I'm just going to say this...what's with all the blue penis?
Yeah, I was getting a bit sick of the digital dong after awhile.
Frankly I am kind of surprised the movie doesn't have an NC-17 rating.
I'll put everything in spoilers to save those who haven't viewed the film...
Spoiler:
Indeed, my friends and I chuckled when, before the movie started tonight, we realized there were children in the audience. More chuckling was to be had when the neon blue man bits were displayed in what seemed to be 10+ scenes, and the talk I heard on the radio about the movie being completely inappropriate for children was confirmed as true (the rampant R-rated language, brutal violence, sex/near rape scenes, etc.)... All this coupled with the fact that it was a 10PM showing and it ran almost 3 hours left us asking, "What were those parents thinking?"
Besides all those shenanigans, I've never read the comic, so I must have not been channeling the fan vibes, since I wasn't blown away by its story. The cinematography was quite excellent, though.
They should at least be able to be lawful neutral, to account for those paladins who do go ahead and off the orc babies because of the trouble they probably will cause when they grow up.
woops! My mistake... but still, I feel the "evil dude at the head of a glorified thieves' guild" is overdone. I think it would be more attractive to me had he actually done something that involves his martial arts training, rather than have a criminal cartel. LE people can conquer, too!
I agree with Clark... Blue Dragon = Chaotic Evil, which really isn't the secretive evil that is shown here. I don't think Clark is calling on him to be a petty bandit, but rather a warlord who controls vasts sums of minions and uses them to get what he wants. If said wuxia dwarf really had the soul of his master, then he'd be unleashing the fury of one thousand roundhouse kicks upon the populace - most likely with an army of half-dragon ninjas and martial artists.
I too was confused as to what a "holy warrior cleric" is...
EDIT: Also, I fail to see how he's really that much of a threatening villain... except maybe to demons. His only evil schemes involve him eating fiends.
I hate to say it, but this one just doesn't work as a villain - at least not in a typical D&D game. Honestly, any party worth its salt is going to see past her myriad bluffs eventually unless she has her pretty hands on a magic item that gives her permanent glibness, not to mention the fact that, by playing the part of a party member, she could likely die in combat barring DM handwaving.
Demonic Otyugh Spellcaster Mastermind ? Color this "WINNER !".
However, rules lawyer that I tend to be, I have a gripe with class choice. Cleric/Wizard isn't really good, since mixing caster levels usually means the NPC is behind any single-class caster. So I'm hoping for a really GOOD statblock here.
That's technically not rules-lawyering, but power-gaming instead.
I believe that this creature is quite creative and interesting... Nobody ever suspects the otyughs these days. Think of the chaos that would occur if he was posing as one of Korvosa's trash disposing otyughs! >:)
EDIT: Though, the disguise might be compromised a bit by his hellish visage...
I would like to state my opposition to dwarf planets.
They are completely unfair!
What kind of rational solar system has human planets, dwarf planets, and giant, gas planets, but has no elf, gnome, or halfling planets?!?
And what about the half-elf and half-orc planets?!?!?!
This is some kind of . . . of . . . fourth edition of the solar system, and I disapprove of it entirely!
I refuse to purchase any solar materials from the IAU from this point forward, and I look forward to Paizo coming out with a revised version of the solar system that is fully compatible with the previous system. (Third party support, such as asteroids, comets, and Kuiper Belt Objects from Necromancer Games would be really cool too.)
The number of editions the solar system's been through must at least be in the double digits by now. All the more reason to boycott!!!
Another idea is to take a look at the new type of feats called Bloodlines, introduced in the recent article about Dhampyr. You could make a similar style of feat... perhaps the beginning one is Lesser Werewolf [Lycanthropic]. It gives the character the at-will ability to change shape, and opens up various other lycanthropic feats.
All I can say is that for certain members of my gaming group, we would need dozens of dice for every attack. Just think of what happens when a frenzied beserker Power Attacks for full on a Leap Attack! (before you call me on referencing non-core material, just know that people will find ways to break Pathfinder as well... especially if supplements are ever released)
Hi! Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), werewolves are currently (and perhaps never will be) an official playable race. If you desperately want werewolves to be a PC race, it would be up to the GM to create the racial benefits.
