Questions

Any questions about the game? Ask here. Also, feel free to create your own topics of discussion.

Did you settle on a time and day? I think I recall you mentioning Sundays at 4-8 PM Central time, if its up for debate, that time period specifically is still my preference.

Hi Rob L., I'm sorry - I thought I double checked with everyone concerning the time. I did post the time to the main reddit page too. I must have forgot to send that to you. The next session time is also always listed on this campaign's main page. We are playing from 4:15-8 P.M. Pacific Standard Time on Sunday, September 7th, which would be 6:15-10 P.M Central time. There will be a 15-30 min snack / chit chat break somewhere in the middle. Let me know if this is an issue because I really need everyone to be able to commit to that time. Thanks Rob L.!

That's a fine time too! I can't wait.

Q#2: How many Player Characters do we have?

That time period is great for me too. How exactly do we change our name like you requested? Putting our character name and then player name?

you just click on your own name and it should take you to your profile where you can edit your name.

You can do it only in game by going to the last tab.

Rob L. said: Q#2: How many Player Characters do we have? Good Question Rob L. I was actually going to announce that everyone should have a backup character ready at all times -- but I didn't want to make the workload too heavy this week. If you want to work ahead, feel free.

DM Rob said: Rob L. said: Q#2: How many Player Characters do we have? Good Question Rob L. I was actually going to announce that everyone should have a backup character ready at all times -- but I didn't want to make the workload too heavy this week. If you want to work ahead, feel free. I may have read your initial question wrong. There are 6 PCs ( 6 Players ) But what I said above still stands.

Thanks Rob, I think you ended up answering my last question in the group email! I for one have plenty of backups ready :-p

What's everyone playing? If I am gonna start on my backup I'd rather not make something we have a handful of already?

That time does work great for me. I could even start an hour earlier or stay an hour later should we need to shift time/etc. Regarding our characters (and from the above comment, I suppose background characters), how do I go about seeing the characters people have picked (or maybe the players can just post a brief summary of who we are!) My character is Darvin Tallstag, human Outlander, Rogue (in touch with nature and planning to MC to Ranger after 1st level). My character's background is: " I grew up in the wilds, far from civilization and the comforts of town and technology. I've witnessed the migration of herds larger than forests, survived weather more extreme than any city-dweller could comprehend, and enjoyed the solitude of being the only thinking creature for miles in any direction. The wilds are in my blood and even in places where I don't know the specific features of the terrain, I know the ways of the wild. Ten years ago, agents from Jixia ravaged and plundered my village and countryside. Most of my family was killed in the attack. Since then, I have been trying to track down how they reached our territory, why they were there, who helped them, and anything else I can find in order to exact justice on those responsible. "

I have a Gnome Rogue rolled up now and several backups, including a mage, a bard, and a barbarian. Also, Rob, are you allowing feats this time around? Finally, are you expecting us to play nicely together in character? Different DMs have different options on PC in-fighting, but it would probably be good to know what you expect from us and what we should expect from one another in advance, especially since we are all strangers in real life.

From what I was led to believe, we have 3 rogues in this group :O I'm a wood elf Monk named Belanor, character background : Hermit. EDIT: Monk of the Open Hand A former bloodthirsty bandit who repented his ways after meeting a monk. He eventually joined their monastic order and completed his training. While most monks of his order wander the land, he decided to seclude himself in a forest in order to meditate. This was to escape from his former life, and to calm the battle hunger that lies within him. Eventually a portal opened in the forest and the Jixian army poured out. Through sheer numbers, Belanor was eventually overwhelmed and captured.

Christopher D. said: Regarding our characters (and from the above comment, I suppose background characters), how do I go about seeing the characters people have picked (or maybe the players can just post a brief summary of who we are!) Chris, everyone's character should be in your journal, and their character description (bio) should be visible to you. Let me know if you can't see them.

