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[DnD 4E Discussion] Underdark book does use the terms "Feydark" and "Shadowdark"
Aegeri
Tiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered User regular
Tiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered User regular
ITT people try to tell you the way you like to pretend playing as a fantasy elf or dwarf is wrong.
Here is a Dungeon:
Here is a Dragon:
Hence the name. Also, as a bonus picture here is Bane.
He's so dreamy
And no, he's not going anywhere from the OP. He wants you to love his manly pectoral muscles, his huge thigh muscles and bulging tip of the long hard shaft of his spear. Wizards even has a wallpaper of him, clearly showing they do seem to understand the joke at work here.
Speaking of before we go any further here, want to get the perfect way of starting 4E? Don't know where to go though? Try Wizards generously offering both a revised and improved version of Keep on the Shadowfell and the Quickstart rules? What will this cost you?
Absolutely nothing as it's completely free. Download them here.
Dungeons and Dragons is a pretty old game, originally being created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974, both of whom have passed way now. Since then it's had various iterations and editions, with the latest edition being 4th edition, published by Wizards of the Coast. The basic rules consist of three books:
As the name suggests, this is for players and also details the games core rules like combat.
This book details the various monsters and other things that populate the worlds of most DnD worlds.
This is for the DM and contains useful things like how much experience you have to make an encounter, treasure tables and rules for creating your own monsters.
If you want to play DnD, you usually only need the players hand book. Running a game requires those base three books.
Some stuff shamelessly stolen from the original post about the races and classes you can play as in the Players Hand Book, with some additions about the PHB2 races and classes by Terrendos.
Thanks Goose and Terrendos!
Here is a Dungeon:
Here is a Dragon:
Hence the name. Also, as a bonus picture here is Bane.
He's so dreamy
And no, he's not going anywhere from the OP. He wants you to love his manly pectoral muscles, his huge thigh muscles and bulging tip of the long hard shaft of his spear. Wizards even has a wallpaper of him, clearly showing they do seem to understand the joke at work here.
Speaking of before we go any further here, want to get the perfect way of starting 4E? Don't know where to go though? Try Wizards generously offering both a revised and improved version of Keep on the Shadowfell and the Quickstart rules? What will this cost you?
Absolutely nothing as it's completely free. Download them here.
Dungeons and Dragons is a pretty old game, originally being created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974, both of whom have passed way now. Since then it's had various iterations and editions, with the latest edition being 4th edition, published by Wizards of the Coast. The basic rules consist of three books:
As the name suggests, this is for players and also details the games core rules like combat.
This book details the various monsters and other things that populate the worlds of most DnD worlds.
This is for the DM and contains useful things like how much experience you have to make an encounter, treasure tables and rules for creating your own monsters.
If you want to play DnD, you usually only need the players hand book. Running a game requires those base three books.
Some stuff shamelessly stolen from the original post about the races and classes you can play as in the Players Hand Book, with some additions about the PHB2 races and classes by Terrendos.
First off, races now provide only benefits and no negatives.
Here are the PHB I races:The Dragonborn:
Not those pussies from 3E's draconomicon, these guys are badasses with a racial breath weapon. They make excellent Warlords, Paladins, and Fighters.
The Dwarves:
They're wise and tough as nails, pretty much the best categorization of the tough dwarf I've seen in tabletop roleplaying games. They make great Paladins, Clerics, and Fighters.
The Eladrin:
The "Elves" of last edition were split into two different races this time. The eladrin live in ridiculously magical feywild cities and make good wizards, warlords, and rangers. They can also teleport as a racial ability. Sweet sorcery, bro.
also Elves Elves lol.
The Elves:
The other half of the elves from last time, they're forest living guys who are really accurate. They make good rangers, rogues, and clerics. See what I mean by Elves lol?
The Half-Elves:
Proof that humans will screw anything. They're pretty tough and personable, and make excellent multiclassers. They make good warlords, paladins, and warlocks.
