| Post/Author/DateTime | Post |
|---|---|
| bertman408-21-07, 07:57 PM | I'm running some XE at PAX this weekend. Are there any updated fastplays available for newbies? Bertman |
| Hsien08-22-07, 11:29 AM | They had them at Gen Con but there were practical and game mechanic issues with them apparently. |
| Garden_State_Gamer08-22-07, 11:49 AM | I second that. What is taking so long on the fast play updates? Issues? Were they jumping the gun and using 4ed already? Or were the designers distracted by overly complex and hard to find rules while a guy with an annoying French accent talked in the background? |
| smerwin2908-22-07, 12:11 PM | I am not sure why they are not up on the RPGA site yet. If there are any issues with them, I was not made aware of them. Shawn Crimson Codex Guy |
| Harliquinn08-22-07, 12:23 PM | Based upon what I saw at several tables, the new fastplays are actually quite viable characters and often made the difference in some of our encounters :) |
| Tabiani08-22-07, 12:41 PM | I've been looking forward to seeing them. Or at least finding out which ones won the contests! |
| Gargs45408-22-07, 08:46 PM | The fastplays that I saw were not too bad in general (though I only saw 2). The only problem I saw was that on Thursday night, the people running the RPGA HQ forgot to hand out the second page of the fastplays. |
| Hsien08-23-07, 01:49 PM | Checked with my bud who had a fastplay; Warforged; Sorc 1/Wiz 4/ Ult Magus 2 Couple issues...apparently he was allowed to make changes though. 1: Lesser Metamagic Rod of Enlarge; character did not have Enlarge as a feat, it had Enpower. 2: Practised Spellcaster ( Wizard ) Sheet said this gave effective Wiz caster level of 8...incorrect. Also from a even semi-optimized view taking it as Sorc is much better option, as Wiz only gains 1 level towards level dependent variables while taking it as Sorc would give +4 level dependent variables. i.e Wiz Fireball doing 6d6 or w/ PS 7d6 Sorc M. Missile having 2 missiles ( 2d4+2) or w/ PS 4 missiles ( 4d4+4) There was a game issue as well, something about getting an item for Arcane caster to increase the effectiveness of wands, but the fastplay character didn't have any wands. According to him other players in group had issues as well, just not sure of specifics. |
| Istaran08-23-07, 01:59 PM | 1: Lesser Metamagic Rod of Enlarge; character did not have Enlarge as a feat, it had Enpower. You do not need a metamagic feat to use a rod that confers that metamagic. It is more practical to have a metamagic rod for a feat you do not have, since that adds additional options. As for the Practiced Spellcaster, you are write about which is more powerful. Maybe they just wanted to avoid the debate over caster level vs spellcaster level for which side progresses from Ultimate Magus 1? |
| Harliquinn08-23-07, 02:06 PM | 2: Practised Spellcaster ( Wizard ) Sheet said this gave effective Wiz caster level of 8...incorrect. Also from a even semi-optimized view taking it as Sorc is much better option, as Wiz only gains 1 level towards level dependent variables while taking it as Sorc would give +4 level dependent variables. The main reason to take Practiced Spellcaster in an Ultimate Magus build is not for the caster levels on spells but to make sure your Caster Level in one class is higher than the other so when the UM raises your "Lowest Caster Level" it's the one you want to raise even if you technically have fewer levels in that class. Now that said, most optimized builds will take Practiced Spellcaster (Sorcerer) but only so the sorcerer caster level is higher and they can add to their wizard levels. Harliquinn |
| smerwin2908-23-07, 02:28 PM | Checked with my bud who had a fastplay; Warforged; Sorc 1/Wiz 4/ Ult Magus 2 OK, this is me then. :-D Now I can only comment on the draft that I sent to HQ, because I did not see the version being given out at the con itself. The draft I sent was a changeling, not a warforged. To address the other points: 1: Lesser Metamagic Rod of Enlarge; character did not have Enlarge as a feat, it had Enpower. You do not need to have the feat to use the rod. 2: Practised Spellcaster ( Wizard ) Sheet said this gave effective Wiz caster level of 8...incorrect. I'm not sure how that is incorrect. With the 4 levels of wizard, plus the 1 from ultimate magus, plus the 2 extra from practiced spellcaster, that is 7. Then because of the arcane spell power ability of the magus at 1st level, all caster levels increase by 1 for arcane spells, which makes a wizard caster level of 8. If I am figuring something wrong, please let me know. Also from a even semi-optimized view taking it as Sorc is much better option, as Wiz only gains 1 level towards level dependent variables while taking