Vindig shows confusion at his sudden chane of location for only a moment before ginning at the fat toad in front of him, which quickly turns into a snarl as he sees Lin's silloutte resting within its stomach. Raising his hammer in a backswing, he brings it down and forward to tee off the ugly amphibian's head rather than risk squashing the vulnerable form within.
"Git ye gone ye mongrels! Old Uther be feedin' ye bear in a few sands!" snarled the murderer as he slipped one of his daggers from his belt and smacked one of the dogs across the nose with the hilt of it. One of the few things in the world that the vicious little man tried to never kill, them and the wee wrigglies.
It gave a yelp of pain and fell back from the fight with the onion man even as Uther slipped next to Suane to menace another dog.
"Ye spring Weeper what fer from that croaker Hammer and ye do it what fer with no bruises to her." Uther didn't bother with a hard look, he was too busy with dodging teeth and keeping his eye on the bear that seemed intent on eating the Flame Loon. 'What fer learn the barmy bleeder to reek of mutton."
Minor: Draw Dagger (short sword already drawn); Standard: Acrobatic Strike vs I10: Acrobatic Strike vs I10 *non lethal (1d20+11=20, 1d4+6=9) hit (non lethal)-at will allows shift as part of sequence. Shift to J11; Move: Shift to J12.
Kira takes umbrage at Uther's seeming implication that she can't be trusted to rescue Lin without damaging her. "Oh, so that's how it is, is it Uther? After all the time I've had your back and helped you, and I can't be trusted with the safety of your woman?! After this is over, you and me are having a chat 'friend'!" she shouts at the small man.
Pulling more of her knives, she mutters furiously under her breath about men with their heads in their pants as she prepares to carve the frog up.
Next: Suane Vindig's hammer pounds into the giant frog. The amphibian just sits there, not responding except to turn his large watery eyes on the big man. Finally, it moves - a long, slow shifting of its gullet as pushes Lin around to a move comfortable (for the frog) position.
Uther manages to knock the fight out of one of the dogs. Rather than kill it (it's too scrawny to make a good meal anyway), he shows some compassion and the dog yelps and takes off running. The rogue slides in to offer the bard some support and a nearby mongrel nips at his ankles as he dances past.
Horses: They are non-combatants. As such, they take up no space on the combat grid. Treat them as if they don't exist for the fight (or imagine that you tied them up somewhere to check this area out). Either way, I don't want to have to deal with mounts, so they're not part of this.
Features: Forest: Squares covered with trees (e.g. F,8) are difficult terrain, provide cover, and have soft corners. Squares with tree bits in them (e.g. I,25) are regular terrain.
Enraged Bear {-0}(L,14); -2 to defs (EOLNT); Next of Lin's allies to hit it regains 5HPs Undead Bear {-9}(K,13) Kira {27/31} (O,17); status: Acrobatic Blade Trick ; used 4/8 surges, 1/2 AP Lin {14/28} (??); status: Bloodied, Swallowed (stunned, ongoing 5, can't be target of any effect; Save ends all) ; used 1/7 surges, Healing Word 0/2;Action Point, 1/2 AP; Starved Dog 2 {1/1}(K,10); Uther {18/27} (J,12); status:; used 1/6 surges, Suprise Strike, Duelist Prowess, Action Point, 2/2 AP Vindig {35+10/39}; (O,15); status: ; used 5/13 surges, 0/2 AP Giant Frog {-41}(O,16); Bloodied, +2 Defenses (SoNT) Starved Dog 6 {1/1}(I,11); Suane {30/30} (J,11); status: ; used 1/8 surges, Majestic Word 0/2, Knack for Success, Victim of the Feywild,Arrow of Warning, Action Point, 2/2 AP Starved Dog 3 {1/1}(O,14); Tim {9/25} (L,13); status:Bloodied; used 1/6 surges, 1/2 AP Pookie {1/1} (L,15); status:
Skeletal Warrior {-38}(K,10); Lin's allies get +1 power bonus to hit (EOLin'sNT); Marked by Vindig Starved Dog 5 {1/1}(J,18); Starved Dog 4 {1/1}(O,13); Starved Dog 1 {1/1}(I,10);
move:shift one left minor: majestic word on tim, surge+5 (remember the +1 to surge value suane gives), slide one down left standard: on undead bear vicious mockery (1d20+7=27, 1d6+6=8) crits for 12 damage .. do we get any +crit with our inherent bonuses btw?
