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[Neruz]

Also, if you guys don't want to collaborate up a world, i'll make one.

[RAM]

At the moment is seems that we are using a standard humanoid village setting : (

Do monsters also need to spend con for spell-likes?

Master of Cantrips: suck life from the land to power magic.
Spiritwalker: Suck the soul of the land to power magic.
 Welcome to Darksun...

[Neruz]

Do monsters also need to spend con for spell-likes?

Yes.

Master of Cantrips: suck life from the land to power magic.
Spiritwalker: Suck the soul of the land to power magic.
 Welcome to Darksun...

Nothing so cruel; what is a permanent drain of life-force from a single being is but a temporary inconvenience for several dozen beings (seen in the Communal Spell feat), when that same drain is spread across a million blades of grass it is entirely imperceptible and of no consequence at all.

[Neruz]

Also i just realised; if one or more of you wants to run a character attempting to research a new way to regain the magic of old, having Humans be the primary race of the Realm you come from would be most fitting, as Men led the attack upon the Gods.

[RAM]

With BAB-based multiple attacks replaced with damage increases, multiple attacks could become... messy I am particularly thinking about combat reflexes and natural weapons here, but a boring old TWF rogue could suddenly beat the two-handed maniac in a frontal attack, of course, the DR helps, but that only goes so far...

Also, I am assuming that maximum power attack will use the BAB that you would have had normally, but what will combat expertise, fighting defensively etc do to AC? there are enough add <number> to AC abilities that static ab could be seriously malnourished...

Oh, if anyone wants to powergame, I cannot recommend a lance-wielding, spirited charging, small-sized paladin strongly enough...

Lets collaborate a setting!!! I vote for Law versus Chaos on the shattered remnants of the Chaotic-Good afterlife... And thri-kreen were there!

[Neruz]

I'm still debating on how to handle things like power attack and combat expertise.

[Neruz]

Time for Neruz to take everyone here through the process of Changing Shit in DnD - How to Du Eet

So, let's take a look at TWF.


To start with, we need to compare fighting with two weapons to the other things you could do with that free hand; namely hold a shield or wield a two-handed weapon. We shall use the Fighter for our comparisons, as he is Captain Generic.

So we shall take Bob. Bob is a 1st level Human Fighter with 16 Strength, at the moment his other stats are meaningless.

Bob has a choice to make, he needs to pick his weapons, we shall assume Bob optimises a bit to pick the better weapons.


This means Bob will be using one of the following combinations:

Greatsword

Bastard Sword and Heavy Shield

Longsword and Shortsword


These are basically Bob's best choices at level 1, so let's see how they compare:


Greatsword - 2d6+4 damage. 6 - 16 damage, average damage of 11.

Simple and straightforward. Next:

Bastard Sword and Heavy Shield - Little more complex; Bastard Sword gives Bob 1d10+3 damage, or 4 - 13 damage, average damage of 8.5. So we can see that Bob has sacrificed 2.5 damage per attack to get a +2 to AC and Reflex, Bob has also had to sacrifice a feat to get the Bastard Sword (he'd be using a Longsword without it, giving him an average damage of 7.5). What does the Shield bonus do? Well, in an ideal environment everyone hits everyone else on an 11, so Bob is now hit on a 13, instead of an 11, which means he gets hit approximately 10% less often than his friend, Roger, who doesn't have shield. This means he takes around about 10% less damage.

If we assume Bob's enemy is Roger and using a Greatsword, we can see that Roger is going to do around 1.1 less damage to Bob per round. So Roger is doing 9.9 damage per round, while Bob is doing 8.5 damage per round. Bob had to sacrifice a Feat too, so it looks like Roger is winning, but Bob also has a +2 bonus to Reflex, which is an extra bonus, and Bob survives longer than Roger in encounters, which means although he's doing less damage per round, he does it for longer.

Now lets see what happens if Bob grabs the Longsword-Shortsword combo with the TWF Feat.

Bob is now at a -2 for his attacks, so he's doing 10% less damage. However he gets 2 attacks, and statistically 2 attacks at -2 are actually better than 1 attack at no penalty; each individual attack has less chance of hitting, but there is a greater chance that one of those attacks will hit.

With his two attacks, Bob is now doing 1d8+3 and 1d6+1, giving him 7.5 + 4.5 = 12 average damage per attack.

So far seems good, Bob is slightly up on the Greatsword-wielding Roger by 1 damage point and some accuracy, but unlike Roger he did have to sacrifice a feat to get it.


