D&D 3.5 Play-by-post: discussion (and possibly recruitment)

[henrebotha]

This thread is for the forming of Dungeons & Dragons games, whether they be forum- or chatroom-based. I will keep this first post as up-to-date as possible, so that people can quickly see whether it is possible to start up a new game.


Current Games
3.5e DMd by henrebotha

Spoiler for Players - final roster:

Seon (two-sword half-elf fighter)
Stuck in Pi (human fighter, heavily armed mounted knight)
kill fire (halfling rogue)
Tasslehoff (warlock)
Captain2 (elf cleric)

4e DMd by flyingchicken

Spoiler for Players - to be finalised:

oyzar
Methos
Tasslehoff
Abaddon

A Brief Introduction to D&D
For those who are less than familiar with D&D, here is a post from our old thread on the xkcd fora.

Originally Posted by Sir_Elderberry

Spoiler:

D&D is easy. There's only one rule. To do something, roll a d20 (Die notation is in the form dN, where N is the number of sides on the die. d4, d8, d12, d20, etc. You can also say something like 3d6 to mean "roll three six sided dice" and 3d6 + X if you also need to add X to that result.), add your modifiers, and compare to your goal.

Ok, so it gets a little more complex than that, but that's the base of most of it, and that's why that's called the "core mechanic". Now, let's talk about characters. All characters have six stats that define not just how they do in combat, and using their abilities, but how they roleplay out of combat.
Strength (STR) - A measure of how strong your character is. This affects damage done by melee weapons, how well he can grapple (I will not cover grapple rules in this post. Grapple rules are tiny pieces of hell sent to torment mortals.), and affect Strength-based skill checks, like Climb and Swim.
Dexterity (DEX) - A measure of how agile your character is. This affects damage done by ranged weapons, his AC (how hard he is to hit), Reflex save (more on that in a moment), and Dexterity-based skill checks, of which there are a lot, ranging from Hide to Balance to Sleight of Hand
Constitution (CON) - A measure of how tough your character is. This affects your Fortitude save, your hit points, and Concentration checks.
Intelligence (INT) - A measure of how intelligent your character is. This affects your skill points, bonus languages, and spellcasting for several classes, as well as skill checks like Knowledge and Search
Wisdom (WIS) - A measure of how perceptive, intuitive, etc, your character is. The difference between this and INT can be kind of fuzzy at times, but WIS affects your Will save, spellcasting for Clerics and others, and skill checks like Sense Motive.
Charisma (CHA) - You can interpret this as "attractiveness" or "force of personality", but either way it's basically the social skills stat. Some classes, like Sorcerers, use this to cast. (Paladins use CHA a lot too, but I don't remember whether it's used for their casting or just a lot of their abilities.) It affects skill checks like Diplomacy and Intimidate.

Typical human scores for these stats is a 10, but adventurers will have more than this is most of their stats. How you get these stats is a different matter entirely, and something I'll go over later.

All characters pick a race and a class. The races are: Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Human. All of these races except Humans and Half-Elves get +2 to one stat and -2 to another. For example, Dwarves get +2 Con and -2 Cha, because they're gruff but hardy. Humans and Half-Elves do not get stat-bonuses, but don't get minuses either. All races also get some extra abilities and stuff, but I won't go into detail.

The core eleven classes are:
Barbarian: Barbarian is what you'd think. You're a big tough guy who smashes stuff. They even get a special ability called "rage" that temporarily makes them stronger. Basically, if you want to be the Hulk, play a Barbarian. (Note that I'm going to be comparing the classes to common archetypes like this, but that's not at all the only way to play them. You can make a Barbarian with a 16 INT who loves poetry, if you'd like.)

Bard: The power of rock! Well, music, at least. Bards are a bit like Final Fantasy's red mage, a little bit of everything. Their main feature is their Bardic songs that they can use to buff the party. If you want to a be a charismatic jack-of-all-trades, play a bard.

