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 Post subject: Re: Getting started...
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 8:46 am 
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Cobwebbed Dragon wrote:
Strength: 11
Reflexes: 8
Intelligence: 16
Psychic Talent: 9
Looks: 12

I just wanted to add that, even though these stats were generated and assigned at random by <shameles plug>my NPC generator</shameless plug>, I like how they fit with my vision of Simon at the beginning.
  • The high intelligence and minimal psychic talent go well with Simon being a great book learner but having little confidence in his spellcasting ability.
  • The low reflexes suits someone with no combat smarts and low athletic ability - acting late in the combat round, a little clumsy and unsure how to act, etc. It's a shame this isn't broken down into manual dexterity (for which I see Simon's as quite high, hence his artistic and penmanship skills) and agility (which certainly isn't Simon's forte), but that's just DW for you.
  • Strength and looks are interesting, but I think this works too - Simon is not athletic and I wouldn't have assigned such a high score to strength if that had been my approach to generation. However, thinking about it, he spends time in a rough part of Ongus, so there's something about him that deters folk from making trouble with him - maybe he looks like he can handle himself and isn't the easy prey for muggers and thugs he actually is. The above average Looks also fit with Simon's personable nature in making acquaintances and building trust easily (although making friends is a whole other matter).

So it's +1 for random character generation from me :).

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 Post subject: Re: Getting started...
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 10:13 am 
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I just realized how inappropriate 'track' is. I mean, he's a city boy and I don't think he's interested in following blood trails. Wonder if I could substitute Track for blind fighting or ... heh... arrow cutting.... Just kidding. Blindfighting might be appropriate seeing as theres so little illumination in a medieval city. You know, there should be a perception bonus for having blind fighting....

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 Post subject: Re: Getting started...
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 10:27 am 
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Quote:
Spells: As mentioned previously, Simon has learned the Bedevil spell in lieu of Dragonbreath.


What does Bedevil do?


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 Post subject: Re: Getting started...
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 11:30 am 
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Acoma wrote:
What does Bedevil do?

Hopefully, you'll never have to find out... ;)

It's one of the new spells included in the Players' Guide and is a minor curse that can be cast on inanimate objects (primarily tools no larger than a cart or plough). These cursed items cause some minor misfortune when attempted to be used for their intended purpose. The spell also includes a countercharm to remove bedevilment from a cursed item.

Simon's first use of this curse was on an inkwell used by one of his fellow scribes, just to see what would happen. As the scribe was returning to his desk after filling up his dry inkwell from the cask of ink at the back of the scribing hall, the inkwell slipped from his fingers, splashing ink across the illuminated scroll on which he had worked for several days, completely ruining it*. Simon's only use of this spell in anger was in retribution for being cheated out of payment for forging a ship's manifest - Simon cast this on some ropes attached to the winches manoeuvring new cargo onto the smuggler's ship. The rope snapped at the worst possible time, causing considerable damage to the ship's deck and rail as the crates smashed into them, tumbling their contents overboard. Simon's been a bit afraid to use this spell since because one of the sailors was hurt in the incident, which was not his intention.

* Simon, feeling guilty about this, worked late over several nights to create a new copy of the scroll - his fellow scribe just thought he was being helpful and has promised to return the favour should Simon ever need anything.

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 Post subject: Re: Getting started...
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 11:36 am 
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Cobwebbed Dragon wrote:
Dreadnought wrote:
I am waiting on a character sheet from Cobwebbed Dragon

You're waiting for me? How embarrassing... Easily remedied :)

My trusty generator spat out the following:

Simon, human male first-rank sorcerer, 14 years old

Height: 5'3" (1.6m)
Weight: 145lbs (66kg)

Strength: 11
Reflexes: 8
Intelligence: 16
Psychic Talent: 9
Looks: 12

Attack: 12
Defence: 5
Evasion: 2

Magical Attack: 16
Magical Defence: 6

Stealth: 13
Perception: 5

Movement: 10m (20m)

Health Points: 8
Magic points: 4

Equipment: Simon doesn't have the two potions as part of his starting equipment, as he is self-taught, but he does have a copy of the key to the restricted wing of the library (arguably more valuable!) This key is a strange affair - having "borrowed" the master key from the head librarian (an adventure in itself, and perhaps the topic for side-post sometime), Rowan made a duplicate consisting of small bones, talons, and other animal parts bound tightly in thick wire and strong glue and is how Simon gets access to the forbidden archives after dark. Simon also prefers the shortsword to a staff, although only ever carries it if he's out at night (it isn't allowed in the library anyway) - not that Simon has ever been in a proper fight or knows how to use it.

