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So, seeing a lack of D&D thread here, I figured I should start one.

Pathfinder is "Close enough", and D&D video games count too, I guess.

Are you in a game, what edition, and what sort of character?

Tell some stories, share some advice, and so on. Feel free to argue about settings, but not editions, and share homebrew you find interesting or made. .

For myself, I'm in two games- one in-person, Pathfinder in a homebrew world,, the other online, 3.5 in the Eberron setting.

First one, I'm running an Aegis/Soulknife that can basically be described as a karate bugman.

Second, I'm running an Artificer, aiming for Renegade Mastermaker. Throwing and Returning are almost required for my Battlefist, obviously. Ghost Touch, too, given what happened last session...

Anyway, go nuts.

EDIT: And I suppose I'll toss up a list of free D&D editions/retroclones.

3.5 E, found in the form of the SRD, or the infinitely better navigable Hypertext SRD.

Pathfinder, basically a clone of 3.5, with some changes. And it's 3rd-party-material-including d20pfsrd incarnation.

Swords and Wizardry, a clone of the Original D&D games.

Dark Dungeons (Not the Chick Tract, don't ask), a clone of the Rules Cyclopedia version of the game.

Labyrinth Lord, based on the Magenta Box version of the game.

If anyone has other suggestions for retroclones and other legal free versions of the game, I'll add them to this list.

Edited by The-Mage-King
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Last game I was on, I believe I was on Pathfinder and I was a Rogue. Don't remember too much about it, but in the end we ended up doing more business than actual questing.

Yeah, games have a tendency to go off-track at times. My online one has been kinda slow in the combat department, so we're hoping we get to, y'know. KILL STUFF soon.

Nowadays I play Vampire : the Masquerade instead.

Eh. Of WW's stuff, I prefer Exalted. But subject for another thread.

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Yeah, games have a tendency to go off-track at times. My online one has been kinda slow in the combat department, so we're hoping we get to, y'know. KILL STUFF soon.

Eh. Of WW's stuff, I prefer Exalted. But subject for another thread.

Eh my friends are typically more social-based rather than combat-based. Kind of a shame since I don't exactly like it as much as them, but they've played D&D for over ten years so I figure they don't need more combat.

I tried it, but ended up not liking it as much for being overly complicated. That and some of the players aren't around very often. My character was some kind of viking warrior type with an amazing beard. And a beard cult following him.

Edited by Woodshooter
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Been playing a (RL) 2E Ravenloft campaign for the last... 9 years? It's nearing its end though, since the players are slowly but surely following different paths (moving from town, marrying, etc).

Except for a rather brief intermission, I've played the entire campaign with a mage, since I got a 18 but five useless other stats (8-13 - in 2E, stats from 7 to 14 tend to be pretty much the same shit). He's currently at 12th level, but with a severe lack of 6th level spells; in fact, high level spellcasting can become rather difficult when your character can't have expensive material components.

Can't have them literally, even - my mage somehow was cursed and can't own any kind of money, as it turns into sand. The only thing keeping him from being a hobo wizard is the fact he's still in a party...

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Been playing a (RL) 2E Ravenloft campaign for the last... 9 years? It's nearing its end though, since the players are slowly but surely following different paths (moving from town, marrying, etc).

Except for a rather brief intermission, I've played the entire campaign with a mage, since I got a 18 but five useless other stats (8-13 - in 2E, stats from 7 to 14 tend to be pretty much the same shit). He's currently at 12th level, but with a severe lack of 6th level spells; in fact, high level spellcasting can become rather difficult when your character can't have expensive material components.

Can't have them literally, even - my mage somehow was cursed and can't own any kind of money, as it turns into sand. The only thing keeping him from being a hobo wizard is the fact he's still in a party...

Guessing there's no way to get a Remove Curse or similar slapped on to deal with it, then?

Fluff or crunch-wise,I mean....Sp

Speaking of 2E, I found a Planescape box set a while back, books in great condition, missing the DM screen and Player's guide... For $25. So, it's waiting for me to actually run/find a game in Planescape game. :unsure:

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Guessing there's no way to get a Remove Curse or similar slapped on to deal with it, then?

