000 - Bounty Hunters - Session 0

[Show intro plays]

ROVER

Hello everyone, and welcome to Remains To Be Seen. These will be a couple of smaller episodes where we will introduce you to our players and the characters that you will meet in the episodes.

Today, I am here with...

Do you not remember my name? Wow. With Jo Mendacium.

ROVER

Ooh. I forgot your name, I'm so sorry.

Rude. (Laughs)

ROVER

How dare I. So tell us a bit about yourself, Jo.

About myself? Well I'm the voice in your ear currently. I've been in a different—in two different podcasts before. And I am a professional agent of chaos. I also do draw. I feel like that I should say that. I do draw sometimes.

ROVER

And, I mean, it's totally not like you're also owning this entire company.

Ah, oh fuck. Ah, yes!

[Rover laughs]

I'm really good at introductions, and I'm going to leave all of this in because I think it's funnier. I'm also the second CEO of this little company. I'm pulling a lot of strings behind the scenes. I'm going to cut this, which is so much fun. And yeah.

ROVER

We will all have to deal with our own voices again, and again, and again.

I can hear my own voice. Like, I can listen to it. That's fine.

ROVER

I can't wait to join, hopefully, that group too.

Deep Jo lore is: I worked in a call center and like every week, you would have to—with your team manager—would have to listen to your own calls.

ROVER

Oh no.

So I'm primed for this. (Laughs)

ROVER

Oh my god. Okay. So can you introduce us to your character that you will be playing in the podcast?

I'm going to play Viktor Valthayne, who is a Changeling and a Hexblade warlock at level 3, just like everyone else. But he's not like the other girls.

[Laughter]

Since he is a Changeling, he will appear in different...I mean, he will look different sometimes. We will probably meet him in his fem-presenting form, which is a short queen. I can't do feet, so we will now have to live with meters, like about 170, somewhere around there, with tanned skin, like this person has been outside a lot. A few freckles across her face; long, silvery-gray hair. The thing you would notice first about her are her violet eyes with slits for pupils.

ROVER

Oooh.

Because my guy is a little...he's a little extra. (Laughs)

ROVER

I do feel very offended that you called 170 short. How dare you, Jo.

Uhmmm this is a fantasy game.

ROVER

Oi!

All parallels to actually existing people are legally an accident. I'm so sorry.

[Laughter]

ROVER

How dare you. So we're gonna do a little improv question. And we will see how that will go and what your answer is. Because I didn't make questions to be like, "Oh, what is your favorite type of breakfast?" Or "What is your favorite season?" No.

ROVER [as DUNGEON MASTER]

Viktor Valthayne...what makes you afraid of the dark?

JO [as VIKTOR]

Well, I suppose the only thing that would make me afraid of the dark is not being able to control when I get to leave it or who's there with me.

ROVER

Interesting! Okay! Let's find out what that is about.

I don't like that you're grinning so much. Evil. Evil.

ROVER

(Audibly grinning) It all remains to be seen.

Oh, for fuck's sake Rover!

[Rover laughs]

ROVER

Anyway...let's go a bit through the mechanics of your character. Because you're playing a Changeling. What are the things that you get for being a Changeling?

Okay, I can't really remember which proficiencies you get because I did not mark that down—where they came from. However, I can change my appearance. And to make it work mechanically, we kind of tied it to my proficiency bonus. So twice a day, I can change my ex—my experience? No—my appearance. And, like, minor changes would not count into that. Like if I just want to make my lashes longer, I can just do that. But like properly changing my appearance is tied to my proficiency bonus because it's a little easier to deal with.

ROVER

And it also...yeah it also makes it just...it doesn't do the thing of, like, oh I can steal this person's stuff and then just run away as a different person, basically, constantly. So that's why we put it to the proficiency bonus as well.

Yeah.

ROVER

And you are playing a Hexblade warlock—I almost said warrior. Warrior could also be a good word, but it's a warlock.

It's a warlock, yes.

ROVER

So can you run us through your ability scores?

Like, the skills, the big skills? I call them the big skills, because—

ROVER

Yeah, they're the big skills. The Big Skills.

(Laughing) —because I'm educated, and eloquent.

Yes, I would love to. So Viktor has +1 on Strength, +2 on Dexterity, +2 on Constitution, +3 on Intelligence, +0 on Wisdom, and I'm so excited for that, and +5 on Charisma.

ROVER

I'm going to so hate your character.

Yes you will.

[ROVER laughs]

I'm going to leave that on this fucking recording.

ROVER

That's fine!

I...I'm specifically—I and Viktor both, we both, the character I play and I as a person specifically exist to make Ro's life harder. But he's also very mean, so I feel like he deserves it. (Laughs)

ROVER

I mean, this podcast is indeed very much going to mess around with your mind, let's just say that.

Amazing.

ROVER

It's going to be very, very fun.

Yes.

ROVER

And what are your proficiencies?

First, my saving throws: I am proficient in Wisdom and Charisma saving throws. And then from my skills: I am proficient in Deception, History, Intimidation, Investigation, Persuasion, and Stealth.

ROVER

Oooh. Which means you are going to lie your ass off—

Yeah.

ROVER

—the entirety of the podcast. Which is going to be very fun.

Exactly.

ROVER

What...do you have any weapons that you use? Or are you basically more a spell—?

I do have two weapons, actually. I also get to have a breastplate because the AC is scary otherwise. I do have the rapier and a greatsword.

ROVER

And what languages does your character speak?

My character speaks Common, I know that's very surprising.

ROVER

Oh my god.

Sylvan, Greek, Elvish, German, and Sign Language.

ROVER

Ooooooh! That's gonna be very interesting. Also, for the people that have not listened to anything else—Common, in this world, also counts as English. So when we either say Common or English, it's the same thing, basically.

Alright, let's go through a bit of your mechanics for Viktor. Cause what do you get when you are a warlock? And definitely also, at some point, with your subclass?

You mean, like, feats and...?

ROVER

Like the Eldritch Invocations, the feats, what your Hexblade does.

Yeah, so bear with me, I never wrote down what you get at what level. But, I mean, whoever is listening to this and is like, "Oh, warlock's sound very interesting!" For you, important to know Changelings are not a species that are in the official rules. You will have to use the other books that exist, like Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, or whatever it's called, or Mordenkainen's Book of Monsters...same goes for the Hexblade warlock as a whole.

However, you get some stuff that is very standard for this class, which is Eldritch Invocations. Which means you get to choose extra abilities, so to speak. For warlocks, it's recommended to make one of your spells better, which is Eldritch Blast. For me, it becomes Agonizing Blast, which means I can use my Charisma modifier for the damage—to add to the damage roll. Which is good because it's +5.

And the second one I picked is Devil's Sight, which means I can see...for 120 feet I can see through darkness and magical darkness.

ROVER

Oooh, okay that's really cool. And then you should also have Magical Cunning?

Ah, yes. Magical Cunning, if I'm remembering correctly, it gives you the ability to perform a ritual for one minute and get, like, a spell slot...half of your proficiency...it's one spell slot. You get one spell slot back, essentially, for me at level 3.

ROVER

Yeah, because we are starting at level 3, which we will also mention again in the actual episode.

Yep.

ROVER

And then you chose Hexblade for your subclass. Can you talk us a bit through why you chose Hexblade? Because Hexblade is not in the four main ones that we mostly use with the 2024 book.

Right. I chose Hexblade because it's cooler. That is genuinely my only explanation for it. It sounds cool. It gives you a lot of cool things, like you can curse a target, which...it works a little bit like Hunter's Mark from rangers. It lowers my crit range to 19 on this specific target, which is always nice. And Hexblade overall gives you the ability, as a warlock, to be a bit more...you're not so dependent on all your spells. You also do damage and do a lot with just a weapon, which I find, for a campaign, gives you a bit more...like, I didn't want to have frustration in the fights, right? Because warlocks only get...I have two spell slots. That's it.

ROVER

Yeah.

And the max spell slots a warlock can ever get is four. So my plan was to make Viktor do something in combat that is not just his spells. Yeah, and you get nice things. You can pick Hex Warrior, that gives you, essentially, proficiency in other weapon types so that you can mix and match whatever you want to.

ROVER

Yeah, because warlocks are mostly very much a magical-based class.

