OOC General D20 and Tabletop RPG Discussion Thread

It would certainly tie into the whole "sun and moon" thing I've had going for you.

 

Man, Words of Creation... it's like a sword of Damocles. I have to take it at some point, and at that point I become the singular embodiment of a glass buffer.

 

Pet peeve time: Most of the time, it's not ki! Crusaders (the moves Skadi uses) channel divine energy through devotion and zeal (which is pretty much what Skadi does already), while Warblades use sheer athleticism and training. The only maneuvers that specifically mention ki are some of the swordsage-exclusive ones (some Desert Wind and Shadow Hand stuff).

Thus every time you mention "Skadi" and "ki" in the same sentence, I get a tic.

 

*shrug* I really like it as ki, myself, but if it really bothers you we can look at a different system.

I also had a thought about compensating somewhat for the loss of 1d6 which would've otherwise accrued from the additional level up. Basically a rogue gets +1d6 sneak attack, +1 to trap sense, and +1 to Fort and Will. BAB doesn't go up. First level swordsage gets +2 to Reflex and Will, and no rise to BAB. I don't think we can replace Trap Sense or find an extra +1 to Fort somewhere, but aside from the stances and maneuvers one gains, there's also Discipline Focus, which functions basically as Weapon Focus for any of the weapons a given school is associated with. Corrath uses rapier, shortsword, and kukri, which are covered by Diamond Mind, Shadow Hand, and Tiger Claw schools respectively.

This is where the feat known as Craven comes in. From Champions of Ruin, p.17. Basically, you take a -2 penalty to all saves against fear -- buuuut, when making a sneak attack, you do an extra point of damage per character level.

So if Corrath trades out Weapon Focus for Craven, she gets -1 to attack rolls with her kukri (and daggers and short swords), but retains her accuracy with her rapier. Additionally, her sneak attack -- not sure if Telling Blow synergises with it or not -- gets an additional 9 points of damage per sneak attack, which compensates for losing the 1d6 from not taking Rogue 9. And Craven's bonuses get better as you go up in levels.

The main drawback being, of course, that her saves against fear are nerfed by 2. Still, that's why you've got brother Elvis singing and (when you're caught without a song) the Aura of Courage from Skadi to stiffen your resolve.

Thus, to sum up Craven's effect when it's traded for Weapon Focus:
-1 to attack rolls with daggers, short swords, and kukris
No change to attack accuracy with rapiers
-2 to saves on fear
+9 and rising to sneak attack damage. (I think really Craven should synergise with Telling Blow since the feat description says "Your sneak attacks do more damage than normal" and Telling Blow allows you to apply sneak attack damage to your critical hits.)

 

Which generation are you guys actually using?

 

3.5 - the house rules bump it up to a sort of hybridized 3.75 edition but it's not really Pathfinder per se.

Pretty nostalgic rules set for me, mostly because I got in on the ground floor with 3e (Good old Adventure Game ) but 3.5 is when I really got into it.

Also third edition bards are the best bards, Gimble or no Gimble.

 

Ramza, I don't think we've been running bards correctly.

Some bardic abilities require concentration, such as fascinate and inspire concentration. Inspire Courage and Inspire Greatness don't, they just require you to keep singing. Normally you couldn't cast spells or use certain items while singing, but that's what Melodic Casting is for. So in theory, you don't even need to use your harmonizing rapier and can maintain Inspire Courage for as long as you want. Snowflake War Dance only requires a free action to activate, and doesn't interfere with singing, so you can fire up both in round 1 if you want and then full attack while maintaining the song.

Unfortunately, this means you got hosed on the Harmonizing enhancement, since you can't use the harmonizing enhancement to maintain a bard song while you work on a second one. I can't really think of a use for it, aside from maybe holding on to a fascinate or inspire competence while you do something that requires a standard action (and inspire competence isn't that good to begin with. Its only redeeming feature is that you need it for Song of the Heart, which is awesome).

 

Interesting...

I notice Inspire Courage keeps its effect on for 5 rounds after the bard stops singing, while the harmonising enhancement carries the tune for 10 rounds. Does that change the math?

 

Well, it makes it seem like you'd basically get 15 rounds after you stop singing (Singing + 10 rounds carried + 5 rounds after halting).

 

Is Tide of Flames the only heavily rules-based game around here? I'm thinking about launching another. Probably D&D 4e (if that doesn't conflict with the boards one-game-per-franchise policy) or Eclipse Phase, maybe something else. D&D 4e not just because I like the system but because I'm familiar with it having run a game of it the past couple summers; Eclipse Phase because I'd also like to branch out and it's all open source and sharing is allowed, even though I'm not as comfortable with it.

Would there be interest in another rules-based game around here? In any case I'd like to keep it small, and I'd be counting on not all of our starters knowing the rules - I'd plan on easing new players into whichever system I decide to run with.

 

I'd be game for either, although the current gamut of things I want to play in is going to catch up with me eventually.

 

Hamm!

I believe ToF is the only one currently, yes. We had a few that were sekritly using dice in the background (that is, the GM was rolling dice without telling anyone) but I think they've all concluded by now.

 

Good to see you back, Hamm. I'm always up for rule-based games. Especially when, as is my continuing, bad joke, I can proudly say that I am under the rules given by Hammurabi.

 

People still use the one game per franchise rule? I thought by now we were just running whatever games got interest.

Anyways, if you run a D&D game, I will play/help others build whatever they want as needed.

 

I also would be interest in playing it Hamm. I am currently on Saints wait list for ToF.

 

Big P.S., which I intended to put up in my previous post: not trying to bind the current moderating team, but Hammer and I ditched the "one game per franchise" rule some years ago. Thus it's pretty much anything goes these days.

 

^ This.

And no worries on the binding front; in fact I recall being one of those arguing in favour of ditching that rule back in the day.

 

All right, I'm moving ahead with this and currently working on a 4e D&D-based game. Any suggestions/ideas on how to work on things like building characters for a system tied to sourcebooks? I'd be available to help people work on this via chat or PM when the time comes. But if anyone has any other ideas I'd much appreciate it. As far as I know there aren't any online character generators for this sort of thing.

 

Well, there *is*, but it requires a subscription fee.

The first two or three pages of ToF would probably be relevant to your interests on this front, methinks.

 

Additionally, there are those of us who *cough cough* have *cough* a certain *cough* form of access to 4e books. Not that I'm at all versed with 4e personally, and if the experience with 3.5 is anything to go by, there'll be handbooks out there for effective character builds.

Light's lovely summation of 4e roles and characters makes for essential reading, too.

 

Oh, I'm well aware of these other methods. Perhaps that's also something else I could work out in chats with individual players.

I'll be taking a look through the first few pages of Tide of Flames over the next week or so with a particular eye on the mechanics you've used to make a d20 system operable online. ETA on actually starting is still something like a month out. I'm taking it easy for now.

 

I'd also recommend lurking the Giant In the Playground forums. There's any number of 4e games that run on PbP over there, too. In practice it's not that much different from how we do things here. About the only difference is that GITP's forums have dice rollers inbuilt, while we have to use Invisible Castle.

 

Thanks for the pointer. Never heard of that site before, but I'm taking a look around in there.

As far as dice rolls go, is there any way to determine the legitimacy of the rolls through Invisible Castle? I'm tempted to just roll the dice myself. That does take a bit of the fun out of it though.

 

I believe they keep a record based on the name you choose to use in the roller. Not to mention people generally won't cheat their rolls anyway. You can always take away an individual player's right to roll if you suspect foul play, after all.

 

And remember: there is an argument that by definition, the DM can not cheat.