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4 years ago ::
Aug 16, 2009 - 5:59PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Sep 20, 2003
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Sadly, I played with more than a couple people at GenCon who had obviously never played their 6th level LFR character before the event. Lame. I'm not sure what can be done about it though. With no effective way to track/check characters, what can a DM or player do about this once a table has been mustered and play begun?
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4 years ago ::
Aug 16, 2009 - 7:28PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Jul 16, 2002
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From what I heard, the screw up by WotC of aving all LFR mods listed as "No Experience Necessary" and not having the info that they had to have a PC that already made it to that level caused more than a few problems. As a result, at Gencon they were allowing people who spent money on an event to make a character to play in it using the Character builder station.
Where I saw this they were told that they are supposed to start at 1st but they were allowing it for the con only because of the royal screw up. Although it needs to be reiterated that this is not a change in campaign policy.
I saw more than a few screw ups too since the CB station obviously doesn't have the LFR rule set loaded every time a new PC is made. I sat with a Bugbear barbarian at one table. The DM didn't care but we gently explained to him that the Bugbear was not a legal LFR option, but if he changed it to Half-Orc it had the same stat bumps and all that would need to be changed is the racial power.
I think what also screwed things up was that the Ultimate Delve allowed anything from the CB as a legal option and so when people were asking what was legal they likely got told the wrong thing and it compounded from there. It might behoove them in the future to 1) not screw up the event information in the con listing, 2) have RPGA reps at the character station helping set people up before they turn them loose to make their character so they can explain what needs to be explained and load any necessary campaign files (that have been set up correctly) for them ahead of time.
Sorry WOTC, you lost me with Essentials. So where I used to buy every book that came out, now I will be very choosy about what I buy. Can we just get back to real 4e? Check out the 4e Conversion Wiki. 1. Wizards fight dirty. They hit their enemies in the NADs. -- Dragon9 2. A barbarian hits people with his axe. A warlord hits people with his barbarian. 3. Boo-freakin'-hoo, ya light-slingin' finger-wigglers. -- MrCelcius in response to the Cleric's Healer's Lore nerf
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4 years ago ::
Aug 16, 2009 - 7:46PM
#3
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Fixing the CB to exclude all things not legal in LFR would be ideal when one loads the LFR Campaign option (allowing for additional builds to default to this setting would be nice as well.)
My experience varied at GenCon. My friends had a RPGA DM tell them they could not use their Chessenta background when they used an action point because LFR did not allow for the use of backgrounds.
We compared rounds and learned of the vast differences from the number of creatures to the application of tactics to the rewards at the end of various rounds, and there was little consistency. We still had fun, and that is the key, but it is clear that you can get a DM that thinks it is his job to foil the characters or a DM that thinks it is his job to ensure the characters get every ounce of loot/exp/etc... Which makes for a rather uncomfortable feeling when starting a round.
I sat down to play the new 2-rounder at 8 AM on Thursday with my brand new 1st level Windrise Port-based Warlock and was immediately isolated from the group and surrounded by 8 NPC enemies. Paid my $12 for the event, and was unconcious on round 1, and bleeding out with no chance of support reaching me. Not an ideal way to start someone's GenCon, and anyone with an ounce of sense should be able to understand that no one wants to die in the first fifteen minutes of an 8 hour event they paid $12 and drove 4 hours to participate in.
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4 years ago ::
Aug 16, 2009 - 8:16PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Jan 26, 2005
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With regard to MINI 1-1(spoilers follow). Spoiler:
Show
I think the DM should have knocked you unconscious instead of killing you at neg bloodied(Technically a house rule, but NPCs don't really have any other option...), since they are attempting to press gang you, not kill you.
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4 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2009 - 8:25AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Aug 22, 2007
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From what I heard, the screw up by WotC of aving all LFR mods listed as "No Experience Necessary" and not having the info that they had to have a PC that already made it to that level caused more than a few problems. As a result, at Gencon they were allowing people who spent money on an event to make a character to play in it using the Character builder station.
Where I saw this they were told that they are supposed to start at 1st but they were allowing it for the con only because of the royal screw up. Although it needs to be reiterated that this is not a change in campaign policy.
I hope this is just a rumor, because if true, I would find that highly disturbing.
If I was involved with a con that made a similar mistake, the only possible solution that would spring to mind would be "Whoops, our mistake. Sorry about that, but we have lined up these judges over here to run some L1-4 adventures for people who don't have characters of the right level." If I heard of a con that just let people make up new non-1st level PCs for LFR games, I would expect some serious repercussions from that.
Considering the WOTC/RPGA presence at the con, if Gencon was allowed to run this way, that is a de facto change in campaign policy. Or rather, it's an announcement that people can ignore campaign policy with impunity.
I'm a little perplexed as to how this would actually work--do these players get told at the end "Don't bother keeping a log sheet; none of the adventures you're playing this weekend actually count"? Are they supposed to de-level their PC down to whatever level the XP they've earned entitles them? Do they just keep playing at the level they were created?
I am hoping these were isolated players who slipped through the cracks or DMs/staff members who didn't actually know what they were talking about, not an official pronouncement that Gencon plays by different rules.
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4 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2009 - 9:24AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Mar 17, 2005
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To the best of my knowledge, that was just an untrue rumor. I know I helped a number of new players who thought they could start a higher level PC due to the "no ecperience necessary" entry rebuild to 1st-level and then get into a L1-4 game. No one seemed overly upset. Most people just wanted to play D&D.
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4 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2009 - 9:48AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Dec 21, 2006
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I know at a paragon table, I ran into a player that really seemed to not have the play experience or basic understandung of 4th Ed. that you'd expect someone to have by that point. A different issue, I know but, I got the feeling there may have been some characters/players that clearly hadn't played enough mods for their claimed level.
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4 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2009 - 11:02AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Nov 16, 2007
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I saw at least one second level hybrid PC in LFR, which I didn't think was allowed, but the DM didn't seem to have a problem with it. And then when I tried to play a hybrid in the ultimate delve since I thought anything in CB was allowed, I was told they weren't legal. Good thing I had a couple non-hybrid backups.
I know at a paragon table, I ran into a player that really seemed to not have the play experience or basic understandung of 4th Ed. that you'd expect someone to have by that point. A different issue, I know but, I got the feeling there may have been some characters/players that clearly hadn't played enough mods for their claimed level.
I also ran into this issue. It makes me think either in some locales they use a lot of house rules for LFR, or some people just thought they could bring a 6th level character to LFR, and when they realized they couldn't, they just decided to pretend they had played the character.
One thing clear to me, was that there needed to be more low level mods.
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4 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2009 - 11:34AM
#9
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One thing clear to me, was that there needed to be more low level mods.
You could have played 5 slots (i.e., about half of the slots for the convention) with a brand-new character:
- MINI1-1 (2 slots)
- SPEC1-3
- CORE1-13
- ADCP1-1
"Of course [Richard] has a knife. He always has a knife. We all have knives. It's 1183, and we're barbarians!" - Eleanor of Aquitaine, "The Lion in Winter"
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4 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2009 - 11:57AM
#10
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Date Joined:
Sep 20, 2003
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You could have played 5 slots (i.e., about half of the slots for the convention) with a brand-new character:
- MINI1-1 (2 slots)
- SPEC1-3
- CORE1-13
- ADCP1-1
You're right but Mini1-1 sold out within an hour in April(May?) when they went on sale. I didn't even bother trying to get in on generics since I had real tickets for several of the other mods and wanted to make sure I could play.
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