A Helpful Guide

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Cpt Micha
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Posts: 386

A Helpful Guide Oct 21, 2008 9:37:15 GMT -5

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Post by Cpt Micha on Oct 21, 2008 9:37:15 GMT -5

For newer players and some old ones too. In this thread, we will discuss various means to help player's and Dms alike at the table. In this first post we will discuss the most fundamental of things.

Step number one and lesson number one.

Situation awareness, or SA, is the perception of environmental elements within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future. It is also a field of study concerned with perception of the environment critical to decision-makers in complex, dynamic areas from aviation, air traffic control, power plant operations, military command and control — to more ordinary but nevertheless complex tasks such as driving an automobile or motorcycle.

Situation awareness (SA) involves being aware of what is happening around you to understand how information, events, and your own actions will impact your goals and objectives, both now and in the near future. Lacking SA or having inadequate SA has been identified as one of the primary factors in accidents attributed to human error Thus, SA is especially important in work domains where the information flow can be quite high and poor decisions may lead to serious consequences (e.g., piloting an airplane, functioning as a soldier, or treating critically ill or injured patients).

Now what does this mean at the game table you may ask? Simply put. SA, in this case is keeping track of what you and your allies do each round of combat, and what your enemies are doing. Gone are the days where you could just ignore everyone's turn but your own. You do not have to write it down or anything just be aware of what you and your allies are capable of and do each round. You have a very distinct advantage, of SA over your Dm almost constantly due to the fact that there are five of you and only one of him.

Use this to your advantage! Too many times do I see "old hands players" playing without giving a Hoot about what's actually going on and it will often get them killed! Then they whine about "It's too hard!" inexplicably. This is because they are too used to being "stars of the show on their own" or what have you, or too used to it not mattering what goes on in other turns before it is their own again.

Talk with your other players. If you see an option they don't talk with them about it, don't force them into doing something you see as a choice but give them a hint. Or conversely listen when someone else suggests that to you. They are probably just trying to help! SA is critical for a good party to function. And I'm not talkin alignment here when I say good. I mean fantastic, spectacular, competent that kind of good.

SA improves your odds of success because it allows you to make better tactical decisions. Better tactical Decisions will most often result in a favorable success rate. Stay aware. Help Allies get Ca if they need it, pay attention to those that look to be in need of Hp. (Even if you are not a healer) move over to Assist Kill with them to draw some of the heat off of them if necessary, consider what kind of terrain you are dealing with, any traps (if any) that might be around, and use them to your best advantage.

Cpt Micha
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Posts: 386

A Helpful Guide Oct 30, 2008 12:17:11 GMT -5

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Post by Cpt Micha on Oct 30, 2008 12:17:11 GMT -5

No, it's not about that you silly silly people.

Gamers... minds always in the gutter right?

No this is about knowing when, to use your Encounter, and Daily powers in D&D Fourth Edition. Far too many people seem to have the conception that you should "Nova" (read blow your Encounters early in the fight) rather than wait for a more opportune time to employ the power.

This leads frequently to people all too often having to rely on their at will abilities to finish off the encounter, or get themselves out of trouble when they find themselves in it. At best this can drag out the encounter, at worst it can result in a TPK! Now, there's no "sure fire" way to know when to use your powers but there are some general guidelines to follow when using your powers.

Guideline one Try to use your encounter power (usually a lower level one) earlier on in the fight rather than later. Don't "save them for last" These powers often have tactical control in them on some level where as the Bigger Leveled powers are mostly about damage. Damage is important later on. But Control is very critical early on.

Guideline Two Maximize your bonus to hit with your best power. This means, getting Combat Advantage, gaining the benefits of a Plus to Hit from another power etc. For Example a character who has both the benefits from CA and Lance of Faith, has a +4 on his next attack roll! This is a huge benefit and can easily turn a miss into a hit. Don't let opportunities like this slide if you can help it! This also, counts for things like action surge, and elven accuracy as well. Maximize that Plus To Hit. Especially with a "big damage" power.

