Dark Sun Character Creation and Background

[eternasky]

Interested players please post here:

A slight background.
I will not be running Dark Sun (vanilla: straight out of the book)
The background will be a slightly modified.

Details to follow in this thread.

Character creation guide:
All players are part of the same mercenary band and have been adventuring together for a year. They should be pretty experienced with living in the wastes/desert and not complete noobs to it.
Heroic Themes may apply. a Band of Merccenaries are not entirely combatants. They also have sub-roles such as Traders, Guardians etc.
Please do not create a suicidal character that dies from starvation and dehydration.

Please read up on the Dark Sun Campaign Book for information regarding Defilers and Preservers and the absence of Divine forces.

Players start off at Level 6
Point Buy System / Dark Sun Extreme
- Point Buy is as per normal 4th Ed rules.
Entitled to 1 x Level 5 Item, 1 x Level 6 Item, 1 x Level 7 Item and GP equivalent to a Level 5 Item. You may not upgrade a lvl 5 item to a level 7 item by sacrificing any equipment etc. You may not obtain any equipment higher than Level 8 as well. Note that magical weapons are extremely scarce and rare. Items selected will be subject to approval, please post your list of equipment in the thread here for vetting. (Belt of Nourishment is a very very rare item in this game and may not be selected to start off with nor purchase. It will be awarded as plot rewards at best.)

- Dark Sun Extreme is Rolling your own stats with Buffs.
You get no magic items except basic gear which you can carry and start off with 1000 gp, additionally you have the fixed enhancement bonus applied to you. After rolling your stats, you may choose 1d3 (1d6 divided by 2) stats to upgrade by 2 additional points.
Rolling stats include the following:
roll 4d6, choose 3, re-roll 1s but must accept second result.

For the convenience of tracking, I'll be using the standard GP terminology.

Books allowed:
All Books except: Divine Power, Heroes of Shadow, Essentials materials, Monster Classes. (Tri Keen exempt)


All Dragon Materials are on a per case basis.

[vigean]

i'm in

how many players are you willing to take on?
i have a friend (new player) who might be interested in joining (will need the day and time of the games before he commits though)

all books? ( like eberron, dragon mags, FR setting)
wild talents available for choosing? (player picked or DM rolled?)

how will the extreme DS work?
we roll on the spot at the 1st game?

i call dibs on a psion ( controller). wanna try it out =X

[eternasky]

weekend afternoon, once per week. no fixed session. My work scope burns my weekends every now and then.

Generally i am looking at 10am to 4-6pm oddly. for any session


Modded first post to include books allowed.

DSX mode will be rolled in front of me during your next DDM session.
I will likely pop by to do the rolls and do some miniature painting.

[wum1ng]

I might sit in once or twice a month, depending on other commitments =P August looks like I am going to be more free as said commitments look to be less. How long are you intending to run for? I am getting more distracted thou.. Hmm.

[vigean]

" see how" option allowed? ( as in look at the DSX rolls, then if we feel that they completely sucked, opt back into the standard char creation process)
or do we have to pick 1 and hope the DSX rolls dont screw us over

DSX chars allowed to buy magical equipment with that 1000gp?

- also, so any green light on the wild talents?

[DeathTauRus]

no divne powers? damn >< was making a crazy battle priest just for the darksun game...anyway DM can accept my pc?

[vigean]

this is a perfect time to say it:

WHERE'S YOUR GOD NOW???

[bgkoh]

I'm in! but Sundays mostly

[elijin]

Jun 27, 2011 18:21:53 GMT 8 DeathTauRus said:

no divne powers? damn >< was making a crazy battle priest just for the darksun game...anyway DM can accept my pc?

The Dark Sun campaign has no divine source of power. So I highly doubt Alvin will make an exception, since... WHERE IS YOUR GOD? (thanks shaun haha)

[DeathTauRus]

well its true tat the god's in dark sun are supposedly long death...but the player guide does state tat it is possible to hav a hero with divine powers(if i hav a gd enuf background to support it).

well if it dosent work out i'm just roll sumthing else then XC
btw are deva's allowed? or a they extinct too?

