ZilWerks's page

The Statue and Polymorph Any Object would not work. Per the spell:

"If the target of the spell does not have physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution), this spell grants a base score of 10 to each missing ability score. If the target of the spell does not have mental ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma), this spell grants a score of 5 to such scores."

Your new people would be very dim.

My opinion:

Cyperpunk 2013/2020/Cybergenation suffer from their game mechanic. I love the world, the large amount of source material, but...

If you do not have a ten in your primary stats and skills you will never improve them. So if you have players, like me, that like to grow it ain't happening. Too much XP - geometric progression for linear value. You can't throw money at it as skill chips only go to +2/+3.

Shadowrun 1&2 - bad, neat world, but bad.
Shadowrun 3 - playable, had fun playing, never GM'd.
Shadowrun 4 - wait... there is a... gone.
Shadowrun 5/Latest? - Neat game, much smother mechanics.

Eclipse Phase was a cool read, but nobody in my group wanted to purchase and try it so it sits on the shelf next to Dark Metropolis and Dying Earth, unplayed but not unloved.

I am currently running an Interface Zero game (Savage Worlds rules). So far, system is solid for fast and fun play. Prices of equipment not so much. The plus is they have a build your own, so you avoid Cyberpunks endless Chrome Books. Bad side is other than your TAP (neural processor in Cyberpunk terms) you can't afford any cybernetics without getting the rich edge or some other edge, at least at Novice level.

Simple solution? Permanent negative levels defined as "aging", require Wish or Miracle to remove. He keeps the spells, loses the combat effectiveness.

Just my opinion.

--ZilWerks

I am waiting for the Ultimate Campaign to fix some of this. Sadly, I was not aware of it until it was already closed for playtest.

As a former engineer (admittedly industrial, not civil) I was always trying to construct stuff in various fantasy RPG settings.

The Stronghold Builders Guidebook is flawed, as it is really designed for the d20 economy. The Kingmaker Adventure path has an abstract on building creation if you just note that 1 build point is 4,000 GP.

If you need detailed rules, pick up an old copy of Chivalry and Sorcery, book II. They have detailed and unanachronistic rules. The Forge, a Polish company that has English products too has two books, "Manor" and "Barony" that are useful and a great balance between medieval historic realism and game statistics. Lastly, the book A Magical Medieval Society by Expeditious Retreat Press contains detailed rules for buildings without getting into engineering level stuff.

ZilWerks

P.S. And always remember every wall above needs a wall below. Nothing frustrates my engineer sense than a one foot thick wall in a castle without a wall underneath it. Stone does not float! Exceptions in the case of properly constructed arches, but that is beyond the scope of this rant.

The line:

Wall of Stone -> Stone to Flesh -> Profit

reminds me of my earliest D&D 3.0 (Grayhawk). Frontier, harsh winter, etc. I had to *waste* one of my two fifth level spell picks on Flesh to Stone. Stupid party member. Medusa archers neat, but rogue fort save bad. Ugh.

Then the winter famine inspired my dwarf wizard (yay 3rd ed. D&D! Dwarf Wizard!). Turn 3 foot diameter, 10 foot tall chunk of local stone into flesh. Fabricate it into sausauge (my other 5th level pick.)

Thus was born the recurring joke of my gaming groups: Rock Sausage.

Queue "Rock Lobster" by the B-52s.

GM ruled that no matter what we did the rock sausage was always bland and tasteless. Flavor cantrips just... gave up. Adding spices just made it bland and gritty. Even salt barely changed the taste.

But it was cheap, filling, cheap, nutricious, and cheap. The other-other gray meat (the 1st being pork, the 2nd being brains).

--ZilWerks

Here is my Demiplane.

I am playing an elf wizard from Kyonin and going through the Carrion Crown series with notable side plots.

He created the “Bank of Greengold" in Greengold. It is solidly built stone building with artwork, etc., like some turn-of-the-century Merchant Bank. Inside, windowless stone vault lined with iron and lead. Inside that vault is a spherical adamantine cage. Inside that a permanent Prismatic Sphere. Five enchanted keys created during all this spellcasting allow key possesor to enter/leave the Sphere. Inside that, stacks of filthy lucre - coins, bars, +3 weapons, etc., and a portal to demiplane with antimagic trait and reduced magic (stopping the dispel magic, disjunction, etc.). Demiplane is 30 feet high and... whatever 3 castings of the Greater Demiplane spell give. There are shelves there with more filthy lucre and some dedicated Soul Dolls (a few with class levels) doing accounting and management. Also one battered flesh golem to move heavy stuff. Three more portals exist, connecting to three branch banks in Caliphais (Ustalev), Kerse (Druma), and Almas (Andorian). PC would have liked to hook up to Absalom, but that city has odd defenses and interesting government (GM plot). Demiplane is a warehouse and transportation. Key holders know about the portal, but never go inside. Goods and cash migrate through system. Losing the demiplane would be very bad but it’s designed to not be a catastrophic loss.

As for his personal place, it is a very nice manor house outside Greengold built in an eccentric hybrid style and constantly being worked, sort of a stone gothic version of the Winchester Mansion in San Jose. The nice, somewhat senile old elf (think Prof. Farnsworth from Futurama) has defenses worthy of a 17th level wizard but is really just a stalking horse - at most times a simulacrum. The real elf is in another demiplane with bountiful, morphic, and minor positive traits. The entire plane is setup as a wizard research labratory with library, parlor, rooms for six guests, etc. The plane ends in Wall of Force barriers. The demiplane is connected to the etherial and the coordinates/focus-fork-frequency/etc. is known only to the creator. I will be adding limited magic - no discern location, dispel magic, and disjunction based off what I just read above.

--ZilWerks