Search Posts
So a new RPG has hit the RPGNow website: Hands of Fate It's a game focusing on collaborative storytelling and fast, brutal combat. Most of my players so far have come close to death several times, and this has made them think far more about what they do in combat than other games. You get hit with a sword, there's going to be consequences! Also features several different types of magic, a couple being free form. There's no classes and no levels, and very easy to build characters.
I wish to argue that point...hang on, that only proves it! Doh, beaten by my own logic.
I have seen many real life versions. Not just including the silly stuff and the Renaissance Fairs but in museums. Some examples can be a bit longer and heavier but factually the most common difference is the handle of the sword is extended slightly allowing more leverage and/or forces to be put into a blow. I know I'm not telling anyone anything new ;) but I think that with some slight mods to stats it could have been placed back into the Martial category. In AD&D it was my primary weapon and now it's a wasted feat. Tragic IMO. It also saddens me that weapon speeds were done away with. They could be brought back with penalties or bonuses to initiative based on the weapon maybe. IDk Any thoughts? You've seen the same hand and a half swords as me then. And I agree, the weapon speed rules really made it worthwhile going dagger and other fast weapons. It used to be a fearful thing seeing your opponent whipping out two daggers to face you, now you just laugh.
Adding flavour to those same CR 1/2 fights, like environmental hazards, makes a BIG difference. So they're fighting 4 human thugs again? This time it's on a rooftop or bridge and they're trying to bullrush the PCs off. Stepping stones across a river, a narrow cave with little or no light, under a waterfall, a chamber who's floor is slick with blood...or something else... The threat of falling into lava is enough to make any encounter, no matter how easy, scary enough for everyone to think hard about what they're going to do next. Tried running a full combat amidst a rushing mob of civilians?
Out of game, i have tried talking to Tim, and said to him many times that I should kill his character for this stuff he has been doing as it is traitorous to our characters kingdom. He laughs and says that he wants to kill my character too. I'm like, ok.A simple, "Dude, I need a really good reason why I shouldn't kill your character," would be blunt enough I think. That should at least give you more information on what is happening.+1 Simple solution, bring this to your GM, get his ok with it first. Do the deed, give no quarter. When Tim pipes up, calmly explain that you spoke to him about it and could see no other way of preserving the relationship, you are an assassin and one does not go around threatening to kill an agent of the Kingdom, especially one who's purpose is murder. Key to remember also, is that there is more to being an assassin than just deathstriking everyone. That would make it clear who killed him. Accidents DO happen, remember? A more dastardly thing to do, however, is to get some high level thugs to try and kill the druid. Have your character step in and save him from the brink of death. Now your surly druid is your new best buddy, or at least is in debt to you for saving his life.
You can use swarm rules to create squads of soldiers, for one. My own experience running mass combat in D&D or Pathfinder is that it's better as a narrative, and set events during the battle that the players can take part of, with the battle turning in favour of which ever side accumulates more victories. A skirmish at a bridge choke point allows the victor to advance on the field and position himself to engage enemy flanks. A night raid to sabotage seige weapons. A stealth section smuggling in supplies to the castle. A battlefield duel when two heroes from opposing sides meet, the loser's side becoming demoralized at it's conclusion. The PCs gain effects as the battle progresses (which can last for days at a time) such as fatigue, exhaustion and shaken. Sleeping in Armour becomes a real issue as the battle wears on. Constant harrassing of troops to wear out healing type casters begins to mean that more and more the wounded PCs have to rely on natural healing. Much more fun than "roll a d20 and add the mass combat bonus....you beat the other side!" Think like the scene's in the movie Troy...no not the ones with Rose Byrne!
That's officially left up to us. I'd say that backpacks have 120 lbs. capacity medium, 30 lbs. small. Because I can. Hahahahaha! *cough* Anyway, people who picture it as 60 lbs. capacity also picture it as 1 cubic ft. capacity, while Sean Reynolds said that he pictures it as holding 2 cubic ft. So there's that. While we're on the subject, when are you'se switching to metric like the rest of the world!? How heavy is a pound? Is it an imperial pound or an american pound? Is there a difference?
CUTLASS!!!
