korenzel
Educated
- Joined
- May 18, 2010
- Messages
- 278
TABLE OF CONTENTS :
Party Generation - this post.
Update #1 - Getting Started
Update #2 - Magic Treasure
Update #3 - Bar Brawl
Update #4 - Trolls
Update #5 - Level Up
Update #6 - Sokal Keep
Update #7 - Hideout
Update #8 - Scouting Ahead
Update #9 - Desecration
Update #10 - Traps!
Update #11 - (Un)Death
Update #12 - City Cleanup
Update #13 - Random Wandering
Update #14 - Kobold Massacre
---------------------------------
Welcome, to my second LP contribution to the Codex. I will be playing a game I never finished or even got far into on my own, but I found that writing a Let's Play can be a great motivation to keep going.
SSI ? AD&D ? 1988 ? What could it be ?
Pool of Radiance, that's what it is !
Created by the fine people listed here .
Let's get started... Where's the "Start Game" button ?
Looks like we're going to have to generate our party, and I will need your help.
We can have up to six adventurers.
The first step is to choose your race.
Race mainly influences what ability scores you can reach, as well as what class is available to your character.
Note that non human characters have a limit to how high they can advance in most classes, but Pool of Radiance isn't a high level D&D adventure, so don't worry too much.
Human characters cannot have more than one class, while all the others can have up to three.
Next comes the gender. As you can see in the ability chart at the end of the update, women are weaker than men, and don't get any benefit that I know of.
The next step is to choose a class. There are four classes available in Pool of Radiance :
Cleric : User of divine magic and decent fighther, can wear the heaviest armors and use blunt weapons.
Fighter : The best warriors are fighters. They can use any armor or weapon and have better chances to hit than anyone else.
Magic-User : Mages are users of arcane magic, generally very potent spells but with a severe restriction on the number available per day. They can't wear any armor and can only use daggers and quarterstaves, but some magic items like bracers can help protect them a bit.
Thief : Decent fighters and good at locating traps and other goodies, they are limited in how much armor they can wear and what weapon they can use.
Multi-Class characters combine the benefits of each of their classes without restriction. That means a Fighter/Magic-User can cast spells freely in full plate while wearing a long sword and a shield. The drawback is that each class advances at half (or a third) of the normal pace.
However, the experience progression is anything but linear in AD&D. While multi-class characters will always need double (or triple) the xp to reach the same level a single class would, they will usually only lag one or two level behind.
After deciding on your class, you can choose your alignment.
And finally, you get a first look at your character screen. Don't worry about the stats yet.
The next step is to choose a head and body.
Your avatar can have a head and a body of your choosing. Here are the faces available.
And here are the different bodies. Some are definitely more male or female looking than others, but Pool of Radiance doesn't prevent any combination of head and body.
Next is the generation of an icon to represent the character on the battlefield during tactical battles.
You can change the colors of any part, as well as use different heads and weapons.
These can be changed at any time during camps. I'll make them fit our party members' heads and bodies as best I can, and change the weapons depending on what they are mostly using.
Finally, you can modify the stats of your character as you want, in the boundaries of race limits.
Strength determines how hard you hit and how well you use melee weapons.
Intelligence determines how good you are at casting arcane spells.
Wisdom determines how good you are at casting divine spells.
Dexterity determines how hard to hit you are and how well you use missile weapons.
Constitution determines how much bonus hit points you get per level, and how likely you are to be resurrected.
Charisma determines your general appearance and how good looking you are.
Note that ability scores between 8 and 14 generally don't provide any benefit or drawback.
I have no preferred rule to generate stats. Use point-buy, roll dices, adjust as you want or set everything to the maximum, it's your choice.
Fighters will want a high strength, Clerics a high wisdom, Magic-Users a high intelligence and Thieves a high dexterity, as you get an experience bonus when those attributes are high enough.
I will max out HPs for characters on level one.
The stats and classes available for each race are summed up in this nice little table.
------------------------------------------------------
Recruitment will keep going until we have six or more adventurers ready to begin. If there are more than six, I'llpick the best roll dices.
Now, you may ask yourself "What am I joining for ?". The Adventurers Journal provides the answer :
Party Generation - this post.
Update #1 - Getting Started
Update #2 - Magic Treasure
Update #3 - Bar Brawl
Update #4 - Trolls
Update #5 - Level Up
Update #6 - Sokal Keep
Update #7 - Hideout
Update #8 - Scouting Ahead
Update #9 - Desecration
Update #10 - Traps!
