Random DM nagging.

[Iron Dragoon]

Donez.

[Anastasia]

Excellent. One down.

[Nephrite]

It is on there.

[Anastasia]

Thanks Neph. That's two.

[Anastasia]

Balmuria 3: August 23rd, 2011 to March 11th, 2018. What a run. Thank you, everyone.

[Anastasia]

I'm gonna try rambling on epic 3.5 D&D today and see where it goes. Expect randomness and unrefined thoughts, so bear with me.

So how does epic level gameplay in 3.5 work out? Well, if you're willing to invest hundreds and hundreds of hours of making original content, rebalancing and creating custom characters? It works pretty well for what it is. The problem is that the ELH has issues and fitting it into any cosmology requires a ton of work, which in turn mandates getting your higher cosmology in order. I view the epic level rules as written a general guideline to be filled in and expanded. Build with them as a base after getting that in order and you'll be okay. It's as much a question of work invested rather than a question of talent. 90% effort and maybe 10% talent, y'know? You have to be willing to do a tremendous amount of work.

All the normal caveats of high level D&D apply, of course, some even more so. Party balance is still a concern - though gestalt helps mitigate this somewhat - and one epic level party may have wildly different abilities from another epic level party of the same level. The sheer versatility and variety of 3.5's mechanical options means you can have PCs all over the place. Generally speaking, the DM has to understand this and ensure the party isn't too incompatible in either direction. This takes work for the DM, since epic level characters are part of the world. They have to fit in to how epic levels work in your cosmology and your game. Moreover, anything that the PCs can do is something that can theoretically be done by others, too. So if you let, I don't know, an epic Emissary of Barachiel really abuse its abilities, this should be a known factor in the game world and the game world should be impacted by this. Epic PCs shouldn't exist in a void, but be part of the greater whole. Which means even more work, naturally.

Generally speaking, barring unique abilities owned by a unique creature, powers that the DM puts out and that the PCs use should be understood to be part of the game world. That's one of the deepest challenges of 3.5 at any level. If Dracos the Evil Necromancer casts an instant death spell on the PCs, what's to stop them from hurling the same at their enemies? How about an evil cleric who uses a few stupidly jacked up Diplomacy checks to arbitrarily convert the PCs to evil ala a reverse Emissary of Barachiel? With epic's expanded level of power, options and power level, this can be even more of a problem. It's another challenge of epic level gameplay. I cheat this somewhat but cordoning some abilities as unique abilities to a creature or as sailent divine abilities for deities, which are naturally beyond the PCs to copy unless the DM says otherwise. Even then though, great care and consideration needs to be used.

Of course, on top of it, if you do that? It's not unreasonable to let your PCs have a hole card or two of their own. You could even say that's perfectly fair. Which means you need even more work, time, thought and effort into balancing things and making everything work out. Maybe they learn a special move via an adventure. Perhaps they go on a quest to gain a template and pay a reduced level adjustment for it. Whatever it is, if you present a cosmology where the elite have abilities above and beyond, it's entirely fair for the PCs to want the same when they become elite.

This is beginning to illustrate the sheer amount of work I went through in B3.

I like epic gameplay a lot. I enjoy the power PCs have accrued and seeing how that stacks up in the realms of myth and legend.  It's a a real treat to have your PCs be powerful enough to consort with the actual movers and shakers of reality, to see behind the veil a bit and grasp more of what's going on.

But it's so much work.

It worked fairly well in B3 for this. A few caveats I'm going to get out here now about that, half feedback and half just me meandering further along.

1. Early PCs (Jaela, Afina) had a bit of an advantage over later comers. This is mostly in part of being around longer to rack up more treasure, goodies and bonuses beyond the normal scope of treasure. Jaela was probably a bit over optimized as well for the game level - I honestly thought the same about Annerose at times in B5 - and I think his is mostly a mild difference of opinions and understanding of power levels between Cor and I.

2. Surraruthru's rebuilds (3? 4?) made him a bit of a planning mess to balance. Some of his capabilities changed considerably over the game, which had some knock ons. I'm fairly generous with rebuilds - I try not to use them much on my end but it does happen sometimes - but I think Surru would've been better with less rebuilding and more focusing on what he had. On the other hand the true dragon thing was is his quest so I dunno. That one at least is on me.

