You are surrounded by circular walls, a single room some thirty feet in diameter. The structure appears crafted of stone and timber. Other cots spaced around the walls indicate that this area may be an infirmary, or perhaps sleeping quarters for a half dozen humanoids. Small footlockers under each cot seem to suggest the latter. The place seems old and rundown, but it is kept clean by its occupants. The sun slanting through a small open window across the room gives you the impression it is much later in the day. There are wooden stairs on opposite sides of the room to your left and right. One set ascends through the ceiling, the other down through the floor. You see nothing that tells you where those strange sounds are coming from.
Would it bring a little of you back to life if I said the monk's role is to kill arcane spellcasters?
Thats kinda silly. The monks "role" is what you design them for. With some decent dice rolls or a little thought put behind the design of your monk, they can do quite well in a variety of roles.
In past 3.X games, I've seen Monks that hit as well, and have just as high an AC, as a fighter. (Sometimes better)
It basically comes down to experience and luck of the dice rolls when designing a character and how "potent" that character will be.
It's not really that silly. I've seen several cases where a monk has been the bane of an enemy wizard on the battlefield. A grappled wizard without a verbal-only spell to escape usually ends up a (badly bruised) pretzel.
Then again, I've also seen monks kick down doors, intimidate prisoners into giving up information, and hammer out peace treaties between opposing tribes, so...
How are my players doing? We seemed to be building up a decent pace in the game for a while there, and now its been pretty much a standstill for nearly a week. Please don't hesitate to let me know if there are circumstances that will be keeping you off the boards.
Ideally, I'd like to see this game reach a point where it gets a post or two a day by each player. Even if it just amounts to role-playing between characters, it will keep things fresh.
Every time I read a post that says (paraphrased) "it's not a monk's role to do XYZ; a monk's role is to run really fast and have good save bonuses", a little bit of me dies inside.
:-(
Would it bring a little of you back to life if I said the monk's role is to kill arcane spellcasters?
Not to be nit-picky, but I'd agree with your assessment, excluding God. The words used were "in creation," which is to say God's creation, hence he would not be included as he is something outside of it entirely.
That said,
Spoiler:
Castiel seemed to think the colt would work on Satan. So apparently this is inside knowledge. I'd go with the archangel idea, but I hope that Death is included in those five beings. There have been plenty of shows and books that deal with the idea of Death not doing his job, and its never pretty.
I wonder how this came to be?
Do you think D&D in particular brought dragons to the forefront, or fantasy literature?
How did this trend begin?
Dragons are archetypal. Every culture I can think of has dragon myths, even the Inuit. There is just something about them that captures the human imagination.
Now if we're talking overdone gaming cliches, how about "humans are the dominant race in the world," for one? In my Wounded Earth campaign, the starting region of the campaign is ruled by dwarves, who essentially hold humans in thrall and treat them like second-class citizens.
After seeing previews and reading responses to it, I think I'll pass. I'm not big on apocalyptic movies. I suppose I had my fill of impending doom growing up in the 80s. My elementary school had a big poster up showing where the Soviets would drop their nukes on our little island of Oahu (all of thirty-something miles across); according to that poster, they'd use five. In high school I lived right across the highway from Pearl Harbor. In the case of nuclear attack, there wouldn't be much to do but go up on the roof with a lawnchair and a pitcher of margaritas and wait to be vaporized. We tended to be a bit blase about imminent destruction.
Quite possibly. However, it seems that even if I were new to it, there is something fundamental missing from the script. It is like Lost without the character development. In Lost, there was mystery about the characters. Here, it's total confusion.
I'm nonplussed. I watched the first three episodes and called it quits. Not much in relation to the original, I feel little to no sympathy for the protagonist, and they have the great Ian McKellan, who gets to wander around in a white suit and spout semi-philosophical nonsense. Bleh.
Reading this thread I'm suddenly tempted to write up an adventure featuring an Island of Misfit Monsters.
I can see it now...
Our heroes have just landed on the island. A sound like the whining and complaining of several horrible (or horribly conceived?) monsters echoes from the icy cliffs! Suddenly, they are surrounded by a group of monsters none of them (or anybody they know) have ever encountered. The reason soon becomes apparent...
