DnD 5th Edition LFP Fridays EST Evenings

Alright now that the book is out, its time to set up a new adventure. I don't want to run Hoard of the Dragonqueen, the RPGA has always been well made train tracks that are enjoyable, but most players want to break out and start developing their own Story Arcs which literally cannot happen in the course of a module series. So for a totally different attempt at recruiting, I want people to post their Ideas for a character and what kind of overall arching goal and story they want to see, and which of them will work for the story I plan to tell I'll invite into the campaign. I won't pick the first 5 people to tell a character, and if it seems like your character just wouldn't work at all (being a Dragonborn Necromancer trying to become a Dracolich to create an army of Skeletal Dragons! or just a Kender) I'll tell you that it wouldn't work.

I would like to try out the new spellcasting stuff out with either a wizard or a sorcerer. Probably a human or half-elf. Ideally, he would be a spellcaster with a thirst for knowledge and power and would be an "ends justify the means" character

I would introduce a Bardbarian, singing battle hymns while he wades into combat. His anger so prolific that it gives others Inspiration as they learn to tap into the wells within themselves. He would start off a barbarian with the entertainer background and then at second level with some experience under his belt his music would take on its own power. This is of course if you allow multiclassing, if not then I would have no clue as to what I would submit lol. End game for the character is to continue his battles always looking for new inspiration for his songs and stories.

I'll get the book in a week or so, but from what I've seen, I'd like to try like a sorcerer with the wild magic surge thing. He spent most of his life learning magic. He set up a magic shop a large city wanting to use his skills to gain some money. Then 1 day, a spell went wrong and he took out part of the city. He made it out and escpaed in fear of being prosecuted. So he joined an adventuring party to both blend in and make a living. Now for a story, I wouldn't like something very open-world, going around taking random missions. I'd like a story that leads to something.

I'd like to run of an explorer type of character. A former academic who now goes delving in search of artifacts from lost civilizations. I'm into exploration and mystery, as you can probably tell.

First, I am posting on behalf of myself and a friend. I would play a Warlock with a Great Old One patron. The Warlock has an insatiable thirst for knowledge and will stop at nothing to attain it. My friend would play a dwarf fighter. Having served in the dwarves military he set out succumbing to wanderlust. The Warlock hires the deaf to accompany him in finding a tome and they forge a mutual friendship. Now this could have many story arcs as far as having dealings with the Great Old One to the Edward's past coming back to haunt him. Figuratively and literally.

Oddly enough I like Peter J.'s description the most. Peter's is kind of a good overall character drive, the soul before mentioning any kind of race-class combo and I'd like to hear more. I also like Bardbarian(Skald might be the official term) because he sounds unique and like a for fun character that is a mix of an archetype but unexpected. I'd like to hear more because it might work well with Peter's drive for delving artifacts and having the goal of exploring the ruins for the mystery's sake, and Phisto might be going to the same places for the totally opposite of the adventures to be had there. So that mesh sounds good and please post more of what you want to know, give some more thought to role-playing characters. Eh Salen, a Neutral/Neutral Evil Magic User, I don't know where to go with that. I know how you'd respond to a situation, and how you'd justify it, and I think the goal is just gaining power... but I can't really see much of a situation that would specifically fit you. Elaborate more, but I can't really do much or am grabbed by your initial seed of an idea. John you have a little bit of a backstory, and a reason for being a part of the party, but I don't know what to do with you for more than just one element of hey here's the town guard or a bounty poster for you. I also have seen Trigun and Jean Val Jean is not an NPC i want to recreate to pointlessly chase you down. Those are the two very basic ideas that come to mind, and they aren't interesting so far. I'm fine with Wild Surge Sorcerers, but if it's just I am Wild Sorcerer something bad happened, now I'm on the run and that's it, it's not so grabbing. Matt, Okay I know what you're going for, and I am totally fine with having hints of lovecraft but not going full call of cthulhu or making it a central part of the game, but much like Salen's character it's just a theme version of the same archetype that besides adding in a little eldritch theme it sounds very similar. Also Dwarven solider, maybe if s/he's willing to go on and tell me what makes him/her different. I for some reason am imagining Hemingway-esc character traits and I think that could work if s/he sells it to me and I'm not reading into a character. Alright about setting, I'm not doing Forgotten Realms, it's very established in tone, mood and expectation with some slices of known areas to have very regionalized themes. So I'm planning to go back to the very default kind of DnD that wasn't a setting as much as just an atmosphere and the world will start to shape around as we figure out exactly what we want to do. Right now I'm planning to focus the adventure for the first bit around an inversion of the castle trope, instead of finding a big old castle and clearing it out of monsters and the Vampire/Wizard that lives there, and instead having to help a noble set up camp there. So yes, there will be encounters in the castle, but you'll be living there. So Imagine instead of going room to room clearing the ghost/skeleton/orc, the party slowly discovers the history of the castle and trying to unlock rooms and running into problems and situations over a period of time (Like imagine instead of spending three days, spending Six months character time there.) Which will involve the NPCs doing their daily lives and sometimes there might be regular dialog about day to day events that are not about where the Local bandits are hiding and who their leader happens to be. Basically making you get involved with the world and party and exploring a very large mystery and starting off slower to spend more time roleplaying. Also trust me at level 1-2 in 5e you don't want to run a gauntlet of dungeon crawlin fools, you will drop much easier than you expect.

