So, let it be said I minored in Math, and know perfectly well how to calculate the third side of a triangle. So well, in fact, that I don’t want to. The nice thing is that we don’t need exact, we need ‘within 5ft’ as the top limit on accuracy. So, the long side + half the short side of a triangle will generally be close enough, and can be done quickly.
Hi
I am interested. I’d prefer to play with my cleric 13, but I also have an Eldrtich Knight (archer) 12 I’m usually a Myth-weavers person, so I’m new to playing here. Please let me know if you need anything.
Feats are all about opportunity cost. What feat are you giving up to get this one?
But...but...what if it doesn't bleed?!? Then get to the choppah!
If you dump a picture into Excel, it will 'cut' it, and print it out one page at a time. Just adjust it so it's one square =1 inch first. Then tape together, or not.
I think you've missed something: why does the rest of the party want you around? I think your best bet is to make a character who doesn't kill anyone. You could easily make an illusionist or a sap-wielder. Otherwise, other players might just say " wait, that's just more work for me? "
It's no less logical than being a talking rat person.
Granted, if you normally fight in a grassy meadow, they're not that good. But the more terrain, the more useful they become.
I hate it when they cry.
*Accepts educational high-five*
As a professional educator, I just want to remind you that the act of writing it out helps embed it into your memory. Each mode, reading, writing, listening, gives you another way to remember and improves recall. So, while copying something down from the screen seems like a waste of time, it depends on your goals. If your goal is to look it up once, then yes. If your goal is to learn it so you don't have to look it up anymore, than its a good investment.
Get the timing right. Announce what's happening while you place bad guys on the map. Try to peril initiative. Nothing breaks immersion more, Have some terrain. Draw it in advance if at all humanly possible. I played in a campaign where most fights took place on a blank battle mat. This invalidated perception and stealth, many kinds of battlefield control, and more than a few skills. Some types of characters became very suboptimal, and we found out after character creation. Lego trees work well for me, as do regular sticks and rocks. Countour lines are easy to spot, as a player, but indicate which side is up, and which down.
An intelligent magic item is also a great way to give the characters background information on demand. I support this idea. I've owned a pair of intelligent magical glasses, which were great fun, and had a few bonus skills along with an intelligence of their own. I've DM'd an intelligent magic sword, Lord Neon, who was a powerful wind-Duke who polymorphed himself into a sword, and couldn't cast the reverse spell without hands or a voice (he had reasons). I played him as a bold, headstrong noble, unafraid to enter melee against ANYONE, but protective of his dignity. Hijinks ensued on two occassions when players wanted to use him to chop down a door (what am I, a lumber axe?) and to fight a metal-destroying ooze (absolutely not, it's filthy).
You realize that you just re-invented Mutants and Masterminds, right?
A square is a square, diagonal or not. It's SO much faster and simpler, and who cares about Pythagoras? It's a game. If 3-D is needed, I find it close enough to add the long side plus half the short side. You only have to get within the closest 5ft square anyway.
When I say this, I of course mean, let the new player learn the game as we did, over time. It's tempting to open with a barrage of 'do this and this and this', but it can be too much, too fast. Also, listen to her. she chose Druid. Do you even know why? You should, or you won't be able to help. Over time, as different things come up, you'll have time to teach her that 'Druids counter invisibility with faerie fire', for example. And Forty, of course rookie players make rookie mistakes. Your choices are educate or complain.
Most people need to learn things for themselves. Let her do what she wants, send the animal companion forward to fight.
I've ruled that detect magic is touch only. Avoids weirdness like using a 0 level spell to overcome a 2nd level spell like invisibility. And a few more here
Here's an interesting alternate view: http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/misc/wandering-monster.html
So, let them have a 20pt buy, and be generous with starting equipment/ gold/ help from NPCs. On the plus side, you might easily have a group where everyone is stealthy. That can be useful. And remember, the standard is NOT 'did I read every word of this AP', the standard is 'are the players having fun?'. Feel free to adjust the AP. Right away, the goblins are supposed to be both a nuisance and have comic value. Don't have them universally all turn and attack with perfect synchronicity. Instead, have one who's not paying attention, another who's using a sub-optimal weapon, another who is lighting things on fire, etc.
And here you go...
Get a badge early, and have it mailed to your home. Pay the $3, it's worth bypassing the hours in line. Choose your events when the list comes out. When events go live, you need to be poised with a finger over the button. Seriously, some events vanish in five seconds. If you're looking for bigger events, like a PFS game, you've got more time, they can seat hundreds. Hotels, if you can believe it, go even faster. You can't do it later that day. Or the next hour. When they go live, be ready, or your hotel will be a ways from downtown. If you get stuck, keep checking back, sometimes you can catch a cancellation.
Sorry, I'm on my phone, but you'll find this helpful, an actual system for adjudicating what can and can' the asked for. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?172910-Articles-Previously-Ap pearing-on-GiantITP-com
Ap's are designed for 4 players, 15 pt buy. Of course, it's easy to overpower an AP with six players with 20 point buys. For optimization, it's not about what many people think. Strive for versatility. Otherwise, your character will have long stretches of doing nothing, and will occasionally be in very real danger when plan A stops working. I've seen judges handwave anything the players might be bad at. This needs to end, because it encourages yet more over-specialization. Let players fail. Be fair, not nice, and your players will actually have more fun, because they're not on 'easy mode' Finally, the level of optimization to strive for, always, is 'same as the other players'. That way, you have party balance, and everyone has a chance to shine. Good party balance is tough to pull off. Don't worry about the GM, they can always add/subtract difficulty.
Ok, i've run a few 10-16 adventures and James is right, they DO take up more space. I can remember this from living Greyhawk days, and the front of each mod needs a section that details what happens if: Speak with dead
Additionally, certain challenges (crossing the raginriver) are sometimes just negated by phantom steeds, or teleportation, or wind walking. So, it's trickier to figure out what to do. So, how about a new ask: 1-2 higher level PFS adventurers a year. No set schedule for those, they can come out when they're good, and not before. What do the rest of you think?
So, I'm going to assume that Ultimate Intrigue is about the same size as Ultimate Combat. Which means that Vigilante isn't enough to fill the whole book. I'd have to guess that the rest of the book will be filled with ways to add Intrigue to your game. Where you need to make an argument to the Emperor's guards that they should allow you in for an audience, and 'I attack them' will be answered with 'they kill you' If this sounds like your thing, if you enjoyed reading the Goblin Emperor, or the Amber series, maybe vigilante is a great class. If you can't imagine why anyone would trade combat power for social power, well, you're probably looking for a different style of game. And it's not right or wrong, it's just different. I'm willing to at least give the rest of the book a look. Maybe that's needed to fully understand.
True Strike isn't bad. A combat maneuver is an attack, perhaps +20 will do the job.
Why not just keep track of what you roll, and perform a chi-square test? Mathematics is really way more reliable than witchcraft.
Get more exercise. It will give you better emotional perspective. And every once in a while, play a game of Toon or Paranoia to liven things up.
Do you need to experiment more? Bend the rules? For example, I ran a session that was in an alternate dimension. So, I described how time flowed differently, and space seemed distorted. Then, I wrote everyone's name on a token, and pulled names out of a box for initiative. It changed every round. While it might not be what you want every week, it did feel different to the players, and that was achieved. Maybe a more episodic thing is what you want. So every session starts with an action scene, and buying equipment is just hand-waved. Try new things. What's the worst that could happen, you have an uninspiring night? You have that now.
You know, it actually sounds like we agree. I'm not suggesting any particular length. What I'm suggesting is that 'length of campaign' is something that should be discussed, and shared, just like 'character creation guidelines' or 'what system to use'. I find that one one person expects to kick open the doors in a dungeon, and the other wants a plot device to tell stories, that often mediocre games are the result. With an established end, whether that's an hour or six years, you add an impetus to use time well, and give the players playing their second favorite game a motivation, since they're going to get to what they want more of later.
So, one thing we do poorly as a community is end games. We're all great at starting campaigns, but the idea that they'll go on "for infinity" is a bad idea, and makes for poor storytelling. Think about setting endpoints for your campaigns. Then, move past thinking about encounters as the be all/end all. The story is where the planning should take place, the encounters are the result. http://theangrygm.com/what-the-actual-f-is-an-adventure-anyway/ Also consider switching to a new game system for a while. Often, that gives you a new perspective to think about what you like, don't like about the current one.
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