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The Official GAF Pen and Paper RPG Thread of Rolling Nothing But 20s!
- Thread starter LiveWire
- Start date
Not much. I've had two sessions of Eberron Zombiegeddon now. Kinda slow since the heroes have mostly decided to fight them and they've done a reasonable job with choke points in the inn, but they've finally gone upstairs and bolted the door, as well as made it very difficult for zombies to get up to the second floor.
hey guys.
whats up?
I have been real busy with guest staying over an all , they lef tnow and I am trying to catch up with GTAIV, work etc. And then off course one of my PC's dies and when trying to replace the MB I get one today with bend pins on the socket, not warranted yadayada.. 150$ down the drain unless I can trade it in the store tommorow ( whish me luck) pisses me off too.
anyways, I;d lovew to play but I will have to wait a bit until thing quit down, UNLESS someone else can DM ( a short advent or something) because with work and repair at home I am bit pressed for time. I hope we wont let the group die because of silly things like real life though
whats up?
I have been real busy with guest staying over an all , they lef tnow and I am trying to catch up with GTAIV, work etc. And then off course one of my PC's dies and when trying to replace the MB I get one today with bend pins on the socket, not warranted yadayada.. 150$ down the drain unless I can trade it in the store tommorow ( whish me luck) pisses me off too.
anyways, I;d lovew to play but I will have to wait a bit until thing quit down, UNLESS someone else can DM ( a short advent or something) because with work and repair at home I am bit pressed for time. I hope we wont let the group die because of silly things like real life though
Hey.
I hope we can play again sometime soon.
I was really, really swamped these last few weeks.
Also, my preorder is with Amazon, and the price is cheap - I got the full set and it's coming in early June. But whatever retailer you got it from, I don't think I'd like to lose the Amazon price and whatnot, especially with no tax.
I hope we can play again sometime soon.
I was really, really swamped these last few weeks.
Also, my preorder is with Amazon, and the price is cheap - I got the full set and it's coming in early June. But whatever retailer you got it from, I don't think I'd like to lose the Amazon price and whatnot, especially with no tax.
Hey I got my PHB.. SO I am up for a test play soon.. let me know if you guys are too.
I will be trying to make a char (or a few)tonite.
If I like it I will order the rest of the core books online ( cheaper) but this is a good start.
Hopefully you guys are up to it..
JayD.. wanna set this one up?(DM)
I will be trying to make a char (or a few)tonite.
If I like it I will order the rest of the core books online ( cheaper) but this is a good start.
Hopefully you guys are up to it..
JayD.. wanna set this one up?(DM)
Yeah that would be awesome, spook, do you have anything to chat in real time? Maybe we could go over the 4ed details more. Any medium works for me, what about you Jaydub? My bro and I went to our local game shop to try out a module at the gamers day thing, but one game was full and the other one didnt have enough so we just ended up talking about other things like 40k and what not.
I really want to get something regular going, and had a blast with you guys before. Maybe we could experiment with 4ed a bit to see how it goes.
None the less, I need to read up on it more and make some characters I guess.
I really want to get something regular going, and had a blast with you guys before. Maybe we could experiment with 4ed a bit to see how it goes.
None the less, I need to read up on it more and make some characters I guess.
My gift set is coming in the mail soon, if you guys want to switch to 4th Ed. I'm not saying I'd be great at DM'ing, with heretofore unknown online tools for a game system I've not read, but I am saying I will have a DMG next week. :lol
My wife's still up for it, maybe Spooks's too, and then we've got the Bros. Chapel, no relation to the Homestar crowd.
Maybe room for Judd there, too.
Also, maybe a larger thread to see if anyone's doing D&D Insider stuff with their Game Table? I'm pretty tempted myself, but I hope they give a free trial period to putz around with it and see it in play first hand.
My wife's still up for it, maybe Spooks's too, and then we've got the Bros. Chapel, no relation to the Homestar crowd.
Maybe room for Judd there, too.
Also, maybe a larger thread to see if anyone's doing D&D Insider stuff with their Game Table? I'm pretty tempted myself, but I hope they give a free trial period to putz around with it and see it in play first hand.
