We return to our homebrew setting of Oranel where we find the party reuniting in Eel’s Snout to confront betrayal, trouble contacting the criminal element, and new threats.
The fully evolved form of Charmander, Charizard, is a capable of dealing out extreme damage to its opponents. It also has the same temper that can make it took difficult for many trainers to control. However one a Charizard is in synch with its trainer they become a pair to be reckoned with. Aside from a stat boost Charizard gains access to some of the most iconic and powerful moves in its arsenal. It also gains the ability to fly opening up a whole new host of combat options.
Charizard
Large beast, neutral
Armor Class 18
Hit Points 125
Speed 35 ft.,flight 65 ft.
Str 18 (+2) Dex 16 (+2) Con 18 (+2) Int 10 (+0) Wis 12 (+0) Cha 16 (+1)
Damage Resistance ice, fire
Skills Acrobatics +6, Athletics +8, Intimidation +10
Senses Passive Perception 14
Languages Pokemon, understands Common but can’t speak
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
Fire-type. Charizard can produce a flame at will capable of lighting a bonfire. Charizard has resistance to the effects of cold, and gains advantage of saving throws from ice-type attacks. Charizard has disadvantage on attack rolls made in the rain, and its flamethrower only deals half damage.
Fiery-Spirit. Charizard has advantage on attack rolls made against a creature of an equal or higher level.
Pokemon. Charizard can be captured in a Pokeball, from that point on it will act as a companion to its new trainer.
Tail Flame. The flame on the end of Charizard tail is a sign of how healthy it is. A strong flame suggests it is physically well, while a dim flame usually indicates injury or sickness. If the flame on Charizard tail is extinguished it is reduce to 0 HP and must being making death saving throws. The flame is magical in nature and is difficult to extinguish. Simply trying to douse the flame or extinguish it by hand will not be effective. However, if exposed directly to water for more than 3 turns the flame is extinguished.
Willful. Charizard has advantage on Charisma saving throws. Charizard will not obey commands from a trainer whose level is lower than its own. If used during a Pokemon battle the GM determines Charizard’s actions if it will not obey its trainer.
Actions
Slash: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (2d12+8) slashing damage.
Swoop: Charizard takes flight and moves up to its full movement as a bonus action. During its movement Charizard can make either a Slash or Flamethrower attack.
Firespin: Charizard creates a swirling vortex of fire originating with 30 ft., and encircling a 15 ft area. Any creature that begins or ends its turn within this area takes 8 fire damage. Charizard may maintain this effect as a bonus action.
Fireblast: The ultimate fire-type Pokemon attack Fireblast is a devastating move. Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 50 ft., one target. Hit: 105 (10d10+10) fire damage. Non-magical wood, stone, or metal objects or structures struck by Fireblast are engulfed in flames and reduced to ashes.Each time Charizard uses Fireblast it suffers one level of exhaustion.
Flamethrower: Charizard expels a line of fire extending 40/60 ft any creatures caught in the line must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save they take 30 (6d6+2) fire damage, and 2 ongoing fire damage at the start of their next turn. On a failed save the target takes half damage on no ongoing damage.
Rage: As an action Charizard enters a rage. While raging it has advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throw. Charizard adds its level to damage rolls. Charizard gains resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. While raging Charizard cannot use flamethrower.
Submission: Melee Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one grappled target. Hit: 42 (6d8+8) bludgeoning damage, Charizard takes 8 bludgeoning damage. The target is released from being grappled.
Someone requested that we release the evolutions for Charmander as soon as possible, so I present Charmeleon. The evolved form of Charmander is a great deal more powerful, but that power comes at a price. Charmeleon won’t obey commands from a trainer that it doesn’t respect, and will run wild if it isn’t raised well.
Charmeleon
Small beast, neutral
Armor Class 16
Hit Points 72
Speed 35 ft.
Str 15 (+2) Dex 15 (+2) Con 14 (+2) Int 10 (+0) Wis 10 (+0) Cha 14 (+1)
Damage Resistance ice, fire
Skills Athletics +6
Senses Passive Perception 12
Languages Pokemon, understands Common but can’t speak
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)
Evolution. After gaining 25,000 XP Charmeleon evolves into Charizard.
