Naxtaroth
The Raven
Note: The party is currently full, however, if this campaign interests you, I am more than happy to have some players waiting in the wings to take over should someone have to drop or should someone become too inactive. The current waiting list has about 2 people on it.
As of May 10, most of this RP has moved to Discord. PM me about any and all questions you may have about it.
Welcome! This is a D&D 5e RP with a completely homebrew story that is meant as an adventure for a party of five. This is a sandbox adventure, meaning that it will sort of function like an open-world video game. You'll have the introductory dungeon, but then after that, there will be the main journey and plenty of side activities to embark on. The world is vast and there's plenty to do. The big difference with this will be that quests and tasks do have a time frame to get them done. Some of these time frames are in-game months and possibly years, but time frames nonetheless. The more something is put off, the worse it will be when finally faced. Also, random dungeons found in the wild will not scale with the levels of the players. Certain ones will contain extremely difficult enemies, while others will contain easy enemies. I'll roll to determine the difficulty of them when they appear. Dungeons related to NPC side quests will scale, however. Just be careful examining those random ruins deep in the forest.
The campaign's main story will be done once the party reaches enough experience to grant them Epic Boons.
As a DM, here are my expectations and rules:
So, on to the actual nitty gritty of the campaign. First, you should check the Lore page. After that, hop on over to the Character Sheet page to get crackin on that new adventurer. There will be a post following this one detailing the party and the story thus far, with plenty of easily accessible information such as NPCs, guilds/factions, cities/towns, etc. that the players have encountered.
If you have any questions, PM me or hop on over to the OOC page.
As of May 10, most of this RP has moved to Discord. PM me about any and all questions you may have about it.
Welcome! This is a D&D 5e RP with a completely homebrew story that is meant as an adventure for a party of five. This is a sandbox adventure, meaning that it will sort of function like an open-world video game. You'll have the introductory dungeon, but then after that, there will be the main journey and plenty of side activities to embark on. The world is vast and there's plenty to do. The big difference with this will be that quests and tasks do have a time frame to get them done. Some of these time frames are in-game months and possibly years, but time frames nonetheless. The more something is put off, the worse it will be when finally faced. Also, random dungeons found in the wild will not scale with the levels of the players. Certain ones will contain extremely difficult enemies, while others will contain easy enemies. I'll roll to determine the difficulty of them when they appear. Dungeons related to NPC side quests will scale, however. Just be careful examining those random ruins deep in the forest.
The campaign's main story will be done once the party reaches enough experience to grant them Epic Boons.As a DM, here are my expectations and rules:
1.) Most importantly, I want this to be a fun experience. Be respectful to each other, don't be afraid to try something crazy, and be sure to let me know if something is bothering you or hindering you from having fun. Maybe it's another player's actions, maybe it's something I am doing wrong as a DM, maybe it's something else entirely, but feel free to express any discontent you have. Please keep it civil, however.
2.) Okay, I lied, this is the most important one. Follow all of the site rules. This game is, in fact, on a forum on RpN. This means all RpN rules apply. No ifs, ands, or buts.
3.) Absolutely no metagaming. Just because you, the player, know information about something, does not mean your character knows. If your character has never before encountered a troll, then they won't know about its Regeneration ability. Don't just have the character automatically jumping to fire and acid damage, have them try out some other things first. If I think you are metagaming, I will pm you about it to see if we can resolve it. If it is not resolved, your character will be penalized. This could be anything from being focus-fired in a fight, to having certain items be stolen/lost/destroyed, to even a player death that is beyond resurrection. That last one will most likely result in the player being kicked from the game and being replaced. So please, do not metagame. If you're going to be an arse of a player, then I'm going to throw it right back at you tenfold.
4.) We will be using some homebrew rules and mechanics.
5.) If you'd like to make an action against another player without them knowing, just PM me, I'll tell you what rolls to make, and then I will take actions depending on what rolls are made.
