TRPG General Chat

7:11 PM

Maybe I'll give general pointers on how to make common builds, like a squishy wizard Glass Cannon (buff INT to high hell at the behest of everything else) or a Mighty Glacier Tank armed with a Wiffle Bat (buff CON to high hell at the behest of everything else), or a fast but weak character that hits light but often (buff DEX to high hell at the behest of everything else... though this would actually still do decent amounts of damage).

...or a Run In And Smash Everything If You Have The Biggest Stick (STR), Don't Ever Fight But Snipe Foes From Halfway Across The Continent (WIS), or Don't Actually Do A Lot Of Damage Or Heal People But Distract The Enemy And Possibly Make Them Run Like Baby Man (CHA)

[See also: Be The Entire Supply Line (CHA)]

Adam

If you make your ties to damage or abilities obvious, you won't need to tell your players basic builds like those.

Yuuki

Isn't CON also tied to healing spells?

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki Yes, it is, but it's still "HP and resilience".

[Also, a self-healing tank is just scary.]

[See also: Sandvich make me STROOONG!]

Yuuki

Speaking as someone who has played an MMO tank that has outhealed a dedicated healer, it's pretty ridiculous.

You're literally unstoppable one-on-one.

No one can duel you.

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki The only downside is that, unless you also put points into something offensive, you can't deal damage worth a Drow's toe.

Yuuki

7:17 PM

@Papayaman1000 Victory through attrition, my friend.

I don't have to win. I just have to not lose.

godskook

@Papayaman1000, packaging also serves to let you "give nice things" to some packages and not others, ensuring you can actually balance the overall experience without tinkering with base mechanics for everything.

Yuuki

"And that makes you my prisoner." - Sherlock Holmes, probably

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki Or just have the 7th-level Wizard actually find a use for that minute-long casting that kills some poor guy within 20ft or so

@godskook Kind of the big idea here is to more or less avoid that.

godskook

Eh?

Yuuki

I'm just wary of allowing multiple paradigms (damage, tank, healing, control, etc.) to be controlled by one stat.

godskook

7:19 PM

I'm under the impression that you want to have variation between builds, right?

Papayaman1000

Yeah, if you dump ALL your points into Destructive Magic, you can have access to most powerful spells (if not the mana to cast them) by level 4. But wouldn't it also be nice to have, I dunno, a little band-aid spell to fix up the booboos between battles?

@godskook Versatility is the main goal. It's just that you'll be a "Master of None" if you spread exceptionally thin, but somewhat crippled if you overspecialize.

@Yuuki Well... ever see a Cleric be the party's tank? I have, and it kind of does that.

godskook

Well, too much versatility in the system homogenizes characters around the best option or a few best sets of options.

Papayaman1000

@godskook Ah, the Loadout Effect.

[That game is crap though]

Yuuki

@Papayaman1000 Yeah, 3.5e was not fun.

Although I still have fond memories because it was my first system.

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki Maybe I'm biased. I've ran it for over a decade.

godskook

7:23 PM

I still run 3.5

Although I use an E6+Gestalt variant

Which actually works really well, so far as I've seen.

Papayaman1000

@godskook Same here. I've been trying to get into 5e too, though. Pathfinder is also nice, if a bit of a mess.

godskook

I've no motivation for Pathfinder. It didn't fix 3.5's problems, and is otherwise too similar.

Not worth my time to correct all the little "errors" I'd make by switching, especially when I already enjoy 3.5

Papayaman1000

@godskook Yeah, that's kind of its biggest issue...

Yuuki

I've played Pathfinder a few times and I think their solution to the power imbalance in 3.5e was the Syndrome approach.

godskook

Syndrome Approach?

Yuuki

7:26 PM

"If everyone is super, then no one is."

godskook

Ah?

I was under the impression that they didn't fix the "linear/quadratic" scaling issue even.

Yuuki

They didn't really. They just upped the scaling on martial classes like Fighters.

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki Also known as Blizzard's approach to game balance. "If everything's overpowered, then nothing is [except it still is you braindead imbeciles (that make fabulous games)]"

Yuuki

@Papayaman1000 Whereas Riot's approach is "everyone plays with plastic shovels".

godskook

Like, don't get me wrong, Pathfinder was largely a net fix, afaik, but like... a net +2 to game design when I needed a +5 to be worth switching.