Glad to hear you will be willing to GM.. awesome
I am sure my wife will play too. so it is up to you as GM if you feel you can take in more at that point.
I will try to learn as much as I can this week on the 4th ed. and make my toon ( allready know he will be a dwarf, fighter or warlord ( with a history *wink*)
edit: besides dndinsider.com check out http://www.dnd4.com/
I am sure my wife will play too. so it is up to you as GM if you feel you can take in more at that point.
I will try to learn as much as I can this week on the 4th ed. and make my toon ( allready know he will be a dwarf, fighter or warlord ( with a history *wink*)
edit: besides dndinsider.com check out http://www.dnd4.com/
I'm a total noob to all things DnD, but was considering getting involved with it given the recent release of the 4th edition. I got a couple of questions though:
1) How much of the game is "role playing" and how much of it is an actual game with mechanics and such? I'll be dead honest- I have little to no interest in the rping side of things; it's the character building and gameplay that have me intrigued.
2) Are there established campaigns? As interesting as the idea of a GM sounds, I don't really trust the average (or even above average) gamer to be able to come up with a compelling, balanced, yet still challenging and well paced campaign off the top of their heads.
3) Which of the new books do I absolutely need to play? Just the Player's Handbook? All 3? Lastly, are there any other things I'd need to purchase? (dice and other misc. crap)
Thanks in advance for any help.
1) How much of the game is "role playing" and how much of it is an actual game with mechanics and such? I'll be dead honest- I have little to no interest in the rping side of things; it's the character building and gameplay that have me intrigued.
2) Are there established campaigns? As interesting as the idea of a GM sounds, I don't really trust the average (or even above average) gamer to be able to come up with a compelling, balanced, yet still challenging and well paced campaign off the top of their heads.
3) Which of the new books do I absolutely need to play? Just the Player's Handbook? All 3? Lastly, are there any other things I'd need to purchase? (dice and other misc. crap)
Thanks in advance for any help.
traveler said:
Well, the point of it DND is mostly that it is a tabletop/pennpaper Role Playing Game.
So it does involve alot of story line, puzzle solving , character interaction etc on top of combat.
IT depends really on your GM/DM to what you get, I have been ( and GM-ed) entire sessions without single combat. BEcause (at least in my experiences) there are encounters that do not always need combat to get trough and they still offer good rewards.
The rules of the game (as well as the dice) are a way to resolve combat and also other more ambigous things.
Now with ed 3.5 they did introduce skirmishes ( with DnD figurines) which involved pure combat and no story line at al , but I am not sure how much of that continued in 4th ed. ( I just started reading) For a nice insight into a DnD session ( involving a very experienced, a long time ago player and a total noob ) listen to the penny arcade/PvP gamesession podcast. IT gives a great feel on what comes to play in a session.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080530
Dm-ing is not everyone, some are great all around, some are better with combat and rules, and others are great with story and setting. Now alot of times, DnD games start out with a single adventure that can slowly spawn in to a big campaign. For instance they start by working for a landlord clearing out gobbies, and a s areward they get cash and an painting , which happens to have an old map on the back, etc etc,..
To help , there are tons and tons of pre-written adventures written to help start a storyline and you can use encounter tables and adventure hooks for those places where characters go off the (pre-designed)adventure path. It takes some skill , but it can be fun an rewarding .
to get started you just need the Players handbook ( which you can get for about 20$)
paper, pencil, eraser and dice (sets starting at $3.95 at http://www.chessex.com/Specials/Specials.htm)
If you want to DM or learn more about the mechanics and mosnters etc, you can get the monster manual and the DM guide.
these last two books are not needed if you are just a player however and often DM's do not let player use these two books during a session anyways.
If you hate roleplaying , I am not sure DnD is for you though, but if you enjoy rpg videogames and there intricate storylines , it might be grea fun for you if you give it an honest try.
