What Am I Gonna Do With All These (Other) Skills?

Greetings! A few days ago, I realized that a good bit of what I write about has to do with the campaign that I am currently playing, so I thought it would be a cool idea if I could get the players and DM involved a bit in Do A Spot Check. So after bringing the idea to the table and rolling a 22 on my Diplomacy check, our party has agreed to join in the conversation on my blog posts in the comments section! Now for the introductions: [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Zedd: Our Current DM. His character is a level 20 Wizard who needs our help defeating Darken Rahl, an evil Wizard of sorts who is immune to magic.

Endos: A once True Neutral, now Lawful Evil, Human Sorcerer who specializes in summoning spells. Fiendish Centipedes are his favored summon.

Aurora: A Chaotic Good, Elvin Ranger who specializes in using her bow. She has a Pegasus as an animal companion and is working on acquiring a Hippogriff as well.
 

Alexander: A Chaotic Good, Human Cleric who wields the power of the Sun God.

Laurelie: A True Neutral, Gnome Bard who plays the Bassoon and specializes in Illusion magic.

Raz: Me. A Chaotic Neutral, Human Jumper with high aspirations, but a demeanor that is so random that it is hard to tell if he’ll ever succeed.

In addition to all this, you will notice that I have added a new page titled “The Campaign” that will roughly give you an idea of what is happening in our campaign as it progresses. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

But for the moment, back to the skills! Here is Part 2 of my skill descriptions:

Knowledge: What you know about one of the following subjects: Arcana, Architecture and Engineering, Dungeoneering, Geography, History, Nature, Nobility and Royalty, Religion, The Planes. Ex: Knowing if a plant in the forest is poisonous or not.

Listen: Your ability to have ears that hear things. Ex: Hearing an enemy approaching or listening in on a conversation.

Move Silently: Your ability to act like a Ninja. Ex: Stalking a suspected assassin to his hideout.

Open Lock: Your ability to open locks. Ex: Picking a simple lock on a treasure chest. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Perform: Your ability to sing, dance, and play an instrument or similar acts of entertainment. Ex: Performing a dance routine on the streets to earn money.

Profession: What your job is other than a combatant. Ex: Cutting down a tree because you’re a lumberjack.

Ride: Your ability to ride a mount and accomplish actions while riding it. Ex: Shooting a bow while galloping or trying to ride an exotic mount like a Pegasus.

Search: Your ability to find a specific object or person. Ex: Searching for mechanical traps in a dungeon or looking for a specific book in a library.

Sense Motive: Your ability to tell if someone is lying or not. Ex: Figuring out if there really is a Nation of Nam that is at war with the Viet.

Sleight Of Hand: Your ability to steal things or hide items on your person. Ex: Stealing a small money pouch from a person on the street or concealing a dagger up your sleeve. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Speak Language: Each rank put into it gains you a new language (Bards only). Ex: Learning Draconic just in time for the big meeting with a Dragon.

Spellcraft: Your familiarity with anything magical. Ex: Determining if a particular sword is magical or not.

Spot: Your ability to use your eyes. Ex: Looking at your surroundings like if you see a shady character in the crowd coming towards you.

Survival: Your ability to track an animal/person or forage for food. Ex: Tracking down the murderer of a king who escaped into the forest.

Swim: Your ability to flail your arms in water to prevent drowning. Ex: Swimming in a whirlpool.

Tumble: Your ability to roll (or similar action) past an occupied space in combat or your ability to avoid damage from falling. Ex: Jumping off a 20 foot ledge and not taking damage. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Use Magic Device: Your ability to use a magic item you are unfamiliar with. Ex: Finding a random magic wand and trying to use it without knowing what it does.

Use Rope: Your ability to be like a boy scout. Ex: Tying a criminal up with rope or throwing some rope like a lasso or grappling hook.

That’s all folks! Tune in next week for another exciting (and educational) episode of Do A Spot Check!

