Achieving Balance

I wanted to make sure that my paragon path was balanced, and I considered altering an existing paragon path to ensure I had that balance.  At the same time, I wasn’t satisfied with just taking an ice path and changing the keywords; some elements don’t transfer from ice to fire well.  So I selected two different ice paths (Spellstorm Mage from PHB and Bralani Wintersoul from Dragon 384) and blended elements from each.

Introducing: Flamespark Mage

After cherry-picking and adjusting the elements from the previous two ice-y paragon paths, I developed the Flamespark Mage paragon path.  I reviewed it with Dante prior to calling it complete, and we did make a few minor adjustments.  In the end, I have exactly the paragon path that I want: fiery and balanced, with interesting spells to look forward to learning.

Friday night D&D.  We’re venturing through the Howling Warrens of the Underdark.  Our first two skirmishes of the evening were brief and painless, but the two Oni we faced took a bit more out of us.  We all survived, but we definitely needed some healing.  And that’s when the crazy set in.

(Only character names are referenced to protect innocent — or not — players.)

Tali – Have you ever thought about what a healing surge looks like?  I always think of it like this. Then she demonstrated her healing surge; it involved tense muscles and grunting, and some at the table commented that she might be giving birth instead of healing.

Atka – I always think of it like the video games.  You just glow a little and feel better.

Eaerenel (me) – I imagine little stars dancing around me until I feel better.

The guys in the group neglected to comment on their image of healing surges.

In the end, even though it was a funny sort of conversation, it did get me to think.  4E has a lot of flavor text to make the technical aspects blend with the roleplaying aspect.  It’s pretty easy to imagine — and describe — how your spells looks when it hits its target or how your sword slashes through the air to harm your enemy.  Self-healing?  That’s a little harder.

If you’re looking to add a little flavor to your roleplaying, consider one of your most basic character features.  What does your healing surge look like?  Try bringing that imagery to life with your character, whether it’s with a second wind during combat or during your five-minute rest.  It’s a great little challenge that can add a extra flavor to your game.

The Story

Previously in our adventure, we encountered John, who has been working for the Drow because they took his wife hostage.  We entered a deal with John that we would rescue his wife from the Underdark if he told the drow that he had a way to infiltrate the restricted section of the library (we needed more info about the Drow and their plans for items from the library).  So after much wandering around in dark tunnels, taking those roads less traveled to avoid wandering parties of Drow, we found ourselves at a dead end: two Drow guarding the wife, Silvia.

For those of you who haven’t been following along, I’m currently playing Eaerenel, an Eladrin Wizard who specializes in fire spells.  And if you’re not familiar with the fire spells, they usually affect everyone in the area of effect, not just the bad guys.  So if Eaerenel cast a fire spell to affect the guards, she was going to be making life a little extra toasty for poor Silvia.  To make matters more urgent, the Drow decided to kill her instead of letting us try to rescue her and had cast a spell that enveloped her in web of spiders.

Things were looking desperate, and this is where I got creative.  With the DM’s permission, I invoked my ability to Twist the Arcane Fabric to move Silvia to safety before casting one of my fiery spells.  Twist the Arcane Fabric is a feat from Arcane Power (p 130), that allows an Eladrin to use her fey step ability to move an ally out of the way before casting an area or close arcane power.  Dante allowed that since “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Silvia could be counted as an ally.  It was a spectacular moment that made my whole night; I got to save the day!

Be Creative!

Creativity during game play is one of the cornerstones of roleplaying.  Without a touch of creativity, the game becomes mechanical.  To keep that spark of creativity burning,  you have to know your character’s capabilities; how can you plan an awesome course of action if you don’t know what you can do?

My Current Favorite Rituals

I’m currently playing a Bard and a Wizard.  My Bard uses the Traveler’s Chant (PHB2) to help the group get from Town A to Town B a little bit faster.  It’s a handy little trick to have in your repertoire.

But my Wizard… she’s really the ritual mistress.  She used the Tenser’s Floating Disk (PHB) to avoid floor traps we were unable to disarm.  Recently, she’s taken to the magic item creation with the combination of Enchant Magic Item (PHB) and Transfer Enchantment (AV).

Adding Some Roleplay Magic

When Eaerenel the Wizard was ready to flex her item creation muscles, I wrote a little story to describe creating my Shimmering Armor (AV) using the Enchant Magic Item ritual.  Since Eaerenel specializes in fiery spells, I decided to include fiery elements in her rituals.  So in my little story, Eaerenel uses a fire as her focus during the ritual; it’s a little step beyond the book that allow me to create a unique experience for my wizard.

