Dungeons and Dragons: the weird, haphazard, complete newbie edition

Nelly suggested that we put together some kind of D&D roleplay, and I was kind of supportive of the idea. So, I thought it might be a good idea to make a thread to like, archive character sheets or something like that?

Yeah, something like that.

I literally have no idea how we would actually carry this out, in a new thread, in a chat(s), in a combination of both or what. But now that this message has been plastered onto the forum and you have all seen it you will never be able to completely banish the idea from your minds! Never!

So, um, yeah. Like post your characters or something? I dunno.

(Help, I'm afraid this is going to turn into homeSUCK the D&D edition and I don't know if that would be bad or completely awesome)

Hm, I DMed once for like an hour. I remember reading through this entire book my friend foisted on me, but I'm not sure that I retained anything. I agree, this is a fantastic idea, but not really suited to the internetscape we find ourselves in. If someone can find some logistics that'll help this happen, then I'm in.

Play by post DnD is the slowest and most boring thing possible, I'd highly advise using a chat of some kind. IRC would probably work; mibbit is a decent in browser client. Also, after exams I could maybe throw together some mirc scripts to assist play.

Also, if you don't have a preference for editions, I'd recommend Pathfinder. It plays very similarly to 3.5 and is mostly compatible, but with some nice revisisons that streamline aspects of the game and make things easier, as well as making the classes a little more balanced and better overall (some 3.5 classes really suck).
Also you can access pretty much all Pathfinder content online legally without buying anything since its all OGC (as opposed to 3.5 which is mostly OGC but has a lot of content that isn't).

Also if you could wait til after I finish exams that'd be great.

But yeah, I'm probably able to answer any DnD questions, I'm pretty well-read on the matter.

Dregadude wrote:I agree, this is a fantastic idea, but not really suited to the internetscape we find ourselves in. If someone can find some logistics that'll help this happen, then I'm in.

Ok here's a breakdown of what I'd suggest.

First, find out who wants to play obviously. If there's a lot, it might be helpful to split into groups,. I find more than 5 players tends to be suboptimal since people get bored or distracted, but that's irl so idk. A larger group might work fine in IRC, as long as everyone keeps an eye on the tab.

Then, register an IRC channel for the DnD group. I can probably do this, and if I can get mIRC working I'll also make some scripts that will speed up the game. Dice Roll scripts are pretty easy to make, and I have some more complex ideas that may or may not work.

Pick a DM. I'm happy to do this too, especially if you guys aren't really experience players. Who's played before? Enough to understand it pretty well?
Either way, while the DM starts outlining the campaign, get everyone else to create their characters. Obviously, the IRC channel and here would be good places to discuss them, help people draw up character sheets and advice on builds etc. Ideally you want everyone to have created their character before you start playing, as well as a rough idea of what they'll do in the next few levels - otherwise you got bogged down in the level up process.

Then, we organise a timeslot. Find a time that's good for everyone, then log on and play! Actually, if we do have a lot of people its probably a good idea to start sorting this out beforehand so we can divide the groups based on whatever time best suits them.

But yeah, that's what I'd recommend.

I am interested in how this'll turn out

I won't join this for now given my unfortunate timeslot, but I will watch happily.

Ok so I'm procrastinating and made a whole buch of cool irc scripts.

Basically I've made scripts that can record, for each user, their characters Abilities (STR, DEX etc), Base Attack Bonus and Saving Throws. Soon it should include Current and MAX HP, Armor Class, CMB and CMD (for Pathfinder).

With simple commands you can set or modify your characteristics, check yours or other people's, and make a D20 roll against the characteristic.

To come are generalised dice rolls, experience and levels, and links to useful pages. And maybe other stuff I haven't thought of?

