The Back Room: Live Tabletop Games

You can choose one bonus from among any of those offered by the backgrounds you selected.

it was asking me to pick which race

it didn't give me a slot though to pick the street urchin benefit

I assumed that picking background benefits would happen in the next step

I kind of rolled squeaky's two backgrounds into one thing, is that OK?

12:39 AM

You mean, into one story? Sure. Just specify that those are the two backgrounds you've selected.

And Street Urchin can be found under the Scales of War section, if you have an updated CB.

I put it in, it just didn't give me a benefit slot

It auto-populates the Street Urchin benefit for some reason. If you've selected another background, you can double-click the Street Urchin Benefit and it will un-select that benefit and allow you to choose among that or one of the others available to you.

oh, ok

no, I wanted the Intimidate. Just wasn't sure if it was implemented properly

It's in right. And, I just made sense of it.

it gave me a score of 3 in it though

ok

12:45 AM

oooh

It auto-populates the bonus because it's the only bonus available for that background.

ok, so the Mystic Slayer background

ah

I am totally changing it to Tiefling: Seeking Redemption

So, if that's the only background you've selected at that point, it makes sense to auto-populate.

12:46 AM

it fits surprisingly well, considering that Serai isn't really a Dark Sun character

1:02 AM

I put a comment in Sam's block, at least for the interim =)

:D

@Iszi who's eweilnau, and did you add them to your contacts?

Eric. Yes.

ah, right

He hasn't accepted my add request yet.

1:18 AM

glycon.livejournal.com/13888.html

Brian that is way too long

and a Continued link?

?

Haven't gotten to the bottom of the page yet

there is a "Continued here" link

::whimpers::

Oh /good/

there's only 2 parts

:6359 what request?

1:32 AM

@EricWeilnau on gtalk

Ah, good afternoon Eric

I believe we're waiting on you.

i need some help with the backgrounds? what are the racial backgrounds for changeling

Certainly

:6371 good evening

ummm, good question. CB is at my computer at home

Oh /good/

they finally have a backgrounds list for compendium

Shapeshifting Contortionist Heroic Eberron Player's Guide
Fluid Anatomy Epic Eberron Player's Guide
Fickle Servant Heroic Divine Power
Taunting Visage Heroic Divine Power
Initiate of Three Masks Heroic Dragon Magazine 382
Changeling's Mark Heroic Martial Power 2
Insidious Shroud Heroic Dragon Magazine 385
Becomer Heroic Dragon Magazine 386
Flexible Covenant Heroic Dragon Magazine 387
Cunning Artifice Heroic Dragon Magazine 387
Psionic Trick Heroic Dragon Magazine 388
Befuddling Thoughts Heroic Psionic Power

....

that would be feats.

1:34 AM

pretty sure those are feats?

right

Natural Chameleon Racial Eberron Bluff, Stealth Eberron Player's Guide
Cultural Assimilator Racial Eberron Diplomacy, Insight Eberron Player's Guide
Raised as Another Racial General A skill to which the imitated race gains a bonus. Dragon Magazine 386
Mirror Mind Racial General Bluff, Insight Psionic Power
Driven into Hiding Racial General Bluff, Stealth Dragon Magazine 386
Changeling Imposter Racial General Bluff, Streetwise Dragon Magazine 388
Racial Devotee Racial General History, Insight Dragon Magazine 386

I should be able to get the text of them. @EricWeilnau, do you have wave?

so would "raised as another" or "changeling imposter" be better for an infiltrator/spy?

:6385 what is wave?

I'll take that as a no :P

You drift from place to place, borrowing identities to help you disappear into the communities to which you travel. Although you can assume any appearance you choose, you find yourself drawn to another’s identity so much that you replace the individual. What draws you to impersonation? What tricks have you developed to deflect suspicion? How long do you borrow this identity and are you responsible or reckless with the life you steal?

1:37 AM

is there a good background for a traitor

imposter

::blink::

Aaand this is where the magic GM dialog box pops up: "Are You Sure?"

yes, there are some good... darkish backgrounds

what... kind of traitor? Real? Fake? Past? Future?

i am thinking that my character was sent by an opposing kingdom to infiltrate the army. I liked the people so well that i am betraying the opposing kingdom. possibly acting as a double agent. thus why no one knows that I am a changeling

::twitch::

I'm going to commend you for inventive thinking, but ask that that background be saved for a more RP heavy game.

hmm... not sure what else I got

anybody got any other ideas?

Hrmmm, Changeling thief...

1:42 AM

Done with Ludlow's background

Well, the ovbious is "You were given a choice. Join the army, or dance the hemp fandango"

The question is... why didn't you change your face?

