Carnivorous_Bean's page

Carnivorous_Bean wrote:

Dr. Heinz Doofenschmertz wrote:

What, he's a platypus, of course he doesn't wear any clothes.

Ah, but what kind of hat does he wear?

And where does he wear it?! 80

As they say, before you ask the question, be sure you want to hear the answer .... ;)

Dr. Heinz Doofenschmertz wrote:

Besides his hat he wears no clothes,

What, he's a platypus, of course he doesn't wear any clothes.

Ah, but what kind of hat does he wear?

Solnes wrote:

Uhm, not really. He is less suggestive, but butt grabbing, spontaneous breaking into song/new people, and the hunchback thing where he follws me around yelling "Yes Mistress"...those still occur...regularly.

The butt grabbing could be considered flattering. I know a lot of married couples who you have to wonder if there's anything left in their marriage, because there's absolutely no PDA.

You mean to have a good marriage, you need to have a personal digital assistant? ;)

Carnivorous_Bean wrote:

Avast, ye swabs! Tryin' to make Boston baked beans outta Captain Bean? Keelhaulin' all round, I say! Arrrrr!

Dang, that talk like a pirate stuff is annoying, now that I've done it ;) ....

Hmmm... excuse me Beanie, do you have tentacles? I love me some tentacle

I've got vines, if that counts ....

Avast, ye swabs! Tryin' to make Boston baked beans outta Captain Bean? Keelhaulin' all round, I say! Arrrrr!

Dang, that talk like a pirate stuff is annoying, now that I've done it ;) ....

that a strange reddish haze was gathering around

Bravo! :)

CHAOS ROOLZ!!!

Hey, take yer dirty vines off my image, you fruitarian upstart!!!

I also want to add...

** spoiler omitted **

Brag, brag, brag .... ;)

Hey, I don't get it .... am I just a dumb cluck?

Sebastian wrote:

Pony Stalker wrote:

Sharoth wrote:

~pulls out a collar and a chain attached to it~ Come here my love slave!

Naughty dragon, leave my pony alone!

Great. I get to choose between the stalker that makes me a pedophile and the stalker that makes me a sub.

How about no?

Your knowledge of the lingo is noted! ;)

Sic 'im, Solnes! Go get him!!! >=D

Waitaminnit .... how did you know the lingo? o.O

A TOAST!

May the protoplasm in his psuedopods never lose elasticity!

Drinks Dark & Stormy

Hear, hear! And may his multiple eyes always see clearly!

Had to break out the emergency chocolate this morning. This is just not my week.

I know where ya comin' from.

** Looks around for something to bite savagely **

Damn .... this is turning ugly.

Oh, wait, it already was! =D Huzzah!!!!

**Bites everyone vigorously just for the heck of it**

Moorluck wrote:

Anybody got any suggestions for dinner?

Let them eat cake.

Talking to yourself again, eh, Moorluck?

I hear that happens a lot when you're blue. And I'm referring to the color, not the mood. ;)

Ah, but you see, it's really a trick. Since I am so universally hated, distrusted, and loathed, my support for you would imply that you are equally worthy of such feelings. After all, why would I like and respect you unless you were a miserable bastard like myself?

Mha ha ha...

(Cutting down on the maze of interlocking quotes for general board sanity)

You know, Sebastian, that's downright Machiavellian. Is Sebastian short for Colonel Sebastian Moran, or something? ;)

Les haricots sacrés .... une édition française, non ? Vient-il avec un béret et une bouteille de Bordeaux ?

No, I don't know French, I cheated. ;)

I do have a serious question, though .... is there a Russian edition of Pathfinder yet?

PDFs and other electronic files are still quite a bit clumsier than books, IMO. You've got to have a computer to look at them, with electricity, which limits the spots you can use them right away.

