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sebmojo posted:it would be terribly cheap for him to slap his forehead and go YES UR RIGHT THANK YOU I SEE THE LIGHT NOW It would, but at the same time Redcloak has no one to blame for what's going to happen to him at this point. He's sacrificed everything to the point where the plan is more important than the outcome- accepting Durkon's help would mean making a lie out of everything he's done to get to this point... and he's unable to accept that even though it's much more likely to be successful than trying to hold the world hostage. I think it's telling, too, that his God has never spoken to him. e: Durkon's apparently only level 13 according to the GITP forums, which seems kinda low. His Fort save is still probably something like a +9. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 12:48 on Aug 4, 2020 |
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Aug 4, 2020 12:43
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Yeah, that whole sequence where he's styling on V is one of my favorite moments of the whole comic. Power is power, and sometimes that comes in the form of a +8 racial bonus to listen checks. And we're still waiting for that extremely short period where Vaarsuvius is taken out of the game by the infernal trio... while still not knowing what their game is.
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Aug 7, 2020 03:59
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Even in the "obese" Orcus days, I think he was just loving well hench. Sure, he had a gut, but he also had arms the size of tree trunks. My understanding of Orcus was that he was this huuuuuge threat to everything, and then he never did anything. So he just got kinda boring as gently caress.
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Aug 9, 2020 18:07
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Ethics in DND given the 9 part alignment system is irreversibly screwed up. It's what gives Redcloak a lot of his bite as a character, because he's not wrong in his case against the system. Also, true neutral in D&D terms is either "balance in all things" or "eh, I dunno, it doesn't really matter to me." But unless you're going to get rid of that system entirely (which I'd be 100% fine with) you're stuck with all the problems it brings along. I remember the Rifts/Palladium system was better than D&D at handling those problems, with alignments like "Unprincipled" (generally OK but selfish) and "Abberant" (basically Omar from the Wire before Omar from the Wire) giving examples of how that type of person would handle different situations.
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Aug 10, 2020 17:42
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ikanreed posted:When I DM, I've taken to reskinning the alignment system as "Pick two abstract things your character genuinely believes in the importance of" That's a good way to do it.
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Aug 10, 2020 17:52
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She's Fighter 5+/Cleric 9+, which actually gives her more hit dice than Durkon apparently has. Also, Redcloak's homebrew Implosion apparently causes damage even on a successful save.
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Aug 11, 2020 14:54
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paradoxGentleman posted:This, this, a thousand times this. The only thing that matters is "Minrah cast a buff spell associated with Thor and attacked Redcloak, thus interrupting his powerful clerical spell". The fact that D&D shorthand are used to signify this doesn't change this. Nah, Rich throws in D&D stuff specifically for people to sperg over. It's not worth getting in a snit about any inconsistencies, but it's fun to fiddle with. Likewise, I don't see how even mild powergaming makes sense in a world inhabited by ostensibly normal folk. Sure, you could have an unbeatable lv 16 wizard with contingencies for everything if they're rich enough... but that doesn't jibe with the world we've been shown. Instead, it's populated by people who haven't read every splatbook and haven't contemplated the implications of spell synergies.
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Aug 12, 2020 14:07
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Per Minrah's levels and according to the OOTS forums boffins. Though looking at the link cited I'm not sure it's really accurate-she just says that she's a good fighter before she became a cleric. So she might be lower than 5th, which would make sense. The PC's could (and probably should) have leveled a couple times since we last saw their official level-ups... I don't recall anyone leveling except Elan since the Empire of Blood sideplot. 9th Level cleric is what would be required to cast Righteous Might (5th level spell), which is where I'm getting that from. She cast Searing Light during the Vamp arc, so that'd have made her 5th Level at that point.
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Aug 12, 2020 14:14
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ikanreed posted:I mean, obviously true. But trying to invent explanations in terms of hitpoints and damage over time vs "it sucks to not die from implode" seems just as grognardy It 100% is grognardy. Which is why going overboard with it in a "waaaah, D&D mechanics don't work like that!" way is real silly and people should not do that. But I like roughly knowing what the characters are capable of based upon their D&D stats, and it's neat to see the mechanics used in storytelling.
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Aug 12, 2020 21:28
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Huh, that matches the scene a lot better. When the remastered edition comes out, i expect this to be corrected via CGI! 
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Aug 13, 2020 04:44
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I wasn't reading along with a community, but I was really taken aback by familycide when I got to it. My reaction wasn't much different than V's partner in the comic. It made it a lot easier to watch V get ragdolled by Xykon, tho.
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Aug 14, 2020 12:55
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I think I started reading around the time of the Conquest of Azure City. I only just realized a few days ago that there was an OOTS thread on BSS.
