Temple of Elemental Evil D&D 3.5

Temple of Elemental Evil

This is the Wiki page for Jesse Heinig's game of The Temple of Elemental Evil played in the Play-by-Post forums of RPGnet.

The Player Characters

• Erwilian "Wil" Fletcher: Human Factotum played by John_C
• Harlan Deephunter: Dwarf Ranger played by Shantak
• Lia Kuryana: Human Psion played by Ferrus Animus
• Petorin Droverson: Human Cleric played by tobygrandjean
• Spareth: Elven Soulknife played by Mr Adventurer(formerly played by Psiborg)

Named NPCs

• Calmert, acolyte in the service of St. Cuthbert
• Burne, resident mage and protector of Hommlet, partner of Rufus
• Rufus, warrior partner of Burne
• Ostler Gundigoot, barkeep (and owner) of the Inn of the Welcome Wench
• Jaroo, druid and keeper of the Old Faith in Hommlet
• Rannos, tradesman, friendly but stingy

Locations

• Village of Hommlet - small, quiet village full of decent people
  • Temple of St. Cuthbert
  • Inn of the Welcome Wench
  • Guard tower
  • Keep (under construction)
  • Trading post
• Moathouse - abandoned building that might have bandits or monsters within
• Village of Nulb - fishing village of ill repute, full of river pirates and assorted villains
• Gnarley Forest - monsters lurk there

Threads

In-Character
Out Of Character
Recruitment

Current Events

Near the moathouse, in battle with giant frogs!

Initiative Order

• Spareth
• Harlan
• Medium frog 1
• Wil
• Medium frog 2
• Large frog
• Petorin
• Lia

Resources

SRD
Invisible Castle (dice roller)

Jesse's Recruitment Notes

Five players, a post a day. That's it. You must commit to a schedule of a post per day. I want to keep this game hoppin'. If you don't post or your character dies, I go to the next person on the waitlist.

Invisible Castle. Use Invisible Castle for die rolls. Always use your character's name and action. That way, if I have to search rolls, I can look back at the listing. (Also, this makes sure nobody cheats by rolling a bunch of times and sending the best link, but you wouldn't do that, right?)

25-point standard buy with Greyhawk setting. Greyhawk is not an especially dangerous setting, nor is the Temple module terribly bad if you're properly cautious. The world of Greyhawk is used for sample stuff in the Player's Handbook, so there's plenty there to give character inspiration. Don't use materials (such as sourcebooks) specific to Eberron, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, or other settings. You may consult the RPGA materials for additional background and deities in Greyhawk, if you wish, and as I am conversant with Greyhawk as a setting, you may certainly use elements from its "classic flavor" (such as a cleric of Heironeous with the War domain using a battle axe instead of a longsword). Your characters are exceptional in their mettle, their decision to pursue adventure, and their class abilities. It's not the 14 strength that sets you apart from commoners, it's the fact that you're willing to take the risks of adventure.

First level characters. Standard rules apply: Maximum hit points at first level. You may take the average gold (from the PHB), or roll on Invisible Castle for starting funds. Don't forget to decide on appearance, height, weight, age, and background.

Cite your sources. I don't mind other WotC sources such as the Complete books or the Book of Nine Swords, but for characters with such nonstandard options, you must cite book and page number for any feat, skill, power, class, race, item, or other fiddly bit that comes from such. Always use the most recently-published version as updated by WotC errata. Some elements may be barred outright: the Greyhawk setting as envisioned for the Temple era does not have goliaths, raptorans, or elans, for instance. In general, unusual classes are OK, unusual races are not, but if you're wondering, just ask. Note that Greyhawk does implicitly have psionics, despite what the RPGA might say (see: Zuoken; mind flayers; 1st edition Player's Handbook). I will allow characters from Tome of Magic, Book of Nine Swords, Dungeonscape (factotum), and Heroes of Horror (archivist and dread necromancer), but I reserve the right to pick and choose rules that I may not want or may decide are unbalanced. I probably won't take away class abilities but I may limit access to certain feats or choices of powers. If you are worried about it, give me an idea of your prospective build and I will tell you in advance.

Level adjustments are a special case. If you choose a legal level-adjusted race, such as a half-ogre or aarakocra (not recommended for an adventure largely indoors and underground), I will amortize the level adjustment and give you a special racial progression. This will give you some racial abilities at level 1, and you will gain the remaining abilities as you gain class levels. This way, you are never "behind" the party, you don't worry about losing caster levels or hit dice, and you start close to par with core races and gain your additional abilities when they are not unbalancing.

Evil beware. Characters from races that are widely known to be evil, such as orcs or dark elves, will suffer extreme prejudice and possibly hostility from the common folk and their leaders. This could backlash on the party as a whole, especially if nobody has good Disguise or Diplomacy skills. Characters of evil alignment will probably be approached by the Temple and asked to betray the party. Since an evil character betraying and killing the party would effectively end the game (and that's not fun for the players who don't get to play any more), siding with the Temple makes you an NPC. If you are dead-set on being evil, you should have a reason to work with the rest of the group and to oppose the Temple, such as being from a competing religion or organization (like the Scarlet Brotherhood or church of Wee Jas). I also reserve the right to refuse evil characters that I don't want, or to arbitrarily limit the amount, just based on how I feel. Additionally, any character who is becoming disruptive to the group may be politely asked to "fit in" a bit more. "I was just playing my character" is not a valid defense for ruining the group's fun. Repeated trouble-making means I go to the next waitlister.

Roll yer hit points! At each level, you may choose either to roll your hit die with Invisible Castle, or to take half the hit die. If you take half the hit die, you gain half at odd levels, and half +1 at even levels (this moderates the fact that the average roll will generally be something like 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5, or 6.5). You can switch it up at each level, but once you've chosen it, it's done for that level.

Build smart. Play smart. I'm all for good role-playing and telling a story with your character, but you know going into D&D that the Temple is built on a bedrock of game tropes and niche protection. If the party doesn't have anyone with trapfinding, I'm not going to remove all the traps - I'll just let them kill people until someone on the waitlist brings in some Disable Device. If nobody in the group has healing magic, well, you'll be spending a lot of downtime in the inn, hopefully not giving the Temple forces too much opportunity for reinforcements and assassination attempts.

Where do we go from here? If this game really bogs down, nobody has fun, or everyone dies, I'll probably just throw in the towel. Conversely, if it goes really well, we may keep playing after the Temple.