Rules

Character Creation:

1) All PCs start at 1st level. Only PHB races and classes for the moment, with Monster Manual races allowable on a case-by-case basis.

2) Adventurer's Vault (equipment) and Martial Power material will be allowable on a case-by-case basis.

3) Ability Scores: I'm using Method 1 (PHB pg. 17) with a little tweak. Take the following 6 numbers and assign them to your ability scores before applying racial ability score modifications: 16, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10. If you want, you may lower one score by 2 points to raise another by 1.

I'd like to keep the house rules and such to a minimum here, so for the moment I'm going to have just a single house rule to start:

* A PC may pick one trained skill which does not appear on their class list. The number of trained skills, however, remains the same. So, for example, a Fighter, which has three trained skills, will still have three but one of them might be a non-Fighter skill.

Why use a standard array instead of point-buy? It's not really much simpler, and it's much better for some character classes than others.

Korm'akhan wrote:

Why use a standard array instead of point-buy? It's not really much simpler, and it's much better for some character classes than others.

I figure it's just easier to have all the PCs using the same stat array than doing the sort of min-maxing with point-buy that we had in the 3e game. While a standard array's better for some classes than other, it's not a big difference, and it certainly doesn't seem to cause any problems in the Port game.

Fair enough.

Would it be okay if I took the following Level 1 daily power, from Dragon 366, since I'm not especially interested in any from the PH.

Crown of Stars Warlock (Star) Attack 1
Flaring points of star-bright light encircle your head. With each gesture, a painful point of blue-white light leaps away in a halo of choking smoke toward one foe.
Daily ✦ Arcane, Implement, Radiant
Standard Action Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d12 + Charisma modifier radiant damage. If target is bloodied, it is blinded until the end of your next turn.
Sustain Minor: Make a Charisma vs. Will attack against any target in range. On a hit, deal radiant damage equal to your Charisma modifier.

I love the power descriptions for warlock powers.

Korm'akhan wrote:

Would it be okay if I took the following Level 1 daily power, from Dragon 366, since I'm not especially interested in any from the PH.

Looks fine to me.

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I love the power descriptions for warlock powers.

Same here. I'm looking forward to seeing how you describe them in play.

Really? It looks a lot more powerful then the other level 1 abilities. I think the highest i saw for a wizard was 2d8?

I would much rather have point buy. As a wizard some stats (like str) won't matter to me so I would prefer that was an 8 instead of a 10. And two for one is not exactly fun.

BTW I have
Adventurers vault
Draconomican (chromatic)
DMG
DMG update
FR Campaign
FR players
Martial Power
MM
MM Update
PHB
PHB Update
Character Sheet
DM screen errata

Gareth wrote:

Really? It looks a lot more powerful then the other level 1 abilities. I think the highest i saw for a wizard was 2d8?

And the wizard's powers can affect multiple people much more effectively. It evens out.

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I would much rather have point buy. As a wizard some stats (like str) won't matter to me so I would prefer that was an 8 instead of a 10.

You can have a perfectly functional and effective wizard (or any other class) using the stat array. It doesn't have to be perfectly min-maxed to be playable.

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And two for one is not exactly fun.

It's optional, so you don't have to use it.

Gareth wrote:

Really? It looks a lot more powerful then the other level 1 abilities. I think the highest i saw for a wizard was 2d8?

Different classes do different amounts of damage. Warlocks are strikers, so they specialize in doing lots of damage to a single target. Wizards' attacks do less damage, but to many targets at once.

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I would much rather have point buy. As a wizard some stats (like str) won't matter to me so I would prefer that was an 8 instead of a 10. And two for one is not exactly fun.

If you drop one stat to 8 and raise the 16 to 17, that's actually a better deal than you'd get through point buy. If you use that point to raise the 14 to 15, or 13 to 14, that's the same as point-buy.

If we are using alternate books for items, whats our starting gold? Just in general whats our starting gold.

Gareth wrote:

If we are using alternate books for items, whats our starting gold? Just in general whats our starting gold.

Standard starting gold is 100 gp. As for alternate books for items, the only items that are relevant to 1st level characters are the weapons in Adventurer's Vault.

Have you decide whether you're going with a wizard or with something else?

I was thinking a kobold rogue. I was thinking of the cowardly rogue who runs around covering his face with one hand wildly swinging with the other screaming "NOOOO NOT IN THE FACE NOT IN THE FACE". It just seems like a fun character.

What do you think?

Gareth wrote:

I was thinking a kobold rogue. I was thinking of the cowardly rogue who runs around covering his face with one hand wildly swinging with the other screaming "NOOOO NOT IN THE FACE NOT IN THE FACE". It just seems like a fun character.

What do you think?

I'm always a fan of playing what will be fun rather than what the group seems to need, so I say go for it if that will be more enjoyable for you.

worse comes to worst I can always change. I figure the cowardly rogue would be different then a paladin - by a lot. I could also do the cowardly wizard - the kobold thing is just fun - but the stats on a kobold suck for mage.

Gareth wrote:

worse comes to worst I can always change. I figure the cowardly rogue would be different then a paladin - by a lot. I could also do the cowardly wizard - the kobold thing is just fun - but the stats on a kobold suck for mage.

