[Interest Check] No Maps For These Territories - new PbP game

Some rule questions:

The rolls are "Str , Int , Wis , Dex , Con , Cha"  right?

Max Hitpoints on first level?

Roll one dice and add on each level up or reroll all HD each level up?

Magic Item for Gold trade in as "Playing with advanced characters"?

Spell repertoir filled with random spells as Adventurer Tier advanced characters?

 

And a campaign / group question:

What should be the dominant group alignment?

In twenty years of D&D I've somehow never played a high level mage.  So I've got this knee jerk urge to take #2 or 3, swap Cha for Int, and buy a lab and library out of starting funds.  On the other hand, "king of downtime" doesn't seem like the best plan for play by post.  And I like a high charisma character as well, especially for a fighter or cleric.

So I guess I'm just thinking out loud at the moment.  I'll play around a little and compare what I can do with henches and stuff out of 100k.

Or, wild card:  humanized dwarves machinist?  Kind of fiddly, but at least I could afford to start with an automotan.

[added:]  3 could point-trade into a 16 Str, 13 Con & Cha fighter.  Solid, but a little close to Hengist in Bobloblah's game.  18 Int mage is just in reach and still tempting, but that starting gold would go fast.

2's clearly a bard or a venturer, but I've never yet been big on playing bards.  

4's a respectable thief as-is; could take Dex higher, but I'd hate to lose the Int and Cha doing it.  5's a passable assassin if primes trade up to 13.  I see both as henches rather than main character, which starts to say something interesting about my PC, whoever that is.

On the golf course today. Will respond later. 

What are your thoughts on trading sets of stats with other players?

Like Rodriguez, I am also interested to know if there is an alignment tone.

For the group at large, I would prefer a fighting sort, thief, or, if stats would support, a bard. Fighting sort is my preference, though, and I am looking at Set 1 for an Assassin, Barbarian, or Paladin.

I'm flexible on class.  I can wait and choose something that complements the rest of the party.

I’m slammed IRL and will post in greater depth this weekend. I typically am in favor of parties leaning Lawful and/or Neutral.

Hello yes am I too late to get on this boat? I'd be very interested in joining; I've never done a PbP before but ACKS is probably the best system to do it in. 

You have the order of ability stats correct.

I will do max HP at 1st level.  I will reroll all dice every time the character levels.  If the total is lower than the previous total, HP goes up by 1.  If that happens a couple of times, I may steal a house rule from thirdkingdom and let the character spend a set amount of money carousing back in civilization for a couple weeks to earn a re-roll.

Yes, using the magic items for gold trade rule from p 253 of the core rulebook.  You can also "buy" henches up to 4th level by trading 1 gp per xp.  I am inclined to give you one hench who is close to your PCs skill level so I'll let each of you spend 40,000 gp once to get a 40,000 xp hench.

For casters, I will let you choose one spell of each level.  The rest will be determined randomly.

I don't want a Chaotic group.  I don't want to deal with anything involving bad things happening to children, or torture of any kind.  We have the Intimidation proficiency and I can handwave the details.  If you guys want to be Neutral and play in morally gray areas, and the entire group is comfortable with it, that's fine.  My only warning to you is that you will already likely be dealing with unwanted attention from Chaotics and these actions may attract unwanted attention from Lawfuls as well.

No trading sets of stats with other players.  You can create a henchman and try to transfer control to another PC once we start the game but it will require a loyalty roll and the hench could walk.

Sure, why not?  

12,15,13,7,6,14

8,13,9,4,9,15

8,16,11,12,11,13

10,9,11,8,10,12

17,11,9,9,12,4

Swapping Cha for Int with set #2 would make a great Norbirian Wonderworker!

[quote="Hardrada"] For the group at large, I would prefer a fighting sort, thief, or, if stats would support, a bard. Fighting sort is my preference, though, and I am looking at Set 1 for an Assassin, Barbarian, or Paladin. [/quote]

With henches in play I'm not too worried about perfect party balance, but a fighting type is certainly welcome, especially since I seem to be talking myself into a Mage or Wonderworker.

Now there's a thought.  I'm used to thinking in terms of base classes, but this could be the only time I see a character qualify, so it's actually really tempting.  80,000 xp would start a wonderworker at 6 or a mage at 7, but the cleric spells sure help.

