Path continues to call on the spirits of this undergournd temple to manipulate Vitya's axe, and as the path of it swings wide from a defender the Deva makes a sharp turning motion with his totem. The axe veers sharply from its course, burying itself deeply into a surprised drake's neck before discorporating and reappearing in Vitya's hand.
Standard: Claws of the Eagle Effect: Vitya makes an RBA vs Guard Drake 2 Atk: (1d20+9+2=31) vs AC CRIT! Hit: 21+(1d6=4)=25 dmg, choosing not to mark, and GD2 grants CA UENT
Ewey is dizzy from the attack, but he still sees his sister go down right next to him. "Helsa, nooooooooo!" he shouts, cringing with tears in his eyes. He quickly pulls out a magic potion. I would save it for her, but what good would it be if I die first?He drinks it quickly, feeling some life force spread back into his body. Wiping his mouth with the left hand, he shouts defiantly."You will pay, you cold blooded bastard lizard!!!" However, Ewey is blinded by his rage, and still shaken from the massive electric shock did to his nerves, and the Shadar-Kai swings wide. MechanicsShow
Start of turn: regen 2 to 6hp Minor: Drink healing potion to get +10hp to 16hp ACTION POINT! Standard:Quick Lunge shift to [H17], then target H18 Quick Lunge (1d20+10=11, 1d8+1+1d8=14) Forgot the +2 CA, so 13 vs AC for 14 damage... but, that's a moot point I guess.
*BLEEP* me with a rusty poisoned claymore +12 vs Shadar-Kai!!!! Was gonna use my lucky charm in case of bad roll, but, NOPE! Doesn't help vs catastrophic rolls.
Helsa feels numb over most of her body except for the nerve endings that still send out little bursts of pain from the shock she received. She spits blood from where she accidentally bit the side of her tongue and picks herself up off the floor. Reverting to primordial, she says quietly to Ewey, "Time to take them down, Euthypro." The deadly serious tone of her voice would have given anyone who knew her the shivers, because Helsa was most dangerous when she got quiet. She sees a slow smile spread across her brother's face and knows that he will be ready when she needs him to be.
The swarm that is Durmindin gathers itself up and then launches parts of itself overtop the nearby drakes, causing the channeler much discomfort. Unfortunately, the swarm looks like it has seen better days.
Alain fights his way through the muck, making it out to the edge of the electrified area. One of the drakes bites at Path and misses. One of the dragonkins swings his longsword at Durmindin and takes down the druid. The other drake decides to attack Path and uses him as a chew-toy. The other dragonkin soldier knocks Helsa back to the floor.
Emboldened, the channeler drops down from the sarcophagus and swings his staff at the unmoving swarm of insects. As he hits it, the sound of lightning sizzles through the air, and the insects shrivel up, dead. The swarm that was Durmindin is no more.
Path: You can't shift into Difficult Terrain (which is what the steps are), unless you use a Double-Move to do so; your Spirit still moves, though, unless you wish to put him somewhere else as a result; you have an Action Point still available, if you wanted to do the shift, by the way, but nothing would have changed from what ended up happening.... Drake 2 is Bloodied.
Euthyphro: Miss.
Helsa: Could only do one action, she chose to Stand Up.
Alain: NPC'd Standard & Move: Athletics:23 to jump over 2 spaces, then 9 more move gets to (F,13) (not entering damage zone via NPC'd move)
Fight/Flight: Not at this time.
Guard Drake 3: Delays
Guard Drake 4: Standard: Bite @ Path — 15 vs AC misses
Dragonkin Defender 1: Move: Shift to (E,20) Standard: Longsword @ Durmindin — 15 vs AC hits for 18 dmg (reduced to 14) & marked; Durmindin is Out until beginning of next turn.
Guard Drake 3: comes out of delay Standard: Bite @ Path — 22 vs AC hits for 16 hp damage; Path is Out until beginning of next turn.
Dragonkin Channeler: Start: Recharge fails Move: Walk to (F,20) Standard: Shocking Staff @ Durmindin — 12 vs Reflex hits (thanks to -5 penalty to defenses), treated as Critical hit, for 20 lightning damage, reduced by 4 to 16. However... Durmindin's damage level is beyond his negative Bloodied value; Durmindin is now Dead.
