Non-standard D&D/Forgotten Realms Campaign - express interest

[Brainpiercing]

concerning the campaign (Im not in, but still show interest;))
1; how do manage combat when a person can be level 1, but also level 10? will the lvl 1 guy not be smacked down with 1 stroke?
2; how do you handle LA or races with racial HD?

1) I'm seeing inhomogenous combat groups meeting each other. The small fry will take care of the small fry, while the more powerful combatants will duke it out among each other.

This is a problem of the D&D system, where the power progression is probably exponential. In a realistic game world there must be all kinds of people at all times. A lvl 1 character ideally runs away most of the time, or deals with really weak enemies. Life is dangerous at Lvl 1.

2)LA and RHD can be covered with age XP without any problems. Except you'll probably be younger.

[AlisAtAn]

I think what he meant was if you would allow for LA buyoff, per the SRD\UA. 

[Straw_Man]

1) I'm seeing inhomogenous combat groups meeting each other. The small fry will take care of the small fry, while the more powerful combatants will duke it out among each other.

This is a problem of the D&D system, where the power progression is probably exponential. In a realistic game world there must be all kinds of people at all times. A lvl 1 character ideally runs away most of the time, or deals with really weak enemies. Life is dangerous at Lvl 1.

  A realistic level 1 hero aids another, does ranged, rescues the injured, in short they stay out of the way while remaining useful. In this way they contribute to the battle, and if the party suceeds, they level fast.

  True fact, I once ran a warforged 3rd level monk in a 12th level game. Died twice, but despite that was only 3 levels below the rest of the players by the time the campaign climaxed at level 20. Admitedlly, I was getting a hefty chunk of roleplaying XP for chutzpah alone 

[Snizor]

Brainpiecing: Would it be OK if I used the Escalation Mage PRC from Faiths of Eberron (adapted to worship Shar) for a warlock character?

[Brainpiercing]

Straw_Man: YES, this is a very good example. Better than mine, in fact. Running away is so boring if you could be AIDING.

AlisAtAn: I have one gripe with LA buyoff: It's clearly biased towards low LA. A LA of +1 is practically non-existant, +4 is practically IMPOSSIBLE to buy off pre-epic. I'd much rather just REDUCE the LA of a certain monster race or template from the get-go than use buyoff. Fact is, you DO get an advantage from some abilities. Even at higher levels. For some races I'd probably be willing to exchange a LA against monstrous HD 1:1, since you at least get HP, skills and feats from monstrous HD.

Snizor: I don't own Faith's of Eberron. I don't have a problem with the class (as long as the writers were not on crack writing it), but I simply don't know what it does. So basically, tell me what it does. Approximately is ample. I won't count your use of class abilities, or double check your use of rules, anyway. It's clearly within your responsibility to make a fun game of it. I might pick up the book, I might not. I'll just trust you on it.

I'm not concerned about losing control of my campaign, because it's a non-standard campaign. It won't get out of hand, because I can just change it.

I'd like to add one more thing, about optimisation: There is the matter of CONFIDENCE. If you want to play a character confident of his abilities... well... he better be good at what he does. This is a very clear roleplaying requirement. It's one of the best examples of why optimisation doesn't hinder roleplaying in the least. However, I'll also say you won't have to be optimised. Roleplaying in descriptive prose is NOTHING like roleplaying at a table. You can do things you could NEVER do at a table. So if you are so inclined, playing an intentionally non-optimised character can be equally rewarding.
This is also the reason why I don't see a problem with allowing lvl 1 and lvl 10 in the same campaign. If someone LIKES playing from lvl 1, why should I stop him? If someone dislikes playing low levels, why should I force him to?

[AvalonŽ]

Brainpiercing,

Are you still accepting players?

Also, where's the latest list for the gods of Faerun? I want to know who to send my prayers to.

[Brainpiercing]

Brainpiercing,

Are you still accepting players?

Also, where's the latest list for the gods of Faerun? I want to know who to send my prayers to.

Yeah, I'm still accepting.

As for gods, I'll probably be pretty flexible about the pantheon. The FRCS should contain a listing of the Faerunian pantheon, but if you have a favourite god from the D&D pantheon you can probably just integrate it without problems. Since I will be using other characters of mine as NPCs I'm quite certain Wee Jas will be added to the Faerunian pantheon as a Lawful Neutral greater goddess. I'll add this to the main post, too.

I'm a little skeptical about allowing mythical (greek, egyptian) pantheons. They don't seem to fit very well. If you find an obscure non-mythical deity somewhere I think you could add it. If even devils can have clerics then it won't be a problem for an obscure deity to have the odd cleric.

I'm also skeptical about allowing devotion clerics (the FRCS apparently doesn't). I would prefer you found a deity to match your flavour. I'm open to adding domains to deities if the domain fits the deity's portfolio.

[AvalonŽ]

About your rule for Age-based xp, how would you rule the xp bonus gained by slow-aging or immortal beings?

Also, since the max starting age is 50 years, the max starting level for humans is 8. Is that right?

[Brainpiercing]

About your rule for Age-based xp, how would you rule the xp bonus gained by slow-aging or immortal beings?

Also, since the max starting age is 50 years, the max starting level for humans is 8. Is that right?

Humans are max lvl 8, but you COULD get a template to a max of ECL 10.

Slow-aging races ARE a problem. Basically you'll have to be young members of such a race, again with a max ECL of 10.

[Ieniemienie]

Is it ok if I join for combat instead of RPing? the campaign looks cool, but I am no RPer...

[Brainpiercing]

Is it ok if I join for combat instead of RPing? the campaign looks cool, but I am no RPer...

How about playing enemies of the other PCs (i.e. monsters, intermediate antagonists, etc.)? Or do you want to have a character?

