Hello, we had a problem in my local AL in tier 1. We have a bunch of new people who like to play, but noone makes characters that are either good at dealing or taking damage. The result is that the (mostly newer) players get mauled by the AL adventures when the DM:s set the difficulty by levels of the characters. I wanted to make a character that del alot of damage, makes a tempting target and can take alot of damage. At the same time I did not want this character to dwarf the other players by looking like the "main hero" of the game.
I have made a character that I think works pretty well, and I would love to hear some feedback. At the base it is a human variant zelot barbarian (level 4) with polearm master, great weapon mastery and he has gotten ahold of a pair of gauntlets of ogre power. They only give +1 to hit and damage from his normal stats, but it is allways something. Technical: Attacking twice a round, swinging wild with great weapon master / reckless attacks he hits alot and deal over 30 damage per round if both attacks hit. With advantage for opponents he makes a tempting target. To not look as the hero of the group I choose to play him a bit comical. He is a viking that ended up in more civilized lands and started following a wizard around. He now thinks that he is a wizard, but he gets everything wrong. He "uses" the arcana skill all the time, but he does not really have it, and his int is dumped. He thinks that he is a "Bladeswinger wizard", he has a cat, Familliar (not a familliar that is a cat, but a cat NAMED "Familliar") that is following him around, he has a "spellbook" that he read in every morning (full of pictures of him casting fireballs etc - drawn by him as well), he carries a tall metal staff with runes on it, with some kind of blade at the end (game terms a glaive, but it looks different). The runes are dwarvish and makes absolutely no sence to anyone who can read dwarvish. This character does not actually KNOW dwarvish but got the runes he thought looked "magical" and impessive. So far he thinks he knows the spells knock (break down a locked door with a smash from his fist), dispell magic (hit caster hard in the face, tend to work with concentration spells), feather falling (wave frantically with arms when falling, has not worked too good up to now), suggestions (really an "intimidation check" from a huge mountain of a barbarian) and speak to animals (makes animal sounds to an animal. That animal does not understand a bit of it). His "spells known" tend to increase when he sees other casters and (mis)understand on how they use their spells.
What do you think about it? Do you have suggestions on how to improve on the idea?
Thought about switching the gauntlets of ogre power to a bag of tricks, but that would make him succeed with something that looked like magic, not sure that would be a good fit. Also, the gautlets does give a +1 to hit, that help with the main goal for thins character.
The character concept sounds fun :) ... great roleplay opportunities. I'm not sure there is much you can do to improve on the concept.
If the other players at the table are good with it (and it is AL so folks can literally bring anything allowed by the rules) then I'd say it sounds fine.
However, none of the roleplaying aspects will stop this character from dominating combat - which is your goal, create a character that perhaps fills a gap in an unoptimized party by adding an optimized one.
The problem though, isn't the party, unfortunately. Depending on how the adventures have actually been run, the issue is the DMs.
The APL based suggested opponents in a module are just that - suggestions. The guidance to DMs in the AL DMG for FR makes it very clear that it is up to the DM to take into account the actual players, the actual party and their abilities to balance the module to be fun and challenging but not kill the characters (I've included the relevant sections below). If the DM uses the guidance in the module and the party has some problems with it, then the DM is supposed to correct for that so everyone shines and everyone has fun (since getting "mauled" isn't usually much fun).
On the other hand, the DM might have just been putting in the stronger opponents because that is what they thought would challenge the party and make it fun. By introducing an optimized character, the DM may increase the level of challenge to compensate for your character since they should be balancing for the actual party not just the text in the module. If the DM does that then you may find the situation gets worse rather than better. So it is something to keep in mind.
P.S. There is a reason, especially in higher tiers, why the DM asks what magic items characters are bringing. This gives them an idea of what the party might be able to do and allows the DM to consider that in the balance. For example, a tier 2 level 7 paladin 6/hexblade 1 custom lineage with a belt of fire giant strength, staff of power, a +2 shield, PAM, and 18 charisma is a very different character than a level 7 paladin with a +1 shield, +1 weapon, ring of protection and a 16 charisma - and yet both are possible - so a DM needs to consider the actual characters and actual party when balancing the module.
