City of Gem Character Creation and Houserules.

Characters will start at level 1 and will start with standard gold for level (200 gold for level 1).

HP gain will be max for every level.

Currently allowed classes/races: Anything from an official supplement (Homebrew and Dragon Magazine require DM approval).

Currently banned: Non-official supplements e.g. The Book of Erotic Fantasy.

This means that Level-Adjustment races are allowed, but should be brought to my attention so that I can convert them to use this variant system for racial leveling: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040213a

This also means that you may take levels in a template (such as vampire or lycanthrope) using a similar system. Obviously these must be applied either at character creation or as the plot allows.

NO CHEESE, JANK, or other such crap. (Infinite combos, stat-loopholes or other such nonesense.)

___-------===========-------___

For generating your statistics we will be using 32 point buy. That means that all your statistics start at 8, you spend your 32 points based off the chart below, and afterwards add your racial modifiers.

Code:

Score You Want | Point Cost
===============================
      9        |    1
      10      |    2
      11      |    3
      12      |    4
      13      |    5
      14      |    6
      15      |    8
      16      |    10
      17      |    13
      18      |    16

___-------===========-------___

HOUSERULES:

Ammunition: Arrows, Bullets, and Bolts are all sold in amounts equal to a single "quiver" or "pouch". The value of mundane ammunition is negligible, and so the price is for the quiver or pouch. Mundane ammunition will "refill" (You are assumed to automatically acquire more ammunition) when you enter major habitated areas (like going back to town after an adventure).

Counting mundane arrows is thus important only on dungeon crawls, and will otherwise not negatively affect your weight.

An arrow quiver holds 20 arrows and weighs 3lbs.
Bolt Quivers hold 10 bolts and weigh 1lb, with the exception of the "quivers" for repeating crossbows that only hold 5 for 1 lb.
A sling pouch holds 10 bullets and weighs 5lbs.

These weights will remain constant for sanity's sake.

Feats:

Toughness: Provides 1 HP per level. Provides three extra incapacitated hit points. May only be taken once.
(Improved Toughness from Complete Warrior no longer exists, Toughness counts as both for requirements.)

Monk:
War Fans, Kusari-gama, and Nekode are now considered Monk weapons.

Can I play?

What will be the post rate of this? I want to join another campaign, but I may be very busy and can't start actively posting until Wednesday most likely.

How optimized are most people gonna be? I'd like to do something fun. I tend to not be very tryhard about things like D&D.

The rest of the questions have no affects on whether I play or not.

Flaws allowed? I want to know because it determines my starting race, the character I want to do must be human unless I can take a flaw for 1 extra feat at level one.

Nightsticks, allowed/available and do they stack as in "if you own them then they all count to turn attempts". If it helps I am taking levels in cleric, but the build is not an optimized cleric build (doesnt even take a level in cleric til 3).

Fluttershy is best pony?

Yes, yes you can.

The post rate will depend on how often you post, how often I post, and how complicated the posts need to be. It isn't a race, and I don't try and make it one.

Optimization level doesn't much matter, because unless players desperately want to team up and spend all their time together (slowing down the speed that the story goes) interaction between players will be passing at best.

If there is sufficient backstory justification for it, I can probably just give you the feat. Wow me.

They exist, they don't stack. That's the kind of thing you would need to commission to be made, or make yourself, since this isn't a big undead campaign.

Fluttershy x Applejack OTP

I'd be willing to coordinate w/ you, DGT, to have an interacting character dynamic if you want.

We could be a 2-man "party" or we could be friends, or acquaintences, or whatever. I'm currently considering a Gestalt char, likely either pixie, human, or changeling who's a sneaky disguise/bluff/gather info underworld trader and assassin

(Mostly wanting to do gestalt b/c I've never tried it and b/c it means I can try to squeeze more cool ideas that I've kicked around before into 1 character, rather than let them all just gather dust in my head)

Edit: Oh, and a heads up Tuv said that we should probably expect to level slowly since he doesn't hand out RP Xp like candy, and thus far it's been more combat-light. But that he wouldn't begrudge us going out to hut rats if we wanted to.

Yeah, everyone will still get separate threads even in a party. This is to create the illusion of reality in a cold and unfeeling world, with only you and your conscience as an island among a sea of unfeeling and grinning faces.

We run off the honor system for mostly not cheating by looking at other people's threads.

That means that the more people are involved, the slower it goes.

DGT and I would be fine w/ such an honor system, but in the interest of time, would you mind us just going right to the bottom to post if we're talking to each other or similar? So we see stuff faster

Alternatively, we could just post all non-spoken-in-each-others'-presence discussion in spoiler tags and label who's supposed to read it (you or the other player)

Then things just go too fast, I can't edit conversations through the veil of anonimity and point of view, I'm likely to not be able to keep up, and then everyone is unhappy. Perhaps consider being more concise, or posting in thousand word increments with body language already present so I don't have to add it?

1000 words is a lot... I'm not sure I'm always going to have that much to say before needing a response from someone. I'll give it a shot tho

Neigh, I demand all posts be the length of a novella. That way, when you post, the story will already be done, and I won't have to do ANYTHING!

Can they be instead alternating line-by-line shared story creation madlib dialogues between DGT and myself? That might be exciting.

Example of what I was thinking.

http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=70633

the next level would be in fighter followed by my first level of cleric.

