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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    DwarfBarbarianGuy

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    No Longer The Frostfell

    Default How Does Your Table Play?

    Just as a means of conversation, I was wondering about how other tables play and what play would be like at those tables (Be they physical or virtual). I'm not talking about things like "well, first we roll some dice... then we determine an outcome" or anything like that. I mean what are the power dynamics like? What is the optimization level? What is the setting like, is it something cannon or is it homebrewed? What kinds of adventures do you have? Can a player comfortably play non-magic users at your table? Is magic a requirement to make a competative character at your table? Things of that nature. I'm not really digging in to anything in particular except to see how other people play.

    At the tables I play at, the group is typically mildly optimized and moderately powerful. Everybody has one or two things they are really good at, a lot of things they're pretty good at, and a few things they aren't so good at. We play either in a completely homebrewed setting or in a loosely Forgotten Realms based setting with a helthy serving of homebrew added. Everyone in the group usually plays something thematically fun as opposed to overwhelmingly powerful. Often we fight lots of undead and lesser monsters, but most of the opposition is humanoid with class levels and some RHD. This keeps it pretty fair for the Martial type characters that typically suffer when things have High DR. That's not to say we don't use monsters with DR, but that it's rarely so outrageous that it renders a player's character useless (like no DR 10/- against a two weapon fighter). I like to think that the group has the good sense to run away from challenges too big for them, but a lot of times one player or another will want to stand up to the challenge and then complain when they get smaked hard and have to run. The bottom line is that everyone has fun and we all play in the same power level on purpose. If a group of us wants to play really high power, we just play together for a bit while the others take a break and then we get back together to play in the comfort level.

    What about your groups, tables, etc. How do you ladies and gents play?

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    RedKnightGirl

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    d6 Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    My table is open anybody can play. Between 3 and 11 people show up each week.

    Players run the gamut. Power players get killed by the DM. He claims if you are a cleric that does healing in battle you get experience points the enemy notices you they then concentrate on getting to you. Next encounter. Fighter piles of bodies at your feet quickly you get concentrated on as well. So stand out get attention you desire.

    We use real world countries languages geographic information is correct. So no universal languages outside of long lived races or orcs.

    Players:

    Me. I like to take a concept tweak it with a lower power level. Why I am effective without drawing attention. Broken things in 3.5 pissed off the entire group rolled random for stats an 18 came up. I ran a 1/2 orc wizard took the two point intelligence hit . Every week I had to endure comments of how I was screwing up the table by not being an elf with a 20 intelligence.

    Others min/max they tend to quit quickly or really become one trick ponies.
    9 wisdom true neutral cleric you know you want me in your adventuring party


  3. - Top - End - #3
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    I worked years as a freelance SAP developer, so my "table" consisted mostly of other freelancers and people stranded in the same hotel. So "groups" were basically made up of adult RPG newbies with no experience but time to kill. That led to a very cooperative kind of game at mid power levels, because math-focused folks tend to understand when you min/max and when you break. Did this ten years and I had a great gaming experience, settled down and having to deal with "RPG regulars", not so.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Sep 2016

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    My regular group plays Friday night, Saturday marathon (2 Campaigns), Sunday morning (all 6 of us spend the weekend together. 3 D&D Campaigns and 1 Traveller game. Low to mid op. 1 (3.5) forgotten realms with all books/mags/online/ect allowed. 1 Homebrewed world with the SRD (a little PFSRD) minus a bunch and modified (I DM). One BECMI Known World/Hollow World Campaign that has been running since 1990. and the Traveller Game (I DM this one also) which is set in the universe I have been developing since 1978. Three of us have been together since 1976 and the newest member has been with us since 1998. We are Old folks, I am 60 the youngest is 48. We also game old school, cut out as many dies rolls as feasible and tell the story. Sitting around the table getting buzzed and having a blast.

