|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 Recent Posts
A question to sum up my review so far: Why the need to change the races, skill system and the core classes to such an extent? I admit that the half-orc and half-elf fixes would make these two lightweight races on a more equal footing with the others; but ouch!!! humans with +2 stat boost at 1st level? elves with +2 Int and +2 Dex? what if we play a Sun Elf from the Realms? +4 to Int?
I'm still hesitating to show it to my players for a few reasons: 1. Why the need to add an extra +2 to an ability score for humans? half-elves, ok... as the race sucked already... same for half-orc... but humans, elves, dwarves, etc. And what about other races now? what if someone wants to play a Sun Elf? Are they now at +4 Int since the lowly moon elves are now at +2 Dex and +2 Int??? what about non-standard races and monsters? (gnolls, orcs, ogres, dragons etc. i.e. anything "weird" a player might want? these are now effectively underpowered compared to regular +2/+2/-2 PCs... ESPECIALLY if you take into account some of these weird races have arguably a too high Level Adjustment already... Avariel, anyone? [ducking as people are awakening from their long-dead slumber at the words "Avariel" and "Level Adjustment"] 2. I quite like the existing Spot/Listen mechanics. This new Perception skill scares me. Dwarves get +2 to taste and touch-based Perception checks, while elves are better with sights and sounds. Gnomes smell and touch, etc. What the hell? can a gnome now make a smell check to detect enemies? what about dwarves? can they now stick out their tongues and "taste" if you're normal or really a doppleganger in disguise? I'll have to read more into it, as it could be fun using other senses than Spot/Sight and Listen/Hearing, but right now, I'm leaning towards a conservative approach. 3. Core classes: LOTS AND LOTS of changes here... so many in fact that I fear the core class will no longer be compatible or stackable with Prestige Classes. I think I'll use the "Dead Levels" article from WotC website instead, if I need to add "flavour to the boring classes." The dead levels article introduced fixes that had little effect in the game (i.e. more flavour-oriented). The changes in Pathfinder are extensive for each class...
Huzzah! Please welcome our new player: Valstrom, male moon elf bard 10 / marshall 10 We had a blast last night, as this character made a spectacular entrance by almost sacrificing his life to warn the party about a gargantuan blue dragon creeping up on them! :) He lost 110 of his 120 hp in the first round, but his Cape of Mountebank saved him! He later rejoined the fight, singing a little quieter this time, humming really, and keeping a hand on his potion belt at all times! LOL! :)
Alright: I've had three more people "sign up" for my campaign, but I haven't seen character sheet/concepts from them yet, and the game is next Tuesday, 15th of Jan... soooo..... basically, this is still opened to all... first come first served will be the order of who gets the campaign's permanent spots... Other may [gasp!] be relegated to the odd NPC cameo! :P Remember: ECL 20 with 760,000gp's worth of gear/magical items. This type of character build takes a tad longer than whipping up a 1st-level PC, so let me know what you come up with (I'll need this info to work him/her into the campaign). Remember: the premisce, from your PC's perspective, is that
Cheers! PDK
Thanks for the advice, Xuttah. However, we're dead set on an epic level campaign at this point. A new player would have to accept that we're winding down a campaign right now, and that the existing group is about to destroy a BBEG that threatens the world (easy reason for another high-level PC to join the fight or come out of the woodwork...) Once that BBEG is gonzo, the "new" epic campaign will have the feel of a fresh start... the beginning of a new era (where PCs can be rulers if they so choose). I guess I can't be that surprised... not a lot of people I know are into epic-level campaigns. That will be the first level 21+ campaign I'll be DMing, so I don't even know if I'll like it yet. Basically, it comes down to us wanting to conduct one big experiment: we have all these books with epic-level options that we haven't used yet, and we want to give them a whirl. I'm usually heavy in RPing and backstories, but this current group doesn't really give a damn about that, so as a DM, I adapted and catered, and we're up to epic levels now and ready to explore the (mostly combat) aspects of the game at these high levels. If some players demand rulership and other epic-RP elements, I'll adapt again (making heavy use of "Power of Faerun" then), but until then, I'll cater and continue a mostly "combat/quest" style gaming consisting of epic-level monsters and challenges.
