Portal to D&D IC - Evoker

[Rizban]

Discord, if you're interested.

Spoiler: Background

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Alright, here's a character concept:

Spoiler: James Veson

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James always enjoyed playing the villain in computer RPGs, as well as tabletop RPGs when the party allowed it. So when this new VR MMORPG launched, he of course created an evil character, a Paladin of Slaughter. Pouring his life into the game, he quickly grew to heights of power. Eventually, in a strange cave deep within the simulated plane of the Nine Hells, he found a strange altar. A voice in his head made him an offer: he could sacrifice himself, in exchange for "something new". Having grown tired of this character, he accepted the offer, curious about what could possibly result from it. Perhaps he would unlock a new, unique feature for character creation? What he didn't expect was the searing pain that followed his self-sacrifice, so great that he blacked out. When he re-awakened, he was... somewhere else. In a new, different body. The body of a Lesser Tiefling, a race never playable within the game before. His class was also... gone, his XP reset.

You find yourself wandering through a familiar in the Hellscape zone, when the ground begins to rumble. The hardened lava beneath your feet crumbles, dropping you into an old lava tube hidden since this zone opened. The cave-in has completely collapsed the tunnel in one direction, leaving you a fairly simple means of escape by scrambling up the debris pile. In the other direction is a deep darkness with no end in sight.

You obviously opt for the darkness.

You walk for almost 15 minutes, an eternity in an MMO, your darkvision unable to pierce the darkness around you beyond a couple of feet. If not for the meager XP you earn every few hundred feet for discovering a new area, you would likely have given up and turned around already.

You stumble into a small chamber, barely bigger than the cramped tunnel behind you. A deep purple light pulses darkly from an altar of black obsidian, a light which makes the room almost darker than darkness. Grinning at the promise of an amazing discovery, you reach for the altar, only to bump into an invisible wall.

Your frustration grows, until a popup appears in your vision.

Greetings, Damned Soul!
You been selected as worthy to remake yourself anew.
Do you accept this offer?
| Yes | No |

Spoiler: If Yes

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The popup closes, a second taking its place.

Warning!
This action will delete your current character, forcing you to restart at level 1.
Do you pledge your soul to the dark gods for power?
| Yes | No |

Spoiler: If Yes

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The popup closes, as a third popup appears.

Final Warning!
Note that this action cannot be reversed.
Are you ready to leave your life behind and enter a new realm?
| Yes | No |

Spoiler: If you select No at any point

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An explosion of hellfire consumes you, killing you far less than instantly and with far more pain than your pain level settings should ever allow. You respawn back at your bind point, with more than half of your gear completely destroyed and the rest on the verge of being useless. Your character also has a permanent cosmetic burn mark on his face that even premium cosmetic items seem unable to remove.

You later return to the location but are unable to find any sign of the tunnel or the altar. You minimap insists that they do not exist.

You scour the forums, wikis, and other fan sites for more information, but you never find anything related to your experience. If not for the scar on your character's face, you'd think yourself going slightly mad.

Eventually, you accept that it was a one time game event and try to forget about it, but each time you log in, a glimpse of that scar on your character's face leaves your wondering what might have been.

[Evoker]

I muse to myself, speaking aloud without any expectation of being heard. "Well. If they're asking me to get rid of this character for... whatver this is... It's got to be pretty good, right? And I have been getting tired of this paladin. It's gonna hurt rebuilding from scratch, but I'm sure that I'll be able to speedlevel pretty quick if I want to, there's plenty of online guides."

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

[Rizban]

Pain courses through your entire body, pain which should be blocked or at least reduced by the game's pain filters. You have them set to minimum, after all.

The taste of rainbows fills your ears as the sensation of being turned inside out and sucked through your toes overwhelms your senses, causing you to black out.

You awake an unknown period of time later and find yourself numb, completely unable to feel your body. Your ears hear nothing, and only a black emptiness meets you as you try to open your eyes.

Just as panic begins to set in, a popup appears. You feel relief at knowing that you're still in the game. You attempt to open a menu to determine your status, but nothing happens. The popup vibrates at you, as if somehow angered that you're ignoring it.

Welcome to your New Life+
Click below to begin character creation.
| Below |

You find yourself unable to do anything but interact with the popup mentally, just as you would with any popup in the game.

Spoiler: After clicking the button...

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After clicking the button, a series of numbers, symbols, and random words fly across your vision faster than you can read. You feel an almost intrusive sensation in your mind, as if someone or something is peering deep within.

Suddenly, a visual representation of dice scatter across your screen. The final result of each becoming large enough to fill your vision for a brief second.

(1d100)[92]
(1d100)[98]
(1d100)[18]

(1d20)[8]
(1d20)[13]

[Rizban]

Congratulations!
You have received two [2] Greater Boons.

