- Angrymog
- Jan 30, 2012
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Really Madcats
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People start suggesting mythologically inspired things for non-wizards to be able to do, on the basis that wizards can do anything any fictional wizard ever has done, so non-wizards should be able to do anything any non-wizard should be able to do has done, and then this bright spark chimes in.
quote:We seem to have different definitions for "magical".
For me, if it's impossible in the real world, it's magic.
Swimming a long distance at the same speed as marching is impossible. You need magic to do that and you can't do it inside an anti-magic field.
Surfing on thrown objects is not a balance problem, there simply isn't an upward force to compensate the body's weight, thus, magic.
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Sep 19, 2014 12:49
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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May 5, 2024 13:07
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- Oligopsony
- May 17, 2007
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Does anyone know of a Witch doctor class? or an Archetype besides the Scarred?
I want something like the witch doctor from Diablo 3. Voodoo, Effigies (think i misspelled that), Communing with spirits, Commanding undead (Spirits), a more jungle/swamp tribal feel. something along those lines.
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Sep 19, 2014 21:53
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- GorfZaplen
- Jan 20, 2012
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One of the things I've been having fun doing is working in homages to different anime and manga concepts, not all of them hentai. So far, I've mangaged to work in riffs on everything from Kiki's Delivery Service to Legend of the Overfiend as monster book entries. I want to do for anime something similar to what Green Ronin's Freedom City campaign book did for mainstream superhero comics, put out a very deep setting full of homages and in-jokes that remains a viable, workable setting on its own merits. I think I'm doing pretty good in that regard.
quote:The Devil Vigilante is a possibly mixed-race, fiercely ugly Japanese man with a burly laborer’s physique. Cheap tattoos and scars cover his burly arms and chest and he dresses in thrift store left-overs and steel toe workboots, unconcerned with fashion. When he invokes his demonic power, his clothing shreds, and his musculature grows even more pronounced, shredding his clothing. His orc-like cock stands proudly erect, his legs twist into something gargoyle like and enormous batlike wings grow from his clavicles, their ebony wingspan stretching nearly 30 ft. His face becomes even more hateful, more predatory when he hunts.
 http://i.imgur.com/WcHKOGR.jpg
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Sep 20, 2014 16:58
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- Tollymain
- Jul 9, 2010
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by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
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Traditional Games > grognards.txt - His orc-like cock stands proudly erect,
quote:
Hey guys, I was wondering, what would happen if a PC snorted the ashes of a phoenix before they reform?
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Sep 21, 2014 00:49
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- ProfessorCirno
- Feb 17, 2011
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The strongest! The smartest!
The rightest!
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quote:Hey!
Apologies if this has been asked before.
I recently was linked to the Vice article about female gamers, which referenced a "random harlot encounters" table that was supposedly in the first edition of D&D, put there by Gary Gygax. My friend maintains that the table was actually from FATAL (which... wouldn't be any surprise, really).
Vice has sometimes been a bit lax in their fact-checking for online articles. I figured someone here would know the answer... was that table REALLY in D&D? I'm reserving judgement either way, but I figured that knowing the truth is better than not.
It was in the AD&D DMG along with tables for every other kind of random person you might meet in a village or a city. Those random tables were some of the best things in that entire edition. To an outsider it it probably looks bizarre, but it was actually a real fantastic way to spark some interesting interactions in the game.
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Sep 23, 2014 12:47
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- ProfessorCirno
- Feb 17, 2011
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The strongest! The smartest!
The rightest!
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Reminder: this is about the literal RANDOM WHORE table.
~*~
It's funny how prudish we are today that the mention of prostitution is somehow seen as shocking and alarming.
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Sep 23, 2014 12:48
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- ProfessorCirno
- Feb 17, 2011
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The strongest! The smartest!
The rightest!
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This puts me in mind of the excellent Clickhole article, It's Time To Stop Saying 'Buxom Wench'.
quote:And it’s also important that we remember that buxom wench isn’t the only word we should stop using. Words like hedge-born lass, trumpery harlot, and round-heeled trollop all have the same impact on women’s rights and the way women are perceived. Casual use of these words further fuel our patriarchal society that simultaneously shames women for sexual activity and groups them as mere rabble of the peasant class. We need to realize that eliminating buxom wench from our vocabularies isn’t limiting, it’s freeing and it will provide a better world for the next generation of women. Truth is, the sooner we eliminate these words, the sooner we can make sure that today’s young wenches becomes tomorrow’s flaxen-haired nobility.
Note for the humor impaired - this article is a parody.
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Sep 23, 2014 12:49
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- ProfessorCirno
- Feb 17, 2011
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The strongest! The smartest!
The rightest!
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Reminder: the Judges Guild material on women was about how they were all cowardly whores desperate for men to seduce and trick because they are inferior creatures.
~*~
Judges Guild had something more extensive on encountering women.
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Sep 23, 2014 12:49
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- ProfessorCirno
- Feb 17, 2011
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The strongest! The smartest!
The rightest!
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Reminder: the literal defense being used here is "Ok but the book said whores and female wizards are basically the same so, you know, a comedy of errors!
