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I'd give the captured two a chance to do something; a break in patrols or something, giving them time to rest and scheme. Maybe the rogue notices how long the others have been gone and sees the orc leader heading into the ruins; him and the other person can tail him.
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Mar 22, 2014 09:47
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thespaceinvader posted:In short: the CALI series, the NETH series, the WATE series are all pretty decent to start off with, plus a few of the important CORE adventures that set up and foreshadow the epic campaign. Between those (and the SPEC mods related to them) you can get a solid campaign going. I'd generally advise against anything earlier than year 2 adventures and even then, only H1 and h2, probably) without updating the monster maths. I'm a bad DM and 4E player and am baffled by this code you're talking in. Can you dumb it down to exactly what you mean? I've been looking for some good adventures to fill a hole or two in my campaign.
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Mar 23, 2014 09:29
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Go to LivingForgottenRealms.com Type ctrl+f. Type those 3 codes, then click next until you find things which have links to download the modules. Eventually I'll get round to posting a list of modules which makes for a solid campaign. But by that stage, they'll probably have taken LFR.com down. So actually, what you might want to do is just go through and download everything here: http://www.livingforgottenrealms.com/adventures/ to an archive on your own computer, and wait for that. Even if you get a bunch of stuff that's not much use, memory is cheap as chips these days, and the modules aren't exactly large.
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Mar 23, 2014 09:45
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thespaceinvader posted:Go to LivingForgottenRealms.com thanks. This also has the LFR adventure archive, whose links are dead here: http://www.livingforgottenrealms.com/adventures.html in one 73MB zip
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Mar 23, 2014 17:16
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Cassa posted:Robots sound so much cooler than the campaign I'm running... Speaking off, would love some ideas! I'd let the others get in a short rest. There has to be a period of time in which the orcs leave them alone long enough to catch their breath. Or you can fluff it as them rallying and being ready for their inevitable rescue. A long rest is probably out of the question, but you might allow the sorcerer and rogue have one before they launch the rescue. I think you should let those two regroup and launch the rescue together, mainly because it will make your DM job easier.
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Mar 23, 2014 20:58
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Sometimes it's just narratively important to give them back their encounter resources as if they had a sort rest. I mean, otherwise it will be either nearly impossible to escape with depleted powers and HP, or you will just have to throw poo poo encounters at them that they can survive without their nice toys. Both options are bad if you ask me.
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Mar 23, 2014 21:02
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Rexides posted:Sometimes it's just narratively important to give them back their encounter resources as if they had a sort rest. I mean, otherwise it will be either nearly impossible to escape with depleted powers and HP, or you will just have to throw poo poo encounters at them that they can survive without their nice toys. Both options are bad if you ask me. Narratively and gamely important. It's easier to build encounters around parties that have had a short rest, and I think PCs should enter an encounter without a short rest only when they have actively chosen to push forward without any downtime. The DM can certainly provide them with situations where this is an option because of a ticking clock, but this sounds like a situation where there is downtime regardless of player decisions.
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Mar 23, 2014 21:10
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Yeah, I agree that my instinct here, if you want a difference in preparedness, is to give those captured a short rest, and those who are prepped and coming in for the rescue an extended rest. If you deny your players a short rest between two encounters, mathematically that has to really count as one big encounter.
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Mar 24, 2014 01:52
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Last thing you want is 15 rounds of "I use my at-will.... miss"
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Mar 24, 2014 03:29
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On top of that, one of the captured party members is a cleric, so the party would be denied important healing resources, possibly leading to them getting captured all over again.
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Mar 24, 2014 03:33
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Any suggestions for modules to run as a one-shot, or good rules of thumb for homebrewing one? I have like 3+ players who are always like "I can do a big, long (i.e. 8 hours) boardgame day or a one-shot sometime but can't commit to a campaign." So eventually I might get off my rear end and attempt to do that.
