000 - Protectors - Session 0

[Show intro plays]

ROVER

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

And right now, we are here with:

RIK

With me, Rik. Rik den Breejen. I'm glad to be here.

ROVER

It's so funny to hear your name in English.

RIK

Yeah, yeah. It's, um, (laughs). You should hear English-speakers try to pronounce it.

[Rover laughs]

Overall they're trying, you know, so that's what I appreciate, but—

ROVER

Definitely.

RIK

Yeah.

ROVER

So, Rik, tell us a bit about yourself?

RIK

So, by day I'm a software engineer...doing the little typing on the keyboard and creating stuff, mostly web development. And all the time, I'm a nerd. I enjoy board games, also, like, programming for myself. It's fun.

I'm also a big dad-joke guy. So I'll be bothering you with that a lot, Jo—ah, Ro—ah, other person.

ROVER

All of us.

RIK

Did it again.

ROVER

All of us.

RIK

Everyone. Everyone. Everyone will be bothered by it. Definitely.

ROVER

You will now continue to hear dad jokes from Rik every single episode.

RIK

(Laughs) Yes. Yes. Very much so.

[Rover laughs]

And I tried to make that a little bit...or implement that a little bit in my character. So you'll see that a bit as well.

ROVER

Yeah, because you are also...next to all the stuff that you do, you are going to be making the video content for us, once that will be released, whenever that is. If that already happened at the point that you hear this...(stressed and unsure noises). Probably not, but… (the vocal equivalent of ¯\(ツ)/¯ ).

RIK

We'll see. We'll see when that happens. But yeah, I'll be doing that—some of the editing. Yeah.

ROVER

Yep. And being our backup producer for everything. So that's...very excited to have you here.

So tell us a bit about your character.

RIK

So my character's named Pierre. Pierre Ardoise. He is a Dwarf. He's got a pretty tiny stature at...from the top of my head, that's 1.37 meters.

ROVER

He's tiny!

RIK

He's a tiny guy! Yeah, absolutely tiny. And for the feet people, it's 4.5 feet, roundabout. This is—

ROVER

(Laughing) Ah, yes! For the feet people.

RIK

Absolutely tiny. For the—(laughing)—for the people that like feet. Absolutely.

[Both laugh]

ROVER

Amazing.

RIK

So he's got a pretty small stature. Pierre wears pretty standard clothing, pretty civilian clothing. He's got this shirt, and it never gets dirty, somehow. Yeah.

ROVER

I forgot that you had that. Oh, that's gonna be so funny.

RIK

Yeah, that's like my favorite little item here.

ROVER

Yeah.

RIK

The Armor of Gleaming, but I applied it on the clothes that he wears. So—

ROVER

Yeah, we homebrewed that.

RIK

—he's just brushing it off.

ROVER

Ah, it's gonna be so good. What an item to have.

RIK

(Laughs) Yeah, so he will always be wearing, like, a little belt with some masonry tools, because he is a mason by trade. He's done that for a long, long time, as he's, at the moment, 83 years old.

ROVER

I think one of the oldest characters that we're going to have.

RIK

Oh, okay. Well, then—

ROVER

We'll find out!

RIK

—I'll be the oldest. The old grandpa, yeah?

[Rover laughs]

But aside from masonry, he's also a little bit of a part-time adventurer. He's been around the block a bit. He's been to Norway, Spain, Greece...yeah, he's been around.

ROVER

Cause Pierre is originally from France, right?

RIK

Yeah, he's from France. Specifically, more near the bottom. Léon, near the French Alps, basically.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

RIK

The closest big city is Léon.

ROVER

Yeah. Oh, interesting. So we have a bit of a improv question for you.

RIK

Alright.

ROVER

And again, these aren't the nicest ones. But, who knows.

ROVER [as DUNGEON MASTER]

So, Pierre Ardoise, was all the pain you suffered worth it?

RIK [as PIERRE]

I'd say it's worth it. Anything to protect them.

ROVER

Amazing. Amazing. So, to get a little bit back to your character, because...you said you were going to make dad jokes.

RIK

Yeah.

ROVER

Is your character also a dad, then?

RIK

Oh. Yeah, he absolutely is. He's got three lovely kids. He loves them all to bits. I'll tell you a bit about them. So, first of all, we've got the oldest. That's Azur. She's a mechanical engineer. She has a lot of dedication for her craft, and Pierre has a bit of a hard time relating to her because, well, they've kind of got different languages of creation, so to speak.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

RIK

Then we have Célest. She is a chef and recently got promoted to head chef—

ROVER

(Intrigued) Ooh!

RIK

—in a restaurant based in Léon. He's really proud of her, and she's also kind of the peacekeeper in the...of the kids, when the oldest and the youngest fight. Which introduces you to Calci. They are Pierre's peer in stonemasonry. So Pierre and Calci, they kind of work together in Pierre's family-owned masonry. And they really got the knack of it quite early on. And what they also got the knack of is being stubborn like Pierre.

ROVER

Interesting. Now let's go look at some of the mechanics of your character, because you are playing a Dwarf.

RIK

I am playing a Dwarf.

ROVER

You are playing a Dwarf, yeah!

RIK

(Laughing) Yeah!

ROVER

But what...what are the things that you get for being a Dwarf, within...another reminder we're using the 2024 ruleset.

RIK

Alright, so he specifically is a Dwarf from the mountains. He lives in an underground city, and he's got darkvision up to 120 feet—don't know what that is in meters, not gonna convert it right now. (Laughs) You don't know either, no.

ROVER

I have no—I genuinely would have no idea. I think we're using mostly the feet if we ever need them for battles and stuff. Cause it's just easier.

RIK

Yeah, I mean, DnD is completely based around that, so—

ROVER

Yeah, exactly.

RIK

He's also got Dwarven Resilience, which gives him resistance on poison damage, which is nice.

ROVER

Cause that also means you have advantage on saving throws, right? For the poisoned condition?

RIK

Yes, yes. To avoid the poisoned condition. Yeah.

ROVER

Nice.

RIK

Or end the poisoned condition, yeah. He's also got toughness, so he's got hit points that increase by 1 every level, basically. So he should have a good amount of health.

ROVER

You are chonky.

RIK

I am...I am a bit chonky. 27 HP, from the top of my head? Yes, 27.

ROVER

And I think you also have Stonecunning?

RIK

Yeah, yeah. That one's quite interesting. It basically allows me to have Tremor Sense, and I believe that means that I can, kind of, feel through the earth, as it were. Kind of like Toph from the Avatar, right?

ROVER

Oh, that's so cool. And that's totally not going to break me. No, totally not.

RIK

I like this one cause it specifically also kind of fits with my subclass, which we'll get into later. So—

ROVER

Yeah, because what class are you playing again? You're playing...?

RIK

A monk.

ROVER

Ooooh.

RIK

So he is a small martial artist. Yeah.

ROVER

Oooh! Very interesting. Let's go a bit through your character sheet. Because what are your ability scores for the monk?

RIK

So Pierre has got a +0 in Strength. +0.

ROVER

Amazing.

RIK

Yeah. So strong. Look at his muscles. (Strong sound effect, like arghgh)

ROVER

(Laughing) He's got big, big muscles.

RIK

Yeah, such big muscles. But he makes up for that in Dexterity. He's got a +4 in that.

ROVER

Nice.

RIK

And monks do mainly attack with Dexterity. So that's why he's pretty dextrous. He's got a Constitution of +2, Intelligence of +1, a Wisdom of +1, and Charisma of +0.

ROVER

We love a Charisma 10 character. We love it.

[Rik laughs]

It's going to be great. And what are your proficiencies in saving throws and your skills?

RIK

My proficiencies are, of course, in Dex, again, and Wisdom for saving throws. As for skills, he's proficient in Acrobatics, Insight, Investigation, and Persuasion.

ROVER

Nice! Cause you're playing a monk, and monks are very different when it comes to...like a lot of classes in DnD are mainly focused on melee, ranged, or spell attacks. These are melee, but not in the melee stuff that normally happens. It's very much a lot of unarmed strikes, isn't it?

RIK

Yeah, that's true. The way monks work is, basically, they thrive in unarmored and unarmed combat.

ROVER

Oooh.

RIK

So he doesn't really wear any weapons around. He uses his fisticuffs, you know?

ROVER

Mmhmm.

RIK

To get a lot of his attacks done. And with the monk class also comes the bonus action of dealing unarmed strikes. So I can at least perform two unarmed strikes in one turn.

ROVER

Which is quite insane because at level 3, no one can do multiple attacks. And you are the one that's just like, haha! I will!

RIK

Yep, yep. And I believe that's gonna get even worse in higher levels.

ROVER

It is. (Sighs) It very much is.

RIK

(Laughing) All the crunchy numbers, are you excited for that?

ROVER

I'm...I'm so excited for the crunchy numbers. I'm so not excited for my babies to all die because of someone just punching them in the face.

[Both laugh]

RIK

I mean...he's not, he's not so tall that he will reach the face.

ROVER

You don't know how tall the creatures are!

RIK

Oh, yeah...okay, yeah, if they're tiny as well, then sure.

ROVER

Maybe they're tiny! I don't know yet! Who knows!

RIK

Maybe he'll just do a little jump, then hit 'em in the face

ROVER

Yeah...that should be fine!

RIK

(Laughing) He'll just have to jump to reach them.

ROVER

(Laughing) For real.

We keep saying they're tiny, but they do still count in the "medium" sizes in official DnD terms, because they're very...hefty? Is that the right word?

[Rik laughs]

ROVER

They are a sturdy, sturdy looking build, which still makes them a medium-sized creature, instead of a small-sized creature. Compact. They're very compact.

RIK

(Laughing) Yeah. That's a good way to describe them.

ROVER

Yeah, it's a—I guess so, yeah! Ah, I love dwarves. Dwarves are amazing. Cause you...let's go a bit throughout the monk class features. Because right now, you...what do you all have for being a monk?

