Formatting problems using my migration tool (and testing)

WotC Forum Recovery
#1

Just testing various codes to see if I can alter my migration software to better produce output for this board.

Blue
test
strong text
strong text

Hmm - don’t see any way of preserving colour codes. That’s annoying.

If anyone has better information on the codes used by this forum, please email me: merricb@yahoo.co.uk and I’ll see if I can get an Arena of Athas modification to my export program.

Cheers,
Merric Blackman

#2

Thanks for checking it out Merric!
It sometimes puts in [Size] tags as well and makes text really small.

One other useful item would be to tell how many characters are in the current selection to copy. And maybe be able to select some of the posts, so I want post 0, 1, 3, 9,10, etc.

#3

@flip my have a better idea of the syntax

#4

[size=4]Really small size 4 font[/size]! - that’s size 4 font, by the way. On EN World, it’s a moderate size font. On this board, which uses real font numbers, [size=12]size 12 font[/size] is a little better, but it seems to muck up the formatting. :frowning:

Header 1

Header 2

Header 3

Interesting... uses html header formatting.

Cheers,
Merric

#5

Originally posted by DuelistDelSol:

The Demiurge Molecule: A Sorcerer's (and Elementalist's) Handbook

Sought through internal pyre and wind / not ready to remember where to begin
For another day is yet to come / before the night takes us home
Arcane perfection / sweeps away darkness of the old ways
Arcane illumination / welcomes the birth of another molecule

  • Dimmu Borgir

So… yeah. I couldn’t resist. I am a huge sucker for the implement classes in 4th edition, and since we just got a new class related to them in the Elementalist, I didn’t want to just make an Elementalist handbook (cuz that would be too easy!), especially since the current existing Sorcerer handbook by Reg06 has been discontinued by him due to his leaving the game. This handbook will encompass the basics and beyond of the Sorcerer, while also giving a little bit of love to the new Elementalist sub-class and general Sorcerer utilities introduced in Heroes of Elemental Chaos.

The first section of this guide will cover the original Sorcerer class introduced in Player’s Handbook 2. Further on down the line, a post will cover what the Elementalist, the Essentials version of the Sorcerer that was introduced in Heroes of Elemental Chaos, has to offer.

Part One: What Are You?

While the Warlock works with deities and figures beyond her mortal control, and the Wizard delves into book-learnin’ to get his message across, you don’t fuss around with anything like that. No - everything you do comes from inside your very heart, soul, and blood, born from the pure essence of dragons, the changing tides of time and space, the ever-punishing and unfeeling lightning that strikes the ground, and the stars above all those clouds. Indeed, you are the Sorcerer: arcane incarnate, all magic entombed in flesh and blood, and let nothing stand in your wake.

But that’s all fluffy stuff. Pretty darn awesome, sure, but y’all are here for the meat and bones of the class’s abilities.

The Sorcerer is the half-brother relative of the Warlock in being an Arcane Striker, but as the Warlock tends more towards the Ranger in how they operate, you’re a mutation of the Wizard: the best of what you do happens in wide swaths of the battlefield, mostly with AOE attacks (Area of Effect). Your Striker features are also quite unique amongst the base handbook classes, whereby you use a secondary ability, either Strength or Dexterity, as a damage bonus to all of your arcane spells. This is very unlike the minor-action-consuming Warlock’s Curse and Hunter’s Quarry, or the conditionality of the Rogue, Barbarian, or Avenger, or the more limited scope of the Monk. On top of this, you also get variable, stacking resistances that you also pierce in other monsters, providing a rather unique secondary vector for dealing the damage you’re expected to deal.

