TOPIC: What Changes To Make on Character Cards in 2016?

Tablets, kiosks, etc., would be much more trouble than it would be worth.

Plus I think discussing these ideas should go in a different thread.

Valetutto -
1st lvl spell : Muse retry failed skill test replace with : "Automatically Succeed skill test."

I agree with this one mostly for the interest of time. If one character is going to waste a resource, is it that important to retest, or is it a better experience for players if we keep the game moving?



Polymorph potions are underpowered, which is sad because many of my friends constantly want to turn into a giant bear and maul something. A fighter stacked with Rare gear will have at least a +7 to hit. A druid with rare gear maybe has a +3. Giving the Druid a bonus to hit while polymorphed would make polymorph potions a viable tactic which would be nice because they are thematically cool.


Spellcasters don't scale well in Hardcore, I imagine nightmare would be worse. Scrolls and spells that use a DC of 12 are kind of worthless when monsters have a +8-10 on saving throws. A boost to spell saves via some mechanic, either based on spellcasing ability score, or as a bonus for 5th level would be nice. Multiple people have suggested something like this. Not giving monsters a save bonus would also solve the math, and be less work. Higher difficulties having higher hitpoints would be fine, no need to reduce the effectiveness of a chunk of special abilities.


Paladin: My party has used the guard ability to pretty decent effect. If the fighter got the taunt effect mentioned before as a once per fight monster must attack fighter and the Paladin got to guard as a free action, which could include missile and non-area spell effects, I think the party would still be mostly ok. We purposefully stat our wizard with bad AC given the knowledge that he can't be attacked by melee because of the Paladin. I'd rather not lose that advantage.

Elf Wizard: I feel like this character is underpowered. We never use it because the Human Wizard just has better spells.
Dwarf Fighter: Also, I feel like this guy just isn't as good. Someone suggested giving him a damage bonus against large creatures instead of an AC bonus. That would change my mind about him.

A new class would be interesting, but that may be too much. Spellsword? Can use weapons of the Fighter and armor of a Wizard (no need for new token classes)? Give him a permanent Mage Armor spell so he's not stuck with terrible AC.

Actually that brings up a good question.

Which classes are typically under utilized? Does TD keep track of which classes people chose, and who survived at what difficulty?

I doubt spells are tracked, but if we know what classes are generally under-represented, modifications to balance them out with the rest of the options seems like a good goal. Balancing spell utilization would be the other good thing to do but that's a lot more subjective.

There is a lot of talk about things favoring casual or veteran players. What if there was a fundamental change in the difference between level 4 and 5 characters. Level 4 could be more straight forward, while level 5 could offer things focused on players who are more token focused. I don't have any good examples, but thought I'd throw the idea out there and see what you guys could come up with.

Thank you all for some great input here. It is much appreciated. I am now back from a bit of a holiday, and I will try to organize all this info into some notes. I'll be back with more pointed questions for feedback!

Thanks again.

I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day weekend. Lori is an amazing cook -- and I went full "hobbit" all weekend long.

Dwarves may use alcoholic beverage tokens as 1HP healing tokens. Cool use for gear tokens. Although this is useless if you don't have the right tokens, so maybe this is more appropriate for lvl 5 dwarves.

Make the Clerk card a different color like red so it's easy to distinguish.. Medic! Where's the clerk I need healing.

Add new classes card(s) for non-player tag along children: Ghostling: with ability - is allowed to taunt dead monsters. Sherpa: ability to lug everyone's stuff around: Treasure Goblin: ability goes up a goblin lvl for every treasure stamp the party earns. Maybe all three (or four) could be printed on the same card. Each side with two, one right side up, and the other upside down. Why not have a small batch of cards for kids that come along with their parents? Great way to grow future TD'ers

How do we know about the 2016 boots? Where can more info about 2016 tokens be found? Also, how are you getting to +15 attack for 22 damage with your wizard? And how can I get that high of a buff on the AC-15 spells? I suck at sliding, and still have much to learn about the Best in Slot choices.

Anthony Barnstable wrote: How do we know about the 2016 boots?

from jeff's post here

That was from over two years ago. The boots won't be available for another two years. Plans can change.

Anthony Barnstable wrote: how can I get that high of a buff on the AC-15 spells? I suck at sliding, and still have much to learn about the Best in Slot choices.

A more appropriate place to discuss min/maxing wizard builds would be in The Wizard's Tower section of the forums.

Random Elf Wizard idea:

Eldritch Ward Party gains +2 AC (duration one room)

I will leave this up to the spellcasters to debate the level and number of uses. If +2 seems paltry, how about +4?

Continuing on Balthasar's (no relation) idea for the Elf Wizard:

The Cleric and Bard have a lock down on the party's offensive buff abilities. How about the Elf Wizard, instead of the damage the Human Wizard gets, has spells which directly control the flow of combat. Namely, who the monster is attacking.

Nemesis: Monster's next round of single target attacks must target selected party member.
Sphere of Invisibility: Caster and two allies cannot be attacked this round, but cannot take offensive actions.
Blink: Attacks on target have a 50% miss chance.
Wall of Wind: Until end of turn enemy non-magical missiles are ineffective and allied missiles gain +2 damage.


Something I've noticed: Effects that target a single character and grant immunity of some sort rarely if ever help the party. The monster just picks a new target among the similar classes and does damage there. Forcing the monster to attack a particular target, or at least making multiple characters safe can get around this.


Also with these spells, again, anything that relies on a saving throw has the problems with saving throws scaling for monsters but not players in the harder difficulties.

Character Card Wall

• A bulletin board with the fronts and back of every character card for all players to pre read.
• Great for new players to figure out what classes they would like.
• Great place for other players to see the special classes.
• A good place to post other information useful to new players.
• Needs a bit of lighting.
• Yes these are online, but not everyone has access during/at GenCon.
• Said wall could also have some rogues guild graffiti scrawled on it somewhere.
• Should be right beside the character sheet creation kiosk if there is one.