Guideline Three Let a couple of at wills fly first. Usually it's best to start with an at will or two before opening up with your "Money shot" powers. This is because like many lower level encounter powers many at wills help emphasize battlefield control. Remember things like Tide of Iron could very well determine if you and a party mate have combat advantage next turn. Don't be afraid of them being "low damage!" their damage is often enough to "get the job done" and at the very start of an encounter there are precious few bonuses to hit flying around. Also quite a few at wills can set up bonuses to hit with not only your powers but other party members as well. Such as Tide of Iron, getting you and the Rogue CA against an opponent. Rogue does his sneak attack and what have you, and then comes time for the Warlord. If he uses Commander's Strike for example on you, you have his Int mod + CA.

Guideline Four Blowing your Big Load. Dailies. People I can not stress this enough. If it looks like your party might be near death (read more than half are bloodied) Use your Dailies! Unload on the monsters. Very often this is enough to turn the tide of a "hard battle" into a swing into your party's favor. Just have one or two people blow a daily, (and if you've followed the + to hit logic you shouldn't worry too much about hitting) and after that the encounter starts to usually go in your favor. Don't "save it for the BBEG" that won't help you if you are dead before you get there now will it? You should be using Dailies as a general rule, either once per two encounter (or someone should be) or when **** hits the fan.

Guideline Five Use your Dailies in concert with abilities that synergize the best for them. For Example. Villain's Menace is an excellent power to use earlier on in the fight (especially against Solos) especially in preparation for your next Daily power, or a power such as Reckless Strike.

If you follow these tips, along with maintaining a good sense of Situational Awareness you will be well on your way to "mastering" the game.

Last Edit: Oct 30, 2008 12:18:22 GMT -5 by Cpt Micha

Cpt Micha
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Posts: 386

A Helpful Guide Nov 6, 2008 11:02:54 GMT -5

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Post by Cpt Micha on Nov 6, 2008 11:02:54 GMT -5

Okay, now that we have given some good general advice here's some more general information that can get you into the game in a different way. Previously we have discussed things that help you succeed after a very important step. Character Creation. Now some of you "old hands" might be groaning here, but this is an important step in making your game as fun as possible. There are several key factors that go into making a successful and fun to play as character. Here we will discuss and go over these points.

1 :Character Concept This is by far and away the most important step in character creation. More than a few players fail at this most basic premise even seasoned "veterans" to rpg gaming. They then proceed to have a lack of fun with the game because -they- messed up somewhere in the concept stage. There are several factors that come into play with character concept. None of which are Class name = concept. None. Get that out of your skull right here and right now. Class is not concept. Class is a means to accomplish a concept. Nothing more. "Well what is concept " you might be asking? (Assuming you've not gone back inside your shell or sticking your fingers in your ears screaming "la la la la" at this point)

Character concept, is simply the ideal plan of the character, as well as his or her personality, and aesthetics. The meat and potatoes so to speak. At this stage, it is generally a good idea, to pick your race, fill out their personality a little, and then begin to decide where you want to go with the character. Start thinking about the kinds of things you would like to do power wise with the character that most suit your background and character personality. Now you can move on to step two of Character creation.

My character is a Genasi, who has had command over a small band of men, he is very influential over others able to drive them onward to great things. He lost all of his men during a battle to save a village from being sacked by ogres, but he is not about to let that get him down. He is at all times surrounded by an aura of quiet strength and confidence.

Picking your Class There are several methods to picking your character's class. One of the more popular methods that is used by people that have not quite nailed down the character concept quite yet, is that they will simply wait for the others to decide and then fill in the "missing spot". Most often these "missing spot" characters end up feeling flat, or unfufilling. So I do not recommend using this method. It can lead to alot of "meh" sessions and gaming experiences. It could also lead to a little bit of resentment if someone picked something else that some where deep down you were wanting to play.

This is the method I prefer, after making a concept I look over what class or ability set best fits what I am after concept wise. If I want a heavy armored warrior, who is tough enough to withstand the most punishing enemies, and hit them back just as hard, I would pick a Fighter. If I am after a nimble, and agile swashbuckler who is so good at lying it practically could rot his teeth I would pick a rogue. If I want a Warrior Wizard, I will pick a Swordmage, or Warlord and multiclass him with Wizard or Warlock. See where this is going? You come to your class with your character concept already in mind. The character tends to be much more satisfying this way. This also makes the character more "game universal" and less dependent on specific powers, skills or what have you in the long run, so if you wanted to play that character with another system you can more easily do so. This also determines which build you go for with your Class.

