TRPG General Chat

Alex P

02:39

Howdy.

@BESW Yes! It was trying to be The Guy from Pitch Black is Now Space Conan.

Like, look at that ending.

SPACE CONAN.

BESW

By contrast, Riddick took a lot of its cues from the Alien franchise, which is a good thing.

Alex P

@BESW Depends on which part, really.

Aaron

I keep hearing the new riddick movie is a copy of the first with diff monsters.

Alex P

02:54

@Aaron That's kind of most movies of its genre, arguably?

You might as well watch one with a character who is Vin Diesel rather than only has 3-4 Vin-Diesel-like traits.

Aaron

@AlexP Indeed. If the new one is like pitch black I will love it. Pitch black was awesome.

BESW

It's not a Pitch Black re-make or rehash, but it's definitely several steps back toward Pitch Black and away from Chronicles: it's primarily about character.

The film's got three acts, and only the last one is really Pitch Black.

Aaron

I liked both movies.

BESW

First, Riddick is alone in the wilderness, and is Manly. Then there are groups of people in conflict with each other and with Riddick, in a very Manly way. Then there's the Hordes of Manly Alien Violence.

I'm pretty sure the atmosphere on that planet was 20% testosterone.

Alex P

I heard Katie Sackhoff is disappointing.

BESW

02:58

...and 10% Old Spice.

Alex P

Not so much her acting per se as just her role.

BESW

Her role could've been handled better, but the main problem with it was the last line--and I think people are willfully mis-interpreting it.

Alex P

Oh?

BESW

Halfway through the film, Riddick does his "predict what's going to happen" thing, and it includes some Very Manly Boasting, including a brag that Sackhoff's lesbian character Dahl is going to ask him, "sweet-like," to let her "straddle" him.

Alex P

> Every animal on this planet looks like something a small child would draw. It’s a wolfdogzebra, mom! It’s a crabsnake! So the movie is basically full of ligers.

> The crabsnake actually looks like your drawing child was kind of gifted and thought to fuse a dinosaur skull with pincers onto a killer eel.

BESW

03:02

The conclusion of the film involves an air-lift in which she straddles him as part of the "sharing a harness" thing. She says to him, "Let me ask you something, sweet-like..." and the scene cuts off.

Alex P

So, explain this to me, because I am curious but will also never see this movie: how do they go from movie #2 to movie #3? What is the reason he is no longer god-emperor of the Necro-dudes.

BESW

But given everything we've seen about her character in the rest of the film, it's more likely that she continued "...doesn't it just burn that this is the closest you'll ever get to me?" than "...let's make sweet love once we're back in the ship."

@AlexP Basically he got tired of it and went looking for his home planet.

And there was backstabbing and stuff.

Alex P

@BESW Oh. So their giant universe-consuming menace is still going? Or not?

I mean, weren't they trying to kill everybody?

Or turn them into those scuba-mask dog sensor people or whatever?

Did he make them stop that?

BESW

@AlexP This film isn't interested in talking about that, so we don't know.

Alex P

And now they just hang around in their giant ships?

Also, did they update the ships to look like Riddick?

BESW

03:07

The whole Necromonger backstory is relegated to a flashback scene that exists only to justify the genre shift, not to continue the previous film's story. (And also to show breasts, because--Manly.)

Alex P

Ah, okay, so this review/summary is accurate:

> Now there are four ladies lying on the bed caressing each other and they’re naked! Hey naked ladies! But Riddick does not want to play with the naked ladies. He wants to quaff angrily from some sort of drinking vessel and stare into space. Now he is mumblemarblewhispering at someone about how he wants to go home, and apparently he got to go on a ship because now we are back at greenscreen shale land.

BESW

@AlexP Somewhat, yes.

One gets the impression from the franchise as a whole that Riddick is not a stranger to being rapidly catapulted between vast power and bare survival.

Alex P

I can understand that.

How do you stop being King Space Conan?

BESW

@AlexP You offer the throne to someone else in return for helping you retire on your lost homeworld of Furya.

And then they dump you on a planet called, in the worlds of Riddick, "not-Furya." He has a way with words, but not in his voiceovers.

Alex P

@BESW I feel like that's because Riddick's entire purpose in life is to be the natural end stage of every space monarchy or space dictatorship.

