Dungeons and Dragons

Kaden

So 4e story. I was playing shepherd to a bunch of newbie players in my group's introductory campaign and running a swordmage. It was the final battle and our DM threw a young black dragon our way. Being the tank, I got banged up so bad that one more hit would drop me, so I decided I'd do something different. I was running the swordmage build where I get to teleport the enemy I marked to a square adjacent to me if it damaged someone other than me. So I run to the nearest house and just hid and waited. The dragon attacked someone, hit, and I teleported it straight into the house. My turn comes next and I step out of the way and run far far away. The DM ruled that it counted as the dragon being immobilized for a turn, buying everyone time. Then I repeated it again and again until were able to beat it. :P

Tvistor

Tactical genius.

Friztic

Why didn't it just destroy the house? Lizard with hit points?

Oh wait, I was thinking young adult. Still, could've breathed acid on the house, darkness on itself, and run away, but I don't really know 4e so I can't be sure of any of that.

Nellaundra

I'm not positive about this, but don't most dragons have greater teleport?

Kaden

It could do the darkness and the acid but not the teleport but no one would be in range of the breath weapon either way.

Friztic

Ok, but he could have destroyed the building with the breath weapon unless it was made of stone, and even then it would just have taken a bit longer.

Sounds like some lizard with hit points, might want to chastise your GM for it :P

Nellaundra

Friztic said:

Ok, but he could have destroyed the building with the breath weapon unless it was made of stone, and even then it would just have taken a bit longer. Sounds like some lizard with hit points, might want to chastise your GM for it :P

To quote the Spoony One.

Dragons should not be bloody cannon fodder.  They should use -all- of their abilities.  They're more intelligent than almost any other race.

Antidas

i have never played D&D before...but i'd be down for learning if we do get a game up and running, and people are willing to put up with my noobness

Katzchen

Someone experienced take pity on us, and set an online game up. :P

Xaetherian

I will be glad to dm, I'll see if I can afford a webcam for roll20 this week. The only problem I see with an online game is giving all of you players the DM Guide and the Players Handbook, or at least the PH, it's nearly essential to anyone who wants to play, otherwise the DM will spend the first few session simply looking up and explaining rules.

Katzchen

Is there no copy online of the guide books?

I was looking at buying them a while back, no idea which ones to get though. I'd have to get a webcam too, but that's easy enough.

ETA: This? http://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/Book/Dungeons--Dragons-Players-Handbook/2569829/

Friztic

Can do Pathfinder. All the rules are online for that.

I could also DM it if enough people want.

Rispok

There are pdf files for most 4e books, probably older systems as well. Just steal them like everybody else does.

Friztic

I've made it a point to not pirate anything anymore unless it is so old you can't find it otherwise. Things are only as valuable as you treat them, and if I like a product then the producer of said product should get paid. That's how things improve, and how people in the various entertainment industries eat. I just refuse to be that 'one guy' who steals and justifies it by saying 'they already made enough money off of this', which is what you do if you pirate thinking that you alone aren't taking bread out of their mouths/pockets.

Katzchen

Friztic said:

I've made it a point to not pirate anything anymore unless it is so old you can't find it otherwise. Things are only as valuable as you treat them, and if I like a product then the producer of said product should get paid. That's how things improve, and how people in the various entertainment industries eat. I just refuse to be that 'one guy' who steals and justifies it by saying 'they already made enough money off of this', which is what you do if you pirate thinking that you alone aren't taking bread out of their mouths/pockets.

Especially considering they only appear to be around $20 US!

Trey

Dorn said:

I'm in a Pathfinder campaign IRL.

My DM's openly admitted he's turned down perfectly reasonable ideas I've suggested for fear of what I'll do with them.

I've short-circuited the plot three times now with DC50 knowledge checks (at level 5/6), and we've gone five sessions without spending more than five rounds in combat. I know more about an alien race descended from madness than the race themselves know.

