At 86 points at level 1, I hope you've prepared some challenging encounters! Those are almost best-case stats right there!
But that's a pretty neat idea for point allocation.
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But that's a pretty neat idea for point allocation.
CornBurrito
Member
I am planning on enemies being weak until thy learn how to roll attack and the basic rules of movement. Also I will be using enemies with tactics that make for a challenge regardless of pc stats. And puzzle bosses!!
Just got my Reaper Bone miniatures.
Holy crap is this a lot of plastic. And I just opened the box for the Kaladrax dragon and this thing is huge (8.5 inches high, 12 inch wingspan)! This cant fit on a table anywhere! Not even the largest sized monster in Pathfinder takes this much space on a table.
Holy crap is this a lot of plastic. And I just opened the box for the Kaladrax dragon and this thing is huge (8.5 inches high, 12 inch wingspan)! This cant fit on a table anywhere! Not even the largest sized monster in Pathfinder takes this much space on a table.
JetBlackPanda
Member
Do any of you guys enjoy the dragon age rpg?
Henchmen21
Banned
Got it for my bday back in july. Haven't got a chance to play it yet.
JetBlackPanda
Member
A first I kind of rolled my eyes at it but I watched that Table Top play through with the designer and Wheaton and it played pretty good and simple with the 3d6 and the stunts. I don't know it seemed simple enough to bust out for single night adventures.
Henchmen21
Banned
That's actually what got me interested too since I'm a PnP virgin.
CornBurrito
Member
Whelp ended up not getting to DM but I joined a 3.5e game with a DM who seems willing to listen to the ideas the player has. He's basically allowing for everyone to collaborate together, so I'm hoping he'll reward creativity in combat and such.
But with my luck in GMs next week he'll be killing the entire party over a perceived slight and quitting the game forever lol.
But with my luck in GMs next week he'll be killing the entire party over a perceived slight and quitting the game forever lol.
Good session last night, though with an inevitable player leaving. I'd constructed an adventure which ended up taking about three and a half hours, which I suppose would be the length of a standard session. As I'd only really ran hour-long adventures before with this group, this was both practice for me and to test the players to see who actually would like to play the game 'seriously', rather than just seeing it as a fun distraction to do every few weeks.
Halfway through the session, one player bowed out, which I always thought she was going to do anyway. She liked the idea of acting a character in a long-running story, but didn't so much like the reality. Fair enough, I asked her if she could just stick around for 10 more minutes and then have her character do a "this adventuring life isn't for me" speech, which she did well. In a very nice touch, before she left she rolled for stealth, scored 23, and then declared she'd just taken half the gold without anyone realising. I was more than happy to oblige this.
The adventure itself I think went really well. I took the final Beginner Box bash module, 'Terrors', and expanded it by adding an initial prologue in Sandpoint, hoping to go over some of the mechanics again and introduce 'downtime' to the players. I started them off in a bar fight, teaching them about non-lethal damage, then had the Sheriff break it up, had the party go to the Cathedral for healing (and the high-priest admonished the cleric for getting into fights). Had them do a bit of shopping, each time trying to bring the various shop owners to life a little.
The stables were run by a bitter ex-ranger, who keeps preserved ears of goblins he killed nailed to the stable rafters. The ranger had near single-handedly wiped out one of the local goblin tribes back in his day, keeping the goblin boss preserved in a vat of brine. My players really soaked up all this fluff, and I was so delighted that when I had them caught in a goblin ambush later, the bard did a bardic fear song, but told me she was singing a song about the ranger who wiped out an entire goblin tribe. I gave a +1 bonus to the spell as a reward for such creative thinking, and sure enough all the goblins became very afraid. It was a fantastic moment of a player starting to really get into roleplaying, thinking of it as more than just a set of rules and dice rolls.
The module itself was a standard "you've come to a town with a problem, investigate" style thing. I unfortunately burned through my repertoire of voices very quickly (I'm awful with accents and dialects), but they got into it all the same. I thought the end encounter might be too hard with three players rather than four, but also showed me that they've finally mastered basic tactics of flanking and buffing, so made short work of four skeletons and a skeletal champion.
Next week I'm going to do the adventure that's actually included in the Beginner Box as their very first dungeon crawl. After that, it's going to be a case of sandbox-ing Sandpoint, letting them talk to the locals and find jobs and quests and the like.
Halfway through the session, one player bowed out, which I always thought she was going to do anyway. She liked the idea of acting a character in a long-running story, but didn't so much like the reality. Fair enough, I asked her if she could just stick around for 10 more minutes and then have her character do a "this adventuring life isn't for me" speech, which she did well. In a very nice touch, before she left she rolled for stealth, scored 23, and then declared she'd just taken half the gold without anyone realising. I was more than happy to oblige this.
The adventure itself I think went really well. I took the final Beginner Box bash module, 'Terrors', and expanded it by adding an initial prologue in Sandpoint, hoping to go over some of the mechanics again and introduce 'downtime' to the players. I started them off in a bar fight, teaching them about non-lethal damage, then had the Sheriff break it up, had the party go to the Cathedral for healing (and the high-priest admonished the cleric for getting into fights). Had them do a bit of shopping, each time trying to bring the various shop owners to life a little.
