Other observations from 4th Edition

After some additional time playing 4th Edition I offer these more recent observations.

Movement, area spells and the lack of extra cost for diagonal movement really does make the action move faster.  That said, I still don't know if I favor the approach.   When playing the 4th Edition game I just went with it and tried not to think about the discontinuity of the approach.  Last week I played in a 3.5 game and the additional time to calculate movement and spell area effects was noticeable.

WoTC online tools for 4E make character upgrades and decisions faster.  I do not know how you would find all the options in books, and whether the cost of that sized library is worth it.  The options in just the core books are a bit limited and the huge number of options available in the on-line tools is tempting.  The DM has a subscription and we logged in as him to make the updates.

In the last session my Mage character was hit with a strange poison which brought me to zero hit points and kept me unconscious.  It was an usual situation, and the numbers were a bit of an oddity, but the net effect was I was not going to die from the poison but there was no way to trigger a save roll or nor death save until additional damage from another source hit my character.  So I was out for a few rounds with nothing at all to do.  Seeing that, the DM gave me control of a bad guy.  I happily attacked the party until I realized if I used an area power that hit my character it would trigger events which would likely have brought my character back into the battle.  The bad guy wouldn't know that, and I didn't want to take advantage of that in playing the bad guy.  Awkward.

I still find formal skill challenges to be awkward.  In the last session an NPC leads us through the explanation of how we prevent a machine from blowing up.  Unfortunately it ended up being a bunch of rolls rather than role playing.  I would still rather see a DM give players a problem and let them figure it out with their own minds and using rolls as a last resort.

Where has Barad been?

Life got complicated the last several months.  Some family issues and the loss of my job.  Not to worry, it will all work out in the end.

Blogging may continue to be spotty.  My 3.5E group essentially ended a while back and there is no outlook for interest in reforming in the near future.  The 4E Zeitgeist campaign I joined is on hiatus, and it may be a permanent end.  I am having difficulty getting interest from my group who plays in my d20 past Victorian Shadows campaign.  In the mean time I am a guest in my sons 3.5E group and am looking for a local table top D&D group to join.

Until next time, all the best.  The dice never lie.

Who says 4e characters cannot die

In an earlier post I commented on how hard it appeared to be to kill characters.  We have played a number of times since then, and regardless of how difficult the rules may seem to make it to kill off characters, we have had a couple of kills, some near kills, and a near TPK.

We are playing the Zeitgeist campaign and have had four characters through much of it, and five characters through some of it.  We had a number of times where a character went down, but the rest of the group was able to contain the encounter and get to the fallen comrade before death, no big deal.  The last couple of big encounters were very different.

I'll try to avoid spoilers, but the encounter on Cauldron Hill appears to have been designed to be a challenging one, and we were only four characters.  We were protecting a NPC, which was a distraction, and three of the four characters were rolling very poorly including one which was dominated or something.  Our paladin, who as the defending was taking the brunt of their attacks and attention, was low on HPs and took a hit from the BBEG so hard it killed him outright.  The DM took some pity on us since he felt he underestimated the challenge and we rolled so poorly, and gave us a roll play way out.  If not for that, it was a TPK in progress.  The paladin's player decided he wanted to play something else, so we didn't attempt to haul his dead body out - not that we were in any condition to do so anyway and the role playing opportunity essentially took that option away in any case.

The next big encounter involved a player deciding to go toe to toe with a large creature who was obviously very dangerous in melee.  We looked to be successfully handling the behemoth from a distance with ranged attacks and battle field control which kept it from closing with us.  The player, for reasons which are not clear to me (perhaps he was bored with his limited ranged options), moved his character within melee, and in no time at all was pummeled into unconsciousness.  Another character closed too to attempt to save him, and he too was quickly down.  Fortunately, we were able to get the creature down in time to save one of the two downed characters.  The now dead character, through a role play method (my character can speak with the dead), expressed his interest in being 'reincarnated'.   So that became our mission for him (he wanted to play the same personality, but a different character class).

The next encounter had us fearing failure and death once again, but this time only one character down and saved just in time, and we negotiated our way out of what could have been either a victory or TPK - it was close.

