#wanna make a homebrew complete make over of the warlock class | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

githvyrik · 4 years

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Do you have any advice on playing a warlock? I really love the class and abilities, I've wanted to play one for a while now, ans now I have a warlock PC in a new campaign. Yesterday was when we rolled our characters and when it came to picking a patron I was given the choice of an angel/God or a Devil/a demon (it's a homebrew campaign with only those two gods?? DM said so-) so I picked devil because I wanted a fiend patron, then I had to come up with the pact. (1/2)

Keep in mind I am by no means a dnd expert, this is all just my opinion based on personal experience.

Okay first of all, you really should talk to your DM if you wanna change that pact. If they still don’t want to let you change that, then you’ll have to decide whether you still want to play with them or not. If you aren’t actually going to enjoy yourself while playing a character like that, you need to make that very clear because if they absolutely refuse to let you change it then this is gonna sound harsh but they’re a shitty DM. While the DM is in charge of the story, it’s something they build together with the players and there’s no point in doing it if it’s going to make you uncomfortable. You have to honestly let your DM know that you don’t actually like the idea.

That being said, if that ends up being something you want to continue with, I think it’s pretty clear that’s probably not something your character wants to be doing. I figure they’d definitely keep it on the down low from the rest of the party, it’s something they find disgusting and they’re incredibly ashamed of it but it’s something they have to do. If the party does find out, some of the more understanding ones should be able to pick up on the fact that it’s not something your character wants to do but it’s something they’re stuck doing. It could make for some very interesting roleplay and morality questions, and maybe your character’s arc could be about breaking out of their pact so they don’t have to continue doing what they’re doing, something they were too weak or scared to do before but now they’re growing in power and also have the party backing them up. This is actually something that happened with the warlock I played recently, Belfante. Alternatively, you could take a darker approach to it and maybe your character starts to enjoy doing this as time goes on and they grow more powerful due to their patron and sink further into their grasp as their influence is exerted on them. That’s something I’ve rarely seen and that could be super interesting. You could even still manipulate the party to think you’re still unwilling due to your high warlock charisma.

In my experience, warlocks tend to be played one of two ways: either they are completely buying into this mutually beneficial deal (sometimes played more as the two manipulating each other or the patron and warlock are actually benefiting each other because they’re actually friends or both crazy) OR the warlock is trapped in this deal because they majorly fucked up and now they’re stuck doing some weird scary magical creature’s (usually dark) bidding and they want to get out of it but they don’t know how. One that I haven’t really seen before is the patron being trapped in the deal with the warlock which could be fun. Anyways, it sounds like your character is a classic case of the second one, but there’s always the capability to have more nuance to it and make it more of a grey area which you might want to explore. Maybe your character is actually given reason to believe their patron cares about them, or your warlock actually cares about the patron for whatever reason, but they despise what they have to do for the pact and these are some feelings they struggle with. Maybe they like the power and want to find a way to keep it without their patron’s help or requirements.

As for some other ideas you could try in terms of your pact, warlock has a fiend patron so what that fiend wants you to do is probably going to be pretty dark or messed up. Doesn’t necessarily need to go so far as eating your enemies though. One thing you could consider is the fiend you’re bound with. If it’s an actual figure from the official dnd lore then consider what that fiend would want their followers to do for them. Maybe you have to try to convert other people to follow them, maybe you have to meet a quota for that and suffer consequences if you don’t. Your high charisma would help that a lot. Maybe you have to meet a certain quota of blood sacrifices, which would be pretty reasonable if your party gets into a lot of deadly fights. Whatever it is, since your patron is a fiend, it’s probably not going to be pleasant for your character or anyone else involved.

Another thing you could consider is having the pact take a physical toll either in addition to or instead of an action your character has to perform. Maybe it weakens them to do their magic, or maybe it alters their appearance, or it could take a mental toll and change them as a person. Maybe their morals deteriorate. For instance, my warlock Belfante had a thing where the sources of magic on their body started to turn inky black the longer they had their powers. The magic from their eyes turned their scleras black, their hands turned black from the spells they fired from them, their mouth turned black due to their verbal spells, their heart and the space over it did so as well because a lot of their spells would start there and travel outward through their body, and it was never seen or confirmed but I had the idea that their brain also turned black because of the knowledge. It also hurt each time they used magic and also would cause immense pain each time the marks would spread. This happened because their pact involved access to a form of magic that regular ass human bodies aren’t supposed to have access to in the way they did, so it took a toll on their body. Their pact also required them to literally give their patron their soul so their morals tended to deteriorate the longer they lived without it. I dunno, I’m really into the idea of warlocks’ pacts altering them physically. In your case, maybe as time goes on they start to look more fiendish. I’d even be down if you want to use something similar to my idea, I’m almost definitely not the first person to do something like that.

