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NutritiousSnack posted:Congrats at breaking your goal already man. Any idea for stretch goals? Thanks! Got the first two announced. At $4000, you get Titans, which are basically huge boss monsters with specific mechanics to back that up. At $5000 you get kits, which are a bit like a non-combat version of classes. If you want to be able to see the future or be in charge of a gang or to save others by taking their suffering upon yourself, it helps to have specific mechanics for those things. Kits give you those mechanics and add to your character's progression. If you want that stuff in Strike, go convince your friends to pledge!
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Feb 3, 2015 03:06
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I need to check this thread more often... Completely missed the discussion about starting a group via Skype (was too late getting in touch with Poison Mushroom). Aftre reading a lot of the 4e PbP threads (and managing to get into one of Doomy's games) I've found that I've really missed playing DnD.... wish I could find a local group that played on a regular basis, but it seems like the local gaming shops that sell tabletop RPGs stuff (a grand total of two in a 50km radius... *sigh*) either don't allow groups to advertise (or no-one is willing to advertise) or to use any spare space for gamers to meet and play for an hour or two...
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Feb 3, 2015 06:09
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I'm in the same drat position. Never been into PBP games, but I had a 4e Roll20 game fall through just a couple days ago and now I see I missed out on one here. Bleh.
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Feb 3, 2015 06:35
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Hey, some people here are running or are in a Zeitgeist campaign, right? What's the Martial Scientist theme like in actual play? Do you get new attacks pretty much as a matter of course, or do you have to painstakingly seek them out? Do they tend to be useful, are there just a couple that are viable, is there not really much to do with it? Do you only get stuff for levels 1-10, or can you keep finding things after Heroic ends?
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Feb 6, 2015 05:18
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ElegantFugue posted:Hey, some people here are running or are in a Zeitgeist campaign, right? What's the Martial Scientist theme like in actual play? Do you get new attacks pretty much as a matter of course, or do you have to painstakingly seek them out? Do they tend to be useful, are there just a couple that are viable, is there not really much to do with it? Do you only get stuff for levels 1-10, or can you keep finding things after Heroic ends?
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Feb 6, 2015 17:17
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jumping to the end of the thread, so I apologize if I've overlooked a resource that's already been discussed, but I have a problem and I'd like to pick brains. I'm running a small campaign with four friends. They're around level 3, currently investigating a catacomb to find out where a supply of Drow drugs are coming from. We've had some trouble getting together consistently but people seem to enjoy the game, even if two players are completely new to tabletop RPGs. Anyway, this gameday we might be one short. I'm fine with stalling the game and doing something else, but I'd like to sound some ideas off goons. First, if we're down a person I can control the character. She plays a Warlord so I could sit back and inspire other players without projecting too much of my voice over her character. That's fine, but one person doesn't get to experience the game or story and I'm just a little wary of that. Second, we play a one-off. I've downloaded the Dungeon Delve book and a copy of Tomb of Horrors that's been updated for 4e rules. I'd love to have a stack of pre-made level 11 characters for the three players to be able to grab and kill off, but I've only found a pack of four level 11s and they're zipped up in a way I can't open from my work computer (I need the work computer to print them off, game day is this weekend). I've found a bunch of level 1 pregens, but I think that's a step back and I'm not too keen on stating up a batch to be Epic. Not when my own experience tops out around level 4. Third, we could stall and play vidya games or a card game or something. I like rolling dice, and I'd love to get my hands on maybe 10-12 premade level 11 characters so I can slaughter them, but that's a treasure trove I just can't find. If nothing else, does anyone have experiences or advice for running without a player?
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Feb 6, 2015 17:36
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I usually hand off their character to another player to bring the table up to 5 PCs, or we just conveniently ignore how they were there but now they aren't and whoops here they are again next week. Unless I get below, say, 4 players for the night, the game goes on.
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Feb 6, 2015 17:43
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dwarf74 posted:I usually hand off their character to another player to bring the table up to 5 PCs, or we just conveniently ignore how they were there but now they aren't and whoops here they are again next week. See, that's just it. I'd be down to three PCs, which is why I'm resistant. If we had a larger gaming group one absence wouldn't be a problem. But I've got a small group that just gets smaller.
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Feb 6, 2015 17:49
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When I'm a player short these days, I usually turn their character into a pared-down version of itself and have them participate in combat only on autopilot, asking the other players which enemy they should focus on. The way I do it is: - you keep your defenses, HP and healing surges (I hand that to the quickest thinking player to track) - you get only your highest-level encounter and utility power, one of your at-wills and your class' main gimmick, for a Warlord that'd be Inspiring Word. (Keeps down on long decision processes while still allowing baseline functionality.) - attacks deal precalculated average damage (keeps down on time for gathering dice, rolling dice, calculating...) - dailies, action points and consumables are off-limits for use, character is immune to death (no one wants to come back and learn their PC is dead and/or they have no interesting powers left for the day) If their utility power is Daily, tough. Maybe they get a different Encounter power they have instead but I don't go out of my way. The idea is to have the character with the party and do what they usually do, but make it as easy and quick as possible to run them. Everyone around the table already has their hands full with one full PC or all the monsters and story, after all. It works pretty well! Everyone else can concentrate on playing their own character and stay in that mindset, the pared down PC isn't any harder to run than a standard monster (in fact, it's a bit easier), and next session we just tell the player, hey, this and that happened, and you've got X HP and Y surges left.
