TRPG General Chat

Not just you--in my formative D&D years there only existed 9 Druids at any time. ("Druid" being the title of a L12 druid.) And 3 Archdruids (L13) and one Great Druid (L14). So, no, you weren't going to be hiring 3 level 16 druids any time soon =)

Mike Q

By level 17, there are much crazier things you can accomplish besides polymorph

The Oracle

1

Q: Stack-wide RfC on elections

Over on meta.SE (the meta that discusses Stack-wide practices and policies) there's a request that people think about and discuss how the election process works: Help me opine about a new election system. I'm dropping this "question" here really just as a pointer: many of you I know are interest...

Joshua

@MikeQ: Trust me, there's hardly anything crazier than my objective

nitsua60

Oh, no--are you the one who wants to self-travel through space?

Joshua

2:48 AM

oh yeah

nitsua60

I'm... gonna go read Mistborn finally.

2

Joshua

ok that's a funny typo

CTWind

3:16 AM

@nitsua60 Enjoy! I really like the series. Also, Sanderson's improved his writing style a whole bunch over time, so if that doesn't tickle your fancy I'd say try something newer of his. Maybe the Alloy of Law series later on in the Mistborn timeline.

kviiri

6:47 AM

Seven questions to go!

trogdor

7:23 AM

for a badge?

kviiri

@trogdor Until the site has round number nonsense :) (30 thousand questions)

trogdor

ah

Ben

8:24 AM

@kviiri ohh exciting!

Character concept: a bipolar barbarian.

Mike Q

What?

Ben

Or schizophrenic.

Mike Q

I don't think these words mean what you think they mean

Are you trying to refer to a multiple personality disorder, like Jekyll/Hyde ?

Ben

Yes and no.

I mean, yes, the whole Jekyll and Hyde concept are what I'm pointing to.

But obviously, the barbarian class implies a "control" over your rage

What if you had a character that did not. Certain situations/images or other inputs were what triggered the rage?

Could make for an interesting playstyle.

BESW

I try to apply the rule of thumb that if I'm not interested in engaging with the reality of neuroatypicality for a character, I avoid using real-life neuroatypical terms to describe a fictional trope even if it's frequently mis-associated with them.

That said, I once made notes toward a barbarian who only raged when reminded of existentialism.

kviiri

8:30 AM

A barbarian who is incapable of conceptualizing their own non-existence, but is very good at conceptualizing the non-existence of goblins.

Mike Q

@Ben Mechanically yes, although narratively the barbarian doesn't need to be in control per se

kviiri

@Ben It sounds like it might be an interesting gimmick for a while, but I can't really see it improving a DnD game experience in the long term.

Mike Q

There are some systems with rage-like mechanics where the player isn't totally in control

I'm not sure how well that would translate into the tactical, survival-and-teamwork-based nature that D&D was designed for

BESW

I've seen attempts at modeling that sort of thing in both 3.5 and 4e, and I agree with Mike that the common problem is simply that sort of loss of control seems anathema to the franchise's play assumptions.

@kviiri My barbarian didn't like existentialism; he thought it was cynical and defeatist and unconstructive. But it was the only philosophy he couldn't dismantle to his personal satisfaction, so he felt obligated to it and that made him so mad.

Mike Q

8:46 AM

Pathfinder has the Master Chymist prestige class, which is essentially Jekyll/Hyde

Their other self has a separate personality and alignment

And they can change unwillingly in response to stress

Although they share the PC's goals so the player is basically still in control, so it's not really an excuse to wreck things for the rest of the party

trogdor

@BESW lol

Carcer

10:19 AM

4 questions to go apparently

doppelspooker

10:55 AM

@BESW I remember in D&D 3.5e there is a barbarian prestige class — the berserker maybe? — who gets some amazing class features like the ability to take successive cleaves with a five foot step between each but when they are raging they cannot choose their targets and must attack the closest person, friend or foe.

As much as I wanted those features I could never play that class because I don't want to go murder my entire party.

Carcer

@doppelspooker you're thinking of Frenzied Berserker

doppelspooker

@Carcer that sounds about right

Carcer

has the ability Frenzy which is separate to and stacks with rage, IIRC, so you can be raging but not frenzied

does have the massive limitation that you are liable to enter frenzy whenever you take damage (have to save to not go berserk)

the cleave thing is Supreme Cleave, I think

doppelspooker

11:15 AM

I think so

Joel Harmon

11:26 AM

@MikeQ I do vaguely recall some Barbarian special options that would damage everyone nearby, even allies, and/or force the Barbarian to attack /someone/ until rage ran out, even if it was down to allies.

... and it looks like I'm late to that party. That's what I get for backlogging.

kviiri

11:51 AM

I have a lurking feeling we've got like a dozen questions people are not posting because they want the 30k get.

Rubiksmoose

@kviiri well yeah, the person that snags that coveted title is known to be the fated hero of the world.

Rubiksmoose

12:11 PM

hey there @goodguy5 :)

BESW

Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out For A Hero (Video)

►

Rubiksmoose

@BESW Wow talk about an appropriate song at least as far as title choice. bravo.

Trish

whee, 18 tribebooks down...

8 more to go.... :(

kviiri

@Trish What on earth have you gotten yourself into? :(

Trish

@kviiri a quest for 200 points for working through my OWN question.

on a topic that is quite... scarse in the books. but I got routine: search for the words love, mate and sex... and always both the Metis and the Litany parts.

Anaphory

12:30 PM

@Trish There are 26 books just on the were-X tribes? I had no idea just how big that game system was. Are there equivalent numbers also for mages, vampires etc?

Trish

@Anaphory There are furies, gnawers, children, fianna, get, glass walkers, talons, shadowlords, striders, fangs, stargazers, uktena, wendigo. Each has 2 (2nd ed and revised). so yes, 26 tribebooks frm 2 editions.

Add to that 9 breed books for cats, coyotee, raven, bear, rat, reptile, spider, shark and snake.
AND then add the hengeyokai for foxes and the asian variants on tiger, ravem rat, reptile and shark.

BESW

@Anaphory So far as I can tell, WoD splatbooks were like Cheetos: the devs got high, started one, and just couldn't stop.

Shalvenay

covers @Trish in cute werewolf puppies!

Trish

@Shalvenay oh come on... the old werewolf stuff is just... around... 300 books or something. spread out over 1st, 2nd, revised and W20... so 4 editions.

Shalvenay

@Trish awww, I thought you could use a break :)

Trish

12:37 PM

@Shalvenay about 40 of those are splat specific, add to that the about 5 player guides (one was "monsters") I think that covers the sources I am at least willing to look at...

BESW