Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Toloran 05-30-06, 01:31 AM	My D&D group is a fairly light hearted group. We often have very strange encounters during our D&D games (just recently, several of our members were attacked by 60 dire kittens. They escaped but one of the party members lost a foot). Although alot of fun, the encounters are often very dangerous. In one recent encounter 5 of our 11 party members died in the same night (3 of which were killed by our own group members, accidently of course). Here is my question: My current character is a level 5 gnome druid. But I am afraid she will probably die on our next D&D session. Because of this I am working on making another character. However, I am not sure what to make. I need a character/class combonation that is very durable. A combonation that would increase my chances of surviving the night. Here is an example of how two of our group members died (they both died the same way): Our group while camping one night encountered a large group of knights (8 on foot, with their leader mounted). They were unfriendly but not hostile. They were after us to capture (and put before a tribunal) one of our members. As I was try to persuade their leader otherwise, one of our members (a paladin) cast detect evil on them. Well, because of certain... issues with this paladin, he mistakenly detected them as evil (they weren't) and started to attack them. This drug the rest of our group into the fight. While the fight was going on (and I was trying to back out of the battle to a safe spot), our ranger called a shot at their leaders head (he had a truestrike amulet so he had greatly increased accuracy). He critically failed and the shot went wild. He ended up getting a critical hit on our paladins head (causing his head to explode). Oops. Those kind of accidents are far too common in our group. Hence, my search for a class/race combonation that could give me some measure of protection. Our group sticks to all the standard races and classes, but we also allow most NPC/Monster races too (We have a tiefling and two aasimar in our group already). My personal preference are simplier classes but I'll play anything. By our groups rules, we cannot play any class we have done before (until we have done each at least once). Because of this I cannot play a bard or a druid. Thanks for any advice you can give me.
Shaggy_Shaggs 05-30-06, 03:41 AM	Survival Tips Don't adventure with Lawful Stupid detect *thump* paladins. Ever. Talk to your DM about ditching the fumbles. That's a houserule, and always a bad one - the better a warrior gets the more likely he is to kill himself (more attack rolls = more fumbles). Same for called shots. Insert called shots into a game and everyone and his mother will be calling headshots. Monsters can do it too. Chaos ensues. Get rid of it, it's crap. Play a dwarf cleric as your next character. Good hp, great saving throws, all manner of spells including most relevantly, healing and buff spells. Alternately try a changeling any warrior class 4/warshaper 1. Immunity to critical hits is a godsend. Play a kobold Divine Rank NI god of everything. (j/k) :P Good luck.
Father Dale 05-30-06, 10:00 AM	Dwarf cleric for survivability. Be sure and take the Protection Domain, it gets Antimagic Shell at 6th lvl for a domain spell, among its other useful spells and ability. Divine Vigor is a good divine feat for a dwarf cleric, upping your speed and giving you a nice temp hp buffer, plus its not too dependent on having a good Cha to be effective. Focus on HPs and protection spells. Damage Reduction of some sort can help a lot too, whether through items (admanatine full plate) or spells or the new feat in PHB II that gives you DR 2/- when using the chosen armor (although I think it has high BAB requirement). Toss on Spell Resistance with the good HP and protection spells of the dwarf cleric and he becomes one tough nut to crack. Just be sure and find a ring of counterspelling and put dispel magic in it, since that will be the one big weakness.
b3jsd73jfx 05-30-06, 10:26 AM	If you're only worried about the fumbles and called shots then perhaps take a dip into Wild Mage. At second level they get "Random Deflector" which is an immediate action (so it can be done on someone else's turn). Any ranged attacks (spells, attacks, touch attacks) randomly hit anyone withing 20' of you (it can still hit you on this random attack). Mind you at second level it can only be done once per day, and as I don't have my book on me i'm not sure if that number improves at all.
Zaku 05-30-06, 10:34 AM	Barbarian/Fighter. I'm not sure but its the first thing that popped into my mind. I'll get back to you on this one.
serow_#R 05-30-06, 10:46 AM	since u're all dying to random stuff, enter fatespinner "reroll that random stuff!"
bitnine 05-30-06, 11:02 AM	Dwarf cleric with the Luck domain. Being able to reroll becomes even more important with critical fumbles that can make you asplode.
