recruiting players for a mid-level steampunk campaign

[Necro_Kinder]

OK, I'm kinda new to lycanthropes. What items transform with me? as I understand it, none. Is there a way to fix this?

 

[Ambrus]

So who's playing and when do we start?

 

[dave_o]

So who's playing and when do we start?

I'm in, just need to do a bit of shopping for Brick-Knuckle (and that'll have to wait until this evening when I get off work).

 

[Rathan]

I got about 3K more to spend..... anyone wanna look over my chara and make suggestions?...... as for me.. I'm still in and ready to go once mah money is spent....

NPC Lord.... can my other 3K be spent on upgrades to my crusher maybe?.. making it easier to control.... mods to attack and damage possibly.... making it faster perhaps.. stronger??.... do you have rules and/or items for this?

 

[Ambrus]

anyone wanna look over my chara and make suggestions?

Lessee... A goblin's speed should be 30 rather than 20. By my count you've also got one unspent ability point. It seems your Will save and Grapple modifier totals are likewise off by one each.

One thing that also strikes me as odd about your character is that, for a magitech-based character, he seems to be rather lacking in the magic department. Maybe I misunderstood NPC's intent, but I thought that some type of arcane power is needed to create magitech devices.

I also know that NPC Lord didn't respond to your question about which classes have Knowledge (Steamworks & Magitech) as a class skill, but since Rogues have access to no knowledges besides Knowledge (local) I pretty much figured that it'd be cross-class for them too. Since only wizards and bards have access to Knowledge (architecture & engineering) (the skill most superficially similar to Steamworks & Magitech in my opinion) I figured they, as arcane spellcasters, would be the only classes to likewise have access to this new skill. Again, maybe NPC Lord can clear this matter up for us.

 

[Rathan]

well.... Grump may not have the ability to CREATE them... he has the ability to repair and use one.... this will mean one of two things... he'll either BUY another... or steal it.. one way or the other.. heh... hmmm.. I will look over spending that ability point and grapple mod and such.... but seeing as I asked NPC Lord about those being class skills for a rogue.. I THOUGHT he said yes... I could have been wrong though..... if so that would seriously damper my chara and would have to remake him into a mage... which would also such as I'd loose all the neat little skills I planned to use for this guy..... all in all if this goes sour and the rogue can't be used for the magitech... it's really gonna suck

 

[Land Outcast]

Well, if the options are "have them as class skills or suck mechanically"*, I think it'd be sensible for him to just have them as class skills (just IMHO, NPC_Lord is the DM). If rationalization is needed, I'd go for it in a background justifying his knowledge.

*a PC never sucks in the roleplaying department because of mechanics, although mechanics do have an important paper on determining its roleplaying.

 

[Ambrus]

He can also simply buy the skill cross-class. With a decent Intelligence score and some masterwork tools he'd still have a respectable skill check total.

Oh, and it looks like Grump is lacking the exotic weapon proficiency to use his pistol.

 

[Necro_Kinder]

Would a neckalce of natural attacks transform with me, or would i have to put it on after i transformed?

 

[Ambrus]

Heh. The issue of gear in regards to the Alternate form special ability is rather muddled nowadays. In short, your werebear would get to keep the necklace in both forms since he has a neck around which to wear it. As for your other equipment, here's what the most recent errata has to say on the subject:

Any gear worn or carried by the creature that can’t be worn or carried in its new form instead falls to the ground in its space. If the creature changes size, any gear it wears or carries that can be worn or carried in its new form changes size to match the new size. (Nonhumanoid-shaped creatures can’t wear armor designed for humanoid-shaped creatures, and viceversa.) Gear returns to normal size if dropped.

Unfortunately some of it is contradicted by what Skip Williams says in his Rule of the Game article intended to clarify it:

When a creature changes form, any equipment it has either remains worn or held by the new form (if that form is capable of wearing or holding the item), or melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. The DM must decide if the new form can handle the equipment. This is best decided on a case by case basis; however, Rules of the Game has previously suggested that one can divide creatures into types that have basically humanoid shapes and those that do not, as follows.

In this case, "humanoid" refers to a creature that walks upright on two legs, and has two arms, a head, and a torso. A humanoid might have a few extra limbs, such as an extra pair of arms, a pair of wings or a tail (or perhaps wings and a tail). The suggestions presented here are intended as general guidelines only. For example, most outsiders have generally humanoid bodies, but not all of them do. Likewise, some animals have bodies that fit the humanoid plan.

As a rule of thumb, a change from a form that has a humanoid shape to another form that also has a humanoid shape leaves all equipment in place and functioning. The creature's equipment changes to match the assumed form. It becomes the appropriate size for the assumed form and it fits the assumed form at least as well as it fit the original form. The being can change minor details in its equipment, such as color, surface texture, and decoration.

When a subject changes from a form with a humanoid shape to a form with a nonhumanoid shape (or vice versa) any equipment that can't be worn by the new form falls off at the subject's feet. (The druid's wildshape ability provides an exception: all equipment is subsumed into the new form and becomes nonfunctional while the druid remains in the assumed form.) Items the subject could conceivably wear in an assumed form remain functional. For example, most items worn on the body, such as armor, cloaks, boots, and most other items of clothing made for a humanoid body won't fit on a nonhumanoid body. Some items can fit on just about any kind of body. For example, a ring fits nearly any form that has digits of some kind (the limit of two rings applies no matter how many hands or similar appendages a creature has). Likewise, a necklace fits on just about any form that has a neck.

Since your bear form has multiple attacks though, I'd consider getting an amulet of mighty fists from the DMG rather than a necklace of natural weapons since it'd be effectively cheaper to get it to apply its bonus to all three natural attack forms.