I am going to try to devote at least an hour a day to the site from now on, which should hopefully mean I get a post up at least every other day.

Hitting on my frequent topics, I have picked up a few new RPGs recently, which I should have characters up for soon. As well, I have completed some video games which I will be able to review as well.

Biggest though, is a new RPG project for D&D 4e. I will be doing a fairly large conversion project based on the Nippon Ichi Disgaea series. I’m in the process of finalizing races at the moment, which should be up Monday or Tuesday. When completed I will have a write up of setting information, a bunch of races and classes (new and modified), and quite a few monster write ups. So look forward to more from me soon!

“Talk to the hand!”

First before I begin, the first part of this is a bit of a rant, if you are looking for info on the newly release 4e Class I recommend you scroll down a bit to the review heading, read on at your own risk.

Well, today the Psion was released on Dungeons & Dragons insider, a preview of the class appearing in Player’s Handbook 3. and with it rampant hatred that follows anything in D&D with the word “psion” or “psionic”. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always thought of the power of the mind as a very interesting thing, and one that unlike many people, actually seems fitting in a fantasy setting, just like magic. Psionics in general get extremely harsh treatment due to past editions and people feeling like they are out of genre, but from every time I sit down and talk to someone who hates Psionics the true hatred seems to seethe forth from one or two sources.

A.) Misunderstanding the Rules
B.) Horrible experience

I’m not gonna lie, psionics before 3.5 were a terrible screw up and even then players didn’t help by not following the core rules laid out for them. Even in 3.5 many DMs got the feeling psionics was rampantly overpowered because a player didn’t follow the “you can’t spend more power points than your level” rules, so PCs went around doing epic level damage and destroying the campaign, sad that so many people spoil it for the whole bunch.

The other is horrible experiences. Early editions had ridiculously overpowered psionics that many DMs and even a few players horribly abused, resulting in a lot of hurt feelings mostly due to DMs not remembering the game is about fun for everyone. I can’t comment on that really, I’ve generally left groups were the DMs and other players were that exploitative and uncaring. Really though, it’s time to get over the fact that your 1e character was killed by a psionic jerk. I’ve even met second hand people who have been told by another person how broken psionics were, so they just assumed psionics of all editions are the same (and they’re not.)

As far as people who feel psionics are out of place in D&D, there isn’t much I can say. Everyone has there own different variations or settings where they deem what is and isn’t appropriate, but those days seem to be fading with 4e for the most part, since in a way all classes are in some minor or major way magical or at least possessing extraordinary abilities. The other answer is: Mind Flayers, one of the classic D&D creatures is and always will be psionic at heart. Some players feel it’s sci-fi or something, but really if you just reflavor the class and change up some keywords it should still fit into your world even if the feel is a bit different. And at heart, both the Psion and the Wizard are both guys who just use their brains for special abilities.

In the end, after many years of trying it’s simple that some DMs will never get over it, which is a real shame, but I can only hope that if you’re one of those DMs you’ll give a player a shot if they ask to play one. Really, it’s no extra work for you as long as the player knows what they are doing. Heck, back in a 3.5 campaign, I got fed up with irrational DMs, so I rolled up a psion, called him a wizard and the DM wasn’t any the wiser for several sessions until I told him. I’m not proud of it, but I think it proves my point (it certainly did to him).

Psion Class Review

Now on to my review of the new class. As I said before, it’s a “smart guy” intelligence based class, and it’s a controller. To me the class seems like a mixture between a tactical warlord and a Wizard. Not a huge emphasis on area effects but more on abilities that give very specific advantages.

There will likely be two builds upon full release, but the preview contains only one: Telepathy Focus, which lets you have an encounter psionic communication ability and an ability that makes a creature grant combat advantage to the next person who attacks it, no attack roll and scales to multiple creatures.

Not much to say about skills, they didn’t make a “psionic” skill or anything like that. They do get ritual caster as a bonus feat just like all the other big smart guys. There’s only a few feats to start off with, the most noteworthy seems to be the one that lets you sent a “point” which I’ll get to in a minute, the other lets you use your Focus abilities twice per encounter, which seems nice. I imagine it’ll be more fleshed out upon full release.

Powers… well, time to break the news. This class doesn’t follow the power system of previous classes, and the old system of “Power Points” makes its return. Basically you spend your power points to augment your abilities. I know, I know, but it’s done right in my opinion, and trust me, it’s not some big hassle. Basically, the Psion gets NO encounter powers (aside from utility/paragon/etc.) instead it gets three at-will powers and can trade them out for better ones as his level progresses. Each of these at-will powers has two effects, each with a cost in points that lets them basically become encounter powers, in general it has one weak effect that slightly modifies the at-will and a major one that is much better. There is no scaling on any of the powers (they never scale to 2d8 or whatever at 21st level), and you can only augment a power once, the end. It’s extremely simple, please take a look at it if you can before making any harsh judgements.

“But Para, this makes them broken, they get a ton of encounter powers!” No, you’re wrong, I said take a look, didn’t I? Actually, compared to any other class the Psion gets LESS, yes that’s right. He only ever has 3 at-will powers that can be augmented to encounter level strength, and at high levels you know how many times he can actually do that to his highest level power? Twice with some change, or roughly half the number other classes get. It makes up for it with two things: better at-will powers and versatility. He only has three at-will powers that can be made really strong, but he also has three other abilities as well as the unaugmented at-wills, giving him a lot of options in any given situation. As well, his base at-will powers do seem a bit above the curve compared to other classes, making sure he’s still useful in the situations where others are still burning their own encounter powers.

People have also raised concerns about Psions hanging on to low level powers and spamming them considering they cost cheaper power points to augment, and yes, this is potentially an issue, but a player has to go out of their way to do this, and I really see no reason to stop them, they would probably be better off augmenting a higher level power than being repetitive.

