Homebrew: Adventures in and around the city of Xarthenge

Creating your character

I expect to run a Session Zero, as the first part of the first session, but I do expect to actually begin playing right away. SessionZero and One will be combined. In order to ease this process, have a few character ideas in mind.

Preparing for the session

You will just need Discord and a microphone for voice chats. I don't mind video chats, if that's what the group prefers, I am willing to use roll20 or other virtual tabletops, if preferred. I do not require rolls to be seen or shared, I trust that my players will not ruin their own fun by having a magic d20, but if it becomes a problem I'll address it in private after the game.

What MadKingAd brings to the table

I do create maps and I am capable of making character art if desired, but I am not a professional artist. I do, however, know some professional artists that I could recommend if that is desired. I also have preferred dice rolling apps, including the Avrae bot in discord.

How MadKingAd creates a safe table

My games tend to be a fairly even mix of combat and roleplaying, but I do tailor it to my players if they prefer more of one or the other. For beginning players I like to start at level 1, but players with more experience I tend to start higher, often at level 3 (if I'm aiming for the "fresh off the farm" vibe) or 5-10 (if I am going for a more "seasoned veteran" vibe). I do run a couple House rules. The only one I really want to keep is that I modified crit hits. There's nothing worse than rolling ones on a critical hit and dealing less damage than you did last round on a basic attack, so crit hits in my game always deal max damage, plus an additional die of each type and often they result in more cinematic long lasting injury. If you say you want to attack the bugbear's sword arm with your greatsword and you roll a 19 you might get a glancing blow in the shoulder, but if you roll a nat 20, you might cleave that arm off or at least cripple it. I am open to fiddling with classes to get EXACTLY what you are looking for, but we will have to start with published material. There is room in my world for most of the published races and subclasses, depending where you're from. I do not allow the MTG crossover settings, but I can work in Eberron and Wildemount material easily as I've already data-mined those settings for various regions in my world. I am also OK with Unearthed Arcana, as long as I get a chance to look it through before you make a character, just so I can figure out where it fits in my world.