What would you do?

[Immabozo]

I am starting to play a campaign based in a world much like Ravnica from Magic The Gathering and there are the Ravnica Guilds as they are in MtG. We are supposed to base our PCs on MtG cards. What would you choose?

Also, dedicated casters (ones who get 8th level spells) have their casting stat limited to 16 to start.

So what would you build?

[Red Fel]

We are supposed to base our PCs on MtG cards. What would you choose?

Remember those multicolored dragon legends? The ones which took for-freaking-ever to get the mana to summon, but cracked things open like a walnut once you got them on the field?

Could you be one of those? Because that'd be swell.

[Phelix-Mu]

Saproling guy, what's his name. Damn, been a while since I played. I actually just restarted working on a bit of homebrew that is right up that alley (shameless plug, there). Sadly incomplete, but would work nicely with that group that was all about life/death/growth stuff. Hmm. Not Simic, and not Selesnya, I don't think. Gosh, where did all my MtG lore go to?

Anyway, I'd play a druid, maybe an urban druid, focused on the concept of the city as a macroscopic organism. Man, I have to stop with the obvious default druid.:smallsmile: Would be a nice place to try to break out an Arcane Hierophant adaptation designed to use Urban Druid instead of base druid.

Also, check out my horribly incomplete homebrew!:smalltongue:

[Immabozo]

Remember those multicolored dragon legends? The ones which took for-freaking-ever to get the mana to summon, but cracked things open like a walnut once you got them on the field?

Could you be one of those? Because that'd be swell.

You mean like Nicol Bolas? Could be interesting. His ability might be hard to replicate in D&D, "when Nicol Bolas hits a player, that player discards their hand" perhaps something that makes the target forget spells/loose spell slots?


Saproling guy, what's his name. Damn, been a while since I played. I actually just restarted working on a bit of homebrew that is right up that alley (shameless plug, there). Sadly incomplete, but would work nicely with that group that was all about life/death/growth stuff. Hmm. Not Simic, and not Selesnya, I don't think. Gosh, where did all my MtG lore go to?

Anyway, I'd play a druid, maybe an urban druid, focused on the concept of the city as a macroscopic organism. Man, I have to stop with the obvious default druid.:smallsmile: Would be a nice place to try to break out an Arcane Hierophant adaptation designed to use Urban Druid instead of base druid.

Also, check out my horribly incomplete homebrew!:smalltongue:

Cool idea, however I think homebrew will not go over too well with my group. I'll ask though

[HaikenEdge]

I'd play a Sliver.

[Vizzerdrix]

Stuffy Doll, or an ornithopter :smallsmile:

[Phelix-Mu]

Cool idea, however I think homebrew will not go over too well with my group. I'll ask though

That was more of a joke than anything else. I am looking for ppl to review it. Could be used by an experienced player, but not quite as polished as I want it to be yet.

Another interesting idea might be to reskin something like Prime Underdark Guide or some other PrC to be city guide. Oh, oh. This is a perfect time to play Urban Savant from Cityscape. That's a pretty sweet PrC there, just usually hard to manage without a city-bound campaign. Also, Arcane Dilettante would be a nice way to emulate some of the stuff from Ravnica, and the flavor of the Society of Sensation is lots of fun to play around with.

EDIT: Also, my favorite card pictures are things like Lim-Dul's Paladin, Palladia Mors, that "the Anima" elf girl, pretty much any unique elf, and the many hydras and the like that are about ten kinds of win. Also, all of the fungus creatures and thallids. I cut my teeth on the game during Fallen Empires, I think it was, and that was when much of the thallids and other fungus/spore type creatures were introduced.

[lytokk]

Should do what my group of magic players does. Play an eldrazi until everyone refuses to play with you until you burn that deck.

[Immabozo]

Stuffy Doll

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO, that is an interesting one. How would we build stuffy doll in D&D?

[Immabozo]

Should do what my group of magic players does. Play an eldrazi until everyone refuses to play with you until you burn that deck.