The stables were run by a bitter ex-ranger, who keeps preserved ears of goblins he killed nailed to the stable rafters. The ranger had near single-handedly wiped out one of the local goblin tribes back in his day, keeping the goblin boss preserved in a vat of brine. My players really soaked up all this fluff, and I was so delighted that when I had them caught in a goblin ambush later, the bard did a bardic fear song, but told me she was singing a song about the ranger who wiped out an entire goblin tribe. I gave a +1 bonus to the spell as a reward for such creative thinking, and sure enough all the goblins became very afraid. It was a fantastic moment of a player starting to really get into roleplaying, thinking of it as more than just a set of rules and dice rolls.
The module itself was a standard "you've come to a town with a problem, investigate" style thing. I unfortunately burned through my repertoire of voices very quickly (I'm awful with accents and dialects), but they got into it all the same. I thought the end encounter might be too hard with three players rather than four, but also showed me that they've finally mastered basic tactics of flanking and buffing, so made short work of four skeletons and a skeletal champion.
Next week I'm going to do the adventure that's actually included in the Beginner Box as their very first dungeon crawl. After that, it's going to be a case of sandbox-ing Sandpoint, letting them talk to the locals and find jobs and quests and the like.
He better! Be it of a tactical (climbing a column to do a drop attack) or roleplaying (a bard singing a specific song goblins would be afraid to hear) nature, one of the best things a DM can do is throw a +1 bonus to a player roll to reward and encourage their creative thinking.
JetBlackPanda
Member
I somehow got invited to dungeons an dragons adventure group Facebook group that wants to start up a game in my area. Everyone seems pretty cool and it's close to me. I have wished that I could find some friends to take this serious but none of them do.
I think I might join and check it out.
New friends are always cool and the guys in this group seem pretty cool.
I think I might join and check it out.
New friends are always cool and the guys in this group seem pretty cool.
RaySpencer
Member
Im looking at trying to make my first character, its going to be a D&D 3.5 dude.
Any tips or help on how I should go about doing this? Hes gonna be a Sorcerer I think, I wanna nuke some stuff! haha.
Is this a good site to use to make a character? http://dnd3rd.sourceforge.net/
Any tips or help on how I should go about doing this? Hes gonna be a Sorcerer I think, I wanna nuke some stuff! haha.
Is this a good site to use to make a character? http://dnd3rd.sourceforge.net/
I honestly recommend you stick to pen and paper to begin with.
As counter-intuitive as it may sound, those easy character wizards only really help those who already know the rules inside out. If you don't know how to generate a character manually, you'll be absolutely lost once the character wizard starts making you apply bonuses or take extra feats and skill points when you don't know why you should be.
Also, I find nothing teaches a player how various stats work together than having them manually fill in a character sheet. Finally, if you're stuck finding a piece of information mid-game, it's easier for everyone involved if you're using the official character sheet, as they'll be able to quickly point you in the direction of the information you need.
Just stick to the Player's Guide, a set of dice, and a character sheet. If you need some extra help, an online, fluff-less summary guide can be used to walk you through the process.
As counter-intuitive as it may sound, those easy character wizards only really help those who already know the rules inside out. If you don't know how to generate a character manually, you'll be absolutely lost once the character wizard starts making you apply bonuses or take extra feats and skill points when you don't know why you should be.
Also, I find nothing teaches a player how various stats work together than having them manually fill in a character sheet. Finally, if you're stuck finding a piece of information mid-game, it's easier for everyone involved if you're using the official character sheet, as they'll be able to quickly point you in the direction of the information you need.
Just stick to the Player's Guide, a set of dice, and a character sheet. If you need some extra help, an online, fluff-less summary guide can be used to walk you through the process.
RaySpencer
Member
I dont have any players guides or anything though, haha.
I know how RPGs in general work, and ive got a basic idea of how PnP RPGs work, and this site seems to explain things that I might have questions about pretty well.
I guess I was just looking for more general recommendations, like what spells people enjoy and stuff like that. No matter though, I will figure it out.
edit: I should point out that im obviously only using this site (or sites like it) to figure out and build my character, once Ive created him, I will be slotting it all into an actual character sheet.
DeadPhoenix
Member
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetindex.php
http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler.php
These are two sites I use to use a lot(though a while back a friend of mine made a custom pathfinder character sheet on Google docs that I mostly use now). Very useful, as they do calculate a lot of information for you automatically as in input the values and some other cool stuff(the tangled web one will provide a link to spells and feats, really useful for casters if you have online access while playing), but they require you make an account and may not be the best option if you are gonna copy it onto a RL sheet later.
http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler.php
These are two sites I use to use a lot(though a while back a friend of mine made a custom pathfinder character sheet on Google docs that I mostly use now). Very useful, as they do calculate a lot of information for you automatically as in input the values and some other cool stuff(the tangled web one will provide a link to spells and feats, really useful for casters if you have online access while playing), but they require you make an account and may not be the best option if you are gonna copy it onto a RL sheet later.
Borrow them (I assume you're doing this to join a group? Surely someone can lend you a copy?)
The d20 system (which acts as the kernel D&D 3.5 is built on) has quite a few crunchy idiosyncrasies that, while intuitive and easy once learned, can feel like a complex web of random numbers when you're starting out.
Lacking a player's handbook, I recommending using a YouTube video such as this one to walk you through the process, explaining how one stat interacts with another.
