The Nightfall DnD Preparation Thread

I have one important Question:
How high are the costs for a ressurection?
In case one of our characters dies... We should be prepared.

With a piece of the remains, Raise Dead costs 5000 gp in diamonds to cast. Without we'd need Resurrection, which needs 10000 gp in diamonds.Plus the Cleric casting it might ask some compensation if (s)he's a jerk.

So yeah we'd be pretty screwed. I hope the wizard school has some kind of insurance for that.

(I imagine the diamond-mining business is pretty big in DnD.)

Alternatively, either don't die or keep backup characters. High constitution also helps, that way you can lose more blood without dying.

Or run a living construct they seem to be pretty useful for not dying

And yeh I've already had to roll a new character cause one died, no biggie xD

...If you need us, me and my 5 hitpoints will be in the back.

Well, you can hire a spell caster, the price is in the PHB (page 129, it's [the level of the NPC]x[the level of the spell]x10gp+material cost of the spell; 0 level spells count as 1/2 level). Of course you'll need to FIND a spell caster who can cast it first, and while the city does have high level ARCANE casters, you'll need a DIVINE caster for revivals. That said, there are many ways to get characters back and even if that doesn't work, rolling a new character is definitely possible. Also, unless you guys do some seriously stupid stuff, you probably won't die too soon. For example, most robbers in the slums would probably prefer to get your stuff without becoming murderers. So unless you challenge something much more powerful then you that wants to actually kill you, you should be fine.

And yes Pawn, Wizards should usually not be on the frontline. The song "Never split the party" says "Wizards in the middle" for a reason, it's so that they don't get attacks from either the front or the back.

Well I'll need to be convinced not to wade into battle on my righteous all powerful destroyer of life and all things my enemies hold dear

Oh and the name 'wanderer' is a best of a bad situation so if anyone(heres looking at the gnome)suggests a better name/title thing I will probs just be like '....YES I LIKE IT' *turn to others* 'FRIENDS, and casters, I HAVE A NEW NAME'

It's mostly that killing people inside a big city might get you some negative attention from the people upholding the laws. After all, there is a point where selfdefense stops being selfdefense and that line is probably somewhere around "beating them to death with THEIR own hands (while saying "quit hitting yourself")". Jokes aside, killing random muggers might be a bit cruel. I'm not saying that you can't do that, just that you need to be willing to live with the consequences.

As for the naming thing, I think adopting nicknames and titles is a classic for a Warforged. The ones who try to become more living and less construct might prefer "normal" names but I could definitely see the rest of them being fairly indifferent about the whole naming thing.

well, there's Noble Steed for sure

maybe Noble for short

OverlordJ wrote:

It's mostly that killing people inside a big city might get you some negative attention from the people upholding the laws. After all, there is a point where selfdefense stops being selfdefense and that line is probably somewhere around "beating them to death with THEIR own hands (while saying "quit hitting yourself")". Jokes aside, killing random muggers might be a bit cruel. I'm not saying that you can't do that, just that you need to be willing to live with the consequences.

As for the naming thing, I think adopting nicknames and titles is a classic for a Warforged. The ones who try to become more living and less construct might prefer "normal" names but I could definitely see the rest of them being fairly indifferent about the whole naming thing.

yeh the bringer of death is for outside city walls

and yeh ive got to balance warforged indifference with warblades love of battle and respect and being sung about

Well, since you were originally build to fight in a war, perhaps your love for war could be based on a wish for times when things were simpler, were you were just a simple soldier, doing his job in the field. Now you have to take care of yourself and that can be HARD. And your character arc could be the development of joy over your new freedom. Or something.

EDIT: I realized this sounds a bit negative, so allow me to elaborate:

As a Warforged, you were most likely created during a war, obviously. So at first you would be trained for it and then spend an undefined time on the battlefield. Considering you are still alive (and considering you have a PC class level and not an NPC class level) you were probably a pretty great soldier. So the first few year of your live were probably pretty much nothing but fighting and feeling successful for being good at fighting. And then the war was over. No matter whether you won or lost, you were now suddenly without a job and "free", noone to guide or order you around, aimless. This would likely be the time where you picked up the nickname "Wanderer", since you probably drifted around a lot, which is fairly common for Warforged after their war is over.
Obviously, different Warforged handle that situation differently, but perhaps, for you, fighting gives you a feeling of home, a feeling of security. Especially since your character isn't the most social, he might feel like he doesn't know what to do most of the time, except during a fight. It would also fit with your characters focus on the past, what with him searching for the tomb of his creator, so fighting could be like a return to simpler times, where he felt good and didn't need to worry.
And then, just as your character will hopefully learn to appreciate other people more over time, so, too, might change his attitude about fighting. Something something, protecting people, something something, glory, something something, you can probably think of something good yourself here. It's always good when one has an idea for character goals as well as for actual character development.

i was thinking i was built to fight period, i enjoy the rush of combat, the brief pang of uncertainty when our blades meet that is overcome by the wave of exhilaration as i come out on top, my character arc will probs include stop being such a massive douchecanoe and maybe learn to speak proper common

o plus i found this and i thought it might give ideas for magic weapons xD

While that looks really neat, I'm not sure how I could use that to create magic items. Add to that the ridiculous number of existing possible effects for magic weapons and I feel like I probably won't have to create anything completly new anytime soon.

On a different note, I recently saw an image of Kanaya that made me think of how to best represent her within the rules of DnD. Obviously she'd have to be some sort of custom race, so I want to hear what of Kanayas abilities you guys think would need to be represented the most.