it as Sorc would give +4 level dependent variables. Actually, it adds 2 to the wizard, not 1. And it is only for caster level, nit for level-dependent variables. So this was the choice I had. It came down to a choice between bumping up the caster level of the sorcerer to cast only 2nd level spells at CL7, or having the wizard able to cast 3rd level spells at CL 8. I thought that having a 7th level character able to cast third level spells at a CL of 8 would be cool. It did make the sorcerer spells less powerful, but I tried to make sure those spells were ones where CL was less important. There was a game issue as well, something about getting an item for Arcane caster to increase the effectiveness of wands, but the fastplay character didn't have any wands. None of the items I gave the magus, nor the unlock I put on the sheet, had anything to do with wands. However, thanks for the information. When I get access to the final draft of the fastplays, I will certainly check them against the two fastplays I created to see if changes were made that invalidated any of the choices. And if any of the above I wrote was incorrect, someone please let me know. Thanks! Shawn Crimson Codex Guy |
| Harliquinn08-23-07, 02:46 PM | Was this the character with Fell Weaken? :) If so, he really helped us in the Shargon's Rage module. |
| Harliquinn08-23-07, 02:48 PM | Actually, it adds 2 to the wizard, not 1. And it is only for caster level, nit for level-dependent variables. Doesn't Ultimate Magus advance caster level in both the prepared and spontaneous sides each level? If not, then I see where the wizard gets 2. However, caster level is what's used for the level-dependent variables. John |
| smerwin2908-23-07, 03:02 PM | At 1st, 4th, and 7th it only advances the caster class with the lowest level. That's why the practiced spellcaster gives two caster levels to the wizard instead of one--because at 1st level the magus only gets to advance as a sorcerer, not in the wizard class. I understand that caster level is used for some level-dependent variables that are affected by caster level. But I wanted to be clear that it wasn't all of them (like spells known or spell slots): even though the caster level for the magus is 8, for non-caster level variables the magus is a 5th-level wizard. |
| Istaran08-23-07, 03:36 PM | I'm not sure how that is incorrect. With the 4 levels of wizard, plus the 1 from ultimate magus, plus the 2 extra from practiced spellcaster, that is 7. Then because of the arcane spell power ability of the magus at 1st level, all caster levels increase by 1 for arcane spells, which makes a wizard caster level of 8. If I am figuring something wrong, please let me know. I know there has been arguments about whether you can stack things in that order. If you count Practiced Spellcaster last, for example: 4 levels of wizard, plus 1 from UM + 1 from arcane spell power = CL 6. Now add Practiced Spellcaster: +4 to maximum of = HD. So CL 6 / HD 7 + Practiced Spellcaster = CL 7 / HD 7. Can you chose to order the bonuses in whichever way stacks up the best for you? I don't remember if this was ever formally addressed in FAQs/errata/etc. Does anyone know where to find the answer, or whether there was a final answer? |
| smerwin2908-23-07, 03:45 PM | I did a quick search of FAQ/errata when creating the character, and I saw nothing saying anything about the order. But I am also interested in anything official on this! |
| Timlagor08-23-07, 11:42 PM | Mr.Merwin is right. The FAQ makes clear that you count PrSC in the most beneficial wy for the character. The fastplays really should have wands at this level. Every character should have a 10 charge wand of healing/repair for themselves. Other consummables are still good value too. |
| Gargs45408-24-07, 08:22 AM | I will say that the Favored Soul was pretty well equipped, at least for healing purposes anyway. (Wand of Cure Mod). The only thing we found ironic was that the Favored Soul had Knowledge (Arcana) but not Knowledge (Religion) and also had pretty high Sense Motive. Would have thought that Knowledge (Religion) would make sense for him, but was not a big deal. The archer fastplay was very well equipped as well. |
| Garden_State_Gamer08-24-07, 08:35 AM | So bringing it back to the original topic question. Where are our 7th level Fast Play characters? I am participating in a game next Friday where I know there will be people that need characters. If they existed at Gen Con, and we were able to start playing/running 7th level games almost a week ago, where is the support for the DMs wanting to run a game for new players? |
| Beowulfe08-24-07, 11:10 AM | Another big problem was the NG knight. Knights have to be lawful. |
