[DnD] D&D Arena Signups and Discussion

Welcome to GFF D&D Arena, where two gladiators team up and duke it out with all sorts of creatures for gold, glory, and girls! The Arena is a dangerous place. And this is made even more so by the two-character limit (which may change as I get more comfortable with managing greater numbers).

Here are the house rules that apply in the arena:

1. You will fight four battles per day. No more, no less. So ration accordingly.
   
2. Each battle will be progressively harder than the last. Difficulty in this case is determined by monster experience level. In my experience it is not a very good indicator of actual lethality but what can we do .
3. You gain one level after 4 battles (every day). The battle ground changes after every level or so.
   
4. You can spend one action point every battle. This will not carry over subsequent battles.
5. You gain the benefit of a short rest after every battle, and an extended rest after every day.
6. I will raise the dead three times only. After the fourth death, it's game over.
7. You can sell any magic item you own at 100% of its value.
8. I don't like to track mundane ammunition. Don't bother buying them. I do track magic consumables though.
9. When on higher ground (but not when you're flying), you gain combat advantage.
10. I don't like to say "no" if I can help it. Don't be afraid to ask if something is possible or not.
11. To speed up combat, I am awarding +1/+1 tokens for prompt posting. Details here.

There are two other campaigns that are ongoing at this point. The Arena differs from both in the sense that:

1. It is focused heavily on the combat aspect of D&D 4e. You will have very limited opportunity to role play outside of battle. With that said, I am a continuity buff and love character back-stories. The more material you give me, well...
2. It is considerably more lethal than the other campaigns. To an extent, I will be choosing monsters that synergize well with each other. Since there are only two of you, you will need to tweak your team composition and character choices accordingly if you want to do well.
3. At some point, I will be giving you free mounts. Why? Two reasons. I like to mess around with mounted combat, for one. More importantly, giving you mounts lets me employ better and more interesting and/or numerous monsters. With a clear conscience, since the monster experience point allotment increases when mounts are present.
4. Most of the time, you will fight everything you meet. Diplomacy is not an option, unless you can justify it. Intimidation is always an option however!
5. The arena battles are not chronological across parties. Feel free to set the time frame in the shared universe to any specific year that suits you.

Gladiators, Past, Present and Future

1. Shin - "Ivory", Longtooth Shifter Cleric retired
2. a lurker - "Ebony", Kobold Ranger retired
3. Rychord - "Smothas Bigraks", Dragonborn Paladin
4. Pangalin - "Cyrus Von Brandt", Half-Elf Storm Sorceror
5. Randi
6. Helloween
7. CetteHamsterLa

2 Player Arena - PvP

1. NinjaGuyDan

5 Player Dungeon Delve

1. Rychord

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I guess they prefer your experience, superior maps, complete campaigns, and better wit to my brand of tyranny

There's nowhere I can't reach.

How bout if we make it PvP?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Alas, Shin. I guess nobody wants to play an arena game.

All right, suppose we change this into a dungeon delve? Basically, a team of five players traipse through a mini-dungeon, going through three battles. Once you beat it, that's it.

So... just to twink out a bit, Level 2 characters? And 752 gp to buy anything you wish.

Takers?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Not really! Master Pang will surely yell at me if I do something unfair!

Basically this is the battle portion of Dungeons & Dragons. Think World of Warcraft and you'll probably be fine. (If you want the full monty, Pang's own campaign has it all.)

Bare minimum is for you to choose a race and a class. Then during Battle, you just say "I attack Enemy X with Attack Y while moving to square Z." I can roll for you.

But of course I'll prefer it if you go to the trouble of optimizing characters. That way I can throw in more interesting enemies with a clear conscience!

I was speaking idiomatically.

Okay then. You chose a ranger, currently my specialty. There are four types: guy who's purely bow and arrows, a guy who dual-wields swords, a cross between the first two, and a guy who uses an animal companion in battle. Which one would you rather be? (Or do you want to be surprised? Your choice of kobold with its dexterity bonus is better suited for long-range attacks)

Or, you could always let Pang outfit you. That's cool too.

Ebony (Kobold Ranger), played by a lurker

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I think they've been removed from 4e. You could always play an evil paladin if you wish. Just hope that Pang doesn't play a good-aligned character in that case...

How ya doing, buddy?

Okay, I guess Pang's ranger build is closer to what lurker wants to do. I guess since he's left them blank, I'll just do the Level 4 skill increase choices on the primary and secondary attributes...

Oh my lord, look at the bonuses to hit on that ranger build.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Certainly more flexible, yes, since you can easily abuse your two at-wills in a combo that give you insane to-hit bonuses. Never mind Shin's bonus-granting at-wills.

