I should be able to get something put together after the weekend. I apologize for being absent, had some real life get in the way of having time to focus.
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That's what I was wanting to know. If i can manage to get a character made, with some prompting, I know 3.5/OGL well enough to fake most stuff. Just wasn't sure how much the book was necessary for char creation. After all, in CoC the less you know, the more fun it is to a point! Lets see what the dice say...
How necessary is it to have the CoC d20 book? I'd be interested in giving this game a shot, but I don't have any of the material for it. It's been far longer than I care to think about since I've played CoC... but it seems like it could be fun.
Hunger for life sounds like a good one for my first choice, second would be Song for dead immortals.
Dotting for interest here as well, though I'll have to wait till a bit later to throw together some crunchy numbers.
I like the idea of paring back to a more basic mythological foundation. Forget Elves, Hobbits, Orcs, etc... the way they were portrayed by Tolkien. If you wanted to keep the same sort of 'regional' basis (IE: vaguely dark ageish European theme) there is a wealth of mythology to draw from. Tolkien (As well as many D&D authors/developers) used some, of course. But the Sidhe of myth are much different than the Elves of Tolkien if I remember correctly. Goblins/Hobgoblins, various other bugaboos.
Don't forget to take size into account. A 4lb bar of steel would be the same size as a 2lb bar of Mithral. So metal items would be made with 1/2 the weight in Mithral. I won't comment on pricing rules, but a Greatsword should require 4lbs of Mithral in place of 8lbs of steel. Don't forget to factor in that any items made from Mithral are Masterwork, thus increasing costs accordingly.
Wastri (Or Wasitri, I've seen used as well) is a rather interesting little diety. I haven't really been able to find much information on this particular demigod. Can anyone direct me to any published works Wastri appears in? There has to be more than a brief snippet in the Complete Divine and vague memories from 1E Greyhawk days. I can probably dig through storage and find most of the old books, but having some specific ones to look through would help a lot.
When it comes to supplements, GURPS has some real winners IMO. GURPS Illuminati
Lords of Madness, I have to agree, is also a great one. The one which has seen the most use recently for me though is the Spell Compendium. Almost fills all my casting needs (The only other thing I really feel the lack for is an updated 'Summon Monster/Summon Natures Ally list that includes any relevant creatures from other sources, even if just the other Monster Manuals and WOTC published books)
Can anyone think of creatures with immunity to acid (Monster Manual only)? The dragons and such already listed of course, as well as the Mimic.
i dont set rules on the PvP in my games at all, heck if the PC's want to kill each other that is their problem, i just run the world and make sure rules are followed i will never tell a player "you cannot do that" when his/her charactor would in reality have no problem doing said action, will it screw up my adventure? God no, i try and plan for those kinds of things and if a player dies, oh no better look for another "Enter class here" or hey look i have 5,000GP worth of dimonds in my back pocket, i am just saying when did Roleplaying become the GM plays the game and the players are their for the ride? it just seemed to me that anyone telling my OOC "You cant attack my Charactor" is like telling me in real "You cant eat that taco!" or something like that, i have never had a problem like what was talked about above, but then my players know i would not only allow it but i might join in with a NPC. I don't have time to reply to most posts here, unfortunately. Nevertheless I thought I'd toss my two bits in on this one. How is a PC attacking another PC really all that different from a PC attacking an NPC? Granted, if you are long time buddies it is a different matter. How many parties start with a group of people who meet in an inn, or are hired by Noble X? If you have no real history with this person, how is it any different killing him as opposed to killing another person of the same race? It all comes down to context I suppose. I've killed my share of PCs in games and been killed a fair number of times. Oddly enough, it's never arisen out of OOC conflict or resulted in such. Not too long ago a Necromancer I was playing had my girlfriends PC assassinated so I could animate her (As a sentient undead, whom I immediately took control of). This was perfectly logical in his mind, it was the simplest way to resolve growing interparty conflict without losing a useful tool. I have absolutely no problem with conflict between PCs as long as it is appropriate to the situation/characters. Sorry for the rambling and probably half incoherent post, trying to rush a bit since I'm running late.