RIK

So for being a monk, you...as I mentioned before, you get a bonus unarmed strike, which is incredibly nice. And that's already at the first level!

You also get a "martial die", which you can roll instead of the normal damage for an unarmed strike or a monk weapon. Which, in my case, is still 1d6, I believe.

ROVER

Yeah, 1d6 plus your Dexterity modifier.

RIK

Yeah, correct. But that should increase as my level does. I also perform attacks with Dexterity. So that's why my Dexterity is so insane for a level 3 build. He also is able to do his saves with Dexterity, I believe, instead of Strength.

ROVER

Yes.

RIK

Yeah. He also thrives on unarmored combat. So he, by default, has a high AC even though he doesn't wear any armor. He just wears his casual clothes, his Armor of Gleaming.

ROVER

Very nice. Yeah, cause what is your armor class again? Right now?

RIK

I believe 15.

ROVER

15 without armor is nice.

RIK

15 without armor, yes!

ROVER

Nice.

RIK

So he's gonna be very much a frontline character, that's for sure.

ROVER

Mmhmm.

RIK

Is his health pretty high for a level 3 character, as well?

ROVER

27 is pretty nice. Pretty good for, like, the d8 stuff, yeah. Cause you already...like your max with 3d8 is already 24. And you have an average constitution, you...we used the average hit dice. You have the added hit points from your Dwarf-ness, I guess? (Laughs)

RIK

(Laughing) The Dwarf-ness, yes.

ROVER

I don't know how else to call it! What is the feat called again? Dwarven toughness. That's what it is.

RIK

Yes.

ROVER

But no, you also have Monk Focus, right?

RIK

That's correct. And with the Monk Focus, it allows me to...I'll explain how much Monk Focus I have first. So monks get a Focus Point each level. So mine is, at the moment, 3. And I can expend those Focus Points to get particular perks during my strikes. Or other actions during combat. They refresh every rest, so both short rest and long rest they are reset, and I've got the full pool again.

ROVER

Wow.

RIK

Yeah, which is incredibly nice.

ROVER

(Big big sigh) I'm never gonna let you guys rest, ever. Ever. (Laughs) No, I'm joking.

RIK

That's very mean. He needs his naps.

ROVER

I'm...I'm a very mean DM. (Laughs)

RIK

C'mon, he's...

ROVER

I will let you rest.

RIK

...he's a bit old age, he needs some good rest.

ROVER

(Laughs) For a Dwarf?

RIK

For a Dwarf, he's not old-aged, but...

ROVER

Yeah, I know.

RIK

But for human characters he definitely—

ROVER

For human characters, he's an old man. Yes.

RIK

He's an old man, yes.

ROVER

He's an old man.

RIK

But I can expend my Focus Points for stuff like Flurry of Blows, which means I can make two unarmored—sorry, unarmed strikes, not unarmored. Two unarmed strikes as a bonus action. So technically, I can just do two times Flurry of Blows and do four unarmed strikes.

ROVER

I already regret having you as a monk in here. You are going to destroy everything.

RIK

Oh yes, I absolutely am. Your little minions don't know what is coming.

ROVER

(Sigh) Oh, oh they do. Oh they so do.

[Both laugh]

RIK

He's also got Patience Defense, which means he can disengage as a bonus action, or, and this is where the Focus Point comes in, he can disengage and dodge as a bonus action. So I can expend one focus point for both of those.

Aside from that, he's also got Wind—oh, sorry. Wind of Step? No. Step of Wind! Which means he can dash as a bonus action. So he's gonna be dashing towards your minions.

ROVER

I'm going to be (clears throat) so...so annoyed at you.

[Both laugh]

RIK

And with that one, you can also expend a focus point to disengage and dash at the same time. And also my jump distance is doubled. (Laughs)

ROVER

Ooooh. Monks are insane!

RIK

Yep! Incredibly dextrous. And I love it.

ROVER

I love and hate monks.

RIK

A little Dwarven guy just dashing towards you.

ROVER

Yeah...the player in me loves a monk. The dungeon master in me hates them. (Laughs)

RIK

Oh, you're gonna hate him alright.

ROVER

Oh, I'm gonna hate him.

RIK

He's also able to move 10 feet more with his unarmored movement. So if he's not wearing any armor or wielding a shield, he'll be able to move a lot quicker.

ROVER

Cause your speed right now is...

RIK

40. 40 feet.

ROVER

Ooh.

RIK

Yeah.

ROVER

Nice.

RIK

Yeah.

ROVER

Oh, god.

RIK

And with that dash, you know, you can just engage incredibly quickly to other enemies.

ROVER

Yep!

RIK

Just gonna be jumping around!

ROVER

Oh, god. Oh I can already see it happening. Oh, it's going to be really fun. It's going to be really fun to see Pierre actually working like that.

RIK

Yes. He's also got Uncanny Metabolism, which means that when I roll initiative—once per long rest, I can do this—I regain all Focus Points. So if I just got out of combat, I expended all my Focus Points, he's exhausted. I can just regain it on initiative.

Oh, forgot to mention (laughs): he can roll his martial die and regain hit points, as well.

Are you happy to have a monk, Ro?

ROVER

Ooooh, listeners, if you could only see my face at this point. (Big sigh. Big big sigh)

RIK

He's so done with me already.

ROVER

Ooooh, I'm gonna kill Pierre.

I'm so done with everyone already. But it's gonna be really fun!

RIK

Yes. Yes.

[Rover laughs]

I've got the most, like, what's the expression called again? The most shit-eating grin—

ROVER

Yeah.

RIK

(Laughing) —on my face right now.

ROVER

Yep.

RIK

Ohh.

ROVER

(Sigh) Ooooh yep yep yep. I'm gonna be so annoyed at you. And I cannot wait, it's gonna be really funny.

RIK

Yes.

ROVER

And your Deflective, or Deflect Attacks?

RIK

Yeah, so, with his Deflect Attack, he can basically use a reaction and reduce the damage from any incoming piercing, bludgeoning, or slashing attack, which is incredibly nice. And I can redirect it. So if it reaches zero damage, I can basically redirect it with a Focus Point towards any other creature.

I believe for ranged attacks, the range is a bit longer. But for normal strikes, it is just against the creature itself.

ROVER

So if you do...so you choose a creature you can see within 5 feet of you, if the attack was a melee attack, and if it's a ranged attack, it is 60 feet.

RIK

Oh yes. Just imagine getting an arrow redirected towards your face.

ROVER

Oh, that's going to be so good. That is such a good trait to have. Definitely at level 3 already.

RIK

Oh I am gonna make use of that.

ROVER

Yeah, you are. I know you are.

Cause what is your...what is the subclass that you chose for Pierre?

RIK

My subclass is Warrior of the Elements. So like I mentioned before, like, the little Dwarven Tremor Sense kind of makes sense with this one, cause he's very in tune with his elements, you know? Avatar style!

ROVER

Very Avatar style!

RIK

Yeah so, the Warrior of the Elements gives me this elemental attunement. And at level 3, I can basically have an extended reach with my unarmored strikes, which is absolutely insane. It increases it by 10 feet. Which is...just supreme.

Ro's already regretting his decisions.

ROVER

(Sing-song-y) I'm regretting my decisions! And definitely for the next thing!

RIK

Which is Elemental Strike. I can basically choose the elements acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder for my unarmored strikes. And...wait, was this with a Focus Point or not?

ROVER

No.

RIK

No? I can just do that all willy-nilly. Yeah, I can just punch them with a very cold fist.

ROVER

Yeah. And I mean, if you...it's also the thing of, you have the ability, if you do it with one of these, to have the creature make a saving throw or just push them away for 10 feet.

RIK

Yep. Yep. And they'll just be thrown back out of my range. I—10 feet is out of your range, right, then?

ROVER

10 feet is out of your range, which means you can walk around without opportunity attacks, yeah.

RIK

Yeah.

[Rover sighs]

Easy disengage, let's go.

ROVER

I am hunting you down.

RIK

I mean I already had an easy disengage, but—

ROVER

I am hunting you down. (laughs)

RIK

How dare— (laughs) And I'll be dashing and dodging away.

ROVER

I notice it—yes. And what is the last thing you can do with the Warrior of the Elements?

RIK

That is the spell Elementalism. Which basically, I can, again, do Avatar moves. I can make the wind flow around me. I can shroud myself in a cover of dust. Beckon fire. Move around water. And also sculpt elements. Which also kind of goes nicely with his masonry background.

ROVER

Yeah, exactly.

RIK

You know, sculpting, masonry. So basically, when he wants to do a dramatic entrance, he'll just summon some wind, make his hair flow.

[Rover laughs]

Make his beard flow in the wind as well.

ROVER

Nice clothing—

RIK

Nice clothing, yes.

ROVER

Oh god. Oh, it's going to be really cool.

RIK

He'll make the most dramatic entrances.

ROVER

If any artists ever listen to this, you know what to do. You know what to do.

[Both laugh]

RIK

Yeah he's a dramatic Dwarf like that.

ROVER

He's dramatic, but he's also just really good at everything. Which is terrifying.

RIK

That's called experience!

ROVER

It is called experience. Because what is your background?

RIK

My background is Artisan. And that means that I...am good at my craft, here. At masonry. Go figure. Go figure.

ROVER

You got a good build for a character, and I'm already regretting every single decision that I've ever made for this entire campaign. And I haven't even done anything yet.

RIK

Oh yeah, these things were intentionally chosen to make your life difficult, Ro.

ROVER

Yep. Yep! Definitely. Well, I am very curious to see what Pierre's gonna do in the show. And we will see you in the first ever episodes of the Protectors.

RIK

Yeah.

ROVER

Thank you so much, Rik, for being here and explaining Pierre to us.

RIK

I love to be here. Hope to see you guys in the actual episodes.

ROVER

See you guys then.

RIK

See ya.

ROVER

Buh-bye!

