Anyone here currently playing D&D 4th Edition?

I've played all kinds of games.

 

We've always just played using squares. The grids you buy for DnD at stores are also squares. What is this hexagon silliness in which you speak?

 

Not just space games - most classic Avalon Hill and SPI wargames use that as well. But not D&D 4th edition.

My favorite game map of all time was Magic Realm. It was an old Avalon Hill fantasy board game using hex tiles that could be enchanted changing the locations and paths in each of those tiles.

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/342187/magic-realm

 

Totally random:
Bloodhound - Complete Adventurer, page 28.
Since I cross-classed (ranger, then full bloodhound progression, then back to ranger - currently sitting at Ranger 5 / Bloodhound 10) I haven't been getting too much out of my ranger levels. +1 BAB or something of the sort, a few skill points, nothing major. My character is a long-distance ranger (275 ft range on a +3 str longbow), and has +36 and +38 to move silently and hide, respectively, and a +24 to attack with that bow.

So, instead of leveling to Ranger 6, I paid 15k today for specialized training to get Hide in Plain Sight, and also to reduce the Call Shot penalty from -4 to -2 to strike specific body parts.

The idea is to come out of nowhere, cripple a bitch, tie them up and drag them to town like a good bloodhound.

Good or bad?

Also, I've still got 38k to play with, since I'm a bit of a money hog. Any ideas on items to beef me up even more? I can probably make my bow a +4 weapon or improve my armor in some way. I'm particularly weak against mind-affecting abilities/spells.

 

Work on your weakness then. Find items that boost your will save and see if you have enough gold to buy them. If not, perhaps your DM would allow such an item to be part of a quest reward for you. Worth a shot anyway.

 

Ok, another great session last Friday!

 

Not too many battles in last week's session, and I think you missed out. The RP was excellent, and I enjoyed the way they interacted off of each other and the NPCs.

 

I want to make a Longbow of Scorching Ray! Basically, instead of having the weapon property "psychokinetic" or "cold damage" or something, each arrow just deals out the spell scorching ray (4d6 fire damage +1ray/4 levels, max 3, page 193 PHB).

Is this possible? Just for shits and giggles, obviously. But can it be done?

 

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Obviously it's entirely up to the DM. That said, you would essentially need to enchant a longbow with the desired spell. Now, if your character is a caster with the required feats to craft the item yourself, you can make it at cost, otherwise you're going to be paying through the arse for it. At cost it would be as follows:

375(Masterwork Longbow)
+0 (Spell Material Component Cost X50 - spell has no MC)
+8000 (Base cost, based on a +2 weapon enchantment due to being a L2 spell. Assuming it's cast as a L3 caster)
+4000 (Supplies cost, half the cost of the base cost)

Total cost to create: 12,375 gp. So basically, assume you won't be able to get one made for you for less than 25K. Also, I calculated that only skimming the rules, so I'm thinking I missed something...pretty sure a continual-use no-charges item would cost a hell of a lot more than what I quoted. Might even need 50K+ to preserve game balance in your campaign. Not to mention that it very likely would be ruled impossible by the DM...it's pretty game-breaking when you think about it. Doesn't require ammo, it attacks at touch AC, and the only drawback is it would only hit within 30 feet (again, assuming caster level 3, this goes up by 5' every 2 levels). Unless you're in an epic-level campaign, I can see this just being ruled as too potent an item to give you.

 

One other thing...if it were used, I would restrict it to being able to fire one ray only regardless of caster level due to the nature of the item (can't fire 3 arrows at a time on a bow, so I could see it being restricted in such a way quite logically), so the caster level should just affect the cost to create and the range of the spell.

 

I only have 50k to play with so I don't want it all to go to the bow. And you're right, it's pretty overpowered.

Now, that brings up the point, if I can't make the bow itself overpowered, can I make the arrows special?
Like, have a bundle of 10 arrows I pull out in an emergency to deal fucktons of damage?
I already got the OK to make darkness arrows. They'll be made to cast darkness around whatever they hit. The cost for those was ~2400gp/10 arrows.

What other fun stuff could I get?

 

Arrows would be reasonable and aren't nearly as broken. If you enchant the arrow with a spell with similar damage potential, it'll likely be far cheaper and less game breaking (because magical arrows typically have one charge and either break or become mundane, not sure offhand which it would be). As for what other fun stuff you could get, I'd be better able to make suggestions if I knew what sort of character you were running, both class-wise and roleplay-wise.

 

Lawful neutral halfling bloodhound/ranger. Keeps to herself, loves gold, praises Yondalla to an extreme. Very moody, highly sarcastic, has move silently and hide modifiers of +36 and +39, respectively. Shoots from a distance (200+ ft), moves, hides, rinse, repeat.