The strength of pen and paper is that it can be whatever you (or the GM, really) want it to be. Just look at video games based on the system through the years - I think you can make it the entire way through Planescape: Torment by only fighting once or twice, whereas the Icewind Dale series is just dungeon crawling and combat, combat, combat.traveler said:
It can really be whatever you want it to be. The only trouble may be finding a group with the same priorities as you. If all else fails, just roleplay a guy that cares about nothing but fighting and looting.
I took a point combo from the table in the book, rather then figuring it out: got 16 16 12 10 10 10
Being a dwarf it came out to be
STR: 16
CON: 18
DEX:12
INT:10
WIS:12
CHAR:10
I just do not understand this damn sheet.
Where do I put my weapons + its attack/damge etc?
here is my unfinished sheet.. help me out guys.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/rSpooky/stuff/dorf1.jpg
Being a dwarf it came out to be
STR: 16
CON: 18
DEX:12
INT:10
WIS:12
CHAR:10
I just do not understand this damn sheet.
Where do I put my weapons + its attack/damge etc?
here is my unfinished sheet.. help me out guys.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/rSpooky/stuff/dorf1.jpg
This guy would be fun; he'd be great at tanking and healing and reasonably good at dealing damage.
Talonaan, L1 Dragonborn Paladin of Bahamut
Alignment: Lawful Good; Height: 67; Weight: 316 lbs
Size: Medium; Speed: 6 squares; Vision: Normal
22 Point-buy (p. 17): 16, 14, 14, 13, 10, 8 (Dragonborn, so +2 Str, +2 Cha)
Abilities: Strength 16, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 18
Init +0; HP: 28; Surge value: 8 HS per day: 11
AC: 20 (10 +8 Armor +2 Shield)
Fort: 14 (10 +3 Str + 1 Class)
Ref: 13 (10 +1 Class +2 Shield)
Will: 15 (10 +4 Cha +1 Class)
Trained Skills: Religion, Intimidate, Insight, Heal
Heal +7, History +1, Insight +7, Intimidate +11, Religion +4
Equipment:
Plate armor (+8 Armor Bonus, -2 Check, -1 Speed, 50 lbs, 50 gp)
Heavy shield (+2 Shield Bonus, -2 Check, 15 lbs, 10 gp)
Longsword (Prof. +3, 1d8, 4 lbs, 15 gp)
Holy symbol (1 lb, 10 gp)
Standard adventurers kit (33 lb, 15 gp)
Totals: 103 lbs, 100 gp; Normal load: 0-160
Feats: Healing Hands (+4 healing done by Lay on Hands)
At-Will Prayers: Enfeebling Strike, Holy Strike (pg 92)
Encounter Prayers: Piercing Smite (pg 92)
Daily Prayers: Radiant Delirium (Implement, Standard, Ranged 5, one creature,
3d8+4 + Daze for 1 turn & -2 AC, save ends)
Languages: Common, Draconic
Skill Bonuses: +2 History, +2 Intimidate
Dragonborn Fury (+1 racial bonus to attack rolls when bloodied)
Draconic Heritage (+ 1 to healing surge value)
Dragon Breath (Encounter / Fire / Minor Action / Close Blast 3 / All creatures in area / +5 vs. Reflex, 1d6+1 damage)
Armor Proficiencies: All; Weapon Proficiencies: Simple & Military Melee; Simple Ranged
Bonus to Defenses: +1 Fort, +1 Ref, +1 Will
Class Features:
Channel Divinity: Divine Mettle (Encounter / Minor / Close burst 10 / one creature target makes saving throw with a +4 bonus)
Channel Divinity: Divine Strength (Encounter / Minor / Personal - +3 damage on next attack this turn)
Divine Challenge (At-will / Minor / Close burst 5 / one creature creature takes -2 on attack rolls against targets that are not the Paladin / 7 radiant damage first time each round it attacks targets that are not the Paladin)
Lay on Hands (At-will / Minor / Touch / one creature Paladin spends healing surge, regains no HP, target gains as if it spent a healing surge; Special: 2 times per day, no more than 1 per round.
