The Nightfall DnD Preparation Thread

Well "minor character" would probably be more accurate since being an npc does kind of go against its core definition.

yeah but thats the entire point, im not a player in this game

You're still playing the character though.
Only a GM or game engine can ever control an NPC.

I believe the term for what you're playing is an actor, at least in videogames.

fine im an actor playing an npc


oj said hed let me control an npc so thats what im going by


cause hes the one running the show

not you

Honestly, given what I know about Silcks character, calling it an NPC seems fine to me. He isn't a character like the rest of you and NPC only means that it isn't a player character after all, right?

Ireli, if you want to change your character, it should still be fine, though just to be clear, this won't JUST be social stuff AND how much social stuff happens sort of depends on you guys yourself. But yeah, there is a big city with plenty of people to talk with, if you want. Though while you don't have too many skills, your charisma is high, which is rarely a bad thing for social stuff. Speaking of skills, I think you might be missing a point? You should have 8 at level 1 and with 2 in Concentration, 1 in Knowledge (Arcana), 1 in Gather Information (cc) and 1 bonus language via Speak Language (cc), I think you've only spend 7 points yet.

On that note, mather, I reconsidered your character and decided to give you full Rogue skill points after all.

Thanks! Updated my sheet.

so ive started a dnd 3.5e campaign in my uni's board game/tcg/rpg society and i am completely lost with the skill points and stuff xD

but yeah im plaing as a half elf ranger called john smith cause i have no originality am playing that he is trying to hide his true identity

If you need any help, feel free to ask, I've been collecting quite a lot of info about 3.5

Hey, uh, just out of curiosity and totally not because of something DnD related but what kinds of people would you expect to meet in a "creepy" circus besides clowns and an animal tamer?

Hmmmmm.... A knife juggler with an eyepatch? An exceptionally skilled contortionist?

TheBookwormBakery wrote:

Hmmmmm.... A knife juggler with an eyepatch?

Slick?

yes exactly


id expect magicians that actually saw their victims in half

maybe trapeeze artists that come out of each other a la coraline

Some really nice acrobats and a dancing bear.

Dancing Bear is already covered. I also made a "Strong Man" but I am unsure if I overdid him, he can lift two bluewhales over his head.

A knifejuggler/thrower shouldn't be too hard. Trapeeze artist isn't hard but coming out of one another is tricky... I suppose they could use escape artist to squeeze into eachother or something...

What about dancers who look suspiciously doll-like?

Oh and a blatantly undead orchestra.

(two bluewhales?)

Kid who may or may not have been kidnapped?

?

Okay, I can work with that

Okay, so, I got the undead animal tamer, clowns, a strong man, an escape artist, dancing bears and creepy twin trapeeze artists who can sing and dance and are oddly pale. The knifethrower is a bit tricky though. The thing is, I can totally make him a Spades Slick reference. But he won't have any shadow magic. Or I can give him shadow magic and a packt with eldritch beings but then he wouldn't be a good knife thrower, just a guy with knifes and magic. The second actually seems like a better reference but wouldn't fit in the circus. So what should I do?

Right now I'm thinking about making simply two people, a slightly slick knifethrower in the circus and a totally slick shadow magic user for some other time.

The reason I said knife juggler with an eyepatch is because the eyepatch implies he's not all that good at it and could seriously hurt someone. (so spoopy)

Can't you just give him both things?


Also BB are you implying he threw a knife in his own eye? because that's pretty impresive

I unfortunatly can't give him both, I can either make him a good knifethrower OR a decent shadow magic user. He'd be getting some spells as a knifethrower but just regular magic, neither shadow nor pact magic. If I wanted to do both he'd be crappy at both or would need to be epic level, as in, over level 20

maybe he could 'throw' shadow knives?

Alright, let me elaborate.

The big problem is that throwing knives is normally not a good thing to do in dnd. It is difficult to hit enemies, if you miss you can hurt allies and even if you DO hit, it hardly deals damage. There are more issues but the good news is, with the right feats and classes, you can avoid all these issues. Yay!

There are also plenty ways to represent shadow magic. The most obvious would be the shadowcaster, a class that literally uses shadow magic. They even have a power that creates ink, hilariously enough. The Warlock would also be good, being a class that gets abilities similar but not quite like magic by making pacts with devils, demons, fey or elder abominations that live at the edge of reality. Now what does that last one remind me of, hmm. Lastly, any other caster class could of course do similar things by picking the right spells. Just change the fluff a little and you're good.

The problem is that caster classes suck at using weapons and hate multiclassing. A wizard or sorcerer would basically cripple themself if they tried to become a knifethrower and then they'd still suck at it.

I could build a knifethrower and give him a single class as one of the caster classes but that would mean that he totally sucks at magic.

So the options are basically either good caster, decent caster and crappy knifethrower or good knifethrower who can't use any decent magic.

Honestly, I feel like the third would be best for the circus while the first would be best for slick. Mind you, magic user who are also good at melee are totally possible and making one who is decent with a crossbow or even a bow isn't too hard either. Knifethrowing is the problem.

EDIT: I feel I should meantion that Manouvers from the Tome of Battle can also be neat for shadow magic, especially the Shadow Hand manouvers, which can help you hide and sneak and even teleport, supposedly all without magic. Those would probably be the easiest to add to a knifethrower. That would currently be the best way in my opinion.