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Gort posted:If that's a problem, can't you just throw a few more waves of enemies at them? Yeah. I was a little wary about doing that in Shadowrun since overloading the encounter on enemies can be unfairly deadly. The fourth person in that game was a decker, and his character actually hosed up a Full Defense roll and wound up getting punched so hard by a boss that the character's entire Stun track was filled up. If I'd made the melee attacks for the bass do Physical, the decker would've been a red smear on the wall. D&D is obviously a bit different, and once I see how the party acts as a cohesive unit, I'll have a better idea what I can and can't throw at them to challenge them. The taclord and paladin are both seasoned vets of D&D, and so is Lightning Lord. The ranger has played a couple games, and this will be the psion's first D&D game, I believe. But once everyone is accustomed to their characters, I should be able to present them with bigger and bigger challenges. My Lovely Horse posted:Warlord reminds me of a minor mechanics question that came up last time: We had this come up a couple times in the 4e game I just finished playing in. We had a Bravura warlord, and there were a couple times where someone would spend AP and that attack was fatal, and our GM ruled the same: you can't "store" the MBA. It has to be used at that moment, and for some reason, I am thinking the Bravura bonus action only applies to the same target you're attacking in the first place. Skypie fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Apr 16, 2017 |
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Apr 16, 2017 20:26
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Don't you only get one free action attack per turn? The full text of Bravura says you can take an MBA OR a move action as a free action, so basically tell them to just take another move action if they drop it to 0. And for the Rageblood Barbarian, I guess he gets to move AND charge. Which is sick and badass. Bravura Presence: "When an ally who can see you spends an action point to take an extra action and uses the action to make an attack, the ally can choose to take advantage of this feature before the attack roll. If the ally chooses to do so and the attack hits, the ally can either make a basic attack or take a move action after the attack as a free action. If the attack misses, the ally grants combat advantage to all enemies until the end of his or her next turn." Edit: I edited this damned post like 5 times in a minute. Mecha Gojira fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Apr 16, 2017 |
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Apr 16, 2017 20:27
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Mecha Gojira posted:Don't you only get one free action attack per turn? Skypie posted:It has to be used at that moment, and for some reason, I am thinking the Bravura bonus action only applies to the same target you're attacking in the first place. e: we did miss the "after the attack" part too vvv My Lovely Horse fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Apr 16, 2017 |
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Apr 16, 2017 20:36
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The actual rules text is pretty clear.quote:When an ally who can see you spends an action point to take an extra action and uses the action to make an attack, the ally can choose to take advantage of this feature before the attack roll. If the ally chooses to do so and the attack hits, the ally can either make a basic attack or take a move action after the attack as a free action. The MBA/move happens directly after the attack. If the attack killed the target and nothing else is in range of a MBA, he has to take the move instead (or do nothing, obviously).
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Apr 16, 2017 20:55
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Hi there! I'm brand new to 4e, and just looking for some guidance on building an effective controller that will likely not go past level 3 in this one-shot. I've been looking at a Binder (Gloom), but I'm not familiar enough with the mechanics to know how valuable it is to move people or grant combat advantage or whatever. The link to class guides in the OP has sadly been killed by WotC, so I hope this isn't too basic a question for the thread!
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Apr 27, 2017 17:57
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Subjunctive posted:Hi there! You're playing at a low enough level that you shouldn't really be concerned with much beyond some basic chargen decisions (like making sure your primary stat is highest so you can hit things), but Binder is one of the few lovely classes in 4e. Controller sorta has two objectives, as a role; clear Minions (an enemy type with only 1 hp) with aoe and/or oppress enemies with debilitating effects (stun/daze to hurt action economy, blind to make them lovely at attacking, etc). Binder is bad at both these and unlike the Bladesinger (another bad controller) it doesn't really have mechanics that lend it to another role (Bladesinger can be built as a burst-y striker). The two gold-standard controllers are Wizard (Mage if you're working with Essentials only) and Invoker; for the levels you're looking at, Hunter would also be fine. The original Warlock (which the Binder is based on), despite being a striker/having striker mechanics, has a powerset that tends to involve a lot of control effects, so that may also interest you. There are other controllers but figured I'd throw those out there for now; feel free to keep posting whatever questions.
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Apr 27, 2017 18:13
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Hate to do this to a new player, but Binders are one of the worst classes in 4e, and one of only a couple that people will tell you to avoid completely. You can likely do much of what you're looking to do with just a regular Warlock. Sure, it says Striker on the tin, but many of their powers are pretty Controller-y. Alternately, Wizard got a shitload of support over the lifespan of 4e, so it's always a top tier choice for Controller. Here's the new location of the Warlock Guide. They had to be relocated when WotC took down their forums a few years back. As an example of how unpopular the Binder was, it doesn't look like its handbook was saved in the same way.