Fluff or crunch-wise,I mean....Sp

Speaking of 2E, I found a Planescape box set a while back, books in great condition, missing the DM screen and Player's guide... For $25. So, it's waiting for me to actually run/find a game in Planescape game. :unsure:

Curses in Ravenloft are usually a bit too potent for Remove Curse spells to work - you're forced to use their escape clause. Which, in this case, is slaying/sealing a demon - and nobody else in the party is particularly interested in hunting him, because hey, they weren't affected.

I have that box, myself. But I hear Planescape is one of the hardest settings to DM... it's just too alien, and the powerlevels too absurd, I suppose.

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Planescape is definitely worth exploring, I did some short sessions as DM in Planescape for a while, and it was amazing, definitely one of the better settings to come out of 2E. Fell in with a group recently but was having trouble getting to them regular because of the distance, but I would like to get back into some pen and paper at some point.

Since you did mention D&D video games, I've been playing Neverwinter MMO, since it opened up last year. They've recently revised the PVP aspect of the game, and there's a lot of decent levelling and end game content, with a new expansion set in Icewind Dale about to hit, should be good as I remember playing the old PC game and it was pretty fun.

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I used to play D&D a fair bit with family but as we went seperate ways it became difficult even over Skype due to lack of time.

I hope to get back into d&d after job corps

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I play first edition AD&D. Right now, I am in a neutral party with a pallidin inhibiting my potential. I have three characters, but one had to break away since she was getting to strong. We recently got off an island that a wizard owned. We are aiming for once every two weeks :( since the group has been having difficulties scheduling days to play D&D.

Rikku: elf

8/7 fighter/thief

cautious thief

Has invis ring and boots of sneaking. Dual wields with ogre belt.

Cid: lv 5 fighter

got out of the military when his term expired. Saw adventuring as a more lucrative occupation

notable for having no exceptional stats, none are above 15 except chr which is 16.

Ross lv 3 cleric.

I play him as a berserker. Worshiper of Zeus

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stories well... here is a story from my group and what this forum thinks about it.

http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=46209-

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the mages that I play seem to die before they hit mid level :( . Right now I have a 3rd level mage right now. I hope the mage survives

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also while talking with my friend about the standard adventuring items to bring on to every adventure. We came up with the idea of using holy wine as a replacement for holy water. You can use it as burning oil to throw it at people. And you can detect undead by misting them with the stuff, and finaly you can drink it after the adventuring is all over.

Think of the possibilities: throwing holy mollies at mummies. They take the standard damage for holy water AND they take double damage due to being on fire

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Edited by sifer
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Talking about Planescape, I still have to play Torment

Good things are said about that game

Since you did mention D&D video games, I've been playing Neverwinter MMO, since it opened up last year.

I heard it was P2W, though.

Mechanics-wise, how is it compared to the tabletop game (whatever edition it might be based on)?

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I heard it was P2W, though.

Mechanics-wise, how is it compared to the tabletop game (whatever edition it might be based on)?

Pretty sure Neverwinter's 4E.

Personally, I've played DDO, which is fun, if a little grindy. 3.5 based, set in Eberron. I'd recommend it to most people looking for a D&D MMO.

And, off subject, I figured I'd share this homebrew I posted over at Giantitp with you people. 3.5E, for use with a variant rule that I like.

Don't know why I didn't think about it until just now...

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4E? I've always kept my distance from that...

Bloodlines, huh. Wasn't there a 2E setting based on that? Birthright, iirc.

Yeah, but that's more "Rules of succession" than "What sort of supernatural ancestor you had", IIRC.

Anyway, I figure if I can toss together some crunch to represent suitable stuff, I may as well. Since the 3.5 Bloodline rules were better for my goal than feat-chains or PrCs....

Edited by The-Mage-King
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I think there was something about bloodline powers, though.

Anyway, bloodline feats could be another option, too

Less powerful, but easier to design since less need for filler abilities

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Since you did mention D&D video games, I've been playing Neverwinter MMO, since it opened up last year. They've recently revised the PVP aspect of the game, and there's a lot of decent levelling and end game content, with a new expansion set in Icewind Dale about to hit, should be good as I remember playing the old PC game and it was pretty fun.