It's basically a wisdom archer.

I've settled on my total concept:

Vermin Druid // Dread Necromancer

With a significant emphasis on small insect vermin and swarms. I'm actually also a swarmshifting undead, so I can also turn into a swarm.

I'm using my Skeletal Minion as a "carrier" -- I literally have him carry me around in a sack most of the time (I turn into sand as my swarm form), or I hide in his hollow skeletal body under his clothes and disguise. Normally I spend all my standard actions just ordering him about, where to go, what to do, etc.

I also keep the various insects that I'm breeding and training on/in him.

I have a couple requests though:

1) I want to take the Mark of the Vermin feat, but it requires Aberrant Dragonmark as a prerequisite. This is 100% a feat tax, but what Mark of the Vermin does is let you use handle animal on vermin, apply your druid spells that affect animals to affect vermin too, and gives you 1/day speak w/ vermin SLA. Being completely focused on entymology, I don't really care about affecting animals at all. Could I tweak the feat to make it REPLACE the effect of druid spells to ONLY work on vermin, and if you want also even remove the 1/day SLA, thus weakening the feat, but then remove the Aberrant Dragonmark feat tax prereq as well? Honestly the ability to cast burning hands 1/day is totally irrelevant to the character, and that's the kind of thing taking Aberrant Dragonmark would do, which seems silly.

2) Could I trade my druid animal companion and future ability to wildshape to advance my skeletal minion "swarmcarrier host?" I'd rather my bugs' house not get shattered too easily.

@ PGT
Since Savage Progressions is in effect, using Lesser Planetouched to dodge the +1LA isn't okay. Aasimar progression is as follows:

Aasimar 0:
+2 Cha
+2 Spot/Listen
Darkvision 60
Resists Acid/Cold/Electricity 2
Light 1/day

Aasimar 1:
+2 Wis
Light 1/day is replaced with Daylight 1/day
Resists rise to 5.

If you only want Lesser Planetouched for the Humanoid then go ahead, have your humanoid subtype, but the stat blocks above are Aasimar.

@ Caligstro:
Screw Eberron and the horse it rode in on. Take your Mark of the Vermin, no need to take Abberant Dragonmark.

Advance your undead like he was an animal companion, but instead you get Undead Companion! Keep Wildshape, but you ONLY GET VERMIN FORMS! Muhahahahahahaha!

Nah, then I'll just be human. I'd rather not gimp myself just for flavor purposes.

In which case I'll ignore taking a flaw as well since it's not necessary when being a human anyway.

Okay cool thanks Tuv!

I can't train my minion like I can a vermin can I? Mark of Vermin letting me treat Int "--" vermin as int 2 when dealing specifically with me + treating my minion as the animal companion of a Vermin Druid (which replaces normal animal companion w/ a vermin)?

@ PGT
I don't see how It would "gimp" you, but whatever you want to do.

@ Caligstro
I would say 'yes', if only because that means I get to RP your skeleton. You may or may not now have second thoughts.

It would gimp me because I'm an archer.

Archer builds are feat intensive, meaning the only way I can work my build (I have it pre planned on feat selection) and be any race is to take a flaw.

Thing is, to take Savage Progression Lesser Aassimar is a gimp, because at that point I'm taking a flaw for no benefit.

The charisma doesn't really do anything for the build, +2 to two skills (that you're not focusing on and aren't diplomacy) isn't worth any meaningful flaw TBH.

Or I could be a human... and have a feat, meaning no flaw is necessary, and +3 skill points at lvl 1 and an additional one every level after (which ends up being way better than the +2 spot/listen because this build eventually ends up taking a few levels of cloistered cleric and knowledge devotion is awesome.)

The only thing aassimar had over humans for this build was a +1 to hit and flavor. But, like I said, with literally 0 benefits for not picking human, I'd rather be human.

I'm ok with it though.

Just wondering, how could you possibly RP a mindless skeleton? I have total command over it, being capable of dictating its every action if I choose, and it is only regarded as Int 2 when interacting with me..? It can't speak, and it's not conscious or sapient?

I think I'll just leave it as-is, but I am curious what you even intended to do with it?

Actually, I'll just link my sheet here; I have yet to pick my Lvl 1 feat, but besides that it should be ready to roll.

We're still ironing out our character connections and backstories, and when they're settled we'll post those as well.

http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=70462

It would be the undead equivalent of a wild animal with that int score, so when it wasn't operating under direct orders it would do... well, I'm not sure what it would do, try and eat orphans? Stare wistfully into the mountains, reflecting a speck of humanity once lost? *shrugs*

It doesn't actually HAVE that int score though. It just behaves as though it did while directly interacting with me. The vermin I train work the same way. It makes it possible to use Handle Animal on them to train them for a purpose or specific tricks or such.

Tuv, whats your opinion on a Lloth-touched arctic lesser dragonborn of bahamut half-scrag lesser planetouch ooze?

It's a LA+1 with +16 to Con(but gets a lot of -Cha and some -dex)

It would be immensely helpful if books and page numbers were provided for finding all this stuff.

I'm pretty sure he was kidding

Haha, sorry dude. I was just joking.

It's a legit thing, but I wouldn't ever allow it myself. And tbh it's scattered everywhere (that same thing can use planetouched ooze instead of mongrelfolk). I don't have it off the top of my head, but I can send you page numbers and stuff later if you want for curiosity sake.