Post/Author/DateTime	Post
lord zog 10-29-04, 02:56 AM	I've been playing in an Eberron campaign for about 5 sessions now, starting out as a House Orien Rogue 1 novice member of the Sharn Watch and ending up currently as a Rogue 4/Ranger 2/Dragonmark Heir 3/Were Leopard 1 trouble-shooter who's: taken possession of a small cave complex formerly occupied by feral bugbears who had the misfortune to have something Sharn needed. Granted title to the land around the caves as a reward for completing a Neverwinter quest for spell components for a plague cure, this has now been fortified and turned it into a facility growing alchemically active mushrooms (one variety explode and the other freezes, when impacting sharply against another object.) established a trade agreement for spell components (the component makes the potions taste nicer) with a bunch of renegade Druids the party had originally been hired to kill but I instead decided to talk to, taken over the shipping business run by the Lord who hired the party for the above (the Lord had been violating a sacred grove to get the components and thus incurred the wrath of the druids) when he turned out to be a Kyberite cultist and the party killed him and his cult. taken sole possession of a hidden headquarters (and its impressive treasure room) inside a volcano belonging to a wizard who was forcibly applying the half-construct template to the local tribes people; it currently can only be accessed easily via teleport (hmm, Greater Dragonmark of Passage next level) and is guarded for me by a whole tribe of magmen who owe me a favour. Next step is to get the place warded against scrying and anyone but me getting access to it. This descent into empire has come about because I'm the only player to have (a) been pesent for every session, and (b) maintained my original character -- the other player who meets the first qualifier is currently on his 5th character having voluntarily kept changing all but one because he keeps getting bored with them, while the player who meets the second has been away for half the sessions. Thus both of them have to keep getting make-up XP and treasure that has nothing to do with the actual events that garnered all the above. As a result, the characters who knew anything about these are all dead (and the warforged charger the first player is currently using whose last memory predates the end of the war by some 40 or so years and who doesn't know his kind are free citizens, is really unlikely to last more than another session or two before the player gets bored with it). It's like my character is turning into a frickin' mastermind but without the moral quandries of eliminating people who know her secrets that shouldn't because those people keep dying on their own... In a game where progression is usually intricately plotted out, I'm amazed by the way the character's developed. I'd initially conceived her essentially turning into a fusion of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes (Rogue/DMH/MI). Instead she's turned out to be altogether hard bitten and opportunistic, gathering a web of vaguely connected resources to create her own power base.
MrFilthyIke 10-29-04, 07:59 AM	You gained NINE levels in FIVE sessions?? :mymy:
Mr. VanderMeer 10-29-04, 08:44 AM	Are these sessions that last three days each? I can't really comment to much, since everyboy should play the game the way they themselves like it most, but I can say this style doesn't really suit me. Almost two levels per session and becoming a were-leopard as well? I like to experience the actual progression of my character instead of racing through levels. I hope you have fun though. Please post again in about two weeks when you've reached epic levels. ;) Actually if you meant to type 50 sessions and forgot the zero then forget my comments and I just want to say: nice story. way to go :D
Kiirnodel 10-29-04, 10:12 AM	The group in my sig is mostly 8th/9th level....thats...12 or 13 sessions. I think thats closer to the average... other than that....this sounds wierd, I really dislike parties that keep changing the characters....people dying....people coming in...only one original character left... Players getting bored with characters???? :( I never get to play a character....I'd never get bored with my chance to play one....
Peaceforged 10-29-04, 12:41 PM	13 level appropriate enounters a level. 6-7 encounters on a 4 hour session. 2 sessions per level. Slows down to 3-4 sessions per level (or the sessions get longer)at 10th because higher levels take more time in combat/non-combat encounters. I will run 60 sessions by this time next year. Party level 3. It will take them, 14 more sessions to reach level 10, if they limit deaths and encounters run smooth. It will take them another 40 sessions to reach level 20. (240 hours of gametime total played) It will take them 40 more sessions to reach level 30. So by this time 2005 my players will be level 20, and then sometime in 2006 they will reach level 30.
Kiirnodel 10-29-04, 12:49 PM	13 level appropriate enounters a level. 6-7 encounters on a 4 hour session. 2 sessions per level. Slows down to 3-4 sessions per level (or the sessions get longer)at 10th because higher levels take more time in combat/non-combat encounters. I will run 60 sessions by this time next year. Party level 3. It will take them, 14 more sessions to reach level 10, if they limit deaths and encounters run smooth. It will take them another 40 sessions to reach level 20. (240 hours of gametime total played) It will take them 40 more sessions to reach level 30. So by this time 2005 my players will be level 20, and then sometime in 2006 they will reach level 30. I love numbers, and by ...yeah! That was beautiful, lets see if I as a DM fit tihs theory... Started at July this year I have run 15 sessions. which means they should be level 7.5....two are at nine and the rest are at eight. I have run WoTVB in one session... which lasted the whole day, so we'll count that as maybe two so they should be level 8 or 8.5 since we ran 12 hours that day. I agree.
