I played in the day-long Iron DM tournament at GenCon last year and we had an AMAZING DM (in fact it was his first time competing and he placed 2nd, which is kind of impressive) from whom I learned a lot. Among the many cool things he did that made our game a total joy was starting us at 6th level. It seemed like a nice sweet spot to me in that it gave him a wide array of encounter options, wasn't so far up the XP ladder that we needed a week to do our builds, and let us get past the dreaded levels 3-5 as @Agon and @AdAstra mentioned, so we were at a point where we could do some rad stuff, but we couldn't get overconfident and still had to use our heads.
So yeah. Starting at 6th-ish level. I'm a fan!
Barring a clever idea in the next 4-7 months (about how long it'd take for us to level), I plan on leveling in Sorc for 7th.
I plan on taking Improved Init as the bloodline feat. Going last sucks when you're the blasty mage.
I get four new spells known.
3rd: Haste or Flaming Arrow, plus Fly (bloodline).
2nd: See Invisible or Darkvision or Glitterdust
1st: Vanish or Grease or Ray of Enfeeblement or Sculpt CorpseThe above are the shortlist of spells I'm considering.
I'm looking at the following shortlist for feats:
Greater Spell Focus [Evocation], Intensify Spell, Extend Spell, Expanded Arcana
I'd strongly suggest Grease, Glitterdust and Haste. You don't need Darkvision if you can use Alter Self. Intensify Spell isn't worth it yet, I don't think. If you want to go the Evocation route ... hmm. Well, if it was Save or Die/Suffer Damage spells, I'd suggest Bouncing Spell.
Lingering Spell might be nice -- consider throwing a Fireball that stays until the next round, doing damage to anyone who enters its area of effect AND provides cover for those behind it.
I played in the day-long Iron DM tournament at GenCon last year and we had an AMAZING DM (in fact it was his first time competing and he placed 2nd, which is kind of impressive) from whom I learned a lot. Among the many cool things he did that made our game a total joy was starting us at 6th level. It seemed like a nice sweet spot to me in that it gave him a wide array of encounter options, wasn't so far up the XP ladder that we needed a week to do our builds, and let us get past the dreaded levels 3-5 as @Agon and @AdAstra mentioned, so we were at a point where we could do some rad stuff, but we couldn't get overconfident and still had to use our heads.
So yeah. Starting at 6th-ish level. I'm a fan!
Heh, sounds like fun! The dreaded levels for the Zen Monk are actually levels 1 and 2. They don't get to use Wisdom for ranged attacks yet, provoke attacks of opportunities for shooting and DON'T have the regular flurry of blows, stunning fist, etc. So essentially they suck at melee (well, mostly -- no flurry, medium BAB, etc.), shooting, and everything else since they will usually take Strength and Wisdom as their highest stats.
To be worth anything in combat, they'd have to take some two-handed weapon and use that to attack. And that's not very Zen-Archery.
Ok, after a lot of thought I'm making these final changes to Jorzan, with DM approval of course.
Originally I had arranged his stats thusly:
Str 10 (8 +2 racial)
Dex 18
Con 16
Int 17
Wis 11
Chr 18 (+1 4th lvl)
I had wanted to high CHR to aid his DC's when he gets his shadow casting. But AdAstraGames' last post reminded me how long it's going to be until that happens, as that's TWO levels away still. So, rearranging his stats this new way will give Much more immediate benefit. Then I was wondering DM if you'd allow me to take -2 off of one ability to give +1 to another? If yes, I'd take it off CON and give it to CHR so it would look like this:
Str 10 (8 +2 racial)
Dex 18
Con 15 (Was 17-2=15)
Int 18 (17 +1 4th lvl)
Wis 16
Chr 12 (Was 11+1=12)
So also changed is his Will & Fort save, amount of Skill points (+6), Skill Mods, HP (-6),
Changed some of backstory to reflect new Stats. Also changed Latent Psion trait for Highlander, cuz, after looking at ALL the traits, it just makes the most sense. Considered Sacred Touch for a while, but as there's already two party members who can cast stabilize, it seemed a bit redundant.
And finally finished all mundane item purchases. He has just over 78gp to his name now. And, if everything is approved, Jorzan is DONE. :)
I'd strongly suggest Grease, Glitterdust and Haste. You don't need Darkvision if you can use Alter Self.
Darkvision isn't for me - it's for other party members who don't have it (You, Tenel, Jorzan for one more level)
Burning Arrows isn't for me - it's for converting Agon from "Archery-based machinegun" to "Archery based machinegun firing white phosphorous arrows".
Lingering Spell might be nice -- consider throwing a Fireball that stays until the next round, doing damage to anyone who enters its area of effect AND provides cover for those behind it.