~*~
I think it's pretty much impossible to understand the random prostitute table without the context of the fact that it is a subtable of a larger table of potential encounters in a city. And we might go further and say that the unstated assumption of that table is that you are in a bad part of town.
Harlot occupies one small portion of a 3 page description of the various encounters that are possible, which include many explicitly female and implicitly female options. It includes the possibility that the harlot is male, most explicitly a 'pimp'. The subtable and accompanying description are intended to make it difficult for the players to actually recognize harlots amongst the other possible outcomes, and for that matter, to distinguish recognize the other possibilities. From the varying descriptions, the harlots in question could be: assassins, beggars, clerics, demons, dopplegangers, druids, fighters, gentlewomen, goodwives, illusionists, magic-users, merchants, monks, night hags, nobles, paladins, rakes, rangers, thieves, wererats, weretigers, werewolves, or vampires. I think it's very notable that the harlot entry explicitly calls out that a harlot might be mistaken for a female magic-user or vica versa. It's like jumping up and down and saying, "Hey! DM. That 12th level Magic User could well be a woman!" They idea I think behind the table is to try to provoke a comedy of errors, where the PC mistakes some other sort of encounter for a prostitute or conversely mistakes a prostitute for something else. Gygax was quite fond of using the baser instincts of this players to get them into trouble. Accosting a noble, gentlewoman, goodwife, illusionist, magic-user, monk or beggar on the assumption that any woman encountered had to be a prostitute would definitely be big trouble. On the other hand propositioning an evil cleric looking for sacrifices, a vampire, a weretigter, a nighthag, demon, or doppleganger would lead to a different sort of trouble. Similarly, not every dandy on the street is a pimp.
And to a certain extent, prostitute is simply reasonable simulation of the assumed setting described in the 1e Player's Handbook - a frontier boomtown near ancient ruins and dungeons in a world that is drawn in part from medieval and certainly pre-modern sources.
I think what is most jarring to me about the appearance of the table is that I know as a matter of fact that this was a book being purchased by 6th-7th graders, some of whom were baby sitting their 3rd grade younger siblings. I think it's pretty clear that Gygax never imagined that was the audience for this book. Compared to that jarring contrast, any sexism involved in having such a table - if there is any - just seems really minor. I might feel different as a woman, but its hard for me to speculate, in part because I don't think all women who play D&D are going to have some sort of simple stereotypical response to this table either.
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Sep 23, 2014 12:51
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- ProfessorCirno
- Feb 17, 2011
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The strongest! The smartest!
The rightest!
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In conclusion, ENWorld is more then happy to continue defending whatever sexist bullshit existed in AD&D, because by god, AD&D was perfect and if the womenfolk don't like it then it's their own problem!
Oh also in conclusion this is the core audience for 5e.
One last thing...
~*~
quote:makes me wonder: is there such a chart in FATAL? and what does it look like?
~*~
...When someone states your game can easily be compared to FATAL, it's a sign that you've hosed up in some major ways. The ENWorld stance: NO NO NO LALALALALALA I'M NOT LISTENING!
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Sep 23, 2014 12:54
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- Libertad!
- Oct 30, 2013
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You can have the last word, but I'll have the last laugh!
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Is there a sexy fox race on Pathfinder? I've played Sakura Spirit recently on steam whilst falling in love with one of the lovable kitsune maidens on it and want to play it on my players on the IRL group I GM...
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Sep 24, 2014 01:49
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- greatn
- Nov 15, 2006
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by Lowtax
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There is literally a kitsune in PF so if that floats your boat knock yourself out.
(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Sep 24, 2014 01:52
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- Libertad!
- Oct 30, 2013
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You can have the last word, but I'll have the last laugh!
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There is literally a kitsune in PF so if that floats your boat knock yourself out.
That was a grog-quote. I should've used the quote tags.
Grog Tax:
Amazon Review of 4E Corebook Set posted:I have been A Dungeon Master for over 20 years, running 1st, 2nd, Skills & Powers and some 3rd edition. This new system is not working, it just doesn't feel like Dungeon & Dragons. Go back to 3.5 or even better PathFinder which is a great SYSTem!!!!!!!!!
A very good, in-depth review devoid of unnecessary hyperbole.
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Sep 24, 2014 02:11
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- Slimnoid
- Sep 6, 2012
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Does that mean I don't get the job?
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Tarnowski posted:The OSR, Storygames, and Attacks on 5e D&D
If we look at expressions of contempt for the OSR, attacks on personalities in old-school, and expressions of disdain or disapproval for or attacks upon 5e D&D, we find a common pattern emerging. Some people might mistakenly assume that the issue is with the personalities in particular, and that things like the OSR or 5e are just "collateral damage"; that attacks on me, for example, may involve insulting the OSR or 5e because I'm a fan of both, but the real point of said attacks are to get to me. I think that's wrong; in fact, it's the other way around.
It's pretty often I get known Forgist/Storygamer types trying to claim I'm "not a real game designer" because my games are "derivative" and don't use jenga tiles and tiddlywinks like their serious examinations of space marines with ennui. There are certainly people who, say, hate me and use the OSR as just a premise to attack me. However, there's also a general sense of contempt for old-school gaming in certain circles that has nothing to do with me or any other "personality". It has to do with the pseudo-intellectual Forge "theory" crowd feeling pissed off that their ideas largely failed, and that now the OSR's ideas are hugely influential on things like 5e D&D.