It was dark except in the circle of light cast by the fire.  Kalicia dance above its flames as Eaerenel sat close by, her old apprentice robes cradled in her lap.  A quite settled over the mage and her familiar, disturbed only by the faint crackles of the flames.  Eaerenel was in deep meditation, drawing out magic from the warp and weft of the universe.  Time passed, but it was irrelevant to the spellcaster in the midst of her ritual.  After nearly half an hour, a casual observer might notice motes of magic beginning to gather around Eaerenel.  If she noticed the swirl of magic gathering around her, she gave no indication.  Soon, the swirl of magic became too dense to clearly see the wizard or her phoenix.  Eaerenel tossed several pieces of gold onto the fire, and it seemed that the magical motes followed them into the flames.  Then, she tossed her old robes into the flames, but instead of burning, the robes seemed to be absorbing the magic.  Nearly an hour had passed since Eaerenel had begun her meditation, and when she opened her eyes, she lifted her new robes out of the fire.  They shimmered with the dancing patterns of a fire and soft sparkles of gold.  Eaerenel shrugged out of her journey robes and donned her new Shimmering Armor.

When Eaerenel made some Screaming Armor (AV) for the party’s Warlord, Atka, she had to use both rituals together since Screaming Armor is only available in Hide, Scale or Plate and the Warlord wears Chain.  So Eaerenel after created the armor, she used the Transfer Enchantment ritual to move it onto the Warlord’s chain.  I took a little bit of liberty with the description (after getting the DM’s approval), and instead of actually creating the armor then transferring the enchantment, Eaerenel created a ghost of the armor over her fire, then transferred the ghost’s enchantment to the chain.  Again, it was a unique combination of elements that really let me be creative with my character.

The midnight hour was the only appropriate time for this creation, for only during this timeless state of night was the darkness and despair deep enough for creating Screaming armor.  Eaerenel sat in the light of the fire, Atka just beyond the circle of illumination, waiting in the shadows.  Eaerenel was unaware of the warlord’s presence, however, as she sank deeper in to her meditation, calling the magic to her.  The swirl of magic became overwhelming before Eaerenel tossed her bounty of gold coins into the fire, and the magic flowed into the flames.

Instead of tossing the hide armor into the fire to complete the enchantment, Eaerenel held out her hands toward the flames, as if warming them.  The hide armor in her lap glowed slightly as the enchantment took shape; a ghostly twin to the hide formed in smoky lines over the fire.  When the enchantment reached its full potential, Eaerenel clapped her hands together once, and though the image over the fire vanished, wisps of smoke wrapped around her hands.  Atka stepped into the fire’s light, and Eaerenel again held her hands out, this time towards the warlord, and specifically, her armor.  Smoky tendrils extended from Eaerenel’s hands to Atka’s armor.  The chain absorbed the enchantment, and as the ritual neared its completion, screaming faces began to appear in smoky outlines.  There was no doubt now that this armor had the ability to strike fear into her enemies, and Atka grinned a wicked sort of grin in anticipation of her first chance to evoke that fear on the battleground.

So Be Creative

It’s your character, and you can be as creative as you want to be.  You don’t have to do anything special when using your rituals, but if you want to add a little extra flavor to them to align better with your character, there’s plenty of room in there for you to be a little more creative.

@stupidranger @dalcher Hi [= @geeksgreamgirl says you can help hack’n'slash PCs into a bit more of a story driven RP game. Suggestions?

Dante will be sharing ideas to help DMs encourage more roleplaying from their players.  Me, I’m taking a look from the player perspective.  If you’re a player who is mostly hack-n-slash and you want to develop your roleplaying, here’s are a couple of suggestions to get you started.

Develop Your Quirky Side

A great way to ease into roleplaying is to develop a character quirk that you can exercise periodically.  Think of something a little off-the-wall for your character.  Maybe you’ve developed an intense fear of spiders.  If you’re an archer, maybe you like to check the fletching on your arrows before you turn in for the night.  If you’re a sword-swinger, maybe you check the edge of your blade.

A small quirk can give you something small to interject into your game that a) doesn’t take a lot of effort to roleplay and b) doesn’t take a lot of in-game time.

Develop an In-Character Connection

You can roleplay with other characters, familiars or NPCs in-game with a little creativity.  This can be something you work into your backstory: you and the other fighter went through militia training together before moving on to something bigger, giving you something to chat about around the campfire.  If you have a familiar or animal companion, you can spend some in-game time chatting with it.

It’s a little easier to work your way into roleplaying conversations if you have a reason to have a conversation!

Take Your Opportunities When They Arise

When you find a chance to roleplay, take the opportunity.  Sitting around the campfire is a great time because you’re already out of the combat mode.  Or wandering around a new town, as you meet new people or interact with shopkeepers.  I know it’s a little intimidating to start speaking in-character, but remember, this is supposed to be fun.  Take small steps and easy opportunities to flex your roleplaying, and enjoy yourself!

For the DMs out there, stay tuned for Dante’s DM-focused advice on how to help your players roleplay more.

The Specifics

If you haven’t checked out the details on Familiars from Arcane Power, here’s a quick run-down.  Any Arcane class can take the “Arcane Familiar” feat to gain a Familiar.  Once you have a Familiar, you can take additional feats to supplement its abilities.

