Death Mark [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

Death Mark [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
DragoonDarkfire
06-30-07, 06:36 PM Well this is how it went down. I had two people who wanted to play an Eberron game with me as the DM.

The first one wrote up a Medani Half elf with levels in Urban Ranger, Heir of Siberys and Master Inqisitive. He was about level 14 when he started so I told him that he would have to be a pretty big deal among the Half Elves of Medani. So he eventually came up with a back story about how he's this "go to guy" when something big happens and how he's practically a legend among the few people who even know of him.

Which I felt that since he was level 14 would be acceptable.

Now I wasn't sure where this was going to go until the other player meets me on IM and he says he's been looking at the history of Vol and the mark of death and he asked if he could have the mark of death.

Now obviously I was against this from the start but he then began to write up a background about him and slowly a plan came into my head. I agreed that he could have the mark of death on two conditions.

1) He would have to start out without any levels in an adventuring class. He would still have action points as per normal he would just have to be an NPC class plus any prestige class he could add on.

2) He shouldn't expect any traditional dungeon crawls or monster battling as per normal. This would be an intrigue campaign.

So he ended up taking 12 levels in expert and 2 levels in Heir of Siberys for the mark of death (Which I decided would be Power Word Kill 1/day). He can conceal it easily enough as the mark is on his chest and as long as he doesn't take his shirt off it's hidden well enough.

Now the crutch here is that he's LE and he spent the first few rounds of his game play experience using his powers on the criminals of Sharn. Suffice to say it was working wonders and he could conceal his identity well enough without anyone catching on it was him doing it.

Now I had my Medani PC contacted by his house and they want him to "take care of and investigate" these strange deaths. Now my final question is... where do I go from here? Cause frankly I want your opinion on this.
gensuke626
06-30-07, 07:03 PM sounds like the start to most comic books that I like. Personally, I'd run a few close calls between the two. Paint the background and let the players tell the story for you. You've already set them in a Cat & Mouse game.

Now...when you get tired of letting them play seperately, I'd force them together via story points...Enemy of my Enemy is my friend sort of things...
ORC_Paradox
06-30-07, 07:38 PM Personally, I wouldn't start a game with characters that high. Notice he's got a lot of space to write up a background- which is usually the problem when a 1st level character has pages upon pages of things he did without apparantly gaining "experience."
DragoonDarkfire
06-30-07, 07:43 PM Personally, I wouldn't start a game with characters that high. Notice he's got a lot of space to write up a background- which is usually the problem when a 1st level character has pages upon pages of things he did without apparantly gaining "experience."

I don't quite see your point. I'm sorry but both my characters DO have backgrounds written up I just didn't decide to post it all down and waste your time.

Remember this is an intrigue campaign, I'm not awarding them experience based on how many monsters they kill, I'm doing it based on how many dangerous situations they avert or overcome.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DragoonDarkfire 06-30-07, 06:36 PM	Well this is how it went down. I had two people who wanted to play an Eberron game with me as the DM. The first one wrote up a Medani Half elf with levels in Urban Ranger, Heir of Siberys and Master Inqisitive. He was about level 14 when he started so I told him that he would have to be a pretty big deal among the Half Elves of Medani. So he eventually came up with a back story about how he's this "go to guy" when something big happens and how he's practically a legend among the few people who even know of him. Which I felt that since he was level 14 would be acceptable. Now I wasn't sure where this was going to go until the other player meets me on IM and he says he's been looking at the history of Vol and the mark of death and he asked if he could have the mark of death. Now obviously I was against this from the start but he then began to write up a background about him and slowly a plan came into my head. I agreed that he could have the mark of death on two conditions. 1) He would have to start out without any levels in an adventuring class. He would still have action points as per normal he would just have to be an NPC class plus any prestige class he could add on. 2) He shouldn't expect any traditional dungeon crawls or monster battling as per normal. This would be an intrigue campaign. So he ended up taking 12 levels in expert and 2 levels in Heir of Siberys for the mark of death (Which I decided would be Power Word Kill 1/day). He can conceal it easily enough as the mark is on his chest and as long as he doesn't take his shirt off it's hidden well enough. Now the crutch here is that he's LE and he spent the first few rounds of his game play experience using his powers on the criminals of Sharn. Suffice to say it was working wonders and he could conceal his identity well enough without anyone catching on it was him doing it. Now I had my Medani PC contacted by his house and they want him to "take care of and investigate" these strange deaths. Now my final question is... where do I go from here? Cause frankly I want your opinion on this.
gensuke626 06-30-07, 07:03 PM	sounds like the start to most comic books that I like. Personally, I'd run a few close calls between the two. Paint the background and let the players tell the story for you. You've already set them in a Cat & Mouse game. Now...when you get tired of letting them play seperately, I'd force them together via story points...Enemy of my Enemy is my friend sort of things...
ORC_Paradox 06-30-07, 07:38 PM	Personally, I wouldn't start a game with characters that high. Notice he's got a lot of space to write up a background- which is usually the problem when a 1st level character has pages upon pages of things he did without apparantly gaining "experience."
DragoonDarkfire 06-30-07, 07:43 PM	Personally, I wouldn't start a game with characters that high. Notice he's got a lot of space to write up a background- which is usually the problem when a 1st level character has pages upon pages of things he did without apparantly gaining "experience." I don't quite see your point. I'm sorry but both my characters DO have backgrounds written up I just didn't decide to post it all down and waste your time. Remember this is an intrigue campaign, I'm not awarding them experience based on how many monsters they kill, I'm doing it based on how many dangerous situations they avert or overcome.