Sulldawga, are 'Wonderworkers in play?  If they are, is there anything I need to know about alignment or deity?

And, before I make any assumptions about buying a lab and library, can I call on any in a wizard's guild or from a master, or just go ahead and purchase what I'm going to want?  If I do purchase lab and library, are they "back in nearby civilization where nothing interesting is happening" or should I go for a building in the campaign area as well to house them?

Rodriguez, I see you asked about spell repertoire, were you thinking of a mage or anything in particular, or just clarifying?

Edit:  Can't do Wonderworker with #2, they need everything at 11+.  #3 can just do it though, so it's still on the table.  18 Int mage, or 15/16 Int wonderworker?

For henches, maybe 4's still a thief but 5's an explorer rather than an assassin, so I don't drag the group too far into the dark.  1's kind of a sad sack overall, but he qualifies as a cleric hench if needed.

If I do go nuts on lab, library and tower I'm probably capping all my henches at 4th and not bringing one in at 40,000 xp, but I'm open to input on that.

All told, I'm probably not bringing much front-line muscle to the table, is what I'm getting at.

I just wanted to clarify as I was going through the advanced character rules.

 

And yes, I wanted to say #3 not #2. Upps...

Wonderworkers have only Int and Cha as prime requisits so swapping cha for int and then decrease con down to 11 and increase int to 16 should be possible.

 

 

#5 looks very promising!

Not sure if I can resist playing a Barbarian themed Assassin again...

 

Edit: Considering we probably have to deal with a fair amount of wilderness maybe I should make an Explorer out of #5.

Okay, let's see, it's Str , Int , Wis , Dex , Con , Cha

So set one is +0 +1 +1 -1 -1 +1, making him mentally above average but clumsy and frail. 

Set two is -1 +1 0 -2 0 +1, making him smart and likeable but SUPER clumsy. 

Set three is -1 +2 0 0 0 +1 making him very smart and rather likeable

Set four is 0 0 0 -1 0 0, making him just clumsy. 

Set five is +2 0 0 0 0 -2, making him very strong but very hateable. 

 

Not sure yet whether I want to be a mage or a paladin.

 

 

 

Don't forget, for one set of rolls (that you would have to use for your PC), you can change one of those below average rolls to a 9.  That means sets 3 or 5 would have no negative abilities.

I'm going to make a special exception to my "no non-human classes" rule for the Nobiran Wonderworker.  I feel like the added XP requirements are enough of a hindrance that it balances the added powers the class has; also, I feel like a human Wonderworker wouldn't be nearly cool enough for anyone to want to try it.

Religion will be important in this game.  One, the gods will be watching how you use your powers.  If you use them for goals not aligned with the god's portfolio (e.g. worshipping a god of wealth and giving away gold to the poor), things will happen.  You may not like those things.  Also, I will add some more detail as we get underway but there are gods worshipped in the former Empire (your home) and other gods worshipped by the folks who live in the East (where you will be hexcrawling).  There could be tension there.  Someone as recognizable as one of the Empire god's Wonderworkers could add extra tension to these discussions.

The Free City of Ket is the Class I city in the East.  It's about a week's horse ride away from the frontier.  If you go NE from Ket, you'll reach the Northfort. If you go E from Ket, you'll reach the Shining Spire.  If you go SE from Ket, you'll hit Avauntar.  All are the equivalent of Class IV towns.  One will be the base from which you initially venture into the wilderness.  You can buy or rent property in any of these and assume it's safe from burglars and marauders.  You could set up a lab and library there.  The Shining Spire is the home of a guild of mages.  You can use their library and facilities for research but it will cost money if you're a guildmember and cost more money if you're not a member.  If you're a guild member, you will have to do guild tasks from time to time.  An example of a guild task is "Take this map and travel to X.  There you'll find the tomb of Apsa the Necromancer.  Recover Apsa's wand and return it to us.  You may keep anything else you find in the tomb."

Game thread is up.  Let's move commentary to the Character Building Discussion thread therein.

Hmm.  I am thinking of either taking set 4, raising Con from a 6 to a 9 and going Venturer, or taking set 2, raising Con from 5 to 9 and going thief.