Jemals school of hard knocks - Page 17

Arkhandus · 19th June 2009, 02:20 AM

My DMing habits in that regard are similar to Jemal's. I fudge only to prevent an undeserved TPK (total party kill), to prevent a seriously pathetic (and not in a funny way) PC death. If we can laugh about what happened, I don't fudge it, but a seriously anti-fun and nondramatic PC death has occasionally goaded me to fudge in their favor, leaving the PC near-dead or fudging an enemy's critical hit confirmation roll into a failure.

If not for that, PCs' bad luck and poor planning in some sessions would have given me a TPK tally of 3-4 TPKs by now. I've never fudged a PC death that was dramatic/heroic, and never fudge when the PC(s) got himself/herself/themselves killed with their own mistakes.

Just this weekend, I almost got a TPK. But the sorceress fled as things went downhill, and the fighter managed to escape because I fudged an enemy monk's lethal flurry against the dragon shaman into a nonlethal flurry, with the monk dragging the dragon shaman inside afterward, at which time the fighter got up from playing dead and ran off (the dragon shaman's aura barely raised the fighter from -2 to 1 HP before the DS got beaten down). Next week is the fighter's and sorceress' rescue attempt, with the aid of NPCs. Had I not fudged the monk's attack into nonlethal damage, he would have already finished off or dragged the seemingly-unconscious fighter inside, cutting off his escape.

With my minor bit of DM's Fiat, I allowed 3 PCs to survive instead of just 1 (and she only got away because the monk was busy beating down the dragon shaman), although 1 of those needs to be rescued first. The PCs could have won the encounter, but seriously screwed up in their planning and execution of the assault.

Andor · 19th June 2009, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arkhandus

Just this weekend, I almost got a TPK. But the sorceress fled as things went downhill, and the fighter managed to escape because I fudged an enemy monk's lethal flurry against the dragon shaman into a nonlethal flurry, with the monk dragging the dragon shaman inside afterward, at which time the fighter got up from playing dead and ran off (the dragon shaman's aura barely raised the fighter from -2 to 1 HP before the DS got beaten down). Next week is the fighter's and sorceress' rescue attempt, with the aid of NPCs. Had I not fudged the monk's attack into nonlethal damage, he would have already finished off or dragged the seemingly-unconscious fighter inside, cutting off his escape.

A flurry? Against a dragon shaman? Did he not have his energy aura up? Lots of small attacks against a dragon shaman are a good way to kill yourself.

ishalleatyourflesh · 19th June 2009, 03:53 AM

i think i finally figured out what i'm going to do with aussir besides have him think he's a baby white dragon, i'm going to turn him in to a metal humming bird!
going to take most of his feats thou... and a bit of cash... dragon wings, reinforced wings, improved wings, improved flight, that item from dragonomicron that improves flight maneuverability. when he gets reinforced wings he's going to be looking to upgrade to breast plate then mithral full plate when he can afford it. giving him ac 27 before magic and perfect fly speed. goina cost a lot thou... with dragon breath gives him one more feat which i'm thinking fly by attack

i forgot the 24 str... before magic i'll be able to fly carreing 349 pounds and yes thats including the 3/4 carreing capacity of small critters but not any magic or inherent str enhancments
it's not a very powerful build but it should be fun as hell.

just hit me i still have no clue as to the classes i want to take...

Rhun · 19th June 2009, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ishalleatyourflesh

i think i finally figured out what i'm going to do with aussir besides have him think he's a baby white dragon, i'm going to turn him in to a metal humming bird!

That's an interest concept for him.

Myth and Legend · 19th June 2009, 11:08 AM

*steps in* uh-oh, since i don't want to spam 6 or so threads with my personal stuff, i want to let my co-players and DMs know i will be away until Monday. Thanks

GlassEye · 19th June 2009, 03:22 PM

Any ideas for the initial arena groups? Right now the six of us present have two fighters and Jamien has suggested himself, Aussir, and 'the Wizard' which could be Coravin or Amaya (but I suspect he means Amaya). This puts both front-line fighter types in the same group. Not a problem if Keizaan and Terrance catch up or Andor's character gets introduced but otherwise would leave a wizard, the artificer, and a bard/druid in the other group.

Rhun · 19th June 2009, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myth and Legend

*steps in* uh-oh, since i don't want to spam 6 or so threads with my personal stuff, i want to let my co-players and DMs know i will be away until Monday. Thanks

Generally you can just post a single AFK thread in Talking the Talk informing everyone that you are away. Some people won't see it, but a few will, and they can spread the word.

I always try to point out that most games won't notice a 2-3 day absence anyway.

With that said, hope you are doing something fun!

Rhun · 19th June 2009, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlassEye

Any ideas for the initial arena groups? Right now the six of us present have two fighters and Jamien has suggested himself, Aussir, and 'the Wizard' which could be Coravin or Amaya (but I suspect he means Amaya). This puts both front-line fighter types in the same group. Not a problem if Keizaan and Terrance catch up or Andor's character gets introduced but otherwise would leave a wizard, the artificer, and a bard/druid in the other group.

Definitely should have a front-line fighter and arcane caster in each group. Do we only have a single cleric?

Theroc · 19th June 2009, 04:25 PM

As far as I know, we've 2 Frontliners; Jamien and Aussir, one midliner; Keizaan, and everyone else isn't supposed to be getting directly attacked. Though, I've no clue what Andor is playing(haven't looked myself), so that might change things a bit.

ishalleatyourflesh · 19th June 2009, 04:35 PM

truth be told i'm not sure if aussir could take nettle, i've got more ac but nettle has more hp all fighter types here have ac 19 but i have the least hp of the fighters (12), Hey jemal!(happy sickly sweet voice) for my classes i was wondering if you could make me a specialist fighter class, a fighter really, but with access to different bonus feats? because reall i got no clue what i want to take after 2nd and 4th lv koblod fighter fIghter seems like the only choice for me out of the sources i got? but i really don't see what fighter feats he wants besides mayby power attack. or maybe dragon hit dice? ya some dragon hit dice!

GlassEye · 19th June 2009, 05:03 PM

Terrance is the only cleric; Cal has a very minor amount of healing ability (1 CLW atm). Andor's pc, Lionel, is a knight/dragon shaman and should be a good front-line fighter.

Andor · 19th June 2009, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlassEye

Terrance is the only cleric; Cal has a very minor amount of healing ability (1 CLW atm). Andor's pc, Lionel, is a knight/dragon shaman and should be a good front-line fighter.

That's how he's built. I had a PC similar in build before and he was both very effective and an absolute blast to play.

Although speaking of custom options I have a request about the "Always a class skill" knowlege skill.

I picked Knowledge Nobility because it matched his background, but I wonder if it could change now that he is at school and has new options opening up to him? It'll eat up all his skill points for a couple of levels to catch up to the 'always maxed' rule, but that's ok. I think his focus would be on other prime material planes, I'm not sure if that would be knowledge: the Planes, or Local.