kahoolin's page

If you want to mindbend people into using a different word you're gonna need something punchier and more concise than "gish."

On a related note, I get annoyed by terms that have "blade" or "sword" in them. What if my F/M-U wants to be a "mage-mattock?"

and now I must ask, what is this post-capatalist you speak of. Since we are still selling and purchasing things. It is just a different set of things.

I'm with you. As long as we still have commodities, and people still strive to compete to have the most, we still have capitalism.

Seriously though, I've never understood how information can become the new consumer item. There is no world I can imagine where people will need to know who won Survivor more than they need food or clothing. We may become post-consumer, and I sincerely hope we do, but post-capitalism is still a long way off.

The only way I can see to truly abandon capitalism is for everyone to stop competing with each other to see who has the most stuff. It's not about changing what we're competing for, it's about placing others ahead of your self. That's post-capitalist, and I think we can all agree the human race is not ready for THAT.

'a posteriori knowledge' is proven through experience.

'a priori knowledge' is known independently of experience.

That's right. If you think about it though, for something to be known independently of experience it would have to be necessarily true by virtue of the elements that make up the statement, like my example "all circles are round." Anything else which can be either true or false (have a truth value) is a posteriori. So you can have a posteriori truths, which means in some cases our discovery of truth is based solely on our experience.

Truth is independent of our knowledge or lack there of it.

Facts are based on our knowledge, our experiences and our evidence there of.

See, that I'm not so sure about. How can a fact be judged true or false if truth is independent of knowledge? On what basis do we judge if not our perceptions and experiences? It seems like what you are calling Truth is a priori truth only. Unless I've misunderstood and you are saying something else...

And welcome back :)

Thank you sir!

kahoolin wrote:

So if a fact DOES match reality, it is an a posteriori truth. If it doesn't, it is simply an incorrect fact.

Like "we don't see enough of kahoolin around these here parts" being born out by his low post:time ratio but high quality:post ratio?

Thanks mate ;) I dropped in to say merry xmas and got sidetracked by this thread. Hopefully I can increase my time:post ratio in the near future...

Philosophically speaking you just opened a huge vat of worms :D

In western philosophy knowledge is traditionally classified as a priori or a posteriori. A priori truths are logical truths, and do not rely on experience. They are not matters of perception. An example is the statement "all circles are round." Being round is part of the definition of "circle." The statement cannot not be true.

A posteriori knowledge comes from experience, and such statements are not necessarily true, e.g. "all cows are vegetarian." This statement is true, but it is possible to imagine a cow that eats meat. It is not possible to imagine a square circle.

To me a working definition of truth is that a truth is a statement, and that statement matches a state of affairs in reality or logic. A fact is an assertion of a truth, but it may or not match reality. When you assert that something is a fact you are saying "x is true", where "x" is the fact, and "is true" means "matches reality.

So if a fact DOES match reality, it is an a posteriori truth. If it doesn't, it is simply an incorrect fact. An a priori truth cannot be a fact, because it can't be incorrect and a fact must be verifiable, i.e. it has to have the possibility of being wrong or right and it must be able to tested against teh world to find out.

Hi Paizoans, long time no see...

I just thought I'd drop in and say merry festive season to all of my old mates. You guys still hold a place in my heart as the most intelligent, civil and fun forum I have ever been a member of. Plus it makes me feel good that so many of you have added me on facebook when I haven't shown my spiky-haired and chisel-jawed face around these parts in a year or two.

I just wish I could put avatars to faces (except James Keegan, that guy sure is consistent with his internet handles).

Anyway hope you all have a great xmas or whatever dark ritual you celebrate... ;)

So, how does a half-orc bridge the gap?

Maybe since Orcs mature so much more quickly than humans, half-orcs are born able to walk and fight. That'd freak out the human villagers enough to drop the little scrapper in the woods.

I've always been a fan of schools that are classified according to their effects rather than the way they work in magical theory. The current schools are a mixture of the two which is open to abuse in the way mentioned above.

So in my ideal world there would be schools would be divided along the lines of enchantment, illusion, and necromancy, and not things lke evocation and abjuration. If you changed evocation to "battle magic" and abjuration to "wards" or something, and kept going in that vein, then everything would be consistent and flavourful. I don't think schools should be able to tread on each other's toes. I mean evocation is creating energy, that could be turned to just about anything. You could make an evocation spell that mimics an illusion by saying "it creates light and sound waves from nothing."