The Halflings:
Short, fat... actually no, these are about as far from tolkien's halflings as a fat american on his couch eating potato chips is from a bush tribesman in africa. Except they both speak english. Halflings continue their tradition of being really lucky and quick, as well as make excellent rogues, rangers, and warlocks.
The Humans:
Look in the Mirror. They're good at everything again and are the most adaptable, again. They make good anythings.
The Tieflings:
Their ancestors made pacts with devils and we're not half-breeds anymore, also we fought a war against Dragons. We get angry really well as a racial ability. We're also merciless, etc. We make good Warlocks, Warlords, or Rogues.
Also they really AREN'T the same tieflings we've had for 20 years.
We also have a bunch of new races now since PHB II came outDeva: Former spirits under the service of good gods fighting an unending war against darkness. Must remain tirelessly good lest they be reborn into Rakshasa. Good avengers, clerics, invokers, and wizards.
Gnome: Small Feywild natives who learned trickery during slavery to fomorians. Curious, stealthy, and small, these short Elflike creatures make excellent bards, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards.
Goliath: Mountain-dwelling nomads, covered in pebble-like bone growths that make them extra tough. Tall, massive, and strong, goliaths revere primal spirits and make excellent barbarians, fighters, and wardens.
Half-Orc: Channelling the strength of orcblood and the decisive, resourceful nature of humans, some say these warriors were hand-made by Kord himself. Others consider them an abomination. They don't much care, so long as they've got food and battle. Half-Orcs are excellent barbarians, rangers, and rogues.
Shifters: Descended from lycanthrope ancestors, these animal-like men see nearly everything in terms of hunter and prey. Able to draw on their ancestor's instincts, they are excellent druids, fighters, rangers, wardens, and surprisingly good clerics.
And now DDI is adding a few more to the game as well.Revenant: These guys have come back from the dead or were prevented from dying by some other force (the Raven queen in the default cosmology). They're unique because they actually have the undead subtype and can take feats that make them fully undead. Fun with a cleric in the party that's for certain! They make for decent assassins (another new class coming out in DDI), rogues and warlock.
And if that wasn't exciting enough, we have PHB 3 races on top of that! We're just getting absolutely spoiled now:Githzerai: They are a planar race formerly enslaved by the Illithids whom have curbed their more war like tendencies. They spend their time stabilizing parts of the elemental chaos through the sheer force of their will and practicing being awesome monks. Apparently they make great "seekers" as well as monks, the seeker being a new PHB III class. It's also NOT a psionic class.
Minotaur: The horrible monster of labyrinths and killing people is now... a playable race. Possibly because the 2010 campaign setting could very well by Dragonlance, which has more sociable minotaurs than other settings. Minotaurs presumably will be strength/con; making great Fighters and Barbarians in particular.
Wilden: A new race with all kinds of potential in the world. They were born to fight intrusion by monsters from the Far Plane and are basically plant people.
Then there are the races from the campaign setting books. First Forgotten Realms:Drow: Classic villains turned into PC races by the popularity of Drizzt, essentially another kind of elf with some different powers. I will say they make amazing rogues because of their darkfire and cloud of darkness racial powers.
Genasi: Half-elemental planars who join the ranks of the Deva and Tiefling as being plane touched PC races. They make good wizards and depending on your elemental type they can suit a wide range of classes. They also make good swordmages.
And the Eberron players guide added a bunch of them as well.Changelings: These guys, when you want to be derogative that is are classically known as "Dopplegangers" but most people to be polite call them Changelings. Like the name suggests, they can change how they appear and they make terrific rogues or wizards (they get a choice of stat boost!).
Kalashtar: These are a humanoid race who have bound themselves to dream spirits called Quori. They have some racial psionic talent (communication by telepathy for example) and should obviously fit in well with the Psion and other psionic classes.
Warforged: People usually refer to them as robots but these guys are more of a metal and plant "cyborg" than a robot. They have pretty strong racial abilities and make fantastic fighters and especially barbarians.
Introducing the Classes:
Every class now has a "Role" within the party, and a party is recommended to have every role represented to succeed, though it need not have to. It is considered "pro" to have proper party balance.The Cleric:
Is classified as a Leader.
