A young troll, virile, in the first bloom of his youth should not be forced to work in the foundry with the rest of his family or in the distillery with his cousins. He should also not be forced to study poetry, calligraphy and flower arranging. A young troll, such as Teddy, should be loping around the mountains clubbing treacherous interlopers or looting burning cities. Or whatever it is that wild trolls do. However, Theodore Andrew Billingsworth-Cragfall (of the WestHallow Billingsworth-Cragfalls) was not a wild, free troll. He was in boarding school, learning to be a good bureaucrat. That is, until he breaks out and runs away to be an adventurer. His family is Not Pleased. (Not even the Hamshard Billingsworth-Cragfalls)

Major Stat: Strength

Weakest Stat: Charisma

Kinzie is a tinkerer, though she insists on calling herself an inventor, despite none of her inventions having actually worked yet. Her theories are sound, but when it comes to application, she just has the worst luck. Like the time an old mentor dropped by unexpectedly, leading to her forgetting about the new experiment she was running, which boiled over and set fire to her lab. Or the time she got stuck behind an oxcart when a sudden storm broke out, ruining the new batch of experimental powder she had left out to dry. Or that time when the wind kicked up in the dusty field just before an exhibition test-firing of her new firearm for the Duke, and the dust-clogged pistol misfired, singing his Excellency's arm.

With her funding now cut off from the Royal Academy and her barred from performing any more experiments in town, Kinzie is forced to field test her experiments, and funding her inventions by hiring herself out as an adventurer.

Strong Stat: Intelligence
Weak Stat: Luck

Sorry, I'm gonna have to drop out of this.

Not even the Hamshard Billingsworth-Cragfalls? I suppose they're still trying to put the incident with the governor and the puppeteer behind them.

Ok, a wizard, a fighter, and a tinkerer. Any other loyal (at least in public and out loud) citizens of the Empire interested in adventuring?

Not at the moment, obviously. I'll start the game thread tomorrow; for now the characters will be starting in a small salt producing town with a monastery on the outskirts; and the monastery will be having a tiny problem...

For the moment, take it as read that everyone can afford the basic necessities of life for a few days.

As our players start down the road towards the monastery, it starts to become more important what they have with them. And for that matter, exactly who they are. The answer is more or less as follows.

Having paid for lunch, everyone has a half dozen gold or so in coin. They're sturdily clad and shod, and have an assortment of the usual this-and-that that adventurers carry (some string, chalk, a small mirror, eating utensils, a tinder-box, and such like). They also have leather backpacks, a few strong sacks each (optimists that they are), a few torches each, and enough iron rations to last a day or so (this includes water in a canteen of suitable size).

Cloverleaf is a lucky fellow, though he has already found that luck in life is not quite the same thing as luck in combat. He is otherwise fairly average for an elf; not as sturdy as a human but somewhat smarter, more dexterous, and likeable. At least, likeable in the abstract. He is equipped with a light crossbow, a couple of dozen darts for it, and a staff which does double duty as both a quarterstaff and his focus. He's wearing leather armor.

Teddy is a bit beefy for a troll of his age, and relatively graceful (all things being considered). Were he human sized, he would not be all that noticeable in a social setting; but it's a fact of life that humans pay more attention to a troll than their force of personality would otherwise justify. Usually hostile attention; but Teddy is obviously a Citizen of the Empire. For a start, there isn't the smallest trace of hominid stuck between his teeth or under his fingernails. So far as equipment goes, Teddy has a club. It's iron shod and all, and he's pretty good with it; but he is probably impatient for the day when he can lay down the fairly considerable amount of money needed to buy proper steel weaponry sized for a troll. His armor is also leather, and one suspects it's a hand-me-down.

Kinzie is, surprisingly enough, an above average specimen across the board. Her regrettable luck in her day to day affairs does not seem to carry over into a fight; in the extremely chaotic world of a melee, she's even been known to catch as tiny bit of a break now and again. She's wearing leather armor like the others. Her equipment is a bit of a puzzle, though; the powers that be are not sure if she prefers to fight up close or at a distance if she has a choice. Whatever that might be, though, she does happen to be the owner of a matchlock pistol which has been surprisingly reliable so far, given the obvious problems with both the lock and the owner. All she needs is a moment to set it up (light the match, prime it, and such like) before she can shoot; after that it can be used about as often as a crossbow. She has a dozen rounds worth of powder and ball for it.