Wizards learn their magic, through long hours of study. Sorcerer's possess magical talent through the power of their blood, maybe a dragon ancestor or a fae ancestor or maybe he was born under a certain sign in a certain manger... Mechanically, the wizard has to spend time each day studying his spell books to memorize which spells he wishes to cast that day. This lets him prepare for certain occaisons and makes him more versatile. He then casts those spells he has prepared and loses the ability to cast it that day (unless he memorized the same spell more than once). The spells available to him are learnt by capturing or purchasing other wizard's spell books, or scrolls, and the number of spells they may know is limited only by the number of pages in each spell book. To cast a spell Wizard style, one must have the intellect to understand the complexities of arcane lore - Intelligence is the key ability of the Wizard. Sorcerer's have a set list of spells that the just know. Something in their blood gifted them the knowledge and power to be able to manifest the spells. They do not need to select spells each day, instead are able to cast any spell they know upto a set number of spells per level, per day. The number of spells they know, however, is far less than what a wizard can potentially learn. The trade off is that whle you are able to cast more spells, the pool from which to cast from is less than the wizards. The cast a spell Sorcerer style, one must have a strong sense of self and a stronger will - Charisma is the key ability of a Sorcerer. Once cast, however, arcane magic is arcane magic, regardless of its source or method of casting. There is no mechanical difference between Magic Missle cast by a Sorcerer or a Wizard.
Forgot to mention: his opposed schools are evocation/conjuration. And there in lies his key inability to mess with enemies. Very little damage spells and very little in the way of crowd control. Seems to me like this guy, given the party make out, should be rerolling a tank of some sort haha.
The wizard I play is definitely distinguishable as a caster of some sort. Wears a quiver around his belt that's stocked full of wands and has multiple scroll cases dangling from a bandolier and still wears the robes he wore at level 1. The fact that they're all scorched, torn, blackened and tattered just adds to his image and he's building up a reputation as 'the Burning Man' after deliberatly targetting himself with a fireball to toast a bunch of swarms surrounding him. Always wears a mask of Fear and carries a Staff of Cackling Wrath mounted with an intelligent skull that talks. Everyone in the party gives him a wide birth (did I mention he never washes either) and he thinks this makes him look dangerous. He's always been an arrogant bastard, it's only the last few levels that he's got the gumption the back it up. Made for interesting gameplay when the wizard steps up and does all the talking and diplomacy rolls before anyone realises he has the lowest skills/stats for that sort of thing. He never volunteers for keeping watch either ("I need 8hrs sleep! I'm a wizard!") and usually just rolled over and went back to sleep when the camp was attacked. It took a stern talking from the party to stop him calling them either 'guards' or 'minions' but now that's all sorted. Latest outrage from the party was his animating of a zombie Frost Giant to use as a battering ram to attack an outpost. He told everyone it was only for the raid that he'd use it, only now it also carries all his gear and opens jars and stuff for him. My point is, it's not just his outward appearance that pins him as a wizard, but his behaviour and his general bearing. Anyone observing him in a social occaison will know this guy is most definitely not normal but an eccentric in every regard. Totally not like me in anyway. I shower at least once a week, whether I need it or not!
It would if he had that feat listed.Arcane Armor Training allows him to ignore 10% arcane spell failure if he spends a swift action.I checked his sheet, How does the High mage get out of spell failure for wearing chain? Or does he just trust to luck on that score? Is it me or are the Golem's stats wrong also? He's got no proficiencies yet he's using a greatsword and Longbow without penalty...
DOTTY MCDOT DOT
Eh? That makes no sense...
These roles are only combat oriented. Who does the stuff outside of combat? Who takes the lead? Who does the talking and testing and logistics?
...or just use protection from evil
not to mention anything with the word vomit in it just kicks arse
Mystic Theurge
Protection from Evil. Protects against summoned creatures and is lvl 1, relatively decent duration (1min/lvl) and can be cast with Extended Metamagic feat. Or make a magic item that duplicates it.
Someone accused the halfling of cheating... He worshiped the god of risk and cheating is forbidden. Soooo he summoned a shark 30 ft above his head and dropped it on him. Hahaha funny part is we all felt bad for the shark who was swimming around on his own plane then "poof" WTF?!?! Creatures cannot be summoned into an environment that cannot support them. A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it.