We're up against a powerful army that operates on multiple planes. Different assignments take place in wildly different environments. This week was a forest, two weeks ago we were sneaking inside a facility that is building a giant extra-dimensional bomb.

That's the gist of it.

 

4d6 fire damage seems a bit overpowered.

 

Well, simple things might be beneficial to you. Stuff like a ring of invisibility, stuff to boost your missile attack hit rate, etc. Or a set of glasses/goggles that let you see things you normally couldn't see. If there's heavy undead in the campaign, it wouldn't even be absurd to get an enchanted holy symbol allowing you to turn undead despite not being a cleric...it would be something that would play into your character. To me, the best magic items are fairly mundane, that help the character without detracting from roleplay or breaking the game. It's a tough balance to achieve, which is why I don't like blatantly overpowered gear...although in certain situations it's a necessary evil

 

It's a level 2 spell in the PHB...that stunned me to be honest. That said, it's a ranged touch and not an automatic hit, which explains the damage potential. I know they nerfed Magic Missile (used to be 1d6+1 and auto-hit in 2nd, now it's 1d4+1 and auto-hit iirc).

 

Re: Rep comment about summary (Scorp)

Um...you mean the game summary? No, I find it hard to read a back lit screen for long periods, I usually skim. Besides, when we sit down again, I'll be getting an update regardless, so it's a bit redundant

 

Should i be worried that cryptic is making a neverwiner game?

 

Before I started this trip I raided my gaming closet and broke out my old AD&D 1986 Scourge of the Slave Lords adventure and have been reading through it just for fun- it was always one of my favorites, and one of (if not the best) gaming session I ever had was as a player in A2 Slaver's Stockade back in 1981.

Anyway, this led me to WOTC's website, which I haven't had reason to visit since they failed to renew the SW Saga Edition license, and found this thing called 4th Edition Essentials.

Here's the thing: the latest versions of D&D have really turned me off because there are 40 rulebooks for each class and race, and based on what I read in the 4E PHB (the only 4E core rulebook I bought) it seemed liked the classes were being shoehorned into a deal where they all played relatively the same, no matter what.

I've spent the last hour or two poring over various sites, reviews, and info on 4E essentials, and the vibe I'm getting is that WOTC is distilling 4E down to the basics and going slightly retro in the way you can play your classes. For examples, I never envisioned Fighters (my primary class when I played, although I played all sorts) having 'powers' in the same vein as clerics and mages. Fighters had tough armor, strong constitutions, sharp weapons, and nasty dispositions towards the tender flesh of their enemies.

At first glance, it looks like Essentials is running back to the old slightly, paring down the Feats (another annoyance- there are waaaaay too many) and making class play a little more distinctive again, at least for the knuckle draggers with the swords and axes. Have any of you current D&D gurus given any of these products a whirl? If so, whaddya think? I'm tempted to go out and buy the red box and see how it all reads/plays out. I've got two teenage kids I'm tempted to seduce into RPGing, but the current 4E rules are too alien for me, much less to introduce new players too. Ran into a little of that with SW Saga edition and my son, although that was a pretty streamlined system, more or less.

I'm also not beyond latching onto something like 4E essentials and then simply tossing the portions I don't like- keep the good and angle back towards 1E AD&D with the bad. It would mean a partial rules re-work but I'm an experienced enough gamer and GM that I could probably pull that off without breaking the game.

It occurred to me that I have a whole closet full of Greyhawk accessories and old modules that could be converted over to the new system.

Thoughts? Comments? Reviews on 4E Essentials?

 

Marso they have nwn2 on steam.

 

When it first came out, so many people hated 4e. But I've noticed something in the past month or so, right around the time essentials came out - hardcore old DnD players were giving it a chance, and liking it.

They say even though it dumbs down a lot of the stuff, it gives people like fighters and the common sword swingers more to do. And I've been told by a few veteran DnD players that in 4e and essentials, the Monster Manual is the DMs best friend, because the monsters were made with tactics in mind, so they aren't just suppose to be stupid fodder anymore, but use strategy and work together to bring down the PCs.

I got a 4e MM III and the Pathfinder RPG core rulebook for Christmas. I've heard great things about the Pathfinder game, it essentially being version 3.75 of DnD, and might try and run this next, if our Friday group ever manages to finish off our adventure or get bored of it.

I've accumulated six or seven 4e books this year due to people giving them to me for birthdays, Christmas, etc, including the Red Box you mentioned. Stuff is piling up, I just need a chance to use it before I can give a proper review.

 

And to update this thread about my newfound enjoyment of DnD, I'm reporting that in my opinion, my campaign is going really well.

There is moral dilemma, comedy, memorable fights, characters, and plot twists which have surprised more than a few people, and I expect things are going to ramp up even more soon. The other group, run by a DM who's been playing since 1974, seems less fun in comparison, and I can often hear him insulting his players from across the room.

