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And I have to say, the more I play with them, the more I'm loving Hero Points.
Last night the two casters (shaman and necromancer) got caught by two barbarians, and it was... bad. The shaman had 3 hit points left, and the necromancer had 11, so one of them was going to die.
Cue the expenditure of one Hero Point for the shaman to cast Fly, take a second action to grapple the necromancer, and then a move action to fly up as fast as the spell would take him (i.e., not a heck of a lot, but enough to get out of reach).
The barbarians were left facing the bloodrager. Unhappy barbarians.
Just an epic, epic moment, brought about by Hero Points.
A bloodrager, necromancer, and a shaman walk into a bar...
Why do I feel like I should know that party?
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You should know pants.
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<_<
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Greetings, dread lady.
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<_<
Hey! I know you!
... what a time for you to show up!
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[initiating hope circuits]
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And I have to say, the more I play with them, the more I'm loving Hero Points.
Last night the two casters (shaman and necromancer) got caught by two barbarians, and it was... bad. The shaman had 3 hit points left, and the necromancer had 11, so one of them was going to die.
Cue the expenditure of one Hero Point for the shaman to cast Fly, take a second action to grapple the necromancer, and then a move action to fly up as fast as the spell would take him (i.e., not a heck of a lot, but enough to get out of reach).
The barbarians were left facing the bloodrager. Unhappy barbarians.
Just an epic, epic moment, brought about by Hero Points.
A bloodrager, necromancer, and a shaman walk into a bar...
Why do I feel like I should know that party?
The necromancer's a tengu. Does that help?
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[initiating hope circuits]
Dang it, every time I see this, there's this moment...
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Dang it, every time I see this, there's this moment...[initiating hope circuits]
I thought with Scint around Orthos might follow.
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Mostly poked around because I'm teaching some kids to play PF (one of them found out I played last spring and begged me to teach her. I told her get a group together, and we'll talk...so I have six high school kids being walked through their first PnP game ever) and wanted to poke about the AP forums. We're about midway through Edge of Anarchy.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Mostly poked around because I'm teaching some kids to play PF (one of them found out I played last spring and begged me to teach her. I told her get a group together, and we'll talk...so I have six high school kids being walked through their first PnP game ever) and wanted to poke about the AP forums. We're about midway through Edge of Anarchy.
Be glad it's not boys. I could tell you stories about teenage boys and Pathfinder...
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Other than my brother I know one other person that plays Pathfinder.
Unfortunately, D&D is too strong in our area.
I hate it.
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Yes, I did put a blanket on our last pumpkin and string of gourds.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Mostly poked around because I'm teaching some kids to play PF (one of them found out I played last spring and begged me to teach her. I told her get a group together, and we'll talk...so I have six high school kids being walked through their first PnP game ever) and wanted to poke about the AP forums. We're about midway through Edge of Anarchy.Be glad it's not boys. I could tell you stories about teenage boys and Pathfinder...
Two boys, four girls. Two of the girls are flirting with literally every NPC we meet.
Huzzah! My kind of players!
... wait.
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The dog sure does love the colder weather, I think smells are smellier.
Or maybe just the bunnies.
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Huzzah! My kind of players!
... wait.
It's so awkward, and it's already reached the point where I think half of the flirting is just a running joke.
...as soon as they heard the king was dead, they began arguing over which of them gets to marry the queen. I...um...yeah, have fun with that.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Two boys, four girls. Two of the girls are flirting with literally every NPC we meet.Mostly poked around because I'm teaching some kids to play PF (one of them found out I played last spring and begged me to teach her. I told her get a group together, and we'll talk...so I have six high school kids being walked through their first PnP game ever) and wanted to poke about the AP forums. We're about midway through Edge of Anarchy.Be glad it's not boys. I could tell you stories about teenage boys and Pathfinder...
When they move on to marrying froghemoths, THEN we'll talk...
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Boy, won't they be surprised. I wish I could see their faces when they find out that the Queen isn't that nice of a person.
I know, right? They didn't even ask to roll sense motive or anything.
This after they've sense motived everything they've met up to that point. Loyal to the crown, I guess?
"Blind loyalty will only get you killed." - Some singer whose name escapes me right now.
Boy, won't they be surprised. I wish I could see their faces when they find out that the Queen isn't that nice of a person.I know, right? They didn't even ask to roll sense motive or anything.
This after they've sense motived everything they've met up to that point. Loyal to the crown, I guess?
More like, "She's the queen and a clearly mourning widow - why would we suspect her?"
It's a blind spot many people have.
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I think it was Bruce Springsteen, but it wasn't part of a song. If I recall correctly, it was an intro.
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Welcome back, Scintillae. You have been missed.
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Short version: it's the same thing that you see it as, except for adding the whole "mutant power" angle to it.
In terms of theming, though, they're very different.
They were, at least in D&D, some combination of martial arts monks (including some influence on clothing), but stylized in the extremely urban "punk" motifs (with tattoos and piercings), a "new age" blend of internal thought and some few motifs (see: crystals, also clothing), and Lovecraftian elements (see most other things).
As much as I love it, I still have an extremely unfortunate lack of physical Dreamscarred merch (meaning that, for me at least, I pay less attention to the art), but, upon glancing through again, it seems the "urban punk" aesthetic is replaced by more of a "high fantasy" aesthetic (heavily informed by, but distinct from, Paizo's Pathfinder aesthetic).
