As the new season of D&D Encounters is about to begin we wanted to share a few tips about character creation and party composition that we think will help you get more out of this season. Although these suggestions are intended more for players who are D&D Encounters veterans, newer players may still find them useful.
Remember that this season of D&D Encounters only lasts for 11 weeks so why not try something a little bit different; take a risk and shake things up a bit?
When you ask a gamer to tell you about their character they will usually begin with class and race followed by the kind of weapon the PC uses, a list of their best magical items and then finally some really cool attack power or spell in their arsenal. And for most people that’s the answer they expect. But when was the last time you described a character as being a know-it-all, or a suck up, or a dreamer, or manipulative, or unusually arrogant?
Personality isn’t one of the boxes you need to fill in on a character sheet so many gamers, me included, often overlook this important detail when we create characters. More importantly we forget that every character has a unique personality. Looking back at my last few long-term characters I realize that they all had pretty much the same personality – mine.
In my experience, very few of us define our character by who they really are at heart, resorting instead to what they possess and what they can do. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this approach, but if you play a lot of RPGs you realize that a character with a well-defined personality can be a lot more interesting and a lot more fun to play. After all, personality goes a long way.
In just two short weeks gamers from all around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) will get together to participate in the 4th annual SpellStorm gaming convention.
D&D will be well represented with tables offering Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) and Lair Assault. However, there will also be plenty of tables running a wide assortment of other games including Pathfinder organized play, old school games, board games and collectible card games.
Some of the Friendly Local Gaming Shops (FLGS) in the GTA have generously donated prizes. All attendees will have a chance to win prizes and giveaways throughout the weekend.
A good background should help define who the character is, especially early in the adventurer when he’s relatively inexperienced. Your PC’s backgrounds should do more than just provide him with skill bonus or a free minor power. I encourage players to be creative when coming up with a back-story. I’ve learned that the more detailed their origin story, the more I can use those details to help shape the game to come.
Although I derive inspiration for my campaigns and my characters from a variety of sources, I seem to get the most ideas from reading comic books. As a huge comic-book nerd with a massive collection (5,000+ issues and growing) I have no shortage of source material. What I do find surprising is how I can reread an old favourite and have it inspire me in a way it’s never done before. And that’s exactly what happened this weekend.
I’ve played in a lot of games where things could have been a lot easier if we’d only had a Cleric in the party. Or an archer. Or someone trained in Thievery. Or a controller. The point is that some obstacles are going to be easier if you have the right tools for the job. This is also true when it comes to PCs. The right mix of classes and races in any given party will provide you with a competitive edge that will make many tasks easier.
Many DMs design adventures knowing what tools, skills and abilities the PCs have and create challenges that their unique skill sets will be adequately suited to overcome. However, there are often just as many times where the DM simply needs to throw certain monsters or other obstacles at the PCs and if they don’t have the right tools for the job then things are going to be a lot more difficult. This is especially true of you are playing form a printed adventure like those found in Dungeon magazine. The key to overcoming this issue is to try to ensure that the party is made up of the PCs most suited for the job in front of them; a task that’s easier said than done.
What if you never got more hit points that what you began with at level 1? Think about it. As 4e is set up now most PCs begin with around 20 hit points. This is enough to take a couple of hits but you are by no means invulnerable. As you get more XP and level up you start to improve and one thing that comes with each level bump is more hit points. But lately I’ve been wondering how things would change if your maximum hit points were fixed. How would this change D&D?
In previous editions of D&D PCs could begin with as few as 1 hit point. Some PCs were extremely fragile and a single hit from anything could, and often did, kill them. Knowing that PCs were this vulnerable forced players to play smarter. If your PC was likely to die from a single hit you didn’t run blindly into a group of monsters, even if they were only Kobolds or Goblins. Tactics were important because they often made the difference between living and dying.
Today Dungeon’s Master launched a new permanent resource page on our blog, the Pre-Generated Character Library. We’ve collected all the pre-gens that Wizards put together for the first four seasons of D&D Encounters along with the home made PCs created by the blogging community. Now all the pre-gens are available in one easy to find place and each season’s pre-gens are available for download in PDF format.