Would YOU walk into one of Karthan's fireballs that lingered for a full round? :) Especially if you'd seen one Karthan threw? I'm not sure that you can shoot arrows through a lingering fireball - which means that I delay your attack for a round.
Although - using that and then casting Silent Image of the Lingering Fireball in the same spot (so that someone thinks it's still there for a number of MINUTES) might be very entertaining.
Intensify spell turns Burning Hands into 7d4+10 damage - that is effectively the same as an Empowered Spell for 1 lower spell slot, and it scales to other spells I intend to pick up.
It can easily be put off until 9th, though.
@Khaladon: that's all fine with me, man. :-)
After looking at the traits list, and looking at how you run combats, and looking at what I intend to take for my bloodline feat, I'd like to swap Reactionary (+2 Initiative) for Gifted Adept [fireball] (+1 caster level on fireball).
Is this OK with you?
After looking at the traits list, and looking at how you run combats, and looking at what I intend to take for my bloodline feat, I'd like to swap Reactionary (+2 Initiative) for Gifted Adept [fireball] (+1 caster level on fireball).
Is this OK with you?
Sure! Go for it.
Sure! Go for it.After looking at the traits list, and looking at how you run combats, and looking at what I intend to take for my bloodline feat, I'd like to swap Reactionary (+2 Initiative) for Gifted Adept [fireball] (+1 caster level on fireball).
Is this OK with you?
Thanks. Done!
That's now 7d6+10 fireballs. Muahahahahaha!
Sure! Go for it.After looking at the traits list, and looking at how you run combats, and looking at what I intend to take for my bloodline feat, I'd like to swap Reactionary (+2 Initiative) for Gifted Adept [fireball] (+1 caster level on fireball).
Is this OK with you?
Thanks. Done!
That's now 7d6+10 fireballs. Muahahahahaha!
Awesome! I can up my gang numbers. ;-)
Hey D.R.A, what progression style are we using btw? Just curious.
Hey D.R.A, what progression style are we using btw? Just curious.
Medium.
Hey D.R.A, what progression style are we using btw? Just curious.
*grin* Somebody wants his Darkvision. :)
Hey D.R.A, what progression style are we using btw? Just curious.*grin* Somebody wants his Darkvision. :)
Ahahhaha! Busted! How right you are! Especially once a certain sorcerer starts casting Darkness all over the place (Also, can't wait for Jorzan's shadow companion and shadow casting abilities ; )
Just a quick heads up that I'm going to be out of town for the next couple of days, so I won't be making any posts for a little while.
Just a quick heads up that I'm going to be out of town for the next couple of days, so I won't be making any posts for a little while.
Okay! Thanks for the warning. I'll keep you moving along NPC style.
Hey guys. I'm having some pretty violent stomach troubles, I won't be posting today since I'm pretty groggy due to it. With some luck it'll get better tomorrow.
Hey guys. I'm having some pretty violent stomach troubles, I won't be posting today since I'm pretty groggy due to it. With some luck it'll get better tomorrow.
S@&+. Get well soon man.
Ouch! Agon, that's a drag. Get well soon, my friend.
Man, I hope Agon/Von Doom is doing okay, haven't heard from him in a couple days now. :-/
Phew. I'm better. Been better since yesterday, actually, but work's been really exhausting. I'll see if I can manage to get back into things today.
Phew. I'm better. Been better since yesterday, actually, but work's been really exhausting. I'll see if I can manage to get back into things today.
Yay! Missed ya, man, glad you're feeling better! :-) Ease back in as you can, your timing is actually terrific. The group is assembled in a coffeeshop starting to discuss what to do next. The little girl you rescued, Cassandra, is with you.
Just FYI, (and Agon, I hope this is cool with you), assume Agon is going along with whatever you guys are cooking up until he has a chance to post so we can keep things moving along.
Agon, you still out there, man? Want to make sure you're still on board, healthy, all that. It's been a while. :-)
Tactical discussion time:
Historically, one of the most amazing force multipliers ever implemented was the radio-in-automobile and radio-in-tank.
Karthan is effectively a short-ranged radio set for the group. This can A) make us more effective or B) cause people to lose immersion because it 'feels too modern'.
I happen to like it...but I think message may well be the most powerful 0 level spell in the game, not for what it does - but for what it allows teams of people to accomplish.
I'm willing to forgo it after this combat if it causes people to go "Um, you're getting too much special ops in my heroic fantasy..."
For my part I have absolutely no problem with it. If the group decides it takes away from the feel, somehow, then that's up to y'all. But as GM, it's cool with me.
|
-chuckles- Pardon my intrusion, but I couldn't not comment. Your GM is one of my players anyways so I've been lurking and drawing inspiration from him as well.