Even more than that, once you get them, they're pretty much tied to you forever. You can't lend them out, you can't resell them if you decide you don't want them any more, you can't give them directly as gifts, and you can't buy a legitimate copy of them once they're out of print. And, they're still a lot harder to read, despite a lot of improved utilities.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of computers and the Internet. It's just that I'm also a fan of physical books, and can see that there's a need for them that will never be supplanted totally by the electronic format. IMO, of course.

I hate to say it, but I dislike that attitude. I used to have an acc~*~ with a local bank and after about ayear with them the decided to close my account, "due to inactivity" according to them. The did not notify me that my account had been closed, and they continued to accept my direct deposits, but they started sending back the checks I as writing. I didn't know what had happened until I started getting collection letters for bounced checks.

Ah, yes, banks.

I have plenty of horror stories about banks to share, and I agree with you that I have a hard time trusting them. About 3 years back, my bank removed $182 per week from my account, and claimed that they didn't -- and charged me their exorbitant overdraft fees. Naturally, they didn't notify me about the overdraft, either, so I racked up a good solid fee the first time it happened.

I went in, went over my checkbook with them, went over the bank statement, and basically showed them that $182 was missing from my account that should have been in there, because there was no transaction on which it could have been spent.

Their response was to print out a page showing my current balance, and saying "Well, we show this as your current balance, and so that's your current balance. We're not sure how it got there, but that's what you've got now, so it's correct as far as we're concerned."

About 4 months later, I got a note saying, "whoops, ha ha, we did make an error, so we redeposited the money in your account."

So, last year, I was in the bank and some other guy came storming in, saying, "There's $182 missing from my account!!!" ....

Needless to say, I'm currently banking with another bank .... and keeping a couple week's groceries worth of cash on hand so that I can't just be wiped out by a computer glitch ....

My favorite was a customer complaint letter I read in book one time. It went something like "Well I know that your motto is th customer is always right, but as a customer, I think you are wrong. The customer is not always right, and since we are always right, we are not always right, but if we are not always right then I could be wrong about the customer not alwys being right. Go sit on a tack." Amazingly the person even signed their name to the letter.

Isn't that a variation on one of those old Greek paradoxes? =)

My motto is: the customer is always right, except when they're wrong. ;)

Heh. Honestly, the old man is getting pretty tight these days...I almost didn't get anything.

I do know that HP has been running some big sales, and at one point they were even giving trade in money for your old printer.

Glad to hear you got that much loot, at least. Must be convenient having a scanner and printer in one device, rather than needing room for two side by side .... or piling them up on top of each other, as I've sometimes been obliged to do.

She's the kind that defeats all evil doers with...

** spoiler omitted **

...works every time.

Is this phrase becoming another rallying cry of the Paizo boards, along with the S-word (you know, the one that gets you feeling blue ;) )?

Well, the book is legally your property other than for copying and distribution, so there's not much to worry about there. I can loan out my Audubon Field Guides to anyone I please, as long as I don't start printing 'em up and selling them, and the same goes for a Pathfinder book. Otherwise, you'd be hearing about police raids on libraries and used book stores all the time. ;)

The PDF, I'm guessing would be something to steer clear of. I'm not an expert on the subject, but electronic stuff seems to be a lot touchier than physical stuff in the loan department.

Carnivorous_Bean wrote:

Congratulations on your 100-post victory!

**Looks around furtively to see if anyone noticed that he had no idea there was even post count to check on this website .... and that he has no idea how many posts he's made, either.**

214 posts (218 including aliases).

~grins~

That is your Post Count, CB.

Dang it, you mean I've managed to be this annoying in only 214 posts? ;)

Grats on the potential interview!

As it happened, I missed an important phone call by 10 minutes today ... and it may end up costing me over $200 because I won't have something in by the date it was supposed to be in now. It might be okay, but it's gone from 100% okay to 50/50. =P Ah well, you win some, some you hope you didn't lose ....

Congratulations on your 100-post victory!

**Looks around furtively to see if anyone noticed that he had no idea there was even post count to check on this website .... and that he has no idea how many posts he's made, either.**

Smurf buffering .... I like that. ;)

In the interests of putting my money where my fangs here, here's another contribution to the main topics of this thread ;) .... in the form of a gross story about spiders from about 10 years back ....