For example my inspirational warrior who drives his men onto incredible feats to gain victory, is most likely going to be a Warlord with the Inspiring presence feature.

The third method of picking a class is one that many people do, which can create the distinct possibility of a rather unfufilling character is that they will pick the class before the concept, and try to build the character around their class. This will often create issues of understanding what the character class is supposed to perform like and will often end up with a very game system specific character concept that they feel is "unconvertable" once they move onto another game. Many people do this one using the class as a "spring board" of sorts. Which has it's merits as you will often spend much less time creating a character (which has the merit of being a quickly made character mainly) using this method.

Stat lines
This important gem comes next in the Character Creation process after picking your Concept. Based on your concept will in part determine your stat order, and your Class will influence this as well. Fighters, will have Strength as their highest stat, (14+) Rogues most often Dexterity (14+ again) and so forth. Your primary stat is determined by your abilities attack characteristics. Such as the Fighter where all of his attacks key off of his strength score. Your Second highest stat (13+) will generally be determined by either a class feature, or by secondary effects within a power, such as a tactical warlord's powers will often have a secondary effect keying off of his or her Intelligence modifier. Your third stat is generally which ever defense is not covered by your primary, or is determined in part by a class ability, or multiclassing.

My Warlord for this example, uses Strength as his primary stat, with Charisma being his second highest stat. Intelligence is his third highest stat as he might dabble a little into warlock, and intelligence based warlord powers.

SKillsThis part of character creation can only really be done after you have chosen your class. Pick skills that fit your character's concept the best.

My Warlord for example, is a silver tongued devil practically, so he will have Diplomacy, and Intimidate as trained skills. He is also athletic and very knowledgeable about history so he has Athletics and History as well.

Feats, this is a pretty easy going part of character creation. Since I want this character -really- good at charisma related skills I picked up Skill Focus Diplomacy at level one. With feat's it's best to keep a general idea of what you want in your head as you play the character, don't stress planning them out too much since multiclassing takes feats now. You never know when the story arc will change and you might want to try doing something else with the character. Just take feats that accent your character's personality, and combat style and you're set.

Multiclassing This part of character creation is entirely optional. For those not in the know, multiclassing is generally speaking referred to whenever you pick up ability sets that a character of a given class or ability set typically does not have. When you multiclass it is most frequently done as a flavorful character enhancing capability that cements a concept into the character's mechanics.

For example this character, made a pact with a powerful Fey at some point in his career. Thus helping me determine that Fey pact warlock would be the most story driven choice for his multiclassing.

And there you have it, you have the basics of character creation. It sounds easier than it is and it's easier than it sounds in others. But remember if you make a mistake you can always retrain. It's very hard to totally rebuild your concept.

Good gaming!

Last Edit: Nov 6, 2008 11:22:25 GMT -5 by Cpt Micha

Cpt Micha
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Posts: 386

A Helpful Guide Nov 13, 2008 8:24:08 GMT -5

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Post by Cpt Micha on Nov 13, 2008 8:24:08 GMT -5

This week in our Helpful Guide we are going to discuss Flavor, also known as Fluff, and story and creative interpretation. This is a fairly important step involved with character play because a character with more flavor injected than stock makes for a deeper and more fleshed out feel (usually). It also liberates you somewhat in that your character becomes different from every "tom dick and harry" wizard, rogue, fighter or what have you.

Some powers and features have absolutely no flavor to them what so ever, leaving them quite open to your interpretation as they are. Many "old hands" players gripe because since there is no explanation (and they need the rules to explain everything for them because the game has killed their imaginative faculties) for these things without realizing what so ever that you have an incredible range of flexibility with these unexplained things.

Level bonus We will start with the 'enigmatic' 1/2 Level bonus which applies to 'virtually anything'. Depending on the character, and depending on the player and depending on the situation at hand this bonus could represent a truly wide variety of things. We will start with the most 'commonly' griped about by "old hands" players. The Wizard getting 1/2 his level to strength or what have you checks. (mostly physical stat related checks) This can be several things that happens in gameplay. My personal favorite flavoring I've both thought of and seen someone else say for their wizard, is that quite frankly you deal with the power to shape reality around you on a multiple times per day basis. The wizard simply calls upon the magic around him and uses it as a force multiplier to smash the door in, jump a crevasse, uses it to increase (or decrease) his buoyancy to swim or what have you.