Are you intending it to grow with levels, like an item of legacy? I can't help with that one, not having the book. Don't know mucha bout those sorts of items at all. If you were meaning more as a set of items that he finds over time, each item increasing the overall power of the suit, then I might have an idea or two. One option is simply customized appearance on existing items. A magic breastplate, gloves of dexterity, boots of striding and springing(Or Winged boots).. I'm sure there are others that would fit as well. Probably the easiest way to do it. Another option, which seems to be the one you're leaning towards would be to create a custom designed suit of armor (Similar to my previous example, but with more customized items). Example off the top of my head... Breastplate: +1 breastplate, increase BPs max dex by one.
The pieces of armor are molded from ceramics and elaborately decorated in a theme in keeping with the wind dukes. When more than one piece are worn, tiny arcs of electricity crawl across teh plates. The more pieces worn, the more noticeable the effect is. 2 Pieces of set: Reistance to electricity 10.
Just something tossed together off the top of my head, probably a horribly mangled mess of sleep deprived rambling. So I'm going to go to bed now, hopefuly it's got at least one useful idea hidden in it somewhere.
I'm just waiting to be exploring a ruined temple, perhaps an aztec style pyramid... and find a gnome digging his way through the place using a spoon.
My only contribution on this particular point is that a Diety may act in their best interests, but they can only act with the knowledge that they posess. It's possible that the weakness may not be known to many gods. None of them are truly omniscient, so I'd say go with what feels right for your game.
Goth, Vampires and Angst all go hand in hand after all, at least as a general rule of thumb. Actually, I did know the origin of the phrase. It was the focus of one of the first scenes in the movie Boondock Saints, although I was aware of the meaning prior to seeing that movie. It has no particular negative overtones for me though. As I'm sure has happened with many other words or phrases used daily across the world it no longer carries the weight of it's origin for the vast majority of people. (Most people never think twice about riding 'Shotgun' in a car either) Most don't even know the origin of that phrase as an example. I'm assuming your response was to my post, as in the journal/review I don't recall seeing that phrase used. No offense was intended in its use and I do apologize if any has been given. The phrase is simply part of my everyday vocabulary. Sorry for the tangent. Bringing things back a little more towards the topic of discussion, since I seem to have caused a detour. A question: I don't follow any sort of medical or scientific journals, papers or articles with anything resembling regularity. Is it common for professionals to add such random pieces of opinion/information to a review that have no backing or even mention in the article itself? I would hope it is not the case, I am just curious if this seems to be something of an isolated event. (Not strictly in reference to D&D, but the way it was inserted)
If I recall correctly, Diamond Lake has an 800gp limit or something. So if the PC's want to sell off, say, Theldrick's suit of full plate +1 because no-one wants to wear it (rogue and sorceror just laughed, druid shrugged and said 'not me' and the fighter is going for a lighter build out), are they going to have to hang on to it until they can spare a week to go to the free city or risk stashing it somewhere? In the end I'd say that this would be up to the DM to decide, based off of how they want to have the games play out. I would personally say that they could sell it in Diamond Lake, if they could find a buyer. Getting a fair price for it on the other hand is another story completely. So Diamond Lake has an 800gp limit, then they could likely sell the armor but would not be able to get more than the 800gp for it. This is of course barring an NPC in the town having access to the sort of funds necessary to pay a fair price. I'm personally waiting for the full run of modules to be completed before starting my own AoW AP game, tying up my current campaign. So I am not familiar with the residents of Diamond Lake, keep that in mind. Check the various NPCs detailed in the city, as well as the businesses and make a judgement based off of what you find there. One thing many people forget about, in my experience, when selling items in campaigns is that you need a buyer. How many people in a fairly rural community would be willing to hand out the gold it would take to buy the armor? If they have that kind of money, what are they doing living there? Seems to be a buyers market to me.