[eternasky]

you write a good enough background and i can look into it for the divine based powers.
Take note that your attacks may be weaker against some monsters and more effectively against some.

I'll need to know if anyone got the balls to play arcane defiler also. Death can come reallllly swift to these characters

Wild talents are a go. Green light there.

If you choose DSX and your stats roll are unsatisfactory, you may choose point buy for the stats HOWEVER, everything else related to DSX will still apply, meaning you get 1k GP and no equipments, you have enhanced bonuses and can choose extra boost to the stat (the 1d3 roll).


Some background notables.
Everyone starts off as part of a mercenary group, this group conducts trades with other cities and with nomadic tribes. You might be the Guardian for your mercenary group's squad leader or the Trader that handles the provisions of your squad. You could be the Noble outcast that joined the group in search of freedom. You might be the Psion who has gotten restless with a Noble's life. Anyway is possible. Free your mind and make a character, don't let your character make you.

Note that the mercenary group has good ties with elves and bad ties with certain merchant dynasties (Houses).

The name of the Mercenary group's squad is up to the party to decide. Play a part in the pre-creation

The mercenary group the players will be in is called, Atreides.

House Hakonen is this group's worst nightmare and are often kill on sight.

For ideas, please refer to Dune.

[eternasky]

Deva's are allowed only if you can handle the roleplay.
Deva's are going to be kill on sight in every city that worships their sorcerer king.
Tyr's pretty much the only 'free' city.

People in Atreides might sell out a Deva even if it's their fellow mate. SO whomever wants to play a Deva, Proceed with extreme caution and prejudice.

[greathermit]

so races like shardmind, warforged, revernant, bug bear is allowed? just saw this thread and have not read thru those books yet... when r u starting this again? me getting 4getful and naggy lately

[wum1ng]

Be a Bene Gesserit!

Or are there going to be sandworms.. Then Fremen will be cool

[Neo|*|Origin]

sandworms.. hmm..

is it like Dune's?

So... Fremens exist in D&D?

[DeathTauRus]

oh boo...looks like i might hafta race change to a shardmind or sumthing then...else its gonna be like my gnoll >.>

[vigean]

hakonen vs Atreides.. thats straight out of Dune! sweet.

i guess a group name nomination for " Fremen " would be too obvious then?

will we be able to ride purple wurms? ( or in this case, brown)

shardmind and warforged living construct racial trait will be damn useful lol

[elijin]

since I can only come sometimes.... can I take on your challenge and play arcane defiler Deva? muahaha. ;D

[vigean]

Jun 29, 2011 19:14:31 GMT 8 elijin said:

since I can only come sometimes.... can I take on your challenge and play arcane defiler Deva? muahaha. ;D

[eternasky]

LOL
can. but Deva need good backstory to fit into dark sun world.

Here's some extras:
Shardmind: Remnants of the past world, Normally serving as high council or broken into bits for the Sorceror-King's breakfast. Highly sought after for their crystaline brain by slavers, said to enhance one's psionic prowess.

Deva: Divine beings that speak the words of lost gods, their gods may have perished but their path to god-hood remains unperturbed (so long as they don't die now) Highly sought after by templars. No deva has ever been seen in public. They are sure to attract any templar or merchant dynasties' attention. Elves loathe them and blame them for the current world. Halflings think they're abalone.

Warforged: Remnants of the past Arcane world. The lack of arcane energies has made it such that all warforges will be returned to arcane energy upon delivery or capture by any city. They're like worth 1 Astral Pieces each.

Revenant is Dragon material and is disallowed.
Bugbear is Monster Races and all Monster races are disallowed except Thri Kreen.

On the concept of Dune, yes there are sandworms and they eat people. it is said that a certain Hidden Elven tribe is able to control them and no one has ever seen or heard from them. (players may not be linked to them as background history). the merchant houses have labelled them as extremely valuable information source and has a bounty for the LIVE capture of any such Elf. They're called Fremen by the various merchant Houses. The name has stuck since.

So for those who love dune, you'll find a lot of references.

