Benicio Del Espada's page

So frustrating!

Sorry, dude, but I just gotta say WTF?

They're real liberals, rather than third way blue dogs (like Clinton), but their objection to her is that she's a woman?

I don't know what you're smoking but it's some really good ****!

It's a long dagger that was used to parry, mostly.

Main gauche

Kiwis.

I'm a tank. No frills. Ready for 3rd.

Benicio Del Espada wrote:

meatrace wrote:

Benicio Del Espada wrote:

Rosanne Barr?

Dude no one told me she was running. I'd totally vote for her.

The liberal media doesn't want you to know.

How about a Ron Paul/Roseanne Barr dream ticket?

I don't think she's down with his views on women.

Benicio Del Espada wrote:

Rosanne Barr?

Dude no one told me she was running. I'd totally vote for her.

The liberal media doesn't want you to know.

More Obama hate!

And even more Obama hate!

I don't endorse everything in either article, but I do endorse the Obama hate!

Vive le Galt!

I never expected much "hope and change" from Obama. He made that clear with his cabinet appointments and his inaction on things like Wisconsin and the Florida voter purge, and a host of other things. Mostly, though, he just doesn't try very hard to please the "left" because he doesn't have to. Who will they vote for? Romney? Rosanne Barr?

I think he wants to lose.

Had a situation that pretty much meant no time for gaming, but it's over, now. I changed my e-mail address, too. PM me if anyone is still interested.

Actually there are several ways that both Acid Splash and Ray of Frost are superior to using a crossbow.

1) They are both touch spells whereas a crossbow needs an attack at full AC. I'd rather do 1d3 damage with a 55% chance of success than 1d8 with a 15% chance of success.

2) They don't need to be reloaded as a move action leaving a wizard or sorcerer free to be more mobile on a battlefield.

3) They both get round damage reduction.

Acid splash is the better choice in most instances it's useful in almost any case (even against golems) and as mentioned before it cooks trolls nicely.

All true. A chance at doing some damage is a fair trade for probably wasting a crossbow bolt. Or, hitting, then rolling 2 damage after all that effort.

Also, at low levels (any level, really), 1-3 damage may be all you need to finish off an injured enemy, letting your melee guy move on to the next one. Why burn a spell slot?

I remember playing a high level sorcerer who used it once to injure, but not kill a guy who pi$$ed him off. There's some psychological comfort in knowing you can at least do a little damage at will.

I am just hoping that there are enough people interested in this that they decide to continue the whole solar system and eventually we have a hardcover book like the Inner Sea Guide for the solar system. That would be awesome, and then an AP on the red planet and then an AP on the green planet... And then...

Can't wait for this and everything that comes out after it.

Yes, it all depends on interest, measured in sales.

A 64 pg. booklet is the bare-bones outline of such a vast playground. There have been questions about so many settings within Golarion, they'll be developing it for decades.

The Guide to Absalom is a good example. It's a general outline with a small map. The details of the city are quite general, and it's up to the GM to fill them in as he likes. I imagine that someday there will be a bigger book with a big map, more details, etc. And that's just one location of thousands.

If this goes well, there will eventually be more.

Necroing this post to get an answer on magical tripping.

What happens in this situation:

Mounted enemy is hit with a Magic Missile spell under the meta-magic effect of Toppling Spell.

What happens then? What defenses does the rider apply to avoid being tripped? Does it effect him at all?

Bran's answer is what I'd do. He can use his ride skill, or his CMD.

Masika wrote:

Everyone goes out of their way to be nice to the big guy. Super political correctness.

I don't see it that way. Some people are just naturally likable and bring out the "nice guy" in the people around him.

I remember at least one bad guy insulting his girth. Polite people just don't do that, and there are so many fat people these days, they're barely noticed.

JMO, but I don't think he's so much a genius as an expert on Alcatraz and comic books. You have to be smart to get a PhD, but it's a function of going to school long enough, more than being a genius. He has a great memory for all things Alcatraz, but he's no MacGuyver.

