I'm not yet finished with my first run of TOEE and have been itching to roll a new party for awhile. My first run has consisted of characters made in the likeness of the PNP campaign I shared with friends in my youth. Accordingly, many choices in the game were made with RP in mind (ie. the Fighter turned down Scather from Thrommel because he was born to master the longsword, so now I wince everytime the Ranger takes care of business with it. Cleric would never never allow Melny to run off with her Fighter, etc.) So rather than reliving a campaign within the strict limits of a PC game, I wanted to make a B-Movie, Sword and Sorcery adventure... (ie. this came to me while modifying Boris pics for portraits and came across a poster of 5 amazonian barbarians) hence : ////////////////////////////// *** Barbarian-Amazons party *** CN all human female party with at least 1 lvl of Barbarian and 2 levels Rogue. For the following reasons: #1 SPEED: all will move at speed 40 and be skilled in She-Wolfpack tactics. #2 EVASION: what an incredible feat to have, salamanders and eye tyrants beware! #3 GEAR: all can wear (at least) light armor/shields and use most weapons. ... #4 (basic) RAGE: for when the're having a bad day and want to take it out on some misbegotten saps! ... #5 (basic) Sneak attack: for additinal oomph! good times flanking. In addition, all will take Craft weapons/armor skill as they were apprenticed to the smith in their village at some point and taught each other the finer points. Good thing the Druid made Goodberry Hand lotion (patent pending) to heal their wearied hands. The plan is to make it an only 5, no NPC party. The experience will go towards crafting and the non casters will add pluses to gear while casters add effects. The goal is to reach 20 earlier with major gear. Senshock will fill in the wondrous item selection later. This is a 'Magic Bah!' party, so no scrolls. Druid is shamanistic while Sorceress has natural magical affinity as opposed to scholarly inclinations. Might have druid make potions though. Finally they will all have a minimum +1 modifier from Charisma, because it is a movie! ~CG *Barbarian/Rogue/Fighter(4): Wild warrior woman with a kind heart, keeps her Rogue sister in check. Primary Combat & Weapon Specialist, apprentice crafter. ~CE Barbarian/*Rogue: Egocentric, Utilitarian, Greedy and Deadly. Will kill for pleasure, etc. but has a soft spot for animals, kids, and 'family'. 2nd in combat & apprentice crafter. ~TN Barbarian/Rogue/*Druid: The Earthmother and shaman of the group, is the grounding force to her sisters. In charge of healing duties, head crafter and beast caller. Sociable. ~CG Barbarian/Rogue/*Sorceress: Her beauty unparalelled. May have been adopted. (still undecided). Mostly a Conjurer build. Backup summoner, Battlemage & 2ndary crafter. ~TN Barbarian/Rogue/*Bard: a battle bard (Skald) with a mirthful side, will often calm the Rogue with her songs and share stories with the inquisitive Sorceress. Self buffing combat aid, charmer, backup healer. Lends misc. crafting support. Originally the idea was to make them all Barb 2/ 2 Rogue *etc. for Uncanny Dodge, not sure how essential this feat is, feedback is welcome. Otherwise most will be Brb 1/Rog 2/*17 . -here's where I need some help: Not sure if making the *Barbarian a lvl 4 fighter for specialization will really be worth it as id be losing some BAB in the long run and would likely affect the Xp tree. Also not sure about what weapon to specialize in: Falchion/Cleaver vs. 'polearm'/buckler. Miss the old days of THAC0, where a Fighter that could hit like a 16+ HD moster was unparalleled. The Rogue is straightforward. Will probably use a keen masterwork cleaver with several enchants as main and a dagger with similar enchants offhand. Druid is also straightforward. Assuming Barb 1/ Rogue 2/ Druid 17. still pondering the gear. The Sorceress is the tricky one, Mostly conjurer (as i'm tired of Evoking everything) but she'll probably have some essential evocations plus enchants/ illusion. ** not sure if i can get level 9 spell WEIRD with a Barb 1/Rogue 2/ Sorceress 17 build (HELP!). She'll be getting Scather and have the best Elven Chainmail on her (only 5% fail!) and an enchanted mithril buckler (0%). The Bard (Skald): wondering on the build, probably Barb 2/Rogue 2/ Bard 16 or Barb 1/Rogue 3/ Bard 16, dropping Uncanny Dodge for more Sneak Attack. Will probably wield the Holy Spear with an enchanted mithril buckler. Finally, regarding skills such as search/spot/survival/listen. Do all characters need points in these skills to spot invisible creatures/ avoid surprise rounds etc. or can one character that excels in all these compensate for the whole party? All insights are welcome, Thanks!
Thumbs down? Don't get it, bad movie review? Edit: my bad, put a thumbs down in error. Re-edit: gah, so i did get thumbed down, oh well. B-Grade movies are what they are!
Still tying up the loose ends on my first campaign. I wanted some advice from the DnD veterans as to what choices were best for this concept party regarding multiclassing levels (is uncanny dodge really that useful etc.), best choice weapons, and skills before rolling them up. Regarding the Thumb, may have put it in there by mistake when I made the thread and cannot seem to remove it, otherwise I thought someone had given me thumbs down on the movie/group idea. This may turn out to be a 'guide to proper posting' rather than 'DnD concept party' thread.
Zoso, I will try to answer one of your questions (the last one) Survival is only needed by one party member, since I believe in TOEE it only comes into play when getting the option to avoid random encounters when traveling between areas, and the game uses the PC with the highest skill. Spot, Listen and Search are skills used by all members of the party to avoid being surprised and caught flat footed (listen and spot) and to find secret doors (search) and of course search is used to spot traps as well.
Spot is very important for a character to detect hidden creatures, (shadows come to mind). About the "best" weapon choice, I really think it's a balance between your game-play strategies and cosmetic preferences. I switch weapons a lot between parties. I might have a Pally with a great sword one time, next time he's a longsword and shield kinda guy.
Thanks for the answers. I've been looking into www.d20srd.org and getting more ideas. My sorceress won't get 9th level spells, but a fast-footed, fireball dodging, light armor, Scather wielding sorceress is way more fun than a 9th level spell every rest. Been thinking of dropping fighter all together on the primary melee and just going Barb17/Rogue3 yet the essential barbarian skills are not implemented after level 10. So much for making an über-Berserker. Fighter 4 was useful for specialization but not essential, no greater specialization. Ranger2/Rogue2/Barb16 might work. I'll have to do some console testing. http://www.co8.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8484&highlight=tireless
