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 Recent Posts
Just make certain you only use things mentioned in the books, not stuff invented for the movies.
Did I mention we all have the brain worms? All of the PCs in my game are named Bort. I feel your pain.
I'm ok with guns in fantasy. If I am in someone else's game, I'm ok without them. But I have to say, there have been pirates for as long as there have been boats. Julius Ceaser was kidnapped by pirates. You can definitely have pirates without guns. You can have pirates in space. You can have pirates anywhere.
I will worry about Artagan's absence when I return from the show. Let's continue on for now. After the adventure is concluded we can certainly continue play in some way. Either we can start an AP with the same characters or start a fresh one. Or we can continue on and I could place Dragon's Delve (DungeonADay.com) in the nearby ruins of a keep. I own all the APs (although so far I've only read Second Darkness, Legacy of Fire, and Kingmaker), Castle Whiterock, Ptolus, and a lot of modules. So whatever you guys want to do is fine by me. Conference is going well, but keeps me busy. I have to wait here at the hotel for a delivery so I finally have some breathing space. I get to do courtesy tech support visits to all the vessels that have our product installed, so I don't actually get to see much of the actual show.
Hell, I've protested to the my local school that they teaching kids in kindergarten how to use computers. I don't allow my kids to use the computer at home, play video games, or use cell phones. My stance being that exposure to digital media is going to lead to problems. The catch 22 being that hindering the learning of the use of digital media causing issues with the current educational trends. I feel sorry for your children. Without basic computer skills they will likely be stuck in dead end minimum wage jobs. Technology isn't laziness. Technology enables efficiency. Efficiency means getting more work done in less amount of time. Which means being able to do more important tasks more often. Whether that is managing high level combats in an RPG or managing the logistics of international business.
Tolkien most certainly based his elves on the Sidhe. It is especially noticeable if you read the Lost Tales. One of Tolkien's goals was to expand British folklore. The elves retiring to a magic island in the west is a reference to Avalon. But I do agree that using commonly used terms is better than inventing new ones for everything. A few exotic words in moderation is ok. But if I need a giant glossary to read your book, you've gone too far.
You're implying rules that do not exist in the game. Soft cover (a person being between you and the target) does not prevent line of sight or line of effect. I will admit that line of sight is poorly defined, so it is up to the GM to determine how many bodies it takes to block it. But do you deny that a mob of people will block line of sight?
I still want to know how the thousand guys are lined up so they manage to have line of sight to one guy. Mass archer fire is great against masses of infantrry, where you know they will land near someone. If you assume no more than 100 can target him at a time (quite generous) his survival time increases greatly. Of course, once he closes into melee far fewer guys will get to target him.
Yeah of course, initiative is pretty clear. But if you are not aware of the attacker, if you are not aware there is an attack, if you were just chatting over a cup of joe, it's surprise. Except initiative is exactly the mechanic to determine if you react quickly enough when he suddenly goes for his knife/gun/etc.
One isn't aware the other is a combatant. +1 Exactly what I was going to say. If you are aware of the attacker, you get to roll initiative.
A real improvement of play would be modular classes (every level you buy abilities, hp, spells, combat abilities, etc with points). Indeed. I'm certain people would buy a point buy version of d20. They just want point buy tied to mechanics that don't suck. ;) I kid, I have a ton of GURPS books. They make supplements that are interesting enough even if you don't play the game. On the other hand, while I find the system serviceable, there are many other games with mechanics I prefer to it.
There were other issues that led to TSR's downfall. Partly they didn't do enough accounting and analysis to know which of their products were doing well. Other things like every boxed set ever made (with the exception I assume of the Basic boxes) they lost money on. But yes, splitting the fans between too many settings was the biggest factor.
Now take that up a notch, to casters who can not merely demolish a city but blast apart mountain ranges and drain seas. As has already been shown in my How to Build the Pyramids thread, with the right magic item you can build the pyramids in 8 hours. I'm fairly certain all you need is a few well placed Gate spells to work on draining seas. I'm certain there is a creative way for a 20th level caster to blast apart mountains already. All I can say is, my level 19 Pathfinder game has been a blast. I'd love to continue on after 20, but sadly we will be forced to retire.
Fozbek's point only stands if you completely discount the fact the possibility of DR which many martial specific classes have the means of getting. That's what I was going to say. It also assumes that 1000 archers could all fire at one guy. Which seems a little silly. Now, once you get that 20th level fighter into melee with the army, he's only got to worry about ~9 guys at a time. Then he can definitely grind the army into paste.
