TRPG General Chat

BESW

00:05

In my limited experience, the most successful PbPs are done in a Livejournal type of format.

I think a mod would make an event-based post, and the characters would respond in the comments. Interactions between characters would be replies to each others' comments.

If you hadn't posted by the time the next event-based post was made, your character just hadn't been part of that event.

The ones I saw were not combat-oriented.

doppelgreener

01:47

23

Q: What are the key considerations to creating compelling environments?

An area I am close to revealing to my players was barren rock, until I realised adding a few kinds of plants and some crystal spires (which have very good reason to be there) took the location from dull to intriguing in the space of half an hour. It occurs to me that adding plants and (possibly)...

world-building

I don't know what to do with this question

I want more answers along the lines of what @BESW provided

Details, stuff to work with. Grit.

I might place a bounty?

Novian

Tomb of Wizard A sealed by Wizard A is sought By Evil Wizards B and C. Adventurers Chasing rumors of wizard A's Treasure are confronted by Wizards B and C. Adventure ensues through Dungeons and castles.

I dont much like that idea and I came up with it.

Tomb of Wizard A is sealed by a powerful Spell. the key to which is Guarded by Dragon X.

God why can I not come up with something generic.

Damn Plotblock/

cults are generic. Mercenary Guilds are limited.

assasination plots....

doppelgreener

02:10

@Novian I try to avoid cults because of that. They're very generic. They're easy, and it's too easy to just let your imagination take a back seat to "Bunch of people in robes chanting and ready to fight once you start screwing with them."

"Also, they're ready to summon Orcus because they're nuts. Stop them!"

Novian

? Whats an Orcus?

doppelgreener

What is this for? O:

Novian

Just musing to myself in a public place.

doppelgreener

Oh. Orcus is the 4e god of being evil and wanting to take over the world and kill everyone.

Novian

Musing in public nets reactions and opinions. leading to discussion.

or comments that one shouldnt talk to oneself.

doppelgreener

02:15

One should talk to oneself since it helps, but one should totally mention what he's talking to himself about, so that others can go and mention things that may be not helpful at all but sometimes brilliantly helpful.

Novian

Musing about campaign idea;s

doppelgreener

Tomb of Wizard A is sealed by Wizard A. Wizard B is an innocent (albeit magical) archeologist trying to get in.

Novian

hmm.

doppelgreener

03:22

Does D&D have a mechanic where people can apply poison to their weapons?

Oh hey it does.

doppelgreener

03:52

I decided to try modelling Volvidon from Monster Hunter in D&D 4e using Power2ool. Here's a draft.

It might be appropriate to make it a solo.

doppelgreener

04:07

@BESW Ahoy! :)

BESW

@JonathanHobbs Hafa adai!

doppelgreener

@BESW Gidday howsitgoin'?

BESW

Supitchoo?

doppelgreener

I am not sure what to do with myself right now :D

I have eaten lunch and I did that thing ^

BESW

That's an open line if ever I heard one.

doppelgreener

04:11

I have been watching a friend play Monster Hunter 3U all morning.

BESW

04:23

Orcuses are serious business, but yeah--cults are easy to make boring.

Personally, I like 'em; cults don't have to be robe-wearing, incantation-chanting blood orgies.

I once had a cult of fire that turned out to just be the local blacksmith union.

Hoardsmiths would be a fun group to drop into a game some time; lots of plot that could spin out of it.

I think most D&D games would lump them in under the "cult" label.

[Warning for ponies, but the concept isn't married to the fandom except in that it's a metaphor.]

Orcus is really pretty boring himself.

He shall become all powerful! Crush the lesser races! Conquer the galaxy! UNIMAGINABLE POWER! UNLIMITED RICE PUDDING! Et cetera! Et cetera!

BESW

04:45

There's a reason Davros was only ever interesting when the Daleks were pushing him around.

@Magician Hi!

DForck42

@waxeagle another reason to hate the character builder: you HABE to have silverlight for it to work

Magician

Hello!

doppelgreener

@DForck42 Nobody is asking you to install silverlight. Just don't use it if you don't want silverlight. :I

You can build your character using the compendium, and that requires nothing but a browser and Javascript.

