SkinnyD's page

I recently became somewhat disillusioned with the generic names "Half-elf" and "Half-orc" as race names. I just think that eventually members of those races (or those around them) would have created names. A Half-vampire is a Dhampir. A Half-dwarf is a Mul (in Darksun). We have Aasimars, Tieflings, Ifrits, Oreads, Sylphs, Undines, Changelings, Sulis, and Skinwalkers, all of which are either human-descended or even half-humans.

So, my question to the community is has anyone ever encountered a book/movie/TV show or setting which gave half-elves or half-orcs actual names? Has anyone ever given names to these races? (and if so, what were they?)

So a while back I had an idea on how to make the monk just a little bit more effective in combat (from a damage standpoint at least. I personally think monks are awesome, but it is hard to get a good damage rating sometimes).

The basic idea is this: Keep Flurry of Blows as is, but roll it together into one ability called Fist of Legend (or something else cheesy and awesome) which, in addition to the standard Flurry, allows for the use of the Vital Strike feat chain.

So, at level 6, the monk "gains" vital strike. When using this attack, just like with flurry, his BaB equals hit level (not 2/3 as normal).
At levels 11 and 16, he automatically gains Improved Vital Strike and Greater Vital Strike in the same manner.

While I haven't had the chance to playtest this, I think it could help to alleviate some of the damage issues monks seem to have.
Comments? Questions? Hurtful statements? What do you guys think?

So, my group is getting ready to start the Serpents Skull AP, and as I was coming up with a character I came across the Shoanti in the world guide. I think they are awesome (I love tribal cultures), and I was wondering if any other information has been printed about them/ where I could find that information. I was also curious as to whether the Shoanti have any real world equivalent culture (I don't recall any bad@$$ volcanic wasteland nomads from world history, but maybe I missed that day).

I've been kicking around an idea for the Monks in my game, and thought that it might be cool to have monks who dont walk faster than most can run, but who was just a little bit tougher than normal.
So, rather than gaining a bonus to speed (and the bonus to jump checks that brings) would it be unbalancing to allow a monk to gain DR 1/Adamantine and a +1 stability bonus (like a dwarf) at the same levels he would normally gain a speed increase?
Thanks for any input.