Post/Author/DateTime	Post
nytemare3701 05-01-07, 06:42 AM	I need some help building a few characters for new players, in accordance with the RP characters they know and love. Anyone care to help? RED: Notes GREEN: Player wishes, untranslated to game mechanics BLUE: Edits All these characters will be using the Magic Regeneration rules, instead of spell slots. If you have any better Ideas for continuous use of low level spells in low level characters, tell me. Name: Kit Race: Cat-eared teen with a half demon heritage(half-catfolk Half-Fiend?) Class: Element Controller (all) (maybe a reflavored sorcerer, using a Wu-Jen list?) She describes the character as emotional and active, usually getting into high stress situations often. This in turn brings out her "power" and she starts to nuke people. If something ever REALLY hurts her (0 or less HP, usable after level 5?) she goes unconscious and her demon aspect berserks. Name: Saphira Race: Human Class: Water/Ice user Romance/Angst driven storyline on this one, she is more likely to roleplay through a fight than nuke someone. Name: Desthin Race: Human Class: pyromancy specialist From the same romance/angst storyline as Saphira, but from the opposite element. Name: Kren Race: Human (later Half-Fiend template) Class: Pyromancer, like desthin, retraining as a warlock when the half-fiend template is acquired. (Still going to use "fire" but it will be "shadowflame") Name: Laerne Race: Human or Elf Class: Assassin, later turning Half-Fiend, and controlling her power to crazy sadistic levels Name: Kess Race: Human (half catfolk, similar to Kit) Class: Assassin (Assassin with an innocent cover,) Special abilities: can turn to small feline (lynx size)/large feline (cheetah size)
boggler65 05-01-07, 09:11 AM	First where are these character ideas coming from? Why do you have so many that need conversion in this way? As a DM do you allow your players so much say that none of them want to actually play using a class or rules from the dozens of sourcebooks out there? Kit: Race; Tiefling (just describe the character as having catlike features.) Class; Sorcerer, you are ONLY able to cast BATTLE spells IF they have an elemental descriptor... Perhaps. Okay, the character ability thing. Any time Kit is forced to make a saving throw to avoid Death By Massive Damage, and succeeds she begins raging as a barbarian equal to her class level. Any time she makes a save against death by massive damage and fails she is affected as if by a tensers transformation spell, but she permanently loses 1 point of constitution. (Can be restored by greater restoration, wish, miracle) That looks like the only character that actually needs a new set of rules when I look...oh... Kess: Race; Human Class; Assassin Have him employ strangulation rules from the latest issue of Dragon. Anyway I hope I was able to give you some help.
nytemare3701 05-02-07, 01:16 AM	First where are these character ideas coming from? Why do you have so many that need conversion in this way? As a DM do you allow your players so much say that none of them want to actually play using a class or rules from the dozens of sourcebooks out there? None of my players have played D&D before, except for the one running Kit. therefore, I've been writing down the bio for each character, and trying to convert them to D&D rules. I'm adding an edit to Kess, the character has new specifications i was unaware of. Thanks for the help!
boggler65 05-02-07, 08:04 PM	I think you're trying too much here. I applaud you for trying to ease your players into DnD so that they can experience it in a good way, but this kind of thing is not your responsibility. Your characters seem to have all these preconceptions and ideas that really don't fit in with any of the current rules. Trust me, I'm an uber-geek, I've got access to every 3.5 edition sourcebook there is, and most of the stuff they want to do is just flat out not in the rules. For you, as a DM, this means that you're going to have to create various templates, new rule-sets, and various other things that will complicate your life. Frankly that's just not fair to you, and with all that responsibility and DM created rules and what not it's just going to make gameplay less enjoyable. I suggest that you sit down and have a serious talk with these players. Catering to new players in a way that literally requires you to create an entirely new set of rules will only detract from the overall enjoyment of everyone involved. It would be a good idea to limit play to those rules and concepts put down in the 3 core rulebooks. Try to impress on your characters that DnD requires a lot of knowledge of play mechanics, and that it is their responsibility to come up with a character that fits into the official rules, and to familiarize themselves with the PHB (player's handbook.) That's really the reason no one else has replied to your post, they realize that these conversions are pretty much impossible to do without a lot of hard work and creation of new rules, something only a DM with a WHOLE lot of experience and a group of players who have a similar amount of experience should try. Please don't take what I'm saying the wrong way, just sit down with your players and tell them the gist of what i've said. They sound like they don't get it, and you should make sure they enjoy DnD, not just RP, and that you introduce them to what DnD is before jumping into these things. Pick up this month's copy of "Dungeon" magazine at your local bookstore, and run the low level (1-5) adventure from it, with simple characters, to give them a little bit better example of DnD. Chances are once they begin experiencing DnD they will realize on their own why these characters are not possible, and they will either take these concepts and re-work them to fit the rules, or they will lose interest. That's the way it's gotta be man.