Your idea of starting at level 8 and adding class levels would certainly not be appropriate, considering monsters and PCs use completely different level systems.
I believe I once made a racial write-up for werewolves while I was still planning out my campaign world, but unfortunately it has been lost to the sands of time. I think I placed them at +2 Dex, +2 Con, (as wolves in 3.5 were more dexterous than strong) and they got Change Shape as an at-will power. The other benefits are a little hazy to me, alas.
This still doesn't tell me what I need to know to play a Barbarian toddler. Just think of the awesome stat boost I could get as I reach maturity!
Ha! Unfortunately, being young actually gives you a penalty to all 6 scores, so reaching adulthood would just raise your scores to a more average level.
Though, it would be interesting to see a party of 10 year olds start at level one and, over the course of a campaign, reach level 20 before making it to adulthood. You could have a 12 year old archmage!
(This is probably why some systems enforce some amount of training time between levels.)
Much like others have said previously, I'm not sure why Hanks is singling out the Mormons. They only number around 500,000 in California, nowhere near the amount of African-Americans (around 2.2 mil) and Latinos (around 12 mil), who also were represented heavily on the vote. In any case, I don't believe it's fair to call someone "un-American" just because they're exercising their right to vote.
The biggest problem with low Intelligence monsters is called Ray of Stupidity, it sits in the Spell Compendium and it's a death trap for any DM that allows "take whatever you like" policy and doesn't read splatbooks.
Technically, that's a problem with the spell and not anything else. Ray of stupidity is aptly name, is what I'm saying; a classic example of a spell designed with the idea that it's only going to be used against "normal D&D monsters," meaning monsters with intelligence.
The way to fix this problem is to fix ray of stupidity so it works like ray of enfeeblement: its effects create a penalty to intelligence that doesn't stack, not actual intelligence damage, and this penalty cannot exceed the target's Intelligence score, thereby making it unable to reduce an INT score to 0. The spell remains just as useful for blunting wizards and preventing their spellcasting, but is no longer a cheesy way to off animals.
I mean... feeblemind can't even autokill an animal by reducing its INT to 0, and that spell is MUCH higher level than ray of stupidity!
I agree. The problem with ray of stupidity lies not with animals' intelligence scores, but with bad design on the part of the spell's author.
My group just got through The part of Edge of Anarchy where you can play this "game."
The scene went well, we were all entertained. It played well.
But the GM had a problem with the way the gambling works. At first I thought it worked as intended - naturally encouraging betting against the favorite.
But upon thinking further, I think our GM might be right. Unfortunately it has been too many years since my one Statistics class that I can no longer produce stats and formulas to help my point.
But essentially, unless we are missing something, the game encourages betting on the side with the least betters and betting less than every one on that side. And if everyone follows that train of thought to its conclusion, then there can't be a game since it requires the wages to play with.
For example, if there are two players and ten betters and the average wager is 2 pieces (for this it doesn't matter what pieces as long as they are the same) and you bet 8 pieces (you are one of the ten betters) - if your side has a total of four betters or more you won't even get your money back. The winner gets 13, and your side gets 13. With you 8, and your three (or more) partners 2 each, that leaves your side 1 piece (or more) short of breaking even.
On the other hand, with the same set up, if the average wager is 5 pieces and you bet 1:
The winner receives 23, leaving your side 23 to split. If your side has four betters in addition to you there are 2 pieces left to split among the five of you - after initial wagers are returned.
There really isn't much incentive to bet.
Is this really how it is supposed to go?
Are we missing something?
The winning contestant gets half of the gold, and the rest is split among the bystanders on the contestant's side. So, if Side A (3 people) tosses in 14 gold, and Side B (4 people) tosses in 8 gold, and Side B's contestant wins, then contestant B gets 11 gold while everyone on his side gets 2 gp, 7 sp, and 5 cp.
If one guy on Side B put in 6 of the 8 gold, then, yes, he would end up short by more than 3 gold. IMO, the typical knivesies game probably sees the members of each side putting in equal bets. If everyone on Side B had put in 2 gp (adding up to the 8 gp), they would have all gained 7.5 silver, which isn't too shabby.
