So last night I buckled down and used Hellie Layne to tear BadLands a new one. I managed to kill multiple bosses without dieing, and claimed two territories in the name of the Brotherhood. Hellie also purchased the helm of the north in order to gain more level 9 spell slots which are being used for MIGS.
I read the descriptions of the other guilds and will write one up for the Arcane Brotherhood sometime this weekend. Also we are finalizing a list of qualifiers in order to be considered for membership. More on that later.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
WTF my char stills sucks, AGAIN!
Some Character Building Tips
by Qwildurn
I was in DM mode one day and a player started shouting, "Why can't I hit anything? What's wrong with this server?" I took a peek at his char. He/she had a dex based monk holding two dwarven waraxes. Weapon focus for a kama and no feats for two-weapon fighting. He was level 10 in the Dozo Warfields ( a level 3-5 area ) with an AB of -xx and -XXX. You know something, I'm not a miracal worker. Some are beyond help.
Lets face it, it's easier to build a bad char than a really good one. I'm sure some of you have found a build list somewhere that was supposed to be "the best build ever", and it turned out to be crap. Maybee even worse than what you screwed-up yourself. Not everybody's idea of "best" is good and most IMPORTANTLY: WHAT WORKS IN ONE REALM MAY NOT WORK IN ANOTHER REALM.
BadLands and BadLands RPG is it's own Realm. It's not any other realm that you may have played on in the past. Some of our playable subraces and monsters (to hunt) have been invented just for BadLands RPG. The monsters have been tailored to fit the maximum player abilities.
You should pick one thing to focus on in your build and then if you have room left over, pick a second focus. This might be a melee Strength based fighter wanting Dev Crit (epic feat devistating critical) or a Dexterity based monk wanting Epic Dodge. The biggest problem here is the str base will have low AC (armor class) while the dex base will have low damage.
(Mage based builds are not for beginners)
A Fighter or Cleric or even a Fighter/Cleric is the easiest to build and play. A well built Fighter/Cleric can be very dangerouse in the higher levels too.
Mixing classes in the first twenty levels can be detrimental if done wrong!
Pay attention to the BAB (base attack bonus). This can be seen on your stat-sheet just under the saves. The first 20 level are CRITICAL here. After level 20 you will get 10 more BAB no matter what. in the first 20, a pure fighter will get 20 BAB while a cleric gets 15 and a wizard gets 10 BAB. 10 fighter/10 cleric is BAB 17. Adding some wiz levels here can reduse the BAB to 15 or 16. Do you want 30 BAB at level 40 or 25 BAB?
The Bioware Engine counts class levels in groups of 4 here. Rogue, Monk and Cleric all have a BAB of 15 (pure 20 levels). Multi-Classing with 4-4-12 will get 15 BAB while 5-5-10 is 13 BAB. The order you take these is not the issue (for BAB, it can be for other things such as feats and skills)). At the end of 20 levels, it's the count: 8-4-8 will get you 15 BAB but 7-6-7 won't.
One of my better builds is this: 14 fighter / 7 Weapon Master / 19 Cleric. I took 13 fighter levels then 7 WM levels. Level 21 was my last fighter followed by 19 cleric levels. I had my 30 BAB and those famose Cleric buffs. The 7 WM levels improved my crit range. If the monster is crit-proof the cleric levels and high damge work well. (str based with dev crit)
AAB (adjusted attack bonus): is your str bonus added to your BAB. Dex builds will need Feat: Weapon Finess and a small weapon then it's your dex bonus added to your BAB. Then other things are added such as a +5 weapon enhancment, buffs from Bless, Bard Song, ect.... Most just refer to this as AB and can be seen on you stat-sheet near the top. Watch this change as you get buffed or change weapons.
Damage: This come from STRENGTH, weapon base type, feats and buffs. Weapons upgraded with elemental damage provide extra damage. Some monsters are immune or more susceptible to one or more types of damage. Strength based builds do the most damage. Large weapons do the most damage.