Eventually Riddick comes and kills whoever is the boss because he is really good at that, but Riddick himself is kind of a shabby king/dictator/god-emperor, so you kinda have to dump him and maybe get a parliamentary government or something.

BESW

03:12

Heh.

Alex P

Or your space empire becomes some kind of failed-state post-Riddick kleptocracy.

BESW

I am reminded of the Doctor's brief stint as Lord President of Gallifrey.

Alex P

Which kinda explains why people are trying to murder him all the time, with bounty hunters.

or send him to space prison or whatevs

BESW

One thing this film does --via Manly Nude Riddick-- is emphasize that Riddick is much happier as a cunning savage than as a serial killer or a king.

Alex P

It is very Conan in that way.

They really should just pick some Conan stories and rip them off directly.

Not Valley of Lost Women, though.

BESW

03:15

M'rr.

Alex P

Also, engh, maybe.

BESW

I rather wish Chronicles hadn't happened.

Riddick doesn't need to be Conan.

He's an interesting other kind of guy.

Alex P

I liked Pitch Black because it's fundamentally kinda about failure.

BESW

Particularly amusing is that he's an insanely good judge of bad human character.

He has no idea what people with good motives are going to do, but if you've got nasty, cruel, self-serving intent, Riddick's got you pegged.

(Unless he spends too much time being civilized, then his evildar does soft.)

@AlexP Pitch Black had a lot going for it. I won't argue that it's a timeless film for the ages, but it had a lot of great elements that were really well-done and I love it.

It was visually striking--not because the SFX were great (they generally weren't) but because the visuals were unified. It used contrast like a Renaissance chiaroscuro artist, and its palette was carefully chosen.

Every character, object, and setpiece had purpose for both moving the story forward and exploring one of the film's themes.

The plot itself was very standard and predictable, but the execution was great.

There was at least one character in Riddick who had no purpose at all, and the first third of the film basically wasted setpieces.

Alex P

So, I think I can think of how I'd do Riddick in Burning Wheel.

He'd have Manhunter, which is the trait that lets you read people.

BESW

03:26

Riddick was... loose, sloppy. Fun, and I liked it, but it had a lot of effort expended in no particular direction.

And entire characters, scenes, and setpieces could've been lost without hurting the film--might even have improved it.

Alex P

Also Fearless or Jaded (both?), some crazy trait for Brawling (srsly that man is ALL Brawling)

And "Lynx-Eyed, Like Burning Coals"

@BESW Am I correct in thinking both Riddick and Chronicles are kinda V.D.'s vanity projects?

BESW

Kiiinda.

Alex P

Chronicles seemed so much like Vin Diesel writes some fanfiction about Riddick + some sword-and-sorcery stuff he liked.

BESW

They are One Race films.

As Ursula Vernon says, "Riddick teeters on the squishy edge of Mary Sue."

Alex P

@BESW Based on this synopsis, he crosses over it a bit in the video games.

They retcon his shiny-eyes to be magic Furyan powers

BESW

03:33

One of my big problems with the post-Pitch Black Riddick franchise is the inexplicable need to make Riddick non-human.

Please, no one engage with the "4e stinks" new user about whether 4e acts like he says it does.

Alex P

@BESW I dunno, my habit with posts like that is to leave a comment saying that random opinion without supporting evidence really doesn't fly here.

BESW

Yes, and I did that.

Alex P

(Well, sometimes it does. Through the magic of persuasive writing.)

(But, as a rule.)

BESW

But I left it at "answers need to answer the question, they aren't for comment or debate."

I didn't go into whether or not his opinion is right.

Alex P

I'm not gonna dogpile.

Since you've got it covered.

BESW

03:41

I'm just asking people not to engage with the "4e sucks" part.

Alex P

Fair enough.

So, thinking about it more, even Chronicles internally is weird.

Basically Chronicles is two movies.

Scenes with Necromongers in them and scenes without.

BESW

Like I said, it feels like they took the desire to do a Riddick film and injected it into someone else's script.

Alex P

The prison-planet wouldn't have been too out of place as a Pitch Black thing.

Aaron

Agh.

What are good stats for a cleric using the 25 point buy system?

I have a gold dwarf who has a +2 con and -2 dex

Right now my stats are all rather bland with only the wisdom really high

BESW

@AlexP Aye, it fit the mythos: humans, alien animals, extreme planet, action contained in a relatively small setpiece, Riddick excels in dire circumstances through wit, brawns, and animal charisma.

