1 Pig Lip's Well
The land is doomed. Its people are awful and their lives are ending. Existence frays into further miserable incoherence as the apocalypse approaches; beware the coming of the Baleful Miseries! They are the fangs on the maw that hungers for us all!
A man with a broken soul rules that patch of cursed ground which you traipsed through. Master Pig Lip desperately leverages every power he has to escape doomsday. A magical well was discovered on his turf. Its decorated walls of brass stretch towards unfathomed depths of fog. It is that salvation lies below. All reckoning with the well has been fruitless though. In practice the well has become a device of cruel sport. Throw a few troublesome peasants in for good luck. You have been press ganged by Pig Lip’s men-at-arms and herded towards the well. Others were thrown in ahead of you. Some went peacefully; all others were thrown in dead. Apparently you're going to meet the bottom of the well.
Who did those laughing thugs cast into the well? Let’s make some characters, two for each of you.
Let’s start with attributes and ability modifiers.
Each attribute value correlates with an ability value. The attribute value is only used during character creation. The Ability score is what matters.
Attribute Ability
1-4 -3
5-6 -2
7-8 -1
9-12 0
13-14 1
15-16 2
17-20 3
During the course of the game your abilities will be tested.
Abilities and their related tests.
Agility defend, balance, swim, flee
Presence perceive, aim, charm, wield powers
Strength crush, lift, strike, grapple
Toughness resist poison/cold/heat, survive falling
When rolling stats, pick an attribute and then roll, faithfully abiding by the roll of the dice. For each character, pick their two favorite attributes and roll 4d6 (roll four six-sided dice) and then count the sum of the three highest dice. Roll 3d6 (three six-sided dice) for the remaining two attributes. Find the appropriate ability score for each attribute. To calculate their initial maximum HP it is the sum of their Toughness ability score and a d8 (eight sided die). Name the unfortunate peasant.
As an example, let us recall the emaciated looking fellow named James who was thrown into the well ahead of you. Agility? Ooo! Rolled four 2s. Drop the lowest die… Agility attribute is 2+2+2=6. Presence? Meh. Rolled 6, 5 and 3. Presence attribute is 14. Strength? Meh. Rolled a 6, 3 and 1. Strength attribute is 10. Toughness? Ooo! Rolled a 6, 4, 2 and 1. Toughness attribute is 6+4+2=12. James’ ability scores: Agility -2, Presence 1, Strength 0, Toughness 0. James’ HP is Toughness plus the roll of a d8. James’ HP is 4.
So, who are you?
A man with a broken soul rules that patch of cursed ground which you traipsed through. Master Pig Lip desperately leverages every power he has to escape doomsday. A magical well was discovered on his turf. Its decorated walls of brass stretch towards unfathomed depths of fog. It is that salvation lies below. All reckoning with the well has been fruitless though. In practice the well has become a device of cruel sport. Throw a few troublesome peasants in for good luck. You have been press ganged by Pig Lip’s men-at-arms and herded towards the well. Others were thrown in ahead of you. Some went peacefully; all others were thrown in dead. Apparently you're going to meet the bottom of the well.
Who did those laughing thugs cast into the well? Let’s make some characters, two for each of you.
Let’s start with attributes and ability modifiers.
Each attribute value correlates with an ability value. The attribute value is only used during character creation. The Ability score is what matters.
Attribute Ability
1-4 -3
5-6 -2
7-8 -1
9-12 0
13-14 1
15-16 2
17-20 3
During the course of the game your abilities will be tested.
Abilities and their related tests.
Agility defend, balance, swim, flee
Presence perceive, aim, charm, wield powers
Strength crush, lift, strike, grapple
Toughness resist poison/cold/heat, survive falling
When rolling stats, pick an attribute and then roll, faithfully abiding by the roll of the dice. For each character, pick their two favorite attributes and roll 4d6 (roll four six-sided dice) and then count the sum of the three highest dice. Roll 3d6 (three six-sided dice) for the remaining two attributes. Find the appropriate ability score for each attribute. To calculate their initial maximum HP it is the sum of their Toughness ability score and a d8 (eight sided die). Name the unfortunate peasant.
As an example, let us recall the emaciated looking fellow named James who was thrown into the well ahead of you. Agility? Ooo! Rolled four 2s. Drop the lowest die… Agility attribute is 2+2+2=6. Presence? Meh. Rolled 6, 5 and 3. Presence attribute is 14. Strength? Meh. Rolled a 6, 3 and 1. Strength attribute is 10. Toughness? Ooo! Rolled a 6, 4, 2 and 1. Toughness attribute is 6+4+2=12. James’ ability scores: Agility -2, Presence 1, Strength 0, Toughness 0. James’ HP is Toughness plus the roll of a d8. James’ HP is 4.
So, who are you?