Yeah.

ROVER

Which is their 2-4 spell slots, or 1-4 spell slots, and a lot on their cantrips. But with Hexblade, you basically are also good at fighting?

Yeah. Yeah, essentially. Because, I think naturally the warlocks are only proficient in simple weapons or something like that. So you are very much...if you are out of spells, and you do not pick your cantrips carefully so that you have more than just Eldritch Blast in there that deals damage, it can be a bit frustrating in battle, I find. So, I was like, "Okay, I really want to go for...I also want to just wield a weapon and do something with that."

ROVER

Yeah. And with the Hexblade, obviously with warlocks, the subclass that you choose also fits the patron that you follow, basically.

(Chuckling) Oh yeah it does.

ROVER

Oh yeah it does! So...for example, there is the Celestial subclass where your patron could literally be a unicorn if you want them to be. Or it is an actual fiend, or any kind of that. However with Hexblade, that is a bit different. And Jo, do you want to tell us why that is a bit different?

Ahhhh (sighs)...I hope you're all seated. I have a shadow daddy.

[Laughter]

Yeah, with Hexblade, your patron is a shadow being, which has...which is giving you all your powers. So clearly, shadow daddy.

ROVER

Yeah. And who knows, maybe that comes up in the show, maybe no. Maybe yes, maybe no.

(Whispering) It will come up. I'm pretty sure.

ROVER

(Whispering) It will absolutely come up. I have so much lore ready.

(Whispering) Yes. Oh my god, I'm so terrified.

ROVER

(Whispering) I am so ready.

(Normally) Yeah. Ooh, actually, maybe...because a lot of people with the Hexblade warlock would go for the Pact of the Blade, later on, I did not do that. I went for the Pact of Tome to have more spells. Because Viktor likes books. (Laughs)

ROVER

Yeah, Viktor really likes books. So that's also gonna come up a lot in the show. Like, I think it's very much a...inspiration, a little bit, of the knowledges of Doctor Who, kind of.

Yep. Yeah. We were watching a lot of Doctor Who when I—

ROVER

Yeah.

—started creating Viktor. And it all went in a different direction, which I'm very excited about. However, I think, when it comes to skills, and you really, really, really play a campaign where roleplaying is the main part for everyone, because you're all just, like, playing your characters...I think picking your skills and subclass according to what you really want to play makes a lot of sense. Even if there would mechanically be a better option...pick the one you really want to play. And I think having a guy who gets all his powers from a shadow is really kind of metal actually. (Laughs)

ROVER

It's really cool! And I...since this is very much set in Europe, we're gonna less interact, probably, with the big fiends and demons, rather than shadows, which will definitely appear in this show. Spoilers.

I mean, everyone got one.

ROVER

Yeah, it'll be all good. So yeah, that's gonna be really, really fun. Remind me again where Viktor is from? Since we mentioned Europe, where is Viktor from?

Viktor's from Manchester. And no, I cannot do a Mancunian accent, and you will not hear that. I'm...I'm ambiguously English accent, I guess, for him.

ROVER

(Laughs) I mean, it's also definitely a rule here that, do not do accents if you can't do them properly.

Yep.

ROVER

We don't want to offend anyone. That's also not what we just...we just don't want to do that. We're not gonna do that. If you are confident in your accent, that's all good. But if you're not, don't do it. Even if you're from, I don't know, UK, Germany, Italy. Doesn't matter. But yeah.

I think, if I'm correct, that is everything for...actually no, I am a liar. What background do you have?

Ooh! I went for Wayfarer because it gives you the feat Lucky, my personal absolute favorite. I love Lucky to pieces, and in the 2024 rules, they actually kind of tweaked it a little so it gets better the higher level you are because now you can use it the amount of times that corresponds with your proficiency bonus. Which is so nice. I love it.

ROVER

It's so cool.

Yeah. You get to re-roll a d20, essentially.

ROVER

Yeah, the backgrounds in 2024 are...

Yes.

ROVER

...so good. I love them.

We love them. We love them.

ROVER

We love them.

Yes.

ROVER

And your AC at the moment is?

16.

ROVER

And your hit points—I think you're using d8 for a warlock?

Yes. It is...yeah. It is d8s, and my hit points are a voluptuous 24. (Laughs) Warlocks are glass cannons, y'all.

ROVER

Yeah, they are very much glass cannons. So for the warlock, can you run us a bit through what spells you have and your spellcasting ability, your spell save DC, stuff like that?

Yeah, yeah. Sure. Sure sure sure. So since I picked the Pact of Tome, I got more cantrips and two more level 1 spells that are tied to something, but I feel that's all you need to know.

My spellcasting ability is my Charisma modifier. My spell save DC is 15. And my spell attack bonus is +7.

ROVER

Oooh, okay.

Which is really nice.

ROVER

That's real good!

The cantrips I picked are: Toll the Dead, because cool ass spell. Eldritch Blast, which now is Agonizing Blast. Spare the Dying, Fire Bolt, and Message. The last three are the ones I got from the Pact of Tome, and I personally think Spare the Dying...absolutely underrated. So helpful for you and for your party, essentially, because you can just go boop and then people stop bleeding out.

For my first level spells, I obviously picked Hellish Rebuke, a little spell that is just called Hex, Witch Bolt, and then from the Pact of Tome, I picked Detect Magic and Tenser's Floating Disk.

ROVER

Nice.

Yeah. And my one second level spell I have is Darkness.

ROVER

And for a warlock, these are all on level...

Two.

ROVER

Two. Yeah, so every single spell that Jo does as level 1 or level 2, will be cast at level 2.

So if they don't scale at higher levels, it does not matter because you...I mean, I think warlocks do not have that many spells that do not scale at a higher level, because they're very much built like that. Every...every spell I cast, I cast at the highest level that is available to me. This is why you only have two spell slots. Because that gets...that gets ouchie really fast, I feel like.

ROVER

Yeah. And what your spells will do and how they work, all remain to be seen in the actual show.

Okay, you will never stop...you will never stop saying that, right? That's...this is...this is...

ROVER

I will never stop saying it, it's now a thing.

This is now a thing. It's now a thing.

ROVER

It's now a thing. This is now a thing.

It...it...okay.

ROVER

It's now a thing.

It is now a thing.

ROVER

I think for that, that is it. Thank you so much for being here, Jo, and talking us through Viktor.

Yes!

ROVER

I can't wait to see what Viktor does in the actual show.

Me neither. I hope he survives. That's, like, the goal, right?

ROVER

I hope they don't.

I mean, I came to play the game. If he dies, he dies. But, you know...

ROVER

I want to make this very clear. I do not want to actually kill all the characters. I just like threatening them.

Yeah, doesn't work on me, dude. Sorry.

ROVER

We've played so...like, so long DnD before, like...

Yeah, actually. We did. (Laughs) Alright!

ROVER

Alright. I'll see you in the episodes. Buh-bye.

Help! Buh-bye!

[Piano interlude plays]

ROVER

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Remains To Be Seen. I am your host, Rover Elliott, and today I am here with...

ELIZABETH

Elizabeth Simpson.

ROVER

Hello Elizabeth. How're you doing?

ELIZABETH

I'm good! I'm so excited to be here.

ROVER

I'm glad. So tell us a bit about yourself.

ELIZABETH

Of course. I am a video editor based in the U.S. I am obsessed with all things fantasy and sci-fi, and I've been playing DnD about a year. And I'm so, so, so very excited to be here.

ROVER

Ah, it's gonna be so fun. So tell us a bit about your character.

ELIZABETH

Yes, so Corwin is a Half-Elf paladin. Notably, she is an oathbreaker paladin, which I am so, so excited to play. Ro, this was actually your brainchild from a...

[Both laugh]

...from a conversation that we had so early on in the audition process.

ROVER

We did.

ELIZABETH

Oh, it was fantastic.

ROVER

So good.

ELIZABETH

I can't—yeah, looking back, I actually went back and found that original message the other day—

ROVER

Oh!

ELIZABETH

And it was just...it was just us going absolutely bonkers for all these different, wild character types. And oathbreaker paladin who hates the fact that they've broken their oath and is trying to fix things just stuck with me so much. And I was so excited to get to revisit that idea.

