AtlasRaven's page

Saern wrote:

Divine Might and Shield...

...Profane Lifeleech is almost a must.

If you decide to go down this road, grab Extra Turning too. Trust me, it'll help a LOT.

Definitely. I love Divine Might.

I've realized that leadership is probably a bad idea, Undead Leadership would suit the character much better. I'll have to look around for my libris mortis, it's been a long time since I've used it. But I found an interesting feat in the Eberron Campaign Setting called Undead Empathy, which let's you use Diplomacy checks on nonintelligent undead and gives a bonus to it with intelligent undead, but it'd probably work better with a character who can't rebuke undead.

For epic feats, I'm thinking Undead Mastery and Zone of Animation. And since ZoA uses turning attempts, it makes perfect sense to load up on turning attempts with Extra Turning.

My brother is trying to create a Cleric/Blackguard and needs some help. His character is a neutral evil human devoted to Nerull. He's intenting to take his character up to level 25, which means 5 ranks in Blackguard (he doesn't see much point to the blackguard class beyond getting the fiendish servant) and 20 ranks in Cleric. He wants to make his character a thoroughly evil antipaladin commanding an undead army against the forces of good (think Army of Darkness). He basically wants a character that is decent at spellcasting but can also wade in melee when needed.

Abilities:

What should his abilities look like? We're using point buy 25 points. I know that WIS and CHA are his primary abilities, but I'm concerned that he won't have enough left over for a decent STR, CON, and especially INT. INT is especially tricky because Cleric skill points are very low from the get-go and getting 5 ranks in hide means sacrificing 10 skill points that would otherwise go to his class skills.

Feats:

Iirc, he'll get 8 non-epic feats and 2 epic feats by level 25. But he has to take cleave, imp sunder, and power attack, so that leaves 5 discretionary non-epic feats and 2 epic feats. Which feats should he take? Would the leadership feat be worth it?

Thanks for the help.

I would agree to use Europe as a base. Being from the States, I often tend to make massive countries like our lovely nation, but that really isn't likely. All of the largest nations of the medieval period were incredibly problematic.

Take for example, the fractured Holy Roman Empire. Or France, whose powerful nobles were often a great challenge for the King. Even look at Rome, which egan to fracture under the weight of its distance.

Now, this is real world, not fantasy, but I think it is a great guideline. Realize that most Medieval-inspired nations will be the size of Medieval European nations, and the larger ones could present problems.

I agree with Luke. Even if the region is large if you're using a feudal system the adventurers might pass through many diffrent fiefdoms ruled by the upper class, all in the same kingdom. During a turbulent time the land could conceivably switch hands during the party's passage, creating possible encounters with the victors. IMO the actual dimensions of the land aren't neccesary but in relative terms. For ease of travel the size of most european countries makes sense.

I hate it when I'm trying to get a loan to pay off bills and my cosigner backs out at the last minute. :(

Anything that has to deal money i hate, the exception is getting a hefty paycheck. Loans, credit, accounting, inflation, investing, and taxes can all just ride the train to hell. RAWHHHA!!

it's easier to get admissible evidence when you fail to knock and announce, not harder.

So i'm better off if a cop is knocking on my door as opposed to busting it down then?

Haven't tried it but you could download the trial from their website. My bro has been using Redblade and it's free. I'm slightly against character sheet programs for anything but the basics because homebrew or new/customized characters don't work well. Go for it if you're going to use it a ton and will always have a laptop available.

Not Hardware? KHAAAN!!!

I haven't seen it but i'm opening it for anyone that has. Read sorta mixed reviews and was wondering if I was missing anything. My town only has one movie theater and it isn't showing it :(

I'm still waiting for someone to write Complete Peasant and Complete Habberdasher. Including recommendations on what to take as your single simple weapon proficiency (dagger or quarterstaff?)

Hahaha but at least D&D isn't like the ridiculous number of Magic card expansions. I'd hate to have to buy a new expansion every couple months just to stay current. Complete Whatever books are easy to make fun of but at least there's new scoundrel ideas for the masses. And go with the dagger and wondrous hat creation feat :)

Dr. Doom all the way. This is the ideal proto-type for a tough and dangerous villain. What i really like about him is, that he isn't a classic madman like many villains are (of course some of his actions may make him seem like one). If you'd shape a DnD-villain after him, you can't go wrong. The characters will hate him (right before they die, of course).

And not the Movie version either, the comic Doom with armor stolen from Iron Man, and magic to back it up with. I was trying to build a stat block for him too, complete with armor he could cast arcane through. I too would be interested to know if anyone completed his stat block.

Princess Leia kisses Han Solo or whatever and says, "I LOVE YOU!!" as the stormtroopers are dragging her off.

Han just looks at her, and says "I know."

