20030809 NextGeneration

<H1> Westmarch, The Next Generation </H1>
<H2> Role Call </H2>
<UL>
<LI> Jim Yonemura
<LI> John Speck
<LI> Mark Whisler
<LI> Matt Miller
<LI> Ray Chiang
<LI> Richard Jacobsen
<LI> Rick DiRicco
</UL>
<H2> Session Summary </H2>
</p>
<H3> Prelude </H3>
</p>
From an earlier Q&A session with the DM.
<DL>
<DT> <B>Q:</B> Lots of spells have changed levels. Will I still know them?
<DD> <B>A:</B> Yes. If a spell's level was revised upward or downward, you still have it in your spellbook, and you may select a free additional spell of the former level and add it to your spellbook as a replacement.
<DT> <B>Q:</B> Some spells are no longer castable by my class. What about those?
<DD> <B>A:</B> No spells, to my knowledge, have been removed from wizards. So no worries about missing spells from your spellbook (but if we find one, you may select a replacement as above). Spells removed from divine casters are simply no longer accessible to you. If you have one prepared today, you may swap it for another of the same level (if it was a domain spell, swap it for the replacement from the new definition of that domain).
<DT> <B>Q:</B> Some spells have been changed, merged (such as Haste) or split into new spells (such as Polymorph and Baleful Polymorph). Which do I know?
<DD> <B>A:</B> In most cases, just replace the new spell with the old. If the level is different, you may have a replacement for your spellbook (see the first answer).<BR />Polymorph is a special case. If you knew both Polymorph Self and Polymorph Other, then you know both of the new Polymorph spells. If you know Polymorph Self, you now know Polymorph. If you knew only Polymorph Other, you may choose whether you now know Baleful Polymorph or Polymorph.<BR />If two spells have been merged into one, as with Haste/Mass Haste and the new Haste, you may replace one of the old spellbook entries with a free new one.
<DT> <B>Q:</B> My prestige class isn't explicitly covered in any of the new 3.5 materials. What now?
<DD> <B>A:</B> All prestige classes from 3e continue to exist in 3.5. The only adjustments we are likely to need to make are granted spells or powers that are analogous to spells that were changed. In those cases, we treat them as if they were spells and make the appropriate changes to the PrC. So if your PrC granted, say, a power listed as "just like Polymorph Self," that PrC would now have the power of Polymorph (though we might add "this power works on the character only" for consistency).
<DT> <B>Q:</B> There's a new prestige class I want to take that didn't exist before. It totally matches my character concept, and I would certainly have taken levels in it ages ago if it were around. Can I...?
<DD> <B>A:</B> No. But I have purposely arranged for the experience from the four sessions of the Draconian Trial to come home right at the point of conversion, so you will all have at least one level to do with as you please (perhaps two in some cases). I am inclined to be lenient in allowing prestige classes that already match your established character progression.
<DT> <B>Q:</B> Some skills that I put a bunch of points into don't exist any more! What now?
<DD> <B>A:</B> There are three ways this happens in the new rules. In general, to save headaches, we will not be figuring out how many points you've spent on this or that skill; we'll just track the ranks.
<OL>
<LI> The skill has been renamed and redefined. Transfer all ranks to the new skill.
<LI> The skill does not exist and has no analogue. You may re-allocate all ranks to any skill(s) in the same category (class vs. cross-class).
<LI> The skill has been merged with another skill into a new skill. Choose one of the two skills and transfer its ranks to the new skill. You may re-allocate all ranks in the second skill to any skill(s) in the same category (class vs. cross-class).
</OL>
<DT> <B>Q:</B> A feat I had has been folded into another, or removed entirely. What now?
<DD> <B>A:</B> Ambidexterity is the only feat that has been removed entirely. If you have more than one "Finesse (weapon)" feat, all but one are redundant. You may select new feats to replace these folded or redundant feats, though if you are a Fighter and it's one of the Fighter special feats, the replacement must come from that list as well.
<DT> <B>Q:</B> This (spell/feat/skill/class) I chose previously is now (useless/out of character/not as good as this new one). Can I...?
<DD> <B>A:</B> No. We are not reinventing characters here; we are converting existing ones. The only significant surgery allowed is what's outlined above, and we're only going that far because we have to for consistency. If you think your character is now unplayable, feel free to retire him and generate a new one according to the usual rules. The conversion session is an excellent time to do so.
<DT> <B>Q:</B> I'll take you up on that. What kinds of characters can I make?
<DD> <B>A:</B> Quite a few, actually. But you may want to consider waiting a bit, as there will be a whole new party created soon.<BR />We are about to enter a new stage of the campaign, when the party as it exists now becomes the Epic Westmarch storyline, with other storylines emerging in parallel. You've gotten a taste of that already in some of my side adventures.<BR />A new generation of heroes is rising up in your shadow, and will shortly seek you out as mentors. These heroes can come from a wide variety of backgrounds.<BR />Essentially, each of you (or perhaps pairs of you) will become the mentors to new groups of heroes who will take on some of the outstanding challenges that face the re-emergent Kingdom of the West (assuming for the moment that such a thing comes to pass, even if under the leadership of someone else in Donner's bloodline). This gives us some flexibility in the sorts of characters we can play and adventures we can have.