Update #11 - (Un)Death
Update #12 - City Cleanup
Update #13 - Random Wandering
Update #14 - Kobold Massacre
---------------------------------
Welcome, to my second LP contribution to the Codex. I will be playing a game I never finished or even got far into on my own, but I found that writing a Let's Play can be a great motivation to keep going.
SSI ? AD&D ? 1988 ? What could it be ?
Pool of Radiance, that's what it is !
Created by the fine people listed here .
Let's get started... Where's the "Start Game" button ?
Looks like we're going to have to generate our party, and I will need your help.
We can have up to six adventurers.
The first step is to choose your race.
Race mainly influences what ability scores you can reach, as well as what class is available to your character.
Note that non human characters have a limit to how high they can advance in most classes, but Pool of Radiance isn't a high level D&D adventure, so don't worry too much.
Human characters cannot have more than one class, while all the others can have up to three.
Next comes the gender. As you can see in the ability chart at the end of the update, women are weaker than men, and don't get any benefit that I know of.
The next step is to choose a class. There are four classes available in Pool of Radiance :
Cleric : User of divine magic and decent fighther, can wear the heaviest armors and use blunt weapons.
Fighter : The best warriors are fighters. They can use any armor or weapon and have better chances to hit than anyone else.
Magic-User : Mages are users of arcane magic, generally very potent spells but with a severe restriction on the number available per day. They can't wear any armor and can only use daggers and quarterstaves, but some magic items like bracers can help protect them a bit.
Thief : Decent fighters and good at locating traps and other goodies, they are limited in how much armor they can wear and what weapon they can use.
Multi-Class characters combine the benefits of each of their classes without restriction. That means a Fighter/Magic-User can cast spells freely in full plate while wearing a long sword and a shield. The drawback is that each class advances at half (or a third) of the normal pace.
However, the experience progression is anything but linear in AD&D. While multi-class characters will always need double (or triple) the xp to reach the same level a single class would, they will usually only lag one or two level behind.
After deciding on your class, you can choose your alignment.
And finally, you get a first look at your character screen. Don't worry about the stats yet.
The next step is to choose a head and body.
Your avatar can have a head and a body of your choosing. Here are the faces available.
And here are the different bodies. Some are definitely more male or female looking than others, but Pool of Radiance doesn't prevent any combination of head and body.
Next is the generation of an icon to represent the character on the battlefield during tactical battles.
You can change the colors of any part, as well as use different heads and weapons.
These can be changed at any time during camps. I'll make them fit our party members' heads and bodies as best I can, and change the weapons depending on what they are mostly using.
Finally, you can modify the stats of your character as you want, in the boundaries of race limits.
Strength determines how hard you hit and how well you use melee weapons.
Intelligence determines how good you are at casting arcane spells.
Wisdom determines how good you are at casting divine spells.
Dexterity determines how hard to hit you are and how well you use missile weapons.
Constitution determines how much bonus hit points you get per level, and how likely you are to be resurrected.
Charisma determines your general appearance and how good looking you are.
Note that ability scores between 8 and 14 generally don't provide any benefit or drawback.
I have no preferred rule to generate stats. Use point-buy, roll dices, adjust as you want or set everything to the maximum, it's your choice.
Fighters will want a high strength, Clerics a high wisdom, Magic-Users a high intelligence and Thieves a high dexterity, as you get an experience bonus when those attributes are high enough.
I will max out HPs for characters on level one.
The stats and classes available for each race are summed up in this nice little table.
------------------------------------------------------
Recruitment will keep going until we have six or more adventurers ready to begin. If there are more than six, I'll
Now, you may ask yourself "What am I joining for ?". The Adventurers Journal provides the answer :
Adventurers Journal said:FREE NEW PHLAN!
The New Phlan City Council is leading the fight to free their captive city. Heroes are retaking the city block by block from evil hordes.
RICHES & FAME!
The council is looking for soldiers and rogues, mages and clerics, heroes of all kinds, to come to New Phlan. The wealth and land of an ancient city await those willing to reach out and take it.
GLORY!
Legends will be written about the heroic struggle to free New Phlan! Ships to New Phlan depart twice monthly. When you arrive, see the New Phlan City Council for the latest news and information.
MAKE YOUR FORTUNE IN NEW PHLAN!