"Aura Party" in Play

[Darklone]

All this is versus the speed bonus, a marginally higher hit die, 2 more skill points, and martial weapons. In theory that's good stuff, but in actual play I kept finding that one more level of dragon shaman would have worked out better than the barb level.
-blarg

Guess you're right at higher levels. Till level 10, one barbarian level proved to be horribly effective for almost any class

 

[Patlin]

Congratulations! Do you use a modified reincarnation table or have you just been incredibly lucky?

Just lucky.

I told the character using the Orb of Reincarnation to roll it, and he produced a beatifull set of "00" and "1." There was much cheering.

This weekend we got to play again, and I'm greatfull for the continued streak of our schedule not getting screwed up. We're supposed to play every weak unless something comes up, but things come up much too frequently as a general rule. It was a night of much mayhem, and much XP was had by all.

At this point, everyone but me has invested in those weapon crystals that make your sword ghost touch and semi-undead bane. Can't blame them, I'd do it too if I could figure out how to attach one to my bite attack. Incorporeal foes, once a massive weakness in our mage free party, are now pretty easy to handle... and the Shifter Druid's inability to conveniently use items is becoming frustrating now that the party is starting to get good stuff, including one extremely powerfull sword. On the plus side, I picked up a wildling clasp, which allows me to keep my Periapt of Wisdom +2 in play even when shifted. (Having the clasp work with shifting in addition to wild shape seems natural, and the DM aproved it.) I also picked up a minor schema of snake's swiftness, mass... I love that spell, and it doesn't seem likely to go out of style, unless the duskblade picks up haste through a feat.

"Aura Party" is a quisinart, and we're especially nasty against single highly powerfull foes. We don't dominate as effectively against groups, but all in all we're performing quite well.

I'm running out of things to say about the specific classes, so I asked my wife (the warblade player) for her opinion on the warblade. She's barely aware of the existance of the boards, and seemed a little surprised when I mentioned that some people consider the warblade overpowered. Here's what she said:

"The warblade is very complicated to play. I think a Fighter or Barbarian would outdamage the warblade, but I'm enjoying playing the character. It'd be more powerfull than a Fighter or Barbarian if I could use all my maneuvers at once, but I can't. I only get to use my +4d6 strike every other round, and it's a single attack. It'r very complicated to play, though... if I take over the DMing duties, I wouldn't even consider keeping the warblade as an NPC. It requires too much effort to play properly."

I'm happy to say that no single PC seems to be hogging the spotlight. Even our best moves (mass snakes swiftness, white raven tactics, and the auras) tend to spread the spotlight around.

 

[Nifft]

Aaaw, Nifft, one level barbarian doesn't hurt neither a bard nor a dragon shaman! Extra Rage, good str, Power Attack... wonderful chummy. And as first level it adds a lot of low level survivability.

Bard + Barbarian : Agree. It's quite nice to have your first level be in Barbarian.

Dragon Shaman + Barbarian : somewhat disagree. IMHO the Barbarian's benefits don't give the character enough. The DS already has great hit points, decent skills, and a role in the center of melee (rather than out in the front, or skirmishing at the edges). IMHO he'd benefit more from heavy armor than a speed boost.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Patlin]

We had our final session of the campaign last Saturday, and I won't post any spoilers on the module. The DMing duties are rotating, which means we'll be rotating characters as well.

The campaign finished at level 10, and keeping this thread in mind I asked the other players what they thought of the group overall. The consensus was that the concept worked really well, and that no one character was noticably more powerfull than any other. It was a very fun way to play, and an interesting alternative to the traditional 'balanced party' aproach.

For the record, the group was:

Divine Mind 10 (somewhat modified with house rules)
Warblade 10
Dragon Shaman 9/Rogue 1
Druid (Shifter) 9/Swordsage 1
Duskblade 10

 

[Nail]

Cool stuff, Patlin.

Thanks for the posted experience! It helps us all.

 

[Arkhandus]

Yep! Was interesting to read.

Side-comment.... Someday I'd really, really like to see someone play a Bard 2/Dragon Shaman 1/Divine Mind 1/Marshal 2/Swordsage 2/Warblade 2/Crusader X, with Leadership as their 6th-level feat.... It would just be cool. A sort of nimble, swashbuckling, lightly-armored, surprisingly tough, wise, charismatic, army-buffing machine and jack-of-all-trades, kicking arse for great justice!!

Heck, I'd love to play that character someday.

 

[boolean]

At this point, everyone but me has invested in those weapon crystals that make your sword ghost touch and semi-undead bane. Can't blame them, I'd do it too if I could figure out how to attach one to my bite attack.

It's too late for you now, but a druid could use the Blade of Force reserve feat from Complete Mage to make a single attack per round against incorporeal targets. There aren't many [force] spells for druids, but there are a few. (Nature's Purity from Lords of Madness or Vortex of Teeth from Spell Compendium can be used to qualify.)