Talonaan, L1 Dragonborn Paladin of Bahamut
Alignment: Lawful Good; Height: 67; Weight: 316 lbs
Size: Medium; Speed: 6 squares; Vision: Normal
22 Point-buy (p. 17): 16, 14, 14, 13, 10, 8 (Dragonborn, so +2 Str, +2 Cha)
Abilities: Strength 16, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 18
Init +0; HP: 28; Surge value: 8 HS per day: 11
AC: 20 (10 +8 Armor +2 Shield)
Fort: 14 (10 +3 Str + 1 Class)
Ref: 13 (10 +1 Class +2 Shield)
Will: 15 (10 +4 Cha +1 Class)
Trained Skills: Religion, Intimidate, Insight, Heal
Heal +7, History +1, Insight +7, Intimidate +11, Religion +4
Equipment:
Plate armor (+8 Armor Bonus, -2 Check, -1 Speed, 50 lbs, 50 gp)
Heavy shield (+2 Shield Bonus, -2 Check, 15 lbs, 10 gp)
Longsword (Prof. +3, 1d8, 4 lbs, 15 gp)
Holy symbol (1 lb, 10 gp)
Standard adventurers kit (33 lb, 15 gp)
Totals: 103 lbs, 100 gp; Normal load: 0-160
Feats: Healing Hands (+4 healing done by Lay on Hands)
At-Will Prayers: Enfeebling Strike, Holy Strike (pg 92)
Encounter Prayers: Piercing Smite (pg 92)
Daily Prayers: Radiant Delirium (Implement, Standard, Ranged 5, one creature,
3d8+4 + Daze for 1 turn & -2 AC, save ends)
Languages: Common, Draconic
Skill Bonuses: +2 History, +2 Intimidate
Dragonborn Fury (+1 racial bonus to attack rolls when bloodied)
Draconic Heritage (+ 1 to healing surge value)
Dragon Breath (Encounter / Fire / Minor Action / Close Blast 3 / All creatures in area / +5 vs. Reflex, 1d6+1 damage)
Armor Proficiencies: All; Weapon Proficiencies: Simple & Military Melee; Simple Ranged
Bonus to Defenses: +1 Fort, +1 Ref, +1 Will
Class Features:
Channel Divinity: Divine Mettle (Encounter / Minor / Close burst 10 / one creature target makes saving throw with a +4 bonus)
Channel Divinity: Divine Strength (Encounter / Minor / Personal - +3 damage on next attack this turn)
Divine Challenge (At-will / Minor / Close burst 5 / one creature creature takes -2 on attack rolls against targets that are not the Paladin / 7 radiant damage first time each round it attacks targets that are not the Paladin)
Lay on Hands (At-will / Minor / Touch / one creature Paladin spends healing surge, regains no HP, target gains as if it spent a healing surge; Special: 2 times per day, no more than 1 per round.
Basic Attacks, that is to say, those not using a Weapon-based At-Will Spell / Prayer/ Exploit, use Strength vs. AC for melee and Dexterity vs. AC for ranged.
There are some other modifiers. Weapons have proficiency bonuses, for example (some weapons are more accurate than others), and there's the requisite Weapon Focus and all that.
Say my Paladin up there wants to use a Longsword in a melee basic attack. I roll a d20 + half my level (round down to 0) + 3 (Strength Mod) + 3 (proficiency bonus vs. the enemies AC.
Basic attack damage is going to be represented by [W] + Modifier. An attack with a longsword is going to be 1d8 + Str, just as we remember it.
An attack with a Longbow is going to do 1d8 + Dex, though.
Not sure about things like 2H weapons and off-hand weapon damage, though (as in, not sure if they 1.5x it or 0.5x it, respectively). I'm getting there. :lol
There are some other modifiers. Weapons have proficiency bonuses, for example (some weapons are more accurate than others), and there's the requisite Weapon Focus and all that.
Say my Paladin up there wants to use a Longsword in a melee basic attack. I roll a d20 + half my level (round down to 0) + 3 (Strength Mod) + 3 (proficiency bonus vs. the enemies AC.
