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On April 05 2014 03:36 Requizen wrote:Show nested quote +On April 05 2014 03:31 jcarlsoniv wrote:On April 05 2014 03:17 Requizen wrote:On April 05 2014 02:33 jcarlsoniv wrote:On April 05 2014 02:25 mordek wrote:
Soniv and I are out of town otherwise I'd totally be pulling for it. If you can you should though! ^ Also, I have to finish GoT S3 rewatch before tomorrow and write DnD adventure since I didn't get to last week. SUNDAY HYPE So how's the campaign going? Did you guys only meet the one time before now? Twice. I've been very liberal with their resting healing because they still need to figure things out. They had to leave the cave at the end of first session and come back, so I had made it a lot harder (since they would logically beef up security) and I added more traps. The group never used perception checks, which makes traps hilarious. I'm trying to teach them through pits and wire traps that they need to pay attention rather than rush in man mode everywhere. Just remember that it's also up to you to make sure the challenges aren't too hard or too many, so they don't need to rest halfway through the cave. Unless it was a cave designed to be a long dungeon, in which case it makes sense. The thing about DnD sometimes is that it is a combat-designed system, so looking at a lot of abilities and items just increases the likelyhood of charging and fighting. The DM sometimes really has to beat the reality of traps and puzzles into them, occasionally with ability damage 
Well, it was my 2nd session DMing, so I'm still figuring out the difficulty necessary.
Tonight I'll be working with an RL friend who DMs more often to make the next adventure. The players are now lvl 2, so they're starting to get some super good abilities.
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Low levels are so hard to DM for. The damage variance is so high, hitting is never a given, and being a wizard is just sad. Easy encounters can turn balls hard or vice versa, just by some lucky/unlucky swings.
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Yeah, our group considers "low starting level" to be like 4-6, which is where most classes (in 3.5 anyway) start to pick up their toys and damage/toughness starts to level out.
Level 1 campaigns are interesting, though. They really give a sense of growth, and if you're planning it to be long running it can be a lot of fun to see how the game ends up compared to how it starts. It also teaches you to not take that many unnecessary risks, because if you accidentally piss off the wrong guard or random bar-goer and they're level 5 or so, you might die instantly.
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On April 05 2014 03:46 Tooplark wrote:
Low levels are so hard to DM for. The damage variance is so high, hitting is never a given, and being a wizard is just sad. Easy encounters can turn balls hard or vice versa, just by some lucky/unlucky swings.
I felt so bad for the cleric last session. He has a cantrip called Sacred Flame (not sure how much of this bridges from other DnD to NEXT) which requires the target to make a DEX save greater than his spell DC (which was 14). I passed every single DEX save with Goblins and Hobgoblins (which either had -1 or 0 DEX mod). It was hilarious for me, but so sad for him.
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Yeah, Save or X spells kinda suck when you don't have any way to increase the DC. That's why Blasting spells and the like are much better for low level (even though they fall off later in the game).
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United States47024 Posts
On April 05 2014 03:46 Tooplark wrote:
Low levels are so hard to DM for. The damage variance is so high, hitting is never a given, and being a wizard is just sad. Easy encounters can turn balls hard or vice versa, just by some lucky/unlucky swings.
Power level in 3.5E is just busted in general. Low level Vancian casting is just extraordinarily restrictive, but level 7 sort of acts as the breakpoint where pretty much every PHB caster can basically just be so powerful as to accidentally break the game (as in, accidentally stumble across some crazy broken use of one of their spells that trivializes your prep as a DM).
Basically levels 4-6 are like the sweet spot where the game actually is reasonable for everyone involved.
On April 05 2014 03:51 Requizen wrote:
Yeah, Save or X spells kinda suck when you don't have any way to increase the DC. That's why Blasting spells and the like are much better for low level (even though they fall off later in the game).
DC 14 on a cantrip is actually quite high as well, lol. Having a casting stat of 18 at level 2 requires a really aggressive point buy or some lucky rolls.
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I still like Pathfinder better than any edition of D&D I've ever seen.
