Alex Head's page

I roll on a curve, usually. I've done 1d8+8, applied to your choice of stats, or i'll get everyone to roll and use whoever rolled the highest as the baseline. Once i figure out the baseline, i use that for the pointbuy limit. That way, if three of them roll Joe Nobodies and one of them rolls Hank the Tank they can adjust up.

Lately, though, i've really enjoyed the 1d8 + 8.

I'm rolling up a lvl 4 human rogue, and, no kidding, got the following unmodified scores:

15
15
12
18
16
14

I rolled up a cohort like that one time. It was that thing where every roll of the dice was followed by "Oh, no way! watch, next i bet it'll be a 7 or something.", which gave way to "What god has blessed these dice and why are they being used to roll up a cohort?!"

As far as what to play: I've always really liked the TWF/Throwing knife rogue a lot. Not super powerful, but dang it's cool. Multiclass with sorcerer for low level utility spells, maybe?

Since the game is going to be so focused on one character it might be cool to do more with stealth and sneaking around. Of course, that's only if that's his thing.

Combat with one character can be dangerous if you aren't careful, but that can make stealth all the more attractive.

I had 5 14th level guys run from an adamantine golem a session ago.

We didn't run, dang it! We tactfully withdrew!

The restriction on iterative attacks is only that they be made in order. You can make them with any weapon you're wielding. It's only if you use TWF to gain an extra attack that there is a "main-hand/off-hand" issue. If you can draw a weapon as a free action with quickdraw or via some other method you can even change weapons between iteratives that way.

Interesting... I wasn't aware that you could swap weapons like that. Neat! I don't usually play characters where this would come up, but it's handy to know.

Dan simmons' Hyperion series.

noobiegameplayer wrote:

THE FOLLOWING IS A TRUE STORY, ACTORS HAVE BEEN USED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT :)

I remember my very first character I played for ADnD in 1979.

I imagined him as a great Viking Warrior, muscles bursting out of his scalemail armour, a battleaxe and large round shield, he was going to be "Awesomeness" personified ... ERIK the Viking, there would be tales written by the Skalds of his adventures

Then I rolled my stats 6 x 3d6, with the stats being allocated to whichever stat you liked ...

S 12, I 9, W 10, D 11, Co 10, Ch 9

I almost cried ... meanwhile, another fighter (a friend of mine playing his Jamaican based fighter, Ceti Wayo) rolled his dice:

S 18/92, I 10, W 9, D 16, Co 18, Ch 10

He had rolled two 18's and a 16, the then rolled 3 x 10's for HP and at 3rd level (our starting level for this game) gave him 42hp.

I tried to let the disappointment roll over me and I rolled my HP, 4 + 3 + 2 for a starling 9hp ;(

This story does have a happy ending however, we were playing Bone Hill and a Ghoul wiped the whole party and we rerolled characters ... I then got one 17 and a hand full of average numbers and made myself a Cleric who went on to retire at level 16 ...

I just hope this points out how destructive randomly generating stats can be... when they are great, it's great -- but when you roll bad, it is truly awful.

Points buy is the best system as it allows all players to be fantastic in a stat, pretty great in a couple of stats or well rounded in all stats ...

Just my 1 copper piece worth - though if you want it, it's down in the pit with Erik and the Ghoul ... :)

You almost cried over character scores in a game? It was "destructive"?

It also appears the problem solved itself, so I don't see any "destruction" at all.

Also, 2 18's, a 16, and 10 for HP 3 times is .00000006% likely. I think you "got took." ;)

Isn't any grouping of stats going to have roughly that same probability...?

EDIT: nevermind, i got mega-ninja'd by not reading the rest of the thread. disregard me.

By the rules picking up an object provokes an attack of opportunity. Also, by the rules you cannot provoke an attack of opportunity if you are not occupying a threatened square. So, next time your character is disarmed, do not simply pick up your weapon, be sure instead to take five-foot step back out of harm’s way and only then reach into the threatened square to retrieve your weapon.

You can avoid an attack of opportunity this way. ;)

Man, that is just awful, but awesome at the same time...

