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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 21, 2009 15:15:23 GMT -6
I bought the Men & Magic pdf on paizo a while back. The elven ability to switch back and forth between fighting man and magic user certainly fits the character concept. I was just hoping to find some way to replicate what I call the "Hey Stupid!" combo for the character. If not, the character would still work though.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 21, 2009 11:02:08 GMT -6
You can multiclass in OD&D?
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 20, 2009 23:23:55 GMT -6
Thanks!
OK, so here is another character I had:
Cecil the half-elf knew since he was a child that he was destined for adventure. His father, a well-to-do elven merchant had other plans; his son was to be sent to a school of wizardry to become a court mage. Cecil didn't have the attention-span for magic though... except for the magic that goes "boom". Cecil would often shirk his studies to venture out into the woods and pretend to sword-fight against the trees. His books of swashbuckling and romance always interested him more than dusty old tomes.
Cecil grew into a young man with a lean, muscular body like that of a human and a pretty, feminine face like that of an elf. He left school one day without a word and walked to the nearest human town. He set up shop as the town's only alchemist and used his profits to buy a sword.
Cecil was a half-elf fighter, but he had the alchemist feat and he knew a single wizard spell thanks to his half-elf dilettante feature; thunder wave. Thunder wave had a neat interaction with his fighter's 'combat challenge' class feature; once per encounter, he could fire off his thunder wave spell, and each enemy he attacked would be 'marked'. Marked enemies would be forced to devote all their attention to attacking only him, and any marked enemy that attacked one of Cecil's allies instead of him would suffer a penalty and take some punishment. Cecil would then run around the battlefield, thrusting and parrying with his sword while throwing vials of alchemist's fire.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 20, 2009 20:59:46 GMT -6
However, your description of Gorlab's infernal pact, his pact hammer, his former Kingship, and his despicable charisma all strongly imply the second option. He could quite simply be an utterly insane, and very scary, but otherwise quite regular Dwarf fighting man. In this case he might still be rather low level -- even 1st level. Doing a lot of damage in melee implies a high strength score. His high hit-points imply a high constitution score. Not being quick on his feet implies a mediocre dexterity score. His despicable personality (and horrid back-story) imply a low charisma score. Actually, I kind of like that idea. His 'kingship' is just delusions of grandeur. His diabolic master is but a figment of his imagination. The boiling blood, projectile vomitting, and spinning head could be... ...some other medical condition.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 20, 2009 17:53:11 GMT -6
For what its worth, I guess I'll throw in my 4E experiences if that is helpful in any way.
In 4E, HP is very abstract. It generally represents physical health or the desire to keep on fighting, or simply ablative plot-immunity. HP can however, also be used to represent morale, or even moral certainty.
My little sister played a Dragonborn Cleric of Bahamut named Fire. In one session, she battled a group of Kobold worshippers of Tiamat. As she fought them, she attempted to convert them to the worship of Bahamut. The kobolds were resistant at first, but when they got to half HP, their conviction started to waver. At 0 HP, the kobolds gave up fighting and surrendered to Fire. Fire offered to spare the kobolds lives if they would follow her and promise to be good. Fire healed the kobolds and recruited them to help her get through the dungeon crawl. As time went on, the kobolds warmed up to Fire and became more helpful. When the kobolds got back to town with Fire, they went straight to the temple where they were baptized into the church of Bahamut.
I could have made my sister do diplomacy checks to do all of this, but I just let her role-play it out and it worked fine. If it can work in 4E without getting mechanics involved, then I'm sure it can work just fine in OD&D.
That's just my two-cents.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 20, 2009 17:29:49 GMT -6
Certainly.
Personality: Gorlab is a bitter, pessimistic dwarf. He used to have everything. He was a divinely-righted king once, and now he is d**ned to a live of slavery and an afterlife of eternal torment. He still has his sense of humor though. He likes to play pranks on the elven ranger of the party.
Appearance: Gorlab is covered in scars from previous encounters. During one adventure, the party had to chase a bunch of goblins out of a castle they took over. The battle in the kitchen was brutal. The goblins jumped out of the cupboards throwing dishes and cutlery. First Gorlab got locked in the freezer with a bunch of reanimated popsicle-zombies hanging from meathooks. That was fun. After he got out, a goblin managed to grab him and dunk his face into the deep-fryer. Gorlab's skin now has a very crispy complexion. Dwarves wear their scars with pride though. That's the only pride that Gorlab has left. ...Well, that and the pride he takes in punking the elf, Mist. The time that Gorlab put hornets in Mist's horn of calling? Priceless.
*edit* I don't mind powering the character down to fit in OD&D by the way.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 20, 2009 17:00:03 GMT -6
I'd like to play OD&D, but I was wondering if it would be possible for me to port my characters over. How would you guys convert this dude?
Gorlab, the Banished King The dwarves of Northstill dug far too deep into the earth and released a devil from his molten prison. The king of Northstill, Gorlab IV, sold his soul to this devil in order to save his people. The devil accepted this bargain and turned Gorlab into a living vessel. Now Gorlab wanders the world as a slave in service to his infernal master.
