Posts tagged 4e
Anthro Power!
Aug 24th
D&D has, in its time, visited many places and had many settings. We’ve had D&D in space (Spelljammer), set in desert lands (twice – Dark Sun and Al-Qadim), the Far East (Oriental Adventures) and on the plains of the horse clans (The Horde – remember that?). We’ve had D&D in Wonderland, in a city lodged in a kinda-nearly-dormant volcano, and more. D&D has travelled into our own world with d20 Modern, and beyond thanks to the high technology left by the original residents of Blackmoor.
Yet through all its many travels, D&D has yet to settle down and properly tackle gaming with anthropomorphic races. And that’s a crying shame.
Talking animals have a long and proud heritage in our folklore and fairy tales. From the countless works of Enid Blyton to Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows, and from the Kitsune legends of Japan to Winnie the Pooh there’s a special place in our racial memory for wise old owls, wily weasels and cunning foxes. We anthropomorphize the creatures, give them personalities which we, in turn, give back to ourselves. We say “timid as a mouse”, “mad as a march hare” and such, anthropomorphizing ourselves back into animal form.
By bringing talking animals into our role-playing game we’re playing those tropes, exploring and testing them in ways that are hard to do with the classic D&D races. Quite simply, we inject more personality into our animal creations that we do our fantastic ones. An Elf might be smug and arrogant, but he’s nothing compared to a cat. That sneaky Halfling would be beaten hands down in a sneakiness competition by a weasel. And so on.
Mouse Guard proves that there’s a place at the role-playing table for talking animals. That system handles the tropes with a delicate, wonderful twist and award-winning ruleset. What I’d like to see though is talking animals brought right into D&D as an official core supplement. d20 Modern came close with Moreaus, and proved that the d20/SRD was up to the task. Fourth Edition D&D should be able to handle animal races with little difficulty and no messy Level Adjustment fudgery required. Give me Feline Sorcerers, Badger Wizards and loyal Dog Fighters. I want my Sparrow Ranger, Mouse Cleric and Weasel Rogue. I want all these, and more.
Now, animal fans. Who’s with me?
Race, Class, Role, Build, Background and Theme
Aug 18th
One of the biggest innovations (or perhaps that should be re-innovations, as some of these elements were also present in previous editions) in Fourth Edition D&D has been the broadening of character generation. Your character is no longer a simple Race/Class combo (though he can be just that, if you want him to be) but a multi-faceted being complete with backstory, prior occupation, career path and social class, all in as much (or as little) detail as you choose.
And they’ve managed to do it without turning it into a stewing pile of power-gamery mess too. Way to go, WoTC!
Let’s take a look as each facet of your potential multi-dimensional character to see how it all hangs together.
Race
Your character’s Race denotes the core of his (or her) being; it’s who they are when stripped of everything else. Their race says most about your hero’s appearance, and much about their culture, social upbringing and outlook on life. Unless they are shaped differently by the campaign setting or something particular to your hero’s background, it’s fair to expect that their overall attitude will be much the same as any member of their race. For example, the vast majority of Elves possess an affinity for the Natural world (and forests in particular) but the campaign setting (such as Dark Sun) might change that radically, or this particular Elf have been brought up in an Urban environment.
That’s not to say that all Elves are nature-loving bow wielding hippies of course (though Dwarves may say that’s exactly what they all are), but that this cultural implication is present in their racial makeup. How that upbringing shapes the PC though, is entirely up to you. Maybe this particular Elf is thoroughly sick of the colour green and never wants to see another tree as long as she lives. Hey, it could happen.
Class
In 4e, a PC’s Class is less about who they are and more about how they fight. Class describes where your character gets his combat training/kewl spells/prayers/psionic potential, but also how they use it when facing opposition. Both the Fighter and Rogue are Martial characters, though their styles are very different. One charges forward, while the other runs and hides. Draw your own conclusions there.
But Class is more than that. It helps explain how your character responds to a challenge both on the battlefield and off. Each Class opens up a list of Trained Skills from which your PC selects several and these Skills say more about a character than their Class selection. For example, a Human Rogue is more likely to feel kinship with an Elven Ranger if they both have the Streetwise Skill than with another Human Rogue who lacks it; both the Ranger and the Rogue share a knowledge of urban life and respect for the seedy side of towns.
Class might also explain a hero’s motivation. It’s easy (if more than a little stereotypical) to create a sneaky Halfling Rogue or stoic Dwarven Cleric of Moradin and no further explanation of their motivation is needed. I encourage players to move away from that and instead use Background Options to help explain your hero’s motives. More on those in a mo’.
The selection of Class also chooses your hero’s Power source. 4e D&D has taken a leaf out of the (much loved) Rolemaster’s book with the implementation of Powers. Just as Rolemaster had the Realms of Essence, Channelling, Mentalism and Arms (non-combat), 4e has Arcane, Divine, Psionic and Martial, and add to that with Primal, Shadow and doubtless more to come. These control where the PC draws his powers from – Arcane gain power from the magical world around them, Divine from the Gods, Psionic from within themselves, Martial from their physical abilities, Primal from the untamed chaos of nature and Shadow from freakin’ Batman. I’m looking forward to the 4e take on the Rolemaster Archmage who recognises that all Powers sources are essentially the same and draws from all of them. Badass!
Note to self: Write more contrasting Rolemaster with 4e D&D. Comparisons abound!
In some ways though, your Fourth Edition hero’s choice of Class is the least important choice he has to make, even though it’s the most mechanically complex. Choose Eladrin as Race and the Background Options Noble & Criminal and you’ve already got a compelling character. Making him a Wizard, Paladin or Warlord just adds another wrinkle to the pie. Do pies get wrinkled?
Role
Waitaminute. Isn’t a characters Role tied to his Class? I mean, all Wizards are Controllers, right?
Well yeah, but I’ve argued before that the two shouldn’t be tied together, and it looks (with D&D Essentials) that this hard-and-fast rule is being loosened, and that’s a great thing for the game.
Right now, if you want to play a Martial Defender (for example), you’re playing a Fighter. But what if you want to play a Fighter who is more of a Striker (fewer hit points, more damage) or even a bow-wielding Controller (even fewer hit points, more foes)? How about a Wizard who specializes in Force Fields (Defender) or one who singles out individual foes with fearsome emotion-controlling spells (Striker)? You could conceivably argue that Gandalf was an Arcane Leader rather than a Controller, and you wouldn’t be wrong.
I foresee this as a direction 4e will increasingly take, and it’s an exciting one. Separating Role from Class opens up a whole new vista for character generation, and I’m stoked!
