D&D NEXT: Infinite Posts of the Abyss

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FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

LFK posted:

the reasons to use a shortsword are as follows:

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The reintroduction of Speed Factor or something similar could help that.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2014 07:52

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 07:25

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

LFK posted:

especially since that specificity creates its own problems since, you know, what should a khopesh and a nimcha and a kukri and a talwar and a szabala be?!

Sure, but having something more streamlined (as a MODULE lol) would be alright. Even if it was just 4 basic layers. (Equivalent to dagger, short sword, long sword, 2h sword.)

Then there is a specific advantage to short swords, and a reason that people might specialize with them etc.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2014 08:17

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Lothire posted:

Also worth mentioning that they changed the weight of Scimitars to be "light" weapons in order to conform to this two weapon fighting system, where they've been medium weapons in prior editions. So while we may have distinction between Longswords and Shortsword with this system, we no longer do between Scimitar and Shortsword (both light, finesse weapons).

The weapon nerd in me hates this.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2014 08:17

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Gort posted:

What systems and adventures are designed to support wandering monster rolls?

TSR DnD.

Mendrian posted:

This is perfect, yes. If you use Wandering Monsters tables (or Random Encounters) in your game of political intrigue or nation-running, then it's going to grind poo poo to a halt. If, however, your game is about delving into dungeons and fighting the occasional dragon, they're good.

It's weird that DnD hasn't always been designed for that, given what's on the tin, but here we are.

They still work if you are less literal about them. "Random Encounters" should be used as "semi-planned off-script events". It keeps the DM from knowing for sure what will happen (breaks up any tendency to play railroad conductor a bit), and gives the players more static in their plans and chances to do random things they might find entertaining but would not have had the chance to do otherwise.

In a politics game maybe the random roll is "a would-be politician who is a fishmonger approaches the PCs with an offer to ______" or whatever.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2014 22:45

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

I'm way behind. Why is a one hour rest bad? Sounds fine in plain English.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2014 08:06

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Kai Tave posted:

The thing is, the sort of GM who takes "an uninterrupted 60 minutes of rest" as a challenge is basically the sort of GM that's going to look for any excuse to deny the characters a Short Rest unless they jump through a series of hoops and rear end-checking beforehand

Thats what it seems like to me. An hour sounds perfectly alright for narrative purposes of bandaging/cleaning/sharpening etc. Five minutes doesnt make sense at all. Bad DMs will still be bad DMs.

ProfessorCirno posted:

and still wouldn't last a goddamn hour.

The problem is Mearls has stated gently caress 4e

Like this is getting pretty edition-war-like over something that is a word change.

Littlefinger posted:

In an amazingly dumbfucked design decision, they decide to make these short rests take one hour, because reasons (probably because their pasty nerd asses need an hour to recover from any strenuous physical activity).

If we're going to have the nerd-bashing about this one weird little topic, have you ever been in a fight? Had a non-trivial injury? It takes more than five minutes for the adrenaline shakes to wear off.

If the idea is so offensive (which seems weird) then just call it five minutes at your game and its like it never happened.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2014 08:46

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Kai Tave posted:

This is the sort of thing that leads to "well I tied a mouse to my wrist and tried using the cord to pick it up and couldn't, therefore we're going to errata this feat."

Ive heard this mentioned but totally dont get it... whats the story?

# ¿ Jul 23, 2014 08:57

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Kai Tave posted:

doesn't aid the fiction, etc.

The rest I get, but that one I guess I dont totally agree with. "Realism" gets into that "feeling" topic where of course none of it is real but "seems realistic" can help a story. (If youre playing with the story/narrative nerd poo poo to begin with, which we do (well, did ... no time for a while now).

kingcom posted:

Why would you not just full rest then if your going to be safe for an hour?

Aside from saving time (if youre in a game that uses time for anything that matters), one (old) thing going back to 1e/2e is if doing the old "random encounters" thing, and dont really want to 'really' camp then you take care of your necessary poo poo and get moving. You will either have 0 or 1 rolls-worth of a chance of something bothering you instead of a bunch.

Reading between the lines I dont think that story-level time matters that much in more recent styles, and I'm not sure that random encounter lists are really a thing anymore. From a tactical game perspective the 'actual' time allotted to resting is probably pointless. Thats why I mainly pointed to the fiction/story part.

The mouse/wrist guy is an idiot. He shouldve at least used a truncheon. :colbert:

# ¿ Jul 23, 2014 09:20

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Kai Tave posted:

Except for the fact that "realism" in this context is being defined as "what seems realistic to a bunch of pasty 40-somethings who spend all day in front of a computer or playing AD&D."

Well we wont agree, but we apparently play with different kinds of people.

Its also a very minor thing, which was my main point. It really seems like that specific one would fall into the "who cares" bucket.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2014 09:44

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Lightning Lord posted:

Why is this being said like it's a bad thing?

All the jokes about DnD being a CBG after WotC said "throw all your books away" during 3e and then "throw all your books away" during 4e would finally be openly acknowledged.

Also its time for 5e so throw all your books away.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2014 11:33

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Winson_Paine posted:

Yeah, the more I play the more I think like, magic items should be limited and important and the system should reflect this. Having the weight of the narrative on it in addition to whatever it does numerically is a thing. Handling what bonuses you need to unfuck the games math as narrative feats or whatever is preferable to having to head to Harolds House of Magic poo poo every few months to retool.

Totally agreed.

Kind of surprised anyone else thinks so though.

For anyone that didnt know, this is another thing FR was extremely good at way back when. Long-rear end writeups on magical weapons to help either 1) really give the weight of history to the thing when someone found it, or (better IMO) 2) give some prototype/templates as to how to create interesting items that had multiple effects, history, and some kind of theme that made some sense as to why it was created to begin with.

(Of course there was terrible poo poo too... but it was a departure from "+1/+4 vs bats. Why? Because.")

# ¿ Jul 26, 2014 02:19

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

PeterWeller posted:

Yeah, I'm tempted to go with BECMI style initiative for running 5E or maybe a TSR edition-- it's group initiative split into phases with each side acting in a phase before moving to the next. IIRC, it goes missile, melee, movement, magic, and you declare your action at the top of the round.

As long as you can can scribble numbers quickly, individual intitiative keeps everything mixed and people paying attention.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2014 23:53

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

thespaceinvader posted:

I definitely won't be running it though, given what they did to spellcasting monsters

I keep asking "whats that" because these threads go fast and I really dont want to go through hundreds of posts like DnD was D+D so...

Whats that?

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 01:50

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Daetrin posted:

Spellcasting monsters cast spells. Like PCs. Which means each spellcaster makes you dig through the PHB to find what each spell does - in a spell list that is verbose and organized relatively poorly for such lookups.

Ah. I guess I was used to that in the older editions. 3e was a terrible mess to look through though.

Did 4e not have monsters "cast", like could they not be interrupted? (As opposed to innate abilities/ spell-like abilities)

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 02:12

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

P.d0t posted:

Please play some 4e,

But yeah, everything is instant-cast, although zones and stuff you can usually "sustain"

This goes back a couple years ... but unless I stumble into one its not too likely. I didnt want to switch to a grid game and the (just to avoid arguments go with it) "aesthetic" of it did not grab me. 3e was lovely so we stayed in old grog land. (Although I did end up with some of the 3e FR books for easy infodumps.)

GM-to-GM house rulings and all that were normal, so that part of 5e doesnt even make me twitch. The "actual casting" seems normal too. (Plus I like differentiating "casting 'normal' magic so it can be interrupted" vs innate gently caress YOU abilities of demons/tannari etc... Thats assuming that spells can be interrupted of course.)

From what people are saying Im more worried about the number-inflation not working well and whether or not Ill give a poo poo about whatever settings/adventures they come up with.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 02:27

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

P.d0t posted:

Being able to interrupt spells is important if they're horrible save-or-die spells but guess what

4e didn't do that, either.
Or level drain, or ability drain.

I agree in spirit, and (I know that the answer: houserule is hated) we used them very rarely.

Like if you saw a flock of wraiths it was not by "surprise!" and the players had plenty of table-time to sort out what to do (including "run to the temple of the Sun priests").

SoD should also be reserved for special "shits getting real" Big Encounters. Poison was something I auto-ruled as being damage or detriment causing and not "death". (And it was rarely seen specialized knowledge unless the players pursued its use.)

I also do not like how 3e made it so every caster had all the same spells no matter what, and those spells messed with other roles. If theres a thief (who wanted to be an actual "thief-thief") in the party odds of finding Knock were pretty loving small.