Elemental 05-30-06, 11:04 AM	While the fight was going on (and I was trying to back out of the battle to a safe spot), our ranger called a shot at their leaders head (he had a truestrike amulet so he had greatly increased accuracy). He critically failed and the shot went wild. He ended up getting a critical hit on our paladins head (causing his head to explode). Oops. Those kind of accidents are far too common in our group. Hence, my search for a class/race combonation that could give me some measure of protection. First thought--ditch the houserules. And they are houserules--by the rules, a 1 to attack merely fails to hit, but it's amazing how many people seem to think critical fumbles are official. Unless you were standing right next to the leader, then being hit by mistake makes no sense.
danielinthewolvesden 05-30-06, 11:38 AM	(just recently, several of our members were attacked by 60 dire kittens. They escaped but one of the party members lost a foot). Although alot of fun, the encounters are often very dangerous. In one recent encounter 5 of our 11 party members died in the same night (3 of which were killed by our own group members, accidently of course). As I was try to persuade their leader otherwise, one of our members (a paladin) cast detect evil on them. Well, because of certain... issues with this paladin, he mistakenly detected them as evil (they weren't) and started to attack them. This drug the rest of our group into the fight. While the fight was going on our ranger called a shot at their leaders head (he had a truestrike amulet so he had greatly increased accuracy). He critically failed and the shot went wild. He ended up getting a critical hit on our paladins head (causing his head to explode). Oops. Those kind of accidents are far too common in our group. Hence, my search for a class/race combonation that could give me some measure of protection. . There is nothing that will protect you from this sort of chaotic killer DM. Critical Fumbles, Instant kills, Dire kittens, and Paladins who have has their DM crock their Detect Evil ability (impossible, it comes from their God- it can be withheld for a wayward paladin, but a LG God would NEVER have his Paladin mis-detect Evil so that the Paladin slays innocents. :rolleyes: ) Your search is simple- find a decent mature DM that knows the rules, and leave the "Kaotic Killer Klown" DM for some real D&D. It's out there.
Toloran 05-30-06, 05:56 PM	There is nothing that will protect you from this sort of chaotic killer DM. Critical Fumbles, Instant kills, Dire kittens, and Paladins who have has their DM crock their Detect Evil ability (impossible, it comes from their God- it can be withheld for a wayward paladin, but a LG God would NEVER have his Paladin mis-detect Evil so that the Paladin slays innocents. :rolleyes: ) Your search is simple- find a decent mature DM that knows the rules, and leave the "Kaotic Killer Klown" DM for some real D&D. It's out there. Just for clearification: The Detect evil mishaps was actually the players idea, not the GMs. His pally has fairly low Int (or was it wis? I forget which) and he decided that his character was so stupid that he would sometimes misunderstand the messages his god was giving him (in addition, because of our campain we were doing, all the gods were dead so that kind of messes up the messages). The Dire Kitten attack occured when part of our group angered an epic level druid who happened to have alot of dire kittens around (think angry old lady with lots of cats). First thought--ditch the houserules. And they are houserules--by the rules, a 1 to attack merely fails to hit, but it's amazing how many people seem to think critical fumbles are official. Unless you were standing right next to the leader, then being hit by mistake makes no sense. In this case, yes, the person who died was standing right next to the leader (he was also under the effect of a giantism type spell so he was huge). How I died was completely different (not the fault of fumbles and such). In all honesty, I enjoy the house rules. Its just that I'd prefer if I had some sort of way from protecting myself from them. =P If you're only worried about the fumbles and called shots then perhaps take a dip into Wild Mage. At second level they get "Random Deflector" which is an immediate action (so it can be done on someone else's turn). Any ranged attacks (spells, attacks, touch attacks) randomly hit anyone withing 20' of you (it can still hit you on this random attack). Mind you at second level it can only be done once per day, and as I don't have my book on me i'm not sure if that number improves at all. I'm kind of new, but whats a Wild Mage? All i have is the standard player's handguide and I can't find them in it. Could you point me to somewhere where I could find out more information? (they sound like fun). And to everyone, thanks for the help :D