Raz

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Quote of the Week

“Beware of falling asses…”

                       ~ The DM

Player Tip of the Week

Don’t split up party to go train. In the process of most campaigns, there are likely to be a few characters in a party that are a level or two higher than the rest of the party. Thus, lower leveled party members will sometimes go adventuring a short distance from camp looking for some moderate/weak encounters to gain some experience. In my experience though, just because your party is at half strength, doesn’t mean the DM will lower the difficulty of encounters. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

For instance, our Sorcerer Endos and myself wanted to gain some quick exp a short distance from a major city. After traveling for a bit we happened to stumble upon a Frankenstein looking creature and thought we should be able to handle it. So I do a charge attack and deal 30 damage and Endos casts Scorching Ray and deals another 20 damage. We we-re thinking “Yeah, we got dis!”, but then I was K.O.ed in one hit… Turns out, we were fighting a Flesh Golem, something that our party could have handled fairly enough, but not well at all with just the two of us. We did end up winning the battle due to a plethora of centipedes, but only just barely.

In the end, this bit of advice depends on what kind of DM you have. If you know your DM will adjust the difficulty, by all means separate the party to train. If this is not the case, then stay together at all costs or have your entrails spilled across the floor or your face eaten off by a lion. (See last week’s DM tip)

The Stormshatter Gauntlet Courtesy of OrdoVeritas

DM Tip of the Week

Know how many people you can manage in one campaign. With all the challenges of running a campaign it can be very difficult to organize the story along with all the individual goals of the players. If you have too few characters then you may find that the party isn’t diverse enough to handle each situation, but at the same time too many can create a situation where no one can agree on what to do.

For instance, in one of my past campaigns there were seven of us and while it worked out okay, it took us forever to get all the stuff we wanted to do was completed. At one city we were visiting, the Paladin wanted to go help out at a church, the Monk wanted to go have a good time at the local bar, the Rogue wanted to steal stuff, the Barbarian and Fighter ended up finding the equivalent of a “Fight Club", the Wizard went looking for a specific book at a library, and the Bard was out gathering information on where the party should go next.

All of these were their own mini event/side quest and it took several sessions for us to finally move on. Situations like that create a cycle between some players being excited and the others being bored. For me, the magic number is five, but if you can handle this as a DM then by all means go for it just make sure to keep the campaign as balanced as possible. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

What Am I Gonna Do With All These Skills?

Some Awesomeness Courtesy of Belibr

Greetings!  Today I am very excited because I will be adding something slightly new to Do A Spot Check, which is featured D&D artwork.   Every week I will post a new piece of featured art in between my Player and DM tips sections.  My reasoning for this is twofold.  First off, I felt like my Player and DM tips sections needed some color and I couldn’t think of a better way to do this than to incorporate some cool D&D artwork.  The second reason is that art can be a very inspiring force when playing D&D.  Perhaps, as a DM, you see an interesting looking monster that you want to incorporate into your campaign or, as a player, you see a character that you want to play as in your next campaign.  Hope you enjoy all the artistic awesomeness!

But in the mean time, this week I thought would be good to do another layman’s rundown of the skills list.  While some skills are self explanatory, others can have multiple purposes that might not be immediately apparent.  Like last time, this will be split into two parts for your (and my) convenience.  Here’s part 1: [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Appraise: Your ability to determine value or identity of an item or person.  Ex: Identify a mysterious (non-magical) dagger or determine the profession of an individual. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Balance: You ability to maintain balance.  Ex: walking along the top of a narrow wall.

Bluff: Your ability to lie.  Ex: Telling a shop owner that you are from the mythical kingdom of Nam, which is currently at war with the Viet, and are on an urgent quest to purchase his wares at a reduced price.

Climb: How much like Spiderman you are.  Ex: Climbing a tree to get a better view of the scenery.

Concentration: Your ability to cast spells while under adverse conditions.  Ex: Trying to cast Magic Missile while there are two fighters right in front of you and a Halfling taunting you in the background.

Craft: Your ability to build items.  Ex: Crafting a suit of armor, sword, alchemical mixture, or a spoon.

Decipher Script: Your ability to roughly understand and write in an unfamiliar text.  Ex: Trying to write a message in Draconic when you have only heard it spoken a few times. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Diplomacy: Your ability to negotiate (truthfully).  Ex: Establishing peace between two opposing areas.

Disable Device: Your ability to deactivate traps.  Ex: Disabling a mechanical trap that drops a donkey on top of you if you step on a pressure plate.

Disguise: Your ability to appear or act like somebody else.  Ex: Disguising yourself to look like a guard to gain access to a fortress.