Yuuki

7:27 PM

And Valve's is "hey, you guys want any more hats?"

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki [Except the Blue shovel is totally better]

@Yuuki [Yes]

godskook

Oh c'mon, Riot's not that bad and you know it.

Papayaman1000

@godskook Sometimes.

Yuuki

@godskook The point is that Blizzard takes a "everyone gets buffs" approach to game balance, Riot does the "we prefer nerfs over buffs", and Valve is "ooo look at the pretty cosmetics".

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki [While occasionally ruining everything.]

Yuuki

7:29 PM

I'm not making a judgment call on the quality of the approach, but that's just how they are.

Papayaman1000

(But I do love my hats, so...)

Yuuki

If you ever look at WoW balance patches, Blizzard's go-to solution to class imbalance is to buff the weaker class in some way. Whereas if you look at Riot's patch notes, they tend to nerf overperforming champions rather than buffing underperforming ones.

It's probably a function of LoL having a much larger character pool, but that's their approach.

godskook

I really disagree on that.

Papayaman1000

"Come on down to Uncle Dane's DISCOUNT TELEPORTER STORE! That's right, only 50 metal for a teleporter! Only 50 metal, folks! 60% off! And this just in, if you bring a Eureka Effect you get another 20% off! 80% off teleporters! GIT YERS TODAY!!1!"

Adam

@Yuuki Maybe they're trying to prevent power creep, and a lot of their champ reworks have done a lot to buff older champs

Yuuki

7:32 PM

@Adam I don't really consider reworks a buff because they're reworks. They're changing the champion's playstyle.

godskook

Generally speaking, Riot has a "target" of gameplay power that they're aiming for, and yes, if something is overpowered compared to their estimatino of that target, they'll nerf.

Yuuki

A buff is "damage on <spell> has been increased by X%".

Adam

Except when they dont

godskook

But I don't think that as a general net trend, they end up in a power-nerf-creep

Adam

@godskook So everything gets consistently weaker so it stays relatively the same proportion wise?

Yuuki

7:35 PM

I think you're equating my belief that Riot pursues a "nerf as a preferred fix" design philosophy with a belief that nerfing is bad.

Which is not the case at all.

godskook

@Adam, that's was what I was asserting didn't happen?

Yuuki

Not only does Riot do a generally good job of game balance (great even considering how many different champions they have to balance), but the design philosophy makes sense given the parameters of their game.

godskook

@Yuuki, if you look at the state of roles as a general trend over time, I'd say most of them have gotten overall buffs since S1.

Probably all of them.

Support is the cheap-shot example of this.

Yuuki

The metagame has changed so much since S1, you can't really establish a sliding scale of power from one season to another.

Adam

@godskook I just meant that power-nerf-creep sounds like "everything gets weaker"

godskook

7:39 PM

Power-nerf-creep = "everything gets weaker", yes. Meant to be semantically reminiscent of power-creep, apparently that wasn't clear enough.

Well, you can make some comparison points, one being that between Trinkets, SIghtstones and dedicated-support-gold-generation, that role has FAR more ability to enter the late-game with actual items purchased than they did 6 years ago.

Adam

@godskook So then you are saying the weak are getting weaker? I don't see what you mean by the whole "power-nerf-creep" bit

Yuuki

I think you're confusing macro design with micro design.

godskook

I think there's no reason to assume we're talking about either exclusively. Is there a reason you think that distinction is relevant?

Yuuki

Hmm... I guess I was a bit flippant in my first remark, but my point was that Riot prefers to micro-adjust with nerfs whereas Blizzard prefers to micro-adjust with buffs.

On a macro scale, there's still power creep with both philosophies, particularly since Riot likes to pursue massive meta changes between seasons.

godskook

@Adam, what I originally meant was "I don't think Riot's balance methods has resulted in a net nerf to champions over time"

Adam

7:47 PM

Ah! That, I can understand

Yuuki

And what I meant was "when Riot thinks there's some kind of imbalance, they prefer to nerf overperforming champions". This doesn't mean there's no power creep. Particularly with the scale of their inter-season changes, you can have numerically more nerfs than buffs but still power creep.

godskook

I....think that measuring nerfs and buffs by frequency is very misleading.

