taltamir
2010-03-28, 06:12 PM
This thread is the one specific to my first DMing experience (which I have yet to start, I am building it yet). it is based on this idea:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147041
I wish to hash out more specific things for the 3 wizards in a college gameworld in this thread.
So far my idea is to have only ~3 players who are the same class; This lets me do a lot of cool things for them without worrying about inter-class balance at all. Also it lets me do away with the god-mode that XP for encounters is (you killed 20 goblins, your mastery of magic increased by the same amount as 20 years of study). XP for fighting monsters makes a lot of sense for a fighter, as he gets invaluable combat experience; maybe even a sorcerer, but not so for a wizard...
XP system:
So far my notion is to have it be a pseudo gestalt. You have two XP pools, Wizardry XP and Combat XP.
Wizardry XP gives you wizard class levels and is acquired doing wizardly things (more on this later).
Combat XP gives levels of "combatant" measured separately... Defeating encounters under normal rules grants you XP and levels of "combatant".. for this your level of wizard is ignored. So if you somehow managed to get 10 levels of wizard via education and fight your first monster, you are considered a level 1 person for XP calculation.
Each level of combatant gives you a flat +3HP per level, improves your BAB by 0.5 per level, improves all 3 saves by +0.25/level
use sensible partial saves and bab: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135421
Gaining Wizardry XP:
Learning spells: 50XP * SL for every spell you learn. 25XP for cantrips.
Familiar: Binding a familiar gives you a one time XP boost of 500XP, this is often enough to make you levelup, this is well known by wizards and is considered a rite of passage. Once you have a familiar, you gain 10% bonus to XP gained (measured exactly, so you could have some decimals there).
Improved familiars require a "delayed gratification" sort of deal, you have to invest more into getting one. you end up with a better familiar, but lose out on the XP bonus until then.
You can also improve a familiar... for example, giving it the ability to assume a humanoid form at will, or have some SLAs or always on abilities as appropriate.
Casting spells: At the moment I have decided against granting XP for "practicing spells"... Any value worth keeping track of would result in everyone being epic within a few months. And a diminishing rewards system is insane to keep track of.
However you could spend time drilling with a spell; it requires casting it many times and has three levels. when recording a spell put the drill level near it as (D0 / D1 / D2 / D3).
D0: unpracticed
D1: +1 to concentration checks when this spell is interrupted.
D2: +1 to ranged touch attack to hit. if it requires no ranged touch attack this grants nothing.
D3: +1 to penetrate SR with that spell, if it ignores SR then this grants nothing.
Please help me come up with what constitutes drilling with a spell.
Consuming power sources: found an ancient power source? nom nom nom... XP variable
Stealing souls: for the evil necromancers, you can steal souls... sell them to demons, store them in an enchanted gem or a prison of your own mind (or body... remember in mortal combat the sorcerer who stole souls with his eye?), you gain XP per soul stolen... XP value undecided (advice appreciated).
Bind an implement: I love the notion of implements from 4e, it really fits the fantasy style wizard... staffs are a classic, but so are other items such as wands, crystals, orbs, scepters, etc.
undecided about details.
Create "source of power" items.. Example, travel to the elemental plane of earth to imbue an expensive enchanted gem you created with the energies of that plane forming a stable link and then consuming it... +XP and maybe a bonus depending on the plane you traveled too. (+1 CL when casting spells with a matching descriptor to the plane).
Binding demons / being blessed by celestials / etc... - variable rewards
Most of the times you are basically trying to come up with "goals"... each goal will require finding knowledge / crafting items / etc... A goal could be the mastery of a specific spell for example, letting you cast it at will or several times a day... And XP.
Feats: you do not gain feats on levelup! Every feat will have "prerequisites" that must be done... basic ones might require a simple ceremony or getting enchanted by a senior wizard for some gold, some training etc... big ones will involve a quest.
Crafting: Crafting does not cost any XP or GP. The crafting cost is measured in GP only, thats the cost when using MagicPoints aka MP. Magical ingredients (such as dragon blood or unicorn horns etc) will have an MP value, when you use the right magical ingredient you get the full MP, you can convert them into a generic EtherDust but they lose half their value in the process. Items can also be converted in such a manner... Not all wizards are crafters, but it is a required curriculum in this college, so all the members of the party have the crafting feats needed as soon as they are high enough level to craft. They just need to be willing to etherdust (tell me if you have a better name for it) worth the GP of the market price of the item, or they need to quest for specific ingredients if they want it cheaper.
Some items require specific ingredients and etherdust alone will not suffice... for example, you use etherdust to craft the gem to bind to elemental planes, but you need material from the plane itself, and you can't buy that in a store (you could hire adventurers to get it for you though).
More methods will be added as they are thought of.
A big notion here is to let the players come up with ideas, as well as provide them with many of my own (via teachers / tomes introducing that knowledge).
basically, the players can do almost anything... they just have to work for it.
A lot of it will involve on the fly rulings, or being told what the player wants to do beforehand and coming to the forums and ask.
But just because they can do anything doesn't mean its given on a silver platter... "i want to be god" would be retorted with "the only known methods to become a god are to slay a god and subsume his powers, or to be granted divinity by the head of a pantheon." and if the players can actually do THAT then they deserve to become gods.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147041
I wish to hash out more specific things for the 3 wizards in a college gameworld in this thread.
