Post/Author/DateTime	Post
otakutaylor 05-21-07, 04:38 PM	Just a silly idea I had. Most adventureing partys end up being 4 or 5 individuals that have little or nothing in common but work well together. The fighter, cleric, rouge, and wizard as the stereotype example. But sometimes it's more fun to play a game with a certain... something that lets each member relate to the others. A common Theme, if you would. Post your coolest/silliest ideas for a themed party. The Transformers Dwarven Barbarian/Frenzied berserker: A master of skilled combat with his axe even when he's calm, but get him angry and he'll become an all new unstoppable force, complete with a temper to match. Half-Orc Druid/Master of many forms: Caring for nature has rewards of it's own, from spells, to an animal companion, but this particular druid finds himself at peace when he's wildshaped as any number of mighty creatures nature can generate. Elven Wizard/Master transmogrifist: Shameful of the face she was born with, This wizard employs a contingent of spells that lets her become some of the strongest, most terrifying creatures arcane magic can come up with. She wonders sometimes if she can't permanently become something else. Cohort Halfling Champion: Small and weak, even for a halfling, She's never been able to do things without the help of others, until the day she found it inside her to become the Emerald Amazon, a 5' (which is amazon by halfling standards) green woman with a strength far greater than her muscle size lets on. Human Marshal: The leader, and only member who doesn't "transform" a scion of a noble family trained to be a battle stratagist, he left his home and his real identity for years to travel as a simple adventurer, but time catches up with up us all and revealing his noble birth has only brought his team more recognition. If you thought a dwarf with an axe, a half orc with a staff, an elf with a spellbook, a halfling with a crossbow, and a human with a sword was tough before, wait till the second round of combat, when it becomes a T-rex, an umber hulk with a breath weapon, a green giant of a half-ling, a dwarf with a serious temper problem, and the human who commands them all. The champion: http://www.giantitp.com/articles/mYkD5jL8N9SAcClN3pZ.html
Zousha_Omenohu 05-22-07, 12:36 AM	The Shining Blades: An adventuring party dedicated to Heironeous. I like the idea of a group of holy warriors fighting for truth, justice, good, etc. Human Paladin/Knight of the Chalice? - How could a group dedicated to the Archpaladin not have a paladin? Especially when he brings his holy avenger to bear. I sort of imagine him fighting with two weapons and using the High-Sword-Low-Axe weapon style described in Complete Warrior. Elf Warmage/Elemental Savant - This guy is the main artillery for the group and has the ability to use lightning with a devastating effect (Holy Scourge would certainly be effective as well). Halfling Rogue/Slayer of Domiel? - I only really picked SoD because I don't know of any other roguelike PrC's that would fit well flavor-wise within a group of Lawful Good folk. Human Cleric/Warpriest - Battleaxe wielding servant of the Invincible, and able to keep the group going for long periods of time. Warpriest seems to fit with the flavor of the group. Dwarf Monk/Tattooed Monk? - I think a monk would fit well with the overall temperment of the group, and I didn't think I wanted to put the dwarf as the cleric (Heironeous has always seemed more like a god humans dedicate themselves to as priests, while the dwarves obviously have Moradin. This probably isn't the most effective group build, and any suggestions on improving it would be most welcome and appreciated. Also, there is a reason why I didn't use the Shining Blade of Heironeous PrC. I find it to be a rather weak class, basically adding properties to your weapon that you could have someone enchant into your weapon on a permanent basis.
otakutaylor 05-22-07, 01:06 AM	Nice one, The shining blades is a good idea. A party full of members devoted to a single religion, albiet in many different ways is very easy to motivate. I can only imagine how many times a party rouge gets miffed when they get sent on the paladins "holy mission of goodness" with no real reward in sight. If you're looking for something a little more divine, the sacred fist is a good monk/cleric-ish PrC for the dwarf. and Skullclan hunter for the rouge (sneak attack damage vs. undead). Although both of those PrC's need at least 1 cleric level to get.
penchant 05-22-07, 02:07 AM	Shouldn't the Barbarian be a Bear Warrior? A T-Rex / Dire Bear team is gnarly! We sometimes do coordinated classes, such as all stealth characters. Last group was a Ninja, a rogue, a monk and a pixie sorceress. They had about double the Wealth by level after 5 games. A long time ago I was in a game and we built "the might of RA" I was a Specialty Priest of RA (The Hand of RA), my friend was a Mul Gladiator (Fist of RA), another member was a Wizard/Fighter/Bard (The Fury of RA). We killed the world. And rebuilt it as a happy land.
guru7892 05-22-07, 02:24 AM	Tribal horde - this party is basicaly a straight wild group that prefers to operate at night and ambush(when most of its guys have low-light or dark vision) orc barbarian/fighter- not really much to say here, but you may want to take a couple steps back when he gets angry with his axe. human barbarian(x)/sorcerer(y)- with still spell and exotic weapon prof. bastad sword combat still isn't in his favor, but thats why he's got spells... half-orc ranger- with some stealth, this guy not only makes a good scout, but a backup healer and another sword. half-elf druid- every group needs a healer, and being able to change shape can be very, very helpful. also a dire bear cannot hurt the parties chances.