ROVER

Yeah, and officially in 5e, definitely. Oathbreakers aren’t necessarily a thing in 2024. And in 5e they are only used for villain class options. They are in the Dungeon Master Guide. So doing this for a player character that is trying to redeem themselves is going to be really, really interesting.

So, Corwin...where is Corwin from?

ELIZABETH

Corwin is...her family currently lives in Florence, Italy. But she grew up kind of split between Florence and London. She went to boarding school in London and has spent quite a lot of time in London in recent years.

ROVER

Yeah cause she...before she broke her oath, she used to be with Apollo?

ELIZABETH

Yes! She was a paladin of Apollo up until really quite recently before the campaign. This is all very, very fresh. We are going to get the very rattled version of Corwin at the beginning as she is trying to figure out what it means to have broken her oath.

ROVER

Oh, that's going to be really interesting to see how that works with Corwin. So we have a bit of an improv question, and once again, we are not going to be nice. So,

ROVER [as DUNGEON MASTER]

Corwin Duvall, do you blame yourself?

ELIZABETH [as CORWIN]

Do I...do I blame myself? Of course I blame myself. It's my fault! Why wouldn't I blame myself? But...but that doesn't matter right now. Guilt is...is self-indulgent, and all that matters is fixing this. All that matters is finding a way to set this right. I...of course I blame myself, but I can't right now.

ROVER

Amazing, thank you so much. (Laughs) So after that, wow, let's get into how your character works. Because Corwin is a Half-Elf?

ELIZABETH

Yes, Corwin is a Half-Elf...which, notably, did not exist in the 2024 rules, which breaks my heart a little bit.

ROVER

Yeah, same. It's...it was in 5e, because we used to start out the show with 5e, and then when we got more into 2024, realized that it just had a lot more options to go with. But the sad thing is that it was...it added Goliath and Aasimar, but sadly took Half-Elf and Half-Orc away. But now, we still have a Half-Elf here. So explain to us a bit what the Half-Elf specialties are.

ELIZABETH

Yes, for sure. So just to give a little bit of clarification, so, you know, we're mostly using the 2024 stats—ah, the 2024 rulebook for Corwin. So all of her stats, all of her stat bonuses, all of her level-ups, all of that will be handled in the 2024 rules. But you and I discussed taking the species characteristics from 2014, just to kind of keep it fair.

So those species characteristics are: she gets darkvision, she gets advantage against being charmed, and notably, my favorite thing in the world, is that she gets one cantrip due to her High Elf Heritage, which is Prestidigitation. Which she uses almost exclusively to dye her hair pink. Bubblegum pink.

ROVER

Amazing! (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

(Laughing) She's just a girl!

ROVER

She's just a girl! I genuinely knew that she had pink hair. I think my brain did not gather that it was Prestidigitation that did that. Wonderful. Amazing. Who needs—

ELIZABETH

Just—well, I was gonna say, just a little detail is that her hair is physically dyed a really wild color of blue-green. Like she tried to dye it blue-green, it went really, really poorly, she couldn't fix it, and so now she Prestidigitates it to be bubblegum pink.

ROVER

Oh, the sweet soul! Yeah, why would you ever use normal hair dye when you can have Prestidigitation.

ELIZABETH

Exactly. You know.

ROVER

And for Prestidigitation, there are official rules to it. However, who cares. If you just want to dye your hair pink, you dye your hair pink.

ELIZABETH

Thank you.

ROVER

And then you are playing a paladin oathbreaker. So let us go through, just, your character sheet in general. What are your ability scores?

ELIZABETH

Yes. So Corwin has some wild ability scores. And I would like...I would like to put it on record that these were rolled live as a group because I rolled so poorly that I don't think I had a single score above 12.

[Rover laughs]

And so the rest of the party kindly rolled for me, and rolled incredibly. So the singular score that I have that is awful is mine, and everything else is what everyone else rolled for me. (Laughs)

ROVER

(Laughing) So fun.

ELIZABETH

I love the Bounty Hunters. I love you all.

So she has a Strength score of 17, a Dexterity...a Dexterity score of 17, Constitution of 17, Intelligence of 16, Wisdom of 10, and Charisma of 20.

ROVER

Yeah. So that's a lot of +3, +3, +3, +3, +0, and +5.

ELIZABETH

Correct.

ROVER

Which is...for a level 3 character? Quite insane.

ELIZABETH

Wild.

ROVER

And to add, indeed, to that story that you told for how it was live...we all rolled one stat separately, and we kept rolling well except for Elizabeth.

[Elizabeth laughs]

ELIZABETH

I have since switched dice.

[Transcriber's note: Reader, it did not help.]

ROVER

(Laughing) Good! Good, good, good. So what are your proficiency saving throws and skills?

ELIZABETH

Yes, so...her saving throws...sorry, should I run through all the saving throws or just the ones she's proficient in?

ROVER

Proficient.

ELIZABETH

Okay, perfect. She's proficient in Wisdom and Charisma saving throws. So that's a +2 to Wisdom and a +7 to Charisma. And then her skill proficiencies are Insight, which is a +2, Persuasion, which is a +7, Religion, which is a +5, and Medicine, which is a +2.

ROVER

So let's go through the paladin stuff, then. Cause...before we do that actually, what are the weapons that you are using?

ELIZABETH

Yes. I am very, very, very excited about her weapons. Corwin gets a crossbow and a dagger, because I wanted her to have a ranged weapon, and I feel like a dagger is just something that any...anyone should have in this world. Notably, her main weapon is a halberd. And it is a cursed halberd that is cursed to keep a tally of everyone that she has killed. So every time that she...yeah. Every time that she kills someone, a tally appears on the shaft of this halberd. Just a friendly little reminder of everything that she's done.

ROVER

What a good weapon. This, obviously, is something we are homebrewing. When there are actual items from the books, we will absolutely say so. This is a homebrew item.

ELIZABETH

Yes.

ROVER

Now to actually stick to my words and go through the paladin stuff. What do you get as a paladin, level 1 to level 3?

ELIZABETH

Yes. We get so much. First, and most notably, is of course Lay on Hands. Which, as long as I'm remembering correctly, we are homebrewing just a little bit?

ROVER

Yes.

ELIZABETH

We get...it'll be 1d10 plus the paladin level. And we get three charges, and then an additional charge at each fourth level.

ROVER

Yep. This is also because, personally, I feel like Lay on Hands is not the most interesting explained stat, and in some different systems you roll for it. So we decided to kind of homebrew that with a little bit of inspiration from how Balder's Gate 3 did it, and...just rolling dice for it, which is just more fun in general.

ELIZABETH

Yeah, I agree completely. Other things that she gets as a paladin. She gets a fighting style. We have chosen Interception because that seemed to really fit well with her whole character concept of trying really hard to do better and save people. And Interception basically means that if one of her party members that she is standing within 5 feet of gets attacked, Corwin can take a reaction to reduce the damage that that party member receives. And that's by 1d10 + 2, so I could...she could theoretically reduce quite a bit of damage.

ROVER

Wow. Okay!

ELIZABETH

I’m so excited about that. She also gets two Channel Divinities. Channel Divinity is something that we did homebrew a tiny bit with oathbreaker, to make it a bit more even. She gets...let me see. She gets Divine Sense, and then she gets Dreadful Aspect. She would have also gotten Control Undead, but we figured with this world, and to make oathbreaker more even with the other paladin subclasses, we dropped Control Undead.

So she has Divine Sense and Dreadful Aspect.

ROVER

Interesting. Cause you also have, I think, Paladin Smite?

ELIZABETH

Yes. Yes, we get Divine Smite, yes, or Paladin Smite, which is used as a bonus action, which I was really, really interested to learn. But it's essentially…right after she hits a target, she can deal an additional 2d8 radiant damage.

ROVER

That's really, really good. And your weapons have something that is new in 2024, it's called Weapon Mastery.

ELIZABETH

Yes. I'm so excited about Weapon Mastery. And it means that, for two of her weapons, which we've chosen her halberd and her crossbow, cause those seemed like the weapons she'll be using most frequently, she gets Weapon Mastery properties, which means whenever she uses them, something special happens.

So when she uses her crossbow, if she hits and deals damage, the person that she hit also has their movement speed slowed by 10 feet. And if she hits with her halberd, and deals damage, she also gets a second hit to a creature within 5 feet of that first creature.

