Striking a Musical Chord

2009 March 16
by Stupid Ranger

I took the exclusion of the bard in the PHB as a personal insult, and I’ve been waiting (somewhat impatiently) for the Players Handbook 2 in order to bring out my lute again.  And while it was a hardship to wait so long, I think the new bard was worth it.

The Combat Stuff
I have loved the bard since my first character back in 3.0.  But one of the difficulties of the 3.0 bard (and 3.5 to a certain extend) was trying to stay alive in combat; bards weren’t always ideal for melee and not always effective as ranged.  And while I had many great moments with my various bards, my group members will tell you what they remember: the bard sitting in a corner playing her lute for the Inspire Courage bonuses, because giving others +2 was the best she could do.
The new 4E bard seems to have a lot more opportunities in combat.  Many of their first level spells deal additional weapon damage.  So they are not quite as weak in the combat department.  But bards as also Leaders; they inspire and heal their comrades, and that concept is very obvious as you read their powers.
There are two “virtue” paths for the bard: Cunning and Valorous.  The Cunning bards prefer to use their wits and personality to overcome obstacles; they tend to use ranged attacks, overseeing the battle as opposed to joining it.  The Valorous bards remember the stories of heroes who fought bravely in combat, and those bards relive the old tales by entering into the fray.  I’m currently playing a Valorous, which gives healing benefits to your or an ally.
One of the changes here I really enjoy is just the change in the bard’s activities in combat.  I always thought it was kind of silly to pull out a valuable instrument in the middle of combat.  Who really wants to take the risk of it breaking?
So, Why Do You Need an Instrument?
Without the Inspire Courage during battle, why does the 4E bard need an instrument?  Besides the obvious “You can’t be a bard without some sort of music,” the instrument comes into play for specific performances.  The Song of Rest is a great opportunity to tune your lute for a great, quick performance.  This Bard Class feature helps the group’s healing efforts during a short rest.
Rituals also give you opportunties to play a song.  Bard rituals usually involve a material cost and a focus cost, which is generally an instrument of a specified value.  So you play a song to cast a ritual.  One of the cool tricks of rituals for bards is that once a day, you can ignore the material cost of a bard ritual (increases to two per day at 11th and three at 21st).  One of my favorite first-level bard rituals is “Create Campsite,” which causes a campsite to be created, then broken down 8 hours later.  Combined with the “ignore materials” option, once per day, a first level bard and just play into being a campsite; how wonderful at the end of a long, grueling day.
I love the new bard, and while my bard, Rynna, is only first level, I’m excited about her potential.  If you’ve ever been a fan of the bard, you should check out the new PHB2.
You can also read Uncle Bear’s review of the bard, as well as other class reviews from any of these other sites participating in the Player’s Handbook 2 online release event:
Atomic Array, Game Cryer, Gnome Stew, Critical Hits, Campaign Mastery, Critical Ankle Bites, Kobold Quarterly, The Core Mechanic, Flames Rising, and Musings of the Chatty DM.

Be sure to check them out, and stay tuned here for continuing coverage through the official release on Tuesday!

PHB2, Races New and Old!

2009 March 15
by Dante

I was rather surprised when I began paging through the Character Races chapter of the Player’s Handbook 2. I had heard rumors of the return of the Gnome and Half-Orc (all true!), however I was happy to see a few new (or at least revised) dimensions to the core character races. Today we’ll take a look at the new kids on the block (the new races, not these guys).

The Deva – So That’s Where I put my Celestial…

For those who want to play refined, polite, moral characters who have apparently lived thousands of past lives in near immortality prior to cramming themselves into a fleshy jumpsuits to adventure, the Deva is your race of choice. The best part about having all of this hazy, latent experience is that it gives you a racial ability to add a d6 to certain rolls that “you don’t like.” Now that’s pretty neat stuff right there.

The Deva appears to be a haughty, good aligned corollary to the tiefling. The part of me that loves to develop balanced battles between good and evil is very relieved to have the Deva at my disposal.

The Goliath – Like a rock!

