Rex That Betrays
Junior Member
Dungeon Crawlers is an awesome alternative to your standard text based roleplay. Utilizing the mechanics set forth in the fourth edition Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual, Dungeon Crawlers goal is to simulate the excitement and fun found in traditional pen and paper roleplaying through an online Internet community.
One does not need to be familiar with Dungeons and Dragons in any meaningful sense to participate or enjoy Dungeon Crawlers and newcomers to pen and paper roleplaying are more than welcome to jump in and learn the trade.
Further down the road I will explain exactly how roleplaying will work in Dungeon Crawlers and explain the mechanics of the Dungeons and Dragons system but for right now all you need to know is.
Dungeon Crawlers will be set in a traditional fantasy setting much like that found in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, The early Final Fantasy video games (I-IV) and other staples of the fantasy genre.
While the lack of an entirely unique world may be a point against Dungeon Crawlers it has a pro in the fact that it allows players to immediately be able to jump into the world without fear of being expected to keep themselves within any pre-established canon or back story outside of what the plot immediately calls for, allowing us to spend more time on getting used to the mechanics of roleplaying rather than the mechanics of the setting. Not to mention the fact that there's a reason why Lord of the Rings and Final Fantasy inspired so many clones and copycat's, sometimes going with the tried and true can be just as, if not more so, fun as exploring the new and unknown.
Character creation will be split up into two parts. The first part will be posted right here and now for completion. This includes the more biographical information for your character such as Name, Age and Race. The abilities and equipment of your character will be chosen at a later point in time once a decent number of people have finished the first part of the character creation. I decided to do character creation this way to put as little strain on people not familiar with D&D as possible. The Race traits are rather heavy in D&D 4th edition mechanics and any questions about them should be PMed to myself and I will be more than happy to explain what certain terms may mean.
(By no means do you have to finish part 1 to participate in part 2, the character creation process for this roleplay is a little more involved than in most others and so splitting it up is to keep things from being too complicated or overwhelming. So long as all parts of the character sheet are completed before you actually start playing you can complete them in anyway way or when you desire. If sections in part 1 need to be changed to accommodate what you want to do in part 2, you may do so so long as you notify me you have made a change.)
Here is the required character sheet for part 1 (all fields must be completed)
Information regarding the choosable Races, Alignments and Deities can be found in the spoiler tags underneath the character sheet.
(The Names provided in the “Playing an X” section of each race should be taken as examples of what a name for that race looks and sounds like not as the only choices possible for a name. You may use the names if you want, but you don't have to.)
Name:
Age:
Race:
Gender:
Height:
Weight:
Appearance: (Can be 12 paragraphs or just a picture, whetever you feel is necessary. Please no anime pictures)
Alignment:
Deity: (your character can choose to not worship a deity, if you would like to create your own deity please PM me and we can work it out)
Creatures of magic with strong ties to nature, eladrin
live in cities in the twilight realm of the Feywild. Their
cities lie close enough to the world that they sometimes
cross over, appearing briefly in mountain valleys or
deep forest glades before fading back into the Feywild.
Play an eladrin if you want . . .
✦ to be otherworldly and mysterious.
✦ to be graceful and intelligent.
✦ to teleport around the battlefield, cloaked in the
magic of the Feywild.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the wizard,
rogue, and warlord classes.
Eladrin society straddles the boundary between the
Feywild and the natural world. Eladrin build their
elegant cities and towers in places of striking natural
splendor, especially where the veil between the
worlds is thin—isolated mountain vales, green islands
along wild and storm-wracked coasts, and the deepest
recesses of ancient forests. Some eladrin realms exist
mostly in the Feywild, only rarely touching the world,
while others appear in the world at sunset each day,
only to fade back into the Feywild at dawn.
Long-lived and strongly tied to the Feywild, eladrin
have a detached view of the world. Eladrin often have
difficulty believing that events in the world have much
importance to them, and they consider courses of
action that can last for centuries.
Their general detachment from the world can make
eladrin seem distant and intimidating to other races.
Their fey nature also makes them simultaneously
alluring and a little frightening. However, eladrin take
friendships and alliances to heart and can react with
swift fury when their friends are endangered. Combined
with their intellect, bravery, and magical power,
this loyalty makes them powerful and respected allies.
Eladrin live by an aesthetic philosophy common to
the Feywild and personified by Corellon, the god of
beauty and patron of the fey. Eladrin seek to exemplify
grace, skill, and learning in every part of life, from
dance and song to swordplay and magic. Their cities
are places of stunning beauty that shape and guide
their natural surroundings into elegant forms.
Eladrin are close cousins to the elves and are occasionally
called high elves or gray elves. Eladrin favor
the Feywild and arcane magic more than elves do,
but the two races hold each other in high regard. They
share a burning hatred for the third branch of their
race—the drow.
Eladrin Characteristics: Aesthetic, deliberative,
detached, free, graceful, magical, otherworldly, patient,
perceptive
Male Names: Aramil, Arannis, Berrian, Dayereth,
Erevan, Galinndan, Hadarai, Immeral, Mindartis,
Paelias, Quarion, Riardon, Soveliss
Female Names: Althaea, Anastrianna, Andraste,
Bethrynna, Caelynna, Jelenneth, Leshanna, Meriele,
Naivara, Quelenna, Sariel, Shanairra, Theirastra,
Valenae
Wild and free, elves guard their forested lands using
stealth and deadly arrows from the trees. They build
their homes in close harmony with the forest, so perfectly
joined that travelers often fail to notice that they
have entered an elven community until it is too late.
Play an elf if you want . . .
✦ to be quick, quiet, and wild.
✦ to lead your companions through the deep woods
and pepper your enemies with arrows.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the ranger,
rogue, and cleric classes.
Elves are a people of deeply felt but short-lived passions.
They are easily moved to delighted laughter,
blinding wrath, or mournful tears. They are inclined
to impulsive behavior, and members of other races
sometimes see elves as flighty or impetuous, but elves
do not shirk responsibility or forget commitments.
Thanks in part to their long life span, elves sometimes
have difficulty taking certain matters as seriously as
other races do, but when genuine threats arise, elves
are fierce and reliable allies.
Elves revere the natural world. Their connection
to their surroundings enables them to perceive much.
They never cut living trees, and when they create
permanent communities, they do so by carefully
growing or weaving arbors, tree houses, and catwalks
from living branches. They prefer the primal power
of the natural world to the arcane magic their eladrin
cousins employ. Elves love to explore new forests and
new lands, and it’s not unusual for individuals or
small bands to wander hundreds of miles from their
homelands.
Elves are loyal and merry friends. They love simple
pleasures—dancing, singing, footraces, and contests
of balance and skill—and rarely see a reason to tie
themselves down to dull or disagreeable tasks. Despite
how unpleasant war can be, a threat to their homes,
families, or friends can make elves grimly serious and
prompt them to take up arms.
At the dawn of creation, elves and eladrin were a
single race dwelling both in the Feywild and in the
world, and passing freely between the two. When
the drow rebelled against their kin, under the leadership
of the god Lolth, the resulting battles tore the fey
kingdoms asunder. Ties between the peoples of the
Feywild and the world grew tenuous, and eventually
the elves and eladrin grew into two distinct races.
Elves are descended from those who lived primarily
in the world, and they no longer dream of the Feywild.
They love the forests and wilds of the world that they
have made their home.
Elf Characteristics: Agile, friendly, intuitive, joyful,
perceptive, quick, tempestuous, wild
Male Names: Adran, Aelar, Beiro, Carric, Erdan,
Gennal, Heian, Lucan, Peren, Rolen, Theren, Varis
Female Names: Adrie, Birel, Chaedi, Dara, Enna,
Faral, Irann, Keyleth, Lia, Mialee, Shava, Thia, Valna
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Descended from elves and humans, half-elves are
a vital race in which the best features of elves and
humans often appear.
