Kyden Aelreth

Kyden Aelreth

The city of Anir Tel-Renor is nestled deep among the fog and mist, within the Cerulean Forest. It is home to the Anir Eladrin, an isolated community thriving within the forest which protects it. Their neighbors to the East, located within the crystal clear Caliginous Forest, are the Vanir Elves. (The original humans who surveyed the lands east of the Nentir Vale are labeled with making the mistake of incorrectly naming the two forests. It is commonly accepted that the cartographer who was commissioned to create the first map had previously lost several drinking bets, leading to his inevitable mental impairment. As a result, names were switched, and the Cerulean Forest itself was drawn too small, leading many passing travelers to miscalculate their journey by a day or two. While the map was redrawn later, by a scholar who handled his ale much better, the names unfortunately were never changed.)

Due to the ominous and foreboding look of the Cerulean Forest, the Anir remained in isolation for many generations. Their only contact with the outside world was with the Vanir Elves, with whom they forged a strong bond and relationship with. Over the centuries, the two communities grew together, while still keeping their own cultures and customs thriving. However, due to the neglect given from travelers, the Anir did not have a good personal understanding of their world around them. Too many centuries had passed without forging any new relationships with any other surrounding cities. It wasn't until Kell Dani, high noble of the Anir, established a pact with the Vanir, to explore and invite worthy travelers to visit their fair city.

Several groups were created to travel for a predetermined amount of time, to explore, invite, and report back the current state of the world. One such group, set on a course for 50 years, was headed up by a young apprentice wizard, named Kyden Aelreth. Kyden, still young in age, but advanced in training, was picked due to his powerful insight and knowledge of the arcane arts.

Like many of the groups, Kyden's felt immediate hardship. Not accustomed to the outside world, they were typically inept at creating social relationships with the different races they encountered. Some groups fell apart, and returned early, others were attacked and killed before able to complete their mission. Kyden's own party was attacked by a group of Barbarians who thought they had been thieves from a previous night. Since Kyden has entered the Nentir Vale, he has interacted with many different races and cultures, and has gained a great knowledge on the history of Nentir Vale.

It has been 33 years since Kyden left Anir Tel-Renor, and ever true to his oath to his birthplace, he still travels the Nentir Vale, interacting with locals, and gaining as much knowledge as possible, in hopes of one day returning to his people, and promoting their prosperity.

And if that doesn't work, then I'm a black guy.

GAAAAHHHHH

LMAO!

Good to see you again, dude.

Troy

GAAAAHHHHH[/quote]

Dude. I laughed so fucking hard when I saw that, you have no fucking idea. Sup Troy!

GuuUHHhHHH!!!

Wow. Way to get things off on the right foot.

Howdy there, dude. Any thoughts on the party background ideas?

Couple questions, and maybe Patrick has the best insight.

For encounter powers, what is more useful at first level? Force Orb, or Burning Hands?

I like the idea of multiple targets, but how often are monsters standing next to each other where this will effect them and not my own teammates? While Force Orb offers good AOE effects, I don't want to hit my own guys. Burning Hands offers great damage, but only to a single target. Did you have this dilemma as well Patrick? I don't want to have only an arsenal of AOE effects. I already picked Magic Missile, and Scorching Burst as at wills, and Acid Arrow and Flaming Sphere as dailies (Yes I am aware that I am allowed to pick two dailies and I can only use whichever one I prepare for that day. What did you pick, and what do you suggest to me?

Also on a related note, in order to prepare a daily spell do you need 6 hours of uninterrupted rest? Is my understanding correct in this regard? Or is a day considered a full rotation of the planet? (Sunrise/Sunset)
I ask this because as an Eladrin, my rest period, or trance, is only 4 hours. If this is the rest that is needed to "recharge" a daily, I would be wanting to take that opportunity as much as possible to trance meditate and gain back a daily, in situations where 4 hours are not hindering the groups efforts.

Thoughts?

I will have to look up the force orb but if it says adjacent enemies you don't have to worry about hitting your allies. As for resting my favorite thing about 4th Edition is it says you just need to rest for the 6 hours (4 for Eladrin) and it specifically says if it is interrupted for any reason you just have to rest the remainder of the time you don't have to start over.

