and AI-infused communication monitoring there are still those who rise up against injustice.

    The following are how you make certain that a rebellion that starts like this

    Photo by Rene Asmussen on Pexels.com

    doesn’t end up like this?

    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    Baseline D&D

    There are some tools to help the Dungeons & Dragons themed revolt within the standard rules.

    Illusion Spells

    Everything starts here, really. From something as simple as Disguise Self to the potent Seeming and Mislead the usages are obvious. They must still be stated and reviewed, lest we overlook the obvious.

    Enchantment Spells

    These go hand-in-hand with Illusion. Getting past the guard who recognizes you is key. Having a huge crowd be under Sympathy can turn the entire tide of the movement.

    Rogues and Bards

    These two classes are natural fits for revolution. A College of Whispers Bard can sneak into a castle or manor and learn the secrets of the realm. A College of Glamour will work the nobles The College of Lore will know the History of the peoples, helping define and refine the message of the group, as can Eloquence. The Colleges of Swords and Valor fight among a crowd quite well.

    Every Rogue fits. Every. They’re probably the baseline for your rebellion. Assassins, Tricksters, Masterminds, Inquisitives, Thieves, Swashbucklers, Scouts – the list of rogues involved in uprising reads like a casting call for Hunger Games or Divergent.

    All Classes Can Fit

    • Artificers can build the defenses needed.
    • Barbarians are those enraged by injustice.
    • Clerics are more than the needed healers, but the ministers pushing for the rights of their flock.
    • Fighters can be the thug guarding a raid, or the armored noble who joins the cause.
    • Monks need not be confined to the outsider from another land, but the brethren who know the ancient ways of the nation.
    • Paladins who take their oath to the betterment of the commoner over the ruling class join your uprising.
    • Sorcerers exist in uprising literature often as the targets of a realm that do not like those born to authority.
    • Warlocks may join their pact to gain powers to help their peoples.
    • Wizards are masters of the spells most important to helping the revolution.
    • Druids and Rangers probably take the most work to have them fit the story, but difficulties are not impossibilities.
    by Hartwig HKD (CC BY-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/aDwaAx

    Filling in Gaps via Homebrew

    There are gaps within the common D&D classes, and these won’t be filled by Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. The literature and other fictions around resistance feature some tropes that are currently difficult to build in the base rules.

    Each of the following subclasses is a work in progress. Some are more finished than others.

    Society of Veil and Shadow: Rogue

    The Society of Veil and Shadows are a group of rogues dedicated to obscuring and protecting their guild from spies — both arcane and mundane. While able to contribute to the uprising’s success via sneak attacks and other clandestine abilities their true power is their ability to cast a few spells, most of which help keep the rebellion secret.

    Society of Veil and Shadow

    Way of the Frayed Knot: Monk

    The Way of the Frayed Knot is a Monk subclass that attempts to feature some Western fantasy tropes. The most common of these is Friar Tuck from Robin Hood, but there are other studious, religious types that fought alongside rogues and pirates.

    Way of the Frayed Knot

    The Way of Mercy in Tasha’s may be close enough that my own version gets retired.

    Conscript: Fighter

    An old-timer who retreated from the life of adventure and war, but who for some reason gets called back into it. They’ve done their best to avoid violence. Instead violence seeks them out. The Fighter: Conscript (final name TBD) has seen things. Things no one else should see.

    When they get the call to return to their former life they are no longer concerned with having the best weapon and the best armor. Their wits and experience taught them that any tool can be used for any job.

    Conscript

    Propagandist: Rogue

    You rose from the underbelly of empire to demand a better life for all. Your pamphlets and speeches can inspire hope, or fear. Whether from the soapbox or via pamphlet your proclamations turn the tides of rebellion.

    Propagandist

    Still to Come – Circle of Sewers: Druid

    They come from the urchins and gangs, getting to know the vermin of civilization. Simultaneously they serve the people and the animals that run the streets of a city. Able to help feed and heal those in need, the Sewers Druid is equally at home within a gang of thieves as they are a swarm of rats.

    How would you run a D&D campaign that focuses on rebelling against a power much mightier than the player-characters? What tools would you use to rise against The White Witch, or The Union, or the Burgue?