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Feb 6, 2015 18:19
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DMG 2 has rules for Companion Characters, which is what Lovely Horse basically described and they've worked well for my group when missing players.
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Feb 6, 2015 18:21
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In the game I ran, I had the IC explanation that the world had a plague called the Shivering Sickness that primarily affected people who travelled long distances in high-stress circumstances (i.e. PCs). Most of the time it had no effect at all, but it could flare up and leave someone just about capable of walking around aland following simple orders, but utterly useless at getting anything done. When a player was away their PC was down with the Shivering Sickness and tagging along but not really contributing (and I downstatted the combat encounters a bit to compensate)
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Feb 6, 2015 18:32
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I just ignore the character's existence for the duration of the adventure.
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Feb 6, 2015 20:07
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Gort posted:I just ignore the character's existence for the duration of the adventure. What if it's the party's only leader? Are they just screwed for the session?
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Feb 6, 2015 20:24
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Okay, I have another question. If I were to arrange a Tomb of Horrors night for four players, how many pre-generated characters should I have? Enough for two deaths each? Three? A pile of 20? Also, what are some recommended guidelines for equipping these characters? A magic item, a pack full of rations and masterwork armor? The more I think about the Tomb of Horrors the more I really want to run it with a pile of disposable characters and then maybe fold in some of the reward into the main campaign somehow.
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Feb 6, 2015 20:27
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Flame112 posted:What if it's the party's only leader? Are they just screwed for the session? No, this is 4e. I DMed an entire campaign from level 1 to 30 where the party was a single fighter and some strikers. If healing's the issue because the other players have been relying on the leader character to provide then "You guys find a skeleton clutching a crate of healing potions", or you just lowball the fights a bit that session since you know you're against 4 characters instead of 5 or whatever.
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Feb 6, 2015 20:38
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So one of my players is going to play a goblin monk, with everything reskinned into power fists and tech gizmos, eventually becoming a steamsuit pilot. I loving love 4e.
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Feb 9, 2015 17:40
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dwarf74 posted:So one of my players is going to play a goblin monk, with everything reskinned into power fists and tech gizmos, eventually becoming a steamsuit pilot. Hell my last Warforged Slayer was a Redneck Gnome in power armor, that had flames painted on the legs. It was glorious.
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Feb 9, 2015 17:43
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Madmarker posted:Hell my last Warforged Slayer was a Redneck Gnome in power armor, that had flames painted on the legs. It was glorious. I was partial to a Warforged Warden relying on lightning powers. Was he just some old, malfunctioning robot, or was he something more? 
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Feb 9, 2015 18:07
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Madmarker posted:Hell my last Warforged Slayer was a Redneck Gnome in power armor, that had flames painted on the legs. It was glorious. My gnome in power armour was a Killswitch variant. His name was GOLEM. Genius Operated Living Exoskeletal Mechanism though the acronym was variable. He was also terrible at CHA skills, so despite pretending to actually BE a warforged you could often hear him giggling inside the chest compartment.
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Feb 9, 2015 19:12
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1. What is a Zeitgeist campaign? 2. I know there used to be a post going around on better math for HP scaling of monsters beyond MM3 on a business card, but I can't find it. Anyone still have a link handy?
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Feb 10, 2015 09:55
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1. It's a 3rd party AP published through DriveThruRPG, you can check out the Player's Guide for free here. 2. IIRC that was a followup post to the original 'business card' post.
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Feb 10, 2015 10:03
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DTRPG just re-released PHB 2 in PDF form.Littlefinger posted:1. It's a 3rd party AP published through DriveThruRPG, you can check out the Player's Guide for free here. Thank you!
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Feb 10, 2015 17:25
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gradenko_2000 posted:DTRPG just re-released PHB 2 in PDF form. Also DMG2.
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Feb 10, 2015 21:56
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The campaign/storytelling sections of DMG 2 were apparently written by Robin Laws, and it's really good. Some of this I recognize from his work on HeroQuest and Hamlet's Hit Points, but it's really cool seeing "indie" concepts like Pass/Fail branching (which is really a better descriptor than "fail forward"), cooperative storytelling and world-building, and player control of the narrative be part of a "mainstream" RPG corebook a full 3 years before Dungeon World was a thing.
