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PeterWeller posted:The glaring problem with WotC's D&D product line, especially with 4E, is a lack of really great and memorable adventures. I guess the splat book treadmill makes better business sense considering TSR's fate, but WotC's editions haven't left us with a whole lot of memorable collective stories like the TSR editions did. Genuinely, this is what LFR is for. There are some absolute dogs of adventures in there, but there are some really great ones too, and you can reasonably easily make a 1 to 30 campaign with decent adventures using modern monsters. Plus, there's some great set-piece encounters you can steal wholesale for home games.
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Mar 20, 2014 23:46
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 16:33 |
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Sell them? http://livingforgottenrealms.com/ They're free, loving download them quick before they take them down. (yes, they probably could have made money selling them, but in the long run I suspect they made more out of DDI subs for people playing them, because a lot fewer people would have been playing if they cost money)
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Mar 21, 2014 00:30
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In short: the CALI series, the NETH series, the WATE series are all pretty decent to start off with, plus a few of the important CORE adventures that set up and foreshadow the epic campaign. Between those (and the SPEC mods related to them) you can get a solid campaign going. I'd generally advise against anything earlier than year 2 adventures and even then, only H1 and h2, probably) without updating the monster maths. One of these days I keep meaning to actually work out a full 1-20 campaign using only decent and important mods. Plus, the Epic campaign is pretty fun, well-written and in places they hit the cinematic aspects of Epic really well. The major thing it suffers from is the necessity of country-hopping to keep up with the decent adventures, but that's fairly easy to get around if you don't give a gently caress about realmslore.
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Mar 21, 2014 00:47
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Yeah, the Adventure Archive which contains some of the VERY old year 0 and 1 adventures has been down for a while. But all the zip files still work fine.
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Mar 21, 2014 18:55
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I'd also add, though, that basically any plate-wearing character (and a good number of others) could be flavoured as Shardplate.
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Mar 22, 2014 09:38
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Go to LivingForgottenRealms.com Type ctrl+f. Type those 3 codes, then click next until you find things which have links to download the modules. Eventually I'll get round to posting a list of modules which makes for a solid campaign. But by that stage, they'll probably have taken LFR.com down. So actually, what you might want to do is just go through and download everything here: http://www.livingforgottenrealms.com/adventures/ to an archive on your own computer, and wait for that. Even if you get a bunch of stuff that's not much use, memory is cheap as chips these days, and the modules aren't exactly large.
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Mar 23, 2014 09:45
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The important thing is that *the FLAVOUR IS UP TO YOU*. Diabolic Grasp does damage and slides, you wind up with the guy next to a wall, some of the damage was because he slid into the wall. mechanically, the numbers on the character sheet don't change, how you described the power does.
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Mar 31, 2014 19:07
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My Warforged is a crippled Gnome in a battle suit called Genius-Operated Living Exoskeletal Mechanism. Warforged have SO much potential for cool characters.
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Mar 31, 2014 23:11
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Also Warforged Druids are transformers. Warforged Swarm Druids are Pixie Power Rangers.
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Mar 31, 2014 23:34
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Oh yeah, my Half-Elf Ranger: all of his flavour is based on the fact that his dilettante is Biting Swarm. He has been plagued by a swarm of primal fly spirits since his youngest days. They're mostly immaterial, they disappear if you swat them, but over the years he's learned to control and utilise them - he does a lot of penalties to hit, slowing and immobilising, some forced movement, all of which are flavoured as clouds of horrible biting insects plaguing the target. He can fly a little, which is him growing fly wings. His crossbows are borne above his head on a cloud of flies (Ocular Adept PP). His ED is still a little in flux in terms of flavour (he's a Destined Scion mechanically, but that's boring as piss), but will probably wind up being some form of insect-based avatar of a nature god. He's recently developed the ability to suck people out of play into the hive, which is out of phase with normal reality. He's fun. E: also, revenant pixie swarm druid. Fun fact, all revenants, regardless of prior race, are Medium sized. Revenant Pixie Swarm druid is a medium-sized swarm of dead pixies. thespaceinvader fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Apr 1, 2014 |
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Apr 1, 2014 23:45
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They are indeed meant to be rolled. You max everything you would or could have rolled if you hadn't crit (i.e. stuff like Quarry, Curse, Sneak Attack, the Slayer's Power Strike, Half-Orc Furious Assault, etc etc, even if you only chose to trigger it on that attack BECAUSE you crit, as you can with Quarry for instance) and roll anything you ONLY roll because you crit, High Crit included. thespaceinvader fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Apr 6, 2014 |
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Apr 6, 2014 22:35
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Yep. Anything that you could roll if you didn't crit, is maxed when you do. It's one of the main reasons why Daggermaster is so good.
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Apr 6, 2014 22:51
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Formulaic. Even with the current structure, fights can get a bit formulaic at Epic when you all have amazing encounter powers that pretty much go in a specific sequence, especially for leaders and strikers. Plus, if everyone opens with dailies every fight, you just wind up playing initiative-tag with the Wizard.
