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[Ravana]

also, ive read up on my magic a bit, and since ive read that elves use life energy for spells it says that they don't need a check to see if it was successful so long as it is my level. what spells can a druid elf do or is it just the ones in the classes list?

Not exactly. Certain spells use elven life energy; this is true regardless of who casts them. The rest of the spells do not… again, regardless of who casts them. The spells that do make use of life energy have (L) next to them in their descriptions on the "Magic" thread. There aren't very many of them.

All other spells… cast at your own risk.

You can only choose spells from your own class at start. With a WIS of 16, you'd choose four Level 0 spells and three Level 1 spells. Those will be the only ones you can cast at first; you can learn others as the game goes on.

 

[Keitsumah]

ah. ill stick to the life spells at first and study up on casting the other spells

 

[Ravana]

ah. ill stick to the life spells at first and study up on casting the other spells

Good idea overall, though it may leave you without much to do at times. Which is okay: it happens to all characters, depending on the situation. You're in luck: you actually have a combat spell which uses life energy (Entangle—though note that it can only be cast under certain conditions). No other class does.

Assuming you take all the life spells available to you at 1st level, you still have two more Level 0 and one more Level 1 spells to choose. I'd recommend the following (which includes the life spells):

Level 0:
Endure Elements
First Aid (L)
Light
Purify Food and Drink (L)

Level 1:
Entangle (L)
Goodberry (L)
one of the following: Animal Friendship, Faerie Fire, Magic Stones, Shillelagh.

The level 0 spells are fairly easy to pick from, since there aren't many and at least one of them (Know Direction) is pointless under the current magic system. You might take Create Water instead of Endure Elements, but that's about the only change I'd consider. The "detect" spells can be useful, but not very often.

The level 1 spells are a bit harder. You definitely want both the life energy spells here… which only leaves you one more to start with.
• Animal Companion allows you to have a magically trained animal with you (which would explain the wolf); on the other hand, once you have the companion, you're not going to cast this spell again unless the companion dies or you gain a level and can add more companions.
• Faerie Fire can be a useful combat support spell.
• Magic Stones and Shillelagh both have one extremely important function: they actually make something a "magic weapon" (temporarily), which means it can strike certain opponents who cannot be damaged by non-magic ones. On the other hand, we have yet to encounter any of these, and with any luck aren't likely to soon, since there's only one magic weapon in the entire party at this point as far as I know: any encounter of that sort would likely kill everyone who didn't run fast enough. (By the way, the normal description of Shillelagh allows it to be cast on a staff as well as a club; I've confirmed with Steerpike that he's using it this way.)

Obscuring Mist could also be useful, if we ever need the cover; I'd rank it a bit below the others, but wouldn't ignore it altogether. The remaining spells I would ignore for the time being, unless you happen to think one would fit extremely well with how you envision your character.

And, finally, I'd add that when reading back through the Act II thread, do not take Hiljikki as an example of what a druid "should" be like. I designed her with a very specific role in mind—and one which would be difficult for a beginner to play. (For starters, she is essentially useless in combat.… )

 

[Ireth]

• Animal Companion allows you to have a magically trained animal with you (which would explain the wolf); on the other hand, once you have the companion, you're not going to cast this spell again unless the companion dies or you gain a level and can add more companions.

Didn't Hiljikki have three animals with her? How did that work if she was only level one? I assume you cleared it beforehand with Steerpike, but it seems a tad unfair.

 

[Nihal]

Didn't Hiljikki have three animals with her? How did that work if she was only level one? I assume you cleared it beforehand with Steerpike, but it seems a tad unfair.

This one I can answer with something lost pages ago! =P

The Animal Companion spell allows a druid to have one or more companions whose HD total no more than twice the druid's level. In Hiljikki's case: the raven and the vihmakissa (thank you for remembering the "—whatever that is" ) are both 1 HD creatures. The reindeer is not a "companion," just a purchased mount. Which is why he's always snoring into his feed bag when anything else was going on.

Without the spell, it's just another animal: it can't know any special "tricks"—under the present C&C system, at least, which makes no provisions for being able to train animals without magic, the way humans have been doing for the past 10,000 years or so.

A normal wolf is a 2 HD creature (at least in the material I have), so that may be possible for a 1st-level druid to obtain through the spell.

And if you want a dog, just take a dog. Stats are the same.

 

[Ireth]

Ooooh, I see. ^^ Makes sense!

 

[Keitsumah]

Good idea overall, though it may leave you without much to do at times. Which is okay: it happens to all characters, depending on the situation. You're in luck: you actually have a combat spell which uses life energy (Entangle—though note that it can only be cast under certain conditions). No other class does.

Assuming you take all the life spells available to you at 1st level, you still have two more Level 0 and one more Level 1 spells to choose. I'd recommend the following (which includes the life spells):

Level 0:
Endure Elements
First Aid (L)
Light
Purify Food and Drink (L)

Level 1:
Entangle (L)
Goodberry (L)
one of the following: Animal Friendship, Faerie Fire, Magic Stones, Shillelagh.

The level 0 spells are fairly easy to pick from, since there aren't many and at least one of them (Know Direction) is pointless under the current magic system. You might take Create Water instead of Endure Elements, but that's about the only change I'd consider. The "detect" spells can be useful, but not very often.