Build
Builds are a simple shorthand way of saying “if you take this, this, this and this, you will end up with this kind of character”. They’re entirely optional and provide a good newbie-friendly way to guide them through character generation. Want to play a Tactical Warlord or a Great Weapon Fighter? Just follow this build advice, and you’re good to go.
Despite their primary function as a guiding tool, the Builds can also serve as a role-playing jumping point. Your Tactical Warlord is likely to have a very different personality to an Inspiring Warlord both in and out of combat. That’s partially represented by the priority of the attributes (a higher Charisma usually denotes a more outgoing personality) but also with their outlook on life; in this example, a Tactical Warlord is more likely to be coldly clinical in their assessments whereas an Inspiring Warlord knows that it’s the hearts of men (or elves, or dwarves…) that can truly win the day.
Unlike the other optional elements of character generation (Background Options and Themes) your hero gains absolutely no mechanical bonus for following a Build other than the satisfaction of having put together a neat, well-optimised character. Conversely, there’s nothing to lose for not following a Build neither; you’re entirely free to choose between the Class Features, Feats and Powers however you wish. While you might not end up with a character with the same single-path focused optimisation as one of the Build, your hero will be (and here’s the important part) much more fun to play.
That’s not to say Build don’t have their place. They give us much more of an insight into the game designers’ minds. The Build represent how they expect the Classes to be played and a solid foundation for your own tinkering with Class element and Feat selection. For example, you could take Great Weapon Fighter but replace Power Attack with Potent Challenge. Minor changes to the Build like this help make your character that bit more unique.
So Builds are a great way to help get a handle on the Classes, and on the game as a whole. They’re a great starting point for new players and oldies alike who are trying out a new class for the first time. It pays to know when to follow a Build, when to tweak them and when to ignore them altogether. Let’s save that for a blogpost for another time, ok?
Background Options
Now we’re talking! Background Options are my favouritest optional rule in 4e D&D – to the point where I don’t consider it optional at all. Background Options are an Essential part of character generation as they serve to provide your PC with that all-important backstory. And that’s pure gold for this GM.
Background Options also confer a minor (though significant) benefit in the form of a +2 to one skill, adding a Skill to your potential list of Trained Skills, granting a bonus language or some other special boon. That’s a choice of five benefits. No, not four. Clearly you can’t count.
See, here’s how the choices break down:
1. Add a +2 to an Untrained skill. This gives a small bonus to a skill which you wouldn’t normally have access to, or one which you don’t want to spend Training on. This is a good choice if you choose a Background Option that offers Associated Skills that overlap with and Skill Bonuses from your Race. For example, an Elf with the Background Option Geography:Forest could be at +4 to either Nature or Perception without Training at all! That’s perfect if you want to play a Class that lacks the Perception skill and is short on Training points. How about a keen eyed Elf Fighter who specializes in the Greataxe?!
2. Add +2 to a Trained skill. Back to that Elf. Make him a Ranger and (thanks to being an Elf and the Geography:Forest Background Option he can be at +9 Perception even before stat bonus. That’s one eagle-eyed Ranger! Choosing a Background Option that synergizes nicely with your Trained skills is a smart move though taking a Background Option which just emphasises something we already know (Elf + Geography:Forest) is booooring! Think about the more esoteric Background Options to make your character much more interesting. An Elf with Occupation:Mariner can still take that +2 Perception but is a much more engaging character to play. Imagine an Elf with an ornately carved wooden leg……
3. Add another skill to your list of Trained skills. Each Background Option offers two skills. Pick one to either gain a +2 (as above) or add it to your list of available Trained Skills choices. That’s a +5 bonus, but the cost is that you have one less choice to spend on something else. This is a great choice if you want to create a character who has access to knowledge outside their Class’ normal field of interest. A Fighter who is an Arcane Refugee would make a terrific character as his village was destroyed by magic (rather than orcs – unless they were Orc Wizards) and he could take Skill Training in Arcana, making for one highly knowledgeable warrior who hates spellcasters. This also gives him access to the Ritual Caster Feat too meaning he could sometimes be forced to use the very thing he hates. See what I mean about Background Options being GM gold?
4. Gain a bonus language. Boooring, unless you really want to play a character who can speak both Goblin and Giant. For these kind of multi-lingual characters it’s better, imho, to use the Background Option to gain a Skill-related bonus and burn a Feat on the Linguist Feat.
5. Any other Boon. some Background Options (particularly those from the Scales of War adventure path) offer more unusual benefits to the character. These tend to be more powerful and Feat-like in nature (such as the Assassin background which adds both Arcana and Stealth to your class list, and gives a +1 bonus in both). I try to steer my players away from these options but allow them on a case-by-case basis, depending on just how much of a hard time I can give the hero in-game :D
Background Options cover a whole range of choices – from mysterious happenings during their birth to the geography of their homeland; from their pre-adventuring occupation to wealth level; from Early Life and Parentage to Recent Events. It’s all there and more, in spades. You’ll need the PHB 2 or a D&D Insider account to access them, but for my money Background Options alone make it worth the price of entry.
Your hero isn’t limited to a single Background Option, though he only gains the mechanical benefit from one of them. If you want your hero to be a Former Gladiator Scorned Noble Magic Scholar who is a Fugitive from a Vengeful Rival with a Missing Master that’s very all right by me!
Note to self: Use multiple Background Options and Risus notation? The character above could be Former Gladiator (3), Scorned Noble (2), Magic Scholar(1), Fugitive from a Vengeful Rival (4), Missing Master (5). Hmmm. Food for thought.
Themes
So far, Themes are only present in the Dark Sun campaign setting as they provide just a little more oomph to your character. That’s firmly in keeping with the setting as characters in prior editions were generated at a higher level than 1st from the start. Each theme grants an additional Encounter Power to the character, putting them kinda-almost at the same power level as a 3rd level character (only without the hit points, surges, utility power, feats or equipment – so not like 3rd level at all). Every character takes one Theme, and only one. Extra goodies (feats, paragon paths and optional Powers) are unlocked at later levels, if you choose to follow the Theme’s natural course.
Each Theme is a natural fit for one or more character classes (such as the Gladiator Theme for a Fighter) but the real fun comes from mixing things up. How about a Gladiator Monk, or a Dune Trader Warlord? More on that shortly.
