| D&D: Is gridless combat possible? |
[Apr. 7th, 2008|08:42 am] |
D&D's tactical movement rules generally assume you're using a squared grid that everyone can consult to remind them of their postion. Since online play has no grid without special software, I'm looking to work out a system of handling tactical combat without any grid. Feel free here to make suggestions.
Problems
Since there's no grid to act as an authority on who stands where, it's easy for desynch to occur between players' ideas of the battle position. It's similar to the problem of blindfold chess, where players each try to hold the entire game in their head. (I imagine that real war has always been plagued with a similar issue.)
Players might simply trust the DM to hold the canonical position in his head to settle disagreement, but the DM is still not infallible. Further, the more complex the combat, the greater the risk of "desynch". Thus, for anything but small combats, any system must be much simpler than the traditional strict grid.
Combat Area
An idea I've borrowed from a fellow DM is separating each combat into two zones - simply, you're either inside the Combat Area, where the fighting takes place, or you're not. Anyone can attack anyone else within this area. A move action allows you to enter the Combat Area or withdraw.
Combat under this system is a lot more chaotic and perhaps realistic. You take attacks from nearby opponents you didn't realise were adjacent to you. However, it raises issues - can you fire from out of the brawl into it? If so, can opponents break off to give chase and enter combat to create multiple Combat Areas? If not, can a wizard use spells without firing into melee? How are flanking, area effects and cover handled? |
|
|
| |
[Mar. 24th, 2008|07:53 pm] |
I started a Dungeons & Dragons blog back in 2005 as a replacement for an even older campaign website that I can credit for giving me my start writing for the now-defunct Dragon. D20 Source as it's now known has come pretty far, with almost 250 articles in just over two years. It's also interesting to see how many other D&D blogs have sprung up since then, including several here at Livejournal. I'd like to share a few of those with you.
( Click here for a lengthy list of RPG-related blogs and livejournals )
Something you notice with "blogs" (as opposed to simply Livejournals) is that we have a lot fewer big names, but (in general) a great deal more content. There's a reason for this. A successful blog is written to be read, not written for its own sake.. It's not worth anyone's effort to read a blog that doesn't hold their interest, and that puts a lot of pressure on RPG bloggers if they want to attract a readership.
Livejournal is the opposite of this, because you're essentially subscribing to people you know, rather than content you want. "People you know" includes friends, friends of friends, and people you've heard of (including minor celebrities, which the RPG industry has quite a few of). You're not on parade like with a blog, which can be advantageous. I think ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) freeport_pirate's blog sums this up with its amusing subtitle, The Completely Personal and Totally Non-Corporate Blog of Chris Pramas.
tl;dr: If a blog is to get popular, it has to have an agenda of attracting new visitors by publishing content that keeps people interested. Livejournal doesn't have this same upkeep cost, leaving people free to discuss opinions and news more openly, although at the cost of potentially reaching less people. |
|
|
| Deep Crow |
[Mar. 21st, 2008|05:44 pm] |
My blog's server is currently struggling with a direct link by Penny Arcade, so I've temporarily redirected some of you here. Click here to try anyway or subscribe to the LJ feed at ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) jd20.
Here are the D20 stats on the Deep Crow in the meantime. (Edit: I've also got stats on the stalagmen.)
The following game statistics are inspired by this Penny Arcade strip.
DEEP CROW
This vile feathered creature appears at first a massive, corrupted crow. A disgusting multitude of eyes are mounted above a powerful antlike beak, and four lethal talons ready themselves before a heavy, swinging tail.
This terrifying creature is responsible for night raids on farms that are often mistakenly blamed on dragons or common cattle thieves. Swooping down out of the darkness on massive wings, the powerful bird simply lifts off with livestock in its talons. Its roost is frequently littered with the smashed skeletons of former meals, with recognisable skulls evidencing that the terrible creature has no compunctions about eating human flesh. Growing ever larger with age, truly ancient deep crows are fearsome creatures indeed.Deep Crow—CR12Always NE Huge magical beast
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60ft., low-light vision; Listen +10, Spot +11
AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+8 natural armor, +4 Dex, -2 size); damage reduction 10/magic
hp 102 (12HD)
Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 17
Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +5
Spd fly 60ft. (average)
Melee 4 talons +17 (1d8+6) and bite +15 (2d8+3) and tail slap +15 (2d6+3)
Base Atk +12; Grp +12
Atk Options Snatch, flyby attack
Abilities Str 22, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 9
Feats Alertness, Snatch, Multiattack, Hover, Flyby attack
Environment any mountain or underground
Organization solitary
Treasure none
Advancement 13-24 HD (Huge), 25-36 HD (Gargantuan)
Snatch The deep crow can choose to start a grapple when it hits with its talon or bite attack. If the deep crow gets a hold on a creature of Small size or less, it squeezes each around for automatic talon damage. The deep crow can drop a creature it has snatched as a free action or use a standard action to fling it aside. A flung creature travels 1d6 x 10 feet, and takes 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet traveled. If the deep crow flings a snatched opponent while flying, the opponent takes this amount or falling damage, whichever is greater.