Fire-type. Charmeleon can produce a flame at will capable of lighting a bonfire. Charmeleon has resistance to the effects of cold, and gains advantage of saving throws from ice-type attacks. Charmeleon has disadvantage on attack rolls made in the rain, and its flamethrower only deals half damage.
Pokemon. Charmeleon can be captured in a Pokeball, from that point on it will act as a companion to its new trainer.
Tail Flame. The flame on the end of Charmeleon’s tail is a sign of how healthy it is. A strong flame suggests it is physically well, while a dim flame usually indicates injury or sickness. If the flame on Charmeleon’s tail is extinguished it is reduce to 0 HP and must being making death saving throws. The flame is magical in nature and is difficult to extinguish. Simply trying to douse the flame or extinguish it by hand will not be effective. However, if exposed directly to water for more than 3 turns the flame is extinguished.
Willful. Charmeleon has advantage on Charisma saving throws. Charmelon will not obey commands from a trainer whose level is lower than its own. If used during a Pokemon battle the GM determines Charmeleon’s actions if it will not obey its trainer.
Actions
Slash: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8+3) slashing damage.
Flamethrower: Charmeleon expels a line of fire extending 45/65 ft any creatures caught in the line must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save they take 50 (6d10+5) fire damage, and 5 ongoing fire damage at the start of their next turn. On a failed save the target takes half damage on no ongoing damage.
Rage: As an action Charmeleon enters a rage. While raging it has advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throw. Charmeleon adds its level to damage rolls. Charmeleon gains resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. While raging Charmeleon cannot use flamethrower.
The podcast is finally getting back on track with more of our Adventures in Middle-Earth. Episodes for the next two weeks are recorded, edited, and uploaded! With that done the end of 2017 is all done and scheduled, and 2018 is looking promising as far as keepin a weekly outbound flow.
This is the first installment in what I hope will be an ongoing series on the new Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game from Evil Hat Productions. Please note, these articles are meant to serve as helpful tips for players who are trying to improve their gameplay, or who’re are hoping to make gameplay a bit easier. I will be posting an actual review of the game as a podcast on Sunday March 12, 2017 though so please keep an eye out for it if you’re interested.
Before jumping into the tips I do want to offer a warning, there will be spoilers contained in these articles. If you haven’t read The Dresden Files books and you care about maintaining secrecy than please, stop reading now.
So you’ve purchased your copy of the core game and maybe a couple of the expansions, and you’ve played a couple of games, maybe by yourself or with a group of players. One of the first things you’ll have to learn to tackle are the obstacles. Obstacles vary greatly from book to both in the actual effects they bring to table and the number you’ll have to overcome. Ranging from one to three they’re often going to hinder your progress if not bring it to a complete halt.
For example Lunar Cycle from Fool Moon prevents hits from being added to either of the Loup Garou foes. This will protect the most powerful enemies in this book.
Meanwhile Harry Captured from Death Masks prevents Harry from Attacking or Investigating. Since every game uses Harry Dresden this effectively prevents him from helping the players move towards their primary goals.
Remember this is a cooperative game so all of the players need to work together if they’re going to have any chance at winning. One of the first things you should be doing is looking at the obstacles in play and seeing how they interact with the the foes and cases. Determine if the obstacle is a major hurdle or just an inconvenience, although in most situations you’re group will probably want to prioritize getting rid of the obstacle as soon as possible.
Harry’s Talent for moving obstacles and advantages around is one key strategy to bypassing these problematic hurdles. It allows him to move far away obstacles to a more advantageous position in the row is important in that it helps minimize the cost for getting rid of them. All of the characters have abilities that allow them to remove obstacles, but some are better at it than others.
Thomas Raith’s card Family Power allows to overcome all of the obstacles in 1 row for 5 fate points. This is perfect given the wealth and prestige of the White Court Vampires with the Raith family. (In one instance we see his sister Lara Raith arrange an airlift by the U.S. Navy.) Now a cost of 5 fate points is nothing to laugh at, but if multiple obstacles happen to fall in the same row, especially n a game with 2-3 obstacles Thomas can wipe them out in a single go. Again, you have to weigh the cost and consider the opportunities carefully. In a game with only one obstacle in player this is almost certainly too high of a cost to pay.