Just to let you guys know, I don't visit message boards much at the moment so I'm just going to check this thread about once a week. So if we start back up and I don't seem to be around, it won't be long till I'm back in the game - a few days tops.

Yep I'm still around too.

In the game I DM, one of the players is my girlfriend's sister. She plays a sex crazed male bard.

I won't lie, it can get pretty awkward when you have your girlfriend's sister pretending to be a guy and fake hitting on you in front of your girlfriend while you're pretending to be a woman. That said, it never occurred to me to disallow her PC concept. As far as I'm concerned you pretty much sign up for weird situations like that when you choose to play D&D.

Yeah I'm against that too. What's the point? Exchange your adult demographic for child viewers? I know I buy more boxes of DVDs than my 10 year old cousin does.

They already have Dr Who for the family demographic, they could just have Capt. Jack do cameos. But what do I know, I'm not a TV producer...

Howard's Conan
Leiber's Swords
Salvatore's Dark Elf trilogy
G.M. Fraser's Flashman books (not really fantasy/scifi but they rule anyway. The events are real, the hero isn't.)

The level of sex and gore in Torchwood surprised me. The first couple of episodes were pretty tame and then BAM! Cannibals and sex aliens everywhere.

14 is +4 now? Why? Because the number 4 is more rockin than poor old number 2? We aren't talking real numbers here, we're talking ranks in a closed system that only compare to each other, so changing +2 to +4 does precisely nothing. Unless scores of 14 are twice as rare as they were before, which I find hard to believe. It is staggeringly moronic.

I have to stop coming here. It just makes me sad. I'm going to stick to the PbP section...

Personally I'd be fine with you rolling saving throws as well or stuff like a tumble check to reduce damage after being knocked off of something. Seems like an easy way to speed things up if you handle reactions and we make all the concious decisions. I just get the feeling that any battle with multiple saves would take days longer if we all have to roll, post ,then wait just to resolve one action.

Just a thought though and I'd be fine rolling my own saves still.

What he said.

This will be interesting, a Wierd of Thetos. I wonder how Azuma will take this? No doubt as pretty serious sign from his goddess.

OK I did the combat program thingy, hope it's what you were looking for.

I'll be in transit tomorrow but I'll have net access while I'm on holidays.

Cool, Falchion is what I think it is. Sounds good. I imagine Azuma's as sort of like a straight-bladed single edged bastard sword, like a large ninja-to.

Also I think I'm going to ditch my chain shirt in favour of some studded leather and get a CLW potion. I can buy it later when I have more disposable income.

I like the Ornathi poem. I guess this means Azuma has some preconceived notions about Dark Elves. Perhaps Elves in general?

Kahoolin, what are you planning to do with that bastard sword? Are you later going to take the exotic proficiency to use it one handed and then sling a shield around, too? Also, are you going for Power Attack, and if so, how's that going to interact with your sword (carry it two-handed except in emergencies, when you break out a shield; or carry the shield mostly and only go two-handed when you need more damage)? I have to say, I think you're the first PC barbarian I've ever DMed for which didn't go the greataxe/greatsword/falchion + Power Attack route right from the start.

To be honest I just picked a bastard sword because I think they look cool! I was planning to go two-handed most of the time and maybe grab a shield later for emergencies, but I hadn't decided yet whether I was going to go the Power Attack route or get Dodge and aim for Spring Attack. I realize that a greatsword might be better for what I want game wise but I just like bastard swords. I see Azuma as more of a fast-moving combatant than a tank.

By the way, what exactly is a falchion? I've always wondered. Is it like a two-handed scimitar or sabre? If so, maybe I'll just grab me one a them babies...

PS: Humanoid (Fey) sounds pretty good. The Spirit subtype assumes an Oriental Adventures cosmology so it includes all Spirits (surprise surprise), all Fey, elementals, and incorporeal Undead like Ghosts and Wraiths. If you don't have a cosmology like a Chinese ghost story then I think Humanoid (Fey) covers it well.

I almost forgot, here's the Sea Spirit Folk info (paraphrased from OA):

Sea Spirit Folk Special Qualities
Spirit subtype. (You can replace this with Fey maybe?) Also counts as a Humanoid, so still susceptible to Hold Person etc.

Low-light vision.

Favoured class: Any. Same deal as Half Elves.

Water Breathing.

Ability to predict the weather for the next 24 hours on a DC15 Knowledge (Nature) check, or an untrained INT check. +2 racial bonus to this check.