He could also use the ambient magical energy around himself to help influence the thoughts of others (charisma related skills or checks). I think you can see quite easily that this game world has gotten a great deal more believable than past edition game worlds just due to the fact that for the Wizard and other Casters certainly that magic for them is second nature they live eat and breathe the stuff.

Now what about the non Casters you might ask? After a while, a character (as the levels progress) "magical" or not starts doing things that just defy reality (such as the rogues various powers which turn him INVISIBLE) as it is, for them it is just their sheer awesome factor kicking in. Their reputation, experiences through life, and ability to connect with inner reserves of power is just so great that they can do things that defy all logic or common sense in the long run.

PowersNext we shall cover is powers. Powers can be reflavored to suit virtually any taste. Let's take for example the Necromancer. One of the "I can't do itzzzz" that people gripe whine and moan about with fourth edition.

forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1099086

That is one shining example of creative thinking when it comes to power reflavoring if I've ever seen one right there.

Another more minor reflavoring, that I have done personally is my Fighter Landis Silverflame's Combat Challenge and superiority features. He's not "wanting to protect his friends" in battle when he does it. Instead he is brutally punishing his enemies for daring to think someone else a worthy foe. When they do not strike him, he capitalizes on their lack of attention towards him, harassing them and sticking with them and striking them. When I use a power like Brute Strike the flavor of the stock power is the same as it fits his very brutal and furious combat style. He finds an opening in his enemy's defense and he viciously strikes his opponent leaving a deep impact.

I think you can see between these two examples, the visuals of how the characters and their respective powers operate on the battlefield.

Another reflavoring I have seen is reflavoring the Fey Lock from being a guy that made a pact with a fey into being an Enchanter of sorts who specializes in Illusion and Charm power. (not a big stretch no, but it serves the purpose)

Skills This is a fun one. It's one of my favorites when it comes to character flavor and spicing it up a little. There are a few schools of thought when it comes to skills. Some people will only look at "strict" examples from the book and say "That's the only way this functions!" When really it's just the mechanic that matters. Yes you have just read that right. How a skills flavor functions is not how it's mechanic functions. Let's use our Enchanter Wizard (yet another way you can do an Enchanter pretty easily or show this character at least dabbles in it!)

Instead of his Diplomacy training, (I sure do like picking on this skill don't I) being his training in social graces and etiquette and what have you, my player asked me "Can I have his skill training represent his magical power over other people's mind instead?" I said yes. Of course, the reason for this of course is quite simple, it still functions as Diplomacy, the impact did not or would not change things down the road and I rather like the idea. The player also picked up Skill Focus in Diplomacy to -really- convey the idea that this character has some serious influence over others which I applauded. This is another example of what this is all about. The character is quite different where it counts folks probably the most. Role Play.

Another example (same player and same character) when the party came upon a city lost to the world and run by females (with the city under a state of martial law so no one without an armed female guard escort could get in) the party came upon a man who told them what's going on. My creative minded player (most of my groups are creative at heart) asked if he could use his Bluff skill to create an illusory escort with them. I said "go for it" (since mechanically speaking it would not be any different than a disguise check in the same scenario) I told him he would have to sustain the illusion with standard actions but it would give the party an Aid another bonus if he did and so he did. He succeeded on the check, created the guard and they went on with the skill challenge to get in. It was his 'disguise' check that allowed the skill challenge to start, and his aid another action provided the party with a healthy boost to get inside the city.

Still yet another example of skills being reflavored can be seen in willingly not making checks with a multi use skill. Such as Athletics. I have another Player, who's character is good at climbing, jumping. But is totally hydrophobic. (Basically he's afraid of water, and afraid of drowning in said water. This was because his mother tried to drown him when he was a small child) The party came upon a relatively calm river which had no bridge and they had to swim across to escape the clutches of the marauding orcs. When everyone jumped into the water (as for them it was a no brainer choice) and he was left standing on the shore in frigid terror they asked "what's wrong?" A few players assumed the worst and said he must be charmed! The player explained that his character is afraid of water and afraid of drowning.