  • Seven Additional Backgrounds in World of Everflow

    Seven Additional Backgrounds in World of Everflow

    All of these backgrounds vary from the system as outlined in the Player’s Handbook (2 skills and 2 languages/kits/games/instruments/tools). They are slightly more powerful, but also have limitations in regards to origin kingdom and maybe negative features. The bonuses include an extra non-damaging cantrip, a bit more equipment, a single weapon or companion points. A DM running a game outside of the World of Everflow should take caution in adding these to their campaign, but they may be needed flavors within their world.

    The backgrounds are: Street Mage, Glight’s Monitor, Keeper of Everflow, Tinker, Farmer/Rancher, Messenger Service, Villien

    This post was updated on 5/24/2020

    Street Mage

    Performing on the streets earned you a few coin, and the feeling that you are constantly hunted by those that wish to limit magic. You’ve found a way to take the new magic and use it to entertain the common man. You can be a hustler, an entertain, and some even call you a charlatan, but you know that magic is real and there is potential for so much more to Kin than a few animals and stodgy rituals.

    In most of the West street mages are welcomed in the ghettos while watched by the Guard when they visit good neighborhoods. In Qin they are often found dead in alleys, unless they are part of the Ashen Scarves.

    Skill Proficiencies: Performance, Sleight of Hand
    Tool Proficiencies: None
    Languages: Two languages
    Equipment: Gaming set, Fine clothes, 3 shells or similar, belt pouch containing 15 gold

    Feature: Prestidigitation and Wanted
    Word of your powerful magic (it’s not necessarily powerful) has spread. You heard you were being hunted and now know you cannot stay in one town too long as word will get out that you have learned to control magic. There are many who distrust magic, as the Awakening and magic lead to the fall of Sheljar and other cities around Kin.

    Characteristics: Charlatan

     

    Glight’s Monitor (Teacher)

    A Lorebook
    Actual photo of Encyclopedia Genetica by Ryan Somma at https://flic.kr/p/a6yTFZ

    Prerequisite: Must be a follower of Glight.

    These itinerant teachers visit small villages on the Day of Glight. They encourage reading, study and a knowledge. In all villages they are a welcome distraction from day-to-day life. The Day of Glight ensures that everyone has a bit of an education in how the Kingdoms came to be and what the various faiths are. But none can explain the Awakening and these magics that are now real, rather than legend.

    Glight has the second most followers in the West. These teachers are common throughout Kin, even in Azsel.

    Skill Proficiencies: History, Religion, Arcana
    Tool Proficiencies: None
    Languages: One of your choice
    Equipment: Folding chalkboard, chalk, common clothes, history book, belt pouch with 10 gold

    Feature: Pupil in power
    A former student of yours is now in a place of influence. During your traveling and teaching you taught hundreds. One of those is now in a position that can help guide you towards finding the answer to a question or the merchant that sells the rare, but needed equipment.

    Characteristics: Sage

     

    Keeper of the Everflow

    Prerequisite: Must be a follower of Quar.

    The Church of Quar and Bishop Ollium lead the largest faith in the West, Kirtin and Daoud. Due to the Everflow’s powers Quarites are popular in the other Kingdoms as well. The Keeper of the Everflow is part merchant, part cleric. They heal and serve the people, for a price. You serve this powerful Church spreading the word and maintaining its influence in all the Kingdoms.

    Shrines and churches to Quar dot the landscape throughout Kin. The Church’s historical control of the Font of the Everflow and Lake of Two Paths empowers them to limit all other faiths’ potency.

    Skill Proficiencies: Religion, Persuasion
    Tool Proficiencies: Calligrapher’s Supplies
    Languages: One of your choice
    Equipment: One vial of the Everflow, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, common clothes, belt pouch with 5 gold

    Feature: Gift of Quar and First Aid (Spare the Dying if played outside of the World of the Everflow)
    When you visit a temple of Quar you can ask the ruling deacon to give the gift of the Everflow. If they have the resources and find your needs worthy you will get one vial.

    At non-Quarian temples you can still make this request but the chances of success are minimal. Most faiths will make an exchange for a lower price than typically asked.

    Characteristics: Acolyte

     

    Tinker

    Tinker’s travel between farmsteads, hamlets and villages that lack most smiths. They use both natural and magical means to repair metal goods. In the evening they share news or stories from history and legend. You don’t have a home, and have long left your family. Now, wandering the world you discover new tales and new ways to fix the problems that keep people from doing the things they love.