He's the priest of a god with some pretty wicked spells to heal his allies and disable his enemies. Usually at the same time. Rarely will the cleric spend entire turns casting Cure Light Wounds.
The Fighter:
Is classified as a Defender.
He's a badass with a sword and board or a Two handed weapon, his job on the battlefield is to keep the enemies from stomping his friends, and he can do so with a variety of weapons, which all behave differently depending on how you choose your powers.
The Paladin:
Is classified as a Defender.
This guy is the champion of a deity, who uses some pretty powerful melee spells to lay waste to the enemy. He does alot of glowing holy magical energy damage, too. He also uses either a sword and shield or two handed weapon. His crappy spellcasting from previous editions has been replaced by a whole host of wicked awesome prayers that can heal his allies and smite his enemies.
The Ranger:
Is classified as a Striker.
This guy can use either a bow or two one handed weapons to mercilessly mutilate his enemies. He can also designate specific enemies as his quarry, this includes a giant glowing red arrow above their head.
The Rogue:
Is classified as a Striker.
Is only good for picking locks and disarming traps, not really though. Sneak attack has been toned down a bit, but the rogue's huge damage boost makes up for it, because he really tears shit up with some pretty awesome powers.
The Warlock:
Is classified as a Striker.
Makes soul selling pacts with either Fey, Demons, or Cthulhu. Fires blasts of eldritch energy and murders people. Also, curses people so that he deals even more damage. Strikers are nuts.
The Warlord:
Is classified as a Leader.
This is the new class focused on tactics and inspiring your fellows. He's pretty cool and can actually replace a cleric in your party very effectively, and he brings a different playstyle to the table too. Cleric Inc. hates him for breaking its monopoly on this role.
The Wizard:
Is the only Controller.
The wizard is good at killing lots of enemies, very fast. He's not as amazingly and unstoppably powerful as he used to be, but still is pretty cool.
The Swordmage:
Is classified as a Defender.
The Swordmage was released in the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. He combines arcana and swords to make wonderful stabby magic. But probably not swordchucks.
We also have some new PHB II classes just to add to the excitement and the EPG has the artificer!Class: Avenger
Classification: Striker
Power Source: Divine
Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Intelligence, Dexterity
"My god has words for you. This blade will show you to him."
Avengers are excellent at isolating and eliminating single targets. Other followers do what should be done. You do what must be done. Pro: roll two attacks under certain circumstances. Con: Reliant on enemies for static damage boosts.
Class: Barbarian
Classification: Striker
Power Source: Primal
Primary Abilities: Strength, Constitution, Charisma
"My strength lies in the fury of the wild."
Barbarians are savage warriors, channeling primal energy through themselves and their massive weapons. Darting back and forth across the battle, your fierce shouts make the enemy quake in fear. Pro: Big damage dice, lots of damage potential. Can fly into mighty rages. Con: Rages are daily powers, so don't expect to use them a lot. Also low defenses that get lowered during certain attacks.
Class: Bard
Classification: Leader
Power Source: Arcane
Primary Abilities: Charisma, Intelligence, Constitution
"I play the song of my ally's victory over your corpse."
Bards are artists, channeling magic through unbelievable skill with music, drama, or poetry. Your skill with blade, book, and hymn are the stuff of fables. Pro: lots of fancy rituals to help in conversation. Can take as many multiclass feats as she wants. Con: Comparatively less healing than clerics, and less effective hazing abilities.
Class: Druid
Classification: Controller
Power Source: Primal
Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity
"I am the seeker. I am the stalker. I am the storm."
Druids are the most effective and purist channelers of primal fury and embody all aspects of nature, from the calm of the still leaf to the fury of the thunderbolt. Pro: Alternates between caster form and wild shape for effectiveness in every situation. Con: Too many At-Will choices, fewer burst options than Wizard/Invoker.
Class: Invoker
Classification: Controller
Power Source: Divine
Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution, Intelligence
"Mighty Pelor! I beseech ye! Smite these wicked foes with your unending light!"