The Goliath is an 8 foot tall behemoth built for breakin’ stuff, and I really enjoy the honest attempt at not copping out and calling them a half-giant. They are skilled athletes which grants them some extra goodness when jumping or climbing. They also have very interesting stony protrusions on their skin that grants them Stone’s Endurance, allowing them to resist 5 points of damage with the added benefit of increasing their resistance as the Goliath’s skills improve.

The Goliath race is competitive, daring, and lovers of all things nature. That is good, since they are spec’ed around the size and stature of a small mountain. I can’t wait to build a Goliath barbarian, it sounds like a great fit!

The Shifter – Nothing like Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf, I swear.

OK, they really are. They’re shapeshifters, which take on the countenance of a wolf-like or cat-like form due to touches of lycanthropy in their family tree. The Longtooth variety of Shifter gains some extra damage and regeneration when bloodied (sweeet!), while the Razorclaw variety gains speed increases and bonuses to reflexes and defense.

The character listing paints a very vivid picture of the traits and histories that are common in these different types of Shifters, and that gives them a bit more specific detail than some of the other races presented in the PHB2. The concept of having a lycanthrope in your character’s bloodline provides some excellent pushing-off points for roleplaying and character development; in fact, it would be neat to have a whole campaign focused around a pack of Shifters exploring their bloodline. That might be an idea for a later time…

And the rest!

As mentioned briefly before, the half-orc and gnomes have returned to canon once more. Gnomes have a racial ability to blink away when taking damage, which is really great… however they have been characterized with large black eyes that made them look a bit odd. They also have a few additional racial abilities that cement their penchant for stealth and trickiness, but they feel very much like the gnomes we all know and love. I’m sure all the guys over at Gnome Stew are happy to have ’em back! Sadly, the PHB2 does not inform whether or not gnomes taste like chicken.

The PHB2 re-introduces the half-orcs and grants them the notable ability to do an extra 1[W] damage, or an extra d8 if it’s just fisticuffs. Most of the additional description relating to the half-orcs (like the gnome) feels very much like their previous 3.5 incarnations. I actually like that they didn’t mess with them very much; it brings a little familiarity to the fold of new characters.

The Paragon Paths

The PHB2 provides some pretty excellent racial paragon paths, which can be taken in place of a class-based paragon path. I’m not going to spoil all the surprises, but suffice it to say that these paragon paths stand up quite well to the class based options.

The racial paths represent the highest example of a race’s defining characteristics… they’re the best of the best that their race has to offer. Speaking of the best a race has to offer, the Twilight Guardian’s portait on page 29 is pretty excellent. Just sayin’.

The racial additions in the PHB2 really round out the very obvious omissions from the standard Player’s Handbook. The racial paragon paths provide different directions to take your characters. The evocative descriptions of each race paint a clear picture of how these races interact with each other and the world around them, which made ideas for new characters jump immediately to mind.

More PHB2 goodness!

The following sites are participating in the Player’s Handbook 2 online release event:

Atomic Array, Game Cryer, Gnome Stew, Critical Hits, Campaign Mastery, Uncle Bear, Critical Ankle Bites, Kobold Quarterly, The Core Mechanic, Flames Rising, and Musings of the Chatty DM.

Be sure to check them out, or stay tuned here for continuing coverage through the official release on Tuesday!

Customizing Your Character with the PHB2

2009 March 14
by Stupid Ranger

I believe that a character truly lives when she has a history.  And there are some options in the new PHB2 that give you some ideas if you’re stuck trying to develop your character’s backstory.

Background Options
Chapter Three begins with some option to help you develop a background for your character, including associated skills you might want to consider training (pending DM approval, of course).  There are some basic options, including geography and socio-economic status, to get you started and inspire you to something more.
There are also background examples specifically related to your character’s race.  Races from the PHB, Forgotten Realms Players Guide and the PHB2 have two or three background scenarios listed.  But these are not just gimme scenarios; they present questions to help you take that scenario and customize it for your character… perfect for getting you started on your backstory.
Variant Ritual Book
This is one of my favorite inspirations.  Not every character who needs a ritual book wants to lug around a “book” for her rituals.  Sometimes, a variation of the “book” is what works best for your character.  There are some ideas listed under the Variant Ritual Book heading, but you can easily apply your own creative twist.  Your cleric might prefer prayer beads.  Your bard might carry a music score book.  Changing the nature of your “book” is a prefect way to make your character a little more unique.
Dante & I will be posting additional PHB2 articles through the release on Tuesday, so check back for more.  Of course, if you missed them, read more from Atomic Array, Game Cryer, Gnome Stew, Critical Hits, Campaign Mastery, Uncle Bear, Critical Ankle Bites, Kobold Quarterly, The Core Mechanic, Flames Rising, Musings of the Chatty DM, or right here with Dante.