While the original focused on dark and grim conceits with background emphasizing decay and collapse, the Dreamscarred stuff is actually bright and clean - even the dark pictures show exalted-like* heroes, and this makes a huge difference in things.
While imagery doesn't make the world, it can inform what the authors and designers were thinking, to some extent.
The 3.5 versions were, in effect, outcast urban-/mana-punk 'lonesome' shamans, who haunted solitary places in order to find their own inner path to enlightenment, and maybe follow strange psychic calls and weird (or wyrd) realities to find others of their ilk and congregate for great psychic** power. Maybe they take on some apprentice or another who happens to have the bizarre mutation that allows them to exist. The world is crap, and bad things happen to good people, but that inner light - that genetic quirk that makes you "other" - might just save you from the madness. In rare situations, there will be secluded monasteries or whole institutions devoted to churning out these creatures - inevitably either "those few holding back the edge of madness" or "those monsters stealing our minds out from among us."
The DSP, on the other hand, shows a world where there may, well, be monasteries, schools, even knightly orders and royal academies of the same. These psionic individuals are part of the kingdom or nation or whatever. These are not outcasts - hated for being weird and bizarre - these are the keepers of the kingdom, those shining paragons who keep the darkness at bay with upright postures and loyalty to the <proper authority> (even if it is only themselves, depending on alignment). There are certainly places of seclusion, but those places are either sanctioned - by their own choice, if not actual governments - or weirdos to their own kind. And, to be clear, "their own kind" is just as common as anyone else.
In this case, they become respected communities and honor among the people in general.
All that said: they actually are, you know, exactly those people who disappear into a monastery and come back martial powerhouses - at least some of them. The psychic warriors and soulknives are, and, if you go with the full DSP stuff, aegis, marksman, and tactician are all martial masters.
The more "pure" psionic creatures like psions require both extreme self-discipline (something I'm sadly lacking) as well a "spark" - an innate talent that can't be taught. That is what separates them from, say, wizards, who are simply trained into their magic. But I'm certain enough about DSP feats to say that for sure, though it was clearly that way in 3.X.
Anyway, lots of rambling. Does that help?
It does! I never noticed psionics having a Lovecraftian theme, but that does give me an idea! While I think that D&D is plenty full of opportunities for casters to allay/succumb to Dark Dangers from Beyond, whether they be fiends, dark gods, or angry elementals -- and to be honest, I'm not much of a Lovecraft fan -- I'm now imagining psionics creating opportunities for casters to succumb to the Dark Dangers from Within.
If psionics is all about self-discipline and self-knowing...what if a psion's true self turns out to be really really ugly, and becoming a psion has the secondary effect of distilling and strengthening that ugliness, and stripping away the inner barriers keeping it from the outside world?
I've spent years looking inward and searching for my inner self, and what I've discovered is...that I hate, and that I love to hate...
Provides plenty of fodder for conflict both within and without the ascetic orders -- the orders have reason to hunt so-called dark psions, because they make the orders look bad. Unless of course politics get involved, and one order uses the infamy of another order's dark psion to gain in prestige. And then there are the priests, who love to use dark psions as an example of why mortals are flawed and require divine inspiration. And the ascetic orders are always quick to point out the terrible things which certain priests have done in the name of the gods...
Yeeeeeessssss, I think you've just given me something to work with...
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I guess I should probably make an appearance, if only because I was gonna start doing writeups of our new Savage Tide game sooner or later...
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Welcome back, Scintillae. You have been missed.
It's really just been hyper busy here. Last post was just after I finished moving for new job, so settling in had to happen. So much happier at this district than the last, even if it's twice as many preps to deal with (but hey, I'm finally back to social studies, if only half the day).
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I guess I should probably make an appearance, if only because I was gonna start doing writeups of our new Savage Tide game sooner or later...
Oh, good God.
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SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU BOOOOOTH~!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I guess I should probably make an appearance, if only because I was gonna start doing writeups of our new Savage Tide game sooner or later...
Yay!
Sounds fun!
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Hey there Orthos.
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The necromancer's a tengu. Does that help?And I have to say, the more I play with them, the more I'm loving Hero Points.
Last night the two casters (shaman and necromancer) got caught by two barbarians, and it was... bad. The shaman had 3 hit points left, and the necromancer had 11, so one of them was going to die.
Cue the expenditure of one Hero Point for the shaman to cast Fly, take a second action to grapple the necromancer, and then a move action to fly up as fast as the spell would take him (i.e., not a heck of a lot, but enough to get out of reach).
The barbarians were left facing the bloodrager. Unhappy barbarians.
Just an epic, epic moment, brought about by Hero Points.
A bloodrager, necromancer, and a shaman walk into a bar...
Why do I feel like I should know that party?
And they are accompanied by a human rogue, and a bunch of ghouls and skeletons commanded by the necromancer? No idea who they might be!
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ducktales?
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I guess I should probably make an appearance, if only because I was gonna start doing writeups of our new Savage Tide game sooner or later...
Wait...
This one's real!!!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I guess I should probably make an appearance, if only because I was gonna start doing writeups of our new Savage Tide game sooner or later...
I hope to be the first, and only person to get to 500 aliases.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I stabbed myself in the forehead with a car door.
This summer I mean, not again.
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Off to the last day at work.
|
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I didn't realize I wanted an immense submarine aircraft carrier until today, but yeah now I want one.
Did anyone
here play TOP SECRET back in the day?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I didn't realize I wanted an immense submarine aircraft carrier until today, but yeah now I want one.
Did anyone
here play TOP SECRET back in the day?
Yes.