[OOC] D&D 5e - High Seas and Tall Tales

[JBRam2002]

Hail travelers, and well met! Sit down, rest your weary feet, and listen to a tale of mine (only five copper!) that I personally experienced. It is a tale of high seas, adventure, fate and folly, love and war! There is sure to be something for everyone, and should you wish, you too could be part of the tale (although the price goes up to five silver for that)!

Here is the setting: My friends and I were sailing aboard a merchant vessel when disaster struck! Pirates, or perhaps a leviathan, or maybe both in cahoots attacked! And of course, we valiantly fought them off in a hard-won battle. I shall narrate our journey. Who am I? Well, I'm glad you asked! My name is Jill Orion, and I have been telling tales for years.

A few rules before we set sail, me hearties, yo ho, and all of that! This adventure is set to be full of what one might call style. Rules are great, and must be followed for all lawful participants! And if you're chaotic or neutral, well... follow them anyways!

1) Even though we be heroes and such, we are not quite on the levels of gods. Yet. None of that godmodding, ya hear?
2) Style is everything. No one pays to read "I stab the bad guy. I stab him again." Everything you do should be with flair and style, and shall be rewarded for such. DM Inspiration will be handed out whenever the jollies strike!
3) Yes, I mentioned love, but there are children here. Take your hanky panky behind closed doors!
4) We are heroes! HEROES, I SAY! We shall start as level 10 adventurers with starting gear befitting a high-magic campaign. I'll give you specifics later once I get to know you a little better.
5) This is a swashbuckling adventure on the high seas! Although guns do exist, keep your technobabble out of this. Also, we're pirates. We all can swim about half as far as we can walk (15 ft), unless you're a merfolk or someone who swims better.
6) Because we're swashbuckling heroes, we won't be havin' no weak rolls or poor stats. Use Pathfinder Point Buy Rules with 20 points available to ye.

I have already shared the makings of this story with a handful of my friends, and they get first stab at joining me in the adventure. After that, I am willing to carry about six party members with my amazing bard skills. Much more than that and my back will start to get sore.

There are a wide variety of races, classes, and subclasses out there. Folk of all types can join. If you have found some Unearthed Arcana that fits this setting, feel free to use it. If you wish to play something completely ridiculous like an eyepatch-wearing beholder pirate, let me know and I will find a suitable substitute. The sky is the limit! Almost.

---

So if it isn't fairly obvious by the above, the setting of this story will be a wild tale told by my GMPC bard. There is bound to be a lot of... let's just say, exaggerations of the truth. If this seems interesting to you, drop a note below!

We will be hosting our Character Sheets on Myth-Weavers. HP will be the average value as stated in the PHB.

[Hekazu]

If you wish to play something completely ridiculous like an eyepatch-wearing beholder pirate, let me know and I will find a suitable substitute. The sky is the limit! Almost.

@JBRam2002

GIMME!

[Ms Ravenwinter]

*Slams her hand onto the bard's table, sliding her slender fingers away to reveal five golden coins left glinting in the torchlight.*

Sign me up, I'm bloody bored!

[Lauder]

Sign me the friickty frack up!

[Hekazu]

I think I got the Character Sheet done:
myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1204858

[JBRam2002]

Not finished with Jill, but it has the spells I currently know: myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1204917

[Lauder]

Well here is the barb lizard dude

[Ms Ravenwinter]

Eliza is presentable and at your service, peons!

[Gordian Nought]

Koan. In the works.

[JBRam2002]

@Gordian Nought@Ms Ravenwinter@Lauder@Hekazu@Big Dread@Zverda@Cu Chulainn

Holy crap that's a lot of people.

ANYWAYS. I did have some important stuff to ask you. I would like feedback from everyone in regards to each individual piece. Below is a list of optional Homebrew Rules that modify the feel of the game. Keep in mind that my intention of this game is to be a high seas adventure with danger and glory around every corner. I am not planning to implement any of the features below unless everybody is on board. Please let me know if you don't want any particular optional rule, and if you like these rules, please comment below and say as much.

Once again, these affect core features and might make the game more challenging, but at the same time, more satisfying.

1) Resting Mechanics
Short rests will be unchanged. Long rests will no longer restore full HP, but you may use hit die and any other short rest mechanic during a long rest. All other standard rules apply. See PHB 186 for more information on resting.

Why this is an option: In 5e, you heal up at an incredible pace, especially when compared to Pathfinder or previous versions of D&D. Normally, at the end of a long rest, you can go from 1 HP and barely clinging to life to as healthy as you were before that arduous battle. Implementing this rule will make it more challenging to heal to full for both you and your enemies. Healing spells and abilities will be more valuable, and hit dice management will actually be important. Feats like Durable, Gourmand, and Medic increase in value, as do abilities like Song of Rest and items like Periapt of Wound Closure. On the other hand, Feats like Tough and racial abilities that increase HP without increasing Hit Dice will make it more difficult to reach maximum HP. Resting becomes more strategic instead of automatic.