Cleric: I'm sure you've played a few video game RPGs, right? Remember your white mage, or your priest, the squishy guy with the little staff and healing magic? That's not a cleric. A cleric is the guy in plate armor with a giant mace and healing magic. Clerics cast a variety of divine spells, not just cures, and fight for their god. If you want to mix melee with medic, play a Cleric. WoW players might call it a Paladin, if D&D didn't have a paladin already.

Druid: Druids cast divine spells, like a cleric, but instead of fighting for a god, they represent nature itself. Whereas a cleric can lose any prepared spell to case a cure spell of that level, a druid can lose any prepared spell to cast Summon Nature's Ally, a spell that, um, summons...allies...from nature. Essentially, free animals to fight for you. If it's a sixth level spell, one of the available animals is a Megaraptor. Yeah. (Fun fact, while playing a cleric I once casted Summon Monster, a similar spell, and summoned five celestial porpoises to attack a hydra. Dolphins are serious business.) If you want to do battlefield control, play a druid. Druids also get an animal companion, which levels up with you.

Fighter: Fighter's a very broad category. You can be the heavily-armored tank with an sword and shield, the agile guy with a spiked chain, or any other combination. Fighters get a lot of feats (special abilities and bonuses) and are very customizable. If you want to make a character who specializes in melee, make a fighter.

Monk: You might think intentionally going out to fight with no armor and no weapons is a bad idea. That's because you're not a monk. A monk is a martial artist who specializes in unarmed strikes. He gets to add his WIS to his AC to compensate for lack of armor. Monks also become immune to poison, disease, and aging. If you want to hit people so hard, your fists themselves count as magic weapons, be a monk.

Paladin: Think cleric, but with a lot less spellcasting and a lot more melee. Paladins have some pretty serious RP restrictions, in that they must be Lawful Good (alignment is discussed below). They have a code about what they can and cannot do, and straying from this code can result in a loss of paladin powers. You hate evil. As an at-will ability, you can detect evil, so if you suspect someone of being evil, you can know. Eventually, you can smite evil as well, a special attack with bonus damage against evil foes. Paladins also get a special mount with various abilities. If you want to be a crusader for Truth, Justice, and Pelor, be a Paladin.

Rangers: These guys live in the woods and such. They're probably the best for bows, and get some skills that can come in handy, like tracking. At certain levels, they get a bonus feat according to what combat style they've chosen. You can get bonus bow feats or you can get Two-Weapon Fighting feats. They get an animal companion, but it isn't as good as a druid's. They also get some very limited spellcasting. If you want a lot of skills and to master one of the combat styles, play a ranger.

Rogue: Not rouge. The rogue is the archetypal free spirit. Although the common interpretation is "rogue = thief", that's not necessarily true. Rogues are sneaky--so sneaky that they have an attacked called Sneak Attack, which adds d6's to their damage if they meet certain conditions not worth going into here. Rogues are also the single best skill-based characters. If you want to play the agile skillmonkey, play a rogue.

Sorcerer: So charismatic, the universe itself changes for them. A sorcerer's spells are different than a wizard's--while a wizard has to prepare certain spells each day, and carry around a spellbook, a sorcerer simply knows certain spells, and can use spells that (s)he has learned at will. Sorcerers are a good class to play if you want to be a caster who can respond to situations as they arise.

Wizards: Wizards are sometimes described as Batman, because they can beat anything if they have sufficient prep time. What this means is that wizards know a lot of spells, as opposed to a sorcerer who knows only a few in comparison, but they only prepare so many per day. For example, a wizard might know eight 1st-level spells, but he can only prepare four each morning. This makes playing a wizard involve a little guesswork, but it also makes you extremely versatile.

That's the classes. One more thing I'm going to go over--this post is getting a bit long, after all--is alignment. Alignment is basically a statement of your character's morality. D&D 3.5 uses a two-dimensional system. You are (Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic) (Good, Neutral, Evil).
Lawful -- You abide by personal codes and place a lot of value in honor and tradition. Lawful characters avoid lying or cheating, which isn't to say they can't be evil anyway. Both the honor-bound paladin and the sadistic tyrant are lawful. (Lawful does not mean the same thing as "follows current government authority.)
Chaotic -- You distrust authority and control over you. Codes of conduct don't bind you overly much, and you're not against bending/breaking rules to achieve your ends, be they good or evil.
Good - altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others.
Evil - implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualms if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.

