Looking to form a "Light RP" static group.

[Fishcatch22]

Hey all, I really enjoy the static RP group feel, but since there don't seem to be any active static groups forming at the moment I can bite in to and I want to try to form one minimizes some traits that have impaired my enjoyment of such groups in the past, I'm going to take my hand at forming and leading my own. The main goal of this group is to do more "free" RPing instead of RPing that gets bogged down in attempts to be overly DnD. Fast facts:

Time:
Since I'm a jobless college student ATM, we can pretty much play whenever, though since I will be being at school literally all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting the middle of next January, I would prefer if we do not meet on either of those days. Other than that, the time we meet will probably be decided when I get some people signing up here. If you are interested, make sure to tell me your preferred play schedule.

Server: Since we will be making fresh characters, server doesn't really matter, but I will arbitrarily say Orien since that's the server I usually play on these days. If anybody wants to play on a specific server due to unlocks (e.g. you want to play an Arti or a FvS), don't hesitate to tell me, I'm open to suggestions.

Rules:
Generally speaking, as long as you follow your alignment and have an internal logic to your actions and abilities, you can make up whatever you wish for your character. There are only two rules I really want people to abide by, and those are abstention from the AH and an adherence to a "first time" mentality made whenever we play through quests. I know it can be hard to resist the urge to point out a faster and more effective way to get through a quest if you've run it a thousand times (and I will struggle with this myself...), but since I want all members of the group to start from level 1 on Korthos on fresh characters, I think it would hamper the atmosphere a bit if we all just used our super-1337 leveling paths through dungeons. Though I suppose it's possible in-character arguments could be made to explain foreknowledge, the judging whether or not someone's explanation is "acceptable" could get into some thorny territory I would prefer to avoid.

Classes and group dynamics: I don't want to limit people too much on this front, but I do want us to have at least 1 of the following:

Trapper (Since we will be doing things the slow, steady way and a rogue would likely be most useful for that)
Healer
Arcane Caster (Mostly for the buffs, so bards can be acceptable in this role)

I want us to have at least 4 characters lined up before we begin, but more are always welcome. I like a good challenge and would prefer we attempt every quest on elite if possible, though if there is significant desire not to (or elite is locked for all of us), we can go on a lower difficulty.

Also, if you already have a character set up, post a summary of them here in this thread. Describe their class, what role they will play in our group, and their overall goals that they have on their career of adventuring. I have several characters I want to play, and I can be flexible and will be willing to fill any of the "required" roles I posted if people have their heart set on certain things, though the character below will be my preferred choice.

The character I want to play is a Lawful Good Dwarven Shintao Monk named Metamorphion, who focuses on fighting with Shurikens and his fists and focuses heavily on supporting the group through tanking in Mountain Stance. His overall goals on his quest are to reduce discord and suffering in Eberron by removing tainted creatures that threaten the order of the planes and reducing chaos wherever he goes. He is particularly focused on destroying the cults of Xoriat and also on preventing the evils of undeath from corrupting the world, so expect him to be focused on doing quests such as these when possible. Although he does adhere to a strict moral code as dictated by his philosophy, he is not as "rigid" as other people of his alignment, and accepts that there are many different paths that can lead to the same goal. As such, do not expect any excessive moralizing or pre-judgement from him unless you consistently and grossly violate his morals. In short, if you want to go get drunk and start dancing on bar table like a Xoriat Hound on shrooms, more power to you, but don't expect him to join you. :P

Other than the above stuff, I don't care what you do. Mix-max all you want; you can make a 6-int Horc barb and have him recite beautiful poetry for all I care (though you'd better have a pretty good explanation as to why he can :P)

If anyone has any interest in joining, post whatever relevant information about you in a post on here, such as you preferred playtimes, preferred server, preferred character and his/her backstory, ect. PMing me is not necessary unless you want to, since I think the information you share will be important for other people wanting to join the group to consider.

Hopefully we can get a good group of like-minded people going here, it's lonely out there for an RP fan who hates to PUG.

EDIT: Fast facts for those wanting to join:

We're level 17 right now and probably going to head to Eveningstar soon. Our group makeup is as follows:

Metamorphion, Dwarf Earth Monk
Cyrilath, Human Illusionist Wizard
Taedrael, Human Cleric of the Sovereign Host
Tirana, Human Artificer Arcanotechnician

Since all major spots are covered, any new joiner can be pretty much anything they want to be

[Fishcatch22]

Bump. 1 Individual currently interested.

[rezo]

I'll join, sounds like fun. I'm free on Monday through Wednesday anytime. I do have a 2 toons that i would like to play. First would be a Human Barb. / Rog. I should be able to get most traps in the game. Second would be a elf battle clr. Both toons are from my old PnP group that did transferred to DDO well. As for sever, any would work.

