Shawnacy's 4E D&D Game! (Thread allowed 30 pages)
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doomdragon6
Staff member
Change o' plans, guys. Looks like I'll be playing this Thursday after all.
*watches as none of you care* =D
Are Julie and Daryll... Darell... Darryl.. Dare-ell back yet? She made one post and I assumed they were back, but haven't said anything since. Is internet still gone or do they just not care to post at the moment?
*watches as none of you care* =D
Are Julie and Daryll... Darell... Darryl.. Dare-ell back yet? She made one post and I assumed they were back, but haven't said anything since. Is internet still gone or do they just not care to post at the moment?
We're back. Someone actually cut our wire with a knife or wire-cutters. Might have been Ass-rack.
Anyway, barring any other catastrophe, we're on for Jay's game tomorrow and Shawn's on Thursday. I'll listen to the recording before Thursday (thanks Doom!) and make sure Julie and mine's vent allows us to be recording.
Edit: Darryl.
Anyway, barring any other catastrophe, we're on for Jay's game tomorrow and Shawn's on Thursday. I'll listen to the recording before Thursday (thanks Doom!) and make sure Julie and mine's vent allows us to be recording.
Edit: Darryl.
aranoid:
doomdragon6
Staff member
Lookin' forward to Thursday's game. Grah, hurry up!
Oh yeah, Shawn, I think you were asking us (When Gurpel disappeared, I think?) what we thought of the game so far or if we had any suggestions-- and of course, I couldn't really think of much then, but just because I have way too much time and you mentioned it, I figured I'd post sum'n or other.
First of all, lovin' the campaign. You're a kickass DM and I'm definitely excited to see what kind of stuff we're going to run into next-- especially knowing the "available areas" with the previous adventurers and whatnot. I liked the baby drake coming to our "rescue" last session too.
As for suggestions, it's mostly in terms of encounters. Storytelling and flavor text is excellent.
For encounters though, I'd say maybe up the ante on a few of 'em. I don't know how my comrades feel, but sometimes I feel the combats are too easy. Like, with the last "boss battle," while I was even near death at least twice, I never felt an "Oh shit" moment, and I knew we'd be able to wear Bejek down pretty quickly. Granted, I'm sure you had to scale the encounter down to account for 2 missing people, so I dunno how that affected things.
I don't even think I mean make the enemies harder-- combats last fairly long as it is. I think maybe we just need to feel like we're making progress during a long battle. i.e, with minions and such. I remember my favorite encounters being with the kobolds and large goblin parties, but that may have been because we were just starting out.
Also, maybe more magic casters. Sometimes the most challenging enemy is one that just keeps exploding area of effects around your party while you're trying to take out the smaller guys who are clustered together. I just feel a distinct lack of mages in our combats. That may change as we're heading to a Feywild place soon, though.
I'm not complaining, of course-- you've given us lots of varied encounters that fit the situation wonderfully, and nothing's ever felt out of place or forced, so really, just keep doin' what you're doin'. I've never DMed before, so what do I know.
Finally, loot: I'm not saying give us a magical lightning sword every room, but just finding things is fun enough for me. Like in our first session, we raided bedrooms and found gems. Or heck, just finding Bejek's chest-- There were important quest papers in it, but there was also that piece of Eternal Chalk. When the hell will we use some chalk? Who knows! But it was something and it was fun to find. Even finding 30 gold here or there (thus giving us 5 gold each) is enough to keep the "loot interest" satiated. It's just fun to go somewhere and take things, even if it's not a glorious magical item. Hell, I was elated that Serin found 3 gold in the beds when I searched. Just little stuff like that is good. Maybe others don't feel the same, but I love exploring.
A recent example would be in Jay's game where Adi-I mean Aurora, found a necklace on one of the corpses in the pile. It wasn't a big amazing item, but it was still nifty and I was like, "Ah, cool," while I was listening.
I mostly went on that huge rant to clarify that when I mention loot (like I have several times) that I don't mean something epic everytime.
Well anyway. Those are my thoughts. Here's hoping you actually asked and I didn't just imagine that.
Coming soon: Serin journals?
Oh yeah, Shawn, I think you were asking us (When Gurpel disappeared, I think?) what we thought of the game so far or if we had any suggestions-- and of course, I couldn't really think of much then, but just because I have way too much time and you mentioned it, I figured I'd post sum'n or other.
First of all, lovin' the campaign. You're a kickass DM and I'm definitely excited to see what kind of stuff we're going to run into next-- especially knowing the "available areas" with the previous adventurers and whatnot. I liked the baby drake coming to our "rescue" last session too.
As for suggestions, it's mostly in terms of encounters. Storytelling and flavor text is excellent.
For encounters though, I'd say maybe up the ante on a few of 'em. I don't know how my comrades feel, but sometimes I feel the combats are too easy. Like, with the last "boss battle," while I was even near death at least twice, I never felt an "Oh shit" moment, and I knew we'd be able to wear Bejek down pretty quickly. Granted, I'm sure you had to scale the encounter down to account for 2 missing people, so I dunno how that affected things.
I don't even think I mean make the enemies harder-- combats last fairly long as it is. I think maybe we just need to feel like we're making progress during a long battle. i.e, with minions and such. I remember my favorite encounters being with the kobolds and large goblin parties, but that may have been because we were just starting out.