I bow to Pang's optimization-fu and look forward to seeing him create an endless attack spam chain for his own character!

Character Sheets:
Shin - Ivory, Longtooth Shifter Cleric
a lurker - Ebony, Kobold Ranger

Well, I guess gimme a few hours to finalize stuff and start the thread!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Alas, while that indeed sounds rather inviting, I cannot find any monsters at an appropriate level which is vulnerable to only one element

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by a_lurker

move to n8 (I don't have to shift do I? Since I'm out out of the guy's range for AoO)

You're leaving a threatened square. That would normally trigger an OA (say, if Ivory attempts it), but happily your "Flank on the Run" feat lets you move around (though not away from) an enemy without fear.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Nawww. Shin's at 24HP (60%). Still good to go!

________


Sorry Shin, I thought Gaze of Defiance had no damage roll. I shall rectify accordingly. The reason I didn't roll for damage on the enemy attack was, they're minions as implied. It'd be unsporting to hit you guys with four full-fledged monsters at a fight I'm terming as "training", wouldn't it? (I mean, this is budgeted as an 'easy' fight with 307 XP)

Anyway, Soldier 2 is dead. Would you like to edit your post, Shin? Since this fact would change your strategy. Go ahead and reroll that 1, I owe you that much.

By the way, you're marked by Soldier 1. What that means is, you take a -2 penalty to any attack roll that doesn't include it as a target. Furthermore if you shift or attack anything other than it, it makes a melee basic attack as an immediate interrupt.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Ah, mechanics. The 19 strength on your abilities list translates to a strength modifier of +4. Add half your level rounded down (5/2 = 2), and you get a strength check of 6.

Your +11 to hit with short sword already takes this into account. To be more precise, it is composed of +4 strength mod, +3 proficiency bonus, +2 item enchantment, and half your level rounded down +2.

You don't add strength to attack rolls though. So your dice roll of 4 is added to your to-hit of 11, for a total of 15. This is against the appropriate defense (in our case AC 20, so you missed.)

You have very specific bonuses to your attack rolls1. If you move 2 or more squares as part of any attack, there's a +1 bonus. If the attack is a charge, another +1. There's a +1 bonus for at-wills against bloodied enemies. Shin, of course, can give you extra bonuses with a few of his powers. Which is why Pang said if Ebony misses, one of you are doing something wrong

You did the damage rolls correctly. 1d6 for damage, then 1d6 for the quarry (your sword's extra 1d6 damage only applies when you hit an enemy who's at full HP). You just add the dice rolls to your +8 damage to calculate the total. (The +8 already takes into account the +4 strength mod, +2 wisdom mod, and +2 item enhancement.) You also have a bunch of very situational damage bonuses: +2 if you alternate range and melee on the same enemy, +1d6 against undamaged enemies if you hit them with your sword, and of course your 1d6 quarry damage applicable once per round.

So if you had hit with the attack roll (a roll of 9+), you'd be dishing out 6+8+2=16 damage.

Recap!

To determine whether you hit, add the appropriate attack bonus to your dice roll, and apply any additional bonuses or penalties.2
To determine damage, add the damage bonus to your dice roll, and apply any additional bonuses or penalties3.

1 - It is so specific that I might, with great probability, forget it entirely. So do yell in this thread if this happens.
2 - In addition to what I listed, bonuses might include combat advantage

Many, many ways to get this. See PHB pg 280 for the list.

(+2), while penalties might include running before attacking (-5), and enemy having cover (-2) or superior cover (-5) which are mostly applicable to ranged attacks only. PHB pg 279 has a list.
3 - The only penalty I can think of here is if you're weakened, which divides your total damage by 2 and rounds down.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Sure. Just remind me if I forget about stuff k? There's a lot of complexity in how Ebony hits

Most amazing jew boots

Man, I wonder how Ebony plays in a real live tabletop game.

"I used Throw and Stab, with Marauder's Rush attached to the charge. Let's see, I rolled a 7. +1 charge bonus with +1 from Running Attack..."

"Wait, is enemy bloodied? That's another +1 to the rush..."

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by a_lurker

Wait, are you telling me I can use two attacks in a round? Why in the fuck didn't you TELL ME THIS YESTERDAY

Hehehehehe!

Why yes, you can do that. Throw and Stab lets you attack with your ax at a range of 5 squares (10 with a -2 hit penalty). Hit or miss, it lets you charge an enemy. Marauder's Rush can be used in place of melee basic attack at the end of a charge. (That's why it's called Throw and Stab).

