I wanted to take a moment to throw out some props to my gaming group for their dedication and patience.
I came down with shingles last week and one of the players hasn't had chicken pox, so he couldn't be around me. We already video-conference in two people for the games, so the idea of adding a third was no big deal. However, Oovoo requires a plan to conference three people in. So I figured we'd just use Skype and move on. We tested Skype individually and made sure all was well and then waited until game time.
Come game time, we connect to one endpoint and are chatting. Then the other endpoint logs on and we try to conference them in. Turns out that Skype currently only supports video between two parties not three. After some finagling and thinking, we manage to get a three way conference going.
We used Skype to conduct the audio portion of the conference. Then we each logged on to Yahoo! Messenger and broadcasted our webcams, since Yahoo! also didn't do three way conference calls. We each viewed each others webcams and we were underway. The computers were taxed a bit for all the data that was being uploaded and downloaded, so some things were a bit laggy.
Overall though, the game went well and fun was had; because the group I game in was willing to try something new and work with a less than perfect solution.
They rock.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Combat Roles #6 - Skills Monkey
The Skills Monkey is not necessarily a combat role, but the idea behind it is applicable in combat as well. The Skills Monkey focuses on having access to as many skills as possible, so that they are useful in as many situations as possible. They would dabble in some social skills, a knowledge skill or two, and whatever else they want.
This is the easiest role to define since the only requirements are that you have access to a variety of skills as class skills (in 3.5. Pathfinder has changed the skills monkey completely) and a good number of skill points. You want to have at least 6 skill points per level, before you add your intelligence modifier. Rogues, Bards and Monks do this best.
The Pathfinder skill system made this much easier, and also less crucial. "Cross class skills" cost as much as class skills and nearly every skill is available to every character. On top of that, they've combined many skills together reducing the overall number of skills. This opens up the skills to every class. Fighters now have access to more than just 4 skills that are completely useless; they can now bluff or be diplomatic, tumble around the battlefield, or creep along to ambush foes.
In the context of combat, the Skills Monkey makes use of the movement related skills the most. Jump allows you to cross difficult terrain easier and tumble allows you to position yourself to flank (or retreat if things have gone pear shaped). Hide and Move Silent let you ambush or vanish from a fight (or make use of the Sniping Rules). Bluff and Sleight of Hand play a role in feinting in combat to surprise the enemy.
This is the easiest role to define since the only requirements are that you have access to a variety of skills as class skills (in 3.5. Pathfinder has changed the skills monkey completely) and a good number of skill points. You want to have at least 6 skill points per level, before you add your intelligence modifier. Rogues, Bards and Monks do this best.
The Pathfinder skill system made this much easier, and also less crucial. "Cross class skills" cost as much as class skills and nearly every skill is available to every character. On top of that, they've combined many skills together reducing the overall number of skills. This opens up the skills to every class. Fighters now have access to more than just 4 skills that are completely useless; they can now bluff or be diplomatic, tumble around the battlefield, or creep along to ambush foes.
In the context of combat, the Skills Monkey makes use of the movement related skills the most. Jump allows you to cross difficult terrain easier and tumble allows you to position yourself to flank (or retreat if things have gone pear shaped). Hide and Move Silent let you ambush or vanish from a fight (or make use of the Sniping Rules). Bluff and Sleight of Hand play a role in feinting in combat to surprise the enemy.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Game Perceptions #1 - HP vs AC
This is going to be a series about how things are perceived in the game and possible suggestions to make those perceptions easier to deal with. Also, this post and the next few are being written while I am on Vicodin for pain. So if I am more rambley or hard to follow that usual, please forgive me. I hurt.
So Armor Class (AC) is a measure of how difficult you are to hit and Hit Points (HP) is a measure of how much damage you can take. This seems fairly straight forward. If I roll well enough to hit you with my sword, I get to do my damage to you. Things begin to break down when you factor in levels.
If I swing a sword at a commoner, I'll probably hit. I'm also likely to do enough damage to kill them. However, if I swing the same sword at high level adventurer (assuming I hit), I'll do the same amount of damage, but it won't kill them. They're still human, so the sword should be as lethal to them as to a commoner, but clearly it isn't. They can take more damage, but how is that represented?
I think a good way of looking at it is that AC is passive/reflexive defense, you don't have to think about it your training, experience, and plate armor allow you to shrug off blows, while HP is active/intentional, you need to devote some attention to the blow that actually landed. So just because a high level adventurer got hit by a sword, it doesn't mean that they were actually injured. An intentional twist avoid the blow, grunting as your shield absorbs the impact, a frenzied parry; all of these things can represent HP damage.
