Min/Max Boards

Psicrystal + Vigour + Share Pain = durability

So, if that is the case:

Elan
Side A: Psion (Telepath) 20
Side B: Wilder 5/ Thrallherder 10/ Mindbender 5 

No need to worry about having only one good save for most of my class levels?

<some preliminary off-the-cuff guesstimates, on which I could very well be incorrect>

I don't believe a RNG/Dice/Randomness System can solve the problem you're addressing here. I think that you need a reactive DM. A DM who has intelligent challenges that are not predetermined, that react to how the PCs interact with them as they are happening. The PCs have smart tactics, they outsmart the challenge, things start going their way. The PCs have foolish tactics, they miss-read the challenge, things don't go their way.

I suspect but cannot prove, an improvement on the RNG/Dice/Randomness system would take out some those unfairly placed "one bad roll, everything goes to shit" moments. But I'm reticent to completely remove all "roll or fail" moments completely because real life has moments that are do or die. I'm not a mindless follower of Gygax-ianism, and I realize that a RPG should not be too realistic, a workable RPG needs some sort of abstraction, but I fear that if you remove all of the "roll or fail" out of the game it turns into a game that has "save points" or  "cheat codes," and loses any sense of in-game urgency and danger. Nothing pleases me more as DM when my PCs express how they thought they, "weren't gonna make it" or that "damn we screwed that one up" or "man we really owned that guy." I want my PC's failures to be dark, and their successes to be bright.

If my PCs fail at something I want them to realize they have failed and that repeated attempts probably won't work and that they need to come up with a different strategy to address what they are trying to accomplish.

Peace,
Necro

tl;dr: (1) smoothing out "one roll and fail" and "one roll and win" is a good thing I don't have much help to offer there mathematically; but (2) I find that if you have a solid DM who tempers the rolling system with reactive DMing by way of thoughtful dynamic challenges that react with what the PCs do, as they are doing it, it can go a long way to helping this kind of problem.       

Thanks folks, missed the original thread.

- Necro

You should also look at the slaad implant ability, minus the instant death.

Problem with that and all infestation/parasite type things is that all it takes a Remove Disease and it's all over. I want something they'll have to contend with seriously.

WHEEE!  I can't read.   

Say wha??

Quote from: Necrosnoop110 on November 26, 2011, 11:23:30 PM

Thoughts?

Money.

When anyone asks why x movie cant be done well it always boils down to money.

Hollywood studios (and even the indies) are a very cutthroat business.  The scant amount of blockbusters they have every year are what saves their ass from bankruptcy from all the movies  that dont do shit at the box office.  This means all studio films need certain things:

1) It has to be accessible to just about everyone, no matter how fucking stupid they are.  If there's any possibility it only appeals to a niche group, or it requires an iq above 85 to understand, thats a red flag.  If the movie requiring an iq could nab them an oscar they'll consider it, otherwise...

2) It has to follow whatever formula is specific to the genre.  If it doesnt they cant predict with any accuracy what kind of business it will do (and they still turn out wrong a lot).  Fantasy, comic boo, and sci fi are the three big genres that scare the shit out of execs (and investors) because the audience is difficult to please, and impossible to read.  If they make the film to pander to the fans, they believe it will automatically be a no see for everyone else.  If they make a generic fantasy movie to appeal to a mass audience (or what they believe a mass audiences idea of a fantasy movie is) it will alienate teh fans who could give the film bad buzz before its even started filming.

3) All films fall into two categories: They're dictatorships run by a producer or director who's given free reign to do what he wants, or they're made by a committee of people with conflicting agendas.  Dictatorships often go wrong as the man in charge is less a visionary than a delusional asshole who keeps getting carte blanche only as long as he makes money.   Committees are formed by people who are fighting for the directors vision, the producers vision, the studios vision, the investors, the unions, and god knows who else.  That any of them get made at all is a miracle.

4) Special Effects films cost shitloads of money, even if you use unknown actors.  Studios want known actors as some guarantee of financial viability, but known actors want certain minimum guaranteed pay (raising the cost of the movie that much more) or are afraid to star in genre pictures for a variety of reasons.  So you have to go with unknowns, who aren't great actors, and you get what you pay for(which is not much), and you have no celebrity to hook an audience with.

These 4 things prettty much doom most dnd films.

How'd the newest lord of the rings/hobbit movies navigate through those problems?

Making PC's pregnant is never, never, NEVER a good idea. It just gets awkward. Just make them sick or something, and make it curable by magic. If you really want to make consequences harsh, instead of making the characters unplayable or simply unpleasant to play, have them die.

What about a tiny demon creature that grows under the skin and "births" in 24 hours? Surely there is something between an awkward traditional pregnancy and a flat out save or die?

Peace,
Necro

Divine Denial is pretty much awesome for everyone.

What and where is that?

Thanks,
Necro

Why don't devils, demons, or other evil extra-planar creatures invade the prime material plane en masse and take over? I mean it's as simple as having access to Plane Shift. No? Yes? Am I missing something? And the bulk of the prime material plane inhabitants are pretty soft.   

Peace,
Necro

I would treat the extradimensional spell interface just as described, a window/door into another universe. If you cast transdimensionally, you can calculate burst and area calculations as being able to flow through that window/door, in all other ways treating it as an adjacent room with a door that you are casting a spell near.  I find this to be far more supportable than trying to claim that 100 people in the mansion occupy the same 5' space for spell targeting.

That's how I would handle it as well.