3. If you go look at C&M over on the Rules and Setting board, you'll notice most epic level creatures don't dip much. Counting racial hit dice as a class here for the sake of ease, most builds have 2-4 classes and most lean more towards 2 than 4. I tend to keep it simple when simple works. PCs generally don't and micromanage every level gained. To be fair I had NPC allies do the same when applicable to keep up. Now I do tend to tweak when I use something from C&M in active gameplay to compensate for this and other things, but it is worth noting. Anyway, point is that PCs can generally wring more per level/HD than a monster in there because they're optimizing more. This doesn't neatly fit into the cosmology so I adjust.

A lot of that is my preference to keep builds clean. I'd rather have a fighter 30//marshal 30 and add a few custom things to balance rather than a fighter 30//marshal 2/paladin of freedom 2/battle dancer 1/fatemaker 10/ect ect to deal with. The DM can go for more holistic solutions beyond classes rather than working in the confines of classes, while PCs aren't so liberated. I honestly think doing this is good design, so long as PCs have the chances to get their own shinies like that (as discussed above).

Anyway, B3 broadly worked but I put a lot effort into it and the power levels were out of whack at the end for the cosmology (you all were 27 HD and probably fighting closer to the mid 30s+ in CR encounters regularly). In a future game I'll probably either enforce less dipping or be a stingier with handing out extra bonuses for longer term games. I dunno, still throwing that one around and trying to find the best way to do it.

More later, really just airing out a bunch of thoughts and seeing how they look a few days later.

[Ebiris]

Afina is updated for cash and special traits as of game end.

[Anastasia]

Thanks. That's three.

[Anastasia]

Not sure I'll have a post today, or if I do, it'll be after work.

[Anastasia]

Lessee.

It's still early on in my vacation, but I'm pretty sure I'll be running two smaller (and possibly shorter) games rather than one larger game. This is still uncertain, but that's the way things are leaning right now. One will be a lower impact post based game that's flexible with hours, a sort of gaming catch all for those of us with timing issues. I may potentially try a small IRC game and see if my eyes can handle it. Emphasis on may, this is far from certain. A third game isn't impossible, maybe some sort of solo game if circumstances move that way, but that books things pretty heavy.

One of the games may be some sort of Aurora sub group potentially, Iddy (or someone, I honestly forget) had the idea of a special ops group that does rescues and missions for Aurora on a smaller scale. That might get used, it might get used with a different group. I'm not really sure.

One game may use that custom system I'm chipping away at. That's a big if, assuming I get it to a place I'm happy using it within a month's time. It may need longer in the oven than that. If so, it will probably in an original setting that's essentially a dumping ground for people and beings from various and sundry shows, books, series and so on. That's also in development. The only caveat I really have for it now is that if it does happen, it'll be a situation where healing is harder than a typical D&D game.

If the way things work out is that Moore ends up in a solo game, it'll probably be something focusing on planar politics in Balmuria. We both enjoy that and a deeper exploration if it could be fun.

B5's looking less likely, as in retrospect that game should've wrapped when Maggen went down. It's possible PCs and NPCs from it could show up elsewhere in other Balmuria games. I've wanted to get in really deep with a game dealing with Auril and her faith for some time, but ultimately I don't feel B5 morphing into the vessel for that is a good fit. I enjoyed it the most when it touched on T's stuff and him being hustle-y ala Burn Notice, I think that zone for it's gone and the big bad also went down.

Vastwoods is being toyed with. As of now there's really three options and none quite appeal: 1. Sal Farano arc/story, with or without new characters. 2. Something around the homestead with new PCs. 3. Exploring another part of the largely undefined world. I recall being interested in running the first after Lost Realm, but it wasn't the right game at the time and right now none of these feel like the right game.

Speaking of, due to Moore and Lucy being used, Lost Realm can be considered part of Balmuria. I had hooks to integrate it into virtually any setting, I recall that I posted those (and if you remember, the mention about the Lost Realm basically being an anti Shar thing was spoiled there in the case Balmuria used it), so this shouldn't be any surprise. I'm not going anywhere with it and I don't think it'll get used directly again, so consider this a clarification there. This also means that yes, Veren and Pepo are out there somewhere. They may or may not ever appear.