Eltarren 10-29-04, 01:06 PM	6-7 encounters on a 4 hour session. That's a lot of encounters in my experience, although my experience is admittedly limited. In the campaign I'm participating in, we have maybe one or two encounters every 4 hours. I guess our DM makes up for it in the roleplay bonus XP he gives us.
lord zog 10-29-04, 02:09 PM	You gained NINE levels in FIVE sessions?? :mymy: Are these sessions that last three days each? Yup. We average a couple of levels per session; currently sitting on 52,000 XP. Our sessions are between 6 & 7 hours long to make up for being every 2 weeks, combat is often exceptionally hard to avoid, and our DM is using a lot of stuff from Dungeon and the like as filler between his own plots (the mad wizard & his "cyborg" creation facility in the volcano being an example of such). With professional adventures being scaled to a party of 4 characters (I believe) because the party is almost always under-strength (sometimes by as much as 50%) we're effectively getting the stuffing knocked out of us on a semi-regular basis by encounters of a higher CR, thus getting higher XP. It's also my understanding that it's designed on 4 encounters per level (hence why an appropriate CR challenge is meant to use up a quarter of a group's resources). Where this 13 number comes from I have no idea. Anyhow, back on topic. Almost two levels per session and becoming a were-leopard as well? I like to experience the actual progression of my character instead of racing through levels. We're experiencing the progression just fine. 8P Not only a were leopard, but a natural wereleopard into the bargin (backstory: her father was one, but had conceived Morrigan prior to discovering this small but particularly terrible in Breland fact, so when she was born had her tattooed with a mystic ward to prevent her inheritence kicking in, but during one of those harsh combats, the tatoo got ruined...) I personally loathe low-level characters - 4th level is barely acceptable as a starting point, 6th is far more reasonable.Survivability is a lot higher, and you've got an interesting structure to start with rather than a mere foundation. This sounds wierd, I really dislike parties that keep changing the characters... people dying... people coming in... only one original character left... Well, there's technically 2 original characters left, but the 2nd one's been absent for about half the game (his character is a half-elven buccaneer working as a Breland privateer/naval officer, so his absences are written off as being official business). Players getting bored with characters???? :( I never get to play a character... I'd never get bored with my chance to play one... Yeah, it's a little odd. This particular player seems particularly heavily geared to the "bizarre concept" end of the spectrum, and it's a huge struggle to get him to play something appropriate to the setting. His character list: lawful evil silver dragon wyrmling with D&D version of an image inducer + a warforged hireling (apparantly working via proxy for the quori). Lasted 1 session before both were horribly murdered by his second character, a 2 headed LE/NE shadow dragon working directly for the quori, sent to spy on Morrigan's progress because it's apparantly quite important. The heads would occasionally attack each other when they weren't stalking Morrigan and earning her a lot of very strange looks everytime she tried to convince someone of its existence (a feat its +34 bonus to hide andmove silently made virtually impossible). Lasted 2 sessions before it went to Xen'drik on some mission or another, to be replaced by A demon worshipper from the BoVD sent by his demonic master to spy on Morrigan's progress because it's apparantly quite important. Lasted 3/4 of a session before getting killed by the werewolf henchman of the campaign's Big Bad (the daughter of the Lord mentioned in the first post - they're tracking down the Temple of Dreams, after having cursed Morrigan with the spell from BoVD that turns her words and actions to gibberish anytime she tries to mention the daughter). This was replaced by A fae druid of some sort with the power to kill people with her good looks. She lasted the remainder of the session (and was for the sake of simplicity was retconed as never having joined the... hahaha... party) before disappearing mid encounter to be replaced by the warforged charger mentioned in the first post who may or may not be there when I turn up to the next session tomorrow. On the other hand, all of this has been marvelous fodder for Morrigan's character development. She's being stalked, used, abused and abandoned every step of the way, with the occasional presence of the half-elf pretty boy one of the few rays of light in her life. Has anyone else been surprised at the organic direction their character's mechanical and personal progression has taken, or do they rigidly adhere to their initial vision?
crazysamaritan 10-29-04, 03:39 PM	Has anyone else been surprised at the organic direction their character's mechanical and personal progression has taken, or do they rigidly adhere to their initial vision? I let myself be surprised, it's more fun that way. For example; I'm a catholic, so when I was playing a cleric, I crossed myself out of habit when I made a blessing. it took about five minutes, and we figured out a comparible use for the cleric of farlaghn would be to draw the horizen. So now every session, I'm blessing people by making an arc in front of myself. In another game, I've got a shifter who, for some reason, has started to get a crush on another shifter. I don't know how it happened, but he's just started to react to her every move, more than he does to anyone else in the party. Since you seem to be buiding a power-base, and you are mentioned in Prophesy, I suggest you start looking around for something your character might get interested in. Such as entombing the rest of the fiends in kyber, finding a way to Dal Quor and destroying the Quori, or traveling to the Ring and start a mining expedition.
