@BrianBallsunStanton I figured if we could get on to the backgrounds, that would be a good place to pause for a bit as it's perhaps the first step that requires some serious consideration..
This is supposed to be a daily step/ongoing thing. Since we have the requisite number of participants, we can start with the rotation. The guy who doesn't have net now can read up on this stuff, and contribute his part whenever he gets net, right?
"Raw psionic energy barely contained in a body of gleaming crystalline shards" +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma or +2 Wisdom, Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana, +2 Endurance, +2 to choice of one other. Crystalline Mind: You have resist 5 psychic. The resistance increases to 10 at 11th level and 15 at 21st level. Immortal Origin: Your spirit is native to the Astral Sea, so you are considered an immortal creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin. Living Construct: You are a living construct. You do not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. You never make Endurance checks to resis…
Languages: Common, Elven Skill Bonuses: +2 Diplomacy, +2 Insight. Dilettante: At 1st level, you choose a 1st-level at-will attack power from a class different from yours. You can use that power as an encounter power. Dual Heritage: You can take feats that have either elf or human as a prerequisite (as well as those specifically for half-elves), as long as you meet any other requirements. Group Diplomacy: You grant allies within 10 squares of you a +1 racial bonus to Diplomacy checks.
I think playing a psionic race with a psionic class may be a "best fit", but I wouldn't say it is the "most interesting". Going to go with a one-off combination. CB is installing now
@Iszi FWIW, I will bow out if I am forced to pay a monthly subscription of some kind in order to play. Just a matter of principle =) Same reason I don't play WOW.
@BrianBallsunStanton That'll work after everything's selected. Again, people without D&DI or a full complement of books will be ill-equipped until that point.
I don't mean to be stubborn about this, but I really feel that we'll be running into a good bit of difficulty with that issue as long as we're collaboratively building the characters. If we were individually building our own, there wouldn't be such a problem.
So, the opinion of inspiring warlords is: "Inspiring Presence (PHB) - A decent surge-free healing effect.

 Not as reliably useful as some of the others here, but not a bad idea"
Oooh, actually. Take a look at Bravura
It's risky, but it somehow fits helf ...
(especially with the harlequin feat of just taunting your enemy until they miss you horribly)
"Invokers are a divine ranged controller class introduced in Player's Handbook 2. They do three things well: they toss out large AOEs, they stunlock, and they help enable nova turns."
@BrianBallsunStanton Okay, this is my first time actually doing collaborative character/party building of any kind (beyond ensuring all roles are covered). So, could you elaborate on 3a?
Bleh... I should teach myself something about consistency. Above posts for Wilden and Shardmind use "/" to indicate choice. For Tiefling and Gnome, it indicates combination.
The lead-in blurb says they have good stunlock abilities, and I was looking at the The No-voker, stunlocker, build (not a tiefling, not sure how much that matters)
I think stun abilities are useful for the party to have, not sure if shardmind invoker is the best combo to get that. I'll leave it up to you guys if you think it's optimal
Covenant of Preservation (PHB2) - I am not that bullish on presevokers. Their kickers are unremarkable and mostly defensive, their Channel Divinity is nice but is ill-suited to an AOE-focused class, and a few small slides (which can be duplicated to some degree with utility powers) never seem to be worth all of the other mediocrity. With the addition of Divine Power, int-based invokers can simply take the Covenant of Malediction.
It's to come up with a party that functions well in a group. Part of that is liking to play, and the other part is to be aware of the rest of the characters and knowing how one synergiezes
according to Mr. Handbook...
shardmind is skyblue (which I agree with, cause their racial is a great "I don't want to be here")
Though I'm hardly a 4e expert, I was a little dubious of psion because some of their cyan high-level powers sounded underwhelming from their descriptions on the character optimization site
In fact, if you do decide to go with Psion, I suggest taking Telekinetic so you go with an Int/Wis stat boost. Otherwise, we've got three guys in our party with Int/Cha and that'll throw off our skills balances. Again though, you don't have to go with Telekinetic Psion, or Psion at all.
I'm looking up other classes that use INT/WIS. There may be something else of interest I've just not stumbled upon before. What build is that Dark Pact Warlock, by the way?
Eldritch Pact: Dark Races: Tiefling, Gnome, Drow, Half-elf, Halfling, Dragonborn, Human, Changeling, Shardmind Implement Preference: Staff, Dagger, Rod Recommended Stat Array: Str 8/10, Con 11, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 8/10, Cha 16
I don't really understand the question. The info there is listed under Archetypes: Corruption Templates
This build is a straight-up ranged combatant that focus fires on single targets. It uses mobility and retribution and dodge powers/features to discourage targets from firing back and avoid the few attacks directed at it. The build uses its mobility powers/features to get the Prime Shot bonus when it can. It prefers powers with higher damage over those with more control. Charisma and Intelligence get all of the level up points.
I wanted to pick two different types, to give the party more versatility. Since shardmind had controller as its main shtick, I thought the warlock striker would be a good alternate
I'm looking at the warlock-related material in CB, but since my freebie CB doesn't actually support shardmind, I will leave it to the next person down the circle to actually flesh out the character details, if that is OK
I just realized there's another item to be selected for Shardimd as well. They get an additional Skill.
But yeah, may want to leave that for next in the cycle.
Like I said earlier, if you don't mind paying for just one month of D&DI you can get the CB and all current updates. That should have all you'll need, and you don't lose the CB when your subscription ends - you just can't update it anymore.
Then if you ever feel you need a certain rules update in the CB later on, just buy that one month again.
If I run into a situation where I absolutely can't get by without it, then that's probably what I'll do. I want to see though if I can hack it without paying for it
If this game becomes a regular, long-running thing, I will probably just go out and buy the relevant books for my character
I kind of like the versatility of 4e at character creation. It makes me feel like I have a hundred different options, which isn't really the case in 3.5
You'll definitely find that you need all the information you can get, especially with Shardminds, Wilden, and Psions in play. Those are all PHB3 items.
What is the metagame/twinkish significance of push effects? Usually moving enemies from one square to another in D&D is really not that big of a deal (at least not in 3.5)
But some of them are marked as really good powers in charop
Are there a lot of stationary, persistent AOE type of effects?
It can mean a lot in some scenarios. Especially if there are zones in effect, or if one of your party members benefits from flanking or combat advantage. And of course, there's the occasional pit to throw something into.
Let me share a story of what happened (it was an epic moment) in one game, which prompted this question.
Our party consisted of a Shardmind Psion (myself), a Halfling Rogue, and a Dragonborn Paladin. We were tasked to check out a dungeon that was known to house goblins.
Upon entering the room,...
That's cool, I kind of liked the "PP" aspect of psionics in 3.5. It's nice to be able to customize the way you use your power, instead of automatically always having one big thing, and 3 little things
It uses a d20, and many of the same character classes exist, but that's about all it has in common. =) The game balance and some of the fundamental mechanics are radically different
The Shardmind race is quite obviously purpose-built for the Psion class. What other classes could the Shardmind excel in?
The Back Room: Live Tabletop Games
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