Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Mnemnosyne

Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5
1
[D&D 2e] Shadows in the Sky / Re: OOC Thread
« on: May 06, 2014, 04:43:57 PM »
You mean on Anjali's sheet?  That's a limitation of her Intelligence that applies to wizard spells.

Priest spells are actually more inconvenient; she needs to get her wisdom to 17 before she can cast 6th level spells, and to 18 before she can cast 7th level spells.  Means she's gonna have to get some magical items just to be able to cast her higher level spells once she reaches 11th level.  Fortunately, Netheril is one of the few places in 2nd Edition that actually has stat-improving magical items reasonably available.

2
[D&D 2e] Shadows in the Sky / Re: Character Sheets
« on: May 06, 2014, 01:45:15 PM »
Anjali

Still need to pick my cantras and figure out my encumbrance, but otherwise all ready I believe.  I've got a couple ideas on background too that I haven't gotten to sit down and fully flesh out, but the basics of it is: grew up in the Ioulaum enclave, recently passed her priestess training, and was sent to this enclave.  If it has a relatively stationary location and 'attached' ground community, I assume she works for whatever shrine or church may exist in the ground community that supports the enclave.

3
[D&D 2e] Shadows in the Sky / Re: OOC Thread
« on: May 05, 2014, 02:37:00 AM »
Table in the PHB.  It's in Chapter 9: Combat.  You check your class and level, and go across the table from there.

4
[D&D 2e] Shadows in the Sky / Re: OOC Thread
« on: May 05, 2014, 01:06:36 AM »
Cantras were basically cantrips, and cantrips are what prestidigitation is based on in 3.5, so probably most things you can imagine as an effect of prestidigitation will work as a cantra, with the addition that they don't all expire after an hour.

A dwarf being an armorer and weaponsmith makes a lot of sense, and it's actually another potentially reasonable reason for you to be in Netheril, too.  Almost all weapons and armor used in Netheril are actually of dwarven or elven manufacture, so a dwarf or elf smith might well find a thriving market in Netheril.

As for iron pots vs. swords, keep in mind that quality of the metal is going to be a big deal.  Even a novice blacksmith can make an iron pot that'll be sufficient for cooking with cheap metals, but a sword that isn't going to break requires both superior quality metal and superior craftsmanship.

As for me, if we are going to hopefully go into high levels eventually, I've decided I'm going to be human.  Half-elf is thematically interesting, but the multiclassing instead of dual-classing is crippling if we're going to be aiming for levels 20-40.  I will begin as a priestess of Mystryl, and dual-class into an arcanist eventually.  Leveling up priest beyond 14th level (at most) is of somewhat questionable value.  Dweomerkeeper magic resistance is nice, but not enough to want to spend a full half of my xp on leveling priest beyond access to 7th level spells, since it would require getting to level 40 before being able to cast quest spells...the same point at which arcanists become able to cast 12th level spells.

110 gp and ...one hit point.

I have a bad feeling about this.   :(

5
[D&D 2e] Shadows in the Sky / Re: OOC Thread
« on: May 04, 2014, 10:05:23 AM »
A long time ago, I pieced this together.  Far from perfect, but it might be useful:
(click to show/hide)
When it was scanned in for the pdf, it had a lot of oddities in sizing apparently, because the various pieces don't fit together right.
(click to show/hide)

6
[D&D 2e] Shadows in the Sky / Re: OOC Thread
« on: May 04, 2014, 01:04:45 AM »
Sounds good for low-level.  And we can amass cheap quasimagical items early on for lowbie adventures, and then when adventures take us outside the mythallar radius we wind up having to get real magical items.

I'm still undecided on half-elf or human, but will pretty much certainly do a Cleric of Mystryl/Arcanist.  Raineh, assuming everything goes well, how high level do you expect the game to get to?  Will we get into the 20's and 30's, possibly becoming Archwizard(s) ourselves, or do you not expect it to go that long?  Since I try to assume that my character will survive when deciding what to do and all, it's a big deal to know whether the game will (ideally) get into the range of 5 million or more xp.