Mr. VanderMeer 10-29-04, 05:34 PM	Yeah, it's a little odd. This particular player seems particularly heavily geared to the "bizarre concept" end of the spectrum, and it's a huge struggle to get him to play something appropriate to the setting. His character list: lawful evil silver dragon wyrmling with D&D version of an image inducer + a warforged hireling (apparantly working via proxy for the quori). Lasted 1 session before both were horribly murdered by his second character, a 2 headed LE/NE shadow dragon working directly for the quori, sent to spy on Morrigan's progress because it's apparantly quite important. The heads would occasionally attack each other when they weren't stalking Morrigan and earning her a lot of very strange looks everytime she tried to convince someone of its existence (a feat its +34 bonus to hide andmove silently made virtually impossible). Lasted 2 sessions before it went to Xen'drik on some mission or another, to be replaced by A demon worshipper from the BoVD sent by his demonic master to spy on Morrigan's progress because it's apparantly quite important. Lasted 3/4 of a session before getting killed by the werewolf henchman of the campaign's Big Bad (the daughter of the Lord mentioned in the first post - they're tracking down the Temple of Dreams, after having cursed Morrigan with the spell from BoVD that turns her words and actions to gibberish anytime she tries to mention the daughter). This was replaced by A fae druid of some sort with the power to kill people with her good looks. She lasted the remainder of the session (and was for the sake of simplicity was retconed as never having joined the... hahaha... party) before disappearing mid encounter to be replaced by the warforged charger mentioned in the first post who may or may not be there when I turn up to the next session tomorrow. Okay. I have to apologize for commenting on your story. I play a completely different game than you do, but I guess it's both D&D. I couldn't enjoy a game where a character goes through the weird character switching your fellow player goes through and you probably wouldn't enjoy the kind of game I run (where everybody tries to stick to their character, who are mostly humanoids, and progression actually takes some time.). It does however seem a little bit like I take this game seriously and this person you play with doesn't. I do have to commend you though with the fact that you actually stuck with your character and gave her a good background and development in this campaign. Kudos to you!
lord zog 10-30-04, 03:32 AM	Since you seem to be buiding a power-base, and you are mentioned in Prophesy, I suggest you start looking around for something your character might get interested in. Such as entombing the rest of the fiends in kyber, finding a way to Dal Quor and destroying the Quori, or traveling to the Ring and start a mining expedition. Well, the Big Destiny I'm scheduled for involves the Temple of Dreams (I think that's what it's called) which apparantly is of some great significance to the Eberron backstory. It's also way up north, so I have a feeling there's going to be an almighty werewolf vs wereleopard battle on the ice flow come the end of the campaign. And Morrigan's got herself a bonafide nemesis, which is something I've never managed to do in a campaign before and am thus quite proud of. I couldn't give a toss about the werewolf henchman, but damn I'm looking forward to taking her down. Of course, if the spell she's cursed me with persists beyond her death, I'm never going to be able to brag about it IC, which kinda sucks.
Save-vs-DM 10-30-04, 04:39 AM	It took my group three sessions to make second level. I can tell you one thing about the long wait - you really, really appreciate your character. Plus it really gave me a good idea of who my character is and what feats I should take for him. But to each his own. Cheers, SvD
lord zog 10-30-04, 02:05 PM	Not Temple of Dreams. Temple of Desire. You're going to love this: up 2 levels 3 hours. Knock off a band of 5 hardened mercenaries, get enough XP to hit level 11. Then we come across the Deck of Many Things. Draw 5 cards: +2 ability increase, -3 hit to intelligence, 50,000 XP, some sort of magic lyre and 50 gems. So I'm currently sitting 1 XP away from 13th level, but with a net increase of +0 to abilities due to level, probably with some sort of artifact or something. Amusement. The Warforged lasted the session, and we picked up a new player - a shaman from the nothern wastes who'd been discovered in a block of ice and whom the party is eventually returning home once we track down a couple of leads to said Temple and the means of stopping the Big Bad from plunging the world into an eternal ice age (sadly her name is Celestrix rather than Jarvis).
Flack Jack 10-30-04, 06:29 PM	Wow. In four levels (kinda eight) I have only managed to tick off a half golem gang, an ettercap, and ghosts. I'd say it's a different catagory of fun when life just throws you rotten eggs instead of lemons for that sweat sweat lemonaid. I also apreciate your character values. I dropped mine down from level four to level one again when the group switched characters. He is finaly back up to level four with all his character developments intact. Keep on truckin, and raise that real estate value.