"FACILITATOR OFFUN You have the most important role. You guide the narrativeand bring the words on the pages of the adventure to life.While guiding the players, it is also your responsibility tomake everyone feel welcomed at the table creating a fun andfair environment. Here are some things to keep in mind.
"YOUAREEMPOWERED Make decisions about how the group interacts with theadventure; adjust or improvise but maintain the adventure’sspirit. The setting, general story, and prominent NPCs of theadventure should remain largely the same; if an adventureintroduces the characters to Cassyt, the plucky acolyte ofKelemvor that resides in Phlan, your players shouldexperience that as well. Less important details, such as thetime of year, minor NPCs, or the weather can be tailored toyour group.
"CHALLENGEYOURPLAYERS Gauge the experience level of your players, as well as whatthey enjoy in a game and attempt to deliver what they’reafter; everyone should be able to shine.You can adjust an encounter’s difficulty by adding orremoving thematically appropriate monsters but can’t createnew monsters or modify them in such a way that modifiestheir challenge rating (aside from changing their hit pointswithin the range afforded by their hit dice).
Be careful of going too far, however. The intent is to have acollaborative and challenging story-telling experience; it’snot to do everything you can to kill your players’ characters.Similarly, destroying equipment generally shouldn’t happenunless an encounter specifically directs you to. In fact, unlessthey have conditions detailing their destruction (such as an ioun stone), permanent magic items can’t be destroyed"
I agree with David42 but an option if you can't get the DM to change is a God Wizard. This is a caster (wizard works best) that concentrates on buffing allies, debuffing enemies and controlling the battlefied. If make combat much easier but newer players (and possibly experienced players) wont realise you are dong so, they will be getting all the kills so they think their characters ar ethe powerful superheroes winning dispite the wizard at the back not putting out any damage at all.
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Hello,
we had a problem in my local AL in tier 1. We have a bunch of new people who like to play, but noone makes characters that are either good at dealing or taking damage. The result is that the (mostly newer) players get mauled by the AL adventures when the DM:s set the difficulty by levels of the characters. I wanted to make a character that del alot of damage, makes a tempting target and can take alot of damage. At the same time I did not want this character to dwarf the other players by looking like the "main hero" of the game.
I have made a character that I think works pretty well, and I would love to hear some feedback. At the base it is a human variant zelot barbarian (level 4) with polearm master, great weapon mastery and he has gotten ahold of a pair of gauntlets of ogre power. They only give +1 to hit and damage from his normal stats, but it is allways something. Technical: Attacking twice a round, swinging wild with great weapon master / reckless attacks he hits alot and deal over 30 damage per round if both attacks hit. With advantage for opponents he makes a tempting target. To not look as the hero of the group I choose to play him a bit comical. He is a viking that ended up in more civilized lands and started following a wizard around. He now thinks that he is a wizard, but he gets everything wrong. He "uses" the arcana skill all the time, but he does not really have it, and his int is dumped. He thinks that he is a "Bladeswinger wizard", he has a cat, Familliar (not a familliar that is a cat, but a cat NAMED "Familliar") that is following him around, he has a "spellbook" that he read in every morning (full of pictures of him casting fireballs etc - drawn by him as well), he carries a tall metal staff with runes on it, with some kind of blade at the end (game terms a glaive, but it looks different). The runes are dwarvish and makes absolutely no sence to anyone who can read dwarvish. This character does not actually KNOW dwarvish but got the runes he thought looked "magical" and impessive. So far he thinks he knows the spells knock (break down a locked door with a smash from his fist), dispell magic (hit caster hard in the face, tend to work with concentration spells), feather falling (wave frantically with arms when falling, has not worked too good up to now), suggestions (really an "intimidation check" from a huge mountain of a barbarian) and speak to animals (makes animal sounds to an animal. That animal does not understand a bit of it). His "spells known" tend to increase when he sees other casters and (mis)understand on how they use their spells.
