Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Technoscream 09-23-06, 11:50 AM	Hi everyone Ive recently caught the D&D bug and have played a few games using the basic boxed set. While that was fun all of the extra rules i have found in my players handbook has left me wanting more than the basic game but there are still a few things i dont understand. Can someone help me get my head around how the concept of "time" works in a game? More specifically I would really like to be a warforged character and understand that its a good idea for me to take a craft skill like armoursmithing so that i can repair damamge to myself. could someone run me through how this would work? i mentioned "time" as it talks about this in the players handbook in relation to the crafting skill. Thanks in advance, id really liekt o get my head around this! :D
Nizkateth 09-23-06, 12:01 PM	Well, time works normally in game... though it can be elapsed (so as not to take an actual 5 hours of gameplay to travel 5 hours in game). For that specific warforged purpose, repairing yourself takes 8 hours of work in game. :D
tizonacampeador 09-23-06, 12:44 PM	Time works in combat in 6 second rounds. Outside of combat time is elapsed so if you travel for two days you dont have to play for two days. Repairing yourself will be an 8 hour job that you can undertake at night if you want while your party sleeps. That's a fun thing with being warforged.
kelvinaw273 09-23-06, 02:06 PM	Time is seperated into 'in-game' time and 'out of game' time. The latter is what we all experience. Now 'in game' time is usually variable. A combat round is six seconds long, so there are ten combat rounds to an in-game minute. Playing through ten rou8nds might take an hour or more out-of-game, but for the characters one minute has passed. For some events (like conversations with an NPC or between characters) in game and out of game time are the same. For others they are not - if you are repairing yourself, for example, your DM< may simply say 'You take eight hours to repair yourself'. This kind of time is often termed as 'down time', it means that you are not role-playing the action in question, save possibly with a dice role. Down time is often used when boring events are taking place, or the party has split up to do mundane tasks.
Kerik 09-24-06, 02:01 AM	There are several classes of action you can take in a round. A full round action obviously takes a full round, and has varying levels of exertion: Attacking multiple times in a round, stablizing a dieing person. A standard action may last seconds and requires powerful exertion by you: A single attack, casting a spell. A move action requires self exertion, though usually not as much, and lasts long: Drawing a sword, moving 30ft. A free action is something that requires very little effort: Dropping a shield, cursing. A swift action is something that happens almost instantly, but requires a lot of effort: Snapping a tree branch, removing a trophy off of a body. An immediate action is the same as a swift action, but can be done on someone else's turn: Sending feedback damage through a spell, activating a magic item's special ability. Also, for the armorsmithing thing, those checks are made based off of a week's work, so if you have an artificer or even a cleric in your party it is definetly not worth taking ranks in that skill. Here's typically how a craft check works in my group at 1st level, if someone ever decides to take ranks in that skill. Player: Alright, I want to make a chainmail shirt... alright! I rolled a natural twenty! :D :ayyyy!: :w00t: :bounce: Thats 28 total. Me: 28? *Quick calculations* Alright, iff you work 8 hours a day for the next week, you'll have another 65 hours and 51 minutes of work to to go, assuming you roll another 20 on the next week's check. Player:.........:confused: :uh-huh: :banghead: :censored: Me: Yep.
skeeter_dan 09-24-06, 02:44 AM	That's not really how it works for Warforged. If I recall correctly, a Warforged can work for 8 hours (a normal PC's rest period) and regain HP by making a Craft check. HP recovered is the check minus 15? I can't remember exactly.
Kerik 09-24-06, 06:40 PM	*Checks Eberron* Yep, you're right. Still, be warned, craft is deceptive. If you can get someone else to be an artificer, spend your points on another skill.
MSW 09-28-06, 03:44 PM	Craft is good since warforged don't sleep. So presumably each night, while the magic users have to sleep for 8 hours, your character can be repairing himself. At mid to higher levels (or low levels with a really good stat and d20 roll) it's like getting a free repair light wounds each day. And at low levels, if you don't roll well on the d20.. it's really no loss. You weren't doing anything anyway while the others slept. So it makes sense that a warforged would be interested in knowing how to repair itself.
Nom 09-29-06, 01:08 AM	Time works roughly like it does in a novel. When things get intense (eg in combat), it might take several minutes to describe / play out a single six second round. When things are slow, weeks or months might pass with a single sentence. Everything takes time, but it only needs to be mapped into rounds if it's important to use tactical resolution. Otherwise, the DM just rules on how long things take.