Stormtalon 10-31-04, 07:25 PM	Players getting bored with characters???? :( I never get to play a character....I'd never get bored with my chance to play one.... Dude, I so know where you're coming from. I almost never get to do anything but DM anymore. Maybe once one or two of the players get older and more capable of keeping track of lots of stuff. At the moment the group I'm running has: 'Forged Fighter 5 1/2 Elf Wiz 4/DMH 1 (Lyrandar) Changeling Rogue 5 Shifter Barb 5 Shifter Rgr 5 1/2 Orc Fighter 5 Gnome Artif 5 Dwarf Paladin 5 That's after a brief (2 session) prologue adventure which I used to replace the hidden forge (think Poseidon Adventure on a skyship), Shadows of the Last War which took about 5 sessions, Whispers of the Vampire's Blade (5 sessions) and last night's Halloween 1-shot. Stormtalon
Brastan 10-31-04, 08:06 PM	It's like my character is turning into a frickin' mastermind but without the moral quandries of eliminating people who know her secrets that shouldn't because those people keep dying on their own... :heehee sorry, its just that I wish some of us could be so lucky. Sounds like you've go a nicer Professor Moriarty. Instead of doing evil you use our vast intellect, resources, and "expendable minions" to for the benefit of others (not the minons). Be happy that your character has evolved to into such a strong and survivable person. Worthy of NPC status in future campaigns. I like planing my characters then letting them grow, keeping any eye on PrCs that become available as I go. [Next up for me] a Warforged Artificer/ low-level fighter named Hook (original character was amazingly close to Hook for G1 Transformers with out me knowing beforehand). Good job. :tiphat:
Kiirnodel 10-31-04, 10:53 PM	I do all those supplements in one session, WotVB and SotLW... 12 hour sessions...but still ;) I really have tons of character ideas... I usually toss them as NPCs.
NOOC PHD 10-31-04, 11:20 PM	It's also my understanding that it's designed on 4 encounters per level (hence why an appropriate CR challenge is meant to use up a quarter of a group's resources). Where this 13 number comes from I have no idea. A party of four adventurers (the standard assumed by the DMG) has a single CR1 encounter. If they survive the encounter they receive 300xp - split four ways that's 75xp each. At 75 xp per encounter it will take between 12 and 13 CR1 encounters for a level one party to reach level two (1000xp). That's where the 13 comes from.
zambuka 11-01-04, 12:04 AM	It's also my understanding that it's designed on 4 encounters per level (hence why an appropriate CR challenge is meant to use up a quarter of a group's resources). Where this 13 number comes from I have no idea. A party of four adventurers (the standard assumed by the DMG) has a single CR1 encounter. If they survive the encounter they receive 300xp - split four ways that's 75xp each. At 75 xp per encounter it will take between 12 and 13 CR1 encounters for a level one party to reach level two (1000xp). That's where the 13 comes from. Ouch..... methinks lord zog and co. have misinterpreted the rules a little. If you give each character the full xp rather than dividing it among them then you get 1 level roughly every 4 encounters, this could explain the seriously rapid level advancement.
Lou/Vega 11-01-04, 12:38 AM	:eek:
lord zog 11-15-04, 09:10 PM	Update: The party now consists of Morrigan, a warforged (maybe - see below), a human evoker (specialising in fire), a half-elf magic user, a human shaman who turns into a sabre-tooth tiger (or who maybe a lycanthrope, not exactly sure of that) and our more missing than present half-elf swashbuckler. At the end of the most recent session our warforged player has decided to ditch his character *again*, though as we've just fetched up in Frostfell a replacement character is going to be difficult to work into the story. Part of the problem this time round is the sheer mass of his character making getting around difficult to achieve, and the two new players ruleslawyering the get around of that that consisted of giving the 'forged a pair of boots of levitation (the irony that one of these two players threw a hissy fit at the beginning of the session when I mentioned that Wishing for the mark of Healing with one of his DoMT wishes would turn him into a halfling as per the threads on this board doubtlessly escaping him). So not sure if he's going to keep the 'Forged for next session or not. Only 1 leveling up this session, and that was due to the 50,000 XP from last time leaving me on the cusp of the level above the one achieved then. With 5/6 players now, the number of XP per encounter has fallen. We came close to what could have been a near TPK - failing a con save would have left four of us (all except the 'forged and the swashbuckler) helpless as our throats were slit and souls extracted by a demogorgon worshipper and her undead succubus sidekick. Fortunately enough of us managed to *just* pull it off. So after rescuing an insane escaped prisoner - destined for use as a pyrokinetic bioweapon by Breland once they figure out a way to control him - and estracting Plot from him, engineering the assassination of a drug lord and slaughtering said demon cult (along, admittedly, with most of the depraved invididuals that were to be their victims) we headed off to Frostfell.