Dungeons and Dragons

[Secad MS]

Well, I have recently made myself a starting character for my local campaign. I am Tyris Panthera, a level 1 Razorclaw Shifter Rogue. (And I'm going to stay in character the entire time. That's going to be fun!  )

Does anyone else here play DnD? I could use some advice, as I am first-time player.

In addition, how do we balance out our party of three or four strikers, a cleric, and a paladin?

 

[QuilavaEmperor]

Well I went to D and D camp thinking they're going to teach us about medieval times, I was wrong >.

 

[Pheonix]

What QuilavaEmperor is describing sounds entirely too much like 3rd or 3.5 Ed and thus his advice doesn't really apply as the mechanics have totally changed. :3 According to the descriptors here, you are obviously playing 4th Ed. XD

Ideally in a party you want at least one leader type (filled by your cleric), one or two defenders (filled by your paladin), and maybe a controller (usually a sorcerer/wizard or druid I think), the rest all filled out by strikers. So your party should be just fine.

As a first time player, you are probably learning the ropes about how to play and whatnot, but the best possible advice I can give you right now is know what ALL your abilities and powers do, when they can be used, what dice you are supposed to roll for them and whatnot. Look at the build you chose and, as you level up, choose powers that seem to work off of each other or benefit from the ones you already DO have. Remember that as a rogue, your job is to get into a position of combat advantage so you can take advantage of sneak attack. You want to use that as much as possible as it starts piling on the dice and you can dish out some very nasty damage. Look for feats that let you work towards getting combat advantage and stuff. If you guys have access to the character builder, I would recommend using that as it does a very nice job of organizing your character sheets and you can print out all your power cards with specific information on them that relates to the weapons and abilities specific to your character, not just your class. Also... are you guys using only the PH or are you using all the books out there? There are some very cool powers and feats in the other books if you have access (which are usually updated into the character builder a month after the book comes out if you are using it).

Other than that, just have fun with the people you are playing with. ^^

 

[Tatile]

As long as your 4thEd DM wasn't like mine, you'll do fine. (He pulled out a White Dragon on, what, a level 6 party? and added on a whole bunch of other skills because he didn't think it 'hard' enough. Needless to say, being the Dwarf Cleric became quite fraught very quickly).

Roleplaying is always a plus, depending on your DM you can get extra exp for it (at least in 3.5, that I know of). Also, 4th is kinder in that you can't role a critical fumble anymore, so no tripping on a loose rock and knocking yourself unconcious and then having the pervy wizard in the group talking about deflowering you...



With the right group, it's a lot of fun, whether you roles 1's or not.

 

[Secad MS]

Yep, I am playing Fourth Edition. I think the whole 'Razorclaw Shifter' thing gave that away.

Your advice is awesome, Pheo! I carry around a copy of my character sheet with me nearly all the time, so hopefully I'll memorize all my attacks soon.

Pervy wizard, Tatile? Ohes noes! That doesn't sound good. My character is going to hate everyone right off the bat due to being theived from by other associates before the campaign. Just think of what they'll do to me if I ever get knocked out...

Most of the other people in my group (three out of the five) have played before, so I'll be sure to learn all the inside jokes, like Pun Pun in 3.5 (and the Nut Puns, lol) and Ud. Ud is a troll-type character with an intelligence of 3 and an insanely high strength stat. He literally smashes all opponents. However, since we're not using Ud, I didn't get King's Castle for Tyris.

 

[Pheonix]

Ahh Pun Pun and his brother Nup Nup were two of the lulziest and most broken concepts to ever come out of the optimization boards on the WotC site! XD

Can't say I have heard of Ud before though. But that really doesn't surprise me. :3

 

[Secad MS]

Ud was an inside joke in 3.5 for most of my local campaign group. I doubt he got around much. Because he had to reach a certain level for his smashy-awesomeness to be effective, we left him out of this campaign.

 

[Linkachu]

Geez... You guys are like, hardcore D&D players. I feel so unknowledgeable XD

I did play D&D at one point, long ago with my brother. He had this big 'ol guide book thing and other random materials - and I was usually some sort of wizard or ranger. That didn't last for us too long, however, and sure enough we gave up on D&D and went back to playing our console-based RPGs and board games like Risk ^^;

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

Oh, hey, something I can relate to. I remember when I just started out playing 4E. I was new to the system so I didn't know much about what to do where. So I asked my group for suggestions. Whenever you're not sure to do anything, ask your teammates to see if they have any ideas. After a while, you may come to form those ideas on our own!

Also, be sure to stick within the guidelines that your DM gives you. Pay attention to what he or she has to say, because it could hold a very important role in what you need to do next. Listening to others is always a good thing to do in a campaign.

Finally, look for ways to make your character unique. Look up information about your class or race and see what sorts of options you can have aside from the originals put in the PHB. There is a lot of new stuff you can do, so you'd be surprised just what your character is capable of.

 

[Yoshimitsu]

My D&D knowledge is OotS based.