I like Themes. They can tie the adventuring party together (“You’re all Gladiators!”) but still give them plenty of flexibility (thanks to freedom of choice over Race, Class and Background Options) to make each character unique and memorable. Themes also help to tie the characters more closely to the campaign setting – you’ll only find Dune Traders on Athas – in a way we’ve not seen before. That’s definitely a win in my books! Despite the power creep, I expect to see setting-unique Themes to find their way across all the campaign settings in due course (perhaps requiring a Feat to gain them). That won’t be a bad thing.
Mixing it up
What’s more fun? An Eladrin Paladin, or an Eladrin Paladin Merchant Prince Dune Trader? How about a Halfling Star Pact Warlock Monster Hunter Travelling Missionary? Or a Dwarf Gladiator Rogue who was Born on Another Plane?
Background Options (and Themes) come into their own when you play against expectations. As Elf with Geography:Forest might as well just be an Elf, whereas one with Geography:Wetlands has an interesting twist. Likewise, a Fighter with Occupation:Military isn’t going to win any prizes, but make him a Wizard……
There’s no shortage of Background Options both in the books (regrettably, not in PHB I though) and in the Character Builder so make good use of them.
Your GM will thank you for it, I swear!
Square of Darkness
Aug 12th
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.
– “Riddles in the Dark”, JRR Tolkien
The answer, as any fan of The Hobbit will tell you, is “Dark”. The little riddle does a terrific job summarizing just how scary the absence of light can be. Darkness is insidious; it creeps between, devours whatever it touches and is always there in the corner of your eye, waiting.
And most Dungeon Masters forget all about it when the adventurers venture underground.
The rules for handling Illumination (and the lack thereof) should be tattooed in glowing ink on the inside of every DM’s eyelids. It’s one of their most potent tools when it comes to setting the atmosphere of the setting. A healthy fear and respect of the dark is a primal instinct we all share; tap into that, and you’ll have the players eating out of your hand in no time.
First, a recap of the rules as they apply to Fourth Edition D&D.
Light comes in three forms:
- Bright Light isn’t particularly bright or dazzling, but is rather what we’d call “normal” light with no penalties. Booooooring!
- Dim Light includes candlelight, moonlight, glowing fungi and any other kind of minimal illumination where you can just barely make out outlines and movement. It’s what I’d call “normal” in a dungeon environment if I’m feeling generous. Race which have Low-light vision (such as Elves, Half-Elves, Tieflings, Dwarves and Eladrin) can see normally in dim light. I guess it should have been called Dim-light vision instead. Folks with normal vision (which includes Humans, Halflings, Dragonborn) are at a disadvantage as their enemies gain Concealment, meaning they’re at –2 to hit.
- Darkness, AKA “You’re screwed”. On a moonless night or in a room without a light source, your heroes (yes, all of the standard races) are at –5 to hit as their foes have Total Concealment. Meanwhile, those monsters with Darkvision (such as Kobolds) can still see just fine, thanks.
Don’t underestimate these penalties! –5 is like your STR 16 hero with a Greataxe suddenly fighting like a STR 10 dude with a wooden plank. It’s the difference between an INT 20 Wizard hitting with an Acid Arrow, and an INT 10 Wizard…… not.
Or, to put it another way, it’s like cladding all of those Kobolds in Full Plate Armour to give them a +5 AC bonus. Scary, huh?
Except it’s not like cladding them in Full Plate Armour as what our Darkness lurking monsters gain is Total Concealment, and that’s a lot better than any amount of armour. When in Darkness, your monsters can use Stealth to hide, and remain hidden and move up to 2 squares without requiring another Stealth check, even in Dim Light. A hidden enemy is a deadly one. Just ask any Ninja.
In Darkness (or when hidden in Dim Light), your monsters have Combat Advantage against the hapless PCs (PHB p280) while the heroes don’t – even your Rogue has to be able to see their target to be able to hit them (PHB p279).
A small group of Kobolds in a nice Dark Dungeon would hear and see the clunky armour wearing heroes approaching a mile away, hit them once in the Surprise Round then move back before the PCs even knew what hit ‘em. Rinse and repeat.
Don’t forget that even in a relatively well-lit Dungeon where there’s Everburning Torches on the walls or a coat of phosphorescent fungi on the ceiling, there will still be pools of shadow, and any monster with more than INT 2 will use them effectively. And so, dear DM, should you.
What can your heroes do to Fight The Darkness?
The first thing is, obviously enough, Bring Light. A humble Torch illuminates a 25’ (5 square) radius while a Lantern doubles that (50’ radius, 10 squares) and lasts a lot longer. The Sunrod covers a massive 100’ (20 square) radius but each one only lasts half as long as a pint of oil in the Lantern. Even with Sunrods as part of the standard Adventurer’s Kit, I recommend every party including a Lantern, Oil and a few torches on their equipment list. A Lantern will burn for a full 8 hours, enough for a full Extended Rest, while a Sunrod is only half that. More importantly, Oil burns and can be thrown – perfect for those time when you’re up against flammable foes.
The downside is that all this illumination announces your presence. and only illuminates to a fixed radius. Beyond that, we’re back to total Darkness or Dim Light meaning monsters with ranged weapons (such as the Goblin Sharpshooter with a Hand Crossbow, Range 10/20) can shoot without fear of the heroes being able to return fire effectively. Only the truly foolish (or brave, which is another way of spelling foolish) monster will go toe-to-toe with the PCs in their circle of light.
With a Wizard on your team, things improve dramatically. The Light cantrip is one of the best under-used spells in 4e; it’s a Minor Action and can be cast on any object or unoccupied square within 25’ (5 squares) and illuminates a 20’ (4square) radius area. Lob that in the first round of combat where the monsters lurk (or you suspect they lurk) and the advantages of the Darkness is gone. If you need a little illumination further than 25’ away (to spot a hidden sniper pinning you down, for example) cast Light on the Ranger’s arrow and let him take a shot – doesn’t matter if it misses, it’s the illumination it provides that counts.
Finally, have a Race with Darkvision on your team. So far, that’s just the Drow or Duergar. I’m disappointed that the Kobold racial write-up lists them with Normal Vision when the monster entry gives them Darkvision (another Update needed?). An all Drow party could operate in total Darkness without penalty and totally kick ass!
What I like most about the 4e D&D illumination rules is this quote (PHB p281):
Squares of darkness are totally obscured.
Hope I’ve shed a little more light on them!
A Totally Rad unboxing
Aug 4th
Starts around the 27 minute mark. Liking what I see here. Ah, sweet nostalgia!
Build an Essentials Rogue, today!