Escape Artist: Your ability to free yourself from constraint.  Ex: Escaping from shackles, rope, or a grapple.

Forgery: Your ability to create fake items or documentation.  Ex: Writing a fake digger's license that allows individuals to dig for artifacts buried in the area.

Gather Information: Your ability to find desired information.  Ex: Finding out where a secret monastery is located.

Handle Animal: Your ability to work with, calm, tame, and domesticate an animal.  Ex: Calming a wild Pegasus and then calming it so it won’t attack and then coaxing it to follow you.

Heal: Your ability to stabilize a dying character or cure them of a simple ailment.  Ex: Stabilizing an ally with -7 hp, -4 to Dexterity, is poisoned, and is suffering from a mild cold. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Hide: Your ability to conceal yourself.  Ex: Hiding in a barrel from an angry mob.

Intimidate: Your ability to instill fear into another.  Ex: Scaring an opponent before battle by eating a bowl nails…without any milk.

Jump: Your ability to move your legs in a manner that projects you upward.  Ex: Jumping from rooftop to rooftop to escape from ensuing guardsmen.

To be continued…

Raz

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Player Tip of the Week

Don’t over complicate things.  While there certainly can be some very challenging puzzles in D&D sometimes players can over-complicate the issue at hand.  Often times there are moderately simple solutions to any normal puzzle that you happen to stumble upon.  Sometimes even, a clever DM can make a puzzle intentionally simple, expecting you to overthink it. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

For instance, I was going through a personal trial where I entered a large room where, above the door, was the clue “get out”.  On the ceiling there were several bricks that were jutting out of it.  My first impulse was that I should try and fix the ceiling so I teleported up and down until the entire ceiling was smooth and I had a pile of bricks on lying on the ground.  So because that didn’t work, I decided to build an archway out of the bricks on the opposite side of the room.  Nothing.  So then I drew a doorway inside the archway. Nothing.  So then I decided that perhaps the clue meant that I need to “get out” of my mind and I promptly used my magic sword to make me go into berserk mode.  Nothing.  Finally, in rage, I went out the door that I came in at and I beat the challenge…  

More Awesomeness Courtesy of Django-Red

DM Tip of the Week

Use common sense when giving random monster encounters.  In an attempt to make life easier, it is perfectly acceptable to come up with a formula to randomly select a monster to fight in random encounters while traveling.  However, when you do this, you still have to access if the encounter is a) feasible to appear in the current terrain and b) not too difficult for the current party members to handle.  If you find that the randomly selected monster is too strong regardless of how much you reduce its stats, don’t hesitate to simply randomly select a different encounter.

For instance, in our current campaign our Cleric and I were traveling a short distance away from the city we were at in an attempt to train a little bit since we were the two lowest leveled characters in our party.  So after a short distance we heard a rustling in the tall grass and prepared for battle.  Unfortunately though, it was a Dire Lion that made a pounce attack against me from its concealed location.  Normally this would not be such a big deal except that Dire Lions have a +17 to grapple; I have a +7.

What happened from here on out was me futilely trying to escape while our Cleric healed me until eventually I used my magic sword’s ability that puts me into berserk mode.  I then proceeded to throw the Dire Lion off of me and kill it in one strike.  However in my berserker frenzy I continued on to attack my partner and myself.  Luckily our NPC Wizard friend was able to snap me out of the frenzy by turning me into a rat and then back into a human (only now I have a rat tail).  Admittedly it can be hard to figure out what random encounter to use, but just reducing HP alone is not always enough to make it a fair challenge.  

Otherwise your players may end up in a situation where they are in a constant cycle of getting their face eaten off by a large feline while your buddy gives you a new face… over and over again.  I never felt so much like Prometheus. [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Why So Serious?