 

[Pheonix]

Which, funnily enough, is based on 3rd/3.5 Edition. :3

 

[Tatile]

Oh, a some words of wisdom from a since moved-on nerd that I know, who runs a lot of different roleplay sessions and campaigns (but rarely D&D from what he's said): Never go right. I think he also said something about never going into the scary looking cave surrounded by corpses but I could be wrong.

Test your DM. A wholey linear story might be ok, but will it fun if going to the pub instead of the docks destroys the next four sessions? A good DM should be able to make stuff up on the fly to get the story moving, players and DM's should respond to each, not dictate.

My two copper!

Tatile examines the brew placed before her carefully. 'This wasn't what I ordered...'

 

[Secad MS]

Okay, my DnD's first campaign encounter was horrid. Just as we were on the second round of turns, we were interrupted by a large group of middle schoolers who said they signed up. However, we were full. Due to the risk of being shut down (it was supposed to be ‘open to all'), we were forced to create two campaigns and eleven characters in an hour. It took my group over three weeks to create six characters and one campaign, so I was ticked. We didn't get anything else done, and most likely we'll have to start over.

Here's how it went before we got interrupted, at least with my character.

Of course, we started in a bar. Hobgoblins barged in and suddenly harassed all the customers. Of course, Tyris, being really p'oed from being recently stolen from herself, was distracting herself with a drink. She was then injured by the hobgoblin, surprising her. Tyris was so p'oed, she used Pommel Smash (a daily power) on it. However, (as I got a pathetic roll) it missed. For some odd reason, the DM was feeling nice that day and allowed the vibrations on the miss to weaken the ceiling near the chandelier and crash down on the goblin, killing it. That was funny. On the next wave, I was flanked by two hobgoblins that attacked, bloodying me. I then Razorclaw Shifted into my kitty form (yay!) and was about to destroy them with an awesome roll for Terminate Threat…but then the middle schoolers came in.

 

[Tatile]

D:<

That's just mean. I'm guessing there wasn't a handy sign-up sheet avaliable to debunk their claims (if your party has been working on this for three weeks, then everyone should have known about the session), but I suppose that is the problem of running this in a school/activity club set-up (I'm also guessing that because you're all new to this, you can't just 'go private' and play in some guy's house). I also feel sorry for the poor forced to DM the second campaign.

That aside of course, the actual roleplaying and action part of your session seemed to go fine. It's not all that unusual for DM's to have a certain amount of leniancy toward characters in certain situations, given that they can explain it away. One that immediatly springs to mind isn't a D&D example, but rather an Inquisitor one (Games Workshop's unloved 54mm scale figure-roleplaying game) wherein one of guys lined himself up for a spectacular jump, screamed 'In the name of the Emperor on wings of fire I fly!' and promptly missed the opposite platform to plummet to his death; the GM, being a nice guy, allowed it so that the zealous chap didn't die so much as find himself clinging to the edge of the ledge his weapons scattered about him, because he was so full of 'Righteous Vigour!'. Tyris being angry is likely the reason she was able to bring a chandelier crashing down a hobgoblin.

Also, props for being in a pub.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

That's bogus. In my D&D session, we started off with 8-10 people in the group, which was stretching it. Eventually because the DM was getting too stressed with keeping track of us all, he split us into two even groups, one for the morning, and one for the evening. Perhaps suggest this to your DM if the middle-schoolers try to claim your territory again.

Players of D&D should know that the standard amount of players per game is five, though six is fine too. The DM doesn't have time for everyone, and these middle-schoolers are tards for interrupting a game session. Nobody likes a game-wrecker or someone who betrays the party. We had to kick a guy out because he kept screwing off elsewhere and essentially trying to screw us over in the process. Now, I understand that it has to be 'open for all', but I think it should also be a 'first come, first served' basis. Be sure to keep a record of who actually 'signs up' as it were.

Sucks that you couldn't set your daily off, but the DM was sort of generous with that maneuver. Try to have fun with the rest of your campaign. Oh! Here's another idea: if the middle-schoolers are bugging the DM too, well... the DM is god, therefore they can kill off any annoyances. ;3

 

[Pheonix]

Actually... if you look at most adventures, they are written for an ideal party of 4, and it has been that way for a long time. However, I hardly ever see ANYONE running a four man party. It is usually in the 5-6 range like Dwayna said. XD

Six people should really be the maximum to run with, as any more than that and people start feeling left out, battles take an ungodly amount of time, and things generally progress at a snail's pace (I would know, I have experienced games of larger numbers along with a few events where multiple parties met up, it takes FOREVER to get through one round of ANYTHING XD). So splitting the game up into two groups is a great idea, just a hassle for the DM(s).

To ease this, there are loads of tools at a DM's disposal and pre-generated campaigns/adventures exist in multitude, and a lot of them can be converted to 4th Ed with a little work on the DM's part. The one that shipped out with the 4th edition is a campaign that runs from 1-30 called The Scales of War. I am currently in a game running it and can happily say that we finally finished the first adventure and obtained 3rd level. The fights are challenging (I have been told that our DM has tweaked quite a few things to scale to our party size and also make the fights harder) but make you think about strategy sometimes, pay attention to the environment, etc etc. I hope once everything finally gets settled down again, you get to really enjoy your game!

