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Dexie posted:The character builder? I didn't know it had special companion stuff, and I've been looking for something like that. Where at? I'm poking around it and can't find anything like that. Edit: I added LivingForgottenRealms.com to the links and put in a spiel about adventures. Feel free to recommend more! dwarf74 fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Jan 30, 2014 |
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dwarf74 posted:The modded offline one... Is this more easily accessible now? I was in the middle of a PbP game when some iteration of murder was carried out on the offline Character Builder. I broke down, bought a site subscription, rebuilt everyone's character with the horrible online version and then exported them back into Orkos. It was not happy. Foolie fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Jan 30, 2014 |
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Jan 30, 2014 06:53
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Hubis posted:My preference would be to ditch marking wherever possible, and replace it with a reaction/aura power of some sort. Marking sucks because it's just another thing you have to keep track of (also it makes very little sense on the table, so it's really hard to explain to people sometimes). You mean like Defender Aura?  Some monsters actually have that, but again most don't have a mark punishment. IMHO keeping track of marking isn't any harder than keeping track of whether or not Monster #126B has used their immediate action this turn or not. So just be lazy and make them opportunity actions  Marking might not make simulationist sense, but it makes game sense.
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Jan 30, 2014 08:22
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P.d0t posted:You mean like Defender Aura? It makes simulationist sense too, provided you're not a goddamn idiot.
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Jan 30, 2014 09:32
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I request that the 4E Turn Tracker be added to the software list. It's a great program for tracking initiative, power/healing surge use, effects timing, saving throws etc., applying penalties to stats automatically if an according condition is present, and so on. You can import character and monster files, and apparently even program your own powers and have it handle the dice rolling, but it works just fine if you use it only as an initiative/effects tracker.
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Jan 30, 2014 10:38
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My Lovely Horse posted:I request that the 4E Turn Tracker be added to the software list. It's a great program for tracking initiative, power/healing surge use, effects timing, saving throws etc., applying penalties to stats automatically if an according condition is present, and so on. You can import character and monster files, and apparently even program your own powers and have it handle the dice rolling, but it works just fine if you use it only as an initiative/effects tracker.
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Jan 30, 2014 15:10
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fatherdog posted:It makes simulationist sense too, provided you're not a goddamn idiot. Well that's a little rude  I'm probably a little bit biased because a player in my campaign is a Swordmage, which stretches marking a bit further than usual. It's probably not quite as bad with other marking defenders, but with the swordmage it's often a case of "OK, well that guy/those guys on the other side of the room gets a penalty to attack other people because [reasons]." I mean I know, magic and whatnot, but over time it becomes a little bit abstract, which seems to make it hard for players to track what's going on. I don't really care one way or the other for "simulationism" except in so far as it provides a basis for people to intuitively understand the mechanics based on what they see on the board and what they understand about the world. "If someone tries to attack the guy next to me, I'll punish them for it" makes intuitive sense. "If this 1-5 guy(s) I shouted at last turn attacks someone that isn't me, it's slightly harder for them to hit (and maybe I can perform some rider ability on them as well)" is a lot less straightforward. Plus, keep in mind that marking is a 1-to-1 mapping, so if you've got 2-3 soldiers, not only do you (and the players) have to remember who is marked, but by whom. Yes there are ways to track this, but it is still extra book-keeping that can get annoying. I just don't really care for marking as a system personally and I feel like that's a completely valid opinion to have. 
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Jan 30, 2014 15:53
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Lore-wise, how exactly do warlocks work? Why would a demon or devil or Lovecraftian ancient Thing condescend to make a pact with a trifling mortal? And what exactly is a warlock's end game supposed to be? I get the whole Faustian angle but Faust falls apart when removed from its Judeo-Christian basis in a magic-less Real World and then blown up to the macro scale of a fantasy class. In a world of ubiquitous magic, and one in which demons are real and their motivations well-known, why would anyone but a batshit insane Chaotic Evil idiot pledge their soul to a demon for fleeting magical power in life? And in a world where a multitude of demons command armies and fight each other as often as they fight the forces of Good, why would a demon lord care about the soul or servitude of a comparatively weak mortal? If someone wants to serve a patron and tap their power, then why not be a cleric of a bona fide god? unlimited shrimp fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Jan 30, 2014 |
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Jan 30, 2014 16:48
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Well, I think you are supposed to make up your lore for it. But it doesn't have to be a Faustian bargain. Let's say an evil wizard summoned the demon and forces it to wreak havoc in the countryside. 'Puny mortal, want to save the peasants? Get me the wizard's MacGuffin so I can return to my home plane and I'll even give you power to defeat him and his band of brigands.' Even a 'good' character can agree to that, though that might be stretching it a bit. As to why not just become a Cleric? Well, because that'd be a different character concept.  I like Eberron's take: anyone can sign up to an order or something (well, anyone that can handle the rigors of ecclesiastical life), but very few have the strong faith or whatever necessary to manifest divine magic.