I've been playing neverwinter, took a break for a long time though I resumed play a little bit ago and finally got my tr up to level 60, I also have a hunter ranger, a control wizard, and a gwf

4E? I've always kept my distance from that...

Bloodlines, huh. Wasn't there a 2E setting based on that? Birthright, iirc.

4e, is different I'm currently running a game with it, I like it, but in a different way from 3.5/pathfinder (the other edition i've played) (i own some sourcebooks from each edition)

Edited by Wintersmith
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I think there was something about bloodline powers, though.

Anyway, bloodline feats could be another option, too

Less powerful, but easier to design since less need for filler abilities

Ehhh... Feats are a limited character resource. XP, which bloodlines use, is significantly less so.

When it comes to applying bonuses and flavor, I prefer to not burn up standard parts of character building for it unless it's the best option.

You only get maybe 7 feats, after all. Why use those resources towards something that potentially doesn't mesh with the rest of your mechanics, when you could hop a little out-of-context for something better, that doesn't have as much impact?

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Reading that some of you guys use versions of 1e and 2e has got me looking them up, and maybe getting kinda lost, haha.

I've only played, like, part of a 3.5e game, am in my first 4e game at the moment, and have played the KOTOR series and a tiny bit of Planescape: Torment on the video game end. I think KOTOR being my first d20 experience kinda made that "the D&D system template" in my head, though actually looking the older versions up these do all seem like almost totally different games (natch).

I've also sorta-played (more like "made a character for") a bit of Rogue Trader, played the muddy, glitched masterpiece that is VtM: Bloodlines, and have a cousin who plays Shadowrun (forget if 3e or 4e). I'm kinda tempted to get the source/handbooks for those, though that'd run up some perhaps-not-insignificant sum of money (because I'd never think of acquiring as disjointed and costly a set of reading material as RPG materials-and-supplements in any illegal way, no sir), and it'd eat up enough of my attention/time reading that it might be less than totally good for me besides

Edited by Rehab
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My rant about the later editions

I rented the later editions of D&D from my local library 3.0 and 4.0. And it seems so different. You have all these skills and in 4.0 I was looking for 10 min. scratching my head thinking to myself: can this fighter even attack, where is the attack for him listed for him in this book? After 10 more min. I realized all these abilities were his attacks. It was all these abilities are his regular “attacks” that made it all cinematic. I don't like it. I just want to plan the ambush and say my fighter start firing his bow from cover then start whaling on the guy and not pick the exact action ability and consult what all these moves do every round while the clerics prebuffed the party the party and the mages in hiding are about to cast some show stopping slows and fireballs( actions are not in order I realized). And what is this “healing surges” about?

I concoct perfectly good plans and lies and I have to roll a dice to see if they believe it? I like the role play in the earlier editions and thing were a lot more simple as “DM can I do this?” “Sure, how though?”.

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I suppose all the structure get me. I like the free roam of the first without all the ability checks you need to make in the later editions as it is assumed your character knows that how to do that if that is germane to your profession and sufficient level. Also it leaves you in the dark about monsters and not to know what they are just by chance of a 20 or 1. A dirty, shambling humanoid approaches the party. A zombie or a villager with a limp that wants help, perhaps a shape shifter in disguise planning treachery? Ask questions and interact to find out.

Edited by sifer
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My rant about the later editions

I rented the later editions of D&D from my local library 3.0 and 4.0. And it seems so different. You have all these skills and in 4.0 I was looking for 10 min. scratching my head thinking to myself: can this fighter even attack, where is the attack for him listed for him in this book? After 10 more min. I realized all these abilities were his attacks. It was all these abilities are his regular “attacks” that made it all cinematic. I don't like it. I just want to plan the ambush and say my fighter start firing his bow from cover then start whaling on the guy and not pick the exact action ability and consult what all these moves do every round while the clerics prebuffed the party the party and the mages in hiding are about to cast some show stopping slows and fireballs( actions are not in order I realized). And what is this “healing surges” about?

I concoct perfectly good plans and lies and I have to roll a dice to see if they believe it? I like the role play in the earlier editions and thing were a lot more simple as “DM can I do this?” “Sure, how though?”.