ROVER

Which is really good. Again, it's just another second attack if it's near.

ELIZABETH

Exactly. I'm...yeah, I really love how the 2024 rules handled all of that. It's such an interesting...such an interesting way to do it.

ROVER

It gives a bit of extra flavor to your attacks, as well. And if we go to the oathbreaker stuff...because, basically, can you explain to us what an actual oathbreaker character is?

ELIZABETH

Yeah, of course.

ROVER

Next to what the name is?

ELIZABETH

Yes. So, oathbreaks break their oath. Um, no, so...the way that I understand paladins is that paladins have devoted themselves so wholly to their ideals that it changes something about them fundamentally. And so the way that we're handling that, and that most, you know, DnD handles that, is, you know, through a god. So the god is the means to an end. In the sense of...Corwin was, or any paladin is, so devoted to the idea of doing good, or the idea of being a hero, that a god that aligns with those things says, "Yes, you are being a great servant of me. I am going to give you these powers."

When a paladin breaks their oath, it is a complete reversal. It is going against the thing that they have quite literally knitted their entire soul to. And so it's...it's not just, "Oops I messed up," or "Oops I broke a promise." It's that they've fundamentally gone against everything that they've set themselves up to be. And in doing so, they sever themselves from their god and from the powers that they received from that god, which is why Corwin gets some different spells as an oathbreaker than she would have had when she was with Apollo.

ROVER

Yeah, exactly. And the, which I will immediately say, the oathbreaker spells you get for that...most of it is very much attuned to evil spells, basically. The very harsh, hellish, wounds…in, like, very much painful, damaging spells. However, what Elizabeth already said, is that Corwin is very much trying to also get a new oath, or at least find her way in this world again.

So what the 5e dungeon master book says, basically, over oathbreakers is that they're completely aligned to evil. We are not doing that. That could have been a decision. That could also still be a decision for a villain. However we have decided to not do that.

What is the stuff that you get for being an oathbreaker?

ELIZABETH

Yes. She gets really quite a lot. She gets Hellish Rebuke and Inflict Wounds as her oath spells. She also gets those two Channel Divinity things that I mentioned, which is Divine Sense and Dreadful Aspect.

Um, let me double check. Yes, I think that is...that is really most of what she gets from being an oathbreaker specifically. She also gets a handful of other spells due to her background, her Acolyte background, that sort of thing. But oathbreaker gives her those two level 1 spells and those two Channel Divinity options.

ROVER

Yeah, exactly. And then, what I was indeed going to ask on what your background is, which is now, what you've already said: that is Acolyte. What is your current armor class and hit points at the moment?

ELIZABETH

Yes, so Corwin has 31 hit points. She has an AC of 17. I decided...I made some...you and I kind of in conjunction made some weird choices about armor and that sort of thing. She has a very...she has a relatively high Dexterity for a paladin. And a lot of the higher AC armors make...give you hits to your Dexterity or hits to your stealth checks. And just, by nature of being on the Bounty Hunters, we talked about stealth being important. So I opted to give her studded leather armor, instead of, like, a plate armor, or something a little more beefy, because studded leather armor is the highest armor class that she can have with...that takes full advantage of her Dexterity modifiers without giving her any hits to her stealth.

ROVER

Yeah. So studded leather armor is, like, 12 plus Dexterity. Is that true? I might be a liar. Something like that. Or 14.

ELIZABETH

It is—it's either...I think it might be 14 plus Dexterity. Yes, 14 plus Dexterity.

[Transcriber's note from future Elizabeth: it is not, in fact, 14 + Dex. It was 12 + Dex. The extra +2 is coming from a shield that you cannot carry with a halberd xx]

ROVER

That's a really good armor class to have for someone that is not wearing above medium armor. Or, medium armor or higher.

ELIZABETH

Exactly!

ROVER

Ah, that's really good. And what are the spells that you've chosen for...for your character.

ELIZABETH

Sure. So, like I said, because of her Acolyte background, which by the way, I'm obsessed with how the 2024 rules handle backgrounds. They give so many cool feats. It's just...it's really, really cool.

ROVER

Yeah.

ELIZABETH

I'm so happy that you decided to go with the 2024 rules for this. So because of her Acolyte background, that gives you the Magic Initiate feat. And that means that she gets two cantrips—two cleric cantrips, specifically—as well as one level 1 cleric spell, as well as all of her paladin spells.

So what she has kind of top to bottom is: in cantrips, she has Prestidigitation, from her High Elf Heritage. She has Mending, from that Acolyte background, and also Toll the Dead, from that Acolyte background.

And then for her level 1 spells, because paladins don't get any level 2 spells until we are level 5 characters. So for her level 1 spells, she has Hellish Rebuke and Inflict Wounds, from being an oathbreaker. She has Create and Destroy Water, from that Acolyte background. And then, as a paladin, she gets Bless, Heroism, Searing Smite, and Shield of Faith, and then also Paladin Smite.

ROVER

Yeah, Divine Smite, Paladin Smite. Yeah. Oh, that's really good. (Laughs)

ELIZABETH

I tried to give her a mix of offensive spells and spells that could protect other people, and spells that might be interesting just for flavor, like Mending or Create and Destroy Water.

ROVER

I think it could be a very, very interesting way to also…how your character works for fluff, and also, in the way the fighting and the battles work. Cause what is your...and your spellcasting ability and spell save DC?

ELIZABETH

Her spellcasting ability is Charisma, which is a good thing because she has very, very high Charisma.

ROVER

Yeah, 20.

ELIZABETH

Her spell save DC—yeah! (Laughs) Her spell save DC is 15, and her spell attack bonus is +7.

ROVER

Nice! Very, very good for a level 3. I think, next to that, I think that's all we would be going through. So thank you so much, Elizabeth, for being here and running us through your character.

ELIZABETH

Yes, this was...this was such a blast. I am so, so excited. Ro, the world you are building is incredible. I cannot wait for us to play in it and wreak merry havoc.

ROVER

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm very excited to absolutely ruin...like, ruin every single character. So hyped.

[Laughter]

ELIZABETH

Thank you, we look forward to the trauma. (Laughs)

ROVER

Hehehe. Exactly. Alright, thank you so much for being here. And we'll see you in the first Bounty Hunter episode.

ELIZABETH

Yes, I can't wait!

ROVER

Alrighty. Buh-bye!

ELIZABETH

Bye!

[Piano interlude plays]

ROVER

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Remains To Be Seen. We now have, with us today…

ANNIE

Hi! I'm Annie Ruby. I use she/her pronouns. Hello.

ROVER

Hello, Annie! So tell us a bit about yourself.

ANNIE

I am an editor, voice actor, musician, streamer from San Francisco. I'm 1/3 of the streaming team Skinny Pig Games on Twitch. I am a former editor of The Magnus Archives, you will have heard me on various Rusty Quill things, and I am extremely stoked to be here for this.

ROVER

Yay! Oh, I'm very, very excited to have you on board. So you are also in the Bounty Hunter group.

ANNIE

Yes.

ROVER

So tell us a bit about your character.

ANNIE

So my character is Josannah, named Josie for short—most people will know her by Josie. She is a Tiefling druid, Infernal Tiefling specifically. She is...should I give physical description here, by the way?

ROVER

Yeah, sure.

ANNIE

Great. So she is about 6 feet tall, orange skin, short white hair with big, thick but kind of short horns around her ears, kind of holding her bangs back sort of thing. She has one eye, her right eye, is permanently solid black all the way through, kind of a scar down...very anime scar across the eye.

Her body has all kinds of patterns and tattoos and scars of various shapes and forms. They do look very patterned; they're not random. No one really knows the significance of them.

She's 33 years old, and she was brought into the Bounty Hunters by a character named Brian, to whom she was introduced by her brother Isaiah.

ROVER

Oooh, sounds very fun. Yeah, Josie is going to be such an interesting character from what I've read from your story already.

ANNIE

I am so unwell about her backstory. There is so much in there, and I cannot wait to hide all of it for as long as I possibly can.

[Laughter]

ROVER

I cannot wait to push it and push it as much as I can. Oh, it's gonna be so fun.

So I have a little bit of an improv question. And once again, they are not your...your usual, calm, "what is your favorite type of breakfast" ones. But...