Jul 30th
The preview of the final build from the D&D Essentials line is up, and I’m geekgasming that this is (drumroll please……) The Thief. Yes folks, the Thief is back. For too long have the lightly armoured sneaky types belaboured under the misnomer of “Rogue”. Time to reclaim their true title and status as Thieves. Whether there’s forty of them breaking into a Sultan’s palace or one trying to steal Smaug’s treasure horde, this is great news for the game.
If, right now, you’re reading this and thinking I want to play a Thief and I want to play one now! then, my friends, this blogpost is for you.
As with the previous posts where we looked at re-creating the Knight, Warpriest and Mage using only content from the PHB, let’s see if we can create something more Thiefly (is that a word?) from what the Rogue Class provides in the core.
As with the other Essentials previews, the Thief is just another build of the Rogue, and one which slightly tweaks the class features in some way to better represent the concept. In this case, the emphasis is best summed up in one word: Backstab. If there was any doubt remaining in the minds of old-school gamers that D&D Essentials wasn’t designed for you, it ends here, right now. Repeat after me: this is a Thief with a Backstab ability. If it could be any more old-school they would be reversing AC and bringing back THAC0. Damn.
Ok. Geekgasm over. Moving on.
Your Thief differs from the core Rogue in only a few respects. He has proficiency in Short Bow rather than Shuriken (oh yes), and gains Weapon Finesse rather than Rogue Weapon Talent. As the latter granted a bonus when using Shuriken (increasing the damage die one size), it makes sense to pop it out for something else. We don’t know quite what that “something else” is – yet. I’m liking the return of the Short Bow and move away from the all-too-Ninja throwing stars. Welcome back Thief. Oh how we’ve missed you.
Beyond that, the changes are in the Powers. More on those in a mo’.
To build our Essentials-inspired Rogue using only the PHB, let’s make him a Brawny Rogue with the Brutal Scoundrel tactic. This is a Rogue whose job is to get in, hit the guard hard and fast then steal the gold, & keep on the move at all times. This isn’t a swashbuckling ninja Rogue but a pure old-school sneak thief of the first degree.
With the previous faux-Essentials builds I’ve had to make them Human to account for the extra goodies the builds gain (especially as I can’t trade out the other features). In this case though, let’s make our Thief an Elf. This gives her that all-important Short Bow proficiency as well as Wild Step and Speed 7, perfect things for our mobile Rogue to possess.
With the Short Bow appearing on the Thief’s proficiency list, it looks like WoTC are going to need another Update to allow it to be used with all those lovely Rogue Exploits. Let’s hand-wave that for now though. If this Rogue has a Short Bow, she sure as heck can use it with her Powers.
As we’re building a classic Elven Rogue, we take Acrobatics, Athletics, Dungeoneering, Perception, Stealth and Thievery as Trained skills. She’s an asset to any adventuring company with skills which will help keep her and the party alive whilst exploring the underdepths.
For her Feat, we take Backstabber. The Essentials Thief, along with Sneak Attack, also has that Backstab ability I mentioned. This gives the Thief a further +3 to hit and +1d6 damage on an attack once per Encounter provided they have combat advantage. In other words, that one attack is good for a total of +5 to hit, and +3d6 damage – perfect for a strike that really needs to drop a foe. Ouchy. It’s not clear whether the Backstabber feat improves his bonus die to d8s as well. I doubt it does. We’ll see.
As with the Knight build for the Fighter, the Thief doesn’t gain traditional At-will Powers but instead has their own unique take on them. This Thief’s Tricks (as they’re called) are more movement oriented and seem to focus more on getting the Thief into position, out of trouble or setting up a telling blow. That’s best emulated with the Rogue’s Deft Strike and Riposte Strike At-wills. The former allows our faux-Thief to Shift 2 (ie, move 10’ safely) before making her attack while the latter lets her interrupt an enemy’s melee attack with an attack of her own. Nothing like a blade on the throat to make a goblin think twice, eh?
As with the other Essentials builds, the Thief is a little less powerful at the top end (no Daily Powers!) in return for being just a bit more awesome overall (Backstab! Backstab! Backstab!). Our PHB-based Thief doesn’t have that luxury so let’s plough onto her other choices, keeping with the same conceptual theme. We take King’s Castle to keep with the “always on the move” idea, and Trick Strike because… well, it’s got Trick in the name. Also, it combines high damage with being able to push the enemy around the battlefield each time your hit. What’s not to love?
As GM, I handwave that this Rogue’s Powers are all usable with the Short Bow, and she buys an Adventurer’s Kit, Thieve’s Tools, Leather Armour, Short Bow and Short Sword.
Here’s Marlissa’s character sheet as a .pdf and .dnd4e.
Shameless re-use of a render alert!
And with that, we’re done. We know that the D&D Essentials line begins with a Red Box and gives us the first few levels for the Knight, Warpriest, Mage and Thief. We know it contains both a solo and an introductory adventure as well as counters, maps, dice, monsters and GM guide. We know the line continues in the same vein with full class levels (at least to 10th) for these builds as well as an updated Monster guide and Rules Compendium (which I’m hoping is more like the D&D Rules Cyclopedia than the 3e Rules Compendium. In my dreams).
We know it’s Fourth Edition D&D through and through, and unashamedly old school, both at the same time. In this last article poor Bill sounded very grumpy about all the negative idiocy that’s been thrown around about what should, imho, be THE product D&D gamers should be getting right behind regardless of their gaming preferences and style.
So c’mon people! Let’s stop Bill being grumpy!
Me, I can’t wait for Essentials. How about you?
Build an Essentials Cleric, today!
Jul 27th
We’ve had the Fighter & Wizard, now it’s the turn of the Cleric to take centre stage. As before we’re looking at how to create a simpler starting character using only the PHB and the design decisions evident in the D&D Essentials line. The end result should be a set of Archetypal characters which would serve to introduce any new player (or old player still unsure of 4e D&D) to the game.
The D&D Essential build of the Cleric is a Warpriest, a slightly more specialised man of god (any god, though only those with storm and sun domains are represented here) who focuses on battle and the domains of his deity. The PHB Cleric builds are more generalist in their Divine approach; they select a patron deity but it’s entirely optional whether they take Feats or Powers relating to their god. In contrast, the Warpriest gains Domain Features right from the start. These decide your Cleric’s starting At-will, Encounter and Utility Powers with only the Warpriest’s Daily Power being a player choice.