Very powerful combination. Even better than Twin Strike given your situational bonuses. I am most impressed at Pang's optimization-fu.

FELIPE NO

You may not be able to do that every single round because in order to charge, you must move by at least 2 squares. Plus the initial throw is a ranged attack, so you eat up an opportunity attack if you try it with an enemy right next to you (which is rather likely if you charged the previous round).

If you want to maximize damage per round, you'd do quarry, then Throw and Stab, then Marauder's Rush. And you still have a move action left. Could have suggested that, but I thought, lurker might not like it if I tell her how she should play her character!

Avenging Charge is rather potent in this particular encounter. You can use it out of turn - if an enemy attacks Ivory, you interrupt the attack and attack it. Against minions, why, you might spare Ivory from some injury.

Hurling Charge is basically the same as Throw and Stab except:
1. +4 damage
2. You must charge the same target you threw the ax at (no such limitation for Throw and Stab)
3. free use of hunter's quarry, letting you use a move and your minor to shift 2 squares and abuse it!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

When I was studying Pang's sheet for Ebony, I was thinking, "Holy shit, what have I gotten myself into."

Yeah, you're right. They make the bad guys easier to hit. One's a plus, one's a minus.

The only difference, as far as I can tell, is Astral Seal gives an untyped penalty, while Destined Duel gives a power bonus. If I am reading the rules correctly, the power bonuses will not stack. That means if you do a Gaze of Defiance, and then immediately spend an action point for Destined Duel, lurker only gets the bigger of the two bonuses.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

He's making it easier for you to hit them. But you don't have to do it, if you don't want to

Dangit, I forgot to mark Ebony. Next time, Zerg, next time!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Normally, charge

Move your speed towards an enemy.

You must move at least 2 squares. If you don't, you can't charge.

You must take the most direct path, to the nearest square where you can attack your enemy.

If the aforementioned nearest square is blocked, you can't charge.

You provoke Opportunity Attacks from adjacent enemies as normal.

After you resolve a charge attack, you can't take further actions unless you spend an action point.

is a standard action, and right after a charge, you can either (a) make a melee basic attack or (b) do a bull rush to push the guy by 1 square.

As Pang said, throw and Stab gives you a free charge. Charges give you a free melee basic attack, and Marauder's Rush can be used as a melee basic attack.

This means you still have a move and a minor action after doing the Throw & Stab / Marauder's Rush combo.

The normal range for axe-chucking is 5 squares, up to a maximum of 10 with a -2 to-hit penalty. Your axe is a magic axe, so it automatically returns to your hand after you throw it, so no need to worry about picking it up or anything.

The range for charging is 1 square per unit of speed. So for Ebony, your charge must be a minimum of 2 squares and a maximum of 7 squares.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Well, Ebony's race of kobold has an at-will that lets him shift as a minor. So by combining the move and minor into two shifts, well... you can throw and stab just about anyone!

Difficult terrain excepted!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Nope. Entering difficult terrain takes an extra square of movement. So to shift 1 square you'd actually have to shift 2.

But you can shift away from it, onto normal ground, just fine.

Additional Spam:
Also, normally the definition of charging is you run in a straight line.

But a strict reading of charging rules say that you don't have do this!

So, from the R9 position, you can actually choose P8, P9, or P10 as "nearest squares where you can attack the enemy from." Might want to keep it in mind whenever position after a charge is important to you

=====

Originally Posted by Shin

Sorry Zerg but your optimisation has nothing on Pang's, that's just ridiculous.

A fact I conceded twice in this thread!

Also, the shift as minor is all lurker. I'm sure Pang wouldn't have chosen a small creature for an optimal Marauder ranger. He'd probably use something like a longtooth shifter, half orc, bugbear, or a minotaur.

Also may I add that Cal is nowhere near 'optimized', since he was created before I tried out the Character Creator (or discovered the optimization boards). Not that it would change the truth of what you're saying, of course.

I was speaking idiomatically.

No rolls please. Anything accepted by the Character Builder as "legal" will do. So you can use the standard array or the point buy system.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Are you sure of that?

Because it's easily arranged once you reach level 6

FELIPE NO

Oh, sorry. A second reading tells me you were talking about character generation.

I thought you wanted to fight warforged bards instead of normal warforged soldiers.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Oh man, is this your third 1 in this fight... :O

Psst, don't forget your special power that activates when bloodied. Admittedly +2 regen won't kick in after second wind, and +2 to damage doesn't seem like a whole lot. But eh... Character development!


Jam it back in, in the dark.