
NobodysHome |
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captain yesterday wrote:Do I want to YouTube those Jewels?Rage Against the Machine and Run The Jewels touring together!!!!
Three dates within a hundred miles of us!!!!!!!
Asphyxiates from excitement.
It's like someone plucked the dream concert from my mind and plopped it down onstage.
I definitely don't want a YouTube of THOSE Jewels.

Drejk |
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Drejk wrote:I definitely don't want a YouTube of THOSE Jewels.captain yesterday wrote:Do I want to YouTube those Jewels?Rage Against the Machine and Run The Jewels touring together!!!!
Three dates within a hundred miles of us!!!!!!!
Asphyxiates from excitement.
It's like someone plucked the dream concert from my mind and plopped it down onstage.
DAMMIT!
I thought I turned the camera off in the settings...

Drejk |
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*extended, and not necessarily needed monologue about outsiders*
Oh, and part of the legacy confusion when it comes to animating outsiders might come from the fact, that both in the (A)D&D past and in many other systems extraplanars (be their generic outsiders or more specific demons) might not have been considered "living beings" in the first place, occasionally being viewed as not-alive (because they tend to not operate on biological processes), and occasionally grouped with undead as being a form of "antilife" (at least fiends).
3rd edition (or maybe 3.5) redefined, or at least clarified the D&D idea of living being (on mechanical and in-game metaphysical levels) as those who on metaphysical level are alive and their life force is composed of positive energy, instead of centering on biological definitions of life.
And then it got complicated by living creatures with negative energy affinity, which are naturally powered by negative energy, but are not undead, usually but not always because they have enough of conventionally working body biology (e.g. dhampyrs) or some other metaphysical qualities that make them closer to living beings than undead.

Tacticslion |

Drejk wrote:*extended, and not necessarily needed monologue about outsiders*Oh, and part of the legacy confusion when it comes to animating outsiders might come from the fact, that both in the (A)D&D past and in many other systems extraplanars (be their generic outsiders or more specific demons) might not have been considered "living beings" in the first place, occasionally being viewed as not-alive (because they tend to not operate on biological processes), and occasionally grouped with undead as being a form of "antilife" (at least fiends).
3rd edition (or maybe 3.5) redefined, or at least clarified the D&D idea of living being (on mechanical and in-game metaphysical levels) as those who on metaphysical level are alive and their life force is composed of positive energy, instead of centering on biological definitions of life.
And then it got complicated by living creatures with negative energy affinity, which are naturally powered by negative energy, but are not undead, usually but not always because they have enough of conventionally working body biology (e.g. dhampyrs) or some other metaphysical qualities that make them closer to living beings than undead.
And don’t forget the deathless!

captain yesterday |

By the way, I had a friend that had what happens in the video happen to him (he dropped acid and walked downtown to meet us but someone that looked like him had just robbed a convenience store so he was tripping balls while being interrogated by the cops).
Killer Mike and El-P are national treasures.

Drejk |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

Drejk wrote:And don’t forget the deathless!Drejk wrote:*extended, and not necessarily needed monologue about outsiders*Oh, and part of the legacy confusion when it comes to animating outsiders might come from the fact, that both in the (A)D&D past and in many other systems extraplanars (be their generic outsiders or more specific demons) might not have been considered "living beings" in the first place, occasionally being viewed as not-alive (because they tend to not operate on biological processes), and occasionally grouped with undead as being a form of "antilife" (at least fiends).
3rd edition (or maybe 3.5) redefined, or at least clarified the D&D idea of living being (on mechanical and in-game metaphysical levels) as those who on metaphysical level are alive and their life force is composed of positive energy, instead of centering on biological definitions of life.
And then it got complicated by living creatures with negative energy affinity, which are naturally powered by negative energy, but are not undead, usually but not always because they have enough of conventionally working body biology (e.g. dhampyrs) or some other metaphysical qualities that make them closer to living beings than undead.
*sweeps deathless under the rug*
Crappy, pointless idea that could be done simply as an undead subtype in the first place.
Not to mention weird ideas like in AD&D mummies were supposed to be powered by positive energy...
*goes off on a rant about how poorly the ideas of positive/negative energy were thought since the beginning of D&D*

Mistah Rolth |
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Orthos wrote:Constructs have immunity to necromantic effects.This btw is basically exactly how the "can androids/warforged/other lifeforms composed of non standard (i.e., 'not flesh blood and bone') materials be reanimated as undead?" thread eventually concluded that, by the wording of the spell and template, the only thing stopping an Iron Golem from being animated as a skeleton is its lack of skeletal structure; it can become a zombie just fine, as all that template requires is that the base creature be corporeal and not already undead.
Not that you would WANT to, but you could, technically.
Curses! Foiled again!