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I've played the Dragonfire Adept. It's very one-sided and pretty weak in most situations. I'm not aware of any ability to exclude the party members from the breath effect, but in the end, the Adept's breath is very weak and probably not worth worrying about.
There so need to be 'hammer pants' for Monks that cause their legs to swoop around and hit like warhammers (Improved Natural Attack, with kicks only, or perhaps they hit with a thunderous crack of snapping cloth, that deafens foes).
They probably would also give you a bonus to saves vs. "quitting" and allow you to enter "Hammer Time."
These loose-fitting, colorful pants are made of a smooth, unnatural material and are covered in zig-zagging patterns. The pants appear for all intents and purposes to be Hammer pants, and under magical analysis they seem to grant the wearer a +2 competence bonus to Perform (dance) and Perform (sing) checks and a +2 enhancement bonus to Dexterity. However, whenever the wearer enters into combat, there is a 50% chance that the pants magically slide off the wearer's legs and onto the ground. The wearer must then make a Will save (DC 16) or become panicked and cower for 7 rounds in an attempt to cover up the nether regions. At the end of the 7 rounds, the pants magically reappear on the wearer's legs. If the save is successful, the wearer is shaken for 1 round. The wearer cannot prevent the pants from depantsing in any way, nor can the pants be removed intentionally short of a remove curse spell.
I've used the rules, primarily as opposition to pre-existing characters and the CRs that they generate are right on. I'd hazard that, like most of the 3.5 material, it's extremely balanced if used properly.
Honestly, I kept thinking that most of it was underpowered - compared to a wizard or fighter of equal level. (Or a wizard/fighter of equal level, for that matter.)
The ToB stuff couldn't hold a candle to barbarians, hellfire warlocks, and wizards with the right spells, but when used in the right combination the ToB classes could be quite powerful. I'm not sure what fighters you were playing with, but they never were very good in our campaigns.
It's some Californian's music video - Chris Dane Owen's "Shine On" (i think that's the name). In essense, Scott Rouse (a WotC employee) posted it on ENWorld as a "rick-roll" (i.e. tricked others into believing it was a trailer for the 3rd D&D movie).
A real rickroll is better. Cause it's actually a good song. This, however, is just all around bad.
It's bad because it's imitation 80's infused with Europop... Rick Roll is pure 80's baby!
For those of us scoring at home, and maybe have lost track of what this is all about.... what is this? Presumably the soundtrack for the next D&D movie? I apologize if I am not following?
It looks like an MTV music video I may have missed from 1985, but I'll hold judgment until I know what I'm looking at....
What is this again?
It's some Californian's music video - Chris Dane Owen's "Shine On" (i think that's the name). In essense, Scott Rouse (a WotC employee) posted it on ENWorld as a "rick-roll" (i.e. tricked others into believing it was a trailer for the 3rd D&D movie).
They're also re-releasing the Cleric Quintet... I think they're just trying to make some extra $$$, but if you read in between the lines in some of the Manual of the Planes previews, it lists Athas as one of the various material planes, along with Eberron, Krynn, Oerth, and Abeir-Toril. How the fact that planar travel to Athas is restricted will be addressed, I have no idea... But, in any case, I do believe that they will eventually make a 4E Dark Sun, but probably in a much different form that what has come before.
EDIT: You can be assured that they probably don't care what old fans of Dark Sun think (cf. everything else about 4E). Dark Sun will probably include (or at least make room for) everything else that 4E has come up with so players of the setting are encouraged to buy more books from WotC, thus avoiding one of the pitfalls that drove TSR into the toilet.
I posted this one in the Bad Item Stereotypes thread as a lark, but this thread appears to be a better home for it. =]
Beatin' Stick of Colossal Ass-Kicking: This short baton is made of ironwood and etched with dwarven runes that translate to the following: Ain’t nobody above an ass-kicking.
The beatin’ stick acts as a +5 club with the following properties.