| Timlagor08-24-07, 11:01 PM | I will say that the Favored Soul was pretty well equipped, at least for healing purposes anyway. (Wand of Cure Mod). Well that's a spectacularly poor investment. - vastly more expensive per point healed than CLW - still not enough to be worth a combat action - an FS already has plenty of spell slots and should have a high and a low healing spell known ...if any character doesn't need a wand at all it's this one! (not that I know any more than that it's an FS) |
| lseelba08-26-07, 03:31 AM | The fastplays really should have wands at this level. Every character should have a 10 charge wand of healing/repair for themselves. Other consummables are still good value too. Just wanted to reiterate this. Can the fastplays be tweaked before they are posted officially? A wand of CLW is only 750. Since a lot of the 4th level fastplays had funny EV, the factionmasters should just throw a free CLW wand onto all the fast plays :D |
| Istaran08-27-07, 03:00 PM | I will say that the Favored Soul was pretty well equipped, at least for healing purposes anyway. (Wand of Cure Mod). The only thing we found ironic was that the Favored Soul had Knowledge (Arcana) but not Knowledge (Religion) and also had pretty high Sense Motive. Would have thought that Knowledge (Religion) would make sense for him, but was not a big deal. The archer fastplay was very well equipped as well. Knowledge(arcana) is a class skill for Favored Soul, Knowledge (religion) is not. I have no idea why. The wand of Cure Mod worked out for us when we played Shargon's Rage, except for the one fight where the FS couldn't get into position soon enough to keep me from dying. Luckily the mod was such that we could get a Raise Dead right after that and continue the mod at full strength. |
| Gargs45408-27-07, 06:57 PM | Ahh that would explain it then. Thanks for the clarification. |
| Tabiani08-27-07, 09:03 PM | I've been looking forward to seeing them. Or at least finding out which ones won the contests!Well, since it appears no announcement is in the works, let's see what we have... Checked with my bud who had a fastplay; Warforged; Sorc 1/Wiz 4/ Ult Magus 2Well, smerwin29 said he submitted this one as a changeling so it must be: Rev (Crimson Codex) Changeling wizard 4/sorcerer 1/ultimate magus 2 I will say that the Favored Soul was pretty well equipped, at least for healing purposes anyway. (Wand of Cure Mod). <snip> The archer fastplay was very well equipped as well. Only Favored Soul I see is: Kaerah Hostsworn (Covenant of Light) Human favored soul 7 "Archer" is a bit vague; there is fastplay from the poll that could fit the description but there is a Human fighter named Archer in the level 4 fastplays. Another big problem was the NG knight. Knights have to be lawful. Two Knights but one is CoL so I'm guessing Klabon (Muscle and Stealth) Orc knight 7 There's 3 possibilities. Anyone else remember anything? Inputs from PAX? Or, dare I hope, an official announcement? |
| Gargs45408-28-07, 08:12 AM | I believe that the Archer I was referring to was a Delkaeyr (sp?). I didn't play him, just had him in my group, so not positive. And yes Kearah was the Favored Soul. |
| smerwin2908-28-07, 08:26 AM | I believe there was a half-blood daelkyr ranger 7 (archer) at one of my tables. The other fastplay I created (apart from the magus) was a halfling rogue 5/thief-acrobat 2. I have put in a request with HQ to get the fastplays up on the site ASAP. Shawn Crimson Codex Guy |
| bertman408-28-07, 01:06 PM | One of my PCs played the Goblin Ninja/Assassin. I think he's a Cabal. ;) The player loved him. Bertman PS. The fastplay did not have any affiliation listed. He showed up with that fastplay at a non-CBL module. |
| Garden_State_Gamer08-28-07, 01:26 PM | Thanks Shawn. I was waiting to hear someone say something like that. Hopefully they can be up by 08-31; we're planning on some new players to join us on our CoL mod. |
| lseelba08-28-07, 04:15 PM | One of my PCs played the Goblin Ninja/Assassin. I think he's a Cabal. ;) The player loved him. Bertman PS. The fastplay did not have any affiliation listed. He showed up with that fastplay at a non-CBL module. I'm looking for the Hobgoblin Ninja Pirate fastplay (from EotLQ Part 2) :D |
| Uthrac08-29-07, 11:52 AM | The 4th level Elf Druid (Ex-Druid, due to CG alignment) . . . Ex-Druids A druid who ceases to revere nature, changes to a prohibited alignment, or teaches the Druidic language to a nondruid loses all spells and druid abilities (including her animal companion, but not including weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She cannot thereafter gain levels as a druid until she atones (see the atonement spell description). Uh . . . should this be changed, or is this the worst fast-play ever? ;) |