Familiars are either in Passive Mode or Active Mode.  In Passive Mode, your Familiar cannot be targeted or injured; it just sits on your shoulder.  In Active Mode, your Familiar can move around, but it is subject to being attacked, which means it won’t live long with its 1 hit point.  Fortunately, if your Familiar dies, it will reappear after a short rest or extended rest.

Familiars will also grant you bonuses, depending on what kind of Familiar you have.  The list of Familiars is on pages 140 and 141 in Arcane Power, and each Familiar has unique properties, such as bonuses to skill checks and bonus languages.

Familiars Should Be Special

Familiars are fun, but they should also fit your character.  So if the standard list of Familiars just doesn’t have something to strike your interest, work with your DM to find something perfect.  For instance, while looking for a Familiar for Eaerenel, my fiery wizard, the options on the list just didn’t suit her.  Dante & I came up with a great compromise.  We took elements from the Dragonling and the Falcon, added a little twist and suddenly, we had a Phoenix.

Even if you don’t want to develop something different, I still recommend working with your DM to make the introduction of your Familiar something special.  Instead of just suddenly popping into existence, Dante & I worked out that my Phoenix would emerge from the ashes of the campfire in the middle of the night.

You are using a feat to gain a Familiar; it should be something pretty special.  So don’t hesitate to involve your DM in your decision to add that extra something to make your Familiar extra Fabulous.

And as I’m sitting here, grasping for straws for something to write, I am thinking back fondly of the “adult” cake (and how oh-so-tasty it was), and I begin to consider how ritualized the birthday party is. In our family, there’s the socializing time, generally including food, followed by presents, then cake. It’s a very specific pattern of events that occurs every time, no matter who is celebrating a birthday.

And now to the point… All this reminiscing of birthday party rituals has lead me to consider ritual patterns in roleplaying.

In terms of mechanics, there are patterns of behavior governing actions. For instance, initiative to determine order of combat, actions taken in order. It’s the same pattern that is followed every time there is combat.

In-character rituals are a little harder to identify as they are generally subjective. One that comes to mind stems from both parts of our last big campaign. Various characters had their rituals to follow whenever the party arrived in a new town. Nathanial, the goblin-turned-human paladin of Horus-Re, would visit the local temple and clean it. Batloaf, the Rock bard extraordinaire, would scope out the population of available women and select his partner(s) for the evening; I won’t share with you the specifics of this ritual so-as to keep this post family friendly.

My character, Ari, didn’t really have any specific pattern of behavior to follow when arriving in town. I realize after the fact that this is one of the components of roleplaying that I neglected with this character. I was vaguely uneasy when reaching a new town as it seemed that most other characters had something to do, and Ari didn’t really have a ritual to follow. In a fluff-heavy group, not having something fluffy to do made it a little less fun.

It’s easy to say that the solution in this case would be to find something to do, but that may be difficult to accomplish, depending on the character’s personality. So, unsatisfyingly, I don’t really have an answer for this. But I would recommend that if you are involved in a fluffy campaign, take some extra time between sessions to consider your backstory (because it’s a fluffy campaign and I know you have a backstory). Is there something there that your character could use to fill those empty hours in town? Maybe you could write letters home or update your adventuring journal: these two options don’t require much (if any) in-game time but they can give you a ritual to complete. Plus, it leaves an opening for you to write that letter/journal entry between sessions as a character-building exercise; what would your character have to say about that crazy old oracle you visited?

As a player, if you’re having difficulty involving your character, try working with the other players to see if you might find something your characters can do together. Or maybe your DM can offer some insight on what your character could be doing or what areas of town that might be of interest.

Learning to love your small pond

Phil, The Chatty DM pointed out in his comment that after 25 years of DMing he has lost the ability to be a player. I love Phil, but I disagree with this statement: he has just become very good at being a massively multithreaded player (to steal a Computer Science term). Putting on your adventuring shoes forces you to become a single threaded player, focusing on only one character’s development, storylinee, passions, and needs.

Instead of painting in broad strokes, you get to paint in fine details. It’s D&D pointalism, people! To me, part of the fun of being a player is obsessing about and exploring the fine details of this character whose actions I get to guide for awhile. Learning to love those details is the path toward enjoyment of being a player again.

Get yourself a big bag of contentment (max load 50 lbs)

Just as in life, we suffer from the ability to always want what we don’t have. Another key to becoming a player again is learning to be content with the pacing of the campaign and the treasure/spells/abilities/random miscellanea that you have been dealt. Feeling confined is natural when you’re used to calling all of the shots. You, the person (not the character), can make the choice to be pleased with your cozy new niche or you can be frustrated by the perceived restraints as Phil so articulately phrased it.

The choice, as they say, is yours and yours alone! Make the most of it!

Special thanks go to Phil for inspiring this post, and to Mad Brew Labs for accurately guessing The Simpsons episode, “El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer”, that I was referencing yesterday! Thanks guys!

* Adventuring Shoes are magical shoes that appear tattered and worn and grant a +5 bonus on all Perform checks when telling adventuring stories.