Here's the party in the STAP game I am DMing (We're on the Bullywug Gambit)
Alberich the Faceripper (Dwarf warblade 4): An arena fighter known for his ability to cut people's faces off.
Ha'ali (Gray elf wizard 4): A mysterious elf wizard.
Cross Vansaint (Human cleric of Pelor 3/ranger 1): A man obsessed about killing undead.
Valen Arkadis (Human rogue 4): A spy for the city of Greyhawk who came to Sasserine chasing a notorious drug lord known as Don Juanito.The Dying:
Greg Smith (Human rogue 4): Currently infected with savage fever. The party sawed off the arm that got bitten, so he's currently unconscious on the beach outside the Crimson fleet cave. Just in case he came to as a savage creature, their crazy cleric decided to cut the other arm off as well...The Dead:
Ali'ka (Wood elf swordsage 2): Killed by ixitachitl in the Lotus Dragon Hideout
Pykash (High elf spellthief 1): Eaten by ravenous zombies under Parrot IslandThe Undead:
Balathastrius Knowlern (High elf druid 3): Slain in the Scuttlecove arena by a boneclaw while the party was on a side adventure. Ha'ali used his wand of animate dead on him and now he's serving as guard on the Blue Nixie until they decide to bring him to a cleric.
Awesome ... the cleric/ranger with a hacksaw, 'worried' so much as to take the plunge and mutilate a friend ... ah, the Savage Tide so does a wonderful job bringing out the Evil in the players ... *basks in the warm fuzzy feeling*
My group is just about to finish the Lightless Depths. They gave themselves an adventuring company name, so as to not be shown up by the Jade Ravens. They've really taken that rivalry and run with it.
The Steel Dragons
Xavier Aldrun - Human warblade. The leader of the Steel Dragons. Former gladiator who has won the heart of Lavinia Vanderboren. He's taken the leadership feat and has convinced Kaskus Kiel to become his cohort, adding to the rivalry between the Jade Ravens.
Jonus Taskerhill - Human wizard. Member of the Sasserine nobility and the Witchwardens. He doesn't care for his family much, including his brother Avner. (I changed Avner to be his brother so the party would at least have a reason to keep him alive.) Currently romantically involved with Amella.
Brishaa Stormrage - Half-orc barbarian rogue. She's embraced the life of the sea and considers the Sea Wyvern to be her ship. Nobody has called her on this.
Lindisty Swiftfeet - Cleric of Lydia, daughter of Worrin Lidu. She is mourning the death of Enialas to whom she followed to the Isle of Dread. She's taken his name to honor him.
Nacalli - Olman ranger. Master of the greatbow and very knowledgeable on the Isle of Dread.
Laezara - Elven fighter. She's very skilled with her elven courtblade and is very vain. She was quite freaked out when she fell victim to Vile Rigidity after being attacked by one of the troglodyte lepers.
The Fallen
Corwin Kasgard III - The son of a cooper in Sasserine, Corwin was a swashbuckler who was unfortunately slain in battle with the Lemorian statue in "Here There Be Monsters"
Enialas Swiftfeet - Half-elven cleric of Fharlanghn. Called Ian by his friends, he was slain by Emraag the Glutton during the "negotiation".
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Our party, which started in July, has four characters. They often fight and bicker. They all want to lead, and at the same time, none of them want to be led. I have seen them refuse each other spells and other help just to show defiance, even in the face of danger. Interesting party non-dynamics.
Cevan Swiftsword is a female human ranger from the northenr Dreadwood Forest in Keoland. She comes from a family of woodsmen and forestfolk. Living among the denizens of the deep forest gave her ample opportunity to develop skills of bow and sword. In game terms, she is currently a ranger 5.
Huldeen is an arrogant, self-serving male grey elf. He is a practiced wizard. His mastery of magic is only excelled by his mastery of starting arguments. His selfishness knows no bounds. While nobody cares where is from or why he left, he'll tell you that his homeland is Celene. He is a wizard 5.
Lilienz is a human male and stalwart follower of Heironeous. He is young and impressionable. Thus, he often falls sway under Huldeen's cynical and intemperate ways. Yet, he is strong at influencing divine power and he always uses it to benefit his friends or vex his foes. It remains to be seen whether or not the Arch-Paladin shall continue to bless the priest with His power. Lilienz is a cleric 4.
Tel is a human male. Tel originally hails from central Keoland. Yet, he grew up under the watchful eye of the monks of the Ul-Thaldaar monastery. Tel is a martial adept of the Sublime Way. And, his discipline daily clashes with the recklessness of Huldeen. There is a latent goodness in Tel. He seeks to do what is right as well as what is good. Tel is a fighter 1 and swordsage 4.