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On April 05 2014 03:53 TheYango wrote:Show nested quote +On April 05 2014 03:46 Tooplark wrote:
Low levels are so hard to DM for. The damage variance is so high, hitting is never a given, and being a wizard is just sad. Easy encounters can turn balls hard or vice versa, just by some lucky/unlucky swings. Power level in 3.5E is just busted in general. Low level Vancian casting is just extraordinarily restrictive, but level 7 sort of acts as the breakpoint where pretty much every PHB caster can basically just be so powerful as to accidentally break the game (as in, accidentally stumble across some crazy broken use of one of their spells that trivializes your prep as a DM). Basically levels 4-6 are like the sweet spot where the game actually is reasonable for everyone involved.
Yuuuup. Thank god for homebrew. I've been stealing bits and pieces of different magic systems and trying to fabricate something that remains vaguely balanced while still being fun.
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United States47024 Posts
The campaign that I'm currently playing in with some friends over Roll20 is Tome of Battle + Psionics, with Rogue and Barbarian as the only available PHB classes.
In general I'm more satisfied using Psionics than Vancian casting, because while it's still breakable in the extreme case, in the average case you're far less likely to have someone accidentally break the game.
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Psionics seem like the better casting system, yeah. We generally just encourage non-PHB classes but we allow them and just do some wiggling to keep everyone balanced. Wizards still break everything -.-
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I thought the whole point of RPGs was to eventually become an unkillable Death God Who ushers in the World Ending/Savior?
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On April 05 2014 04:06 Crusnik wrote:
I thought the whole point of RPGs was to eventually become an unkillable Death God Who ushers in the World Ending/Savior?
Which would be fine in a solo game, but in a group of players it generally sucks when the Wizard can end the game with his mind in 5 minutes while the Rogue ends up picking locks and talking in endgame.
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United States47024 Posts
I mean if you really wanted to, I think the record for absolute minimum level required to do absolutely anything and everything using 3.5E sources is like level 5.
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On April 05 2014 03:53 TheYango wrote:Show nested quote +On April 05 2014 03:46 Tooplark wrote:
Low levels are so hard to DM for. The damage variance is so high, hitting is never a given, and being a wizard is just sad. Easy encounters can turn balls hard or vice versa, just by some lucky/unlucky swings. Power level in 3.5E is just busted in general. Low level Vancian casting is just extraordinarily restrictive, but level 7 sort of acts as the breakpoint where pretty much every PHB caster can basically just be so powerful as to accidentally break the game (as in, accidentally stumble across some crazy broken use of one of their spells that trivializes your prep as a DM). Basically levels 4-6 are like the sweet spot where the game actually is reasonable for everyone involved. Show nested quote +On April 05 2014 03:51 Requizen wrote:
Yeah, Save or X spells kinda suck when you don't have any way to increase the DC. That's why Blasting spells and the like are much better for low level (even though they fall off later in the game). DC 14 on a cantrip is actually quite high as well, lol. Having a casting stat of 18 at level 2 requires a really aggressive point buy or some lucky rolls.
Yeah, his DC is really good, especially for a cantrip that does like 1d8 when the target fails. I was just rolling like a monster that night.
I really want to play my own character more =( I don't have nearly enough experience doing so.
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This thread makes me wish I had way more time than I do. I miss all this stuff we talk about TT
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On April 05 2014 04:13 mordek wrote:
This thread makes me wish I had way more time than I do. I miss all this stuff we talk about TT
C'est la vie
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On April 05 2014 04:13 mordek wrote:
This thread makes me wish I had way more time than I do. I miss all this stuff we talk about TT
Shoulda thought of that before you fell in love and had a family. Games yo.
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The Tome of Magic classes are all really neat too, but the non-binder ones require homebrew to get them to a playable level. The Shadowcaster system is really intuitive for new players, but they start with 1 use/day of their 1st-3rd level mysteries and they learn 1/level, so a level 1 shadowcaster is even sadder than a level 1 wizard. Starting people with 3 uses/day of their low level mysteries makes a lot more sense to me.
Truenamers are... iffy. Possibly the most poorly written supplement ever. Super vague on things. Also, skill checks tend to be breakable in many, many ways. (but it must be mentioned that it requires breaking skill checks as hard as possible if you want to make a truenamer of comparable power to, say, a warlock or other average class). On the other hand, they have a neat gimmick with each ability serving two purposes, they have a nice balance of cool effects and reusability that scales naturally and at a reasonable pace, and they aren't plagued with save-or-die syndrome.
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holy shit dudes. I totally thought it was Thursday today. Weekend a day early GG life 2 EZ.
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Baited the whole week out of position. ez game ez life.
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EPT
