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OneThousandMonkeys posted:Are you talking about the two-sided pregen cards? Those tended to be fairly underwhelming as optimization goes. Yes, those, and yes, I expected that they wouldn't be stellar, which is why I'm asking if the community ever did something like their own versions.
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Nov 16, 2015 19:02
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I'm sure we could toss PDFs at you if you wanted, what are you looking for?
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Nov 16, 2015 20:39
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My players are starting to learn how reversible death is, that war priests, can heal people within 24 hours, and resurrection rituals are cheap and can work up until a month. They're wondering why assassination and death is such a big deal. I'm at a loss to explain why it's a huge deal, besides it being kind of expensive, but in the books it's only 700 GP
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Nov 17, 2015 00:06
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gradenko_2000 posted:Is there a set/repository of pregens I can look into?
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Nov 17, 2015 00:33
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Turtlicious posted:My players are starting to learn how reversible death is, that war priests, can heal people within 24 hours, and resurrection rituals are cheap and can work up until a month. They're wondering why assassination and death is such a big deal. I'm at a loss to explain why it's a huge deal, besides it being kind of expensive, but in the books it's only 700 GP Cost is low but war priests are rare, making sure people think death is permanent is required to prevent the resurrection industry's prices low for the management of politics. Could also argue that people don't know about it, or that the heroes are special and generally are a cut above everyone else. Alternatively priests don't actually want market rates, they only really do it if there is a very good reason, and the 700G isn't for them, it's for the church to help maintain buildings.
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Nov 17, 2015 00:50
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Turtlicious posted:My players are starting to learn how reversible death is, that war priests, can heal people within 24 hours, and resurrection rituals are cheap and can work up until a month. They're wondering why assassination and death is such a big deal. I'm at a loss to explain why it's a huge deal, besides it being kind of expensive, but in the books it's only 700 GP One way is the way Brust handles it in his Dragaera books where there's certain kinds of deaths that aren't revivable. Stab in the heart? Fine. Disemboweled? Fine. Poisoned? Bled out? Strangled? Frostbite? Fine, insert token to continue. Knife in the eye or decapitated, though? You're not coming back. Certain types of magic weapon or spells? Death's a one-way trip for you, buddy. I favor this method because it explains why even the super-wealthy and kings and such fear assassination; all the money in the world won't bring you back from a table knife through the eye.
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Nov 17, 2015 01:17
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Auralsaurus Flex posted:I'm not sure if you've already seen these before, gradenko, but Dungeon's Master has a bunch of pregens corresponding to most seasons of Encounters; they're even done up using the same layout as the official cards. There are a couple links on that page to other blogs that have pregenerated characters, such as: Those are the ones I already have, but thanks. Moriatti posted:I'm sure we could toss PDFs at you if you wanted, what are you looking for? PHB1 classes, mostly.
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Nov 17, 2015 02:08
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Turtlicious posted:My players are starting to learn how reversible death is, that war priests, can heal people within 24 hours, and resurrection rituals are cheap and can work up until a month. They're wondering why assassination and death is such a big deal. I'm at a loss to explain why it's a huge deal, besides it being kind of expensive, but in the books it's only 700 GP There are three ways to handle that. 1) Radically adjust the way the world works to account for relatively (for coming back from the dead) cheap resurrections. An exploration of how a culture would be warped by the impermanence of death could make for an interesting story. That's a lot of work, though. 2) House rule something that makes sense to you. Personally, I prefer to banish 99% of all raise dead stuff. I have a major death god in my homebrew pantheon who says "No, gently caress that" to anyone who tries to raise the dead. You can do the classic "invade death's realm and if you get their soul out the door, you've won him or her back", but anything short of that simply isn't available. A less draconian version might be to increase the costs of all raise dead stuff ten fold or more to make it only available to the richest and mightiest. Alternatively, grant some kind of special status to PCs and significant NPCs that makes them eligible for raising in a way that regular folks aren't. MMOs love that one. 3) Do what most campaigns do. Shrug, ignore the ramifications, and just roll with it. Perhaps emphasize things like "you need to recover the body" and if you "TPK, no one's coming back". But for the most part, just close your eyes and hope they don't really run with it. 
