Something I've noticed, and something you guys may have noticed as well, is that combat takes a long time in our sessions. Many, if not all, of our combats last upwards of 10 rounds, and our average encounters seem to last a minimum of 2 hours. In my opinion (and maybe you guys will disagree with me here), this is way too long - these numbers are reasonable for major set-piece combats, but not for every single one. To that end, I've come up with some things I'm thinking of implementing at the table to speed things along.
- Timed turns: 90 seconds for each turn, to be exact. I've been doing some research into the matter of lengthy combats in 4th edition, and this seems to be a popular suggestion. I haven't timed the average turns in our games, but I believe they tend to take upwards of 2 minutes - going from memory, oftentimes the first 20-30 seconds of someone's turn seem to be spent in silence as they decide what to do. I think combat would be a lot faster if we set a time limit on turns to cut down on this - it would help us focus on what we're going to be doing, giving us incentive to have a decision made on what to do before our turn comes up. On paper, this might seem like undue stress or pressure to put on everyone, but really this is just a means of encouraging everyone to focus their attention more effectively, and 90 seconds should be more than long enough for this to happen; this is a number we can work with if need be. This is one thing I'm really considering strongly.
- Halve hit points OR double damage on both sides. This is another popular suggestion: you simply halve the hit point totals of both the PCs and the monsters, or alternatively, you leave hit point totals the same, but double all damage results. In both cases, combat will be sped up by the fact that things go down quicker. The drawback here, though, is exactly that: things, including the PCs, go down quicker, and combat is going to be more deadly in this situation. Personally I'm not sure about this one, as I can see a single critical hit from a Brute-type monster taking a character from full hit points into negatives.
- Any ideas you guys might have. I've presented a couple ideas here, but maybe you guys have an idea I haven't considered. If so, please, suggest it! Alternatively, maybe you don't think encounters are taking too long; that's valid as well. Whatever your opinions, I'd like to hear them, so that we can figure out how to go forward on this. Thanks for reading, and see you Sunday.
Showing posts with label Info. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Info. Show all posts
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Ch-ch-changes, Part 1: The Injury System
Okay guys, this post is to inform you about two things: the injury system I discussed implementing, and a discussion about speeding up combat. I'll be breaking this up into two posts for easier reading.
First of all, the injury system. Here are some of the main points:
- There are two types of injuries: minor injuries, and major injuries.
* Minor injuries can be inflicted when the character is reduced to a negative hit point value, and, while they do hamper the character, they do not impose a major handicap on their capabilities. When the circumstances required for a minor injury to be sustained are met, the player rolls a saving throw: on a success, no injury is sustained, but on a failure, a minor injury is sustained. If a character succeeds on this saving throw, but meets the requirements for an injury to be sustained a second time, they roll another saving throw, this time with a -2 penalty. If these circumstances are met a third time, the character sustains a minor injury, and is not allowed a saving throw.
* Major injuries are inflicted when the character fails 3 death saving throws, or is reduced to their bloodied value in negative hit points. These injuries impose major handicaps on a character's capabilities. When the circumstances required for a major injury to be sustained are met, the injury is sustained; the player is not allowed a saving throw.
- A character can have multiple injuries at once, but can only sustain one type of injury in each encounter. The type of injury sustained will be either determined randomly (in most cases) or assigned (in cases where it would be the only injury to make sense).
- The process for recovering from an injury depends on the type of injury. If it is a minor injury, the character must make an Endurance check during an extended rest; if the check is a success, the injury is healed, and if the check is a failure, the injury remains. Major injuries are more difficult to recover from, and the character must succeed on a more difficult Endurance check to reduce the injury to a minor injury, and another for the minor injury during their next extended rest. Optionally, a single ally trained in Heal can make a Heal check in place of this Endurance check; such an activity requires constant vigilance on the ally's part, therefore this particular ally can only do this for one of their allies per extended rest.
- Though this injury system will be used in most cases, it will not entirely replace death. A character whom an opponent moves specifically to kill, by delivering a coup de grace for example, is dead. Situations a character would not be able to survive, such as being melted, disintegrated, etc. will still kill the character.
My intent with implementing this system is twofold. One, it will add an element of realism to encounters by inflicting demonstrable damage to characters in a way more significant than simple Hit Point loss. Two, it will greatly reduce (though not eliminate, as stated above) the possibility of character death, while still making the prospect of dropping into negative hit points, failing too many death saves or hitting negative bloodied value a palpable threat.