As to everyone else...what I am reasonably certain of is that my character will have been born on and lived in the Ioulaum Enclave for the early part of her life, where she trained at the temple of Mystryl there, since if I go human, her first class will be the cleric and she'll eventually dual-class into arcanist, and if I go half-elf that's also a very reasonable place for her to come from.  It'd be nice to link up some backgrounds a bit so our characters are familiar with each other - at least known each other for a couple months.  It makes it much easier to get past that early 'glower at each other in suspicion' stage that hastily gathered groups tend to have.  If we all at least journeyed to this city together in the same caravan or something it'd give us an opportunity to establish a baseline level of trust during the journey.

Ooh, possible suggestion: Since the city is new, they're probably buying lots of new materials and equipment, which probably means a lot of caravans ultimately coming from Ascore.  This establishes the most logical entrance for Linklord's character, coming in from Ascore, and lets the rest of us have traveled with the caravan, probably in hopes of finding opportunity and work in the new enclave.  We thus got to know each other during the journey.

7
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 03, 2014, 07:17:54 AM »
Why send a priest? Because who better to check out the quality of the items you're buying than a priest of the god of Craftsdwarfship? Good point about the spells thing though.

My other idea was a priest of Mystryl, in case that doesn't work out.
Moradin is the dwarven god of craftsmanship.

All clerics get the Trascendent Winds.  As for the others...Moradin would probably grant the Prevailing Winds, at least.  I think Buffering Winds make some sense as well, and probably also the Predictable Winds.  At least, that would be my ballpark suggestion on the matter of what winds seem most appropriate for the god.

Beyond that, the sonnlinor (specialty priests of Moradin) are pretty straightforward in Demihuman Deities and don't seem to have anything that would be problematic in Netheril.  It is, however, noted that sonnlinor are not allowed to multiclass.
(click to show/hide)

8
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 02, 2014, 06:17:03 PM »
Yeah, I rolled on Invisible Castle earlier on, guess you missed the link up above: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4488365/

The local dice roller mentioned it wasn't secure and could be edited, and I didn't see a way to format 'drop lowest' in it.

9
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 02, 2014, 06:09:10 PM »
Well, in 2nd Edition, demihumans were at least as superior to humans as humans tend to be superior to other races in 3.5.  If you're going for optimization, it's often difficult to justify not being human in 3.5, and similarly in 2nd Edition, without level limits, it can be difficult to justify not being an elf, or a dwarf, or even a gnome or halfling.  So there is some reason for that statement, it's not entirely baseless.

However, humans can dual-class.  If you've got the stats for it, it's flat out superior to multiclass, because it allows you to stop dumping xp into a class once you have everything you want out of it.  A Fighter/Mage dual-class can level fighter up to as high as they want to gain benefits from fighter from, then dual-class out into mage, and never have to spend xp on Fighter again.  7, 9, and 13 are great drop-points.  An elven Fighter/Mage requires 7,500,000 xp to get to 20th level as a wizard, but a human Fighter 13/Mage 20 only requires 4,750,000 xp.  The latter will have a THAC0 of 8 instead of 1, but otherwise won't have missed out on much that the elven Fighter/Mage has.  When the human has earned a total of 7,500,000 xp like the elf, the human will be a Fighter 13/Mage 27.

Ironically, this seems like an ability far more suited to the long-lived races.  An elf is likely to spend a human lifetime perfecting her skill at thievery, then set that aside once she's rich, practicing swordplay instead and becoming a famous warrior...then set that aside to focus the remainder of her life on mastering the secrets of the arcane.  While a human seems much more likely to want to do all of those at the same time.  It's one of the funny things I always thought to be backwards about 2nd Edition.  Love a lot about it, but the racial class and level limits always left me scratching my head.  Things like elves (renowned for their music and poetry) not being able to be bards.