| Istaran08-29-07, 01:43 PM | This was addressed once before: he keeps his Druid powers by FM fiat. |
| Garden_State_Gamer08-31-07, 01:28 PM | :rolleyes: So . . . I guess that's a "No" to having Fast Play characters available a half a month after Gen Con? I guess I'll just slap three levels on a couple of the 4th level fast plays and be done with it. |
| pedr09-03-07, 12:41 PM | At GenCon UK over the weekend we ended up resorting to hunting down the Mark of Heroes 7th level fastplays. Xen'drik isn't terribly big over here and the vast majority of those who played were playing their first or second module of the campaign and didn't have characters with them. We had a lot of fun, though! |
| bertman409-06-07, 07:03 PM | At GenCon UK over the weekend we ended up resorting to hunting down the Mark of Heroes 7th level fastplays. Xen'drik isn't terribly big over here and the vast majority of those who played were playing their first or second module of the campaign and didn't have characters with them. We had a lot of fun, though! Great! More XE players and judges! Welcome to the wonderful world of Eberron! Bertman |
| Timlagor09-07-07, 04:00 PM | Great! More XE players and judges! Welcome to the wonderful world of Eberron! Bertman Did you miss the bit where he says hardly anyone in the UK plays it? I couldn't get a game of the Expedition there. (it ran once with 4 players I believe but I'd picked the wrong slot) |
| Kithran09-07-07, 05:56 PM | Did you miss the bit where he says hardly anyone in the UK plays it? I couldn't get a game of the Expedition there. (it ran once with 4 players I believe but I'd picked the wrong slot) To give you a clue as to the play numbers in the UK - Gen Con UK saw (for the first time in the UK) two tables of a Xen'drik module run at the same time. In total Xen'drik had less than 10% of the tables that LG had, and even then I think it had more tables than any other UK convention I've been involved with. Kithran PS If people want more accurate figures the Expedition module ran twice, both times with 4 players, Black Wheel Company ran three times, Cabel of Shadows & Covenant of Light both ran once. |
| smerwin2909-07-07, 07:03 PM | Sounds like 100% growth to me! Shawn (the eternal optimist) |
| Timlagor09-08-07, 02:01 PM | I felt better thinking I'd only missed it once *sob* ;) |
| Woodstock09-09-07, 11:00 PM | Any news of the fastplays? We're having a gameday on next saturday and we'll need the fastplays character. Just to be safe, I downloaded the Mark of Heros 7th level fastplays. |
| warfteiner09-10-07, 12:05 AM | I still have copies of some of the fast play 7s from GenCon Indy - Warforged arcane caster, Half-Daelkyr Ranger, Human Favored Soul, and probably another still. If you want 'em, let me know and I'll either try to scan or get a PM back with the pertinent info. |
| Garden_State_Gamer09-11-07, 01:37 PM | So, it's been a month since the 7th level kick was announced and still no fast plays. Can we get an official answer from anyone as to when they'll be showing up? |
| smerwin2909-11-07, 01:43 PM | The best I can say is that I have asked when the new fastplay characters will be up. If I get any information, I will pass it on. |
| Woodstock09-12-07, 10:58 PM | If there's no fastplay until the gameday (this saturday) what should I do? Use the MoH 7th level fastplay? Create myself some characters? |
| WotC_Tulach09-13-07, 12:52 AM | I have the fastplays. They are not in online-postable shape at this moment. Right now, I have them as like a #5 priority item, right behind getting new LG and XE adventures in the ordering system. Which means they should be finished by next week, and up on the web by September 24. Mondays are Xen'drik upload days, and since I'm out of the office from tomorrow through the rest of the week, it's unlikely they'll be finished for Monday's update. If you have the Mark of Heroes 7th level fastplays, you can certainly use them. Better yet, if you know in advance you'll need one or two, create characters that you think the player would like to play. |
| Istaran09-13-07, 05:40 PM | If there's no fastplay until the gameday (this saturday) what should I do? Use the MoH 7th level fastplay? Create myself some characters? More importantly, are these options going to be granted the same special leeway that the official fastplays are (at least until Chris can catch up)? I.e., can people use these and get credit for their real characters, both as initial trial characters before they have time to make their real characters, and as swap outs for the Take One for the Team option (or whatever it was called)? |
