PAX EAST Report

/me blows dust off blog.

Allot of people have been asking me about PAX East. I just returned so I'll using this blog as a blog for the moment.

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First off, PAX was great. Lot's of people. People had good attitudes. It was clear almost everyone had fun.

I was there primarily for the DND, and I'll be talking about that mostly.

Dungeon Delve


WotC hosted a one hour Dungeon Delve that ran an hour long. It was two encounters long and featured pre-made, 3rd level PCs. It was fun, if only because the PCs were solid, the DMs were in high spirits and its a great chance to play a game with strangers. The 2nd encounter was formidable and, I found out, made up of 8th level monsters.

It didn't feel like a loss though. It felt exciting cause the danger was evident.

Playing granted you small wooden coins (you got 2 or three per play session). For two coins you could get a kobold mini, for five an Ampersand patch, and for 15 you could get a D&D backpack. You could obviously play more than once and participation was first come, first serve, with quite a line at times.

I was told that the setup and number of sessions/volunteers was based on the turn out for Comic Con. It seemed Comic Con goers don't like D&D nearly as much as the people at PAX because there simply was not enough sessions and volunteers to go around in any of the D&D events I saw.

Dark Sun Preview


This was fun. I like the brief story and I liked playing the characters. We got to see a thri-keen in action as well as Mul. Both seemed interesting and worthwhile to play.

The goliath gets re-skinned as a half-giant and I have a good guess from the content of the session that Githzerai are going to be the settings Gith.

The background themes give your PC an extra encounter power at level 1, which has a comparable usefulness of the class encounter powers. My half-giant fighter was a gladiator and he could shove someone, do 2d10+str damage, push them 2 squares, knock the target prone, and slow any adjacent enemies.

Not bad eh? Well you're going to need. The adventure set a bar of dangerous adventure. If they encourage this type of play, be prepared for your PC to die, possibly at the hands of another player.

I found this to be a pleasant distinction from the other settings.

MS Surface Scapes


This was a very nifty toy. I did get to play. I even got to fireball goblins. It was fun. It didn't feel like D&D though.

Things I liked: I liked being able to see LoS, blast radius, and movement right on the map.
Things I didn't like: Not being able to use physical dice, the idea that all the math and stats are held in the program (we all know about the mistakes and limitations in/of the CB), the fact that the enemies worked on AI.

About the AI. I know this is optional. I didn't get to see how programmable it was for the DM. In fact we didn't get to see much of the DM side of things at all. But if the bad guys make their own decisions, how is this not a video game? I don't want a video game. We have D&D video games. I want a video tool.

General Notes on PAX


Pros

• The enforcers were awesome. Nice, energetic, interested and patient, even when it was clear they did not want to hear your anecdote.
• Wil Weaton had a great key note. He really set a good tone and had everyone laughing.
• Lots of people to talk to.
• Get In Line Games was there keeping people entertained as they waiting to get in. If you could see the screen, it was pretty entertaining.
• There were a ton of games to choose from in the free play console room.
• Most lines moved very quickly (more props to the enforcers).

Cons (get it?)

• There were allot of lines.
• There was allot of confusion about lines. For the really big events and panels the enforcers were really good about marking what some lines were, and trying to keep things orderly. On the Expo floor and in side events, like the wotc rooms, this was not the case. People were told lines were things that they weren't (by guests and staffers), lines were often not marked, and lines were sometimes not cut off properly. 
• Related, is the lack of information. You could sign up for somethings ahead of time, and others not. This information was not centrally located. You could sign up for somethings only when you got there, even for future days of the expo. This means people who were coming on Sunday, potentially didn't get a chance to sign up for some things at all, without even knowing that this was a possibility. 
• There was girl, barely wearing any clothes, chasing people with glove hands.

Most of the above was caused by vendors not having a good idea how many people would be interested in their events and therefore not having enough staff. There was also a limitation on total space. I heard they are moving to a new location, in Boston, next year.

All and all very positive however.

