Add to the list! What's your pet peeve game jargon?
MMORPG (or whatever it is), just because I don't know what it stands for.
If I want to to play something, it doesn't matter if others think it is underpowered.
Depends on the game. If you're doing Age of Worms with 4 PCs, whole parties die quickly and repeatedly if even one character isn't perfectly optimized -- I've seen it happen, and it's not pretty.
Toon (unless referring to the RPG of the same name).
Imba.
"Trap".
GISH
"I can enchant my weapon." What, you're very attractive to swords of the opposite gender?
Add to the list! What's your pet peeve game jargon?
Personally, I still preferred when enhancement bonuses were enchantments...
As for the OP, 'gish' makes me want to gag... or get the hell out of the astral plane if its referring to the real thing.
I'm not a fan of 'Toon' and 'imba' either.
'findel
I have never heard of imba or toon. What are they referring to?Toon (unless referring to the RPG of the same name).
Imba.
"Trap".
imbalanced (that power) - yes, I know...
cartoon (your character)
edit: ninja'd - that'll teach me to not refresh an old page
I don't get "Trap"
I don't get "Trap"
E.g. "Improved Sunder is a trap feat!" or "The Duelist prestige class is a trap!"
That reminds me:
"feat tax"/"skill tax"
Balanced Vs[Insert class name here]
Nerf
Skill Monkey
Tank
Fallacies of any sort
Point buy(Outside of WW or organized gaming)
Build and/or Optimized
I believe the first and the last are the most irksome to me, mainly because talking about one usually brings up the other.
Optimized
min/max
zone of control
Any term that originally came from mmorpg's or miniatures board games. In other words, a lot of the new terms used in 4E.
I personally dislike any term that appears to reduce the whole process of creating a character and adventuring into a series of complex flowchart decisions plus number crunching.
Build is in there, feat tax, that whole plan that a character needs 20 levels of, any calculation type stuff that ignores the presence of either a game world or other cooperating characters.
And 'personal experience means nothing'. It does to me.
That wins the thread for me.I personally dislike any term that appears to reduce the whole process of creating a character and adventuring into a series of complex flowchart decisions plus number crunching.
Amen.
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splat books
noob
woot
lawful stupid
meat shield
Woot and meat shield don't bother me(unless woot means something other than an excalmation of joy?).
Noob on the other hand, I can see as getting annoying after you play the game for a month.
pwnd(or any variation) is very annoying if not used properly.
I politely request someone explain the "trap" and "tax" terms.
That wins the thread for me.I personally dislike any term that appears to reduce the whole process of creating a character and adventuring into a series of complex flowchart decisions plus number crunching.
It's like, you can't win at a roleplaying game, but you can win the process, or something...
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I hate 'free-form'.
I politely request someone explain the "trap" and "tax" terms.
"Trap" - an option that appears appealing, but hurts your character's or party's survivability in the long run.
"Tax" - an option that you pretty much can't live without, so you know you're going to spend resources on it no matter what, so why isn't it a class feature? For Example: Iron Will for fighters, or maxed-out Perception for everyone.
Here's another one I'm stating to hate: "roll-playing." As if anyone who has dice at the table is breaking the sanctity of storytime and is obviously a Bad Person.
I politely request someone explain the "trap" and "tax" terms."Trap" - an option that appears appealing, but hurts your character's or party's survivability in the long run.
"Tax" - an option that you pretty much can't live without, so you know you're going to spend resources on it no matter what, so why isn't it a class feature? For Example: Iron Will for fighters, or maxed-out Perception for everyone.
I would define them slightly differently:
"Trap" - a choice that is "worse" than the "best" choice you could make.
"Tax" - the "best" choice you can make (which is therefore a "mandatory" choice).
At least that's how they're usually used in context.
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Here's another one I'm stating to hate: "roll-playing." As if anyone who has dice at the table is breaking the sanctity of storytime and is obviously a Bad Person.
Which brings me to the text on the back of every Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure. "Remember the good old days, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level? Those days are back. Dungeon Crawl Classics don't waste your time with long-winded speeches, weird campaign settings, or NPCs who aren't meant to be killed. Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl, with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the secret doors you know are there somewhere. "
Here's another one I'm stating to hate: "roll-playing." As if anyone who has dice at the table is breaking the sanctity of storytime and is obviously a Bad Person.Which brings me to the text on the back of every Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure. "Remember the good old days, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level?"
Continuing the same non-logic. Good. I mean, we're obviously not able to have a scenario in which maybe the party is negotiating with a noble, and you play out the whole scene, with setting and dialogue and everything, and at the end of your speech you roll a check to see if he buys your argument. I'm told that's impossible, because the introduction of a die roll at the end sends out a ripple in the time-space continuum, going back into the past and rendering the players mute and forcing them to be incapable of playing out the scene.
+1 for gish. I hates it.
"Trap" - an option that appears appealing, but hurts your character's or party's survivability in the long run.
"Tax" - an option that you pretty much can't live without, so you know you're going to spend resources on it no matter what, so why isn't it a class feature? For Example: Iron Will for fighters, or maxed-out Perception for everyone.
"Trap" - a choice that is "worse" than the "best" choice you could make.
"Tax" - the "best" choice you can make (which is therefore a "mandatory" choice).
Can I have some examples of Traps then, and how they qualify as such?
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Continuing the same non-logic. Good. I mean, we're obviously not able to have a scenario in which maybe the party is negotiating with a noble, and you play out the whole scene, with setting and dialogue and everything, and at the end of your speech you roll a check to see if he buys your argument. I'm told that's impossible, because the introduction of a die roll at the end sends out a ripple in the time-space continuum, going back into the past and rendering the players mute and forcing them to be incapable of playing out the scene.Here's another one I'm stating to hate: "roll-playing." As if anyone who has dice at the table is breaking the sanctity of storytime and is obviously a Bad Person.Which brings me to the text on the back of every Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure. "Remember the good old days, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level?"