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I suppose all the structure get me. I like the free roam of the first without all the ability checks you need to make in the later editions as it is assumed your character knows that how to do that if that is germane to your profession and sufficient level. Also it leaves you in the dark about monsters and not to know what they are just by chance of a 20 or 1. A dirty, shambling humanoid approaches the party. A zombie or a villager with a limp that wants help, perhaps a shape shifter in disguise planning treachery? Ask questions and interact to find out.

I really kind of prefer more structure. I mean, if the DM doesn't like a rule, he can change it or drop it. And if he's on the spot, he can just grab a preexisting one.

The Fighter still doesn't have to do that sort of thing- regular attacks are still a thing, and you certainly can plan an ambush.

Thing is, in older editions, mages and clerics probably still did the things they do in the more modern ones. It's just that the fighter lived up to his fluff about being an impenetrable master of warfare. Or at least did so more than in 3.5.

4E, yeah, it was made to balance everyone against each other, probably due to complaints about 3.5. It's more of a tactical wargame than other editions, even the one that was literally a new set of rules for Chainmail.

As for monsters and knowledge, it's more like a 50/50 if you're trained, to see if you remember reading something, or can figure it out from context. You can still learn from asking questions and making interactions, after all, but it's giving a mechanical way to represent a character who should be knowledgeable... Being knowledgeable.

And nothing stops a DM from giving bonuses based on interactions, at least in 3.5- it's actually encouraged to give bonuses based on circumstances. Coming up with a good bluff, or making a compelling argument certainly should count.

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Recently, in our game of Pathfinder, a town was attacked by enemies from the Abyss, for reasons unknown. The invaders came in through mysterious portals, which the party traveled to a large city to research the Abyss and portals. The insane old dwarf barbarian in our party somehow managed to find a book in a library titled "sucky sucky portal". While this was going on, our elf oracle had already gotten herself into a bar fight, which our party's fighter had to rescue her from. While all this was going on, my mentor-knight type cavalier was just standing in the city forum, watching all of this go on, dumbfounded by the stupidity of his companions.

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I really kind of prefer more structure. I mean, if the DM doesn't like a rule, he can change it or drop it. And if he's on the spot, he can just grab a preexisting one.

The Fighter still doesn't have to do that sort of thing- regular attacks are still a thing, and you certainly can plan an ambush.

Thing is, in older editions, mages and clerics probably still did the things they do in the more modern ones. It's just that the fighter lived up to his fluff about being an impenetrable master of warfare. Or at least did so more than in 3.5.

4E, yeah, it was made to balance everyone against each other, probably due to complaints about 3.5. It's more of a tactical wargame than other editions, even the one that was literally a new set of rules for Chainmail.

As for monsters and knowledge, it's more like a 50/50 if you're trained, to see if you remember reading something, or can figure it out from context. You can still learn from asking questions and making interactions, after all, but it's giving a mechanical way to represent a character who should be knowledgeable... Being knowledgeable.

And nothing stops a DM from giving bonuses based on interactions, at least in 3.5- it's actually encouraged to give bonuses based on circumstances. Coming up with a good bluff, or making a compelling argument certainly should count.

Yea, they balanced the classes so there all equal in power. In 1st ed the mages start out with one spell for the day and after that, there done. So one sleep spell that takes down 4d4 hit dice of monsters and after that he just follows the party absorbing exp for that day. But starts cranking up in power after they hit third but fatality rate in 1st ed is much higher than in later editions. "you opened a chest, it was trapped, save vs poison or die!"

I suppose it is fine for monster knowledge, though I recall reading in the 1st ed of the DM book that it actually encouraged metagamng about the monsters. I don't have the book on me though it is something like "After a while the experiences actually simulates in game knowledge". I imagine in the later editions, if a previous party encountered encountered a monster and this one haven’t you can't use their weaknesses.

Interactions are nice, they give strategic info and a very nice diversion from the blind slaughter in the typical dungeon crawls.

