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Yeah, I'm still reading this and eagerly awaiting the next installment. :)

I have a tendency to dramatize the scene fairly well - a good hit will be described as graphic as possible to match the battle scene...I describe my games as a never-ending action film - I can get pretty animated at some sessions, acting out slashed throats and crushed skulls all the time... It works for me.

I'm with you on the descriptive part. When I DM and one of my players makes a hit on an enemy I tell them where they hit and how hard, based on the amount of damage they did relative to the HP total of their opponent. A five point hit against an opponent with twenty HP might be described as the player's weapon finding a chink in the armor and they see a quick spurt of blood come out, or a long, medium depth slash along an arm or leg. The same hit against an oponent with more hit points might be just a big scratch, or a bludgeoning weapon hitting square against armor but with enough force to make the target wince briefly; five damage against an opponent with ten or less HP would be a deep gash in their side or a solid wack upside the head or such. Once a barbarian PC swung on a vine to land on top of a guarded carriage (PCs were bandits) and engaged four sword wielding guards (riding on "running board" type platforms on the side); two turns later he was bleeding profusely from the legs as a result of the guards slashing at whatever they could hit and he was down to single digit HP from his original 35 (luckily the cleric was a raptoran and had a nice perch to glide down from and heal him before he acquired a nickname along the lines of "Stumpy").

As to tracking the battles, I have a wonderfully unorganized system. Each player chooses some form of token to represent their character, often a unique looking die of some sort but other items like coins, legos, and so forth are frequently seen (I once used a pack of cigerettes to represent a giant). At any given time these tokens are sitting in the center of the table or floor (depending on where we're playing) arranged in "marching order" or, if a surprise encounter such as an ambush during a "social" encounter, I just take note of where PCs are and then assign their locations appropriately when combat begins and I add tokens for enemies. There is no grid, and I simply say at the start how far apart everything is. Players take note and remember any distances relevant to them (if they can charge or cast a short ranged spell at a particular opponent, if they're within a big opponent's reach, etc). Any actual movement of the tokens is done by me since the "scale" exists solely in my head. Definitely a sloppy system, but it actually works pretty smoothely in my experience.

So exactly what kind of undead did Busta become?

Whoops, my bad. The only true neutral cleric in any game I've taken part in was my mystic theurge who worshipped Boccob. I think I roleplayed the alignment fairly well tough the mostly Chaotic good party thought of him as a bit of a jerk, but that is probably because my character deeply revered Boccob as the both the Lord of All Magic and the Uncaring and attempted to emulate his deity in those fashions, so he came off a bit cold and standoffish. Funny, they weren't complaining when he hit the bad guys with a fireball or searing light spell, though they did actually seem a bit begrudged when he'd walk up and heal them before they had a chance to ask (keeping your allies healthy is a good thing regardless of alignment, as long as they fight on your side).

So that "tomorrow" thing didn't quite work out...but here it comes anyways. Better late than never.

Episode 1, "But, come on, just think, A GIANT BALL OF COPPER!"

The prospective gang of bandits has decided that their first order of business is the need of a base of operations. The city of Jiyan has some seedier parts, particularly along the western bank of the river, but they still don't feel particularly comfortable with the idea of hauling contraband and stolen goods into the city on a (hopefully) regular basis. While trying to covertly dig up information about any abandoned buildings or even caves in the nearby jungle, they happen upon the information that a rather small green dragon has set up a lair along keril stream, about a mile and a half northwest of town. The ranger that they learn this from is unwilling to show them it's location personally, he barely got out alive the first time, but they do learn the general location and decide to check it out and try to evict the current resident.

They travel up the highway for a stretch then set off into the trackless jungle, wary towards the possibility of an agressive and sharptoothed denizen thereof. They are a bit surprised when, amid a sudden cacophony of screeches and howls, ten small monkeys leap down from overhead trees and attack them! The battle lasts four rounds, and a few notable events occur. Duzair misses his first two mighty swings of his flail, but the monkeys attacking him fail to successfully gnaw his legs off at the shins, as seems to be their objective judging by what two others are doing to Theravin (three hits, one critical, resulting in a 30% HP loss in two rounds against a pair of monkeys). Duzair lands a solid hit, only after Tesa hops over to "show him how it's done" by skewering her third monkey on her rapier right in front of him; she narrowly avoids the splatter of monkey guts as he finally hits with his flail, rolling max damage. She sticks her tongue out at him before going to rescue the drow from the other monkeys. Bixby discovered that melee isn't his strong point as his first hit (for max damage no less) failed to even stun a monkey, but then Butch, his riding dog, authoritatively bit it's head off and that was apparently sufficiently satisfoctory.

Once everything settles down Tesa loudly proclaims herself to be the "great monkey slayer" and Duzair heals Theravin's torn up shins with a wand, suggesting that he not get beaten up by monkeys again. Just as the group is calming down and reorienting themselves, they hear a voice from the foliage beckoning them. The voice reveals itself to be a black wyrmling dragon, barely larger than one of the monkeys they just fought, who identifies herself as Pegabi and has followed them long enough to figure out their intentions towards the green. Tesa immediately bursts out with "Awww, lookit the cute little dragon!" "Peg" chooses to ignore the catfolk as she offers her assistance in getting rid of him as long as they promise to stay well out of her swamp, which is a short distance upstream from the green's lair; she seems to have been having some territorial disputes with the green.

