Gamer in Houston


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Andostre wrote:
Confirming for tomorrow.

I'm in!


So, derek, I'm thinking that the amulet is what was keeping the giant preserved, if not alive somehow.

For those of you just tuning in, "was" is the operative word in the previous sentence.

Grand Lodge

Just to keep you informed, I'm taking vacation from the 18th to the 7th, and Cyzzane will be out of school, so we can game any day you guys can.

Liberty's Edge

Andostre wrote:

So, derek, I'm thinking that the amulet is what was keeping the giant preserved, if not alive somehow.

For those of you just tuning in, "was" is the operative word in the previous sentence.

Yeah, Cadogan tends to break things. (see: fountain granting powers; Sheraviel's sanity).

Grand Lodge

I know it says Tome, but it has some interesting ideas.


TriOmegaZero wrote:
Just to keep you informed, I'm taking vacation from the 18th to the 7th, and Cyzzane will be out of school, so we can game any day you guys can.

Nice, that's exactly one week before our due date, so I may not even be playing by then. You guy's could allow derek and Kirth to keep playing, or ideally, we'll get a session in with all of us playing.


TriOmegaZero wrote:
I know it says Tome, but it has some interesting ideas.

I can't get that link to work. Don't take it personally.


houstonderek wrote:
Andostre wrote:

So, derek, I'm thinking that the amulet is what was keeping the giant preserved, if not alive somehow.

For those of you just tuning in, "was" is the operative word in the previous sentence.

Yeah, Cadogan tends to break things. (see: fountain granting powers; Sheraviel's sanity).

If that's what the amulet does, it might be useful. It might preserve that dying demon powering the dam.

Did I just break the 4th wall?

Grand Lodge

Andostre wrote:
TriOmegaZero wrote:
I know it says Tome, but it has some interesting ideas.
I can't get that link to work. Don't take it personally.

Weird. Thought it was the errant comma, but that didn't work. Have to check it at lunch.


Looking ahead:

12/6 is a go. We can watch Jack slaughter the rest of the ogres, and maybe figure out why it keeps raining/snowing.

12/13: No game.

12/20: Back on for anyone interested!
12/27: If anyone wants some post-solstice gaming, I'm up for it!

1/3/11: No game.

1/10/11: With Andostre out of action and TOZ gone again, the game, sadly, may not be able to re-convene.

Grand Lodge

TriOmegaZero wrote:
Andostre wrote:
TriOmegaZero wrote:
I know it says Tome, but it has some interesting ideas.
I can't get that link to work. Don't take it personally.
Weird. Thought it was the errant comma, but that didn't work. Have to check it at lunch.

And it's apparently the whole site, not just that page.

Liberty's Edge

Kirth Gersen wrote:

Looking ahead:

12/6 is a go. We can watch Jack slaughter the rest of the ogres, and maybe figure out why it keeps raining/snowing.

12/13: No game.

12/20: Back on for anyone interested!
12/27: If anyone wants some post-solstice gaming, I'm up for it!

1/3/11: No game.

1/10/11: With Andostre out of action and TOZ gone again, the game, sadly, may not be able to re-convene.

You know, I can scare up some new player...

Also, (and trust me on this) after a month or so, Androstre and Mrs. Androstre are going to be looking for ways to let off steam (baby rearing can be kind of involved), so I'm sure his absence will be short lived ;)

Grand Lodge

TriOmegaZero wrote:
I know it says Tome, but it has some interesting ideas.

Site got hit with a DDoS attack. This link works now.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

So who am I going to get to meet at OwlCon?

Grand Lodge

Hard to say. I might have that weekend off.


@ Dragnmoon, definitely silverhair, Wolfthulhu,and Jess Door. As for Houstonderek I have had no communcation from him for several months. So I have no idea if he will be at OwlCon or not.

Grand Lodge

The 29th is a gameday with my Austin group, so unless they cancel I will only be able to make it on Sunday.

Grand Lodge

Blueluck wrote:
TriOmegaZero wrote:
I'm honestly considering changing the death rules to where it is easier to get knocked out than killed. This would allow combats to be brutal without Revolving Character Syndrome. The downside is a lot more prisoner-taking scenarios.

I agree. Most other game systems recognize that it's more fun to recognize the large margin between injured and dead. I think the easiest way is to change -10 to -HP Total. (If your regular HP total is 45, then you die at -46.)

That probably sounds extremely generous, but it never helps you win a battle! The main function it serves is to keep PCs from dying to random critical hits. The second is to make sure that one party member standing at the end of a fight can be a victory, they'll just have to do a lot of healing or haul their buddies back to camp for recovery. Lastly, because I don't like to use this method more than once in a campaign, it makes getting captured rather than killed quite easy to arrange.

What do you guys think? I think this just increases the HP bloat.