I have moments like this all the time, they're common enough in my 20+ years of gaming that I've houseruled it into all my games. I make a point at the beginining of each campaign or game started, regardless of system and I hold everyone to it including myself(as I'm usually the most guilty of it): 1) Any item, spell or pre-existing condition that was forgotten about that would have altered the outcome of a round that was already resolved is ignored, whether positive or negative. No Retcons. 2) Any time a player is killed or otherwise taken out they are examined at the time of 'death' for anything that would have otherwise been forgotten to avoid this rule. Usually this rule works in the player's favour, as I have tons more information to keep track of when running a game, but every now and then a player slips up. Rule 2 is their safety net and they're always given as much time as they need to either despute or confirm the take out.
Hrmm. Several reasons why I dont go that path - as a MT I wont have access to the spells required to make a permenant huge animated object until about 6 more levels. Any round where I'm forced to heal or repair anything removes me from my full potential as the only caster in the party. I already have a Manual of Clay Golem Construction (nice find) which allows me to bypass several of the higher spell requirements without increasing construction DCs. Good idea though, I might end up picking up Craft Construct in the future and work on my little clockwork army :)
Suggested fiction for ideas would be the books by Matthey Reilly - Seven Ancient Wonders; The Six Sacred Stones; The Five Greatest Warriors. Besides being great reads, there are tons of ancient era traps and dungeons in it and how the heroes defeat them.
My character has almost accumulated enough resources to begin construction of a Clay Golem but is it worth it to save a little more (and gain a couple levels) to apply the Shield Guardian template on it? As the party's only real caster I've gone the route of the Mystic Theurge so I dont have as high lvl spells available to a straight single class caster and sometimes I'm left picking my targets and doing crowd control and buff detail. The golem would allow me to mix it up with the melee types (3 of the 5 of us) and still be able to control the battle field. SO...who would hold off on construction and who would make it as soon as able?
If you're keen to play locally, a very good mate of mine has recently started Pathfinder and his group plays fairly regularly. If you don't mind playing with a bunch of Air Force dudes I'm sure they'll welcome you. PM me if you're interested. I'm also interested in the Sydney game.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Ray of Numbness? Num num num
it's not evil, it's pragmatic and a smart tactic. nothing in the paladins code forbids torture. and torture isn't an even an evil act. intellegent undead are assumed to be evil and a good paladin wants to see the undead follower suffer.It's also hypocrisy like that, that causes no one to feel bad at all when a Paladin bites the dust. My thoughts exactly. A LG Paladin holds HIMSELF to an ideal, not others. His own code of honour should prevent torture and other depravities regardless of the victim or the cause. He would lecture that to act as the beast one becomes no better than the beast itself. If I was DMing this one I'd have serious thoughts about bringing shame upon the Paladin and making him atone before allowing him to access his class features again.
Ahahahaha. Two 8 shot revolvers. Oh boy. Your campaign is borked. ...and that was a sword, not two 8-shooters, which everyone has access too. I believe he was refering to the issue of removing balance.
I'm with you on this one, I even put a talking skull on the end of my staff that continually abuses everyone in draconic. My toon is also very dangerous so if you want to get within range to take it out of my hands you've probably got a whole other world of hurt going on for you to worry about too :)
Thats because ipads blow! lolz
Have you tried a spreadsheet? Simple yet effective.
Wait....you shower? Only dirty people wash. Ew.
Replace them with stuffed animals. With Candy in them!!
69 (Yay!). Upon defeating the evil cult preying on the young women of the city, the party realises they were using the sacrifices to hold a fair more powerful and malignant entity at bay...
Letting other Sydneysiders know that I've just started a game of Dresden Files RPG if anyone is interested. Play days are flexible but aiming for either fortnightly weekend play or shorter games during evenings on weekdays. PM me if you want information about the game style.
Of course, just using it to highlight a difference in style.
Say you're a Wizard, used to flinging around Fire spells like its going out of fashion. Your DM notices this and swings the adventure around to facing foes that have decent if not total defense against fire based attacks. As a Wizard, you dip your hat to the DM and grin wickedly as you begin memorising Ice based spells. Adventure proceeds. Say you're a Sorcerer in the same campaign, with the same predilection for Fire magic. Now you're borked. You can still use more spells per day than ol'booky Mcbookworm Wizard, but they do didly squat and you're a passenger now instead of a damage dealer. Just pray you also have battlefield control spells that are useful. It pretty much boils down to play style and what you want out of your toon. More variety and versitily vs quantity and ease of book keeping. They tend to have different RP styles affiliated with them too. |