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Feb 11, 2015 09:39
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So I made some new Zeitgeist themes. Would love to hear critiques. I am worried the Executore is a bit narrow (though really strong in that narrow area). I'm more comfortable with the Clergy one... It's missing flavor text, sadly... So this is all mechanics. Executores dola Liberta Broken chain badge, gold rings in ears Level 1 Benefit: +1 to Will defense, training in Insight. Power: Slice the Chains that Bind (encounter) Primal Immediate Interrupt , Close Burst 10 Trigger: You or any number of allies within the area are Dominated or hit by an attack with the Charm keyword. Target: Allies in burst Effect: All effects other than damage from the triggering attack are negated, and all targets are immune to Dominate and Charm effects until the end of the triggering enemy’s next turn. You gain temporary HP equal to your healing surge value. Level 5 Benefit: Destroy the Slavers. If you use Slice the Chains that Bind, you gain a +2 bonus to all attack rolls and saving throws until the end of the encounter against the triggering enemy. You can detect magical compulsion with a minor action by succeeding in a Moderate Insight check. Level 10 Benefit: Iron Mind. You are immune to Domination and can make saving throws at the start of your turn against any effect with the Charm keyword. Theme: Disciple of the Clergy Notes about Trigenes, fishhook, etc. Level 1 Benefit: +1 Prestige with the Clergy Power: Awaken Divine Spark Divine Immediate Interrupt, Close Burst 5 Trigger: An ally in the burst makes an attack roll, skill check, or saving throw, and dislikes the result. Effect: Add 1d4 to triggering roll, and change its damage type (if any) to Radiant Level 5 benefit: Sacrifice of Trigenes. Before an ally within 5 squares rolls a death saving throw, you can choose to take a failed death save on yourself, take damage equal to your level, and heal them half that amount of hit points. The damage you take cannot be reduced or negated. Level 10 benefit: Entreaty to the Spirits. The die size of Awaken Divine Spark increases to 1d6. You can use your Awaken Divine Spark a second time in an encounter, but a roll of an odd number means you’ve drawn diabolic attention. When this occurs, it subtracts from the d20 result instead of adds, both you and your ally take damage equal to your level, and you cannot use this power again until you’ve taken an Extended Rest.
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Feb 11, 2015 22:28
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dwarf74 posted:So I made some new Zeitgeist themes. Would love to hear critiques. I am worried the Executore is a bit narrow (though really strong in that narrow area). I'm more comfortable with the Clergy one... This looks really, really strong compared to the Clergy one. +1 to a defense right away and situational immunity to a whole category of powers (don't know how often Charm shows up in Zeitgeist) with a really (comically?) large THP bonus, an untyped attack bonus at level 5, and the equivalent of a weakish feat at level 10, versus . . . versus what I assume is an encounter power that has some risk and a little expansion at level 10, that changes one or two rolls in a fight.
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Feb 11, 2015 22:47
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homullus posted:This looks really, really strong compared to the Clergy one. +1 to a defense right away and situational immunity to a whole category of powers (don't know how often Charm shows up in Zeitgeist) with a really (comically?) large THP bonus, an untyped attack bonus at level 5, and the equivalent of a weakish feat at level 10, versus . . . versus what I assume is an encounter power that has some risk and a little expansion at level 10, that changes one or two rolls in a fight. I buffed it because of the narrowness, but may have gotten it too strong. These gals, in-setting, are all about killing slavers and powerful people who abuse their power. e: I was using the Vekeshi Mystic theme as a model, which gives big bonuses against recurring villains.
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Feb 11, 2015 22:53
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Immune to Dominate is an epic destiny feature, not a theme feature holy poo poo.
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Feb 11, 2015 22:55
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Alright, let's change this around a bit.  Keep the L1 features, but change the power. Trigger: An enemy dominates/charms yadda yadda Immediate Reaction. Special - if you were a target, do this before it takes effect. Effect: Move up to your speed and make a basic attack against the enemy. If the attack hits, all targets can make a saving throw against it even if it doesn't normally allow a save. L5: If that attack hits, gain your level in thp. Get +2 to saves vs charm/dominate. L10: Make saves vs dominate and Charm effects at start of your turn. Instead of rolling, you can take your level in damage to remove a dominate or charm effect from yourself.
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Feb 11, 2015 23:05
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thespaceinvader posted:Immune to Dominate is an epic destiny feature, not a theme feature holy poo poo.
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Feb 11, 2015 23:05
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That level 1 power is a combination of a level 10 Barbarian daily, and the level 12 Berserker paragon path utility. I would lose the temp. HP, change the target to "You or one creature in burst," and maybe make it a daily power. I'd change the level 10 feature to something like "Whenever you would be dominated, you are instead stunned for the same duration." e: never mind, those new ones look a lot better
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Feb 11, 2015 23:07
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dwarf74 posted:Alright, let's change this around a bit. Level 10 probably needs to say "instead of rolling, you can take your level in damage to remove the Dominate condition or remove any current effects from a previous attack with the Charm keyword" or some such. And consider whether that includes ongoing damage.
