Savage Tide PCs

Well, I asked for the PCs my party would be playing tomorrow, and I got them.

Oh, boy.

LN Human Scout, CN Human Rogue (brother and sister)
CG Human Swashbuckler
NG Human Ranger
CG Human Cleric (Kord)
LG Human Wizard

This will likely be interesting.

I've added a file with their stats (as much as they've given me), plus the histories of the PCs as created by the players. There are a couple of house rules I'm using, but it's mostly core plus.

The more I see of Savage Tide, the more I like it. It exemplifies the type of D&D I like to DM: some roleplaying, some dungeoncrawling, some wilderness play. It has NPCs that recur. It doesn't have too many undead. Now to see if I can give it justice as a DM.

The stats the PCs have were rolled, and had a lot of variation.

From Rob's: 16, 15, 15, 14, 14, 11
To Peggy's: 18, 17, 15, 11, 10, 9
To Martin's: 16, 14, 13, 10, 9, 9
To Craig's: 14, 14, 12, 11, 9, 9

Poor Craig has the worst set of stats, but I doubt they make his PC unplayable... although it might be doomed.

I note with some interest that they're *all* playing humans. IMO, human is the best race in 3.5e by a long way. You might occasionally want to play another race for a specific reason, but human is generally the best; and I like it that way.

The reaction to the complexity of high-level spellcasters in Age of Worms has manifested itself in the class choices: all the spellcasters of the previous campaign are now playing non-spellcasters (Peggy, Craig, Rob). Martin's still tossing up whether he wants to go into the Ultimate Magus prestige class or not. (I wouldn't, myself. I dislike any Prestige class that slows down spell acquisition, and UM is really bad because you never hit 9th level spells).

I note with very much amusement that only Rich's cleric has medium armour. Everyone else is wandering around with light armour and good movement speeds. (Yes, the gear lists in the attached file are incomplete).

Each PC gained a bonus feat from either the Savage Tide player's guide or the Greyhawk Regional feats from a few Dragons ago. Quite a few Dragons ago.

I'm looking forward to the byplay between Peggy and Bradford: they're playing the LN brother and CN sister, and they're probably the two strongest role-players in the group. If I give them an inch, they should be very amusing - and given their maturity as players, not disruptive. (Both players are older than me, and I'm almost 35).

In a couple more weeks, I'll also start the Shackled City AP, for a different group (although Rob's in both). Heh. See how that goes!

Cheers!

Smart choice on the lack of heavy armour. There's a LOT of water in Savage Tide!

***SOME SPOILERS BELOW***




I think you have a really good looking group for the Savage Tide. Right now, im running a group through the AP (currently on the Lightless Depths - module 6) that consists of a human monk 11, halfling rogue 8 / scarlet corsair 3, wild elf druid 11, a human barbarian 11 and a cohort sorcerer 9.

I think your players are really going to enjoy how their characters play out in the AP, especially in the first 3 modules. However, despite the lack of undead in the AP, there are still a number of the big boss monsters in the AP are immune to being flanked and/or to critical hits. Having two characters with sneak / skirmish (your rogue and scout) may result in them feeling a little ineffective during these fights. Go take a look at the Mother of All in the Sea Wyvern's Wake, the Lemorian Golem in Here there Be Monsters and Khala in City of Broken Idols. These baddies are really tough and your party doesn't have a big front line tank to hold the line and deal damage against them.

On the other side of the coin, having a number of light fighters and rogues means that they will play brilliantly in the more piratical aspects of the AP - especially the voyage to the Isle of Dread and in defending Farshore from the Crimson Fleet. Moreover, because there are so many evil pirates to fight, there is some pretty sweet loot to be earned for light fighters and rogues (lots of keen rapiers). So maybe it will balance out.

Just some thoughts. You're going to have a blast in this AP.

I have been running Savage Tide as my secondary campaign, the players are liking it. I find the meta plot to be a bit loose, the machinations of the Queen of Succubi are so subtle, even I as a DM can hardly see them. That said, my huge group of evil players are moving at a glacial pace. 8 or 9 sessions and we have just got to the Pirate caves, for every move forward the group takes, they spend 3x that amount backstabing and betraying.

My group is:
Human Barbarian-CE
Human Dragon Shaman-Green-NE....water breathing (nice)
Human Warmage-LE....a male eunuch character played by a female character.
Human Rogue-NE (?)....a master of disguise, very funny.
Human Bard-NE.....EVIL BARDS ARE POWERFUL. Not in a blow you up way, but in a Palpatine manipulate behind the scenes way. The Bluff/Diplomacy master.
Human Knight-LE or LN
Drakha Unfettered/Drakha Racial levels-NE

My main campaign has 1 human character, like Merric's my Savage Tide campaign is homosapien friendly.

Looks like a solid group with the potential for some interesting dynamics.

My two cents worth....

If the player playing the cleric got shoehorned into the medic role, consider a druid.

Given the sheer number of animals and the environs of the Isle of Dread, a solid druid build is 'da bomb' for a large portion of the AP, particularly from the Sea Wyvern's Wake up to and including Serpents of Scuttlecove (I thought Serpents would have the druid taking a less demanding role due to to the urban nature of the adventure but there is certain charm to scouting and trailing suspects wild shaped as a seagull, because a druid as a seagull in a port city filled with seagulls everywhere is more 'invisible' than the rogue character skulking around). Certainly, for our group, the druid has been MVP for quite a number of adventures, particularly on the Isle of Dread.

We've made it to SWW with a Scout, Warlock/Marshal, Rogue/Fighter, and a Fighter. Upon looking back, I think the optimal group for this adventure would be something like:

Duskblade, Crusader, Cleric, and Scout. Lots of healing, lots of healing. I think that's covered.

Your group looks pretty solid, though I'd echo the Cleric -> Druid sentiment; especially with the Shapechange variant from PHB2.

-TRRW