    They are particularly common in the less organized West as well as areas under sway of the Crinthian Confederation.

    Skill Proficiencies: Performance
    Tool Proficiencies: Tinker’s Tools
    Languages: Two of your choice
    Equipment: donkey/mule/pony, Tinker’s Kit, 1 pound each tin, copper, iron, pack saddle, traveler’s clothes, pouch with 5 gold

    Feature: Job Seeker and Mending
    Whether fixing small metal objects or telling tales in the local inn, you find a way to survive at a modest level. This can be through a mix of both activities or just one. If fixing objects all of a morning or afternoon of most days is occupied. If at an inn every evening and some afternoons are occupied.

    Characteristics: Folk Hero

    Farmer/Rancher

    You raise crops or animals for food. At some point your property, or that of your neighbors needed defense. Some of your friends and family were unable to survive the raid from the bandits, but you did. That’s when you discovered there’s more to life that a cock-a-doodle-do at dawn, milking goals, shearing sheep, weeding, swinging a scythe. Your people need protection. You are their hope of a simple, safe life.

    Many farmsteads and ranches in Telse lose family members to quests, adventures and those that are searching for better lives. In Kirtin every man or woman must serve, some do not come back from service. Daoud, Azsel, Mehmd and Crinth all have portions of the populace that start as mere serfs and become greater.

    Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling or Athletics, Nature
    Tool Proficiencies: Farmer’s Tools, Vehicles (Land or Water)
    Languages: None
    Equipment: Farmer’s Tools, common clothes, a beast of burden (mule, donkey, dog, flightless bird), lantern, flask of oil, week’s rations, pouch with 1 gold and 17 silver.

    Feature: Druidcraft and Foraging
    In occupied lands you know how to take just enough food to live without most farmers/ranchers noticing, unless you do so for more than 2 days.

    Characteristics: Folk Hero

     

    Messenger

    Prerequisite: Your bonded companion(s) must be a messenger bird/dog or a riding horse. You gain an extra companion point.

    Postduif
    “Postduif”. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Postduif.jpg#/media/File:Postduif.jpg

    Messengers work throughout Kin and the Lands of the Everflow. Their birds, dogs and horses carry news, treaties, love letters and more between the cities and towns that remain in the post-Awakening world.

    Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling
    Tool Proficiencies: None
    Languages: Any three Languages
    Equipment: Common clothes, map case, ink, quill, 5 pieces of paper, pouch with 15 gold

    Feature: Service Connections
    Past messages have been sent to two major cities as well as two small towns in the past. Your bonds know how to get to these places, to your home and to yourself.

    Characteristics: Folk Hero

     

    Villein

    When a youth comes of age they or their family visit the local Villein. While some, particularly Crinthians, do not use a service, many Kin find their first companion through the services of those who know animals as well as any.

    Most Villeins deal with mammals, though some in Daoud have experience with fish. Those in Mehmd deal with saurs and lizards.

    Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling (Expertise), Nature
    Tool Proficiencies: None
    Languages: None
    Equipment: 50 gp worth of non-bonded animals, common clothes, pouch with 5 gold

    Feature: Domesticating beasts
    You are able to calm the semi-wild beasts and prepare them for a bonding session. You also have two additional companion points but must have more than one companion.

    Characteristics: Guild Artisan, your art is raising animals.

     

     

  • Arise & Descend Session Two & Three: Goblin Caverns

    Arise & Descend Session Two & Three: Goblin Caverns

    After being ambushed along the trail we learned of a cave from which these goblins raid the civilized folk along the merchant’s road. Within those caverns may just be Gundran and Sildar.

    So we headed out, an attempt to rescue the men responsible for paying us. We mount this rescue operation out of self-interest, revenge, whatever motivates the individual. We aren’t yet a band of brothers (and sister – Rowan), but this is developing.

    Spoilers for the D&D Starter Set adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver follow.

    Repelling the ambush wasn’t hard. My golden flame axe swung powerfully. The bell of death rung hard. These companions fight well. We are noble, and let one poor gobbo live. He told us where to go.