[Piano interlude plays]

ROVER

Hello everyone, and welcome to Remains To Be Seen. This is the one-on-one session, the kind of Session 0, and today I am here with...

MIKE

Me! Mike LeBeau. Hello! How're you doing?

ROVER

Hi Mike, hello, how're you doing?

MIKE

I'm doing good, man. How're you?

ROVER

Nice! I'm also doing good. I'm glad to hear it. So tell us a bit about yourself.

MIKE

Well, I've been a voice actor for a number of years now...in fact, about 10 years, thinking about it, which is kind of wild to think about. I've been in a series of different podcasts over the course of my career, like The Magnus Archives, Soul Operator, The Sheridan Tapes, The Town Whispers. I've recently been in a Star Trek spinoff podcast...

ROVER

Ooh.

MIKE

And there's a couple of other ones which are upcoming, like Welcome to the Brass Eagle. And yeah, I've been really, really enjoying voice acting. So when I got the call for working with Dyaflame, I literally jumped on it. I was like, "Let's...let's go!" So yeah, I'm excited to be here and get started.

ROVER

Well, we're very, very excited to have you on board. So tell us a bit about your character that you're going to be playing.

MIKE

I'm playing an Aarakocra called Koltrast, who is from Sweden. He's a ranger, and I think that he's gonna fit into this party quite nicely because he has a lot of cool skills, and he's got two guns. Ebony and Ivory. Shotgun and revolver. So it's going to be...it's going to be pretty sweet. I'm very much looking forward to this.

ROVER

This is totally not a scary thing that we're gonna have someone with—and talons and two guns and wings.

MIKE

Yeah. Yeah yeah.

ROVER

Can you describe what your character looks like for us?

MIKE

Yes. So I did a little bit of research into my character because I wanted to sort of feel out who I wanted them to be. And honestly, I pulled it together backwards. I rolled all of the stats, I did all of the groundwork and the mechanics and all that kind of stuff, but then I started to think a little bit more about, like, what I wanted his style to be, who I wanted him to be, what I wanted...what I wanted to bring into this role.

And so his look is actually a blackbird. Which, for your Swedish listeners, they will probably be already criticizing my pronunciation of Koltrast, because Koltrast in Swedish is blackbird. So he's got black plumage with a little bit of coppery, sort of, flecks in the sunlight. He's got a big, sort of, orangey-yellow beak. He's got dark, black eyes with little orange-yellow surrounds. And little orangey-yellow feet.

But other than that, is honestly, for the look of him, quite unremarkable, apart from the fact that he's a bird person.

ROVER

I mean, that's fine. We'll probably see way more of them in the show anyway. But if there's indeed any Swedish listeners who want to tell us how to pronounce Koltrast better, please let us know. Please let us know. It's all good.

MIKE

Yeah, please. Please. I don't wanna get canceled, man.

ROVER

Please.

MIKE

Please.

[Laughter]

ROVER

Please, man.

So, what we do here is that we start with an improv question. And instead of making improv questions that are, like, "Oh, what is your character's favorite breakfast," it...is not going to be that.

ROVER [as DUNGEON MASTER]

Koltrast...Do you really believe that you are the hunter and not the hunted?

MIKE [as KOLTRAST]

Hmmm. Well it's been a while since I was hunted. A long while, actually. I've never really found myself at home anywhere, but if I was hunted, they'd know about me, and I'd know about them. They wouldn't see me coming.

ROVER

Amazing. Oh, I'm so gonna work with that. That's gonna be great.

MIKE

(Laughing) Yay!

ROVER

Ah, alright. Let's go a bit into the character sheet and how that all works.

MIKE

Alright.

ROVER

Because you are playing an Aarakocra.

MIKE

Yeah, man.

ROVER

And an Aarakocra is not in the Player's Handbooks. So most people will have to look up what it is, how it works. So can you run us a bit through...for, like, the things that you get when you play an Aarakocra? Because we know you get flight, you get talons. What other things do you get for that?

MIKE

Well, to be honest with you, they are the main things that an Aarakocra kind of gives you. Yeah, so you get flight, which means that you have a flying speed, which is equal to your standard movement. So I have a flying speed of 30 feet and a walking speed of 30 feet, which is quite average. I also get, yeah, the languages, as well, that comes with it. Because obviously I can speak Aarakocran, as well as Common English. And I believe…I believe that being an Aarakocra also gives me the Wind Caller feat, which means that I can cast Gust of Wind without requiring any material components. So basically, you flap your wings and you cast Gust of Wind as if it were the spell.

ROVER

Yeah.

MIKE

Which is pretty fun. And I'm intending to use that to full efficacy, I'll tell you that for free.

ROVER

I already regret everything about this. This is (sighs)...I'm going to kill your character. Anyway—

MIKE

Hey man, I asked you like five times. And this is true—

ROVER

Yeah, I know! (Laughs)

MIKE

I asked you like five times if you were okay for me to play an Aarakocra, and then I told you about what you get for being an Aarakocra, and you were like, "Oh I hate this," and I was like, "Are you sure you want me to be an Aarakocra?" And you were like, "Yes. Yes."

[Rover laughs]

ROVER

It's cool. Am I gonna hate it during combat? Abso-fucking-lutely.

MIKE

Ro is a professional improviser and just said yes to everything I threw at him.

ROVER

Yep! Basically that. That's exactly what happened.

[Laughter]

So, if we look at your character sheet, what are the...what are your ability scores? And your modifiers for that?

MIKE

Well. Shall I be honest with the audience and tell them how badly I rolled in the first time that we rolled this?

ROVER

You rolled so badly.

MIKE

Am I allowed to be honest?

ROVER

Yes, you're allowed to be very honest.

MIKE

Because it was awful. It was so bad. Like, we...to the point where Ro actually looked at me, genuinely, looked me straight in the eyes and just went, "(sighs) Roll it again."

And I was like..."Oh, okay."

[Laughter]

And we rolled it again!

ROVER

Just, just...It was like, two 9s? And two 11s? And a 12 and a 13, or something like that.

MIKE

Yeah. Something like that, yeah. Yeah, I think you are right. I think it was two 9s, a 12 and a 13. Which would have gotten me nowhere.

ROVER

Yeah! I...it really went just like, "No. Please. Please, for the sake of yourself. You will have a really cool character. Do not give him shitty ability scores, basically."

MIKE

Well, and this is a perma-death campaign. So, like, if my character dies, that's it. So in fairness to Ro, we didn't fudge the rolls—

ROVER

No.

MIKE

But certainly you let me re-roll my base character stats so that I'd at least stand a chance at surviving past episode 1.

ROVER

I let you re-roll at least, like, two, cause I did that with some other people as well. Because at some point, it's just like, nothing...at some point it just was balance. I had someone roll literally four 11s—

MIKE

Wow.

ROVER

—in the entire thing. And I was like, "Okay."

MIKE

Four 11s?

ROVER

Yeah.

MIKE

What are the odds? Someone out there, please tell me what the odds of rolling four 11s on five dice are.

ROVER

I do not know where this is gonna be in the recording. However, if you have listened to Elizabeth's session 0...she has quite high ability scores. This is because, and I think we explained it in there, this is because we at some point all rolled for her? Instead of her herself, because she was the one that kept rolling 11s. (Laughs)

MIKE

Oh my god. Oh my god, really?

ROVER

So she now has, like, really high character stats, and then Wisdom 10. So...

[Laughter]

MIKE

Well my stats are not as good as that. But certainly I think I got a much more balanced... yeah, I think I got a much more balanced deal out of this.

So my stats are: Strength 12, Dexterity 16, Constitution 14, Intelligence 8, Wisdom 14, and Rizz 13. So that gives me a nice, tidy sort of spread across the board. I get a +1 in Strength, a +3 in Dex, a +2 in Constitution, -1 in Intelligence, +2 in Wisdom, and a +1 in Charisma.

ROVER

Amazing. Now that looks a bit nicer than what we had before.

MIKE

What we had before was hot garbage. Hot...the hottest garbage. It was such a garbage fire that it burned the entire studio down, and we rebuilt it from the ground up. That's how hot garbage my original rolls were.

ROVER

If Mike had kept those ability rolls, he would not even have been a—or, Koltrast would not have been able to ever hold a gun. That would just not be possible.

MIKE

No. It would have never happened. Like, they, everything...I would have been a bullet sponge. Like, the guns would have actually—you know like in that film? The bullets would have come back around out of the barrel of the gun, and just, like, donged me. Like, I would have flatlined completely.

ROVER

(Laughing) Yeah, absolutely. That is another one for the reference list that you're just gonna have to explain at some point. This is wonderful. The list keeps going.

MIKE

The hit film "Wanted" with Shia LaBeouf and Angelina Jolie.

ROVER

That's a name I recognize (laughs). Yes, finally!

[Mike laughs]

But...what are your proficiencies in your saving throws and your proficiencies in your skills?

MIKE

My saving throws and proficiencies. So, I'm proficient in Strength and Dexterity. I thought that was pretty important because, as I mentioned earlier, my character's a ranger. And I get a +2 to my proficiencies, which is pretty nice. So that makes my Dexterity saves quite tidy. And I'm really looking forward to that.

But I'm also proficient in Animal Handling, Perception, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, and Survival. Which is...I think I get all of those because I'm a ranger.

ROVER

Yeah, I think you got those plus the ones that are in your criminal background. Oh, I spoilered that there.

MIKE

You did spoiler that there. You did spoiler that.

ROVER

I did spoiler that.

MIKE

That was a big spoiler.

ROVER

That was a big spoiler. Shall we get into that then before we go into the class? I don't know for sure, but what background are you...are you playing?

MIKE

Oh, I'm playing as a criminal background, actually! (Laughs)

ROVER

Oooh!

MIKE

Yeah!

ROVER

Why did you choose for the criminal background? There's some hints to the character backstory there?