Yuuki

It still feels like you're thinking of this as a condemnation of Riot.

Which it absolutely isn't.

Random thought: AC has always been a thing that confused me.

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki Yeah, it does that.

SevenSidedDie

@Yuuki Ascending or descending?

Yuuki

7:55 PM

Like, it's supposed to represent your ability to avoid damage (since any attack under your AC gets ignored) but armor still counts towards your AC?

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki Glancing blows blocked by the armor.

SevenSidedDie

@Yuuki It's a wargaming thing.

LegendaryDude

@Yuuki AC and HP are both abstractions.

SevenSidedDie

Really abstractions. HP used to be in the single digits, because being hit in war = goodnight, unless you were a Hero or Superhero, and then you got more than 1 HP. Add inflation on top of that, and we have today.

ShadowKras

To be honest, i have yet to play a game system that does a good abstration of "chance to be hit".

Yuuki

7:56 PM

Yeah, I chalk up the weirdness to the fact that it's a system that attempts to abstract parts of reality. But it still bothers me when I think about it too much.

LegendaryDude

They represent your ability to both avoid blows and to sustain blows

SevenSidedDie

@ShadowKras Riddle of Steel. Not being hit is a complex sword maneuver to block the incoming strike.

Or dodging, parrying, etc.

Yuuki

(Also, people can be a lot more dexterous in plate armor than D&D would suggest)

LegendaryDude

@SevenSidedDie Right, because in a wargame you might have a unit of 50 archers, each with 1HP. Each hit against that unit means one guy dies. 1 hit = 1 hitpoint = 1 archer dies.

SevenSidedDie

@LegendaryDude *nods*

ShadowKras

7:58 PM

@SevenSidedDie no no, i know there are systems that do a good job at either keeping it balanced or realistic. What i meant is that, of all systems iv played/GM'ed, they all left something out that could be improved in one aspect or the other.

Personally i prefer those that use a target number as defense (ie: AC), since that speeds up combat.

nitsua60

@ShadowKras Sometimes a buddy and I beat each other senseless with practice swords, wearing lacrosse helmets and life jackets. I think that system does a pretty good job =)

SevenSidedDie

@ShadowKras Oh yeah, fair. The thing that TRoS leaves to be desired, for example, is that getting good at combat is both improving stats, and learning how to play well the "maneuver minigame" that combat entails. It's not a game for a group where even one person is disinterested in historically-accurate bladework.

godskook

If it helps, armor is good enough at deflecting blows, conceptually, that Tanks use the same concept to minimize damage from BULLETS.

ShadowKras

Sounds like a pretty good system for a samurai-themed game.

SevenSidedDie

@ShadowKras Oh boy, it so would be. Its personal goal / honour / values –driven advancement system would be an ideal fit too. Now just to find a group that wants to play it.

Papayaman1000

8:03 PM

@SevenSidedDie Hi

ShadowKras

Nice, it's based on Conan.

Papayaman1000

That sounds fun

ShadowKras

You got my interest.

LegendaryDude

@ShadowKras Well of course it is, it's called The Riddle of Steel.

diego

@nitsua60 I agree this is a pretty good system (I've done similar things, though we used rattan weapons with steel helms)

ShadowKras

8:05 PM

@LegendaryDude nearly all conan stories i read were in portuguese, so the reference wasnt immediatelly obvious to me.

LegendaryDude

@ShadowKras Ah, okay.

nitsua60

@SevenSidedDie Is it available electronically?

ShadowKras

The dice system sounds a lot like legend of five rings/7th sea, which is a plus.

LegendaryDude

@ShadowKras It comes from the Conan the Barbarian movie, specifically. Not sure how close the movie was to any of the Conan pulp stories

MadMAxJr

7th Sea. Fear the knight from Eisen who rolls 7d10.

ShadowKras

8:07 PM

5 attributes aswell

SevenSidedDie

@nitsua60 It's in a weird place, publishing-wise. It's out of print, but there is an unofficial scan that is officially sanctioned, that you can get by emailing the owner of a TRoS fan board. However, if you're looking for Conan gaming with the cool stuff from TRoS, I would recommend a "inspired by" game that is pretty much exactly the same, called Blade of the Iron Throne.

