I rarely get much time to game, but am carving out the time tomorrow night to head to the local LFR group. (I'm a school teacher and dad of a 4-year-old, so most nights get full quick.)
I've completely ignored any kind of RPG for most of the last 11 years, and ignored the Realms for longer than that. That said, knowing that they killed off the goddess Mystra in the Spellplague coming into 4th edition, here's the character concept (so that y'all know where I'm coming from): This is a warlock who found a fragment of Mystra's essence and has been given power from it to help try to restore the goddess to form and power.
Any tweaks suggested should keep the concept in mind. Here's the summary:
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
level 1
Human, Warlock
Eldritch Blast: Eldritch Blast Constitution
Eldritch Pact: Vestige Pact
Background: Luskan (Luskan Benefit)
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 18, Dex 12, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 12.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 16, Dex 12, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 12.
AC: 15 Fort: 15 Reflex: 15 Will: 13
HP: 30 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 7
TRAINED SKILLS
Insight +4, Stealth +7, Bluff +6, Thievery +7, Arcana +8
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +1, Diplomacy +1, Dungeoneering -1, Endurance +4, Heal -1, History +3, Intimidate +1, Nature -1, Perception -1, Religion +3, Streetwise +1, Athletics
FEATS
Human: Arcane Reserves
Level 1: Empowering Shadows
POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Hellish Rebuke
Warlock encounter 1: Life Bind
Warlock daily 1: Vestige of Mount Vaelis
ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Leather Armor, Implement, Rod, Thieves' Tools
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======
After-action report:
I ended up re-doing the ability scores for 12 WIS, 8 CHA and bought a mace.
We played MOON1-1, going high (the group was a level 4 rogue, a level 2 rogue, and level 1 for bear shaman, wizard, warden, and me). I have some social norms complaints about some of the regulars in the group, but that'll be a paragraph below.
My dice mostly hated me, but when I hit, I mostly managed to hit hard. I also achieved my goal of having no more than 1 turn where I didn't have Shadow Walk concealment, and worked hard to try to pop curses onto as many of the enemies as I possibly could. Never reached the goal of getting them all, though. At one point, i was down to 4 hp (from 30), but never dropped completely.
Unfortunately, some things about the way the players and DM acted kind of left it m'eh. I'd met 3 of the players once, at the MM2 Game Day in May -- but nobody bothered with a "Hi, how are you? I'm XXXXX". The prep discussion on the group list had a possible player who would have needed to leave at a particular time in order to be someplace, and the most I got from the fellow running that night was "Are you the guy who has to be in Springfield by....?"
The running of the adventure was uninspired at best. When needing to read from script, it was pretty monotone, and the other players were often not fully present in the encounter (for example, one of them who was running his character from his laptop was also busy showing the Monster Builder to one of the other players). The player of the 4th-level rogue also consistently misplayed some things (in particular, charges) thoughout the night, which wasn't caught by anybody until during the next-to-last encounter that we played.
the way life as a teacher runs, it's going to be a long time before I might think about being able to go back again, other than for being the Game Day coordinator in a couple weeks. As I've been making an active effort at trying to get possible new players to the game to the Game Day, I'm honestly worried that if they have an experience like mine last night, that it may leave a bad taste in their mouth (proverbially speaking).
I know this was less about the character and its performance than about the group, but I needed to get this off my chest in a venue where people might care -- my wife isn't a gamer and I therefore try not to bore her with such talk.
One of the good things about LFR is that there are a lot of different players and referees out there, if the group you ran with was a bit of Meh, keep looking and you should be able to find some more your style. The game is a story made by everyone at the table, keep doing your part to make the story interesting and more than just battle chess and you will find others who pitch in as well.
Wish it were that easy around here.
Two things interact here -- first is that, at least until the end of May, my available time for much of anything is scarce. The other is that the next closest groups that I know of are in the neighborhood of an hour away. I also already owe the spousal unit a significant quantity of time from this and a Kaplan class I taught this summer, so not planning to push the issue for more time.
One of the biggest frustrations for me was that I saw so much potential in the story and so little apparent interest from anybody else involved in the story part.