In terms of more general warlock tips, pick the spells and invocations that sound most fun to you. Eldritch blast is a good general damaging cantrip, it might not be the flashiest but it does some good damage and has a decent range, plus it’s great if you have the agonizing blast invocation. But if there are other cantrips you like better, then by all means pass up eldritch blast for those, this is about fun after all. A lot of more general spellcaster tips apply here. When picking your spells, don’t disregard utility for damage! You should have a few good damaging ones under your belt but take a couple that do things other than damage because you might be able to use them as a get out of jail free card. Also, don’t be scared to use your spells! Yes you should use them wisely because you only have so many spell slots, but the thing about warlocks is that the reason they don’t have a whole lot of slots is because when they use a spell it’s like a bomb going off because it’s always used at the highest possible level. I remember being able to take out the majority of an army with a very well-placed black tentacles spell. Also, think about the roleplay in your spells! A warlock’s magic is kind of unstable, they don’t get it from a god they get it from a lower being. Maybe it’s difficult to use or control, maybe it hurts or takes some kind of physical toll. Personalize your spells! What do they look like, what do they sound like, what does your warlock do when they cast it? Also, it’s a good idea to pick spells your patron would give you (like a fiend patron would probably give you access to some very nasty ones), or ones that thematically fit your character (my warlock had a theme about necrotic/poison/acid damage or spells involving dark shit in some form).

Idk, sorry this is kinda rushed I gotta be at my own dnd game here soon but I love talking about warlocks so I wanted to answer this. I hope this helped you in some way, just remember dnd is supposed to be fun for everyone involved and you’ll be fine!

#dnd #asks

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obsoletesystem · 5 years

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D&D Ask Meme

@wisdom-fangs asked me to do all the questions of this D&D ask post. So I did. 1. A favorite character you have played. I really like playing monstrous characters. Currently in Adventurers League, I play Frattek Venvaris, bugbear rogue/barbarian, who is a delightfully goofy character. But I also miss playing Bajur Mashoir, a very charismatic lizardfolk "voodoo" shaman, whose catchphrase was: "As you can see, I am an alligator, sir..." spoken in a thick southern brawl. 2. Your favorite character that someone else has played. During a one shot the guy that played an evil halfling warlock sacrificed himself to blow up the big bad with a block of dynamite. The true MVP. 3. Your favorite side quest. Idk. 4. Your current campaign. I DM a homebrew campaign, in which the party is stuck between sides in a war between the local Jarl and a fey duchess who has taken over a part of the woods. I also participate as a player in a slight homebrewed Salt Marsh campaign, in which I play a tiefling cleric of Pelor. She's got a Sad Backstory. 5. Favorite NPC. The Loathesome Gribble, an NPC in the game I DM, who is a very small tiefling sorcerer with an immense knife collection and a four-armed aasimar monk girlfriend. He is found in the most of unlikely places and his signature spell is "Gribble's Hand of Sand", which may or may be not magical, as it blinds a creature with sand, but the material component is just a handfull of coarse sand. 6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc). The druid in our home game charged into giant stag form at a huge burning construct (The Burning Man from Burning Man, but moving), missed his attack, upon which the Burning Man rolled nat 20's on BOTH ITS ATTACKS. No advantage, no nothing, just two straight 20's. He grabbed the stag by its antlers, turned its head 360 degrees, and dropped a flaming, mutilated dwarf to the ground. 7. Your favorite downtime activity. I always like to do something that tells a little bit about the culture of the creature I play. When I was on haitus because of school, I described how Frattek had spend some time with his little bugbear niece, and had just returned from a fun little war (seeing as bugbears love to fight). 8. Your favorite fight/encounter. We had to fight a vampire spawn in a dank, dark basement, but it was light outside, and Frattek is incredibly good at grappling creatures, so we dragged the vampire out from his basement into the sunlit street, and then made a run for it as we had broken into a house. 9. Your favorite thing about D&D. Coming together with friends and not drinking (a lot) or smoking weed. I like doing those things too, but it is also fun to just hang out and play games where heavy drinking is not really handy. 10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most. Dragons are the best, spellcasters are the worst. Spellcasting Dragons are the bees knees. My players, however, are going to hate a certain spellcaster very much. Once they find out... 11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play? Usually once a week, but I'd love to be able to balance twice a week. One day as player, one day as DM. 12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from. "Name and occupation, please" comes from when we played Pathfinder, and one of the characters died, but I didn't want to get rid of him yet or he was set up to be reincarnated or some shit idk. Anyway, his soul arrives in purgatory, which turns out to be this bureaucratic office, where he has to stand in line for a long, long time, before arriving at a booth/desk type situation, in which an Ophanim angel (one of them burning wheels full of eyes) floats that asks with a bored sigh "Name and occupation, please". The player answered, and was set up for reincarnation, which involved shooting his soul from a cannon/drop tube into the unborn baby of a local woman. The child grows up unnaturally quickly, and because it has the soul of a mature orc barbarian, it is more than a little trouble. Nephertheless, the "Name and occupation, please" gag remained forever. 13. Introduce your current party. My Homeboys, the Lords of Okab Volal, are Nazreen, a wood elf ranger who missed her wolf, played by @tabula-wasa, Tophr Thanestone, the previously mentioned dwarf druid who was murdered by a giant flaming effigy and subsequently reincarnated/put into the body of a frost elf woman (something he hasn't come to terms with) played by our bearded friend Glenn, and Adelon Vrena, half-elf bard/cleric/divine soul sorcerer a.k.a. Healer Supreme, who is really righteous but not above torturing a captive githyanki, and played by Arnaud. The Schadestenen (meaning "Damage Stones", as in dice), which is the OG Adventurers League group in the Spellenhoorn in Hoorn, consist of Aiden Rainbowscale (Albino orphan wood-elf monk/barbarian), Fjorgyn (dwarven cleric of Moradin, who died last week and still suffered from the Death Curse. RIP.), Frattek Venvaris (Bugbear barbarian/arcane trickster and gladiator/luchador, played by me), Gideon Thornton (cowardly Half-Orc Hexblade), Grommash Hellscream (Stereotypical Half-Orc Barbarian. Great guy.), Ruldra (disgraced Hobgoblin undead-hunting Ranger), Cadence (Powerful but stupid Half-elf Grave Cleric/Divine Soul Sorcerer who never learned how to read), Ullr (Arnaud's Gloom Stalker and Human Machine Gun), and Darin (half-elf ranger and Master Of Backflip). The Peeps from Salt Marsh, DMed by the guy that plays Darin, in which Arnaud plays William Wisenose, The Awfully Lucky Halfling Build (halfling wizard/bard/whatever), Cadence's player plays Sylver Ravenstar (half-elf bard/hexblade/run away princess), her friend plays Samm Enoch (Aasimar Bard and Very Handsome Man), Aiden's player plays Ankis (Aasimar Celestial Warlock and very secretive about both these facts because Back Story), and his friend plays Vena Malum (Human Bloodhunter, who is really buff and does that swirly thing with her falchions, and oh my...), Grommash's player plays Morgain of Astora (human paladin of Pelor, and companion/boyfriend/substitute son to my character), and I play Paytsarra Avèry (winged tiefling cleric of Pelor). Praise the sun. 14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed. We had one party consisting of a drider, a very evil dwarf, a fire genasi, a gnome psychic, and a kenku ninja at one point. When the evil dwarf died, and I introduced the guy's new drow "medic", I knew I lost all cohesion of the group. 15. Do you have snacks during game times? My players do. I don't like snacks that much. 16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer? In person. I tried playing online, and I think I would do again, but only if I'd have a really good headset. 17. What are some house rules that your group has? In the Salt Marsh campaign you double the value of the dice on a crit, which I think is disappointing. I just wanna roll a lot of dice :( 18. Does your party keep any pets? @tabula-wasa's ranger has a dire wolf...somewhere...