You can then constantly refer to the d20 SRD, which acts as a technical manual for 3.5e, listing all the races, classes, spells, and feats you'll need to build you character.
As for what spells to recommend, it's unfortunately been a long time since I played as a player, and longer still since I played a Sorcerer. I never actually played 3.5e, having instead started with 3.0 and much later on going to Pathfinder, which is 3.75, I guess. However, my (ill-advised) suggestion as a 1st level sorcerer spell-list would be:
Note: this is assuming you want a character balanced between combat and exploration, that you want to work as a cog in the greater machine that is your party.. Super-optimised battle characters are far beyond my ability or interest to create.
Level 0 Spells (Cantrips)
Light - Saves the party from having to spend money on and waste an off hand on holding torches. Will make it harder for enemies to sneak up on the party in dungeons/at night. Will help your party's rogue to spot traps better etc.
Read magic - Essential for casting from scolls or spellbooks.
Detect magic - Literally lets you know if there's a magic spell/effect active in the area. Can help with the detection of magical traps, let you know that sword you found is a little more than a piece of steel, or perhaps alert you to the fact there's another wizard behind that door...
Flare - Dazzles the target, meaning it gets a -1 on attack rolls, which is potentially a huge help at both low-level and high-level play.
Level 1 Spells
Magic Missile - Early on, this is a good ranged damage dealer, and scales up by adding up to five extra missiles to a single casting as you level, meaning you'll probably be using this well into the upper-mid levels of the game.
Color Spray - Absolutely brutal de-buff spell in the lower levels; especially devastating against a tightly-packed group.
Mage Armor - Gives a +4 bonus to your Armor Class. Which is huge. As regular armor interferes with spellcasting, Mage Armor is one of the best spells available when it comes to increasing your low-level survival.
I'd avoid any of the 0 and 1st level damage spells outside of Magic Missile, as they quickly become useless as you level up. As Sorcerers have such a limited number of spells they can learn, wasting a slot on something that won't be used past level 3 is criminal. Better to focus on spells that buff you and de-buff your enemies to begin with.
RaySpencer
Member
Yeah, I really should just be building this character with my friend who will be DMing our game, heh.
I did get to play DnD Next one time at PAX, its what really pushed me over the edge of wanting to play some DnD. I recognize a lot of the spells you listed, I ended up using a bunch of those when I played before, but there is a bunch I didnt use too.
I appreciate the help! I will check out your links and see what I can figure out.
CornBurrito
Member
The way the DnD difficulty scale works (difficulty classes are usually done in increments of five), +1 rarely feels very useful though especially when given as a supposed reward.
Climbing down a column to drop attack takes at least 1 turn to climb, 1 turn to attack and then a +1 bonus... meanwhile you could have flanked for +2 each turn, and two attacks. Instead of one attack at +1.
krypt0nian
Banned
So hyped to start playing Pathfinder Society this Thursday! I got to play once before moving back in Chicago, and had a good time with a fun random group. But this is the first run down here in Orlando.
I've played some organized play before in DnD Encounters, and had mixed results but overall it was better than sitting out. I have a regular group down here, but it's comprised of all actors, and coincidently they've all had a nice run of casting luck, with two of them off broadway right now in productions, so we haven't played in ages!
I'm playing an old crotchety Conjurer (wizard) from Pathfinder's Egypt equivalent, Osirion that worships that region's god of magic. So almost a priest type, who sees all forms of magic as a tool to use, even necromancy. Maintaining a Neutral alignment will be a nice challenge.
Side note: holy shit the Pathfinder Adventure Card game is sooo bloody addictive! What a nice DnD feel it's recreated, and the first in its genre really. Solo play works well too. I've posted some links to vids in the GAF boardgame thread that are well worth watching, including a full play through. It's such a great alternative when you don't have access to a tabletop crew as I've found its much easier to recruit people to card games than PnP experiences.
Anyone else get a chance to run through it?
I've played some organized play before in DnD Encounters, and had mixed results but overall it was better than sitting out. I have a regular group down here, but it's comprised of all actors, and coincidently they've all had a nice run of casting luck, with two of them off broadway right now in productions, so we haven't played in ages!
I'm playing an old crotchety Conjurer (wizard) from Pathfinder's Egypt equivalent, Osirion that worships that region's god of magic. So almost a priest type, who sees all forms of magic as a tool to use, even necromancy. Maintaining a Neutral alignment will be a nice challenge.
Side note: holy shit the Pathfinder Adventure Card game is sooo bloody addictive! What a nice DnD feel it's recreated, and the first in its genre really. Solo play works well too. I've posted some links to vids in the GAF boardgame thread that are well worth watching, including a full play through. It's such a great alternative when you don't have access to a tabletop crew as I've found its much easier to recruit people to card games than PnP experiences.
Anyone else get a chance to run through it?
fallengorn
Bitches love smiley faces
Hmm, sounds cool.
Not to be a lazy bum... but got a direct link to those vids handy?
JetBlackPanda
Member
YES! the ACG has been really amazing. I have run tons and tons of scenarios now and if anything happens to my Paladin I would be crushed. It allows for a narrative to be created each time you play or if you just want to crunch numbers and roll the dice you can do that too.
so good.
krypt0nian
Banned
Haha. Here's my post from the boardgame thread - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=79535909&postcount=17219
Check out a page back to current for more impressions from GAF. (and right above my post here, lol)
JetBlackPanda
Member
Do you guys have any recommendations for game systems that aren't overly.. crunchy I guess? my group loooved the dragon age RPG starter set and we are waiting for Set 1 to come in the mail but it looks like there inst a lot there yet for that game.
thanks!
thanks!
