[OOC] Underdogs [a core dnd game][4/4]

[covaithe]

Another mechanics question. If I understand right (not at all certain), Assaq should have threatened a critical hit in round 4 and the first attack in round 5. Since I don't see any crunch for that, I'm guessing he just failed to confirm behind the scenes, or that the owlbear made its save?

 

[doghead]

ooc - Underdogs

You are correct, covaithe. Assaq should have threatened in both round 4 and 5. My apologies, I missed that. For what its worth, I am 5 days away from taking a holiday, and pretty much just hanging in there by my fingernails at the moment.

DEFCON, Mogro is wearing his armour (hence the soak of 10). I figured with the recent events, it would be likely that he would, even if it is something of a nuisance. He doesn't, however, have his horse and lance.

Powerful Charge doesn't seem to be a Core feat. Could you give me the details to look over.

BTW, seeing as Merga has a name, I should probably flesh her out a bit. Any thoughts on what she is like? Any preferences? Covaithe, feel free to chime in as well.

doghead
aka thotd

 

[DEFCON 1]

Whoops! Sorry about the Powerful Charge thing... it's actually from the Eberron Campaign Setting. However, it's such a basic rule feat that I forget that it isn't core. The feat is thus:

- When you Charge, if your melee attack hits, you do an extra 1d8 in damage.

Uusually when I see new feats presented, they tend to be so esoteric or so infrequently useful that I wonder who in their right mind would ever select them. This is one of those feats where I think is almost part of the basic feat set for a warrior, like Power Attack. It is so useful that it makes too much sense not to take it.

 

[doghead]

ooc - Underdogs

DEFCON. My first thought was that perhaps it should be a set value bonus, along the lines of the maximum damage dice and sneak attack. But unlike the attacks limited by the maximum damage dice and sneak attack, PA doesn't escalate with level. Humm.

Lets leave it as is for the moment, but with the option to reconsider down the track. If I do change it, you can have the option to swap the feat for another. How does that sound?

doghead
aka thotd.

 

[DEFCON 1]

That's cool. I always visualize Powerful Charge as like a variable addition to a person's strength on a Charge attack. A guy grips his greataxe and rushes at an opponent... and executes a huge overhead swing as he barrels in. With the added momentum of the charge, the guy's swing becomes even stronger and harder than normal. (Explaining away the extra d8 in damage.)

If you're okay with it, I'm okay with it.

 

[doghead]

ooc - Underdogs

How would you guys feel about adopting E6. The fundamental principle is simple:

- Rules -

Character progression from level 1 to level 6 is as per D&D. Upon attaining 6th level, for each 5000 experience a character gains, they earn a new feat. A diverse selection of feats should be made available in any E6 campaign, however, feats with unattainable prerequisites under this system remain unattainable.

For the purpose of experience awards, treat each 5 feats as +1 CR (or level), to an upper limit of 20 feats. After this, a ratio of 10 feats to 1 CR can be used, as it becomes more and more difficult to bring all a character’s feats to bear in a given situation. Alternatively, and at the GM’s option, player-characters with more than 20 feats can simply be always treated as if they were level 10 for experience and challenge purposes.

You can read more in Rycanada's 'Rules - E6: The Game inside DnD'.

The most immediate impact for your characters would be that they would become more 'senior' members of the Horak-krel. This could be simply handled by advancing their backgrounds a few years - Assaq has become a noted and respected hunter, Mogro has spent many years protecting his krel, and gained some renown for it.

For me, the appeal is simple, it keeps the game in the area that I am most familiar with, and comfortable in - the lower levels. No need to stat up or deal with higher level NPC's and more complex monsters. No need to worry about those high-level spells and their impact on the social and economic assumptions the setting is based on.

The advantage of this for you is I can afford to take a more generous approach to character advancement. I had originally planned to keep levelling fairly slow after 5th, as I noted in the original post.

Anyway, its just a thought. I have no objections to continuing on as we are, and no intentions of changing anything unless you both are happy to do so. If you have any questions, as always, feel free to ask.

Speaking of continuing on, I will be on the road for a couple of days from tomorrow, and probably won't get a chance to post. So feel free to take a break or futz around in the ic thread.

Here are some more* questions as well, to help the time go faster.

1) What sort of adventures (for want of a better term) would you like to have?
2) What does your character dream of doing with his life?
3) Describe the 'perfect death' for your character.

doghead
aka thotd

 

[covaithe]

I wrote most of a long post with thoughts on E6, most of which were vaguely but not conclusively negative, and then deleted it, 'cause it boils down to this: I'd prefer to run with things as they are now for a while first, and maybe revisit the idea later, but I'm willing to be outvoted / overruled.

I'll have a think about the other questions, too.

 

[doghead]

Apologies. Run into connectivity difficulties back home. Hopefully will be able to get on line tonight.

doghead
aka thotd

 

[doghead]

ooc - underdogs

covaithe. No problems with that here. I had not planned on moving to E6 unless the support for it was unanimous and fairly enthusiastic. For a long time I have wondered at people's reluctance to try something new. But of late, I have found myself looking at new recruiting threads and thinking, 'that sounds interesting, but I really don't have the energy to get my head around a new set of rules, fundamental concepts whatever'.

doghead
aka thotd

 

[DEFCON 1]

In regards to the E6 rule thingy... I'd actually be quite psyched if the game actually reached the point where using the E6 rules became a possibility! I've yet to play in an ENWorld PbP game where one of my characters actually went up two levels, let alone the three necessary to move from standard 7th level advancement to the E6 rules in exchange.

So we can certainly table any worries about adopting E6 rules until the point where we actually get our characters up to 5th and 6th levels first.

By the way doghead... we should probably make it clear to anyone who is newly coming into this thread that we are indeed still looking for two more players. Although the thread title itself indicates we only have 2 of 4... none of our most recent posts would seem to indicate that yes, we are still taking applications. We should make that abundantly clear because no one has offered up new character ideas since the game itself started.