Myrddin's page

I have always loved miniatures in the game, and subsequently, I was a big fan of the tokens, as they allowed me to represent large amounts of the same monster without having to lug to games 30 pounds of lead. If the "powers that be" want to bring those back that would be great!

That said I really love the miniatures line. I don't play the miniatures game, but I use the mini's all the time in my campaign. As a father who works full time, I don't have time to buy & paint lead figures anymore - even though I enjoyed the painting as much as playing with them. So keep bringing on the mini's too!! (And I sincerely hope that the miniatures line being available is not the reason that the tokens stopped being included...)

And the idea of item cards - that's great - although it might be difficult when trying to conceal the properties of a magic item! Unless they were "Sword with Green Hilt" and such so the DM gets the item key and the players get the general description. Either way I like it!

While we're at it - Large fold out maps with city streets, large arena-like settings (like the gladiator one) and large dungeon maps are/would be great. I like using them in my games and when I'm able to use them it saves tons of drawing-on-the-battle-mat time!
All-in-all any "useable" inserts are greatly appreciated!

Is there a list of issues that include 3.5 updates to previous material, either wizards books, or older issues of dragons?

I don't think there has been a lot of effort put into updating old issues of Dragon or Dungeon, and as for rule book updates, Wizards put out a bunch of updates for most of the "core books"

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20030718a

Most other materials you have to get "updated" by buying the newer 3.5 versions of a book or buying some "new" 3.5 book that includes updated material for a previous book as well as it's new material- like how the "Players Guide to Faerun" includes updated material for the " Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting".

Good luck, hope that helps. And if anyone has more info I'd love to hear it too.

In my game there are 5 to 6 players per session, and I have found that considering them as a party of 4 and a party of 1-2 to be best when determining encounters. Chucking higher CR monsters at them as "a group of 6" is more of a challenge for the players but it really screws up the level progression (read as: it goes too fast!!). Better to just add one or two enemies of the appropriate CR than make the challenge a higher CR. For example, When your party gets to 2nd level, keep the CR 2 challenges at a CR 2, just throw in one or two more of whatever they are fighting. That way when the XP is split, your individual party members vs. the CR (+ one or two extra enemies) will still get the same XP that a party of 4 vs. the same CR (without the extra enemies) would receive. If the CR they are fighting against is ONE creature, at say CR 2, give it 2 CR 1 helpers of the appropriate type. Keep in mind your extra 2 players means an extra 2 attacks, so unless you want your monster to go down in the first or second round, having a few lower level allies for the baddies means your characters have to divide their attacks until the lower level guys are taken care of. This helps keep the XP progression more in line with what the rules intended for the iconic party of 4. Good luck.

When choosing a spell to cast it’s always good to know what it can do (a given). But when the spell offers scads of choices or effects it can be difficult to ‘know’ just how versatile it is.

For example: Alter Self. It can give you an amazing array of abilities depending on the humanoid creature (if you are a humanoid) you are altering into. Until I sat down with the Monster Manual and made a spreadsheet of the different options available from the different humanoids I can alter into I had no idea of the versatility of this spell!
I have had much the same experience with “Summon Monster”, as you have to have the patience to write out all of the various summoned monsters stats so you can see what the differences are and have them available to speed up game play. (And for both of these you have to have full access to a Monster Manual! not just the PHB)

I found these out via playing a character. Now while DM’ing, I’m finding it a huge task to try to 'know' all of the spells as well as the NPC’s are supposed to know theirs. Especially when to prepare for the session there is a heap of homework to be done like with “Alter Self” and “Summon Monster”.

My questions are:
Does anyone have suggestions of other spells that are incredibly useful, but inherently difficult to prepare for?

Are there spreadsheets already out there detailing all of this information!? Like an “Alter Self Options (Humanoids)” sheet, or “Summon Monster Stat Blocks” List?

If not, I’m willing to post them when I have the time to refine the scribblings I currently have, I would just really rather take advantage of someone else’s hard work! (And hear of any other spells that have buried advantages).