A plan is formed as Peg leads the group to the lair of the green. A slight mound shelters a small cave entrance about fourty feet before the ground goes into a nearly sheer drop down to the stream some twenty feet down. Tesa and Likai sneak ahead to either side of the entrance as Tank, carrying Bixbi, climbs a tree and swings over on a vine, landing on top of the cave. Peg decides that everything is set up enough and approaches in the open, shouting a stream of insults, challenges, and untranslatable curses in draconic. Bixbi, the only party member who understands the language, visibly flinches at the vulgarity of the words emerging from the tiny dragon, but they get the desired effect. The green, notably larger than Peg, emerges and moves straight towards her, intending to make her eat those words, but he doesn't notice the ambushers nearby! He is taken in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt and receives a kama strike to the opposite flank. Bixbi hits with a ray of enfeeblement, but it has little effect, and Tank leaps down swinging his axe but only lands a glancing blow. The small dragon is hurt but not down yet, as he whirls around and breathes a cloud of corrosive gas all over Likai, Tank, and Bixbi! Likai and Bixbi dodge partially out of the way but Tank is caught off guard; luckily he's the toughest member of the group and can shake it off for now. The battle is abruptly cut short as Tesa (with a critical hit) puts her second crossbow bolt through the dragon's skull and he collapses (Tesa proceeds to remind everybody that it was she who struck the killing blow). Upon confirming that he's dead, Pegabi simply says "Now stay out of my swamp!" and flys upstream.

The party explores the cave and it seems that this little dragon has been busy. The entrance opens into a chamber roughly twenty foot across, though Duzair has to crouch down to fit his tall frame under the low ceiling. Nothing of note is found here but there is a doorway in the back that goes to a small, semi-spiral ramp that leads to a similar chamber below, this one with two side doorways and a ramp leading down at an angle in the center of the room. Closer inspection reveals that this tunnel ends in water a short distance in, a fact that causes Tesa to become slightly uncomfortable. One side chamber contains a collection of gear, presumable from those who hadn't fared well against the cave's original inhabitant. Most of note is a potion determined to be charged with a spider climb spell, a finely made hand crossbow which Theravin claims, and a suit of masterwork plate mail which none of the party is trained to wear. The other side is much more directly satisfying, with small piles of gold and silver coins on either side of a massive mound of copper coins (over fifty thousand of them!). The massive pile represents a significant sum of cash, but nobody is sure how to transport it. Tank suggests finding a way to melt it all into a giant ball and rolling it into town. The others point out both the lack of equipment to do so as well as their opinions that the idea in itself is ridiculous. Tank eventually relents, albeit with a bit of disgruntlement.

The group begins to make plans for improving this cave for their use. While Duzair complains of the low ceilings, Tank goes swimming out the tunnel and determines that it is, as he suspected, a passage to the stream outside. Measurements are taken, plans are made, and it is decided to rest before going to Jiyan to purchase materials for the planned improvements.

Early the next morning the do-it-yourselfers strike out and pass through the jungle without incident after doing their best to disguise the cave entrance, though several monkeys seemed to be heckling them at times but never stuck around long. Tank finds a smith known to be able to craft weapons and armor from dragons' bodies, and manages to sell the carcass of the green for a nice profit; Bixbi claims one fang and the funds to have a dragonfang dagger made from it as his share, though the others wonder why the little pipsquak needs a combat knife. The plate mail from the cave is sold at the same place, as well as several mundane items found in the hoard, increasing the group's funds. A mule and a small cart are purchased and quickly loaded with lumber and tools. Tank makes a quick stop to purchase coal and several ingot molds (only because no smithy in town sells giant ball shaped molds) as the others purchase a boat. Their most expensive purchase of the day by far, the shallow hulled craft is in many ways a miniature longboat and should be just enough to carry them and their load while stilll being able to navigate up the relatively shallow Keril Stream, saving them the trouble of hauling all this stuff through trackless jungle. Everyone and everything (including the cart and mule) is loaded onto the boat, though it takes all of Tesa's will not to give in to her fear of water and freak out.

Upon return to the lair the boat is tied up outside and the group gets to work for the next few days. The water tunnel is expanded to surface level and a small, crude dock is constructed. Doors are built and Duzair spends a full day raising ceilings and lowering floors with a shovel, then spends two days digging out a small room (with a high ceiling) on the upper level with an exit thorough the steep bank; it's not the grand cliff city he grew up in but it'll do for now. While Tesa constructs a protective pen for Gretchen, as she has named the mule, the others construct fireplaces and a chimney, Bixbi sets up a small kitchen, Theravin begins hunting for fresh meat, and Tank begins melting the massive heap of copper coins into more transportable bars. The group decides not to bother hauling the copper to Jiyan yet and to keep it stashed as their own little emergency fund, but divy up the remaining gold and silver. Finally vines are gathered and woven into nets that, while they won't hold much, should serve to make the entrance, dock, and boat less noticeable, at least from a distance.

With their base now established, the group makes plans to engage in active highway robbery, literally.

Clerics of Wee Jas aren't necessarily evil. Wee Jas is a lawful neutral deity, meaning her clerics can be lawful neutral, lawful evil, true neutral, or even lawful good. Now that I think about it, a paladin of Wee Jas would be an interesting character concept. Since Tyralandi obviously channels negative energy she can't be good, but I haven't seen anything to suggest she's evil either, so I'm guessing she's either lawful neutral or true neutral.

Of course, many "good and upstanding" characters would likely be quite uneasy meeting a group of priests and priestesses of a death goddess regardless of alignments involved.

Tonight was the second "session" of my new campaign that I'm DMing. "Session" in quotation marks because while it was the second time we got together as a group for this campaign, the first time character generation, introduction, and whatnot took up nearly the entire time that we had. I figure I'll give a go at posting a campaign journal here about it, and hopefully it'll be interesting enough that people will enjoy it. It's pretty late and I'm tired, so I'll type up the events of the session tomorrow, but I'll give a brief intro here.

