[dungeoncrawl] Re: Character stats

  • From: Johnathan Detrick <jdetrick@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: dungeoncrawl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 15:16:33 -0400

    Quincy has four metamagic feats (Empower, Extend, Maximize and Quicken).  I
hope to use them more and more as he increases in level.  I'm giving the current
spell list a trial period of a few adventures.  Then I'll go through and
rearrange it.  My only problem is first level.  I have some spell slots I'm less
than happy with, but I don't know what to do with them, since I can't use any
metamagic feats at that level.

Damon Kline wrote:

> I must admit to being pretty excited to see what these guys can do.  At
> every spell level for Sinjen, I tried to do an equal mix of combat versus
> non-combat spells.  However, the non-combat spells are mostly personal
> protection spells or things that can help him specifically.  I felt that
> better suited his personality.
>
> Kilian on the other hand took mostly spells that could help the party.
> Either healing, summoning or other spells that could affect either the party
> or their enemies.  I don't know if I took any spells that he could cast only
> on himself.
>
> A maximized Vampiric Touch is a great idea.  I haven't assigned any of
> Sinjen's Spell Secrets yet.  He only gets two, but I haven't decided on
> either one.  I'm thinking of using the Extended Spell feat on a personal
> defense spell like Stoneskin or Lizardskin (oriental spell).  That way it
> would last twice as long.
>
> I was also thinking, as he goes up in level, of giving him the Quicken Spell
> feat, which allows you to cast a spell as a free action.  That would be cool
> to have a fireball memorized that way, because you could theoretically cast
> two fireballs in the same round!  Cool!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Johnathan Detrick [mailto:jdetrick@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 12:03 PM
> To: dungeoncrawl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [dungeoncrawl] Re: Character stats
>
>     Isn't it fun to see what your characters are capable of?  I had some of
> the
> most ludicrous spells for Quincy; who the hell would cast some of the things
> he
> took?  I'm hoping that I have a nice mix of combat and non-combat.  He does
> use
> some meta-magic feats, although not too many.  Usually, I find a level where
> I
> only have stupid spells, and see what lower level spells I can replace the
> stupid ones with.  In his case, I maximized a vampiric touch, since the
> health
> could save his life at some time.
>     That was a great idea that Jim had, using a separate character sheet for
> Kilian when in super-hero mode.  :)  It should make it a lot easier for you.
> I
> think these five will be pretty effective.  Separately they are flawed and
> wussy, but together, they are mighty!
>
> Damon Kline wrote:
>
> > Great minds must think alike, as I have been working on my characters as
> > well.  Sinjen just went up a level, which makes him a 7th level Wu Jen/4th
> > level Monk.  This gave him one extra 1st level spell and a 4th level
> spell,
> > plus his bonus spell at 4th level, which gives him two.
> >
> > However, one thing I have not done much with when using Wizards are the
> > metamagic feats.  Sinjen only has one, but I'm trying to find a way to use
> > it.  At this point, he can't, because it would only allow him to maximize
> a
> > 1st level spell because it requires it to be 3 levels higher.  He doesn't
> > want to give up a 4th level slot just yet, since he just got them.  But,
> as
> > a Wu Jen, he has a cool ability.  At 3rd level and every 3 levels after
> > that, he can use Spell Secret.  He can choose any spell that he knows and
> > apply one of four metamagic feats to it permanently.  Those are Enlarge
> > spell, Extend spell, Silent spell and Still spell.  They do not require
> you
> > to memorize the spell at one level higher as is normally the case and the
> > effect is permanent for that spell.  So, if he chooses to apply the silent
> > feat to a magic missile, then any time he memorizes a magic missile spell,
> > it is silent.  I also revamped his spell list to give him more of an
> > oriental feel, using some of their unique spells.  I don't know that this
> > will do much, since most of their spells require you to hit and the target
> > gets a save, but it will look cool.  This character is always about style.
> > :)
> >
> > I took Jim's advice and used a separate character sheet to make up Kilian
> as
> > a 20th level druid for when he "summons the power of his father".  I'm
> still
> > in the process of picking spells, but so far he should be pretty kick ass
> > when he does this!  I also changed his normal spell selection around.
> I've
> > wanted him to call upon nature's help by summoning animals, but they
> always
> > seem so useless against what we normally fight.  However, I found spells