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Jan 30, 2014 17:19
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bathroom sounds posted:Lore-wise, how exactly do warlocks work? Why would a demon or devil or Lovecraftian ancient Thing condescend to make a pact with a trifling mortal? And what exactly is a warlock's end game supposed to be? Because the Gods are lame, maaaaan. Generally speaking you're right, though: Warlocks, Clerics and Paladins are embodying some aspect of {Greater Power}, which grants them powers. The thematic difference between all three are pretty significant, though. quote:In a world of ubiquitous magic, and one in which demons are real and their motivations well-known, why would anyone but a batshit insane Chaotic Evil idiot pledge their soul to a demon for fleeting magical power in life? The 4e cosmology addresses this, because frankly most of the astral planes are also shitholes, falling apart or randomly dropping their followers into the endless abyss instead of getting them to the right plane. Speaking of which, Asmodeus is a god, having grabbed the divine power from his original master when he murdered the gently caress out of him. Why wouldn't you want to work for the winning side?
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Jan 30, 2014 17:22
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Warlocks are based around using your force of will to wrest power, or using your body as a direct conduit heedless of the side effects. There's also a bit of quick thinking there, outwitting them and getting more than you're putting in. Warlocks think (or hope) that they can eventually progress to the point where their previous bargain will no longer hold. Clerics are about actual resolute faith and worship, knowing that your god is the most important and powerful thing in your life and being okay with that.
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Jan 30, 2014 17:27
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bathroom sounds posted:Lore-wise, how exactly do warlocks work? Why would a demon or devil or Lovecraftian ancient Thing condescend to make a pact with a trifling mortal? And what exactly is a warlock's end game supposed to be? Alot of this assumes your character will know everything you know. Sure, the smartest scholars throughout the lands will know what devils are and how they work and how you should never ever bargain with them but would some random dude out in the boonies or the slums have as much knowledge available to them? Magic may be ubiquitous but on an individual scale it requires either alot of time and effort to study it for ages(along with the kind of life where you can afford to do so) or get lucky and be a mutant; Warlocking is the quick dirty method to gaining your first taste of power over the normal man and it should be trivial to think up the kind of character who'd go down that road.
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Jan 30, 2014 17:37
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I still don't understand why a demon would enter into a pact with a warlock. It's not like they're Lucifer trying to corrupt one of God's Children as part of some existential war between Good and Evil. I always liked the idea of a warlock as a seeker of eldritch knowledge who maybe stared into the abyss a little too long. The whole pact thing just seems off to me.
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Jan 30, 2014 21:38
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bathroom sounds posted:I get the whole Faustian angle but Faust falls apart when removed from its Judeo-Christian basis in a magic-less Real World and then blown up to the macro scale of a fantasy class. quote:In a world of ubiquitous magic, and one in which demons are real and their motivations well-known, why would anyone but a batshit insane Chaotic Evil idiot pledge their soul to a demon for fleeting magical power in life? MadScientistWorking fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Jan 30, 2014 |
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Jan 30, 2014 21:41
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bathroom sounds posted:I still don't understand why a demon would enter into a pact with a warlock. It's not like they're Lucifer trying to corrupt one of God's Children as part of some existential war between Good and Evil. This is pretty much the support for how they're played, to be honest: there aren't many, if any, powers that reference having an explicit patron, which tends to be something more for Hexblades. Also, it's worth mentioning that the PHB addressed your concern about their motivations. The infernal pact description is quote:Long ago a forgotten race of devils created a secret path to power and taught it to the tieflings of old to weaken their fealty to Asmodeus. In his wrath, Asmodeus destroyed the scheming devils and struck their very names from the memory of all beings- but you dare to study those perilous secrets anyway. RPZip fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Jan 30, 2014 |
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Jan 30, 2014 21:48
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There's really nothing that says your character has to have that pact in the narrative other than they named the class feature that way. Seeker of eldritch knowledge who went a little to deep is equally valid. He just picked up the secret of effective curses (again, no need to be a curse, could simply be a minor spell). The fey pact warlock I DMed for started out as a regular Eladrin in Magic College who one day went to the stone circle where none dared to go because he was massively drunk and it seemed like a good idea. In the stone circle someone had imprisoned an ancient fey being's soul who couldn't leave, but wanted to see the world. The pact was essentially: my raw power for you being my eyes and ears. Later as we went to epic tier we shook it up a bit and said the warlock had now grown powerful enough to destroy the circle and free his patron, and volunteered his own body as a host in exchange for the full extent of fey power (unlocking over time, of course). We played it off as a merging of souls under one will and from that point on his "pact" was essentially "I'm good enough at this to tap into the magical fabric of the Feywild itself." And except for the player explicitly wanting a patron there's no reason we couldn't have done it that way from the start.