What do I make of all this?

• This is a difficult adventure.  Some of the bad guys are very dangerous, and can do lots of damage in a short amount of time.
• The adventure is designed for five characters and we have been mostly four.  It makes a difference.
• We had no heavy damage striker, and it took us too long to take nasty folks out.
• Some of us are new to 4th edition, and we are not taking good advantage of the fact this is a high magic campaign.  (Using the minor action and potions would make a difference)
• We are being slow to coalesce as a fighting group.  We are bad at focus fire.
• The players who are experienced at 4th edition, are playing it like 3rd edition and coming up short on healing.
• 4th edition characters can be difficult to kill, however, serious BBEGs can easily overcome that difficulty.

We have plenty of role playing in our game, so I stick to my earlier comments about it being our bias regardless of whether 4e rules help/hinder role playing - there is no problem getting role playing with us.

That is it for now.  We'll be getting to 4th level next session and throwing ourselves face first into danger again.

The dice never lie.

4th edition: beyond 1st level

You can read about the mechanics of going from first to second level in the rule book; there is no value in regurgitating the facts.  Rather I'll relate how I feel about going up a level.

The math takes a plus 1 at even levels, and though when I first started playing 30+ years ago it was exciting to gain math bonuses, math bonuses no longer have much thrill for me.  My character gets a bigger number, the monsters get bigger numbers.  The additional hit points are only a fraction of my HP total, so I don't feel significantly tougher.  Contrasting with older editions, going up from 1st level was a sigh of relief given how easy it was to be reduced to 0 HPs.  It feels right though, my character is a little bit tougher, a little bit more powerful vs. the larger step functions which were the earlier editions.

I get a feat - I take improved initiative and look forward to a much improve chance of going first and doing controller things to significantly alter the encounter.  I get to select two utility powers of which I can learn one of them each day; I take defensive powers.  I feel more confident in putting my squishy mage out there in combat with these interrupt powers.  

All in all, the step function up a level is not that grand but it is enough that I feel my character IS more powerful.  

I'll skip ahead and over most of our 2nd level adventuring.  In this game we are playing much of it is role playing and intrigue.  The big combat on the docks is our gateway to the next level or to the cemetery.  This combat is quite different from previous encounters in there is very limited line of sight.  My mage powers are severely hindered because most of what I acquired is area control, and most of what I can see is one or two enemies.  Undeterred, I press forward trailing our Paladin by only a square or two as we endeavor to push through quickly to get to the ship we must prevent from departing without us.

Interesting tactical quandary: two of the five characters decide to hold back 5-10 squares at the start.  The tactician in me wants to scream - what are you crazy?  The apparently don't see they are going to lose a tempo or two in just getting to the fight vs. the ability to 'see' the battlefield and make strategic decisions.  30 years of tactical gaming tells me otherwise, and is borne out during the encounter.  However I say nothing, and I digress.

My character's spells are not high damage, but they are controlling.  I push people, make them fall down, make them slow, and sometimes a combination at this low level.  I am nothing without other characters to take advantage of the battlefield I have rearranged.  I am the puppet master, and my party members are all powerful because I am pulling strings for them.  (mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha).  What I actually start to observe is what I will call the 'half effect' result.  When I start throwing spells around I notice that some number of opponents just over half are affected.  Sure sometimes I miss everything, and sometimes I hit everything, but more often than not I affect 1/2 to 2/3 of the creatures I target.  The tactician in me takes careful notes.

I have not had enough encounters yet to bear this out, but the tactician in my is observing my powers and suggesting I either open with a full blast of my most potent powers on first round (in a scenario where I can see the enemy clearly and have access to them all), or hold the most potent powers to turn the encounter around (in a scenario where I cannot target the bulk of the enemy at once, and our tactical plan is in question).  Sort of the open with cavalry first when the opponents are in an open field vs. hold them in reserve for the counter punch in a less sure situation.

