Also, there's a Campaign Coins Fate Tokens Kickstarter. They're metal tokens for fate points. It might go on to feature a few variety of coins and a coin bag. (I own a few campaign coins myself and they're generally pretty good quality.)
In the "anything else you'd like to know?" section I'm putting this:
> I'm very excited for a DFRPG FAE system because my group needs/prefers a lower base level of crunch than the original DFRPG itself offers: the ability for each person to customise his character's mechanical complexity using stunts and extras is a big draw for my players, and as a GM I prefer the low-prep high-improv ethos of FAE. I hope to run games with two groups, one group at an in-real-life table and a smaller group online; I've indicated the overall number of players in the survey.
I already have Evasion from Rogue, and I just leveled up. I can potentially take another Scout level and gain Evasion again, making either Improved Evasion early, or swapping it out for Spell Reflection. Problem is I literally gain NOTHING else from taking that level in Scout aside from skill points and hp. BAB and saves don't go up at all on that level.
Spell Reflection (CM, p 35): Lose evasion, gain the ability to reflect spells targeted at you that miss.
Spell Sense (CM, p 35): Lose trapsense. Gain AC bonus vs spells.
Both of these in fact... I have Evasion from Rogue, and Trapsense +1 from Scout right now. I can trade off the Rogue's Trapsense for Spellsense if I take the next level in Rogue, and I can trade the Scout's Evasion for Improved Evasion or Spell Reflection... Rogue I'd also get a boost to BAB and saves, as well as a boost to SA right now...
Primarily, it depends on your GM's style. Objectively I think Spell Reflection is superior to Improved Evasion because evasion is about damage mitigation while Spell Reflection can be a combat finisher if you reflect the right kind of spell.
I haven't really been in the game long enough to tell. I think what I'll do is take another level in Rogue for now for the increased saves/BAB/SA and leave the Improved Evasion/Spell Reflection decision for later...
And I do believe picking Spellsense is a bit better in that regard.
I've only encountered one trap in the game so far, and it was a magical one. As for damage mitigation, I'm pretty damn stealthy so it's hard to hit me unless you AoE anyways... Oh, and I was almost killed once by the barbarian's AoE sonic crit effect because I was too close to him.........
I survived with like 2hp, and I was at full before that.
Oh... wait. nvm. was at full health, and was in the negatives after that.
Hmm.... We were dealing with a large lightning storm which every member of the party got a chance to experience... The barbarian deliberately failed one reflex save... took full damage from a direct lightning strike and fused a worg pelt/skull to him due to it... The trip god of the party got hit with the AoE from that lightning bolt...
One set comes with 12 tokens, and it recommends three sets for a GM... but two sets (24) ought to be enough for 4-5 players right? Unless there are groups that involve a lot of fate points flying around.
My archer happened to be near an NPC cohort who is our 4th and our healer right now... She drew the chance die for getting struck. I asked, and my DM ruled that I'm quick enough that I get a reflex save to push her out of the way. He also gave me my own reflex save (separate, and much higher DC) to get out of the way of the lightning bolt I practically threw myself into to save the healer. Which I succeeded by the way. Because I'm a freaking ninja lol!
> The Plan Nine Syndrome occurs when it becomes apparent that the campaign makes no sense whatsoever. The gamemaster can no longer plot scenarios since there's not any logical reason for anything to happen, or the characters begin reacting randomly since cause and effect have ceased to operate. The campaign is just unutterably stupid and empty. > ...There are only two ways to try getting out of this pitfall: make a big break or embrace the madness. > ...Any ludicrous story can be accepted if the narrator (the gamemaster and players' memories) is unreliable. Increase the unreality level in t…
@Arkhaic oh, right. well, y'know, you can read them, but a healthy attitude of being able to sit back and drink some tea and smile whilst other people are working hard to be angry about things on the internet is entirely appropriate.
in any case, his comments currently amount to "I disagree", which is the kind of comment that gets deleted as not useful
This is a player problem, not a game problem
Specifically, this guy is probably being a jerk. I would talk to him and the DM about it, as well as the other players, unless your games tend to have this sort of backstabbing by default.
Mental Protection
Assuming your character is aware of the do...
And yeah, his objection seems to be totally missing the fact that while many groups do embrace intraparty conflict between characters, it shouldn't make real-life people at the table miserable.
