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Topics - Amechra

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1
Introduce Yourself / Hi, I'm Amechra~
« on: July 05, 2017, 07:44:27 PM »
Hi, I'm Amechra.

D&D is like an old girlfriend and -

Oh, wait.

I've been a forum member since the brilliantgameologist days. I was wondering why my postcount was in the 4000s.

2
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Metamagic Tweak
« on: February 21, 2017, 01:51:14 PM »
So, just a random houserule:

Wizards (and other similar "book" casters) can't apply Metamagic on the fly. Instead, they can scribe metamagic versions of spells - this uses the same rules for scribing new spells, using the new, adjusted spell level. So rather than having the Extend Spell feat and just preparing/casting Extended Cat's Grace, you have to take the feat and then spend the time and money to scribe it before you can cast it.

However, this goes both ways - if your Wizard finds a scroll of Extended Cat's Grace, you can cast it even if you don't have the Extend Spell feat. Adding such a spell to your spellbook (or preparing it from someone else's) adds +5 to the Spellcraft DC to do so.

Taking a metamagic feat eliminates that +5 DC, lets you scribe your own enhanced spells, and lets you take a spell enhanced by that feat as one of the spells you gain automatically on level-up.

3
Min/Max 3.x / Damaging Auras?
« on: October 05, 2016, 07:39:12 PM »
Are there any feats, spells, or whatever that let you deal damage to people nearby at the start of your turn? Preferably without an attack roll, if that's at all possible.

4
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / D&D Astronomy
« on: September 29, 2016, 11:14:47 PM »
So, Stormwrack has rules for "base spotting distance", where you can make a DC 20 Spot check to spot something at a given distance (based off of a table). If you're within half that distance, you can see it automatically.

Underdark has a similar rules for spotting light sources - you can spot light sources at a range equal to 20 times their radius of illumination if you're in complete darkness, or 10 times the radius if you're in low-light conditions.

Let's make a triplet of "reasonable" extensions:
1) If you're within 5 times the radius of a light source, you can spot it in bright light conditions.
2) We use the row for flying observers for anything that wouldn't be impeded by the rotation of the planet.
3) You can use the "hills or peaks" column for anything really big. Yes, this produces weird results.

So, let's look at our tools:
1) Normal spotting gives us a penalty of -1 on our Spot checks for every 10ft away we are.
2) Let's say that a spyglass doubles all distances involved (-1 for every 20 ft, and the base spotting distance is twice as far).
3) We're going to assume someone untrained in Spot who takes 20 on their roll for everything.

OK, so particularly large sunspots can be spotted from Earth without a telescope. Let's call that a DC 22 (because Joe Genero probably won't notice unless you point it out to him). Now, checking the proper row on the table, that tells that the Sun must be 100 miles and 20ft away. By extension, all of the other planets we can see have to be about that far away.

How about the moon? Well, we can see features on it automatically, so it has to be within 50 miles of Earth.

=---=

So, yep, if you can cast Teleport, you can go to the moon - I mean, it isn't that far away!

5
Off Topic Fun / [MtG Format] 4-way 1-on-1.
« on: September 21, 2016, 11:46:02 AM »
Alright, the rules are simple:

1. This is a 4-player variant. Ideally, you'd all be sitting in a square. A quick diagram (because where you're sitting does matter):

Code: [Select]
┏━━━━┓  ┏━━━━┓
┃  A ┣━━┫ B  ┃
┗━┳━━┛  ┗━┳━━┛
┏━┻━━┓  ┏━┻━━┓
┃  C ┣━━┫ D  ┃
┗━━━━┛  ┗━━━━┛

For the purposes of this variant, you'll be player A.

2. The goal is to score victory points by making the other players lose - you score one point if you make a player sitting next to you lose, and 3 points if you make the person sitting across from you lose. So as Player A, you'd score 1 point by taking out Players B or C, and 3 points by taking out Player D.

