Am I Powergaming ?

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i just finish the normal mode for the first time with a party that is similar with the party below exception on equipment and stat.
My "GOAL" party is (i'm planning to play normal twice and HoF once with this party)
- Ulurai : Human female Lawfull good Paladin(2)/Morninglord(28) @ str 22 dex 10 con 18 int 1wis 27 cha 11 with weapon focus on Large Sword, Mace, and Polearm
-- Role : Assaulter Medic
-- Equipment : Air Genesi Gail Armor/Diamond Cutter, Great White Wyrm's Maw, Young Ned's Knucky, Shifter's Nimble Boot, Gauntlet of weapon Expertise, Every Gods Ring, Holy Swizarnian Hammer of Lucerne, Monkey Paw of Extreme Prejudice, and of course Light of Cera Sumat

- Dumoin : Dwarf male Chaotic Neutral Stormlord(26)/Fighter(4) @ str 18 dex 16 con 20 int 3 wis 25 cha 1 with weapon Specialization on Great Axe and Flail
-- Role : Assaulter Medic
-- Equipment : Mithral Field Plate Armor +2,White Wyrm's Maw, Lucky Knucky, Shifter's Boot, Gauntlet of weapon Expertise, Every Gods Ring, Massive Great Axe of Flame/Great Axe of Cleaving +5,

- Toilin : Dwarf male Chaotic Neutral Stormlord(26)/Fighter(4) @ str 18 dex 16 con 20 int 3 wis 25 cha 1 with weapon Specialization on Great Sword and Hammer -- Role : Assaulter Medic -- Equipment : Mithral Field Plate Armor +2,White Wyrm's Maw, Lucky Knucky, Shifter's Boot, Gauntlet of weapon Expertise, Every Gods Ring, Greatsword of the Soulles +5

- Arilia : Aasimar female Lawfull Good Sorcerer(29)/Paladin(1) @ str 11 dex 14 con 18 int 12 wis 11 cha 27
-- Role : Spellcaster, Bombardier, Summoner, and Trader
-- Equipment : Chain of Drakkas, Chimandrae Slippers

- Iralia : Aasimar female Lawfull Good Sorcerer(29)/Paladin(1) @ str 11 dex 14 con 18 int 12 wis 11 cha 27
-- Role : Spellcaster, Bombardier, Summoner, and Trader
-- Equipment : Chain of Drakkas, Chimandrae Slippers

- Noth : Drow male Neutral Evil Rogue(1)/Ranger(1)/Wizard(28) @ str 10 dex 21 con 14 int 26 wis 6 cha 10 with focus on small blade, and weapon finesse.
-- Role : Diplomat, Scout, Thief, Mage Killer, Auxillary Spellcaster, or the jack of all trade to be short (This is the character that i relate with me --> Neutral evil Assasin diplomat is waaay cool)
-- Equipment : Chain of Drakkas Fury, Chimandrae Warded Slippers, High Tyrannar's Band

The role play logic is like this :
Ulurai is a fallen Paladin (well maybe not fallen, broken maybe) when she was still a Paladin apprentice she was caught by an extremely powerfull evil force, and they capture her alive in order to extract information from her thinking that an apprentice will be easier to crack.

They try reason, torture, spellcraft, even experimental potion to influence her mind, but being a human with a very strong will and determination she wont crack down, she would rather die honorably than betray her faith. Not until they combine spellcraft, potion, and reason at the same that they get what they want. But unfortunately their gain is Ulurai's loss.

After that rigorous mind exhausting interrogation session that managed to crack her, she was left with permanent brain injury that cause her to lose all intelligence, making her mind very unstable, there are times when she would regain half of her former intelligence, but most of the time she was the village idiot. Thanks to the information that they get from ulurai the Paladin fortress that Ulurai studying in is destroyed, burned and leveled to the ground by the evil forces, most of the Paladin died in the attack and the survivor that managed to seek refuge in other Paladin Fortress refuse to see Ulurai as a fellow Paladin and rejected Ulurai for being a traitor to their faith.