If there were ever a poster child of internet anal retentive extreme absurdism argumentativeness, this post wins that designation. If I taught a class on internet dynamics, this post would be a whole day's lecture.

Post = Thread?

I like drawing the maps, so i naturally tend towards using them. That being said, i echo a lot of the people on here in that If i don't need it i won't use it. for battles that are mostly filler or story driven ant not terribly tactics-heavy I'll just describe it, but for big events I like to give my players something to look at and plan with.

It's nice to watch their attitudes change when i whip out a map - they know that I'm not messing around when they see a carefully made battlemat.

Is it a little Meta? Sure, but I play with some people that are good at seperating their meta knowledge from play so it's all in good fun.

Which, I'll reiterate, is ridiculous.

I'm not sure if i'd called it ridiculous. I can understand the argument that by RAW, you can grab something from an adjacent square (for all the reasons you've listed so far), but i can also agree with some of the other people that have suggested that you'd need baboon arms to reach things that are 5+ feet away. I think in combat, we're assuming that our foe's are closer to us than they may seem on the map - otherwise every battle would be dominated by, well... baboons.

As it stands, though, I agree with you - RAW seems to support the idea that you can interact with things that are 5+ feet away from you, so why not pick something up? Picking something up seems infintely easier to accomplish than, say, whacking something with a pointy stick or pole, and we do that from five feet away all the time in games.

I think that if this came up with in my game I'd houserule that If you want to reach into an adjacent square to retrieve something and the Orc manages to successfully hit you with his AoO you drop the item. If you want to move into the space and grab it, you automatically pick it up regardless of a successful attack.

As a player I can see the appeal of rolling 3d6, but honestly only because of how you described the game you intend on running. Slaves on the run? Dang straight they should have lowish stats. Awarding traits as rewards at regular intervals? Badass!

In general, though, I agree with some of the posts on here - The randomness of dice rolling is appealing the same way roulette is appealing. I might get three 18's and nothing below a 14! ...Or i might end up with something worse than a commoner...

Someone (I wish the internet at work was faster so i could go back and quote them) mentioned a 15 point buy, but doubling the attribute bonus at every fourth level from +1 to one attribute to +1 to two attributes. This is really similair to how stat increases work in Saga Edition star wars (a system that I really enjoy).

Currently I do a 20 point buy, but my next forray as a GM will see me using the 15 PB +2 attributes as listed above.

If you do this, let Fighters add their level to the skill.

I like your suggestion, but maybe add 1/2 level, Saga edition style? giving a fighter a +20 on top of what he wants to spend in the skill might be a bit crazy.

And just a little background on how I run, I award not only session exp for encounters, but role playing as well, and when I remember(or did in the past) to do so I take a secret ballot vote for best player of the session. That can mean, made the game fun for everyone, contributed the most, played their character to the hilt - whatever and that's an additional xp reward as well.

I... I really like this. A lot.

Consider this stolen.

Adamantine Dragon wrote:

I'm not sure I'd be any more opposed to raping the female characters than I would be to raping the male characters...

How about mentally dominating the male PCs into gang raping the female PC? Cause, yeah, I've seen that happen unfortunately... *sigh*

That is, uh, pretty dang awful.

I try not to rain on anyone's parade, or tell'em how to game/run a game, but wow. That's the wrong way to run a game.

one of the few wrong ways i can think of, actually.

That's just freaking atrocious. Tell me you never, ever played with this guy again?

The 100d6 part is wrong actually. It caps at 20d6. Which means that 10th level barbarians can survive falls from the stratosphere, face first and then just get up and flip off the DM.

I know i've asked this, but i can't help myself:

Has anyone tried grappling a foe off of a ledge just so you can kill them with the falling damage?

No image has amused me more than a barbarian grappling a wizard off of a ledge and then getting up, relatively unhurt.

GMs are rare and beautiful creatures, and are to be encouraged.

I vote for this on a shirt, or a poster.

Or a flag.

Maybe a tattoo.

...Perhaps something in Time's Square?

Run. Run far and fast and never look back. When you die in Pathfinder die in real life

Gods, i hoped never to hear that again...

Dabbler wrote:

it's most feared attack: it goes for the balls. Literally, every time.

How exactly does one create that ability?

Low Blow(Ex) A Ratel has an innate sense of it's foe's weakest spot, whether this takes the form of an exposed limb or chink in their armor.

If an opponent is equipped with armor, a Ratel will ignore 2 points of AC unless that armor is masterwork.

If an opponent is unarmored the critical range for the Ratel's bite attack increases to 18-20 and becomes a x3 multiplier.

You're welcome.

I see several suggestions on setting the jungle on fire, but I have to think that this wouldn't be easy to accomplish at all. When I think jungle, I think wet and dense, so getting it to burn hot enough to start spreading is going to be pretty tough.

Clearly you haven't been to magic fantasy jungles, where the air is hot and dry and the ground is littered with matches, which are what the trees shed instead of leaves.

n00b.

/sarcasm

Yeah, I didn't think about the part where the jungle acts like a jungle and, ya know, resists being set on fire...

I once had an idea for a greatswordbow, which was a bow that shot greatswords.

i just need some legitimate stats for one and cost for purchasing or making said thing

this is cooler.

Man, thats brutal. Maybe set fire to the jungle as you flee, in the hopes that even if you die, the demon's hunting ground is ruined by sunlight?

Another idea for air: a song. Ever hear the expression whistle up a storm? Many instruments are wind instruments and in order to hum, whistle or sing humans need air so a tune of some kind can be a logical choice.

Lelu Dallas Multipass?

Secondly: I really like the idea of a song that has to be recreated. While i'm not sure if this fits in thematically with the DM's story, as a stand-alone thing i really, really like this.

Honestly - and this might not be popular - but I fudge it. A lot.

Ditto on that. I try to keep combat by the books, but RP has a lot of gray area. Did the fighter make the 15 DC to notice the informant is lying? Well, he rolled a 14... He might get a wierd feeling about the situation, but he can't quite place it's source.

Did he get a 4? Thats different. The fighter is exhausted from the earlier battle and isn't the best person for the job to begin with.

Do you armwrestle PC's to resolve Strength checks, as well?

You don't?

I'd be up for play testing these rules once they get semi-ironed out. Gimme a shout and i'll throw it at my players for a one shot and see how it goes.

I think my foremost advice would be to approach each one when the other's not around and ask him, as a favor, to try to get along a bit better with the other. Tell them you can't think of a solution and put it on their shoulders to try to save the game. Just because you're the GM doesn't mean you're the U.N. or a babysitter.

I like this. I think this will work with atleast one of them, which is all it would take.

Polar opposite players sometimes have a hard time being in the same party. However it doesn't help that they're being immature about it. I would consider sitting down with them and talking it through like a real group.

Yeah, i know... I just dread having to have that talk with everyone. You're right, though, they deserve the respect of being spoken to openly. I just hope they can take criticism from me - they certainly can't from each other :\

I've seen some good advice on these threads, so lets see what you guys have for this:

I'm running a campaign and for the most part my players seem to think I'm doing a good job, which is awesome. Things are pretty good for the most part, but there is one major problem:

Two of my players can't seem to get along. Now, they aren't at each other's throats, but they have a really hard time not taking their arguments out-of-character.

an example: We'll call the characters Steve, Hank, and Mitch. Steve and Hank are brothers while Mitch is... not. Anyway. Steve likes playing a character with flaws and does it pretty well - His character is believable, if a bit goofy sometimes, and is a joy to roleplay across from (as a GM). Hank, on the other hand, comes from a background where character development is less important to the game, which isn't a strike against him by itself.

What the problem seems to be is that these two players argue incessently because Hank (the old power-player) and Steve (The new character-builder) can't seem to mesh. When one makes a decision, the other attacks them OOC for it. When one succeeds they gloat and use it as justification for more personal attacks later.

I've made a point of telling both of them that if they can't get their stuff together that the game is over and we'll try again in a few months. I'm not thrilled at that prospect - we've all put a lot of time and effort into the campaign so far, but I see no other way to make okay.

I like both players a lot. One's my roommate and the other's one of my best friends, and most of the time they get along okay-ish, but their experiences at the table are coloring more and more of their interactions.