 

[Reynald]

Wow sounds like a lot of people play D&D. Makes me feel a little less nerdy...a little haha. I mainly play 3.5, to me it feels more like a separate game than a paper and dice MMO...but that's just me, though I have played a 4th edition campaign. My DM is a bit of a psycho and likes to push us and make us think very far outside the box. He also gave us sanity checks, hello cuthulu, but that was because some of the things he had in the campaign, like a scorpion nest made entirely out of dead bodies or a creature that is just a decapitated head and spine that would explode when it died, were horrifying and probably would drive someone insane. Our party was made entirely out of strikers (One sorcerer (me), two warlocks, and a ranger) and we didn't really do so bad. No healer was really tough though.

Some advice, no matter what system you are playing, make sure you can actually work with the people you are partying with. Whether you like them or not, in game or out, going it on your own is usually suicide and if you can't work with the party you have...your more than likely going to die. It's also good to know what your party can do so no one is caught off guard when something pops up that no one can handle. Also knowing what you all can do will make it much easier to work together because you wont end up stealing someone's role in the party and make them feel useless. I have been in a campaign where NO ONE got along with each other. The only reason we survived AT ALL was because of the amounts of damage we can do. But when a curve ball came along we almost died...a lot.

Also be able to adapt to what the party needs. Just because you are lawful good doesn't mean be a dick and constantly block the party, Aka lawful stupid. An example is the campaign I have been in for 2 years or so now. We are finally level 14, the DM gives out very little exp. The current campaign I am in is weird, basically we are the last heroes in a world where everyone is evil and wants to kill you. Everyone in the party is chaotic evil or neutral except for me and one other, the two healers. We are playing Favored Souls, 3.5, which is a really good class if you do not take anything else haha. Anyways, rather than freak out on the party when they do some really stupid and nasty things, my character has come to accept that the best way to save the world is to just let them do their thing and I will just keep them alive. As long as I do not know about some of the things, I'm fine. We are a four man party, one caster, one rogue/tank(hard to explain but his AC is in the 40's), and two healers (one archer(me) and one flanker(my friend) and we work soo well that the only thing we could really use is a Bard...if we actually decided to talk things through. As the healer I have barely had to do MUCH healing and when I do the party is completely fine.

Also like Tatile said, the DM should be able to handle anything your party throws out. In my campaign we actually killed the final boss three bosses before hand haha. He was soooo confused on how it worked but it did. Also later one I revived someone who by all means should be dead in the story. I had been saving up diamonds just in case the party needed to be resurrected, but I never used them. So when my DM said, "You see General So n So, who died of his wounds because he wouldn't accept healing." My character was so mad at his stupidity I looked at the DM and said, "How long has he been dead?" He said only a few minutes. So I walked up, slapped my hands on his chest, and used Raise Dead. My DM looked at me like I was crazy and said I couldn't, mainly cause it was story. Only answer..."I Just Did." I would have raised the second commander too but the stupid poly morphed dragon flew off with him to go look for a healer...EVEN THOUGH I WAS RIGHT THERE!

All in all. I always enjoy a good D&D campaign and I hope you find yourself a good one too because it is really fun. I sit around sometimes and just read the Spell Compendium when I am bored or build characters just in case another campaign comes along that I would like to jump into.

 

[Secad MS]

That's bogus. In my D&D session, we started off with 8-10 people in the group, which was stretching it. Eventually because the DM was getting too stressed with keeping track of us all, he split us into two even groups, one for the morning, and one for the evening. Perhaps suggest this to your DM if the middle-schoolers try to claim your territory again.

Players of D&D should know that the standard amount of players per game is five, though six is fine too. The DM doesn't have time for everyone, and these middle-schoolers are tards for interrupting a game session. Nobody likes a game-wrecker or someone who betrays the party. We had to kick a guy out because he kept screwing off elsewhere and essentially trying to screw us over in the process. Now, I understand that it has to be 'open for all', but I think it should also be a 'first come, first served' basis. Be sure to keep a record of who actually 'signs up' as it were.

Sucks that you couldn't set your daily off, but the DM was sort of generous with that maneuver. Try to have fun with the rest of your campaign. Oh! Here's another idea: if the middle-schoolers are bugging the DM too, well... the DM is god, therefore they can kill off any annoyances. ;3

Bwahaha, that was exactly what we did. However, we assigned the two most knowledgable kids (One pretty good, one who has no idea about it, but could be good) for the new middle-school campaigns we're setting up. I remember spending an afternood trying to teach completely ignorant kids about the basics of DnD, but they kept interrupting me. One girl (The only, obviously in for the males) said 'I want to be a princess' when asked what general role she wanted. Ugh.

My DM's pretty well known for killing off n00bish characters if they do something the whole group is very annoyed by. My group's pretty good right now, but we're restarting due to the interuption.