Oh yeah, and wouldn't this also be a nice subject for an article to see in either Dungeon or Dragon? - hint ;)

Favorite Spell?

My 5th Level Bard is a HUGE fan of ‘Alter Self’. This spell is an awesome grab bag of abilities for a low level character. Why? Well Changing into __(a)__ gives me __(b)___!
a) Troglodyte = b) +6 Natural AC
a) Locathah = b) +3 Natural AC & Swim Speed of 60’ and the ability to use the run action while swimming
a) Lizardfolk = b) +5 Natural AC & a claw & bite attack And I can hold my breath pretty much forever!
a) Asabi = b) move 50’ & Burrow 20’
a) Siv = b) Swim 20’ & Waterwalking & resistant to cold

Plus a huge amount of skill bonuses that I can apply to different situations like the:
a) Bugbear = b) Climb +3, Hide +4, Listen +4, Move Silently +6, Spot +4…
a) Darkstalker = b) Hide +6, Listen +5, Move Silently +6, Slight of Hand +6, Spot +5, Tumble +6 and unless I’m reading the spell wrong Improved Initiative & Lightning Reflexes

I haven’t seen any other spell as versatile as this one for lower level characters. It takes a bit of time to read & list all of the possibilities, but it’s well worth it during game play!

My character has Weapon Finesse, so my choice for a spell Combo (for combat) is :
1st round : Alter Self – Troglodyte.
2nd round – Cats Grace.
3rd Round – Harmony.
4th round - Inspire Courage.
That way, by the 5th round I have achieved a +4 to Dex, +8 AC, and a +4 to hit and a + 2 damage!
With the limited amount of spells a Bard has access to, Alter Self is amazing on it’s own and really great in tandem with others.

Hey Edgewood - this is beginning to be an issue in my campaign I've been tossing around a few ideas re: this subject.
The "only allowed to raise someone of your own faith" idea seriously limits that spell however, I agree it is open to being "abused" as a utility of the cleric, with no-one really paying attention that someone has been brought back from the dead! This should be a pretty big deal! Without causing too much of a "breaking" of the rules and the usefullness of the cleric in the party:

1) Cleric can cast "Raise Dead" on someone of his own faith with no level loss for the character - for he first time they need to be raised. Any subsequent times he needs to be raised normal level loss occurs
And…
…Clerics can cast “Raise Dead” on those who worship other gods, but the level loss for that character is doubled – lose 2 levels - and no” Get of death free card”. However this isn’t entirely fair to the dead character who has no control over who he is being raised by
So I would prefer:

2) The cleric raising a character of another faith might have to also pay the same Level loss as the character being raised. So rather than stripping the cleric of his powers it becomes a deterrent to abusing the spell. In this scenario, the character has to make no extra XP expenditure. They both lose a level.
BUT rather than direct any undo penalties towards the cleric,

3) A character has been raised from the dead by god that they don’t worship, might suddenly be compelled to convert to that clerics religion! Once that characters soul has been touched by the deity, it might be hard to justify why he pays no special heed to the power that saved him, and just continues to worship his own god like nothing happened.
If this sounds like a viable option, I would suggest no level loss for the cleric – work the spell normally, and use it as a role-playing opportunity.

Of course in all of these cases particular attention could be paid to the relationships that the gods themselves have with each other, and if the gods in question (Cleric’s god vs. Dead characters god) are not friendly with one another, the clerics god won’t raise the dead character, and if they are friendly they will.
However, if you like the idea that a raise death forces a worship change –the gods might happily allow their cleric to raise the character that worships another character– new convert! With no extra XP cost – just the normal rules. However the character might have to deal with a pissed off god...

I would sway in favour of not punishing the cleric who performed the deed to much, and making them both suffer – a little OR make the person raised really suffer a question of faith.-The person who got raised can take the heat from the deity that raised him or his own deity that demands a cleansing quest to prove his faith. No real need to change the rules – they do work fairly well but lots of opportunity to turn a raise dead spell into a great opportunity for role-playing.

