[OOC Discussion] A Call for Lovers (DM: jbear Judge??)

[Son of Meepo]

I took the Mark of Storm feat because I might as well add to my forced movement some more.

For my boon I took Gift of Rain. It had a more gentle weather theme and the emergency healing might help the group.

 

[Neil1889]

Hmm ... buying boons... Not that keen to be honest. I would rather that you put a boon on your wishlist that you want and then it can be built into the story.

That being said, the final reward should be able to get you at least one very good boon. I am not even sure if in the core rules you can have more than one boon. Anyone know?

I think that officially they are unlimited, but I wouldn't allow more than one in my tabletop and I'd disallow purchasing, except for upgrading (big sacrifice to the deity time!).

This L4W proposal thread may prove interesting to you. I think it made a good decision.

 

[Neil1889]

For my boon I took Gift of Rain.

"You are most deserving of it."

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I took the Mark of Storm feat because I might as well add to my forced movement some more.

I'm torn between Mark of Healing for the free-save-with-every-heal, or Mark of Passage for the bonus shifting. Either way, I think it will have to wait until next level.

For my boon I took Gift of Rain. It had a more gentle weather theme and the emergency healing might help the group.

Good choice. I took and retrained into more healing powers as well, but having all the group's healing eggs in one proverbial basket (Sabynha), is a road that leads to TPK.

For the record, in addition to the two per-encounter heals from Skald's Aura, I also have another range 5 per-encounter heal in Revitalizing Incantation that also gives a surge worth of THPs (nice), and I retrained my level 2 utility for Inspiring Fortitude. It's on my sheet but in short a daily that triggers off my second wind that also hands out 13 THP to all allies within 5 for something I occasionally do anyway seems ok.

I also retrained out Unicorn's Charge, since I don't know if anyone has a decent enough MBA to use with it, it cost a Standard, which means no benefit from Skald's Aura at-will for that round. My encounters and level 5 daily are now interrupts that can turn a miss into a hit (Rhyme of the Blood-seeking Blade) once per encounter, or a daily that gives me and an ally the chance to take down or debuff an enemy as an interrupt with a +1 to hit (Arrow of Warning).

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I think that officially they are unlimited, but I wouldn't allow more than one in my tabletop and I'd disallow purchasing, except for upgrading (big sacrifice to the deity time!).

This L4W proposal thread may prove interesting to you. I think it made a good decision.

The idea with boons is that they're intended to replace magic items in a game as a way to give the benefits of magic (which is expected in 4e design) to characters in low-magic campaigns. That said, if used in conjunction with magic, they would just replace magic items in parcels on a 1-for-1 basis, and I see few issues with buying them as a measure of character power. There are some small stacking issues that could potentially arise (getting multiple bonuses in areas intended for one slot; i.e. multiple movement based powers by stacking boons with boots), but I think are actually pretty minor in practise. As long as gaining boons still count as treasure awarded, I don't think it is a big deal myself (having used both in games for several years now).

For flavour reasons, I entirely understand limiting the purchase of boons, and agree. If an agreeable arrangement for RPing the acquisition could be worked out between player and DM, it's less problematic, obviously.

My 2 cents.

EDIT: Just read the linked thread on boons, and I do see the abuse potential now. Walking around with a dozen cheap boons could be a bad thing, but limiting it to one slot only seems a little limiting.

I guess I've put in a nickel's worth now

 

[jbear]

Thanks for the link to the discussion thread.

My leaning is more for flavour reasons. Even at my table top game magic items are rarely rarely found in shops, and then there is a selection that matches the flavour of the shop. They are treasure hoard rewards for me. My players are all historically non-gamers, so I pick and choose what would be cool items for them. Then again, I think magic items are one of the weakest elements of 4e, so when PCs get treasure they tend to be cooler and less limited than 'legal' 4e treasure items.

But for ease of workload I am happy to fulfil players wishlists as per the norms of L4W and allow whole scale buying of desired treasure as in this interim adventure situation. Saves me time and energy. If you want to RP how you came about such treasure of course, well that would be just lovely (but not necessary if that is uninspiring to you).

I think I am good with limiting boons to non-purchasable, in-game rewards that make sense in the context of the adventure. That way there is no abuse, but the restriction is not exactly to one boon; and receiving them replaces receiving another magic item so all PCs are at similar treasure levels.

 

[Neil1889]

I think I am good with limiting boons to non-purchasable, in-game rewards that make sense in the context of the adventure. That way there is no abuse, but the restriction is not exactly to one boon; and receiving them replaces receiving another magic item so all PCs are at similar treasure levels.

Works for me.

I'm umming and ahhing about my boon a little. Yes, there is the one I've had on the wishlist for an age*, but then I can see another that sounds cool but would take some research.

*Boon: Apoli's* Sun Blessing (Pelor's*) - Level 3 or higher. I'll probably still go with it (plus more emergency healing), but I'm going to have a play around.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I hate to be "that guy" but does anyone's character have 500 gold that they could spot Sabynha? XD

 

[Son of Meepo]

Wat can give you 500.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Wat can give you 500.

Hey, that's great! Thank you. Maybe we can add that into the story; he can buy her a nice trinket