ROVER [as DUNGEON MASTER]

Josie...how do you know they won't betray you?

ANNIE [as JOSIE]

Well, I—I don't know that they won't betray me. But I don't think they will. And I say that with the confidence of somebody who knows that if they do, I'll be fine. All I have to do is get away from them. Initially, originally, the Bounty Hunters were just intended to be a stepping stone for me to get as far away as possible. I didn't expect to find the people I cared about enough here to stick around. I really didn't expect to be stuck with other people at all. I lived so long by myself, and I intended to keep doing that.

But now that we're here, I'm seeing how far it goes. If they betray me in the end, all I have to do is get away, and it's back to the plan I already had.

ROVER

Amazing! Ooh, very, very interesting. Okay, Josie! Alright! Ah, so that—ah, that's going to be really interesting.

[Annie laughs]

I'm so very excited. (Laughs) Very fun.

So, to get a little bit into how your character works, because you are playing a Tiefling, an Infernal Tiefling you said?

ANNIE

Yes.

ROVER

So what are the things that DnD 2024 gives you as an Infernal Tiefling?

ANNIE

So I actually have the Player's Handbook here in front of me for this purpose.

ROVER

Amazing.

ANNIE

So the Infernal path specifically—I have fire resistance, I know Firebolt as a cantrip. At level 3, where we start, I have Hellish Rebuke. At level 5, I'll get Darkness.

And general Tiefling traits, I've got darkvision, 60 feet darkvision. And I also know Thaumaturgy as part of the otherworldly presence from Tieflings. I think that is all they have in the Player's Handbook for Tieflings specifically.

ROVER

Oooh, interesting. Alright, then we'll go to...cause what class are you playing?

ANNIE

So I'm playing a druid. And, more specifically I chose the subclass the Circle of the Moon.

ROVER

Ooh.

ANNIE

Circle of the Moon gives me...it's a spellcasting and beast form-focused...I could pull up the page here in the Player's Handbook in a moment, but basically, the reason that I ended up picking Circle of the Moon is because it gives me access to some of my spells, like my healing spells, while in animal form. Whereas in other...in other druid classes I have to either choose between being able to spellcast or being in animal form. And once I shift, I can no longer cast.

So I felt like it was the most versatile class option. And just in general, it gives me a lot more flexibility a lot earlier with beast forms, which I think fits the character's backstory in ways that will become apparent as we go along.

ROVER

Yeah because druids have...for people that don't know how druids work, can you explain that to them?

ANNIE

Of course! A druid is intended to be, effectively, a spellcaster of nature. They are your hermetic forest wizard who speaks to animals and very much lives alone in the trees, and can change into animals, knows all the magic of nature. They tend to be very aloof.

I am subverting some of the stereotypes of a druid, in terms of the fact that they are often tended...they tend to be played as, as I said, aloof and very nature-focused, a little woo-woo in there. Josie's not that. Josie is extremely irreverent, bad-mouthed, bad attitude a lot of the time. And she very much is...has spent a significant portion of her adult life living in seedy neighborhoods of cities rather than in the forest.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

ANNIE

She's done her time in nature, but that's not where she's lived most recently. But it is a class...it’s a spellcasting class based around, that has a lot of different paths you can take to be more healing-focused or combat spell-focused or animal shape-focused for combat or things like this, so.

ROVER

Yeah. Because you can also Wild Shape.

ANNIE

Yes.

ROVER

And DnD likes to very much explain Wild Shape in a good two-and-a-half pages or something.

ANNIE

Oh yeah.

ROVER

Can you give us an easier explanation for basically what you do? Because it's actually quite simple.

ANNIE

Yeah. I mean, basically, the idea of Wild Shape is...per long rest, I get a certain number of times where I can transform into an animal for a certain period. And I have a certain number of, at various levels that changes, of animals that I can learn how to change into that are my forms. Higher level I am, the higher level the animal is. When I shapeshift in, I shift over to a completely separate, but linked, character sheet for that animal. My stats change to that animal's stats, other than my mental stats, which remain my own.

And, functionally, for that period, I am that animal. Again, the reason I chose Circle of the Moon as a subclass is because I still have access to my spellcasting in there, which is not the case in other druid subclasses.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

ANNIE

When you Wild Shape, you can't...since most spells obviously have verbal components, you don't have access to those, but really you don't have access to any of them unless you take Circle of the Moon. So—

ROVER

Yeah.

ANNIE

But there is an insanely complicated list of which forms you can learn when, based on whether they can swim, or fly, or how many hit points they have, or—they call them Challenge Ratings, but they start at 1/4...

ROVER

Yeah.

ANNIE

...as opposed to starting at Challenge Rating 1, which is very odd. So it is extremely...they go...the articles about it, especially if you go online, you can get very in-depth into how much detail there is to work with.

ROVER

Yeah. It is also to make sure that, for example, if you are a level 2 druid, because Wild Shape you get at level 2, you do not suddenly become a giant elephant, for example.

ANNIE

Yeah, right!

ROVER

And you...basically because you can use them in your fights as well, and then you insta-kill every single character.

ANNIE

Right.

[Ro laughs]

Yeah, you can't just immediately shift into an animal that is over-levelled for whatever encounter you're in.

ROVER

Yeah, exactly.

ANNIE

It scales that way so that, as your character levels up, so do your animals.

ROVER

Yeah, and I think with Circle of the Moon, you can...you can already choose bigger animals than normal, than you can normally.

ANNIE

Yes. Yes. I have the ability to choose from a greater number of, like…memorize a greater number of forms as Circle of the Moon. And the base Challenge Rating starts higher. So the first forms I can learn are slightly bigger, slightly tougher, slightly more complicated.

ROVER

Yeah.

ANNIE

I still can't do anything that swims or flies for quite a while, but I can get a little tankier with it. So.

ROVER

Oh, it'll be very fun to see what kind of animals will appear randomly in the campaign. I'm very, very excited for that.

You also...there are two things which are...you know Druidic, which is a secret language of druids, if I'm correct?

ANNIE

Yes, that's correct.

ROVER

And you get, at level 1, you get Primal Order, where you can basically choose between Magician and Warden. What have you chosen in that?

ANNIE

Oh, let me see here. I believe I pulled...I went with Warden, because the Warden gives us, the Warden gives a druid—us. The Warden gives a druid proficiency with martial weapons, training with medium armor. I know that I didn't want Josie, given the sort of style and backstory of the character, I wanted her to not be squishy. She needed to be able to have something with a higher AC and wield a bigger stick.

ROVER

Yeah, exactly. Because druids, like, if we look back at what 5e did, druids were very much the magic-based character, not the we're-gonna-be-chonky-and-go-into-every-single-fight.

ANNIE

Right.

ROVER

And with the 2024 rules, you now have that ability to actually also just be a beast of a character.

ANNIE

Yes. Yes. They let you be more, something akin to more like a battle mage type as a druid.

ROVER

Yeah, exactly.

ANNIE

Which is good. It's good flexibility because I think that a character that you build around the idea that they're eventually going to be shapeshifting into an elephant or a grizzly bear whenever they hit a combat, you don't want them to be, like, a 12-hit point wizard when they're out of Wild Shape. It doesn't really...

ROVER

Yeah, exactly.

ANNIE

It's a little harder to roleplay that way.

ROVER

Yeah. And if we look at your ability scores, what are your modifiers for which ones?

ANNIE

So I start off...my rolls were kind of unbelievable, honestly.

[Rover laughs]

Rolling these up, I got some insane luck.

ROVER

You do.

ANNIE

I start with a +2 Strength, +1 Dex, +2 Con, flat even Int, +4 Wisdom, and +2 Charisma.

ROVER

Nice! Oh, that's very good—

ANNIE

So I have no minuses. And my dump stat being Intelligence, I still have a flat even modifier. So, I'll take it.

ROVER

Yeah. Oh, that's really good. And what are your saving throws and your skills, like, proficiencies?

ANNIE

So in saving throws, proficiencies are Intelligence and Wisdom, so I do get that +2 with the Int.

ROVER

Yeah.

ANNIE

And then for skills, my proficiencies are in Religion and Survival.

ROVER

Ooh.

ANNIE

Which, again, lots of tie-ins to the character backstory in that.