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions? Not that I know of. I do know some of my dice seem to roll better than others. 20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing? I found a d&d character creation app on the web ages ago, and that sparked my interest. Later I joined a warhammer fantasy role play group with a friend I had been rp-ing online with a lot, but this was the real deal, at Arnaud's house. He dmed number of campaigns for us, and later he joined my pathfinder group which turned into a D&D 5th edition group. 21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done? Yeah. Frattek decided to be a hero and tried to assassinate an ogre torturer. He failed his shot. We had to fucking run. 22. What color was your first dragon? The first dragon I fought as a character was a young Red Dragon. Even at 5th level, we whooped its ass. He found himself in a cave, surrounded by fools, and we beat him to pulp. The first dragon I put in front of my players was a young White Dragon. It kicked their asses. 23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns? I usually homebrew my own campaigns, but I have dmed some AL sessions. 24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game? Not an incredible amount, but for my home game I prepare ideas months, even years, in advance. For DMs 25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for? A lot. The most notable was casting Dispel Magic on the demiplane-item the cultists were in... and then opening the demiplane underwater. 26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your characters. I had these zombies that always repeated the last thing they said before they died, which was cool and creepy. But the thing I really wrote out was the description of how an Astral Ship warps space around itself, and what that looks like from the people on the deck of the ship. 27. Do you allow homebrew content? If it's well written, absolutely, but there is a lot of shit out there. 28. How often do you use NPCs in a party? When it makes sense, but I try not to do that too often. 29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions? I prefer RP sessions, but I am leaning more toward combat. On the other hand, I don't think it completely excludes each other nor should it. I am of the opinion that 30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos? Rather diplomatic, but they can definitely kick ass. For Players 31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race? I like casters, and I will always have an affinity for wizards, but arcane tricksters and eldritch knights are cool too. I like elves, and I like monstrous races; goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears. I like things that are pretty and scary, or creepy and goofy. 32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?) I usually mix a bit of tank and dps. I don't like being very frail, but I do enjoy doing a lot of damage in one shot. 33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory? I tend to write a character from a concept, and then build out the backstory. How did this person become the person they are today? Even if you have something of a bugbear, or a hobgoblin, or a yuan-ti. They have had a childhood, they have role models, they have culture. But what is that? What defines a character? What makes them they way they are? I don't like playing monstrous races that have been adopted by a "better, nobler race" like humans and elves and dwarves. I get the appeal, but I also think it is a little trite, and a little condenscending, almost. I think a lot about what defines a monstrous identity, and being a Cultural Anthropologist, I think a lot about the way culture shapes the values and morality and thus also behaviour of a creature. Do hobgoblins tell their children bedtime stories? What are they about? How will a bugbear struggle in regular humanoid society, where his violent urges -natural to him- are equally, or even more excessively violently repressed and punished? Is this just for bugbears? Will they then look for each other, and find each other in their shared cultural/natural tendencies? Are there goblinoid lawyers or activist groups, that seek to protect other goblinoids from unjust treatment under laws that aren't theirs? How will your life be if you are a second or third or even fourth generation inhuman creature in a human society? Do they dream of returning to a society that is 'theirs'? And is there even such a thing? And if there is, will they actually fit in, or forever be an outcast, neither hob nor man? I tend to poke at such questions with my character backstories. 34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor? Everything is useful, since everything is always situational. If you plan only for situations in which you are going to kill every living thing, then you shouldn't pick something like Rope Trick, or Magic Circle. But you do you. I very much dislike decoupling "flavour" from functionality. This is a game of make-belief, so everything you do is flavour. The mechanics are an abstraction of a fantastic reality, and though inherently important to the working of the game (without rules, it would merely be improvisation, which is also a kind of game, but schwa), it is all flavour. People that brag about how much average damage they can do with this or that specific build tire me. 35. How much roleplay do you like to do? All of the roleplay! But please let me punt goblins into the garbage sometimes!