Not-edit: looks like i managed to write a lot, perhaps too much. Not good at saying things in simple manner.
EDIT: a fucking long post for asking advice about how to make a character interesting, for myself and others, while keeping him/her "gray", yet on the side of the "good" (ie whatever the party is).
EDIT: I'm not good at thinking wants and desires for my character because i don't have almost any IRL (for example, material possessions or "social status" are are quite irrelevant for me). At least not anything that would make interesting character.
What do your characters want? What do they do with their wants? Why? What kind of characters do you play anyway?
Some notes: we have homebrewn system, with character-"story"-centric focus, campaign story as secondary focus. Basically loot, character stat/item building and combat are not important in themselves overall, though at least one in our group does like loot a lot.
Next play session is the 30th (we've played about a year i think), and my current character is my 3rd, first one died after going crazy (and being removed from the game for a time), my second one didn't continue the "quest" because of quite similar situation as i'm now.
I wonder because i can't figure out myself and my character.
As a player, i'm not motivated by gaining something: loot, treasure, power, levels, XP are irrelevant things for me usually (i tried playing a character who was after loot and treasure but that lead to other problems).
Challenge doesn't appeal to me either really, usually because i don't perceive challenge as challenge when it is for the whole party. Personal challenge would be okay, but only if it is offered for me, i don't seek it. Were i to seek it, i'd try to "break" the GM's world, conquer it, manipulate it or something like that.
I do like affecting the world and the story but currently i can't really do it with my current character (we're trying to figure out some future for me with our GM but i figured i could ask for advice and ideas here too). Also the way the party and the world is structured, it is difficult for me to do this to the extent i like within short time span, i have no patience for things taking a long time. In real time that is, we play perhaps bi-weekly as it is so most in-universe long term things would take way too much time IRL for me to stay interested.
The irony here is that i don't like playing characters that would excel at causing change (such as charismatic, leading characters), this is because if i were to play such one, i'd easily be too domineering, unbending, as a player, which would cause strife, out of character. I never "lead" the party as a player, it isn't something i do, or like to do.
My current character is something like a warlock, a demon summoner but not evil (more like "fight fire with fire" type). Lawful-neutral is probably the closest alignment using the classic chart, though i'm very close to true neutral due to the events in our campaign. In other words a bad spot because it leads to "i don't care" attitude, or "i care only about myself", neither of which are good for the party and the game, or myself.
Perhaps there is a way to play a true neutral without falling for either but i know i can't do it.
I can't figure out what he wants. His powers, summoning and controlling demons has always been merely a tool, basically for fighting against other evil that live in his homeland. Unfortunately current events have lead this to become somewhat irrelevant, the nation is small, unimportant thing in the larger world, and doesn't offer anything, nor is it thankful for my character either, so basically he doesn't feel much loyalty for it.
The demonic power is tempting, of course. But unfortunately giving in to the temptation would merely mean the character would become something of an evil overlord, which is not what i want as player (it would affect the story and the world a lot, but would also splinter the party and destroy any story the GM has thought of), and it doesn't make a good redemption story either, since there is no proper fall. If i were playing a heroic character, fall and redemption would make a powerful personal story withing the world, allowing me to do what i like as a player: affect the game's story a lot.
Right now the "fall" would be merely a step to a certain direction, and our party would probably feel obliged to stop my character, but not redeem him. And even if they were, i don't see anything to redeem, the change would be too slight for my character to ever realize that he has fallen, realistically speaking.
But what else? I figure my character would like obtaining knowledge and lore, and doing magical research but i can't figure any uses for them, why my character would like them. Perhaps "just for the sake of it" but that's not fun in long-term, what else there would be but to repeat it?
Yes, i'm ignoring that the things in the game story can change but i need to figure out at least something for long term, some sort guide-line. And frankly, i have this problem nearly always, with all characters, i'm very bad at wanting, or acting like i want something.
I can't think of any way making my character any more heroic either, realistically. He's a cynic, who has lived all of his life in a place that is petty, weak, unimportant and intolerant of what my character is. Perhaps over long time BUT something would have to start me to that path (our party certainly won't do that*, and there are no other heroes in the world that would inspire my character either), and i feel it would take way too long IRL so i wouldn't have patience for it.
And of course, i don't really like the concept of a heroic warlock. A warlock helping the good guys, sure, but only because it is beneficial for him and/or his "order" as well (which i don't have).
Can't make a new character either at this point really, it would be fourth and there's no good reason to get rid of my current one. And unfortunately there is no reasonable way to get my character killed in combat either, going to the frontline, to the danger proper would feel very out of place, in- and out-of-character.
I don't mind characters dying, as long as it is a "good death".
*Party consists:
-A priest, of sorts, who is awful as a priest (atheist player playing a priest is very, very difficult clearly, which is why i don't even try though it would be interesting). Sort of mage-healer-melee hybrid. Tries being good guy, nominal leader (but awful in that job as well).