As for the special forces tactics, one of my RL groups has a couple players (myself included as I'm not the GM of that game) who use our knowledge from the military in-game. This isn't full OOC knowledge use IC whereas its merely tactics our characters would have used during their time in their respective services (my drow rogue was a member of a drow special forces unit). Anyways, one of our favorite tactics is to bash the door open, have the Sorcerer drop a Fireball (flashbang) which we follow in to clean up. We've also used similar tactics to what you're suggesting with Message.
Just thought I'd comment on that as I was thinking of such information as you mentioned it and I thought about it. Kind of creepy coincidence.
Ronin! Thanks for dropping by, man, yer always welcome. :-) Appreciate the input! That's a pretty rad combo move, too. It'd fit in amazingly with this team.
Ya! Cool tactic! If Jorzan had his shadow companion already then we could use it to phase into the wall and tell us what was on the other side first (IR or similar type unit to 'see through' walls ; ) and [i]then[/] slam door+flash bang+mop up etc. : D
Hmmm... Note to self: CR=APL+4 for these guys. ;-)
Agon, if you're out there, lemme know. We want you back, man! If I haven't heard anything from you by Monday, I'm going to get a replacement. :-)
Agon? Hello? You out there, dude?
Agon? Hello? You out there, dude?
Glitterdust would work even better! (Re: Special Ops tactics)
Better than my RL tactics, which are sufficient for our purposes, but rarely consist of more than "Step 1) Kick door in. Step 2) Let K9 enter. Step 3) Rush in after dog, guns drawn. Step 4) Call ambulance for dog bite on suspect." Surprisingly effective!
Got stranded without internet!
Back now, have no problem with using message.
Got stranded without internet!
Back now, have no problem with using message.
Yay! Tanel's back! Hey, check what I did for you in the IC thread. Feel free to change it if you want, I was just moving things along.
Sucks you were sans internet. That's the pits!
It was pretty crap!
And you took my action just fine! Thanks!
DRA you have an email from me...well actually about three for when ever you get the time.
Hey guys, want your opinion on something; it seems we've lost Agon. I originally was going to add another player, but now I'm thinking that leaving the group at five PCs would tighten things up a bit, help the game move along a little faster. What do you think? Would you like me to get a sub, or leave it at five?
I'm easy either way, a sub that posts with high frequency would be grand, that said a PBP speeds up a lot with fewer players. and it leaves him a slot if her does ever return properly.
I'm OK either way. Let the GM decide.
I vote on prepping another alternate to come in next week.
Do you have an email address for all players? Have you tried emailing him directly?
I don't and I haven't, unfortunately. I guess I didn't think it'd be necessary?
So far I have two 'abstain' votes and an 'aye' vote for getting a new player onboard. Kelne? Jorzan? What do you guys think? I'm in no rush so I'll wait for you two to weigh in.
Either way's fine with me.
Tanel and I are pretty much exactly on the same page.
The only thing that leans me slightly twoard having a replacement is that Argon was one of our heavy hitters. But if you are adjusting things to take into account our changed CR that shouldn't make much difference. And personally I feel it would be great to have him be able to come back when he can, for I'm sure it's not by choice that's Agron is absent.
Tanel and I are pretty much exactly on the same page.
The only thing that leans me slightly twoard having a replacement is that Argon was one of our heavy hitters. But if you are adjusting things to take into account our changed CR that shouldn't make much difference. And personally I feel it would be great to have him be able to come back when he can, for I'm sure it's not by choice that's Agron is absent.
Yeah, I agree. I'm sure something happened, he said work was really exhausting him, so maybe he's just too piled up with stuff.
Hmm...I'll leave things as is for now and, as Ad Astra suggested, I'll look at starting another LFP thread next week. If I do, you guys want another archer onboard? Big damage dealer, like? Or should we just let people go crazy and see what they come up with?
I favor crazy. See what people come up with!
Ha ha, Awesome! What do you guys think of either Psionic Fox's level-dipping sorc or Dan Gunther's Ironborn in my new LFP thread? Anyone else in there seem interesting to you?
Wow! They're all pretty nuts and out there.
Nothin really catches my attention yet, as its alot of crazy stuff and asian stuff for the Empire of Mists.
By the way, you are nuts. I'm running two PBPs, each with three players! Don't know where you get your drive!
Yeah, the Oriental themes kinda muck it up a bit. Still, there's a paladin of Shelyn that might work. Mm. I'll keep it in mind.
And yeah, it's a little crazy. Mostly I guess I just like to game. My other two hobbies are my full-time jobs, so this is basically my only actual hobby. :-)