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Apr 27, 2017 18:20
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My group is 28th level now. I never actually thought I'd run an Epic game, but here we are. The biggest surprise, for me, is that things aren't that crazy different from when they were high Paragon. The complexity and length of combats hasn't changed much since then. There's some really killer special effects going on, and they can still do some pretty startling things, but nothing has been entirely game-breaking so far. However, I'm looking ahead to Level 30. We'll be there for 1-1/3 adventures. Those Epic capstone abilities are kind of uh ... epic. Particularly Planeshaper and Unyielding Sentinel, I'd say.
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Apr 27, 2017 18:32
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dwarf74 posted:My group is 28th level now. I never actually thought I'd run an Epic game, but here we are. Still doing Zeitgeist? How is that wrapping up for you?
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Apr 27, 2017 18:43
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Subjunctive posted:Hi there! If you want a controller that's fairly easy to run out of the box and effective without having to worry about if you are doing the most you possibly can, that would generally be Invoker (easiest) or Wizard (ignore the feature that gives you additional dailies you can switch out; you will never need this and if you are using a builder you may as well not pick them).
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Apr 27, 2017 18:55
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Go Illusionist Mage with Enlarge spell and Superior Implement Proficiency: Crystal Orb. Then take the tax feats: Orb Expertise, Unarmored Agility/Armor Proficiency: Leather, Improved Defenses, Improved Initiative, Dual Implement Spellcaster, depending on how many free feats you get (they hand out a lot here). For powers just take anything that does psychic damage: Winged Horde, Twilight Falls, Phantom Chasm, Color Spray. Easiest most effective controller I've ever played.
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Apr 27, 2017 20:39
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Subjunctive posted:but I'm not familiar enough with the mechanics to know how valuable it is to move people or grant combat advantage or whatever. The most useful thing in 4E is robbing the enemy of actions. Anything that stuns is great. Anything that dazes is good. Penalties to attack or defenses are also very nice.
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Apr 27, 2017 20:51
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Mordiceius posted:Still doing Zeitgeist? How is that wrapping up for you? As time goes on, though, I find myself needing/wanting to fix more 4e stuff - it's clear the adventure at this stage was being written primarily for PF and then converted to 4e. So it's assuming a number of capabilities for the party (like, party-wide flight and quick/easy teleportation) that don't exist. Monster stat blocks vary from "awesome!" to "solid idea, but needs polishing" Some encounters are too easy/boring, and I've needed to tweak them. (See below for a MAJOR one.) Also I switched to 1st Level Damage Forever calculations, and would encourage everyone to do the same at higher levels. That increases my workload, but it's been worth it. As for the overall success of the mission so far ... I am probably too nice a DM by half, and I've probably prodded them in various directions without noticing it. But they've stuck really, really close to the 'assumed' structure, and have so far succeeded at every major goal. They've killed off a few NPCs here or there, which is causing some minor rewrites, but other than that it's been a coherent tale from start to finish. They are also looking forward to creating this new world they're going to be building, icon by icon, and setting our next campaign in it. So this could be seen as basically 3 years of world-building and prelude, if you want to look at it that way.  I am also not 100% sold on the "climax helix" structure that joins Adventures 12 & 13. I will give it a shot, and hope it makes some degree of sense. As for the major encounters that needed tweaked... The biggest one is from Adventure 9 and it still bugs me. The king is way too hard to assassinate. I think just cutting his HPs in half is probably a good enough start, verisimilitude be damned. Also, have Lya Jierre show up to do the dirty work. If you have a half-competent Defender in the party, he will almost definitely survive, and half of Adventure 10 simply won't work. (Well, unless Aodhan steps down at that point, which ... why would he do that?)
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Apr 27, 2017 21:45
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Subjunctive posted:The link to class guides in the OP has sadly been killed by WotC, so I hope this isn't too basic a question for the thread! they are still available on archive.org, just copy-paste the link
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Apr 28, 2017 01:08
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Cease to Hope posted:they are still available on archive.org, just copy-paste the link https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9qwm-rNX9YEMThmN3FrOHE1Skk
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Apr 28, 2017 02:00
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A bunch are also on ENWorld, some of which are actually still getting the occasional update (the monk one primarily I think?)
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Apr 28, 2017 03:24
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Most of the stuff that has been saved to ENWorld can be found from here.