Also, maybe more magic casters. Sometimes the most challenging enemy is one that just keeps exploding area of effects around your party while you're trying to take out the smaller guys who are clustered together. I just feel a distinct lack of mages in our combats. That may change as we're heading to a Feywild place soon, though.
I'm not complaining, of course-- you've given us lots of varied encounters that fit the situation wonderfully, and nothing's ever felt out of place or forced, so really, just keep doin' what you're doin'. I've never DMed before, so what do I know.
Finally, loot: I'm not saying give us a magical lightning sword every room, but just finding things is fun enough for me. Like in our first session, we raided bedrooms and found gems. Or heck, just finding Bejek's chest-- There were important quest papers in it, but there was also that piece of Eternal Chalk. When the hell will we use some chalk? Who knows! But it was something and it was fun to find. Even finding 30 gold here or there (thus giving us 5 gold each) is enough to keep the "loot interest" satiated. It's just fun to go somewhere and take things, even if it's not a glorious magical item. Hell, I was elated that Serin found 3 gold in the beds when I searched. Just little stuff like that is good. Maybe others don't feel the same, but I love exploring.
A recent example would be in Jay's game where Adi-I mean Aurora, found a necklace on one of the corpses in the pile. It wasn't a big amazing item, but it was still nifty and I was like, "Ah, cool," while I was listening.
I mostly went on that huge rant to clarify that when I mention loot (like I have several times) that I don't mean something epic everytime.
Well anyway. Those are my thoughts. Here's hoping you actually asked and I didn't just imagine that.
Coming soon: Serin journals?
doomdragon6
Staff member
Serin’s New Journal, 3rd Entry
I’m in a barn.
A dirty, smelly barn, trapped alone with a bunch of oafish beasts.
There’s a few animals in here too.
Hehe.
Ehem.. I find this humor rather uncharacteristic of me. Well… I haven’t felt this way in a long time, at least.
Maybe travelling with this group of bickering children is good for me. I can’t describe how I feel.. They remind me of when I was back home.. With my family.. I guess, in a way, these guys are my new family. They accept me for what I am and don’t judge me based on my race. They protect me, and I protect them. We eat together, sleep together, laugh together..
Bah.. They often bring up that I don’t talk much. But what’s there to be said? I don’t have time to talk about fancy clothes and the weather and how good this flower smells.
Maybe I’ll try to open up some more. Try to act more cheerful. Maybe show some interest when Adia explains to me why this dress is prettier than that one.
…. I often compare my recent writings to my very first journal entry.. It’s the only scrap I could save after I was caught by the guard. Sigh. Reading it now, I feel like I’m reading the words of a completely different person. I can’t imagine ever having been that happy, or so hopeful of the future. What’s happened to me? Have I really gotten so cold?
}-------------------------------------{
}---------A piece of the page of singed------{ind my family. I can only hope they’re still
}-----------------------------------------{ trow and make him pay. Then maybe I can finally
}---------------{ to a normal life. I can only hope..
The above maiming of my memoirs is courtesy of Fyoosh, by the way. He crawled out of Draconic book I found and now he won’t go away. I tried shaking him off and throwing him away but he seems to be magically linked to me, so it looks like I’m stuck with him.
Not being able to sleep gives you too much time to think. And I’ve been thinking about what it is I’m trying to do with these people. Sure, I’m looking for my family, but when I started out on my own I set out to make a name for myself as well. I wanted to prove to the world that Shapeshifters aren’t all a bunch of evil demons come to steal your identity. But what have I done to accomplish that?
Nothing.
Everywhere I go I remain hidden. Throughout our travels, I’ve been an elf, a human, goblins, dragonborn.. Everything but myself. Even now, sitting in this barn with sleeping animals, I’m disguised as a human female. Why? Surely these townspeople owe me. Surely, if I were to reveal my true identity, they would accept me as a good person, wouldn’t they?
….. Wouldn’t they?
…. Sigh..
I guess I’m too scared to reveal myself. Here, under the blankets of my natural racial tendencies, I can hide from the big scary monsters known as society. If I were to remove the blanket, I would surely be gobbled up whole. And what of my travelling companions? Can they risk being labeled as demon sympathizers?
Who am I kidding.. My race is doomed to live in the shadows for eternity. A shadow cannot venture into the light without being destroyed.
It is simply impossible.
Anyway, it seems that Fyoosh has taken it upon himself to curl in my lap and get in the way of my pen writing.
What an annoying little bugger.
------------------------------------------------
Not Shakespeare, but a little character development can't hurt, especially since she sure as hell doesn't vocalize anything.
I’m in a barn.
A dirty, smelly barn, trapped alone with a bunch of oafish beasts.
There’s a few animals in here too.
Hehe.
Ehem.. I find this humor rather uncharacteristic of me. Well… I haven’t felt this way in a long time, at least.
Maybe travelling with this group of bickering children is good for me. I can’t describe how I feel.. They remind me of when I was back home.. With my family.. I guess, in a way, these guys are my new family. They accept me for what I am and don’t judge me based on my race. They protect me, and I protect them. We eat together, sleep together, laugh together..