Popular opinion has stated that the Sorcerer really doesn’t fit the bill as a Striker, since Strikers should be eliminating pogs from the board as a top priority, not just inflict mass hitpoint debuffs. In that vein, they’re kind of right - you do not have the capability to be a strong single target Striker. However, you work quite well alongside other, more focused Strikers, helping to weaken the threat of multiple mobs usually much more voraciously than Controllers can, hitpoint wise, allowing enemies to be knocked down in quick succession and resources to be allocated more efficiently. You’re basically the equivalent of an Arcane Monk, in this regard, and you should treat your optimization, playstyle, and strategies as such.

Just like before, you’ll be seeing color-codes in the guide indicating how highly certain powers, features, and other aspects rank amongst other options. They are presented as follows:

Ratings
Gold (near mandatory or jaw-droppingly good)
Light Blue (very good, or at least worth serious consideration)
Blue (good, though probably not excellent)
Black (middle-of-the-road, but not bad)
Purple (mediocre, or build specific)
Red (terrible or otherwise not recommended)

Green (no rating, shows emphasis)

And as for your Striker traits:

Striker Traits

  • [b]Alpha Striking: [/b]Until mid-Paragon, you're kind of bad at this - you only have one attack that calls off of your Minor Action, and your static modifiers won't matter enough at that point to give you a proper Alpha. However, right at [b]15th level[/b] is when you start getting powers that give you access to Free Action and Minor Action attacks with very easy application, so you grow into it over time.
  • [b]Damage/Round (DPR): [/b]All of your damage relies on you doing one thing and one thing only: attacking. Well, you have to it, but as mentioned before, your damage feature just happens. There's no Cursing, there's no conditionality, it's just rolled into all of your Arcane attacks. Coupled with a lot of your defensive utilities and powers, it's going to be very hard to stop you from doing at least something awesome each and every round.
  • [b]Debilitating Effects: [/b]Being an Arcane class, you have at least a passing expertise here, but this is in no way, shape, or form your main focus. The [b]Dexterity-based disciplines[/b] are a little better here, with the Storm Soul favoring feats like Mark of Storm to get slides going on their favorite powers and the Wild Sorcerer gaining some sweet bonuses from teleporting, on top of the Prismatic line of dailies, but again, you're a damage dealer.
  • [b]Survivability: [/b]Unlike the Warlock, you have no real interest in Constitution - even Storm Sorcerers don't need too much. You're also stuck in Cloth, which makes the very early Heroics rather scary for you in terms of defenses. It's easily fixable, of course, and Skirmisher-type Sorcerers (especially those that're [b]Strength-based[/b]) will last longer on the field with how good Dragon Soul utilities are in keeping themselves up and the dissuading effects that Cosmic Sorcerers carry around with them.
  • [b]Targeting Capacity: [/b]You have melee powers, you have close bursts, close blasts, AOEs, and multitarget Ranged powers - most of which are completely friendly. If you don't have something to target and damage on your turn, something is incredibly wrong with you.
1 Like
#6

Looking better, but a lack of colours hurts guides. I’ll upload the new tool shortly. :wink:

#7

Originally posted by DuelistDelSol:

Part Two: Class Characteristics

The kind of engine you run on is actually quite a bit less complicated than many others, but the features have their own little set of interesting caveats that make the class what it is.

Stats and Proficiencies

Hit Points: 12 + Constitution score.
At the standard for your role. Unlike your Warlock half-brother, however, you do not have the option to go with Constitution as a secondary - very rarely as a tertiary - so you’re more fragile than he might be. Still not bad, though.

Healing Surges: 6 + Constitution modifier.
Again, you’re not going to be as hardy as most other Strikers, but of those that wade in close to do their attacks, they do have a lot of neat tactics to dissuade attacks, so what you’ll have from this is fine enough.

Proficiencies: Cloth. Simple Weapons. Staff, Dagger implements.
Alright, so not having Leather is kind of a downer, but there’s something very interesting here: you automatically gain Dagger implements. Gaining access to weapliments right off the bat gives the class some major legs, especially as a lot of them carry sweet Striker-oriented bonuses (the Jagged Dagger is a particular favorite). The staff, of course, is never a bad choice, and the Staff of Ruin will love you so much.