Please let me know what you think when we come together on Sunday.
First of all, the injury system. Here are some of the main points:
- There are two types of injuries: minor injuries, and major injuries.
* Minor injuries can be inflicted when the character is reduced to a negative hit point value, and, while they do hamper the character, they do not impose a major handicap on their capabilities. When the circumstances required for a minor injury to be sustained are met, the player rolls a saving throw: on a success, no injury is sustained, but on a failure, a minor injury is sustained. If a character succeeds on this saving throw, but meets the requirements for an injury to be sustained a second time, they roll another saving throw, this time with a -2 penalty. If these circumstances are met a third time, the character sustains a minor injury, and is not allowed a saving throw.
* Major injuries are inflicted when the character fails 3 death saving throws, or is reduced to their bloodied value in negative hit points. These injuries impose major handicaps on a character's capabilities. When the circumstances required for a major injury to be sustained are met, the injury is sustained; the player is not allowed a saving throw.
- A character can have multiple injuries at once, but can only sustain one type of injury in each encounter. The type of injury sustained will be either determined randomly (in most cases) or assigned (in cases where it would be the only injury to make sense).
- The process for recovering from an injury depends on the type of injury. If it is a minor injury, the character must make an Endurance check during an extended rest; if the check is a success, the injury is healed, and if the check is a failure, the injury remains. Major injuries are more difficult to recover from, and the character must succeed on a more difficult Endurance check to reduce the injury to a minor injury, and another for the minor injury during their next extended rest. Optionally, a single ally trained in Heal can make a Heal check in place of this Endurance check; such an activity requires constant vigilance on the ally's part, therefore this particular ally can only do this for one of their allies per extended rest.
- Though this injury system will be used in most cases, it will not entirely replace death. A character whom an opponent moves specifically to kill, by delivering a coup de grace for example, is dead. Situations a character would not be able to survive, such as being melted, disintegrated, etc. will still kill the character.
My intent with implementing this system is twofold. One, it will add an element of realism to encounters by inflicting demonstrable damage to characters in a way more significant than simple Hit Point loss. Two, it will greatly reduce (though not eliminate, as stated above) the possibility of character death, while still making the prospect of dropping into negative hit points, failing too many death saves or hitting negative bloodied value a palpable threat.
Please let me know what you think when we come together on Sunday.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
New Houserule: Feasts
Starting next session I'm going to be testing a new houserule: feasts. A feast is, essentially, an intermediary point between extended rests and short rests. When the party decides to feast, they must spend one hour in the same location and eat a meal. By doing so, characters can recover 2 healing surges, or their Con mod in healing surges, whichever is higher.
To provide an example: Deckard has a Con mod of 3. When Deckard feasts, he recovers 3 healing surges. Conversely, Vorgym has a Con mod of 0 - when he feasts, he only recovers 2 surges. This should help ease the necessity of taking extended rests.
Feasting can be done a maximum of twice per day, and characters cannot feast a second time for 4 hours after their first feast. If a feast is interrupted, characters only regain half the surges normally gained, and cannot resume the feast after the encounter.
Rather than having characters track the amount of food in their possession, I will be having everyone pay 5 gold pieces, the standard price for a feast, every time they do this. We'll be testing this out, as I said, so I may tweak this rule as we go along. Thanks for reading, see everyone Wednesday!
To provide an example: Deckard has a Con mod of 3. When Deckard feasts, he recovers 3 healing surges. Conversely, Vorgym has a Con mod of 0 - when he feasts, he only recovers 2 surges. This should help ease the necessity of taking extended rests.
Feasting can be done a maximum of twice per day, and characters cannot feast a second time for 4 hours after their first feast. If a feast is interrupted, characters only regain half the surges normally gained, and cannot resume the feast after the encounter.
Rather than having characters track the amount of food in their possession, I will be having everyone pay 5 gold pieces, the standard price for a feast, every time they do this. We'll be testing this out, as I said, so I may tweak this rule as we go along. Thanks for reading, see everyone Wednesday!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
iPlay4e
I discovered a website which might make managing our character sheets easier - http://iplay4e.appspot.com/. This allows you to upload your exported file from the Character Builder to a personal account, and run an interactive copy of your character sheet in your browser. Since it's not on one account, we should all be able to use it at once - talk to me if you want more information about this, guys!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Lore Dumps
For those of you interested, I plan on posting "lore dumps" from time to time - "articles" written by various in-game characters on certain aspects of Titania. I've already posted one of these, "A Summary of the Dwarven Caste System". I plan on posting more intermittently. Sometimes I'll do it just because I'm bored, sometimes I'll do it because it relates to something which has recently come up in the campaign. If people like it, maybe I'll set up some sort of schedule in the future - we'll see. For now, hope you like reading these, and thanks for your participation & interest in the game =)
Saturday, October 1, 2011
New Character Tracking Pt. 2
I will keep track of what everyone still needs to do for their new characters here. Of the steps listed, you guys need to get everything but the backstory part done by this Wednesday, October 5th if we're going to have characters ready for next session!