Greetings!  As I have been reading more and more about the actual D&D universe and all the nuances that are involved in buildings and cultures, I feel like the next campaign I run  should be a very constructive one rather than one oriented around having to kill something.  Perhaps this is just me, but I find just as much gratification from turning a small keep, (which we acquired through the Deck of Many Things), into an upscale tavern, as I get from achieving a critical hit on (and then promptly getting KOed by) a Flesh Golem.   [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Page 3 of Order of the Stick

Anyways, today I wanted to take a break from the serious (haha) stuff to introduce to you a web comic that I stumbled upon called “The Order of the Stick” on the site Giant in the Playground.  This is an absolutely hilarious web comic centered around a silly group of D&D characters that are on a quest to slay a proverbial bad guy.  The comic, while meant to be funny, actually does give some good insight on how inter-party relationships can go in D&D (sometimes).  Take it as a learning experience or just enjoy the humor.  I personally have been too busy laughing to focus on potential learning value.    [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Until next week!

Raz

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Player Tip of the Week

Have a plan for your character.  When you create your character at the beginning of a campaign it is wise to know what direction you want to develop it.  What I mean by this is that you should have a general idea of where you want to invest your Ability Points, Feats, Skills, equipment, and money in.  While this does require a greater overall knowledge of the game, this will not only save you time in the long run, but also will make your character a more effective combatant and ally throughout. 

For example, for our current campaign I am a Jumper (as you know) and I wanted to make sure that by the time I hit level 8 I would be as powerful as I’d ever be.  So I promptly went digging through the internet and books to find what could make me as powerful as possible.  Knowing that a Jumper requires high Dexterity I decided to invest all my future ability points into it.  Keeping this in mind, I also deemed that my Feats should reflect this as well so I picked those that would make me more mobile and give me greater AC.  Then I promptly decided that nothing would complete my array of mobile assets with some Mithril armor.  However, sadly I can’t get any because there is an evil, Mithril-obsessed wizard had taken over the Mithril mines…   [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

DM Tip of the Week

Know what you’re good at. As a DM, you get to decide what type of campaign you want to run, but with this said, you have to know what elements of a campaign you are best at so that you can adequately plan for the events to come.  Whether it’s Role Playing, Puzzles, or Combat, if you know which of these elements you are best at, you will be a more effective DM and the campaign will be more fun overall.  This is not to say you should only incorporate one of these elements, it’s just you should focus on the one you are best at.    [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

For instance, I am a primarily Role Play oriented DM that focuses on elaborate characterization and plot driven combat as opposed to complex battles that require battle tactics to resolve.  Another DM friend of mine focuses much more on puzzles and battles that require critical thought to find the key to victory but strays away from straight combat that is a dice rolling exercise.  Yet another DM I know focuses entirely on combat, setting up elaborate battles such as practically reenacting the battle of Helms Deep…  it was a pyrrhic victory.

Stronghold Building and the Threat of Death

            Greetings!  Today I would like to make a brief comment on the magic Artifact, the Deck of Many Things (a deck of cards that when you draw a card can either yield huge rewards or the death of your character).  This magic item has been in my last two campaigns and while it is a very exciting endeavor to draw from it to see if you die or not, it can be a real game killer if the wrong cards are drawn.  On the one hand you can earn a super cool Keep of your own with all the furnishings, but on the other you can end up in a perpetual coma.    [this post is property of Do A Spot Check]

            But on another note, I felt like today would be a good day for another book review, (considering that I just bought it last week) being the D&D Accessory book Stronghold Builder’s Guide.   This book is essential a how-to guide for building structures of any sort in D&D whether that is a simple tavern or a “floating castle at the center of a hurricane” (4).  The book does a good job of clearly demonstrating the process without making it too difficult by breaking the process down into easily defined “stronghold spaces” (ss).  In addition, the guide focuses on keeping micro-management to a minimum while letting the reader be as imaginative as possible in the creation of their stronghold. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

            However, all of this does come with an extremely high price.  At its absolute minimum cost, one simple stronghold space costs roughly 500gp, but most ss cost several thousand gp.  A complete small fortress could easily cost 50,000 gp (more money than typically found in a D&D campaign).   Then to further add to the cost is magic furnishings for your stronghold.  These magic components are basically fortress specific magic items that, like regular magic items, cost a fortune on their own.  Long story short, the process is freaking expensive.

            Overall the Stronghold Builder’s Guide is a worthwhile buy because it is a wellspring of good ideas and plot-device invoking items.  It opens the door to a new mode of playing D&D where your goal isn’t killing things or solving puzzles, but instead about building a fortress, town, or city of your own.  With this said though, the book is more oriented to DMs rather than players simply because normal players, under normal circumstances, will never raise enough money to build such wondrous places.  Because of this I give the book 4 out of 5 Stars. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

And now on a personal note from our latest D&D session, I am very excited to announce that I tumbled through a tornado.