Tacticslion |
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So I looked it up, and, at least in PF, neither animate dead nor the create undead lines allow SR.
True constructs are still immune to necromancy, though.
Curiously, though, they aren't immune to transmutation effects, meaning they could hypothetically be changed into something that lacks said immunity and animated ("but what happens when they turn bac-" "SHUT UP AND DO IT"), but, alas, baleful polymorph, polymorph any object and similar effects allow SR, meaning golems in general still can't be affected due to magic immunity (and the other polymorph spells I looked at require a living creature, anyway).
It's a weird element to make constructs broadly immune to, kind of akin to the polymorph immunity on plants, though at least the necromancy immunity kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind of makes more sense, -ish, on a construct.
("Except for all those constructs with souls they got running around, which-" "QUIET, YOU")

NobodysHome |
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Yeah, this is the kind of neighborhood I live in.
Impus Major got home around sunset, turned on the dome light in the Celica, then forgot to turn it off and forgot to lock the car. So, my car was going to sit on the street with its dome light on and its door unlocked all night. Pretty much a 90% chance of being robbed.
Except... a neighbor from six houses down was going to the corner store, knocked on my door, and said, "Hey, NobodysHome! That's your car, right? You should take care of that."
And yes, I knew his name, he knew my name, and it's just the kind of neighborhood I live in. We all know each other.
Makes me happy.

gran rey de los mono |
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A man goes the doctor complaining of a very sore leg. He gets in at 11:55 am, and tells the doctor his leg is sore. He then explains that he’s also experiencing some other weird things with the leg. The man explains to the doctor that every hour on the hour, his thigh asks for money. The Doctor is a bit perplexed, but waits until 12:00 and uses his stethoscope to listen to the thigh. Sure enough, at 12:00 the Doctor hears the thigh say “Have you got 10 bucks. Can I borrow 10 bucks, I really need the money”. The Doctor doesn’t understand what’s going on. Then the man says, at every quarter hour, my knee also asks for money. At 12:15, the Doctor listens to the mans knee through his stethoscope where he hears the knee say “Have you got 20 bucks. Can I borrow 20 bucks, I really need the money”. The Doctor is even more befuddled. Then the man says, at every half hour, my ankle asks for money. At 12:30, the Doctor listens to the mans ankle through his stethoscope where he hears the ankle say ‘Have you got 50 bucks. Can I borrow 50 bucks, I really need the money”. The doctor tells the man he doesn’t know what’s going on. It’s something he’s never encountered before. The Doctor asks the man to come back in a week where the Doctor will do some research in the interim. A week later the man comes back and asks the Doctor if he has any news.
The Doctor says "Yes. I've done some research into the problem and found that your leg is broke in 3 places."

captain yesterday |
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Rocko (on his penchant for leaving me with the last two places on his third of the list because he needs to let his dog out): At least I show up!
I wonder how much a box of "participant" ribbons cost, so I can give him one every time he shows up.
I told him "That's why I'm the leader and you're not, because I do more than just show up"
What I didn't tell him was "that's why I make 5 dollars an hour more than you".

Tacticslion |

I might switch back to button up shirts, as I like those, but it'd still be all day jeans every day.
Speaking of awkward celebrity, who has two thumbs and is dressed exactly like the description above?!
It’s ya booooiiiiiiiiii
I may be extremely sorry, but I’m not sure yet, as I need to process my feelings on actually making that in text.

NobodysHome |
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I find it rather amusing that, after writing up my weekly evisceration of Strange Aeons Book 4, and continuing to heap praise on Shattered Star Book 2 because "the author planned for anything the PCs might do", my Shattered Star PCs are breaking out of the AP by...
...actually politely stopping outside of the beastman villages and calling out that they're there and they'd like to talk.
Yeah, wonderful when AP authors can't even comprehend the idea of PCs showing up and trying to be nice. At least in Shattered Star I'm given a HUGE amount of background about the tribes so I know where they are mentally and I can work out a reasonable reaction...