The Sorcerer: Destruction Personified

2009 March 13
by Dante

The Stupid Ranger Crew was afforded a rare opportunity to preview the newly released Player’s Handbook 2. We were asked to explore everything there is to know about the Sorcerer class, so I did what any good impartial reviewer would do: I rolled up an NPC!

Setting the Stage

One aspect of the Player’s Handbook 2 that I enjoy is the very clear, visceral descriptions that the authors provide for each of the different class specializations. The Sorcerer class, as an example, is divided into two main focuses: Dragon magic and Wild magic.

The Dragon path provided a few class powers that provide a bit of extra damage to your arcane spells, some minor protective increases to your armor class, and a small amount of damage resistance to a particular type of damage (I picked fire!) The Wild Magic path provides some chaotic aspects to attacks, critical hits, and a chaotic damage resistance that changes with every extended rest.

Pretty much anything with “Dragon” in the title excites me in strange and uncomfortable ways, so I had to go with Dragon magic, and quickly I realized that the Dragonborn class is a natural fit if I’m going down that path. Don’t get me wrong… the lure of being a Wild magic user was very strong but in the end you just simply have to go with the stereotype as far as it will go.

A short hour of exciting dice rolling and character sheet mangling later, I had myself Ash the Dragonborn Sorcerer, ready to whip up on the evils of Shadowfell Keep.

A Fighter in Mage Robes

One very striking feature of the Sorcerer class is that you no longer only have 4 hit points at first level. Thanks to the new 4e rules, my Sorcerer began his life with a stout 26 hit points, which is more than enough to allow him to exercise his sorcerer-ly ways and not worry about getting felled by a wayward crossbow bolt.

As our session progressed, the power of the Dragon path became quite apparent. It seems that many of the At-Will and Encounter abilities plan allowed ol’ Ash to do a respectable amount of damage. Many of the abilities I selected for him ended up being Close Blast or Burst, so he was taking on small groups of baddies largely unaided. It’s not that the rest of the party wasn’t helping, they were just rolling poorly!

A few of the Sorcerer at-will spells could be used as ranged basic attacks, so they offered a good fall back option that still aided the party in a meaningful way. No more lobbing Rays of Frost with next to no damage, folks!

Hooked on a feeling…

Call me a sucker for flavor text if you will, but I really enjoy the structure and aesthetic of the Dragon magic path. There are several spells available along this path that offer breath-like attacks, and, as expected, much of the damage is elemental in nature, so you get a real notion of a barely contained channeling of large amounts of power. The truly great part is the damage allocated to this excellent aesthetic makes sense, and my sorcerer felt like a meaningful member of our group society.

The spells provided by the PHB2 seem to hit hard with the satisfying “FWOOMP!” noise that only massive amounts of elemental damage can achieve. Even the few encounters that we got through during our gaming session were enough to make me realize that the new sorcerer is certainly not yesterday’s alabaster-skinned nerd in robes who had to stay so far away from battle as to be rendered forgettable.

In fact, the Fourth Edition Sorcerer is a force to be reckoned with, and in the words of Ash the Sorcerer: “Just make sure you’re not in front of me when things get started.”

Keep an eye out over the weekend, we’re posting more juicy PHB2 details up to the official release on Tuesday! Also, you will be able to find further coverage on this release on the RPGBloggers Network!

Want to learn more about Player’s Handbook 2? Read on…

Drop by Wizards of the Coast today!

