Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Templar3378 12-06-06, 02:40 PM	So. Our DM has that frusterating habit managing to kill a PC per gaming session (though these normally last all day...though sometimes that is just one battle). Last battle we teleported into a Temple of the Whispered One (god of undeath and magic) in an attempt to stop the Thayan Zulkir of Necromancy from collecting a artifact to help himself become a god. We didn't get the item, but we slowed him down, forcing him to have to go to another location to do the ceremony. I actually died in the battle, but apparently the DM has had pity on me twice and had me spontaneously resurrect...first time was a couple sessions ago, and this time. Our group is this: We have a rather messed up group of 10-12 levels consisting of: Gwen, a Gnome Monk. Lawful Neutral, who sold her soul for powers and the protection of her allies. Aiden, Human Warlock. Aside from gwen and jimmy, the longest lasting character. Resident Artillary Unit. Jimmy, Halfling Cleric of the God of Death and Magic. Very happy. VERY happy. Konrad, Human Red Wizard. Turned against Thay for various reasons. Fallandir, Elf Sorceror. Friend of Konrad, rather sneaky for in regards to what he does. Beknel, Dwarf Cleric. Warpriest design, hits like a truck. Valerian, Elf Mage. Sent to Protect and work with Gwen. Disciple of Grazzt i think too from something that was said. And...Me. Aaron, Paladin of Lathander. Now wielding Dawnbringer, Some kind of Holy Avenger on Crack. But now I have the problem of still being the main tank...which means I have a feeling I am going to be one of the most likely to die again. Suggestions on how to avoid this? Ways to improve my AC (PHB spells...we have some others, but the selection is random) would be great (assume no magic items though. We have only just recently been able to aquire some....hard to come by and can't make them...yet.) Any other ways to improve my survivablity....I have Dawnbringer, which helped, and just now got Full plate +2 after that last battle, but any suggestions would be appreciated.
konrad_the_tall 12-06-06, 02:44 PM	properly roleplayed palidins have the lowest life expectancy of any class. Your boned.
IdleAltruism 12-06-06, 02:49 PM	Try to get cheap items that give 1 or 2+ AC like ring of protection or amulet of natural armor. Make one of your clerics a designated healer that stays behind or near you during battle, his job is to keep the front line alive. Grab your wizard slap him/her and tear out half his/her spellbook, being a paladin of course you will personaly pay him/her back double but when filling the spellbook make them add utility spells to help buff the party(bears endurance goes a long way in keeping you alive) and a force wall or solid fog to boot. You can only do so much to keep yourself alive but the rest of your party can greatly increase your survival rate.
On_the_wings_of_TPK 12-06-06, 02:51 PM	The problem with melee, is melee =getting hit. If your the tank, don't try and avoid taking a couple of rounds to the chops, focus on absorbing them, and minimizing them. Thats one of the reasons why the main battle tank is so effective. Its not that it is particularily hard to it. On the contary it is slow moving, about the size of a winibago. If you can't hit one of those you have prblems. It is however heavily armoured, and most rounds just bounce off it. I'd focuse on maxing your HP, and finding things that help you aborsb incoming hostilities. energy resistance, and DR are the best ways to do this.
Templar3378 12-06-06, 02:58 PM	Energy Resist I have done, though the problem with this is they are Necromancy mainly....last session I spent 3-4 rounds laying on the ground cause a Harm spell flattened me after i made all the saves. What kind of spells/things could I do to improve DR? Before I forget again, Dawnbringer is a godsend...from what i KNOW it does....he won't tell me everything, but what it does so far: +5 Holy Longsword. Grants +1 STR, +1 Con, +4 CHA. Protection from Evil on Myself and Allies in 30ft radius. Glow. Auto-Stabilize after dropping to -hp. And probly has something to do with the whole resurrect I had earlier.