Eric did you get a kick out of my comment for Sam? =p

oh, somebody erased it

since you hadn't filled it in yet, I put "The silence says it all." -Squeaky

Occupation - Thief
Type: Occupation
Campaign Setting: General

You were a thief. Were you a cutpurse, a burglar, a grifter, or something else? Were you driven to thievery by necessity? Were you part of a guild or syndicate, or harassed by one as an independent operator? Are you still a member or still hunted? If so, where is the guild based? If not, why did you leave—or why did the guild let you be? Was the parting amicable or are there people out there looking to settle a score with you?

Is a nice standard one for a thief

yea, but it's just that

standard

Occupation - Infiltrator
Type: Occupation
Campaign Setting: General

You infiltrated enemy ranks, working from within to ferret out secrets or disrupt plans. Who did you work for? Did you operate within a noble’s court, for an army, or for a secretive organization? Was it an individual, organization, or nation? What identities did you assume? Were you ever discovered? If so, how did you escape?

1:43 AM

looks through the options

Actually, wait, turn the agent around

you /were/ an infiltrator, then got burned

Now you're in the army waiting for your "real" superiors to find a use for you

What's Raised as another Race?

So you still have the spook aspect

that was where I was thinking. former spy turned to the army to get out of the heat

Right, works with occupation - infiltrator

1:45 AM

or Driven Into Hiding!

oooh yes

those two combined evoke the right tone, methinks

grr, I need to find 386

Apprentice of Sinister Cabal could be kinda cool

or River Smuggler

sounds good though I did kind of like the "raised as another"

yeah that's a good one too

1:46 AM

ooooh, there was this great novel....

you get to pick two =)

basically you were groomed as the perfect enemy agent from birth

to explain why everyone thinks I am human

And then the enemy empire... collapsed.

is that the flavour?

1:47 AM

And so now you're this fantastic resource that... isn't very useful.

it's explicit as /enemy agent/?

?

not just "You were raised as another race by a family that didn't know better, or deep cover changelings"?

oh, the actual background?

yea

1:48 AM

which one are we talking about?

Raised as Another

because Becoming the Mask is fascinating

Your changeling parents wore the guise of another race and have passed that on to you. You might have believed yourself a member of that race until only recently or known it since you were young. How did you react when you learned the truth of your identity? Will you cling to your adopted form or adopt the fluid ways of the changeling?

works with all of these ideas

oooh

that's kinda sweet

ok i am going to write the first draft

1:49 AM

Changelings are fascinating :p

Cool. Be advised that my /only/ requirements are

"choose 2 backgrounds"

Any extra work is optional fun.

btw, Brian

Kinda like Hot Fun, but not Bouncy Bubble Beverage, friend citizen.

in case you missed it

da?

1:50 AM

I changed Serai's Mystic Slayer to Tiefling: Seeking Redemption

awesomesauce

it's from Dark Sun, but the Dark Sun flavour actually kinda sorta works

eh, works.

okay, time for real work, back in 45

woo, 20 points left before I jump another person

Climbing the long tail was easy.

2:08 AM

nooo, my target is running away from me!

4c up

so what does everybody think of "Sam"s backgrounds?

Hmm... Not quite the direction I was thinking of with the "hidden identity" bit, but could be interesting.

2:35 AM

“Shit happens, what?”

heheheh

I like it, it's pretty cool

hrmmm. what 2 backgrounds do I want for this gritty sargent?

Brian, I'm laughing at your 2nd choice comment

?

2:41 AM

Trying to picture Sgt. Nolovet as a seamstress in AM

...I can almost see it

hehehehehe

I'm actually channeling Monsterous Regiment for the sgt.

But yeah, that's the closest I could get given our... PG rating.

nod

As it's /all/ about context.

I have to come up with something really off-the-wall for Zankul

Really?

2:43 AM

I haven't figured out what, yet

I want contribute something that's totally unexpected, but consistent with the character

Emphasis on the latter, for sure. Hmm... Maybe add a family left behind in war, which he had to abandon in his flee to exile?

thinking about something pre-war, pre-military, like a previous or secondary occupation

like the main badass commander dude in Saving Private Ryan (don't wanna spoil it if you haven't seen it)

Current backstory puts him straight into the military.

from birth?

When he was of age... so, presumably no previous occupation.

2:50 AM

hrmm, what about the interregnum period?

What was he doing while disgraced and wandering?