@BESW or, y'know, destroy campaigns because if there's no player characters left to play (or that who are willing to play), the guy has now turned in into a solo adventure and, welp, campaign ends
Some game systems support it better than others--as @JonathanHobbs has pointed out D&D is not the best context for a hostile party takeover because of the mechanics leveraged toward that end.
@waxeagle Eeeph. I've seen that, too, and it's bad. As is the inverse, when intraparty conflicts expand into real-life confrontations.
@JonathanHobbs I used to play in a forum RPG, and then I let a let's-call-him-friend from real life into the community and he proceeded to do that to it.
I feel quite lucky that when I have players who are dating each other they've been very aware of the pitfalls of how that can impact the game and they go to great lengths to avoid that.
One couple said at the very beginning that their characters wouldn't ever interact more than the minimum necessary for group cohesion, and designed PC personalities to justify it.
Another couple didn't even want to try playing in the same group until I talked with them about the playstyles and game systems I was using and how I thought it could work out.
(And we're all glad I did because they're a great addition to the group.)
Our DM's girlfriend couldn't handle him descending into an all-weekend game and interrupted him by phone multiple times throughout for over an hour each time.
So often the answer to problems in a group is "Hey! You're all friends --or at least wish to tolerate each others' company-- and you should try to act like it before worrying about the game you're playing!"
(The best groups, in my experience, are ones where the players socialise outside the RPG as well; even if it's just spending the first hour of game time eating together and talking.)
(This is one of the biggest challenges I've seen in online RP.)
One guy in my group was being difficult... he would tell other people what to do, but get angry if other people did the same to him. Or suggest things, or try and discuss strategy. It got to a point where we came to a closed door, and he said "Check for traps". The rogue player said "You do it". Luckily it wasn't trapped, or we would have lost our cleric. He almost quit the group after that, until the DM had some quiet chats with people... he's (mostly) better now.
@waxeagle I don't think, technically at least. Though it would be weird if you started the day super negative and hit the cap without the visible rep changing
BTW, @Arkhaic, I don't know if the letter of the rules allows this, but... your first bullet point about using Sense Motive to detect domination might be useable against the vampire himself if he's under the thrall of his sire.
Here's the thing: D&D is a combat game first and foremost. Its investigative elements are rudimentary at best, and usually totally unsatisfying as a primary focus.
"Classic" vampires are beasts in combat, nigh-unbeatable... until you know how to defeat them, at which point they're trivial.
In D&D that means... well, the difference between a fight that's unfun because you can't win and a fight that's unfun because you can't lose is a single skill check.
Level drain says "The months of Saturdays you set aside to play this game are represented by your character's advancement, which we will casually take away from you to temporarily increase dramatic tension." Dominate effects similarly trivialise player agency by giving over control of your character to the GM.
@Grubermensch (you can actually do that...sort of, for the purposes of qualifying for badges, the repcap doesn't take downvotes into account at all. for actual rep changes it does)
it has a bunch of different vampires, though i don't know a huge amount about each. They divided what we typically associate with dracula down the middle in some way I can never quite remember: one kind of vampire is just a bat monster that can wear a person suit to look human.
> Driving a wooden stake through a helpless vampire's heart instantly slays it (this is a full-round action). However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the head is also severed and anointed with holy water.
I already have Evasion from Rogue, and I just leveled up. I can potentially take another Scout level and gain Evasion again, making either Improved Evasion early, or swapping it out for Spell Reflection. Problem is I literally gain NOTHING else from taking that level in Scout aside from skill points and hp. BAB and saves don't go up at all on that level.
> Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight staggers it on the first round of exposure and destroys it utterly on the second consecutive round of exposure if it does not escape. Each round of immersion in running water inflicts damage on a vampire equal to one-third of its maximum hit points—a vampire reduced to 0 hit points in this manner is destroyed.
I recall in the Hellsing manga, a fledgling vampire girl is transported over the sea in a plane, though she has to do it strapped into a coffin filled with the soil of her home. She had qualms with this plan.
More: can D&D vampires survive on animal blood? Must it be from a living creature, or can they suck the blood of the dead goblins the party's killed? Would that turn them into vampires?