Aaron

03:47

str:14(from 8) dex:10 (From 6 due to -2) Con:11(from 10) Int:10 from 8 Wis:16 from 8 and Cha is 10

BESW

@Aaron Depends on your focus. Ranged spells like Dex, melee spells like Str, turn undead likes Cha...

Alex P

So, Charisma.

Gives you turning.

Which is not that great.

BUT also it powers some ridiculous feat.

Divine Metamagic, was it?

BESW

@AlexP Bweheheheheh.

Aaron

I like the roll 4d6 method. Less thinking and more up to luck and such. I am overthinking my stats using this method.

Alex P

Try the "standard array," then?

Assign 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 (before racial modifiers)

It's like point-buy (it is 25 point-buy) but less choice

Aaron

03:54

Hmmm.

Is Charisma a big thing except for turning?

Alex P

A few skills

Really turning is for abusing Divine Metamagic

Otherwise it's not a big deal.

If I were trying to build a dwarf cleric I think I would "dump" Int or Cha.

But it's been like 5+ years.

I remember when I last played a character, Int and Cha were both straight 10 or lower.

And it worked fine.

Err, wait, no, I think I had Int 13 to qualify for Trip feats.

(Spiked chain BS)

Aaron

I am used to having my characters all having stats of 13 and higher.

My D6 dice really like me when I roll for stats normally.

Is there a bonus for wielding a one handed weapon with two hands?

BESW

> One-Handed
A one-handed weapon can be used in either the primary hand or the off hand. Add the wielder’s Strength bonus to damage rolls for melee attacks with a one-handed weapon if it’s used in the primary hand, or ½ his or her Strength bonus if it’s used in the off hand. If a one-handed weapon is wielded with two hands during melee combat, add 1½ times the character’s Strength bonus to damage rolls.

Aaron

04:11

Thanks.

How is it a dwarven war hammer is not in the players handbook? That is one of the first things I think of when I picture a dwarven warriors weapons.

BESW

@Aaron From this page. The d20srd is hard to navigate, but a Google search does wonders.

Because it's already got the warhammer, the urgosh, and the throwing hammer?

A dwarven warhammer is just something they made up to add to another splatbook.

Aaron

I should use google more. I always search the books I have instead though.

The metal domain as a cleric does this.

"You gain martial weapon profieciency or exotic weapon proficiency (As appropriate) and Weapon Focus with your choice of hammer as bonus feats. You need not meet the prereq for these feats.

What would be a good hammer weapon I could use? Is a mace a hammer? (I don't think it is but I have heard stranger definitions before.)

Nevermind I once again missed what I was looking for.

BESW

> Do not taunt Happy Fun Riddick. If Happy Fun Riddick has explained he’s going to kill you, try turning your gun on yourself at once. Obviously you’ll still be dead, but the look on his face may be worth it.

> There are no herbivores in the Riddick-verse. Herbivores are not sufficiently manly. This works because apparently there are no plants in the Riddick-verse either. Plants are definitely not manly.

> It occurs to me, given that there are no plants, that everybody’s got to be seriously constipated, which explains a few things about the Necromongers.

Aaron

Holy crap. One of the dwarfs regions has the option to start with 5 50gp gold bars. That is a starting gold of 250 along with normal gold!

Magician

Morning

Aaron

04:26

Hello.

GMNoob

04:47

@waxeagle Does it work well? is it fun?

BESW

05:04

Tweets to Campaign By suspects ninja assassin trickery.

Four men died after drinking beer from a keg into which a copperhead snake had crawled and died. KY1907

Tweeted by TweetsofOld on September 22, 2013 at 1:27 AM

Garan

06:00

@BESW This is why in Jewish law there is a prohibition against drinking from an uncovered barrel.

GMNoob

06:46

@Garan looks like I'll be going to ICon for atleast an hour or so today :)

vedantchandra

Has anyone downloaded the new DnD Next playtest package?

GMNoob

@vedantchandra I have

vedantchandra

07:04

Views on it? I personally love the new classes and weapons, it diversifies my game a lot.

GMNoob

@vedantchandra I'm 90% happy with it. I just don't like the multiclassing rules that rewards some concepts and punishes others.

Garan

@GMNoob Cool, what time?