-A selfish jerkass adventurer-archaeologist necromancer-mage-melee hybrid (a necromancer who helps the cycle of life, not a summoner type). Selfish needs to be mentioned again.
-A crossbow-wielding tinker/rogue. Now turned to something like a human but "better". Not sure about motivations, figure the player has them figured out, in-character it kind of looks like the rogue is just tagging along as it is.
-Me, warlock, specializing in summoning magic.
EDIT One problem i have is that i need feedback and suggestions and someone else to provide options and challenges for thinking my character and his/her story, our current GM leaves a bit too much of that for us alone, i need to talk to him about this... It is his world, not mine. I like knowing the rules and then i can do as much as i want/can within those rules. Finding out rules is not what i like.
EDIT: a fucking long post for asking advice about how to make a character interesting, for myself and others, while keeping him/her "gray", yet on the side of the "good" (ie whatever the party is).
EDIT: I'm not good at thinking wants and desires for my character because i don't have almost any IRL (for example, material possessions or "social status" are are quite irrelevant for me). At least not anything that would make interesting character.
What do your characters want? What do they do with their wants? Why? What kind of characters do you play anyway?
Some notes: we have homebrewn system, with character-"story"-centric focus, campaign story as secondary focus. Basically loot, character stat/item building and combat are not important in themselves overall, though at least one in our group does like loot a lot.
Next play session is the 30th (we've played about a year i think), and my current character is my 3rd, first one died after going crazy (and being removed from the game for a time), my second one didn't continue the "quest" because of quite similar situation as i'm now.
I wonder because i can't figure out myself and my character.
As a player, i'm not motivated by gaining something: loot, treasure, power, levels, XP are irrelevant things for me usually (i tried playing a character who was after loot and treasure but that lead to other problems).
Challenge doesn't appeal to me either really, usually because i don't perceive challenge as challenge when it is for the whole party. Personal challenge would be okay, but only if it is offered for me, i don't seek it. Were i to seek it, i'd try to "break" the GM's world, conquer it, manipulate it or something like that.
I do like affecting the world and the story but currently i can't really do it with my current character (we're trying to figure out some future for me with our GM but i figured i could ask for advice and ideas here too). Also the way the party and the world is structured, it is difficult for me to do this to the extent i like within short time span, i have no patience for things taking a long time. In real time that is, we play perhaps bi-weekly as it is so most in-universe long term things would take way too much time IRL for me to stay interested.
The irony here is that i don't like playing characters that would excel at causing change (such as charismatic, leading characters), this is because if i were to play such one, i'd easily be too domineering, unbending, as a player, which would cause strife, out of character. I never "lead" the party as a player, it isn't something i do, or like to do.
My current character is something like a warlock, a demon summoner but not evil (more like "fight fire with fire" type). Lawful-neutral is probably the closest alignment using the classic chart, though i'm very close to true neutral due to the events in our campaign. In other words a bad spot because it leads to "i don't care" attitude, or "i care only about myself", neither of which are good for the party and the game, or myself.
Perhaps there is a way to play a true neutral without falling for either but i know i can't do it.
I can't figure out what he wants. His powers, summoning and controlling demons has always been merely a tool, basically for fighting against other evil that live in his homeland. Unfortunately current events have lead this to become somewhat irrelevant, the nation is small, unimportant thing in the larger world, and doesn't offer anything, nor is it thankful for my character either, so basically he doesn't feel much loyalty for it.
The demonic power is tempting, of course. But unfortunately giving in to the temptation would merely mean the character would become something of an evil overlord, which is not what i want as player (it would affect the story and the world a lot, but would also splinter the party and destroy any story the GM has thought of), and it doesn't make a good redemption story either, since there is no proper fall. If i were playing a heroic character, fall and redemption would make a powerful personal story withing the world, allowing me to do what i like as a player: affect the game's story a lot.
Right now the "fall" would be merely a step to a certain direction, and our party would probably feel obliged to stop my character, but not redeem him. And even if they were, i don't see anything to redeem, the change would be too slight for my character to ever realize that he has fallen, realistically speaking.
But what else? I figure my character would like obtaining knowledge and lore, and doing magical research but i can't figure any uses for them, why my character would like them. Perhaps "just for the sake of it" but that's not fun in long-term, what else there would be but to repeat it?
Yes, i'm ignoring that the things in the game story can change but i need to figure out at least something for long term, some sort guide-line. And frankly, i have this problem nearly always, with all characters, i'm very bad at wanting, or acting like i want something.
I can't think of any way making my character any more heroic either, realistically. He's a cynic, who has lived all of his life in a place that is petty, weak, unimportant and intolerant of what my character is. Perhaps over long time BUT something would have to start me to that path (our party certainly won't do that*, and there are no other heroes in the world that would inspire my character either), and i feel it would take way too long IRL so i wouldn't have patience for it.
And of course, i don't really like the concept of a heroic warlock. A warlock helping the good guys, sure, but only because it is beneficial for him and/or his "order" as well (which i don't have).
Can't make a new character either at this point really, it would be fourth and there's no good reason to get rid of my current one. And unfortunately there is no reasonable way to get my character killed in combat either, going to the frontline, to the danger proper would feel very out of place, in- and out-of-character.
I don't mind characters dying, as long as it is a "good death".
