No Longer an Interest Check - 5E Rise of Tiamat + Corebooks PBP - OOC

[tglassy]

@tglassy - I sympathize with the shortage of fluff in certain archetypes, but I'm going to insist that only PHB content is allowed, particularly with regard to spells, as these are the hardest for me to understand from a balance perspective. Tell you what, if Erupting earth is literally just Fireball with the damage as Bludgeoning instead of Fire, and everything else is the same, but with an added limitation that there has to be Earth nearby which can Erupt, then I'm totally okay with you having that. But if it has some obscure other details that are potentially subject to abuse, then I'd rather not have to think about that, and will request that you stick with the spells as written. Refluffing is always fine; giving players tools they can use to McGuyver their way past the Challenge Rating system is something that makes me nervous.

There are a few differences in the spells. Erupting Earth is not exactly the same as Fireball, as much as being an Earth Version of fireball. So for example, Fireball is a 20 ft radius sphere, while EE is a 20ft cube, which is technically smaller. Fireball does 8d6 (Max 48) fire damage, while EE does 3d12 (Max 36) Bludgeoning. Fireball ignites flammable objects in the area and goes around corners, while EE makes each 5ft square it hits into Difficult Terrain, each of which take 1 minute to clear by hand.

Fireball does more damage initially, as it's fire, but EE will do more when scaled to higher spell slots. So at lvl 5, Fireball does 10d6 (Max 60)fire damage, while EE would do 5d12 (Max 60). After that, EE would technically do more damage, though there are likely better spells to be using at that point. But, while Fireball is all about Moar Damage, EE is a little more tactical.

The other spells are a lot like that, mostly having to do with either making someone drop prone, or creating difficult terrain. The cantrip "Mold Earth" lets you move a 5 ft cube of loose earth, which can have a lot of utility uses but can't actually hurt anything by itself. There's one that's a 2nd level spell that creates a hand the size of a medium creature that can reach up out of the ground and grab someone and hold them there, doing damage over time. There's a 5th lvl spell, Transmute Rock, that lets you turn Rock to Mud or visa versa. And there's an 8th level spell that lets you just create a fortress out of the stone, so it's like an Earth version of Mordenkeinan's Mansion.

All of the spells are in officially produced materials and have been play tested. And what I would be doing with this is forgoing all the other elements in favor of Earth spells. I'd probably use Plant and Animal based spells, but I'd stick to Earth for the elements. My perfect race for this character would be an Earth Genasi, from the Elemental Player's Companion, but that's not on the board either.

I understand wanting to stick to the basics, though. If that's the case, I'll probably have to choose at least two elements, because there are just not many Earth spells in the PHB. In fact, I don't think there are any until 4th level, so I'd have to pick a secondary element. Probably Cold, and do a mountain theme, but I'll think about it.

I have no problems with any of the options. I'm fluent in sarcasm. And I like home-brew. And I like FR. So I'm easy.

And the Standard Array is in the PHB, as an option, and is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8.

 

[The Green Hermit]

Try to have a Version 1 of your character posted by late afternoon Monday (I'm in Central US time). That way I can review and approve them in time to hopefully get started on Wednesday, since I'd like to avoid losing momentum. Obviously those who can't be ready quite this quickly need not miss the boat on the entire campaign, but I'll probably start the initial encounter without them, and potentially bring them in as an allied but separate group later (this approach might allow me to play multiple chapters at once, or combine the two groups in order to rush into a later chapter way sooner than character level would otherwise allow, though I'm aware the latter approach is dangerous and I won't do it without some caution).

Where do we post our Version 1? Also, what was the final ruling on having uncommon/magical items?

Would Monday evening work? I'm in the Pacific Time Zone and might not be able to devote time to flushing my character out until after work on Monday.

Do you want us to come up with any known NPC's, or just keep it to our characters? I am fine either way.

 

[tglassy]

So, by "Scrap any roll less than a 27 point buy", would that mean we can re-roll in that case? Because I just rolled:

Earth Druid: 4D6.HIGH(3) = [3, 2, 4, 5] = 12
4D6.HIGH(3) = [6, 3, 4, 1] = 13
4D6.HIGH(3) = [2, 5, 1, 3] = 10
4D6.HIGH(3) = [4, 3, 3, 6] = 13
4D6.HIGH(3) = [4, 2, 3, 1] = 9
4D6.HIGH(3) = [3, 1, 3, 1] = 7


Which is the equivalent of a 16 point buy...

 

[The Green Hermit]

hand raised What is a "point buy"?

 

[tglassy]

There are three ways to do stats in the Player's Handbook:

Roll: You roll 4 d6's, and drop the lowest. So when you roll a 4, 3, 4 and 1, you drop the 1, and your roll is officially 11 (4+3+4). This has the highest chance of getting a really high roll, as it's possible to roll three 6's, and have one or more stat at 18. My best Roll had one 18 and two 17's. My worst was the one you saw above. Second worst had all 11's and 12's. That's just what happens when you roll. Sometimes you get good ones, sometimes you don't.

Standard Array: This is the simplest. You just get 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 as your stats to put where you want. This makes sure you have one, maybe two, stats that are really good, a couple that are pretty good, and at least one that is mediocre at best. It makes good rounded characters.

Point Buy is the Standard Array, with freedom. All your stats start at 8, and it costs a point to increase it. You get 27 points. Each rank above 8 costs 1 point until you get to 13. Going from 13 to 14 costs two points. Same with going from 14 to 15. Using this method, it is possible to get15, 15, 15, 8, 8, 8 if you want to maximize three stats at the expense of the other three. This allows for more freedom. Envisioner is allowing people to go from 15 to 16 by spending 3 points, if you really want that 16.



Also, based on my horrible first roll, I went ahead and rolled again, as I think that's what Envisioner had said, and this was my second roll:

Earth Druid part 2: 4D6.HIGH(3) = [5, 1, 4, 6] = 15
4D6.HIGH(3) = [4, 5, 4, 6] = 15
4D6.HIGH(3) = [5, 4, 5, 6] = 16
4D6.HIGH(3) = [5, 5, 1, 5] = 15
4D6.HIGH(3) = [6, 3, 4, 5] = 15
4D6.HIGH(3) = [6, 1, 3, 5] = 14

Much better. I'm actually very surprised they came out like that. I usually get horrible rolls (as seen on the first attempt.) You can look up my screen name on Coyotecode to see those are the only two I did. They're listed as "Earth Druid" and "Earth Druid Part 2".

Envisioner, if you say I have to take that first roll, I will, I'll just have to write his poor stats into his story and focus on abilities that don't use stats, just don't expect him to solve, well, any problems that requires skill.

 

[The Green Hermit]

Looking at the dice roller, I have no idea how to use this. And yes, I looked at the directions.

 

[Skarsgard]

I'm happy with standard FR as well.

 

[The Green Hermit]

I checked out Orokos.com, and it is MUCH easier to understand. Can this site please be allowed as well?

 

[jmucchiello]

Barbarian with two cantrips and a 1/day spell at grade 1? I approve.

That's Magic Initiate. Ritual Caster is having a spell book like wizards have that allows them to cast spells with the ritual tag: Find Familiar (yes, barbarian with a magic hawk), Identify and Leomand's Tiny Hut are certain picks. Not sure if I'll buy any other spells yet.

 

[jmucchiello]

I checked out Orokos.com, and it is MUCH easier to understand. Can this site please be allowed as well?

I'll point out you don't need an account to view results. Only to make die rolls.