Back to the scenario - we two push forward with two party members 1-2 rounds behind us, and one party member waiting up ahead having snuck into a tactical position.  The layout forces me to abandon the Paladin in an attempt to clear his way to the boat.  Unfortunately this leaves me in a situation where I must use powers to not only hinder the enemy from stopping the Palandin's rush forward, but to keep them from cornering the squishy mage while the remaining party catches up.

The encounter is well balanced against the party - we will either win or come dangerously close to a TPK.  At the end, I unleash my most potent power to change the encounter.  Of the three party members who had made it to the ship one was down, one was hurt very badly and hanging off the ship, leaving only a bow wielding Ranger to deal with three opponents; two of which were the most powerful in the encounter.  It looked bad.  My horded daily power turned the tables - I dropped one of the two powerful opponents and disadvantaged the other (thank you Phantom Chasm) plus I used a minor action to deliver a curing potion to the Ranger to give to the Paladin.   A heroic leap to the boat by our Druid changed the odds completely and the encounter was ours.  It was close.

We are now 3rd level.  Some interesting observations I have made:

• The way the encounters are setup, and of course the way I choose to play, I have only used my daily powers once during first level, and once during second level
• My character does not get hit very often and has never gone down.  I think this is due to my playing him as nervous about combat, the Paladin standing firm to protect the mage, and having very good defenses (probably the 2nd best defenses on average in the team).  Not due to my hit points.
• I have not yet had to use my utility spells or my staff of defense interrupt.  Related to above bullet point.

At 3rd level my character gets another encounter power which is a bit exciting.  Additional cash and item found added to my gear was also a nice bump.  Similar feeling of power increase like the previous level but nothing like the uneven bump in earlier editions - going to 3rd felt like a big deal in those editions.  I do say I like the smoothing out of the power increase this way.

More another time.  The dice never lie.

Barstool American Golden Ale

Barstool American Golden Ale from the Foolproof Brewing Company is reputed to be their flagship product.  There was some left in my beer refrigerator after a gathering so I thought I would give it a try.

It came in cans in a small decorative box.  I have no phobia of cans, done well it is every bit as good as glass

without the risk of light skunking the brew.

True to its name it poured a cloudy golden-amber color with a slight head which soon dissipated.  The aroma was very mild, and I couldn't pull much to identify from a sniff.  First taste has a bit of sweetness, a hint of citrus, a little malt, a little hops, (I am starting to like this until....), and then *wham* a harsh bitter after taste.

Medium body, medium carbonation, not heavy, yet not wimpy; the kind of beer one might have more than one.

I am a bit stuck on the lingering bitterness.  Maybe this needs a big warm salty pretzel to go with it.  This lingering bitterness reminds me of the old style beers my father and grandfather drank.  I guess I am more of a beer snob than they were.  I am on the fence on this brew; neither thumbs up nor down.

Cheers!

Where Did Barad Go?

I'm back.  I got busy on a project at work at the same time my trusty Toshiba laptop started having video problems.  Although I also have a smart phone & netbook, neither of those devices suits my preference for doing editing.  If we need more excuses I can rely on the old 'tripped on a rock, sun in my eyes & hole in my glove' series; they never fail.

Being cheap and somewhat tech savvy I decided to repair the laptop myself rather than buy a new one or risk paying someone else money to fix it and have them say it was a lost cause.  The issue seemed to be a video cable, and after many hours of internet research I found one on Amazon for about $20.  More hours of internet research taught me how to disassemble my old beast, replace the cable, and then do the disassemble steps in reverse, sort of.  End result - success!  I am typing this on my old laptop, almost good as new!  I do have three extra screws....  however I know where they went and just didn't need one with the new cable, and couldn't make two of the eight LCD screen holders go back in.  I think it will not fall out with six screws as long as I don't do acrobatics with it.

I'll give a shot at some 4e game updates shortly and maybe find a beer to comment upon.

Happy Summer!

Around the World in Eighty Days

On my most recent vacation I continue to indulge in reading old classics.  This is made quite easy via the free (expired copyright) books which are available on the Kindle.

Around the World in Eighty Days is unusual for a Jules Verne work, in that it is more in his now than predicting the future.  It does in some respects predict how the future will look with recent completions of travel venues the major travel venues: US transatlantic rail, India subcontinental rail, & Suez Canal.  Messier Verne does aptly see the coming new world of tourism on a whim.  