Basic attack damage is going to be represented by [W] + Modifier. An attack with a longsword is going to be 1d8 + Str, just as we remember it.
An attack with a Longbow is going to do 1d8 + Dex, though.
Not sure about things like 2H weapons and off-hand weapon damage, though (as in, not sure if they 1.5x it or 0.5x it, respectively). I'm getting there. :lol
Okay, far as I can tell, since they're highly de-emphasizing the basic attack in favor of At-will Powers, and you can't make off-hand attacks without using a power, the whole Strength x 1.5 for 2-handers and Strength x 0.5 for off-hand weapons is gone.
The only place that sort of comes into play is with the feat Power Attack, which is also simplified:
L1-10: -2 Atk, +2 Damage (+3 w/ 2H)
11-20: -2 Atk, +4 Damage (+6 w/ 2H)
21-30: -2 Atk, +6 Damage (+9 w/ 2H)
The core mechanic for damage is x[W] + stat mod + modifiers (if applicable), for attacks and damage.
x varies by the level of the power you're using, and both basic attacks and early level powers sometimes scale up as you reach Paragon or Epic levels.
For damage rolls you might tack on, like, Weapon Focus (+1/2/3) to damage with a given weapon group as a modifier. Power attack up there would be another example. Magical weapons or magical holy symbols or magical wizard implements all add bonus damage with relevant attacks.
But for attack rolls and skill checks / attribute checks, it's like, d20 + 1/2 level (round down) + stat mod + modifiers
The only place that sort of comes into play is with the feat Power Attack, which is also simplified:
L1-10: -2 Atk, +2 Damage (+3 w/ 2H)
11-20: -2 Atk, +4 Damage (+6 w/ 2H)
21-30: -2 Atk, +6 Damage (+9 w/ 2H)
The core mechanic for damage is x[W] + stat mod + modifiers (if applicable), for attacks and damage.
x varies by the level of the power you're using, and both basic attacks and early level powers sometimes scale up as you reach Paragon or Epic levels.
For damage rolls you might tack on, like, Weapon Focus (+1/2/3) to damage with a given weapon group as a modifier. Power attack up there would be another example. Magical weapons or magical holy symbols or magical wizard implements all add bonus damage with relevant attacks.
But for attack rolls and skill checks / attribute checks, it's like, d20 + 1/2 level (round down) + stat mod + modifiers
For tomorrow's zombie game I'm going to pull a bit of a Dead Rising and throw in some angry convicts who have already raided the local weapon shop and are now killing anything that comes near.
At Level 2, team good guys can make 2 people invisible to undead for 20 minutes, 3 times per day, so they should be able to wander over to the weapon shop in about 10-15 minutes of game time, and then run into the stand-off (thinking about adding some more survivors, some guards, starving and held up in a building opposite the weapon shop - no coincidence that I've got some new people joining).
I'm planning on including a wide range of monstrous humanoids, maybe even a minotaur. Should be fun. Especially since the convicts are totally visible to the undead and have been meddling with them for some time; the heroes will have to decide how they want to approach the weapon shop and if they take down the barricades, the convicts'll be gone but zombies'll rush in.
At Level 2, team good guys can make 2 people invisible to undead for 20 minutes, 3 times per day, so they should be able to wander over to the weapon shop in about 10-15 minutes of game time, and then run into the stand-off (thinking about adding some more survivors, some guards, starving and held up in a building opposite the weapon shop - no coincidence that I've got some new people joining).
I'm planning on including a wide range of monstrous humanoids, maybe even a minotaur. Should be fun. Especially since the convicts are totally visible to the undead and have been meddling with them for some time; the heroes will have to decide how they want to approach the weapon shop and if they take down the barricades, the convicts'll be gone but zombies'll rush in.
This saturday I'll get some experience running 4th Ed.
A very informal gaming group has popped up that wants to play Keep on the Shadowfell, the adventure / intro game guide that came out last month.
I expect little out of it, but I want to learn how things go. I'm also very cheesed that my books haven't come (I learn new systems better with a physical book in my hand), but I'll be reviewing that module tonight, I think, when my friend brings it over.