AC (armore class): This is one of several things that determines how easy or difficult you are to hit. Plate Mail might seem attractive, and might be best at low levels, but later when you can buy more dex, padded armor or no armor can actually get you more AC. That because your dex bonus is added to your natural AC. Heavy armor has a dex limit. a DEx build will want to use clothing to get the full advantage of your high dex. Some buffs can add to your AC.
Choose you weapon(s) wisely. Dual swords sounds so hot but in the end its snot. I've built plenty of two-weapon-fighters.....it's not an easy build. A single sword with shield will get you more AC and more AB.
A str build can pick and choose most any weapon. Big is probably better.
A dex build has its limits. Small is probably better. A Human Monk can use a kama and weapon finess while a Halfling can't. "HUH?!?", you say? To the Halfling, a kama is a large weapon and weapon finess wont work, loosing the dex bonus to AB. Try monk gloves or a kukri.
Yes, I've build some hard and/or exotic Characters like a Kobold with a Scimtar (two-handed-weapon) and Dev Crit. A Half-Orc monk with unarmed dev crit. But if you just want a decent first chararcter, try a cleric or fighter. Pick a subrace that adds to your desires. A Dwarven Cleric/Fighter can go a long way.
Happy Hunting
Qwildurn Bluemoon (huntress of evil)
*** There is no way that any one build can have it all, not even at level 60. It is a trade-off. To get This I lose That. In the end it's supposed to be rock-paper-scissores. No one build, class, race or .... is really best. Go Pure or Mix-It-Up, it's all fun in the end.
Q
by Qwildurn
I was in DM mode one day and a player started shouting, "Why can't I hit anything? What's wrong with this server?" I took a peek at his char. He/she had a dex based monk holding two dwarven waraxes. Weapon focus for a kama and no feats for two-weapon fighting. He was level 10 in the Dozo Warfields ( a level 3-5 area ) with an AB of -xx and -XXX. You know something, I'm not a miracal worker. Some are beyond help.
Lets face it, it's easier to build a bad char than a really good one. I'm sure some of you have found a build list somewhere that was supposed to be "the best build ever", and it turned out to be crap. Maybee even worse than what you screwed-up yourself. Not everybody's idea of "best" is good and most IMPORTANTLY: WHAT WORKS IN ONE REALM MAY NOT WORK IN ANOTHER REALM.
BadLands and BadLands RPG is it's own Realm. It's not any other realm that you may have played on in the past. Some of our playable subraces and monsters (to hunt) have been invented just for BadLands RPG. The monsters have been tailored to fit the maximum player abilities.
You should pick one thing to focus on in your build and then if you have room left over, pick a second focus. This might be a melee Strength based fighter wanting Dev Crit (epic feat devistating critical) or a Dexterity based monk wanting Epic Dodge. The biggest problem here is the str base will have low AC (armor class) while the dex base will have low damage.
(Mage based builds are not for beginners)
A Fighter or Cleric or even a Fighter/Cleric is the easiest to build and play. A well built Fighter/Cleric can be very dangerouse in the higher levels too.
Mixing classes in the first twenty levels can be detrimental if done wrong!
Pay attention to the BAB (base attack bonus). This can be seen on your stat-sheet just under the saves. The first 20 level are CRITICAL here. After level 20 you will get 10 more BAB no matter what. in the first 20, a pure fighter will get 20 BAB while a cleric gets 15 and a wizard gets 10 BAB. 10 fighter/10 cleric is BAB 17. Adding some wiz levels here can reduse the BAB to 15 or 16. Do you want 30 BAB at level 40 or 25 BAB?
The Bioware Engine counts class levels in groups of 4 here. Rogue, Monk and Cleric all have a BAB of 15 (pure 20 levels). Multi-Classing with 4-4-12 will get 15 BAB while 5-5-10 is 13 BAB. The order you take these is not the issue (for BAB, it can be for other things such as feats and skills)). At the end of 20 levels, it's the count: 8-4-8 will get you 15 BAB but 7-6-7 won't.