Haha. You stole mine!

I've enjoyed the Gunslinger books for a while now. I'm on the last book, and I'm purposely lollygagging reading it, because that's it no more after that.

Suffice it to say the temptation to go statting up that universe has always been a powerful one. And with all those gateways, anything could go...
If you haven't read any of them, you're in for a real treat. I personally was never a big Steven King fan, but those books rocked.

Yup, i've got Wolves on the Calla on my desk, it's a long read though. The idea of distant gateways is great fantasy stuff. I'm failing to remember how death was treated...something about dying then living again on a diffrent world, maybe parallel world even? I'd be fun to be a gunslinger in King's wastelands, as i recall guns were used but it was uncommon for anyone to possess one. I know this is pretty old but the Orb from Brisco County Junior (90s western tv show) has lots of fantasy potential too.

I tried this, but the issue I had was that I had it in my head that the PC's couldn't deviate from the plot. They felt severely railroaded. That was how I destroyed the last "campaign" I ran.

Same except I just guided them along. The players derailed it after 10mins, i let them rather then railroad them. The problem is they have diffrent motivations and personalities than their protagonist counterparts. They also have to remain waistdeep in the action or the players will get bored (books don't have this problem). Plot ideas borrowed from books, however, make great ideas for campaigns! Unfortunately, the PCs need to feel that they are in control of their destiny more then just a character in a book.

I've considered basing an adventure or an ongoing campaign on the manga Death Note.

Sounds good :)

AtlasRaven wrote:

Why does the price fluctuate so much?

Rarity.

And even among minis of the same rarity, some are better (in the D&D Minis game) than others, and are thus worth more.

Thanks for the clarification although the logic is disappointing.

After taking a look at Paizo's pricing, i must admit i'm confused. I just looked down the Abberations section for a mindflayer miniature for my bro. It's $30. Other miniatures in the same singles collection are priced as little as $1 to as much as $40. Why does the price fluctuates so much?

Then it gets me thinking about what a campaign with all Players Handbook races banned would look like... Imagine a world with no humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes and halflings. You'd have only Yakfolk, Minotaurs, Centaurs, Ogres, etc...

Hhmmm...

... The wheels are turning...

Ultradan

Hahaha! That would be awesome. Can u give me a statblock for a Yalkfolk? :)

It's 97 F in the UK and some of their tar roads melted. I read how France is in the middle of a heatwave too. I'd be nice to have a wand of frost wouldn't it?

If it hinders the campaign because it is too much of a problem, then choosing such a creature as character should be prevented in the first place and every DM has the right to do so, but to bully a character later isn't fair.

Agreed. It seems more like the monk is new or struggling at roleplaying. A good solution would be to reward players with roleplaying xp and not to the monk if he isn't roleplaying. Eventually he'll catch on or fall behind a little. It's petty for the DM to pick on him after allowing him to play a more exotic character. As a DM it should be made clear that any template/exotic race should be granted for fun/roleplaying purposes, not powergaming.

Same, I use the book analogy. It helps weed out the ones that aren't going to stick around very long too.

Me: "So it's like a book, players take the part of..."
Him: *stumped* "You meen one o' them paper thingies whith picteres in itt?"
Me: "Yes" *sigh* Not many people read books anymore.

I had to watch my 2 varmints alone for 5 hours Saturday. They tpk'd me. Who'd a thunk two kobolds could do so much damage to a mighty werewolf ex-national guardsman?

That's just it. You're an ex-guardsman and lose all the class hit points. Suddenly, you can't do pushups anymore, your hair grows 4 inches longer, and some of the discipline you learned goes out the window.

Toss me a frosty on this ale-swigging pirate ship of Fools!

Looked it up in DMG p283. Says it's found in meteorites and the rarest magical areas. From a DM perspective, considering how rare it would be and how sparingly it would be used, it would be hard to justify ruining the PCs' new treasure. From a Fantasy World perspective, if it *did* evaporate in sunlight then some crafty gnome would make a fortune preserving it with spells/alchemy for use in weapons.

Maybe +1 or +2 but don't allow it after that. I'm fortunate to do a game with only one player, my bro, outside a group. I even let him roll a lvl 1 Mindflayer Psion (El +7) since he won't outshine anyone else. I'm really open to entertaining options so long as it's balanced and they give me pretty damn good reasons why their character would be adventuring with those he/she might look down upon.

Confusion and stun effects. If he can't reach the target he also can't do damage. I don't know if fear would effect him while he's in a rage. Even if he's in a full rage, his weapon is the weakest link, ex: an adamantine golem grabbing his weapon and crushing it in its hand. That would really make the party wet its pants.

Nah, it's cool. Just thorwing around ideas at the moment hoping one is like "wow, that's so simple. why didn't i think of that?"