Until next week,

Raz

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Quote of the Week

DM:     You see a Giant Ant in the distance.

Druid:  Alright I wanna shoot it with my bow.

DM:     Wait… What??? Why would you shoot it with your bow?

Druid:  Alright fine! Then I’ll hit it with my scimitar…

DM:     *face palm*

Player Tip of the Week

Make your own decisions.  In a party of diverse alignments and classes, everyone is going to have a different approach to a situation, regardless of how mundane.  When presented with a locked door in a dungeon, a Chaotic Neutral Barbarian might want to just kick the door in, while the Neutral Evil Rogue might want to check it for traps first, and the True Neutral Druid might want to ignore the door completely.  However, as an individual, you must make YOUR decision.  This is not to say completely ignore advice, but in the end it is your call whether to open the door or not. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

            For instance, one time in our current campaign, we stumbled upon a magic blue feathered chicken.  Upon inspection we found that the feathers, when used on arrows, made them Seeking arrows.  After I caught the chicken, it was up to our Ranger how many feathers to pull at one time.  Me being the very chaotic character that I am, suggested pulling out the feathers in fistfuls, while our other characters clamored for a more conservative approach.

I would like to point out that my approach was the wrong way to handle this and she, as a Ranger, should have known this.  However, because of her inability to make a decision on the subject, she chose to violently yank two fistfuls of feathers out, killing the chicken and making it (with all the feathers) disappear.  I was disappointed because I had wanted to find out what blue chicken meat tasted like.  For whatever reason, the Ranger was horrified by my disappointment. 

DM Tip of the Week

Have a backup plan.  As a DM, you have to account for the fact that you may have given characters a challenge that is too difficult for them to complete or the gods of dice rolling just weren’t on the players’ side that day.  In these situations, you need to have a backup plan of some sort whether that is a NPC who is more powerful than you who travels with your party as a guide, or some conveniently placed lightning bolts to strike an enemy down you were about to die from. 

For instance, we were traveling from one town to another when we were hit by a normal random encounter with four young Dire Weasels.  Shouldn’t be too bad right? Wrong.  On this particular day the gods of dice rolling were apparently not in our favor in that I critically missed about five times throughout the battle and was critically hit three times, almost in succession.  Seeing this ridiculousness, our NPC guide/Wizard Zed froze time for us for 4 rounds so that we could finish off the weasels (I still critically misses twice more). [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Players should always fear death, but they shouldn’t fear death from mundane enemies like Dire Weasel pups…

So Many (More) Classes...

Hello everyone!  I have officially decided that my Jumper Class is very overpowered (but extremely fun to play as).  I say this for two reasons: 1) at level 10 the teleporting abilities of the Jumper allows a player to teleport indefinitely upward without ever hitting the ground 2) I am a pain in the butt to kill. 

We are currently facing a trial where we have to fight a clone of ourselves that has all the same equipment and abilities that we do.  One would think “Ah! Brilliant challenge!” but in my case because I on average deal in the realm of 18 damage (a.k.a half my total health), have a +11 on attack rolls, and my abilities allow me to ignore an enemies Dex bonus to AC,  it basically boils down to who is favored by the gods of dice rolling.  Long story short, I’m having trouble killing myself.

Anyway, back to the classes!  Here are the final five base class descriptions:

7) Paladin: The righteous warrior. This class has high HP, can wield most weapons and armor, and has a small set of support spells to heal minor damage or increase stats.  While all of these are good things, there is one “problem” (depending on your preferences) with the Paladin in that it MUST be Lawful Good aligned.  This means you must do the right thing ALL THE TIME.  Paladins are tanky front liners that boost their melee capability with spells.

[This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

8) Ranger: Think Aragon from The Lord of the Rings.  Rangers can either fight at a distance with bows or up close using Two Weapon Fighting. They also have the help of an animal companion, like the druid. Rangers are primarily offensive damage dealers, usually specializing in the multitude of ranged feats they can take advantage of more than any other class.