MIKE

There are. There could be. I can neither confirm nor deny. Yes, it's because...like I said earlier, I did a lot of thinking about who I wanted my character to be. And when I was thinking about what kind of a person they are, and I started writing up my backstory, and was, sort of, crafting a narrative, I thought that the criminal background really fit nice. So I thought I would...there's a few little bits in there that you might be able to figure out as the podcast is going on. But I'm certainly not going to tell you right now, listener. You're gonna have to listen to the entire thing to work out what I am and what I'm doing. Because there is a "what I am." And there is a "what I'm doing." And there's also a "what I've done."

ROVER

Ooooh. Oh, that's gonna be really exciting. So let's go through the ranger stuff for a bit.

MIKE

Okay.

ROVER

Cause...what are the main stuff that you get for being a ranger, from like level 1 to level 3?

MIKE

Well, it's actually pretty neat. This is...to be clear, this is actually my first time ever playing a ranger. I've had friends who have played rangers in DnD campaigns that I've been in, and I think they're a really cool character class. And I picked it partly because of my backstory and partly because I thought it would be a nice addition to the team. So this is very much me trying it out for the first time.

And so, as a ranger, I get proficiencies in simple and martial weapons. I get proficiency in light and medium armor. I also get proficiency with shields—I believe that comes from...I believe that comes from my ranger thing. And also, my subclass, which you're allowed to pick, I think, at level 3, you get a subclass.

ROVER

Yep.

MIKE

And I picked the subclass Hunter. And with that, I believe I got an additional feat. So I...for my feats, as a standard...as a ranger, as standard, you get to pick your fighting style, which is your first feat. So I picked Two Weapon Fighting. As aforementioned, my ranger has two weapons, and I intend to max-pain-jump all over the flippin' place, baby!

And so when I make an attack, I can actually make an extra attack with another weapon that has the Light property. And we looked this up, and apparently the weapons that I'm using both have the Light property. Because the shotgun is sawn off. And so, that's pretty cool.

And also, I get another feat, like I say, with my Hunter specialism. So I picked Alert, which means that I have Initiative Proficiency. When I roll initiative, I can add a proficiency bonus to the roll. So basically, it gives me a +2 extra on my initiative rolls, which is pretty fun.

But it doesn't end there! It doesn't stop there, dear listener! Because I also have Initiative Swap, which means that immediately after I roll initiative, I can actually swap my initiative with any other initiative of one willing ally in the same combat. But I can't do it if they have the incapacitated condition. But none of us will be incapped, right Ro? Right? None of us are gonna be incapacitated in this campaign, so that will never come up, right?

ROVER

No. Of course not.

MIKE

That's just, that's just subtext. That's just...that's just written at the bottom. That's like the small print, right?

ROVER

Yeah.

MIKE

I don't need to pay attention to that. Ever.

ROVER

Nooo. Not at all. Never.

MIKE

No, not at all.

ROVER

Never in your life.

MIKE

Yeah. Yeah, great.

ROVER

Nooo. Nooo.

MIKE

Thanks. Thanks, thanks, thanks. So, um, you don't need to know that, really. Good luck to you!

Also, for being a Hunter, I do actually get some spell slots. So I have three level 1 spell slots. Which, actually, I was quite fascinated by. So I decided to pick, like, a broad spectrum of spells. I also get some because I am a Hunter. So the ones that I picked were Alarm, Ensnaring Strike, and Speak with Animals. I think those are the ones I picked. But I also get Hunter's Mark, as well, because of my subclass.

ROVER

Not because of your subclass. I think it's literally just because of the class. Because you have Favored Enemy, which means you have Hunter's Mark prepared—

MIKE

Oh yeah, of course, yeah.

ROVER

—and you can cast it twice without expending a spell slot.

MIKE

Yes, yeah. So I get to use it twice per combat, per short rest, right?

ROVER

Ahhhh...long rest.

MIKE

Long rest, okay. So yeah, I get Hunter's Mark that I can use twice per long rest.

ROVER

Yeah! So that's really, really nice. Because as a hunter, you definitely want to be able to use your Hunter's Mark. Also because Hunter's Mark is a bonus action and not an action. Which means you can first cast Hunter's Mark, and then you can just, I dunno, shoot with your gun, and then do extra damage.

MIKE

I can!

ROVER

Which is wonderful.

MIKE

I can take people off the field very effectively.

ROVER

Also totally not because your guns do an insane amount of damage.

MIKE

Well...it's not, it's not that bad. It's not that...should we go on and talk about the weapons, then?

ROVER

Yeah, go for it!

MIKE

So my shotgun gets a +5 attack bonus, as does my revolver. Both of them deal piercing damage. The shotgun, if it hits, it lands 2d8+3. And then I have to reload after two shots, cause it's a double barrel.

ROVER

Yep.

MIKE

And the revolver, I do 2d8+3, but I reload after six shots, cause it's a standard Smith & Wesson, or maybe a Colt—not a 1911, a Colt Python, or something like that. I haven't quite decided on the model. So if you guys want to have an input, you can tell me what revolver I have. That will be quite fun!

But also, in addition to that, I have talons because I'm an Aarakocra! And so I'm able to attack as a standard action for 1d6+3 damage.

ROVER

I can already see that during a fight, you will take someone, with the talons, up into the air and drop them with the Wilhelm scream.

MIKE

Oh, Ro. You. Know. You...you know I will.

[Rover laughs]

ROVER

I am prepared. I am not, but I am mentally prepared.

MIKE

Oh, but it doesn't stop there, dear listener. Because there's even more that my guns are able to do. My revolver actually has the Sap ability. Which means if I hit a creature with my revolver, that creature then has disadvantage on its next attack roll before the start of my next turn. And the shotgun has Push. Which means that if I hit a creature with the shotgun, I can push that creature up to 10 feet straight away from where I shot it from. All the way up to a large creature.

ROVER

This is because of the Weapon Masteries. Like, you have two Mastery properties of two kinds of weapons of your choice. So, yeah, with Sap and Push, you can do a lot of things.

MIKE

And Ro, would you like to give the listener, who may not be initiated in Dungeons and Dragons lore, an example of what a "large" creature would be?

ROVER

A medium creature, if you're looking on, like, a map on a battlefield, is one square. And a large creature is four squares. So it's based on the battlefield. In feet, it would take up 5x5 for medium and small creatures, and then a large creature is 10x10.

MIKE

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense.

ROVER

Yeah. So for being a Hunter, you get a Hunter's Lore, which...basically if a creature is marked by Hunter's Mark, you can know if they have any immunities, resistances, vulnerabilities, and you can know exactly which ones they are. And you get a Hunter's Prey, which means you can choose between Colossus Slayer and Horde Breaker.

For Hunter's Prey, which ones are you starting with? Because technically you can use both Colossus Slayer and Horde Breaker, but which one are you starting with?

MIKE

So I decided to take Horde Breaker because I think that's probably gonna stand me in good stead based on the limited amount that I know about this campaign. So basically, every time I make a weapon attack, I can then make another attack with the same weapon against a different creature, as long as it's within 5 feet of the original target and within range of me.

So if I can see them, and shoot them, and they're within 5 feet of the person that I was originally attacking, I can use the Horde Breaker ability to be able to just make another attack roll. But I think I can only do that once per short rest, or something like that.

ROVER

Yeah, once you finish a short or long rest, you can replace the chosen option with another one, basically.

MIKE

Oh, so I can do it multiple times? But I can change it after a short or long rest?

ROVER

Yes, basically. So you can keep it as long as you want. During a short rest or long rest, you can basically just choose, like, ahh I don't really want this anymore, I'm taking the other one.

So when you are a ranger, you also get Deft Explorer at level 2. You get expertise in one of your skill proficiencies and two extra languages. Now, for expertise, which one of your skill proficiencies is now an expertise, basically?

MIKE

I decided to put it into Perception. So I can perceive everything. I have a +6 on my Perception rolls, which is, honestly, I think, going to be a bit of a life saver.

ROVER

Yeah! I think that was everything when it comes to the ranger stuff. So what is, currently, your armor class and your hit points?

MIKE

So because, like I said earlier, because I'm proficient in light and medium armor, I had a choice to make. Because as an Aarakocra, I can fly, but I can't fly while wearing anything more than light armor. So because of that, I decided to wear...I decided to wear light armor. I believe, at the moment, I'm wearing studded leather armor, which is a light armor. So my AC isn't as high as you might think. It's only 15, but that means that, for what I lose in armor class, I'm gonna gain in mobility.

ROVER

Yep. That's very nice. And your hit points?

MIKE

My hit points at the moment (laughs)—

ROVER

At the moment.

MIKE

—are a slightly worrying 28. Which isn't as bad as it could be. But at the same time, it doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence.

ROVER

It...it is basically, kind of, the average that you get with +2 Constitution and a d10. I think everyone's kind of around, like, between 24 and 30 somewhere. So this is fine. You'll be fine. (Laughs)

MIKE

Yeah...yeah, maybe, you know. (Laughs)

ROVER

I think...I think that was actually it.

MIKE

Wow! That's it?

ROVER

Yeah! So I thank you very, very much for being here, for doing this session 0 with us.

MIKE

Thank you.

ROVER

And we will see you in the first episode of the Protectors group.

MIKE

Yeah, man! I will see you in episode 1!

ROVER

Yeah! Alright, buh-bye.

MIKE

Bye!

ROVER

Bye-bye everyone.

MIKE

Bye-bye. Bye audience!

[Piano interlude plays]

ROVER

Hello everyone, and welcome to Remains To Be Seen. Today, we are here with...

ALYSSA

Hi, I'm Alyssa! I'm one of the Protectors, and I'll be protecting you or whatever.

[Both laugh]

ROVER

Amazing! Alyssa, tell a bit about yourself.

ALYSSA

So I am a, I'd say a relatively intermediate DnD player, and kind of beginner voice actor. But I really love just every aspect—I just love the roleplaying part, just making silly characters, forming silly bonds, and also when the silliness gets really deep all out of nowhere, and everyone just starts crying. (Laughs) For the character, it's awful, but for me, I'm like, "Yeahhhh," like we're gonna get...

