Hold Back the Dead: Enhanced, Play By Post

Creating your character

Character creation instructions are below, with additional information and resources in my discord and on Google Drive! Primarily using the 2014 ruleset; to ask for help or for an exception to the 2014 ruleset, feel free to message me All official classes and lineages are fine to use Characters will start at 4th level HP: Instead of using Constitution as your HP modifier, you can pick one of your class’ primary ability scores as your HP modifier. For HP after 1st level, you can choose to 1) roll for your HP, 2) take the average (rounded up; e.g. d6=4, d8=5, etc.), or 3) flip a coin where heads = 1, tails = 2 HP. In option 3, you flip the coin equal to half the value of your hit dice; d6s would flip the die 3 times, d8s 4 times, d10s 5 times, and d12s 6 times. Option 3 is marginally more time consuming but offers best chances at higher HP. Start with Point Buy for your ability scores, but when we have the group together, you all can decide between PB or a few different ways of rolling for stats. I use D&D Beyond for convenience, but any way you have of making proper character sheets and letting me see them works for me! Once you have your character idea, please message it to me so we can discuss! I’ll also give each party member a homebrew magic item based on their class and backstory.

Preparing for the session

To prepare: Have a discord account Join the discord server (link will be sent when you sign up) Share character idea when you have it Have a Roll20 account (optional but encouraged and free)

What Ben (Echoes Of The Past) brings to the table

This is a Play by Post game! We will have few to no live sessions for this adventure. The Roll20 will be available to players when you sign up, and music (ambient or comabt) will be playing as appropriate on Roll20. All extensions of this one shot are made free from the influence of AI, generative or otherwise. I enjoy customized characters, and allow Rule of Cool in my games as long as they remain largely balanced, and are still fun for everyone at the table. I am more than happy to homebrew abilities, items, etc. to get you the character you want to play. This is a multi-part extension of the Hold Back the Dead one shot, where you'll get to pursue different quests and goals alongside the original defense of Ironspire Keep. You'll have choices to make, some resources to manage, and undead to defeat!

Homebrew rules

I have a comprehensive list of homebrew rules in a Google Doc that gets shared with players, but a few highlights are listed below: Crunchy crits: when you get a critical hit, you do not roll your damage dice twice. Instead, you get maximum damage on the first set of dice, plus a normal damage dice roll + your modifier. e.x.: Tamara gets a crit with their longsword against a kobold. They are using two hands for the longsword, making the damage 1d10 slashing. Instead of rolling 2d10 + Str, Tamara would deal 10 + 1d10 + Str damage. Skills: characters should be good at their skills! If you take proficiency in a skill based on your class or chosen background, you can ignore negative ability score modifiers if applicable. e.x.: if you are a fighter with -1 Wis, and you take proficiency in perception, you can ignore the -1 modifier when determining your perception modifier. Subclasses: Some of my friends and I have made a few different subclasses that would be nice to see playtested! Message me if you are interested

How Ben (Echoes Of The Past) creates a safe table

This game is done through Play By Post, so players should have ample time to inform me of any issues; if anything does come up, *please* message me so I can address it! There is 0 tolerance for racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ+ language, or bodyshaming at my table. I use X, N, and O cards through private messages so players can inform me if we are approaching an uncomfortable topic or need me to cut to black mid scene, and we will adjust the game for everyone's comfort. After each segment of this adventure, I will ask each of you to give me your Stars (highlights) and Wishes (constructive criticism, ideas for items/abilities you want, etc). I am more than happy to receive feedback or take suggestions as you have them. As this is done as Play By Post, there is no official Session 0. However, we will still cover the Session 0 topics before we get started. These include: group introductions, information about the world/setting, content warnings, character ideas, and homebrew rules!