They were a little stumped here, but a couple of them swam to shore and managed (barely) to get the phobic character across even as he struggled and thrashed against them. But they did.

Just because a skill says you have a +5 on X does not mean you don't have to have it if it would compromise your character simply not make the check.

Another example is of a character who had skill training Nature but had zero training raising or training animals. The player told me he wouldn't be making any Nature checks to rear or train any animals.

The characters are again different where it counts, and the players took "sacrifices" to Rp. Eventually the one of the goals for our hydrophobic character is to get over his fears of water and drowning and 'learn how to swim'. When he gets over that fear his player will be willing to make swim checks with that character.

I hope this article has gone a way to show you how even without changing mechanics you can introduce a new dimension and new depth into your characters.

Good Gaming!

Cpt Micha
Administrator

Posts: 386

A Helpful Guide Nov 20, 2008 10:07:43 GMT -5

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Post by Cpt Micha on Nov 20, 2008 10:07:43 GMT -5

This is the last week of Helpful Guide for players for the foreseeable future my Padawans.

Fear not though, I have not forgotten you, thank you all for reading this series. The topics I really have left to discuss with you, are more "superficial" and preference based, you have learned (or at least read and considered) all of the basics.

Beginning next week due to sheer demand and sheer amount of Dm related questions I have seen floating around out there, we will be switching gears somewhat . I will begin my Dm's Helpful Guide series.

This last week, we shall discuss Party Tactics 101. We touched on this all so briefly with our first week's article Situational Awareness. A great deal of tactics come in with Situational Awareness, knowing when to use your powers and are also determined on your character, and your play style. These things all tie together which is why I have saved this article for as long as possible.

Are you still with us? Still paying attention? Good.
Without much further ado let us begin.

Situational Awareness as seen above, Situational awareness is the first and foremost determining factor in party Tactica. Without it you will pick poor tactics which may or may not fit a situation. Remember to do your best to keep in mind the actions of others, and the bonuses to hit floating around due to your powers.

Power timing As covered previously start with the battlefield control and then roll onto the Big number powers. If the situation merits it later move off of your Big Numbers and back towards your control influencing powers. (for example you need to get the enemies clustered back up so the Wizard can unload you should probably use a power that influences enemy movement) knowing when to switch back between damage and control elements is critical to besting a hard encounter. Stiff the bad guys with penalty inflicting powers from time to time (usually when your chance to hit is higher) create difficult terrain etc.

Terrain Mastery This is a key component of turning what could be a hard fight into a very easy victory. Terrain. Terrain in previous editions of D&D was not the least bit important to how an encounter flowed. This was mostly due to the sheer abundance of easy button solutions and very few movement related powers. This has led to a play style I like to call "Stand And Deliver" Stand And Deliver has quite a few failings, but we will touch on the Terrain Mastery related issues first. With Stand And Deliver most often you will not be able to take advantage of the best terrain features on a given scenario. It leaves you possibly with more disadvantages depending on the terrain. The Advantage to Stand and Deliver involving terrain is that you sometimes have very little to worry about and you can set up "traps" against your enemies when employed properly. (IE knocking them off a ledge when they get to close, kicking them into a spike pit, waiting for them to trigger the boulder trap which flattens them etc)

Terrain Mastery in a nutshell is being aware of the battlefield, if a grove of trees creates difficult or impassable terrain for example you can use it to more or less provide yourselves with a barrier against potential enemy attack while you focus on the objective. Knowing that Lava is death, can be quite useful for dispatching non fire resistant foes, or avoiding death of your own self from lava. Know where the traps are. Ask your Dm about the terrain, know what counts as difficult terrain and what doesn't. You have everything to lose for not doing so.

Fight on your own terms with terrain as much as possible. For example if your enemies are on a ledge with ranged weapons shooting down into you, you have to either find cover or get up there and destroy them. This is a handy moment for an Eladrin Wizard or Fighter to simply teleport up there and unload a push based power to knock the enemies off so everyone else can engage them.

Use powers that influence the terrain if the conditions are unfavorable. For example you have a ton of hard charging enemies bearing down on your mostly ranged using party... Cast spells like Icy Terrain to hinder their movement. Zones Zones Zones people!