Bah.. They often bring up that I don’t talk much. But what’s there to be said? I don’t have time to talk about fancy clothes and the weather and how good this flower smells.
Maybe I’ll try to open up some more. Try to act more cheerful. Maybe show some interest when Adia explains to me why this dress is prettier than that one.
…. I often compare my recent writings to my very first journal entry.. It’s the only scrap I could save after I was caught by the guard. Sigh. Reading it now, I feel like I’m reading the words of a completely different person. I can’t imagine ever having been that happy, or so hopeful of the future. What’s happened to me? Have I really gotten so cold?
}-------------------------------------{
}---------A piece of the page of singed------{ind my family. I can only hope they’re still
}-----------------------------------------{ trow and make him pay. Then maybe I can finally
}---------------{ to a normal life. I can only hope..
The above maiming of my memoirs is courtesy of Fyoosh, by the way. He crawled out of Draconic book I found and now he won’t go away. I tried shaking him off and throwing him away but he seems to be magically linked to me, so it looks like I’m stuck with him.
Not being able to sleep gives you too much time to think. And I’ve been thinking about what it is I’m trying to do with these people. Sure, I’m looking for my family, but when I started out on my own I set out to make a name for myself as well. I wanted to prove to the world that Shapeshifters aren’t all a bunch of evil demons come to steal your identity. But what have I done to accomplish that?
Nothing.
Everywhere I go I remain hidden. Throughout our travels, I’ve been an elf, a human, goblins, dragonborn.. Everything but myself. Even now, sitting in this barn with sleeping animals, I’m disguised as a human female. Why? Surely these townspeople owe me. Surely, if I were to reveal my true identity, they would accept me as a good person, wouldn’t they?
….. Wouldn’t they?
…. Sigh..
I guess I’m too scared to reveal myself. Here, under the blankets of my natural racial tendencies, I can hide from the big scary monsters known as society. If I were to remove the blanket, I would surely be gobbled up whole. And what of my travelling companions? Can they risk being labeled as demon sympathizers?
Who am I kidding.. My race is doomed to live in the shadows for eternity. A shadow cannot venture into the light without being destroyed.
It is simply impossible.
Anyway, it seems that Fyoosh has taken it upon himself to curl in my lap and get in the way of my pen writing.
What an annoying little bugger.
------------------------------------------------
Not Shakespeare, but a little character development can't hurt, especially since she sure as hell doesn't vocalize anything.
doomdragon6
Staff member
Woot! We're goin' to Astra-... Astru.. Astrazar.. Australia in two hours! Woo!
doomdragon6
Staff member
Inventory since we've begun:
Ancient Dragonborn Dagger
Potion of Healing (1)
Power Jewel
Riding Horse named Whisper
Antivenom (1)
Eternal Chalk (1)
Alchemist's Acid (1) (Is this what we found?)
Vicejaw Scale (1)
Warwing Drake Scale (1)
Amulet of Health+1
Communal Dagger +1
Total Gold: 512 gp
Pretty soon Serin'll probably add all these scales to her Sehanine pendant.
Ancient Dragonborn Dagger
Potion of Healing (1)
Power Jewel
Riding Horse named Whisper
Antivenom (1)
Eternal Chalk (1)
Alchemist's Acid (1) (Is this what we found?)
Vicejaw Scale (1)
Warwing Drake Scale (1)
Amulet of Health+1
Communal Dagger +1
Total Gold: 512 gp
Pretty soon Serin'll probably add all these scales to her Sehanine pendant.
My total inventory:
Grappling Hook
Adventurer's Kit
Warhammer
Trident
Battleaxe
Scale Armor
Shield of Protection
Warhorse
Potion of Healing
480 gold
Grappling Hook
Adventurer's Kit
Warhammer
Trident
Battleaxe
Scale Armor
Shield of Protection
Warhorse
Potion of Healing
480 gold
Chapter 5 (part 1) "Dim the Lights"
As they prepared to continue toward Astrazalian, Adia found herself alone with her horse Fabio. Fabio began to speak in the common tongue which nearly snapped the Elf's already fragile mind. Once she calmed down, and Saryon began to approach from all the racket, Fabio quickly told her he would give her more information later, but would not speak around the others. As the party adventured forth they entered a dense forest that stood between them and their destination. Camping for the first night the party set up watches and Adia positioned herself far from the main group feeling somewhat isolated and hurt that the others were beginning to question her sanity. As Saryon kept an eye on things during the second watch, the odd sound of organ music, as if from a circus, began to resonate through the woods. Adia, mid trance, suddenly felt and heard the voice of her mother calling out for her. Startled awake she saw that the others were already moving about trying to learn more about the odd music.
