Advice for our party

[danielxcutter]

Hello, fellow playgrounders! I've finally made it into a PbP, and I'd be grateful if you guys gave us a few tips.

Notable facts about the campaign



DM says that campaign will feature a homebrewed Elder Evil. The signs will be global and brutal, and how much depends on how well we do.

Campaign starts at ECL 5, and will likely go up to 17~18. DM said that we could go up a little higher if the situation requires it.

Huge campaign setting. I think that there were more than a dozen areas.


Alternate rules



LA buyoff

Weapon groups



The Players



LG Whisper Gnome Cloistered Cleric 5(Deity: Rill Cleverthrush)

-Stats: 8/16/16/16/16/8

-Domains: Knowledge, Travel

-Feats: Knowledge Devotion*, Obscure Lore, Travel Devotion

-Weapon groups: Basic, heavy blades

-Special: The player says that he's played RPGs a lot, so he wants something new. He doesn't really seem to have optimization in mind - and that's not a problem, since he's the only tier 1 class - but he did say that his character can learn to become better if needed.

Also, the DM allowed him to trade his bonus Knowledge domain for the Devotion feat and take it again from his normal domain choices(Rill Cleverthrush has Knowledge, Travel, and Magic).

Has the Collector of Stories skill trick.

-Personal opinion: Not really optimized, but honestly, Divine Power is a thing, plus most of the best spells on the Cleric list don't need a save. Plus, he's got one of those holy symbols that grant extra turning attempts, so he can power Travel Devotion well enough. Or, well... turn undead, since everyone else isn't that well equipped for fighting undead.

NG Pixie Unarmed Swordsage 1

-Stats: 4(!)/28(!!!)/14/14/20(!!)/14(Note: Not sure if this includes the +2 from Gloves of Dexterity.)

-Feats: Shadow Blade, Expeditious Dodge(Pixie bonus feat), Weapon Finesse(Pixie bonus feat), Improved Unarmed Strike(Unarmed Swordsage bonus feat), Weapon Focus: Shadow Hand weapons(Swordsage bonus feat)

-Weapon groups: Basic, Light blades, Crossbows

-Maneuvers: Burning Blade, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Shadow Blade Technique, Mighty Throw, Counter Charge, Wolf Fang Strike

-Stance: Child of Shadows

-Special: Has Wyrmfang Amulet and Third Eye: Freedom.

-Personal Opinion: At first I was worried that this character would be a major glass cannon, but that was before I remembered that Pixies have DR 10/cold iron. :smalltongue: Still worried a bit about AoE damage, but personally, I think this guy's covered for a while.

LE Catfolk Warlock 4

-Stats: 12/18/14/14/8/19

-Feats: Mortalbane, Ability Focus: Eldritch Blast

-Weapon groups: Basic, Light blades, Spears and lances

-Invocations: Eldritch Blast, See the Unseen, Beguiling Influence, Baleful Utterance

-Special: Has Wand of Lesser Vigor and three scrolls of Knock.

-Personal opinion: Seems to be a fairly optimized blastlock. I honestly find it amusing that he's basically a quasi-rakshasa, but that could just be me. Also, he's the only Evil character, which could be an IC problem later down the road, but I'm not worried yet.

NG Human Fighter 2/Psion(Nomad) 3

-Stats: 16/10/14/18/13/10

-Feats: Power Attack, Able Learner, Psicrystal Affinity, Track, Improved Initiative, Shape Soulmeld: Shedu Crown

-Weapon groups: Basic, Heavy blades, Exotic(Jotar), Bows, Spears and lances

-Powers: Vigor, Entangling Ectoplasm, Inertial Armor, Energy Ray, Detect Psionics(1st), Share Pain, Dimension Swap(2nd)

-Special: Psicrystal(Nimble). Planning to grab Mindsight later through Open Chakra, Psionic(DM allowed this). DM has ruled that a) Practiced Manifester counts towards bonus PP. b) Psicrystals gain HD.

ACF: Skilled City-Dweller. Changed Ride(from Nomad) to Tumble, and Handle Animal(from Fighter) to Gather Information.