One thing I briefly considered is a SMRPG 3, with the call for the Sailors coming as adults. Basically recasting the entire thing through people with lives and families instead of as a teenage thing. I don't think I'll use this in the end, but I've mentioning it to show I'm turning over lots of rocks in my downtime.

The idea of an Eberron game came to mind, but I don't much like Eberron. No real reason other than it's not a setting I'm into. It's a little too, I don't know, revisionist D&D? It feels like someone seeing the typical D&D milieu of 2nd and 3rd edition and deciding to tilt it around and see what comes out. This could be the purest bullshit, I'm really just stumbling to define why I vaguely dislike something and that can be really hard to do.

More tomorrow or later today, just airing out more thoughts. It's not B3 analysis, but it is relevant.

[Anastasia]

Also, if anyone wants any custom 3.5 material done, feel free to suggest it and I may do it during my downtime. Emphasis on may, no promises.

Yes Iddy, you have an obligatory post to make.

[Anastasia]

Some info from that never finished rebuild of Ellese:

Ellese

Half Celestial 4/Ranger 6/Death Delver 16//Sorcerer 26

Size/Type: Medium Outsider (Native)
Hit Dice: 4d4+22d8+390+26+52 (660 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 30ft
Armor Class: 38 (+7 dex, +7 wis, +1 sacred, +11 armor, +2 natural)
Base Attack/CMB/CMD: +20/+25/50
Attack: Maifera Tahl+28 (1d8+8 plus +2/2d6 vs evil outsiders 19-20 x2)
Full Attack: Maifera Tahl+28/+23/+18/+13 (1d8+8 plus +2/2d6 vs evil outsiders 19-20 x2)
Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, spells, smite evil, favored enemies (evil outsiders+4, lawful outsiders+2), channel energy 12/day (7d6; DC 27), fear aura.
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 15/epic, damage reduction 2/- (moonlight only), immunity to acid, disease and poison, resistance to cold and electricity 10, spell resistance 36, darkvision 60ft, fast healing 7, wild empathy, solitary savior, deathsense, deadened soul, spontaneous casting (cure spells), death ward 5/day, cheat death, mantle of life, nine lives (9 left), school mastery (evocation; +26).
Saves: Fort +33, Ref +22, Will +33
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 24, Con 40, Int 19, Wis 24, Cha 28
Skills:   needs concentration, heal, K:R
Feats: Toughness(1), Eschew Materials(S1), Arcane Mastery(3), Track(R1), Empower Spell(S5), Steadfast Determination(6), Endurance(R3), Combat Expertise(R4), Rapid Metamagic(9), Energy Substitution(Acid)(S10), Energy Admixture(Acid)(12), Diehard(DD4), Easy Metamagic(Energy Admixture)(15), Maximize Spell(S15), Acidic Splatter(18), Quicken Spell(S20)
Epic Feats: Epic Toughness(21), Epic Spell Capacity(DD13), Specialized Metamagic(Energy Admixture)(S23), Improved Metamagic(24), Fast Healing(DD16), Ignore Material Components(S26)
Alignment: Neutral Good

I believe I even houseruled school mastery for her.

[Anastasia]

33. One for the blasters out there: School Mastery (Evocation) for sorcerers in Dragon 357 now adds your class level as bonus damage to evocation spells. It replaces the flat +1 and still only applies on spells that deal hit point damage. For example, an 8th level sorcerer with this ACF deals an extra 8 points of damage with an evocation spell that deals hit point damage.

I did. It's still not that great, since you have to run pure sorcerer, but y'know. If you're focusing on evocation and taking pure sorc levels, you've made a choice anyway.

[Corwin]

Serious DM post a sec.

Make sure the trait you got for liberating Lifasa is on all of your sheets. Post here with confirmation when you have done so. I will nag over this, as in case any of these characters are used again, I don't want the bookkeeping hassle in the future. Get it right now.

Done that.

One potential change remains, so since you asked about your downtime 3.5 work, how about revisiting this?

[Anastasia]

What got my goat about it? Oh right, untyped bonuses. Yeah, that would do it.  I'll get back to you at some point in downtime.