So when do you actually start getting hit? There is no hard and fast rule for this. I think that if you are under 20 hit points or so, the hits you take should reflect some damage. Whatever is the most dramatic. That being said, critical hits should always do damage to the person. The players should be rewarded on a critical hits with drama and action.
So Armor Class (AC) is a measure of how difficult you are to hit and Hit Points (HP) is a measure of how much damage you can take. This seems fairly straight forward. If I roll well enough to hit you with my sword, I get to do my damage to you. Things begin to break down when you factor in levels.
If I swing a sword at a commoner, I'll probably hit. I'm also likely to do enough damage to kill them. However, if I swing the same sword at high level adventurer (assuming I hit), I'll do the same amount of damage, but it won't kill them. They're still human, so the sword should be as lethal to them as to a commoner, but clearly it isn't. They can take more damage, but how is that represented?
I think a good way of looking at it is that AC is passive/reflexive defense, you don't have to think about it your training, experience, and plate armor allow you to shrug off blows, while HP is active/intentional, you need to devote some attention to the blow that actually landed. So just because a high level adventurer got hit by a sword, it doesn't mean that they were actually injured. An intentional twist avoid the blow, grunting as your shield absorbs the impact, a frenzied parry; all of these things can represent HP damage.
So when do you actually start getting hit? There is no hard and fast rule for this. I think that if you are under 20 hit points or so, the hits you take should reflect some damage. Whatever is the most dramatic. That being said, critical hits should always do damage to the person. The players should be rewarded on a critical hits with drama and action.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Aligning Misconceptions #8 - Neutral Evil
Now we get into the true villainous character alignments. While Lawful Evil is still playable due to the Lawful nature, Neutral Evil and Chaotic Evil lack that.
Neutral Evil is the ultimate selfish alignment. You don't care what you have to do, who you have to murder, or what you have to take to get what you want. The only thing you are interested in is what benefits you. Altruism is a joke; laws are optional. The abused and treacherous minion is an excellent example. They will do what they need to do to gain power; even going so far as to plot against their master when the moment presents itself.
Neutral Evil can be a dangerous ally for the party to work with. They will gladly aid the PCs in anyway they can, but as soon as their needs aren't being met 100% or someone offers a better deal, Neutral Evil has no problems flipping sides.
A mercenary PC could be Neutral Evil, but the party would need to purchase his loyalty constantly, making it difficult to play if you want a cohesive party.
The best example of Neutral Evil may not be as well known as other examples but he fits the bill perfectly: Starscream from the Transformers.
Neutral Evil is the ultimate selfish alignment. You don't care what you have to do, who you have to murder, or what you have to take to get what you want. The only thing you are interested in is what benefits you. Altruism is a joke; laws are optional. The abused and treacherous minion is an excellent example. They will do what they need to do to gain power; even going so far as to plot against their master when the moment presents itself.
Neutral Evil can be a dangerous ally for the party to work with. They will gladly aid the PCs in anyway they can, but as soon as their needs aren't being met 100% or someone offers a better deal, Neutral Evil has no problems flipping sides.
A mercenary PC could be Neutral Evil, but the party would need to purchase his loyalty constantly, making it difficult to play if you want a cohesive party.
The best example of Neutral Evil may not be as well known as other examples but he fits the bill perfectly: Starscream from the Transformers.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Combat Roles #5 - Blaster
Similar to the Melee Damage dealer, the blaster is all about lots of damage as fast as possible. Unlike the Melee version, this role does not need to be in close to do the damage, typically this is done from range.
Arcane casters most easily fit this role, since they have access to a number of damage dealing spells that usually take less than one round to cast. This role functions best when the damage as dealt in as few attacks as possible. Unlike the Melee Damage where you can opt to do many attacks for less damage each; you want to deal the most damage in the fewest number of attacks.
As an Arcane Blaster, you suffer from a variety of problems. Low hitpoints being among them. You are rather squishy, so you need to keep people away from you. Also, you need to make sure that your targets find it very difficult to make the saves against your spells, since that often halves or negates your damage. Spell Resistance is also a concern; if you fail the check you lose the spell and the damage. Try to work in feats that will increase your DCs or reduce the Spell Resistance of the target.
Arcane is not the only way to do this though. You can also accomplish this as a specialized archer build (especially easy in Pathfinder with the Vital Strike chain of feats). The pro to this is that the only protection your enemies have is their Armor Class. The downside is your damage isn't usually as high as Arcane.