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lightanddarklove · 4 years

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Connverse Week Day 6: Sword

Talin the Hexblade

This could really take place any time in the SU: Future Timeline. I started this back in February, but could easily fit before Together Forever, or between I Am My Monster and The Future or after The Future. I don't even mention anything about Greg's hair so this could even fit before Bluebird.

Thanks again for all the likes and reblogs! Check out my masterpost for my other writing links if you've been enjoying my writing.

Each of the characters created in this oneshot have their own character sheet I made in D&D Beyond. I'll also be linking here the drawings once I get them scanned and on my art blog of each of their portrait drawings.

Connie’s character Talin the Warlock Amethyst’s Character Wiivai the Barbarian Steven’s Character Larks Song the Bard

Gen | 4478 words | Tw: Discussions of Death, Undead creatures and Drinking in a fantasy context

Greg, Connie, Steven and Amethyst are trying out some collaborative storytelling through characters of Faerun. Or, Greg tries to tell a story through D&D and it's like herding cats. Mostly platonic, and not to be taken seriously.

“Okay,” Greg started, setting down a bag of dice and his DM screen that looked older than his son on the folding table. He looked to the other three surrounding him: Connie, Steven and Amethyst, seated around the small table, piles of dice near each player. Amethyst and Steven sat with blank character sheets in front of them and Connie’s section of the table was conspicuously free of paper. “So who knows what they want to play?” Almost immediately, Connie retrieved what looked like a nearly completed character sheet from a folder she had previously set in her lap. “Teifling Warlock, Hexblade Subclass, Hermit Background,” she declared proudly. Greg nodded sagely. “Out of the four basic roles Steven explained to me, Beatstick is the one I’m most interested in.” Amethyst answered casually. “But… I don’t want to be super reliant on armor, so the best choices are Fighter and Barbarian, right?” “Yeah,” Greg replied. “Both of them can use shields, but you can sacrifice a bit of your Armor Class, meaning how often you get hit, to wield two-handed weapons, which are stronger than those that only use one hand. Out of the two classes, Barbarian has the most HP, but some of the subclasses may draw you to one over the other.” Greg opened the 5th Edition Players Handbook and stuck a blank index card in the opening page of both classes, sliding the book over to Amethyst. “See what strikes your fancy. If you don’t love those subclasses, I got a few more for you to look at in this bad boy,” he said, patting Xanathar’s Guide to Everything on top of his stack of books. Greg turned his attention to his son. “And how about you, Steven?” “I was thinking a caster, but we need a healer, right?” Steven asked. “Well,” Greg answered, “if you didn’t want to play a healer or half-caster with healing spells, like Ranger or Paladin, I can cook up a NPC to keep you from blowing yourself up.”

“Um, the thing is, I was kind more leaning to a specific race than a class, but it’s from Volo’s Guide. Is that acceptable?” “If that’s what you want, I’m fine with it. Just show me.” Greg said. Steven presented Greg his phone to show the screenshots of the class. Greg quickly scanned the page. “Tabaxi. Dex +2 and Charisma +1. Ok, darkvision, sprint ability, climbing speed 20, 1D4 unarmed melee damage, and Perception and Stealth. I don’t see anything here that seems to be too overpowered. We’ll wanna order a copy of the book to make it easier to reference when we start playing, though.” “Ok. So for my class, if we need another caster I could do Sorcerer, or for a healer Bard is cool.” “Yeah, if you have the plus to Charisma, Bard fills the healing role fine and has a lot of fun spells when you don’t need to heal. If you change your mind, let me know.” “Yeah,” Steven said. “Tabaxi also have a quirk, so I’m gonna roll for that now while Amethyst looks over her class options.” Steven plucked the D10 from his dice pile and gave it a light toss. It tumbled across the table and landed on 0. “Oh dad, I’m sorry.” “What?” Greg answered.

“‘You can’t help but pocket interesting objects you come across.’” Steven recited. “That’s going to make things annoying for you, probably.”

“It’ll be fine as long as you don’t roll bad when stealing. Otherwise the guards will be after ya.”