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Jan 30, 2014 21:53
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bathroom sounds posted:I still don't understand why a demon would enter into a pact with a warlock. It's not like they're Lucifer trying to corrupt one of God's Children as part of some existential war between Good and Evil. That's a whole bunch of magical murder-slingin' soul bros to get serving you for all eternity, fighting Blood Wars, maybe just making gross faces at people you don't like, whatever. All for the low low investment of giving them a little background story. Though the seeker of knowledge gone off the deep end works just as well, I've been playing a 1-30 weekly game since launch as one of those.
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Jan 30, 2014 23:32
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The demon pact is only one of like five or six pacts anyway. The same difficult question doesn't really apply to why a mad star creature would give power to a mortal (who knows, he's totally mad!) or why the ghosts of ancient kings and mountain spirits would empower a warlock (Vestige Pact is my favorite, because it makes perfect sense that a totally forgotten megalomaniac ghost would empower a warlock just to feel important again).
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Jan 30, 2014 23:45
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I like that mechanically every pact probably benefits from going Dual into Sorc-King, and that Sorc-King is the clearest outline of the warlock pact relationship: Somebody crazy-strong gives you some strength as long you don't mind being a little crazy. ALSO it has Ka-Li-Ma and Commander's Strike 2: don't disappoint me.
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Jan 31, 2014 00:21
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So I feel ashamed I didn't know about this earlier, but if you have DDI and Masterplan there's now a Compendium Import plugin to fill in all your libraries. You need an active DDI sub, and from there it just automates a labor-intensive process. http://compendiumimport.codeplex.com/ dwarf74 fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Jan 31, 2014 |
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Jan 31, 2014 00:21
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holy crap is that gonna ramp up my use of masterplan. Thanks.
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Jan 31, 2014 02:17
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dwarf74 posted:So I feel ashamed I didn't know about this earlier, but if you have DDI and Masterplan there's now a Compendium Import plugin to fill in all your libraries. You need an active DDI sub, and from there it just automates a labor-intensive process. This is amazing, and thank you for posting about it, I've been looking for something like this for a while. Are there any other neat Masterplan Addins that anyone uses that they like? I feel like I'm not getting the most out of the program. It's great for flowcharting my adventures, but I haven't really gone must past that yet. Anyone have any general tips on getting the most out of Masterplan?
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Jan 31, 2014 02:32
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Amperor posted:This is amazing, and thank you for posting about it, I've been looking for something like this for a while. Since then, I've been doing the long export->import process for getting monsters into the program, or just making my own (using its capable monster creator), so it's a big deal for me, too. I'm shocked; I've been looking for this all my life.  Where the program really shines is when you let it do combat management for you, IMO. You can import the PCs and monsters, so it will do all the initiative tracking for you. It will track conditions including their endpoints, roll initiative, roll saves and power refresh dice, track which monsters used which abilities, roll attacks and damage, track HP and healing (including regeneration), automatically adjust for resistance/vulnerability, and goddamn a lot more. While you can let it track stuff on the PCs, I usually don't because that's not my job, and it's too invisible to the players. It requires some trust from your players - they have to be good with you clicking links instead of rolling dice - and you need to have a laptop in use, but IME it frees up my brain space for fun narrations and making poo poo awesome. While I love 4e, there's a LOT going on at high levels and I've grown to depend on it.