Cause I—from what I've heard about Ro, and what I've heard from everyone else who has played with Ro, is that there's going to be some really emotional moments. And I, like, I'm ready to cry. And I'm ready to laugh.

ROVER

I tend to absolutely traumatize my characters with their own backstory, but also horror.

ALYSSA

I love that.

ROVER

So it's going to be really good.

ALYSSA

And I also love horror. I do a lot of horror podcast stuff, too. Listen to Nightmares Unleashed, I produced season 2! {Transcriber’s note: Go listen, it's fantastic!}

Gotta do a shameless plug! If you're saying, "introduce yourself, say something about you," you shamelessly plug.

ROVER

Absolutely! Go for it!

ALYSSA

Without shame! But yeah, throwing that in there. Anyway!

ROVER

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

ALYSSA

So I will be playing Yitri Meadowtwirls. She is a barbarian Spring Eladrin. And she has a barbarian subclass—hold on, I remember what it is. It's a Path of the World Tree barbarian.

And she is a very bubbly, very sweet kind of character. She is always trying to make friends with everyone. She is a bit of a party girl, but when it comes time to have to do her job, she's doing her job. She's not much of a slacker, even though it kind of looks like it. She's doing her job.

And she also, a very fun fact about her—as I was designing her, I was like, I have a genius idea. Her weapons are named. She has names for her weapons. So she has a giant great axe named Betty. (Also, she's like 4 foot 10, by the way). So that's just a lot bigger than her.

ROVER

Awwww.

ALYSSA

And she has a hand crossbow named CiCi. CiCi for crossbow. But yeah, she's very...she's kind of like, you look at her and you're not going to assume barbarian. But, you know, you don't judge a book by its cover.

ROVER

Yeah cause what...if you look at Yitri, what do you see? What is the description of your character?

ALYSSA

Ok so, you see a—I said before, she is 4 foot 10, so she is relatively short. So she's 121cm. She has like a, kind of lime-green-ish skin, with strawberry blonde hair, really curly, up in a bun, but the ends are curled in the front of her face and framing her face, like a little loose.

She has a few flowers, like holding her bun in place. She wears a very, bit of a poofy dress that has a longer train in the back and shorter in the front. But it's not dragging on the floor, because she's got to fight. So it goes right above her ankles in the back, and the front goes right above her thighs.

She has armored boots. She has bracers, little bracers, and she has two pauldrons that are, like, silver and gold-ish. She has a...her dress is like a periwinkle color, with pink accents, and she has a reddish leather kind of corset.

And also on her axe—add on her axe is like a little critter. It's not alive, it's like a little...it might be alive, who knows!

ROVER

Oh god!

ALYSSA

...A little stuffed animal named Snuggles. I accidentally made a Fey-bubu.

ROVER

(Laughing) Oh god!

ALYSSA

(Laughing) Cause I was like, she should have a little guy! She should have a little guy, and like a little, like, keychain on the axe. And then I was like, drawing it, I'm like, that's just a Fey Labubu. (Laughs)

ROVER

Now, I have to make it now canon, since it's on record, that Fey-bubus are a thing. Fey-bubu...

[Alyssa laughs]

...is canon.

ALYSSA

You're welcome! You're welcome. You can't see me, but I'm doing a heart with my hands. You're welcome!

[Rover laughs]

ROVER

Oh god...

ALYSSA

And yeah, so, that's what you see. And oh! Her most defining feature. She has really cute sunglasses. They're kind of on the smaller side. They're little circles. They're golden and they have the...the arms of the glasses are like swirls? And they are like a purple and pink kind of sunglass. And they...they're just very cute. She's just very girly pop, very cutesy, and ready to fuck you up, pretty much. Yeah.

ROVER

Nice! She's a bad-ass girl, got it!

ALYSSA

She is! Can't wait for you guys to see her in action, cause she's going to be pretty fun.

ROVER

It sounds like she's going to be pretty fun, also, with the group that you are in.

ALYSSA

Oh god, yes!

ROVER

I think you are going to be great. How old is she?

ALYSSA

Oh, she's 35.

ROVER

35?

ALYSSA

But she is on the younger end of...cause Spring Eladrin are basically, Eladrin are basically like Fey Elves. So they get to be pretty old. So she's like kind of a baby, but like—

ROVER

Yeah.

ALYSSA

—not actually, like, in Fey years, in Elf years, in Eladrin years, it's on the younger side. But you know. She’s not lived that long, but she's lived, I guess. I don't know (Laughs).

ROVER

(Laughing) She has indeed lived. But before we get to the Elf stuff, or the Eladrin stuff, I have a question for you.

ROVER [as DUNGEON MASTER]

Do you really believe you can do this?

ALYSSA [as YITRI]

I mean, I, I'd like to say I can. I'd like to say I think I can do this, but you know...yeah, yeah, no. No. No doubts. I can do this. I have faith in myself and faith in the people I'm with, who, I mean, I haven't really met them yet. But I think that, like, they seem...I mean if they're on the team, I feel like they have to, you know, be able to hold their weight and stuff. And I'll be able to hold mine. And I think that, yeah. I got this. Yeah! (Giggles)

ROVER

Thank you so much, Yitri.

ALYSSA [as YITRI]

You're welcome!

ROVER

Oh, my god! This is going to be amazing.

ALYSSA

(Laughing) Yay!

ROVER

So you are playing a Spring Eladrin. What is that, basically? Because it's not a species that is in the book, nor is it talked about much in DnD in general, from what I know. So you can explain that a bit to us?

ALYSSA

So Eladrins are...the way that they've been described on websites and online is that it's a cross, it's kind of like a Fey Elf, in a sense. Like the Fey version of an Elf. And they are kind of, it's kind of like how Genasis are, there's like the four elements of Genasis. Each Eladrin is different seasons. So there's Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. I chose Spring because that's just—and also they have certain characteristics and stuff like that. And different…like each Eladrin does a different thing for each season.

I know in some things, Eladrin change seasons with the seasons. I think, right? I think that's a thing? But I, I just feel like that's a little—I don't know, but I, either that or you pick. We picked. I picked Spring. And yeah, they are very fun. They have the lifespan of an Elf. And they have a lot of qualities of a Fey. So yeah, that's basically—it's like the lifespan of an Elf, everything else of a Fey. And, cool thing that Spring Eladrin have is, well all Eladrin have Fey Step. Also I will pronounce it consistently at some point, but today is not that day.

[Both laugh]

So Fey Step is basically a mechanic where you can teleport 30 feet. And so, with the Spring version, anything you touch within like 5 feet, you can teleport that instead. So, if, let's say someone's like looking pretty bad in the front lines, you can just be like, "Okay, touch you, you're going back over there. And you're getting healed." Stuff like that.

Or just like, "Hey, enemy in front of me? You're going to go farther away from me, because I don't want to deal with you." (Laughs)

ROVER

That is super smart!

ALYSSA

Yeah, I think that would be really funny, just a constant loop of the person, the enemy, finally getting closer, and just being Fey Stepped back again, and just—

[Both laugh]

—and just keeps trying to run back.

ROVER

It's a very, very smart idea, honestly.

ALYSSA

Yeah!

ROVER

That is probably going to annoy the living daylight out of me.

ALYSSA

Oh god, yeah.

[Rover laughs]

ALYSSA

I didn't even realize that, cause I was trying to think of examples. Because the thing I was going to say was, if two people are arguing, and you're annoyed with it, just teleport the other person away. But I'm like, no, let's go with actual game, and like the healing thing, and then I'm like, wait, it'd be really funny to teleport enemies away from you (Laughing).

ROVER

Oh, it's really smart!

ALYSSA

Yeah, but don't worry. I won't do it too much.

ROVER

Oh, I don't trust that.

[Alyssa cracks up]

But it will be fun.

[Rover laughs]

ALYSSA

Here's the thing, I might forget about it. I might forget I could do that, cause I played a paladin once, and the amount of times I'd forgotten all the cool things paladins can do...and then my DM was like, "Wait. You know you can do this, right?" I'm like, "Whaaaat?"

ROVER

Fun little Dyaflame lore. We played, before we created this, we played a bard campaign with just bards. And like 90% of them forgot that they had bardic inspiration.

ALYSSA

(Laughing) That's like the main thing bards have! That's really funny.

ROVER

(Laughing) I know!

ALYSSA

No, I'm laughing, but I know if I was in that, I would do the exact same thing.

ROVER

What else can you do as a Spring Eladrin?

ALYSSA

What else can I do? Let's see.

ROVER

Or just an Eladrin.

ALYSSA

I have Fey Ancestry, so that gives me advantage on saving throws against being charmed. You're not good at charming me. So, also as a Path of the World Tree barbarian, I have the Vitality of the Tree as a feat? As a skill, I think.

Let me actually see what that does, because I didn't write it down? But I did write down what I do. I just have a separate…I need to find the separate document where I wrote down what everything does, cause I don't want to handwrite everything.

ROVER

We can also get through that one after the Eladrin stuff.

ALYSSA

Yeah.

ROVER

And then we'll look through that, cause I have the book open next to me as well.

ALYSSA

Nice. Let me see what else I can do. Cause I wrote down everything I can do, but I feel like there's more.

ROVER

I think you also have Darkvision?

ALYSSA

Yes! I have Darkvision. I have Keen Senses, so I have a proficiency in Perception. And I have Trance, so magic can't put me to sleep. And you can also go into a trance-like meditation state, instead of going to sleep, for like 4 hours.

ROVER

Yeah.

ALYSSA

So that will kind of...oh, that's what this is. Okay, it says you can change your season in the trance, but like, we're not doing that. I'm not changing her season.

ROVER

Yeah, no.

ALYSSA

But, yeah. And they have—I'm also looking at the flaws and personality traits. It's just, “Spring: Every day's the greatest day of your life. You do everything with enthusiasm. You can't stay still.” “Flaw: You overdrink.” (Laughs)

ROVER

(Laughing) Wow!