I have no other campaign to compare it to, me being so new to this, but I think it might be one of those instances where I've caught lightning in a bottle, with story, players, etc. I was thinking whether I could potentially replicate this with another group, and another story, and I am not sure I would ever be able to.

 

A good campaign can be like a lightning strike- it won't ever hit twice in the same place, but lightning can strike elsewhere under different circumstances.

I had a lot of characters back in the day, but only a few stick out in remembrance.

There was my fav D&D character of all time, Radaghast, half elven Ranger. He survived Hommlett, he survived the Slave Lords (that was character that memorable night in module A2- he was possessed by the f'n Haunt), and he survived other spots. He and his elven love, a magic user, were slain in a gigantic home-made dungeon somewhere in Greyhawk that was very much a clone of Tolkien's Moria. I think he only made it to 8th or 9th level.

Then there was Barnaby, a fighter who was the victim of a TPK from a random wilderness encounter with Giant Spiders in the Welkwood, down near the Pomarj. I remember that we started to collectively chuckle when the third party member failed their save versus poison- it was one of those nights when the dice were against us. At the end we were howling in laughter as our entire party became spider food. The DM offered a Mulligan but we all shouted NO and rolled up a new batch of characters on the spot. Started a new campaign then and there!

Dalamar, one of my few magic users. Made it to 10th or 11th level, all in and around Hommlet and the TOEE. We sort of abandoned that campaign- it might have been the last one we played before I took off to college. Dalamar was a damn good character- I had a lot of fun with him, and managing his spellbooks, components, etc. He's still out there in the multiverse somewhere- maybe he made it to archmage by now; I don't know.

I also had Sir Talmor, a knight/cavalier, and another knight who wound up retired as a duke in Keoland. Those were all good campaigns- each one different, but all played in the environs of Greyhawk. Good times.

I also remember a particular NPC villain- Captain August, buccaneer and pirate- we chased that fucker all over Wooley Bay, the Nyr Dyv, from Sterich to Almor and up and down the Wild Coast. Can't remember if we ever hung him or not. He was a recurring character in at least two campaigns... he was like Captain Jack Sparrow without the gayness.

We also had some good adventures in the Judges' Guild's City State of the Invincible Overlord. We used it not as the City of Greyhawk itself, but one of the other free cities- maybe Irongate or Verbobonc. I don't remember.

 

^ You talking about those characters makes me think there is something very special about these RPGs. The people in the world, whether they be PCs, NPCs, villians, monsters, seem to stick with you long after. In a way, it would feel like you know them, and loading/rolling up the game again can seem like meeting old friends.

It's a reason why when you meet someone else who has played the same video game RPG as you, there is an instant connection. I can't count how many times I've met someone and the conversation turns to Allister from Dragon Age, or Tifa from FFVII.

 

My most memorable character, I don't remember his name, but he was "the finest swordsman in all of France". To the DM's annoyance, I didn't seem dissuaded by the point that there was no "France" in his world. He was loosely modeled on Val Kilmer's character from "Willow" and was working on becoming a bard.

Childrens, in olden days, you couldn't just BE a bard character. You had to have a shit-ton of stats. Then you did, like, 7-9 levels as a fighter before transitioning and doing 7-9 levels as a thief, and then finally (IIRC) 7-9 levels as a druid. Then you became a bard.

It was a bit like retirement too. You can retire at 62, but if you stick around to 70 you get a lot more money. You could get to Bard in only 21 levels, but if you stuck it out for the full 27 you were a lot more powerful.

He'd just started the thief levels when the DM started playing Harnmaster. In that game I had a fighter named N'gama, who was a short black dude with a bearskin cape and a helmet with stag horns who thought he was a god. I mean literally. He tried to start a church built around the worship of himself.

 

Yeah, Bioware really hit it out of the park with Dragon Age. Excellent characters, especially Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana. I get a kick out of Oghren but he's not a favorite. Zev usually doesn't live any long longer than it takes to cut his throat after his initial assassination attempt, but I've kept him around a few times.

DAO was the first video game I've played where some of the characters actually seem a bit like old friends by the time you reach the end.

 

^ I killed off my Leliana. She got pissed I poured that vial into the ashes of Andrese, and she attacked. Then I told that old lady she should stay home. I figured she was too old to come along anyways.

Morrigan ended up being the only magic user in my party. Then she told me to get her pregnant, or she would leave. Man, I would've been screwed if that happened, so I had to say yes.

 

You can take the archdemon without a mage. Done it plenty of times.

 

Probably. But I centered my whole offense around Morrigan doing her freeze cone, then the others wailing on the remaining non- frozen guys. If there were any more, I'd maneuver Morrigan around so she'd freeze the most people in the cone once they shook it off.

Having only played through the game once, that's the only strategy I used, and it worked through the game.