    I also play in another group once a week that uses Core plus Completes, Races and Environmentals, Mid to sort of high op (absolutely no cheese allowed). Every die is rolled, time/carry weight/food EVERYTHING is tracked.
    Currently Playing: Aire Romaris Chaotic Good Male Half Celestial Gray Elf Duskblade 13 / Swiftblade 7 /// Elven Generallist Wizard 20

  5. - Top - End - #5
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    GreenSorcererElf

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    Jul 2016

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    I like to make a concept and build around it. My last character I wanted to be a spymaster, made a thrallherd. My main goal for adventuring was to follow up on leads and, if my host city deemed it necessary act on that info. I was an espionage master.
    The rest of the party covered melee and blasting. My rogue thrall covered traps, and my powers handled battlefield control... control being quite literal. Was a good dynamic. Of course, the party didn't trust me one bit.
    Now I have a blaster master over-emotional wilder who pretty much overreacts to everything.

    Our group is HEAVILY rp oriented, often going weeks without a single combat. Few, if any, combats are superfluous. One team member tries to negotiate with everything whether he's built for it or not.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Kelb_Panthera's Avatar

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    Oct 2009

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    Finally get to be a player again!

    We meet over skype and roll20 every weekend (schedules allowing) and play for a few hours.

    Optimization is accepted by the DM to a high degree but I'm the only high-op capable player so I'm deliberately toning it down and trying to help the other players get the most out of their character concepts.

    Setting's Eberron 'cause the DM likes Eberron , not that there's anything wrong with it. Tone's not too serious, in-spite of the fact that we're dealing with all the elder evils.

    Narrative focused DM keeps events moving at the speed of plot. This is somewhat less than ideal for my taste but we're having a good time and that's what's important.

    Currently playing an incarnate/ shaman (OA)/ sapphire hierarch.
    I am not seaweed. That's a B.

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    [...] bringing Kelb in on your side in a rules fight is like bringing Mike Tyson in on your side to fight a toddler. You can, but it's such massive overkill.
    A quick outline on building a homebrew campaign

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  7. - Top - End - #7
    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    More rarely than I’d like, partially because we’re all in university and/or employment and partially because we’ve somehow managed to gather almost an entire extended group of DMs (give or take a couple of perennial players). So there’s always at least 2-3 games going involving a mix and matched selection of us to try and fill availability gaps

    In terms of power level, it varies by game. Sometimes we’re struggling to survive a planet I can only describe as “Shadow of the Colossus in Space,” others we’re nigh-demigods seiging the crystal fortresses of our enemies.

    Generally speaking we play in original settings contained within a larger collaboratively-built multiverse setting. Golarion’s fun to visit, but it lacks that personal spark.
    Last edited by Dr_Dinosaur; 2018-02-08 at 04:42 PM.

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Jowgen's Avatar

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    Oct 2013

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    It likes to play "Duck Duck Goose" at the end of each session and if the goose can't get away fast enough it eats them. Darn Mimic is such a pain to handle, but I just have too much a soft-spot for rich mahogany to get rid of it...
    Quote Originally Posted by afroakuma View Post
    Ugh. For the record, I hate you. I hate you very much.
    The Voidstone Arsenal

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  9. - Top - End - #9
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    Kobold

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    Nov 2017

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    Rent out a room once a month to play an all day game. Group ranges from 8 to 10 with a healthy mix of experienced and new players. No one overtly optimizes their characters to a large degree to keep the game fun. It allows the DM to make looser encounters where even the lowest tier classes can contribute. Mostly home-brew worlds with a module used in-between campaigns or when the DM needs a break.

  10. - Top - End - #10
    Orc in the Playground
     
    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    At my table, we implement a respectable amount of house rules such as confirming crit fails and crit successes on any roll, crafting speed 1,000 gp per 8 hours of work, a powerful dice rolling stat system (no one wants to play with horrible scores), when rolling hp anything below half the die is set to half, etc. Mostly things that encourage fun and buff our characters. We do a lot of roleplay, and often use homebrew settings, but homebrew settings on the world of Abeir-Toril.