ALYSSA

(Laughing) That's the first flaw! I'm not even kidding—

ROVER

Wow!

ALYSSA

—if you go on DnD 5e Wikidot, the first flaw is: “You overdrink.” And then, "Toil is drudges. Yours should be a life of leisure." "A pretty face infatuates you in an instant, but a fancy passes away with equal speed." And then, "Anything is worth doing again and again and again."

So basically, Spring Eladrins just have ADHD is what I'm hearing from the—

[Rover laughs]

—from the description. Because I'm like, wait, why is this kind of matching me a little bit. I'm like, oh!

ROVER

Oh that's why! Yeah, exactly!

ALYSSA

That's what it is, it's the ADHD! Yeah, so they have a bunch of fun, some fun traits, and fun advantages and stuff like that. And disadvantages? There aren't many, which I think is great, cause I'm used to playing characters with a lot more disadvantages in combat and stuff.

So, glad that—I mean, technically, there is a height disadvantage. Cause the party tank is tiny. But she makes it work. She makes it work. I think she's definitely—is she the shortest of the...no, she's not the shortest. Cause I think we—oh I am!

ROVER

No, you are!

ALYSSA

I am the shortest.

ROVER

You are.

ALYSSA

Okay, yeah. So that's beautiful. I think that's a beautiful dynamic—that like, oh yeah, who's this tiny little guy? It's like, that's our tank.

ROVER

Yeah, I think it's a great idea. I genuinely think it's a really fun dynamic.

ALYSSA

Thank you. No, literally, that was my first thing. I'm like, I am going to make a tiny barbarian. Like as soon as I was like, okay it's time to make characters, I'm like: tiny barbarian. Cause it's been something on my mind for a while, cause I think it's fun.

ROVER

Yeah.

ALYSSA

Or like, bimbo barbarian was the character, before I fully fleshed her out. My brain was like, bimbo barbarian. Cause I think that would be really fun. And also, just, cause I was thinking, gonna be overly pink, like Barbie, like girly pop kind of thing. And I didn't lean too much into that, but at the same time, the personality and stuff like that very much show.

ROVER

Yeah!

ALYSSA

She's gonna be fun. I think we're all going to have a very fun time with her. Yeah.

ROVER

Absolutely. Cause you are playing a barbarian, can we go through what you basically get if you're playing a barbarian. Like, for players who have never done anything in DnD before and want to play a barbarian for the first time.

ALYSSA

Okay, so barbarians are very cool. I also—this is also my first time playing a barbarian, which I've been wanting to for the longest time, and every time I would, the campaign would just never start. So I'm like, I need to play a—

ROVER

Oh no!

ALYSSA

It happened to me twice! So I'm like, I need to play a barbarian.

ROVER

Oh my gosh.

ALYSSA

So, I'm like, okay, third time's the charm. So basically there is a—you can get Weapon Mastery, you can get Rage, which is the biggest thing with barbarians.

ROVER

Yeah. How does Rage work?

ALYSSA

So Rage, what that does is, you get advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws. When you make a melee attack, you gain a bonus to that attack roll that increases as you gain levels. And you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

So it essentially...you go into a, like, primal rage, and it makes you so much stronger, and...not invincible. You're invincible to—you have a resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. So that's also like, if you're going against some melee kind of character, you're good.

ROVER

Yeah.

ALYSSA

You—so it's a bonus action, too. So you don't have to waste an entire action to go into Rage. So you just go into Rage, and you have extra dice to your weapon attacks, and you also get the advantage on the Strength checks and Strength saving throws. So it's a very fun—

ROVER

Yeah!

ALYSSA

It's a very fun thing to do. And it just, it's kind of like...I imagine it as like a Hulk kind of situation. Where, if you're a fan of Marvel—

ROVER

Yes, very much.

ALYSSA

It's just Hulking out, pretty much. But you are just kind of going into, like, a primal rage. And it's a Concentration, so if you are a spellcaster, you can't do anything with it. But I'm not a spellcaster, so we're not going to have to worry about that. Unless I become a spellcaster.

ROVER

Yeah, exactly!

ALYSSA

Who knows! This is very early on, anything's on the table.

[Rover laughs]

I'm very much like, everything's out there. And there's also, where you can do also, with...you also get Danger Sense. So you can get an uncanny sense of when things are like...it's kind of like a spidey sense, in a way? And then you have advantage on Dexterity saving throws with things like this. And you kind of just...I feel like I'm comparing so much of barbarian skills to Marvel characters!

ROVER

I mean, it makes sense. Like, definitely the barbarian is very much...if you want to think of a character, you think of Hulk.

ALYSSA

Yeah. Gotta think of a character, think of Hulk. Cause that is, like, very much barbarian. And it's good to wear armor as a barbarian. Please wear armor. But if you're not, you get...instead of adding just your Con modifier to your AC, you also add your Dex modifier. So you get more. So you just have base higher AC. And you can do that with also a shield.

But wear armor. This is my advice. I, one time, played a character that I forgot to give armor cause I made a really cool outfit. I designed the character to have a cool outfit. Artificer.

ROVER

(Intrigued) Oooh?

ALYSSA

Did not have armor.

ROVER

(Concerned) Ooooh. Buddy.

ALYSSA

I forgot. And then it was in combat, and my friends were like, why is he going down so fast? So I'm like, I forgot something important.

[Rover laughs]

ROVER

Don't forget your armor, kids!

ALYSSA

Don't forget your armor, kids! Cause you are more vulnerable without it. (Laughing) This is a good ad for an armor company.

ROVER

(Laughing) Definitely! You also still get Reckless Attack and Primal Knowledge.

ALYSSA

Yes, I forgot. I literally just read over Reckless Attack. So, you make your first attack, you can attack recklessly, which gives you advantage on attack rolls for melee. But attack rolls against you have disadvantage until the next turn. So you are basically not focusing on defense, the character is not focusing on defense, but all on offense. So you are more vulnerable.

ROVER

Yep.

ALYSSA

But you are a lot stronger when you attack. So it's very fun. And then the...and Primal Knowledge is: you gain one proficiency in one skill of your choice, available to barbarians at level 1. So you can…

Oh, this is at 3rd and 10th level, you can just boost up your stats a little bit.

ROVER

Yeah, we'll get to that later.

ALYSSA

Yeah, right now we're starting at level 3. We don't need to worry about all that. So everything past that, don't worry about. All we need to worry about is Unarmored Defense, Danger Sense, Reckless Attack, and Primal Path, and Rage. Rage—very important. Rage is very fun. I've been super excited to use Rage as a character, cause big damage is fun. (Laughs)

ROVER

I can't wait to hear the first, "I would like to Rage" in this show. It's going to be very good.

So you are...your subclass is Path of the World Tree. So walk us a bit through how that works.

ALYSSA

So Path of the World Tree is a new addition to DnD 5e 2024. So it is not something that is in a lot of the, it's not in prior DnD things. So you get a, so your rage basically comes from the World Tree, which is a giant tree. And so you get Vitality Surge, which you gain temporary hit points equal to your barbarian level.

ROVER

Oooooh.

ALYSSA

So while you're raging, you get temporary HP. And you also have Life-Giving Force, which at the start of each of your Rage turns, you can choose another creature within 10 feet of yourself to gain temporary hit points. So this is a number of d6s equal to your Rage damage bonus, and add them together. And as soon as the Rage ends, the extra HP is gone. So this is, kind of, not a support kind of barbarian, but a little bit. Like, you can help other people as well—

ROVER

Yeah.

ALYSSA

—which I think is very fun. Which also is really cool with the Fey Step as well, the Spring Fey Step. A lot of things like, okay, you can do it with yourself, but you also can just do it to another person. Which is very fun. And there's a lot of other stuff. There's a lot of fun stuff.

But level 3 is what we're at right now, and as the character levels up, you will see what Path of the World Tree does more. And it's a really cool subclass. I remember, I was gonna go with just Berserker, like the regular one. But then, Ro was like, “have you seen the 2024 ones?” And I'm like, “I have not.” And then I looked through, I'm like, “we're doing Path of the World Tree.”

ROVER

Yeah, World Tree's good!

ALYSSA

World Tree's really good! It's really fun. And it's also like a newer one, so I think it's cool to have it on the podcast, so that people can listen—

ROVER

Exactly.

ALYSSA

And be like, "oh wow! I didn't know about the 2024 edition." Because I know a lot of people had complaints about the 2024 edition, but there's a lot of cool stuff in it.

ROVER

Yeah!

ALYSSA

There's a lot of cool stuff in it. And more barbarian subclasses.

ROVER

In 5e, you basically get two subclass options. And in 2024, you have four of them. And a lot of, kind of like, smaller details have been changed for the better, in my opinion. So yeah.

ALYSSA

Yeah, so we're mostly running 2024 5e, cause it's the little things that we are fine-tuning and stuff like that. And it is, like, I think people over-exaggerate it, how much change there was. Cause it just added things. I mean, at least in my case, for barbarian. But, yeah. So it's a very fun subclass, and I can't wait to see more people play it. And I also can't wait to play it, cause it's going to be so fun.

ROVER

Yeah! I'm very excited to see it. So run us through your ability scores, your modifiers.

ALYSSA

Let's see, we've got: a +2 to Proficiency, my Proficiency bonus is 2. I've got +3 to Strength, +1 to Dexterity, +2 to Constitution. In true barbarian fashion, we've got +0 Intelligence and -1 Wisdom.

[Both laugh]

And we have a +1 to Charisma. I was thinking, at some point, what if I make the dump stats like, not Intelligence and Wisdom, but I'm like, nahhhh.

ROVER

Nahhhhh!

ALYSSA

She has to be a little bit Charismatic. Like no, I can't do that.

[Rover laughs]

But yeah, so she also has proficiency in Animal Handling, Athletics, Investigation, Nature, Perception, and Persuasion.