Other Useful Stuff

Spoiler for Links:

http://www.d20srd.org/ - All of the core rules, including classes, equipment, magic, and combat.
http://www.nzcomputers.net/heroforge/default35.asp - Comprehensive Microsoft Excel-format character sheet generators. The third link from the top is the one you want.
http://www.myth-weavers.com/ - A cool site with loads of useful tools, including character sheets.

Spoiler for the original post, for reference:

Hello there, Forum Games! It is very nice to meet you indeed.

I was a player in a play-by-post Dungeons & Dragons game on the xkcd fora, but that game died. However, I enjoyed it immensely while it lasted (partly because no-one in this country plays D&D, so I've never really had much opportunity to play), and since the people on this here board enjoy their games so much (and are just generally nice people), I figger: why not try and start a 3.5 game here?

We would need someone to DM (I could do it, theoretically, but I'd much prefer to play), and around 3-6 players (any more gets crowded, methinks).

Since D&D 3.5, much of the game content has been released under the Open Gaming License, which means it's free to download. So if any of you folks want to rekindle an old spark, http://www.d20srd.org/ is the place to go.

Anyone up for some d20 fun?

Personally, I'm up for about a 70/30 blend of roleplaying vs combat. I'm much more interested in developing a character in a fantasy context than meeting in a tavern to slay the goblins terrorising merchant caravans from the nearby hills. I like settings with high magic, and prefer slightly more modern settings than real, backwards Medieval stuff.

[Neverwonagame3]

I'd join it- I wouldn't like DMing either, but on the right terms I'd give it a try (mostly about making my own starting setting- I can promise not to railroad, but little more then that quality-wise)

[henrebotha]

So you mean you'd DM if you could create your own setting?

[Neverwonagame3]

Indeed, although I don't think from past experience I'd be too good at it.

[henrebotha]

Haha, I hear ya. Well, if no-one steps up to the DMing plate, you're welcome to - and I agree completely with the idea of a DM creating his own setting. You just know the setting better if you wrote every bit of it, yeah? I can't even begin to fathom how people DM Forgotten Realms games.

[flyingchicken]

I could DM, but on the condition that I be given ample time to prepare (about 1 weekend) and that we use IRC (well, maybe not).

Caveat emptor, though! My entire DMing experience amounts to around five nights (face-to-face games), but a lot of brainstorming tells me that the D&D format is best played in real time. Maybe with one of those online-playing-aids, but those seem to complicated and large to set up... Though there are successful forum ones, and the ones I've seen agree to speed-up rules like 2 game turns per turn in combat for example.

[Neverwonagame3]

Willing to let flyingchicken DM then, although I don't know how to use IRC.

[henrebotha]

It's fine if you need a lot of time to prepare; it takes a while for people to get on board, decide on characters, remember how the game works , etc.

I must disagree on the IRC count, though. Two big reasons for play-by-post:
1) It allows those of us who enjoy an immersive RP experience to take a little time with their responses (my mind, despite being pretty strong, works very slowly at the best of times, and I like playing characters a little more quick-witted than that).
2) It allows us to play without having to set aside a time that everyone can make.

So I, for one, am not budging: I want to play on the forum. (Another cool part of this is any CivFanatics user can then read the game just for fun.)

[flyingchicken]

Well then, a slow forum game then! If anyone else decides to join we could, you know, decide on a theme or something.

[henrebotha]

MOARRRR PLAYERRRS GHRARAHG

I'm glad I got such a quick response so far.

[oyzar]

I can play if we don't start before the 3rd of july. I don't think i've ever actually played D&D3.5 before though.. If that'll be a problem...

As for IRC, there are IRC channels for that. If that is what you want, go play on irc. I think this will be quite slow, but because you can use time to formulate your responses, as well as potentially quee actions I think things should be fine.