Difference of opinion I guess: accounting for spell interruption was one of the things that made the group work together, instead of just belting out DPS in different colors. I know some people dislike at least two parts of that ( 1) defend the spellcaster, 2) caster might lose spell)

If they were actually serious about this "Modules" thing (I kind of hate that they used that word for this meaning in a DnD context) they should have at least three fundamental sets of tweaks for playstyles. The "Shitfarmer -> Viet Nam" option ala (early) Black Company, the "Tavern -> Anime" option ala Malazan, and the "aspiring demigod" option ala (lol I keep thinking Hercules/Xena but you know what I mean).

DalaranJ posted:

Next chooses to sort all spells alphabetically.

Thats awful.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 02:57

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

zachol posted:

If spells are going to appear on several different spell lists (for example, druids and bards both having some cleric spells but also some wizard spells), I'm not sure what a better choice would be rather than just an alphabetical list.

2e: The opening section has a mini Table of Contents-as-list by Class and Level (alphebetized within each column).
If there are repeats then the actual section holds the place with the Spell name and basic casting requiremenst (VSM, CT, etc) and range/area, and then a simple line like: "As 2nd level Wizard Spell page xx"

FRINGE fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Jul 31, 2014

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 03:26

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Jimbozig posted:

This is a nitpick because most of what you are saying seems reasonable coming from someone who never played anything past 2e, but this made me stop. At the opening of the books, the black company are crack soldiers with experts in strategy, tactics and even politics with three very dangerous war wizards. Not poo poo farmers. Pick another example.

Fair enough.

I could start from scratch, but the reason I picked them was the constant contraction of the company back to a handful of people and a bunch of miscreants and recruits, couple with the fact that even in the beginning they were (for the setting) young sheltered mercenaries* walking into a wizard-god war. It was the kind of setup that some people have expressed less affection for than the "everyone and their pet kitty is on the road to semi-divinity" Malazan style.

(*The 3e Black Company book put The Lady at like 55th level or something. Croaker and Silence were like 10ish and towards the upper range of the group. ... The scenes with starvation and plague, the constant battlefield death due to insufficient medicine, etc.. are part of a completely different game than the 2nd or 3rd style.)

Ideally the system would have some guidelines for starting all three styles out besides just saying "start at a higher level". The mud-war game should have some different advice for new people than the near-ascendant game.

(Separate note: I really enjoyed the progression of The Instrumentalities of the Night from ... where it started to where it went. I dont want to say much for people that havent read it.)

FRINGE fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Jul 31, 2014

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 04:52

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

NovemberMike posted:

One of the basic rules of DnD is that it's poo poo for translating characters from other media to game characters. Nothing about those levels really relates what a 10th level character should be able to do with what Croaker does or a 55th level character and The Lady. IIRC, the main BC characters also never go toe to toe with any of the Taken. If you want to run a normal powered BC game with BC vs some monsters and some dudes at the squad level then 4e is going to do as good a job as any of the systems. Also, the Malazan series tends to operate on the same concept as the BC series, where godlike beings nullify each other and leave a lot of the messy work to mere mortals.

Just so we dont get too off the point...

I think that the game should have something in it to help new people manage games with the varying styles. Some actual advice, maybe examples, and some character building and gm tips and tricks that give some baseline ideas of where to go.

It might not matter to most of us, but it will matter to any new people that jump in.

starkebn posted:

HP equal how many limbs you have, a full night's rest will replenish 1HD of limbs.

I knew theyd bring that drat greenwood ranger back.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 07:26

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Generic Octopus posted:

5e has lists like that at the start of the spell list. If the pdfs had hotlinks from there to the spell description in the alphabetical list it'd be fine, but at the moment it's just tedious.

For a fancy pdf sure.

When they do a print version, it needs to be organized for fucks sake.

Like broken into sections, with both page headers and section headers. In whatever class order the lists are in.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 07:34

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

petrol blue posted:

This piece really weirds me out - it's an awesome bit of art, but the posture/expression feels non-human in a way that I don't think it intends - the main character's absolutely rigid posture, combined with the not-real-world skin tones makes me think of some sort of animated statue / golem character. If that was intended, then 10/10, otherwise that dude really needs to pull the paladin out his rear end.

The biggest problem is the way he is holding his weapons. Theres no connection between him and the things he is supposedly fighting.