The issue is with their resentment over having lost. There are people who never forgave regular gamers for not wholeheartedly abandoning D&D and embracing their RPGs about playing degenerate victorian university professors or holocaust victims suffering helplessly or pirates raping the corpses of cabin boys.
Many of these people became the Pseudo-activists who we see all over G+ today, the ones arguing that regular roleplaying needs to be put down for the sake of the children or something. It's that same elitist hatred of D&D that a certain sector of the hobby always had, only now they've weaponized social causes to use these to attack those people and games they've never ever liked.
Which is why if you have an OSR RPG that mentions wenches or shows an image of a warrior woman in skimpy armor (or even in FULL armor, as the whole "Aleena the Cleric is sexist" thing proved), you're history's greatest monsters; but if you are a Storygame-designer who's got a game where you play underaged maids who lust after their adult masters while wearing transparent uniforms, you're a bold visionary and sexism is irrelevant because you have the Cool-kids seal of approval.
It proves this isn't about "causes" but about going after the games you don't like. So likewise, attacks on individuals isn't about individuals but about ideology.
These people doing the attacking are people who not long ago were saying all of D&D is "incoherent" and an inferior game. And the OSR was the furthest away from the spirit of all their ideas, saying "no, we don't need to invent all-new theories and radically re-invent the hobby; we need to get back to the roots. No, we don't need to trust our games to a group of self-styled elite indie game designers, we need to give the GM more power, not less". They DESPISE us for that, and for the OSR's success.
Never mind that the one group is an RPG group, playing games that are about interpreting a character in a virtual world, while the other are storygamers, whose goal is the creation of a story (with world and character being mere backdrops to that). That's the core abyss that stretches between one concept of what RPGs should be like and the other, but the separation in basic philosophy goes further than that, when you look at the details of just what this means in practice.
Beyond that, the storygamers believe that rules must be played as written, and that no one should be able to alter them. The GAME DESIGNER is god. The GM is like a monopoly banker, a mere facilitator who brings the glorious ideas of the designer (whose word is law) down to the players (who are the ones who get to be in charge of the group). The GM is in charge of almost nothing. His 'world' and characters are just a potemkin-village for the players to weave their story-making in, and he very explicitly isn't allowed to be the one who makes Story (the whole point of the storygame) because that would be bad.
The OSR believes that rules are utterly malleable, you can take stuff out, put stuff in, you can run a game using the LotFP rule book, the AD&D 1e Monster Manual, and the Adventures Dark & Deep GM guide while running an adventure made for Labyrinth Lord and using magic items from Arrows of Indra.
The GM is god. The game designer is a producer of ideas to help the GM create and run his world, and the players get to play their characters, but are not the ones in charge of the world, or the group. They are in charge of their characters, which is 50% of the point of an RPG, and the GM in charge of the virtual world where the characters operate, which is the other 50% of the point.
Both the OSR, and D&D 5e, are a forceful rejection of all the core storygaming values. So don't expect 'consultantgate' to be the end of things. Nothing will ever satisfy these people because what it's really about is the entire hobby having rejected their idea of 'sophistication'. Take this as a prophecy, cheap and obvious as it may be: it is only a matter of time until the next big attack on 5e, and the efforts to undermine the game, and the entire hobby, will not stop.
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Raleigh Volcano + Brebbia no.7 Mix
Currently smoking: the dust in his empty Patreon account.
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Sep 24, 2014 03:58
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- Oligopsony
- May 17, 2007
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I had no idea who this was, but Google directed me to a 37-page Dragonsfoot thread about whether she or some other D&D iconic is hotter.
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Sep 24, 2014 05:19
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- ProfessorCirno
- Feb 17, 2011
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The strongest! The smartest!
The rightest!
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There's been no consequence for death even back with 3e, and additionally 4e and 5e make dying itself a rarity (except for your characters, of course) with its laughable access to healing and please-don't-die over and over again saving rolls.
But that's deliberate design choices based on who's left in the RPG hobby.
Gamers who sought challenges in gameplay abandoned RPGs, especially D&D. All we got left are "gamers" who can't handle games where somebody loses as it would offend the New D&D Credo of "Everybody Wins!" (except for you dead reader, of course). It's not just a RPG thing. We've seen the same "if you play, you auto-win" mentality infect video games for years too.
And I don't blame WotC. Apparently "Everybody Wins!" is good for sales of books (not much for actual play), and from a pure financial "loot the rotting corpse of the hobby" perspective, it makes complete sense.
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Sep 24, 2014 05:37
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- LightWarden
- Mar 18, 2007
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Lander county's safe as heaven,
despite all the strife and boilin',
Tin Star,
Oh how she's an icon of the eastern west,
But now the time has come to end our song,
of the Tin Star, the Tin Star!
