Multi-Classing

As the party nears level 5, there's something I'd like all of you to consider:



We haven't really talked about this yet because, quite frankly, I didn't know exactly how it worked in 4th edition. In prior versions it was as simple as taking a level in whichever class you desired, adding the stat/ability bonuses for said level, then moving on. This in turn opened up new options, such as prestige classes, which have been replaced with paragon and epic destinies in 4e. For example, in 3.5 your Elven ranger may have been a total level of 9, but technically been a level 6 ranger, level 2 wizard, level 1 arcane archer.

But enough about the old days. All of the information I am about to give you comes from the following site: http://dnd4.wikia.com/wiki/Multiclassing
The gist of it is that the way to multiclass is to take one or more of the eight Multiclass Feats listed on page 208 of the Player's Handbook. Taking one of these feats causes you to technically qualify as both that class and your original class. For example, if you're a warlock and you take the Arcane Initiate feat, you are now both a Warlock and a Wizard and satisfy the Wizard requirement of feats, paragon paths, epic paths, etc.

There are two big restrictions here: First, you cannot multiclass into your own class (no double dipping for repeat benefits, so a Fighter can't multiclass into Fighter). Second, you can only multiclass once, so you can dabble in one additional class but not two (although the epic path Eternal Seeker is a way to dabble in many classes fairly freely).

Doing so means that also grants you the following boons:
1) You can take any Feat, Paragon Path, or Epic Path for the new class.
2) You gain free training in 1 skill from the class you multiclass into, as though you took the Skill Training feat. For some classes, this is a specific skill (Arcana for Wizard, Religion for Cleric, Thievery for Rogue). All other classes let you pick any skill that is a Class Skill for that class.
3) You gain limited use of 1 class feature from the new class. If it's an at-will power, you can use it as an encounter power. If it's an encounter power, you can use it as a daily power. This isn't the greatest power in your arsenal, but it's a nice perk.
4) If the class uses implements, you will gain the ability to use this implement when using the new class's abilities.
5) You can take the Power Swap Feats on page 209 of the Player's Handbook (allows you to replace a power of your base class with that of any other).

Since the party is still technically lacking many rogue-related abilities, etc., this may not be a bad choice for one/several of you. I know Krusk, in particular, had been hoping for thievery as a class skill...Plus, Barbarian Avenger just sounds like a badass class.

Naming Weapons

As you all are aware, a weapon can have a character almost as distinct and interesting as the man who wields it. Part of this comes from the weapon's stats and abilities, such as Bom Tombadil's current weapon, the Lifedrinker Longsword (+1). But it doesn't have to end there. Whether magical or simply a special weapon, what you choose to call your tool of destruction and how you use it can have a tremendous effect on your gaming experience.

For example, in one of my old games I ended up with magical heavy pick-axe which, while effective enough, didn't have near as much charm as the khopesh I had been using. That was, until, I scored a critical hit on my first swing with it and smashed the face off of a bugbear. From then on it was known only as "Bear-Blaster," and I never put it down.

Here are some other examples of named weapons, just for several shits and the occasional giggle:

Hrunting and Nægling – Beowulf's magical swords.
Gungnir – Odin's spear
Mjolnir – The hammer of Thor.
Caladbolg – Two-handed sword of Fergus mac Róich in Irish legend; said to make a circle like an arc of rainbow when swung, and to have the power to cleave the tops from the hills.
Ame-no-nuboko – Japanese halberd which formed the first island.
Clarent – King Arthur's sword of peace. Also sometimes known as the sword Mordred stole and later used to kill King Arthur.Is now sometimes known as the Coward's Blade.
Ice - Ned Stark's Valarian steel greatsword.

There you have it; food for thought. The next time you slam an orc so hard that your sword sticks in his side or miss so hard that your axe gets bent, consider working that into a name for your weapon. After all, a sword is a man's best friend.

10 Important Facts about Forgotton Realms (cont.)

6. Huge Underdark collapses have changed the surface of Faerûn. As the earth fell away, the level and position of the Sea of Fallen Stars shifted drastically. An enormous opening into the Underdark has formed south of the Chondalwood. In addition to this country-sized hole in the earth, underground shifting has made the Underdark much more accessible to the surface world.

7. Thay has become a terrible undead threat. The former land of the Red Wizards is now under the control of a single power-mad regent: Szass Tam. He nearly succeeded in performing a ritual that would have made him an immortal being. Szass Tam failed, but in so doing he transformed Thay into a nightmare land of death. Now the regent is intent on expanding Thay’s borders so that he can attempt the ritual again.

8. The ancient empire of Netheril has been restored. The Twelve Princes of Shade rule from their capital city, Shade Enclave, in a land newly reclaimed from the Anauroch Desert. Netheril is once again a major player and a threat to all the northern realms.

9. Ancient elven lineages have returned to Faerûn. With the reappearance of the Feywild, its natives have begun exploring the world again. These fey folk collectively call themselves eladrin, and many Faerûnian elves have also adopted this name for their lineage, though they have not forgotten their traditional cultural distinctions and names. In casual speech, the world “elven” collectively refers to the two branches of this fey people: elves and eladrin.

10. Most portals no longer work. The breaking of the Weave destroyed most of the portals that crisscrossed Toril, because it destroyed the hard-won knowledge of arcane casters. Although arcanists have relearned their craft since the Spellplague raged, most portals remain nonfunctional or dangerously malfunctioning, broken relics of a legendary past.

