zahnb's page

Hate psionics. Why do I (as a GM) have to learn a whole new system of "magic" so that when the player does x, I accually understand the game mechanic as opposed to the core way of casting spells.

No tomes in my games, especially the broken tome of battle...

I'd give Bob a save also. If Bob blows the save "Poof!" Otherwise he would live, (if he could take the 1/2 damage)

Just my 2 cents, but I'm also a mean DM.

Mr. Frost, are you worried that I'm going to subvert all your demo monkeys into my army and that they'll never make it back from lunch coherent enough to demo your wonderful game?

Or, will a selling point be "Stonehenge, easy enough to play when your smashed!"

Mua hahahahahahaha....

Really, that is what every party should be, not just AoW. However, it gets hard at times having the party fit the bill...

You know "Damn, well I guess I'll play the cleric since no one else is..."

Or, edit yourself or have a buddy do it. I really don't need to read more than 400 words to get the idea of a product that someone reviewed.

Ok, scanning over the LD, I wonder if it's too easy. Maybe because my party is 6 players who know the rules and work well, but they will steamroller everything until they hit the city. I wasn't even going to run them through the encounter with the trogs, it would be a waste of time. Even then, I don't think they will "blow up" the curtain, they'll just lay waste to the temple.

Really, with the Kopru being limited to 5' base land movement, and all of the players being protected by protection from evil (no domination) the Kopru will die like dogs. The main problem will be with the dark naga's, but other than that, the Kopru's are push overs for 11th level characters.

Anyone else run this and see my dilemma?

I'm tempted to let them steamroller this to make them overconfident for their next adventure as the plateau seems to be a meatgrinder, and I'd love to see them get thier butts handed to them because they are cocky.

Yeah, huge fan here, I have to say that it's one of the best albums in awhile, I hated vapor trails, still do.

BTW I got tickets row Y seat 25, and 26 in Columbus

YYZ baby...Karma.

Tell them to quit whining...They won didn't they?

Jeez, what a bunch of pansies.

Maybe it's because you killed one of them. When's the last time someone died? usually players whine when they don't steamroller everyone and then for once find a fight. If they thought that was tough, then wait till they see whats coming next in the abyss...

Now ungoded follows me to Barleys...My army grows vast and powerful!

So, Lilth and scribe in for beers...That's two... Slowly my army is growing...Mua ha ha ha HA HA HA HA!

yeah, I tried using it, but it broke down real quick. I just ran all the encounters one after the other and tried to blur them together. It was one gigantic kill fest that lasted 5 hours...

Scribe, when the dealers room closes on thursday or friday, I'll tell you where you can meet me for a drink at Barley's, cause after demo'ing all day, you'll need one...

Ok, how do you "low magic" guys handle wizards and sorcs as PC's? Since they don't make scrolls and such, they just have to use their spells, right? I assume you control which spells they get? What about clerics? Do they just get a spell list or do they choose from everything?

I would always play a spell caster or a monk in a low level game, they are bothered alot less by not having items... or cash.

Anyway, this has been covered before, TO DEATH, and the only way I can describe it as "do you like your ice cream with or without sprinkles?"

According to the mag, ship 4 docks only 30 feet from shore, not 300. Otherwise the fireballs are WAY outta range. I think this really screws up your timeline...

Hassaf are way overpowered anyway, I'd never let my players play one.

Steve, first off, you are screwed in an emergency situation. You live in a desert, so the most important thing is to figure out where to go. I have never been to vegas, but, you have to have enough supplies to get yourself out of there, and quickly. If the streets are packed with cars, do you have an alternate plan? Motorcycle? Bike?

Eh, it might not happen, but if it does we are all screwed. One think i didn't see in peoples plans are books. Simple how to stuff like pre industrial farming, hunting for idiots, survival guides..etc. Cause if a domino disaster happens, we are all screwed because we have become too interconnected. Something as simple as having the 4 major refineries blown up in the US would bring shipping to a HALT. Food runs out in a week at stores...

Now what do you do?

It doesn't take much to really screw things up...