TriOmegaZero wrote:
Blueluck wrote:

I agree. Most other game systems recognize that it's more fun to recognize the large margin between injured and dead. I think the easiest way is to change -10 to -HP Total. (If your regular HP total is 45, then you die at -46.)

That probably sounds extremely generous, but it never helps you win a battle! The main function it serves is to keep PCs from dying to random critical hits. The second is to make sure that one party member standing at the end of a fight can be a victory, they'll just have to do a lot of healing or haul their buddies back to camp for recovery. Lastly, because I don't like to use this method more than once in a campaign, it makes getting captured rather than killed quite easy to arrange.

What do you guys think? I think this just increases the HP bloat.

Well, it's not usable bloat. Unless there's some feat or character ability I'm not thinking of, those HPs won't help a character out in any way they can control. It will just make it less likely that they'll die after they go down.

The consequences are just an rp style choice, I think. I'm not seeing where it changes things mechanically other than making it less likely to replace a dead character with a newly-created character.

What are your current injured/dead rules? Kirth has it so instead of -10, it's -CON, which I like because it's less dependent on class and more the player's ability score allotment. But it's not as generous as -HP.

Grand Lodge

Yeah, I've moved to -CON as well.

I think the only real problem with -HP is stuff like Diehard that lets you continue to act in the negatives. Then you still have to chew through a whole second set of HP to finish him off.


TriOmegaZero wrote:
I think the only real problem with -HP is stuff like Diehard that lets you continue to act in the negatives. Then you still have to chew through a whole second set of HP to finish him off.

Instead of making Diehard binary, ideally I'd like to finalize an Endurance skill. Below 0 hp, roll an Endurance skill check. Meet DC X (where X is a function of your negative hp total), and you auto-stabilize; beat DC X by 10 or more, and you can keep fighting. Half-orcs could maybe get Skill Focus (Endurance) to reflect their ferocity ability.


TriOmegaZero wrote:

Yeah, I've moved to -CON as well.

I think the only real problem with -HP is stuff like Diehard that lets you continue to act in the negatives. Then you still have to chew through a whole second set of HP to finish him off.

Yeah, that's what I meant when I said a feat I wasn't thinking of. :)

I guess you would have to adapt such feats to say that they won't work past -10 or -CON. Ultimately, they can both work; it's mostly a stylistic decision.

Grand Lodge

Kirth, in addition to your idea about stretching the higher end of spellcasting progression, do you think the wizard could have High Arcana at 15th or 16th level as well? Should I ever get the chance to play a wizard that high, it seems a shame to leave those abilities as endgame only .he Archmage class was accessible at 16th after all.


See other thread; I suspect that my rules might have stretched the playable levels from 1-10 to maybe 1-15 instead: a 50% increase! After 15th, I still can't really predict how things will work.

Re: stretching out spellcasting; that was an idea for a standard Pathfinder game, but I doubt I'll implement it in the houserules: we're already too heavily committed into a "bring people up to the casters, not casters down to everyone else" mode. (Also, it really screws with prewritten modules if the setup depends on the BBEG having access to spell "X" and all the sudden he's only getting X-2 or something.)


One random idea I did have, related to making Charisma not so obvious a dump stat: what if you applied your Charisma modifier when using a hero point? Instead of adding 1d6 or rerolling, you'd add 1d6 + CHA mod, or reroll with a bonus equal to Cha mod. It would represent fortune smiling on you, so to speak.

Grand Lodge

Sounds cool to me. I plan on basing how many hero points my players get on Cha bonus.

Liberty's Edge

Kirth Gersen wrote:
One random idea I did have, related to making Charisma not so obvious a dump stat: what if you applied your Charisma modifier when using a hero point? Instead of adding 1d6 or rerolling, you'd add 1d6 + CHA mod, or reroll with a bonus equal to Cha mod. It would represent fortune smiling on you, so to speak.

Um, we don't use point buy, so what's a "dump stat"?

And, anything that makes Cadogan better is cool by me.


houstonderek wrote:
Um, we don't use point buy, so what's a "dump stat"?

When we roll 4d6, drop the lowest, and arrange in any order... and somehow everyone except Cadogan invariably puts the lowest score into charisma (well, except Jazeed's intelligence). Because Charisma sucks that much, mechanically-speaking, compared to the other attributes.


What about me and my Int dump? :P

Okay, so it was either a 9 Int or a 7 Cha, but still...

Grand Lodge

Interesting article on games being 'too awesome'.


I've put up a very compressed character sheet on this alias' profile, should you guys need to reference it while I'm on hiatus.

Kirth, would any of the following skills be useful in figuring out if we can use the giant amulet on the dying demon to keep the dam running?

Knowledge (Lore) 11
Knowledge (Planes) 11
Spellcraft 12

Grand Lodge

What level do we need to be when we show up Monday?


TriOmegaZero wrote:
What level do we need to be when we show up Monday?