As far as the actual point reserve goes, you get at most 17, a number you should be easily able to manage with a D20 or your noggin, really it’s not much of a hassle, I promise, and 17 is probably a high number most players will ever see. Seriously, If your DM doesn’t trust you enough to manage it yourself and complains about the additional workload, I recommend you move on to another group.

Anyways, it still get daily and utility spells. It currently has two paragon paths: Cerulean Adept and Uncarnate, both give 2 additional power points. Uncarnate is my favorite of the two, focusing on being incorporeal, hitting incorporeal things and making things incorporeal, in the latter case by killing them. The Cerulean Adept on the other hand is kind of an anti-aberration paragon path and has some interesting abilities as well. Unlike normally, these do grant encounter powers which can also be augmented, but they only have one options.

I look forward to the rest of this class and the inevitable “psionic power” sourcebook, although it looks like we won’t see those for several more months.

I’m pretty pleased with the class and it’s interesting change on the powers system, I just can’t wait to see more, and I hope I have convinced you to give psionics a second chance. Sorry if this was a bit ranty, it’s a sore spot of mine.

One Piece – One of my favorite settings. What’s great about this setting is primarily the versatility and a clear goal: get to the end of the most dangerous sea on earth and get the treasure while competing with other superpowered pirates and the world government. Can range from wacky to serious and gives players a ton of options and a clear goal, but the real fun is in the journey. Lots of pre-existing ideas and settings you can toss or keep as well. Would be good in any anime based system (BESM/OVA) or even a superhero system like Mutants & Masterminds.

Soul Eater – I think there is a profound lack of school settings of games, something I think more DMs should experiment with since they allow a wide cast of characters and characters who have great opportunities for progression and development. Soul Eater takes place at a school lead by the Grim Reaper himself, half the students wield weapons the other half literally become weapons, who have the goal of becoming a Deathscythe, or a weapon of the Grim Reaper themselves. Mix in animal based witchcraft, cooky supernaturals, a lot of teamwork and an insane god on the verge of being reborn and you have a pretty cool setting with an interesting concept. I can’t really think of any specific setting to complement such an odd playstyle, but I recommend you actually try something new and let players control multiple character (them and their weapon(s) or even them and some else’s weapons.)

Naruto – Another setting I really like for sheer diversity, can compliment a wide range of special abilities, although not really like the standard Ninjas of myth it makes for an interesting setting that can compliment everything from superpowered schoolkids to mission based assassination. Dump a lot of interesting martial arts, action, special elemental abilities and supersized mythological creatures into a big melting pot and you have the setting. Once again, a diverse system that allows custom abilities is probably best.

Bleach – Take Exalted, dump it into the modern world and disassociate exalted from humanity entirely. In Bleach the souls of the dead frequently become lost in the human world and need to be sent to beyond by Deathgods/Shinigami. Those who don’t become corrupted or become consumed, turning into demonic undead who continue a vicious cycle. Mix in superpowered swordplay, some questionable moral ambiguity, a world for the dead, the living and the corrupt as well as some very interesting humans and you have a setting with some veryinteresting options in a wide variety of enivornments and enemies. Once again, good with any anime/supers game.

Bastard!! – Take a high fantasy game, dump it in post apocalyptic world that was blasted back to the middle ages. Add in swords and sorcery, epic magic, heavy metal references and you’ve got Bastard!!. Start the PCs out at extremely high levels and have them save the world from being blown even further back in time by a giant sentient machine of destruction and those who would have the world be destroyed again. No big moral quandaries, just being awesome and over the top. I’d recommend you not use something like D&D, I would actually recommend something extremely rules light and freeform for this type of game.

In conclusion the best thing about all of these settings is that you already have the groundwork laid out for you but you still have a lot of customization you can add yourself.

What class? Well, good question, but I wanted something, well, perhaps not so easy in either. So I pick the class in both which probably has the most options: Wizard. As per my normal CCC rules, I’m sticking to the core books, and not Wizard’s definition of “core”, that means players handbook (1) only and/or Dungeon Master’s Guide. Adding additional source books will just make this take longer and add to the complexity needlessly for a comparison. But unlike my usual CCC entries, I won’t actually post step by steps, I’ll do that some other time.

This isn’t “4e is better” or “4e is teh sux”, I actually like both editions, but 3.5 just has worn on me and I find it needlessly complex for my gaming needs. But I know some people like that, I think this will show in character creation. My estimates is that 4e will be significantly faster but have fewer options. I am including a time as well for how long it took me (includes writing the relevant section in this article), and as a disclaimer my experience in 3.5 far outweighs my 4e experience. Take this with a grain of salt, no need to get all worked up over my article or a fun game!

One last note, I did use as similar methods as possible. Both characters are Human, Wizards, Maximum level using the standard point buy. No extra rules, no helping programs, just books.

