girl again (again) #tiefling #dndartists

henceforth this will serve as a thread for this particular campaign whenever we do get back to playing it

Reference of PC names to save time:

Hero - Tiefling sun soul monk (me)
Roni - human rogue/blood hunter
Rocky - stone spirit fighter (@/daveadams97)
Jareth - leonian (lion folk) bard
Bran - borean (mole folk) druid
??? - new mystery PC to replace dead Mekon

DM: @/Jabbergluck

The game has been ongoing for a number of years but I’ve only been a part of the group for the last couple. We’re level 14 currently, started in Pathfinder before transitioning to 5e. Anyway this was my original first ever DnD game so it’s very special to me

We play on Tuesdays (weekly recently, but normally every other week so I have no idea if it will eventually revert back). This week was the first time we played this campaign for 8 months bc some players (almost everyone but me) are responsible adults and are off having kids.

There’s a lot a LOT of backstory and context specific to this campaign setting that would take days to type out, so I’m not going to try and will just elaborate when the need comes up.

To start it’s just important to know that this setting occurs during the early days of magic, so things like potions aren’t readily available. Additionally, spellcasters can’t cast any typical spells 6th level and up.. because they haven’t been invented.

We have mechanics that allow us to work on inventing higher level spells, so far have met mixed results. Bran is working on Whirlwind & Jareth has been working on Teleport. The latter rolled a nat1 and got himself torn in half. we just finished a side arc to make him whole again.

Alright that’s enough immediate backstory. We all collected ourselves after getting Jareth put back together and since shit was all timely-wimey had to dodge our past selves as they were just heading out for the same mission we’d just finished.

Got to our ship (mix of archaic and futuristic tech), got moving to our original intended location before the dumbass teleported his legs somewhere. Since she seemed to be getting on everyone’s nerves (absolutely projecting), Hero fucked off to drink so as not to get in the way.

Everyone else shopped and purchased oils and such so Bran could attempt a Reincarnation spell on Mekon, our corvean (crow folk) wizard who’d died on the mission to save Jareth.

Rocky has an admirer/stalker in town that seems unnaturally different from when we last saw her (heavier in weight that would’ve taken longer than the few days we’d been gone), and also the fact that she’d gone on a date with Jareth and NOT Rocky... shit’s strange

Anyway, we get out of town and Bran tries reincarnation. Roni (typically a lil bitchy) actually gives a nice little plea for Mekon’s spirit to return for the ritual while Rocky threatens to punch all of Mekon’s war guild recruits if he didn’t come back.

Hero had to be convinced to be present since she a) hardly knew Mekon and b) had halfway caused this by disintegrating Mekon’s undead body after his level 20 future self had killed him

Most of the reincarnation assisting rolls were pretty high, but the ritual didn’t work and Mekon was not brought back. Session ended

Roni and Jareth were absent tonight so the rest of the party decided to start looking for a tree for a bit of fast travel. Didn’t find one. DID find a summoning ritual in-progress and the party’s friend Yara (NPC turned PC) trying to stop it with some War Guild initiates.

Yara is badass and beautiful with Galadriel vibes. Hero’s bi self was impressed and kinda immediately into it.

We helped her take out the human summoners but didn’t manage to stop the ritual in time and had to take down the demon too. Hero spent countless years in constant outerplanar darkness and therefore had disadvantage on attacks in regular daylight, so she was extremely useless.

Managed to sneak in the killing blow anyway. Broke the news to Yara that Mekon was dead and she took it hard since she considered his dumb bird self the one who saved her life. She informed us that she’d come to investigate some weird time fuckery, which we caused-

by going back to save Jareth’s life/bottom half. We learned that we switched timelines with another version of our party and that some big things might be different, but we just don’t know what they are yet. It might be more trouble than it’s worth to try to get us back.

Hero did grab one of the demon’s unspent bombs with plans to give to Roni as a hopeful peace offering. We still didn’t find a tree.

I hope it’s legal to post this

I missed a session or two but I don't believe anything big happened in them, so? Skip....... major point is that we're on our way to the next power stone, Divination, because we believe someone is actively trying to get that one also.

So since Spheres of Power just got adapted to 5e and we started with that magic system in Pathfinder (the original game), we went back to it starting with tonight's session. It meant building our level 14 characters back up from the ground with a totally new magic system

I'm pretty happy with the way I built Hero in this new system, although she lost all of her monk abilities. Goodbye slow fall, ki points, and bonus action dashing..

Anyway, we arrive at the place in question to find a pirate ship left with only a skeleton crew. They fire on us first as we get close enough to try to talk, so we rip their ship a new one and four of us board to start pummeling.

I used one of my new Light sphere abilities to restrain one of the 1-hp crewmates for later interrogating while the rest start killing them one by one, but before we can empty the ship, the landing party returns and we all get hit with a Call Lightning

by a big guy that rides a freaking giant goose. Their arrival gives their ship a turn in initiative so while we're all still on board the sails drop and the weather and wind changes to aid them like Link blew his dumbass flute

So in one turn Hero, Rocky, Bran, and Jareth are now 240 feet away on a pirate ship that's moving at full speed while Roni and Yara are back on the Key (which is slow as fuck in comparison). Next session on Tuesday

I'd like to express how hardcore I've made my situation here with this Spheres of Power transition. & it was entirely my own decision. In this system you can take drawbacks that are exactly what they sound like. Every 2 drawbacks you take means you can also take a boon.

I willingly took 8 drawbacks, all because they make sense with a character that is innately tied to darkness and fire (Hero spent immeasurable time in the Outer Dark before coming to this plane, which for her meant lots of perfect darkness and lots of fire).

