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Graf · Sep 24, 2008

The magic items thing actually brings up another issue. If people level their characters with DM creidts they probably won't get much in the way of magic gear (i.e. if they get to 5th or 6th they get some basic +1 items per Ere's table but that's a lot of DM credits (several years at least)).

On one hand I like that, because it rewards characters who've been "played up", on the other hand, of course, they shouldn't be penalized too heavily.

[d]--[/d]

I'm not sure we can think about magic item balance in isolation. And my instinct is that we should wait a bit and see how things play out.

If we get a situation where some groups have more generous DMs and then those characters can "sell" their items at full value and continue to have more and more wealth.... it could produce a "blessed class" of PCs who have gear that vastly outstrips that of their companions (or normal characters their level); DMs may be leery of handing out stuff to move everyone up off the curve.

We've agreed to go with an "natural" system with minor upgrades, but I'm not sure that that consensus would hold if we started to see a small class of characters who were way above the "power curve".

KenHood · Sep 24, 2008

Graf said:
...but I'm not sure that that consensus would hold if we started to see a small class of characters who were way above the "power curve".

I can honestly say that I don't have a problem with this.

As long as it's my character that's way above the power curve.

:devil:

Voda Vosa · Sep 24, 2008

Totally agree with this: we should wait a bit and see how things play out.
I think we are way too far to discuss this now.

garyh · Sep 24, 2008

Graf said:
We have a monster filled pirate bar on another island connected by a portal; this would be eminently less of a stretch

Monster pirates are never a stretch!

Graf said:
The magic items thing actually brings up another issue. If people level their characters with DM creidts they probably won't get much in the way of magic gear (i.e. if they get to 5th or 6th they get some basic +1 items per Ere's table but that's a lot of DM credits (several years at least)).

On one hand I like that, because it rewards characters who've been "played up", on the other hand, of course, they shouldn't be penalized too heavily.

[d]--[/d]

I'm not sure we can think about magic item balance in isolation. And my instinct is that we should wait a bit and see how things play out.

If we get a situation where some groups have more generous DMs and then those characters can "sell" their items at full value and continue to have more and more wealth.... it could produce a "blessed class" of PCs who have gear that vastly outstrips that of their companions (or normal characters their level); DMs may be leery of handing out stuff to move everyone up off the curve.

We've agreed to go with an "natural" system with minor upgrades, but I'm not sure that that consensus would hold if we started to see a small class of characters who were way above the "power curve".

This is another tangent, but my impression was that typically folks swap groups and DM's between living games. I suppose if a DM was really generous, their players would stick to them for more swag, but really, how likely is that? This is particularly directed at our LEW/LEB colleagues.

garyh · Sep 24, 2008

Voda Vosa said:
Totally agree with this: we should wait a bit and see how things play out.
I think we are way too far to discuss this now.

Okay, but no ones taking Hrav's potion of healing from him!

Voda Vosa · Sep 24, 2008

I bet he doesn't sleep at nights just to rub his potions against his face and tell it romantic poems.

Dunamin · Sep 24, 2008

It struck me that it might be a good idea if the Aura field in the summary of character sheets were put to use by Elves, Half-Elves, Warlords, and others who continously impart effects within a set radius (through a paragon path feature or whatever).

So if you're playing any of the above choices you could note:

Elf
Group Awareness You grant non-elf allies within 5 squares of you a +1 racial bonus to Perception checks.

Half-elf
Group Diplomacy You grant allies within 10 squares of you a +1 racial bonus to Diplomacy checks.

Warlord
Combat Leader You and each ally within 10 squares who can see and hear you gain +2 power bonus to initiative.

I can imagine that having these inclusions in the summary would help prevent instances of DMs forgetting to add Perception bonuses from parties with an elf.

I think the reason many players miss this is because the recommended sample character, Callen Stewart, has deleted unused lines in the summary section.
It would be more prudent to simply leave blank unused fields, but keep the code lines. So if you don't use regeneration, for instance, just delete

[regeneration details]

from where the template says

|Regeneration=[regeneration details]

The regeneration line will disappear from your sheet but it will still be there in the code, if you need to fill it in later because of an epic destiny feature or the like.

covaithe · Sep 24, 2008

garyh said:
This is another tangent, but my impression was that typically folks swap groups and DM's between living games. I suppose if a DM was really generous, their players would stick to them for more swag, but really, how likely is that? This is particularly directed at our LEW/LEB colleagues.

Fairly likely, actually, though not because of generosity with the items. If you chance on a good group that works well together and has some roleplaying chemistry, and the DM isn't burned out by the time they wrap up their adventure, it's pretty common for them to propose a followup adventure for the same characters, or even a series of them. There might be one or two players who drop out and are replaced, but there are several LEW adventuring groups that have had more or less the same membership, and the same DM, for years. I know Halford has hinted that his adventure here is the beginning of a series, and if his players all stick around and want to continue, they might be ~~stuck~~ with him for a long time.

Halford · Sep 24, 2008

I don't know that I have hinted so much as, umm, said that Ebon Mirror is designed to be a series. I know that I am tailoring my vague higher level ideas to my PCs already, which given the party make up will likely see us passing through a certain war torn continent. Though of course I will be ensuring I also favor the non Gith PCs with plots important to their characters, etc. However, if PCs wish to move on to other games it would not be problematic in the least, attrition is not exactly unheard of in PBP though it seems to be more of a person disappears from the boards than from one game specifically deally.

As far as magic items go I am inclined to think we should start up a cycle system. Note, the following is spitballing and by no means a proposal as yet. We could use the DMG tables and allow characters to either choose or cycle through items. So either you have four selections and may choose whether your character recieves a fifth, fourth, third, or second level items. You would then loose the slot corresponding to the item level you chose at 2nd level. This system seems to balance out, to my inexperienced eye at least. So possible permutations would be...

Instant Gratification: 5,5,5,5
Patient: 2,4,6,8
Middleman: 3,5,7,5
etc.

It would be fairly easy for DMs to check with players what their choice was for that level and adjust their treasure hauls accordingly.

Or we could set up a mandatory item level for all PCs. All 1st level PCs recieve a 4th level item, all 2nd level PCs a 6th level item, all 3rd a 4th level item, and all 4th a 6th level item.

Or we could have each PC randomly roll a d4 which would determine which item level they begin at. Roll a 1 you get a level two item at 1st and a level four item at 2nd, etc.

While none of these are perfect and all require DMs to plan their treasure hand outs rather rigorously, but they would in theory balance all the PCs. Since DMs would be taking care of this off stage it need not smack of artificiality.

Thoughts?

Oh and as for the other Living worlds and continueing in adventures I agree it seems fairly likely that many groups will stay together. I know I intend to ~~force~~ persuade covaithe to keep DMing Erf, Gildrim, and Ter-raen's adventures.

On yet another note is there any information on the five not contained in the wiki?

covaithe · Sep 24, 2008

So, what, you find a +2 amulet of whatever and have to choose between giving up your +1 sword or your +1 shield to wear it? Ugh.

I'm falling into the "let's wait and see" camp, I think.