NobodysHome |
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That's it. I'm changing your avatar to Ned Flanders behind a DM screen.
I'm changing tacticslion's to ned flanders as if he were in FFT.
I'm changing Orthos' avatar to a pokemon trainer.
I'm changing Scints to a random pokemon that is her exact height.
Well, it's the classic and frustrating beyond all reason trope.
GM: Your party must travel across orcish lands to reach your destination.Party: OK. We stop on the edge of their lands, wait for a patrol, call out to them in Orcish, and indicate that we want to negotiate a generous payment to travel across their lands.
GM: Sorry. The AP is written so they all automatically attack you on sight. Roll initiative!
Party: *sigh*
There's this underlying concept that ALL creatures with an "E" in their bestiary entry are auto-fights, and I have a group of players who like to play a far more nuanced game, where diplomacy, negotiation, and (where necessary) intimidation all come into play.
The black-and-white, "They see you and attack! Roll initiative!" is just plain boring for my group.
EDIT: And it's disturbing just how many people believe that, "This is how D&D is played." The Fake Russian, who is a fantastic Runequest GM, ran a Pathfinder campaign and his entire approach was, "If you don't kill it, you don't get XP for it."
So whether it got away, you used Diplomacy, or you just chose mercy over murder, you lost XP. Murderhoboing was the only way to get XP and level up. Needless to say, the campaign disintegrated in barely a year because it wasn't how the players wanted to play, but it's how he felt Pathfinder was supposed to be run...

Scintillae |
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I wonder what kind of tables the writers have run.
My home group? Will absolutely try diplomacy. On everything. Our warlock has adopted a will-o-wisp, much to our consternation.
My kids? If it bleeds, we can rob it and probably also if it doesn't bleed
"How come we don't ever go to big cities?" the rogue asked me this week.
I let them go to a city. Within one round of entering, they were in a fight and debating whether or not to start fires.

Ragadolf |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

I wonder what kind of tables the writers have run.
My home group? Will absolutely try diplomacy. On everything. Our warlock has adopted a will-o-wisp, much to our consternation.
My kids? If it bleeds, we can rob it and probably also if it doesn't bleed
"How come we don't ever go to big cities?" the rogue asked me this week.
I let them go to a city. Within one round of entering, they were in a fight and debating whether or not to start fires.
THAT sounds about right. ;P
My old group were pretty murder-hobo-y, but then 'Back in the Day', that was how (most) ALL of the modules were written! ;)
We were happy to TRY diplomacy, from time to time, when available.
We almost always ended up in a fight anyway. (Whether because the module said they attacked us, or we goaded them into it!) ;P
But hey, we TRIED! ;)

Tacticslion |
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I remember reading one AP (or some published adventure, 4E?) where it just kind of assumed that the PCs would try diplomacy. And I was flummoxed. They had to battle a horde of these same people - not just the same kind of people but literally they had assaulted the very fortress they were in the middle of and slaughtered their way to the throne room - the adventure allowed for nothing else - and the adventure then just stops and says, “So now that they are in front of the evil queen, they have to diplomacy her to help them.” And it makes no daggum sense. And it dares to suggest that they have to because of how many guards she has. Which are outnumbered by all the folks they just slaughtered their way through. Because the designated bad guys left them with no choice. It’s such a tonal whiplash with no in-character reason for the change except, “those guys look scary” which, I don’t know if you’ve met PCs, but... no, that’s not a thing.
I mean, it can work in a story, but there are no provided motivations for anything, here - the PCs want a thing and the bad guys don’t have it but the PCs think they do and the bad guys immediately attack them and there is never a request for quarter or peace. If the PCs don’t fight? They don’t get rewards and the adventure grinds to a halt. If the PCs don’t diplomacy the boss? They get nothing and the adventure is lost. (As written.)
Now, again, it could be worked around, but the PCs need provided motivation and we really were never given any.
There was another published adventure (3.5?) where the PCs were given every reason to hate the bad guys, but they were headed into the bad guy territory and they didn’t have to fight them. In this case though, the bad guys were a legitimate business and had guards, but were used to threats and simply waived them off unless things actually got violent, in which case they subdued to take slaves. Further, though they had the Macguffin/info, there are instances they’re willing to give it up, and the AP provides a half-dozen different approaches and explains the methodology behind them and how to handle failure. This was a wonderful idea because it meant the adventure could continue - the PCs got beat? Adventure continues. The PCs win? Adventure continues. The PCs try something hit written? You have a large number of ways to understand the bad guys and know what they would do. And the PCs gain XP (and treasure) the whole way.
(It want perfect - it’s condemnation of murderhoboism was a little over the top, but it was otherwise quite well done.)
An AP can’t cover everything, but it needs to provide for adventurers to do the unexpected - overly scripted APs are way too easy to derail.