I apologize about the typos in my post. I was on my phone at the time and auto correct tries too hard. That setting sounds fine to me. The way I figure in my head is clearing a castle would take quite a while, dealing with the inhabitants and previous inhabitants. While doing so, I am sure the warlock will gain a large amount of knowledge about the surrounding country, the castle itself, and his new co-workers. I will have my friend post here with what he is thinking the dwarf will be.

Hello, I am the aforementioned Dwarven Soldier. When I originally rolled the character it was mostly using the basic rules so I went for a basic archetypal story to match. As Matt, had mentioned I introduce myself as a dwarven soldier struck by wanderlust but that is not the whole truth. The character had served in the infantry for 15 years without gaining a duly deserved promotion due to political structuring of the dwarven military. He came from a lower caste which subsequently gives him a lower standing in the military. Angered and frustrated he abandons the military and takes up adventuring just to prove to himself and those who denied him his career that he is more than just a low-born foot soldier. He has kept his eyes and ears out for opportunities to adventure as well as gain wealth and renown. The character keeps his friends and allies close and is willing to put himself in harm's way for them including the other soldiers he had served with in the past despite the differences he objects to in how the military is managed. His life has given him a crude sense of humor and some would say fatalistic style of attitude when it comes to challenges. He carries a dagger in a silvered sheath of a elven design as a trophy from one of his battles taken from the field, thought he knows little of it and where it has come from. That is essentially what I came up with and if it is not a good fit with what you are thinking for your campaign I can always re-roll now that I have the PHB and the tantalizing choices it is offering.

I wouldn't call him a skald as a skald is merely a bard that is combat oriented. This bardbarian would be more akin to a norse warrior/bard or someone from Asgard. Loves battle and the simple pleasures, enjoys regaling people with songs of triumph and stories of battle.

Let me see if I can come up with more backstory... My explorer comes from a long line of talented thieves and delvers. They specialize in going after the rare and the exotic instead of just picking pockets. They're not entirely in it for the money, but more for the notoriety. The best treasures to add to the family fortune are the ones that are well-protected, either by conventional security or deep in a dungeon. My rogue would be more of the bookish type. He likes to do legwork and study history so he can not only find the lost treasures of the world, but also plan a astrategy to get them out of their hiding places in one piece.

