D&D 3.5: A Night on Bald Mountain

[yoggemothi]

[glow=yellow,2,300]A Night on Bald Mountain[/glow]

Theme Music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Ca_edg6RE

Backstory

The small town of Tempest Gorge lies at the base of Bald Mountain, a violent peak whose constant electrical storms and volcanic activity leave it barren of all life. For generations the town enjoyed a truce with a band of stone giants that lived in caves on the mountain. The giants would defend the town from attack, and the town would supply the tribe with food and goods.

Recently, however, a horrible monster has been attacking the town at night, kidnapping some and simply killing others. What's worse, it seems that the creature's home is somewhere on Bald Mountain, and no one has heard from the tribe of stone giants since the attacks began. Unless someone comes to save this quaint mountain community, it seems all will be lost ...

The Party

The PCs will already be acqainted with each other and this will be, in essence, a side-quest for their group.

Characters

PC Level: 12th. Characters will not be gaining levels in this game, so create your PC accordingly.
Alignment: Any non-evil.
Races: Anything from the PHB & MM with Level Adjustment +2 or less.
Classes: Anything from the Core Books, PHBII, Complete Adventurer, Complete Arcane, Complete Divine, and Complete Warrior, except psionics.
Starting Gold/Max Single Item Cost: 88,000gp/17,600gp
HD: Max die at 1st, 1/2 die on odd levels, 1/2+1 die on even levels
Stats: 32pt point-buy system
8 =0pts
9 =1pt
10 =2pts
11 =3pts
12 =4pts
13 =5pts
14 =6pts
15 =8pts
16 =10pts
17 =13pts
18 =16pts

Starting Date
February 4th

[yoggemothi]

Alexei Grimson (Human Ranger 7, Evil)
Acting head of Tempest Gorge, with his brother Nikolai. The two apparently don't get along. Alexei likes to throw his weight around and, as the most prolific hunter in Tempest Gorge, feels entitled to do so.

Nikolai Grimson (Human Druid 7, not Evil)
Acting head of Tempest Gorge, with his brother Alexei. The two apparently don't get along. Nikolai is more even-tempered than his brother, although he has a harder time making decisions and often yields to his brother's more forceful personality.

Clyde Wolden (Human Commoner, not Evil)
Resident of Tempest Gorge. Seems to have an infatuation with his town's would-be savior, Noladrahsa. Judging from his selfish, untrusting, and uncaring view of the villagers, he doesn't appear to be related to any of the families living in Tempest Gorge. When the party first met him, he was under the effects of a rather powerful enchantment spell.

Noladrahsa (Half-Gold Dragon)
Warrior who sought to save Tempest Gorge by slaying the monster that was terrorizing it. She made her way up Bald Mountain a week ago, but hasn't been seen since.

Chernabog (Evil)
Possibly a black dragon. Meaning "Dark God" in Giant, the villagers of Tempest Gorge have rightfully given this terror a suitable name. Although the village has been periodically attacked for weeks now, none of the villagers have gotten a good look at the creature.

[yoggemothi]

- Travel to Tempest Gorge to investigate the attacks. (Completed)
- Explore Tempest Gorge for information about the Chernabog. (In progress)
- Defeat the Chernabog

[yoggemothi]

Here's my viewpoints on several key elements of D&D:

Character Creation: Keep it plot-friendly and fair. Trust me, I've seen every broken combination there is in D&D, and I'm guilty of tinkering with most of them as well. Pixie uber-rogues, meta-magic loopholes, racial-template abuses, etc, etc. I'm not saying you should nerf you're character, but don't make it so you can avoid or end most encounters in one round. Honestly, where's the fun in that?

Character Depth: In my higher-level campaigns, I expect every player in my game to create a deep, interesting background for their PC. While a 2nd level Fighter may simply be a soldier in an army, a 12th level Fighter has seen more than his fair share of great battles in his time and has probably had a hand in the outcomes. Higher level characters have accomplished a lot to reach their current state, and I require a backstory that reflects this fact.

Item Creation: I'm very flexible about magical items. I allow for odd-modifier items like "Gloves of Dexterity +1" (1,000gp) and combo-items like an "Amulet of the Mighty Oak" (+2 Con, +2 Wis, +1 natural armor; 13,000gp). Basically, anything that the DMG has provided equations for, I'll allow. My viewpoint is that the D&D multiverse is full of inventive spellcasters who constantly experiment with the energies they're capable of manipulating. While a specific item may be harder to find than others, I'll never say it doesn't exist.

[TheUdjat]

Jan 13, 2010 17:08:25 GMT -5 yoggemothi said:

Character Depth: In my higher-level campaigns, I expect every player in my game to create a deep, interesting background for their PC. While a 2nd level Fighter may simply be a soldier in an army, a 12th level Fighter has seen more than his fair share of great battles in his time and has probably had a hand in the outcomes. Higher level characters have accomplished a lot to reach their current state, and I require a backstory that reflects this fact.

I'm going to nitpick. Normally I'd be 100% be you on this, except for one thing--this is a short. I dig rich backgrounds as much as the next DM, but I'm not going to do a lengthy, complicated background for a character that may not be used for very long. So you get pretty much what I've already written. Sorry

Item Creation: I'm very flexible about magical items. I allow for odd-modifier items like "Gloves of Dexterity +1" (1,000gp) and combo-items like an "Amulet of the Mighty Oak" (+2 Con, +2 Wis, +1 natural armor; 13,000gp). Basically, anything that the DMG has provided equations for, I'll allow. My viewpoint is that the D&D multiverse is full of inventive spellcasters who constantly experiment with the energies they're capable of manipulating. While a specific item may be harder to find than others, I'll never say it doesn't exist.

I may PM you about this. I was going SRD pretty much, but this opens up some options. Thank you

[yoggemothi]

Jan 13, 2010 19:42:55 GMT -5 TheUdjat said:

Jan 13, 2010 17:08:25 GMT -5 yoggemothi said:

Character Depth: In my higher-level campaigns, I expect every player in my game to create a deep, interesting background for their PC. While a 2nd level Fighter may simply be a soldier in an army, a 12th level Fighter has seen more than his fair share of great battles in his time and has probably had a hand in the outcomes. Higher level characters have accomplished a lot to reach their current state, and I require a backstory that reflects this fact.

I'm going to nitpick. Normally I'd be 100% be you on this, except for one thing--this is a short. I dig rich backgrounds as much as the next DM, but I'm not going to do a lengthy, complicated background for a character that may not be used for very long. So you get pretty much what I've already written. Sorry

Sorry about the confusion. I wasn't actually referring to this game in particular. As a "1-shot," my expectations aren't the same. My initial post was more of an overarching philosophy for my full-length campaigns. For a better idea of what I mean, ask Harknail about his character from the game I hosted in college. His character was my all-time-favorite.

[rustrazor]

i know ur campaign has started, and the fact that i havent played a pbp game yet ( and dont hold that agiasnt me)doesnt help, but i was wundering if i could join in? urs is the only one i could fine that is even runnin(this yr for some). ive been an avid player of dnd for the last 12 yrs runnin my own campain(VIVA TABLETOP!!) i looking to take it a bit easy for a little bit as my friends deside on whos next to host (btw we played at least on a bi-weekly if not once a week) so keeping up with posts will not be a problem.plz concider me for joining. if u need a story/ reason to join the party ill work that out if i join.