Spells: As mentioned previously, Simon has learned the Bedevil spell in lieu of Dragonbreath.

In terms of background, because we seem to be overwhelmed with orphans, I propose the following tweak to Simon's:

Simon was raised as the son of a sheep farmer in Willowmere, a village a little south of the Vindar Hills (between Bridgewater and Bearhurst). Clearly gifted and showing no aptitude for farming (or outdoor life generally), Simon left his family at age 11 when a group of pilgrims passed through his village, returning to Ongus from Ostelin Abbey. Simon endeared himself to one of the pilgrims, who found him work at the library on their arrival at Ongus. In addition to scribing at the library, his penmanship and artistry have made him a few coins on the side forging documents for some less reputable characters with whom he and Rowan sometimes associate.

Simon's three years at the library and his exceptional intelligence has been kind to his linguistic skills, being able to speak Bacchile and Elleslandic fluently, and is of an intermediate level in Visic, Algandarve, and Beaulangue. Simon's real gift, however, is for written languages, able to read High Cabbandari (learned through his "extra-curricular" scribing...), Lughwyd, Ancient and Modern Emphidian, Opalarian, and Nascerine. The docks have been a great place to practise his language skills (and pick up some extra work forging ship manifests and letters of marque...), where Simon can sometimes be found in his off hours.

If you're happy with all of that, I can merge it into what I wrote previously about Simon (sans the orphan bit).


Yes, this all seems fine.

The cellars at the Library (or at least one cellar) are where the books Simon is most likely to be interested in are... I like the idea of his key giving him access to a small room hidden in the corner of that cellar that most people - even library staff - have long forgotten is even there. I would also have him having keys to the actual library building itself and to the main cellar - so he really can get in there at night. Those two keys would be ones he really shouldn't have and would be normal enough duplicates, but there probably wouldn't be a massive fuss if it was found he did - his special key is something else entirely :)

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 Post subject: Re: Getting started...
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 11:38 am 
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Kharille wrote:
I just realized how inappropriate 'track' is. I mean, he's a city boy and I don't think he's interested in following blood trails. Wonder if I could substitute Track for blind fighting or ... heh... arrow cutting.... Just kidding. Blindfighting might be appropriate seeing as theres so little illumination in a medieval city. You know, there should be a perception bonus for having blind fighting....


Yes, you can make such a substitution. Blind fighting would be fine.

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 Post subject: Re: Getting started...
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 11:43 am 
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Cobwebbed Dragon wrote:
[*]The low reflexes suits someone with no combat smarts and low athletic ability - acting late in the combat round, a little clumsy and unsure how to act, etc. It's a shame this isn't broken down into manual dexterity (for which I see Simon's as quite high, hence his artistic and penmanship skills) and agility (which certainly isn't Simon's forte), but that's just DW for you.


One question - obviously Simon would be naturally left handed (actually in my version of Legend, the left handed thing for sorcerers isn't quite absolute, although it's extremely unusual for them not to be). If he's working as a scribe, he would actually be under pressure to work right handed - does he accept that pressure? Or rebel against it. That could be part of the reason for a low Reflexes as well.

(He could work with his right hand when under observation and immediately switch to his left (perhaps turning the page upside down as well) whenever he thinks he can get away with it - up to you, how he handles this, but it is something, I'd like you to specifically think about whatever choice he makes.))

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 Post subject: Re: Getting started...
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 3:10 pm 
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Dreadnought wrote:
One question - obviously Simon would be naturally left handed (actually in my version of Legend, the left handed thing for sorcerers isn't quite absolute, although it's extremely unusual for them not to be). If he's working as a scribe, he would actually be under pressure to work right handed - does he accept that pressure? Or rebel against it. That could be part of the reason for a low Reflexes as well.

I hadn't even thought of that but it's a good question. I think he would be forced to write right-handed and, in fact, as it is likely that he knows about the left-handed preference for sorcery, Simon would deliberately hide his left-handedness as additional cover (which definitely would explain his low reflexes across a range of activities in which it would be relevant). For his forgery work, which he does in about as much secrecy as his sorcery, he would use his left hand (and therefore be much better at it than his reflexes would imply).