DForck42

@JonathanHobbs the complaint is that i was trying to load the char builder in the web browser on my kindle fire

you have to have silverlight for the char builder to work, which is a windows-only product

doppelgreener

mono-project.com/Moonlight

Silverlight is .NET-only, not Windows-only

BESW

04:51

Yeeeah, I'm on a Mac and Silverlight works okay with all my browsers. Works best in Safari, though.

If you really hate it, use power2ool in conjunction with your DDI account.

And honestly, what other than Silverlight would you have them use?

It's not a great system, but Flash would require either multiple pages or frontloading all the info at once. Silverlight is built to load each library as needed.

DForck42

@BESW i dunno, maybe... c#, php, ruby on rails, something that's server ran...

doppelgreener

@DForck42 HTML5+JS are only just becoming a thing. Back when the character builder was made, Silverlight was the best alternative to Flash, which was the best alternative to just navigating between webpages with a lot of refreshing.

Actually, HTML+JS were going okay, sorta! But Silverlight was still much more powerful.

Oh and there's Java applets I guess.

You can't program a front-facing interactive site with C#/PHP/RoR or anything server-ran. You just do the back-end with that, which means without anything interactive in the front end, you just get a thing that refreshes on every change.

BESW

Keep in mind it's also gotta be easier to update modularly.

They need to be adding new content every month.

doppelgreener

05:06

@BESW If it's done well the Silverlight applet shouldn't even really care, unless there's something major, like a power introduces a totally new slightly-different mechanic.

The server should just go "Here's a list of abilities! Here's how they affect the character!" and the applet should just say "Great, thanks!" and be able to deal with anything it's given.

Actually even in the case of powers with new mechanics, the applet does nothing with that stuff except tell you about it, so most of the time it wouldn't need any changing at all. Just add new content to the server and everything's peachy.

DForck42

well i was able to get a pdf of my char on the kindle

LitheOhm

05:43

@JonathanHobbs looking for something specific for that question? I rather like it and might offer a bounty on it myself

Novian

When Treasure and fire fail you, kill someone important. plot always seems to work that way.

or rather it works well in certain situations.

Like letting the fighter change characters with the pretense of him being murdered.

from 600 feet away with a crossbow.

in one shot.

by a Halfling named Bob(Because the DM couldnt think of a better name).

So far I cannot fathom the plot of that campaign.

Investigating Murder of old Mayor of town. Find Kobolds in Cemetary Kill Kobolds. Clue? Find Pirate Ship. WTF?

the Kobolds were yet to be explained as well.

Lots of undead too.

Suspected necromancers.

Chaos! Madness! Stale Macaroni and Cheese!

doppelgreener

@LitheOhm If I were to bounty it, it would be with 200 rep (or maybe more) and a message like "I want more answers like BESW's, with tangible things to think of and act on."

I want answers like BESW's and not so much like the other two.

BESW

08:31

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a spambot.

BESW

10:51

Heeeey. I just remembered my aborted attempt to build a 4e adventure based on the Second Doctor story Tomb of the Cybermen!

[pokes FATE]

BESW

11:34

I fell in love with it because it embodies the conceit of D&D heroes: the best and bravest --strong, smart, intuitive, skilled-- delving into unknown catacombs for wealth and power, lured by the siren call of the unknown. The Cybermen recognize this as a fundamental trait of humanity, and use it as bait for a trap.

doppelgreener

That is pretty great.

BESW

Every trap, every puzzle, every trick and secret in the tomb that D&D-type characters simply expect, they're all part of a test: only the most worthy may enter the heart of the tomb. Not because only the most worthy are deserving of its power... but because the Cybermen want only the best of humanity to convert into new Cybermen.

The original Tomb of Horrors used a similar conceit: the lich who built it was leeching the soul energy of the heroes who died in the tomb, to increase his own power.

doppelgreener

Okay now I see why you wanted this for D&D.

BESW

(Also it's an awesome episode with great lines, great characters, clever concepts, and hilariously earnest special effects.)

doppelgreener

I guess FATE would be good for a different part of the story: the part where weird Dr Who stuff happens (and people happen).