3. The game is played until a maximum of two players remain - either a single winner or any two adjacent players will remain. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins - if both of you have 3 points (if, say, you took out D and B took out C), both A and B would tie.

4. Whenever an effect would specify that you target an opponent, you must target the player across from you unless they've been eliminated. Effects that specify that they affect each opponent affect each other player, as normal.

5. Players do not have a single life total - instead, they have two. They share one total with the player to their right, and the other with the player to the left. Each of these totals starts at 10 Life. So at the start of the game, you'd share 10 Life with B, and 10 Life with C, for a total of 20 Life.

If a player is eliminated, the life totals they shared with another player default to any such remaining players. So if C has been eliminated (assuming no Life has been lost), A would have 10 Life, D would have 10 Life, and B would share 20 Life split between A and D.

6. Whenever you would gain Life, you may choose which of your life counts to increase. Whenever you make a player lose life, you choose which life counts to decrease. You may split Life gain or Life loss between either of a player's pools, if you so wish.

Any effect that cares about your life total cares about the sum of your two life totals.

6
Off Topic Fun / Does anyone remember...
« on: September 10, 2016, 09:11:25 PM »
... there was a thing a few years back where someone wished one of their friends happy birthday on Twitter for a couple of months, couching it in more and more dystopic terms.

Google turns up nothing, but I'm probably looking for the wrong thing.

7
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / A Question vis-a-vis Fighter Feats
« on: August 18, 2016, 02:35:49 PM »
Alright, it's not a secret that one of the reasons that the Fighter is particularly bad is that Fighter feats don't scale very well. When you hit the end of one particular tree, you have to go back and start another one from the beginning. It's what makes the Fighter a really nice class to dip, though - you can pick up that one feat tree you really like, and to hell with the rest.

So why don't they scale well?

I think part of the reason is that, somewhere along the line, someone decided that the Fighter doesn't deserve to start with nice things. Note that I didn't say that they don't get nice things - you have cool, fun stuff you can grab like Kharmic Strike, Improved Cleave, and Improved Trip, but you can't really start with them.

So the question becomes "but do those powers scale"? My answer to that is yes. Let's look at Improved Cleave - at 1st level, you're unlikely to be dealing a consistent amount of damage that would let you take out whole crowds. Normally, you're going to be petering out after one or two extra attacks. Flash-forward to level 8, where triggering the extra attacks is going to be more reliable simply because you're attacking more often and dealing more damage.

Another reason Improved Cleave scales is because it piggybacks off attacking, rather than being it's own thing. As a result, Improved Cleave works with anything that makes a melee attack - compare that to Spring Attack, which falls behind hard once you start getting more attacks in a Full Attack.

Improved Cleave also saves itself from obsolescence since it doesn't give you a static, numerical bonus. By giving you an attack, it expands what you can do.

=---=

The problem with the Fighter in terms of why it lags behind other melee classes is because all it gets is feats. Feats that, may I remind you, don't scale, don't synergise, and don't do anything fun. Heck, that's why mundane characters are kinda dull to play.

So why not rewrite the feats to be more interesting? Why not rewrite Spring Attack so it works off charging? Or Combat Expertise so it triggers off of Fighting Defensively? Hell, maybe even replace Weapon Focus with Weapon Supremacy?

8
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Bonus Spells from Skills
« on: August 02, 2016, 08:16:49 PM »
Alright, here's the core idea:

Wizards, Clerics, and Druids do not get bonus spells from high ability scores. Instead, they get bonus spells per day from having ranks in a particular skill - Knowledge (Arcana) for Wizards, Knowledge (Religion) for Clerics, and Knowledge (Nature) for Druids.

How many do they get? Check half of their ranks in the appropriate skill, rounded up, against the bonus spells table.

Seems pretty simple, and you get roughly the same number of spells...

9
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Stupid Idea (I can't sleep)
« on: August 02, 2016, 03:33:16 AM »
Basically, what if the Fighter got the benefits of one Stance at 1st level, and then an extra Stance at every odd level thereafter?

As in, the Fighter gets all the benefits of a given Stance constantly as an ability of the appropriate type.

What would break (other than the introduction of the d2 Fighter)?

10
Min/Max 3.x / Improving Daggerspell Stance
« on: August 02, 2016, 12:30:12 AM »
The spell's here.

Namely, I'm morbidly curious about ways to buff that attack/damage bonus without dipping into magic items. I know that Fell Energy Spell would increase that to +4/+4 if you happened to be Undead... but I'm blanking on other ways to boost the bonus.

Can anyone think of anything that isn't "dual-wield Manyfanged Daggers", because that's rather expensive.

11
Gaming Advice / M:tG Random Question
« on: July 13, 2016, 02:38:59 PM »
So, I'm toying with an idea for a custom set. Basically, the "theme" is enemy pairs, and the gimmick is that the "enemy pair" teams approach problems like the color that's between them... in their own way.

White/Black plays kinda like Blue, Blue/Red plays kinda like Black, etcetera. Now, the important bit: I don't want to violate the color pie. So despite Green/Black playing like Red, I'm not doing that by just color-shifting Lightning Bolt.

To continue on with the Green/Black example - I'll be using Fight to blast creatures, Intimidate to bypass blockers, and so on and so forth.

So my random question: Which color do you think will be the hardest to pull off this way? My guess is White, since neither Blue nor Green really do life shenanigans (Blue/Red can fake it due to Red blastiness).

12
Off Topic Fun / I'm Putting Together a Portfolio for Freelancing
« on: July 01, 2016, 03:20:24 PM »
Yep, freelancing RPGs.

What the hell do I put in my portfolio? My one thing that's actually been published isn't mine to include.

So, what do I do? What should I put in there?

13
The Pentacle And Seven Crowns / The Names of The Kings ["Gods"]
« on: June 28, 2016, 05:07:52 PM »
In ancient times, there were seven kings - their rule was long and virtuous, built on principals resolute and the unfailing duty of their rulers. But, alas and alack, they were toppled in a vicious calamity that wrote their virtues into the firmament. Even today, their echoes can still be heard, and the cults to their name enjoy a steady flow of new worshippers.

Their names were seven, and have been lost. Their titles were seven, and have not.

=---=

The King of Might was strong beyond equal. With a single hand, he could lift great palaces to the sky, and could crumple an ocean with the squeeze of his hand. He built his kingdom on the ideal that the strong should rule over the weak - because how else will the weak benefit, and how else will the strong be lifted out of petty tyranny?

That was not the way of the Lawgiver Princess - she ruled through law, and a piercing gaze that cut all falsehood asunder. Her laws bound her as strongly as her subjects - because how else will the people know where their place is? And a man without a place is not truly a man.

"But those laws are transient in the face of hard stone!" cried the Armiger Prince, who some traditions name as her brother. His kingdom was encircled by countless walls, built far into the heavens and patrolled by his legion of soldiers. Safety must be paramount, or else how will man reach their loftiest height? To be free is to face doom.

But the Crowned Butcher knew safety to be a fool's toy - only in the vicious satisfaction of violence and terror could men know their true natures, and so desire peace. For what was peace without a war preceding it, and what was war without something to hope for afterwards? To violate is to be violated, but man cannot learn that lesson without first experiencing it.

To this, the Queen of Silence would say nothing. To all things, she said nothing. Secrets are to be hoarded, and carefully designed lies are to replace them. Because the truths of this world are hateful to men, and cannot be handled without first being swaddled in the beautiful layers of fancy. And some truths should be consigned to die with their bearers.

The Empty General would grin, for he was unliving proof that secrets do not die, that death was not an ending to anything. His latter-day followers claim that his kingdom was the afterlife long before the lesser afterlives arose. He was a general first and foremost - his word a military discipline that bound his forces like tentacles from his throne.

