The Starsoul Crown

Players

• Anglachel
• Silent Wayfarer
• Psychophant
• Radiant Song
• Caias Ward

Setting

After eons of conflict, the legendary magical artifact called the Starsoul Crown has been shattered on the Material Plane. No detection magics, no matter how powerful, can locate the crown, nor lead to its discovery. The bearer of the crown is rumored to possess powers exceeding even that of the eldest dragons, but never in the history of the world has such a one supposed to have held onto it for long.

The Starsoul Crown takes place primarily on the Material Plane. The campaign begins in the city of Crafthull, one of the "Rice Coast" towns along the fertile Imperial Delta. Crafthull has been a thriving port city since the discovery of haduf grain some eight generations ago. Haduf grain, which swells to unreasonably large size when planted in nourished, constantly-wet soil, has brought not only economic prosperity to the region, but also a supply of storehouse food to regions that used to fear the years of drought. In the wake of this newfound agrarian security, arts and crafts have begun to emerge from the race-mixed populations of the coastal and central lands. In particular, coral-based art, introduced by the merfolk of the southern oceans, and "livewood", a style of woodworking done on still-living (and healthy!) trees, introduced by the wood elves, have taken hold as both a pleasant leisure and a source of income for the talented.

It is currently late autumn in the year IC 538 (Imperial Calendar), and as with the last three years it has been a rain-heavy season. Lakes and rivers have swelled nearly to bursting, and even the poorest of men can find steady (if dangerous and unregulated) work repairing and rebuilding the endless series of dikes, dams, and sewage systems throughout the Empire. The throne itself is currently occupied by the Noble Regent Shast Beltram under the direction of the Imperial Circle, held in trust for when the still-infant son of the now-dead Emperor Lazaro Metros IV is old enough to undergo the Vows of Rulership and take his father's throne. While the specifics depend upon whom you ask, most people would agree that times are well-off for now, with good trade with the surrounding kingdoms, naval superiority kept in peaceful check with neighboring aquatic kingdoms, and even (for the first time in decades) an oversupply of basic foodstuffs thanks to the unusual abundance of rain in the inner lands. The military is, perhaps, a trifle overly antagonistic with certain nations for the average citizen's liking, but overall it is a time of peace and plenty.

Characters

• Psychophant playing Dane (The Starsoul Crown) AKA Alycia the Seamstress, Sykibo the half-orc fighter, and Jensen the rogue (Psychophant)-Dane is a changleing Wizard 3/Sorcerer 1/Changling Rogue 1

• Rolzup, playing Walker (Human Druid 5)

• Abdahm! is the Best Bard Ever.

• Crimson-eyed and waddling servant of Wee Jas, Minimee Pinn is played by radiant song.

• Anglachel playing Magnus a grey elven wizard

NPCs of note

• Brenden The Innkeeper

XP Tokens (unspent in bold)

• Toffee's Token: Awarded for saving Toffee the Horse from a watery grave. (Using water elementals, no less!)

House Rules

• 1. Open Rolling Policy - I let players roll dice through InvisibleCastle, but if any player wants me to resolve a tricky roll (as 3.5 is wont to have) on my end, I am glad to do so and post results.

• 2. The following rolls are always made by me, in secret: Spot, Listen, Search, Decipher Script, Bluff, and Forgery checks, along with other checks where characters wouldn't immediately know the results.

• 3. XP is awarded per-encounter, so that players are rewarded not just for killing the monsters, but also for negotiating with them, sneaking past them, disarming their traps, etc.

• 4. I use XP tokens for special achievements, which can be exchanged immediately for XP or used for other beneficial effects depending on the token awarded.

• 5. In an effort to keep the sometimes glacial pace of PbP games rolling a bit faster, I will resolve all multi-stage rolls in combat on my end. This includes things like grappling, complicated spell resolutions and the like, plus multi-day skill checks (typically crafting, but others too).

• 6. All characters, regardless of class, to brew potions. Brew Potion is an automatic feat for all characters with an Intelligence of 10 or greater (as you need that much to brew a level 0 potion). If you are a wizard, cleric or other class that normally brews potions, you get a 10% cost break on XP and materials, to represent your greater knowledge of the specifics of potion-making. You still need all the other things to brew a potion (access to flasks and a lab, materials for brewing), you just don't need to be able to actually cast the spell. With this said, the Craft (Alchemy) skill allows for much more efficient potion-making even for classes not used to wielding arcane magics, and a successful roll (DC 15+spell level) allows you to brew a potion in 1 hour per spell level, instead of 24 hours per potion. Thus, Craft (Alchemy) is a class skill for everyone. This doesn't affect other Craft skills, just that one.

• 7.Characters will sometimes earn XP tokens in lieu of (or in addition to) actual XP for completing certain challenges, solving puzzles, or affecting the world and people around them in real ways. I do this both as a record of the party's awesome adventures and also so that they have much more freedom in how they develop as PCs. Tokens generally serve any one of three functions:

Can be exchanged for XP (sometimes you just want more) Can be exchanged for gold, gems or magical items (depending on the events surrounding the token's award) Can be "sacrificed" to power a spell or saving throw Until it is spent, a token will also provide a small bonus (usually equivalent to a +1 bonus) to some task or thing related to the event that generated the token. The type of spell, saving throw or monetary award a token grants will be affected by the nature of the event that earned it, and a specific token isn't guaranteed to grant all three possibilities. The specific use of a token is also governed by a few rules. For any use of a token, the majority of the party has to agree to use it OOC. In addition, while the saving throw and spell abilities of the tokens can be used immediately, the XP function cannot (you cannot, for instance, gain the last 100 XP you need to level in response to failing a saving throw, in hopes of getting more hit points or spells). The XP gain occurs overnight (or while sleep occurs), resulting in a level (if gained) in the morning. If the token produces gold/gems, it can be used immediately (the character simply realizes they had more on them than they had accounted for), but the production of a magical item also can only be done in "peacetime", not in response to a sudden combat need. As always, individual cases will be ruled on individually. As a nice little bonus (and a chance to expose players to more of my awful writing), each token comes with a little description of what the PC's did to earn it.