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Context: Pundit is still mad at Sarah Darkmagic because she had a G+ conversation where she revealed that she doesn't feel that Aleena the Cleric represented her idea of a woman. He has continued to bring this up every time he mentions her as proof of her "Outrage Brigade" status, most prominently in his post about Aleena back at the start of August.
For those of you not familiar with the character, a bit of backstory:
Back in the AD&D Red Box there was a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure portion where you played as a fighter and wandered around a dungeon looking for loot and adventure while the game introduced the concept of things like ability scores, attack rolls and damage. To the game's credit it specifically states "It doesn't matter whether you are male or female."
Anyways, during the railroad introduction Aleena is a character who winds up patching your early injuries, turning some ghouls, talking you through the basics of adventuring.
D&D Basic Set, 1983 posted:
You see a door ahead, to the right. This is unusual in caves, and you approach it slowly and quietly. The corridor continues past it, into the darkness.
Together you examine the door. It is made of wood, with heavy iron bands across it; the hinges seem to be on the other side. A large keyhole is below the curved metal handle.
"I don't see anything dangerous," says the cleric, "but then, I don't know much about the traps you sometimes find on doors. It's worth a try." She tries to open it, but the door seems to be locked. "Could you try to force it open?" she asks.
You back up a bit and, with a short run, slam into the door. But try as you might, you can't break it open.
"What a pity!" murmurs Aleena. "There is probably some nice treasure in there, but we can't get to it. We need a thief!"
Seeing the puzzled look on our face, she explains. "You may thing that thieves are bad, but many of them aren't. Theives are adventurers too; some of them are quite nice folks, really. You do have to keep an eye on your coin purse, but a thief can be very helpful in finding traps, opening locks, climbing walls, and doing other things.
"I'm sure we could do better if we had a thief along, and a magic user could help, too. I usually go adventuring with those types, plus a couple of big fighters like you to handle the rough stuff. Unfortunately, nobody else wanted to come along this time."
Anyways, after this segment you come across the goblin you fought in the beginning who is currently being berated by a man Aleena identifies as Bargle, "one of those bad magic-users." Since they haven't noticed you they talk about how they plan to ambush you two while you two discuss how Aleena will handle the caster while you handle the goblin. As part of the ambush Bargle turns invisible, prompting the two of you to attack before he does the same to the goblin. You fight the goblin while Aleema looks for the caster, only to be surprised and completely one-shot by Bargle's magic missile (1d6+1 automatic damage against a 1d6 HP cleric, not that any of this is rolled since it's essentially in cutscene mode).
After you finish off the goblin Bargle casts a spell on you and you must make a saving throw! On a 16 or less the spell takes effect- he charms you, leads you out of the dungeon, puts you to sleep and then steals your poo poo, and when you wake up you go back into the dungeon to find Aleema's body and return her to her church for burial (running from ghouls in the process. On a 17 or higher you resist the save, and then get a chance to stab and kill Bargle (wizards are squishy), though if you miss he runs away and you won't pursue because you fear his magic. You then gather your loot and drag Aleema's body back to her church as before.
So yeah, you have only a 20% of not getting your poo poo wrecked.
Here's the art in question:
Slightly out of order here because the 3rd picture is actually after the 4th picture in the book, since the 3rd picture is what happens if you make the save (and get loot), while the 4th picture is what happens if you fail it. That said, she's dead either way and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
LightWarden fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Sep 24, 2014
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Sep 24, 2014 07:04
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- Oligopsony
- May 17, 2007
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Because rapacious violence is pretty much a male trait. I know that sounds sexist, but it is true. So my rapacious monsters are going to have largely male traits, even if they aren't fully equipped.
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Sep 24, 2014 14:58
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- RPZip
- Feb 6, 2009
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WORDS IN THE HEART
CANNOT BE TAKEN
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quote:Yeah. Not to toot my own horn, but if you think that a properly balanced, knife's edge life or death fight can't exist in 4e, read this. I pushed my players to breaking and they fought back and won through their own skill: it was fantastic.
I think most boss fights in 4e end up like that, actually. It's a little too consistent.
You know how every summer blockbuster now ends in the same set piece of a city being destroyed in a giant battle between the hero and some invading force? That's all theoretically exciting but after Man of Steel, Star Trek Into Dark, Avengers, Tranformers 1-4, and countless others its a little boring and predictable.
4e to me was the same way. Really exciting the first few times but super predictable and tired by the time you've had a dozen boss combats.
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Sep 24, 2014 23:37
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- Grimpond
- Dec 24, 2013
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quote:
You don't run home, you spike the doors and set a rotating watch. Its like you've never played an RPG, Jesus Christ.
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Sep 25, 2014 00:00
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- Grimpond
- Dec 24, 2013
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quote:
You know how every summer blockbuster now ends in the same set piece of a city being destroyed in a giant battle between the hero and some invading force? That's all theoretically exciting but after Man of Steel, Star Trek Into Dark, Avengers, Tranformers 1-4, and countless others its a little boring and predictable.
4e to me was the same way. Really exciting the first few times but super predictable and tired by the time you've had a dozen boss combats.
4e in a nutshell folks, absolutely the same climax for everything with no variation, because the 4e is like movies watched back-to-back one after the other
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Sep 25, 2014 00:08
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- P.d0t
- Dec 27, 2007
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I released my finger from the trigger, and then it was over...