This is a Good Thing for new players to the game as it helps them build a Cleric tailored toward a specific deity quickly and easily, though a more experienced gamer will chaff at the narrow set of choices he can make. There’s nothing to say a Cleric has to be built this way, of course – if you want to play a Cleric there’s no shortage of ways to build one in 4e D&D. The Essentials line just provides one method, and it’s a darned fine one for new players at that.
The other differences between any other 4e Cleric and an Essentials Warpriest are that they gain proficiency in shields, +1 Fort and +1 Will rather than a straight +2 bonus to Will, but don’t appear to gain Divine Fortune, Healer’s Lore or Ritual Casting. That’s a fair swap out for their Domain Features (especially as they gain a Utility Power at 1st level), and reflects that they are geared more toward combat and less toward healing than your average cleric.
As with the other builds, creating a Cleric in a similar style using only the PHB means he has to be Human to account for the “new” features. Let’s create him as a Battle Cleric of Kord. He is a follower of D&D’s resident God of Storms and Battle, and an all round card carrying member of the Thor lookalike club. Oh yeah!
For his Trained skills we pick Diplomacy, Heal, History, Insight and Religion. I imagine he comes from the “he who shouts loudest shouts last” school of Diplomatic relations, and his knowledge of History comes from ancient Skald’s tales told late at night around a roaring fire. For his Feats we pick Kord’s Favour and Weapon Proficiency (Warhammer). I mentioned Thor, right?
When it comes to Powers, this is a Cleric who wades into battle alongside the Fighters rather than stand back and let his deity do all the work. With the Righteous Brand and Priest’s Shield At-wills, supplemented by the ever useful Lance of Faith (a bolt of single lightning from above) he is a worthy adversary on the battlefield. Add the Wrathful Thunder Encounter and Cascade of Light (a BIG lightning bolt!) Daily Powers and his image as a crusading follower of a storm god is sealed.
For his equipment we give him an Adventurer’s Kit, Chainmail armour, Ritualbook (a bag of runestones) and a Warhammer (which he wields two-handed). For his Rituals he has Gentle Repose and Brew Potions Mead.
We’re done.
DO NOT MESS WITH BADASS CLERIC OF BADASS STORM GOD
THANK YOU
Here’s the pdf and dnd4e character sheet for Olaf Olegsson, loyal Battle Cleric of Kord and an ideal right hand man any time you need to start a bar fight.
What I’ve learned from creating these characters is that the D&D Essentials line is not 4.5e. It’s a fresh look at what we have now through gentler eyes. The rules are presented in a less Powers intensive manner and that helps the role-playing aspect of the game truly shine through. As I’ve said before, this is the same rules, writ better.
The builds for each character class are slightly more ambitious than the ones we have seen so far. Rather than say “take, this, this and that feature and you end up with this build” they explicitly swap out one or more class features for something else. That’s more akin to a 2nd Edition AD&D Kit, and a small evolutionary shift from what we’ve seen before in 4e but certainly nothing revolutionary or game-changing. The Essential Mage build of the Wizard can stand right aside any other Wizard in the game and be considered rules-equal. This is a direction I really like that they’ve taken and hope we see campaign-specific builds being created in the future. I’d love to see builds for Dark Sun Wizards, Eberron Wizards and a Forgotten Realms Wizard that all reflect their different styles in some minor way.
When you put together the build options (both these and the classic ones), Background Options, the freedom to choose your own Powers, multi-class Feats, the Hybrid classes and themes introduced with Dark Sun, Fourth Edition really is the best, most flexible version of D&D there is.
D&D Essentials is just one more player friendly step along the way.
Next: The “Essential” Rogue
Build an Essentials Mage, today!
Jul 26th
Last time we looked at how to create something like the Essential Knight using only content from the Player’s Handbook. This time it’s the turn of the Mage, a specialist Wizard formally educated in the ways of spell casting. Can we do the same thing, and create a leaner, simpler magic-user using only the PHB? Of course we can!
But first, I’m going to go off on a small tangent and explain why I’m purposefully restricting this to options from the PHB. It would, after all, be easier to reproduce the Essentials builds with more options and features to work with. The point though is to recreate something which is easier both to build and use at the table, and that means creating a character where a new players doesn’t need to hunt through a plethora of books to find what they need. It also doesn’t assume the player has a D&D Insider account or even access to one. A new gamer with a copy of the PHB or an old schooler who (like me) favours the Dead Tree format should be able to put together these builds right at home.
Back to the Mage.
This is a straightforward build for the Wizard Class which loses its reliance on implements but gains specialization in one (or more with Feats, presumably) schools of magic. It looks like Arcane Implement Mastery (Orb of Imposition, Staff of Defense and Wand of Accuracy) has been swapped out for the Apprentice Mage feature instead which gives some kind of bonus when casting spells specific to your school. The article doesn’t go into detail about the three school specialities provided (Enchantment, Evocation and Illusion) but I’d expect them to confer bonuses similar to those given by the Implement Mastery features.
Aside from that, the only other change is that the Mage gains Magic Missile automatically as a free bonus spell. I’m still on the fence regarding the updated changes (the player in me loves it, but my inner GM suspects it is open to abuse) but I do like the idea that trained Mages (Magi?) all learn this classic spell as part of their basic training.
As with the Fighter, this is a change which requires that our “Essentials” Wizard is built as a Human in order to gain the free At-will. For the sake of simplicity, let’s make him a master of Evocation, a blasty mage whose spells are all designed to do as much damage and make a much noise all possible. That’s a character which should suit any player new to the game!
We’ll start with a War Wizard build with Wand of Accuracy as his Arcane Implement Mastery. This gives a bonus equal to your DEX modifier to a single attack roll once per encounter when wielding a wand. I expect that the Evocation Apprentice bonus will be pretty much the same, but only be usable when casting Evocation spells instead.
For our studious and eager to please student Mage, I’ll give him Arcana, Diplomacy, History, Nature and Religion as his Trained skills and Human Perseverance and Armour Proficiency (Leather) as his feats. This apprentice is determined not to let anything get him down, and is smart enough to know the value of improved protection when out in the wild.
It’s annoying that all of the spells didn’t have the D&D schools as keywords right from the start. I expect that will be the subject of another Errata Update at a later date. For our Evocation Mage though, we take the compulsory Magic Missile along with Scorching Burst and Ray of Frost. Our Evocation specialist isn’t exactly short-changed when it comes to At-will blasty spells. An Illusionist or Enchanter who wanted to use only the PHB will have to reskin the powers to suit. Perhaps the Cloud of Daggers is all in the mind or Thunderwave is an intense wave of pain.
