thelizardofodd's page

I think Shah is correct in that this is more of a physics question (see: my ignorance at the start), and Diego thank you for the suggestion - I'll definitely be looking into it. I'm always looking for a new read anyway. :)

When I explained it is a full time-stop, I meant more of the general concept of a time-stop, and less of the game's definition of time stop as a spell. True stasis is a much better description I suppose. Everything frozen to the point where it simply outlasts time, rather than suspends time itself.

The story takes place outside of the bubble - the bubble itself is an oddity characters would find. I just need to figure out what sort of spell would allow them to disable something they cannot even recreate. I guess that's when the word 'magic' can be thrown around like the ultimate plot device. :3

However, all this talk about a more magical 'slow time' space is inspiring none-the-less. Imagine taking the leap into such a space while your friends watch...to you, you land on the other side, look around confused, then step back out, only to find they have been dead for hundreds of years!...quest to be sent back in time ensues! Hahaa....
Or, you know, they could just risk their blood flow for a moment by reaching in and pulling you out. Much more likely I guess. >.>

It WOULD make for a fairly diabolical blockade into an evil lair of some kind. The evil boss would have all kinds of time to deal with intruders if it takes them 6 weeks to walk a few yards. Of course if said evil boss guy can control time then you have all kinds of s@@% to worry about.

Aaaaanyway, thank you again for all the great comments, it's helped immensely. Really. :)

Wow, thank you for the really awesome ideas here!
Tandriniel, you raise points I had not even considered. Given its nature, it seems like what they would have is a perfect sphere of impenetrable solid stone (from the small amount of rock that has pushed into the edges of the bubbles barrier).

The nature of the custom 'bubble' is like a full time stop, so a theoretical person inside would experience a simple instant change from their time to the current time were the bubble to 'pop'. Spoilers, the bubble has been there for millions of years, so the very nature and understanding of magic has changed to a point where spells like this are not currently known to exist (or so goes my explanation for why players can't do this themselves).

I am not sure if I will try and be as super 'realistic' as possible or go with something more magical and fluid (like Golden-Esque's suggestion). The idea is for it to present a nearly impossible mystery, solved only with some special or powerful spell of some kind that would revert the bubble back to a normal flow of time. I rather like mysteries, they keep things interesting and curious.

In any case, thank you all so very much - I am grateful to be more confidently able to describe what happens with this thing to my players, no matter which way I take it. :)

Hey folks!

So I've created a situation which does not strictly follow any set rules, but makes for an interesting story. Essentially, an object which perpetually projects a 'time stop' sort of preservation spell around it in a bubble. No matter how many thousands or millions of years pass, the bubble remains while all else shifts.

What I am trying to figure out is the science of what would happen to someone if they went and curiously stuck their hand inside this bubble.

My thought thus far is that the hand is frozen in time, which means the blood stops, cells stop, everything. I imagine the rest of the arm would find this a bit distressing, and it would probably be rather painful. Beyond this though, I am not really sure. I'm not too good with biology.

Would blood flowing up the arm quickly clot up and be immediately painful, or would it take time? Are there any other negative repercussions to this I am not considering? What if it were a reverse case? Say, some jerk goblins shove their pal in, who has nothing but his hand still sticking out...

Any possible advice you could give on the matter would be immensely appreciated!

The two biggest things you need to teach (hopefully through story) is the roles of the characters and the importance of teamwork. Your first adventure should both have challenges that only one of the PCs can overcome and challenges that the only the group can overcome together.

The players need to feel like heroes at times, they also need to feel humble at times and hopefully teach them that not all encounters need to be solved with violence.

Yeah I'm definitely leaning towards some sort of combat-without-consequence start, such as an arena. I like your suggestion to ensure having unique tasks for each of them - it's something I was forgetting about. I'm fairly confident I can get my cousin just as interested in the story as he is in the combat...so long as it has enough 'woa' high-fantasy moments. It's my ultimate goal to teach him more about working as a team and encourage more creative thinking in problem solving.

Give the foes high hit points, scale back attacks enough that one-shotting characters is not (quite) possible.

I like it, keeps the fight alive longer but hopefully gives them time to learn how not to take axes in the face repeatedly. And I'm glad I'm not crazy. :3

A sorcerer with access to the cure domain spells could fill the niche nicely.

^Will definitely look into this. Thank you!!

As long as your adult friends don't mind, running a game for all separate from your normal gaming this could be fun - some of the best games I have been in have had young kids involved; just leave off adult subjects and it works fine.

I plan on seeing how it goes with these 3 first then going from there. My aunt/mom may not be as into it over long term as they think, and if that's the case I may be able to continue the game with my other group. I'd definitely prefer to give my cousin time to mature a bit in the game world first.

You need 22 goblins, a golden chalice, a unicorn and a poisoned King.

Kids aren't stupid but they are impatient...they're just like adult players only shorter and sober.

ROFL yes, I definitely plan to treat him like an adult, it's one of the reasons he likes hanging out with me. :) And yes, I think some unicorns will be necessary.

Let the kid play a melee type, and let him fight a lot. He won't have a lot of patience for too much plot and such.

With his Mom playing with us it'll be an interesting balance. I don't think I'll be describing too many decapitations with intricate detail, but on the other hand he seems pretty interested in story and plot for a kid, so hopefully he'll give me some interesting conversation. I'm really looking forward to throwing him in a dungeon the first time he talks smack to authority. XD

Thanks for all the great advice folks, it's VERY much appreciated!

So, maybe I'm completely crazy, but I'm slowly piecing together a campaign for the first time, and for players I have my 10 year old cousin, his Mom, and my Mom. They're all fun, creative folks and both my Mom and my cousin are growing nerdlings. I plan to keep the fights a bit easier for a few levels, and to involve a lot of crazy high-fantasy stuff to make it exciting. All-in-all, I'm not really -terribly- worried about our odd group or learning how to DM. What I would really love, however, is advice from experienced folks who might know a great deal more off the top of their heads than I do.

-Any general advice for methods of making fights exciting and fun for such a wide age gap while still remaining challenging? I'd like to keep the risk real, but I don't think I could really kill any of them any time in the next 15 levels without being forced to eat boiled hay for a week.

-My Mom immediately jumped on the idea of playing out her favorite fantasy character, 'Polgara' (see: boiled hay) from the Eddings' series (fantastic read if you haven't seen them before). She expressed that she would like to provide some healing, but also wants to be a 'powerful sorceress'. I've already explained to her that part of the fun is starting out a little underpowered and growing to be someone powerful and awesome, and she accepts that. The problem is choosing what kind of caster. Witches and druids have more healing options, but I'm fairly certain she will prefer a more free-form caster and won't want to have to pick through a spell list every day. Thus, a sorcerer's casting method seems more likely. Any thoughts? Multiclassing from a healer into a sorcerer or something sounds a bit complicated for her.

-My cousin should be okay, I've talked him into playing a fighter and plan to simplify things by just giving him a shortened list of feats to choose from and suggesting the best equipment for him. That way he can just kinda jump into the fray. He's quite clever for his age, but has a limited patience for confusing or complex things. Again, if this sparks up any particular advice for similar situations, feel free to cast it my way. :)

-My aunt is still trying to decide if she wants to play at all, so I may have to get back to this later. She likes fairies, woodland things, and the idea of shapeshifting, so a druid or something with fae bloodlines seems pretty obvious, but I cannot be sure yet. Druids have such boring spell lists at early levels, so that worries me.

Mostly, this is all coming together for my cousin. He wants to play with my adult friends and I... not a particularly good mix. He's a good kid, I think he could benefit a great deal from playing, and I've always wanted to try DMing. Seems like the thing to do. :) Thanks in advance. <3

Heya!
My character, up until now a half-elf sorcerer/dragon disciple, is changing into a witch. We're doing this because we were dumb and completely missed that I couldn't start being a dragon disciple until level 5 (I started at 3) and was quickly becoming overpowered (more HP than the fighter)...and the prestige class didn't seem particularly worth it to me starting later like that as it didn't really add as much to my abilities/character storywise like I wanted.
Instead, going with a transformation witch (Flemeth anyone? Hells yes!) as I can still do the dragon theme but with added character depth and more random fun things.

The questions:

I've been trying to think of a really good reason why, story-wise, a sorcerer would become a witch. Wisdom would tell her that she can gain plenty of power following her current path. She's a very happy person with a perfectly healthy family (I'd hoped the war would change that, but we kicked too much ass). The players guide is very vague about the patrons, so I'm having a hard time thinking of a situation where she would become convinced by one to change her method of study (especially as the reason she's a sorcerer and not a wizard is she has no patience for dusty books and study). I figure the end result will be somewhat less cliche in that she'll still be happy-go-lucky (as she vomits spider swarms...>.>), but might anyone out there have any suggestions for a good story reason for this all to happen in the first place?

Also, does anyone know if it would be considered common/vs/weird for a magic user with draconic bloodlines to be obsessed with dragons to the point where they run off to study/join them or something? Silver dragons, that is, not chromatic.

Thanks! :D
-Lizard