The problem, of course, arises when damage bonuses get into play: Bob gets twice as much benefit from damage bonuses if he's dual wielding than if he's not, and that rapidly outscales any potential defense benefit Shields may have. Two-handed weapons retain their charm due to the Spiked Chain and it's reach, but the poor Sword and Board fighter is suffering badly in comparison.

The solution to this is actually quite simple: most damage bonuses do not apply to off-hand attacks.

Bam, problem solved. Wielding two weapons, Bob only gets his extra D6's on his main-hand attack, as with any other bonuses. But dammit, there's those masterwork damage bonuses, and magic weapon damage bonuses, and Bob can just increase his strength. How do we balance this?


Well, through a whole bunch of complicated maths and a bit of educated guessing, if we chop off Bob's Str modifier to damage on his off-hand attacks as well, it actually balances out rather well. TWF becomes the mid-ground between Sword and Board and Two Handed Weapons; SnB has the lowest damage, but highest defense, THW has the highest damage but lowest defense, and TWF ends up in the middle, but costs more feats than both.



So there we go; when fighting with two weapons, you do not gain your stat modifier or Base Damage Bonus (the extra D6's that replace extra attacks) to damage rolls with your off-hand weapon.


Also, couple more feets:


Intelligent Combat
Prerequisites: Int 13
Benefit: The character may use his Intelligence modifier in place of his Strength or Dexterity modifier when making attacks with melee or ranged weapons.

Tactical Strike
Prerequisites: Int 15, Intelligent Combat
Benefit: The character may use his Intelligence modifier in place of his Strength modifer when rolling damage with melee weapons. The character also gains his Intelligence modifier to damage rolls with ranged weapons.

Modified Feats:

Power Attack
Damage bonus is double what is subtracted from attacks, or triple when wielding a weapon in two hands.

Combat Expertise
Combat Expertise is now capped a -2 penalty, +2 dodge bonus.

Mobility
Dodge Bonus is now +2, not +4

Quickdraw
You may draw hidden light weapons as free actions, not move actions.

Metamagic Feats
Are GORN.

Leadership
Leadership no longer functions to grant the players FREE DUDES, as that is horribly, horribly overpowered for a Feat.

Instead, if there is a character with Leadership in the party, the party gains a number of Resolve Tokens equal to his Charisma modifier. A character with Leadership may also spend action points but give the benefit of the action points to another party member (so the Leader spends 3 points and Bob gets a new standard action, taken immediately.)



Next on Neruz Nightly: Shit i forgot about last time!

[Heron TSG]

At the moment, we have a village with tall mountains nearby.

[RAM]

Bob jumps onto his light warhorse and chooses not to take advantage of the option to wield a lance in one hand.
Bob spends all three feats getting spirited change, but Bob is happy because Bob's horse has obscene ride-check-based AC.
Bob charges at Bob, with +2 to hit, and deals 3d8+12(25.5 average) damage.
Bob then continues the charge action and disappears into the sunset...

Blob the giant octopus adds 1d6 to all 8 of Blob's primary attacks, but nothing to Blob's bite attack.

[Neruz]

You only get the Base Damage Bonus D6's to one attack. Happy?


Bob can go charger if he wants: Chargers are always the highest damage fighter builds even in vanilla; this is offset by the fact that they need to charge, which is actually a bigger disadvantage than you might think.

--EDIT--

Wait a second; one of you is planning on playing an Octopus?

[userpay]

I'm still waiting on a yea nay on thri-kreen or if we'll have to make changes to it so I can play him at first level, otherwise I'll be going dwarf.

[Rooster]

Actually, I think that you should be on a desert.
The whole point and gold in conflict is water.
Puh-lease, that'd be awesome.
OR
Pirates on ship! No ninjas involved!
OR
Ancient greece in your face. The humans just climbed olympus and slaughered everyone there for being manipulative jerks with minds of 3 year olds. Now that I think about it, ancient greece would be awesome, AND have a point.
Adventures could be about hunting down survivors like dryads and cyclopses.
Aint that cool?!

[Shoruke]

I was thinking of starting in a smallish settlement, of various races, with mountains to the north, maybe water to the east, and the rest is flaaaaaaat.

Neruz, is it possible to use the Weapon Finesse feat (and 15 int of course) as the prerequisite for tactical combat? Since it is so similar...

[Akigagak]

Or, a Dex version of both Intelligent Combat and Tactical Strike?

[Jervous]

I'll write my backstory in a sec..probably going to edit this. Hopefully this is alright?