One of my better builds is this: 14 fighter / 7 Weapon Master / 19 Cleric. I took 13 fighter levels then 7 WM levels. Level 21 was my last fighter followed by 19 cleric levels. I had my 30 BAB and those famose Cleric buffs. The 7 WM levels improved my crit range. If the monster is crit-proof the cleric levels and high damge work well. (str based with dev crit)
AAB (adjusted attack bonus): is your str bonus added to your BAB. Dex builds will need Feat: Weapon Finess and a small weapon then it's your dex bonus added to your BAB. Then other things are added such as a +5 weapon enhancment, buffs from Bless, Bard Song, ect.... Most just refer to this as AB and can be seen on you stat-sheet near the top. Watch this change as you get buffed or change weapons.
Damage: This come from STRENGTH, weapon base type, feats and buffs. Weapons upgraded with elemental damage provide extra damage. Some monsters are immune or more susceptible to one or more types of damage. Strength based builds do the most damage. Large weapons do the most damage.
AC (armore class): This is one of several things that determines how easy or difficult you are to hit. Plate Mail might seem attractive, and might be best at low levels, but later when you can buy more dex, padded armor or no armor can actually get you more AC. That because your dex bonus is added to your natural AC. Heavy armor has a dex limit. a DEx build will want to use clothing to get the full advantage of your high dex. Some buffs can add to your AC.
Choose you weapon(s) wisely. Dual swords sounds so hot but in the end its snot. I've built plenty of two-weapon-fighters.....it's not an easy build. A single sword with shield will get you more AC and more AB.
A str build can pick and choose most any weapon. Big is probably better.
A dex build has its limits. Small is probably better. A Human Monk can use a kama and weapon finess while a Halfling can't. "HUH?!?", you say? To the Halfling, a kama is a large weapon and weapon finess wont work, loosing the dex bonus to AB. Try monk gloves or a kukri.
Yes, I've build some hard and/or exotic Characters like a Kobold with a Scimtar (two-handed-weapon) and Dev Crit. A Half-Orc monk with unarmed dev crit. But if you just want a decent first chararcter, try a cleric or fighter. Pick a subrace that adds to your desires. A Dwarven Cleric/Fighter can go a long way.
Happy Hunting
Qwildurn Bluemoon (huntress of evil)
*** There is no way that any one build can have it all, not even at level 60. It is a trade-off. To get This I lose That. In the end it's supposed to be rock-paper-scissores. No one build, class, race or .... is really best. Go Pure or Mix-It-Up, it's all fun in the end.
Q
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
"WTF, My Build Sucks!!" (Part 2)
Deimonos’ post got me thinking about other mistakes that new players make, and here is another big one we see all the time.
The monsters in Badlands RPG are all fairly powerful, and most of them have very good Armor Classes. The monsters that you will be expected to kill while leveling up to and beyond level 40 especially all have very decent Armor Classes. If you are playing a Melee build and your character cannot hit your opponent, you have some serious problems. This problem is especially bad if you are playing a Str based build where you are relying on your ability to kill them quickly before you take too much damage due to your low AC.
That being said, I believe that the single biggest mistake we see Melee builds making is not incorporating any way to “buff” their Attack Bonus. Some do it out of ignorance, and some are just fucking morons (Shadow521899) who “Prefer Natural Power” (his direct quote) and don’t want buffs. Either way, not being able to buff your attack bonus even as much as 5 points can seriously lower the effectiveness of your build and make the difference between you being a powerhouse that others want to Xp with or an Xp leech that make others groan when they see you.
There are many different ways of ‘Buffing’. One of the most effective is to work some levels of Cleric into your build. Having 15 levels of Cleric and a Wisdom of 16 will give you access to many different AB Buffs, for a minimum of +15 to attack and damage, not to mention all of the awesome utility spells (True Sight, ect) and healing spells. Another way to ‘Buff’ is with levels of Bard. Depending on how many levels of Bard you take, your 2 Bard Songs can make all the difference in a fight. Having 16 levels of Bard and using both “Bard Song” to buff yourself and “Curse Song” on your enemies will give you the equivalent of a +7 to attack, +3 to damage +7 to AC.