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Feb 11, 2015 23:10
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I like 10f: when you are Dominated, you can choose instead to be Stunned for the same duration; you may not remove this effect prior to its normal end point. When you are Stunned (except by this feature) you can choose instead to be Dazed for the same duration; you may not remove this effect prior to its normal end point. I like downgrading rather than removing conditions. It still makes you immune to dominate, but it's not overpowered. A superior will style effect would also work.
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Feb 11, 2015 23:28
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Really Pants posted:e: never mind, those new ones look a lot better  Any thoughts from anyone on the Clergy one?
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Feb 12, 2015 00:09
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Pretty weaksauce. II for +1d6 is OK, but would be better as a free (compare Elven Accuracy and Heroic Effort). The DST thing is not amazing - it would be a lot more useful if it worked to reverse a failure rather than remove the chance of it, so you guarantee it being useful. The F10 is loving dire, it turns the whole thing into a 50:50 chance of doing gently caress-all, damaging you and your ally, and losing the power until you kip. An II for a 50:50 chance of ~+4 to someone's roll is bad, an II for a 50:50 chance of +4 to the roll and a 50:50 chance of some damage is really terrible. Just make it a straight up +4 as a free action (or +d8 if you really like dice) - maybe the F10 could make it a reroll+d8 and/or an autocrit at the cost of not using the power again until the next extended rest. Compare and contract Ghost of the Past, which does basically this mechanically. And don't forget themes usually have utility powers.
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Feb 12, 2015 00:22
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thespaceinvader posted:Pretty weaksauce. II for +1d6 is OK, but would be better as a free (compare Elven Accuracy and Heroic Effort). The DST thing is not amazing - it would be a lot more useful if it worked to reverse a failure rather than remove the chance of it, so you guarantee it being useful. The F10 is loving dire, it turns the whole thing into a 50:50 chance of doing gently caress-all, damaging you and your ally, and losing the power until you kip. An II for a 50:50 chance of ~+4 to someone's roll is bad, an II for a 50:50 chance of +4 to the roll and a 50:50 chance of some damage is really terrible. Yeah, I'm skipping the Utility powers entirely. The Zeitgeist themes don't have them. For the L1, I'm not sure I agree about comparing it with Elven Accuracy or Heroic effort. Since this would come up - potentially - every time anyone in the party makes a roll, I don't think 1d4 on an II is that bad for most characters. I'm using Noble Adept from the DSCS as a semi-model. Even if it's a flat +2, I think this could come up every encounter... Maybe 1d4+1 or 1d6... The L10 was supposed to only apply to the 2nd use in a single encounter... But I agree it's not great. Perhaps instead allow it to subtract the d6 or whatever from an enemy's attack or saves, while keeping the diabolical flavor? Still doesn't seem enough...
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Feb 12, 2015 19:34
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I think it would be pretty balanced as a free - especially if it's rolled and you're not quite sure whether it'll work. It's a solid power, when you compare it with other themes that do rerolls. I would expect it to come up and be useful every encounter; it's an encounter power... I dunno what you're going for with the F10 (and indeed, the flavour of the theme in general)? It's a priest who gets incredibly easily corrupted by demons? Maybe if I grokked the fluff a bit better it might be easier to suggest things.
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Feb 13, 2015 18:43
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thespaceinvader posted:I think it would be pretty balanced as a free - especially if it's rolled and you're not quite sure whether it'll work. It's a solid power, when you compare it with other themes that do rerolls. I would expect it to come up and be useful every encounter; it's an encounter power... However, the upper echelons are pretty corrupt, and there's several examples in the adventure which indicate they're in league with diabolical entities and usually become corrupt. So I'm trying to work that into the L10 feature, but I'm open to other ideas. I can buy the L1 as a free action, yeah. I can make that switch.
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Feb 13, 2015 19:00
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Okay, this is only kind of related to 4e, but does anyone still have that pic of 1st/2nd/3rd edition being different piles of poo poo ending with 4e being power rangers or something? I can't find it for the life of me.
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Feb 13, 2015 19:41
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| # ? May 16, 2024 10:58 |
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dwarf74 posted:The Clergy aren't all that well-defined, since it encompasses a whole lot of faiths. The big ones are that humans have the spark of divinity within themselves and can challenge themselves in order to become like gods; and Trigenes, who's kind of a Jesus-y figure who sacrificed himself to defeat the "demonocracy." Maybe give a flavour-inspired choice between using it for a relatively small benefit to your allies and a relatively large penalty to your enemies, and that choice is between beneficent and malign influences.
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Feb 13, 2015 19:47
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