What do you think about it? Do you have suggestions on how to improve on the idea?
Thought about switching the gauntlets of ogre power to a bag of tricks, but that would make him succeed with something that looked like magic, not sure that would be a good fit. Also, the gautlets does give a +1 to hit, that help with the main goal for thins character.
Sounds fun(ctional) to me.
The character concept sounds fun :) ... great roleplay opportunities. I'm not sure there is much you can do to improve on the concept.
If the other players at the table are good with it (and it is AL so folks can literally bring anything allowed by the rules) then I'd say it sounds fine.
However, none of the roleplaying aspects will stop this character from dominating combat - which is your goal, create a character that perhaps fills a gap in an unoptimized party by adding an optimized one.
The problem though, isn't the party, unfortunately. Depending on how the adventures have actually been run, the issue is the DMs.
The APL based suggested opponents in a module are just that - suggestions. The guidance to DMs in the AL DMG for FR makes it very clear that it is up to the DM to take into account the actual players, the actual party and their abilities to balance the module to be fun and challenging but not kill the characters (I've included the relevant sections below). If the DM uses the guidance in the module and the party has some problems with it, then the DM is supposed to correct for that so everyone shines and everyone has fun (since getting "mauled" isn't usually much fun).
On the other hand, the DM might have just been putting in the stronger opponents because that is what they thought would challenge the party and make it fun. By introducing an optimized character, the DM may increase the level of challenge to compensate for your character since they should be balancing for the actual party not just the text in the module. If the DM does that then you may find the situation gets worse rather than better. So it is something to keep in mind.
P.S. There is a reason, especially in higher tiers, why the DM asks what magic items characters are bringing. This gives them an idea of what the party might be able to do and allows the DM to consider that in the balance. For example, a tier 2 level 7 paladin 6/hexblade 1 custom lineage with a belt of fire giant strength, staff of power, a +2 shield, PAM, and 18 charisma is a very different character than a level 7 paladin with a +1 shield, +1 weapon, ring of protection and a 16 charisma - and yet both are possible - so a DM needs to consider the actual characters and actual party when balancing the module.
"FACILITATOR OF FUN
You have the most important role. You guide the narrative and bring the words on the pages of the adventure to life. While guiding the players, it is also your responsibility to make everyone feel welcomed at the table creating a fun and fair environment. Here are some things to keep in mind.
"YOU A RE EMPOWERED
Make decisions about how the group interacts with the adventure; adjust or improvise but maintain the adventure’s spirit. The setting, general story, and prominent NPCs of the adventure should remain largely the same; if an adventure introduces the characters to Cassyt, the plucky acolyte of Kelemvor that resides in Phlan, your players should experience that as well. Less important details, such as the time of year, minor NPCs, or the weather can be tailored to your group.
"CHALLENGE YOUR P LAYERS
Gauge the experience level of your players, as well as what they enjoy in a game and attempt to deliver what they’re after; everyone should be able to shine. You can adjust an encounter’s difficulty by adding or removing thematically appropriate monsters but can’t create new monsters or modify them in such a way that modifies their challenge rating (aside from changing their hit points within the range afforded by their hit dice).
Be careful of going too far, however. The intent is to have a collaborative and challenging story-telling experience; it’s not to do everything you can to kill your players’ characters. Similarly, destroying equipment generally shouldn’t happen unless an encounter specifically directs you to. In fact, unless they have conditions detailing their destruction (such as an ioun stone), permanent magic items can’t be destroyed"
I agree with David42 but an option if you can't get the DM to change is a God Wizard. This is a caster (wizard works best) that concentrates on buffing allies, debuffing enemies and controlling the battlefied. If make combat much easier but newer players (and possibly experienced players) wont realise you are dong so, they will be getting all the kills so they think their characters ar ethe powerful superheroes winning dispite the wizard at the back not putting out any damage at all.