    We do mostly mid-optimization, with the exception of one person who is a serious powergamer. High-op stuff gets really complicated, so even though doing 387 damage with a leap charge power attack that uses 4 feats, 3 spells, and a skill trick is really cool, it's also too much of a headache to worry about (I probably got all of that wrong). We often have nonmagical characters, though magic items are a must. We love coming up with silly ideas and strange things that somehow work, and our characters are typically really good at one or two things. For example, having a character with a +30 to bullrush at level 6, but bullrushing was almost all of his feat investment, gold, and damage output. Not very good in social situations and only circumstantially good on the battlefield. We typically run with 3-4 players and a DM.
    I don't always level dip, but when I do, I dip into commoner.

  11. - Top - End - #11

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    Quote Originally Posted by AnimeTheCat View Post
    I mean what are the power dynamics like? What is the optimization level? What is the setting like, is it something cannon or is it homebrewed? What kinds of adventures do you have? Can a player comfortably play non-magic users at your table? Is magic a requirement to make a competative character at your table? Things of that nature. I'm not really digging in to anything in particular except to see how other people play.
    I like and run a high powered game, and I want players that like that also.

    My game is a LOT more about Real Life Intelligence, Experience and Common Sense. Not so much Dull and Boring Mechanical stuff. Optimization is useful only backed by Real Life Intelligence, Experience and Common Sense. The Optimization roll player jerk does not last long in my game(often minutes).

    I use the Forgotten Realms/Spelljammer/Planescape setting, though it's all ''homebrew''.

    I like fast paced, exciting adventures. With lots of details and twists and turns.

    Any players can play anything at my table and be perfectly fine in the game. Not only do I nerf the silly ''super duper magic'', but I make sure any character is great.

    My game is very, very, very much about engaging the player, not the character. For example, I want a player to feel real (fictional) fear about something in the game...I don't want a dull player just sitting there and saying ''oh, my character is so scared''.

    I like lots and lots and lots and lots of details. A player that pays even a little attention might be able to find/do/learn a lot.

  12. - Top - End - #12
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    NecromancerGuy

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    Sep 2017

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    Quote Originally Posted by AnimeTheCat View Post
    I mean what are the power dynamics like? What is the optimization level?
    As a whole, the group I'm a part of is probably somewhere in the "upper low" to "mid" range for optimization (as subjective a call as that is). Typically we come up with a character concept that we think would be fun to play and build around that idea rather than determining our roles beforehand.

    Admittedly, some members of the party are a bit more optimization focused within this framework, but the disparity isn't usually enough to make any one individual obsolete.

    Even my own character (a cloistered cleric with very little interest in enhancing his physical stats or combat prowess), is still able to contribute to combat when push comes to shove. (Granted, being a cleric, finding a way to be of some use isn't usually too difficult.)


    What is the setting like, is it something cannon or is it homebrewed?
    Our DM started out by running us through The Red Hand of Doom with a few small changes here on there on his part. During that time, he got a feel for our group (many of us were just meeting each other) and started doing some writing in the background.

    By the time we reached the end of the adventure, he dropped Elsir Vale into his larger homebrew campaign setting (The Kingdom of Fyre) and had us follow an original storyline from there.

    The thing I really like is that he solicited our players for ideas for their hometowns/backstories and incorporated them into the new campaign setting. For me, at least, I know it's done a lot to deepen my investment in the story.


    What kinds of adventures do you have?
    So far they've been fairly clear cut in the sense there's always been a main objective for us to work toward.

    Our Red Hand arc had us dealing a lot with city defense, intelligence gathering, and frequent skirmishes with some political negotiation on the side.

    Our current arc is requiring us to play a bit more covertly, as we've been tasked with finding missing members of the royal family.