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Apr 11, 2014 21:54
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Much. DOn't feel hamstrung that a long rest should happen every time the party sleeps, or indeed that the party should have to sleep to have the benefits of a long rest. Have it happen at narrative-pace-appropriate points.
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Apr 11, 2014 22:47
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Hashtag Yoloswag posted:Psychic also tends to be a good controller element re: Psychic Lock (plus a ton of controller powers are psychic by default). You can, and they are. (well, the Sorc probably has some RBAs that are better than Blast, but Strike is definitely the best MBA.)
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Apr 12, 2014 09:16
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I'd go with lightning/thunder over psychic. Aside from Psychic Lock, psychic isn't THAT good. Fire is the go-to for damage these days thanks to Firewind Blade existing, in combination with Radiant thanks to Radiant One.
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Apr 12, 2014 20:07
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You can use those powers through a damage conversion weapon and get both benefits, though - the only real benefit of psychic qua psychic is psychic lock, and I think there's a Warlock thing that gives psychic vulnerability with Curse which is nice.
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Apr 13, 2014 10:34
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:You find psychic powers that damage an enemy's ability to hit (of which there are many), and stack Psychic Lock, and suddenly you are locking down a monster with at-wills. -2/-4 to hit (combined with fighter marks, etc.) is one of the most powerful things you can do, because more than simply denying actions, you're making a monster waste powers completely. In practice, I tend to find Psychic Lock is rarely relevant and very fiddly to track. I play a Ranger (of all things) with it, and it very rarely actually affects anything. If it was EONT that would be something, but being only the first attack roll tends to mean the monster does a burst or blast or multi-attack and basically ignores it.
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Apr 14, 2014 18:48
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My Lovely Horse posted:Technically only for paragon paths though, but epic destinies rarely have hard prerequisites like that and in most cases it seems entirely reasonable to waive them. No, that got updated. RC i think. It's just 'count as that class and power source for purposes of meeting prereqs' now. NB prereqs are only things found on the prerequisite: line, not anything else, so no, that doesn't include picking powers.
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Apr 15, 2014 23:32
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The offline builder just shows the text of the prereqs in those cases I think these days, rather than applying the mechanics. Just sayin.
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Apr 15, 2014 23:41
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Might have been PH3 then. It wasn't in errata though I don't think. Either way, it's a sensible rule, even if it's a house rule.
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Apr 16, 2014 18:39
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Honestly, it's risky doing any of this sort of lead man and sidekicks stuff - if the assassin goes down to an unlucky crit the party's screwed, and that's not even taking into account the fact that people don't like being sidekicks...
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Apr 18, 2014 20:40
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You'd get a completely different class with similar (probably slightly better) potential at Epic.
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Apr 19, 2014 20:57
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gently caress knows. Email their customer service, but good luck with that.
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Apr 19, 2014 23:05
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How does a fullblade get you +2 to hit ?!
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Apr 19, 2014 23:36
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killstealing posted:DM told me I get +1 from the exotic weapon proficiency feat The increased proficiency bonus IS the +1... That being said, Fullblades are probably the best Avenger weapons.
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Apr 20, 2014 00:10
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gtrmp posted:4e character creation can be fiddly as hell, but you can alleviate 90% of that pain by restricting feat/power options to what's in the core rules (i.e. the PHBs and the Essentials core books), unless a player finds and brings in something that looks really cool and doesn't look like it'll make combat drag out. (Which, if you only have the core books and aren't using DDI, is what you're going to be doing anyways.) This right here is bad advice. Many classes (Paladins struggle without Divine Sanction, Avengers are godawful with Dragon, etc etc etc) simply don't work even in low-op play without splats and Dragon material. Just read the handbooks on CharOp and get thoroughly used to the idea of reflavouring. 90% of the lovely and obsolete material is from the PHB series. And yeah, the books, by and large, are not things to be read on the loo unless you're a colossal nerd who's been playing for a few years and can actually parse and rate statblocks at a glance. Few of them have any worthwhile flavour in them at all (Heroes of the Feywild being a notable exception). If you don't have access to a digital CB (and aren't willing to get the one SA has, as a goonswarm, slightly stolen) then it's better advice, as it's somewhat more difficult to build from books in 4e, but don't restrict it to PH and Essentials, pick up what splats you can as well. With the advent of 5e, a whole bunch of people are ebaying their 4e stuff you can probably get it for cheap.
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Apr 20, 2014 08:49
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Yeah, don't use random loot, use wishlists. Bear in mind that the players are not the characters and vice versa. What the player wants to make his mechanics fun and what the character wants aren't the same thing. And again, don't be afraid to refluff. Just because it says 'frost weapon' doesn't mean it isn't something the PC is doing - and conversely, just because it says 'grandmaster training' doesn't mean it's not a posh new sword.
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Apr 20, 2014 09:44
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The other thing to consider might be to use the LFR treasure system - basically, one uncommon item per PC per level, no alternate rewards (boons etc) no rare items, common items are purchasable. Works pretty well.