Don (Greyson)
West Jordan, Utah
My party just cleared the rhagodesa caves in TINH when they where led to believe that the lady lotus lived in the caves. They're on the cusp of third level.
Gilthanis The Human soulknife. Gilthanis is afflicted by the psionic disease and has manifested this illness through his mindblade. He tries to drink away the pain, and is often very successful in this endevor. However, he occassionally knocks down large barrels which happen to be filled with Rum. (In game terms, he is just ridiculously lucky. When they fought the crocodile, it rolled a one on the first attack it made against them. Then both the hidden rogues fired their crossbows at him, and they also missed.)
Sunray "Ray" Glitterbow the Half-Elf Cleric. Cleric of the sea goddess. His morals are... questionable at times, and sometimes seems more interested in treasure than (This wasn't his name originally. He wanted to just be Ray, and when he couldn't figure out his real name, we came up with this one.)
Zyntris the Aasimar druid. Zyntris's origins are mysterious. Occassionally he communes with the woods in a nature quest. He also owns a dog.
Falth the Hadozee rogue. Falth was a pirate on the other side of the world. Captain of his own ship, in fact. However, when he angered both the god of storms and his daughter, goddess of the sea, the pair of them worked together to blow him hideously off course to Sasserine.
Haden Archwood the human Hexblade. Haden is a mercenary who has lived in Sasserine all his life. He is (effectively) the oldest party member, and owns a house in the Azure district (Although it is a bit run down.)
Nariko the elvish sorceress. A crack shot with a heavy crossbow, Nariko's skill also lies with magic. What brings this tribal sorceress so far southeast is mysterious, although she may have been involved in the war effort.
We're a four-PCs group playing in the FR and we're currently storming the Dragon Lotus hideout.
1- Lady Amafrey : female human wizard lvl 2 from Waterdeep.
2- Sombrecume : male human Duskblade lvl 2 from Halruaa
3- Boukhmis : Male human Rogue 1/Fighter 1 from Calimport
4- Indumaï : Male water genasi Cleric 2 of Valkur from Tashluta (Sasserine)
A very efficient group so far...
Bran.
Warlocks eh, you should see a Warlock that has multiclassed to
Monk ----> Enlightened Fist, Try Hideous Blow with Maxmize Spell-like ability.
I think Warlocks work okay, but they Metamagic Spell-like feats I think should scale somehow. Considering that there is a limit to the spell-level that normally can be metamagiced for monsters, those feats don't present the same limits. Not to mention that Eldritch blast is a scalable power, its level dependant on the eldritch parts used to make that Vitriolic Hideous Blow.
Btw, Turin, if you see this, it was my wife that did this. She killed an Adult Fang Dragon in all of three rounds, single-handedly. She was rolling hot (as usual...no one should roll that many 20s), me, not so hot.
We're starting Sunday. Tentatively the party is:
1. Elven duskblade
2. Tiefling rogue
3. Halfling ranger
4. Elven warblade
5. Elven cleric of Xan Yae
6. Elven druid
The seventh player is still debating what to be.
Warlocks eh, you should see a Warlock that has multiclassed to
Monk ----> Enlightened Fist, Try Hideous Blow with Maxmize Spell-like ability.
I think Warlocks work okay, but they Metamagic Spell-like feats I think should scale somehow. Considering that there is a limit to the spell-level that normally can be metamagiced for monsters, those feats don't present the same limits. Not to mention that Eldritch blast is a scalable power, its level dependant on the eldritch parts used to make that Vitriolic Hideous Blow.
Btw, Turin, if you see this, it was my wife that did this. She killed an Adult Fang Dragon in all of three rounds, single-handedly. She was rolling hot (as usual...no one should roll that many 20s), me, not so hot.
Yasha, IIRC, Eldritch Blast and its accompanying shaping invocations are tagged with equivelant spell levels, govorning what one can tag the 'metamagic' spell-like ability feats are going to be compatible with what. Quick question would be what character level is her green-fisted face-nuking dragon-solo-killin' warlock ? And have her pet d20 discreetly checked. I just bought a set this past weekend that had the worst d20 I've seen in some years - the thing just wouldn't stop rolling around...
(I'm not familiar with fang dragons game mechanically speaking other than thier having a 'bite weapon' dealing ridiculous amounts of CON damage.)
I think things are clear now. I only allowed Avanti, phanaton, bullywog and PH races and classes. I also gave a bonus DISTRICT feat for good back story.