WARNING! If you have squeamishness about spiders, this story may be extremely disturbing to you. ;) Arachnophobe discretion advised -- reading further may result in permanent mental scarring, waking with a yowl and a cold sweat in the middle of the night, and/or extreme prejudice against spiders. Just so ya know.

One morning, about 10 years ago, I woke up after a good night's sleep and my nose felt a bit stuffy. I got up, got dressed, got a tissue, blew my nose ....

.... and a crooked, hairy spider leg came out.

I sat there, looking at it for a good ten seconds, and then I was blowing my nose frantically, even though it didn't feel stuffed up any more. Two more spider legs came out, but nothing after that. I rinsed my nose out with water as best as I was able, but no go. The rest of the beast remained out of sight, so I wasn't sure if it was still up there, or if just some of the legs got up there without the rest of the spider being involved.

Then, the next morning, when I woke up, I sneezed .... and there was the rest of the spider, a smallish wolf spider, dead as a doornail of course, and missing three legs. I've got a pretty strong stomach most of the time, but with the implications of that, I admit to a retch on that occasion ....

Thankfully, thus far, it seems to have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience .... and I sure do hope it stays that way! =)

How did politics leak in here? Let's get back to spiders and BttH! ;)

This thread was a real Gark-a-thon for a while. It goes to show you what happens when you let a goblin off the leash. ;)

As for spiders, I usually catch them and put them back outside. However, if they come for me (like the one that made a run at my foot the other night), I mash 'em flatter than a toad in Chicago rush-hour traffic. Gleefully, and without a qualm, I might add.

Yeah, I know, they bite you only when they're provoked, blah blah blah. That's why when I was 10 years old, I was getting a bite every night while sitting reading my evening comic book, and my parents couldn't figure out why until she saw a spider come out of the bathroom and crawl along the wall 30 feet through the house -- she followed it, and it went up onto the couch I was sitting on and headed straight for the arm that kept getting bitten. Clearly, I was just invading its personal space. I've seen plenty of examples of such provocation since then. ;)

"The smell of your blood provokes me, human! Muahahaha!"

Found an example of what I think a "real" Repeating Crossbow might look like.

LINK HERE

This example would most likely be either a light or heavy variant.

Yep, and as is noted, the repeating crossbow is so weak that the Chinese had to poison the bolts in order to make it effective.

Repeating crossbows are one of those things that make me wince whenever they're mentioned. I personally like that combat works differently in different eras, and there might be some settings where the Old West gunslinger not only doesn't exist, but can't exist, and being a 'badass' means something totally different -- like being lethal with a halberd.

But that's just me.

Now that is a really repulsive situation. I'm sorry to hear that and I hope some kind of solution presents itself soon.

With that said, I really think that public housing is at least worth checking out. Even the small town I live in, with 425 people, has a miniature apartment complex with small apartments that are available only to people with low income, and whose rent is adjusted to match the income -- so the really unfortunate can get some spartan but decent living space for a minimal amount.

Even just a few months of some low-rent housing might give you enough breathing space to find some alternatives and get back on your feet -- or at least take the first step towards getting back on your feet.

And as someone who spent 7 years at the bottom of the economic heap, literally, and who has only managed to claw out of that situation in the past couple of years, I can say that I know exactly where you're coming from, and how difficult it is to just come up with "a solution"; and you've got my sympathy at least.

it made even hardened otyughs

I still think the Spellblade is about 14 million times better than the Duskblade ever was. More spells, access to the full wizard-sorceror list, and the whole nine yards. It's more of a spellcaster than just a melee combatant, and that's what I wanted to see. Yeah, you could build better with prestige classes, but for low-level play, it simply can't be beat.

See, now, that makes me think that it's probably overpowered. I guess there's just no pleasing some people (me, specifically).