Grendmir moved up ahead, and discovered that a small carnival of tents and wagons had been set up not far from their camp. A perimeter of lights made the place glow brightly and everything seemed in good repair, but not a soul was in sight. As the party moved closer they noticed a wooden booth on the perimeter with a loop of tickets, a wooden bowl, and a sign that read "Welcome to Ringmaster Euric's Carnival of Wonders. 1 Gold per attraction". Adia seemed delighted with this new concept and deposited 5 gold and took her tickets. Kratash decided to try this place as well and bought 3. Errik ripped off a ticket from afar using magic and didn't seem surprised that nothing happened as a result of his "theft". As Kratash neared a tent a tall and gangly gentleman in a black ringmaster's uniform, handsome good looks, piercing blue eyes, and a tall top hat emerged and bowed. "Welcome" he said. When asked why he would set up a circus out in the middle of the forest he simply claimed "I go where the business is. And while business may be slow, it's still business." When someone remarked that he still didn't have any business he countered with "Ah! But I believe I have already made 8 sales, plus one admission not yet paid" too which Errik couldn't help but look guilty. When asked how he set this up on his own, he proclaimed "I have an assistant. Morte!" and out hopped a hunchbacked human who made a less than eloquent bow. The party addressed that he couldn't possibly have set this up with only Morte's help and Euric blinked and stated "Well he's a very good assistant".
When asked what he suggested Euric looked the party over and said "I believe you all feel you lack control over your lives. With that, I suggest the marionette show to give you a new perspective on how much control you actually have". Adia was gleeful over this, and a bit smitten over the curious gentleman, and followed him to the puppet cart. Kratash slipped into the fortune teller's tent and found Morte enter afterwards affixing a wig to his head. After giving several ambiguous predictions, Morte suddenly claimed "I feel that you have had a brush with your heritage, but did not know it at the time". Kratash wanted more details but Morte quickly slipped away as he was apparently also the puppeteer for the marionette show and stepped into position behind the stage. As Adia and Serin watched form the seats and the rest from far enough where they didn't feel they required purchasing a ticket, six puppets dropped onto the stage that seemed to be crude puppets of everyone in the party. "One day," began Morte ", six adventures traveled. Saryon the cleric. Grendmir the bold. Kratash the Impatient. Serin the master of disguises. Errik the righter of past misdeeds. And Adia the Dark." and as Morte bounded the bundle of puppets up in down in a crude simulation of walking, the party lost focus of the world and found themselves walking in an unfamiliar and twisted forest.
Climbing a tree to check the stars, Adia concluded they were no where near where they started and that there was a village not far ahead. As dawn approached and Adia neared the town she saw two children doing chores in front of a farm house. They seemed surprised to see her and when asked where they're parents were, the oldest of the two would only answer "They're away". The younger child, a girl named Giselle took a liking to Adia. As playful organ music started to play the children all dropped what they were doing and starting moving towards the center of town, with not an adult in sight. Giselle lead Adia to the front row of the theater, while the others filled in nearby. A miniature stage had been set up on the main stage, and a puppet show of expert quality began. A tale of a kidnapped princess, her dragon tormentor, and a brave knight with rosy cheeks who came to rescue her. As the curtain fell on the small stage and the children clapped and filed out, Errik noticed it was a bit odd that the performer of the show did not emerge to take his bows. Bez was sent in first but after a few minutes of no reply Errik realized that Bez had somehow been destroyed. As Errik concentrated to summon Bez back to the material plane, Kratash investigated the dark backstage of the theater, seeing nothing but lifeless puppets and stage props. Hearing someone whisper "psst", Kratash leaned down to investigate, but as he emerged from the curtain he shrugged as his search didn't seem to turn up anything amiss. The rest of the crew moved backstage to see what they could have possibly missed and how the puppeteer could have evaded them. Suddenly the main curtain rose just enough that the knight puppet from the earlier show dropped down and as the strings went taught it raised it's papermache sword and in a shrill voice said "You are surrounded! Give up while you still can!" Adia, in a move that seemed more Kratash-like in appearance, tackled the puppet and yanked on the strings to unmask the mysterious puppeteer. But the strings fell limp and no one was there to be seen. And that is when the puppet turned its head, scowled, and said "Oh now you're really in trouble".
As they prepared to continue toward Astrazalian, Adia found herself alone with her horse Fabio. Fabio began to speak in the common tongue which nearly snapped the Elf's already fragile mind. Once she calmed down, and Saryon began to approach from all the racket, Fabio quickly told her he would give her more information later, but would not speak around the others. As the party adventured forth they entered a dense forest that stood between them and their destination. Camping for the first night the party set up watches and Adia positioned herself far from the main group feeling somewhat isolated and hurt that the others were beginning to question her sanity. As Saryon kept an eye on things during the second watch, the odd sound of organ music, as if from a circus, began to resonate through the woods. Adia, mid trance, suddenly felt and heard the voice of her mother calling out for her. Startled awake she saw that the others were already moving about trying to learn more about the odd music.
Grendmir moved up ahead, and discovered that a small carnival of tents and wagons had been set up not far from their camp. A perimeter of lights made the place glow brightly and everything seemed in good repair, but not a soul was in sight. As the party moved closer they noticed a wooden booth on the perimeter with a loop of tickets, a wooden bowl, and a sign that read "Welcome to Ringmaster Euric's Carnival of Wonders. 1 Gold per attraction". Adia seemed delighted with this new concept and deposited 5 gold and took her tickets. Kratash decided to try this place as well and bought 3. Errik ripped off a ticket from afar using magic and didn't seem surprised that nothing happened as a result of his "theft". As Kratash neared a tent a tall and gangly gentleman in a black ringmaster's uniform, handsome good looks, piercing blue eyes, and a tall top hat emerged and bowed. "Welcome" he said. When asked why he would set up a circus out in the middle of the forest he simply claimed "I go where the business is. And while business may be slow, it's still business." When someone remarked that he still didn't have any business he countered with "Ah! But I believe I have already made 8 sales, plus one admission not yet paid" too which Errik couldn't help but look guilty. When asked how he set this up on his own, he proclaimed "I have an assistant. Morte!" and out hopped a hunchbacked human who made a less than eloquent bow. The party addressed that he couldn't possibly have set this up with only Morte's help and Euric blinked and stated "Well he's a very good assistant".
