The Goblins Fan Forum

STR is my dump stat, as I use CHA as my attack modifier. INT is close behind though.

Been swamped with grading and teaching, but I'll get a finalized sheet up soon.

I would just like to briefly say that Theis sucks and I hate him, because when I thought I was finally done with creating a character, he's convinced me that if I'm picking swashbuckler, it might be worth it to just go rogue4/barbarian1 to still profit of rage and improved AC, while also simultaneously getting a feat to further bolster my character.

Well, what kind of Feat would you pick? Presumably a +1 Strength one, for the +1 to hit/damage? Or you could just get +1 STR/CHA, for the +1 Initiative too. Not sure I'd rate either option higher than at-will Advantage on attacks and Dex saves, but hey, it's your character

Swashbuckler also offers that to an extent, though- If I'm the only target next to an enemy, I'd get advantage from it. And if I'm not alone, but have an ally next to it, I'd ALSO get advantage from the rogue default. If I were to pick the swashbuckler path, I'd only end up needing to take the reckless advance risk in the couple instances that I have two enemies directly next to me. And swashbuckler still allows me to bop them both, and reposition to try and get advantage again. Unless I'm mistaken about that..?

I might just end up resolving all this with a coin flip or something...

We're all pretty sneaky and seem to be built around being effective without weapons tho. This could be a decent infiltration crew

No no no, Sneak Attack =/= Advantage.

There are two ways for normal Rogues to get Sneak Attack;
1) You have Advantage on your attack.
2) You have an ally within 5ft of your target AND you don't have Disadvantage.

Swashbuckler adds a third option;
3) You are within 5ft of them, don't have another enemy within 5ft of you, AND you don't have Disadvantage.

By default, 2 and 3 don't automatically grant advantage. You just don't need to already have advantage to get the bonus Sneak Attack damage.

So yeah, without Reckless Attack you'd probably still be getting Sneak Attack off most of the time. But you'd only be rolling 1d20 to hit, unless you could get advantage another way (by Hiding then attacking, for example - but that's easier with range, in which case you wouldn't be using your Barb stuff anyway).

Oh, right! Hmm, does change things a bit... The big thing is indeed to get those sneak attacks off, but advantage IS nice. (Even if it comes at the cost of being hit easy) I was probably going to get a feat along the lines of orcish fury, which would get me +1 in STR, yeah.

...The coin flip solution is getting more and more tempting.

That's always my default solution too. Seriously, I've actually done that IRL when I can't decide what meal to get at a restaurant

Alright, so now I'm back in front of a computer - how close do you guys think you are to being ready? Mechanics stuff isn't super important right now, but I'd like to know at least some brief backstories so I can put the finishing touches on the setting. Stuff like where you're from, why you're in Farawlen, and so on.

Do you have any other questions you'd liked answered?

I'm good to go pretty much. How much backstory would you like? I can write something up tonight.

spiderwrangler wrote:Do you have any other questions you'd liked answered?

Hmm...not really no. Though some details about how you got your particular magic items would be appreciated (e.g. stolen, won in a card game, family heirloom, etc).

thinkslogically wrote:I'm good to go pretty much. How much backstory would you like? I can write something up tonight.

Like I said, doesn't have to be an essay or anything. Just a few sentences on his/her home town, and their reason for accepting the heist job.

Also, picking Farawlen as your home and saying you're local to the area is fine too (and will definitely give certain bonuses/penalties in some situations). I just need to know that first

Okay, so, about high time I actually finish this up... So I've locked down my decision-making process. It's either going to be rogue 3/barbarian 2, in which case assassin subclass is the best pick... OR rogue 4/barbarian 1, coupled with swashbuckler.

I can't actually decide between these two options though, so... Rolling for it- The second option it is. I'll get to working on getting my sheet in order.

As for backstory... I was thinking that he was a member of an infamous pirate crew, even if not one of it's more prominent members. A battle at sea would leave their captain mortally wounded however, and after his demise, things just kind of... Disbanded. He found his way to the city and spent the last year or two as just a regular sailor... Which isn't to say he's not looking out for the occasional more "dirty" job. That work?

edit: Also had to reroll one of my HP dice, sadly: HP roll: 1D8 = [6] = 6

So Jax has his backstory on his sheet, but he's from out of town. He only stays in one place long enough to drain a few wealthy folk of enough gold for comfort, but not enough to arouse suspicion. Prison would be soooo boring! The heist is just another way to do what he does anyway, with a potentially bigger payoff.