ROVER

I cannot wait to get into that. That's going to be really fun. And your...what is your background that you chose?

ANNIE

So the background that I chose is Wayfarer. And I have here in the handbook, the Wayfarer: you grew up on the streets, surrounded by similarly ill-fated castoffs, a few of them friends and a few of them rivals. You slept where you could and did odd jobs for food. At times where the hunger became unbearable, you resorted to theft. Still, you never lost your pride and never abandoned hope. Fate is not finished with you yet.

ROVER

Interesting.

ANNIE

Which is basically what I would have written about Josie before I found it in the books.

ROVER

Yeah. Yeah, it fits very well with the character that you will indeed be playing. I think it's going to be really interesting to see how that will all tune in to who she really is.

ANNIE

Mmhmm.

ROVER

It's going to be really fun. What are the...cause next to Wild Shape, what are the weapons that you are using?

ANNIE

I have a morningstar as sort of the standard, big-hitting weapon. Because again, I wanted her to wield a bigger stick, so—

ROVER

Nice!

ANNIE

If she's gonna be swinging in human form, she's gonna go big. She has a morningstar. And then, as her druidic focus, she has a quarterstaff. Pretty straightforward. I have not yet quite given thought to exactly what flavor that's gonna be dressed up with—

ROVER

Yeah.

ANNIE

—but it's going to be something unique.

ROVER

I mean, we will see...we will see in the show itself. So definitely...

ANNIE

Yes, exactly.

ROVER

...So definitely keep a lookout for that. And druids are also, obviously, spellcasters.

ANNIE

Yes.

ROVER

So what are the spells that you have chosen?

ANNIE

Well, let me scroll down here on the character sheet. So for cantrips, as part of Circle of the Moon, I get one called Starry—is it Starry Wisp? Did I write that down right?

ROVER

Starry Wisp. Yeah.

ANNIE

Starry Wisp. It is. Ok. Yes. Starry Wisp is one that I get for free for Circle of the Moon, automatically. And then, as I mentioned, Fire Bolt and Thaumaturgy I get from my Tiefling background.

And then the other Cantrips I chose are Guidance, because obviously. That is never not useful. And Thorn Whip because it's good to have a combat spell in cantrips.

ROVER

Nice!

ANNIE

For spell level 1, I get Cure Wounds automatically from Circle of the Moon, as well. Does not cost one of the spell slots. And then I chose Create/Destroy Water, Entangle, Speak with Animals, of course, Detect Magic, Healing Word, and from Tiefling I get Hellish Rebuke as well.

So two healing spells in there, Cure Wounds being one that I get, regardless of anything else, from Circle of the Moon and can cast in animal form. One of the biggest motivations for me to choose Moon was that. And then, at spell level 2, I get Moonbeam, Circle of the Moon again, and I chose Darkvision so that I can grant it to our one party member who does not come equipped.

ROVER

(Laughing) The one party member!

[Laughter]

I don't even remember which party—which party member doesn't have darkvision?

ANNIE

(Laughing) Can I tell you I don't actually remember off the top of my head either?

ROVER

(Laughing) I don't know either.

ANNIE

I just remember one person—one character doesn't. And I think they also ended up taking some goggles with darkvision?

ROVER

Ooh, maybe.

ANNIE

On their character sheet, when we were doing that big session together, building stuff? But either way, I have it here so the one person (laughs) who doesn't have it, can have it.

ROVER

That's so smart. Yeah, no, that's really good.

[Laughter]

Oh, cause you're...what is your spellcasting ability and DC and stuff, for druid?

ANNIE

Oop, let me pull that back up. So the spellcasting level, spellcasting ability modifier I should say, to be precise in what 5e is giving—or 2024 is giving me—with the language, is supposed to be Wisdom plus...it’s Wisdom modifier plus Proficiency Bonus. So mine would be a +6.

ROVER

Nice!

ANNIE

Yes because of having so much in Wisdom there, because of that +4 in Wisdom.

ROVER

Yeah.

ANNIE

So the +6 to that and then, the save DC from there is plus...do you remember what that is from there?

ROVER

I think 14?

ANNIE

That's...8? I'm seeing an 8 on there, plus 8.

ROVER

Yeah. 8 + 4 + 2.

ANNIE

Yeah, so yeah, I got the—okay yes. So the spell save DC is 14. And the spellcasting modifier is the +6.

ROVER

Nice! Oh, this is going to be—

ANNIE

Good starting spot.

ROVER

It is going to be really fun. It's a really good starting spot for a level 3 character!

ANNIE

Yeah! I'm actually a little worried about it, I'm not gonna lie. Having a really good spot for a character like this just kind of lends to incaution? It lends to feeling like I have to...which I am very attached to this character, and I do not want to be incautious with her.

[Rover laughs]

But also, if she's going to be extremely competent, she's going to be getting herself into situations. So.

ROVER

Yeah. Cause boy oh boy, it's going to be situation after situation with this game.

ANNIE

Mmhmm!

ROVER

I'm so hyped for this. And what is your current armor class and hit points?

ANNIE

I have 24 hit points currently. My AC is 15 because I grabbed a...I grabbed studded leather armor. And, oh, and that's the other thing—when I have the morning staff out, I also have a shield, since morning staffs are one-handed.

ROVER

Oooooh.

ANNIE

So that's why I'm up to the 15.

ROVER

Oh, nice!

ANNIE

Yeah.

ROVER

Oh, that's really good. Yeah, I'm very excited to see Josie actually in action in the show.

ANNIE

I'm excited to get in action, let me tell you.

ROVER

It's going to be really, really fun. Thank you, Annie, so much for your time.

ANNIE

Of course.

ROVER

And for explaining Josie to us.

ANNIE

Of course, thank you guys!

ROVER

And I'll see you in the Bounty Hunter first episode.

ANNIE

Can't wait.

ROVER

Alright, see you guys later. Buh-bye!

ANNIE

Bye all!

[Piano interlude plays]

ROVER

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Remains To Be Seen. And today, I am here with...

MIRA

Mira! Me. I didn't realize realize I was—(Laughs)

ROVER

Hi Mira.

MIRA

Hi.

ROVER

Hello.

MIRA

The scatterbrain of the group, that's me.

ROVER

(Laughing) It's nice to see you here. How're you doing?

MIRA

I'm good. I'm good. A bit nervous. A bit nervous, cause it's very exciting. But I'm good.

ROVER

It's all gonna be fine. So tell us a bit about yourself.

MIRA

So back in 1994...no, I'm joking, I'm not going to—

[Rover laughs]

Oh, where do I start? It's like the typical question. I'm...I live in UK. I've moved here from Poland roughly 12 years ago, so I have completely lost and regained and mix-matched my accent, which is going to be very apparent throughout the series. I really like playing all sorts of games—board games, obviously DnD, anything that tickles my brain with nice puzzles, a little bit of combat, some little heartbreaks here and there, if possible. I like baking. I collect way too many dice. I start a lot of craft projects that I never finish. And...yeah. That's essentially me.

ROVER

It's nice to have you here.

MIRA

Thank you!

ROVER

So tell us a bit about the character that you will be playing throughout the show.

MIRA

So I have decided on playing a character known as Una, who is a Human rogue, because humans don't need to be boring, and I'm trying to challenge that a little bit. I know that for my specific character, we decided to go with the new, 2024 rules, which I found very interesting. There was a lot of customizable bits I really liked, and I think Human just allowed me to have that bit of...bit of a play with what is it that I wanted to add to them without too many constricting things, if that makes sense?

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

That's not the word that, probably, I'm looking for. So yeah, so that would be the very basic description of her. What else would you like to know about her?

ROVER

What does she look like?

MIRA

She...I decided on her to have a...mid-length, wavy-ish, soft brown, like ashy brown hair, with amber-colored eyes. Which I, at least in my imagination, see her with almost yellow-ish, brown-ish kind of eyes. Maybe "honey" would be the best description for it.

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

But like a pale, honey kind of. She would be of a rather pale complexion. There will be reasons for that. Probably with a couple of scars. You know, rough, working hands. Rather petite, both in being vertically and...well, she is definitely vertically challenged, if that makes sense.

[Rover laughs]

At least, I like to think for her to be quite small stature, very unassuming. Because you know, who wants to be a very big, imposing rogue. It's better to be tiny and sneaky.

