For the record, I would appreciate just getting the word out about the flooding. Apparently it is not news worthy enough. On a different note, most of the rescues have been due to the Cajun Navy. We are use to helping our own. Thankfully FEMA has stayed out of the way of the rescues this time.
As one of those gamers from BR, I appreciate this. I was lucky in that water only got within four feet of my house. My parents - not so much. To put some of this in context, by all accounts I am 1/2 to 3/4 a mile from the recognized flood zone. Most of the people affect were due to backwater flooding up through the storm sewers. At last count 20,000 people had to be rescued from flooding homes. Half of those are in shelters. Death toll is currently at 7.
Ghost are an interesting option, because they can be of any alignment. If you have living survivors, you might have a good or neutral ghost serving as a protector, one the living may even be afraid of. I am reminded of the intro to the AD&D Forgotten Realms product, Lords of Darkness. It tells of a paladin of Torm riding into a village in the dark of night banging on his sheild to warn them of an approaching horde of goblins and such. He then turns back toward the horde as the villagers rush to set up defenses. The battle lasts through the night with the goblins fleeing as dawn breaks. It is at this time that the villagers get a good look at their savior. Old wounds mark the paladin's body, dead flesh sagging from bones. As he witnesses the looks of horror, he mounts his skeletal horse and rides away.
From what I understand, the weapon was historically used by assassins and bodyguards during the Renaissance. The weapons could be easily concealed under a cloak and used to deliver poison from short range or shoot an attacker before they could close on the target. The weapon does not do a lot of damage as it lacks the force of standard crossbows. That said, as a house rule, I up the damage to 1d6. That sets a nice damage range for the crossbows from 1d6 (hand) to 1d8 (light) to 1d10 (heavy) and puts the weapon on par with a shortbow.
The Earthdawn game plays with this. Humans live scattered around in a number of cities and villages, but most of the major cities are controlled by non-humans. You even have the Dwarf Kingdom of Throal as the major power in the region. The main "bad guy" kingdom was an elven-ruled kingdom with a huge number of humans as military support.
I have a file of quotes that I like. I am going to have to add a few from this topic to that list when I get home. That said, here are a few of my favorites (I hope I am not repeating any): “The human condition is a mess and always has been, and visions of perfecting it are a snare and a delusion, but we can all grab for great moments - for one floating instant, to do better than we think we can. Heroes are just people who are lucky or determined enough to match the moment - and at least once, to get it right when it matters.”
“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast.”
“I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”
“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”
"The press is easier to strangle than to look in the eyes."
“Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.”
“There are only two truly infinite things, the universe and stupidity. And I am unsure about the universe.”
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”
“Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right.”
“Imagination is one weapon in the war against reality.”
“The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.”
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”
“The most merciful thing in the world ... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.”
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
“Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.”
“I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
“Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first.”
“The history of the race, and each individual's experience, are thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.”
To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours.”
“Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.”
Combine the dragon pistol with a revolver and you effectively have the LeMat Revolver. The LeMat was a 9 shot .32 caliber cap and ball revolver with an underbarrel 16 gauge shogun. Some versions extended the barrels and added a stock to make it a carbine. Cape Guns are side-by-side rifle/shotgun combinations used for big game hunting. There are even some early muzzleloader versions.
I am toying with the idea of having massive damage inflict damage to a random ability score. The effect can be overcome by magic fairly easily outside of combat, but can represent a major injury during combat.
Depending on the attributes, I could see shifting 1 point from the other five attributes to get a +5 in one, but it will be a rare thing. Now, I noticed that Pathfinder keeps the +5 inherent cap on Wish. This creates a problem with abyssal bloodline sorcerers that get a +6 inherent bonus to Strength by 17th level. Is +5 a hard cap across the board or only a cap for Wish? If the cap is only for Wish, could a sorcerer then add another +5 to Strength if he wanted to? Additionally, is the ability increase from dragon disciple an inherent bonus? It is not listed as such.
What I have done in the past was to treat masterwork versions of a given tool as +50gp over the cost of the non-masterwork tool. This makes masterwork theives' tools 80 gp. The Masterwork tool entry is changed to a +50gp cost. That way, the GM can figure out what the appropriate cost of a masterwork tool is as needed. Thus, a masterwork block and tackle would be 55 gp. The cost of masterwork manacles would go to 65 gp. A masterwork muscial instrument would only be 55 gp (more expensive ones would be art objects). A masterwork backpack could be 52gp and provide a bonus to Strength for figuring encumbrance.
Strength of the Abyss lists the inherant bonus topping out at +6. Wish gives a +5 maximum inherant bonus to ability scores. Is Strength of the Abyss correct or do inherant bonuses top a +5 like in 3.5?
Given that the original seven virtues are largely remembered only in there corrupted forms as the seven sins, I could see new counter virtues being created. Using the seven virtues from Dragon, the virtues and the sin each counters are: Courage - Lust
Going from there, I came up with this layout for mages following the new virtues. Restraint
Charity
Mercy
Courage
Humility
Diligence
Generosity
For my players, one set of moments that had a huge impact was during HoHR. The encounters with the dopplegangers really messed with them (especially in the mirror maze) The encounter with their duplicates had my players pointing fingers at each other. The doppelgangers had duplicated everyone but the kobold ninja/sorcerer. Being a bit paranoid already, and looking like anyone in the group could be an enemy, he was prepared to fireball the entire room to make sure he was safe. It was great. The party when around for nearly an hour trying to discover who was fake and who wasn't. |