I'm hesistant to punish them in-character for their bickering because I don't want to use meta-stuff as an excuse to TPK, but at this point i'll try just about anything.

ideas?

man, even with a full time job going right now I'd jump at the chance to intern, but the fourteen hour commute from kentucky would be murder.

This could either be a good idea or ruin friendships. Since you are having this problem, there are obviously maturity issues. You need to think about how they will react. You know your friends better than we do.

Thats true. I'm with Kydeem - While satisfying in the short term, something like that definitely has the potential to do lasting damage. I overstepped a bit there.

I'm eager to hear how all this turns out, though.

I've got a zero tolerence rule for this sort of thing at my table. I understand character quirks, and that's fine every now and then, but the fact of the matter stands that it's not fun anymore. If your player is seriously this upset than your other players need to know and need to stop.

Heck, show'em this thread. I bet that'll drive home the point.

That being said, if they keep doing it? As the saying goes, "Dust off and nuke'em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

Two or three empty, non-bullying chairs are better for a gaming table than several filled with jerks.

I've always enjoyed playing the Combat Maneuver heavy rogue/duelist type character. I love disarming opponents then tripping them. Nothing demoralizes a foe quite like taking his weapon and kicking sand in his eyes.

Improved Feint is also a lot of fun.

There is always, always, ALWAYS a tavern called "The Grassy Gnoll".

Where is it located, you ask?

This sounds great to me! You played it fair, but weren't afraid to let your players feel like heroes.

Could the dragon have made some more "tactical" decisions? sure. But that's not what the game's about, in my opinion - the battle was already challenging enough and letting the monster start acting like its General Patton would have taken away from the fun.

I think it sounds like you did a bang-up job.

It's magic divination, which is great, but not a +50 perception. If you notice, spider man almost always wastes his surprise round doing nothing but shouting "spider senses tingling."

This made me lawl.

That's it exactly, Alex; not some lunatic or (casual) killer -- just done with "nice" and getting chillingly-ruthless when it comes to getting one's way. Just not a good person anymore.

In a Pathfinder game I was in, in Anchorage, my (lawful/evil) cleric and the paladin in the party were forced to be allies, because the rest of the group were barking mad chaosites: in order to get them all pointed in the same direction and MOVING, he and I had to put aside our distaste for each others morals and cooperate.

It worked, too; he fell about four months into the game. ;)

Hah! I've always liked the idea of LG and LE being forced to get along (and your story of them having to play buddy-cop to a bunch of chaotics is awesome) for the greater good.

I bet that in that scenario, the Paladin and Cleric of opposing moral-directions secretely respected each other almost as much as they would someone of their own faiths. Good luck getting them to admit that, though.

(Un)Fortunately, my Best death, funniest death, and Killer-DM moment were all the same.

I was playing in a level 18 campaign, with a level 16 wizard with a ridiculous ammount of skill points. The DM had actually allowed me to create glass "Baubles" which were ridiculously expensive for their level, but allowed a free casting of a spell when "broken" but only if done so by the spell caster. So my wizard with practically nothing of value besides the clothes on his back funnelled everything into making these. the DM thought I was playing my usual, spell-paranoid self.

Long story short, the party finds themselves in an unwinnable situation. Undead silver dragon (Plus family), minions everywhere, etcetera, etcetera. I thought about it for a moment, and the wizard won the initative. My first move was to send the party to safety, got them out of the immidiate danger. DM was not happy about this, as this was supposed to be his "Epic fight" and hadn't counted on me actually preparing spells from my forbidden school. >_>

As all the baddies charge in after their 'villainous rant' about how I was doomed, I took a 5-foot step, and made an acrobatics check to 'saunter like a baws' into them. I then said 'I voluntarily fail, and fall.' The DM is still confused. "Okay. you fall onto your ass as the enemies charge in, you are now prone." I think about it for a moment. Then wince, and say 'Gee, I guess I shouldn't have been wearing my fanny-pack backwards then. You know, the one with my baubles?' I show him my character sheet. Everything is legit. "Fanny-sack (Worn backwards) Contents: 18 baubles (Wall of iron)." Eighteen simultaneous Wall of Iron spells go off. Filling the room, Practically everything is telefrag'd. The party, meanwhile, has been booking it out, and they make it to the gate just as the 'unbreakable' support beam in our former chamber was shattered by a telefrag effect from those spells. Party receives no EXP, as they did nothing. I received enough EXP posthumously to take me to level 20.

