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#2
07-21-2010, 10:35 PM
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First, an extremely rough overview of what a roleplaying game even is. Most of you shouldn't need this, but you never know.
__________________A roleplaying game is like a collaborative story that we tell together. Imagine it's like an action and adventure film in a fantasy setting, where you are the actors, I (the DM) am the scenery, crew, and the extras, and you haven't been given very detailed scripts. You post what your character does and how s/he acts in any given situation. I tell you the results of your actions on the world, and the story progresses in response to what you all do. A good story demands some sort of conflict, and in this game the conflict typically takes the form of combat. All that could conceivably be done without any fixed rules, but then where is the challenge? How do we know whether you succeed at the things you try to accomplish? That's where rules come in. Again very generally, whenever you try to perform any act that has a chance of not turning out as you expected, we use the core mechanic... The Core Mechanic 1. Tell Noc (the DM) what you want to do. 2. Roll a 20-sided die (signifying the effects of chance - higher is better.) 3. Add a number (signifying how skilled you are at the action - higher is better.) 4. Noc compares the result to a target number (signifying the difficulty of the task - higher is harder) and tells you if you succeeded. Actions on your turn The game takes place in turns. On your turn you can perform three actions: Standard: The main thing you do on a turn. Usually using a power, helping a friend, or defense. Move: Most things that move you; like walking, climbing, or shifting (moving carefully.) Minor: Brief supporting actions; like opening a door, drawing a sword, or picking up an item. You can take the actions in any order and don't have to take all of them. Trading down: You can trade your Standard action for a Move or Minor action. You can trade your Move action for a Minor action. For example, you can take two Move actions and a Minor action in your turn, or three Minor actions. Other actions Free Actions: These can be done any time without limitation. For example: talking, or dropping an item you are holding. Immediate Interrupts: These special actions happen on someone else's turn, and can happen in the middle of their action. You can use only one each round. Opportunity Actions: Triggered by enemy action. For example, if an enemy next to you uses a ranged attack or moves without shifting, you can make an opportunity attack against them. You can use this once per enemy turn. 
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#3
07-21-2010, 11:28 PM
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Following are detailed instructions if you want any help filling out your character sheet. This will be long. Doing it in order should be easiest.
__________________First, know what race and class you want, and read about them. Get an idea in your head of what you want your character to be like. If you know she's a Half-Elf Warlord, does she use her Charisma to encourage her allies, or her Intelligence to plan good tactics? Does she use her Strength to attack with her longspear, or her Dexterity to stay back and support with her bow? Only then start filling out the sheet. I trust you were already past this point by the time you applied to my game. You should put your sheet online if you can. An online character sheet requires no download to edit and read, does some of the calculations for you, and makes it simple to keep track of all your stats anywhere. It's also simplest for me to view without downloading anything. Some options are the Character sheet tool on this very site, which can be found in the "Tools" dropdown menu, or the comparable character sheet on the Mythweavers site. Make sure to use the DnD 4e template, and make sure to edit your sheet's permission as soon as it's made and set it to "Public" so others can see it. (I'm not sure why that's not the default!) If for some reason you aren't comfortable working with those, you can upload a picture or a PDF. Here is an example of a filled character sheet. To set public permission on this website: Go to your sheets in the "Tools>My characters" dropdown menu and in the page that appears, click "Edit" to the right of your character's name, and then click the button to set it to Public permission. It should be the first option. You can even give me Editing permission if you want - otherwise I will simply advise you on any mistakes you make with your character and you can fix them yourself. Open the Player's Handbook to your Race page, and write down (brief versions of) all the race features you get in the appropriate lines so you'll remember them. Flip to your chosen Class page and write down all the class features you get on the lines below the race area. At this point, make your choice between what kind of special bonuses you choose (for example if you're a fighter, do you use one-handed weapons for better defense or two handed weapons for better damage?) and write that one down. Now that you've reviewed what abilities your character needs, generate your ability scores according to either of the methods described on page 17 of the Player's Handbook. If you don't want to calculate the 22-point distribution, you can use the standard array: Place the numbers 16, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 in your ability scores however you want, and then add your race bonuses to them. Using the point-buy system lets you have up to 20 points in your most important attribute (if you get 18 plus your racial bonus) but be mediocre in every other one. Remember: assign your ability points, and then add your race bonuses to them. One of the easiest ways to handle this part without calculating yourself is by using Asmor's ability score calculator. Calculate your hit points and your daily healing surges. The biggest difference you may notice from previous versions of D&D is that your hit points at level one add your full Constitution score, not your Constitution modifier. For example a wizard with 14 Constitution would begin with 24 hit points! (10 for class + 14 constitution.) Flip back to the Class page if you forgot how many hit points and surges you get. An online sheet should calculate the value of your healing surge for you. Assign your skills. Your class tells you how many skills you are trained in and what your choices are to train in. Eladrin gain an extra skill in whatever they want, but Humans gain an extra skill from their class list. Don't forget to add race bonuses to your skills, for example Elves get a +2 bonus to Nature and Perception whether they have trained in them or not. You can write these bonuses in the "misc mod" part of the sheet. Choose your level 1 feat. Pick a feat that fits with what you want your character to do and be, and make sure you meet the requirements (some require certain ability scores, and a most of the best feats are race-specific or class-specific, so look at those first.) It's all right if you're not sure right away what you want. Mark what languages you know. If you can cast rituals, choose your level 1 rituals. Choose your inventory. You start with 100 gold to buy stuff. Make sure you can afford what you take: heavy armor in particular can get pricey. If you want some item that you can't find in the handbook (maybe your character carries around a bottle of brandy or a ten-foot-pole for some reason?) explain to me what you want and why you should have it and I'll let you know how much gold it costs. If you want something obviously ornamental, just charge yourself 1 gold for it. I would recommend that you not pay attention to the weight or bulk of items at all in 4e. Encumbrance is very unlikely to ever become a problem. Just deduct gold from your 100 starting gold to make sure you can afford all the equipment you start with. If you want a kit like the Standard Adventurer's Kit or the Climbing Kit, you don't have to write out all the items. We know what's in that SAK. You should want some sort of armor, at least one or two weapons, and possibly some items specific to your class. If you plan to throw weapons (like daggers,) carry spares. If you're a spellcaster, it's not likely that you'll really need an implement: unenchanted ones don't do much for you, but you may want one anyway to wave around. When you're all done, write how much gold you have left over in the "currency" area. To cast rituals (which are out-of-combat spells) you'd need ritual components: for each type of ritual (arcane, religious) you use its own components, but those components are good for any ritual of that type. So if you have only three Arcane rituals write down in your inventory that you have "[so-and-so] gold coins worth of Alchemical Reagents" and use them for whatever is needed. Clerics carry a ritual book, but Wizards keep their rituals in their spellbook. If you're a ritual caster, your class lets you start with these items: do not deduct gold for them. Only convert your money into ritual components. Use the sheet to help you calculate all your defenses. Remember to add bonuses from your class and race as well as from your highest ability modifiers (and note this site's sheet is arranged kind of oddly.) Light armor grants an ability bonus to your AC, but heavy armor does not. If you have a shield, it gives its bonus to both your AC and your Reflex defenses. Some armors (hide, chain, and plate) and heavy shields give you a penalty to your skill checks: remember to mark it and factor that in where it says "misc mod" by your skills. Calculate your speed and your initiative. Speed should be pretty simple: your race sets your base speed and heavy armor might slow you down. Initiative simply adds your Dexterity modifier (reflecting your reaction time) but some feats also add to it. Choose all your powers and write their descriptions (or short versions) or even just their names in the powers area (as long as you remember what they do.) Normally you get two at-will powers, one encounter and one daily power at level 1. Wizards get to "remember" extra daily powers but they must choose one every day; many races get an extra at-will or encounter power, and multiclass feats give you an extra encounter power as well. Every PC (Player Character) has two additional Encounter powers simply by virtue of being a hero: Second Wind, and Action Point. I recommend writing those down so you don't forget them. You start with 1 action point, so note that one too. Second Wind lets you tend to your own wounds while defending yourself, and spending an Action Point gives you an additional Standard action on your turn, but you don't get one every battle. Your race and feats might improve these powers. Use the "attack workspace" and "damage workspace" areas to find out how skillful you are with your powers or weapons. This site's sheet doesn't have those unfortunately, so you need to calculate them yourself and simply write them in under the "Weapons" areas - even if they are spells. The attack bonus is your chance to hit a target: you get bonuses for your relevant ability modifier (usually strength or dexterity for weapons) and a proficiency bonus if you're using a weapon (only if you are proficient with it, of course!) Notice that many swords give +3 for proficiency but many other weapons only give +2. For damage, you will only get the ability modifier and any bonuses you may have from feats: not proficiency. After you've calculated them, write down your favorite powers or weapons in the Quick Lookup area (called "Weapons" on DnDOG's sheets.) We can go through this part again if there's any confusion. Look over your sheet, filling out anything you (or I) have forgotten. Decide at this point that the character isn't exactly how you wanted and go back to the top, fiddling with the ability scores, skills, powers and feat until you're happy. It may be a little bit of an iterative process. Write down all your special features and conditional effects in the Notes section of your sheet. For example, if you're an Elf then you should write your Wild Step (you can shift in difficult terrain) and Group Awareness (your allies gain +1 perception when they're near you) there because the DM and the other players will need to notice those things at a glance. Write down your current hit points and healing surges (same as max to start with) and keep track of these. Using all the features of the character sheet to keep a handle on your accuracy, your hit points, and any effects you are under is a big help in keeping track of what's going on during the game. Update your character sheet frequently during the game so it remains accurate (say, when you pick up a new item.) Once you're done, post [a link to] your sheet.  Don't worry, we'll look over it and tell you if there's anything you could improve.
Last edited by Nocturnal; 07-23-2011 at 05:21 AM.
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#4
07-25-2010, 06:31 PM
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DnDOG tricks and features
__________________Spoilerbuttons and Fieldsets If you need to post Out-of-Character (OOC) information in the game thread for some reason, you can use the Spoilerbutton tag. In the post editor, the button for it is on the right-hand side, a circle with "SpB" written in it. The one with the plus sign lets you type some header and I always use that feature. Use the {spoilerbutton=OOC} tag (with square brackets.) You can write anything instead of OOC to describe what you're hiding, for example, "actions." Don't forget to close tags like this: [/spoilerbutton] What you get is this: You may also like to use the Fieldset button to separate OOC parts of your post like action descriptions. The button for that is the rectangle with the S in it, about three left from the spoilerbutton button. Highlight your text, click it, and type the header you want to appear above the field. That looks like this: Game and thread subscriptions Add this game to your Favorite Games so you can easily see when someone has posted in it. At the top right of the game forum you'll see a "Game Tools" menu. Click it and hit "Add to favorites." (That particular link is good for Fallcrest Needs Heroes!) Favorite Games is sort of a misnomer: I do that for every single game I'm in so I can see at a glance which ones have updated since I last checked, and I add few games that I want to read even if I'm not playing in them. You don't need to enable email notifications; when you check the forum, all the games you have added will appear in a handy list in your Control Panel and you'll see whether there are new posts in them. You can similarly subscribe to individual threads. If you're playing in Icy Tower, you will want to subscribe to this thread so you can see when it has been updated. Character sheet links You can post your character sheets in your profile. This is a handy feature since it lets your fellow players (and your DM!) easily get to your character sheet from any post you make, which saves time. To do so, go to your account and "Edit Profile" to add up to six character sheet links to your profile. People will be able to see them when they click your name.
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#5
07-25-2010, 07:34 PM
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Formatting
__________________In-Character text format The commonly accepted format for In Character posts on this site, is: Plain text actions, "Bold words" and Italicized thoughts. Although any format that clearly distinguishes speech from descriptions would do, the overwhelming majority of the site uses that same format. Most posts are in the third person present tense (e.g. "Lorintel takes aim, breathes deep, and fires at the orc") but I won't be a stickler for that if you slip into past tense or something by mistake. Black text is in the Common language. For other languages, most people simply change the color of the text. I'm not aware of any site-wide standard for that, except that "green text" or "dark green text" is always the Elven language (elves are a very common race.) Occasionally they'll place it in spoiler tags or secret tags (readable only by players whose characters speak the language) if it's really important that players don't understand what they shouldn't. We can settle for just the colors. Here is an example of a post incorporating all the above elements. I like a clean, uncluttered game thread so always use an Out of Character thread to ask questions, make comments, or discuss things between yourselves, or hide your out-of-character speech in a spoilerbutton. Combat formatting When you make your posts you hope to describe all the actions you do, in character. However, in a turn-based encounter you need to also write exactly what those actions are in terms of the game rules. The very least that you must provide each turn is the list of your actions. Write the order of the actions in the order you perform them. You should include the links to any relevant dice rolls, and the results of those rolls. Some players also like to give updates on their character's status each turn too, in addition to (or instead of) updating their character sheets. This makes it easier on the GM to keep track of everything. The more information you can provide, the better. You are very strongly urged to provide the list of your four defenses (AC, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will), your current and maximum hit points, your marked enemy (or enemies), any effects you are currently under and any effects that you provide to others. Your party healer needs to see your hit points to know if you need help, and your DM needs quick access to your status so he knows if you are under any effects he needs to take into consideration (maybe you have a bonus to defense this turn - you want to be sure your DM remembers.) Lots of DMs also demand passive Perception and Insight (those are the skill bonus, plus 10, so if you have +3 Perception your passive perception is 13) so they can see if monsters manage to hide from you. A lot of people have also taken to listing their action points and their powers list, color coded as red for encounter, black for daily, to keep track of what resources they have already expended so far. (You could also choose to add green at-wills but you never run out of those.) Finally, if you have immediate interrupts or other powers that you can use outside your own turn, you should list under what conditions you use those (I'm looking at you, halflings) so the DM knows to use them and doesn't have to backtrack when you want to use one. People come up with many ways to present this information, and refine each others' methods. I strongly recommend that you save a format for a combat post in a text file somewhere or online, (I use a draft in gmail because it autosaves and I can access it anywhere) and paste it into your posts each turn, below your in-character text. That way you only do the work once, and you're somewhat protected against annoying webpage crashes. Here are two formats I use with my comments in italics: Here is an example of a combat post incorporating all the above elements, including formatted combat information. You are more than welcome to copy my format by "quoting" my post and copying the text, codes and all.
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#6
07-25-2010, 07:44 PM
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Calculating attacks and damage
__________________To calculate your base attack bonus, use the character sheet attack workspace to add up the following bonuses: 1) Your relevant ability modifier. For a "Strength vs. AC" attack like every basic melee attack or heavy thrown attack, that's your Strength modifier. Ranged weapons and light thrown weapons use your Dexterity modifier. Powers will list what ability they use. 2) If you're using a weapon and you're proficient with it, add that weapon's bonus: 3 for most swords, 2 for most other weapons; see the table in the player's handbook pages 218 and 219. This only applies to powers that have the "Weapon" keyword. 3) If you aren't attacking with a weapon, you don't get a proficiency bonus. To make up for this most spells don't target AC, which is many creatures' highest defense. Consider that attacks with the same bonus but targeting different defenses will have different chances to actually hit. You don't need to calculate that; that's the DM's job. 4) Any class and feat bonuses that apply. For example, rogues get +1 to all attacks with their dagger, and fighters get +1 to all attacks with their chosen fighting style. 5) If you're using an enchanted weapon or enchanted implement, add that enhancement bonus. 6) When you level up you add half of your level, rounded down, to just about everything except damage. This adds to your attack as well (but half of 1 rounds down to zero.) Many conditions affect your chance to hit: When you have combat advantage (your target is flanked by you and your ally, doesn't see you, or is under one of several other conditions) add another +2 to your attack roll. If you attack an enemy who has cover (he's behind a tree, corner, or object) or has concealment (he's in a smoke cloud) you get -2 to your attack. If you have run on this turn (not walked,) you get -5 to all your attacks! Run away from your enemies, not towards. If you are prone you have -2 to your attacks. Also if you shoot a prone target with a ranged attack, you have -2 to hit him. Nobody wears armor they aren't proficient with, because to do so would give you -2 to attacks. These are only a few examples; you can find the whole list of common modifiers on page 279 of the player's handbook. If your attack roll is equal to or greater than the target defense, then you hit the target and everything on the "Hit:" line happens (usually, you do damage.) Calculating damage is similar, only you don't add any proficiency bonus and you don't add half your level. So all you need to add to your damage roll is: 1) Your relevant ability modifier. For a "Strength vs. AC" attack like every basic melee attack or heavy thrown attack, that's your Strength modifier. Powers will list what ability they use. Very few powers don't give you a bonus to damage (Twin Strike is one.) 2) Any feat bonuses that apply. For example, you might take the Weapon Focus feat which gives you +1 to all damage with your chosen weapon group. 3) If you're using an enchanted weapon or enchanted implement, add that enhancement bonus. That's your damage bonus. If you have a power with the "Weapon" keyword, you're likely to see [W] somewhere in there. That means, the damage of the power depends on the damage die of your weapon (that you use with the power.) So if you are using a power through a dagger, for example, [W] is 1d4. If you're using a longsword with the same power, it's 1d8, or for a falchion, [W] is 2d4. If you see an encounter or daily power that has a damage of "2[W]+Strength modifier" for example, that means 2 times whatever your weapon die is. So if you use this attack with a falchion and your strength is 18, you would roll 2x2d4=4d4 and add your strength modifier once, for 4d4+4 damage total. Remember that for area attacks you roll damage once but you roll the attack for every target, even targets you can hit but can't see. Any target you hit will get the same damage. For powers that let you make more than one Ranged or Melee attack, you roll attack and damage separately for each attack, and apply only the damage from the attacks that hit. Cover, concealment and the like have no affect on damage: if you hit, you do your full damage. However, some creatures may have Resistances or Vulnerabilities that decrease or increase the damage they take, respectively. For example Incorporeal creatures take half damage (rounded down) from everything! In a PbP game, always roll for both attack and damage at the same time. Don't ever wait for the GM to say, "You hit, now roll damage." Last edited by Nocturnal; 07-02-2012 at 01:04 PM.
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#8
07-26-2010, 08:02 PM
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Movement
__________________Each turn, you can take a move action (or two if you trade down your standard action.) The basic move action is walking: You walk at your speed over normal terrain and if you move away from anyone - meaning if you leave a square that was adjacent to any enemy - you provoke an opportunity attack (more on that later.) Moving a square diagonally costs the same 1 movement, so you can actually cover more ground that way. Moving into difficult terrain (undergrowth, sand, ice, stairs, or anything your GM says is difficult terrain) costs double the normal movement. You can't move into a square of difficult terrain unless you have enough movement remaining to do so. For example if you have 5 movement left, you can move into only 2 squares of difficult terrain, not the third. As a move action, you can shift. You can only shift 1 square, but you don't provoke an opportunity attack. In melee combat, you will find yourself shifting into a better position more often than walking. Because difficult terrain costs 2 squares of movement to enter, most people can't shift into it unless they have special movement abilities. To get somewhere quickly, you can run. This increases your speed by 2, but it grants combat advantage to everyone (-2 to all your defenses) and gives you -5 on attack rolls. You can also climb, swim, or jump as move actions or parts of them (so you can walk up to a wall and climb up it with the same action, if you have enough speed to cover the distance.) When you do so, roll an athletics check to see if you can jump or climb the obstacle, or stay afloat. When climbing and swimming you move at half your speed, but you jump at your normal speed. For jumping, it helps your athletics check a lot to start moving at least 2 squares (a "running start") before attempting the jump. You roll the same skill check but the difficulty decreases dramatically. If you fail your athletics check when trying to climb or jump, you usually fall prone. You can also hop down from a high place to a lower one using an Acrobatics check. If you fall prone, you can stand up as a move action. That takes your whole move action: you can't stand up and then walk. You can also go prone intentionally as a minor action. A creature that's prone gives combat advantage against melee attacks (effectively -2 defense) and gets -2 to its own attack rolls... but it gets +2 extra defense against ranged attacks! If you are prone you can crawl at half your speed instead of standing up to walk. You can't shift when prone. You can move through an ally's space freely (as long as you don't finish your move there.) You can't move through an enemy's space, but you can move past the corner of their space. If the enemy is 1 square big that means you can't move from one side to the opposite side through his space, but you can shift from one side to another side next to it. If the enemy is Large or bigger, you can only move past it if you don't have to be in any of the enemy's squares during any part of your move. You can't move past the corner of a solid wall: you have to move around it, which takes 2 moves if you're a Medium creature or smaller, but will take more moves if you're a larger creature. Read the Player's Handbook starting from page 283 for full information on moving, with pictures. If you are Slowed, your speed becomes 2. You can still run up to 4 squares, or shift normally. If you become Immobilized, you can't move at all, but you can Teleport if you have powers that let you do that. Teleportation is a special kind of movement that ignores your speed, intervening terrain, and any kind of restraints.
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#9
07-26-2010, 08:06 PM
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Initiative
__________________Whenever you see enemies, or think you might see enemies, or have any other reason to go into turn-based mode, you should roll initiative. Don't wait to see the whites of their eyes or for the GM to ask you: that could end up wasting a day if the GM is inattentive. (Hint, hint: go roll initiative everybody.) Initiative is simply a Dexterity ability check, maybe modified by some feats, items, or other features. You should all have it right on your character sheets. When two or more creatures have the same initiative count, the one with the higher bonus goes first. When they also have the same bonus, the order is determined randomly. You can find these rules on page 267 of the player's handbook but there's nothing there I haven't said. Changing Initiative The Initiative order is set at the beginning of each encounter, but it can change because of delaying actions or readying actions. This involves a little more advanced tactics. You won't need it for the first combat but might later. You can delay your whole turn, meaning you wait for someone else to move or something else to happen before taking it, and that permanently reduces your initiative count for that battle. For example a rogue may want to delay his turn until after the fighter moves into a flanking position. For the rest of the encounter, he'd then take his turn immediately after the fighter. You can ready actions if you want to prepare for something. For example, you can state that you'll prepare an attack against whatever opens the door in front of you. You take the action immediately after whatever triggered it (the door opens and then you attack) but your initiative count is permanently reduced to be immediately before whatever triggered your readied action. If nothing triggers your readied action before your next turn, you don't do anything, but you can ready the same action again if you like. Even if your readied action triggers, you can always choose not to take the action. Say the door opens and you realized it's a friend? You don't have to shoot her. The act of Readying an action is always a Standard action, even if you only want to ready a Minor or Move action. I will go into more detail on this later. Group bonuses What everyone forgets is that if you're within 10 squares of a Warlord that you can see and hear, you get +2 to your initiative! Effectively that means every party with a warlord practically always has an extra +2 initiative thanks to his tactical sense. On that note, don't forget that Elves and Half-Elves have race abilities and feats that give bonuses to their companions. So if you roll Diplomacy within 10 squares of a Half-Elf, add +1 to your Diplomacy roll, and remember that your Perception increases by 1 whenever you're within 5 squares of an Elf (unless you're also an Elf.) This kind of thing you should mark on your sheet to remember what your allies grant you when they're near you. (I used the temp field under skills for it but this site's character sheet doesn't have it, so you can add it directly to your "misc. mod" or write it in your "other notes.") You also want to make sure to remind your allies what benefits you provide them. Last edited by Nocturnal; 09-16-2010 at 12:18 AM.
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#10
07-26-2010, 08:52 PM
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Thanks, with my combat format would it be nessicary to note my ally's bonus' to things like perception under conditional effects or not?
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#11
07-26-2010, 08:59 PM
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Not if you noted them in the skills list in your sheet, no. To keep things simpler I'm going to pretend you are always close enough to get the bonus so there's one less thing to keep track of. If you provide bonuses to others though, you might want to note that to help them remember.
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#12
07-26-2010, 09:03 PM
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Okay yeah will do.
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#13
07-27-2010, 09:22 AM
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Skill checks
__________________In a tabletop game, whenever you try to do something and your DM says "roll [skill]" it means to roll a d20, and add your modifier for the relevant skill. In PbP, to make things go faster you should anticipate what skills you need to roll and make the rolls when you perform the attempts. Skills are quite general and streamlined in 4e in order to allow a lot of flexibility in what you may attempt: it is usually the DM's job to arbitrate what skill a task requires and how difficult it is, but you can often guess and justify your own use of a certain skill. You can easily perform skill checks in combat if you want to attempt something novel instead of making an attack or using a power. Most DMs will reward creative thinking but you won't generally be able to do something much better than you could have done with a power. Most skills you could use in combat count as your Standard action for the round: for example trying to Intimidate an enemy into surrender, use Diplomacy to negotiate a cease-fire, or use Thievery to disarm a trap. Athletic feats and Acrobatic stunts usually, but not always, count as Move actions, and Stealth is used as part of a move action when you become hidden from view, or try to move quietly. Perception and Insight checks can be used as Minor actions in combat to look around your immediate area or judge the body language of a creature, respectively. For a more thorough search of a room however you'll need to spend at least a minute or two, and it's a good idea to do that after encounters to look for things that escaped your notice in the heat of battle. When you aren't in a dangerous or stressful situation like combat, you can "take 10" on a skill check. This means you take your time and treat the check as if you rolled about the average value, which is enough to accomplish most mundane tasks. When you aren't actively trying to use a skill but something calls for it, you will be assumed to always be "taking 10" - these are called your Passive skill checks, and your Passive perception is what's used for example to hear a hiding enemy without actively looking for one. Knowledge checks and creature origins An important class of skills are Knowledge checks, which you don't have to spend any action to make. These represent you testing your own knowledge to remember a clue or bit of useful information. For example, you can make a Religion check to see if you recognize the altar of some ancient god, or History to identify the crumbling statue of a once-famous general. In combat, you should use Monster Knowledge to learn about the types and abilities of your enemies. You can make one check against each type of enemy that you see. You can only make one such check per type of creature you see in any encounter (for example, one check for all the kobold slingers, one check for all the kobold skirmishers.) However, different players can examine the same creature. The skill you use depends on the origin of the creature:
There are also creature types which may impact the skills you use to learn about them. If a creature has one of these types, use these skills to recognize them: Construct - Arcana Undead - Religion Most of the creatures you will encounter at the start of your adventuring career will be Natural. The ones that look completely knocked-off-the-pins insane are probably Aberrant. The ones that are normally on fire are probably Elemental. The rotting ones are likely Undead. Sometimes origins can be confusing, for example a Hell Hound is an elemental creature, not an immortal, so you use Arcana to examine it, not Religion. If you're not sure it's okay to roll once and note the bonuses of each skill you think might apply and let the DM choose.
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#14
07-28-2010, 08:51 AM
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Ranging
__________________Range is always determined from your closest square to the target's closest square. Or, you may choose to attack at any square of the target that you can reach. You may also choose to attack or act from any of the squares that you're in, if you're Large or bigger (For example, if you're riding a horse, which is a Large creature, you can make your attack from any of the horse's four squares.) This has an impact on cover and flanking. To find the distance to the target, count all the squares between you and the target, including his nearest square, but not including your square. Or use the coordinate system: if you are at J-18 and your opponent is at H-21, then he's 21-18=3 squares away from you. Everything in 4th Edition is square, there are no circles, so it's enough to simply count off the furthest difference between your coordinates and that would count as your actual distance. If your target is 3 squares up and 4 squares right of you, then he's 4 squares away - not 5 like measuring a straight line in real life. You don't need to know basic high school geometry to play D&D 4e. Melee attacks can target everything adjacent to you, a.k.a. right next to you, a.k.a. 1 square away. For all 4e definitions, 1 square away diagonally counts as "adjacent." If you're using a weapon with Reach, you can target 2 squares away with your melee attacks and powers (that have the Weapon keyword.) However, opportunity attacks are only given against enemies right next to you even if you have reach. Ranged (or thrown) weapons have two ranges listed: the normal range and long range, which is twice as far. You can shoot up until the long range but you take a -2 penalty to your attack roll for aiming "out of range." Ranged spells or powers that don't use weapons have only one set range, and you can't shoot past that. Close bursts are always centered on you, and expand outwards in every direction. So "close burst 1" affects everyone next to you, and "close burst 3" affects everything within 3 spaces of you in any direction: if you are 1 square big that's a 48 square, 7x7 square area with you in the middle (your square is usually not affected.) Larger creatures cover even more area with close bursts because it spreads outwards from each of their squares. Bursts are blocked by obstructions like walls. Area bursts are written as "burst 1 in range 10." That means they are centered around a square you select within 10 squares of you, and they affect every square out from that one in every direction: including the target square itself. So with this attack you make a 3x3 area, and could hit up to five enemies who are actually 11 squares away from you (if you cast it at a corner of your 10-square range.) A burst 2 attack makes a 5x5 area, and so on. Area bursts are affected by cover and obstructions, but not between you and the target: rather they are blocked by cover between the target square (where you cast the burst) and the creatures hit by the attack. So you could use this to hit a creature that's hiding behind the corner of a wall by casting the burst next to that corner - and the creature wouldn't be in cover against the attack! Still, you have to see your target square to cast the burst. Close blasts are written weirdly compared to the previous two: A "blast 3" affects a 3x3 area, not a 7x7 area like a burst 3 would. Similarly, a "blast 2" is 2x2 (not 5x5) and a "blast 5" is 5x5 squares (same as a "burst 2.") Confused much? Try to figure it out on the map grid and you'll make sense of it, or read the descriptions of the attacks starting on page 270 in the handbook, especially the pictures on page 272. A blast does not include your square, but at least one of the blast's squares must be adjacent to at least one of your squares. Like the others, this area can be blocked by obstructions. Check page 273 of the Handbook for important information on targeting and line of sight (including the picture on the following page.) Every attack is affected by cover. Melee and ranged attacks are affected by concealment, but area attacks are not. Whenever you make an attack that can hit multiple targets, you roll an attack die (d20) for every single target you could possibly hit. Area attacks (blasts and bursts) can even hit targets you can't see and don't even know are there, so your GM might ask for extra attack rolls if you let off a blast in a smoke cloud for example. For area attacks, you roll damage once but then you roll attack for every target. When a power calls for you to make two or more ranged attacks or melee attacks, then you literally roll separate attack and damage rolls for each of them, even if they're against the same target.
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#15
07-28-2010, 08:55 AM
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Opportunity attacks
__________________Opportunity attacks are always melee basic attacks. That is: Strength vs. AC, 1[W] + Strength modifier damage. Your normal weapon bonuses apply. There are also feats and items that apply specifically to opportunity attacks. If you don't have a weapon you can use your fist in an opportunity attack (it's an improvised weapon, 1d4 + strength modifier.) Moving away from a square next to a creature provokes an opportunity attack. Moving towards it does not. "Moving away" means trying to leave a space that's adjacent the creature, even if you aren't really putting any distance between you (e.g., you are trying to move around him.) Mnemonic: If one of your squares is adjacent to one of your enemy's squares, you are considered adjacent to the enemy and will draw an opportunity attack if you then try to move. Walking and running (and crawling, swimming, climbing and the like) provoke opportunity attacks. Shifting does not. Being forced to move does not. Teleporting does not. Teleporting is the best way to put distance between you and enemies without giving them a chance to respond, since you can move fairly far away and ignore terrain, and you can teleport even if you're immobilized (e.g., grabbed) or prone. Shifting is a good way to improve your position against your enemies. Ranged attacks and area burst attacks provoke opportunity attacks. Melee attacks, close burst attacks, and blast attacks do not. Mnemonic: if your target could be far away, adjacent enemies get an opportunity attack against you. In 3.5e, standing up provokes an opportunity attack but in 4e it does not. You can make more than one opportunity attack in a round but you can only make one in each creature's turn. Effectively if two creatures move past you, you can attack both of them, but you can only attack each of them once. If you're trying to move away from three creatures, or cast a ranged spell near them, all of them get to make an opportunity attack against you. Opportunity attacks happen before the action that provoked them. So if for example someone next to you is trying to make a ranged attack and your attack kills him, he won't live to release his ranged attack (even if he rolled and it hit.) If you're a Fighter your opportunity attack stops your opponent dead in his tracks. He can't leave your control space if you hit him. Fighters also add their Wisdom modifier to the opportunity attack rolls. A lot of being a fighter in 4e is just planting yourself near a lot of enemies and daring them to try to move. Therefore, if you are a monster and you really need to move away from a fighter, it's a good idea to save your standard action as well. If the fighter's opportunity attack stops you then you can use the standard action as a move, because he only gets one opportunity attack on your turn. If you're not a fighter, you do your attack and then (if he survives) the opponent goes on his merry way. Fighters may perform a melee basic attack against their marked enemy in two extra conditions: if he tries to shift, or if he attacks anyone other than the fighter. This is not an opportunity attack, it is a "melee basic attack as an immediate interrupt." This attack does not add the fighter's Wisdom modifier, and you can only do it once per round, because characters only get a single "immediate action" each round.
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