Andrew: Drow Hexblade (Striker)
Jordan: Human Sentinel (Leader)
Sal: Elf Hunter (Controller)
Traver: Drow Thief (Striker)
Phil: Tiefling Mage (Controller)
Sterling: Dwarf Knight (Defender)
Andrew (Vorgym, Drow Hexblade)
- Physical description of character: height, weight, age, hair color, eye color, skin color, body build (see your race's description for the averages/standards of these)
- Backstory
Jordan (Deckard, Human Sentinel)
- Choose a different language (Dwarven, Elven, Deep Speech, Draconic, Giant, Goblin, or Primordial)
- Backstory
Note for Jordan: I figured out the staff fighting issue - there is a bug with the program which causes Staff Fighting to overwrite the Summer Sentinel's class feature. I fixed this by finding a sentinel I could import which had the d12 damage dice for the staff AND the staff fighting feat. It may be an issue with the d12 boost being applied to staff IMPLEMENTS, and the Staff Fighting feat only applying to quarterstaffs. Either way, I think I've fixed it for now - only problem is that the AC doesn't show up, but that can be put on your token.
Traver (Shivra, Drow Thief)
- Backstory
Sal (Nirreh, Elf Hunter)
- Backstory (include basic summary of events of Nirreh's involvement in the story to this point; Nirreh's character has been possessed by Elaureth's spirit; she still has control but is motivated to accomplish his goal of finding out what happened to Inastara)
Phil (Amnon, Tiefling Mage)
- Backstory
Sterling (Seamus, Dwarf Knight)
- Backstory
Andrew: Drow Hexblade (Striker)
Jordan: Human Sentinel (Leader)
Sal: Elf Hunter (Controller)
Traver: Drow Thief (Striker)
Phil: Tiefling Mage (Controller)
Sterling: Dwarf Knight (Defender)
Andrew (Vorgym, Drow Hexblade)
- Physical description of character: height, weight, age, hair color, eye color, skin color, body build (see your race's description for the averages/standards of these)
- Backstory
Jordan (Deckard, Human Sentinel)
- Choose a different language (Dwarven, Elven, Deep Speech, Draconic, Giant, Goblin, or Primordial)
- Backstory
Note for Jordan: I figured out the staff fighting issue - there is a bug with the program which causes Staff Fighting to overwrite the Summer Sentinel's class feature. I fixed this by finding a sentinel I could import which had the d12 damage dice for the staff AND the staff fighting feat. It may be an issue with the d12 boost being applied to staff IMPLEMENTS, and the Staff Fighting feat only applying to quarterstaffs. Either way, I think I've fixed it for now - only problem is that the AC doesn't show up, but that can be put on your token.