So far my idea is to have only ~3 players who are the same class; This lets me do a lot of cool things for them without worrying about inter-class balance at all. Also it lets me do away with the god-mode that XP for encounters is (you killed 20 goblins, your mastery of magic increased by the same amount as 20 years of study). XP for fighting monsters makes a lot of sense for a fighter, as he gets invaluable combat experience; maybe even a sorcerer, but not so for a wizard...
XP system:
So far my notion is to have it be a pseudo gestalt. You have two XP pools, Wizardry XP and Combat XP.
Wizardry XP gives you wizard class levels and is acquired doing wizardly things (more on this later).
Combat XP gives levels of "combatant" measured separately... Defeating encounters under normal rules grants you XP and levels of "combatant".. for this your level of wizard is ignored. So if you somehow managed to get 10 levels of wizard via education and fight your first monster, you are considered a level 1 person for XP calculation.
Each level of combatant gives you a flat +3HP per level, improves your BAB by 0.5 per level, improves all 3 saves by +0.25/level
use sensible partial saves and bab: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135421
Gaining Wizardry XP:
Learning spells: 50XP * SL for every spell you learn. 25XP for cantrips.
Familiar: Binding a familiar gives you a one time XP boost of 500XP, this is often enough to make you levelup, this is well known by wizards and is considered a rite of passage. Once you have a familiar, you gain 10% bonus to XP gained (measured exactly, so you could have some decimals there).
Improved familiars require a "delayed gratification" sort of deal, you have to invest more into getting one. you end up with a better familiar, but lose out on the XP bonus until then.
You can also improve a familiar... for example, giving it the ability to assume a humanoid form at will, or have some SLAs or always on abilities as appropriate.
Casting spells: At the moment I have decided against granting XP for "practicing spells"... Any value worth keeping track of would result in everyone being epic within a few months. And a diminishing rewards system is insane to keep track of.
However you could spend time drilling with a spell; it requires casting it many times and has three levels. when recording a spell put the drill level near it as (D0 / D1 / D2 / D3).
D0: unpracticed
D1: +1 to concentration checks when this spell is interrupted.
D2: +1 to ranged touch attack to hit. if it requires no ranged touch attack this grants nothing.
D3: +1 to penetrate SR with that spell, if it ignores SR then this grants nothing.
Please help me come up with what constitutes drilling with a spell.
Consuming power sources: found an ancient power source? nom nom nom... XP variable
Stealing souls: for the evil necromancers, you can steal souls... sell them to demons, store them in an enchanted gem or a prison of your own mind (or body... remember in mortal combat the sorcerer who stole souls with his eye?), you gain XP per soul stolen... XP value undecided (advice appreciated).
Bind an implement: I love the notion of implements from 4e, it really fits the fantasy style wizard... staffs are a classic, but so are other items such as wands, crystals, orbs, scepters, etc.
undecided about details.
Create "source of power" items.. Example, travel to the elemental plane of earth to imbue an expensive enchanted gem you created with the energies of that plane forming a stable link and then consuming it... +XP and maybe a bonus depending on the plane you traveled too. (+1 CL when casting spells with a matching descriptor to the plane).
Binding demons / being blessed by celestials / etc... - variable rewards
Most of the times you are basically trying to come up with "goals"... each goal will require finding knowledge / crafting items / etc... A goal could be the mastery of a specific spell for example, letting you cast it at will or several times a day... And XP.
Feats: you do not gain feats on levelup! Every feat will have "prerequisites" that must be done... basic ones might require a simple ceremony or getting enchanted by a senior wizard for some gold, some training etc... big ones will involve a quest.
Crafting: Crafting does not cost any XP or GP. The crafting cost is measured in GP only, thats the cost when using MagicPoints aka MP. Magical ingredients (such as dragon blood or unicorn horns etc) will have an MP value, when you use the right magical ingredient you get the full MP, you can convert them into a generic EtherDust but they lose half their value in the process. Items can also be converted in such a manner... Not all wizards are crafters, but it is a required curriculum in this college, so all the members of the party have the crafting feats needed as soon as they are high enough level to craft. They just need to be willing to etherdust (tell me if you have a better name for it) worth the GP of the market price of the item, or they need to quest for specific ingredients if they want it cheaper.
Some items require specific ingredients and etherdust alone will not suffice... for example, you use etherdust to craft the gem to bind to elemental planes, but you need material from the plane itself, and you can't buy that in a store (you could hire adventurers to get it for you though).
More methods will be added as they are thought of.
A big notion here is to let the players come up with ideas, as well as provide them with many of my own (via teachers / tomes introducing that knowledge).
basically, the players can do almost anything... they just have to work for it.
A lot of it will involve on the fly rulings, or being told what the player wants to do beforehand and coming to the forums and ask.
But just because they can do anything doesn't mean its given on a silver platter... "i want to be god" would be retorted with "the only known methods to become a god are to slay a god and subsume his powers, or to be granted divinity by the head of a pantheon." and if the players can actually do THAT then they deserve to become gods.