The Arena [News and Offical Disucssion]

[Xathan]

I doubt you'll stand a chance against any spellcaster worth his salt.

Speaking of which, where can I place my bets?

"Faites vos jeux"
Túrin

I'm actually going to be working on a bet system to give just observers a way to participate, so ask back later on that count.

[Xathan]

I'm tempted to hang around in-character as a non-gladiator: a spectator, commentator, or bookie.

I need one other partner in crime, and we can be the Waldorf and Stadtler to your Muppet Show. :yumm:

I'd love to have that, it'd make the whole thing a ton more fun. :yumm: I will be making up a ton of NPCs for this place for people to interact with when not fighting or just spectating. :)

[Xathan]

This looks quite entertaining.  I'm looking forward to it.

A question for the others who are interested: What level were you thinking?  My first thought was that level 1 or 4 would be fun, but I might change if it looks like the majority of characters are going to be a different level.

I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on this as well, so I know what levels to focus my NPCs on. :)

[Darkxarth]

It's looking good.  Congrats on a clearly great idea, Dementia.

[Túrin]

*waives at LC* Pick me! Pick me! :)

Like I mentioned, I will also be a non-gladiator, and I'd love to have someone to be the grumpy spectator with. Let's tell those guys how good we think they are. :yumm:

@ Xathan: Vendors, eh? The kind that sells hotdogs with unknown contents at a price at which they're cuttin' their own throats? :D

Túrin

[Xathan]

@ Darkxarth: thanks! I hope this lives up to your expectations. :)

@ Turin: If you and LC do, I'll be happy to have you be the offical commentators of the Arena. :)

And yes, I am going to have a Dibbler homage in my setting. You HAVE to have a Dibbler homage in something like this. :yumm:

[Lmns Crn]

*waives at LC* Pick me! Pick me! :)

Like I mentioned, I will also be a non-gladiator, and I'd love to have someone to be the grumpy spectator with. Let's tell those guys how good we think they are. :yumm:

This sounds like a winning combination. I am so excited!

[Captain Obvious]

Blast, i forgot to bring my books back to res with me. Looks like it's just basic characters for now.

Anyways, i would be interested in each level bracket, but 1st level tend to be very similar, and 20th very complicated, so i don't know about those. Also, any melee character would get anaialated by high level casters since they could just fly away and use all their spells at once, while melee characters have more long term endurance but can't put out nearly so much of a burst of power.

questions.

- Do we know ahead of time when our matches will start (in game time, not IRL). Why i ask this is to whether we have time to prepare/buff beforehand.

- What are the rules about allies? Are animal companions etc allowed? what about cohorts? what about followeres? I assume summoning is allowed.

- a combination of the last two questions. Do dedicated summoners/necros get time to summon beforehand? can they have beeen assumed to have already created stuff? are there bodies availiable for zombies, etc? if i buy golem manuals, can i bring golems?

- are we allowed to play as monsters? if not, what is the cuttoff where something counts as a monster? if yes, should we use HD + LA or CR? (LA is supposed to be balanced for pc's who have to fight many encounters a day  and ration their strength, while CR is meant to be balanced for single encounters. I know that the standard method is LA, but i think CR might make more sense in this case since we only need to fight one battle a day and as such, a spell/day list is much more potent relative to at-will spell like abbilities.)

Something that could also be really cool, and would help to balance the caster vs melee problems, would be to do team fights. Party vs party with each tem being run by anywhere from one person, to a colllection of people each running their own teams.

[Túrin]

Supadupaman's last comment reminded me of something I read in the DMG that applies to this kind of stuff, and is often forgotten in my experience.

So, Grumpy Old Man #2, do you think young Xathan here will succeed in pulling this off?[/ic]

Túrin

[Darkxarth]

Oh duh, how has this question not been asked.  What kind of ability score system are we using to create characters?  Predetermined scores?  Point-buy?  How many?  Roll on this thread?

On a side note, I'm figuring to be a level 4 Halfling Sorcerer.

[Darkxarth]

Supadupaman's last comment reminded me of something I read in the DMG that applies to this kind of stuff, and is often forgotten in my experience.

If you're playing a one-shot random dungeon, one-use items cost 5 times their normal price and charged items have 1/5 as many charges.

This reminded me of something else I was going to suggest that would, in fact, probably negate this.

I thought we should get our gear normally, but not have it "refresh" after every battle.  (We should still have HP and spells refresh after each battle, not arguing against that.)  We could win a moderate amount of money if we won.  That way, we could purchase new stuff after our old stuff wore out.  I'm not suggesting we gain XP, so we would still be limited to 1/5th of our max starting gold.  So, no saving up to buy items way above what you could reasonably have to start with, but you could continue to replenish your healing potion stock, or buy more arrows, or whatever.

[Captain Obvious]

I second DarkXarth's idea, and further it by proposing that this could be a way to include betting and bookies.
Also, if you character does well (instead of gaining experience), you could write them a new statblock in the next level bracket, representing them gaining fame and going to play with the big boys.

[brainface]

I was going to suggest the alternate rule of "you pay 5x for potions, but they magically refill themselves after each fight"--or was that the default?

a combination of the last two questions. Do dedicated summoners/necros get time to summon beforehand? can they have beeen assumed to have already created stuff? are there bodies availiable for zombies, etc? if i buy golem manuals, can i bring golems?

lot[/i] harder to beat a fighter.

Also on the topic of mages flying around and owning, a dungeon-style map might be called for. A wizard can't fly up and rain safe death from the sky with 8-foot ceilings. Aside from just wizard vs. fighter, i think it'd be an interesting map to have. (listen checks matter, pass wall is handy, etc.)

Also in terms of class balance? Should there be a "four encounters per day" rule? Each player has four fights before they can heal, or maybe each consecutive fight raises price/xp or something?

[Captain Obvious]

On a side note, I'm figuring to be a level 4 Halfling Sorcerer.

I see your Halfling Sorceror and counter with a Half-Orc Druid. :poke:

HAve at thee sir, thou art challenged. :fencing:  

[Darkxarth]

I see your Halfling Sorceror and counter with a Half-Orc Druid. :poke:

Have at thee sir, thou art challenged. :fencing:  

Ha!  Your petty tree magic cannot counter my ancient, arcane secrets!  And my small, agile body will dodge your hulking, brutish form.