GMNoob

@Garan Around noon or 1 pm I think

@vedantchandra I'm really really happy with everyone having the same attack bonus, and profeciencies in general though. Just don't like how they work with mutliclassing.

vedantchandra

@GMNoob you could submit that to WotC, they really appreciate feedback

GMNoob

@vedantchandra What bothers me is how obvious it is :) But yes, I've given them my feedback.

Garan

07:12

Interestingly enough: The electrum has returned.

GMNoob

@Garan Yeah, that have had that in since the first packet.

Garan

07:43

@GMNoob Ok, if you see someone in a blue shirt and a green hat, that is probably me.

GMNoob

@Garan :D

wax eagle

11:48

@GMNoob yes on both counts.

BESW

12:14

@Magician Mythender sounds wacky.

Are there any mechanics you'd want to take away from it and consider for use in other games?

Magician

12:29

@BESW Not as such. It has a pretty cool risk/reward thing going, but it's intrinsic to the way it functions

It's a fairly unique games, can't easily export its features to others.

I like its character sheet, though. Very visual. But, again, other games are not made to have visual character sheets...

Zachiel

@Aaron Any region that starts with a masterwork weapon is effectively giving you 300+ gp worth of equipment

Alex P

13:29

@BESW That really does explain Necromongers.

Zachiel

Hey @BESW. Do you remember when those posters with lots of tehxt shaped to leave blank spaces in recognizable spaces were posted?

BESW

Aye.

Zachiel

Do you know of any program able to do something similar? I need to display a bunch of words so that the complexive shape looks like a X

BESW

Sounds like a question for GD.SE.

Zachiel

I'm trying to access their chat but I can't find it

Alex P

13:34

Or

$TeX - LaTeX$

BESW

I mean, I would do it in Indesign with a clipping path.

Zachiel

Oh, LaTeX ♥

I don't want to show you the actual design a friend of mine made.

@BESW That would mean manaully swapping strings of text until the whole thing looks good (It's the names of every game we played in our convention but the order is not important)

BESW

@Zachiel Not really.

Use auto-hyphenation on the text block, make a vector of the appropriate shape, and then just use tight word wrap.

Heck, you could probably do it in Word if Word was feeling generous that day.

Zachiel

Columns, changing starting and ending point line by line?

BESW

No, it's... let me boot up Word.

mmm. You probably don't have the same version anyway.

But in Word it's a "text wrap" option.

You put a picture on top of the text, use image controls to create an unusual crop outline, and then do a close text wrap.

Zachiel

13:43

let's see if open office has it...

BESW

The text goes right up to the edge of the picture, but when it hits the edge it jumps to the other side of the picture.

Using hyphenation to give a finer possible "grain" in the word size, with a large enough text-size:picture size ratio, it ought to work.

Okay, so in 3.4.1 the option you're looking for is (with picture selected) "Format -> Wrap -> Edit Contour.

If you've got a solid black image on a white background, it should be automagic using the "Autocontour" tool.

In the Paragraph (Text Flow) options, make sure hyphenation is on.

And make sure your text is justified.

You'll probably want to make your font size pretty small. This doesn't work if you don't have a LOT of text.

But just doing all that should net you a decent text-based image outline.

No individual tweaking.

Zachiel

0

Q: Arranging words in a shape

I want to create a T-shirt to commemorate the tenth edition of a gaming convention and I had the idea to have the names of all the games that were played during the convention form a big roman numeral X. I'm looking for a free program, app or plugin that allows me to insert chunks of text (the n...

text-wrap

I'm willing to give 'em a chance for that "order words to fit better" thing, before trying word

And now for a comp... well you all know how this ends.

I'm starting a 4e game (yes I managed to find enough people) and I was wondering what we should discuss about in a character creation session

Aaron

14:09

Good morning.

BESW

@Zachiel Are they new to 4e?

Zachiel

@BESW some of them are

@Aaron hello

BESW

Then something like the first three bullet points here might be useful for orienting them:

23

A: How to encourage a player's creativity without breaking the game?

This is a system transition issue, not a creativity issue. 4e is a very different system and that's okay, but it's not for everyone. There's a gap between the player and the system and your job as GM is to help facilitate bridging that gap. Your goal in this should not be to make the player conf...

Naturally you'll give a brief rundown on the setting. If it's PoL, the highlights are obvious: towns and cities are rare, the remains of great civilizations now overrun by the savage races. The multiverse is smaller and closer, and the heroes are probably the biggest guns civilization has in the fight against encroaching darkness.