It might require a rather active DM though(since the limiting factor is how fast the DM can respond, unless you decide to handle all the players at the same time all the time, instead of individually). A format that might be better suited for forum games than going around in a party(so everyone have to wait for everyone), might be individual set of actions(so two or more peopel can travel together if they want or go individual, and every time the DM posts, he just make actions for those "groups" that have posted since last time). Alternativly we could go with regular updates every 6, 12 or 24 hours(6 hours might be hard as people have to sleep/work, but 12 is probably doable) and the players posting in between that(maybe even player vs player interaction that doesn't actually affect the rest of the game)?

[henrebotha]

If you've played 3rd Edition, you can play 3.5. It's really just minor balance issues, and a whole lotta new content. (The Bard and Ranger changed a bit, but you can read up on it at the Hypertext D20 SRD - the link I posted earlier.)

Also, it's a lot simpler to do than you think. You post when you want to post something. When the DM feels he should describe reactions or whatnot, he posts. It's not necessary to have a "posting order", or to always go DM-player-DM-player etc.

[henrebotha]

...And then obviously, character-specific events are handled via PMs.

Also, we should maybe start thinking of characters. I wouldn't be averse to playing a paladin, for once.

I would suggest we start above level 1. I like my characters to come with a bit of history to them.

Because this will be a one-shot adventure and not part of an extended campaign, the rules for buying items change - specifically, single-use items cost five times the normal amount (since they're obviously more valuable).

[hell_hound]

I will play but it is coming up to the holidays in which I will be away for a week on 3 separate occasions. I also have little D&Ding ewxperience but have a very basic grasp of the game

[henrebotha]

The cool thing about D&D (and especially when you're playing a forum game) is that you don't really need to know anything about D&D - just roleplaying. So, hell_hound, if you can RP, we'll help you out with the details.

[henrebotha]

For those who are less than familiar with D&D, here is a post from our old thread on the xkcd fora.

EDIT: See first post for D&D intro.

[oyzar]

Ok, I have never played D&D 3 either(at least i don't think i have, i might have without knowing it). I have played a bit RP before, but not extensivly. As you said earlier, i doubt i need to know all the rules to play. That said your above post tells me nothing i don't already know(cept the part about red mage being a jack of all trades in final fantasy). One thing i wonder about though, do we get subclasses like for example for paladin; undead hunter, cavalier, inquisitor?

[Stuck in Pi]

I'd join this. Couldn't possibly be DM, but I've played D&D in 3.5 before so I know what I'm getting into. Should be fun.

EDIT: I'd like to play as a Sorcerer. Never got to when I used to play.

[henrebotha]

oyzar: There are no subclasses (classes are fairly customisable as is), but there are prestige classes, which are similar. Basically, you have to meet certain prerequisites to take a level in a prestige class (you can take levels in more than one class, by the way, but doing it excessively will mean you gain experience slower than other characters). For instance, to take your first level in the Eldritch Knight PrC, you must be proficient with all martial weapons (meaning everything except the really weird stuff like two-bladed swords and repeating crossbows), and you must be able to cast at least one arcane spell of 3rd level. PrCs are a lot more specific and defined than classes - whereas you can play any number of different types of fighter, the PrCs like the Eldritch Knight represent a very specific character, often with affiliations to a particular organization or religion.

This is another reason I like to start above 1st level - it means we can play PrC characters from the start.

[oyzar]

Ok, i understand how that works. Seems to me that if we start higher than the first level it will be a lot more to figure out for the people playing than it would be if we started at the start though. Might also depend on the kind of setting/world we play in though, as that is definatly affected by level.

Also I see no reason why things have to be limited to one long game? Look at NoTW and how it have evolved, I see no reason why this can't do a similar thing(though starting with the intention that it'll do so might be a bit presumptous.

I would like to play as a sorceror or wizard probably. Magic is just more interesting than smashing face(even if it is probably harder at the lower levels).

Oh and there is no reason why the D&D description shouldn't be in the first post.