Inara Red Cloak's page

Might I recommend Dragonsong from Draconomicon?

+2 on Perform (song or poetics) checks and +2 to bardic music DC (song or poetics). These are untypes, so they should stack with Ability Focus.

Haunting Melody (Heroes of Horror) is good, let's you make creatures shaken.

Music of the Outer Spheres (Lords of Madness) let's you do special bardic music effects to aberrations.

I know about {Music of the Outer Spheres} and while it's a great feat, I won't be getting it any time soon. One of the prerequisites is Brd Lvl 9, and with my DirgeSinger and Seeker PrC levels I won't be seeing any more Brd Lvls until after lvl 21.

thanks for the Dragon Song feat.. I'll try to but that in my progression.

and while Hauting Melody is another great feat.. some of the abilities I get out of DirgeSinger (from the Libris Mortis) are a little better.

Thanks for these suggestions!

Does Bardic Music affect outsiders as it would a creature from the material plane?

and if it doesn't, is there a feat that allows you to do it?

or perhaps I should create one.

I'm trying to make the ultimate bardic music bard. I plan on affecting everything our DM can through at us... I'm working on getting Green Ear, and I already have Requiem.

I've emailed you Inara so let me know what you come up with ok :). I want to get cracking whilst the inspirations on me.

Unfortunately I think my junk email filter ate your email.. .. damn otyughs... they eat everything.. I swear, next time I'm getting a clockroach...

Granted I love Dragon Magazine but I banned the Dvati from the Dragon Compendium....
too many rules for me.. and ( I thought ) a bit of a cheezy concept.

Interesting character ideas, the halfling is a good one. I only generally play male characters except for a female professor in a Call Of Cthulhu game and a female rogue\fighter in Ravenloft who looked a bit like the human equivalent of Skipping Rock. I'll see what I can come up with, scan the pic and attach them to an email if you want, let me know and I'll give you my mail address?

Oh and what are the hair colours, styles like( curly long hair, short cropped, long straight etc)?

Honestly, I wouldn't want to bore anyone with the praises of my PC's (talkin' about my character generation!"..

... anyways, you can email me (hotaru1301@hotmail.com) or give me yours, and I'll give you some in depth descriptions that might help you.

Inara Red Cloak dresses like a Mord Sith. They were a nasty bunch. Often beautiful, but could kick your arse three ways to Sunday. They preferred red leather. Blood red.

Sounds a bit like my Inara Red Cloak. Though she's not really a hard ass outright.

The most excited she's ever been (caused by a man) was when he made her pull out all the stops in a friendly sparring match.

I second this call, what have your some of you favourite characters looked like? Maybe you could get some of your character portraits done and I've been looking for some inspiration to draw women again( I need practice as I'm not good at drawing women and horses). I did used to have a small character portrait business going for a while doing fantasy, sci-fi and superhero characters.

Umm.. honestly.. I play more Male characters than female characters (I've been told my male characters are awesome)

Inara Red Cloak is about: 19 yrs old, 132 lbs ? ,... about 5'6", and always wears tight red leather armor, keeps her face covered (required for the Royal body guard corp she heads). And is honor bound to be chaste.

Skipping Rock is a *busty* halfling known for having her shirt untied, with a form fitting leather jerkin, and mid calf boots. She's very flirty and love to visit brothels and get drunk.(she's currently trying to seduce a chaste paladin.. loads of laughs!)

Oona Whisperleaf is another halfling, but a halfing bard that uses sexual advances to expose her prey. I'm cultivating her to be a thrall of Malcanthet.

Laurentia is a Pious Templar of Loviatar... enough said.

and Amaraileen.. my paragon of feminine characters.. a half elf Seeker of the Song that travels in leather/velvet dresses, corsets and high heeled boots. Not a whorish woman, but very flirty. Worships Sune, and tends to have her long hair unbound.

.... all of my female characters have curves. Not really chubby, but soft curves.. like Cindy Crawford when she first started... or Monic Belushi in the Matrix movies. And all of them have held their own in the party.

Those of my female characters that aren't Joan of Arc material in battle tend to have something about them that makes them valuable in battle. But none of them dress in shabby clothing,all are confident in their bodies and personalities (which isn't really saying alot since I play all of them!)

