stonegod's Expedition to Castle Ravenloft: Ch. I [OOC]

[DEFCON 1]

I'm enjoying the game quite a lot as is. Nicest thing is that we have a very good balance of dialogue and combat... something that oftentimes is in short supply. The biggest issue I think we're suffering from is that we don't have much debuff removal. Negative levels, diseases, poisons, sicknesses... without full-on divines... we hit the slippery slope of becoming more and more useless as we are hit with more and more debuffs. But at the same time... nobody ever wants to play a character that is nothing more than a healer, because usually they want to get in combat too, which means not taking the spells that the party really needs.

I've always been partial to the use of a healer NPC. This character can take all the restorations, remove diseases, remove poisions, etc. etc... but rather than being a central part of the party, he spends his time out by the horses. So he doesn't get directly involved in combat, you don't have him readily available as an in-combat medic... but at the same time we PCs can have someone to go to to get all these debuffs removed. And this way... we don't have to burden anyone with playing a band-aid cleric because that's the only position in the party that is available.

 

[James Heard]

Well, I've been debating on if I could manage to turn Janis into a Druid, or maybe a Druid/Arcanist of some sort (to keep her having access to spell lists that would have allowed her to have used magic items to accomplish some of the things she's already demonstrably done in the past). That would certainly bump up our buff/debuffing ratio a bit, and if I'm right (haven't looked) about Reserve feats being "spellcasters" rather than "arcane magic users" then I might still be able to pull off the bits of damage stuff. That's if Stonegod would allow it, and if I can figure out exactly what sort of differences in mentality a Druid Janis might have compared to the Janis we have now (if any).

 

[stonegod]

Feat and skill retraining are relatively simple things---a full on major class switch would require more effort---almost a quest in itself. What part of the Druid appeal to Janis? The animal companion? The divine spell debuff access?

AFAIK (though my books are two timezones away), Reserve feats are any caster.

 

[stonegod]

I've always been partial to the use of a healer NPC. This character can take all the restorations, remove diseases, remove poisions, etc. etc... but rather than being a central part of the party, he spends his time out by the horses. So he doesn't get directly involved in combat, you don't have him readily available as an in-combat medic... but at the same time we PCs can have someone to go to to get all these debuffs removed. And this way... we don't have to burden anyone with playing a band-aid cleric because that's the only position in the party that is available.

We have a NPC who could take a role like this (Mateusz, the leader of the expedition), though a DMPC is not my most ideal solution---though one that can be done if it is the party will. I don't want the DMPC to take any of the significant spotlight from the rest of the party, you see. If someone picked up the Leadership feat for a healing cohort, that could also work.

 

[Stormwind]

If a healing cohort is the way to go, then Ashlyn could be interested (although she'd currently have to swap out either 'Force of personality' or 'Combat expertise' for the Leadership feat.
Another option (which I would prefer for RP reasons), if stonegod would be happy with her developing a working relationship with the cohort over the next two levels (and then she would take Leadership at level 9). Then it would just leave the question of the cohort ... In Ashlyn's case it would be more appropriate for the cohort to be another lightbringer.
Of course in the second option, Ashlyn should not get the benefit of the leadership feat until she actually takes it, so the amount of interaction of the 'cohort to be' should naturally be adjudicated by stonegod regarding how much they would be involved with things ...

Just my 2c worth

 

[James Heard]

Feat and skill retraining are relatively simple things---a full on major class switch would require more effort---almost a quest in itself. What part of the Druid appeal to Janis? The animal companion? The divine spell debuff access?

AFAIK (though my books are two timezones away), Reserve feats are any caster.

Druid appeals to me because except for a few spells she's made happen already, Druid is might be the easiest to handwave her into without stepping on anyone's toes or missing out on the sort of role I'd initially thought she'd have (apparently without putting enough thought into the matter, because this is the most combat heavy PbP I've participated in yet and didn't really appreciate the consideration that we'd spend the majority of the game fighting something or another).

Especially if she turned into a Wiz1/Dru6, since that would mean that I'd ditch some magic items and swap them out for wands or potions or something that include the spells that that she's already used. It would also niftily explain the dying familiar while still giving her an (improved) pet companion (or allow her to grab one, in any case).

Then there are the other considerations: Druids get acid and electrical spells. I'm going to have to scrape around to find them I think, but I think they're there. Druids might not be exceptionally optimized for fighting undead, but they include restoratives, healing, and battlefield control in their spell lists. She'd end up with higher hit points, and perhaps a (moderate) Child of Winter Janis wouldn't even have a significant change in personality whatsoever. CoW nihilism seems to be right up her alley, even if she wasn't particularly evangelical.

In any case, if that's a no-go then I think I'd like to play a Druid even if I have to invoke one from the caravan. The constant disease checks, hordes of mobile undead, low hit points, no familiar for a year, and generally rough design of Janis right now just aren't particularly confidence building anymore. Add in enemy spellcasters dispelling and counterspelling, and she's just not a lot of fun from a "make a difference" standpoint IMO, and I don't think that's something that can easily be fixed with floating skill points around or adjusting feats.

