Lyrax's page

If you want to kill dwarves that badly, I recommend playing Dwarf Fortress.

All that's needed for effective communication is an understanding of the idea being expressed by the other person. If you know what somebody means when they say "tank" but refuse to acknowledge it, you are the barrier to effective communication.

That's a great idea! I'm going to be as rude as I possibly can, and then blame people for not acknowledging the things that I arrogantly tell them to do because they are clearly the barrier to communication! Obviously, it can't possibly be me. I'm saying words that we all understand. They're just rude and obnoxious, that's all. Thanks for telling me how to communicate more effectively.

Oh wait. That doesn't work.
Part of communication is being responsive to what other people want. If people want you to avoid cussing, you probably should avoid cussing. If your fellows like using MMO terminology, you should learn that. If they don't, you should avoid it.

The core rule book does 1d6 damage and counts as an improvised club (must be wielded with two hands), and has a range increment of 5 feet.

Oh, wait... you were talking about something else. Never mind.

:-D

Spells that contact the divine are no problem.

If God came down in our earth today and said "This is my religion...", then this could potentially solve our religious disagreements for about a week. Then we'd start fighting again. Assuming we listened in the first place, which is really a big assumption.

Are magic items, by raw, too easy to make?

Yes. Yes they are. And they are made far, far too quickly to boot.

I am Robahl, creator of great theater. I can make a dog play the hero and his vomit make a compelling love interest. Obviously, somebody found out the extent of my talents.

I've listened to a wonderful performance, but this wasn't it.

On a similar note: Shrink Item + Telekinesis. Find or purchase a boulder or ball or iron that is the maximum weight you can hurl with telekinesis. Permanency shrink item on it. You then have a very high damage weapon that you can use over and over again, and can easily carry around and hide on your person, even as a puny wizard. This is particularly fun with a ring of telekinesis. You can have a 9d6 damage attack effectively at-will.

This is a good idea.

40. The Pegasus Knight
Suggested Name: Xiphion "Xee" {pronounced ZEE-fee-on or ZEE}
A jaded elf with black hair, brown eyes, and pale skin sits at the end of the bar, alone. He has two old scars on his face and the other patrons seem wary of him. He is wearing a very nice chain shirt, and he notices you as you come in. His cloak has several large feathers in and on it.

[Knowledge: Local] This man is not one of the local patrons. He's from out of town. +5: He's a mercenary, but not usually a troublemaker.
[Knowledge: Nature] Those feathers on his cloak are pegasus feathers.
[Perception] He is wearing loose clothing that could easily hide a few weapons. +5: He has a very well-concealed dagger at his belt.
[Appraise] His chain shirt is definitely mithral, and possibly magic.

NOTE: The elf in question has a pegasus mount, and is just passing through on business. He is a mercenary, but one in good standing with the local government and is currently in their employ. He can easily be used by the DM for the following:
1) Vendor of an unusual item ("Psst. Yeah, you. You look like you could use a nice ________. I found one over in _______. I'll take X gold for it, if you want it.")
2) Advice to the PC's on a future encounter or dungeon. ("Hey. I just got here from _______, and if you're going that way you should know...")
3) An adventure hook. ("You know, the king didn't send me here to deal with this town's troubles; I need to leave tomorrow morning. But if you help out around here, I'll make sure you get paid contractor rates. Deal?")

The design issue they're talking about is that Charisma is an easy pick for dump-statting for most classes. If you're not a paladin, bard, sorcerer, etc., then charisma actually gains you very little and a low charisma doesn't hurt much. It's not like strength, which is useful for all characters (melee & carrying capacity) and a far cry from constitution, which is very useful for all characters. Or, perhaps to put it more succinctly, almost everyone can dump charisma and still be great at what they do. They can even be pretty good at social interaction!

I do agree that it's a design flaw, but it's not a very big one and it can easily be compensated for with a little ingenuity.

Now let's please get back to the practical optimization!

Wizards are not sneakier past level 5. Wizards are capable of flying invisibly, sure, but they don't typically have any skill in stealth. Rogues are very stealthy.

Rogues are capable of using all magical devices with a UMD. So when the wizard casts 'Invisibility', the rogue can hide in the shadows and use a wand of 'Invisibility'. That +20 goes a lot farther when you've got a decent check.

Rogues do incredible damage when they sneak attack. This doesn't happen all the time, and requires some clever planning and good play, but some rogues can make it happen very, very often. Now that most enemies can be sneak attacked (including undead etc.), that's even better.