Play a half-elf if you want . . .
✦ to be an outgoing, enthusiastic leader.
✦ to be a charismatic hero equally at home in two
different cultures.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the warlord,
paladin, and warlock classes.
Half-elves are more than just a combination of two
races—the combination of human and elf blood produces
a unique race with qualities all its own. They
share some of the natural grace, athleticism, and keen
perceptiveness of elves, along with the passion and
drive of humans. But in their own right, they are charismatic,
confident, and open-minded and are natural
diplomats, negotiators, and leaders.
Half-elves like to be around people, the more
diverse the better. They gravitate toward population
centers, especially larger settlements where members
of many races mingle freely. Half-elves cultivate large
networks of acquaintances, as much out of genuine
friendliness as for practical purposes. They like to
establish relationships with humans, elves, and members
of other races so they can learn about them, the
way they live, and how they make their way in the
world.
Half-elves rarely settle down for any length of time.
Their wanderlust makes them natural adventurers,
and they quickly make themselves at home wherever
they end up. When their paths take them back to a
place they have visited before, they track down old
friends and renew old contacts.
Ultimately, half-elves are survivors, able to adapt to
almost any situation. They are generally well liked and
admired by everyone, not just elves and humans. They
are empathetic, better at putting themselves in others’
shoes than most.
Half-elves naturally inspire loyalty in others, and
they return that feeling with deep friendship and a
keen sense of responsibility for those who place themselves
in their care. Half-elf warlords and generals do
not order their followers into danger that they would
not face themselves, and they usually lead from the
front, trusting their allies to follow.
Half-elves have no culture of their own and are not
a numerous people. They usually bear human or elf
names, sometimes using one name among elves and a
different one among humans. Some are anxious about
their place in the world, feeling no kinship with any
race, except other half-elves, but most call themselves
citizens of the world and kin to all.
Half-Elf Characteristics: Accommodating, adaptable,
charming, confident, gregarious, open-minded
Half-Elf Names: Typically elf or human names,
though some half-elves have names more typical of
other races
[/QUOTE]
Halflings are a small race known for their resourcefulness,
quick wits, and steady nerves. They are a
nomadic folk who roam waterways and marshlands.
No people travel farther or see more of what happens
in the world than halflings.
Play a halfling if you want . . .
✦ to be a plucky hero who is all too easy to
underestimate.
✦ to be likable, warm, and friendly.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the rogue,
ranger, and warlock classes.
Halflings are an affable, warm, and cheerful people.
They survive in a world full of larger creatures by
avoiding notice or, barring that, avoiding offense. They
appear harmless and so have managed to survive for
centuries in the shadow of empires and on the edges of
wars and political strife.
Halflings are practical and down-to-earth. They
concern themselves with basic needs and simple
pleasures, harboring few dreams of gold or glory.
Adventurers are no more rare among halflings than
among other races, but they usually pursue the
adventurer’s life for reasons of community, friendship,
wanderlust, or curiosity. Halfling adventurers are
brave and faithful companions, relying on stealth and
trickery in battle rather than raw might or magic.
Tight-knit halfling communities are found near
the settlements of other races, often along or even on
the surface of a body of water. Halflings have never
built a kingdom of their own or even held much land.
They don’t recognize any sort of royalty or nobility of
their own, instead looking to family elders to guide
them. This emphasis on family and community has
enabled halflings to maintain their traditional ways
for thousands of years, unaffected by the rise and fall
of empires.
According to halfling legend, Melora and Sehanine
created the halflings together, giving the race a love
of nature and the gift of stealth. When their interest
waned, Melora and Sehanine stopped looking after
the race, or so the legends go, and halflings made
their own way in the world. They say Avandra, the god
of luck, admired their resourcefulness and adopted
them, favoring them with good fortune. Not all halflings
worship Avandra, but nearly all breathe a prayer
of thanks to her when fortune favors them.
Halflings are fond of stories and legends such as the
myth of Avandra, and their culture is rich in oral tradition.
Few members of other races realize that halfling
folktales contain a vast amount of lore about people
and places long past. Many halflings are able to dredge
up knowledge about the history, religion, or culture of
other races, but that knowledge is usually wrapped in
a fable.
Halfling Characteristics: Brave, curious, determined,
down-to-earth, friendly, good-natured, lucky,
nimble, optimistic, practical, resourceful, warm
Male Names: Ander, Corrin, Dannad, Errich, Finnan,
Garret, Lazam, Lindal, Merric, Nebin, Ostran, Perrin,
Reed, Shardon, Ulmo, Wenner
Female Names: Andrey, Bree, Callie, Chenna, Eida,
Kithri, Lidda, Nedda, Paela, Shaena, Tryn, Vani, Verna,
Wella
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Of all the civilized races, humans are the most adaptable
and diverse. Human settlements can be found
almost anywhere, and human morals, customs, and
interests vary greatly.
Play a human if you want . . .
✦ to be a decisive, resourceful hero with enough
determination to face any challenge.
✦ to have the most versatility and flexibility of
any race.
✦ to be able to excel at any class you choose.
Humans are decisive and sometimes rash. They
explore the darkest reaches of the world in search
of knowledge and power. They hurl themselves into
danger, dealing with consequences as they arise. They
act first and ponder later, trusting their will to prevail
and their native resourcefulness to see them through
perilous situations.
Humans always look to the horizon, seeking to
expand their influence and their territory. They chase
power and want to change the world, for good or for
ill. Their settlements are among the brightest lights in
a dark and untamed world, and humans constantly
seek to explore new lands and settle new frontiers.
Their self-reliance and bravery inclines humans
toward martial classes such as fighter, warlord, and
rogue. They often prefer to find hidden reserves of
strength in themselves rather than trust to the magic
of wizards or clerics.
That said, humans tend to be a pious race, worshiping
the whole pantheon of gods. Their myths name no
god as the creator of the race. Some tales say the gods
worked together to create them, infusing them with the
best qualities of each race that had come before. Other
tales say that humans were the creation of a god whose
name is no longer known, a god killed in the war against
the primordials or perhaps assassinated by another deity
(Asmodeus and Zehir are often accused of the deed).
Humans are tolerant of other races, different
beliefs, and foreign cultures. Most human settlements
are diverse places where different races live together
in relative peace. The human empire of Nerath,
the last great world power, united many different
peoples. Most of the human towns that have survived
the empire’s fall are fortified bastions against the
encroaching darkness. When elven forests are razed
or dwarven mines overrun, the survivors often flee to
the nearest human town for protection.
Despite the far reach and power of Nerath, humans
in the present day are a scattered and divided people.
Dozens of small kingdoms, fiefdoms, and free cities
have arisen from Nerath’s ruins, and many of these
realms are petty, weak, or isolated. Tensions and
misunderstandings among them often precipitate skirmishes,
espionage, betrayal, and even open warfare.
Human Characteristics: Adaptable, ambitious,
bold, corruptible, creative, driven, hardy, pragmatic,
resourceful, territorial, tolerant
[/QUOTE]
Heirs to an ancient, infernal bloodline, tieflings have
no realms of their own but instead live within human
kingdoms and cities. They are descended from human
nobles who bargained with dark powers, and long
ago their empire subjugated half the world. But the
empire was cast down into ruin, and tieflings were left
to make their own way in a world that often fears and
resents them.
Play a tiefling if you want . . .
✦ to be a hero who has a dark side to overcome.
✦ to be good at tricking, intimidating, or persuading
others to do your will.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the warlock,
warlord, and rogue classes.
Hundreds of years ago, the leaders of the human
empire of Bael Turath made pacts with devils to
solidify their hold over its enormous territory. Those
humans became the first tieflings, and they governed
their empire in the name of their infernal masters. In
time, Bael Turath came into conflict with Arkhosia,
the ancient empire of the dragonborn, and decades of
warfare left both empires in ruins. Bael Turath’s grand
capital was thrown down in ruin.