Every character has a 1 range ability to overcome obstacles costing a single fate point. These pair very well with Harry’s ability to move the obstacles around when he discards for fate points. This of course means in many of your games you’ll have a chance at overcoming obstacles for a minimum cost. This strategy only works if you can get the obstacle where you need it to be and when you need it to be there.
Many characters have an ability with a variable fate cost or a variable range. A few of those cards have a fixed cost and range, which comes in handy. The variable cost cards are…not great. These should only be used in a moment of most dire need as they’re usually better for generating some much needed fate points. Besides t is so hard to be cool when you have to borrow your parent’s cars or you’re driving around in a beetle held together by the will of an underpaid wizard and duct tape.
Molly Carpenter’s card Borrow the Family Minivan is an example of one of these less optimal cards. As we can see it can eat up to five of your precious fate points, but it has a fixed range of 3.
Some characters like Sanya have attacks that allow them to overcome obstacles while adding hits. There aren’t too many of these cards so it is a great boon if you happen to get one. Since you can’t always count on a Knight of the Cross swooping into save the day these shouldn’t be counted on, if you happen to get one though you’re certainly going to want to use it. In general any cards that let you do more than one thing are going to be very helpful.
In short my tips are figure out what the obstacles are doing to your early on and then prioritize them. In most games you’re going to want to get rid of them straight away. Use Harry’s talent to move the obstacles around to help position them so that they can be overcome for a minimum cost if possible. If you have variable cards they should only be used when absolutely needed. Special cards like Family Power and Esperacchius are fantastic when the circumstances support them. Hopefully this helps everyone with getting over obstacles. I still think we need a Harry card that says “When a player overcomes an obstacle if Harry’s player shouts ‘Parkour” get x number of fate points.” Don’t judge me.
I do not own the Dresden Files and all of the art for this article was created by Tyler Walpole and Christian Mcgrath
The Out of Character team is going to be conducting our first twitch and charity event on February 09th, 2017 from 11:o00 AM EST until we finish our game. We’re going to have 5 players supporting various charities detailed below. The video will be available to everyone so there is no requirement to donate to watch, but please do.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Twilight Imperium it is a science fiction tabletop game from Fantasy Flight. Various alien species vie for dominance in a custom made galaxy that has been at the center of a power vacuum for far too long.
We do have an incentive for those who donate big! Anyone donating $20.00 or more to any of the charities can choose one player and designate which species that player will use during our game. For obvious reasons this incentive is limited to 1 per person and once someone choose a player that’s pretty much that.
We’re all just hoping to have a good day, raise some money for our causes and make something you’ll all enjoy. There’s a list of the players and the organizations their support below as well as links to their various websites.
Jon: Out of Character’s default GM will be playing to support The National Aviary.
Jessica: A regular on the Out of Character podcast will be playing to support Coordinated Care Network.
http://www.coordinatedcarenetwork.org
Christina: A regular on the Out of Character podcast will be playing to support the GLCC Pittsburgh’s LGBT community center.
Jason: A regular on the Out of Character podcast will be playing to support Animal Friends.
http://www.thinkingoutsidethecage.org
Rob: A friend and our resident Twilight Imperium expert. will be playing to support Child’splay
http://www.childsplaycharity.org
A local game store, Drawbridge Games, has been kind enough to allow us to play there so if you’re in the Pittsburgh area on the day of stop in and watch us try to destroy one another.
In this episode I revew the new dice & card game One Deck Dungeon that seeks to capture the feel of a classic dungeon crawl.
http://outofcharacter.buzzsprout.com/13127/457392-episode-89-one-deck-dungeon
In this episode I review The Labyrinth Board Game with Jade.
http://outofcharacter.buzzsprout.com/13127/455417-episode-88-the-labyrinth-board-game
Out of Character 
Recent Comments