Rogues can disarm and detect traps. If your DM places traps that are more dangerous than the ones in the core rulebook (and many do!) this is important.

Rogues have skill points. Lots and lots of skill points. If there's a thing you need to do, chances are a rogue can do it.

I like rogues.

If the Fly spell derived its speed from the creature's base speed, I'd be inclined to say that it is not modified by armor or a heavy load.

But sadly, it doesn't.

A ring of force shield grants half the bonus of a Shield spell, and doesn't absorb magic missiles. It is clearly inferior to a continuous Shield effect, but it costs 8,500.

Bracers of armor and amulets of natural armor grant a +4 AC bonus for 16,000. Each.

Brooch of shielding does the magic missile thing for 1,500. It has a limit, though that limit is not usually ever reached.

Assumptions made: I'm assuming (though you haven't stated it) that the amulets grant a +4 shield bonus and counter all magic missiles as the shield spell, only a constant effect.

Looking at all these, I would tell the group that I do not like the idea of custom-made shield amulets. I would tell them that they are welcome to trade in their amulets for other gear, which I would probably select for them. For those who want to hold onto their amulets, I'd tell them that it counts for 16,000 (if I'm being very generous) to 20,000 (if I'm not) gp of their wealth for such a powerful effect.

I would not make such a thing lose all properties after absorbing a set amount of magic missiles. Mostly because I like reducing paperwork.

By RAW, a continuous-use item with a level 1 spell and caster level of 1 in which the spell lasts 1 minute/level normally would somehow only cost 4,000 gp. Which is clearly bunk compared to the above items. Granted, I think the bracers of armor are overpriced, but still, this is obviously a singularity where the magic-item creation system breaks down. I'd force the item to be made at CL 5, which brings us up to 20,000 gp.

Water is heavy, but that doesn't actually mean as much as it looks like it means.
A bucket of water landing on your head hurts a lot.

A bucket of water poured out onto your head is mostly just a surprise.

The spell creates water.

It does not create a bucket.

The healing is the best part, in my opinion. Because natural healing takes so long, you'll need to actually get the heal skill, and you'll need to get day jobs to work at while your friends heal.

And you'll be more careful in the first place! Win all around!

I'm not sure, but maybe an Inquisitor should be immune to any consequences. Is there a file with the details of this class? It's a great item.

Inquisitors are actually immune to alignment adjustments when they are doing What Must Be Done. Because that's what they do.

78. Scroll of Remove Blindness
This scroll claims to be able to remove blindness (as the spell) from anyone who reads it, an unlimited number of times per day.
DM only, do not read aloud: Clever characters will eventually discover that the scroll's current script is totally illusory, though it is enchanted with a 'magic aura' as well as an 'illusory script' spell, so it really looks like a scroll of remove blindness. It is a medium or major scroll of the DM's choice.

79. Potion of Uselessness
This potion is absolutely useless. The liquid contained inside is not flammable but it does not quench fires, it does not alleviate thirst, and it does not conduct electricity. It is contained in a clay jar that deals no damage as a thrown weapon, nor does it break easily. However, many centuries ago, a god of wisdom declared that any mortal who found a way to use the potion of uselessness in any profitable manner whatsoever would be rewarded for their cunning and cleverness.
DM only, do not read aloud: The PC's can throw this potion to propel themselves while levitating, for example, and that would count. They could also use it as part of a distraction, a bluff, or a dirty trick maneuver of some kind. Once this has been accomplished, the character who did this is rewarded with a medium wondrous item.

My advice:
Always have a backup spell or two. Magic missile is actually a good one for sorcerers, especially after 3rd level. Sure, it does piddly damage to few targets, but it pretty much always hurts and it always hits. Bypasses DR, incorporeal... lots of nasty stuff like that. You have enough spells per day that you can afford to use them on little spells like this sometimes. It's not a good 'Plan A' spell, but it can definitely fall into place as a decent 'Plan C' or 'Plan D' spell. A wand of magic missile, if you can manage to get one, means you are never useless, unless you're fighting something immune to magic missile. Which is actually very, very rare. The other level 1 damage spell I can recommend is shocking grasp, but this is much more situational, and a wand of shocking grasp is actually pretty useless. You would have to learn the spell.

Keep grease. Start using it in different ways - you can always use it under enemies, naturally, but if somebody starts grappling the fighter you cast it on the fighter. Now he's really hard to grapple. If there's a bad guy with a terrific weapon, you can cast it on the weapon. They might drop it instantly and anybody else should have an easy time disarming him. Grease is useful in many, many situations and you ought to keep it forever.