Teaglin Avanti Cleric of Whirling Fury. ACADEMY GRADUATE
Char Fighter human of the Emerald Wave. DISCOUNT FEAT from merchant's district (?name?).
Cora halfing rogue Seeker wannabe. WATERRAT
T-Unit 1/2 orc monk and member of the Scarlet Brotherhood. No backstory.
If you do not get bored by reading about other peoples characters...
** spoiler omitted **
Recently added one:
Trey Mainsail1/2 elf swashbuckler of the Emerald Wave. WATERRAT.Trey's story of being on a ship as a boy and losing his father to a pirate attack is so close to Char's that I had to allow it. However his mother was a nanny to a noble house and disappeared before Trey escaped slavery and returned to Sasserine. As GM I made Marevenchi 'the noble house' and '[farshore] colonist' as mom's disappearance so maybe there will be some unhappy and happy reunions in a couple of adventures...
Char is actually 1/2 elf too--oops
We just started last night, created characters, and broke for next week just under Parrot Island. The party's current composition:
female human duskblade 2
female human swashbuckler 2
male human favored soul of Bahamut 2
male human gun mage 2 (Iron Kingdoms adapted material)
So, two fighter/arcane caster hybrids, a cleric type, and a fighter variant. Hopefully there'll be some... interesting traps in the coming installment (Mwa ha ha!)
Bahamut doesn't allow favored souls.
Here is the rough party so far. Based in the Forgotten Realms out of Starmantle
Zakonian- CN male 1/2 Drow Gestalt (Ftr/Rog,) going for Duelist and Tempest classes later. Follows Ellistrae and the Promenade. Cannot stand Morty, but was commanded to work with him.
"Morty the Loon" AKA Morticia- N male Strongheart Hafling Gestalt (Rog/Sor), Arcane Trickster and Archmage later. Cross dresser with a psychotic dual personality due to the Sel'kiira attached to his forehead. Thinks he is Zak's older cousin (CE female Drow Cleric of Lloth) who was the last person to use the Sel'kiira. Lot's of comedic value with this one. Imagine a hairy hafling wearing a spiderweb corset. Yes, this one is mine. Will be more of a triple class with multiple mood swings. Lloth thinks he will sow great chaos upon the world and thus grants him divine spells.
Tongue Eater- CE male Gnoll Gestalt (Brb/Rng), unknown what he is going for at this time. Follows Talos the Stormlord. A petty thug and bandit mostly.
Grungwill Stabunoworlatrr- NE male Fiendish Duegar (Gray Dwarf) Gestalt (Clr/Rog), Assassin or Soul Knife for sure and maybe Blackgaurd later. Follows Abbathor.
This will be a weird group to run. Now we just have to find the time to play.
The enchantress should do fine once she gets out from underneath Parrot Island and all the way through to ... erm, some parts of the STAP. Plenty of stuff that won't care a whit about her main spells.
We have evolved to party of one.
A Jhaamdathi human fighter1/rogue 3.
We have had a human Paladin 3, but he went back to West Point.
A Human Scout 4, but he went back to law school.
A sorceress 3, but her husband didn't want her to game anymore.
A Rogue/Unfettered, but it became too difficult to game with her school schedule and modeling for the Art dept.
A Shifter barbarian 3, but he got a job working for Blizzard in Austin so he moved.
A drunken Dwarven Cleric 4/Sandwich maker but he became a dad x2 somewhat suddenly.
*sigh*
1 - Yaun-ti, Lawful Evil, Cleric 2 (Godless: Dream and Domination) I would point out that regardless of her Evil alignment she’s very loyal to most of the party, and the most useful. It’ll make interesting RPing when the other Yaun-ti show up.
2 – Human (Although he does not know, Half-Dragon), Lawful Netural, Bard Prestige Class (UA). A somewhat selfish noble.
3 – Human, Chaotic Neutral (Leaning Heavily to Evil), Fighter 1 /Variant Marshal 3. This player worries me. Period. He really doesn’t understand alignment… or what’s going on in the game. And his character lacks any form of motivation.
4- Human, Alignment? Fighter 4, I need to speak with this player about his alignment. I’m a little unsure where he is going. Although whatever he’s doing he is doing an excellent job RPing this hapless, luckless Ex-Pirate.
5 – Human, Chaotic Neutral, Druid 4.
6 – Raptorian, Lawful Neutral, Ranger 3.
The Ranger and Druid both take on the “Nature is Beautiful” outlook but have taken polar opposites in their extremist views. Made for interesting conversation over Ripclaw’s unconscious body.