I hope this helps people think a little differently when designing their builds. If anyone has some suggestions as to how they incorporate buffs into their builds, let us know below :-)
The monsters in Badlands RPG are all fairly powerful, and most of them have very good Armor Classes. The monsters that you will be expected to kill while leveling up to and beyond level 40 especially all have very decent Armor Classes. If you are playing a Melee build and your character cannot hit your opponent, you have some serious problems. This problem is especially bad if you are playing a Str based build where you are relying on your ability to kill them quickly before you take too much damage due to your low AC.
That being said, I believe that the single biggest mistake we see Melee builds making is not incorporating any way to “buff” their Attack Bonus. Some do it out of ignorance, and some are just fucking morons (Shadow521899) who “Prefer Natural Power” (his direct quote) and don’t want buffs. Either way, not being able to buff your attack bonus even as much as 5 points can seriously lower the effectiveness of your build and make the difference between you being a powerhouse that others want to Xp with or an Xp leech that make others groan when they see you.
There are many different ways of ‘Buffing’. One of the most effective is to work some levels of Cleric into your build. Having 15 levels of Cleric and a Wisdom of 16 will give you access to many different AB Buffs, for a minimum of +15 to attack and damage, not to mention all of the awesome utility spells (True Sight, ect) and healing spells. Another way to ‘Buff’ is with levels of Bard. Depending on how many levels of Bard you take, your 2 Bard Songs can make all the difference in a fight. Having 16 levels of Bard and using both “Bard Song” to buff yourself and “Curse Song” on your enemies will give you the equivalent of a +7 to attack, +3 to damage +7 to AC.
I hope this helps people think a little differently when designing their builds. If anyone has some suggestions as to how they incorporate buffs into their builds, let us know below :-)
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
WTF, my build sucks!!
Hello, my friends. I made this topic after poking around and noticing a common mistake the new players are doing.
Wandering around I've seen many players complaining about their char's lack of power and not knowing why they are having so much trouble at xping.And it's something easy to see. Most of the new players like to spread their points on their abilities. They don't make the most important decision a builder must do when they are making a new char: "Is it going to be str or dex based?"
That's the basic question you need to ask yourself. You see, spreading your ability points and ability raising feats may sound cool in theory but when you have to go out and bash all those creatures you may find out that it's going to be harder than you thought..
Using the classic gith monk as an example.. make it with str8 and dex22.. weapon finesse and lvl 40, ok? I'd have 10 stat points to spend, right? Consider I didn't take any Great Dexterity or any other related feat. Build 1: Str 14, Dex 26. Build 2 Str 8, Dex 32.
Build 1, as you can see I've spread my ability points, +6 on str and +4 on dex. Build 2, on the other hand, got all points on dex.
Does that really make any difference at all?Well, with upgrades it would be like this:Build 1: Str 26(+8), Dex 38(+14)Build 2: Str 20(+5), Dex 44(+17)
What you got to ask yourself, is it really worth losing AB and AC to raise your str? Well, build 1 can carry 613lb, almost twice what the build2 can carry. And of course, more damage too.
This is just a simple example about how spreading your ability points can compromise your build's effectiveness. Most of the builds around have even wider ability discrepancies.. like points spent on not so useful abilities or almost making your 2 attack related abilities half/half.. Ex: Gith monk with weapon finesse and str 32, dex 36, he sure was struggling to lvl his char at sheelo. Maybe he wanted to get dev crit, oh well.. Or even a deep orc rdd, of course str based, with an unusual high dex..
Thing is, unless you aim to try making something "exotic", please don't weaken your char by spreading your stat points.DMs and the other players will be grateful. Some are stress out already by our regular annoying/whining players.. Less weak chars around = less whining = Happy players :D
Wandering around I've seen many players complaining about their char's lack of power and not knowing why they are having so much trouble at xping.And it's something easy to see. Most of the new players like to spread their points on their abilities. They don't make the most important decision a builder must do when they are making a new char: "Is it going to be str or dex based?"