Map Notes: • Illumination: Wall torches & the braziers provide bright light throughout. • Ceiling: 10' high in the first room, 20' in the second. • Stairs: Difficult Terrain • Floor (1st room): The floor has a downward slope from right to left. It is not significant enough to cause any issues that you are aware of. • Crevasse (1st room): 2' wide, can be easily stepped over. • Skeletons (1st room): Sculptures, not real skeletons. There's a skull on a small pillar in (D,13) which has been rotated somehow. • Double Doors: There are two large granite doors on the right side of the second room (Strength, DC 12, to open). • Sludge (1st room): Quickly oozing out of the holes in the walls; this is part of the trap. Difficult terrain. • Braziers (2nd room): Any creature who enters one of these spaces takes 5 ongoing fire damage (save ends). • Massive Golden Casket (2nd room): 5' high (elevation 1). DC 10 Athletics to climb on top of, & 2 movement. Creatures adjacent have cover from ranged attacks from other side (but not from atop it). Strength DC22 (with up to 3 aids) to lift lid, if that's what you wish to do. • Smaller Sarcophagi (2nd room): Difficult terrain. Strength DC15 (with 1 aid) to lift lids if you really wish to do so. • Thrones (2nd room): Provide cover to any hiding behind them. Can also be sat on, if you so choose.
• Ad Hominem— Attacking the person's circumstances, not addressing the argument. • Ad Hominem Abusive (Personal Attack)— Insulting the person, not addressing the argument. • Ad Hominem Tu Quoque— Saying the person's inconsistent, not addressing the argument. • Appeal to Authority/Belief/Common Practice/Consequence of a Belief/Emotion/Fear/Flattery/Novelty/Pity/Popularity/Ridicule/Spite/Tradition— Using emotion instead of Fact. • Bandwagon— Use of peer pressure. • Begging the Question— Assuming premises which haven't necessarily been agreed to. • Biased Sample— Using a sampling which may not properly represent the whole. • Burden of Proof— Shifting it to the wrong side. • Circumstantial Ad Hominem— Attacking the person's interests in supporting their argument. • Composition— Assuming that the whole has the same qualities as individual parts. • Confusing Cause & Effect— Assuming that one thing causes another because they appear in conjunction. • Division— Assuming that the individual parts have the same qualities as the whole. • False Dilemma— Assuming that only two options exist. • Gambler's Fallacy— Assuming the odds have changed because of past occurances • Genetic— Assuming a perceived defect in the origin of a claim is proof of a defect in the claim. • Guilt by Association— Attacking others who agree with the claim. • Hasty Generalization— Assuming a quality based on too small a sample size. • Ignoring the Common Cause— Assuming there is no outside cause of two connected things. • Middle Ground— Assuming the midpoint of two extremes must be correct. • Misleading Vividness— Assuming a colorful anecdote outweighs statistical evidence. • Poisoning the Well— Using unprovable claims about the person instead of addressing the argument. • Post Hoc— Assuming that something caused something else simply because it happened first. • Questionable Cause— Assuming that one thing causes another. • Red Herring— Using irrelevant evidence to divert a discussion. • Relativist Fallacy— Asserting that a claim may be true for some but not for the speaker. • Slippery Slope— Assuming the inevitability of one event based on another. • Special Pleading— Claiming exemption without justification. • Spotlight— Assuming individuals that get the most attention to be indicative of the whole. • Straw Man— Misrepresenting the opposing argument. • Two Wrongs Make a Right— Justifying something unethical/immoral as response or pre-emption to something else unethical/immoral.
Response to those who like to compare 4e to a Video GameShow
Also, I find that the "D&D 4e is like an MMO" argument is often a sign of someone who is deliberately being obtuse and/or is potentially ignorant of actual MMO play. As someone who only ended a 6-year World of Warcraft addiction a year ago, I can say that most of your bullet points actually don't match up to the truth of it.