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Nov 17, 2015 02:31
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Alternatively, revel in it! After killing a major villain, if the PCs want to make sure he's dead, they can either try to dispose of the body somewhere no one can find it, which is a mini-adventure in its own right, or, more amusingly, camp out and keep eliminating the villain's high priests and their bodyguards so that they can't complete, let alone perform, the ritual.
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Nov 17, 2015 13:10
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gradenko_2000 posted:Those are the ones I already have, but thanks. How generic and what level? Are you looking for Human Fighter, Elf Wizard, Dragonborn Warlord, etc., or do you want some variety
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Nov 17, 2015 15:55
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In other news, Gamma World 7th Edition, based on 4e, is now available from dndclassicsMoriatti posted:How generic and what level? Level 1 and as classic/generic fantasy as possible.
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Nov 17, 2015 15:58
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Dwarf Fighter, Shield and either an axe or a hammer depending on tastes. Elven Ranger, Longbow Human Warlord, Longsword and Shield Halfling Rogue, Daggers Dragonborn Sorcerer Sorcerer can be a Tiefling Wizard if you want, but I dislike controllers as a concept and I think that status effect and zone management can really bog down a game so I tried to avoid characters with a lot of paperwork type things. No Warlock because of curse management, etc. When picking Warlord powers, I'd try to avoid the Commander's Strike type powers, because you don't want people to get upset that their best move is to not attack themselves. Intuitive Strike, Viper Strike, Vengeance is Mine, etc. Could also sub the Warlord for a Cleric, but I think that straight Clerics get a much more boring power selection at low levels.
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Nov 17, 2015 20:24
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Khizan posted:Dwarf Fighter, Shield and either an axe or a hammer depending on tastes. Strength-based clerics are loving incredible at low level with the amount of damage they can do while healing in the same turn.
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Nov 17, 2015 20:50
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Turtlicious posted:My players are starting to learn how reversible death is, that war priests, can heal people within 24 hours, and resurrection rituals are cheap and can work up until a month. They're wondering why assassination and death is such a big deal. I'm at a loss to explain why it's a huge deal, besides it being kind of expensive, but in the books it's only 700 GP Not sure about war priests, but the ritual has text that says: "The subject's soul must be free and willing to return to life. Some magical effects trap the soul and thus prevent Raise Dead from working, and the gods can intervene to prevent a soul from journeying back to the realm of the living." The gods won't allow you to raise this NPC wears thin pretty quickly, but the willing and free condition gives you some wiggle room. Maybe most people chose to reincarnate instead of waiting around to maybe get raised. Maybe it affords a radically different perspective on life, so most people aren't worried about what's happening on the mortal plane anymore, and don't see the point to being raised. Maybe the afterlife is pretty good to most people and they just don't want to get raised. If your wrinkled old mentor dies before giving you a clue and you try to raise him, him coming back means he has to leave the love of his life (that he hasn't seen in decades), re-inhabit an age ravaged body, and then wait for death all over again. That's an even worse deal if he know you'll find the clue anyway. That example may or may not work for you, but the idea is to try and shift the conversation away from mechanical possibilities and towards story and characterization.
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Nov 17, 2015 20:52
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Ages ago an evil wizard put a spell on the world that traps all souls that ever die, and it's been going on for so long everyone thinks it's the natural state of being. Once the party uncovers this terrible truth, it's up to them to restore the rightful order of things. The Raven Queen's "natural order" is nothing but soul wizard propaganda.
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Nov 17, 2015 21:02
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Ugh I'm hitting a total roadblock on designing this combat map. Supposed to be a town square during the annual fair. The idea is to have a squad of minion artillery plinking away at the parts from the empore all the way to the left, protected by two soldiers in the main area, and there's a displacer beast stalking around so I need to keep some open space free for it to maneuver and can't have too many stalls. Few other enemies as well, because the party's huge. Left half I think is fine, but the right is just super boring empty space. I fully acknowledge the cobblestone texture may be partly at fault here. Any ideas to spruce it up with either large-skirmisher friendly terrain features or just visual effects? Got some shadowy areas and lanterns lined up but I want to put those in last.
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Nov 17, 2015 21:45
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You have no trees/bushes whatsoever, so put a few around in nice symmetrical patterns so it looks like the town centre has some planted. This will also break up the cobblestone texture. Also, put a buffet table down the middle (vertically, in front of the tent) and make it difficult terrain so the players can swashbuckle on top of the table among the greasy chickens and ale tankards.