Kitaki 12-06-06, 03:04 PM	Wait, let me get this straight. You have Valerian, Elf Mage. Sent to Protect and work with Gwen. Disciple of Grazzt i think too from something that was said. Jimmy, Halfling Cleric of the God of Death and Magic. Very happy. VERY happy. First, unless that God of Death and Magic happens to be Wee Jas, you have one messed up party. Why are you, a paladin associating with people that worship a god of death and are the disciple of a demon prince? An idea on survivability, you have 2 clerics, either stick beside the dwarf one, so he can heal you when needed, or get the creepy little happy gnome to pick up Spontaneous Healing and Ranged Heal feats.
IdleAltruism 12-06-06, 03:05 PM	Thats one ****** sword for a level 11. If you want DR get the mage to bring stoneskin.
Templar3378 12-06-06, 03:25 PM	Wait, let me get this straight. You have Valerian, Elf Mage. Sent to Protect and work with Gwen. Disciple of Grazzt i think too from something that was said. Jimmy, Halfling Cleric of the God of Death and Magic. Very happy. VERY happy. First, unless that God of Death and Magic happens to be Wee Jas, you have one messed up party. Why are you, a paladin associating with people that worship a god of death and are the disciple of a demon prince? The disciple thing was out of character as well, and Valerian litterally joined us just before we teleported. Gwen, who i unfortunately currently still trust completley (this is probly gona change soon) introduced him and said he could be trusted, so...yeah. Also yes, it is Wee Jas. Me and Jimmy had an arguement about the undead thing already once....though its really hard to argue when the stupid halfling keeps telling me how sorry he is for having death denied to me not once but twice. Thats one ****** sword for a level 11. If you want DR get the mage to bring stoneskin. Actually I'm only level 9. Gwen and Aiden are both the 11
Dei 12-06-06, 07:58 PM	A point on the heavy armour note, fight defensively when you're in a hairy situation. Tanks in the DnD sense are not necessarily supposed to be the ones dishing out all the damage and fighting defensively when an enemy is concentrating on you can really boost your survivability while your compadres focus on taking it down. Also, though normally I avoid it, you may want to consider grabbing the monkey grip feat. This will let you wield Dawnbringer in one hand and carry a whopping great shield at the same time. Make it a nice big tower shield with a magical + on it and you've got yourself a long way towards living on into old age.
1hitparry 12-06-06, 08:25 PM	Not that I know what exactly happens during your sessions, but I agree with the stoneskin and protection from energy. Those two should certainly keep you alive for a lot longer if you haven't had them up before. Sure stone skin cost money, but you're the tank and the party should be happy you're taking the hits for them.
Animae_Draconum 12-06-06, 10:12 PM	Well I hate to be the one who says it but melee always has been and always will be the characters who die first, and in the long provide the weakest damage sources. I'm Partial to casters for good reason. Heres an Idea of what my sorcerer had at levels 9 and 11 as far as AC and HP 9- AC=55, HP=126 11- AC=57, HP=165/275 with spells running Also this character uses no magic items Casters FTW sorry my paladin friend you have a long(maybe) and most difficult life ahead of you. A_D
Kitaki 12-06-06, 10:21 PM	The disciple thing was out of character as well, and Valerian litterally joined us just before we teleported. Gwen, who i unfortunately currently still trust completley (this is probly gona change soon) introduced him and said he could be trusted, so...yeah. Also yes, it is Wee Jas. Me and Jimmy had an arguement about the undead thing already once....though its really hard to argue when the stupid halfling keeps telling me how sorry he is for having death denied to me not once but twice. Ok, so we have that cleared up. Now then, you have 2 clerics, plus you yourself are a Paladin, how are you dying, you have far more healing in that group than most. Granted you have said that the Dwarf is aiming for a Warpriest, but he still heals. Not to mention that creey little Wee Jas cleric can afford to lay off the killing and buffing for a round or two to heal you, try to get him to pick up those feats I mentioned, Spontaneous Healing and Ranged Heal, this will allow him to be further away from the front lines(if he wants to stand back) and doesn't cripple his ability to touch ppl and really hurt them (his spontaneous Inflict spells). I personally like evil clerics (adds more flavor) but I always pick up Spontaneous Healing so that I can still fulfill that healing part of my job as Cleric.