I understand the frustration, but one of the things about all forms of role playing games is that people approach the table with different expectations of what a 'win' is. In most games it is easy, but in RPGs it is hard. I am like you, I want some role play as well as the battle chess part of a game, but not everyone plays that way. Sorry there aren't any other local groups, I take it you have already checked the Wotc looking for game section (these appear to be hidden at the moment) and the various mailing lists like D&D contact. You might also want to check with the LFR contact for your region, they may know about groups you haven't heard of that are closer. If all that has come up dry it might be worth looking for free weekends and trying for conventions. You may not get to game as often, but you can game nonstop for the weekend anyway. Of course conventions still have the wide spread of types of players, but at least you can change around if a group isn't your cup of tea.
I've got some questions about your build. Why is your Dex 12? It will not boost your Reflex as your Int is better. That leads to my question about why your Int is high. Are you boosting skills? Your Charisma is the stat you want second highest as it is the stat for other Warlock powers.
Why did you boost your Stealth skill? Your shadow-walk gives you concealment but does not allow you to hide and if you shadow-walk you have severe minuses to sneaking because you moved.
As for the gaming group, there are some doinks. You have to be a bit forgiing of some players as they may be new, too or have a different play style or be needing some polite pointers. I am a teacher as well but my kids are grown-up so I feel your pain. Your gaming-time is precious, so don't settle. Some questions before you bail on the group. Has this group been together long? They may have developed a style or ease of play that doesn't fit for you. Has this group just formed? They may not have any group norms established or take any body into the group just for numbers. Was this an open-play situation? You take your luck with this as no one knows each other well and the style can be very choppy. Was the DM new? He may not have much skill or be new to the system/LFR and needs some direction. What kind of group was it? Some groups power-play through mods or have played them before so give the story little attention.
I hope this helps.
About the build: the Dex boost was specifically to boost Stealth and Thievery, and I did have a goal of being able to try to hide at least during the night. (Didn't happen, but I tried.) I ended up flipping the WIS and CHA scores to avoid some skill penalties, but also because I wanted this character to specifically be a CON-lock... between Vestige and Infernal powers, there's always something good to take.
Said differently, I look at 'locks like I look at Clerics: CON or CHA, and then INT. The third is tertiary. For clerics, it's similarly WIS or STR, then CHA (and then WIS if STR build).
As for the group, I think they've been playing together for quite a while -- since well before the MM2 Game Day, at any rate. Although it's open play, there seems to be a core group of players there, who (mostly) know the rules really well -- one of them made reference to helping write some of the errata. That said, it seems like the player of the 4th-level rogue still plays more 3.X than 4E, since he used an at-will power after a charge at least twice and once asked about the threat range on a dagger.
At least one player had run the mod before, and at least one other player had played it.
FWIW, as I said earlier, I mostly needed to vent because so much of what I went through is the opposite of the experience I'm trying to create for the 19th. There's a group I met with maybe once a month last year that I'm not sure whether will survive, where the experience was much more enjoyable. If I get a chance to talk to the store owner with none of the others around, I'm planning to say something to him about the experience, just so that he's aware of it -- although I don't really think there's much he can do about it.
I've got some questions about your build. Why is your Dex 12? It will not boost your Reflex as your Int is better. That leads to my question about why your Int is high. Are you boosting skills? Your Charisma is the stat you want second highest as it is the stat for other Warlock powers.
Why did you boost your Stealth skill? Your shadow-walk gives you concealment but does not allow you to hide and if you shadow-walk you have severe minuses to sneaking because you moved.
This is very debateable. IMO, Int should be the second stat for all 'locks, because it gives you AC, reflex, and riders on powers. With arcane power, only very niche star pact builds want to use a mix of Cha and Con attack powers - it's far better to pick one for your attack stat and base all your powers off it, and get the riders from Int.