What got me hung up on the conversion from 2nd to 3rd is that its really 3rd edition that we see a shift in the demographics that undrlie the system and the kinds of stories being told take a shift as well. In 1st edition the stories of worlds like Greyhawk are very human centric. History is about massive migrations, old empires, raiding barbarians etc. But 3rd edition is an edition where half vampires and teiflings are a dime a dozen. The very idea that the Fruztii Barbarians raid south into the Great Kingdom every year completely fade in importance...in fact almost don't make since in a world that so heavily emphasizes demographics full of half vampires. The stories one tells in such a system are not ones so much about holding off or participating in such an annual raiding event but more about the interactions of all these diverse peoples like Aasimar and half Angels. I don't think the demographic shift was nearly as strong as you think it was. I don't think I ever encountered or used a half-vampire in all my years of playing 3.X. The core player races in 3.X are pretty much the same as in 2E. So certainly you can make a world that has more tieflings and aasimar running around. But you can just as easily run the more human centric game using 3.X if you want. I guess I just don't see where the emphasis shift happened.
Ok, original didn't really need quotes. I also know it went more than 5 posts, sometimes I exaggerate for effect. My point is that since the thread is speculating about what two companies will do in the future, the only unfounded speculation will be based on what they did in the past. Of course, the expectation that certain companies will simply repeat their pasts mistakes is a little silly. Still, just about everything that could be reasonably said about the topic happened already. I used skill in the English use, as in competent excellence in performance - expertness, instead of one particular game's mechanical use. ;)
The "original" purpose of the thread was wild speculation about what Paizo should do in the wake of unconfirmed future actions of WotC. I'm surprised it stayed on topic for 5 posts. Besides, comparing the strategies of Wizards and Paizo are about as on topic as you can get. At least without perfecting your divination skills.
Summary: "Superiority" of 3.X's planar books vs "Inferiority" of 4E's planar books. Let me add my perspective, from a GM who ran a 3.X planescape game. In every edition, the Manual of the Planes has been a brief overview of the different planes. Not a lot of detail on each plane, but enough info to get you started. In 2E, this info was greatly expanded by planescape boxed sets. To get a detailed view of different planes you wanted to pick up Planes of Law, Planes of Chaos, and Planes of Conflict. In 3E, if you wanted that same detailed view, you picked up the above mentioned 2E boxed sets. Because besides the brief overview in the Manual of the Planes, there was no further information. In 4E, they gave us the brief overview book. Then they expanded on the different planes in detail. To me, that is far superior to the 3E approach. Because you have a choice. You can get just the overview and be fine. If you want more information, you have specific books to expand your knowledge in particular areas. So from my perspective, 2E and 4E have the superior planar books.
Cleric: She looks a bit too boyish. That's probably not the right word: She looks like a guy. Or at least her face. But that could, as always, just be the picture.
It is a half-elf. If there wasn't some gender confusion, I would say she looks too much like a human. /ducks.
Actually, yes. Practically the only time I need to calculate something is on the rare chance someone wants to do a combat maneuver. I've run plenty of 3.X modules for my Pathfinder game. I use quite a few 3.X monster resources too. The only time I make extensive conversion notes is when I want to run a 1E/2E modules in Pathfinder. Edit to add: I would expect you could do most 3.X adventures in S&W on the fly too. Since all you really need to know about a monster is HD and AC. Ok, you probably need to tone down the damage higher level monsters do. Mostly just cut out the static modifier.
The concepts are very interrelated. The traditional retail model is that it isn't worth keeping things on the shelf after the initial release spike. Which is why Target/Walmart/etc puts their excess DVD releases in bargain bin to clear out space. But if you have lots of space (Amazon's Warehouse of Holding) or products which require little space (MP3s, PDFs, etc), you can take advantage of the long tail of sales for each product by selling them for a very long period of time. So one aspect of the long tail is good for the retailer (having more product to sell) and another aspect is good for the publisher (having your product still available to sell more than 6 months after release.)
I agree with you up there. 5e is a money grab, just like 4e was. Just like 3E was. Just like 2E was. Just like AD&D was. Just like BECMI was. Pretty much anything beyond the original box was a money grab. Original D&D felt more like sharing a hobby with friends and making up the costs of production.