For our Encounter and Daily spells we’ll take Force Orb and Acid Arrow with Flaming Sphere in the Spellbook. It’s not entirely clear from the article whether the Mage gains a bonus Daily Spell at first level. This may be part of the Apprentice Mage benefit or be dropped as the balancing factor for gaining Magic Missile for free. If that’s the case it’s in keeping with these Essentials builds providing more flexibility but slightly less power overall.
For his first quest outside the cloistered halls of his Wizarding Academy our Apprentice Mage is equipped with an Adventurer’s Kit, Spellbook, Leather Armour, Dagger and Wand. For his starting Rituals we choose Brew Potion, Magic Mouth and Tenser’s Floating Disk to reflect his classroom learning.
Resisting the urge to call him Larry Trotter, here’s Marcus Wireforged. eager Apprentice Mage and student of Things That Go Boom. Download the pdf or dnd4e of his character sheet, and he’s ready to play!
See? Not like Harry Potter at all.
Next: The “Essential” Cleric
Dungeons & Disney du Jour: Princess Pauline
Jul 25th
“Jest look at her. Prancing through this stinkin’ dungeon like it’s some fairy tale palace, all singin’ and dancing’ fit to burst. It’s no surprising the monsters hear us comin’ a mile away. What I want to know is how come she never gets hit. I mean, look at what she’s wearin’! A ball gown! D’you see, Sir Gallant? D’you see?”. Five steps behind the dwarf the paladin sighed, an unmistakable look of adoration on his face, “Yes goodfellow Bain, I see….”
Once upon a time, Princess Pauline lived in a huge castle atop a hill surrounded by an enchanted wood populated with all manner of friendly animals. Then the orcs came and Princess Pauline was forced to escape with the aid of a gruff dwarf and a love-struck paladin. They had a series of hilarious adventures (most of which involved Princess Pauline singing and looking immaculate) and now find themselves questing through dungeons in search of the Key to True Love which will banish the orcs from Princess Pauline’s kingdom forever. Then they will all live happily ever after.
Except maybe the dwarf.
Dirty Little Secret: The power behind the orc invasion is none other than Princess Pauline’s evil stepmother, a wicked Night Hag intent on claiming the tiny kingdom as her own. In order to do that she needs to ensure that Princess Pauline dies in as gruesome a manner as possible. Or eat an apple. Either works.
Notes: 4e D&D Bards make excellent Disney Princesses. In fact they might as well have just called it the Disney Princess character class. With a fine singing voice and the ability to get friends and foes alike into all sorts of japes in battle (not to mention lullabies at bedtime), your Bard Disney Princess is a worthy (if frustrating) addition to any adventuring party. As your Rituals, take Animal Messenger and Create Campsite and your woodland friends will only be too eager to help with your domestic chores.
Here is Princess Pauline’s character sheet at 1st level.
Enjoy!
Build an Essentials character, today!
Jul 23rd
The good folks at Wizards of the Coast have been teasing us in recent weeks with information about the new character builds provided in the D&D Essentials line. So far we have seen builds for the Cleric, Wizard and Fighter with each one giving us more of an insight into the design decisions they made while putting Essentials together. I’m liking what I see so far, and wonder if it’s possible to retro-fit those goals into the system we already have at the table, right now. Let’s find out.
The main motivator behind the Essentials line (and the Red Box in particular) is to present 4e D&D in a way that’s less intimidating and simpler to get into right from the start. Each build provides a preset path through the levels so that the player isn’t overwhelmed by the array of choices provided by the current ruleset. For example, at Third level the Knight build for the Fighter gets Improved Power Strike rather than choosing from 20-odd Encounter Powers.
Y’see, sometimes Choice is Good. It means you have the flexibility to create exactly the character you want. Choice can also be counter-productive though. A player who is new to the hobby and an old-school gamer who values simpler character design will both appreciate that D&D Essentials isn’t so much about restricting choice but about making the game more accessible. Toss a copy of the PHB to an old-schooler or a new player and open it at a random page. Unless they hit the cool art, I’m sure they’ll run a mile. Page after page of rules intensive Powers staring back at you do not make for an appealing game.
So, D&D Essentials is about simplicity, and that’s a Good Thing. The question is can we simplify what we have right now to create a Fighter, Wizard and Cleric (and Rogue when that’s previewed) in the same same style? Why yes, we can!
To start with, here’s a Campaign file for the Character Builder (right-click, hit “Save As…”) which loads in only the content from the Player’s Handbook. This resets the Character Builder right back to pristine (but fully errata’d) simplicity – perfect for those times when you want to provide a less overwhelming array of choices or have a solid base on which to build your own Campaign Setting file.
To load it in, go to Manage->Campaign Settings in Character Builder then hit Load Campaign. You’ll notice that some of the elements will have greyed-out ticks beside them; this is because those supplements contain some content that’s duplicated from the PHB. Only the PHB is loaded in full.
Tackling the Essentials builds in reverse order, the Knight is a chivalric Fighter who specializes in heavy armour and shield. While the build doesn’t specify a preference for one or two handed weapons, the lack of races with more than two arms (Thri-Kreen Knight, anyone?) implies that this is primarily a build which focuses on one-handed weapons.
It’s great to see a classic Medieval Knight make a welcome return to D&D. The Paladin has stolen much of their thunder, and I’m loving that D&D Essentials brings the Knight back into the Martial fold as a fighter who serves man but respects the gods (as opposed to the Paladin, where the opposite is true). This build reminds me a lot of the Knight character class from Dragon Warriors, and that earns it a lot of love.
Unlike most other Fighters, the Knight has Plate Armour Proficiency, so that costs a Feat from the start to reproduce it. Add in the character’s free Feat at first level and it’s clear we’re going to need to build our “Essential” Fighter as a Human. I’m finding that with all of my faux-Essentials builds; the classes themselves either gain an additional feat-like feature or Power (in the case of the Wizard & Cleric), but at the price of a little less power overall. These are builds which are not well suited to the power gamer who wants his heavy-hitting Daily Powers right from the start.
So, to recreate something like the Knight using Character Builder and only the Player’s Handbook, select Human Fighter and Plate Armour Proficiency as your bonus Feat. The Knight doesn’t appear to get Combat Challenge but gains Defender Aura instead. This is a mechanically simpler ability which is always active until you turn it off (ie, at the end of the Encounter) and basically means any enemy within 5’ of you is at –2 to attack if they ignore you. They can Shift without penalty, but there’s no fiddly tracking specific foes until the end of your next turn. In short, Defender Aura is a much easier ability to play, though it’s not as good against pesky Kobolds. Heh.