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Jan 31, 2014 02:51
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bathroom sounds posted:Lore-wise, how exactly do warlocks work? Why would a demon or devil or Lovecraftian ancient Thing condescend to make a pact with a trifling mortal? And what exactly is a warlock's end game supposed to be? A patron's motivations are generally left up to the DM and player to agree on, and as others have mentioned, not every warlock needs to have directly signed some kind of contract for their power. At its most essential, the Warlock is distinguised from the Sorceror and Wizard in that instead of being naturally gifted with magic or studying for years to attain it, they took a potentially dangerous shortcut that gives them immediate benefits but might cause problems long-term. The flipside of the Diabolic pact Warlock pledging his soul to the Nine Hells in exchange for power is a fey pact warlock who just tapped into secrets of the feywild with no real consequences. It really depends on how you want to play it. I mean, is it really that hard to believe that someone who isn't particularly talented or patient would make a deal for massive eldritch power now and hope to come out on top in the long run instead of dedicating their entire life to studying the arcane arts and hoping that they're one of the few that actually get to master them enough to use them? As for patron motivations, well it's pretty simple. Devils need a constant influx of souls to hopefully one day break out of their prison, and bargains are their primary source of souls. But even without putting your literal soul at risk, most of the patrons can't really exert their will directly. They're stuck on some other plane of existence or only have vestigial power, so they need a go-between. Empowering some guy who wants to shoot magic laser beams in exchange for occasional services rendered is a pretty good way of getting poo poo done in their name. In some fictional works, making complicated compacts with extra-planar entities of immense power is the ONLY way magic works. Dr. Strange from Marvel comics for example channels the power of various entities who have agreed to lend this small fraction of their might to whatever use he sees fit in exchange for various oaths the line of Sorceror Supremes have sworn that benefits them in some way. He basically plays mediator between cosmic giants by manifesting what those entities would consider parlor tricks. A warlock is just someone who doesn't have quite as good a contract as that. Lurdiak fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Jan 31, 2014 |
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Jan 31, 2014 05:06
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I think Fey Pact is the easiest to justify actually. It's perfectly in theme for Fey to ask for things that have great import to them but seem innocuous to us mortals. Incredible magic power in exchance for the colour of your eyes? Your memory of your first love's face? Your shadow? Practically a steal, for all involved! I don't know too much about the Elemental pact Walock, but to be honest I'm surprised the Primordials weren't one of the first options for powerful beings you bargain with for power. Lurdiak posted:In some fictional works, making complicated compacts with extra-planar entities of immense power is the ONLY way magic works. Dr. Strange from Marvel comics for example channels the power of various entities who have agreed to lend this small fraction of their might to whatever use he sees fit in exchange for various oaths the line of Sorceror Supremes have sworn that benefits them in some way. He basically plays mediator between cosmic giants by manifesting what those entities would consider parlor tricks. A warlock is just someone who doesn't have quite as good a contract as that. It says a lot that given all this Dr Strange is still one of the most powerful people around.
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Jan 31, 2014 06:43
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Also, another potential motivation is that other people are doing it. One guy manages to get a good hold on somebody, nudges them into doing what they want regularly, and pretty soon other people are looking to get some skin in the game. Got to keep up with the Joneses, even if your guy's a useless sack of poo poo who argues constantly, needs regular infusions of power, and focuses on baubles, or, worse, fucks you up so consistently it's like he's doing it on purpose.
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Jan 31, 2014 16:46
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Lamquin posted:Zeitgeist does look incredibly fun, but I'm not quite ready to switch over to the more modern feel the adventure seems to have. It's not as good as Zeitgeist, but stands up to Paizo APs up to mid paragon (where my party Darwin Awarded itself). The first adventure is ... shaky, and the first few are all using MM1 stats. I really should at some point try and remember what I did in the first two modules and write it up because I think that my version was a vast mechanical improvement. Off the top of my head, the pieces that need changing in module 1 (Gate Pass) are: 1: Chasing down the sewers after a ferret just annoys people. Have a kid down there instead. 2: Flaganus Mortus is a single human built as a solo on MM1 principles and completely sucks. Pinata full of hit points. I replaced him with an elite from a downed dragon, and had one of his junior officers try to rescue him. (Thanks to various natural 20s my PCs managed to turn the rescuer and recruit him for the defence of Gate Pass). 3: Random encounter using half a dozen boneshard skeletons. Aaaagghh no! Boneshards are lethal and the encounter is dull and irrelevant at best and utterly lethal at worst. (I replaced the whole thing with a run against a low ranking Inquisitor who ended up biting a cyanide capsule just to deny the PCs their kill - and the highlight was locking the paladin in an Iron Maiden and having four mooks try to slam the door closed). And my change in The Fire Forest was to turn all the fire zombies into much more fire-zombieish things; insubstantial unless you cooled them down first (either by cold damage or dropping them into some sort of water feature) as well as coming back to life some of the time. Also Links to the errata'd classes: Fighter Warlord Warlock Cleric Rogue (there may be a better link but I don't think so) Wizard
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Jan 31, 2014 17:34
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Hey guys, first of thanks for all the advice in the end of the last thread. I've settled on the slaying stone for our first game. There'll be 5 players and me. Now for some more silly beginning DM quesrions: How do I 'give' players items? For example: they can get a pretty neat daggger. But they can't just write down the entere description on their character sheet, that seems like it would fill the sheet up pretty quick. Just writing dwn the name means they would have to look up the properties all the time. Should I write the description on a piece of paper and hand that to them or something? I shouldn't tell people the stats of an enemy, right? I should just give their name and a description, and then some more info when they pass a monster knowledge check?