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Apr 28, 2017 03:52
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Thanks! I'm looking at Invoker now, but also Wild Shape Druid. I was worried that the latter might be a little mechanically involved for a new player, but it looks workable. There's a certain amount of complexity inherent in being a controller anyway, I suppose! Thoughts on Wilden Wild Shape Druid? I'm reading the EN guide, and it seems reasonable.
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Apr 28, 2017 09:12
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One of the players in my campaign (level 11 right now) is a wilden druid. He settled on that race and class combo because he thought they kind of looked cat-like and he really likes cats. He's enjoying the race and class, but keeping track of which of three racial powers he's got prepared is a pain. He definitely favours the aggressive, damage-dealing wildshape stuff (again, dude really likes cats and being a cat) over spellcasting and summoning, but his various dazes are still really strong with how much proning the party has. Just make sure the druid can get claw gloves early, or else their wildshape will never really do proper damage.
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Apr 28, 2017 11:33
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Yeah, this is a level 1 one shot, so I'm not sure I'll be getting the gloves. Q: with the errata, I'm able to use any powers in beast mode except implement/weapon (unless those are tagged beast mode) -- is that right?
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Apr 28, 2017 11:43
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Double, but: Is there a complete 4e character builder out there? Hero Lab only knows about Wild Shape Druids, Character Builder doesn't have Wilden, the JavaScript one doesn't let me pick bonus feats (which my DM is graciously providing).
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Apr 28, 2017 17:51
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Subjunctive posted:Double, but: CBLoader modifies the old WotC offline character builder, you'll have access to everything if you get the right .part files.
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Apr 28, 2017 17:55
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Generic Octopus posted:CBLoader modifies the old WotC offline character builder, you'll have access to everything if you get the right .part files. Yeah, it puked on decrypting something. 
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Apr 28, 2017 18:19
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Subjunctive posted:Yeah, it puked on decrypting something. Let me know if you need the files.
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Apr 28, 2017 19:08
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dwarf74 posted:It can behave badly if it's in a location that Windows protects. I suggest installing to somewhere like c:\games\wotc Yeah, no dice. I'd love the files!
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Apr 28, 2017 19:18
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Subjunctive posted:Yeah, no dice. I'd love the files! Same here, I'd love to keep a backup in case I ever want to run 4 again instead of Strike!
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Apr 29, 2017 02:01
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Is there a decent place to find games, or anyone here looking for players? Me and a friend are looking for a live game to join (preferably not starting from level 1), and there's just not a lot of people who'll run 4e in our circle of friends. It's not all we'd play, but it's where we're looking first.dwarf74 posted:Also I switched to 1st Level Damage Forever calculations, and would encourage everyone to do the same at higher levels. That increases my workload, but it's been worth it. What's 1st level damage forever?
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Apr 29, 2017 03:11
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Gharbad the Weak posted:What's 1st level damage forever? http://dmg42.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/boot-on-face-of-level-1-damage-forever.html http://dmg42.blogspot.com.ar/2012/03/damage-adjustment-follow-up-nightmare.html Basically, some guy ran the math on monster damage versus player HP counts and found that monster damage, even using Monster Manual 3 calculations, still scales slower than player HP, such that the game literally gets easier* as you go up in level. That series of posts discusses a new set of damage value calculations so that monsters will always deal damage equal to a proportion of a player's health similar to how lethal they were at level 1, while "Nightmare Mode" actually makes the monsters more lethal by the numbers as you go up in levels. * as opposed to virtually getting easier, in the sense that players already acquire more special abilities as they go up in level, so even if the damage levels remained the same, it should still become easier as the characters become more capable, adaptable, versatile, specialized.
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Apr 29, 2017 03:31
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It's been a legitimate improvement to my game. It keeps the pressure on the PCs, when they're doing crazy bullshit like Inspiring Word healing 2 characters at once.
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Apr 29, 2017 03:48
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Gharbad the Weak posted:Is there a decent place to find games, or anyone here looking for players? Me and a friend are looking for a live game to join (preferably not starting from level 1), and there's just not a lot of people who'll run 4e in our circle of friends. It's not all we'd play, but it's where we're looking first. You might have some luck in the Live Game Contact thread, although I think that's more for local, in-person games. Otherwise I'd like to know the same, honestly. 
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Apr 29, 2017 04:13
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Same. I check up on Roll20 ads from time to time, but the odd 4e game advertised invariably has some weird dealbreaker for me. Every Roll20 GM either wants to run a 20-person campaign of nothing but arena fights, is obsessed with critical failures on attack rolls, or has a three-paragraph "no SJWs" opening spiel (and God help you if you think anyone knows what the words "feat tax" or "inherent bonus" means). I've been running a game of my own for nearly two years now, but I'd really like to just play a character in a reliable game.