Yeah, I can spend 5 to 10 minutes thinking about a sample encounter, but sometimes I draw a blank. Unfortuntately, sometimes I draw a blank in front of my players. Sometimes I don't want to make them wait 5 to 10 minutes while I come up with something.

Gotta keep the game moving. I suppose it's a lot better having "wasted" pages of leveled monsters/npcs then to completely draw a blank and kill the mood while you fumble through the DMG or MM.

:) It's really cool how you guys will answer posts and be down to earth with us.

Agree with Tequila, except the weird tattoo thing unless it's dragonmark/magic/psion related. Maybe just restrict the PCs from completely looting corpses, ie Adventurer's Guild cut of 20% off dungeon loot or taxes. Not to mention frequent cutpurses or robbers/scavengers. I suppose an easy fix would be simply to draw up some NPCs exactly as you would PCs and some of them equivalent goods. Maybe not everyone, just the major villains. It would be fairly straightforward to increase NPC wealth per level as well.

So pointless in fact they should stop printing things. Period. I mean really, who needs money in America now anyhow? And if they actually do need money then I would suggest they get real jobs in marketing, or business administration that's where the big bucks are to be made, not in fringe game publishing.

GGG

I hope this is satire considering how we love them so for it :P They don't make a castle full of gold like Sony or Microsoft or anything but i'm sure they pull in a small dragon hoard a year. And even the folks at Paizo get a handful of gold a day chucked at them by their overbosses. Poor guys are chained to desks and whipped until one of them comes up with a good article *sniff*.

:) In the cartoon the fighter jumped into the wizard's arms. Mmmm +5 unholy longsword munch munch.

There's a WOTC article on the subject.

It's too bad they didn't add a mindflayer template in there too. I may just open the floodgates and let players be nearly anything. A party of mindflayers, rakkashas, beholders, and vampires snuffing the life out of the peasantry might be fun.

What about level adjustment of +5 or more? I've got a player really itching to be a Mindflayer Psion (+7 LA) but obviously he'll more than outshine most classes at 1st level. I don't wanna kill his rolls or hobble him in any way. Maybe WOTC's Save My Game article has something on the subject.

Absolutely! I´m not even a native speaker, and I only encounter difficulties when colloquial language is used on these boards. Otherwise, I can read the books fluently and tend to think that my writing here is comprehensible. So, gaming has done a lot for in learning english.

Stefan

Colloquel? Co-lol-quee...nvm. I can't pronounce that. Regular reading will do wonders for your language ability and it's great that you can completely understand books in english. I wonder if readers/writers tend to game or gaming tends to spur people into writing/reading?

Mechwarrior 4. The Raven is a sensor mech that scouts, jumps, and fights as well as a kobold with its shoes tied together. The Atlas is the assault mech more like a pissed off Titan in D&D terms. I merely combined the names to show how well the two can work together.

A very long time. 4 lvl 60s, 2 with at least MC gear. I've gotten to the point where i'd rather play something casually then get sucked into a long dungeon. Enjoyed the game, i've just lost interest with it.

:) KnightErrantJR, i loved NWN and it pushed me into trying D&D. I wait with barely contained eagerness for its sequel.

Here's a study about gamers.

:) Ignoring the whole violence issue, I would say gamers tend to be more intelligent. D&D tends to use a lot of number-crunching and language skills, not to mention would help develop some social skills. It's sort of like how computer gamers would tend to be good with basic computer tasks and hardware issues because it helps them get the best experience out of their game. I read awhile back how gamers were thought to be well suited for a role like Army Intelligence because of the quick thinking and processing of many many pieces of information together into a cohesive picture. I love to hear something that reinforces my own opinions, most everyone does. I just think gaming is portrayed as having no benefit whatsoever to the person besides wasting time and this is simply not the case, gamers get more out of it than someone that spends equal time watching tv.

Drow Ninja???????
Drow NINJA??????

Drow Ninja! Heh, they've infiltrated the DMG2! Oh noes!!

I'm with Sebastian on this one. Of course, I've only been playing and DMing since 1976, so I probably need a bunch more experience.

Seriously, I strongly prefer intelligent opponents with believable societal structures to a collection of random creature parts assembled by a mad wizard and best illustrated with crayon. Not that I'm thinking specifically about the latest creature creation exercise at the WotC website, or anything.

8-)

:) i was born in '82 yet i feel old compared to the younger gaming crowd. So you wouldn't want to use a female Dire fiendish vampire halfdragon/halfkobold succubus/paladin servant of Tiamat would you? I'm glad the books tend to be only one or two template steps away but it can feel frustrating that a template creature or half-whatever really isn't origional or interesting. I'm with you guys, I would rather see more useful humanoids and creatures.