Melee characters can also accomplish this, in a roundabout fashion. If you are playing a Leap Attack/Shock-Trooper Barbarian build you are turning yourself into the cannonball instead of being the cannon, as archers and casters do.
Arcane casters most easily fit this role, since they have access to a number of damage dealing spells that usually take less than one round to cast. This role functions best when the damage as dealt in as few attacks as possible. Unlike the Melee Damage where you can opt to do many attacks for less damage each; you want to deal the most damage in the fewest number of attacks.
As an Arcane Blaster, you suffer from a variety of problems. Low hitpoints being among them. You are rather squishy, so you need to keep people away from you. Also, you need to make sure that your targets find it very difficult to make the saves against your spells, since that often halves or negates your damage. Spell Resistance is also a concern; if you fail the check you lose the spell and the damage. Try to work in feats that will increase your DCs or reduce the Spell Resistance of the target.
Arcane is not the only way to do this though. You can also accomplish this as a specialized archer build (especially easy in Pathfinder with the Vital Strike chain of feats). The pro to this is that the only protection your enemies have is their Armor Class. The downside is your damage isn't usually as high as Arcane.
Melee characters can also accomplish this, in a roundabout fashion. If you are playing a Leap Attack/Shock-Trooper Barbarian build you are turning yourself into the cannonball instead of being the cannon, as archers and casters do.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Illness
Wednesday was missing a post because I was laid out for two days with random malaise. My apologies, I'll try to get some posts written in advance in case something like that happens again. Alignment discussion will continue next Wednesday.
I am bringing the Dirty Words to an end, but not closing the subject, as I think I've covered the majority of the negative stereotypes involved with metagaming. If someone has any ideas for continuing it, get with me to discuss it so I can see information that I haven't considered.
I'm currently accepting ideas for the next series for Fridays. If anyone has any suggestions, send them my way and I will gladly go over it.
We're light on content today, mostly because illness has thrown me completely off my game, even though I'm largely over it. On Monday we'll pick back up on Combat Roles.
Apologies for the missed post.
I am bringing the Dirty Words to an end, but not closing the subject, as I think I've covered the majority of the negative stereotypes involved with metagaming. If someone has any ideas for continuing it, get with me to discuss it so I can see information that I haven't considered.
I'm currently accepting ideas for the next series for Fridays. If anyone has any suggestions, send them my way and I will gladly go over it.
We're light on content today, mostly because illness has thrown me completely off my game, even though I'm largely over it. On Monday we'll pick back up on Combat Roles.
Apologies for the missed post.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Combat Roles #4 - Ranged Damage
Ranged damage is important since it lets you soften up enemies as they get close to you. Additionally, you can deal damage across the battlefield, letting you reach units in the back or across blocking terrain.
Nearly any class can fulfill this role. Spellcasters and non-casters each have their own methods of dealing damage at range. Bows, crossbows, thrown weapons; all can be the center of a build to deal damage. Spellcasters have access to a ridiculous amount of spells that operate at range.
Spellcaster or not, there are certain feats you need to take. Precise Shot and Point Blank shot allow you to shoot effectively into melee, this also applies to ray attacks. Weapon Focus applies to both weapons and ray attacks, so it is useful as well, as is Improved Critical (but only for ray attacks that deal damage).
If you're effective reach is the length of a battlefield, you should consider readying actions. A spellcaster may think he is in the clear when he starts casting, but if you ready an action to attack him when he begins casting he will be forced to make concentration checks, possibly loosing the spell. If you have access to things like Ranged Disarm or Ranged Trip, disrupting melee characters when they begin their turn can be a lot of fun.
Nearly any class can fulfill this role. Spellcasters and non-casters each have their own methods of dealing damage at range. Bows, crossbows, thrown weapons; all can be the center of a build to deal damage. Spellcasters have access to a ridiculous amount of spells that operate at range.
Spellcaster or not, there are certain feats you need to take. Precise Shot and Point Blank shot allow you to shoot effectively into melee, this also applies to ray attacks. Weapon Focus applies to both weapons and ray attacks, so it is useful as well, as is Improved Critical (but only for ray attacks that deal damage).
If you're effective reach is the length of a battlefield, you should consider readying actions. A spellcaster may think he is in the clear when he starts casting, but if you ready an action to attack him when he begins casting he will be forced to make concentration checks, possibly loosing the spell. If you have access to things like Ranged Disarm or Ranged Trip, disrupting melee characters when they begin their turn can be a lot of fun.
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