Mobility Without this your party is dead. I'm sorry. There's really no two ways and ifs or buts about it. You are dead if you are not mobile in nine times out of ten cases. Stand And Deliver is a horrible horrible combat style especially when facing foes who would much rather pick you off and watch you all die than march over to you and politely exchange sword whacks to the face. Unfortunately there are a lot of "old hands" players who never graduated Pre-tactics 101 even because old style D&D was more or less Stand And Delivers. They will swear that the game sucks because their horrible worthless tactic doesn't function whine cry and cry some more. Stand And Deliver does not work. Let me state that for clarity once more.

Stay Mobile. Use your powers to maneuver yourself into an advantageous tactical situation, use them to get CA, use them to stay one step ahead of being gang raped by those three skirmishers that want to fillet the skin off your ass. Take advantage of your opponents mobility or lack there of run circles around them, hinder their mobility with any chance you get. Staying mobile means you can generally take advantage of far more situations than you could than by Standing and Delivering. It also grants you more awareness of the battlefield and opportunities will not slip by nearly as often if you move in such away you can actually use them. Don't be afraid to move. My fighter will often "break off" from part of the party to engage a specific target that we do not want raining death onto the party.

Pick a target and bring him down In almost every battle there is that one bad guy that just needs to DIE. I don't mean politely waltzing over and "dueling him" one on one. I mean, you and a friend go over and stab him in the back while gutting him like a fish. Never ever ever engage an enemy alone. Get a buddy to help you bring him down more quickly. There are times of course such as when dispatching minions that you will probably be all by your lonesome but for the most part it's almost always better to grab a friend and slaughter the bastard together. Treat almost every enemy as if they are that one guy if possible. In any case, no matter what nine point nine times out of ten it's almost best for you to continue engaging the enemy you started against until it is defeated. STAY ON THE TARGET

Stay Close Generally speaking it is best for a party to remain within 10 squares of each other at all times. Most beneficial powers for the party have a rather limited range so it is best to stay within that envelope of ten squares so you can be sure to be gain benefits or at least be eligible. Most group effects also have a ten or less square range so to get those precious bonuses it is best generally to stick together as much as possible. Spreading out too far can hurt you, that Assault Swordmage can't defend you if your bad guy moves out of range after all.

Try to keep one person "loose" It's okay to often keep a guy off to the side not necessarily in the ten square range, sometimes you have to, such as when an enemy controller has a spell that has a stupidly long range and you need someone to engage him so that he she or it can not AOE the group to death. Also it's generally a good idea to keep from clustering the party into a neat convenient burst 3 radius. A couple party members in that burst? Okay, but the whole party? You're just begging for a TPK and chances are you are hindering your own mobility by staying closer together than that anyway. Have one guy being the designated floater member. Usually this character is either a Striker or a Defender character.

The reason you want a floating Defender is to engage that oh so critical enemy that you don't need dealing death to squishies. (I prefer the floater to be a Swordmage just keep him within ten squares of -someone- in your party)

The reason you want a floating Striker is to provide assistance rapidly to whomever might need it on the battlefield.

(Leaders and controllers are the center point of the party, and the party movement should revolve around them as much as possible)

Be mindful of your Hp I'm looking at you Wizards that don't have thunderwave that think they can get close to enemies and not die. If you have Low Hps and your situation has not improved get out of there I don't care if you are a Defender you are no good to anyone dead. Fall back to somewhere not nearly as hot as the one you are currently in. And yes it's worth taking an attack of opportunity. If you know a full round of three attacks is going to kill you anyway it's best to just risk a basic attack or two hitting you. You can only improve your situation by doing so. Generally having more hp puts you in a much better situation than not. So keep an eye on it at all times.

Dealing With Minions Too many times have I seen people underestimate minions. Minions are probably actually the current number one killer of parties because of this hideous error in judgment. "Just let the Wizard kill them" This often does not work on more intelligent minions monsters are not stupid. Just like you aren't. You are not going to "cluster ****" yourselves if you can help it and neither will minions. Minions are a threat for everyone. Defenders need to bring down minions as quickly as possible (there is a reason Cleave is really popular among players that know what their doing folks. It's because we use it to off minions and damage normals at the same time) and strikers need to avoid being surrounded by them. Wizards are minion bane so generally they do not have too much trouble dealing with them (just keep them out of melee just like everything else if you can help it)

Drop the minions first. If you don't they will kill you. I am not joking.