Given that we’re using only what’s in the PHB though, we’re restricted to Combat Challenge and as we’re recreating a heavily armoured Knight with shield, take One-handed Weapon Talent to go with it.
The article doesn’t go into detail about the Battle Guardian and Shield Finesse features of the Knight, but it looks like one of them replaces Combat Superiority. I’m guessing this is to de-emphasise modifiers to opportunity attacks and, again, make a simpler game. For our PHB-only Essential Knight though, we keep Combat Superiority.
Moving on to Skills, and our Knight has slightly different skill choices to a regular Fighter with Streetwise being replaced by Diplomacy in the class list. This is firmly in keeping with the image of a Knight being a chivalric member of the court rather than a street tough warrior. Reproducing that using the PHB only and sticking closely to the rules is tricky without spending his remaining Feat slot on Skill Training. As GM I’d happily hand-wave the player taking Diplomacy as a Class Skill or (if we were using PHB2) it could be added as a Background Option. For the purposes of this build though, I’ll say this particular Knight is a more worldly-looking fighter who had no interest in the politics of court life. He takes Athletics, Endurance, Heal and Intimidate as his Trained skills.
With Armour Proficiency (Plate) filling up his Human Feat slot, I suggest taking Toughness as it’s about the simplest Feat of the lot and is in keeping with the design goal of creating as simple a character to play as possible. Those extra hit points will certainly come in handy too.
On to Powers.
The Essentials Knight doesn’t have a Daily Power, and his At-will Powers are instead Stances which affect his basic attacks in some way. Three are mentioned – Battle Wrath, Cleaving Assault and Measured Cut with only the first two being detailed. Battle Wrath provides a straight +2 damage to basic attacks (including missile attacks too, it seems) while Cleaving Assault is a nifty variation on the Cleave At-will Power. This does damage equal to your CON (not STR!) bonus to an adjacent enemy when you hit another one. As it’s a Stance and affects all basic attacks it means your Knight can Cleave as an opportunity attack! Woot! Loving the image of a foe making a mis-step and the Knight taking out the poor fool and the minion next to him as a result.
For their Encounter Power, Knights gain Power Strike. This is an uber-simple power which adds a straight +1 [W] damage to an attack as a Free Action. You don’t need to call it until you hit meaning it’s not going to fail you due to a dud roll of the dice, and perfect for those times you need to put just a little more effort behind the swing of your sword. This power is a long overdue addition to the game. Love it!
As we’re going for simplicity and avoiding complex in-game choices, our faux-Knight will take Cleave, Tide of Iron and Sure Strike and his At-wills, Covering Attack as his Encounter Power and Brute Strike as his Daily. This gives him a good spread of choices between hitting hard, defending his allies, and making sure the blow lands. While I prefer the simpler Essentials Knight, this is a good enough spread of Powers to keep the chivalric flavour without adding complexity to the mix.
Add an Adventurer’s Kit, Plate Armour, Heavy Shield and Longsword, and we’re done.
Download a pdf or dnd4e (right-click, Save as…) file for Sir Borys, an Essentials-style Knight designed from the ground up to be ideal for a new gamer to play. Rather than use the cluttered and needlessly complex (not to mention pug-ugly) default 4e character sheet I’ve used my own, simpler, Character Sheet layout.
Next: The “Essential” Wizard
Good Monster Hunting
Jul 21st
I’m re-reading the veritable Call of Cthulhu Keeper’s Companion Volume 1. This is an excellent tome and a terrific read regardless of your system of choice. The first chapter is Good Cthulhu Hunting by Sandy Peterson & John B Monroe and it summarizes 10 best practises for wise Call of Cthulhu investigators. The advice it gives strikes me as equally applicable to adventurers regardless of genre, so I’m going to look at each in turn and see how it applies to your average adventuring party. I’ll be giving specific examples using 4e D&D but the advice should be applicable whatever your rule system.
Hopefully what keeps an investigator’s sanity intact will also help keep your Fighter or Wizard alive too!
1) Keep it secret
It might sound counter-intuitive to warn against your heroes boasting of their exploits, but think on this: your heroes explore long forgotten tombs, break up rituals to dead gods and track down cults bent on attaining immortality by any means possible. It’s best not to spread the kind of information around or you might risk enticing yet more followers toward the Dark Side. That wide-eyed farmer may well become tomorrow’s cultist, spurned on by the fireside tales the heroes spread of promised riches and glory. Or that merchant could secretly yearn for immortality, and have just the right contacts to aide him on his quest. The cowl’d figure in the corner may well be a spy for a more powerful cult, eager to capitalize on the vacuum created by the PCs’ actions.
The Devil, as they say, is in the details – and in the Heroes’ case, it’s best to keep those details unsaid. Reveal that the problem has been resolved, claim your reward and move onto the next village as the sun sets. That is the way legends are made, after all.
2) Stay together
The old adage of “never split the party!” may well have worn thin in this day and age where it’s possible (encouraged even, in my group) for the PCs to go their separate ways during a research Skill Challenge. The more studious members will head to the Library or local Guildhall while the Streetwise urban types seek out local gossip, agreeing to meet up and compare notes at a certain time. After a touch of role-playing in the spotlight and a couple of rolls of the dice they are back together and the adventure continues.
But when swords are drawn and danger is near, a split party is invariably a weaker one. In the case of Fourth Edition D&D there’s no shortage of Powers which explicitly reward Heroes who stay close together – from the Half-Elf’s +1 to Diplomacy to all PCs within 10 squares (a half-elven smile goes a long way, apparently – exactly 50’) to the countless Powers of the Warlord. The message is clear: keep your allies close (but Flank where you can).
A wickedly wise GM can capitalize on that and create layouts or sudden barriers which split the party in twain. Have a crevasse appear down the centre of the battlemat to restrict movement, or use a U-shaped corridor to limit line-of-sight between allies. Worse yet, have the corridor close off after the first PC passes through, forcing him to soldier on alone while the other Heroes find an alternate route. Nothing scares a player more than seeing the GM reach into the mini box with a huge grin on their face while their little hero stands, all alone and friendless…..
3) Act in haste, repent at leisure
This is a simple one: never, ever pull a lever, break a glass vial or smash a stone tablet unless you are 100% completely, totally and absolutely sure it’s the right thing to do. Such things invariably trigger a trap, conjure a Very Angry Demon (who is very angry) or contain the all-important Spell which your heroes will need at the climax to the adventure.