The setting is a semi-generic world of my own creation, and the campaign takes place in a tropical jungle. Specifically, it takes place in the Principality of Three Rivers, which is a part of the Bequoji Empire. Due to the density of the jungle and small number of well maintained roads, there is little enforcement of law and order outside the major cities (which are fairly well spaced apart) and the numerous small villages under protection of roving patrols based inthe big cities. Each local Prince (or Princess) has a large degree of power within their borders as long as they keep order and pay the required taxes to the Emperor. The action begins in and around the city of Jiyan, named after the river that it sets upon where the Imperial Highway (the only high quality road in the area) crosses it. Both the Highway and the river are major trade routes in the area.

The party begins as a somewhat rag tag gang of bandits. Needless to say, this isn't a "heroic" party; most of the characters are in fact chaotic evil. Since I wanted to encourage interesting characters, I allowed PCs with level adjustments and the entire party would start at an ECL of one higher than the highest LA, so every character would have at least one class level. The highest level adjustment is +2 (the drow), so each member has an effective character level of 3. The party is as follows.

Tesa Runningdark, catfolk rogue. The dark gray furred catfolk rogue is quite quick and dextrous, and has a healthy ego. She's quite nasty with her rapier (weapon finesse and a dexterity score of 21 will do that) and has quickly developed a habit of making fun of Duzair, in the middle of combat, when he misses an attack with his comparatively clumsy flail. She has also declared herself "the great monkey slayer," but we'll get to that soon enough.

Bixbi, halfling sorceror. After a less than successful attempt at thievery, Bixbi got out of jail and decided to be a sorceror. He's proven a bit better at that, though he's a bit paranoid for his own safety. He gets along with the rest of the group because they don't seem to mind him hiding behind them as long as he provides magical support and cooks. On the rare occasion that he might be within reach of a foe, he simply directs his faithful riding dog, Butch, to bite them since he knows that his staff is about as deadly in his hands as a blade of grass (a strength of 7 will do that to you).

Theravin, drow hexblade. While not the most physically resilient combatant around (12 HP, including his Toughness feat), Theravin, or "Theo" as he is known to some, tries to make up for his lack of toughness with sheer nastiness (usually in the form of a swinging scythe). He left his home some time ago because his kinfolk made him extremely paranoid (fancy that, scary drow) and while his current companions aren't exactly upstanding citizens there are much fewer of them to keep track of and these ones are actually useful to be around.

Likai, tiefling ninja. Not much is known about Likai, and he prefers it that way. He deliberately draws as little attention to himself as possible. While having a definite impression of his own superiority over them, he likes his companions because they provide a nice distraction while he sneaks up behind his enemies, or somebody to run behind if he gets noticed first. He and Tesa are quickly developing a sort of unspoken professional partnership as they have similar abilities and work together well, but she's much louder and more noticeable when stealth is not needed.

Duzair, raptoran cleric of Lliendil (raptoran god of storms). Duzair began wandering as part of his Walk of the Four Winds, and while still technically on that journey has developed even more of a nasty streak than he already had. He's really into the destructive aspect of his deity and prefers to use as many storm metaphors as possible. He joined up with the party as a way of "adding winds to his storm" and has a rather secure position in the group as the only one capable of using healing magic. He is proficient in the use of his heavy flail (the favored weapon of Lliendil) but has so far had less than stellar luck with it, resulting in the taunts from Tesa; he has responded several times by suggesting she tries swinging a real weapon instead of her oversized sewing needle, but does value her skill as long as she's on his side.

"Tank," jungle dwarf barbarian. Tank is a nickname, but most people can't pronounce his full name, including more than a few dwarves. He says his entire village (not a particularly big one) vanished while he was hunting, but some suspect that he might have just hit his head on a branch while vine swinging (no, he doesn't see any reason why dwarves can't be good at that) and got really lost. He's quite strong and tough, and extremely outgoing despite his lacking in the charisma department (Cha of 9). He gnerally comes across as a fast talking car salesman except he (usually) isn't trying to sell anything. He's not dumb but comes up with some strange ideas; the others put up with his strangeness because he's quite useful when swinging an axe. He has a pet monkey named Cheetor, but seems to dislike just about any other monkey (sometimes accusing them of trying to steal his bannanas). Tank may not be active in all sessions, as the player lives out of town (but frequently visits, often on game nights).

I like Marc Chin's idea of naming each session synopsis with actual character dialogue, so I'll try to do that. Tomorrow I'll post the events of the action so far (really just a fight with some monkeys and then todays session), which will be titled "But, come on! Think, a GIANT ball of copper!"

Damn! That was pure chaos. Impressive.

I can easily see the benefits that a cleric can get from that if they channel negative energy. They'd still have to prepare a few healing spells for any allies they want alive (either from actual affection or just to have somebody big and tough to pick fights with enemies), but could just spontaneously cast an inflict spell to heal themselves. I mght have to look into that book again.

They don't seem to be doing that well against those hags...ouch.

Nice. And exactly what is the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat, and from what source does it come? Libris Mortis? BoVD? Complete divine? Dragon/Dungeon magazine? I'm guessing it has something to do with her being healed by inflict spells (and probably harmed by cure spells), but are there other effects?

And keep those journals coming, I like the charactera lot and it's quite well written.

Bring 'em on! Your players actually do a great job of playing evil characters, both with keeping true to the evil aspect and still getting along. And my kudos tp the player of Charaine, the only neutral character as I understand, who actually stays neutral; I've seen more than a few "neutral" characters in *good* groups tend closer to evil (or just being evil and denying it, with the DM not caring).