Well Stated Set...
very well stated.

It's been a while since I've been to the messageboards, so bear with me here. I'd like to add my 2cp to the conversations:

Amazons are a myth. There were no Amazons. They're shown in art from the period in all kinds of dress, nude and fully-armoured, just as the mythic greek heroes can be seen nude and fully-armoured.

Where or not Amazons are a myth, is irrelevant (I feel) to this conversation. They were a strong point of influence in Ancient Greece, and for a culture where women may not have had true political influence or power, they were well cared for and respected as much as any culture of that time ( Note I said Greece! not Rome! completely different ideas on women)

The Aztec and Mayan *priestesses* were the last and greatest defense to the Temple the Spanish Conquerors had to face. These women and girls didn't wear much of anything, nevertheless armor, as anything but ceremonial armor was an affront to thier calling (some would say even clothing was an obstacle towards "touching" divinity. Considering the fact that more of the Spanish were killed on the temple steps than any where else in the city speaks for itself.

Personally, I don't have a TV. I don't need one. But I agree with you that the media has a lot of influence in our lives. But that is not the point I tried to make. If a movie get censored in the USA, you find that they don't censor the violence, but every sexscene. In Germany they censor every violencescene and not the sexscene. If you like to look a movie less censored, then you watch the netherland or the japanese version. The country with the largest porn production of the world falls unconscious if they see a nipple on TV. If it is not a problem in the head of the people, what it is then?

I believe you make a very great point here. A society that balks at a normal part of nature (sex and violence being the point here) tries to minimize the exposure to the main population. In doing so they make it more inticing and addictive because of the taboo of having something they're told they can't (.. cookie jar analogy works great here)

That's not to say that all people should be exposed to sex and violence. But a PG-13-esque scantily clad paladin shouldn't be cause to break out the picket line.

Inara Red Cloak wrote:

Don't forget the Greek Amazons...daughters of Artemis and Hera.

Maybe spiritual daughters, as the cult of Artemis was strictly chaste. ;)

Very true... I was just using the term daughters as in the spiritual conotation.

Greek warriors wore cuirass, greaves, arm-guards, helmets and studded leather skirts.

Gladiators fought with the weapons they were told to use - given the choice I'm sure many of them might have chosen more practical gear, but that would have reduced the blood-splatters to impress the crowd.

*ahem*

... and don't get me started on what they wore on their chests.

Cloaked Dancer PrC out of the Complete Scoundrel!

Battle Dancers get cool abilities too...sadly a male Battle Dancer is...less than inspiring of an idea, isn't it? Who can really picture a male Battle Dancer...or Cloaked Dancer for that matter?

Awesome! Thanks!

and speaking of male cloaked dancers... Kung Fu movies have been doing it for decades.

You know if you give your bikini-clad babe a level of battle dancer she can get a higher armor class just from looking hot.

Just saying...

Isn't that the class where you can distract your enemies, going so far as to give them AC penalties... just by twirling your dress/cloak at them?

(If not, there is a class out there that does it ... awesome class for a female character.)

Gurubabaramalamaswami wrote:

Ladies often wonder about our fixation with breasts (and the size thereof). I often wonder why they don't realize their awesome power over us.

Both of my female gamers (my wife and one other) show "them" off.

Sounds to me, that the gamer girls in your group fully "realize their awesome power over us." (I am also a guy, hence the "us" part.) :D

I solemnly swear to use these powers for the greater good.

RAW, no. But it seems reasonable, especially since you can do all that with a light or heavy flail without spending an exotic weapon proficiency feat on it.

You see, that's more or less what I was thinking.

Part of how a whip is used for tripping is that it winds around the legs because of its length. A scourge is much shorter and doesn't have reach. which isn't to say that you can't trip with a scourge. But it wouldn't necessarily be as easy as with a whip.

The only arguement I have for that, is.. I believe, that a whip "can" have reach, and that a scourge is intended for "square-to-square" melee. (close quarters melee).

P.S. - the PHB lists the whip as having a 15ft reach.

Dressing Room Blues

Shopping at War*mart

LOL That was awesome!

Just a question I discovered the other day during role-playing.

If you can do a trip attack with a whip,
and a scourge is a bladed, multi-tailed whip,
...can you trip with a scourge?

My husband and I made it legal in our homebrewed world. What do you guys think?

PS. Nothing in the description of a scourge in the Complete Warrior talks about trip attemtps. Perhaps in the Errata?

Inara Red Cloak wrote:

and, .. unfortunately, but more than likely, the type of manga/anime you're reading maybe in a different genre that the stories that encourage or are based on strong female characters.

...ahem.

*blows raspberry * :P

I was trying to imply Shogen anime/manga vs shonen; silly. :)

that connotation is an entirely different subject. But one I won't get into.. being as how I'm a good, morale woman. ;)

kessukoofah wrote:

edit: Incidently, according to the SRD, if the bag rips then the objects are just gone, they don't spew out. wonder why we thought that. maybe it's differant in the DMG?

Quite possibly rules from a later edition. Like AD&D, or 3.0?

Excuse me, I was suposed to type "earlier" edition.

I've got to say that I love playing around in 3.5 Forgotten Realms. Mostly for the Pantheon to be honest (though I don't like Midnight/Mystra, I prefer the late Mystra.. you know, the LN one)
... but don't get me started on that...

but my favorite has got be home brewed.

... And as far as the Anime/Manga arguement goes,

... if you can't find good, strong, independant females in anime, here are your two reasons.

Traditionally, the female in Japanese culture is protrayed as such because of the influence of thier various religions detailing the opposing forces dancing in harmony,

and, .. unfortunately, but more than likely, the type of manga/anime you're reading maybe in a different genre that the stories that encourage or are based on strong female characters.

Sethra Lavode from Steven Brust's Dragaera series.

H**l's Yeah! ...

but what about that Kiera the Thief character... she's a pretty well "layered" character.

*snicker, giggle.

Thanks alot!

For some reason, that cleared things up better for me than having three people talking the answer all out at once.

Sorry I'm so slow; I was out of town this past week... but it is winging its way through cyberspace now. Let me know how you like it. :)

Ye Gods! That's a lot of tables. Thank you greatly!

edit: Incidently, according to the SRD, if the bag rips then the objects are just gone, they don't spew out. wonder why we thought that. maybe it's differant in the DMG?

Quite possibly rules from a later edition. Like AD&D, or 3.0?

Very true. Joss Whedon (sp?) is great at protraying strong women that are wholly female.
Which makes me wonder, what would happen if Joss wrote a TV series or book series based on a medievil D&D world?
I'd watch it.

Just a bit of humor: when I was in Highschool and studying martial arts, my mother got me a magnet for my locker which reads: I can kick your butt without ever smearing my eyeliner.

I still have it.

I have a halfling bard I want to turn into a Thrall of Malcanthet and go through the prestige class. I've talked with the DM about the requirements and my husband and I have just about everything worked through except this:

I can take the prestige class at lvl 20. One of the requirements is willingly receiving a kiss from a succubus, which causes a negative level. However, that puts me at lvl 19, which is the level I qualify to take the class. ... so ... how does one take the effect of a negative level, and within a respectable timeframe, regain the exp. to get back to lvl 20/lvl 1 thrall?

it may be just me... but it seems very confusing.

-Using the old "well why can't i invent steam power?" question to invent cars and tanks. mostly because it makes me break the whole fantasy feel by saying because i said so. I still don't have a decent answeer to that.

Tell them they need ranks in knowledge physics, knowledge chemistry/alchemy, craft metalurgy and knowledge stone/minerals.

and then have a suitable backstory to support said skills.

... then again, maybe you don't want them to *actually* find out a way to do it.

And BTW, as far as kicking serious behind in high heels (okay, maybe not stilletos, but a woman's legs look awesome in platform heels)... has any one seen the Farscape movie the Peacekeeper Wars?

Claudia Black, in tight black leather, wearing platform combat boots (with heel!), giving birth in a firefight...

... now that's a woman!

Something to think about too everyone, is that people who have what I might term an 'enlightened' view of things (i.e. Don't care what society or feminist movements say and just do what feels right to them), who are willing to express those views are not common people. Essentially, at least in my experience, being fully open to personal freedom is not something a lot of people are willing to understand or accept.

Inara, you expressed in your first post the exact same way I see such portrayals of female characters of this sort. Its not objectifications, its more like admiration. There is a strong, independent (perish the thought) woman who doesn't give a damn what others think and will be that way regardless.

My admiration and attraction to such women is one of the reasons I asked the lady who is now my wife to marry me. That is exactly the sort of woman I wanted to have in my life. Not an ornament, but a woman who wasn't afraid to be the person she really was.

As a side note, my wife is a total spitfire, a kickboxer of respectable skill and defeater of telemarketers everywhere. I love her so much.

Thanks Inara for making a posting that I didn't have to tiptoe on.

Oh...and my wife calls me a pervert all the time (like daily), but she has told me she likes me that way...go figure?

Yasha

Apparently I love my husband for the same reasons.

... he's a bit crude sometimes, but it's hilarious and I love him for it.

Besides, it gives me an excuse to be crude, lewd, and immature with someone I know respects me.

Besides, it helps sharpen my wit when I talk to him.

My wife has recently stated to me that she wants a T-shirt that says

"Hey! Nice Rhac!" Across the chest.

I swear, one of the T-shirts I want the most is the shirt with two d20s right over the chest area, standing at 20. The quote of course being: "yes, they're natural."

Seriously though. It's great to know that my opinion is being heard. And even greater to know that it was well recieved. It unfortunately seems that a Female Gamer with my opinion is rare.

Nice to know I'm not the only one out there.

First off, if you are a female gamer, by no means is this thread meant to be offensive. This is my personal opinion, and is meant to be voiced and not as an attack.
or, in otherwords, I'm exercising my 1st amendment rights.

I am a Female Gamer, and I am hetrosexual, and I support scantily clad females in gaming.

and now I'll tell you why.

I've been a gamer for most of my life. (I believe, it's been over 13 years). I started when I was young, about five or so. And scantily clad female archetypes were everywhere. My mother taught me long ago, that you show the world your own opinion of yourself by how you present yourself. At at that young age this is what I saw.

A female. Standing proud, confident and not caring about the societal norm. In most rpg settings, a conservative society abounds. These women threw their swords in the face of that society and said "Look at me! I'm strong, I'm beautiful, and I'm not going to hid it!"

At that young age, I saw those warrior women. and I wanted to be them!

I wanted to be confident. I wanted to be beautiful. I wanted to be respected as an equal combatant by the men in my 'party'. And yes. I wanted to cast magic and wield a sword like Boudecia.

Yes, men love scantily clad women. It's Nature!
Admit it women, you want to be in charge sometimes. You want to be the one wielding the sword! You want to be strong and confident, just like these women.

I don't believe this objectifies women. I believe this empowers women.

It did for me.

Truly and honestly I have a hard time finding female characters in fiction that really capture me and have me respect and adore them. However, I have to say (though not a DnD based world) I really loved Gil (Gil-shalos) in the Darwath Trilogy written by Barbara Hambly. She's intelligent, strongwilled, and awesome with a sword (she has this great combat sequence at the end of the first book. She of course is fighting a man that looks down on her, and though she takes beating, she elegantly disembowels the b$#tard)

And since we're talking over all fiction, I'd have to say that C.E Murphy writes some great, strong female characters (especially Joanne Walker of the Walker Files series: another well loved character of mine). Laurell K. Hamiliton has her moments, however her characters always seem to either use sex, or be used by it. While sexuality and sensuality are almost always cloaked over females, it gets tiresome when it seems that those are the only weapons a female has. (that's one of the reasons I love the new Action females in film ex. Mila Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez. They kick major a$$ and they look hot and tempting, but they don't jump in bed every other scene to get the point across that they're female.)

X-men has great, strong females. And the X-men dramas are really great at making their character's personalities and conflicts real and personable. (I'm a great fan of Rogue in the animated series and I just loved Emma Frost).

As far as PCs in Rpgs are concerned, my favorite and most developed character I've created is my namesake Inara Red Cloak. A young, female Royal Body Guard (FGT/RGE with Macquar Crusader, Streetfighter, Reaping Mauler prestige classes). She has taken an honor vow to be chaste until marriage, and will not accept marriage offers unless her king allows her to be married.

another great character being my Halfling female named Skipping Rock. A busty halfling with a love of peach brandy and a lusty men, she continuously amuses and captivates almost every group I roleplay her in. In the first campaign I had her in she established a ragtag party of outcasts that is almost wholely Neutral aligned and became the captain of a "privateer" ship. I based her personality on Malcom Reynolds on Firefly. She came out pretty darn good.

mostly I don't like to play female characters. Being female myself, I hate the prejudices and assumptions that other players deliberately and unconsciously place on female characters (and female players). I spent a few gaming sessions being ignored and talked over until I spat out the answer to a rules question before the they finished asking.

Now, my gaming group gets chills (of excitement and apprehension) any time I announce I'm playing a female. ... they tend to be memorable at best... and showstoppers at worst.

PS. Zoe on Firefly...A woman for little girls to look up. (and a few men as well)

I will no longer make my 8th lvl Bard/dirgesinger/rogue halfing should not use the spell "stick" to attach a bag of priest bullets to a 14CR Horned Devil's backside, so that when the monk trips him onto his but he takes 10 d4 holy dmg and 10 d4 piercing broken glass dmg, thus ignoring DR, and killing said demon,

who apparently was the demi villian for that arc of the campaign,
ultimately gaining the party 2 lvl ups and an extra 2 thousand exp for "finding a use for the stick spell".

Hey, I'd love that list:
email: hotaru1301@hotmail.com

title it : reincarnation list

please? and thank you!

warms up the ebombs...

:P

Casts anti-spam field with a 21st lvl sanctuary mithil

2678 gp & 1123 exp cost (lots of metamagic feats and combination casters) ;P

Seriously though, when I play a campaign that has a great storyline arc in it I get really attached to my characters. I've been known to choke up a let fall a tear or few. Personally I don't see much wrong with it, however there is a difference between experiencing a great story and throwing a hissy cow. ;)
*edited for spelling errors

Let me know your email, and I can mail you the files (in Word format).

Hey, I'd love that list:

title it : reincarnation list

please? and thank you!

I read a lot of great ideas here, but here is my *ahem* selfish suggestion:

how about a "danger room"?

Depending on how good your technology is in the campaign, would it be possible to install a combat room equipted with light sensitve walls with visual lazer guns (aka laser tag) and mounted automated defense systems that shoot out low voltage e.m.ps (if anyone has seen the series La Femme Nikita, think of the simulation training orb).

The light lazer tag guns wouldn't harm the hull integrity (and probably wouldn't hurt any living creature unless they were light sensitive) and the emp ads would hold a low enough voltage that it wouldn't interfer with any of the ships computerized systems.

However they would give a high enough pulse to have a small (but culmulitive) effect on a living creature (maybe something like 1d4 nonlethal, or 1d4 rnds stunned affect).

Just a thought.

My gaming group argued it out and we came to a conclusion on one point.

Any action (melee or spell) that starts from the caster and goes onto another figure on the board ex. ray spell or area effect does not work. (you theorectically cast the spell inside the sphere, therefore you are the only one experiencing the effects).

However, any effect that occurs outside of the sphere (ex. a summoning spell) will take effect, the arguement being that the spell actually takes effect outside of the sphere.

I hope that answers a few of your questions. That's all I can remember from the conversation.

Adding on to the same thought process... Why don't you look into the Monster Manual and get the Multiattack feat.

Add that with Roundabout Kick in the complete Warrior (I think that's where it is). And improved crital on one of your limbs.

Tasty Damage!

Glitterdust. Hideous Laughter. Grease. Just about any bard can shut down his opposition. Then just let your friends do the actual killing.

I Love Glitterdust! It's one of the most underrated 2nd lvl spells.

I just started playing a bard in a campaign. I picked Hideous Laughter (devestating at a high DC) and Distort Speech out of the spell compendium. (if used properly this spell can be a caster's worst enemy)

Honestly, variant bards are good (see Harbinger out of the dragon magazines, I forget which one).

Seeker of the song is great, but takes a while to get into. Honestly though, I'm surprised no one suggested the Dirge Singer Prestige class from the Libris Mortis. And the Complete Mage has got some great general and bardic feats. (melodic casting is great).

As far as actual combat is concerned, use the whip to its full advantage. Get the wounding enchantment and take combat reflexes with a good dex modifier and "hit, trip, get up, smack, trip" to your heart's content (or until your DM decides to DM-smite you)

A good combat bard is possible, you just have to think harder and be a little more creative than you would be with a typical "hack n' slash" character concept.