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Found this in a facebook group:quote:this Isn't rpg.net or therpgsite.com, you can usually ezpress an opinion here without being redtexted, banned, flamed or having your mother Insulted. Now If you claimed to like the system that shall not be named that might be a little different. 
Also, from the same group, this article about how 5e is not "dumbed down", followed by a huge debate between the meaning of "dumbed down" vs. "simplified" vs. other poo poo
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Sep 25, 2014 01:10
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- gradenko_2000
- Oct 5, 2010
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HELL SERPENT
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Lipstick Apathy
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The AV Club reviewed DnD Next
(emphasis mine)
quote:When playing Dungeons & Dragons, players often divide their time between role-playing—where the rules typically take a back seat—and combat, when the knowledge of what your character and your enemies are capable of is the key to success. I’ve divided this column in a similar way. If you’re a novice or casual player primarily interested in what playing the latest edition is like, check out the “For everyone” first half. If you’ve played previous editions, particularly 3.5 and 4th, and want to see how the rules have changed, you’ll find your answers in the second half of the story, though I encourage reading the first half as well for essential flavor and context.
For everyone
Wizards Of The Coast released the Player’s Handbook for its fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons in August, but you won’t find the words “5th Edition” on any of the marketing materials. Same goes for “D&D Next,” the designation the game was given during its extensive period of public play-testing. That’s because Wizards seems to be aspiring to produce something other than just another set of rules. The final product keeps many of the components implemented in D&D 4th Edition, which was discontinued just a few years ago, while resurrecting the aesthetic of 1989’s 2nd Edition. The new system—called simply D&D—is designed to reach a broad swath of players, innovating on its legacy to produce what might as well be called something like D&D: Eternal.
Much like it was in actual medieval times, early life in D&D can be dangerous. That was less true in 4th Edition, which gave characters more health and healing options. Here, the road to glory is paved with dead low-level adventurers. When most characters in a party have less than a dozen hit points, you’re very vulnerable to an unlucky roll of the dice and can be pretty much screwed if you roll poorly or an enemy hits the maximum damage jackpot.
While playing through the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set, we attempted to stealthily approach a cave filled with goblins. But we were spotted, our fighter was filled with arrows, and we had to unceremoniously drag him away. The first boss in the adventure, a bugbear with some goblin minions, nearly wiped out our party. Even after defeating them, my character—a cleric—went from perfect health to unconscious and dying by simultaneously falling while climbing and being sniped by a nameless goblin.
The first level of Hoard Of The Dragon Queen, the first full adventure released for the new editions, is even more intense. Things start with a bang as your party must try to save a town under assault by a dragon far too powerful to be slain by fledgling heroes. We saved as many civilians as we could from vicious kobolds, mad dragon cultists, and hardened mercenaries that were thoroughly looting the place. When we finally made our way to the relative safety of the town’s fort, we found plenty of other tasks in need of doing, including clearing out a drake blocking an escape route and stopping cultists from burning down the town mill.
The game does a great job at creating urgency. You can rest and heal, but doing so comes at the cost of one of the possible quests and the experience points you would gain for completing it. But players who want to do everything are setting themselves up for failure. One quest actually leads you into an ambush by cultists looking to stop your party’s meddling. If you don’t see it coming, you’re in for a really hard fight.
The adventure also makes the bold decision of starting your heroes off as losers. The best you can do is mitigate collateral damage and annoy the dragon enough so it gives up its assault—slaying it is completely out of the question. Once we did that, its sword-wielding half-dragon champion marched out threatening to kill hostages if we didn’t send someone out to meet him in single combat. I somehow got nominated: The fight was quick, ending with my character unconscious and dying while the champion, satisfied, held up his end of the bargain and led the retreat. I’m sure we’ll be seeing him again soon, and I’m hoping the rematch goes better.
You might notice a trend here. It’s easy to get attached to your characters, but you might want to wait until they level up. While the game has gone back to the brutality that was present in 2nd Edition, Wizards Of The Coast has worked hard to streamline the game to make it easier for novices to pick up. For better and worse, this edition of D&D is much lighter on math than its predecessors. You also have fewer decisions to make while leveling up.
But while it cut back on some rules, it hasn’t skimped on the flavor. There are new spells and abilities that give characters a fun, goofy, mystical feel without having any real effects on the game. Clerics can cause claps of thunder and make their voice boom like Moses passing judgment. Some creepy warlocks can read minds without casting a spell. Sorcerers using unpredictable wild magic can accidentally turn themselves into a potted plant or summon bizarre monsters like flumphs and modrons.
The game also encourages all players to flesh out their characters with a bonds system, which represents things they feel strongly about. Both the Dungeons & Dragon Starter Set and Hoard Of The Dragon Queen use these to hook characters into the adventure and create entertaining party conflict. For instance, out party was very surprised to learn that our jovial halfling rogue was actually a former member of the murderous gang that had taken over a village we were trying to protect in the Starter Set adventure. In Hoard Of The Dragon Queen, our bard was convinced he was actually a golden dragon cursed to live as a humanoid until he died nobly. It made him a bit suicidal but an interesting companion to my character, who hated all dragons because one had destroyed her home.
