Questions

Also, on another note. If you made the class Highborn, it may be a bit unbalanced. *looks at 23 in diplomacy*

Very much like the sound of your game. It has an Eastern European flair and a rather grim outlook. I was thinking of playing a Barbarian of the Steppes - a mercenary of sorts - who finds himself escorting the woman. What began as a simple enough job proves undecidedly so.

@SmokeyGB: Awesome. Right up the alley.

@Zeus: Yep, I made the class. Hrm. I'm not horribly, horribly frightened by that score. I generally find that Diplomacy scores in PbP aren't as scary as they are "live"; an awful lot of the time as DM, if you fail a Diplomacy check it's bad news for me. But it do bear watching. The gold given to the Highborn class should reflect the Wealth talent, i.e., no more cash beyond that.

Have my 3.5 rules saved upon my desktop @ work. Will get something togther tomorrow. I don't have the supplemental material but am I correct in assuming a 'Warblade' is Arkadia's version of a straight up fighter? If so I think a multiclass Barb/WB is probably what I have in mind.

Warblade is out of Tome of Battle. Significantly more complex than a fighter, but absolutely no reason not to use Fighter/Barb, you'll be completely fine.

Fighter/Barb's good? Excellent then, as a simple fighter is more along the lines of what I'm looking for. Will get something up for your review tomorrow.

Just double checking that masterwork skill tools are kosher. According to the SRD & the PHB, you can spend 50gp to get a tool that gives a +2 circumstance bonus to a skill. I'm asking because I've had DMs look askance at things like a masterwork concentration tool or a knowledge tool.

I generally fluff them in ways that I think are appropriate - a concentration tool might be a string of prayer beads or a little lucky charm that steadies a person, a knowledge tool might be a reference card (like what fighter pilots used to memorize plane profiles), or a bluff tool is a pair of smoked glasses that obscure the eyes, and so on.

...I wholeheartedly approve of such things. Sometime this week, I'll have the grooming kit (+2 diplomacy) and almanac (+2 Knowledge skill of choice) options up in a wiki for Arkadian equipment, animals, and hirelings. (Yes, you can buy serfs. 1st level commoners with Improved Aid Another as a feat are kinda handy.)

Do you want all the characters to be from Arkadia, or is it possible to have a foreigner? What sort of nations and/or regions exist beyond the cold clutches of the Tzar?

As an aside you may want to bump the game ad or allow replies to it directly - it's being pushed down the list - on page 2 and falling currently.