I was thinking maybe he was a merchant's son, for example, living on a ship and getting sea legs before he was old enough for service

something like that

could be fun

Oh, I absolutely allow for RP skill fluff

Already established that he was an Admiral's son, but perhaps the Admiral took him aboard now and then.

So Master chief /is/ a zailor.

so he can use his skills for zailing the 'zee.

(sorry, playing too much fallen london)

Yeah... and we're Army, not Navy/Marines.

2:52 AM

oh, sorry, I didn't catch that, you're right

ok, so running with the exhile period, hmm...

how does a naval officer with no ship and no crew make ends meet?

smuggling

Presumably there was some survival training in the Navy?

He knows how, he just never had to do it before. And smuggling on a cart is... easier than a ship in some ways.

Living off the land for awhile?

river smuggler?

what about explorer/guide?

that's survival-ish

or forest warden

2:54 AM

man, this has to be absolute gold for you, Brian

?

Hmmm... liking the explorer/guide/warden idea...

::gives generic innocent look::

so many checkered pasts and old enemies to bring into play later

It'd be more worthwhile if it was going to be a proper campaign.

But it /is/ providing excellent validation of the technique.

2:55 AM

mm.

I kind of feel like if we went to all this effort, if we get through the first session or two OK, we should make it into one

:6528 ::grins:: We'll see. Maybe

I'll be upset if we don't :p

Not adverse to the idea, really.

How about "Martial - Garrison Child" or "Martial - Scion of a Legend"?

2:56 AM

ok. I have nothing for the wilden. the limited list of backgrounds in the demo version of the cb is not helping either

The purpose of having all these different backgrounds is to add unique story points. If all of his background things say "military", it's not really contributing anything to him as a character

Every cool hero in a story has different angles and aspects of their character... no real life person does only one thing, and nothing else

hrmmmm

wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/database.aspx

go there and click on backgrounds

I am putting explorer/guide, I think that's sufficiently badadss without being military =)

then click search

it should generate a list. If you see one you want to know more about, ask

Well, he's born and raised into military and never left it until his exile, so it's natural that most of his background would focus on military.

2:58 AM

:6538 cool. thanks.

It doesn't even have to be something he did for a huge part of his life, it can be an event that had an influence on who he is

@BrianBallsunStanton If he has access to that, he'd be able to get an updated CB wouldn't he?

No. the compendium is available to everyone. The /text/ of the compendium is reserved

I am kind of considering Trained From Birth For a Specific Prophecy, but I'm not gonna run with that unless I think up something really original for the propechy

Ah, true.

3:00 AM

it also acts as a searchable, unified, index.

the stock backgrounds don't tend to promote the "*not* a huge part of your life" interpretation

good grief

700 background

Yeah... I tend to stay away from prophecy stuff, just for the reason that it's asking for limburger.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with Rihkim

where are the shardminds introduced?

phbIII

Deviant... he secretly enjoys the killing?

3:01 AM

PHB3

...nah.

Oh, and without D&DI, you can't see the prereq's for the BGs.

But, feel free to ask and one of us can check.

@RMorrisey Yeah, that definitely wouldn't fit with the current backstory.

ooh, I got a perfect one

?

Fugitive From A Vengeful Rival

the brother of one of the murdered convoy's survivors wants to settle the score with him

3:04 AM

Hmmm... elaborate.

wow, shardminds have telepathy

and has dedicated his life to hunting him down

No, really?

"that has a language"

;-)

3:04 AM

err, murdered convoy's passengers

Yeah, no specification that it has to speak one of yours.

not survivors, obviously =p

nothing about you having to know the language

And they've had plenty time to fix that, so I think it sticks.

Keep in mind though, I think the communication is one-way.

Nope. It's proper 2 way telepathy

is /handy/ for RPing

mind you, they don't have to respond

Telepathy
A creature that has telepathy can communicate telepathically with any other creature that has a language. The other creature must be within line of effect and within a specified range. Telepathy allows for two-way communication.

also, Kalashtar have a group IRC channel

it's an /awesome/ feat

to basically have a in-character private party chat

And now? lunchtime.

3:06 AM

Hmmm... I'm gonna dig a bit on that. Sounds a little heavy.

FFS, why can't the Compendium ever remember me? The rest of the Wizards sites do!

wha..! group IRC channel sounds awesome

Here's a thought... Can a Telepathic character (with no other specialized feats) understand spoken language not directed toward them, through Telepathy?

I'd say... no

telepathy is not mind-reading

i.e.: A Dragonborn speaks to his comrades in Draconic, but the Shardmind listens to his mind, not his mouth.

telepathy is setting up a communication channel that has to be explicitly invoked.