“Noted,” Steven answered. “I’ll be taking the ‘Sleight of Hand’ skill then.”

“So Amethyst, you made up your mind?” Greg turned his attention to the gem sitting across from him.

“Yeah, unarmored defense and rage sounds rad.” Amethyst replied. “The totem warrior thing I get at level 3 sounds cool, but you said there were other options in the book with the eyeball creep?”

“Oh yeah, you might like Path of the Storm Herald.” Greg flipped the book open and searched for Barbarian subclasses. “The ‘eyeball creep’ is a Beholder, they’re really powerful magic creatures that have a lot of knowledge and are known to be dangerous to anybody who isn’t high level.” Greg located the page and set the book down in front of Amethyst.

“Do you think you know what race you want?” Connie asked, having been quiet since she had revealed her almost complete character.

“Well, Barbarians are strong, right?” Amethyst replied. “What’s a race that has higher strength?”

“There’s a subrace of dwarf that has Strength, and they naturally have Constitution, which is the other important stat for Barbarians.” Greg answered. “The other common race for Barbarian is Half-Orc, they’ve got plusses to Strength and Con as well. They also do more damage when they critically hit.”

“Oh Amethyst,” Steven interjected, “I got one you might like.” He scrolled on his phone and presented it to her. “How would you like to be a Lizardfolk? They’ve got a bite attack and a swim speed.”

“I can bite people?” Amethyst exclaimed. “I’m gonna chomp my way to victory!”

“I see your biting people,” Greg replied in a more measured tone, “And raise you breathing fire or spitting acid. Check Dragonborn out, they increase Strength and have a breath weapon.”

“Ooooh…” Amethyst said with a grin. “I like spitting acid.” Greg took back the Players Handbook and flipped to Dragonborn, handing the book back over.

“So, look that over, jot down your notes on your features, and then we’ll roll your stats.” Greg instructed. “Gonna give you a bit of a buff over the stats in the PH since besides the damage resistance and breath weapon they don’t have a lot of other features like some of the races do. But we can go over that once you roll.” He turned his attention back to his son. “Now Steven, did you have any ideas on what subclass you wanted? I know you don’t get your Bardic College till level 3, but knowing what you’re building towards may help you pick out what spells you want and your playstyle.”

“Valor’s cool, and when I looked into Xanathar’s I also liked College of Swords, but is there any subclasses that are like Sheppard from Druid? Where I can make friends with animals or stuff like that?”

“Oh Steven!” Connie interjected. “There’s a new subclass that they just released, College of Eloquence, which lets you talk with all kinds of creatures for 10 minutes at a time as a bonus action for one of your bardic inspirations. It’s in the newest Unearthed Arcana, I’ll look it up right now.”

“Unearthed Arcana, huh?” Greg pondered. “I haven’t heard that name in ages, but that’s just the way they describe playtest material nowadays, right?”

“Yeah,” Connie replied, pulling out her phone and searching in her recent history. “If you’re fine with stuff that hasn’t been made official yet.”

“Back in 2nd edition and 3.0 days, before you two were born, we used homebrew stuff all the time,” Greg said. “So having playtest material isn’t a bad thing, especially since people making the game are the ones putting it out. Trying out this new subclass to make yourself the role of animal tamer, if that’s what you think you want, Schtu-ball.”

“I’ll check it out,” Steven replied. Connie handed Steven her phone, and he took it graciously.

“So while they’re checking out their classes,” Greg said, “Connie, are you ready to roll your stats?”

“Yes, sir.” Connie said, picking up her set of blue and green D6s.

“Four of those, drop the lowest of each set of four to get your total,” Greg instructed. “Write ‘em down as you go and roll that seven times. Drop the lowest of the seven and place your six stats where you like.” He handed her an index card and she took it, nodding. She tossed the dice into her short dice tower and began totaling her stats.

“So,” Amethyst interjected, “I’m a black Dragoborn Barbarian and I’m thinking I like that Storm herald for when we get to level 3. What else do I gotta do?”

“Just check out the backgrounds in Chapter 4 of the Player’s Handbook,” Greg replied. “There’s more in Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, which I can pull up on my phone, if you don’t like these. After that, we’ll roll up your stats.”

“Ok, I’m done,” Connie said. “I got 15, 11, 14, 17, 12, 10. I dropped a 7.”

“If you put that 17 in Charisma and add your racial trait, you end up with 19 and that’s a +4 bonus to start with. Not bad at all. Where you placing the other ones?”

“10 Strength, 14 Dexterity, 15 Constitution, 11 plus 1 racial Intelligence, 12 Wisdom.” Connie tallied.

“Quite respectable.” Greg replied. “Now I wanted to start everyone at level 2, so you’ll be getting your evocations now and another spell. If you haven’t picked your proficiencies, do that now.”

“since I’m a teifling,” Connie said, “I’m going to take advantage of getting the darkness spell once per day for free, so my best evocations for now are Devil’s Sight and Agonizing Blast.”

“You’ve sure done your research, Connie.” Greg said.