You know, a friend of mine killed a Emrakul with a Birds of Paridis, it was hilarious. It was tournament, too, so it made the beat down that much worse

[eggynack]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO, that is an interesting one. How would we build stuffy doll in D&D?
My first instinct is some sort of karmic strike based AoO build, but that seems kinda lame. It also feels a bit more like boros reckoner than stuffy doll, though that actually might be for the best, given this game's ravnica based inclination.

[Immabozo]

My first instinct is some sort of karmic strike based AoO build, but that seems kinda lame. It also feels a bit more like boros reckoner than stuffy doll, though that actually might be for the best, given this game's ravnica based inclination.

that is an interesting build idea. With high AC and DR, it could make a very effective build!

[lytokk]

You know, a friend of mine killed a Emrakul with a Birds of Paridis, it was hilarious. It was tournament, too, so it made the beat down that much worse

Granted, we've all beaten his eldrazi deck. Its not super hard, so long as we can get enough out before he pulls a Genesis wave.

Anyway, what might be interesting for a Ravnica guild would be to play a member of the Orzhov guild. Whenever you cast a spell, you can drain life off your opponent and add it to your HP total. Some sort of cleric would work well for this.

[Immabozo]

Granted, we've all beaten his eldrazi deck. Its not super hard, so long as we can get enough out before he pulls a Genesis wave.

Anyway, what might be interesting for a Ravnica guild would be to play a member of the Orzhov guild. Whenever you cast a spell, you can drain life off your opponent and add it to your HP total. Some sort of cleric would work well for this.

I have a friend with an eldrazi deck. Time Stop is an amazing way to counter his big threats and all his uncounterable shenanigans. Also, Progenitus/item/190042?gclid=CI6fkMGT1L0CFU5rfgodQGwA9Q (http://www.cardkingdom.com/catalog/item/190042?gclid=CI6fkMGT1L0CFU5rfgodQGwA9Q) is a nice blocker. Or just to pound his face in.

Ill have to double check on the granted abilities from the guilds

[lytokk]

I had 2 strategies, one involved multiple 1 cost goblin pingers, multiple quest for the pure flames, and a single lightning bolt. the second was my own mana ramp deck to put as much powerful stuff as fast as possible.

[Windstorm]

I'd play a Sliver.

this, entire party as slivers. have one of you take leadership for more slivers.

damn, now I want to go see if I still have my sliver deck somewhere.

[eggynack]

this, entire party as slivers. have one of you take leadership for more slivers.

damn, now I want to go see if I still have my sliver deck somewhere.
The best way to model it might be a thrallherd collective, with thrallherds picking up thrallherd thralls until the world breaks under the thrall-weight. That'd be pretty awesome.

[ddude987]

Granted, we've all beaten his eldrazi deck. Its not super hard, so long as we can get enough out before he pulls a Genesis wave.

Anyway, what might be interesting for a Ravnica guild would be to play a member of the Orzhov guild. Whenever you cast a spell, you can drain life off your opponent and add it to your HP total. Some sort of cleric would work well for this.

gen wave? pssshhh where's the show n tell? :smallcool:

For Ravnica, it would be cool to be basically anything! Be Simic and try and bring life and plants back into the urban lands, or a more evil take, begin turning people into plants muahaha. You could Gruul it up and play a frenzied bezerker or izzet and be an alchemist (if PF, the class, else just flavorwise.) azorious and be a cloistered cleric who is out to bring order in the most efficient, and possibly beneficial way (maybe do vow of nonviolence to pump DCs and just cc people)

[Immabozo]

I had 2 strategies, one involved multiple 1 cost goblin pingers, multiple quest for the pure flames, and a single lightning bolt. the second was my own mana ramp deck to put as much powerful stuff as fast as possible.

This deck would make me very angry, lol. It is a well made idea!


The best way to model it might be a thrallherd collective, with thrallherds picking up thrallherd thralls until the world breaks under the thrall-weight. That'd be pretty awesome.

this build hurts my brain.

But there are so many options!

[lytokk]

This deck would make me very angry, lol. It is a well made idea!