[Arianrhod]

Not sure if I really have time for another static group, but since the playstyle fits mine so well (I really like the "no spoilers/pretend it's the first time" way of running quests), thought I'd at least give it a shot...can always cut something else out of the schedule if it works out

Server - can do almost any server, but have the most slots open on Cannith, Wayfinder & Orien, so those would be preferred. Sarlona & Khyber really don't have room for more characters right now.

Time - pretty open, have prior commitments on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday evenings (US eastern time), but available to play on other evenings, or during the day if that's what the group decides.

Character classes/races - have all classes/races unlocked except drow on some servers and favored soul (only have that on Khyber). Prefer trappers/healers/support, but happy to play just about anything (maybe not wizard or barbarian, but we'll see).

Looking forward to seeing how the group shapes up

[Fishcatch22]

Looking at my school schedule for next Semester, I managed to squeeze all my classes into Tuesday and Thursday (though I will literally be at school ALL DAY), so unless I get a part-time job (I would most likely get one on the weekends to fit my schedule), I will be free pretty much all day the other 5 days of the week. Wednesday during the day would probably be best for me in case I do get a job, but not sure how many other people we would get would be able to swing a daytime schedule since most people are 9-to-5ers. We could do Monday nights in that case, though that would be more likely to be moved by a job.

Do you have any specific characters in mind, Arian?

[Arianrhod]

Do you have any specific characters in mind, Arian?

Still in the early stages of deciding on a character - current ideas are possibly a gatekeeper druid (sharing the goal of eliminating Xoriat cults) or a warforged artificer (most likely interested in exploring Xen'drik due to rumors of things like Warforged Titans and other "prehistoric warforged" relics). Also willing to go pure cleric, in case no one else is interested in taking on the healer/rezzer role (by the way, will the group be using hirelings to round things out, or stick to "live" players only? That could make a difference as to how crucial it will be to have a "proper" healer)

[Fishcatch22]

Still in the early stages of deciding on a character - current ideas are possibly a gatekeeper druid (sharing the goal of eliminating Xoriat cults) or a warforged artificer (most likely interested in exploring Xen'drik due to rumors of things like Warforged Titans and other "prehistoric warforged" relics). Also willing to go pure cleric, in case no one else is interested in taking on the healer/rezzer role (by the way, will the group be using hirelings to round things out, or stick to "live" players only? That could make a difference as to how crucial it will be to have a "proper" healer)

I'd prefer to stick to live players since we won't really be shortmanning anything. A druid would probably be adequate as our healer/rezzer as well, since I'll be able to provide a lot of secondary healing through light-light-light finishers.

[Arianrhod]

I'd prefer to stick to live players since we won't really be shortmanning anything. A druid would probably be adequate as our healer/rezzer as well, since I'll be able to provide a lot of secondary healing through light-light-light finishers.

OK. Tentative backstory then:

Jaelana d'Orien, human druid (name subject to change, since I don't know what server to create the character on yet)

Jaelana was born into wealth and privilege, a dragonmarked daughter of House Orien, destined for a political marriage. Unfortunately for her ambitious parents, she had neither the charm nor the inclination to make a good match, preferring the company of scruffy outsiders (like that half-orc gatekeeper she ran off with) to society parties and political functions. Taking off with a barely-literate half-orc was the last straw. her family cut her off and turned their attention to other matters. Jaelana has been informed she is not welcome in the family home until she "cleans herself up and puts on some decent clothes".

Free at last from the suffocating environment of House politics, Jaelana has begun exploring her true calling. Hathil, her half-orc friend, taught her the ways of the Gatekeepers, but advised her that she would need to set out on her own to develop her talents and discover where best to put them to use. "There are simply to few of us," he explained when asked why they had to part ways. "If we stay too close together, we run the risk of missing the small threats until they grow too large to deal with quietly, without major disturbances in the natural order. We need to have Gatekeepers in as many places as possible to learn what they can, and help where they can."

So it was that Jaelana found herself bound for Xen'Drik with a wolf named Wolf, a strong sense of right and wrong, and precious little else. (Creativity is not one of her strong points. She may give the wolf a proper name someday, but that's how she tends to name most animals, unless they need something more descriptive, like "Blacky" or "Old One-eye")

[Fishcatch22]

OK. Tentative backstory then:

Jaelana d'Orien, human druid (name subject to change, since I don't know what server to create the character on yet)

Jaelana was born into wealth and privilege, a dragonmarked daughter of House Orien, destined for a political marriage. Unfortunately for her ambitious parents, she had neither the charm nor the inclination to make a good match, preferring the company of scruffy outsiders (like that half-orc gatekeeper she ran off with) to society parties and political functions. Taking off with a barely-literate half-orc was the last straw. her family cut her off and turned their attention to other matters. Jaelana has been informed she is not welcome in the family home until she "cleans herself up and puts on some decent clothes".