He's believably out of his element at grisly crime scenes or when he's in danger. You can tell he'd rather be at home curled up with a stack of comics and a box of Krispy Kremes.

I've never regretted taking toughness. It's been the difference between still standing and rolling to stabilize many times.

LOL!

It's amazing how control-y the states and police agencies are getting these days.

I don't know what she's read, but you mentioned historical biographies and such. I think the stories of influential women would be good for a girl.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Elizabeth, Simone de Beauvoir, Joan of Arc, Madame Curie, Rosa Parks, and many other female scientists, politicians, activist, rulers and such would be inspiring to a young girl who can read and understand how women have affected history. Eleanor, for sure.

We'll leave Messalina alone until she's older, but there are some truly inspiring women she can look up to, and see that even in times and places where women were not considered "equal," they really were.

...out of a Paladin and a Sorcerer, without having a build that pales in comparison to a Magus? How would it be done?

Focus on spellcasting more than fighting. Cast first, then fight only if you have to.

It depends on your party's makeup, but spamming useful buffs on your party first, then yourself, can work.

The nice thing is that your main stat helps a little on the pally side, and you don't need UMD to use wands of pally spells.

The EK is a better spellcaster than the magus at high levels. You won't get that until mid levels.

It should allow a fortitude partial, like the bigger spell.

Aretas wrote:

stuff that's too far down in the quotation to appear when I press "reply"

Iraq is going to be such a better place with its infrastructure destroyed, its staggering rate of birth defects, its population whipped up into sectarian mobs and, oh yeah, ONE MILLION LESS PEOPLE.

America, F&#& Yeah!

How DARE you bring up the effects of depleted uranium! That just makes Americans feel bad, and messes up tons of babies, as well as adults, for centuries to come...

Surely you've heard that nuclear leftovers have no proven effect on anyone!

DeathQuaker wrote:

"So, player, let me get this straight -- is it that you're concerned your build is too powerful, or are you declaring the intent that you are going to give me or the other players a hard time? Because if it's the latter, you can get out now. Contentious, competitive gameplay is not welcome at my table."

Wise advice from one of the most level headed people on this forum. Deathquaker, I always enjoy reading your posts.

+1.

DQ has been there and done that. GMed 17+ level campaigns, and lived to tell about it. Here.

Also, always polite and well-reasoned and well-spoken. This is the kind of GM I aspire to be.

I believe we've done a lot of wrong things and are still doing them. I think politicians play politics with war and peoples lives all the time. Pretty much every president since Woodrow Wilson has authorized some form of violence against foreign nationals who could hardly be considered a "clear and present" danger.

You posted some interesting facts about our health care. One fact you left out is the number of people who become bankrupt from medical expenses. 60% of all bankruptcies in this country in fact, or over 1.8 million people every year. The countries who had a lower survival rate of cancer patients all don't have that problem. Health care is great in this country... if you can afford it.

The rules of this country are set up to reward wealth, not build it. A great example is Romney's tax returns. Capital gains are taxed at a lower rate than normal income. People rich enough to live off their investments are taxed less than people who work for a living.

We do act like we are above the law. In fact, we refuse to sign any treaty for international regulations that could enforce those regulations if we are also subject to them. The major reason we pulled troops out of Iraq is that we couldn't get a SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) that included immunity for our troops from criminal prosecution. We say we believe in the "rule of law", but we refuse to help establish any true measure of it in the international community.

War is a tool for countries to get what they want. "Defending freedom" by attacking countries on the other side of the world that are no threat to the US is not a defensive stance, it's an excuse.

One can argue that there are things being defended, but they're not the lives of Americans, or the well-being of the middle class.

When Dick Cheney met with oil executives in a closed-door meeting to discuss energy policy, they didn't focus on renewables.

If there were a 30' limit, it would say so, just like all the other powers. It says "as magic missile."

And why wouldn't evokers get the best ranged damage SLA? It's their shtick. After a few levels, it rarely gets used, anyway.

So I had a potential player approach me the other day telling me that he was going to roll a level 8 Shadow Dancer/Assassin/and something else, thus breaking the game. I know he comes from a mechanic breaking heavy background, apparently.

What do I do about this? From a GMing pre and during game stand point?

Let him play. In areas of bright light, you shut down his hide ability. With nowhere to run and hide, the assassin abilities will be next to useless.

A desert-dwelling dragon can chase him down across the burning sands...

Break my game? Don't get too attached to your character...

Well, who is being inflammatory? Weren't you the one to imply that I was probably suffering from a mental disorder ?

The "liberalism is a mental disease" meme is a common one on far-right websites, like Newsmax and American Thinker, among others. It's also common on right-wing talk radio, which permeates the AM (MW) bands all over the US.

Aretas refers to such sources as though they were impartial purveyors of "real" news.

It auto-hits it's target, as magic missile:

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes/wizard.html#_wizard wrote:

Force Missile (Sp): As a standard action you can unleash a force missile that automatically strikes a foe, as magic missile. The force missile deals 1d4 points of damage plus the damage from your intense spells evocation power. This is a force effect. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.

There's nothing about it acting like magic missile in any other regard.

The bolded text is the only part of it you need to know. It not only acts as a single magic missile, but is a SLA, so you don't have to speak or wave your arms.

A 20th level evoker can do it at 300' for 1d4+10 damage. Of course, by that time, he'd have little reason to use it, unless he wanted to kill a commoner or something. It does make a crossbow redundant, so that's less gear to carry.

If your GM allows content from the APG, drop it and take the admixture school, instead.

For skills, you started fine. At 2/level, you don't have many to throw around. If you have any PCs who can take up the knowledge slack, good. If not, religion should get a point in a level or 2.

I'm a fan of putting at least a point into most of your skills as you progress. I'd keep putting points in heal for 3-5 levels (it comes in handy, especially in a low-magic setting), and adding a point in a new skill each level. You never know what may come up, and the guy with a +12 to sense motive can still fail his roll while you make it with a +4.

Dwarves are awesome. It is a known fact that elves cause cancer.

(Probably NSFW) linked

and funny.

Misconceptions like this:

Exactly.

Well considering I was originally replying to the statement:
"If you're white, you absolutely have a leg up on anyone who's not."

Are you suggesting that every single white person has a leg up on 100% of everyone who is not? If not, then I fail to see what you are getting at.

I didn't suggest it, but now that you mention it, I can take your "Asians" argument and use that construct to say that's true. I would, however, be making the same fallacious argument you did, so I won't.

I think your arguments so far stem from a number of misconceptions, but it doesn't surprise me.

So your claim is that all Asians are only first generation immigrants and all people of Mexican descent in the US are only first generation as well?

Of course not. Stop trying to deflect. You made a fact-free statement and got called on it. Try another tack, because that won't fly.

thunderspirit wrote:

If you're white, you absolutely have a leg up on anyone who's not.

Well, unless we are considering Asians. But of course they don't really get to be counted as real non-whites.

Here, again, we see a non-factual statement regarding race that pres man expects us to accept as factual.

The "look at how well Asians do in school" ploy is evidence, again, of a perspective that ignores other factors.

Just to get you started, let's look at the economic status of those Asians who legally emigrate here vs. the Asians who have no chance of buying plane tickets.

Mexicans who emigrate here usually do so on foot, and illegally. If they were rich Mexicans, they wouldn't do that. Mexico is a great place to live if you have money. Horribly dangerous and desperate if you don't.

The extremes of rich and poor there are more dire than here, at least for now, and being on the poor end of the scale makes the worst jobs in this country desirable to people who have no way to better their lot in life in Mexico, regardless of their "gumption."

Because he'd been acting like a paladin before, all righteous and zealot-like, I felt like removing divine intervention from the picture was sort of like taking away his paladin powers when he freaked out and started treating another character like crap.

This. His zealotry exceeded the will of his god, and the "divine guidance" was withdrawn. He was left alone to commit, then realize his error.

You handled it right, and it sounds like the new character will be better for the group, anyway. No harm, no foul.

Scribe Scroll would actually save me a lot of money.

Not only that, it will be useful to you at ANY level, and you can choose the caster level of any scroll you make. A handy haversack full of situational scrolls can make quick work of some encounters. Not only that, but you can give them to other PCs with UMD for certain plans or contingencies. If you don't take it now, take it later.

I don't listen to Glenn Beck, though I do have more in common with him than I do with left wing socialist hacks.

Nice reposte. Facts have nothing to do with ideology. They just are, however inconvenient they are to your fantasy narrative, or whatever names you call them.

I agree pres man. Its anti American propaganda aimed at teaching people a revisionist history of an America that was built on the blood, sweat and tears of non Whites.

Anti-American propaganda? Revisionist history? You might want to turn off the Glenn Beck and do some fact-checking. Facts are neither pro nor anti-anything, and can't be called propaganda.

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

An oriental dwarf in Ravenloft is quite a mix. Korobokuru is what they're called?

That's what he was. A badass little dude.

How did they differ from dwarves? I don't remember.

Found a neat pic, though.

An oriental dwarf in Ravenloft is quite a mix. Korobokuru is what they're called?

That's what they called them in 2e Oriental Adventures, yes. I don't have those books anymore, sadly.

I think Kantrips idear sounds good,nothing to complex but something to catch her imagination a solo game would probally be best as she will be less self conscious.

And if all goes well pick a friend or two(who you trust to take a bit of a back seat so she dosen't feel left out) for her next adventure so she gets used to being in a group then just go with the flow .
And dont be to upset if she decides it's not for her , a girlfriend of mine tried gameing and could'nt get into it but she understood how much it ment to me so had no problems with me dissapearing off twice a week to play.
and we have been married now for four years so not being a gamer is not a deal braker in a relationship.

I had a friend whose GF played a session with us. She thought it was okay, but wasn't into it like we were, and didn't play anymore. I think she was just curious how it was played.

I thought she was a good sport for giving it a try. They're married, now. He still likes to play, and she doesn't mind a bit.

Blame America First, A Musical Interlude

Winner! What a voice. End of thread...

Benicio Del Espada wrote:

K.I.S.S.

A 4-room cave with 2 kobolds, a wimpy spider, and culminating in a ferocious single orc will do the trick.

Help her make a fighter or a rogue (her choice), and walk her through perception, movement and attacks. Let her have a potion or 2 of CLW, and for more fun, a potion of vanish.

Make it so she gets a chance to understand movement economy, and ranged and melee attacks.

I think this is good advice. Something simple but with lots of action. I'd add a bit of background and some roleplaying to give her a sense of why she'd go into that cave.

For example:
You're the daughter of the only soldier your small village ever produced. Most everyone else is a farmer or craftsman. Your father is dead now, but while he lived he taught you how to hunt with a bow and gave you some lessons on swinging his old long sword. He even let you try on his chain shirt just to show you how it felt to go into battle in armor. Since his passing five years ago (Your mother died earlier)you've been the village hunter, and on occasion dealt with wolves that come too near the livestock.
Now something terrible has happened. First there were rumors of something moving about the old mine a few miles from town and some livestock went missing. But yesterday, a farmer didn't return who went looking for a lost cow. Today villagers found blood and his old crumpled hat beside a trail within a mile of the mine. And a footprint that was small and humanoid in the blood. They're sure whatever has moved into the cave killed him and took the body or maybe even captured him.
As the closest thing to a fighter the village has, they're asking you to do something to protect them. You've told them you'll need a little time to think about it and, while they wait, you've entered your little cottage to make up your mind. You've laid out your father's chain shirt and sword on the bed and stand staring at them. You're not a soldier like he was, but you are his daughter. And your people are begging...

Excellent! I'd roll with that. Sweet and simple. If she doesn't end up needing a potion or two for herself, she could find the farmer just barely alive and give one to him. Then, she returns a hero, and the farmer can perhaps make her a MW item or give her a horse or something to show his gratitude.

So many people on these boards loathe the country they live in. You all have it so good you don't even know it. Its a savage world and the US has kept its hegemony without losing its soul. Thank God your in this country, you are blessed.

Yes, that's the sanitized version. All you have to do to believe that is to ignore lots and lots of facts.

Acknowledging those facts doesn't mean you hate America. It just means you're being honest.

Its good to be the toughest kid in a neighborhood full of maniacs, totalitarians and blood thirsty killers.

By being even more so?

I'm sure you would greatly miss America and our freedoms if we lost our/its hegemony.

No. I'm not from the class that benefits from it. I'm from the class that dies in their wars.

Would your model nation be China? Syria? Uganda?

There are almost 200 countries. Could we maybe look at some others? Those three are particularly sad. Perhaps we should look at the 1st world. Problem is, we're so economically dependent on our war machine, it would be a lot of work to dismantle it much and still stay employed. Keeping it up is costing us, too, in equally sad ways.

You're not preferring optimism. You're making stuff up in order to support your preconcieved narative. Your "optimism" is incompatible with reality. You are the reason they had to make a seperate class, pull the hispanic kids aside and say "alright, this is what really happened..."

EVERYONE should get that kind of education.

In exactly what year did humans learn that massacring other people for stuff was wrong? When did people say that "they have resources i want, that doesn't mean i can kill them and take it" ? We're STILL doing that.

Thinking this can change is optimism. Thinking that it HAS changed is ignorance.

You're never going to learn from the mistakes of the past if you sugarcoat them with false information.

Well said. This is exactly why the whole notion that "teaching kids the truth will make them hate America" is so bogus.

Again, we see a politically-motivated guy meddling in a curriculum, and picking and choosing what kids can learn and read because of what he (or his political party) decides what is okay to learn and not learn.

I'm thinking Mr. Tindall learned this "cherry-picked" version of US history, and is encountering some cognitive dissonance at the very real fact that the US is not always the "good guy." It moves and acts like an empire, and has for over a century.

Name any other country that has military bases all over the world, two wars in countries on a foreign continent, and surrogate wars going on at all times on most of the other continents.

Am I "blaming America first," or stating facts?

Reccomended reading:
This, and this.

I like Dwarves. I don't play them often, but when I do I like to tone down on the drinking and accent just a tad and play them in a less cliched manner.

Not me! I like to play a hard-drinkin', axe-swingin' grumpus with a heart of gold and an accent so thick and awful, a real Scot would either laugh himself silly or punch me in the face.

That's my dwarves, and I love them that way. :)

Big Norse Wolf: I really don't think society is growing. We see what happened to the native americans as bad.. but only because we don't get any benefit from exploiting them anymore. WE don't need bison hide machine belts.

This I believe is where our major differences are. I prefer optimism and you prefer pessimism or realism if you prefer. We can both look at the exact same thing but see it entirely differently. Neither one will change the others mind nor are either of us wrong we just see things differently.

Again, you're not entitled to your own set of facts. One of you was demonstrably wrong.

K.I.S.S.

A 4-room cave with 2 kobolds, a wimpy spider, and culminating in a ferocious single orc will do the trick.

Help her make a fighter or a rogue (her choice), and walk her through perception, movement and attacks. Let her have a potion or 2 of CLW, and for more fun, a potion of vanish.

Make it so she gets a chance to understand movement economy, and ranged and melee attacks. If she has fun with that, maybe she'll enjoy "actual" roleplaying sometime with your friends. Let her try it as a "guest" player, and if she likes that, maybe she'll want to join in again.

Keep it light, fun, an if it isn't her thing, let her know that's fine. I know it's hard to believe, but some people just don't like the game as much as we do.

Toughness. The smaller your hit die, the better it is. Everybody gets hit.

I have a character doing that in a PbP, and it's ok by me.

"Roll 3d8 + 1d6 for your sneak attack" just seems awkward to me. But like TT said, your GM might feel differently.

I don't always play wizards, but when I do, I play elves.

Hmm. I get no link.