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Post by The Northman on Jan 22, 2014 19:16:19 GMT -8
I've really liked the Lore Warden fighter archetype, but it unfortunately suffers from a good amount of sucking. Luckily, I've been the recipient of a GM boon in that he's decided to replace their normal 7th level knowledge-based power with the old Knowledge Devotion feat from 3.5. The game centers around an evil spellcaster able to reincarnate himself every 100 years - my character is the only survivor (who only survived due to being turned to stone) of the last group to defeat him. It was believed that he had been destroyed all-together, but now it appears he's preparing to return, so the other characters in the group seek out the 'statue,' of my character for help. I figure the knowledge-base (I also took 'Breadth of Knowledge - +2 to all knowledge checks and make them untrained) and disconnect from reality make him ripe for a personality similar to the Cumberbatch Sherlock incarnation. I'm a bit worried that the change could be a bit overpowering, but we're running with a very small group, so I'll see how it goes.
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Post by The Northman on Feb 1, 2014 2:15:41 GMT -8
First session was a blast - pun intended.
The entire first session plot revolved around the other player (we're playing small - GM+2) being charged by his clerical order to investigate the site where the campaign Big Bad was last defeated 100 years prior to the start of the game. I played the part of a dwarf wizard-for-hire; an invoker to be specific. Lots of fun for us, and a little annoying to the GM as I..well...wizarded a few of the encounters.
The last scene of the game was discovering the site of the actual battle between the last incarnation of Big Bad and his brother, princes of a lost (when the Big Bad went out with a bang and blighted the whole kingdom) empire. Among a collection of broken 'statues,' was one intact - my permanent character for the campaign, turned to stone with Big Bad's last words.
Still haven't had the chance to actually flex the character build, but it was a really good time.
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Post by Kainguru on Feb 1, 2014 4:57:49 GMT -8
I really like the reincarnating villain with a link to the past idea. A bit like Adam Adamant the 60's TV show . . . Aaron
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Post by The Northman on Feb 11, 2014 1:47:52 GMT -8
First session was lots of fun.
The other PC is playing a cleric beholden to a god of war and tactics, focused heavily on front line support/buffs. Of the two npc's available - an undead-hunting ranger and a dwarven mercenary wizard - I chose the caster. He was an evoker by trade, with some pretty boss fire spells onboard considering the ruined palace where the adventure took place was infested with undead. A Wall of Fire met a neat line of skeleton archers and made one of the tougher designed encounters into a laugher, but I met the GM's heavy sigh with an appropriate "you designed the characer," shrug.
My RP was a little clunky when we finally saved my actual character from his stony prison, but it was late and the personalities were really disparate.
Second session was fun as well - I'm trying to channel a bit of BBC Sherlock in the high-Int/low Cha nature of my character. We've been tasked with tracking down the immortality-obsessed necromancer who constructed the sword which was supposed to trap the soul of the big bad forever - it's handle and broken blade were still resting inside the charred outline of BB's corpse, but whether its hold was broken through treachery or design is unknown.
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SirGuido
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Post by SirGuido on Feb 11, 2014 5:25:41 GMT -8
Second session was fun as well - I'm trying to channel a bit of BBC Sherlock in the high-Int/low Cha nature of my character. I love the fact that you are exercising the fact that Charisma stands for likeability and not just appearance. I always hate when someone with a high charisma cops out and describes themselves as "very attractive." I was part of a group playing through all the older iterations of D&D leading up to Next, when we played white box I rolled up a "fighting man" 3d6 straight down the line. Ended up with an 18 Constitution, a 16 Strength and a 5 Charisma. So I called him "Sexy Rick" and he was this Adonis like man who knew he had the most perfect body ever created, and made sure everyone else knew it too. So, in short... he was a dick. Hence the low Charisma score. Everyone else kept saying "How can you have a low Charisma and be sexy?" and I wanted to punch them in the junk.
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Post by The Northman on Feb 11, 2014 17:31:10 GMT -8
Yeah, the addition of the Comeliness stat, while strange and creepy, at least did something to differentiate the two in the games it was used. I think pathfinder and White Wolf handle it well now, with advantages indicating especially physically attractive characters that play into social bonuses.
This character has a 16 INT/8 CHA with the Breadth of Knowledge feat, so he's about as intellectual as they come. Plus he fought in a war that culminated with losing his wife and killing his own brother, only to blink and find his whole world washed away by 100 years and the cycle begun anew despite his sacrifices. He literally has no time for niceties, but he's Good and outwardly heroic in his actions. In the second session, we had the 'Oh shit, time to run," moment when fast moving undead started pouring out of every room, but he still went back to save the mercenary dwarf who failed his reflex save in the room of grasping limbs and was almost overwhelmed because of it.
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Post by Arcona on Feb 18, 2014 12:32:04 GMT -8
Knowledge devotion in a very nice feat and very thematic when not used in a munchkin build. I find that it also works nicely when the player is knowledgeable and along with the skill trick that gives you benefits in monster rolls (collector of stories or something) can mitigate metagaming.
As for the lore warden... the loss of heavy AND medium armor is a bit hardcore for 2 skill points a level... so I certainly dont think you are overpowered with the addition of some damage when you are basically walking around with a chain shirt at best.
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Post by The Northman on Feb 19, 2014 21:17:42 GMT -8
+1 Mithral Breastplate plus the trait that reduces armor check by 1. It's a lot of work to get a Dex-based fighter to be effective.
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Post by Arcona on Feb 20, 2014 1:16:13 GMT -8
In pathfinder if the armor is medium even if you make it light via mithral you still are not proficient with it.
Meaning the Lore Warden losing the medium armor proficiency cannot wear Mithral Breastplate unless he spends a feat on it (in which case you might as well go for an Agile Mithral Full Plate anyway and take Heavy armor prof instead).
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Post by The Northman on Feb 24, 2014 20:22:05 GMT -8
The penalty for non-proficiency is applying the armor check penalty to your attack rolls. -0 has not had too much impact thus far. It's a bit of cheese, but the GM was fine with it considering how hard the archetype gets hit.
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Post by Arcona on Feb 25, 2014 1:20:34 GMT -8
Ah yes... didnt think of that
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