“I’m excited to play!” She replied eagerly. “I’ve always wanted to get into a group ever since my dad and I played Baldur’s Gate when I was 11. I was only allowed to play it with the gore settings off though, when I was younger. The only time I got to play D&D was a one-shot with a few school friends but the DM that ran it moved away, and no one else wanted to try.”

“Yeah, DMing isn’t for everyone,” Greg said, nodding.

“Ok Greg,” Amethyst interjected, “I’m gonna go with the Sailor background, so am I good to roll?”

Steven grabbed the Players Handbook from in front of Amethyst since she was done with it.

“Yup. Here ya go!” Greg said, handing over the 4 six-sided dice.

“Go over the math on this one more time, would ya?” Amethyst asked.

“Roll those four dice seven times total.” Greg answered. “Each time you roll, add the three highest numbers together and write it down. Out of those seven rolls, you drop the lowest number and take those to place in whatever stat you like. Con and Strength are the most important for Barbarians, but Dex can be handy too. The dump stat for you will likely be Intelligence, like how Connie put her lowest in Strength.”

“OK,” Amethyst replied. She gave the dice a shake, before cupping her hands in front of Steven. “Blow on ‘em, for luck Steven!”

“The statistics on your dice won’t change just because somebody blows on them, Amethyst.” Connie teased as Steven puffed out a breath onto the dice. Amethyst shook her hands few more times.

“Just cause that’s true for humans, doesn’t mean is true for gems.” Amethyst countered. “Steven’s got magic spit, maybe it’ll magically make my rolls better.” With a gentle throw of her wrist the dice bounced and spread across the table. “6, 5, 6, 2. That’s a 17. And if I don’t botch the next few throws I can be the powerhouse of the group!”

“Don’t count your dragons before they hatch, Amethyst.” Greg chided with a smile. “You never want to tempt fate on the dice gods, or your campaign can be doomed before it starts.”

Amethyst scooped the borrowed dice into her hands again and with a shake rolled them again. “Aw dunk, 4, 3, 4, 2. That’s 11. Not great.”

“Keep rolling, Amethyst. Just give me the totals when you’re done.” Greg instructed. He turned to Connie with a smile. “Now Connie, unlike the other two, Warlocks often have more perspective on theism than martial or arcane caster classes. So tell me,” he leaned on his hand, “what is your character’s relationship like with her deity?”

“My character goes by Talin.” Connie replied, tone serious. “She came across her arcane focus left for her by the Raven Queen while she was exiled from her hometown. She was drawn to it from a message in a dream. If my patron contacts me it’s either with just a few words, or in my dreams. If I’m commanded, I can meditate and she can send me short messages.”

“Are you one of an order, or are you working alone?” Greg asked.

“Alone. If there are others who work for Lady Death, I don’t know it. All I know is I was chosen.”

“So what does Lady Death expect of her chosen?” Greg probed. “What is your calling, and why have you returned to the civilized world?”

“The Raven Queen wants the souls of the undead who have been wrongfully brought back or kept from peacefully passing to the afterlife in the first place. So she wants me to send back to the world of the dead ghosts, skeletons, scarecrows, vampires, and most importantly Liches. Plus I need to stop any necromancers or other magic users that create these things.” Connie replied.

“Scarecrows are undead?” Amethyst asked, rolling her dice again.

“Yeah, they’re animated by souls of vengeful spirits, whether humanoid or demons.” Connie replied.

“You didn’t say zombies, is the Raven Queen ok with zombies?” Steven asked, looking up from the Players Handbook chapter on Backgrounds.

“Zombies aren’t animated by souls, they’re just bodies.” She answered. “Like an animated armor, so if it’s not a returned soul, it’s not a problem. Skeletons are controlled by souls, despite not having free will.”

“So I’m done rolling stats, Greg,” Amethyst cut in. “17, 11, 8, 11, 17, 16.”

“We got a power player here,” Greg replied approvingly. “So by putting the 17 in Strength, you’ll end up with a 19, giving you a +4 to hit and damage. Set the other big numbers in Constitution and Dexterity. And I’ll give you an extra +1 to Con since Dragonborn are a little underpowered. So, if you make Dex 16, put the 17 in Con, you’ll end up with a +3 and +4 as your modifers, meaning your starting AC will be 17 with no shield and 19 with a shield. Pretty respectable.”

“So if I wanna take intimidation as a class skill, I wanna give an 11 to my Charisma, making that racial bonus hit 12, right?” Amethyst asked.

“You’re picking it up, Amethyst. That just leaves wisdom and intelligence left.” Greg answered.

“Kay, I’ll put the 11 in Wisdom and 8 in Int,” Amethyst replied. “Connie’s the smart one in this crew, no surprise there,” she teased, and Connie smiled as her cheeks flushed.

“So why are you rolling into town, Connie?” Greg posited.

“My Lady Death thinks I can get stronger faster with a group. There’s only so much I can do on my own, but as long as I can eventually get strong enough to be a lich hunter, whatever I have to do with my time to get there she’s in favor of.” She shrugged a bit. “I can fight a couple skeletons on my own as a level 1, but I’m sure I didn’t see a lot of them all the time. I bet I got most of my XP from beasts or bandits.”

“Sounds like someone’s playing an edgy character…” Amethyst teased.

