A New Test of Might!

[afroakuma]

Alright, everyone, the last series of staged battles under the banner of Test Your Might were very enlightening. Now, I ask for challengers to face more complex foes.

As these foes are notably more complex, I've decided to apply more than just my own DM's perspective on how best to run them.

Test Your Might runs a mock battle between a four-person party and an unknown, homebrewed opposition, via PbP. If you would like to join on the players' side, please read the Players' Rules (and only the Players' Rules) below. If you would like to join on the DMs' side, all information is available to you.

Players' Rules

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You will be constructing a party of four characters, to a reasonable level of optimization, with the following rules:

• The party must all be the same level

• If you have XP costs to pay or abilities requiring XP, you are treated as having half the amount it would take for you to reach the next level. You cannot spend XP over this limit.

• The party has free rein to purchase goods and magic items as their WBL would allow, excepting items which grant a wish or gate power or a fashion to obtain same (candle of invocation, ring of three wishes etc.)

• Each character uses a 32 point buy.

• HP is full on first HD, average on every HD thereafter, rounded down.

• The party must conform to these specifications:

○○○ One barbarian, fighter, monk, psionic warrior or Complete Warrior base class

○○○ One bard, ranger, rogue or Complete Adventurer base class

○○○ One cleric, druid, paladin or Complete Divine base class

○○○ One psion, sorcerer, wilder, wizard or Complete Arcane base class

(or, to put it more succintly, one beatstick, one skillmonkey, one healbot and one blaster)

• The books allowed are Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, Expanded Psionics Handbook, Unearthed Arcana, Tome of Battle, Magic Item Compendium and Spell Compendium. The character in each role can use the Complete book from their listing.

• You may select one additional sourcebook from the following list: Complete Champion, Complete Mage, Complete Psionic, Complete Scoundrel; or, you may request specific material from another book.

• If one or more of your characters are psionic, you may exchange the Complete book that character would normally be permitted with Complete Psionic. Should you choose to do so, the original book is no longer available and must be used as an extra source if used at all. You must do this for each character who wishes to use Complete Psionic if you do not intend to select it as your extra source.

• The Leadership feat is specifically banned.

• The Craft Contingent Spell feat is specifically banned.

• The spell genesis is specifically banned.

• Explicit cheese is to be kept to a minimum.

DM's Rules

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We are planning the best stratagem for a villain to take on a party of four. Each villain available is homebrewed; some have abilities that permit creative exploitation of the rules, others have budgets beyond a PC of their ECL.

We may set up to reasonable parameters the area of the encounter and dictate the encounter range. Any questions or difficulties that might crop up, or ambiguities raised by a particular rule, ability etc. must be determined in advance if needed.

For the combat setup, you must also dictate lighting conditions and decor. Ad hoc rulings as necessary are encouraged. Until the party can actually see the enemy, list all enemy initiative rolls and actions in a spoiler under the bolded heading Observers Only. Any other battle data that the player should not be privy to should also go in such a spoiler.

For the ease of observers, any rules discussion, clarification, debate etc. should take place in Spoiler tags.

• ECL 1-2 is an underwater encounter against a CR 4 merfolk Sorcerer.

• ECL 5 is a cavern encounter against a CR 8 predatory vermin.

• ECL 7-9 is an encounter against a CR 12 living bodak with an energy draining ray.

• ECL 9-10 is an encounter against a CR 14 unseelie fey Hexblade.

• ECL 10-11 {New!} is an indoor encounter against a CR 15 sentient living spell.

• ECL 12-13 is a stealth encounter against a CR 17 Ninja assassin.

• ECL 14 is a cavern encounter against a CR 19 predatory vermin.

• ECL 15-16 is a dark encounter against a CR 20 wraith dragon.

• ECL 20 is an encounter against a CR 25 lich.

Battle Rules

• Encounters occur in a chamber dictated by the needs of the opposition, in an otherwise infinite and unoccupied world.

• Encounters occur without foreknowledge on the part of either side.

• Encounters occur at a range determined by the DMs.

• No external force is paying active attention to the conflict. No planar entity of any kind will provide you pre-battle assistance.

• The party may elect to begin combat having had time to generally prepare (including buffs) or not. If they choose the former, then the opposition benefits from same.

• The party may alternately elect to begin combat with all-day preparations intact only. If they do so, then the opposition benefits from same. An all-day buff is one which has a duration of at least 12 hours, or a spell cast multiple times to a total duration of at least 12 hours (in which case you begin battle as though you had cast that spell every single time).

• The party cannot bring called or summoned beings, or allies other than those granted by class feature, to the start of the battle.

• All rolls (both player's and DM's) are made using the forum roller and are made public.

Battles Currently Available

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• Party ECL 1-2

• Party ECL 5 Starbuck II vs. ?