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Nov 17, 2015 21:50
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My Lovely Horse posted:Ugh I'm hitting a total roadblock on designing this combat map. What, no dramatic costumed re-enactment of The Battle of Miller's Bridge, in which Town Hero fought off Historic Rivals, complete with prop terrain? No archery contest, with archery butts for cover? But really, stages are large and flat and can give a little height and destructible cover, maybe even some scaffolding balconies. Archery butts could be permanent fixtures in the town square for regular drilling, as opposed to just bales of straw.
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Nov 17, 2015 21:59
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Turtlicious posted:My players are starting to learn how reversible death is, that war priests, can heal people within 24 hours, and resurrection rituals are cheap and can work up until a month. They're wondering why assassination and death is such a big deal. I'm at a loss to explain why it's a huge deal, besides it being kind of expensive, but in the books it's only 700 GP
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Nov 17, 2015 23:16
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:Strength-based clerics are loving incredible at low level with the amount of damage they can do while healing in the same turn. I didn't say they were bad, I said they were boring. I think that they end up having too much healing and not enough other useful leadery things so that their toolkit ends up feeling like it's just different levels of the same spell. Warlord's got a more varied skillset so it's more involved/interesting to play, imo.
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Nov 18, 2015 00:07
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gradenko_2000 posted:In other news, Gamma World 7th Edition, based on 4e, is now available from dndclassics Cool, I'll try and hammer out 5-10 between tonight and tomorrow, then I'll share the Dropbox link for the pdf/dnd4e files.
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Nov 18, 2015 00:29
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My Lovely Horse posted:Ugh I'm hitting a total roadblock on designing this combat map. Straight up steal Leane's Square from Chrono Trigger
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Nov 18, 2015 02:06
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Prison Warden posted:Straight up steal Leane's Square from Chrono Trigger
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Nov 18, 2015 02:45
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Moriatti posted:Cool, I'll try and hammer out 5-10 between tonight and tomorrow, then I'll share the Dropbox link for the pdf/dnd4e files. Super thank you! That's more than I could ask for.
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Nov 18, 2015 02:53
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My Lovely Horse posted:Ugh I'm hitting a total roadblock on designing this combat map. How many people are in their party? What classes are they? Where will they be starting? All of this is pretty important stuff to consider. A Sorcerer/Wizard/Invoker/etc can trivialize minion artillery if they're bunched together, etc.
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Nov 18, 2015 03:03
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A friend of mine just posted this on Facebook: Do you guys know anything about AltspaceVR? It's not the shiniest of things, but it could be cool. From a players perspective, does anyone know it would support WotC IP stuff, like Character Builder, or character cards/sheets?
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Nov 18, 2015 03:30
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Ran my first game of the Zeitgiest adventure path and am wondering if I need to do anything about encounter balance. GM + 4 players and ran the first two encounters straight out of the book and they beat them pretty soundly. The first encounter is obviously a soft handed intro, but the 2nd battle is a climatic set piece. As the players were playing smart/rolled well I gave them favorable setups, but I don't think they were seriously taxed. People were holding dailies until some mild prompting. However, for the next session I am getting a 5th player and am wondering if I will need to change the encounter balance. If it was moderate-easy to four players, will it be way to easy for 5? One of the players is an experienced 3.5/5th GM and he had was of the view that I might need to step it up slightly. I wasn't conciously soft handing the monsters, and I like to think I am a fairly smart/tactical player. My players are generally reasonably optimised (e.g. 18/18 or 20 attack stat lineups) with the group comprising a sensibly built twin strike bow ranger, predator druid (who is a sharp tactician as well) and a less well optimised, but still solidly designed dragonborn inspiring warlord and a goalith warden. The 5th will be rolling some sort of sorcerer or wizard. Edit: Other than the encounter balance issue, which may just be me, I was very impressed by the adventure path and so where the players. Cthulhu Dreams fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Nov 18, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 04:05
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gradenko_2000 posted:Super thank you! That's more than I could ask for. Oh quick! Do you want backgrounds and themes, inherent bonuses and fear tax feats thrown in? I would suggest doing so, but it's up to you.
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Nov 18, 2015 04:45
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Moriatti posted:Oh quick! Do you want backgrounds and themes, inherent bonuses and fear tax feats thrown in? I would suggest doing so, but it's up to you. Backgrounds and themes no. I'd like to have them start with Versatile Expertise and Improved Defenses. Inherent bonuses yes.