Traver (Shivra, Drow Thief)
- Backstory
Sal (Nirreh, Elf Hunter)
- Backstory (include basic summary of events of Nirreh's involvement in the story to this point; Nirreh's character has been possessed by Elaureth's spirit; she still has control but is motivated to accomplish his goal of finding out what happened to Inastara)
Phil (Amnon, Tiefling Mage)
- Backstory
Sterling (Seamus, Dwarf Knight)
- Backstory
Monday, September 19, 2011
A Clarification on Wishlists
Something I forgot to say about the wishlists, which I will go ahead and say now. Due to the rate at which magic items are meant to be given out, you will not receive everything on your wishlist - rather I will use the wishlists to have a selection of options which your characters would benefit from. Most likely, you will receive 1 item from each category - the other & wondrous slot items you may not end up getting any of, but you will get at least a +2 armor, weapon & neck slot. Thanks!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Example Wishlist
Weapon 1: +2 Vicious Greatspear (Common)
Weapon 2: +2 Vanguard Greatspear (Uncommon)
Weapon 3: +2 Frost Greatspear (Uncommon)
Armor 1: +2 Black Iron Plate Armor (Common)
Armor 2: +2 Meliorating Plate Armor (Uncommon)
Armor 3: +2 Verve Plate Armor (Uncommon)
Neck 1: +2 Amulet of Protection (Common)
Neck 2: +2 Badge of the Berserker (Uncommon)
Other 1: Boots of Quickness (Feet Slot, Common)
Other 2: Horned Helm (Head Slot, Uncommon)
Wondrous 1: Jade Horse (Uncommon)
Wondrous 2: Horn of Summons (Uncommon)
Weapon 2: +2 Vanguard Greatspear (Uncommon)
Weapon 3: +2 Frost Greatspear (Uncommon)
Armor 1: +2 Black Iron Plate Armor (Common)
Armor 2: +2 Meliorating Plate Armor (Uncommon)
Armor 3: +2 Verve Plate Armor (Uncommon)
Neck 1: +2 Amulet of Protection (Common)
Neck 2: +2 Badge of the Berserker (Uncommon)
Other 1: Boots of Quickness (Feet Slot, Common)
Other 2: Horned Helm (Head Slot, Uncommon)
Wondrous 1: Jade Horse (Uncommon)
Wondrous 2: Horn of Summons (Uncommon)
Wishlist Tryouts
I've decided to give gear wishlists a try. Basically what this means is that you as the players will get to put together a "wishlist" of the gear your character would like to receive in treasure hoards. Here are the criteria I've decided on for these wishlists:
Remember, I still need your backstories! Additionally, we are still on for the extra session this week, from noon-3 PM Pacific/2-5 PM Central. See you guys there!
- Choose items in five different categories: weapons, armor, neck slot items, other slot items (hands, feet, head, etc.) & wondrous slot items.
- All items chosen should be in the 5 to 10 level range. These lists will last until your character reaches level 7.
- For weapons, you need to choose 3 options - at least one of these should be common quality.
- For armor, you need to choose 3 options - at least one of these should be common quality.
- For neck slot items, you need to choose 2 options - one of these should be common quality.
- For other slot items, you need to choose 2 options - one of these should be common quality.
- For wondrous items, you need to choose 2 options - these can be common or uncommon quality.
- Do not put any rares, artifacts, or other unusual-quality items on your wishlist; common- and uncommon-quality items only please. Rares and artifacts are special rewards to be given out at the DM's discretion.
- For other slot items, please stick to the following slots: arms, feet, hands, head, ring & waist. More unusual item slots like tattoos, boons & other such things will be given out at the DM's discretion, if at all.
- If a chosen item is too unusual, too overpowered, or otherwise inappropriate, I will contact you and advise you to change it.
Remember, I still need your backstories! Additionally, we are still on for the extra session this week, from noon-3 PM Pacific/2-5 PM Central. See you guys there!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
New Character Tracking
This post is to track the development of our new characters. Here's some quick criteria:
- Level 4
- One character of each role (Striker, Controller, Defender, Leader)
- Starting equipment 300 gold pieces, adventurer's kit; each will get 2 Level 1 common magic items, determined with the DM, and a mundane weapon/armor if one of these is not one of the magic items
See below for who is making what kind of character -
Defender: Jordan - Human Cavalier
Leader: Traver - Drow Warpriest
Controller: Sal - Elf Hunter
Striker 1: Andrew - Human Executioner/Thief?
Striker 2: Kurt - Drow Scout
- Level 4
- One character of each role (Striker, Controller, Defender, Leader)
- Starting equipment 300 gold pieces, adventurer's kit; each will get 2 Level 1 common magic items, determined with the DM, and a mundane weapon/armor if one of these is not one of the magic items
See below for who is making what kind of character -
Defender: Jordan - Human Cavalier
Leader: Traver - Drow Warpriest
Controller: Sal - Elf Hunter
Striker 1: Andrew - Human Executioner/Thief?
Striker 2: Kurt - Drow Scout
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Today's Session (June 29th)
We'll be doing our session at the usual time - 6PM Pacific/8 PM Central start. I need at LEAST a physical description of Jordan's character Gwenn and Traver's character Aludiana. Backstories would be even better!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Tomorrow's Session
Usual time for tomorrow's session (6 PM Pac/8 PM Cent start). See you guys there!