*Party consists:
-A priest, of sorts, who is awful as a priest (atheist player playing a priest is very, very difficult clearly, which is why i don't even try though it would be interesting). Sort of mage-healer-melee hybrid. Tries being good guy, nominal leader (but awful in that job as well).
-A selfish jerkass adventurer-archaeologist necromancer-mage-melee hybrid (a necromancer who helps the cycle of life, not a summoner type). Selfish needs to be mentioned again.
-A crossbow-wielding tinker/rogue. Now turned to something like a human but "better". Not sure about motivations, figure the player has them figured out, in-character it kind of looks like the rogue is just tagging along as it is.
-Me, warlock, specializing in summoning magic.
EDIT One problem i have is that i need feedback and suggestions and someone else to provide options and challenges for thinking my character and his/her story, our current GM leaves a bit too much of that for us alone, i need to talk to him about this... It is his world, not mine. I like knowing the rules and then i can do as much as i want/can within those rules. Finding out rules is not what i like.
More information needed. There are a number of low-crunch games out there, but it is dependent on what sort of game you're looking for and the experience your group would enjoy at the table.
Without knowing anything more than Dragon Age was enjoyed, I would suggest Dungeon World. It is not crunchy at all, but it discourages pre-planned adventures because of the level of player influence that exists. That's not to say there aren't adventures and adventure seeds out there, a number of those are available for free and are a great resource and inspiration for the GM, but they're different to what you'd expect. I can link you to them if this game interests you. Dungeon World is available in Print+PDF here at IPR or PDF-only at here at DriveThruRPG.
JetBlackPanda
Member
Wow that looks perfect!
Extremely jealous! There's no Society play anywhere near me
I feel like I'm missing out on a huge part of the Pathfinder/Golarion experience.
JetBlackPanda
Member
I think I'm going all in on Edge Of The Empire. The artwork is so fucking good and I would enjoy just reading the book until my group is ready.
CornBurrito
Member
Well now it looks like I might have a chance to DM... but I don't want to. I'm being asked to DM on Friday when I am already in a Friday game with a new DM who looks willing to try interesting things and listen to player feedback.
Another problem is that I'd be "co DM" and I have no interest in sharing being DM when I want to try things like not having players roll for stats.
Another problem is that I'd be "co DM" and I have no interest in sharing being DM when I want to try things like not having players roll for stats.
Here's what I've agreed with my RPG group - anytime somebody wants to have a go at DM'ing, we'll pencil in a session a few weeks down the line that they can prepare and run a short adventure all by themselves. If they (and the rest of the group) really like it, we'll make them DM'ing a semi-regular thing, and have two stories on the go.
Just ask your current groups if in a few weeks you could run a short, self-contained adventure.
CornBurrito
Member
I think you missed the part where me DM'ing would be with an entirely different group of people I don't know, and would mean not gaming with a group of people I have already met with.
I also do NOT want to co-DM. Ever. At all. It would confuse players to have to switch between different sets of house rules every time the DM changed.
fallengorn
Bitches love smiley faces
Well, I hope you politely declined. It's not going to benefit anybody to have a DM that doesn't want to be there.
I didn't. I meant asking it of your current group. But seeing as you've then gone on to say this:
... then I see your predicament.
Though odd use of the term "co-DM". That to me would imply having multiple DMs in one session. You are using it to mean changing DMs based on session?
krypt0nian
Banned
Just don't GM for them. What is the issue?
CornBurrito
Member
krypt0nian
Banned
You had two whole posts saying you didn't want to do something. Then don't.
Where is the conversation or problem? You're already in a group. Tell them no. It seems like its some sort of struggle to just do the obvious thing. Drama.
I could have had soup and a sandwich or a burger for lunch. I had the burger.
On a more constructive note, you seem to have very strong opinions about things you've never even tried (co-DMing). You'll find PnP far more fun if you open yourself up to new experiences without pre-judging them so absolutely. Some of my most fun times have come from game systems or opportunities of play that I would have never thought I'd enjoy.
CornBurrito
Member
I never tried co-DMing? Really? I must have imagined being in a game with rotating DMs two years ago.
As for why I shared the story, it was because I had before mentioned that I had a chance to DM a game. Then I ended up not being chosen. And then somehow these people I knew wanted me to co-DM because the person they chose over me ended up being a flake. I just thought it was a funny series of events. I only had TWO posts about it because I thought Suariyu misunderstood that taking over the other game every week would necessarily mean not going to the game I already signed up for. I still honestly don't think he understood what I was saying because he mentioned talking to my group (presumably Group A) about penciling in a few sessions where I leave them and DM for Group B.... which doesn't make particularly much sense since Group B would want to have a game every week, not just once every 3-5 weeks when I decide not to play with Group A.
edit: Anyway I played with Group A last night. This new DM is really good. Things ran extremely smoothly. We dominated a group of goblins and the DM allowed us to decide if we wanted to "speed up time" to the end of the battle since it was clear the goblins had no chance of success after we entangled and color sprayed them all. Really helped save time. Story seems pretty basic right now, but he was good about giving us a choice of what we wanted to do next. The party voted that we help clear out some undead. I'm a sorcerer (all of us level 1) and have only Mage Armor and Color Spray as my level 1 spells. Looks like I won't be doing much against the undead except maybe tossing some alchemist fire at them. Though I'll be casting Mage Armor on the party members that are currently without armor (like our Druid's animal companion).