However, I have to say that I think the spell casting may be a little overpowered. There was an ability or two that I didn't really think much of (unfortunately, I don't have my PHB II, so I can't say which one)....

And then comes the Beguiler. It steals from the sorcerer the enchantment AND illusion school, just as the warmage stole evocation. And it raises the question to my mind, "Are they going to make one of these for every spell school?" Please, no. The sorcerer will have no place after that.

It's fine if you don't like the Beguiler class. I'm creating a 6th lvl Beguiler NPC stat block right now. Unfortunately, for lack of a PHB2, I haven't taken a look at their class spell list yet. However, in defense of their "stealing" from the sorcerer, they get ONE new spell from the sorcerer enchantment OR evocation list at 4th level and every 3 levels after. That means not including bonus spells, my sample beguiler has only one new spell from that list. And i chose ventriloquism. I don't think we're gonna hurt any sorcerer's feelings with that.

Sorry if another arcane spellcasting class steps on your toes but wotc has to create more classes, skills, feats, etc...due to player demand. I feel like the Beguiler has much more impact as the sweet talker of the party, using diplomacy to get out of tight situations or as a spell casting scounting compliment to a rogue or ranger. Rest assured, I don't feel she'll take any spellcasting roles away from the PHB1 classes.

For whatever reason when I first read this my mind instantly jumped to Final Fantasy V, which had a job system set up in it.

That's exactly what came to mind because i dug out my snes and played the game recently.

I really like the feat-buy idea. Even if it's not "standard D&D" it's an intriguing homebrew variant. I'd agree that you'd have to start with a handful of feats to avoid feeling like you're playing a generic class.

Go forth and add your beguiler to the Stat Block Bank, for the more stat blocks, the merrier!

Hmm you linked this before and i've loved it! Only now do i notice it's a user updated site similar to Wikipedia.

You could try rolling up a character and see if it looks good on paper.

True. I don't currently own the PHB2 but i'll give it a little number crunching. Only problem is class features like stealth and spells tend not to be well represented on paper. Similar to the rogue, I'm sure any fight started by a Beguiler will give him the advantage. I'll checkout the PHB 2 New Classes thread.

Edit: Maybe i should just say "her" since it's a female pic.

I could gush about my 2 favorite classes, the rogue and sorcerer respectively, but I was wondering what you guys thought about the Beguiler class. Would the combination of light armor, low bab, and casting in combat make him a speedbump for any charging melee? Would he just end up a liability or utility class, resented by the melee and magic users? Or is he the best of both classes? I was thinking about rolling a Beguiler at the very next opportunity and any thoughts or tips would be appreciated!

Hmm pull names similar to authors writing books. Something generic or placeholder maybe until you come up with a good name. For instance: Greyhawk Vista, v3.5 compatable doesn't work. "Fun with Tentacles" won't either unless it's a really really weird campaign.

Signed :) I just wish i didn't have to throw my email down the muddy banks of spam whenever i do anything online. When it gets to the point where I pay cash for something in a real store and they have to have my email or phone # it pisses me off.

It said I'm lawful evil.

That's such b.s.
Me? Lawful?
Puh-lease.

I know! Lawful evil? More like Chaotic Evil spelled in big cancer-causing neon lights!

Exactly Scylla. Handy if you use a laptop off to the side as a DM. Example: you have a PHB with 5 players crowded around it to create their new characters. When one player interrupts you to ask how many hit die/base attack/saves his new drow rogue will have, you can tell him quickly without having to tear the PHB away from people using it.

To survive...a Lich in Union or some other extra-planar town. I would sell arcane secrets grudgingly just to get back to my lair and delve into the secrets of the universe.

"It must be great to be a lich...to be so powerful, so deadly, so feared. Of course, looking in the mirror must suck eggs." - Tony Moseley, Zogonia

Hmm for a while I thought it was a 3rd edition class. Now i just realize i asked to be one as a new player and the DM kindly adapted the PrC into a base class for me. I wish i had held onto his adjustments so i knew how to do that again.

OK we have a buttload of front line fighters...

2 paladins
1 barbarian
1 monk
1 ranger
1 rogue
1 wizard (who is planning on taking a lvl of cleric next lvl)

Aside from the wizard/cleric, guess who's the healer? YOU ARE! I think it just boils down to:

6-6.5 for 3-4 nights, then I need 7-8 at least one night.

I never function 100% properly, but I have adapted to a zombielike existence.
The Army helped some. No sleep for 8 weeks in basic.

Learned that you could get by on 3-5hrs a day huh? Except that 12 mile roadmarch was rough, i slept most of the time marching with a pack at 4-5mph. Then when we got back expecting sleep for our efforts at ~6am...told to clean equipment and no sleep ;(