Invokers are invested with a pure spark of their chosen god, rather than being merely ordained by corrupt priests and weak rituals. They are the purest of their god's mortal agents. Pro: Arguably a better controller than Wizard, plus gains access to the sweet Channel Divinity stuff. Con: Less overall damage potential, less powerful rituals, and lacking the utility spells that make wizards such good generalists. Also I'm not that fond of the PP choices.
Class: Shaman
Classification: Leader
Power Source: Primal
Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution, Intelligence
"The spirits surround me, guiding my movements and obeying my commands."
Blessed with a mighty spirit companion that aids his allies, the Shaman is a primal, spiritual force. His mighty companion serves as both a focus for his attacks and as a shield to protect both him and his allies. Pro: Protector spirit makes an excellent backup Defender or Striker. Con: You have to give up your actions to command it.
Class: Sorcerer
Classification: Striker
Power Source: Arcane
Primary Abilities: Charisma, Dexterity, Strength
"The difference between you and me? You wield magic. Magic wields me."
Sorcerers are natural founts of arcane power, resulting from either a history of dragon's blood or a product of mysterious, chaotic forces. Either way, you practically bristle with barely-contained magic, parcelling it out as needed in battle. Pro: Potential for very high damage and lots of cool effects. Con: Those effects are typically random, some of which can hit your allies.
Class: Warden
Classification: Defender
Power Source: Primal
Primary Abilities: Strength, Wisdom, Constitution
"Get past me? You might as well try to push the mountain aside."
Wardens are protectors of the earth, drawing on primal spirits to protect their allies from harm, and the natural world from the encroachment of those who would corrupt it. Pro: You are a brick wall, but harder to hit and probably more resilient. Con: You're not supposed to wear heavy armor, and marking all adjacent enemies means you're going to need all that toughness.
and the EPG Artificer
Class: Artificer
Classification: Leader
Power Source: Arcane
Primary Abilities: Intelligence, Constitution and Wisdom
"Let me just help you with your wounds in a minute, right after I finish making this...."
The Artificer is a really solid leader, capable of taking other characters healing surges and making his healing powers out of them. This helps to spread around the parties healing surges so everyone can keep fighting longer. They can use a variety of weapons and fighting styles (ranged, melee and binding constructs like a summoner wizard), making them pretty flexible in general.
finally last but not least is the new DDI exclusive class, the AssassinClass: Assassin
Classification: Striker
Power Source: Shadow
Primary Abilities: Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma
"Please don't mind while I stab you with my Fullblade here - oh you were expecting a dagger? Well that can be arranged after I'm done disemboweling you..."
The Assassin is the first "exclusive" DDI class to be published and is pretty interesting. They can apply "shrouds" to enemies that they can use when attacking to inflict greater damage on their enemies. They also have a wide variety of weapon proficiencies and can teleport between creatures at-will. It's a pretty solid class for a DDI exclusive effort, with the only real flaw being they don't have their Ki-focus elements out just yet.
DM/Player Tools and Helpful Links
- A spreadsheet with all the magic items from the PHB, organized by Item Level and Body Slot (and subtype, in the case of Weapons, Armor and Implements) (Credit DVG)
- RPTools: Pretty useful for playing D&D over the internet. Get Maptool HERE
- Ability Generator from WotC
- Wizards' main site for D&D
- Enworld resource site for tabletop games
- Myth-Weavers Forum's character sheet tool. Has sheets for many games, including 4e
- H1 Keep on the Shadowfell for maptools
- Rescue at Rivenroar
- Asmor.com's Monster Maker makes a cool looking statblock, similar to the MM ones (thanks, Hexmage)
D&D Insider Subscriptions
D&D Insider has gone into subscription beta mode. What that means is, for three preset payment structures, you can access all of the online content Wizards is producing exclusively for Insider members without restriction. There are currently demos available for all the previously released content, listed below:
- D&D Compendium from WotC
- Dragon and Dungen magazines also from WotC
- Encounter Tool from WotC
More and more exclusive content will be added each month. Also, Insider subscribers will be included along with those who signed up at D&D Convention events in the closed beta testing for the new Character Builder application, the next tool on the slate to be released for the Insider. So, what are the prices, you ask?