Rentar1743 05-30-06, 06:55 PM	complete arcane for the wild mage
X-Codes 05-30-06, 07:20 PM	The Detect evil mishaps was actually the players idea, not the GMs. His pally has fairly low Int (or was it wis? I forget which) and he decided that his character was so stupid that he would sometimes misunderstand the messages his god was giving him (in addition, because of our campain we were doing, all the gods were dead so that kind of messes up the messages). When a paladin uses detect evil, he has to wait 3 rounds before he even knows if particular creatures are evil. In addition, he knows that each creature is either evil or not evil, his god doesn't tell him what is evil for what crime etc. etc. Even if you have an intelligence of 3 you should be able to easily understand Evil and Not Evil. For a survivalist character, be an Elan go with these feats: Greater Elan Resiliency (and pick a Psionic class), Dodge, Mobility, Combat Expertise, Elusive Target, and Melee Evasion. If you have Bluff as a class skill then also pick up Fade into Violence. Otherwise just max out your AC and keep your Hitpoints and DR high.
danielinthewolvesden 05-30-06, 09:06 PM	The Detect evil mishaps was actually the players idea, not the GMs. His pally has fairly low Int (or was it wis? I forget which) and he decided that his character was so stupid that he would sometimes misunderstand the messages his god was giving him (in addition, because of our campain we were doing, all the gods were dead so that kind of messes up the messages). In all honesty, I enjoy the house rules. Its just that I'd prefer if I had some sort of way from protecting myself from them. =P Then the DM should have said "NO". That's his job, to read the rules and apply them. You don't. You have a Kaotic Killer Klown of a DM, who will kill you when (not if) he wants to, despite anything you can do to the contrary. Trying to make your PC less killable will only make him try harder. To stay alive in a campaign like that there's only three things you can do: 1. Bribe the DM heavily with his favorite snacks 2. be the "comedy relief" so that no one wants you to die. 3. Be the DM's girlfreind. As a guess, I'd say this last one isn't a viable option. :P Leaving the table and finding a mature group with a decent DM is my suggestion.
Toloran 05-30-06, 09:22 PM	Then the DM should have said "NO". That's his job, to read the rules and apply them. You don't. You have a Kaotic Killer Klown of a DM, who will kill you when (not if) he wants to, despite anything you can do to the contrary. Trying to make your PC less killable will only make him try harder. To stay alive in a campaign like that there's only three things you can do: 1. Bribe the DM heavily with his favorite snacks 2. be the "comedy relief" so that no one wants you to die. 3. Be the DM's girlfreind. As a guess, I'd say this last one isn't a viable option. :P Leaving the table and finding a mature group with a decent DM is my suggestion. I think you are misunderstanding what I am saying. He doesn't go purposely "Hey you, you get eaten by a grue. You can't do anything about it." It is more often along the lines of: Rogue: I check the hallway ahead. DM: The path is narrow and has a large metal plate covering the the entire floor. Rogue: I check for magical traps. *rolls* DM: You don't find any. Rogue: I check for pitfalls *rolls* DM: You find none. *repeates a few more times* Rogue: I throw a dead corpse on the plate. DM: Ok, the corpse lands on the plate. *DM rolls something but doesn't say anything* Rogue: Seems safe. *steps on plate* DM: You get electrocuted for 1d6 damage (or something like that) *we eventually go on to disarm the trap* About a 1/3rd of our deaths are from Someone doing something stupid. A 1/3rd from REALLY bad luck. And a 1/3d from killing eachother on purpose (we have a group of mixed alignments). And even then, he always gives us a way to avoid the deaths. Its just that my group has (for the most part) very low either wis or int scores (in some cases it is true IRL for them) and are otherwise careless. Oh, and BTW, the DM's girlfriend already plays. =p She is the wizard whos fireball caught me and a bunch of other enemies.