ROVER

So, for...what I do with everyone is the improv question. And I am obviously not the nice one that is like, "What is your favorite type of breakfast?" because...no. No. Why would I ever?

MIRA

Oh, gosh. Now I'm thinking about it as well. But yeah, anyways. (Laughs)

ROVER [as DUNGEON MASTER]

So Una...why did you forget them?

MIRA [as UNA]

I...I don't think it was by choice. I...I'm not sure I even...I even know who you're asking about. Am I missing something? Do you want to ask about anyone in particular?

ROVER

Interesting. Very interesting. Okay! Oh, this is going to be so fun to delve into Una's backstory. Ooooh.

Alright, let's go a bit—

MIRA

Me and you both! (Laughs)

ROVER

Yeah!

[Laughter]

Oooh, what will that mean?

MIRA

Oooh!

ROVER

So let's go a bit through how your character works. Because you're playing a Human?

MIRA

Human, yes.

ROVER

What does the DnD rules give Humans?

MIRA

So we're just gonna start from the top. There is the...the creature type, obviously humanoid. I...like I did jokingly say that Una's going to be of a petite stature, probably still in the medium size category. Her movement speed will be the standard 30 feet. And because we're playing, as I mentioned earlier, as her 2024 rules, she has the Resourceful bit. I don't know if that would be called a feat? A skill? A thing. She has a thing.

ROVER

A trait.

MIRA

A trait. Oh, thank you! Yeah, there we go. A trait. So she gets the Resourceful trait, which allowed her to gain a Heroic Inspiration whenever she finishes a long rest, because I like to be a nuisance. (Laughs)

ROVER

(Laughing) Yeah you—ohhh, gosh. Ohhh, just like you and every single other person that I've talked to today.

MIRA

Yeah, definitely.

[Laughing]

She also gains one...oh sorry, she gains a proficiency with one skill of my choice, which I will need to refresh what it is that I've chosen. And she also has the Versatile trait, which is the good old Human thing that I was definitely going for.

[Rover laughs]

And with that, she gains an Origin Feat of my choice as well, which is what I really liked about creating her, cause it gave me a lot of freedom with what I could take for her—

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

—and what we could leave out. So yeah. We have...

ROVER

What is the Origin Feat that you chose for...for her?

MIRA

I believe I chose...I chose Alert for her. Sorry, I'm just looking at the whole thing, and I don't remember which I chose and which was already given. I believe I chose the Alert, which it doesn't work the same way as in the 5e original rules, which just basically helps her with the initiative. Whenever we would roll initiative for Una, I can add her proficiency bonus to the roll, additionally. Which it would hopefully come in handy for her to go as one of the first people, cause obviously we want to...we want to use up a couple of skills that would require that.

And there is also a part of it that is called an Initiative Swap. So immediately after I roll initiative, I can swap it with an initiative of one willing ally in the same combat. And there are obviously caveats. I won't be able to do that swap if myself or the ally are incapacitated. That's the only thing, cause, you know...

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

They need to be willing. They need to be awake for that. (Laughs)

ROVER

Yeah, exactly. And not that it's, like, the creature that you're fighting is first in the initiative, and then you're like "Haha! No!"

MIRA

No. Unless...unless someone was to make him an ally in the combat.

ROVER

Who knows.

MIRA

Ah, ooooh!

ROVER

Whooooo knows! Who knows!

[Laughter]

MIRA

It's gonna be shenanigans. Shenanigans definitely.

ROVER

Absolutely. Absolutely. So run us a bit through the ability scores that you have.

MIRA

Ah, so we're just going with the…with the Holy Six, essentially.

ROVER

The Holy Six.

MIRA

The Holy Six. Her strength is a 10. Dexterity at 18, with modifier +4. Constitution at 14, with modifier +2. Intelligence at 17, with a modifier +3. Wisdom would be at 15, with modifier of +2. And Charisma would be on a...a 12, with a modifier of +1.

ROVER

It's...it's still with the modifier. So, who knows. And what are the saving throws and skills that you are proficient in?

MIRA

It would be Dexterity and Intelligence for my sweet little rogue. And the skills that she's proficient with...okay, I need to crack my knuckles for this one. (Laughs)

ROVER

(Laughing) There's so many!

MIRA

There's so many! So she is proficient with: Arcana, History, and Insight, Investigation, Perception, Performance, and Persuasion. And then the standard Sleight of Hand, Stealth, and then a little bit of Survival.

ROVER

Oh, god.

MIRA

I know.

ROVER

Oh, so many.

MIRA

I know.

ROVER

Oh, I love it.

MIRA

I know. I have surpassed my own expectations with this. (Laughs)

ROVER

Yeah. Ah, it's really good. Cause you also have Expertise in some of them, right?

MIRA

Yes. I think I chose the Expertise in the Sleight of Hand, if I'm not mistaken, and in Perception. Isn't it?

ROVER

Nice!

MIRA

I believe so.

ROVER

Think so, yeah.

MIRA

It's just on that character sheet, there's no Expertise thingy. Sleight of Hand is definitely one of them.

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

I don't remember the other one now. It's one of them.

ROVER

Ahh, I think Sleight of Hand and Perception, because Perception you have a +6, and Sleight of Hand a +8. Or stealth could also because it's also +6.

MIRA

Yes, no, I'd written—I was a smart cookie. I'd written it out, "Expertise: Perception and Sleight of Hand" at the bottom of the sheet.

ROVER

Oh!

MIRA

There we go. Oh my god.

ROVER

Nice. Very smart. (Laughs)

MIRA

So smart that I forgot about it.

ROVER

It's fine. We can just...we can just all forget that you forgot, basically. It's fine!

MIRA

No! No no no. I'm not forgetting the Expertise now. It's gonna be fine.

ROVER

(Laughing) It'll be fine.

MIRA

It'll be fine!

ROVER

So tell us a bit about what rogues can do between level 1 and level 3.

MIRA

So my little rogue will be able to do the sneak attack. You know, the bread and butter, the sneak attack, which would allow me to...oh, reading from the book: "Subtly exploit foes' distractions."

So I will be able to attack them with a little bit more of a force causing a little bit more of a damage. And, obviously, there will be requirements for that. Una would need to have an advantage on the roll, and she just won't be able to do it with any other weapon—it would need to be a finesse or a ranged weapon.

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

Other than that, we have the—and this is one of my pronunciations that's gonna be so bad. I might need some help with that. Thieves' (bleep)—

(Laughing) I don't want us to be cancelled.

[Both absolutely losing it]

ROVER

(Laughing) I will...I will quickly say: Thieves' Cant.

MIRA

Thieves'....Cant.

ROVER

I do not know...I do not know what the actual pronunciation is. We have to just make very, very clear that it is with an "a".

MIRA

You know what? We're just going to rebrand it the Thieves' Language. There you go.

ROVER

The Thieves' Language. Let's do that.

MIRA

Yeah, the Thieves' Language.

[Rover laughs]

Yeah.

ROVER

So, Thieves' Language.

MIRA

We have Thieves' Language. And still on the level 1, we have the Weapon Mastery, which...it basically means that with the training there are certain properties of two kinds of weapons that I will be able to choose from, and then have that additional thing.

ROVER

Yeah. Basically, you get the Weapon Masteries of two of the weapons you have.

MIRA

Yeah.

ROVER

So...what are the weapons that you have?

MIRA

The weapons will be, once again, the bread and butter of rogues. We're going with a dagger, a rapier, the shortbow, and this additional little thing that Una gets because of her type of...the type of the rogue that we're playing as. And she will also have psionic blades.

ROVER

Oooooh.

MIRA

Which comes in later...later on. But yes.

ROVER

Ooooh. Spoilers.

MIRA

Spoilers!

ROVER

What else do you get as a rogue?

MIRA

On the level 2, Cunning Action. Which, once again, it's a bonus action for dash, disengage, and hide, which is very useful in a battlefield.

On the level 3, this is when the subclass comes in. The Steady Aim—yes, the Steady Aim. So, for a bonus action, as long as I don't move during the turn, I can use...I can have an advantage on the attack roll on the current turn.

ROVER

Which is very nice for when you have sneak attack.

