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Alright, the game continues to kick it into high gear. The group is almost to Akanul. However, they got a
little distracted by some Kelemvor clergy. The good news is that there are some genasi among these faithful.
Rules related, a couple of things. First, this came up during the game. "Ongoing Damage. Start of Your Turn:
You take the specified damage at the start of your turn." I needed a little clarification with one of Cain's
power's & ongoing damage. It looks like we did it right.
Here's another rule that I didn't know about. "Heal. Stabilize the Dying. Make a DC 15 Heal check to stabilize
an adjacent dying character. If you succeed, the character can stop making death saving throws until he or she takes
damage." This might come in handy and help prevent characters from potentially dying.
Next month the
Player's Handbook 2 comes out. This is pretty exciting as we get to see some of our favorites updated to 4th edition; Druid, Gnome, Half-Orc,
etc. And it looks like we will officially see the Monk in PHB 3. A playtest is coming out in May.
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Greetings! I only have one rules observation. This is the famous "DMG page 42" rule. Essentially, these
are actions the rules don't cover. Sometimes straight combat can get a little long, drawn out and/or maybe a little
boring. This is known as "grindspace." There are a couple of things that can be done to reduce the monotony
in these situations. One, I can design more interesting scenarios :) The second thing that can happen is, well, doing
something unexpected. On page 42 of the DMG it gives an example:
"Shiera the 8th-level rogue wants to try the classic swashbuckling move
of swinging on a chandelier and kicking an ogre in the chest on her way down to the ground, hoping to push the ogre into the
brazier of burning coals behind it."
Basically, this calls for an acrobatics check, strength check
and than cross-referencing it with a DC and Damage by Level chart. Pretty simple and straight forward actually.
Just the thing to use to spice up an encounter.
It looks like our games are going pretty good. Justin has asked to hold back on his games for the
time being so that the players can concentrate on advancing in my game. The only thing I asked was that I
get a break every once in a while (with somebody possible GMing a one shot game) so that I don't get burned out.
During our last game, the characters took to the sky onboard an airship. This was pretty exciting
with an aerial encounter. However, the ship had to make an emergency landing in an ancient battlefield -- complete with
wandering dead soldiers and monsters.
Not much to report on the new book front. It looks like WotC will release Dungeon Delve this month. Basically a DM book with dozens of dungeons ready to play without preparation. Also, I just finished
reading the Elfish Gene. I recommend this book to anybody who played D&D in high school. It takes a comedic and, often times, painful
look at being an adolescent and a geek. However, I also recommend that people take parts of it with a grain of salt.
The author, who the book is about, may have had a teenage addiction that bordered on an Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorder.
Or it might have just been circumstance. Either way, sometimes he comes across a little hard on D&D. Something
he recognizes within his blog. Overall, a fun read.