I too wish to praise Marc for his efforts and add my two bent coppers to the pile. Not being very eloquent I will avoid sending emails to people, Marc has handled that more than adequately. Just wanted to note that while I am not a 'Goth', I have a good number of friends and associates who are, as well as being on the fringes of that subculture more often than not over the years. While I think it is incorrect to state that D&D is an inspiration to the Goth subculture, other RPGs (White Wolfs World of Darkness for example) are not too uncommon among those that I know. I may be a bit biased, since a large portion of my friends are gamers. Though I think for the most case this is based more off a fascination with the subject matter than the game itself (At least initially). Goth, Vampires and Angst all go hand in hand after all, at least as a general rule of thumb. I vote for claiming the Goth culture was inspired by Anne Rice, who's with me? Or maybe just blame Dracula... or maybe the Visigoths. I dunno. As one of my well worn shirts says: If you're really a Goth, where were you when we sacked Rome?
Note too that there is a difference between a single act of necessity and a lifestyle of killing from stealth. How many evildoers really need assassinating? The prestige class assumes regular employment of the assassins skill set. I don't necessarily agree with this statement, on the regular use of the skillset. It can be true, yes. But I can also see it being the case where someone has gone through extensive training and preparation for such a role, without making active use of the skills on a regular basis. Such a person would likely have limited advancement in the PrC, but it doesn't have to be put to regular use in it's full array of abilities. To toss out a couple of examples: A group of individuals are hired to go to a location and kill everyone living there. They are told the residents are evil, go there and slaughter them. Does this make them evil? A group of individuals are hired to retrieve an item held by someone else. They are told this item is stolen, the current owner of the item refuses to hand it over. They kill them and take the item. Is this an evil act? In both cases, someone is essentially being hired to kill someone else. By stealth or not, it is still murder for hire and it is how many groups of adventurers make their livings. How many times has a party of adventurers came across a sleeping enemy and killed them while they were helpless, or nearly so? A sleeping giant, ogre, dragon, etc. In this case, how often do they have undeniable proof that their victim is irredeemably evil? Another point, though not as directly related to the issue. Many cultures, especially primitive ones, make use of poisons in some form or other. Jungle tribesmen use blowguns with either a lethal poison, or a sedative in order to hunt. By D&D terms, would this make them evil? They may not have the technology or the resources to make sophisticated weapons, they hunt their prey using what resources they have. There is no distinction between using poison on animals, vermin, or on monsters and people in the D&D universe. So by that definition, the equivalent to an exterminator putting out poison to kill the rats infesting a farmers barn is performing an inheritly evil act. Just a few things to ponder. Pardon my spelling, it's past my bedtime and all that fun stuff. (YAY for night shift work) It strikes me as a little odd that it is more acceptable and 'good' to assault the fortress of an evil lord, kill virtually everyone living there in order to remove the threat of said lord. Whereas a single person (Or small group) using stealth to gain entry, slip past the guards and servants and remove the evil lord without harming or killing anyone else (Or perhaps a very small number of people) is the more 'evil' of these two acts. Makes for an interesting take on morality in my opinion.
All of those spells I made up, usually to hono a PC in my campaign, or for the person who suggested the basis (Tasha was a little girl who sent me letters in crayon, Nystul an actual stage magician I mey through Len Lakofka.) Melf was a PC of son Luke, and "Otiluke" was a combination of a couple of his other PCs. He suggested the bases of both spells. No need to go into Mordenkainen and bigby, I trust :rolleyes: Found here: http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showpost.php?p=872878&postcount=120 Forgive me, I'm link impaired. Couldn't find any direct quotes on Evard as of yet, so can't help on that front.
I've read the same thing somewhere or another - 'course it could be an Urban (gamer) Myth. I've been looking for the confirming posts, but they were on ENworld, which is either down or I'm having serious routing problems for a long time. I still can't load the page there, which is making me think the place is down. Ahh well.
I can't say anything on Evard at the moment, but if I am remebering correctly Gary Gygax stated in a Q&A thread on ENWorld that Tasha's Laughter was named after a young girl (Early teens, or even younger perhaps,don't remember) who sent the idea to him in a letter. I think he mentioned it was written in crayon. Mind you, I could be wrong... I haven't had enough sleep due to overtime at work, plus it's been quite some time and I can't load the ENworld page to check.
Definately encouraging, I haven't found that issue yet, but I'm sure it's in a box somewhere. Just have to figure out which box it's hiding in. It should be interesting, if I do end up converting and running the adventure, it will be my first attempt at converting to 3.5e. Mind you, based off player actions so far they've got a ways to go before they would be ready to deal with this sort of adventure. Going to hunt a local band of bandits, they didn't even bother to try to speak to townsfolk or guards to get any information. Just took the hook NPC at his word and made no real effort to get more info. I don't think that tactic will work with Vesicant, in fact it seems rather suicidal from what I remember.
Does anyone else remember this module? I never had a chance to run it, but it's stuck in my memory as a rather interesting module with a great deal of detail built into the town. I'm thinking of adapting the module to 3.5 and running it later in my campaign, though I'm not sure my conversion skills are up to the task. I am sure I have a copy of this issue somewhere, if I can just find the silly thing. If anyone out there is familiar with this adventure, especially those who may have ran it in the past, what are your opinions of it? I could be looking back with rose tinted glasses.
I reccomend reading over the entry in either MM or d20srd site for Lycanthropes, then checking the stats of both the shark you wish to use and the creature that it will be combined with. Make sure the numbers add up and all that. That post was written when I was half asleep so I may have made some obvious mistakes.
They only have templates listed for a handfull of animals, but the rules for creating a Lycanthrope are there. Either in the MM or on the D20SRD site. Not knowing what size of wereshark you are intending to use, It's a little tricky to set up the template. I'll take a stab at it, but keep in mind I'm half asleep at the moment. Wereshark (Large).
A lycanthrope can shift into animal form as though using the polymorph spell on itself, though its gear is not affected, it does not regain hit points for changing form, and only the specific animal form indicated for the lycanthrope can be assumed. It does not assume the ability scores of the animal, but instead adds the animal’s physical ability score modifiers to its own ability scores. A lycanthrope also can assume a bipedal hybrid form with prehensile hands and animalistic features. Changing to or from animal or hybrid form is a standard action. A slain lycanthrope reverts to its humanoid form, although it remains dead. Separated body parts retain their animal form, however. Afflicted lycanthropes find this ability difficult to control (see Lycanthropy as an Affliction, below), but natural lycanthropes have full control over this power. Abilities: +6 Str, +4 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Wis. Skills/Feats, as base humanoid+Animal levels. Out of laziness I copied some of this information from the d20srd site.
I'm forced to play on a bi-weekly schedule, due to the hours I work. Our games are generally late as most of us work in the evenings. (I work from 7pm - 7am, so playing early in the day is really not an option for me currently) We were running three games, one week on Thursday, the next week on Friday and Sunday. The weekday games didn't get started until around 12:30, since one of the players (My girlfriend) works until midnight. We would play from about 12:30 until around 3 - 4am. The sunday game starts and ends earlier, usually getting started around 9 - 9:30pm, running until around 1 - 2am. At this point, every game has collapsed except for the Sunday game. (One campaign ended, and the thursday DM just hasn't wanted to run anything.) I'm hoping to get onto a more sane schedule in the near future, which will open up more gaming time and possibly the ability to have a set weekly gaming night.
I haven't got a specific miniature in mind, but have you checked out the Reaper Miniatures website? They have pictures up of just about every miniature they sell and some are even professionally painted. I'm sure there must be at least one obese guy on there, though whether or not he wears chainmail is another matter. I'm a big fan of the Reaper lines of miniatures, slowly making my way through their selection. As of yet, still no luck finding an appropriate figure, though I have found several that are must buys for me. They have some impressively sculpted figs.
I just noticed that I completely failed at spelling, even in the post title. Remind me to not post while woozy from lack of sleep.If we were allowed to edit our posts for more then an hour this would not be much of a problem. There's not a way, that I can find, to edit the title of a thread. That was what caught my attention more than anything else.
I just noticed that I completely failed at spelling, even in the post title. Remind me to not post while woozy from lack of sleep.
