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View Full Version : The "accidental cult" or "that's not what flour is for" campaign log



moonfly7
2019-09-01, 08:29 PM
So, over in the 5e forums, in a series of different threads and posts, I've mentioned the game I DM in a homebrew setting. It's also been mentioned on the homebrew thread several times as well.
Anyways, a couple people seem interested in it so I thought I might post it here if anyone actually seemed to care.

The story is set in my own homebrew campaign setting, on so far the only continent written up: Vorabeer(I will make more as the story progresses And they are required).
On this continent everyone is born with a magical ability, and almost everyone can preform at least minor magic:

Descendants: taking this lets you read ancient texts, and you start with one magic item made by me passed down by your family for generations. (Please note in this world artificery as a thing is basically dead. Wands and scrolls are made by the boat load, and many ancient places still hold magic items, but no one focuses to hard on making them, as natural magic is so common, and they aren't seen as nessacary or even that helpful if you aren't an adventurer, so while magic items aren't super rare, taking this is a nice treat)

Magically armored: straight +2 to AC always, whether your whereing armor or not.

Magically armed: whenever you hit with any weapon attack, ranged or melee, you add 1d4 of the weapons damage type to the attack roll.

Elementally fueled: mini control of your chosen element, and a guarrentied 1 extra point if damage of that element type whenever you hit with any type of attack.

Magical healing: you can roll a number of your hit dice equal to your con modifier as a free action any time during combat, choosing how many you expend when you do so.

Naturally magical: straight just 3 sorcerer cantrips, but your also rich and privileged, so that opens a ton of doors.

Magically warned: dodge action as reaction, proficiency with perception or expertise if you already have proficiency.

Magically cloaked: you have a passive stealth equal to 10+your stealth bonus, proficiency or expertise with stealth.

Magically protected: you have either a resistance to two different damage types or immunity to one.

No-mage: you have absolutely no magic, you cannot cast any spell, even cantrips. Because of this, you have advantage on spell saves that require a saving throw that use Charisma, Constitution, Wisdom, or Intelligence. Additionally, the spell magic missile, and any other auto-hit spell must make an attack roll to hit you, and spells that make an attack roll to hit you have disadvantage, as you have no signature in the weave. However, to take magical healing from a spell, feature or item, including potions, you must make a successful Con save equal to 10 plus the spells level, or not be healed by the spell.

The No-Mage gift has not, as you might imagine, been chosen. Also, No-Mages are typically seen as worthless in Vorabeer, and only maybe 3 or 4 are born in every generation.

In this game so far, my players have: press ganged 2 NPCs into the party who weren't supposed to be there, one of whom was an assasin sent to kill them, killed a level 20 character with epic boons at level 5 while in a room with at least 15 other hostile, burned down at least 50 miles of old growth virgin forest, started a cult to their dead god(on accident) had there 1 foot 2 handling wizard kill a hill giant with a burning hands up both nostrils, seen their shifter monk get surrounded by 8 drow champions all attacking twice in a round and not hitting him once, ans watched as the self same monk picked up a catapult, dodged over 50 fireballs, and almost single handedly destroyed an army of 200 men, in the same combat.

Oh, and this is also the group that made me actually groan in real despair when they texted me to ask if there was flour in the town they were protecting. You'll understand why soon, I promise.

So, if my lengthy first post hasn't driven you all away, is any one interested in hearing my groups sometimes serious, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes hilsrious, but ALWAYS fun tale?

NNescio
2019-09-02, 12:53 AM
(...)

In this game so far, my players have: press ganged 2 NPCs into the party who weren't supposed to be there, one of whom was an assasin sent to kill them, killed a level 20 character with epic boons at level 5 while in a room with at least 15 other hostile, burned down at least 50 miles of old growth virgin forest, started a cult to their dead god(on accident) had there 1 foot 2 handling wizard kill a hill giant with a burning hands up both nostrils, seen their shifter monk get surrounded by 8 drow champions all attacking twice in a round and not hitting him once, ans watched as the self same monk picked up a catapult, dodged over 50 fireballs, and almost single handedly destroyed an army of 200 men, in the same combat.

Oh, and this is also the group that made me actually groan in real despair when they texted me to ask if there was flour in the town they were protecting. You'll understand why soon, I promise.

(...)

Obviously because they are aiming to cause a flour dust explosion.

Count yourself lucky that none of them rolled high enough in their real life Nature checks (and have a PC with access to Druid cantrips/spells) to consider farming 'moss' spores (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopodium_powder) for greater effect.

moonfly7
2019-09-02, 08:34 AM
Obviously because they are aiming to cause a flour dust explosion.