Templar3378 12-07-06, 09:08 AM	Alright, fight defensively, stoneskin, protection from energy. i was looking at some of the other buffs I could pull out of the billion caster we have, and bears endurance, haste, and some others hopefully will up AC, hp, and resistances. My saves are fine....i had the best saves once i drop eagles spelendor. Any other suggestions? As for the question about HOW i die...first time, 10ft across hallway, had a caster that was just was dropping chainlightnings down the hallway. and while i was saving, it was only for half at best and I ended up taking like 5 hits. And had undead/fighters in the hallway that either were resistant or whatever that just gummed it up so i couldn't get to her. The second time, just a standard beat down. Battered by a fighter, a ghoul and two clerics, with at least one magic spell that did some damage. I think it was a finger of death i saved against. I didn't have a way to get out without just getting caught between worse things, so i just went full offense and killed two, a ally fried the other 2, to fall to a lucky shot by a fighter with a thrown weapon.
FntsyWlkr 12-07-06, 03:45 PM	Ya' know I feel ya'. Death being a part of the game adds risk. But not at the whim of the DM, only as the functin of the campaign. A good DM is hard to find! (that's because it's subjective!)
2nd Ed Paladin 12-07-06, 04:03 PM	Also, though normally I avoid it, you may want to consider grabbing the monkey grip feat. This will let you wield Dawnbringer in one hand and carry a whopping great shield at the same time. Make it a nice big tower shield with a magical + on it and you've got yourself a long way towards living on into old age. Monkey grip only lets you weild weapons a size larger than you in the same number of hands it ordinarily is weilded in. Ie, a large greatsword could be weilded in 2 hands and a greatsword could be weilded in one hand. Check the feats board for one of the many discussions about it. To the OP: Consider some of the divine feats in complete warrior. Divine sheild in particlar will let you use a turn attempt to increase your AC by your CHR bonus. There are some other feats that increase saves and grant energy resistance. Spells the other PCs could cast on you are sheild, polymorph (into something with Nat AC bonus), sheild other (cleric takes 1/2 your damage), energy resistance. I think there is a cleric spell called divine sheild as well.
pmurray@bigpond.com 12-07-06, 10:08 PM	Our DM has that frusterating habit managing to kill a PC per gaming session (though these normally last all day...though sometimes that is just one battle). My advice is simply not to get too attached you your characters. Make up one or even two spare character sheets with something completely different on them. If you put a little time and effort into them, then you aren't hanging all your D&D happiness on the character you have now, and you can handle the possibility of losing it. (Same advice works for girlfriends, by the way. Always end your relationships by cheating on the girl you have with the girl you want.) Alternatively: find another game. If your D&D is a PKiller, then that's just the way it is. Or talk to your DM about his distressing PKillinghabits. But the simplest and most practical thing is to prepare some backup characaters and put enough effort into them that you will be happy to play them rather than the one you have.
romana 12-08-06, 12:37 AM	My advice is simply not to get too attached you your characters. Make up one or even two spare character sheets with something completely different on them. If you put a little time and effort into them, then you aren't hanging all your D&D happiness on the character you have now, and you can handle the possibility of losing it. This, I agree with. Losing a few characters in quick succession, especially if they're ones you've grown a bit fond of in their own little way, can be a positive experience. In addition to the good stuff mentioned here, there's a spell in the Spell Compendium that you could organise to have cast on you - create magic tattoo - which can give you some (little) bonuses (like a +1 deflection to your AC). Your cleric can also cast Greater Status (I forget which book this is in), which will allow them to bounce you back to okay again if and when you fall. Last port of call is to have a quiet word with the DM and work out some strategies to keep your paladin alive. If they're playing fair (hmmm...), then they should be amenable to working with you, not against you. (Same advice works for girlfriends, by the way. Always end your relationships by cheating on the girl you have with the girl you want.) This, I don't agree with. :rolleyes: