rando1000's page

But what if Hemingway bores your players to death? Some people want detail and verbal beauty. Going the Hemingway route is an extreme which will make them very, very unhappy.

I suppose what I'm saying here is to have balance. It sounds like John hates Tolkien's vivid, sweeping (and engrossing, in my so-not humble opinion) descriptions. I personally cannot stand Hemingway and wish he never took pen to paper. You're probably going to have both sorts of players at your table, as well as people in between (unless your group is comprised of people who affect a sampling bias, like English majors or MMO players). Going to any extreme, like Hemingway's sparseness or Tolkien's lushness, will disappoint someone. Seek the path of balance, and it will be the most enjoyable for most of your group. Unless you see reason to do otherwise, of course.

Knock 200 experience points every time he asks you. :D

The min/maxer in him will eventually kick in and he'll stop asking...

Ultradan

Profession boating IS useful. Craft haberdashery is very unlikely to come in handy. Maybe on Sunder attempts against bad James Bond villains.

Any and all races are available in any and all colors through any of the above-listed methodologies, or by any of the the following easy story-based justifications:

Magic gone awry. Tattooing. Mysterious touch of any sort of outsider. Curse. Having unknowingly bathed in a magical pool. Cloth dying mishap. Or, my favorite... "My character's just blue. I don't know why. Maybe my GM will choose to weave this mystery into the current storyline!"

Have FUN. Feed your GM seeds like that and see where you get taken.

Can someone sum up Maure Castle in a nutshell?
Your all going to die.

One major difference is that unlike your Beginner Box, AD&D was not an advanced version of D&D, it was essentially a very different game whose rules set had a large degree of incompatibility with it.

I dunno about VERY different. 0E, B/X, 1E, BECMI/RC, and 2E are all pretty compatible with each other. I'd say the difference between any two of those are no harder to iron out than the differences between 3.0, 3.5, and Pathfinder.

That is why it always makes me laugh when I see people claiming that 4e isn't "true D&D" because of how different it is from 3.X. 3.X was just as big of a departure from "retro" D&D as 4E was from 3.X.

"I'm on a horse." ~ Caveliar

We could have reincarnated him almost immediately, but the dice crapped out and he would have come back as a Goblin. And, well, that's not acceptable in this game. So he stayed dead. Ever since then, worst luck ever for anyone filling his 'shoes'.

Just saw this thread, but if you are planning to continue, I might try to make the death/poor luck of the rulers into an aspect of the campaign, thus giving an in-game explanation for some of the turnover. The position has somehow been cursed, clearly, so the PCs should probably find out why and get the resolved immediately...

(I'm thinking something along the lines of "Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold, though I'm sure there are plenty of other versions/options you could use.)

Captain America is an epic-level character.

36th level:

* Fighter (Weapon Master) 19th -- for Unstoppable Strike

* Monk 11th -- for Diamond Body and mastery of all martial arts.

* Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) 3rd -- for Divine Health and Divine Grace

* Cavalier (Order of the Lion; patron: USA) 3rd -- for Challenge, Tactician, Cavalier's Charge, Mount (Harley Davidson motorcycle: construct traits; requires user operation; requires gasoline).

"Serum"* base stats:

STR:36
DEX:26
CON:40
INT:16
WIS:16
CHA:20

The result of a lab experiment, Captain America's body continually generates a serum which grants him a demigod physique with inexhaustible stamina, and bestows the following additional properties:

* Stasis - when subjected to conditions which would kill (but not necessarily disintegrate) a normal person, Captain America's body enters a state of suspended animation which can last as long as several decades (i.e. as by being frozen in a glacier).
* immunity to poison
* immunity to disease
* immune to fatigue or exhaustion
* immune to fear
* regeneration
* resistant to charms and compulsions

(Varying levels of monk and paladin were chosen to duplicate most of these.)

Magical abilities: none. (E.g., all uses of Lay on Hands are converted to Smites, etc.)

Special: Captain America's physical stats are "fixed" by the serum; level-up bonuses are spent on INT, WIS and CHA.

Equipment:

Heirloom Weapon (original shield): heavy star-metal/"vibranium" throwing shield; monk proficient armor and weapon; +5 "technology" bonus to ranged attacks and to shield bonus to AC (+7 total); returning; multi-target; immune to all less-than-epic level effects.

Heirloom Weapon (replacement) -- energy shield with properties similar to a Star Wars lightsaber in terms of how it interacts with solid matter; abilities as original above, plus ghost-touch and vorpal.

Heirloom Armor ("scaleshirt") -- treat as +5 "technology" bonus Celestial Armor (does not bestow flight; but possesses DR 15/- and DR 30 versus fire and bludgeoning); includes communication device (properties equivalent to satellite-phone).

-- Captain America's shield and armor, as technological artifacts, are not limited to a total of ten enhancement levels, nor are they susceptible to Dispel Magic or Antimagic Field.

Weapons, other than shield: None. He throws his shield, and otherwise uses martial-arts. (He can "trample" people with his Harley, but he doesn't like it getting wrecked. The bike is mundane equipment.)

Belts, rings, headbands, cloaks, etc: None.

Actually, I just saw somebody trolling a Beach Boys song on Youtube, so nothing astounds me any more.

The truth is that sometimes people get all caught up in the max build. Tell them what class and they will tell you the race, stats, feats, equipment, skills, etc. and sometimes get upset when you do something else. The first time I played a PFS game with my own character, I had three people tell me that I hadn't made my cleric right because I didn't have the stats right. All three suggested the same build. Now that is boring. Who wants to set down at a table were all the fighters have the same stats, feats, traits, etc. because it is the "best" build with the 20 points. I didn't change it because the build match my char's back story. Which for me is the fun part. Coming up the story then making the stats, feats, etc. match up. So, what that my gnome ranger has twelves in everything but dex and wis. He will never be a one shot killer but he does well in all the skill checks. Of course, I once wrote a three page back story on a horse to talk me DM into letting my char have it (without paying) to pull a blacksmith cart. Don't get me wrong I do adjust things to make the char as good as possible but I don't believe there is a best way. Besides if you are having fun does it really matter where you start.

I hear Rock, Paper, Scissors is well balanced. But I read on a blog somewhere Scissors is getting a splat book soon that might mess that up.

The amount of money in Paizo's bank account.