Tojanida: Nobody wants to fight an almond-shaped, turtle-beaver. Boo hoo.
Delver: And I'm a meaty pile of acid-spewing tofu. I'll never get to show anybody my special attacks. Waaaa.
Phasm: You think that's bad? I can turn into pretty much any monster you can think of but nobody wants me to be any of them. *morphs into something emo*
One of the most popular names right now is "Nevaeh". Not only is it not really a name, people don't say the name as if it's a name. They don't say "This is my daughter Nevaeh". They say "This is my daughter Nevaeh, it's 'Heaven' spelled backwards". Any name that needs an explanation is not a good name.
Ugh. That's as bad as the guy I heard about awhile back that was trying to convince the citizens of his town to answer their phones saying "heaven-o" because "hello" has the word "hell" in it...
This thread is broken. My personal gaming prejudices have much more validity than yours. Submit to my point of view now, so that I may win teh interwebz.
I suppose my question would be: Why isn't the character just a cleric of a pantheon of gods, with access to the domains of any god in the pantheon? Seems much easier and straightforward than trying to "multiclass" in a single class.
Nifty, but a bit pricey, as previously mentioned. I probably wouldn't drink them, just stick them in my collectible hutch with the other neat sodas I have, like Rat Bastard Rootbeer, Love Potion No. 69, and Motley Brue.
Ah, that brings back memories. I've been trying to find those out here in NorCal, and can only find them at BevMo.
I haven't seen them for years. We had a local coffee shop that carried them, but it closed down years ago. I don't know why anyone would want to drink them; they taste nasty...cool labels though.
If you do not have the Exotic Weapon: Ferret proficiency, you may wield it two-handed as a martial weapon. Attempting to wield it one-handed without the feat causes the ferret to act as a cursed back-biting weapon.
The ferocious attacks of the undead have Annika on her heels. Her attack goes wide over the head of one, then she is hard set to defend against a flurry of bony hands. She blocks one, dodges another, another dodge, another block, moving on complete instinct to defend herself.
Then her defense fails. Yellowed talons tear into her abdomen. (4hp damage) Her strength fails her and she crumples. The undead loom above her and all seems lost. Then, as her vision begins to grow gray and cloudy about the edges, the grinning skulls turn, their attention drawn by something else. A rippling glow of light hits them like a physical force, blasting bones asunder. Then all falls into darkness.
Annika awakes sometime later, lying on a cot under a beamed, wooden roof. Some of her wounds appear to have been healed, others expertly bandaged current hp: 8. A strange, rhythmic squeaking and creaking echoes through the building.
I find min/maxing is something that is viewed as negative when it is taken to an extreme. Its something that happens and is often the butt of jokes in various gaming-related comics, like Knights of the Dinner Table and Goblins.
It is possible to make a character that is only worthwhile to have while in combat. Imagine a combat monster barbarian who gets 2 skill ranks a level (minimum 1, plus 1 for being human) who is illiterate, barely smarter than his horse, has no social skills whatsoever, and is really of no use unless he is carrying party treasure, busting down doors, or hacking monsters with his great axe. That is the kind of thing many people think of when the term min/maxing comes up.
Some people like that kind of character, but most gamers I've played with tend to like someone that can shine in a particular area without completely sucking everywhere else. [/2cp]
I've played in Ptolus before, and would definitely be interested in joining your game. First choice would be either a rogue or bard, but I could also swing towards cleric if the party is in need of one.
I remember an article that appeared in Dragon magazine...I'm thinking pre-3rd edition or early 3E. There was one particular piece of artwork of a halfling standing over the fallen body of an orc. He held a bloody club in his hand and the orc's brains were spilling from his head. Apparently Dragon caught quite a bit of heat for that particular picture, with people writing in saying it went beyond the bounds of good taste and that the violence was gratuitous.
I can see their point. It was much more overt than anything I had seen in the magazine before. Granted, it was rather cartoonish in nature, but still a graphic depiction of things that aren't normally rendered for the game, other than in color commentary from the DM.
He's living proof of my psychic abilities. Way back when the Tom Green show was still on the air, I wished he'd get cancer and die. I managed to get him halfway there.
My ability to kill from afar isn't always accurate. I once wished Michael Stipe would drop dead on stage. Instead, his drummer had an aneurysm.