Solos If you are all doing what you are supposed to be doing (IE you've read this thread and actually used it to your advantage) A solo of your level -will- go down just as quickly as a full encounter will. Same with dealing with Elites.

Elites These big bastards fall under the "one guy" program. Act accordingly. Take out or at least thin the numbers of minions out there, and then bring this sucker down as soon as possible.

Normals Normals are no big deal really take down any that seem to be giving enemies bonuses, making things harder for you than the other monsters etc.

And there you have it my Padawans... go forth and become Jedi.

Good gaming everyone.

Ya'll are the best for reading these! Thanks for your time!

I will answer any questions you might have, if they come up. Just drop me a line on the wizards of the coast forum, or one on here, or one of my messangers.

Last Edit: Nov 20, 2008 10:08:48 GMT -5 by Cpt Micha

Cpt Micha
Administrator

Posts: 386

A Helpful Guide Nov 18, 2009 10:40:54 GMT -5

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Post by Cpt Micha on Nov 18, 2009 10:40:54 GMT -5

Switching gears for a moment, I opened my mouth on the Wizard's forums about the horrible articles that Wizards of the Coast wrote about the Essentials of optimization. While failing miserably at doing so. I said "If I wrote the article" and someone called me on it. Gee thanks Seeker

So I'm writing this article explaining my views and what I feel the basics of Character Optimization are.

Let's start with the first thing about Optimization.

Stats Your stats are the biggest key between being optimized and not, in my opinion. How you do your character's point buy is the single biggest determination of what bonuses you get and how big of a bonus they will be. Powers are selected based off of the stats you have.

The Default Array is a good array, for basic characters and isn't all that bad to use even for optimization purposes. It gives you three decent to good defenses depending upon your Race and class combination. You can get by on the default Array, and perform quite well in most cases. It's also a good array for the lazy gamer or one that doesn't know the ins and outs of their class yet. Good for New Gamers.

The Optimized Array Sometimes this is the Default Array (in my opinion it is for Fighters, due to the need of a Wis score, a secondary, and a primary and this array does provide that fairly well. And it gives decent skill bonuses) The usual Optimized Array usually follows a two 16 format, with the 14 having been bumped up to a 16. Usually there are two tens in this stat arrangement. Most classes in the game function off of just two stats primarily so this works very well, especially as it can net you in some cases Two 18s if you are the right race and class.

When you are playing a Race who is handicapped in a given Class you should definitely try to use an Optimized Array as this will mitigate your handicap somewhat and put you at least on terms with a Default Array semi optimal race choice, and on rougly equal footing on a optimal race choice using Default Array.

Stat Pitfalls Sure, that 20 looks appealing, but really it leaves you vulnerable in my humble opinion. Getting a 20 eats in most cases too many points to make itself of a value especially if you aren't careful it can eat your Secondary stat as well. 18s are the final target number you are shooting for with CharOp.

Pick Stats only relevant to your class Unlike what the crackheads at Wizards of the Coast thought, Constitution is worthless for a Warlord. It is not the Be all and end all of stats unlike whatever they will tell you. Don't have an 8 in it, and that's all you need. If your a Leader character, and you are worried about your Constitution Score beyond say a 12. Something has gone horribly wrong already. In that same vein, if you are a Fighter worrying about his Int Bonus ditto.

Race Let's face it some races aren't as good at a given class as others. And by that same token some races aren't as good at a given build in a class as others. For example Dwarves make excellent BattleRagers, but okay Tempest Fighters. Elves on the other hand make great Tempest Fighters, but poor Battle Ragers.
Tieflings don't make for the best fighters by any stretch of the imagination in any build.

Key things to look out for with a Race.
1. Stat Bonuses. Try to synch up your stat bonuses with your class. For example, Dwarf Fighter. It makes a good fighter because it gives them a good secondary stat bonus (Con if you are an Axe, or Hammer type fighter) and a good Tertiary. Half Orcs also make good fighters because their Primary Attribute (Str) helps them hit more easily and do more damage. They also get Dex as a secondary bonus making them good for Swords, Flails and Spears.