    As far as the combat/noncombat balance goes, it's a pretty even split; there may be one or two encounters in a given four hour session.

    Personally, I wouldn't mind more of a focus on noncombat roleplay, but, given the interests of our members overall, I think it's a good fit.


    Can a player comfortably play non-magic users at your table? Is magic a requirement to make a competative character at your table?
    Actually, I'm pretty sure our entire party is composed of casters of some sort at the moment. (We have a cleric, a wizard, a spellthief, a bard, a binder, and a sorcerer.) However, I'd say this is more out of a general interest in magic than deliberate optimization.

    If anything, we could probably benefit (tactically) from a few martial types in the mix. Our current tactics have basically boiled down to spamming enemies with ridiculous numbers of summons and illusions and taking advantage of the ensuing chaos with ranged attacks and debuffs. (It's been a lot of fun, to say the least.)
    Last edited by BlackOnyx; 2018-02-09 at 01:45 AM.

  13. - Top - End - #13
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    SwordChucks's Avatar

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    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    I'm currently running a gestalt Pathfinder game. It's 25 point-buy with Vigilante on one side and SoP and a bit of SoM. I offer average HP to players instead of rolling but they have to choose before making a roll. I'm also using Grod the Giant's Chopping Down the Christmas Tree rules for a more superhero feel.

    One player is a knock off of Genos from Onepunch-man, another is a steampunk D.Va, and the last didn't go with a theme because he likes to miss the point.

    So, fairly low-op, I have to bribe players to be casters and they never plan ahead. I'm almost always the DM because if I'm not we end up playing one session of an overly complicated 80's RPG before the person running that gets bored of it.
    Last edited by SwordChucks; 2018-02-09 at 08:21 AM.

  14. - Top - End - #14
    Orc in the Playground
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    Jul 2017

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    I play on Monday nights from 7 p.m. -12 a.m.

    We play 3.5 and all official books are allowed except for psionic stuff because my DM doesn't know anything about it and doesn't want to deal with it. (Yeah, I know...) Even some homebrew stuff is allowed if my DM can check it out first.

    All casters get Eschew Materials as a free feat because we just don't wanna deal with something that trivial. We also don't follow the rules 100%. Specifically, we don't worry about encumberance at all unless people are trying to carry an absurd amount of stuff. We just assume that if you're carrying things, they are things which you are capable of carrying. Also, we don't seem to get into many situations in which armor check penalties are applicable, but maybe that's just how it's gone so far. We have 4 PC's and only one wears heavy armor. The rest of us are in light or no armor.

    We also have a house rule of one reroll per gaming session, and you can use it for anything. Attack rolls, saving throw rolls, even hit dice rolls when leveling if you get a crappy result.

    As far as optimization goes, I'd say my current group is kinda low-to-mid-op. One character is a fairly standard reach and trip fighter that loves being enlarged. Another is a super stealthy rogue who sucks in combat but is basically undetectable most of the time. I play an Eldritch Disciple with more of an emphasis on the warlock side, and the biggest powergamer of the group is some kinda druid/sorcerer that we don't know too much about.

    When it comes to WBL I'd say we're slightly above standard, especially my character. (I participated in an arena tournament and got super lucky with a treasure dice roll... got a Robe of the Archmagi!)

    We pretty much rule that the main/largest city in the area has all kinds of 'magic marts' in which you can find pretty much any item that you want, although if you're looking for something really exotic sometimes my DM makes it harder to find.

    The setting is a custom world my DM designed. The area in which we all started and still currently are is kinda like... Bavarian. Think Germany/Austria post-enlightenment... only with magic, and devils, and dragons. All races can be played in our game but the area in which we are is primarily human. (We have a halfling and a satyr in our group.)

