IG's "Those Left Behind" [OOC-2]

[Shayuri]

We could say she 'sold' it or broke it down or whatever. She's not really big on summoning zombies. It gives folks the wrong impression.

Plus, staves in 3e are reeeeheeeeally different than staves in 4e. In the first, they're spell batteries. In the second, they're essentially weapons that enhance magic power.

Converting one to the other would be difficult. More so than it's probably worth, especially for an item she doesn't really want in the first place.

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As for how to make wildshape more useful...

You could Paragon Multiclass into Druid. That gives you a Druid at-will that's REALLY at-will. Also, take a look at druid feats...some of them affect you while in Beast form and can be pretty nice. You qualify for druid feats even without Paragon Multiclass.

You might bat your lashes at IG and see if he'd okay swapping one of your barbie at-wills with a Beast at-will from the druid class too. This is no net gain in powers, so it wouldn't be unbalanced. As a human you get 3 at-wills, so you could spare one without much trouble.

It'd be a house rule, but I think a fair one...and since a Barbarian/Druid MC is really not optimized in the least (quite the contrary), it'd be a nice gesture.

 

[industrygothica]

We could say she 'sold' it or broke it down or whatever. She's not really big on summoning zombies. It gives folks the wrong impression.

Plus, staves in 3e are reeeeheeeeally different than staves in 4e. In the first, they're spell batteries. In the second, they're essentially weapons that enhance magic power.

Converting one to the other would be difficult. More so than it's probably worth, especially for an item she doesn't really want in the first place.

Yes, but the fact that you don't want it will make getting rid of it all the more fun.

Hmm, does anyone else smell that?

 

[jkason]

You could Paragon Multiclass into Druid. That gives you a Druid at-will that's REALLY at-will. Also, take a look at druid feats...some of them affect you while in Beast form and can be pretty nice. You qualify for druid feats even without Paragon Multiclass.

D'oh! I totally missed Paragon Multiclass. That looks like what I was after, honestly. Attack-y flight seems pretty rare for wildshapers, anyway (If I count right, Sky Hunter's only get two flying attacks (assuming they have an action point to use), three at 20th level). I'd rather have Shai's beast form be moderately bitey and keep the more utilitarian flight of Black Harbinger. And that lets me concentrate on Ranger powers during level ups, since I can spend Paragon slots on the druid stuff.

It'd be a house rule, but I think a fair one...and since a Barbarian/Druid MC is really not optimized in the least (quite the contrary), it'd be a nice gesture.

I think it's safe to say I'm very not good at optimizing. Most of the time, I just hope I haven't built someone who's completely useless next to the rest of the party.

We could say she 'sold' it or broke it down or whatever. She's not really big on summoning zombies. It gives folks the wrong impression.

Yes, but the fact that you don't want it will make getting rid of it all the more fun.

Hmm, does anyone else smell that?

heh. Well, the characters were in a quandry about it back when they figured out what it did, not wanting to keep it, but not wanting to sell it to someone who'd use it for more badness.

Though, given the large number of chaos beasties, maybe we should reconsider that 'send the skeletons after them' plan.

 

[Leif]

Leif, if you're so unhappy with Uulark that you feel like you want to change him fundamentally, would making a new character also solve the problem?

Or are you trying to preserve the RP aspect of him while changing his mechanics?

Not entirely sure, I guess. A new character would certainly do the trick, though. But I thought that was kinda vorboten by IG?

When I was reading Uulark's background yesterday, his physical description reminded me of a shifter for some reason. Deva just seem so regal and clean to me, not what I have come to envision from Uulark.

That being said, if you are that unhappy with him, then by all means do what you need to do to get yourself happy with him. You're not allowed to bow out of this game (), and if that means making Uulark a deva, then go ahead.

Shifter could work, I suppose. Deva just looked so coooool, and it's so new to me. But, then again, so is shifter...

You might bat your lashes at IG and see if he'd okay swapping one of your barbie at-wills with a Beast at-will from the druid class too.

I thnk you're confusing jkason with YOU!

I think it's safe to say I'm very not good at optimizing. Most of the time, I just hope I haven't built someone who's completely useless next to the rest of the party.

Bet I can outdo you for being optimally retarded!

 

[industrygothica]

Not entirely sure, I guess. A new character would certainly do the trick, though. But I thought that was kinda vorboten by IG?

I would personally rather you stick with Uulark, at least for now, in one incarnation or another.

What is it, exactly, that you're not liking about him? Is it just that he's human, or is it something else?

 

[renau1g]

One suggestion is the Deva Heritage feat, perhaps could come out during the story?

[sblock=feat]
Deva Heritage [Deva Bloodline]

Heroic Tier
Prerequisite: Living humanoid race
Benefit: You gain astral splendor as a utility power. Also, you gain a +2 bonus to Perception and Insight checks against angels, devas, devils, and rakshasas.

Feat PowerAstral Splendor

You take on an imperious aspect, and silvery light—that of your stral soul—shines from your eyes, mouth, and heart

Daily Stance
Minor Action Personal

Requirement: You must be not bloodied

Effect: Until the stance ends, enemies take a -2 penalty to attack rolls made against you. You also shed bright light within 6 squares.

Special: This stance ends when you become bloodied.[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

Okay, so I got a look at the pages in Martial Power that don't seem to be in the Compendium, and I verified that Shai can use his own surges for Dyspeer if he's adjascent (also nice: When Shai takes the Second Wind action, Dyspeer can, too). So that conundrum is more or less solved for me.

Of course, in looking I found yet another rule that I can't seem to find in Compendium, on commanding beast companions. Unlike 3.5e, companion defaults are to do nothing but stay near you; they don't act independently except in the case where the Ranger is incapacitated in some way. The page lists the action it takes to command a beast companion, which seems to be more or less the equivalent to what the action is. Attack is a standard action, Defend (take total defense), is standard, Move is move (and they can both move).

Now, what's odd is that both the Defense and Move commands explicitly say that the ranger and companion can both take the action (or only one can if they so choose). So Shai and Dyspeer can both use his move action to move, or his standard action to go on defense. But Attack doesn't seem to have that qualifier, and didn't read like 3.5's 'attack' command (i.e. 'attack until foe is dead or otherwise commanded').

So, does that mean--barring powers that let them both attack or spending action points--in any given round either Shai or Dyspeer can attack, but not both?

jason

 

[renau1g]

I believe that's accurate. Only 1 of you can attack.

 

[Scott DeWar]

ya know, for some reason, that does not make sense to me. why is that rule like that? I really don't understand that.

 

[jkason]

ya know, for some reason, that does not make sense to me. why is that rule like that? I really don't understand that.

I'm guessing for balance reasons. Companions seem much tougher in 4e (and wolves are pretty middle-road. Just flipping around character builder, if the companion's a bear or griffin, it's even tougher). Letting them act / attack independently basically gives you another basic attack (possibly stronger than your own) for free. I can see why that might seem like an unfair advantage for that build over the other ranger options.

It's harder to reconcile intuitively. I can see a well-trained animal holding off attacking until given the word by its controller, but it seems less likely that you'd need to tell it to keep going every couple seconds or else it just stands and wags its tail.

It's not a really big deal to me, honestly. Just wanted to make sure I had the mechanics down.

jason