The level 1 spells are a bit harder. You definitely want both the life energy spells here… which only leaves you one more to start with.
• Animal Companion allows you to have a magically trained animal with you (which would explain the wolf); on the other hand, once you have the companion, you're not going to cast this spell again unless the companion dies or you gain a level and can add more companions.
• Faerie Fire can be a useful combat support spell.
• Magic Stones and Shillelagh both have one extremely important function: they actually make something a "magic weapon" (temporarily), which means it can strike certain opponents who cannot be damaged by non-magic ones. On the other hand, we have yet to encounter any of these, and with any luck aren't likely to soon, since there's only one magic weapon in the entire party at this point as far as I know: any encounter of that sort would likely kill everyone who didn't run fast enough. (By the way, the normal description of Shillelagh allows it to be cast on a staff as well as a club; I've confirmed with Steerpike that he's using it this way.)

Obscuring Mist could also be useful, if we ever need the cover; I'd rank it a bit below the others, but wouldn't ignore it altogether. The remaining spells I would ignore for the time being, unless you happen to think one would fit extremely well with how you envision your character.

And, finally, I'd add that when reading back through the Act II thread, do not take Hiljikki as an example of what a druid "should" be like. I designed her with a very specific role in mind—and one which would be difficult for a beginner to play. (For starters, she is essentially useless in combat.… )

lol, dw i don't plan on copying your char. Keit will actually end up being a lot different i think, and will only have Batos as a companion (oh and for the guys -paws off as Batos veiws Keit as his mate) that would be funny if a guy tried to get near her and Batos got mad about it *falls over laughing*

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Is Batos the wolf?

Hmm… in some legends, valkyries ride wolves, and my barbarian has a tiny valkyrie… she could feasibly…

Nah.

 

[Ireth]

Batos views Keit as his mate? That seems a bit like bestiality to me... though maybe not so much if Keit doesn't, ahem, return his feelings. >.>; Reverse bestiality?

 

[Steerpike]

New House Rule: No complaining in the game thread. You can create a new thread, post in the rules thread, write a blog entry, or call your Congressman, but quit filling up the game thread with pointless bickering. Thank you. We can all agree on this, am I right? Don't make me start a poll

 

[Ireth]

Hmm. Looks like Ankari is finally learning some tact. Guess my possible scenario might not be so feasible after all... though he has plenty of time to revert to his brutally honest ways, especially when they have no troglodytes to worry about for the moment. I guess we'll see what happens.

 

[Keitsumah]

I can't seem to be able to edit my posts lately. odd... oh well ima read up a bit more and then can I join in Steer? we need to figure that out. I was thinking that she could have been chased into a river after unsucsessfully trying to calm down a bear, and then end up being too exhausted to move on after she gets to the bank, thus Batos comes into play and calls for help (Elven forest wolf calls are very erratic so Ireth's char should recognize it and wonder why that is so far from home) if you wanna play along with that Ireth

 

[Nihal]

I can't seem to be able to edit my posts lately. odd... oh well ima read up a bit more and then can I join in Steer? we need to figure that out. I was thinking that she could have been chased into a river after unsucsessfully trying to calm down a bear, and then end up being too exhausted to move on after she gets to the bank, thus Batos comes into play and calls for help (Elven forest wolf calls are very erratic so Ireth's char should recognize it and wonder why that is so far from home) if you wanna play along with that Ireth

You can only edit your post during 1 hour, after that you can send a PM to a moderator so he/she can edit it for you.

We're in a dungeon, inside tunnels right now. =P

 

[Keitsumah]

ah, so ill just have to wait till you're done with that then.

 

[Steerpike]

ah, so ill just have to wait till you're done with that then.

Not necessarily. Depending on what happens here in the next few posts, there may be a good way to work you in before they get out.

 

[Keitsumah]

hmmm... they're by a river but is it underground? i keep reading about snippets of setting but am ir ight by guessing that they are in a cave?

 

[Ireth]

It's more of a lake than a river, and yes, they are underground. Specifically, in a series of tunnels underneath a temple.

 

[SeverinR]

I look doubtfully at the makeshift raft, then up at my companions. "Do we have anything else on hand to make it safer, at least when we're on this side?"
Of course, you seat cushion is a floatation device in the event of a capsize. There is no meal service on the boat today, please present your ticket when the stewardess comes by. Thank you for traveling on the barrel raft excursion.

If they had time, they could join the barrels with the table and make pretty safe raft if the barrels fit under the table. But this quick might not be safe.

 

[Ireth]

I look doubtfully at the makeshift raft, then up at my companions. "Do we have anything else on hand to make it safer, at least when we're on this side?"
Of course, you seat cushion is a floatation device in the event of a capsize. There is no meal service on the boat today, please present your ticket when the stewardess comes by. Thank you for traveling on the barrel raft excursion.

Thanks for this afternoon's lols. XDDD

 

[Ravana]

I look doubtfully at the makeshift raft, then up at my companions. "Do we have anything else on hand to make it safer, at least when we're on this side?"
Of course, you seat cushion is a floatation device in the event of a capsize. There is no meal service on the boat today, please present your ticket when the stewardess comes by. Thank you for traveling on the barrel raft excursion.

Heh.

If they had time, they could join the barrels with the table and make pretty safe raft if the barrels fit under the table. But this quick might not be safe.

If they had the time, Algernon could build them a boat—without the barrels: he could have done it with the materials we already had on hand before we made the first trip. Which is what he's now kicking himself for not thinking of in the first place. But that's Algernon for you.

Well, that's not being fair to Algernon: I only thought of it once we were in the ambush. Not his fault.

In any case, while that would have been efficient prior to the first trip, it isn't now, since it would take longer than just ferrying everyone across in two quick canoe trips. So best to just do that, and hope the GM isn't setting up an ambush for Sir Cadell and Ankari while the second trip is in progress.

Though I did like the visual of someone being towed behind the canoe in a barrel.…

•

No, wait: just thought of something else which would make it work. As long as someone's willing to ride in the barrel, at least. Off to change my last post.