ShadowKras

I am now wondering if it isnt the same system

SevenSidedDie

@ShadowKras 7th Sea and TRoS have superficial similarities, but are rather different in details. :)

nitsua60

@SevenSidedDie this one, it looks like?

SevenSidedDie

@nitsua60 That's it! Ha, cute how it baldly name-checks TRoS. What a weird situation those games are in.

godskook

8:09 PM

Question: how much damage, as a percentage of HP, should Mooks(avg 5 per encounter), Lieutenants(1/encounter) and Villains(1/encounter) do in an average round? Looking for answers in the format of "Mooks should deal 20% of squishy HP" or "Lieutenants should deal 120% of average HP".

SevenSidedDie

@nitsua60 A colour PDF version available too.

A_S00

@godskook sounds like a main site question if you add some stuff specifying your goals for encounters (since without that, it would probably get closed as "primarily opinion-based")

nitsua60

Okay, I know I've been set straight on this before: what's the difference/relationship between RPGnow and DTRPG?

SevenSidedDie

@godskook Which game?

godskook

3.5, E6+Gestalt

SevenSidedDie

8:11 PM

@nitsua60 Same, different skin. RPGNow merged with DTRPG but they kept distinct branding because customers are skittish critters.

godskook

@A_S00

I'd probably type something up for that when I get home.

ShadowKras

IMO: Mooks should never actually damage the PCs, they should be a hindrance, cause disvantages and help the eltie/boss to win. But every single time a group has been defeated by mooks, they left the game with a bad taste in their mouth.

MadMAxJr

So instead of dealing damage, mooks will now simply grapple you. Three sessions later. "Can we do something about the nine pirates attached to me?"

A_S00

@ShadowKras I feel like "never actually damage the PCs" is probably going too far, especially in 3.5 where "disadvantage" isn't a thing. Mooks probably shouldn't be much of a threat on their own, but one of the ways they should be a hindrance is by threatening to do damage if you keep ignoring or running past them.

godskook

@ShadowKras, yeah, I'm kinda opposed to being THAT anti-gritty and story-based.

LegendaryDude

8:13 PM

@SevenSidedDie Reminds me of GameFAQs and GameSpot. They are the same site, use the same forums, but the userbases (at least as of like 5 years ago) were completely different and both sides hated the merge.

ShadowKras

@A_S00 i meant in the sense that the player characters got killed by creatures completely unimportant to the story.

Yuuki

That's when you make the creatures important to the story.

The goblins went on to overthrow the archlich and rule the world with an iron claw. At least until they got hungry and chased a pig for three hours.

SevenSidedDie

@LegendaryDude Yeah. I don't get why the RPGNow/DTRPG branding split is still there though, except inertia. There's no fuss about the merger, and it was many years ago. The only thing I can see is that DTRPG's site tech now includes easy custom site skinning due to supporting that branding split (DM's Guild is a skin of DTRPG), so maybe they just keep it around out of appreciative affection.

ShadowKras

If they are important, they are no longer mooks.

MadMAxJr

"Don't ask his name, that gives him stats!"

ShadowKras

8:17 PM

If the story is about goblins, then they should be treated as important enemies.

nitsua60

@MadMAxJr actual play event

(P1, btw, is now a GM for our AL site)

godskook

If the story isn't about goblins, why are there goblins there?

ShadowKras

They are mooks!

There is some villain controlling them

godskook

But one of them killed a PC! He's not a mook anymore!

ShadowKras

or they are a bump on the road.

godskook

8:18 PM

:P

ShadowKras

That was my point, being killed by a goblin when chasing a lich isnt fun.

godskook

Oh dear, the "fun" argument.

ShadowKras

I will admit that i have killed PC's with goblins, but that didnt feel fun to me either.

godskook

Fighting goblins who are unable to kill me isn't fun either.

ShadowKras

Which is why i started that statement with "IMO"

godskook

8:20 PM

But that gets into the definition of "fun", "winning" and "losing".

LegendaryDude

Your fun isn't my fun and is therefore wrongbadfun.

MadMAxJr

Pathfinder goblins are more like Gremlins from '84. They rarely kill my players, but they'll gnaw on magical artifacts, set things on fire just for giggles, and large chaotic actions that cause problems.

So while not immediately lethal, they're a significant nuisance.