Happily, you can assure them that they don't have to worry much at all about whether their characters will be mechanically useful--it's hard to make a bad character. Tiers do exist, but they're much less distinct and good intercharacter synergy can make a lower tier PC a valued member of the team instead of a (small) drag on resources.

This post of Brian's may also provide you with something to say:

14

A: Guide to convert a 3.5e DM to a 4e DM

They're not the same game. While that seems obvious, many people take the lessons and assumptions from 3.5 and try to port them directly to 4e is a grave mistake. The best example of this are the early monsters which try to use player-available weapons and other player-assumptions to inform monst...

Zachiel

I think we need to decide the setting - I'm running premades but it will influence deities and backgrounds.
Do I need maybe to be sure they don't hamper each other doing what their powers help them to do?

BESW

Usually not a problem unless they stack up the same classes and the same builds.

Zachiel

14:21

Like I don't know, someone pushing enemies away and another one does AoE damage in a very small area

BESW

Effects that come from powers of the same name don't stack, and marks override each other easily.

Zachiel

I've seen that happen in a Mmoprg

BESW

@Zachiel Positioning is king in 4e. Encourage a push-build to be able to slide sometimes as well, but bowling is fun! I had a push-build defender and two small-AoE DPS in the same party, and the push-build ran around the edges playing sheepdog.

"Nuh-uh, get back in the damage zone!"

If they're having trouble, give them corners to pile enemies up in.

As always, give them free build-tweaking for the first session or three.

Zachiel

Mmmmh let's see maybe I'm having a XY problem. One of the players asked when do we meet to make the characters togheter and I would have been perfectly fine with deciding who's the strikers and who's the peaders and then helping character creation separately with each one... but I feel like I can get something out of a character creation session

BESW

It's a call.

4e characters (and role-playing in general) benefit from a chargen session.

But 4e characters are complex and best done on the DDI builder, which makes it hard for everyone to do it together in a single session.

(Unless you limit choices to mostly certain Essentials classes.)

Zachiel

14:35

I'm using the chargen session to decide what the characters are about, what they do... and then I'm finalizing characters later. I don't know, maybe it's the finalization that needs to be done togheter.

BESW

My solution was a group IM chat room.

Zachiel

IM?

Aaron

@Zachiel First level characters just take a full die right?

Zachiel

@Aaron yes

BESW

@Zachiel Instant Message.

Like a Skype text chat room or a G+ hangout.

Someplace that everyone could chat in real-time but leave a record of their discussion for those who weren't there, or say something while nobody's around and everyone else sees it next time they log in. Like SE chat.

We used it to coordinate meetings, to talk about character ideas, help each other with mechanics, make item wishlists... it was a place to synchronize lonely play between sessions, basically.

Magician

14:40

google wave was great for such things

Zachiel

@BESW oh, any instant message.

BESW

@Zachiel If it provides you with the ability to make a sustained multi-user chat room.

Zachiel

@BESW one of the player does not have skype, another one does not have facebook. I guess one won't have g+ at this rate...

@BESW When you talk about character ideas do you mean they made a character first and then decided what would have been the best class and race for it?

BESW

@Zachiel Depends on the player.

Usually it's a combination.

They happen together, talking about concepts and builds until something clicks.

Zachiel

So I will maybe tell them it's best if they have at least a 16+2 on their attack stat, point out obvious things for the uneducated

I'm a bit worried about wishlists. I don't think they already know what they need

Also, I've never used wishlists before

BESW

14:52

Wishlists are largely for private play.

Something for them to do between sessions.

Zachiel

right

BESW

You just hand them generically useful stuff, and when you hit a parcel that can accommodate a wishlist item, drop that instead.

Zachiel

I also have no idea of how adventure modules integrate with wishlists. I think KotS has no such thing and the dropped things are good for the pregenerated characters that came with the adventure

BESW

Yeah, I generally ignore module loot and replace it with DMG-based parcels dropped as I see fit.

Zachiel

15:24

Mmmh one of the players tells me he wants to be a runepriest and he warns the others it will be a non-leader leader, going for a more strikerish role. Yet he told me he likes to play a class that hepls the party. I'm confused (mostly because of my inexperience with runepriests)

BESW

Is this one of the guys new to 4e?

