Vendle's page

Forcecage has a number of things going against it.

1. 500gp material component for every single casting.

2. It allows a Reflex save to negate; the old version from that other game did not allow a save.

3. Its range, duration, and area are ALL small for a high level spell, making it somewhat hard to use tactically. By the time you can cast this spell you are often fighting enemies who are too big to cast it on.

4. There is a range of options for escaping before the duration expires.

The next time you're bored Ravingdork, there's a whole section for off-topic discussions you can jump into. :)

By RAW they can use a tower shield without arcane failure chance, but that's obviously not the intention.

The very nexy line clarifies that, even if the bard later becomes proficient in armor with more encumbrance he will not be able to spellcast freely with it equipped.

That's a strong implication that tower shields would have the same restrictive effect.

Some thoughts:

A few charred corpses would be just the strategy employed by a clever, less powerful red dragon and his dominated minions to turn favor against the gold overlord.

Spending generations of his time devoted to helping lesser beings makes Mengkare seem Good, and he certainly is Lawful in his methodology. I personally favor the conspiracy theories that make him something else.

Asking why he doesn't just fly around helping the less-fortunate is pretty much the same as asking why the party paladin isn't spending all their time building orphanages; he found a way to help people that not many others could manage, so he took that role upon himself. He might be happier composing sonnets or fishing, but (as he might see it) this program needs to be done.

My favorite part of this thread is where Set says he's twelve and makes a long, insightful, eloquent post. And Eric Mona, Chief Creative Officer, follows it immediately with his ironic perspective. Fantastic.

I've played many types of characters, and probably because of experience DMing I'm also comfortable playing female characters. Most of my players stick to same-gender PCs (read: male), so at times I've chosen to roleplay a woman just to set the character apart in another respect.

Most recently my long-running PC was a wizardess. She started out as a young shy farmgirl, playing up the timid and innocent style. I had her question the paladin on one occasion about showing mercy to a captured goblin (she felt the creature should be given the chance for redemption), but she caved to his decision. She would also make girly screams and cry when in danger. This was all pretty stereotypical, in my view, and was intentional.

Over time, the wizardess grew in power and confidence. I felt this made sense as she avoided death so often and helped defeat horrible monsters repeatedly. She essentially became the party leader due to her outspoken style.

To play a believable character of another gender, one thing really helped me. Expand your PC to be more than numbers and stats. I did this by writing occasional journal entries as if they were written by my wizardess. This gave me a grasp of her perspective and motivations and desires (like her secret crush on the nameless elven general in one module).

Now my gaming group includes a 30's guy playing a female elven ranger, a 20's girl playing a male centaur recovering alcoholic, and a 30's girl playing a teenage male native outsider. The 50's guy changed characters recently from the druid twin sister of the female elf to a rather generic male human fighter. The female players are pretty convincing, both having long experience roleplaying tabletop and on messageboards. The older guy though, is far too quiet. I think he's avoiding "competition" with the other players where it frankly doesn't exist.

I never got to play my wood-element goblin. "I'm a real boy!"

"Foot-Trap Laying Song"

When it's dark and humans sleep,
on the shadowed path we creep.
Tracks of boots and horses 'round,
is where we dig in the soft ground.

Careful with the dirt on top;
set it aside. Don't break and drop.
The trap we put the earth upon,
to hide the pointy sticks till dawn.

Dig it half as you are tall,
so human boots are sure to fall.
In the bottom drive the sticks,
so feets and hooves get lots of pricks!

Mesh of twigs to hold the dirt
that hides our pretty goblin work.
If all looks flat and plain in light,
humans fall; we did it right!

Bad grammar, missing connecting words... this might be something a goblin could manage in Common.