Tieflings are the heirs of the surviving noble dynasties
that ruled the empire. Their bloodline is tainted by
their diabolical connections, passing to their descendants
through all generations. In many ways, they
are human; they can have children with humans, for
example, but their offspring are always tieflings.
Centuries of other races’ distrust and outright
hatred have made tieflings self-reliant and often too
willing to live up to the stereotypes imposed on them.
As a race without a homeland, tieflings know that they
have to make their own way in the world and that they
have to be strong to survive, and they are not quick to
trust anyone who claims to be a friend. However, when
a tiefling’s companions demonstrate that they trust him
or her, the tiefling quickly learns to extend the same
trust to them. And once a tiefling gives someone trust
and loyalty, the tiefling is a firm friend and ally for life.
Although the nobles of Bael Turath subjugated
themselves to devils, most present-day tieflings give
little thought to gods or patrons, preferring to look out
for themselves. Therefore, they do not often follow the
path of the divine; tiefling clerics or paladins are rare.
Tieflings are not numerous. Sometimes a tiefling
merchant clan that is descended from a Bael Turath
dynasty settles as a group in a land where wealth can
purchase safety and comfort. But most tieflings are
born outside such hidden dynasties and grow up in the
roughest quarters of human cities and towns. These
tieflings often become swindlers, thieves, or crime
lords, who carve out a niche for themselves amid the
squalor of their surroundings.
Tiefling Characteristics: Cunning, disquieting,
imposing, mysterious, proud, rebellious, self-reliant,
sinister, sly, unconventional
Male Names: Akmenos, Amnon, Barakas, Damakos,
Ekemon, Iados, Kairon, Leucis, Melech, Morthos,
Pelaios, Skamos, Therai
Female Names: Akta, Bryseis, Damaia, Ea, Kallista,
Lerissa, Makaria, Nemeia, Orianna, Phelaia, Rieta
Some young tieflings, striving to find a place in the
world, choose a name that signifies a concept and then
try to embody the concept. For some, the chosen name
is a noble quest. For others, it’s a grim destiny.
Modern Names: Art, Carrion, Chant, Despair, Fear,
Gladness, Hope, Ideal, Music, Nowhere, Open, Poetry,
Quest, Random, Reverence, Sorrow, Torment, Weary
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Alignments are tied to universal forces bigger than
deities or any other allegiance you might have. If you’re
a high-level cleric with a lawful good alignment, you’re
on the same team as Bahamut, regardless of whether
you worship that deity. Bahamut is not in any sense
the captain of your team, just a particularly important
player (who has a large number of supporters).
Most people in the world, and plenty of player characters,
haven’t signed up to play on any team—they’re
unaligned. Picking and adhering to an alignment represents
a distinct choice.
If you choose an alignment for your character, you
should pick either good or lawful good. Unless your
DM is running a campaign in which all the characters
are evil or chaotic evil, playing an evil or chaotic evil character disrupts an adventuring party and, frankly,
makes all the other players angry at you.
Here’s what the four alignments (and being
unaligned) mean.
Protecting the weak from those who would dominate or kill
them is just the right thing to do.
If you’re a good character, you believe it is right to
aid and protect those in need. You’re not required
to sacrifice yourself to help others or to completely
ignore your own needs, but you might be asked to
place others’ needs above your own . . . in some cases,
even if that means putting yourself in harm’s way. In
many ways, that’s the essence of being a heroic adventurer:
The people of the town can’t defend themselves
from the marauding goblins, so you descend into the
dungeon—at significant personal risk—to put an end to
the goblin raids.
You can follow rules and respect authority, but
you’re keenly aware that power tends to corrupt
those who wield it, too often leading them to exploit
their power for selfish or evil ends. When that happens,
you feel no obligation to follow the law blindly.
It’s better for authority to rest in the members of a
community rather than the hands of any individual
or social class. When law becomes exploitation, it
crosses into evil territory, and good characters feel
compelled to fight it.
Good and evil represent fundamentally different
viewpoints, cosmically opposed and unable to coexist
in peace. Good and lawful good characters, though,
get along fine—even if a good character thinks a lawful
good companion might be a little too focused on following
the law, rather than simply doing the right thing.
An ordered society protects us from evil.
If you’re lawful good, you respect the authority of
personal codes of conduct, laws, and leaders, and you
believe that those codes are the best way of achieving
your ideals. Just authority promotes the well-being
of its subjects and prevents them from harming
one another. Lawful good characters believe just as
strongly as good ones do in the value of life, and they
put even more emphasis on the need for the powerful
to protect the weak and lift up the downtrodden. The
exemplars of the lawful good alignment are shining
champions of what’s right, honorable, and true, risking
or even sacrificing their lives to stop the spread of evil
in the world.
When leaders exploit their authority for personal
gain, when laws grant privileged status to some citizens
and reduce others to slavery or untouchable
status, law has given in to evil and just authority
becomes tyranny. You are not only capable of challenging
such injustice, but morally bound to do so.
However, you would prefer to work within the system
to right such problems rather than resorting to more
rebellious and lawless methods.
It is my right to claim what others possess.
Evil characters don’t necessarily go out of their way
to hurt people, but they’re perfectly willing to take
advantage of the weakness of others to acquire what
they want.
Evil characters use rules and order to maximize
personal gain. They don’t care whether laws hurt other
people. They support institutional structures that give
them power, even if that power comes at the expense
of others’ freedom. Slavery and rigid caste structures
are not only acceptable but desirable to evil characters,
as long as they are in a position to benefit from them.
I don’t care what I have to do to get what I want.
Chaotic evil characters have a complete disregard for
others. Each believes he or she is the only being that
matters and kills, steals, and betrays others to gain
power. Their word is meaningless and their actions
destructive. Their worldviews can be so warped that
they destroy anything and anyone that doesn’t directly
contribute to their interests.
By the standards of good and lawful good people,
chaotic evil is as abhorrent as evil, perhaps even more
so. Chaotic evil monsters such as demons and orcs are
at least as much of a threat to civilization and general
well-being as evil monsters are. An evil creature and
a chaotic evil creature are both opposed to good, but
they don’t have much respect for each other either and
rarely cooperate toward common goals.
Just let me go about my business.
If you’re unaligned, you don’t actively seek to harm
others or wish them ill. But you also don’t go out of
your way to put yourself at risk without some hope
for reward. You support law and order when doing so
benefits you. You value your own freedom, without
worrying too much about protecting the freedom
of others.
A few unaligned people, and most unaligned deities,
aren’t undecided about alignment. Rather, they’ve
chosen not to choose, either because they see the benefits
of both good and evil or because they see themselves
as above the concerns of morality. The Raven Queen
and her devotees fall into the latter camp, believing
that moral choices are irrelevant to their mission since
death comes to all creatures regardless of alignment.
Deities are the most powerful immortal creatures,
residents of the countless dominions that swirl
through the Astral Sea. They appear in dreams and
visions to their followers and wear countless different
faces, and artwork depicting them shows them
in a variety of forms. Their true nature is beyond
any physical form. Corellon is often depicted as an
eladrin, but he is no more an eladrin than he is a fey
panther—he is a god, and he transcends the physical
laws that bind even angels to their concrete forms.
Some deities are good or lawful good, some are
evil or chaotic evil, and some are unaligned. Each
deity has a vision of how the world should be, and the
agents of the deities seek to bring that vision to life in
the world. Except for the chaotic evil gods (Gruumsh
and Lolth), all deities are enemies of the demons,
which would rather destroy the world than govern it.
Most people revere more than one deity, praying
to different gods at different times. Commoners in a
small town might visit a temple that has three altars,
where they pray to Bahamut for protection, Pelor for
fertile crops, and Moradin to aid their skill at crafting.