Also, try making characters, guys, that's how you learn more than anything, going through all the steps; then playtesting your results comes next.
The fun thing about this D&D versus previous ones is that while the number of classes decreased, all the PrC options and Epic rules are built in to each class from the getgo, and with all the different builds and powers and Paragon Paths, you can wind up with vastly different characters with just those 8.
A very informal gaming group has popped up that wants to play Keep on the Shadowfell, the adventure / intro game guide that came out last month.
I expect little out of it, but I want to learn how things go. I'm also very cheesed that my books haven't come (I learn new systems better with a physical book in my hand), but I'll be reviewing that module tonight, I think, when my friend brings it over.
Also, try making characters, guys, that's how you learn more than anything, going through all the steps; then playtesting your results comes next.
The fun thing about this D&D versus previous ones is that while the number of classes decreased, all the PrC options and Epic rules are built in to each class from the getgo, and with all the different builds and powers and Paragon Paths, you can wind up with vastly different characters with just those 8.
Good luck man.
Let us know when you are ready to DM us ( I will be gone for the next 2 weekends after this one (family vacation) but I am so ready to play then
Untill then we will keep reading and make chars .. let us know how it went also. And eeeerrr how would you like us to roll our characters for a potential campaign?
roll, point buy?
Thanks and good luck
Let us know when you are ready to DM us
( I will be gone for the next 2 weekends after this one (family vacation) but I am so ready to play then Untill then we will keep reading and make chars .. let us know how it went also. And eeeerrr how would you like us to roll our characters for a potential campaign?
roll, point buy?
Thanks and good luck
22 point buy is the standard, and it should suffice if the party's big enough. Also, I'm thinking we'll just do Keep on the Shadowfell as well, if that's okay, to minimize the work. With something like that I have practically zero prep-time (important, since the summer semester is eating my lunch atm - the pursuit of an "A" is at any rate). Also, it's kind of a good introduction.
If last night was any indication, your party will quickly note that all bets are off in terms of what monsters you used to think were total pushovers and your dm thought was just free xp for the players. :lol
Fear the yip-yips. Fear them.
If last night was any indication, your party will quickly note that all bets are off in terms of what monsters you used to think were total pushovers and your dm thought was just free xp for the players. :lol
Fear the yip-yips. Fear them.
Hey guys. My friends and I tried a session last week for the first time. We're all completely new to D&D and thought it'd be a great time to jump in with the new rule set. Since our DM was new as well, the whole thing was extremely slow moving (~5 hours for something like 3 encounters! We kept having to look stuff up. :lol )
One question we kept running into was this: How the hell does stealth work in combat? Do you have to be stealthed at the start of combat, and then you lose it when you attack? When you are successfully stealthed, are you considered invisible for the purposes of combat advantage? If you happen to make a poor stealth check, can you regain stealth again in that battle by using concealment or something else along those lines?
Our rogue kept making great stealth checks every round, and we counted that as letting her use her sneak attack at ranged each time, which did ridiculous damage of course. Part of me feels that this has got to be wrong - wouldn't the enemies notice arrows flying at them even if they didn't see who shot them? We read the section in the handbook several times but that didn't seem to really help. Has anyone played enough under 4th Edition to help us out?
One question we kept running into was this: How the hell does stealth work in combat? Do you have to be stealthed at the start of combat, and then you lose it when you attack? When you are successfully stealthed, are you considered invisible for the purposes of combat advantage? If you happen to make a poor stealth check, can you regain stealth again in that battle by using concealment or something else along those lines?
Our rogue kept making great stealth checks every round, and we counted that as letting her use her sneak attack at ranged each time, which did ridiculous damage of course. Part of me feels that this has got to be wrong - wouldn't the enemies notice arrows flying at them even if they didn't see who shot them? We read the section in the handbook several times but that didn't seem to really help. Has anyone played enough under 4th Edition to help us out?
