Party of Almost Purely Tanks

[Dog Moon]

Well, we had our first session today. We got through some of the first adventure [without having access to the adventure, I don't know how much] and we actually didn't do too bad except for the having to rest frequently.

Gonna definitely have to check out the wand of lesser vigor thing.

Anyway, we found out that the DM, who doesn't like the idea of us dying so frequently [I think partly because of the makeup of the group] decided that raising was only 500gp per HD instead of the normal cost.

Since two characters died today, that sucked up a lot of funds.

And though the Swordsage does have some skill points, it doesn't have the good skills a Rogue would require...

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Chessantan Earth Genasi Pugilist (Dr. Awkwards Brawler class)

Yay! How's it working out for him?

 

[Solarious]

It really depends. How well optimized are your players? They can definitely limp along... but a Cleric with full turning progression is quite literally indispensible for the frequent contacts with undead. I really want to see what happens with a Cleric5/RadiantServant10/MasterofRadiance5 in an Age of Worms campaign.

 

[Nyaricus]

Yay! How's it working out for him?

Well, he's played one session of of the 4 I've had thus far, but he likes the class. It's a definite comprimise between the monk class (banned in my games, unless it's OA) and a sub-optimal fighter build. All-in-all, he cranked some lizardmen with his 1d6+2 fists of flurry last session and I enjoyed my oppertunity to bring him into the game in a neat way (he jumped down into a kobold sapper hole in the middle of a street in Hlondeth in Faerun, and all you could hear from inside the pit was kobold yips and the sound of flesh being pulverised and thwacked against stone walls)

In any case, it's a class I'm allowing in any of my [Faerun] games now, and one which I'll be tweaking for my homebrew.

All-in-all, thanks for that class, I think/know my player is going to enjoy it

---

DM, I couldn't help you with a swordsage, but do tell: what are the new players characters now, adn what does the party look like with these changes? Did you die?

Also, what are the stats a swordsage needs to survive? Actually, if I knew that, maybe I could help you a bit...

cheers,
--N

 

[frankthedm]

So in a game that I'm a player in, looks like we have a Druid [who will totally NOT be focused whatsoever on healing], a Duskblade, Archer [going into Order of the Bow Initiate], a Warblade, and a Swordsage.

We're going to play the Age of Worms AP. How well do you think we'll do without any arcane, roguish [for traps, searching, etc or bluff, diplomacy, etc], and a healer?

[Odd note: I noticed that I'm really the only player who plays characters who aren't focused solely on hitting and killing things - I'm the only one who plays Rogues or Charisma-based characters. When I play a combat class, we miss out on everything else. I wonder how our group will fare almost being 100% tanks]

You guys will be be on the fast track to Valhalla

 

[Aaron L]

Me and the people I play with have long since decided that were just going to play the characters we want, party "balance" be damned, and make it work however we can. One of the longest running campaigns I ever played in was me as a Bladesinger, a Wizard, a Sorcerer, a dwarven Fighter, and a Barbarian. No healing, no Rogues. We did fine with potions and a cohort Cleric someone eventually picked up.

Making a party work despite not having the "necessary" classes makes it even more fun. And forcing someone to play a class just to have certain abilities in the party really sucks.

We play what we want to play. If everyone in the group wants to play a Fighter, well then by god, we all play Fighters an make a campaign around that.

I think the party your group is making sounds really fun, and I really think all the cries of instant death for them are quite exaggerated. Accomodate them if you have to, even. Put in lots of healing potions for them to find. Have a handy local NPC Cleric to heal them when they go back to town.

 

[Kaodi]

Hehehe...

Next time we game, I think our Age of Worms party is going to end up with our warforged monk, my warforged barbarian, and a new warforged artificer... So, we'll be mostly tankish, with one character covering all the rest... I'm not quite sure how our levels compare to the campaign though, hehehe...

 

[igavskoga]

Look into hiring a local "trap springer" for a cut of the profits and on the condition that he/she will only have to participate in combat if the situation gives no other alternative.

The group I typically DM for is a lot like Aaron L's. They all play what they want to play and then attempt to cover up weaknesses as they crop up. Hire local talent as needed (experts or adepts, occassionally PC classed NPC's depending on where they are), come up with creative tactics, use the terrain, scout and ambush as much as they can, etc.

Its more than doable, they just have to be willing to be creative and go in knowing that it'll be a bloody, bloody road. My group's a little crazy though, they prefer the challenge inherent with a lack of healing.

If nobody wants to do the healing thing, your DM may want to look into the Reserve Pool variant in UA (also present in IH), works quite well for healing out of combat on a limited basis. The spontaneous healing feat for the Druid, and Wands of course, are also good alternatives. You could also try a variant on the Heal skill (needed a feat or background trait to use it if I remember right) that allows converting lethal damage to nonlethal, last place I saw it was in the Black Company Campaign Setting.

EDIT: Also, if hiring isn't an option for skill-based needs, see if the DM will allow the Versatile feat from Forgotten Realms, allows one to designate 2 cross-class skills as class skills. There's also a human(?) feat somewhere that drops the cost of cross-class skills to 1 point per rank (but maintains the cross-class rank cap) - I forget what its called, Adaptive Learner maybe.

 

[Arnwyn]

We're going to play the Age of Worms AP. How well do you think we'll do without any arcane, roguish [for traps, searching, etc or bluff, diplomacy, etc], and a healer?

As everyone else has said - overall, you're screwed.

So is it because of the Age of Worms or just adventures in general?

A DM could kind of tailor a homemade campaign slightly more around combats instead of requiring the other jobs we're missing, though of course I'm sure they could be quite useful.

You are generally correct - it's mostly because of the AoW (though properly, it's any published/"standard" adventure). The DM could go through a ton of work, however, and tailor a campaign based on 'unusual' parties, but they would have little resemblance to "standard" D&D adventures (and published adventures would be right out).

For example, a DM could create a campaign based on a party of 4 wizards, but the campaign would be entirely different than any published adventure (and the players would have to have proper expectations on what they're getting into before the campaign begins, if that's really what they want to play...).

 

[Shroomy]

If by chance your PCs make it to "The Prince of Redhand," they'll be doubly screwed. So my overall assessment, if AoW is used as written, TPK at some point.