Clerics and paladins more often serve a single
deity, championing that god’s particular cause in the
world. Other adventurers range across the spectrum,
from paying lip service to the whole pantheon, to
fervently serving a single god, to ignoring the gods
entirely as they pursue their own divine ascension.
Many deities have contradictory versions of how
the world should work. Even the agents and worshipers
of deities who share an alignment can come into
conflict.
Good
The god of change, Avandra
delights in freedom, trade,
travel, adventure, and the
frontier. Her temples are
few in civilized lands,
but her wayside shrines
appear throughout the world. Halflings, merchants,
and all types of adventurers are drawn to her worship,
and many people raise a glass in her honor, viewing
her as the god of luck. Her commandments are few:
✦ Luck favors the bold. Take your fate into your own
hands, and Avandra smiles upon you.
✦ Strike back against those who would rob you of
your freedom and urge others to fight for their own
liberty.
✦ Change is inevitable, but it takes the work of the
faithful to ensure that change is for the better.
Lawful Good
Called the Platinum Dragon,
Bahamut is the god of justice,
protection, nobility, and
honor. Lawful good paladins
often revere him, and metallic
dragons worship him as the
first of their kind. Monarchs are
crowned in his name. He commands
his followers thus:
✦ Uphold the highest ideals of honor
and justice.
✦ Be constantly vigilant against evil and oppose it on
all fronts.
✦ Protect the weak, liberate the oppressed, and
defend just order.
Unaligned
The god of spring, beauty, and
the arts, Corellon is the patron
of arcane magic and the fey. He
seeded the world with arcane
magic and planted the most
ancient forests. Artists and musicians
worship him, as do those
who view their spellcasting as
an art, and his shrines can be
found throughout the Feywild. He
despises Lolth and her priestesses
for leading the drow astray. He
urges his followers thus:
✦ Cultivate beauty in all that you do, whether you’re
casting a spell, composing a saga, strumming a lute,
or practicing the arts of war.
✦ Seek out lost magic items, forgotten rituals, and
ancient works of art. Corellon might have inspired
them in the world’s first days.
✦ Thwart the followers of Lolth at every opportunity.
Unaligned
Erathis is the god of civilization.
She is the muse of great invention,
founder of cities, and
author of laws. Rulers, judges,
pioneers, and devoted citizens
revere her, and her temples
hold prominent places in most
of the world’s major cities. Her laws
are many, but their purpose is straightforward:
✦ Work with others to achieve your goals. Community
and order are always stronger than the
disjointed efforts of lone individuals.
✦ Tame the wilderness to make it fit for habitation,
and defend the light of civilization against the
encroaching darkness.
✦ Seek out new ideas, new inventions, new lands
to inhabit, new wilderness to conquer. Build
machines, build cities, build empires.
Unaligned
Ioun is the god of knowledge, skill,
and prophecy. Sages, seers, and
tacticians revere her, as do all who
live by their knowledge and mental
power. Corellon is the patron of
arcane magic, but Ioun is the patron
of its study. Libraries and wizard
academies are built in her name. Her
commands are also teachings:
✦ Seek the perfection of your mind by bringing
reason, perception, and emotion into balance with
one another.
✦ Accumulate, preserve, and distribute knowledge
in all forms. Pursue education, build libraries, and
seek out lost and ancient lore.
✦ Be watchful at all times for the followers of Vecna,
who seek to control knowledge and keep secrets.
Oppose their schemes, unmask their secrets, and
blind them with the light of truth and reason.
Unaligned
Kord is the storm god and the lord of battle.
He revels in strength, battlefield prowess, and
thunder. Fighters and athletes revere him. He
is a mercurial god, unbridled and wild, who
summons storms over land and sea; those
who hope for better weather appease him
with prayers and spirited toasts. He
gives few commands:
✦ Be strong, but do not use your strength
for wanton destruction.
✦ Be brave and scorn cowardice in any form.
✦ Prove your might in battle to win glory and
renown.
Unaligned
Melora is the god of the wilderness
and the sea. She is both
the wild beast and the peaceful
forest, the raging whirlpool and
the quiet desert. Rangers, hunters,
and elves revere her, and sailors
make offerings to her before beginning
their voyages. Her strictures are these:
✦ Protect the wild places of the world from destruction
and overuse. Oppose the rampant spread of
cities and empires.
✦ Hunt aberrant monsters and other abominations of
nature.
✦ Do not fear or condemn the savagery of nature. Live
in harmony with the wild.
Lawful Good
Moradin is the god of creation
and patron of artisans, especially
miners and smiths. He carved the
mountains from primordial earth
and is the guardian and protector of
the hearth and the family. Dwarves from
all walks of life follow him. He demands
these behaviors of his followers:
✦ Meet adversity with stoicism and
tenacity.
✦ Demonstrate loyalty to your family,
your clan, your leaders, and your
people.
✦ Strive to make a mark on the world, a lasting legacy.
To make something that lasts is the highest good,
whether you are a smith working at a forge or a
ruler building a dynasty.
Good
God of the sun and summer, Pelor
is the keeper of time. He supports
those in need and opposes all
that is evil. As the lord of agriculture
and the bountiful harvest, he is the deity
most commonly worshiped by ordinary
humans, and his priests are well received wherever
they go. Paladins and rangers are found among his
worshipers. He directs his followers thus:
✦ Alleviate suffering wherever you find it.
✦ Bring Pelor’s light into places of darkness, showing
kindness, mercy, and compassion.
✦ Be watchful against evil.
Unaligned
The name of the god of death is long
forgotten, but she is called the Raven
Queen. She is the spinner of fate and
the patron of winter. She marks the
end of each mortal life, and mourners
call upon her during funeral rites,
in the hope that she will guard the
departed from the curse of undeath.
She expects her followers to abide by
these commandments:
✦ Hold no pity for those who suffer
and die, for death is the natural
end of life.
✦ Bring down the proud who try to
cast off the chains of fate. As the instrument
of the Raven Queen, you must punish
hubris where you find it.
✦ Watch for the cults of Orcus and stamp them out
whenever they arise. The Demon Prince of the
Undead seeks to claim the Raven Queen’s throne.
Unaligned
God of the moon and autumn, Sehanine
is the patron of trickery and illusions.
She has close ties to Corellon and Melora
and is a favorite deity among elves and
halflings. She is also the god of love, who
sends shadows to cloak lovers’ trysts.
Scouts and thieves ask for her blessing on
their work. Her teachings are simple:
✦ Follow your goals and seek your own destiny.
✦ Keep to the shadows, avoiding the blazing light of
zealous good and the utter darkness of evil.
✦ Seek new horizons and new experiences, and let
nothing tie you down.
Go ahead and post a completed first part of your character sheet and await excitedly for the posting of what will be required for part 2 of the character creation process.
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Dragon Breath
As you open your mouth with a roar, the deadly power of your
draconic kin blasts forth to engulf your foes.
Encounter ✦ Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Poison
Action Type: Minor Action (Close blast)
Targets: All surrounding creatures
Attack: Strength + 2 vs. Reflex, Constitution + 2 vs. Reflex, or
Dexterity + 2 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d6 + Constitution modifier damage.
Increase to +4 bonus and 2d6 + Constitution modifier
damage at 11th level, and to +6 bonus and 3d6 +
Constitution modifier damage at 21st level.
Special: When you create your character, choose Strength,
Constitution, or Dexterity as the ability score you use
when making attack rolls with this power. You also choose
the power’s damage type: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or
poison. These two choices remain throughout your character’s
life and do not change the power’s other effects.
[/QUOTE]
One does not need to be familiar with Dungeons and Dragons in any meaningful sense to participate or enjoy Dungeon Crawlers and newcomers to pen and paper roleplaying are more than welcome to jump in and learn the trade.