| Skerrit09-14-07, 09:38 AM | You can use the MOH fastplays, and in all ways treat them as the XE fastplays until the XE fastplays are posted, with one exception. The MOH fastplays cannot be taken as your own PC and rebuilt keeping some of the options, like an XE fastplay can. |
| pedr09-14-07, 09:54 AM | Looking ahead to D&D XP and the launch of the new D&D Campaigns campaign (probably) at GenCon 08, can a system be put in place to at least get the fastplays to the Senior GMs of the other shows (such as GenCon UK and SRDU) which are carrying the programming from the major shows? If those shows are to be as much a showcase for the RPGA's campaigns as GenCon Indy and D&D XP, they could really do with having the same access to things like fastplays. |
| Skerrit09-14-07, 12:10 PM | Well in a perfect world, the fastplays would have gone up on the website during the blackout period. Hopefully we do better next time. To email them to Senior GMs is probably a nightmare, since the total file size is gigantic. I suppose that it might be possible to break it apart and send it to select people like that, but really that's up to HQ. |
| Garden_State_Gamer09-14-07, 12:57 PM | Thank you Tulach. I will use the Mark of Heroes fast plays for now. LG, don't they have enough crap they can order already? *ducks behind cover* |
| pl5228309-17-07, 12:21 PM | Really no excuse for how long it is taking to get various things done around here. I could update all the fastplays in a few hours. I know this is Xen'drik but when is the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk part 3 & 4 coming? Also, I have some 500+ 3.0 and 3.5 edition books out. I really hope I will still be able to use them, and they are garbage like the 1st and 2nd edition are now. Gripes from the Grumpy Wizard.:mad: |
| Skerrit09-17-07, 12:49 PM | Well, most of that doesn't apply to XE, but as for the fastplays we have a meeting tonight and I hope that we will be able to find out what the hold up is tonight. |
| rutherford09-17-07, 10:34 PM | I've only played xendrick at gencon and xp, and I enjoyed it, up until this last gencon. I felt that the fastplays should be designed so that they are easy to play and understand. I have a couple of friends who are big gaming nerds, but not so into D&D, and we had done xendrick at the gencon 06 and loved it, but this time, they're fast play characters were often way over they're heads. What happened to the fighter, cleric, rogue and wizard basic fastplays? If you're going to create more complex fastplays, may I ask that you include a short brief about how to play them/what the character is like? I'd love to get a xendrik game going with my friends, but after their experience at gencon with the fastplay characters, they aren't going to play it. Just my two cents. |
| Garden_State_Gamer09-18-07, 02:13 PM | After using the fast plays from Mark of Heroes I sort of agree. Do we need a fiendish-goblin ninja/ghost faced killer? The big reason someone is playing a Fast Play is that they are wanting to test the waters of the RPGA, or are trying out DnD in general. I had two people at one session that had only ever made 1st level characters. . . once. There was no way they'd understand how to use ghost step or metamagic abilities on the first go 'round. |
| Tabiani09-18-07, 02:43 PM | I'd like to add counterpoint to the question on whether we "need" complicated - and interesting - fastplays. First, I haven't seen the full list of the level 7 fastplays for XE; indeed I haven't seen much data at all on them. As I see it, there are several reasons for using a fastplay. Different "needs" if you will. A person new to D&D certainly should have some fairly simple, even "iconic" fastplays to select from that are easy to understand and use. If there are none of these in the batch, that could be perceived as an over site. But as long as they are present, organizers and GMs can steer a new player to a fastplay that suits the player's experience and interests. Another "need" has been expressed by players who want more interesting, optimized, and effective fastplays. These can be used by experienced players who are familiar with D&D but not the XE campaign. Or maybe an XE player who wants to "take one for the team" and still have a choice that isn't "plain vanilla" D&D. They can also provide a race/class combo not generally available like the kobold. In my opinion there's plenty of room for the exotic fastplays. Alongside the basic ones, of course. |
| Timlagor09-19-07, 09:57 AM | "Optimised" and "effective" and most definitely not synonymous with "complicated". The early fastplays suffered rom simply being badly designed in ways that had nothing to do with complexity (9 Con Cleric without K(religion) to pick just one). [which is not to say that there is no demand for both complicated and simple fastplay characters ..though we could probably live without really exotic ones since people should - I feel- be encouraged to make those for themselves if they want to play them ..then again it can be nice to try them out without committing yourself to keeping them] |