So, I sit here, newly unemployed, and I've made a decision to sell my Pathfinder AP issues. I decided to go thru eBay, and discovered: I don't have a scale. I have no idea how much the issues weigh.

So, how much does 6 AP issues weigh, in total?

Dang, that's painful, sorry to hear it. :( This recession/depression is pretty savage, but I hope you find some new work soon. Hopefully before you've had to sell off all your Paizo stuff!

As I've noted elsewhere I've serious reservations about the priest, with the upgunned channelling, ability to spontaniously cast domain and healing spells and getting an extra domain spell a level.

Hoo boy. Well, there went pretty much my last reason to purchase the book for class stuff. The races leave me unimpressed, and the magic item stuff sounds abominable. So that pretty much leaves the flaws -- something that might be nice, but I'm not paying full book price for one chapter.

Looks like this is one to scratch off the list of future purchases. Thanks for the warnings, though, guys!

Well, my interest just went down a few notches more. I already have the duskblade, and use it in my campaign (although I despise the name -- "dusk," for goodness' sakes? -- and call it the "blademage"), and since it sounds better than this version, I can't see why I shouldn't stick with it. Same with the PHBII Knight.

The Priest sounds like the only thing still piquing my interest, since my campaigns feature religions pretty prominently. Can someone please share some information about it? Anything to make it stand out? I've never owned a copy of Unearthed Arcana, so hearing that it's similar to the cloistered cleric from that book, as so many have said in this thread, doesn't convey much to my mind, unfortunately.

[Edit: misspelled Priest, of all things]

Carnivorous_Bean wrote:

Just my two koku. ;)

Isn't that nearly enough rice to smother a grown man just by dumping it on top of him?

(Note to self: "Five Koku Trap.")

Yes, that is a LOT of rice. :) I just used it because it sounded appropriate.

I do like your idea for the "Five Koku Trap," though. =)

I've spent a good part of my adolescent and adult life reading as many books about samurai and medieval European warriors as I can fit into my schedule, and although both cultures produced very distinctive types of fighting men, my personal opinion is that they can both be modeled quite well by the fighter -- and some role-playing notes to remind you of what makes them what they are.

Like the fact that European knights considered it to be the worst disgrace possible to enter a wagon, and eschewed wheeled conveyances almost completely, even, on occasion, when badly injured.

Or that the samurai of the early period would recite the names of their ancestors and the list of their accomplishments before battle, then fire special whistling "humming bulb arrows" en masse to attract the notice of the gods to the deeds of valor about to be performed.

The samurai, even more than the knight, would fall into the category of "heavily-armored generalist" that the fighter represents so well.

Just my two koku. ;)

Well, I'm glad that my players aren't like this, and I'm sorry that you're stuck with a bunch like that. If I found myself in this situation, and didn't want to just ditch the group out of hand, I'd probably say,

"Okay, guys, we can go one of two ways here.

"One is that we treat this as a tactical fantasy wargame, and I just make up combat scenarios for us to play out together. I'm not going to do anything with the background if we do this, because in that case, you're obviously not interested in the background, and I don't want to waste my time writing stuff you're just going to turn into a big joke.

"The other is that we accept your characters are living in a world here, and their actions have consequences. You can still do whatever you want, but don't be surprised if stuff happens to your characters because of it. If they don't have names, for example, nobody will be able to find them or pay them for things they do. If they pull the king's beard, expect his knights to kill them for attacking him. You're not pulling any punches in your actions, so I'm not going to pull any for your characters either. I'm going to be fair and impartial, but if we choose this way, the world is going to respond in a semi-realistic manner to your actions, so if you want your characters to survive, you need to be a bit more cautious.

"So, which is it going to be?"

Concentration is no longer a skill.