Further down the road I will explain exactly how roleplaying will work in Dungeon Crawlers and explain the mechanics of the Dungeons and Dragons system but for right now all you need to know is.
Dungeon Crawlers will be set in a traditional fantasy setting much like that found in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, The early Final Fantasy video games (I-IV) and other staples of the fantasy genre.
While the lack of an entirely unique world may be a point against Dungeon Crawlers it has a pro in the fact that it allows players to immediately be able to jump into the world without fear of being expected to keep themselves within any pre-established canon or back story outside of what the plot immediately calls for, allowing us to spend more time on getting used to the mechanics of roleplaying rather than the mechanics of the setting. Not to mention the fact that there's a reason why Lord of the Rings and Final Fantasy inspired so many clones and copycat's, sometimes going with the tried and true can be just as, if not more so, fun as exploring the new and unknown.
Character creation will be split up into two parts. The first part will be posted right here and now for completion. This includes the more biographical information for your character such as Name, Age and Race. The abilities and equipment of your character will be chosen at a later point in time once a decent number of people have finished the first part of the character creation. I decided to do character creation this way to put as little strain on people not familiar with D&D as possible. The Race traits are rather heavy in D&D 4th edition mechanics and any questions about them should be PMed to myself and I will be more than happy to explain what certain terms may mean.
(By no means do you have to finish part 1 to participate in part 2, the character creation process for this roleplay is a little more involved than in most others and so splitting it up is to keep things from being too complicated or overwhelming. So long as all parts of the character sheet are completed before you actually start playing you can complete them in anyway way or when you desire. If sections in part 1 need to be changed to accommodate what you want to do in part 2, you may do so so long as you notify me you have made a change.)
Here is the required character sheet for part 1 (all fields must be completed)
Information regarding the choosable Races, Alignments and Deities can be found in the spoiler tags underneath the character sheet.
(The Names provided in the “Playing an X” section of each race should be taken as examples of what a name for that race looks and sounds like not as the only choices possible for a name. You may use the names if you want, but you don't have to.)
Name:
Age:
Race:
Gender:
Height:
Weight:
Appearance: (Can be 12 paragraphs or just a picture, whetever you feel is necessary. Please no anime pictures)
Alignment:
Deity: (your character can choose to not worship a deity, if you would like to create your own deity please PM me and we can work it out)
Born to fight, dragonborn are a race of wandering
mercenaries, soldiers, and adventurers. Long ago, their
empire contended for worldwide dominion, but now
only a few rootless clans of these honorable warriors
remain to pass on their legends of ancient glory.
Play a dragonborn if you want . . .
✦ to look like a dragon.
✦ to be the proud heir of an ancient, fallen empire.
✦ to breathe acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the warlord,
fighter, and paladin classes.
mercenaries, soldiers, and adventurers. Long ago, their
empire contended for worldwide dominion, but now
only a few rootless clans of these honorable warriors
remain to pass on their legends of ancient glory.
Play a dragonborn if you want . . .
✦ to look like a dragon.
✦ to be the proud heir of an ancient, fallen empire.
✦ to breathe acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the warlord,
fighter, and paladin classes.
Creatures of magic with strong ties to nature, eladrin
live in cities in the twilight realm of the Feywild. Their
cities lie close enough to the world that they sometimes
cross over, appearing briefly in mountain valleys or
deep forest glades before fading back into the Feywild.
Play an eladrin if you want . . .
✦ to be otherworldly and mysterious.
✦ to be graceful and intelligent.
✦ to teleport around the battlefield, cloaked in the
magic of the Feywild.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the wizard,
rogue, and warlord classes.
Eladrin society straddles the boundary between the
Feywild and the natural world. Eladrin build their
elegant cities and towers in places of striking natural
splendor, especially where the veil between the
worlds is thin—isolated mountain vales, green islands
along wild and storm-wracked coasts, and the deepest
recesses of ancient forests. Some eladrin realms exist
mostly in the Feywild, only rarely touching the world,
while others appear in the world at sunset each day,
only to fade back into the Feywild at dawn.
Long-lived and strongly tied to the Feywild, eladrin
have a detached view of the world. Eladrin often have
difficulty believing that events in the world have much
importance to them, and they consider courses of
action that can last for centuries.
Their general detachment from the world can make
eladrin seem distant and intimidating to other races.
Their fey nature also makes them simultaneously
alluring and a little frightening. However, eladrin take
friendships and alliances to heart and can react with
swift fury when their friends are endangered. Combined
with their intellect, bravery, and magical power,
this loyalty makes them powerful and respected allies.
Eladrin live by an aesthetic philosophy common to
the Feywild and personified by Corellon, the god of
beauty and patron of the fey. Eladrin seek to exemplify
grace, skill, and learning in every part of life, from
dance and song to swordplay and magic. Their cities
are places of stunning beauty that shape and guide
their natural surroundings into elegant forms.
Eladrin are close cousins to the elves and are occasionally
called high elves or gray elves. Eladrin favor
the Feywild and arcane magic more than elves do,
but the two races hold each other in high regard. They
share a burning hatred for the third branch of their
race—the drow.
Eladrin Characteristics: Aesthetic, deliberative,
detached, free, graceful, magical, otherworldly, patient,
perceptive
Male Names: Aramil, Arannis, Berrian, Dayereth,
Erevan, Galinndan, Hadarai, Immeral, Mindartis,
Paelias, Quarion, Riardon, Soveliss
Female Names: Althaea, Anastrianna, Andraste,
Bethrynna, Caelynna, Jelenneth, Leshanna, Meriele,
Naivara, Quelenna, Sariel, Shanairra, Theirastra,
Valenae
Wild and free, elves guard their forested lands using
stealth and deadly arrows from the trees. They build
their homes in close harmony with the forest, so perfectly
joined that travelers often fail to notice that they
have entered an elven community until it is too late.
Play an elf if you want . . .
✦ to be quick, quiet, and wild.
✦ to lead your companions through the deep woods
and pepper your enemies with arrows.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the ranger,
rogue, and cleric classes.
Elves are a people of deeply felt but short-lived passions.
They are easily moved to delighted laughter,
blinding wrath, or mournful tears. They are inclined
to impulsive behavior, and members of other races
sometimes see elves as flighty or impetuous, but elves
do not shirk responsibility or forget commitments.
Thanks in part to their long life span, elves sometimes
have difficulty taking certain matters as seriously as
other races do, but when genuine threats arise, elves
are fierce and reliable allies.
Elves revere the natural world. Their connection
to their surroundings enables them to perceive much.
They never cut living trees, and when they create
permanent communities, they do so by carefully
growing or weaving arbors, tree houses, and catwalks
from living branches. They prefer the primal power
of the natural world to the arcane magic their eladrin
cousins employ. Elves love to explore new forests and
new lands, and it’s not unusual for individuals or
small bands to wander hundreds of miles from their
homelands.
Elves are loyal and merry friends. They love simple
pleasures—dancing, singing, footraces, and contests
of balance and skill—and rarely see a reason to tie
themselves down to dull or disagreeable tasks. Despite
how unpleasant war can be, a threat to their homes,
families, or friends can make elves grimly serious and
prompt them to take up arms.
At the dawn of creation, elves and eladrin were a
single race dwelling both in the Feywild and in the
world, and passing freely between the two. When
the drow rebelled against their kin, under the leadership
of the god Lolth, the resulting battles tore the fey
kingdoms asunder. Ties between the peoples of the
Feywild and the world grew tenuous, and eventually
the elves and eladrin grew into two distinct races.
Elves are descended from those who lived primarily
in the world, and they no longer dream of the Feywild.
They love the forests and wilds of the world that they
have made their home.