The Foremost had no such tentacles, no such throne. His throne was the battlefront, built from the strong backs of his soldiers and the keenness of their spears. Because to stop or retreat was unthinkable - shame stunted growth and turned the mighty into timid mice.

14
Royal Bloodline
Level: 1st and 4th
Replaces: Summon Familiar
Modifies: Spells Known

The descendants of the Seven Crowns sometimes showcase their potent, nigh-mythic power. A child of the lowliest peasants might open their eyes to showcase the deep-purple irises and gold-flecked whites associated with their past-distant forebears. It's a power that draws those around them to their flag, and one that instils a deep desire to rule.

At 1st level, they gain Silver Tongue. In addition, they gain the following spells as spells known, depending on who their ancestor was:

The King of Might: 2nd - Crown of Might
The Lawgiver Princess: 2nd - Crown of Clarity
The Armiger Prince: 2nd - Crown of Protection
The Crowned Butcher: 2nd - Crown of Smiting
The Queen of Silence: 2nd - Crown of Veils
The Empty General: 2nd - Crown of the Grave
The Foremost: 2nd - Crown of Courage


15
Off Topic Fun / Going for 60 Hours!
« on: June 25, 2016, 02:59:27 AM »
Alright, everyone, I've been up for 38 hours so far, which means I have 11-ish hours until I hit my personal record.

I'm going to see if I can hit 60 hours without intentionally consuming more caffeine.

Insomnia is so damn fun, you guys!

16
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Combat Expertise Fix
« on: June 20, 2016, 08:12:11 PM »
Combat Expertise [Fighter]
You are safer on the battlefield than most.
Prerequisites: Int 13
Benefits: Whenever you Fight Defensively as a standard or full-round action, increase the AC bonus by one and reduce the penalty to your attack rolls by one. In addition, improve any Shield bonus to AC you possess by an equal amount whenever you Fight Defensively with a shield in your off-hand.

Improved Combat Expertise [Fighter]
Fools hurl themselves onto your weapons in their haste.
Prerequisites: Int 13, Dex 13, Combat Expertise, Combat Finesse, +6 BAB
Benefits: Creatures that miss you with melee attacks on any round where you Fight Defensively provoke an attack of opportunity from you. If you are carrying a shield in your off-hand, you may immediately follow any attack of opportunity granted by this feat with a shield bash at the same attack bonus.



The new Combat Expertise gives you +8 to AC for a -3 penalty to attack rolls if you are carrying a shield and have 5 ranks in Tumble. The new Improved Combat Expertise now gives you two attacks against anyone who misses you if you're going sword 'n' board.

17
Min/Max 3.x / Dodgy McDodgerson
« on: June 20, 2016, 07:26:42 PM »
So, I basically did this in an attempt to optimise Fighting Defensively hardcore. This uses the Weapon Group variant from UA, the assumption that Spinning Swords fall under Exotic Weapons (Flails and Chains), and that Swashbucklers get Basic + 3 Weapon Groups - this is the only real big leap, and seems reasonable enough to convince a DM.

If not, I guess you've got to find another way to get proficiency in Spinning Swords.

Dodgy McDodgerson
Build Stub: Kalashtar Swashbuckler 1/Hit-and-Run Fighter 2/Swashbuckler +2/Dervish 3/Duelist 5/Dervish +4/Duelist +3.
Substitution Levels: Darksong Knight 2 (Fighter substitution level, requires patron deity Elistraee and Knowledge (Religion) 1).
Skill Prereqs: Knowledge (Religion) 1 and Perform (Dance) 5 by 3rd level. Tumble 5 and Perform (Dance) 8 by 6th level. Everything else? Negotiable.
Ability Scores: Str, Dex, and Int 13, minimum. Otherwise, pump Int and Dex.