Terjon of the Blue Rose 05-03-07, 01:28 AM	Gotta go with boggler. You are gonna kill yerself and yer players with trying to go off the rules as written on their first characters. That said... Kit - Tiefling of Rakshasa heritage (no special effect just gets his cat ears and maybe palms turned out in wrong direction.) Go straight Sorcerer or Wu Jen. The barbarian bit can be role-played with him lashing out with his highest level spells. Later (after the first couple sessions) have him look at rage-mage. The game just doesn't allow for that kind of anime-build to work very well without a great deal of rules adaption. Alternatively go straight barbarian and half-fiend. Consider adapting the HF's spell-like ability list by replacing them with more elemental spells of equal level after being affected by corrupt spell metamagic. Saphira - Favored Soul of an ice goddess. Works very well for the warm-heart could-shoulder routine. Get ranks in Dip and SM. Desthin - Wizard elemental savant. Dip and SM are cross class but worth taking (his lesser skill than Saphira ought to be fun to play as well.) Kren - Warlock into Accolyte of the skin. He'll have to wait for it but brimstone blast will do nicely for him. Laerne - Rogue into assassin try to talk her out of half-fiend. One really is enough for any group and she'd be better off with 1 level of warlock for darkness and a ranged touch at will. Kess - Same heritage as Kit. See about her willingness to play a druid. Gives her shapeshifting without any rules being broken. Might also be a race in oriental adventures that can help. You've got a rogue/assassin try and get her to try out a divination role or rogue/spymaster role. I belive druids even have access to the spell strangulation. Ya know what definetly just rebuild the sp likes of half-fiend for your barbarian. You need that tank. Oh and magic regeneration seriously kills the warlocks potential. Let em use warlock if they don't want to run out of spells. Besides you're gonna have to start at around level 5 with half-fiends and +1 la build abounding so much.
nytemare3701 05-03-07, 02:04 AM	Thanks for the input, I'll hold off on these characters until they are a little more experienced. These characters really can't be changed very much, since they have the base abilities already set down in the book we wrote around them. (almost) everyone has a magic affinity, sometimes more than one. Desthin has fire, so does Kren and Laerne, Saphira is water, Kess has shapechanging, Kit has all elements, but very little control. I might just have them ignore the magic part, and give them spells as they level, as if they were gestalt sorcerers/warlocks. I'd be running the spellchoosing part, and they would have normal characters with "natural" abilities. I would just hand them each a list of spells they can cast, and how many times they can cast them. poof, a barbarian with elemental control poof, a fighter with fireballs poof, a shapechanging assassin.
boggler65 05-03-07, 09:44 AM	I would just hand them each a list of spells they can cast, and how many times they can cast them. poof, a barbarian with elemental control poof, a fighter with fireballs poof, a shapechanging assassin. That's a possibility, but again be careful with that. A fighter able to cast fireball and still wear his armor without suffering spell failure, or a barbarian that can't be flanked, and can cast elemental controlling spells... well it's going to unbalance gameplay. The way you have that right now, with all the magic using and not many heavy hitting/tanks, well at lower levels it's going to take a lot of skill to keep this party alive, and at higher levels it's going to take a lot of effort and skill for you as a dm to even challenge them. If you think that will work then go with it, but don't be surprised when they get a mistaken idea of what DnD is based on this campaign. It's best to show them DnD in as simple a way possible so that they get a feel for playing before trying that stuff. Good Luck though.