Edition	3.5	4
Race/Racial Information	Human Size: Medium Speed: 30 feet 1 Extra Feat at first level Extra Skill Points Languages: Common, Draconic, Sylvan, Undercommon	Human Size: Medium Speed: 6 Vision: Normal Languages: Human, Draconic +2 to any one stat (Intelligence) Bonus At-Will Power Bonus Feat Bonus Skill Human Defense Bonus: +1 to Fortitude, Reflex and Will
Class	15 Wizard/5 Archmage	Level 30 Wizard/Spellstorm Mage/Archmage
Attributes	Str: 8 Dex: 19 (+4) Con: 16 (+3) Int: 33 (+11) Wis: 10 Cha: 10	Str: 10 Dex: 12 (+1) Con: 12 (+1) Int: 28 (+9) Wis: 22 (+6) Cha: 13 (+1)
Stats/Defenses	HP: 110 AC: 25 Fort +14 Ref +15 Will +18 Initiative +7 Speed: 6	HP: 153 Surge: 38 Surges/day: 7 Staff of Defense Initiative +20 Speed: 7 AC: 44 Fort: 34 Ref: 42 Will: 39
Attack/Damage	BAB +7/+2 To hit with ranged touch: +11 Spell DCs: 21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30	Standard to hit with int based spells/abilities: +30 Standard Damage bonus: +15
Skills	Knowledge Arcana +34 Spellcraft +34 Concentration +25 Decipher Script +34 Knowledge (Everything Else) +16 Search +24	Arcane +29 History +29 Dungeoneering +26 Nature +29
Feats	Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (Spellcraft), Spell Focus (Conjuration), Spell Focus (Transmutation), Craft Wondrous Item, Quicken Spell, Craft Wand, Improved initiative, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration	Ritual Caster, Armor Proficiency (Leather), Action Surge, Burning Blizzard, Expanded Spellbook, Human Perseverance, Improved Initiative, Toughness, Action Recovery, Blood Thirst, Devastating Critical, Great Fortitude, Fleet-Footed, Lightning Arc, Lightning Reflexes, Point-Blank Shot, Arcane Mastery, Epic Resurgence, Spell Accuracy, Irresistible Flame
Spells/Abilities/Rituals	Summon Familiar (Toad) Spellbook: 0: All 1: 8 – Shield, Grease, Mage Armor, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Charm Person, Magic Missile, Tenser’s Floating Disk 2: 4 – Glitterdust, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Fog Cloud, Web 3: 4 – Dispel Magic, Hold Person, Fireball, Fly 4: 4 – Evard’s Black Tentacles, Solid Fog, Enervation, Wall of Fire 5: 4 – Dismissal, Cloudkill, Teleport, Wall of Stone 6: 4 – Greater Dispel Magic, Repulsion, Analyze Dweomer, True Seeing 7: 4 – Greater Teleport, Plane Shift, Prismatic Spray, Limited Wish 8: 4 – Clone, Polymorph Any Object, Temporal Stasis, Summon Monster VIII 9: 8 – Imprisonment, Mordenkainen’s Disjunction, Prismatic Sphere, Gate, Summon Monster IX, Power Word Kill, Shapechange Spells/Day: 0: 4 1: 7 2: 7 3: 7 5: 4 6: 6 7: 5 8: 3 9: 4 High Arcana: Spell Power, Mastery of Shaping, Mastery of Elements, Arcane Fire, Spell Like Ability (Polymorph Any Object)	Wizard: Ghost Sound, Light, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation At Will (3): Magic Missile, Thunderwave, Cloud of Daggers Encounter (P/27/23/17): Storm Cage, Confusion, Chain Lightning, Combust Daily (P/29/25/19): Maelstrom of Chaos, Legion’s Hold/Meteor Swarm/Greater Ice Storm, Prismatic Spray/Necrotic Web/Elemental Maw, Disintegrate/Cloudkill/Evard’s Black Tentacles Utility (E/P/22/16/10/6/2): Shape Magic, Sudden Storm, Time Stop/Mass Fly, Displacement/Greater Invisibility, Blur/Mirror Image, Dimension Door/Dispel Magic, Expeditious Retreat/Shield Rituals: Comprehend Languages, Make Whole, Tenser’s Floating Disk, Brew Potion, Knock, Raise Dead, Disenchant Magic Item, View Location, Passwall, Consult Oracle, Planar Portal, Forbiddance, Observe Creature
Equipment/Money	Ring of Protection +5 Tome of Clear Though (+5 Int) Strand of Prayer Beads Slippers of Spider Climbing Headband of Intellect +6 Cloak of Resistance +5 Bracers of Armor +6 Bag of Holding Type IV Amulet of Health +6 Big Carpet of Flying Manual of Quickness in Action (+5 dex) 173400gp	Cloak of Invisibility +5 Staff of Storms +6 Starleather Bloodcut Armor +6 Boots of the Infinite Stride Ring of Wizardry Handy Haversack 2x Potion of Recovery Everlasting Provisions 19160gp
Time to Complete	1 Hour	54 Minutes

Well, these aren’t exactly going to hit the character optimization boards, but I think they are reasonable characters that someone would create on the fly for a high level campaign. Frankly, I found 4e high level creation be much more fun, making a high level character is 3.5 was a pain because I had to go back and figure out at what points I had what intelligence score. I had quite a bit of money left over on both characters, more than enough to slide in some equipment to plug up any holes.

It only took me a few more minutes to make a 3.5 character, but that’s with years of experience in the system and knowing most of the spells I wanted already almost by heart.

Interestingly, without buying any scrolls the base characters don’t have a huge divergence in the sheer number of abilities/spells. 4e had 46 spells/abilities/rituals while in 3.5 my character has 47 spells available at any one time; difference being I have more customization in the latter.

Honestly though, in the end, I found 4e character creation much more enjoyable, but I’m a bit jaded after a few years of playing 3.5.

Hopefully, this has proved interesting or maybe even a little entertaining. In the end, I think both systems are great, just pick the one that’s right for you, it really boils down to a single question in my opinion: do you want detail or ease of use?

As per previously requested, today on the Character Creation chopping block is Scion. Scion’s first book, Hero, came out in 2007, and thus far has seen a grand total of five books released; unfortunately, I would be surprised to see another release at this point, so the game is pretty much at end of life. I really like the theme, it’s basically a modernization of classical storytelling, you take the roll of a Scion, or literally a child of a god and embark on epic quests, eventually becoming a god yourself. The game is divided up among the three primary books: hero, Demigod and God; each with an emphasis on that level of play.

Like most White Wolf game lines, it has great background stuff, but in my opinion suffers from poor mechanical execution, but nothing a few minor house rules can’t solve. After all, no one is perfect. In general, I would consider Scion to be Exalted lite as far as System goes, suffering some of the pitfalls of it’s fore barer but not all of them.