The Crotch fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Apr 29, 2017 |
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Apr 29, 2017 05:05
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gradenko_2000 posted:http://dmg42.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/boot-on-face-of-level-1-damage-forever.html I've been using Level 1 Damage Forever in my 9 player dungeon crawly campaign and even with all the healing / damage mitigation a party that size can put out they still end up on the floor regularly. Lots of wincing when I roll damage dice although I've not come close to actually killing anyone yet. Also I asked for advice on running a big table a while back and I think a lot of responses were (sensibly) "don't". I didn't go that way. In fairness so far we've only had one session with all nine players, but it went extremely well, with two combats and a bit of exploration over around 3 hours. I've been letting the players handle things like the initiative order and basic rules queries among themselves (I only step in when a ruling's needed), though it does help that we have another DM and players who know the rules forwards and backwards among the group. I'd say that the weakness of big parties is that everyone needs to be okay with their time in the spotlight being very short as it'll whip to someone else almost immediately. This means that things like creative descriptions of what characters are doing suffer a bit, especially in combat. I've also kept puzzle solving as limited as possible, although a combat puzzle where they had to assemble a bell, book and candle to complete a ritual and lay to rest an otherwise unstoppable undead warrior went down pretty well. Also to allow for open-ended exploration without my prep time ballooning, I've been putting a vote on our facebook group about what section of the dungeon they want to explore next. This means that for any individual session they're slightly rail-roaded, but they can change direction between sessions. So far the choices have been fairly limited but it's working okay for the moment. We'll see how it goes once they open up more areas.
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Apr 29, 2017 11:28
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Hashtag Yoloswag posted:Otherwise I'd like to know the same, honestly. The Crotch posted:Same. What timezones y'all at? I'm Central, my friend is Eastern.
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Apr 29, 2017 18:51
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The Crotch posted:Same. I check up on Roll20 ads from time to time, but the odd 4e game advertised invariably has some weird dealbreaker for me. Every Roll20 GM either wants to run a 20-person campaign of nothing but arena fights, is obsessed with critical failures on attack rolls, or has a three-paragraph "no SJWs" opening spiel (and God help you if you think anyone knows what the words "feat tax" or "inherent bonus" means). I've been running a game of my own for nearly two years now, but I'd really like to just play a character in a reliable game. When I was recruiting friends for my game, someone was telling me my setting doesn't have enough grimdark racism and I should remedy that by making it a Witcher-style game in which only humans were playable.
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Apr 29, 2017 20:09
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Quick character check before I play tonight? Wilden Druid (original) Wilden +1 Reflex S 12 D 13 C 16 I 11 W 18 C 10 At-wills: - Grasping Tide - Fire Hawk - Savage Rend Encounter: - Thorn Spray Daily: - Summon Giant loving Toad Skills: Nature, Insight, Perception, Athletics Feats: Staff Expertise (Bonus: Versatile Expertise, Improved Defenses) ------------- I thought about going Controller for Nature's Growth, but I want to change into a bear to emphasize sentences, and being a summoner seemed more fiddly than I wanted to start.
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Apr 29, 2017 21:45
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Be aware that named bonuses don't stack with other bonuses of the same name (i.e. feat bonus, power bonus, item bonus, etc.), so that staff expertise just gives you the OA protection. Is your DM giving out a free expertise, or free Versatile Expertise specifically? Because you don't really need both.
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Apr 29, 2017 21:54
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Hmm, he said Versatile but I'll ask. It's probably not worth it for OA protection and reach 1, yeah. Any other recommendations in its place?
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Apr 29, 2017 21:59
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Gah I'm <10 books from completing my 4e collection in hardcover. Any goons wanna sell me theirs? In other news, I was reading the Balor stat block yesterday, and noticed a wording that I wasn't sure about in it's Beheading Blade statblock.  As that reads, do I roll 5d12+14 lightning damage on a hit, and just give 100 damage on a crit, or does the crit actually ROLL the 3d12+74? Crits maximise the dice normally right? I can't find anything that states otherwise, but it seems odd that they've worded it like that.
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Apr 29, 2017 22:01
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If you maximized 5d12 + 14 you get 74. So the balor maximizes damage on a crit like every other monster, but is ALSO effectively wielding a +3 vicious weapon and gets bonus damage dice on its crits the way PCs do.
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Apr 29, 2017 22:03
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Spiteski posted:In other news, I was reading the Balor stat block yesterday, and noticed a wording that I wasn't sure about in it's Beheading Blade statblock. You roll. 74 is the max roll of 5d12+14.
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Apr 29, 2017 22:06
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