Oh, sure, once you get the game going it's very smooth, but the Player's Handbook could easily have spent another week or two in editing; there's an ugly pattern of telling you "do X" and to do X you need information they haven't given you yet.

edit: added the PHB to thread OP

Yeah, it'd definitely dumbed down. But I still think it's more approachable than 2nd edition and I hear the same about 3rd.

I kinda prefer playing without paying too much attention to the technicalities. Means you act more like your characters, rather than preforming some maths exercise each round to determine your best attack statistically and so on. I once played a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay campaign where the GM wouldn't let us see our character sheets. One guy knew he was pretty strong, someone else knew that their dagger seemed to almost have a mind of its own and would guide his hand when he was fighting with it and we all had various potions that the shop keeper assured us would heal any ailment. Was pretty amusing all told.

Also, I'm hoping that Scary Bob's usefulness as a mage will ride out his more annoying character traits and keep him safe from the other party members. He doesn't mind using magic to open doors if Augmentus ever gets bored of being trap-fodder and I'm sure he'll realise the others aren't zombies he raised in a drunken stupor eventually. He might even develop the ability to understand dwarven accents at some point but I wouldn't hold your breath for that one.

Dwarves are an analogy for black people to you, aren't they Shin.


Edit:

Anyway, off to bed. See you gents in six hours or so.

Northerners moreso. That every dwarf ever to receive a voice over has a Sheffield accent doesn't help that image any.

What're you getting at, exactly? Everybody already went up the stairs and read the sign earlier, minus the part none of you can read. Unless I'm misunderstanding you?

You never said what was actually on it though, did you? I thought it might have clues or something, I dunno.

It's probably also a good idea in general to make posts out-of-character in here about being around so we know not to wait on each other if enough people are ready to play.

Good idea. I'm going up to London in a couple of hours and won't be back until tomorrow morning. If a fight kicks off after you open the door and you want to progress it, assume I shoot an arrow at the first thing through the door then I'll cower in the corner until it's all over. I appreciate that being in a vastly different time zone to most of you guys I won't be here a lot of the time when you all are so if you're in a hurry to get things moving at any point, just keep me trailing along with the group. I imagine the pace will drop a bit after a few days though.

I did, but it was only a vehicle to deliver weak jokes mostly.

Given the general level of schadenfreude in this group I think watching you deliberately get yourself pinned under a boulder will be fun for everyone!

ACER STOP CAUSING TEMPORAL PARADOXES

I WON'T HELP YOU COVER IT UP MAN DON'T EVEN ASK

Just so you know, my turn should it ever arrive will be over rather quickly depending whether there are traps about. I constantly search for them whether I'm good at it or not and of course I LOVE setting them off. Makes it more fun. For me at least. :)


There is a large hole.

I INSPECT THE HOLE FOR TRAPS.

There are lots of spikes at the bottom.

I JUMP IN!

You die.

DO I DROP ANY SWEET LOOT? =D

No.

:(

Right, that's me done for the day. Commence the cowering. Should you guys decide to let the goblins come to you rather than rushing in, I'll break from the cowering to cast Cloud of Daggers in the doorway, otherwise I'll be quite happy behind my table thanks.

Gonna be in class for the next 5 or 6 hours, so if it rolls back around to my turn keep Argumentus out of the South Room, but punching the living daylights out of anything that comes through the door.

These powers. Sometimes I misuse them without realizing it! :(

I may be in the same time area as the rest of the other 3 guys, but I work nights, so I'm usually online early in the day, and can make maybe one post before heading off to work at 11pm.

Question: Deft strike says I can move 2 squares before attack. Does that mean I can move, perform a minor action, move 2 squares again, then attack?

I like the idea of being in the dark about character stats and such, but if that were the case, a backstory and self-assessment of the abilities of each person's character should be thoroughly explained before starting a game.

Additional Spam:
More questions....

My first strike (and sneak attack), does that have to be declared? And in this situation, do I have to use it in the very first round? Or can I use it any round before the enemies act?

Yeah, that's exactly it, it lets you move 2 spaces during your attack action even if you've already taken your move action.


Your first strike will work against any enemy who hasn't yet acted. You never have to declare it, I'll just add the appropriate bonus when necessary.

You can only use sneak attack once per round; however, since you only have 1 attack per round right now anyway you generally won't need to declare that either. Just keep an eye on who you have advantage against (anyone during First Strike, anyone that's been flanked, dizzied, slowed, etc)

How are stats being determined for this? Are they selected or rolled? Pulled from a preset template maybe? Also is there a comprehensive list somewhere of gods that a cleric can select from or is it just generic and you add your own flavour from there?



Sorry didn't see the player handbook linked in the first post. Was that edited later or did my brain just fall out my ass a few days ago?

You can do it either way.

1: Roll 4d6, throw away the lowest, repeat 5 times

2: Take the numbers 16, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 and assign them as you like

3: Point buy: Rather then explain this, I'll just link to you this calculator. Just keep raising your stats until the "Points" counter reads 22.

Avandra, goddess of change, freedom and trade
Bahamut, god of justice, nobility, and honor
Corellon, god of spring, beauty, and the arts
Erathis, goddess of cities, law, and invention
Ioun, goddess of skill, knowledge, and prophecy
Kord, god of storms, strength, and battle
Melora, goddess of wilderness and the sea
Moradin, god of creation and craftsmanship
Pelor, god of time, agriculture, summer, and the sun
The Raven Queen, goddess of death and winter
Sehanine: Goddess of love, trickery, autumn, and the moon

If you want to be a Cleric of Anubis or something instead I won't stop you, but the gods on the list have special abilities tied to them.


Yeah, I just put the PHB up last night, don't stress it

I'm going to be at work until about 4:00 AM E.S.T., so feel free to autoplay me so as not to hold the battle up.

Basically, you were arrested and thrown in the dungeon for crossdressing.

(bottom of the first page)

Hmmm... was Deni supposed to be at the North Door or the South door at the time Brady smashed the South one open? I find it very amusing that the two slowest characters are also the two furthest away from the enemies right now.

After a careful examination, it seems like he might have been at the south, but he gave his combat orders as if he was coming from the north so I kind of split the difference and gave him an extra square of movement.

I was at the south door, but Pang had me placed at the north. So I played it as from the north. Either way I'd have done the same thing and stood pat at the door to take on any Goblins that came rushing through.

The difference being that now you have to run there on your stubby little legs, which might take a while.

I can reach the goblin on my next turn. I'm fine with it. Also, a dwarf running all encumbered by armour is a hilarious image, and fully worth it.