When asked what he suggested Euric looked the party over and said "I believe you all feel you lack control over your lives. With that, I suggest the marionette show to give you a new perspective on how much control you actually have". Adia was gleeful over this, and a bit smitten over the curious gentleman, and followed him to the puppet cart. Kratash slipped into the fortune teller's tent and found Morte enter afterwards affixing a wig to his head. After giving several ambiguous predictions, Morte suddenly claimed "I feel that you have had a brush with your heritage, but did not know it at the time". Kratash wanted more details but Morte quickly slipped away as he was apparently also the puppeteer for the marionette show and stepped into position behind the stage. As Adia and Serin watched form the seats and the rest from far enough where they didn't feel they required purchasing a ticket, six puppets dropped onto the stage that seemed to be crude puppets of everyone in the party. "One day," began Morte ", six adventures traveled. Saryon the cleric. Grendmir the bold. Kratash the Impatient. Serin the master of disguises. Errik the righter of past misdeeds. And Adia the Dark." and as Morte bounded the bundle of puppets up in down in a crude simulation of walking, the party lost focus of the world and found themselves walking in an unfamiliar and twisted forest.
Climbing a tree to check the stars, Adia concluded they were no where near where they started and that there was a village not far ahead. As dawn approached and Adia neared the town she saw two children doing chores in front of a farm house. They seemed surprised to see her and when asked where they're parents were, the oldest of the two would only answer "They're away". The younger child, a girl named Giselle took a liking to Adia. As playful organ music started to play the children all dropped what they were doing and starting moving towards the center of town, with not an adult in sight. Giselle lead Adia to the front row of the theater, while the others filled in nearby. A miniature stage had been set up on the main stage, and a puppet show of expert quality began. A tale of a kidnapped princess, her dragon tormentor, and a brave knight with rosy cheeks who came to rescue her. As the curtain fell on the small stage and the children clapped and filed out, Errik noticed it was a bit odd that the performer of the show did not emerge to take his bows. Bez was sent in first but after a few minutes of no reply Errik realized that Bez had somehow been destroyed. As Errik concentrated to summon Bez back to the material plane, Kratash investigated the dark backstage of the theater, seeing nothing but lifeless puppets and stage props. Hearing someone whisper "psst", Kratash leaned down to investigate, but as he emerged from the curtain he shrugged as his search didn't seem to turn up anything amiss. The rest of the crew moved backstage to see what they could have possibly missed and how the puppeteer could have evaded them. Suddenly the main curtain rose just enough that the knight puppet from the earlier show dropped down and as the strings went taught it raised it's papermache sword and in a shrill voice said "You are surrounded! Give up while you still can!" Adia, in a move that seemed more Kratash-like in appearance, tackled the puppet and yanked on the strings to unmask the mysterious puppeteer. But the strings fell limp and no one was there to be seen. And that is when the puppet turned its head, scowled, and said "Oh now you're really in trouble".
Everyone keep in mind there's no game next week 
.
.
doomdragon6
Staff member
Eh? Wasn't the game moved to Friday?
Doom: Upload mp3 please... kthxbai.
Julie's computer is fucked up, so we'd have issues anyway.
Julie's computer is fucked up, so we'd have issues anyway.
doomdragon6
Staff member
Well damny damn damn.
Yeah, haven't had a chance to upload yet. I'm at an anime con and keep having limited bursts of internet, so it'll be up within a day or two.
Regarding no session: Damn on a butt.
Yeah, haven't had a chance to upload yet. I'm at an anime con and keep having limited bursts of internet, so it'll be up within a day or two.
Regarding no session: Damn on a butt.
Julie will be on for Tuesday and Thursday.
Erm, wait... gods, I'm stupid.
Erm, wait... gods, I'm stupid.
doomdragon6
Staff member
doomdragon6
Staff member
I have to say, I'm liking the ability to slide enemies. I was knocking on the ability before saying it was nigh useless (though the most useful of a push, pull, or slide).
Besides the obvious (throw enemies off a cliff), sliding can work well with abilities like Flaming Sphere, where I can push as many enemies as I can hit next to it to garner extra damage.
Also, had my plan WORKED, in the Shadow Dragonborn fight where the enemies were very far apart from each other, I was going to Thundering Gust the shadow thing over near the other one, then use an Action Point to blast 'em with a Starburst, also opening up Errik to a blast or two.
Yup. I'm liking this power.
(Just fluffing since no-one's talking. Damn you and your Thursday cancellation, Shawn!!)
Besides the obvious (throw enemies off a cliff), sliding can work well with abilities like Flaming Sphere, where I can push as many enemies as I can hit next to it to garner extra damage.