The enchantress should do fine once she gets out from underneath Parrot Island and all the way through to ... erm, some parts of the STAP. Plenty of stuff that won't care a whit about her main spells.
a friend of mine has a Beguiler in his group, and by now (ToD) the player is going ape over it.... whatever they meet, it always seems to big (e.g. HD), too dead (undead) or too dumb (oozes, plants, savage-stuff) to get enchanted.
Which has made the player very popular, because she has enough time to let of steam by cooking for the group in the meantime....Enchanter chars do really have a hard time in this STAP
The enchantress should do fine once she gets out from underneath Parrot Island and all the way through to ... erm, some parts of the STAP. Plenty of stuff that won't care a whit about her main spells.a friend of mine has a Beguiler in his group, and by now (ToD) the player is going ape over it.... whatever they meet, it always seems to big (e.g. HD), too dead (undead) or too dumb (oozes, plants, savage-stuff) to get enchanted.
Which has made the player very popular, because she has enough time to let of steam by cooking for the group in the meantime....Enchanter chars do really have a hard time in this STAP
Agreed vikingson, agreed. I would encourage the player to undertake retraining (a lot of retraining) asap to feel part of the group again rather than excluded because of the nature of the STAP. Or somthing - I know I'd either resent it or kamikaze the character in as spectacularly destructive a fashion as I could come up with.
OR, get her character to take Arcane Strike and (if possible) take up Draconic Might and, later, Tenser's Transformation to weigh in (VERY heavily) on the melee side of things.
The group I am DMing is flying through the TiNH adventures, mostly due to my average rolling and their timely good rolls. Sound tactics, good planning and thourough preparation have also proved to make them successful and rich.
They have all Quadrant I alignments covered (NG thru CN and True N)
Varr Gekk -- Olman Barbarian who reads his tribe's fortune cards before making big decisions, his Panther Clan destroyed by events brought about by Vanthus (he suspects) during his 'exile'. Affiliated with the Whirling Fury and plans to take the Champion of Gwynharwyf prestige class.
Najjaa -- 13 year old Aasimar Cloistered Cleric, thought to be the Golden Child of Pelor. No known affiliation, plans to take Radiant Servant of Pelor prestige class
Eldin -- Half Elven Bard and Translater to the noble and merchant class. Affiliated with the Dawn Council, no known class plans.
Arravis Dru'giir -- Elven Diviner, Boccobian believer in Logic and unemotional thinking following his 'divine vision'. Affiliated with the Seekers, no known class plans.
Azzedar -- Tiefling Rogue on the run from the rival guild that annihilated his small guild during the current shakeup in Sasserine's underworld. No known affiliations, already multiclassed Fighter and Swashbuckler levels.
Alvinius -- Human fighter (joined during final Lotus Dragons assault), ward to house Vanderboren who believes he's been sent to protect other business interests. No known affiliations or class plans.
Cheers!
The enchantress should do fine once she gets out from underneath Parrot Island and all the way through to ... erm, some parts of the STAP. Plenty of stuff that won't care a whit about her main spells.a friend of mine has a Beguiler in his group, and by now (ToD) the player is going ape over it.... whatever they meet, it always seems to big (e.g. HD), too dead (undead) or too dumb (oozes, plants, savage-stuff) to get enchanted.
Which has made the player very popular, because she has enough time to let of steam by cooking for the group in the meantime....Enchanter chars do really have a hard time in this STAP
Beguilers can still act as the party negotiator and locks/traps specialist. Also, the beguiler has access to disabling and battlefield control spells like color spray, glitterdust, touch of idiocy, dispel magic, legion of sentinels, etc. For extra combat power, take a level of ninja, rogue, or scout to qualify for daggerspell mage.
Focusing only on enchantment spells is as short-sighted as focusing only on blasting spells. The beguiler is much more versatile than that.
a friend of mine has a Beguiler in his group, and by now (ToD) the player is going ape over it.... whatever they meet, it always seems to big (e.g. HD), too dead (undead) or too dumb (oozes, plants, savage-stuff) to get enchanted.
Which has made the player very popular, because she has enough time to let of steam by cooking for the group in the meantime....Enchanter chars do really have a hard time in this STAP
I'd have to agree... For a while we had a Telepath in our party who focused on Disabling/tricking the enemies into submission. He got pretty frustrated with all the "Immune Mind-Affecting" and Undead we were facing, and (as Turin mentioned...) charged a Savage Lemure (I think it was, at least) and promptly was eaten.
Ah, memorable sessions...
Beguilers can still act as the party negotiator and locks/traps specialist. Also, the beguiler has access to disabling and battlefield control spells like color spray, glitterdust, touch of idiocy, dispel magic, legion of sentinels, etc. For extra combat power, take a level of ninja, rogue, or scout to qualify for daggerspell mage.Focusing only on enchantment spells is as short-sighted as focusing only on blasting spells. The beguiler is much more versatile than that.