To start with, the character I will be making will be at the base level as usual; while I can’t throw battleships or anything, everyone has to start somewhere! Also per the norm, I’ll be sticking with the base book only to simplify things to the base level.

Step One: Calling

Calling could really be paired down to concept but it includes much more than that. In general, Scions should be exceptional, and while I would like to make “animu nerd” guy, I should probably think of something a bit more fitting. After a bit of thinking I come up with “eccentric entrepreneur”, thinking maybe the nerd turned some of his desires into a business that profited off people with similar desires. Think Batman, but instead of having his parents killed he just spent too much time in has basement watching explicit animation.

Next up is the really big one, divine parent. This one determines not only which pantheon I fall under but a lot of my abilities and whatnot. In general, while it’s funny to think of a contradicting character, the system punished that pretty heavily, so you’re much better off following a similar path as your parent. The core book covers Egyptian, Greek, Norse, Aztec, Japanese, and Voodoo pantheons as well as a large list of deities. My first inclination is Japanese, but I actually decide to go with Greek since they have a penchant for being eccentric historically. I have a hard time pinning the character to a specific deity, but I decide to go strangely with Hades, greedy but smart with darkness bubbling beneath the surface. I could have gone with one of several others just in this pantheon alone, but I think this should work out just fine and be interesting to roleplay. At this point I should also note the gods favored abilities and associated powers, which we will get to more of later:

Associated Powers: Epic Charisma, Epic Manipulation, Arete, Darkness, Death, Earth
Abilities: Academics, Command, Occult, Presence, Stealth, Thrown

Last in this step is nature, which tells me something about personality as well as what recharges my willpower reserves which allows me to do particularly good at rolling occasionally. As with parents I see a lot of attractive options: architect, autocrat, competitor, cynic, gambler, libertine, survivor and visionary. I narrow it down to visionary and libertine, and go with the latter after a bit of thinking since it focuses more on pleasures, something I wanted to get across with the character.

Step Two: Attributes

Attributes follow the standard White Wolf attribute system, I choose a primary, secondary and tertiary category and get a certain number of points to put in each. After all is said and done my attributes look like this:

Primary (Social): Charisma 4, Manipulation 4, Appearance 2
Secondary (Mental): Perception 2, Intelligence 4, Wits 3
Tertiary (Physical): Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2

I diverge a bit from Hades here, I just don’t imagine this character being physically attractive at all, his only decent physical trait being good hand-eye coordination. He is smart and knows how to talk his way out of a pickle or into an anime license though!

Step Three: Abilities

First I note down my parents (and thus mine) favored abilities, and out of my thirty points I get for abilities I must spend one in each of these skills, putting me down to 24 off the bat. My skill layout is as follows, and just like Exalted I can’t put more than three into any skill at this point.

(F)Academics 3
(F)Command 3
(F)Occult 2
(F)Presence 3
(F)Stealth 1
(F)Thrown 1
Art 2 (Cell Shading)
Awareness 3
Control 2
Empathy 3
Integrity 3
Melee 2
Politics 2

Diverging a bit from Hades again, I don’t picture this guy using range weapons (particular thrown) or being stealthy, otherwise I like the favored skills.

Step Four: Advantages

Basically advantages encompasses all the cool stuff I can do thanks to my divine heritage. It basically is divided into two categories: birthrights AKA divine gifts and epic attributes, knacks, and boons. Last on the block is Virtues which are my character’s convictions.

For Birthrights I get 5 points to choose from, once again limited to three or below. The main one that falls into this category is a relic, or a special power that lets me channel my divine heritage. These are basically mandatory at the Hero level for using your special abilities but become less important the more powerful you get. As well as letting you use special abilities, they have other effects from being weapons to letting you have other cool abilities. There are some specific options in the book ranging from a satchel of dragon’s teeth to the Golden Fleece itself, but I really don’t like any of the options so I come up with my own for three dots, an ancient tome filled with the souls of famous ancient artists Hades entrusted to him to protect and also to use as a grim reminder. For my last points I spend 2 on followers and choose to get 5 zombie followers. I’m not sure if Hades would frown on that or not; but really, frame by frame editing of anime to remove anything related to the original country of origin is literally a soul sucking job no living thing would want to do.

Next up are epic attributes, knacks and boons. Epic attributes basically just mean I kick butt at one attribute, and each time I take a level in an epic attribute I get a knack which lets me get basically an associated special ability. Boons on the other hand are just special abilities with a variety of effects. For both of these fields I get a grand total of 10 points, mostly traded in on a 1:1 basis. I’m not restricted to my parent’s stuff at all at this point, but it would help in the long run if I picked things on the same track as theirs due to decreased costs. For both I’m limited to one each for the time being unless I choose to spend Bonus Points to increase my legend score by 1, I’ll get to the details of this later, but I choose to do that so I’m not so restricted in what I take now. I take the following:
Epic Charisma 1 (Charmer)
Epic Manipulation 1 (Overt Order)
Epic Intelligence 1 (Fast Learner)
Epic Wits 1 (Social Chameleon)
Chaos 1+2: Eye of the Storm, Hornet’s Nest
Darkness 2: Shadow Mask
Arete 1

Well, diverging a bit more, the character is a bit eccentric, quite the opposite of papa, so I throw in some chaos here, hoping he can make the most out of chaotic situations using his smooth tongue.

Last, before I forget is Virtues, straightforward and simple.

Expression 2
Intellect 3
Valor 1
Vengeance 3

Smart guy, but don’t get on his bad side.

Step Five: Finishing Touches

Just wrapping things up at this point.

Willpower: two highest virtues or 6. Allows me to resist mental assault, get automatic successes and can be used for certain abilities.

Legend: I bumped it up to three (more on that soon), although it normally starts at just two. Basically like Essence in Exalted.

Legend Points: These are used for a variety of divine things, but it’s simply my legend squared or 9.