Keep in mind, you can only gain the benefits of extended rest once per day (Per page 263 of the PHB)
"After you finish the extended rest you have to wait 12 hours before you can begin another one"
So to go back to your recharge question basically no you can't cheese it and rest like 5 times in a 24 hour cycle and get dailies back over and over. Your maximum dailies usage can only be 2 per 20 hours (start out with one use it and recharge in four hours, wait 12 to recharge then spend 4 more trancing). Bottom line is even with Eladrin dailies are basically that and are to powerful to get a lot of uses per day.

Well zac, from my own limited experience with mages I picked one aoe at will and one focused target one. MOst of the wizard aoe's effect allies as well as enemies so aoe is only situationally powerful. One thing to keep in mind 4e is a lot more tactically oriented and hence there is a ton more moving around every round than in 3e where you just stand and fight. So your two at will are good choices, as for the encounter and daily spells I chose icy terrain which was aoe because i was trying to be more of the controlling wizard type. FOr the most part it wasn't too terribly difficult to get aoe spells off and hit multiple monsters and not get allies. One thing I decided was very powerful for this was taking Improved initiaitve. There aren't a ton of feats for wizards anyway that are good and Imp initiaitve allows a greater chance to start the battle throw out your aoe before any of your allies go and then you have the benefit of hitting all the monsters you can and then having your allies move up and engage and take their attention. So, I would choose the same for daily as you did for at will being one aoe and one single target and then for the encounter just choose the one you like the best. JUst do whatever you can to make sure you get the encounter power off every battle since it is so much better.

Dean wrote:

Keep in mind, you can only gain the benefits of extended rest once per day (Per page 263 of the PHB)
"After you finish the extended rest you have to wait 12 hours before you can begin another one"
So to go back to your recharge question basically no you can't cheese it and rest like 5 times in a 24 hour cycle and get dailies back over and over. Your maximum dailies usage can only be 2 per 20 hours (start out with one use it and recharge in four hours, wait 12 to recharge then spend 4 more trancing). Bottom line is even with Eladrin dailies are basically that and are to powerful to get a lot of uses per day.

Thank you that answers that question 100%

Yeah, my bro's cool like that.

The consensus is that we're going for realism in our battle planning. That is to say, no 5-minute side-conversations to determine a battle plan in between rounds. Instead, when you want to use your AOEs you're supposed to shout "get the fuck out of the way!"

Vale Arkhan wrote:

Well zac, from my own limited experience with mages I picked one aoe at will and one focused target one. MOst of the wizard aoe's effect allies as well as enemies so aoe is only situationally powerful. One thing to keep in mind 4e is a lot more tactically oriented and hence there is a ton more moving around every round than in 3e where you just stand and fight. So your two at will are good choices, as for the encounter and daily spells I chose icy terrain which was aoe because i was trying to be more of the controlling wizard type. FOr the most part it wasn't too terribly difficult to get aoe spells off and hit multiple monsters and not get allies. One thing I decided was very powerful for this was taking Improved initiaitve. There aren't a ton of feats for wizards anyway that are good and Imp initiaitve allows a greater chance to start the battle throw out your aoe before any of your allies go and then you have the benefit of hitting all the monsters you can and then having your allies move up and engage and take their attention. So, I would choose the same for daily as you did for at will being one aoe and one single target and then for the encounter just choose the one you like the best. JUst do whatever you can to make sure you get the encounter power off every battle since it is so much better.

That's a good point about Improved Initiative. There really aren't that many feats that effect my character, and the ones geared for the wizard aren't all that great anyway. (IMHO)

Something Jon brought up in an earlier post about AOE tho, is that is there a difference between adjacent creatures, monsters, and players? Or are all AOE spells going to affect my teammates? My understanding is it doesn't matter what creature is in the square, they are taking damage. However, when you read Force Orb it states your initial target is attacked, and it only states adjacent enemies are hit by the shrapnel. Does this mean that regardless if players are in the vicinity they are unaffected?