Anyways, Druid was just all I could think of that would allow her to "still be Janis" and (barring actual knowledge of mechanics) still allow her to have done most of the things she's already done, if you went to the effort of ignoring any wondering you'd have had about why she didn't do anything crazy like call her animal companion or shapechange or wear armor, etc at any point already. Which, in Janis-is-inscrutable fashion, could be as simple as "I'm afraid that all these shifter Flame priests are already much too chummy with me without giving them any more reasons to feel all make-nice and comfortable with me because I hug trees."

 

[stonegod]

Okay, I want to make sure I have the 'essence' of Janis down so I can think of potential ways to address this.
- Spellcaster of large magics (due to a deep seated lust for personal power [at least original])
- Her inscrutable otherwordliness
- Mixed with a tainted Cyran sensibility that has turned towards more nihilism

There is no doubt that there will be a good chunk of combat encounters, but, as I said, they will not be all undead.

As I stated, I am away from my books right now, so I'll need time to ponder.

 

[James Heard]

Okay, I want to make sure I have the 'essence' of Janis down so I can think of potential ways to address this.
- Spellcaster of large magics (due to a deep seated lust for personal power [at least original])
- Her inscrutable otherwordliness
- Mixed with a tainted Cyran sensibility that has turned towards more nihilism

There is no doubt that there will be a good chunk of combat encounters, but, as I said, they will not be all undead.

As I stated, I am away from my books right now, so I'll need time to ponder.

Well, I think it's sort of unfair to say that she has some sort of "deep seated lust for personal power", I can see how it might appear that way. She really is a populist, after all, from a sort of "empowerment of the people" political background back in Cyre running as the countercurrent to the monarchy (with a certain element of cynicism within that during the war, considered from the fact, you know, their "People's" political movement would greatly benefit her noble kinsmen.) As for the "large magics" bit...well, she's never particularly exercised that essence in the adventure. She's tossed an awful lot of Reserve feat gobs and zappers, and she's displayed an almost religious adherence to Mirror Images of herself that I think kind of runs nicely with the whole "Janis theme. Especially, you know, since Janis is pretty close to Janus.

Janis liked Selase because the whole Blood of Vol thing runs deep with her own distrust of authority. Conversely, no matter how likable the rest of the group is, most of them are A) Thranish priests, beholden to Thranish masters or B) Cyran loyalists. She's got her guard up. Cyran loyalists probably killed a lot of her family before the Mourning took most of the ones that were left, and Daellin isn't exactly cuddly himself. And anyone with any sense wouldn't soon forget that Khensu and the rest are still a group of Thane inquisitors (or could be) that outnumber everyone else before they start opening up.

As for nihilism? That's definitely and precisely Janis. Every new breath is the death of the old one and all that. And besides, it lends her a certain sort of crotchety charm.

 

[DEFCON 1]

We have a NPC who could take a role like this (Mateusz, the leader of the expedition), though a DMPC is not my most ideal solution---though one that can be done if it is the party will. I don't want the DMPC to take any of the significant spotlight from the rest of the party, you see. If someone picked up the Leadership feat for a healing cohort, that could also work.

I don't even consider a character like this as a PC. He's an NPC all the way. I see him as a walking medical station... there in the background to do the one specific job that the D&D game system mechanics require, but which no one wants to make their PC about. Because if James thinks Janis is left out in the cold during the adventure's many combats... the "band-aid cleric" is even worse. Because all their spells are needed to be used for removing debuff effects... and thus this cleric has to fight in combat just as-is, with no spell enhancements for themselves.

D&D is very much like World of Warcraft, in that characters receive positive buff abilities and negative debuff abilities virtually every combat, and they are a major component of game play. The only difference is... WoW has debuffs wear off after a few minutes... whereas D&D debuffs usually never go away without major divine casting intervention (or at the very least, without several days of bed rest). Thus PCs get stuck walking around suffering from Sickness, from negative levels, from ability reductions etc. for many encounters repeatedly, with no chance for them to ever go away unless there is someone around specifically there to do nothing but remove them. And it's obvious to all of us that nobody ever wants to play that kind of character... one whose spell list is nothing but Remove Disease, Remove Poison, Lesser Restoration, the Cure spells etc. That's part of the reason I specifically mentioned in Jarrith's bio that he wasn't a band-aid cleric. Because I wanted my spell selection to be geared towards his own personal melee ability, not towards fixing everybody after melee ended.

So a medic NPC in my mind is actually the best solution... there to provide the medical services that no player who has a cleric wants to do. Using Mateusz would accomplish this... where he's back at the barricade with the rest of the caravan (for example), we have these drawn out fights in the streets and at the church... we get the crap kicked out of us... then when we get the chance we go back to the barricade and have Mateusz heal us of most of our debuffs. Then the party goes off again to do the next part of the adventure and the cycle continues. Say what you will about Baldur's Gate, but there was always a temple every four or five encounters along the adventure path where your PCs could pay to have Heals, Restorations, and Remove Poisons cast on them as needed. But that kind of thing tends to be in short supply in tabletop D&D.

 

[Kafkonia]

I'd be happy to run someone whose job was walking bandaid. Heck, I was even willing to play a fully-fledged Healer PC in No Man's Land until the realities of 20th-level character generation derailed her.