Please choose your race.

A representation of the major races appears standing nude in front of you. Or rather, you see yourself in front of you, slightly altered to appear as each of the major races. A hazy line of individuals stretching off into the distance, which you intuit to be subraces that would be available for selection after making your choices.

Your available choices are

Human

__

Elf

__

Orc

__

Cursedborn

There is a pair of buttons hovering in front of each which reads

Select Race

Information

Almost obscured near what you would expect to be the floor, if such a thing existed, is a nearly invisible button which reads

Apply Greater Boon to Race

There is no further information about this button.

Before you click anything, you feel a foreboding sensation that any and all choices you make at this time will be permanent.

[Evoker]

Ah. What was that? That... shouldn't have happened. I've heard rumors about the pain filters wigging out, but that...

Uh. Character selection. Right. OK.

I'll move up to Human, then press the Information button in front of it.
Assuming I don't get any indication that my time/selections here are limited, I'll repeat that process with Elf, Orc, and Cursedborn, trying to gather as much information as possible. I'm steering away from that Apply Greater Boon button for now.

[Rizban]

Human
Humans are the most common race through most of the realm. They are far more adaptable than any other; however, they tend to have poor relations with the non-human races.

Elf
Elves are the longest lived mortal race in the realm. They have a trace of fey blood in their veins, which leads them to be chaotic and haughty. All elves must select a subrace. While elves tend to get along well with members of other humanoid races, they are almost always hostile towards other elven subraces.

Orc
Orcs are thought to be brutish thugs, but that's because most orcs encountered by other races were driven from their homes for that very behavior. Orcs have less developed industry than most other races, as they tend to prefer to honor the old ways and live as one with the land.

Cursedborn
All cursedborn are born to parents of one of the other races. They are touched by the dark powers and carry a curse which is unique to themselves. They can pass as an ordinary member of their parent race, but they are certain be hunted and killed if their curse is ever revealed. All cursedborn must choose a parent race.

[Evoker]

Huh. A disappointing lack of actual statistics. I've never heard of Cursedborn before, maybe I'll give that a try. But first, these "greater boons"...

I select the "apply greater boon" button in front of Cursedborn. If I don't get any more feedback than "boon applied" or something along those lines, I'll select it again, then press "Select Race" for Cursedborn.

If I do get a more thorough response, I'll stop to consider it.

[Rizban]

When you mentally click the button for the boon, the race representations fuzz out for half a second before returning with a new appearance and new names:

High Human

__

Feytouched

__

Trueblood Orc

__

Cursed Soul

You suffer a momentary sensation of deep loss and know that one of your Greater Boons has been forever lost.

Assuming you acquire information on each of them, you read the following popups.

High Human
Humans are the most common race through most of the realm. They are far more adaptable than any other; however, they tend to have poor relations with the non-human races. High Human is a Tier 2 race. You are everything that a human is, but more. Your adaptability and potential for growth is greatly improved.

Feytouched

Elves are the longest lived mortal race in the realm. They have a trace of fey blood in their veins, which leads them to be chaotic and haughty. All elves must select a subrace. While elves tend to get along well with members of other humanoid races, they are almost always hostile towards other elven subraces. Feytouched is a Tier 2 race. Elves who have manifested aspects of the fey seen only once in a generation are known as feytouched. Your fey attributes are more powerful than normal, and you are treated as a fey for most purposes.

Trueblood Orc

Orcs are thought to be brutish thugs, but that's because most orcs encountered by other races were driven from their homes for that very behavior. Orcs have less developed industry than most other races, as they tend to prefer to honor the old ways and live as one with the land. Trueblood Orc is a Tier 2 race. The trueblood orcs are greater than their kin, in that their blood runs with the true power of nature. Each trueblood orc has a powerful natural affinity for a particular element of nature.

Cursed Soul

All cursedborn are born to parents of one of the other races. They are touched by the dark powers and carry a curse which is unique to themselves. They can pass as an ordinary member of their parent race, but they are certain be hunted and killed if their curse is ever revealed. All cursedborn must choose a parent race. Cursed Soul is a Tier 2 race. Unable to hide among their parent race due to obvious physical differences, most Cursed Souls are killed at birth. The few who have parents willing to raise them are usually raised far from the society of others. Their curse is strengthened, giving them greater powers but also greater penalties.

[Evoker]

Oh. That... wasn't what I was expecting. I should hold onto my last boon, just in case.
But what race should I pick now? Maybe I'll stick to the Cursedborn, although if their penalties are greater and they can't hide as easily... Human's just generally good, and if this is any hint, I won't know what classes I can pick from, whereas this Cursed Soul might really pidgeon-hole me into a specific class type.