Although 6 pre-generated characters are provided with every D&D Encounters kit, Wizards has confirmed that they have no intention of providing new pre-gens moving forward. They want players to create their own characters and not just keep reusing the pre-gens season after season. However, there are always new players who will need a pre-generated character so it’s always a good idea to have a few on hand. Our library gives you more than the stock six that we’ve come to love and hate.
The characters in the Pre-Generated Character Library can be used for D&D Encounters or at any home game. They provide DMs with complete, ready-made stock characters that they can easily use as PCs or NPCs in low level adventures.
The Pre-Generated Character Library will be permanently accessible in our left navigation below the Staff Picks. We’ll continue to add new pre-generated characters to the library as we acquire or create them.
Visit the Dungeon’s Master D&D Encounters Archive for all of our ongoing weekly coverage as well as other great D&D Encounters articles and resources.
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While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2011. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.
The most important thing to remember when you provoke an opportunity attack is that it’s not a guaranteed hit. Your opponent still needs to make a successful attack roll against you. Yet most players think that an opportunity attack means automatic damage, and it’s this fear that keeps players stationary during combat. The misconception that they’ll take damage if they move or if they make a ranged attack when next to an enemy will sometimes lead players to use less than their best attacks.
Never forget that dice hate everyone equally, and not just your PC. You can’t assume that the dice will always give the DM a successful hit. In most cases the monster’s likelihood of scoring a hit is in the 50/50 ballpark. So the next time you have to decide if you should provoke an opportunity attack, think about what’s to be gained by doing so and then remember that the odds are probably in your favour.
While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2011. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.
Since I wrote this article I’ve put my money where my mouth is on numerous occasions. In my home games I delay at some point in almost every encounter and readying an action is becoming a lot more commonplace too.
In a recent adventure our party was being attacked by flying creatures. The monsters would make flyby attacks, never landing close enough for us to engage them in melee. My Paladin had only one ranged attack, but it was range 5. The monsters with their incredible speed of 8 managed to remain more than 5 squares off the ground, staying safely out of my threat range. Round after round they swooped in, attacked, damaged us, and then flew to a safe distance from five of the six PCs.
Finally I decided to ready an action. After the next flying monster completed its move action I would use my only ranged attack against it. The result was better than expected.
Unaware of my plan, the monster continued his attack pattern. Move first, flyby attack second. Unfortunately for the monster my readied action went off after its move but before the flyby attack. I landed a solid hit. As soon as the rest of the party saw my success they too began readying actions. The monsters only lasted a couple more rounds.
After that encounter things really changed at my gaming table. Now we have PCs readying actins all the time. Sometimes they don’t get to act for a round or two, but we’ve become a lot more effective and the combat has actually become faster. So the next time your fighting a bunch of monsters take a second to think tactically and see if readying an action will give you an advantage you might not normally anticipate.
Remember that just because you can attack on your turn doesn’t mean that you have to attack on your turn. There are often better options, but it’s up to you to figure out what they are.
While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2011. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.
A catchphrase can certainly add personality to an otherwise dull character. But it can work in reverse as well. If your catchphrase is weak or silly you can make an interesting character seem dull in a hurry.
I’ve heard my share of lame catchphrase at the gaming table. Some of the worst catchphrases I’ve ever heard are nothing more than really bad puns. I don’t think a con goes by where I don’t hear “It’s hammer time!” from the guy playing a Dwarf with a hammer, “Let me axe you a question,” from a PC with a axe, or “I’m giving him the shaft,” from an archer. If you’re going to go to the trouble of actually creating and using a catchphrase please try to be imaginative. I realize that puns or wordplay can get a quick chuckle from the table, but the ones like I’ve described here aren’t funny or original. They’re just lame.
There’s a reason that some of the coolest characters in D&D and fantasy fictions are the strong silent type: saying the wrong thing is often worse than saying nothing at all. So when you decide that your character is going to use a catchphrase, just make sure to it’s something interesting. It can be funny, especially if it’s derived from previous failure or an unexpected success, but don’t bore the table with nothing more than a bad pun. Now you know. “And knowing is half the battle!”