    The thing I like about our group is that it is only 4 PC's, always the same people. I don't like playing with any more than that because stuff like combat takes forever. I also like playing in long campaigns rather than doing one-shots / quick modules / etc. This is my first campaign with this DM but the people in the group have been playing together for a really long time and this is something like the 8th campaign, and all of them take place in the same world, so occasionally old PC's / NPC's from past campaigns will make a cameo, which is cool. Some games took place in the future or past of the current timeline.

    As far as roleplaying goes, the only time we really roleplay is when our character is speaking to a NPC, and even then it's not serious roleplaying, more a matter of keeping in line with our character/alignment/party goals. One thing that I really like about my group is that we're all 30-something adults and we're not the stereotypical ubernerds which come to mind when you think of D&D. We laugh and joke and have fun, but it's not a bunch of socially awkward, nervous nerds trying to out-funny each other by constantly making stupid jokes and puns. I hate that and can't stand playing with people like that.

    We do get into some rules-lawyery discussions sometimes, but rarely actual arguments. We all abide by "rule zero" with the except of one player - the DM's brother and the powergamer of the group who always wants to get things his way. I've seen worse though. Most of the time it ends up with us telling him to STFU and move on.

    I also recently joined a second group but we're only 2 sessions into it and I think I'm gonna quit the group because I'm not feeling it. It's a gestalt game but we got random races and classes, which is utterly stupid and really hurts my character (I have caster classes but big penalties to mental stats due to my weird bi-racial combo.) Also, the group seems to be really stereotypically nerdy in that way that I just don't like. I also feel like the DM has a god complex.

  15. - Top - End - #15
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    ElfRangerGuy

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    Jul 2014

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    Pffff... where do I even start.

    Currently in my group it is I who runs the only game we play. I have 3 regular players and one who is there on-off about half the time.

    The optimization level is high to very high.The homebrew is extensive. We play a gestalt campaign 3.P campaign with my own personal set of rules designed to a) disincentivize PHB races, b) make basic mundanes fun to play. Mind you, this isn't a claim to balance, caster supremacy is still a thing and is a more deeply rooted problem than a few houserules can fix, nor was that ever the intention. The intent was to open a significant amount of options to mundanes, without requiring them to gimp their builds to uncompetitive levels. This is achieved by the integration of a few additional systems such as called shots, reserving actions points for mundanes, alleviating feat taxes, and some other minor tweaks. The point is, at every turn in combat to allow multiple, meaningful decisions, rather than "I go up to it/charge it and hit it with a stick" that the base game mundanes suffer from.

    For all of this mechanical focus, the game itself isn't actually very combat oriented. We'll have maybe 1-2 encounters in a 6-8 hour session. The game is usually run on Saturdays. We do go up 12 hours semi-regularly. Two of the 3 regular players are fairly experienced, the third benefits from being the girlfriend of one of the other two, hence her optimization level is on par. On top of that, I, the DM, as the grand munchkin of the group built half their characters anyway. Only the on-off player refused to optimize whatsoever. Part of this is my desire to let them play their dream characters, the other part is me trying to teach them high-level gameplay, where they do need all the optimization they can get. I regularly throw CR-in-the-teens encounters at their L5 gestalt party. Depending on how deep I go in with tactics it's anything from near TPKs to curbstomps in their favor.
    For reference the party consists of a Gold dragon wyrmling loredrake // sorcerer, a mimic monk // wizard/druid and pixie deathmaster // warlock miniomancer.


    The setting is of my own creation, with a heavy focus on the monstrous races and the PHB races taking a backseat. The whole world is a melting pot of various creatures. It is loosely based on Greyhawk, mostly cuz I borrow a lot of crap from published material, which is usually set in Greyhawk. It isn't exactly a magic-mart setting, but it is high-magic and high-fantasy, though specially modified to avoid a Tippyverse(e.g. cities have teleport wards, teleportation is even more unreliable, which I justify by the presence of drifting dead-magic zones, necessitating up-to-date 'teleport maps', cuz otherwise if you don't construct the spell in such a way to avoid these, you might end up a few miles up in the air or down, embedded in the earth). Castles are built with lead sheets embedded in walls as standard procedure and the custom of shaking hands evolved not because of some cultural idiosyncrasy, but as a countermeasure against trickery and illusions(you only get a save if you interact with it), so if, for example, you're making a deal, you shake hands not to seal the deal, but to verify the person you're dealing with is the one who he claims to be. Magic is expensive and rare - even being a wizard requires a tiny bit of that special spark of magic. And such individuals are 1 in a few thousands in the general population.