Free at last from the suffocating environment of House politics, Jaelana has begun exploring her true calling. Hathil, her half-orc friend, taught her the ways of the Gatekeepers, but advised her that she would need to set out on her own to develop her talents and discover where best to put them to use. "There are simply to few of us," he explained when asked why they had to part ways. "If we stay too close together, we run the risk of missing the small threats until they grow too large to deal with quietly, without major disturbances in the natural order. We need to have Gatekeepers in as many places as possible to learn what they can, and help where they can."

So it was that Jaelana found herself bound for Xen'Drik with a wolf named Wolf, a strong sense of right and wrong, and precious little else. (Creativity is not one of her strong points. She may give the wolf a proper name someday, but that's how she tends to name most animals, unless they need something more descriptive, like "Blacky" or "Old One-eye")

What will her alignment be? Sounds Neutral Good to me due the strong sense of right and wrong, but then again Jaheira had the same traits from BG and was still True Neutral (though she was a 2nd edition druid). Do you envision her as a caster druid or a shifter druid?

Looks like the main thing we're lacking at this point is an Arcane Caster.

[Arianrhod]

What will her alignment be? Sounds Neutral Good to me due the strong sense of right and wrong, but then again Jaheira had the same traits from BG and was still True Neutral (though she was a 2nd edition druid). Do you envision her as a caster druid or a shifter druid?

Looks like the main thing we're lacking at this point is an Arcane Caster.

Was actually going for Lawful Neutral ("right & wrong" vs. "good & evil")
and Caster druid, so should be able to do full healing and at least some buffs (no haste or heroism, but there are always potions...), and if I go with the dragonmark, will be able to do DDoor as well.

[Twilightsong]

Hello...

I'm new to the game but would like to getting on something like this if you still have room. I'd also like to play a wizard or sorcerer if possible. I really enjoy pen and paper games and actual roleplaying

[Fishcatch22]

Hello...

I'm new to the game but would like to getting on something like this if you still have room. I'd also like to play a wizard or sorcerer if possible. I really enjoy pen and paper games and actual roleplaying

Indeed we do still have room and an arcane caster would be ideal to round out our group. Sorc/Wiz tend to have an advantage in that I believe they translate pretty well from PnP into DDO, though I'll admit I haven't played a lot of PnP DnD; most of my experience comes from DDO and old RPGs like Baldur's Gate that were based directly on 2nd ed rules. I would recommend giving the Sorcerer and Wizard forums a once-over to get a grasp of how they operate in this game, though don't worry too much about "optimizing" your build; I doubt we'll be doing much of the heavy endgame content that most people design their builds around. The main paths you can take with arcane casters are Necromancers (Pale Masters) and Archmages (school specialists) for Wizards and elemental savants (specialists in fire/cold/acid/electric damage) for Sorcerers. There's also the new Eldritch Knight tree for both classes if you had a battlemage in mind. What kind of character (thematically) were you looking to play?

Also, make sure one of the two tentative playtimes I mentioned in an earlier post sound manageable to you; Monday in the evenings or Wednesday in the afternoon seem like the best at this point.

Actually... that brings me to an important point. What time zone is everybody in? I'm in CST (UTC -6:00), (Illinois).

[Twilightsong]

OK great....Monday evenings are fine with me. Weekday afternoons are not good though unless you are talking early evening in eastern timezone.

I have been looking through some of the builds but haven't fully decided on one yet. Is there anything more specific than general caster that the party needs?

As far as character, I'm thinking maybe a chaotic good idealist youngster. I'm not very familliar with the Eberron setting so not sure if there's anything unusual about mages in this world. I'll look it up.

Indeed we do still have room and an arcane caster would be ideal to round out our group. Sorc/Wiz tend to have an advantage in that I believe they translate pretty well from PnP into DDO, though I'll admit I haven't played a lot of PnP DnD; most of my experience comes from DDO and old RPGs like Baldur's Gate that were based directly on 2nd ed rules. I would recommend giving the Sorcerer and Wizard forums a once-over to get a grasp of how they operate in this game, though don't worry too much about "optimizing" your build; I doubt we'll be doing much of the heavy endgame content that most people design their builds around. The main paths you can take with arcane casters are Necromancers (Pale Masters) and Archmages (school specialists) for Wizards and elemental savants (specialists in fire/cold/acid/electric damage) for Sorcerers. There's also the new Eldritch Knight tree for both classes if you had a battlemage in mind. What kind of character (thematically) were you looking to play?

Also, make sure one of the two tentative playtimes I mentioned in an earlier post sound manageable to you; Monday in the evenings or Wednesday in the afternoon seem like the best at this point.