Feats:
1st Level: Dodge, MobilityFlaw, Weapon Focus (Spinning Sword)Flaw, Weapon FinesseB. Flaws are Shaky and Vulnerable.
2nd Level: Combat ExpertiseB
3rd Level: Path of Shadows, Power AttackB
6th Level: Dancing with Shadows
8th Level: Spring AttackB
9th Level: War Devotion
12th Level: Elusive Target
15th Level: Deceptive Dodge
18th Level: War Devotion



The Cool Bits
This is a very late bloomer, but bloom it does.

At 20th level, start Fighting Defensively. Sure, you take a -4 to your attack rolls, but you get a +2 bonus to AC!

Increased to +3 by 5 ranks in Tumble. Then to +7 by Elaborate Parry (Dervish 7). Then to +15 by Elaborate Parry (Duelist 7). Yeah, they have the same name, but they are completely different class features. Also, use Graceful Lunge (Dancing with Shadows). You'll see why.

Next round, you get +15 to your first attack due to Graceful Lunge (adds your AC bonus from Fighting Defensively or Combat Expertise to your first attack roll the next round).

War Devotion makes this more interesting; by 20th level, it turns your Fighting Defensively from -4/+3 to -1/+5. This turns Fighting Defensively into a +17 to AC and +17 to the first attack you make the next round, in exchange for a -1 penalty to attack rolls on the first turn. You can do this twice per day.

Also, tag the big boss monster you're fighting with Dodge; I hope they weren't relying on Power Attack for damage (Elusive Target renders you immune), that they weren't Flanking you (you automagically redirect the first melee attack they make that round to the flanker if that's the case), and that no-one tankier is standing next to you (Deceptive Dodge turns one miss each round into an attack made against a creature adjacent to you. Technically, there is nothing to stop you from redirecting their attack back into their own face.)

The Problems:
None of the stuff that makes Fighting Defensively worth it comes online in early levels (both versions of Elaborate Parry come into play at 7th level of the respective classes), and War Devotion only lasts one round (unlike other Devotion feats, that tend to last one minute).

If you want to fix these problems (and why wouldn't you?), I suggest letting War Devotion last one minute in exchange for a Swift action activation. Also, roll the Duelist's Elaborate Parry into Canny Defense - it can do with the buff, and getting improving the bonus from Fighting Defensively by your class level is great to have from 1st level instead of 7th.

18
Min/Max 3.x / Dumbass The Summoner
« on: June 19, 2016, 08:47:14 AM »
Hey kids, you ever want to apply the benefits of Malconvoker to, like, all your summons? You can!

It's called Corrupt Summons, and it's the dumbest idea you'll ever have.

OK. OK. I get that you might not be keen on the whole "they attack you and your allies" thing. I get that that's a bit of a problem. But that's why you have ranks in Bluff, right?

This can't go wrong!

 :D

19
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Simple Feat Replacement
« on: May 24, 2016, 03:09:21 PM »
Whenever you would select a feat, pick two of the following instead:
• Proficiency with a weapon group.
• +2 to a Skill.
• +1 to a Save.
• +2 HP.
• +2 to the check for a special attack.

If it was a Fighter feat, add the following options:
• +1 to attack rolls with a weapon group.
• +2 to damage rolls with a weapon group.
• +1 AC when wearing a specific class of armor (light, medium, or heavy).
• +3 HP.

If it was a Psionic feat, add the following options:
• +1 PP

If it was a Metamagic feat, add the following options:
• +2 CL for the purposes of bypassing SR.
• +1 CL for one school for the purposes of range.
• +1 CL for one school for the purposes of duration.
• +1 DC for one school (two options)



And thus I just rewrote at least half of the feats in the system! Huzzah!

20
Fomenko's New Chronology, folks!

Nothing in history happened more than 1200 years ago. Most stuff? Happened in the last 1000 years.

At the very least, you could rub the serial numbers off and have a decent timeline for a fantasy setting that doesn't go completely weird.

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