Elf Characteristics: Agile, friendly, intuitive, joyful,
perceptive, quick, tempestuous, wild
Male Names: Adran, Aelar, Beiro, Carric, Erdan,
Gennal, Heian, Lucan, Peren, Rolen, Theren, Varis
Female Names: Adrie, Birel, Chaedi, Dara, Enna,
Faral, Irann, Keyleth, Lia, Mialee, Shava, Thia, Valna
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Descended from elves and humans, half-elves are
a vital race in which the best features of elves and
humans often appear.
Play a half-elf if you want . . .
✦ to be an outgoing, enthusiastic leader.
✦ to be a charismatic hero equally at home in two
different cultures.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the warlord,
paladin, and warlock classes.
Half-elves are more than just a combination of two
races—the combination of human and elf blood produces
a unique race with qualities all its own. They
share some of the natural grace, athleticism, and keen
perceptiveness of elves, along with the passion and
drive of humans. But in their own right, they are charismatic,
confident, and open-minded and are natural
diplomats, negotiators, and leaders.
Half-elves like to be around people, the more
diverse the better. They gravitate toward population
centers, especially larger settlements where members
of many races mingle freely. Half-elves cultivate large
networks of acquaintances, as much out of genuine
friendliness as for practical purposes. They like to
establish relationships with humans, elves, and members
of other races so they can learn about them, the
way they live, and how they make their way in the
world.
Half-elves rarely settle down for any length of time.
Their wanderlust makes them natural adventurers,
and they quickly make themselves at home wherever
they end up. When their paths take them back to a
place they have visited before, they track down old
friends and renew old contacts.
Ultimately, half-elves are survivors, able to adapt to
almost any situation. They are generally well liked and
admired by everyone, not just elves and humans. They
are empathetic, better at putting themselves in others’
shoes than most.
Half-elves naturally inspire loyalty in others, and
they return that feeling with deep friendship and a
keen sense of responsibility for those who place themselves
in their care. Half-elf warlords and generals do
not order their followers into danger that they would
not face themselves, and they usually lead from the
front, trusting their allies to follow.
Half-elves have no culture of their own and are not
a numerous people. They usually bear human or elf
names, sometimes using one name among elves and a
different one among humans. Some are anxious about
their place in the world, feeling no kinship with any
race, except other half-elves, but most call themselves
citizens of the world and kin to all.
Half-Elf Characteristics: Accommodating, adaptable,
charming, confident, gregarious, open-minded
Half-Elf Names: Typically elf or human names,
though some half-elves have names more typical of
other races
[/QUOTE]
Halflings are a small race known for their resourcefulness,
quick wits, and steady nerves. They are a
nomadic folk who roam waterways and marshlands.
No people travel farther or see more of what happens
in the world than halflings.
Play a halfling if you want . . .
✦ to be a plucky hero who is all too easy to
underestimate.
✦ to be likable, warm, and friendly.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the rogue,
ranger, and warlock classes.
Halflings are an affable, warm, and cheerful people.
They survive in a world full of larger creatures by
avoiding notice or, barring that, avoiding offense. They
appear harmless and so have managed to survive for
centuries in the shadow of empires and on the edges of
wars and political strife.
Halflings are practical and down-to-earth. They
concern themselves with basic needs and simple
pleasures, harboring few dreams of gold or glory.
Adventurers are no more rare among halflings than
among other races, but they usually pursue the
adventurer’s life for reasons of community, friendship,
wanderlust, or curiosity. Halfling adventurers are
brave and faithful companions, relying on stealth and
trickery in battle rather than raw might or magic.
Tight-knit halfling communities are found near
the settlements of other races, often along or even on
the surface of a body of water. Halflings have never
built a kingdom of their own or even held much land.
They don’t recognize any sort of royalty or nobility of
their own, instead looking to family elders to guide
them. This emphasis on family and community has
enabled halflings to maintain their traditional ways
for thousands of years, unaffected by the rise and fall
of empires.
According to halfling legend, Melora and Sehanine
created the halflings together, giving the race a love
of nature and the gift of stealth. When their interest
waned, Melora and Sehanine stopped looking after
the race, or so the legends go, and halflings made
their own way in the world. They say Avandra, the god
of luck, admired their resourcefulness and adopted
them, favoring them with good fortune. Not all halflings
worship Avandra, but nearly all breathe a prayer
of thanks to her when fortune favors them.
Halflings are fond of stories and legends such as the
myth of Avandra, and their culture is rich in oral tradition.
Few members of other races realize that halfling
folktales contain a vast amount of lore about people
and places long past. Many halflings are able to dredge
up knowledge about the history, religion, or culture of
other races, but that knowledge is usually wrapped in
a fable.
Halfling Characteristics: Brave, curious, determined,
down-to-earth, friendly, good-natured, lucky,
nimble, optimistic, practical, resourceful, warm
Male Names: Ander, Corrin, Dannad, Errich, Finnan,
Garret, Lazam, Lindal, Merric, Nebin, Ostran, Perrin,
Reed, Shardon, Ulmo, Wenner
Female Names: Andrey, Bree, Callie, Chenna, Eida,
Kithri, Lidda, Nedda, Paela, Shaena, Tryn, Vani, Verna,
Wella
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Of all the civilized races, humans are the most adaptable
and diverse. Human settlements can be found
almost anywhere, and human morals, customs, and
interests vary greatly.
Play a human if you want . . .
✦ to be a decisive, resourceful hero with enough
determination to face any challenge.
✦ to have the most versatility and flexibility of
any race.
✦ to be able to excel at any class you choose.
Humans are decisive and sometimes rash. They
explore the darkest reaches of the world in search
of knowledge and power. They hurl themselves into
danger, dealing with consequences as they arise. They
act first and ponder later, trusting their will to prevail
and their native resourcefulness to see them through
perilous situations.
Humans always look to the horizon, seeking to
expand their influence and their territory. They chase
power and want to change the world, for good or for
ill. Their settlements are among the brightest lights in
a dark and untamed world, and humans constantly
seek to explore new lands and settle new frontiers.
Their self-reliance and bravery inclines humans
toward martial classes such as fighter, warlord, and
rogue. They often prefer to find hidden reserves of
strength in themselves rather than trust to the magic
of wizards or clerics.
That said, humans tend to be a pious race, worshiping
the whole pantheon of gods. Their myths name no
god as the creator of the race. Some tales say the gods
worked together to create them, infusing them with the
best qualities of each race that had come before. Other
tales say that humans were the creation of a god whose
name is no longer known, a god killed in the war against
the primordials or perhaps assassinated by another deity
(Asmodeus and Zehir are often accused of the deed).
Humans are tolerant of other races, different
beliefs, and foreign cultures. Most human settlements
are diverse places where different races live together
in relative peace. The human empire of Nerath,
the last great world power, united many different
peoples. Most of the human towns that have survived
the empire’s fall are fortified bastions against the
encroaching darkness. When elven forests are razed
or dwarven mines overrun, the survivors often flee to
the nearest human town for protection.
Despite the far reach and power of Nerath, humans
in the present day are a scattered and divided people.
Dozens of small kingdoms, fiefdoms, and free cities
have arisen from Nerath’s ruins, and many of these
realms are petty, weak, or isolated. Tensions and
misunderstandings among them often precipitate skirmishes,
espionage, betrayal, and even open warfare.
Human Characteristics: Adaptable, ambitious,
bold, corruptible, creative, driven, hardy, pragmatic,
resourceful, territorial, tolerant
[/QUOTE]
Heirs to an ancient, infernal bloodline, tieflings have
no realms of their own but instead live within human
kingdoms and cities. They are descended from human
nobles who bargained with dark powers, and long
ago their empire subjugated half the world. But the
empire was cast down into ruin, and tieflings were left
to make their own way in a world that often fears and
resents them.
Play a tiefling if you want . . .
✦ to be a hero who has a dark side to overcome.
✦ to be good at tricking, intimidating, or persuading
others to do your will.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the warlock,
warlord, and rogue classes.