“I just loved the potential for what Hexblade can do in combat.” She said, twirling her pencil. “So I did a lot of research and figured out what made the most sense for my ideal playstyle.” Greg set his hands together and leaned towards Connie, eyes glinting with feigned apprehension.

“So Connie, this sounds like you’re not playing a good character. Are you going the evil or neutral route? What’s your alignment?” She hesitated a moment, setting her pencil down and spinning it on the table.

“… If you really think about it, I’m fighting mostly evil undead, and Raven Queen’s an unaligned deity…” Connie’s voice came out high and nervous, the least confident she had been all afternoon. “So the case can easily be made for her followers to be neutral, right? After all, it doesn’t matter if you’re good or evil, just about everything will die eventually.” She hesitated, glancing back to Steven and Amethyst. “I just don’t want to make the team weaker if we have conflicting alignments. If I have an evil character, and one of you is playing a good character, I’ll have to trick you into thinking I’m not evil so we don’t end up constantly bickering.” Amethyst shrugged.

“My character’s not much of a free thinker.” She replied nonchalantly. “She probably wouldn’t be into slaughtering innocent people, but I don’t really think she’d have any reservations about smashing up some skeletons or necromancers. I say, if you wanna go bad, go for it.” Greg, Connie and Amethyst all turned to Steven, who had been quiet for a little while. He looked at them confusedly for a moment.

“What?” He asked.

“Are you into playing the bad boy, Stee-man?” Amethyst purred, spinning a d8 on the table.

“I-“ He froze for a second. “I could play an evil character if that’s what everyone else wants to do,” his voice tight. “I mean Amethyst and I were heels when we did Purple Puma and Tiger Millionaire…”

“If you want to play a good guy, that’s fine,” Connie interjected. “I’ll play Talin as neutral.”

“Connie, I want you to have fun, so I can play a neutral character if that’s better for the group.” Steven replied. “I think I found a background that will work for that anyway, just gimmie a sec…”

“Ok, Steven.” Greg said. “Amethyst, what’s your motivation for your character? You said she’s a sailor, right? So what brings her to port, and what reason would she have for finding an adventuring group?”

“Oh, that’s easy: revenge.” Amethyst replied with a sneer.

“Did you get kicked off your ship?” Connie asked. “And what’s her name?

“Not just that. My ship was stolen by pirates.” She answered roguishly. “I was one of the few survivors of the Silver Swordfish. I want to group up and get stronger so I can take the ship back. There’s two people that need to go down for their place in this folly. The captain of the ship that boarded my vessel, and the cad who’s heading it now both need to find an axe in their heads. My axe, specifically. And her name is Wiivai Norixius.”

“You came up with that fast, Amethyst,” Greg replied.

“Guess I’m just a natural improviser,” she said coyly.

“With what you just said, that sounds like you have a pretty specific goal in mind.” Greg replied, and Amethyst nodded. “We’ll workshop your remaining crew and your adversaries on our own time.”

“Sounds good, Greg. Oh, and when you were talking about alignment stuff, I think I’m feeling the Chaotic Neutral vibe.” Amethyst said. “Outside of my goal to take back my old ship, I’m down for whatever. Drinks, fighting, gambling, flirting. It’s all on the table.”

“Oh boy.” Greg replied, running a hand through his hair. “Well, we’ll make it work.”

“Dad,” Steven said, “I wanted to know if you were open to the Background Variants. There’s one I like if I can play around with it a bit.”

“Lay it on me,” Greg replied.

“Okay, so noble makes it easier to talk to other nobles and get common people to accommodate me, right? But I’m a Tabaxi, which is from the southern isle of Chult, so likely there wouldn’t be many noble-born families on the main part of Faerun.”

“Well, that’s true, but I can make exceptions if you’d want to play it that way. In that case, it will probably make you the face of the party. You’ll probably be doing most of the talking for the group.” Greg interjected. “All of you are playing uncommon races, so the idea that the cat-man is the most approachable of this trio makes the most sense.”

“Ok, so here’s the alternative option. Noble has a variant for knight, which gives three retainers instead of having a position of privilege, which makes less sense for a foreign noble. But I’m a bard, so instead of having knightly retainers, I could have them be my back-up band! I’m the second son of noble family, an eccentric musician who wants to get out and see the world. I’m still well-spoken and have a bit of money to throw around, but I’ve got a little crew, instead of having to worry about the names of local nobility.”

“So what’s the catch?” Greg asked.

“I would just want my retainers, or band, to be proficient in one skill,” Steven replied. “Performance with a different instrument than me.”

“I don’t see a problem with that.” Greg answered. “I still think based on your college of eloquence, and noble background you’d probably end up leading most conversations with NPCs. Connie and Amethyst will likely be pulling their weight more in combat.” Steven smiled and shrugged. “Ok, your turn to roll, Schtu-ball.”

“Okay.” He picked up his dice and gave them a toss.

“Connie, do you have your spell list finished?” Greg asked.

“Yes sir.” She answered. “But I had a question about equipment. Warlocks only start with simple weapons and light armor, and I won’t be as well equipped for the role my character is filling without some more gold. Are we only working with the starting equipment?”