Evidence of similar powers. When Thriller came out, my friends and I hated Michael Jackson so much and were so sick of hearing how great he was, one of them wished he would die. Another friend said "no way" then he becomes an icon, like Buddy Holly or Jimi Hendrix; we should hope he becomes fat and disgusting.
A different friend said fat didn't stop Elvis's legacy when he died. So I said, we should wish he becomes a child molester, then no one would like him. :p
Well, it was a nice try, but the pedophile angle just doesn't seem to arouse much ire against celebrities. Just look at Roman Polanski.
Rather, it's an obvious reference to Dune by Frank Herbert, as is the sand worm reference and the spice Belkar's been consuming previously.
Zo
having not read dune I will say that this is likely since the purple worm and spice thing was an obvious dune refrence to me even not having read the dune books
It is indeed a Dune reference. In the scene Belkar is reading, Duke Atreides has been captured by his nemesis, the Baron Harkonnen, due to a traitor in his house. However, the traitor hates the Baron and only acted under duress. In order to gain his revenge he fitted the Duke with a false tooth filled with poison, giving him instruction to bite down and exhale when the Baron looms over him to gloat.
The FBI agent is, so far, the most interesting character to me. Conversely, her son is such a flat character; he's a very stereotypical teenager and doesn't offer much beyond overactive hormones and teenage rebellion.
I think the son isn't there to be an interesting character, but instead to be another difficulty for the FBI agent - being in the resistance and having her son working for the Vs. And eventually having to convince him not to turn her in when he finds something out. Or if they go really dark, having to kill him so he doesn't turn her in. (I'd have expected that from Battlestar Galactica, but with V, I'm guessing they won't go there.)
Hmm, maybe. But giving a flat character too much time on camera makes for relatively boring and predictable TV. Right now I'm hoping he gets eaten.
So I saw an interview with...wasshername, Torry? The peace ambassador coordinator that was Supergirl on Smallville. She had an interview on G4 and said that they only shot 4 episodes for this season. Seems like a relatively small window of time to really get into the story. I wonder why they decided to only go for 4 and not a full season's worth?
Your kick comes up hard and fast, but the skeleton ducks and avoids the strike. Your opponents continue to press in on you and their advantage in numbers begins to take its toll.
You are struck three times. One skeleton jabs its bony claws directly at your face. You turn your head at the last split second, narrowly avoiding losing an eye, though the claw tears across your temple. A second strike rakes down your left forearm as you block another strike, and a third tears your robe and chest. Total of 7 hp damage.
Ren's trained eye looks over the scene and comes up with the following scenario: A human--likely a woman or a young boy, judging from the size and depth of the prints--crossed the stream from the opposite side. The skeletons unearthed themselves from the ground here, then followed the human across the stream after all paused here momentarily. There are no signs of a struggle or a chase.
You move quietly from tree to tree down the gentle slope toward the stream where the combat is taking place. Meanwhile, the man and woman fend off the undead as best they can. The skeletons come at them from all sides, raking with their bony talons. The woman takes two light wounds; one of the skeletons manages to open a large gash in the man's neck.
The woman clutches a silver medallion at her neck and calls upon the light of Daena to aid her. A ripple of energy radiates out from her, and blasts into the skeletons like a physical force, cracking and shearing bone, damaging the lot of them but not completely destroying them. The man attempts to defend her with his staff, fighting expertly with both ends of the weapon. He strikes two well-aimed blows, the first dropping one skeleton, the second another.
The skeletons fight on, heedless of their losses. Their clawing attacks deliver another grevious wound to the man, who staggers but remains on his feet. The woman, however, is borne down by her attackers, and falls to the leafy forest floor. All four of the remaining undead hedge the man in.
Staff clutched in white-knuckled hands, he swings desperately at one of his opponents, catching it across the skull and knocking it clean off the body; it drops.
You take your moment and spring out from behind a tree, launching into your kick at one of the skeletons, having positioned yourself into a flanking position. Your kick catches it in its spine with a crack, sending it hurtling to the ground. The man looks at you, pale-faced but hopeful...and then collapses from his wounds, leaving you with facing three opponents alone.