BESW

11:40

(There's a long, loving shot of a Cyberman breaking through a metal door, zooming in to show in full detail that the door is tinfoil-covered cardboard.)

And, um. Dat music.

@JonathanHobbs yeah, it'd be a weird mix for FATE, but it was a weird mix for D&D too.

LOTS of puzzles for the first half or two-thirds, then intense combat and RP.

BESW

12:04

Hmm. It occurs to me that Rassilon did something very similar, if inverted, in The Five Doctors.

Only those who could enter Rassilon's tomb were worthy of eternal life... and people dedicated and intelligent enough to enter Rassilon's tomb to get eternal life were the kind of people Rassilon knew would make trouble, so he built the tomb as a trap for 'em.

DForck42

13:38

mornin

doppelgreener

14:03

@DForck42 2-minutes-into Good morning!

DForck42

@JonathanHobbs past midnight where you are?

Lord_Gareth

14:20

Hrm

Welp, nothing for it. Wading into the alignment question

Here's hoping it goes over well

DForck42

@Lord_Gareth hmm

The Oracle

1

Q: Our Editing Help doesn't mention paragraph breaks

I just took a look at our Editing Help and noticed it makes no mention of the fact you need two line breaks for a paragraph break. ^ Like this. This seems to be the thing that most commonly trips up new users! Markdown ignores single lines, yet some new users don't know what to do about that. So...

feature-request documentation

Lord_Gareth

@DForck42 Could I persuade you to double-check my answer? The question is inherently subjective (not bad-subjective, but subjective)

0

A: Can a lich redeem itself?

Yes...depending Alignment causes a lot of arguments around the D&D community. There are a pair of rock-solid methods: the Sanctify the Wicked spell, and the redemption rules, both of them found in the Book of Exalted Deeds. The BoED can be a controversial book in some groups, but those rules...

DForck42

@Lord_Gareth heh, i have barely touched 3.5, and haven't touched pathfinder at all

Lord_Gareth

14:35

Alright, alright

It's the alignment part that's subjective

Re-killing a lich is conceptually pretty easy

DForck42

it reads pretty well

makes sense

Novian

@BESW oh noez

Lord_Gareth

@DForck42 Thanks for checkin' it over

DForck42

@Lord_Gareth :-D

Novian

@Lord_Gareth A beautiful question.

whom ever wrote it is a genius.

Lord_Gareth

14:41

(Answer)

Novian

well its my link to the question.

the answer is great too.\

the world needs more D&D players that think the way the question writer does. as well as those who study possibilities in depth like the answerer.

Lord_Gareth

Eh, I'm less of a fan of these sorts of questions. Alignment discussions have this unfortunate tendency to end in blood, burning cities, marriages torn asunder and fractures in reality that spread and race through the worlds of Men, undoing the laws of nature where they go.

Novian

@Lord_Gareth thats the reason this one is brilliant. It didnt end that way.

Lord_Gareth

As for looking at things in-depth, well...years of alignment discussions coupled with an absolute disgust of how WotC has handled it.

DForck42

@Lord_Gareth yeah, alignment is meh, that's why i'm glad it's not important in 4e

Lord_Gareth

14:45

Paizo has not done much better. SKR and Jason are big fans of Fantasy Racism

The wretched, sniveling [long line of censored statements]

No end to how much I hate those two

Novian

Yea. its either a Lead Straightjacket lined with nitroglycerine or a slipknotted leash one can easily remove.

I Choose situations where my alignment is not questioned much but holds to scrutiny should it need to.

LE in a party of CN and CG? Act nice and dandy most of the time, turn murderous in battle.

Evil is not Evil all of the time.

I dont play evil though because there isnt much reason to.

Lord_Gareth

Rather more importantly, Evil doesn't mean dumb, incapable of friendship and/or loyalty, or lacking in pragmatism.

Novian

Savage Speicies had a nice blurb over Evil.

Chapter 8 or 9 I think

Lord_Gareth

Eeeeh....Savage Species isn't great as far as sources go

DForck42

@Lord_Gareth to me, lawful evil is opposite of that, even

Novian

14:50

Evil Characters are capable of freindship love and kindness. they just have something they do or have done that makes them evil.