I fail to see the negotiation possibilities with undead, plants, oozes, dinosaurs etc.... Not to mention the numerous "savage", hungry or simply mad creatures throughout the STAP... I somehow don't think many of these are affected by mind-affecting illusions either, and "Dispel Magic" is a pretty much useless possibility if the opposition does not use magic (as it is a reactive, countering spell ).
Yes multi-classing is a possibility... IF the campaign allows for multi-classing at a certain stage ( I for one am pretty particular about people not joining "society"-based PrCs when never having met, interacted and/or trained with them... YMMV ), and even more important, IF the player and character in question see it as a viable development of their character.
Not even taking into account the rather hefty feat requirements of a class like 'daggerspell mage' in mid-campaign... 3 less than common feats to even join the outfit ? ahem.....
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beguilers are like the be-all-end-all for a party thats needs stealth and negotiation.
all the good rogue-type-spells, including haste, invis (all of them), many enchanting type spells good for either distraction or misdirection
plus 6+int skills/lvl, trapfinding, d6 hp, and many many many spells/day.
played one from 2nd lvl through to about 12th, straight beguiler with 1 dip in mindbender to gain telepathy.
saw everyone coming (except those damn oozes), hasted everyone pretty much every fight, tossed around plenty of buff spells (freedom of movement, swift etherealness, invis, greater invis), and talked EVERYONE into at least listening to us for a moment
of course, the Enchanter/Master Specialist in the game i just started to run has already collected a Minotaur, Huge Water Elemental, and Medani Sentry as his "followers" through charm monster and the like. He's building his own party with nothing but spells and cowardice.
So, it can be done, it just takes a bit more subtle of an approach than usual.
I at least hope that enchanter did not drop Illusion magic...no invis will be a killer.
-the hamster
Ouch - I hadn't read the beguiler core class in any detail - they're much more formidable than I had gathered from the posts on these boards about them.
As long as a spellchucker has both battlefield-control/alteration spells AND trapfinding, the player should by no means ever be feeling useless in the STAP ... unless there is another trapfinder already present, worse so if there is another battlefield controller present...
Then I could see feeling useless..
Although banzai-charging a savage lemur for chardeath ... priceless. ^_^
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Well I've been running the adventure in Eberron (actually set in Sharn) and it work's fine with some little modifications. I started them off with "the forgotten forge" as I wanted them to level up and have a better shot at TINH.
They are a real diplomacy/bluff/investigation party being theatre workers, writers, and comp scientists so they keep me on my improvisational toes, not being used to that kind of gaming. The scene between Rowyn and them at the end of TINH was an hour long arguement about morals and issues and they ended up working for her "in part". Here is how they go.
Core group:
Rell (Monk 2/Fighter 1 from Aundair) - defender of the "Order of Aureon", a monastic order looking to keep the world evil outsider free through study of sacred texts and diligence. He is one of their first strike operatives. He is developing a crush on the Jade Raven sorcerer (I used the pic from the front of Dungeon 143 to intice him - her mephit familiar is a point of contention)
Jodie (Changeling Psion 3 telepath) - Birth name Tick, Jodie is working for the Dark Lanterns - Sharn's FBI. Originally concepted as NG Jodie has been re jigged as N with her whatever it takes stance on "getting her man". Physically weak her favourite attack is Augmented Mind Thrust. As a changeling she LOVED Kursk's glammered vest. She is more adept at talking her way through a fight and dressed as a harbour guard (and rolling briliantly) she stalled all the pirates on Soller Varks ship till Rell released the Rhagodessa on them.
Malvern Drakenguaard III (Bard 3) - died last game :^(
Malvern is an aristocrat and the king of bluff, diplomacy, aristocratic knowledge and alchemists fire. He went to school with Rowyn but lost her to Vanthus as a youth which lead to questions of loyalty. He is very hauty and incredibly annoying. His NE nature lead Vanthus to call down "Drakenguaard, I like your stuff ... you are a man after my own heart, literally" as he shut the trap door to Parrot Isles caves on the heroes.
Captain Ethan Fox (Swashbuckler 2) - Cpt. Fox is invisible; a curse he odtained by crossing the wrong Blood of Vol priestess romantically. He now works for her traking Vanthus and searching for a Shadow Pearl. His clothes are visible just not him which causes more harm than good to the party most time. Cpt. Fox is often the object of Malvern Drakenguaard's scorn, though his scrupulous nature propel him to save his hide often.