    At the start of the campaign I presented a few hooks and my player chose a naval/pirate campaign, and so now I'm running them through a heavily adapted version of Savage Tide. The tone of the campaign is focused on greek epics, heroism and wuxia fantasy, rather than medieval fantasy, because that is what the D&D world most closely resembles. Plot-wise the main "schtick" of the campaign is that the rabbit hole always goes deeper. Every character has an ulterior motive and the ploys of the powers that be(gods, demon, devils, celestials and planar beings of all walks) have a way of trickling down to the lowest rungs of power and life. Those bandit attacks on the nearby village? I can tie that to the grand multiplanar plot involving the setting's overgods that forms the central tension of the campaign in 6 easy steps.
    Last edited by martixy; 2018-02-09 at 01:43 PM.

  16. - Top - End - #16
    Titan in the Playground
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    Feb 2011

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    Originally Posted by Florian
    I worked years as a freelance SAP developer….
    What is this? Something that requires a lot of travel?

    Originally Posted by Florian
    …settled down and having to deal with "RPG regulars", not so.
    How so?

    Or rather, how not so?

    Originally Posted by Calthropstu
    One team member tries to negotiate with everything whether he's built for it or not.
    Yup, one of my players has a character like that too.

    Recently he actually sat down on the ground, wearing no armor, right in front of a charging centaur. The centaur was not receptive to his request for a parley.

  17. - Top - End - #17
    Troll in the Playground
     
    Hunter Noventa's Avatar

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    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    Quote Originally Posted by AnimeTheCat View Post
    I mean what are the power dynamics like? What is the optimization level?
    Most of my regular group is fairly proficient at optimization, but most of us are the type to pick a concept and optimize that without getting TOO crazy.

    Quote Originally Posted by AnimeTheCat View Post
    What is the setting like, is it something cannon or is it homebrewed?
    Our DM makes homebrewed settings, though he borrows a lot from the pathfinder base setting like the Gods or the concept of the Starstone, but we don't play in Golarion.

    Quote Originally Posted by AnimeTheCat View Post
    What kinds of adventures do you have?
    Quite a few different ones. Right now we're independent treasure hunters, looking for lost relics and staying under the radar of the adventurer's guild because they rip off the lower tier members.

    Before that we were members of the same military unit who ended up saving the world from a mix of cultists worshiping the great Old Ones and a god of Death who was sick of their job.

    And before that we were on the run from armies of giants and demons to return the Starstone to it's rightful place and one of us became a god.

    that's not even touching the campaign that turned into something out of an anime where we were all gestalt characters.

    Quote Originally Posted by AnimeTheCat View Post
    Can a player comfortably play non-magic users at your table? Is magic a requirement to make a competitive character at your table?
    We always end up with a pretty good mix of magic and non-magic. Our current campaign is using Spheres of Might/Power, and we've got two dedicated casters, a melee/caster mix, two dedicated meleeists and a crossbow sniper. Of course, the Spheres systems do a better job of that sort of thing. But everyone has had no problem contributing, and our DM is continuously thrilled/dismayed at how effective we can be without a lot of traditional magic or magic items.
    "And if you don't, the consequences will be dire!"
    "What? They'll have three extra hit dice and a rend attack?"

    Factotum Variants!