For veterans
Flavor’s all well and good, but most seasoned D&D players I’ve talked to are interested in how the game’s systems have changed. Let’s dig in.
The new D&D is a much cleaner version of the 3.5 edition, with a few ideas borrowed from 4th Edition. The new rules have largely abandoned variable bonuses and penalties. It used to be if an ally helped you staunch someone’s wound, you might get +2 on a heal check, or if you were lying prone you had -4 to attack.
Now, all of those statuses manifest as either “advantage” or “disadvantage.” If you have advantage, you can roll two 20-sided dice and take the better result; if you have disadvantage you roll twice and take the worse result. If you have two things that give you advantage, you still only roll two dice. If you have three things that give you advantage and one that gives you disadvantage, you don’t have advantage and roll one d20 as normal. That’s it.
That simple solution does help avoid the long delays too often caused by trying to figure out exactly what modifiers apply to your attack—especially after a near miss—but it’s disappointing that some sources of bonuses have been done away with altogether. Flanking an enemy no longer gives you any benefits, removing a big component of the tactical movement once so important to the game.
While 4th Edition proved short-lived, largely abandoned after only five years on the market, Wizards Of The Coast clearly views it as a learning experience rather than a failure and works hard to make sure that players who enjoyed it don’t feel abandoned. Dragonborn, a race of humanoid reptiles invented for 4th Edition, appear as an “uncommon race” in the new Player’s Handbook. The warlock class is nearly identical in flavor to its 4th Edition version as spell-casters who draw their power by making pacts with powerful beings of ambiguous or outright evil morality. Players can still take a short rest to recover some abilities and heal. Spell-casters are always capable of using some minor magics, meaning you’ll never see a wizard forced to take up a crossbow. Clerics, who were often relegated to spending all of their actions casting healing spells in 3.5, are still capable of both keeping the party alive with a quick spell, then rushing into combat to smash some enemies in the face with a battle hammer.
Just like in 4th Edition, there are several versions of each class, which provide a high level of diversity in the party. For instance, a monk can be a stealthy ninja or focus on conjuring elemental powers in a way that’s reminiscent of the martial arts-themed magic of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Fighters can be a straightforward damage dealer as a champion or wield a variety of combat tricks as a battle master.
But the different character classes play far more like 3.5 than 4th Edition. Instead of various fancy strikes that can be used a certain number of times per day or encounter, fighters are back to just hitting things with weapons. Wizards have returned to choosing a certain number of spells each day from their spell books. Building a character that dabbles in both paladin and rogue is as easy as taking a few levels of both classes. Many of the classes have been radically improved. There isn’t a single leveling up where the only benefit is a few more hit points. Each new benchmark unlocks some new component of your class, rewarding your dedication to one path over the course of the game’s 20 levels.
Wizards Of The Coast also took pains to eliminate or tone down some of the things that made the game unbalanced. Higher-level parties were often covered in buffing spells that could provide them with everything from big attack bonuses to immunity against various ill effects. Now, many of those buffs require concentration, meaning that each caster can only put up one at a time. If your wizard or cleric gets stabbed, they might lose focus and drop the spell. Casters have far fewer spell slots, so those buffs are always going to be taking up a spot that could also house more directly offensive powers.
Along with providing good fuel for role-playing, the bonds system has in-game benefits. When players emphasizes their traits, the dungeon master is encouraged to reward them by providing the character inspiration, which they can use to gain advantage on a future roll for themselves or a friend. Bonds are also used to integrate characters into published adventures, giving the option to choose some exciting ties to the game’s world for your characters.
These are just my early impressions, and I’ve learned from experience that there are often spells or abilities tucked into D&D’s rules that, when used in a certain way, can break the game because they’re just too powerful. There are likely classes that, when played side by side, will prove to be of radically different efficacy. I haven’t found any of those big problems yet, but I have found a lot to be excited about. I just hope my character can survive long enough to experience what the game has to offer.
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Sep 25, 2014 06:51
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- Gravy Train Robber
- Sep 15, 2007
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by zen death robot
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Thread title: "Pesky Character Classes"
quote:
Just out of curiosity, lets say you have a pesky fighter that is really hard to deal with on the battlefield. Really high AC, hard for the enemies to hit most of the time. What are your favorite ways of knocking these players down a notch? For example, I love the "heat metal" spell. Works great on getting those fighters to shed the full plate.
gently caress you, non-wizard
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Sep 25, 2014 07:58
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- Chaltab
- Feb 16, 2011
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So shocked someone got me an avatar!
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Fine. That's fair. But 4e is just an attempt to make a table MMORPG and it has totally departed from the main concept of how to play an RPG. It may work as a game and be enjoyable, sure, but as a version of D&D it was a failure, a fact that bore out in its performance. I have a large comment elsewhere on teh post with more details.
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Sep 25, 2014 08:49
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- Alien Rope Burn
- Dec 5, 2004
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I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
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The AV Club has really just become the sort of thing the AV Club of decades past would relentlessly mock. It's like watching National Lampoon turn into People.
