Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Quick! Do A Spot Check!

Greetings to you my reader, and welcome to Do a Spot Check!  On this blog you can expect weekly updates on all kinds of Dungeons and Dragons awesomeness including: book reviews, DM and Player tips, interesting D&D related stories, character and equipment ideas, and much, much more! 
            My purpose in this is to show that D&D is not some game for the select few but can be appreciated and enjoyed by anyone.  In addition to this though, I want to provide a service to both rookies and veterans alike that does not only involve calculators and generators but actually assists you in the “how to play” aspects of the game.  I have tried on many occasions to find straight forward advice on how to play a certain character or how to best formulate a campaign, but have been unsuccessful.  Hopefully this will help fill that void and we can all have a good time doing it.  Enjoy! [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Raz

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Book Review

For my first book review I have decided to review the D&D Accessory book Song and Silence: A Guide to Bards and Rogues mostly because Rogues are my favorite class.  This book, like many other class guides, acts as supplementary information that can or cannot be used according to the DM of a particular game and includes such information as Prestige Classes, New Skills/Feats, equipment, and other helpful tidbits of information.
Where this book succeeds is in the fact that it is immediately useful.  You can pick it up and, quite literally, find something useful on any page you flip to.  My only complaint is in the trap making section because the process is so bloody complicated, but that isn’t the books fault necessarily because trap making is freaking difficult anyway. 
While it does tend to focus more on Rogues than Bards, the information provided for each class is equally helpful if not evenly allocated.  Overall, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Player Tip of the Week

Know Your Character.  In a campaign there are a plethora of enemies and puzzles that will arise and there is no better way to handle each situation than to know what your character can and can’t do.  Basically, the more you know about your character, the better you will be able to react to different situations. 
For example, if you are a Druid on a side quest picking herbs and you are approached by a Giant Ant, you should know that Druids can talk to animals with a low level spell, and that you may be able to talk your way out of the conflict.  Let’s then say conflict is unavoidable, and you, being the level 5 Druid that you are, have the quite powerful spell Call Lightning, you should know that this spell (which deals 3d6 damage per turn) is a much better option than whacking it with your club (1d6). [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

DM Tip of the Week

Don’t dictate exactly what has to happen in a campaign.  Even though you may have an idea of how you want a particular situation or puzzle to be solved, sometimes the players themselves can divine a better solution than you had initially thought. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]
For instance, if presented with a small fortress that has a 15 foot wooden wall surrounding it and a watchtower nearby, a DM’s solution to this problem might be as simple as shooting the guard out of the tower with the party’s heavy crossbow and then climbing up the wall using a ladder.
However, you’re players may decide that it would be better to scale this thing “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” style and have the party’s rogue hang on to the top of the ladder, while everyone else carried the ladder at the bottom so that when they reached the wall he could leap off the ladder, onto the tower, and kick the guard off before he had a chance to draw his sword.  This actually happened in a campaign and it actually worked.  The rogue changed his name to Peter Parker afterward. 

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