I'm trying to find an appropriate miniature to use for a character in a game I am playing in. The only problem is, there don't seem to be many fat guys in the miniature world. The character in question is a grossly obese male human, preferably wearing chainmail. Any weapon or shield would work, equipment is subject to change with him. But for roleplaying purposes and based off of his stats (Moderate constitution, fairly high HP and Str, very low dexterity) I chose to make him a tub of lard. If anyone out there could point me in the proper direction to find such a miniature, I would be grateful. Plastic, metal, painted or unpainted, doesn't really matter. I'm not horrible at painting them, but my ability to modify a miniature to that extent is sorely lacking.
Right now, the parties resources are pretty much nil, since they're still 1st level and haven't really earned any money yet. I realize that putting too much emphasis on minor details for something like this would slow the whole mess down to a crawl. I'm more interested in the information from the standpoint of what to keep in my head while working with the players. Hiring a team of experts is a good option for dealing with things that the characters (Or players) have no understanding of, but I think it would be good to have a basic working knowledge of how such things would be done as a DM in that situation. I'll admit it, I haven't DMed that many games and haven't DMed at all in over a decade. I'm rusty and a little paranoid. So far I haven't proved to my own satisfaction that I am very good at winging it. The two games we've played thus far, I've been the one slowing things down more than not. Hopefuly before anything like this becomes an issue, I'll have gotten my proverbial feet on the right path though. I'm still nervous and akward at the moment, plus I'm running a game for a group of rather creative people who manage to catch me from a blind side more often than not. I think it's going to take a while to get the hang of it all.
This is a fairly interesting idea, I've seen similar things in my years of gaming but nothing quite as.. well, big. In the campaign I'm running now, I am planning on doing something similar in that each player will have multiple characters, introduced into the game as time goes on. I may use something like setting up the fortress/town, choosing which characters go where for each adventure. Not really sure yet though, I may keep most of them seperate for simplicity. It's too early to say for sure though, as things are still in their infancy in my game. (Only have two sessions under our belt, which has mostly just been some minor tasks to help people get a feel for their characters and establish group cohesion) This does intrigue me though, setting up a town/castle/outpost as a base of operations with multiple groups of adventurers (Or multiple adventurers joining with each other for one or two quests here and there) using it as a staging ground. I need to track down some good resources on setting up an economy/town from scratch, anyone got any advice? Nothing overly complicated, just something to give a framework to the methods and pitfalls that go along with starting a new town from the ground up. (Not building a pre-made town, but actually settling one, attracting residents and businesses, etc)
You're leaving out one of the archetypes. Using non-standard classes to fill the 'standard' roles would be more appropriately done with: Barbarian, Bard, Druid and Sorcerer. It seems like you're asking whether or not each category of character is balanced within itself. Are divine casters balanaced against other divine casters? Cleric vs Druid. Are opportunists/rogue types balanced? Bard vs Rogue. Are arcane casters balanced? Sorcerer vs Wizard. Are melee fighters balanced? Barbarian vs Fighter vs Paladin. Each of these types of characters fill a specific function within the party in different ways. In your example, you're leaving out one of the standard functions that are a common factor of most adventures. With no warrior types, of course you will run into problems in some areas. I've played in a large number of games where characters were non-standard for the most part. Bard, Cleric, Paladin and Sorcerer as one example. Traps may be a bit of a problem at times, but there are ways around that (Find traps spells, care in exploration.) Overall, that would be a fairly well balanced party in my view. Or maybe Barbarian, Bard, Druid and Sorcerer. Again, some minor issues, but really not a horribly balanced group I don't think. The druid may have some trouble keeping up with damage taken by the barbarian, but a bard can suppliment healing at times to help with that. Most games I've played in have had more or less than the 'standard' 4 characters, mostly 3 or 5 players at any given time. If a group is lacking in one area, you have to put some consideration into balancing that, though creativity and some luck can help them get through even unbalanced encounters. I feel that the core classes are balanced well to suit differing styles of play. If a group wanted to run with all 4 characters being Bards and Rogues, then they would be very limited in some respects. But the nature of the characters and their knowledge of their abilities should lend itself to their seeking adventures suited to their abilities.