Rob said: Also, Rob, are you allowing feats this time around? Finally, are you expecting us to play nicely together in character? Different DMs have different options on PC in-fighting, but it would probably be good to know what you expect from us and what we should expect from one another in advance, especially since we are all strangers in real life. Rob L., feats are allowed -- but as far as I know, the only way to get them right now is to be a human and choose the variant option, correct? Is there another way to get them yet? In-character I expect you to act like your character would, whatever that may be (mwahaha). Out of character I expect total respect, of course!

Belanor (Tam) said: From what I was led to believe, we have 3 rogues in this group :O Actually Marco was nice enough to not make another rogue :) So we have 2 Rogues, 2 Monks, 1 Warlock, 1 Cleric. Should be interesting!!

DM Rob said: Rob said: Also, Rob, are you allowing feats this time around? Finally, are you expecting us to play nicely together in character? Different DMs have different options on PC in-fighting, but it would probably be good to know what you expect from us and what we should expect from one another in advance, especially since we are all strangers in real life. Rob L., feats are allowed -- but as far as I know, the only way to get them right now is to be a human and choose the variant option, correct? Is there another way to get them yet? In-character I expect you to act like your character would, whatever that may be (mwahaha). Out of character I expect total respect, of course! 1) Journal is accessible to Supporter or higher accounts. My account is free so I can't see it. 2) Whenever you can upgrade your stats, you can take a feat instead (PHB 165)

Yeah the journal is unavailable so I will post a short description here. My character is Ysbern Stormhammer, a Dwarven Cleric of Thor. I think I might end up being the tank of the group if need be. He was raised in a port town called Cloudwreck, his mother, who didn't want him to forget Dwarven ways while living so far from Dwarf homelands, sent him to learn under the clergy of Thor. After he had completed his cleric studies and could travel the world and spread the word, he signed up to help out a crew on board a pirate ship called the Sea Dragon. Their ship was attacked by a mysterious beast that Ysbern knows nothing about, as far as he knows he was the only surviving crewmen, and he washed ashore with the flag of the ship. Keeping the flag, so he might one day hoist it again, he went to work on various other ships where eventually one was boarded by Jixians and he was taken. As far as backups go, I think I will roll a barbarian and a ranger, but hoping I don't have to use them.

My Rogue will be going Ranger after 1st level. Still on the fence of Hunter or Beastermaster, worried that the Beastmaster pet would be too fragile, and the main character if duel wielding. Hunter goes better with sword/shield and has good defense abilities. My backup will probably be a Wizard, but I need to build out specifics. I like the High Elf for that extra cantrip (and the weapon proficiencys are nice, too!). There are a bunch of good schools and flavor but I'll figure that out.

Guys, sorry about the confusion: there are 2 journals. One "out of game" and one "in game". I am not a supporter either. Follow these steps to see the character list: 1) Launch campaign 2) After it loads, click on the top middle tab in the right interaction area (it looks like a tiny newspaper) This is your in-game journal and a lot of in-game info will be available here. 3) Click on the character to see their bio. If it is someone else's character, you can see their full bio. If it is your character, you have the ability to edit your bio, and pull up your character sheet, which is crucial to playing the game as you can make all of your rolls right from your character sheet (after I finish filling them all out) Take a look and let me know!

Belanor (Tam) said 2) Whenever you can upgrade your stats, you can take a feat instead (PHB 165) Yes - thanks for reminding me! This is totally acceptable. So go for it.

Ysbern Stormhammer (Kirk) said: As far as backups go, I think I will roll a barbarian and a ranger, but hoping I don't have to use them. I also hope you don't have to - but characters do sometimes die (sadly) and it's just better to have a backup then have to sit and watch the rest of the session or scramble to roll one up. No rush on backups though!

DM Rob said: Guys, sorry about the confusion: there are 2 journals. One "out of game" and one "in game". I am not a supporter either. Follow these steps to see the character list: 1) Launch campaign 2) After it loads, click on the top middle tab in the right interaction area (it looks like a tiny newspaper) This is your in-game journal and a lot of in-game info will be available here. 3) Click on the character to see their bio. If it is someone else's character, you can see their full bio. If it is your character, you have the ability to edit your bio, and pull up your character sheet, which is crucial to playing the game as you can make all of your rolls right from your character sheet (after I finish filling them all out) Take a look and let me know! I can see my own bio, but I can't edit it, nor can I see my character sheet. Is this normal?

that's an easy fix. I just have to give you permission. I'll do that pretty soon when I get home from work. Can you see the other peoples BIOS?