Hundreds of years ago, the leaders of the human
empire of Bael Turath made pacts with devils to
solidify their hold over its enormous territory. Those
humans became the first tieflings, and they governed
their empire in the name of their infernal masters. In
time, Bael Turath came into conflict with Arkhosia,
the ancient empire of the dragonborn, and decades of
warfare left both empires in ruins. Bael Turath’s grand
capital was thrown down in ruin.
Tieflings are the heirs of the surviving noble dynasties
that ruled the empire. Their bloodline is tainted by
their diabolical connections, passing to their descendants
through all generations. In many ways, they
are human; they can have children with humans, for
example, but their offspring are always tieflings.
Centuries of other races’ distrust and outright
hatred have made tieflings self-reliant and often too
willing to live up to the stereotypes imposed on them.
As a race without a homeland, tieflings know that they
have to make their own way in the world and that they
have to be strong to survive, and they are not quick to
trust anyone who claims to be a friend. However, when
a tiefling’s companions demonstrate that they trust him
or her, the tiefling quickly learns to extend the same
trust to them. And once a tiefling gives someone trust
and loyalty, the tiefling is a firm friend and ally for life.
Although the nobles of Bael Turath subjugated
themselves to devils, most present-day tieflings give
little thought to gods or patrons, preferring to look out
for themselves. Therefore, they do not often follow the
path of the divine; tiefling clerics or paladins are rare.
Tieflings are not numerous. Sometimes a tiefling
merchant clan that is descended from a Bael Turath
dynasty settles as a group in a land where wealth can
purchase safety and comfort. But most tieflings are
born outside such hidden dynasties and grow up in the
roughest quarters of human cities and towns. These
tieflings often become swindlers, thieves, or crime
lords, who carve out a niche for themselves amid the
squalor of their surroundings.
Tiefling Characteristics: Cunning, disquieting,
imposing, mysterious, proud, rebellious, self-reliant,
sinister, sly, unconventional
Male Names: Akmenos, Amnon, Barakas, Damakos,
Ekemon, Iados, Kairon, Leucis, Melech, Morthos,
Pelaios, Skamos, Therai
Female Names: Akta, Bryseis, Damaia, Ea, Kallista,
Lerissa, Makaria, Nemeia, Orianna, Phelaia, Rieta
Some young tieflings, striving to find a place in the
world, choose a name that signifies a concept and then
try to embody the concept. For some, the chosen name
is a noble quest. For others, it’s a grim destiny.
Modern Names: Art, Carrion, Chant, Despair, Fear,
Gladness, Hope, Ideal, Music, Nowhere, Open, Poetry,
Quest, Random, Reverence, Sorrow, Torment, Weary
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Alignments are tied to universal forces bigger than
deities or any other allegiance you might have. If you’re
a high-level cleric with a lawful good alignment, you’re
on the same team as Bahamut, regardless of whether
you worship that deity. Bahamut is not in any sense
the captain of your team, just a particularly important
player (who has a large number of supporters).
Most people in the world, and plenty of player characters,
haven’t signed up to play on any team—they’re
unaligned. Picking and adhering to an alignment represents
a distinct choice.
If you choose an alignment for your character, you
should pick either good or lawful good. Unless your
DM is running a campaign in which all the characters
are evil or chaotic evil, playing an evil or chaotic evil character disrupts an adventuring party and, frankly,
makes all the other players angry at you.
Here’s what the four alignments (and being
unaligned) mean.
Protecting the weak from those who would dominate or kill
them is just the right thing to do.
If you’re a good character, you believe it is right to
aid and protect those in need. You’re not required
to sacrifice yourself to help others or to completely
ignore your own needs, but you might be asked to
place others’ needs above your own . . . in some cases,
even if that means putting yourself in harm’s way. In
many ways, that’s the essence of being a heroic adventurer:
The people of the town can’t defend themselves
from the marauding goblins, so you descend into the
dungeon—at significant personal risk—to put an end to
the goblin raids.
You can follow rules and respect authority, but
you’re keenly aware that power tends to corrupt
those who wield it, too often leading them to exploit
their power for selfish or evil ends. When that happens,
you feel no obligation to follow the law blindly.
It’s better for authority to rest in the members of a
community rather than the hands of any individual
or social class. When law becomes exploitation, it
crosses into evil territory, and good characters feel
compelled to fight it.
Good and evil represent fundamentally different
viewpoints, cosmically opposed and unable to coexist
in peace. Good and lawful good characters, though,
get along fine—even if a good character thinks a lawful
good companion might be a little too focused on following
the law, rather than simply doing the right thing.
An ordered society protects us from evil.
If you’re lawful good, you respect the authority of
personal codes of conduct, laws, and leaders, and you
believe that those codes are the best way of achieving
your ideals. Just authority promotes the well-being
of its subjects and prevents them from harming
one another. Lawful good characters believe just as
strongly as good ones do in the value of life, and they
put even more emphasis on the need for the powerful
to protect the weak and lift up the downtrodden. The
exemplars of the lawful good alignment are shining
champions of what’s right, honorable, and true, risking
or even sacrificing their lives to stop the spread of evil
in the world.
When leaders exploit their authority for personal
gain, when laws grant privileged status to some citizens
and reduce others to slavery or untouchable
status, law has given in to evil and just authority
becomes tyranny. You are not only capable of challenging
such injustice, but morally bound to do so.
However, you would prefer to work within the system
to right such problems rather than resorting to more
rebellious and lawless methods.
It is my right to claim what others possess.
Evil characters don’t necessarily go out of their way
to hurt people, but they’re perfectly willing to take
advantage of the weakness of others to acquire what
they want.
Evil characters use rules and order to maximize
personal gain. They don’t care whether laws hurt other
people. They support institutional structures that give
them power, even if that power comes at the expense
of others’ freedom. Slavery and rigid caste structures
are not only acceptable but desirable to evil characters,
as long as they are in a position to benefit from them.
I don’t care what I have to do to get what I want.
Chaotic evil characters have a complete disregard for
others. Each believes he or she is the only being that
matters and kills, steals, and betrays others to gain
power. Their word is meaningless and their actions
destructive. Their worldviews can be so warped that
they destroy anything and anyone that doesn’t directly
contribute to their interests.
By the standards of good and lawful good people,
chaotic evil is as abhorrent as evil, perhaps even more
so. Chaotic evil monsters such as demons and orcs are
at least as much of a threat to civilization and general
well-being as evil monsters are. An evil creature and
a chaotic evil creature are both opposed to good, but
they don’t have much respect for each other either and
rarely cooperate toward common goals.
Just let me go about my business.
If you’re unaligned, you don’t actively seek to harm
others or wish them ill. But you also don’t go out of
your way to put yourself at risk without some hope
for reward. You support law and order when doing so
benefits you. You value your own freedom, without
worrying too much about protecting the freedom
of others.
A few unaligned people, and most unaligned deities,
aren’t undecided about alignment. Rather, they’ve
chosen not to choose, either because they see the benefits
of both good and evil or because they see themselves
as above the concerns of morality. The Raven Queen
and her devotees fall into the latter camp, believing
that moral choices are irrelevant to their mission since
death comes to all creatures regardless of alignment.
Deities are the most powerful immortal creatures,
residents of the countless dominions that swirl
through the Astral Sea. They appear in dreams and
visions to their followers and wear countless different
faces, and artwork depicting them shows them
in a variety of forms. Their true nature is beyond
any physical form. Corellon is often depicted as an
eladrin, but he is no more an eladrin than he is a fey
panther—he is a god, and he transcends the physical
laws that bind even angels to their concrete forms.
Some deities are good or lawful good, some are
evil or chaotic evil, and some are unaligned. Each
deity has a vision of how the world should be, and the
agents of the deities seek to bring that vision to life in
the world. Except for the chaotic evil gods (Gruumsh
and Lolth), all deities are enemies of the demons,
which would rather destroy the world than govern it.