ShadowKras

i believe that the moment you introduce the concept of "mooks"/"elite"/"boss" enemies, the rules should change to adapt to that kind of game style. If we are talking d&d/pathfinder, there is no such thing as mooks, every monster has a small chance of killing a PC. But there are games that makes such a distinction, like Savage Worlds.

LegendaryDude

@MadMAxJr I once had a PF goblin execute a perfect running jump, double-flip with a half-twist mid-air (nat 20 on its acrobatics check) and land right in front of a PC just to lightly stab him in the shin with its rusty shiv. The effect was hilarious.

@ShadowKras 4e D&D specifically has mooks/elites/bosses though

MadMAxJr

The only thing I don't like about PF goblins is that they sing. And Paizo usually even gives sample goblin song verses. My party insists I sing as a part of describing the scene.

ShadowKras

8:23 PM

Yep, i also had 4ed in mind, but my experience with 4ed is null.

godskook

Ok, that's....a very limiting perspective considering such a paradigm exists even when mooks are threatening enough to kill you.

LegendaryDude

@MadMAxJr Someone actually recorded the goblin song from Runelords and had shared a download link on the Paizo forums, I made sure to use it when the time was right

ShadowKras

@MadMAxJr only certain tribes.

LegendaryDude

@ShadowKras And 4e's rules are adapted to that style of game, so it's actually a great model to use if you want that kind of thing.

ShadowKras

Yeah, i heard good things about the Mook system, just never got my hands on these pages.

Yuuki

8:26 PM

@MadMAxJr That reminds of that one module where you play as goblins.

MadMAxJr

We Be Goblins 1,2,3,4

LegendaryDude

@Yuuki There are several ^

We Be Goblins 2 was a Free RPG Day module

I found it on the rack for "sale" at FLGS and they wanted me to pay for it

MadMAxJr

All of them are free RPG day modules.

LegendaryDude

@MadMAxJr My only experience is with WBG2

I said "It doesn't even have a barcode, can't I just have it? They literally published these for Free RPG Day."

MadMAxJr

And when you see free rpg day stock marked up for sale on free rpg day, the site has a contact you can use to report the store.

Smaller stores argue, "I had to pay for the box" and it's a BS response.

LegendaryDude

8:30 PM

Well, I convinced them that they had to give it to me because they didn't have a price set for it and no way to scan it. The guy at the counter wasn't aware of Free RPG Day.

MadMAxJr

They had to, because whoever manages their inventory ordered the kit.

ShadowKras

They obtained their copy with other products for free

people here also sell WBG1 (the only one translated yet)

MadMAxJr

I've been out of the business for ten years so my knowledge of distributors is a bit dated.

LegendaryDude

@MadMAxJr They had to what?

MadMAxJr

Free RPG Day materials aren't free for the store. They have to order the kit from their distributor.

They are required by Free RPG Day to give them away, but it isn't free. The idea is the marketing value is the redeeming value for the store.

But some are jerks and try to turn around and sell it.

LegendaryDude

8:32 PM

Yeah, I'm sure someone at the store knew about it. Not the guy at the counter.

MadMAxJr

WBG1 is fun though. One of the four playables is Poog of Zargonel. A goblin fire cleric.

LegendaryDude

But it didn't have a barcode and wasn't entered in their POS system as an inventory item so there wasn't much he could do about it

ShadowKras

Everybody loves Poog

MadMAxJr

Fire = good. Dogs = bad.

Papayaman1000

Power check: Teleporting a pound of substance up to 10ft.

Outside of poisons and minor (if incredibly eye-catching) thievery, I'm not sure it could do much.

Or remote potion dosage.

No telefragging allowed.

I guess you could deflect arrows with it, but that would be a really difficult target.

LegendaryDude

8:43 PM

@Papayaman1000 What about telextracting?

SevenSidedDie

@Papayaman1000 Can it be part of something larger? Like, say, the middle of a catapult's arm, or an inconvenient wall?

LegendaryDude

"I teleport one pound of his guts outside of his body."

SevenSidedDie

@LegendaryDude Or teleinserting. "See that pound of hungry rats…?"

Yuuki

"I teleport a pound of air into his bloodstream."