6.) All rolls will be made in this dice room. Make sure you're using your RpN name while in the Dice Room and not the defualt "Alric####" that the site assigns. It's as simple as going to the rolz homepage, clicking sign in, no email or anything, just pick a username and password and you're golden.
7.) If you're in a situation where a skill check might be involved, let me know either in a PM or the OOC page (linked below.) I'll then tell you what roll to make, you'll roll in the aforementioned dice room, and then I'll tell you the result and you can make your post.
8.) These are all loose rules (aside from number 1 and 2) that aren't going to be 100% strictly enforced. I want to get away from this idea of "How can I play a character within this set of rules. You tell me what kind of character you want to play and I will see how we can conform the rules to fit your character in.
2.) Okay, I lied, this is the most important one. Follow all of the site rules. This game is, in fact, on a forum on RpN. This means all RpN rules apply. No ifs, ands, or buts.
3.) Absolutely no metagaming. Just because you, the player, know information about something, does not mean your character knows. If your character has never before encountered a troll, then they won't know about its Regeneration ability. Don't just have the character automatically jumping to fire and acid damage, have them try out some other things first. If I think you are metagaming, I will pm you about it to see if we can resolve it. If it is not resolved, your character will be penalized. This could be anything from being focus-fired in a fight, to having certain items be stolen/lost/destroyed, to even a player death that is beyond resurrection. That last one will most likely result in the player being kicked from the game and being replaced. So please, do not metagame. If you're going to be an arse of a player, then I'm going to throw it right back at you tenfold.
4.) We will be using some homebrew rules and mechanics.
For the most part, we will be using the 5e Mechanics and rules, but there are a few homebrew tweaks that I have made. Most of these are some of Matt Mercer's homebrew rules from the show Critical Role. There are some rules from him that I haven't incorporated, but I did include most of them. Remember that these are all loose and I want this to be a fun experience for everyone. I am a huge fan of Matt Mercer's line, "You can certainly try." There might be some far-fetched idea you have and want to try and I'm not going to stop you. Do note that the DC for such a feat would be fairly high, but I will always let you try on the off chance you get a natural 20. Well, without further ado, here are some of the homebrew changes I intend to implement into this campaign.
1.) Skill Checks can critical fail or critical succeed. This can make for some very interesting moments, especially if someone rolls a nat 20 in something they aren't adept in or a nat 1 in something they are an expert in. I figure everyone gets lucky sometimes and everyone messes up occasionally. This system helps emphasize those moments of extreme or terrible luck.
2.) We will be using the Variant Feat rules. This means that humans may use the Variant Feat racial skills. If you wish to use homebrew feats, run them by me first, unless it's from a homebrew source I've already given the okay to.
3.) In combat, character's can use one potion on themselves as a Bonus Action, however, administering one to another character requires a full action.
4.) This isn't necessarily a homebrew rule, but definitely something that I want to clarify since it's not fully stated in the rules whether it's okay or not. With Multi-Attack, the rules state that you may split up your movement and move between attacks if you may make more than one attack per turn. I will also say that you may take a bonus action in the middle of the Attack action. This means that a Way of Shadow Monk that can make two or more attacks could Attack, use the Shadow Step ability as their bonus action, and then make a second Attack if they are able.
5.) In the RAW, you may cast a cantrip as a bonus action in addition to whatever spell you cast for your action. For my campaign, you may bump this up to a second level spell, but it must be a spell that can be cast as a bonus action. Things like haste, that give you multiple actions, are the only way you can cast two spells in the same turn outside of your bonus action. A 2nd spell cast while hasted has no level restriction.
6.) On a critical hit, rather than rolling double the dice, you just double the dice roll. So, if your attack is originally 2d6+4, the original rules state that you would roll 4d6+4. With my rule, you'd just roll 2d6, double that total, and then add your +4 modifier.