Reworking the 4e Duergar

VS

Many people have expressed a disinterest in the cosmetic changes to some races from 3.x  to 4e. None brought me more displeasure than the Duergar. The idea of each member of this soft skinned, humanoid race, flinging poisonous quills, from their hair is maddening.

Removing the quills require to change almost known of the fluff. They still can have infernal ties to Asmodeus, be former slaves of the Mindflayers, be distant relations to the dwarves. . . all that wonderful stuff. To balance that out, add the following:

Infernal Blood:  Resist 5 Poison. Use Poison Veins as an Encounter Power.

  Poison Veins                                                                                                          Duergar Racial Power

You feel blood run from open wounds and slide down you're body, preparing to focus it's power into you're next attack.

Encounter * Poison

Minor Action                   Personal

Requirement: You must be bloodied.

Effect: You're next attack does an additional 1d8 poison damage to one target, and the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls and ongoing 2 poison damage (save ends both). This effect ends if no attack is made by the end of you're turn.

Level 11: 2d8 poison damage to one target, and the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls and ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends both).

Level 21: 3d8 poison damage to one target, and the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls and ongoing 8 poison damage (save ends both).

This gives you a similar power, so you can swap it in when running the Monsters in the MM2 and Monster Builder. The Resist 5 Poison also gives them a little more Umpf when comparing them to other player races, as well as keeping them with similar qualties as passe editions.  Also, the visual imagery of the Duergar blood flowing over a weapon, staff or holy symbol and then being used to attack the palyers offers allot of fun opportunities.

PC Feats

Heroic Tier

Duergar Weapon Training

Prerequisites: Duergar

You gain proficiency and a +2 feat bonus to damages rolls with picks and hammers.

Hardened Mind

Prerequisites: Duergar, Slave No More

+2 Racial Bonus on saving throws vs. being dominated.

Slave No More

Prerequisites: Duergar

Gain a +2 Racial Bonus when escaping grabs or disabling devices currently restraining you.

Paragon Tier

Improved Infernal Blood

Prerequisites: Duergar, 11th Level

You're resistance to Poison is now 15

Improved Poison Veins

Prerequisites: Duergar, 11th Level

Add you're Constitution Modifer to the damage granted by Poison Veins

Epic Tier

Epic Infernal Blood

Prerequisites: Duergar, Improved Infernal Blood, 21th Level

You become Immune to Poison Damage

Epic Poison Veins

Prerequisites: Duergar, Improved Poison Veins, 21th Level

When an enemy within 5 squares of you drops to 0 hp due to poison damage regain the use of Poison Veins.

Sahuagin Eel Lord

Everyone knows that Sahuagin love sharks, but surely  there are many other nasty creatures that lurk the deep. Inspired by Primal Power, I present to you the Sahuagin Eel Lord.

This scaly creature has a strangely bluish tinge compared to it's aquatic allies. As it stares you down with its yello sunken eyes, its hands begin to flicker with energy. Skins of of other creatures make up its clothes and a necklace of bones falls about its neck. Its brings up its hands in summons and from the deep dark below a multitude of creatures answers his call.

 


















Tactics: Sahuagin Eel Lords try to hit as many enemies as possible with their Swarm of Eels attack. Once the zone is placed he sustains the ability for as long as possible, attacking enemies within the zone with Draining Ray.


Encounters: Eel Lords pair ideally with other Sahuagin. Soldiers a minions help it stay at range and artillery make good use of the imobilization effect of the Eel Lords Swarm Attack.


Pair with monsters who can also weaken for a particuarly tough encounter.

 Today, I present for your enjoyment, 17 quick tavern tables. The charts are specifically designed to help you create a new tavern on the fly, in less than a minute!

If you didn’t quite have enough time to prepare or the PCs don’t go quite in the direction you thought they would the tavern is the most common stop along the way. Why not make it interesting?

In under a minute produce a tavern name, fill it with patrons, fill it with people, order drink and inquire about rooms. Guaranteed to help distinguish one tavern from another and help make what was once a footnote an interesting and memorable encounter space.

