TOPIC: Basic Changes to 2016 Character Cards

The lighting in the hall is low for a reason, and there would not be many place to put character descriptions. The only really well lit places tend to be the store and the check in area, and there isn't a lot of room for people to stop and read small print.

Not that this would impact the player cards, but maybe something like a small program that could be handed out as a primer? It could include descriptions of the characters, some background on the current story line, and a FAQ section. Cost is most likely prohibitive, but it would be nice to find an easy way to answer questions for the curious.

Alvin Oliver wrote:
Also if you use a sharpie you run the risk of it getting on people's attire if it's still wet when they put it on.

Even after the ink 'dries' it still transfers. The year they had the cards two sided the big black sharpie X (marking out the unused side) ruined a shirt of mine. Didn't realize until after the run was over but I had black marks all over the front of my shirt. The ink was completely dry when I put the card on.

If any part of the marked card is going to be facing fabric just do not do it. It will transfer.

balthasar wrote: The lighting in the hall is low for a reason, and there would not be many place to put character descriptions.

I believe in 2012 there was a city scape with lots of 'ok' lit spots where posters could be placed.

cdsmith wrote:

Alvin Oliver wrote:
Also if you use a sharpie you run the risk of it getting on people's attire if it's still wet when they put it on.

Even after the ink 'dries' it still transfers. The year they had the cards two sided the big black sharpie X (marking out the unused side) ruined a shirt of mine. Didn't realize until after the run was over but I had black marks all over the front of my shirt. The ink was completely dry when I put the card on.

If any part of the marked card is going to be facing fabric just do not do it. It will transfer.

A good reason not to have something on the back that gets crossed off!

Sorry to necro this thread, but I was thinking about 2016 as an opportunity to revise character stats:

Class	Melee hit/damage mod	Ranged hit/AC mod	Fort/Refx/Will - Total	D&D 4e Build Points
Barbarian	+3/+3	+1/+1	6/2/2 - 10	24
Bard	-/-	+1/+1	1/5/5 - 11	20
Cleric	-/-	-/-	4/1/7 - 12	23
Druid	-/-	+2/+2	6/2/8 - 16	40 (!)
Dwarf Fighter	+3/+1	+1/+1	7/1/2 - 10	8 (!)
Elf Wizard	-/-	+1/+1	2/2/4 - 8	18
Fighter	+4/+2	+1/+1	5/2/2 - 9	16
Monk	+2/+2 x2	+2/+2	6/6/9 - 21 (!)	35
Paladin	-/-	+1/+1	7/5/5 - 17	17
Ranger	+1/+1 x2	+3/+5	5/7/2 - 14	23
Rogue	-/-	+3/+3	1/8/1 - 10	22
Wizard	-/-	-/-	2/1/4 - 7 (!)	23

Looking at the list, I'd make these suggestions for balance (presupposing balance is desired - maybe it's not):

• Bard, Cleric, Elf Wizard, and Wizard are substantially below average on the basis of combat bonuses and saves - this could be easily understood as balanced given the fact that they are spell casters.
• Druids are slightly above average in terms of combat bonuses and saves, given that they are arguably the most capable spell casters it seems like there could reasonably be room for adjustment here.
• Monk and Ranger seem are substantially above average on the basis of combat bonuses and saves. Given that Monks and Rangers also get to slide two pucks, seems like there could reasonably be room for adjustment here.

Also - not sure if someone else has mentioned this - but does the Barbarian actually get extra practice time with the combat sliders like it says on their card?

Matthew Hayward wrote: Also - not sure if someone else has mentioned this - but does the Barbarian actually get extra practice time with the combat sliders like it says on their card?

the extra practice time is shared in the training room with the other fighter classes, it's where the mages get to look at the chart , the cleric the beads and such.

Brad wrote:

Matthew Hayward wrote: Also - not sure if someone else has mentioned this - but does the Barbarian actually get extra practice time with the combat sliders like it says on their card?

the extra practice time is shared in the training room with the other fighter classes, it's where the mages get to look at the chart , the cleric the beads and such.

Huh - I interpreted the stuff on the Barbarian Skill Test part of the card to being exclusive to Barbarians.

I'd also suggest looking at bonus to hit and bonus to damage at several levels

baseline (no tokens)
top tier (all legendary+ Ultra Rare tokens)
high tier (All Ultra Rare tokens)
mid tier (all Rare tokens)
low tier (all Uncommon tokens)

I think there is a wide margin between classes at multiple tiers.

I'd look at Spell hit and damage for Wizard, attack and spell for Druid, attack and healing for Cleric, paladin

Speaking as someone with cleric as his favored class, I would certainly like a tweak in the combat stats.

I realize the cleric is well compensated at the moment, what with a plethora of spells and some pretty swanky tokens, but personally I wish the class wasn't so skewed in favor of healing.

It's a bit frustrating at times to be a supposedly combat character, decked out in some of the best armor and wielding some decent weapons, only to be standing in the sidelines most of the time, healing, healing, healing, healing....

I've even had some players chastise me during a game for daring to make a slide, telling me I should just stand aside and heal all the time.

They shut up when I slid a natural 20 and took down the baddie the team was having trouble with, but still.

Matthew Hayward wrote:

Brad wrote:

Matthew Hayward wrote: Also - not sure if someone else has mentioned this - but does the Barbarian actually get extra practice time with the combat sliders like it says on their card?

the extra practice time is shared in the training room with the other fighter classes, it's where the mages get to look at the chart , the cleric the beads and such.

Huh - I interpreted the stuff on the Barbarian Skill Test part of the card to being exclusive to Barbarians.

The text "CLASS_NAME are allowed to practice before the adventure to hone their skills. The more accurately you slide your weapon puck, the better the results." appears on the Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin and Ranger cards. It is very slightly modified on the Dwarf Fighter card. It would likely be on the Monk card also, if describing Flurry of Blows didn't fill up that whole section.

Garrison wrote: Speaking as someone with cleric as his favored class, I would certainly like a tweak in the combat stats.

I realize the cleric is well compensated at the moment, what with a plethora of spells and some pretty swanky tokens, but personally I wish the class wasn't so skewed in favor of healing.

It's a bit frustrating at times to be a supposedly combat character, decked out in some of the best armor and wielding some decent weapons, only to be standing in the sidelines most of the time, healing, healing, healing, healing....

I've even had some players chastise me during a game for daring to make a slide, telling me I should just stand aside and heal all the time.

They shut up when I slid a natural 20 and took down the baddie the team was having trouble with, but still.

While I see no issue with the Cleric having some physical ability in addition to spells they should always come in less effective than the purely melee characters.

Tank characters should be harder to hit and have benefits to pulling threat (bonus damage to next successful hit if they taunt the enemy and the enemy attacks someone else, give monster negative to hit, etc)

DPS characters should have the highest weapon damage and hit scores but less armor/HP to compensate

Healer characters should have less to hit and damage bonuses but have the ability to heal comrades.

Spellcaster characters should have the highest per hit damage output to compensate for their lack of AC and HP. Spellcasters are traditionally a "glass cannon" design.


I don't feel that the classes are properly setup to meet these goals currently.