Wait, suddenly, according to the quote*, metamagic changes the spell's level cumulatively? But since metamagic doesn't change the spell's level**, it's a cumulative 0? It... doesn't really change the issue, but it shows, that even the Core Rulebook doesn't have the faintest clue what its supposed to do in this situation. :)

Also, misinterpreting that metamagic would increase the spell's level is a far worse misinterpretation. By doing so you are making every metamagic feat function as Heighten Spell in addition to its normal functions. Be sure to let my Widened Grease have the DC increased by 3, as it will be a 4-level spell. Or the Empowered Fireball, a 5-level spell.

Again, I don't see how this is such a problem to grasp.

Casting a metamagic enhanced cantrip uses up a slot of the appropriate level. It does not use up the cantrip, since the cantrip can be cast any number of times per day.

However, you cannot cast the cantrip with metamagic if you do not have the slots to do it. And regardless of the metamagic applied, saves against it will always be against a 0-level spell.

The rules seem perfectly clear as they are to me.

I didn't read through the central pages of this thread, because to me it seems pretty straightforward.

You can cast cantrips (0-level spells) any number of times per day.

If you add metamagic to them, they are no longer 0-level spells. In basic, common-sense mathematics, 0+1 = 1, 0+2 = 2, etc.

Therefore, if you add metamagic to a cantrip, it uses up a slot of the appropriately-leveled spell. When you have used up all your slots, you can no longer cast cantrips with metamagic enhancements.

You can, however, still cast them as their ordinary, 0-level selves. So, they're not expended, but you can't supercharge them up any more, because you've used up all your higher-level slots.

The rule appears to boil down to: "You can cast any spell with a level of 0 any number of times. Any spell with an effective level higher than that uses a slot, and once you use up all your slots, you can't cast anything but 0-level spells for the rest of the day."

Seems to make sense to me .... and be pretty clear-cut .... maybe I'm just missing the point.

But there is absolutely no reference to Aragorn dual-wielding that I know of. That didn't even enter the AD&D class's formal concept until 2e, long after the initial ranger (first appearing in the Strategic Review) and revised in 1e could have been based on Aragorn.

I've read the Lord of the Rings over a dozen times myself, since I first discovered it as a 10-year-old, and I concur, there's no sign of Aragorn doing anything remotely resembling dual-wielding. I don't think there's anyone who dual-wields in the books -- it's either one-handed weapon, one-handed weapon and shield, two-handed weapon (and this one is rare), or bow, as far as I can recall.

ugly thud. The reek that wafted from it

Simple, any weapon that deals cold or fire damage negates the DR. If it doesn't deal cold or fire, the damage is reduced by the DR. A little unusual, but hey. It's kind of similar to trolls regeneration being stopped by fire.

Edit: Hey, that sounds pretty nifty actually. Choose electricity, cold, and fire, and your DR will count against any non-elemental weapon. Nice.

Hm, now you're getting me interested in the warlock, too! ;)

I kind of like it in theory, but I'll wait until I've tried out the new ability damage a bit more in practice before I make any commentary on it. It seems neater this way, though.

I like the solution with the broader groups, myself. Or retraining.

Although I do agree with those who say that the player and DM should communicate at the start of the campaign, and that the DM should throw in occasional challenges that include the ranger's favored enemy.

This is the best way to handle it, and I don't see it as 'coddling' the ranger or something like that. After all, there are going to be locks and sneaky situations for the rogue, injuries for the healers to tend, etc. etc. -- so designing an encounter or two into every adventure (or every other adventure, even) where the ranger can potentially shine just seems pretty natural to me. YMMV.

That said, I can see that some DMs may not be quite as flexible in this way, and that when that's the case, it can produce a big problem for the player. Which is why I personally find the ranger's favored enemy to be find (because I usually DM, and I write the adventures so that all the characters get a chance to shine -- as long as they don't mess up, of course ;)!), but as a general rule think that the retraining or broader groups would be a good overall solution for the official rules.

(Now to see if I made that too much of a wall of text for anyone to response to.)

I agree with Mairkurion. The original topic has vanished totally and has been replaced with "Best of Circular D&D Arguments" theme.

Heck, I'd even recommending smurfing it back to the Stone Age.