D&D 4E Running player commentary on PCat's 4E Campaign - Heroic tier (finished)

[Rel]

Piratecat also gave me an extra point for Soss, Khagz, and Zha.

I just need to figure out what to do with the damned thing.

-Hyp.

Ask him if you can put them toward Wealth rolls so you can come back to the states more often.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Ask him if you can put them toward Wealth rolls so you can come back to the states more often.

Hey, I've been twice. Is it so much to ask that all you guys show up here for a change?

-Hyp.

 

[Rel]

Hey, I've been twice. Is it so much to ask that all you guys show up here for a change?

-Hyp.

Yes.

I mean, there's approximately 300 million of us Americans. And, as near as I can tell, there's only one of you New Zealanders. You coming to us is just more efficient.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Yes.

I mean, there's approximately 300 million of us Americans. And, as near as I can tell, there's only one of you New Zealanders. You coming to us is just more efficient.

But with the exchange rate at the moment (the New Zealand dollar has dropped from around 80c US while I was there, to around 60c), you'd all be like millionaires here!

-Hyp.

 

[Silver Moon]

our lack of cleric wasn't by conscious choice. We each designed our PCs individually, based on what we each felt like playing; this is what we ended up with. It wasn't as if we got together and said, "Hey, let's have a party of a whole bunch of strikers!"

That happens in my gaming group all the time, each player has four to eight characters in the campaign and there have been several times when I've instructed them to bring whichever character they'd each like to play for a module. Thus, a key class is often omitted. The quick fix is for them to just find/hire and NPC of that particular character class.


Love this thread, amazed that it's been here a few weeks before I noticed it. I have a copy of the 4E PHB but haven't had time to open and read it yet. This thread will go a long way to helping me along with that, as I love to see examples instead of reading straight text.

And when I read the intro. post the names jumped out at me too, as being unusually GREAT. I've done enough reading of British history (which my father was a Professor of, with an extensive library) to recognize the root/origin of several of those.

 

[Plane Sailing]

No, we did a point buy with 32 points. Actually, we all got an extra point for coming up with Deities for Piratecat.

Sagiro had a strong preference for point buy, especially after we were goofing around and he failed to get better than a 15 on something like 20 d6 pick best 3.

That's interesting - the wide spread of ability scores, defences (and sum of abilities) led me to wonder. It's nice to see an illustration that point buy doesn't have to mean 'rampant min-maxing' (I've seen numerous assertions that "You've got to have a 20 in your primary stat to be worth playing, or an 18 if you don't mind being suboptimal" or some such; personally I don't believe it, and I draw comfort from the fact that you guys don't believe it either!)

In my current 4e campaign I decided to get people to start with the standard array + racial mods, and that is working nicely for us at the moment. I'll probably let them loose on point-buy next time

Cheers

 

[hennebeck]

Pcat's group rolls so bad...





They got all 8's on Point buy!

 

[Hypersmurf]

It's nice to see an illustration that point buy doesn't have to mean 'rampant min-maxing' (I've seen numerous assertions that "You've got to have a 20 in your primary stat to be worth playing, or an 18 if you don't mind being suboptimal" or some such; personally I don't believe it, and I draw comfort from the fact that you guys don't believe it either!)

I have to note that Piratecat's playing a Rogue in my game, and he's bought a 20 in Dexterity!

So rampant min-maximg is still alive and well in Boston

-Hyp.

 

[Aravis]

That's interesting - the wide spread of ability scores, defences (and sum of abilities) led me to wonder. It's nice to see an illustration that point buy doesn't have to mean 'rampant min-maxing' (I've seen numerous assertions that "You've got to have a 20 in your primary stat to be worth playing, or an 18 if you don't mind being suboptimal" or some such; personally I don't believe it, and I draw comfort from the fact that you guys don't believe it either!)

In my current 4e campaign I decided to get people to start with the standard array + racial mods, and that is working nicely for us at the moment. I'll probably let them loose on point-buy next time

Cheers

To some degree that may depend upon Character Class too. As a Paladin, I felt a need to spread between 3 stats. When I played a Warlock (Fey Pact) in PCat's warm up 4E game this summer I was strong in only two stats and never felt like I needed the other stats at all.

I have not read through all the Classes extensively, but my impression is that the Fey Pact Warlock may be an outlier in that respect.

 

[Piratecat]

I have to note that Piratecat's playing a Rogue in my game, and he's bought a 20 in Dexterity!

So rampant min-maximg is still alive and well in Boston

-Hyp.

At 6th lvl, mind, but yes.. I try to hide my power-gaming under a carefully crafted veneer of roleplaying. Make 'em witty enough, I hope, and no one will notice that you're trying to beat the stuffing out of their monsters. It seldom works but it's a nice thought. And I don't encourage min-maxing in my games, either.

In truth, high ability scores don't bother me so long as they're tied to an entertaining and appropriate concept. Cobalt is sort of lop-sided, but his backstory and personality cover this nicely. And he fights nothing like Velendo!

We'll find out next game how Toiva does with balanced scores; she's currently facing off, at night and alone in knee-deep water, against five scuttling monsters with red glowing eyes and shining teeth.