DM Rob said: that's an easy fix. I just have to give you permission. I'll do that pretty soon when I get home from work. Can you see the other peoples BIOS? OK, fixed! Also fixed for Ysbern. Everyone should be able to see everyone's character bio and edit their own characters sheet inside the game now. I am still populating the character sheets with the info but I expect to be finished with that by the end of the night.

Just a quick question: what's your policy on critical failures? I know 5e has no official crit fail rule, but I don't mind either way if you decided to houserule it.

Ysbern Stormhammer (Kirk) said: Just a quick question: what's your policy on critical failures? I know 5e has no official crit fail rule, but I don't mind either way if you decided to houserule it. The only rule for rolling a 1 is that the attack misses regardless of any modifiers. So that's it, if you roll a 1 you miss, no matter what. Probably in an embarassing way but nothing too detrimental.

Alright and for my spells, do I have to add every possible cleric spell to my roll20 spellbook? Because of the way cleric preparation works and I won't always know which spells I am going to prepare due to circumstances, does it need to be in the roll20 book for me to be able to prepare it?

For now I would just add the ones that you are preparing for session 1. Then, after any long rest, you can add more as you go. That way you don't do any unnecessary work.

Yeah PC death's are regrettable and inevitable sometimes. The one and only game I played resulted in the wizard of the group almost dying from a standard wolf attack. It wasn't even a crit. if it had been, he would have been irreversably killed thirty minutes into his first game and had a horrible experience of D&D. Sometimes accidents do happen. As for me, I am a dragonborn monk who was kicked out of his home for a crime he didn't commit. Forced to beg on the streets of Alfheimr, I was given work by a monk who took pity on me and after a while, he agreed to train me in his craft. I'll be going the way of the shadow at level 3. And I'll create a backup character as a halfling sorcerer and an extra one as a tiefling paladin.

Also, remember that you can create macro functions for all of your attacks, meaning that instead of physically typing the dice you want to roll, you can click the shortcut for the macro and the dice will roll automatically. The settings to configure this are one the last tab and they should be fairly easy to figure out.

Marco G. said: Also, remember that you can create macro functions for all of your attacks, meaning that instead of physically typing the dice you want to roll, you can click the shortcut for the macro and the dice will roll automatically. The settings to configure this are one the last tab and they should be fairly easy to figure out. This is actually what the character sheets do automatically Marco. So if you go into your character sheet, and click the attack button, it will roll that weapon attack, damage, intitiative, saves, everything. Just have to set up the character sheet fully first, which I'm working on.

I do have a new question. What is the ruling on called shots? I was considering this approach and noticed a lack of rulings in the PHB. Has this never been an issue in D&D before? To be clear, I mean things like saying I'll attack someone's eyes so that they become blinded, or attack someone's hand so that they drop their weapon. Is this brought up much?

Marco G. said: I do have a new question. What is the ruling on called shots? I was considering this approach and noticed a lack of rulings in the PHB. Has this never been an issue in D&D before? To be clear, I mean things like saying I'll attack someone's eyes so that they become blinded, or attack someone's hand so that they drop their weapon. Is this brought up much? This isn't common in D&D - it tends to be, if you call it, then you critical hit, you get it. Otherwise you just hit. Savage Worlds has called shots and they do a -5 to your roll for calling shots to small locations (eyes, mouth, dick...lol) So if you are really interested in calling a shot, either call it and crit, or take a -5 to hit and if you STILL hit, then you get it. Sound good?

I like those odds. It was mostly a question about the eyes. Due to the design of the emei piercing daggers, gouging out eyes tends to be very effective. I suppose collapsing lungs and getting to the heart is also easier. But more for the cinematic effect. Would love to be hear "Tarnach evicerates the half orc's eyeballs" lol.