Well... This might be a mistake, but hey, it's not going to be that big of a problem, I'm sure.

Select Race: Cursed Soul

[Rizban]

As soon as hhe touches the button for cursed soul, all of the race representations disappear, and he is presented with the open of parent race, showing the same three races as before. However, each now sports obvious infernal influence. The human has a dark red skin and a tail flicking restlessly in the air behind him. The elf looks sunken and sallow, as if he's starved himself for months, his eyes and teeth black. The orc has large, curved horns sprouting from his forehead and swept back above his ears.

Choose your Parent Race

Human

__

Elf

__

Orc

Each has the same two button options as the races did before.

Select Parent Race

Information

Down below, the greater boon button is slightly more visible than before.

Apply Greater Boon to Parent Race

[Evoker]

("Select Purpose"? I wonder if reporting this glitch will get me any recognition from the mods. Anyway:)

Well, more options. Let's get some more information on what this means.
(If the information is basically the same as what I've already seen)
Human, definitely. Coolest-looking and hopefully won't force me into a specific build any harder.
Select Parent Race: Human

[Rizban]

The glitch retroactively fixes itself. You forget it ever happened. You then forget about this as well.

---

The information provided is identical to the three base races you saw previously, and you wonder briefly if using your second boon here with improve the options up to tier 2 again... but you make your selection before you even allow yourself to contemplate that.

The other figures disappear from your sight, and you find yourself able to customize the appear of the Cursed Soul Human to you liking, including changing the sex. You seem unable to select a skin color that isn't a shade of red or remove the tail, though you are able to customize both to some extent.

When you're finished, your point of view shifts instantly, and you find yourself in the character you just shaped. You once again have feeling, the numbness gone. However, you still feel weightless in the black nothingness around you.

An extremely sparse character sheet appears in your vision. (Link sent to you via discord)

You find yourself able to fill in a few minor blanks. You also have 2 points to spend on your ability scores, increasing any chosen score by 1. However, you can't assign both to the same ability.

[Evoker]

As far as appearance goes, tall and fairly thin and a long tail. Male, because I've never been sold on playing a different gender in advanced-immersion VR, it spoils the immersion too much for me. Just... bits aren't there, and there are new bits...

Well, I'm fairly happy with that appearance. Now, onto stats. I can't bring any stat high enough to make a bonus. Let's say... Con, that's always important... And Dex, that never hurts too badly. Hopefully I get more points or modifiers soon.

[Rizban]

As you finalize your selection, you receive a notification that you will receive 2 points to spend on any ability score at each future level, but you must always spend them on two different scores.

Your vision blurs again as you are given a choice of classes, basic gear sets appearing before you, representing each class option. Before you even have a chance to recognize your options, most of them turn to dust and dissipate into nothingness. You are left with only a few meager options, less than a third of what you thought you saw that were meant to be available to you.

Binder

__

Paladin of Slaughter

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Warlock

Select Class

Information

Apply Greater Boon to Class

[Evoker]

Paladin of Slaughter was fun, but I'm ready to move on from that, I think. Binder would be interesting, but I don't know how the mind-altering aspects of those are going to translate into this game... so I'm left with warlock. And, of course, the enigma that is "apply greater boon."

Well, this might be a poor decision... but I need to save that. Apart from Class and Race I don't know what it could be applied to, but I have to believe that there's something more it could be used for. I just have a gut feeling.

I'll start to select Select Class: Warlock, but if I get a flash of panic, or a warning pops up, or anything like that, I'll try to pull back my hand in hopes of cancelling the selection.

[Rizban]

You select warlock, and the starting gear appears equipped on your body.

Your character sheet appears again, and begins to fill itself out.

You have the option to select two feats. Your choices are anything you qualify for from the Player's Handbook or Complete Arcane.

Apply Greater Boon to Feats

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After selecting your feats, you may choose your invocation known.

Apply Greater Boon to Invocations

[Evoker]

(I can't find any equipment on my sheet, or any section where that would go.)

Hmm. Not a lot of options for feats, given my low starting stats... And I still don't know what that Curse does, so I can't try to work around whatever penalty that's gonna be giving. I'll just pick some generically good feats.

Damn. I can't even pick Ability Focus, because it's in the Monster Manual? This is feeling like a bad decision now.

Wait. I haven't selected any skills yet, so all of these feats that need skill ranks are grayed out? Who designed this system?

Is there a back button anywhere? I don't see one...

Fine. Uh... Improved Initiative, and... Weapon focus(Ray)? Are those really the best options for me? I guess so...

Alright, Invocations time. Let's say... Frightful Blast. Sounds good.