Kirth just had us advance to level 6 before this adventure, but killing a bunch of ogres and sending in our powerhouse NPC to kill the being known as Black Maga might have bumped us up, again.

Grand Lodge

Thanks Andostre. I'll wait for Kirth to confirm it.

And is there anything better as a DM than to see your players take the clues and hints you drop in game and put together an entirely new spin on the plot?


TriOmegaZero wrote:
And is there anything better as a DM than to see your players take the clues and hints you drop in game and put together an entirely new spin on the plot?

When I used to DM right out of college, I wouldn't even create a resolution to any plotlines I had because the characters would do something that just made something completely unexpected the perfect ending.

Grand Lodge

The party druid took the recent floods, fire elementals, and breathdrinker assassin, all attributed to the bad guys, and reasoned that the next trouble would involve an earth element, most likely the volcano the town is build in. The way he presented it was too awesome to deny.


TriOmegaZero wrote:
The party druid took the recent floods, fire elementals, and breathdrinker assassin, all attributed to the bad guys, and reasoned that the next trouble would involve an earth element, most likely the volcano the town is build in. The way he presented it was too awesome to deny.

Ooh, nice! Was the volcano involved in any way before that?

Grand Lodge

Other than being their homebase? :)


Oh s+*!s!


I LOVE THIS! Throw away the spellthief and arcane warrior classes! In Aviona Houserules 2.0, you can simulate those classes with fighter and/or rogue talents instead. For example:

ELDRITCH KNIGHT (Fighter Talent)
Prerequisites: Arcane spellcaster level 1st.
Benefit: You are trained in combining arcane spellcasting with combat. When determining your arcane caster level, spells known, and spells per day, add half your fighter class level to your level in one arcane spellcasting class you already possess. For example, a 10th level fighter/1st level wizard would cast arcane spells as a 6th level wizard.
Source: This talent largely supersedes the prestige class of the same name from the core rules. It can be used to create a 1st edition-like fighter/magic-user.

I've got similar talents for fighter/cleric, rogue/cleric, rogue/mage, and fighter/rogue combinations.


Kirth Gersen wrote:

I LOVE THIS! Throw away the spellthief and arcane warrior classes. In Aviona Houserules 2.0, you can simulate those classes with fighter and/or rogue talents instead. For example:

ELDRITCH KNIGHT (Fighter Talent)
Prerequisites: Arcane spellcaster level 1st.
Benefit: You are trained in combining arcane spellcasting with combat. When determining your arcane caster level, spells known, and spells per day, add half your fighter class level to your level in one arcane spellcasting class you already possess. For example, a 10th level fighter/1st level wizard would cast arcane spells as a 6th level wizard.
Source: This talent largely supersedes the prestige class of the same name from the core rules. It can be used to create a 1st edition-like fighter/magic-user.

Damnit Kirth, have you somehow managed to scry out my houserules? I have something almost just like this.


kyrt-ryder wrote:
Damnit Kirth, have you somehow managed to scry out my houserules? I have something almost just like this.

Great minds, kyrt. It always annoyed me that I needed prestige classes as a multiclassing patch; now I don't need them.


Kirth Gersen wrote:
kyrt-ryder wrote:
Damnit Kirth, have you somehow managed to scry out my houserules? I have something almost just like this.
Great minds, kyrt. It always annoyed me that I needed prestige classes as a multiclassing patch; now I don't need them.

Fair enough. I'm definitely looking forward to your 2.0 version. With the influences you've had on my work I'll be sure to include you in the acknowledgements page.

Grand Lodge

We still on for tomorrow?


TriOmegaZero wrote:
We still on for tomorrow?

I don't think Andostre was up for it... haven't heard from Derek... looking grim.


Yeah, I'm out for a while.

Grand Lodge

We'll wait until 3. Hopefully Derek can let us know.


TriOmegaZero wrote:
We'll wait until 3. Hopefully Derek can let us know.

Tell you what -- let's assume today is a no-go (I think Mrs Gersen gets home early from work anyway, and she doesn't like to play).

We can shoot for the 27th if y'all are free and Derek is up for it.
Unfortunately, 03 Jan 2011 is definitely a no-go.
Edit: 10 Jan 2011 not looking good.
17 Jan 2011 will hopefully see the game getting re-started, depending on who can make it.


Andostre wrote:
Yeah, I'm out for a while.

We'll miss you! But a baby needs a daddy more than a party needs a wizard!

Grand Lodge

Kirth Gersen wrote:

Tell you what -- let's assume today is a no-go (I think Mrs Gersen gets home early from work anyway, and she doesn't like to play).

We can shoot for the 27th if y'all are free and Derek is up for it.

That works. Cyz is trying to get a grading snafu worked out with her teacher anyway, and it has really upset her, so she's not up for the drive and game anyway. :(

Also, what level should we bring next Monday?

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