Discussion - General Discussion Thread '09

Scott DeWar · Mar 31, 2009

and incaase you have not seen it, invisiblecastle.com is the dice roller used here.

orsal · Mar 31, 2009

Theroc said:
I'm new to this site and to D&D, but was interesting in getting started here to get more of a feel for D&D, as well as to pass the time. When looking at the stickies I was directed to, I came across a few questions:

Welcome!

Theroc said:
When I post my character to be approved, do I Email ALL of the judges about my character? Or do I pick a few at random?

All of the *character* judges. There are five of us, and we're listed in the first page of the Character list. There's a longer list of judges who judge adventures and decide rules, but it's only the five of us who do characters. Also, two of us need to approve the character before you can adventure, so you'll want to get whichever judges are the first two to look at it -- if you decide only to email a couple, and those ones are the busiest that week, you could be waiting a long time.

Theroc said:
Also, whenever ANYTHING about my character changes on my character sheet, do I email judges again to reapprove, or does this only occur upon levelling up?

Only when you gain a level. We're busy enough as it is without having to look over a character sheet every time someone finds a little treasure.

Theroc said:
Besides the SRD and homebrew content, what source materials are available?(And if there are any online sources I could view, directions to them would be awesome)

All material not in the SRD has to be approved. Material already approved should be listed in the Rules and Mechanics thread.

Also, a caveat about the SRD: Most of us like to use the hyperlinked SRDs at The Hypertext d20 SRD (v3.5 d20 System Reference Document) :: d20srd.org or System Reference Document v3.5. That's fine, but you should know that they both include some material that is not in the official SRD. In the former version, it's listed under "Variant Rules", and in the latter, under "Unearthed Arcana". Much of this stuff has been approved for LEW, but on a case-by-case basis. So if you see something in those particular sections, it's only good for LEW if it's also listed in the Rules and Mechanics thread. Of course, if you see something you'd like to use that isn't approved yet, you can always propose it, provided it isn't proprietary. Any of the material in the above SRDs is open-source, so we could allow it in LEW if we decide to.

Theroc said:
Edit: Also, how do I alter my information to make my email visible so that I may begin my efforts to make a character? Or did I already do that?

I'm not sure what you mean by that. You don't need to change any settings to post a character. You just post to the Character thread, and then email the character judges to take it from there.

Theroc · Mar 31, 2009

orsal said:
.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. You don't need to change any settings to post a character. You just post to the Character thread, and then email the character judges to take it from there.

From "A Guide to living EN World"
In order to get started, a member needs to set their settings on the message board so that an active email address is available to other participants in the game. This can be done by going to the User Control Panel -> Settings -> and then selecting to accept emails from other board members. This is necessary so that relevant emails can be sent to your address readily.

I didn't quite understand why the PM system couldn't be used, especially in my situation as it's easier for me to check the PM box here than use my email(~kicks Outlook Express~) and I check my PM's on forums more than my emails anyway, but I wanted to follow the rules/guides so I could participate without being a headache.

Another question, this time about prestige classes:
I'm thinking this is a no, but in the hypertext D20 SRD, I saw a variant rule about prestige classes regarding In Character assessments rather than statistical values. Is this possible? If not, could the situation be played once the player meets the right requirements? (I dislike the discontinuity of just 'levelling into' a new class without playing out how it happened)

Knight Otu · Mar 31, 2009

Theroc said:
I didn't quite understand why the PM system couldn't be used, especially in my situation as it's easier for me to check the PM box here than use my email(~kicks Outlook Express~) and I check my PM's on forums more than my emails anyway, but I wanted to follow the rules/guides so I could participate without being a headache.

The problem here is that Private Messages aren't readily available to all board members, unfortunately. IIRC, currently board members that aren't community supporters can only PM moderators.
Anyway, currently, you can set that in the My Account link above, following Edit Your Options, and check Accept Email from Other Members.

orsal · Mar 31, 2009

Theroc said:
Another question, this time about prestige classes:
I'm thinking this is a no, but in the hypertext D20 SRD, I saw a variant rule about prestige classes regarding In Character assessments rather than statistical values. Is this possible? If not, could the situation be played once the player meets the right requirements? (I dislike the discontinuity of just 'levelling into' a new class without playing out how it happened)

Are you thinking of Test-based prerequisites That's not a LEW rule, and while you can always propose it, I'd oppose it, because I think less-rigorously defined prerequisites don't work well in a campaign that doesn't have a single absolute DM authority.

However, if your character is about to meet the prerequisites for some PrC, and you'd like to role-play in-character qualification, you can always post a request for a DM to design and run a vignette for that. Nobody's obliged to do that, but we have had some adventures designed to fit PCs character development plans before.

Theroc · Apr 1, 2009

orsal said:
Are you thinking of Test-based prerequisites That's not a LEW rule, and while you can always propose it, I'd oppose it, because I think less-rigorously defined prerequisites don't work well in a campaign that doesn't have a single absolute DM authority.

However, if your character is about to meet the prerequisites for some PrC, and you'd like to role-play in-character qualification, you can always post a request for a DM to design and run a vignette for that. Nobody's obliged to do that, but we have had some adventures designed to fit PCs character development plans before.

Yes, that's what I meant. I always thought the idea of suddenly gaining levels in a prestigious class you'd never heard of made no sense, so the idea of a 'mini adventure' dedicated to playing out how the character was introduced to it struck me as ideal. So, if it comes to the time I'm awesome enough to take one, I'll see if I could get a DM to look into it.

Thanks muchly.

Theroc · Apr 1, 2009

Apologies if doubleposting is prohibited, but I've seen no rule against it, and have seen other members do so as well.

Had a couple more questions... yeah, I'm full of them.

What Racial Paragon classes from the Variant Rules in the SRD are available, besides human and half-elf? The Wiki didn't explain, and the class starting scores simply listed Paragon (Other). Is it all of them?

Also, what is the maximum level achievable in EN-worlds? I'd like to know that before I make a complex build strategy only to discover I can't achieve it. I do realize that higher level builds would likely take years to achieve though.

Scott DeWar · Apr 1, 2009

I have seen level 12 characters ,but never a listed cap on levels. it just might be 20.

orsal · Apr 1, 2009

Theroc said:
What Racial Paragon classes from the Variant Rules in the SRD are available, besides human and half-elf? The Wiki didn't explain, and the class starting scores simply listed Paragon (Other). Is it all of them?

All of them -- they were approved as a single proposal.

Theroc said:
Also, what is the maximum level achievable in EN-worlds? I'd like to know that before I make a complex build strategy only to discover I can't achieve it. I do realize that higher level builds would likely take years to achieve though.

The sky's the limit. Epic level rules are part of the SRD, and therefore part of our ruleset. At the pace of PbP, expect at least 10 years from character creation -- if you're lucky, and don't get stuck in any adventures getting bogged down -- before you reach that level. The most advanced PCs have about 1 level per 6 months since LEW was created.

Theroc · Apr 1, 2009

On the character application, there were a few abbreviations and things I had questions on.

Firstly, what is ACP? Are those actions points? Or Armor Check Penalty? I'm thinking the latter.

Do I put N/A for arcane failure chances on a character who does not cast arcane spells?

What is Spellsave? I am not familiar with it...

Abilities on the chart means special abilities granted by race, correct?

For skills, do I list all skills, or only those which I've placed skill points into?