| smerwin2909-19-07, 10:53 AM | We had a meeting last night. The fastplays are with HQ, and they will be posted at some point in the near future. DM's Mark 7 adventures will hopefully be posted soon as well. In terms of the fastplays, as people have noted, we were trying to give both "cool and different" options for the experienced players who wanted to just grab a character, as well as "iconic" options for the new players. There was a miscommunication on our part, and too many of the characters were "cool and different." This will be remedied in the next fastplays for the level bump at DDXP. That said, there is never going to be a way to please everyone with the fastplay builds. Yes, they need to be double-checked to make sure they are legal, no doubt. But once you get past 1st level, and sometimes even at first level, there are choices that need to be made that people will not agree with. It's just the nature of the beast. But regardless, an extra effort will be made with the next fastplays to make sure both "iconic" and "different" characters are offered, and at least the most glaring mistakes will hopefully be caught. Shawn Crimson Codex Guy |
| Lilinthra09-19-07, 10:56 AM | I think the way to go would have been to have the more unique/complex/beautiful-snowflake characters under the faction-specific headings, and put the simpler characters in the "open to anyone" heading. That way, everyone has access to the roles that are based mostly on the core books, with a couple options per game that are more exotic. This may be what was done, as I've only seen what was listed on the polls and not the final results. (Also, this response was typed while Shawn posted his) |
| smerwin2909-19-07, 01:40 PM | The idea was exactly as you said: the Faction-specific fastplays were supposed to be fairly unique and voted on by the players. The "open-to-anyone" fastplays were supposed to be more "iconic" than they were because of a slip-up in communication. |
| Garden_State_Gamer09-19-07, 02:55 PM | "Taking one for the team" should be exactly that. You are supposed to be filling a basic role that is severely lacking. Whether it be a straight healer, fighter, arcanist, or rogue. There is no such thing as "vanilla characters"; you make them as interesting as you want them to be. Unique races/feats/abilities are nice, and I highly encourage players to research and make those characters. When it comes to game night, I'd rather have an optimized character sheet (Not optimized character) that I can hand to someone so they can start playing after 5-10 minutes of review. The 20th level characters for the Dungeon Delve against the Colossal Dragon are a good example. They were overly simplified and were meant for only one very quick night of gaming, but that doesn't mean they didn't fufill their role properly. But if someone wants to continue playing in the Xen'drik campaign, then they shouldn't rely on a fast play to carry them through. They should make a character. That's what the Campaign Standards are there for. And what the difference if you don't have access to the ECS? Anything you make with the PHB will be perfectly legal. |
| Skerrit09-20-07, 08:45 AM | After using the fast plays from Mark of Heroes I sort of agree. Do we need a fiendish-goblin ninja/ghost faced killer? The big reason someone is playing a Fast Play is that they are wanting to test the waters of the RPGA, or are trying out DnD in general. I had two people at one session that had only ever made 1st level characters. . . once. There was no way they'd understand how to use ghost step or metamagic abilities on the first go 'round. Just as a side note, the goblin is a ninja/assassin, note ghost faced killer, and all of the ninja abilities that are non-standard (his Ki abilities) are spelled out on the character sheet so a new player does not need a book to play it. |
