LEB Discussion Thread '09

[stonegod]

LEB is in the process of transitioning to 4E. This thread is where we will discuss the various technical issues of how this should be done. This is also the place for general discussion about LEB.

Things to discuss:
- Character creation (rules, how many, starting level)
- Voting on new sources/proposals
- DM credits/Player credits
- Transition for old LEB material (characters, DM credits, etc.)
- Other administrivia

I look forward to working with you all!

 

[renau1g]

Wunderbar! I'm glad to hear it stonegod.

I also look forward to continuing the story of Eberron into the brave new 4e world, especially while I await my copy of the Player's Guide to arrive.

 

[JoeNotCharles]

I guess the first big point of departure is that the Eberron material will be usable on day 1 here, while not for another 3 months in L4W...

That said, I'm still interested in having a portal between these worlds so that players can hop between them if they wish.

 

[Oni]

I'm going to suggest you stick with the standard character creation at 22 point buy, since so many feats (more and more lately it seems) and some powers seem to be balanced around that. 25 point buy, as is used in L4W, is nice in that it lets you get away with a lot more suboptimal combinations, but I think it's asking for problems down the road.

 

[renau1g]

Also, if we're starting at a higher level (and I hope we are), I'm more than fine with 22 points, having got used to it in RPGA rules now.

 

[stonegod]

I guess the first big point of departure is that the Eberron material will be usable on day 1 here, while not for another 3 months in L4W...

Yes, that'll be the biggest. However, one issue is whether to import all of L4W's decisions on new material as is or not.

That said, I'm still interested in having a portal between these worlds so that players can hop between them if they wish.

I agree with the sentiment in the voting thread that crossing would not be a good idea. Aside from tone, there will be differences in allowed materials, character creation, judge ruling, etc. that would be too much of a headache.

I'm going to suggest you stick with the standard character creation at 22 point buy...

Also, if we're starting at a higher level (and I hope we are), I'm more than fine with 22 points, having got used to it in RPGA rules now.

I'm not opposed, but let's see what the consensus is. We had a high 33 pt (uber-heroic) buy for 3.5 Eberron.

 

[stonegod]

I've gone an closed the old Living Eberron major threads (charter, etc, etc.) I have also created a mostly empty Wiki page that will be filled out later (keep the discussion for here now!)

 

[Atanatotatos]

Hey, nice to be here! Well, I'd start saying that we'll probably won't want to allow stuff from the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, aside from classes and races. It would surely conflict with Eberron stuff.
Also, I'd love if we allowed players to choose among different starting levels (probably something like 1-3, or 1-5 at most): the pbp community is saturated (IMO) with 1st level games, and a bit more choice in the matter is interesting both for players and DMS.
As for point-buy, I'd say the really important matter is to decide wether we want a "nerfing attitude" or not: are we really preoccupied with balance, or are we going to trust players and DMs to behave, and just let the rules be?

 

[EvolutionKB]

Very nice SG....

I also like the idea starting at low to mid heroic tier. As was said, 1st level games seem to be the norm, and while first level is good fun, I believe the different levels will in the long run attract more players and DMs.

22 point is fine with me, though I wouldn't be opposed to 25 like L4E. I think things that are legal in L4E could be lumped in with allowed sources, as long as flavor isn't interrupted.

Also, I am also opposed to crossing over between "worlds."

 

[JoeNotCharles]

If you use a substantially higher point buy, consider raising feat prereqs across the board. (One problem is that odd numbers are used for prereqs, while even numbers increase your modifier - you'd need to raise the prereqs by 2 full points to keep that, which would be a LOT of extra points at character creation.)

I don't think letting people pick from a range of starting levels would work - given a choice from levels 1 to 3, who's going to pick 1? I think a better option is to ramp up the experience awards so that people advance to a spread of levels quickly. L4W's time xp is good (and it's fun to play in games where going up a level is a real accomplishment) but in my home game I'm just doubling all experience awards so that we level twice as fast. If you jigger things so that characters go up a level every two or three months you'll get a nice spread of levels fairly quickly, with new joiners making up the low levels.