Its like a model that was greenscreened/photoshopped into an exciting nature scene.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2014 00:59

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

zachol posted:

Eh, I dunno. I was trying to make "a sniper who sneaks around," and while trying to get the hide skill to actually be reliable I found myself waffling between eladrin and drow for, like, several hours, trying to figure out how to actually get persistent hide. I forget the exact details, but it had to do with a way to get hide after a teleport, and I think at one point I'd transitioned fully into warlock over rogue.
The same sort of thing happens repeatedly, and it really has to do with having multiple levels at which you can have powers to accomplish similar goals, where there's a choice between which to take (or both), and which other powers you'll take instead, and how there are a multitude of obscure feats and items that make one approach or another more reasonable, sometimes opening up completely new goals you need to start searching for (figuring out you can use this to hide after a teleport, so now you just need to figure out all the ways to teleport, which brings you to some items and feats, then Eladrin, then whether you want further riders on the teleport, then whether you should add in some warlock, etc).
It's maddening, and I would've much rather wanted to be able to just say "hey I'm a sniper who sneaks around" and that's it, that's the only mechanical decision I need to make and the game takes care of everything else for me.

I might get hammered again, but, this is something I never saw before 3e.

If RP and story mattered, then the decision to play a Drow or an Eladrin would be very exculsive and lead you one way or the other for that particular game. The same for warlock and rogue.

The problem is when the first and only goal is "check these boxes to accomplish final CHAROP!"

Different people, different games, etc etc

# ¿ Aug 1, 2014 07:05

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Kai Tave posted:

Of course back before 3E "the decision to play a Drow" for whatever reason was seen as the purview of filthy munchkin swine powergamers looking to be like Drizzt

This wasnt really a thing. The most powerful aspect of being a Drow was 2e-style magic resistance, which was not available to PCs. The main barrier was how tiresome it was for the DM and other players to repeatedly go through the "everyone is soooo scared of you" schtick.

Kai Tave posted:

meanwhile AD&D2E had tons of dumb "Complete" books full of kits and fiddly stuff that you had to sift through to find the diamonds amidst the dogshit and you can't tell me with a straight face that all that stuff was "roleplaying not rollplaying,"

Those kits were 90% flavor with a few stand-out exceptions. (Like the infamous Elven Archer.)

Your stance on them makes it seem like you never used them. There was no "fiddly" anything. The kit was laid out. You picked one.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2014 02:01

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Ratoslov posted:

Anyone have a good idea for a mechanic for a Wild Mage that isn't complete poo poo?

To make it "wild" the more layers of unpredictable the better.

Have an "area" roll that determines how stable magic is every day and/or location change. This influences:

% chance of an unintended surge per cast (modified by spell level and caster level, mitigated or aggravated by caster intention) Skill (leveled) casters have a better chance to purposefully surge. If you cant stand the DM having any say-so then start the system at 1% per cast and see where you end up/ adjust.

Add in triggers that work with your playstyle. Maybe stress (surprise?) destablizes the mage. Maybe the presence of certain creatures/magic/plants/minerals/whatever stablizes/destablizes the mage. Etc.

The only way to get a never-ending set of effects is to count on a DM to be creative, probably using a pre-generated list as idea-guidelines. I know some people are offended by "DM agency" though. (Which is stupid.)

I just made that up on the fly right now as I typed, so :shrug:

# ¿ Aug 2, 2014 08:30

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

thespaceinvader posted:

And this is double-dumb

I kind of suspect that kind of stilted thinking is bleedover from the CCG rules-lawyering that has penetrating a lot of games. Strict interpretation and panels of judges arguing over what "is" is after "or" and issuing regular errata for re-interpretations is part of WotC.

The ambivalent desire to have DMs interpret things to allow more options while having the desire to pen DMs in and not let them make decisions is another problem. (At least on the forums, Ive never seen it in real life.)

# ¿ Aug 2, 2014 10:22

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Yeah theres no way people will want to sit in the same room with friends and tell stories.

Anyone wanna cyber? Imma 156th level orc!

# ¿ Aug 3, 2014 03:14

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

eth0.n posted:

Obviously there are people who are into collaborative storytelling, but with game rules, but I'm not sure that that's ever been more than a relatively small niche, 80s heyday included, or that it's reasonable to expect it to become more than a niche.