Since she's trying to find her way to a "better place" the next time she dies (since previously, death means just getting shunted back to the Outer Darkness or wherever), Hero became a wielder of Light magic. So drawbacks that support her nature but hinder the opposite make sense

1) anytime I use a Light sphere talent that costs a spell point I have to d6 recharge the next time I want to use another Light sphere talent (recharges on 4-6).

2) any Light sphere talents I use drain my life, so -2 max hp with every Light-related action/bonus that can only be regained with a long rest.

3) if frightened/charmed/incapacitated/stunned/critted against, I have to pass a DC to cast any Light sphere talent AT ALL until the status is gone

4) every Light sphere talent I use, I have to make a CON save or be poisoned for 1 round, and if I use any more magic on a poisoned round I have to make another save or be incapacitated for a round

5/6) keeping to the "monk" theme, my whole body is used in the casting of spells, so if I'm restrained or grappled I can't cast any magic at all (this is a drawback taken twice)

7) all spells can ONLY be delivered as touch attacks. so even if a talent is ranged, or an AOE, in order for Hero to cast it she has to be in melee with the target and land a melee spell attack.

8) anytime I use an innately fiendish talent (so anything Dark or Nature (fire) sphere), my proficiency bonus for Light sphere spells takes a -1. If I reduce my proficiency bonus to 0, I cannot use any Light sphere spells until after a long rest (and passed DC).

Sadly there weren't nearly as many boons that work, but:
1) connected directly to #8, any long rest I complete without having used and Dark/Nature (fire) spells since the previous long rest, I gain +1 to proficiency in Light sphere spells up to DOUBLE proficiency!! (+10????)

2) when my hp hits 50%, my proficiency bonus gains +1

3) I can choose to add +1 to proficiency as a bonus in order to "overcharge" a following spell action, although I take a level of exhaustion for doing so.

Like 0 people will read through all of these but writing them out again is helping me remember all the crap I have to keep track of thanks to my dumb desire for punishment. oh yeah let's not forget that Hero already innately has disadvantage on ANYTHING in normal or bright light

Again, all of these lend to the idea that a fiendish creature shouldn't be?? casting things that cause radiant damage??? because it's supposed to destroy them??? so while it seems like overkill it's actually REALLY on theme and I'm very excited to watch the fallout

re: disadvantage in normal/bright light, it's funny because the Dark sphere is literally about planting spots of darkness, so Hero can make combat easier on herself but the more she uses Dark spells the less she can access her Light spells

Hero is incredibly impulsive and LOVES to fight (introduced herself to the party by challenging Rocky to a duel. she lost bc he’s a Large-sized rock creature with 500x more hp than her), which means that she won’t hold back when should and one of these days it’ll end very badly

Hero: has disadvantage on everything and only 89 hit points at level 14

Also Hero: runs right up to the bad guy anyway

Prepare for some Hero introspection

She’s really starting to not feel like part of the team. Only one party member likes her, and fresher members surpass her in status REALLY fast. Nothing’s good enough, it feels like?

She’s really abrasive and blunt, yeah, and she didn’t choose a good way of introducing herself at the start, but she’s decent and driven and powerful and (she thinks) fun to be around.

If her personal goal of becoming a hero figure didn’t hinge on her staying with the party... I don’t think she would by this point

Can I also specify that the one teammate that DOES actually like her I’m pretty sure is also the dumbest (love u Rocky)

Trying so hard to become a hero so you go to heaven the next time you die. But what if being the hero means going to hell so that the world can survive? Things keep getting more complicated

Quickly recapping a lot of sessions I neglected to update this thread on: we now have five more power stones, including both Dark and Light, both of which Hero has.

Thus started a tough dichotomy. Hero is innately fiendish and finds the Dark familiar if lonely, while the Light is warm and encompassing. Attuning to one stone ejects the other because of the opposing nature but we don’t know yet if it’s just Hero or if it’s the same for others.

Using the Dark makes it harder to use the Light and vice versa. Using the Dark is easy and natural. Using the Light is Hero’s best chance to avoid hell when she dies next, but it tears her fiendish body apart.

Once we got the Dark stone we got word that the army of darkness stopped its attacks at Hero’s monastery and started heading in our direction. We’ve been keeping an eye on it while gathering more power stones.

It’s clear that they’re beelining for the Dark stone, which is in Hero’s possession. In the process of acquiring the Fate stone in tonight’s session, everyone had to surpass their own test of will and fate - essentially, if you chose wrong, your fate might be disconnected.

Hero chose wrong. In her vision, a commander? of the army of darkness offered her total fealty. Her initial response was to punch him and deal some Light damage but it was ineffective, and faced with the opportunity to control an army that could help the party-

stop the corveans from dropping the moon (which is our main campaign goal), cocky Hero basically accepted. It was more a look into a possible fate than anything because everyone came out of the tests like they were dreams, but Hero-

saw what accepting control of the army would turn her into. She was basically shown that if she accepted and indulged her fiendish nature she could save the world and be the hero she wants to be. But that would essentially mean turning away from her goal of “heaven”.

She’s scared because this time around she’s come so far (15 levels!!! Years probably) in her goal but like. Are you really a hero if you’re only doing it for yourself?? Won’t the powers that be see right through that???

Hero has been around the block enough times to be a good-aligned character by this point, but she wasn’t always that way and has a terrible streak of selfishness and ambition. We’re going through some tough introspection.

Maybe some people just weren’t meant for heaven

I. Want to talk about what happened in tonight’s session but I feel I’d be doing injustice if I didn’t do that with art so I’m just tacking on to this thread that Something happened