Bump here, I finished setting up a campaign page, so far I like what I'm hearing, I'm going to invite you four to the campaign and we'll spend a week on making characters and fleshing out group template. I want to start the world off small, so it'll just be all of you as retainers for a Lord who is being politically relocated to an abandoned castle that no longer serves any purpose. We'll work out what you want out of the contract on its completion and what your duties are and your connection to the lord. Act I: Basileus Castle

My character's name is Zhuge Wolong. I am a third Generation Shou that was born in the Shou District of Westgate. My grandfather raised me on the oral traditions of our Clan. He migrated to Faerun from Kara-Tur to hopefully expand our families growth. Many dreams lay crushed on the Dragon Coast. My father, though raised by an honorable man, never lived up to expectations. A drunk, gambler, and whoremonger he fell into the wrong side of the "Nine Golden Swords". My Grandfather did well to keep the family going modestly despite this until his death when I was 12. It didn't take long until my father ruined it all. By the time I was 13, My mother was working in indentured servitude at the "Blue Banner", and me and my five siblings were cast asunder. I like to think the my younger siblings met better fates than I being sent to the far reaches of the coast and Faerun, while I stayed in Westgate being sold into slavery at the "Quivering Thumb" arena. I spent the next four years cleaning up behind the fights in the arena, prepping food for the Gladiators, oiling the leathers, sharpening the weapons, and sometimes serving the nobles in fancy dress because of my "exotic" look. At 17, I was ready to train and fight as a gladiator and try to earn my freedom. I still kept my lessons of fighting with the twin butterfly swords, horse spear, and bow that my grandfather taught me. Coupled with my gladiator strength and weapon training, I was well prepared. I earned my freedom after one year and immediately returned to the Blue Banner to see my mother. She was as well as to be expected and also told me that my grandfather left something for me that my mother hid after he died, knowing my father would sell it. I inquired on the whereabouts of my father to grant him proper thanks for my families good fortune, but my mother informed me that his fate was sealed with the Golden Swords two years back. Seems it is hard to pay debts when you run out of family to sell. He had forgotten what was important above all, the Clan. I set out to find the boon that my grandfather left which was his set of Butterfly swords, Horse Spear, and Bow that he used when he was in Shou Lung. I venture out now to reclaim the honor of the Zhuge name and try to discover the fate of my siblings, release my mother from bondage, and reestablish the proud Zhuge Clan here in Faerun.

Ah, that's very Forgotten Realms. I don't plan on using forgotten realms. I was aiming for more Medieval in tone, which I would say no one knows what the hell a Monk is, and unless you have some Morgan Freeman as the Moore in Kevin Costner's Robinhood reason for being in so foreign a land, I can't see it working. I kind of planned to have an oriental element, but more Persian/Anotalia instead of chinese in theme. If i brought you in it would mean very much fleshing out a part of the world that wasn't there, and I don't want to just copy paste whatever Forgotten Realms has going on for it's version of Eastern Cultures.

Drago is a strong built dragonborn that now serves his Lord to repay a debt between his people and great grandfather of the lord. Because he is born to serve, Drago is incredibly loyal to his Lord. His Lord's word is law for him. He obeys without question, and would gladly give his life for his master's safety. As long as the ones in his party serve his Lord, Drago shares the same loyalty to his party to an extent.

I just want to bash things.

Alright a final bump. The first game will be this friday, 7pm EST, it'll be a more standard Medieval Fantasy World, closer to Greyhawk than any other setting I know, and will focus for the first act on exploring and settling in a new Noble Family and their retinue in an Abandoned Castle based off what was basically the inspiration for every Disney Castle Ever. So if you Want to play in a character driven game about uncovering mystery while maintaining NPC relationships and character driven goals, there are still spots open.

Medieval Fantasy eh? One ranger at your service. My character grew up in an orphanage, he never knew his family or why they left him there. The only thing he had from them was the name pinned to his blanket as a baby, Rowan. He was taken from the orphanage on his 15th birthday by the local ranger. His last apprentice had come of age and left the previous spring, and it was time he looked for a new one. The rangers are the eyes and ears of the lords. The unofficial "spies" and protectors of the people. They keep civilization and nature from infringing upon one another, and protecting the people and creatures from the monsters that roam the night. Rowan is now 20, his apprenticeship done, his acceptance into the Ranger Corp complete. He is sent to work for a local lord being relocated to a rundown castle, he has need of a Ranger to gather information about the area and start rebuilding his network. (If you've ever read the Ranger's Apprentice series you know what I'm going for here)