The thing with having a GM (of whatever name) is that more people will get into a character than they will crafting (or arbitrating) an entire setting/world. Thats where the systems help. The hardest thing with totally new players is getting over the "what am I" and "what can I do" type of issues. Telling them blithely "you can do anything!" is useless. The people that care most about "no DMs no masters" are not new players. They are burnt out players who want a new game that no one less-nerdy has ever heard of every few months and have stories about "this one time ~~at band camp~~ a DM was mean to me!"

Kai Tave posted:

You know what would make this experience even better? Paying $150 dollars for a set of lovely textbooks to tell you and your friends how to properly tell stories using the ~theater of the mind.~

Youve already said you dont like books in a variety of ways. Thats cool, but why post about it in a thread about book-based-games for years?

If people would rather spend 150 (or 1500) dollars buying props and statuettes then thats cool too. (They seem to come with piles of books as well.)

# ¿ Aug 3, 2014 03:33

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Kai Tave posted:

Sorry, you're right, I should have just said that I'm a lovely poster and basically stupid as well.

Two entire pages of this 45 page thread is you crying oily tears about how terrible things are.

Heres a hint angry kid: dont play it.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

# ¿ Aug 3, 2014 03:53

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Bloody Hedgehog posted:

Quick question; do older D&D campaign boxes carry much value as collectors items?

I was just in a shop that had original Planescape and Dark Sun campaign boxes for cheap. Fair condition, and they looked like they were complete as well.

PS and DS are the exact ones that are worth a bunch if they are actually complete.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2014 07:06

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

One thing that would be useful would be an integrated video/chat tool that made it easy to play with friends who had the audacity to move away for school/work/relationships.

If it were part of a package that had searchable/printable books, the ability to easily bounce in and out of private/protected conversations/chats with the DM, and an integrated rolling mechanic for people that dont care about dice (maybe an optional split-cam window for the hardcore dice fans) ... theres nothing that does that that I have ever heard about.

Its still not as good as sitting in a room with friends (IMO), but would definitely fill a gap.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2014 09:32

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

AlphaDog posted:

Protecting your IP is something you have to do, sure. Maybe it would have been a good idea to wait to take down 3rd party apps until they actually had something to offer though.

Or, you know, buy the rights to the already working apps that people already use, slap a logo on them, profit.

Or even employ one of these actual programmers to work on the official apps.

How much is WotC being dumb and how much is Hasbro hand-waving lawyers at them?

Kurieg posted:

It has a relatively decent MMO that has a ridiculously predatory monetization system.

Thats pretty much WotCs entire model for everything.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2015 13:34

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Sage Genesis posted:

what's so ridiculously predatory about their approach

~ MAGIC ~

# ¿ Feb 15, 2015 13:56

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Lightning Lord posted:

Honestly, I play at a decent skill level and I've probably spent way, way more money on RPG books than I ever have on Magic.

I was lucky that I played during the 3ed/Arabian/Legends era. When I sold that stuff it paid for two major trips.

edit- Would have been even better if they had never made that drat Chronicles set.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2015 14:18

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Azran posted:

You realize how expensive Magic gets when you check out the Living Card Game model, where there's no card rarity and every pack always has the same cards in the same amounts

Yeah. the LCGs are way more manageable.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2015 23:14

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

AlphaDog posted:

Effectively (and with many fiddly rules) you could funnel some of your earned XP to a backup character who you could "activate" if you died - so you had a choice between "level faster" and "make sure I don't have to start at level 1 when I die".

Huh. Never tried that but I like the sound of it.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2015 02:23

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Kitchner posted:

this is a lack of poor judgement on my DM's part

Is that the thing you meant to type?

# ¿ Feb 17, 2015 12:40

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

AlphaDog posted:

In the real world skill tends to be more important than raw strength for hand-to-hand fighting

Youre right but saying that here brings out the trolls screeching noooOOOoooooo versssssSSSSSSsssssssimilituuuuude while licking their moldy lips.

So yeah.

Kurieg posted:

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Games > Traditional Games > D&D NEXT: Subsidies for lizard dick farmers

# ¿ Feb 18, 2015 02:51

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

For people that are sticking with 3e rules - werent Duskblade and Warmage better than Eldritch Knight?

# ¿ Feb 20, 2015 23:20

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Elendil004 posted:

Have they talked at all about what settings are coming? I'd stab a hobo for spelljammer, but would settle for dragonlance. I would bet solid money on Forgotten Realms, Eberron?