As to the armor, it could be special ordered. Any crafter of magical arms and armor, with the appropriate prerequisite caster level and spells known, should be able to make it and likely would agree to as long as you pay the market price, which is pretty much expected. The only downside is that you have to find a sufficiently skilled craftsman (probably shouldn't be hard in a large, fairly prosperous city) and wait around for the required time for them to make it. Most of this could be done on downtime between adventures, as long as you're within traveling distance of a sufficiently large city to support such a craftsman (and a druid can make pretty good time on such a trip since "as the crow flies" isn't just a figure of speech for them). A druid should easily be able to put up with the city for a little while to get such an item. Also, keep in mind that the character that the original poster has made is epic level, so it shouldn't be too difficult for him to afford this.

As to the animal familiarity, I wouldn't have any reservations allowing a druid to wildshape into a rhino as long as they have spent any significant amount of time in an area with warm plains (rhino habitat). Africa isn't a place in any D&D world I know of, so if there's appropriate environment then there's a good chance that a particular animal is at least occasionally seen in that area.

No offense, man, but you sound like an overly strict DM. I hate munchkinism and all, but it seems as if you're one of those DMs that doesn't allow any magical items into the campaign until eighth levelor higher (and the only magic items that ever exist are in hoards of powerful dragons, none can actually be bought) and any new characters (including ones that die, which happens about twice per session) must start at first level regardless of what level the group is at.

I've never been one for voices, though I might occasionally do an impromptu voice or two if I've had a few beers, but I do try to keep my players entertained. I try to keep my plots and characters serious and interesting, but at the same time I toss in a few ridiculous situations, which are made even funnier by the fact that the characters are treating it seriously. I made an entire three month campaign for seven players based on a drunken rant after I'd hit my head on a doorway: the mow infamous "Midget Mayhem" campaign, where the PCs must stop the evil midget empire from conquering the known world. Situations were serious, but the fact that the bed guys were a bunch of evil, knee bashing midgets made things a little humerous throughout (they weren't halflings or gnomes, they were midgets, and they were mean little suckers). Especially funny was the dwarf finding a maul of the titans in a dragon hoard and proceeding to squash midgets left and right; he got that thing about midway through the campaign and killed no less then fourty midget warriors with it.

I've said it before and I'll probably say it again, but this chronicle is an excellent read! I've managed to scrounge up a small group, meaning myself and two others (we plan to make up for the lack of numbers with playing two characters per player or maybe use gestalt characters, not sure yet), but I've got a couple weeks to plan until one player is available (she's taking a ten day "field trip" with the college starting this weekend) so I'm plotting out my campaign. This will be my first evil adventure, and I've really learned a lot of little things from these chronicles. Things like motivations, interactions, personal lives, and recreational activities of evil characters that I never really understood before. I also really like the style and feel you've got, Marc, and I hope to be able to emulate at least a little bit of that (with my own little touches, of course) in this game.

This thread is like a textbook or an educational video for running and playing in an evil campaign. Again, thanks for posting this Marc, and keep them coming!

I love the Complete books(still need to get around to buying Complete Divine), and the only Races book I have it RotW, but I really like it, for reasons stated above.

I DM at least as much as not, and I actively encourage my players to use classes, prestige classes, feats, items, background material, etc from any supplement book I have. Among my friends and acquaintances who play D&D, I'm the only one sufficiently "into it" to spend money on non-core books, but they do appreciate it when I share those books (at least enough that I don't have to bring my own caffeinated beverages, and that works for me), and in any game we now usually have at least one character using a Complete class (often at least one or two using a Complete PrC), a Savage Species or Unearthed Arcana race, or some other material from the supplements. I think it adds a lot of flavor to the game. I never have difficulty keeping track of what characters can do what, partially because I've usually already read the book(s) they're using (they are *my* books, after all) and if I don't know everything off by heart, I just make a note of it on the general reference page of my campaign notes. No biggie. The players are happy and they help me get my money's worth out of the supplements by having them used in the campaign; it's a social game so what makes it better for one player usually makes it better for everybody, and vice versa.

And Aerie, I'm sorry that you can't find other female gamers. I guess my experience is abnormal, but I've never been part of a group of at least three players that didn't include at least one female. Heck, in half of the campaigns I've played at college in the past few years, female players outnumbered male players(3 females in a 5 player group, or 4 out of 7). Then again, in my experience, gender doesn't really mean much for the purposes of gaming because a gamer is a gamer, regardless. Anything that could be applied to one gender (even in stereotypes) I can probably come up with a true example of a member of the opposite gender doing it. Even the stereotypical "male geek makes and plays a lesbian character;" my ex-girlfriend had a male wizard that was as gay as they come. But anyway, good luck if you're trying to find other female gamers. My suggestion is if you can't find any, make some! Got a friend that liked the Lord of the Rings movies or something like that? Try to talk her into trying out just one game of D&D. Down at college, my group has about five people to D&D this way, and three of them decided that they liked it enough to keep playing.

I would say no. I seem to recall something in the warforged description that specifically said that they cannot wear armor. They get an *armor bonus* from their plating/skin but it doesn't seem to actually be considered armor.

I like spellcasters, and my preferences in prestige classes show it. Interestingly enough though, I very rarely actually get around to taking levels in a PrC. But my two favorites are:

Mystic Theurge (DMG): lots and lots of magic...what else can I say?
Daggerspell Mage (Complete Adventurer): I love magic, and the idea of crossing levels of rogue (or ninja!) appeals to me. I also think I could make do with the bonuses I'd get despite losing several wizard levels for the multiclassing. I haven't tried it out yet, but want to soon.