Left alone in the battlefield to die she was later found by a Morninglord of Lathander who believed in second chances. She was then taken under the cleric's wing, it is here that she re-learn how to live life again.

i have the role play logic for all the character depicted here, hell i even have the full story written here in my computer, including their adventures from targos to severed hand.

the reason i didn't write the logic for the rest of the character here is simply because that it will clog up the topic message board (plus i don't want you guys to get the wrong impression)

the question are :
- 1. am i powergaming ?
- 2. is there anyway i could improve this party ? (equipment, stat distribution, multi class, or anything that you think would improve the party --> either powergame or roleplay advice are accepted)
- 3. does my role play logic works ? if it doesn't, can anybody point me to the right direction.
i afterall am a newbie (we're talking about a person who only know and play neverwinter for the last 6 months, baldurs gate 2 for 2 months and played icewind dale 2 for 3 weeks)
- 4. am i crazy or am i just too involved with the game

also please keep in mind that this party configuration is coming from a diablo 2 veteran with a diablo mindset that trained to focus on creating "super ?" character

[ July 28, 2003, 16:44: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

 

Well first thing off... int1 means your character doesnt know how to dress, use fire, speak, write, or any such thing.
Its below animal intelligence even.

Are you powerplaying?
I wouldnt know anything about equipment as i didnt even complete IWD2 on normal mode. heh

Another thing is to look at your multiclassing levels...
Ulurai: Thats nice that you gave her 2 levels of paladin insted of just one for her Cha saving throws. Though IIRC lvl2 pladin get immunity to disease... correct me if i'm wrong here... i'm not completely sure.

Dwarves: You gave him 4 levels of fighter... i wonder why.... and i see weapon specialisation below... humm why would you take 4 levels of fighter indeed

Noth: You gave him 1 level of ranger... and a arcane spelcaster with it... no doubt youre a dualwielder as well yeah, sure with rogue dex and weapon finesse. Thats pure powerplaying taking one level of any class for their advantages... ranger ecpecialy comes to mind with his huge lvl1 dualwielding bonuses.


But your assigned intelligence to Dumoin and Toilin is beast-like too. I truly strongly doubt such dumb (truly stupid) people would achieve god-like 30level.
And 1 cha for both of them makes them so hideus no villager would even let them into their settlement.


Arilia Iralia... What are they clones or what?
Same goes for the dwarves...
You know... as much as you've written up here i can say nothing else that they are grim stupid dwarves that barely deserve to be called dwarves instead of some monsters.
You should've posted the whole story of them up here... it'd make thing way clearer for us.


Not mentioning item copying... Every item was once created... you think every item was made twice, and kept down the long years of its existance together just so that you can have your twins wear it


About improving your party... Sure you can improve it WAY better than it is. The question is though HOW will you improve it? Powergaming or rolegaming?

No doubt pal... you're certainly powerplaying
I guess it comes from Diablo II yes, couse there's all powergaming

But you did the Ulurai story preety well and please... post your whole story up here.... and while you're at that you could post the whole thing again in the Creativity Surge forum... just scroll down the page. I'd make an interesting story i belive


One way to improve your play in a rolegaming way is this page : bing, bang .
Another way is insanely better but it takes some time and you're not even guaranteed to make it in... ALFA.. thats the thing that helped me the most to learn to RP. Check the bottom most forum Phlan Crier.
If you are interested in ALFA and have any questions dont post in this forum becouse it doesnt belong here. PM me or any guy who post in Phlan Crier

 

- As for Dumoin Battlewager and Toilin Warseeker, these two Talosian Cleric are/was the trusted person (right hand man) of an Evil Landlord who take liking into drinking innocent blood and believed in nothing but sheer gold, even if it means sending his two trusted cleric to "spread" their gods belief to the poor farmer's land.

Sometimes the two will really talk to the farmer, persuading and reason with them in their gods name, maybe intimidate or scare the stronghearted one a little bit. A fact that cause the Landlord to call for a weapon instructor fighter in teaching the two to become fiercer and more efficient in batle. But for most of the farmer, the privilage of only being talked into selling their land is only a to good to be true tale, cause for most of of the time they would simply came and wreck havoc in their land, destroying anything and everything, without giving any chance for the farmer to flee, much less talk.