Recently, in our game of Pathfinder, a town was attacked by enemies from the Abyss, for reasons unknown. The invaders came in through mysterious portals, which the party traveled to a large city to research the Abyss and portals. The insane old dwarf barbarian in our party somehow managed to find a book in a library titled "sucky sucky portal". While this was going on, our elf oracle had already gotten herself into a bar fight, which our party's fighter had to rescue her from. While all this was going on, my mentor-knight type cavalier was just standing in the city forum, watching all of this go on, dumbfounded by the stupidity of his companions.

Hahaha, that has happened to me before. I have done that before, After my thief did several things in town and I said to them: “guys we should leave, now.” So we left town and the thief provided a different explanation to the party as to what happened and why it wasn't the thief’s fault.

Remember to stock up on holy water to mist anyone you meet to make sure their not shape shifting demons!

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Reading that some of you guys use versions of 1e and 2e has got me looking them up, and maybe getting kinda lost, haha.

I've only played, like, part of a 3.5e game, am in my first 4e game at the moment, and have played the KOTOR series and a tiny bit of Planescape: Torment on the video game end. I think KOTOR being my first d20 experience kinda made that "the D&D system template" in my head, though actually looking the older versions up these do all seem like almost totally different games (natch).

What? 1st edition is simple, fighters fight. clerics heal and are offhand fighters, mages blow anyone up. Thieves try to steal everything they see. None of that build nonsense you see in the later editions also the lack of abilities that were added in to make everything so complicated. Just more action and less consulting the rulebook for the abilities.

Edited by sifer
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Yea, they balanced the classes so there all equal in power. In 1st ed the mages start out with one spell for the day and after that, there done. So one sleep spell that takes down 4d4 hit dice of monsters and after that he just follows the party absorbing exp for that day. But starts cranking up in power after they hit third but fatality rate in 1st ed is much higher than in later editions. "you opened a chest, it was trapped, save vs poison or die!"

...That's about right for 3.5. First level wizards, while able to pump out 2, maybe 3 Sleeps a day, still resort to plunking along with a crossbow. When you hit level 5, of course, is where you realize that a Fighter... Can't actually hit the Wizard, barring a Wizard of his own. Flight and "Lolnoarrows" is truly powerful.

I suppose it is fine for monster knowledge, though I recall reading in the 1st ed of the DM book that it actually encouraged metagamng about the monsters. I don't have the book on me though it is something like "After a while the experiences actually simulates in game knowledge". I imagine in the later editions, if a previous party encountered encountered a monster and this one haven’t you can't use their weaknesses.

Eh... Usually, yeah, I'd say that. However, if this was something like a continuation (For example, the party split enough that only one remained of the original party, with the rest being new?), or a specific anti-monster party? I'd not really give a damn.

Entirely new, though, that'd be a bit of a no-no.

And, of course, particularly iconic creatures, like trolls, and the dragons really should be exempt from requiring checks to find out about weaknesses. Campfire stories, and the like, of course.

Interactions are nice, they give strategic info and a very nice diversion from the blind slaughter in the typical dungeon crawls.

Yeah. Kinda hurts the game a bit if it goes majorly interactions, though, when people were looking for "kick in the door"...

As an aside, have you looked at any of the retroclones, or at D&D Next's playtest? Opinions?

EDIT:

What? 1st edition is simple, fighters fight. clerics heal and are offhand fighters, mages blow anyone up. Thieves try to steal everything they see. None of that build nonsense you see in the later editions also the lack of abilities that were added in to make everything so complicated. Just more action and less consulting the rulebook for the abilities.

As for this, I honestly like the character building part of 3E. More skill, less luck, and it's fun.

'sides. You should have an index card for any sort of ability you have, unless you and the DM know it well enough to summarize quickly.

A straight transcription makes thing much smoother.

Edited by The-Mage-King
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I don't mean "lost" as in "any of the particular editions are so complicated that I can't understand them," I just mean it can be hard to wrap my head around all the differences and what practical effects they have on the game overall, without even counting supplemental materials and revisions. (which have of course been around since before editions, such as they are, became a thing)

Like it's something new to wrap my head around not just why would somebody play the original version over the latest," but "why would somebody prefer to play an edition that came after the first but before the latest? (which one has to go through some comparisons to do)

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