- $71.40 for 12 months - $5.95 per month
- $23.85 for 3 months - $7.95 per month
- $9.95 for month
To subscribe to the D&D Insider service, click here. Prices went up in July, seems about a dollar an issue for a 12 month subscription.
You can find screenshots of the Character builder here.
Thanks Goose and Terrendos!
Aegeri on
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He could even be 9th level or something, or whenever Vlaakith decides to kill them to prevent uprising, so he's on the run. It practically writes itself.
Would you play this campaign Y/N?
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
Scene Symbols 2 pack if it makes any difference.
For those of you stuck behind a firewall at work (like me), here's the direct link for the three PA / PVP / Wheaton podcasts. Just replace the number at the end with the number of the episode you're looking to listen to.
http://media.gleemax.com/podcasts/DnD_PA_episode1.mp3 < Episode One
http://media.gleemax.com/podcasts/DnD_PAPVP2_ep1.mp3 < Episode Two
http://media.wizards.com/podcasts/DnD_PAPVP3_ep1.mp3 < Episode Three
Yeah. This sounds pretty awesome, but the actual role of the players would have to be something to think about. Would we be the named characters? A bunch of people not mentioned sneaking into the city trying to sabotage the gates?
I think it comes out in January of next year
I have a question about a book
Since this book and various others are locked up behind the counter at two bookstores nearby and I am too lazy to get a ride into town to look at them
What kind of loot is in the book? Someone I tried to talk to about it muttered something about armour sets?
I did not know they were going to redo Dark Sun that sounds like fun to play with that level of frustration
Plus, Aegeri, were do you get your maps from? Or do you make them? I'm not a fan of CC3. However, is there a easier, free, map maker that can do almost the same as CC3?
Set items, tomes, totems and such are in the second one.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
zombienirvanagames makes great maps & great tutorials--check it out
The Dragon Annual book kind of appeals to me because I'm the OCD kind of person who just hates having to sort through different issues for shit, having all relevant gubbins collected in one single book appeals to my organizational tendencies.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
the internet
more helpfully, i tend to do lots of google image searches and crib artwork from other rpgs. if it's star wars, wookieepedia is a great resource
I basically loot the art galleries on the Wizards site that they put out for all their 4e printed material and Dungeon/Dragon.
Basically I think the PCs would be all the Heroes who aren't Agamemnon or Achilles (the king and epic hero of the greeks, respectively.) So the heroic tier would be the first nine or so years of the war, where they're raiding all the Trojans' allies. The paragon tier would be the siege of troy itself (with various shenannigans and asides). The Epic tier would be God Of War style taking the fight to the gods who were against you and tearing them apart with your bare hands.
Sweet! Any time I get to beat Zeus' face in is a good time. Count me in.
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
I would play in that so hard it hurt.
Random screams from far away are a great hook!
So many game ideas. So little time.
5 by 5
Now....I need another ~5 level character arc to take them into Paragon Tier. (Around the point where I give them their own Spelljammer.) Any ideas where I can set it up?
A party of treasure hunters working for one of the houses was also after that airship part, and now the PCs (and their ship) are being hunted. Two or three levels figuring out who is hunting them, one or two fighting back, and the last level uncovering a larger plot that takes them right into Paragon tier.
If I'm running mine, it should be interesting.
Account for the Rituals the characters are able to use. I'm running an Eberron campaign set in Sharn that's basically a police drama, and the Artificier in the party told me just at the outset of the first session that he has Last Sight Vision, a Ritual from Open Grave.
Last Sight Vision is a Ritual that is cast on a dead body, and allows you to view the last 2-10 rounds (depending on your Religion check) of the subject's life from their perspective.
If you plan poorly, this could suck all the air out of a murder mystery. If you plan correctly, it can give them clues and enable a cool CSI-style "death flashback" which might give the PCs useful info but won't necessarily spoil the entire adventure.
