Trailblazer Teasers (collected)

[Wulf Ratbane]

Quick question...how will punishing blow interface with thrown/missile weapons?

It won't. It's bonus damage when you make an attack of opportunity, which must be a melee attack.

It's not "the fighter's sneak attack."

 

[drifterne05]

It won't. It's bonus damage when you make an attack of opportunity, which must be a melee attack.

It's not "the fighter's sneak attack."

Cool. And I think a comparison with sneak attack isn't such a bad thing, especially if you look at it as part of an extra damage technique common to rogues, scouts and fighters - it is the triggering condition that alters from class to class, much in the way I see your passive perception concept working for different skills and racial abilities.

Hell, stretch it across more martial classes [Rage, Favoured Enemy and Smite defining triggers, perhaps?]...

Sorry, woolgathering.

The reason I ask is...does this disadvantage a missile weapon focused fighter to any great extent? I'm sure you've considered it already so was wondering if you'd be willing to share your thoughts.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

The reason I ask is...does this disadvantage a missile weapon focused fighter to any great extent? I'm sure you've considered it already so was wondering if you'd be willing to share your thoughts.

Inasmuch as punishing strike is a small perk, I'm not sure that missing out on it would be any great disadvantage.

Punishing Strike was added to help the fighter at one specific role: Holding the front line and hurting those who try to move past him.

The ranged-build fighter has already abdicated that responsibility.

I think the built-in advantages of being a ranged build are pretty good (ie, you're not in there getting pounded on, you don't have to move around much to target your opponents with a full attack, etc.)

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

FIGHTER

Expert weapon proficiency allows the fighter to alter the fundamentals of his chosen weapon. Each time he takes the ability, he can

• Increase the critical threat range (to 18-20)

Are you setting a hard limit at 18-20? Or do you mean increasing it by one step? In other words, can you use Expert Weapon Proficiency twice on an axe but not at all for a rapier, etc?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Are you setting a hard limit?

I am.

Because XWP is based on an analysis of existing weapons, I put the hard caps at:

18-20
2d8 (a little bigger than most-- but this is least easily abused)
x4

There are a couple of others. You can't make a 2H weapon "light" (see rapier) nor can you give reach to anything other than a 2H weapon, etc.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Sounds good - I can see the reasoning, I just wanted to make sure that the wording was intentional. Thanks!

 

[joela]

scenario

I ran my first Trailblazer Game last night.

Sunsword*, what situation did you run your Trailblazer PCs? Module? Scene? Strict combat? I'm planning to run some short combat scenes in various terrains/situation using TB PCs at levels 1st, 6th, 12th, and 18th. Classes are the four core (cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard) and human only. Will use 10 minute rest and Reserve point from the TB preview.


*Is your handle based on Thundarr the Barbarian?

 

[Helena Real]

Using Pathfinder as base for TB...

Hi Wulf!

Well, first things first. I've been following Trailblazer since the thread on Encounter Budgeting back in '08, and I have to say that all the improvements to the 3.5 mechanics have definitely helped out quite a lot. For all that, thank you!

Now, to the question here. You recommended a few posts earlier to use Pathfinder as a base for TB. If that were the case, how would you treat the classes? For example, if I'm using TB fighter, do I add her features to Pathfinder's Fighter class? In this case, do I eliminate Bravery, Armor & Weapon Training and replace them with XWP? Or do I just add XWP to the PF Fighter class?

Thank you very much already and best regards,

Felipe.

 

[Sunsword]

Sunsword*, what situation did you run your Trailblazer PCs? Module? Scene? Strict combat? I'm planning to run some short combat scenes in various terrains/situation using TB PCs at levels 1st, 6th, 12th, and 18th. Classes are the four core (cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard) and human only. Will use 10 minute rest and Reserve point from the TB preview.


*Is your handle based on Thundarr the Barbarian?

Its an adventure of my own creation. I created several 5th level human pregens: a Fighter (focused on Great Sword), a Rogue, a Sorcerer, a Cleric, a Bard, 2nd Level Fighter/3rd Level Wizard & a Dwarven Fighter (focused on Battle Axe). I used Trailblazer in conjuction with 3.5. For Action Points, I allowed the Refreshing of spells per the GM Day preview during Rests, 1 AP lets you reroll any dice, 1 AP lets you try something cool & gave each PC 8 AP's (6+1/2 level) per session. My game is based very loosely on Greyhawk. In the first of 3 battles, I had the PC's fight a group of 40 Zombies that I created to be very similar to Minions. The PC's used good tactics & made short work of them. The second battle, occurred when a black coach was moving toward them. The Sorcerer, Sparkles, fireballed the coach. 2 of its inhabitants survived & due to some spellcasting, tore through about half the groups resources (spells, HP's, AP's, etc.). The third & last battle featurd a Wyvern, who due to some buffing, could burst into flame. That battle was tough, but not as bad as the 2nd battle resource-wise.

I'm being vague because at least one of the players in on this board.

I had a blast. AP's allowed me to move the story along & reward good ideas without any whining. I used some basic ideas from 4E for pacing. I probably don't build encounters "by the book". I tried & that was a small part of what lead to my DM burnout. So I might not be the best resource for standard encounters.

As for my handle, Lords of Light, indeed it is

 

[Sunsword]

Now, to the question here. You recommended a few posts earlier to use Pathfinder as a base for TB. If that were the case, how would you treat the classes? For example, if I'm using TB fighter, do I add her features to Pathfinder's Fighter class? In this case, do I eliminate Bravery, Armor & Weapon Training and replace them with XWP? Or do I just add XWP to the PF Fighter class?

I'm curious about this as well. I'd assume that he meant gaining feats every other level, spells, domains & their powers, Combat Maneuver system & even equipment & magic items. Not necessarily the classes from Pathfinder. But I'd like to know for sure as well.