Keep in mind that “raising folks from the dead” is a pretty good advertisement for any god as a reason for conversion. So why wouldn’t a cleric want to do it and why would showing off how wonderful they are be an unwanted thing for any (good aligned) god.

Don't forget about twisting your songs. While Inspire Courage is still taking its extra 5 rounds, start an Inspire Greatness performance. Stack them up :)

That's a great idea - (however I immediately pictured a group of bards singing a song like "row your boat" in rounds - each activating a different Bardic Music ability while doing so - chuckle)

Kyle,
Thanks for the response. You know, quite honestly I would be very interested in seeing the 6-9 page version. Not to compare, but the League of Extraordinary Gentleman and the Invisibles both have the luxury of quite a few more pages per issue to expand their storylines. It would be nice to see your story arc in a larger format, because that what it seems to be aspiring to be. I would bet that either of the aforementioned comic book titles in a monthly periodical where they had only 2 pages to tell their story would be pretty hard to follow as well. (Not that the Invisibles goes out of its way to be a smooth read) ;)

One of the things I really enjoy about both Dungeon & Dragon magazines are the comics that allow the gaming community to laugh at ourselves (i.e.Dork Tower), and/ or explore a “role-playing situation” as you do in Downer. As I mentioned, I read it every time. Unfortunately I just don’t care what’s happening. It’s not that I don’t want to enjoy it or care. I do – I really enjoy the comics, it just takes a wee bit to much effort (for me) for the format you are being published in.

However I do read it, so 1 point for Kyle, and I do know your name – score 2 for Kyle, and you’re being published and I rant on message boards under a pseudonym – score 3 for Kyle.
Kyle = 3, Brad = 0 Doh!

And how did you know my games are a confusing bore? lol

I ‘m very impressed that you read the message board – given that everyone has different tastes, no matter how good of a product you put out there, there will always be those who don’t like it. And of course message boards are forums where some of the “stronger” opinions are shared. Good on ya.

SnarfQuest rules!

Delak,
I run a FR game and the reason that I chose the FRCS is because of the Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas! Not only can you print out whatever magnification of map area that you want but, there are a TON of "detail maps" of floor plans, dungeon plans and city street plans. The product is an amazing tool. The detail maps are comprised of maps taken from old adventures and modules. I just finished running my group through the old "Pharoah" module - after upgrading it to 3.5 and I found every single map used in the old module in the Atlas. It allowed me to print out the maps in a scale I could easily read and annotate. Check out ebay for it. I’ve seen it for sale recently and it’s pretty cheap now (about $30) compared to it’s $100 price tag when it came out. It is worth every penny if you are running a FR game though.

BTW it also has three "downloadable updates" to it which are huge files, but just load more and more detail maps into it. (Available from the WoTC site)

The company website for ProFantasy re: the Atlas is here if you're interested:
http://www.profantasy.com/fratlas/FRAtlashome.htm

And you can also download for free from WoTC tons of 2nd ed. Forgotten Realms stuff
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads
which is fairly easy to convert and allows you to explore Maztica and other rarely used areas.

Good luck

I find that what to do with the NPC’s in case of a party “retreat” really depends on the dungeon and what its purpose is. In a “static” dungeon that just has creatures using the area as a home base, the comings and goings of a party won’t really disrupt much. However, in a “Dungeon” where the NPC’s are intelligent - one might assume that if a high level baddie discovers that part of his lair has been ransacked and there are bodies of his hirelings lying about he might do a lot of things – the most amusing of which is just leave! Order his men to grab anything of value and get the hell out. Leaving traps behind is fun. Most PC’s for some reason tend to think of previously cleared rooms as “safe”. Let the PC’s go through the deserted lair and describe the dust marks where they can see that things have been quickly dragged away. Fun to watch the frustration that the place is empty! Have the villain scrying on the place so he can get a look of who raided his place - maybe an adventure hook will develop because the PC’s now have to hunt down the person who keeps sending assassins to take care of the party that wrecked his house.