If you've got another leader in the party, there's no problem. Runepriests can't help but have basic leadery stuff, though they specialize in buffing more than a healing. Striker isn't... really one of the things they're good at in terms of secondary, but I'm sure it can work.

If he's going to be your only leader, the rest of the party may want to consider some slightly more survival-oriented options than they otherwise might.

If he's not got a lot of 4e experience, he may still be laboring under the "healers only heal" paradigm, and think that if he says he'll be a primary healer he won't get to do anything else.

Aaron

@Zachiel Can I have a gold dwarf that is from the region Termish?

Zachiel

@BESW No, it's the most expert one

@Aaron Is it a human region?

(Also: it's Turmish)

BESW

Well, he'll still have basic leadery things: twice/encounter minor action heal, and allies get either a bonus to attack enemies adjacent to the runepriest, or resist 2 damage while next to the runepriest. He can switch between these buffs basically at-will.

And his heals give large bursts of +dmg or +def, depending on which buff state he's currently in.

Aaron

@Zachiel Yes.

BESW

15:36

I don't think there's really any way to lose those features.

Zachiel

I think that player started roleplaying with D&D 4e. I have no idea who taught him and how faithful he was to the rules

BESW

So try as he might to be a striker, he'll still be a passive buffer with minor-action heal/buff capacity in a pinch.

Runepriests are better as controllers or defenders in secondary, but 4e has enough Weird Stuff that I'm sure they can manage striker-like options.

Zachiel

@Aaron You should conform to that region for everything - I'm not sure about the gods since those are just the most worshipped in the region. Is it a dwarf raised by humans or what?

Aaron

@Zachiel I think the gold dwarves are just prevalent in that area. I will read more into it.

Zachiel

@Aaron Uhm, is there no dwarf region in the area then?

Aaron

15:41

Turmish is also a dwarf region.

Zachiel

Is the dwarf region ok for you?

I see no problems with your dwarf coming from a dwarven region

Aaron

Yea. Regions are just where the character comes from and the bonus and stuff they get.'

Brb

Alyksandrei

question about ranger alternate class features ...

in 3.5

Alex P

15:58

> The Bellringer’s Tomb

The Bellringer brought the faith of the Lord of Tolls to Gallowmoor by performing three miracles:

First, he drove the wolves from Gallowmoor, ending their Tender Tribute.
Second, the heathen king Ethred tried to drown him in a cauldron of boiling wine. The Bellringer drank the wine, broke the cauldron, and smote Ethred’s horned throne.
Third, he rang his bell on the mountaintop, calling the moorsfolk to safety when the Queen of Fire descended to scour their lands with ash and with smoke.

> His tomb nestles between the toes of the western mountains. Once, pilgrims travelled there to lay their dead in the saint’s house. But twenty years ago, the mountain moved. Parts of the tomb collapsed. Some petitioners were trapped; others killed. The tomb was abandoned. The path you have travelled to it is overgrown, knotted with encroaching roots.

Gallowmoor has a surfeit of troubles and an insufficiency of heroes. The Sea-Kings raid its shores and rove its rivers. The Dancing Plague takes a tithe from every family. Old things stir in its nights. It is wide, bleak, and kingless; domina…

I don't like dungeon crawls at all, pretty much. But that right there -- is a really nifty setup.

This is how you situate a "dungeon" in the world.

Alyksandrei

I'm negotiating with my DM, and my original proposal was to drop spells entirely for an (unspecified) increase in effective druid level (for animal companion purposes). His counterproposal was to trade spells (he said "a spell", but I think he meant spellcasting in general) for a feat - like Skill Focus (handle animal). I don't really like this, because my whole idea is to reduce decision making (no spells to manage; prefer no animal companion at all).

BESW

You know there are actual "official" variants that do these things, right?

Alyksandrei

I'd like to make a counterproposal, but I"m not sure if "trade spellcasting and animal companion for 2 martial feats, one at 4th level (now) and one later" is worth suggesting.

BESW

One moment, let me get my own personal list.

Champion of the Wild (Champ 50)
Level: 1st
Replaces: Ranger spellcasting progression.
Benefit: Bonus feat from small list at 4th, 8th, 11th, and 14th levels.

Alyksandrei

@BESW I've only got access to SRD/PHB, and I don't understand everything I've seen.

BESW

16:03

Verdict: not worth losing spellcasting utility.