His magic item is a little lucky stone he found on the banks of a river after a brief tryst with a wealthy heiress. It may or may not have belonged to her originally, but he kept it and tends to play with it in a pocket when he's feeling uncomfortable.

His trinket is a small snuff box with the word "dreams" on it. He occasionally uses it a conversation starter when he's flirting with a mark. It contains a tiny piece of folded parchment inside, which is entirely unremarkable, except that he can tell interesting lies about it.

PS: I'm going to swap the inks in my inventory for the signet ring if that's ok (I forgot to do it), and just use the forge kit for inks etc.

Tossed mine back in the early part of the thread.

I gave answers to those questions and slapped them on at the end of my character sheet. It's late at night, I'll slot it in to the sheet properly later

I think that his own weapon of warning would be nicked from the ship before it got abandoned... Yet got to add that to my sheet, but I think everything else is in order. Besides figuring out a name that's not stupid.

Okay, so the group in full is...

Thinks - Jax Starthorn, Half-Elf Charlatan, Bard 4/Rogue 1
Spider - Kytiel, Human Bounty Hunter, Warlock 5
Mort - [Unnamed], Half-Orc Ex-Pirate, Rogue 4/Barbarian 1
Theis - Vatro, Wood Elf Criminal, Monk 5
Vader - Veska, Kobold Criminal, Ranger 5

Of these, Thinks and Spider are from out of town, Mort has been living in and around Farawlen for the last few years, and Veska was born in/underneath the city. Theis hasn't decided yet (hint-hint ).

Kytiel, Vatro, and Veska also have criminal contacts in the city, while Jax has a pre-made false identity.

Anything I'm missing?

I should be done with mine too.

Vatro would have grown up in a monestary training in martial arts, brewing and alchemy. He grew more and more distant from the rest of the monestary and decided to split off from it and grabbing a bag of holding from the vault, which he used to take some of the tools he had been using for years.
He has since then traveled between towns and peddled some of his own brew and taken the odd job here and there that took advantage of his other more physical training.

Hint hint my behind! Damn ninja posting making me look bad!

Settled on a name- His birth name would be Uragh, although his career as pirate would have earned himself a nickname. It was "Lucky" for a long time, but in his last year of work that changed to "Scar", for obvious reasons. Luckily, it's not "One eye", perhaps making his first name not that invalid.

Would Uragh have any inside connections too, or is that a mechanical thing?

I think I'm good to go

((It's from the background, sailor can get passage, pirate might be different.))

M0rtimer wrote: Would Uragh have any inside connections too, or is that a mechanical thing?

It's part of their Criminal/Bounty Hunter backgrounds. Uragh has the Bad Reputation one instead. We can say he has some minor connections to a couple of gangs, since he no doubt spent the last couple of years living around the south Harbour/Slums. But only to explain why he got an invite for this job.

If you want you can swap out Bad Reputation for Passage (the sailor background). But to be honest, I don't really see travel between cities coming up at all this game. Unless you come up with a creative use for it, I suppose?

Xanathar's Guide has some rather fun tables for each class that you can roll on or choose from to answer additional questions about yourself. I was going to roll up some for Kytiel to help work out his relationship with his patron last night, but ended up not having time with a RL campaign session.

If this is something you guys would be interested in, let me know, I have the book and can act as an intermediary.

The categories for each class are as follows:

Barbarian: Personal Totems, Tattoos, Superstitions
Bard: Defining Works, Instruments, Embarrassments
Monk: Monastery, Monastic Icon, Master
Ranger: View of the World, Homeland, Sworn Enemy
Rogue: Guilty Pleasure, Adversary, Benefactor
Warlock: Patron's Attitude, Special Terms of the Pact, Binding Mark

So for Kytiel:
Patron Attitude: Your patron is the spirit of a long-dead hero who sees your pact as a way for it to continue to influence the world.
Special Terms: When directed, you must take immediate action against a specific enemy of your patron.
Binding Mark: Each time you wake up, the small blemish (scar) on your face appears in a different place.

spiderwrangler wrote: So for Kytiel:
Patron Attitude: Your patron is the spirit of a long-dead hero who sees your pact as a way for it to continue to influence the world.
Special Terms: When directed, you must take immediate action against a specific enemy of your patron.
Binding Mark: Each time you wake up, the small blemish (scar) on your face appears in a different place.

So being a Hexblade, I guess this spirit is bound to your Pact weapon? Or communicates with you through it somehow.

Anyway, since you all seem to be mostly ready, I'll get started on the main/OOC threads now. I'll link them here once they're up, in case you guys miss them