Month: March 2009

Categories
Editorial

Why Wizards Missed The Boat With The Insider

Over the past few weeks there’s been some debate over what it means to play Dungeons & Dragons, whether you’re an old school player or part of the new school. If you’re interested in these debates you can read more at A Butterfly Dreaming or at Whitehall ParaIndustries. I don’t want to enter into this debate, but the question of “What is D&D?” got me thinking about what I enjoy about the current edition. It also made me think of the aspects of 4e where I feel Wizards of the Coast fell short.

Before I go any further I should explain that I’m a fan of D&D in all its incarnations, but currently 4e has my heart. I enjoy the pacing, tactics and feel of the game. My gaming group debated upgrading as we always do when a new edition is released and as we usually do we tried out the new edition. Our group is happy with the decision to switch, 4e works for us.

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Categories
Editorial

How Many Classes Are Too Many?

Player’s Handbook 2 hits shelves today and in it are eight new core classes. Eight more! In my opinion, that’s too many. I don’t have the PHB2 yet – I wasn’t one of the lucky bloggers to get an advance copy. And you know what? I’m not sure if I’m going to buy it since the character builder will be updated with all the new classes, races, feats and powers at the end of the month anyway. But I have read the tidbits already released through the Dungeons & Dragons Insider and the abundance of new classes infuriates me.

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Categories
DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Defend the Camp

The PCs are camping in the wild. Someone, or something, approaches in the middle of the night. In this circumstance, combat should only be considered as a last resort.

Setup

Presented below are three possible reasons for the PCs to be engaged in this skill challenge.

  • The PCs are in the process of setting up a permanent base camp. The location has strategic importance and needs to be secured.
  • There are few defensible locations to make camp in this area. Leaving this one means resting out in the open, exposed to all possible threats.
  • The PCs have setup camp in hostile teritory. The sounds of combat may alert nearby hostile forces.

The exact nature of the threat is left up to the DM. Some of the DC may need to be altered depending on the creature threatening the camp.

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Categories
Class Discussions

Necromancer: Epic Tier

necromancerIt’s Friday the 13th and we thought what better way to celebrate than with some Necromancer Epic Tier powers. The Necromancer Epic Tier powers follow up on our previous posts containing Necromancer powers for the Heroic Tier and Paragon Path.

With Wizards of the Coast releasing Arcane Powers later this year it’s only a matter of time before we have the official Necromancer Paragon Path and a slew of powers to support it. In the meantime, if you’re playing a high level Dungeon Delve and would like to play a Necromancer at the Epic Tier we hope that these powers will add some flavour to your game.

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Categories
Class Discussions

What Class Are You? – Wimwick

Wizards of the Coast wants to know what class you are.  It’s to help determine the classes that will be released in PHB3. Ok, maybe not but it’s a fun little quiz.

Me I’m a Rogue, but that’s no suprise. I knew I was a Rogue when I introduced myself to you, so I can’t say I’m shocked at the outcome..

The quiz is fun, but it isn’t rocket science to figure out what class you’ll end up with. Check it out.


D&D Home Page – What Class Are You? – Build A Character – D&D Compendium

Categories
DM Resources Editorial Player Resources

Playing Characters With Low Ability Scores

I’ve met a lot of gamers who love to min/max, especially during character creation. They’re willing to sacrifice abilities, powers and skills that they don’t think they’ll ever use in order to make the ones they expect to use all the time that much better. The most common trade off is low mental scores (Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma) for high physical scores (Strength, Constitution and Dexterity). If you’re objective is to play the big, dumb Fighter then this is the way to go. But how do the low scores in your bottom three abilities affect your ability to role play the character?

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Player Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Focus: Endurance

Do you think your really high Endurance is only good for holding your breath? You couldn’t be more wrong. Here are 10 new and creative ways to get more out of Endurance. So, for all those Fighters who have training in Endurance and don’t know what to do with it, read on.

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Categories
Humour Top 10

Overplayed Characters (Part 1)

It’s time to banish certain character builds from D&D forever. They have earned their place in gaming history and are now so overplayed that they’ve become cliché. With so many interesting combinations of race, class, weapon selection and demeanor you shouldn’t have to fall back on these character types. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about then read on.

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Categories
DM Resources Skill Challenges

Skill Challenge: Temple Treasure

A recent earthquake has uncovered a temple from a long-forgotten age. Rogues from a nearby town immediately tried to loot the temple, but were injured or killed by magical traps still active within. The head of the local church believes that if magic preserved the traps, perhaps it also preserved books, tomes, or other magical artifacts. He has been trying to put together a party to explore the temple, but the local folk are too afraid to do it.

Setup

  • The party’s Cleric or Paladin is requested by his order to help his fellow worshiper and recover any books in the temple.
  • The head of the church hires the PCs to recover any books that might be preserved in the temple.
  • The PCs fear that powerful undead may dwell inside the ancient temple. If they don’t act quickly to destroy the evil, it will threaten the welfare of the nearby town.
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Categories
Editorial Humour

Confessions of a Gamer

Are you proud to be a gamer? Or do you hide the fact that once a week you play Dungeons & Dragons? I’m 34 years old, I’m a gamer and I’m proud to admit it.

I’ve been playing RPGs since I was 10, so 24 years now. And during that time I’ve met many different types of gamers. Most, like me, are proud to be gamers. Others are what I like to call “in the closet gamers.” They loved to play D&D, but would die a slow and painful social death if anyone outside of our immediate gaming group learned this terrible secret.

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