Health Levels: Once again, following the Exalted bandwagon here. I have one -0 health level, two -1 health levels, two -2 health levels, one -4 health level, and finally, one incapacitated health level. Basically as I reach a “health level” I take a certain penalty to my actions called a wound modifier.

Bonus Points: Last on the list is bonus points, although I always wonder why they put this last considering the importance. Basically I have 15 points to spend to increase a variety of things. I basically cut this by half though to increase legend to 3 (costs 7), limiting my options significantly. I spend 4 to increase Manipulation to 5, 3 on Followers to increase it to 4 (yay, more zombies), and I have one more point which I’ll put into something completely new: Guide. It’s always nice to have a little guidance in difficult times.

That’s really it, all you really have to do from here is fill out a background and you’re done. I think Scion is a great game, and I really hope White Wolf puts out some more products or another revision of it, but it could use a bit of errata in the meantime!

Inspired by the recent Star Trek movie and a renewed interest in the franchise, I became interested in finding a system to run a Star Trek game. Unfortunately, just like the series, there is no current RPG. On the upside, you can pick up the defunct Decipher version very cheap at WholeSaleGaming, $35 for the full lot, a great deal, which is what I’ll be using today. It’s a great movie based system, far from perfect, and in need of a bit of errata, but it’s great for a Star Trek game that isn’t overly complex.

The original books character creation is a bit… undeveloped, so I’ll be using the steps I found on a great fansite.

The character I’ll be making will be the short lived character Tasha Yar from the Next Generation, a security officer from a failed colony the regressed into depravity, although I doubt I’ll be able to match her 100% at character creation.

1. Species. Well, I have a wide range of choices, each with a variety of different attribute modifiers, but I’ve already made my choice: Human. They get a permanent courage bonus, skill bonuses, and a bonus to a reaction. All stuff we’ll get to later. On the downside, no attribute/stat bonuses.

2. Choose Characters Profession. Once again, a wide variety of choices lay before me, most notably is Starfleet Officer, which contains all the typical Star Trek sub/elite professions. So I pick Starfleet Officer and Security Officer for my profession. This will determine mostly how my character advances, and actually doesn’t effect a lot at creation itself.

3. Choose Characters first Tier ability. All the professions have tiered bonuses and abilities they confer on the character, normally characters only receive one, but being a Starfleet Officer grants me one automatically called Duty, which is basically my job, but I get a second one as well from my Career path. I pick Subdue, which gives me a bonus to stunning or restraining in unarmed combat.

4. Generate Attributes. The game uses six (or sometimes seven) attributes that fall into the typical fields: Strength, Intellect, Agility, Vitality, Presence, and Perception. You can generate them via point buy like system or generate randomly, I’ll do the latter route as usual and I come up with the following stats and assign them as such: 6 8

Strength – 8 (+1)
Intellect – 6 (0)
Agility – 11 (+2)
Vitality – 8 (+1)
Presence – 8 (+1)
Perception – 9 (+1)

Overall, pretty good stats. Next to each stat I have also listed the modifier, which is used in the next part as well as determining total skill bonuses.

5. Determine Reactions. Reactions are basically your character’s defense against attacks, whether they be physical, mental, or psychological. They are broken down into Quickness, Savvy, Stamina and Willpower and your bonus is based off your attribute modifiers.

Quickness +4
Savvy +1
Stamina +1
Willpower +1

Also, I added +2 to quickness due to humans being able to pick a reaction to be exceptionally good at.

6. Determine Defense Score. Simply put, 7 plus my agility modifier or 9.

7. Record your character’s Species special abilities, including any bonus Edges. Not much here, our race is pretty basic.

8. Determine your character’s initial Species skills. First I generate the skills that are intrinsic to where I grew up, language, homeworld, etc. I get my intelligence x 3 (or 18) in points that can be traded in on a 1:1 basis, to a maximum of six like every skill before modifiers. I use it to get the following skills:

Language: Federation Standard – 6
World: Turkana IV – 4
History: Turkana IV – 4
Politics: Turkana IV – 4

9. Choose a Personal Development Package. This represents the skills she learned in skill or on the street. There are many different packages to choose from, and I can even make my own, but a couple do stand out: Colony/Frontier Upbringing and Orphan. After a bit of deciding, I choose the later as the life on the street theme seems more appropriate for the character.

When choosing a package it’s divided into three segments: One skill I get a +2 in, three skills I get a +1 in, and last is an edge. I can take an edge now, but I won’t get to take an edge in the next step unless I take a flaw then. The skills I pick give me the following benefits:
Streetwise +2
Unarmed Combat: Brawling +1
Survival +1
Influence +1

For now, I’ll pass on selecting an edge.

10. Choose a Professional Development Package. We’ve covered your childhood and birth, last is how you have developed in the workforce. I obviously want to choose something appropriate for my career so I have the option between Basic Security Officer, Investigator and Tactical Officer. Investigator doesn’t seem appropriate and Tactical Officer is more about actual ship security protocols and programs, so Basic Security Officer seems to be the best choice. Unlike the Personal Development Package, you get a wide range of skills automatically, as well as 5 professional skills you can add a +1 to. Last, but not least, is an edge.

Automatic:
Athletics (Climb) +2
Energy Weapons +3
First Aid +1
Inquire (Interrogate) +2
Investigate (Search) +2
Repair +1
System Operation (Security Systems) +2
Tactics +1
Unarmed Combat Skill: Aikido +2

Hand Picked
Computer Use +2
Observe +2
Tactics +1

As you notice, in my hand picked skills I added two to two different skills instead of diversifying, as well, I’ve put more points into skills I already have points in. For edge I picked Promotion, making me gain a rank in the military, Liutenant Junior Grade, one rank below the actual character. At least I’m not a red shirt!

I should note that I also have some skill points thanks to being human, which I would assign to Unarmed Combat Skill: Aikido and Stealth.