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Mar 24, 2014 03:48
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I'm not keen on 4E modules, but Gammaworld is perfect for such a game and comes with some decent and humorous adventures.
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Mar 24, 2014 03:50
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PeterWeller posted:I'm not keen on 4E modules, but Gammaworld is perfect for such a game and comes with some decent and humorous adventures. You know this is the 4e thread, right?
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Mar 25, 2014 20:57
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I'm not sure if you're jumping on him for this (emphasis mine),PeterWeller posted:I'm not keen on 4E modules, PeterWeller posted:but Gammaworld
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Mar 25, 2014 21:31
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Yeah, seriously, pretty much every 4e adventure released before 2010, and a fair number after, ranged from "terrible soul-crushing crap" (P3, H3, Marauders of the Dune Sea) to "playable, but still kinda crappy." (P2, H2)
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Mar 25, 2014 21:42
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Lurdiak posted:You know this is the 4e thread, right? Gamma World is stripped and refluffed 4E. My suggestion was completely appropriate. Do you have something else to recommend?
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Mar 25, 2014 22:51
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Gamma World is designed for one-off campaigns. It takes the 4E ability score math down to its basic component (you have an 18 and a 14 and nothing else matters) and then randomly assigns you two wacky mutant archetypes that form the entire nucleus of your abilities and combat strategy, usually synergizing well. If you die, you return as something else wacky. Once you learn the basics you can roll a new guy in ten minutes. The pre-packaged modules for it are zany one-offs. 4E could have learned a thing or two from how Gamma World handled itself.
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Mar 25, 2014 23:12
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:Gamma World is designed for one-off campaigns. It takes the 4E ability score math down to its basic component (you have an 18 and a 14 and nothing else matters) and then randomly assigns you two wacky mutant archetypes that form the entire nucleus of your abilities and combat strategy, usually synergizing well. If you die, you return as something else wacky. Once you learn the basics you can roll a new guy in ten minutes. The pre-packaged modules for it are zany one-offs. A few quick clarifications here: you start with an 18 in your primary ability and a 16 in your secondary. The "expansions" aren't really one offs either, they're setting books with new mechanics and a related adventure. It's definitely supposed to be part of a campaign and not a one shot. There's more fluff in those books than any published 4e adventure. Not really sure what separates a GW campaign from a D&D campaign other than a cap at level 10. That said, if you like 4e, I recommend you get a copy of the base game before they get too hard to find.
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Mar 25, 2014 23:57
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PeterWeller posted:Gamma World is stripped and refluffed 4E. My suggestion was completely appropriate. Do you have something else to recommend? My bad, I'm extremely dumb and got confused with Apocalypse World.
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Mar 26, 2014 16:44
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Lurdiak posted:My bad, I'm extremely dumb and got confused with Apocalypse World. Haha. No worries. If you don't yet have GW, get it while you can still find it at reasonable prices. It owns so hard.
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Mar 26, 2014 18:57
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Is there a GW thread or is this it? edit VVV cool thanks! Elmo Oxygen fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Mar 26, 2014 |
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Mar 26, 2014 19:07
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Yep! Although it isn't as lively as more popular threads such as this one.
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Mar 26, 2014 19:09
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Please keep the Gamma World thread alive. I worked hard on that OP.
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Mar 26, 2014 20:11
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So when you have a stance or whatever that does [W] damage to enemies when they XYZ, does it add all your usual weapon modifiers, just not your ability mod? Our party Fighter has one of these and apparently the online builder indicates that this is how it works, but it seems sorta.. Unintended? Like at first glance I thought it would just deal the dice roll as damage.
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Mar 27, 2014 04:38
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Rain of Steel does indeed do everything you'd normally do on a damage roll besides your ability score damage. Anything that requires an attack roll doesn't trigger, but it is a power with the weapon keyword and you are rolling for damage, so everything that would normally apply still does.
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Mar 27, 2014 04:50
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Hey, do the tokens in the DM kit cover everything in reavers of the harkenworld or should i also bring some of the monster vault ones?
