Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus

Descent in Avernus - Baldur's Gate
"Welcome to Baldur’s Gate, a veritable nest of rats and vipers clinging to the rocky slopes overlooking the Chionthar River. From their high perches in the Upper City, the local nobles—known as patriars—gaze down with veiled contempt upon the common rabble in the grimy Lower City, which hugs the foggy harbor. The whole of Baldur’s Gate reeks of blood, crime, and opportunity. One can easily fathom why pirates and traders are drawn to this place like flies to a carcass.

"Following the river farther east would eventually lead you to Elturel, capital of the holy land of Elturgard—or at least that was the case until a few days ago. The flood of refugees from Elturel has gotten worse since news first arrived that the city has fallen. Everyone is saying Baldur’s Gate is next, but no one truly knows who or what has claimed Elturel.

"The patriars pay a mercenary army called the Flaming Fist to protect their interests in Baldur’s Gate, and by extension, the city itself. The Flaming Fist has gained even more power since their charismatic leader, Ulder Ravengard, claimed the title of Grand Duke a few years ago. All of this was brought to your attention shortly after you were drafted (conscripted?) by the Flaming Fist to help defend the city."

For whatever reasons, the characters find themselves in Baldur's Gate and, as stated above, they were recently drafted by the Flaming Fist mercenary company. During Session 0 the characters will be able to expand on the reasons that brought them to Baldur's Gate (see below).

Character Creation

<DND Beyond link to Create Character>

<Roll20 Page> 

Characters are generated with the 27-point buy system. Any official WotC race/lineage and class/subclass is allowed. Please, no Homebrew or 3rd party material. 

Backstory: Please try to develop a character backstory/bio as this material may be utilized in the game. This should, at a minimum, consist of two well worded sentences. If you like writing extensive backstories, go for it. All my games use Roll20. You can post this under "Notes" (lower right corner) of your character sheet in D&D Beyond or under the "Bio" tab (upper right) of the Roll20 character sheet. Or you can email me/text me/carrier pigeon me the bio. Either way, please let me know where it's at. We will have a brief Session 0 where everybody will be able to introduce their character, backstory, and what brought them to the area.  In addition to the Backstory, please make sure your character also has the following information: 

• List 3 things that your character fears.

• On your character sheet under "Description", please make sure the "Flaws" section is completed. 

Also, starting at 1st level, characters get a bonus feat from the following list: 

All my games take place in the Forgotten Realms. For more information about the Forgotten Realms, check out this <Wiki>. The information here can be a bit overwhelming. However, a helpful hint is when choosing a race, do a search (magnifying gleass). For example, type "Elf" in the search prompt and the website will describe areas in the Realms those people hail from.

When creating characters over 5th level, they get 500 gp plus 1d10 × 25 gp to spend on gear in addition to the normal starting equipment gained at 1st level.

Feel free to claim one of the D&D Beyond Character Sheets <here>. Once created, you can link it to Roll20 by installing the Beyond20 extension.

Beyond20 Extension (only for Chrome or Firefox users)

House Rules

I don't have many House Rules nowadays - just a couple:

1. Dice. If a dice is cocked or rolls off the table, that's a reroll.

2. The Rule of Monologuing. Whenever the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy/Gal) monologues, characters do not get to attack them until they are finished monologuing. The reason? Monologues are great narrative devices. They serve as a useful tool to recap the plot, emphasize essential details that the characters may have missed, or just generally catch the players up before the big boss battle.

3. Role-Play vs. Roll Play. Hopefully, our games will be balanced with lots of dice rolling to determine actions (roll-playing) and collaborative storytelling as created by the DM and player's imagination (role-playing). I don't expect players to completely role-play their characters by using elaborate accents or take on quirky mannerisms. Its all about comfort level. If you like to role-play your character in this manner, that's great (the Performance Approach). If you'd rather refer to your character by name and describe what they are doing in a narrative fashion (the Narrative Approach), that's fine too. Or use a combination of both. Again, comfort level.

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