Defensive Bonuses: +2 Will.
As a Charisma-primary class and with how masterwork Cloth works, you might have a higher Will than even your AC with this bonus. Rest assured almost nothing will twist your already uncontrollable mind.

Class Features

Spell Source: Well, it’s the one and only feature that Sorcerers get; but this determines what ability score is set to their AC and damage bonuses, your resistances, and what other miscellaneous bonuses you get. As the base Sorcerer, you have the choice of four Sources:

DRAGON MAGIC (PHB2)

  • [b]Draconic Soul:[/b] Gain a scaling bonus to damage rolls on arcane powers based on your Strength modifier. Sweet!
  • [b]Draconic Resilience:[/b] Use your Strength modifier instead of your Dexterity or Intelligence modifiers to determine your AC. Pretty much necessary considering the previous feature, and helps to keep your defenses in check.
  • [b]Dragon Soul:[/b] Your resistance factor - you choose amongst six damage types, and gain Resist 5/10/15 to that damage type permanently. You also pierce the resistances of all monsters that carry those same resistances when you use those types of powers.
  • [b]Scales of the Dragon:[/b] One of the most well-known tropes of the dragon archetype is just how friggin' tough they are. Well, with you being imbued with the essence of dragonkind, you're gonna inherit a fragment of that power. This is a great little defensive boost, exactly when you need it, and exactly where you need it.

WILD MAGIC (PHB2)

  • [b]Chaos Burst:[/b] As you don't need to have another ability score tied to your AC, you gain two unique features instead of one. Here, you enter into one of the most important parts of the Wild Sorcerer - how utterly random they are. The first time you make an attack roll on each of your turns, you gain two different benefits whether the result was even or odd. The latter benefit is excellent, but the former benefit is rather lame, considering how much more common Dexterity is as a secondary ability score of each of the Charisma-based races.
  • [b]Chaos Power:[/b] You add your Dexterity modifier (+0/+2/+4) to damage rolls with arcane powers. Awesome.
  • [b]Unfettered Power:[/b] The second unique feature you possess. When you score a critical hit, you make it known with some incredibly cool control... and if you set yourself up right, even botching your roll can give you decent repositioning.
  • [b]Wild Soul:[/b] Your resistance feature. One of the most random parts of the Wild Sorcerer build, and honestly its weakest feature due to how completely uncontrollable it is without any sort of help from feats and a couple items. It's still quite cool, and definitely thematic, but you need to pay some lip service to this feature to make it worthwhile.

STORM MAGIC (Arcane Power)

  • [b]Storm Power:[/b] Add a scaling bonus to your arcane power damage rolls based on your Dexterity modifier. Radical.
  • [b]Storm Soul:[/b] Your defensive feature. Notice I said defensive, not resistance. Good reason for that: not only does it give you Resist 5/10/15 to Lightning and Thunder damage, but as an immediate interrupt to an attack hitting you, you gain a better version of the stellar 2nd level Wizard utility Shield - by dropping your resistance for the rest of the encounter, you gain a +4 bonus to all your defenses for that round. So in case your already nice resistances are useless for the encounter, you have a new way to apply it that will always work!
  • [b]Storm's Embrace:[/b] While this feature will make you incredibly mobile, you can normally plant yourself in the back row and come out just fine - the flight speed is pretty nice on certain occasions, especially when you jack up your Dexterity modifier, but the enemy will barely feel the push. Gets better if you can roll multiple natural 20s in one attack, as you can jettison yourself a long ways away and position yourself anywhere on the board. Remember that when you fly, you do not need to land until the end of your turn (at which point you would fall should you still be in the air). Be cautioned that flight, just like normal movement, provokes opportunity attacks.