Ok, first, Indy is great. It has a great nightlife. SO DO NOT SCHEDULE ANY GAMES AFTER 8PM. There are awesome bars and the downtown is rockin! Bars to go to:

Cladaugh
Ike's and Jonyz?
Slippery Noodle (Awesome Jazz and Blues)
Olives
Howl at the Moon
Classie Chassie (hah)
Rock Bottom

Stay away from the alcatraz brew place...the beer is nasty, tastes like the steam coming from indy's sewer system.

Watch out for the crack head bums, they were out thick last year.

Gen con is HUGE. You can't possibly do it all in one year. Just sample many things and go with what you like.

Well, if you read the comic books Ironwood by Bill Willingham, you would know why everything is a dragon crossbreed...

Any able to assist me on any hard rules for being drunk and entering combat? or just its general negative effect, or even bonus in general life. ;)

Cannot use SRD as websense blocks it at work.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Simply, lower everything except hit points. I would give a 10 to 25% bonus to Hit points because alcohol is a depressant and you can absorb more punishment while under the effect of a depressant. However lower everything else so much that you wouldn't want the bonus.

Matt, passing on a beer at Barleys is like passing the last water hole in the desert...It's just not done!

Seriously, I'll be there lunch and dinner most days, and after action reviews at nights.

Pazio people, don't miss barleys...

Seriously, who's coming with me to Barleys for a beer? Lunch on Friday?

If you are going to Indy, I'll let you in on a secret bar place that's amazing...

The Zum Rathskellar. German Food, German bier and LOTS of it! and they have a bier garden open to the air with live music. Trust me, the best place to go!

Cya there

5-18-07

Ok, my sister's teacher, some wizard, said that we should go to this tower for "his booty call" (some reason, but we figured it was a booty call). When we got there, it was being sieged (badly) by some lizards. We quickly dispatched them (although in the module we were supposed to be afraid of them...I mean come on, afraid of lizardmen? That's like being afraid of kobolds) After the shaman and their leader fell under our bowfire, and the first 2 groups fell under our blades, the rest decided to melt away in the swamp...

Heading into the tower, we found the garrison was badly led and that they had locked? some people away in their cellar? Well, the stink of undead crept into my head and we went down there. A couple of turnings later and they all were dead.

BTW: why would someone put a worm into a potion and not expect the players to examine the potions? Stupid.

Anyway, since some stupid people were taken by some lizards, we had to go save them (esp since the chick was the mage's booty call)

So after slogging through the swamp, we found their lair. MANY fights later, we managed to free the victims and save the day...

Oh yeah, wierd kolbolds and dragon egg thingy. Everyone's happy that I'm a pelor cleric...

Now onto the city.

Skeet is the kiss of death. He's in so many cool sci-fi / fantasy shows that only last one season. I like him but he never gets a chance over one season.

Ah well.

Ok, so who's coming to Barley's with me? I'm a cbus native too...

Does anyone else have this problem with spite tokens? What happens is that the deck is done, (no more failure cards) and the stack of tokens just migrates from one player to another, until we get frustrated and someone decides not to spend their tokens and let someone win.

Not a fun ending for the game.

Any other people have this problem?

Well, you can come have a beer with me also at Barley's...

(Best Microbrew in Cbus)

Is Paizo coming to Origins??

I would limit it to 3/day...(see other thread) The TPK loop of daze...

Yeah, but if you limit them to 3/day, then the encounter becomes much more playable...

I always cap the "ability drains" to the max that they can drain in one roll.
example:
If you roll 7 the first time on 2d6, the next shot adds whatever it did up to the max of 12.

Otherwise, why bother with hit points as you could just drain whatever monster you attack with one or 2 spells...

The worst part is the daze. If there is more than one, they daze (no save) the party while the other one tpk's everyone. We almost outlawed that spell because of that reason from a previous campaign. I think we did change it that they only had 3 uses a day, because (IMHO) it was written originally as a Uber spell back in the day, and I'm sure no one thought that they would give that power to something that could use it every round. Heck something with holy word teamed up with a house cat could TPK an entire party.

Just another quirky spell that needs fixed...

And James, I have no idea what D&D world you run in, but our characters usually don't have time to "do their homework" In most every module, the players react to the monsters that show up, and if the monster Holy words first, your screwed.

