[Online] 4th Edition D&D Game

[saitir]

Excellent stuff, all of you.

I just recalled that muppet/Ian/Atnod came to us via the rptools forum, so I've sent him the link to here.

Now, ordinarily I'm a fan of dishing out goodies to players who contribute with write-ups and such. I avoid XP because history tells me that it leads to alot of resentment between players.

Instead I've been known to give out anything from special one-session encounter powers, extra actions points, extra healing surges, an occasional magic item, a very occasional permanent skill bonus and so on.
Also there've been 'Super Action Points' (SAPs) that can be used in different ways to an action point (change a missed attack into a crit, tweak the game circumstances, and so on).

However, I usually assign these based on an individual player grading curve, rather than a group grading curve. Which is to say, for someone, writing 3 pages of iambic pentameter is just a 20 minute job, while for someone else, writing a paragraph of in character thoughts takes them an hour or more. How do you judge these things fairly?

The simplest answer is, of course, no one gets anything and any additional writeups are just icing on the cake and help us all have a little more fun.

So I'd really appreciate your feedback on this.

Also, I hope to get my server back up and running in a couple of days and we can use a more permanent arena to keep our thoughts together.

 

[kingchddg90]

Sounds like a fairly good idea but as you said different people have different writing styles i don't envy you trying to figure out what is god witting for us and what is a real challenge.

 

[Ftr]

I love to write and hear myself talk, so I wouldn't feel too obligated to reward me for it! I'd go on for pages if I thought anybody would read it...

These posts really help keep my involvement high thru the week between sessions and helps me internalize my character a bit. When I talk thru his inner thoughts it makes him more three dimensional to me and I hope for the rest of the players. I hope that after a few sessions worth of postings and play, we all start looking at the characters as "Aaerdon, the hulking warrior that is loyalty to a fault and terrified of responsibility" rather than "that fighter with the spear". I like to see the game come alive a bit (which is why I play, of course) and I see that effect already happening with this group.

I would suggest you look at a combination of the postings and how the thoughts posted here are played out in session. That's the proof in the pudding, after all.

 

[Ftr]

Macros

Okay, folks! I am so excited and proud of myself, I have to share. I finally figured out how to make a macro for an attack that does crits and fumbles. This may not seem like a big deal, but its been driving me crazy for weeks now. Any way first I'll lay out the code for a Basic Mele Attack:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[h: attMod = 4+2+1]
[h: wismod = 4]
[h: critTgt = 20]
[h: fumRng = 1]
[h: attD20 = d20]
[h: maxdmg = 10]

<b><font color="green">BMA Morningstar</font color><br>
The spiked steel head<br>
flashes towards the enemy</b><br>
Standard Action - Melee weapon<br>
Uses Melee Training: Wisdom<br>

<b><font color="red">[t: attRoll = attD20 + attMod]</b></font color> WIS vs AC to attack<br>

[if(attD20 >1 && attD20 <20), code:{<b><font color="red">[t: roll(1,10)+wismod]</b></font color> weapon damage<br>
} ; {}]

[if(attD20 <= fumRng), code:{Fumble!<br>} ; {}]

[if(attD20 >= critTgt), code:{<b><font color="red">Critical!</b></font color><br>
<b><font color="red">[t: maxdmg+wismod]</b></font color> weapon damage<br>} ; {}]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

At the top you will see a set of variables that the code below will use just like an algebra equation. For most of you wismod will be traded fro strmod or whatever ability score your combat skill is based on. Just make sure you change it in the lower parts of the code as well.

This macro uses a series of "IF, THEN" statements just like algebra to tell the macro what to do. First it rolls a d20 and adds the attmod (attack modifiers like ability modifier + level bonus + weapon prof bonus + etc). Then it uses the next three sets of code to compare the roll against the variables set at the top for fumble range and crit range (so you can set it for a weapon with increased crit ranges). Each path has a result that it notes and displays, such as "Fumble!" and doesn't even roll for damage, "Critical!" and uses the maxdmg variable to figure out damage. I have even figured out a way to add a few more variables to account fot magic weapons that add extra damage on a crit.

If you like this, feel free to copy and paste it into maptools and play with it a bit to make it work for your characters. You can also email me your character sheets if you already haven't and I can make you a set of macros with this new code (it may take me till next week to get them done).

Enjoy,

Jim

 

[saitir]

Excellent work! We'll make a programmer out of you yet Actually, learn to use a for loop and you've got the skills to do most anything.

If I could suggest a couple of minor tweaks.

