Support [Bard] with Marvale Encounter

[fredfurner]

You don't see a lot of Bards and I am beginning to understand why.

I understand the role as basically strictly support. I understand that support chars are there to buff everyone up with little-few things I can do to gain good XP (compared to melee class party members who get all the benefits of the buffs and the higher kill xp). But as long as I am in a party I get the same relative safety that the rest of the group gets.

When I don't get that safety is on the Marvale boat encounter. We all take the boat to Marvale, but individuals get the encounter. So there I am, suddenly faced with 5 orcs that I can only DPS down very slowly and don't stand a chance against.

The DnD rule set is designed to mimic real life functions and possibilities (IMHO) and that part of BSK doesn't seem to fit. If I was in a party IRL, we would all be on the boat, we would all get the encounter. We would all fight together.

I don't know how the particularities would work but here is an idea: give the whole party the option to travel together when a player ques the travel.

[Kane0]

A good point and a fair solution, though you might want to make the ship a bit bigger to accommodate. It's pretty tight quarters on that thing.

[tangent]
But to me it appears to be a symptom of the hack n slash leaning of BSK on the whole.

Enemy stats aside, you don't see instances of ranged attackers you cannot reach, or traps and obstacles in your path when clearing dungeons, or opportunities to talk or trick your way out of a situation rather than just beat down the opposition. Quests revolve around killing targets and taking their stuff where there could be so many other things that could be asked of you.

This isn't a dig at the hack n slash style, it's straightforward and great and fun, many enjoy that and I include myself in that category. It's just that if you look closely, BSK already has those little gems that tells you it can and does do more. A character can devote itself to crafting and trade, there are places that can be broken into and robbed, there are a handful of charisma/speech skill checks, there are locations where the enemy can fire on you from above, there are puzzles that need at least one other player with you to proceed.

I think these things could be expanded on to round out the experience, especially for non-melee bruiser types. It would take a lot of time and effort, but I think for such a well developed server it should be on the cards for the long-term.
[/tangent]

[Sapphire]

A solution is at hand already before you, as a bard class, go on the boat to Marville just make yourself invisible and if you happen to encounter those orc's have a summons spell to hand like a VII scroll to cast ... That way you stay out of melee and watch the summons take down the orc's and the odd heal kit to hand if the summons gets a bit roughed up...

[driller]

Or pay the fee. Really, gold isn't to hard to come by.

[driller]

After thinking on this. This is a very old encounter, one of the first things I tried to do when I was learning how to script so many years ago.

I will re-visit it. I know there is a bigger ship model now, I will check to see if the walk mesh area is large enough.
The party members who will be brought along will just be those that are nearby Captain Zim for obvious reasons, and only if they agree.

[fredfurner]

Thanks driller!

[driller]

You're welcome.

Thanks driller!

[Capt Cliff]

After thinking on this. This is a very old encounter, one of the first things I tried to do when I was learning how to script so many years ago.

I will re-visit it. I know there is a bigger ship model now, I will check to see if the walk mesh area is large enough.
The party members who will be brought along will just be those that are nearby Captain Zim for obvious reasons, and only if they agree.

Oh I found something else, when talking to Zim after the Orc encounter he says something about 5000 gp? Was the original cost to Marvale 5k gp?

[driller]

Probably.

After thinking on this. This is a very old encounter, one of the first things I tried to do when I was learning how to script so many years ago.

I will re-visit it. I know there is a bigger ship model now, I will check to see if the walk mesh area is large enough.
The party members who will be brought along will just be those that are nearby Captain Zim for obvious reasons, and only if they agree.

Oh I found something else, when talking to Zim after the Orc encounter he says something about 5000 gp? Was the original cost to Marvale 5k gp?

[birdman076]

I've never not paid the fee and sometimes catch the encounter even though i've paid. Figured it was random?