COSMIC MAGIC (Arcane Power)

  • [b]Cosmic Persistence:[/b] Strength modifier replaces your INT or DEX modifiers for your AC bonus in light armor! Again, necessary due to the Strength focus of this build.
  • [b]Cosmic Power:[/b] You gain a Strength mod + 0/2/4 bonus to damage rolls with all arcane powers. Totally bodacious.
  • [b]Soul of the Cosmic Cycle:[/b] A gigantic feature in terms of complexity, but not all that hard to understand. From the choice of three "Phases" (the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars), of which you make at the end of a short or extended rest, you gain a certain benefit. All of them are basically Strength- and melee-based, so even with your favored at-will being an Area burst, this build will want you in the front lines. All three benefits are quite cool, and all service to give you your static resistance (that, again, you pierce the equivalent). If you don't like the phase you're in at present, you can move forward in the chain from Sun to the Moon to the Stars and back to the Sun in that cycle every time you use a daily power; however, you're forced to do so whenever you become bloodied. While this seems like a downer considering you may not want to be in the phase you're now in, keep in mind that they're all very useful in their own ways.
#8

Fantasic! Thanks for all the hard work Merric!

#9

Right - try the new exporter. There should be a drop-down box on the right side that allows you to choose ENworld or Athas.org format.

Cheers,
Merric

#10
#11

Looks fantastic. Thanks again Merric!

#12

There is a plugin I think I can find for color specs. Will around this evening

#13

Cool. Let me know what the codes are and I can modify my program. :smile:

Cheers,
Merric

#14

Originally posted by raleel:

Section 1Defenses by category
If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

You are probably going to interact with most things in the Monster Manual in one specific way - through their defenses. Whether via hand to hand combat, spells, or social manipulation, they are there to be the antagonists to the PC’s protagonists. Thus, knowing their defenses is incredibly important.

Methodology

Very simple - a spreadsheet with the AC, HP, and attributes of all the monsters in the monster manual and some basic statistics run on it - an average of each. AC is not compared with anything else. In all cases, the highest AC available for the monster is used. Additionally, an average difference between the minimum of (Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity) and the maximum of these three attributes. These three represent the most common saving throws by far. This measurement serves as a basic gauge of how important it is to be selective in your spell selection with a particular type of monster. In some cases, multiple variants of a monster were available. They were computed in as well, which may lead to very slight weighting towards that monster’s attribute array. However, there are over 400 monsters - I am not concerned by the very slight impact that they may have. In some cases, the groupings (ooze, plant, etc) are very small. They will show very slight deviations from the attributes of the creatures.

It is extremely
important to note - I do not factor in ANY immunities, resistances, or special abilities. this is straight up defenses.

The Data

Let us start by looking at all the monsters as an aggregated whole
type avg ac avg str avg dex avg con avg int avg wis avg cha
all 14.25458716 14.95412844 12.85321101 14.95412844 8.516055046 11.79587156 10.11954023
As you can see, the averages are much lower than one might come to expect. As a whole, the monsters are not bright, but relatively strong and tough.

Lets add some meta-analysis into the equation

Type avg min avg max avg diff modifier impact
all 10.52293578 16.39220183 5.869266055 3
As mentioned above, this is the average minimum of Con/Dex/Wis, and the average maximum. The average diff is the difference between these. The modifier impact is essentially how much of a bonus you can expect to get by switching from attacking the maximum to attacking the minimum. Over the whole of all the monsters - 15% on spell defenses.