“Well, ya’ll are level two, so I think we can make you guys a little richer than you started with.” Greg answered, flipping to the chart and setting it in front of her. “So in addition, we can do the table on the wealth by class but halved. I think most of you getting a hundred extra gold would be too much in the opposite direction.”

“So, I would roll the 4d4 but multiply it by 5 instead of 10?” Connie asked.

“You got it,” Greg answered, shooting her a finger gun, and dropping two d4s in front of her.

“Hook a gem up, Greg.” Amethyst said. “How many d4 do I roll?”

“2 d4, multiplied by 5. That would be a minimum of 10 and a max of 40.” Greg replied. Connie gave her 4 dice a shake and dropped them into her dice tower.

“Oh good. 11. So that makes 55 gold on top of my 5 from hermit and starting equipment.” Connie said.

“I’m open to letting you sell what you’re not using before all your characters meet.” Greg interjected. Amethyst dice clicked lightly on the table.

“I got 5. So 25 extra gold for me.” Amethyst said.

“Pick yourself up an extra weapon or two, and probably a shield, Amethyst. It’ll come in handy.” Greg replied.

“Okay so I got 17,14,12,8,12,14.” Steven jumps in.

“That’s a little low, but with your racial bonuses and placement in the right stats you’ll be fine.”

“So 12 Strength, 14 in Dex and Con, Intelligence of 8, Wisdom 12 and 17 Charisma. Tabaxi’s bonus makes Charisma 18 and Dexterity 16.”

“It’s a solid array your party has.” Greg replies. “Now roll your 5d4 for your extra money.” Greg hands the teen the pyramid shaped dice he retrieved from Connie and Amethyst earlier, and turns to Connie. “Have you decided your alignment, Connie?”

“Yeah, I still think True Neutral fits best.” She answers. “I have most of my character traits nailed down, and I think that’s what makes the most sense.”

“You know your character best,” Greg replies. “Your turn to measure your wealth, Schtu-ball,” With a quick toss, the dice lay out Steven’s fortune.

“Dad, I made out like a bandit,” Steven preened with a smile. “14 times 5 which is 70. I wanna buy a pony.”

“Hold your horses there, kiddo.” Greg replied. “Some of that money’s gotta go toward outfitting your band.”

“Huh?” Steven said, face puzzled.

“I never said that you were going to get your trio’s instruments for free, did I?” Greg asked, smiling slyly.

“Aw…” Steven mumbled. “Maybe only two of them should play and the other should be our roadie.” Greg chuckled.

“You’ll have to pick out your spells kiddo, but I think we’ve got a solid party here.” Greg replied. “Are there any other burning questions for the group?”

“Nah,” Amethyst answered. Connie shook her head.

“How do you feel about character voices?” Steven asked.

“I’ll probably do some for the important NPCs but you can expect your Joe Schmos to sound like I usually do,” Greg said with a laugh. “As for you three, you’re allowed, just don’t strain yourself or make it sonically unpleasant for everyone else at the table.”

“Anybody seen where they pahked the boat? I was jus in the gahden tryin to chahm a lady afta I hopped off the bow,” Amethyst rattled off in her Bostonian accent, and the teens at the table giggled.

“I hope you can keep that up, Amethyst.” Greg replied. “Afta all, you got do a lotta tawkin’ when ya ain’t brawlin’,” he added, slipping into an Empire city accent.

“Good ‘eavens, das quite enouf-“ Steven started before Connie cut him off.

“No Magic Brian.” She said leaning into him with a smirk.

“Aww…” he replied. “What are you gonna do?”

“Svedish.” She answered. “If my Lady Death vills it.”

“My, my, I do see a fine lookin’ miss with those horns across the bar,” Steven drawled sweetly. “I do declare I must ask for her name and buy the lady a drink,” he continued, southern accent giving him a coy air.

“Vat manner of cveature is ze cat man approaching me?” She asked shyly.

“Ok kids, save it for when we get started.” Greg interrupted.

“Aww man,” Amethyt said, “it was just about to get good, Greg!”

“I know how busy y’all are, but I want to try and make this happen once a month at least.” Greg interjected. “So if we can squeeze a session in next week or the following week, we’ll move forward a few weeks from there.”

“Most of my classes are weekday mornings or afternoons,” Amethyst replied. “So weekends or school nights after 6 are good for me. Thursdays are the only days I’m booked.”

“It depends on the projects I got going on,” Connie added. “Some weeknights I’ve got 3 or 4 nights with open hours, and other weeks I’m so swamped I have to eat at my desk most of the time. I’ll keep you posted once the weekend hits and I bang out my schedule.”

“Whatever day works for you guys, I’ll clear my schedule.” Steven said. “Just give me a couple days’ notice.”

“Ok,” Greg replied. “Good session folks. If anybody has questions about spells or rules, just text me. I got some fun stuff planned…”

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Busts of the Trio:

If you want to see these in fullview, I’ll be posting more on my art blog in the next day or so. Thanks for reading!

#Steven Universe #Steven Universe: Future #su fanfic #Fanfiction #Connie Maheswaran #Greg Universe #Amethyst #connverse #my writing #my precious gem child #Dungeons and Dragons

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