Other players have included:
Viran (Druid 2) - a gatekeeper druid from Eldeen reaches
Stranite Darkcavern (Dwarven Fighter 2) - a Mror dwarf that is slow to provoke but unbeatable in battle. Was a caravan guard for House Orien
Airotal d'Orien (Ranger 2) - a brave bow orientated ranger who's solid calm manner brought the players early diplomatic victories.
It's a fun game like I said. Given an opportunity they role play the butt out of an encounter. It wasn't intended to be that kind of game but that's where they want it and it works great so I'm happy to oblige.
Ouch - I hadn't read the beguiler core class in any detail - they're much more formidable than I had gathered from the posts on these boards about them.
As long as a spellchucker has both battlefield-control/alteration spells AND trapfinding, the player should by no means ever be feeling useless in the STAP ... unless there is another trapfinder already present, worse so if there is another battlefield controller present...
Then I could see feeling useless..
Although banzai-charging a savage lemur for chardeath ... priceless. ^_^
well, the Beguiler's battlefield-control is pretty limited (since it is mostly mind affecting too - or barring that interactive illusions ) , and most of the tanks etc. in that group I mentioned are "single strike" monsters (warblade and a crusader) who don't much care for "haste" (which has gone down sadly in power since it glorious first edition days...).
And, after all, even bards can find ways to affect the undead and vegetable gardens ("Requiem" etc. feats ) with their songs... but beguilers ? Heck, bards can even branch out into dealing damage through music... plus they can heal (if badly ).
But, in all honesty, let's not threadjack this any further =)
I'm starting up TINH tonight, and my party composition is as follows:
* Llanvar Lidu, male human conjurer and nephew to the Sasserine Lidu's. Background: Noble Scion; Archetype: Royalty; Traits: Fatalistic, Loyal.
* Vyzira Kelir, female human scout going for Dervish. Background: Drifter; Archetype: Daredevil; Traits: Energetic, Bold.
* Solomon Pallbar Yu, male draconic forest gnome sorcerer. Background: Artisan; Archetype: Theorist; Traits: Flamboyant, Energetic.
* Sinay Saragastus, male human factotum going for Chameleon. Background: Ascetic; Archetype: Sage; Traits: Connected, Charming, Calm.
* Aukan Tooth Ogolakanu, male goliath cleric (Kelanen). Background: Tribal Origin; Archetype: Wanderer; Traits: Brutal, Exotic, Vengeful (giants).
* Cayden Vhor, male human fighter. Background: Soldier; Archetype: Challenger; Traits: Bold, Carefree, Disciplined.
The background, archetype, and traits are from Player's Handbook II.
Just finished "There Is No Honor." Here's the party make-up now:
1. Thalas, elven duskblade 1/wizard 2
2. Morderas, half-drow rogue 1/fighter 2
3. Quinn, human scout 3
4. Athal, elven warblade 3
5. Arjan, human druid 3 with riding dog, Korlic
6. Kithkanin, wood elf fighter 3
7. Rhiannon, elven cleric of Pelor 3
Highly efficient party. I added two thieves to the encounter with Rowyn at the end of the guildhall and it was all over under five rounds. Arjan rolling two crits in a row with his spear made a huge difference.
I tend to squash most silly class/race combinations. Not to limit creativity, but the party has to be effective in some capacity, lest tpk's be the inevitable result. I don't care how much charisma your mind flayer cleric has, you're a mind flayer.
For those looking to do troll sorcerers, draconic gnomes with wings, succubii, treant barbarians,pixie warmages, gith psionisists......how do these characters survive? Do they honestly think they will just walk into the local community and get npc healing/magic items/supplies and be dealt with normally? And what about inter party interactions? Is the paladin (or any other adventurer) likely to to travel with a monsterous humanoid companion? Does everyone speak a common language? How will the paladins/clerics church react to the information they are travelling with a troll? I could go on and on.
Not saying it's impossible, but your character better have a good explanation and method for npc and pc interactions....not to mention the myriad of other situations they will undoubtably find themselves in....because I won't cut you any slack. I won't punish you, but don't think your gonna be treated as just another adventurer.
To each there own, but you are doing your game a disservice by soft-balling your party and letting them get away with nonsensical builds/combinations. Paint a rich trapestry of background for your players to interact with, and let them live with the consequences (or benefits) of there choices and actions in a realistic way.
I started a few weeks ago with a "savage tide"-light campaign. We simply have too few sessions (real life interference *sigh*) to play the whole campaign in a meaningful way. Basically, I'm going to skip certain parts (e.g. bullywug attack), add some other adventures (e.g. parts of mad god's key, somewhere in the future also forsaken arch) and probably finish it up somewhere on the isle.