Papayaman1000

@SevenSidedDie You can teleport one free object or up to a pound of smaller object (such as sand). If you need to dislodge it, then it's a no-go.

(You could, theoretically, dump a plague-ridden rat in some poor cove's mouth.)

SevenSidedDie

8:44 PM

@Papayaman1000 'Kay, that closes some exploits. Hm…

LegendaryDude

"I teleport one pound of my sword into his chest." "Wait, why don't you just attack?" "I said, I teleport one pound of my sword into his chest."

Yuuki

"I teleport my teleporting spell around his body." "... huh?"

Papayaman1000

And, of course, being a scalable spell, you could theoretically teleport an entire person thousands of miles... but there are cheaper ways to do that. I'm just looking to slap a cost on the basic spell (1lb up to 10ft. Touch range, but can be applied to an alternate delivery.)

Yuuki

Alternate delivery method: piece of paper that reads "Shinji, get in the giant robot."

Papayaman1000

The other restriction is that it cannot displace any liquids or solids.

SevenSidedDie

8:47 PM

@Papayaman1000 Is velocity maintained or not?

LegendaryDude

@SevenSidedDie <3 Portal

Yuuki

@SevenSidedDie Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out.

Papayaman1000

@SevenSidedDie That's a point of debate. I'll say if you can hit it with an alternate delivery, sure.

SevenSidedDie

@LegendaryDude Minus the long-fall boots. 😨

BESW

Just Launched: The White Box Kickstarter is for people who think game design is awesome. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jefftidball/the-white-box-a-game-design-workshop-in-a-box https://t.co/ndH86uDKKT

Tweeted by jefftidball on April 19, 2017 at 3:30 PM

Papayaman1000

8:49 PM

And I do mean "velocity". Direction, too. No reversing an arrow, only making it miss by up to 10ft.

And does not apply to spells as they have no mass*

Just to keep from it being an el cheapo counterspell

This whole thing started with the idea "Hmm, I should give illusory casters the ability to do that coin-behind-the-ear thing, but actually."

MadMAxJr

@Yuuki I teleport half of each atom in his body 7 feet that way.

Papayaman1000

Random thought: Could I just tie a vial of health potion to my arm to drink potions two-handed?

Yuuki

@MadMAxJr I teleport the spiked pit under his feet.

SevenSidedDie

@Papayaman1000 Or a ~~beer~~ potion-hat?

Papayaman1000

Another great idea!

(Does RAW have anything that would suggest no? COULD I MAKE POTION-DRINKING PART OF BLOCKING?!)

But seriously that would be hilarious

SevenSidedDie

8:55 PM

@Papayaman1000 Since a teleportation is just translation, no implied rotation control, that only makes sense. Preserving velocity does give it an offensive use though.

MadMAxJr

Potion of make the rules be read as table interpretation and not RAW.

LegendaryDude

"I teleport half of a single atom one foot to the left and fission occurs.
Everyone dies."

Papayaman1000

@SevenSidedDie This is meant for Illusory mages in my system, the guys who do basically anything but have an actual numerical effect on combat.

SevenSidedDie

@Papayaman1000 Sorry, I revised that. I grammatical tensed wrong and realised it sounded like a suggestion. :) I mean it does create offensive uses, preserving velocity like that.

Papayaman1000

@SevenSidedDie Eh, yeah.

Just imagine: Standing between a goblin and his buddy. The one in front shoots an arrow at you. You teleport it behind your head. His buddy dies of an arrow wound.

That would assume you have the reaction time and accuracy to hit an arrow with it, of course.

So, yeah, it could have some minor offensive use in specific situations (or with a pound of poison), but just how powerful is it? How expensive should it be?

For comparison, creating one minute's worth of air costs 1.

SevenSidedDie

9:01 PM

@Papayaman1000 Yes, that could be a limiter. I guess it depends on how you handle spellcasting on fast-moving objects, whether that would become an idea for your players.

BESW

Speeding Up The Game: Dresden Files Accelerated http://stickybunton.com/2017/04/19/speeding-up-the-game-dresden-files-accelerated https://t.co/NdlUHJdccP

Tweeted by StickyBunton on April 19, 2017 at 4:00 PM

MadMAxJr

Today I learned there are ravens in the Royal Guard. They live at the Tower of London and several have been dismissed for poor conduct.