• Party ECL 7-9 (Villain by Talic)

• Party ECL 7-9 Starbuck II vs. ?

• Party ECL 9-10

• Party ECL 10-11 {New!}

• Party ECL 12-13

• Party ECL 14

• Party ECL 15-16

• Party ECL 20 Ixahinon vs. Keld Denar

Seeking DMs for ECL 5 and ECL 7-9

Currently Running:

Soundstage A (Empty)
- vs. -

Soundstage B (ECL 7-9)
Fenix of Doom vs. Talic

Soundstage C (ECL 15-16)
Eurus vs. Talic

Soundstage D (ECL 5)
lord_khaine vs. Jkoshe

Soundstage E (ECL 9-10)
Ernir vs. Adumbration

Soundstage F (ECL 7-9)
Master Rahl22 vs. Ixahinon

Soundstage G (ECL 9-10)
Chain vs. TheCountAlucard

Soundstage H (Empty)
- vs. -

Trials to Date: 14

Results

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Trial I Adumbration vs afroakuma
ECL 1-2
Buff Time None
7 rounds
TPK

Trial III Jkoshe vs afroakuma
ECL 7-9
Buff Time None
9 rounds
Concession (2 fatalities)

Trial IV Archetype- vs Olo Demonsbane
ECL 14
Buff Time Day-long
7 rounds
TPK

Trial V Talic vs Siosilvar
ECL 5
Buff Time None
9 rounds
Player Victory

Trial VI Saph vs afroakuma
ECL 1-2
Buff Time None
12 rounds
Player Victory

Trial ? Eurus vs Dark Scary
ECL 14
Buff Time Day-long
Duration unknown
Concession (3 fatalities)

Trial X Bakkan vs Saph
ECL 1-2
Buff Time None
8 rounds
TPK

Trial XI Glimbur vs Saph
ECL 1-2
Buff Time None
15 rounds
TPK

Non-Trial Tidesinger vs (not played)
ECL 20
Buff Time Undeclared
Not run
Pre-trial concession

Trial Special Olo Demonsbane vs Jkoshe (Jkoshe)
ECL 3 (Jkoshe)
Buff Time Day Long
247 rounds
Player Victory (2 fatalities)

[Keld Denar]

Shotgun DMing role! I had so much fun last time killing StarbuckII's party with badass Pandamoniites last time. Totally up to doing it again!

[afroakuma]

Wait until you see what we're playing with this time.

[7th lvl scrub]

*Raises hand to be player*

[afroakuma]

The list of battles available is up if you want to put your name down.

[Keld Denar]

I'll take ECL 12-13 and 20, and even 9-10 as needed. Heck, I'd take anything, depending on player demand, but dealing with high level is something that I can do, and well. Oh goody...

/maniacal cackling

[Mando Knight]

Why does Paladin get lumped into the Healbot section? With full BAB, d10 hitdice, heavy armor, and a few class features that help with Ubercharger builds, the class is more of a beatstick...

[afroakuma]

I'll take ECL 12-13 and 20, and even 9-10 as needed. Heck, I'd take anything, depending on player demand, but dealing with high level is something that I can do, and well. Oh goody...

/maniacal cackling

I've forwarded you the details on those battles. I think you'll be quite amused with one of them...

Why does Paladin get lumped into the Healbot section? With full BAB, d10 hitdice, heavy armor, and a few class features that help with Ubercharger builds, the class is more of a beatstick...

Complete Divine. Honestly, though, if you wanted to shuffle him over to beatstick, I wouldn't much care.

[TheCountAlucard]

Never done this before, but...

I'd kinda like to give the ECL 9-10 a try.

[afroakuma]

Playing or DMing?

[TheCountAlucard]

Oops!

DMing.

[afroakuma]

I've forwarded the opposition for ECL 9-10 to you.

[TheCountAlucard]

Awesome!

...

(checks PM box)

...

I don't think I got it.

...

(starts thinking about bacon)

...

(checks PM box about a minute later)

Ah, here it is!

[Doc Roc]

A gauntlet was handed to me. I will build, a second of suitable skill will play.

:: bows ::

We will take ECL 12, I believe, if no one else wants it.
Do you have an upper limit on permitted damage dealt per shot?

[sofawall]

I'll snag ECL 2, if possible.

To play, preferably.

Also, stats?

[Human Paragon 3]

What the heck... why no ECL 6?

[BobVosh]

Player ECL 5

Partial charge wands allowed? >.>

I'm generally not terrific with optimization, but reasonably good in game. How optimized should this be?

Also time limits on character creation?

[Coidzor]

Ooo... Villain Testing Grounds... Good idea.

[Talic]

Volunteer as OpFor (DM). I love me some creative.

Specifically, I prefer the mid-range challenges... ECL 7-13. However, I can take any level.