The extra destruction is a plus for the Landlord, cause shady shack and vegetables are hardly worth a dime, thus not very profitable.

Dumoin and Toilin really "really" liked fighting, something that is only differenciate by their means and preferences of weapon. They also liked the sight of blood, a feeling that is only rivaled by their fondness of chaos and destruction. Actually if it were'nt for the steady lump of gold that the Landlord is giving them, they would surely slay the Landlord, just for the thrill of it. Eventhough the target farmers land that the Landlord always willing to provide, helps to suppress that feeling too.

Like every party, this trio "happy" times comes to and end when the farmer finally managed to gather enough gold and hired a Drow Sellsword named Noth. As Noth has suspected The Landlord is an easy prey. He is easily killed with a single stab to the heart. Dumoin and Toilin on the other hand is a different story.

The two strong dwarfen constitution made them almost impossible to poison and their fighting skill is no match for a Sellsword who only know how to kill commoner and delicate Mages. Knowing that his Ranger and Rogue skills are useless, Noth was only left with his Wizards skill. After setting up several skull trap, Noth attack the two using his crossbow then quickly run to the set up trap.

When the two came to view he quickly toss all the fireballs he have in his spellbook to the two. But much to Noth's dissappointment his plan and traps did little if any to the two. They managed to dodge most of the fireballs and the one that do manage to engulf the two with its fiery flame can only burned their faces because the rest of the body are fully covered with heavy armory.

Maybe it was Noth's low level in wizardry, maybe the trap's timing was wrong, maybe they were just too strong, or maybe they were'nt meant to die that day. All in all the two still managed to stand firm, angrier than ever.

Their heads are heavily deformed. All of their facial hair were burned, his charismatic beards, eyebrow, hair, and even the hair in their noses are turned to ashes, leaving their whole head hairless with only a small portion of hair at the back of their heads. Numerous small fractions of sharp skeletal bone from the skull trap can be seen pricking their whole red and black faces. Some of them punctured their skull, making a way to their brain, leaving a steady flow of fresh blood, making their heads a hideous sight to behold.

Their body are a same mess, their shining armor was now reduced to a dim gray armor, freckled by black burnt marks. The armor part that actually have undeviating contact with the skin are welded to their flesh.

Knowing that his death are imminent, Noth quickly recite a confusion spell, in an attempt to hold of the impending death. But something caught Noth's attention as he was reciting the spell. The two monsters stand motionless infront of him, not attacking, not even flinch. something that has never happen before.

Usually the people that he attack will charge with all their might as soon as they see Noth finish reciting the first word of the spell, closing the distance between them with their weapon drawn, and only stop after a succesfull cast of confusion spell. This two however are different, they stand still even before Noth finish reciting half of the spell.

Noticing the anomaly, Noth sheated his weapon and start conversing with the two, resulting an invaluable discovery. The two seems to be dazed and confused that thinks that they were in one of their routine job. Razing farmers land with Noth as their Wizard mentor, hired by the Landlord to help them with spellcraft.

Noth unopposedly exploited his influence over them in their moment of confusion and weakness. Twisting fact and persuading them that he has a better offer than lumps of gold that the Landlord pays them. An offer to slay more people, killing tougher opponent, bringing destruction whenever they go and writing their name in the history book with a golden pen. An offer that the two hastily agreed upon.

Later that day Noth concluded that the effect of intense pain, light, physical brain damage, and perhaps spell must have effected their memory and reasoning, and maybe intelligence, because their intelligence seems to deteriorate every time he talks to them, making them more and more like an obidient raging animal.

Deep in his mind Noth knew that he has found himself two loyal servant.