Open Game Table

2009 March 11
by Stupid Ranger

I had the honor to be an assistant editor for the Open Game Table Anthology, and I’m very excited to say that the book will be available for sale March 23rd.  Check out more information at The Core Mechanic.

Split Personality: The Early Days

2009 March 10
by Stupid Ranger

In honor of the newly received preview copy of the PHB2, I could not resist the urge to try out one of the new classes.  No, I’m not pre-emptively reviewing one of the classes; today’s tale is one of split personalities.

Two Personalities
Dante allowed any of us in the group to roll up a new PHB2-class character to be introduced into our Keep of the Shadowfell game.  My first character is an Eladrin Wizard; she’s been fun so far, but I was really interested in trying out one of the new classes. So Saturday night, I’m sitting at the table with one new character and one old character, trying to divorce myself from Eaerenel, my wizard, so I could enjoy Rynna, my new character.  Then Dante gives us the good news: we can run one or both of the characters.  
One Player
So there I was, with two great characters and permission to enjoy them both.  And that’s when things got interesting.  How do you manage two characters engaged in the same battle?
One of the easiest ways to keep my characters separate was something I determined during my second character creation.  My wizard is mostly ranged; Rynna is mostly melee.  This helps keep battle strategies for each character separate.
The second step was to move my wizard personality into the background.  I decided to make Rynna my primary personality, and I made it very clear to the rest of the group that my in-character actions would be from Rynna unless I stated otherwise.  This helped avoid a lot of confusion and didn’t leave me trying to maintain two prominent personalities.
The third step, which really helped me maintain what sanity I have, was having notecards prepared with each character’s powers with descriptions and bonuses already calculated.  The cards had different colored borders, so they were easy to keep separate.  Overall, these cards really helped me keep each character’s abilities separate, and I didn’t have to flip between books and pages checking on things.
Sanity Maintained
All in all, my first split-personality session went really well.  I’m looking forward to more adventures with my two characters.  I suspect it will be more difficult as they gain levels and additional powers, but I think these initial steps will help keep things from getting too crazy.

Sir Gawain and the Iron Man, Part 2

2009 March 6
by Stupid Ranger
In Part 1, I described the classic “arming of the hero” scene in the story of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and in the Iron Man movie, and I described how this scene could be applied to your own roleplaying as an indication of character development.  I hadn’t intended to make a Part 2, but our friend, Todd, posted a couple of interesting follow-up questions:
Todd Bradley said…
How does this “Arming the Hero” scene fit in with the classic “Training Montage” of action movies? And where does sit in Joseph Campbell’s monomyth (“the hero’s journey”)?
Sir Gawain and the… Training Montage?
The classic Training Montage is ever so familiar to movie-goers.  In this filmed sequence, we witness the hero in physical preparation for the upcoming battle.  I think that there are a couple of ways to adapt the arming scene to the montage sequence.
First, for the unarmed, the training montage is pretty much the arming scene.  Because there aren’t weapons or armor (in most cases), the training is the hero’s preparation. You could develop a training montage for your unarmed character as his arming scene; roleplay this by describing what exercises he completes to emphasize what aspects of his training are most important.  You can then describe character development through the introduction of new training exercises.
However, if you still want to implement a classic arming sequence for your unarmed character, or if you want to implement a training montage for your armed character, you can easily include both because they have such a complementary nature.  Describe your character’s training regimen, with or without weapons.  Let’s face it, those fighters and archers didn’t just wake up one morning proficient with their chosen weapon; a training montage can be a great roleplaying technique to describe your character’s dedication to perfecting her combat abilities.  Follow-up the training montage with an arming scene: describe what is important for your character to have with her when she enters combat.  Maybe your unarmed character has a charm or a magical ring he carries with him; describing that in specific detail as he prepares for battle would be part of his arming scene.  For your armed character, describe how she prepares her weapon: testing the edge of her blade, or ensuring her bowstring is in good condition.  Character development, such as learning new techniques or acquiring new equipment, can be described in future training exercises and/or arming scenes.
Iron Man-omyth
Joseph Campell, in his introduction for The Hero with a Thousand Faces, summarizes the “hero’s journey” monomyth as:

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. [From the Wikipedia entry at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces#Summary]

There are several elements throughout that description that we can recognize has part of our roleplaying stories.  Many campaigns begin with the characters being faced with that call to “venture forth.”  This is a prime place for a simple arming scene: what does the character feel is important as he prepares to leave on his journey?
I’ve always felt that the real power of the arming scene comes from multiple iterations used to describe character development.  That simple opening arming scene is more significant if, later in the adventure, there is a second arming scene to show how the character has grown.  For that purpose, I would recommend placing the next arming scene between encounters with “fabulous forces.”  The hero (your character) seldom sees only on encounter in his journey; after one or more encounters, he will gain knowledge leading to personal growth.  When you feel that your character has experienced significant growth, you can craft a second arming scene (possibly with a training montage) to illustrate this growth.
The Arming and the Monomyth Example
Suppose we have a fighter.  She has received good basic training (insert montage here) from the town guard, and her natural ability with a longsword has caught the attention of the elite weapon-masters in the next town over.  She has been summoned to attend their trials.  Our innocent fighter has been presented with the call to venture forth.
Here, we can craft the first arming scene: she dresses with care the morning of her departure.  She checks her blade; it’s not new, being a cast-off from the guard, but it is a sound sword and holds a decent edge.  Before she leaves, her mother presents her with a soft blue ribbon.  Our fighter absentmindedly ties back her hair with the new ribbon, not so much out of vanity but as a reminder of her family.  We have described our fighter’s personality here: not much attention to her clothes, when compared to her weapon; her weapons are more important than her appearance.  The last detail with the ribbon shows that she is close to her family.
Our fighter ventures out into the great wide world on her way to the trials.  She encounters an outlaw, who engages her in combat.  She receives a few minor injuries, before being disarmed by her opponent.  She manages to regain her weapon, but she receives a nasty cut to her forearm in the process.  In the end, she is victorious against the outlaw, though she is wounded from the encounter.  Here is our first trial: combat outside the careful training activities.  Our fighter has reached a very significant realization that she needs much more training.
She continue on her journey, arriving in good time for the trials.  She succeeds and is invited to join the elites, who present her with a new, better blade.  She has been victorious in her early trials, and she has received a reward.
In her next arming scene, we can focus on describing her new sword: the metallic ring as she pulls it from its scabbard, the way the light reflects off it as she inspects it in the sun.  We might mention less of her appearance and the blue ribbon; right now, those parts of her personality aren’t quite as important to her, because she is more concerned with not only the new blade but the new training that comes with it.  For those looking to add a training montage, there is ample opportunity to describe the exercises she practices as she learns the weight and balance of her new blade, and her desire to improve her skills after her near-miss with the outlaw.
As I said last time, the arming scene provides some great roleplaying opportunities, especially to highlight character development.  You can also include the training montage, either in place of or in conjunction with the arming scene.  And both elements work well in Campbell’s “hero’s journey” monomyth; consider your character’s path to determine where he is in the “journey,” then plan the appropriate scenes or sequences to showcase your character’s development.

Guess what I’ve got!

2009 March 4
by Dante

As I speak, word is starting to hit the RPGBlogosphere about a small number of preview copies of the Players Handbook 2. I am pleased that one of these copies rests securely on my coffee table as I type this.

Starting March 13th, the Stupid Ranger crew will take part in a week-long event to cover the release of this great new gaming supplement. We are going to take some liberties with our campaign so we can playtest several aspects of the PHB2 prior to the release event and pass our learnin’ on to you!

I know I am not alone when I say that I am thrilled to be a small part of this release. I can tell you that I’m very excited about what I have read so far!

I know most of you are going to want to buy a copy of this for yourselves, but if you’ve got a few burning questions we’ll do what we can to answer them as part of our special release event. Stay tuned for more information starting next week!

In Memory of Gary Gygax

2009 March 4
by Stupid Ranger

Part of me feels a bit inadequate when faced with honoring Gary Gygax today.  How do you find the right words to honor his memory and express your gratitude for all he gave us?  I gave up on crafting the perfect, eloquent narrative, because every attempt came out wrong.  So here are some of my Gygaxian memories.

My first gaming group was just three of us and the DM.  Dante, of course, was there, along with two friends who lived on the same floor of our dorm.  Chuck & Boyle.  In this campaign, I created one of my favorite characters ever, Lillian.  Then I was included in the “big” game, with about seven other players and Chuck as our fearless DM.  Those were grand days of learning and exploring the realm of RPGs.  And I began to really appreciate the larger community beyond our group, that there were people out there who enjoyed the creativity involved in good roleplaying and the escapism inherent in the experience.  That’s really when I began to appreciate those who created and shaped the RPG experience, especially Gary Gygax.  Here was one of the guys who understood our need for the game experience and provided to us a framework.
I was thrilled to meet him at Gencon a few years ago.  It’s not every day you get to walk up to one of your heroes and shake his hand.  He was kind and funny, and we had a great few minutes talking to him.
I remember sitting in my cubicle a year ago, devestated at the news of his passing.  I had always been a bit of a social outcast in the office; there was only one other person in the office had any exposure to RPGs.  He understood my grief, and it was enough to not feel alone that day. 
At Gencon last year, Dante & I participated in the Grand Gygaxian Dice Collection, both of us donating our first set of dice.  We both thought it was fitting to give back the first set, in memory of all the beginnings.  I remember buying that set of dice (purple & white swirls) from the only game shop in our college town.  Lillian had some great moments and some great failures defined by those dice, and I could think of no better offering.
My life is better for roleplaying, and for that, I thank you, Mr. Gygax.

Sir Gawain and the Iron Man

2009 March 2
by Stupid Ranger

The “arming of the hero” scene is a classic literary element that allows us as readers (or viewers) to experience those moments when the hero is preparing for battle.  It allows us a brief look into the hero’s mind and a glimpse of the hero’s character independent of his actions.

“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”
I was first introduced to the “arming of the hero” scene in college as I was studying “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”  We see a change in Gawain throughout the story; this is highlighted with the differences between the two arming scenes.  In the first, as Gawain sets out on his quest, the arming scene focuses on his shield, a symbol of his faith and belief in the Code of Chivalry.  In the second, when he is facing certain death, the arming scene changes focus to the green girdle; with it, Gawain hopes to avoid death, and in doing so, he has turned away from his Code.  We see Gawain’s focus change from faith to fear as he trying to reconcile his mortality.
Iron Man
A couple of weeks ago, Dante & I were watching Iron Man.  We saw the movie a couple of times in the theatre, but at home, I had that light bulb moment as I watched Tony Stark’s two arming scenes.
The first, when Tony is escaping from the cave, the cumbersome nature of the suit means Tony must rely on a computer activation sequence as well as Yinsen’s assistance; this arming scene ends with Tony witnessing Yinsen’s sacrifice as Tony waits for the suit to reach its full power.  The second, Tony has automated the entire arming scene, replacing Yinsen and the computer loading bar with JARVIS.  The first arming of Iron Man preceeded a selfless sacrifice and a dramatic escape; the second begins without a feeling of humanity as Iron Man strives to free an entire village from tyrants.
Arming Your Hero
The arming of the hero is a classic element, and for the storytellers out there, it can be an interesting element to add to your hero.  Your first arming scene will likely occur in the early days of the campaign; at some point — during your initial character description or in one of your early encounters — you will likely describe your weaponry, your armor, your spells, your holy symbol… something specific that helps define your character.  But characters change, whether through organic personal growth or story-driven character development.  If your character has undergone a signficant change, you can help showcase this change through a second arming scene.
For instance, my current character, Eaerenel, is an Eladrin Wizard who loves to use fire spells.  I have described several of her early attacks with firey details.  In the event that something causes her to re-define the nature of her attacks (ie. seeing an entire village and its population destroyed by another wizard’s massive fire attacks), Eaerenel might begin to study icy attacks; I could introduce this change by describing specific icy details of her attacks… where once there was fire, there would be ice instead.
As a storytelling element, you can easily craft arming scenes to help detail your character’s development.  It’s one more creative trick to enhance your roleplaying experience.