[Eldariel]

Volunteering for 12-13 player. This time I'll hopefully get the damnable party done before the thing just collapses -.- Well, at least I don't have more than two full casters to fill up so it should be a bit faster.

[Fenix_of_Doom]

Do you need 1 player and dm per ECL or do you take as many as you can get?

Also I'd like to do the players in the 7-9 range(Edit: 9-10 would be fine too), as they are the most interesting not yet taken characters. What is the expected optimalization level? I probebly won't be able to create a top-tier party, but I think I could manage to create a decent one.
I need some more info as well, how many PB? I assumed 28, but I'm willing to work with anything. Should I focus on combat with this party, or should I include utility/social skills?

Last why no PHB 2? it's one of my favourites.(even if the classes aren't allowed, I can imagine using duskblade as fighter and beguiler as skill monkey would be against the test your trying to run. A knight could be nice though)
edit: then again, with the bard and psywar already in, then why not the PHB classes.

[ZeroNumerous]

I might be interested in playing 12-13 or 20.

Question: Are we allowed to subvert party roles IE: Grappling wizard, skillmonkey cleric, healing bard and if we're feeling particularly silly: A Giacomo monk?

[afroakuma]

We will take ECL 12, I believe, if no one else wants it.
Do you have an upper limit on permitted damage dealt per shot?

Well, I'm going to have to see the build beforehand. The last time I ran this exercise, overoptimization rendered it largely pointless.

Also, stats?

Good point. Would everyone be alright with 32 point buy?

What the heck... why no ECL 6?

There isn't one available at the moment. I could probably have the ECL 5 one run one level up...

Partial charge wands allowed? >.>

Since the badguys get them too...

I'm generally not terrific with optimization, but reasonably good in game. How optimized should this be?

Reasonable is all I ask.

These battles are intended to be more tactical in any event. Uberchargers need not apply. And in at least one instance, would fail and die horribly.

Also time limits on character creation?

We're giving it a few days to plan out. I have an American long weekend +1, being Canadian (), so I have a fair bit of time for setup and operations.

Volunteer as OpFor (DM). I love me some creative.

Specifically, I prefer the mid-range challenges... ECL 7-13. However, I can take any level.

I've forwarded you the opposition at those levels to look over.

Do you need 1 player and dm per ECL or do you take as many as you can get?

I don't mind running multiple trials of the same enemies. It was profitable last time.

What is the expected optimalization level? I probebly won't be able to create a top-tier party, but I think I could manage to create a decent one.

A decent one is what we're looking for. Crazy tripping builds, uberchargers, nightstick abuse and metamagic cheese need not apply.

I need some more info as well, how many PB? I assumed 28, but I'm willing to work with anything. Should I focus on combat with this party, or should I include utility/social skills?

32 point buy. Social skills are only as practical as the foe you're facing. Diplomancers will be dropped into the center of the earth. Utility skills may be extremely important depending on the battlefield conditions.

Last why no PHB 2? it's one of my favourites.

If you want something from it, the rules state you're allowed to request it.

Question: Are we allowed to subvert party roles IE: Grappling wizard, skillmonkey cleric, healing bard and if we're feeling particularly silly: A Giacomo monk?

Uh... sure.

[Talic]

I'm locked in at ECL 7-9. No creative juices needed! Hooray for afro with his mad villainy skillz!

[7th lvl scrub]

I'd go for anything that's 9-10, 12-13, or 20.

[ZeroNumerous]

Alright. I should have some level 12-13 characters for you soon-ish. 20 will take some time. Are we limited to only one level range or can we have multiple parties per person?

[afroakuma]

You can go for more than one if you like.

[7th lvl scrub]

Are flaws allowed?

[afroakuma]

Unearthed Arcana material is allowed. So yes. Up to two, as normal.

[ZeroNumerous]

Good, good.

As for my request: Tome of Battle. It's widely used, and I was wondering if it was possible to use material in it? In particular I'm looking at Crusader for my beatstick role and swordsage for my skillmonkey role.

Overall Level 13 party composition at the moment:

Beatstick: Crusader/Cleric of Wee Jas/Ruby Knight Vindicator. Very powerful self-buffing beatstick, not as effective as main cleric, but still useful in shoring up holes in the defenses.

Skillmonkey: Rogue/Swordsage. Very simple straight-forward skill monkey. Doubles as beat-stick when the chips are down.

Band-aid: Cloistered Cleric/Divine Oracle/Contemplative. Rather straight forward cleric with lots of spell options. Possibly of Boccob or another magic deity if I'm required to select one in particular.

Blaster Caster: Warmage/Wizard/Ultimate Magus. Straight forward caster with lots of spells. The ability to blast and battlefield control.

Class level distribution is to be determined.