I only break it out in the group when someone has a deck they think can beat it, or we do 2 headed giant and for some reason, they want me to hit for as much damage as possible. So far, I've really only lost to lifegain decks. Just can't hit them hard enough fast enough.

[ddude987]

I only break it out in the group when someone has a deck they think can beat it, or we do 2 headed giant and for some reason, they want me to hit for as much damage as possible. So far, I've really only lost to lifegain decks. Just can't hit them hard enough fast enough.

You don't lose to control decks? a mob of goblin pingers still all die to wrath of god. Anybody an edh fan? That's my favorite format to play. My friends and I always play 2-headed giant edh.

[Zweisteine]

I assume you mean 9th level spells when you mention that limitation (though I suppose the effect is the same either way).

Obviously, be a planeswalker. They are more important to the story than other characters, and are automatically special snowflakes. Of course, don't tell that you're a walker right away.

Domri Rade, played as a "nature's vengeance" style druid. It's much harder to get plane shift as a druid, though. Planar Shaphard gets a limited form, but you'll need the full benefits.

Gideon Jura, as a "holy protector" style cleric. War domain, heavy armor, a sword, and you're good to go. You worship the custom god of lawful goodness, or Heironeus, take your pick.

Jace Beleren as an enchantment/illusion-focused wizard (or sorcerer). I would probably go for Gnome Illusionist, simply because of the great optimization potential. More thematically appropriate would probably be a Changeling Illusionist/Enchanter (using the racial substitution level to get both, and banning evocation, necromancy, and either transmutation (bad idea) or abjuration (slightly less bad idea). Diviner might be a better idea, but specializing in divination isn't such a good idea (neither is enchantment).

Ral Zarek as a creation/crafting-focused wizard. Specialize in conuration or transmutation, ban illusion, enchantment, and necromancy (keep evocation because red is blasty), and take some item creation feats or an artificer dip. I would recommend straight artificer, but then you don't get plane shift.

Vraska the Unseen as a necromancy/transmutation-focused wizard. This one is harder to pull of with proper themes.


And when you get plans shift, go to Mirrodin, or Zendikar, or Lorwyn.


Or be Ral Zarek as an artificer, make an item of plane shift, go to mirrodin, and do whatever you want with the world of spastic artifacts. And when you get your homunculus, model it after Fblthp.


I will now align the 11 core base classes with the most appropriate guilds:
Barbarian: Cult of Rakdos, Gruul Clans
Bard: Hah! Who needs bards?
Cleric: Orzhov Syndicate, Cult of Rakdos, Azorius Senate (clerics of Law), Boros Legion
Druid: Selesnya Conclave, Gruul Clans, Golgari Swarm
Fighter: Boros Legion, Azorius Senate
Monk: Monks are like naked fighters, but worse.
Paladin: Boros Legion, Azorius Senate (soem neutral variant paladin?)
Ranger: Gruul Clans, Selesya Conclave, Boros Legion (urban rangers)
Rogue: House Dimir
Sorcerer: Izzet League, House Dimir,
Wizard: Izzet League, Azorius Senate, Simic Combine

And the NPC classes:
Adept: Azorius Senate, Boros Legion, House Dimir, Orzhov Syndicate, Gruul Clans, Golgari Swarm, Cult of Rakdos, Selesnya Conclave
Aristocrat: Azorius Senate, Orzhov Syndicate
Commoners: don't get to be in guilds.
Expert: Azorius Senate, House Dimir, Izzet League, Orzhov Syndicate, Simic Combine
Magewright (from Eberron): Azorius Senate, Houe Dimir, Izzet League, Simic Combine
Warrior: Azorius Senate, Boros Legion, Golgari Swarm, Gruul Clans, Selesnya Conclave

[Gabrosin]

You know, a friend of mine killed a Emrakul with a Birds of Paridis, it was hilarious. It was tournament, too, so it made the beat down that much worse

In a multiplayer EDH game, I watched as a friend was forced to chump-block an attacking Birds of Paradise with Emrakul (before he got banned), because one of the other players had Ghitu War Cry and an ocean of red mana available, and the swing would have been lethal otherwise.

