Meeky
2011-06-04, 12:13 PM
So, I'm a D&D fanatic that's been playing D&D since I was a wee one, but this is probably going to be my first time actually DMing (as my previous sessions were lame one-shots several years ago). My players are all fairly new to the game, and I trust them all enough on an OOC level not to have to worry about 'Tiers' and all that, since we're all roleplayers before we are powergamers. It should also be noted that this campaign is being played completely online.
Note that, for this campaign, I'm using Weapon Group Feats, max player HP per level (because I always hated rolling 1's on my HP EVERY TIME), and having everyone start at level 3 (before level adjustment is tossed in, of course). Everyone has a few +1 items or possibly a single +2 item because I wanted to make sure they have something better than masterwork to start. I currently have four players, but may go as high as five or six before actually starting this campaign.
With the above statements in mind, consider my following questions.
The First Issue
Since three of my players are previous D&D players and have fought your typical humanoid monster before, I decided to spice things up a bit. I took your basic orc, got rid of the 'Alertness' feat, and slapped on 'Phalanx Fighting' from the Complete Warrior. Toss on Large Shields, give them long swords and short spears, and you have orcs that deal slightly less damage but have 18 AC in a shield wall.
I decided that these shield-walling jerkfaces would need something to back them up, so I decided to add torch and net wielding orcs as well -- Rogues instead of your typical warrior -- to be added sparsely in the fights I have planned with the orcs. Since they're proficient with those weapons (and, likely, none of the players will be), I can see them as being potentially dangerous opponents.
Given the above two orcs I've written up, both using your basic orc's stats from the Monster Manual, could this sort of encounter prove to be too deadly for a party of level 3 do-gooders who, again, aren't powergaming? There are tactics that could be used to defeat these sort of orcs, since you simply separate the shield-wallers or kill one with a spell to reduce them to 16 AC, but otherwise they might be a big pain.
Besides that, would even a fully-healed party of this level be able to efficiently take down a three-headed hydra? (Five headed just looks too plain mean, man, without Improved Sunder or a lot of Scorching Rays. I'd modify the hydra's abilities to go down accordingly, stat-wise, in the same way you reduce from seven to six, and six to five, and all that.)
The Second Issue
I've been on a quest for a SIMPLE program that has a very SIMPLE purpose. I want a battle grid, preferably browser based (though a download is fine if I can see screenshots of it) that will be usable by multiple people at once, and will update for them at once. Again, something SIMPLE -- Heck, even if it's just a good Paint-like program that happens to let you paste pictures into it, like grids, that everyone can use at once.
I don't need a chat function, because we're already using an awesome website to record what we type in a Microsoft Works-like document that comes with a chatbox, thus allowing us to use the chatbox for OOC communication and the document for IC statements and DM description. All I need, with or without any random gears and gadgets, is an online program that can be used for a battle map.
(Note: I won't be disappointed if I can't get a battle map. I've played D&D games online where we just didn't use one. It'd be nice to have one, though.)
Again, I'm not looking for anything super-advanced, or for a program to roll die for me or anything extra. All I need is something that will share with everyone what everyone else does on the program, preferably with drawing tools or simple circles to represent characters.
My apologies for the long post; thank you for reading and thank you beforehand for any answers I receive.
Note that, for this campaign, I'm using Weapon Group Feats, max player HP per level (because I always hated rolling 1's on my HP EVERY TIME), and having everyone start at level 3 (before level adjustment is tossed in, of course). Everyone has a few +1 items or possibly a single +2 item because I wanted to make sure they have something better than masterwork to start. I currently have four players, but may go as high as five or six before actually starting this campaign.
With the above statements in mind, consider my following questions.
The First Issue
Since three of my players are previous D&D players and have fought your typical humanoid monster before, I decided to spice things up a bit. I took your basic orc, got rid of the 'Alertness' feat, and slapped on 'Phalanx Fighting' from the Complete Warrior. Toss on Large Shields, give them long swords and short spears, and you have orcs that deal slightly less damage but have 18 AC in a shield wall.
I decided that these shield-walling jerkfaces would need something to back them up, so I decided to add torch and net wielding orcs as well -- Rogues instead of your typical warrior -- to be added sparsely in the fights I have planned with the orcs. Since they're proficient with those weapons (and, likely, none of the players will be), I can see them as being potentially dangerous opponents.
Given the above two orcs I've written up, both using your basic orc's stats from the Monster Manual, could this sort of encounter prove to be too deadly for a party of level 3 do-gooders who, again, aren't powergaming? There are tactics that could be used to defeat these sort of orcs, since you simply separate the shield-wallers or kill one with a spell to reduce them to 16 AC, but otherwise they might be a big pain.
Besides that, would even a fully-healed party of this level be able to efficiently take down a three-headed hydra? (Five headed just looks too plain mean, man, without Improved Sunder or a lot of Scorching Rays. I'd modify the hydra's abilities to go down accordingly, stat-wise, in the same way you reduce from seven to six, and six to five, and all that.)
The Second Issue
I've been on a quest for a SIMPLE program that has a very SIMPLE purpose. I want a battle grid, preferably browser based (though a download is fine if I can see screenshots of it) that will be usable by multiple people at once, and will update for them at once. Again, something SIMPLE -- Heck, even if it's just a good Paint-like program that happens to let you paste pictures into it, like grids, that everyone can use at once.
I don't need a chat function, because we're already using an awesome website to record what we type in a Microsoft Works-like document that comes with a chatbox, thus allowing us to use the chatbox for OOC communication and the document for IC statements and DM description. All I need, with or without any random gears and gadgets, is an online program that can be used for a battle map.
(Note: I won't be disappointed if I can't get a battle map. I've played D&D games online where we just didn't use one. It'd be nice to have one, though.)
Again, I'm not looking for anything super-advanced, or for a program to roll die for me or anything extra. All I need is something that will share with everyone what everyone else does on the program, preferably with drawing tools or simple circles to represent characters.
My apologies for the long post; thank you for reading and thank you beforehand for any answers I receive.