Alyksandrei

@BESW saw that, but what's the list?

@BESW yeah, i'm still not thrilled with managing spells ...

BESW

I'll have to look it up. Moment, still compiling options.

Distracting Attack (PHBII 55)
Level: 4th
Replaces: Animal companion.
Benefit: Allies consider an enemy hit by your attacks to be flanked by you for one round or until an ally attacks him.

Verdict: Excellent, if this is the primary use your animal companion would be anyway (it often is).

Spell-less Ranger (CW 14)
Level: 4th
Replaces: Ranger spellcasting progression.
Benefit: Assorted abilities according to level.

Verdict: trash. abilities are too little, too far apart.

Spiritual Guide (Champ 50)
Level: 4th
Replaces: Animal companion.
Benefit: While in wilds--bonus to Handle Animal, Knowledge (nature), Listen, Search, Spot, Survival; commune with nature.

Verdict: Actually pretty great, if you're in a skill-heavy wilds campaign.

Urban Companion (City WE1 8)
Level: 4th
Replaces: Animal companion.
Benefit: Summon familiar with differences.

Verdict: More complexity.

Okay, feat list for Champion of the Wild.

You can choose any feat from the following list for which you meet the prerequisites: Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Eyes in the Back of Your Head, Improved Disarm, Improved Favored Enemy, Improved Feint, and Improved Trip, as well as from one of the following lists, depending on your combat style.
Archery: Far Shot, Improved Precise Shot, Improved Rapid Shot, Manyshot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Ranged Disarm, Ranged Pin, Ranged Sunder, Sharp-Shooting and Shot on the Run.
Two-Weapon Combat: Greater Two-Weapon Defense, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Defense, Improved …

Not an awful option.

Alyksandrei

Actually sounds like what I'm trying to accomplish ... and when to I get these bonus feats? I can't seem to find the text of the ACF, so it must not be officially available online.

BESW

4th, 8th, 11th, and 14th levels. That is, every time you would gain a new level of spell.

Alyksandrei

ok...now for some planning

BESW

16:11

And Spiritual Guide gives you a divine bonus to Handle Animal, Knowledge (nature), Listen, Search, Spot, and Survival equal to 1/4 your level so long as you are in a natural area (including caverns) or any civilized area smaller than a hamlet.

You also get commune with nature 1/day.

In exchange, you lose your animal companion.

(DMG says a hamlet is 81+ people.)

Alyksandrei

@BESW not bad, actually. no ranks in handle animal, but that's not necessary. listen-search-spot bonuses are always useful (esp. in our campaign), and I could use the survival boost too - I keep rolling low every time i try to track.

@BESW half our encounters are wilds or dungeons anyway. not a bad loss for our urban encounters. and definition of "hamlet" is probably DM's discretion anyway.

BESW

Or for combat utility, replace the animal companion with: Allies consider an enemy hit by your attacks to be flanked by you for one round or until an ally attacks him.

Aaron

Hey @Zachiel Want me to roll for money for the cleric or just take the 125gp average?

BESW

You could be the rogue's best friend.

Alyksandrei

@BESW works for ranged hits as well as melee?

I mostly try for ranged hits, not melee.

@BESW that might actually be more useful ....

BESW

16:18

Yeah, the idea is that the main use of an animal companion is to provide flanking without the ranger personally getting into melee.

This does that.

> Beginning at 4th level, whenever you hit an enemy with a weapon attack (whether melee or ranged) that enemy is considered flanked by you for the purpose of adjudicating your allies' attacks. This flanked condition lasts until either the enemy is attacked by one of your allies or until the start of your next turn, whichever comes first.

Extraordinary ability, no effect on unflankable creatures.

Zachiel

@Aaron roll here

Aaron

5d4

Dice Service

3

1

2

3

Aaron

12x10 then.

120gp :)

Zachiel

plus the entry of your choice from the last column of the table.

I never understood why they tell you to choose A or B and then some A are like "a masterwork crossbow or a masterwork chainmail".

Shkeil

17:05

Hi

Zachiel

Hey

Shkeil

How are you all?

Aaron

@Zachiel I am taking the 5 50gp bars.

Zachiel

@Aaron @Shkeil @Leokhorn I'd say we can play when we are at least 4 including me and my friend, who's currently chosing between a wizard and a high AC cleric. Next saturday maybe? Leokhorn, if you don't manage to get a character ready by then we could introduce him/her later.