Do you have the Space Channel where you are, Blubbernaught? If not type Space Channel: The Imagination Station into Google. There's an interesting little blurb and a contest for George RR Martin fans there. I would add the link here but I just woke up and I am too lazy. I like the winter setting so far in A Game of Thrones. Suits me here in the Land Of Snow, Canada. Thanks for the info, it's easy enough to do a quick search. No space channel currently (Due to financial reasons I don't have cable or satelite, so my TV viewing is pretty limited ATM) I love the series so far, but this post is about Erikson, so I'll head back his way real quick. You mentioned that you're up in Canada, which if I remember correctly is where Erikson himself lives (Albeit Canada is pretty big). Are the books following 'Memories of Ice' (Book 3) availible there? I know that down here, that is the most recent one in print. But he has published up through book 5 or 6 I believe. I'm chomping at the bit for the next books. Same as I am for the folloup to 'A Feast for Crows' by Martin. I have to learn to slow my reading down to like 5 books a year so the authors I really like can keep up. Hmmm...
I've read Martin's books, through 'A Feast for Crows'. I like them a great deal, just don't get too attatched to all the characters, there is a fairly high mortality rate in the series.
Gardens of the Moon was simply fantastic. This guy put a lot of effort into this World Of Malazan with great structure and in depth characters. Deadhouse Gates was not quite as good, a little long in the middle but good start and finish. I have yet to read Memories of Ice having picked up Greg Keyes "The Charnel Prince" but I eagerly await the read. If you are into intelligent fantasy based around a militant world, then this is your stuff. I actually just finished Memories of Ice. A very good book in my opinion. I'm impresed with the series as a whole and am going to have to get some of the print editions of later books that are availible from overseas (I believe books 4 and 5 are currently out there). The books have a few long parts overall, but the sheer depth of history, mythology and twists to the storyline involved seem to make it necessary. I like his conception of how magics, 'gods' and all work in that world. One of the more original that I've come across in recent times. I'd have to say these are some of the best books on average that I have read in quite some time, at least in the fantasy genre. Greg Keyes is an author I haven't tried out yet, might have to look into some of his books.
Something that has always struck me as a bit odd is that only the 'Lawful Good' dieties have a Paladin. Well, lets say the ordered dieties. (As in previous post, other alignments do offer options in some cases) But what of the chaotics, the evils? I don't think a paladin exactly fits, or a slight variation of one. (Knights of Takhisis(no I can't spell) from Dragonlance as an example of an attempt at doing so.) Why should only the 'good' gods have access to 'holy warriors' that are granted special abilities? Why do gods like Hextor not have followers who fill the same roles as a Paladin does for Pelor? Traditionally I have believed that the evil gods are more prone to grant power to their mortal followers and yet in this area they seem to be lacking. I'm not saying that all gods should have Paladins, but there really should be a 'chosen warrior' type class to go along with the various religions. The only reason I can see that the 'Good' get them adn the 'Evil' do not is the tendency to show a bias towards good, happy things in D&D. Blubber. P.S. My apologies for any rambling or hideous mispellings. I'm home sick and medicated, so my brain is kinda iffy.
I thought the worms did their damage by burrowing through the host creature and eating its brain. Isn't it that Warforge don't have an organic brain. Aren't they constructs with a magical artifical intelligence. So there would be no organic brain for the worms to munch on, right? My understanding was that Warforged are living constructs, but not necesarily made entirely of metal. I seem to remember that wood and other organic materials make up part of their composition. They don't have 'natural armor', instead they have composite plating of various degrees based off of feats. I always pictured them more as a primitive attempt at robotics, with more readily availible materials. A metal skeleton, overlaid by wood/leather/cords to form the inner workings, with armor plated on top of that. As to the brain? Who knows, but it could be something as odd as a bubbling liquid contained inside their head. I could be wrong, I don't have my Eberron book ready to hand.
A tricky call. Don't forget the feat 'Multiattack' reduces the penalty on secondary natural attacks from -5 to -2 (On a par with 2 weapon fighting). If someone were to spend two feats in order to get both Two Weapon Fighting and Mutli Attack, I would personally allow them to use both at the same time. Thus allowing the two sword attacks at -2, as well as a bite at -2. This seems to make sense to me.