Gorlab is an infernal pact warlock who channels the diabolic power within using an enchanted weapon called a pact hammer. His constitution score determines the power of both his infernal spells and his hammer attack. He has a lot of hit points and he does a lot of damage at both close and long range, but his defenses aren't exactly impressive for a dwarf and he's pretty slow on his feet. He takes quite a beating most of the time and he has had more near-death experiences than I care to count. Also, his charisma is in the gutter.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 18, 2009 10:07:04 GMT -6
My problem is with the sheer amount of information that has to be tracked between levels--which admittedly is the same as or less than 3E. I get tired as a player having to keep all that stuff in my head. I could see Paragon and Epic level play getting very fiddly. You aren't supposed to keep that information in your head though; you are supposed to keep it on your character sheet. Yeah, it usually takes me about ten minutes for each character. Level 1 characters anyway. It's faster than 3.0 though. Yeah, I can agree here. They are easy to customize and reskin, too.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 18, 2009 9:54:06 GMT -6
Expect your players to die, a lot. I think mako's game has 21 deaths thus far. But dying is part of the fun, no really, it is. Stories of the death of your character are as much fun as just about everything else. Heh. I play NetHack and Dwarf Fortress a lot, so I can understand that!
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 22:49:27 GMT -6
It's not PC balance against the monsters that I am worried about; it's how the PCs are balanced against each other. Back when I played D&D3 there were a lot of discrepancies in power between members of the party, including members of the same level. The issue was that some players would hog the spotlight while others would be left behind in the dust. My human bard for example, no matter how much I tried to participate, always ended up being the BMX Bandit to somebody else's Angel Summoner. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NTAAvJIGrs
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 21:49:24 GMT -6
Thanks for the article! I've read it over a bit. I'll read it again tomorrow because some things don't quite click yet. First Zen Moment: Rulings, not RulesI think I do kind of a hybrid of the old style and new style when I DM. If players are bad at role-playing, I let them roll dice. If players are good at role-playing, I don't punish them with rules. Second Zen Moment: Player Skill, not Character AbilitiesI kind of have issues with this. I feel that it forces me to play as a character with similar skills as myself, which is an issue if I want to play as a character that is completely different from myself. Let's say for example that I want my character to be a great singer. Not for any 'crunch' reason or anything; It's just part of my character's personality and backstory and whatnot. Does that mean that I actually have to sing though? I'm terrible at singing! Third Zen Moment: Heroic, not SuperheroI feel that there's an excluded middle here. What if I want to play a game about the triumph of the little guy into a superhuman being? Old style is zero to hero and new style is hero to god, but what if I want to start out as a zero and eventually become a god? Fourth Zen Moment: Forget “Game Balance.”This is quite difficult for me to be honest. I mean, I want to try it, but it looks kind of strange to me.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 21:04:21 GMT -6
Heh. Sounds like fun. Is it possible to convert 4E characters over to OD&D? I imagine a Half-Elf Resourceful Warlord could easily become a Elf Fighting-Man in OD&D. Perhaps some houseruling to give his underlings some bonus to morale or whatever, depending on what the DM is okay with. What about a Tiefling Swordmage though? How hard would it be to convert that over?
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 20:26:44 GMT -6
Makes sense.
I was also wondering about the level-caps as a balancing mechanic. Is it effective? I was under the impression that most characters don't even survive up to the upper levels.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 20:09:09 GMT -6
Cool! I just might do that.
This is kind of an aside, but I've been wanting to ask about Otherworld. I've been looking to buy some minis from there, but I notice that the site hasn't been working lately. Does anybody know what's going on there and if it will affect the winners ability to collect their prizes?
*edit*
Nevermind! It's working now. I was having some problems accessing the page for a while.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 19:59:16 GMT -6
Yeah, I am a little confused by saving throws in this edition. If a green dragon breaths chlorine gas at me, do I save against poison or breath? Does the player get to decide or is it totally up to the DM?
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 18:55:48 GMT -6
I would recommend approaching it as a different game. I gave that same advice to my friends when I was trying to get them into 4E. I'll check that out. Thanks. I already houserule 4E into submission, so I don't think I'll have much problem with this. I notice that there are online games on these forums. Can you tell me how to get into those?
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 18:49:32 GMT -6
They say it was an ordinary frog until that fateful summer night... It was a hot and humid night, and the vampire Count Hemoth had just gorged himself on an innocent victim. As he was out the window to return to his castle, he was bitten by a mosquito... and died instantly from the deadly yellow fever (one of the lesser known weaknesses of vampires). That mosquito was transformed by the vampire's blood, and it became a powerful vampire-mosquito. The mosquito's victory was short lived; it was promptly eaten by a frog. That frog became the world's first Giant Vampire Frog. That night would be forever known as the night of the Giant Vampire Frog.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 16:43:54 GMT -6
Hi! I should lurk more; I ended up putting kind of an introduction in the Other Games section. I'm currently a student at Northern Illinois University. I've played a little bit of third edition (didn't really enjoy it) and I am currently DM'ing a game of 4E (very much enjoying it). I've never played OD&D before, but I am interested in trying it. I can't find any groups around here to play though.
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 16:30:39 GMT -6
Hello!
I'm new to these boards and new to the game. I first started playing D&D with third edition with some friends of mine in the dorms. I liked the premise of the game, but I found a lot of things quite lacking. When 4E came along, I decided to buy the books and some miniatures and give it a try. I tried to get the group I played D&D3 with into it, but they barely got through character creation before they decided that they didn't like it. I have found other people to play with however and we have been having a blast! I taught by nine year old sister to play and she loves it.
I'm interested in OD&D though... out of curiosity. I've been reading it in pdf. So far there are some things I don't like; class/race restrictions for one (maybe I want to play a dwarven cleric!) but there are some ideas I do like (Paladins get an anti-magic field when wielding holy swords? They should have had that in 4E.) I'd like to play OD&D, but I'm having a hard time finding people to play with and there are some things I'm having trouble wrapping my head around (AC, how saves work, so many d**n matrices!)
Can you guys give me any tips for getting into the game?
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Post by chronoplasm on Apr 17, 2009 16:16:46 GMT -6
How many pieces are we allowed to submit? Just one?
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