Dex 12 is fine. If you've got a couple of spare points, they need to go in Dex, Str or Wis. Dex boosts your steallth, thievery and initiaitive, and Dex 13 (which you'll achieve at level 11 with this build) is required for the superb Dual Implement Spellcaster feat. Stealth is a very good skill in general, and there's nothing wrong with it for a 'lock. It's one of the few ways to gain CA as a ranged attacker. So it doesn't interact too well with shadow walk, but if you consider that the +5 for being trained cancels the -5 for moving 3, you can hide from the average monster on a roll of 11 or 12.
Personally I think the above build is absolutely fine for LFR play. I'd probably get rid of arcane reserves once you've gained a few levels and have more encounter powers, but it's great at level 1.
This is very debateable. IMO, Int should be the second stat for all 'locks, because it gives you AC, reflex, and riders on powers. With arcane power, only very niche star pact builds want to use a mix of Cha and Con attack powers - it's far better to pick one for your attack stat and base all your powers off it, and get the riders from Int.
Dex 12 is fine. If you've got a couple of spare points, they need to go in Dex, Str or Wis. Dex boosts your steallth, thievery and initiaitive, and Dex 13 (which you'll achieve at level 11 with this build) is required for the superb Dual Implement Spellcaster feat. Stealth is a very good skill in general, and there's nothing wrong with it for a 'lock. It's one of the few ways to gain CA as a ranged attacker. So it doesn't interact too well with shadow walk, but if you consider that the +5 for being trained cancels the -5 for moving 3, you can hide from the average monster on a roll of 11 or 12.
Personally I think the above build is absolutely fine for LFR play. I'd probably get rid of arcane reserves once you've gained a few levels and have more encounter powers, but it's great at level 1.
Thanks for the backup opinion on ability score distribution -- most of those were, in fact points I'd considered for if I get that much play in.
And, in fact, the plan included switching arcane reserves for distant advantage at either level 4 or level 8.
Well, you asked for advice. I run a Con-lock and find that there are some Cha based powers that are too tempting. I also went Dex for Two-Wand Wielder, and Int (but to dip into Wizard multi-class). I just find that if one isn't careful, points get spread too thin, unless you have a driving theme and plan in mind. I'm still wondering about your skill choices...
Insight +4, Stealth +7, Bluff +6, Thievery +7, Arcana +8
I know you bumped your Wis so your Insight is higher, but then your Bluff fell. In mosts sessions I've seen, there is going to be someone who is better at the Dex-based skills, Bluff, and Insight, than you will be, and you will see very limited usage. I can see some "dabbling" but you only play to one strength.
BTW, have you thought about on-line LFR? It may fit your schedule better but it is tougher to role-play.
if play-by-post LFR is an option, point me there. Otherwise, it's the same lack-of-time issue.
BTW, have you thought about on-line LFR? It may fit your schedule better but it is tougher to role-play.
Really? i find it easier to role-play online than F2F. Maybe it's because I'm not quick-witted enough to do things off the cuff.
Note that the 12 Dex becomes 13 @ 11th level, qualifying you for Duel Implement Wielder . . . So if you also like the skill benefits, there are other things to consider. 
Sorry to hear about your experience - we have the "terrible replayers" in our community too. I generally try to muster a table of non-replayers, and hope that the judge will keep them in line.
For your Game Day, you can try to pick something "new," and run a Slot-0 for your judges ahead of time. This can keep the game fresh for everyone, and you can model what you feel are the highlights of the mod for the other judges.
Good luck!
Thanks for the good wishes!
The MM2 day (coordinate by somebody else) only had 1 table. I'm not sure what turnout will be next week.
I'm scheduled to start about an hour after the store opens, primarily to attempt to make this coincide with my 4-year-old's normal nap time (except that he's been starting to not take them since it was scheduled, but that's a different issue....). So, not much time for a "slot 0", even if I thought there would be more than 1 table to show for sure.
That said, I've been passing out fliers to people, including having the store business card stapled onto the flier for those who might not know it. (Yes, I'm sneaky that way. )
If I get >5 + me, then I'll split it to two tables and do the creation run-time. Otherwise, I've got my encounters pulled (and might look for a trap to add to one of them just to make it really nasty), and just need some time to lay out where everybody starts.
I'll definitely post something about my experience after it's done.