</DL>
<H3> Candidates for the Next Generation </H3>
Part of the purpose of having new characters is to keep the game fresh. Most of you will want to play something different than what you've played before. Also, John (playing Donner) has been the leader of the party since the beginning of the session. Playing this next generation of heroes allows one of the other main characters to play the leader of an epic quest accompanied by new heroes who have followed the call.
There are two possibilities for new characters. If you have a character from a previous adventure set in the present-day Westmarch, you may convert the character and his or her items (bumping the character up to 7th level if needed). Alternatively, you may create a new character with the following rules:
<OL>
<LI> Generate stats using the Standard Point Buy system (3.5E DMG, pg. 169) with the normal 25 points.
<LI> Start the character at 7th level.
<LI> Choose any race allowed as a player character, assuming you can justify his or her existence and purpose to the GM.
<LI> Choose 19000 GP worth of magic and mundane items as starting equipment, subject to GM approval.
</OL>
Possible candidates for each player in the session were:
*Jim Yonemura
**Thorfin the Lucky, 8th Human Bard (Skald)
**XXX, 1st Centaur Ranger
*John Speck
**4th Pixie Rogue
*Mark Whisler
**Father Cleetus, 9th Human Cleric
**XXX, 7th Human Wizard
*Matt Miller
**5th Githzerai Monk
*Ray Chiang
**Daeron, 7th Elven Cleric
**Ragnor, 6th/1st Human Cleric/Fighter
**Paxus, 7th Human Cleric
**Durinal, 7th Dwarven Cleric
**XXX, 2nd/1st Bugbear Rogue/Fighter
*Richard Jacobsen
**Wudge, 7th Human Fighter
*Rick DiRicco
**
<H3> Additional Rule Clarifications </H3>
</p>
<DL>
<DT> <B>Q:</B> How are wizard's spells handled?
<DD> <B>A:</B> Upon further review, the fact that a wizard gets the pages for his "automatic spells" free when he advances a level makes them akin to a class feature. For me to count them against the wizard's total possessions seems unfair. It would be like making a paladin pay for his special mount, or a druid for his animal companion. The pages for the "automatic spells" earned upon advancing in wizard level are hereby <B>not</B> counted against your total equipment value. Any additional ones are.
<DT> <B>Q:</B> How do Runecasters work in 3.5E?
<DD> <B>A:</B> In 3e and 3.5, runecasters are a special "flavor" of sorcerer. They are exactly like sorcerers, except as follows.<BR /><B>Skills:</B> as Sorcerer, plus Runecraft (int) as a class skill, and Spellcraft is cross-class.<BR /><B>Spells:</B> Instead of knowing spells, runecasters know runes. They still choose and cast from the Sorcerer list. The functional difference is that a runecaster requires the appropriate rune as a Material Focus in order to cast. There are two ways to accomplish this:<BR />First, a runecaster can draw the rune in the air or on the ground (this adds a Somatic component to the spell if one did not exist already).<BR />Second, runecasters can choose to create a permanent rune in the form of a runestone, runestaff, or wode-rune (tattoo) at the same cost as a wizard would pay for scribing that spell in a spellbook (100gp/level). This takes one day per rune level.<BR />Runecasters who use a permanent rune (stone, staff or wode) as a Focus may disregard any Somatic component of casting. Essentially, when using a permanent rune as a Focus, a runecaster gets Still Spell for free.<BR />Runecraft is an available skill that functions just like Spellcraft. Either skill can be substituted for the other at -4. If you have both skills, they provide a +2 synergy bonus to each other. Note that Runecasting is a cross-class skill for any spellcasting class except Runecaster, and Spellcraft is a cross-class skill for Runecasters.
<DT> <B>Q:</B> How do Skalds work in 3.5E?
<DD> <B>A:</B> Skald is to Bard as Runecaster is to Sorcerer. Learn runes, not spells; Runecraft is a class skill, Spellcraft is cross-class; Skalds can create permanent runes as per Runecasters.
</DL>
<H3> Magic Item Suggestions and Clarifications </H3>
</p>
<UL>
<LI> <B>Item:</B> Amulet of Natural Armor<BR /><B>Details:</B> The appendix of the DMG states that Barkskin (and presumably the Amulet of Natural Armor) is an enhancement bonus to natural armor and stacks with natural armor. So, it's a nice way to boost that AC another point or two.
<LI> <B>Item:</B> Boccob's Blessed Book<BR /><B>Details:</B> This item is mispriced. Stay tuned for updates.
<LI> <B>Item:</B> Magic Weapons<BR /><B>Details:</B> An adamantine, masterwork, +1 weapon is highly suggested, but moderately pricely (~5400 GP).
<LI> <B>Item:</B> Scrolls of low level spells<BR /><B>Details:</B> They're cheaper than a spellbook page, so it may be worth having rather than memorizing the spell. Or nice for an extra cast or two.
</UL>
<H2> Foes Fought </H2>
3.5E Rules