DForck42

if you've ever read The Dresden Files, the mob boss Johnny Marcone is, to me, the textbook definition of Lawful Evil

Lord_Gareth

@DForck42 Not necessarily, but pretty close. LE lives by a code of honor. That doesn't make it a nice code.

Novian

Compartmentalizing their lives or something like that.

Lord_Gareth

Huh. Eighteen days and I'm still the only answer on this, "What happens when an undead being has 0 in a mental" question

Novian

hmm sad. I liked that question.

I thought it was clever.

albiet unlikely to ever come up.

Lord_Gareth

14:52

@DForck42 The Nine Hells of Baator is a great thing to look at for LE in all its various forms. LE is, in its essence, about dominance, which implies obedience in turn

Devils hate each other

But they still obey

Novian

My DM tried to get Demons and Devils to work together. There were protests from those familiar with the hatred between the two.

he did it anyway. under the guise of mind control. though i doubt either of them got the +4 to their will saves.

Lord_Gareth

It's happened once.

Just.

Once.

Wait, no, I lie. There was a second time.

Both of them events so shocking and mighty that they stopped the Blood War entirely

The first one was when the Upper Planes thought to use the Blood War as a method of exterminating evil entirely. It didn't end well.

The resulting return blow devastated the Celestials and overran quite a few bastions of Good.

The second time was when the Mind Flayers showed up en masse from the future. The forces of Evil stared in wonder at this incredibly powerful new force in the Astral and decided that such a wildcard couldn't be tolerated. When the fiends struck in unison, the Gith rebelled

Laying the Illithids low, annihilating most of their knowledge base, and reducing them to the wretched state they're in today.

LitheOhm

15:32

@JonathanHobbs k

The Oracle

16:16

1

Q: Upvoting Old Questions and Answers?

I really enjoy reading through the related posts. However, some of them can be quite old. Is it proper etiquette to upvote those that I give those that I find deserving? Should I consider a question that has not had any recent activity to be settled, therefore the upvoting has no purpose?

discussion etiquette

Novian

17:14

hmm Thug Fighter 4/Rogue 3/Warshaper 4/
Using Dragonborn Changeling as the race.

I think its just under the "Novian must Die" radar.

or maybe its over it?

4 total feats to cheese from.

Choose*

5 if I Flaw one.

Jeor Mattan

17:30

why don't you swap your 3rd level of rogue for a dip in some martial adept class?

@Novian nice typo

Novian

@JeorMattan I Lose a Sneak Dice.

@JeorMattan Twas on purpose.

Jeor Mattan

and get maneuvers.

Novian

Why dont I dump the 4th fighter level then.

Dear god. a 3rd evel Blink Effect made continuous(As per the rules for making magic items.) is damn expensive.

Jeor Mattan

@Novian yep, that's actually a good idea

Novian

thug fighter doesnt get bonus feats. it get sneak.

its th UA variant.

Jeor Mattan

17:36

and is therefore a better candidate for swapping to martial class

Novian

I Suppose.

Jeor Mattan

(if you can manage warshaper entry without it - you want to take a level of swordsage or warblade as your 9th)

Novian

Warshaper is easy BaB 4 and Shapechanger subtype(There are others but thats the easiest.)

Jeor Mattan

you may even dump 2 levels of thug, then

3rd level is no good anyway

Novian

what do you mean.

Jeor Mattan

17:39

thug2/rog3/warshaper4/warblade2

Novian

Warshaper 5th is useless for a noncaster.

LitheOhm

yo

Jeor Mattan

that's why it got edited away

hi there

LitheOhm

@JeorMattan hey

Novian

What is warblades BaB prog

Jeor Mattan

17:40

full

Novian

ah

So Lose 1 bab and a sneak dice from fighter and take 2 levels warblade netting me back the BaB and some maneuvers that are all 1/fight?

is thinking

Jeor Mattan

@Novian better yet, they can be used more than once per fight

Novian

I thought warblades were 1/fight type initiators.

Jeor Mattan

only people getting maneuvers solely via feats are 1/fight type.

Novian

Trying to manage reliable sneak is the hard part as Ring of Blink is out.