Leave some sort of clue about where the villain is now holed up – or just let the bad guy return after a sufficient absence – with the appropriate reconnaissance to verify that it’s “safe” to do so.

Or, if the baddie wants to have fun – let him use the players retreat time to prepare appropriate spells and have his forces gather in wait. A TPK is not unjustified when your villain has a brain.

Not that you want to kill the players, but it is much more satisfying for the players if you keep them on their toes - an intelligent foe is a much more satisfying victory. For that matter, the party’s tenacity might just impress the villain that he resists the desire to kill them outright and tries to sway them to his side. Or at least “have them for dinner” on neutral ground to get to know his enemies. A charming villain introduces many shades of gray to a campaign that can have lasting repercussions.

This works best in home games where improvisation is really easy to implement. If you are running through a published adventure, you have to rely on the writer to have allowed for the situation OR implement something like the above, and be prepared with how it will change the nature of the adventure – sometimes being more “realistic” can really screw up a module. ;)

As a side note - An amusing thing to do if a PC gets turned to stone / killed – AND left behind by well meaning friends who intend to return to transform / raise them. Have the bad guy take the body and use it as a trophy (ala Han Solo in carbonite) or have the villain transform / raise the dead party member for purposes of interrogation / torture and see how your adventure transforms!

I actually have a subscription, so I haven't missed any issues, and I have been playing since about 1980, so I'm fairly up on all of the references in the strip. I'm all for a continuing storyline, but too many characters are vying for panel space which - in a monthly publication - makes it really hard to follow. I don't want to be hauling out back issues every time I read a strip so I can refresh my memory of the storylines that have been going on. After issue 4 of Downer I just stopped caring about the strip. I read it, but I really didn’t care what was happening. I was recently talking about it with a few gaming friends of mine and was commenting that it was so poorly written it needed a synopsis with every issue – and then issue 116 came out with the summary – so I guess I’m not the only one who thinks it needs a bit of support.

But each to his own, I guess - ;)

BTW: SnarfQuest was a series that ran in Dragon magazine starting around issue 75. Usually one page per issue – a continuing storyline – great characters and easy to follow from anywhere you pick it up. Worthwhile checking out for anyone who’s interested. Done by Larry Elmore of Dragon-Lance fame.

I think that a)it's unfortunate that any cartoon series needs to have a two page "the story so far" review to explain what's going on in order for the readers to enjoy it (Dungeon 116) and b) it's unfortunate that the publishers of the magazine didn't realize that if the cartoon NEEDED the story explained that means that overall it's a crappy comic.
The writer has some interesting ideas, but the story is so all over the place and it's so hard to follow that they had to print a summary.
SnarfQuest was funny every time you read it whether or not you had read it from episode 1. Reading the whole thing made it funnier, but each episode stood on it's own as well. Free up the space for better comic material - or get Kyle Stanly Hunter an editor who knows something about pacing, who can trim away the excess crap out of his story and pick up up a bit.

Bards have always been the most fun for me to play. “look a magic weapon – hey I can use that” Look, it’s a scroll – hey I can use that” Look it’s a wand - hey I can use that” “hey who can pick a lock? – let me take a crack at it”. I don’t have to sit around and wait for every other character to “fulfill their roles” I can jump in and do pretty much everything – without the limitations that come from multi-classing. Sure I’m not the BEST at everything, but I do pretty much EVERYTHING. Which goes a long way for feeling like I can contribute to the party to me.
Always a huge support for the other players in combat, and pretty good myself, and always an even bigger advantage when role-playing in a town/city setting. No one is better than the bard for sweet talking his way in and out of situations, and when you get stuck – “here I can explain it better with the song…” a little “Fascinate” then maybe “Suggestion” if you need to. “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for” come on how cool is that?
(Check out my longer pro-Bard rant in the “No Holds Bard” thread)
As for Wil Wheton – ok, we realize that you’re a sensitive guy already and you love everyone * blush * now quit writing crap and talk about things you like about the game. If you want to keep on the “touchy feely” aspects of the game write for “Woman’s World” already. Yeesh.

