Wow,... Looks kinda familiar,....
(Says the guy semi-recently from New Orleans!) ;P
That wasn't YOU behind the camera, was it?!?
Kalloo Kallay!!!!
Oh frabjous day!
Having a sick wifey is nothing nice. Glad to hear your life is calming down a bit.
Hey, question: Did Pip ever get his hands on one of those sweet lightning pump shotgun thingies? He's kinda limited to telling bad jokes to Grazz't ....
Thanx guys.
Yeah; Pip's got a lightning gun; I think Beldan does too.
Hey! NEVER underestimate the power a bad joke! ;P
Glad to hear that things are getting better Heathy.
Hope that trend continues!
Where does torc of displacement come from?
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With my DM hat on, I would have said you could only change into something you had encountered. As one of the players, you changing into that Remorhaz was magnificent. I want to see you turn into a T-Rex one day.
Truthfully Oso tends to be a walking first aid kit in fights anyway so I don't mind who gets the glory. When something is dishing out 30-40 points of damage each round it becomes necessary. But would what you are suggesting apply to Elgan and his wild shape ability too?
My vote is for sticking with the rules as is.
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I though the remorhaz was a tad OTT. The ongoing problem with polymorph is that it can turn the party wizard into a better fighter than the fighters, and as one of the fighters I'm not so keen on that (especially as I struggle against DR too). That said, it might be an idea to restrict what you can turn into by sticking it to creatures with a CR equal to or less than your level (while accepting you don't necessarily get all their goodies when you do) so you don't turn into an astral deva or something at level 5, but maybe could at level 20.
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In this case, the thing is less that polymorph is "broken" than the remorhaz being completely insane. Huge, insane bonus damage, swallow whole - and only 8 HD??? Next level, the rules let me change into a behir, which is equally crazy.
I like the 'only change into encountered creatures' idea, though.
Hm, actually, Elgan's shifter-improved wild shape is already pretty balanced.
Yes, he can now turn into a dire wolf, which is a size category larger, but so can a normal druid at this level. And his shifter stats are set in stone. I can only change the shape for flavor. (Which is why I do NOT get to trip like my summoned dire's)
Now, it has been a long time since I have read the polymorph/shapeshift rules. But as I recall I was always confused over why everyone said they were broken. As they made perfect sense to me!
Alter Self- turn into anything OF THE SAME GENERAL CATEGORY AS YOURSELF An elf caster (humanoid) can turn into a lizardman, but not a crocodile. You gain the forms physical abilities. (swimming for a lizardman, flight for an avarial elf, etc.) but not it's supernatural or other abilities.
Polymorph-turn into anything up to a certain size larger/smaller than the spellcaster. You get SOME of the creatures abilities depending whether or not they are natural (claws/bite) supernatural, spell-like, or etc. (I forget which you did and did not get)
Shapechange-(A 9th lvl spell, equal in power to a WISH, just of a set duration.) Turn into ANYTHING (although I also like the 'anything you have personally encountered/seen' rule) and you actually turn INTO that creature, ALL abilities/powers included. (Although that might also reside within the realm of the DM. Example- turn into a drow, you do NOT get the Drow's innate magical abilities, as those actually come from growing up in the magical underground radiation, according to many sourcebooks.)
In short, I conclude that the Remorazz was an awesome move! But probably out of range of Polymorph going off of my admittedly poor memory. Turning into a Gorgon with stone-breath, maybe. Or a medusa with stone-gaze. You could probably turn into a Purple worm, just not a very large one. Ergo the swallowing whole probably wouldn't work as well as it did.
Just my 2 c.p.
Laters-
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Essentially, Polymorph lets you assume the form of a creature with HD equal to your caster level. You gain its extraordinary, but not its spell-like abilities.
Normally, this isn't particularly problematic - the spell's short duration limits it to one or two encounters, and the caster can't caast spells if he's in a non-humanoid form (compare this to the 3.0 version that lasted 1 hour per level and gave access to creature forms with HD up to twice your CL, meaning that sensible casters became hill giants all day, every day, and regularly outpunched fighters and cast spells...). Thus, I can't become a T-rex until level 12 or so - and the T-rex is far less scary than the remorhaz.