(3x3x2000) x 4 is the cost.

x 4 for the "Always on" continuity.

Jeor Mattan

17:44

warblades recover all their maneuvers for a swift action + standard action (which could be either wasted or spent on a melee attack)

Novian

ah

Jeor Mattan

@Novian it's spell levelxcaster levelx2kxduration modifier, why 3x3? either 2x3 or 3x5

Novian

3rd level spell. min caster level 3 x 4 for duration mod because Blink is round/Level

Jeor Mattan

3rd level spell = min caster level 5

Novian

lol.

Untrue.

Jeor Mattan

17:46

would be glad to be wrong.

care to provide quotes?

Novian

A Wizard can start play with 1 3rd level(At level 1) spell per day and no 3rd known. simply has to research the spell to put it in his book of known spells.

Since Craft Wonderous item is min caster 3rd i simply put the min caster level of the item at 3rd.

<----Abuse.

Gotta have a wizard with 18 Int tho.

Jeor Mattan

you have to actually cast the spell during the item creation, don't you?

Novian

Prolly.

and a 3rd level wizard is entirely capable of doing so.

72000 for a "Always On" Ring of Blinking.

if I did my math right

Jeor Mattan

well

Novian

Although If I am Wrong in my theory I would love to be proved wrong.

I just need a reliable method of delivering those extra dice.

So the ring isnt entirely neccesary.

but it is a good option.

this is also running on the assumption you can find a 3rd level caster to craft it for you.

Jeor Mattan

17:54

I can't see how do you get 3rd level spell slot on a 3rd level caster which spends his 3rd level feat on Craft Wondrous Items

Novian

Bonus spells per day from high Int

page 8 of the PHB

Jeor Mattan

I was under impression that you need to have at least 0 spells per day on a given level to have bonus spells applied. Searching for the quote...

seems to be an implicit restriction and common practice.

DampeS8N

21:03

Quiz time! How much would you pay for a membership to a fully-loaded Role-playing Parlor stocked with thousands of minis, tiles, maps, books and props to include: skulls, weapons, jewelry, cloaks, armor, knickknacks, parchment, wax and seals, so on. And a projection map system with hp/order/status tracking. AND sign by Zeb Cook copies of all the core AD&D books and Planescape CS. Locker space, custom coins, and a signet ring gift. Per month?

*signed

BESW

21:44

@Lord_Gareth Isn't there a 3.0 Faerun book with a Good lich template? Archlich, maybe.

Jeor Mattan

@BESW I'm not @Lord_Gareth, but there is. Called "baelnorn", featured in Monsters of Faerun. "Archlich" is another one, also featured in MoF.

BESW

Thanks! I was more pinging him because it's relephant to his answer, rather than because I only wanted him to respond.

Jonn_Underwood

22:16

Who thinks that Gandalf would be an exalted character?

In 3.5

BESW

mmmmeh.

Jonn_Underwood

So I'm thinking a bard like you said and then what alignment would Gandalf be?

BESW

Gandalf isn't Lawful Good in the D&D sense, he's more Pragmatic Good.

Jonn_Underwood

Maybe neutral good?

BESW

He lies, cheats, steals, and tricks to get what he wants.

Jonn_Underwood

22:18

Lol true

But always for the good of middle earth

I'm thinking aisimar, or just human?

BESW

My Gandalf is human.

He's got a squishy mortal shell around all that crunchy Maia goodness.

Jonn_Underwood

Ok just human

Is there a feat that improves armor class when you don't wear armor?

BESW

Not sure; been too long. Probably?

Jonn_Underwood

Hmmm

Lol how long has it been since you played 3.5?

@Jeor Mattan your correct about that, you have to have at least 0 spells per day to gain bonus spells.

BESW

@Jonn_Underwood A couple years.

Jonn_Underwood

22:33

Would Gandalf use a long sword or a bastard sword?

BESW

Bastard sword if he had the feats to burn, which he doesn't.

Jonn_Underwood

He could always use it two handed

BESW

Sword/staff.

Jonn_Underwood

But that's not as cool

Yeah exactly

Glamdring was definitely a bastard sword.

No armor leaves him vulnerable...

Transcript for