In D&D 4e, you can choose a hybrid, you can choose to play one class as though it were another (people played Warlords as Bards frequently, when the edition first came out, and Rangers were refluffed to Monks), you can focus your class on its secondary role (a Warlock who is more controller than striker, for instance), you can multiclass, and you can create a particular concept (a mounted lancer, a charger, etc.) within the mechanics via feats, choice of powers, and choice of skills. You decide which set of stats you use--are you a Chaladin, Straladin, or Baladin?--and you have ultimate influence on how your character turns out in the end. Yes, powers require you to be using a particular weapon within your class's available selection, but the powers are not themselves tied to the gear. Powers tied to weapons or armor are typically powers that belong to the item, not to the character class that's most likely to use it.
Yes, there are only so many powers available, and these will be what you do in battle; this is all that the designers created. Yes, there is a time-frame in which they can be used; this has always been the case, even in the days of Vancian casting. Yes, there are suggested builds, but you can routinely ignore those if it pleases you; the only parts of a class you have to take are the class features, and even those have options at this point. But the only way that this can be considered at all conflatable with MMO character building/playing is if you are deliberately ignoring all of that.
In WoW, you choose a class and you're done. No multiclassing or hybridization, no way to mimic one class with careful building of a different one. There is a firm dividing line on what is a WoW class. No secondary roles or creative concepts, either; you're going to be what the class sets out to be, and that's it. You'll always have the same stat allocation as another of your class, because you get set numbers as you level up, and you've got at best four options--and that's only the Druid class--to build, and if you plan on running dungeons, particularly heroic level ones, or raiding, you'd better not even think of deviating from the single defined best build on the talent tree for what you want to do. It was only recently, with the complete tear-down and recreation of talent trees for Mists of Pandaria, that there was a concept of there being anything but the one best build that people who calculated such mechanical advantages (the folks on Elitist Jerks, for example), and the people who did things like achieve "World First" at various top-tier raids set precedent for.
Also, no class will ever not have a specific set of powers; all Priests in WoW have the same baseline, with deviation only based upon their talent tree specialization, where a D&D4e player could take whatever power in their class pleases them. Any Retribution Paladin will be the same as any other in terms of powers, because that is what a RetPally is. Any Assassination Rogue will always have the same powers as another, etc. All powers are always on specific cool-downs, but will always be there when they start a battle, where a 4e PC might enter an encounter with only At-Wills, or without their Daily powers due to what plot has done up until that point. Furthermore, no power that is not already specifically tied to an item will ever "require" you have that item, to my recollection. Classes get all their powers based on class; gear only gives bonuses to stats, possibly cuts down cast times for abilities or cooldowns, grants temporary extra bonuses to stats (the latter two most often on the raid tier equipment), and on rare occassions an extra power that may or may not be valuable, as some are only special effects instead of valuable abilities.
Most honest/open response on why DDN needs to be InclusiveShow
I've always felt it is in the best interests of D&D to be as inclusive across the playerbase as they can be and still have a game. I've never felt though that making a game that was inclusive within a group was very useful or even desirable. DM's and players can decide amongst themselves what options or restrictions they want for their games. I tend to lean to the DM to make most of those decisions but again that is a group specific thing.
Having said that. I get the distinct impression that there are a lot of players on these boards who come from groups that generally ruled against their own desires. It's almost like they are an oppressed minority from a gaming perspective. I also get the impression that they tend to advocate against things that if available their fellow group members might like and vote them down on.
Do a lot of you feel this way?
Just for clarification...here are some examples... 1. Alignment restrictions as an option. 2. Alignment Mechanics 3. Martial healing 4. Races being included or not.
I know my perspective is not that I often play at tables where my likes are not represented. Instead, my perspective comes from the many years I spent being a bad DM. I was a bad DM because my guidance came from the books, and the books gave bad advice. The books told me that alignment was a useful approach to roleplaying, so I went with it even though it felt kind of weird to me. Now I know that, at least in my style of running games, alignment destroys rp. I trusted the books to give good advice, and it messed up my game. Now I'm much more mature as a DM, so I know how to take advice with a grain of salt. And I still learn new stuff every session I run.
I don't want future DMs to go through my problems again. There's a big enough DM shortage as it is. DMing well is hard.
The biggest thing I had to unlearn in my process of becoming a good DM was the idea that the game is a simulation of a world. I understand many DMs prefer a more simulationist approach, although I am always skeptical simply because I would have said the same thing until I learned and grew as a DM. This doesn't mean their approach is completely invalid, but it still gives me a personal twinge when I see a regression back to 3e era sim style gaming.