13. Calculate Health. Every character has a health rating equal to his vitality attribute plus his strength modifier, or in Tasha’s case: 9

14. Calculate character’s Courage. Every player character begins the game with a pool of 3 courage, but my character is human and a bit more courage so instead I have a pool of 4.

15. Calculate character’s Renown. All characters start the game with renown 0, bah!

That’s it! All you have to do now is fill out character details, background and add modifiers to skills!

Setting Information: The Wall

The large, mountain expanse known simply as The Wall by most separates the main country of Markul from the large Southeast Peninsula. For the most part the mountain range is all but impassable except by the best and most able climbers in the land; some of the peaks here are among the highest in all.

Few know what lurks in the depths of this range, but oddly, there has never been any signs of recent activity. An oddity considering that many of the peaks and crags would make suitable homes for all manner of dragons.

Well over a thousand years ago, Dwarven explorers, seeking to make a pass to the Southern Peninsula cut out a large pass through the range and eventually made their home at the foot of the final mountain, and dubbed their home Kazagaz.

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KAZAGAZ:
The Dwarve’s city flourished and grew, but they became a large target as other settlements expanded onto the Peninsula, encroaching on the dark entities who dwell within in the wild lands.

One day, a single Elf walked out of the woods and told the Dwarves to leave, or they would be forced out… The Dwarves, being stubborn, refused to give up the home they worked so hard on and drove the elf back into the woods…

But it wasn’t the elves that came soon thereafter, but an immortal army of the dead… The dwarves were utterly decimated, those who survive took refuge in the mountains, staying far away from the Woods where the army came from.

Until the recent rush of explorers, Kazagaz stood an empty home, only a few dwarves were ever brave enough to return to their lost home. With the recent rush of explorers, Kazagaz has almost overnight been transformed and has even exceeded it’s former size. The few Dwarves who know of the old stories are already wary that the past may repeat itself as humans and other races push out of the range and into the foothills and forests…

Kazagaz is quite impressive and almost completely fills the mountain it is located in. The center of Kazagaz is a massive dome, inside which stand three massive spires who protrude from the outside of the mountain as well, and keep watch over the lands. Downward as well, the tunnels spread, most have fallen into disrepair and dust, and more than a few creature has made their way into the city using these lost tunnels that connect to places only the God’s know. Only the first underground level has seen any significant repair, many turning the tunnels into homes. The levels below that get increasingly dangerous, and all past the second are forbidden from citizens.

The massive palace, hidden above the central dome houses The Council and the Lord of Kazagaz, only a few members of the council are known publicly and the Lord himself is a complete enigma to all. Rumors are abound, many simply think that he doesn’t exist at all, while others believe him to be one of the original Dwarf inhabitants.

Now, the massive fortress city stands as an outpost and a refuge for explorers and those seeking to make their fortune in the South.

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Once the Dwarves were decimated the Undead vanished back into the Jungles, and haven’t been heard from since. As well, the mountain range also returned to peace until the recent rush, although in the meantime, other creatures seem to have taken residence in the nearby mountain range.

Other Dwarven outposts located in the mountain range have also become inhabited again, by both Dwarven and creatures of other races. But these settlements predominately stay small for one reason, one which Kazagaz often struggles with: Food.

The mountain ranges are for the most part not farmable and the only livestock that have ever been raised with any success in the region are tough breeds of mountain goats, but they have never been a stable source of food for a large population, nor has the flavor ever been palatable. Those who seek to make homes are mostly forced to import food from villages on the fertile plains to the south or the mainland of Markul, an expensive prospect for many just starting out. Others have made more creative solutions and those with underground caverns have taken up farming irregular food stuffs such as giant mushrooms and fast reproducing cave dwelling creatures, although both have resulted in at least one case of several people dying. Most simply tough out the expense of importing food or simply move south.

On the other hand, water has never been much of an issue, there are many springs and underground rivers running through the range, and during the spring there is usually too much water coming down during the first thaw.

But more than civilized creatures have taken up residence, many of these settlements were taken over by less civilized creatures. Many have fallen into the hands of Kobolds and Orcs, while at least one has become completely overridden by Drow and their kin.

Racial Information on the Peninsula

The following races have a prominent history in the reason, and probably provide the best opportunities for player characters. Not to say others don’t fit, but they are likely new or have little impact on past events.

Humans – Humans are mostly new to the region, but many have used the coastline in the past for coves, but the trek from these far away ports to Kazagan is dangerous indeed. In times before even the dwarves, early humans once did make their homes on the penninsula, but these Empires have fallen into decay. Only a few savage tribes and ancient temple dwellers remains.

Elves – Many elvish tribes have long existed at the fringe of the woodlands, and to this day they are the watchers of it’s borders. Many of the native Elves do not look favorably upon the new settlers who seem to be stirring the darkness in the Wood. Additionally, many new Elvish settlers, both typical Elves and Eladrin have come to seek the secrets of the woods.

Dwarves – Many Dwarves have returned to Kazagan to seek their lost home and the land their ancestors fought and died for. There are a few Dwarves who have lived in the reason since, and other Dwarves revere their courage to stay and watch the homestead.

Tieflings – Never a major factor, but Tieflings have resided in the region for almost as long as anyone can remember, they almost seem drawn to the inherent darkness in the region.

Halflings/Goliaths – Tribes of Haflings and Goliaths have long inhabited the Northern planes, traveling, migrating and following herds. They seldom get along though, and rarely travel past The Wall or The Barrier.

Half-Orc – An increasingly common sight in recent years due to the influx of human populations in orc controlled areas, not uncommon to see in tribes of natives either. Mostly they find themselves as loners, outcast by both parents.

Shifter – Savages who eke out an existence in the harsh woodlands, rarely if ever leave or enter the more civilized regions.

