TOPIC: Play group advice

My playgroup of 7 has tasked me with seting them up for Gencon this year. What I would like from you is your advice on a few things folks?

1. 7 classes we should play and the 3 that we should leave to be filled in by strangers that would cause us the least harm to completing the dungeon runs on normal mode. We are going to have the following ultra rares at our disposal:

Shield of the scholar
Cloak of shadowskin
4 shield of phalanx
2 1st tooth of cadaver
+2 staff of focus
gloves of the brute
4 amulet of treasure finding

Multiple copies of all 2015 common, uncommon and rare 2015 tokens. We bought sbout 500 dollars worth of 2014 tokens at gencon last year so we have a spattering of those also.

2. Depending on 7 classes you say what must have ultra rares should we trade or get? We have some trade fodder and money we can spend.

Any help on this is greatly appreciated on this because besides myself only 2 out of remaining 6 have done true dungeon before.

Since you are already at 7, consider buying a full slot and recruiting for the 3 open positions on the forums. That allows for preplaning that eliminates the anxiety about know what classes you will be playing.

What Harlax said. if you are bringing new players with you, those three remaining slots may be veterans that get to choose a class before them. They may also get to the room before you do and just grab the classes for which you have builds. Buying a whole run will make it much easier to get to do what you want.

Harlax wrote: Since you are already at 7, consider buying a full slot and recruiting for the 3 open positions on the forums. That allows for preplaning that eliminates the anxiety about know what classes you will be playing.

This. In my experience, you have zero risk of the three going unsold, and the forum folks will be well-kitted out. So, you can play what you want knowing the fill-ins are unlikely to let you down. And if you recruit someone here with 10 CoGF (there are more than a few of us) that's +4 loot for each of you.

As for investments - consider lenses of treasure finding for those without the Amulet, unless you find a 10xCoGF player. Or, get more amulets. Honestly, there are no must-have URs when playing at normal.

Everrett Barnes wrote: My playgroup of 7 has tasked me with seting them up for Gencon this year. What I would like from you is your advice on a few things folks?

1. 7 classes we should play and the 3 that we should leave to be filled in by strangers that would cause us the least harm to completing the dungeon runs on normal mode.

As others noted, it would be best if you could buy a full slot of 10 so you can control who gets which class. Otherwise all your careful planning may be for naught.

And as a quick note, even if you could guarantee your chose of 7 classes, there would not be 3 others left to choose from, but 5. There's 12 classes total, and you can't really control what someone else chooses from the remaining list (unless you own the tickets and can select your players.)

With that said, here's the classes I would *not* want to give to strangers:

CLERIC - You need a Cleric you can trust. (Not someone like EN who will charge party members for healing *snicker*)

ROGUE - Sometimes you really need the clue, but a greedy Rogue ignores your pleas for help and takes the treasure. If the Rogue is your friend, you can punch him for it later. Can't do that as easily with a stranger (Well, not without risking lawsuits.)

BARD - The Bard's best ability is their Singing. If you get a stranger playing the Bard and they don't want to sing to inspire the party, you miss out on their bonuses. Get a friend to do it, and you can pretty much make sure they perform to spec.

So, if I was assembling a party, I'd make sure these roles were filled by people I could trust, and I'd hope that any strangers would be open to playing other classes. Or, if they wanted the classes above, that they understand the role and are willing to play for the good of the group.

We are going to have the following ultra rares at our disposal:

Shield of the scholar
Cloak of shadowskin
4 shield of phalanx
2 1st tooth of cadaver
+2 staff of focus
gloves of the brute
4 amulet of treasure finding

With those URs, it sounds like you want to run both Fighters, Paladin, and Cleric in your party, to max the Phalanx bonus, and then give Shield of the Scholar to your Bard (preferably with Widseth's Lute). Give the Staff of Focus to your Wizard. Give the Gloves to one of your good sliders, and the Cloak of Shadowskin to someone with a low AC (so, probably not one of the Phalanx crew). Sort your Amulets of Treasure among you as you want, remembering that the tanks may want AC-enhancing neck gear.

2. Depending on 7 classes you say what must have ultra rares should we trade or get? We have some trade fodder and money we can spend.

Widseth's Lute is the one thing I would really recommend. A Bard with the Lute benefits your whole party.

If you still have $$ left over after that, I'd say get your Cleric the Lenses of Divine Sight (from last year) plus a Charm of Enlightenment (ditto). That doubles your healing potential, which can be useful if you've got some unknowns in your group.

I'd put the lute over the Lenses tho. Combat damage should be prioritized over healing.

Adding gloves of healing is another nice and not too expensive touch for your healer.

I found this thread really helpful, thanks for posting this question

Having played last year as wizard with myself and 2 friends we ended up with a rather odd crew and the healers could not heal for beans. So yes, i will be playing the cleric most likely.

Thanks for the input.

I second the advice to buy a whole block of 10 for your group. I may be interested in joining too.

Actually, I'll throw something out there. I have a group of three (me and two newbies) doing both combat runs at GenCon on Fri or Sat. If all 10 of us got together we could definitely do Hardcore mode with everything pre-planned. I can play Ranger or Bard. My friends haven't chosen their classes yet but whatever they choose they'll be mostly red and purple.

Let me know if you are interested (we can take it to PM). I think I'll get some advanced purchase opportunities as part of my token purchases so I may be able to buy the block for us.

PS - I'm doing both puzzle runs on Thursday with a group of 4, the same three plus my wife (Rogue). I'm planning on buying those blocks of 10 and filling them out in advance as well.

Waiting on my other 6 to confirm as some are possibly backing out after figuring out the whole cost of a trip from Cali. Ill PM you probably after this Sunday.

Kirk Bauer wrote: I second the advice to buy a whole block of 10 for your group. I may be interested in joining too.

Actually, I'll throw something out there. I have a group of three (me and two newbies) doing both combat runs at GenCon on Fri or Sat. If all 10 of us got together we could definitely do Hardcore mode with everything pre-planned. I can play Ranger or Bard. My friends haven't chosen their classes yet but whatever they choose they'll be mostly red and purple.

Let me know if you are interested (we can take it to PM). I think I'll get some advanced purchase opportunities as part of my token purchases so I may be able to buy the block for us.

PS - I'm doing both puzzle runs on Thursday with a group of 4, the same three plus my wife (Rogue). I'm planning on buying those blocks of 10 and filling them out in advance as well.

Given openings in my schedule you always have a wizard on retainer

+1 to what raven said. I'd make 1 amendum on the cloak. Lowest ac or hit points.
There are more complicated ways to maximize but I wouldn't worry about that for now.