By the way, is everyone male?

Aaron

@Zachiel I am.

Shkeil

17:12

@Zachiel Next saturday, ok

@Zachiel And I am too

Zachiel

Oh - no, wait.

My question was intended to be: "Is everyone's character male?"

Aaron

@Zachiel I knew that is what you meant and yes.

Shkeil

@Zachiel And it's still yes

Zachiel

I think my friend has not taken daylight savings time into consideration when writing his disponibilities in fasterplan... would this mean we can start 1h earlier or later? I'm always challenged by this sort of things.

Shkeil

I can't tell without knowing his UTC.

Zachiel

17:20

He lives in London

but now it's daylight saving time so it's like if he lived in Italy during the rest of the year

Shkeil

So, it's 1 hour before me

Zachiel

so he's one hour late

Shkeil

yep

Zachiel

17:58

mmmh the times cross badly

I'll keep you informed

Metool

Explosions.

GMNoob

So I have to share the FAQ question from a Sci-fi Fantasy convention

Metool

Heya, @GMNoob.

Oh?

GMNoob

It's translated by google into english

Why did you need volunteers? Is not there a factory in China that organizes festivals ? we would love if it were a factory in China that organizes festivals, but there is none. ICON managed and organized by people from the country, and we all - the whole all-volunteer, non-profit. To the festival can take place it is necessary a lot o

It's not translated from Chinese either :P

Zachiel

19:02

@aaron @leokhorn @shkeil due to my friend's mistake, we'd be able to game for only 2 hours at a time if he joins us. I guess I need to exclude him. No game Saturday, unless we're all 4 of us.

Aaron

@Zachiel So when is the game now?

Zachiel

when leokhorn has a character sheet. I see a nice 13-18 UTC slot on Sundays. When I don't sing at marriages, that is (I sing at a marriage next Sunday)

Aaron

@Zachiel can I use two of my 50gp bars to buy a Chain Shirt?

GMNoob

This is why I prefer Play by post :)

Zachiel

@Aaron yes

@GMNoob I hate PbP, too slow

GMNoob

19:18

@Zachiel Yes, but game always goes on and nobody misses anything :)

Zachiel

@GMNoob It's a pro but I always log, see it's my turn and never care about writing because you know I could do it later. In games without turns it's even worse, people gather in moments when I'm not online and they do like ten actions each while I have to make one and then wait for the DM... a mess

GMNoob

@Zachiel That's your fault for thinking you can do it later.. you can't. you must post NOW! :P

Zachiel

and play by chat prevents me from slacking

also, play by post is prone to die into nothingness

GMNoob

19:35

@Zachiel That isn't any different from any other RPG game I every played, in any format.

Aaron

19:45

Are cleric's spells effected by Arcane spell failure?

From what I read it doesn't affect Clerics but just checking.

Hey @Zachiel just for a nice theme could I have throwing axes but they are hammers instead? Same stats but they deal bludgeon instead of slashing.

Alex P

@Aaron No, because they are "divine."

Aaron

@AlexP Ok. That is what I thought but just wanted to verify I read it correctly.

@Zachiel I found a light hammer that I can throw.

Trajan

20:06

@AlexP Is there a reason for that, except "balance" ?

GMNoob

@Trajan "flavor"

Shkeil

20:22

I'm back

Alex P

21:00

@Trajan Basically flavor. In old D&D wizards just couldn't wear armor and you couldn't cast spells in armor at all (this would come up for, like, a fighter/mage, IIRC?) Whereas clerics were always designed to wear armor.

The D&D3 justification is that arcane magic involves complex intricate motion (which is why spells without somatic components don't get spell failure, and why you can make super-fine like-wearing-a-silk-shirt armor with an effective 0% AMF). Whereas divine magic with somatic components is more like basic prayer gestures. Wave that sprig of holly back and forth or cross yourself or whatever.

The arcane/divine split is kinda weird in general, given that they're both still "spells."

Zachiel

Hey guys I'm in the middle of a game I need to understand a thing. Is there anyone who can take a look at how 3.0's disjunction works?

It says "save: will negates (object)" but the text is "spells get canceled (as for dispel magic) and unless they pass a Will Saving Throw items get dispelled"

My wizard argues the dispelling on spells is automatic.

any idea, @Waxeagle?

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