Actually... that brings me to an important point. What time zone is everybody in? I'm in CST (UTC -6:00), (Illinois).

[Fishcatch22]

OK great....Monday evenings are fine with me. Weekday afternoons are not good though unless you are talking early evening in eastern timezone.

I have been looking through some of the builds but haven't fully decided on one yet. Is there anything more specific than general caster that the party needs?

As far as character, I'm thinking maybe a chaotic good idealist youngster. I'm not very familliar with the Eberron setting so not sure if there's anything unusual about mages in this world. I'll look it up.

Not particularly; none of the build choices you can make directly influence your ability to aid the party. All the good arcane buffs are available to any flavor of arcane caster. Your choices with your build will mainly influence the way you do your offense. Pale Master Wizards focus on necromantic instakill spells and increased survivability through negative energy regeneration auras and "shrouds" that give the the defensive abilities of certain undead, Archmages focus on certain spell schools (Evocation, Conjuration, Illusion, ect.) that give them spell-like abilities of their chosen school so they can cast those spells almost for free. Their play style obviously varies wildly based on what school you choose to specialize in. Enchantment and Evocation tend to be popular choices. Sorcerers mainly choose to specialize in one particular elemental damage type and play a lot like mages in other MMOs, spending their time elementally nuking stuff with AoEs and single-target bursts.

Some things to keep in mind about Eberron is that the moral setting is much more "gray"; no race/religion/faction/ect. is ever absolutely evil or good like they can be in some other settings. For example, Drow are considered savage but not necessarily evil, Necromancers can be good people who draw their minions from venerated ancestors who voluntarily serve them based on the Valenar Elf religion of The Undying Court, and someone who is Lawful Good can be an insane zealot that kills first and asks questions later (E.G., the Silver Flame). Also, it is a fairly "steampunk" setting with a lot of "magitechnology" which Arcane casters are intimately involved with. A lot of arcane casters make their characters Warforged in order to benefit from the repair spells Arcane casters get to fix constructs like Warforged, making it possible to be a self-healing Arcane caster.

[Arianrhod]

Also, make sure one of the two tentative playtimes I mentioned in an earlier post sound manageable to you; Monday in the evenings or Wednesday in the afternoon seem like the best at this point.

Actually... that brings me to an important point. What time zone is everybody in? I'm in CST (UTC -6:00), (Illinois).

Monday evenings or Wednesday afternoons would work fine for me. I'm in US eastern time zone (Maryland), one hour off from Central time. On most Monday evenings, I need to be out of the house from 5:30 - 6:30, so I would need to start later than that. 9-11 pm would be ideal, but I can be flexible. What time do others want to play? And shall we just pick a server, or does anyone else have preferences we need to work around?

[Fishcatch22]

Monday evenings or Wednesday afternoons would work fine for me. I'm in US eastern time zone (Maryland), one hour off from Central time. On most Monday evenings, I need to be out of the house from 5:30 - 6:30, so I would need to start later than that. 9-11 pm would be ideal, but I can be flexible. What time do others want to play? And shall we just pick a server, or does anyone else have preferences we need to work around?

I think I would prefer the Orien server since that's the one I play on, but I can't specifically recall anything I want that I only have unlocked on that server.

[Fishcatch22]

So, I;m assuming our group is currently going to break down like this

Me, Monk
Rezo, Barbarian/rogue
Arianrhod, Druid
Twilightsong, Wiz/sorc

I think a good time would be 8 PM CST each Monday on the Orien server.

Is all of the above correct and agreeable?

Also, have you made any decisions as far as character goes TwlightSong?

[Arianrhod]

So, I;m assuming our group is currently going to break down like this

Me, Monk
Rezo, Barbarian/rogue
Arianrhod, Druid
Twilightsong, Wiz/sorc

I think a good time would be 8 PM CST each Monday on the Orien server.

Is all of the above correct and agreeable?

Also, have you made any decisions as far as character goes TwlightSong?

OK, Jaelana is waiting in the Wavecrest. Will check for the others this evening, unless we'd prefer to wait another week before trying to get underway.

[Fishcatch22]

OK, Jaelana is waiting in the Wavecrest. Will check for the others this evening, unless we'd prefer to wait another week before trying to get underway.

hold your horses, we have to wait for a reply from TwilightSong. Still don't know what she (I think) decided to play. I just posted that to see if all the above is okay with everyone.

[Arianrhod]

hold your horses, we have to wait for a reply from TwilightSong. Still don't know what she (I think) decided to play. I just posted that to see if all the above is okay with everyone.

No problem, just wanted to be ready She can just sit there till everyone else is ready. I'm also still open to playing something else...maybe a Halfling artificer. We'll see what we end up with