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Jan 31, 2014 18:37
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The Belgian posted:Hey guys, first of thanks for all the advice in the end of the last thread. I've settled on the slaying stone for our first game. There'll be 5 players and me. Now for some more silly beginning DM quesrions: Notecards, either write it down on a notecard and just hand it to them or use the character builder to print out sheets of items it's the easiest way.
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Jan 31, 2014 18:44
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The Belgian posted:I shouldn't tell people the stats of an enemy, right? I should just give their name and a description, and then some more info when they pass a monster knowledge check? That's how it's usually done, right. But it doesn't usually break anything in 4ed if you're totally transparent either.
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Jan 31, 2014 18:45
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Thanks!
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Jan 31, 2014 19:46
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The Belgian posted:How do I 'give' players items? For example: they can get a pretty neat daggger. But they can't just write down the entere description on their character sheet, that seems like it would fill the sheet up pretty quick. Just writing dwn the name means they would have to look up the properties all the time. Should I write the description on a piece of paper and hand that to them or something?
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Jan 31, 2014 19:49
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Elmo Oxygen posted:That's how it's usually done, right. But it doesn't usually break anything in 4ed if you're totally transparent either. Fights also tend to go faster if players know the number they are aiming for when they roll. If keeps them from asking if a 27 hits every single time. You don't need to tell the players what the monster's defenses are until they roll an attack against that defense either. So there is still a little bit of uncertainty when making decisions. Another piece of important information the game isn't very clear on is whether to tell your players if a monster is a minion or not. Personally, I'm want players to know as much as possible, if only to make the game run smoothly.
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Jan 31, 2014 19:53
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Don't stop at minions. Also point out any elites or, if necessary, solos. If that seems too gamey to you, just do it in an appropriately fluffy way: "these goblins look really weedy, like one hit would drop them; this goblin looks to be about twice the normal goblin, a highly skilled opponent."
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Jan 31, 2014 19:58
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socialsecurity posted:Notecards, either write it down on a notecard and just hand it to them or use the character builder to print out sheets of items it's the easiest way. If you have DDI, you can also print cropped screenshots of Compendium entries, if you don't want to (or need to) print out new character sheets in whole or in part. I have opened all the coming adventures' items in new tabs (you can right-click compendium entries) and paste the cropped screen shots into one document, which I could then cut up and hand out. You could also add all the session's items to a dummy character, and print out & cut up the item pages so they have something to refer to until they add it to their own character sheets. I would hate writing the stuff out, but they really do need something to refer to during the session they get it.
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Jan 31, 2014 20:22
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Elmo Oxygen posted:That's how it's usually done, right. But it doesn't usually break anything in 4ed if you're totally transparent either. And yes, definitely share minion status up front. I usually think Elite and Solo are self evident in how I describe them, but always tell my players if asked.
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Jan 31, 2014 20:56
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Yeah being coy about those kinds of things is a bad DM habit from the old D&D tradition of "FOR THE DUNGEON MASTER'S EYES ONLY!" and really just slows things down in 4ed for no real benefit.
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Jan 31, 2014 21:44
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Yeah. Letting your players spend their daily to take out a minion (and do nothing else) really sets a tone for the game. The tone is gently caress you!
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Jan 31, 2014 21:56
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The first time one of the characters in our group makes an attack against a given defense for a monster, the actual number for that defense goes up on our turn tracker. We're using a custom one, though; dunno if Masterplan has that functionality.
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Jan 31, 2014 22:12
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fatherdog posted:The first time one of the characters in our group makes an attack against a given defense for a monster, the actual number for that defense goes up on our turn tracker. We're using a custom one, though; dunno if Masterplan has that functionality. ... this is a great idea. Our GM is using that Popcorn Initiative thing, so we could just as easily write it on the index cards for monster type.
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Jan 31, 2014 22:19
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