(The druid got upset because the vampire was drinking the blood of animal corpses, and they both succumbed to "my guy" syndrome so they HAD to fight to the death but they were totally evenly matched.)
pathfinder: there's a table and a rule block for that. one may not be very clear. the specific variety of thing you're after probably isn't there, but we have something close. you can probably slug your way through the dozen rules components to create your own thing, though!
fate: why are you asking me, you can figure it out
@Metool well, yeah, but the base expectation is there has to be a rule for everything. so when there isn't a rule for something, and there often isn't, things come crashing down.
i was making a campaign set in the north pole in 3.5e for a while. I had trouble just with weather. And I was reading Frostburn, too. There were like a dozen rules attached to each weather condition, and none of the weather conditions were the ones I cared about.
I am not going to remember all that nor even attempt to create similar weather conditions.
@Arkhaic They didn't. Neither could defeat the other. After an IRL hour of their duel not accomplishing anything except setting the forest on fire, I had a sit-down with the players and they agreed to retire both the characters.
Later on they heard about the enormous fire which raged for months consuming hundreds of miles of forest, and the rumours that people saw two terrible figures battling within with the flames.
@Arkhaic I can't remember what the druid's player rolled up next, but the player of the vampire (who was also a paladin, for amusing reasons that were the only way I was willing to let a vampire into the campaign in the first place) rolled up another in his long line of meta-connected sorcerers.
@Arkhaic Every world he played in had a sorcerer with a similar name but totally different personality and emphasis. The idea was that they were all the children of a planeshopping dragon.
@Arkhaic She was high enough level that she could use long-duration buff/effect spells to endure the night, but then had to rest and prepare new spells while the vampire slept during the day.
After a particularly hard-won victory, the sorcerer (who had a drinking problem; he carried a bag of holding as a portable wine cellar) got stinking drunk before combining elven Moon-Wine with dwarven Dark Assassin's Ale.
@Lord_Gareth A PC in one of my campaigns died that way. We were sailing away from the scene of our most recent catastrophe adventure, and he decided to celebrate with a drink. This character was an established drunkard, having dedicated most of his bag of holding to booze.
[and then the rest of the story is told, accompanied by my amazement and awe at this guy's roleplaying]
In the game I'm in with him, his backstory is responsible for our party's goal changing from "conquer the civilized lands and raise everyone as undead" to "slay the goddess of curses, spite and ice"
This answer was posted at 2014-07-30 04:24:50Z, which is almost three hours after the question was closed at 2014-07-30 01:09:11Z.
This is the second time I've seen this. The first time a comment exchange followed along the lines of "how did you do that?" A: "bad site scripting I guess".
If I h...
Make a second character just incase and inform the dm that the character exists (Hey if my Sorcerer dies, I have this character already rolled up!!). Cast protection from Evil upon yourself (prevents Dominate Person) and then should anything happen (he tries to dominate you or a party member) use a spell craft to identify what he is doing, and then use dimension door to alert Sir Rupert the Elvis impersonating Paladin of Iomedae whom shall then come in and take your place to smite the imposter!! — DanceSC14 mins ago
I'm honestly wondering if its someone else on the account, because their other answers and the like don't look like that at all.
make a second character (presumably someone perfect for vampire-smiting), inform the GM, hide him away. protect yourself from evil, look out for anything to happen, identify what's going on with spellcraft, and in response, Gate in your second character to engage in vampire-smiting.
@JonathanHobbs She's an inhuman with shapeshifting powers. Which she mostly uses to stretch or enlarge parts of her body, and which looks pretty funky on the page. One of the first things she does when she gets the powers is turn into the previous Ms Marvel (see the image). Who's adult, blond and, well, Caucasian. It passes.
That said, she's absolutely a fangirl in over her head.
@kviiri yeah, books are...kinda sacred to me (and even moreso to my wife)...even ones you don't want anymore are useful to others, or can be made into a cool collage or..something. Ignoring the history of book burning, it seems disrespectful to the authors (and moreso the artists) who put a ton of time and energy into these books (/soapbox)
This is a player problem, not a game problem
Specifically, this guy is probably being a jerk. I would talk to him and the DM about it, as well as the other players, unless your games tend to have this sort of backstabbing by default.
Mental Protection
Assuming your character is aware of the do...
This answer was posted at 2014-07-30 04:24:50Z, which is almost three hours after the question was closed at 2014-07-30 01:09:11Z.
This is the second time I've seen this. The first time a comment exchange followed along the lines of "how did you do that?" A: "bad site scripting I guess".
If I h...
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