Exactly what does this player plan to do with said duck? Combat is no place for pets (nor is diplomacy or stealth), and if they were looking for dinner they wouldn't need stats, just a knife and a pot. Though I guess a Ranger might get a dire duck as an animal companion...but it would still be lamer than a dire badger.

So why does a character need a duck? Really, this thoroughly confunds me and I must know.

Mercifully, your four days above ground is followed by two in the Underdark that are uneventful, save for an unfortunate, lone sheepherder and his flock that you all encounter on day three; who got it worse in the end (no pun) - the sheep or the herder, no one will ever know.

Dare I ask for details on the doubtlessly horrid fate(s) were met by this poor sap and his sheep?

That was one big and brutal battle. Am I correct in assuming that the devil was an Erinyes? What level is the party at? And how do remember all those details; do you take notes as you play or just have a good memory later when you wrote these summaries?

Wow, that sounds like a rather large and chaotic battle. How long did it take you actually run the action in that last post? The largest scale battles I've ran were in the now famous "Evil Midget Campaign." The one with the most participants was at sea: a boarding action that included 5 PCs and one NPC ally against a total of nearly 20 midget marines. The MVP was the dwarven cleric, who picked off the enemy captain with a searing light spell and proceeded to squish no less than six midgets; this was before he acquired a Maul of the Titans, which proved to be an absolutely wonderful midget squishing weapon. The same cleric also masterfully sunk the PC's original ship with a well placed control water spell (after they had seized the enemy ship instead).

Generally speaking, no. I see no reason to purchase other "Races of..." books, having looked through them all except Races of Eberron (I don't use that setting anyways), but I couldn't resist with the Raptorans. They're just so damn cool, at least to me. I like their flight abilities, their general attitudes, their society, everything. I'm fairly certain I've found a new favorite race.

Once again I'm reminded of what I'm missing by not currently being in a D&D group...I really must remedy that. In the meantime, keep these coming Marc, this is the closest thing I have to a surrogate for now!

I'm looking for a new group, either to join an existing one or start a new one. I am comfortable as a player or a DM. Willing to drive reasonable distances if outside of the podunk hole in the ground called Zanesville.

Your character's trophy sounds hilarious, but Sizul thinks too much of dragons to go that far with a trophy!

This was personal. My character had nearly died in an attempt to go "mano-a-draco" when then rest of the party refused to fight the really big red dragon. A level twelve warmage isn't really a match for an adult red dragon, as I discovered (shouting smacktalk at him in draconic probably didn't help either). After a near fatal first attempt, I managed to convince the others to go back with me, and took the trophy there.

The quirks are what make things fun!

I looked at Races of the Wild yesterday in the store, and I think I'll be picking that book up soon. I only really looked at the Raptoran section, and that briefly, but it impressed me. I've always wanted to have a character capable of flight (I'm personally fascinated by things that fly), but any such races I've encountered before have level adjustments. Since I almost always play some type of spellcasting character I'm quite loathe to give up class levels (and the increased spellcasting that they bring) for that level adjustment. Since they have very little racial bonuses aside from flight and even that takes quite a few levels to fully develope, they aren't unbalanced compared to other races. I want that book and I want to whip up a raptoran character...plus, at least from what I saw in the contents, the rest of the book looks quite good as well.

I personally think that a good D&D game does depend on a good group interaction. There are different ways this can happen, and different combinations that work. A group of all skilled roleplayers is one, a group of good natured smartasses that are only mediocre at roleplaying can be quite fun also (as long as everybody has a similar sense of humor). I personally prefer at least two good roleplayers (I do my best to be one of those myself) and always try to keep things friendly and usually lighthearted. The really important thing is to prevent player to player conflicts; these ruin the game at it's core by souring the player interaction. One bad apple, as I've been unfortunate enough to recently learn firsthand, can ruin everything. Keep it friendly, and remember that this is a game, not real, and that it's a cooperative effort and not a competition between players. Keep a cooperative group and you'll not have a bad time at least, and if everybody clicks right, you might have stories to fondly remember for years to come.

Two dozen live chickens? As DM I'd be way too tempted to have some random NPC or monster fry them all at once with a breath weapon, fireball spell, etc. Or something else horribly ridiculous.

And I have been threatened by others with the throwing of dice, but I normally just remind them that I have a reflexive tendency to return any assaults in kind while hefting my d20 that is the size of a baseball. This usually results in a few comments about the point (or lack thereof) of having such a die or about how I actually spent five bucks on it.

I've played a female bard character that was a promiscuous stripper. This most certainly doesn't mean I secretly dream of hooking up with random men (namely because I'm male and quite straight). Though I have had job offers (yes, plural) to become a stripper. Actually, that character was originally thought up as a joke about some of my current girlfriend's coworkers (yes, she was a stripper) and everybody thought it would be cool so I made the character.

I try to have each character I make be at least a little bit different in attitude and/or alignment than any other character I've played. I still almost exclusively play spellcasters, but I like magic. My most noteworthy characters are a crazy evoker/paladin (the paladin part was a bit coerced), the flighty stripper bard, a warmage with military discipline who gets irritated by ineffeciency, and a neurotic and twitchy kobold warlock. I enjoy the variety.

But I digress from the thread. Speaking of which, I like that idea of putting the dragon's horns onto a helmet. One of my most recent characters made a pair of underwear out of the skin from a dragon's face as a personal gloat for beating it. My group looked at me like they didn't already expect me to do weird things...

That is one nasty little Kobold.