In any case, if the character has the stats for it, being human for dual classing is usually worth it.  The stats, of course, are the big limiter: you need 17 in the prime requisite of what you're dual-classing into, and 15 in your previous class's prime requisite.  My own stat rolls won't let me dual-class unless I somehow increase Int by at least one point.  Still, I would suspect that there's enough reason to play humans purely for the advantages of dual-classing, although the full strength of it only comes into play in a long-running campaign.  Of course, racial level limits will also only become noticeable in a long-running campaign.

10
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 02, 2014, 05:20:44 PM »
Some of the kits there's no reason for them not to be allowed, really, except to keep things simple, which is probably the best reason to not use them.

And I found several amusing semi-contradictions in the spell dates.  Under the description of the Mavin's Worldweave spell, it's noted that the spell was used hundreds of times throughout Netheril's existence in order to keep the northern climate temperate and comfortable.  ...but according to the date chart, Mavin's Worldweave was researched in 3205, only 315 years before the Fall.  The maps of Netheril also support the idea that it must have been in use much earlier.  Also hilariously, in the timeline of Netheril, it's noted that Sunrest fell in 2202 while research was being conducted on an ultra-powerful version of the meteor swarm spell...but Mavin's Meteors wasn't researched until 3384.

And then, looking through spells, some names are credited for spells from more than one school, even though arcanists are supposed to only be able to research spells from their major school.  I suppose it could be explained under some sort of collaborative effort, or simply a master or teacher taking credit for their students' work.  Of course, some spells also exist in more than one school, so that might also be part of it.

Oh, also, it doesn't seem necessary to make a spreadsheet for the winds; they don't have alternate names.  The only table for them is just listing which winds they're under, so there's no need to go back and forth cross-referencing multiple tables like there is for arcanist spells.  All you need to know is which winds your god grants access to, and reference that one table.  Also, since they're simply granted by the gods, all of them are available throughout the entire timeline.

Anyway, here's the link to the excel spreadsheet: Netherese Arcanist Spell Reference.  And in case someone can't open excel sheets, here's an HTML form.

11
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 02, 2014, 12:01:25 PM »
Oh, I don't know, in a way it makes sense.  If he made the first version for personal use, but then decided to make another version to distribute more widely and presumably make more money selling copies to lower level arcanists...  A 5th level spell has a considerably larger potential market than a 7th level spell, after all.

12
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 02, 2014, 11:42:54 AM »
Yeah, I'll do those too, 'specially since I'm considering a divine caster myself.  If I go half-elf, I'll probably be a cleric of Mystryl/Arcanist, and if I go human, I might well want to dual-class that same combination.

And yeah, I much prefer the local characters, sticking around for only one year would be really short.  2800 is an interesting date, with most spells invented, but a few really noticeable ones still missing.  At a quick glance I see that Oberon's flawless teleport, aka teleport without error doesn't come up until 2876, for instance.  Interestingly, Oberon's teleport comes after the flawless version, by 24 years, rather than the other way around.

13
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 02, 2014, 11:26:13 AM »
Heheh, okie then.   2nd Edition Netheril campaign just has me a biiit excited.  :blush

Gazzien, Arcanist is basically just a modification to the Mage class.  There's like four tables in the Netheril: Empire of Magic boxed set that cover the modifications.  To sum it up: you no longer memorize spells, but spontaneously cast any spell you know, using 'arcs', which are equivalent to spell points, each worth one spell level, thus a 3rd level spell costs you 3 arcs to cast.

Arcanists are also all specialists, but not in the traditional schools.  There are only three schools: Invention, Mentalism, and Variation.  Invention creates/destroys, mentalism affects the mind, variation alters things.  At least, that's the quick description.  There's a listing of PHB spells and how they fit into the three schools in the book, but it's kind of annoying to read because you have to cross-reference that table with another table that gives the Netherese names for spells.  Maybe I'll write those into a spreadsheet while you guys are reading up on the basics, so everyone who decides to play a spellcaster can reference that.