[eternasky]

if there's no name given to the group by the players, the default name is going to be Scoia'tael (aka Squirrel)

[bgkoh]

I'm playing a Minotaur Warden. Will upload character sheet in a while...
hmmm...Dune backstory...ok i'll try, here it goes

Bobay was not born in the traditional sense, but rather "created" in an experiment gone awry when Sardaukar scientist attempted to genetically mutate a Salusan Bull and a Sardaukar warrior. When word of the experiment's failure reached the Emperor ears, he had the entire team slaughtered and the infant abomination was tossed in the desert plans of Arrakis to die.
Fortunately, the half-bull, half-warrior, was picked up by a wandering Fremen tribe and taught the ways of the sand.

Learning the arts of mastery of the sand to twart and slow his foes, the young bull was given the name Bobay Zhao, after an ancient saying which meant, "There is no where to run".

Not all was well however, for when Bobay reached man(bull)hood, the camp was raided by Harkonen during one of their regular spice harvest. Amused by the young bull's tenacity, Bobay was sold to the gladiatorial pits where he lived as a slave for the House's amusement.

Having escaped the pits, Bobay quickly found friend among the Scoia'tael, a group of mercenaries. It was there he found employment as the group's bodyguard and guardian.

[eternasky]

one important thing to note for the party's accountant,

There are 3 main categories of currency
Ceramic Pieces (City Currency. each city having its own type, generally accepted in each city except during the Local Regal Inspection period aka LRI, during this period, all currency must be in their respective city's type)

Real Value Currency (When we say gold piece, it's really gold, remnants of the past world, Metal has high value in the world, there's even steel and iron pieces [equals silver])

Obsidian Currency (these obsidian flat pieces are engraved with each merchant house's symbol and the cartel of dynasties and all independant traders accept Obsidian Currency in the same value as what a normal GP would get.)

Otherwise: whenever you change a Obsidian piece into city currency, you get 95 SP worth of ceramic pieces.
For tracking purpose use GP.SP.CP but bracket with (O) or the city name (Tyr) etc.
100 GP (TYR)
This means 100 GP worth of Tyr Ceramic Pieces.

(Taken from Dark Sun Campaign book, modified a little on the name)

Why this? Trading will be common place, so is theft and pickpocketing. Also this will influence the weight of your money pouch and may attract slaver bands or dune bandits.
The Dunewalkers are well known bandits for robbing hapless adventurers.

[eternasky]

Jun 30, 2011 0:38:51 GMT 8 bgkoh said:

I'm playing a Minotaur Warden. Will upload character sheet in a while...
hmmm...Dune backstory...ok i'll try, here it goes

Bobay was not born in the traditional sense, but rather "created" in an experiment gone awry when Sardaukar scientist attempted to genetically mutate a Salusan Bull and a Sardaukar warrior. When word of the experiment's failure reached the Emperor ears, he had the entire team slaughtered and the infant abomination was tossed in the desert plans of Arrakis to die.
Fortunately, the half-bull, half-warrior, was picked up by a wandering Fremen tribe and taught the ways of the sand.

Learning the arts of mastery of the sand to twart and slow his foes, the young bull was given the name Bobay Zhao, after an ancient saying which meant, "There is no where to run".

Not all was well however, for when Bobay reached man(bull)hood, the camp was raided by Harkonen during one of their regular spice harvest. Amused by the young bull's tenacity, Bobay was sold to the gladiatorial pits where he lived as a slave for the House's amusement.

Having escaped the pits, Bobay quickly found friend among the Scoia'tael, a group of mercenaries. It was there he found employment as the group's bodyguard and guardian.

Sorry no go. No links to any Fremen at all. Instead you can say Atreides picked you up and you grew with them and now live amongst them.

[vigean]

just to reserve my place for char story:
psion in the academy, got " infected" by the farm realm.
constantly seems to be talking to himself, or hearing things others dont ( the " infection" in his mind)
left psion school ( either because the infection told him to, or he was discovered by the school to be infected. they wanted to experiment / kill him)
survived alone in desert for awhile, eventually picked up by the mercs

( have taken foulborn heritage feat to fit the char story)

basically i'm playing a psion with psyche issues =D
more details to be added later

( i found no references to indicate the far realm is absent in the DS setting, so i hope the above is acceptable)