Lets break this down a big more - by monster type. Other posts will detail other ways to break this down

type avg ac avg str avg dex avg con avg int avg wis avg cha
aberration 14.52631579 13.78947368 13.31578947 14.78947368 11.52631579 11.26315789 11.05263158
beast 12.03092784 12.05154639 13.08247423 12.36082474 2.329896907 10.90721649 5.175257732
celestial 17.42857143 21.42857143 18.57142857 20.85714286 17.28571429 20.14285714 21.28571429
construct 15.3125 14.9375 12 14.125 5.875 10.6875 5.5625
dragon 18.31111111 21.62222222 11.4 20.24444444 13.91111111 13 16.8
elemental 14.43478261 14.26086957 13.52173913 16 9.782608696 11.56521739 10.69565217
fey 14.14285714 10.42857143 15.42857143 12 12.14285714 13 13.71428571
fiend 15.69444444 16.19444444 14.47222222 16.72222222 11.94444444 13.16666667 13.83333333
giant 15.07692308 21.07692308 11.23076923 18.23076923 9.461538462 10.53846154 10.91666667
humanoid 14.07042254 13.35211268 13 12.90140845 10.83098592 11.73239437 10.85915493
monstrosity 14.65384615 17.76923077 12.84615385 16.17307692 6.980769231 12.5 9.596153846
ooze 7.4 14.4 5.2 16 1.4 6 1.2
plant 10.92857143 10.85714286 7.714285714 12.64285714 6.142857143 8.857142857 4.642857143
undead 14.12903226 12.03225806 14.06451613 14.58064516 10.93548387 11.90322581 12.38709677
As you can see, most monster types don't deviant very far on AC. Indeed, half of the types don't even alter more than 1 point from the population. You can expect your to hit vs AC to remain relatively stable over the course of many levels. The really large noteable exceptions here are Dragons, Oozes, Plants, and Beasts. Dragons are always tough, but there are ways to deal with them. Oozes - having a low AC is not necessarily a bad thing for them, because several cause problems with weapons.

Beasts are important though - particularly for druids. Beat it in mind when you are wildshaping or summoning - they tend to be low AC and going to get beat up a bit.

The other interesting things here are that Dragons are very weak in the Dex. Big size, lots of HP, solid Wisdom, and very tough on Con. However, fireballs and lightning bolts will take them down. If you think you are going to meet a dragon, load up on these, and make sure you pay attention to color of the skin Fey are at the other end, strong in Dex, and weak in Con. Not unexpected. Neither is the Beast weakness to will. Celestials (and to a lesser extend fiends) don’t really have a weak spot. Fortunately, you probably won’t be fighting many of them.

It is not well reflected in this average, but my own viewing of Humanoids showed they tended towards the ends of the spectrum. Perhaps I will go back and add standard deviations to this to help.

Lets take a look at the advantage you may garner

Type avg min avg max avg diff modifier impact
aberration 9.894736842 16.15789474 6.263157895 3
beast 9.917525773 14.64948454 4.731958763 2
celestial 18.14285714 21.85714286 3.714285714 2
construct 8.375 16.8125 8.4375 4
dragon 10.86666667 20.46666667 9.6 5
elemental 10.86956522 17.34782609 6.47826087 3
fey 10.71428571 16.85714286 6.142857143 3
fiend 12.36111111 17.55555556 5.194444444 3
giant 9 19.07692308 10.07692308 5
humanoid 10.69014085 14.56338028 3.873239437 2
monstrosity 11.42307692 16.65384615 5.230769231 3
ooze 5.2 16 10.8 5
plant 6.642857143 12.92857143 6.285714286 3
undead 10.61290323 16.70967742 6.096774194 3
As you can see, picking you spells well with a giant can make a 25% difference in their ability to defend, and the same with dragons. In both of those cases, their low dexterities are really hurting them.

Interesting that Humanoids are pretty much the same across the board. You don’t need to fine tune for them as much, which is not too surprising.

#15

BBCode color plugin installed.

No mods would appear necessary – the color formatting is the same that you had in your first message, just had to regenerate the HTML for that.

It might have been nice to have the color bit show up in the editing menu, but apparently that’s not in play at the moment. Gonna cycle again so I can add composer-help plugin; that should at least help

Thanks for doing the forum specific updates for this, that’s mighty awesome of you! :smile:

#16

I’ve added the colour codes to the athas arena output - they seem to be working. :smile:

Cheers,
Merric