Also, had my plan WORKED, in the Shadow Dragonborn fight where the enemies were very far apart from each other, I was going to Thundering Gust the shadow thing over near the other one, then use an Action Point to blast 'em with a Starburst, also opening up Errik to a blast or two.
Yup. I'm liking this power.
(Just fluffing since no-one's talking. Damn you and your Thursday cancellation, Shawn!!)
Well I've got to get this college stuff done so I can attend this fall. Need to get on the road to my dreams as it were.doomdragon6 said:I have to say, I'm liking the ability to slide enemies. I was knocking on the ability before saying it was nigh useless (though the most useful of a push, pull, or slide).
Besides the obvious (throw enemies off a cliff), sliding can work well with abilities like Flaming Sphere, where I can push as many enemies as I can hit next to it to garner extra damage.
Also, had my plan WORKED, in the Shadow Dragonborn fight where the enemies were very far apart from each other, I was going to Thundering Gust the shadow thing over near the other one, then use an Action Point to blast 'em with a Starburst, also opening up Errik to a blast or two.
Yup. I'm liking this power.
(Just fluffing since no-one's talking. Damn you and your Thursday cancellation, Shawn!!)
And yes Slides are freaking useful as hell. Remember the fight with Grawl and how he was using his slides to throw people up against the Cockatrice cages? And yeah, you can toss them off cliffs and all that as well. Technically they are allowed some kind of save against it (either an athletics check, or a straight up D20 save), but that's still probably a 50% chance they will go over the side.
Sometimes it just takes some experimentation to figure out how useful an ability can be. I've been playing a Defender in Jay's game and have learned a lot concerning marks. Marks are sort of a double edged sword. Usually when you mark something you give the enemy a penalty to attack other targets, which is awesome cause it gives your weaker allies more protection. But the sucky part is it just encourages the enemies to target you instead.
I've circumvented this by working with our other Defender (The Paladin) to "ping pong" the enemies between us. Coupled with a few of my at-will abilities that cause damage to foes that flee from me (in the direction of the Paladin who has marked them) we usually tear down the stronger foes quicker than Jay would probably like.
doomdragon6
Staff member
I'm thinking I might actually hold off on Serin getting the Wild Shape ability. While it'd be cool to add an ability like that at level 4, it seems kinda soon now that we've been playing a bit.
I might wait until level 6 (or later!) and make it seem like she's been trying to perfect the art of shapechanging for a while, when she finally finds that she's able to manipulate her body into creatures and not just humanoids.
In which case for level 4 I'll probably take Dual Implement Mastery after buying another magical dagger to enhance my abilities further. Yeet!
Also, I had an idea (not necessarily a good one, mind you). Since some towns are tiny and might not have everything, and even in the big cities it'd be odd to buy something like Breaching Armor (teleport through walls), what if we treated gold as "Loot Tokens"? Like, we could still obviousl buy things, but for weirder things that you don't just "buy", we could "spend" the Loot Tokens and you, as the DM, have us find the item somewhere or obtain it some other way than just buying it.
This keeps the gold system firmly in place but allows for more interesting ways to obtain the loot we specifically want. For example, if I was a shop owner and someone asked me for a piece of clothing that allowed them to pass through walls, I'd call the guards. And a "Lucky Dagger" is a very specific thing to look for, especially since choosing any weapon is technically meta-gaming, as you know what the effects are.
But if we were to spend our "Loot Tokens" and I specified that I wanted to get the Breaching Armor, we could find it in a chest or on the corpse of someone who teleported in the wrong place, or Serin could break into a house (as she sometimes does) and find she'd broken into, lo-and-behold, a crook's house. And he had the armor!
Or something like that. I think it'd be a fun way to implement item collection. I obviously don't know what others think, but that's why I'm pitching the idea.
In a way, it's no different from the Backgrounds that let you create magical items for their cost in gold. The only "penalty" for Loot Tokens is that you have to wait a bit to find/obtain it.
Anyway, I don't have the money for the stuff I want yet, but I wanted to pitch the idea.
And with that, a brief journal entry that Serin wrote before going to sleep last session:
-----------------
I've been inspecting the dagger Falon gave us. It's very ornate and I can sense some kind of enchantment on it. I've realized that I'm able to channel my own powers through it, enhancing them... And enhancing others'. The dagger seems to allow me to distribute my power in a way I've never encountered before. I can actually boost my allies' powers by lending them some of my own. It seems these people will become my family after all. Not only am I helping to protect them, I am enhancing them as well. Just like a community should. This dagger seems to promote community.. I guess you could say it's a "communal" dagger. Now I am beginning to see why the town's last Speaker was so effective. This dagger, generally perceived as a weapon, had in fact inspired commune within the town with its enchantment. I hope that I can use it to bring our group together as well. Even as I write this, Adia has taken to herself across the camp fire. I fear something might be wrong, but she doesn't open up much. Perhaps I will try to have a chat with her later.
I've also decided to replace my pendant of Sehanine. Well, sort of. We found an amulet that was pulsating with various magical energies. Upon inspection, we were able to ascertain that it promotes one's general health. The group was gracious enough to allow me to have it. Perhaps my pale complexion lends to the thought that I am sickly, but I don't know. Upon putting it on, I immediately felt stronger-- hardier. My muscles are more toned and my reflexes seem to have improved. My balance has improved as well, along with my mind feeling much sharper. And where rank smells used to make me feel rather ill, they don't seem to affect me as much anymore. This is truly an interesting piece of jewelery.