Interesting debate, but it really boils down to any character is only as good as you can play it. If you don’t like Bards, they will suck in the game, however if you don’t like a Rouge, you aren’t going to use their abilities to their fullest either, and the same goes for every other class. I’ve had players in games where I’ve DM’d and played that really just didn’t understand their characters abilities – whatever their character was, and therefore never enjoyed playing them. They spent their time going “gee I wish I was (character type) instead – THAT character would kick ass…” Usually you give them the chance to play that other character type and they do just as poorly – because it wasn’t the class that was the limitation – it was the player.
Sure if you compare class to class and say the Bard can’t cast as well as a Magic User, - the Bard can’t use thieving abilities as well as the Rouge, The Bard can’t fight as well as a Fighter.... the Bard will always lose, but consider when the party’s Fighter goes down in combat – the Bard is there and extremely competent. The Cleric is occupied or gets taken out – the Bard can cast cure spells, The Magic User is overwhelmed, and the Bard can use his magic items and scrolls – the list goes on … The character is the “Swiss Army Knife” of the game, and one who proven to be very valuable in my game time and time again.
Regarding his “Inspire Courage” ability – all I have to do is hear about 3 seconds of the “Saint Crispin's Day speech from Henry V (http://www.rispin.co.uk/henryv.html - That’s from Shakespere aka the Bard) and I’m emotionally moved. (Check out the film by Kenneth Brannagh.) The Bard character is like the Beatles or Elvis or (fill in whatever musician you find inspiring) that somehow not only captures his audience - he moves them in ways that can’t really be explained. Watch old footage of the Beatles or Elvis live - the stuff from the early 60’s, and watch the crowd – they are going insane. We look at the audience at those shows now and say “what was wrong with them – it’s just a guy singing”. But we weren’t there, and he/they had that extra “something” that profoundly affected the crowd. So to say that inspiring a crowd in 6 seconds is impossible, even without magic – it has been done. Keep in mind, it’s only the player who doesn’t like his Bard character that would say “I sing for six seconds – there, you all have courage now – now I’ll sit and pout that I’m not as good as everyone else” The singing or inspiring takes 6 seconds to “take effect” then you keep it up as long as you can (“This effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the Bard sing and for 5 rounds thereafter...”) It would be pretty inspiring to me, in the face of a terrifying creature or powerful opponent, that someone on my side has the balls to chant/sing/express how brave we are and how we will overcome! And the Bard affects all his allies. That +1 bonus to hit is a +1boost in effective level for fighting classes, and more-so for non-fighting classes. And the +1 vs. charm & fear effects is a huge effective level increase as most classes only go up by +1 Will Save every 3 levels (a few go up every 2 levels). And the plusses keep coming as the levels increase.
The Bard does have “magical” effects from performance that are not available to any other class. Take the Rouge for example - “disable device” can be learned by anyone willing to spend the skill points but only the Rouge can disable magical traps, the Bard’s perform ability is exactly the same. Your Rouge could max out his perform skill, but he’s only going to be a decent “cover band”. The real show is the bard.
The effects from Bardic Music ability are situational to be sure – the right situation has to crop up to use it, but the same applies to “disable device”– if there isn’t a device to disable, you can’t do much with that either.
The party that I adventure in as a Bard character has never had to pay for lodging, or food, and leaves every town waiting for them to come back. This makes a huge difference with role-playing. In combat, if the Bard goes down he is sorely missed. And the Cleric & Magic Users are happy knowing that he’s there so they can free up some of their spell slots for cooler spells.
Give a Bard “Combat Expertise” as a feat, a high Dex score, and Weapon Finesse with a Rapier for combat; “Harmony” as a spell (from “Magic of Faerun**” boosts your inspire courage to +2Att/Dam +4 Will save), , and you have a fantastic swashbuckler who’s hard to hit and whose buffs are really great when you need them. ( **I haven’t seen the Players Guide to Faerun to see if this spell has been changed yet)
The only beef I have with the class is really “what’s up with it being the favored class of the Gnome?”