A wise GM will provide a get-out clause so that just in case the heroes do the thing they shouldn’t do there’s a way to fix things. Perhaps the trap can be avoided or the stone tablet repaired in some way. At worst, your heroes will have lost some Hit Points, gained some XP (from killing the Very Angry Demon) and learned a valuable lesson.
Of course, an evil GM won’t provide a get-out clause. Therefore, it pays to know your GM.
4) Always have a plan
It’s a sad fact that your typical adventure party doesn’t have a plan. At least, not one that goes beyond “enter dungeon, kill things, take stuff”. As far as plans go, it leaves a lot to be desired.
At the very least your band of weary heroes should have a marching order agreed so that your heavily armoured high hit point guys can soak up any hurt from a surprise attack. Having your Wizard taken out of action in the first round of combat isn’t fun. Unless you’re the GM, of course. The look on the players’ faces is priceless.
Ahem.
A good plan is one which keeps an eye on the goal at all times. If the scenario is a recovery mission to rescue the King’s Daughter from the Drow Witches then there’s little to be gained by wandering off and slaughtering every last creature in the dungeon, and much to be lost if they kill her before the stroke of midnight. Get in, get the girl, then get out. You can always come back tomorrow to clear out the dungeon properly.
An important element of good planning is knowing what you’re likely to face beforehand. Which leads us neatly to……
5) Scout it out
Know your enemy, and the battle is more than half won. Scouting out the area and potential threats makes a great Skill Challenge which can reward the heroes with both XP and valuable information to aid them in their quest.
Use the skills that the gods (ok, the rule system) gave your hero. The more studious and knowledgeable party members can reveal the strengths and weaknesses (especially the weaknesses) of your foes with Arcana, Nature and Religion. The more charismatic members can use Bluff, Diplomacy, Insight, (if necessary) Intimidate and Streetwise to discover rumours, gossip and legends about the area while Dungeoneering and History will tell something about the background and physical features of their lair.
And if all else fails, use Thievery to steal a map :)
6) Weapons are a last resort
The world of Dungeons & Dragons is a dangerous place with swords unsheathed with barely a moment’s thought and a Minor Action. It doesn’t always have to be that way though.; after all, killing Bandits is fun. Convincing the Bandits to work for you in return for a good word with the magistrates is better.
Most times though, violence is the only option, and even then it pays to think smart. Hitting a Goblin with a Fireball is once thing, but if you hit the wall behind him, that could cause the wall to collapse and take out the lot of them in one strike.
Don’t underestimate the usefulness of Skills in combat too, and Intimidate should be top of the list. It’s an Intimidate vs Will check to force all bloodied enemies to surrender. The modifiers are pretty steep: –5 if you don’t speak the same language (but everyone understands the language of violence, right?) and a +10 to the DC if the targets are Hostile (combat. duh.), but it’s well worth a try after you’ve used particularly impressive Power or rolled a critical. Spend an Action Point to Intimidate in the same round, and tell the GM you deserve modifiers to the Intimidate roll. I’m sure he’ll agree.
7) Know your enemy
To repeat point Five, it pays to know what you are up against. It’s one thing to scout out the area of your current adventure, but entirely another to understand the evil of the long-term Big Bad Villain who is behind it all. This is something which can’t be gained through Skill Challenges alone.
Perhaps the last few adventures have been tied together in some way; a mysterious cult is harvesting undead body parts, gnoll caravans are trading under the moonlight and slavers are looking for someone with a green gem embedded in her forehead. As the heroes thwart each step, they attract the attention of the evil mastermind controlling these disparate threads – a vile Necromancer/Artificer intent on creating a Flesh Golem powered by the undead head of a god’s Avatar!
Can the heroes follow the clues and recognise the threat before it’s too late? Good luck with that.
Knowing your enemy is something which only comes after several encounters. D&D doesn’t really do well the concept of recurring villains who escape and live to fight another day, but there’s no reason why not. GMs, why not have the key villain in the story pull a lever, teleport or distract the heroes by summoning a demon when he’s low on hit points to make good his escape. Reward the heroes full XP for defeating him, and you now have a returning thorn in their side you can use later.
8) Things are not always as they seem
Plot twists. I love ‘em. Perhaps the true villain isn’t the corpulent merchant laid on the bed, but the lithe slave chained to him. She is secretly a Wizard who has dominated the weak-willed Merchant and is the true power behind his empire.
I never did trust Princess Leia.
Role-playing can sometimes be like a game of Poker where the players are on the lookout for a GM’s tell. A twinkle in his eye may well mean that things aren’t exactly as first appears. The challenge is to translate their suspicions into in-character role-playing hooks their heroes can run with.
And sometimes a twinkle in the eye of a GM is just a twinkle in the eye of the GM.
9) Never give up
The mark of a true hero is in their resolve against unimagined opposition. Can five heroes really turn the tide against a Demon Lord and the countless Hordes of Hell? Can a magic-user, thief, cleric and fighting man bring down a Beholder Warlock? Can the Rogue really steal the Fighter’s gold ring without him noticing?
Heroes don’t give up but if the battle is too tough there’s no shame in retreat. Sometimes the best tactic is to rest and regroup, especially if resources are running low. Those Daily Powers recharge on an Extended Rest and sometimes the Wizard would be better switching his spells out with those in his Spellbook. If carrying on leads to certain death then it’s wiser to withdraw. There’s always another day.
But never, ever give up!
10) Be prepared
It’s a foolish adventurer who doesn’t include an Adventurer’s Kit in their equipment list. It’s your hero’s Swiss Army Knife containing everything (beyond a pointy metal thing or magic wand) needed to tackle any threat a dungeon may bring. Add class and skill specific items provided by the Climber’s Kit and Thieves’ Tools, and you’re good to go. It’s ironic that the stereotypically most agile class, the Rogue, needs to heft the most equipment to do his job properly (47lbs of it, all told). Talking the Fighter into carrying your backpack is a very good idea.
Having the right equipment can be the difference between life and death, or at least the difference between making a skill check and failing it. A Rogue without his tools is at a serious disadvantage and a party lacking a 50’ rope will have to find another route down a 40’ hole.
Beyond that though, it’s important to know what you’re facing, and prepare for that. Vampires and werewolves in particular require special equipment to deal with effectively. I pity the party who faces a vampiric werewolf – wooden stakes coated in silver are particularly hard to come by.
In summary, the ideal hero should plan ahead, scout the area beforehand and be willing to talk or outthink a problem before resorting to combat. Stay together, be well equipped, and don’t trust a word the GM says.
Till next time!