Most people revere more than one deity, praying
to different gods at different times. Commoners in a
small town might visit a temple that has three altars,
where they pray to Bahamut for protection, Pelor for
fertile crops, and Moradin to aid their skill at crafting.
Clerics and paladins more often serve a single
deity, championing that god’s particular cause in the
world. Other adventurers range across the spectrum,
from paying lip service to the whole pantheon, to
fervently serving a single god, to ignoring the gods
entirely as they pursue their own divine ascension.
Many deities have contradictory versions of how
the world should work. Even the agents and worshipers
of deities who share an alignment can come into
conflict.
Good
The god of change, Avandra
delights in freedom, trade,
travel, adventure, and the
frontier. Her temples are
few in civilized lands,
but her wayside shrines
appear throughout the world. Halflings, merchants,
and all types of adventurers are drawn to her worship,
and many people raise a glass in her honor, viewing
her as the god of luck. Her commandments are few:
✦ Luck favors the bold. Take your fate into your own
hands, and Avandra smiles upon you.
✦ Strike back against those who would rob you of
your freedom and urge others to fight for their own
liberty.
✦ Change is inevitable, but it takes the work of the
faithful to ensure that change is for the better.
Lawful Good
Called the Platinum Dragon,
Bahamut is the god of justice,
protection, nobility, and
honor. Lawful good paladins
often revere him, and metallic
dragons worship him as the
first of their kind. Monarchs are
crowned in his name. He commands
his followers thus:
✦ Uphold the highest ideals of honor
and justice.
✦ Be constantly vigilant against evil and oppose it on
all fronts.
✦ Protect the weak, liberate the oppressed, and
defend just order.
Unaligned
The god of spring, beauty, and
the arts, Corellon is the patron
of arcane magic and the fey. He
seeded the world with arcane
magic and planted the most
ancient forests. Artists and musicians
worship him, as do those
who view their spellcasting as
an art, and his shrines can be
found throughout the Feywild. He
despises Lolth and her priestesses
for leading the drow astray. He
urges his followers thus:
✦ Cultivate beauty in all that you do, whether you’re
casting a spell, composing a saga, strumming a lute,
or practicing the arts of war.
✦ Seek out lost magic items, forgotten rituals, and
ancient works of art. Corellon might have inspired
them in the world’s first days.
✦ Thwart the followers of Lolth at every opportunity.
Unaligned
Erathis is the god of civilization.
She is the muse of great invention,
founder of cities, and
author of laws. Rulers, judges,
pioneers, and devoted citizens
revere her, and her temples
hold prominent places in most
of the world’s major cities. Her laws
are many, but their purpose is straightforward:
✦ Work with others to achieve your goals. Community
and order are always stronger than the
disjointed efforts of lone individuals.
✦ Tame the wilderness to make it fit for habitation,
and defend the light of civilization against the
encroaching darkness.
✦ Seek out new ideas, new inventions, new lands
to inhabit, new wilderness to conquer. Build
machines, build cities, build empires.
Unaligned
Ioun is the god of knowledge, skill,
and prophecy. Sages, seers, and
tacticians revere her, as do all who
live by their knowledge and mental
power. Corellon is the patron of
arcane magic, but Ioun is the patron
of its study. Libraries and wizard
academies are built in her name. Her
commands are also teachings:
✦ Seek the perfection of your mind by bringing
reason, perception, and emotion into balance with
one another.
✦ Accumulate, preserve, and distribute knowledge
in all forms. Pursue education, build libraries, and
seek out lost and ancient lore.
✦ Be watchful at all times for the followers of Vecna,
who seek to control knowledge and keep secrets.
Oppose their schemes, unmask their secrets, and
blind them with the light of truth and reason.
Unaligned
Kord is the storm god and the lord of battle.
He revels in strength, battlefield prowess, and
thunder. Fighters and athletes revere him. He
is a mercurial god, unbridled and wild, who
summons storms over land and sea; those
who hope for better weather appease him
with prayers and spirited toasts. He
gives few commands:
✦ Be strong, but do not use your strength
for wanton destruction.
✦ Be brave and scorn cowardice in any form.
✦ Prove your might in battle to win glory and
renown.
Unaligned
Melora is the god of the wilderness
and the sea. She is both
the wild beast and the peaceful
forest, the raging whirlpool and
the quiet desert. Rangers, hunters,
and elves revere her, and sailors
make offerings to her before beginning
their voyages. Her strictures are these:
✦ Protect the wild places of the world from destruction
and overuse. Oppose the rampant spread of
cities and empires.
✦ Hunt aberrant monsters and other abominations of
nature.
✦ Do not fear or condemn the savagery of nature. Live
in harmony with the wild.
Lawful Good
Moradin is the god of creation
and patron of artisans, especially
miners and smiths. He carved the
mountains from primordial earth
and is the guardian and protector of
the hearth and the family. Dwarves from
all walks of life follow him. He demands
these behaviors of his followers:
✦ Meet adversity with stoicism and
tenacity.
✦ Demonstrate loyalty to your family,
your clan, your leaders, and your
people.
✦ Strive to make a mark on the world, a lasting legacy.
To make something that lasts is the highest good,
whether you are a smith working at a forge or a
ruler building a dynasty.
Good
God of the sun and summer, Pelor
is the keeper of time. He supports
those in need and opposes all
that is evil. As the lord of agriculture
and the bountiful harvest, he is the deity
most commonly worshiped by ordinary
humans, and his priests are well received wherever
they go. Paladins and rangers are found among his
worshipers. He directs his followers thus:
✦ Alleviate suffering wherever you find it.
✦ Bring Pelor’s light into places of darkness, showing
kindness, mercy, and compassion.
✦ Be watchful against evil.
Unaligned
The name of the god of death is long
forgotten, but she is called the Raven
Queen. She is the spinner of fate and
the patron of winter. She marks the
end of each mortal life, and mourners
call upon her during funeral rites,
in the hope that she will guard the
departed from the curse of undeath.
She expects her followers to abide by
these commandments:
✦ Hold no pity for those who suffer
and die, for death is the natural
end of life.
✦ Bring down the proud who try to
cast off the chains of fate. As the instrument
of the Raven Queen, you must punish
hubris where you find it.
✦ Watch for the cults of Orcus and stamp them out
whenever they arise. The Demon Prince of the
Undead seeks to claim the Raven Queen’s throne.
Unaligned
God of the moon and autumn, Sehanine
is the patron of trickery and illusions.
She has close ties to Corellon and Melora
and is a favorite deity among elves and
halflings. She is also the god of love, who
sends shadows to cloak lovers’ trysts.
Scouts and thieves ask for her blessing on
their work. Her teachings are simple:
✦ Follow your goals and seek your own destiny.
✦ Keep to the shadows, avoiding the blazing light of
zealous good and the utter darkness of evil.
✦ Seek new horizons and new experiences, and let
nothing tie you down.
Go ahead and post a completed first part of your character sheet and await excitedly for the posting of what will be required for part 2 of the character creation process.
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Dragon Breath
As you open your mouth with a roar, the deadly power of your
draconic kin blasts forth to engulf your foes.
Encounter ✦ Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Poison
Action Type: Minor Action (Close blast)
Targets: All surrounding creatures
Attack: Strength + 2 vs. Reflex, Constitution + 2 vs. Reflex, or
Dexterity + 2 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d6 + Constitution modifier damage.
Increase to +4 bonus and 2d6 + Constitution modifier
damage at 11th level, and to +6 bonus and 3d6 +
Constitution modifier damage at 21st level.
Special: When you create your character, choose Strength,
Constitution, or Dexterity as the ability score you use
when making attack rolls with this power. You also choose
the power’s damage type: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or
poison. These two choices remain throughout your character’s
life and do not change the power’s other effects.
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elor
