We had quite a busy week! Since Ryuu is off at PortCon (and is also dead) he was unable to attend the game, and instead we just had Stannis and Rhode. They left off just as they fled the dragon’s lair, hearing the screams of their comrade as he was killed and eaten by the young red dragon inhabiting the lair. Their justice was to be brought swiftly.
Archive for June, 2011
Creature Conversion: Couatl
June 28, 2011Alright, so, lately my campaign has been mentioning couatls more and more, as they are rather central to Eberron (couatls are the Silver Flame). I’m tempted to even have the party meet one, or rescue one, or something to that effect. But, upon glancing at the Monster Manual 2 and the Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons books, I see… disappointment. Nevermind that the couatls there are using the old stat block system and have pre-errata stats, they’re just… not couatls. Unaligned and Evil? Where are my Lawful Good couatls? Not shapeshifters or able to go invisible at-will? How do they hide from their enemies? And there’s no generic “couatl” amongst any of those books. Like, when you look at the goblin entry, you know “Goblin Cutthroat” is the generic goblin. When you look at the gargoyle entry, you know “Gargoyle” is the generic gargoyle. Which couatl is the standard couatl? Cloud serpent? Redeemer? You know what? I’m just going to make my own, thanks.
Custom Class: Essentials Sorcerer, Heroic Tier
June 24, 2011So in my current campaign, we have a sorcerer. Great stuff, I love the sorcerer, he’s a fun class, but there’s a slight problem: though fun, it’s a poorly written class (lots of blocks of text for abilities, no power blocks), with some odd flavor issues (most sorcerers do not stick to their theme of powers, instead going for the best powers of each level), and as with most characters, way-too-complicated encounter powers. The odd thing about the encounter powers is they’re actually easy to remember: close blast 3, 2d6 damage, bam. But, since that’s so similar to his close blast 5 encounter, or his close blast 3 at-will, or his close blast 3 daily, the differences become fuzzy and the rules are forgotten. I wanted to address all of this, and create my own special spin on the class. Thus, my Essentials Sorcerer!
Musing: The Trouble with Transformations
June 22, 2011Recently, in my current campaign (The Cogs Detective Agency), we’ve had a recent turn of events that has left one player in a position he will almost certainly die in: trapped alone in a room with a red dragon. However, this player has developed a backstory that he is an amnesic dragon trapped in human form, and has requested this be the moment he remembers himself, kills his dragon attacker, and lives the day. What should I do?
Play Report: Cogs Detective Agency 5
June 20, 2011So here we are again. I had all three players show up today, which was groovy–the results of the gaming session were less groovy. My players have been surviving mostly on luck and guile, and today, some of their luck ran out, to their vast misfortune. Unfortunately, Ryuu now rests in pieces… but, let’s not get ahead of ourselves!
House Rule: Drugs
June 17, 2011Maybe your characters are investigating a drug cartel. Or maybe they’ve come across a box of strange leaves in an evil mastermind’s layer. Or maybe they’re playing a Sharn campaign in Eberron at all. Whatever the case, it might cross your mind that you need some rules for drugs. Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Musing: Players Want Powerful Items
June 15, 2011So, over the last several adventures, my players have encountered powerful illusions, illusionists, shapeshifters, invisible people, and repeatedly they have made mention of a desire to find or craft some sort of goggles of true sight. On a side note of interest, they seem to assume that if you can cast a ritual, you can make a permanent magic item for it. All in all, requesting items isn’t bad, and 4th Edition is built around the concept of the player wish-list–however, there is a slight snag: the lowest-level magic item that grants the ability to see invisible creatures is level 11, and that’s only 6 seconds per day. Level 17 has an object which grants permanent invisibility-sight… level 5 grants a bonus to pierce illusions, and any item with an Insight check bonus does much the same, but there’s no illusion-killing magic item as far as I can find. My party is level 3–their adventures are epic and world-altering, but, they’re far too low a level to get such powerful gear. So what do I do? I think I have a few good answers.
Play Report: The Cogs Agency 4
June 13, 2011So, when last we left our heroes, Rhode had just stolen a stack of clay tablets from a rakshasa, which surely pissed her off to no end, and while they had found the cult they were investigating dead, they were beginning to realize that some of their troubles were bigger than any one cult. Also, in this session Ryuu was absent, but both Rhode and Stannis were able to make it to the game.
Musing: What’s The Matter With Rituals?
June 6, 2011So, I’ve been tossing around alternative systems for ritual casting for quite a while. At first I started with tweaks, changes to the Ritual Caster feat, then moved on to an overhaul of all of the rituals and the mechanics behind them, and now I’m at the point where I want to completely start over from scratch, and change the fundamental structure and nature of rituals. But before I do any of that, I really need to figure out: what, exactly, makes rituals so bad to begin with?
Play Report: The Cogs Detective Agency 3
June 4, 2011So, I cancelled this week’s game due to massive scheduling conflicts all around, where nobody was likely to make it and the game was liable to be very short even if they did. But apparently, both Rhode and Ryuu (2/3 of the game) missed that message? Ryuu showed up, and I laughingly told him that if anyone else showed up in the next minute, I would put on some pants and run the game. Then Rhode showed up. So, we ran a game.