At character generation, I was rather flexible: some rules (euhm, more like guidelines, really) got bend, extra background skills & feats, etc. The characters ended up slightly more powerful for their level (2 at the moment), but they are the heroes, right?
The setting: Forgotten Realms, Tashluta area (as suggested in the conversion notes)
The cast:
1) Ra, halfling druide and Maki, his monkey animal companion. Born and raised in the Chult Jungles. He met Lavinia and her parents in his village during one of their adventures. After a few years he decided to visit her in Tashluta and arrived just in time to help her.
2) Conan, human barbarian. Native from the Chult Jungles. His village was destroyed and he enslaved by some ships of the Crimson fleet (led by Slipknot Pete). He escaped and ended up in Tashluta. He is a member of the Church of the Whirling Fury and now works in the whaling industry.
3) Ulfgar Ragnarson, dwarven ranger. Born and raised in a small stronghold near the sea in Halruaa, he just loves water and ships. His dream is becoming one day a true leviathan hunter (in the past one was rescued by his clan), and do some serious BIG game hunting! He also ended up in Tashluta, and at the moment also works in the whaling industry.
The 4th member will probably be a swashbuckler or a monk, but the player was not able to attend last session.
So far, they did very well: they had a lot of fun with the dock chase (from Mad God’s Key), and were very clever in retaking the “Blue Nixie” (in short, the dwarf created a diversion, the barbarian climbed on board and hid in the row boat and the halfling sneaked into the captain’s cabin, after summoning an animal. The smugglers then started searching for the escaped animal. The barbarian was spotted, but still managed to free the raghodessa, which then decimated the smugglers…). Next session, they’re going to look for Vanthus (and end up getting his attention: some assassination attempts including the stilt walkers, and the parrot isle scene)
Hagor
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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Our group's playing a Planescape version of the STAP, which means that they have vested interest in opposing the domination of the Abyss by a unified Demogorgon. We're starting in a modified version of HTBM and ToD set in the Wilderness of the Beastlands.
- The Players...
- Arros Firebrand -pl/ m Human Clr 5/Demonwrecker 5 of St. Cutbert, (Harmonium) LG
- Brautmer - pr/ m Dwarf Bbn 5/Frenzied Berserker 5, (Brotherhood of Glory) CN
- Deek - pr/ m Goliath Bbn 9, (Brotherhood of Glory) CG
- Duklar - pl/ m Tielfing Scout 10, (Free League)CN
- Falyte - pr/ m Human Clr 7/Divine Disciple 3 of Tymora,(Society of Sensation) CG
- Horny - pr/ m Minotaur Ftr 2, CG
- Lucien Bradley - pl/ m Aasimar Ftr 2/Pal 8, (Believers of the Source) LG
- Renqual the Wild - pl/ m Aasimar Wiz 5/Wild Mage 5, (Xaositect) CN
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Uhahuh a Orgg Ape totem barbarian that throws coconuts and bananas
Malfador a human mage who stutters. spells take twice as long to cast
Thallius a multiclass Barbarian/Sorc/Thief/fighter
Dranis a human aristocrat conjurer
Dimble knackle Gnome whitehand of heironeous
Xym a halfling disciple of the dagger
Targos a LE monk traveling with an all good aligned party
Tharivul a LE human shadow knight played by sam player as Targos. Guess he likes evil characters that die quickly
Vashir a Lizardman barbarian
Click Clock A Thri-kreen fighter
We have 2 teams of 5 running through Savage Tide.
Midway through "Here There Be Monsters" (immediately before Fogmire), we now have:
- Harg, half-orc ranger 8, original member of the party; an archer planning to become a totemic demonslayer
- Xianta Silvergaard, human sorceress 7/fighter 1, original member of the party; was briefly planning to become an eldritch knight, but is now focussed on archmage
- Gareth Garethson, human fighter 8; spiked chain wielder extraordinaire
- Vaego Stonewall, half-orc fighter 2/paladin 5/cleric of St. Cuthbert 1; voluntarily left the path of paladin after sending his war buffalo to its death
My group begins the Savage Tide Adventure Path on Sunday. We're playing it as a sequel of sorts to our Freeport campaign which will be wrapping up soon. Many of the Savage Tide characters are the grandchildren of the Freeport characters. We've got:
Dexter, a CG half-orc barbarian, an apprentice carpenter and a member of the Church of Whirling Fury
Garnham, a NG human rogue, Dexter's brother
Margaret Teech, a N human cleric of Aster, God of the Dead
Elyosha Tatanya Fyorovna, a NG elf druid, a refuge fleeing political and religious opression in an elven nation far to the north
Wish them luck, they're going to need it.