Next: Tim (note: map shows Tim still bloodied. He is not. He is at 21/25 HP). Suane glides and fires, her movements sure and smooth. She even manages to avoid the nipping of the nearby dog. The dog seems to be thrown by the smell of onion in the area.
A dog near Vindig leaps onto his back while his head is turned toward Kira. It can't get through the thick furs he wears, and he a quick shakes tosses the dog off with ease.
Suane: Shifts, heals, attacks (triggering OA, which misses), crits (inherent bonuses give +1d6 to crits at this level) for 18 points and undead bear takes a -2 to attack rolls until end of Suane's next turn OA from Dog 2: 5(1d20) +5 = 10 Crit damage: 6(1d6) = 6
Dog 3: Standard: Bite Vindig: 19 vs AC, hit for 4 damage (6 THP remaining) 14(1d20) +5 = 19
Horses: They are non-combatants. As such, they take up no space on the combat grid. Treat them as if they don't exist for the fight (or imagine that you tied them up somewhere to check this area out). Either way, I don't want to have to deal with mounts, so they're not part of this.
Features: Forest: Squares covered with trees (e.g. F,8) are difficult terrain, provide cover, and have soft corners. Squares with tree bits in them (e.g. I,25) are regular terrain.
Enraged Bear {-0}(L,14); -2 to defs (EOLNT); Next of Lin's allies to hit it regains 5HPs Undead Bear {-9}(K,13) Kira {27/31} (O,17); status: Acrobatic Blade Trick ; used 4/8 surges, 1/2 AP Lin {14/28} (??); status: Bloodied, Swallowed (stunned, ongoing 5, can't be target of any effect; Save ends all) ; used 1/7 surges, Healing Word 0/2;Action Point, 1/2 AP; Starved Dog 2 {1/1}(K,10); Uther {18/27} (J,12); status:; used 1/6 surges, Suprise Strike, Duelist Prowess, Action Point, 2/2 AP Vindig {35+4/39}; (O,15); status: ; used 5/13 surges, 0/2 AP Giant Frog {-41}(O,16); Bloodied, +2 Defenses (SoNT) Starved Dog 6 {1/1}(I,11); Suane {30/30} (K,11); status: ; used 1/8 surges, Majestic Word 1/2, Knack for Success, Victim of the Feywild,Arrow of Warning, Action Point, 2/2 AP Starved Dog 3 {1/1}(O,14); Tim {21/25} (M,12); status:; used 2/6 surges, 1/2 AP Pookie {1/1} (L,15); status:
Skeletal Warrior {-38}(K,10); Lin's allies get +1 power bonus to hit (EOLin'sNT); Marked by Vindig Starved Dog 5 {1/1}(J,18); Starved Dog 4 {1/1}(O,13); Starved Dog 1 {1/1}(I,10);
During Tim's turn: • Standard: Erupting Flare @ Undead Bear — 13 vs Fort. If that's a Miss, use Heroic Effort (with an AC of 16, 17 ought to be a hit) to gain +4 to the attack, and make it 17 vs Fort. In the event that it is hit, it does 13 fire damage, and any creatures who end their turn adjacent to the target take 5 fire damage (end of target's turn, which is next anyway).
• Move: Tim walks to (O,13); Pookie shifts to (K,16)
Tim throws a ball of fiery energy at the more injured of the bears; the magic manages, somehow, to bounce off of a couple of trees, like a pinball, on the way to it's target, where it erupts into flames.