Anyway, you specialize in one of the three schools as your major, another as your minor, and you're prohibited from learning spells from the third.  If we wind up with multiple arcanists in the party, it would probably be a really good idea to make sure we have different majors, at least, because you can only research new spells from your major.  You can learn and cast any spell in your minor (up to normal limits, and based on a learn spells roll) but you can't research new spells that are deemed to belong to the minor, so someone who doesn't major in mentalism can never research a new mind control type spell.  But if they minor in it, they can learn it from whoever researches it.

14
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 02, 2014, 10:57:10 AM »
Well, 'spurn' was probably too strong a word, but there's that whole thing of avoiding praying to them, and refusing healing if it comes from a divine source and such, and the fact that the Ioulaum enclave is the only enclave to ever allow a temple to Mystryl and all.

Anyways...  I used Invisible Castle to roll (Link), got 16 15 11 15 12 14, so pretty solid all things considered.

So, racial level limits?  You never really said whether you're keeping those or not.  And connected to that, assuming everything goes well, how high level do you think we're gonna get, anyways?  I like to have a good idea of what level I might potentially reach.

15
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 02, 2014, 10:19:08 AM »
That's partly why I was considering it, since I thought it would be interesting to play the outsider in Netheril.  Also because I thought of a half-elf cleric/arcanist as a possibility, since so many arcanists spurn the gods.  Thought maybe a half-elf that grew up in the Ioulaum enclave where they actually have a temple to Mystryl.  Though if you think it would be too distracting to the game, I'll stick with human.  Maybe dual-class it.

...and there I go thinking about classes before ability scores.   :banghead

16
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 02, 2014, 10:08:02 AM »
Hm, planning to enforce racial level limits?  I might go something other than human, although probably not.

I suppose I had best wait until you decide how ability scores will be determined before trying to decide on my class, as well...ability score requirements and all.

17
Play By Post / Re: Interest Check--2e Netheril
« on: May 02, 2014, 01:08:14 AM »
Not only 2nd Edition, but Netheril as well?  Absolutely!  Two things I totally love.   :D

18
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: What is the best diplomacy bard build?
« on: April 19, 2014, 11:18:46 AM »
Well, you lose 24 points a day, but can gain 1d6 per round as long as you have a victim.  A town of 240 of any race without a charisma penalty with the standard array can net a minimum of 2400 charisma since each person will have at least 10 to drain, which won't drop back to your original score for 100 days.

You can basically increase it as high as you want, then as long as you manage to drain 24 points of charisma every day from then on, it'll stay that high.

19
Gaming Advice / Re: Controlling two (or more) bodies at once, directly.
« on: November 18, 2013, 05:38:35 AM »
Magic jar seems to present some...problems with what happens when you do it that way.  I'd rather not try to open that can of worls.  Control body is close, but not quite - it gives control of actions, but no sensory input, and if line of sight is broken the power ends.

Hmm.  While checking control body I did notice the sense link power, though.  That...combined with control body or dominate...it gets pretty close to what I'm looking for.  Sense link + dominate, and use solicit psicrystal to make the psicrystal concentrate on sense link might be the closest thing in D&D available.  Might actually work for my purposes, too, yeah...especially if used from a custom item so the powers can be continuous or at-will.

20
Gaming Advice / Controlling two (or more) bodies at once, directly.
« on: November 17, 2013, 01:17:24 AM »
Other than the Dvati race, is there any way to control two or more bodies at once?  I've been trying to find something like this for a while, but pretty much all the methods I have found involve losing control of the first body as it's made dormant or otherwise rendered inactive.  What I'm looking for is some means by which a single character can receive sensory input and have direct control from two or more bodies at once.  Indirect control (even if absolute) doesn't count; the character must receive full sensory input directly from both bodies and control them exactly as if it were their own body.

Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5