Savage Tide : Out Of Character

[Gustaran]

That said, I'm confident Sian can find a way to slide you in when your schedule clears

Suddenly, a wild Jkaen appears...

[Sian]

might take a bit of wiggle room, and prehaps a week or two depending on the speed, but it should be do-able ... specially given that when i once previously tried running the campaign (have tried 3 times, for differing reasons (group breakup or 'simply' noone able to play at the same time for over an year) , none of which was strictly ingame, neither of them got out of the first dungeon crawl), I had to get in a new character after a hopelessly inept Duskblade decided to tumble into reach of an opponent (without any tumble skills) that nailed him with an AoO, followed by that's turn, which critted (open dice so i couldn't fudge it) and gibbed him ... in the second combat of the campaign

[dtay]

Character sheet: http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.ph...tid=750355

I can't really fulfill much on the skills end, I have a good crosssection of the athletic skills but its hard to get the rogue-likes.

Character is a bit hurting for equipment given the lvl 1 start, needs better armor and a shield... but that's what looting is for.

Background is bouncing around in my head, but I'd prefer finishing it in tandem with someone else's background to make the party more cohesive. Basic skeleton is he's a somewhat taciturn mercenary/gladiator who had a "hero" growing up who taught him how to fight, but said hero died in the arena (leading to said taciturn-ness, used to be more idealistic). What he's been up to in the years since then I don't really have sorted out beyond "doing odd jobs as a guard for hire etc", so that's where I think tying him into the party would work out well. His general personality fits pretty squarely into true nuetral, helps out his friends/people or places he cares about but unlikely to make great personal sacrifices for the greater good.

Whether Sasserine is one of those places he cares about at the beginning... he'd probably claim he doesn't but would be somewhat lying.

[TheHumanHydra]

Any chance we get a packmule on this venture? I can't carry the whole bard's kit at light load.

Also looking at the Districts, I am thinking I'll go Noble District and grab the Academy Graduate in order to make Disable Device a class skill. That would make Open Locks the only Cross class skill I'd have to worry about for the sneaky bit of our party. Also search usually only allows a rogue to find a trap, but if I make Search a class skill using this feat as well, can I find traps like a rogue?

I am considering Nimble Fingers feat (+2 to Disable and Open locks) to also aid our party. Actually I should be a pretty good thief by the end of it. The only issue is that means I can't take weapon finesse: rapier and will basically be useless in direct fight until level 3.

Lewwyn, you need the trapfinding class feature to find traps with a DC greater than 20, and to disarm magical traps.

If it works in your game a description of what these classes represents would be useful to this lurker. "Mage" is somewhat self explanatory, but I've got no idea what a "duskblade" is. I'm sure I could find a D&D wiki somewhere, but it's sometimes nice to see the community's take on explaining a game mechanic to outsiders.

Sunrise, I can write up the why's and wherefores of various things I'm doing and/or provide general explanations of stuff that comes up, if you'd like. As for the classes mentioned, bard is a "skillmonkey" - has out-of-combat skills to suit a wide variety of situations (though apparently not thievery), especially a "face" - a character good at persuading and deceiving non-player characters, etc. - who uses magic-infused music to enhance these abilities and "buff" his allies in combat (those are slang terms, not game-mechanics terms). He's not as good with weapons as a warrior or as strong with spells as a mage, but more of a support character who gives his allies the mechanical bonuses they need to win battles and gets the party through various non-combat situations, especially interpersonal interactions.

The beguiler is a "full caster," meaning "sucks at combat, awesome at spells," but whose spells are largely restricted to those that affect the mind, enchantments and illusions, similar to the bard but in contrast to say the wizard, who has access to everything. He also has similar (non-combat) skills to the bard. It might seem like a fine distinction between those two classes; it kind-of is - D&D is notorious for its "splat," reams of sometimes-redundant mechanical options. Basically, you play a bard if you want to focus more on buffing the party and be a bit better with weapons - and in terms of flavour have your magic manifest itself through music - and a beguiler if you want to focus more on using spells against the enemy - more of a traditional enchanter(-ress). Hopefully all that makes sense.

Let's see, a druid is a "full caster" who draws on the power of nature - his spells heal, summon animals, call lightning, grant the strength of a bear, etc. The druid can gain the services of a loyal animal companion and can even transform into an animal to scout or fight. Altogether, this renders the druid one of the absolute most powerful classes in the game, capable of doing just about anything - fight, heal the party, scout, cast spells; you name it.

The duskblade is as dtay said a "gish," slang for a fusion of warrior and mage. He uses spells to enhance his melee combat ability - in fact he can "channel" spells through his weapon so they go off when he hits people, allowing him to do spellcasting and melee combat all at once! This is balanced by the fact he doesn't get access to a lot of the more specialized melee abilities of other classes, and possesses the reduced spellcasting of a bard rather than the full casting of a beguiler, wizard or druid (while a wizard is casting massive fireballs, he might still only be casting gouts of flame from his hands, for example).