Dwarven Fighter is good; Con is good for Hammers and Axes, and Wisdom helps the Combat Superiority feature. From just my cursory overview, for a full party, Guardian Fighter is more optimal than Great Weapon Fighter, especially if you have a melee striker, but I think I favor a Protecting Paladin as the most optimal tank in this game, so if you have one of those, a maul, power attack, and cleave are teh win.
Rogues are neat, both the brute and trickster variety (I like the Brute, myself, and would make a mean stabbity death acrobat). I noticed that Trapfinding in this setting is more or less based on the Thievery skill, and the only one that can pick that skill without a feat is the Rogue (technically, they get it and stealth for free and then pick more from there).
Wizards are pretty awesome; Eladrin Wizard can be nice as a wand implement, Human Wizard has the obvious perk of an extra at-will, and Wizards have some of the best / most versatile at-wills, I think.
* * *
As for stealth, to regain stealth you need concealment or cover such that they cannot see you, like, at all. To maintain combat advantage and sneak attack, you'll need to be sniping with crossbow or sling, or flanking with a light blade, or making use of powers to help gain CA.
Rogues are neat, both the brute and trickster variety (I like the Brute, myself, and would make a mean stabbity death acrobat). I noticed that Trapfinding in this setting is more or less based on the Thievery skill, and the only one that can pick that skill without a feat is the Rogue (technically, they get it and stealth for free and then pick more from there).
Wizards are pretty awesome; Eladrin Wizard can be nice as a wand implement, Human Wizard has the obvious perk of an extra at-will, and Wizards have some of the best / most versatile at-wills, I think.
* * *
As for stealth, to regain stealth you need concealment or cover such that they cannot see you, like, at all. To maintain combat advantage and sneak attack, you'll need to be sniping with crossbow or sling, or flanking with a light blade, or making use of powers to help gain CA.
We will figure it out none the less. I haven't had time to really read everything on it, it doesn't help I don't like reading digital copies because its just not as easy for me. I prefer to have it in hand so I can flip around at will.
Its looking like Ill be a cleric (not that I mind, I didn't really get to play the last one very far anyways) so we keep a balanced group. If your wife plays and is dead set on a wizard then my bro might play something like a paladin, but otherwise he looks to maybe enjoy a wizard. Though I think he was expecting more. Not many spells listed anymore. Less choices.
Its looking like Ill be a cleric (not that I mind, I didn't really get to play the last one very far anyways) so we keep a balanced group. If your wife plays and is dead set on a wizard then my bro might play something like a paladin, but otherwise he looks to maybe enjoy a wizard. Though I think he was expecting more. Not many spells listed anymore. Less choices.
Well, healing for either a Cleric or Paladin is a minor action, so it's not terribly time consuming or difficult to throw down a heal and then use your move and standard to lay some smackdown.
Clerics can heal more often (2 times per encounter + any relevant encounter, daily, or utility powers, but while Paladins may get less heals per day (Lay on Hands is your Wisdom modifier times per day), their heals use the Paladin's surges, not the person being healed, and the Paladin gets more surges than anyone else to account for that.
Honestly, after testing it, I think I'd have a lot of fun playing anything in 4th. Of course, I have more fun DMing 4th because even lousy foot soldiers have fun to play with unique abilities.
Kobold minions are funny because they derive benefits from standing close to one another and huge penalties for being apart from one another, so they swarm, but then they die so badly on account of swarming. Even still, the non-minion varieties I've run are nasty.
Also, yeah, with powers, you have less choices and things are streamlined... for the casters. For the non-casters, you have a lot more variety and your power level scales with your caster peers. So... yeah, I'm okay with that. :lol
Everyone has powers, all classes have very different powers to fill a very different role, everyone gets powers at the same rate, only thieves are trained in Thievery, only Wizards and Clerics have Ritual Caster up front, multiclassing is covered through feats and swapping out with the Paragon "prestige class..." all in all, I think the new system is well balanced.
2nd Edition balanced casters and all their options by having them level up more slowly.