This leads to my main complaint, which is that, to me, the bigger problem is the remorhaz itself - it is obviously an awkward remnant from the AD&D ear where the biggest dragons had 12-15 HD. As it is written now, the remorhaz is probably meant to be something of a low-cost mega-nuisance; it does incredible amounts of damage, swallows PCs whole (and does massive extra damage to swallowed victims), it destroys weapons that strike it and damages attackers - and it is only CR 7 or so, which is justified by its relatively low HD. The way I see it, with this battery of nasty special abilities, it should probably have much more HD and be CR 12 or so. The 9-HD behir, which becomes available next level, lacks the overwhelming destructive punch of the remorhaz (as I won't get its breath weapon), but is far more durable.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I don't want to overwhelm anyone this way, and thus want to limit the Polymorph spell a little bit. Suggestions on how to do that would be welcome; a CR limit won't do much, as most monsters have higher HD than CR. "Only previously encountered forms" could work, but would it be possible to research forms? Perhaps I would need to make a Knowledge (Arcana or Nature) check?
I'll think about it all, but sometimes I try to revamp something, it ends up screwing it up in new, and previously unknown ways.
I had this mdc armor fix in Rifts that at first seemed cool then everybody was up in arms when their expensive armor got wasted by a dogman with brass knuckles...had to go back to the RAW.
I want to look over the beta on this though; I never memorized the beta so maybe the beta polymorph stuff might help.
Hey Heath, I liked the fight with Graz'zt. I was freaking out a bit for a moment there, though I shoulda realised something was going on when Graz'zt looked like he was crossed with a marilith. Did you stat up that aspect, or was it taken from somewhere else?
It was out of the Demonweb Pit hardback by Wolfgang Bauer; though the metal geetar was my doing. I modified his magical powers to be sonic-based....
He's the main reason I bought that book, though there's tons of other goodies in there. It's pretty sweet imho.
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Hey Heath, I liked the fight with Graz'zt. I was freaking out a bit for a moment there, though I shoulda realised something was going on when Graz'zt looked like he was crossed with a marilith. Did you stat up that aspect, or was it taken from somewhere else?It was out of the Demonweb Pit hardback by Wolfgang Bauer; though the metal geetar was my doing. I modified his magical powers to be sonic-based....
He's the main reason I bought that book, though there's tons of other goodies in there. It's pretty sweet imho.
Ha! I've actually got that book .... never finished reading it. Much as I love Mr Bauer's work, and love the Abyss, I just really did not like the Delve format or whatever it is ... couldn't get through it. I'll hae to go back and flip through the second half at some point.
Jah....I'm the last innivijle that'll be pegged as the delve format's biggest fan. It's a goody though.
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Ha! I've actually got that book .... never finished reading it. Much as I love Mr Bauer's work, and love the Abyss, I just really did not like the Delve format or whatever it is ... couldn't get through it. I'll have to go back and flip through the second half at some point.Hey Heath, I liked the fight with Graz'zt. I was freaking out a bit for a moment there, though I shoulda realised something was going on when Graz'zt looked like he was crossed with a marilith. Did you stat up that aspect, or was it taken from somewhere else?It was out of the Demonweb Pit hardback by Wolfgang Bauer; though the metal geetar was my doing. I modified his magical powers to be sonic-based....
He's the main reason I bought that book, though there's tons of other goodies in there. It's pretty sweet imho.
Me too - it's sitting on the shelf feeling unloved. That said, the Castle Greyhawk one is actually a pretty decent read, even in the delve format. Funny that, when you consider who wrote it. (Undermountain is dire, though.)
It was out of the Demonweb Pit hardback by Wolfgang Bauer; though the metal geetar was my doing. I modified his magical powers to be sonic-based....
He's the main reason I bought that book, though there's tons of other goodies in there. It's pretty sweet imho.
Yes that book is the equivalent of a 'parts car'. Never going to drive again, but chock full of excellent pieces to make other cars run nicely..
BTW can you post the lightning bulb stats again DM? I can't find them
I'm gonna kick off the next brouhaha tonight prolly; on call all week so might have to work.
I'll root around and find my notes on the lightning guns then.
Called in other job; just got back.....let me get my s%@~ together here.....