The first level spells will follow in a later post.

Kinzie doesn't really hate Cloverleaf. She just hates the unfairness of their respective lucks in life and takes it out unfairly on him.

Magic!

There are 8 first level spells, the strength cost will be in parentheses after the spell name. Spells with *s can be cast as higher level spells (by higher level mages) to greater effect.

Detect Magic (0) Free for mages, one for rogues who have learned it. Detects magic up to 30 feet away under normal circumstances.
Lock Tight* (1) Locks any door for half an hour.
Knock-knock (2) Unlocks almost any non-magically locked door. Will undo a Lock Tight if the caster is higher level than the Lock Tight spell.
Will-o-wisp* (1) A finger, stick, staff, or such like will glow for ten minutes at about one candlepower.
Oh-there-it-is (4) Detects concealed or invisible things up to 30 feet away; the outlines glow purple for a while.
Take That You Fiend* (6) Uses the mage's intelligence as a weapon against one animate foe. Range 300 feet.
Vorpal Blade* (5) Doubles damage done by one melee weapon for one combat round.
Oh-go-away* (5) Tries to scare off a monster. If the monster is more powerful than the mage, it becomes enraged and focuses on the mage to the exclusion of anyone else.

Now mages don't necessarily have to spend full fare for spells. Their staff will deduct their level from the cost (minimum 1 if it costs anything). So Cloverleaf, who would normally drop into a near coma if he tried to cast three TTYFs in a row (and the third would fail), can just barely get away with it with his staff in his hand. Though he will be just this side of unconscious. Strength takes about ten minutes to recover per point; it's faster if you're asleep, but even in a battle mages will get their spell strength back over time.

As you may have noticed, the spells are sometimes referred to by shorter names or initials. At this level, Take That You Fiend is the worst offender; but it's such fun to say...

Note; mages can teach spells to rogues once they are higher level than the spell itself. Since a magic user must pay to learn new spells from the various mages guilds, many charge through the snout for this. It's not required. It's considered polite not to mention to the guilds that you've done this.

Yay, magic!

I presume that a mage who is bound (or otherwise unable to use magic gestures) and/or gagged (or otherwise unable to use magic words) would be unable to cast magic in general?

Incidentally, I should mention that if someone else doesn't negotiate some payment, then Cloverleaf will happily take on this job for free - he honestly believes that if he ever runs out of money, and then decides that he'd rather have some, he'll walk around a corner and find a coin lying on the pavement outside a gambling house; and so monetary payment is by and large a matter of total indifference to him.

For a mage, Detect Magic is simply a matter of will; gestures and words are superfluous though often used. As for the other spells; an inconvenienced spell caster can try to cast them, but it's a saving throw to get away with it based on the effective strength cost of the spell.

For what it's worth, higher level mages also get one off the cost for each level they are above the effective casting level of the spell; a sixth level mage can cast a first level TTYF for one strength without a staff. This is additive with the staff; a tenth level mage with a staff, casting a fifth level spell, deducts 15 from the cost.

Rogues, our favorite generalists, don't know how to properly use a staff but do get the level bonus; if the aforementioned caster was a rogue, the spell would be 5 strength cheaper.

While Cloverleaf can easily generate his own light, he's choosing not to. For the moment, at least.

Do trolls have low light vision?

They see well in limited light (excellent night sight, basically), though it takes them a moment or two to adjust to it. Surface trolls aren't as good at it as those who live a more subterranean life.

A brief interlude on the timing in a round of combat...

I resolve missile fire and magic first, then the melee is handled among the survivors. Now if it should happen that the spells and projectiles radically change the scene, then the melee characters will be allowed some leeway in their plans (that is, get to post a change if desired). So if, for instance, Cloverleaf and/or Kinzie kill this swordsman, then Teddy would be able to redirect his efforts towards the chap on the ladder on the fly. Missile and magic types would have to specifically hold their attack until later if they want to get the same leeway; so if Kinzie or Cloverleaf want to wait until after the melee to try to attack the guy on the ladder then they can; but if the appropriate opportunity doesn't arise then they don't act that round.