7.) Player Character deaths. So, this campaign is going to get difficult and I expect, whether I like it or not, that eventually one or more players will end up failing 3 death saving throws. If the player can be revived within a minute of dying, the revivify will ensure a success. However, for players who can't be revived with revivify, I'll be using a similar method to Matt Mercer. The revival ritual requires the body of the deceased character, a cleric, and a gem worth 1000gp. The ritual is a skill challenge. The overall DC is 20, and this DC can be raised or lowered depending on the successes/failures of the ritual contributions. Ritual contributions will be DC 15 skill checks from 3 party members or allied NPCs. The exact skill used will depend on how the player/NPC contributes to the ritual. A success lowers the overall DC by 5, but a failure raises it by 10. I, as the DM, will make the final roll against the overall DC once all three contributions are made. The only way to succeed on an overall DC higher than 20 is for me to roll a natural 20. If a character is revived in this manner, it suffers a level of exhaustion for every hour it was dead, with a maximum of 5 levels of exhaustion. If a character cannot be revived, the player may reroll a new character, starting 1 level lower than their character who died.
8.) I will allow the Beastmaster Archetype for Ranger to have a pet with a CR of 1 instead of the original 1/4. There will also be ways to train and improve the base stats and AC of the Beast Companion since they are pretty frail if taken as is. On the topic of Beastmaster Rangers, I am changing the typical shared turn aspect of the archetype. I find it makes the class sort of weak if the ranger has to choose between taking an action and giving the companion an action. I do, however, realize that animals with low Dexterity should come lower in the initiative order. So, I've made a compromise. The companion gets its own turn, but it will roll it's own initiative, which will be a basic d20 roll with its Dex mod.
9.) All Hit Dice are assumed to be rolled at max value. This goes for leveling, companions/familiars, rolling Hit Dice during short rests, etc. The only exception to this is potions, which will be rolled for.
10.) Null and void mechanics. This is a list of mechanics that I will not be using just because I find them tedious or too complicated to keep track of. The list is as follows: DM Inspiration (not to be confused with Bardic Inspiration), Food, Water, and Lifestyle Expenses.
11.) Crafting magical items, potions, etc. won't take nearly as long as in the PHB/DMG, but this will result in them being just a bit more expensive. Exact calculations will be made by me when necessary.
12.) Short rests can be 30 minutes instead of the normal 1hr minimum.
13.) Roleplay and fun trump any rules from the PHB, DMG, or any other official D&D sources. They even are more important than any homebrew mechanics and rules I've stated. The only rules that trump all are the RpN site rules, but those don't have too much to do with the game's mechanics.
1.) Skill Checks can critical fail or critical succeed. This can make for some very interesting moments, especially if someone rolls a nat 20 in something they aren't adept in or a nat 1 in something they are an expert in. I figure everyone gets lucky sometimes and everyone messes up occasionally. This system helps emphasize those moments of extreme or terrible luck.
2.) We will be using the Variant Feat rules. This means that humans may use the Variant Feat racial skills. If you wish to use homebrew feats, run them by me first, unless it's from a homebrew source I've already given the okay to.
3.) In combat, character's can use one potion on themselves as a Bonus Action, however, administering one to another character requires a full action.
4.) This isn't necessarily a homebrew rule, but definitely something that I want to clarify since it's not fully stated in the rules whether it's okay or not. With Multi-Attack, the rules state that you may split up your movement and move between attacks if you may make more than one attack per turn. I will also say that you may take a bonus action in the middle of the Attack action. This means that a Way of Shadow Monk that can make two or more attacks could Attack, use the Shadow Step ability as their bonus action, and then make a second Attack if they are able.
5.) In the RAW, you may cast a cantrip as a bonus action in addition to whatever spell you cast for your action. For my campaign, you may bump this up to a second level spell, but it must be a spell that can be cast as a bonus action. Things like haste, that give you multiple actions, are the only way you can cast two spells in the same turn outside of your bonus action. A 2nd spell cast while hasted has no level restriction.
6.) On a critical hit, rather than rolling double the dice, you just double the dice roll. So, if your attack is originally 2d6+4, the original rules state that you would roll 4d6+4. With my rule, you'd just roll 2d6, double that total, and then add your +4 modifier.