otakutaylor 05-22-07, 02:39 AM	Shouldn't the Barbarian be a Bear Warrior? A T-Rex / Dire Bear team is gnarly! I thought about bear warrior, but I figured natures fury was covered by the Druid. Though the bear warrior makes sense for the party, I figured some good old dwarven drunken rage/frenzy was enough of a transformation. Gaining like +12 strength just from being really ticked off is nothing to laugh at.
penchant 05-22-07, 04:14 AM	I thought about bear warrior, but I figured natures fury was covered by the Druid. Though the bear warrior makes sense for the party, I figured some good old dwarven drunken rage/frenzy was enough of a transformation. Gaining like +12 strength just from being really ticked off is nothing to laugh at. Neither is +20 to STR for being a Dire bear. And you don't become the "kill your own party" person that FB is. I had a rogue once that took out an NPC party simply by sniping the FB and then running away. Since he frenzies if he fails a save and kills whatever targets are there (just his friends) he hacks up on them. If he comes out of it, I run over and snipe him again. When the rest were dead (one mage, one cleric and one bard) I took him out since he was out of frenzies and couldn't climb a tree.
Zousha_Omenohu 05-22-07, 07:20 PM	What book is this Skullclan Hunter described in? I find it intriguing. I apologize for being a picayune, but I don't think facial makeup is going to be useful to Heironeous's faithful.:D
Razilin 05-22-07, 08:22 PM	The Justice League After several campaigns (and several different players and player teams), a homebrew campaign world of mine ended up with over 30 active PCs and recurring NPCs running the gamut from fighter to warblade to wizard to duskblade and everything in between. Some of them even had flight, super strength, and heat "vision" (via fly, bull's strength, and scorching ray). I really, really, really want to get everyone to visit for one massive oneshot adventure involving the entire League. That would be flippin' badass.
kentonblack 05-22-07, 08:30 PM	The Justice League I really, really, really want to get everyone to visit for one massive oneshot adventure involving the entire League. That would be flippin' badass. Just make sure youre prepared for it, sometimes if you have more than three NPC's it gets wacky, especially at higher levels An old campaign idea was the warriors of the axe. It never really panned out because the Dm was an absolute tool, but the General scheme was for eveyone to have been enlisted in 'the company of the axe'; a renegade revolutionary group dedicated to overthrowing the evil empire. pretty cheesey and see through, but hey, we had been p[laying DnD for all of three months between four people. That much cohsion probably meant we were thinking about each other for once.
Zousha_Omenohu 05-22-07, 10:06 PM	Here's another one. This one's been rolling around in my head for a while, and I thought it would make for an interesting group. The Outliers: A group of counterstereotypes... Male Half-Orc Wizard: Yes, it's sub-optimal, but that's to be expected. I've always hated the "half-orcs are styoopid" stereotype, and figured that this underrepresented race could use a clever arcanist Male Halfling Paladin: A dedicated servant of Yondalla. Might even be able to bring his mount into a dungeon if it's a dog or something. Female Dwarf Rogue: You don't see enough female dwarves in my opinion, and rogue is definately not something you see in most dwarves. Female Elf Cleric: Forget the slim, graceful elf flitting about the battlefield twanging her bow. This stocky chick stomps into battle wearing field-plate and swinging a mace! This one was inspired by a picture I saw on Elfwood once. Can't remember the artist's name though. Drow Ranger: This guy tears his opponents apart with his twin scimitars and his magic panther statue! Oh, wait, that's been done.:P
Particle_Man 05-22-07, 11:24 PM	Slightly off thread, but I think the Affiliation Rules (in PHB II and CC, for instance) could provide good templates for adventuring Teams (and to bind them more closely, you could use those rules about Team-taught skill benefits in PHB II and DMG II).
otakutaylor 05-23-07, 03:51 PM	What book is this Skullclan Hunter described in? I find it intriguing. I apologize for being a picayune, but I don't think facial makeup is going to be useful to Heironeous's faithful.:D Miniatures handbook. Oh man, that justice league one would be hilarious to see. The affiliation/teamwork benefits are a very good point, that's partially why I came up with the idea. there's a lot of those teamwork benefits that are very useful, but it's rare everyone in the party has the skills for them. Oh and I suppose the bear warrior does work better, I just didn't want him falling into the druids realm, but since the druid is more of the "dinosaur" type it'd work nicely.
Haruspex 05-23-07, 08:03 PM	Team Evil: The party who Lord Bloody-Fist the evil tyrant calls upon to deal with those pesky paladins. Payment up front, no questions asked. Goblin Rogue/Assassin - Sniping from the shadows, this diminutive killer is an asset for any evil team. Kobold Ranger - With pick and hammer, this reptilian stalker teams up well with his goblin comrade. Human Knight/Blackguard - The armored face of the party, but don't be fooled by his good manners. The life of anyone who he considers a lesser is worth less than nothing to him. Half-Orc Cleric of Nerull - The healer of the party, but only if there isn't anyone to kill. Xeph Kineticist - For blasting things. But also the brainiest one of the group. P.S. The knight has armor spikes. How could I have forgotten?
Einvaldurinn_mikli 05-23-07, 08:08 PM	The Wizard Cabal. All members are LE Wizards. Will actually be playing in this one soon....