(if you just give me your e-mail i would be more than happy to send you the full version. Or if you afraid i'd misuse it, i could pm it to you cause writing it all here will distract the topic) and i don't have the courage to write it all up in the creativity surge forum. (those great story that they write in the cs forum kind of scare me a little bit)

- Arilia and Iralia are twins. A fruit of a lesser god one night stand with a Mentawai Warrioress. A god that abandoned the twins mother, cause he simply forget ever having a one night stand with their mother.

The reason for the twins to become a sorcerer is fuelled with an ambition to bring justice to their mother. Because they know, the fastest way to defeat and subdue a god is through magical means.

- about the item copying i'm with you. special "only one" (not random drop) should'nt used twice.

- about improving party. either one is good. you have powergaming suggestion = Let's hear it. You have Roleplaying point of view = Bring it on. I think i'm somewhere between mad gamer and powergamer with streaks of rules Lawyer kind a guy (using uncle figgy's term)

- about Ulurai Intelligence. she has become an intuitive kind a girl. more like a reflex soldier. ie a marine soldier can dismantle and re-assemble a weapon without thinking but cannot summarize a novel he just read. The manual said that intelligence govern a character's memory, reasoning, and learning ability. thus she is very easy to influence.
(the full version story will tell you how Luintail -the Morninglord of Lathander- died and how she became one of Noth's man, which in turn relate to Arilia and Iralia coming aboard)

Anyway can you tell me the intelligence score of animal,idiot, and normal person, so i could improve my roleplay aspect ?

if i bore you and you think that i'm a Rules Lawyer that needs to be hated (i do hates lawyers too please dont, cause i'm really a nice guy .

being an Indonesian, English is hard to come by here (actually in high school i was smarter than my english teacher) give you a feel about things around here don't you think ?) so please forgive the poor english and the lack of grammar ^_^ Especially about the assignment of reading sign (you know Caps, space, period, and the like).

[ July 28, 2003, 17:32: Message edited by: Alurith ]

 

Of course you are powergaming. You shouldn't even need to ask, it's that obvious. Not that there's anything wrong with powergaming.

Please format your posts to make them easier to read. Put in blank rows...

... like that.

 

I think powergaming can be reasonably defined by any caracter having below about 6 for any stat.

If you think about it, it would be rare indeed to meet someone so ugly you cannot stand to look at them, so stupid they can't open a door (yet they their swordsmanship seems undoubted ), etc, etc.

Even soloing a sorcerer I did not reduce any stat below 10 (might have been 9, but I think it was 10). It just means you have some limitations, but hey, that's the challenge.

 

I guess what i'm trying to do is bringing balance (or justify if you prefer it) between powergaming and roleplaying. You know maintaining the imagination and the lust to win and overcome.

Or is it Powergaming and Roleplaying so contradict that there would be no balance between them ?. That trying to create one is only a myriad delusions ?. Ie if your roleplaying you can't powergame, vice versa.

Or this is just an evil circle with no beginning nor and end ?, and that i should forget about it and choose one of them ?

Or is there a middle way ?

 

Eh, sure there's a middle way... always is.

You just stay away form any abysmal stats (unless you make them to be part of your character and play with him accordingly). Such characters are always most rememorable ones... and interesting... but you really need to consider them every time you do anything with your char.


You can RP with powergaming character. Just make up a background, and say he's extremely bloodlusty and savage... and off you go killing all the monsters you can find.
Of course you are limited this way... there are not many people in the world who kill every monster they come across... not talking about actually seeking them out 24/7

In my experience though, powergaming is fun... for a while... and then you get bored of it. Your character is not a big-hearted brave ale-loving axe-wielding machoman, but he is rather human fighter lvl14 24 12 20 8 8 8 fullplate +5 mercurial greatsword+5 ...
While roleplaying makes fun for a long time

 

I never let any of my characters stats go below 10, gotmogs right, it jus aint cricket.

I was so into roleplaying i choose a half orc , although wen he meets up with torak it makes it more interesting but there should be more to say between them.

All the rest of my charactors are the type with a level behind stat,ie. drow, teifling, assimar, snfebrelin? except for my moon elf chaotic evil wizard. its really hard to begin with but itll be worth it in the end, wont it?