The mage then tries to hide further in the woods, to keep from getting further attention — until he comes up the dog attacking Vindig, and meeps! in alarm.
Elsewhere, the little rabbit slips away from the trees into the middle of the path, where it tries to determine the most damage it can possibly cause for anyone.... Combat StatblockShow
AC 16 Fort 12 Reflex 17 Will 16 HP 21/25 Surges 4/6 Surge Value 6 Initiative +1 Action Points 1 Status:
Melee Basic Attack (Staff: Melee 2) +5 vs. AC; 1d8+1 damage Ranged Basic Attack (Magic Missile) 7 force damage
[_] Magic Missile [x] Erupting Flare [_] Scorching Burst [_] Light [_] Mage Hand [_] Prestidigitation [_] Second Wind [_] Action Point [?] Heroic Effort [_] Distracting Attack [_] Darkening Flame [X]Burning Hands [_] Flare [X] Memory to Mist [_] Fountain of Flame [X] Flaming Sphere
Notes: • Ranged & Area attacks using Staff do not provoke OA • +2 Save vs Charm effects • If attack would damage ally, may take damage instead (resisting 5)
• 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.
Next: Kira, Lin (swallowed) Tim's energy ball lodges between some exposed bones, flaring briefly before exploding, showering the area with rotten gore. The living bear, even more enraged at now having seen its mate killed twice, charges through the woods after Tim. The large trees hamper its movement, and Tim cowers like a rabbit in its warren between the saplings, the bear's meaty paw passing harmlessly overhead.
Note: I've been adjuticating the forest as not providing cover if you are adjacent to the target. I will continue to do so for the remainder of the combat for consistancy. I'll try and be more clear in the future (meaning, I'll try and actually follow what I described). I apologize for any confusion.
Horses: They are non-combatants. As such, they take up no space on the combat grid. Treat them as if they don't exist for the fight (or imagine that you tied them up somewhere to check this area out). Either way, I don't want to have to deal with mounts, so they're not part of this.
Features: Forest: Squares covered with trees (e.g. F,8) are difficult terrain, provide cover, and have soft corners. Squares with tree bits in them (e.g. I,25) are regular terrain.
Enraged Bear {-0}(N,13); Kira {27/31} (O,17); status: Acrobatic Blade Trick ; used 4/8 surges, 1/2 AP Lin {14/28} (??); status: Bloodied, Swallowed (stunned, ongoing 5, can't be target of any effect; Save ends all) ; used 1/7 surges, Healing Word 0/2;Action Point, 1/2 AP; Starved Dog 2 {1/1}(K,10); Uther {18/27} (J,12); status:; used 1/6 surges, Suprise Strike, Duelist Prowess, Action Point, 2/2 AP Vindig {35+4/39}; (O,15); status: ; used 5/13 surges, 0/2 AP Giant Frog {-41}(O,16); Bloodied, +2 Defenses (SoNT) Starved Dog 6 {1/1}(I,11); Suane {30/30} (K,11); status: ; used 1/8 surges, Majestic Word 1/2, Knack for Success, Victim of the Feywild,Arrow of Warning, Action Point, 2/2 AP Starved Dog 3 {1/1}(O,14); Tim {21/25} (O,13); status:; used 2/6 surges, 1/2 AP Pookie {1/1} (L,15); status:
Skeletal Warrior {-38}(K,10); Lin's allies get +1 power bonus to hit (EOLin'sNT); Marked by Vindig Starved Dog 5 {1/1}(J,18); Starved Dog 4 {1/1}(O,13); Starved Dog 1 {1/1}(I,10);
Kira's blades flash out and into amphibian flesh like a lightning quick viper strike. She focuses on hitting the frog high, taking out one of its eyes and carving into its throat. Clammy ichor drips off of her knives as she pulls them out, marking spots for her next blows.
Standard: Acrobatic Strike on O-16 for 29; damage is 19 (+1 for light blade expertise that I forgot to include, which makes it 20). Kira declines the shift at this time.