[Rizban]

You take the time to examine your gear, and realize that it is all entirely cosmetic. In fact, it looks exactly like the fancy gear shown during character creation for the Warlock class, you know, the gear your character never actually gets in game without going for the premium micro transactions. For taking the time to make note of the discrepancy, a small system message appears in the corner of your vision indicating that you will receive one Minor Perk assigned automatically at the end of character creation.

---

Spoiler: GM Note

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Please fill in your height, weight, hair, and eye color on the sheet. This should have been done when you did your appearance, but I forgot to make it available on your sheet.

Your selected feats and invocation populate to you list, changing other values that they affect automatically.

When that completes, a selection of skills appears, and you are informed that you have 8 Skill Points to assign. Clicking through a few of the skills, you discover that the Warlock has the same class skills as usual and cross class skills still costs two points. So, nothing has changed with this process as far as you can tell. However, you do notice that you have a -4 penalty to all Diplomacy checks due to your chosen race.

Apply Greater Boon to Skills

[Evoker]

Well. I hope this ends up being worth it.
Apply Greater Boon to Skills

[Rizban]

The skills section goes fuzzy for a few seconds before disappearing entirely. The character sheet freezes and becomes inoperable.

What feels like an eternity passes as your stress levels begin to increase.

With a jolt, your skills section returns, and you immediately find that you have 4 more skill points to spend.

After poking around a bit, you also discover that all skills are now class skills for the Warlock.

The ever-present button offering Greater Boons that has graced your choices from the beginning has disappeared completely.

[Evoker]

Alright, let's max some skills out.

Concentration.
Use Magic Device.
Spellcraft.

Not getting a ton of value out of that boon, unfortunately.

[Rizban]

You get a sense that the system is offended by your comment and considering revoking your boon. Thankfully, it does not do so. At least not at this time.

You hear the clatter of dice in the background.

(5d100)[58][18][1][40][32](149)

As your sheet begins to fade away from your vision, you notice two additional abilities appearing on your sheet.

---

Your vision goes completely black.

You feel something cold and hard on your back and something else warm on your face.

The sounds of buzzing insects can be heard in the distance accompanied by the occasional chirp of a songbird.

You realize that you are lying on the ground, your eyes closed.

[Evoker]

Well that's not good. Only one above average, and a natural 1. I hope those weren't important.

Anyway, I should figure out where I am.

I get up, look around, then attempt to open my map display if nothing dangerous presents itself.

[Rizban]

You open your eyes to find yourself in a small crevasse deep in a mountain. The blue sky is visible to you a bit over one hundred feet straight up.

You sit up and look around to see that the area is a rough circle about 20 feet across. You find a shallow pool of water fed by a thin, crystal clear trickle squeezing out from a tiny crack in the rock wall. Other than a few tufts of thin grass along the edges of the pool, you see only a few mushrooms of different colors growing on the walls within easy reach.

In one direction, the crevasse narrows, turning into a tunnel which leads away from the clearing. On the ground near this apparent exist is a small obelisk of crimson stone approximately 6 inches tall. The obelisk glows faintly with a purple light similar to that of the altar which brought you here.

You also realize that apart from what appears to be a grey hospital gown, you are naked and have no items.

[Evoker]

Huh. Well that's unfortunate. But first, I've got to post about this so that I have the best chance of being acknowledged as the first person to find this. Options Menu...

I'll attempt to open my options menu, to log out.

[Rizban]

The standard menu interface is completely missing. A whole new interface has taken its place, though the style is familiar enough to be intuitive.

Your only options at this time are to open your character sheet, your quest log, and your inventory.

There are a few greyed out buttons, but you are unable to read the labels on them at this time.

[Evoker]

Ookay? No exit button. I wonder why that is. Maybe there's a new menu it's located in now? Maybe there's a tutorial I can follow...

I select Quest Log, in the hopes that there's some sort of tutorial quest already started.

[Rizban]

Your quest log is completely blank.

As you stare at it, a new quest entry appears:

Quest (New!): Find a Tutorial

Spoiler

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A quest log tab has been added to your character sheet.

[Evoker]

Find a tutorial? What? Yeah, that's real helpful, game. Well, Step 1 is to make my way down this mountain.

I begin picking my way down the mountain, while looking out for anything that catches my eye.

Spoiler: Rolls

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(d20)[17] Climb for rough patches. (d20)[14] Spot for anything interesting.

[Rizban]

The obelisk catches your eye briefly as you pass by it to enter the tunnel.

As you travel further from the glade, a sense of foreboding begins to grow, worsening with every step.

The tunnel itself is smooth and devoid of any interesting features, at least until you begin to see daylight ahead.

On the floor in the middle of the tunnel is a small purple bag.