I also have noticed many groups where one or two old-school players run a whole group's playstyle because the newer players aren't even aware there are other ways of doing things. The newer players tell me stories of things they hated in the session, and I end up explaining to them how those things they hate are very fixable, and in fact are fixed in the newer edition of the game their older players have told them is terrible.
In regard to things like martial healing, I don't think it's necessary for it to be in the game for the game to be fun. However, the attitude that says martial healing is terrible and shouldn't exist is an attitude that, to me, reveals a wrongheaded approach to the game. Therefore, my fight for it to be an option is to help legitimize the more narrative approach that I think is what most players want, but many don't know is possible, because they've never been exposed to it.
Vitya sees the swarm scatter and as the bugs break apart, they shrivel up, their vitality flowing away with their cohesiveness. The dwarf watches as, rather than reform as he is used to, a vast majority of the bugs stop moving all together. He wonders at the strange creature's fate. But there would be time for that later. Right now, he had to try and get the others out.
Moving to the dragonkin closest to the door, the dwarf swings his axe is a controlled chop. The blade batters the creature and Vitya feels a surge of satisfaction. A bit of revenge for his fallen comrade.
No Action Trigger: You hit an enemy granting combat advantage to you with a basic or an at-will attack power. Effect: The enemy is dazed until the end of your next turn.
Effect: Whenever an enemy marked by you is adjacent to you and shifts or makes an attack that does not include you, you can make a melee basic attack against that enemy.
+5 bonus to savings throws against poison Second Wind is a minor action Move 1 less square on forced movement Can make a savings throw to avoid being knocked prone Low-light vision Gain additional 1d10 when you spend your second wind while bloodied (Battleforged Armor)
Combat Challenge: Immediate Interrupt; Make an MBA against a marked enemy that shifts or makes an attack that does not include Vitya as a target.
The first time Vitya hits a creature granting combat advantage to him with a basic or an at-will attack, he will use Surprise Strike to also daze the creature until the end of his next turn.
Helsa watches in horror as the swarm dies before her. Calling up all her reserves, she teleports to right behind Ewey, but has no extra energy to pick herself up off the floor. Sticking to primordial and hoping that the reptiles won't understand her, she yells, "Path! Get out of there and close the damn doors!!"
Path blinks heavily, coming to once again on the floor - just in time to see the last of Durmindin's swarm curl up and die before his eyes. He screams in rage, eyes flashing green as he leaps to his feet. He raises his totem for a mighty strike...before he regains his composure and notices his companions desperately beckoning him beyond the door.
With a snarl, he quicksteps down the stairs, using every bit of his abilities to dodge, jump, and parry the hordes attack with his totem, before leaping back beyond the door's threshold.
His panther spirit companion discorperates as he lays on his back, looking on in confusion. Ethereal copies of the withered bugs gather themselves and fly away from the husks, coming together in a central mass. In a flash, the Wilden's form stands before them. Durmindin's spirit gives them a melancholy look before silently turning to the lizards - and flings his arms wide to block their escape.
Vitya sees that others are trying to shut the kobolds out of the room but he can't leave Path behind. "Not without Path!" He reaches in, stretching out an arm to Path. In his anxious state, Vitya doesn't see that his insistance on aiding his friend is actually hindering the attempts to secure the doors.
Stepping up into the doorway in a hurry, Alain mutters a simple command, sending electricity cracking up his spear as he strikes. "Go! I'll hold them back."
Standard Action - Charge to F:18 Basic Attack on F:20 - 1d20+8+1=20 Hit - 1d10+4+2=13 Effect - The target is marked.
Assuming I hit, activate Weapon of Myrdoon's Shard daily power. Effect - Push target 2 spaces and deal 1d8=4 lightning damage to it and creatures adjacent to it. If possible, I'd like to not push and just spam the lightning damage.
Other Looking for OOC input first on this part. I'd like to use Centered Flurry of Blows to push Path through the doors, then turn and stand, performing a rear guard for the retreating party. If this is done, Path will take 5 damage, knocking him out again, but it'll slide him through the doors. Once secured, he can regen into conciousness, then the party can flee while I do my best to slow them down.
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