[LFP][D&D 5e][PDT][18+] ‘Curse of Strahd’ – Newbies Welcome

A Cobbled Together, Looking For Player Advert for ‘Curse of Strahd’ Time   Zone:  Pacific Daylight Time Game   Time:  Saturdays Weekly, starting from 4 PM PDT and going until 9:50 PM PDT hard stop.  If we have someone that’s interested, plays well with others, and puts together a good character concept and build that sounds like it would complement the existing group in time, the earliest session would be this Saturday, May 9th, 2020 starting at 4 PM PDT and going as late as 9:50 PM PDT (circumstances beyond my control do not allow me to push later than that). Game   Style:  High Fantasy & Gothic Horror collide in a Grim-Dark Super Adventure wrapped in the mechanics of D&D 5th Edition                         Interested Players will need to be ready to coordinate over Discord for Voice and Text Chat, as well as have everything required to view and interact with each other on Roll20.  Please take a look over everything below as I prefer to try and set expectations as much as possible up front and make sure everyone is there to have fun.  Once you’re satisfied this is the game and group for you, take some time to put together a character build that will both be fun for you to play and also complement the party, maybe shoring up the places where they’re weak or could just use a boost.  The group and I will take a little time to review things and contact people we feel present a great character concept to see if everything else matches up well and we can all get together to have a good game.  You can either post something here within this thread or PM me directly.                           Hey everyone!  My group and I are looking for a 6th player to replace a friend we lost to outside life concerns (they’re fine, to clarify).  Gameplay will mostly be entirely on Roll20, though we’re also using Discord for Voice and Text chat, and D&D Beyond for Sourcebooks plus other material and Tools.  The group is currently within the “tutorial dungeon” of Death House, and without giving too much away are basically coming pretty close to facing the final encounter(s).  There’s still a little exploration left within the Dungeon below the Manor, some goodies to find, and some Monsters to kill.  Everyone is level 2.  The group includes: a Half-Elf Bard, a Half-Orc Druid (Circle of the Land), a Tiefling Warlock (Celestial Patron), a Human Variant Fighter (Pole-arm Master), and an Aasimar Paladin / Sorcerer MC.  General party alignment is Chaotic Good I’d say.                         Death House itself serves as an excellent introduction to the danger and deadliness of Barovia, but it should be noted that DH is a fairly linear dungeon crawl, which contrasts with the far more open sandbox nature of the rest of the adventure.  Because Death House is somewhat renowned as a meat grinder and is more here for preparation than anything else, parties will not be penalized for failing to complete it.  If the group should be effectively defeated or suffer a Total Party Kill, everyone will basically “respawn” outside of the House at 3rd level and with much of the loot they could have expected from the adventure.  If the group should both survive and exit the house victoriously, the players will find themselves at 3rd level with bonus experience equal to half that needed to reach 4th, gain all the loot they could have expected from the adventure, and Party Inspiration.    My   own   Resources:  I will be using a D&D Beyond Master Tier Account, with access to all the Sourcebooks to be shared between players for the Campaign.  Roll20 is under a Pro Subscription, though I’m still working on what parts of the API I plan to introduce, and I am most definitely constantly learning.  I also have the Roll20 Marketplace version of ‘Curse of Strahd,’ designed to speed up gameplay prep.  My own plan is to coordinate via Discord with text and voice calls.  I have no plans for video though everyone should feel free to do as they like in that regards. Section   1:   Campaign   Style   If  The   Book   of   Vile   Darkness  had a list of tourist attractions, Barovia and Ravenloft would rank within its Top 10 (independently).   ‘ Curse   of   Strahd ’ is where High Fantasy & Gothic Horror collide in a Grim-Dark Super Adventure wrapped in the mechanics of D&D 5th Edition.   Player Buy-in: The story assumes that Player Characters are unified by a desire to save who or what they can while escaping Barovia.  Possible exceptions *may* apply.   Section   2:   Story                           ‘ Curse   of   Strahd ’ is quite probably the highest rated and reviewed adventure module to come from Wizards of the Coast for D&D 5th Edition.  Having said that, it is not your standard High Fantasy Dungeon Romp where adventurers can expect a pleasant village Inn to return to between weeks spent slapping around goblins, orcs, gnolls, and other humanoids with pointy teeth.                         ‘Death House’ is the Introductory “Tutorial Dungeon” that serves to welcome you to Barovia and clarify the nature of the contest you face.  Parties that complete it successfully, with all members alive and more in their bags than what they entered with, *may* be better suited to the stresses of exploring Barovia and the Domains of Dread than others.  Other parties will need to reconsider their approach and tactics.  Once ‘Death House’ has been run, it will not be run again, serving as either a badge of honor or a grim reminder of what awaits the foolish and ill prepared. 