CornBurrito
Member
Did you (assuming you are the DM) fuck up or did the players fuck up?
nobody fucked up.
I made CR appropriate encounters, and they played well enough.
Just the dice gave that one orc a crit and that meant he dealt triple damage with his battleaxe, which is fatal to any level 1 PC.
I think Paizo fucked up in saying an orc is only 1/3 CR.
CornBurrito
Member
:[
That's when I'd use my DM powers to rule that the entire party doesn't die, but gets captured instead or something. A springboard for a new adventure. That way they don't lose all the characters and relationships that they have put time and effort into creating.
Though it depends on the campaign/players. I'm more anti-death though.
edit: Where do you people buy dice from? My DM wants to pitch in for a massive dice set. So we need to buy a lot of DND dice for cheap in bulk. Any suggestions besides amazon?
well, the critical hit put one player below the negative hit point limit, basically meaning the axe tore him in two.
The second player was a cleric, and orcs don't like them so much. Was just 2 hit points away from negative limit.
The third player took an orc down, and was an attractive elf lady... I faded to black with her 3 points away from negative limit and orcs standing over her body. I'd already established in-world how half-orcs happen, so I couldn't have them captured without it breaking the fiction.
Its fine. They were all first level, so I kill them without too much regret. Hopefully now they'll always fear death, and even if I secretly fudge it to keep them safe, they'll just think they got lucky.
It's perhaps the best thing in the world, as the game loses a lot of tension if you believe the GM won't let you die.
My rules are that they must roll new characters of the same xp level, but cannot take the same class again, lest it just feel like they're the same characters with different names. The Sheriff will then recruit them next session to "find out what happened and finish the job".
Told the players that them dying against an orc raiding party in the grand scheme of things is no big, but if they got to 17th level and died against an evil sorcerer-king there would have been dire ramifications for the world that their next characters would have to deal with. Hopefully the game is more exciting for them now. One of the players called it their "game of thrones moment" and is eager to jump right back in.
RaySpencer
Member
Damnit!
Spent a bunch of time looking into 3.5 classes, and figuring out what I wanted my Sorcerer to be like....
...and my friend tells me we're gonna play 4e not 3.5e haha. I guess I mixed that up somewhere.
So now I cant play my Sorcerer (doesnt really matter, I was still confused anyway), and now I have to figure out Warlock, haha.
All this Pact stuff is annoying! Infernal looks like it has some awesome abilities, but Star starts with some awesome shit, but then I like some of the Constitution abilities and some of the Charisma so it makes it harder to focus, haha.
Then I have to pay attention to what Paragon class thing I want later too!! Luckily Ive found a lot of good info out there to help me figure out what I want to do.
edit:
Weird question, do most people actually roll dice for their stats? It seems like having something like 80 points you could distribute yourself would make more sense?
Spent a bunch of time looking into 3.5 classes, and figuring out what I wanted my Sorcerer to be like....
...and my friend tells me we're gonna play 4e not 3.5e haha. I guess I mixed that up somewhere.
So now I cant play my Sorcerer (doesnt really matter, I was still confused anyway), and now I have to figure out Warlock, haha.
All this Pact stuff is annoying! Infernal looks like it has some awesome abilities, but Star starts with some awesome shit, but then I like some of the Constitution abilities and some of the Charisma so it makes it harder to focus, haha.
Then I have to pay attention to what Paragon class thing I want later too!! Luckily Ive found a lot of good info out there to help me figure out what I want to do.
edit:
Weird question, do most people actually roll dice for their stats? It seems like having something like 80 points you could distribute yourself would make more sense?
Keru_Shiri
Member
I want someone in my group to run a Pathfinder Mythic campaign so badly.
RaySpencer
Member
Another question! Where is a good place to go to find miniatures to use for my hero? I would like to paint my own at some point, but if I can get a good prepainted one somewhere that would be good too. Either works, just need to find something that fits the character im trying to make.
JetBlackPanda
Member
Last night I ran my brother in law and sister through most of the Beginner box for Edge Of The Empire. It was a huge success. I had a blast being the GM. The advantage and threat system allows you to really narrate the action based on dice rolls.
I had a player roll 4 advantages but missed his shot, I explained that the storm trooper dodged out of the way but got tripped up in the dirt and fell to a knee. this allowed another player to run up and use a vibro axe and took the poor guys head right off. (also rolling an advantage die)
I am fairly new to role playing but Ive run some Pathfinder games and some Dragon Age games. I like every system I have played so far but the narrative dice are pretty neat IMHO.
My players also made a deal with the droid at the junk shop to steal the part for the ship for them in return they have to bring the droid with them off the planet. Kind of cool and this stuff really feels like Star Wars.
If I can find one more player to join us I will be buying the Core Rule book.
I had a player roll 4 advantages but missed his shot, I explained that the storm trooper dodged out of the way but got tripped up in the dirt and fell to a knee. this allowed another player to run up and use a vibro axe and took the poor guys head right off. (also rolling an advantage die)
I am fairly new to role playing but Ive run some Pathfinder games and some Dragon Age games. I like every system I have played so far but the narrative dice are pretty neat IMHO.
My players also made a deal with the droid at the junk shop to steal the part for the ship for them in return they have to bring the droid with them off the planet. Kind of cool and this stuff really feels like Star Wars.