That's the basic question you need to ask yourself. You see, spreading your ability points and ability raising feats may sound cool in theory but when you have to go out and bash all those creatures you may find out that it's going to be harder than you thought..
Using the classic gith monk as an example.. make it with str8 and dex22.. weapon finesse and lvl 40, ok? I'd have 10 stat points to spend, right? Consider I didn't take any Great Dexterity or any other related feat. Build 1: Str 14, Dex 26. Build 2 Str 8, Dex 32.
Build 1, as you can see I've spread my ability points, +6 on str and +4 on dex. Build 2, on the other hand, got all points on dex.
Does that really make any difference at all?Well, with upgrades it would be like this:Build 1: Str 26(+8), Dex 38(+14)Build 2: Str 20(+5), Dex 44(+17)
What you got to ask yourself, is it really worth losing AB and AC to raise your str? Well, build 1 can carry 613lb, almost twice what the build2 can carry. And of course, more damage too.
This is just a simple example about how spreading your ability points can compromise your build's effectiveness. Most of the builds around have even wider ability discrepancies.. like points spent on not so useful abilities or almost making your 2 attack related abilities half/half.. Ex: Gith monk with weapon finesse and str 32, dex 36, he sure was struggling to lvl his char at sheelo. Maybe he wanted to get dev crit, oh well.. Or even a deep orc rdd, of course str based, with an unusual high dex..
Thing is, unless you aim to try making something "exotic", please don't weaken your char by spreading your stat points.DMs and the other players will be grateful. Some are stress out already by our regular annoying/whining players.. Less weak chars around = less whining = Happy players :D
Google Groups
Oki, so I added all the contributors to a 'Google Group'. If everything works you should automatically recieve updates in your email when people post comments on the blog.
If you don't get anything let me know. Don't forget to check your Junk Mail folders just in case.
If you don't get anything let me know. Don't forget to check your Junk Mail folders just in case.
Zelda Live Action Movie!
I'm an old school console gamer from back in the NES days. I though you all might find this entertaining!
Zelda Movie Trailer Debut!
Love for the Kukri
I see many people running around with Rapiers in their hands. This is good, because it means that more people are realizing the power of the large Crit range. However, I believe that not enough people love the Kukri.
The Kukri has the same massive Crit range as the Scimitar and Rapier. The only drawback to the Kukri is that it only does 1d4 points of damage, instead of 1d6 like the Scimitar and Rapier. However, it has some wonderful advantages. First of all, being a small weapon, you can easily dual wield it. Secondly, it is a Slashing Weapon, and this means that you can use the spell "Keen Edge" on it. Why is this a good thing, you ask? Because if you can put Keen on your weapon with a spell instead of in the Crafting areas, that means there is more room for elemental damage.
Thirdly, and in my opinion the best reason to use the Kukri, is Mysteria.
The Kukri has the same massive Crit range as the Scimitar and Rapier. The only drawback to the Kukri is that it only does 1d4 points of damage, instead of 1d6 like the Scimitar and Rapier. However, it has some wonderful advantages. First of all, being a small weapon, you can easily dual wield it. Secondly, it is a Slashing Weapon, and this means that you can use the spell "Keen Edge" on it. Why is this a good thing, you ask? Because if you can put Keen on your weapon with a spell instead of in the Crafting areas, that means there is more room for elemental damage.
Thirdly, and in my opinion the best reason to use the Kukri, is Mysteria.
As you can see, Mysteria is a Keen, +6 Kukri that is dropped by Shadow StridAst. Note the rather substantial elemental damage. Not as much as you can put on a 'Crafted Weapon', but you cant get +6 on a crafted weapon either. Contrast the damage on this weapon with the damage on the 'Rapier of the High' and you'll see that Mysteria does MUCH more damage per hit.
So there you are. I hope that this will encourage all of you to love your local Kukri. It is one of the best weapons in all of Neverwinter Nights.
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