In 3.0 your 'houserule' was actually part of the RAW. It's been changed in 3.5, however. Each '+' that a weapon has simply increases it's hardness by that amount (i.e. a +3 steel weapon has a hardness of 13). Adamantine, even nonmagical, is a serious threat to even epic weapons. Artifacts, on the other hand, are typically indestructible except under specific circumstances. Various rules exist right now: PHB, p.165: each +1 adds 2 to the hardness of armor, a weapon or a shield and +10 to the item's hit points. DMG, p.217: each +1 adds 2 to a shield's hardness and +10 to its hit points. DMG, p.222: an attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his own weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon or shield struck. Each +1 adds 1 to the weapon's or shield's hardness or hit points. PDK's houserule (combining rule 1 and 3): each +1 adds 2 to hardness and +10 hp; an attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his own weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon or shield struck.
Renee, thanks for the tip! NOTE: I'm not looking for quantity, as I have 5 players already, but I'm looking for quality, and preferably someone who has played in the Realms before (only one of my five players knows anything about the Realms, which can sometimes be anticlimatic...) Renee, do you know a Realms buff/afficionado out there who would be willing to play in a epic-level campaign? (average party level currently 17, but we won't stop when they hit 21+...)
Moreover, that will be something for the PCs to do when they go Epic... (i.e. if they want to retire the PCs, that's sort of a good ending; if they want to keep going, there's the Red Rage of Mintarn to slay right up north; a few hours of fun per week with pirate ships; a potential underwater adventure right at their doorstep, which is 'less' of a scary affair when you're high level or epic; etc.)
The adventure suggests that if the PCs "discover" her, you can have her say things along the line of "Who I am is irrelevant. The General of Kyuss' armies is much more a threat than I'll ever be. I am giving you a chance to strike at the heart of Kyuss, and you wasting time considering if one of his old love interest should be murdered in her own home? Yes, I have loved Kyuss with all my heart a millenia or two ago... perhaps part of me still loves him and wishes him to return. But I know one thing: I hate the abobination that is Dragotha, and will help you destroy it!" If they still attack her, have her transform to her silver dragon shape. If they still attack her, have her destroy their puny too low level selves! :) muhahahah!
Wow! great suggestions Crust! I would advise to keep Prince of Redhand (i.e. Prince of Mintarn, for the Realms) as this is a really well-made social event for the PCs, which are all around level 16 or 17 by the time you get to that adventure. It really teaches the PCs that "might does not always make right", and that you can't always solve problems via a detect evil (i.e. there's a cathedral of BANE in Mintarn!!!! and the place is policed by groups of Erinyes! :) so the PCs must be on their best behavior...) If you follow the plotline, this town will be turned over to the PCs after/if they defeat Kyuss... so it's not a prize a PC would want to miss, if they care about a modicum of RPing in your game!
As some of the posters mentioned, the main danger with Pitch Blade is not damage/dying, but losing your weapon. They both have Improved Sunder, and wield two-handed ADAMANTINE weapons! That fact alone had the dwarf samurai of my group shaking... an adamantine greatsword sunder, with POWER ATTACK, is a deadly thing for one's equipment. In my campaign, I have a houserule* that says you can't sunder something with a greater enhancement bonus (i.e. the dwarf's sword had one additional "plus" compared to Pitch Blade's pitch blades... :P ) *I'm not sure if recent 3.5 erratas have aligned the official rules to my houserule, but I don't see how a nonmagical weapon, even if adamantine, coud sunder a magical weapon... so by extension I've applied this to magical swords. So IMC, it goes like this (in descending order from the most sundering weapon to the least, just for the purposes of sundering): Epic Adamantine
Hi, We have a long-standing campaign set in the Realms, with me as the DM, and 5 players. We'd like to increase our numbers by one player to account for the occasional no-show, as some of the players live 45min from my place and can't always make it due to RL commitments (I always have a strong core of 3 to 4 gamers present though, but an extra player would ensure the 4 gamers minimum I so love! :P ) Let me know if you're in the Burlington/Oakville/Milton/Hamilton area and we can talk
I really hope more Dragon Compendiums come to be... I really enjoyed Volume One. By the way, hi Knight! I just managed to make my way to these boards, after many years of "Paizo-apathy", a certain gentleman from Paizo's staff just convinced me that the "new Paizo" is indeed genuinely different than the one I encountered a few years back... ;)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