I was able to quickly adjust the adventure I just had prepared (which involved some mysterious murders!) to account for it. Most notably, the first body they found was sans capo, because that Ritual doesn't work if the subject has no head. I don't generally like cock-blocking my players being creative with their abilities, so later I had flashbacks and stuff prepped.
Once again it boils down to a good DM knows what his players are capable of, mechanically, and Rituals are part of that. Just figured I'd point it out, though, because Rituals in particular can monkey with your plans if you aren't ready for them.
I have a BIG whiteboard with lots of notes on it, including lists of what each character is capable of (feats, rituals, etc.). My players never see this board as I use it when planning and writing the upcoming sessions. I also have three columns running down the right hand side of said board that cover the next sessions encounters. These columns are labeled:
'What I want to happen' - 'What I expect to happen' - 'What actually will happen'
The last column used to be called 'You're all a bunch of c***s', because I know my friends too well. But anyway, the columns help a lot when I'm planning.
2- is the subject based off of anything or just there to grab attention?
In Sorrow of Heaven, we were supposed to spend a while navigating a pitch black sewer system and having to make Endurance checks all the time because of the freezing water. Then I decided that Verax and Saphelon could instead conjure a set of Tenser's Floating Disks for a paltry 10gp each (chump change in Paragon) and soar over the water instead. I recall playing Ride of the Valkyries to get the mood right for our journey.
If there isn't a law yet that says something like "No matter what you plan your players to do, they will come up with an alternate solution to screw over your brilliant plans" there ought to be one.
Branching off with other options depending on what the players are capable of doing. Instead of focusing on how they will do these things, I just pay attention to what could happen.
Like, any time I have the big villain of a story arc show up to say, taunt the PCs or let off a remark before escaping or whatever, I always have a box written that says "IF the PCs just kill him right now..." so my campaign doesn't get dick-dipped if they just ice the main villain right now before he gets to teleport away, because they suckerpunch with me with some teleport-blocking ritual or something or another.
It's something less common in 4e, because there's less bullshit spells that a caster can just pull out of their ass. Most of the things that can monkey with how a scene is supposed to play out are Rituals, which almost always have significant casting times and can't just be pulled out of nowhere.
But it can happen. Personally, I try my best to account for players doing that, instead of preventing them from trying. I mean, I can always fiat and say like "Well, he has a magic item that overcomes your teleport block and he gets away anyway" but that's fucking lame. That's amateur-hour bullshit, no DM should be doing that. You should roll with it, you should be ready for it.
If you constantly cunt-shunt your players when they do clever bullshit to get around your scenarios, they'll stop trying to be clever. This results in frustrated, lazy players who feel like they are being railroaded, and that's never good.
Not a bad idea, but it takes the focus away from the Church of Bane following them around trying to get a map back from the Captain. At anyrate, that's more a plot than a place. I would like to have them hit the Fey Wild or the Shadowfell, but I'm debating other 'older' established worlds.
Plot in a nutshell: The PC's are 'kidnapped' crew for the Captain of an Spelljammer down on his luck. He's offering them a good bounty if they reclaim missing treasures of his on a couple of different worlds/planes. The Captain (and not the PC's) are being tracked by the Church of Bane.
Also: Pony love the new avatar.
So looking for some insight here. It seems that every Tuesday something new comes up in my game.
Conjurations have a duration that includes: when you die, the conjuration ends. Guess what, brain hurting. When you are dying, your 'sustained' conjurations, zones, marks, etc should end. That's what I think, and I'm fairly certain Aegeri agrees and plays as such in SoH, weather it's a sustain minor effect or whatever.
Discuss.
This hasn't been much of an issue yet, since the only rituals my group has access to are Gentle Repose and Animal Messenger, but I am dreading the point at which they finally get back to a decent-sized town and can buy ritual scrolls.
Even with nothing but Animal Messenger to work with, they have discussed the idea of tracking a villain they want to kill by capturing a squirrel or pigeon, giving it a message for the villain reading "Look Out Behind You" and then just following the animal until it delivers the message.
I would totally play this. Put up a sign ups, it sounds awesome.
So awesome.