The skeletons advance on you quickly, swinging clawed hands as they come. You block and move, avoiding most of the assault, but their numbers put them at an advantage. You are raked along the shoulder by an attack (4hp damage, your next in the initiative order)
Remy: Poking around the area, you note everything seen above, plus a few more details of the scene. The disturbed earth seems relatively shallow; the earth turned up here only appears to be the first two feet or so. Also, it doesn't look like normal digging, the upturned earth lies in more or less the same place.
In addition, you note what appear to be rotted scraps of cloth and leather in the earth itself.
You are an initiate in the Verdant Order, a small monastic order within the lands of the Iron Marches. This is the heart of the Great Mother, the last bastion of unsullied lands left since the Wounding, and it is here that one may commune most closely with the great goddess Erda. Your order, only a score of you, are reclusive, having withdrawn from the feudal life in these dwarven-ruled lands. You live in touch with the natural environment, learning the wisdom and the strength of the natural world around you. Though your order helps where it can when venturing away from the monastery, the Verdant Order does not embroil itself in political maneuverings, such as the rebellion of the Hand of Jorin against the dwarven Jarls.
The monastery itself is known as Green Hill, a small, oddly round landmark that lies in a long, narrow valley some twenty miles north of the village of Three Oaks. From the outside, it is not much different than the grass-covered barrows that are commonly encountered in out of the way places in these mountains. However, upon entering through either of the two evenly spaced doors, the difference is apparently. The interior of the hill is hollow and carved of stone. Beneath the main chamber in the hill itself are other rooms, clustered and descending some sixty feet into the earth below. It is here that the monks rest, meditate, and keep their duties.
Among these duties has been the guardianship of several relics, things from ages past. Some of these are held in anticipation of the time when the Great Mother's wounds heal. Others are things of vile nature that are kept here against rediscovery. In the hands of the corruptible, they could pose even greater threat to the land and its inhabitants.
Unfortunately, one of these has been stolen. A great tome, bound in humanoid flesh and bone, was taken recently. While you and many of the younger acolytes were off acquiring supplies from a nearby gnomish settlement, the Hill was attacked by undead. In the aftermath, several of your brothers and sisters were injured; your master, Abbess Liandra, is missing. Brother Shale, the ranking member of the order, is attempting to make things right. Upon your group's return the following day, search parties were sent to find some sign of the invaders or their prisoner, but without results.
You have been given the assignment to travel to the House of the Pearl, a secret shrine to Daena, the moon goddess. It is hoped they can divine what has become of the Abbess and the tome. Whoever perpetrated this crime knew what they were after; it is certain that they are intent on some foul purpose and need the book to fulfill it. You must travel swiftly, and with the Green Lady's blessing will find answers that will help set things aright.
You grab your meager possessions and a few things given to you by Brother Shale that you'll need for your journey (this will be your starting gear, plus enough food for your trip, there and back.)
The weather is clear and cool, and you make good time in your travels. You travel south out of the narrow valley where your monastery is located, then head southeast. You have no road to follow, but the grass and brush of the valley do little to impede your progress. Your first night is spent in a copse of trees, with only a small fire to ward off the night's cold. The next day you head into the wood, expecting to reach the shrine by midday. Your footsteps crunch through the dead leaves that lie strewn beneath the boughs. The autumn air is crisp and still. Soon, you hear the sound of running water; the old mill that conceals the shrine of Daena cannot be far off.
Suddenly, the stillness of the wood is broken by a sharp cry. Up ahead, you see a man and a woman, dressed in leathers and armed with staffs. They are surrounded by a half dozen skeletons.
No problem, it just gave the others time to move forward toward a rendezvous with you.
One more question, and then I'll promise to get on the ball: what / how would be a good way to introduce my character into the game?
Ok, I'm reposting my original introduction, and setting you on your path to your intended destination. Presumably, you'll reach it the same time as the other PCs.
Hey all, so I'm moving today, and after talking to the new cable company odds are my internet access will be spotty at best until next Saturday, the 7th.
GM please DMPC if any key actions combats etc occur.
See you guys soon.
Ack, I completely missed this, sorry. I wasn't online much Halloween weekend and the thread got buried before I saw it. Here's hoping you're back on the board soon.