Oh...for Pip,....the lightning guns are effectively wands of lightning, 5d6 dmg, save d.c. 15, and 20 charges each.
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I'll think about it all, but sometimes I try to revamp something, it ends up screwing it up in new, and previously unknown ways.
I had this mdc armor fix in Rifts that at first seemed cool then everybody was up in arms when their expensive armor got wasted by a dogman with brass knuckles...had to go back to the RAW.
I want to look over the beta on this though; I never memorized the beta so maybe the beta polymorph stuff might help.
How about this:
* Any previously encountered monster (so far: ogre, troll, huge-ass shark)
* Any relatively mundane creature (i.e. monstrous centipede or spider, dire wolf, giant eagle etc.)
* Fantastical beasts no bigger than Large (i.e. ankheg, griffon or pegasus, but nor remorhaz, behir or wyvern)
That sounds good I reckon.
Maybe a fix in the spell would allow incremential size increases with level improvement or something; it doesn't seem like the hitdice limits alone apparently stopped you from becoming a centipede doomtank. And that was a monster straight from the first Monster Manual, not some ill-constructed fourth party splatbook with a cover with a scantily clad pirate babe squatting with a longsword braced against her hooha.
Must,... Stop,... Drinking,... While,... Reading,... these,... POSTS!!!!!
New keyboards are getting expensive! ;P
FOr Polymorphisism, How about something along these lines?
-Only creatures that you have SEEN (This magic isn't powerful enough to take a vague idea of a creature and transform you, unlike Shapechange, which is basically a WISH spell limited to changing your form!) If you are allowed to research the creature, the DC for research should be very difficult. (After all, you don't want to get it wrong and accidentally transform into something that can't move, or breathe, or etc.)
- Gain special abilities as the rules currently state, don't change that part.
-Only creatures the same HD or lower as your caster. (AND see below!)
- Only creatures ONE size category larger, (Or smaller) Than your native level. (LIke the original Druid's animal forms rule)
-Gain the ability to move up 2 size categories larger (or smaller) at a certain level. For starters lets say 10th lvl min? This would again increase later, maybe 3 size categories at 15 lvl? And 4 at 20th lvl?
How does that sound? I'd like your opinion, because this kind of thing always comes up with my old group.
Thumbs up or down:
homage (somewhat) to Batman in Sasserine.
I promise no cheesy anagrams. And it'll be subtle.
None of that "favorite npc" crap.
You can kill them and everything.
Actually, all the fire stuff....Riese's Regulators.....the Burning Dudes....kinda reminded me of a weird arsonist Batman foe with his cohorts and whatnot.
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BTW, I saw Terminator Salvation with my brother today, and we were both pleasantly surprised. For the record, I think it's probably the best one in the Terminator franchise (also for the record, I think the previous three were all pretty cruddy). Recommended for anyone who likes explosions, giant robots and.., um, explosions. BOOOM!
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It's not exactly great - but I'd give it 4 out of 6. A decent time-waster.
We're off to see the Transformers movie this weekend, though - we both thought the first one sucked horse ass, and I'm not optimistic about this one. It needs far more robot-on-robot asskicking and far, far, far less human parts than the first outing.
Just FYI, taking a 3 day weekend, see you all on Monday!
-Batman is ALWAYS good! (EVen the cheesy Adam West is fun to watch for it's own reasons!)
-My son is seriously into ANYthing that catches his attention lately, and lately it's been Transformers! Unfortunately he's just turned 6. I let him watch the first movie at home with some judicious monitoring, but there's no way I'm taking him to see Trans2 in the theatre! (I'm a product of my upbringing, I believe that the rating system exists for a reason!)
-The first PG movie I was allowed to see? Star Wars! And that was only AFTER my aunt saw it and assured my mother that it wouldn't corrupt me or turn me into a criminal, or whatever it was she was worried about!
-I'll Have to check out the newest Terminator I guess, I never even saw 3. By that point I was done with the whole time-traveling-robots-here-to-kill-you thing,...
DM Heathy, do you have access to the Book of Exalted Deeds? I found a PrC in there that I am interested in. It has good RP applications and some good defensive options. Called Troubador of Stars.