As stated, I haven't fully replaced the pendant. I've actually decided to modify this one. I've added the pendant of Sehanine to the middle of the amulet, and adorned the outer sides with the scales I've plucked from our various reptillian encounters. In a way, this amulet serves as a reminder. Stay strong, be yourself (ironic enough, that being me is being other people), and do what you need to survive.
Well, anyway. Time for sleep. Astrazalian is not far away.
I might wait until level 6 (or later!) and make it seem like she's been trying to perfect the art of shapechanging for a while, when she finally finds that she's able to manipulate her body into creatures and not just humanoids.
In which case for level 4 I'll probably take Dual Implement Mastery after buying another magical dagger to enhance my abilities further. Yeet!
Also, I had an idea (not necessarily a good one, mind you). Since some towns are tiny and might not have everything, and even in the big cities it'd be odd to buy something like Breaching Armor (teleport through walls), what if we treated gold as "Loot Tokens"? Like, we could still obviousl buy things, but for weirder things that you don't just "buy", we could "spend" the Loot Tokens and you, as the DM, have us find the item somewhere or obtain it some other way than just buying it.
This keeps the gold system firmly in place but allows for more interesting ways to obtain the loot we specifically want. For example, if I was a shop owner and someone asked me for a piece of clothing that allowed them to pass through walls, I'd call the guards. And a "Lucky Dagger" is a very specific thing to look for, especially since choosing any weapon is technically meta-gaming, as you know what the effects are.
But if we were to spend our "Loot Tokens" and I specified that I wanted to get the Breaching Armor, we could find it in a chest or on the corpse of someone who teleported in the wrong place, or Serin could break into a house (as she sometimes does) and find she'd broken into, lo-and-behold, a crook's house. And he had the armor!
Or something like that. I think it'd be a fun way to implement item collection. I obviously don't know what others think, but that's why I'm pitching the idea.
In a way, it's no different from the Backgrounds that let you create magical items for their cost in gold. The only "penalty" for Loot Tokens is that you have to wait a bit to find/obtain it.
Anyway, I don't have the money for the stuff I want yet, but I wanted to pitch the idea.
And with that, a brief journal entry that Serin wrote before going to sleep last session:
-----------------
I've been inspecting the dagger Falon gave us. It's very ornate and I can sense some kind of enchantment on it. I've realized that I'm able to channel my own powers through it, enhancing them... And enhancing others'. The dagger seems to allow me to distribute my power in a way I've never encountered before. I can actually boost my allies' powers by lending them some of my own. It seems these people will become my family after all. Not only am I helping to protect them, I am enhancing them as well. Just like a community should. This dagger seems to promote community.. I guess you could say it's a "communal" dagger. Now I am beginning to see why the town's last Speaker was so effective. This dagger, generally perceived as a weapon, had in fact inspired commune within the town with its enchantment. I hope that I can use it to bring our group together as well. Even as I write this, Adia has taken to herself across the camp fire. I fear something might be wrong, but she doesn't open up much. Perhaps I will try to have a chat with her later.
I've also decided to replace my pendant of Sehanine. Well, sort of. We found an amulet that was pulsating with various magical energies. Upon inspection, we were able to ascertain that it promotes one's general health. The group was gracious enough to allow me to have it. Perhaps my pale complexion lends to the thought that I am sickly, but I don't know. Upon putting it on, I immediately felt stronger-- hardier. My muscles are more toned and my reflexes seem to have improved. My balance has improved as well, along with my mind feeling much sharper. And where rank smells used to make me feel rather ill, they don't seem to affect me as much anymore. This is truly an interesting piece of jewelery.
As stated, I haven't fully replaced the pendant. I've actually decided to modify this one. I've added the pendant of Sehanine to the middle of the amulet, and adorned the outer sides with the scales I've plucked from our various reptillian encounters. In a way, this amulet serves as a reminder. Stay strong, be yourself (ironic enough, that being me is being other people), and do what you need to survive.
Well, anyway. Time for sleep. Astrazalian is not far away.
Actually a lot of us were having a talk about how even just getting gold isn't much fun for some of the players. Some people enjoy the looting of everything useful off of their enemies (weapons, armor, etc) and then marching them back to sell. I believe 4th has tried to simplify this by having treasure lists that don't require heavy loot to be involved.
I think that "Loot Tokens" just kinda puts it a little TOO over the edge of that distinction and completely takes away the fantasy element of the looting system and replaces it with something you'd more likely find in a video game.
I'm trying to find ways to make this work for all folks. I really don't like the idea of having the PCs load up their bags with dozens of axes, pikes, spears, swords, etc, because that's a lot of treasure to keep track of. Put I do think I should put more things in the game that are there to be looted and sold (or even kept by a PC if he wishes) such as art pieces or gold chalices.
I think that "Loot Tokens" just kinda puts it a little TOO over the edge of that distinction and completely takes away the fantasy element of the looting system and replaces it with something you'd more likely find in a video game.