    It meant a hike, and we left the poor oxen and the burdened cart behind. But Sildar was to the north in the woods, up a stream through the woods, and into a goblin-cave.

    time lapse photo of river between mossy rocks
    Photo by Samuel Kalina on Pexels.com

    Outside the cave an outpost tried to ambush us. The wood elf, Norran, took quick care of those. I think Ambrose and Rowan joined that attack, as they have some effectiveness at range while Krakomand I, honorable dwarves, guarded the rear.

    Yeah, we’re also slow and not good with “stealth.”

    Two goblins dead before I could swing my axe.

    That meant the group was a bit inverted when we entered the caverns. Those faster members of the group rushed past a group of guard-wolves.

    The wolves could have been a problem, as they were trying to escape their chains and the uproar meant we would lose all surprise. They died, a couple with burns and blade.

    Krakom and I had to rush to catch the group. The “eating room” created an urgency from the group. In our haste the conflict spread throughout a handful of rooms. The fight was came from all angles and there was much confusing with the screams of pain from goblin and peoples.

    I, me, stopped one pathetic goblin from flooding the caves. I, me, also took a significant blow to the head from some kind of super-goblin. The wretched soul dropped me quickly. I woke a dozen minutes later.

    Ambrose, the ranger, told me of throwing a spear near through one on a bridge. I’m intrigued by spears now. I will not be able to sing with them, but they seem useful. The toothy one can teach me much.

    The stories of the battle are glorious. My friends took out 25 gobbos, a few wolves, and that one thing that smacked me on the head.

    Dear reader, this is where we learn that good Awf is not necessarily a reliable narrator.

    Rowan, by luck of her goddess, or through shear will takes out that jerk that dropped me. What a blessed soul Rowan is.

    Norran and Ambrose rescue Sildar.

    With Sildar, in a room I never saw, was a dark soul. Zardos is quiet. Withdrawn from us, the man offers much power. The others saw him in action, and vouch for his usefulness. His eyes carry knowledge.

    There was a lot of hauling of goods from cave to ox-cart and then the trudge back. Each of us had to make multiple trips. I may hate the goblins more for that then anything else. But when we traverse back towards the caves Krakom teaches me a game that shield dwarves play – golf(?) he calls it. Basically, the goal is to hit a round object (like a goblin head) as far as you can. There are rules, but we just do the long distance smacking, because it’s fun. We have to stop when Krakom sends a head out into an area we haven’t scouted.

    On the journey to Phandalin Sildar tells us about Gundren’s brothers, the goal to re-open a mine, that Klarg’s goblins are working to support someone(?) called the Black Spider.

    Thankfully Phandalin offers a short respite. There we can rest again, sell the goods we have, buy some rations and whatnot, and learn from some dude named Iarno Albrek, a friend of Sildar who is also a member of the Lord’s Alliance.

    I’ve worked with the Lord’s Alliance in the past, as they and the Order of the Shooting Star oft work together. With the Alliance’s goals matching ours, for now, it not only makes sense to help them, it is right and just to work together.

    For now, I’ll bring some joy to the children of Phandalin and whatever their local wines and ales are. Because I’ve got coin in my pocket – we earned our pay delivering the goods that Gundren hired us to bring to the city.

    We also have more goods to try to sell. And clues to discover, and honestly a town to improve. These people are down. Let’s get them up, again.

     

     

  • Arise & Descend Session One: Goblin Ambush

    Arise & Descend Session One: Goblin Ambush

    Awf Hornjaw et Loragwyn, a gold dwarf battleaxe wielding wizard, left his homes because he heard of a goblin threat near Neverwinter. In Neverwinter Awf met some industrious souls in the city.

    Karkom Hammerstone, that wonderful axe and hammer dwarf, knows how to share an ale and those massive arms look like they’d be strong along his side. Rowan Evenwood, the lucky priest, keeps winning at cards, but she cannot match Awf’s skill at dragonchess. She’s a solid companion.

    Favoring the bow, Norran Galanodel reminds Awf of his Loragwyn family. Norran is a bit of a sneak, but his aim is true. Like Awf, Ambrose is prone to The Violence. The dual-axe man has a bit of hate in him — that’s familiar.

    Together we were hired by Gundren to meet he and his guard, Sildar, in a small mining town. Our ox-drawn wagon is slow. The big, dumb oxs are dragging along chests of mining supplies towards the town of Pandelver so that Gundren can profit and our group can earn a few gold.

    Spoilers for the D&D Starter Set adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver follow.

    (more…)