DForck42

@MadMAxJr lol

MadMAxJr

Ravens of the Tower of London

A group of six captive ravens live at the Tower of London. Their presence is traditionally believed to protect the Crown and the tower; a superstition holds that "if the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it". Historically, wild ravens were common throughout Britain, even in towns, the tower being within their natural range. When they were exterminated from much of their traditional range, including London, they could only exist at the tower in captivity and with official support. Local legend puts the origin of the captive raven population at the...

Papayaman1000

How expensive should a spell component be that gives its player a life?

:P

DForck42

9:05 PM

@Papayaman1000 1kgp

Papayaman1000

@DForck42 You heard the man! 100 days of living an Aristocratic lifestyle, or being able to start a relationship! Your choice!

SevenSidedDie

@Papayaman1000 Perhaps expense isn't the right measure? I would go with rarity. Make it something that can't just be acquired via buckets of cash during downtime, but rather something that has to be actively adventured for.

Papayaman1000

@SevenSidedDie it was a joke

for the alternate meaning of "[get] a life"

SevenSidedDie

@Papayaman1000 what, jokes aren't allowed here, that can't be

Papayaman1000

@SevenSidedDie RENEGADE FOR LIFE! [the GM slips me a note: "Change your alignment to Chaotic."]

DForck42

9:08 PM

@Papayaman1000 lol

NautArch

jokes do not compute.

DForck42

@NautArch computes do not joke

Papayaman1000

Hilariously bad roleplaying stories: "The player whose character was a Lawful Good plucky teenager that led the rebellion."

DForck42

@Papayaman1000 so... star wars

SevenSidedDie

@Papayaman1000 So for something that's supposed to start out as an illusionist's trick, low probably makes sense. I don't know the scale of your point system, but 1 doesn't sound out of line for 1 pound moved 10 ft. I might over-esitmate to start with and set it at 2 though, and consider going down to 1 if play showed that was too expensive.

Papayaman1000

9:09 PM

@DForck42 Luke =/= LG

NautArch

witcher author :/ reddit.com/r/books/comments/66b5vp/…

Papayaman1000

@SevenSidedDie Let's also put it like this: straight-up igniting someone is Destructive magic level 2 and costs 15. It's not terribly expensive. 1 is "so do I actually need to keep track of this, or...?"

SevenSidedDie

@Papayaman1000 Not sure then. It's all just numbers untethered from real value, without intimate familiarity with the system in action. :/

Papayaman1000

@SevenSidedDie I'm just saying, compared to straight-up igniting someone, how expensive?

...I'll just put it at 5 or so.

[Wait, the air spell actually costs 5. Oops. ...10 should do.]

Yuuki

I should make a blind Wizard who was a former arcana professor. He'd teach more people, but he has no pupils.

6

Papayaman1000

9:13 PM

@Yuuki I hate you. [I love you!]

MadMAxJr

Owww

DForck42

@Papayaman1000 twas a joke

MadMAxJr

Change your alignment to chaotic pun

Papayaman1000

@DForck42 but it worked

Zachiel

@DForck42 docs.google.com/document/d/…

The Oracle

9:25 PM

0

Q: Does Deleting Comments Impede People from Earning the Pundit Badge?

I was skimming through the site's awarded badges and noticed that the Pundit badge has only been awarded 92 times, which seemed rather low considering the requirements. Given that mods will do comment clean up fairly regularly, I'm inclined to assume that highly rated comments may be getting del...

Joshua Aslan Smith

if anyone could toss upvotes for this question so the user has the ability to join chat

2

Q: Good system for a sci-fi homebrew.

So, I am in the mood to make a sci-fi tabletop RP in a custom universe, but do not know any good systems to use for it. I am used to DND 5E and Edge of the Empire, but I do not know if either those are friendly for homebrew (at least for sci-fi, in the case of DND 5e) So, I was wondering if the...

science-fiction

Papayaman1000

@Zachiel You do realize G Docs has monospace fonts, right?

Zachiel

@Papayaman1000 Ah, yes, yes. It also probably has a way to not autocorrect smart quotes.

ShadowKras

@NautArch i only bought two of the witcher books because of the games.

Papayaman1000

@Zachiel Unfortunately, probably not.