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Aug 16, 2020 03:39
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It's a real good story and I strongly advise anyone who hasn't read it to buy in. Poor Right Eye.
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Aug 25, 2020 03:33
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I mean, in an ideal world Redcloak and Durkon/Minrah would have gotten together in a closed off planar space to really discuss the matter - Redcloak doesn't have a whole lot of time to listen to the proposal without, like, Xykon coming along and meteor storming everything. Also... Redcloak's used a 9th level spell, and two 6th level spells so far in this encounter. Assuming he's not fresh due to the dungeon delving, I wonder how much juice he's got left.
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Aug 25, 2020 12:38
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It's not that D&D is BAD at being a roleplaying setup (though it is) it's just that a lot of other systems are a lot better at facilitating that type of thing. And I like 3.5/5/Pathfinder, some of my favorite times have been playing them! But they just don't have the same emphasis on non-combat roleplaying that a Blades in the Dark-based game does. Operant/Abbadon/Orbital Dropkick (the co-creator of LANCER, with his SA/Comic/Twitter handles) had an excellent thread on this on Twitter starting here: https://twitter.com/Orbitaldropkick/status/1233174337395593217 e: In LANCER, for example, you can make all sorts of skill checks, and ≤ 10 on a d20 is a straight fail, 10-20 is a success with a drawback, and ≥ 20 is a straight success. No faffing about with how high the DC is so the player isn't sure, no hard line of success and not succeeding at all, while still leaving plenty of room for the GM to determine how it affects the players. And LANCER is a very, very heavily tactical combat focused game. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Aug 31, 2020 |
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Aug 31, 2020 23:25
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sebmojo posted:You're not rolling a number though, you're using a disguise you stole from the costume shop to try and talk your way into the police station so you can pull the gnome thief out of the bag of holding before he asphyxiates then swap him for the political prisoner before the assassins arrive. The number is to see if it works. I'd strongly recommend a Blades in the Dark based system. It's got enough crunchiness in combat to keep things pretty interesting, but has a very strong out of combat "downtime & mission prep" system to allow for a whole bunch of roleplaying that goes beyond just improv theater and DC checks. The main one I've played is Copperhead County - which is essentially set on a sliding scale of heightened reality from The Wire to Scarface. Dexy's Teatime Irregulars are the best damned gay outlaw biker gang across the entire south, and they've got the high quality party drugs to prove it.
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Aug 31, 2020 23:35
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You would love my games. e: gonna stan for the BITD system again, way better for combat when it comes up than PBTA.
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Sep 1, 2020 01:07
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Anyone looking to branch out/read a real good tactical combat heavy crunch sci-fi RPG with excellent worldbuilding and gigantic fuckin' mechs needs to check out LANCER. If only because Comp/Con is the best device I've seen for players and gm's to keep track of things, and it's a web app so it can run on basically anything. Though I wouldn't want to GM on a phone. One of the co-creators is the author/artist behind Kill Six Billion Demons.
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Sep 2, 2020 12:52
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fool of sound posted:I've been using roll20 for a long time. It's a bit janky but perfectly serviceable and much more reliable than most other utilities. Roll20 is either free or 5 bucks a month, and works reasonably well for multiple systems. Foundry is REALLY neat, but cost 50 bucks off the top and isn't as built out.
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Sep 2, 2020 23:28
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For wonderfully brutal oneshots, I recommend Funnel World. Each player gets four characters. They're all level 0. They die very, very easily.
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Sep 3, 2020 00:04
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Won't Oona realize that Durkon & Minrah's tracks vanish just inside the door? Though that doesn't mean that the big bads will be able to figure out where they are, especially if Redcloak is hanging onto True Seeing. Which... I think might not work because isn't True Seeing blocked by LOS? I don't recall.
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Oct 6, 2020 14:01
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Android Blues posted:So RAW Durkon and Minrah couldn't have melded beneath the surface of the stone such that Redcloak wouldn't have line of sight to the transfigured dwarves hiding there. They'd have to have at least a fingertip or hand-print or the like pressed directly against the surface, which would appear as a normal dwarf hand when viewed by True Seeing. Hah, Rich might have wrote the bit about Redcloak saving his true seeing just to make sure that aspect was covered. Count me in on team "This is where they find out that the crossed off doors are not accurate."
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Oct 6, 2020 17:30
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SuperKlaus posted:I think Fireball has explicitly lacked concussive force in its "detonation" for editions now and we all just impart that to it because fiery explosions are cooler than fiery eruptions. Doesn't Meteor Swarm do bludgeoning/force damage? I wish fireball actually did damage to perishables, though. At least they get ignited, so that setting off a fireball in a wooden cottage will still eventually burn it down. Poil posted:It is also hilariously broken and pointlessly overcomplicated, like so much else Shadowrun. Shadowrun has the highest ratio to "oh poo poo all of these ideas are rad!" to "oh poo poo these rules are a mess!" of any pnp I've played.