Oh my god yes.

Um...

I'm of average strength. Really average. I carry speaker cabinets around all day, but thats a light load over long distances. 11ish.

While I'm a musician, i wouldn't necessarily claim to be any good. 10 dexterity.

I beat sickness pretty fast, but get winded after a mile or two run. 11 Con.

I'm smart. Not, like, Hawking smart, but smart. 13.

I am... not a wise man... 9 wisdom.

Dang it, i sell stuff for a living. 14 cha.

It was a glorious death.

+1 to this!

I'm playing in a long-running (almost four years now) game where my character has gone from NG at the beginning all the way to LE now. He's not some lunatic or killer - he's just done with doing things the nice way. He wants to do what he thinks is the right thing, but he's fine with torture or coersion if that seems to be the fastest means to an end. He has never gone out of his way to be evil or even mean - He's just not a good person anymore.

We have a pretty wide range of characters in a relatively small group - we have five players: LG paladin, LE rogue/spymaster, NG wizard/rogue, N rogue, and LN cleric. The characters have formed a tight bond despite their apparently opposing alignments.

The LE rogue and LG Paladin are brothers in the game and they get along as well as they probably could. They do have a lot of really sad conversations about morality and the nature of good.

...our table is often a somber one :\

I learned this a long time ago, but it is my favorite lesson: I've learned that the space between mentioned rules and unmentioned effects is the key location to pull humorous situations from.

I.E. "Teleportation" and "Damage From Falling Objects".

Large size character + Cape of the Mountebank = Atomic Elbow from the Top Ropes?

Generally before the first session, I tell all the players that their characters are starting 'here' and they should tell me why they are 'here.

I'm running my third game now and this is my favorite method. So far none of my players have given me grief - I tell them that they are heading north, and then ask them why their characters would be going in that direction. I let them handle everything else (do the PCs know each other, etc).

I don't see why you couldn't swap the weapons out like that. Makes sense to me.

Roleplay's the point, right? I mean, of course I enjoy rolling fist-fulls of dice and wreaking havoc in dungeons, but I could do that by myself or in a video game. Interaction and story-telling are the reason I game.

Generally I'll write up a page or so of backstory or description and after a dozen or so games I'll start trying to write some fiction depicting significant pre-game events in my characters life. It's mostly for my own benefit since I enjoy it so much, but I think it's nice for a DM to have something to pull ideas from for character-specific adventures.

On a side note: When I describe gaming to my non-gamer friends this is the part they get hung up on - they think I play board games two or three nights a week.

I-D-K-F-A.
I-D-D-Q-D.

anyone?

...anyone?

Today I learned the difference between "roleplay-style" flat-footed and "knives-in-yer-throat"-style flat-footed.

So there i am.

Spoilered due to excessive formatting.

I can't help but wonder (because i'm not digging back through 1500 posts) If maybe this was a serious plea for non-posting. Like, dude had a gun to his head and the BBEG was like... "make a thread with no posting."

Cloak of Resistance... Really? a flat bonus to saves that takes up a valuable slot? Useful, sure, but not terribly "Superstar", if you ask me. Rejected.

*Reject

*Completely Agree. Reject.

*Rejected.

:D

This item will probably be featured in my games from now on. I love the image of the party, surrounded by unseen creatures just outside of their torchlight, back to back and praying for something to save them when - suddenly! The fighter remembers his flask of liquid sunlight!

Suddenly the fight takes on a new dimension as the party pushes their foes back while they are dazed by the sudden introduction of sunlight.

I echo some of the ideas already stated - While I am in love with the throw-in-the-air-now-you-have-sunlight aspect, I'm sort of lukewarm about the weapon-enhancement. That being said, i think that the weapon-enhancement feels like a natural extension of this item's power, so it definitely fits.