The warblade is as dtay said a melee warrior; he uses a special system of combat maneuvers that were intended to give warrior-types "interesting choices" in combat - previous warrior-classes had focused more on static abilities that some found somewhat boring in practice (warblade came out in one of the last supplements - "splatbooks" - released).

I think that's all the classes we've mentioned; hopefully that made sense and wasn't too long-winded. Also if you or anyone else ever wants to look anything up, there is indeed an online reference site, http://www.d20srd.org, that contains all the basic classes and rules of the game (minus all the dozens of splatbooks). It's laid out as a reference, not a rule-book, so it can be kinda hard to learn the game from. In case you were wondering, it is legal; the publisher released all that information like that so third-party/indie publishers could expand on the game (thereby supporting the brand instead of competing with it - this actually worked very well). (It's also great for getting new people into the game, if they have someone to walk them through it - no purchase necessary!)

Mardoc, I'm going to look at your sheet now and see if I have any suggestions.

[TheHumanHydra]

Say hello to Himo! He's an elven druid. Skill focus is listen, spot, survival, knowledge(nature), and he's got the Track feat. Completely stereotypical elf druid, so far anyway . http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.ph...tid=753316

Still need to pick an animal companion and write a backstory. But I'd appreciate any feedback, especially on his equipment and spell selections.

Hello Himo! Just a couple little things I found - it looks like you didn't factor your class' bonus into your saving throws (+2 to Fortitude, +2 to Will), and didn't spend all your skill points (remember you get four times the normal amount at 1st level, since you can spend four times as many on a single skill). Only other comment is you may want a bit more strength if you intend to swing that scimitar a lot. Oh, and I didn't see your spell selection, though you asked for feedback on it (probably just forgot). A good naturey druid.

[Mardoc]

Hello Himo! Just a couple little things I found - it looks like you didn't factor your class' bonus into your saving throws (+2 to Fortitude, +2 to Will), and didn't spend all your skill points (remember you get four times the normal amount at 1st level, since you can spend four times as many on a single skill). Only other comment is you may want a bit more strength if you intend to swing that scimitar a lot. Oh, and I didn't see your spell selection, though you asked for feedback on it (probably just forgot). A good naturey druid.

Hmm, skills and spells apparently didn't save the first time I tried this - but I put them in again and hit 'save' this time; do they show up now?

On saving throws - that's what I get for assuming a smart sheet and not actually checking . Thanks for the catch.

I'm intending to let the war and dusk -blades take the front line, and me stay back and shoot, which is the main reason I left Str low. Slight snag that druids can't afford longbows, but that should correct itself with a little adventuring. That said, if you end up as a Beguiler, I may abandon Charisma and boost Str anyway.

[sunrise089]

Thanks THH, that was indeed just what I was looking for from an accessibility standpoint.

It seems tidier for you guys to play like a warrior, wizard, cleric, rogue, and maybe some sort of ranged fighter, but I imagine you want to mix stuff up once you've played in a few campaigns

[TheHumanHydra]

Hmm, skills and spells apparently didn't save the first time I tried this - but I put them in again and hit 'save' this time; do they show up now?

On saving throws - that's what I get for assuming a smart sheet and not actually checking . Thanks for the catch.

I'm intending to let the war and dusk -blades take the front line, and me stay back and shoot, which is the main reason I left Str low. Slight snag that druids can't afford longbows, but that should correct itself with a little adventuring. That said, if you end up as a Beguiler, I may abandon Charisma and boost Str anyway.

Yep; I can see them! Slight bit more commentary - Concentration is generally considered useful so you can cast even if under attack, and I'm not sure how useful Faerie Fire will be at this level, but we'll see (you can always just prepare something else if it doesn't work out). And staying out of melee is definitely a valid option!

@sunrise: You're welcome! Should I post more stuff like that, or has that link I included given you plenty of reading material?

Warrior, wizard, cleric, rogue is indeed the standard/"classic" set-up, but you're right, you do kinda want to mix it up after a while. You do still want to make sure you have your bases covered, though, which is why we were discussing who's going to handle the roguish stuff and commented we were light on arcane casting (wizard-type; druids are considered "divine" - they generally have different types of spells, with some overlap).

[dtay]

Though in fairness, the best party (optimization wise) is probably something like Cleric, Wizard, Druid, Artificer and abusing caster OP-ness. Or honestly maybe just Cleric, Cleric, Cleric, Wizard.

But that gets boring and kind of isn't the point.

[Mardoc]

Yep; I can see them! Slight bit more commentary - Concentration is generally considered useful so you can cast even if under attack,

You'd think I'd remember that with cleric and wizard as my standards. Stole a few points here and there to put into concentration.

and I'm not sure how useful Faerie Fire will be at this level, but we'll see (you can always just prepare something else if it doesn't work out).

I really don't know the druid list at all - there's a reason both my spells are on other classes' lists . What would you recommend?

And staying out of melee is definitely a valid option!

At least for now. I may reevaluate once I can fight as a bear rather than as an elf. Or if you guys need me up front.