If you want to do a wizard, I have no problem using the stats for a human and treating him as a kobold in all ways in game (just like what we're doing with Julia's elven cleric, who's mechanically a shifter).

I would be cool with all the things of a kobold, just swap his stats (dex/con) for what the eladrin offers, and change the +skills to what the eladrin offers. Other then that play him as a kobold.

Would that be acceptable?

Gareth wrote:

I would be cool with all the things of a kobold, just swap his stats (dex/con) for what the eladrin offers, and change the +skills to what the eladrin offers. Other then that play him as a kobold.

Would that be acceptable?

Nope. I'm fine with letting someone pick a race and treat it cosmetically as another, but I don't want to do cherry-picking between abilities from different races. Because then I should allow all PCs to do it and that way lies madness.

Since you want to do a kobold, just pick any particular race and class combo as written and we'll treat it as a kobold in-game.

Do temporary hit points from the same source stack?

Six of Six wrote:

Do temporary hit points from the same source stack?

Nope. What did you have in mind?

Admin wrote:

Six of Six wrote:

Do temporary hit points from the same source stack?

Nope. What did you have in mind?

So much fuss was made that they don't stack from different sources, this might have been a loophole.

It was the fighter battlerager build I was thinking of with temporary hit points. Battleragers invigorating powers give temp hit points that stack with tph. Would you say they stack with themselves. As usual there is quite the thread at EN world.
On another topic, is Mr Cassius going to remain a warlock or switch to bard?

Six of Six wrote:

It was the fighter battlerager build I was thinking of with temporary hit points. Battleragers invigorating powers give temp hit points that stack with tph. Would you say they stack with themselves. As usual there is quite the thread at EN world.

Yes, I'd say that with the battlerager they do stack, since it explicitly says so for them. But only tph gained from one of their attacks stacks with existing tph, not the tph gained when someone attacks them.

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On another topic, is Mr Cassius going to remain a warlock or switch to bard?

Good question. Mike?

I haven't really thought that far ahead.

Why do you ask?

Here's my thoughts on the matter: It seems that the preview character sheet I based Mr. Cassius on got the gnome's reactive stealth ability wrong, so the warlock's reactive stealth isn't nearly as useful as we've been making it. Aside from the stealth, the bard better reflects how I envision Mr. Cassius, due to the free ritual caster feat, the better skills and proficiencies, and the big boost to the diplomacy skills. I'm not sure we need another leader, but then I'm not sure we need the warlock's minor amount of extra damage either. I suppose Mr. Cassius could pretend he's not a healer, and just use all his healing on himself.

Then again, I could just make an Avenger, to take care of the scouting when Shil's GMing. I might hit more often if I was rolling twice for every attack. But then again, I might not.

Korm'akhan wrote:

Here's my thoughts on the matter: It seems that the preview character sheet I based Mr. Cassius on got the gnome's reactive stealth ability wrong, so the warlock's reactive stealth isn't nearly as useful as we've been making it.

Yeah, I noticed that a bit earlier, but forgot to mention it. Partly since you started DMing at that point.

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Aside from the stealth, the bard better reflects how I envision Mr. Cassius, due to the free ritual caster feat, the better skills and proficiencies, and the big boost to the diplomacy skills. I'm not sure we need another leader, but then I'm not sure we need the warlock's minor amount of extra damage either. I suppose Mr. Cassius could pretend he's not a healer, and just use all his healing on himself.

BTW, Dave's been talking about doing a tempest fighter instead of the warlord, and I think that's what he's going to use once the PCs hit 5th. So we would be down to just the one healer. And personally I think bard would fit him perfectly.

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Then again, I could just make an Avenger, to take care of the scouting when Shil's GMing. I might hit more often if I was rolling twice for every attack. But then again, I might not.

I know which way I'd bet on that

Admin wrote:

BTW, Dave's been talking about doing a tempest fighter instead of the warlord, and I think that's what he's going to use once the PCs hit 5th. So we would be down to just the one healer. And personally I think bard would fit him perfectly.

If Dave wants to make a fighter, then I'll definitely turn Cassius into a bard. You'll be playing 5th level characters next session though.

I'll post a version of Cassius as a 6th level bard. I don't know if you're going to be running the session after this one, or if I will, but in either case it would be easy enough to level him up to 7th level the next session.

Edit: You know... if Brighty is killed in combat before you take over again, I could play a Shaman, commanding the power of ghost-Brighty.

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Then again, I could just make an Avenger, to take care of the scouting when Shil's GMing. I might hit more often if I was rolling twice for every attack. But then again, I might not.

I know which way I'd bet on that

Yeah, I'd probably bet against myself too.

Korm'akhan wrote:

If Dave wants to make a fighter, then I'll definitely turn Cassius into a bard. You'll be playing 5th level characters next session though.

Yeah, Dave's already got the fighter ready to go.

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I'll post a version of Cassius as a 6th level bard. I don't know if you're going to be running the session after this one, or if I will, but in either case it would be easy enough to level him up to 7th level the next session.

I'd like to take a bit of a break from DMing, if you're willing to run a few sessions, but we can also switch back and forth a bit as is convenient.

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Edit: You know... if Brighty is killed in combat before you take over again, I could play a Shaman, commanding the power of ghost-Brighty.

Dude - if you kill Brighty, Julia will probably murder you!

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Yeah, I'd probably bet against myself too.

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