Spoiler: I assume this is okay then? (click to show/hide)

Aline the Charismatic
Female Catfolk Rogue 1
Neutral Good
Representing Jervous


Strength 8 (-1)
Dexterity 14 (+2)
Constitution 12 (+1)
Intelligence 12 (+1)
Wisdom 6 (-2)
Charisma 20 (+5)
 Size: Medium
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 90 lb
Skin: Tan
Eyes: Amber
Hair: Blonde; Wavy
 



Total Hit Points: 18

Speed: 30 feet

Armor Class: 15 = 10 +3 [studded] +2 [dexterity]

Touch AC: 12
Flat-footed: 13
Initiative modifier: +2 = +2 [dexterity] 
Fortitude save: +1 = 0 [base] +1 [constitution] 
Reflex save: +4 = 2 [base] +2 [dexterity] 
Will save: -2 = 0 [base] -2 [wisdom] 
Attack (handheld): -1 = 0 [base] -1 [strength] 
Attack (unarmed): -1 = 0 [base] -1 [strength] 
Attack (missile): +2 = 0 [base] +2 [dexterity] 
Grapple check: -1 = 0 [base] -1 [strength] 


Light load:
Medium load:
Heavy load:
Lift over head:
Lift off ground:
Push or drag:
 26 lb. or less
27-53 lb.
54-80 lb.
80 lb.
160 lb.
400 lb.
 



Languages: Common Catfolk Elven Halfling Orc 


Sickle [1d6, crit x2, 2 lb, light, slashing]

Shortbow [1d6, crit x3, range inc. 60 ft., 2 lb., piercing]

Studded armor [light; +3 AC; max dex +5; check penalty -1; 20 lb.]


Feats:

Negotiator 

Traits:


Skill Name Key
Ability Skill
Modifier Ability
Modifier Ranks Misc.
Modifier
Appraise Int 5 =  +1 +4 
Balance Dex* 2 =  +2   
Bluff Cha 9 =  +5 +4 
Climb Str* -1 =  -1   
Concentration Con 1 =  +1   
Craft_1 Int 1 =  +1   
Craft_2 Int 1 =  +1   
Craft_3 Int 1 =  +1   
Decipher Script Int 3 =  +1 +2 
Diplomacy Cha 11 =  +5 +4 +2 [negotiator] 
Disguise Cha 7 =  +5 +2 
Escape Artist Dex* 2 =  +2   
Forgery Int 3 =  +1 +2 
Gather Information Cha 8 =  +5 +3 
Heal Wis -2 =  -2   
Hide Dex* 2 =  +2   
Intimidate Cha 7 =  +5 +2 
Jump Str* -1 =  -1   
Knowledge (local) Int 2 =  +1 +1 
Listen Wis 2 =  -2 +2 +2 [catfolk] 
Move Silently Dex* 6 =  +2 +2 +2 [catfolk] 
Perform_1 Cha 5 =  +5   
Perform_2 Cha 5 =  +5   
Perform_3 Cha 5 =  +5   
Perform_4 Cha 5 =  +5   
Perform_5 Cha 5 =  +5   
Ride Dex 2 =  +2   
Search Int 1 =  +1   
Sense Motive Wis 4 =  -2 +4 +2 [negotiator] 
Spot Wis -2 =  -2   
Survival Wis -2 =  -2   
Swim Str** -1 =  -1   
Use Rope Dex 2 =  +2   


* = check penalty for wearing armor

This character also has 2 ranks in Speak Languages.


Catfolk:


Cat-headed humanoids.

+2 dexterity, -2 wisdom, +2 charisma have been added already.

Low-light vision.

+2 racial bonus on listen and move silently.


Rogue:

Sneak Attack +1d6

Trapfinding

Evasion (level 2)

Trap Sense (level 3)

Uncanny Dodge (level 4)

Improved Uncanny Dodge (level

Special Abilities (choices begin at 10th level)

 
 Class HP rolled 
Level 1: Rogue 6 



 
Aline's Equipment:


24 lb
30 lb
2 lb
5 lb
3 lb

2 lb
5 lb
5 lb


2 lb
1 lb
4 lb
1 lb
4 lb


1 lb
5 lb
1 lb
8 lb
8 lb
2 lb
3 lb
1 lb
_____
117 lb Weapons / Armor / Shield (from above)
Arrows (quiver of 20) x10
Backpack
Bedroll
Caltrops
Ink vial
Ink pen
Lantern (hooded)
Locks x1
Manacles x2
Mirror
Oil flasks x1
Paper sheets x2
Parchment sheets x2
Pouch x2
Rations (1 day) x5
Vial (for ink or potions) x4
Waterskins x2
Disguise kit
Thieves' tools

Total
 

As for a setting, I'd go for anything with a lot of villages instead of a barren wasteland sort of thing...