I would like a complete formal merging of Forgotten Realms, Spell Jammer, and Planescape. With SJ and PS fully integrated that sets the ground for official inclusiveness with Krynn, Oerth, etc...

As long as Im wishing I would want FR to be reset before the 4e crap, and have the focus shifted to open/ongoing history, almanac nerd stuff, and story hooks and away from "big name" NPCs (as anything but examples and "actual" NPCs instead of designer-insertion-characters).

# ¿ Feb 21, 2015 01:55

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 07:25

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

OneThousandMonkeys posted:

So what you're telling us is that the official FR storyline is that one or more gods proclaimed that all warriors are lovely.

OTOH FR has the only canon character I have ever seen that had the OG combo of Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Girdle of Storm Giant Strength, and Hammer of Thunderbolts.

Dude knew how to roll with a posse fighter-style.

quote:

The Fist consists of:

1000 4th level fighters (AC4)
chain mail and shield
500 5th level fighters (AC3)
banded and shield
200 6th level fighters (AC2)
plate and shield; 46 have rings of spell turning of which 10 have +1 weapons
25 6th level thieves (AC7)
leather and shield
10 8th level assassins (AC7)
leather and shield
10 7th level monks (AC5)
LN, worship Helm
200 4th level clerics (AC3)
plate mail, of Tempus, Tymora, and Helm
(all carry extra curative spell scrolls)
5 7th level magic-users (AC 2 bracers of defense, and all have rings of spell storing, replenished by Moruend (see below) between battles, and holding one haste, two dispel magic, one web, and two 6-die fireballs (each ring). All wear greenstone amulets.
20 4 to 6th level rangers (AC 8 = leather, serving as scouts)
10 (SEE BELOW) Leaders and aides

All men in the Company are mounted on heavy horses, and each has a spare horse, tethered behind the first when on the trail (total: 4,000 horses). In addition, there are 3,150 pack mules for the carrying of equipment and plunder, and 14 of the 6th level fighters ride as drovers to keep them together, armed with whips (the mules are bridled in long lines, or files). The Company also has nine wagons, drawn by teams of eight draft horses each (four spare horses are bridled to the rear of each of the wagons). The wagons carry food, and even more importantly, drink, medical supplies (including many curative spell scrolls) and siege equipment. All wagons have roofs that are platforms with sidewalls for use by archers, and the wagon walls are armored and trimmed with dragonhide to resist fire.

One of the wagons is a council wagon, furnished with a table (which can double as an operating table), a hole in the floor for a fire (which is built in a sand bucket), rugs, ets. It serves as a temple for the clerics of the Company when not otherwise in use. The device of the Company, flown on its banners and depicted on its tents and wagons, is the Flaming Fist. In battle, warriors of the Company wear white tabards blazoned with this device.

ELTAN (EL-tan)
Baldur’s Gate/Flaming Fist
20th level fighter (179 hp)
LN, Tempus
Human male

The leader and founder of the Flaming Fist, Eltan is a tactical genius who loves to fight. He is respected among the rulers of the Forgotten Realms because he is a man of principles and of his word, and because as a ruler himself, Eltan is seen as knowing and sympathizing with a ruler's concerns and troubles. Eltan sees a continual balance of power amongst many small kingdoms to be a Good and Proper Thing, and so hires out his company so as to prevent any large empire-forming. He is friendly with the other mercenary generals based nearby, but often battles them (never let emotions interfere with business, he believes).

Eltan is a tall, handsome man with grey eyes and jet-black hair, who wears a greenstone amulet, plate mail +2, a displacer cloak +2 (this plus his Dex makes him AC -3), and disdains to use a shield. His breastplate is polished mirror-bright so that his men can distinguish him easily on the field, as well as for the splendid effect. He wears a ring of absorption (750 spell levels left), a ring of anti-venom (absorbs poisons; 22 charges left), a girdle of storm giant strength, and gauntlets of ogre power: These latter two allow him to wield his most precious treasure, a rarely used hammer of thunderbolts. He also carries a silver dagger +2 his boot, a silver long sword +2, and a neutral, telepathic short sword +1 named “Roan,” his longtime friend. Roan can detect magic, detect invisible, detect illusion, detect traps, and know alignment once each per day, and will automatic return if it leaves him and he is conscious to so will it (maximum range 9”), if necessary dragging anyone holding it along with it (a combined strength total of 30 will stop it).

# ¿ Feb 21, 2015 11:47

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