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Nov 18, 2015 04:57
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:However, for the next session I am getting a 5th player and am wondering if I will need to change the encounter balance. If it was moderate-easy to four players, will it be way to easy for 5? One of the players is an experienced 3.5/5th GM and he had was of the view that I might need to step it up slightly. Yes, almost certainly. That's not a particularly potent group and if it was moderate-to-easy as it was, adding a fifth character will drop it down to "easy-to-pushover". I'd also really recommend that the new player goes Sorcerer. You've already got a controller and Wardens tend to be fairly controllery defenders. I'm admittedly biased against controllers, though; I think that heavy control ends up making fights boring. Warlocks can also be fun if she wants an arcane-castery type, they're my favorite caster strikers to play.
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Nov 18, 2015 05:16
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Khizan posted:How many people are in their party? What classes are they? Where will they be starting? All of this is pretty important stuff to consider. A Sorcerer/Wizard/Invoker/etc can trivialize minion artillery if they're bunched together, etc. Thanks guys, maybe I'll make it the archery square, or possibly something altogether different like a theater where they fight onstage and the artillery shoots at them from the upper ranks. The background's pretty flexible. And Lenne's square was my first thought so if I hit another roadblock, that's happening.  e: actually now that I think about it "you're all in the big opera house" is a much better setup than the fair, but nope, not redoing everything. My Lovely Horse fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Nov 18, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 06:46
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:Ran my first game of the Zeitgiest adventure path and am wondering if I need to do anything about encounter balance.
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Nov 18, 2015 06:46
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My Lovely Horse posted:Six; Paladin, Warden, Bard, Invoker, Assassin, Warlock. The invoker is gonna tear through minions, but he'll have to get in range first, and there will be melee guys there and I can sic the displacer beast on him. Put some bleachers on the side with archers on top row, bleachers are difficult terrain.
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Nov 18, 2015 09:11
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My Lovely Horse posted:e: actually now that I think about it "you're all in the big opera house" is a much better setup than the fair, but nope, not redoing everything.  Same idea: archers on the "castle" to the left, party enters from the right (through the clearly defined entry point, the middle aisle), bad guys let loose the displacer beast and enjoy the show. It's relatively difficult to get on stage (long way around up the stairs, or climb straight up with an Athletics check) but once you're there you'll have some cover against the archers from prop bushes and trees. On the other hand, there will be melee guys. My party has plenty of ways to teleport around but mostly for the ranged characters, gonna be a nice tactical sub-challenge to decide whether to move forward with no defense or wait for the defenders to catch up. Maybe some difficult terrain patches wouldn't go amiss. And some markings on the floor where the king's hawk swoops down in act II (note to Bill, remember to duck when Joe pulls the rope, the propmaker used real steel on the claws).
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Nov 18, 2015 19:13
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That needs way more rows of seats.
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Nov 18, 2015 19:22
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Not in the city of Hyperopia! Wanted to give the displacer beast plenty of room to do its thing but yeah with a move rate of 12 and its size and reach it can probably handle a little difficult terrain. They're among my very favourite 4E critters. e: actually yeah the enemies have a controller with area attacks as well, could be worth it to funnel the party into a nice 3-wide area. My guys avoid difficult terrain like the plague. This is also one of my very favourite tricks! Maybe I'll take some seats away from the sides so beastie can sneak around and come in from the flank. My Lovely Horse fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Nov 18, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 19:29
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In the 4e game I was in with them, the GM made them TN guardians who only Attack if attacked. We got to pet the big kitties. :3
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Nov 18, 2015 19:32
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My Lovely Horse posted:yeah, so, I lie a lot Opera houses are definitely superior. Anything that gets you multiple levels in addition to blocking LOS, really, but I also like the idea of a bad guy hiding behind a plywood shrub as if it's real cover.
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Nov 18, 2015 21:06
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If I had more time I'd definitely make some overlays with different prop cover layouts for this that can be switched from side stage.
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Nov 18, 2015 21:13
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The opera house needs an orchestra pit. Tubas and other big instruments provide cover. If you whack the timpani drum loud enough you can scare off the displacer beast, at least for a turn or two.
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Nov 18, 2015 21:17
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