Everything you knew about D&D is about to change... 4ever.

4get what you thought you knew! 4sake the old traditions and get ready to 4ge a new path!

Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition

Bare-bones Background:
We open our story in the bustling village of Pikespire. A modestly-sized town, it is well-known on account of its fortuitous location at the crossroads of several major trading routes. It has few attractions of its own to speak of, but it is still a sight to see.

The town attracts all kinds and it is not uncommon to cross paths with a hulking Dragonborn prize-fighter, a squad of the King’s finest soldiers (whether they’re marching for battle or for a brothel) or a silver-tongued Tiefling merchant selling all manner of wondrous and fantastic items, sometimes all at once on the same day.

The only attraction that the place can really call its own is Pikespire Keep, the castle that overlooks the city named for it. The castle is home to Lord Sterling, a kind-hearted and well-loved ruler, who could be seen each week walking with the commoners, always happy to listen to their thoughts and opinions no matter how small their owner.

Or it was his home, at any rate. His life was taken from him only too early, just days after our heroes have entered the town, having just been brought together through some combination of battle and treasure. Their modest exploits quickly made the rounds of the town and were inflated to involve villainous dragons, squads of bloodthirsty Orcs and a beautiful princess in distress.

The Situation:
Contacted by the Lord’s aid and current steward of Pikespire Keep, a man named Deinos, the party has been called upon to help make Sterling’s dying wish a reality. Specifically, he wished to be buried in the tombs south of the city with his long-deceased ancestors.

The problem is that the tombs have gone unused and unexplored for close to a century and nobody knows what may have set up shop in the meantime. In exchange for a certain sum of coins and other possible non-monetary rewards, they have been contracted to clear a route to the old ancestral burial chamber.

CHARACTER BUILDING

CHARACTERS ARE FIRST LEVEL.

Ability Scores:
Keep it simple. Roll 4d6, drop lowest score, reroll any ones.

Races:
Dragonborn: The proud warrior heirs of an ancient, fallen empire. Dragon-people.
Dwarf: Tough, gritty heroes from the mountains. The same as you remember.
Eladrin: Otherworldly, mysterious, graceful and intelligent. Basically high elves.
Elf: Quick, quiet and yet wild. Basically every other kind of elf not called a drow.
Half-Elf: Outgoing, enthusiastic leaders with the blood of two races.
Halfling: Affable, warm and cheerful. Much the same as they’ve always been.
Human: Decisive and resourceful, the most versatile of the races. Also familiar.
Tiefling: Heroes with a dark side. Part of an infernal bloodline. Again, familiar.

Classes:
Strikers – Specialize in dealing high damage to single targets.
Ranger: Concentrates on ranged attacks or dual-wielding. Relies on speed and mobility.
Rogue: The cunning and elusive backstabber you all know and love.
Warlock: Channel arcane energy taken from primal entities. Resourceful and secretive

Defenders – Tough heroes with the power to contain the enemy while keeping allies safe.
Fighter: Determined martial adepts who beat foes into submission at the front lines.
Paladin: Indomitable warriors who have pledged their skills to a greater power.

Leaders – Strengthen and bolster your allies while still keeping the heat on the enemies.
Cleric: Leaders, pledged to the gods, who heal allies and then improve their offense.
Warlord: The inspiring commander and master tactician known for martial prowess.

Controllers – Exert control over the chaotic battlefield and affect multiple foes at once.
Wizard: Masters of the magical energies and experts of arcane lore.

Equipment:
You have 100 gp each to spend on whatever you want.

Other Requirements:
A sentence or three about motivations, personality and history of your character. Again, keep it simple. If you can think of an interesting way to relate any of your characters to each other, that's cool, but hardly required.

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If you happen to have access to the rules, go nuts. If not, there’ll be character-building time, I’m sure. It doesn’t eat up a terribly huge chunk of time, which is cool.

As you might know, I've been pretty excited for this edition. I've got some stuff prepared and I think it'll be generally a fun experience. It'd be in the general setting that comes with 4e and would be, at first, a return to basics as far as adventuring goes.

I'm not actually sure if any other games besides SAME are carrying over into the summer schedule, however.

Thoughts on 4th Ed.

Having spent some time with the books in question, indeed a great amount of my time at work is spent, not toiling over documents or spreadsheets, but merely browsing the new edition's features, I feel I should collect my thoughts on the matter.