If I can find one more player to join us I will be buying the Core Rule book.
Pure sex.
My players will be happy at all the possibilities available for their PCs beyond the Beginner Box pawns.
Also picked up the Rise of the Runelords pawn collection, and have the Bestiary 1 pawn box on the way as well.
Fuck miniatures - I have no idea how gamers afford them. Especially when you can usually only buy them in randomised packs where you don't know what you're getting. It's like they're for Rich Gamers Only, but the rules are always written explicitly around them.
The pawns are a fantastic, sensible alternative, and they're usually generic enough to fill many different roles.
So when you combine the Beginner Box with the NPC Box, you have so many options for just, say, female Dwarf fighters:
And that's discounting a few, like a blacksmith female dwarf, that isn't quite generic enough but could fit if the player wanted their character to have a blacksmithing profession.
CornBurrito
Member
Minis are extremely expensive if you want decent ones. Personally I like using currency (pennies, dimes) and household items (small erasers, a pen cap) in their place. My current DM lets the players have small minis, and then just draws circles on a piece of grid paper to mark enemy positions. I suppose that means we won't be facing swarms. Or he'll just make swarms a composite unit.
Fate's pretty good about not needing any player markers. It just divides combat into zones and since games typically run small (3 or so players) it is easy to keep track of everyone by just making tick marks on notecards. This does have the downside of making combat less strategic and tactical as far as movement goes, though I suppose that's what the aspect system is for.
Fate's pretty good about not needing any player markers. It just divides combat into zones and since games typically run small (3 or so players) it is easy to keep track of everyone by just making tick marks on notecards. This does have the downside of making combat less strategic and tactical as far as movement goes, though I suppose that's what the aspect system is for.
krypt0nian
Banned
Pure sex.
My players will be happy at all the possibilities available for their PCs beyond the Beginner Box pawns.
Also picked up the Rise of the Runelords pawn collection, and have the Bestiary 1 pawn box on the way as well.
Fuck miniatures - I have no idea how gamers afford them. Especially when you can usually only buy them in randomised packs where you don't know what you're getting. It's like they're for Rich Gamers Only, but the rules are always written explicitly around them.
The pawns are a fantastic, sensible alternative, and they're usually generic enough to fill many different roles.
So when you combine the Beginner Box with the NPC Box, you have so many options for just, say, female Dwarf fighters:
And that's discounting a few, like a blacksmith female dwarf, that isn't quite generic enough but could fit if the player wanted their character to have a blacksmithing profession.
I love minis, but even I have to admit these boxes are a steal and readily mix them in with my current mini collection.
RaySpencer
Member
Pure sex.
My players will be happy at all the possibilities available for their PCs beyond the Beginner Box pawns.
Also picked up the Rise of the Runelords pawn collection, and have the Bestiary 1 pawn box on the way as well.
Fuck miniatures - I have no idea how gamers afford them. Especially when you can usually only buy them in randomised packs where you don't know what you're getting. It's like they're for Rich Gamers Only, but the rules are always written explicitly around them.
The pawns are a fantastic, sensible alternative, and they're usually generic enough to fill many different roles.
So when you combine the Beginner Box with the NPC Box, you have so many options for just, say, female Dwarf fighters:
And that's discounting a few, like a blacksmith female dwarf, that isn't quite generic enough but could fit if the player wanted their character to have a blacksmithing profession.
I think all these little card pawns are great, but for my hero I want cool ass minis!
Super cheap way to make tokens is to use this guide here. The metal washers are rather heavy and my GM used these things instead. For bigger monsters, swarms, auras or whatever, 2-inch ones would be perfect using the same idea.
When I need to do so I think I'll just pick up some craft foam and hit them with the punch as well, lightweight and still very cheap. If you want some status or condition markers to go along with them, just grab a standard hole punch and use either coloured craft foam or felt; it'd be easy to link up a colour with whatever is needed.
The best part of using these are that the GM and players get to pick the art, on top of being cheap, very portable with the ability to make them on short notice.
EDIT: It'd be worth double posting just to mention this, but I won't. If you like Dungeon World or Fate, have a look at the Grim World Kickstarter.
Full colour PDF or hardcover book with plenty of cool stuff inside, including some community content. New classes a couple of them are incredibly well done and worth backing for them alone and the inclusion of death moves for them and a number of already existing classes. There's a lot to like here and only 35 hours remain for you to get hold of this and help it reach the final stretch goal of a Creative Commons license.
When I need to do so I think I'll just pick up some craft foam and hit them with the punch as well, lightweight and still very cheap. If you want some status or condition markers to go along with them, just grab a standard hole punch and use either coloured craft foam or felt; it'd be easy to link up a colour with whatever is needed.
The best part of using these are that the GM and players get to pick the art, on top of being cheap, very portable with the ability to make them on short notice.
EDIT: It'd be worth double posting just to mention this, but I won't. If you like Dungeon World or Fate, have a look at the Grim World Kickstarter.
Full colour PDF or hardcover book with plenty of cool stuff inside, including some community content. New classes a couple of them are incredibly well done and worth backing for them alone and the inclusion of death moves for them and a number of already existing classes. There's a lot to like here and only 35 hours remain for you to get hold of this and help it reach the final stretch goal of a Creative Commons license.