I would say on your own, unless some people want to coordinate and make characters who are siblings or something. Maybe make sure someone is taking each of the four roles, though.
Who all is actually in?
Adam - GM
Ensign Steve
Zehava
__________________
"Trans Am Jesus" is "what hanged me"
Next Thursday at 7 EST sounds great. I think doing characters on our own might be good, because that can take a long time. I think we should either use a set array or a dice-rolling site we can link to for our starting stats, though.
And if you don't mind starting us off, Adam, that'd be great. Other people can DM as we play, I find it really enjoyable to take turns (). I have access to some 4e modules of various levels. Also, the Dungeon Delve book is pretty nice, a collection of short adventures for each level. We had a lot of fun making random characters and playing through some of those.
I would say on your own, unless some people want to coordinate and make characters who are siblings or something. Maybe make sure someone is taking each of the four roles, though.
I'm reading about the four roles on wikipedia, and I'm like huh? Is this new? Someone remind me to acquire the book tonight.
I am not married to any particular character, but in the past I have been a dwarf fighter. I guess that character would be a Defender in 4e? I'll take it if nobody else wants it.
This is the official character builder. The demo only goes up to level three, but it has all the options from all the books in there.
If using premade modules then you should cover all four roles, but the game is designed to handle a missing role. And by the same token, people should hash out what race/class/build everyone is going to be. Rogues and Warlords both do better with more melee for example.
__________________
We all carry within us our places of exile, our crimes and our ravages. But our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to fight them in ourselves and in others. ~Albert Camus
ES - Dwarf Fighter
Zehava - Human Cleric
Megatron - Dragonborn Paladin?
Kael - Minotaur Barbarian?
Kael, I think that's fine. I haven't actually read that part of the MM, though. The optional races in there don't have any crazy shit that's out of the league of what the PHB and PHPB2 races can do, right?
__________________
"Trans Am Jesus" is "what hanged me"
Actually they've balanced the races pretty well from what I've seen, except maybe warforged. I've seen a TON of online games where the DMs are like "NO WARFORGED" in the first post. Then again, it could be due to RP/story purposes rather than game balance.
Edit: I've just reviewed a ton of races from Dragon and the MMs and none of them look "broken" to me, really - the usual stuff, +2 to one or two stats and a couple special abilities just like the normal races. Also, Minotaurs kick ass
Another edit:
I have the Assassin playtest info, if anyone wants to try it (and of course if Adam's cool with someone using it) - PM me if you wants it
__________________ Father Helel, save us from the dark.
Also, I'll probably make an offensive-build paladin (or at least as offensive as a paladin can get, which is still pretty much "big pile of armor LOLTANK") since it looks like we're rolling with two defenders.
Unless y'all want more damage, in which case I'll gladly playtest the Assassin myself.
__________________ Father Helel, save us from the dark.
Minotaur Average Height: 7' 1" – 7' 5" Average Weight: 320–350 lb. Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution Size: Medium Speed: 6 squares Vision: Normal Languages: Common Skill Bonuses: +2 Nature, +2 Perception Ferocity: If you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can make
a melee basic attack as a free action before falling
unconscious. Oversized: You can use weapons of your size or one size
larger than you as if they were your size. Goring Charge: You can use goring charge as an encounter
power. Goring Charge Minotaur Racial Power You charge the enemy and gore him with your horns.
Encounter
Standard Action Melee 1
Attack: Strength +2 vs. AC
Increase to +4 at 11th level, +6 at 21st level.
Special: You must charge as part of the attack.
Hit: 1d6 + Strength modifier damage, and the target is
knocked prone.
Increase the damage to 2d6 + Strength modifier at 11th
level and 3d6 + Strength modifier at 21st level.
There's been some errata since then, primarily the loss of the Oversized feature. That sucks a bit 'cause you can't run awesome minotaur ranger builds anymore. They replaced it with a feature that gives +2 AC vs opportunity attacks provoked by a charge, which isn't bad and encourages use of their racial power.
I'm going to build a Sorcerer too, over the weekend, probably also some wacky race. You don't have much to worry about though, they've leveled the field quite a bit with the races. They all pretty much get the same thing, +2 to two stats, some skill bonuses, a racial power and some quirks. It shouldn't impact the party structure too much either, since both classes are strikers.
ETA: I'm thinking Shadar-kai for the Sorcerer, which is also in the MM, because they get a teleport power, and also because they're supposedly from the Shadowfell, or sumat.
Oh, and this Assassin business is looking pretty sweet. I may actually play something other than a fucking paladin for once. I've already got a half-assed character sheet thrown together.
Updates yes
ES - Dwarf Fighter
Zehava - Human Cleric
Megatron - Changeling Assassin
Kael - Minotaur Barbarian or some Sorcerer
__________________ Father Helel, save us from the dark.
So, while I'm thinking of it, how does everyone feel about the map tool Nightson linked to earlier? Positioning is sort of a big deal in 4e, and I'm worried that if we don't have a "table" we can all see, it might be hard to run a fight.
Also, anyone else in? It will be harder for me to accidentally kill a party of five than of four... Newbs, someone can help you build a character if you've never done it before.
__________________
"Trans Am Jesus" is "what hanged me"
As far as DM work goes, I found where someone had already created all the maps for KotS on the RPtools forum, so I'm good, assuming I can figure out how to make it so you guys can see monsters. I enabled 'Show as Player", which as far as I can tell is supposed to allow me to see the map as a player would, but even with that on, my test player can't see monsters standing right in front of him.
__________________
"Trans Am Jesus" is "what hanged me"