A Ship of Rats

Creating your character

This is the second campaign for an existing group who have already made characters for the second campaign, so instead of having the players sit through a session 0 again, I would just do a private one with the 1-2 additional players we are adding and we can go over any character creation specifics then. The main things to keep in mind are: • we'll be using standard array for stats, but replacing the 15 with a 17 so everyone can start really good at at least 1 thing. • Add whatever items that don't have a significant cost that make sense with your backstory • If you'd like you can add one common magic item to start with • Right now we're starting the campaign at level 2, but please double check with me first in case players have leveled up at the point that you join us. • Feel free to multi class once, but if you want to multi class a second time it can't be for the sake of creating a broken character build (it makes it really hard to balance encounters that won't kill you). If you are doing it exclusively for RP reasons then it's fine.

Preparing for the session

Please have a working webcam and mic, and be prepared to have your camera on during the session (if we can't see or hear you it makes RP very difficult and less engaging). Please have the beyond20 chrome extension installed if you plan on rolling your dice on dnd beyond. Make sure you have a dndbeyond, discord, and a roll20 account. I have a session 0/ world info doc that I'll send your way with more info once you join the campaign, and will also be happy to answer any questions via discord.

What Maria brings to the table

I'm a professional illustrator and do custom maps and PC art for all my campaigns. I have 6 years of acting experience and work to create engaging NPCs with various voices for the players to engage with. As a DM, I'm pretty organized and do a lot of prep beforehand, but love improv and am equally happy to take a left turn players throw at me and improv through a creative idea they've come up with. I love being surprised by my players, and reward creative thinking and powerful RP with inspiration and changes in the way the plot pieces fall together. As a DM, I want to make sure your character feels that their actions have a real difference in the world and that their changes can affect the plot.

Homebrew rules

Standard array but replace the 15 with a 17 Inspiration is a D12 instead of a reroll Potions as a BA, or use your action and regain max health You can switch weapons by using half of your movement. If you desperately need to use a spell but do not have slots available to cast it, you can choose to pull from your own life force to cast it. For every level of the spell, you take a point of exhaustion. Ex. if you needed to cast revivify and had no slots left for it, you could take 3 points of exhaustion and cast it anyway. If you want to cast a lower level spell but are out of low level spell slots, you can upcast the spell and expend a higher spell slot instead even if the spell does not specify it can be cast at higher levels. Each week on Discord I will send everyone a question: What’s your favorite color, who was your first crush, what’s the worst day you ever had at school, etc. You may choose to respond in character (if your character wouldn’t respond you can DM me your answer), and this will become information the other PCs know. The idea is these are things the PCs learned about each other during their down time/around the campfire at night. Everyone who answers receives inspiration that they can start the next session with.

How Maria creates a safe table

I'll be sending a google forms for all players with lines and veils, as well as a lore doc of the world (it's homebrew) with info on house rules and other FAQs. We'll go over character ideas and anything else during session 0. We use the X card system and I will check in with players via PM if they seem uncomfortable about anything. They are also welcome to message me if they don't feel comfortable putting up an X card. As a general rule, I don't allow evil characters. It just results in too much PvP conflict.