Three times per day, as a swift action, the wielder of the beatin’ stick of colossal ass-kicking can designate a single target within 60 feet for a “beat down.” If the target of the “beat down” is struck with beatin’ stick of colossal ass-kicking within 3 rounds, it suffers the effects of a crushing despair spell, and cries “like a little b!tch” for 10 rounds.
Once per day, as a standard action, the wielder of the beatin’ stick of colossal ass-kicking can declare, “it is on.” When “it is on,” the wielder of the beatin’ stick of colossal ass-kicking gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, and is hasted, as the spell. The duration of “it is on” is one minute.
It's pretty hack-n-slashy, and I found after a while that the players began to move beyond the adventure in levels just by clearing out each floor, so that by the end of the 6th level, they were already almost character level 9 and blasted through everything, so I maneuvered them in a way that they missed the 7th and 8th levels (which were not really appealing to me anyway). Overall, though, it was pretty fun. Just don't let your PCs sell any of the artifacts they find like I mistakenly did.
Here's some things I did in the campaign (spoilers abound):
Spoiler:
I set up the campaign (I ran the super-adventure as a stand-alone campaign) with the PCs meeting in Cillamar, at the Inn of the Slumbering Drake.
The owner of the inn, Lady Chauntessa, hires them to go to Castle Whiterock and bring back any books they find from the Castle. Of course, as you can read in Appendix A, Chauntessa has a reason for going after Benthosruthsa, the legendary overlord of the Castle. So, later in the campaign as the PCs delve deeper and Chauntessa sees that they might be capable of defeating the old red, Chauntessa reveals her secret and tasks them to defeat the red dragon and find a cure for her mate's eternal slumber.
A GM can easily take Golarion and put an emphasis on any one genre he prefers. Classic fantasy, Vikings, Egyptians, Devil Worshippers, Empires, Revolutionary lands, Demon infested lands... Pick what you want to play and there is a place for it.
To me, that seems not to be a good thing. In a setting, I want many variations of one theme. But a collection of many themes just kills for me the experience of really getting into it. It's just not a cool norse viking world, when it's two weeks by ship to get to the cool steampunk gnome land.
Chose one theme for the whole setting and make all the regions different approaches and variations of the theme. That's what I belive makes a really good setting. If you want to play with another basic theme, use another setting. Trying to please everyone only leads to pleasing noone.
Earth/Terra/Meatspace has no single theme. Why should a plausible campaign setting?
I'm so very lucid. All the voices agree. Well, except the one, but it's ceaselessly quoting monty python, and star wars, and mixing the quotes up. Drives me nuts.
"I'll be careful"
"You'll be dead"
"I'm feeling fine"
"We're wanted men"
"I think I'll go for a walk"
"*Where* is the rebel base?"
"I'll never tell you"
"If you won't, I'll say Ni to you!"
"Who's that then?"
"Dunno, must be a jedi"
"Why?"
"He hasn't got s@#~ all over him"
Waah! The Xaositects have invaded the Prime Material! Someone call the Cuthbertians!
#Beserk
#The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumi
#Paprika
#Gantz
#Burn Up Excess
#Lucky Star
#Record of Lodoss War (of course)
#Excel Saga
Actually, I just recently discovered there's a third series (or OAV, I'm not entirely sure) based on the Record of Lodoss War that's out now. Not sure if it's any good, though.
Ah, oops. You are right. pg. 61 of the Rules Compendium: "If you make a ranged attack against a grappler while not engaged in the grapple, you roll randomly to see which grappler your attack strikes."
Yep, after a couple of years I finally discovered - to my dismay - that there was no chance of hitting your buddy who's grappling the dire werebear. And after all those times we almost sent each other to other planes with prismatic ray, too...
Actually, the bard was posted like a month ago in Bill's Ampersand article. Though, TBH, it's a pretty interesting class. Though, I'm curious as to why they gave it so many automatically granted abilities... Like, why couldn't they have made "Words of Friendship" into a power? Not that it's that powerful or anything, but it's still odd...
A merman might be really great at swimming, but he probably sucks at climbing. With a consolidated Athletics skill, he'd be great at both, thus losing some of the realism that once existed.