A Rogue Courtesy of TheDarkestSeason

          9) Rogue: (My favorite class).  This class is the skill master.  No other class is as proficient in skills or has as many skill points as any other class.  They are also the only class that can disable and notice magical traps.  In addition, Rogues can deal high damage with Sneak Attacks.  Rogues, while not the best combat class, are a vital part of any group because of their sneaky battle tactics and high skill proficiency.

A Sorcerer Courtesy of Wes-Talbott

          10/11) Sorcerer and Wizard:  These two are together because they have more or less the same abilities, but are played very differently.  Both of them are the quintessential spell casters of D&D, but the way they cast their spells are very different.  Sorcerers cast spells as an inherent ability that they gain from their bloodline, though they don't know very many spells.  Wizards, on the other hand, gain their spells through study and hard work and then record them in their spell book.  Basically, Sorcerers know a few spells that they can cast at will, while Wizards can cast a much wider range of spells but fewer of them.  These two classes are generally the party’s primary spell casters and while weak in lower levels, they are devastating at higher levels. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Hope you enjoyed this layman’s rendition of the classes.  Until next time!

Raz    

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Player Tip of the Week

Keep note of minute details. While it can be a little difficult to keep track of exactly what is in your surroundings, sometimes the smallest of details can be the answer to a potentially lethal situation.

            For instance, in the same situation as mentioned in last week’s example, the man who we were supposed to kill jumped down into his cellar and grabbed a pencil that was on a desk and wrote on some magic leaves that allowed him to disappear from our sight in the cellar.  [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

As stated last week, I had already searched this cellar and noticed the pencil.  If only I would have taken the pencil (or at least moved it) then we wouldn’t have ended up in a dim cellar, which we filled with fog thinking that we would be able to see his silhouette move in the mist.  It didn’t work…

DM Tip of the Week

Improvisation is a good thing. In a D&D campaign, almost nothing will go as expected, but just because there was a hiccup in your master plan doesn’t mean the end of the world.  In fact this is often a good opportunity to expound on the plot of the story and make the campaign better. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

For instance, in our current campaign, we had made it to this town which had been charred to a crisp before we arrived, and I wanted to search it for loot.  Even though our DM had not planned on there being anything I rolled a 25 on my search check (so there just had to be something to find, right?).  So I found a cellar that had 5 bottles of vintage wine that were worth a small fortune. 

Lo and behold, though, these bottles of wine were actually Shadowbreaker Wine that when drunk cause the drinker to become possessed with an evil spirit sealed in the wine.  It just so happens that this is a major plot device for later in the campaign. 

None of this was planned.  All of these thoughts and ideas were entirely made up on the spot and left me wanting to drink the wine while my party is threatening to kill me if I so much as touch the cork.  It was great.

So Many Classes...

            Hello everyone!  Well, our campaign has officially started and it is looking quite interesting thus far.  The basic plot goes something to the extent of: the world is split into three zones that are blocked off from each other by giant magic walls, which, if crossed, takes you into the netherworld forever.  However, there is a series of items on the other side of these walls that, if acquired by the wrong people, could bring about the end of the world.  The zone where we are starting is one where magic is not looked upon kindly, while the other two are very magically affluent.  Our party consists of a Jumper (me), Cleric, Ranger, and Sorcerer.  To give you a hint as to how imbalanced we are as a group, we were nearly killed by four Dire Weasels… It wasn’t pretty.

            Speaking of classes, I figured that this would be a good time to give a bit of a “layman’s” description of the basic classes.  Each class is good at specific things and there are particular ways to play each one that can optimize their usefulness.  I’ll give the first six classes now and the last five in my next post to conserve space for my DM and Player Tips.  None of the art is mine and is property of the DeviantArt Artists mentioned in their respective captions.

[This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

1) Barbarian:  This class is best summed up as "angry strongman."  The Barbarian has almost no skills and is even illiterate at 1^st level.  However, this class has more HP any other class, as well as a tremendous bonus to striking with melee weapons. This is boosted by the Barbarian's Rage ability that raises its Strength and HP significantly.  One would play as a Barbarian to act as either a tank to absorb damage or as a power house to dole out the damage.

2) Bard: This is an interesting class because it has the abilities to do pretty much anything.  Problem is, it is also mediocre at everything.  Bards are primarily a support class that raises the stats of his allies by singing a variety of different songs.  If you are going to be a Bard, you are going have to pick a focus of where you want to go with the character because you can never be good at everything.