(continuing) Section   3:   Gameplay                           The Basics: High levels of Roleplay in a narrative-driven campaign.  Collaborative storytelling, character interaction, and dramatic development are highly encouraged.  In regards Exploration, Barovia is relatively small, but is nevertheless full of peril, adventure, horror, and fantastic locales waiting to be discovered.                         Players should keep in mind this is a sandbox adventure that allows you to go wherever you want in whatever order you want.  This means that you may inadvertently run into encounters that you absolutely cannot solve with combat.  Not everything will be winnable or killable the first time you encounter it.  Always remember that running and negotiation are viable options.                         Being a hero pure of heart doesn’t mean you automatically save the day.  Unpleasant things will happen, good people will suffer, bad ones may prosper, and despite all effort and intent to the contrary: Evil might triumph. Section   4:   House   Rules Hit Points beyond 1st level: Whenever you level up, you can either take the static average plus Constitution modifier (my personal recommendation) or roll your hit die and add Constitution modifier.  I will allow you one time and one time only to reroll a low hit die result, but no rerolls going forward, not even for natural ones. Being Raised from the Dead always sucks regardless of the spell; In my game this applies to Revivify in the same way as it does to later spells.  To quote: " Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The target takes a −4 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Every time the target finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears." Other House Rules will be explored both at the start of the game and throughout, but always with DM arbitration and player input.  I firmly believe this is as much your game as it is mine; though I reserve the right to a veto, it’s about the group experience. Section   5:   Building   Your   Character Character Generation House Rules: All characters will use a campaign specific Point buy to generate ability scores.  All attributes start at a base of 8, and cannot be raised above a 17 before applying Racial or Feat bonuses (this is an arbitrary maximum set by myself, vs. the arbitrary maximum of 15 in the Player’s Handbook).  You have 37 Points to spend on your ability scores vs. the 27 allotted in the PHB.  The cost of each score follows, and an ability score calculator on the web can probably be linked to without issue: 8 cost 0, 9 cost 1, 10 cost 2, 11 cost 3, 12 cost 4, 13 cost 5, 14 cost 7, 15 cost 9, 16 cost 11, 17 cost 14. All Classes are allowed, but the Artificer cannot make use of any golem or pet robot type homunculus as a personal restriction placed by myself, as I feel it clashes with the game from a thematic or cosmetic perspective.  Not saying I have the perfect reasoning here but it’s something I’m going to stick to my guns on. Races Allowed: Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Halflings, Half-Orcs, Humans, Tieflings, Genasi, Aasimar, Firbolgs, Yuan-Ti Pureblood, Feral Tieflings, Kalashtar, Shifters, and Gith. Races NOT Allowed: Dragonborn, Orcs, Aarokocra, Bugbears, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Kenku, Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Tabaxi, Tritons, Tortles, Changelins, Warforged, Centaurs, Loxodon, Minotaurs, Simic Hybrids, Vedalken, Verdan, Locathah, and Grung.  I’ll explain a little later on why these particular restrictions are in place (it is absolutely Story and Roleplaying related, I have no mechanical issues with the races whatsoever) No alignment restriction technically, but consult with me prior to any Evil or morally ambiguous character.  I’m especially thinking of Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, and Chaotic Evil characters.  These alignments are absolutely allowed by myself, but should still be united with the rest of the party on their ultimate goals and purpose.  We’ll talk more about this as a group prior to play, especially with regards the consequences of in game disruptive behavior and what the group as a whole is comfortable with.  I’ve played with parties where everyone was comfortable with a little in game squabbling, where items would mysteriously never show up on the party treasure list, and even where generally helpful NPC’s died of “mysterious circumstances.”  