3.5 just didn't do a very good job of balancing them at all, frankly. CoDzilla ruled all, followed by Wizards, followed by any class with UMD as a class skill and plenty of money to burn on scrolls. Tome of Battle and Player's Handbook II served to help things out, of course. Mind you, we're talking about the late game. In the early game, a trusty sword that doesn't run out of charges is kind of nice. In the late game, you need an artifact sword to come close to keeping the pace with Joe Average wealth-by-level Cleric, Druid, or Wizard, and of course, that caster may have their own imba artifact by then.
* * *
Edit: here's an article on how to sort of implement the missing character classes. Their monk is kind of ingenious.
As for races, they've already added in support for Warforged... hopefully we'll see the Half-Orc soon.
Clerics can heal more often (2 times per encounter + any relevant encounter, daily, or utility powers, but while Paladins may get less heals per day (Lay on Hands is your Wisdom modifier times per day), their heals use the Paladin's surges, not the person being healed, and the Paladin gets more surges than anyone else to account for that.
Honestly, after testing it, I think I'd have a lot of fun playing anything in 4th. Of course, I have more fun DMing 4th because even lousy foot soldiers have fun to play with unique abilities.
Kobold minions are funny because they derive benefits from standing close to one another and huge penalties for being apart from one another, so they swarm, but then they die so badly on account of swarming. Even still, the non-minion varieties I've run are nasty.
Also, yeah, with powers, you have less choices and things are streamlined... for the casters. For the non-casters, you have a lot more variety and your power level scales with your caster peers. So... yeah, I'm okay with that. :lol
Everyone has powers, all classes have very different powers to fill a very different role, everyone gets powers at the same rate, only thieves are trained in Thievery, only Wizards and Clerics have Ritual Caster up front, multiclassing is covered through feats and swapping out with the Paragon "prestige class..." all in all, I think the new system is well balanced.
2nd Edition balanced casters and all their options by having them level up more slowly.
3.5 just didn't do a very good job of balancing them at all, frankly. CoDzilla ruled all, followed by Wizards, followed by any class with UMD as a class skill and plenty of money to burn on scrolls. Tome of Battle and Player's Handbook II served to help things out, of course. Mind you, we're talking about the late game. In the early game, a trusty sword that doesn't run out of charges is kind of nice. In the late game, you need an artifact sword to come close to keeping the pace with Joe Average wealth-by-level Cleric, Druid, or Wizard, and of course, that caster may have their own imba artifact by then.
* * *
Edit: here's an article on how to sort of implement the missing character classes. Their monk is kind of ingenious.
As for races, they've already added in support for Warforged... hopefully we'll see the Half-Orc soon.
chapel said:
Depends on what you mean by "supported." The Monster Manual supports Drow and Minotaur PCs at L1.
These are Wizards of the Coast articles I'm talking about, with sample suggestions on like, how to make an unarmed and unarmored two-weapon fighting Ranger, swap some bonuses around, and have a sort of rough draft of a Monk.
=P
But that's a lot more basic than the 11 pages or so on how to implement Warforged (technically, that's more than any of the other races got).
I wish spook wasnt going to be gone the next two weeks. My brother and I have been really wanting to play some dnd 4th ed, hell just some dnd. We don't have anyone we know locally to play with and we even went down to our local game shop to find people to no avail. Really sucks.
Shame we can't play this weekend - all my games have the week off.
Anyway, come on then. *prods* Characters.
I believe we'll just set it in the generic 4th Edition Points of Light setting and we'll be running the H1-H3 series. I don't have KotS with me this weekend, but I believe there's a fairly large town of about 10k people outlined in the back of the DMG and it's due east from Frostguard, the town in KotS along the King's Road. For our dwarven friends, there's a town called Hammerfell, I believe, along a trade road still further east.
Anyway, come on then. *prods* Characters.
I believe we'll just set it in the generic 4th Edition Points of Light setting and we'll be running the H1-H3 series. I don't have KotS with me this weekend, but I believe there's a fairly large town of about 10k people outlined in the back of the DMG and it's due east from Frostguard, the town in KotS along the King's Road. For our dwarven friends, there's a town called Hammerfell, I believe, along a trade road still further east.