Wizard3/Priest3, going into Mystic Theurge. (Priest was a hell of a find - extra skill points, better channelling, an extra domain, at the cost of armour (which I can't use) and combat ability (which I don't use).

You're exactly what's wrong with most campaigns.

Nellaundra

Trey said:

Dorn said:

I'm in a Pathfinder campaign IRL.

My DM's openly admitted he's turned down perfectly reasonable ideas I've suggested for fear of what I'll do with them.

I've short-circuited the plot three times now with DC50 knowledge checks (at level 5/6), and we've gone five sessions without spending more than five rounds in combat. I know more about an alien race descended from madness than the race themselves know.

Wizard3/Priest3, going into Mystic Theurge. (Priest was a hell of a find - extra skill points, better channelling, an extra domain, at the cost of armour (which I can't use) and combat ability (which I don't use).

You're exactly what's wrong with most campaigns.

Being a bit of a Munchkin isn't -bad-.  But, taken to stupid levels it's awful.  I tend to powergame just a slight bit, but I never do anything that doesn't make sense ICly (unless that's the point of the game, ala Disgaea or something)

Xaetherian

Friztic is correct, Pathfinder(3.75) is an open sourced game easily availible, I believe, on the Wizards website. It's also nice cause it's backwards compatible with 3.5 material those of us who have/wish to buy/steal 3.5 books.

Dorn

Trey said:

Dorn said:

I'm in a Pathfinder campaign IRL.

My DM's openly admitted he's turned down perfectly reasonable ideas I've suggested for fear of what I'll do with them.

I've short-circuited the plot three times now with DC50 knowledge checks (at level 5/6), and we've gone five sessions without spending more than five rounds in combat. I know more about an alien race descended from madness than the race themselves know.

Wizard3/Priest3, going into Mystic Theurge. (Priest was a hell of a find - extra skill points, better channelling, an extra domain, at the cost of armour (which I can't use) and combat ability (which I don't use).

You're exactly what's wrong with most campaigns.

Is it the short-circuitings or the combining reasonable ideas to pull off crazy-awesome? Because the short-circuitings are bypassing clue-finding/drifting sections of the campaign, mostly - doesn't matter if I know everything about the alien race from the plane of madness infesting people, they're still around, nobody else knows about them, and they're infesting nobility.

As for the crazy-awesome, I think every player tries for that, don't they? I use combinations of cantrips to do pretty much everything from cleaning to research to photocopying and invent new spells as a hobby. Our sorceress talked the DM into allowing us to use Shocking Grasp as a last-ditch resurrection ("Clear!"). Our rogue stole the -pants- off of a pair of sentries before stealing the dice they were using to gamble and rolling sevens. Our fighter doesn't have to roll damage for most things anymore.

With regards to 'munchkinning', I power-game to the degree my character would push. Thaumatologist Chalenna Aurelia is a bookworm and magical prodigy. Magic and knowledge are her focuses, as is language. She's passable at diplomacy, not -awful- at bluffing, and can get a decent read of the average person. She had to be shown how to use a sling, and it took her a week before she figured it out. She has a dagger, but the one and only time she's used it was to perform emergency surgery. She's the -definition- of Squishy Wizard.

To me, the only real thing that's 'wrong' with any gaming group is when the players and the GM are working against each other. Not competing - some groups like the idea of having the GM be out to get them and them taking on whatever he can throw at them - but working against the enjoyment of the others. If you have one horrible powergamey munchkin in a party taking all the spotlight and glory, that's a problem - just like if you have one drama-queen roleplayer in a party of munchkins who insists on making every session about their tragic backstory, that's also a problem. Or a player who thinks the point is to break the GM's plot, or a GM who thinks the point is to punish the players for anything he can get away with.

Friztic

How exactly are you making dc50 anything checks at level 6? Furthermore, what kind of GM is letting you use a knowledge skill that can ruin his plot? How does that even work? Weak plot/GM?

Sigge

I would also love to learn to play a d20 game, I know I have a pair of Player Handbooks here somewhere, one is older and the other is newer. I'll try and find them and tell you what versions they are...