Sean K Reynolds posted:I’ve added tickets for my RPG wondrous item and monster design class to my Etsy store. Classes are currently available for September and October 2014.
The two-week class is $50. Here’s what it entails.
1) You write a wondrous item for the Pathfinder RPG and send it to me.
2) I read your wondrous item, create developer notes for it, and email you these notes.
3) You and I have a live 1-hour Skype or Google Hangout chat discussing the developer notes, your wondrous item, its successes, and its problems.
4) We repeat steps 1–3 for designing a Pathfinder RPG monster.
6) I give you a week to revise your wondrous item and monster and email them to me.
7) I develop the revised wondrous item and monster and have an editor edit them.
8) I collect all the edited magic items and monsters for this cycle of the class (5 each for the September cycle), compile them into a free PDF, and publish through Sean K Reynolds Games, giving you full credit to you and the other designers in the cycle. (Note: This does NOT disqualify you from RPG Superstar!)
9) You get a copy of the compilation PDF and a digital certificate stating you have completed an RPG design course from me.
Whether you’re interested in Paizo’s RPG Superstar competition, you’re a designer who wants some behind-the-scenes information and advice about item and monster design, or you’re a GM who wants to create new stuff for your campaign, these classes can improve your design chops.
If you’ll be at Gen Con 2014, you can get an idea of the kind of topics these classes will cover by attending my free seminar on Sunday from 12 to 2 called SEM1462186 Magic and Monster Advice for RPG Superstar. Of course, the classes give you one-on-one time with me instead of the seminar’s group discussion.
A judge for RPG Superstar is looking to collect money on a course on how to pass RPG Superstar? That sounds... ethical...
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Sep 25, 2014 14:35
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- clockworkjoe
- May 31, 2000
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Rolled a 1 on the random encounter table, didn't you?
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I wanted to ask in the chat thread during the talk about this thread, but it was closed before I caught up - what are the best bits of g.txt? Someone mentioned DM Mask and I have no idea what that was. I could never keep up with this thread until the grog tax was passed, speaking of which:
quote:Only play modules designed in the eighties and early nineties, before all this political nonsense started creeping in and the mangina gen X ers and Y ers started becoming content creators. The older modules are much more intelligent anyway. No one who grew up reading Facebook updates, Gawker, and watching front page Youtube videos is ever going to be capable of making something intelligent and compelling.
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Sep 25, 2014 23:51
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- Chaltab
- Feb 16, 2011
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So shocked someone got me an avatar!
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Someone mentioned DM Mask and I have no idea what that was.
A classic bit from the first post of the old thread. quote:CHAPTER I. SPECIAL GAMING MATERIALS
Aside from the common gaming materials used, you must also add more. Extra gaming materials, no matter how cheap the cost, can add significantly to the image of production value. Some can also be used to produce an added dimension to the gaming experience.
A. Game Master's Mask
As the game master, you must create an air of separation between yourself and the players. You are not one of them. You are everyone else in the game world. The game master's screen is a common tool that accomplishes this somewhat. You can take it further.
For my sessions, I planned to wear a mask to hide my face. I chose a mask similar to the one used by the phantom of the opera, except that it covered both sides. White and expressionless to erase my appearance of humanity and partially detach the players from the notion that I am anything but the concept of the storyteller. It also creates an air of mystique, drawing the players' attention further into the story you tell.
It is important that you accompany this mask with a more subtle mask. The "true game master's mask". You must act more confident and add that to your voice when you narrate. Act like you know something that the players don't, especially because you do. You can go so far as to change the accent with which you speak, as if putting on the physical mask also changed your persona into that of "the game master".
more
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Sep 26, 2014 03:47
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- vuk83
- Oct 9, 2012
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grog posted:
Variant: Immersive Healing
A stable character at 0 hit points no longer regains a hit point after 1d4 hours. They remain unconscious and at 0 HP. They may be moved and tended to without taking damage. They will remain in this state without medical care.
Phase 1: Regaining Consciousness
Phase one is the most difficult phase- battling one's way back from the brink of death. After completing this phase, the character is "out of the woods".
In the absence of magical healing, another character may make a Wisdom (Medicine) check against DC 20. If the patient has a positive modifier to Constitution, this check is made with advantage, and if the modifier is negative, the check is made with disadvantage. If it fails, the check can be made again every 3d20 days, except that the DC decreases by 5 each time.
In the absence of Medical attention, the character must make a DC 15 Constitution Save every 3d20 days. If they succeed, they recover 1 hp and move on to phase 2. Otherwise, they may try again every 3d20 days, reducing the DC by 5 each time.
During this time, the character must be cared for, fed small amounts of broth, bathed, etc. Going without food and water follows the normal rules, but going without bathing runs the risk of infection. The neglected character must make a Constitution Save vs. DC 10 (modified by the DM) after the first week of neglected bathing, or take 1 point of damage and begin dying again. If the character makes the Save, but the neglect continues, the Saves increase in frequency to one per day.
When the DC becomes 0, the check succeeds automatically. If the check succeeds, the injured character regains consciousness and 1 hit point. This means that in the absence of Medicine, the character will eventually wake up as the DC gradually decreases to 0. He or she now enters phase two.