ROVER

Nice. And saving throws?

ALYSSA

And saving throws: she has a +5 to Strength, +1 to Dex, +4 to Con, +0 to Intelligence, -1 to Wisdom, and +1 to Charisma.

ROVER

Yeah, so her proficiencies are in Constitution and Strength, basically.

ALYSSA

Yes. Yes.

ROVER

Nice!

ALYSSA

So she's a tanky one!

ROVER

Yeah.

ALYSSA

And she also has the feat of Crafter. She has a Crafter feat. We have a Passive Perception of 9, so...

ROVER

(Sympathetically) Oh! Oh buddy.

[Alyssa laughs]

Oh buddy!

ALYSSA

Soooo, that's gonna be fun for you. (Laughs) It's gonna not be fun for me. I'm not going to see anything.

[Both laugh]

ROVER

Oh, it's going to be very, very interesting. And if we look at your background...what is the background that you have chosen?

ALYSSA

I have an Artisan background. She comes from a family of glassblowers. So she has a lot of glassblowing experience and can, with her Crafter feat, can make things out of glass. And maybe some other little things, she's a little tinkerer in a way.

So that's going to be fun to use. I don't think we have any, like, people who use potions. But if we ever get a potion and we need a cool new bottle for it, I can just whip that up real quick. (Laughs)

ROVER

You are just like, if you go to a potion store, you will just be like, no I actually just want the potion. I have the glass.

ALYSSA

I just want the liquid.

[Both laugh]

ROVER

Yeah, exactly!

ALYSSA

Just give me the liquid. Just like, "what do you mean?" "Just like, give me the liquid. And I want a discount because you just give me the liquid."

ROVER

“The price reducted for the bottle, because I have the bottle. Just pour it in here.”

[Alyssa laughs]

Amazing! And last but not least, your armor class and your hit points—what are those?

ALYSSA

I have an armor class of 17, and I think I did the HP correctly. I have an HP of 29. So for level 3, that's pretty good.

ROVER

That's really good.

ALYSSA

Yeah, so she's, you know she's a tanky one. Which is very fun. I think playing tank characters are very fun. As much as I love playing a support and damage dealer...I like playing, there's fun things to all of them. But...

ROVER

Absolutely.

ALYSSA

When we were talking about characters, I was like, this party...like even before, I already have Yitri in my head. Well, she wasn't named yet, but I had that kind of character in my head. And then I was seeing the rest of the Protectors, and I'm like, oh. These people need a tank.

ROVER

Yeahhhhh.

ALYSSA

These people need a tank! And I'm willing...I was already going to do it anyway. So, (laughing) like this is perfect.

[Rover laughs]

I was already going to do it. I would have found a way, if we had—if it was an all-tank party, I would have tried to figure it...

[Rover laughs]

You would have probably...I feel like that's, cause when people do like all-bards, or all-supports, I'm like, what about all tanks?

ROVER

Yeah.

ALYSSA

Like everyone...no one will die, and it will just take way too long. Oops, all tanks!

ROVER

Do understand that I, if you would ever do all-tanks, I will throw a dragon at you.

ALYSSA

That's fair. That's fair. I would expect nothing less.

ROVER

So I think that is everything that we have for Yitri. Thank you so much, Alyssa, for explaining her to us.

ALYSSA

Yay! I hope that it was comprehensible. (Laughs)

ROVER

(Laughing) Definitely!

ALYSSA

But yeah, no, I'm very excited to play her. I'm very excited for you guys to listen and hear her and experience her, I guess. I don't know, that sounds weird. But, can't wait for you guys to meet her! That's the word I was looking for. Can't wait for you guys to meet her. She's going to be very fun. And, you know, I'm just very excited.

ROVER

Alright, we'll see you in the first Protector episode.

ALYSSA

See you in the first Protector episode.

ROVER

Buh-bye!

ALYSSA

Byeeee!

[Piano interlude plays]

ROVER

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

ZOE

Zoe. Hello!

ROVER

Hello, Zoe! How're you doing?

ZOE

Hi! I'm doing good, thank you. How are you?

ROVER

Yeah, I'm doing good too. So, tell us a bit about yourself.

ZOE

Well, as I said, my name's Zoe. I'm 22 years old, and I have recently graduated with a design degree. And currently, I am figuring stuff out. And now I give tours in my local stadium.

ROVER

Oooh, sick! Look at you go!

ZOE

Yes!

ROVER

So, tell us a bit about the character that you are playing in the show.

ZOE

Yes, so I am playing the character Aleksander Aintsworth. Most of you, for most of the time, will just know him as Aleks. And he is a half-elf bard with the College of Dance. He is currently not playing that much music, for reasons you will have to figure out for yourselves. But I am still very excited to play him. He's quite the dramatic character. And I do very much enjoy playing these. So...

ROVER

As a bard normally is. Obviously.

ZOE

Yes. Yes exactly.

[Both laugh]

ROVER

Amazing! It's very fun to play a bard.

ZOE

Yes.

ROVER

As some of you may have known, we played—me and Jo played—in a full bard campaign before we actually did this.

ZOE

That is so fun.

ROVER

We totally forgot about Bardic Inspiration. Maybe you won't!

[Zoe laughs]

Who knows!

[Both laugh]

ZOE

I—The last times I have played a bard, I have spammed that spell. So I doubt I will forget about it.

ROVER

Amazing. (Laughs) Alright, so let's do a bit of an improv question, as I've done with the others as well. I am not nice.

ZOE

I am so scared. (Laughs) I know you're not!

ROVER

(Laughing) We've known each other before this. (Dramatic sigh. So dramatic) I am so sorry for not being nice with nice questions.

ZOE

No, that's fine. I expected the trauma before the campaign starts, and I am expecting you to deliver, so—

ROVER

Ok, perfect!

[Zoe laughs]

ROVER [as DUNGEON MASTER]

So...Aleksander Ainsworth. Why do you think you still matter to them?

ZOE [as ALEKS]

I'm not sure I do. I have done a lot to hurt the people that I love. And I don't think I deserve that I still matter to them. But it's all I can do to hope.

ROVER

Nice. Oh, interesting! Oooh, I'm very curious where this is going to lead.

[Zoe laughs]

And who the hell "them" is, hmmm? You'll have to find out for yourself.

ZOE

Who knows.

ROVER

It all remains to be seen. It all remains to be seen! Title drop! Title drop! Aaaaaa!

[Both laugh]

So, you are playing a half-elf.

ZOE

Yes.

ROVER

So, can you run us a bit through the things you get for being a half-elf?

ZOE

So, let me see—I have so much written down.

[Both laugh]

We're scrolling past the spells. So, I have—I have darkvision, and I cannot wait to tell you when you tell us that somewhere is dark. I will scream.

[Rover laughs]

(Laughing) I'll be like, 'Ro I have darkvision! I can see!'. I have Fey Ancestry and I have Half-Elf Versatility. So many difficult words in here. Yeah.

ROVER

Cause Fey Ancestry is basically, you have advantage on saving throws against...charmed?

ZOE

Being charmed, yes. And I also cannot be put to sleep via magic.

ROVER

Amazing.

ZOE

I'm sure you're going to find other ways if you need them. And I'm scared that you will.

[Rover chuckles ominously]

So, that's fun.

ROVER

Maybe. So, for the Half-Elf Versatility—which one did you choose?

ZOE

I chose the Skill Versatility.

ROVER

Ooh!

ZOE

And I—yes!

ROVER

So you just gain proficiency in two extra skills?

ZOE

Exactly.

ROVER

Nice!

ZOE

Yes!

ROVER

Nice, very good. Cause you're—next to that, you are playing a bard.

ZOE

Yes.

ROVER

So can you run us through what the things are that a bard does, from like level 1 to level 3?

ZOE

Right, so basically, a bard is a support role, most of the time. You can do a lot more with it, but I also like to play a support bard. It means I have some low-level healing spells, but also something, like some other really fun stuff I'm sure we're gonna get to later. But as a bard, I am a performer. What that means—for me, it's an instrument, most of the time. And for a lot of people it's also instruments, but basically, performing can be any sort of art. It could be an instrument, it could be dancing, it could be acting. All that fun stuff.

ROVER

Exactly.

ZOE

So really creative characters. Mostly with really high charisma. They're often the characters that talk you out of situations or into situations, depending on how you play them. Umm, yeah!

ROVER

And so, what we talked about earlier: Bardic Inspiration. Can you explain to us what Bardic Inspiration is?

ZOE

So, Bardic Inspiration is a fun little bonus action that I can do, which basically grants a creature that I cast it on (it's not really a spell, but I'm just gonna say "cast it on"), to gain an extra d6 on the rolls that use a d20, like attack rolls or proficiency rolls.

And yeah, when they use it, they can just add it if they want to. And then after that, it's gone. And I can use it again on someone else.

ROVER

Yeah, exactly. Cause I think you have like a number, an equal amount of times that you can use it, like with your Charisma bonus.

ZOE

Yeah.

ROVER

So, that is, I think, for you, quite a lot. Let me immediately ask, then—what are your ability scores, in general?

ZOE

Well, if you ask like that, we can just immediately start with Charisma. My Charisma is currently 19, which gives me a bonus of 4.

[Intrigued Rover sounds]

So—

ROVER

Ok!

ZOE

That's 4 times I can use Bardic Inspiration.

ROVER

Yeah!

ZOE

Then, I have a 14 on Wisdom, with a modifier of 2. A 16 on Intelligence, with a modifier of 3. For once, I'm actually playing a smart character.

[Rover laughs]

Very, very excited for that. Normally, my Intelligence stats are not that high. Then I've got a 14 on Constitution, again with a modifier of 4—of 2, sorry. A 16 on Dexterity, with a 3. And then an 11 on Strength, which gives me absolutely nothing.

ROVER

Absolutely nothing.

ZOE

But at least it's not a minus.

ROVER

Exactly!