[h: wisMod = 4]
[h: weapProf = 2]
[h: attMod = wisMod+weapProf+1]

The relatively minor benefit of this is that its clearer where the bonuses are, and easier to tweak when the character changes.

Later on if we move the stat modifiers to the token properties then they can be managed in a single location. But that's for another day (along with weapon switching buttons).

Okay, folks! I am so excited and proud of myself, I have to share. I finally figured out how to make a macro for an attack that does crits and fumbles. This may not seem like a big deal, but its been driving me crazy for weeks now. Any way first I'll lay out the code for a Basic Mele Attack:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[h: attMod = 4+2+1]
[h: wismod = 4]
[h: critTgt = 20]
[h: fumRng = 1]
[h: attD20 = d20]
[h: maxdmg = 10]

<b><font color="green">BMA Morningstar</font color><br>
The spiked steel head<br>
flashes towards the enemy</b><br>
Standard Action - Melee weapon<br>
Uses Melee Training: Wisdom<br>

<b><font color="red">[t: attRoll = attD20 + attMod]</b></font color> WIS vs AC to attack<br>

[if(attD20 >1 && attD20 <20), code:{<b><font color="red">[t: roll(1,10)+wismod]</b></font color> weapon damage<br>
} ; {}]

[if(attD20 <= fumRng), code:{Fumble!<br>} ; {}]

[if(attD20 >= critTgt), code:{<b><font color="red">Critical!</b></font color><br>
<b><font color="red">[t: maxdmg+wismod]</b></font color> weapon damage<br>} ; {}]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

At the top you will see a set of variables that the code below will use just like an algebra equation. For most of you wismod will be traded fro strmod or whatever ability score your combat skill is based on. Just make sure you change it in the lower parts of the code as well.

This macro uses a series of "IF, THEN" statements just like algebra to tell the macro what to do. First it rolls a d20 and adds the attmod (attack modifiers like ability modifier + level bonus + weapon prof bonus + etc). Then it uses the next three sets of code to compare the roll against the variables set at the top for fumble range and crit range (so you can set it for a weapon with increased crit ranges). Each path has a result that it notes and displays, such as "Fumble!" and doesn't even roll for damage, "Critical!" and uses the maxdmg variable to figure out damage. I have even figured out a way to add a few more variables to account fot magic weapons that add extra damage on a crit.

If you like this, feel free to copy and paste it into maptools and play with it a bit to make it work for your characters. You can also email me your character sheets if you already haven't and I can make you a set of macros with this new code (it may take me till next week to get them done).

Enjoy,

Jim

 

[Ftr]

Yeah, I cn see having the variables split would make things clearer, and to be honest I thought of that AFTER I got most of my macros changed to the new code, but....I was just too lazy to do it! LOL

I was so excited that I finally got a working crit code ....I had a tough time figuring out how to do the equation for the middle IF, THEN problem where it looks at all the numbers NOT a crit or a fumble. I just couldnt figure out how to make it look at a range rather than a specific number. Once I found a macro that used a bit of code to do just that, it was all down hill.

Later, when and if you want to switch to a token based macro system, I'll rewrite it using a standardized variable set you give us. Make it easier on you if you have to fix any errors or tie in any of your own macros to ours.

On a different note, this group is really coming along. I can't wait to see it down the road a bit. There is a lot of interaction via email trying to mesh and get to know each others characters. There is a solid effort at RP, as well, and YOU have got to like that. Everyone seems to be really getting into the campaign setting.

Looking forward to the next session,

Jim

 

[Ftr]

I will have a maptools server open named "GAMETEST" with no password from 9am thru 11am pst (California).

chat will be thru tokbox.com Just sign up for a free account and sign in. As soon as you are logged in to both tokbox and the maptool server ill invite you to the chat.

 

[Ftr]

Thursday.

 

[FusionCell]

Good reads, these point-of-views. If anyone reckons they can write full goddamn novels on their character, then write 'em up in an email attachment, or something, and send it off to everyone. I know I'll definitely read them.

As long as they're under 10 pages.


You can go over if you include pictures.



On that thing about rewards said earlier. I dunno, maybe if a back story sufficiently fits in a tale of learning or practising some intimidate, acrobatics or history related things then perhaps they can have one additional skill point? It'd be pretty difficult to catch every single skill into a back story and still have proper sense and reasoning behind them skills.

 

[Ftr]

The tokbox.com chatroom is now open. So is the maptool server.

The maptool server is GAMETEST with no password

The link to chat is Join me in a live video chat on TokBox!


Jim