  18. - Top - End - #18
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Goblin

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    Jul 2016

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    I just started a CotCT campaign with my party, this time as a player, we run a low-op game with lots of martial classes, there's always a Druid in our games as one of our party members always plays the same character (same name and all) since we were like 13 or 14, we switched from 3.5 to PF in the meantime and he still played a Druid, I have blurried memories of him playing something else but I can't really recall, a cleric maybe, I don't know, it lasted for a short time anyways, I usually play Wizards but this time I rolled up a Fighter and so far I am having a blast, we tend to roleplay a lot and our DM is pretty keen on that too. We play once or twice a week for around 4 and a half hours.

  19. - Top - End - #19
    Halfling in the Playground
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    May 2017

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    Our house group runs the gamut. It's four of us, with myself being the most serious 'optimizer', but even so not very. I don't multiclass, no real PRC's, and the like, but tend to be very 'optimized for task', focusing on one or two things and neat tricks, usually built around a theme. Lately I've been adoring the Spheres of Power/Spheres of Might stuff because of its' versatility, and kindasorta getting my male roommate into it too. My wife likes social and illusion-based characters with lots of charisma, and our female roommate has a very low level of experience and knowledge. (AKA asks other people to make her characters.) It's a very mixed power level, which whoever is DMing normally makes up for by DM fiat. Our combats tend to be very loose, with narrative distances and descriptions used rather than using an actual playmat.

    We have three games going currently. One on roll20 run by my wife (Zeroes to Heroes! She streams every other Friday on Twitch, feel free to check it out! Foxnclocksgaming. /shamelessplug) that is currently... at level 2. I am currently the only third party class/race (Voyager, the Psionic Skirmisher, by Dreamscarred Press!) and am casually playtesting it. Makes for an interesting character. Lots of RP-oriented stuff there too, very mechanics-light.

    One I am DMing is a Spheres playtest, for my wife and male roommate, in a Stronghold-style (My wife wants me to stream it on her channel. That's forthcoming.)

    The third is... a horrifyingly brutal Underdark game where I am playing a chitine (Little four armed, two legged half-spider) slayer/alchemist trying out the Toxicant archetype from the companion books. That one we are level 12 and having a terribly rough go of things. Other players include a beetle-humanoid barbarian who digs when he gets pissed off, a stabby rogue moth (Gloaming), a Deep Imaskari Illusion mage polyglot who just adores shiny new languages and a laconic sense of humor, and... What's he playing again? Oh, right, this time he's a Warpriest. Hopefully this one will survive enough sessions to bother learning his name...

    For the most part, I'm the living D&D reference book my friends use, and am the only one who surfs GITP regularly. Our games are very RP-based and only loosely mechanical, with a heavy emphasis on smart decision making (Which is what happened to the last two characters the poor Warpriest played. One died of old age in a time-warped labyrinth, and the other of... Well. A fight with a gold dragon turned into the Hydraulic Press channel.) Character themes tend to have more utility than pure mechanics, and most third party stuff is allowed as long as it is thematic and not overly game-breaking.

  20. - Top - End - #20
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Karrnath
    Gender
    Female

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    I honestly would like one of my players to answer this rather than me, but they only sometimes check in on these boards, and usually just to seek some bit of information here or there.

    I DM, and we use several homebrew rules that me and 2 other DMs need to approve before we make it standard. Usually we try not to rule lawyer, and whenever rule lawyering comes up the DM's word is final. (Yes that usually means mine)

    We usually play around in T2-3 but we allow any race/class combo with the general consensus of: "If you break the game, the DM will break it just as hard." basically saying that if one player goes above and beyond on optimization and leaves his companions in the dust it will not be fun for his companions, and it will soon not be fun for them.

    I stick to Eberron when I DM, however one of the other DMs have invested a lot of time and energy into his own setting, and it truly shows.

    The campaign that I am DMing has been going on for roughly 1-2 years and the group is level 12. We meet weekly and start around 6 PM, and try to end it before 1 in the morning.