7.) Player Character deaths. So, this campaign is going to get difficult and I expect, whether I like it or not, that eventually one or more players will end up failing 3 death saving throws. If the player can be revived within a minute of dying, the revivify will ensure a success. However, for players who can't be revived with revivify, I'll be using a similar method to Matt Mercer. The revival ritual requires the body of the deceased character, a cleric, and a gem worth 1000gp. The ritual is a skill challenge. The overall DC is 20, and this DC can be raised or lowered depending on the successes/failures of the ritual contributions. Ritual contributions will be DC 15 skill checks from 3 party members or allied NPCs. The exact skill used will depend on how the player/NPC contributes to the ritual. A success lowers the overall DC by 5, but a failure raises it by 10. I, as the DM, will make the final roll against the overall DC once all three contributions are made. The only way to succeed on an overall DC higher than 20 is for me to roll a natural 20. If a character is revived in this manner, it suffers a level of exhaustion for every hour it was dead, with a maximum of 5 levels of exhaustion. If a character cannot be revived, the player may reroll a new character, starting 1 level lower than their character who died.
8.) I will allow the Beastmaster Archetype for Ranger to have a pet with a CR of 1 instead of the original 1/4. There will also be ways to train and improve the base stats and AC of the Beast Companion since they are pretty frail if taken as is. On the topic of Beastmaster Rangers, I am changing the typical shared turn aspect of the archetype. I find it makes the class sort of weak if the ranger has to choose between taking an action and giving the companion an action. I do, however, realize that animals with low Dexterity should come lower in the initiative order. So, I've made a compromise. The companion gets its own turn, but it will roll it's own initiative, which will be a basic d20 roll with its Dex mod.
9.) All Hit Dice are assumed to be rolled at max value. This goes for leveling, companions/familiars, rolling Hit Dice during short rests, etc. The only exception to this is potions, which will be rolled for.
10.) Null and void mechanics. This is a list of mechanics that I will not be using just because I find them tedious or too complicated to keep track of. The list is as follows: DM Inspiration (not to be confused with Bardic Inspiration), Food, Water, and Lifestyle Expenses.
11.) Crafting magical items, potions, etc. won't take nearly as long as in the PHB/DMG, but this will result in them being just a bit more expensive. Exact calculations will be made by me when necessary.
12.) Short rests can be 30 minutes instead of the normal 1hr minimum.
13.) Roleplay and fun trump any rules from the PHB, DMG, or any other official D&D sources. They even are more important than any homebrew mechanics and rules I've stated. The only rules that trump all are the RpN site rules, but those don't have too much to do with the game's mechanics.
5.) If you'd like to make an action against another player without them knowing, just PM me, I'll tell you what rolls to make, and then I will take actions depending on what rolls are made.
6.) All rolls will be made in this dice room. Make sure you're using your RpN name while in the Dice Room and not the defualt "Alric####" that the site assigns. It's as simple as going to the rolz homepage, clicking sign in, no email or anything, just pick a username and password and you're golden.
7.) If you're in a situation where a skill check might be involved, let me know either in a PM or the OOC page (linked below.) I'll then tell you what roll to make, you'll roll in the aforementioned dice room, and then I'll tell you the result and you can make your post.
8.) These are all loose rules (aside from number 1 and 2) that aren't going to be 100% strictly enforced. I want to get away from this idea of "How can I play a character within this set of rules. You tell me what kind of character you want to play and I will see how we can conform the rules to fit your character in.
So, on to the actual nitty gritty of the campaign. First, you should check the Lore page. After that, hop on over to the Character Sheet page to get crackin on that new adventurer. There will be a post following this one detailing the party and the story thus far, with plenty of easily accessible information such as NPCs, guilds/factions, cities/towns, etc. that the players have encountered.
If you have any questions, PM me or hop on over to the OOC page.
Last edited:
