The Nightfall DnD Preparation Thread

Wait so does that mean if you have +4 then before you reach Class level 2 you have to be race level 8?

No, you just have to progress through level 1-4 before you get your first class level at level 5.

Oh, so it's only for the first four levels, not for every four levels, then. Good.

So how's this?

STR: 8
DEX: 16
CON: 12
INT: 24
WIS: 10
CHA: 8

(I'm a human.)

So, as a doppleganger, here are my stats:

STR 14
DEX 14
CON 16
INT 16
WIS 16
CHA 16

Pawn, that seems pretty impossible, considering that you can't buy a stat above 18 and humans don't get any bonuses. How the heck did you get those stats.

Sand, I really, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY advice against any race with level adjustment.

OverlordJ wrote:

Pawn, that seems pretty impossible, considering that you can't buy a stat above 18 and humans don't get any bonuses. How the heck did you get those stats.

By not using the useful tool and being unaware of certain restrictions. (Namely the 18 point limit and the fact that point costs become higher than 1 each at high values.)
Crap.


EDIT: Okay now it should be right:

STR: 10
DEX: 14
CON: 12
INT: 18
WIS: 10
CHA: 8

OverlordJ wrote:

Sand, I really, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY advice against any race with level adjustment.

Hm... :/
I guess I'll have to find a new race...

EDIT: So as a changeling from the pdf you gave, my stats would be:

STR 12
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 14
CHA 14

since there are no modifiers.

Maybe I should explain myself a little.

Races have LA as a tool for the DM, so that they can balance the characters.

If you play as a race with LA, your level basically counts as higher then it actually is.

If you play a first level cleric Doppleganger for example, your level counts as level 5 for the purpose of everything I need to calculate. That includes the monsters you'll have to face, the treasure you'll get and the exp you'll get. This also means you'll need more exp to reach the next level.

What mather described is an optional rule that was added in the Unearthed Arcana. However, mather made a mistake. While you can reduce your LA, you can only do so if you reached three times you (current) LA. So with a LA of four, you could reduce your LA by 1 at level twelve and then by another 1 nine levels after that... But wait, unless we plan to add epic levels, levels end at 20, so even WITH that optional rule you could only reduce your LA to 3 and even then it'd take QUITE a long time.

The problem with a character with LA is that we're playing at first level.

If we'd be playing at, say, tenth level, then you would simply substract your LA from your starting level. So for example, a tenth level party could have a tenth level human/fighter, a tenth level dwarven/cleric and a sixth level doppleganger/wizard. Together they'll encounter monsters that three tenth level characters are supposed to encounter, they'll get wealth like three tenth level characters and they'll need exp like a tenth level character to reach their next level.

If you use a race with LA of 4, I'd need to count your as a fifth level character. which will cause you trouble, since you're in a first level group. You'll have an easy time defeating monsters but you'll take forever to level up and you'll be much poorer then you should except for your character OR I throw monsters fitting for your level at you, which will be too strong for the rest of your group and will make them much richer then a first level character should be.

EDIT: Yes, those new stats seem to be correct.

EDIT 2: As to quote from the Dungeon master Handbook:

Quote :

A monster’s Challenge Rating (CR) tells you the level of the party
for which that monster is a good challenge. A monster of CR 5 is
an appropriate challenge for a group of four 5th-level characters. If
the characters are of higher level than the monster, they get fewer
XP because the monster should be easier to defeat. Likewise, if the
characters are of lower level than a monster’s Challenge Rating,
the PCs get a greater award.
Parties with five or more members can often take on monsters
with higher CRs, and parties of three or fewer are challenged by
monsters with lower CRs. The game rules account for these facts
by dividing the XP earned by the number of characters in the
party (see Rewards, page 36).

And that's why LA is pretty bad for you

Now that that is over with, I should probably say that I'm not too sure if cleric is the best class for my race. It suggests that they should be rogues or bards, so should I change class? Or do we really need a cleric?

Sandstriker wrote:

Now that that is over with, I should probably say that I'm not too sure if cleric is the best class for my race. It suggests that they should be rogues or bards, so should I change class?

Yeah, a Changeling Cleric IS a little odd and if you'd WANT to change your class, feel free to do so. But do what you want to do, don't feel that you SHOULD be a certain class, play as the class you LIKE to play as.

Also, I started working on the world/starting place for your characters and I'd love it if those of you who have pesterchum either pester me sometime or join the Nightfall_Overseer memo. It isn't really on topic but we've talked about it there before and I am fairly sure they don't mind if we talk about it there.

EDIT: We do not "need" a cleric, though having someone in the party who can magically heal IS usually helpful. Mind you, it's possible to buy potions and the setting I'm planning will mean that it's both possible to hire someone to help as well as to get healing in some other way.

I think I'll switch to Bard since it's a class I like and Changelings seem to have a thing with charisma.

Alright  :D 

STR 8
DEX 15
CON 8
INT 16
WIS 10
CHA 16

So here is my bard's stats. Would you suggest changing anything?

Well...

You don't NEED to change something but I've got to warn you.

A Strength of 8 will cause trouble if you need to carry a lot. For example, a character I was playing as had a Strength of 8 and when I wanted him to carry his items, I realized that once he was wearing clothes, his armor and a crossbow he was only able to carry ten bolts for the crossbow, twenty would have been so much that he would have been carrying a medium load (which I wanted to avoid)

A Constitution of 8 will cause you trouble with your health. While you can't gain less then 1 HP per level and you will get a maximized hit dice at first level you'll probably not get too much health at each level after that. Remember, if you roll more then 1 on your hit dice when you level up your bard will get a -1. You might also have to worry a bit about your Fortitude safe, since Bards are naturally not too good at those and you'll get a -1 multiplier on it.

High Charisma will certainly help you with your spell casting, high Dexterity will make you nimble and high INT is helpful for skills, languages and Bardic Knowledge. Though I'd personally probably suggest to take an INT a little lower to boost your CON slightly, just so you aren't too fragile.

That's what magical items are for. And a Bard just might be the perfect character to oversee the group loot dump so we could all pitch in for the price.

STR 9
DEX 14
CON 11
INT 15
WIS 10
CHA 16


How's this?

Or this:

STR 10
DEX 14
CON 12
INT 14
WIS 10
CHA 16

So would STR 10, DEX 15, CON 11, INT 15, WIS 14, CHA 11 be good for mine?

I would advice against using odd numbers, as you only get a bonus for each even one.

huh. Wasn't aware of that.

STR 10
DEX 16
CON 12
INT 14
WIS 14
CHA 10

is that better?

i thought you rounded down from odd?

i mean thats what we did i might be wrong

Wouldn't that make it the same exact thing?

You only gain bonuses on even numbers.

Odd numbers are rounded down, so you only get bonuses on the even numbers. So, yes, to all of you.

Sand, I'd suggest the second one, since an extra point in INT probably won't do you much good, while the extra point in strength means you can carry more and don't get a penality on STR related stuff and the extra point in CON gives you a bonus on Fortitude and an extra hit point per level.

Shaula, those stats seem good.

Also, Shaula, maybe I missed it but did you decide for a race yet?

EDIT:
I updated the third OP post a bit by updating the player list and adding a minor rule about coins being weightless.

Also, just as a hint but I'd suggest against making stats below 8 because your character will get in trouble for that.

I'll go with boring old Human. XD