Did they somehow know for sure that the dragon was hostile? Not that black dragons are known for their hospitality, but were I an evil character I'd be looking for a chance to negotiate with the dragon before picking a fight with it (unless my character believed he could take the dragon out, either due to honest ability or maybe massive ego - the ego thing has resulted in less than fortunate [for me] mano-a-draco incidents in the past). Then again it could have simply decided that they look funny, or that it was hungry and they looked tasty, in which case a proactive defense might be wise (unless it's a really badass dragon, then a speedy retreat would be wiser).

At least for hitting and damaging, the conversion is really quite simple. AC in 2nd edition starts at 10 then goes down, as opposed to starting at 10 and going up as it does in 3rd and 3.5 editions. THAC0 starts at 20 and goes down, rather than 0 and up. As long as you're aware of that then the math involved is quite simple. Its when you want to convert other things that it gets complicated.

OK, man...we all know what you're wishin.

Get in line.

*awaiting imminent smack*

:-P
M

This suggests that such has been suggested before, and with amusing and semi-violent results. My kind of humor :)

I don't know of specifics, but it shouldn't be hard to make up such rules. If a hit is scored, roll against a chart to determine which body is hit. The only game I've played using a similar system is classic Battletech, which used 2d6 for all rolls, including hit locations. There's a bell curve on such rolls (a 5 or 6 is several times more likely than a 2 or 12), and torso hits were located in these slots (bigger target).

A d12 could work with the following locations: 1-lower right leg/foot, 2-right thigh, 3-lower left leg/foot, 4-left thigh, 5-left torso/shoulder, 6-lower torso (stomach), 7-upper center torso (chest) 8-right torso (shoulder), 8-upper left arm, 9-lower left arm, 10-upper right arm, 11-lower right arm, 12-head.

Different locations should have defferent effects. A leg or thigh hit should reduce a character's speed, for example. An arm hit results in a penalty to attack and damage rolls in which that arm is involved (as well as skill checks and other things, like a strebgth check to lift something, but not a bull rush which can just as easily be a shoulder slam). Hits to the head, chest, and left shoulder (heart area) should require a fortitude save; failing the save makes that hit an automatic critical hit with all associated damage and effects (burst weapons, for example).

Secondary effects are only part of the complexity you'll need to go into to make such a system believable. Called shots, for example; "I aim at his head," or "I want to shoot him in his weapon arm." In Battletech this assesses a -2 penalty, IIRC, but that's against a big, relatively slow moving mech so -4 would make more sense against a faster, ducking, weaving, and otherwise mobile living target. What about sneak attacks? Those depend on hitting "vital areas" to deal extra damage, which amounts to a called shot (though those with sneak attack abilities are paticularly good at that, so I'd drop that to a -2, and remember that such targets are normally flatfooted or flanked). If somebody wants to usetheir sneak attack without the surprise, maybe a -6 total penalty (-4 called shot and -2 for the extra difficulty)?

D&D's "general" damage system is there for simplicity. You can make it more precise at the expense of that simplicity. But if you want to make it more "real" then you'll have to get pretty darn complicated. Make sure you think it out and test it well before actualy using such as system in game.

I don't know the DC offhand, but I know that I could personally do that in under a minute. Heck, when I was ten I would rig up tripline water balloon traps half the times that my mother left me at home while she went out for groceries. Porch stairs right next to the front door, a lightweight (easily breakable) piece of fishing line tied across the top of the stairs would run up to the roof and around a ventilation chute in the roof, ending just above the gutter, tied to a big water balloon. A small flat board would be placed over that section of gutter so the balloon wouldn't get stuck in it as it rolled down when the fishing line was broke. Somebody walks up the stairs, kicks the line (likely not even noticing if they're wearing jeans), and by the time they take another step, a water balloon is falling towards them. Total set up time? About ten minutes for a couple of ten year olds (the neighbor twins would usually be in on such little schemes), and that includes hauling a ten foot ladder from the shed in the back yard and then putting it back after we were done. Granted, our aim was never great and we ended up soaking a lot of feet and no heads, but it wasn't hard.

The character actions, reactions, and interactions are what keep me reading this. Even paraphrased dialogue or just a summary thereof conveys a lot more than "this PC did this then that PC did that" and keeps it interesting. Yeah, fighting monsters can be really cool, but RPG stands for roleplaying game, and beating those monsters is a lot more fun if your character has a motivation for it (asides from "winning" treasure). I think some people focus too much on making D&D like an old sidescrolling hack 'n slash NES game: fight the monsters, grab treasure, fight more monsters, fight a really big monster, get power-ups, go to the next level, repeat. That's more monotonous than fun, and some interesting characters are the start of an interesting RPG. This group seems to have figured that out (as well as the all important concept that you make a group effort and no individual ever "wins"; I've had problems with a person or two about this in the past). Quite honestly, I'm jealous; three quarters of the people I usually play with haven't the slightest clue how to roleplay, and most of the others are jerks who can't roleplay either. I'm looking to starting a new group to remedy this defeciency (and get away from the jerks).

But I digress. Keep those recappy report whatsit thingies coming.

Oh, and Flushmaster... Do you work for Wizards of the Coast already, if not you should man. Thats some of the best persuasive argument I've seen on these message boards. Keep up the good work

No, I don't work for WoTC. I'm just opinionated and have had a lot of practice voicing my opinion. As they say, practice makes parfect ;) Now if somebody out there wants to give me a job for being opinionated, I'd gladly take that position. Until then I guess I'll have to stick with less glamorous jobs like bookstore clerk. Darn.