I just raged. I finally noticed that the Player’s Handbook 2 contains no templates for the new classes, something that I think makes 4e great for DMs. But my rage has been channeled for your benefit. Here are class templates for Avenger, Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Invoker, Shaman, Sorcerer, Warden… and just to catch up, Monk, from the new playtest article. As per my usual, these are designed for standard NPCs, not monsters, but should function with them as well with very few changes (convert to elite, saving throw bonuses, etc.) I have no idea, when, if ever Wizards plans on making these themselves, from my projections they won’t be in a Monster Manual or released in a PHB, so I can only assume they will either be released online or in some sort of DMG2.

Avenger NPC

Power Source: Divine
Role: Skirmisher
Defenses: +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflex, +1 Will
Hit Points: 8 per level + constitution score
Weapon Proficiency: Simple Melee, Military Melee, Simple Ranged
Armor Proficiency: Cloth
Trained Skills: Religion, plus one other skill from the Avenger class list
Class Features: Channel Divinity (one power) OR Avengers Censure, Oath of Enmity
Implement: Holy Symbol

Design Note: I simply couldn’t decide what class feature to not include out of the primary ones, they all compliment each other. My initial impressions are Oath of Enmity and Channel Divinity, but you can swap out the later for Avengers Censure if you think it works as well.

Barbarian NPC

Power Source: Primal
Role: Skirmisher
Defenses: +2 Fortitude
Hit Points: 8 per level + constitution score
Weapon Proficiency: Simple melee, military melee
Armor Proficiency: Cloth, leather, hide
Trained Skills: Choose two from the Barbarian class list
Class Features: Feral Might, Rampage

Design Notes: I didn’t inlude Rage Strike since I don’t think it has much use to an NPC due to limited number of powers. Note that rages still otherwise work.

Bard NPC

Power Source: Arcane
Role: Controller (Leader)
Defenses: +1 Reflex, +1 Will
Hit Points: 8 per level + constitution score
Weapon Proficiency: Simple melee, longsword, scimitar, short sword, simple ranged, military ranged
Armor Proficiency: Cloth, leather, hide, chainmail; light shield
Trained Skills: Arcane, plus one from the Bard class list
Class Features: Majestic Word, Bardic Virtue
Implement: Wands

Druid NPC

Power Source: Primal
Role: Artillery
Defenses: +1 Reflex, +1 Will
Hit Points: 8 per level + constitution score
Weapon Proficiency: Simple melee, simple ranged
Armor Proficiency: Cloth, leather, hide
Trained Skills: Nature, plus one from the Druid class list
Class Features: Wild Shape, Balance of Nature (additional at-will, one Beast Form, one non Beast Form)
Implement: Staffs, totems

Invoker NPC

Power Source: Divine
Role: Artillery
Defenses: +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflex, +1 Will
Hit Points: 6 per level + constitution score
Weapon Proficiency: Simple melee, simple ranged
Armor Proficiency: Cloth, leather, hide, chainmail
Trained Skills: Religion, plus one from the Invoker class list
Class Features: Divine Covenant, Channel Divinity (one power)
Implement: Rods, staffs

Shaman NPC

Power Source: Primal
Role: Controller (Leader)
Defenses: +1 Fortitude, +1 Will
Hit Points: 8 per level + constitution score
Weapon Proficiency: Simple melee, longspear
Armor Proficiency: Cloth, leather
Trained Skills: Nature, plus one from the Shaman class list
Class Features: Healing Spirit, Companion Spirit
Implement: Totems

Sorcerer NPC

Power Source: Arcane
Role: Skirmisher
Defenses: +2 Will
Hit Points: 8 per level + constitution score
Weapon Proficiency: Simple melee, simple ranged
Armor Proficiency: Cloth
Trained Skills: Arcane, plus one from the Sorcerer class list
Class Features: Spell Source
Implement: Daggers, staffs

Warden NPC

Power Source: Primal
Role: Soldier
Defenses: +1 Fortitude, +1 Will
Hit Points: 8 per level + constitution score
Weapon Proficiency: Simple melee, military melee, simple ranged
Armor Proficiency: Cloth, leather, hide; light shield, heavy shield
Trained Skills: Nature, plus one skill from the Warden class list
Class Features: Font of Life, Nature’s Wrath (one power)

Monk NPC

Power Source: Psionic
Role: Skirmisher
Defenses: +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflex, +1 Will
Hit Points: 8 per level + constitution score
Weapon Proficiency: Club, dagger, quarterstaff, shuriken, sling, spear
Armor Proficiency: Cloth
Trained Skills:  Two skills from the monk class list
Class Features: Monk Weapons, Unarmed Combat, Monastic Tradition
Implement: Monk Weapons

That aside I have kept a running quote list inside of my personal 3.5 players handbook, some of which are quite entertaining. And I assure you they are all legit, every last one of them was said by a player or a DM in a session. So with no more stalling here goes.

“The closer we are to danger the farther we are from harm.” -Ace-

“You have 15 seconds to stop arguing before I do a barrel roll and drop you.” -VonKrause- (In game character Braken the half white dragon unicorn)

“So what did you say about snakes peeing in the water?” -Sabin- (In game Yuna)

“I am a foreign prince from the far away land of Egytia.” -Jarod- (In game “THE Cid”)

“If you want to bathe in my skull it’s your own business.” -Bone Dragon-

“Nothing is truly immortal. It’s just a rumor we spread to fool all the mortals.” -VonKrause- (In game Krystal the vampire)

“You only live once… Well…” (In Game Monk “Guay” to vampire Krystal)

“Is it over 120 degrees?” -DevilBoy-…… “IT’S LAVA!” -Paradisio- (DM)

“I was about to say, your going to eat an enervation in the face!” -VonKrause-

“I think I am gonna be a halfling Barbarian. It’s like a little ball of hate.” -VonKrause-……….. “Nah it’s more like a highly concentrated ball of hate, like an attack hamster.” -Joe-