I can't remember if you said you were using the skills system from the Players' Guide but, if you were, I'd probably suggest Simon has the (mundane) Calligraphy skill at Advanced level:

Calligraphy (mundane skill)

The skill of writing formal documents, records, and books and scrolls. Separate from mere literacy, which allows for characters to write casual letters and notes, this skill represents neat, uniform, and clear writing. Note that this is a mundane skill and not related to (or a prerequisite for) the sorcerer's arcane calligraphy skill.

BASIC: At this level of competence, the character can make uniform characters in whatever language he knows with a 5% chance of error. He may copy text written in a language he cannot read, but with a 20% per page of making an error, which increases to 40% if he is also unfamiliar with the script. At this level of skill, the calligrapher is still very slow, taking a day or more to write even a single page.
INTERMEDIATE: Being a more proficient calligrapher, the character may scribe faster (up to 2 pages per day with good conditions) and with fewer mistakes (1% chance of error if writing in/copying a language in which he's literate, 5% per page for copying an unfamiliar language, or 10% if the script is also unfamiliar). Additionally, the character may make his own parchment, mix smooth inks, and cut good quality quills.
ADVANCED: At this level of skill, the character may illuminate manuscripts using multiple colours and different nibs to great effect. The character's standard writing speed does not increase but he does become familiar with the practice of bookbinding and illumination, able to mix his own dyes and coloured inks. An illuminated manuscript page may take upwards of a week to create. At this level of competency, the character will not introduce an error in scribing a page in a language in which he is literate and only has a 1% chance of making an error in an unfamiliar language (which increases to 5% if the script is unfamiliar).

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 Post subject: Re: Getting started...
PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 3:16 am 
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Cobwebbed Dragon wrote:
I can't remember if you said you were using the skills system from the Players' Guide but, if you were, I'd probably suggest Simon has the (mundane) Calligraphy skill at Advanced level:


Yes, I am planning on using the Secondary Skills - that is, on a case by case basis for each character.

Cobwebbed Dragon wrote:
Calligraphy (mundane skill)

The skill of writing formal documents, records, and books and scrolls. Separate from mere literacy, which allows for characters to write casual letters and notes, this skill represents neat, uniform, and clear writing. Note that this is a mundane skill and not related to (or a prerequisite for) the sorcerer's arcane calligraphy skill.

BASIC: At this level of competence, the character can make uniform characters in whatever language he knows with a 5% chance of error. He may copy text written in a language he cannot read, but with a 20% per page of making an error, which increases to 40% if he is also unfamiliar with the script. At this level of skill, the calligrapher is still very slow, taking a day or more to write even a single page.
INTERMEDIATE: Being a more proficient calligrapher, the character may scribe faster (up to 2 pages per day with good conditions) and with fewer mistakes (1% chance of error if writing in/copying a language in which he's literate, 5% per page for copying an unfamiliar language, or 10% if the script is also unfamiliar). Additionally, the character may make his own parchment, mix smooth inks, and cut good quality quills.
ADVANCED: At this level of skill, the character may illuminate manuscripts using multiple colours and different nibs to great effect. The character's standard writing speed does not increase but he does become familiar with the practice of bookbinding and illumination, able to mix his own dyes and coloured inks. An illuminated manuscript page may take upwards of a week to create. At this level of competency, the character will not introduce an error in scribing a page in a language in which he is literate and only has a 1% chance of making an error in an unfamiliar language (which increases to 5% if the script is unfamiliar).


I like this - but I think Simon should be somewhere between the Intermediate and Advanced levels of the skill - to wit, he would have all the skills described at intermediate level, plus the illumination skills (not the bookbinding) being able to mix most common dyes and inks - some obscure ones might still be beyond him. He'd still have a 1% chance of making an error in his own language, a 2% chance in an unknown language and 7% chance in an unknown language script - but he'd be entitled to make a d20 Intelligence check on completing the page, and be capable of correcting the mistake.

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 Post subject: Re: Getting started...
PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 5:19 am 
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Cobwebbed Dragon wrote:
So it's +1 for random character generation from me :).


By the way - I use your random generators a lot when I'm running games. They really are very useful.

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