> > that I always overlooked because I couldn't figure out why you would use
> > them.  The two that I found in particular were Greater Magic Fang and
> Animal
> > Growth.  So as a tactic, Kilian could use Summon Nature's Ally V to summon
> a
> > Dire Lion, which is a decent animal to have around, but not overly
> > threatening.  Then he could cast Animal Growth on it which doubles its
> size
> > and hit dice.  This increases its strength and it's base attack bonus and
> > it's damage done.  It increases its hit points and armor class as well.
> > Very useful spell.  Then, Greater Magic Fang grants one natural attack of
> a
> > creature a +1 for every 3 levels of the caster.  Effectively making the
> > creature able to increase its ability to hit and do damage and override
> > damage reduction if the bonus is high enough.
> >
> > Now the downside to all of this, is that it would take him 3 rounds to get
> > this in place.  Since he is the party's main fighter at this point, that
> > might be a problem.  But, we'll see how it goes.
> >
> > I am definitely excited to play these guys!!
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Johnathan Detrick [mailto:jdetrick@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> > Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 11:31 AM
> > To: Riders II
> > Subject: [dungeoncrawl] Character stats
> >
> >     I have spent the last few mornings before work going over Magnus,
> > Quincy and Ilana, since they are the current active characters I have.
> > I wanted to let Jim know what changed, since he is DMing.  I also wanted
> > to show that I have accomplished all of the following, in time spurts of
> > 15 minutes each, in just a few days.  Now, I love to create and fiddle
> > with characters; its one of my favorite parts of the game.  But I have
> > always believed it leads me to enjoy the game more; when my characters
> > are at their best and everything is organized, I can play for hours.
> > And it's not about making them the most powerful character I can; it's
> > about choosing feats, skills and spells that fit their personality.  In
> > the end, though, this does make them more effective, so the results are
> > still positive.
> >     Ilana is now an 8th level cleric.  I made no real changes here.  One
> > of the things I decided for her was to make her a utility cleric.  Since
> > she won't attack, I can forget all of the offensive cleric spells.
> > Instead, I'm trying to give her spells to allow her to aid the group in
> > any situation.  Spells like Water Breathing, Freedom of Movement,
> > Neutralize Poison, Remove Disease, Dispel Magic, Restoration and the
> > like should enable her to help out in a variety of areas.  I had pretty
> > much decided on that direction for her when I created her, and it's
> > helped me to give her purpose, and it helps me to know what to do with
> > her in combat.  And it fits her personality perfectly.
> >     Magnus isn't quite done yet, but as expected, he is now 21st level.
> > I've begun to raise him in level with the epic level book.  Sadly, he
> > gets very little.  I need to pick an epic feat for him and I am done.
> > I'll let Jim know what I choose.
> >     Quincy took the most work (although it was still only about 30
> > minutes).  He is one of those characters that I created a long time ago
> > with a strong idea, and then completely forgot about.  I see him a lot
> > as Giles on Buffy.  He's extremely intelligent and very inquisitive.  He
> > is absolutely fascinated by undead and their like, but he doesn't use
> > undead, and he doesn't support them.  He has some elements of Thaylone,
> > in that he is looking for a group to belong to and acceptance, but he's
> > not as concerned as Thaylone is about it.  He's not a bad guy, but he
> > can be a little ruthless.  Combine the love of knowledge from Zolkiir,
> > with the pragmatism of D'Alleva and the quest for acceptance of
> > Thaylone, throw in a little of Quent's cowardice, and a dash of
> > prissiness, and there you have him.
> >     I had to completely overhaul his spell list.  As some of you may be
> > aware, Necromancy (in my opinion) has some of the most useless spells
> > out there!  Yeesh!  It's even harder when you remove those spells that
> > animate undead.  However, I decided to make up my own type of necromancy
> > spell list.  Besides those spells that are actually necromantic spells,
> > I loaded him up with cold spells.  To my mind, cold is the element most
> > associated with the dead (and please, let me know if you think I'm off
> > base), so I removed all fire spells and now all of his offensive spells
> > are cold.  To me, he seems pretty cool, and I think his new spell list
> > will be very helpful!  I can't wait to use him!
> >     So that's where my characters stand, ready to go for next week.  I
> > can't wait!


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