I must say that although my cynicism prevents me from ever remarking upon it's supposed greatness, the new edition isn't altogether bad.

I know, what a shock. They have succeeded in making an exception-based system, and have too succeeded in making me mildly enthused to see the game in practice. (I greatly enjoyed the PA/WotC podcast, though that may be in part to Mike, Scott and Jerry and less in part to Wizards.) The greatest point of contention, at least for me, from 3rd Edition has largely been done away with, in that there is no disparity between supposed and real power levels of certain class mixtures or distillations. The way they have accomplished this is by doing away with high-level play altogether.

Yes, while the level range has increased by a "whopping" 10 levels, characters rarely do anything of import throughout those 30 levels. That isn't to say that this kind of play is bad; it isn't. It's just... really lame. Or at least, it is when compared to 10-20 of 3rd edition. My current campaign is quite like the way things are set up in 4th edition, but for D&D it's a step outside the norm for things to be this toned-down.

There are a number of welcome additions, though these ideas have been proposed by members of the gaming community and therefore are less original ideas from WotC and more neutered copycats. The most prominent in my eyes being the caveat for how civilization can thrive when most of the time they last for two weeks before the new chief of state is appointed by Holy Word right up the King's ass. That being: the world is largely a dark and twisted expanse filled with danger and magic saturates the whole of it. Some places more than others, and that is where we arrive at explanations for both how people survive for any length of time, and why anyone bothers with building shit. Everybody is living together in huddled fear of what's going to eat them next, but at least they can rest easy in their home city, or "points of light" as they are called in the DMG. What's also nice is a retuning of the economy, though to what extent that retuning fixes the bullshit is unclear to me at present.

On the Rim Act 1

Important characters. Bold indicates a new character.

Raquim al Sadher
Salu of the Wastes
Paola Peakeli
Hou Shan and Yan Jiang
Baccay of Tempest Roost
Julian, Captain of the Merchant Vessel The Vigilant

The party of three companions set out, after a little inquiry toward their captain, on a large three-masted ship. Their destination: Tigris; Perswell Port to be precise. On the roughly two-week journey they stop at a port city in Fyriss called Tempest Roost, for supplies and contracted shipments to be brought along the voyage. On the ancient stone walkways of the mist-veiled harbor walk many queer folk, including a startling saturation of Pantherans. The tall, robust folk pay little attention to these newcomers to their fog-hidden city, though they remark upon them the dangers of the Ghostwinds, and warn them of their gravity. Left with roughly a day or two to their own devices, the party sees no great opportunity other than what may be drunk in a quaint, rose-lit teahouse. Surveying the strange customs of the Fyrissians, they sip idly at fragrant potables, all while keenly aware of their awkward placement. Paola endeavors to speak with a seasoned Striped One, who calmly indulges him with a gesture imploring patience.
Soon, a shrill wail can be faintly heard in the distance. "Ghostwinds..." whispers the Striped One with a worried look upon his features. Several people make for the door, only to be tarried by the deathly visage of a Wraith, the corrupted essence of dead Wind elementals. A ghostly blue hand snakes along the inside of the door frame, and the hazy form of the thing looms into the empty space. Its eternal pall unnerves the house patrons, but the party is quick to ward them of this threat. Almost totally massless and ever-shifting, the Wraith provides an interesting challenge to most, but not quite enough to worry our stalwart protagonists. When the thing is finished and the teahouse neatly secured for the time being, the Striped One introduces himself as Baccay of Tempest Roost, and requests the party's aid in a matter of great urgency. It is coming to be the time of year when the most dire of Ghostwinds sweeps across the island, and Baccay is hoping to relieve his fair city of the grief. He lays this task upon the party, promising substantial reimbursement for their services.

Items in party's care. Bold indicates new items.

Smoldering Longsword. Flame attack. Attuned.
Flameseal. Flame attack. Attuned.
Sulfrite Bracer. Flame Resistance. Attuned.
Yan Barb. Flame Resistance. Attuned.
Blue Meteora Edge. Light attack. Attuned.
Manawood Rosary. Leaf Resistance. Attuned.
Collena Tome. Ranged Light attack. Attuned.
Two Lesser Fire Elemental cores.
One Lesser Earth Elemental core.
One Lesser Wind Elemental core.
Various items, including 280 silver coins and one camel. Bandoleer of Regenerative Doses. Potted Plant.