Obviously she'd have the "Blood Drain" ability of a Vampire and there is actually an existing ability that is pretty much perfect for her glowing (I'm talking about the ability "Body Lamp" that the Asherati from Sandstorm have). And she'd obviously be an undead. Can you think of anything else she'd NEED?

uhhh shed have a decrease to cha, increase to con and dex

other then that i cant think of anything?

other then shapeshift to grow insect wings, maybe some sort of communicate with insects? cause her mom is literally a bug?

other then that idk

I was thinking of things she can actually do in canon. And Undead have no Con, so she couldn't have an increase to it.

So, undead, glowing, flashbang and blood drinking. Hmm, that was easier then I thought...

well if she went GT, which she did in one of the bubbles they visited i think, shed have insect wings that she could fold up or shit

Godtier abilities seem more like they'd be some kind of class abilities, not racial abilities.

tru, altho it was a racial standard that all trolls that gtd(except maybe kk) gained wings so id have thought itd be racial

then again we arent making trolls we are making myram

Well, all godtiers were able to fly, so the wings seem to be mostly fluff. It might be similar to the way that Favored Souls gain Wings at level 17, though the type of wings depends on their alignment. So maybe whatever class the "Hero of Skaia" is gets the ability to fly when reaching "godtier" and the way they fly is just different depending on race and stuff.

I think Kanaya would primarily be a CHA build. Dumpstat DEX, slightly below avg INT, average STR, above avg CON, high WIS. Then the rainbow drinker template would remove her CON and add some STR.

Skill points in Craft(Clothing), Diplomacy, Decipher Script, Intimidate, Survival and Use Magic Device.

Rainbow drinker template would be an acquired template. It'd change the creature's type to Undead and add a limited variant of the Regeneration extraordinary ability that heals damage without regenerating flesh, and which also doesn't resurrect a destroyed creature.

I doubt that Dex would be her dump stat, she has been shown to be swift and agile in canon, and while it was refered to as something like "vampire speed" I think, unless the template would give her a huge dex boost, it does imply that her Dex is at least not below average. I'm also not sure why you'd think her Int would be slightly below average. And where did you get the high Wisdom from? In fact, if anything I'd think it would be her Wisdom that might be a bit below average, since she seemed to have trouble with things that I'd think would fall under skills such as sense motive, at least in the beginning.

The skills seem pretty fitting I think.

As for the template, I mostly agree. I think the Fast Healing ability might work better then the Regeneration ability. It would obviously also add the Glowing and the Blooddrinking discussed earlier and it would probably give a boost to Str and Dex I think. Maybe LA +2 or something.

So Kanaya would be something like [Race: Alternian Troll (Rainbow Drinker template)]
She'd also probably have some sort of racial feat to counteract the weakness to sunlight normally present in alternian trolls.

P.S.: On a different note, hey Silck, do you have any thoughts on your creator besides him being a Gnome?

She hasn't used that much agility, and most certainly not anything that the majority of other characters haven't also been capable of. The only impressive feats she's done by Homestuck standards are attacks, and as a chainsaw has got to be too heavy to use Weapon Finesse, that's STR, not DEX. Also she hasn't exactly had the best Reflex saves.

Low INT is because of her technological ineptitude. She's the only character shown to have any trouble with computers on user level, needing Sollux to show her how to use some of Trollians features, showing confusion at how the timeline for chats worked (when the others took it in stride) and throwing the F1 key from her own keyboard at Sollux' head.

High WIS is because she's shown immunity to fear and disgust effects even before turning Rainbow Drinker. She evidently has a high enough Will save to resist Gamzee's fear aura.

That kind of implies that intelligence is linked to the ability to use a computer...

In DnD, it is. INT is your measure of knowledge and learning ability, it's the skill used for Knowledge and Craft checks and is used in its raw form for tinkering with foreign technological objects.

The ability score that represents actual intellectual prowess is WIS, as that represents your ability to process information and come to conclusions.

Indeed, Intelligence is learning, Wisdom is understanding. For example, a character with high Int but low Wis would be great at learning new information from a book and could likely use a solution they've learned about earlier to solve a problem they encounter later, but they would likely have trouble coming up with a solution all on their own. On the other hand, a character with low Int but high Wis might have trouble with long words or learning from a book, but when confronted with a problem they will use their brain to find a solution. On that note, Charisma is force of personality, so it's how good you are at affecting others with your will.

Back to Kanaya, hmm, I had forgotten about the computer scene, I admit that this hints at below average Int. And while I agree that her Will save seems somewhat high, it could come from a feat like Iron Will or Force of Personality. I just feel that her early interactions with other characters show a difficulty with understanding other people. Falling for things like John pretending to be Rose, falling for Roses snark and her reaction to the scene when Vriska kisses Tavros, all seem to indicate that while she might be good at getting others to follow her lead, she is also easily lead on by others. This is a classic sign of a low Wisdom. As for Dexterity, while it was certainly not her best stat before her undeath, so would I still think that it wasn't a dump stat, since while she might not have been especially acrobatic, she was certainly no less acrobatic then the others. Also, low Dex characters are ofthen shown as clumsy, which I don't remember her being. Lastly, what Reflex saves do you think she has failed? The only two I can think of are Eridans attack (Which seems more like a ranged touch attack that was readied against a charging opponent to me) and HICs attack (Which was likely just way too high level to save against)

I think Kanaya might have had something like 14 10 16 8 10 16