As of right now, 3/4 of the way through SWW, the party is:
-Captain "Sly" Dimitri, Male Elf Bard/Swashbuckler/Scout - glorious plans for becoming a Legendary Captain, has one wonky eye.
-Galavan Athleticles, Male Human Athlete (home brew class, think olympian champion) - likes to oil himself up all the time, Zelkarune's Horns Affiliation rating of 4
-Punkin, Female Tibit Rouge/Scout - likes to snack and Tavey, working on disarming, not springing the traps.
-Rowan of the Isles, Female Elf Druid - newest player seems to like call lightning and baboons, hhmmmm.....
Koro-tiki, Male Human Favored Soul (player moved now a NPC)- chopper
Sergii, Male Dwarf Cleric/Fighter (player retired now a NPC) - jailer
Balon Greybeard: NG Male Dwarf Druid/Mage/Greenstar Adept
Wanda the Goat: Balon's familiar/animal companion (I allowed him to mix the two since there are only three players. Her familiar power is that she talks, so she's basically a party member.)
Stormy: CN Tiefling Fighter
Shy Draven: CG Human Sorceress
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After a little more than half of HTBM, the second group I am DMing through the STAP has the following composition....
"Slicer" - Female Dwarf Fighter 8 - Traditional dwarf fighter with heavy steel shield and dwarven waraxe. Has by far the most HP in the entire group at 93 right now.
Nailo - Elf Scout 4/Ranger 2/Order of the Bow Initiate 2 - Party's archer. Does a suprising amount of damage with his bow using skirmish and precision ranged attacks.
Nav - Female Human Sorcerer 8 - Traditional blaster sorcerer with several utility spells thrown in. Very effective character that is the groups defacto leader.
Kaskus Kiel - Male Dwarf Druid 8 - Had a new player that came in a bit late, and I had originally had Kaskus as the party's NPC divine caster. The new player took him over and I allowed them to overhaul his stats and such a bit to make him more personal. Has a giant crocidile animal companion, and right now favorite tactic is to summon a second giant crocodile, set them up for flanks with each other, and then drop flame strikes against anything the crocodiles can't mop up. Playing very well for a first time player.
This group is far less exotic than the original party I had play the STAP, and in truth they are far more effective. It just goes to show you that all you need to make effective characters, even for something like the STAP is the PHB.
At the end of "Here There Be Monsters", the fallen half-orc paladin Vaego was replaced by Kek, a phanaton druid.
At the end of "Here There Be Monsters", the fallen half-orc paladin Vaego was replaced by Kek, a phanaton druid.
Having looked at all the paperwork to efficiently play a druid (wild shape stats! other wild shape stats! summoned monster stats! etc.!), Jason instead decided to stat up Kek as a phanaton rogue/avenger.
It was quite something to hear him say "I search for traps" last night as they were leaving the shrine in the Fogmire -- first time we've heard anyone say that since Tholnak was gutted by Ripclaw, back in the Day.
Half of the party has turned over in the last two sessions.
Gareth Garethson, spiked chain wielder extraordinaire, decided he'd had enough of adventuring, what with
He's being replaced by Erik Kingmakersdottir, a fighter and former member of the Scarlet Brotherhood, whose run-in with a gender-switching magic ring made him reexamine her entire past, and who is now devoted to righting the wrongs she committed.
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I just started the STAP again with a new group of players consisting of two veteran D&D players and two newbies. we stuck the campaign in the Forgotten Realms. Here's the details:
Male Human Swashbuckler - based his character from Master and Commander. New to D&D and wanted to start his character as a captain of a ship but I had to explain to him that he would have to be at least 5th level to have that kind of experience. Hails as a noble from The Champion's district.
Female Half-elf Cleric of Lliira - Another newbie to the game. She has the highest strength and charisma of the party. Great door-basher and diplomat. Non-native of Sasserine (from Amn). Her profession is "herbalist" so I've mentioned to her about possibly trying a druid for her next character if this one should ever die, and in this campaign, that will probably happen.
Male Human Rogue/Scout - A veteran of my group that I have been gaming with for 8 years. Just took a feat from Complete Scoundrel that stacks his Sneak Attack damage with Skirmish damage. Make's his home under a bridge in Shadowshore. Now happy to be in the employ of Lavinia Vanderboren.
Male elf Sorcerer - Created with PH starting package. Three out of four weeks he is played by the veteran player or myself or another veteran that can only play once a month. Obviously, since this guy is played by three different players, he has split personalities. Native of Sasserine with a fear of getting in the water.