Here's the deal with that, at least with me: I could, conceivably, were I a better orator, give a speech, beseeching said noble that my cause is just, it is completely in his enlightened self interest to aid me, that puppies and dragons will live in perfect harmony if he just gives my group the aid needed to find the flafuffle and defeat the evil whizbag. The entire table is in tears, carrying me around the room on their shoulders for the inspirational words that flowed out of me...
....then I roll a one.
Why bother with all the crap before the roll, if all that matters is the stupid die roll?
Sometimes I really miss 1e and DM fiat...
;)
The entire table is in tears, carrying me around the room on their shoulders for the inspirational words that flowed out of me...then I roll a one.
Why bother with all the crap before the roll, if all that matters is the stupid die roll?
Mr. Fishy give penaties and bonus on rolls depending on what you say or do a good speech or arguement not roll is needed. I lie to the guard is a roll with a penalty if you aren't going to try then neither is Mr. Fishy. Tell the guard you're lost/recently attacked/under secrect orders something. Mr. Fishy will have a guard kick you butt if the lie is to far fetch, remember guards are old school cops and the cops hate you too.
Can I have some examples of Traps then, and how they qualify as such?
I would consider the 3.5 Mystic Theurge a "trap" for most of your career, because a wizard 2/cleric 3 (for example) can in no way contribute equally to a 5th level character of any class. Your enemies are lobbing 5d6 (or better) fireballs at the entire party, your response is a 2d4 burning hands, and then you can maybe channel 2d6 hp of healing afterward. In essence, you're two cohorts who only get half an action each. You personally might have fun with it, but your fun in this case actively robs the other players of theirs -- because keeping you alive requires a LOT of babysitting on their parts, and in the meantime you're not doing anything that meaningfully boosts their chances of survival.
I would consider the 3.5 Mystic Theurge a "trap" for most of your career, because a wizard 2/cleric 3 (for example) can in no way contribute equally to a 5th level character of any class. Your enemies are lobbing 5d6 (or better) fireballs at the entire party, your response is a 2d4 burning hands, and then you can maybe channel 2d6 hp of healing afterward. In essence, you're two cohorts who only get half an action each. You personally might have fun with it, but your fun in this case actively robs the other players of theirs -- because keeping you alive requires a LOT of babysitting on their parts, and in the meantime you're not doing anything that meaningfully boosts their chances of survival.
<small rant>
I tried getting this idea across, but my group looked at me like I had lost my mind.If clerics and powerful, and wizards are powerful then a prestige class that can do what they both do is really powerful.<--This is not my idea of a good idea
I say it's nonsense, but they are not trying to hear it. I want them to play one. Sometimes experience is the best teacher.
The PF mystic theurge is probably not much better, but I have not had time to examine it yet.
</small rant>
I want them to play one. Sometimes experience is the best teacher.
Better yet, YOU play one. When everyone gets tired of having to carry your dead weight around the adventure no matter what you do, someone will eventually get wise that your playing isn't the problem.
I want them to play one. Sometimes experience is the best teacher.Better yet, YOU play one. When everyone gets tired of having to carry your dead weight around the adventure no matter what you do, someone will eventually get wise that your playing isn't the problem.
For some reason, this cracked me up.
Any term that reduces roleplaying to some exercise in rule appliance.
(that includes about everything coming from MMORPGs, and the shorthand used there, too)
Like:
build
char (I´ve heard chara in german - even worse)
level up
take a level of xx
pally
Stefan
"All the crap before the roll" is what allows the roll to happen in the first place. Without it, you're not talking the noble into anything, you're just playing with a small chunk of plastic. But the roll matters, too, because (to my mind, at least) there needs to be a disconnect between the player's abilities and the character's. Otherwise we'd all have to engage in hand-to-hand combat to resolve melee, and I don't think Jess would show up anymore after that!
The die roll is more for a player who does not have the skill to role-play a character's skill, like in the speech example. If a player can properly role-play that scene, then you can still have a die roll, but I would set a minimum acceptable result, if I thought the player did well enough so that there would be no chance of failure. Of course, you could also secretly have the noble written up in a way so that no matter what is said or what the die roll is, that he will not agree and the character will fail. There is a plot and a story being told, after all.
"Build", "nerf" and "gish" are all annoying, but the one I dislike the most, by far, is tier. I hate the very concept of tiers.
Look, I don't play a wizard because he's a "tier 1" character, whatever that means. I choose to play a wizard because I want to play a bookworm who can unleash the very lightnings with a word and a thought. Perhaps a shy lad who gains confidence as he delves deeper into Arcane magic, who goes on adventures because his friends are going, or to help rescue someone. Someone who has self-doubt because he's used to being weak, but when the chips are down, can come through with an unexpected or clever spell.
I just dislike anything that makes a class less about the sort of character you want to be, and more about your tactical role in the party.
Any term that reduces roleplaying to some exercise in rule appliance.
(that includes about everything coming from MMORPGs, and the shorthand used there, too)
Like:build
char (I´ve heard chara in german - even worse)
level up
take a level of xx
pallyStefan
I agree with everything in this thread so far except for one.
Taking a level in xx sucks in all instances but one.
That one is taking a level in Badass. You can't go wrong there.
Seriously, I HATE the word toon. If you talk to me about your "toon," I'm going to have trouble taking your character seriously in any way.