Author Topic: The Blind Arena  (Read 10060 times)

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Prime32

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The Blind Arena
« on: May 18, 2008, 01:30:31 PM »
Two teams of four submit their stats to a DM by private message.

Each team has 1 minute to prepare, then is teleported into the arena. They do not know what kind of builds their opponents have, just their physical descriptions. They will have to work out just what it is they are fighting, so they can form strategies before they are killed.

I would say this kind of PvP game would be easier than a standard campaign, so does anyone want to DM? I might do it myself.
I'm DMing.


Details
The arena is underground, and is filled with luminous crystals to provide normal lighting. There are tree roots and pools of water lying around, so that any abilities which require them will work.

Level 20, 32 point-buy characters, no level 5 stuff from this list. Creative level 4 characters that keep the other side guessing are appreciated
1. "I'm a ROLE-player!": This is the dimwitted "I took WP Focus 'cuz my wizard has this dagger he really likes!" level.  Woo.

2. Competent: A Wizard with Color Spray at 1st.  This is the level for most competent players, at which they don't make DUMB moves and know what things do.

3. Slick: This is when some totally legal, inarguable, but pretty unique and effective tricks come out.  Entangling Exhalatiion on a 1st-level DFA, Tomb-Tainted Soul on a Dread Necro, Dragonfire Strike + Shape Soulmeld - Dissolving Spittle for a 3d6 touch attack at-will at level 1, etc.

4. Slightly Cheesy: This is where things are still legal, but you run the risk of annoying a DM.  Examples include using the Half-Minotaur, White Dragonspawn Kobold + 1 level of Binder as a 1-level entry into Anima Mage, etc.

5. Limburger: Pun-pun's the worst of these, but there's a big list.  Candles of Invocation, using Racial Emulation and Assume Supernatural Ability to change into a crazy templated were-form with a Changeling at 1st, etc.  These are pretty much game-breaking and not worth it, on the whole.

Everyone gets one action point.

Books I have, and thus, are allowed (Online resources are also allowed, if they are official WotC material):
[spoiler]Edition 3.0

Epic Level Handbook
Savage Species
Monster Manual 2

Ravenloft Campaign Setting

Book of Exalted Deeds
Book of Vile Darkness

Monsters of Faerun
Races of Faerun


Edition 3.5

Player's Handbook
Dungeon Master's Guide
Monster Manual

Player's Handbook 2
Dungeon Master's Guide 2
Monster Manual 3

Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords
Magic of Incarnum

Complete Warrior
Complete Divine
Complete Arcane
Complete Adventurer
Complete Mage

Races of Stone
Races of Eberron

Eberron Campaign Setting

Player's Guide to Faerun[/spoiler]


Team 1

Team 2
« Last Edit: May 18, 2008, 02:02:17 PM by Prime32 »
My work
The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

JanusJones

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2008, 01:43:09 PM »
Level?  I say stay low for entertainment purposes.  Too high gets . . . a bit muddy.

Chargen rules?

Gojirazard

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2008, 01:45:28 PM »
I'm interested, but I do need to know rules, and get a team together.

Tshern

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2008, 01:47:09 PM »
JanusJones: If you accept me, I'd like to get in your team and give this a spin. Or does a single person submit four entrants?

Edit: BoED is 3.5.

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Prime32

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2008, 01:53:37 PM »
Each person has one character, but I encourage you to PM each other for party combinations that synergise well (such as a party of rilkans using aid another). Also, feel free to make your character slightly wacky. You can't change the appearance/flavour of your character, though, as that would make it impossible to guess what it is.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2008, 01:56:46 PM by Prime32 »
My work
The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

Tshern

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2008, 01:55:28 PM »
So buying a hat of disguise to make me look less like a water orc would not be allowed?

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JanusJones

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #6 on: May 18, 2008, 01:56:19 PM »
Gah.

20th?

That's like . . . asking me to write a thesis.

Tshern, I LURVE you, mang, but . . . I can't swing a 20th level arena fight!  Yeeek! :-[

Prime32

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2008, 01:57:43 PM »
So buying a hat of disguise to make me look less like a water orc would not be allowed?
You can do that, you just can't have a creature with the stats of a water orc and the appearance of an elf in its natural form. If the other team thinks you are using illusion magic, though, they'll just cast true seeing :P
« Last Edit: May 18, 2008, 01:59:23 PM by Prime32 »
My work
The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

Tshern

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2008, 02:01:18 PM »
Gah.

20th?

That's like . . . asking me to write a thesis.

Tshern, I LURVE you, mang, but . . . I can't swing a 20th level arena fight!  Yeeek! :-[
Level 20 makes me a bit hesitant as well. I have seen worlds collapse with less levels.

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Tazendra

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2008, 02:04:14 PM »
Too high a level for me. I prefer things in the level 5-15 range.

Prime32

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2008, 02:05:13 PM »
Don't you have any builds lying around? If no-one wants lv20, though, I'll push it back.


If it's level 10, I think we have:

Team 1
JanusJones
Tshern

Team 2
Gojirazard
Tazendra
« Last Edit: May 18, 2008, 02:07:52 PM by Prime32 »
My work
The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

Agita

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2008, 02:09:51 PM »
Don't you have any builds lying around? If no-one wants lv20, though, I'll push it back.


If it's level 10, I think we have:

Team 1
JanusJones
Tshern

Team 2
Gojirazard
Tazendra
I do have a few level 20 builds lying around. For level 10, I'd have to make a new one tho. >>
It's all about vision and making reality conform to your vision. By dropping a fucking house on it.

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Tazendra

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #12 on: May 18, 2008, 02:11:36 PM »
Count me out of this for now. I'm about to move, and I won't have the time for it. Maybe in a month or so once my house (hopefully) sells.

JanusJones

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #13 on: May 18, 2008, 02:13:00 PM »
I can do level 10.  That's before EVERYTHING breaks apart.

I can work with that.  Fo' sho.

JanusJones

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #14 on: May 18, 2008, 02:13:49 PM »
I need you to have Dungeonscape, though.  I'm sure we can figure something out . . .  :eh

Tshern

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #15 on: May 18, 2008, 02:14:31 PM »
JJ: How does level 10 sound? We could lay some  serious smackdown with less effort?

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Gojirazard

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #16 on: May 18, 2008, 02:26:17 PM »
I'm willing to try some level 10 stuff. Still looking for teammates, though, it seems.  :scared I'm nowhere near JJ's level for optimization, so this is shaping up to be a one-sided challenge, it seems.

JanusJones

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #17 on: May 18, 2008, 02:28:31 PM »
Nah.  Have more faith in yourself.  You're at an advantage already 'cuz I don't play casterz.   :D

AlterFrom

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #18 on: May 18, 2008, 02:30:34 PM »
Who wants me on their team? Don't pick me last, or I'll cry.  :scared [/sarcasmifyoucouldnttell]
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[/spoiler]

Gojirazard

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Re: The Blind Arena
« Reply #19 on: May 18, 2008, 02:33:58 PM »
What advantage? The only caster I've ever played is a high level Psion (Shaper)/Constructor, and that one was killed off by the party after he went lawful stupid, went into a Temporal Acceleration, summoned an army of high-level astral constructs, and destroyed a fairly large city (one that was totally corrupt).

Yeah, I've never played a caster since then, either. Not a huge fan of using spells. :\

Edit: I'd just say I'd take AlterFrom on my team, but technically it's not really my team. I don't yet qualify for leadership. :p Nor am I really looking forward to taking up that mantle.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2008, 02:39:43 PM by Gojirazard »