PIXIE WHERE IS YOUR BACKSTORY
PIXIE WHERE IS YOUR BACKSTORY
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Today's Session (June 15th)
Today's session is on for the usual time - 6 PM Pacific/8 PM Central. See you guys there!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Update on Tomorrow's Session
Baril has told me he will have company tomorrow during the session, and I haven't heard opinions from anyone else, so I'm going to cancel tomorrow's session. We'll get back at it next week!
Tomorrow's Session
For tomorrow's session there are three options available to us:
- Skip the session, wait for next Wednesday when we can have everyone present.
- Fade Iados into the background temporarily; pretend he's not there essentially.
- Either myself or someone else NPCs Iados.
Let me know what option you prefer, guys. If we do the session it will be the usual time - 6 PM Pacific/8 PM Central start, going until we decide to stop.
- Skip the session, wait for next Wednesday when we can have everyone present.
- Fade Iados into the background temporarily; pretend he's not there essentially.
- Either myself or someone else NPCs Iados.
Let me know what option you prefer, guys. If we do the session it will be the usual time - 6 PM Pacific/8 PM Central start, going until we decide to stop.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Next Session
Next session is on - tomorrow, June 1st, starting at 6 PM Pacific (8 PM Central) and ending at 10 PM Pacific (Midnight Central); we may go longer if everyone wishes. No other news right now, just wanted to let everyone know!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Backstories Posts
The next few posts will be those of character backstories. They will follow the same basic format - each will open with a short bio entry for the character, and the backstory will follow it. Enjoy!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Next Session & Question For Players
Our next session will be tomorrow, from 6 PM Pacific (8 PM Central) to 10 PM Pacific (Midnight Central). As usual we will allow for the session to go later if everyone wishes.
Since I nearly have everyone's backstory in, I'd like to ask if you guys would like those backstories to be posted on this blog. Let me know what you think of this in the comments, please.
Since I nearly have everyone's backstory in, I'd like to ask if you guys would like those backstories to be posted on this blog. Let me know what you think of this in the comments, please.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The Day Before: Start Time & Other Things
We'll be starting the campaign tomorrow (Wednesday, May 18th) - here's some information for everyone to make sure it goes smoothly:
- We will be starting at 6 PM Pacific time, and we will go until 10 PM Pacific time (or longer if such is agreeable to everyone). For Central time players, that's an 8 PM start time, and a Midnight end time (again, or later if agreed upon).
- I currently only have complete backstory information for Bibart's character, Mika. I have most of the information for Traver's character, Adrie, but there are a few missing pieces (see your email for the details, Traver) and the information needs to be organized. I have no information as of this writing for Andrew's character, Erik, or Sal's character, Iados. Please get this stuff to me ASAP!
- The introduction of our first session will have your characters coming together as a group - you will be starting out individually in Falconia, and we will do a little roleplaying to bring the group together. You'll need to come up with a name for your adventuring company as well, so give some thought to names which might be good. I have an idea or two if nobody is able to come up with a good one; this name could change down the line if certain exploits of the party demand it, as well.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Backstories Update
I would like to have everyone's backstories and characters finalized by May 13th (this coming Friday). This will allow me plenty of time to get any potential personal storylines worked into the campaign, and to make sure that everyone's characters/backstories look good. As for what to cover, include:
In order to speed up the backstory/character finalization process I'd like to meet with everyone for an hour (perhaps longer if necessary) individually to make sure everyone's set to go, help filling in details about a backstory (or perhaps coming up with a backstory), and any other things you may need help with regarding the campaign. Please let me know in the comments section below what time would be best for you!
- An answer to each of the "questions" posed in the Background Prompt Generator. You may include more if you like.
- A physical description of your character - height, weight, age, hair color, eye color, skin color, body build. See your race's description for the averages/standards of these.
- Choose at least one distinguishing feature for your character from this list: a scar, jewelry, clothing, a tattoo, a birthmark, a hairstyle, or a unique posture. You can choose more if you like - be sure to add these to your character's physical description, and briefly describe what makes this feature of your character distinguishing or unique. You can also choose a distinguishing feature not covered here, just make sure to check with me first.
- If there are any significant NPCs in your backstory (nemeses, loved ones, mentors, etc.) be sure to give them a first name. If you can't come up with one let me know and give me a brief idea of the character, and I'll name it.
In order to speed up the backstory/character finalization process I'd like to meet with everyone for an hour (perhaps longer if necessary) individually to make sure everyone's set to go, help filling in details about a backstory (or perhaps coming up with a backstory), and any other things you may need help with regarding the campaign. Please let me know in the comments section below what time would be best for you!
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