I'm trying to find ways to make this work for all folks. I really don't like the idea of having the PCs load up their bags with dozens of axes, pikes, spears, swords, etc, because that's a lot of treasure to keep track of. Put I do think I should put more things in the game that are there to be looted and sold (or even kept by a PC if he wishes) such as art pieces or gold chalices.
doomdragon6
Staff member
Yeah-- while it would be cool to be able to loot everything off an enemy, it really is a lot to keep track of and most stuff selling at 20% isn't worth it. I do like the idea of finding valuable things. Like the Ancient Draconic Daggers-- supposedly we can sell those somewhere for a decent sum.
I was just offering a way to get interesting items without having to say just, "I bought this rare-ass item at the store."
Because, as it stands, I fully intend on buying the Armor of Breaching when I can spare the cash (assuming it's available to me), but it just seems like a really odd thing to buy. It would just be way more interesting to "find" the armor somewhere (with the understanding that it goes to the person who "paid" for it with their gold.). Sure, it's unrealistic for 500-something gold to disappear from one's inventory for no reason, but it's also a bit odd for places to carry such strange and specific items.
Like I said, I know it's an "outlandish" idea, but I felt it would be more fun than saying, "Oh yeah, I bought this armor of breaching at the last town. Sooo, I have that now."
Anyway, us not playing this week sucks.
(PS: I do like the more "subtle" details of the campaign. Like the town's previous speaker having a Communal Dagger, which would increase his abilities of leadership. Someone who's never DMed before like me might've just said, "Ah, he gives you a Dagger of Poison." "Why... Why does he have that?" "Who cares, you got a dagger.")
I was just offering a way to get interesting items without having to say just, "I bought this rare-ass item at the store."
Because, as it stands, I fully intend on buying the Armor of Breaching when I can spare the cash (assuming it's available to me), but it just seems like a really odd thing to buy. It would just be way more interesting to "find" the armor somewhere (with the understanding that it goes to the person who "paid" for it with their gold.). Sure, it's unrealistic for 500-something gold to disappear from one's inventory for no reason, but it's also a bit odd for places to carry such strange and specific items.
Like I said, I know it's an "outlandish" idea, but I felt it would be more fun than saying, "Oh yeah, I bought this armor of breaching at the last town. Sooo, I have that now."
Anyway, us not playing this week sucks.
(PS: I do like the more "subtle" details of the campaign. Like the town's previous speaker having a Communal Dagger, which would increase his abilities of leadership. Someone who's never DMed before like me might've just said, "Ah, he gives you a Dagger of Poison." "Why... Why does he have that?" "Who cares, you got a dagger.")
Yeah I did this remember? Used a good Diplomacy skill check to haggle a better price fro the cockatrice eggs I sold? That was satisfying. Leave the intimidators/bluffers/perceivers to their business, but 3/4 of Errik's skills (Streetwise, Diplomacy, Insight) make him an excellent shopper.SeriousJay said:
doomdragon6
Staff member
Hm.. All good points. And Serin's bluff skill is high enough that I could pick up a crappy sword and convince someone it's got magical properties.
A lot of it is Shawn's call, but I could definitely see us using our skills for buying/selling better.
Heck, going back to bluffing, Serin channels her powers through a dagger. All she has to do is find someone not entirely wise but heavy on gold, and "explain" that each Draconic dagger has a magical power. She could take each one and use a power of hers through it and convince the buyer they're worth more.
Or not.
Either way, I definitely need to try to use Bluff some more. It's just such a rarely used ability.
Edit: Just out of curiosity I decided to see how much I could potentially max out my Bluff skill (using Level 4 as a base)
Base Bluff: 4 (Charisma)
Ability mod: +2 (half level)
Training: + 5
Background: + 1
Racial: + 2
Current Total: 14 (which is what it'll be at level 4)
Now, to do some tweaking-
I could take Skill Focus (Bluff) for a +3
I could change my Familiar to a Serpent for a +2
Which would make the total a 19 Bluff.
Oh! And if I were actually able to change my background, I could get a +2 instead of a +1, which would make my Bluff a 20.
So I could roll nothing lower than a 21 if I truly wanted to. (I don't want to make all these changes, but damn! I could.)
A lot of it is Shawn's call, but I could definitely see us using our skills for buying/selling better.
Heck, going back to bluffing, Serin channels her powers through a dagger. All she has to do is find someone not entirely wise but heavy on gold, and "explain" that each Draconic dagger has a magical power. She could take each one and use a power of hers through it and convince the buyer they're worth more.
Or not.
Either way, I definitely need to try to use Bluff some more. It's just such a rarely used ability.
Edit: Just out of curiosity I decided to see how much I could potentially max out my Bluff skill (using Level 4 as a base)
Base Bluff: 4 (Charisma)
Ability mod: +2 (half level)
Training: + 5
Background: + 1
Racial: + 2
Current Total: 14 (which is what it'll be at level 4)
Now, to do some tweaking-
I could take Skill Focus (Bluff) for a +3
I could change my Familiar to a Serpent for a +2
Which would make the total a 19 Bluff.
Oh! And if I were actually able to change my background, I could get a +2 instead of a +1, which would make my Bluff a 20.
So I could roll nothing lower than a 21 if I truly wanted to. (I don't want to make all these changes, but damn! I could.)
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