Kyden wrote:

Something Jon brought up in an earlier post about AOE tho, is that is there a difference between adjacent creatures, monsters, and players? Or are all AOE spells going to affect my teammates? My understanding is it doesn't matter what creature is in the square, they are taking damage. However, when you read Force Orb it states your initial target is attacked, and it only states adjacent enemies are hit by the shrapnel. Does this mean that regardless if players are in the vicinity they are unaffected?

As a general rule, AOE spells affect everyone within the indicated area. It appears that Force Orb is an exception. You can tell from the verbage. Force Orb specifically says "Each enemy" under secondary targets. Compare this to the three other AOE spells on that same page (Icy Terrain, Freezing Cloud, Sleep), all of which specifically designate "Each creature" as the target.

Svenn wrote:

Kyden wrote:

Something Jon brought up in an earlier post about AOE tho, is that is there a difference between adjacent creatures, monsters, and players? Or are all AOE spells going to affect my teammates? My understanding is it doesn't matter what creature is in the square, they are taking damage. However, when you read Force Orb it states your initial target is attacked, and it only states adjacent enemies are hit by the shrapnel. Does this mean that regardless if players are in the vicinity they are unaffected?

As a general rule, AOE spells affect everyone within the indicated area. It appears that Force Orb is an exception. You can tell from the verbage. Force Orb specifically says "Each enemy" under secondary targets. Compare this to the three other AOE spells on that same page (Icy Terrain, Freezing Cloud, Sleep), all of which specifically designate "Each creature" as the target.

That is what I thought, I just wanted some expert clarification. So, thank ye.

Yeah the general rule of thumb I have found with 4E is they have 3 words they use:
Creature : Means anything enemy or ally
Allies: Can effect you or any friendlies
Enemies: Your allies will be uneffected.

Sounds simple but it can be weird in their descriptions, mostly the creature one and ally in some cases there was a big discussion on the wizards forums about if allies meant yourself (it did) for "Lay On Hands". So yeah in this case regarding Force Orb it looks like it lets you shoot at an area and allies are immune.

I THINK there is a feat in the later tiers that allows you to choose gaps in the blasts; I might be thinking of 3.5 though

Dean wrote:

I THINK there is a feat in the later tiers that allows you to choose gaps in the blasts; I might be thinking of 3.5 though

If there is you should instantly disallow that shit. I remember Archmage-flavored cheese. It stinks.

No way! I loved that ability.

Exactly.

Asshole.

No offense, dude, but it was just silly. Try as I might, I could never quite picture a fireball with two pockets of perfect safety. If I was a special effects guy making a movie where a wizard uses that feat, I would have to quit in disgrace.

Quote :

No offense, dude, but it was just silly.

None taken at all.

Quote :

Try as I might, I could never quite picture a fireball with two pockets of perfect safety. If I was a special effects guy making a movie where a wizard uses that feat, I would have to quit in disgrace.

So, let me get this straight... You can't picture an archmage creating small pockets of safety in a fireball blast, but you complely accept a world in which people can magically create and hurl fireballs? I suppose I'm just not as picky about my fantasy-realism.

It's not about realism. I literally cannot imagine it. Even magical fire don't work that way, yo. As for imagining fireballs in the first place... obviously you've never seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you fucking philistine.

LMAO

No, dude, Tim did not throw fireballs, he like... made firey explosins at a distance but that's not the same as conjuring a ball (or bead, whatever) and then throwing it ... I don't even think there is a spell like what Tim did..

Amnon wrote:

LMAO

No, dude, Tim did not throw fireballs, he like... made firey explosins at a distance but that's not the same as conjuring a ball (or bead, whatever) and then throwing it ... I don't even think there is a spell like what Tim did..

Actually, I think that was just...like explosives that the producers of the film just set, and when John Cleese pointed his hand to a certain location they detonated an amount of TNT perhaps and made the explosion. I don't think it was real.

ANYWAY

In all honesty, it is hard to imagine a fireball, or a blast of fire, in the literal sense, to "skip" over certain squares. UNLESS the wizard had such powers where he could also instantly shield his allies from his own spell...then it would be plausible.

I added a backdrop for my character, first post. I hope it makes sense, I left out chunks of information, in order to be able to fill them in later, in what I hope will be short stories. But, this at least gives us an idea of why I'm here, and what my goals are. Meh. It's late, cut me some slack!