Classic Challenge: TBC beta underway

 There was no D&D Saturday this weekend as my zoom 3.5 campaign got cancelled for the second week in a row. Sadly, this meant my 4th level Barbarian had to remain in the inn and did not see any action. Too bad, RL gets in the way of gaming again as our DM was busy with some class related assignments and our other players were unavailable to take part in our virtual game session.

This was a bit disappointing also because I upgraded my stats to match our new 4th level status. According to the 3.5 rules set, after 6,000 xp, characters have progressed 4 levels and they gain some nifty perks over starting level characters including an improved base attack bonus of +4, Barbarians specifically gain the ability to rage twice per day, four additional skill points per level and at third level 

 a barbarian gains a +1 bonus on Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by traps. These bonuses rise by +1 every three barbarian levels thereafter.

Just for fun I thought I would compare the 3.5 Barbarian to its 4e counterpart since I have barely started to play the former but played the latter quite a bit a few years back during my 4e campaign in Spring, Texas.

Of course, this is like comparing apples and oranges since level progression is different in 4e with encounter powers added and being one at first level but two at level 4 for all characters. However, a character with over 6,000 xp would have been closer to 6th level than 4 in 4e. At 6,500 in 5e by comparison, that character would have been level 5 with a big jump to level six upcoming. 

Not counting any racial bonuses (according to the 5th edition PHB), a half orc, which is my race in the 3.5 zoom campaign would have their strength score increased by 2 and Con by 1just by virtue of the race, a 4th level Barbarian would get a proficiency bonus of +2, its rage would increase to 3 and rage damage would incur a +2 bonus, but that is not too much different than at level 1 with the exception of ability score improvements,

The Wow Classic TBC beta has arrived 

On the MMO front, barely five days ago Blizzard announced that the Burning Crusade beta is underway and access will be rolling out over the next few weeks. 

https://twitter.com/Warcraft/status/1362891146633043969?s=20

In an effort to enjoy the classic content before the new (old?) expansion drops, I left my wow classic sub open so that I can try a new challenge I have made up for myself. The retail game offers 20 free levels to try out the game before they lock down all the other game features. I have tried a few classes that way but currently I am trying to roll a character to try out every class and doing my best to level them up to at least 20 levels each. I would love to max them all, but that seems a bit ambitious to a casual gamer like myself.

Flintforge the Dwarf battles a Rockjaw Raider on his classic quest to 60

Taking a break from the grind in wow classic.