Swim speed 30', always take 10 on swim checks, no need to check to swim normally, can use the Run action while swimming if moving in a straight line. +8 racial bonus to all Swim checks.

+2 Racial bonus on saves against spells and spell-like effects with the Fire descriptor.

That's it I think...

Ah but Dragonchess Player was referring to Starship Troopers not Beowulf. :)

Oops, sorry!

Er... carry on.

Hey Luke, I almost used that portrait for my dude. Then he became a Barbarian and the crafty hat wearing wanderer look didn't really fit any more. I like that your guy's a fighter with 16 INT.

I've created a monster...and it is smurftastic.

Well that's good news.

Wow that's really sad. Alzheimer's is not pretty.

Tenacious D wrote a song about Dio.

It wasn't bad, but it was a pretty standard sci-fi special effects flick. I like my movies with more plot depth and character development, especially if the movie is based on a good book.

Don't want to sound like a smart-arse here, but the movie had far more depth of plot and character development than the original poem, which was more along the lines of: "Big guy pulls monster's arm off, kills it's mum, becomes king, and then years later for no apparent reason a dragon comes and he kills that too but dies in the battle."

I thought plotwise it made a much more compelling story than the original, and I've loved the original since I was a kid. All the events seemed justified by other events, for a start. In the original it just seems, to quote the Simpsons, "just a bunch of stuff that happened." What else can you expect from Neil Gaiman though? That dude just gets better and better.

I liked it, but I saw it in 3D. In 2D I imagine it probably just looks odd.

Cool, thanks for the info! I think I will go Barbarian. I've always kind of wanted to play a Paladin, but the lawfulness/spokesman/protagonist bit sticks in my craw.

Here is a tentative stats and background, subject to approval etc.

I don't have Oriental Adventures, so I'm not familiar with Spirit Folk. Can you give me an idea about what they are, and what mechanics they have?

I'll check when I get home from work, but for now I'll just say they are kind of like Genasi in FR - humans with nature spirits in their family tree. They have low-light vision and come in three flavours: Bamboo (which can be adjusted to be any sort of tree), who can speak with animals like a Gnome and are sneaky in woodlands; river who can speak with fish, swim well, and breathe underwater; and sea (the one I have in mind) who can swim well, breathe water, and get a bonus on survival checks to predict the weather. Water breathing is pretty cool I admit, but the other abilities are minor when you consider that you're losing the human's feat and skill bonus. Like I said, I'll post the Sea Spirit Folk info this afternoon.

I'll go Paladin... I've never played one before and it'll be an interesting character. You do have a coastline I can hail from right? Also I'll need help choosing a deity...

Saern, how do you feel about Spirit Folk* from Oriental Adventures? I'm not thinking an actual asian-themed character, but I have a nice background in mind that works better if the PC has a touch of the Other Place in him. They aren't level adjusted or anything...

I'm having second thoughts about the Paladin now, as my concept is basically a hero from a fishing village who has an affinity with the sea. That would make him quite a bit more chaotic and intransigent than your typical Paladin. Maybe a Barbarian or Ranger with an eye for Exalted status? I tend to think of the concept first and then pick the crunch that best fits. Either way, Paladin or Ranger can be a decent secondary healer, which I don't mind at all.

*I don't want to mess with your cosmology at all - this could easily be explained as fey/elemental blood or whatever if nature spirits aren't your bag.

This is more of an anecdote than an observation, but I'll tell it nonetheless...

When I was 18 I went to get a 'Proof of Age' card so I could go to the pub and drink beer, as I don't drive. I ended up having to go and get my learner's permit because they wouldn't give me my legal identification without other identification to prove who I was. I had a choice of using two primary forms of ID besides my birth certificate and ATM card: Either a driver's license, or wait several weeks and spend a hundred bucks for a passport.

That's pretty absurd. I needed the card to rpelace my license as a form of ID because I chose not to drive, and I had to go get my license to get the card.

Hey Saern I put my name down in your other thread - Just thought I'd put it here too, to you know... hedge my bets.

I can't believe it... I actually came to the boards in time for a new PbP announcement! If you have room Saern, I'd love to play. If not, then curses! Too late again!

Maybe I'll be a Paladin ;)

TTTOOOO MUUUCHH SUGGAAARRR!!!

You crazy Americans and your sugar filled recipes!

I need to go for a run or something now...

Whoah that's pretty tasty. Very orangey though - am I supposed to make up the concentrate before I freeze it, or use it straight up? I used it straight and it's the strongest taste.