Me too please

zahnb at wideopenwest dot com

5-13-07

Ok, we headed for Erythnul(?) temple next. It was filled with nothing but grimlocks. Killed them all, but it was a tough fight.

Headed to the temple of Vecna. The monsters we fought in the maze (kenku's) were nothing but a speed bump, until we hit the last room with a bunch of Mages. If it wasn't for a quick "Close wounds" spell, the Orc Barbarian would be taking a dirt nap. Everyone was sorely wounded but we prevailed. We decided to take the booty home, but fell short when some freaky aspect thing hauled itself out near the elevator back. A lucky crit with a bow shot helped TREMENDOUSLY and it was put away by the fighters, which were pumped HUGE by the Bard. (Gotta love that bard)

After presenting the evidence, mine onwers were arrested and we decided that we needed to go to a bigger town to try and find some better equipment...

I am, come to Barley's for a beer.

Still dont know if I'm going to run a game...

How old is the player of the paladin? While war time executions are allowed, and there was such a thing as high justice, that whole thing smacked as "I had a bad day and you were unlucky enough to be my target thing"

But man, that whole thing leads to an awesome campaign... I wish I could play with you guys...

Any chance you are in Ohio?

Listen you stingy a$$ gm's. Peole get frustrated enough at work / school with bosses telling them "you can't have that etc. etc."

Instead of running a "low magic" campaign, why don't you try running a normal or high magic one. then when you're done, ask the players which one they enjoyed more. Heck, ask yourself, but only after you run it. I did it and I was suprised by the answers.

I've found that the only people that enjoy the "low magic" games are the GM's, and that's only before they tried running the game as written. Admittedly, I have a low sampling (3) but instead of whining "I'm pissed that my players have items" put your effort in finding ways to challenge them more.

my 2 cents.

Place : Another Planet

Weapon of choice : The energy beams of the UFO I stole from the aliens behind the zombie attack.

ummm, if supes "had" to fight Bats for real, then of course supes would win. It would go something like this...

Superman from orbit uses his t-scope vision, then uses his heat vision to kill bats.

done.

Now if Batman had all the time in the world to prepare and supes had no idea it was coming? then Bats.

Snipers always win.

Really, it's going to depend on the writer.

Well considering every NPC class is designed to be weaker than a PC class (yes there is a reason for that) then you would be weaker than a 5th lvl fighter.

Really, PC's are superhero's and they should be better than regular people. Don't try and figure out how the common "mooks" level, just let it be.

Just don't use the tome of battle. It seems broken. (ie go see wotcs board why play fighters...)

Hey James, is he supposed to teleport or what?

zahnb wrote:

I do remember on the D&D offical board, that if you already have the feat and you get the same feat due to a class feature, you get to choose another feat in place of that feat. Example, if you had rapid shot and you became a 2nd lvl ranger, you could pick another bow feat in place of rapid shot.

In the example you give, I believe it is specifically stated that you can choose another feat, and there are several similar examples. The fact that it is spelled out in those cases, however, makes it clear that it does not apply where not stated. There is no blanket rule of the kind you mention.

Ah, true, there is no exact ruling on that, but there is no exact ruling on ALOT of the conflicting rules they have, they can't write everything down. However, I'd like to think that since they do spell it out in the x's case of replacing he feat, that it applies everywhere. Otherwise, why screw the player for taking the feat earlier?

I do remember on the D&D offical board, that if you already have the feat and you get the same feat due to a class feature, you get to choose another feat in place of that feat. Example, if you had rapid shot and you became a 2nd lvl ranger, you could pick another bow feat in place of rapid shot.

Sooooo

Give him access to another of his god's domain. No reason not to give him one is there?

Name: (None) he never named him and we say that's why he died
Adventure: Three Faces of Evil
Location: temple to Hextor
Catalyst: Crit when he had too low HP

The Dragon Shaman / Marshall was fighting in front when a crit from a dire flail killed him instantly. (The cleric had used his close wounds already...)

5/5/07

Alright, something is rotten in the Dourstone mine...

After meeting with Shenk, he gave us assurances that if we expose dourstone mine as the corrupt filth it is, we would not be in trouble for going after a mine owner.