    We are a very combat heavy group usually having combat last most of the session, but we all like role play, and we do get a lot more role play in some sessions.

  21. - Top - End - #21
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    ClericGuy

    Join Date
    Sep 2016

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    We have been playing for four years, starting without anyone having ever really played DnD before. I was to only one who had roleplaying experience and who had at least a passing familiarity with DnD. For the first game I made stock characters, you know, a dwarven fighter, elven sorcerer, halflling rogue and human cleric, with everything filled out expect their name and such. Three players still use the character from the first session, so they have been with us through a lot. As we kept playing, we kept discovering other books that we wanted to incorporate, so we have no real rules about which books are allowed, it is just a hodgepodge. When we started out, no one wanted to be the DM, so we switched after every adventure. We also played in a new world, that wasn't thought out in advance, but build up of players background stories and whatever the current DM decided to put in.

    Over the years, we have had several people join and a few character switches or extensive rebuilds under the same name. Like when we discovered draconic heritage in the CA, it fitted so well with the background of the sorcerer that we decided to retcon it. Everything is decided democratically, with my voice as the most experienced player and the only one willing to check all the rules and fora, weighing a bit more heavily. I recently took over as DM for good, as the episodic adventuring got a bit boring, with no real sense of a larger world or goal.

    One of the players fancies himself as highly optimized, but the rest of the group doesn't really care. Our druid is possibly our weakest character, since the bard quit. I make sure everyone gets a chance to shine, and that everyone's background is referenced. It is a lot of fun, and that is what we are going for. Downplaying the rollplaying and accountancy aspects of the game for the roleplaying and fantasy!

  22. - Top - End - #22
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Seattle area
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    I DM for my teenage daughters, they're a party of 3, low-op because this is their first campaign. It's a druid, a rogue/beguiler, and a cleric. The campaign is set in my homebrew world, in an area I based on Lovecraft's Massachusetts. The area they adventure in is based on that geography, and I'm pulling in some Lovecraft-esque monsters and plotlines. Of course, D&D allows for much more heroic action than those stories, which is fine. They've been having a good time stomping weird creatures slinking out of the Plane of Shadow and into their world.

  23. - Top - End - #23
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Faily's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Gender
    Female

    Default Re: How Does Your Table Play?

    Quote Originally Posted by AnimeTheCat View Post
    I mean what are the power dynamics like? What is the optimization level? What is the setting like, is it something cannon or is it homebrewed? What kinds of adventures do you have? Can a player comfortably play non-magic users at your table? Is magic a requirement to make a competative character at your table?
    I very often feel like the groups I play in play D&D and Pathfinder as the "writers intended", for a lack of a better description. We have parties with non-magic users like Fighters, Rogues, and Paladins alongside T1 classes like Wizard, Cleric, and Druid, and never have I really felt that my non-magic user is useless or outshined by the casters (or that I make the non-magic users irrelevant when I play casters). People play what they want, and there is very rarely a race to make the most powerful character.

    I would say the optimization level is around mid to high in one group, and in the lower mids on another. The focus of characters is almost always on concepts and themes, rather than powergaming I've felt. Some of us also have fun in taking on really poor classes and make something viable with them (Dragon Shaman from PHB2 is still on my to-do list).

    Adventures tend to be exploration, action, and solving problems, conflicts, and puzzles. For a while now, it's been a lot of published adventures: with one group I play the Pathfinder APs, in the other the GM has updated old modules to Pathfinder... and while that campaign started as "this is going to be traditional dungeon-crawl", the players of course added drama and character along the way. PCs have families and domains, and are close-knit friends who do a lot for eachother because they've been through a lot together over many years.
    RHoD: Soah | SC: Green Sparrow | WotBS: Sheliya |RoW: Raani | SA: Ariste | IG: Hemali | RoA: Abelia | WftC: Elize | Zeitgeist: Rutile
    Mystara: Othariel | Vette | Scarlet

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