[This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

A Cleric Courtesy of Dkuang

3) Cleric: This class is basically the buffer of the group.  Clerics are heavily armored and able to wield a variety of weapons, but lack skills and agility.  While a potent class if used correctly, Clerics are difficult to play due to the complexity of their spells.  Clerics can be used as either a support class for healing, or a control class with a heavy melee presence bolstered with spells.

4) Druid:  Think nature freak.  Druids are into everything nature and this is reflected in their special abilities and mannerisms.  Druids cannot wear or wield metal, thus eliminating most armor and many weapons, but they make up for this in their multitude of spells and shapeshifting ability. They also have an animal companion to aid them in and out of combat. If you are going to play a Druid, your biggest consideration is whether you want to focus on the physical or magical aspects.

[This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

5) Fighter: This is possibly the most basic class in the book in that they can do more or less anything combat.  They deal moderate damage and can use most armor/weapons.  In addition, they receive bonus feats frequently making them very diverse combatants.  There is nothing really bad about the fighter except that they are basic.  They can do anything physical combat related, but it starts and ends there.  Fighters can be used as either a tank or damage dealer.

A Monk Courtesy of RegoCreations

6) Monk: The monk is essentially a flexible hand-to-hand fighter that specializes in the idea of never being caught off guard.  While Monks are unable to fight with ordinary weapons or wear armor, they are able to fight with their fists and deal many blows in one round. They are especially adept at grappling, and can even snatch arrows out of the air. A monk's biggest weakness is that they really have no ranged attacks.  Monks are primarily a damage dealer and front-liner class. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

To be continued…

Raz

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Quote of the Week

“Is my drink getting warm?  If it is, I would like to cast ray of frost on it.”

            ~The Sorcerer

Player Tip of the Week

Don’t be afraid to take risks.  D&D is meant to be enjoyed, so have some fun and jump off that 40 foot ledge in the hopes of being able to tumble out of taking damage.  D&D is a game and the point of a game is to have fun so go ahead and do something that is out of the ordinary.

            For instance, in the campaign that I am playing in, we went on a quest to kill a man whom a traveling merchant didn’t like, and bring back the man’s ear in exchange for a nice reward (an Alchemic set... Weee!).  After searching the man’s house and finding a hidden cellar (that was 40 feet deep) under a rug we decided that I should wait at the top of the ladder for the man to go to sleep so that then I could kill him in his sleep. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check] 

That didn’t sound like a whole lot of fun to me so I decided to wait for his return to the house and then make sounds like a child crying in his cellar.  As soon as he opened the door I shrieked at him and then teleported behind him with a dagger at his throat and threatened to kill him if he wouldn’t part with his ear. 

DM Tip of the Week

Feel free to create your own rules.  As a DM you have the power to do pretty much whatever you want.  Even though there is a structure to D&D that should be adhered to for the most part, don’t hesitate to create your own game rules for specific circumstances.

            For instance, I was DMing a campaign where different dimensions were all colliding into the player’s dimension and one of these dimensions just happened to be the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 dimension.  What I did was recreate the structure of MW2 to roughly match D&D rules (I used crossbows instead of guns among other things).  There was a map, kill streak rewards, weapon class selections, re-spawn points, and of course knifing.  [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

            While this game type was an experiment on my part (it only moderately worked), as a DM you have this power and should use it to its full extent even if in the end all you accomplish is proving that MW2 is all about knife kills.

Sites Other Than Mine You Should Peruse

Hello Everyone!  Good news! My friends and I will be starting a new campaign this week so expect some interesting stories in future posts because our party is so imbalanced that, if anything, it will be… challenging.  But regardless, I wanted to take this post to introduce to you three web sites that I have found particularly useful when it comes to running a campaign.  Theoretically, you could run a completely book-free game of D&D with these sites.  However, the books are still worth it and are more helpful in the long run.