That Freed guy was a genius.

Like Sir K I used to drink A LOT when I was younger, and was high on pot every day for a couple of years. I also took a lot of acid. Looking back now I can hardly believe that delusional boy was me, but I guess you have to learn your lesson somehow.

I dropped out of university and was diagnosed with clinical depression during this period but I think it was mainly due to my drug and alcohol problem, which for a start I didn't see as a problem. I've never been suicidal - depression made me aggressive and constantly angry. I guess to put it simply I wasn't so sad I wanted to die; I was so angry I wanted the world to die.

I was briefly on medication but it changed my personality quite severely so I stopped taking them. The thing that saved me was my will to live. I began to fear that I would die in my 20s from drugs and I wanted to see what it was like to be old. So I went cold turkey on everything, lost many of my friends, and slowly rebuilt myself.

I still get what therapists call "universalized anger." I become furious with the state of the world and sometimes cry with rage when I see the news. When I get to this stage I sort of wake up to myself and say "OK this is silly just focus on your little life and the people you love."

Actually that's it really - having people to love is what controls my depression. People loving me is not enough.

I might have ranted about this before, but it really REALLY annoys me when big chain stores like K Mart or whatever check my bag as I leave. When did stores stop sucking up to customers and start treating them like thieves? I get severely angered by the insinuation that I may have shoplifted. I'm 30 years old for F's sake. It slows me down when I'm busy and makes me feel bad for quite a while afterwards.

I really need to rant about this but it's going to be long so I'll spoiler it for those calm souls who think I should just chill out.

Kahoolin, you have access to Bundaberg Root Beer and Ginger Beer. I'd give up Orange Julius and Creamsicles for life for those. And I love Orange Julius and creamsicles.

EDIT: I wanted to mention that I do get occasional bizarre sudden cravings for Orange Julius, and I started getting those cravings before I'd ever tried it. I'm not sure what makes them so freaking addictive.

Heh, I had a Bundy ginger beer with my vegetarian bolognese last night. Tis indeed good.

As for craving Orange Julius before you've even tried it - tell me about it. Maybe Julius accidentally stumbled across some ancient Words of Compelling when he named it?

How come it's illegal not to wear a seatbelt but you're allowed to go base jumping?

There goes my 20-20 vision. Oh well it lasted 30 years so I guess I can't complain :)

And what's a creamsicle? I'm feeling increasingly out of the loop as this conversation progresses...

Wow thanks Eyebite! I just went and bought the ingredients, so when my concentrate is frozen I'll make it and report back.

And I have no idea what creamside is. Seems Australia is woefully behind the times when it comes to frozen creamy citrus drinks...

I can't shake this strange desire I have to try an Orange Julius, yet tragically, they only exist in the US and Canada. Could someone please describe to me what they are like? I like the name.

Paxil. I was on that s**#e for a year.

Guess what happened next.

I got prescribed Aropax a few years ago, I think it's the same stuff (they both have "pax" in their name anyway). Two days after I started taking it, I started feeling like I was on acid and then I bumped into the coffee table and got a massive bruise on my shin. I stopped taking it and went back to the doctor and said: "Uh, I don't think this stuff is any good."

He got out his book and said "Huh... Under "extremely rare side effects" it says "may cause severe bruising". Never seen that before."

I don't think Aropax and I were destined to be friends.

This is being released in Australia as two seperate movies. The distributors had some bulls**t line about how a four hour R-rated movie wouldn't sell enough tickets to justify, and they could make more money off seperate releases.

I was really looking forward to the double-bill with the fake intermission and everything. Now I'm not going to see them at the movies on principle. I mean, how annoying is that? Way to take all the fun out of it.

Then again maybe QT should start doing TV series. He doesn't seem to be able to keep it short, judging from Kill Bill and now this.

I think I sort of vascillate between being a regular bloke and being a pretentious intellectual, just like in real life. When I'm in my regular bloke mode I try to be funny, but I have an odd sense of humour and it doesn't go over too well. Or maybe I'm just not funny :(

Now that I come to think of it, even in real life people rarely laugh at my jokes. Either they look at me quizzically or just kind of go "heh." Every now and then though someone genuinely laughs and I know I've met someone who gets my humour...

1. Motorcycle racer
2. Illustrator
3. Wandering martial artist (OK, so I played too much Streetfighter in the 90s!)

I haven't been around for a while. BTW your smurf looks angry...

Huh.

Is it really true that if you put the word smurf in your post your avatar will become a smurf?