10 Important Facts about Forgotton Realms (part 1)

I sent most of you this before, but here are the first 5 of 10 facts about the larger world that our campaign is set in. If you are familiar with the setting, these will summarize the major events in the world since 1374 DR, the Year of Lightning Storms. If you are new to the setting, this information will give you the basic background that most inhabitants know.

1. Roughly a hundred years have passed in the world since the previous edition of the campaign setting. The current year is 1479 DR, the Year of the Ageless One.

2. The Spellplague has drastically altered the cosmos. The Spellplague broke out in 1385 DR (the Year of Blue Fire), the result of unfettered wild magic on the death of the goddess Mystra. Whole countries are gone, especially in regions south of the Sea of Fallen Stars. Even familiar lands have become magical and fantastic in appearance. Islands of rock called earthmotes drift through the sky. Weird towers and spires of stone jut from the landscape. Spectacular chasms and waterfalls abound.
All things were sustenance for the Spellplague’s insatiable hunger—it assailed and transformed flesh, stone, magic, space, and dimensional walls. Even
the cosmos beyond Toril was affected. Some ancient realms returned that had been thought gone forever (such as the Feywild), and entire planes (such as the Abyss) shifted to a new cosmic structure.

3. Portions of Abeir have fused with Toril. The Spellplague raged even beyond planar boundaries, and Toril’s long-lost twin world, cut off for tens of millennia, was also caught up in the maelstrom. Large parts of Faerûn exchanged places with equivalent land masses on Abeir, bringing their populations with them. Across the Trackless Sea, an entire continent of the lost realm reappeared, now called Returned
Abeir.

4. The number of gods has dropped markedly. During the last century, even deities succumbed to divine and diabolical plots or to the chaos of the Spellplague.
Of those now absent, many died, some left, and a few were revealed to be aspects of already extant gods. Others lost so much power that they became exarchs, lesser divinities who serve the other gods.

5. The Spellplague left its mark on creatures. Some effects of the Spellplague persist to this day, especially in the so-called Plaguelands where wild magic
yet rages unrestrained. After exposure to the Plaguelands, some creatures exhibit physical marks called spell scars. These spellscarred individuals develop unique abilities, but not without a price. Victims of the original Spellplague were horribly
changed, not simply scarred, their flesh warped in unimaginable ways. The abilities of the spellscarred, though unique, are never as monstrous and powerful
as those of plaguechanged creatures. Luckily, such monsters are few, and of those, only a handful are free-willed, mobile threats.

Re-cap on the latest Regulatory Affairs

The Regulators, after being tossed about in the magic trap room had decided to continue onward into the depths of Shadowfell keep. In the next room was discovered a temple of sorts having once been dedicated to the gods of the age but now corrupted by the minions of the orcus. A skirmish was fought here and a low priest of the ocrus slain and fissure in the wall spewing blood for a ritual stopped. During the skirmish the orcus low priest called to his compatriots below in the ritual chamber that a group of hero's were attempting to stop their ritual. After the first skirmish the regulators descended by rope into the ritual chamber where a portal was being summoned by Kalarel. After a hard battle fraught with peril, Kalarel was subdued by a pommel to the head but before the Regulators could secure their prisoner a entity appeared through the portal informing us of his evil intentions and violently pulling Kalarel's prone and unconscious body through the rift. After bringing Nabis-koh back to his feet and vandalising this now evil temple the Regulators ascended back through Shadowfell keep only to fall victim to an ambuscade of hob goblins entering the keep. Bom failed to buff the leader and the battle ensued after Bracos flipped them the bird and a plan of falling back and bottle necking the enemy due to the poor state that the regulators were in seemed to be abandoned for their standard line of dragon and dwarf meeting the enemy head on as Bom and Nabis-koh tried to flank the hob goblins. Fortunately for our hero's, Captain Fairingray came to the rescue with a small brigade of swordsmen, an archer, and a fellow Regulator Plick. Due to the valiant efforts of Captain Fairingray and Plick our hero's live, with many new scars mind you, to fight another day.



As a side note to be remembered for next time the face that appeared from the rift was that of a deva of striking resemblance to our fellow regulator Saladin. We should question him on this matter after have returned to speak with Valthrun the Prescient as to the nature of what was witnessed by the other Regulators.

Fallcrest awards

In keeping with the great traditions of Fallcrest's founders, the following awards have been bestowed on the now infamous Regulators in honour of their noble sacrifices, steadfast courage, and love of Pop-tarts:

The Michael Phelps award for aquatic excellence-Bracos
The Doc Holliday "I'm your huckelberry" intimidating mustache award-Bom
The David Hasselhoff award for most mouth to mouth resuscitations-Saladin
The Dhalsim "Yoga fire!" award-Nabis
The Private Blackburn graceful fall award-Splick
The "I spent more time injured than Steve Hansen" award-Balasar

These awards have been brought to you by your Fallcrest Mattress World: "It's not too late to sleep like a halfling!"

Penny Arcade D&D - The Classics

Here are some of the funnier and more relevant D&D related Penny Arcade comics. Hopefully you all enjoy them as much as I did.




And one concerning the oh-so-evil Shadowfell that our resident Dwarf and Dragonborn were almost pulled into:



And lastly, just because it's totally something Steve would/probably already has said:





all images taken from www.penny-arcade.com