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Oct 6, 2020 18:06
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Kerning Chameleon posted:Planescape is specifically a setting about examining how stupid D&D metaphysics are, and the absurd philosophies that would arise trying to make sense of it all. Which is half of why Planescape is cool. The other half is because it integrates pretty well with Spelljammer, so you have fuckin' astral space pirates.
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Oct 21, 2020 17:59
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Doesn't turn undead not work on intelligent undead (e.g. vampires, liches)? Or am I misremembering.
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Oct 21, 2020 18:41
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TheAceOfLungs posted:Wondering now how many DnD players go on to become lawyers. Yo. I ain't a rules lawyer, I'm a rules lawyer!
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Oct 23, 2020 12:47
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"I am a sexy shoeless god of war!" In a Gilbert Gottfried voice.
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Jan 11, 2021 18:52
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Kadath posted:My favorite thing is when someone gets bored and posts some random poo poo, which causes a bunch of other people to check the thread because they see new posts and figure a comic is up, and then they post and I see 20 new posts so surely there must be a new comic up because of all the new posts, but there isn’t a new comic at all. 100% just happened to me. In fact, I went and checked my RSS feed to see if there was an update so I could read the new comic before looking at this thread. RSS feeds are good, and Google Reader was the only good social network. I still have friends I keep in touch with via The Old Reader RSS feed.
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Jan 16, 2021 06:21
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I re-read the Thrawn trilogy a few years back and it held up better than I expected. Sure it's not a great work of literature, but it's still solidly a cut above most sci-fi even outside of licensed works. Moreover, it actually did something with the Star Wars universe that the entire franchise has nigh universally failed at - actually exploring the gigantic and interesting galaxy that Lucas gave us a peak of before resolutely pulling back the scope.
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Jan 20, 2021 16:26
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After standing up for the Thrawn triology I'm gonna turn right around and say I thought the Drizzt books I read were real bad. But to each their own.
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Jan 21, 2021 04:59
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They're stuck with each other until the end of the gate ritual, I'd imagine. Xykon less so since there's at least some chance he'd say gently caress it and decide to do something entirely different.
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Jan 25, 2021 20:22
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People are overestimating how much Xykon knows about the actual Plan. He's suspicious, but his real irritation with Redcloak stems from the loving about in Gobbotopia and nearly getting his phylactery destroyed.
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Jan 26, 2021 15:44
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:He has, at least once. Miko was the fuckin' worst. e: No, the people back in 2009 on this thread making apologias for V casting familicide are the worst. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Jan 28, 2021 |
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Jan 28, 2021 04:13
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dun dun DUN
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Feb 19, 2021 14:12
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Half of Dracula posted:Maybe the other person was also her, but the zombified parts are reversed I find the argument that the unconscious paladins were carried in a manner that would have been impossible for one halfling to be compelling.
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Feb 23, 2021 04:14
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Dr Pepper posted:I don't think we can exactly take Girard's take on things as 100% reliable. Especially since what we have seen of Soon in person doesn't at all match the image of a Lawful Jerk Paladin. Draketooth's illusion at the fake gate location stated that he believed Soon would come looking for the other gates less than 3 months after they split up. He then kept that booby trap sitting in the desert for half a century. And poisoned his family so heavily against Soon and Paladins in general that none of them would accept a raise dead from a Lawful Good source because even after 50 years and not having any experience themselves with the Sapphire Guard. So yeah, Draketooth is not what we call an objective, reliable source.
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Feb 23, 2021 19:36
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Gwyneth Palpate posted:Maybe, maybe not. There was a 47 year stretch between when Soon died and "now." Clearly didn't hold a grudge as well as Draketooth though.
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Feb 23, 2021 21:24
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Donkringel posted:I mean draketooth composed that message less than a month of retiring to his own gate. Maybe he just forgot to dispel it and the drat thing sat waiting all these years? It did. Draketooth never removed it. Draketooth also taught his family to never, ever accept a resurrection from anyone who was Lawful Good.
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Feb 23, 2021 23:41
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Nenonen posted:Though I'm not sure if Serini would care, she's torturing prisoners so she must be chaotic evil anyway. What? She's captured and incapacitated two people, and she bonked one of them on the head without apparently causing any damage. She's also now in the cloud with them, so it's probably not actually a stinking cloud.
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Feb 25, 2021 20:35
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Toplowtech posted:e: also silver coins in a sock is totally gonna get some actual use on the table top. Yeah, I'm going to be a pc in a curse of strahd game soon, and I'm definitely going to try to pull that off.
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Mar 1, 2021 20:16
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