I’ve also played with groups where any of that would have led to chilly silences at best and a banhammer at worst. Starting gold for equipment is equal to the maximum of what your class would roll randomly at 1st level.  However, there will be a maximum of 10 gold for funds on hand when starting, so plan your purchases accordingly.  In addition, some Background specific items may be granted as common sense bonuses.  No magic potions or weapons on start, anymore than you would otherwise have available at 1st level.  If we do begin at 3rd level, I have a list of treasure and magical items that will be made available to the party. Refer to ‘House Rules’ for other factors impacting gameplay. Section   6:   Barovia                           The campaign world is one of my own creation but it only serves as a very temporary stepping off point, into the main adventure which will be 'Curse of Strahd.'  While I have no issue with disallowed races mechanically, and feel that they certainly fit many other Campaign Settings and Worlds, they present an issue for the thematic aesthetic of this game.  Also, the location players will be spending the majority of their time in is a very closed off and insular region, where the vast majority of the populace is human.  To quote directly from the adventure, “Although they know that dwarves, elves, halflings and other civilized races exist, few living Barovians have seen such creatures, let alone interacted with them.  …  Barovians thus react to nonhuman characters the same way most humans in the real world would react to elf, dwarf, or half-orc adventurers suddenly walking the streets. Most such outsiders are scorned, feared, or shunned.”  Keep in mind, that’s the reaction to races like Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, etc.  Hence my reasoning on Races Allowed, to promote greater opportunities for role-playing and character interaction.                         Most adventuring gear listed in the Player’s Handbook can be purchased in the Barovian settlements, pricing subject to vendor and availability.  Weapons and armor, smithing services, and mounts are subject to vendor valuation and availability.  Spellcasting services, including access to raise dead and similar spells, may be available (pricing very much subject to vendor valuation). Section   7:   Player   &   Tabletop   Expectations aka, ‘How to be a Virtual Table Top Hero!’  (the abridged edition)               The goal of games is to have fun.  Since this is a cooperative game, our goal is not only to have fun, but to help each other have fun as well.  I'm personally looking for a cooperative Party with allowance for some in game squabbling and/or dastardliness to be discussed up front (in party theft, taking something and not reporting it, do we allow evil PC's, etc.); Preferably long term group commitment, with the understanding that Life Happens; understanding that player death is something that can come about as a large variety of things but that when it does it is not because the DM or other players dislike you, and we are all adults so buck up and prepare to "roll" another character.  "No one should create an adventurer with the expectation of them dying in bed of old age surrounded by an NPC family, save as the capstone to a truly fantastic campaign and an epic career."   Past that, general reminders of some good table etiquette: Be Respectful.  Listen when others are speaking, minimize distractions, be considerate of others' feelings, and avoid doing anything that might make someone else uncomfortable. Be Generous.  Prioritize everyone else's fun.  Give other players a chance to shine.  Be encouraging and offer to help, be that with clarifying rules, or looking up spells. Speak Up.  If something is making you uncomfortable, it's your responsibility to let us know.  If someone is out of line, it's your responsibility to graciously correct them.  If someone corrects you, it's your responsibility to graciously listen.         Keep in mind that these guidelines apply equally to players and DM alike.  You have just as much authority as anyone else to call out a player or DM who's acting like a jerk.   Also, in regards the above?  I absolutely cribbed it from elsewhere and modified it just a little.  The general guideline is that everyone wants to have fun and be around people they enjoy hanging out with, so just keep in mind: Good Fun!