[citansdnd] Re: Low Magic Campaign
- From: justme ditto <sharnadale@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <citansdnd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 16:00:03 -0800
Hi, I wouldn't have a problem with replacing my invoker with a healer. When I
made my character my biggest concern was just trying to make something someone
else didn't already have.
Okay, here goes. I have been silent for years because I don't like to rock the
boat, and I apologize in advance if I come off as abrasive and mean, but I
really need to get this off of my chest. I have to vent and be honest here, at
risk of sounding ungrateful, but I really really do NOT want to see you go with
this, Casey. At all. Not in 4th Ed. It could be excused in 3.5, due to item
cheese, but I have to be honest and say that I was extremely disappointed that
I NEVER got to actually create that Axiomatic Warhammer for Graham in the
previous campaign. I had taken all those Item creation feats just for that ONE
weapon and I never even got close to enough gold to make it.
It had been on the top of my to-do list when I created the character at level
1, and I was only able to use those feats maybe twice the entire campaign. By
level 12 I had more or less just given up any hope of being able to enchant my
hammer and instead focused on trying to at least enchant a shield with a
character-flavored ability. I got close to the amount of gold needed for that
by about one thousand shy when the campaign ended. I didn't care if we never
fought one single chaotic-aligned enemy the whole campaign, but I wanted so bad
for Graham to have that lawfully aligned weapon because it was for the
character. I kept silent on how absolutely bothered I was by this because I
didn't want to gripe about it or offend you, but I really was, and now the idea
of low to no magic in this one is actually making me angry.
I feel as if this exact same thing is just going to happen all over again, and
I will go so far as to cut out my own left eye to make sure that it DOESN'T.
The trend is already starting, as we're already second level and haven't gotten
a single piece of treasure. And all I want THIS time is one specific LEVEL 2
TOTEM that I can periodically increase the enchantment bonus on as we level. I
also intend to take Ritual Casting as a feat, but if we never get money it
literally IS going to be the Great Graham Clanforge's Totally Useless Feat
Fiasco of 2004-2009 all over again.
Now, to rant about a semi-different topic, and again, I do not mean to offend
any of you or make you mad, but I feel my true feelings on this subject must be
breached because this has been burning in the back of my mind for a long long
time now.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed playing Graham, but he was only created because
the party lacked a sufficient Healer, as was the case with Ladsworth the time
before that (Although Ladsworth was created because I wanted to play
Ladsworth). I thoroughly enjoyed playing Graham, as I am currently now with
Yeldroon, but I am extremely annoyed that both last time and yet again this
time I have been shoe-horned into the role of Healer/Leader because no one else
was willing to step up to the plate.
Both times previous (Remember, the previous iteration of the campaign began
what, five years ago? This is how long this has been at the back of my mind) I
had created a character months in advance for the expected reboot of the
campaign, discussed him at length and in great detail with Casey only to have
to scrap him both times because NO ONE WANTED TO BE THE HEALER. And it's not
even a case where I could have taken that character idea to another campaign
because he was made specifically to fit within Casey's world.
So here I am yet again playing a character created only to fill the gap in the
party, and in 4th Ed you simply CANNOT survive without a Leader. Again, don't
get me wrong, Yeldroon is a character I have been wanting to play in a campaign
for many years, previously made impossible because of 3.5's ECL garbage, and I
am thanking God and his holy host that my dreams of playing Minotaurs has
finally come true, but he isn't the character I had created for this specific
campaign over five years ago.
FIVE YEARS.
I even TOLD you guys MULTIPLE TIMES prior to the previous campaign's ending
that I was NOT going to play the Healer role this time, and in fact had a
character already made. FIVE YEARS AGO even.
Thankfully, yelling at the walls and writing all this up has made me feel
better. Again, don't get me wrong, I am happy beyond measure that I am finally
able to play Yeldroon, but next time I will be playing the character that I
have wanted to play for more than five years now.
So yeah, that piled on top of the threat of yet again not seeing a single piece
of treasure for an entire campaign is making me an extremely angry little man.
-----Original Message-----
From: Diana Jakobs <diana.c.jakobs@xxxxxxxxx>
To: citansdnd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tue, Nov 3, 2009 10:40 am
Subject: [citansdnd] Re: Low Magic Campaign
Interesting, perhaps we can all go over this concept in detail this Saturday?
On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 12:38 PM, Steve Bartalamay <lanzlo@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From what I understand, you can go either way. You can totally eliminate magic
items and replace it with boons, or you can have a mix-have the rare magical
item, and boons. If Casey's careful, he could have the occasional story related
Artifact that grows with the character/campaign.
And yes, I agree. "Vow of Poverty" was way broken. I played with a guy that
always played a monk with that. *shudder*
On Nov 2, 2009, at 12:30 PM, Diana Jakobs wrote:
Heh, as long as it isn't as broken as "Vow of Poverty" was back in 3.5, I'd be
happy to give it a look. I've got the DMG2, I'll try to review it if I can.
Does it totally remove magic items, or could Casey still do those occasional
item gifts that fit in the story? (I'd almost call what he gave out Artifacts,
though after looking at how some artifacts in 4th, some may need to be designed
specifically for his game. I really wish WotC would release a book of
Artifacts one of these days, the examples they have given out so far are a
little too few in number for my taste, and, at least in my game, it would fit
some aspects of the story I'd like to explore.)
On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Steve Bartalamay <lanzlo@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Actually, yes, they do provide little 'extras' to compensate for the lack of
special abilities on weapons. Divine boons (abilities granted by the Gods),
Legendary Boons (abilities granted by ding something awesome) and Grandmaster
Training (inherent bonuses due to training) to take their place. I'll bring the
printout (along with the DMG2) on Saturday.
I'm not pushing for this. I just know that Casey wanted a low magic campaign,
and this is an option to explore.
On Nov 2, 2009, at 12:03 PM, Diana Jakobs wrote:
Hmm, I'm of two minds on this one. On one hand, that would make things easier
to run, on the other, while our bonus to damage & to hit ~may~ remain similar
to normal characters, we would lose out on the associated properties & powers
that some of the items bring. Plus, some people may want to rebuild their
characters to match this setup if we went for that option. I'd really need to
check out this DMG2 option in detail, see how it compensates for things. If it
is just equivalent to what monsters intrinsically get, I think some tweaking
would still need to be done with some of the monsters to keep the balance
right, if the option gives other things... maybe extra powers or feat... it
just depends. Optional house rules can be tricky, especially since this is a
lot of people's first 4th edition game.
My current (and initial) inclination is against it, but, I'm flexible.
--------------------
"Laugh…and the world laughs with you. Laugh hysterically, for no apparent
reason, and they’ll leave you alone."
Steve Bartalamay
lanzlo@xxxxxxxxxxx
_________________________________________________________________
Windows 7: Unclutter your desktop.
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9690331&ocid=PID24727::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WWL_WIN_evergreen:112009
Other related posts:
