The (overly) serious D&D interest thread...with discussion re: players

Well, so far, this seems like a likely setup:

GM: arimnaes

Players:

• confirmed: Glenn Magus Harvey, Desov2
• probable: Karalora, Matrix
• possible: Zudak, Alessandro, Arilou

Am I missing anyone, or are any of these stats wrong?

That seems about right from what I can remember.

Four or five players would be optimal, though six would be possible in a pinch. Too many is better than too few, since based on past experience I'd say we're likely to lose at least one person along the way to player attrition.

Quick-access to character sheets:

Karalora: http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=32773

Zudak: http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=32843

Matrix: http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=32689

Lance Leoghauni: http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=32644

Staghorn: http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=32808

GMH: http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=34031

Ironeye: http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=33027

edited 2nd Apr '10 6:35:31 PM by arimnaes

I'm definitely on if you can arrange a time that I can play on, it's pretty much the sole determining factor.

How about this: I can't get onto chat right now (well I could but I wanna get some work done), but how about the several of you—arimnaes, Desov2, Karalora, Matrix, and Arilou, our core group so far—work out something, and I'll check my schedule after that.

Generally speaking, though, I'd prefer stuff to be in the late evening, at least past 8 PM Eastern time, except for weekends. The thing with weekends, though, is that, unless we're playing at least twice a weekend, I'd prefer to see the game move faster than a once-a-week meeting. It would make interesting things happen faster, and also keeps game/setting details on the mind more easily.

Seems we have the following confirmed players:

• Desov2
• Glenn Magus Harvey
• Karalora - maybe not quite confirmed, but based on scheduling, seems like it'd work out
• Matrix
• Zudak

Our GM will most likely be arimnaes.

My apologies to Arilou, whose unfortunate time zone will likely prevent him from being part of this game.

Let's talk about scheduling, and when we're starting the game, in Vent chat. Or we can talk here if y'all would like.

As far as my schedule goes, Friday and/or Saturday nights would be the most convenient for me. I don't yet know what my schedule for next semester will be, so while it's likely that there will be at least one other weeknight that works for me, I don't know which day it will be.

As to my time zone, I'm on the east coast of the U.S.

Well, looks like this semester is coming to a close anyway, so we'll have to figure out new schedules pretty soon anyway.

It's your call when you want to start. Also, in the meantime, you might want to mention any ideas you have for what sorts of characters we should think about, or what sort of story/game/campaign you're thinking of running.

I know that I'm thinking of a rogue/arcanetrickster/similar character, despite my time-and-time-again thoughts about playing something very different from this archetype that I've played so much.

I think Desov2 is also thinking about a rogue, and last I saw he was asking about crafting traps, IIRC.

Dunno about anything else. But I will be willing (and likely) to take Use Magic Device and keep a wand of cure light wounds on me, in case anyone's wondering.

Also, you should decide whether we should use Open RPG or Vent. Open RPG I think gives us grids for miniatures, but Vent gives us voice chat. I'm not sure if Open RPG gives us private chat, but that might be less easy on Vent—though no one ever really uses those music rooms anyway.

edited 9th Dec '09 4:55:18 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

I can just make a new Vent room for you guys if you'd like.

I might Kick in and Be a Wizard. I prefer Wizards but sorcerer is... acceptable

You know, the games I'm in are going slow enough that I can still participate in another, and given my past experience, one of them is probably going to die off before it gets off the ground. And my schedule seems to kinda fit with everyone else's anyway.

That would probably be useful, especially once we start playing. I doubt everyone else in Vent is going to want to hear everything that happens in our game sessions, least of all my deranged NPC voice acting.

I have the outline of a campaign world in my mind, but I'll need a little bit of time to develop it. The most important element specific to the campaign setting is going to be that the world is mostly dominated by a human empire that mostly views other races with a bit of suspicion, with the exception of elves, who are actively discriminated against, subjugated, and treated as second-class citizens. Until about a thousand years prior to the present day, there was an Elven empire that was equal to the humans in power and grandeur, but the two ended up in a protracted war that the elves eventually lost. Their homeland is still nominally independent, but is de facto ruled by the humans.

So, just keep the above in mind as you conceive a character, especially if you're thinking of playing an elf.

Now, on to brass tacks. As you know, we'll be playing 3.5 Edition Dn D. The source books that I will allow for character creation will be the core books (The Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, though the latter two don't have a whole lot you'll need), the Complete books (Complete Adventurer, Complete Arcane, Complete Champion, Complete Divine, Complete Mage, Complete Scoundrel, and Complete Warrior), and finally the Player's Handbook II, the Spell Compendium, the Magic Item Compendium, and the Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords (a.k.a. the Book of Weeaboo Fightin' Magic.) I am, however, going to specifically limit you to the core races, with a few additions: Human, Elf (all variants except Drow), Half-Elf, Halfling, Dwarf, Gnome, Half-Orc, Tiefling, and Aasimar. We'll be starting at level 3 (or level 2, if you're playing one of the +1 level adjustment races), with the standard gold for a level 3 character: 2,700 GP. For stats, we'll be doing 28-point point buy. A description of how point buy works can be found here: [1]

As far as I know, all of you have played in at least one game before, but anyone who has only dabbled might find the sheer volume of source material somewhat intimidating. If anyone has a vague idea of what archetype in the party they'd like to fill, but doesn't know what classes, feats, and skills would best help them to achieve it, feel free to ask around for help.