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Apr 20, 2014 16:25
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:We might be starting at mid-paragon. I would be designing the whole character from the ground up, so it would be easy to pick up the options that have a good simplicity/reward tradeoff. She's played before but that was like 2008. I am thinking PHB ranger would be easy to play and be rewarding (really, most strikers). Strikers are generally the simplest to play (you have one job, Do Damage), but please, please don't start mid-paragon. Trying to learn to play 4e is difficult enough, trying to do it when nearly all of the complexities possible in the game have happened, is ridiculous. Slayers are easy, but unless they've got some actual tactical options (i.e. power swaps for Fighter powers, some feats that give bennies with CA, an interesting weapon) they very quickly become deadly boring.
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Apr 28, 2014 20:31
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Rexides posted:What if you just make a character using the companion rules? Basically something like a reskinned monster? She will participate for like, what? Two sessions tops? Yep, this. Get some of the baseline striker DPR/nova calculations (basically, for mid paragon, does ~50 damage per at-will attack, can kill a standard with an AP round), and make a character that does that. gently caress chargen rules, just make one. Hell, if she's only there for a session, just get her to describe what she's doing and work it out pretty much entirely narratively, it'll probably liven up the game no end.
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Apr 28, 2014 21:04
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Besides, you don't want a leader/defender hybrid, you just want a leader. A Warpriest can do a bit of off-defending if built right though. Essentials still needs feat taxes, but at least the essentials expertise feats all do something in addition to 1/2/3 to hit. But yeah, limiting to just essentials is kind of gonna get boring.
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Apr 30, 2014 22:34
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Yes, leader is by far the more necessary role. Without one, you'll have no access to surges during combat without spending standard actions (or healing potions for < surge value), which means combats will wind up on a knife edge; if someone goes down you choose between keeping yourself up by killing the enemy, or getting them back up. D&D doesn't work that well with 3, either. Suggested party size is usually 5.
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Apr 30, 2014 22:56
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Gort posted:There are plenty of defender powers that allow you to spend healing surges. I'd say defender is more necessary of the two roles. Definitely not mine. Without surge access for others on an encounter basis, you really struggle. It's not impossible to build a defender as an off-leader, but it's not easy. I've played in Defenderless parties and in Leaderless parties, and the latter is a LOT easier.
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May 2, 2014 19:53
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Cerepol posted:What do I do with a group that's 2 strikers and 2 controllers? Encounter wise they seem to get a bit screwed by everything. Should I just murder one and force a new character? Talk to the players about one or more of them changing class, and/or add a leader companion character.
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May 2, 2014 21:33
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P.d0t posted:Or just tack the basic leader mechanic onto an existing character. That too. All you really need is the smoothing effect on encounters of having during-encounter surge access on an encounter basis without someone needing to disengage from combat (ideally also boosted, or your adventuring day is sharply limited in length). The problem with most non-leader-class options is that they tend to be either limited per day, need to be melee touch range, or both. FWIW Blackguards can make benchmarks by charging, and are practically built for Frostcheese, but they're a: never gonna be sneaky, and b: not very flexible in terms of potential. They do what they do perfectly acceptably, but without access to multi-attacks they're never gonna be *good*.
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May 2, 2014 22:47
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fatherdog posted:A Blackguard with a full charge kit and/or Frostcheese is a very effective striker, they're just deadly loving dull to play. Very effective is pushing it. Able to meet CharOp benchmarks is accurate. Very effective is, for instance, a firewind blade-wielding flamesoul genasi Ranger|Cleric/Morninglord/Radiant One. For instance. Blackguards can do high single attacks for high single damage (with Dread Smite tacking on quite a bit more) but they have no native access to multi-attack standard actions or minor-action attacks, so they're never going to ascend to the heights of very effective. Also, definitely dull. E: STRaladins tend to have a VERY strong secondary in striker, moving into outright primary in places. thespaceinvader fucked around with this message at 08:05 on May 3, 2014 |
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May 3, 2014 08:03
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Kurieg posted:I can't help but think that's at least partially intentional, since Divine Challenge and Sanction work off of Cha, and there's only a feat fix for Challenge (unless you're a half orc) That one's just dumb writing, tbh. Making the fix feat for challenge work on sanction should be a given, given that it only doesn't because it was published before Sanction existed an no-one bothered updating it. But tbh, the damage isn't the scary thing about challenge/sanction anyway, at least at higher levels.
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May 3, 2014 17:13
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Favoured Soul is the earliest RAW way without requiring him to land, I believe. Though, for my money, you should let him take Summon Celestial Steed as a utility, then he can take a feat at 11th to make it a Pegasus.
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May 4, 2014 09:50
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 16:33 |
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That sounds like an balanced-to-difficult encounter, and you got unlucky (plus, first level can be super-swingy). Did no-one heal-check you (or just heal you)?
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May 5, 2014 08:27
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