To answer the OP's question, we probably need a little more detail. You can model almost anything in M:tG into something you can use in D&D. The planeswalkers have already been suggested as an obvious place to start. What sort of character do you want to play?

If the campaign world is truly based off Ravnica, then you'll be adventuring in an urban environment. Druids and rangers would therefore be weaker choices, while rogues might be ideal.

[Sith_Happens]

Be a Golgari member, any Golgari member. Because Ravnica is the only setting I know of where necromancer Druids are a thing, and it turns out necromancer Druids are totally awesome.:smallcool:

[Immabozo]

I only break it out in the group when someone has a deck they think can beat it, or we do 2 headed giant and for some reason, they want me to hit for as much damage as possible. So far, I've really only lost to lifegain decks. Just can't hit them hard enough fast enough.

Massacre word would do some pretty damage to you. I have a few decks that I think could give it a good challenge. I wont be too cocky and say beat it, cause I know how silly some decks can be.


I assume you mean 9th level spells when you mention that limitation (though I suppose the effect is the same either way).

Obviously, be a planeswalker. They are more important to the story than other characters, and are automatically special snowflakes. Of course, don't tell that you're a walker right away.

Domri Rade, played as a "nature's vengeance" style druid. It's much harder to get plane shift as a druid, though. Planar Shaphard gets a limited form, but you'll need the full benefits.

Gideon Jura, as a "holy protector" style cleric. War domain, heavy armor, a sword, and you're good to go. You worship the custom god of lawful goodness, or Heironeus, take your pick.

Jace Beleren as an enchantment/illusion-focused wizard (or sorcerer). I would probably go for Gnome Illusionist, simply because of the great optimization potential. More thematically appropriate would probably be a Changeling Illusionist/Enchanter (using the racial substitution level to get both, and banning evocation, necromancy, and either transmutation (bad idea) or abjuration (slightly less bad idea). Diviner might be a better idea, but specializing in divination isn't such a good idea (neither is enchantment).

Ral Zarek as a creation/crafting-focused wizard. Specialize in conuration or transmutation, ban illusion, enchantment, and necromancy (keep evocation because red is blasty), and take some item creation feats or an artificer dip. I would recommend straight artificer, but then you don't get plane shift.

Vraska the Unseen as a necromancy/transmutation-focused wizard. This one is harder to pull of with proper themes.

And when you get plans shift, go to Mirrodin, or Zendikar, or Lorwyn.

Or be Ral Zarek as an artificer, make an item of plane shift, go to mirrodin, and do whatever you want with the world of spastic artifacts. And when you get your homunculus, model it after Fblthp.

Spoilered for ease of reading

Yes, I meant 9th level spells.

I was thinking of a jace the mindsculptor build with wizard 1 (with precocious apprentice)/psion 3/cerebremancer. Because "mindsculptor" screams telepath to me.


In a multiplayer EDH game, I watched as a friend was forced to chump-block an attacking Birds of Paradise with Emrakul (before he got banned), because one of the other players had Ghitu War Cry and an ocean of red mana available, and the swing would have been lethal otherwise.

To answer the OP's question, we probably need a little more detail. You can model almost anything in M:tG into something you can use in D&D. The planeswalkers have already been suggested as an obvious place to start. What sort of character do you want to play?

If the campaign world is truly based off Ravnica, then you'll be adventuring in an urban environment. Druids and rangers would therefore be weaker choices, while rogues might be ideal.

I once had a 3 headed giant game where blightsteel colossus was "Phthisis"-ed (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=phthisis) and that one hurt real bad!

As far as what I want to play, I usually do melee types, so a cast is a nice change. I was looking at one of the theurge type classes with precocious apprentice for early entry.


Be a Golgari member, any Golgari member. Because Ravnica is the only setting I know of where necromancer Druids are a thing, and it turns out necromancer Druids are totally awesome.:smallcool:

necro-druid is REALLY interesting... I will for sure research this one and ask!