If only there would be a generic language like common in the real world, and if only that could be dutch I'd be a happy duckling ;)As a Dutch native speaker, I couldn't agree more :-) I'm an English speaking American and I agree with this too. I personally have no talent for languages. I've studied Spanish and French, a touch of German as well. But it never sticks, I just can't seem to keep it in my head. I have a lot of respect for the multilingual people out there, especially those who learned later in life (Childhood is apprently the best time to learn languages). The American educational system should really put more emphasis on teaching other languages at an earlier age, but then the problem is which one?
I think one reason for the apparent bias towards American authors is simply that there are likely far more submissions from Americans than anyone else. I may be wrong, of course. But I believe that Dungeon (And Dragon as well) have a longer history of distribution and readership in the US. For all I know, that also may be where the majority of their customers are as well. I am all for anyone, from any country, being published if their material is good. I'm curious as to how many submissions they receive from non-Americans. From what I understand, even before the internet was a factor, there were several contributing authors from other countries than the US, but someone with a better knowledge of such things could say for sure. I can't really comment on the article itself as I have not yet read it. I don't keep up with Dungeon as much as many on these forums. I am more of a player than a DM so I try to keep from reading too much in the way of adventures that I may play sometime.
These reasons seem to make the spell far overpowered and complicated, even for 9th level. I've never actually played in a campaign high enough level to use it, however, so what have other of you who HAVE played in such campaigns done about this headache? Well, one thing that can help is items of holding. A bag of holding, Hewards Handy Haversack, Portable Hole etc.. are extradimensional containers. I've always ruled that items inside of those don't have to save. (But if the container fails, that's another story). There are a lot of saves to make regardless, which is why the spell tends to be somewhat rare in most high level games I've come across. I haven't used it yet in the game I am running, but I am planning on doing something to prepare when it does come into play. Before an encounter where the spell would be used (An NPC able to cast, etc.) I am going to make saves for most of the key items and jot the rolls down(So I can modify on the fly for buffs, modifiers etc that may change). If it's the last fight of a session I will probably not roll for the majority of potions/scrolls, save when a PC tries to use one. That will cut down on the rolls as well. Doing saves for the rest of the items can be done in downtime (When PCs will likely be using detect magic or some other method to see what still works) which allows the players to manage most of the rolling. Just my two bits.
I'll be running a game in the not too distant future, planning some food ideas for when I do run them. When the weather warms up I'm planning on firing up the grill, burgers and dogs, chicken, roasted corn on the cob, etc. Highly reccomended that players bring contributions and if they need anything specific (Vegetarian type food, or whatever) they bring it themselves for communal cooking. Another idea, planned for one of the first game sessions and probably more after that is a classic group snack. Fondue. Cheesy goodness!
I thought I would chime in, though I will state upfront I know essentially nothing about the AP or the adventures in it. Why do they have to go to the village? I think it could be as simple as the village is between point A and B. The party just happens to come upon it in their travels, (Easier if they're using less traveled roads to get there) or perhaps they encounter refugees from the village on the road. Another option would be encountering a surviving member or two of a party who failed at retaking the village. As for a good 'boss' encounter for the zombie fest, I tend to modify existing monsters somewhat. Beef up a zombie, make him/her intelligent and give a few class levels. (Cleric perhaps, bolstering the other undead and having a fair combat ability w/equipment and spells) Perhaps the soul pillars could tie in with the 'boss' guy's status as a non-standard zombie? I know nothing of soul pillars , do they rip the souls out of people, or what? Maybe the soul fragments from a few other villagers lodged in the priest, driving him mad and turning him into s ome mutant zombie thing. A few scraps of writing, random bits said by the thing. They could add up to clues as to what sorts of effects the Soul Pillars could cause. This could give the players a bit more motivation to continue their quest, but also to free those affected by the pillars. Reward? Could be bits of gear left by the undead after destruction, or simply the satisfaction of freeing the village from undeath. Paladins like that sort of thing. Perhaps the temple of the village priest could offer some reward if the party approaches them with the information about what happened to the haunted village. Just my two bent copper worth.