Freehold DM |
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Freehold DM wrote:That's it. I'm changing your avatar to Ned Flanders behind a DM screen.
I'm changing tacticslion's to ned flanders as if he were in FFT.
I'm changing Orthos' avatar to a pokemon trainer.
I'm changing Scints to a random pokemon that is her exact height.
Well, it's the classic and frustrating beyond all reason trope.
GM: Your party must travel across orcish lands to reach your destination.
Party: OK. We stop on the edge of their lands, wait for a patrol, call out to them in Orcish, and indicate that we want to negotiate a generous payment to travel across their lands.
GM: Sorry. The AP is written so they all automatically attack you on sight. Roll initiative!
Party: *sigh*There's this underlying concept that ALL creatures with an "E" in their bestiary entry are auto-fights, and I have a group of players who like to play a far more nuanced game, where diplomacy, negotiation, and (where necessary) intimidation all come into play.
The black-and-white, "They see you and attack! Roll initiative!" is just plain boring for my group.
EDIT: And it's disturbing just how many people believe that, "This is how D&D is played." The Fake Russian, who is a fantastic Runequest GM, ran a Pathfinder campaign and his entire approach was, "If you don't kill it, you don't get XP for it."
So whether it got away, you used Diplomacy, or you just chose mercy over murder, you lost XP. Murderhoboing was the only way to get XP and level up. Needless to say, the campaign disintegrated in barely a year because it wasn't how the players wanted to play, but it's how he felt Pathfinder was supposed to be run...

Tacticslion |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

I'm all for diplomacy. I'm all for killing things. But most of all, I am for appropriateness. Trying to talk down the head of an invading army, with a large bribe to keep things smooth, is not just okay, it is appropriate. Trying to do the same with a green ooze is not.
Tell it to the PC that specialized in “ooze empathy...” XD

Tacticslion |

I’m a player in Second Darkness and my character is a glob, friendly, highly (magically) forgettable (hypothetically reformed) assassin who easily slips into places others can’t and is quickly forgotten, regardless of the chaos he leaves behind.
As part of his vengeance schtick, there was a bad guy who did a bad thing to us, and his plan was, “I slip in, pull a prank, and slip out.” However, the GM (very reasonably) was all, “uh, let’s not buck the Choo-choo.” I quickly agreed and we went on (I played a different prank), but it was funny because the adventure assumed (and even basically told the GM, apparently) that the bad guy gets away with it for now and the PCs just can’t even.
Now, I love SD so far and am super into the Riddleport vibe, but I’m aware that’s going to change and signed up knowing it’s a rail road, and it shifts tonaly. But it was funny that in a crime and revenge driven city a bad guy does a thing to the PCs and the adventure is all, “Yeah they just gotta suck it up and take it, baby!”
(I still love the AP; I am aware of its pending weaknesses.)

Tacticslion |

So I looked it up, and, at least in PF, neither animate dead nor the create undead lines allow SR.
True constructs are still immune to necromancy, though.
Curiously, though, they aren't immune to transmutation effects, meaning they could hypothetically be changed into something that lacks said immunity and animated ("but what happens when they turn bac-" "SHUT UP AND DO IT"), but, alas, baleful polymorph, polymorph any object and similar effects allow SR, meaning golems in general still can't be affected due to magic immunity (and the other polymorph spells I looked at require a living creature, anyway).
It's a weird element to make constructs broadly immune to, kind of akin to the polymorph immunity on plants, though at least the necromancy immunity kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind of makes more sense, -ish, on a construct.
("Except for all those constructs with souls they got running around, which-" "QUIET, YOU")
Though you could use animate objects on a “dead” (“destroyed”) construct or undead, for the lulz...

NobodysHome |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

I think my favorite was Fortress of the Stone Giants, for the sheer number of players and GMs who pointed out that, given the number of giants and allies in the entry area, a full frontal assault would be suicide for any party.
And then complained that this meant the AP was poorly written!
They honestly and truly could not wrap their minds around any tactic other than a direct frontal assault on the front gates. And it was multiple groups that complained about it...

Tacticslion |

Reminds me of why my Serpent's Skull game failed: The kids made at least half a dozen attempts to simply storm the serpentfolk fortress, knowing full well that there were "over 200 serpentfolk with at least 7 levels of fighter" there.
Mine failed because, as cool as the concept was, the ancient lost city of secrets was boring and empty (and also populated, weirdly enough).
Also because people moved away.
I kept wanting SS to be better. It had so many cool parts that never quite congealed.
Hammer the anvil with your forehead until you win...
Hey! If it works for Fighter McFightington...

John Napier 698 |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There was another published adventure (3.5?) where the PCs were given every reason to hate the bad guys, but they were headed into the bad guy territory and they didn’t have to fight them. In this case though, the bad guys were a legitimate business and had guards, but were used to threats and simply waived them off unless things actually got violent, in which case they subdued to take slaves. Further, though they had the Macguffin/info, there are instances they’re willing to give it up, and the AP provides a half-dozen...
Sounds like the 3.0/3.5 Forgotten Realms. The Red Wizards of Thay would sponsor mercantile activities in order to attempt to spread their influence.