<===Got laid in a Paizo messageboard pbp.

With a Briauer...

sounds.. umm... .. Fun. In an enthusiastic surround sound sort of way.

My "poisons" campaign is going great, but for this one instance.

The majority of the party is going to be land locked during the winter. It seems that the PCs are intending to take some down time to train up some feats and skills, level up and craft. However, I'd hate for them to get too bored, and I really hate the idea of skipping over the months.

A good bulk of the party seems to want to board with the dwarves under the mountain... so here's my question.. what, (excluding small war skirmishes and abberation cleansings) can a group of 12th lvl PCs (est.) do in the underground, close to the underdark in the middle of winter?

Any suggestions?

I have successfully transformed a number of hack n' slashers to immersion role-players via the way in which I manage the emotional and interpersonal elements of my campaign

Great Job! It seems that there is a lot of focus on the hack n' slash. (or maybe it's just my area). We need more gamers to be interested in Interactive games. They call it "roleplaying" after all.

The bad guys are trying to put chinks in your faith; in your armor; pull you down; this is just one way of doing it; anger is quicker; but lust is harder to repent.

So true... just look at Guinevere and Lancelot....

Not only is it harder to repent, sometimes its just damaging. Novels (even rpg novels) are chock full of protagonists falling in love/lust and having it bit them in the behind later.

I remember a game my brother DM'd once. A NE spellcaster was very appealing to my NG character. I was torn as I watched him kill an ally... Do you save the ally at the expense of your lover's life.. or do you watch an innocent man die so you're lover can live?

My character ended up kneeling on the ground in despair. That was a great game night.

I may not recite the DOOM song between turns.

Doomy, doomy doom.

Personally, I'm a very big fan of "interaction" campaigns. You know, the ones where you can spend your whole game night on meeting and interacting with the NPC's or eachother. Most of the great rpg moments I recall involve high emotions. For example, my namesake character in a campaign was assigned to work with a Scout NPC to protect the prince. Said NPC kept flirting with me, through we were great friends. A few months later in campaign, he died in a great showdown with an Orc Cheiftain during a war skirmish while I helped defend the castle. ( btw resurrection magic don't work in the campaign ). My DM had my superior inform me of his passing, and then the King of the land explained that the NPC was a runaway prince, that was getting together a marriage for us. Then the DM described the scence when I visited his body... ... I had to excuse myself and leave the room in real life.

Love and lust are strong motivators. My rpg group has made a habit of making disclaimers and ratings at the start of a campaign. That way, those that are uncomfortable can choose not to be apart of it. Because of my own preference for making the game "as real as possible" I welcome all emotions and strive to invoke them in my own campaign. I've found the BoEF to be a great guide, and a few of the players have read some of it for a guideline to their alignment's and race's view on sex and love.

They also understand the consequences. Most of the PC's have gotten some sweet affection, and I roll to determine effects. (our half drow is now a soon to be daddy ).

All sex aside though, the BoEF has some great spells (not to mention a fairly good arcane prestige class) that should not be shunned based on the fact that they come from a spoofy material. (touch me not, and magic probe... great spells.) Though I'm a big fan of lust and innuendo, the flirting can get detailed but the actual act is a "fade to black" and roll the dice. Personally, I couldn't be a part of a campaign that didn't welcome all the emotions a person (or humaniod ) can have. To me, that's a slight cripple on the players experience and creativity.

Combat is great. Storyline is awesome... but watching your players become their PCs through their shared emotions... that's unforgettable.

(written by a female fan of hot chicks in armor)

By the way, did she swallow that chocolate or spit it out?

She Swallowed... every last bit! *grin*

As far as Invisibility goes, I love the Spell Glitterdust.

But just as a precaution; is it commonly agreed that you need sight, or the ability to see in order to effectively "detect" something?

and if that's true, can you or can you not "detect" evil/magic on the other side of a wall? (our paladin saved our dungeoneering butts many times with that one)

yeah .. it worked ...

The party Rogue spent 5 rnds attempting to slit his wrist. Oddly enough, he seemed rather amused by it after the Wizard cast Dispel magic on him.