If you want to see what I mean get on Mibbit, connect to SynIRC and join #0. I should be online for a few hours.
http://client01.chat.mibbit.com/
from there select synirc from the dropdown box, type in your preferred nick and type #0 for the channel.

edit: in fact I'm just gonna leave it open tonight because cbf closing it. You should see the bot (Dungeon) in the channel. The commands so far:
!set[stat] where stat is dex, str, int, cha, con, wis, fort, ref, will or bab
!mod[stat] [number] changes a stat by number
!check[stat] [user] tells you that user's stat; gives you yours if left unspecified
!roll[stat] rolls a d20 and adds the relevant stat

There's also a silly rock paper scissors thing and an immensely entertaining adventure game if you're interested.

So yeah if you want to check out what I've got so far feel free. The scripting stuff should be conductive to DnD playing, automating dice rolls and such and making it easy to keep track of stats (though you'll still wanna fill out the character sheets).
Also if anyone can beat >EndGame I'll be very amazed

I've already taken a look it's pretty great, Dungeon has a mouth like a sailor though. also I'd be interested in DnD as long as we're not expected to be experts on it at first.

I should perhaps mention that I only know 4e rules and stuff for DnD

OverlordJ wrote:I should perhaps mention that I only know 4e rules and stuff for DnD

Oh yeah, 4e exists.
...But I would say 4e is less than ideal, since to my knowledge it doesn't have a puclic SRD. Or at least, I can't find one. In fact, I can't really find any useful online resources on it, and I doubt anyone here wants to buy the books. Same goes for editions before 3e, since they aren't OGC (and I personally know next to nothing about them).
I don't think it's so radically different that you wouldn't be able to pick up 3e/3.5/Pathfinder though, especially if the other players are also new.
To my knowledge combat is mostly the same, it's just the actual classes that differ.

tl;dr The later editions are similar but only 3.5/Pathfinder can be played effectively without money/illegal activity.

Also, the general concensus among serious seems to be that 3.x/PF is better anyway, but I don't know if that's valid or just bias due to people playing them first.

I don't know if it's piblic but I have seen some pdfs for it I think...

...I bought those books...

Well, I bought some.

There is also the issue that obviously I've played with a group of german players. Though the books were enlish so that might not be too much of an issue. I don't understand some of the abbreviations though.

Forexample, what the frigg is bab? I know what the other stats are but I don't know that one.

Also, knowing the classes might be slightly important when I want to build a character...

So yeah, maybe you have some helpful links for the classes?

I'm fairly sure that's just people liking the system they started with the most. The only thing I agree was better in third then in fourth was that they oficially changed the alignment system in 4e and made it MUCH more simple and much less fun. In 4e there are officially only Lawful Good, Good, True Neutral, Evil and Chaotic Evil.

I believe BAB stands for Base Attack Bonus, although I'm not entirely sure what that actually is.

Yeah, it's Base Attack Bonus. Which is what you add to your attack rolls. Eg, a Level 12 Fighter has +12 BAB, so if they roll a D20 to attack and get 5, the result is 17 +STR/DEX depending on the attack.

Uh, okay, I checked my 4e essential books and found something similar, tell me if that's what you mean

Dungeons & Dragons Essentials wrote:Base Attack Roll Modifiers
Because of how often your character will use his or her attack powers, it's helpful to calculate their base attack roll modifiers in advance. The base attack roll modifier of a character's power includes the following numbers:
- One-half the character's level
- The ability modifier specified by the power
Also add any of the following modifiers that apply:
-Racial or feat bonuses
-An enhancment bonus (usually from a magic weapon or implement)
-A proficiency bonus (if the power is a weapon power and the character wields a weapon that he or she has proficiency with
- Any other bonuses or penalties

For example, for a Lv 6 Human Fighter(Slayer) wielding a Magic(+1) Greatsword and having a Strength of 18 and the "Heavy Blade Expertise" feat

Their Base Attack Roll Modifier (BARM/BAB whatever) for a Melee Basic Attack would be:

(1/2 of the characters level = 3)
+(Their Strength modifier = 4)
+(Racial or feat bonuses = 1 from Heavy Blade Expertise)
+(Enhancement bonus = 1 from Magic Weapon(+1))
+(Proficiency bonus = 3 from profiency for Greatsword)
+(Any other bonuses = 1 from Slayers "Weapon talent")
BARM/BAB = 13

Ah, I see what's going on.
It seems 4e doesn't have a Base Attack Bonus for different classes like 3.5e BUT it does have an equivelant is this line here:
"- One-half the character's level"
3e's BAB attack bonus is also level based, but its different for each classes.
For martial classes like Barbarian and Fighter, BAB = Level
For Rogues, Bards Clerics and others its 3/4 Level.
Whereas for noncombat classes like Sorcerer and Wizard its half level.
In 4e, the "BAB" is just half-level for everyone.

I'm guessing the difference in classes therefore stems from the "Power" being used, which is not a thing in 3e.

3e also doesn't have a proficiency bonus but instead has a non-proficiency penalty.
Enchancement, Feat/Race/Class bonuses and the Ability Modifier is common to both for figuring out your attack rolls.

Ah, okay.

Yeah, in 4e the level bonus is the same for everyone.

Theoretically, if you had a Lv 6 Human Wizard(Mage) wielding a Magic(+1) Quarterstaff and a Strength of 18 (which of course would be silly for a Mage since most Wizard abilities are INT based) and the "Staff Expertise" feat, you'd have a BARM of 11 (a Quarterstaff only has a proficiency bonus of +2 and a Mage obviously doesn't have a Slayers "Weapon talent")

So really, in 4e your class is usually better or worse at certain attacks based on their stats, not based on their class.

So does anyone still wanna do this

Theoretically? Yes.

But probably not before the next year.

Still not sure how it's working online, but if it's relatively straightforward I'm in. I guess I should start picking my class, race, and backstory.

Well Dregadude I maintain my opinion that the best option is IRC. Using Mibbit is very straightforward. If you just follow that link, all you need to do is select a server, type in your preferred username in the box after "Nick:" and choose a channel to go to after "Channel".

I'm thinking we'll just use #pqdnd for the channel name. No need to get complicated. The server we use isn't paticularly important, probably just the default Mibbit server is easiest if we're all using mibbit.

Unless someone has a better choice. But I like this idea because
a) Nobody has to download anything
b) I can whip up some simple dice roll scripts (and maybe more) in mIRC

Hey guys I'm gonna go ahead and make a more formalised, organised thread for this with a nice beefy OP full of simple explanation and helpful information.

Hytheter wrote:Hey guys I'm gonna go ahead and make a more formalised, organised thread for this with a nice beefy OP full of simple explanation and helpful information.

I support that.

Please post a link here once you're done, just in case

I see you made the thread

I'll personally wait with posting in it untill you're finished with all the edits.

That said, I already wanted to say that I'd probably vote for 3.5.

While I like playing in 4e more, it IS tricky to play it in a group with online players.

If I'd meet you guys IRL, I could just borrow my books to you but that doesn't work quite as well online.

And I dislike how pathfinder defines the Evil alignment. I REALLY dislike it. I detest it and I am not sure if I'd be willing to play in such a system at all. I don't know if 3.5 is better but yeah, that's why I don't like pathfinder too much.

i think you can probably obtain 3.5 here, there, or somewhere without financial investment.

i'm actually creating a d&d campaign for a RL group of friends at the moment. It's called Starfall and I would run the campaign itself here too but I think I would get confused and also because i am not a fan of forum post RPs. Too much navel-gazing; not enough character interaction. you're expected to write more than just a simple reply to someone's question or remark and it just makes for a very disjointed and strange collaboration. It's preferable if you can to do IRC or skype or some kind of live chat for RP because of time thingies like not having to wait for others to post and you can actually let your characters carry on conversation.

No i will not DM your group. Simply because I have my own group to cover at the moment.

good luck guys
i'll be checking in here and there to see how you're doing and maybe offer pointers. I would recommend going easy on the dice. i hope you all have fun.