Planning on entering Illithid Slayer - or just Slayer, if DM okays that. If latter works, planning on choosing Psion-killer. You know, the crystal golem that has Dispel Psionics as an at-will PLA as a free action 1/round?

-Personal opinion: I'm fairly content with my character. :smallbiggrin:





Misc.



Unfortunately, we lack a trapfinder. Perhaps I should grab a dorje of Knock, Psionic... or maybe wait until I can grab Time Hop. :smalltongue: Still, that could still bite us in the ass later.

DM's allowed all official 3.5 material, and if I understand correctly, all non-updated content of 3.0 as well. Plus Dragon Magazine if he has access to said issue.

DM also says that the setting has Artificers, so we should feel free to come up with custom items.








After we get into the game a bit more, I'll start to post the campaign log! The campaign's called Memories of Evil.

[Thurbane]

Even with DR 10/cold iron and SR 15, your Pixie IS a glass cannon. Especially considering he looks like he wants to be a melee type. His maneuvers and stances will help a little, but not enough.

Any AoE attack appropriate for a 5th level party is extremely likely to kill him; especially something like an (Su) breath weapon that doesn't allow SR.

[danielxcutter]

Even with DR 5/cold iron and SR 15, your Pixie IS a glass cannon. Especially considering he looks like he wants to be a melee type. His maneuvers and stances will help a little, but not enough.

Any AoE attack appropriate for a 5th level party is extremely likely to kill him; especially something like an (Su) breath weapon that doesn't allow SR.

Technically the character is a girl(and the player is a guy), but anyways, I get it. At least at-will Greater Invisibility means that the biggest problem is being too close to the other members when they get blasted with a Fireball or something. So... get him an Amulet of Tears and a Ring of Evasion?

[Waker]

You might wanna consider having your Cleric prepare Shield Other every day for your Pixie friend until you can afford a pair of Friend Shield Rings. That should help offset their very low HP. Unless you think the DM specifically likes traps, it doesn't come up all that often, so lacking Trapfinding isn't that critical. Can't really offer any other advice unless I know what you want.

[danielxcutter]

You might wanna consider having your Cleric prepare Shield Other every day for your Pixie friend until you can afford a pair of Friend Shield Rings.

That sounds fine. I should probably wear the other ring, since I'm the beatstick *and* I plan to abuse the Psicrystal-Vigor-Share Pain combo.


Unless you think the DM specifically likes traps, it doesn't come up all that often, so lacking Trapfinding isn't that critical. Can't really offer any other advice unless I know what you want.

Probably not, plus there are plenty of ways to bypass traps. The only possible problem is when setting off a trap also sets off an alarm, but that's what I plan to buy that dorje for!

[Thurbane]

Technically the character is a girl(and the player is a guy), but anyways, I get it. At least at-will Greater Invisibility means that the biggest problem is being too close to the other members when they get blasted with a Fireball or something. So... get him an Amulet of Tears and a Ring of Evasion?

If he can afford them, definitely.

Waker's advice is good too: anything to soak up or distribute damage is a good idea; as is anything that gives temporary hit points (such as the Amulet of Tears).

With 10hp, even having a good Reflex save isn't going to help all the time. A CR 5 green dragon, for example, does an average of 21 damage with it's breath. On a successful save, the pixie is disabled; on a failed save, the pixie is dead.

I can't say in good faith that playing an LA +4 melee type is ever going to be a great idea; but if that's the character the player wants, then I hope the dice gods are in his favour! :smallbiggrin:

[danielxcutter]

If he can afford them, definitely.

Waker's advice is good too: anything to soak up or distribute damage is a good idea; as is anything that gives temporary hit points (such as the Amulet of Tears).

With 10hp, even having a good Reflex save isn't going to help all the time. A CR 5 green dragon, for example, does an average of 21 damage with it's breath. On a successful save, the pixie is disabled; on a failed save, the pixie is dead.

I can't say in good faith that playing an LA +4 melee type is ever going to be a great idea; but if that's the character the player wants, then I hope the dice gods are in his favour! :smallbiggrin:

We're using LA buyoff, btw. Also, I guess that burst effects are the biggest threat for him, followed by casters that can pierce his invisibility and have spells that damage without using attack rolls, then? I mean, Glitterdust + Magic Missile could really screw up his plans.