DominicHamon.com
Life is like a grapefruit
Raising the dead
It seems we can learn from our mistakes! Obligatory warning: This is another DnD post.
This weekend’s DnD session was the one where I first found out if my party were going to raise me from the dead or if I was going to have to roll up a new character. I am not yet particularly invested in my current (dead) character, Tordek the Dwarf Paladin, but rolling a new character when one dies does feel like cheating the system. It seems that my party agree, as they pooled all of their resources and all the great stuff we’d accumulated and paid for me to live again.
Once back on my feet, it was time for action! Happily, the DM threw in some more puzzle elements this time. Essentially, we had three in-game hours to find some items, as well as solve some clues, or the battle that we were going to face would be hard. We knew we were facing battle, the only thing at stake was how difficult it was going to be. I love sessions like this: I find the puzzle solving aspect, while staying in character, more of a challenge than whacking orcs/undead/halflings. I might make a particular logical leap, but would my character? I might have a problem with a particular ethical standpoint put forward by an NPC, but would my character?
Having solved the puzzle with only 2 in-game minutes left (isn’t it amazing how it always works out like that?) it was time to bear arms. I was not really looking forward to this, having seen our party struggle with combat previously. It seems that having two characters die in battle last time, and having most of the party be unconscious for the majority of that fight, has taught us something key about 4th edition DnD. I will now save you the pain of figuring this out for yourself by stating Dominic’s Golden Rules for 4th edition:
DGR 1: Know your role and stick to it. For anyone who has been involved with end-game raids in World of Warcraft, this should not be particularly difficult. For people used to 3rd edition, it takes a little getting used to.
DGR 2: Don’t be afraid to blow your daily powers early. The quicker you can reduce the odds against you, the easier the fight will be. If you save your dailies, you’ll just have a long fight ahead and will be possibly too low on health to be useful before you get the chance to make a difference.
Following these rules certainly made our party more effective, but did it make the game any more fun? Well, I think it’s too early to tell. Unlike 3.5 ed, when it was easy to try to bend and break the rules and watch the DM squirm, it feels more difficult under this ruleset. My hope is that as we become more effective and learn the system, we’ll also learn how to successfully bend the rules to bring more life to our characters.
Posted on 2009/02/05 in personal | | Leave a comment
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