Soapbox

So, with the close of this week (as far as I'm aware), the only thing stopping all of us from convening at the same time should be job schedules. With my job, it will be a normal full-time 9-5 deal, so that's where I stand with it.

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For this week, I would really like to play some SAME. You know, get that story started up again. So, if you all could provide some times you would be available over the weekend, that'd be neat.

I completely forgot about posting this yesterday. My deepest apologies.

Here is the information I promised.

Need a couple opinions

I'm doing my last game with the group here at MIAD, and I sorta wanted your guys' opinions on the setup for the last session.

Here it is.

Setting Details - Who are the Wisemen?

Long story short...
Since before the descendants of Torris split the Hong kindgom thricewise, (about 4000 years ago by current reckoning [the current year is 35 of the (S)econd (E)ra]) there have been legends that spake the names of the Wisemen.

"The Wisemen," a term that has become their unofficial title ever since the various legends were collected for study, refers to a specific group of people who wield power over Mana greater than any other across the face of Agartha. 7 is their number, each one aligned with one of the 7 Elementals. They are peerless warriors and supreme mages, more powerful than anything ever to grace this plane. They are thought to be so powerful that they command the obedience of their own Mana Beast. Or so, at least, the legends say.

Digging Deeper

For roughly four and a half thousand years, stories of the Wisemen have pervaded cultures across the globe. Everybody has their own depiction of the Wisemen, or one of them at least. For example, in the Grass Clan of the plains on Tigris, the Orcs believe that the Wiseman of Wind is a golden eagle given an earthly form by the winds, who punished him for daring to fly higher than them. On the other hand, the people of Vinstad, a town in the Lemurian fiefdoms, believe that he is a man who became an elemental when he was brought back to life by a gust of wind and imbued with its power after falling from one of the many cliffs around the area.

In this way, the Wisemen have become almost religious figures in certain sections of Agartha. The mystique that has generated around their image certainly attracts many to believe them to be merely folk tales and legends, but there are several cults across the globe who insist upon their existence. Each culture that has established itself long enough to form its own belief system or religion has had at least one Wiseman cult spring up. In fact, in recent years it has become quite stylish for someone to join one instead of becoming initiated into one of the Deific religions. The Cult of Sapios the Treewarden in particular has been growing in size, bolstered by claims that its leader is in fact the Wiseman himself.

What this means for you...

Whether or not you wish to join one of the cults, innumerable though they may be, is up to you. If you want to make up the cult yourself, have at it. There are so many tales and myths about the Wisemen that if you came up with your own version it wouldn't at all be surprising. Enterprising individuals may even wish to capitalize on the rise of the cult religions, in one fashion or another.

History in the Making

The names of the Seven Wisemen were formalized in an anthology of local legends and folk tales about them entitled the Micel Staer, a 9-volume script written by a group of Lemurian monks in 598 F.E. It was a labor of immense proportion, as gathering this fluid information was a task for decades, if not centuries. Stories of the Wisemen often spoke toward their ability to keep themselves hidden, and indeed it seemed as though they were invisible figments, considering how slowly the legends were cataloged. Miraculously, it was completed within three generations, and has since been kept in pristine condition in a fervently guarded vault. For 437 years, these books were accepted among the scholarly as the most comprehensive and accurate depiction of the Wisemen, even though a decision has yet to have been made on whether or not the 7 mythical people even exist. According to the Staer, the 7 names for the Wisemen are:

Hou Shan, Wiseman of Fire. Name taken from eastern Calderan, meaning born of flames.
Rajumyrsky, Wiseman of Wind. Name taken from Runic Jorden, meaning hurricane.
Riktahasta, Wiseman of Void. Name taken from Modern Muan, meaning empty vessel.
Sapios, Wiseman of Leaf. Name taken from Old Tigritian, meaning Oak tree.
Draki, Wiseman of Water. Name taken from Standard Fyrissian, meaning shore or wavecrash.
Grundwaeg, Wiseman of Earth. Name taken from Old Tigritian, meaning clay jar.
Lucidus, Wiseman of Light. Name taken from Old Lemurian, meaning aware or apparent.

What This Means for You


Well, now they have names.

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More later.