Tvistor

Once I made a drow assassin/rogue/swashbuckler with a spiked chain, combat reflexes and a bunch of other carefully chosen feats.

Basically I could destroy absolutely anything in melee without darkvision.

Sigge

Ok, I have the D&D Second editions Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide, and the Third editions Players Handbook, Monster Manual, and Deities and Demigods...

I have an account on that d20 site now, and all the time in the world except on Wensdays, Fridays, and Sundays when I go to work at 6PM untill whenever I'm done (Usually 2-3 hours) if anyone wants to play. I also wouldn't mind a 1 on 1 session just to learn how to play if anyone's willing!

Chryenth

Powergamer ruining your campaign?

Suddenly, Mistwraiths out of nowhere.

They beat it? Koloss rampage.

Ruth

@Chryenth. We need to play a Mistborn campaign now.

Chryenth

Maybe we do. Maybe we do.

Time to check out this RollD20 site, or whatever it was called.

Trey

Also, if anyone wants to run 4E, I have a level 1 hybrid that I've been dying to try out in at least one encounter.

Dorn

Friztic said:

How exactly are you making dc50 anything checks at level 6? Furthermore, what kind of GM is letting you use a knowledge skill that can ruin his plot? How does that even work? Weak plot/GM?

I said short-circuit. I'm getting shortcuts and bypassing information-gathering by virtue of already having the information. Like I said, I know all about the alien race infesting people - big whoop, I still need to get people to do something about it, and I don't know who's infested. THAT'S the plot. (Among about five or six other threads - knowing everything going on sometimes makes life harder for us >.>)

As for how - high rolls, a few stacked buffs, exploding action dice, and a combination of a high Int, Bardic Knowledge equivalent, and the Knowledge domain making every Knowledge skill a class skill for me. I have +10 to every Knowledge minimum from one rank invested.

This is basically what I've built my character to do. Knowledge, lore, information. She's a caster, but she's really not going to get up to snuff for another two levels - and then the sorceress will still be a full spell level ahead of her.

Friztic

Buffs don't stack in pathfinder, for one, but lets do the math.

At sixth level, you have a max of 6 ranks in anything, plus 3 for class bonus. Then lets assume that you're rocking a 24 int with enchantment, that's another six. We're at 15, then we add 3 for bardic knowledge to make it 18. Now, if you roll a 20, then you need no less than 12 on your action dice, and depending on what type and how many, I reckon it's possible, but that's a lot of 'if's.

Action dice makes some sense of it, at least. Must've been a hell of a couple of rolls.

Nakari

Nellaundra said:

Trey said:

Dorn said:

I'm in a Pathfinder campaign IRL.

My DM's openly admitted he's turned down perfectly reasonable ideas I've suggested for fear of what I'll do with them.

I've short-circuited the plot three times now with DC50 knowledge checks (at level 5/6), and we've gone five sessions without spending more than five rounds in combat. I know more about an alien race descended from madness than the race themselves know.

Wizard3/Priest3, going into Mystic Theurge. (Priest was a hell of a find - extra skill points, better channelling, an extra domain, at the cost of armour (which I can't use) and combat ability (which I don't use).

You're exactly what's wrong with most campaigns.

Being a bit of a Munchkin isn't -bad-.  But, taken to stupid levels it's awful.  I tend to powergame just a slight bit, but I never do anything that doesn't make sense ICly (unless that's the point of the game, ala Disgaea or something)

sounds like an appropriate time to link to the stormwind fallacy

besides which, vanilla entry mystic theurge is, if anything, underpowered. You're behind three levels in both your casting classes, and more importantly have nowhere to really go afterwards, denying you that crucial 9th level in both spell casting sets.

My personal preference is wiz 1/clr 3 using precious apprentice and focused specialist as early entry cheese of choice (I thin it's less questionably legal then most of the others). It gives you two levels on the divine side of things at later levels, and can at least bring you to 9th arcane and 8th divine. this thread is much better on it: Mystic Theurge handbook