ZOE

So I'm happy with that. (Laughs)

ROVER

Amazing! Yeah, cause next to Bardic Inspiration, you also get expertise in stuff. Which is pretty insane, because not a lot of characters get expertise in their skills.

ZOE

Yes.

ROVER

Cause what are the proficiencies that you have in your skills in general?

ZOE

So I have quite a few. I have 7 in total.

ROVER

Ooooh!

ZOE

And those are Acrobatics, Arcana, Insight, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, and Religion. Some of these—most of these have a +5, and Performance and Persuasion I have a +8.

ROVER

Yeah, probably because they are then the expertise.

ZOE

Yes.

ROVER

Which is basically, to explain it—expertise is basically double your proficiency bonus on something that you already have proficiency of.

ZOE

Yes.

ROVER

So, yeah! That's really good. And I think, with some other ability called Jack of All Trades—

ZOE

Yes!

ROVER

That's also very interesting.

ZOE

Yes! So Jack of All Trades—I was really excited when you told me that I get that one, cause I didn't know that existed. It basically gives me a +1 on all skills that are non-proficient.

So, I have a plus on every single skill that there is. There is no zero, there is no minus. There is at least a +1. I never had that before.

ROVER

Yeah! No, it's genuinely really good, because it's basically half of your proficiency bonus, rounded down, that you just get added to everything that you don't have proficiency for. Which is amazing.

ZOE

Yeah! It is.

ROVER

And then, you are playing a College of Dance, I think you said?

ZOE

Yes, that's correct.

ROVER

Tell us a bit about that.

ZOE

So, I had a lot of fun to look into the College of Dance. It's quite new in comparison to the other bard colleges. And it focuses, kind of as it says, a lot about dancing and dodging, kind of. So I've got some fun things about that.

I've got a thing that's called Dazzling Footwork, which basically means if I have no armor and no shield, and I do a performance that involves dancing, I have a base armor class of 17. So that is really high.

ROVER

I think you just have that in general!

ZOE

Maybe even, yeah!

ROVER

I think you do.

ZOE

I'm really excited about that! That makes it even better. But I'm really excited about that, because I put a lot of effort into the character design. And it does not involve armor. So I'm glad I don't have to cover that up, and still have a high armor class.

ROVER

Good! Cause your armor class right now is?

ZOE

17.

ROVER

Oooh nice!

ZOE

Yeah! So, that's really nice. I also can make an unarmed strike that, basically I use Bardic Inspiration, and after that I can make an unarmed strike, which will be a 1d6 + my dexterity bonus. So, I don't really need the weapons. I can just hit people.

ROVER

Wow, ok! That's interesting.

ZOE

Yeah.

ROVER

I think you also should have advantage on any performance checks.

ZOE

Maybe? I do not have that written down, but I will believe you.

ROVER

You have a lot!

[Both laugh]

ZOE

I'm just good like that! What should I say.

[Rover laughs]

ROVER

So advantage on charisma—on performance checks. Base armor class of dexterity + charisma + 10, your agile strikes and your bardic damage...it's really good. The College of Dance is really interesting.

ZOE

It is.

ROVER

I think it will be really fun to see what Aleks will do with the College of Dance. I think he's going to be really interesting to see as a type of bard in the game.

ZOE

I think so too, yes. I'm really excited to play that. I've never played a bard with the College of Dance, so normally I've just been focusing on playing my music and supporting my friends. So—

ROVER

Yeah.

ZOE

I'm excited to see what damage I can do with that.

ROVER

I can't wait to see that either! So what is the background that you chose?

ZOE

I chose the Acolyte background.

ROVER

Interesting. So tell us a bit about that.

ZOE

It basically means that my character grew up in a very religious environment. Which, for example, you can see because I get proficiency in Insight and also Religion.

ROVER

Nice! And is there a specific god that your family followed, or you follow?

ZOE

Yes. So my character is following the god Apollo, and so is basically his entire family. He grew up with being a devotee of Apollo, and it's kind of all he knows.

ROVER

Interesting. Ooh, I can't wait to see how that will come up.

ZOE

I'm scared to see how that will come up!

[Both laugh.]

ROVER

(Suspiciously) I'm very curious.

So, your hit points. How many hit points do you have right now?

ZOE

I have 24.

ROVER

Pretty nice.

ZOE

Yeah, sure.

ROVER

Pretty nice for level 3. For level 3, it's pretty good!

ZOE

Yeah...

ROVER

Yeahhhhhh. Yeahhhhhhh. I feel like—

ZOE

Yeahhh, I don't trust you. (Laughs)

[Scandalized inhale from Ro]

ROVER

Now that? Now that is a you problem.

ZOE

Mmhmm. I know. I'm aware.

[Rover laughs]

But, I am scared that my character will just die in session 1 or something.

ROVER

Nooooo.

ZOE

I know it makes sense for me to have 24 hit points, but I don't trust those 24 hit points.

[Rover laughs]

ROVER

(Deceptively light) Noooo, you'll be fine!

ZOE

Mmmhmm. You don't sound very convincing.

ROVER

Oh, I know. (With a voice like the grinning purple devil emoji)

[Rover laughs]

So, let's go a bit into the spells, because a bard is also a spellcaster.

ZOE

Yes.

ROVER

What is the spellcasting ability and your spellsave DC and stuff?

ZOE

So the spellcasting ability is Charisma, with a spellsave DC of 14, and I have a +6 on my spell attack bonus.

ROVER

Nice. And the spells that you have chosen?

ZOE

So, I might need some help with that.

ROVER

Oh?

ZOE

Because you told me to get a spell that I was really into, and I still cannot pronounce it.

ROVER

Oh, that's ok!

ZOE

So, I currently have 2 cantrips. One of those is Vicious Mockery, which is basically a verbal attack on someone.

ROVER

Mmmhmm.

ZOE

And you just insult them so much it hurts them.

ROVER

Amazing.

ZOE

(Laughing) I'm very excited for that. And the other one, and I'm going to embarrass myself here, is Prestidigi—help.

ROVER

(Kindly) Do it again, no you can do it!

ZOE

It's the one with a 'P'! (Laughs)

ROVER

You were doing it! You were doing it!

ZOE

I was doing it halfway.

ROVER

Prestidigitation.

ZOE (at same time)

Prestidigitation.

ROVER

Yes!

ZOE

Yes?

ROVER

Oh interesting. Which is basically a spell where you basically just get to do little magic stuff.

ZOE

Yes. Little bit of illusions.

ROVER

Yeah. And I was very much like, I think you're going to have fun with that.

ZOE

Yes, I think so too.

ROVER

And your level-1 and -2 spells? Which are the ones that you chose there?

ZOE

I have 4 level-1 spells. I have Cure Wounds and Healing Word, just to get a bit of health into my party.

ROVER

Mmmhmm.

ZOE

I've got Speak with Animals. I've always found that one to be quite useful. And I also have Feather Fall.

ROVER

Smart. Smart.

ZOE

And for my level-2 spell slots, I have Knock and Shatter. You did advise me to put in a spell that at least makes a bit of damage.

ROVER

I think so, yeah.

ZOE

Otherwise I probably would have put another support spell instead of Shatter. But I also do know to listen to you. So.

ROVER

Oi! I am taking my hands off of these characters for now!

[Zoe laughs]

ZOE

Sure you are. Sure you are.

ROVER

Hehehe. Yeah, definitely if you have not played a character before, I'm very much always trying to help with what types of spells to put in there, without telling you exactly what you have to choose.

ZOE

Yes. And you were really helpful, like genuinely. I had no idea what I was doing there.

ROVER

I'm glad I could help.

[Both laugh]

So I think, for Aleks, that's—Oh no, I am a filthy liar.

ZOE

How dare you.

ROVER

What does your character look like?

ZOE

(Laughing) That is such a big thing to miss!

ROVER

I know! And I looked at it, and it was like—'Wait a goddamn minute.'

[Both laugh]

ZOE

Wait a minute! We're not done!

ROVER

This might be completely edited back into the moment where we were talking about your character, who knows! I'm cutting this, it's fine. So, tell us a bit about what your character looks like, and their weapons and stuff.

ZOE

Yes. So I'm going to start with the weapons, cause that's a lot less and a bit easier. He has two daggers and a short bow.

ROVER

Nice.

ZOE

So, pretty standard stuff, but I'm still pretty happy with that. And for what he looks like—he's very tall, around 180 centimeters, or 180 centimeters (118 centimeters not be very tall). He's like the tall and lanky kind of type. He's a bit tan, dark brown hair, blue eyes. He's got very like, fluffy hair, a little braid in it as well. Lots of tattoos. As in, they cover a lot of space, not as in there are a lot of tattoos. Technically just 2 tattoos. But one of them is really big.

Yeah, he likes to wear blue. So, his clothes are like a mix of blues and browns. And one of my favorite things about the design—I'm really grateful that you approved that one—is he has a cloak which mostly is also a dark blue fabric, but there is stained glass sewn into the fabric. And I love that cloak so much, and I was more than happy to live with the disadvantage on stealth checks that I get when we are out in the sun, because he turns into a disco ball.

But it's a pretty disco ball, so I don't mind.

ROVER

This entire group is definitely going to make an actual circus.

ZOE

Yay! We're not playing your campaign. We're opening a traveling circus, then we're gone.

ROVER

You are, definitely!

[Both laugh]

I think that is it for what we need to know about Aleks.

ZOE

Nice!

ROVER

So, thank you so much Zoe. Thank you so much for your time and explaining to us a bit about your character.

ZOE

Any time, no problem.

ROVER

And I'll see you in the first-ever Protectors episode.

ZOE

I'm so scared, but also very excited.

ROVER

(Laughing) I will see you there. Buh-bye.

ZOE

Buh-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. It was edited by Jo Mendacium. It starred:

Rik den Breejen

Mike LeBeau

Alyssa Roldan

Zoe Emily

And Rover Elliott as the host.

The intro and outro was 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.