The Belgian fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Mar 27, 2014 |
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Mar 27, 2014 20:55
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I'm pretty new to D&D and I'm currently playing an infernal warlock, I've got the spell Diabolic Grasp and it allows me to slide a creature a few squares. If I use Diabolic Grasp and slide a creature into a wall would it take impact damage from hitting the wall? I know if I throw them into something like a fire they would possibly be set a flame, just unsure about walls or say carts/crates. Opinions?
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Mar 31, 2014 04:25
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That's how I run it my games. It's typically not played that way, but I feel I must reward my players for forcing enemies into walls and obstacles - 1d6 + half level per square of forced movement inhibited by terrain. It's just more fun that way, for all concerned!
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Mar 31, 2014 05:10
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HppyCmpr posted:I'm pretty new to D&D and I'm currently playing an infernal warlock, I've got the spell Diabolic Grasp and it allows me to slide a creature a few squares. If I use Diabolic Grasp and slide a creature into a wall would it take impact damage from hitting the wall? I know if I throw them into something like a fire they would possibly be set a flame, just unsure about walls or say carts/crates. If I build a character in 4E around the assumption that being forced against walls is damaging, I can break the game in no time flat. There's no math for doing this at all for a reason. This opens up obvious questions like "If pushing/sliding causes damage running up against solid objects, why don't I just push/slide people into the floor?" And the answers are it doesn't and you can't. Forced movement is still incredibly valuable as is. Moving someone into actual hazardous terrain (or to a square where there is no terrain, etc.) is valid and allows the monster to make a saving throw to avoid going in (if it saves, it stops moving at the edge).
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Mar 31, 2014 05:25
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Huszsersvn posted:It's typically not played that way Sidenote: forced movement isn't always an effect that forcefully pushes a creature around, sometimes it's used to model a charm or intimidation effect where enemies run away from you.
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Mar 31, 2014 06:17
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:If I build a character in 4E around the assumption that being forced against walls is damaging, I can break the game in no time flat. There's no math for doing this at all for a reason. This opens up obvious questions like "If pushing/sliding causes damage running up against solid objects, why don't I just push/slide people into the floor?" And the answers are it doesn't and you can't. Hmmm, ok. I was just wondering, as I said Diabolic Grasp is the only spell I've got that does this. It just seems like an illogical restriction on actions, I didn't look at the math or anything, especially in regards to melee combat; obviously I'm new to this game so it just seems odd to me. I guess you just use grapple checks or strength checks if you wanted to slam someone into the wall/floor in a physical sense. I just thought it might just like add a point of damage or something, it doesn't really matter as you said being able to put them into hazardous terrain is useful as is and I can describe them as slamming even if it does no additional damage. Side note, you can't just slide someone downwards onto a floor, that goes against the very definition of slide: "Move smoothly along a surface while maintaining continuous contact with it."  Thanks for the answers guys.
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Mar 31, 2014 07:17
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The only definition of slide where 4E is concerned is the one from the rules compendium saying "sliding a target can move it into any direction"  (except of course you can never move into blocking terrain which a wall and technically also the floor are) Realtalk, applying dictionary definitions of words or common sense logic to 4E is a ticket to nowhere, it's very much an intricate and tightly designed tactical combat system that relies heavily on its own definitions.You absolutely can describe how you're slamming your enemy into the wall with Diabolic Grasp, personally I always like to play it like in that instance that's where the damage comes from. It's just the same damage it always does. Along the same lines if you did want to slam an enemy into the wall I'd probably ask you to use a power you have that has an appropriate effect (and that wouldn't need to mechanically include a push; say you're in melee with the enemy next to a wall and you have a power that attacks Fortitude and does damage, that'd be a good one), or do some sort of improvised attack.