3:12 AM

(Though Shardmind is perhaps a bad example, since they get choice of an additional language and the character could in fact speak Draconic.)

Thinking perhaps Zankul would be more of an underground resource, not your general go-to wilderness guide. He's got to make some form of income to scrape by, but wouldn't want to be too conspicuous. This, especially considering he's got a Prince that would want him dead and his own people who want him court-martialed.

3:27 AM

@Iszi What do you think of Chief's 2 alt. backstories?

I didn't go into detail about the whole guide profession, just how it got started

there, I added a blurb at the end about keeping a low profile

Hmmm... was thinking deeper underground, but that story actually works better toward his "good-heartedness".

And, could eventually explain how he was caught by the king.

The more I think of it, the better it gets. Good work!

Interesting... teleportation of an unwilling target is not "forced movement".

yes it is

No it's not.

Check the Rules Compendium, if you have it.

Gimme a minute, and I'll have the page reference again.

er, somehow I think we're aruging about different things

D&DI Compendium is still out of date.

3:38 AM

I don't use the books

.... ah

is it in rules updates?

It's in the Rules Compendium.

Another thing that apparently got changed in the RC, is that forced movement cannot be done on a Restrained creature.

are all of the racial backgrounds specific to a single race?

Mostly.

I'm not going to be picky about racial backgrounds

if you find one that OMG fits, use it.

I imagine some share the same, or similar backgrounds. But they do have established prerequisites.

3:40 AM

what is the deviant background?

wait, what?!

arhg, okay, hold on. 2 conflicting convos

Racial backgrounds require that one be a member of that race.

Deviant
Type: Psychology
Campaign Setting: General

You have an unwholesome or unhealthy interest in the dead. What, exactly, was your interest? Did you experiment with necromancy? Steal corpses? What did you do with them when you got them? Does this interest remain or have you overcome it?

.... ew

Anyone can use Deviant.

And yeah... ew.

that is not what I had in mind

3:41 AM

What do you have in mind?

i was thinking that naturae could be mentally unstable due to the hunted background

And, Brian... weren't you just at 300 rep a couple days ago?

hrmmm...

Yup!

that or trying to pick some thing to explain why he is hunted

Well... damn!

3:43 AM

there's a graph around here somewhere

rpg.stackexchange.com/users/760?tab=reputationhistory

the only other idea I have is to pick something from when he was in the kings guard

somewhat linear, that is :)

You've got way too much spare time, is all.

Writing a Ph.D :)

Eric, which character do you have again?

3:44 AM

this is how I relax

It also helps that I can catch all the questions that are late in my day and midnight in yours

:6642 the wilden

Ah, I see it. It's in the restrained entry

You can’t move, unless you teleport. You can’t even
be pulled, pushed, or slid.

that's... going to break a few monsters

hm. shardminds are not naturally psionic...

Not... quite.

But, they're very much meant to be.

Telepahty is ... a "good enough" natural telepathy

3:56 AM

@Sohum Most of the feats specific to Shardminds affect the Shard Swarm ability. Almost all of those that don't either relate to their Telepathy, or give bonus to Psion powers.

/me nod

Same goes for all the Shardmind Paragon Paths.

Hmm, The Path of Thirty-Seven Obstacles is very fitting

... too fitting

D&DI link?

wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/background.aspx?id=671

3:59 AM

cute

nah, I have a better idea

Quite perfect, given the established background and attitude.

and that's just it

it's not actually a new spin on the character

ooooh god

Erik, you still around?

@EricWeilnau I can totally see Corporal natura doing one of these in the middle of an audience: youtube.com/watch?v=q_qgVn-Op7Q

Cause yeah, you do this on something being broadcast over crystal ball and they put you in the army /real/ quick.

Network!

I should totally watch that

4:11 AM

Aye

4:25 AM

:6667 Hey, that guy's name was Beale

mmm, me heart auto-generated ToCs

@BrianBallsunStanton I swear, I did not purposely name the gnome after that guy =p

:6674 But now that I've linked the clip...

the gnome is wearing a kakhi trenchcoat?

yes, it fits so well

lol

I put that link in the googledoc as a side comment

yay. ::twitch::

4:35 AM

I'm sorry, but can anything that fits a Gnome really be called a trenchcoat?

hehehe

trenchjacket?

Holy crap... I just thought of a BAD joke between Zankul and Squeaky... definitely not suitable for the game though.

post it in non-perm google docs chat?

Heh.... no.

Let's just say it has something to do with Squeaky's size, in relation to a particular item that might be among Zankul's "personal protective equipment".

....

yeah, no.

4:46 AM

That's what I said.