The thing is, chances are it will take a while before the first combat happens, since EVERYTHING takes long in PbP. Another option is to play the anti-social sidekick of another PC. He can drag your character through the roleplaying, and you get to lay the smack down once combat starts.  You would only be playing now and then, but if you're willing, I'm game.

And finally, I know this may sound lame, but how about learning something new? Roleplaying isn't that hard. And it's actually easier if you don't have to see the faces of your co-players. Anybody with decent grasp of english, and many without, can successfully write good posts. I'm sure you can, too.

[AvalonŽ]

So how does LA interact with the age-based XP? How do you make a human with templates ECL 10 when 36000 XP is the required amount for lvl 9 and we have at most 34000 XP starting?

[Ieniemienie]

Is it ok if I join for combat instead of RPing? the campaign looks cool, but I am no RPer...

How about playing enemies of the other PCs (i.e. monsters, intermediate antagonists, etc.)? Or do you want to have a character?

The thing is, chances are it will take a while before the first combat happens, since EVERYTHING takes long in PbP. Another option is to play the anti-social sidekick of another PC. He can drag your character through the roleplaying, and you get to lay the smack down once combat starts.  You would only be playing now and then, but if you're willing, I'm game.

And finally, I know this may sound lame, but how about learning something new? Roleplaying isn't that hard. And it's actually easier if you don't have to see the faces of your co-players. Anybody with decent grasp of english, and many without, can successfully write good posts. I'm sure you can, too.

It's not about my inability to roleplay, but I find combat way more attractive than roleplaying... Roleplaying is for me a way to get from one plothook or adventure to the other, or to progress into an adventure, which always ultimately leads to combat.

Thanks for hte offer to play a bbeg, but then I'll pass. I am in 2 PbP's already, so I'll be fine

[Brainpiercing]

So how does LA interact with the age-based XP? How do you make a human with templates ECL 10 when 36000 XP is the required amount for lvl 9 and we have at most 34000 XP starting?

Uh... major muck up. I slept three hours last night. Must have been that.

Well... I had meant for people to get the 34000XP and then take a template, which gets them to ECL 10, but they don't have the XP for it. That's sort of sub-optimal, though.

Ok, so basically I'm just going to lift the age limit to give XP for ECL 10, which means 61 years for humans. There used to be all those builds for venerable characters (ok, all of them were dragonwrought kobolds).

I'd still like to remind everyone that the downside for starting with high ECL is you're missing out on lots of cash. I'm quite certain now starting wealth will be finalized at half the recommended wealth by level, with a max of half of that in items, the other half in either gold or valuables.

[skydragonknight]

How soon do you want an application?

[Brainpiercing]

Well, how about the concept and sample scene about a week from today? That should give you enough time to see if you can either make your concept fit your build or vice versa. The build doesn't need to be complete.

PM me or post it at your discretion. Once I have a certain amount of entries I can then ask for the sub-forum so I can start posting some back-story. You'll then have at least another week to finalize your builds, maybe even a bit more.

[Smudgy]

So, if I wanted to be a level 10 character, would I have 24,500 gold, or would I have 12,250 gold? Because the latter seems kind of low. What are considered valuables?

edit#1: This is my character so far.

[Brainpiercing]

Damn, I forgot to say: I'm not a friend of Flaws. Generally they seem to be not meaningful enough. So no flaws, sorry. I'll be updating the main post.

About the money: At ECL10 you would have 24500gp. I'm retracting my previous statement of only getting half of that in items, you can spend everything for items as long as you have a small cash reserve to pay for accomodation, travel, etc.

And Smudgyhdansman, generally I would consider a swift hunter to have more levels of ranger. (This is from an optimisation perspective, rather than a roleplaying perspective.) Scout has 3/4 BAB and class features that can't compete with Ranger. As soon as Ranger gets more skirmish damage (from Swift Hunter) there is no reason not to take Ranger. Scout 3 I think was the main breakpoint, IIRC.

Now without knowing the age categories for Strongheart halfling by heart (and it's really late here, so I won't look them up right now) I believe your character should be far older to reach ECL 10.

[Smudgy]

Crap, no flaws? Ah well, I'll have to trim it down then.

That's good about the money though, 12,250 sounded a tad low for level 10.

Yeah, I've seen a lot of swift hunter builds, and how they have more levels in ranger to get the spells and the more attacks and whatnot. But I was looking more for a kind of sniper/scout sorta thing, not really intending to fire off bundles of arrows to stack up all sorts of skirmish. I only really took flaws because the build I needed was very feat intensive to get it to be what I needed. The plan was to grab up as many sniping feats as I could, Woodland archer, able sniper, there were some others, but they were in magazines, so that's a no go. But anyways, the plan was to go from cover to cover, using swift and silent, shot on the run, and the like to move, take a shot, and run into cover again. Not the most optimal way of approaching a swift hunter, but I wanted mine to focus more on stealth than damage. Taking some shots, then retreating when things got hot, you know?

But, I'll just work around it if need be. I've got some other concepts rolling around in my head anyways, and you said we had till next week was it? So if I can't get this guy to work out, I've got other things planned.

Oh, and as for age, yeah, I think I misread what you had said about the 1000xp per year. My guy should be like, 65 I think, which is middle age, which stinks, but again, I've got other ideas.(That was a lot of commas huh?) Anyways, I'm tired and I have ACTs in the morning, so bedtime pour moi. I'll think my guy over tonight, see if I can come up with anything new for him.

[Akula]

Still excepting aplicants? If so I'd love to play.

If you wan't to talk about LA I would urge using the system presented here under the section "converting monsters into characters" the first method give an example succubus (or incubus if you want to get termy) which is convenient because I'd like to play one. If you don't like that I'm open to suggestions for the LA on such a creature (I'd probably start with just racial HD).