It should be noted that Amazon usually makes up random release dates. As far as I can tell, if the original estimate approaches and the product is in stock, they add 2+ 1d6 weeks to the date in their system. Whenever the stock does arrive, it will get updated and shipped out. So I would expect Amazon orders to start shipping sometime near the beginning of November. On the other hand, Amazon is cheap because they are in no hurry to get stuff into their warehouse. They may be fast at shipping out, but they may only pick up one order a month from Alliance or Diamond. So if it wasn't available the last time they sent a truck to Diamond (say, the 20th) and they won't send a truck to Diamond until the next 20th, then it may be a while. And before you ask, yes, Amazon sends trucks. They do not accept delivery. That's one of the ways they keep costs down.
I guess. Thac0 was in several 1E modules before 2E was released. 2E just formalized a shortcut that was already being used. But I concede that it may have been confusing to new players.
Creating an adventure from a TV plot is far more difficult than running a basic D&D module with AD&D. Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough. When I was 7 AD&D was the first RPG I ever played. The only adventures I had were Basic D&D modules. Nobody taught me how to play. It was just me and my cousin and three books. I never even realized they were different game systems until years later. I guess I had a lot of system mastery straight out of the box. But from what I hear, a lot of people used the Basic modules with AD&D. In fact, for quite some time there far were more Basic/Expert modules than AD&D modules.
I've seem that. A friend of a friend is still just a rumor. If she said she'd talked to Monte directly, that would be a lot more solid....in your opinion. Personally, I take a statement made by Margaret Weis as more than just pure speculation -- and I doubt I'm the only one. Hence your attempt to shut down the conversation on that basis will likely be unsuccessful. :) I don't doubt Margaret Weis's integrity. But I have no idea how reliable her source is. I'm not trying to shutdown conversation, I'm trying to expand it. It could be that he is working on 5E, but it won't be another 3 years out. As someone else pointed out, it isn't likely that he's doing that much work on a new edition via telecommuting. If I were Wizards, even if I planned on using Monte to create a new edition, I would still utilize him in the meantime for other projects. Heck, I would expect to have him play 4E for a few months just to make certain he knows where the game is currently at. So far all of his columns have felt like he is just learning 4E. There's a long way to go before he's an expert in the system. Even if he's just going to tear it down and start over again, he has to know how things work now to manage existing player expectations.
I definitely think that 4E's biggest flaw is that at launch it had few (if any) quality adventures to showcase the strong parts of the system... I really don't know. But they put out a ton of adventure material to DDI subscribers.
I definitely think that 4E's biggest flaw is that at launch it had few (if any) quality adventures to showcase the strong parts of the system...I completely agree. Really, what were they thinking? I don't think they realized at the time how long it would take for freelancers to become comfortable with the system. But they probably should have taken care to put their best writers on Keep on the Shadowfell.
We don't have any actual confirmation to the rumors of 5E. For all we know, Monte could be working on 4E's Unearthed Arcana. A set of alternate or experimental rules for those who want to bend 4E a little more in different directions. Until they announce something, everything is just speculation.According to Margaret Weis on the Dragonlance boards, Monte has confirmed that he is working on 5E. How much credence you lend Margaret is up to you, but at this point 5E talk is more than "just speculation." I've seem that. A friend of a friend is still just a rumor. If she said she'd talked to Monte directly, that would be a lot more solid.
Thac0 was just a shortcut, taking one line out of the giant chart that used to be used. So it really is just a different way of expressing the exact same mechanic.
Yes all the players needed to make PCs from the same book. On the other hand, it was really easy to run Basic modules for AD&D. Probably just as easy to do the reverse, but I can't say I have experience with that. I had the B1-9 module collection and the AD&D handbooks. I don't think I realized they were different games until many, many years later. Because 1 HD 4 hp damage 1d4+1 runs the same in both games.
would crafting a wand of any of these spells speed things along? - that would give you 50 shots of the spell quickly to be balanced with against the time needed to create the wand The fastest is to go ahead and make a magic item usable at will. Actually, two. Trowel of Brick-Making, Wall of Stone, CL 10, Cost 100,000 gp
Then you and your simulacrum can build the pyramids in just under 7.36 hours. Of course, you spent 420 days crafting the items required. (And by you, I mean your simulacrum in a demi-plane with accelerated time.) But once you have it, you can build stuff at will. Roman armies built fortified camps everywhere they went. What if they could just build stone fortresses every night? Need to wall off your city in a hurry? No problem. Anyone want to figure out the volume for the Great Wall of China?