2) Critical Damage
When scoring a critical hit, the initial damage dice of the attack is maximized. This applies to both weapon and spell attacks, and affects all initial damage dice.

Why this is an option: In 5e, only the dice are doubled on a critical hit (static modifiers do not get doubled). This works out well mechanically, considering that you can get a lot of dice to add. However in practice, it often lends to having a normal hit deal 15 damage and a critical hit deal 9 damage. It can make criticals feel underwhelming in a way that has never been a part of D&D previously. This rule change brings back the power and excitement of seeing that natural 20 land, maximizing the potential of your critical hits. Only the initial dice are doubled, meaning barbarians with improved critical damage still roll critical damage per normal. Be warned that this rule affects enemies as well! Enemies often have rather high damage ranges (like 4d10 on a weapon attack). But in order to experience glory, don't you need to experience some danger as well?

3) Death Mechanics
In D&D (especially 5e), Death is not as much a deterrent as one would assume. I am proposing two new rules to encourage strategy and avoiding deaths.

A) Whenever a resurrection ritual is performed, the party will need to perform a series of checks (maximum of three) with ability type, advantages, and disadvantages assigned by the DM. These checks will be a measure of the characters' attachment to the deceased, as well as a means to encourage the deceased to return to the living. The average of these checks must meet or exceed the Death Save DC (starts at 10, see below).

B) Whenever a character is successfully resurrected, the Death Save DC increases by 1. This DC is used whenever a character is knocked unconscious and during a resurrection ritual.

Why this is an option: Especially since we are starting at a high level, Raise Dead and similar spells are easy to procure and fairly cheap to cast. Without the fear of death, characters are more prone to, well... stupidity. The DCs are not difficult to attain for most characters, but if a character continues to die over and over, the DCs will get higher and it will be eventually impossible for them to be brought back. This rule is not intended as a punishment, but rather as an encouragement for better strategy. Plus, we're telling an intriguing story, and although we're all awesome heroes, we all know that a good funeral scene makes for some excellent storytelling. And just maybe some people might have some alternate characters they want to try out.

[Ms Ravenwinter]

I've stated in a previous RP my approval of these rules and that approval still stands.

[Cu Chulainn]

I think we should all be unkillable demigods who can kill tarrasques with a touch

But these rules look fine to me

[Gordian Nought]

I've stated in a previous RP my approval of these rules and that approval still stands.

@Ms Ravenwinter

What she said! I throw my hat with the lot of ya!

[Lord Orgasmo]

Whoops, didn't see it was full. Sorry.

[JBRam2002]

Mind if I jump in? Imma try out a monk.

@Lord Orgasmo

I'd love to say yes, but I'm already pushing my limits at 8 PCs. Many apologies, but I'll have to call it full for now.

[Hekazu]

@JBRam2002
Let's see here...

1) With Dyn'yer'zhead's max HP being slightly on the low side, he'll probably get use out of the "Medium rest" with the Song of Rest and all. However, with the Long rest only giving half of the maximum hit dice back, I don't know how long a melee range Wizard like him can go on... We'll have to see. I'll cautiously accept.

2) Looks fine to me.

3) Approved, bringing back the same guy indefinitely would get boring.

[Zverda]

*shrugs* I'm ok with it

[JBRam2002]

@JBRam2002
Let's see here...

1) With Dyn'yer'zhead's max HP being slightly on the low side, he'll probably get use out of the "Medium rest" with the Song of Rest and all. However, with the Long rest only giving half of the maximum hit dice back, I don't know how long a melee range Wizard like him can go on... We'll have to see. I'll cautiously accept.

@Hekazu

Long rests only give back half hit dice normally in the PHB. Generally, it should affect most people about the same. Those who have low HP will actually have an easier time surviving, generally, as Song of Rest will be a higher percentage of their HP. But the best way to stay alive is by reducing damage or not being damaged in the first place, although that holds true for everyone.

[Hekazu]

@JBRam2002
I am well aware of it. I'm just afraid that since the system is designed to function with a certain amount of HD expenditure and then one of the main recovery points is also changed to a point where they are expended, eventually one would run out. That's likely more of a low level problem though, as at this point healing spells tend to be much more freely available. Or maybe the working hours of our troupe have also been cut to compensate for lost benefits. Who knows?

[JBRam2002]

@Hekazu On the other hand, two nights of rest will almost definitely restore everyone to max HP without spells, whereas in PF, you required a week. I feel like this won't be too harsh on the party, but as with all homebrew, I am willing to modify if we have significant issues.