MIRA

Yeah, so that goes back to the advantage that we were mentioning earlier, and the conditions of that.

ROVER

Yeah. And then we get to the...to your subclass.

MIRA

Mmhmm.

ROVER

Because that is an interesting one that they've added to 2024.

MIRA

Yes. So with the 2024 rules, we've decided to go for a Soulknife rogue. And the quick, well, the short description of it is, that you can strike your foes with psionic blades, which was a very interesting little mechanic for me. I...yeah, it was just the one that was speaking to me the most, really, out of the rules that we decided to go with. I wanted something a bit more interesting, that I haven't used before, and that was ticking all the boxes for me.

ROVER

Yeah. Cause what does...what does the Soulknife kind of do? Next to the psionic blades?

MIRA

So with that—

ROVER

What are the psionic blades?

MIRA

The psionic blades! Well, essentially, psionic blades is just a type of weapon. The very beginning—oh sorry, the very beginning—at the very start, I probably should explain what the psionic powers are, which is when my character will be able to use psionic energy within herself. And then I have a nice little mechanic referring to psionic energy dice, and that will be fueling...

ROVER

Oooh.

MIRA

...I will be fueling certain powers for her specific subclass. So for the current level, I believe we will be going with d6. 4 d6s.

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

Which can be regained...well, once used, they can be regained upon finishing a short rest. And then you regain all, if I was to use all of them, I will only be able to regain all of them upon a long rest. So it's like 1 per short rest. Long rest, if I've used all of them, it's gonna be all of them, which is up to 4, I believe, at this stage.

ROVER

Yep. And what can you do with these dice?

MIRA

So there will be a—this is gonna be another tongue twister— Psi-Bolstered Knack. Which basically means that if Una fails an ability check, using a skill or tool which she has a proficiency, I will be able to re-roll the psionic energy die and then add that number to the check—potentially, potentially allowing her to turn a failure into success, fingers crossed. But the die is still used up regardless of if that roll has succeeded or not.

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

Correction. The die is expended only if the roll is successful. I'm sorry. That's actually a very mean mechanic.

ROVER

That is an interesting one! Okay.

MIRA

How to give yourself Lucky without having access to Lucky.

ROVER

Yeah!

MIRA

Basically.

ROVER

And...what else?

MIRA

Then, because of the nature of psionic energy, Una would have access to establishing a telepathic communication with herself and others, between herself and others. With that, the...this is where a little bit of a number crunch will come in...it will be, as an action, she will be able to choose one or more creatures that she can see up to a number equal to her current proficiency bonus. And then, upon rolling the psionic die, the number coming out from the die will be, I believe, the number...

ROVER

The number of hours...right?

MIRA

I believe so. For a number of hours...yeah. For a number of hours equal to number rolled. So.

ROVER

And they must also be within—

MIRA

One mile.

ROVER

—a mile of each other.

MIRA

Which is still a very big distance away.

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

Yeah.

ROVER

So that's really interesting, because it's also...it has not really been used a lot yet, I think. So I'm very curious to see how the Soulknife rogue will come into play. And definitely with the backstory that you have.

MIRA

Yes. (Laughs) With the backstory that I have!

ROVER

With the backstory that you have!

[Laughter]

Definitely keep...keep your, I would say keep your eyes on it, but keep your ears on it—cause this is just audio—on what will happen with all of us being like, "Story? Story! Story."

So, the psionic blades.

MIRA

It's a quite interesting little mechanic. It essentially would mean that Una would be able to conjure up—or manifest, as they say in here—manifest a psychic blade in a free hand, and then make an attack with that blade. Which will be following the traits of the Finesse weapon, thrown weapon. Essentially a psychic dagger, if I was to like—

ROVER

Yeah.

MIRA

—just to describe it this way. It would already come with the Weapon Mastery effects. Which basically would mean that upon hitting a creature with that specific weapon, the dealt damage, and to deal damage, that would provide Una with an advantage on her next attack against the same creature, before the end of her turn.

So another little advantage coming in here. I'm...yeah.

ROVER

Very good. That's very good. And I think it does, like, 1d6 psychic damage, right?

MIRA

1d6 psychic damage, which...psychic damage can be quite annoying.

ROVER

Yep! Yep!

MIRA

(Laughing) I am gonna be glad to be on the dealing end of that, instead of receiving, for once, in a DnD game.

ROVER

Yeah!

[Laughter]

I mean, psychic damage is also very much used in very specific stuff.

MIRA

Mmhmm.

ROVER

And I feel like having that just being dealt by a rogue is just really fun.

MIRA

It's...yeah. It's definitely...it's definitely gonna be very fun. The only thing about the blade is that it does disappear after it is used, regardless of if it hits or misses. But it leaves no mark on the creature after dealing that—

ROVER

Ooooh.

MIRA

—because obviously it's psychic damage, so.

ROVER

Ooooooooh!

MIRA

It's all in your head!

ROVER

Oh, that will be interesting for if you kill someone and you find a body, and there's no marks.

MIRA

I promise, I found them just like this!

ROVER

Yeah....you have no proof!

MIRA

They just fell!

[Laughter]

ROVER

Amazing.

MIRA

Ah, the shenanigans. The background...oh, I decided Una to be an educated lady. She's going to be coming from a Scribe background.

ROVER

Mmhmm?

MIRA

Which allowed me to increase her ability score for...I believe it's either one point each, or one by two points, and another by one point. It's basically three points to be distributed amongst these: Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom. Which, once again, Dexterity, very good. Intelligence, very good. Wisdom, very useful!

ROVER

Very useful.

MIRA

Very useful. And the Scribe background also comes in with the Skilled feat. Which, once again, I think this is where all of the skill proficiencies that I have thrown at Una came in from.

[Rover laughs]

From the Scribe, she was getting the Investigation and Perception, and also a tool proficiency with calligrapher's tools or supplies. Which, in turn, I have learned that would allow Una to...to write texts with very impressively flourished writing.

ROVER

Oooh!

MIRA

And also! That would mean that it would be guarded against forgery. So, if I understand this correctly, no one can forge her writing.

ROVER

Oh!

MIRA

Or it would be difficult to do so. No, it would be difficult to do so, I believe. It would be kind of mean if no one could do it. Yeah.

ROVER

I mean...who knows.

MIRA

Who knows!

ROVER

That's an interesting fact. Okay. Oh, that's going to be really fun. Can't wait.

MIRA

It's gonna be fun.

ROVER

So what is your armor class and hit points, currently?

MIRA

For Una, it would be...armor crass—armor crass? Woah.

ROVER

Armor crass.

MIRA

Armor class (laughs) of 14.

[Laughter]

ROVER

Nice!

MIRA

And the...hit points, we said. 24.

ROVER

Oooh, okay. We've got a steady...steady 24, I feel like, in just the cast in general. Which is fair, I mean, it's d8s. 3d8s. So yeah.

MIRA

Mmhmm.

ROVER

I think that is everything that we would have to go through for her. So thank you, Mira, so much for your time and for explaining to us how your character works.

MIRA

I am glad I had this opportunity to explain how she works, so I can get used to it myself. (Laughs) Cause there's a lot!

ROVER

Yeah!

MIRA

There's a lot of new things to take in. Very, very interesting approach to the class and the type of creature that the new rules put in. And...yeah. I can't wait. I can't wait to see what shenanigans she will be up to.

ROVER

Can't wait to see it either.

MIRA

But yes, thank you so much.

ROVER

Thank you, too. And I will see you in the first Bounty Hunter episodes.

MIRA

Thank you. Can't wait.

ROVER

Buh-bye.

MIRA

Bye!

[Show outro plays]

ROVER

Remains To Be Seen is an original podcast created by Dyaflame Studios and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-alike 4.0 International License.

Today’s episode was produced by Rik den Breejen and Jo Mendacium, and edited by Rover Elliott and Jo Mendacium. It starred:

Jo Mendacium

Elizabeth Simpson

Annie Ruby

Mirah Fae

And Rover Elliott as host.

The intro and outro were composed by We Talk of Dreams, and the transcript was written by Elizabeth Simpson.

To get in touch with us and keep up to date with our antics, follow us on Instagram, BlueSky and TikTok @ DyaflameStudios or view our website at www.dyaflame.com

Check our show notes for additional credits, links and transcripts.