If 4E was supposed to include a mix of challenge levels, someone forgot to tell that to the writers of the original LFR modules. At least in the ones I played, each encounter tried to up the difficulty from the previous one, and that got as tedious as wading through a lot of blatantly obviously too weak encounters. I definitely think that 4E's biggest flaw is that at launch it had few (if any) quality adventures to showcase the strong parts of the system. I really don't know what the state of 4E modules are now, as I only run high quality modules from Open Design. :P
I did the math, thinking about freezing the water. If you use wall of stone to build a hollow pyramid of the right size (which takes about a year at 27 castings per day), it takes just over 1 year for a decanter of endless water (30 gallons per round version) to fill the pyramid.Don't forget evaporation! Right, this was for using the bound ice devil above to keep freezing it. It was an abandoned idea, the point is it takes a surprising amount of time to get that much water out of the decanter.
you could probably skip a lot of the rock to mud casts by starting in a sandy area and buying a Decanter of Endless Water (3000), some Sovereign Glue (2400) and an Immovable Rod (5000). Simply glue the Decanter of Endless Water to the Immovable Rod and you can create 5 gallons of water a second anywhere, just go set that up in the middle of the desert and leave it for a few days, you should get plenty of mud that way. Although you'd need to cast mud to rock still at least you won't need to cast 276 greater dispelsNo way that water can affect 40,000 ft^3. I did the math, thinking about freezing the water. If you use wall of stone to build a hollow pyramid of the right size (which takes about a year at 27 castings per day), it takes just over 1 year for a decanter of endless water (30 gallons per round version) to fill the pyramid.
One big difference between 3.5 and 4E in regards to difficulty is that 3.5 assumed that on any given adventure, the party would encounter a wide range of difficulties. Some could be beaten with ease, some all but required you to run away. 4E flattened that out, and made it so that while other challenge levels were assumed to exist, the only ones worth spending any amount of time were equal or higher to your level. Where 3.5 wore you down with lots of little challenges, 4E goes straight for the jugular. If you come across rapids that the party can cross with ease, you simply say you cross it, and otherwise ignore it. I personally prefer the 3.5 approach, as I find having that mixture of challenge levels really helps break up the monotany of long combats, and really helps setup the campaign ending big fight much better. I'm not certain there is actually that much difference in the assumptions of both games. I suspect this is more your personal bias showing through. Certainly in my Pathfinder game I gloss over challenges I know my party will handle with ease. (There was a trap on the door. Chris disables it and picks the lock, moving on...) 4E is supposed to have a mix of challenge ratings in an adventure. In fact, I think the recommended chart of one +3 challenge, two +2 challenges, 2 -1 challenges, etc is nearly the same in both editions. Edit: I take that back, the 3.5 DMG is full of lies and recommends a ton of cakewalk encounters. Other than the 1st level or so, I've found that to be rather boring. So in practice, my encounter mix follows the 4E mix.
So it's Warhammer 40K style then? Where they tell scale to take a hike and let you measure from the tip of model even if it's hanging a good inch over the models base. Really? Back when I played all measurements were base to base. But then again, I stopped playing when my army list was no longer supported. (Harlequins!)
I think you win. Edit: Except create greater demiplane only makes 4000 cubic feet of space per casting. It takes 12.1 years at 5 castings per day just to create the appropriate volume.
Target one creature, or one nonmagical object of up to 100 cu. ft./level It says that you can change objects from smaller to larger. But it does not say how big. Should it be assumed that you can't make an object larger than 100 cubic feet per level? With no limit you could polymorph a pebble into a planet.
If climate and location permits, a pyramid made of ice would be even easier to create. Planar Bind / Ally / Gate an Ice Devil, and put it to work with it's 'at will' wall of ice ability. If the local climate is not conducive to a permanant ice-pyramid, use control weather to make it so temporarily, and use polymorph any object to change it block by block. That might work fairly well. As long as the ice devil can keep up with the ice creation, polymorph any object can effect enough volume to convert a pyramid in just 1.2 years.
Assuming a Huge Earth Elemental can become a 10x10x10 cube, and 5 Temporal Stasis spells per day, that's a fairly quick 13.8 years. Edit: Wait, you can only hit 1 creature per Temporal Stasis, that puts it back up to 48.3 years. Is there a way to summon larger elementals? You may still be on to something. ;)
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