Phase 2: Recuperation.
Phase two is where the character heals his or her body- the actual physical damage.
For a week of phase two to count, a character must be able to take at least 5 long rests.
At the end of the first week of phase 2, a character regains 1/2 his or her maximum Hit dice (with a minimum of 1), but not hit points. The character may roll these normally during a short rest. At the beginning of every week thereafter, the character once again recovers 1/2 of his or her hit dice. When a character regains 50% of their maximum HP, they move onto phase three.
Every time a character is brought below 50% of their hit point maximum, they reenter the Recuperation Phase.
Phase 3: Full Recovery
Phase three is where the character recovers from the emotional and spiritual trauma of nearly dying and gets back into shape.
During phase 3, a character recovers 1/2 of their maximum hit dice (with a minimum of 1) per 1d4 days, but no hit points without expending them. This continues until they are at full hit points and hit dice.
Whenever a character takes damage that doesn't bring them to 50% of their hit point maximum or below, they reenter phase three.
Notes
This variant dramatically alters the game's pacing. Without magical healing, it will be very hard to get back into the action after a hard fight. This will make a fight in a low-magic world more of a serious undertaking, and stretches out downtime between fights. This will lead to more cautious characters and a slower sense of progress.
These rules are largely overcome with the application of magical healing and other class abilities that affect hp recovery. This is how it is intended to work. These rules just make it more immersive for low level PCs without healing magic or similar abilities, and for NPCS who lack the same. With this system, healing times in the absence of magic or special circumstances will be more like they are in our own world.
Here's an analysis of the times involved.
All times assume 1st level Medicine, a d8 hit die, and a patient Constitution of 10-11. A month is assumed to be 30 days long.
Phase 1 Timescales:
Maximum time: 240 days (8 Months).
Minimum time (with Medicine): 1 round.
Minimum time (without Medicine): 3 days.
Expected time (with Medicine): Roughly 17 days.
Phase 2 Timescales:
Maximum added time with 5 full rests: 3 Weeks
Minimum added time with 5 full rests: 1 week.
Expected added time with 5 full rests: 1 week.
Phase 3 Timescales:
Maximum added time: 16 days.
Minimum added time: 6 days.
Expected added time: 6 days.
Combined Timescales:
Maximum combined time from 0 to full hp and hit dice: 9 months, 1 week.
Minimum combined time from 0 to full hp and hit dice: 1 week, 6 days with Medicine. 2 weeks, 2 days without Medicine.
Expected combined time from 0 to full hp and hit dice: 1 Month with Medicine, 33 days without.
I really like grogs who try to make d&d more realistic. But ignoring how unrealistic hp fundamentally is
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Sep 26, 2014 04:00
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- GorfZaplen
- Jan 20, 2012
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It's Ask A Role Playing Gamer Friday! Today we Table Top Role Playing Gamers make ourselves available to our non-Gamer friends for questions about our hobby. Post about it on your social media accounts, talk about it at the water cooler or in line for coffee. Friday is your chance to be an RPG Evangelist. Remember, the Ask A Role Playing Gamer Friday motto is "Gamers are like Freemasons; to be one, ask one."
Today's question for Gamers: I frequently am accused of being a Brony, and that brings to mind a question- has anyone actually purchased or played Ponyfinder? Are any of you playing other games based on 'children's' franchises?
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Sep 27, 2014 05:08
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- FMguru
- Sep 10, 2003
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peed on;
sexually
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No longer a fan
This is my one and only post I'll make about this. Steve Jackson messed up by mass submitting DCMA takedown requests to tabletop simulator mods. That's his right but he hurt his fans and customers more than anything. Munchkin is my first REAL board game and opened my eyes to a hobby I've since fallen in love with, but I will never again purchase another product because of this.
Have a nice day.
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Sep 27, 2014 06:57
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- the holy poopacy
- May 16, 2009
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hey! check this out
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Fun Shoe
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- Must post grog. This is the big one. Your post can certainly comment on some funny grog, but the last thread was overwhelmed with low effort slackers riding the jocks of the real grogposters. Don't post grog, something bad will happen to you. Commentary on previous posts is fine, or discussing grog, but you gotta bring a pie to the buffet if you do. Somebody fucked around with this message at 02:27 on Oct 3, 2014
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Sep 28, 2014 14:19
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- GTD Aquitaine
- Jul 28, 2004
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Girls are gross, you guys.
quote:
In the RW, many early tech civilizations have some unpleasant or upsetting ideas about the role of women in society. Unfortunately, these ideas are often pretty fundamental to a culture. In DnD, they've just thrown accuracy out the window - they aren't modeling anything historical, so they can just she-out (which bugs the crap out of me for stylistic reasons). But setting like Banestorm can't. So, what's the line and how do you deal with it?
quote:
By 'she-out' I war referring to the gross stylistic blunder in DnD 3.5, where they used 'she' instead 'he' for the neutral pronoun throughout the book. That's a good example of crossing a line.
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Sep 29, 2014 13:34
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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May 5, 2024 13:07
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Sep 19, 2014 12:49