It was easy getting past the guards (we have a female bard with an 18 CHR) and found the elevator shaft going down. As soon as we hit bottom we were in a huge fight. Guards, cultists, undead, and a LARGE boar were just the first wave. Inside the temple of Hextor, we fought more undead and clerics of Hextor. We lost our Dragon Shamen / Marshal to a crit by the evil clerics, but then we gained control of the temple. However, being totally depleted of spells, we cleaned up the melee, and barricaded ourselves in the temple overnight...

(For some reason we didn't get that far this week...)

I hate that I'm not smart enough to follow the comic. Heck, I'm so stupid, I can't figure out even what the artist said. Well, I'm glad he knows what he is writing, 'cause this reader here is way too stupid to figure it out. I was worried that the artist couldn't tell a story, but now I realize it's just me...

Character(s) : Elvish Knight & Druidic Avenger
Place : Heading to the Jaguar Temple in the Jungle
Catalyst : One angry gorgon.

I don't know if this counts for deaths, but they were both turned to stone by a wandering gorgon. Both the party's big fighters rolled 1's on their fort save. It was priceless.

(As a side note, when they were turned back to flesh, the knight originally rolled another one and died, but had a magic item which granted 1 reroll, and so he burned it and used it, rolling a 3! but that was enough to make the dc15 check.)

That's why grapple is broken. You can have a bad ass with a sword lose to a wrestler evrytime. NEVER HAPPENS IN THE REAL WORLD. The dude with the knife always wins. I make grapplers hit the persons real armor class (none of this touch BS) and the armed person always gets a AoO which he adds the damage to the grapple. Now it's only once in a great while one of my BBG's loses to a monk.

Stupid grapple rules...

As I have said before, I think they will probably end up putting it out every two months instead of every month. After the initial AP, people will (imho) not buy the second one in as much volume as the first. I also think lgs sales will drop after the first 4 issues or so. I know I won't be in a rush to buy the book the moment it first comes out because my players won't be even close to finishing the first module when the 5th book comes out, so I expect my LGS to see that issues 5 and 6 are still on the shelves and adjust the orders down for the next AP.
I think that putting 2 AP's out in a year is going to be too much. Time will tell, but I'd be willing to bet I'm right.

4-28-07

So, finding out that his parent's house was only a short walk from town, we headed out the next morning. Finding the correct area we stumbled upon the area the graves were. That's right, were. I knew this was not going to be easy...Some EVIL guys decided to dig up the graves for some purpose, and this (as the Pelor Cleric) really pissed me off. Heading up to the house, the ranger found some tracks that lead there, we found that one of the grave robbers met his just end to an Owlbear, which almost ended the Orc Barbarian. (I have a feeling that the term "ended the Orc Barbarian" is going to come up alot in this campaign)
Finding a clue (a severed arm) we headed back to town to find out what they did with the bodies. (and to sell a baby owlbear)
So, with some amazing diplomacy rolls we managed to avoid a bar fight and become fast friends with some dispicable scum. (can you tell I'm happy?) I know from their rep's that we couldn't take em in a fight so I was forced to be nice, but that doesn't mean there is something I can't do later. But what chilled me to the bone is that they said there is a necromancer in town!

Well, after preaching to my group the evil's of necromancy, we left for the tower and proceeded to find Freakish things wherever we went! I HATE NECROMANCERS!!! THEY ARE FREAKS!

So, after destroying all his undead, he surrenders, offering to tell us what is going on. Some of the group say they will spare him meanwhile I am telling them all to just kill him. Ignoring me they pump him for information so I go talk to the Orc Barbarian who I have put back together 2 more times today. ( Did I mention that the Orc has a realllly low Wis and Int?) and tell him that I'd love to heal him, but I can't while that necromancer lives...

One roll of a natural 20 later with a great Maul (ever see Gallager?) I heal the Barbarian and tell the rest of the blood spattered people there to never suffer a necromancer to live, or to walk around in the unlife, I'll be preparing the bonfire....

So we find out some real bad information about the mine owners, re-bury the family and head back to the dungeon.

We finish looting the tomb and find some wierd magic items. Head back to town and ponder our next move...