| Garden_State_Gamer09-20-07, 03:50 PM | I couldn't remember the specific classes, and I certainly didn't mean to pick specifically on the Cabal, but I was exaggerating to make a point. The more stuff that's put into a character sheet that's outside of the "standard" realm of the PHB or ECS, the more likely a player will encounter human error and confusion on the sheet. Does the sheet also elaborate on the difference between the Ninja's Sudden Strike, and the Assassin's Sneak Attack? Would it have been easier to make a 7th level ninja, or a Rogue/Assassin to eliminate worring about the difference? Granted, I do like the flavor of a Goblin Ninja working for the Cabal. And honestly, I think I voted for the Kalashtar Wilder, which has its own level of complexity. But the unique snowflake idea was getting really ridiculous in the faction specific polls. If you eliminate all the Races and Classes that do not appear in the PHB and the ECS, you get the following choices: Crimson Codex -- Dwarven Cleric with a negative CHA modifier. Blackwheel -- nothing Covenant of Light -- Changeling Rogue/Bard Cabal of Shadows -- Changeling Cleric and Half-Orc Barbarian/Fighter/Ranger And two Aasimars and no Tieflings? What about Drow or Half-Giants? There is a much higher plausibility to their involvement in the politics of Xen'Drik. I feel like a lot of time and headaches would have been saved now and in the future if there had been a more generic set up to the fast plays. |
| Woodstock09-24-07, 04:34 PM | Any news? I just saw a great article from Mackey and the other factionmasters. Perhaps we'll have more news from Xen'Drik Expeditions? |
| Skerrit09-25-07, 09:28 AM | They have been sent to the webdwarf (with the exception of the Cabal fastplays which somehow got corrupted and I need to retype). Hopefully we will see them shortly. |
| Woodstock09-25-07, 05:20 PM | Cabal fastplay corrupted? Hum... perhaps they were meant to be corrupted!!! Thanks! |
| Tabiani10-01-07, 10:16 PM | We seem to be one step closer to having the level 7 fastplays posted. There's an announcement on the RPGA page but the link still goes to a page with only 1st and 4th level fastplays. Fortunately, they're really here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebxe/20071001a), just not linked up. |
| Garden_State_Gamer10-02-07, 08:51 AM | Muchos Gracias, Senior Tabiani. |
| Woodstock10-02-07, 10:00 PM | I got them. I liked very much the halfling thief acrobat!!! I'd be using him if I weren't DMing Crimson Codex! |
| ubersmurfs10-07-07, 10:04 AM | I was looking over the new fastplay characters and I came across something I thought I'd comment on. The fastplay character does not have the necessary information to play it. The whole idea of a fastplay character is to have someone be able to sit down who either didn't have the opportunity to make their own character, or wouldn't know how if they did. Thus, there shouldn't be any need to spend who knows how long looking up the spells and class abilities and equipment of these characters. In particular I was looking at the Spellthief. Now I like the idea of the spellthief, but since I do not have the Complete Adventurer, I cannot just whip out the book and read it. With a bit of research, I was able to find at least all his class abilities online (which doing so isn't quite valid). I was, however, unable to find details on the spells or equipment that were purchased through expansions. The character has sneak attack -- how much and how is it used? The character has spell stealing -- how does that work? What is this Torc of Displacement or Vanisher Cloak? How about the spell Sniper's Shot? I can cast spells, but how many per day, is it divine or arcane, do I use my charisma, intelligence, or wisdom? Wouldn't it be better to not wear armor if I have arcane spell failure and can cast spells? I have not really looked at the other fastplays, but I do hope they are not as incomplete as this one. |
| smerwin2910-07-07, 10:35 AM | We understand the concept of a fastplay character, but I understand why you are saying this. Some of the fastplay characters will have all the information you need to play them. Due to a problem with communication, some of the fastplays are just "not quite right." Make due with what you have, and I will personally guarantee that the next fastplays, although they will never be perfect and make everyone happy, will not have the lack-of-information problems that some of these have. Thanks for your patience, Shawn Crimson Codex Guy |
| Woodstock10-08-07, 05:56 PM | About the spellthief, does she have miniature unlock? I couldn't find. |
| bertman410-18-07, 01:40 PM | Any word on when the CBL fastplays will be posted? Bertman |
| Skerrit10-19-07, 08:46 AM | I'm not sure. I retyped them (fixing the corrupt file problem HQ had) and resubmitted them quite sometime ago. I suspect that putting up 2 PCs isn't a pressing issue since the others are up. Hopefully they will come up soon. |
| bertman410-22-07, 02:52 PM | I have a stupid question. I'm thinking of using one of the fastplays and keeping it as my PC. I'm assuming that what I can and cannot retool applies to the fastplay, such as being unable to retool abilitiy scores. But what about PC name? I want to name the fastplay with my own name. Is that allowed? Bertman |
| Skerrit10-23-07, 09:55 AM | Sure, you can change the name. |