If you can buy scrolls and wands, forget mage armor. A wand of mage armor is really cheap and lasts for pretty much forever, and it'll free up an additional spell slot. Even scrolls are cheap enough to use since each one lasts an hour.

Invisibility is actually a great spell, so I think you should keep it, especially for the rogue in the party. Even if he's flanking, catching the enemy flat-footed and gaining an untyped +2 to hit is awesome. It's also useful in many 'soft RP' situations, where you want to do something stealthy or sneaky (especially if somebody needs to accompany the rogue). Many a deadly encounter can be skipped with clever use of invisibility.

My favorite battlefield control spell at first level is silent image. There is no save unless the enemy interacts with it, and it can block vision and/or create illusory obstacles that they don't want to interact with. If you have the message cantrip, you can tell all your friends that it is an illusion. The only bummer is that you need to concentrate on it for it to work. Get scrolls of this, and a wand if you can.

Scorching Ray is an excellent spell for any spell caster. Even in you're going to be a battlefield controller primarily, scorching ray is an amazing backup damage spell. It's a ranged touch that does lots of damage, and there's no way to save out of it. The only defense is fire resistance.

In conclusion:
Wands are your friends. If you can get a wand of mage armor and a wand of silent image, I recommend it. A wand of magic missile wouldn't hurt, either.

Is it time to become a Glass Cannon? No, I don't think so. But if your group is having trouble dealing damage then I think you should figure out a good way to resolve that. And even a battlefield controller needs a way to deal some damage, once in a while, so pick up a few damage spells or buff spells. Even sorcerers can have some spell diversity.

Is there life after fireball? Yes. Fireball isn't a bad spell; it's fun to cast and it actually does a fair amount of damage. Being such a prominent icon of D&D it actually has the dubious honor of being both overrated and underrated, simultaneously. There are lots of spells you can take instead. Haste, as has been pointed out, is an excellent buff spell that actually helps control the battlefield simultaneously. Stinking cloud and tiny hut create terrain, and stinking cloud has the additional bonus of making enemies puke their guts out. Very satisfying. But even if you start dealing more direct damage, there's a lot more than fireball. Magic missile, scorching ray, shocking grasp, and vampiric touch are all way fun to cast and they can really put the hurt on bad guys. Not even direct damage should be as simple as "I cast fireball. Again. For the fifth time. This fight."

Can sorcerers be effective controllers? I think so. But it's hard. Sorcerers need spells that are useful all the time, and some of the coolest control spells are very conditional. Make sure your control spells all have multiple functionality, and that'll help a lot. Try to play to your party's strengths, whatever those are.

I really need more information about your party if you want specific advice at all. I need to know if you have a cleric who always needs more time to buff, a rogue who never seems to hit enough, or a fighter who goes down too fast. You always want to have the right medicine for your disease, and by 4th level you should know this group fairly well.

Dang, that was long. Thanks for reading it, if you did.

You could hand him a well-spoken paladin with maxed diplomacy... who's a full orc. Just make sure he's wearing full armor and a helmet, so the party doesn't mistake him for a bad guy.
"I would take offense at your insult, good sir, were there truth to it. I must assume, however, that you speak from ignorance. I am an orc, yes, and you are a human. Let us put these words aside and reason as equals this day."

If you want to do a Hogwarts RPG, the setup seems very simple:
All players must take sorcerer (arcane bloodline) OR wizard for their first level. They must take a wand as a bonded object. Players may also choose, at GM's discretion, bard. But the bard must wield a wand in order to cast spells.

After that, everyone's free to multiclass. You gain one level at the end of each year in Hogwarts.
Some recommended character levels (by the end of the books):
Dumbledore - wizard 17
Voldemort - sorcerer 16
Hagrid - sorcerer 2 / ranger 10
Fred and George Weasly - wizard 5 (for the crafting) / rogue 2
Snape - wizard 13
Lockhart - bard 7 (with maxed acting)
Harry Potter - wizard 5 / Protagonist 5 (Protagonist is a prestige class with maxed saves, hp, and BAB with a class power: everything goes your way)
Ron Weasley - sorcerer 4 / "gizmo master" 3 (you'd have to make this class, since it doesn't exist yet, but he seems to do quite well at having access to and using magical gizmos of many kinds)
Hermione Granger - wizard 7
Neville Longbottom - wizard 1 (poor Neville!)
Draco Malfoy - wizard 5 / rogue 1