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Mar 31, 2014 07:39
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drat the 4E definitions; I'm too used to books fantasy books.  That's a fair point though, I think I need to go over the combat mechanics again before our next session and I'll adhere to use those and just use imaginative descriptions to enact my wrath.  You make a good point about defining where the damage comes from; I'll think I'll make good use of that to add colour.I've already put an acolyte down a hole and an enemy warlock into a burning market stall, so I'm sure I'll go far. HppyCmpr fucked around with this message at 09:46 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 09:44
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I agree with My Lovely Horse that you can use the damage that is already baked into the power to express the wall slamming, but if you need a specific mechanical representation for that kind of thing, then treating it like hazardous terrain by giving enemies a saving throw will allow you to give it some small damage (ie +1 per tier) without breaking the game too much. I think that the reason this does not exist as a specific rule in 4E is not so much because it will mess the math, but because it will add a weirdly specific layer on top of the nicely abstracted push/pull/slide system to model a very specific situation that might not even come up in play. Put rules about slamming people into walls in your game and we are back to rules about shooting fireballs through small holes or calculating where your missed alchemist's fire will randomly land.
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Mar 31, 2014 10:17
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HppyCmpr posted:I've already put an acolyte down a hole and an enemy warlock into a burning market stall, so I'm sure I'll go far.  Rule of thumb for pushing an enemy into a fire or an acid puddle or whatever, by the way, is 5 damage per tier (so 5 from level 1-10, 10 from 11-20...), and you could even conceivably use that for slamming them into walls if walls weren't so ubiquitious that the extra damage from that would be essentially free.Sticking with the mechanics as written and making up cool descriptions to fit them is totally the way to go in 4E. Also RPGs in general really.
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Mar 31, 2014 13:09
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So I made a Warforged Avenger in 4e who's basically Robocop/Inspector Gadget/Judge Dredd. Lawful Neutral and his god is 'the law'. We house-ruled it so that the entity giving me my mystical robot-zealot powers is whatever system of laws is currently in effect. It even has domains! We've not ran into any trouble doing this yet (aside from the usual trouble you get with incredibly literal and zealous Lawful characters) but is there anything that could break this? I see it as a positive/negative energy Cleric but with lawful instead. My weapon is a bigass sword and my implement is a bigger judge's gavel
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Mar 31, 2014 13:27
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killstealing posted:My weapon is a bigass sword and my implement is a bigger judge's gavel Welcome to 4e. It sounds like you've grasped the system perfectly. And no nothing should break that at all. 4e is super super friendly to reskinning.
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Mar 31, 2014 13:52
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My warforged is literally this guy: He's a warlord, of course.
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Mar 31, 2014 17:12
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Rexides posted:I think that the reason this does not exist as a specific rule in 4E is not so much because it will mess the math, but because it will add a weirdly specific layer on top of the nicely abstracted push/pull/slide system to model a very specific situation that might not even come up in play. Put rules about slamming people into walls in your game and we are back to rules about shooting fireballs through small holes or calculating where your missed alchemist's fire will randomly land. It will totally mess up the math, because even +1/tier is subject to significant abuse. Do recall that, for example, there are still people pretending really hard that you can slide a monster in and out of a zone effect in a single turn to deal it damage every time, because this is the doorway to lots of damage. This is essentially what is being proposed here for an effect that doesn't even explicitly throw targets into things. Any character who can make long slides can double or triple up on this bumper car effect. Basically this makes wizards and movement-happy builds much better, and they generally need no help whatsoever. 4E math isn't perfect as is but this definitely breaks it. What happens when a monster has to interact with terrain depends on the terrain, not the power moving them. If the wall is on fire, or if the wall is so weak that you can blow through people through it, great. Just sliding someone adjacent to a wall shouldn't do anything.
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Mar 31, 2014 18:00
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The important thing is that *the FLAVOUR IS UP TO YOU*. Diabolic Grasp does damage and slides, you wind up with the guy next to a wall, some of the damage was because he slid into the wall. mechanically, the numbers on the character sheet don't change, how you described the power does.
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Mar 31, 2014 19:07
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