DForck42

9:37 PM

@Zachiel nice. I saw that it says HD but gives a hard number rather than a number of dice and the dice type. is this intentional?

Zachiel

@DForck42 Yes, the only thing I need to know for polymorph spells is if My caster level and HD are both more or equal than that value.

NautArch

@ShadowKras same

DForck42

@Zachiel cool. I'm also assuming by land: 12 you mean 12 squares rather than 12 feet

ShadowKras

@DForck42 the dice type is given by the creature type (outsider)

DForck42

@ShadowKras that's a thing?

@Zachiel btw, what version was all of this for?

ShadowKras

9:41 PM

I have no clue what is this about. I saw a json file with a creature entry, is this for a program?

But every creature has a hit die based on their type, i dont recall any exceptions to this, other than templates.

DForck42

@ShadowKras yeah, @Zachiel was trying to figure out a good json format to store monster data for their app

ShadowKras

@Zachiel have you seen the PF Combat Manager? He stores them as xml if i recall correctly.

Zachiel

@DForck42 yes, I'm using squares, I should use feet to talk to other people interested in the project and metres for the final project... it's easier to convert the values at the end.

DForck42

@Zachiel as long as you're consistent it's not hard to convert between them

Zachiel

@ShadowKras No, I haven't. Anyway this is for D&D 3.5e

(So I can't use their files)

ShadowKras

9:45 PM

Yeah i was thinking on how he organizes them, not suggesting that you should use them.

Zachiel

I'd be interested in taking a look, my project looks very similar (I need several outputs including a list of all conditions and buffs, a breakup of attack bonuses and so on for every roll)

ShadowKras

sourceforge.net/projects/combatmanagerpf/files/?source=navbar

actually, a better link: sourceforge.net/p/combatmanagerpf/code/ci/master/tree

DForck42

@Zachiel so why json rather than some type of rdbms?

ShadowKras

@Zachiel most lists are on the Core folder, like the Conditions.xml with a list of conditions

Zachiel

@DForck42 I need to make this work as a file that is part of a chrome extension. I have no idea if a relational database can do it.

DForck42

9:54 PM

@Zachiel ahh, yeah that makes sense

Zachiel

I might do a version with only SRD stuff that works outside our game, and a more complete version for our game with the stuff we can use.

But for now I will only focus on my game - maybe I'll give out the partial databases.

Shalvenay

10:25 PM

hey there @nitsua60 @Zachiel @Papayaman1000

hey there @SPavel

SPavel

Hello hello

Shalvenay

how're things going?

SPavel

The start date for my new job got pushed back another 2 weeks because of visa nonsense

So not great

Shalvenay

rather boringly over here :p

SPavel

Well that's good

Boring means, for example, that you are not being attacked by bees.

Shalvenay

10:39 PM

:p

trogdor

11:11 PM

@doppelgreener you are the best

nitsua60

@Shalvenay hiya

Shalvenay

how're things going?

nitsua60

11:29 PM

busy--sorry. Actually running out in two min. I'll be around late tonight. Cya!

Papayaman1000

I missed the shpee! Nooooo!

Shalvenay

how're things going?

Papayaman1000

ok I guess. Starting the illusory magic block for that spellcrafting system.

SPavel

I've had this idea for an RPG ruleset before, I wonder if it will fit into 200 words...the idea is to model anime style "I knew that you knew that I knew that you knew so I activated my secret ability 3 seasons ago, and instead of picking up the MacGuffin you actually disemboweled yourself" conflict resolution

Maybe it can be modeled like poker or an auction - you bet some kind of plot power until someone gives up

Papayaman1000

@SPavel Maybe have it so that abilities are revealed as they're used, instead of being known from the start?

SPavel

11:44 PM

That's a thought but it would require a list of abilities, and that won't fit 200 words

Of course, the real skill is coming up with ways that your totally innocuous ability was used to defeat the enemy

Karelzarath

Allow the player to come up with abilities within certain constraints. You should be able to work than into the 200 words more easily.

Papayaman1000

Something like
Must have a cooldown
Must have a time limit
Must only affect self

And there are some creative ways to work under these, too. For example, if you wanted to use ZA WARUDO and slow down time, instead say that "I speed up my perception of time for eight seconds."

SPavel

Oh, good thought on limits

Shalvenay

hey there @Karelzarath

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