While I am greatly enjoying this chronicle, I'm a bit confused. What is a Hobbit Hoagie sandwich shop? Is this a real establishment, a nickname you've given to a Subway or Blimpie type shop, or what? The way my mind works this may keep me up tonight...

That aside I must say that your players sound quite fun...what I'd give for a group with good senses of humor and an actual cooperative mentality. Actually, a regular group would be nice, but the circumstances of my current gaming situation would distract from this thread. Keep them coming!

Any form of resurrection by magical means normally results in the subject locing a Con point, as well as (usually) a level (if a familiar is resurrected, it does not lose the Con point). I think that the True Resurrection spell is the only way to get back to life without these penalties, but it's either an 8th or 9th level cleric spell and the material components cost 25k gp.

IIRC, the minimum age for a standard (ie adult) human character is either 15 or 16. They may still have a few years of growth ahead of them but they are physically mature. What, precisely, means "mature?" Quite bluntly, at least in the case of humans at least, the capacity to have and care for children. D&D is a fantasy game, but the closest analogue we have to its world is the midieval Europe and in that society it wasn't uncommon for people to be married and have children by the time they'd be legal to drive in the modern US (16). Granted, life expectancy was mid thirties (40 on the outside) for an average commoner and males often married girls several years younger than them because supporting a family usually meant that the husband farms or works a trade while the wife was often little more than a baby maker. To work to support a family, a young man would have to be physically fit and full grown (18-20), but if a girl was able to bear children and didn't look like a complete child then she was qualified as a wife and her parents would often seek to marry her off because she was doing little more than taking up space and food in their home at that age.

When a child becomes a teenager (or someplace around that age) they hit a series of growth spurts that increase their size and begin to fill them out (up to that point they've usually grown more vertically than anything else and haven't had a chance to growe into their own frames-unless they're fat but that's another issue). Strength and constitution would make leaps and bounds in this period, and dexterity (balance, physical coordination, etc) would also increase, at least a little.

As for mental ability scores...

Intelligence doesn't necessarily mean what you know; it means what you're capable of understanding. A fighter with 18 intelligence can't cast spells just because he's smart enough; you need the appropriate practice or training. Children usually develope this capacity for knowledge before they gain very much; by ten or twelve they're likely capable of understanding anything that they'll ever be able to. Other factors like maturity, attention span, and so forth limit how fast a child learns but doesn't change their fundamental intelligence.

Wisdom is awareness of the world around you, and children are often less focused and more distractable than adults. They're still experiencing a lot of new things as they grow and haven't fully mastered the art of taking everything in effeciently.

Charisma, contrary to what many people seem to think, does not necessarily have anything to do with how physically attractive a character is. Charisma represents how well one is capable of interacting with, empathizing with, and even influencing others. Granted, a comely appearance helps these things and influences charisma, but a supermodel who happens to act like a complete b+%#! all the time *will* have a low charisma score, unless she acts like that on purpose and is extremely good at it (doing so even when such behavior is completely inaapropriate would suggest a particularly low wisdom and/or intelligence score). An butt-ugly person who is extremely well spoken and good at reading would have a rather high charisma, perhaps 16 (they just need to get over the obstacle of some people who are set off by their looks at first). Children often haven't completely developed the knowledge of what is appropriate or preferred by others in certain situations and will have somewhat lower charisma scores. Some kids, however, do have very good intuition on reading others even if they don't yet know the best way to react (due to lower wisdom, as already mentioned) but have the capacity for it.

I actually pondered child characters for a while, but never got around to it. My idea involved particularly exceptional kids capable of taking class levels at the age of 5-8, but they would still be extremely disadvantaged. I had a -6 to strength, -2 to dexterity, -4 to constitution, and a -2 to all mental scores, and any hit dice were to be halved.

Using this system and standard 4d6 stat generation, an "exceptional" child melee fighter would likely have stats something like str 12, dex 14, con 12, int 9, wis 11, and cha 7 with perhaps 5 hit points. Spellcasting children would be a little more powerful by comparison, but considering that your average adult sorceror/wizard has maybe 6 hit points (max) at first level, those poor little kids get d2 hit dice and will be lucky to have more than the minimum 1 HP per level after the low constitution modifier that spellcasters typically have. On the other hand, if they're fighting other kids then that magic missile might be able to drop an opponent with one spell (making a spellcaster potentially useful in combat).

My idea was basically the children of adventurers taking on the children of villains on the school playground, and occurred to me while in that wonderful state of mind brought on by being awake for 30+ hours straight and having consumed large amounts of caffeine. If you've ever seen the children's cartoon "Rugrats," imagine it crossed with D&D and some kids with really bad attitudes (also, the card game "Lunch Money" was a source of inspiration). Weapons in this plan were also scaled for children so, at least at first, their best weapons would be things like thrown rocks, a baseball bat (1d4 damage, basically a small club), and a yo-yo (1d2, dex modifies attack roll, str still adds to damage, 10 foot range; a sort of cross between a whip and a thrown weapon). The best armor available would be padded (extra layers of clothes). Eventually the kids might get their grubby little hands on gear made for halflings or gnomes (and therefore sized for them), or get magical enhancements on their bats and yo-yos or get creative and add metal plating, spikes, and whatnot to increase damage (with a hammer and a few nails a bat would become 1d4 bludgeoning + 1d3 piercing, for example, and the little bookworm that can cast Bull's Strength and Magic Weapon becomes the tougher kid's best friend).

Little kids armed with baseball bats and spiked yo-yos duking it out on the playground as others toss in full strength magic missile and burning hands spells...yeah, I'm a little twisted but I still think that would be fun to try out at least once.