The first site is the D20srd and is possibly the most useful site you will ever find for Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5.  This is because the site is a digital compilation of all three books necessary to play D&D 3.5 (The Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual).  Races, Classes, Feats, Spells, Equipment and everything else can be found on this site in text and table format that is about the same as the books.  There is even a search function for all those obscure bits of info that you are having trouble finding.  Overall this is an excellent site for all your general D&D purposes. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

 

The second site is Pen, Paper, & Pixel, which works in conjunction with the d20srd.  This site provides you with three specific tools that, while not necessary, will certainly save you a lot of time flipping through pages.  The first tool is a simple Dice Rolling tool that has your 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20, and 100 sided dice set.  Preferably, you want your own dice, but when you are down a pair or don’t know if you want to purchase your own dice, it’s a good “starter set”.  The second tool is the Monster Filter, which helps you narrow down what monsters are appropriate for your particular environment and character levels.  The final tool is a Spell Filter, which if you aren’t sure what kind of spell you need for a particular situation is very helpful.

             The final site is D&D Wiki, which is a fun site for alternative campaign equipment, classes, monsters and other interesting things that you won’t find in any book.  For instance, in the campaign that we will be starting this weekend, I wanted to play as a different class than the basic ones so I went onto this site and found the Jumper class.  If you’ve ever seen the movie Jumper, that’s exactly what the class is only with the limitation of only being able to teleport at max 100ft each round.  Now while the Jumper’s page is a very complete and well thought out entry to the site, not all of its info is 100% sound.  Many classes, like the Lucky Bastard class, do not have complete character information or are not formulated well and should not be played with.  Regardless, this is still a fun site that is worth digging into.

[This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

Raz

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Player Tip of the Week

Pay Attention!  While this should go without saying, it is still a problem that comes up consistently.  If your group is strategizing how to deal with a situation and you aren’t paying attention, it is very frustrating to have to recite the plan all over again.  This applies also to the role playing elements of the game as well.

            For instance, in this party of 4 there is a Paladin, Rogue/Assassin, Druid, and Ranger who have to infiltrate a small keep.  The Paladin and Rogue were both disguised as guards who were taking the Druid and Ranger “prisoner”.  However, they had no rope to bind their hands with so when the real guards asked why they were not bound, the Rogue bluffed and said that a magic spell was holding their hands together.  Testing this the hefty guard was easily able to pull the rangers wrists apart, but thinking quickly the Paladin said that anyone could pull the arms apart except for the person bound “Try and pull your wrists apart” the Paladin said to the Ranger.

            In a panic she promptly responded by pulling her wrists apart, completely blowing their cover.  Then face-palms ensued. [This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

DM Tip of the Week

            Don’t go overboard with magic items.  One thing that can be a relatively big problem, at least as far as difficulty is concerned, is giving your players too many magic items.  Magic items, while perhaps taken individually are not too game changing, once a player starts gathering more and more of them, it becomes more difficult to give your players a decent challenge that won’t kill them at the same time.  The problem is that if your players have magic items, then your enemies also need magic items to compete with your party, but then once the enemy is defeated, all of a sudden your players have MORE magic items.  I had this problem in my last campaign.  Here is what each player ended up with:

Rogue: A Pokeball with Charizard in it, Chameleon Power ring, +5 Anarchic Short Sword, +3 Flaming Dagger, Headband of Intellect, Amulet of Health +2,  Medallion Thoughts, and -2 Short Sword of Shock, Flame, and Frost (don’t ask…).

Paladin: A +2 Thundering Long Sword of Mighty Cleaving, The Deck of Many Things, Amulet of Protection +2, The Holy Sword Excalibur, Horseshoes of a Zephyr, Cape of the Mountebank, and a Cross of Blessing.

Ranger: Dagger of Returning and +3 Seeking Bow of Frost (this one weapon with all her specific feats made her do 40 damage on average per turn.  I decided this was more than enough.)

[This post is property of Do A Spot Check]

            While some of these items I made up as plot devices and others I rolled up randomly, either way, they ended up way overpowered, so much so, that they beat the final boss in only 4 rounds (dealing between 75 and 100 damage each round).  To avoid situations like this, I recommend being VERY restrictive of what you randomly roll for magic items.  As the DM, just because you rolled up a +5 Anarchic Short Sword or a +3 Seeking Bow of Frost does not mean you have to give them to the players.  Just reroll or dumb them down yourself.  However, if you do decide to make your magic items weaker, DO NOT tell the players; peer pressure may get the best of you otherwise.