Tables 1-11 help you generate a name with over 64,000 possibilities (I think. Accurate math not guaranteed.)
Tables 12-15 fills it with people and helps create your space. The last to tables gets your PC's in a room. See the PDF for the whole chart.

The Full PDF

4e/Deity/Yama

 Yama is based on the divine being Yama of Hindu and Buddhist faiths. I originally stated Yama out because I specifically wanted a god of death for my 4th edition campaign who was not evil and did not have evil feeling fluff. 


As always, feel free to use as little or as much as this as you'd like.

Yama


Greater God (Unaligned)
Yama is generally depicted as a large humanoid with red skin, and green clothing.  Occasionally he is seen as horned, or fully clothed in a large black cloak like his reapers. He never wields a scimitar however, instead carrying a length of rope with a noose on one end.

It is said that he always travels to the South and those wishing to reach him without dying can find his path by doing so as well.

Symbol: Noose
Portfolio: Death
Domains: Death
Favored Weapon: (Spiked) Chain
Allies: Celempietal, Corellon, Grapog, Istus, Mugar, and Obad-Hai




Yama as a god rarely get's involved in any drama or plans involving the other deities. He cares little for wielding more power, contolling domains, of for the majority of the affairs on earth. His major concern is making sure the souls of those who die make it to their final planar destination.

Those divine powers who champion the natural order, respect the dead, or who battle undeath are generally considered among his allies.

Enemies: Lloth, Orcus, Asmodeus



Yama is a powerful, focussed god who rarely gets inteferes with other deities domains. Few dare or bother to cross him. Those who do stand out cheifly in the world. Lloth has made several attempts to help her mortal followers cheat death and would like nothing more than to wield an unending never dying army, all the while hiding her plans away in secret.

While Asmodeus respects death and it's place in the gathering of souls, it is no secret he would like to add Death to his of domains, flooding Baator with new souls and increasing his power.

Orcus' hold over the power of the dead is legendary and his disrespect for it equally

Gender: Male
Home: Naraka: Is a small demi-plane containing Yama's Onyx Fortess and little else. Souls who die go here for some time, before moving on to their final destination. It lies in no fixed location often appearing in the Astral Planes and the Shadow Shard.

Cleric Training: Clerics of Yama are rare, and as such no formal training exists. Clerics usually train under a local priest for some time, learning official funeral rights and respect for both life and death. Due to Yama's fair relationship with the other deities, clerics are then usually allowed to work under a clerical training regiment for another god, or apprentice directly under a cleric, or paladin of an allied deity.

Quests: Quests on behalf of Yama generally involve protecting the sanctity of death. This could be something simple, such as defeating a group of bandits using a graveyard as a hideout, or complex like stopping Orcus' latest plan.

Occasionally, it is said that Yama empowers his mortal followers to act as his reapers on earth, seeking out specific targets that have offended death and sending them onto the afterlife.

Temples: Temple's to Yama range from small, ornately decorated buildings in larger cities to outdoor shrines in the graveyards of most villages and other towns. Most human settlements at least have a shrine to Yama and a local priest.

Rites: Funerals

Herald and Allies: Reapers (see Open Grave), Shades and Angels

Relics: The Obsidian Scythe



Obsidian Scythe (Artifact)

The Obsidian Scythe appears to be a relatively normal looking scythe accept that the blase is made obsidian. Tests show that both the blade and staff are harder than normal, not faltering under normal abuse. Legend has it that the blade was forged from the first Reaper Yama sent forth to this world.

Weapon: Scythe
Enhancement: +5 to attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +5d10 Necrotic
Property: Any creature killed by this weapon instantly moves onto the plane of Narka, destroying any item, short of artifact level power, tying them to this world, including phylacteries.

If any creature killed by this weapon, later is ressurected or rises as an undead, the wielder is instantly aware of the event, as well as the exact location of where they were raised.