Ah, thanks. I guess I have another reason to pester my friendly local bookstore manager (and former boss), aside from complaining about the horrible organizration of the RPG section every time I'm in the mall.

Nice :)

I got a catalogue for Origins the other day, and there was something in there about a contest, sponsored by Dragon, for the best design of a new prestige class. Does anybody know how one goes about entering this? It said to check the Dragon site for details, but I can't find any such thing there...

This is good stuff, keep it coming!

I think you have a great concept, but your class is a bit unbalanced. You're trying to make a character class, not a powergamer's dream. If it outstrips the abilities of other PCs then other players are going to get annoyed.

Hit die: d6
Skill points: 2 + Int mod per level (x4 at 1st level)

Class Skills (and key ability): Climb (str), Craft (int), Jump (str), Sleight of Hand (dex), Spot (wis), and Use Rope (dex).

A d8 hit die is for characters who normally serve as secondary melee combatants like clerics and druids or faster, stealthier frontline combatants like rangers and monks. A gunner is a ranged fighter and I can't see a single reason they would desire to be right next to an enemy when they can gun them down from safe range. Also, this is a class that focuses on a specific class feature (guns), so skill points should work like those of a wizard (spells) or fighter (general combat).

Lose all abilities related to seeing in the dark; that is a racial or magical ability (except for certain classes/prestige classes that specifically deal with dark environments like the dungeon delver) and magical darkness is magical for a reason. If you still want a certain ability to detect foes in such circumstances, add in a gunplay power at fifth level that, as a swift action, activates a 30 foot blindsense for one round per class level. At tenth level allow two power uses to be expended as a single swift action to do the same thing with double the range. Three uses can get 90 feet at 15th level and 4/120 at 20th level (at any such time the gunner can still use less expenditures for the shorter range, of course).

Add two weapon fighting at first level, improved TWF at eighth, and greater at fifteenth. Drop the Dodge, Mobility, Point Blank Shot and Shot on the Run, those can be picked up as normal feats and getting them for free overpowers the class. Instead, put in Close Combat Shot as a class feature at 4th level. This should be identical to the feature of the Order of the Bow Initiate (or the D20 Modern Gunslinger), allowing the gunner to make a ranged combat attack in a threatened area without provoking an attack of opportunity (they can use their guns in melee with no penalties).

Also, the Scattershot ability, I think is actually underpowered. While a good idea, it will become useless at higher levels because of the fixed save DC; try making the save DC 10 + half of gunner level rounded up + gunner dexterity modifier. This makes the DC roughly analogous to that of the strongest spells cast by a wizard or sorceror of similar level. Dividing damage isn't a good idea for an area effect; make damage equivalent to a single hit from the gun being used for the attack, and any target failing the save takes it (save = half damage, evasion applies as normal). Range 100 feet, but all targets beyond 50 feet get a +4 bonus to their saving throws because of the distance (+2 for a range increment, +2 for multiple targets).

Also, strength should never be added to ranged weapon damage except in the case of a composite bow or thrown weapon. Being able to pull the trigger really hard doesn't have any effect on how hard the bullet hits. Instead, make a note that the gunner's guns begin as masterwork weapons and can receive magical enhancements as per normal rules. Also, note that they make a loud noise when fired (obvious drawbacks to stealth); they can be "silenced" with a magical enhancement equivalent to a +1 bonus. Unless I'm gravely mistaken, magical enhancements can be added to a weapon on seperate occasions, so as long as the gunner has enough to pay the difference between his/her guns' current enhancement price and the price of the enhancements desired (and the time to wait for the process to be performed) they can get them upgraded between adventures. The summoning ability would be a wise choice for a character relying on specific weapons. I'd also suggest that forging new guns, particularly the kind that never run out of ammo, should cost more (I'd suggest no less than 1000gp per gun).

That "turn the tables" thing? Completely unbalanced to the point of being obscene, lose it.

Mummys often remain in one place forever, usually a large tomb complex, guarding it against any intruders. It shouldn't be hard to justify an eternal guardian keeping something in as well as intruders out (ie a jailer). Some assistance would likely be needed for the mummification process, but a dying request to a nearby ally to be able to continue their duty by whatever methods necessary, and that ally gets him/her mummified. Someplace in a book, I can't quite remember where,
is a prestige class specifically for mummies, the mummy tomb guardian or something like that. Maybe somebody else can remember what I'm thinking about.

Just an idea.

Maybe the polymorphed fighter managed to somehow get somebody to put magical enhancement on his/her teeth. "I'll trade you this +4 keen Vorpal greatsword if you can put the same abilities onto my teeth." Of course, communication would be an issue and some combination of magic fang and a standard weapon enhancement would have to be made...but I'm sure it's possible.

Most of my campaigns are set in a somewhat generic world, though occasionally I toss in something different. The most outstanding thing I did was the Evil Midget Empire. The midgets were functionally humans, just really short, and wanted to counquer the world. A semi-secret order of tall people were sworn to hold back the midgets, and the PCs were recruited to help them recover a powerful magical item that the midgets stole. Included were the Ke'blar elves, a group of particularly short elves with a strong tradition of cookie baking who came from the same homeland as the midgets but they weren't evil. Once the dwarf found a Maul of the Titans in a dragon's horde on a brief side trek, PCs occasionally had to make reflex saves in combat to avoid slipping on the squishy remains of low level midget warriors (the sorceror used more than a few prestidigitation spells to clean his clothes after being splattered).

Oh no, please dont tell me this is the one I think it is...

I can only think of one D&D cartoon, and I'm pretty sure it's the same one you're thinking about. Cheesy, yes, but still quite fun to watch IMHO.