Count yourself lucky that none of them rolled high enough in their real life Nature checks (and have a PC with access to Druid cantrips/spells) to consider farming 'moss' spores (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopodium_powder) for greater effect.

You are exactly correct. And what's worse is that they wouldn't have known, except like a month before they first used flour, I mentioned the fact that it was explosive as a piece of trivia. They held on to it for that moment.

moonfly7
2019-09-02, 12:45 PM
Before I get into my PC’s, let me explain something: in addition to the magical talents they chose at the beginning of the game, every character has a special thing unique to them that they begin play with. It’s kind of a tradition carried over from our first ever DND game, and it’s mostly just used to help give flavor and umph to character concepts. There’s also an unspoken rule that you don’t get a flat stat bonus or AC boost from it or something
My players:

First up is Redel, a Kobold with three levels fighter, he took the Dragoon subclass from Xanathars lost notes to everything else, which I edited to make it actually fair. His mount is a boar named Fern who's probably his closest friend. He took the magically armored ability, which manifests itself as incredibly thick magical scaling on his body. Redel is a former member of the Platoons: basically a roaming military that helps deal with bandits and other threats throughout the mess of villages, towns, hamlets, shires, and city states that make up the continent of Vorabeer. Redel is specifically from Fenrir platoon, which is made up entirely of light cavalry, which allows only ten years of active service from its members, there symbol is a wolf with two ruby eyes. Redel’s preferred weapon is a heavy cavalry saber(a scimitar with the heavy property) with a ruby carved into a wolfs head on its pommel. He also carries a hand crossbow which he uses when he isn’t wielding his shield. I would describe Redel as the unofficial party leader.

Lucrio is the party divination wizard, who, when told about the game, decided it was the perfect time to try out a luck maximized build. Now I’ve seen the build on this site a few times, it’s nothing super new, take divination wizard, lucky feat, and a bunch of halfling racial feats. But let me tell you, you’ve never seen a luck character quite like Lucrio. See, the premise behind Lucrio is that he doesn’t know he’s lucky, he just thinks he’s one heck of a good adventurer, which leads to him trying all sorts of crazy stuff because “he’s just that good”. Now, the way his player runs him is hilarious, he has a country accent, and is just so utterly ridiculous while somehow still seeming serious. Also, I’ve never seen this player roll below a ten on anything but perception and initiative, his player is actually one of the luckiest men I’ve ever seen. Lucrio’s natural magical gift is Elementally fueled, he chose air for it, so all of his spells deal an extra 1 point of force damage. His special starting thing is that he can use his lucky feat on his friends dice rolls, which is actually really important, because he almost never rolls bad enough to use them himself.

Habren is the groups Dwarf life cleric, he worships the queen of my homebrew pantheon: Dian, goddess of the sea. Now, in my world, Dwarves do not like the water, they generally despise boats and have a hard time swimming. This character was designed with that in mind. Habren left the mines and mountain, and rolling hills of his home a long time ago, called to the coast by an unknown force. There he took up residence in a small lighthouse located in a 50 mile wide naturally occurring anti-magic field, which is a mystery know one in this world quite understands. It was during this time by the coast that he discovered his natural ability to control water(which uses a bonus action). He would eventually be called by the goddess Dian, who told him he was chosen by her for great things, and he entered her service to heal and protect. Habrens Natural Magic gift is Descendant, and his magic item is a wand which he rolls to see the effects and level of the spell it casts whenever he uses it. His water control ability is his starting bonus mentioned above. It should be mentioned that in this world clerics, paladins, and warlocks aren’t exactly common. They aren’t rare necessarily, but when everyone in the world has natural magic and could easily become a sorcerer or wizard, celestial magic really isn’t that used or sought after, as most priests or follower simply use their natural arcane magic.

Barakas is a celestial pact of the blade warlock from a small secluded village of tieflings high in the mountains. His tribe has long since made a pact with the same patron for hundreds of years, and they are one of the few groups that still make warlock pacts. Tieflings are rare on the continent of Vorabeer, and while they aren't hated or distrusted, they are viewed with much curiosity when one is seen. Barakas is pure, almost glowing white, from the day he made his pact with his patron. He chose Descendant as well, and has a set of clothes that he can change the color of at will. The four pockets of the outfit act as half sized bags of holding each, and his boots give advantage on stealth checks.

I'll post the first session when I get the chance.