The hero of the story is Phileas Fogg.  He is a well to do proper English gentleman who lives an organized, highly structured, predicable daily life.  This repetitive existence includes his daily trip to the gentlemen's club.   To prove a point with his fellow club members Fogg undertakes a quest to circumnavigate the world in no more than 80 days using commercially available travel.  A rather wager is made to prove the seriousness of the adventure, and off he goes, taking with him his newly hired man's servant, Jean Passepartout.  To tell any more of the story is to spoil it, so I will leave it at that.

I find it interesting that Verne paints the two travelers as extreme caricatures of the English and French.  Both have exaggerated traits supposedly held by their countrymen, and both have redeeming qualities designed to make them endearing to the reader.  I might have expected the French Verne to favor the Frenchman in the story, but that is not the case.

As with most writing, this a book of its time.  The modern reader will find the exciting adventure bits a little weak.  There is even a section where Fogg goes off to save Passepartout and I suppose to raise tension, the exciting bits are done off screen.  Much of the book reads like a dry travelogue.  I imagine at the time since this kind of travel had been previously unimaginable the readers would have been fascinated with the little details which I found boring and tedious.  The surprise ending would not have been all that surprising to the modern traveler, but to the reader in the 1870s this would have been all new and amazing.

The adventurous portions are fun to read, and overall the book is a quaint reminder of a bygone era.  It was an easy read, not too long, and the language is readily understood by the modern reader.  It is a classic and if you are curious about classics, I give it a moderate recommendation.  I am glad I read it and did enjoy most of it.  If you want an edge of your seat thriller, then you should pass this by.

4th Edition: After three sessions

As noted in previous post, I am not experiencing a lack of roleplaying.  Granted I am no newbie to roleplaying, and for new players there might be something which discourages roleplaying, but I am happily playing my character during encounters and between them.

I continue to experience a very tactical game, and cannot see playing without a grid.  I do not see that as a negative since I have been using grids since AD&D days as preference.  I also continue to find 1st level characters to be very powerful, much more than previous editions.  Sort of like starting at 2nd level or more in another edition.  Clearly in 4th you are already a hero, and the environment is more high magic and high fantasy.  This might not fit the setting you want to play, but where it fits the setting I am not finding it 'un-fun'.

Some rituals are often a little too vague and require some DM adjudication.  For example the Silent Image ritual did not give a range.  I had to query the DM if my use of it was going to work.  The Passwall ritual was fairly clear (you need to be able to touch the entry point of the passage) and the Silence ritual was not so vague that one could figure out you needed to be inside the area to be warded to use it - no casting from a distance.  I am finding the cost of ritual components to be a bit prohibitive at first level.  We will see as time goes on if that is really a control point for lower level and becomes inconsequential as my character advances.

In our last encounter our party druid was brought to zero hit points and tossed off a 40' high wall into murky harbor water.  No one was nearby to help him, and the first one get to the wall section where he went off could not see him (it was dusk and he had already sunk beneath the waves).  I now understand some comments I heard that 4E characters were hard to kill.  Even unconscious, he was burning through healing surges before he took drowning damage.  Wouldn't you know it on his second death saving throw he rolled a 20 to stabilize, and became conscious.  We thought him dead for sure... but it seems 4E characters are truly heroes.

I also learned that one of my jobs as the controller wizard is minion sweeping.  I say that humorously, because it is kind of cool to blow away a bunch of fodder and clear the decks for the others to attack the BBEG (big bad evil guy).  Some may turn up their nose at this, but hey, it makes me stand out from the others and gives me an opportunity to roleplay big ego and I annihilate a bunch of enemies.

It seems to me 4E has another thing in common with earlier editions: resource management.  Even though I have at will powers, I must manage encounter & daily powers, action points, healing surges, etc.

The litmus test so far as been passed.  I am having fun.  That may be more about the people with which I am gaming than the rule set.  Either way, I am a bit of a grognard and I can play this edition just fine.

The dice never lie (even though I rolled a statiscally improbable number of 1s in our last encounter).