Flyby attack When flying, the deep crow can take a move action (including a dive) and another standard action at any point during the move. The deep crow cannot take a second move action during a round when it makes a flyby attack.
Disclaimer: I haven’t playtested this yet. Let me know if you think the challenge rating is off. |
|
|
| D&D |
[Oct. 13th, 2007|12:43 pm] |
Those of you who follow D&D can now syndicate my Dungeons & Dragons blog conveniently at jd20.
(Thanks ephealy!) |
|
|
| That'll be 180,000 gp, please |
[Mar. 12th, 2007|11:53 pm] |
It strikes me when reading through old Dungeons & Dragons manuals that back in 2nd edition AD&D, there was practically no such thing as buying and selling magic items. By contrast, in the current edition of the game you can travel to any city and expect to freely buy and sell any magic item save for the few most expensive things in the game. (Drop a comment even if you don't read the entire entry, I'm interested in seeing what people think about this.)
The difference really changes how treasure works in the game. AD&D works like Diablo II, where huge amounts of gold are largely ineffectual for buying magic items because the kind of people who value magic items tend not to accept established amounts of currency for them. Magic items are so rare and difficult to create as to have no established price.
Come third edition, and any magic-using NPC or player character with the appropriate training can create magic items from scratch; similarly, by the rules at least, any magic item worth 100,000 or more can be commissioned or purchased reliably for gold, while players will find that they can consistently sell any such item for half market price.
The big difference is that unwanted or unnecessary magic items now suddenly gain special value, because you can reliably trade in stuff you don't want for stuff you do. A spare +1 sword is no longer just a spare sword; it's a convenient portable 1,000 gold piece ingot redeemable at any nearby town. Because they're now tradeable for currency, anything that's worthless to you in practice is still valuable, and anything you desire is attainable just by hoarding enough worthless junk and dropping it off at the city magic shop between adventures.
This can be a good thing, or a bad thing. Yes, it opens up new options for players, but I can't help but feel that the game loses something by making magical equipment a commodity. It's less heroic; I don't remember the part where Frodo flicked through a magic item catalogue and got a trade-in on a bunch of enchanted amulets. It makes more work for the players; someone has to keep a list of the items nobody wanted, then add up the prices whenever they're to be sold. It gives players a reason to look through the magic item list like a mail order catalogue, which makes items less mysterious. It makes magic feel more common, such that you can reliably stock up on consumables, base character builds around items, and remove the reliance on party spellcasters for buffs and cures. Finally, it removes the interesting hodgepodge element to the game, where an item is an item and you can take it for what it's worth or leave it.
tl;dr: Do you think it's better when you can't buy and sell magic items? Discuss! |
|
|
| Food For the Worms, 19th Nov 2006 |
[Nov. 19th, 2006|05:32 pm] |
Hello my D&D players. You guys got 1000XP, good work. Now on 3000XP. |
|
|
| Hiatus of Sterich |
[Sep. 17th, 2006|11:50 am] |
Tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/mfzc7
The Heroes of Sterich campaign is on a hiatus, because it's sort of painted itself into a corner. You were currently Level 13, with 82,300XP. Actually, I never properly wrapped it up but you guys saved your country - in core continuity, the giants you killed whomped Sterich's ass. I may pick this campaign back up at some unspecified date in the future, so keep your character sheets in storage.
The new campaign is called Food For the Worms, which describes the likely fate of your characters. (Just kidding.) |
|
|
| Tome of Battle |
[Sep. 16th, 2006|08:58 pm] |
<CUI> Shards of Granite tactical feat: Take -5 penalty to attack rolls using Stone Power feat. If you hit your enemy, next turn all your attack ignore that enemy's DR
<JDigital> Nice.
<JDigital> -5 to hit to avoid DR
<CUI> And you don't need to be using Stone Power in that next turn
<JDigital> I take it Mearls worked on this book?
<CUI> Lead developer
<JDigital> Heh. Yeah, this is his kind of thing alright.
<CUI> It's bit scary that you regocnize people who worked on DnD books from couple of feats |
|
|