Die roll results, 6…6…6… “Dood it’s the sign of the druid!” -Unknown-

“Holy crap I pulled a Church!” -Ace-

“Kill…Kill…Kill them all one by one they start to fall, beat them burn them skin them alive it doesn’t matter as long as they die!” -Boo-

“Just cause you look 5 years older than me doesn’t mean I’m not your mom. Now back off!” -VonKrause- (In game Spymaster Nerrisa)

“The rock is not a god, it’s a f***ing rock. But it’s THE rock.” -VonKrause- (In game drunken fighter Ikkiky)

“All things in life are lost in the technicalities.” -FatNinja-

“Eleven per berry, plus the base of what you just rolled, and plus the falling damage you are about to take…. ya your dead.” -Paradisio to player DevilBoy-

“Then Monev the Gail goes down in a cone of skittles.” -VonKrause-

“Do I need to roll for squeezing?” -Richard-

“Does anyone have any kind of equipment that could help here? Like maybe two cans and some string?” -VonKrause-

“Aya! I WILL DIE FOR MY FREEDOM!” -Paradisio-

Well there it is everyone, I hope you enjoyed the read and perhaps got a good chuckle out of it. Until next time keep doing that voodoo that you do.

-VonKrause-

First thing is I wanted to offer a piece of advice on the HDTV antennae I talked about last time. I ordered one for myself, and it worked great, but there is one thing you should know before you order an antennae. Unless your TV supports input of both Cable and Antennae, you’ll have to manually switch back and forth, which is a huge pain. So if you are planning on ordering an HDTV Antennae and want to use your basic cable, make sure your TV has dual coaxial cable input (the standard cable… cable). Sorry that I did not include this in the last post, and I hope you didn’t get burned like I did.

Second, I missed two big categories last time: Portable Music and Computers.

Portable Music:

If you’re looking for a good MP3 player without a lot of money upfront the best advice I can offer you is Audible.com. Audible.com is an audio book subscription service which typically costs $15 a month (cheaper the first three months). Now you’re asking yourself? Uh, why are you talking about a subscription service? Simply, if you subscribe with them, you get $100 off audible compatible devices at Amazon. Of course, you do have to subscribe for 12 months to get this deal, so it will cost you in the long run, but it least it has no credit checks. Additionally, you can get a GPS with this deal as well since many are now compatible with MP3.

Don’t think you’re going to get shafted with a piece of junk either, almost all the major MP3 player lines are available under this deal, including iPod of course. Really, audible is a great service anyway and I recommend it. Even if you aren’t a big reader you may find listening to audio books very enjoyable, I know I do.

If you don’t want to get a subscription to anything, there are still plenty of affordable MP3 players. Apple themselves sells plenty of decent low cost MP3 players (shuffle), as does Sandisk (the Sansa) and other companies. In general, Apple makes very good quality MP3 players, just stay away from buying music on iTunes as much as possible due to the DRM they put on it that makes the music you buy there incompatible with other devices. I recommend you buy your music from Amazon MP3 instead, it’s cheaper, even if the interface is harder to use.

If you’re looking for MP3 player reviews and information check out anythingbutipod.com, obviously they are a tad biased against Apple products though.

Computers:

My first advice is about buying a laptop and why you shouldn’t. Many gamers look towards a gaming laptop to have the best of both worlds, but I have some words of experience, the opposite is true. I completely advise against a gaming laptop unless you are serious about mobile gaming. By buying a portable laptop you’re spending a ton of money for something a lot weaker than a comparably priced desktop, and to top it off, most gaming laptops have both poor battery life and portability. It’s really hard to lug around a 17″ gaming laptop and the cabling because the battery last an hour. The other big downside is, apart from RAM, it’s extremely hard, if not impossible to upgrade a laptop. Simply, you’ll get more power and longevity out of a desktop, trust me, I learned the hard way.

If you don’t want to heed my advice, my personal recommendation for laptops is Dell; shop around, customize them and use promo codes to get a good deal. Otherwise, some of the major retailers actually have fairly good laptops if you shop around and wait for sales. Unfortunately, I can’t really offer any concrete recommendations for current models based on my current experience.

If you do heed my advice, but still want a portable device for checking e-mail and what not, you can either get a smartphone or you can get a netbook, I recommend the later for a more fulfilling experience. A netbook is basically a small laptop with (typically) excellent battery life and wireless networking built in, but lacks an optical drive to save on size and power. They are designed for light activities such as e-mail and surfing and are usually quite affordable. My personal favorite netbook currently is the Asus 1000he which can be had for about $400. Don’t expect to be doing any real gaming, but it’s good for the ancient games of yore.

For Desktops, it’s a different story. First, you should look around and ask, what do I really need? You probably already have some computer components lying around, and they can save you a fair chunk of cash, especially if you already have a monitor (or perhaps an HDTV with an SVGA input). As far as what to buy, the common misconception now is that buying pre-builts is cheaper, this is simply untrue for 99% of desktop computers, you can potentially save hundreds of dollars by building your computer yourself, and it’s really not as hard as it seems or sounds. The place for computer components is undoubtedly newegg.com, but if you want to buy a prebuilt eCollegePC has pretty good prices.

As far as shopping for components goes, just make sure all your components are compatible, read up online and ask for advice if you’re having some trouble. The downside of custom builds is obviously the effort required and the fact that you have nothing but the manufacturer’s limited warranty on the parts. But I think it’s very fulfilling to build your own computer. As an upside, you can get a free operating system since Windows 7 is now in open beta.

For software, you have a lot of solutions, you don’t have to buy the standard expensive office package, Open Office is a great free alternative. Just look around, most pay software these days has a free (and legal) alternative if you don’t mind the program begging you for donations.

Games are in a different league obviously, my personal recommendation for budget gamers is to buy old titles, you can usually get them at significantly discounted rates, but for newer titles I prefer the Steam service by Valve, and they frequently have good deals.