[Gabrosin]

Magic is littered with spellcasters (shocking, I know). Jace isn't a bad idea... his ability to draw cards could be modeled by mechanics that recover expended spells or learn new ones, and bouncing creatures is similar to banishment... or you can "bounce" them by debuffing them with slow and inflicting conditions that sap their actions (stun/daze/etc.).

Vraska might be tough to model without ECLs since she's a Gorgon. If your alignment tends to the evil side, how about Liliana? She seems like the sort that would throw save-or-dies all over the place.

If you plan to follow a more heroic path, you could be a summoner modeled after Elspeth, Ajani, or Garruk, depending on what flavor of summoned creature you prefer. Chandra would make an effective blaster mage, though that's a bit routine.

Another great option is to model after Tezzeret and be an Artificer. It should be obvious how powerful those can be.

This doesn't go down the caster side, but if I were building I might aim for someone like Tajic, Blade of the Legion. A powerful warrior in armor with indestructibility... simply focus on gathering up buffs and immunities until you're truly indestructible. He also has the benefit of actually being from a Ravnica block.

[Tvtyrant]

I would probably just assign each guild a sub-system and call it a day. Izzet would get Psionics, Gruul would get Incarnum, Boros would get ToB, Golgari would nab the Dread Necromancer/Beguiler/Warmage, Orzhov would get ToM, etc. Different incompatible systems which are attached to each guild concept.

[geonova]

i'm with the people who recommend a thrallherd sliver, just make your thralls have classes like bard and martial and enjoy the multitude of boosts

[lytokk]

You don't lose to control decks? a mob of goblin pingers still all die to wrath of god. Anybody an edh fan? That's my favorite format to play. My friends and I always play 2-headed giant edh.

none of my friends actually ever used a control deck. But it would mess me up, if the pingers were my only strategy. Pingers, guttersnipes, 3 chandras, 2 chandras phoenix, and a boatload of direct damage spells always keeps me with a strategy.

Immabozo, I'm not saying my deck is undefeatable, but its got an 80% win rate, which makes it beyond the best deck I've ever built. Turn 4 wins are nice, not fast enough to get into any legacy tournament play, but its good.

[Immabozo]

Immabozo, I'm not saying my deck is undefeatable, but its got an 80% win rate, which makes it beyond the best deck I've ever built. Turn 4 wins are nice, not fast enough to get into any legacy tournament play, but its good.

Well my fastest deck mana ramps up real fast and then Tooth and nail (https://www.google.com/search?q=tooth+and+nail+mtg&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=9N5FU7uiK4OGyAHxiIFI&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&biw=1024&bih=624#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=mLqIU20VyMy0MM%253A%3BfI4Vo9bvcSrP6M%3Bhttp% 253A%252F%252F25.media.tumblr.com%252Ftumblr_matd4 yIzmj1rzigheo1_400.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fnerffi e.tumblr.com%252Fpost%252F32134986382%252Fhttp-tappedout-net-mtg-decks-tooth-and-nail-23-09%3B312%3B445) out some big beat sticks (Progenitus is one I need to get, but Akroma, Blitesteel and Darksteel are some of my heavy hitters) and it only wins turn 4 or 5 on the nuts draw. Like land, sol ring, turn two, mana ramp, drop a mana ramp creature, repeat turn 3, turn four, throw out a few beatsticks, turn 5 win.

EDIT: forgot the whole point of my post, haha.

So I was looking into a few builds. The Green/black druid necro was approved.

I was also thinking wizard/psion/cerebromaner, or perhaps druid/psion/cerebromancer, so that is either anything/blue, or green/blue, respectively

I was also thinking a flovorful build. 10 points if you can guess the inspiration. A black/white bard with max ranks in perform (dance)

[ddude987]

none of my friends actually ever used a control deck. But it would mess me up, if the pingers were my only strategy. Pingers, guttersnipes, 3 chandras, 2 chandras phoenix, and a boatload of direct damage spells always keeps me with a strategy.

reminds me of a deck I played in standard when Scars of Mirrodan was in. mono red, 4 koth, 4 hellrider, 4 chandra's phoenix, 4 goblin fireslinger, you get the idea. Just hyper aggressive aggro that tried to win on turn 4.