Whoo! First game tonight!

[13_CBS]

Well, after desperately wanting to play D&D for about a year now, I finally get the opportunity to do so tonight over xFire! :smallbiggrin:

The campaign is apparently going to be set in Faerun. I'm playing a level 2 Neutral Good cleric of Kelemvor, God of Death. Since the game already started a bit while ago, I'll be joining the party as a poor soul locked in the dungeon they're raiding.

So...any advice for a newbie? Any protips, advice on etiquette, etc...

[Raltar]

Sounds fine...except you can't be a neutral good cleric of Kelemvor due to the one step rule...unless it's houseruled or something. I'm actually playing a Lawful cleric of Kelemvor in one of my games.

[13_CBS]

I thought that too, but then I saw this:

http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/deities4.pl

[Raltar]

I wonder what the source for that is because in Faiths and Pantheons, it says his only cleric alignments are LG, LN and LE. Course, that is a 3.0 book, but it shouldn't matter.

[13_CBS]

Well, that was a bust. One of the players decided to go to sleep before the game happened.

:smallfrown:

[ClericofPhwarrr]

Sorry to hear that :smallfrown:. But don't let one bad experience ruin D&D for you!

[Devils_Advocate]

Tough luck. Hopefully you will be able to reschedule your first game for sometime soon and such problems will not reoccur in the near future.


I wonder what the source for that is because in Faiths and Pantheons, it says his only cleric alignments are LG, LN and LE. Course, that is a 3.0 book, but it shouldn't matter.
It looks like they made a mistake on the website. As such, I would advise 13_CBS to ask the DM whether this contravention of the usual rule is acceptable (or just change the character's alignment to LG).

That said, Kelemvor really strikes me as more Lawful Good than Lawful Neutral. He not only fairly judges the dead, generally rewarding the virtuous and punishing the wicked, but seeks to alleviate mortal fears. He's also decidedly anti-undead, which is stereotypically associated with Good and fits the way Good clerics -- but not Evil clerics -- function (destroying undead rather than controlling them). It certainly seems to me like his general philosophy would be more readily embraced by a Neutral Good cleric than a Lawful Evil one.

I suppose that the reason that they made him LN was due to his willingness to deal so harshly with the faithless. True, the faithless get a decidedly unpleasant afterlife even if they did nothing to really deserve it. But my understanding is that none of the other deities really have a problem with this, and generally support it; that doesn't keep (some of) them from being classified as Good. That Kelemvor personally administers this treatment seems to be more a consequence of his station than anything else; indeed, wasn't it a duty that he initially rejected and tried to avoid, eventually only reluctantly accepting it as a very unfortunate necessity? Granted, all of this is based purely on my limitted secondhand knowledge of the subject.

[Keld Denar]

My biggest suggestion to you is to not be useless in combat. So many new players who play low level casters (usually clerics, wizards, druids) in combat cast their couple spells, and then just sit there for the rest of the combat waiting for everyone to clean it up. There are loads of things you can do to be useful. For example:

Buy scrolls. A little cash can go a long way. Scribe em if you got em.

Buy consumables. Tanglefoot bags are full of win at low levels, and are touch attacks. Alchemist fire does about as much damage as a low level magic missile, and probably more than that puny crossbow you have.

Get a reach weapon and "aid another" you can give +2 bonuses to the fighter or rogue types attack or AC. You only have to hit AC 10, which even a nonproficient level 2 character with an 8 str can do 35% of the time, more with bless or bard song.

Good luck and have fun.

[13_CBS]

Thanks for the advice, folks!

Anything else I should know before I start?

[ClericofPhwarrr]

I always find it fun to give my characters a quirk or flaw (often, several of them) that I can use to humorous effect. My first character was a very solemn, single-minded cleric of St. Cuthbert who despite having a long backstory, didn't have any... character to him. All good rolls meant I had only 1 stat that was a +1, everything else was a +2 or +3. And I hadn't included any fun, interesting sorts of details in his backstory, nor any real weaknesses.

I found him rather a bore to roleplay (also, despite buffing and trying to frontline, I didn't do so well at that either at our low levels). I haven't repeated the mistake.