With the theives stealing the Vorpal weapon, there is always a slightly more elaborate setup. Unscrupulous noble arranges to have the sword 'stolen' by hiring theives/sending agents. Powerful Villain, or even just a greedy schemer. Some oponents are just too entrenched to be taken on directly, if a noble is involved that adds a whole new level of complication. If the PCs just go out and kill him to take it back, they can open up a whole can of worms they might not be ready for. If it's just a group of theives on their own... well, how long does it take to track them down and what buyers can they find for the item? Stolen goods tend to be sold off quickly, especially 'hot' ones, that are likely to bring the previous owners looking. What if it was sold to a powerful assassin? As a general rule, fighting an assassin on their own ground when they likely know you're coming, is not really a wise idea. Don't forget also that sneaky villains can have escape routes planned and are often not ashamed to run from a fight if it's in their best interests. Chasing down the Vorpal weapon could easily become a long series of adventures in and of itself.
Here's a question for the editors. Would an article that fature a bunch of new grafts be better as a Bizzaar of the Bizare (they are not technically magic items, but they are close) or would it be better as a feature? I think it could work out rather well, in my opinion, with a couple of articles. A feature, perhaps bringing in a new prestige class or two (No idea how this would work, but it could be interesting). Then a Bazzar of the Bizare article showcasing a variety of grafts/whatever. Maybe tie it in with a Demonomicon article, perhaps a Demon Lord who makes use of grafts as 'gifts' to minions? I dunno, my creative juices are running low due to extensive overtime at work. Then there is always the option of 'Grafts as Punishment'.. perhaps they give some benefits, but have serious side effects. (Hand/Eye of Vecna? Grafts on PCP) Since I'm brainstorming tiredly, perhaps an article on Vecna, with a few examples of fake Eyes/Hands used as traps/cursed treasures... that leading into a segment on grafts.
I just recently found the .pdf downloads for the old modules/setting information and all that for 1e D&D. This has inspired me, though it has been sooooo long since I did anything in that edition I don't really remember what is what anymore. Since a game I'm playing is likely to end soon, plus the fact that I'm getting kinda burned out on 3.5e... well, I am planning on running a campaign of my own. My idea is to dust off my old 1e AD&D books and run a campaign through the old 'Classic Modules' such as Against the Giants, Vault of the Drow, Lost temple of Tajosca (Or however you spell that). Nobody in my groups has played 1e in years, so we're all pretty rusty. I need some help though. What modules/adventures would people here reccomend as a path through a campaign? I would like to start at 1st level, so we all have a chance to relearn the system again. The Against the Giants/Vault of the Drow (Demonweb pits, or whatever) set start at 8th level I believe. What would be good to run in order to level people up for the modules?
The way I understand it, a Paladin who becomes evil loses all paladin abilities and becomes a warrior basically. He has good HP, good BAB, but does not retain any of the special abilities. A fallen paladin without blackguard levels is a Fighter without the extra feats (IE: A warrior NPC class from the DMG). The only abilities a Paladin/Blackguard gains from retaining his Paladin levels are the special benefits described in the Blackguard class for having paladin levels.
Here is something to consider, although it really isn't given much attention in D&D. Full plate armor should be custom fitted to the wearer. Armor that has to be refitted will sell for a good deal less than a fitted suit. I allow magical plate to bypass this, in that the armors in my games adjust to fit the wearer.
One of my favorite recent characters started off as something of a joke, but evolved into a rather interesting fellow. We were playing in Dragonlance at the time. Bug Zang, Gully Dwarf (He was a genius of his kind, he had an intelligence of 11.) Fighter/Rogue. Basically a back alley brawler, who came along to protect his friend (A Kender Rogue) because she needed it. Among his many escapades was the decapatation of a goblin with a garotte and then killing a couple other goblins using the severed head. He accidentally freed an imprisoned Demon and was given an item in return that turned him evil, unbeknownst to the party. Sadly the game fell apart due to players schedules changing. I was looking forward to getting into a whole lot of trouble through those fiendish ties and influence. It's interesting playing a character who can't really count, has no real understanding of the value of money.. A dead lizard or some sparkly glass is so much better. |