2. Racial abilities. Second Winding as a minor action make dwarves really good fighters, because it allows them to stay in the fight longer and more efficiently. They also do not lose any speed for wearing Plate armor, due to their speed rules meaning your "weakness" really isn't much of one in that particular case.

Racial Pitfalls.
1. Avoid, Races with your class which do not give a bonus to either Primary, or Secondary Stats. You start with a handicap by default if you are a Tiefling Fighter for example. Probably better off being a Tiefling Warlord, or Tiefling Rogue as at least in those two, you have good secondary attributes. Tieflings get nothing which help them be fighters in this regard.

Similarly, Minotaur are terrible caster type characters because of their stat bonus handicaps them out of the gate.

2. Avoid Races who's racial abilities do not synch with your class. For example, the Minotaur in it's current two incarnations make Terrible anything Not Melee related because their Racial Abilities are too one trick pony to melee. They'll never get to use their Racials with a Warlock unless they feel like wasting an action that round to never hit for example.

3. Don't play the Halfing. Just be a gnome instead. The Halfling's small size really screws him out of being useful for many of the classes in this game. They can't use Two handers which are virtually required to play classes like the barbarian, and to really get some damage out of say, the Avenger they need a great weapon which they can't use. They also make poor fighters as well because a longsword is two handed for them.

The next thing about CharOp Basics is Powers.
The First thing you should look for When picking powers for your class is to make sure that the power isn't superseded by a newer better Version of itself. For Example, Brute Strike versus Lasting Threat. Brute Strike isn't what I call a good daily anyway, but it was replaced in Martial Power, by a power called Lasting Threat, it does everything Brute Strike does however it also leaves a permenate Mark on the target which can not be superseded. This will make sure you have the best of what you can do with your given power choice.

At will selection is also critical. For example if you are Human (most definitely if you are Human) and a Tactical Warlord you would be foolish not to take Commander's Strike. Actually in my opinion the best tactical warlords period all have this At Will. Pick an At Will which when possible keys off of your class and build's basic function as well as your secondary attribute.

Examine what you are trying to accomplish A Tactical Warlord needs to have a good Int modifier, and can get away with wearing Light Armor because of that. They also don't need Armor specialization. The point of playing a Tactical Warlord for example, is to be giving out Mad bonuses and mobility to your allies and giving the occasional heal. To really get the most out of being a Tactical Warlord means you aren't being a worthless healbot. (The Shaman is your Healer, or the Cleric.) The philosophy behind that class in general is that they don't need the same amount of healing, because you and the group are utterly destroying the enemy (ie you are killing them faster than they can kill you). Pick powers which provide Synergy with your Class type as much as possible, for example all of those powers that a Tactical warlord gets a secondary perk on? Pick those. They are meant for you.

No Rider abilities, is primarily meant for multiclassed characters.

Feats There are tons of feats out there. (1500 or so from the last count I heard) Like Powers the first thing you should do is examine whether or not, there is a feat that does the same thing but better. The next thing you do, is to try and pick feats relevant to your class, role, and campaign. For example in a dialogue heavy campaign Linguist becomes a very important feat. Warlords don't need to sweat Armor specialization or even Armor Proficiencies. They shouldn't be worried about AC. (Unless maybe you picked Bravura) Warlords also shouldn't be worried about feats like Superior Weapon Proficiencies unless it's strictly a flavor thing.

Some feats aren't all that great. Such as Weapon Focus. It is by no means mandatory (Unlike what Wizards thought with their fighter example). Infact there are many feats which out perform it for various reasons. Such as Blade Opp etc. Some feats also work better as combination feats such as Toughness and Durable for a Paladin.

Examine the functions of your Role For example, Warlords and Leaders in general don't need to be worrying over their AC. Having an AC is nice yes, but you should not go out of your way to get one, as it will drag down the features of your class in most cases. Leaders function as healers, and buffers. (Sometimes debuffing as well) They set up the people on the battlefield to get them working better, where as the Controller is aimed squarely at setting up the battlefield so that the enemy fights poorly on it. The Striker, is about getting in there doing massive damage and getting away. The Defender is about enemy positioning and threat prioritization.

Last Edit: Nov 18, 2009 10:43:01 GMT -5 by Cpt Micha

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