Also, please remember that different people want different things out of a game of Dn D. My last group had some major hard feelings develop because one player held statistical character optimization as his highest goal. That's all well and good; some people get their enjoyment that way. Except he started making passive-aggressive comments on the weaknesses of other players' characters and eventually started outright berating them for making "suboptimal" choices in regards to spells and feats and the like. I don't want to see any of that behavior this time around. We're all here to have fun, so let's do our best to keep it that way.

If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I think I'll have sufficient material and time to start the campaign in about two weeks.

A handy reference site containing a lot of the SRD material can be found here: [2].

Alternately, I've gone ahead and uploaded the necessary PDF files for anyone who wants them: [3] [4] [5]

And finally, for those who are interested, an interactive character sheet: [6]

edited 9th Dec '09 8:04:09 PM by arimnaes

Hmm, okay, I think I'm going to be similar to the last game I played and be a Human Bard.

Fantastic Racism against Elves? Why does that remind me of Tales Of Symphonia? Except there it's against Half-Elves and that's largely for being "freaks of nature". Interested. Still edgy, though.

edited 9th Dec '09 7:01:07 PM by catch_the_sun

I'll play a wizard. Specialty undecided, might not specilialize.

Expect crazy shit to occur. you have been warned.

edited 9th Dec '09 8:38:48 PM by Lanceleoghauni

Alright, the RPG Room is up.

It's a shame I couldn't join you guys.

edited 9th Dec '09 9:07:10 PM by Ironeye

http://theonlysheet.com/video/howto/howto_use_the_active_effect_table.htm <— this looks rather cool. I just found this while looking for an Excel-based character sheet.

I'm thinking of making my own character sheet, since I haven't been satisfied with either the 2-page or the 4-page paper sheet, nor with a text file, nor with The Tangled Web's Profiler, though that last one has been the best so far, in my opinion.

So I opened up Excel (or, technically, Open Office Calc), and then realized that other people have probably done this already. This dynamic feature I found here is one of the key reasons, actually.

One of you mentioned that that huge character sheet doesn't handle some effect; maybe it'll work with this sheet?

Edit: Oh wait, looks like you gotta pay for this. No free lunch, I guess.

Edit: Maybe there is: http://www.youmeetinatavern.com/index.php?topic=1125.0

Edit: Actually, it's still not free. The character sheet setups are free, but I have Open Office Calc while these things require Microsoft Excel. The scripts don't seem to work. I might as well make my own custom sheet...

edited 10th Dec '09 7:23:19 AM by GlennMagusHarvey

New post because completely different topic:

I might end up with a charater with stats 10 14 14 14 14 10. Is this bad? [y/n]

Edit: On the previous topic again: I've written up a very basic character sheet in Open Office Calc. If you want to try it out, PM me your e-mail address...or if I get enough P Ms I'll just post it somewhere on the web.

edited 10th Dec '09 8:43:28 AM by GlennMagusHarvey

I am on hand if someone can't play. I'm making a character as we speak.

Okay, as a Bard, Trixie (my character) is proficient with Light Armour. Should she bother using it at all?

Heh, we may just have enough people willing to play to start another game, if we could only find a GM...

If you're going for a fairly standard rogue, Glenn, then I would suggest dropping the extra points you're current investing in Wisdom in order to boost Dexterity. As a rogue, your best combat options will either be ranged weapons or a melee weapon (or two) with which you can use the Weapon Finesse feat, and either way, the stat that will add to your attack rolls will be Dexterity. It's also the key stat for most of the sneaky skills.

Depending on whether or not you plan to invest in social skills (i.e., Bluff, Diplomacy, and/or Intimidate) you may want to either raise your Charisma or simply leave it at 8.

You forgot to answer my question, arim >.>

Also, as a clarifications, what I'm really concerned about is the weight of everything Trixie is carrying.

Ah, sorry. Bards can wear light armor without incurring arcane spell failure (a percent chance to botch any arcane spell you cast due to armor restricting your ability to make the necessary gestures), so I would definitely recommend a chain shirt. That will give you a +4 armor bonus to AC while still allowing you to get your full Dexterity bonus to AC as well. It weighs 25 pounds.

Heh, we may just have enough people willing to play to start another game, if we could only find a GM...

Ironeye, you're a genius.