The (overly) serious D&D interest thread...with discussion re: players

@arim: Okay, but Trixie can't carry much other stuff.

Is she going to need things like a bedroll and trail rations?

edited 10th Dec '09 3:26:47 PM by Matrix

As far as the generic equipment, you can purchase whatever you think would be useful. At minimum, you'll probably want a bedroll, a backpack, some amount of rations, and any tools that your class needs to function (a musical instrument for you, thieves' tools for GMH, and so on.) You may also want to purchase some number of implements that can be used to light dark places - torches, sunrods, a lantern, or the like. Your spellcaster-heavy party shouldn't have too much trouble preparing Light spells, but it's always useful to have a backup plan. You should also purchase an appropriate outfit from the clothing section. Also note that if you only have one, it doesn't count towards your weight limit.

When purchasing equipment, don't forget that you may be able to afford a few minor magical items as well. Basic ones can be found in the Dungeon Master's Guide, and there are many more in the Magic Item Compendium.

edited 10th Dec '09 3:48:04 PM by arimnaes

Well, Trixie's instrument is her vocal cords.

And she does have a backpack, bedroll, rations.

With everything added up, she's carrying a Heavy load, which at a glance, I don't particularily like.

Hmm...I thought I had an extra GM around here somewhere...

On an unrelated note: arim, your downloads hate me! [/whine]

Arimnaes: Will the campaign involve more combat, more exploring/dungeoneering/such, or more intrigue/diplomacy/character interaction?

I was thinking of building a rogue that fits that second archetype, as he/she would have an emphasis on Spot, Listen, Move Silently, Hide, Disable Device, Open Lock, and such things.

I was also considering multiclassing into wizard, in order to get the arcane trickster prestige class.

Do you think I would be best served if I changed my plans?

Addendum: Her carrying a heavy load gives her all these negative modifiers for various skills, and negatively affects her dexterity.

To a significant extent, the ratio of dungeoneering/combat to intrigue/diplomacy will be determined by how you guys choose to approach obstacles. On average, however, I expect the ratio will be something close to 60/40 or 70/30 in favor of combat.

Whether you want to go pure rogue or hybridize via Arcane Trickster is mostly dependent on what sorts of things you want your character to be able to do. If you stick with pure rogue, you'll be able to keep more ranks in the rogue skills, you'll have better sneak attack damage, and you'll get the rogue special abilities earlier. If you multiclass, you'll be able to supplement your skills with arcane spellcasting, but you'll at least three levels of progression behind a pure rogue in rogueliness and at least three levels behind a pure wizard in spellcasting. In time, you could become The Mario, but you'd spending quite a while as a Master of None first. As a system, Dungeons And Dragons tends to reward specialization over generalization. You should also take into consideration that you're in a party that already includes three arcane spellcasters but no other rogues.

Bottom line: I would advise against it, but if you strongly want to take your character in that direction, you should go for it.

Ironeye: What manner of antipathy towards you are my downloads exhibiting?

edited 10th Dec '09 6:29:23 PM by arimnaes

Hmm, thanks for the input. I hadn't thought about my party composition.

I was originally thinking of my character wanting to make his/her life easier with the application of divination magic and justifying it that way. I'll think of a way to justify not doing that. Perhaps, never getting around to it. Since my character will likely start with three levels of rogue anyway.

Speaking of which, which do you like better, scout or rogue? Or are there other non-core classes that you think are strictly better than rogue?

Also, am I allowed to take luck-based feats such as Lucky Fingers?

They like to fail on me after about five minutes. This means that the interactive character sheet was cake to get, but the others mock me. They mock me!

Hey arim, I'd like to ask you about something. Can you get on Vent?

I didn't mind the character sheet, although one that I scrounged up on the web was more coherent. Problem is, I didn't save my character. Who was finished.

arim, do you want us to send you our character stats when we're done with them? Or maybe just post them here?

I found a combination of feats that could be potentially very powerful.

Lyric Spell + Extra Music.

Lyric Spell lets Bards expend daily uses of music to cast spells, and Extra Music gives them more daily uses of spells, and you can take Extra Music multiple times.

Yay for having a bajillion spell slots!

Oh and also, nobody's addressed my earlier concern of my character's heavy load. Or am I seeing problems where there are none?

Here is my character.

I am a Sorcerer. Woot. This will be fun times.

Posting your character information here would probably be most helpful, since that way the other players can comment on it. Feel free to post your ideas for your characters' backstories as well, so that people can work out how their characters' pasts might intersect.

I haven't done the actual mechanical creation bit yet, but I've decided on a half-elf druid. Probably Chaotic Neutral. The backstory is that her mother was a hedonistic member of the upper class who one day went "slumming" and had a fling with an elf. In order to avoid the scandal of giving birth to a half-elf, she concocted a cover-up and had the baby abandoned in the woods, where she was found by...I haven't decided yet. I'm open to suggestions, as long as they're not of the Raised by Wolves variety.

She was found by a group of druids living in said woods?

Sure, Why Not?.

Trixie Devalle

You need to make sure to put in your base saves, Matrix. A third level bard should be 1/3/3.

Oh. How are those calculated, by the way?

Okay, done.

edited 11th Dec '09 12:15:09 AM by Matrix

It's just a table that you look up for your class. You can reference one for bards here.

Ah, okay.

Also, they're thankfully not totally arbitrary. For any given class, each save will either have a good progression or a poor progression. At class level N, the good base saves will be equal to (2 + N/2) and the poor base saves equal to N/3, each rounded down.